All Along The Motorway

Savage Grace - (All Along The) Watchtower

No prizes for guessing why, but there's a glut of 'album of the decade' lists currently bopping around the internet. A record that would have made it into these type lists of last decade is surely DJ Shadow's Endtroducing. Although now sounding dated in parts, anyone who was following new music will concur that, at the time, it was like nothing else. Testament to which is the fact that it took so long for others -- the likes of RJD2, The Avalanches and J Dilla -- to come up with something comparable using similar techniques. To create Endtroducing, Shadow used only samples. Samples he dug real deep to find. While some hip-hoppers were still recycling James Brown beats, Shadow was excavating weird European psych and cutting up Metallica.

A clever DJ has complied together, with some subtle mixing, a number of the more obscure tunes that Shadow has sampled over the years. It was during listening to one of these ace mixes that I first laid my ears upon today's offering. Rockers from Detroit, Savage Grace, do a splendidly excessive and spirited version of All Along The Watchtower. It's just the final scream that was sampled; not on Endtroducing but rather its follow up, The Private Press. You can examine the results on YouTube.

Diddify II

Here's another Spotify playlist for all those lucky folk in spotifiable countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, the UK, France and Spain); just to prove that I don't listen scratchy ol' 45s all of the time.

Spotify Playlist: 000

More Louder

The Nashville Teens - Tobacco Road
The Nashville Teens - All Along The Watchtower

They weren't from Nashville, nor were they teens; at least not when these two tunes were recorded. Like Torture from the previous post, Tobacco Road was written by John D. Loudermilk. It was released in 1964 and became a reasonable sized hit for The Nashville Teens in both the UK and US. Interestingly, it apparently features the sizzling hot guitar of session gun for hire, Jimmy Page; as witnessed in the searing opening. All Along The Watchtower was a much later release, from 1968, but this particular record would have only been in the shops from 1969 when Decca reissued them together for some reason.

Tortuous

Kris Jenson - Torture

There something dark and unnerving about this lovelorn ballad. Written by John D. Loudermilk and released in 1962, it was Kris Jensen's biggest hit. The way he lets the refrain slowly seep out, as if he's caressing it, contemplating it, gives me the creeps.

Ain't No Town, Ain't No City

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Diddy Wah Diddy
Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band - Who Do You Think You're Fooling

I was thrilled to receive this record in the post the other day. Excuse the vinyl nerdiness but I feel compelled to inform you that it's a US promo copy, first pressing -- as demonstrated by the incorrect songwriting credit on the Diddy Wah Diddy side. I bought it from a true aficionado who has most of Beefheart's 45s in his collection. He reckons that, as this is their first foray into a studio, it's probably the most important Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band recording. He also told me that back in '95 he compiled footage of Beefheart into two VHS compilations, copies of which made their way into my possession a number of years later via a flea market in Melbourne. Before YouTube, this was the only way to see the Captain's Letterman show appearances.

This isn't the first time I've posted Beefheart's version of Diddy Wah Diddy, which, in someways, is this blog's namesake, but now the fuzzy monster is complete with its hand-clappy b-side and it sounds amazing.

From The Moment I Rise

The Kinks - Till The End Of The Day
The Kinks - Where Have All The Good Times Gone

Two sides of the same coin here from Raymond Douglas Davies. I generally prefer the garage rockin' joyousness of Till The End Of The Day to the reflective poppiness of Where Have All The Good Times Gone, but then again, who doesn't?

Librae Solidi Denarii

The Pretty Things - Come See Me
The Pretty Things - £.s.d.

Now what we have here is a couple of absolutely storming garage tracks from fab British band, The Pretty Things. These chaps belonged to the music scene that spat out the likes of the Stones, Animals, Them etc. and were every bit as fierce. I bought this record for Come See Me, which just jumps straight out of the speakers with its tough beat and crunchy guitars, but the flip is also brill. It must be said that £.s.d. is the notation for pre-decimal currency in the UK -- that's pounds, shillings, pence -- not that other stuff. Oh no, of course not.

Well, Put On Your Rockin' Shoes

Wanda Jackson - Honey Bop

Released in 1958, Honey Bop is classic good-times rockabilly guaranteed to get any room a-bop-bop-bopping. It was penned by same crew that wrote and demoed Elvis Presley's first number one, Heartbreak Hotel. Back in rock'n'roll's formative years, Wanda Jackson would tour and share the bill with Elvis, and they, as we put it these days, were also romantically linked.

I'm lucky enough to have visited the Sun Studio at 706 Union Avenue in Memphis -- legendary for being where Elvis and Johnny Cash first recorded, among other things. Now, I've done tours of several of my favourite record labels but Sun was by far the best. It felt extremely intimate; for one because you actually got to touch things, but mainly because the staff were engaged with the subject. They consisted of rockabilly fans and rock'n'roll types. My guide was a pretty young thing who told us that she had played Jackson in the upcoming Cash biopic, Walk The Line. Her part didn't make the final cut but that's the kind of anecdote that, in my estimation, has raised the bar for tour guides forever on.

Ray Peterson Fever

Ray Peterson - Fever
Ray Peterson - Tell Laura I Love Her

I must confess to being a little surprised at just how stunningly good Ray Peterson's version of Fever is. There are certain enduring songs that I enjoy hearing/having multiple versions of. Which is why I bought this record, because Fever is definitely one of those. But Peterson floors me with his massive vocal range and cool arrangement, it's a real find. The A-side, Tell Laura I Love Her, is a classic teen tragedy involving a car race and a girl named Laura.

Guest Post: Caravan

Here's a special treat from fellow London DJ around town G the P, who regularly posts up old records on his Get Involved blog and can be found spinning discs at his Gerry’s Joint night and also at Shing-A-Ling. Be sure to check them all out, I have and was duly impressed. Impressed enough to request his services as a Diddy Wah guest poster, please make him feel very welcome.



Johnny & Santo - Caravan

I can’t remember why I bought this as I’d never head it before I played it at home – but I do remember where I got it from: the regular, fortnightly record fair at London’s Spitalfields Market. I also don’t know exactly when this was recorded although I’m guessing it’s about 1959 / 1960. Johnny & Santo were brothers hailing from Brooklyn - yet you’d never guess it from the sound of this track... It sounds more like it was cooked up by The Shadows on a surfing trip to California! It’s totally rockin’ and features some pretty awesome steel guitar virtuosity but, for me, the real beauty of it is that it manages to avoid easy musical categorisation... I could imagine it featuring in a Spaghetti Western movie soundtrack (the opening guitar lick reminds me of the work of Ennio Morricone) – or on a surf instrumental album or even on an out and out rockabilly compilation. Actually, I think that’s why I like this record so much - I haven’t got another record quite like this... G the P