News

Greetings friends. Thanks for checking in with us here at Sorry State Towers. Hopefully your summer is going well. We had a brief reprieve from the oven like temperatures over the weekend here in Raleigh but are back in the 90s again this week. Each year I say this will be the summer I get to the beach or take a vacation, but that hasn’t been the case for several years sadly. My last trip abroad was eight years ago when I returned home for my father’s funeral. For various reasons I have not been able to get back since then, but this year I am going to make it happen. It seems like everyone I am close to is over in Europe this year or has been or will be. Not least, of course, are our own fellow Sorry State heroes who have either just and/or will be blowing minds from European stages. Hopefully some of you over there will get a chance to see them play. Anyway, I am both happy and anxious about my visit and can’t wait to see my family and the ol’ homestead.

As I write this, I am literally surrounded by boxes of records from collections that we have recently bought and are processing. There is so much good music that I could close my eyes and randomly pull any record, and it would be worth checking out. There’s something here for everyone. New, old, rare, common, you name it. As much as I get excited about seeing rare and expensive records, I get just as much pleasure from the cheap and common stuff too. Perhaps more so. Often, it’s in the bargain bins that I find records that give me the most pleasure. Either because they are proven winners or because they introduced me to something new. It’s easier to take chances on the unknown when it only costs a few bucks. We do our best here at Sorry State to put good records in our bargain bins and folks aways come away rewarded from taking a dig. When you work in a record store, the perks are to get access and first dibs on stuff that comes in. That is obviously very cool, but can be expensive. I have chosen between eating well and having a record many a time I can assure you. There is also a part of me that doesn’t want to be taking too many good records even if I could afford to. We sure as hell snag a lot of cool shit here, but we are not the kind of store where the cool stuff never hits the bins. If you follow our social media and see the Friday New Used Arrival drops or come in and shop, I think you can attest to the fact that there are indeed good records to come in and see, touch, smell, listen to and take home.

As I have been collecting records for several decades now, I have plenty to pick from for these staff picks or to post on social media. I tend not to want to brag about things that I have found or own. I don’t like to show off or to make someone else feel bad because they don’t have it. I’m also embarrassed by the percentage of my income that goes towards these records and feel that I should keep that to myself. I can’t help it though. I’ll always be digging and will be probably cueing up a record the day I keel over. That or I’ll be buried under a falling shelf of records. Hopefully not. All I know is that I have loved music and records all my life, and they are a huge part of my existence. The biggest joy is being able to share my passion with fellow music lovers. Whether that’s amongst friends spinning tunes at home, out at an event DJing or here at the store. You can’t beat selling records right off the turntable.

Last Saturday was Record Store Day 2 for this season and although a smaller drop, we still had a good crowd of folks come through. The day began sweetly for me as one of the first customers was a little girl making her first vinyl purchase. She bought the Paul McCartney single. Coincidently, it was Sir Paul’s birthday, and I had a copy of Ram playing on the turntable. I thought it was an adorable moment. I loved that another generation of music fans were still being touched by Paul’s magic and getting into buying a record at the local store. There is hope for the future. Regardless of what she bought, she was beginning her relationship with records, and that was a beautiful thing. It was a bright moment in a world that can often seem quite rotten and made me feel that I was doing a job worthwhile.

Talking of jobs, I need to get on with that. My staff “pick” this week is just to encourage all of you to continue your love for music and records and, whenever possible, to share that love with those around you. Personally, this week I have been having fun in the soundtrack section. I pulled a couple of children’s records that I will quickly mention. The first one is the soundtrack to the Disney film The Rescuers released on their Disneyland Records label in 1977. This one is quite dear to me. My sister and I had this record back when it first came out and we played it over and over. Listening to it was like being in a time machine. I was instantly transported back over forty years to our family home where up in our converted attic bedroom we used to play the album on our old record player. It was a weird feeling, but a good one. I remembered almost every word. In fact, I sent a photo to my sister, and she answered back quoting parts of the adventure. She hadn’t forgotten either. As Disney cartoons go, it’s not a bad one to be honest and a lot of fun. The characters were voiced by Bob Newhart, Eva Gabor and Geraldine Page, among others, and there are songs sung by Shelby Flint. It was great having a copy of this back in my collection after all these years. I treasure it as much as anything else I own that is cooler, rarer, and way more expensive. It’s the memories that are attached to it that could never be activated or feel the same from a digital download or internet stream. God bless records.

The other nifty thing I pulled and have been having fun with is one called Space Songs by Tom Glazer and Dottie Evans. The record was part of a series called Singing Science Records released on the Motivational Records label in 1959. It’s great. The songs were taken from Ballads For The Age Of Science by Hy Zaret and Lou Singer and are about the stars, planets and moon and the future of mankind in space. Striking a balance of entertaining and educating is not easy and hard not to sound condescending. Kids might be kids, but they are not suckers and can still tell a good record from a bad one. This is a good one. There’s music and clever songs with the scientific information. Back in the late 1950s it was the Space Age, and we were rightfully thinking about what was beyond our planet earth and knowledge of science was cool. Despite the recent step backwards in accepting science here in this country and asshat millionaires building rocket ships, science is still the future for mankind. Hopefully soon our teachers can get back to teaching kids and kids can get back to learning stuff like science instead of how best to avoid being shot or having some angry parent screaming at them for wanting to learn history or for having two dads. But that’s a rant for another occasion and place. On the back of the album jacket, they show other records in the series, and I shall be keeping an eye out for them. They all seem interesting and worth picking up.

Okay, I have blathered on enough and barely said anything. Thank you for your indulgence if you read this far. Enjoy your week ahead and listening to your records. Whatever they may be, if they make you feel something, then they are special to you and worth having.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up everyone? I trust you are doing well out there. Summer is here officially, although we’ve had some three-digit temperature days already this year here in North Carolina. Hopefully you are keeping cool. Of course, if you are reading this in the southern hemisphere then this probably won’t apply to you. In which case, I hope you are keeping warm. Lol. Enough about the world’s weather patterns and let’s get on with this.

Some weeks I feel like I could write about anything and everything and other weeks I struggle to pick just one. That’s just down to me and my moods and how the ol’ noggin is feeling. Generally, I prefer to go with whatever I am feeling at the time, although I sometimes have things in mind for a future staff pick. This week it’s a combination of the two. I have wanted to mention my regard for this band here in these pages for a while and today whilst looking through a box of records we bought over the weekend for something to play in-store I found one of their records in it. As the record played, it seemed like now was the time.

The group in question is SRC from Michigan, USA who were active for about five years during the late 1960s through to the early 1970s. They were a part of a very flourishing scene in southeast Michigan. The teen bands of the area were influenced by the British Invasion but the tougher end of the spectrum and of course the sounds of Detroit and Motown. The members of SRC served their apprenticeships in various local bands, notably The Fugitives and The Chosen Few. The former being the house band at premier teen hangout The Hideout. There is an LP of bands that played the Hideout and some notable names such as Bob Seger and The Last Heard, The Pleasure Seekers (with a young Suzi Quatro) to name two groups put out early singles on the Hideout label. The other notable label at the time releasing new band sounds was A-Square run by local impresario Jeep Holland and it was he that put the members of The Fugitives together with Scott Richardson, lead singer from The Chosen Few. The band’s name at first was The Scott Richard Case, formed by shortening the singer’s name and adding the last of the guitarist. Jeep Holland taught the band a lot about stage presence and being in a band, and was instrumental in exposing the group to some of the hot new sounds coming from across the Atlantic. He had the band record a cover of Cream’s I’m So Glad before it hit in the US and as a result The Scott Richard Case scored a sizable local hit with their cover.

The group were popular with the local audiences as they covered the best of the new rock ‘n roll from the US and UK acts as well as their own material. They also had the flash Carnaby Street stage threads to go with it, famously making special trips to New York City to buy clothes. Eventually, though, the groups’ ambitions to play their own music clashed with the ideas of Jeep Holland and they parted ways. Through their new manager and producer, they were introduced to Capitol Records and scored a multiple album deal. The name was shortened to simply SRC and their debut album was released in the autumn of 1968.

That self-titled album contained all original compositions and combined the band’s interest in Eastern music, poetry and philosophy with good Detroit style rock. The album was a local hit and entered the Billboard charts for a few weeks and the lead single called Black Sheep was a definite highlight. Ex-manager Holland was a little peeved at losing the band, understandably as he had seen Bob Seger and The Rationals go to Capitol also. As a response, he released an earlier SRC cover version of The Pretty Things’ Get The Picture credited to The Old Exciting Scott Richard Case. I like their version of the tune and you should check it out. If you see the compilation on A-Square whilst digging in your local store, I highly recommend you pick it up. You’ll get these early SRC sides along with a ton of other cool stuff from the likes of The Rationals and MC5.

With the success of the first album came a decent advance from Capitol to record the follow up. With this cash and money earned from gigging, the band invested in building their own studio at their band house and were thus able to spend more time practicing and recording than if they had to rely on outside studio time, etc. The resulting album was titled Milestones, and came out in the spring of 1969. The record did well, better than the first, and gained the band fans abroad as well. Radio DJ John Peel was a big fan. His support helped the band get exposure in the UK to the point where EMI considered their records worthy enough to be released in their European markets. I like this record. There’s pop, psych and rock songs in equal measure. All originals apart from a medley of In The Hall Of The Mountain King with Beck’s Bolero, a feature of their live shows. I have always enjoyed Jeff Beck and Beck’s Bolero is a great tune. SRC cover it well. Highlight of the record, though, for me, is the song Up All Night, a total ripper. A true Detroit rock gem. The tune was released as a single but got buried in the aftermath of a backlash against songs with supposed drug references. Shame, it’s such a banger. Finding a copy of the 45 took me a while, but I’m so glad to own one. I love it. If you only bought Milestones for this song, it would be money well spent.

As far as finding their records, it has never been too easy, though. The first one is considered their “best” and most psychedelic and contains the hit Black Sheep, and thus is the most in demand. Copies do turn up but expect to pay a little for a nice one. The second, Milestones, sold well and strangely is not so in demand and thus can be picked up at a cheaper cost. We have one priced quite low in the store currently for a canny local. The third, Traveler’s Tale, released in 1970 was not well received and the lack of sales make it harder to find now and so prices are a little higher on this one. It’s not a terrible record and does have a couple of good tunes but key to its failure must come down to the fact that original guitarist Gary Quackenbush (his real name, his brother Glenn played piano in the group) left and was replaced by Ray Goodman. Goodman wasn’t a bad player, but Quackenbrush’s guitar sound was a major part of the SRC sound. He came back to the band after the failure of Traveler’s Tale and plays on the sessions for the group’s unreleased fourth album. They were dropped by Capitol and spent most of 1971 fulfilling touring dates and trying to find another deal. They released a one-off single on their own Casino label and briefly changed their name to Blue Scepter and released a single on the Rare Earth label. However, they reverted to SRC for gigs they had during 1972. Throughout this latter period, they were managerless, without a label, and broke. By early 1973, they played their last gig and disbanded.

Interest in the group stayed dormant for many years, but as the 60s psych and garage revival gathered steam in the 1980s and 1990s people began talking about them again and looking for their records. My first exposure was from a 1986 Bam Caruso compilation that I picked up in the 90s and from other sets that included some of their songs. It was the tune Up All Night though that cemented my love for this band. It really is up there with the best of them. If they had only cut that one 45, they would still be legends. I do own this record but spent half the night trying to find my copy. At the time of writing, I still haven’t located it. I have a less than perfect filing system at home. Lol. But it’s there, somewhere. Whilst digging though I did find my Bob Seger System 45 of 2+2+?, another classic, also on the Capitol label, and highly recommended. That and a reissue of The Pleasure Seekers single What A Way To Die, which features a young Suzi Quatro with her sisters. So not a waste of time and you should take a listen to those records if you don’t know them. The video link to the Pleasure Seekers tune is worth watching.

Okay, that’s enough from me. Blah, blah, blah. Thanks for reading and hopefully one or two of you out there share my love for this type of stuff. Have a great week and summer and we’ll see you around here next time.

Cheers - Dom

Hi there, everyone out in Sorry State land. How are you all? We missed you last week, but that wasn’t because we were slacking. There were gigs to play at, and record collections to be bought, which kept our glorious leader on the road for a good part of last week. The good news is that we have tons more cool records to get excited about. And that’s just the used stuff. As always, new releases and new issues of classics are coming at us thick and fast. Which is a good thing. We all need more records don’t we?

There has been a lot going on in the news these past couple of weeks. Here in the US the mass shootings are ongoing with the country being divided (amazingly) by that issue. We have the January 6th hearings about to commence. And it’s Pride month. Back in my old country they are still nursing their hangovers after a four daylong celebration of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee that had all kinds of events happening across the land. Perhaps you saw some of it on television? My Mum loves everything Royal and decked herself and the house out in red, white and blue bunting etc. Personally, I have mixed feelings about the Royals and having lived here in America for more than half my life, I’m less excited by it all but seventy years as a sitting Monarch is still an achievement and I’m happy for the country and those that value this type of stuff.

For the radio show I do, I wanted to play something to mark the Jubilee but wanted to throw something in a little less obvious than the sounds of a military band or even say The Sex Pistols and their God Save The Queen. What could I spin? The question was answered when I pulled out a great compilation of Brazilian music we have at the store titled Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas, which reminded me of the perfect track to play. The song is coincidentally titled God Save The Queen but has nothing to do with the Pistols’ version. It’s from a group called 14 Bis and was recorded circa 1972. What a banger it is too. Killer fuzz psych with a tasty drum break. This single was the only thing that the band recorded and was released on the cool looking Mad label. There is some confusion out there over the identity of these guys, as there is also another group with the same name, 14 Bis, but they were not formed until later in the 70s. Could they be the same guys? The latter group were a lot more pop sounding than this, although it has been conjectured that they could have been related to the progressive band O Terco, who hailed from the same region of Brazil. It’s probably not them, but who knows? Whatever their origin and identity, the single rocks and is rarer than rocking horse shit, so having it on this compilation is the easiest and cheapest way to own it.

Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas was compiled by a Brazilian gentleman named Joel Stones and released on his own Tropicalia In Furs label in the late 00s. Assisted by World Psychedelic Classics and Egon, it’s a killer set of obscure and underground Brazilian music made between 1967 and 1976, some of which even the compiler himself didn’t know existed until he found the records. The double album comes with a great booklet featuring notes and photos about all the records compiled, has a cool inner gatefold art spread and even came with 3-D glasses to view the cover with.

I met Joel when I was living in New York back in the day. He sold records initially at shows and then had a small corner of a clothes boutique for a while. He then took over the old Wowsville Records Store spot on Second Avenue in the East Village and renamed the store Tropicalia In Furs. The store I worked at, Rockit Scientist, was just around the corner on Saint Mark’s Place. I loved the vibe at Wowsville. The owners were a lovely couple from Spain, Alberto and Sonia and it was a loss for the city when they had to return to Europe after just five years of running the store. Joel kept the spirit going with the new incarnation and soon turned the spot into the go-to store for Brazilian and other South American music. All whilst keeping up with the party atmosphere. Back in the 90s and early 00s there weren’t too many people selling quality world music. You’d be hard pushed to find anything. Some things were getting reissued and occasionally you’d find a store selling those, although a lot were “Fan Club” pressings of varying quality. Slowly but surely though legit reissues started to appear on the market and then it seemed like the flood gates opened and all sorts of great compilations became available. I had barely any Brazilian records, but thanks to the likes of Mr. Bongo in the UK and Tropicalia in Furs, I now have a few good ones. As with say, Reggae, Cumbia and Afro-Beat, originals are often impossible to find and expensive when you do, so it’s fantastic having some of this great music released on these modern reissues.

At the time of the original release of this collection, a short promo video was made, which is worth the view. It puts into sounds and images the spirit of the collection and shows glimpses of the old store along with the personality of Mr. Stones. Check it out. And check this compilation if you don’t already own it. We have a copy in the store currently for a wise and discerning local punter that might be intrigued. The 3-D specs are missing from this copy, so you’ll have to pull out your old Grand Funk album and use those. Come through, why don’t you?

Okay, let me leave you there. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time.

Cheers - Dom

Greetings everyone and thank you for clicking on our corner of the internet. As always, it is appreciated. Mixed emotions this week. I was disappointed that my Reds couldn’t win the league on Sunday—we finished one point behind Manchester City in the end but kept things in the balance up to that final game and still have a Champions League final to play in Paris against Real Madrid on Saturday, so a third trophy could be possible this season. This though pales in importance to the news stories that we in the US are enduring currently. More mass shootings this week as children and innocents pay the price of “Freedom” so that dumb fuck gun nuts and Republican Nazis can stop the Libs from taking away their precious guns. Because we all need an assault rifle and arsenal at home, don’t we? I thought the “good guys” with guns were supposed to stop the shooters. Not so much. So, like I say, mixed emotions this week but one way to keep the blues at bay is music, and this is what we are all here for. Let’s talk about records, shall we?

Firstly, though, I did just want to say that I have been working a little more in the store these past few weeks helping get John Scott acclimatized and it has been a lot of fun working alongside him. Having a younger dude here is cool because he is turning me on to stuff he knows and likes, and I can return the favor by hipping him to cool stuff that comes through that I know about. Having some years under my belt has meant that by default I have been exposed to a lot of music and knowledge and it’s great to pass a little of that on. As an evangelist of music, there is nothing more pleasing than turning on people to the good shit. I also enjoy turning over the turntable controls to someone else and hearing what they select. John Scott has great taste and likes Jazz and Blues (among other things) and that’s just fine with me. Anyway, it’s great having him working with us and it’s also great having Angela on the team too. You couldn’t ask for two cooler co-workers who share our collective passion for music. Pay attention to them. They’ll point you towards worthy additions to your music library.

This week as I was going through boxes of records from collections we had bought I found a couple by the guitarist Harvey Mandel which were the last two I needed to complete my collection of his work. I generally prefer to just wait until records find me or I find them and could have completed my Mandel discography years ago if I had wanted to, but where’s the fun in that? As John Scott has been enjoying some Rolling Stones and Blues and Jazz Fusion here in the store whilst we have been working, it seemed like talking about Harvey Mandel would be very appropriate.

Mandel, born in Detroit and raised in Chicago was a guitar virtuoso who by his late teens was already a professional musician gigging and recording blues music in the early to mid-sixties. He played firstly with Charlie Musselwhite and went on to play with Canned Heat, Barry Goldberg, and John Mayall, and was even considered as Mick Taylor’s replacement in The Rolling Stones. He did play on their Black And Blue album however, contributing lead guitar to the song Hot Stuff.

Going back to the 1960s Mandel had relocated to San Francisco and exposure there led to a deal with Philips where he cut three solo albums beginning in 1968 with Cristo Redentor. That was the record that exposed me to him as an artist. I was drawn to the great artwork firstly and to the fact that he was playing versions of Cristo Redentor and Wade In The Water, two of my favorite songs. He kills both and that record became a regular in DJ sets. They are good tunes to start the night off with. Bluesy, psychy, jazzy instrumentals, as are the rest of the tracks on the album. Good stuff and recommended. Mandel is credited with an innovative approach to his guitar playing and uses various techniques like slide, delay and tapping to achieve his sound.

1969 and 1970 brought two more albums on Philips, Righteous and The Games People Play. On these records, vocals are added on some tracks and he also ventures into some Latin and Brazilian themes as well as the psychedelic blues. He does a nice version of Jive Samba for-instance. A scan of the musicians playing on these records reveals some quality names, including drummer Earl Palmer, which should be enough to prick the ears of any crate digger who knows his onions.

Mandel resumed his solo album career with the Janus label in 1971 and the record Baby Batter (probably not the best title) and went on to cut three more albums for the label. The Snake in 1972, Shangrenade in 1973 and finally Feel The Sound in 1974. It was these last two that I was missing in my collection that we just got in. They’re not expensive or rare per se and these copies had some light wear but played just fine.

I really like the Shangrenade LP. It has much more of a Jazz Funk vibe to it than the previous records. The drummer kills it throughout. Very funky. Mandel still has his psychedelic blues style going on but gets into a much more modern sound for this one and you can hear him using the tapping technique. The follow up record the next year, Feel The Sound Of Harvey Mandel continues the Jazz Funk feel. There are some changes in personnel, but the sound is similar with perhaps one or two more vocal cuts on that one. Both records have colorful and interesting artwork, though. Shangrenade is literally a painting of a mountain valley scene with folks frolicking in the meadows with a huge hand grenade sitting in the middle. On Feel The Sound the cover sports a painting of a red-haired woman lying naked in a botanical garden scene. Nice.

As I have only been listening to these last two records for a couple of days, it is still early days to pick out a favorite track, but I have added the links there for you to go take a listen to and decide for yourselves. I think there will be some of you out there that will dig hearing these albums and if this is your first-time hearing about Harvey Mandel, then you are in for a treat and will have fun exploring his records. Great thing also is that they won’t hurt your wallet too much. I don’t think you should have to pay more than $20 for a copy of any of these, perhaps because they are still somewhat under the radar, but whatever, grab ‘em when you see them.

Okay friends, that’s all from me. Thank you for reading and enjoy your week ahead.

Cheers - Dom

What’s up Sorry Staters, I hope you are doing okay out there? Another week and another newsletter. Thank you for joining us. With so much going on around us in the world of news, it is often hard to think straight these days. Here in the United States particularly there just seems to be bad story after bad story. We just have to find ways to keep going and not let all this negative shit get us down. Finding things that bring us joy and fuel our passions is so important. Thank goodness here at Sorry State we have all this great music to enjoy and share with you all. Records really are the best, and we have a ton of good ones here and plenty more on their way. Let’s talk about a couple that I have been enjoying this week that maybe you’ll dig too.

Firstly, a fun compilation that we got in called Good Times Rock N Roll Comp Vol.3.

I’m a sucker for a good compilation and especially dig a great cover version. This one although slightly out of my own personal wheelhouse was making me smile as I was playing it yesterday. It’s a double LP made up of all covers done by a truly worldwide array of punk bands. Some songs are old classics and some are more recent songs. The songs chosen range from Abba’s On And On to ZZ Top’s Sharp Dressed Man, making stops at Judas Priest, Poison Idea and even the Fab Four along the way. The band Snooper do an interesting job on Come Together and the Abba song On And On is handled by Prison Affair particularly well. There are over forty tracks across the two slabs of wax and too many songs to go into here, but some you’ll really like and some you might think are just okay, but I don’t think there were any misses. Granted I have only had a couple of listens, but the tunes I did like made it for a fun party kind of record and worthy of picking up. My only gripe would be the lack of any kind of information other than the track listing and the fuzzy blown out type face used which my old man eyes have a hard time reading. But that’s just me being picky.

Often with these types of affairs you’ll hear something from a band that either confirms your feelings that they suck or makes you think, oh that was good, these guys aren’t bad. Lol. There are a few of these here. Don’t make any judgment before you listen is what I say. There also might be bands you don’t know and that can be interesting hearing someone for the first time doing someone else’s songs. Possibly, right? I think so. I also like that some bands just can’t quite pull off the musicianship on their interpretations. The slightly wonky amateurish recordings add charm, and what is lacking in musical chops is made up for with enthusiasm and good vibes. That’s not meant to belittle anyone involved here. On the contrary. Everyone puts in a spirited performance. Nice job all involved.

Moving along to something slightly different now and a quick point in the direction of a record I just discovered last week whilst going through our bins here at the store. A record by a band named Metz from Texas who recorded an album in 1974 that has been barely heard. Reason being the record was a private pressing of just a handful of copies and has not been officially reissued. The copy we had was a grey area reissue, but for $8 it will do just fine. Particularly as originals if ever seen go for big bucks. Which surprised me why the price for even an unofficial pressing is so low. We didn’t screw up either. I double checked online and you can pick up the same reissue I snagged for under $20. Why should you? Why indeed?

There’s not too much information out there on the record and the story behind it, but reviewers of these types of things have described it as Glam sounding with a sound far more at home in London than Texas. The comparisons to Mott The Hoople, Cockney Rebel and Alex Harvey et al are fair, as too are the observations that the vocals sound somewhere between Marc Bolan and Johhny Rotten. It’s all of that and then just a good rock ‘n’ roll band getting down. What sets the sound apart here is the addition of female vocals. They provide great back up and take lead on songs also, providing a bit more street swagger. They kinda remind me of the girls singing on the GG Allin album Always Was Is And Shall Be. It has that sort of vibe. Slinky and sexy 1970s style.

The glam tag I can see, though. Along with the vocals, there’s also plenty of tap tapping keyboard action and art rocky style song structure. Several songs have stretched out repeated codas, and it has been hypothesized that this may have been to please the audiences in the Texas clubs back then who would have been enjoying legal MDMA at the time. It’s an interesting theory. It could also be that they hadn’t written proper endings to songs and just went with the groove and feel of the recording and mimicked the live set. Who knows?

I read also that the main man behind the album is a Richard Metzler, which would explain the name. He apparently was linked with Houston’s Moving Sidewalks, the psych band that had future ZZ Top members, and did the photography for their album.

Probably the best thing for you to do is hit the link here and give it a listen and see what you think. Hopefully you’ll dig it and have fun listening. I know I have.

Okay, time for me to get out of here and let you go. I’ll see you next time friends.

Cheers - Dom

Hi there, one and all and thank you for reading our newsletter. It means a lot to us that you take the time to do so, and we of course hope that you leave with something cool to check out and get into. This week the conversation here in America is centered around the right’s attack on a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body. These nut jobs are intent on rolling back fifty years of freedom and progress and won’t stop there. I mean, they’re even going after Mickey Mouse. This weekend should see protests across the country to oppose this potential overturning of Roe Vs Wade by the Supreme Court and here in Raleigh we are expecting folks to come out. Without getting into a political discourse here as this is not the place, I will use this as the link to my pick for you this week, as it seems appropriate.

Laura Lee: Women’s Love Rights. Hot Wax. 1972

On the humble radio show I do over at The Face Radio we played a track from this album, and it got some good responses and rightly so; it’s damn good. We played a cut called It’s Not What You Fall For, It’s What You Stand For and lyrically it says it all. Add the fact that the backing is a killer funk-soul track, and you have a certified winner. Go take a listen.

Laura Lee was born in Chicago and raised in Detroit. Her career began singing Gospel with The Meditation Singers in the late 1950s. She toured the country with them successfully for many years until making the switch to a secular career in the mid 1960s. Signed to Chess Records, they attempted to score a hit with Chicago produced tracks but a move to Rick Hall’s Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals resulted in the song Dirty Old Man becoming a top twenty R & B hit and a top 100 pop hit. This was followed by several more R & B hits, but in 1969 she left the label and after a quick spell at Cotillion found her way to the newly formed Hot Wax label in 1970. Hot Wax was the label set up by Eddie Holland, Lamont Dozier and Brian Holland, the three brilliant songwriters and producers who had just left Motown. They scored hits with acts like Honey Cone, 100 Proof (Aged In Soul), Flaming Ember and with Laura herself. The label stayed around for just four years and was folded with acts moved to the sister label Invictus, another Holland-Dozier-Holland run label whose big successes were with Freda Payne and Chairmen Of The Board. The label is also notable for releasing the first Parliament album, Osmium.

Women’s Love Rights, the song, was released as a single and ended up becoming one of her biggest hits, breaking into the Pop top 40 charts. It’s a great song and sets the tone for the rest of the album where every song discusses the female experience from one angle or another. Musically, the sound is similar to the pop-soul sound of those Honey Cone records, but Lee’s gutsy and raspy soul delivery makes these songs just a little but more special and meaningful. That she is singing about woman’s liberation issues right as Roe V Wade was being settled into law is not lost these fifty years later. It is astonishing that we are considering overturning that landmark decision and rolling the clock back. It makes a work such as this record stand out even more now. It was already a great record but deserves even wider exposure to a new and younger audience.

Side one is packed heavy with bangers. Wedlock Is A Padlock is a terrific song that talks about exactly what you think it does. One of my favorites is the song I Don’t Want Nothin’ Old (But Money) where Laura puts down her old loves and tells us what will cut it with her. On Love And Liberty we get a telling of the state of affairs in women’s liberation and it makes you sad to think that there are still people (men) that want to turn back the progress that had been made up to that point back in the early 1970s.

The second side of the record switches gears slightly and tackles the subject of love and relationships in a more traditional manner with less of the protest but with just as much soul and passion. She takes an old standard like Since I Fell For you and extends it with the sort of personal confessional rap that Millie Jackson would do so well and make popular during her career in the 1970s. On Two Lovely Pillows, a love song, Lee’s vocals really make the difference and transform the song into something much more urgent and pleading.

It’s all great stuff and basically a top soul album from start to finish. Kudos to producer William Weatherspoon, another Motown man that came over with Holland-Dozier-Holland. He worked his magic on Freda Payne and Chairman Of The Board among some of the other Hot Wax & Invictus label acts.

Lee cut another album shortly after for Hot Wax called The Two Sides Of Laura Lee and her former label Chess also issued an album of her earlier sides called Love More Than Pride, cashing in on her current success but in the process creating a decent album of songs. Around this time Lee began a relationship with singer Al Green and left the Holland-Dozier-Holland stable, but soon after became seriously ill and had to retire from the industry. She reappeared later in the 80s with a gospel album and once fully recovered in the 90s continued her life as an ordained minister and singing mostly gospel.

It will be those late sixties sides and the two early seventies albums that she will rightly be remembered for, and I would encourage you to seek out a copy of any of the three albums I mentioned, but look out for Women’s Love Rights. It speaks to us now just as strongly as it did fifty years later. Thank you, Laura Lee.

Before I sign off a quick note to tell any of you that might be interested in knowing that we have in stock a few copies of The Gentle Cycle LP I mentioned a couple of weeks ago. It’s a good album and on nice green vinyl too. Snag one while we have ‘em.

Okay, that’s my lot. Cheers everyone. Take care, love each other and I’ll see you here next time.

-Dom

Hello Sorry Staters. Thank you for joining us again. I hope you had a great week. Leaving the news aside, as we all know what horrible stuff is going on around the world and especially here in the United States, where we are fighting off our version of the far right. Kudos to the French for voting for democracy and giving the fascists the middle finger. Same here please.

Personally, I’m happy this week, as the Mighty Reds continue to win football matches. We are now in our tenth European Cup final and still competing for an unprecedented quadruple – the first English side to play every possible game in one season. Win or lose, it’s a great time to be supporting Liverpool. With so many other not so good things going on in my life, at least there’s footie and music.

There were a few record release anniversaries this week – Stone Roses debut, New Order’s Power, Corruption & Lies, The Cure’s Disintegration and some holidays of note including Eid al-Fitr (ending of Ramadan) and Cinco De Mayo. The latter being one of the most misunderstood celebrations of the calendar year. Not Mexican Independence Day, but rather commemorating a famous battle and victory over the French. It’s a celebration of defeating colonizing imperialism but that part has been somewhat lost over the years and now the day is more an excuse to drink tequila and eat Mexican food and is far more celebrated in the U.S. than Mexico itself or anywhere else for that matter. Anyway, that aside, I would like to use the day as an excuse to recommend a record that was made by a Mexican artist and hopefully one that some of you will enjoy hearing.

Ernan Roch Con Las Voces Frescas: La Onda Pesada. 1971. Discos Rex / Shadoks Music / La Onda Records

Ernan Roch, born Herman Rocha was a music mad teenager from the Veracruz region in Mexico. Like all teens during the early and mid-1960s, he became obsessed by the pop, rock and folk sounds coming from the US and the UK. A talented musician, he entered a studio for the first time aged just thirteen. These early recordings were apparently not released but are said to anticipate the sounds that Carlos Santana was preparing to release on the world. Roch increasingly added more western psychedelic influences to his music. His parents not appreciating this side of their son, shipped him off to an American military academy, thinking that would put him straight. However, being in America during the late 1960s only encouraged him more and when he returned to Mexico, he took up with his early producer to begin work on the songs that make up his album.

Singing all the songs in English with backing from a group called El Amor who would go on to record several albums themselves, the album was recorded in late 1969 to early 1970 and saw release in 1971 on the Discos Rex label. It’s a fabulous mix of West Coast psych and pop with great fuzz guitar playing on several songs. There are several highlights, but lead track The Train is the one that usually shows up on compilations or DJ mixes, and rightfully so. People have compared the sound to that of Damon and his amazing Song Of A Gypsy album. That record is incredible and highly regarded and there are similarities. One being the price for an original copy. Either of these will set you back four figures if you find one for sale. The Damon LP goes for several thousand as an original. I’m happy with my reissue. Lol.

I first came across the Ernan Roch LP via a grey area reissue on the La Onda label a few years ago. For a fan club pressing it doesn’t sound too bad. I have recently upgraded to the Shadoks pressing now, as that comes with nicer packaging and sound. The OG copy will have to wait unless I get lucky and find one on my next Mexican vacation.

The album isn’t just a one-track wonder though. The remainder of the album has lots to offer. On the radio show I do, we played the track All Right / It’s Gonna Take Me Time, which is a good up-tempo number with another stinging guitar solo. There’s more heavy guitar riffing on Gonna Make It, a bluesy number. That song, along with most of the others, has strong acoustic guitar strumming going on and combined with his vocal style reminded me of the great Sixto Rodriguez and his Cold Fact LP. That album, as you probably know, is excellent and was recorded around the same time. If you enjoy Rodriguez, then you’ll be onboard with Ernan Roch.

Also, like Rodriguez who didn’t see his work get recognized at the time, Ernan Roch’s record wasn’t “discovered” until many years later and is still under the radar. He disappeared from the scene, although apparently returned with an album in the mid-80s titled Suenos, but I have not seen a copy or heard that record. There are also some tracks from an unspecified date that have a more polished and Bowie-esque glam sound, but I can’t give you any details on those I’m afraid as I haven’t heard them.

Mexico had a ton of great garage, psych and heavy rock groups during the 60s and 70s and you are encouraged to dig deeper. Groups like Dug Dug’s, La Revolucian De Emiliano Zapata, Kaleidoscope and the aforementioned El Amor all have great records in their discographies.

Have a great Cinco De Mayo everyone and if I have piqued your interest on this one, I noticed there were one or two dealers selling the Shadoks reissue for a decent price on Discogs should you want to take the plunge.

Cheers and see you next time.

-Dom

Greetings Sorry State gang. How are you all? Did you have a great Record Store Day this past Saturday? We hope so. We had a great day here at the store even though we couldn’t please all of our Taylor Swift fans waiting in line. However, that release aside, we did well in getting the other records to those that wanted them. If you stopped by or ordered from us, a big thank you for your support. We appreciate it. I thought this year's RSD list was a good one although I wish some releases that came out in the UK were available here. I was happy with my grabs and perhaps as time moves on I’ll find those missing odds and ends. I wish the same to you for whatever you are hunting for.

This upcoming Saturday is International Jazz Day in case you didn’t know. A global celebration of all things Jazz. My DJ friends over at The Face Radio will dedicate the whole day to special Jazz filled broadcasts as our part of joining the fun. I’ll be working here at the store that day, but there is a Jazz record that I have been enjoying that I recently picked up which I would like to tell you all about.

The Wayne Powell Octet: Plays Hallucination. Lo-Lace Records. 1965 / Mo-Jazz Records. 2022

Fellow DJ pal Tim Spurrier turned me on to this one when he made it his featured album on one of his Soulside shows recently and I must thank him. He got his hands on a limited reissue that Mo-Jazz Records had just put out. I was impressed and immediately secured a copy for myself. I’m so glad I did as this type of record is right up my Strasse.

Originally released as a private press album on the Lo-Lace label out of Los Angeles in 1965 it is rarely seen, and I don’t feel too bad for not having heard of it.

Wayne Powell played vibes, inspired by Lionel Hampton, and put together this combo for gigs and recorded this one album with those players. The record is a nice mix of mood and tempo. Jazz with a healthy dose of Rhythm & Blues. Pop in places and deep and spiritual in others. The main selling point for me though is when the band get into a Mod-Jazz mood and remind me of my favorite Ramsey Lewis, Billy Larkin and The Deligates, and Harold Johnson Sextet records or like on the song Duckin’ similar to The Googie Rene Combo’s tune called Smokey Joe’s La La that is a Mod classic and was sampled nicely by DJ David Holmes for his My Mate Paul track. Compare the two yourselves and see what you think.

Another cut in this style is the song Tootsie, which obviously predates the Dustin Hoffman film by quite a few years. I doubt very much that there is a connection. Interestingly though, is that on the 45 that was released back in the day the song was titled Tutzy. I wonder how and why the change in spelling came about or whether it is just something as simple as a typo. If anyone has the answer, get in touch.

As mentioned, Wayne Powell played the vibes and I just love the sound of a vibraphone in jazz. Roy Ayers, Cal Tjader, Milt Jackson, Lionel Hampton, Dave Pike, Terry Gibbs, Bobby Hutcherson, Mulatu Astatke, Gary Burton, et al are household names round my place and represented well in my collection. So, it was a bonus that vibes feature on some tracks. Title track Hallucination allows Powell to show his chops. It’s a beautiful track helped along by some tasteful Latin conga and tidy piano playing, not to mention great trumpet and horns and a guitar solo rounding out the sound.

Guitarist Don Kobayashi and trombone player Clint Arnold share the spotlight on album closer Quernemoen, another strong cut. The tempo here is more late night or lazy sunny afternoon. A nice plodding bass line and brush work from the drummer help give the track the finishing touches.

There are two cuts with a slow blues feel to them, Blue And Easy and More Blues, and two more danceable R ‘N B numbers called Jurkit and Brown’s Bucket, which are fun. The whole album has a strong R ‘N B feel rather than just straight jazz, and that part appeals to me. Additionally, the jazz component is more of a big band style than a small combo and for these tunes that works.

The only thing missing would be some vocals on one or two tracks. Generally, I prefer without, but I could see a good singer tackling some tunes here if they wrote lyrics.

Also of note are the typos on the sleeve. I must assume that Mo-Jazz reproduced the original exactly, and those mistakes were left unchanged. Right? Other than the Tootsie/Tutzy spelling difference between the single and album, which seems intentional. Regardless, who cares? It’s the music that matters. I certainly won’t let that bother me when the music is this good.

Mo-Jazz made this reissue a limited pressing of just 500 copies, so if I have whetted your appetite I wouldn’t hang around on this one. Stateside dwellers might have to stump the Euro shipping charges, though.

Jazz music still has so much to offer the world. Recordings like these that are over fifty years old are being discovered and enjoyed by a wider audience and reaching different generations. I am always excited when I hear something old like this for the first time. Especially when it ticks so many boxes. So, pour yourself a drink and imagine you are in a Los Angeles night club circa 1965 and nod your head and tap your feet to the cool sounds of The Wayne Powell Octet.

Cheers! Until next time - Dom

Hey there one and all. How are you? Thanks for clicking on our humble newsletter once again.

You join us this week neck deep in Record Store Day releases, besides the other new releases and great used stuff that keeps coming in. Busy, busy, busy.

So, with that said there’s just enough time to tell you about a nice little record that arrived at my door the other day. Full disclosure, I am online friends with the artist and my liking of this record is heavily influenced by that but there is no payola here at Sorry State. We are under no pressure to write about anything that we don’t care about. We just love music and evangelizing about it and pointing you towards records we feel you might like.

The Gentle Cycle: Landslide Eyes. 300 Mics

The Gentle Cycle from Los Angeles, California follows up their self-titled debut from five years ago with this terrific album of psychedelic niceness. Their vein of psych being a mostly sixties inspired and a West Coast one. The group is led by Derek See, guitarist and vocalist with Roger Brogan on drums and Scott Bassman playing bass on most tracks. Keyboards and other instrumental touches are also added by Derek and Roger on most tracks. The group is essentially the brainchild of musician, writer, guitar guru, DJ, record nerd and all-around nice guy Derek See. What this man doesn’t know about a guitar, records and music from the sixties would make a very small list. It’s that knowledge and love that comes through in his music.

I was introduced to him via the mod girl-group he had called The Bang Girl Group Review a few years back and have followed his career since. We are Facebook/IG friends and so I get regular updates on his latest projects, and I can tell you he keeps busy. In addition to The Gentle Cycle, Derek plays in 60s Garage legends The Chocolate Watchband, 80s Paisley Underground torchbearers The Rain Parade and with Luna & Galaxie 500 main man Dean Wareham. He has performed with Country Joe McDonald and was guitar tech for James Williamson of The Stooges, which is so fucking cool. Derek also played on the Careless Hearts LP with Williamson from 2009. Whilst not performing Derek finds time to write about music and records for a host of magazines including his own blog Derek’s Daily 45 plus sells records online and repairs and restores vintage guitars.

I’m glad he found time to record these tunes that are the Landslide Eyes album. Derek has said that he wanted to make the type of album that harks back to that late 1960s through early 1970s period where records were played and listened to as a whole experience, and I think he has managed to pull that off. From the opening notes of side one to the close of side two, the listener is pulled into the Gentle Cycle universe and kept there. Although using vintage equipment and pulling on the past for inspiration, the record is far from just another retro garage affair. Far from it, the song writing is too good for that and the playing even better.

I just received my copy in the mail recently, a beautiful clear lavender vinyl pressing and have had it on the turntable frequently. Hard to pick an outright favorite track yet, but opener Like December Is Bold sets you up nicely for what’s to follow. Derek’s vocal style comes off as somewhere between that of Arthur Lee and Gene Clark, two heroes whose influence can’t help but rub off on any self-respecting Californian music lover. Throughout the record there are subtle nods to groups like Love, The Byrds and more obscure sixties bands, but also to the aforementioned Paisley Underground psych of the 80s and the next psychedelic revival of the 90s and early 00s. All beautifully molded together and brought up to date for modern ears, albeit those ears with an appreciation for the past, but not slaves to it.

There is nice balance and contrast to the songs too. Rocking anthems like cover of 70s Memphis power pop group The Hot Dogs’ Let Me Look At The Sun sit next to moody instrumentals and softer love songs like Ivy all seamlessly. The links to those last two tracks have videos for them and they are two excellent examples of what The Gentle Cycle is all about.

For those of you who celebrate 4/20, this might be an excellent listening experience. Just saying.

Okay, I must get back to work, but thank you for reading. I hope you have a great Record Store Day and get yourself something nice. Of course, your local record store needs your business all year and we here at Sorry State sincerely thank all of you great customers and friends who help us keep the lights on with your support. Thank you. See you next time - Dom

Hi everyone, thanks for clicking on our newsletter again this week and for your support. We appreciate it. Lots going on here at Sorry State as per usual. We are preparing for Record Store Day, processing used collections, shipping orders, selling in-store and all the other fun stuff that goes with connecting folks with great music. Talking of which, have you all checked out the new SSR single we have out by Brazilians Lasso? It’s a banger. How about the Peace De Resistance LP? Highly recommended. One of my favorite recent releases and one we are proud to back here at Sorry State.

As music lovers, it is always hard to hear of the passing of any musician, artist or icon, but the sad news this week of the death of Chris Bailey, front man for Australian punk legends The Saints, has hit us particularly hard. I’m sure like u s you have been rocking your copies of Eternally Yours and (I’m) Stranded extra loud in honor of Chris.

For my staff picks this week, I thought I might switch styles a little and talk to you about some soul records. Particularly modern soul records with a retro feel by female singers that perhaps you may have missed. In recent years, there have been some quality albums made in this genre by new and older artists alike. Obviously we all know and love the late and great Sharon Jones; her success at Daptone Records helped to inspire a global interest in old school style funk and soul. Other labels sharing the Daptone ethos such as Colemine Records have now become almost household names. They have scored success with many releases, the Durand Jones albums being the most known. Small labels here in America and around the world are all contributing to a continued interest in authentic soul music that is new but with a retro feel and played by actual musicians and sung by proper singers. There is a place for computer generated music and vocal effects to hide real talent, but for many of us that isn’t enough. We want to hear actual playing and real singing. I feel so blessed to have been living in New York during the late 90s and early 00s when the retro soul and funk scene was in full swing. To have seen those early Daptone artists like Sharon Jones in the beginning was a real privilege and so much fun. The ripples from those explosive shows and records are still being felt around the world.

So, with that said here are some examples of those kinds of records. In no particular order and ranking and just the tip of the iceberg.

Gizelle Smith & The Mighty Mocambos: This Is Gizelle Smith. Mocambo Records. 2009

London based singer Gizelle Smith teamed up with the Mocambo crew from Hamburg, Germany to cut this nice slice of neo-funk and soul. The Mocambo label does a great job releasing breakbeat heavy funk on 45 and LP and this album was cut at their studio in Hamburg and at Goldhawk Studios in London’s Shepheard’s Bush. I love this record. It has such a great vibe with every track a winner. The first single taken from the album, Working Woman, was a big hit in the soul and funk world and was given a nice remix by Kenny Dope for his Kay Dee Records label. Other highlights include The Time Is Right For Love and Snake Charmer, but these are just three gems out of the twelve on offer. Ms. Smith has gone on to release two other full lengths since then with the most recent being last year’s Revealing on Jalapeno Records. I unfortunately haven’t seen her perform live, but am assured by those that have that she brings it.

Nicole Willis And The Soul Investigators: Keep Reachin’ Up. Timmion Records. 2005

New Yorker Nicole Willis has had a full career going back to her beginnings in 1984. She has worked with everyone from The Brand New Heavies to Curtis Mayfield. She married Finnish musician and artist Jimi Tenor and relocated to Finland where she cut several records in the early 00s. Keep Reachin’ Up was the first of those. The Timmion label is another fine purveyor of class music and I have yet to hear anything that I didn’t like from them. The Soul Investigators are the label house band and do a stellar job of backing Nicole Willis on this set. Again, it’s the sound of actual musicians playing and a vocalist who can really sing. No duff tracks on the set but the two openers, Feelin’ Free and If This Ain’t Love (I Don’t Know What Is) are worth the price of admission alone.

Lady Wray: Queen Alone. 2016, & Piece Of Me. 2022 Big Crown Records.

Two from Big Crown and Nicole Wray aka Lady Wray. She has been on the scene since the late nineties. Her first record, Make It Hot, came out in 1998 and was an RnB record more in tune with the times. That single was a hit, but the subsequent album of the same name less so. Wray was under the guidance of Missy Elliott at the time. She had been featured vocalist on her Supa Dupa Fly album and toured as a backing singer for her. A second album was begun in 2000, but due to a falling out with Elektra Records it was shelved. From there, Wray worked with Ol’ Dirty Bastard and was signed to Roc-A-Fella Records, where a single came out. She was working on another album called Lovechild, in-between times which she was moved to Def Jam and then to Dame Dash Music Group. That label folded and her album went with it.

In 2012, she teamed up with English singer Terri Walker and formed an act called Lady. Signed to Truth And Soul Records, they recorded one self-titled album and served as the singers for soul singer Lee Fields on his tour. The style of this music was strongly in the retro soul style and well received. However, her partner in the group decided to leave and pursue solo ventures and Nicole renamed herself Lady Wray and found her way to Big Crown Records, the Brooklyn based label run by the ace Leon Michels.

The two records she has made for Big Crown are terrific. Great songs, great production and fantastic vocals from Lady Wray herself. I don’t know where I have been all this time, but I only recently became aware of these albums, and they have both been on heavy rotation since. I remember her from those earlier records and am very aware of the great work El Michels and the Big Crown label are doing, but came late to this party. My apologies to Lady Wray and Big Crown. Of the two, Queen Alone arguably has the stronger retro soul sound, whereas Piece Of Me is a little more current. What unites the two though, and the records we talked about already, is the sound of real musicians in a studio with a genuine vocalist. You can’t fake that.

All three of these ladies are the real deal. They have put their time in and paid their dues, as the saying goes. Highlights on the Lady Wray records are many, but from the most recent you should check out Under The Sun and Where Were You and from the earlier album I like the songs Guilty and Let It Go.

Last time I looked we had copies of both Lady Wray albums in stock should you care to own them.

Okay, that’s my lot for this week. Thank you for reading and hopefully one or two of you out there will find as much enjoyment in these records as I do.

Cheers - Dom

Hey there everyone and thanks for clicking on us this week. How was your week? Good, I hope.

The world keeps turning and the wheels are spinning fast here at Sorry State Industries. You will have read about some of the exciting new releases that are either here or on their way elsewhere in the Newsletter and certainly make sure you subscribe to get these regular updates. There is always something cool to check out.

For me personally, this week has been a pretty good one. Compared to others more recently. I’m sure I’ll return to my more typical not good weeks, but for now things are okay. A big moment this week was discovering that the mixer my DJ partner and I use for our show has a built-in function called a “Mic Gate” which is supposed to help filter out unwanted sounds being picked up by the microphone. What it did for us was clip our speech and cause dropouts. Not what you want when trying to talk on air. It’s been very frustrating for us and has been messing with my head these past months as I thought it was me who just couldn’t enunciate or talk properly. Discovering that was huge and now hopefully we just need to get our levels right and we’ll be able to present a much better sounding show. Fingers crossed. Progress, at least.

My record listening this week has been all over the map as usual, but there were a couple of things that I have been jamming more than once and digging and would like to share with you if I may? You’ll have to forgive me for not getting into proper reviews and artist profiles on these picks but as those of you who read here regularly will know, I’m not the world’s best writer and am not going to try to compete with the professionals out there. I love music though and talking about records, which is why I love being part of the Sorry State family. Being in the store and interacting with our friends and customers is what I love. Geeking out on record trivia and sharing the rush of pleasure you get from music with people is the absolute best. Putting great records into appreciative hands is what we are all about here.

Okay, so here we go. A week or so ago, I had a CD compilation playing on repeat in the car. The collection is called Beyond The Calico Wall. It’s a fab collection of 60s Garage and Psych put together by Erik Lindgren, a Boston area musician and historian on his great Arf! Arf! Label. His label specialized in high quality reissues of forgotten and obscure psych and garage. If you are into this era of music and see an Arf! Arf! Release, you can buy with confidence. Anyway, I have had this comp for years and hadn’t played it in ages, but was happy to become reacquainted with it. In particular, for a track from a group with the spectacular moniker The Spontaneous Generation called Up In My Mind, which is a cool fuzz ripper. Buying a copy of that 45 on the open market is out of my budget even if a copy was available. The group were out of Atlanta, and this was their only single on the Fevre label. The b-side has a good cover of The Who’s Pictures Of Lily. The single came out in 1968. If you find one, major score.

Also, from 1968 and on the collection is a track called Psiship by a group called Cosmic Rock Show that originally appeared on the Blitz label. That’s a cool one. They were possibly from Minneapolis. A comment on discogs described the record as being a precursor to Suicide’s 1977 record Rocket U.S.A. I can see that.

Another cool ripper is the comp opener from Park Avenue Playground. Their 1969 track, The Trip, appeared on the USA label and will set you back a few hundred bucks if one is offered for sale. It has a great guitar riff and some interesting sounds going on. They were from Lansing, IL and recorded the song in a studio in Madison, Wisconsin. Apparently copies of the record were lost in a flood and that is why they are so scarce.

The collection ends with the only track that isn’t an actual 60s recording. Demons Of Negativity and their song Resurrection was cut in the 80s by compiler Erik Lindgren and his musician friends. It’s a cool tune though and finishes the collection well.

After jamming the CD over and over, I somehow still felt the need to buy a vinyl version of the compilation because you know? I needed these tracks on vinyl and would never find some of these records as originals and might feel the need to spin them at a gig or something. Ha! That’s my logic and rationale for buying many records. However, if you don’t own this collection and are into psych and garage there isn’t much better bang for your buck than this one and most of you will just need one copy. The CD though has extra tracks.

Alright, I need to get out of here and leave you to it. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time. Cheers everyone - Dom

Greetings loyal Sorry State supporters. Thank you for clicking on our Newsletter once again and reading.

A lot of things going on here at Sorry State Towers this week, with exciting new releases either out or on their way, a potential new colleague joining the ranks, more great collections being bought and not least of all our leader Lord Daniel making it official and getting married to Lady Jet. Congratulations to you both. Please raise a glass to their happiness won’t you?

In the outside world, the news keeps on getting more and more bizarre and troubling it seems, although we are all still trying our best to keep going and live our lives the best we can. There seem to be more events happening and gigs, etc. So that is good. Here in Raleigh this weekend will be the Dreamville Festival curated and headlined by North Carolina’s own J. Cole. My Worldy DJ partner Matt and I had the honour of spinning some records for the festival’s first kick-off event yesterday at Junction West, which was fun. Getting to play records out and hear them loud with others is the absolute best. I’ll hump turntables and record bags almost anywhere for that pleasure.

I wasn’t sure what to talk about this week. I’ve been listening to so many different things and could have gone in any of several directions. However, I had fun spinning an old fave yesterday and so thought I might mention it as you might dig it too. The record is Present Arms In Dub by UB40. Okay, okay, calm down and stop the sniggering. I’m serious here. This record is excellent and although the reggae purists dismiss the pop side of UB40 and judge them by their later work, don’t let them put you off. Purists are boring anyway. Besides, anyone who knows and likes music will know the early UB40 records are good. Present Arms was their second album after the excellent Signing Off LP. There were some good extended mixes released for some tracks off that record besides some single sides, but this was the group’s first dedicated all dub instrumental record. The parent album Present Arms had been a chart hit and the dub album followed suit, making history as the first full dub album to crack the UK top forty. Of course, the concept of dub LPs was not a new phenomenon and UB40, being well versed in Jamaican producers such as Lee Perry and King Tubby, would have been more than familiar with the idea of making instrumental versions of vocal tracks. Indeed, there were producers in the UK such as Dennis Bovell and Neil Fraser aka Mad Professor who were making groundbreaking strides in homegrown reggae and dub productions, but their efforts were, at this point in time, still underground and known only to the hard-core reggae enthusiasts.

Regardless of your opinion about the group and any of their pop hits, this is a proper legit dub record and if you didn’t know who it was by and it was mixed in with other dub music, none of it would seem out of place. I’m in no doubt that lots of weed was consumed during its creation, but you don’t have to be an herb lover to enjoy listening to it or be that familiar with the original record. The production is top notch and mastering excellent. The drum and bass, the cornerstone of dub music, sounds superb and the added effects that come in and out are not distracting or cheesy. Whenever I spin a track from the record during a DJ gig, invariably someone comes up to ask what it is or to give the thumbs up of approval. Another plus factor is that you don’t have to spend a lot of dough to get a copy, which you would have to for other cooler or hipper dub titles. I’m the biggest fan of common and cheap records that punch above their weight. They can sit alongside my rare and expensive shit based on the musical content and not the price tag. It’s all about the music at the end of the day.

If you have heard this record and are in the know already, you’ll have to forgive me for stating the obvious, but perhaps there are some of you that aren’t familiar or just hate the song Red Red Wine. Put that out of your heads. This is not that. I personally enjoy the Labour Of Love album which that song came from and plenty more UB40 records, but if you had to own just one of their records, then Present Arms In Dub would be the one. Followed by Signing Off if you are allowed a second. Lol. I’ll attach the link here for you to follow and listen. I hope you enjoy.

That’s all from me for this week. Don’t forget to toast Daniel and Jet and keep on supporting your local record stores and digging music. Cheers - Dom