HELLO AMIE STREET

While looking for alternatives to eMusic (in anticipation of their price increase I recently ranted about), I stumbled across a cool service called Amie Street.

Here's a list of good things about the service, followed by a list of drawbacks, followed by thumbnail reviews of some cool stuff I've bought from Amie Street in the last couple of weeks.

The Good:

* Bargains galore. The four albums, one EP and three stray tracks you see below cost me a total 0f $5.99. One of the albums, the one by J.P. McDermott & Western Bop was free. The tracks are priced according to popularity, which means the more obscure stuff is cheaper. Some of the music I've downloaded has gone up slightly in price, but only slightly.

* Some cool indie labels. I was very happy to see Voodoo Rhythm and Matador on Amie Street, not to mention Daptone, Bomp!, Fat Possum and Yep Roc. I don't think any of these offer their complete catalogues, but among them there's plenty of good stuff I don't already have.

*Easy payment plan. I found it very convenient that Amie Street allows you to pay through your Amazon.com account, so you don't even have to give Amie Street your credit card number. The minimum credit card charge is $3, which means after the $5.99 I spent, I still have a penny in credit at Amie Street. (It will be spent before long.)

The Drawbacks:

* Limited selection: While the above-named labels are great, the truth is Amie Street just doen't have as much as eMusic.

* The price of some tracks: Because of the pricing structure, the better known music can go up to 98 cents, same as iTunes or Amazon. (Message here, get stuff like Sonic Youth and Dirty Projectors quick when it first comes out.)

* Not that well known: You have to explain to your friends that Amie Street is not a contemporary gospel singer.

Oh well, here's what I got for my $5.99 on Amie Street.

* Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash Vol. 2 by Reverend Beat-Man. Getting fired up for Beat-Man's Santa Fe appearance with this accurately named collection of twisted roots rock, religious delusions and demonic tomfoolery.

Beat-Man's raucous guns a-blazin' take on Bill Monroe's "Blue Moon of Kentucky" should not be missed.

One of the coolest rockers here is the opening cut "Letter to Myself," which sounds a lot like Beat-Man's old group The Monsters. He actually did a radically different version of this song a few years ago with his Kraut rock experiment Rev. Beat-Man & The Church of Herpes.

Like Vol 1., this album ends with a crazed, profane seven-minute sermon. Like "The Beat-Man Way" on the first record "Swiss Army Knife" is a window to the soul of the founder of Voodoo Rhythm.

By the way, Vol. 1 is available on eMusic but not Amie Street. Vol. 2 is not available on eMusic. I wonder if they did this on purpose.


* Snake Pit by Hipbone Slim & The Knee-Tremblers. Like I said, I was happy to see Voodoo Rhythm on Amie Street. Here's another standby of that label.

This is a British pyschobilly unit led by one Sir Bald Diddley. (I guess he's called "Hipbone Slim" as well.)

This is a fine album without a single dud. Only problem is, there's nothing as instantly lovable as "What Do You Look Like" from the other Hipbone album I have, Have Knees, Will Tremble. Of course, that song featured the wonderful Holly Golightly, who tends to make things instantly lovable.

* Tales from the Crypt by Joe "King" Carrasco & The Crowns. The birth of Nuevo Wavo! A loving evocation of Sam the Sham and Doug the Sahm.

Joe and his Crowns recorded this even before the brilliant 1980 "debut" album on Hannibal Records, Joe "King" Carrasco & The Crowns.

Lots of the same songs are there -- "Bueno." "Caca la Vaca," "Federale," "Betty's World," "One More Time," "Let's Get Pretty." To be honest, the later Hannibal versions were a little punchier.

But these versions are bueno. And there's some tunes I'd never hear before such as "Monkey Got My Frisbee."

* Last Fool Here by J.P. McDermott & Western Bop. This one was free and worth every penny.

No, seriously, I enjoy this down-to-Earth rockabilly and back-to-basics honkytonk from this Washington, D.C.-area band. On this record McDermott saved his best for the first. "My Damned Baby" ought to be a rockabilly standard. I also like his country side. "Heartaches for a Time" is a fine cry-in-your-beer two-stepper.

* The Mystery Of... by Kustomized. Attention Mission of Burma fans: Kustomized was a spin-off group led by guitarist/singer Peter Prescott. They don't quite measure up to Mission, but Kustomized came close, carrying on the basic isea of guitar-centric sting.

If you like this EP, Amie Street also has a couple of full-length albums including The Battle for Space, which I've liked for years. I haven't heard At The Vanishing Point yet, but I'm about to download Kustomized's surfy version of the sleaze rock instrumental "Harlem Nocturn."

Plus

"How Great Though Art" by Billy Preston, "Pretty Thing" by Canned Heat, and "Love's the Only Thing That's Free" by Carl Perkins, all from a hodge-podge compilation called House of Blues.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, June 21, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Take a Little Bit by King Khan & The Shrines
The House as a Giant Bong by The Dirtbombs
Humpin' by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears
Woo by Gibby Haynes & His Problem
Dogs Were Barking by Gogol Bordello
Meine Kleine Russian by Rev. Beat-Man
High Heels and Mini Skirt by The Monsters
Crazy Woman by Paul "Wine" Jones
It's a Gas by Alfred E. Newman

Jelly Bean by Don & Dewey
Directly from My Heart to You by Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention with Don "Sugarcane" Harris
Murder in the Graveyard by Screamin' Lord Sutch
Take Me Out to the Ballgame by Bruce Springstone
Plastic Fantastic Lover by The Jefferson Airplane
Busted by The Black Keys
Down the Drain by Monkeyshines
That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine by The Everly Brothers

I STILL HATE CDs SET
I Hate CDs by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy
Who Put de Pot on Mary by Poontang Perkins
99 Chicks by Ron Haydock
So Many Girls by The Hentchmen
Daddy Rollin' Stone by Andre Williams & The Eldorados
What a Way to Die by The Pleasure Seekers
The Witch by Stud Cole
Quarter to Four by Mad Mike & The Maniacs
Hello Lucille Are You a Lesbian? by T. Valentine
Little Girl Gone by Mogen David Wrath & The Grapes of Wrath
Fancy Dan by Gene Summers
Shortnin' Bread by The Readymen

Freakaholic by Willie Magee
Hurricane Edward by The Fall
Leaky Lifeboat (for Gregory Corso) by Sonic Youth
U Bug Me by Modey Lemon
As Good as You've Been to This World by Janis Joplin
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, June 19, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
River of Love by Jerry J. Nixon
Blue Days, Black Nights by J.P. McDermott & Western Bop
Poontang by Deke Dekerson with The Treniers
Sitar Pickin' Man by Bobby Zhem
Old Coyote by Genuine Cowhide
The Check's in The Mail by Johnny Dilks
Pass the Booze by Ernest Tubb
Take Me Back Again by Amber Digby
Sweet Jennie Lee by Willie Nelson & Asleep at The Wheel
I Guess I'm Crazy by Tommy Collins

Tangled Tales by Dan Hicks & The Hot Licks
Run 'em Off by Lefty Frizzel
One Horse Town by Hank Williams III
Daddy Was a Preacher, Mama Was a Go-Go Girl by Southern Culture on the Skids
Driving My Young Life Away by Wayne Hancock
Artesia by Dave Alvin
I Cracked Up from Loneliness by Donald Rubenstein
Three Miles Out of Cash in Arkansas by Carolina Cotten

Follow Me Chicken by Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas
Je Cherche Tot Partout by The Pinetop Boys
Biker Boys by Rosie Ledet
Reel Cajun/451 North St. Joseph St. by Beausoleil
All Her Lovin by Terrance Simien
Le Pistolet by Mama Rosin
Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw
Diggy Liggy Lo by John Forgerty

Drag Queens in Limousenes by Mary Gauthier
Murdering Oscar by Patterson Hood
Husbands and Wives by John Doe & The Sadies
Sweet Hannah by Guy Davis
My Eyes by Tony Gilkyson
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: I STILL LOVE I STILL HATE CDs

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
June 19, 2009

In recent months (years?) my musical tastes have become so retro it’s disgusting. Frequent readers of my column have surely noticed.

There are embarrassingly few new “modern” (whatever that is) rock acts that I really like — TV on the Radio, Animal Collective, and Dirty Projectors — but not a whole lot more. As far as new bands go, I relate far more to South American groups like Los Peyotes riffing on the old Question Mark and the Mysterians sound or to guys like King Khan and Black Joe Lewis rekindling the James Brown/Otis Redding fires than I relate to spoiled suburban alt-rock brats bellyaching about their empty lives.

But sometimes archaeology reaps rewards that ring truer and sound fresher than the news. The truth is, I get more exited about discovering long-forgotten or totally unknown music from the days when rock ’n’ roll and rhythm and blues were wild and truly subversive, when it was considered too risky to be mass marketed.

You can hear the secret-history-of-rock ’n’ roll stuff on the new I Still Hate CDs: Norton Records 45 RPM Singles Collection Vol. 2. It’s a collection of 45 songs that’s almost as uplifting as the first volume, I Hate CDs. I described that collection (which took its title from a song by the pride of Lubbock, Texas, the Legendary Stardust Cowboy) as “a grand tour of rock ’n’ roll’s glorious underbelly.” That works for this new collection also.

There’s a smattering of fairly recent material here. You’ll find a new garage-rock growler called “It’s a Lie” from the mighty King Khan (without The Shrines and without his frequent collaborator Mark Sultan aka BBQ). And there’s “Stop and Think It Over” from Dangerous Games, the “comeback” album Mary Weiss of the ShangriLas made with the Reigning Sound a couple of years ago.

But most of the tunes on I Still Hate CDs are from the ’50s and ’60s, mainly by groups that are long forgotten. There are unrepentant R & B, rough-and-tough rockabilly, silly surf songs, garage-band goodies, drag-strip diamonds, some stray doo-wop, and punk-rock echoes. This could be the soundtrack of the best black-and-white teen-exploitation B movie never made. As I said of the first I Hate CDs collection, most of these songs are way too raw for “oldies” radio. Not that the lyrics are obscene; most of the musicians don’t need to use dirty words to sound outright filthy.

There are a few names you ought to recognize in this compilation. There are songs by rockabilly royalty Benny Joy and Charlie Feathers, as well as cuts by recently deceased R & B prophets Nathaniel Mayer and Rudy Ray Moore. In the ’70s, Moore was best known for his “party” albums and pimp-adelic character Dolemite. But here he sings a ’50s-style jumper called “Rally in the Valley.”

Some of the same acts from I Hate CDs are represented here — Weiss, the Hentchmen, the Dictators, and the Real Kids. But best of all, there is Andre Williams with an old recording of a song called “Daddy Rollin’ Stone,” backed by a vocal group called the Eldorados and someone playing an irresistibly nasty guitar hook.

I have a few of these tunes from previous Norton albums — such as the proto-punk “It’s Lame” by Figures of Light; Feathers’ “We’re Getting Closer to Being Apart”; “Camel Walk” by the Saxons from the equally amazing Mad Mike’s Monsters, Volume 2 collection; and the notorious (and criminally politically incorrect), “Hello Lucille, Are You a Lesbian” by T. Valentine.

Other favorites so far are “Put de Pot on Mary” by a soul shouter called Poontang Perkins (remember, we were told long ago by a vocal group called the Treniers that “poon” is a hug and “tang” is a kiss); “Little Girl Gone,” by Mogen David Wrath and the Grapes of Wrath, which puts the rage in “garage”; and “Surfin’ Crow,” a splendid rip-off of the Trashmen’s “Surfin’ Bird” by the Jades.

One of the most outrageous but most endearing songs on I Still Hate CDs is “What a Way to Die” by the Pleasure Seekers, a ’60s group that included none other than Suzi Quatro and her sisters. Talk about politically incorrect — this is a joyful ode to teen sex and alcohol consumption. Call the attorney general! What kind of message are we sending to the children?

This collection has the original version of “Rock-N-Bones” by Elroy Dietzel, which was covered by The Cramps. When rock ’n’ roll daddy Lux Interior passed on in February, all over the blogosphere, fans quoted one of the verses of this song:

“And when I die, don’t you bury me at all/Just hang these bones upon the wall/And beneath the bones let these words be seen/This is the bloody gears of a boppin’ machine.”

(Here’s a little Cramps trivia: Norton Records co-founder Miriam Linna was the original drummer of that band.)

Like its predecessor, I Still Hate CDs lives up to its name by not being available on compact disc. But you can download any or all tracks at iTunes, Amazon.com, and eMusic. And if you like this kind of stuff, get thyself to Norton Records. Bill and Miriam have a new blog at nortonville.blogspot.com.

BELATED R.I.P. FOR SAM BUTERA

I don't know how I missed this, but I didn't even realize until listening to the latest RadiOblivion yesterday that sax maniac Sam Butera had died earlier this month.

He was a driving force in Louis Prima's band. Butera, Prima and Keely Smith made some authentically crazy music. If I could travel back in time one of my first stops would be one of their shows in Vegas.

There's a decent obit HERE .

REV. BEAT-MAN COMING TO SANTA FE

It's true, it's true: The most Reverend Beat-Man & The Blues Trash Trio is coming to Santa Fe on Monday, July 13, brought to you by The Process (not to be confused with that weird cult of the '70s.)

Beat-Man, as those who frequently read my column or listen to my radio shows should know, the founder and main force behind Voodoo Rhythm Records. One of his latest musical project has been the Surreal Folk Blues Gospel Trash series (two CDs and one DVD so far.) He's also partly responsible for a heck of a podcast, called Sonic Nightmares.

The exact venue and ticket cost for his Santa Fe show will be announced. Watch this blog for updates.

Meanwhile below is a song and below that a video of the Rev. in action.

THIRSTY EAR 2009 - SUNDAY

My main discovery of the 2009 Thirsty Ear Festival was a local -- well, Albuquerque -- band Felix y Los Gatos. Like a younger, hungrier Los Lobos, they rock out on R&B, Mexican songs, a little country (wild version of Merle Haggard's "Working Man Blues"), a little zydeco. Felix plays guitar while his pal David Barclay plays accordion. Yesterday they also had a sax player and Santa Fe favorite Pete Amaral on drums.

And Felix's mom was in the audience! How cool is that?

The group had been scheduled for the main stage, but a late afternoon hail storm caused the set to be moved to the hotel. (A wise move by the festival honchos. There was another rain during the performance.)

What a party! My only criticism is that they don't really know how to end a song. Their finale, an improvised version of the Cajun classic "My Toot Toot" was loads of fun -- but I would have ended it like 15 minutes earlier.

Felix and the cats play in Santa Fe a lot. According to their MySpace (follow that link and check out their music), they will be doing Santa Fe Bandstand on July 7.

I also caught a couple of good local soul bands at Thirsty Ear Sunday - Soulman Sam & The Soul Explosion and Tone & Co. Both are good, but they both are basically cover bands. Surely among the musicians in these bands there are some songwriters.

One treat was seeing Jimmy Russell get up on stage with Tone & Co. Jimmy lived in Santa Fe in the 80s and (I think '90s) and he recently moved back. Dang, Jimmy's back in town, Terry Diers is back in town. Good omens!