Dirtygrooves

VKTMS - Roma-Rocket / Too Bad!!

2006-10-16T22:47:00.002-04:00

Well, I was listening to some records with my kids tonight while my wife was ~~at her scrapbooking club~~ out on a drinking spree, and this one really got the crowd out on the dancefloor. Sorry, but I didn't get any photos of that.

1979 San Francisco action and probably my favorite female-fronted US punk record. And that's saying something, what with your Avengers, Legal Weapons, Nuns, Bags, etc.

Four songs. Midget was included on the Bloodstains Across California compilation, but all four tracks are great. The music is totally raw, but the true genius is in the lyrics. First you have Roma Rocket, a paean to their favorite fortified wine:

"Well we don't need no Red Jockey
And Ripple is only just ok
MD 20/20 feels like kindergarten
There's only one wine that's really got it

It's bright and red(?)
It tastes like Draino
But its purely lethal, Italiano
If you drink it you must be able
It'll put your ass right under the table

Roma Rocket Roma Rocket
Makes you throw up in your pocket, Roma Rocket
Roma Rocket Roma Rocket
Makes you throw up in your pocket, Roma Rocket"

Then you have Too Bad, which is about a wimpy synth dude's inability to get it up. To top it off, Midget is about the singer's lover who is just the right height to please her while standing.

I found this at the Englishtown Flea Market in New Jersey a long time ago in a box of crap LPs. So that explains the missing sleeve and the fact that the record skips a little. Big deal. It was kinda dirty too but I rinsed it under the kitchen faucet for a couple of minutes and it cleaned right up.

~~VKTMS - Roma-Rocket.mp3~~

~~VKTMS - Too Bad!!.mp3~~

There's a CD out with their entire recorded output. You can get it here.

Bo Dudley - Shotgun Rider

2006-10-09T23:48:00.000-04:00

Here's a cool mid-60s Chicago blues 45 that features some wailing lap steel by Freddie Roulette. It's weird for a blues record to feature the steel guitar, but his frenzied playing fits right in on this great record.

Roulette recorded with Earl Hooker in the 60s and also released an album called Sweet and Funky Steel on the Janus label in '72.

Bo Dudley was a stage name for Oscar Coleman, who also recorded some 45s under the name Bo Dud on his own Dud Sound label.

Both Roulette and Coleman are still involved with music. I know folks were raving about a show they played together at one of the Ponderosa Stomp events down in New Orleans awhile back.

~~Bo Dudley - Shotgun Rider.mp3~~

You can pick up Shotgun Rider and the flipside Coast To Coast on this CD.

Cousin Leroy - Goin' Back Home b/w Catfish

2006-10-02T21:59:00.000-04:00

Well, I promised beat up records from the flea market so here you go. Straight from a stinky wet plastic bag where I grabbed it up yesterday.

I've got a few other 45s lined up, but they're still soaking in a bath of Everclear in an attempt to remove some grime from the grooves.

I hope you're not expecting "The Cousin Leroy Story." I do know that his name is Leroy Rozier and this record is from 1955. He's got another ace song called I'm Lonesome on the Stompin' Vol.2 compilation LP.

~~Cousin Leroy - Goin' Back Home.mp3~~
~~Cousin Leroy - Catfish.mp3~~

It looks like you can get a whole mess of Leroy (including Catfish, I'm Lonesome, and probably Goin' Back Home too) on this CD.

Sorry, my name sucks!

2006-09-29T11:29:00.000-04:00

Yeah, I probably shoulda figured that dirtygrooves would not be a good name for the blog. As you can imagine, it's already used all over the internet by people like this guy and other techno dj losers... Whatever, I was just thinking about old beat up records from the flea market when I came up with it.

Speaking (writing?) of the flea market, my wife and I are selling junk (including crates and crates of records) at the Flat Rock Speedway Flea Market on Sunday. It's south of Detroit on Telegraph Rd. and worth checking out if you're within driving distance. Hopefully, I will find some nice records that I can post up here next week.

Who said there's nothin' to do in Detroit anymore?

Lorrie Collins - Another Man Done Gone

2006-09-25T23:19:00.000-04:00

Here's a real nice one by Lorrie, who was half of the rockabilly duo The Collins Kids.

This song is an old folk song, but the lyrics got a serious overhaul for Lorrie's version. I see that Johnny Cash took a writer's credit for this, so I guess he did the rewrite.

Very weird arrangement, what with the harp (and I ain't talking mouth harp here) reverb fest, gutter blues guitar leads all thrown together. That odd effect at the beginning sounds like someone quickly scraping a guitar pick along a harp string. The whole thing has a downer / qualude feel that is strange and very cool.

Her singing is great, very sultry. I really dig how she whispers the last few words of certain phrases, like when she sings "I don't recall his name, but I was glad he came." That has got to be one of the sickest lines ever recorded!

Lorrie was quite a looker too, I think she dated Ricky Nelson for awhile.

~~Lorrie Collins - Another Man Done Gone.mp3~~

The only place I know to pick this up on CD is the Collins Kids box set on Bear Family.

Red Shadow - Live at the Panacea Hilton

2006-09-24T00:17:00.000-04:00

Physical Records, 1975.

I found this at Goodwill awhile back. From what I can tell these folks were a bunch of economics grad students and coffeehouse commies.

There is one funny ha ha tune on here called Understanding Marx (you can hear it here - it's the January 6 entry). It sounds like Up With People but the words are good.

There are also some bad parodies of oldies tunes. Their version of the Beach Boys' Fun Fun Fun (Gone Gone Gone) goes like this:

"And they'll be gone, gone, gone, when the people take their power away."

So I was surprised to hear a song that actually rocks on here, but Stagflation sounds like some Gizmos / Penetrators proto-punk action with a dose of Flamin' Groovies. Pretty cool. There's even a nod to Lou Reed when the dude says "and the white girls say."

~~Red Shadow - Stagflation.mp3~~

You can get this LP plus their 2nd on one CD here.

Jay Chevalier - Castro Rock

2006-09-23T09:50:00.000-04:00

I was just reading in the paper about Fidel's health problems and I remembered this record, so I decided to make it my first post.

It's prime cold war rockin' from South Louisiana. I can't tell if those are bongos or someone bangin' on a wooden box?

~~Jay Chevalier - Castro Rock.mp3~~

Get this on CD at Amazon.

Howdy

2006-09-22T10:17:00.000-04:00

Yeah, yeah, it's another audio blog with a bunch of weird records found in a pile of crap somewhere. If you like that kinda stuff then you might like this one, who knows? I plan on keeping it short on info, mainly because I don't know anything about anything. I think I'll stick to what it is, where I found it and why I like it (or don't).

Audiophiles take note:
A lot of my records are pretty beat, so expect sound quality to suck, pretty much. I'll encode at 160 in mono unless its a stereo record and I'll definitely chop off some high-end if a record is really noisy.

I'm shooting for one post / week.