Fraser & DeBolt "Don't Let Me Down"

Fraser & DeBolt
Fraser & DeBolt (with Ian Guenther)
LP
(Columbia Records, 1971)

I remember listening to today's song for the first time, and thinking, That's a Beatles song! By the time it was done, however, I started to doubt myself. I checked the songwriting credits on the label, and, indeed, it was the Lenny Mac half of the Fab Four. Sure, it was just a b-side, but it's a pretty great song, nonetheless. This interpretation, however, replaces the electric-rock-quartet-plus-guest-keyboardist backing with two acoustic guitars and a fiddle, played by guest Ian Guenther. It also boasts a rather different arrangement (surprise!). It's the final track on Fraser & DeBolt's stunning debut album, and is a beautiful closer. The whole album is an impressive mélange of acoustic, folk rock and atonal, avant garde experimentation. I can honestly say I've heard little else similar to it, as their second album, With Pleasure, was recorded with a full backing band and a reigning in of atonality (it's still a wonderful album).

When I bought my first device for burning CDRs from my stereo ('twas a stereo component CD player/recorder), the very first things I burnt were the two Fraser & DeBolt albums and the first two Hanatarash albums. Fallout Records released a pirate version of the first album on CD and LP a few years back, if you want to find a relatively inexpensive copy. I was all excited when it came out 'cause I thought it was legit. It arrived in the mail and looked suspicious to me, and my suspicions were confirmed when the first song on side two was preceded by a very loud needle drop. Great quality control there, bozos; you should be crushed. Fallout was the successor to Radioactive Records, after they got busted. I guess Fallout got busted, too, as they now release stuff under the name Phoenix Records.

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*I'm not sure I've ever heard anyone cover Genesis, come to think of it. On the other hand, the lone time I saw Axehandle they did a devastatingly heavy and acrimonious cover of Phil Collins' I Don't Care Anymore. I was bummed that it didn't end up on their sole album. Or their soul album, which does not exist.

Today's selection gets the friend recommendation tag as my friend Marlo Donahue suggested I check them out when I told her 15 years or so ago that I was getting heavily into Tim Buckley. I kept my eyes peeled and came across a copy of With Pleasure a year or two later, and loved it.

Job's Daughters "The Prophecy of Daniel and John the Divine (Six-Six-Six)"

Job's Daughters The Prophecy of Daniel and John the Divine/Sinner Man 7" single (Nuf Sed Southwestern Radio Church, 1991)

And so we begin covers week! Now, as I was driving around town on Saturday (i.e., yesterday), I was writing down ideas in my cute lil' notepad app in my HTC Tilt 2 smartass phone. I did this, of course, only at stop lights and when waiting at the drive-through window at my dealer. Ninth on my list of idears was this little platter, which I first heard on a mix tape my buddy James made for me eons ago (like, probably twenty years ago, seeing as this record is almost old enough to drink in the USA). When I pulled it out of one of my many crates of little records, the cover made it disturbingly obvious that it had to be today's song. Anyhow, I fell in love with the song, and the first copy I saw for sale, I snapped up. As you can tell by the price sticker, it was in a bargain bin; yes, it took me well over a decade to stumble across one. So, anyhow, I looked at the credits, and it's a COVER! And it was originally recorded by The Partridge Family The Cowsills, at that! How crazy is that? I've still never heard the original, so my apologies if this adds nothing new to it. Six more goodies in store in the next few days! And next month will be an entire theme month! Unless I change my mind, of course.

Kevin Ayers "Didn't Feel Lonely Till I Thought of You"

Kevin Ayers First Show in the Appearance Business The BBC Sessions 1973-76 CD (Band of Joy, 1997)

Unhinged I really can't think of a better word to describe the playing of guitarist Ollie Halsall with Kevin Ayers. I've featured Kev before, and Ollie was most likely the soloist on that song, in addition to this one, but there are no musician credits on the wee 7" record or sleeve. Ollie's soloing on the original studio version of this song on Kevin's fifth album, The Confessions of Dr Dream and other stories, was certainly out there, but this version, recorded for BBC1's John Peel Show on July 9, 1974, makes it almost sound tame, in comparison. The studio recording, btw, was his first work with Kev. The two ended up working together until Ollie's untimely death in 1992. I'd actually known Ollie's name since 1978, thanks to his being a studio Rutle, but never heard him really let loose 'til I started listening to Kev in the early '90's, thanks to my friend Audrey. He was also in other bands, like Tempest and Patto, but I must confess I have not yet checked them out. I only have so many ears, you know.

Krzysztof Penderecki "Velincanija—Psalom 50"

Krzysztof Penderecki UTRENJA, The Entombment of Christ LP (RCA Records, 1971)

I first (knowingly*) heard the music of Krzysztof Penderecki when a buddy of mine who worked in a record store sold me a used copy of Penderecki Conducts Penderecki Album 2 that they'd just gotten in stock. The first piece, Capriccio for Violin and Orchestra, was probably the most violent sounding bit of classical music I'd yet heard, and I became an immediate fan. That piece (same recording, even), along with several of his most famous, including Threnody for the Victims of Hiroshima, is available on this excellent dbl-disc set on EMI. Today's piece, however, is the second section of his longform choral work, UTRENJA, The Entombment of Christ. To the best of my knowledge, it has only been recorded three times, and this is the earliest of those. From what I've read on-line, most people consider this to be the finest version, even though the second part, The Resurrection of Christ, was not included. The full work was first released in 1973 as a gorgeous, dbl-LP box set on Philips. I have that, too, but that recording is readily available on CD (albeit with a hideous cover) from the Polish label Polskie Nagrania. The CD is from the late 1980s, though, so the sound quality may just be crap; I honestly do not know. There's also a recent recording available on the budget Naxos label; I have not heard that one, however. *I later discovered I'd already heard his music in (appropriately) horror films such as The Exorcist and The Shining.

Shub-Niggurath "Variation"

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Otherwise, there'd be a cute lil' streaming audio player on the left, rather than this message.

Shub-Niggurath
Live
cassette
(Auricle, 1989)

My friend Greg burnt me a copy of Shub-Niggurath's 1986 debut album, Les morts vont vite, several years ago. They came across to me as a mixture of the darkest elements of King Crimson (ca. mid-1970s) and Univers Zero, who were pretty much 100% dark in their early career. It was (and still is) great stuff. Naturally, I immediately began to search out a hard copy for myself.

In the meantime, since Les morts vont vite was currently out of print, I picked up their second and third albums: C'étaient de très grands vents and Shub~Niggurath. The latter of those is usually referred to as Testament, but that word appears precisely nowhere on my copy.

At some point, I discovered there was a live cassette release, recorded inbetween Les morts vont vite and C'étaient de très grands vents, on Friday the 13th (of January, 1989). The title was a bit more reserved than the albums betwixt which it appeared, but at least Live is descriptive, yes? Of the five pieces included on the tape (four, if you count Phineos 1 and Phineos 2 as a single piece), two later appeared in studio form on C'étaient de très grands vents, but the remainder remain exclusive to it. Today's selection is the final track. Enjoy!

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NOTE: Since the name Shub-Niggurath comes from the pen of H.P. Lovecraft, there are, naturally, at least two heavy metal bands also using it. One is from Mexico and the other from Italy.

Cold War Kids "Don't Let Your Love Grow Away (from Me)"

Cold War Kids
Mulberry Street
CD EP
(Monarchy Music, 2005)

I was hipped to Cold War Kids by my Russian friend Влад, who resides in the Czech Republic and goes to an English school, despite CWK being an American band. Apparently, they came into his town and helped him party down, as I have seen multiple photos of him in his CWK t-shirt.

Before they released their excellent debut album, Robbers & Cowards, they released three limited-edition CD EPs. Most of the songs on them were either later re-used or completely re-recorded, but three from the first, Mulberry Street, have not appeared anywhere else, to the best of my knowledge. Today's song is my favorite of those three.