Here are lps that I been used on mp3 collections to fill things up & add variety. These were tucked in with either Van Morrison or the Mothers. I’m listing them alphabetically.
Arctic Monkeys: Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino – a modern band make a successful departure from their hard rock into a more electronica sound. The best Bowie album Bowie never made. Arthur Brown & Jimmy Carl Black: Brown Black & Blue – yes hit sits the Crazy World Arthur Brown, working with one of the Mothers. A nice collection of blues, rock done well & with a bit of humour too,
Cazwell: Watch My Mouth – who doesn’t love a white, gay, rapper with great samples, danceable beats & sometimes funny lyrics. His song about Beyonce Is fun & his ice cream video is hot. Phil Collins: No Jacket Required – he was so successful he became a punch line to music snobs but at least he never gets as sappy as Sting, Louise Cordet: Don’t Make Me Over – you want at 60’s collection of pop music covers done by an obscure French chanteuse this is one is for you. Supposedly ‘Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying’ was written about her.
Ruben Juarez: La cancion de Buenos Aires. Classic Argentinian tango from 1977 – a track showed up in my Tumblr feed & I enjoyed it enough to get more. Without diversity music narrows. Hank Locklin: Country Gold – classic 50’s c&w – Send Me The Pillow You Dream On. Sweet tenor & innocent love with steel guitars in the background . Shawn Philips: Collaboration – classic 60’s hippy dippy fun – Jesus Was a Spaceman.
More recent is Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Swing – fine blues, great energy & emotionally raw. Back to the 60’s is Native American rockers Redbone: The Essential – their hits & more, a great compilation. Ryan Shaw: This Is Ryan Shaw, Real Love – I kept running across the video for Do The 45 & tucked him down. Amazing throwback r’n’b – think Wilson Pickett – great voice, good-looking too & excellent horn work. A must have.
Underworld & Iggy Pop: Teatime Dub Encounters – this is a fun ep combining generations, genres & music style to great effect. Two my faves who I never expected would/could collaborate so successful. Who knows maybe there’ll be a Britney Spears/Patty Smith duets album soon. Muddy Waters: Fathers & Sons 1969 father Waters with sons Paul Butterfield, Mike Bloomfield. This was hit with my blues loving friends when I was on the east coast but I never really got into it but in now I’m old enough to enjoy it. A nice mix of studio & live tracks.
Finally Bruce Willis: The Return of Bruno – I find it odd that the Blues Brothers – two comedians do okay versions of r’n’b standards got great respect, while Willis successful actor got mocked for his music which was equally as good. A fun album with great songs, production value & one I always enjoy when it comes up in play rotation.
This is a piece I wrote in the early 80’s. It was unfinished so the ending is ‘new.’ This is part 3 of 4.
Down The Drain
3
“I am sorry,” he says.
“So am I.”
“Do you want me to go?”
“Will that solve this?” I let my hand squeeze his arm.
“It’ll never happen again.”
I laugh, wincing. “Tell me about it.”
“I was afraid. You’ve been out for almost twenty minutes. I … Shit. I don’t know what to tell you.” He sat on the bed. “I care for you Don. That frightens me.” One of his hands moves aimlessly over my stomach. “Like, I feel this need to make a real commitment to someone & at the same time I don’t want to. I don’t know how to deal with this kind of confusion. I don’t know how to tell you …” He walked over to the window. “Fuck! It all gets me so fucking angry.”
“Angry? Angry that you have feelings. Angry that erogenous zones can affect emotional responses. Jim I’ve come to care for you, much more than I …” Much more than I can let myself admit. “We have fun together. In & out of bed. What more do you want?” Even I know ‘what more’ there can be, but I’m as afraid of that as he is.
“Don, we never talk. You know. I realized it the other day. All we ever really talk about is where will we go? What will we eat? What did we watch on TV this week? I know what disco dreck excites your feet but I really don’t know how to feel about fucking disco music.” Jim was shouting. “So you care for me. Big fucking deal. Just what do you mean? You like being with me. Am I just a pleasant object in your life? You like my dick & my attention … Fuck, sometime I feel I could be any one with you. I’m just a convenient man-about-the-house so you don’t have to worry about getting someone to fuck. Any hole’ll do, any dick’ll do.”
“Jim,” I blurted, to stop him. He was right in many ways but I didn’t want to admit that to him. “I really don’t know what to tell you. Some of what you say is true.” A surge of futility overcame me. “What can we do? What should I say? You want pathos, you want truth or do you just want … I don’t know. I really don’t know after this.” I touched any face. “I don’t know how I feel about you. About us.”
“Do you want me in your life at all?” He sat back on the bed, taking one of my hands into both of his. “It’s this vulnerability that confuses me. I accept men physically wanting me but this emotional energy hurts me. It’s been haunting me for weeks. Guilts about being gay that I thought I’d dealt with years ago, are back again because of wanting you. I’ve been happy before with other men who didn’t want more than the good times. With you … Maybe I’m getting old …”
I leaned forward to kiss him lightly. “Maybe you worry too much.” The semi-dry blood on my tshirt pulled stickily away from my skin. “Help me off with these bloody clothes. I need a shower.”
This was a new fear for me. His sudden transformation from cuddly, attentive plaything into a vulnerable, needy but violent person was someone I didn’t know. I was shaken by this emotional openness. I wanted to respond, trade him some of my own pain as a reward for his.
Tenderly his hands pulled my tshirt away but his fingers brushed my face. The bleeding started again. I pushed him away, my own anger overtook my shock. I wanted revenge, a punishment but couldn’t direct my thoughts on to one concept of hurt long enough to overcome the physical pain I was in.
the big finish next week –
TOpoet 