C6H8O6 - Linus Pauling Quartet (#2, 2003)

This album has some of my top Linus Pauling Quartet tunes - like "Bongfire," for instance! The LP4 discography page has tons o' fun for you & your family. C6H8O6 kinda closes out the Pinnacle Period of Linus: ca. 1997-2004, and is arguably their best record... (let's argue.)

Sorry for all the last.fm links. This one isn't very well represented in the streaming world, especially now that the promotional efforts are over. But the songs play (now), and jam they do.



"Cole Porter" from The 26th Commandment: Thou Shalt Expand Your Mind (1999)

Not the C6H8O6 version, but a live one from an earlier Ptolemaic Terrascope compilation.

Next up comes just more gravy. Groovacious "Brain", with recent return to stage, and "Thorn," which was written by Mike Switzer? The same who gave his name and story to "Bongfire" - technically titled "Switzer" in reality. Disco page reminds me about solo(s) courtesy of John Cramer - of The Mike Gunn (#5, 1993) and Project Grimm (#4, 1996) fame. Bonus singing saw via Shaun Kelly from Exterminating Angels (#17 Metallic, 2009) and Rotten Piece.

Outlandish rocker "La Tapatia" was brought back to live in a terrifying McRibtual (#13 Live Show, 2011).



"Airplane (Live from The Vault/KFJC)" from Ashes in the Bong of God (2000)

Not the C6H8O6 version, but a live bonus track from the Euro-vinyl release of an earlier Linus record. Hypno-Drone from the Dream-Dome. By the way, those last two videos & the tragically deleted "Bongfire" one were all made by Shaun Kelly of the singing saw.

To up the rock ante, Linus continues on with the two-fer blast of "Drunkest Man" and then "Cannonball." Man, I’ve seen a lot of these songs live recently - like, both of those.



"Hall of Mirrors" from C6H8O6 (2003)

Kraftwerk cover! Who woulda believed it?! I'll take a shot of that one live please.

O yeah, and the title? Vitamin C.

Genre - Heavy-Duty Space-Psych
Official - worshipguitars.org/LP4/
Facebook - facebook.com/Linus-Pauling-Quartet/
Myspace - myspace.com/linuspaulingquartet
Location - Houston, TX

Review - Aural Innovations
Download - Other LP4 at Amazon & on iTunes
Purchase - Discogs Marketplace

Benevolent Yule Tidings

I've done these for Hallowe'en and Thanksgiving, but totally forgot that I'd done one last Christmas!



"White Christmas (live)" by The Flaming Lips, from The Soft Bulletin tour (1999)

I caught this tour in Houston the following April 7th. I don't recall any special Tax Day covers, but a strong show all around (especially as a trio). O yeah, and it was in some small metal club in South Houston.

Obviously, with the Lips I could have picked any number of holiday cheer options: "Christmas at the Zoo," "Little Drummer Boy," a whole secret Christmas album (2007), "A Change at Christmas (Say It Isn't So)," "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" (w/ Sean Ono Lennon), "Silent Night," "It's Christmas Time Again" (really anything at all from the Christmas on Mars film, 2008), "What A Wonderful World," "Miracle on 42nd Street," et cetera... And that's not even touching on the many random Jesus songs.

[Edit: HA! Immediately after posting, I see on the Flaming Lips Facebook feed: "Here's the newly discovered Imagene Peise track, Christmas Kindness Song. Love." ... posted 15 mins ago.]



"Please, Daddy (Don't Get Drunk This Christmas)" by John Denver, from Rocky Mountain Christmas (1975)

Project Grimm played this song on Friday, wearing these creepy Christmas luchador masks. It was a bit more rockin' version...

The opening act covered Mariah Carey for some reason. Irony, I'm thinkin'.



"Troika/Romance" by Sergei Prokofiev, from the score for Lieutenant Kijé (1934)

Here's some 20th-century classical music from Prokofiev. You can watch the Soviet film at Archive.org.

I know that piece has been used in tons of winter movies, but I just read about Free Design's song "Kije's Ouija." Groovy! It's Love and Death (1975) I was thinking of - hilarious film.

Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads

At Austin Psych Fest, I bought a ltd-ed Spindrift CDr called Songs Born of The West: Cowboy Songs & Campfire Ballads (2012). One of 100 copies.



It's mostly covers of (very) old-school western songs, along with a couple of apparent originals. Here are some of the original versions, because none of the Spindrift material is on the web (yet)...



"Cool Water" by Vaughn Monroe & The Sons of The Pioneers (1948)

Spindrift credits someone different than YouTube - the songwriter, Bob Dolan.



"Wanderers of the Wasteland" by Gene Autrey (1937)

Probably my grandma's favorite singers there - Spindrift recognizes Johnny Bond on this one (not the songwriter).



"The Ballad of Paladin" by Johnny Western (1957)

Even I know this one, from the tv show "Have Gun - Will Travel." What I didn't know was that Gene Roddenberry wrote for the show.



"They're Hanging Me Tonight" by Marty Robbins (1959)

From the same album as both "Big Iron" and "El Paso" - plus a cover of Bob Dolan's "Cool Water" too!



"Navajo Trail" by Frankie Laine (1961)

Frankie Laine did a few of these tunes, plus the theme to "Rawhide" - Wikipedia info.



"Cowpoke" by Johnny Western (1961)

Johnny Western has a great name for this kinda material, don't you think? Don Walser also played this tune!



"The Wayward Wind" by Tex Ritter (1956)

John Ritter's dad no less! Anyway, the Spindrift versions are pretty respectful, with a minimum of hip modernity. Different, at least...

Remember A Time We Left

Maybe you like the psychedelic guitar space rock? Maybe you like the Hawkwind?


"Time We Left The World Today" - live at SHFL, July 5, 2009

Maybe you like Exterminating Angels?

Soundtrack Revival

Just a couple of unusual early-'80s OST cover tunes from some 12" EP's I picked up quite awhile ago. Used to have this first album posted via Lala, along with some other cool ltd. edition releases.



"In the Space Capsule (Love Theme)" from Hypnoticon EP (2010)

Yep, it's Hypnoticon from Teeth of the Sea (#9, 2009). Two recent posts for Rocket Recordings! I thought they were coming out with a full album this year, but haven't heard anything new since this one... This is the first cut, and they're covering Queen. Not the '70s heavy-glam watershed years, but the early-'80s soundtrack watershed years. (They also did the first Highlander.)



"In the Space Capsule (Love Theme)" from Flash Gordon OST (1980)

"Flash! Aa-ah..." Loved this movie back as a little kid. Soundtrack's really great, still. As the title suggests, this played after Flash and Dale stumble into Dr. Zarkov's rickety space capsule, which launches through the "imperial vortex," en route to the planet Mongo. And you know where that leads. Anyway, TOTS did some kind of live show playing along with the whole movie, and this one worked well enough to record.



More recently, I took a chance on a 12" club-style EP of electro artists covering John Carpenter. I only barely know about the guy who remixed this cover (Bottin), but I like Carpenter's ominous synth soundtrack music.


"Escape from New York" from John Carpenter Aspect (2010)

Along with "Christine" done by Architeq (?) and "Pork Chop Express" from Sare Havlicek (??), this one's the "Escape from New York" main theme by King DJ (???) - remixed by Bottin. Yeah, well... A little interesting. None of them quite do the man justice - especially with Zombi out there in the world, or the original.



"Main Title" from Escape From New York OST (1981)

Right?

Great Cover Song #620: Rev Family Stone

Meant to post this last night, but got busy... Mercury Rev has been an often-great band. But there at the very beginning, they made a joyful noise - fusing pop hooks, jazzy flutes, general weirdness, groovy experimentation, and lots and lots of distorted guitars. Originally considered a Flaming Lips offshoot, because Jonathan Donahue had played on In a Priest-Driven Ambulance, really it was his main band when he joined the Lips to help out. David Baker was their lead singer for two albums before leaving or getting the boot.


"If You Want Me To Stay" from Chasing a Bee EP (1992)

This is a "b-side" to the first single from their debut album, Yerself is Steam (1991): "Chasing A Bee" [see below]. I have the semi-rare Rough Trade cd of the full album, which unfortunately doesn't tack on "Car Wash Hair," another mind-blower. The Family Stone original has been covered a few other times, but this one's way out there! The third track on the cd-single is a set of 4 Yerself songs from their first Peel Sessions (8/27/1991). The totality of which was released a few months ago as The Complete Peel Sessions (2009). Also, if you like this stuff and don't own it - you might wanna look out for the Yerself is Steam/Lego My Ego 2xCD (2007), with bonus dvd of "Car Wash Hair" and this video:


"Chasing a Bee" from Yerself is Steam (1991)

I really need to get back to the historical Top 10's. I originally learned about Mercury Rev not through the Flaming Lips, but from a mixtape a friend sent me probably in early 1992. It included a bunch of new stuff, but Mercury Rev, Slint, Shockabilly and Chris Knox/Tall Dwarfs are the main ones I remember first being exposed to. And I need to get that tape back...

Three Who Would Slip Inside This House As You Pass By

Gearing up for '60s psych-garage-punk post upcoming, here are three covers of the 13th Floor Elevators classic, "Slip Inside This House."



Primal Scream from Screamadelica (1991)

Probably the most famous cover of this song. I picked up this cd on vacation in Colorado. Not bad, but I don't find myself listening it very much. This version was also on the excellent Roky benefit tribute comp Where The Pyramid Meets The Eye (1990).



On Trial from Head Entrance (1997)

More from Denmark's top-notch psych scene! On Trial covers 13th Floor, Baby Woodrose covers 13th Floor, members of both bands join up for Dragontears (#2, 2008). Who cover 13th Floor (live in that post)!!



Acid Tomb live at the Austin Psych Fest 3/8/2008

Austin's very own 13th Floor Elevators tribute band, including at least one guy from the band who backed Roky for last year's Houston show. By the way, Roky's coming back later this month!!

Best Cover Song #621: Sheshookme!

The news that pretty much the entire Pain Teens discography was available over at iTunes came as quite a shock! But not nearly as much as when I was listening to Born in Blood (1990) for the first time. The raucous rock crunch and industrial grind gave way to a woozy, dreamy... David Bowie cover?



The Man Who Sold The World (1972) had been the first real Bowie album I got into, and still finds a solid place in my listening rotation. It was really impressive that the Pain Teens went not only against their own indentifiable sound, but against that of the original which was bombastically rockin' out. Plus, it was The Pain Teens covering David Bowie!! And not some cheesy or ironic cover of "Changes" or "Rebel Rebel," a really awesomely original version of an obscure but favorite pre-glam album cut. Wow.

I'd still say Born in Blood is the tops for Pain Teens albums, although other records definitely have their peaks. Unfortunately, it looks like "She Shook Me" isn't among the iTunes. But I'm going to start supplementing my cassette and vinyl collection right off.

Where to begin though?!?! I remember Stimulation Festival (1992) being real quality, but the two-part Collective Unconscious, Mythology, & You (1989) is almost too intriguing...

Coversong #622: The Sonik Beatles

From a tribute compilation, Sgt. Pepper Knew My Father (1988), Sonic Youth's cover of George Harrison's sitar/violin "Within You, Without You"... in my opinion, the original album's centerpiece. It's not quite their threatened cover of The White Album in its entirety, to which Pussy Galore met the challenge with Exile on Main Street (1986, OOP). It's currently available on the deluxe 2xCD re-issue of Daydream Nation (1988), but has never been enough to get me to buy a 2nd copy.




So... that also reminded me of the Lucky Sperms' (Sonic Youth + Mike Watt) minimalist mash-up of "Tomorrow Never Knows/Glass Onion" (1991). It was the b-side to their Ecstatic Peace! single, with Daniel Johnston's "Walking the Cow." So, I went ahead and made a video for that - wait, which song am I talking about now?



Also, that's my own personal vinyl you're hearing there - over the interweb... We're living in the future!!

Greatest Cover Songs #623 NFA, GD, ATX, 71

Speaking of my previous failures at blogging, I once wrote on the Grateful Dead's 11/15/1971 show in Austin, TX [streaming]. Good show. Besides being a Texas show, it's known mainly for two things: the first-set "Dark Star > El Paso > Dark Star" [tracks 9-11] - a pretty crazy combination. That's a psychedelic trip into the cosmic void, enveloping a Marty Robbins tune... (~26 min)


But we're here to listen to the "Not Fade Away" [track 23 ff.], a pretty common Dead cover. One of a few Buddy Holly signature tunes, it was also an early Rolling Stones chestnut. The Grateful Dead trade a little of the Bo Diddley beat for something a bit more tribal, but typically use it as a launching pad for... something.


Here they break pretty far away, introduce bits and pieces of other Dead songs ("China > Rider"), delve into some high psychedelia, rave on, conjure a deep pulsating jam, then clear out down the folky road, and finally bring it all back to Buddy Holly again (~25 min). Within just a few years, even the Grateful Dead wouldn't still be jamming this way anymore, but this is what it was really all about: free-form, unpredictable, symbiotic interplay that makes the improvisation sound rehearsed. Not everyone's bag, I can dig it.


Actually, I just realized looking at the setlist, that it's a cornucopia of covers. "BIODTL" is Jesse Fuller. "El Paso." "Me & My Uncle" was written by Papa John Phillips. "Me & Bobby McGee" was written by Kris Kristofferson, popularized by Pigpen's buddy Janis Joplin. Hank Williams' "You Win Again." Buddy Holly... and the interpolation "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad" is an early-20th century Traditional. It's been covered by lots of people, including Woody Guthrie. And of course Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode," wellspring of rock-n-roll!