5 X 5

Five By Five - Shake A Tail Feather

Five By Five in radio lingo means that everything is loud and clear. It's also the name of a garage rock group from Arkansas whose version of Hendrix's Fire was posted right here earlier this very year. From 1967, this is that group's debut release, a party rockin' rendition of Shake A Tail Feather, which we all know Andre Williams had something to do with the writing of. As far as I'm aware, this is the only place on the big ol' Internet to hear this version.

It's not a trip at all

The Turtles - Buzz Saw
The Turtles - You Showed Me

A couple of quite different tunes here from The Turtles, a band that must have been the Ween of their day -- very talented but not entirely serious. I posted Buzzsaw on this blog once before, a long time ago, and You Showed Me features in my epic The Snake mixtape. But here they are together, as The Turtles intended them.

Buzzsaw is fairly mental in its use of fuzz, couldn't really be any fuzzier. It also sounds, to me, like the basis of a few old Jon Spencer Blues Explosion songs. You Showed Me is a dreamy, trip of a tune, that sounds a bit like The Beach Boys of a certain era. It was written by Roger McGuinn and Gene Clark just before they formed The Byrds -- who made demos but never released it. Four years later, in 1968, The Turtles recorded the song, slowing it right down, and it went on to become one of their biggest hits.

Tigrrr

Brian Auger with the Trinity - Tiger

Hammond wizz, Brian Auger, breaks out of his cage on this wild release from 1967. Sampled 35 years later by RJD2 on Good Times Roll Pt.2 this is a Diddy Wah dancefloor fave.

More Meows

Little Willie John - Leave My Kitten Alone

Little Willie John demonstrates that he's definitely a cat person on this upbeat tune from 1959. Superb vocals, metaphorically transparent risque lyrics and a rollicking beat; that's all that needs to be said about this tune. An interesting Little Willie fact: his older sister is another great singer, Mable John, who recorded for Motown and Stax, and also spent some time as a Raelette.

Meow Meow

Andre Williams - Sweet Little Pussycat

You could use the term proto-funk to describe today's offering, however tittyshaker would have more appeal to those who prefer a visual element to their communication. Andre Williams who, although much lauded in certain circles, could only really be described as vastly underrated as songwriter, producer and performer. He wrote Shake A Tailfeather, which, when you put it in the context of the rest of his work, makes total sense. Shake A Tailfeather is a typical Andre Williams song in terms of its infectious, deep and memorable rhythms and also in terms of its subject matter. Released in 1966 on Detroit's Wingate label, Sweet Little Pussycat is another Williams masterpiece. With the kind of loose groove you could easily lose yourself in, and featuring girls meowing throughout, this tune effortlessly achieves everything it sleazily sets out to.

Chuck Berry, strawberry, cranberry and dingleberry

The Golden Toadstools - Silly Savage

Here's a top tune from a group that no one seems to know too much about. Wacky lyrics interrupt fast and furious organ driven funk on this raucous dancefloor mauler. Silly, yep. Savage, for sure.

I'll do funny things if you want me to

James & Bobby Purify - I'm Your Puppet

I'm Your Puppet, a great song, was written by Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. First released by James & Bobby Purify in 1966, it made it to number six on the US charts. It was also recorded by The Box Tops and The Fifth Dimension and then a rerecorded version by James and Bobby hit the the UK charts in 1976 -- by this time though, there was a different "Bobby" singing with James. If you enjoy Southern soul ballads, you'll love this.

Worried Life

B.B. King - Worried Life

I've always slightly shied away from B.B. King. The intricate-guitar-solos style of blues that he is at the forefront of, isn't really my thing. Also, my introduction to him would have been courtesy of Bono and pals, which is a fairly reproachable accolade. But, I have seen him play live, which was a thrilling experience, and I respect his position in the history and development of the blues as a musical genre. I've had a good time in one of his swanky clubs, plus I was aware that he's produced a few gems. But even so, I was very surprised when recently I found myself purchasing three B.B. King 45s in the one day. Worried Life was the first. It's a slow and heavy, gospel influenced blues that would fit right in with the incredible tunes featured in the incredible film 'Killer of Sheep'. I also find the design of this particular Kent label very aesthetically pleasing.

Kiss Me A Lot

The Coasters - Besame Mucho (Part I)
The Coasters - Besame Mucho (Part II)

Here's another version of the enduringly alluring song -- written by Consuelo Velázquez when she was 14 -- Besame Mucho. The title translates to 'kiss me a lot' and Velázquez once said that, at the time of writing, she had never been kissed. First recorded in 1941, it lays some claim to being the most important Mexican song of the 20th century. In addition to Jet Harris, whose version I posted here last October, Besame Mucho has been recorded by dozens of artists including The Beatles, most of the classic crooners, lots of loungey types, and all of the modern jazz-lites. But don't let that put you off as this is a cracking up-tempo recording from 1960. Part II is just as good, an instrumental-ish version featuring a tenor sax solo from King Curtis.

Twang On

Duane Eddy - Ramrod
Duane Eddy - The Walker

The actual record I have of these tunes was once owned, according to stickers and pen marks, by a Jerry Donald Dykes. Great name. I don't know what or who persuaded Jerry to part with this record but I'm here to reassure him, and anyone else even slightly interested or concerned, that it has found a good home and often gets to mingle with other Duane Eddy 45s.

Ramrod is a red hot scorcher from Eddy, his 'Twangy' guitar and The Rebels. It came out in 1958 and was written by Rebel guitarist, Al Casey -- who later was associated with the LA session musicians collectively known as The Wrecking Crew. A ramrod is the device you would use to push the bullet up tight against the gunpowder if you were about to fire a musket. At well-under two minutes, this track is more closely metaphorically resembles the bullet itself. The Walker, co-written by Eddy and Lee Hazlewood, is, not unexpectedly, a slower number.