Dave DayPlaylist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
January 11, 2008

Hosted by Greg Lyon on FRIDAYS at 2-4 pm
on WPVM Asheville (103.5 FM and www.wpvm.org)

This show is available for listening as an archive for one week after its airing at WPVM’s Archive Page (click on the STREAM button for this show–under the letter ‘G’)

Notes:

– I had two guests today: music writer and Asheville resident Justin Farrar came back for a second visit, and our new volunteer at WPVM, Shaina, who has gamely declared that she will be back next week! We love a party at The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

– This show was dedicated to Dave Day (Havlicek) of the Monks, who passed away this week. Click on his picture to go visit the Monks website, where they have more pix of Dave and all kinds of info about this, perhaps the weirdest–and certainly one of the best–of all American (and German) garage rock bands of the 1960s. He was the crazy percussive electric banjo player in the band–a true rock original.

– Justin brought in about half the music today, and it was all groovy. We had a nice immaculate California production showdown between Phil Spector (the Dion track) and his Wrecking Crew mate, Jack Nitzsche (the Bobby Darin track). Both were winners. I’ve been listening to much Nitzsche lately, especially that first Neil Young solo record I played a while back. I’m sure to play more in the coming weeks.

– I brought in the new S.T. Mikael album, which appears 9 years after his last record, Soul Flower, which I played a few weeks ago. This new one features fellow Swedes from the band Dungen, Reine Fiske and Fredrik Björling, in supporting roles.

– The Finnish band Liimanarina was one of Justin’s picks, and like a cat to catnip, I couldn’t stop saying ‘Bad Vugum’, the label on which their 1989 7" appears. I knew that this was a Beefheart reference, but I’m shocked that I couldn’t remember which song it was from, considering it is in fact one of my all-time favorite Beefheart tunes, "Sue Egypt", from Doc at the Radar Station (1980). I’m going to play it next week, I think, but to get you all warmed up, here are some of the fantastic lyrics (or at least what I hear): "Bring me my scissors / and those on waters / The moon was a / wisdomatic / pristocratic / vagabond / Bad vugum / a picture of red-hot juice / a pitcher of / red garnet juice." In an 1980 interview for Melody Maker, Captain Beefheart (Don Van Vliet) explains that "Bad vugum" is a curse (or insult, as the interviewer puts it) against punk and new wave, who "could have gone far," but who used him "like an ashtray heart" and whom he indicts further in "Sue Egypt" with the lyric, "I think of all the people who ride my bones." Don was a wee bit bitter against the music industry, and justifiably so.

Background Music: Sun Ra - Disco 3000 (expanded 2CD edition) - Art Yard

Artist Song Album Label Comments New
Sun Ra Dance of the Cosmo Aliens Disco 3000 Art Yard new expanded reissue *
Gang Gang Dance Nicoman Rawwar Social Registry 2007  
Eroc Horrorgoll Eroc 1 Brain 1975 spacy Krautrock  
German Shepherds I Adore You Music for Sick Queers Del Amo 1985 San Francisco  
Eroc Sternchen Eroc 1 Brain 1975 more from the Grobschnitt drummer  
Monks I Hate You Five Upstart Americans Omplatten RIP Dave Day Havlicek, electric banjo player extraordinaire  
Crushed Butler It’s My Life Uncrushed Dig the Fuzz 1969-1971 British  
Wold Invocation of Fire L.O.T.M.P. Profound Lore 2005 Canadian black metal  
S.T. Mikael Gyrax Mind of Fire Subliminal Sounds new from Sweden’s bedroom psych master *
Six Organs of Admittance Shelter from the Ash Shelter from the Ash Drag City playing Jan. 22 at the Grey Eagle *
Bobby Darin Not for Me The Jack Nitzsche Story: Hearing Is Believing Ace 1963, immaculate production  
Dion Born to Be with You Born to Be with You Warner Bros. 1975, Phil Spector production  
Chico Hamilton The Head Hunters The Head Hunters Solid State 1969 crazy scat, brilliant production  
Flower Travellin’ Band Satori Part 2 Satori Phoenix 1971 Japanrock  
Liimanarina Kuinka Aku Ankasta tehdään poliisi Maailman Tylsin Vittumaissuus Bad Vugum 1989 Finnish  
Kitchen and the Plastic Spoons Fantastic Recordings 1980-81 Ill Wind 1980 Swedish  
Kid Creole & the Coconuts There But for the Grace of God Go I 7" Antilles 1980 disco  
Keith Hudson Darkness Dub Brand Pressure Sounds 1979 "dental dub", as Justin put it (Hudson was a dentist)  
The Slits Difficult Fun Return of the Giant Slits Sony 1981 2nd and final record *

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