©2003 EDDIE FLOWERS, PO BOX 7034, VAN NUYS CA 91409, USA /

GANG OF FOUR
Entertainment!

BROTHER DAVE GARDNER
Ain't That Weird? [RCA LP]

MARVIN GAYE
What's Going On
Anthology [Motown]
Marvin Gaye's Greatest Hits [Motown LP; 1976]

CHARLES GAYLE
Always Born [Silkheart CD; recorded 1988]

THE J. GEILS BAND
The J. Geils Band [Atlantic; first LP]
Full House

AX GENRICH + GURU GURU
The Best of Ax Genrich 1971-1996: Highdelberg, and More [ATM Records CD; Germany CD] This great CD includes Guru Guru guitarist Ax's 1975 LP Highdelbergin its entirety, along with unreleased Guru Guru '71/'72, and one track each from '94 and '95 Ax CDs. Highdelbergmixes the expected Krautrock grooves and psych guitar with odd touches of country, funk, and blues. Very 1975! But in a very swell way. Check out the hilarious anti-imperialist "A National Affair," an Ed Sanders-like C&W tune calling for Krautrock solidarity. The two Guru Guru jams are more than mere "bonus" cuts: "Oxymoron" comes from an inspired Beat Clubappearance, while the '71 live take of "Electric Junk" is nothing less than one of THE great rock scorchers of all time, like the MC5 on A-Square or Hendrix doing "Wild Thing" at Monterey. The 90s cuts are good too.

BOBBIE GENTRY
Ode to Billie Joe [Capitol LP]

THE GENTRYS
Keep on Dancing [MGM LP]

LOWELL GEORGE & THE FACTORY
Lightning-Rod Man [Bizarre/Straight CD]

THE GERMS
"Forming" [7-inch]
Germs (GI)
What We Do Is Secret

MALEEM MAHMOUD GHANIA WITH PHAROAH SANDERS
The Trance of Seven Colors [Axiom/Island CD]

GHOST
Ghost [P.S.F.; first CD]
Temple Stone [P.S.F.]
Lamarabirabi [Drag City]
Help Your Satori Mind [as Cosmic Invention] [The Now Sound]

THE GIBSON BROS.
Memphis Sol Today!

HENRY GIBSON
The Grass Menagerie (or a flower child's garden of verses)

DIZZY GILLESPIE
Jazz Masters 10 [Verve CD]

THE GIRLS
Reunion

THE GIZMOS
The Gizmos [Gulcher; first 7-inch EP]

TOMPALL GLASER
The Outlaw [CD with the LPs The Wonder of It All and Tompall & His Outlaw Band]

JOHN GODBERT
Entertaining the Noble Head [Giardia LP; 1998 recordings]

THE GODZ
Contact High With the Godz [ESP-Disk]
Godz 2 [ESP-Disk]
The Third Testament [ESP-Disk]

GONG
Magick Brother
Camembert Electrique
Flying Teapot
Angels Egg
You
Gong Est Mort
Live au Bataclan 1973
Live at Sheffield 1974

THE GOOD RATS
The Good Rats [Kapp Records LP]

LESLEY GORE
The Golden Hits of Lesley Gore [Mercury LP]

THE GORILLAS
"Gatecrasher"/"Gorilla Got Me" [Chiswick Records 7-inch; England]

G*PARK
Yack Park [Zabriskie Point CD; recorded 1991; released 1993]

GRACED LIGHTNING
"The Lard"/"Silver Lining" [Wildwood 7-inch]

GRAHAM CENTRAL STATION
The Best of Larry Graham and Graham Central Station Vol. 1 [Warner Bros. CD] Larry Graham was the bass-monster of the post-James Brown funk world, even influenced Bootsy himself. That's Larry on all them Sly & the Family Stone sides up through 1970. "Thank You (Falletin Me Be Mice Elf Agin)," "I Wanna Take You Higher," "Stand!" etc. After he split with Sly, he formed Graham Central Station. They were huge on black radio and virtually nonexistent in the white rock world; too bad for us too, coz Graham and co. continued Sly's warm, funky, positive thang well beyond Sylvester Stewart's sad decline. This is kind of a skimpy 44-minute comp, '74?'82, but it more than delivers, with a couple syrupy later exceptions. There's the quintessential uncut fonk of "The Jam," an over-the-top send-up of "Dance to the Music," the very BOMB itself; "Hair" with its freak-flag-funk; "My Radio Sure Sounds Good to Me" doo-wops amazingly, must've given Zappa a woody; the sizzlin', nastay "D-U-Wanta Dance"; and they's a few other hot ones too.

GRAND FUNK RAILROAD
Grand Funk [the red album] [Capitol LP]
Live Album [Capitol 2LP]
E Pluribus Funk [Capitol LP]
Mark, Don & Mel 1969-71 [Capitol 2LP]
Grand Funk Hits [Capitol LP; 1976]

GRANDMASTER FLASH & THE FURIOUS FIVE
"The Message" [Sugar Hill 12-inch single]

THE GRASS ROOTS
Let's Live for Today [Dunhill LP]
16 Greatest Hits [Dunhill LP]

THE GRATEFUL DEAD
Grateful Dead [first LP]
Anthem of the Sun
Aoxomoxoa
Live/Dead
Workingman's Dead
American Beauty
Blues for Allah
Historic Dead [Sunflower LP; live pre-Warner Bros.]
History of the Grateful Dead, Vol. 1 (Bear's Choice) [Warner Bros. LP]
Infrared Roses
Two from the Vault [live at the Shrine, L.A., 1968]
Dick's Picks Volume Two [live in Columbus, Ohio, 1971]
Dick's Picks Volume Four [live at Fillmore East, 1970] Never saw the Dead, never really liked 'em much till late-80s clean-L trippin' and a couple different friends with "tapes" saying "Listen to this!" Weird, though, how much of their music moves me so much now: all the 60s stuff with the exception of some R&B moves (as a blues band, I think they fell way short of, say, Butterfield or Quicksilver); Workingman's Deadand American Beauty;lots of live stuff circa '69-'71; Blues for Allah.This cheap 3CD set recorded at the Fillmore East in NYC finds the band in superb form during their transition from acid-test freak-a-thon to kozmik-cowboy tightrope-walkin'. There are very nice versions of "High Time," "Dire Wolf," and "Mason's Children," but also half-hour jams on "Dark Star" and "That's It for the Other One." "Dancing in the Streets" starts out as a very soulless run-through of that early, veiled call-to-arms--and then achieves instant bliss as they launch into the jam. And therein lies the reason to come to the Dead in the first place: wide open SPACE. Also hap'nin': Dick's Picks Volume Two,with the one-drummer (Bill) post-Pigpen (Keith on keys) lineup, strictly in the space-age ballroom.
Mason's Children [bootleg CD; Workingman's Deadouttakes, Warlocks demos, etc.] '65 demos by the Warlocks very folk-rock, or garage-blues when Pig sings. First cut: "I Can't Come Down"! '66 studio is more Dead-like. And the weird Workingman's Deadtitle-cut outtake sounds like a Curt Kirkwood wet dream circa 1981. A goodie!
For Dead Heads Only [bootleg CD; live S.F. 3/1/68]
The Dead Don't Have No Mercy [2CD bootleg; live Fillmore West 2/26/69]

MILFORD GRAVES ENSEMBLE
Milford Graves Percussion Ensemble [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1965]

AL GREEN
Al Green's Greatest Hits [Hi]

GREEN MONKEY
A Ruby in the Sand Is Like Chocolate in the Water [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers 7-inch EP; England]
The Lotus Flower Will No Longer Blossom Upon Your Island [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CD; England] Improvised, instrumental modern ROCK the way we like it in Slippy Town: loud, spontaneous, noisy, and free of song/riff clichés. Remember the way White Light/White Heatand early hardcore could clear a room before everybody "got it"? Here 'tis again! Get it? With axe/moog-man Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations, A Warm Palindrome), 5-string bassist Joincey (Wagstaff, A Warm Palindrome), and ex-drummer Doog.

PETER GREEN
The End of the Game

GREEN ON RED
Gravity Talks

THE GREEN RAY
The Green Ray [Father Yod CD] Richard Treece (lead guitar, vocal) from Help Yourself and Ken Whaley (bass) from Man join youngsters Simon Whaley (drums) and Simon Burgin (guitar) for a stunning, guitar-shimmer trip to the land of Quicksilvers, and Manbands, and the good OLD Dead too. Recorded '94-'96, two tracks originally appeared on their Sighs, Whales & Trees12". Even if you've got that one, though, you haven't heard the jam-serious deepness of "Black-Eye Bean" or the gruff wake-up of "Morning Song." Cover art by Savage Pencil. You can start drooling now.

RUDOLPH GREY
Transfixed [New Alliance LP]
"Implosion 73"/"Transformation" [New Alliance 7-inch]

HENRY GRIMES TRIO
The Call [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1965]

RAGNAR GRIPPE
Sand

THE GROUNDHOGS
Split
Who Will Save the World? The Mighty Groundhogs
Hogwash
Quinn Abbey [bootleg CD; live 1971]

THE GTO's
Permanent Damage

THE GUESS WHO
"American Woman"/"No Sugar Tonight" [RCA 7-inch]

GUITAR SLIM
The Things That I Used to Do [Specialty LP]

THE GUN CLUB
Fire of Love [Ruby LP]

HARDROCK GUNTER
Boogie Woogie on a Saturday Night [Charly Records LP; England]

TOM GURALNICK
Albuquerque [Cleo LP]
Pitchin' [Outpost CD; 112 Morningside SE, Albuquerque NM 87108] Amazing, uncompromising, truly modern jazz by the Tom Guralnick Trio, three white guys based in New Mexico. Guralnick's recorded music has usually been about solo improvisation, exploring and altering the saxophone through multitracking, effects, physical modifications, etc. His solo LP, Albuquerque,recorded in 1981, is a classic, something that stands with the exploratory solo work of players like Evan Parker and Steve Lacy. Here, though, he plays structured, angular, sometimes tightly spun tunes that recall Ornette Coleman, Archie Shepp, and Steve Lacy at their most melodic and playful. Still, there's plenty of improv space within the pieces. Guralnick plays saxophones (soprano, alto, tenor), with Steve Feld on tenor and bass trombones, bass trumpet, and euphonium, and drummer Jefferson Voorhees. All three sound very inspired. Music this deep and well played is almost scary, a rare match of technique and passion.

GURU GURU
UFO
Hinten
Kanguru
Live & Unreleased [Spalax CD]

GUT BANK
The Dark Ages [Coyote Records LP]

BUDDY GUY
The Complete Chess Studio Recordings
Stone Crazy! [Alligator]

GYAATEES
Gyaatees I [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] This Japanese group of Sei-sou priests ("clean priest who is intellectually handicapped") and hippie-type rock musicians stir up a marvelous chaos: screams and pounding drums weave in and out of free-jamming horns, keyboards, and guitars. Like a DIY version of Coltrane's Ascension.One long cut from 1996.

HACKAMORE BRICK
One Kiss Leads to Another [Kama Sutra LP] Moved awhile back, and in the midst of rearranging stuff, I keep coming across music I haven't listened to in 10 or 15 or 20 years! Like this 1970 LP from a quartet of NYC hippie types with a low-key glow and just enough odd-pop charm. Tommy Moonlight wrote like a cracked (though mellow) bubblegum Lou Reed before Jonathan Richman got around to it--while Chick Newman's songs have a kinda Neil-Young-writing-for-Colin-Blunstone (!) feel. "And I Wonder" is a pop-jazz thang very similar to Soft Machine with Robert Wyatt (and I'm thinking of the Zombies again), including some Ratledge-like keyboards churnin' it up.

CHARLIE HADEN
Liberation Music Orchestra [Impulse CD; recorded 1969]
Closeness [Horizon/A&M LP; recorded 1976]

MERLE HAGGARD
Swinging Doors [Capitol LP]
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive [Capitol LP]
The Fightin' Side of Me [Capitol LP] Sorta like the redneck equivalent of Kick Out the Jams.
Songs I'll Always Sing [Capitol 2LP; greatest-hits collection]
A Working Man Can't Get Nowhere Today [Capitol LP]
The Way It Was in '51 [Capitol LP]
His Epic Hits: The First 11 [Epic LP]
If I Could Only Fly [Anti/Epitaph Records CD; released 2000] I do my best to ignore mainstream music, and I pretty much count as mainstream anything that sells more than a couple thousand copies; that's how it works these days, sorry. So, I sure don't pay attention to what big-time p-rock labels are doing. But my roommate Bob Lee loaned me this release on Epitaph Records' Anti imprint by Mr. Merle Haggard. My jaw dropped when he said Merle had a disc on Epitaph, but it's a sweet goddamn thing, my friends. TIt's as good as any of the Hag's post-60s records, better'n many. The production is stripped down in a way that I can't remember on Haggard records since the early 70s, and the voice is surprising in its continued strength (he's 64 or 65). Deep, man, very deep--like Muddy Waters' amazing Hard AgainLP in the 70s. If you ever liked Merle--and you should like Merle, if you like music!--then check this out. You just never know, huh?

KEIJI HAINO
Execration That Accept to Knowledge
The Book of "Eternity Set Aflame"
The 21st Century Hard-y-guide-y Man

KEIJI HAINO/LOREN MAZZACANE
Keiji Haino/Loren Mazzacane [Persona Non Grata CD; live in New York City 1992]

HALF JAPANESE
Charmed Life
Loud

TOM T. HALL
Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits [Mercury LP; 1972]

HAMPTON GREASE BAND
Music to Eat

HERBIE HANCOCK
Blow-Up soundtrack [MGM LP; recorded 1966; also includes "Stroll On" by the Yardbirds]
Sextant [Columbia/Legacy CD; recorded 1972]

HAPHASH AND THE COLOURED COAT
Haphash and the Coloured Coat Featuring the Human Host and the Heavy Metal Kids [Imperial LP]

TIM HARDIN
2 [Verve Forecast LP]

HARMONIA
Music von Harmonia
De Luxe

HARPERS BIZARRE
Feelin' Groovy: The Best of Harpers Bizarre [Warner Bros. CD] Looking through used CDs at the Record Trader in Reseda, I look up to see the friendly face of the clerk behind counter, butch girl with chopped hair and nose ring, holding a tiny kitten caressing smiling; she's looking right at me but when I make eye contact she walks away, embarrassed, caught in a moment of vulnerable beauty. Of course, the thought of this confused young woman petting her, um, pussy, and staring at me--well, need I say more?! a sweetly fleeting erotic moment on an otherwise dull Sunday. I look in the mirror, startled at the foolish romantic who stares back instead of the angry cynic I'm used to seeing--and wonder how different they really are! So, I bought this CD for $6, promo, brought it home and put it on the stereo. I had one of these guys' LPs as a pre-teen, stuck in with Raiders, Monkees, Beatles, Cowsills, Mothers (I never made sense!)--and remembered them as a goofier version of the Association. Surprise! the group was led by future legendary producer Ted Tempelman (Clear Spot!Van Halen!) and produced by another future legendary Warners producer, Lenny Waronker. Of the songs here, four are written by Randy Newman (also did three arrangements); Van Dyke Parks plays piano on three cuts, two of which he also wrote and one he arranged; Harry Nilsson wrote and co-produced the great "Poly High." The best of this stuff is very ambitious, only a notch or two below Brian Wilson around the same time (1967/1968). The whole CD comp bears a remarkable resemblance to Van Dyke Parks' Song Cycle,also produced by Waronker shortly after the first Harpers LP; check Randy Newman's melancholy "Happyland" here and then his "Vine Street" on Song Cycle(also dig the great Waronker-produced Rootsby the Everly Brothers, done around the same time). Not only did Harpers Bizarre create an anthem out of a Paul Simon throwaway, "59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin' Groovy)," but two years later they did the near-impossible: a brilliant cover of a Stax record, "Knock on Wood," a spacey masterpiece with twangy Ry Cooder guitar givin' a country feel, vocals and strings going in and out of phase, something that shouldn't work, very stoned sounding. Van Dyke's "High Coin" is another almost unbelievable gem, a fragile druggy slice of 1967. And wait'll you hear their versions of "Chattanooga Choo Choo" ("Do another number down in Carolina," followed by toking sound!) and "Anything Goes." "Tricky and perverse," as Waronker sez of the band's name. Pretty Sunday pussy pop. Irresistible.

GEORGE HARRISON
Wonderwall Music

WILBERT HARRISON
"Let's Work Together" [Sue 7-inch]

HARRY PUSSY
first untitled 7-inch [Esync]
second untitled 7-inch [Esync]
"Please Don't Come Back from the Moon" [Blackjack 7-inch]

JON HASSELL/BRIAN ENO
Fourth World Vol. 1: Possible Worlds

COLEMAN HAWKINS
The Hawk Flies High

DALE HAWKINS
Dale Hawkins [Chess Rock 'n' Rhythm Series LP]

RONNIE HAWKINS
The Best of Ronnie Hawkins Featuring His Band [Roulette LP]

SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS
Frenzy [Edsel LP; England]
Screamin' the Blues [Red Lightnin' LP; England]

HAWKWIND
Hawkwind [first LP]
In Search of Space
Doremi Fasol Latido
Space Ritual
Quark Strangeness and Charm
In the Beginning [Classic Rock/Charly CD; live 1971]
Space Ritual Volume 2 [Magnum Music CD; live 1972]
Stasis: The UA Years 1971-1975 [One Way CD]

ISAAC HAYES
Hot Buttered Soul

HA-ZA-MA
Ha-Za-Ma [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Another fine Japanese psychedelic band featuring the mighty guitar work of Michio Kurihara (White Heaven, Marble Sheep, Cosmic Invention/Ghost, Loud Machine 5000). As usual, Kurihara displays a style much influenced by John Cipollina, Jorma Kaukonen, Hendrix, Barry Melton, James Gurley, Stacey Sutherland--and guitarist/singer Roku is up to the jam too, so there are some nice melt-in-a-puddle Quicksilver-like dual leads. Typical of this loose-knit group of Japanese freaks, the music moves beyond any specific timepsace--in spite of obvious "retro" stylistic debts. Recorded 1988-1993; released on this CD in '95.

EDDIE HAZEL
Jams from the Heart [JDC CD]

HEADBUTT
Danger Ice [Petty Bourgeois Broadcasts 10-inch; Switzerland] Five bass guitars repeating, heavy pounding percussion, shouted vocals, and feedback swelling up like the secret spot 'tween hippie tribal stomp and industrial punkadelia. They churn and shriek until giving way to a spacey rumble that resembles a rock song, and then finally implode into "Opal Mantra," strictly sound-based, amps rumbling lowly, taped sounds popping out, nice mellow OUT----

RICHARD HELL & THE VOIDOIDS
"Another World" + 2 [Ork 7-inch]
Blank Generation [Sire]

JULIUS HEMPHILL
'Coon Bid'ness [Arista-Freedom LP; recorded 1972/1975]

JIMI HENDRIX
Are You Experienced
Axis: Bold As Love
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Plays Monterey
Cry of Love
Rainbow Bridge
Hendrix in the West
Live at Winterland [Rykodisc]
Voodoo Soup [MCA CD]
I Don't Live Today, Maybe Tomorrow [bootleg CD; live at the Forum 1969]

HENRY COW
Legend

HERE & NOW
All Over the Show [Charly LP; England]

HERMAN'S HERMITS
The Best of Herman's Hermits Volume III [MGM LP]

MIKE HERON
Smiling Men With Bad Reputations [Elektra LP; 1971]

DAN HICKS & HIS HOT LICKS
Original Recordings [Epic LP]

BILL HICKS
Relentless

HIGH SPEED & THE AFFLICTED MAN
Get Stoned Ezy [Rock Toilet Records LP; Italy]

THE HI-GOD PEOPLE
Nega the Eight Headed Serpent [Varispeed Recordings CD] Consistently inventive improvised not-rock from Australia. These here People use mostly basic guitars/keyboards/drums to explore longish themes that flash on 1967 Pink Floyd, early Art Ensemble of Chicago (when the percussion comes in), minimal repetitions, just about the whole of post-WW2 outsider music. Perfect for entering the zone of your choice. Fans of modern what-the-fuck like the Dead C and Sandoz Lab Technicians will feel right at home. "Nega the Eight Headed Serpent lives in a glacier in northern Tibet. He has been napping for seven hundred years and is awoken by the screams of the specters in Dimension C. . . . " (Now, where the heck did I put my love light?! )

Z. Z. HILL
"I Don't Need Half a Love" [United Artists 7-inch]

STEVE HILLAGE
L

JUSTIN HINES & THE DOMINOES
"Jezebel"/"Carry Go, Bring Come" [Island 7-inch]

CHRIS HODGE
"We're On Our Way" [Apple 7-inch]

RANDY HOLDEN
Early Works '64-'66 [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Excellent early singles and unreleased material from bands featuring guitar monster Randy Holden (check side 2 of New! Improved! Blue Cheerand his Population IIsolo LP). The Sons of Adam, from '66, do above-average garage-psych, like the more folk-rock elements of the Shadows of Knight, but heavier and with hotter guitar. Even better, though, are the Fendermen IV, a surprisingly sophisticated surf band. "You Better Tell Me," from '64, combines Beatles vocals, jangly guitar, and surf beats that sound almost like folk-rock a year later. The remaining Fendermen IV cuts are instrumental surf jams. "Malibu Run," from '65, is full of intense reverb, string-scrape guitar, and brittle leads that sound closer to San Francisco ballroom music than Dick Dale.

BILLIE HOLIDAY
The Quintessential Billie Holiday Volume 1, 1933-1935 [Columbia]

THE HOLLIES
"Look Through Any Window" [Imperial 7-inch]
"Carrie-Anne" [Epic 7-inch]
"Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress" [Epic 7-inch]

BUDDY HOLLY
The Great Buddy Holly [Vocalion LP]
A Rock & Roll Collection [Decca/MCA]
20 Golden Greats [MCA]

THE HOLY MODAL ROUNDERS
The Holy Modal Rounders [Prestige; first LP]
Indian War Whoop [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD] Afer two LPs of early psychedelicized "folk" and a stint with the Fugs in '65, Peter Stampfel and Steve Weber recorded this wonderful LP in 1967. There's Stampfel's almost uncontrolled fiddle playin', Weber on acoustic guitar, very loose drummin' by Sam Shepherd (yeah, the dude who's done it with Patti Smith andJessica Lange!), Lee Crabtree from the Fugs on keyboards, background vocals by Antonia, Barbara, and Wendy--bits of a mock 1930s-style sci-fi "radio show" (as if written by William Burroughs!) surrounds many traditional tunes gettin' dosed, couple great Michael Hurley numbers, anti-jock non-anthem "Football Blues"--very gone!
The Moray Eels Eat the Holy Modal Rounders [Elektra LP]

THE HOMBRES
Let It Out [Verve Forecast LP]

THE HONEY CONE
"Want Ads" [Hot Wax 7-inch]

JOHN LEE HOOKER
I'm John Lee Hooker [Vee-Jay LP]
The Folklore of John Lee Hooker [Vee-Jay LP]
The Hook [Vee-Jay/Chameleon CD]
John Lee Hooker's Detroit: Vintage Recordings 1948-1952 [United Artists 3LP]
Hooker 'n Heat [with Canned Heat]

WILLIAM HOOKER
The Firmament Fury [Silkheart CD; recorded 1989]
Subconscious [Ecstatic Peace/Forced Exposure LP; recorded 1991]

THE HOPELESSLY OBSCURE
The Hopelessly Obscure [Majestic 12-inch EP]

LIGHTNIN' HOPKINS
"Mojo Hand" [Flashback 7-inch]
Los Angeles Blues [a.k.a. California Mudslide (and Earthquake)]
Free Form Patterns

BIG WALTER HORTON WITH CAREY BELL
Big Walter Horton With Carey Bell [Alligator LP]

HOT CHOCOLATE
"Caveman Billy" [RAK 7-inch]
"Mary-Anne" [RAK 7-inch]

HOT KNIVES
"I Hear the Wind Blow"/"Hey Grandma" [K.O. Records 7-inch] Neat Airplane-meets-Velvets folk-pop, from '77, given a Flamin' Groovies-like production by Cyril Jordan. Ex-Groovie drummer Danny Mihm is also on board. B-side is a cover of the Moby Grape classic.

HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS
Pink Floyd [Carbon Records CDR] Carbon catalog: "Few people know that Thomas Edison spent the last ten years of his life trying to perfect a telephone that could talk with the dead. The results of his prototype models were impressive but due to a copyright agreement between Edison and the UK interest funding his work, all his later model equipment wound up on display in an Edinburgh museum after Edison's death. Discovered nearly a century later by curator Dora Doll, the equipment was meticulously restored by a joint American and Scottish group known as Household Objects. Here are your results. Hey buddy, your Grandma's on the horn and boy, she is pissed." Huh? Great lumbering sounds move slowly out of an intense and chaotic density. As your ears get used to the swamp, the individual critters become apparent. Sounds seep from various electronic sources, and disembodied voices (of the dead?) do seem to speak on occasion. What's "really" going on here, I dunno, but it's a highly digable sumpin'r'other. With Dave Cross, Dylan Nyoukis, Julian Bradley, and Dora Doll. Limited edition of 50, packaged in a soft-plastic folder made from kitchen placemats.

HOWLIN' WOLF
Moanin' in the Moonlight
Howlin' Wolf [Chess; rocking chair cover]
The Real Folk Blues [Chess]
Chester Burnett A.K.A. Howlin' Wolf [Chess 2LP]
Original Folk Blues [United LP]
The Legendary Sun Performers [Charly LP; England]
Going Back Home [Syndicate Chapter LP; England]

HOWTH CASTLE
Good Morning Mr. Nobody [Father Yod LP] Second LP, recorded in 1993, by the Italian folk-psych duo of Stefano Giaccone (guitar, keyboard, voice, tapes, etc.) and Lalli (voice). The sound and playing is crystal clear; although recorded on 4-track cassette, this is definitely no lo-fi college-geek trip. Lalli's vocals are a gorgeous cross between 70s-damage Marianne Faithfull and the folkie balladry of Sandy Denny, Shirley Collins, etc. Guitarist Alberto Ventrella joins the duo for a few numbers, including two for which he wrote the music. Besides their fine originals, Howth Castle also cover the Grateful Dead ("Stella Blue") and Free ("Child"); use Walt Whitman's words for "Unreturned Love"; and open it all with a tape piece. Very nice listening.

THE HUMAN SWITCHBOARD
"Fly-In" + 3 [Under the Rug 7-inch EP] Great '77 Cleveland garage-pop weirdness when the band's aesthetic was still more 60s psych than new-wave art damage. "Mixdown: Crocus Behemoth" (David Thomas).

HUMBLE PIE
As Safe As Yesterday Is
Rock On

HUMPBACK WHALE
"Passing Tone" [Your Basic Fish Recordings 7-inch]

JERRY HUNT
Harmand Plane: Three Translation Links

MICHAEL HURLEY
Armchair Boogie
Hi Fi Snock Uptown
Watertower

MISSISSIPPI JOHN HURT
Avalon Blues: The Complete 1928 Okeh Recordings [Columbia]

HÜSKER DÜ
Metal Circus
Zen Arcade

BOBBY HUTCHERSON
Dialogue [Blue Note CD; recorded 1965]
Solo/Quartet [Contemporary CD; recorded 1981/1982]

J. B. HUTTO & THE HOUSEROCKERS
Boogie With J. B. Hutto & the Houserockers [Baron Records LP] Chicago slide-guitar great J. B. with Brewer Phillips (guitar) and Ted Harvey (drums) from the late Hound Dog Taylor's Houserockers + Mark Harris (bass) and Mike Allen (guest piano on a couple cuts). Live and rippin' like a muthafuckuh at Sandy's Jazz Revival in Beverly, Massachusetts. Released in '77 or '78.

IDEA FIRE COMPANY
The Fourth Dimension Is Money [Swill Radio 2LP]

IGRA STAKLENIH PERLI
Soft Explosion Live
Inner Flow
Drives

THE IKETTES
"Peaches and Cream"/"The Biggest Players" [Modern 7-inch]

THE IMPRESSIONS
The Vintage Years [Sire 2LP]

THE INCREDIBLE STRING BAND
The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

THE INSECT TRUST
Hoboken Saturday Night [Atco LP]
The Insect Trust [Capitol LP]

INSTITUT FUER FEINMOTORIK
Negemergenz [Fusetron LP] Swiss-German sound researchers with an interesting, very effective approach to turntable manipulation: Using six to eight record players simultaneously, they play only the run-out grooves or labels of the records, plus generate tones using rubber bands, adhesive tape, and tooth brushes to tweak the phono cartridges and repeating lock-grooved records. The resulting sounds range from ultra-minimal blips'n'hiss to solid grooves not too far from Krautrock.

THE ISLEY BROTHERS
Take Some Time Out for the Isley Brothers [Scepter]
Greatest Hits Volume 1 [Columbia]

CHARLES IVES; NINA DEUTSCH (piano)
Complete Works for Solo Piano [Vox]

RONALD SHANNON JACKSON
Pulse [OAO/Celluloid LP; recorded 1984]
Live at the Caravan of Dreams [Caravan of Dreams LP; recorded 1986]
Red Warrior [Axiom CD; recorded 1990]

WANDA JACKSON
Pioneers of Rock Vol. 2 [EMI Starline LP; England]

DANNY JAMES & HIS PALANQUIN GUITAR
"Boogie in the Mud" [Goldband 7-inch]

ELMORE JAMES
One Way Out [Charly LP]
Got to Move [Charly LP]
Screamin' Blues [Soul Parade/Pickwick LP]

ETTA JAMES
The Essential Etta James [Chess 2CD]

THE JAMES GANG
15 Greatest Hits

RICK JAMES
Reflections [Gordy LP; greatest-hits collection]

SKIP JAMES
The Complete Early Recordings [Yazoo CD]

TOMMY JAMES & THE SHONDELLS
The Best of Tommy James & the Shondells [Roulette]

JAN & DEAN
Jan & Dean Take Linda Surfin' [Liberty LP]
Drag City [Liberty LP]
Folk 'n Roll [Liberty LP]
Jan & Dean Meet Batman [Liberty LP]
Save for a Rainy Day [J&D LP]
Studio Out-Takes [AJW LP; bootleg]
The Jan & Dean Anthology Album [United Artists 2LP] "Oh, Jenny Lee . . . !"

JANDEK
Ready for the House [Corwood Industries CD] Reissue of the 1978 debut by the mysterious Texan known as Jandek, originally released as the Units (although there is no band). The stark, painfully exposed, untuned-acoustic blues/folk that once made for such a richly uncomfortable listening experience now sounds focused and brilliant. It's not that the music is any less dark, or the technique any more refined than it was 22 years ago; it's just that the world has moved closer to Jandek's reality. The anxious beauty of isolation and doubt.
Six and Six [Corwood Industries CD] Three years after he released his first LP (Ready for the House) under the name the Units, the first LP under the Jandek name came out in 1981. The approach is basically the same--free pick'n'strum acoustic guitar and depressed vocals--although he adds echo (natural?) to create an even denser sense of mental murk.
Later On [Corwood Industries CD] Reissue of the third Jandek LP, from 1981. Open-strum guitar, random melodic picking, occasional harmonica-holder squeals, and Jandek's depressed vocal delivery define the man's early approach--in full bloom here. Some highlights: "Your Condition" is like Roky Erickson trying to rememeber a Dylan song during a rest-hospital breakdown; the accusatory "What Did I Hear" blues with its shattered lyrics ("I guess there's no such thing as today/Or any day"); rockin' on "Just Whsiper" like a detuned Lou Reed playing "I'm Waiting for the Man" in his sleep; the finger-pluckin' "Until Then," rough personal emotional, ripped straight from the heart of pre-WWII country blues; Jandek feeling out the lyrics in a jazz-like way on "So Fly, Man"; pleading for understanding from a doubtful god "Don't Know If I Care" and finding a surprisingly pleasant drone for a moment (but only a moment).
Chair Beside a Window [Corwood Industries CD] Reissue of the fourth Jandek LP, from 1982. The echo-drenched journey into Jandek's world begins "Down in a Mirror," the artist delicately plucking his free-tuned guitar and tappin' shoes on the floor 'neath him. And then electricity! Jandek's first electric-guitar piece, "European Jewel," comes screamin' in like Elmore James having a seizure. Pounding drums and bass enter for a frenzied attack not too far from the same thing Sonic Youth was doing in NYC at the same time. Back to acoustic guitar for "Unconditional Authority," a depressed semi-boogie, and near perfect blend of solo Syd Barrett and John Lee Hooker at his loneliest. "Poor Boy" comes mighty close to early blues in lyric and open-strum structure, with none of the self-conscious posturing of most white "bluesmen." "You Think You Know How to Score" is harmonica-holder Dylan with the Holy Modal Rounders shootin' speed in his butt: scary but hard not to watch and chuckle as head collides with concrete. "Nancy Sings" introduces the first of Jandek's usually anonymous female vocal collaborators--and it's a fragile, beautiful thing. Back to electric for "No Break," with Nancy on vocals, and a drummer (Nancy?) rattling about. This fragmented non-song could be a mellow-mood Harry Pussy jam from a decade later. More acoustic on "Mostly All for You," "Blue Blister" (which shows Jandek's finger-pickin' getting more confident), "The Times," "Love, Love" ("is the only way"), and "The First End" (Mr. J's big on beginnings and ends). This 'un's a classic Jandek album--highly recommended.
Living in a Moon So Blue [Corwood Industries CD] Reissue of the fifth Jandek LP, from 1982. Once again, the Texas singer-songwriter accompanies himself on acoustic guitar, performing sixteen short tunes, but the mood is kinda upbeat, and the playing is particularly assertive (still "untuned" and moving freely, though). There are songs about "Gretchen" and "Alexandria Knows" (with harmonica that starts like a squealing synth), an optimistic instrumental called "One Step Ahead," titles like "Comedy" and "All in an Apple Orchard" that aren't necessarily ironic, the decisive "You Can Stop Now" ("You can stop now/I don't want your morality"), the strangely funny childhood recollection of "She Fell Down," the "Relief of the Night", and yes, "Crime Pays." One of the best Jandek albums.
Your Turn to Fall [Corwood Industries CD] Reissue of the seventh Jandek LP, from 1983. "Typical" all-acoustic early-80s Jandek, which means it was produced in the cold-sun heat of a state knowable only to the artist himself. Some highlights: the hard-picked philosophy of "Elementary Talk"; drummer John pounding freely on "John Plays Drums" with Jandek strumming violently and shouting to be heard (he makes it); the droney psych-folk on "Dance of Death"; "Centaur Train" (great title); "If Your Fortune Fails You" full of Dylan-pathos; the claustrophobic closer, "They Knew My Game," with distorted mouth-on-mic vocals and what sounds like a dying music box in the background.
Telegraph Melts [Corwood Industries LP; 1986]
Modern Dances [Corwood Industries LP; 1987]
Lost Cause [Corwood Industries LP; 1992]
Glad to Get Away [Corwood Industries CD] Twenty-fourth Jandek album, original CD release from 1994. Sixteen years after his first album, Jandek sounds more confident in his playing, and his vocals are more up front, but his detuned/untuned acoustic guitar and depressed, stream-of-consciousness folk/blues songs remain at the core of his music. After a few tunes to remind us who we're dealing with ("Bitter Tale," "Ezekiel," "Down Clown"), "Rain in Madison" jumps out, a cracked blues-style story about . . . something ("You know you can't bring no electric devices out in the rain"). On "Van Ness Mission," he turns up the echo full blast for a disturbing 'delic journey that continues on "Anticipation" like a free-style Tav Falco goin' down slow. "Nancy Knows" is an awkward but complex instrumental that clearly shows Jandek now moving his left hand around the neck of his guitar in a way very foreign to his early open-strum approach. I wonder if the tune is named for the same Nancy who sang on Chair Beside a Windowback in '82. "Take My Will" is more early blues, Jandek-style: "Jesus, take my will/In six minutes, I'm going on the very next train." He pulls out his harmonica for a little Dylan-squeal accompaniment on "Plenty." The cycles of nature are not often rapid; listen as one of nature's strangest wonders continues to slowly "progress."
I Woke Up [Corwood Industries CD] Twenty-sixth Jandek album, original CD release from 1997. This is a peculiar and special disc from Jandek, upbeat and focused on his harmonica playing! His experiments with higher guitar tunings also continue, which contrasts nicely with his voice which age has lowered. Check the opening "First Awake Moment." The voice is no longer the fragile young man of the early 1980s. Jandek is still seemingly disconnected from the so-called real-world, but now he at least seems comfortable in front of his tape recorder. The next tune, "Alone on That Mountain," is fiery with detuned but fluid guitar licks, squealing harmonica, and the same vocal assurance as before. "I Can Not" continues the feel; listen to Jandek's tongues manifest as tongue (singular) action on harmonica. "Get Back Inside" is a surprising duet for harmonica and what sounds like pump organ playing a cowboy semi-polka 'round the campfire. The harmonica theme continues on "Long Long" and "Joab," with free tappin' drums added. Back to acoustic guitar for a few numbers before we get to----"Impending Doom": A bit of drum-kit rattle works as a short intro before Jandek breaks into a chanted vocal while beating insistently on a conga or bongo drum (just one). "Sleepless Night" is a duet (overdubbed or played by two musicians?) with melodic vocal meandering over harmonica. "Today" also sounds overdubbed, with voice vamping madly over acoustic guitar and occasional harmonica. It ends abruptly with the declaration: "God is now alive in the world today." Has Jandek been "saved"; "woke up"?
The Beginning [Corwood Industries CD] Twenty-eighth Jandek album, original CD release from 1999. Yet another start for Jandek, and it begins where he left off: acoustic guitar pluckin' and strummin'. "Hello," he sings. "It's February." Sounds like an invitation. And "You Standing There" sorta rocks! A few more tunes, including two stand-out blues ("Lonesome Bridge" and "A Dozen Drops") before we arrive at----"The Beginning." For the title tune, Jandek spends fifteen and a half minutes alone on piano! No vocals either. His hammering chords at the high end of the keyboard sometimes sound close to his hard-strum guitar, but the more melodic moments, especially the lower notes, are new sounds for this artist. By virtue of the instrument, Jandek sounds more "in tune" than usual, but listen for those passages where he combines chords to somehow create bell-like sounds, or the high-end "crazy" freak-out stuff that he uses very sparingly. The overall mood of the piece is somber, "classical" in a broad stylistic sense, with free-style flourishes that are maybe unconscious. Pretty great. Jandek fans gotta hear this one.
Put My Dream On This Planet [Corwood Industries CD] Twenty-ninth Jandek album, original CD release from 2000. A startling album of stark-naked music from the man who has been trying to bare all since he started recording in the late 1970s. Using only his voice, Jandek literally begs for understanding for nearly 29 minutes on "I Need Your Life." He's never sounded so Texan, or so completely immersed in the kind of ultra-personal blues music that existed before the 1930s. In this acapella setting, his emotions run free, and he speaks from painfully deep places. He follows the first piece with another lengthy (22:34) "song" called "It's Your House." Finally, Jandek puts on his shoes for the last song, "I Went Outside," but once out there, he finds only snow and ice. His venture into the outside world ends abruptly after only a minute-seventeen. If you've ever followed Jandek's uncomfortable journey into his own head, this is essential listening.

JOSEPH JARMAN
Song For [Delmark CD; recorded 1966]
As If It Were the Seasons [Delmark CD; recorded 1968]
Sunbound Volume One [AECO LP; recorded 1976] "A solo for the un-Bicentennial," Jarman recorded alone in concert, blending one-handed sax playing with cymbals and gongs, or simply playing tribute to Eric Dolphy with a short bass-clarinet tune. The two central pieces are three-part improvisations with ascending themes: "Sunbound" sounding joyous and polyphonic, "Universal Mind Force" more focused and energized. Few musicians can sustain a truly solo performance of this length; Jarman is one of them.

JOSEPH JARMAN/ANTHONY BRAXTON
Together Alone [Delmark CD; recorded 1971]

JOSEPH JARMAN/FAMOUDOU DON MOYE
Egwu-Anwu (Sun Song) [India Nagivation CD; recorded 1978]

JARVIS/JOINCEY/TODD
All Aboard the Good Ship Marginalia [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CDR; England] Third set of improvisations from this inspired English trio, recorded February 2001 in Stoke-on-Trent. "Our Journey Is Always Necessary," the first title proudly proclaims, as we are thrust directly into what sounds like the screaming middle of our "journey": guitars clash madly, melodies rise and fall randomly. Big bass thrum leads us into more shattered string sounds on "Dagger-Leaves." Sorta like Sun City Girls minus drums. Alligator cocktails, charlie. By the fourth track ("Taut Like Frenum"), we get to a bit of space as guitars hum and pluck. This downard spiral continues nicely for most of the remaining disc, guitars and casio weaving more delicate patterns. Yep.

THE J. B.'s
Funky Good Time: The Anthology [Polydor 2CD] From groove to groove, almost feels endless, documenting the J.B.'s from their official beginnings with Bootsy and Phelps Collins through variations in name like the JB Soul Train, Maceo & the Macks, the Last Word. We talkin' about Fred Wesley, Maceo Parker, Jimmy Nolen, Fred Thomas, "Cheese" Martin, Johnny Griggs--and lots more, with the Godfather usually gruntin' or playin' organ solos somewhere. Starts with the unedited version of the incredible "Doing It to Death" and don't let you down for quite a long spell. Pass the peas, y'all!

JEFFERSON AIRPLANE
Jefferson Airplane Takes Off
Surrealistic Pillow
After Bathing at Baxter's
Crown of Creation
Bless Its Pointed Little Head
Volunteers
Early Flight
Jefferson Airplane Loves You [box set]
Live at the Monterey Festival [Thunderbolt/Magnum Music CD] Because of the emphasis on songs, the Airplane isn't usually thought of as a great live band like Quicksilver or the Dead, but the songs were always approached differently, hardly a pop trip at all, and there are always intense guitar/bass interludes from Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady. Casady, in particular, is way up front here--heavy.Grace Slick and Marty Balin sound real good too, vocals weaving their way in and out the music. This is the entire Monterey set, not as high-flyin' as Bless Its Pointed Little Headbut so very fine in its own ways.
Fly Trans Love Airways [bootleg CD; live at the Matrix 1966]

LEROY JENKINS
Space Minds, New Worlds, Survival of America [Tomato CD; recorded 1978]

WAYLON JENNINGS
Honky Tonk Heroes [RCA LP; 1973]
The Ramblin' Man [RCA LP; 1974]
Dreaming My Dreams [RCA LP; 1975]
Waylon Live [RCA LP; 1976]

JIM & JESSE
Y'all Come: The Essential Jim & Jesse

JOE+N
E+E (Live) [Carbon Records CDR] Joe Tunis's day-long "tour" in celebration of his Exposure and ExperienceCD. Instead of the usual club-listening-party, Joe tossed some equipment in the back of his jeep and headed for jam sessions with nature at Lock32 of the Erie Canal System, in a local park, beside railroad tracks, at a record store, and on a radio show. In each location, Joe recorded ambient sounds before his performance, which he would then play back and incorporate into the next performance. So, while the artist plunks at guitar and twiddles knobs, we also hear birds and insects, floating conversation, trains and children--moving from location to location, juxtaposed into new realities, chucklin' up swell sounds, moving this CD beyond any mere "conceptual" status. Limited edition of 100, hand-packaged and numbered in DVD cases, with booklet detailing the "tour."
Introducing Something to the System [Carbon Records CDR] Mr. Joe Tunis workin' up a noisy sweat, "harsh" but listenable as heck (from where I'm sittin'), sparsely arranged/edited sounds, with the emphasis on loud and sudden. I likes. Tell us about it, Joe: "5 tracks of field recordings and ultra-harsh electronics. no instruments were used on this recording. constructed entirely using a portable MiniDisc recorder, contact mics, Behringer mixer and patch cords. [limited edition of 50, each packaged in a kraft envelope with unique artwork on each. hand numbered]"
Patterns+Space [Carbon Records 3-inch CDR] Oh yeah, this is a good 'un--got them lonely railroad blues. Here's what Carbon Joe sez: "clocking in at 17+ minutes. contains field recordings of trains, space between trains, echos of trains and some guitar for good measure. an experiment in the (unintentional) patterns around us, day to day, and the spaces in-between. [limited edition of 75, each packaged in a mini jewel-case. 25 different images were used. numbered by design.]"
358 Days [Carbon Records lathe-cute LP] Joe Tunis: "A mixture of finger-picked acoustic drones from my homemade string instruments, morning vocal chants/moans/groans, electric-guitar drones, and finally, cut-n-paste piano damage. Peter King (NZ) lathe-cut LP with hand-painted wooden covers, DJ-style LP cover affixed to back. Edition of 30." Yeah. Another bit of high-grade Joe+N whatsis from the prolific Mr. Tunis. And the cover's a nice heavy chunk of wood, in case you need to patch a hole in your roof some rainy night.

ROBERT JOHNSON
The Complete Recordings

TOMMY JOHNSON
Complete Recorded Works in Chronological Order [Document]

ARTHUR JONES
Scoprio [BYG Actuel LP; recorded 1969]

GEORGE JONES
Hits By George Jones [Musicor LP]
16 Greatest Hits [Starday LP]
Burn the Honky-Tonk Down [Rounder LP]

SPIKE JONES
The Best of Spike Jones & His City Slickers [RCA]
Spiked! The Music of Spike Jones [Catalyst]

CLIFFORD JORDAN/JOHN GILMORE
Blowing in from Chicago

LOUIS JORDAN
The Best of Louis Jordan [MCA LP; England]
Look Out! . . . It's Louis Jordan and the Tympany Five [Charly LP; England]

THE JUNGLE BROTHERS
Straight Out the Jungle
Done By the Forces of Nature
J. Beez Wit the Remedy
"Because I Got It Like That" [Idlers 12-inch; 4 mixes]

THE JUSTIFIED ANCIENTS OF MU MU
"All You Need Is Love" [12-inch single]

KAK
Kak [Epic]

KALEIDOSCOPE
Side Trips
A Beacon from Mars
Kaleidoscope [a.k.a. Incredible Kaleidoscope; third LP]

PAUL KANTNER/JEFFERSON STARSHIP
Blows Against the Empire

KAOS
Product of a Sick Mind [What Records 12-inch EP]

KASENETZ-KATZ SUPER CIRCUS
Kasenetz-Katz Super Circus [Buddah]

KEMIALLISET YSTÄVÄT
Miisa [Fusetron one-sided LP]

KENNY & THE KASUALS
Nothing Better to Do [Eva Records LP; France]

JACK KEROUAC
Poetry for the Beat Generation

ALI AKBAR KHAN
Traditional Music of India [Prestige]
The Soul of Indian Music [Prestige]

JUNIOR KIMBROUGH
All Night Long [Fat Possum CD] In the 90s, stuff this uproduced and raw usually showed up on indie labels by Half Japanese devotees, but this comes steeped in real jukejoint Mississippi blues instead of middle-class lunatic irony. Junior sings, plays guitar, and writes tunes that are built on a hundred years of art that still manages to live on. Like Hound Dog Taylor in the 70s, this is neither museum piece nor shuck for the whiteman. Also like Hound Dog, Junior's notes chords tunings are "approximate," the kind of personal self-taught approach that lies at the heart of Mississippi blues. In spite of the electric instrumentation and the minimal bass/drums backing, Junior has a style "primitive" enough to evoke the scattered, deeply personal styles that existed before Robert Johnson and (later on) Chicago musicians codified the thang. AND IT ROCKS WITH A FONK THAT'LL KEEP YOU SNIFFIN' THE ASS-MOSPHERE ALL NIGHT LONG!

KICKBIT INFORMATION
Bitkicks [ATM Records CD; Germany] Intense, overamped free-rock from ex-Guru Guru bassist Uli Trepte and a band that includes drums, woodwinds, violin, and electric piano. Fusion? No way. More like a melting(walls) pot of Sun Ra's small-group work, Peter Brötzmann, and the Stooges' Fun House!Recorded in 1975, but unreleased until this 1998 CD.

JOHNNY KIDD & THE PIRATES
Johnny Kidd, Rocker [EMI Records 2LP; France]

ALBERT KING
Live Wire/Blues Power [Stax LP]

ALBERT KING/OTIS RUSH
Door to Door [Chess split LP]

B. B. KING
B. B. King [Crown LP]
Singin' the Blues [United LP]
Live at the Regal
Completely Well [Bluesway]

CAROLE KING
Writer: Carole King

CAROLE KING/LITTLE EVA/THE COOKIES
Carole King Plus [Collectables CD] So you've sacrificed your night's soul to Keiji Haino's The 21st Century Hard-y-guide-y Man,and now you need to git into something a little less, um, demanding--something comfortable and sexy and pop. How 'bout some Little Eva? Oh yeah! Carole King and Gerry Goffin wrote, arranged, and produced this nearly flawless album of hit singles, great misses, and songs that were hits for other artists. Dig Carole's lonely, kinda scary "Crying in the Rain" (hit for the Everly Brothers) with its sophisticated, depressed pop à la the Zombies. The Cookies' "Foolish Little Girl" has a similar vibe, with minor-chord organ and regretful lyrics. And the biggies: Carole's "It Might as Well Rain Until September," the Cookies' "Chains" (yep, the Beatles), and "The Locomotion" by Little Eva. "The Locomotion"--! Goffin and King's teenage babysitter had an amazing, unaffected voice that resonates with North Carolina funk dressed up in NYC R&R clothes. "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" is also classic Eva.

LITTLE EVA "DO THE LOCOMOTION"!

KING CRIMSON
Larks' Tongue in Aspic
Red

FREDDY KING
Freddy King Sings [King]
Hideaway [King]

THE KINGSMEN
"Louie Louie" [Wand 7-inch]

THE KINKS
Kinks [Pye LP; England; first LP]
Kinda Kinks [Reprise LP]
Kinkdom [Reprise LP]
The Kinks' Greatest Hits [Reprise LP]
The Kink Kontroversy
Face to Face
The Live Kinks
Something Else by the Kinks
The Village Green Preservation Society
Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround
The Kink Kronikles [Reprise 2LP]
The Great Lost Kinks Album [Reprise LP]
Kollektable Kinks [Reprieve 2LP; bootleg]

ROLAND KIRK
Volunteered Slavery [Atlantic CD; recorded 1968]

A. K. KLOSOWSKI/PYROLATOR
Home Taping Is Killing Music [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Reissue of 1985 German album by Klosowski and Kurt "Pryolator" Dahlke (Der Plan). Using mid-80s high-tech and a self-invented multi-cassette system, the two collaborators created a dense, rich, beat-driven set of pre-sampler "appropriations." The rhythms come from funk, hiphop, dub, and Krautrock, but the end results mostly resemble hiphop (without the raps). That's only part of the story, though. Their source material includes Barry White, Louis Armstrong, the Stooges, John Coltrane, Pharoah Sanders, Hendrix, Fletcher Henderson, the Platters, the Four Tops, John Lee Hooker, Cambodian and Vietnamese folk musics, Beethoven, Mahler, Gregorian chants, Navajo music, and Ennio Morricone. With two bonus tracks by Klosowski and T. Eckart, including the super-funky "China First on Mars."

KLUNK
Infrathin [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] "organic, alien, close: a sound to document insects chewing." Mmm-mm. English "aural scientists" use electronic blips, static, typewriter, kitchen utensils, ambient sounds, etc. to organize these non-"musical" elements into rhythms that seem like the skeletal remains of actual songs. And yes, insects . . . gnawing . . . tasty wood chips.

BUDDY KNOX & THE RHYTHM ORCHIDS
"C'mon Baby"/"Somebody Touched Me" [Roulette 7-inch]

KOOL & THE GANG
The Best of Kool & the Gang 1969-1976 [Mercury/Funk Essentials]

ERKIN KORAY
The Best of Erkin Koray [Mega Müzik CD; Turkey] A real mixed-bag comp of Turkish rock great Erkin Koray's late-70s/80s material. The opening cut, the only one from '71, is a cool Beatles/Roy Wood-like back-to-the-roots pop-rocker, with great fuzz guitar on the end section. Jump ahead to '76's Erkin Koray 2 LP, and it's a sort of back-to-Turkish-roots trip. These five tunes are delicious slices of dense, swirling Turkish rock and pop. Traditional instruments are up front most of the time, but also dig the way Erkin's psych-metal-flow guitar works its way into the oud melodies on "Estarabim," or the guitar'n'synth 70s-FM-space on "Arap Saçi." Next are three tracks from the 1983 Benden Sana LP. The first of these is a stripped-down all-acoustic beauty, with deep vibrating strings all around and a gruff campfire vocal. The other two have a kinda disco feel that's not so cool. From his '84 Illa Ki LP: a sublime "spiritual" tune with fiery guitar; and then a "Midnight Hour"-type groove with chanted vocals and two brief (but wild!) solos (first on saz, then electric guitar). The remaining four cuts, from later in the 80s, have ugly synthetic prodution, but Erkin keeps the fuzzy guitar happening, except for his version of "Hare Krishna" (!).
Dünden Esintiler 1: Saskin [Kalite Ticaret CD; Turkey] This disc collects ten cuts from Erkin's 1971 LP Elektronik Türküler and 1976 LP Erkin Koray 2. Five of these songs are also available on The Best of Erkin Koray CD. Of the remaining five cuts, there are three from '71 and two from '76. From '71 come three Turk-rock gems: "Karli Daglar" is a moody rockaballad with fuzzy guitar-riff breakdown and saz solo; the delicious Beatle-Turk pop George-Krishna-Harrysong called "Hele Yar"; "Sir," an amazing instrumental that crosses traditional Turkish rhythms with Frisco acid-ballroom guitar and heavy rock. From '76: the spacey orchestrated "Eyvah," and the shape-shifting tribal haze of "Komsu Kizi." Also included are "Saskin," a swirling, druggy classic of Turk pop-rock; the Beatle-y rocker "Yalnizlar Rihtimi" (from '71); guitar'n'synth 70s-FM-space on "Arap Saçi"; "Estarabim," another classic bit of ethno-riff-pop; and "Sevince," which has a nice jazz'n'folk quality backed by whirling orchestra.

LEO KOTTKE
6- and 12-String Guitar

KRAFTWERK
Kraftwerk [first LP]
Kraftwerk 2

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON
Kristofferson [Monument ; first LP]

REIKO KUDO
Rice Field Silently Riping in the Night [Majick Records/Periodic Document CD] Fragile, beautiful music from Japan by a woman who explored noise in the 80s, and came from the same underground scene that birthed Fushitsuha and High Rise. But this is very different. Based around simple, "naive" piano melodies, her songs are warm and open but very subdued. Besides her piano and lovely childlike voice, there's occasional accompaniment from guitar, horns, percussion, etc. Plus some nicely addled group vocals. Recorded in 2000.

TULI KUPFERBERG
No Deposit No Return [ESP-Disk LP]

FELA KUTI
Up Side Down
Zombie
Expensive Shit
Shakara

STEVE LACY
The Straight Horn of Steve Lacy [Candid CD; recorded 1960] Lacy began as a teenage devotee of early jazz pioneer Sidney Bechet's music, and became one of the few other jazz musicians before the 60s to explore the soprano saxophone, playing professionally with Dixieland bands. In college, he discovered bop and Thelonious Monk. A meeting with pianist Cecil Taylor led to his joining Taylor's quartet during its early, tenuous stage of working past jazz clichés and expanding possibilities. Lacy's, Soprano Sax,was an enjoyable, though fairly straight, offshoot of his meetings with Taylor and interest in Monk's music; his traditional New Orleans style was still much in evidence. The follow-up, Reflections: Steve Lacy Plays Thelonious Monk,featured seven pretty literal readings of Monk. On this album, he does three more by Monk, two by Cecil Taylor, and Charlie Parker's "Donna Lee." Lacy had been playing with Monk himself during this period, and uses his rhythm section here, Roy Haynes (drums) and John Ore (bass). Most importantly, he dispenses with the piano this time and brings in Charles Davis on baritone saxophone. Freed of literally interpreting the tunes, the whole approach loosens. The implications of Monk's unplayed chords are stretched, especially by the rhythm section. With the rhythms less formally stated, something magical happens: space appears where once were crowds of expectations. "Donna Lee" moves Charlie Parker into the post-bop world of Coleman and Taylor. Monk's angles are sharpened. There is fire here; listen to it burn!
Evidence [New Jazz CD; recorded 1961] Lacy continues his explorations of Monk's music, this time making very clear Monk's connection to Ornette Coleman's music: the band here has Don Cherry (trumpet) and Billy Higgins (drums) from Ornette's classic quartet, along with bassist Carl Brown. Listen to the way the title tune, one of Monk's greatest, is given a rare accurate reading. These men understood why Monk didn't fill in all the holes, why chords are suggested rathern than played. What they do is extend, not re-write. Along with four Monk tunes, two by Duke Ellington are also included, pushing the point back a little further in jazz history.
Moon [Affinity LP; recorded 1969] Reissue of a BYG Actuel LP.
Weal & Woe [Emanem CD; recorded 1972/1973] This collects two LPs originally released in the 70s. The first is Lacy's first solo concert. The words of Lao Tzu and a Kafka short story are evoked on soprano saxophone. Lacy improvises fragments of Monk against a portable radio playing opera, and the next piece he plays against static! But these are compositions with room to move, not random jams. Inventive, demanding stuff. The second LP is an incredible performance of anti-war music, specifically aimed at the Vietnam War. Lacy is joined by Steve Potts (alto sax), Irene Aebi (cello, voice), Kent Carter (bass), and Oliver Johnson (drums). The most violent section, "The Wage," is a turbulent group explosion, with cassettes of real explosions playing simultaneously. Lacy describes it as having been "almost unbearable to perform." On "The Wane," war begins to slowly subside, suggested by a somber Latin rhythm. "The Wake" is a short, bitter end; the French poet Guillevic's "Massacres" is given a hard reading as the band slowly unfocuses and drifts away. This is not the war of heroes or even anti-heroes--this is ugly and brutal in its excitement, exhausted and resigned in its aftermath.
Raps [Adelphi LP; recorded 1977]
The Condor [Soul Note CD; recorded 1985] One of Lacy's best, and from much later than his early experiments. His music had gained a great sophistication, an ease of method that allows for moving very "musically" through non-Western scales and odd rhythms. Great band too: Steve Potts (alto and baritone saxes), Irene Aebi (vocals, violin), Bobby Few (piano), Jean-Jacques Avenel (bass), and Oliver Johnson (drums). Aebi's vocals are operatic and dramatic, but restrained and never stilted; like much of the music here, her voice flows like a twisting river. The opening "Morning Joy" is one of the most spirited celebrations of jazz I've heard, Lacy's soprano saxophone honking happily, bird-like, as Irene soars: "Piano buttons, stitched on morning lights / Jazz wakes with the day!"

LA DÜSSELDORF
La Düsseldorf After Neu! split, Klaus Dinger, Thomas Dinger, and Hans Lampe, carried on the vibe under the name La Düsseldorf. Their debut album, from '76, is cut from the same druggy dream-cloth as Neu! 75,with an thicker texture of synth-snuggle. But still rockin' too!
Viva From  1978. Punk-rock-itself seems to have reinfored Klaus Dinger's musical fondness for rocket-launch riffing and super-drum propulsion. But the message is still very hippie: "Make love, not war." And on the 20-minute "Cha Cha 2000": "The future is calling." With piano that sounds alternately like a Little Richard lock groove and naptime at the day-care center. Strange and wonderful music.

OLIVER LAKE
Heavy Spirits [Black Lion CD; recorded 1975]

LA! NEU?
Düsseldorf [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] '95/'96 recordings by Klaus Dinger and friends. Dinger's passion and crazed energy remain wonderfully intact; don't let the late date put you off. In fact, this is much wilder than the three La Düsseldorf albums! The CD opens with a 22-minute re-write of Neu!'s "Hero" as if it were a techno version of "Sister Ray." Female vocal soars while Klaus mumbles sometimes intelligible philosophical suggestions ("Throw your TV out of the window!") and threats ("I'll piss on you!"). The cracked romance of the all-acoustic "Mayday" is quickly followed by 33 minutes of noisy, shake-the-room rock-trance! Another version of "Mayday" closes the proceedings.
Gold Regen (Gold Rain) [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Lovely music by Klaus Dinger, family, and friends, recorded in 1998. Dominated by Rembrandt Lensink's piano, this is Satie-moody classical-influenced music with few of the usual Dinger rock grooves. "Zeeland Wunderbar" features vocals and lyrics by Dinger mom Renate, while Dinger bro Thomas shows up for some nicely scratchy violin on a few cuts. Most of the very beautiful vocals are by Viktoria Wehrmeister. Klaus himself adds drums and percussion to the occasional rock-style tune. Or dig his hup-two march on the minimal-style "Klaus and Wicki," with droning harmonium by Nikolaus Van Rhein and silly vocals by Viktoria. "Comme Nuages Dans Le Ciel" is even starker, with only harmonium and delicate vocal. The disc's production is sparse and casual, with ambient room sounds and conversation mixed into the beginnings and ends of some pieces.

THE LAST
"She Don't Know Why I'm Here"/"Bombing of London" [Bomp 7-inch]
L.A. Explosion [Bomp LP]
"Up in the Air"/"Wrong Turn"/"Leper Colony" [Warfrat Gramophone 7-inch]

LAST EXIT
Last Exit [Enemy CD; recorded 1986]
The Noise of Trouble: Live in Tokyo [Enemy CD; recorded 1986]
Cassette Recordings '87 [Celluloid CD; recorded 1987]
Iron Path [Venture/Virgin CD; recorded 1988]

THE LAST POETS
The Last Poets [first LP]
This Is Madness

THE LAZY COWGIRLS
Tapping the Source

LAZY SMOKE
Corridor of Faces [Arf! Arf! CD] Massachusetts 60s band specializing in DIY Beatle-psych-pop with heavy guitars. Their one LP, Corridor of Faces,was recorded in the summer of '68 and released in an edition of 500 copies the following March after the group had already disbanded. The LP is a minor classic, way beyond the typical garage band of the late 60s and also much deeper than than the slick studio rock that was just beginning to grow out of the psychedelic Beatles records. This CD reissue also includes twelve acoustic demos recorded in 1967.

TIMOTHY LEARY & ASH RA TEMPEL
7 Up

THE LEAVES
1966 [Panda Records LP]

LED ZEPPELIN
"Hey, Hey, What Can I Do" [Atlantic 7-inch]
BBC Sessions
Led Zeppelin [first LP]
Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin III
IV / zoso
Houses of the Holy

THE LEGENDARY MASKED SURFERS
"Gonna Hustle You"/"Summer Means Fun" [United Artists 7-inch]

THE LEGENDARY STARDUST COWBOY
Rock-it to Stardom

JOHN LENNON & YOKO ONO
John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
Yoko Ono/Plastic Ono Band
Imagine [John]
Fly [Yoko]
Some Time in New York City
Live in New York City
"Give Peace a Chance"/"Remember Love" [Apple 7-inch]
"Cold Turkey"/"Don't Worry Kyoko" [Apple 7-inch]
"Instant Karma"/"Who Has Seen the Wind?" [Apple 7-inch]
"Power to the People"/"Touch Me" [Apple 7-inch]
"Happy Xmas (War Is Over)"/"Listen, the Snow Is Falling" [Apple 7-inch]
"#9 Dream" [Apple 7-inch; without Yoko]
"Kiss Kiss Kiss" [7-inch; Yoko's B-side for "Starting Over"]
"Walking on Thin Ice"/"It Happened" [7-inch]
"Yer Blues"/"Whole Lotta Yoko" [from The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus video]
Imagine [video album]
Rising Mixes [Yoko with Ima & guest mixers]

DEKE LEONARD
Iceburg [United Artists LP]

GLORIA LEONARD
"Head of the Class" [cardboard 7-inch from High Society magazine]

JERRY LEE LEWIS
The Sun Years [box set]
The Greatest Live Show on Earth [Smash; 1964]
Live at the Star Club, Hamburg [Philips; 1965]
By Request: More of the Greatest Live Show on Earth [Smash; 1967]
Live at the International, Las Vegas [Mercury; 1970]
The Session [Mercury; 1973]
Southern Roots: Back Home to Memphis [Mercury; 1973]
Jerry Lee Lewis [Elektra; 1979]
Killer Country [Elektra; 1980]
"She Still Comes Around (to Love What's Left of Me)" [Smash 7-inch]
"I'll Find It Where I Can" [Mercury 7-inch]

LIGHTNIN'
"Hi-Jackin' Love" [Rainbow Records 7-inch]

LIGHTNIN'SLIM
Rooster Blues [Hip-O CD]

LIQUORBALL
Live in Hitler's Bunker

THE LITTER
Emerge

LITTLE FEAT
Little Feat
Sailin' Shoes

JOHNNY LITTLEJOHN/HOUND DOG TAYLOR
Kings of the Slide Guitar [split LP]

LITTLE RICHARD
The Specialty Sessions [box set]

LITTLE WALTER
Essential [Chess 2CD]
Thunderbird [Syndicate Chapter LP; England]

LIZ GIZZAD
Crime Trilogy [Behemoth Records 7-inch] Great free-rock noise-groove from England: droning organ, pounding drums, guitars freakin', vocal grunts buried in the mix. With members of Cosmonauts Hail Satan.

LL COOL J
Radio

THE GIUSEPPI LOGAN QUARTET
The Giuseppi Logan Quartet [ESP-Disk/ZYX CD; recorded 1964]

THE LOLLIPOP SHOPPE
Just Colour [Uni LP]

LOUD MACHINE 5000
"Go Grace Go"/"Lord of Nothing Pt. 1" [H.G. Fact 7-inch; Japan]

LOUIE & THE LOVERS
Rise [Epic LP]

THE LOUVIN BROTHERS
Tragic Songs of Life

LOVE
Love
Da Capo
Forever Changes
Four Sail

LOVE LIVE LIFE + ONE
Love Will Make a Better You

THE LOVIN' SPOONFUL
Do You Believe in Magic
Daydream
The Best of the Lovin' Spoonful [Kama Sutra LP]
Hums of the Lovin' Spoonful

FRANK LOWE
Black Beings [ESP-Disk/ZYX CD; recorded 1973]
Out of Nowhere [Ecstatic Peace one-sided LP; recorded 1992]

NICK LOWE
"Keep It Out of Sight"/"(I've Been Taking the) Truth Drug" [Dynamo Records 7-inch; Holland]
Bowi [Stiff Records 7-inch EP; England]
Pure Pop for Now People

DANIEL LÖWENBRÜCK/JÜRGEN ECKLOFF
Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers Composers Series Volume One: East Berlin [Betley Welcomes Careful Drivers CDR; England] "Two extremely minimal tape compositions," promises/warns the BWCD catalog, and yes they are. Löwenbrück's "Luxury Discreet Surroundings 3 (Workshy Rock'n'Roll Dickheads)" (1995) is 23 minutes of tape hiss surface noise alterations that sound like being stuck in a nonstop rainstorm while the sky slowly cracks open to reveal the cosmic greasy wheels spinnin'. The voices you may think you hear aren't really there (are they?). Eckloff's "#8" (1996) is a perfect transition, as if we have ascended and now roam the sky among the huge whirling roaring wheels turning on invisible axles, moving us ever closer and closer to nothing (for 24 minutes).

LUXURIOUS BAGS
Happening [Twisted Village 7-inch EP] "Powerline" + three other jams from '91. "Guitars tuned as instructed by the Ouija Board."

LORETTA LYNN
Honky Tonk Girl: The Loretta Lynn Collection [3CD]

LORETTA LYNN & CONWAY TWITTY
The Very Best of Loretta Lynn & Conway Twitty [MCA LP]

LYNYRD SKYNYRD
(pronounced leh-nérd skin-nérd) [first LP]
Second Helping
Nuthin' Fancy
"Take Your Time"/"Sweet Home Alabama" [MCA 7-inch}

JIMMY LYONS
Other Afternoons [Affinity LP; recorded 1969] Reissue of BYG Actuel LP.

THE LYRES
"How Do You Know?"/"Don't Give It Up Now" [Sounds Interesting Records 7-inch]

MACEO & ALL THE KING'S MEN
Doing Their Own Thing [Charly CD] In 1970, James Brown's band quit the Godfather en masse, and this is what happened. Besides Maceo Parker on tenor sax and his brother Melvin Parker on drums, monster bass player Bernard Odum and guitarist Jimmy "Chank" Nolen, two other crucial JB players, are here. Sounds like they took a big, long breath after their time with JB (Brown was supposedly quite a taskmaster): the fonkin' is deep and satisfying but friendlier and even more downhome. Unfortunately, their career was handled by Lelan Rogers (Kenny's brother, who also mishandled the 13th Floor Elevators!), so things fell apart quickly and most of the players would soon be back with James.

UNCLE DAVE MACON
Country Music Hall of Fame Series [MCA CD]

MADDOX BROTHERS AND ROSE
Maddox Brothers and Rose [King]

MAGICAL POWER MAKO
Magical Power [Marquee/Polydor CD; Japan]
Blue Dot

MAGIC SAM
West Side Soul [Delmark]

TAJ MAHAL
Taj Mahal [Columbia; first LP]

MAHAVISHNU ORCHESTRA
The Inner Mounting Flame [Columbia CD; recorded 1971]

MALLARD
Mallard [Virgin Records LP; England; 1975]

THE MAMAS & THE PAPAS
Farewell to the First Golden Era [Dunhill LP]

MAN
Be Good to Yourself at Least Once a Day
Back Into the Future
Rhinos, Winos + Lunatics
Maximum Darkness
Live at the Rainbow 1972 [Point CD]
Greasy Truckers Party [Eagle/Point CD; live London '72]
Live at the Padget Rooms Penarth [Beat Goes On CD; live Penarth '72]
The 1999 Party Tour [Point CD; live Chicago '74]

HENRY MANCINI
The Music from Peter Gunn

THE MANDRAKE MEMORIAL
Puzzle

MAJIC SHIP
"Green Plant"/"Night Time Music" [B.T. Puppy Records 7-inch]

BARBARA MANNING
"Don't Let It Bring You Down"/"Haze Is Free (Mounting a Broken Ladder)" [Forced Exposure 7-inch]
"B4 We Go Under"/"I Love You 1000 Ways" [Teen Beat 7-inch]

BARBARA MANNING & SEYMOUR GLASS
"8s"/"CZC" [Majora 7-inch]

THE MAN TEE MANS
"Seventeen"/"Crane"/"Man Tee Mans (Theme Song)" [Bag of Hammers 7-inch] Charmingly primitive Shaggs-y punk-pop by two gals and a guy from Seattle, 1994. "Seventeen" is anthemic in a way that won't have you singing along. Their theme song is pensive and self-deprecating but still cute as heck. Maybe coolest is "Crane," full of relatively tricky Velvet-pop-Underground-isms. Bitchen.

PHIL MANZANERA
Diamond Head

MARBLE SHEEP & THE RUN DOWN SUN'S CHILDREN
untitled [flex-disc from '88]
Old from New Heads [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] In the 90s, the Tokyo psychedelic band Marble Sheep transformed itself, quite naturally, into a feel-good Dead-like jam band, but these 1987 recordings are much darker--raw and crazy, like an acid-gobbling synthesis of Amon Düül I and the first two Stooges LPs. Also heavy traces of the Quicksilver/Dead guitar attack that would permeate much of Japanese psychedelia in the 90s. Featuring guitarist Michio Kurihara (White Heaven, Ha-Za-Ma, Cosmic Invention, etc.) and led by Ken Matsutani (acoustic guitar, vocals). To my ears, this CD is one of the best things to come out of Japanese rock and outside music.

THE MARCELS
"Blue Moon" [Colpix 7-inch]

BOBBY MARCHAN
"Get Down With It" [Dial 7-inch]

PIGMEAT MARKHAM
Here Come the Judge [Chess]

BOB MARLEY & THE WAILERS
Rasta Revolution [Trojan]
Catch a Fire
Natty Dread
Live [Island, '75]

MARTHA & THE VANDELLAS
Greatest Hits [Motown]

HUGH MASEKELA
The Promise of a Future

MASSACRE
Killing Time

THE MASTER MUSICIANS OF JOUJOUKA [or JAJOUKA]
Brian Jones Presents the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka
Apocalypse Across the Sky
Recorded Live in France (Staaltape Documentary Series) [Staaltape cassette] Almost an hour of very high music. Rougher sounding, more urgent than the Bill Laswell-produced Apocalypse Across the SkyCD. The goat-boy-god's been hittin' the bong again, and he's got a boner that's throbbin' like a roomful of Dreamachines spinnin' flashin' visionin' comin'. Just think: a culture where music (art) is the highest gig around, and where the object of the art (music) is ecstatic cleansing, sexual spiritual abandon!

MATCHING MOLE
Little Red Record
BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert

MATERIAL
Memory Serves
Seven Souls
The Third Power

MAYBE MENTAL
Lotuses on Fire [Odd-Size CD]

ELMA MAYER
Elma Mayer [Ponk Records CD]

CURTIS MAYFIELD
Roots
Live

LOREN MAZZACANE [most with SUZANNE LANGILLE]
Unaccompanied Acoustic Guitar Improvisations Vol. 1-9: 1979-1980 [Ecstatic Yod 4CD]
Bluesmaster 2 [as Guitar Roberts]
In Pittsburgh
Rooms
Come Night [Nonsequitur CD] Loren Mazzacane and Suzanne Langille on electric guitar and vocals, respectively, with occasional percussion and sax. Out.But, um, there's this THANG called the blues, y'see. . . . Pretty, spooky, quiet, nice fucking stuff. Sometimes sounds like Jandek's female-vocal work done in a real studio--but actually much more controlled than that. Some titles: "Take Me Up," "The Cave," "Willow," "Too Late." Dark come night white out cut the goddam fonk line town nimble comes in the night, y'all.
Hell's Kitchen Park
Moonyean [Road Cone CD] Thirteen untitled guitar pieces, mostly electric, with Suzanne Langille doing a lovely spooky vocal on one cut. Loren's "blues" aren't defined so much by structure as by the tones and colors his sound comes in, fuzzy overdubbed guitars ehcoing each other like repeated lines in a country blues, but also building building upupupthe way Duane Allman learned to build listening to Coltrane. With pretty interludes wooden and hopeful.
Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell! Hell! [as Loren MazzaCane Connors] [The Lotus Sound CD] Twelve electric guitar pieces, fuzzy chunky rhythms and colors with overdubbed leads and textures. Some of this is much more aggressive than Loren's more typical blues-moods, this "Hell!" brings forth something that truly resembles blues in its pure screaming form, the release that turns the unbearable into a shared experience, somehow beautiful in its brutally bitterly sweet way. I've read some complaints about Loren's style, denigrating it for its connections to the blues tradition. Ridiculous! Art-snobs who hear only clichés and not the depth of BLUES when pushed past the clichés never learned to hear their own hearts throb. Listen to Charley Patton and Elmore James, listen to Freddy King and Johnny "Guitar" Watson, listen to Albert Ayler and Don Van Vliet, listen to John Fahey and Loren Connors--can't you FEEL it?

BILL McCARTER
Secrets [unreleased 4-song EP; 1978]

DELBERT McCLINTON
Victim of Life's Circumstances

THE McCOYS
Infinite McCoys [Mercury LP]

JIMMY McCRACKLIN
"The Walk"/"I'm to Blame" [Chess Records 7-inch]

MC5
Kick Out the Jams
Back in the USA
High Time
Babes in Arms [ROIR]
Starship: Live Sturgis Armory 6/27/1968 [Total Energy/Alive CD] You know the myth; now here's a very interesting peak into the truth behind those high-energy dreams. At 70 uninterrupted minutes, this shows the band experimenting, unafraid to fall on their faces, closer to the messy mayhem of a Grateful Dead show than the wound-up wham-bam of the punk-rockers who would claim the Five as an influence. Maybe most interesting is a medley of three James Brown numbers, "Cold Sweat," "I Can't Stand Myself," and "There Was a Time." It doesn't really work--they simply aren't funky!--but what you can hear happening is how Fred Smith and Wayne Kramer took R&B riffs, stripped out the syncopation they couldn't handle, and fused it into Detroit proto-metal, or proto-punk, or whatever your perspective (at the time, the rock theoreticians in Detroit called it "third generation rock"!). The Five's re-write of Pharoah Sanders' "Upper Egypt" doesn't work too well either. Probably indicative of where the band's hearts always were, "Tutti Frutti" definitely works--and it works hard! Although the last 20 minutes or so of "Starship" and "Black to Comm" make a good argument for John Sinclair's free-rock philosophy. Definitely one for true fans only, but those of us who qualify will dig a lot.
Teenage Lust [Total Energy/Alive CD] The complete radio broadcast of the 5 at the Saginaw Civic Center, New Years 1969/1970. Probably the height of their power as a kick-ass R&R band. Includes a wrenching version of of Jody Reynods' "Fire of Love," kickin' takes of "Human Being Lawn Mower" and "Teenage Lust" (both neutered onBack in the USA), and an oddly tight medley of "Starship"/ "Kick Out the Jams" /"Black to Comm."
"I Just Don't Know"/"I Can Only Give You Everything" [AMG or Grease 7-inch]

SUNI McGRATH
Cornflower Suite

MCH BAND
Es Reut Mich F . . .

KALAPARUSHA MAURICE McINTYRE
Forces and Feelings [Delmark CD; recorded 1970]

JOHN McLAUGHLIN
Devotion [Movie Play CD; recorded 1969]
My Goal's Beyond [Rykodisc CD; recorded 1970]

JACKIE McLEAN
New and Old Gospel [Blue Note CD; recorded 1967]

ROBIN McNAMARA
"Lay a Little Lovin' on Me" [Steed 7-inch]

MEAT PUPPETS
In a Car [7-inch EP]
Meat Puppets [first LP]
Meat Puppets II
Up On the Sun
Beyond the Flesh [cassette; studio & live '81]

THE MEKONS
"Where Were You?"/"I'll Have to Dance Then (On My Own)" [Fast Product 7-inch; England]

RICHARD MELTZER
The Post-Natal Trash Reading: Live at Al's Bar [cassette-only release]
Rhymes With Seltzer [video]

THE MERRY-GO-ROUND
The Merry-Go-Round [A&M LP]

JIM MESSINA & THE JESTERS
Jim Messina & the Jesters [Audio Fidelity or Thimble LP]

METALLICA
Ride the Lightning

METAL URBAIN
"Paris Maquis"/"Cle de Contact" [Rough Trade 7-inch; England]

THE METERS
Struttin' [Josie LP]
Funkify Your Life: The Meters Anthology

PAT METHENY
Zero Tolerance for Silence

PAT METHENY/ORNETTE COLEMAN
Song X [Geffen CD; recorded 1985] This was quite a shock when first released: the young fusion guitar virtuoso Metheny teamed with Coleman, an unlikely musical hero. Joined by Charlie Haden on bass, and double drummers Jack DeJohnette and Denardo Coleman, it sounds like a leaner, tougher version of Coleman's Prime Time band. Half the tunes are Coleman originals; half are co-written with Metheny. Almost as good as Ornette's Prime Time albums like Dancing in Your Headand Body Meta.

AUGIE MEYERS & THE WESTERN HEAD BAND
"High Texas Rider"/"Memories" [The Texas Re-Cord Co. 7-inch]

IAN MIDDLETON
5 Pieces 1998-1999 [Eclipse Records LP]

MIDWICH
Every Day Is the Same [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] Really super stuff from unpretentious experimenters out of Leeds, U.K. Check track 2 for its intense (absurd?) use of dynamics: Will your right speaker crack apart before you can get acquainted with the wheezy little creature on the left? Motor begins and all is lost as that low rumble gets you to dancin' upside your outside. Then the ants come in. After all that crumble is an electronic jaunt with smiley-space robots boomin' about. Finally, things melt--yeah, after all that wheezin' and anglin' and boomin'--yes, mmm beddy-dye.

S. T. MIKAEL
Visions of the Unknown [Gallium Arsenide 2CD] Groovy reissue of Swedish acid-rocker S. T. Mikael's first two home-recorded private-press LPs, Visions of a Trespasser(1989) and The Unknown(1991), with 45+ minutes of "bonus" tracks (1987-1996). Fuzzy riffs, distorted vocals, lyrical introspection, and great guitar noodle from the early period of Mikael's experiments with LSD, girl love, and real life; which is why this music sounds so honest and straight-forward (like his liner notes), in spite of its obvious "retro" trippy-hippy vibe.

MIKEY DREAD
Best Sellers [Rkyodisc]
"Radio One" [CBS 7-inch; B-side of "Hitsville UK" by the Clash]

AMOS MILBURN
Let's Have a Party [Aladdin]

THE MILLENNIUM
Begin

ROGER MILLER
Golden Hits [Smash LP]

THE STEVE MILLER BAND
Sailor [Capitol LP]

CHARLES MINGUS
The Charles Mingus Quintet + Max Roach [Debut CD; recorded 1955]
Pithecanthropus Erectus [Atlantic CD; recorded 1956] The first Mingus masterpiece is still a beauty, even if there were further developments to come. The title tune not only tracks modern man strutting his way out of the mud to his current free-fall, it also outlines jazz and Mingus's music up to that point: moving easily from swing to bop to blues, odd time changes and tonal color suggesting a classical-jazz fusion, the crazed group sections sounding simultaneously like the earliest New Orleans jazz improvisations and free-jazz blow-outs to come. Jackie McLean, on alto sax, is especially interesting as he bridges Charlie Parker with more opened approaches. To evoke the sounds of San Francisco, "A Foggy Day" uses bicycle and car horns, cop whistles, fog horns, bowed bass and plunked piano--very much like the Art Ensemble of Chicago 15 years later--and it also grooves relentlessly.
The Clown [Atlantic CD; recorded 1957]
New Tijuana Moods [RCA CD; recorded 1957] The original Tijuana MoodsLP plus alternate takes of four of the five songs. The album is full of musical impressions from a wild Mexican trip made by Mingus and drummer Dannie Richmond (also documented in over-the-top prose in Mingus's autobiographical book Beneath the Underdog). "Ysabel's Table Dance" blends Mingus's swing-bop-blues, Mexican castanets and voice from flamenco dancer Ysabel Moreh, European classical structure, and what would be called free jazz. "Los Mariachis" evokes the street bands playing for the tourists that Mingus and Richmond heard in Tijuana--music going out of tempo, styles changing, Latin rhythms contrasted by African-American jazz. "Flamingo" nods to Ellington romanticism, and "Dizzy Moods" uses a Dizzy Gillespie chord progression as a jam vehicle. Even in this "exotic" setting, Mingus's music always returns to the jazz he loved and endlessly promoted. Jimmy Knepper (trombone) and Clarence Shaw (trumpet) turn in especially impressive solos. Drummer Dannie Richmond would be with Mingus for most of the Mingus's career.
Blues & Roots [Atlantic CD; recorded 1959] Mingus uses a ten-piece band, working from ear instead of charts, to create a stompin', hollerin', hootin', rollin' set of blues, with saxophones and trombones swinging and honking before intersecting in beautiful, chaotic ways. Check out "Moanin' " as each player sets up his own line against the steamy, shifting rhythm before going through Mingus's changes. And then in comes Jackie McLean for a solo. Oh yeah! Or how about "My Jelly Roll Soul," Mingus yelling encouragement as Jelly Roll Morton's music gets pumped up and extended. Yeah baby! And the shouting, churchy "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting." Testify! With Dannie Richmond (drums), Jimmy Knepper (trombone), tenor-sax great Booker Ervin, and others.
Mingus Dynasty [Columbia CD; recorded 1959] A looser, much more satisfying Mingus cross-section than his breakthrough Columbia album, Mingus Ah Um."Slop" continues the gospel-stompin' shoutin' direction of "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting," but veers out even further in its joyous free-for-all. "Diane" is a lovely mini-suite that opens with a somber bass-drums-flute trio, bursts open with a short atonal section, and then continues in shifting romantic moods until a sudden climactic end; Sun Ra was doing similar, although odder, things around the same time. "Gunslinging Bird," ostensibly another Charlie Parker tribute, is a huge wall of horns lumbering like a beautiful, twitching giant, swinging and whooping in wildly varied unison. "Far Wells Mill Valley" begins like a straight-ahead big-band number, with a couple of nice twists, before suddenly switching to an Arabian-nights motif, and again to something like modern classical before then swinging hard back to jazz. The other cuts, including two by Ellington, are also fine. One of Mingus's best albums.
Mingus at Antibbes [Atlantic CD; recorded 1960] What a joyful, alive music this is! Recorded at the Antibbes Jazz Festival in France, with Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet), Ted Curson (trumpet), Booker Ervin (tenor sax), Dannie Richmond (drums), and legendary bop pianist Bud Powell sittin' in. The versions of "Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting" and "Better Git Hit in Your Soul" are overflowing with bluesy testifying and amazing solos; check Dolphy and Richmond on either cut. The more relaxed "What Love?" includes Mingus's bass and Dolphy's bass clarinet in intense dialogue, Mingus yelling as well as playing his parts! Powell is showcased on "I'll Remember April," and Ervin turns in a fierce performance on "Prayer for Passive Resistance." Early jazz gets a wild Mingus updating in "Folk Forms 1," with the band jamming as a collective, free of solos, although Curson and Mingus tend to poke out of the big musical ball more than the others.
Charles Mingus Presents Charles Mingus [Candid CD; recorded 1960]
Mingus [Candid CD; recorded 1960]
Oh Yeah [Atlantic CD; recorded 1961]
The Black Saint and the Sinner Lady [Impulse CD; recorded 1963]
Mingus Mingus Mingus Mingus [Impulse CD; recorded 1963]
Town Hall Concert [Jazz Workshop/Fantasy CD;  recorded 1964] Two long pieces by the incredible sextet Mingus took to Europe, recorded just prior to leaving: long-time drummer Dannie Richmond, Eric Dolphy (alto sax, bass clarinet, flute), pianist Jaki Byard, Johnny Coles (trumpet), and Clifford Jordan (tenor sax). "So Long Eric" is a powerful blues full of solos and Mingus's famed musical dialogues. Dig Richmond and Mingus having a long conversation between drums and bass before Dolphy leaps in with alto-sax bird calls, like he's mocking the human daintiness of conversation! The almost half hour of "Praying With Eric" is actually the Mingus classic "Meditations" in its debut performance. Introduced by Mingus, he explains that the piece was written after Dolphy told him about Southern prison farms with barbed-wire fences, and how black folks need to "get some wire cutters before someone else gets some guns to us." The mood is somber, starting with bowed bass and flute in unison before a heartbreaking piano/flute section. When the horns and drums finally enter, the European chamber mood is shattered--the barbed wire is cut. Mingus pulls out romantic Ellingtonia, jump blues, swing and Latin rhythms--as if to say that the music has always been a means of liberation. More classic Mingus. Not to be confused with The Complete Town Hall Concert,an interesting but flawed set from two years earlier with a 30-piece band.
Revenge! [Revege 2CD; recorded 1964]
Mingus in Europe Volumes 1 & 2 [Enja CDs; recorded 1964]
Charles Mingus Sextet video [Shanachie; recorded 1964] Breathtaking performance by Mingus, Eric Dolphy, Clifford Jordan, Johnny Coles, Jaki Byard, and Dannie Richmond in an uninterrupted hour filmed for Norwegian television during their '64 European tour. The suspected telepathy of Mingus and Richmond turns out to be old-fashioned human interaction--dig how the two men use looks, gestures, and shouts to maneuver through Mingus's ever fluid compositions. Byard sings lowly through his solos; Mingus mumbles and yells; even Richmond uses verbal cues. At times, there's an almost palpable feeling of joy at work, even if Mingus is always directing the party!  And there's a show-stopping, jaw-dropping bass-clarinet solo by Dolphy on "Take the A Train" that is not to be missed. Performance films like this are very rare.
Let My Children Hear Music [Columbia CD; recorded 1971]
Mingus Moves [Atlantic/Rhino CD; recorded 1973]

THE MINUTEMEN
The Punch Line
What Makes a Man Start Fires?
Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat
Double Nickels on the Dime
Project: Mersh
3-Way Tie (for Last)
Joy [7-inch EP]
Paranoid Time [7-inch EP]
Bean-Spill [7-inch EP]
Tour-Spiel [7-inch EP]

THE MISUNDERSTOOD
Before the Dream Faded [Cherry Red LP]

BOBBY MITCHELL
"I'm Gonna Be a Wheel Someday" [Imperial 7-inch]

JONI MITCHELL
Clouds
Ladies of the Canyon
Blue
For the Roses
Court and Spark
Mingus

ROSCOE MITCHELL
Sound [Delmark CD; recorded 1966] The first AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians) recording from the Chicago scene that gave us the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Anthony Braxton, etc. With Mitchell (alto sax, clarinet, recorder) leading Lester Bowie (trumpet, flugelhorn, harmonica), Malachi Favors (bass), Maurice McIntyre (tenor sax), Lester Lashley (trombone, cello), and Alvin Fiedler (drums) through three numbers, including two alternate takes for the CD reissue. "Ornette" pays tribute to Ornette Coleman's influence, using a Coleman-like melodic line to jam on. Favors is especially terrific. "Sound" starts with long tones from the horns blowing softly over cymbals, and then comes a primal surge, bells jangling, recorder sounding childlike--and things begin to vary, depending upon which take of the takes you're listenign to (one is 26:26, the other 19:20). Exploration of the instruments for their inherit sounds. For the first time, the atonal qualities of European avant garde, the randomness of John Cage, and the non-rhythmic emphasis of Stockhausen were pushed to the foreground in a black jazz setting. But the resulting music is none of those things; it's something new. "The Little Suite" is even more startling, as the band uses "little instruments" like harmonica, slide whistle, and a ratchet (!) along with bowed bass, clarinet, drums, etc. to build an oddly shifting composition of unceasing rhythmic change.
Roscoe Mitchell Quartet [Sackville LP; recorded 1975]
Songs in the Wind [Victo CD; recorded 1990]

MOBY GRAPE
Moby Grape [first LP]
Vintage [Columbia 2CD]

THE MODERN LOVERS
The Modern Lovers [Home of the Hits LP]
The Original Modern Lovers [Mohawk Records LP]

MOEBIUS & PLANK
Rastakraut Pasta
Material

DIETER MOEBIUS
Blotch [Scratch Recordings CD; Canada] Excellent 1999 recordings by Cluster synth-groove-master Moebius. Pulse, delay, repeat, reverberation, repeat, re re re . . . whoosh!

MOGOLLAR

GRACHAN MONCUR III
Evolution [Blue Note CD; recorded 1963]
Aco Dei de Madrugada (one morning I waked up early . . . ) [BYG Actuel LP; recorded 1969]

THELONIOUS MONK
The Complete Blue Note Recordings [Blue Note 4CD]
Thelonious in Action
Thelonious Monk With John Coltrane
Misterioso [Riverside]

THE MONKEES
The Monkees [first LP]
More of the Monkees
Headquarters
Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd.
Head
40 Timeless Hits [Arista 2LP, Australia]

THE MONKS
Black Monk Time
Five Upstart Americans [Omplatten CD] In 1965, a year before they did the legendary Black Monk Timefor German Polydor Records, the five American ex-GI's known as the Monks recorded these demos. Included are early versions of several Black Monk Timesongs: "Monk Time," "We Do Wie Du," "Boys Are Boys," "Higgle Dy Piggle Dy," "Love Came Tumbling Down," "Oh How to Do Now," "I Hate You," and "Blast Off!" (here called "Space Age"). The sound is closer to recognizable garage and surf forms than the seamless mutation of the Monks '66, but there's certainly nothing ordinary here;  every performance is a gem. Also included are two never-heard tunes. The first, "Suzanne," is an incredible, mostly instrumental romp with roller-rink organ, Dixieland-speed banjo, oom-pah surf beat, and a fuzz guitar solo that breaks apart into a bit of actual noise. The other unheard song is "Hushie Pushie," a mad-sounding beer-swillin' polka-rockin' instrumental. Plus we get two tracks by the Five Tourquays, the 1964 military edition of the Monks. The Tourquays do a version of "Boys Are Boys," and the very rockin' "There She Walks."

BILL MONROE
Bill Monroe's Greatest Hits [Decca/MCA]

BILL MONROE & THE MONROE BROTHERS
The Essential [RCA]

MOONDOG
Moondog/Moondog 2 [Columbia CD]

MOONQUAKE
Moonquake [Fantasy Records LP; 1974]

RUDY RAY MOORE
Close Encounter of the Sex Kind [Generation International LP]

MOOSEHEART FAITH STELLAR GROOVE BAND
Golden Light [Stellar CD]
The Magic Square of the Sun [September Gurls 2LP version with extra material] Mooseheart's classic '91 CD on vinyl in lovely gatefold cover (now you can roll 'em up on Jim Blanchard's drippy artwork!). Best of all, there's 20 minutes of new stuff in the "usual" Moose psych-folk-space-experimental-spiritual-etc beyond-style; I really dig "The Tree Beyond Which There Is No Passing" with its loopy post-punk/prog-rock bass line, processed harmonica, and rattlin' percussion.
Global Brain [September Gurls CD] "My church has no walls." This sounds like Todd and Larry's most committed statement of Moose yet, like the ships are about to land at any moment! The trio is rounded out by Richie West's jazz-based drumming, and they sound more intensely tripped than ever, lots more electronics, jams opened up more with Larry's guitar sounding sure and rippin'. But this trip has more to do with paths other than chemical. You'll probably wanna bring it along, though, if your path (like mine) lies closer to the fungoid or paper worlds. Fave cuts (tonight anyway): "We Can Bring This Castle Down" with long S.F.-sorta intro to a positive call for an end to tyranny ("and I opened my third ear"), and then mo' jam; a groovin' ride to Funkadelica called "Mystic Cadillac"; long version of "Haifa Street Dream" (a snippet was on the Behemoth split 7-inch with Crawlspace, and "Children of Flowers" is here in different form too); the final statement, jazzy and moody, "I Don't Know." I'm impressed. Right on, space bros!

MOREPORK
Let the Marketplace Fall Bleeding [Celebrate Psi Phenomenon CDR; New Zealand] Campbell Kneale: "Ladies and gentlemen, herein the shit hits the fan. Armpit string-slinger Clayton Noone sidles up to the crap-trap assault of Mr Steriles' Kieran Monaghan for a concise kiwi fistful of scouring junk-punk greatness. Scunge-rock from the top shelf--two thumbs up!" Uh-huh. Faboolous no-fi post-punk clank, like them great Urinals and early Fall singles updated for post-rock drone-bleary ears. Comes with a bitchen little booklet of crude art, xeroxed photos, scribbles, and wide open anarcho vibe. More Morepork!

VAN MORRISON
Blowin' Your Mind
Astral Weeks
Moondance

ELLA MAE MORSE & FRDDIE SLACK
The Hits of Ella Mae Morse & Freddie Slack [Capitol Star Line LP]

JELLY ROLL MORTON
1923/24 [Milestone 2LP]

MOSQUITO
Time Was [ERL Records LP] For my ears, the heaviest thing done in the 90s by Half Japanese, Sonic Youth, and even Two Dollar Guitar was this here LP by Jad Fair, Steve Shelley, and Tim Foljahn. Except maybe Loren Mazzacane, this is by far my favorite white "blues" record since . . . I'm not sure when. Freed of the pressure to produce "art," the three musicians (with guest James McNew) decide to boogie, even if it's not always in the same direction at the same time. The tunes are very loose, aimed in somedirection by Foljahn's simple guitar riffs. Shelley's always been one of the best followers around, and I mean that in the best sense of following what a bunch of wasted idiots are trying to do in front of him. While Jad Fair makes with tongues that are at least as great as anything I've heard him do with the sometimes awesome Half Japanese. And if you think the best Zep or Panther Burns (there's the stretch!) are also awesome, then this too should leave your jaw dropping.

MOTORHEAD
On Parole
Motorhead [Chiswick; first released LP]
Ace of Spades
"Leaving Here" [7-inch]
"Louie Louie" [7-inch]

MOTT THE HOOPLE
Mott the Hoople [first LP]
Brain Capers

MOUSE & THE TRAPS
Public Execution [Eva LP; France]

MOUTHCRAZY
Center of the Ass Run Volume 4: Open/Openwide [Ecstatic Yod LP]

THE MOVE
Move [first LP]
Shazam
Looking On
Message from the Country
Split Ends [United Artists LP]
The Best of the Move [A&M 2LP]
Black Country Rock [bootleg CD, but I think all of this has also come out in legit form] BBC radio '67/'68: 26 cuts, mostly covers, that make these guys come across like a very weird bar band. Great originals like "Wild Tiger Woman," "I Can Hear the Grass Grow," "Walk on the Water," "Flowers in the Rain," "Fire Brigade"--and then ya got "Piece of My Heart" given the Engelbert treatment, "California Girls" Byrds-style, "Sounds of Silence" (urp!), pop-psych "Morning Dew" (boss!), "So You Want to Be a Rock & Roll Star" that blows away the Byrds, "Kentucky Woman" pre-Deep Purple, "Stephanie Knows Who," etc. I love this stuff!

MARTIN MULL
Martin Mull and His Fabulous Furniture in Your Living Room [Capricorn LP]
"Santa Doesn't Cop Out on Dope"/"Santafly" [Capricorn 7-inch]

MOON MULLICAN
Seven Nights to Rock: The King Years 1946-56 [Western LP]

ELLIOTT MURPHY
Aquashow [Polydor LP]

DAVID MURRAY
Flowers for Albert: The Complete Concert [India Navigation 2CD; recorded 1976]

SUNNY MURRAY
Sunny Murray [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music CD; recorded 1966]
An Even Break (Never Give a Sucker) [Affinity LP; recorded 1969] Reissue of a great session for the BYG Actuel label. Paris in the late 60s seemed to bring out the repressed yearnings and anger in African-American jazz artists who were given total, unquestioned freedom by the French producers of the Actuel series. Murray opens this album in a quietly anxious setting which gives way to a spoken section about the plight of Africans in America. This is followed by "Giblets Part 12," an intense, sustained explosion of pure free ensemble playing; by comparison, Coltrane's Ascensionsounds like bebop! It also comes undone much quicker, as a need to refocus accompanies the furious cleansing energy. "Complete Affection" is a haunting Ayler-like blues, with Murray riding the cymbals in a heavenly way. The closing number has the child-like, sing-song quality of Ayler's more joyous music. With Byard Lancaset and Kenneth Terroade on reeds and flute, and Art Ensemble bassist Malachi Favors. A fine example of ego-shattering group energy.

JUNIOR MURVIN
Police and Thieves

THE MUSIC EXPLOSION
"Little Bit o' Soul" [Laurie 7-inch]

THE MUSIC ENSEMBLE
The Music Ensemble [Roaratorio CD] Press release: "The first documentation of this important free improvising group, featuring Roger Baird, Billy Bang, Malik Baraka, Daniel Carter, William Parker, and Herb Kahn. Existing during the heyday of NYC's Loft Scene, their name has often been cited as a crucial stage in the development of its members--the seeds of such current ensembles as Other Dimensions In Music and Test can be found here--but their singular music has gone largely unheard, save by those who were present at their concerts. This CD has been compiled from archival tapes recorded by Roger Baird; one complete performance from Brooklyn's Kingsborough College, on 24 April 1974, and excerpts from a concert at the Holy Name School Auditorium, on 15 February 1975. Packaged in a mini-LP gatefold sleeve, with liner notes by Parker, Bang, Baird, and Carter, paintings by Marilyn Sontag, and a reproduction of the poster for one of the shows, this is the recording debut of one of jazz's greatest 'lost' groups." Highly recommended. Billy Bang and the others used the AACM/Art Ensemble model of a jazz collective to open up sounds that were even less connected to European musical traditions than the Chicagoans. Spontaneous music to get lost within.

THE MUSIC IMPROVISATION COMPANY
The Music Improvisation Company [ECM]

THE MUSIC MACHINE
"Talk Talk" [Original Sound 7-inch]
"Masculine Intuition" [Original Sound 7-inch]
"Double Yellow Line" [Original Sound 7-inch]

MX-80 SOUND
Big Hits [BBQ or Gulcher 7-inch EP]
Big Hits/Hard Attack [Atavistic CD] Their first two releases, Big HitsEP from '76 and Hard AttackLP from '77. Big Hitswill always be my favorite MX-80, reminder of a sweet period in my youth froze by sound, but most important, it stands as one of the moments of that pre-"punk" period when it seemed like American rock was being reborn with brain as well as body (the Ramones soon did in that notion). For me, only those first Ubu singles still stand in the same way. This is one time when the CD remaster actually pummels the original vinyl--awesome, dude! And Hard Attackis a sonic surprise too: the band's original mix, with guitars more prominent, previously available (for some reason) on the Belgian pressing of the Island LP and the band's own cassette re-release. Plus a great outtake, "Sad Girls." Essential stuff.
Out of the Tunnel [Ralph]
Crowd Control [Ralph]
O Type [Ralph 7-inch]
Das Love Boat [Quadruped]
live at the Monroe County Public Library 1977 [unreleased tape]

NAPALM DEATH
The Complete Radio One Sessions

NAPOLEON XIV
"They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa!" [Warner Bros. 7-inch]

NASTASSYA FILIPPOVNA [with Joe Baiza and Bob Lee]
live performances and radio broadcasts 1993/1994 [unreleased tapes]

NATISUTA HETEKATA
Ki [Majora Records LP] Vibrato guitars launch two sides of a twisty mutant jam by a band of three Japanese and two Finnish musicians. Formless spontaneous clangy groovin' rock. Imagine that Sunday session when the drummer had hash instead of the usual dirt weed and everybody forgot the songs! It's the universal language, kats and kitties: open up yo' --------- and JAM!

NEGATIVE TREND
"Mercenaries"/"Meathouse"/"Black and Red"/"How Ya Feeling?" [Heavy Manners 7-inch]

FRED NEIL
Little Bit of Rain
Other Side of This Life

RICKY NELSON
Legendary Masters [United Artists 2LP]

WILLIE NELSON
The Best of Willie Nelson [United Artists LP; 60s stuff]
Live (I Gotta Get Drunk)
Shotgun Willie
The Sound in Your Mind
Stardust

MICHAEL NESMITH & THE FIRST NATIONAL BAND
Magnetic South

NEU!
Neu! [first LP]
Neu! 2
Neu! 75
Live '72 [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Weird, messy greatness from Klaus Dinger, Michael Rother, and drummer Eberhard Kranemann recorded at a rehearsal in a Düsseldorf church meeting hall. Instead of the expected Neu! rocket fuel, the playing veers in many directions, starting with hypnotic guitar-weave and free drums, before breaking down completely and then coming back together like a Midwestern rock-jam! Nice big-room (not arena) sound, plenty of lovely echo and unretouched amp noise. In many ways, this sounds closer to Sun City Girls than what you may think of as Neu!

MANI NEUMEIER
Privat

THE NEWBEATS
Bread and Butter [Hickory LP]
"Break Away (From That Boy"/"Hey-O-Daddy-O" [Hickory 7-inch]
"Run, Baby, Run"/"Mean Woolly Willie" [Hickory 7-inch]

BOB NEWHART
The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart [Warner Bros. LP]

RANDY NEWMAN
12 Songs

THE NEW TWEEDY BROTHERS
The New Tweedy Bros!

NEW YORK ART QUARTET
New York Art Quartet [ESP-Disk/ZYX Music, recorded 1964]

THE NEW YORK CONTEMPORARY FIVE
Archie Shepp/The New York Contemporary Five [Storyville CD, Denmark; recorded 1963; includes the LPs New York Contemporary Five Volumes 1 & 2]

NEW YORK DOLLS
New York Dolls
Too Much Too Soon

PHILL NIBLOCK
Music By Phill Niblock [XI CD]

RALPH NIELSEN & THE CHANCELLORS
"Scream"/"Never, Not Again"/"Little Demon" [Crypt 7-inch]

THE NIGHTCAPS
Wine, Wine, Wine

HARRY NILSSON
Nilsson Schmilsson [RCA LP]
Son of Schmilsson [RCA LP]

1910 FRUITGUM CO.
"The Train"/"Eternal Light" [Buddah 7-inch]

NO ENERGY
No Energy [Fencing Flatworm CDR; England] "An enveloping atmosphere of flickering disquiet" pulled from a vibrating, surging swirl of drones, tones, and shattered sample-jazz. Soundtrack music for beautiful breakdowns. Guh.

NO NECK BLUES BAND
The Birth of Both Worlds [Sound @ One 2CD] Liner notes: "These recordings document two live open air performances, the first April 19 98 on a rooftop in Charlestown, Mass, the second April 27 at 79th St Boat Basin NYC. The concerts had both been free and public events and both ended on the arrival of the police, stopping the music and clearing the areas." High-grade fuel from this group of improv'delic NYC heads: lengthy, spacious, tangy, rattlin' groovin' honkin' like a Can/AACM jam session for BYG Actuel.

ARNE NORDHEIM
Electric [Rune Grammofon CD] Recorded in Warsaw, Poland, in '68 and '70, and originally released in '74, the "electroacoustic" music of Norwegian composer Arne Nordheim is a gorgeous sound. Working mostly in the studio with tapes, electronic processors, and mixing boards, electroacoustic music extended the tape-manipulation techniques of musique concrete that began in France after World War 2. The simple fact of an available experimental studio in Warsaw took Nordheim to Poland. "Solitaire" is typical, in that he mostly uses human voices as source material, but processes the sounds into a sort of transhuman architecture, comfortable but not warm, the occasional passage of recognizable voice reminding us of reality intruding from without, frozen beauty that breathes permanently through its own remoteness. "Pace" ("Peace") features more voice tweaking, texts of the Declaration of Human Rights pushed into a new kind of speech, percussive beeps and tones that you could imagine being an extraterrestrial translation of the unprocessed Declaration. Nordheim's fondness for extreme dynamics is in full play here; he achieves drama through abrupt volume changes instead of rhythm or color. "Warsaw" is the most varied of the pieces. Nordheim collects sound materials and assembles them into a "musical diary." A darker, more dense space is achieved, more evocative of his politically turbulent Polish surroundings than the icy shelter back home in Norway. "Colorazione" finds Nordheim out of the studio, at play with a live ensemble including Hammond organ and percussion. The ensemble's tonal statements are processed electronically by the composer, fed back to the musicians for comment, and then reprocessed--again and again, although constantly altered so as to not build obvious layers. Voices appear and quickly submerge, musical phrases repeat at too great a distance for linear rhythms to become obvious, tape sounds burble in delight. "PolyPoly" is built from six tape loops of varying lengths, so each repetition brings something new. Recorded in 1970, this is similar in ways to stuff Pink Floyd and various Krautrockers were doing with synthesizers and drums at the same time, although Nordheim never goes for anything propulsive or rockin'. The most "musical" of the five tracks. Despite the chilly, clinical approach of Arne Nordheim's music, the amazing thing is how alive and radiant it sounds, in contrast to many of the other "serious" composers working in similar stylistic areas during the 60s and 70s.

NO TOMORROW CHARLIE
"King Diamond"/"Brand New Thorn" [Pit's Bull Records 7-inch; Belgium]

NRBQ
NRBQ [Columbia; first LP]

TED NUGENT
Ted Nugent [Epic LP; 1975]

NWA
Straight Outta Compton

THE ODYSSEY THEATRE ENSEMBLE
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial [Capitol 2LP; produced by Nick Venet; narrated by John Stewart]

THE OHIO EXPRESS
"Try It" [Cameo 7-inch]
The Very Best of the Ohio Express [Buddah LP]

THE OHIO PLAYERS
"Funk-o-Nots" [Mercury 7-inch]
"Smoke" [Mercury 7-inch]

OHM

OLATUNJI
Drums of Passion [Columbia]

OLIVER KLAUS
Oliver Klaus [Captain Moze LP; Canada] Nice reissue of 1970 LP by cool hippie-rock trio from Waterloo, Quebec. The first side, recorded '69/'70 in the band's own basement studio, is full of folk-strum guitars, Anglo pop, back-to-the-roots simplicity, silly between-song conversation, and a deep psychedelic glow. The second side finds the boys live and gettin' heavy at the Waterloo Hockey Arena in the summer of '70. They do Cream/Zep-like versions of "Kentucky Woman" and "Season of the Witch." Originally self-released by the band in 1970. Includes an 8-page booklet with info and photos.

1-A DÜSSELDORF
Königreich Bilk [Captain Trip Records CD; Japan] Second disc from '99 by Thomas Dinger (ex-Neu!/La Düsseldorf) and Nils Kristiansen. They begin the proccedings klankin' about while an old record of "Home on the Range " plays. This works as a nice intro to a cracked rock-out quality that finally gives way to space. But it's space that's filled with pulses, gushes, drones, and the voice of Dinger. Guh-roo-vee.

100 FLOWERS
"Presence of Mind" [Happy Squid 7-inch]
100 Flowers [Happy Squid LP]

THE OOSIK MUSIC COMPANY
Slow Musicians Playing [Oosik Music LP; 1974] Inspired silliness by a group of hippie types from Anchorage, Alaska--like a cross between the Holy Modal Rounders and Dan Hicks's Hot Licks, with a bit o' drunk'n'stoned slop-boogie in the early Commander Cody vein. They adapt lyrics from underground comix by Crumb, Gilbert Shelton, and Skip Willimason; perform a Beach Boys-style hot-rod tune about their Winnebago; reference Terry Southern; reprint a rejection quote from Zappa's DiscReent Records; and seem like they're havin' a helluva good time! "An oosik is a large bone. It comes from the MALE walrus. It is not a tusk." They also released a single in '74, as Derrick and the Delmonicos, called "The Alaska Pipeline Song (Watchin' the Clowns Go By)." I found 'em through a small ad in the back of Rolling Stone,and gave a glowing review as a teen fanzine writer.

OPAL
Happy Nightmare Baby

ROY ORBISON
The Original Sound [Sun LP]
The All-Time Greatest Hits [Momument 2LP]

BILL ORCUTT
"Solo CD" (Untitled) [Audible Hiss CD] That's notthe title, right? The back of the insert proclaims "No Blues!" No, no, nooo, nyet! Harry Pussy guitarist Orcutt shows off an all-the-way-open freedom that the Harry post-no wave restrains somewhat. Drummer Danny Arad helps a lot; he has a rare gift for rhythmic freedom, knows when to propel and when to scatter. The opening track features Harry drummer Adris Hoyos being very Yoko-like in a vocal way; she veers more towards no-wave screech on the closing track. There's bass on a few tracks, second guitar on one, alto sax on another--but it's really about Orcutt pulling his guitar apart while Arad provides offhandedly perfect rhythmic background and counterpoint. Orcutt's style is frenetic distorted angular free, sometimes doing disjointed jazzlike runs that seem random, real good at wallowing in feedback like Hendrix or Neil Young without the song format--and he does all this with an urgency that pushes simple ideas about sound towards realms of transcendent release. Actual conversation overheard in 1997 between two 30something john-does at record store in Reseda: "Hey, is this Ten Years After cassette good?" "Yeah, that's a good one." "I saw Alvin Lee in that Woodstock movie--man, he was fast!" "Yeah . . . but Clapton's better." "Yeah, maybe, coz I was listening to Cream the other day--and I could really hear why they call him slow hand!"In honor of this ridiculous tradition of guitar heroism and the giant egos of all guitar players (even I think I can play, ho-ho!)--I'll climb out on a limb and say that in the 90s guitar wars, Orcutt cut everybody: Moore, Ranaldo, Cline, O'Rourke, whoever. Haino and Mazzacane inhabit other worlds, no competition possible! You can send your hate mail c/o Guitar Dork. By the way, the blues theyself show up about 7:30 into track 4--NO! NO!! NO!!! NO!!!!

JOHN OSWALD
Plexure

THE JOHNNY OTIS SHOW
The Original Johnny Otis Show Volume II [Savoy 2LP; England]
Rock 'n' Roll Revue [Charly LP; England]
The Capitol Years [Bug/Capitol CD]
Cold Shot
Live at Monterey
Cuttin' Up
Snatch and the Poontangs [pseudonymous LP on Kent]

OUTKAST
ATliens [LeFace Records CD]

OVO
Assassine [Bar La Muerte CD; Italy] Allun's Stefania (vocals, guitar, violin) and Bar La Muerte head Bruno (drums, bass) team up with various collaborators for an inspired blend of improv, no wave, and noise. Spooky, funny, tender, crazy sounds.

BUCK OWENS
On the Bandstand [Sundazed CD w/ extra tracks]
Together Again/My Heart Skips a Beat [Sundazed CD w/ extra tracks]
The Instrumental Hits of Buck Owens and the Buckaroos [Sundazed CD w/ extra tracks]
The Best of Buck Owens [Capitol LP]

AUGUSTUS PABLO
"King Tubby Meets the Rockers Uptown" [Mango 7-inch]
East of the River Nile
Authentic Golden Melodies [Rockers]
Original Rockers [Greensleeves LP; England]

PAEKONG MAE
This Year in Marion's Bladder [American Tapes LP]  John Olson and Gretchen Gonzales from Universal Indians "with Minneapolis freaks and Neil Campbell." A squeaky violin drone pushes this along, even as it sometimes gets drowned out by a saxophone's infant bellow or the underlying hum of the group surging into moments of feedback. Drums pop up and disappear. The beat does not go on. But the waves do keep cycling. Side two starts as a trio of slide guitar, drums, and low noise that eventually reveals itself as another guitar. A few minutes in, the source tape seems to go out of phase and drop out for just a moment, but all of a sudden there are synthesizers instead of guitars, the violin returns, bass thrumps every once in awhile, sax looks for notes that come out as low panicked-animal pleas, and things finally seemto even out. Disturbing. The garage-band-next-door stopped playing p-rock--what is THAT sound, ma?

THE PAGANS
"Street Where Nobody Lives"/"What's This Shit Called Love?" [Drome 7-inch]

EARL PALMER
Backbeat: The World's Greatest Rock'n'Roll Drummer [Ace CD; England] Sessions with Fats Domino, Smiley Lewis, Little Richard, Shirley & Lee, Richard Berry, Charles Brown, Bobby Day, Don & Dewey, Eddie Cochran, Ritchie Valens, etc.

PANDORA
Space Amazon [Arf! Arf! CD] Incredible unreleased rockin' material from 1974 by an unknown New York band, recorded as 4-track demos in Cleveland. The lyrics and concept are very 1972 Bowie/Reed (e.g., "King Queen," "Leather Boys," the title tune), but the music is far more than Ziggy Stardust."Daze of Madness" sounds like an amazing slice of prime Humble Pie. Dig the perfect Stones-like distorto riff that leads into the song; I could listen to that one lick all day long! Check the wonderful Bowie-Zep-Who-Faces pastiche called "Country Boy." Or "You're My Woman," where they do a Zep-style rocker with the raw intensity of fellow New Yorkers Sir Lord Baltimore. Most of the tunes are five to seven minutes long, but each is tightly arranged and dynamic in an early-70s way that was already becoming uncommon by '74. The liner notes compare Pandora to Kiss and the Dolls, but neither of those bands was capable of this sort of hard-rockin' musical complexity. If this had really come out in '74, it probably would've been my favorite R&R album of that year! If you consider Humble Pie's Rock Onand Bowie's The Man Who Sold the Worldessential rock records (I do!), this is highly recommended.

PARIS 1942
"Paris 1942"/"Boy from the North Country"/"Lisa's Whip" [Majora 7-inch]
Paris 1942 [Majora Records LP] In 1981/1982, ex-Velvet Underground drummer Maureen Tucker was living in Phoenix, Arizona. So were the Bishop brothers, Rick (guitar) and Alan (bass), who had a five-piece sorta band called Sun City Girls. With the addition of Jesse Akari (vocals and guitar), Mo Tucker and the Bishops became Paris 1942. These tracks were recorded during that period (Benny somebody also plays guitar on a couple tunes), and I even managed to see one of the half dozen or so shows they played, at Club Lingerie in Hollywood. I wasn't very impressed, I must admit; it wasn't frantic enough for my 1982 state of hate. Mo left after that brief period as a gigging band, and her replacement was Charles Gocher. With the exit of Akari, the Bishops and Gocher picked up the Sun City Girls name and continued, and still continue. But what about this record? The spirit of the early Velvets kinda naturally looms large and sloppy. "Long Gone" even sounds like a young, pissed-off mid-70s John Cale. But check the brain-weaving Eastern-psych guitar piece "Lions Paw," or the angular, low-key chug of "Berlin Mood"--check most of the music here--and you'll find pretty much a sonic blueprint for SCG. The longish "Hex"/"Headhunter" section that closes the LP churns in a droning, grooving way that 90s "space-rock" is too self-conscious to ever achieve. This is also a reminder how great (and how broad) American punk-rock could be when it was still outsider music instead of a lifestyle with which to identify yourself (blame that on London and L.A.). It's not all great, but its greatness is gen-yoo-wine.

CHARLIE PARKER
Bird: The Savoy Recordings Vol. 1
The Very Best of Bird [Warner Bros. 2LP]
Compact Jazz [Verve CD]

EVAN PARKER
At the Finger Palace [The Beak Doctor LP]

JUNIOR PARKER/JAMES COTTON/PAT HARE
Mystery Train [Rounder Records CD]

JUNIOR PARKER/BOBBY BLUE BLAND
Blues Consolidated [Duke Records split LP]

VAN DYKE PARKS
Song Cycle

PARLIAMENT
Osmium
First Thangs [remixed Osmium + more]
Up for the Down Stoke
Chocolate City
Mothership Connection
The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein
Funkentelechy Vs. the Placebro Syndrome
Greatest Hits [Casablanca]

GRAM PARSONS
GP
Grievous Angel
Gram Parsons & the Fallen Angels Live 1973

PÄRSON SOUND
Pärson Sound [Subliminal Sounds 2CD; Sweden] Totally amazing sounds from Sweden, 1967/1968. Influenced by Terry Riley's minimal music and contemporary psychedelic rock, the five men who made up Pärson Sound created music that was far more visceral than minimalism, but also more intense than just about any rock music they could've heard in '67/'68. Their loose, largely improvised  approach is much closer to 1990s drone-noise-trance than even most Krautrock bands, who were only beginning to flirt with these ideas at the time this music was recorded. The sounds here are huge, warmly embracing, ecstatic, tribal--flowing repetitions and complex interplay that seem to come from one five-headed animal, instead of five higher-minded European musicians--imagine an optimistic, viola-scraping Velvet Underground merged with the towering presence of Hendrix in the mist of feedback exploration, but with traditional song forms, rock clichés, and ego trips banished. Not surprisingly, none of these recordings were released until this double CD. Highly recommended.

HARRY PARTCH
The Music of Harry Partch [CMI CD]
The Harry Partch Collection Volume 1 [CMI CD]
Enclosure 1 [Innova 400 video]

DOLLY PARTON
Jolene [RCA LP; 1974]
The Bargain Store [RCA LP; 1975]
Best of Dolly Parton [RCA LP; 1975]

THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY
"I Woke Up in Love This Morning" [Bell 7-inch]

CHARLEY PATTON
Founder of the Delta Blues [Yazoo]

PATTO
Patto [Vertigo]
Hold Your Fire
Roll 'em Smoke 'em Put Another Line Out

LES PAUL & MARY FORD
The Best of the Capitol Masters

PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
One Nation Underground [ESP-Disk]

ANN PEEBLES
"Come to Mama" [Hi Records 7-inch]

DAVID PEEL & THE LOWER EAST SIDE
Have a Marijuana
The American Revolution

PENGO
Climbs the Holy Mountain [Carbon Records CD] Jason Finkbeiner (floor bass, guitar, drums), John Schoen (trombone, saxophone, turntables, percussion), and Joe Tunis (guitar, drums, percussion, chimes) recorded during a screening of Alejandro Jodorowksy's The Holy Mountain.The first 31 minutes of the film are without dialogue, which is when Pengo did their thing. It's a big thing too. The feel reminds me of mid-60s Sun Ra, with an approach that's very modern free-rock spontaneous. Lots of swells waves surges, tap clatter pling, horns of walls bring down blow it all apart back together come again. Yeh.

THE PENTAGLE
Reflection
Solomon's Seal

PENTAGRAM
"Hurricane"/"Earth Flight" [Boffo Socko 7-inch]

PERE UBU
"30 Seconds Over Tokyo"/"Heart of Darkness" [Hearthan 7-inch]
"Final Solution"/"Cloud 149" [Hearthan 7-inch]
"Street Waves"/"My Dark Ages" [Hearthan 7-inch]
The Modern Dance
Dub Housing
New Picnic Time
The Art of Walking
The U-Men [a.k.a. Don't Expect Art] [bootleg LP]
390 Degrees of Simulated Stereo/Ubu Live: Vol. 1
Datapanik in the Year Zero [box set]

CARL PERKINS
The Sun Years [3LP box set]

CARL PERKINS & NRBQ
Boppin' the Blues

PERREY & KINGSLEY
The Essential Perrey & Kingsley [Vanguard CD] I had a vision: Woody Woodpecker starring in circa '64 government "health" film slips a big Trojan over head and then demonstrates the impervious quality of fine latex with a few ineffective stabs of his now Day-Glo beak which expands until the rubber has stretched about an entire room filled with Moog synthesizers, oscillators, tone generators, amps, mixing boards, tape decks, monitors, etc. This is the lab of Jean-Jacques Perrey, electronic musician from northern France, and bicoastal American Gershon Kingsley, musician and composer of commercial music, among other show-bizzy endeavors. And this CD is the soundtrack to the cartoon that even now explodes in a whacked sea of goateed bongos, Woody pecker red, plastic flowers, beeps and eeks from Mars and Timbuktu, so "exotic" you'll wee all over Mom's coffee table. This disc collects two unbelievable LPs of what these visionaries thought the future of pop would sound like. Les sez it sounds like the Residents to him, so maybe they were onto something. Two highlights: "Third Man Theme" with tape-loop action that'd make a Bronx DJ jealous, against that lovely skating-rink-hell beat; "Jungle Blues from Jupiter" lopin' in whiteman swang-time punctuated by an array of "natural" animal sounds. Judy Jetson swoons. Woody wrapped in latex transmutates into a beautiful red plastic knob on Jean-Jacques's Moog.

LEE PERRY
Arkology [Island 3CD]

LEE PERRY & THE UPSETTERS
Some of the Best [Heartbeat CD]

THE PERSUASIONS
Street Corner Symphony [Capitol LP]
Comin' at Ya [Flying Fish LP]

THE PHARAOHS
Awakening [Luv n' Haight CD] Intensely groovin' funk from Chicago 1972, except it's also full of African rhythms, bursts of free-jazz horns, and a spiritual/communal vibe akin to earlier Chicagoans like Sun Ra's Arkestra, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago/AACM (Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians). In fact, key members of the Pharaohs were involved with AACM member Phil Cohran, and also played on sessions at Chess Records in the mid-60s. "Damballa" and "Ibo" are perfect African-funk-jazz hybrids, and "Black Enuff" is simple downhome fonky! The closing "Great House," a long JBs-type workout, has squawkin' sax, psychedelic guitar, even some Miles-like trumpet. If that weren't enough, they do Motown with a tongue-in-cheek ambivalence kinda like Zappa or George Clinton: "Tracks of My Tears" begins as a badly played lounge number, with clanking glasses and bar talk, before being given a "serious" Earth, Wind & Fire reading. In fact, three of the Pharaohs went on to play in Earth, Wind & Fire, adding their Egyptian imagery and philosophy to Maurice White's weird ultra-commercial spiritual funk.

THE PHARCYDE
Bizarre Ride II the Pharcyde

PHEW
Phew [Les Disques du Soleil CD]

BARRE PHILLIPS/KEIJI HAINO/SABU TOYOZUMI
Barre Phillips/Keiji Haino/Sabu Toyozumi [P.S.F.]

GLEN PHILLIPS
Swim in the Wind
Echoes 1975-1985

WILSON PICKETT
In the Midnight Hour
The Sound of Wilson Pickett
A Man and a Half [Atlantic 2CD]

THE PILGRIMAGE
"You Satisfy Me"/"Bad Apple" [Mercury 7-inch]

THE PINK FAIRIES
What a Bunch of Sweeties
Kings of Oblivion
Mandies and Mescaline Round at Uncle Harry's
Do It! [Total Energy CD]

PINK FLOYD
The Piper at the Gates of Dawn
The Best of Pink Floyd [Columbia/EMI LP; Holland]
Mini Promotion Album Sampler for Tonite Let's All Make Love in London [CD] With "Nick's Boogie" and a long version of "Interstellar Overdrive." Also on video!
Magnesium Proverbs [Syd Barrett bootleg CD, but most is early Pink Floyd]
The Complete Top Gear Sessions 1967-1969 [2CD bootleg]
Meddle

THE PIRATES
Out of Their Skulls [Warner Bros. LP; 1977]

PLANET GONG
Live Floating Anarchy 1977

PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE
Egon Bondy's Happy Hearts Club Banned
Co Znamená Vésti Kone/Leading Horses

THE PLUGZ
Electrify Me [Plug Recordz LP; 1979]
"Achin'"/"La Bamba" [Fatima Records 7-inch]

ERICA POMERANCE
You Used to Think [ESP-Disk]

JEAN-LUC PONTY/FRANK ZAPPA
King Kong

POPOL VUH
In Den Garten Pharaos
Hosianna Mantra

BUD POWELL
The Amazing Bud Powell Volume 1 [Blue Note]

THE PREMIERS
Farmer John [Warner Bros. LP]

ELVIS PRESLEY
The Complete Sun Sessions
Elvis' Golden Records
"Little Sister" [RCA 7-inch]
"Return to Sender" [RCA 7-inch]
"Rock-a-Hula Baby" [RCA 7-inch]

THE PRETTY THINGS
The Vintage Years [Sire 2LP]
Singles A's & B's [Harvest LP; England]
S. F. Sorrow

ALAN PRICE
The Price Is Right
O Lucky Man!

LLOYD PRICE
Lloyd Price [Specialty LP]

LOUIS PRIMA
The Wildest! [Capitol LP]

LOUIS PRIMA & KEELY SMITH
The Hits of Louis & Keely [Capitol Star Line LP]

THE PRIMITIVES/THE BEACHNUTS/THE ROUGHNECKS
Primitive: Pre-Velvet [7-inch bootleg EP]

PRINCE
Around the World in a Day
The Black Album
The Hits/The B-Sides
The Gold Experience

PRINCESS NICOTINE
Princess Nicotine [Majora LP]

PROFESSOR LONGHAIR
New Orleans Piano [Atlantic]

RICHARD PRYOR
Craps (After Hours)
Wanted Richard Pryor: Live in Concert [Warner Bros.]

PUBLIC ENEMY
"You're Gonna Get Yours"/"Rebel Without a Pause"/"Miuzi Weighs a Ton" [12-inch remixes]
Yo! Bum Rush the Show
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Fear of a Black Planet

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD.
"Public Image" [7-inch]
Second Edition

PUMICE
I'll Take No Chance Near a Volcano [Celebrate Psi Phenomenon CDR; New Zealand] Campbell Kneale: "All the effortless fury of a bootlegged MC5 soundcheck, all the agoraphobic soul-suffocation of the best Jandek, all the lurching 'whomp whomp' and 'badda-bing' of the headiest Doo Rag, all the kitchen appliance paranoia of the most shit-faced Voice Crack. My friends, this is an absolute scorcher."  I say ditto. Excellent "primitive" plunkin' and etc. and etc. Also mention Magic Beefheart. Recommended. Released 2001.

PUNCTURE
"Mucky Pup" [Small Wonder Records 7-inch; England]

JAMES & BOBBY PURIFY
"Shake a Tail Feather" [Bell 7-inch]

FLORA PURIM
Stories to Tell [Mileston LP; 1974]

PUSSY GALORE
Groovy Hate Fuck
Pussy Gold 5000
Sugarshit Sharp
Right Now!
Dial 'M' for Motherfucker

THE PYRAMIDS
Penetration [What Records LP; 1983 reissue of material from 1962-1964]

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