Z

Artist: Z (aka. Mort Garson)

LP: Music For Sensuous Lovers
Song: "Climax One"

[ listen ]

Here's something titillating I picked up at Daybreak Records on my way home from work this evening. I've been playing some of my mp3s at work before the day gets started, but I guess I should probably skip this one. 

Prolific composer Mort Garson certainly does create a sensuous and erotic moog with this experimental electronic record full of ladies' moans, groans, whimpers and sighs. Released under the name "Z," the record features a cover that's basically the equivalent of the brown paper bag adult magazines were mailed in back in the 1980s and '90s...uh, from what I've been reading in history books, I mean. 

I was hoping side two would be "the man side," but no such luck. This was recorded back in 1971, when straight men couldn't utter any sound at all during sex without risk of seeming silly. 

[ Mort Garson: July 20, 1924 - January 4, 2008 ]

Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys

Artist: Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys

LP: Rhapsody In Rhythm
Song: "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue"
[ listen ]
Song: "Tara Lara"

[ listen ]

I was milling about in Tacoma this past Saturday afternoon after a family get-together for my 8-year-old nephew's birthday in Gig Harbor and before meeting my friend Ryan in the evening to see US at Grand Cinema. I finally paid a visit to the wonderful Tacoma Book Center, and then I popped in at House of Records, where I picked up this 1955 LP by Spanish piano master Geri Galian, who, frankly, I've never heard of before. But then it seems most people nowadays haven't. 

According to the album liner notes, Galian appeared in several hit Hollywood films of the 1940s and '50s, he performed at places like the Hollywood Bowl and Biltmore Theatre in L.A., and at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas...but now the poor guy doesn't even have a Wikipedia page! The sparkly magic he whips up at the piano keyboard is absolutely brilliant and exciting—it's like he's playing all 88 keys at once! I don't see any reason why this guy shouldn't still be famous. It's time for a Geri Galian revival! You with me? I'm putting in an order for bobbleheads and t-shirts.

Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Boys on YouTube:

[ "Jungle Rumba" ]  

[ Geri Galian and His Caribbean Rhythm Piano ]

[ House of Records / Turntable Treasures — Tacoma, WA ]

Scott Walker [1943-2019]

Artist: Scott Walker

LP: Scott 3
Song: "Lights of Cincinnati"
[ listen ]

A sad and fond farewell to one of my favorite voices, and to one of the most fascinating and enigmatic 'pop' stars ever to be set upon by a throng of screaming teens. Born in 1943 in Hamilton, Ohio (it really IS close to Cincinnati!), Scott found fame in England with his adopted Walker Brothers, then eventually set out on his own and had several more hits from his first three solo albums. This one, as you may have already guessed, is his third, released in 1969. 

Most crooners tend to mellow as they get older, swept aside by the tide of change, struggling to keep an audience. Scott, on the other hand, became more tuned in, seemingly less concerned about the commercial popularity of his music with each passing decade. His output dwindled in the '80s and '90s as his creations became more experimental. In the mid-2000s he signed with the British 4AD label (my favorite, you know) and began producing stuff like this. It's brilliant, but about as far from the lights of Cincinnati as one could possibly get. 

You can read all about Scott Walker's career on Wikipedia here, and go here to read his obituary in The Guardian. There's also a 2006 documentary called "Scott Walker: 30th Century Man" that I highly recommend if you'd like to learn more.

Scott Walker

[ January 9, 1943 — March 22, 2019 ]

We will miss you, Scott.

Bronski Beat

Artist: Bronski Beat

LP: 7" single
Song: "Smalltown Boy"

[ listen ]

When this song came out, I made a photocopy of the cover so I could add it to the new wave music collage on the wall of my bedroom in our Tampico, Washington farmhouse. But Bronski Beat was the first openly gay group I'd ever heard of, and I was afraid someone would notice the song's sleeve with the telltale pink triangle in my collage and figure out I was gay! So I craftily placed this particular piece behind the 1960s lamp that hung over my bed so that you couldn't see it from the room unless you were lying on your back in my bed. I must've figured that by the time somebody was lying in my bed, they would hopefully already be finding out I was gay. Anyway, of course I'm the only one who ever saw it. 

It's still a good song all these 35 years later, don't you think? But seriously, does anyone really believe that any young gay man would be able to fit everything he owns into a little black case? The hair products and face creams alone would fill a very large red one.

Bronski Beat on YouTube:

[ "Smalltown Boy" ]

[ Bronski Beat ]