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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
There are several definitions of the word scrummage. It is synonymous to a rugby play called a ’scrum’, but also means ‘a general row or confused fight or struggle’. A scrum can also, according to the Brits, mean ‘a place or situation of confusion and racket; hubbub’, which seems like the closest definition to the venue in Detroit. Here is their mission statement from their site (do not click on this link if you have or might possibly have epilepsy): A psychedelic loft in Detroit’s Eastern Market district. We achieve maximum fun. We have giant parties with totally rad music encompassing all generas. We teach you here at our university that no one is too stuffy to party. This is the place where all your wildest dreams can come true. There is apparently a market in Detroit’s Eastern Market district, but there’s no evidence of it at night; in fact, there doesn’t seem to be anything besides a graveyard, bombed out buildings, and the occasional liquor store and gas station…and this place.
Scrummage University is a huge warehouse that must have been a toy factory at one time, based on the painted signage on the front of the building. I drove by it a few times before coming to the conclusion that this must be the place. There were several flyers that mentioned that it’s the large building that has ‘Toys’ painted on the front of it, but not the flyer that I had. The flyers also stated that the event was to begin at 9PM, which is when I arrived, but there was no one there, except for a few people running the show and the performers. Also, there is no mention of the Silver Apples playing at Scrummage on the venue’s site, so I’d seek other verification that a band will be there before driving through post-apocalyptic Detroit to get there.
The Scrummage gate is barely wide enough for a car to fit through and is situated next to an operational junk yard; I deduced that it was operational based on the five rabid dogs hurling themselves at the fence, attempting to kill hipsters. The parking lot is huge with weeds thriving in the cracks of the asphalt, an active train line in back, and several huge bonfire pits. I walked around for a bit, soaking up the scenery, snapping photos, as other guests arrived. After awhile, I noticed that everyone had 40s of beer, and asked the door guy Ian if it was cool to bring beer here: ‘Sure, man. You should pick me up something.’ He gave me some shoddy directions to a liquor store, but I ended up finding a different one that had all the choice malt liquor and grabbed a 40 of Olde English and Ian a 24oz of Cammo XXX High Gravity for the shitty directions; he was thrilled.
By this time they were throwing huge pieces of furniture into the fire pit and igniting them. When the fire would get low, they, presumably ‘official’ events organizers, would politely ask some people to get off of the wardrobe they were sitting on and then drag it into the fire. This place is the ultimate in blind pigs, anything goes.
You enter the warehouse through a defunct loading dock and enter into a wide open concrete room, piles of debris in the corners and outsider art everywhere. There is a working bathroom that isn’t the worst that I’ve ever seen. From what I gather, people live at Scrummage, so they probably rent the space, or maybe even squat there. The electric hair trimmer in the bathroom also made me think that people live there.
The opening act Benny Stoofy is kind of Scrummage’s house band. They are some talented musicians that blend the low fi aesthetic with competence, much like Dr. Dog. I dug a few songs and then went back to the bonfire with my 40 to chat up some people and enjoy the evening.
The Lotto Ball Show went on next. They’re a synth-driven postpunk outfit from Chicago. They seemed good, but the vocals were noexistent in the mix, so I again headed out to the fire after about two songs.
I went back inside after the music stopped to look at the unattended merch table and to watch people climb dangerously onto makeshift trapezes hanging from the ceiling. Simeon, a perfectly normal looking fellow in his mid-to-late 60s, dressed in a bright green turtleneck, strolled across the floor to his rig and began calibrating or whatever one has to do to a pile of oscillators and beat machines to prepare them for a performance.
The Silver Apples are Simeon now. He manipulates bass and melody sound oscillators over drum tracks, and sings: that’s the sound of The Silver Apples in 2008. After listening to some of their records recently, I’ve come to really appreciate the late Danny Taylor’s drumming. He lays down a hardcore breakbeat jazz style that really propels the monotonous vocals and bleeps and bloops. But the music is essentially electronic music and the last thirty years of music has proven that a drummer isn’t absolutely necessary. The lack of a drummer has actually transformed the Silver Apples sound into what it inspired: electronic dance music. It’s fitting to see one of the pioneers of electronic music performing this way to the city that basically took what he was doing eons ago and went crazy with it.
Simeon played for exactly an hour and politely declined an encore; this isn’t exactly encore-type music. He performed a lot of the ‘hits’ like Oscillations and I Don’t Care What the People Say and did a handful of new compositions. In the middle of the set, about twenty people got on stage a danced their freaky, uninhibited dances. I went back to the merch table and bought the only Apples vinyl available: a limited press of 1000 called Selections from the Early Sessions. I then went up to Simeon’s rig and snapped a picture of it just before he went up to it to tear it down. I said, “Thanks, man.” “It’s a pleasure,” said Simeon.
Click Below for information about the Selections record, some audio of the show, and pictures.
By Max Conroy
The enigmatic and visionary electronic ‘band’ The Silver Apples will perform tomorrow night at Scrummage University. I don’t know anything about the venue and was handed a flyer for the show, which is a photocopy of a primitive pen and ink drawing, by a group of teenagers that I befriended at the Jandek performance in Ann Arbor.
The Silver Apples formed in New York in 1967, consisting of Simeon Coxe III (Simeon) and Danny Taylor, drums. The duo were in a band called The Overland Stage Electric Band prior to the Apples, where band members rapidly left the group as a result of Simeon’s incorporation of a 1940s vintage audio oscillator, leaving the two. Simeon developed a homemade instrument, the Simeon, consisting of “nine audio oscillators piled on top of each other and eighty-six manual controls to control lead, rhythm, and bass pulses with hands, feet, and elbows”(from the liner notes of their first album). They recorded a self-titled album, released in 1968 on Kapp Records that barely cracked the top 100 and the follow up, Contact, in ‘69. They toured to support Contact and recorded another album in 1970, but it was shelved when Kapp was devoured by MCA. This third record would eventually be released as Garden in 1998. The band dissolved as a result of Kapp folding and lay dormant for the next twenty-five years.
The Apples were brought back to life in 1994 when a German label TRC began issuing bootlegs of their first two records, causing a long-awaited rebirth of interest in their music. The original records eventually were officially reissued, they toured (Coxe and a multi-instrumentalist named Xian Hawkins), and released several singles and albums in the late 90s that received favorable press. In 1999 their tour van was involved in an accident that broke Simeon’s neck. He’s been recovering since, but will probably never fully recover the movement of his hands, so apparently his performance is a bit more direct now. Danny Taylor died of a heart attack in Kingston, New York in 2005. Simeon went back on the road as a solo version of the Silver Apples in 2007 and is supposed to still put on a good show.
This music must have been totally unpalatable in the late 60s, but it absolutely presaged the future of music and the advent of electronic music, from bands like Suicide and Kraftwork in the 70s to Detroit to Radiohead.
Oscillations:
I Don’t Care What the People Say:
From Pitchfork: Better bring some extra cash to these shows, as Mr. Silver Apples will be peddling both a tour-only ChickenCoop Recordings LP of remastered tunes entitled Selections and a new Gifted Children Records EP called Gremlins at the merch table.
by Cousin Geoff
I picked up the latest issue of Waxpoetics today, came home and read it pretty much cover to cover, so I was in a different sort of frame of mind tonight. Reading that makes you want to reach a little further. Suddenly, the common stuff doesn’t sound appealing at all. Not really even James Brown, which seems to always satisfy something. You read about a boogie-funk DJ from California and get a glimpse of his collection and the mind behind assembling a collection like that, and you realize how far you can take record collecting.
The problem for me and Justin is we have to make money. That’s why the majority of stuff that we come across that is super rare tends to end up being sold, landing in collections that I read about and envy. But, you know, every now and then we take a few good ones home for our own personal collections. But like Max alluded to in a previous post, there’s just so much music that most records I take home I give a quick one-sided listen to and file away.
So tonight, after reading WP, I really wanted to dig deep. I went through my rows and crates and pulled out about a dozen or so fairly obscure records that I hadn’t listened to in a while and lined them up next to the turntable, laptop ready to record. I had such a strong craving for exactly the sound I wanted that most of them didn’t get very far. I came close to writing about Tower of Power’s first record on the tiny San Francisco record label, but the one record that beat them all was The Spirit of Atlanta’s LP “The Burning of Atlanta”, released in 1973 on the Buddah label.
Produced by legendary composer/producer/arranger Thomas Stewart and backed by a ton of Atlanta session players, “Burning” is just an all-out assualt of the funk senses. It’s a grand orchestra of high energy soul.
listen to Freddie’s Alive and Well:
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.
By Max Conroy
On Saturday, May 17th Jandek played a free concert at the University of Michigan’s Lydia Mendelssohn Theater. The show was sponsored by WCBN-FM (88.3 on your FM dial), the student-run station of the University, booked by Brendt Rioux, and featured James Cornish on trumpet, Christian Matjias on harpsichord, and Biba Bell on vocals and improv dance. Apparently this was the first Jandek performance to feature live improv dancing. Jandek played hollow body bass and sang. This is what’s known.
This is what’s unknown: the identity of Jandek, the aim of his endeavors, and virtually everything about the production and meaning behind his music. Jandek has put out fifty-three albums in thirty years. The records range from atonal bluesy folk to thirty minute vocal-only tracks and some feature other musicians most likely (even though he does overdub tracks). The lyrical content of his songs are most definitely poetic in nature, possibly autobiographical, and definitely surreal, causing people to speculate as to whether or not this is a sort of diary of a person suffering from mental illness or records to be enjoyed as such, art for art’s sake.
There are only a handful of people who have ever spoken to or communicated with Jandek; and in these instances, the person is known only as a “representative of Corwood Industries.” Corwood Industries is Jandek’s record label and in his only recorded interview, by John Trubee for Spin in 1985, featured on YouTube and as an extra on the Jandek on Corwood DVD, he discloses that he is the “sole proprietor” of Corwood, which has maintained the same PO Box in Houston since 1978. All of his records and DVDs are purchased directly from Corwood/Jandek, cheaply, and none are sold to record stores or libraries. Jandek also mentions in that interview that at the time he was working as a machinist and living in Houston, Texas. The name on the copyright information for Jandek’s records in the Library of Congress is Sterling Richard Smith, born in Rhode Island in 1945 (he mentions Rhode Island in several songs). He originally recorded one record under the name The Units and sent his record to radio stations and record stores, and was forced to change the name when a guy whom he sent the record to in San Francisco threatened to sue him as that was the name of his band. As a result he wanted to find a name that no one could possibly have, so he ended up speaking to a fellow named Dekker in January and came up with Jandek.
The more that I research Jandek, the more his history or what he’s illuminated for us seems to be the creation of a highly intelligent, very sane person, very similar to the way a novelist comes up with material culled from his past, subconscious, and ability to tell a convincing story. Before his days as Jandek, he allegedly wrote seven novels, which he burned after being rejected by publishers. He tells Trubee that, “I put out a product, and that’s it. I don’t want to get too involved.” This smells like bullshit to me, but very good bullshit.
A very Large group of over 200 rare promo 45s, again from 1970. This is a continuation of the collection of radio promo 45s that end today. Some of the highlights of this auction are another copy of Jupiters’ Children, Gracious!, Maypole, Avatar, Iota, Mike Wallace, The Flame, Broken Arrow, Rod Evans, Novelty, Freada Wallace, Loose, Danny & The Mexicans, Pastor Brothers, Jimmy Chapel, Sean McLeod, and Kiss Inc. There are also a couple more soul 45s missed last week including Chic Walker. This batch has some real rare stuff that is on the side of unknown, so as always please ask to hear some sound clips ad I will get them up.
by Cousin Geoff
Alright, one more fantastically awesome 80s Detroit sports 45 and then I promise I’m done for a while and will go back to more, um, serious takes on good music. Maybe.
What can I say about this 45? It was done by Gino Danelli in 1981, the same guy who put out Ain’t No Stoppin’ us Now/Tigers in ‘84. Cousin Justin tells me that Gino still sings around Detroit these days. I think that Gino’s next song should be about Cousins Vinyl’s rec league basketball team that was so sweet two years ago - we led the league in techs, ejections, and illegal alley-oop dunks. We were surely on the same level as these other Detroit sports legends that Gino chose to sing about.
This one is about Thomas Hearns, one of the most legendary Detroit boxers ever. Nicknamed The Hitman, or the Motor City Cobra, Hearns still lives in the Detroit area, and is always at the Pistons games these days flashing around. I shook his hand there once. I said, “Howya doin’ champ!”, as he walked by and he stopped and shook my hand and smiled. What a great boxer - even though he lost, who could forget his classic fight against Marvelous Marvin Hagler, the most electrifying fight in history? Known for his tall, lanky build and his aggresive flicker jab, Hearns won world championships in three different weight classes, and is truly worthy of a Gino Danelli song.
listen to The Hitman, on Trio Three records:
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.
by Cousin Justin:
Up this week we end our run of early rock and roll and Rockabilly 45’s and LP’s with a solid group of Doo-Wop 45’s. Most of these are well cared for and in good condition for their age. I wanted to highlight one of the most interesting 45s for our loyal readers. As the long ass title clearly shows, this 45 is on Jake “Vernon” Porter’s Combo Label. Allmusic has a great Bio of Jake, and they start it by saying “Hipsters seeking a good example of “a swinging cat who made the scene” don’t need to look any further than this artist”, pretty glowing praise. His major songwriting credit is ”Ko Ko Mo (I Love You So)”, recorded by a lot of people. Jake is also credited with releasing Johnny “Guitar” Watson’s first 45. Both sides of this 45 were written by Porter and Gene Ford, lead singer of The Chanters. Gene was no longer a member of the group during the Deluxe Records period of their recording carrer. No No No on Deluxe hit #9 on the R&B Charts in 1961, three years after it was originally released. The lead during the Deluxe years was Bud Johnon Jr., father of Albert Johnson aka Prodigy, and half of the Rap Duo Mobb Deep. This 45 is a follow-up to one of Combo’s biggest hits “Why/Watts” from ‘54.
I Love You is the A side and a down tempo ballad. With such repetative lyrics I am sure a few of you will have it caught in your head for a few days. If you do go around singing it, you will probably get lucky.
The double AA side of the 45 features Ethel Brown on lead and Brother Woodman’s combo shows why they get the largest billing with this track. So if you got yourself a Hot Mamma play the flip and maybe she will cool down a bit.
by Cousin Geoff:
Detroit’s Roostertail Club, overlooking Lake St. Clair and Belle Isle on the upper turn of the Detroit river racetrack, was established in 1958 by Joe Schoenith. The club was super hot in the 60s where garage bands and soul groups would play to crazed, dancing young hipsters, and quickly became one of the most well-known and exciting places to be. The Roostertail hosted such performers as Tony Bennett, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, local soul and garage acts who were making a splash on the national scene, and all the big Motown groups.
The Four Tops recorded a legendary live album there in 1966 in the new glassed-out upper deck, but they weren’t the first band to grace the new digs. That honor would go to the garage/house band The Four Sharps, who put out their lone single on Gale Recording Enterprises in 1965. Soul singer DeAnne James recalls the Four Sharps, (via this Soulful Detroit thread):
“The first band in the upper deck was the Four Sharps’ Russ on guitar, Frank Bias on drums, Ronnie Godo on organ and I can’t remember the bass player. I was the feature vocalist (DeAnne James). that was the summer of 1965. We traveled to Chicago to find a replacement band and found a trio playing at a record hop in the suburbs. Tom and Jerry Schoenoff paid for the trip to find the trio. The Roostertail was only a couple miles from where I lived and the brothers treated me great. The place was beautiful. I have great memories of the Roostertail…”
Following this someone mentions that they have the 45, U-44/Doin’ The Roostertail, on Gale Recording Enterprises, and the songwriting credit is given to R. Sweets. She replies:
“That’s Russ Sweets. My goodness I sang backgound on u-44….”u-40 forty four.” I think that was the number of the race boat that Jerry Schoenoff (owner) raced in the Hydroplane races during the 60’s. Gale was the name of the corporation that started the Roostertail. The father of the twins owned Gale Electric…that was the money source I believe. You guys are incredible.”
I was also excited to read in the thread someone else thanking the owner of the 45 for providing info on a virtually unknown label and record. Luckily I was able to find a copy to be able to share with you.
listen to Doin’ The Roostertail:
by Cousin Geoff, featuring guest writer Ameritape John:
508 Maus Street in Ypsilanti, former home of Pathway label
I got an email the other day from a guy named John who said that he had read one of my previous posts about the Ypsilanti gospelgrass label Pathway. I’ve written about The Smith Family Sings Your Gospel Favorites LP, and Carl and Evert’s I Have Found The Way 45. John may be one of a handful of Pathway followers out there, excited as I was when I stumbled onto one of their records and became strangely obsessed with the 1960s lo-fi off-tune religious music from Ypsilanti, Michigan. John may be one of the few people in the world who is actually more into Pathway than I am. He gave me permission to publish this piece he wrote for a UK record collecting mag, where he attempts to explain the sacred/weird localistic significance and also provides additional info on other Pathway LPs.
Another concept to consider here is the idea of collecting and searching for “deep” gospelgrass, as opposed to the much more popular digging for rare funk, soul, garage, hip-hop, ect. This “Xian” genre that John refers to is something I’ve also taken an interest in, like my post on The Pathway Quartet out of Sandusky, Ohio. There’s something about this primitive religious music that takes on some sort of an intriguing local, cultural, and almost psychedelic aspect. The thing is, I’m not sure if I even want to publish this. I like being able to find an seemingly endless supply of these records at garage sales and local salvation armys, passed over and passed over, as few people are actually into it like me and John. Like he says, most people don’t even want to talk about it, much less search for it (although I can see some UK folks, some of our best customers and really the heavyweights of record collecting, start getting into it). Nevertheless, it’s a great concept to explore. As Max pointed out in a conversation today and John alludes to, Pathway seems to be very much the essence of what punk rock is, but instead of drugs or booze or fuck the man it’s about Jesus and getting into heaven. And all this coming from the homemade basement recording studio of 508 Maus Street in Ypsilanti.
More Island Music To Get Me Through The Michigan Winter!
I know, it’s another post about reggae/calypso music. But my broke-ass can’t afford to go on vacation anywhere warm, so I’m stuck in my basement in Ypsilanti. Digging through my reggae records is the next best thing!
I’ll share a couple of interesting ones. First off is Soul Sam doing The Doors’ Light My Fire off my Swing Easy Studio One rocksteady comp. I don’t know anything about Soul Sam, he isn’t even in my Rough Guide To Reggae reference book, which has all kinds of obscure, semi-important Jamaican artists. Soul Sam was probably like many of the Jamaican musicians, including the young Bob Marley and The Wailing Wailers, who tuned their radios to the far off sounds of Florida stations playing American Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll music. The traditional Jamaican calypso sound was already there, and ska began as their interpretation to these American sounds, with the unique emphasis on the upbeat. Ska evoloved into rocksteady around 1966 or 1967 (see my post on Phyllis Dillon for a good example of this genre), which preceded reggae.
Soul Sam was apparently into The Doors, and he does like a Jamaican rocksteady garage version of Light My Fire and it ends up sounding pretty cool. Of all the great songs on this compilation, this was one of the stand out tracks, and definitely the most intriguing.
Listen to Soul Sam’s Light My Fire:
The next song I’ve got for you is sort of a follow up to the last post I did when I paid tribute to Caribbean bands and talked about the The Igniters doing No Woman No Cry. As I was digging around in my reggae section at home I came across my Gemini Brass Band album titled The Time Is Right, and I remembered how much I liked it. I hadn’t listened to it for a long time, but I put it on and my 4 month old daughter started making noise and smiling and bouncing around so I figured it was worth putting on the site.
The Gemini Brass Band is total high energy. They pack a full lineup: guitar, conga, bass, organ, 3 trumpets, 2 trombones, drums, timbale, and a vocalist. They are from Trinidad and Tobago. Andy Seebaran assures us on the back cover that “there are many good bands in the Caribbean, but with it’s unique renditions and tempos, GEMINI BRASS can outplay them all.” He also adds “We are all one people”. The band was formed in 1965, and this is their first album. I love it: it’s crazy and fast and funky. One of my favorite tracks off the album is their version of Jackie Wilson’s Higher and Higher. Go organ go!
Listen:
A Great Version of No Woman No Cry With No Guitar
I really get a kick out of Caribbean steel bands. Cuz Justin does too, and has a little collection of them. They usually show up at Salvation Armys or garage sales when digging or buried in the back of a collection that has nothing else similar. The majority of the albums found around Michigan can be probably explained by when a couple is on a cruise or tropical vacation, and the steel band comes out and plays, and someone, after 7 or 8 margaritas feels inspired to buy the album. And a lot of them are signed, as my copy of The Igniters Steel Band, “Jump Up” LP is, by all six members execpt for the lead tenor Stanley Warner. One of them writes, “To Karen and Dan, Thank You. Please Come Back Soon.”
These albums are always hit or miss. They seem to be all over the place. The reason is that they’re mostly trying to sell records to a white American tourist crowd. So you get a lot of weird covers, steel band style, for example for whatever reason Neil Diamond songs are done a lot. On this record, they play some pop ballads and even some Beethoven. Their lineup: single lead tenor, double lead tenor (leader), bass, drums, cello, and rhythm pan.
Justin and I have looked at the cover of many of these albums and the photos of these musicians in wondered in awe how good the album would be if they could just play whatever they wanted, played the real music they play for themselves. Half the time these records are a bit of a dissapointment. There are a few diamonds in the rough though, if you search long enough, and sometimes, in this case, the entire album makes up for itself with one good song.
In this case, it’s The Igniters doing a version of Bob Marley’s No Woman No Cry, one of the more unique versions I have heard. The LP was recorded in 1976, during the peak years of the Island label for the Wailers, around the time that the Live! album came out. This song has been covered by a number of like-minded artists. Off the top of my head, a couple of my favorite versions are Bunny Wailer off his Tribute album (which I definitely recommend picking up), and Wyclef off the Fugees Score album.
What makes The Igniters take on it unique is that there is no guitar (the rhythm pan takes it’s place)! Bob Marley’s two most well known recordings of this song are off The Natty Dread album, and then the one everyone knows, which was first found on the Live! album and then later on the Legend greatest hits album. Both songs feature a distinct guitar solo near the end - I can basically replay the whole thing note for note in my head. One of my favorite songs by one of the greatest song writers of all time. I remember No Woman No Cry just blowing me away when I first heard it around my freshman year in high school, it was the song that introduced me to Bob Marley, and I listened to it over and and over. But the Igniters do it right, even without the guitar, or even a drawn out solo with any instrument - it’s soulful, it’s meaningful to them, it’s the one spiritual song they do on the album. If I had to guess, if they could have done an album exactly they way they wanted to, there would have been more songs like this.
listen to No Woman No Cry:
