Mongo Santamaria Band "Watermelon Man" 45

The label of this 45 caught my eye right away. Loved it. Basic but effective. Mongo Santamaria doing his Herbie Hancock cover B/W "Don't bother me know more". Almost everyone is familiar with "Watermelon Man" and Mongo plays it prety straight forward with a little shouting added in and a little messing with the tempo in the chorus.
The flipside is a latin groover with a nice bassline.
Some records you buy cause you know the artist or song title. This I bought just on the strength of the logo on the label and I got lucky.

James Brown Olympia 1966

A slightly longer clip, but damn check out the footwork!

Friday Cycling Action

SC Coppi-Bartali stage went to Robert Foster on a course that got shortened due to rain and cold. Several riders packed it in including Tyler. One more day for either Scarponi or Rogers to try and steal the top step from Luca Pierfelici.

Castilla y Leon wrapped up with the stage going to Ventoso and overall to Contador. 2 riders who are having break out seasons. Good race for Saunier Duval who got 2nd and 3rd overall as well as some stage wins with Ventoso. After these wins in shorter races the attention and pressure will probably fall onto Contador for a high placing in the Vuelta.........

Criterium International starts tomorrow and I will throw down an overall winners podium comprised of Shleck,Kloden, and Valjavec.

Same thing for the Belgian semi Classic E3... Everyone's favorite misfit VDB will be in the hunt. With Bettini and Boonen at the start this might herald the start of their competition for glory in the North. The domestics are stacked 100% Belgian and Dutch. This will be an interesting couple of weeks for Quickstep. If they overcome internal rivalries they will be tough to beat, if they don't they open the door to all the other teams. I say the podium will be Ballan,Boonen, and O'Grady(I am goint to keep betting on him. He has to win something this spring)

9 days til the Tour of Flanders and 16 til Paris Roubaix. Cancellara has ben quiet this season can he go again at PR? Boonen and Ballan have to be favorites. I still am pulling for a big win for Stuey O'Grady -if not one of the big 2 how about Ghent-Whelvegam? Bettini? Hard to say, but I don't think he will get Flander this year.
Props to Brad Huff who scored the first US medal in track racing in a longtime. Bronze in the Omnimum event.

Ruby Andrews "Gotta Breakaway" 45

A nice 45 from the prolific Ruby Andrews. "Gotta Breakaway" is a standard love song, but with an interesting arrangement. The flipside is the killer.
"You Ole Boo Boo You" is a slow burning funk monster. Slow down the "Freddie's Dead" groove and add in a harmonica and drum molasses breakdown and you've got the making of an unstoppable track. When the organ and strings kick in, it just pushes it over the top. Imagine "It's your thing" on 33.
Zodiac Records.

Skip Henderson 45 Cape Cod Country????

Found this one in the Goodwill and it was a quarter well spent. A country label from Hyannis? Skip Henderson and the Armarillo Band give you "Now is the time for leavin" B/W "Nashville Lights on Scrimshaw Records who have an excellent whale logo. Whales and country? Makes sense right? A side, is standard honky tonk heartbreak. An uptempo hit the road anthem. Vocals and harmonica overpower the music which chugs along competently. "Nashville Lights" is the story of guitar picker trying to make a living. Not terrible, but not memorable honky tonk fare. I would imagine they played a lot of covers where ever the played.
Neat record, good enough to make me stop by Bud's Country Lounge the next time I'm on the Cape and ask some old guy at the bar if Skip ever played there. If being the Cape's premier country bar isn't reason enough for you to go visit, remember they had at least one crucial hardcore show back in 85 or 86. You remember right? Crash Course/Ghoul Squad and the Freeze or was it Ganglion? You probably bought a copy of United Rights fanzine and skated the railroad track in the JiffyLube parking lot
This could trigger a whole series of Cape Cod Indy and private press releases. Well a series of at least one "live at Johnny Yees" album and maybe a "live at the lighthouse" by some other guy who played piano at a hotel bar in West Dennis.

Gettin Soulful

The cover of this reminds me of a line I just heard on the new Redman "I got chest hair that looks like taco meat". Vampisoul is bringing you 21 tracks of soul. Heavy emphasis on the Latin end of their catalog, but track after track of obscure funky soulful nuggets. This has got a ton of big names (Willie Bobo,Cal Tjader, Fania All Stars, Joe Bataan, Mongo Santamaria,etc) Willie Henderson name checks a whole lot of dances I haven't heard of on "Break your Back". Joe Bataan drops a rocking latin funk jam called "Chick-a-boom" that is real nice. Erma Franklin lays down the law on "Gotta find me a lover". Cal Tjader takes you into space for "Solar Heat" a nice rare-groover. Lenni Sesar drops a nice full orchestra "Morris Park" that swings like an Oliver Nelson Verve record. Is Johnnie Colon the man responsible for the eletric slide? I can't say, but he does drop "Line Dance" on this comp. Israel "cachoa" Lopez drops a honking salsa track "Es Diferente". Irakere drop a proggy latin jam called "38 1/2". Finishing it off is an organ driven James Brown meets the frat house classic called "Squeeze it Tight" by Coss Nostra.
Totally recommended unless you have an aversion to latin grooves
Buy this and it saves you the time and trouble of mixing a killer party tape -just don't look directly at the cover....

Les McCann Invitation to Openness

The cover art and title should help prepare you for the 3 tracks on this LP. 3 tracks give Les and friends room to stretch out. Some seriously expansive 1972 shit. Spacey more than raging. Songs based on his life stories which he shared with the musicians. Les even took the cover photo himself. Yusef on flute and 2 guitar players. 5 guys on drums and percussion including Bernard Purdie. "The Lovers" takes up side one and is an expansive and rambling journey. More soundscape than song, but it has it's moments. If you are going to take up an entire side of an album with one track, I would prefer it was a little more intense.
"Beaux J Poo Boo" opens side 2 and the title makes me think of some goof on "Beautiful Shit" Les's liner notes say it is "montage of all the pieces of my life, that have made me who I am". Starts out with a subtle groove and then kind of gels into a spacey ambient jam. "poo pye McGoochie" is up next and again reminds me of some kind of veiled fecal reference, but I guess i am just immature. This one starts out trippy and quiet with just keys and builds a nice groove with some synth noodling. Comes back to a more earth bound groove when the Sax kicks in.
I like my grooves a little more straight ahead, but I have total respect for the records Atlantic was putting out during this period that were totally driven by the artists vision -think Yusef or Roland Kirk. I doubt I will grab for this too frequently, but for a buck it is a worthwhile acquisition. Sample geeks and DJ nerds could probably harvest a lot of sounds form this one.

Thursday cycling news Karpets Kracks

In Castilla y Leon, Discovery's new powerhouse Contatdor gets the stage and race lead as Karpets cracks and the whole GC get shook. That should be the decisive move as the race wraps up tomorrow.
DeLuca snatches a stage win at SC Coppi-Bartali. No real change in GC with 2 days left to race. Mick Rogers from Telekom could move up as should Scarponi who only needs 2 seconds to get the race lead. Hamilton finished down 15 and moved to last place on GC at 38 minutes back. He will surely be a threat at the Giro-if he is lucky he might be able to muster a "heroic" breakaway or two before he drifts into obscurity.

Not cycling related, but Willy Mo Pena's OCD issues with a bat are worth checking out here.

Gone but not forgotten.....

God Damn
I realize I have been pretty lazy and posting a lot of video. More rock by the weekend-including Krishna Rock 11,12 and the next installments of the cycling record series.
The horm section is dressed up like Star Trek extras.

Wed Cycling Notes

LeBron James buys an "ownership stake" in Cannondale???? Because cycling is something he does for training and he likes to invest in what he knows.... OK,Warren Buffet.

Karpets holds the lead in Leon. 2 stages left with a lot of climbing. should be a slug fest.

Pavel Brut holds the lead at SC Coppi-Bartali with the Scarponi grabbing the stage. Scarponi seemed on the verge of breaking into the big leagues a few years ago. Don't worry Hamilton Haters, he finished 21 minutes down. I don't know why but I am loving this Pavel Brut. Like the name and like the pasty almost albino euro style.....

Boonen must have the Specialized people shitting after the back pain due to new bike stories coming out around MSR. Is it possible that with Carbon Fibre's light weight that bikes are being over built at the BB just cause you can do it with no weight penalty? and is that making things too damn stiff? If a frame is too uncomfortable for a pro, how will you feel after a couple hours? So for the meantime they have him on an aluminum frame??? Either way he wins Dwars door Vlaanderen today. O'Grady in 3rd-he is lurking around the front of the big races and I hope he can grab a big win in April.
More Belgian action later this week with E3 Prijs Vlaanderen on the 31st.
Criterium International as well starts on the 31st
Bjarne Riis's reply to the Telekom EPO rumours wasn't so believable. "I didn't know him well and am focusing on the future" more or less. How about "That is Bull Shit" or something a little more clear. At least Zabel stays clear.
Boston Beanpot's Tufts Crit is on April Fool's Day. This is a crazy technical race where 2/3 of the field usually gets eliminated. Fun to watch.

Glenn Danzig Interview-

Massive repsect to Can't stop the bleeding blog for bringing this to light

http://www.cantstopthebleeding.com/

Stephen Marley

Ramsey Lewis Wade in the Water LP

Cadet Records 10 songs. "Wade in the Water" is a Northern Soul classic and has a wicked groove, but Ramsey Lewis seemed to be too nerdy or straight or mainstream for most jazz cats. According to Les Carter on the liner notes, "Jazz,rock, and blues are all intermingled in the best Ramsey Lewis tradition". This LP has got a bunch of pop covers on it. 1966. Marvin Gaye's "Aint that Peculiar" gets a work over by Ramsey, his piano working over time to mimic the Marvin's vocal melodies. Tobacco Road is up next and takes a more low key approach which works the "Wade in the Water" groove well.
He opens up side 2 going after Stevie Wonder, "Uptight" gets an extended workout. And while not quite as visceral as Little Eva Harris, it is well done and could add to a Stevie Wonder Megamix. "Hold it Right There" is a catchy stripped down track with some background hoots and hollers that give it a bar room classic feel. Ramsey can always count on the Beatles to give him something to work with and he goes at "Daytripper" next. A full band arrangement with horns and slight latin feel. Nice.
He finishes off strong with "hurt so bad". 4/10 killer is not a strong buy rating but if the price is right how can you resist?

This weeks races

In Europe Castilla y Leon opened yesterday with a ITT. I thought the time differences might be more severe, but the top 20 is within 30 seconds. Vladmir Karpets gets the win and Discovery has most of the team in the top 20, so a Disco vs Caisse D'Espargne battle seems likely. Karpets euro mullet must have acted as a fairing.
Ventoso from Saunier Duval got the stage but the top ten remains Caisse D'Espargne vs Discovery. Should remain a slugfest until it wraps on Friday.

Settimana Ciclistica kicked off with a split stage today. Pavel Brutt of Tinkoff takes the lead, but Lotto smoked the field in a TTT. Tyler is in the race barely, looks like he got dropped by the team during the TTT and is sitting . Maybe I take too much pleasure in his struggles to return to the pro peleton, but it could be reminiscent of when Giambi had to go off his special medicine for awhile and stunk... who knows. Weather was rough all day.

Criterium International and a couple Belgian races coming up later in the week.
12 days til Tour of Flanders
18 days til Paris Roubaix.........

Skinhead Moonstomp - Reggae 1970

Where did this come from?

Dellie Hoskie Clown 45 on Noble

"How much can a man take" B/W "the clown" on Noble Records. Dellie Hoskie and Their Natural Selves. "How much can a man take" is a Otis style tearjerker ballad. "the clown" on the flip is a funkier dancer. Guitar is a little thin and the production is a little rough, but it all works. Killer track on the border of soul and funk. Both songs for some reason have a Rolling Stones feel to me. Originally from Connecticut(?), he appears to be in Virginia currently. Couldn't track down too much info. Buy it for the B-side alone and you should be happy. Track would have sounded at home on a Barnyard Soul comp.

His career was pretty low key and 30 years after this single he dropped a new album 3 years ago and had a site back then. A quick google search will indicate he was super active on message boards a few years ago hyping his album. Dellie says this track went Gold!

Iconoclast on Flipside Records

I knew Flipside put out a record by this band, but was not familiar with them. I vaguely thought they looked like Conflict, but they fell through the cracks for me. Flex Discog says this came out in 85.
"Battlefields/Thins of Beauty" is peace punk filtered through OC Goth/Deathrock (TSOL/Adolescents/45 Grave). Over the top and a little goofy 20 years later. Mid Tempo and brooding with some keyboards. "In these times" also brings to mind Beantown's Proletariat. The music is way more proto indie rock than Motorhate bombast. "Prisoner of Existence" is the track for the punx. A Conflict/Motorhead worthy rager.
"In these times" is the stand out track. Definitely a band pushing the boundaries of what "punk" sounded like in 85 -3 tracks, 3 different styles. Not bad.
Labels were on the wrong side on my copy-don't know if that was the case for the whole pressing. Got this for a quarter at Dynamite Records in Northampton. Not bad.

Les McCann Comment LP

There is something so desirable about Atlantic LPs from the late 60s and early 70s. The high gloss LP covers, classic logo. You know even if the record isn't killer, it will look good on the shelf. Whenever I see one in a record bin, I want to take it home, and if the price is right I usually do. I remember even being psyched to buy a bunch of water damaged Ornette LPs-even with the water damage the Atlantic covers looked tight. Now remember my Les McCann and Roberta Flack obsession (compared to what, et al) and it is no surprise I snatched this up on sight.
Roberta Flack breaks down the liner notes on this 1970 release, that has Les taking the mike and belting them out. 7 tracks. Some of the usual suspects for a Roberta Flack/McCann record are here -Ron Carter, Billy Cobham. I guess these are "soul jazz" or something which lets them run the spectrum from soul to funk to ballads to abstract art stuff. Overall this record is pretty straight ahead.
"Can't we be strangers again" is a heart rending ballad in the southern soul style with great female backing vocals. "What I call soul" is has got a killer groove and is about a road trip so how could you not love it. Ron Carter keeps this one moving on the bass and gets name checked on the fade out which is tight.
Comment opens and dominates side 2, a real expansive Marvin Gaye style "what's going on" track or maybe a John Lennon "Imagine" concept. Except with a big choir for back ups. He is telling the "fuddy duddys" what is up. Nice. Especially when Brother Billy comes in on guitar. A totally kick ass tune. Roberta steps up on "Baby,Baby" and Les might not be Donny Hathaway, but it is a good ballad none the less-especially when you realize it was written by some of Les's piano students!
For me it's 3/7 killer with 2 clunkers and 2 OK tracks. But grab it for the 3 killers and you won't worry about the other ones-if your drunk enough the ballads will be nice.
One of the best things about being a record collecting nerd, is that if you had told me 4 years ago that I would be loving all this Roberta Flack/Les McCann stuff, I would have laughed at you, but here I am. Who knew?

3 45s from the Groove Merchant Label

2 45s from Jimmy McGriff and 1 form Reuben Wilson. This label seems to be full of former big names trying to make it through the 70s generally covering popular tunes of the day. These 45s may bear witness to that. First up is Jimmy McGriff covering the theme from "Shaft" B/W Al Green's "let's stay together" It's a quick romp through "let's stay together" once you take out the vocals. The theme from Shaft relies on a nice flute groove to move it along. Not bad, but not earth shaking.

McGriff is back again with mono/stereo take on "Stump Juice" is a funky workout with either a clavinet or heavily effected bass laying down the groove. Could be Jimmy got a hold of some new keyboard or effect. Breaks down into a nice horn groove and teeters right on the edge of porno/wah-wah parody, but is saved when the B3 kicks in followed by a nice Sax solo. This is the best track of the bunch.

Reuben Wilson drops War's "Cisco Kid" B/W "Groove Grease"(the title track to one of his Groove Merchant LPs) The War cover is well done and at 3:13 over pretty quick and good but not to memorable "groove grease" is the b-side. That is my biggest grip with this label. The artist and material are always good, but very rarely memorable or jaw dropping.

Eddy Merckx Bravo Eddy45

Since this blog is about mainly cycling and records, I thought I would drop a few cycling related records on here. It is unlikely that I will be discussing Kraftwerk or John Tesh's contribution to cycling music, but there will be a few oddities and historical items as the come along.
Decided to go big right off the bat. If you talking cycling, the Cannibal is high up on the list so he is the 1st subject of the WWDIS cycling record series.
On this 45 Janneman sings "bravo eddy" b/w "twee witte muizen". "Bravo Eddy" has a nice hockey rink organ and oompa type beat. Flemish lyrics. Fun song.
Flipside has Janneman doing a more rock type song. Punchier with horns. Maybe in a Neil Diamond type style. It almost rocks for the 1st 10 or so seconds.
Back cover lists his palmares up to 1970 when this came out. Weekend records(pWE18.077-X) Record must be from late 70 or early 71.
On a topical note, he had one Milan-San Remo 2 times by the time this record had been put out.