Cook like the Devil

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Just when you think you've seen it all, you stumble across THE FUGS on YouTube. How come I'd never seen this, or any Fugs video, before? And why isn't this stuff out on DVD?

Eighteen minutes of Ed, Ken, Tuli, and the guys. "Crystal Liaison", "I Couldn't Get High", "The Garden Is Open", "Supergirl"........ Amazing.

FUGS PART 1 - YouTube

FUGS PART 2 - YouTube

Hard-Die's Site

Wonderful. Lots to watch. Lots to read. Lots to download. And not just Beatles - for instance, "Tonight Let's All Make Love In London". Like it says, a "virtual museum". Just wonderful.

http://beatlesite.blogspot.com/

Warning: may be time consuming.

The enemy of every Muslim

"Our enemy’s friend is our enemy. Thus Paul McCartney is the enemy of every Muslim. We have what we call ‘sacrifice’ operatives who will not stand by while he joins in a celebration of their oppression. If he values his life Mr McCartney must not come to Israel. He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.” - OMAR BAKRI

Not since the Japanese threw him in jail for 10 days in 1980 has PAUL MCCARTNEY caused such a big international ruckus.

From the New York Times, we learn that McCartney "has refused to cancel his concert in Israel, despite threats from Islamic militants, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. The response follows comments made by Omar Bakri Muhammad, a militant Lebanese Islamic activist, in an interview that appeared in The Sunday Express of London. Mr. Bakri said, “If he values his life, Mr. McCartney must not come to Israel,” He also said: “He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.” In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, another Israeli newspaper, Mr. McCartney said: “I was approached by different groups and political bodies who asked me not to come here. I refused. I do what I think, and I have many friends who support Israel.” The concert is scheduled for Sept. 25 in Tel Aviv."

They tell me "Mamunia" is an Arabic word meaning "safe haven", so here's the "Mamunia" track from the bonus disc of the 25th Anniversary Edition of BAND ON THE RUN:

BOTR 25 BONUS: MAMUNIA

And here's one for Paul - an Apple single B-side from 1970, "Vaya Con Dios" by DORIS TROY, produced by GEORGE HARRISON:

DORIS TROY: VAYA CON DIOS












Vaya con Dios, Paul.....

and Dickie Daley, too.....

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.To help celebrate the Democratic National Convention this week, and the 40th anniversary of the infamous 1968 Chicago convention, here are THE FUGS with their classic "Chicago", from their "Belle of Avenue A" LP.

According to the liner notes, "written by Ken Sanders, Country Joe MacDonald, and Ken Pine", and "originally written for the sound track of the Yippie movie about the police riots in Chicago at the Democratic Convention."

THE FUGS - CHICAGO

Okay, everybody sing along now:

"I saw the gasses floating down upon America's youth

All the world was watching the terror in the streets.

Johnny was there and Sally was there

And so was Baby Sue

Acid Bob and Clean Gene and Dickie Daley too.

I saw the look on the poor soldier's face

With his gun in the young girl's side

All the boys of Daleyland were dancing in the mace.

Johnny was there and Sally was there

And so was Baby Sue

Acid Bob and Clean Gene and Dickie Daley too.

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May you sleep in peace Mayor Daley....."

Starry Notions

Here's some great live stuff from MARY HOPKIN, recorded live in Japan in 1970:

WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY FRIENDS

IN MY LIFE

GOODBYE

THOSE WERE THE DAYS

That Harrison kid

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More photos here:

HERE COMES THE SON

Lazy Tortoise

When I posted about the Purple Chick Beatles discs a couple of weeks ago, I didn't realize what the "Lazy Tortoise" series was. But now that I know, I've got a lot of downloading to do!

According to a site that has Purple Chick tracklistings:
"Companions to the Purple Chick Series, the Lazy Tortoise compilations pick up the non-studio items, such as live, interviews, and home demos."

Looks like there is (or will be) about 50 discs in this series, so that will bring this complete Beatles audio project to just over 200 discs. Amazing. And of course, I must have them all.

Between the "Strawberry Lane" and "Six Plus Three" sites, I've tracked down about half of the "Lazy Tortoise" discs so far.

To make things a bit easier, here are links to individual posts at those sites with the discs:

April to August 1963

October 1963

November 1963

December 1963

From London To Paris 1964

February to April 1964

April 16-23, 1964

April 25-26, 1964

April 27 - May 30, 1964

June 3-6, 1964 - Denmark and The Netherlands

June 7-10, 1964 - Hong Kong

July 1964

Australia-New Zealand Tour Diary 1964 (4 discs)

France 1965

From Rome to Blackpool 1965

September 1965 to March 1966

From Tokyo To London 1966 (2 discs)

September 1966 to February 1967

Interviews 1968 (5 discs)

Many many thanks to "Strawberry Lane" and "Six Plus Three"! And keep 'em coming!!!

Hurricane

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More sad news - Norman "Hurricane" Smith has passed away at the age of 85.

Norman engineered all The Beatles' recordings through 1965, and had a big hit of his own in 1972 with "Oh Babe What Would You Say".

Here's a snippet from October 12, 1965 of Norman in the studio with the Beatles, while recording "Run For Your Life".

That's Norman saying "Run for your lives, you ____".

RUN FOR YOUR LIFE - TAKE 1

RIP Norman.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Smith

http://www.earcandymag.com/normansmith-book.htm

Ronnie

What do Muhammed Ali, George Harrison, Tony Curtis, and Prince have in common?

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Ronnie!

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I've really been enjoying Ron Wood's recent autobiography, "Ronnie". It's a great, light read with some pretty cool stories featuring lots of Woody's famous friends.

Woody writes about when The Stones were in New York in 1977 or 1978 (he seems a little unclear about some dates) and John Lennon came over for some drugs. When they got thrown out of the hotel for making too much noise, Woody, Keith, and Charlie, with John and Yoko, "moved the party to Atlantic Records".

According to Woody, "we started jamming, and the jam was taped (it's probably locked in the Atlantic vaults these days). We were going through a songbook of early soul and early Beatles catalog. We were all singing, playing, harmonizing...". But eventually John "fell asleep" (you'll have to see the book for details), and "had to be carried out." "We carried on recording without him".

Very entertaining stuff - reserve it now at your local library!

Mike Smith

What can I say that hasn't been said over these past several days? A real shame.

If you're looking for gossip, I'm sure you can find it elsewhere. Here's some music.

Enjoy the long-out-of print "History of the Dave Clark Five" (at 256 kbps).

RIP Mike.

DC5 DISC 1:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GVTUWB6S

1. Glad All Over 2. Bits And Pieces 3. Do You Love Me 4. Can't You See That She's Mine 5. Because 6. Don't Let Me Down 7. Any Way You Want It 8. Everybody Knows (I Still Love You) 9. Any Time You Want Love 10. Thinking Of You Baby 11. Whenever You're Around 12. Little Bitty Pretty One 13. Crying Over You 14. Don't Be Taken In 15. When 16. Reelin' And Rockin' 17. Come Home 18. Mighty Good Loving 19. Hurting Inside2 0. Having A Wild Weekend 21. Til The Right One Comes Along 22. Catch Us If You Can 23. I'll Be Yours My Love 24. I Am On My Own 25. I Need Love

DC5 DISC 2:
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=E2ZHTDR0

1. Try Too Hard 2. All Night Long 3. Look Before You Leap 4. Please Tell Me Why 5. Somebody Find A New Love 6. Satisfied With You 7. At The Scene 8. I Miss You 9. Do You Still Love Me 10. Nineteen Days 11. I've Got To Have A Reason 12. I Like It Like That 13. Over And Over 14. You Got What It Takes 15. Doctor Rhythm 16. Small Talk 17. Concentration Baby 18. Everybody Knows 19. Inside And Out 20. At The Place 21. Best Day's Work 22. Maze Of Love 23. Here Comes Summer 24. Live In The Sky 25. Everybody Get Together

Balls

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So I'm watching "Opry Live" the other night on GAC, and they're interviewing singer Elizabeth Cook, who I've never heard of before. And she says she'll be doing a Velvet Underground song, that she learned from her "husband's record collection".

So for the next fifteen minutes or so, I'm trying to figure out what VU song this cute young country lady could possibly sing at the Grand Ole Opry. There's lots of music that could work, but there's always something inappropriate in the lyrics. I'm thinking, "There She Goes Again" is often-covered, but there's that "you better hit her" part. How about "I'm Set Free"? No, she can't sing about seeing her "head laughing, rolling on the ground".

I finally decided it had to be either "Oh Sweet Nothin'" or "One of These Days".

And of course I was wrong. They played a very nice country version of "Sunday Morning", complete with pedal steel. And after the song, she told the audience it was a Velvet Underground song, so the VU got mentioned twice on the show!

So was this the first time a Lou Reed song was played on the Opry stage? And will it be the last?

Here's a link to her CD, "Balls", featuring "Sunday Morning":

ELIZABETH COOK - BALLS

The Beatle Photo Election Rule

Boy, this Presidential race keeps getting crazier and crazier, doesn't it?

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, here comes ol' Ralph Nader jumping into the fray. Doesn't he know that he can't possibly win? Its absolutely impossible. And I can say that with total certainty because I know what the professional pundits all seem to have forgotten.

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That's right - "The Beatle Photo Election Rule".

Back in 1972, Mr. Nader appeared on The Mike Douglas Show with John Lennon and Yoko Ono, who were that week's co-hosts.

Here's a photo from the show:

"The Beatle Photo Election Rule" is the rule that says anyone who has had their photo taken with a Beatle (or ex-Beatle) can not be elected President.

Remember 2004? Everyone thought John Kerry had the election all sewn up, but then this old photo surfaced:

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The result? Four more years of George Bush.

And how about Gerald Ford? He became President by default, but still you would have thought that even an un-elected incumbent would have beaten Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election. Poor Ford never guessed that this photo would be his undoing:

But of course, Ralph isn't the only one who will fall to The Beatle Photo Rule this election year, is he? Word on the street is that John Edwards dropped out when someone threatened to leak a photo of him with Pete Best, and Hillary's role as a pterodactyl in "Caveman" (see above) knocks her out of the race. And now there's this recently-surfaced photo of Obama:

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I guess things are looking pretty good for John McCain.....

George

Here's a little Something to mark what would have been George Harrison's 65th birthday.

It was 39 years ago today, on his 26th birthday - a couple of weeks after having his tonsils out, and a couple of days after The Beatles started work on Lennon's "I Want You (she's so heavy)", that George went into EMI Studios with Ken Scott engineering and recorded demos of three of his latest songs.

In January, during the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions, The Beatles had rehearsed all three of the songs as well as other new George tunes, but the only proper recording of one of his songs had been "For You Blue" (which he would record a new lead vocal for a year later). They would begin recording "Old Brown Shoe" and "Something" in April.

Here are the February 26, 1969 demos, as they appear on Purple Chick's Abbey Road Deluxe:

OLD BROWN SHOE (demo take 2)

ALL THINGS MUST PASS (demo take 2)

SOMETHING (demo take 1)

SOMETHING (demo take 1 with overdubs)

Happy birthday, George.

so anyway.....

.....I'm finally back, all rested, refreshed, and ready to roll.

Thanks for all those cards and letters, I'll try to get to some of the requests that have been piling up before too long.

So what happened? I guess if one was trying to think up ways for a music-oriented blog to lose big chunks of its readership, having a five-month period with a lead post that links to National Review Online might be a good idea, but the real story is just that I used a hard-drive crash as an excuse to get away from it all for a while.

Back in September, I had some computer trouble and stopped blogging. When I finally got around to doing something about it, I ended up having some very bad experiences with a popular computer-repair company that shall remain nameless. Sort of like the old "Niagara Falls" routine, the very mention of their name is enough to give me some serious conniptions! ("Slowwwww-ly I turned.....")

After waiting FOUR WEEKS for a diagnostic, it turned out my hard-drive was damaged, and A FEW WEEKS LATER when the computer was back up and running I was reluctant to get right back into blogging, and I've spent the past several weeks just catching up on various stuff around the 'net. Particularly the amazing Purple Chick Beatles' Deluxe series. Looks like they're working on putting together *all* the available Beatles recordings. With their 10-disc Complete BBC set, their 83-disc A/B Road set, and the studio recordings series, they're up to about 150 (yes 150!) Beatles CDs. All the stereo, mono, alt mixes, outtakes, sessions tapes, etc. And they've just started to put together the live recordings, with a 2-disc Star Club Deluxe set.

Here's a link to tracklistings and artwork for what they have so far:

http://x3mkungen.mine.nu/wogev/beatles/pc/

I was able to get most of what I needed from a few fantastic blogs:

http://www.yourmothershouldknow03.blogspot.com/

http://www.octaner.blogspot.com/

http://losslessbeatles.blogspot.com/

Of course I don't know if the links are all still good, but poke around and give 'em a try. What a wonderful Beatle-filled world we have here!

So anyway, its good to be back, and thanks for being here. Stick around, I've got plenty of stuff to post, including some of the requests I've been receiving.

See you soon!

hope you're satisfied

Testing, 1, 2, 3.....

Is this thing on.....?