cheese it, the cops!

Guy Clark -- 1942 to 2016

 

The news this morning that Guy Clark has passed away in Nashville, while not at all unexpected, is still quietly defiant and sad. I've listened to Guy's music since I picked up a copy of Jerry Jeff Walker's "A Man Must Carry On" in Germany in 1977. First heard him sitting in a hotel room in Dublin in 1978, on the English Channel of Radio Eire, doing "LA.Freeway..." First record I ordered when I got back to the states was "Old Number 1" and the second "The Fool on the Hill." 

 

He admitted that he lived in Nashville because that was where the work was for him, but he as Texan as you can be, and all in a good way. Work hard, drink some whiskey, sit around with friends and talk shit while passing the IW Dance and a guitar. Be tolerant, kind, and take no shit.  He was a frequent visitor to the "Guitar Pulls" at Johnny Cash's home. People would show up, play their stuff, and pick and grin and bullshit. Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, Rodney Crowell, John Anderson, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris,Bobby Bare and whomever else was around would show up. Showcase their new stuff casually -- somewhere between "I've been working on this one" and "networking." Get ideas, add and steal licks, sing some harmony and learn from each other how their music could sound. 

the gospel

one of the great repertoires in american song is bluegrass gospel. the form was of course established by bill monroe's early bands, and he used to break off a set in each show to do something more quiet, meditative, and based on quartet harmonies rather than virtuoso instrumental runs. but the style drew from a very eclectic set of resources: the hymnal and choir parts, of course; black spirituals, blues, and gospel (which had already been criss-crossed with white church music throughout); popular religious music (no bluegrass band couldn't do you some version of 'i saw the light'); original compositions. the repertoire was established especially by the stanley brothers, whose gospel recordings are just chillingly amazing, and flatt and scruggs (who i'd tend to minimize a bit in this area, except especially as providing important parts to the songbook). of course there are many other contributors.

ever since, it has been traditional for virtually every bluegrass group of any description in every era to play some gospel songs; traditionally it's the last cut even on a set of love songs. many artists made a living at it, of course, touring rural churches throughout the country.

the form has continued throughout to absorb many eclectic influences while returning again and again to the classics. i actually have to say i particularly love love the era that has emerged since the 80s: where the stanleys made your hair stand up because they sounded like they were singing from the nineteenth century or from reality itself, groups such as doyle lawson and quicksilver, hot rize, iiird tyme out, audie blaylock and and redline, johnson mountain boys/longview, dailey and vincent have absolutely perfected the harmonies, which are, i say, celestial. you lose something because they don't sound so wild and rural. you gain some of the most simply and intensely and elaborately beautiful music ever made. it's still the high tenors that grab you by the throat and transport you to another realm, so to speak: russell moore, dudley connell, darrin vincent, audie blaylock, tim o'brien. they're very intensely expressive. and superb craftsmanship never hurt a soul, other things being equal.

don't hate it cause it's religious even if you're not! if anyone could be converted into a snakehandler by listening to this material over and over, i'd be writhing by now. you listened to all that marley and you don't believe that haile selassie is the living god, am i right? your beliefs emerged unscathed from your encounter with the sistine ceiling etc. admittedly it's a relief that people aren't singing about depravity or consumer products. or even about themselves. it seems wholesome. but it has its light side and its dark. this is definitely one way people face death.

all of the items listed below are superlative examples of human skill and love.

 

Audie Blaylock and Redline

"Who'll Sing for Me?"

"Lord Lead Me On"

"He is Near"

 "Pray the Clouds Away"

"Goodbye"

 

 

Dailey & Vincent

"By the Mark"

"Living in the Kingdom of God"

 "Family Bible"

"Oh Ye Must Be Born Again"

"When I've Traveled My Last Mile"

 

 

Dale Ann Bradley

"Passed Through the Crowd"

"Clinging to a Saving Hand"

 

 

Dry Branch Fire Squad

"I'll Be No Stranger"

"Lookinf for the Stone"

"Memories that Bless and Burn"

"Hide You in the Blood"

"Were You There?"

 

 

 

 

 

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver

"Hiding From the Storm Outside"

 "The Cross Road" 

"When We Meet to Part No More"

 

Hot Rize

"Hear Jerusalem Moan"

"You Don't Have to Move That Mountain"

"Working on a Building"

"Keep Your Lamp Trimmed and Burning"

"Tenderly Calling (Home, C'mon Home)"

 

 

IIIrd Tyme Out

"Drifting Too Far From the Shore"

"When He Reached Down His Hand for Me"

 "I Pray My Way Out of Trouble"

"Just Call on Him"

"He'll Take You In"

"I'm Working on the Road To Glory Land"

"It's a Lonesome Road"

"He Said if I Be lifted Up"

"Drifting Too Far From the Shore"

"Snow Angel"

"Lord Protect My Soul"

"Eternity Has Begun"

 

 

 

 

Johnson Mountain Boys

"I've Found a Hiding Place"

"Harbor of Love"

"Get Down on Your Knees and Pray"

"God's Not Dead"

"See God's Ark A'Movin"

 

 

Longview,

"Voice of My Savior"

"Brighter Mansion"

 

 

Seldom Scene

"Will There Be Any Stars in My Crown?"

"Heaven"

 

Nashville Bluegrass Band, ""Father I Stretch My Hand to Thee"

The Bluegrass Album Band, "Model Church"

Alison Krauuss and Union Station, "Heaven's Bright Shore"

 

 

Tim Graves and Daryl Mosley, "Satan's Jeweled Crown"

Del McCoury, "I Know His Voice"

Devin Jake, "Gathering Flowers for the Master's Bouquet"

Michael Cleveland and Flamekeeper, "Come Spring"

Karl Shifflett and Big Country Show, "Standing in the Need of Prayer"

 

 

roots playlist

Roots List
There's no way to make a definitive compact roots reggae list. These are great, great cuts. I like it sounding pretty...vicious, as you can see by the Marley songs I favor.

The Paragons, "Riding High on a Windy Day"
Bob Marley and the Wailers, "Burning and Looting"
Groundation, "What Could Have Been"
Black Uhuru, "What is Life?"
Steel Pulse, "Worth His Weight in Gold (Rally Round)"
Bob Marley, "Crazy Baldheads"
Burning Spear, "Door Peeper (Original Single Mix)"
Devon Irons, "Vampire"
Burning Spear, "This Population"
Prince Alla, "Stone"
Burning Spear, "Steppin Out"
Abyssinians, "Satta Massa Ganna"
Hugh Mundell, "Run Revolution a Come"
Mikey Dread, "Roots and Culture"
Burning Spear, "Swell Headed"
Augustus "Gussie" Clarke, "Rocking Vibration"
Gregory Isaacs, "Night Nurse"
Glen Brown and Big Youth, "Opportunity Rock"
Bob Marley, "Natural Mystic"
Max Romeo, "Melt Away (12" Version)"
Augustus Pable, "Java"
Wailing Souls, "Jah Give Us Life"
Glen Brown and Friends, "I'm Your Puppet"
Groundation featuring Don Carlos, "Freedom Taking Over"
SOJA, "Freedom"
Heptones, "Cool Rasta"
Max Romeo, "Chase the Devil"

Jamaican Deejay Playlist

Highlights of the vast territory of Jamaican deejay music from the rock steady period (circa 1968) until the digital era (early 80s), when the deejay became even more prevalent. A deejay in Jamaican music is what hip hop refers to as a rapper; the role developed from sound-system selectors chattering over records. I include two cuts in the "singjay" style, by Mikey Dread and the astounding Eek-A-Mouse.

Count Machuki, "Dance Beat"
Count Machuki, "Warfare"
King Stitt, "Fire Corner"
King Stitt, "Rockers Corner"
King Stitt, "Herbman Shuffle"
Prince Francis, "Mojo Rock Steady"
U-Roy, "Wake the Town"
U-Roy, "Version Galore"
U-Roy, "Wear You to the Ball"
U-Roy, "OK Corral"
U-Roy, "Night Nurse"
U-Roy and the Melodians, "Rock Away"
Dennis Alcapone, "Go Lizzy Go"
Dennis Alcapone, "Guns Don't Argue"
Dennis Alcapone, "Rocking to Ethiopia"
Dennis Alcapone, "Jungle of Crime"
Dennis Alcapone, "My Voice is Insured for Half a Million Dollars"
I-Roy, "Black Cinderella"
I-Roy, "Don't Get Weary Joe Frazier"
I-Roy, "Holy Satta"
I-Roy, "Welding"
Big Youth, "Screaming Target"
Big Youth, "Every Nigger is a Star"
Big Youth, "Be Careful"
Big Youth, "S.90 Skank"
[Glen Brown and] Big Youth, "Opportunity Rock"
[Hugh Blackwood and] Dr. Alimantado, "Reggae Music"
U Brown, "New to the Nation"
U Brown, "Stop Them Jah"
Trinity, "Three Piece Suit"
Charlie Chaplin, "Chaplin Chant"
Mikey Dread, "Roots and Culture"
Eek-a-Mouse, "Border Patrol"

dub playlist

Dub Playlist (2 Discs)

The attributions are all very confusing. Some of the songs are attributed to the original singers who issued the singles; some are attributed to the producers who originally made the song; and some are attributed to the dub engineer (Tubby, Scientist, Philip Smart, Jammy). The question of who is the artist of this material, pointedly, has no clear answer. That in itself shows you what happens to intellectual property in postmodernism. Adrian Sherwood and Mad Prof (Neil Fraser) are British producers of the early eighties (to the present) who took up the mantle and innovated digital techniques.

King Tubby, "Tubby on the Throne"
Dub Syndicate (Adrian Sherwood), "Empires Falling"
King Tubby, "Dubbing My Way"
Augustus Pablo, "King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown"
Scientist, "De Materialize"
Wackie's, "Addis Ababa Dub" (from African Roots, volume 1)
Scientist, "Red Shift"
Lee "Scratch" Perry, "Super Ape"
Keith Hudson, "Black Heart"
Lee Perry, "Zion Dub"
Augustus Pablo, "Satta Dub"
Mad Professor, "Systematic Dub"
Augustus Pablo, "Vibrate On (Version)"
Yabby You, "Chant Jah Victory"
Yabby You, "Jah Victory Dub"
Errol Thompson, "Extraordinary Version"
Philip Smart, "Cool This Dub"
Dub Syndicate "Hard and Tuff"
Prince Jammy, "Dub There"
Augustus "Gussie" Clarke, "Murderer"
Lee Perry, "Noah Sugar Pan"
Augustus "Gussie" Clarke, "Black Foundation"
King Tubby, "King Tubby's Badness Dub"
Lloyd's All-Stars, "Dread Dub"
Glen Brown, "Realise (Version)"
Wackie's, "Wackie Rock Tune" (from African Roots, volume 1)
Dub Syndicate, "Tremolo Dub"
Mad Professor,  "Masquerade Dub"
Keith Hudson, "Michael Talbot Affair"
Glen Brown, "Tel Aviv Drums"

ska playlist

any minute now, i'll be putting up the vid for black nationalism 3: ska and rock steady. unfortunately there isn't any music on it, and precious little mention of specific songs/artists. hereis the rock steady playlist - a compromise between historical significance and awesome listenability. as is the ska list below, which also mixes places and eras: jamaican ska circa 1960-66; british two-tone revival, late seventies; american punk-ska circa early nineties and later.

Ska (2 disc set)

Folkes Brothers, "O Carolina"
Skatalites, "Guns of Navarone"
Prince Buster, "Al Capone"
Voodoo Glow Skulls, "Left for Dead"
Justin Hinds and the Dominos, "Carry Go Bring Come"
Lynn Taitt, "Storm Warning"
Rancid, "Time Bomb"
Prince Buster, "Hard Man Fi Dead"
Derrick and Patsy, "Housewives' Choice"
Operation Ivy, "Unity"
Tommy McCook, "Doctor Zhivago"
The Charmers, "Skinhead Train"
Toots and the Maytals, "Six and Seven Books"
The Untouchables, "Mandingo"
Prince Buster, "One Step Beyond"
Operation Ivy, "Freeze Up"
Sublime, "Same in the End"
The English Beat, "Ranking Full Stop"
Toots and the Maytals, "It's You"
The Specials, "Concrete Jungle"
The Ethiopians, "Train to Skaville"
The Paragons, "The Tide is High"
Bob Marley and Wailers, "Simmer Down"
Bad Manners, "Skaville UK"
Rancid, "Red Hot Moon"
Mighty Might Bosstones, "The Impression That I Get"
The Clash, "This is Radio Clash"
Don Drummond, "Don De lion"
Millie Small, "My Boy Lollipop"
Jimmy Cliff, "Miss Jamaica"
Don Drummond, "Man in the Street"
The Skatalites, "Strolling In"
Lynn Taitt, "Independence Ska"

rocksteady playlist

my next video slice will be on early jamaican pop and nyabhingi, so i've been throwing together some playlists. here is a one-cd (or close) rocksteady selection. rocksteady was essentially a half-speed ska. and after a few years of lurching, everybody in 1966 kingston was ready to chill out. essentially it is a reggae beat: that's ertainly how the average pop listener would hear it: as reggae.

some extremely key things happened in the rocksteady "era" (all of 18 months 66-68). there was unprecedented emphasis on the bass, which often provided the melody. at the sound systems which were the way music was experienced in jamaica, deejays started "toasting" or "chattering" over dub plates: pressings with the vocals removed and the treble damped. pretty soon the riddim is detached from the song, and many songs could be underpinned by the same track. pretty soon you've got dub. and hip hop. that moment, originary for world pop music, is represented here by u-roy and king stitt toasting over existing tracks.

Rocksteady

(1) The Jamaicans, "Bada Boom"
(2) The Paragons, "Riding High on a Windy Day"
(3) Desmond Dekker, "Fu Manchu"
(4) Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths, "Young, Gifted, and Black"
(5) The Gaylads, "ABC Rocksteady"
(6) Toots and the Maytals, "Pressure Drop"
(7) Hopeton Lewis, "Boom Shaka Laka"
(8) Sound Dimension, "Mojo Rock Steady" (instrumental)
(9) Winston Wright, "Musical Date"
(10) U-Roy, "Wake the Town (Take 2)"
(11) Gaylads, "I Am Free"
(12) Max Romeo, "Wet Dream"
(13) Soul Agents,  "Get Ready, Rock Steady"
(14) Heptones, "Fatty Fatty"
(15) Roland Alphonso, "Take Me"
(16) Ken Boothe, "Ain't No Sunshine"
(17) Melodians, "Rivers of Babylon"
(18) Prince Francis, "Mojo Rock Steady"
(19) Tony Tribe, "Red, Red Wine"
(20) Alton Ellis, "Cry Tough (Take 5)"
(21) Roland Alphonso, "Rock and Sock"
(22) Gaylads, "Africa"
(23) Tommy and Roy, "Rocking Soul"
(24) Desmond Dekker, "Israelites"
(25) King Stitt, "Rockers Corner"
(26) Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay"

"do the reggay" is one candidate for the first reggae song, or at least the first song to use the word.

Below, the two-disc disco list. (Hey that has a certain ring.)

  It goes without saying that at the time of disco, during which I was a teenager, I hated, reviled, despised the stuff. Punk was a good answer to disco, and I tried that on, but really roots was where I went in reaction: country and blues. These signified reality as opposed to disco's unprecedented musical artificiality. Indeed, the first entirely synthetic songs were disco songs of the seventies (see "I Feel Love"). We regarded the stuff as...unnatural: artificially-produced frankenstein music, a disgusting simulation of music as a sheer consumer object. The journey of John Travolta, in Saturday Night Fever, was emblematic: from tough neighborhood kid to made-up polyestered butt boy.

    Now as that remark reflects, disco was unbelievably embroiled in issues of gender and sexual orientation. I was struggling into heterosexuality at the time through a miasma of chicken-hawking, and if you were listening to the Bee Gees you were, perhaps unconsciously in the provinces, gay in every sense of the term, even if you did it to pick up women. Hank Williams and Muddy Waters were my emblems of not-gayness. And disco, let's say, engages a lot of what I still might not particularly appreciate about "queer culture": the celebration of artifice for its own sake, decadence as an ethics, and so on. Of course, these are also, particularly in retrospect, interesting interventions in the whole gender system by which heterosexuality is subsumed to naturalness: a most extreme form of conceptual oppression.

    At any rate, time has been kind to disco, the last thing I expected. These songs, I think, sound great. In retrospect, you can hear disco in relation to the history of African-American music (even if at a moment of decay), and people like Donna Summer and Gloria Gaynor were fine soul singers. Like funk it was fundamentally a party music - in this case, the best dance music ever made - but unlike funk it had messages coded throughout, some of them liberatory. (The Village People were hilarious and wonderful and in their own way important.) The basic artists were the producers, not the performers, which was part of what we condemned as artificial. But now that seems like a passe attitude: why shouldn't the producers be the artists? Even in Motown etc they were, and they certainly are now. Still, I must say the rather mechanical forms, artificial rhythm tracks, beeping touchtone phone effects, and lockstep BPM are annoying: kind of gross, tasteless, especially in large doses.

    I want to give you the ethical paradox at the heart of disco. Disco culture was, in my view, disgusting. Remember Studio 54? (Chic: "Just come on down to 54, find a spot out on the floor.") Meaningless snobbery at the rope line, and within, an inversion of all values: vice as virtue, promiscuity as love, decadence as redemption, cocaine as enlightenment. This shit ate people alive, and by the time it did, they richly deserved to be devoured. Disco was a mirror of a disillusioned or actually nihilistic consumerism, and like I said vis-a-vis the funk, hedonism hurts. On the other hand, the songs listed below are made with consummate, meticulous craft. You can't be a way-gone cokehead or sex fiend and make records like Giorgio Moroder's or Nile Rogers'. Someone spent weeks in the studio getting every tiny sound exactly right. The best disco songs positively shimmer with devoted making, which is actually the heart of their glamour. At the center of all this mindless sin, there is a Shaker ethic of devoted making.

    How should we encompass the paradox between work ethic and meaningless or destructive pleasure? Dunno, but I might take a crack at some point.    

    If you burn this stuff, do it without gaps between the songs; that's how the club dj spun em!

(1) The Hughes Corporation, "Rock the Boat"

(2) Donna Summer, "Love to Love You Baby"

(3) Bee Gees, "Stayin Alive"

(4) Anita Ward, "Ring My Bell"

(5) Village People, "YMCA"

(6) Chic, "Good Times"

(7) Blondie, "Heart of Glass"

(8) George McCrae, "Rock Your Baby"

(9) Michael Jackson, "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough"

(10) Lipps, Inc, "Funkytown"

(11) Spinners, "Working My Way Back to You"

(12) Carl Douglas, "Kung Fu Fighting"

(13) Van McCoy, "The Hustle"

(14) Irene Cara, "Fame"

(1) Trammps, "Disco Inferno"

(2) Donna Summer, "Hot Stuff"

(3) Village People, "Macho Man"

(4) Barry White, "Love's Theme"

(5) KC and The Sunshine Band, "Keep it Comin Love"

(6) Walter Murphy, "A Fifth of Beethoven"

(7) Gloria Gaynor, "I Will Survive"

(8) Donna Summer, "I Feel Love"

(9) Belle Epoque, "Miss Broadway"

(10) Wyclef Jean, "We Trying to Stay Alive"

(11) Spinners, "Rubberband Man"

(12) Shirley and Company, "Shame, Shame, Shame"

(13) Sister Sledge, "He's the Greatest Dancer"

(14) Sylvester, "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)"

    

i've been re-working the 2-cd soul list.