Harmony in My Head Broadcast Notes for 12-06-04

I hope you enjoyed tonight’s show and I’m really sorry we couldn’t get Heidi to come in but like I said, she had a bad sore throat or she would have been right there battling me every step of the way. Hopefully, we’ll get another chance to have Heidi “The Racket” May come on.
Some of you may have seen the premier episode of my TV show Henry’s Film Corner on IFC last Saturday night. If you did, you no doubt cannot forget The Racket’s thrilling moments on screen. I was in a room full of people, cowering in a darkened doorway watching people watch me and not surprising, it was The Racket who got the biggest laughs.
In any case, I have picked these songs with care and do hope you enjoy them. I don’t know if I will be able to make a show for next week as I might not be able to get the time and my Sonic Jihad Brother X might not have the time to give to me. So, please enjoy this one and know that if next week’s show is a re-run or something, that it’s only because I’m hanging out in the most land mine infested country in the world, that little slice of heaven . . . Afghanistan!
I am looking forward to going back there. I have a lot of questions about the Soviet-Afghan War and the Mujahideen that have come to mind since the last time I was there and hopefully I will meet up with some people who can give me some interesting information. There hasn’t been one USO tour I’ve done yet where I didn’t learn a lot that I couldn’t have with books or watching the news.
In any case, I hope you enjoy the show. There’s some interesting music tonight. I hope it doesn’t put you off. Thanks. Henry

And now the star of the show—the music!!

Markus Kelly and the Impassions – Pushin’ to the Top: From the Midwest Funk: Funk 45’s from Hurricane Alley CD on Jazzman. This was suggested to me by one of our wonderful listeners who basically said if I didn’t have this, upon hearing it, I will wonder how I got along without it for so long. Well put. I don’t know anything about the bands but the songs are amazing. Check it out if you get a chance.

Birthday Party – Hamlet: Live in Bremen Germany 1982, from my collection. What a band, what a song. I got to see the BP once, 03-30-83 at the Roxy in LA. They killed it. To this day, that I got to see them still makes me feel lucky.

Bernie Worrell – Muck Thrust: From the All the Woo in the World album. Not all that often referenced when considering all the P-Funk alumni recordings. I got this years ago in Japan, 1992 I believe. A few years ago, I saw Bernie playing with Bootsy and the stage-right side-fill monitor fed back really loud right into his ear. It was painful to think of what that felt like. It happened again and he waved at Bootsy and walked off. If you had a dollar for every amazing song Bernie’s played on you would be rich.

The Groundhogs – Cherry Red: From the very fine Split album. Ian MacKaye turned me onto this band. We were in a record store some years ago and he was picking up a live BBC recording of the band. He suggested this record and another, Thank Christ for the Bomb. He wasn’t wrong. This is heavy duty gear.

Malaria – How Do You Like My New Dog: I know what you’re thinking. I do. You’re thinking, “How Do You like My New Dog? Why don’t you play the rare b-side off the single, Pernod?” Well, my astute komrade, I would but there’s not a turntable in the building. Not on our floor anyway. So, you’re stuck with the not-so-rare a-side which is still pretty cool. Malaria, an all gal band out of Berlin was very surprised to hear that I was a fan of theirs many years ago when I met a few of the members. Still more surprised when I told them how much I liked the LP of their split-off band Matador called A Touch Beyond Canned Love. Still out of print and only on LP. Someone should re-release that one.

Chris Haskett – Mr. Twisty Wants His Car Wreck: From Mr. Haskett’s album Language. Guitars and effects by Chris, voice by the great one himself, Joe Cole.

Scott Walker – My Death: I know, what took me so long. I’ve got Scott 1 and Scott 2 and the album where he sings Brel. Past that, I don’t know much about him or his recorded output. Someone turned me onto him many years ago. I have to think Bowie and Ferry have spent some time listening to this guy.

Ute Lemper – Die Kleptomanin: A lot of people remember her as the really hot looking woman who was in the musical Chicago at one point. Many years ago, someone gave me this Ute Lemper record City of Strangers. I really dug it and went out and found some of her other stuff and listen to her on occasion. She’s a singer’s singer. She’s been singing the real stuff forever. I don’t play this stuff all that often. I don’t have the ear for it to really appreciate it but it’s still great.

Alan Vega – Cheenaroka: From the great Dujang Prang album. I wrote the Great Vega recently asking of his activities as of late and he wrote back to list several projects and shows happening. Alan is the real. He never quits and his passion for his work has never taken a dip.

The Fall – The Birmingham School of Business School: From the Code : Selfish album from 1992. This album and the one that came before it, Shift-Work are both excellent a great period of a band that well over two decades old and shows no signs of slowing down. http://www.visi.com/fall/

Wolf Eyes – Stabbed in the Face: Thankfully it’s a great track and a great album because with a title like that, chances are I would have played it anyway. The brutal noise unit’s newest, it’s out on Subpop. First album I heard of these guys was Dread, that’s a great one too. Worship from a safe distance.

Count Ossie – Oh Carolina: From The Mystic Revelation of Rastafari two CD set. The vinyl on this one’s really hard to find. I was in a record store in Maine years ago and heard this album being played and asked the lady behind the counter what it was. It sounded like Sun Ra meets Lee Perry. She said it was Count Ossie. She had a copy of the 3LP version and I got that. She then played one of his other records, Tales of Mozambique, that’s a great one as well. She didn’t have one to sell me but I eventually found a copy in Holland. The CDs of these records are out there but not that easy to find, at least not when I went out looking. You might want to check Gemm.com if you find yourself interested. Here’s a cool website that has info on the man. http://www.xs4all.nl/~jahlevi/theo/ossie.html

Dorothy Love Coates – I Won’t Let Go: This is from the Precious Memories: Favorites from Gospel’s Women of Song on the Peacock label through Universal. This is part of a great series of great gospel CDs released a few years ago. Early Aretha, Mavis Staples, etc. Ms. Coates has a voice that will not quit. The whole series is great. If Britney and Christina got in a fight, who would win? Satan. Duh.

Ian Shoales – White Lies: The great man/myth/commentator/astute social critic weighs in. If you dug this, you might want to check out his not so easy to find I Gotta Go CD, where the man and his pulverizing intellect lets loose.

Gene Defcon – Hollywood Hamburgers: Another hit from the Come Party with Me 2000 available from the wonderful folks at K Records. www.kpunk.com. I see that last week I listed the album as being called Parry with me 2000. Pardon my typos and all.

George Crumb – Departure: From Crumb’s Black Angels (Images 1) played by the Concord String Quartet. I heard Crumb’s Four Nocturnes (Night Music II) on NPR on KCRW in 1984 and went out on limited budget to find more. All I could find was the Black Angels piece by the Concord String Quartet. Black Angels has been done a few times since and I have never heard the other versions. Perhaps I’m missing out on a better rendering of the piece and I don’t know if I would be able to tell if they were any better anyway so I’m sticking by the Concord gang. I only caught up with the Four Nocturnes again two years ago and a happy reunion it was. Here’s a website for the man: http://www.georgecrumb.net/crumb.html

The Notwist – The String: I got this by kindly asking my Sonic Jihad Brother X (SJBX) to turn me onto some Notwist stuff. He lent me this 5 track promo from the band’s 12 album. I think this disc is the added 2nd CD when you get the import or something. I don’t know anything much about the band but I liked the EP and liked this song a lot so here ‘tis.

Eddie “One String” Jones – The Dozens: One of our many friendly Canadian listeners suggested that I check out One String if I had not already. I had not but her description made me think that I should so I did. Can’t find much on him and the CD wasn’t in print but here’s a site that has some info if you’re interested: http://www.mustrad.org.uk/reviews/1_string.htm

.

Thanks for listening.