Sunday, June 05, 2011

eMusic June

* Revelator by Coco Robicheaux.  Longtime and loyal fans of my Sunday night radio show, Terrell's Sound World might recall that 10 or 12 years ago, back when KSFR was having trouble with the administration of Santa Fe Community College, I did a "radio voodoo ceremony" to cast away the evil spirits that seemed to be haunting the station. It wasn't a real serious thing. I just played 30 minutes of Dr. John and songs like The Talking Heads' "Papa Legba," Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man" and some novelty songs about Voodoo.

Whatever, it worked. It took a couple of years, but those evil spirits vanished.

I might have burned a voodoo candle that night, which in itself probably broke station rules. But I promise, I didn't sacrifice a live chicken in the studio that night.

Which leads us to Coco Robicheaux.  I learned of this guy through the HBO show Treme. He's the singer  who slit the throat of a live chicken during a performance at a troubled public radio station. I felt a certain kinship with the guy as well as the DJ  Davis McAlary, Steve Zahn's character, who got fired over the incident.

 Robicheaux doesn't actually sing much. He recites the lyrics in his deep raspy drawl over smokey jazz or blues riffs. Comparisons with Dr. John, from his Night Tripper days are inevitable. (And like the good doctor, Coco has done commercials for Popeye's Chicken.)  But I hear more Nighthawks at the Diner era TomWaits.

The album kicks off with an ominous reading of the old Chambers Brothers hit "Time Has Come Today." This is one of several here, incluidng "Fortune Teller," "Crossroads" and a beatnik  bluegrass take on "I Am a Pilgrim" featuring Coco on banjo.

But my favorite is "Memo From Turner," an old Mick Jagger song (yes, it originally was released as a Jagger solo single) from the 1970 movie Performance. Jagger's version has more punch, but Coco adds a new level of sinister to it.

I mentioned this last week, but it's worth mentioning again: Coco Robicheaux is playing the Plaza for free, August 9 as part of the Santa Fe Bandstand program.

* Dengue Fever Presents Electric Cambodia. Had Mick, Keith, and the boys ever released a compilation called “The Rolling Stones Presents Chicago Blues Favorites,” it would have been to them what this collection is to Dengue Fever. The music here represents the basic DNA of the band.

Electric Cambodia, released last year, contains 14 Cambodian rockers from the late ’60s and early ’70s. The sound is lo-fi, because the original recordings — as well as the original artists — were destroyed by the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime that ruled that country in the mid-to-late ’70s. The only surviving recordings were on old cassette tapes kept and hidden by fans.

I recently reviewed this collection in Terrell's Tune-Up, along with Cannibal Courtship, thee fine new album by Dengue Fever themselves. CLICK HERE.

Plus:

BARRENCE WHITFIELD & THE SAVAGES
BW & Peter Greenberg in Santa Fe last year
"Built Like A Rock" and "I Love Her So" by Barrence Whitfield & The Monkey Hips. Barrence has been very prolific lately.

 Late last year he saw the re-release of his first album with The Savages in a deluxe edition including a bunch of great bonus tracks (It's an import from the Ace label but available on Amazon and I assume elsewhere at a reasonable price).

And even more bitchen he recorded a new album with original Savages Peter Greenberg and Phil Lenker. Savage Kings already has been released in Europe and it's coming out in these United States this month on Shake It Records. Watch my Terrell's Tuneup column for more on that.

Meanwhile, these tunes I downloaded were recorded with The Monkey Hips, a band he's played with in recent years. They might not be the original Savages, but they're a rocking little outfit that fits with BW's sound. My favorite moment here is near the end of  "Built Like a Rock" when Barrence shouts, "It's Clobberin' Time!" Indeed it is.

Here's a video of BW and this band doing a Screamin' Jay classic.



* 10 tracks from Nothin' But Trash . I rented the DVD of the same title from Netflix a few weeks ago. It features videos and live footage of acts like Wau y Los Arrrghs, Gun Club, Link Wray, The Monsters, The Tall Boys, the Mighty Lightning Beat-Man and a whole mess of Billy Childish-related acts -- Milkshakes, Headcoats, plus Thee Headcoatees and Sexton Ming.

Most of the bands are ones I hadn't heard of before -- The Tikitiki Bamboos, Saturn V, Squares, Bad KArma Beckons, Empress of Fur (featuring a sexy Bettye Page impersonator) and more.

Mainly they're European groups, though there's live clips of Link Wray as well as The Gun Club.  Mostly of the live videos were shot in London at various clubs and at the Wild Weekend festival in Spain .

I was very excited to find the soundtrack of the darn thing on eMusic. I nabbed 10 of the 32 tracks and I'll probably go back for more.



* The 14 tracks I didn't get last month from  The Day The Earth Met The Rocket From the Tombs In case you forgot, these are lo-fi live recordings by the Cleveland band that included David Thomas of Pere Ubu and Cheetah Chrome of The Dead Boys not to mention the late punk wild man Peter Laughner.

This has future Ubu standards like "30 Seconds Over Tokyo," "Life Stinks" and "Final Solution."

But one of the best here is an upbeat Velvet Underground rocker, "Foggy Notion."

I'm no audiophile. I can appreciate this music in spite of the poor sound quality.(Sometimes I think these tracks were from cassettes that survived the Cambodian genocide.)  But I can't help but think how powerful this band would have sounded in a decent studio.

Friday, June 03, 2011

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 3, 2011
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Wild Wild Friday Night by Hasil Adkins
See Willy Fly by by The Waco Brothers
Froggy by Danny Dell & The Trends
May the Bird of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose by Little Jimmy Dickens
Sam's Place by Buck Owens
There Stands the Glass by Gal Holiday
I Couldn't Believe It Was True by The Maddox Brothers and Rose
The Seeds of My Destruction by Cornell Hurd
I'm Going To Bring A Watermelon To My Girl Tonight by The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
PETER CASE
Peter Case in Los Alamos 2010

(Give Me) One More Mile by Peter Case
Old Part of Town by James McMurtry
New Old Blue Car by Peter Case
Steel Strings by Peter Case
Horse and Crow by Ronnie Elliot
Monday Morning Blues by Dave Alvin & Peter Case
Coulda Would Shoulda by Peter Case

Lonesome On'ry and Mean by Waylon Jennings
Town With No Shame by Jimbo Mathus
Screamin' Mimi Jeannie by Mickey Hawks
Green River Blues by Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band
Don't Let Me Rock You Daddy-O by Cranes Skiffle Group
Lost John by Van Morrison, Lonnie Donegan & Chris Barber
Freight Train by Chas McDevitt Skiffle Group with Nancy Whiskey
I Don't Worry by Rachel Brooke
Suzie Anna Riverstone by The Imperial Rooster
Because of LSD by Bud Freeman

Time Has Come Today by Coco Robicheaux
Stuck Inside Of Mobile With The Memphis Blues Again by North Mississippi Allstars
Hitch Hooker by Terry Diers
Ophelia by Levon Helm
The Burial Of Wild Bill by Norman Blake
That'll Never Happen No More by Howard Armstrong
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Subscribe to The Big Enchilada Podcast! CLICK HERE

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

Tennessee Criminalizes "Password Sharing"

Even though there are far more pressing issues facing our brave nation (like maybe human/animal hybrids), the Tennessee state Legislature has passed and  the governor has signed -- a bill that would clamp down on people sharing passwords to music download sites.

from the Associated Press:

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — State lawmakers in country music's capital have passed a groundbreaking measure that would make it a crime to use a friend's login — even with permission — to listen to songs or watch movies from services such as Netflix or Rhapsody.The bill, which has been signed by the governor, was pushed by recording industry officials to try to stop the loss of billions of dollars to illegal music sharing. They hope other states will follow.The legislation was aimed at hackers and thieves who sell passwords in bulk, but its sponsors acknowledge it could be employed against people who use a friend's or relative's subscription.While those who share their subscriptions with a spouse or other family members under the same roof almost certainly have nothing to fear, blatant offenders — say, college students who give their logins to everyone on their dormitory floor — could get in trouble.

Who's beind this? You guessed it -- the Recording Industry Association of America.

The thing is, I bet that some of the lawmakers who voted for this are some of the same folks who go to Tea Party rallies and bellow about the loss of "liberty."

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: On the Case

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 3, 2011


About a year ago, Peter Case released a hard-punching, minimalist, blues-soaked album called Wig!, considered by at least one major Peter Case fan (Steve Terrell) as the singer’s strongest effort in more than a decade. If Wig! had Case fans longing for more, his new album, The Case Files, will satisfy at least some of that hunger.

Subtitled "Demos, Outtakes, One Live Shot & Other Rarities," this compilation reaches all the way back to the 1980s, right after Case’s best-known band The Plimsouls broke up and he began his long haul as a solo singer-songwriter; it includes material from as recent as 2009. “These tracks are some favorites gathered together from tapes in closets, boxes, garages, attics, and suitcases as well as from more recent sessions,” the artist writes in his liner notes.

And if his filing system is a little chaotic, so are the best tracks on the album. As on Wig!, the most powerful songs here are those in which Case’s rock ’n’ roll tendencies overshadow his folk/troubadour sensibilities. Paradoxically, most of these are performed with Case backed by his acoustic guitar and not much else.

Such is the opening cut, a frantic little rocker called “(Give Me) One More Mile,” featuring a nasty guitar hook — that’s Case on 12-string — some desperate-sounding harmonica honking, and bass and drums. I knew it sounded familiar and indeed it was. Though it’s been remastered for Case Files, the same recording appeared on a self-released, limited-distribution 2001 album called Thank You, St. Jude, which consisted mainly of songs from Case’s early solo albums rerecorded with violinist David Perales. “One More Mile” deserves a good revival. It helps set the tone for the rest of the album.

The same rough-hewn blues approach is found on Case’s cover of Kokomo Arnold’s classic “Milk Cow Blues.” Case is playing electric guitar on this live 2005 number, backed only by bass and drums. Also rocking is “Round Trip Stranger Blues,” recorded in 1989 with the late Stephen Bruton playing some piercing electric slide.

PETER CASE
Case in Los Alamos last year,
Baird Banner on drums
Case gets political on a few cuts. With his L.A. pal Stan Ridgway adding some subtle Wall of Voodoo touches, “Let’s Turn This Thing Around” is a good early-21st-century protest song about stolen elections, liberties lost, and economic injustice. Some of the lyrics reappear in “The Ballad of the Minimum Wage,” in which Case speaks rather than sings the lyrics behind an electronic beat while an organ and guitar create sinister disjointed fills.

Recorded at the same time in 2005 is another spoken piece, “Kokomo Prayer Vigil.” The refrain is “America comes in two great flavors of angry voices on the radio/This is Preacher Bob callin’ on election eve/For a prayer night vigil in Kokomo.” He paints a portrait of a country losing its spirit. Case recalls a Border Patrol stop near El Paso when, because of some misunderstanding, an officer aimed a gun at Case’s head. Another verse talks longingly about an anti-war rally in Washington, D.C., that Case attended as a youth. “I was 15 and the world seemed wide compared to what I see here now.”

There are some dandy cover tunes on Case Files. Case does a commendable job on Alejandro Escovedo’s “The End,” which sounds like a slightly shorter version than the one he did on the 2004 Escovedo tribute album Por Vida. Picking up his 12-string again and overdubbing some honky-tonk piano, he does a fine gutbucket take on a Rolling Stones obscurity, “Good Times, Bad Times,” a Wig! outtake. Even more fun is Bob Dylan’s “Black Crow Blues.” Case bangs the piano while his friend Ron Franklin responds on harmonica.

One of the best songs from Case’s first solo album is “Steel Strings.” A demo of that song appears here. I see the Case Files version as an indictment of the 1980s. After hearing the demo, with Case backed by T Bone Burnett on electric guitar and percussion, it’s hard to listen to the original, which was all gussied up with yucky ’80s synths and whatnot by producers Burnett and Mitchell Froom. Yes, back in the Reagan era even scruffy singer-songwriters got glossy overproduction. I’m glad Case made this soulful underproduced version available.

Also recommended:

Scott H. Biram
Biram in Santa Fe 2011
* No One Got Hurt: Bloodshot Records 15th Anniversary @ The Hideout, Chicago. The label that invented “insurgent country” quietly turned 15 years old in September 2009. Well, not really quietly. This album, recorded live at a Chicago club, is a rowdy blast, featuring acts from the current Bloodshot stable as well as some returning veterans.

Moonshine Willy, which was the first band to release a single-act album on Bloodshot, reunited for this show. But an even more impressive homecoming was that of Alejandro Escovedo, who does a scorching “Castanets” and a moving version of “I Was Drunk.”
WACKY WACOS
Waco Brothers Kicking Rump

Newer Bloodshot acts like Deadstring Brothers and The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir do themselves proud (though the former wear their Stones influence a little too obviously and the latter remind me of The Decemberists, which gives me mixed feelings).


But these are no match for one-man wacko Scott H. Biram (especially on his hopped-up “Truckdriver”) or Bloodshot’s flagship band The Waco Brothers, who do rousing versions of “See Willy Fly By” and “Red Brick Wall.” The Wacos also back Mekons squeeze-box man and one-time Bloodshot artist Rico Bell.

It’s a limited-edition album, so hurry to Bloodshot to get yours.

And speaking of Bloodshot compilations, there's a new FREE one over at Amazon.com . It's called Bloodshot Records Spring Cleaning Sampler. It's full of old Bloodshot favorites like Robbie Fulks, Trailer Bride, The Meat Purveyors, former Santa Fe resident Rex Hobart, and of course The Waco Brothers.

Here's a promo video for The Case Files.

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

New Potatoheads Widget and Music Page

I've added a separate page for my own tacky recordings, including one and only CD, Picnic Time For Potatoheads ( and Best-Loved Songs From Pandemonium Jukebox) 

It features my dandy new CD Baby widget for this highly-prized cult classic.


I've made dozens of dollars over the Internet on this album. This little gizmo should rake in even more!

And I've included my ReverbNation player so you can here complete versions of some of the Potatoheads/Panda-Juke songs. And just for laffs, my dynamic Soundclick player for a handful of rarities.

You can find it HERE and there's a link right up at the top of the right-hand column.

The CD Baby widget is posted below too. Check it out:

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

  Sunday, March 24, 2024 KSFR, Santa Fe, NM, 101.1 FM  Webcasting! 10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time Host: Steve Terrell E...