Ol' Virginia Soul V2.

Ol'Virginia Soul Encore 1965-75 on Arcania International. Looks can be decieving between the dates and the cover( the color scheme looks like some Lester Young reissue or something) of the disc, I though it was going to be some straight up southern soul, but this is leaning heavily in the direction of some straight up funk and kicking R&B. The first 7 tracks are untouchable and it picks back up fast. Raw Soul stand out and get a couple tracks, The lead off track "Baco Walk PT 2" is a killer.
A baby Micheal Jackson rears his head on Reginald Millers "soul clap is back" Could that be Reggie Miller? He is old as shit.
"Born to be a drummer" by the 35th St Gang has a cool Dirtbombs garage feel to it.
All Virginia, All rare. 25 tracks all worth repeated listens. Excellent liner notes.
Good luck finding these 45s

bettini's mind????

Paolo Bettini is a great cyclist. His palmares speaks for itself, but his behavior recently is beginnig to make me think he is losing his mind.

1.Check out this Specialized/Quickstep film.
Bettini is shirtless twice inside the first few minutes of a trailer length promo video. Great cyclist? Of Course. Sex Symbol a la Super Mario? Not even close.

2.Tour of Flanders. His winter campaign talking about winning Flanders and being a "co-captain" with Boonen, really has me scratching my head. It's like he is trying to reenanct his power struggle with Bartoli again? If he wants Flanders, it will have to be on a different team. Boonen always seems happy to have teammates win (Pozzato and Nuyens come to mind from last season), but I don't think he will be too cool with this.

3. Tour of California comments. This quote "Tuesday I go from La California to California," joked Bettini to La Gazzetta dello Sport. "The wines they have copied are good. We will see about the riders." What are you talking about? It is a UCI race with a ton of euros and you race against americans all the time.

Depsite all this, he is keeping so many Italian cycling traditions alive that you can't not love him. Bettini is the man, but he needs to relax.

Barnyard Soul

barn yard soul
"greasy, gritty, groovy, southern-fried soul" is the tag line on the front of this 27 track collection from Deep Groove records. A lot of soul and funk shouters that all thought James Brown was a little too intellectual with the lyrics. Why use words if a good old grunt or holler will do?Rising above the monster mash novelty record level, is "Frankenstein Stomp" by Geene Bowlegs Miller. Good year round, not just on Oct 31st.Otis Clay and Lowell Fulsom (doing a cover of "why don't we do it in the road") are the best known names on here. But with song titles like "do the dog-funk", "hot butter n all PT1", "party time" and "astrological soul train" you should have an idea what you are getting in for. House party classic, if you don't mind the spilled beer. I have had more time to listen to this and want to reiterate the lyrical brilliance of Lou Courtney "I put the popcorn on her/hot butter and all" as well asPiney Brown "I got it/you want it/let's do the dog funk" , By the time the Rhythm Kings are dropping "party time", they have been reduced to "come on you can do it" Do you think you can figure out the lyrical focus of "astrological soul train"? A G-rated run through the signs, calling everyone to the dance floor to breakdown. UGGHHH!The intentions "I don't get down like that" intro is begging to get sampled. Raekwon anyone?

Wheedle's Groove Seattle Funk 65-75

Wheedle's Groove "Seattle's finest in funk and soul 65-75". Light in the Attic records. Gotta respect this label and their reissues. This is by no means a timely review as this came out 2 years ago, but none the less a banger. Good Liner notes, tons of photos, and a boat load of killer music. 21 tracks on this comp. The hard charging Black on White Affair open this comp up. 2 stand outs for me are the Overton Berry Trio cover of "hey jude"-if only all lps recorded in hotel lounges where this good and the Topics cover of NW classic "Louie, Louie" -with a nice spaced out breakdown. 3 contempary artists contribute that don't suck or fuck up the flow of the record-one with a "lost track found in a thrift store" hoax. Trivia tidbit Quincy Jones orginated in Seattle. Also nice to see that bands shared members-not unlike they are doing now. The liner notes give you a feel for the era and the region and drop just enough hints to make you think you could track down some of these on a visit(keep dreaming). Sometimes comps tend to blur together with no dynamics or trade of catchy tunes for rarity. This comp suffers from neither of those problems. Put it on and get it popping. You will be humming "wheedle's groove" and "deep soul part one".

compared to what

About a year ago I heard the song "compared to what" on a 2CD Black Power CD comp. Les McCann. Cool flute and vocals. Political in that kinda indirect 70s way. The "I'm as mad as hell..." kind of school of political thought. Played it endlessly. Learned it was written by Eugene McDaniels -track down a couple of his records (Outlaw and Headless Heros...) neither one is quite as rad as "compared to what". Find the Les McCann "Swiss Movement" lp that the track is credited to from the cd. And so it ends or so I think. Last month, I am waiting to pick up my step sons and have some time to shop at Dynomite in Northampton. I see a Les McCann "Live at Montreaux" 2LP that has "compared to what" on it, so I grab it. Then I see a Roberta Flack LP with this rad cover. "First Take" I love all the shit she did with Donny Hathaway so I flip it over. 1st track "compared to what". ????? Then I realize the liner notes are by .... Les McCann. Small world. Grab that as well. What I loved about this is it reminded me of life as a teenage skatepunk in the pre Internet 80s. You would by a record and scan the thanks list to look for other bands to track down. You would look at any flyer in the background, stickers on guitars, shirts the band was wearing -all looking for clues. If you were lucky enough to track down a MRR or another zine, you would write to every label for a catalog which was usually a one page photocopy of the one or two records they had put out. It was like foraging for food and when you found something great, you were so stoked and when you met somebody else who was into it too, it was the best. With the advent of the internet and such, the thrill seems gone most of the time. Between Google and Ebay you can track down almost anything, but some days like today you get surprised and that is a nice treat when you are an aging grumpy record collector.
The easy availabilty of so much information makes it kind of cheap and uninspiring. You can download an MP3 of a 20 year old record in a minute. I had to wait 3 weeks after I mailed off a money-order for that 7" to arrive in the mail and the day it did was a special one. I remember very clearly the 1st 7" I mail orderded-gang green skate to hell and the 1st one I bought in a store, Freeze Guilty Face. I can't remember the last thing I downloaded or streamed. I can remember reading and rereading every page and ad in Thrasher and MRR back in the 80s, I can't believe anyone reads or remembers what was in the last AP or Decibel or whatever kids are reading. It is probably a true indicator that I am an old grump, when I harken for a day when things were harder(we walked up hill both ways to the record store)
It makes me wish for "what we do is secret" mentality. I wish I could stumble upon some rad music or scene that wasn't hell bent on being the next big thing on myspace , youtube, or MTV2.
I have found about 6 versions of "ode to billie joe"(don't ask me why this song) and I would love to track down every version because I am a nerd. 10 minutes on google could probably net me a list and a google-earth map to the record stores they are in. But I won't do that. "compared to what" and "ode to billie joe" are tracks I hope to always stumble upon when I am out looking at and for records. Reminders to keep looking and having fun, cause for a minute you are not that cynical old grump.

doping.

Outside of being fat, slow, and unable to emulate Paolo Bettini in any other category but hair loss, the most frustrating aspect of cycling is doping. It is not so much that people cheat and it is unfair and sucks. The most frustrating aspect of doping, is my inconsistent reaction to it. Musseew has been under suspicion for years and it doesn't phase me, but Gaummont and VDB get no slack. Hamilton seems like a rerun of Virenque and I can't generate any sympathy, but some how for Landis I hold out hope?? Why? How? Landis was on Phonak-how many dope scandals can one team have? How much house cleaning to only have it resurface? It might be easier to maintain a consistent line on dopers if the governing agencies gave any sign of consistency or even having their shit together. And don't even get me started on Armstrong-he should be a success story beyond reproach, but because he is and because so many corporations depended on his results, it's hard not to be cynical. If trek and oakley can work together on the "project one" stuff, why can't a bunch of chemists and pharmacists do the same thing on the drug side?

The real kick in the nuts, is that doping casts a shadow on ALL performance. If a guy rides well who has previously been mediocre -he must be doping. If a guy rides poorly after a good season-he must be doping. If a guy excels in any unusual way a question hangs in the air.
And for that sense of doubt and failure to revel in achievement, I can fall fully into the dopers suck camp. Because they do suck.

sample identification

I am not claiming to be a samples and breaks expert, but there is a certain joy in hearing a song that you have only heard sampled. My jaw hit the floor the 1st time I heard Joe Cocker's "woman to woman" and realized how much Doc Dre jacked for California Love.
Same thing with Willie Hutch and "stay fly" by triple 6. But the most recent and best was hearing "are you my woman" by the Chi-Lites and realizng where "crazy in love" came from. Songs like these are great because the sample is such a major part to the song. A lot of times the sample comes out of a tune you wouldn't ever want to listen to- for me that is a lot of the proggy/fusion/sdtrk stuff that makes great hip hop, but puts me to sleep. For the sneakier samples breaks.com