gts191 “a-lishters”
More A-List ladies than any goofball fashion gala.
01-01 Albert Campbell & James F. Harrison – Edison Gold Moulded Record (Cylinder 4243) – You’re The Flower Of My Heart, Sweet Adeline (1904)
— Prototype “barbershop quartet” song, Harrison was the early stage name of Frederick Wheeler, who sang into the 1920’s. Campbell was one of the Peerless Quartet, with whom he also recorded this tune in 1904, but surviving copies of that wax cylinder are in poor shape.
01-02 Bob Dylan – Self Portrait 406 – Alberta #2 (1970)
— looking up the track number, recognized the cover art. Shocked to realize this double-LP is in my collection. Never listened to it. Yet!
01-03 The Hearts – Tuff 370 – Dear Abby (1963)
— last week we heard Heart, now The Hearts, who Abby tells to go eat worms, “squiggly little worms, wiggly little worms”.
01-04 Dead Kennedys – Bedtime For Democracy 103 – Dear Abby (1986)
— know this one’s in my stacks, bought it fresh via mail-order from Alternative Tentacles Records. Remember listening with ear close to the speakers trying to tease out the lyrics, and laughing my butt off.
01-05 Memphis Slim – Legend Of The Blues Volume2 202 – Dear Abby And Ann (1969)
01-06 John Prine – Sweet Revenge 104 – Dear Abby (1973)
— The only live track on the album, recorded at the State University Of New York, New Paltz.
01-07 Shel Silverstein – A Light In The Attic 109 – Little Abigail And The Beautiful Pony (1985)
— cautionary tale, and there ain’t no vaccine for pony-less-ness.
02-01 Black Blood & The Chocolate Pickles – Black Blood 1648 – Angela (1970)
— born and bred in Birmingham, where there are soon to be zero Black legislators, just as the The Founders intended… the founders of the Confedrate States Of America, that is.
02-02 Wet Leg – Wet Leg 103 – Angelica (2022)
— Out of the Isle Of Wight, Wet Leg is Hester Chambers and Rhian Teasdale. Great line: “I was told there would be free beer.”
02-03 Marty Cutler – Charged Particles 205 – Angeline The Baker (1983)
— an old, old bluegrass standard. Heard about a baker’s dozen versions of it for this show, and love this one for the dissonant bass which has no connection to the pickin’, and yet it glues everything together.
02-04 T. P. Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou – Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou Dahomey 202 – Angelina II (1972)
— T.P. means “Tout Puissant”, which is “All Mighty” in French. The singer here, Vincent Ahehehinnou, quit the band in 1978, resulting in death threats and (reportedly) voodoo retribution from the owner of Albarika Records. This was the Orchestre’s first album, of 50+ albums (and 300 45rpm singles).
02-05 The Rolling Stones – Goats Head Soup 105 – Angie (1973)
— used to sing this to my cat.
03-01 Peach Pit – Being So Normal 04 – Alrighty Aphrodite (2018)
03-02 Mark Lindsay – Arizona 101 – Arizona (1970)
— Lindsay is better known as the face of the American revolt against the British Invasion of the 1960’s, fronting Paul Revere & The Raiders.
03-03 Jim Kweskin – Jim Kweskin’s America 106 – Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight (1971)
— heard a bunch of versions of this, here’s the best: Hawai’ian style with warbling possibly drunken elder ladies backing.
03-04 Thomas Newman – Unstrung Heroes OST 15 – Half Amelia (1995)
— from the movie soundtrack. Dissonant guitar because, we assume, there’s only half an Amy.
03-05 John C. Williams – Spanish Guitar Music 18 – El Testamen De Amelia (1990)
— not the John Williams who scores blockbuster movies, this cat is from Australia.
03-06 Pure Prairie League – Bustin’ Out 202 – Amie (1972)
— one of my all-time favorite tunes, and it’s not even my favorite of this show!
04-01 Karla Accompagnée Par Willie Lewis And His Entertainers – Poor Little Angeline (1938)
— if you don’t speak la frenchy, he is describing dance steps. Unable to find release info for a 78rpm of this, although the web has a list of every musician who played on the song, recorded in December of 1938.
04-02 Paris Violence – Fleurs De Nevroses Et D’ether 10 – Aphrodite Veneneuse (2010)
— again, iff’n vous dinna speak-o lay french-o, you might think the title pairs the Greek goddess Aphrodite with her Roman equivalent Venus, but actually the title translates to “Poison Aphrodite”.
04-03 NAC – Ashley
— another French band, this one does Celtic rock out of Igny, just NE of Paris.
04-04 Tomoko Sasaki – WarioWare: Touched! OST 117 – Song Of Ashley (2004)
— original Japanese version from the video game soundtrack. Ashley is a witch, check the great lyrics in English from the US release of the game.
04-05 Your Broken Hero – The End? 01 – A Letter To Ashley (2024)
— can be formulaic, but it’s a good formula: poprock.
04-06 Atli Orvarsson – The Fourth Kind OST 05 – Ashley (2009)
— the film stars one of my beloved actresses, Milla Jovovich. Watch it, and you’ll never again look at an owl the same way.
05-01 Skorpio – Ünnepnap 104 – Ágnes (1976)
— even under Soviet repression of the time, Hungary was putting out some fine rock.
05-02 Mott The Hoople – The Hoople 103 – Alice (1974)
05-03 Rashidi Mwenzingo & Golden Sounds Band – Swahili Rhumba 03 – Alice (2003)
— out of Kenya, this show’s Set Five Jam Tune features guitars bright enough to nearly pass for steel drums.
05-04 Canticle – On Seagull Wings 304 – Alison (1979)
— apologies to Elvis, this cover version grabbed me just right.
06-01 Dean Friedman – Dean Friedman 102 – Ariel (1977)
— My favorite song of this show, Dean is a true 1-Hit Wonder, and this was it. The bassist on this is an actual legend: Tony Levin, who moved from here to play with King Crimson. Drumming done by Rick Marotta, whose brother Jerry played with Peter Gabriel’s band after Genesis (as did Levin). That sax is by George Young, who did the same job on Saturday Night Live in the 1990’s. The line “working for the Friends Of B.A.I.” refers to NYC radio station WBAI 99.5 whose iconoclast programming from the 1960’s to 1980’s inspired rabid fandom. The song “Are You Out There” by Dar Williams is about how WBAI changed her life. Regrettably, WBAI finally collapsed in 2019. The single version of this tune omitted that “she was a Jewish girl”, supposedly to help it play in other parts of the nation, and the Jewish Defense League objected strenuously (in between committing their murders and bombings). The lyrical change didn’t help, it only charted up to #26.
06-02 Steve Earle – Jerusalem 08 – Go Amanda (2002)
06-03 Rolling Stones – Between The Buttons 205 – Miss Amanda Jones (1967)
06-04 Boston – Third Stage 101 – Amanda (1986)
06-05 Richie Sanbora & Don Was – Sounds Of Wood And Steel 06 – Ava’s Eyes (1999)
— speaking of eyes… this has strong reflections of “Eye In The Sky” by Alan Parsons.