U-Roy

U Roy, Line Up and Come (Tappa 1987)
This relatively late-career album by U-Roy isn't considered one of the legendary toaster's best, and the fact that my favorite track on it is an instrumental dub ("Iron Gate," produced, like the rest of the LP, by Tappa Zukie) might bear that out. Still, there's plenty to like, not least the Limonius cartoon cover. Understand the understanding, man.

U-Roy - "Iron Gate"

U-Roy - "It's About Time (ft. Tappa Zukie)"

Lennie Hibbert + Yellowman + Jimmy Cliff

Some reggae for your Sunday morning ....


Lennie Hibbert, Creation (Studio One 1969)

Lennie Hibbert - "Lights"

Lennie Hibbert - "Rose Len"


Yellowman, Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt (Greensleeves 1984)
Yellow like cheese. Typography = untouchable.

Yellowman - "Nobody Move Nobody Get Hurt"

Yellowman - "Watch Your Words"


Jimmy Cliff, Unlimited (Reprise 1973)

Jimmy Cliff - "Commercialization"

Morton Subotnick

Morton Subotnick, Touch (Columbia 1969)
Morton Subotnick is best known for Silver Apples of the Moon, which used the same type of early synthesizer (the Buchla Electronic Music System). Touch was recorded in Quad (!), although of course I ripped it in stereo ... this is only a small part of the album-length piece, but the section about two minutes into this clip makes my eyes start to bug and sparks shoot out of my ears. Lots of his recordings are available on CD or LP through his website, inclding several with two albums on one disc.

Morton Subotnick - "Touch (excerpt)"

Hall & Oates

Hall & Oates, "Out of Touch" 12" (RCA 1984)
Neatly combines my newfound love for H+O's pop soul with my obsession with Arthur Baker remixes (still looking for that Rolling Stones "Too Much Blood" single ... I have an mp3 of the dub version and it's bonkers).

Hall & Oates - "Out of Touch (Dub Version)"

Common Sense + Pieces of a Dream

Common Sense, "Voices Inside My Head" 12" (BC Records 1980)
Nah not that guy from the Gap ads ... it's a Began Cekic production. This track's fusion of pop and loose-limbed funk almost has an Arthur Russell feel to it ... love those spacey whooshes in the background ...

Common Sense - "Voices Inside My Head"


Pieces of a Dream, "Mt. Airy Groove" 12" (Elektra 1982)
Breakbeat classic produced by the great Grover Washington Jr.

Pieces of a Dream - "Mt. Airy Groove (Instrumental)"

33/45 Mix - Wiretapping Can Be Fun

Starts out with vintage disco-R&B then goes into some newer stuff in the last half. Some of the mixing is v. sloppy but I'm heading outta town for a few days and wanted to get this up on the site before I leave, sooo .... let er rip.

Wiretapping Can Be Fun

Intro
Steve Arrington's Hall of Fame - Way Out
T Ski Valley - Catch the Beat
Leprechaun - Loc-It-Up
Was (Not Was) - Out Come the Freaks (Dub Version)
Gino Soccio - Love Is (Prince Language Edit)
Pretty Poison - In the Heat of the Night (Dub Mix)
Bohannon - Let's Start a Dance (Special Remix)
Escort - Karawane
Betty Botox - Voodoo 2
Lift Boys - Liftvooyzzzz
Daniel Wang - Berlin Sunrise (Die Nacht)
Padded Cell - Theme From Friday 13th
Pierre's Pfantasy Club - Dream Girl
Larry Heard Presents Mr. White - The Sun Can't Compare
Prins Thomas - Fehrara

Alice Coltrane

Alice Coltrane, Universal Consciousness (Impulse! 1971)

SITA RAM: This hymn is sung in nearly every home throughout India. It was the favorite of that great soul, Mahatma Ghandi. India is the birthplace of more than ten known incarnations of God. Sita is the wife of Lord Rama. While in India, I saw mother Ganges River, and my father, Himalayas, whose peaks are the highest in the world. "Om Shanti."
-- ALICE COLTRANE, 1937-2007

Alice Coltrane - "Sita Ram"

Barry White + The Blackbyrds

Classic Blaxploitation sounds from the minds of Barry White and Donald Byrd ...


Barry White, Together Brothers OST (20th Century 1974)

Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra - "Getaway"

Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra - "Do Drop In"

Barry White & The Love Unlimited Orchestra - "Can't Seem to Find Him"


The Blackbyrds, Cornbread, Earl and Me (Fantasy 1975)

The Blackbyrds - "Wilford's Gone"

The Blackbyrds - "The Gym Fight"

BOC + Royal Trux

Blue Oyster Cult, Blue Oyster Cult (Columbia 1972)
Clues that this is gonna be good: great cover art, Meltzer's name in the credits, song titles like "Transmaniacon MC."

Blue Oyster Cult - "Screams"

Blue Oyster Cult - "Before The Kiss, A Redcap"



Royal Trux, Sweet Sixteen (Virgin 1997)
Speaking of Transmaniacon ... I don't think I really "got" the Trux's heavy boogie on their major-label debut until recently ... now Sweet Sixteen is my go-to album of theirs to listen to. (But not look at -- google the cover art only if you've got a strong stomach.)

Royal Trux - "Cold Joint"

Royal Trux - "Morphic Resident"

Sneaky Pete

Was working on a post about Blue Oyster Cult and Royal Trux that I'll get to later, but right now I gotta send one up for Sneeky Pete Kleinow, pedal steel guitarist for the Flying Burrito Brothers and a long list of others as a session player. (That's him on the left with the pterodactyl nudie suit.) Even the most casual Gram fan is gonna know these songs backwards and forwards but I picked em because I think they show off some of Pete's most classic licks. R.I.P.

Flying Burrito Brothers - "Close Up the Honky-Tonks"

Flying Burrito Brothers - "Sin City"

Smokey + Temptations + Airto

Smokey Robinson, Big Time OST (Tamla 1977)
I've had this for a while now but I didn't recognize how hot it was until until I heard the title track on this great mix (which you can still grab for yerself if you navigate the abandoned underbrush of the ilx sandbox). This track starts out like typically slick disco-funk from '77 but the long breakdown has more in common with the stretched-out psychedelic soul of Norman Whitfield (see the Temptations below).

Smokey Robinson - "Theme From Big Time"


Temptations, Cloud Nine (Motown 1969)
Hard to believe a 9-minute soul epic with long instrumental passages and samples of screaming kids was a No. 1 R&B hit. The drums on these records are so huge.

Temptations - "Runaway Child, Running Wild"

Temptations - "Cloud Nine"


Airto, Fingers (CTI 1973)
Airto Moreira collaborated and recorded with everyone from his wife, Flora Purim, to the Dead, the Weather Report and Return to Forever. This Airto LP on CTI has a great cover designed by the label's longtime art director Bob Ciano (see Wax Poetics #11). And the music's nice too.

Airto - "Parana"

Airto - "Fingers (El Rada)"

Mashmakhan + Mauriat

Back for the '07. Canadian jazz-rock from the '70s and an orchestral dollar-bin favorite (pitched down and slightly shortened).


Mashmakhan, Mashmakhan (Columbia 1970)

Mashmakhan - "Happy You Should Be"

Mashmakhan - "I Know I've Been Wrong"

Paul Mauriat - "Etude in the Form of Rhythm and Blues"



Paul Mauriat, El Condor Pasa (Philips 1971)