HARMONY IN MY HEAD

Curtis Mayfield – If There’s a Hell Below: This is off the Curtis album. It’s great. What a man, what a band. If you liked this song, check the album and the live CM record called Curtis/Live! It’s in print on Rhino I think. It was sad how he went out. I am sure you can punch in his name online and read all about him. I was lucky enough to be near him at one point. He got wheeled by me at the Grammys once.

The Bags – Survive: Great LA band from the late 70’s. The single’s hard to find but you can get the track on the first comp. CD on Dangerhouse. All the Dangerhouse stuff is worth checking out. What a great label.

Cheech and Chong – Earrache My Eye: This is off the Wedding Album. I bought this when it came out a few centuries ago. I found it cheap just to hear this routine again and the song about Black Lassie sing by Johnny Stash. I read in the paper while ago that Tommy Chong was selling bongs on the internet and got nine months in prison. What’s the main instigator in the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal getting? A year?

Black Flag – Fix Me: Off the first Black Flag single Nervous Breakdown. It’s in print on SST. Keith Morris on vocals. This is available on what I think is the best Black Flag CD, called The First Four Years. It’s twenty some minutes long and says more in that time than most bands say in their whole careers.

Stooges – I Got a Right: A great post Fun House track. An interesting time for Iggy and the Stooges. I don’t know a good source for information for this time period of the band but there’s some great songs they did that never got the proper studio treatment but thankfully there’s some great CDs that have come out, I guess Ron Ahston of the Stooges has been releasing the stuff but you can find great versions of songs like Open Up and Bleed and Johanna on these. Also check the songs Gimmie Some Skin, Scene of the Crime, Tight Pants and Sick of You. That version of Tight Pants aka Hard to Beat that I played the other night, is that post or pre Raw Power sessions? I will play Sick of You soon, such a great song. I saw Iggy do that one in Denmark in 1994 and it killed.

The Ruts – Staring at the Rude Boys: Too bad that Malcom Owen died as the band were just starting off. Sad that he died anyway. You can argue but in my opinion, the Ruts never wrote a bad song. There’s a great new Ruts CD out that has their classic The Crack album plus the Grin and Bear It comp. album. There’s also a Peel Sessions CD. The Ruts will be getting a lot of airplay on this show.

Matt Payne – Trust: Matt came up to me at a show this year and gave me a CD with four tracks on it. I played it on my laptop while we were driving down the road that night. I can’t say that I have heard anything quite like it. Gospel rap sans beats? Is it possible? Pretty cool.

Van Halen – Atomic Punk live @ Whiskey A Go-Go New Year’s Eve 1977: From a live tape someone gave me many years ago, I think it was a bouncer from the Whiskey. This was right after they got signed I guess. It’s hard to imagine being in front of Van Halen in the Whiskey, which isn’t the biggest place. You can hear on this tape, they have what it takes to take over the world.

Dee Dee Ramone – I Am Seeing UFOs: This is off Dee Dee’s album Zonked! It’s pretty cool. Joey does the vocal on this and it sounds like a really good Ramones song. Lux Interior of the Cramps does a vocal on this record as well. I have all the Dee Dee solo stuff. I don’t know if you could call every record really good but I think they’re cool and since it’s Dee Dee, I gotta have it. Joey’s vocal on this is great!

Chiefs – Knocked Out: Classic three track single by this SoCal band. Hard to find but Flipside put out a great CD of their music, there’s also a vinyl version out of Italy on Hate Records. Not a bad song in the bunch. If you like this, you will like the rest. If you go to this site, they have a repro of the single sleeve and a little bit of info: http://www.thisispunkrock.btinternet.co.uk/ps/us/cheifs.htm

Electric Eels – Agitated: Drummer Nick Knox was in this band before he went to the Cramps. The Eels singles are not all that easy to find but there’s a few different compilations on CD and LP that have it all: God Says Fuck You, The Eye of Hell, Their Organic Majesties Request. Pretty easy to find. What a great band.

Link Wray – Batman Theme: I have always liked ink Wray because he is really cool and all but also that he spent a lot of time in Washington DC. At some point I will play a live recording of a song called Street Fighter off the Missing Links Vol. 4 album on Norton. What a great song, you can hear the violence. There are great stories of Link and his band playing while gangs fought on the dance floor but for now, we’ll check out the Batman Theme, it’s cool.

Egg Hunt – Me and You: This was recorded in 1986 by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson of Teen Idles/Minor Threat. A great single on Dischord. B-side is We All Fall Down.

Bikini Kill – Rebel Girl: Off the Pussywhipped album. It’s also on the Singles Album which I brought in for the show. They have a few records, all on Kill Rock Stars and I think they’re all cool. I like that attitude! http://www.killrockstars.com/

Screamin’ Jay Hawkins – There’s Something Wrong with You: I got this off the Cow Fingers and Mosquito Pie CD. There’s two takes of this song, this is the first one. I have a few of these best ofs, and this is my favorite one. Here’s an informative website to learn more about the man. http://home.datacomm.ch/mik/ba/h/hawkins_jay/. You might remember his great part in Mystery Train. “Do you have any more exotic fruits?” What a voice. Passed away 2-13-2000 in Paris.

Circle Jerks – Beverly Hills: A great track off the now classic Group Sex album. I was lucky. I saw the band play in San Francisco in the summer of 1980. I was out with the Teen Idles when they were doing their west coast tour. It was a great bill. Circle Jerks, Flipper and the Dead Kennedys at the Mabuhay Gardens. I didn’t know anything about the Jerks, all I knew was Keith was the original singer in Black Flag and we had met him a few hours before. Tony Alva was there as well so I met two of my heroes in one day. The Jerks came on and basically played the Group Sex record which wasn’t recorded yet. I remember just being blown away. The band was so tight and one song slammed into another and it was one of the most intense things I have ever seen.

Hank III – No Values: From the Rise Above benefit record. A great Black Flag song and what a vocal. Hank is the man. Want to know more about the reason there’s this benefit record????? Good!! Here’s the site: WM3.org

Butch Willis – TVs from Outer Space: Another great album, Butch Willis and the Rocks – Repeats on one of my favorite labels, Teenbeat. Butch made this record a long time ago but Mark Teenbeat put it out a few years ago along with some newer Butch stuff. I check out this label a lot. I really like Mark Robinson’s projects like Flin Flon and his own stuff. He released one of the best ever phone prank CDs called The Screamer. Not to be missed. I don’t have a lot of info on Butch but this is a great record. http://www.teenbeatrecords.com/ gets you there.

Boozoo Chavis – Dog Hill: On the CD called Boozoo Chavis. It’s on Nonesuch. If you go to Amazon, you can see all his stuff. I have every record of his I’ve ever seen. He was so great. A Zydeco king! I got see him once in 1997 in New York. He played Dog Hill and I was very happy about that. He passed away not so long ago. All his records are great, this is a good one to start with.

Sly and the Family Stone – M’lady: Heidi, my wonderful guest on this broadcast brought this in. There’s a lot of Best-ofs with Sly and they’re cool but the There’s A Riot Goin’ On album is the one Sly album that I play most often. Stand! and Fresh are great as well.

El Guapo – Underground: I love this band. This is off their Fake French album. It’s on Dischord. When they released Super/System before Fake French, I thought they would never be able to top it. I think they did. Both albums are great but this newer one, Fake French shows the band is pretty much unlimited in what they can do. I was told by someone that their new stuff was even better. I can’t wait. You can find their output real easy as they are on Dischord Records. http://www.dischord.com/ takes you there.

Minutemen – Split Red: Off the What Makes a Man Start Fires album. All the Minutemen stuff has been put together on a few CDs called Post Mersh Vols. 1-3 as well as the Double Nickels on the Dime CD, Three Way Tie for Last and Ballot Result. I have never heard a bad Minutemen song and never saw a bad Minutemen show and I saw them a lot of times. It’s only this radio show that’s given me the strength to play them. It’s hard for me to hear this band seeing how they lost their guitar/vocal man D. Boon. To have known him is to miss him terribly. I was playing Post Mersh Vol. 1 the other day and it’s still amazing. One of the best bands ever.

John Lee Hooker – Teachin’ the Blues: This is from the That’s Where It’s At! album. It’s the first John Lee Hooker record I ever had. It’s in print on Stax. It’s just Johnny and his guitar, no band. This is my favorite version of the man. He didn’t need a band.