Saturday, March 19, 2011

The Bad Seeds


photo courtesy of Peter Buesnell
The following from All Music Guide by Bruce Eder

The Bad Seeds were the first rock group of note to come out of Corpus Christi, Texas, itself a hotbed of garage-rock activity during the middle/late 1960s. They started when guitarist/singer Mike Taylor and bassist Henry Edgington, then member of a local band called The Four Winds, met up with lead guitarist Rod Prince and drummer Robert Donahoe, who had been playing in a rival band called The Titans until its demise. Prince wanted to form a new group, and he, Taylor and Edgeington became the core of the Bad Seeds, who were signed to the local J-Beck label in 1966. They stayed together long enough to record three singles during 1966, of which two, "A Taste of the Same"/"I'm a King Bee" and "All Night Long"/"Sick and Tired," are unabashed classics of blues-based garage-punk, three of them originals by Taylor (who wrote most of their originals) or Prince. Even their normally maligned second single, "Zilch Part 1"/"Zilch Part 2," has some worth as a pretty hot pair of throwaway tracks. The band's sound was the raunchy Rolling Stones-influenced garage-punk typical of Texas rock groups in the mid-'60s.

Following the breakup of the group after the summer of 1966, Mike Taylor became a writer and producer for the the Zakary Thaks, another Corpus Christi-based band (who were signed to J-Beck after being spotted playing on a bill with the Bad Seeds), and also recorded singles in a folk-like mode as The Fabulous Michael (Corpus Gold note:Checkerboard and Arkansas are pretty cool with alleged backing by The Thaks). Rod Prince went on to become a key member of the legendary band Bubble Puppy, who were signed to Leland Rogers' International Artists' label, and the post-psychedelic group Demian that saw a self titled release on ABC Dunhill.

Bad Seeds music can be found on the French EVA label Self-titled (also known as J-Beck Story 1) LP and the more recent 7 inch vinyl release on Sundazed.

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Another Oscar Martinez classic...You Went Away



Here is another classic from the great Oscar Martinez & Orchestra on Impala. Digging deep into that great blend of South Louisiana swamp pop and South Texas Tex Mex groove... featuring once again the great voice of Pepe Cavazos! Dig those Tejano horns! We need a whole collection of this stuff! Keep it coming. I hope to be talking to Oscar in the near future to find out more on these classic sides.

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

Kashmere Stage Band @ The Show Palace




In the 70's The Kashmere Stage Band, hot on the heels of their Texas Jazz Festival performance, injected an evening of burning funk into the Show Palace. Their recordings from the 70's have been reissued to funk maven's delight under titles Texas Thunder Soul 1968-1974, Zero Point, Out of Gas- Still Burning 1974.

From Wikipedia:

Kashmere High School is located in a predominantly black neighborhood known as Kashmere Gardens in Houston, Texas. Music teacher Conrad O. Johnson attended an Otis Redding concert in 1967 and was inspired to translate the style of the concert into a program he could sustain at the high school in order to create opportunities for his student musicians. The Kashmere Stage Band was born.
During its time, KSB won national championships in high school band competitions and gained a reputation as being unbeatable. Johnson served as band director, arranger, and principal composer for the band. KSB recorded eight albums during its life.
The teenagers in the Kashmere Stage Band produced a sound equal to that of the contemporary funk bands the JB's and the Bar-Kays. Although lost for decades, since 2003 the KSB recordings have been released on 7" or 12" LP record or CD, and have become prized by hip-hop artists and dj's for their inimitable sound. A notable sampling occurs on the Handsome Boy Modeling School album So... How's Your Girl?; DJ Shadow’s track “Holy Calamity (Bear Witness II)” samples “Kashmere” from the album Kashmere Stage Band Plays Originals. Many of the modern KSB releases are occurring for the first time.
Notable KSB alumni include jazz drummer Bubba Thomas.
See the film THUNDER SOUL!