Playlist for

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
August 15, 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’)

– HUGE amount of late-60s/early 70s Euro prog and psych rock today, including Dark (UK), Twink (UK), Les Irresistibles (France), MI5 (UK), Improved Sound Limited (Germany), Annex Quam (Germany), Alrune Rod (Denmark). Of these, I’d hand the crown to Twink; that Think Pink album is in serious heavy rotation chez Greg.

– Delia Derbyshire, however, was far more impressive, although not at all rock. She worked for the BBC Radiophonic Workshop and is responsible for the transcendent Doctor Who theme (she didn’t write the song, but she ‘played’ and recorded it using an incredible array of tapes and other electronic machinery). By the mid-1970s, though, she had given up electronic music, evidently because the synthesizer had made things too pre-fabricated.

– That Mykal Xul CD on Gulcher Records out of Indiana is the most perverted scum-rock I’ve heard in a very long time, perhaps since The Frogs’ masterpiece, It’s Only Right and Natural (1989). But wait, The Frogs’ album is not really rock, so maybe you have to go back to the other new release on Gulcher, The Gynecologists’ Hoosier Psychopaths (1981-1994: The Official Recordings). Sick sick sick. I played Mykal Xul covering The Gizmos–because it was the only unedited song on the CD one can play during the day on the radio. If only you could hear "Ridin’ the Cuke." Damn you, FCC!!!!!

– Honest Jon’s Records, out of the UK, hits the 78-RPM jackpot with their new compilation, Give Me Love: Songs of the Brokenhearted - Baghdad, 1925-1929. Jaw-droppingly good.

– I love vibes. One day I’m gonna do an all-vibes special radio show. When I do, Walt Dickerson will be well represented. Today’s background music (and a full-volume cut) was his 1966 release, Impressions of A Patch of Blue, where he took the Jerry Goldsmith soundtrack to the movie A Patch of Blue and made jazz out of it. Sun Ra plays piano and celeste on the record, which is one of the rare sideman appearances in Ra’s discography. Absolutely gorgeous record, but I have to say, I’ve had extraordinarily bad luck acquiring a satisfying copy of it. The CD reissue is out of print and expensive, so I bid and won a shrink-wrapped copy of the album on ebay, only to determine upon opening the shink-wrap that it was a mis-pressing: the record had two Side Bs. So I got another copy on ebay, only to determine this time around that I had purchased a mono copy. And I want the stereo copy. Damn you, ebay!!!!!

Background Music: Walt Dickerson Quartet - Impressions of A Patch of Blue (MGM 1966)

Playlist for

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
August 8, 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’)

– First solo show in ages. I played a lot of yummy new jazz releases, including the first-ever CD reissue of Byard Lancater’s 1979 solo album, "Personal Testimony," from the exciting Porter Records label. You wouldn’t really know it’s a solo record, though, because he accompanies himself (overdubbing) on several instruments, including the bass clarinet (my favorite), flute, percussion, piano, piccolo, alto and soprano sax. Also out now is the 2007 Vision Festival live recording by Bill Dixon’s orchestra, 17 Musicians in Search of a Sound: Darfur, on Aum Fidelity. The 82-year-old Dixon, a woefully under-recorded giant of the jazz avant-garde, is suddenly prolific, as this is his second release this year, the other being the equally compelling Bill Dixon with Exploding Star Orchestra on Thrill Jockey.

– Another tasty new jazz reissue is Giuseppe Logan’s Quartet album from 1964 on ESP-Disk. Theme music was from Horace Tapscott’s 1969 masterpiece, The Giants Is Awakened, which featured a young "Black Arthur Blythe" on sax. Sadly, this gem has not yet been reissued.

Background Music: Horace Tapscott Quintet - The Giant Is Awakened (Flying Dutchman)

Playlist for

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 25, 2008

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

– How did Peter Frampton get away with what has to be the most ridiculous album title ever? "I’m In You"?????????? Incredibly weak song, too. We were going to play it straight, but I couldn’t do it, so we did our best Mystery Science Theater 3000 imitation and gave commentary. Check out that outfit–and the chest hair. 1977 was weird. Just think about crap coming out and shooting up the charts at the same time that the Sex Pistols were ushering in a new universe. Thank you, Johnny Rotten.

– Had a nice drug commentary set with Sonny Bono’s "Pammie’s on a Bummer," which Shaina knows all the lyrics to from her childhood (her dad had the record). Bill Cosby’s "Dope Pusher Song" is a fun and funky scare-tactic song. Holy Modal Rounders sang the "Cocaine Blues"; WPVM just got an incredible shipment of new CDs from the rejuvenated ESP-Disk, including two Holy Modal Rounders reissues and a slew of great jazz (Milford Graves, Giuseppi Logan, and Don Cherry). For more of this stuff, you should listen to Tenor to Tabla, Wednesday nights on WPVM from 8-11 pm, hosted by Jonathan. It’s dope.

– I played two of the three releases on the newly created Assophon Records out of Seattle: an imaginary soundtrack by Factums and a great skronky jazz set by the Spider Trio. You’ll hear the third disc, by The Sea Donkeys, in an upcoming show, I promise, as it may be the best of the three. Great new label!

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 18, 2008

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

– I’m catching up and just posting some playlists. Lot of good new music in this show.

Playlist for
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
July 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:

– Don Howland (of the Bassholes, Wooden Tit, and Gibson Bros.) showed up with his Cincinnati Reds t-shirt and a sack full of rock ‘n’ roll records from the underbelly of the underground, ready to spring them on the rest of the world during this here little radio show. Many of these discs were ones Don said he had always wanted to hear on the radio airwaves, and they were all over the place, from classic UK punk rock to swampy R&B, from Columbus OH garage rock to French femme art-rock to NYC no wave. It was all a blast. Here are some things I learned…

– I need to track down a bunch of those 7-inch 45s on High Water Records, the label started by Dr. David Evans, ethnomusicologist (Delta blues expert) at Memphis State University. I had the Jessie Mae Hemphill LP, but Don brought a superb R&B blues-boogie thing by the Fieldstones. There’s an interesting piece on the Fieldstones and High Water Records in general in the superb online ‘zine, Perfect Sound Forever.

– We played several tracks related to Jim Shepard (Vertical Slit, V-3), and I learned that while both Jim and Don grew up in Columbus, Don didn’t know him until around the time punk broke. Jim had already been playing out in the Columbus area, thus making him truly proto-punk, kinda analogous to Pere Ubu in Cleveland.

– Some other drum and guitar duos before the White Stripes: Doo Rag, Flat Duo Jets, and the Bassholes (with Don Howland, of course).

– Bassholes will be recording later this summer for a release on Columbus Discount Records, which is evidently a collective involving folks from Times New Viking.

– When asked what his favorite band off all time is, Don will reply, "Chain Gang."

– Today’s picture is of the Beast 7", about which I completely forgot to ask Don. There’s precious little about them on the old internet, but Don wrote back to let me know that they were led by Bryan Gregory, original guitarist for the Cramps, and were rumored to be practicing satanists (some sites–here’s one–dispute this).

Background Music: Gabor Szabo - His Great Hits (Impulse!)