Rock 'n' Roll 141 Items

Over the course of their stop-start five years together, Honeybus ventured into the BBC studios on a dozen occasions, leaving a catalogue of recordings that mirrored their latest releases as well as offering up a fascinating alternate history. The songs that make up 1970’s much-loved “almost didn’t happen” Story album (reissued by Hanky Panky/Mapache in 2018, along with the rest of the group’s output) began appearing as early as the summer of 1968. The likes of ‘Scarlet Lady’, ‘Black Mourning Band’ and ‘Under The Silent Tree’ appear almost fully-formed, played as ensemble pieces, suggesting that their album counterparts were captured quickly and without fuss during snatched studio sessions throughout late 1968 and 1969. They also demonstrate Honeybus’s often overlooked skills as a live unit – BBC sessions notoriously allowed little scope for re-takes or overdubbing; you went in and you laid it down while the men in white coats watched the clock. Thrilling as it is to finally hear these alternate versions of familiar Honeybus cornerstones, it’s the surfeit of otherwise unrecorded material that’s the most startling revelation here. Under The Silent Tree: Gentle Sounds With Strings And Things At The BBC 1967-1973 presents no less than 10 unique Honeybus songs (plus a further four on the CD version only) that virtually constitute an entire second album’s worth of unheard material. We find ourselves in a kind of musical hall of mirrors, revealing in a whole new perspective on one of the last great cult pop groups of the ’60s, where every track offers a fresh outlook, a fresh thrill, a fresh sound. With strings and things.

Limited edition for Record Store Day 2016!

Find all the greeatest songs of the King of Rock & Roll in a nice 5LP boxset

A collection of bizarre avant-garde garage-rock, recorded by El'Blaszczyk in the early '90s, together with his 10 year old sister and his neighbour. The result is vaguely reminiscent of the universe of actor/director Jean Yanne, the comedian music group Les Charlots, and humoristic singer Boby Lapointe.

In 1960, Dick Dale released his last single before his surfer days with the small company Cupid Records, from Sherman Oaks, California. On it, he was backed by Tommy Oliver's band, and its B-side contains THE Fairest OF Them ALL, a marvellous piece of orchestrated rock'n'roll, with a crooner touch, that we rescue to open this EP, and which marked the end of his first musical stage. The B-side of this EP features two previous songs from 1960, both released on his second single for his father's label, Del-Tone Records. Stop Teasing is a hot rhythm & blues, New Orleans style, a far cry from what Dick had recorded on his early records, topped off with a great guitar solo. It was originally paired with Whitout Your Love, a slow blues, in the same vein as Elvis Presley's Don't Ask Me Why, which opens up even more the musical spectrum that Dick was handling before he made his leap to fame. These three tracks perfectly complement the three ones that make up the first EP in this series, and are a perfect summary of Dick's rock'n'roll years, before the release of his next single, Let's Go Trippin' / Del-Tone Rock, his first one with The Del-Tones and his consecration as the king of surf music. DeeJay Francho

Dick Dale’s first recording came two years before he formed the Del-Tones and was crowned King of The Surf Guitar. That record was “Ooh Whee Marie,” released on his father’s fledging Del-Tone label in the summer of 1958. Dale was 21 years old at the time and encouraged by his father to learn guitar and trumpet. His musical hero was Hank Williams and other country stars he heard on the radio, including Buddy Holly, whose influence is apparent on “Marie.” He soon developed an impression of Elvis that he took to various talent shows around the Los Angeles area. He won enough of these shows to bring him to the Town Hall Party stage, a three-hour live Saturday night viewing staple broadcast from Compton. Dale played trumpet in the backing band that accompanied various guest stars. There was also plenty of rockabilly music from the younger artists on that show, which influenced Dale’s third outing on record, “Jessie Pearl” and “St. Louis Blues,” recorded earlier, but released in the summer of 1960. “Jessie Pearl” was Dale’s first self-penned song. “St. Louis Blues,” an old W.C. Handy jazz number, was a song Dale had picked up learning how to play trumpet. Around July, 1960, Dick Dale formed the Del-Tones and began playing to capacity crowds at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Newport Beach. His next release was “Let’s Go Trippin’.” He had single-handedly launched the surf music genre. --John Blair

Rock n Roll fans - please welcome Hairy Mountain - the second album from West Australia’s Datura4. Building upon the "‘guitars-to -infinity’" approach of Datura4’'s acclaimed debut LP ‘Demon Blues’, ‘Hairy Mountain’ is ten solid tracks celebrating an unbridled joy for rock’n’roll ,with a nod to the spiritual presence of their hairy Oz Rock forefathers. Hairy Mountain’ is the culmination of a lifetime of musical archaeology and the ongoing search for the never ending riff. It'’s the brainchild of Dom Mariani (frontman of Australian garage rockers The Stems and Power Posters DM3) and Greg Hitchcock (former You Am I and one-time New Christs’ guitarist), and their new full-tilt boogie, psych and prog combo Datura4. -–BLURT Throwback in the best possible way, the way you can go to some underground club in your nearest big city and see kick-ass rockers throwing it down like it was 1972. But unlike those amateurs, Datura4 is the real deal. In Mariani and Hitchcock, it has the pedigree. – -UNDER THE RADAR Elements of hard-lined blues remain evident, but are primarily smoothed out by a dominant, free-formed ’70s psych sparsity. Those sprawling soundscapes themselves threaten explosive outbreaks yet are reigned in further with a defining boogie, a heavy footstep of swagger that sets a more contemporary course. -Johnny Nail / ROLLING STONE AUSTRALIA

The new album by the great Dani Nel·lo is a compilation of the best 11 songs from the two previous volumes of Los Saxophonistas Salvajes, ('El Twister', 'Sassy, 'Hey Chula!', 'Honey White'…), currently out of print on vinyl. It also includes two unreleased tracks: 'Snake Eyes', a song that King Curtis recorded in 1959 with saxophonist Noble Watts, and Jimmy Forrest's 'Night Train Mambo', one of the most covered and played songs in blues jams and at burlesque shows.

The next 7inch release from Bongo Joe. This one is from Collignon which comprises Yves Lennertz on guitar (and bass), Gino Bombrini on drums (and percussion) and Jori Collignon on the keyboards (and taking care of the production). The three friends have been making music together for some time, collaborating in different groups and settings, Jori and Gino as part of the band SKIP&DIE, Gino as a producer for Yves" former group, YIN YIN.

No one knows summer like Santa Monica's Zach Yudin. "Can you hear it comin'?" he asks, at the start of "Cayucos", the opening salvo by his band Cayucas. With a nod to 60's beach blanket pop gems and bonfire folk songs, Cayucas hits the waves runnin', causing involuntary head bobs, finger snaps, toe-taps and the ability to shake your booty like it's strapped to a brand new set of maracas. Producer/multi-instrumentalist Richard Swift deftly captures Yudin's inimitable voice as it echoes through the barrel of the perfect wave. It's a song for the ages for sure. The B-side "Swimsuit" continues to carry the torch, with its cocktail-lounge organ flourishes painting a picture of young, carefree days spent pining for your summer love. Enjoy just a hint of the party that's still to come, and let Cayucas take you to your inner sanctum where there's always sunshine, and a Pina Colada is always a good idea. Full length to be released early 2013.

Rock'n'roll is dead. Gallows Wine [KLP287] is a wake for it's charred remains. Calvin Johnson traveled to Columbus, Mississippi to record Gallows Wine with the combo Hartle Road at their Pompeii studio. Columbus, in Lowndes County, is the childhood home of Tennessee Williams (just down US Route 45 from White Station, birthplace of Howlin' Wolf). Songs reflecting this singular environment include:"Pink Cadillac" written by Calvin when he was 16 (in reserve for just the right session);Title song "Gallows Wine" rips psycho psychedelic, poetic license intact;"Crazy Legs" is a Gene Vincent class act celebrating our sock hopulation;"Orange Aid" melts downtown no WAV.Yeah, Gallows Wine gets primitive: Lurch pulls a night shift on organ, Grandma Moses on the fife and drum. Calvin busk (melodica garage worm profane). Rockabilly spin cycle, guitar scrape and crush. Hand jive. You wanted Calvin Johnson howling beyond the magnolia curtain, you got it: Gallows Wine.The only proper response - - - Rock'n'roll is dead. Long live rock'n'roll.

Rock'n'roll is dead. Gallows Wine [KLP287] is a wake for it's charred remains. Calvin Johnson traveled to Columbus, Mississippi to record Gallows Wine with the combo Hartle Road at their Pompeii studio. Columbus, in Lowndes County, is the childhood home of Tennessee Williams (just down US Route 45 from White Station, birthplace of Howlin' Wolf). Songs reflecting this singular environment include:"Pink Cadillac" written by Calvin when he was 16 (in reserve for just the right session);Title song "Gallows Wine" rips psycho psychedelic, poetic license intact;"Crazy Legs" is a Gene Vincent class act celebrating our sock hopulation;"Orange Aid" melts downtown no WAV.Yeah, Gallows Wine gets primitive: Lurch pulls a night shift on organ, Grandma Moses on the fife and drum. Calvin busk (melodica garage worm profane). Rockabilly spin cycle, guitar scrape and crush. Hand jive. You wanted Calvin Johnson howling beyond the magnolia curtain, you got it: Gallows Wine.The only proper response - - - Rock'n'roll is dead. Long live rock'n'roll.

Boom Pam, widely renowned for their spellbinding Middle Eastern guitar music, have unveiled their highly anticipated fifth album, "Royal". Celebrating their twentieth anniversary, the Tel Aviv based band combine cinematic atmospherics and high-powered surf rock on their first album for international ambassadors of Middle Eastern grooves, Batov Records.

From his first self-released album in 2001, through sixteen more, over thirty singles, and collaborations with the likes of King Khan, Mark Sultan, Jon Spencer, Deke Dickerson, and the 5.6.7.8’s, Bloodshot Bill has parlayed his unique blend of rockabilly, R&B, and garage rock into feverishly prolific productions that tap into the very roots of mutant rock’n’roll. As his reputation has grown, Bloodshot Bill has been deemed a rockabilly wildman, a primitive, a seminal punk, a throwback to the wild ’50s, and the deranged spirit of psychobilly madness. His latest album, Psyche-o-Billy, on Goner Records, exudes raw energy and authenticity via a frenzied, stripped down soundscape that defies all rules and descriptions.

Written during the Covid-19 pandemic and recorded at Bloodshot Bill’s home studio in Montréal, Québec, Psyche-o-Billy is equal parts joyous, moody, plaintive, searching, and deeply steeped in that old weird America documented via the otherworldly tunes captured on Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music. “My music is for weirdos,” Bloodshot Bill confirms. “I want ‘em to feel good...or bad… Whatever way they wanna feel!”

“Like Roy Orbison with a head injury!” —John Waters

Formed in Liverpool, and now also based in Manchester and Glasgow, Beach Skulls produces some of the best garage-pop heard in years. Featuring catchy songwriting and laid-back melodies, 'Slow Grind' provides all the summer hits you could want. Also suitable for listening during Winter!