Jimmy Wray & The Shreveport Boys "Little Bo Peep"

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Jimmy Wray & The Shreveport Boys
Rockin` in Louisiana
vol. 2
compilation LP
(White Label Records, 19??)

Time for a little hometown pride, y'all.

I was born in Shreveport, LA and spent the first 181 months of my life there, i.e. fifteen years plus a month. While I lived there, I was not aware of any local music at all. Sure, I went to see bands, but only big, out-of-towners. The closest I came to seeing a local band was seeing Hot Sauce open for Styx on January 1, 1977. Hot Sauce were from Dallas, TX, a three or four hour drive away. About all I remember is the guitarist wore a silver leather jacket and had a very long, coiled red guitar cord. That and they were terrible, and I wanted them to go away.

Oh, and I also saw Bliss, from Tulsa, OK. I was told years later that Bliss opened for the Sex Pistols in Tulsa, and I've just confirmed that they did, about six months before I saw them. Wow! The main things I remember about them were the singer had HUGE, frizzed out hair and they played a metal version of The William Tell Overture. When I saw them, they opened for REO Speedwagon and Rainbow. My friend Marshall and I were there to see the latter, and left after the former's first, crappy song.

Anyhow, local music from Shreveport? Sure, we had the Louisiana Hayride, a hugely influential country music showcase and radio show, but that was about it, to the best of my knowledge. Aside from that, the only group I know of from my hometown is avant garde lunatics The Residents, whom I featured here several months ago.

So, now that that's out of the way . . .

When I saw this Dutch LP, the title immediately grabbed my attention. I flipped it over, and noticed the artist for three tracks on side two was Jimmy Wray & the Shreveport Boys. Luckily, the store where I saw it is very cool about playing things for customers, and it sounded pretty good. The remaining tracks on that side are just credited to Jimmy Wray, by the way.

Who is Jimmy Wray, aside from the handsome young man in the pictures? Let's ask the liner notes, shall we?

The second side of the LP contains only unreleased material by the mysterious JIMMY WRAY. Nothing is remembered of him in the studio except that he worked hard and the reasons for not issuing any of his material is long forgotten. Why though is left for you to decide. As his recordings demonstrate he was yet another cat who tried his heart out without any resultant recordings being issued, that we know of anyway.

Perhaps it might have something to do with him singing about scoring cocaine (in a different song) a decade or so before Lou Reed was singing about waiting for his dope dealer? Regardless, the above is the entirety of what the compilers of the LP chose to share with us. Most of the material on his side of the record is original, but this song is my favorite, and it pops into my head all the time, and it's a cover. I've tried researching it to find out more about it, but to no avail. It's credited to Mills/Eskew. Knock yourself out!

Double-O "You've Lost"

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OO
 OO
7" EP
(R&B Records/Dischord Records, 1983)

Sometimes, OK often, bands fall through the cracks of history. OO   is one of them. They featured former members of bands that appeared on the seminal harDCore (i.e., hardcore from Washington, D.C.) compilation album Flex Your Head†, and all four members went on to later bands of varying success‡. Aside from this one lil' 7" record, though, their recorded legacy is somewhat . . . scant.

photo: Sharon Cheslow

Sure, the band name on the cover is Double-O, but OO   is the way they wrote it. That's OO   as in two interlocking circles, as in unity. Yeah, they were emo-ish before the advent of emo. Back when emo was a music thing, that is, rather than a skinny jeans & guyliner thing. They explain it in more detail in this interview from the zine If This Goes On.

Musically, OO   were one of the earlier bands in the harDCore scene to incorporate such a marked heavy metal influence to their sound. They were also the first, to the best of my knowledge, to have a ballad in their repertoire: Funeral for a Friend. It's quite maudlin and far-and-away my least favorite track on this record. Still, I guess it has some historical significance, if nothing else. Sorta like smallpox. The other four songs on this platter are all ragers, though, and I picked my favorite for today's jukebox track.

NOTA BENE: As was traditional in D.C. at the time, the record was not released 'til after the band broke up.

VANTARSI: I was at the show from whence the above live pic comes. Prior to that, I'd never even heard of them.

---

†Vocalist Eric L. had been in Red C and the rhythm section (Rich Moore & Bert Queiroz) had been in The Untouchables, as opposed to The Untouchables. Bert had also been in Youth Brigade, not to be confused with Youth Brigade.

‡Eric went on to E.N.B. (aka Eric's New Band) who eventually settled on the name Dove and got really mersh. Rich & Bert started Minor Threat Jr., aka Second Wind. Guitarist Jason went on to play with grating artpunkers 9353.

Jimi Hendrix "She Went to Bed with My Guitar"

Jimi Hendrix
Jimi Hendrix at his Best
VOLUME 1
bootleg LP
(SagaPan, 1972)

Sometimes, I swear I'm a mind reader! I just know that some of you dear readers out there want to explore the music of Jimi Hendrix, but you don't know where to start, what with all the studio albums, 8-tracks, live albums, cereal boxes, box sets, etc.

Well . . .

Problem solved!

According to the cover of this album, it's Jimi at his best, and they couldn't call it that if it wasn't true. Right? Right???

No doubt, you've heard of the Jimi Hendrix Experience, featuring Jimi on guitar and vocals (yep, just like today's song) along with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell (did he have unimaginitive parents, or what?). I'm not sure who is drumming on this session, but Mitch absolutely pales in comparison! There's no bass, so I can't really comment on the lack of Noel Redding. However, there seems to be a cat walking on an Ace Tone organ in a few spots, and that's far more exciting than just a buncha old notes that have probably already been used elsewhere.

I'm going to stop here and let the man responsible for getting this excellent release (plus two more volumes!) out into the world. Take it away, Mike!

It was Autumn 1964. A cruel wind, freezing and sullen, ripped the profuse scum and garbage off Bleeker Street and sent it flying out of sight above the houses. Sharp pieces of grit lodged in my legs and spattered my eyes. Even soda cans went crashing down the street. Behind me a howl went up. My friend and I turned round fast. Behind us, someone had been hit in the face by a flying soda can.
"Hey Jimi, are you alright?" said my friend Jake (former lead guitar with the Jugs). He knew everyone in the village. "Sure you're okay?"
"Yeh, Yeh" said Jimi. "Long as my guitar's cool, I'm cool." "In New York City, it's law of the jungle, fittest survive, you dig."
We laughed. All the while I was staring hard at this strange figure. It was the first time I had seen him. In those days, extreme poverty kept him on the streets, sometimes even sleeping there a few hours in the early morning in someone's back doorway. He would carry his guitar on his shoulders always. His jacket was black and frayed. His bowler hat was perched on his huge mass of hair.

I was to see Jimi several times more that winter. Usually he rushed past me on his way, unseeing. In those days, he was totally unknown in New York. Only he and a handful of others were aware of his incredible musical power. Back and forth among that handful Jimi would come and go, all day and night, seeking, learning to refine and re-define, grasp his powers and master them, develop and explore his talents upon the highest apex he could achieve.
And among the several places where he jammed running from one jam to the next, he met those musicians who could contribute to his search. One night coming out of Stanley's Bar on Avenue B, I bumped into Jimi.
"Come over to my pad and play some music," I said. He fell in with me silently. He was always quiet, almost shy, so different from the Jimi on stage.
I am a piano player unknown except among musicians, mostly those of the New York avant-garde music scene, though I had always felt there could be a meeting between this form and rock.
That night we played far into the dawn and it was the most astonishing experience of my life. Eagerly I awaited more. Jimi came round many more times that winter, playing sounds that shattered all conventions and traditions exploring areas with feedback and electronic effects that had never before been touched. This was the pure Jimi, the pristine musician, resplendent in his crystalline form, unsullied by fame and unstained by fortune.
Sometimes I would turn on the borrowed Sony to get an idea of where the music was leading to. Everytime we played back we would laugh and shake our heads in amazement and exhilaration. Occasionally, too, a Conga drummer would sit in with us, not always able to follow the intricacies of the rhythms I patterned out with my chords and la la la's. And so these recordings came about.

Jimi, just before his death, talked to me about them. He felt there was a spontaniety there he had been unable to achieve with his trio; something he had sought ever since but never again experienced. He would like to see them turned into records. He told me this two weeks before his death. We were both in New York. We spent a long time talking old times. He remembered our free form experiments done in my East 11th St. pad when we had both been kids with musical stars in our eyes.
"They'd make better records," he said. "Than some of the shit that's making me so much bread."
"I still have the tapes Jimi", I said. "Okay, why don't you come to London," he pleaded quietly. "That was real music." I asked him if this meant he was no longer playing real music. He did not answer. I asked him if he remembered how he had played to my chords and the two of us had achieved a spontaneous rapport so quickly and smoothly under my youthful direction. He laughed. He remembered only too well.
"Your structures, Mike," he said, "were your own. You were great. But you didn't make it. I did. Strange, Mike, you never made it. And strange I feel jealous of you."

Two weeks later, in London, he was dead.

Mike Ephron

Germs "Lexicon Devil"

Germs
What We Do Is Secret
12" EP
(Slash Records, 1981)

Germs vocalist/lyricist Darby Crash, name checked in Homosexual by the Angry Samoans, was, in fact, a homosexual. The AngSams credited the song to J. Fallwell, however, so I don't think there was malice intended. Darby was full of charisma, but apparently also full of shame and self-hatred for his sexual orientation. Tragically, this led to self-destructive behavior, drug abuse, and eventually suicide.

Despite there being two versions of Lexicon Devil on the (MIA) The Complete Anthology CD, this is not one of them. I'm not sure if this was the original single version or is exclusive to this release, however (I've never owned the original single). The version on (MIA) The Complete Anthology presented as being from the single has prominent saxophone that, unfortunately, robs the song of a good deal of its sonic power. The version from their lone album, (GI), is much faster and loses the infectious pop appeal of this take. This one is perfect. That's probably why it's my favorite Germs song.

The Way We Live "Call Him"

The Way We Live Steve's Hungarian Novel double-LP (Psygressive Records/OZit Records, 1999)

As I think I've said before, I've got a thing for duos. When I read about The Way We Live (and their next nom de musique, Tractor), I had to check them out. Come on! A duo from the early '70's who played psychedelic hard rock? How could I resist that? I couldn't! As luck would have it, I found a bargain-priced CD containing the sole albums by each band, even though they're the same band. The story is legendary BBC disc jockey John Peel was a fan but suggested they change their name. They asked to what and he allegedly was looking out the window at some heavy equipment and said, "Tractor." Peel was more than a fan, actually, and released both albums on his own imprint, Dandelion Records. After the Tractor album was released, they stayed together but stayed out of the studio. They released a single in 1977, "No More Rock 'n' Roll," and another in 1981, "Average Man's Hero," but that was it. Starting in the early 90s, however, collections of unreleased material started appearing in dribs and drabs. Today's song is from a collection released on double-LP in 1999 and limited to a mere 200 copies (each signed by each half of the band). It comprises recordings by both band name variants spanning 1969 up through 1998, and today's selection is a tasty hard rocker from 1969. I'm not sure what's up with the band now. The 30th Anniversary reissue of the Tractor album included bonus live and studio tracks recorded in 2001/2, but I'm not aware of any activity since. More would be nice!

Thin Lizzy "Mama and Papa"

Thin Lizzy The Lost Recordings CD EP (HotPress, 2006)

Well, Decca finally got off their asses and issued the deluxe remasters of Thin Lizzy's first three albums: Thin Lizzy, Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and Vagabonds of the Western World. Back in those days (the very early 1970s) they were a trio with Eric Bell on guitar, rather than the twin guitar attack of Scott Gorham plus another guy (there were several of 'em over the years). These darn things were initially announced as forthcoming close to a decade ago, so it's about darn time! Today's song, therefore, is a tune that predates those records, even.

This Heat "Health and Efficiency"

This Heat
Live
cassette
(IndepenDance, 1986)

write-up to come soon

Nurses "D.Y.F."

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Nurses
Extant
5 x 7" single box set
(Dacoit, 1983)

The Nurses were yet another great band from my DC-area teenagerhood. Vocalist/bassist Howard Wuelfling has been in a number of bands over the years, and currently runs the PR firm Howlin Wuelf Media. In addition to the Nurses, he was most notably a member of the best band in the history of music, Half Japanese, and also The Slickee Boys.

Débile Menthol "Bou de Mou"

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Débile Menthol
Live en Europe 1982-84
cassette
(Edition Unbeirrt, 1984)

Débile Menthol were a group of Swiss nutters in the early 1980s. While they were too late to actually be a part of Rock in Opposition, which included folks like Henry Cow, Univers Zero, and Etron fou Leloublan, it makes sense to me to think of them as related. Pedants may now bite off my head, if they so desire.

Tim Buckley "Sing a Song for You"

Tim Buckley
Once I Was
CD
(Strange Fruit, 1999)

Well, hello and welcome to my jukebox! My goal is to have a new song up every day around 9 a.m., Eastern time. We'll see how well that works. ^_^ So, for my first selection, I decided to go with something "song"-related, and this was the first thing that popped into my lil' noggin'.