No Time For Dreaming

No Time For Dreaming is by Charles Bradley, the best soul singer you've never heard of.  The 64 year old wasn't discovered until 2002.  BRadley had struggled for many years, working odd jobs but always playing music.  He was discovered in New York City when he was working as a James Brown impersonator.

He was signed by Daptone records and immediately began recording songs.  He sounds like he's been around for 50 years, with a voice as legendary as Otis Redding, a clear influence for Bradley.  Bradley was the subject of the 2012 documentary, Soul of America which premiered at South By Southwest in 2012.

This album is as classic a soul album as I've ever heard.  It belongs with the likes of Marvin Gaye, Al Green, and Otis Redding.  There's no sacrilege in my words, Bradley is just that good.  His voice has so much power and every song feels like a classic.  If you like soul and RnB and haven't come across this album yet, today is your lucky day.

The album was one of the top of 2011 on everyone's list. Give it a listen a get funky!  It's sweet baby-making music for the musically inclined.

Track listing[edit]

1. The World (Is Going Up in Flames) (Bradley, Brenneck, Mike Deller, Leon Michels) 3:22
2. The Telephone Song (Brenneck, Dave Guy, Michels, Homer Steinweiss, Fernando Velez) 3:48
3. Golden Rule (Bradley, Brenneck, Michels, Nick Movshon, Steinweiss) 3:29
4. I Believe in Your Love (Bradley, Brenneck, Michels) 3:54
5. Trouble in the Land (Brenneck, Michels) 1:02
6. Lovin' You, Baby (Bradley, Brenneck) 5:27
7. No Time for Dreaming (Joe Quarterman) 2:52
8. How Long (Bradley, Brenneck, Guy, Michels, Steinweiss) 3:54
9. In You (I Found a Love) (Bradley, Brenneck, Michels) 3:21
10. Why Is It so Hard? (Bradley, Brenneck, Michels, Steinweiss) 4:09
11. Since Our Last Goodbye (Brenneck, Michels, Steinweiss) 4:16
12. Heartaches and Pain (Bradley, Brenneck)
13. Heart of Gold (Neil Young)
14. Stay Away (Kurt Cobain)

Saturn Strip

Alan Vega's 1982 album, Saturn Strip is essentially 80s music sung in the style of doo-wop.  Vega is a huge influence on singers like Bruce Springsteen and Arcade Fire's Win Butler.

The album was produced by Ric Ocasek and features musical contributions from Al Jourgensen. "Kid Congo" is a homage to Kid Congo Powers. The album was reissued on CD in 2004 by Wounded Bird, which also included the Just A Million Dreams album.

The album is not easy to listen at first but give it time.  Doo-wop vocals are met with moments of spoken word.  It took me a few listens but I finally came around to this 80s masterpiece.  Vega's Gene Vincent type voice finally struck a chord with me and the album became my go-to for quite some time.

Vega is a legend amongst musicians, well, maybe more of a myth.  Up until his 70th birthday people thought he was ten years younger.  Vega is also an accomplished sculptor.  He gained fained for his proto-punk band, Suicide.

Track listing

1. "Saturn Drive" (Al Jourgensen, Alan Vega) - 5:36
2. "Video Babe" (Vega) - 3:17
3. "American Dreamer" (Ric Ocasek, Vega) - 5:04
4. "Kid Congo" (Vega) - 2:37
5. "Goodbye Darling" (Mark Kuch, Vega) - 2:38
6. "Wipeout Beat" (Vega) - 5:59
7. "Je T'Adore" (Vega) - 3:40
8. "Angel" (Vega) - 5:06
9. "Every 1's a Winner" (Errol Brown) - 4:10

Personnel

• Alan Vega - vocals
• Larry Chaplin - bass
• Sesu Coleman - drums
• Stephen George - drums on "Saturn Drive", "American Dreamer", "Wipeout Beat"
• Mark Kuch - guitar
• Ric Ocasek - guitar, keyboards
• Al Jourgensen - keyboards on "Saturn Drive"
• Greg Hawkes - synthesizer, saxophone on "Wipeout Beat"
• Michael Zilkha - executive producer

Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires

I started listening to Jamaican dub music last year.  What was I doing for the previous 21 years of my life?  I always loved reggae but dub was new to me.  When I heard dub I thought of dub-step I had no idea of dub-step's Jamaican cousin.

When I decided to jump into Dub I asked my friend's father, the king of all information regarding reggae and dub.  he told me to start with a guy named Scientist and gave me a copy of one of his albums. Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires blew my head right off the first time I listened.  I found myself immediately standing up and dancing.

The album was released in 1981. A digitally remastered version was released by Greensleeves Records as the 25th of their Reggae Classics series in 2001.  

The songs were mixed by Scientist at King Tubb'y studio in Jamaica.  If you don't know King Tubby, he's the father of Jamaican dub and reggae.  The album was mixed using songs from many reggae albums from the time period.

This album is perfect for the summer, it'd be a great addition to any poolside dance party

Track listing

1. "Voodoo Curse" – 3:48
2. "Dance of the Vampires" – 3:26
3. "Blood On His Lips" – 3:00
4. "Cry of the Werewolf" – 4:25
5. "The Mummy's Shroud" – 4:25
6. "The Corpse Rises" – 3:27
7. "Night of the Living Dead" – 4:14
8. "Your Teeth In My Neck" – 4:38
9. "Plague of Zombies" – 2:49
10. "Ghost of Frankenstein" – 3:20

The personel for the album is huge and is as follows:

• Errol "Flabba" Holt – Bass Guitar
• Carlton "Santa" Davis – Drums
• Lincoln "Style" Scott – Drums
• Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont – Rhythm Guitar
• Noel "Sowell" Bailey – Rhythm Guitar
• Winston "Bo Peep" Bowen – Lead Guitar
• Andy Bassford – Lead Guitar
• Ansel Collins – Keyboards
• Gladstone "Gladdy" Anderson – Piano
• Winston Wright – Organ
• Uziah "Sticky" Thompson – Percussion
• Noel "Scully" Simms – Percussion
• Christopher "Sky Juice" Blake – Percussion

Horns

• "Deadly" Headley Bennett – Saxophone
• Dean Fraser – Saxophone
• Ronald "Nambo" Robinson – Trombone

The Paul Butterfield Blues Band

I talked about the blues a little bit in my last post.  But Neil Young has nothing on these guys in the blues category.  This is my go-to blues album.  The album came out in 1965 and peaked at #123 on the Billboard charts.  Rolling Stone regards it was one of the greatest albums ever made.

In 1964, a friend of Elektra house producer Paul Rothchild told him that the "best band in the world was on stage at a blues bar in Chicago."  The band was The Paul Butterfield Blues Band.  Later than night the same person went and saw Mike Bloomfield ripping guitar at another bar in Chicago.

Sessions were quickly scheduled; a record was to be made that would include the band as well as the addition of Mike Bloomfield.  

The band played at The Newport Folk Fest and the songs were recorded for Rothchild to listen to. Rothchild was dissatisfied with the original two sessions and it would take a third before he was ready to have the songs mastered.

The album is the epitome of Chicago style blues.  With guitar solos by Mike Bloomfield and Elvin Bishop.  Butterfield was on lead vocals and he played harmonica.  Mark Naftalin played keys and organ, Jerome Arnold was on bass and Sam Lay was on drums.  

The album is so important because it was one of the first blues album recorded by a white singer.  If you like the blues, listen to this album immediately.

Side one

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Born in Chicago"	Nick Gravenites	2:55
2.	"Shake Your Moneymaker"	Elmore James	2:27
3.	"Blues with a Feeling"	Walter Jacobs	4:20
4.	"Thank You Mr. Poobah"	Mike Bloomfield, Paul Butterfield, Mark Naftalin	4:05
5.	"Got My Mojo Working"	Muddy Waters	3:30
6.	"Mellow Down Easy"	Willie Dixon	2:48

Side two

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Screamin'"	Mike Bloomfield	4:30
2.	"Our Love Is Drifting"	Mike Bloomfield, Elvin Bishop	3:25
3.	"Mystery Train"	Junior Parker, Sam Phillips	2:45
4.	"Last Night"	Walter Jacobs	4:15
5.	"Look Over Yonders Wall"	James Clark	2:23

On The Beach

I always thought I was a Neil Young fan.  I knew the hits and I knew the albums that I thought were the "ones to know" but I didn't know anything, not until I stumbled across my now favorite Neil album, On The Beach.  I remember exactly where I was when I first heard it - it's just that good.  My family and I were on a trip to San Francisco, we took a ferry to a small town outside of the city and went into a barn that was also an antique shop.  A haunting blues song was blasting from speakers hanging from the beams overhead.  The song was "Vampire Blues" and I stopped dead in my tracks.  I knew it was Neil Young but I was confused as to why I never heard this song or Neil play any song that had the same feel as this song.  I immediately asked the shop owner and he picked up the LP and said "this is the best Neil Young album of all time."  I quickly wrote down the name of the album on my phone.  I was going to buy it as soon as I found a record shop.

The album consists of a lot of blues songs combined with Neil's ever present folk rock.  The production quality is very crude and fits the style of the songs.  The songs are all a little messy, the playing is sloppy and real.  The feel of the album brings out the humanity in the musicians who recorded the instruments.  Young's solos are all over the place and full of emotion and simplicity.  The solo on "Vampire Blues" is in my top ten of all time.

The album was not commercially successful at all but critics loved it, dubbing it one of the best albums of the 70s.  Because the album was not very successful it was not released in a large quantity and not rereleased for some time.  In the pre-internet day, this album was rare, very rare.  It was a cult classic and getting your hands on a good copy of one was like finding the Golden Ticket.  Even finding an original copy now is very difficult.  The album was not rereleased until a petition of 5,000 signatures was signed in 2000 and the record label released the album on CD for the first time.

Side one

1. "Walk On" – 2:42
2. "See the Sky About to Rain" – 5:02
3. "Revolution Blues" – 4:03
4. "For the Turnstiles" – 3:15
5. "Vampire Blues" – 4:14

Side two

1. "On the Beach" – 6:59
2. "Motion Pictures" – 4:23
3. "Ambulance Blues" – 8:56

If you like Neil young and don't know this album or maybe you like old blues/folk, check this album out. It'll probably become your favorite in no time.

Moby Grape

Moby Grape is the legendary 1967 self titled album by Moby Grape.  Moby Grape emerged in San Francisco in the late 60s where the brand of psych rock they played thrived.  The album reached #24 on the charts and they were put into a bidding war with Colombia Records who desperately wanted to sign them.

My roommates father gave us this album when we told him we were listening to a lot of early Grateful Dead stuff.  We were not disappointed.  This album packs a punch and kicks a lot of ass.  It is regarded as a psych rock masterpiece and it is just that.

 Gene Sculatti and Davin Seay wriote in their book San Francisco Nights, "Moby Grape remains one of the very few psychedelic masterpieces ever recorded." Justin Farrar wrote "it's no understatement to hail the group's 1967 debut as the ancestral link between psychedelia, country rock, glam, power pop and punk."

The album is just that, it combines all these genres into a hodgepodge of musical mastery.  This is what psych rock should always sound like.  The songs are catchy and straightforward, there's nothing weird or experimental about any of the songs which makes for a very easy listening experience.

The sixth track, "Omaha" is regarded as one of the 100 Greatest Songs of All Time by Rolling Stone.  

Track Listing:

Side one

1. "Hey Grandma" (Jerry Miller, Don Stevenson) – 2:25
2. "Mr. Blues" (Bob Mosley) – 1:55
3. "Fall on You" (Peter Lewis) – 1:50
4. "8:05" (Miller, Stevenson) – 2:17
5. "Come in the Morning" (Mosley) – 2:04
6. "Omaha" (Skip Spence) – 2:19
7. "Naked, If I Want To" (Miller) – 0:51

Side two

1. "Someday" (Miller, Stevenson, Spence) – 2:30
2. "Ain't No Use" (Miller, Stevenson) – 1:33
3. "Sitting by the Window" (Lewis) – 2:38
4. "Changes" (Miller, Stevenson) – 3:13
5. "Lazy Me" (Mosley) – 1:39
6. "Indifference" (Spence) – 4:09

Personell:

• Peter Lewis – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Bob Mosley – bass, vocals
• Jerry Miller – lead guitar, vocals
• Skip Spence – rhythm guitar, vocals
• Don Stevenson – drums, vocals

Mini Mansions

Mini Mansions (2010) is the debut album and only album from LA Rockers, Mini Mansions.  The band consists of Zach Dawes, Tyler Parkford, and Queens of the Stone Age bassist Michael Shuman.  Mini Mansions was founded in 2009 after the Queens of the Stone Age decided to take a break after touring in support of Era Vulgaris.  Their style has been compared to The Beatles, Elliot Smith, and Fountains of Wayne.

Like Sloan, Mini Mansions are a great mix of Beatles harmonies and power pop instrumentation.  Their songs are pop at their core, they're catchy, very catchy.  But not Lady Gaga pop, more like 90s rock/punk infused pop.

Most recently Mini Mansions were on a long tour with the band, Autolux.

There's not a lot to say more than, if you like The Beatles and the song "Stacy's Mom," you'll probably love this album.  It's a little hard to find in print, so check it out on iTunes!

Tracklist

1		Vignette #1
2		The Room Outside
3		Crime Of The Season
4		Monk
5		Wunderbars
6		Seven Sons
7		Vignette #2
8		Kiddie Hypnogogia
9		Majik Marker
10		Girls
11		Vignette #3
12		Thriller Escapade