And then it was whittled down to this. I’m pretty pissed, actually, because I could’ve sworn I left the house this morning with a completely different set of discs than the ones that are sitting in front of me right now. For insteance, “Lady Don’t Tek No” by Latyrx might be one of the greatest outdoor jams ever conceived (complete with handclaps), but I grabbed the first Quannum disc instead. I wanted to put some Augustus Pablo up, and I walked with the Pioneers. And lastly, I wanted to put up some Hound Dog Taylor, and I have Koko Taylor. Granted, these discs are all similar to each other in both sound and alphabetic placement, but still I have no idea how this happened. I guess it doesn’t really matter. Blame the metal I’ve been soaking up this week.
Also, RIP Desmond Dekker. The man was a genius and deserves a fully stocked cloud with fixtures and everything.
Anyways, I’m looking forward to this weekend with great expectations. Not that I should be, it will more than likely turn out to be just like every Memorial Day Weekend I have (small town on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake, drinking a lot of beer with old friends, bonfires on the beach…and heavy grilling), but a) it’s the first vacation I’ve had since New Year’s day and b) that’s exactly what I want to do, so buzz off. I’m still weighing the Ween show on Sunday vs. Soul Position vs. a party at a friend’s in Delaware. I’m leaning towards the middle, but who knows.
Moving on, I had a big spiel about the AWESOME movie “Over the Edge” that I wanted to get into today, but I’m busy as hell and I wanna get this thing posted so someone actually sees it before leaving for the weekend, so maybe later.
This song is from said Pioneers disc that I accidentally brought in. It’s a great song and uplifting enough that I’m comfortable with the mixup.
“Let Your Yeah Be Yeah” – The Pioneers (YSI link)
buy Long Shot Kick De Bucket: The Best of the Pioneers here
This song is an old cover played very fast and remarkable upbeat. It’s a great “getting ready to hit the weekend running” song. It was on a mix that someone I don’t really know gave me a few years ago, and it’s pretty much remained a staple of my preferred listening since then. Hope you like it. I’ve never heard anything else by this band, but if this track is any indication it’s probably worth picking up.
“Stormy Weather” – Reigning Sound (YSI link)
buy Time Bomb High School here
I’m not gonna mention doing anything without finding a Louis Prima song to go with. This song (a duet with Keely Smith) is just the right mix of swinging (not that swinging, jerk) flirtatiousness and hip-shaking that it’s hard not to subscribe to anything that isn’t puppy-slaying or mourning.
“Hey Boy, Hey Girl” – Louis Prima (YSI link)
Buy Capitol Collector's Series here
Finally, I wanted to close the deluxxe grill master series with a track from the album that inspire me to do it. This is James Brown at the utter peak of his game, with the greatest backing band ever assembled (I’m pretty sure I said this a few weeks ago about some other band on this very blog) just stoking the fire. I remember reading somewhere that Catfish Collins’ greatest gift was that he played the guitar like it was a drum. It didn’t make sense to me at the time, but hearing the solos he whelps out it all clicks together. It’s a rhythmic instrument in his hands, when so few other guitarists would ever thinkg to even consider it as such. Anyways, this is the version of the JBs that pretty much abandoned him to follow George Clinton soon after this recording. I can’t even imagine how pissed James was at the time, but it seems everything worked out in the end.
“It’s a New Day” – James Brown (YSI link)
Buy Love, Power, Peace here
Well, you've now gor a soundtrack for firing up the grill and cold beers. Use it wisely. Apologies to the The Poets of Rhythm, Stan Getz and Charlie Byrd, the Skatalites, Langhorne Slim, Augustus Pablo, Latyrx, Dave Brubek and all of the other artists that join me at grillside so often, we’ll set something up later for y’all. Have a great weekend, everyone, and don’t take any wooden nickels.
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