Little Richard - Brunswick Lost Soul (WTS Soul No.3)

For some strange reason Little Richard's recordings on Brunswick have never been officially reissued, apart from a few scattered tracks on compilations here and there (some of them also bootlegs). As he said in his autobiography, Larry Williams was trying to make him a Motown artist during his stint on Okeh and for sure he wasn't one. Don't know what made him think like that, perhaps the lacking of success but Ricardito was as fabulous recording rock'n'soul as playing rock'n'roll! 

Despite his supposedly disdain for the horn-powered soul sound of his Okeh years, Little Richard displayed no aversion to brass immediately after signed out with Larry Williams. So in September 1967 he signed a one year deal with Brunswick Records. The three singles he recorded over the next twelve months doubled his commitment to the funky soul sound with horn sections that came into their own on hot numbers like "Soul Train", "Baby Don't You Tear My Clothes" or the Esquerita co-penned "Stingy Jenny". 

Unfortunately none of the amazing Brunswick singles cracked the charts and once again Mr. Penniman found himself in search of another label and chapter (with the Reprise era rejuvenation waiting around the corner). So, enter White Trash Soul to the picture to correct the mistake until someone, somewhere with a good taste decide to touch his hands to the previously mentioned material and finally make an official reissue. 

Stacy Lane - Nine Sides 1967-73 (WTS Soul No.2)

I can provide little to no information about Stacy Lane. This Wilson Pickett-esque screamer had, as far as I know (and Discogs confirms), only four singles in his arsenal, two on the Excello touchstone and one more each for BAR and Playboy Records. I first became aware of him on the "Buttshakers Vol. 6" compilation and from then on I was on a never-ending rollercoaster ride for updated information on his life and recordings (no luck unfortunately). On the BAR single, the black sheep of the Stax family, Charles 'Packy' Axton, is seriously involved, which makes me think that this cat wasn't just a man and a half copycat. In fact, all the known/released recordings are excellent templates of a blend of southern soul and gritty proto-funk.

Thanks Andy!

 

I'm a huge fan of Shindig! magazine and Jon "Mojo' Mills output in general (Nuthins included of course). And Andy Morten along with Lenny Helsing are my favorite penmen all these years (I leave aside their rock'n'roll adventures and credentials which of course have a special place in my music library). So, imagine my surprise when George Rigas of The Walking Screams vibered me a previous July night the photo of a Julian Cope article with this blog's name credited on! (Fun fact, I do had already purchased the issue but hadn't yet found the time to dive in). Since I revived my interest in this space I felt the need to express my gratitude. Honored! 

Cops 'N' Robbers - Cops 'N' Robbers (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.1)

The Cops 'N' Robbers (named after the Bo Diddley song obviously) issued just three singles in the mid-’60s lifetime, as well as a French-only EP. 

Their chief claim to fame is recording and writing the original version of "You’ll Never Do It Baby" the infamous and nasty R&B raver that was covered by The Pretty Things on their second LP. "Oh My Love" was recorded by The Artwoods and it was as well another Cops 'n' Robbers original. 

Here's gathered all their A's & B's. 

The Ideals - Mo-Gorilla (White Trash Soul R&B Series No.2)

Here's another one I made for the iconic Ideals from Chicago Illinois. 

Let's make clear something right from the start: The Ideals on Checker/Chess wasn't them. 

The Ideals, who had been around since 1952, when they were barely in their teens (all but Spraggins attended Crane High School). At their inception, they were lead Frank Cowan, tenors Leonard Mitchell and Wes Spraggins, baritone Robert Tharp, and bass Clifford Clayborn, though he was soon replaced by Sam Steward while Reggie Jackson supplanted Cowan.

Fred Pettis came in as lead singer around 1956 and left a couple of years later. Future soul star Major Lance briefly floated through also. Jackson returned from the military to rejoin Mitchell, Tharp, and Steward. The Ideals made their 1961 vinyl debut on Richard Stamz's Paso label with "Together b/w What's The Matter With You Sam" and encored with "Magic b/w Teens". By the time they made it back into a recording studio in 1963, they'd acquired a new lead singer Eddie Williams.

Howard Pitman, a former member of The Five Chances (they recorded for Chance and Blue Lake in the mid-'50s), started his own Concord label and came up with "The Gorilla" along with lead singer Williams and Jerry Murray. With dj Herb Kent behind it, "The Gorilla" sold well enough locally that Pitman handed it to Bill Erman's Cortland label. With the Donald Jenkins-penned ballad "Don Juan" on the flip, "The Gorilla" made a lot of Chi-Town noise. None of their Cortland followups, notably a remake of Henry Lumpkin's "Mojo Hanna" and the fake live sequel "Mo Gorilla", went anywhere.

The Ideals moved to the St. Lawrence label in 1965 for the R&B sizzler "Go Get A Wig". They were down to just Jackson, Mitchell, and Stewart when they ventured in a Windy City soul direction for "I Got Lucky (When I Found You)" and then "You Lost And I Won", the latter on St. Lawrence's Satellite imprint. Meanwhile, Tharp joined with Murray to form the duo Tom and Jerry-O, posting a 1965 hit with their "Boo-Ga-Loo" for ABC-Paramount. The Ideals would finally dent the R&B charts with "Kissin'", their second soul-soaked outing on Satellite, in early 1966. A smoother remake of "Go Go Gorilla" closed out their Satellite stay, and a 1967 outing for Boo-Ga-Loo, "The Mighty Lover", completed The Ideals' recording career. 

*Information on The Ideals story taken from Street Corner Symphonies compilation, thanks!

Of course the whole cover idea was shamelessly nicked from Norton's amazing 45 reissue from 2011 but I wasn't able to locate a cool picture of them. Whatever. 

The Olympics - Good Lovin': The Olympics on Loma (WTS Soul No.1)

Hey there! 

Hope everyone's doing fine since the last time.

So, since I never really stopped doing compilations for my own pleasure I decided to upload them after I was kinda forced by you people by seeing my stories and posts on Instagram. I mean, why not right?!

Let's start with The Olympics' quick stint on legendary LOMA label and their three singles. As far as I know, there's no compilation around including all of them sides. [Some co-produced by Mighty Hannibal!]

Cheers!

A Mike Mariconda interview, a legendary route in rock'n'roll.

It is quite hard to listen to this kind of music, reading this blog space and still not recognize his name, isnt' it? The original A-Bones guitarist, then in The Raunch Hands and The Devil Dogs. He has produced hundreds of records since 1984 and has recorded countless garage-punk and rhythm & blues outfits around the world (USA, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Australia and Europe). He was a student of electronic music pioneer Reynold Weidenaar and one of the first producers to graduate with a  Bachelor of Science in Music Technology from New York University. He currently lives in Spain. Mike Mariconda is a living legend of the underground rock'n'roll scene globally as you might already know or guess. 

Many thanks Mike for taking a few moments to answer my questions. I usually start with this: What actually got you involved with rock'n'roll? I'd like to know if there was anything before The Raunch Hands.

Well, thanks for asking as I have been a fan of your writing and the White Trash Soul website for many years. I had been playing in bands since 1977, I started when I was 15 years old with friends from High School..We started out doing covers of The Who then we heard the first The Damned record and The Victims (NOT the Australian band,) the one from NJ near where I grew up who did one LP called "Real Wild Child", for or Golden Disc )-a label from a Doo Wop record store in Greenwich Village where Lenny Kaye worked) and we got into a more punk style. I joined the Raunch Hands in winter of 1984 after seeing them play their first gig at some funky illegal after hours club called No Se No. Shortly before that they were just a duo called Tchang and Chandler so we put a full band behind them. They played as a duo at Tim Warren's wedding in late 1983 and Club 57 on St, Marks place a few times.

Is it true that you stole Mike Chandler from Outta Place in order to create a band similar to Peter Greenberg's original Barrence Whitfield and the Savages?

No, not true, Chandler was in both bands but playing more with The Outta Place and the other 3 members of The Raunch Hands were frustrated and jealous and  approached me to do an instrumental band without a singer called The Slaymen as Chandler got busy when The Outta Place LP came out on Midnight Records in 1984... After a few weeks we integrated The Raunch Hands and The Slaymen into one group and we had 10 songs total, 5 originals and 5 instrumental covers, enough to play a full show. We learned "What I Say" and " I Got a Woman" (The Maddox Brothers and Rose's version) to make it 12 although the group was better writing originals as they weren't at the musical level to do cover versions very well. We only saw The Savages about a year later when we played with them at Irving Plaza and they made us look like fools. We had to have a special band meeting the next day and we decided to play faster with more R and B screaming and sax and promised we would never let a band step all over us like they did that night.

What's the story behind Raunch Hands appearance on Back From the Grave Vol. 3? Was it a Tim Warren's joke or an attempt for making the Hands more known?

Well Tim loved us and knew Tchang and Chandler for years and I guess he was hungry for new bands and we fit the bill. We had just recorded our first 3 songs and he flipped out. I owe a lot to him, he really changed my life.

Did the Raunch Hands borrowed their name from Link Wray?

No. Vince came up with that as PJ Proby did a single under the pseudonym Jett Powers with Vince Parle and The Raunch Hands called " Go, Girl, Go" so he named us after that one-off single.

I'd like to know any worth mentioning untold stories from the Hands and Devil Dogs life. By the way, on the Dogs fist LP you've been credited as additional musician, when you officially joined the band? 

There are too many stories to tell and with time it gets difficult to remember..What happened was when Tim did The Bad Music Seminar "Music Festival" in NYC he was the first to bring Billy Childish to the USA... Billy  agreed to record the Double Naught Spies, The Gravediggers and The Rat Bastards at Coyote Studios out in Brooklyn, Those 2 records came out but The Rat Bastards (who later transformed into The Devil Dogs),thought the recording was too trashy and lo-fi sounding, Tim got me to try to remix it, but they still hated it. So I went into the studio with them to re-record the LP and after a few days the group split into 2 as Pete didn't think Andy saying "Fuck" on the songs would get played on the radio. This was my first real production job after a few songs by the Raunch Hands and we were all in a panic. As guitarist Pete Ciccone left the group but the drummer, Paul Corrio, (the group always had Italian/Americans or Jewish guys in it. Sometimes we disagree, haha) stayed on just to finish the recording and me and Andy overdubbed the 2nd guitar parts as Pete didn't want to be on the record. They had a gig booked the following week at The Pyramid Club as The Rat Bastards and they were going to cancel as they didn't have a drummer or second guitarist- but as the engineer Albert Caiati from Coyote Studios was a great drummer and I was a guitarist we said "Hey- keep the show, me and Albert can play with you (Steve and Andy)" as we had been listening to the songs all week. So that was the first Devil Dogs gig after they changed the name from The Rat Bastards. As I was a member of The Raunch Hands I didn't want to be in the photos or credited as guitarist to avoid confusion, but I did do all the gigs with them and several European and a Japanese tour with them and played on most of the Crypt records up until they did "Saturday Night Fever" as a trio. I stayed in the band but Albert didn't so after trying out a few drummers we took on David Turetsky who was previously in The Headless Horsemen and Justin Trouble.

Are they any unreleased recordings from both bands with you playing in (or not)?

Yes, but as we can't get authorization from the other  group members to release them they remain on cassettes I have at home and there are some great moments that unfortunately the public will probably never hear it. Tim paid for the sessions, maybe someday he will release them, if he gets permission from the "artists" haha...

So you're telling me that there are somewhere Rat Bastards recordings still sitting unreleased in some drawer or something that been produced by Billy Childish and remixed by you? Wow! I thought that session never took place.

Yes-Billy wrote Suck The Dog, Hosebag and Pussywhipped on the spot. The titles came from American slang he heard as it was his first time in the USA. The group played them a few times and record them a few hours later.

I guess I’ll have to ask someone from The Mummies about it, but you know why you’ve been immortalized on these loonies song? Has anything to do with the rejected recording by Tim Warren?

Tim flew me out to San Francisco to record them. I guess they were a little disappointed as they wanted Billy Childish but Tim wasn't paying to fly him from the UK. I had never met them and they weren't particularly friendly when I did. They wasted a lot of time and said their guitarist Larry was in Utah on vacation, so we didn't get much done except recording on 8 track in a cold warehouse a couple of days. We really didn't get beyond recording about 10-12 songs which I didn't have time to mix. Tim paid for a finished LP, which he didn't get and wanted a more guitar oriented punk record with less organ and less 60s retro garage sound which they didn't seem to agree on. As much as their fans really love them I thought they were extremely unwelcoming, gimmicky and didn't really have any anything but stupid costumes and a lot of show. I don't think Tim rejected them so much because he didn't like the songs, which were OK. He felt they were problematic to work with which was my impression. I'm not sure if I was "immortalized" but happy someone disliked me enough to write about me. Good or bad response to something is always better than being ignored.

Speaking of your work as a producer, you’ve been behind the desk for countless garage punk and R&B/Soul outfits; tell me the main reason that got you choosing this as a post-musician job. Tell me also the recordings you enjoyed the most working as an engineer or a producer.

Well, after The Raunch Hands split up I had already started moving more towards producing... I was tired of the touring and being in 2 groups that were always on the road. Plus I started to develop a problem with the nerves in my hand and had difficulty playing.

The most memorable sessions and groups were The Phantom Keys (done in a house in Galicia), all of The Limboos stuff I did. Recording Sonny Burgess in Spain, live in the studio in one day. New Bomb Turks was a great 2 day session. Los Assdraggers another fast, fun and really drunk session and The Devil Dogs sessions were always a blast, I like when we are all having fun and laughing in the studio and working without any doubts... Recently Nervous Shakes from Brussels was a great session.. Fun and laughs all day and an excellent record. The best sessions always are the groups that do their job well as musicians and let me do my job as a producer and we can all relax, drink and have a good time without it feeling like work... stuff that just comes together fast and naturally. I don't show up with an attitude, so I don't expect to get that in return from anyone I work with-don't care if you are a "star" or a 15 year old kid making his first record. I treat anyone who is not full of shit with respect and would like the same. I currently moved to Valencia and am starting to play live again with a group called O.J.O. after swearing I never would get on stage again. But like smoking or eating, playing music is a tough habit to quit. And why should you quit something  if it gives you pleasure no matter how bad it is for you? Haha.

I know you’re hipped as me to the idea of different pressings with different mixes by bands. Which are the most interesting you ever crashed on? Are you a Mono or Stereo pressings fan btw and what's the reason behind this?

When I was working at Venus Records in NYC in 1984, I remember record collectors discussing mid 60s mono pressings had different mixes than the stereo pressings. For a few years records were mixed completely differently for the 2 formats and in some cases sounded quite different.Later we started realizing that European pressings of USA bands USA pressings of UK bands were also very different as the EQ curve standard (RIAA/Teldec/IEC) was different. You must remember that the master tape had to be sent by mail across the Atlantic, then they would be mastered and pressed in their respective country. These masters were often 2nd or 3rd generation analog "safety masters" 1/4" tapes (it was too risky to send the first generation mix tapes by mail-they could get lost or damaged) that could also sound different depending on what machine they were recorded and what machine they were played back on. With all of these variables pressings in various countries sound different. "I Can See For Miles" by The Who is a good example. It was pressed as a 45 (which also sounds different from the 33 RPM LP version) in about 8 different countries and they all sound a bit different and also sometimes the speed is slightly different. And the quality of the vinyl also accounts for a different sound. Chess LP vinyl was not that great so sometimes Chuck Berry records sound better on the French pressings.Also of course the artwork and photos differ from county to country, along with the track sequence. The Rolling Stones "Between The Buttons" US has different songs than the original UK version, and there are stereo and mono copies from both countries that sound very different. The vinyl made today, 60% of like sounds like shit and better in digital if you listen with the right equipment.

I need to know your thoughts on Tim Warren and Billy Miller. I believe they are as important to rock'n'roll as many artists and bands.

That's true. Their impact on bringing unknown artists and obscure styles of rock and roll is overwhelming. Not only as fantastic people and great friends they educated a lot of bands after they started putting out compilation records in the 1980s. They turned the unknown  losers into the heroes. Their endless search for the weird, the different, the craziest records every recorded that no one seemed to have known about certainly changed my life along with many others. Being close to both of them, also in a band with Billy and being Tim's "technical and production support," haha, was a blessing. I am very lucky to have been around them and still talk to Tim all the time.

Tell me a few bands that you wish had you as a producer.

Most of the bands that are currently active that I like I have worked with already but new groups are coming all the time. I am currently talking to Barrence Whitfield and The Savages and The Peewees about doing some records in the future and I like and respect both bands. I would have loved to do The Deadly Snakes or 68 Comeback when they were around but never got the chance. I wanted to do The Rolling Stones but without Charlie, I wouldn't do. I would maybe work with Keith on a solo record but not on Mick's next solo record. Now you tell me a few bands that would wish they had me as a producer! I bet you can't.

Haha, The Sonics are the first that comes in me mind. They're still great fuckin' dirty oldmen, aren't they? I'll definitely handed you the tape of L.A.M.F. also for a possible upgrade sounding reissue if I was sitting on the band's rights. The Coyote Men or Teengenerate were some bands taylor made for you also. There are many man. So, any recordings with you as a guitarist in The A-Bones?

No, I left before they recorded the first EP. I gave the job to my college friend Bruce Bennett who stayed with the group the whole time. I was getting busy as the Raunch Hands started making records and touring I couldn't be in both bands.

I'm sitting on an unreleased LP by Los Primos, Andy gave it to The Thing fanzine editor back then and Demetrius passed it to me too - he knew I was such a big fan. What happened and this one stayed in the can? I believe it's still one of your best productions. Tell me more about this band, they're definitely underrated. 

During the last Devil Dogs tour of the USA (I had already left the band) Andy met Candy Del Mar in L.A. Steve and Andy were having huge fights and Steve left to play with The Vikings and some other projects. Joe stayed with Andy and Candy came in then they used Pete Linzell as sax player as he was free, The Raunch Hands had already split up. They came down to Austin to record with me at Sweatbox and left me to mix it after they went back to New York. After they heard the dry rough mixes I did for a month they hated the final mix i did, they said it had too much reverb and effects and wanted it to sound dry like The Ramones (?), which was weird because they were moving away from punk into almost Brill Building/Bert Berns /Raspberries/Glam kinds of songs, so they remixed that at Coyote in Brooklyn... A few of the songs came out on 2 singles then Andy and Candy started fighting with Mighty Joe and threw him out of the group. They brought in Ron Salvo on Drums and Steve Greenfield on second sax and called it Andy G and The Roller Kings and a 10" was released. As far as I know, these are Andy's last recordings before he disappeared.

Are you still in touch with the other surviving Raunch Hands guys? 

We wrote to each other after Michael Chandler died, then we kinda lost contact.

Have you ever met Johnny Thunders or any other form the Dolls/Heartbreakers gang? 

Yeah, only Johnny and Walter. Walter was very nice, cultured and funny, he a a Wall Street job during the day and enjoyed going to the opera. A real gentleman. Johnny on the other hand was funny but somewhat dangerous. Me and Stevie Baise saw the last show he ever played shortly before he moved to New Orleans and died. He was hanging out at the Pyramid club after he had gotten back from playing in Europe. Jack Tragic was working there and talked him into playing an unannounced show (surely for drug money)... I think there were less than 30 people there, It was on a Tuesday, unannounced. He played good but physically he looked terrible, really sickly with almost green skin. Johnny loved The Senders (and why not? they were one of NYC's finest) and he would usually turn up at their gigs and play "Daddy Rolling Stone" with them. One night around 1990 it was a freezing winter night with snow and he showed up at the Continental Club near St. Marks and played with them. The "backstage" of The Continental was in the basement, where they kept the stuff for the restaurant which they tried to serve some kind of "food" in order to avoid paying the bar tax or something. Anyway we went backstage after the show to say Hi  and Johnny was doing cocaine of the top of a guitar. He asked us if we had a joint and Stevie did so we smoked a joint with him then it was getting late like 6 AM and we were getting ready to leave. Johnny had on this big vintage overcoat and as he stumbled up the stairs he bumped into the bouncer and 2 frozen chickens fell out which he stole from the freezer. The bouncer grabbed him and threw him out the door into the snow. Pretty typical Johnny. David Jo and Sylvain were always nice guys, David was cleaning up with his Buster Poindexter lounge thing at the time. He was playing a lot at Tramps and being somewhat professional, avoiding the rock and roll scene.

A last one, what's your thoughts on the so-called 80s garage revival? Any bands you dug except of The Outta Place?

There were pretty good groups playing at The Dive near Midnight Records at the time. The Tryfles, Vipers and Optic Nerve were both OK, but a little soft. Fuzztones always bad and silly, Lyres always great. Chesterfield Kings didnt move me too much...

Cheers mate!

Heartbreakers 'L.A.M.F. - The FOUND '77 Masters' for RSD21

 You're welcome!!!

Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020). He was black, gay-drag, extremely flamboyant and he played raw assed rock'n'roll in the heart of the 50s US south. If that's not PUNK, then what tha fuck is it?! Without whom...

 

Various Artists - "Copy Cats, The Originals" (WAIL TAPE 03)

Johnny was a very cool person. Even as a kid. He knew his shit about how to get dressed to kill and of course he knew where's a cool song when he heard one. From the New York Dolls days to the Heartbreakers and the later solo period, his mind about music was always on the right track, chemistry couldn't kill this. A steady diet of Rhythm and Blues, Rock & Roll (even Surf) was always there. That's why Johnny was such a cool motherfucker throughout his sort passage on this world. He wasn't a cool cat, he was born a real cool cat.
The "COPY CATS" LP with long time friend, Patti Palladin was perhaps the last cool thing he'd done. A set of "oldies" toons (hahaha, I hate the term, fuck it, this is the devil's music man), when most of them were totally forgotten and "uncool". He was a revivalist in its purest term. Not unlike what the Chesterfield Kings did back then or the Tell Tale Hearts, but instead for the Nuggets comps and the USA garage teens' 45s, Johnny and Patti look on the basis of rock & roll music (OK, they have gone for Sky Saxon and The Seeds but no "Pushing Too Hard" here, sorry folks). They picked on Elvis for instance, but they were so ahead of their time to chose not a Sun Records song or a hit but a forgotten piece of motherfuckerness from a movie, man!!! I mean, who else did that except maybe for the Cramps? They chose the King of the New Yawk streets, Dion. They could have chose a well known Little Richard or a Chuck Berry hit or even a more smart ass one but fuck no, they went for Screaming Jay Hawkins' voodoo shit or The Chamber Brothers!!! Anyway, I guess you get what I'm trying to say, right? So here's the easy way to hear them originals all gathered up for you listening pleasure.

Till next time, faithfully yours

Mihaleez