zippo magic for eskimos and UFO’s

columbia 45: DB8214more paisley pattern than you can shake a staff at A perfect 45. Peerless, and nearly 45 years since its original release, still wholly inimitable. Involving all the studio trickery that producer, Norman Smith could muster in the early summer of 1967, the real magic of “See Emily Play” is in the song

cross town traffic #2 & 3

Written by Chris Wood, Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi and Stevie Winwood. Produced by Jimmy Miller.Recorded At Olympic Sound Studios, London. The slightly truncated, original 45 version in fabulous, vintage livery mono. By the time the debut LP, “Mr. Fantasy” was released – sans this single and its follow-up, “Hole in my Shoe” – in December

damned damned damned

Written by Bryan MacLean.Produced by Arthur Lee and Bruce Botnik.Arranged by David Angel and Bryan MacLean. Arthur Lee: vocals, guitar;Johnny Echols: lead guitar; Bryan MacLean: rhythm guitar, lead vocals; Ken Forssi: bass.(Or. More accurately, the alternate 45 mix only availableon Rhino’s expanded 2001 release of “Forever Changes“.) ▼ LOVE: ALONE AGAIN OR from “Alone Again

in the court of mad arthur and the sheltering lee

I have just been revisited by the Jurassic seagull of mid-winter, tapping on my window with its great carved beak. A deranged Ptrenodon wrapped up in down. Condensation and evolutionary crumbs. Let us hear it for Arthur Lee and Love; the Jack Holzman produced demo of ” The Good Humour Man He Sees Everything Like

TA-DA!

Four minutes, give or take, of transcendental triumph or trash. Take your pick. This is where I pause and wish my wife many happy returns. Pounding on the keyboard while she sulks in the kitchen; not because I forgot her birthday – I didn’t – but because it is Sunday and I am pounding on

capricorn one

A Gerry Goffin & Carole King composition, of course, allegedly named after Pleasant Valley Way; a road in West Orange, New Jersey which stakes out a path from the heart of suburbia into the Watchung Mountains. Or so I am informed. Produced by Douglas Farthing Hatlelid(aka Chip Douglas).Mike Nesmith: lead guitar;Peter Tork: keyboards;“Fast” Eddie Hoh:

the pig’s whisker

london ‘swings‘. splice ice lollies and tizer fizz. A Robin Williamson composition; perhaps the most outstanding of those previously unreleased demos produced by Joe Boyd, and finally issued in 1997. Much of the material here was ultimately re-recorded for 1968’s magnificent “5,000 Spirits or the Layers of an Onion” and “Wee Tam & The Big

apostle of the strung-out

Figure 3-29.–Correct way to take out a kink in wire rope. kink |kɪŋk|noun a sharp twist or curve in something that is otherwise straight : a kink in the road.• figurative a flaw or obstacle in a plan, operation, etc. : though the system is making some headway, there are still some kinks to iron

interview with a soapdodger, charlatan and charismatic miscreant

let me introduce you to the family: “wanna buy a f@ckin’ lady bic ?” II One has to be careful… when picking up the soap. In many penitentiaries, it’s perhaps better not to bathe at all. If one can get away with it. An act of self-preservation well suited to those family values subsequently adhered

it’s a girl, mrs. walker

photography by david montgomery. Original recording produced by Kit Lambert at Kingsway studios, London in October 1967. These two, neither included on the final album remarkably – the second a Keith Moon composition – manage to sound even more like the Monkees than the Monkees. Some stellar syncopated drumming from Keith; a little Spanish Syd

domino effect

dragon lake, siberia. Curiously, in the aftermath of my deliberation on astral orbits, I awoke to learn that a US commercial satellite and an obsolete Russian sputnik had collided over the frozen wastes of Siberia. Domino effect – I hear – is what the physicists fear. You have heard this one before. Every time is

jackdaws and crows

jack•daw |ˌdʒakdɔː| noun a small, gray-headed crow that typically nests in tall buildings and chimneys, noted for its inquisitiveness. • Genus Corvus, family Corvidae: two species, in particular the Eurasian C. monedula. Jackdaws are very cool birds. Ferociously intelligent but not as obviously malefic as carrion crows or ravens. I am guessing they have a

peter’s trip

Paul Beaver: synthesizer; Michael Bloomfield: guitar;Harvey Brooks: bass; Marcus Doubleday: trumpet, flugelhorn;Barry Goldberg: organ, piano, harpsichord;Nick Gravenites: guitar, vocals; Bobby Notkoff: violin;Buddy Miles: percussion; Peter Strazza: saxophone. A cautiously representative sample from the score to the 1967 cinematic fest which was the love child of Peter Fonda and Jack Nicholson. Sidewalk was a subsidiary of

who is watching big brother ?

oz #3: may, 1967.“Strongly identified as part of the underground press, it was the subject of two celebrated obscenity trials, one in Australia in 1964 and the other in the UK in 1971. On both occasions the magazine’s editors were acquitted on appeal after initially being found guilty and sentenced to harsh jail terms.”Edited by

plan 9 from outer space

The Austin collective’s second release for International Artists – the same label responsible for inflicting Mayo Thompson’s fellow Texas Rangers, the Red Krayola on the record buying public – is yet more psychedelic hillbilly fare best known, perhaps, for the 8 minute plus joint Erickson and Hall opus, “Slip Inside This House“, opening side 1.

the exploding inevitable

Well, well. It appears our last jaunt to the trip receptacles secured little in the way of favourable comment. Or any comment at all, in fact. Since I am nothing if not contrary, I don’t for one second intend to allow that to impede us from alighting on a third trip. Look on it as

more sorcery

pablo picasso. Gabor Szabo: guitar; Jimmy Stewart: guitar; Louis Kabok: bass; Marty Morell: drums; Hal Gordon: percussion. A huge performance from the 31 year old Sazabo, recorded live at The Jazz Workshop, Boston on April 14th-15th, 1967. Produced by Bob Thiele; engineered by Ed Begley. ▼ GABOR SZABO: LOS MATADOROS from “More Sorcery” LP (Impulse!)

mayo: hurricane fighter plane

mayo thompson. or the bad lieutenant. Texas calling. I am standing in line. I am on the way to a second coronary. The bitch with the smudged mascara and tobacco stained teeth sneers at me over greasy stainless steel and goes for the tried and tested cock-shrink script: “You want mayo with that ?“ No.

twin shades of whiter than pale

both sides of the atlantic, 1967, “leaving for the coast“. Memphis boys, The Box Tops were nominated for two Grammy Awards in 1967: the first, ‘Best Vocal Group Performance’, for their 45, “The Letter” but also – perhaps less well remembered – ‘Best Contemporary Group Performance’ for their cover of Procol Harum’s “A Whiter Shade

good morning…

dublin southside, 2008. photograph by barry. “Nothing to do to save his life, call his wife in. Nothing to say but what a day; how’s your boy been ? Nothing to do, it’s up to you, I’ve got nothing to say but it’s O.K.” – Lennon & McCartney. Except. Underneath Mr. Martin’s shiny production excesses