Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas

As you may know ARC is building a Brasilian/Brazilian Collection.  Now if YOU are building a Brasilian/Brazilian Collection, I think the next record you should get is Brazilian Guitar Fuzz Bananas, Tropicalia Psychedelic Masterpieces 1967 – 1976. (Tropicalia In Furs, USA, WPFC TIF 102, 2010).  This was put together by Joel Stones, our pal over at Tropicallia In Furs, New York’s best (only) Brasilian/Brazilian record store.

Bananas is a deluxe two record set, with a 3-D cover, appropriate viewing glasses, and a 48 page booklet insert providing details on all the source material in English and Portuguese.  The discs sound wonderful and the illustrated booklet gives a bit of history and the inside scoop on the dogged tracking down of the sounds.  You may think you’ve heard it all before, the soft sambas of the past, or those now-sound tinkly elctrobeats.  Brace yourself.  This is psychedelic, fuzz guitar, acid 60’s rock-solid+sloppy, loud, proud, funky druggie music.  Like a good table set in Salvador, there’s plenty to eat, but you don’t know the names of any of the fruits.  And occasionally there’s a bit of sand in that last bite.

Cuts are taken exclusively from elusively available, mostly promotional Brazilian seven-inch singles. It was a time when Brasil was in dangerous flux, but a mere dictatorship couldn’t stop folks from creating great pop scrambles, like Celio Balona’s take on the Batman theme, “Tema de Batman”, or Mac Rybell glow in the dark version of the Stones’, “Lantern”.  Not that all of these songs are covers, but a visiting scholar, Tom Cvikota, noticed that “Som Imaginario De Jimmi Hendrix”, may begin with a Experience-like crescendo, but is an unaccredited cover of the James Gang’s, “Funk 49”.

ARC regularly trades with and shops at Tropicalia.  Sure it’s predictably colorful, and fun, and Joel is cute and lovable and knowledgeable – but go anyway.

Tropicalia In Furs, 304 E. 5th St., New York, NY 10003, near Second Ave in the East Village.  Open, more than likely, late afternoon into night.  Call to make sure: 212-982-3251  No webthing.  So just order it from Joel.  Say B. sent you.  $20 for the discs, and $6 for shipping and handling.  There’s also a documentary on the enhanced CD, What Are Fuzz Bananas, which highlights the hunt (hey Joel, where’s the ARC copy?)

Today I took two friends to buy copies.  Last night Fred, Beco + B (the Dino, Desi and Billy of crate digging) spent a few hours at the store and returned with these fine, finer, finest vinyl’s – first the Brazilian+ world, then other assorted:

• Joao Bosco.   Galos De Briga  (RCA Victor, Brasil, 103.0171, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1976)

• Victor Assis Brasil.   Toca Antonio Carlos Jobim  (Continental, Brasil, LP 0-46 411 068, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1981)

• O Pequeno Burgues.   Azes Do Samba  (Cartaz, Brasil, LPC 5062, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• Erasmo Carlos.   O Tremendao  (RGE, Brasil, XRLP-5.306, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n)

• Cartola.   Pranto De Poeta, Serie Documento  (RCA Victor, Brasil, 130 0058, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1989)

• Manâ Do Cavaco.   Martinho Da Vila Apresenta  (RCA Victor, Brasil, 103 0068, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1973)

• Dori Caymmi.   Dori Caymmi  (EMI-Odeon, 31C 064 422899, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 88)

• Nana Caymmi.   Renascer  (CID, Brasil, 8016, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, Mid-70’s)

• Maria Creuza.   Pecado  (RCA Victor, RCA, 103.0306, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1979)

• Carlos Dafâ.   Malandro Dengoso  (Warner Bros, Brasil, BR 26.036, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1979)

• Djalma Dias.   Nno Faéa Drama,,, Caia No Samba  (Som Livre, 403 6050, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1974)

• A.C.Jobim.   Matita PerÉ  (Philips, Brasil, 6349071, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1973)

• Ed Lincoln.   A Volta  (Musidisc, Brasil, HI FI 2088, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, –)

• Lord Kitchener.   Hot Pants  (Trinidad, Trinidad, TRCS 0002, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• Machito.   Machito Goes Memphis  (RCA Victor, USA, LPM 3944, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• Ruy Maurity.   Ganga Brasil  (Som Livre, Brasil, 403.6127, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1977)

• Marilia Medalha.   Caminhada  (RGE / Fermata, Brasil, 303.0017, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1973)

• Sencion Minaya.   Y Los Quisqueyanos  (Madely, 116, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• Marilia Medalha / Vinicius De Moraes.   A Caneno E A Voz De Marilia Medalha Na Poesia De V  (RGE, Brasil, 303, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1972)

• Paulinho Nogueira.   Moda De Graviola  (Continental, Brasil, 1-01-404-110, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1975)

• Cir Pereira & Jaime Santos.   Avante Brasil  (ACS, Brasil, LP 002, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d)

• Jair Rodrigues.   Abra Um Sorriso Novamente  (Philips, Brasil, 6349 120, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1974)

• Claudette Soares.   Gil, Chico E Veloso Por Claudette  (Philips, Brasil, R-765 021 L, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1968)

• Elza Soares.   Elza Negra  (CBS, Brasil, 1 38184, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1980)

• Raimundo Sodre.   Massa  (Polydor, Brasil, 2451 144, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1980)

• Sparrow (Mighty).   Sparrow Come Back  (RCA Victor, Trinidad, LPB – 3006, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d. [1962])

• Zimbo Trio.   Zimbo Trio Vol, 2  (RGE, Brasil, XRLP-5 277, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, –)

• Nana [Vaconcelos].   Amazonas  (Philips, Brasil, 6349 079, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1973)

• Marcos Valle.   O Compositor E O Cantor  (Odeon Brasil, MOFB-3413, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1965)

• Vanusa.   Vanusa  (Continental, Brasil, SLP-10 156, 12”, vinyl disc-Lp, 1974)

• Veloso, Caetano & Chico Buarque.   Caetano E Chico Juntos E Ao Vivo  (Philips, Brasil, 6349 059, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1972)

• Caetano Veloso / Gilberto Gil.   Tropicçlia 2   (Philips, Brasil, 79339, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, 1993)

…and here’s the other odds + ends we got…

• David Robert Jones  [ David Bowie ].   ChangesThree  (GRACE, AZL1-1984, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Arnett Cobb.   Sizzlin’  (Status / Prestige, ST 7227, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1961)

• Julian Dash.   A Portrait of Julian Dash  (Master Jazz Recordings, MJR 8106, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Davis, Eddie “Lockjaw”.   Cookbook Volume 1   (Prestige, 7141, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Davis, Eddie “Lockjaw”.   Trackin’  (Prestige, PR 7271, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Freddie and the Dreamers.   You Were Mad for Me  (Columbia, UK, 33SX 1663, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1964)

• Ron Goodwin.   Music in Orbit  (Captiol, T 10188, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• The Harmonizing Four.   Tommie, Lonnie & Me  (Atlantic, SD R026, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1970)

• Hollywood Saxophone Quartet.   Jazz in Hollywood  (Liberty, LJH 6005, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Carl Holmes & the Commanders.   Twist Party at the Roundtable  (Atlantic, 8060, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1962)

• Harlan Howard.   To the Silent Majority, With Love  (Nugget, NRLP-105, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Richard Hayman.   The Era of Cleopatra  (Time, USA, S 2080, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp, n.d.)

• The Jet Black’s.   Twist  (Chantecler, Brazil, CMG-2.184, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• King Curtis.   Azure  (Everest, LPBR 5121, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1960)

• B. B. King.   Blues, The  (Crown, CLP 5063, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Brownie McGhee & Sonny Terry.   Guitar Highwway  (Verve Folkways, FV-90919, 12″, vinyl disc-Lp     , n.d.)

• Houston Person.   The Big Horn  (Muse, MR 5136, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1979)

• James & Bobby Purify.   James & Bobby Purify  (Bell, BELL 6003, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Reno & Smiley.   On the Road with Reno & Smiley: Songs Truck Drivers Love  (King, 911, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Reparata and the Delrons.   1970 Rock & Roll Revolution  (AVCO Embassy, AVE 33008, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Shorty Rogers and His Giants.   Shorty in Stereo  (Atlantic, SD 1232, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Sonny Stitt.   All God’s Children Got Rhythm  (Prestige, 7248, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Sonny Stitt.   Come Hither  (Solid State, SS 18057, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• Al Wagner and his Philharmonic Strings.   £12 English Sterling – The Music of Randolph Adcock  (Soundscape, , SRC 33700 P, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, n.d.)

• The Who.   Pop History Vol. 3  (Polydor, France, 2673 007, 12″, vinyl disc-2Lp, n.d.)

• Sondra Williams.   Hark the Voice  (Atlantic, SD R003, 12″, vinyl disc-LP, 1967)

But You Need An Electron Microscope…

There are some great things to see in Ohio.

Having eschewed a junket to see Cleveland’s Rock’n’Roll Hall of Fame when it first opened (knee-jerk reaction when I heard that they used funds from the Ohio school system.  Nice summary here ) I finally took the plunge.  It’s only an hour from the ancestral homestead (Poland, the first city of the Western Reserve), so why not?  Best thing was in the Springsteen exhibit, seeing all the handbill and fliers and promo activities it took to get his early band, The Castiles, off the ground.

The main reason for my CLE visit was to see the new Rock Hall Archive being set up by Andy Leach, the Director of Library and Archives. The new 22,500-square-foot facility is housed at Cuyahoga Community College, set to open in May 2011.   Andy had visited ARC last fall, so it was my turn.  I wasn’t the only one anxious to get in, as recently a passerby fired a few bullets into the glass façade.  Have a look at this swell building Columbia University – see what a Community College can do!  Inspired?

The Music Library and Sound Recordings Archives at Bowling Green State University occupies a Soviet era building on a bleak campus, across from a new arts building, with hopes of some architectural largess coming their way soon.  The man in charge since the late 60s is Bill Schurk, a good soul.  He’s still enthusiastic, curious, engaged.  Amid the manageable piles are trash and treasures, souvenirs and curiosities, in one of America’s great popular music collections.  The hall-walls are lined with paper ephemera and the main room a constellation of 45s dangling from the ceiling. They’ve managed to make an institutional space fun, while remaining on good terms with the fire marshal.  I got a tour and ARC donated a book we knew they didn’t have, about channeling wisdom from Gerry Garcia.

Other hotspots on my summer tour included Youngstown, OH and Ann Arbor, MI.

I attended Michigan (12 credits short – still waiting for the honorary degree) and had not been back for more than 20 years.  We visited friends and had wonderful food @ The Earl Restaurant. When last in AA the Earl was just starting up, Dominoes Pizza and Borders Books were small local businesses and the football stadium held a mere 100,000.  Lets just say it’s more of a party school these days, but it’s no longer the Rainbow People’s Party.  Pre-Earl party dining meant a visit to the Jolly Pumpkin Brewery for a heralded Belgian style ale, which they were out of.  Drove 500 miles and told to try the local supermarket – nice marketing savvy!  Always in stock is the annual bumper crop of helpful interns from the University of Michigan School of Information. For the past few years these students have come to the ARC in NYC as part of their alternative Spring Break Program.

As a student my breaks were rarely alternative, and one job I had in AA was setting up chairs at Canterbury House, a way to hear music for free.  Canterbury House was/is run by the Episcopal Church, and beyond its value as an important venue for more than 50 years, they also co-sponsored the very first Ann Arbor Blues Festival.  Big on Canadians (work cheap? Nearby? Great artists?) meant that I was lucky enough to see early gigs by Neil Young (Sugar Mountain set) and Joni Mitchell.

My tenuous Youngstown (Poland is a suburb) music connections were explored in an earlier blog, so lets just mention Charlie Staples Bar-B-Q.   Ribs here are as good as anyplace out East, and many down South. I stock up on their unmarked, quart size, Ball-jarred hot sauce.  But it means going to downtown Y-Town, a region few from my burb have ever visited.  This is the lone speaker in the beautiful formica-ed back room they will never see…

But YOU can see the room, and sample the Q, when you visit Y-Town next September for the opening of “Ronnie Wood: Paintings, Drawings and Prints.” at the Butler Institute of American Art. Mrs. Butler once lived in Poland and taught me to draw.

Ton o’ Tomes

Today we honor David Hinckley, of the New York Daily News. David has, over the years, contributed mightily to ARC. Unlike MOST critics, David neither sells nor hoards the swag and promos the recording industry sends his way. He reviews and comments on what he likes, promotes what he can, keeps what he loves the most, and then, generously, passes on piles and piles to us to fill in our collection. When we get third copies of things we sell them off. This in turn, helps keep ARC alive.

This year, as the promos dwindle to a precious few (because of electronic press kits) well, we get fewer and fewer new CDs donated. So David, feeling low that 328 CDs that he dropped off seemed a little ‘light’, culled his bookshelves for 261 good books to donate.

Aside from the simply odd, the simply odd and wonderful, the essential and the tossable (which we would never do) there were quite a few we really needed.

David added 48 books on the Beatles to our already catalogued 513 on our shelves. As always, Elvis was a close second, followed by Stones, Bowie and Dead (a law firm you can trust.)

One nice duo we’ve never seen was First Pressing , a two volume set of “Rock History as Chronicled in Billboard Magazine” compiled by Galen Gart in 1986 and published by Big Nickel – one of our favorites. Ringbound, and covering the years from 1949-1952, these oblong wonders attempt to summarize the newstories that did and didn’t matter. Looking at Oct 1949, we learn that Sensation Records, out of Detroit,“…recently resumed pressing after dissolving its contract with King Records, [and] is returning strong in the race field…” with releases by John Lee Hooker, Milt Jackson, and Wild Bill Moore. Well, try googling ‘Sensation Records” and you’ll wear out your mousearm by the time you can get to any real info on this indie long-gone. Did we mention there’s a reason we save, use and need books?

Look for a nice stack at our sale, as many are third copies. And not only should you come by [buy] and shop, but consider donating materials if you have any similar antiques, like records, CDs or books cluttering up the home or office.

SUMMER RECORD + CD SALE
20,000 discs’o’joy for sale @ great prices!
Sat June 7 – Sun June 15
everyday 11-6

ARChive of Contemporary Music
54 White Street • New York City, 10013
3 blocks South of Canal between Church + Broadway
Take the #1 train to Franklin St, or any train to Canal
tel : 212-226-6967 • e : arcmusic@inch.com • url: http://www.arcmusic.org

We Knew That

Sarah Lyall, in The New York Times, 3/4/08, reported:

“A plot by the Hells Angels, … in 1969, to kill Mr. Jagger nearly 40 years ago failed when the would-be assassins, traveling by boat, encountered a storm and were thrown overboard, according to a new BBC radio series. In one episode of the series, ‘The F.B.I. at 100,’ a former F.B.I. agent, Mark Young, said that Angels became enraged in the aftermath of the Rolling Stones free concert at Altamont. During the concert a fan was stabbed and killed by the Angels, who had been providing security for the Stones. The Stones then distanced themselves from the Angels, which made the Angels angry with Mr. Jagger, the program said. “They were going to kill him in retribution for his firing their security forces,” Mr. Young said in the program, the BBC reported on its Web site. “Their plan involved making entry into his Long Island property, going by boat. As they gathered the weaponry and their forces to go out on Long Island Sound, a storm rolled up, which nearly sunk the watercraft they were in, and they escaped with their own lives.” Mr. Young told the program that the botched plot came to life much later, in the course of a wider investigation into the Angels’ activities… A spokesman for Mr. Jagger said he would have no comment.”

We could have saved them a lot of trouble in uncovering this plot, if only they had done some research at the ARC first!

One of the many rock pulp paperbacks, this from 1977, at the ARC.