Tiger B. Smith

 Artist: Tiger B. Smith

LP: We're the Tiger Bunch

Song: "Inside My Head"

[ listen ]

The second place I went digging for vinyl on my Minnesota road trip last week was Roadrunner Records in Minneapolis. It's a cute little shop packed with lots of vinyl goodies at good prices. This 1974 Tiger B. Smith LP, however, was a little on the spendy side. But after taking into account their hair, makeup, wardrobe and abundance of glitter (they're also German, which helped!) I decided to take a chance...and I'm glad I did! Tiger B. Smith doesn't have a huge discography, so I've already got just about everything they released, with the exception of a few singles and a million dollar EP. I also left Roadrunner Records with a handful of old French singles, but those I haven't listened to yet.

[ Roadrunner Records — Minneapolis, Minnesota ]

Mud

Artist: Mud

LP: 7" single

Song: "Dyna-Mite"

[ listen ]

So it turns out that that having my 7" copy of Bow Wow Wow's "The Man Mountain" get lost in the mail somewhere between England and Northgate was a blessing in disguise! When I finally determined I could wait no longer, I went back online to Discogs to order another copy—one that was even better than the first one! I found one, but of course the seller had to inform me that it was the same price to ship six 45s from The Netherlands as it was to ship one. I ended up ordering seven, including five Prince singles with picture sleeves I didn't already have, and this cool 1973 Mud thing that I ordered based solely on the neat photo of the band sitting around there on the cover. My records arrived today!

I'd never heard of Mud before, but I'm really stuck on them! You can read all about the band here, and someone even threw together one of those colorful bar graphs that shows all the lineup changes over the years. From what I can tell, Mud was a hot commodity in England, but I wonder if they ever got any airplay here in the USA.

Diamond Reo

Artist: Diamond Reo

LP: Diamond Reo

Song: "Rock and Roll Till I Die"
[ listen ] 
Song: "Ain't That Peculiar"
[ listen ]
Song: "I'm Movin' On"
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Here's some good old fashioned 1970s American rock and roll from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (I found this 1975 Diamond Reo debut LP a few months ago at Vortex Music & Movies in Kirkland, WA, which is probably the least rock-and-roll city in my county, not counting Medina and Yarrow Point.) Diamond Reo doesn't have a page on Wikipedia (but the Christian country music group Diamond Rio certainly does) so I had to scrounge around online a bit to find out who these fellas are. The first thing folks need to understand is that Diamond Reo are in no way related to Reo Speedwagon, since they are, of course, a wagon, whereas Diamond Reo are a truck. 

From what I can gather, Diamond Reo formed from the ashes of late-'60s blue-eyed soul band The Igniters, which featured future Reo members Frank Czuri and Bob McKeag. The Igniters were briefly signed to Atlantic Records and had a semi-hit single in the late '60s on the local Pittsburgh airwaves. In the early '70s, Frank and Bob were joined by drummer Robbie Johns and bassist Norm Nardini and Diamond Reo was born. Warren King is credited as playing lead and slide guitar on their debut LP, but he doesn't seem to have been an official member of the group when the record was released. My guess is that he joined soon after, replacing Bob McKeag who had gone on to pursue a solo career. (Warren is the blonde on the left in the black and white band photo at the end of the post.) Diamond Reo produced some snappy, straight-forward rock and roll, touring with the likes of KISS, Aerosmith, Frank Zappa, Blue Oyster Cult and Canned Heat. They released three LPs.

Anyway, as I gazed upon the members of Diamond Reo on the cover of my record, I couldn't help but daydream which of them I would have wanted to take me to prom if I had been of prom-going age in 1975 and if all four of them had been interested in spending a romantic evening with me. They're all pretty glamorous in their own way, you must admit. But I've made my decisions—based on a combination of factors, including hairstyle, wardrobe, facial expression, ability to accessorize, and footwear. My rankings are included below.

[ #4: Frank Czuri ]

I think Frank is probably one of those people who's actually a lot more 
attractive in person. Here he looks kinda' like the mom that always 
shows up to the PTA meetings either drunk or with a really 
bad hangover. Plus, you can't see his shoes.

[ #3: Rob Johns ]

It takes both daring and finesse to attempt the wearing of a plastic pink sport coat.

But not only does Rob pull it off swimmingly, he even tosses in

a pair of knee-high black leather boots...to boot!

[ #2: Bob McKeag ]

The shades, the 'stache, the hairy chest (subtly exposed), the semi-casual 

ketchup-colored aerobic-instructor evening wear featuring sour-cream piping, 

button-down pockets and a braided belt. There's really nothing more that 

needs to be said about Rob. Except maybe "holy cow," and "Yes!"

[ #1: Norm Nardini ]

 

  It's always exciting when, after you've initially dismissed some handsome 
fellow as a boring, macho, bro-dude type, you suddenly notice there's 
something a little peculiar going on. There's a strange sort 
of sheen to his pants. Is that black silk? And Dude! 

You're wearing jungle-red heels, paired 
with sparkly metallic socks of gold! 
You sexy devil, you. 
Take me to prom!

[ Diamond Reo ]

Renato Zero

Artist: Renato Zero

LP: Erozero

Song: "Fermo Posta" 
[ listen ]

This morning I had breakfast in Bothell with my friends David and Yvonne. We'd met for breakfast before at the charming Kozy Korner Cafe, but, sadly, that place wasn't really an option this time around... 

...so we went to Alexa's Cafe up the street instead. Though I'd fantasized about going record shopping in Kirkland after breakfast, turns out Vortex Music and Movies doesn't open until 11am, and it was only 10. (Plus, I'd left my Vortex 20%-off coupon on the counter at home.) Still, en route to my apartment, my Ford Escort somehow managed to steer me toward another record store I'd never been to before—Beats and Bohos in Seattle's Phinney Ridge neighborhood. Filled with vintage furniture and clothing and featuring stacks of vinyl in the center of the room, it reminded me of lots of stores I'd been to in the '80s and '90s that you just don't see around much any more—like Grunts & Postures in Salt Lake City, and some other great little shop that a guy had started in downtown Provo, Utah when I first went to school there in 1987.

Anyway, the guy working the counter at Beats and Bohos (the owner, I think) was friendly enough and offered to play samples from interesting-looking records I'd never heard before, including this 1979 Italian dilly by Renato Zero. As a cross-dressing youngster, Renato was harassed with taunts of "Sei uno zero!" ("You're a zero!") so he changed his name and became famous. He's the only musical artist in Italy to have had #1 hits in each of the past five decades! You can read more about Renato Zero here, and I've included Italian liner notes, song lyrics and photos (yes, that's right. They're Italian photos) below.

[ Renato Zero ]

[ Beats and Bohos — Seattle, Washington ]

Ian Lloyd & Stories

Artist: Ian Lloyd & Stories

LP: Traveling Underground

Song: "If It Feels Good, Do It" 
[ listen ]

Song: "Traveling Underground" 
[ listen ]

Stories founder Ian Lloyd was reportedly exasperated when his group's cover of "Brother Louie" shot to the top of the US singles charts back in 1973. The song didn't at all represent the direction he wanted his band to be going in! That must have been awful. So frustrating. I can't even imagine! (The Stories version is good, but of course the original by Hot Chocolate is even better.) "Brother Louie" was Stories' only single to enter the top 40, though two subsequent releases from their 1973 follow-up LP, "Traveling Underground," climbed into the Billboard Hot 100. "Mammy Blue" reached #50 and "If It Feels Good, Do It" peaked at #88. Stories' final single, "Another Love," is a bisexual's urgent plea for a little understanding from his lady friend. "There's a part of me you know nothing of...every door can swing both ways." The song failed to chart. All this and a whole lot more can be found on Wikipedia here. I love it when sexy long-haired '70s rockers pose for record covers without any shirts on.

David Bowie [1947-2016]

Artist: David Bowie

LP: 7" single

Song: "Ashes to Ashes" 
[ listen ]

Like lots of other people, I was shocked to wake up today to the news that David Bowie had died. It just didn't seem possible. He's The Man Who Fell to Earth! He's not a moral being. I figured he'd just keep getting older and older forever, until finally Iman, maybe with some help from Catherine Deneuve, had to lock him away in the attic of some swanky 19th century penthouse in Manhattan. 

I remember the first time I encountered David Bowie. It was 1981 and I was 12; my brother and I were watching MTV at my disapproving Grandma Bea's house in Yakima when Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes" video came on. I'd never seen anything like it before. It was bizarre, beautiful and thrilling and it really made an impression. There's oodles that could be said about the effect Bowie has had on planet Earth, but everyone else is probably already saying it now way better than I. So much amazing stuff would simply never have happened in the history music and cinema if there hadn't been such a thing as David Bowie. So I thank God almighty there was. You can read all about Bowie on Wikipedia here. Go here to find his obituary in the New York Times and here for the one at the BBC.
 

David Bowie on YouTube:
[ "Ashes to Ashes" ]

David Bowie

[ January 8, 1947 — January 10, 2016 ]

We will miss you, David.

Roy Wood's Wizzard

Artist: Roy Wood's Wizzard

LP: Wizzard's Brew

Song: "You Can Dance Your Rock n' Roll" 
[ listen ]

Song: "Wear a Fast Gun" 
[ listen ]

Speaking of funny face makeup, here's something I found at one of the best record stores in the South—Vertical House Records in Huntsville, Alabama. As I mentioned earlier, I had a limited amount of time to spend at this store, so I was only able to flip through bins A—G. I would have missed this 1973 Wizzard LP both alphabetically and entirely if someone else hadn't already recently listened to it and rejected it (!), leaving it atop a pile of records to be re-filed. Andy, owner of Vertical House, brought it over to me before re-filing to see if I'd be interested.

As you can read in the the cocky-yet-not-very-well-written LP liner notes included below, Roy Wood was a member of both The Move and The Electric Light Orchestra before going stark-raving-bat-shit brilliant and embarking upon Wizzard in 1972, a project that involved members of both of Wood's former groups. Wizzard is pretty exciting stuff that holds up remarkably well today, though they've made one of my mid-'80s psychedelic art-rock favorites, Doctor & The Medics, seem like more of a cheap reproduction than I'd formerly believed. You can read all about Roy Wood here, his Wizzard here, and there's a link below where you'll find Wizzard performing one of the most joyous Christmas tunes ever put on wax.

 Roy Wood's Wizzard on YouTube:

[ "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" ]

[ Roy Wood: Wizzard ]