Zodiac

Artist: Zodiac

LP: Music In the Universe

Song: "Laser Illumination"
[ listen ]

Last night I rendezvoused with my Seattle Spinsters Vinyl and Music Appreciation meetup group at Obec Brewing, which just happens to be about 35 steps from my front door. Obec evidently has vinyl night every Thursday, where people can choose to play a side of one of the LPs the brewery has on hand in their collection, or they can bring in their own LPs and sign up to play a side from one of those instead. What I wasn't told is that their turntable doesn't spin at 45 rpm, so I ended up handing out all the 7" singles I brought so people could use them as beer coasters instead. 

Fortunately, I'd also brought Jimmy Smith's "The Cat" LP, which went over well, and also this 10" record by Juliette Greco. The theme for the night had been advertised as "back to school," so I'd also brought my copy of "Doris Day's Greatest Hits," so I could play "Teacher's Pet." But when I learned I'd have to commit to playing an entire side of a Doris Day LP at a brewery full of hipsters, I chickened out and quietly slid her hits beneath my chair. I love you, Doris, but I won't cast my pearls before swine. I pictured next-day headlines of fatalities: SEVEN TRAMPLED TO DEATH AT OBEC! Over half a dozen trendy people in their mid-to-late 20s died last night at a Seattle brewery when a stampede to the exits broke out as Doris Day's "A Guy Is a Guy" blared from the speakers at the popular Ballard watering hole. 

Anyway, it was a fun night, and we plan to do it again. Next time I may bring this 1983 Soviet-Latvian synth rock record by Zodiac that I found at Redhill Records in Helsinki last year. The recording of the LP was inspired by the bandmembers' visit to Star Town, where they met cosmonauts and learned about outer space. I bet it would keep the hipsters in their seats. And I may bring some Bow Wow Wow while I'm at it.

[ Zodiac ]

Los Pekenikes

Artist: Los Pekenikes

LP: The Silken Thread (Hilo de Seda)

Song: "Hilo de Seda (The Silken Thread)"

[ listen ]

While driving down Roosevelt on my way to Scarecrow Video after a piano class up in Lake City on Saturday, I passed a used record store that I'd never seen before. My car suddenly turned onto a side street and ground to a halt. (Back in 2009 I had the technicians at the dealership program the computer in my Ford Escort so that the emergency brake would automatically engage whenever I drove past an unfamiliar record store.) I stepped from the car and made my way around the corner to Satisfaction Records & CDs and thumbed through some of their dusty bins. As a few of the reviewers on the store's Yelp page mention, much of the stuff at Satisfaction Records is overpriced (lots of non-rare LPs that you can get for $3 or even .99¢ at Jive Time or elsewhere are priced here at $9.99 or higher), but I did manage to find a few reasonably-priced gems for which I gladly forked over the amount listed on the sticker. One of those was this terrific, mostly-instrumental 1967 LP by Spanish quintet Los Pekenikes. Based solely on the info provided in the liner notes, I was trying to figure out which of the Pekenikes I'd have been best buddies with if I'd been living in Madrid in the late '60s. I couldn't decide between Tony—artistic, into world music, a collector of records—and Ignacio, who plays organ and piano, likes jazz, has a thick beard, and he's into "Physical Sciences," if you know what I mean. You can read about Los Pekenikes in Spanish on Wikipedia here, and LP liner notes in both English and Spanish are included below.

Darryl Way's Wolf

Artist: Darryl Way's Wolf

LP: Wolf

Song: "Two Sisters"

[ listen ]

Song: "The Ache"

[ listen ]

Even if you're a mind-blowing, dynamite virtuoso on the violin like Darryl Way, you're facing an uphill battle if you hope diehard rock 'n' rollers will take you seriously with that cute little instrument tucked under your chin. That said, Way has done pretty well for himself, as you can see by checking out the discography section on his website here. This 1974 LP, which I mainly just bought for that amazing cover, is a compilation of songs from the first two Darryl Way's Wolf records, "Canis Lupus" and "Saturation Point," both from 1973. You can read more about Darryl Way on Wikipedia here.

 [ Darryl Way w/ violin ]

The Hondells

Artist: The Hondells

LP: Go Little Honda

Song: "A Guy Without Wheels"

[ listen ]

Song: "Rip's Bike"

[ listen ]

My friend Refugio and I had a great time up in Bellingham this past weekend, and I'm pleased to say I didn't buy a single record there! Actually, I told Refugio to keep me away from the city's record stores, since I'd already given the small town of Mount Vernon an economic stimulus package in the form of a record-buying binge on our way up to Bellingham—but not before we enjoyed a delicious breakfast at the Mount Vernon Cafe & Lounge, of course. One of the things I picked up was this awesome 1964 surf-music LP by The Hondells, featuring songs with vocals, as well as some without. The group didn't actually exist when the song "Little Honda" began gaining popularity, so producer Gary Usher quickly threw one together with Ritchie Burns, one of the "Little Honda" backing vocalists, in the lead. Burns recruited a few friends, who had nothing at all to do with the record, to pose as fellow members of The Hondells on the LP sleeve, and the album was released in time to cash in on southern California's Honda motorbike craze of the early 1960s. You can read about all of this here and here, see The Hondells perform their bouncy top ten hit "Little Honda" on "Shindig" with the link below, and find the LP notes and photos after that.

The Hondells on YouTube:

[ "Little Honda" ]

Sandy Nelson

Artist: Sandy Nelson

LP: Drum Discothèque

Song: "Tim Tom Drum"

[ listen ]

You can bring the excitement of the discothèque (not to mention The Watusi) into your very own home with this 1965 "recorded live" LP by handsome rock-n-roll drummer extraordinaire Sandy Nelson. Born in Santa Monica, CA in 1938, Sandy went to high school with Jan and Dean before playing drums on several pop hits, like The Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is to Love Him." He then landed several top ten hits of his own in the late '50s and early '60s—a rare feat for a drummer whose songs don't feature any vocals. Though his right foot was amputated in 1963 after a motorcycle accident, Nelson continued making music on into the 1970s and '80s. His latest album, "Nelsonized," was released on the Spinout label in 2008—you can hear samples and buy a copy here. Read more about the life and career of Sandy Nelson on Wikipedia here, and pictures and notes from the "Drum Discothèque" LP are included below.

[ Sandy Nelson, American drummer ]

Los Relampagos

Artist: Los Relampagos

LP: Los Relampagos

Song: "Segudillas"

[ listen ]

Song: "La Leyenda del Beso"

[ listen ]

Here's another terrific record I took home after trading in a bunch of vinyl at Jive Time last weekend—this one featuring Spanish instrumental rock reportedly influenced by Johnny and the Hurricanes. El relampago means "lightning" in Spanish, but according to Wikipedia's English translation, this group was at one time known as Dick and Lightning (!). In any case, Ricardo, Pablo, Ignacio, José Luis, and Juan Jose formed Los Relampagos in 1961, they disbanded in 1972, and then they got back together again and released a new record in 2001. This self-titled LP was released in 1965. You can read more about Los Relampagos on Wikipedia in Spanish here, in English here, and the Spanish-language liner notes are included below.