Category Archive

By Max Conroy

Living in Ann Arbor, it’s strange to have to purchase a European import that compiles a bunch of records recorded here, but I’m glad it’s available at all.  The name of the label, A-Square, is a nickname for the city of Ann Arbor.  It was created by Jeep Holland, a compulsive music and comic collector, DJ, manager, promoter, and manager of Discount Records, the store that Iggy Pop worked at as a teenager.  Holland would stock import records that no other stores would carry, British Invasion records, and get a feel for what area kids would respond to in the store and while DJ-ing events.  He met local musicians at Discount and eventually started promoting some of them.  In 1965 he began producing records exclusively as promotional material to get gigs for acts that he was promoting and put them out on his A-Square imprint. 

In five years, he put out records by approximately a dozen bands, including the MC5, the Rationals, the Scot Richard Case (SRC), the Up, and the Frost; all Detroit legends.  By 1970, for a myriad of reasons, including his domineering personality, poor business acumen, lack of payment from distributers, and changing times, he left Ann Arbor for Boston, leaving behind A-Square records and a wake of debt.  A lot of these records are very hard to find now, 40 plus years later, and the 45s have been the only way to hear most of these great bands.

A-Square (Of Course) was released this past May on Big Beat Records, distributed and marketed by the mega-reissue label Ace Records out of the UK.  The title comes from a button issued by the label that read A-Square (Of Course).  There are definitely some issues with this package, but the good greatly outweighs the bad.  First off, there are no Rationals tracks on it, which seems odd since they were the biggest act on A-Square and the label’s flagship act, but Ace intends on releasing a compilation of their work on A-Square soon, to be named Think Rational! (again from a button).  According to Scott Morgan of the Rationals, they’re still working on obtaining the rights to the masters.  Secondly, this is by no means an exhaustive collection of A-Square’s catalogue, which would require a multiple-disc release.  This collection contains 25 tracks by ten bands, 8 tracks by the Thyme and 5 by the Scot Richard Case.  More than half of the compilation is music that was never released originally, which is great if you’re looking for really rare stuff, but not if you’re looking to have high fidelity copies of the famous records that were actually released on the label.  Also, there are several bands that recorded for A-Square whose masters cannot be located and are not represented here; the Jagged Edge, the Children and the Gang most notably.

The bottom line, however, is that this anthology is filled with a ton of highlights and is most definitely worth the $19.  It contains an early MC5 single, Looking at You/Borderline, which has been released a ton and isn’t that rare, but is great to have in this context with fantastic documentation in the liner notes.  Apparently, Holland and John Sinclair didn’t get along that well for a variety of reasons, even though Sinclair managed the group and Holland was in charge of booking them.  According to the liner notes:

Jeep:  Sinclair went into United Sound and recorded that record with Danny Dallas, then just decided to use my label name.  He designed his own A-Square label, designed his own package and just put it out.  He finally got around to informing me as the record was coming out: ‘Oh, by the way, I put the record out on A-Square.’…My label was a success, and John thought it would get his record more attention… Danny Dallas told me some wonderful stories about that session.  He said they immediately turned their amps up as loud as they could go.  Danny kept trying to tell them, ‘You don’t have to do that.  Get a good sound and I’ll boost it in here.’  But no, John Sinclair came into the control room, looked at the board and went like this [sweeping arm motion] pushing every one of the faders up all the way.  Then he ate a big chunk of hash or something and lay down on the floor while the band played. 

Let’s just say that it’s not the 5’s best moment sonically, but well worth hearing and a great addition to this collection.  Also featured here is a rare live recording of the Prime Movers.  The Movers were a highly respected blues outfit in the Ann Arbor area at the time that never released anything.  The band included Michael Erlewine, the brain behind the All Music Guide, on vocals and harmonica and a young Iggy Pop on drums.  The track here is a cover of the Yardbird’s version of I’m a Man that was used as a tape that Holland took to New York probably around ‘66 to promote the band.  It actually features Iggy on vocals instead of Erlewine and might possibly be the earliest recording of Iggy singing.  The Up’s Just Like an Aborigine is a raw-as-hell protopunk gem and another massive highlight on this disc.  Everything else not mentioned here is good if not great, making this a must have for anyone even remotely interested in psyche, garage rock, the Detroit high energy sound, or Southeast Michigan culture.

The Up’s Just Like an Aborigine:

By Max Conroy

The other day I sent a letter to Jandek.  Well, I sent it to Corwood Industries; to the same post office box that’s been used by Corwood Industries/Jandek for the last thirty years.  I felt kind of lame for doing this because I thought of how many geeks like me have done it over the years.  I was also thinking about stories that I’ve heard and read about where Jandek will send radio stations and journalists interested in his music crates of records for years on end, and if at all possible I want crates of Jandek records.  I’m not sure if a shit-ton of Jandek records could possibly be healthy in any way, but I’d certainly listen to them and be obliged to review them.  Naturally, we focus on vinyl here and Corwood only makes CDs now, so I also wanted to find out if Corwood has any records lying around the apartment.  I had also seen in Jandek on Corwood that Corwood Industries would send letters in response to people searching for information about Jandek, presumably from Jandek, that have polite and firmly cryptic refusals to provide any information beyond the records: 

The story must be crafted from what you have and know from the music.  We cannot provide interviews or other exchanges of information outside of the releases at present.  It’s probable that your crafted story would be more interesting than any other.  Intrigue goes a long way sometimes.

The examples that I’ve seen of these response letters are typically written in slightly sloppy block lettering and are signed by ‘Corwood’ or ‘Your friends at Corwood’.  I wrote the letter and asked for recommended records, since there are 53 of them, any promotional material to review, and asked if they had any vinyl left.  In the letter I addressed Corwood as to whom I was writing, referring to Jandek only in the third person.  I didn’t really expect any response beyond an order form for CDs, but would love records or even a letter written in the same format that I’d seen.

This was two weeks ago approximately that I sent the letter.  I went to my mailbox today, opened it, and there was a single letter in the narrow box.  It was a letter from Corwood Industries, the address stamped in the top left corner of the envelope.  It seemed eerily appropriate that the letter seemed lonely in my mailbox, as it’s a rare day that it doesn’t get filled with a bunch of bullshit, wasted paper.  I took care in opening it, not wanting to destroy the envelope or the letter and noticed that it was written in slightly sloppy, mostly block lettering, the paper looked like it had a rough time of it at Corwood or on the way from Houston:

We literally have no vinyl to offer.  We sold all vinyl and moved to CD.  Vinyl is in production at:

Jackpot Records, 203 SW 9th Ave, Portland, OR 97205

We suggest you inquire therein.

(No Signature)

I checked out Jackpot Records online and they only offer Jandek CDs.  Perhaps I will see if they are going to manufacture Jandek vinyl.  The letter seems typical, but there was no salutation or signature.  If you’re out there, Jandek, Cousins would love to review some records or hear from you.

Click below to view the actual letter and to hear a jam off one of Jandek’s most recent platters The Myth of Blue Icicles.

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by Max Conroy 

If you refer to my post about the jazz flute, you know that I’m just getting into soul/funk-jazz/fusion.  I’m crazy about the stuff.  It’s also allowed my formerly tepid interest in hip-hip to expand slightly.  It’s like punk rock for me; not the music of course but how I view it.  Some of my favorite music, proto-punk, is the music that led directly to the development of punk rock, but I really don’t like straight punk all that much.  I love the Dead Boys and the Sex Pistols, but both bands were badass rock and roll acts before they were punk.  I love all of this music that’s been sampled a ton or could be sampled if it hasn’t but can take or leave the hip-hop that’s made it famous, so far at least.  As my obsession has grown for the (I’ll call it fusion, to incorporate soul/funk-jazz) fusion over the past few weeks, I’ve purchased a shit ton of great records and thank God some of it can be found cheaply. 

I’d heard of the Ramsey Lewis Trio, but that was probably from hearing them mentioned by NPR DJs a split second, before I slammed the radio off in disgust before my appreciation of fusion.  I totally thought that they were venerated by jazzbos and that they were classic bop, but how wrong I was.  Justin hooked me up with a rough copy of the In Crowd, which is apparently an early soul-jazz classic.  After digging the album, I also noticed that reissues of it are advertized in Waxpoetics, and have noticed the record at numerous shops and online.  I thought that the record would be pricey, but since it obviously sold well for a jazz record and was on Chess’ Argo imprint, it’s insanely cheap.  Like you would pay three times what an OG copy would cost to get the reissue.  Dig the ‘In’ Crowd…

I also recently picked up Ramsey Lewis’ Sun Goddess for cheap.  The cover alone is worth the money, but the music could have been sold in a paper bag and it’d still be sweet.  It’s ten years after the In Crowd and the funk had dropped in the meantime, and it’s obvious on this record, that Lewis was hip to it.  Check out Sun Goddess, Livin’ For the City (the S. Wonder jam) and Jungle Strut…

On the Blue side of things; some Blue Note records from the periphery of their dark days can be got fairly cheaply too.  Some of these records sold very well, which makes them easy to find and cheap, but not bad at all.  For instance, Donald Byrd’s Black Byrd (the best selling record in the entire Blue Note catalogue) and Byrd’s Best are about $10 records; the cover of Black Byrd, depicting a black wedding or hoedown of some sort, ca. 1890 is worth it, and the music’s funky as can be, slightly dated, but that’s a large part of the appeal for me.  I recently acquired Grant Green’s Alive! album, which is a live gig recorded in a small club with Idris Muhammad tearing the place up on drums, for $10.  I’m not as much of a purist as the Cousins and will pick up a reissue or a comp here and there, and found a Grant Green record that was part of the Blue Note Breakbeats series for under $10.  Sometimes on these records, as with every record, there are bum tracks, but it seems more common for jazz records to me, so a comp with six of the most notable tracks by someone can be a good thing.  But I don’t necessarily think that’s true for Grant Green; I’m willing to bet that anything he did in ‘70 and ‘71 with Idris Muhammad on drums is good throughout.  Ronnie Laws‘ Pressure Sensitive must have also sold a shitload because it’s everywhere and it’s cheap.  One of my dad’s buddies gave me his record collection when I was about fifteen.  There were about fifty or so records, all early 70s stoner rock…and Pressure Sensitive.  It’s like the fusion Frampton Comes Alive, but way cooler.  Here are Grant Green’s Sookie Sookie (the Don Covay song) and Ronnie Laws’ Nothing to Lose…

 by Max Conroy

I first heard about the Third Power on this site a long time ago when the Cousins did a write up about their bass player Jem Targal in response to finding a signed copy of his rare solo album Luckey Guy.  I downloaded Believe, the only album released by the Third Power and didn’t feel too bad about it because of the album’s obscurity; I believe that it isn’t too hard to track down on CD though.  The download that I got was ripped from a record and the guy recorded the second side first, which I didn’t realize till finding the vinyl a few weeks ago.  It doesn’t get much better than this if you’re looking for an aggressive, Grande-era Detroit power trio.  I’ve scoped this record every now and then for the past few years on EBay and it seems like every copy that I’ve seen was in Europe, which is odd since it only sold about 16,000 copies, mostly in the Detroit area.

Like the record itself, information regarding the band is pretty rare.  For the most part everything out there is very basic and states that the band formed in Detroit in the late 60s, were very loud, had a cult following, released one record, it flopped, they went their separate ways, the guitarist Drew Abbott went to play lead for Seger’s Silver Bullet Band, and Jem recorded Luckey Guy in the late 70s.  I did find an early biography of Jem Targal, their lead singer and bassist, on someone’s personal website.  The biography reads a bit strange, almost like it’s Targal speaking in the third person (pardon the pun).  According to the site, Targal was born in Ann Arbor, his father studied and taught at the University of Michigan, and when he was young his father accepted a position at the American University of Istanbul and moved his entire family there: ”There were seven families, all related, living in the house together.  Targal’s grandfather, a retired general, was there.  So, too, was Targal’s uncles.  One had been the head of NATO forces for seveal years; the other uncle was a professional wrestler.”  Sounds like a trip, man.  His family moved back to the Detroit area in 1951 and eventually many years later he met Abbott at Oakland Community College in a speed reading class.  Abbott taught Targal the bass and they formed several groups, met their drummer Jim Craig, a solid powerful drummer, and came up with the name the Third Power in the van on the way to their first show together at a club called the Fifth Dimension (a popular venue that had featured Hendrix and the Yardbirds).  Power trio…trio…third…third…power…like to the third power, man…get it?  The band moved into a farmhouse on Haggarty road, between 12 and 13 mile roads.  They were known for having massive parties at their place where rock icons like Rod Stewart and Badfinger would hang out.  The band kept playing around and became very popular in the Detroit area, playing shows with local acts like the Rationals, Seger, and the MC 5.  They signed with Vanguard, who also featured another Detroit act of the era the Frost, in 1969.  The album was produced by poet and blues scholar Sam Charters and came out in 1970.

I almost shit my pants when I saw it in the stack at Encore.  They pile up their new arrivals on the floor against the bins, in front of the register.  I was in there a few days prior to finding it and noticed that they had a massive pile of new arrivals and quickly paid for whatever I had gone in there to find, so as not to be tempted by whatever was in the new stacks.  A few days later I was walking in the neighborhood and decided to go back to see what was left in that pile, and there it was, perfect, in the shrink, bronze Vanguard label.  I bought that and Grant Green’s Alive! for $30 and the dude working there said bye to me using my name off of my credit card.  Respect, mon.  Irie!  I got it for $20; the price guide says $30 mint, but Popsike lists anywhere from $50 to $250 previously on EBay. 

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by Max Conroy

I was at the Cousins’ warehouse this weekend, hanging out, looking through piles of records that were in too poor shape to sell, talking about music.  We found tons of cool stuff and unfortunately it won’t be available to you guys out there because they’d like to provide you with the best records available.  Perhaps email them or reply to a post if anyone out there is willing to have a less than perfect copy of a hard to find record.  One of the records that Geoff pulled out was by Jimmy McCracklin.  I’d heard the name but knew nothing about him.  Later that day Justin threw on his Twist with Jimmy McCracklin album.  It was definitely good, but we were hanging out, talking, not paying too much attention to anything.  It definitely didn’t sound like Chubby Checker.

The next day, I went to Encore to get some paper sleeves for the records they graciously let me have and casually looked at the first stack I saw, and there was Jimmy McCracklin’s My Answer record.  I really didn’t want to spend the money; $10 isn’t going to break the bank, but you know how it is, the end of the month and all.  So I walked around holding the record not convinced that I’d buy it, but not ready for anyone else to walk off with it.  I dropped the needle on the record, looking around the shop, earphones on, with the feeling that I’m on the inside looking out, through a fish bowl.  Hiss, pop.  All of a sudden $10 was put into perspective, it wasn’t a problem.  Jimmy McCracklin was worth whatever I would have spent the money on, including food or tobacco.

McCracklin was born in 1921…and still performes!  He cut his first record in 1945, ya know, back at the birth of the atomic age.  That would make him 45 years-old back in 1966 when My Answer came out.  I’m not sure if the record is supposed to be a greatest hits record or if Liberty records slapped a bunch of previously released songs around the title track, but I know some of the songs are on other records and the title track was released as a single the same year the record came out.  Anyway, I digress.  The music can’t be beat and is surprisingly broad in its variety.  When I read that it was a comp, I thought that it must have been over several years, but he was only on Liberty in ‘65 and ‘66.  The music is strange in that it’s soul, it’s blues, it’s funk, it’s so much all of these things that it’s almost difficult to pin down right away.  The first song, the title cut, is a Southern soul ballad about leaving a woman with a letter, ending it with, “I’m sorry for you”.  Meaning, I’m sorry for what you fucked up and that you’ll die alone, not I feel bad.  The second song Beulah is the one that really caught my attention.  James Brown and Dyke were hammering out the finishing touches of their grooves on the anvil of funk when this was made and it’s pretty much as funky as what they were doing at the time.  McCracklin’s drummer doesn’t seem like he gets the picture but he’s trying his best in a jazzy sort of way.  The next song, Every Day, Every Night, is a straight Jimmy Reed-style blues number.  Magic Sam later did a cover of it and it’s obvious that McCracklin was an influence.  All of these styles on this record are done so well that it’s mind blowing. 

My Answer:

Beulah:

Every Day, Every Night:

 by Max Conroy:

Until very recently I’ve not really paid much attention to jazz.  As a matter of fact, jazz has almost bothered me for about the past decade.  I used to listen to it back in the day, from about sixteen to nineteen.  Man, reading the Beats and playing the Bird and Diz, that was it.  Also, throwing on 102.1 FM to hear Bob Parlocha, after dropping off my last friend that needed a ride home, for the hazy drive back to the nest was also pretty great.  But I got into rock and roll heavy.  And my girl can’t stand jazz and I am ashamed to say that I kind of didn’t want to hear it if I were to get into it.  NPR also ruined jazz for me for a little while there too.  I know every NPR station is different and some have very well rounded programming, but not the ones that I’ve listened to in the past, 90.5 FM WKAR in East Lansing and 91.5 WBEZ in Chicago.  Both of these stations when not playing classical or the typical syndicated shows like Car Talk, Fresh Air, and All Things Considered, play jazz exclusively.  WBEZ would play like six hours of jazz on a Sunday afternoon, starting at 11 AM, right when I’d want to hear some talk radio or a comedy show.  And they wouldn’t play any of the shit that I’ve been getting into lately at all.

Justin turned me onto Waxpoetics around Christmas time and I’ve devoured the last few issues.  I’ve, as a result, come to the realization that there is more jazz out there than bebop and free jazz.  Soul-jazz and funk-jazz are legitimate categories that I’ve been blind to as a result of my prejudice.  That’s where all the badass samples came from in the heyday of hip-hop.  I had no idea what Blue Note turned into in the late 60s: a jazz label that put out soul and funk records.  I also had no idea that there were people like Eddie Harris out there: check out the article about him in the latest Waxpoetics and also check out Swiss Movement and Silver Cycles, two of his albums.  I read about Blue Note’s Droppin’ Science record somewhere in Waxpoetics, a double record best of Blue Note’s records sampled by hip-hop artists, and ordered a copy.  I’m obsessive when it comes to learning about music, so I’ve been taking some stabs in the dark based on the list of guys on Droppin’ Science in the time that it’s taken to get here.  I found Grant Green’s Alive! at Encore and got a reissue of Lou Donaldson’s Alligator Boogaloo, which the Sugarman Three’s Sugar’s Boogaloo (one of the records that launched Daptone, the first one featuring Gabriel Roth) pays homage to.  Both kick ass to be sure. 

I’m not sure if any of you have seen the Anchorman with Will Farrell, but it illustrates what my thoughts are regarding the flute perfectly.  I tense up whenever I hear a flute on a jazz, soul or funk record no matter how appropriate to the song it seems.  One of the guys on Droppin’ Science that I looked for around town in the past week was Jeremy Steig.  I found a couple of his records at Encore, pulled one up out of the bin and quickly dropped it and piled the records on it hoping no one had seen me even looking at it.  First off, he’s a flautist (I feel strange typing that word); second he looks like a weasely, mustachioed, Yoga instructor.  I’d have to wait to get the comp in the mail to hear this guy.  When I got the record today, I was shocked to hear the hook from the Beastie Boys’ Get It Together and how raw and primal the actual song was, how rock and roll.  Based on the intensity of his playing, he sounds like he could go ten rounds with Hemmingway.

Jeremy Steig’s Howling for Judy from Droppin’ Science, originally off of Wayfaring Stranger/Legwork

Eddie Harris’ I’m Gonna Leave You By Yourself off of Silver Cycle

by Max Conroy: 

The other day I woke up with Major Lance’s Hey Little Girl in my head.  It was the best morning I’d had in a while as a result.  The comforting, safe yet punchy rhythm of the song is perfect for laying there without your wits, looking for motivation to get up.  It’s almost as good as a cup of coffee or at the very least an excellent background for the coffee.

I picked up Um, Um, Um, Um, Um (that’s right five Um’s) the Best of Major Lance in a great record shop in Long Beach, California called Bagatelle Records recently.  I’d heard the name Major Lance before but had no idea what he sounded like.  The cover looked cool, heavy boards and wax, and it was on Okeh records, which I found to be odd.  Okeh always seemed like a label synonymous with the 40s and 50s to me, so a mid 60s soul guy on Okeh was worth a shot.  The back of the record also proclaims under the title ‘The Great Songs of Curtis Mayfield’, and I’m on a huge Curtis kick right now.  This kind of made me suspicious because I didn’t want some hack covering a bunch of Impressions songs and it was $12.  I went to the listening station, which had a Grado cartridge, and threw it on.  It was one of those records where you just had to hear about a second to know that it was worth the money.

It turns out that Major Lance grew up with Mayfield and Jerry Butler; and Mayfield got him a shot with Okeh in 1962.  Pretty much all of his hits were written by Curtis and feature him on guitar and the Impressions on backing vocals.  Lance’s songs seem to typify the Chicago soul sound of the early to mid 60s: smooth Latin flavor, horns and great harmonies.  The Monkey Time and Um, Um, Um, Um, Um were his biggest hits.  His popularity waned towards the end of the decade and he signed with Curtom in 1969, leaving in ‘71 to cash in on the Northern Soul craze in England.  He moved back to the states in the mid 70s, was convicted of selling cocaine, and did four years.  He died at 55 of heart failure in 1994. 

One of my girlfriend’s friends and her four year-old daughter came to visit us the other weekend.  I pulled a record out of its jacket in front of the four year-old and she asked me, What’s that?  A record.  See it’s got these grooves on it that play music…don’t touch it!  I put on Major Lance and she was getting down, I tell you what.  I even danced.  Every morning I hope to wake up with any Major Lance song in my head, but he hasn’t been back.  I’m glad I bought that record.

Hey Little Girl

Um Um

Justin and I just bought a great 45 collection, around 1200 in all from a longtime Detroit area collector.  Tons of rare Detroit stuff, plus more northern soul, early rock n roll, doo-wop and rhythm and blues.  We’ll begin putting them up for auction within a week or so; stay tuned.  I’ll also feature some rare Detroit 45s here at this site, with some audio samples.

God bless you all,

Cousins

Just came back from Coldwater, Michigan with a 100 or so top notch psych LPs, some real crazy stuff - most we had never seen before.  Plus some sweet Detroit stuff and some 45s we need to check out.  Got from an old hippie that spends his time fishing and golfing and watching the Tigers.  Half his house was filled with records, among assorted other junk.  He had some great stories of all the narcotics he used to do while listening to all his crazy records.  He was a nice guy - Justin and I had fun looking through his collection and talking to him about the good old days of rock n roll.

Also - Wednesday night we will try to spin live for you some new finds.  Most likely funk and funk derived tangents.

Justin and I are going through some of these funk LPs we just got.  We’re going to take our time and put some up on the website to listen to.  Some real sweet shit!  Short list of title: Jimmy Castor, Soul Makossa, Leroy Hutson, Akido, The Ensemble Al-Salaam, Pucho and his Latin Soul Brothers, Tropea, Ice, Eddy Senay, Afro Blues Quintet plus one, East Coast, Orquesta Cimarron, Maceo and All The Kings Men, plus a shit load more.  Can say prob. the best funk/soul/jazz collection we’ve ever got.  Will spin them for you soon.

There’s an assload of Detroit 45s in the pipe, and after that some metal, some experimental stuff from the mid-80s, and a few bits and bobs from the greater store. All coming up for you.

Geoff and I both went to the Shadow Art Fair on Saturday and bought some awesome stuff (for our own listening). He got some early Andrew WK from Bulb, and I think a couple of hardcore punk 7″s. I got The Temple of Bon Matin from Bulb, which is a pretty cool “noise”/eclectica album, a buncha 7″s from Flying Bomb including Bantam Rooste’s Big Mess and Watch Me Burn, MHz’ Action Figure, The Hunches’ Dance Alone EP, and the Christmas Surprise that has the Von Bondies, Mistreaters and Soledad Bros. on it. Both that one and the other Xmas surprise were famously part of John Peel’s Record Box, but I already had all the songs on the other one so I didn’t buy it. Two more 7″s from the Bad Idea folks (and a bunch of Bad Idea zines) capped off my purchases. I wanted to buy some Monkey Power Trio, but couldn’t justify it. Ah well.