Jim & Jean

Artist: Jim & Jean

LP: People World 

Song: "The Planet June"
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Song: "People World"
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Song: "Playground"
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I couldn't think of any better way to spend a grey and rainy Saturday afternoon than to go looking through my LPs to find the sexiest unibrow of all. There was some tough competition, but the winner, by a hair, is Jim Glover of the '60s folk duo Jim & Jean.

[ Jim & Unibrow ]

Not only is Jim smolderingly handsome to start with, and also not wearing any clothes, but when I propped this LP up on my kitchen counter, Jim's eyes seem to follow me all around the room. They even followed me into the bathroom!

Jim & Jean were married to each other when they made this, their third and last, LP in 1968. They didn't stay together much longer, but they were one of those genuine hippie/folk duos that performed together in Greenwich Village as they built a following that led to international stardom. Well, okay; stardom may be too strong a word, but their single "People World" did peak at #94 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. Jim went on to release some solo material over the next few decades (and he may have operated a Chevrolet dealership in Tulsa), whereas Jean appeared in plays and then died in the summer of 2007.

Hambone

Artist: Hambone

LP: Big Fat Juicy Fun

Song: "Big Fat Juicy Fun"
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Speaking of pink album covers and harmonicas, here's some 1981 instrumental disco music I picked up at Square Records in Akron, Ohio a few years back that's pretty heavy on the mouth organ too. Recorded in Atlanta, Georgia and arranged and conducted by jazz trumpeter/high school teacher Tommy Stewart, the music itself is not nearly as big, fat, juicy, or fun as the LP cover would lead us to believe. It's not ghastly or anything, but some pretty high expectations have been set by that lady with the lollipop—not to mention the cutesy stuffed elephant and pig.

Spiders Webb

Artist: Spiders Webb

LP: I Don't Know What's On Your Mind

Song: "Spider's Webb" 
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A spider on my screen door, a new documentary about session musicians in 1960s L.A. and this 1976 funk album with a sexy cover all came together in a strange series of coincidences over the past week or so. I had taken photos of this Spiders Webb album over a year ago intending to post it here, but for some reason I never got around to it and the pictures sat in a folder, unused. A little over a week ago I came home from work to find a neat-looking spider crawling on my apartment screen door and I posted this picture on Facebook. 

People left comments like "ewwww" and "ick," and my sister wrote, "Better on your screen door than on your pillow!" Then last Wednesday my friend Ryan invited me to see THE WRECKING CREW, a new documentary about a group of professional musicians in Los Angeles in the 1960s who did arrangement and instrumental work on most of the hit albums of the era, without ever receiving any sort of credit or recognition for their valuable and incredible work.

It's a good film and it brings some interesting facts to light, but the main attraction for me was the sole female member of the Wrecking Crew, the extraordinary bass player Carol Kaye. She looked amazing, both in the 1960s and at the time the documentary was made, and she just seems to be filled with pep and verve. 

Yesterday my friend Lindsay from work left a new comment on my Facebook spider picture, which reminded me of the comment my sister made about having a spider on my pillow, which reminded me of the spider crawling on the sexy lady's thighs on the cover of my Spiders Webb album, which reminded me that I never did post the record on my blog, which inspired me to dig up the photos I'd taken and the record itself, which prompted me to read the album's notes a little closer than I had before, which informed me that the main duo behind Spiders Webb are jazz drummer Kenneth Ronald Rice, known professionally as Spider Webb, and his wife, session musician Carol Kaye, who I had been mesmerized by on the silver screen just a few days before! I was flabbergasted. 

Digging further, I learned that Carol was born just up the freeway in Everett, Washington back in 1935. She grew up in the Port Angeles area before heading south to California to live and work in a much bigger city of 'Angeles.' Ironically, Carol doesn't play bass on most of this Spiders Webb record, since she's playing lead guitar instead. She does pick up the bass for "Spider's Webb" though, the track I've featured here. Sadly, though Spiders Webb was played by DJs and on dance floors across America, the album didn't cross over to become a mainstream hit, and both Carol and husband Spider returned to doing session work after its release. You can read more about the group Spiders Webb here; go here to find Spider "Kenneth Rice" Webb on Wikipedia and find Carol Kaye's page here. You can visit Spider's webb page here and go here for the official website for Carol Kaye. There are some neat quotes here about Carol, her playing and her professionalism from a host of musical celebrities of the '60s, '70s and '80s.

 

 

[ Spider Webb & Carol Kaye ]

The Jimmy Castor Bunch

Artist: The Jimmy Castor Bunch (feat. The Everything Man)

LP: Butt of Course...

Song: "Bertha Butt Boogie"

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Song: "Let's Party Now"

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This 1974 LP by The Jimmy Castor Bunch is one of the neat things I found at Culture Clash Records in Toledo, Ohio on my road trip last summer. The multi-talented Castor, aka. "The Everything Man," builds here on themes presented in his 1972 top-ten hit "Troglodyte," where a caveman with dancin' in his veins picks up Bertha (one of the voluptuous Butt sisters) at the local lake and they boogie-oogie-oogie on down the beach. (See video clip below for further details.) The fun now continues as Bertha rises from the stump where she's been taking a breather and introduces the "Bertha Butt Boogie," which draws everyone in the neighborhood together and gives Jimmy Castor and his Bunch a #16 hit on the singles charts in the process. The song's storyline has been outlined on the back of the record sleeve in a colorful comic strip conceptualized by John Pruitt (the producer, not the porn star). You can read about funky singer-songwriter-sax player Jimmy Castor on Wikipedia here, and go here to visit his official website, where you'll find an extensive biography, discography, some music clips, and info on upcoming Jimmy Castor appearances.

The Jimmy Castor Bunch on YouTube:

[ "Troglodyte" ]

 [ Jimmy Castor ]

Terry Callier

Artist: Terry Callier

LP: What Color Is Love

Song: "Dancing Girl"

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Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1945, Terry Callier learned to play the piano when he was young. He started performing in Chicago's folk clubs and coffee houses in the 1960s, then hooked up with the Chess and Cadet labels to release three commercially unsuccessful LPs in the early 1970s. "What Color Is Love" from 1972 is the second of the three, featuring a musical style critics labeled "jazz-folk." Frustrated with the lack of interest in his musical career, Callier took classes in computer programming and got a job at the University of Chicago in the early 1980s, where he studied at night to earn a sociology degree. As is often the case with so many of the brilliant-but-neglected musical recordings of the USA, it required some Europeans to finally discover and fully appreciate the 1970s and early '80s work of Terry Callier. His music started getting played at clubs in the UK, where Callier began traveling to perform during vacation time from work. More popular than ever, Callier revived his music career in the late 1990s, releasing five albums in the past decade and working with the likes of Beth Orton and Massive Attack. Unfortunately, the good folks at the University of Chicago realized that it would be entirely too distracting for the students to have their computers programmed by a musical superstar, so Callier was let go when his moonlighting was finally made known. You can read more about Terry Callier on Wikipedia here and visit his official website here.

The Bob Crewe Generation

Artist: The Bob Crewe Generation

LP: Let Me Touch You

Song: "Let Me Touch You"

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Song: "To Each His Own"

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And speaking of statuesque naked men... In addition to the gorgeous and glistening nude couple on the front and back covers, this loungy 1970 instrumental record by The Bob Crewe Generation features the theme from BARBARELLA! Go here if you'd like to get to know Bob a little bit better before letting him touch you.

Eruption feat. Precious Wilson

Artist: Eruption feat. Precious Wilson

LP: Eruption

Song: "The Way We Were"

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Song: "Party, Party"

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You know how sometimes it seems like groups put all their creative energy into sewing together spectacular outfits and designing an enticing LP cover, and then the music is thrown together almost as an afterthought, with no originality or pizzaz? Well, this is not the case with Precious Wilson and her Eruption. The music on this 1978 Ariola Records release is just as exciting as the cover—which is no small feat, since the front of the LP features floating silver orbs, lemon-lime stripes and a naked woman being consumed by flames. Eruption's version of Streisand's "The Way We Were" will make you forget the way it was, and the lively "Party, Party" was a minor chart success before the group hit it big(ger) with their follow-up single, "I Can't Stand the Rain." You can read about Eruption here and go here to learn more about the group's Jamacian lead singer, Precious Wilson.

Ipi 'N Tombia featuring Margaret Singana

Artist: Ipi 'N Tombia featuring Margaret Singana

LP: The Warrior

Song: "The Warrior"

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Song: "Mama Tembu's Wedding"

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Here's a neat South African record I found at the little store in Grants Pass, Oregon on my way down to San Francisco last week. The album was recorded in Johannesburg in 1973—a time when tradition and custom were being replaced with transistor radios and when the witchdoctor and heart surgeon were engaged in a popularity contest. (The breast enlargement surgeon hadn't yet arrived, thank god.) You can read about singer Margaret Singana here, and find notes and pictures from the LP here:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ Margaret Singana: 1938 — 2000 ]

Mohammed El-Bakkar and His Oriental Ensemble

Artist: Mohammed El-Bakkar and His Oriental Ensemble

LP: Music of the African Arab

Song: "Raksat Africa"

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After leaving Rooky Ricardo's, I wandered up Haight Street to Groove Merchant, which was rumored to have a great selection of old funk, soul, jazz and R&B:

The rumors were true, but the prices on the rarest records (many with amazing LP covers) made this at first seem more like a visit to a museum or an art gallery than to a record store. I had about two hours to rummage through Groove Merchant before I needed to return to my hotel to get spiffed up for my friend Erica's wedding...

...which was actually plenty of time for me to find lots of great records at decent prices, especially in the bargain bins, which were filled with all sorts of interesting stuff—including this 1958 LP by Lebanese tenor and musician Mohammed El-Bakkar with His Oriental Ensemble. Of course, I've always thought of Arabic music as just a bunch of "hoochie-koochie," but after reading the liner notes on the back of this LP (included below), I've gained a new appreciation for the throbbing rhythms of the Middle East. I'm especially captivated by the way Mohammed El-Bakkar's music conjures up scenes of lustful bearded men whose flashing eyes reflect a constant enticement to violate the mystery of the forbidden—not to mention the way El-Bakkar's singing titillates my emotions, since I, like the Arab, enjoy the thrill of dangerous living. Sadly, Mohammed El-Bakkar, who you can read about here, died from a cerebral hemorrhage at the age of 46 in September of 1959.
PS: Happy 88th birthday to Doris Day!

[ Mohammed El-Bakkar: 1913 — September 8, 1959 ]