Thank You Jesus

Just got my long awaited Showmen record in the mail. In the liner notes, the lead singer Norman "Cricket" Johnson (later of Chairmen of the Board) names Jackie Wilson, Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, and Ira Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds (above) as his favorites.

September 2012 Music

The Ba-Benzélé Pygmies - Hindewhu (Whistle) Solo 
The song that inspired Herbie Hancock's Watermelon Man. Play it for your dogs, they'll love it.

The Blenders - Don't Fuck Around With Love*

The Brooklyn Allstars - I'm Glad You're Mine

Count Ossie - Bongo Man
Wow! Rasta modal jazz! From AllMusic: "The foundations of reggae and its association with Rastafarianism were established by drummer, percussionist, and vocalist Count Ossie (born Oswald Williams). Together with his band, the Mystic Revelation of Rastafari, Count Ossie combined African-influenced music with the European hymnal tradition to create a unique sound that inspired everyone from Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus and the Skatalites to Bob Marley & the Wailers and Toots & the Maytals." 

The Darling Dears & Funky Heavy - I Don't Think I'll Ever Love Another

David Bowie - Memory of a Free Festival (Alternate Album Mix)
In case you wanted your Memory two minutes longer and echo-drenched. 

Flying Lotus - Sultan's Request // Putty Boy Strut

I Roy - Tougher than Tough
For the past 18 years I thought the sample was "This is Ralph and Tony." 

Jackie Wilson & LaVern Baker - Think Twice (Version X)*

Jimmy Smith - I'm Gonna Love You Just a Little More, Baby

Lucille Bogan - Shave 'Em Dry*

The Meditation Singers - Good Old Gospel Music // Trouble's Brewin'

Motörhead - Overkill

Nora Dean - Ay Ay Ay

The Rivingtons - Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow

Tito Puente & His Orchestra - Hit de Bongo

* These are all from WFMU's smutty music post.

Additionally:

A never aired half hour performance of 1969 David Bowie for German television:


Strippers in space:


LA is a trippy, funky place:


A Prince look-alike contest! Make sure to see kid Prince at 2:53


Boutique-era Beasties on Soul Train with an added verse rapping about Don Cornelius!


Scientist remixes What's Going On:

LargeUp: Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires was released in 1981 and then a year later, Michael Jackson’s Thriller came out utilizing some of the same B-Horror movie sound FX and samples. When you heard Thriller, what did you think?

Scientist: [Laughs] You really want to know what my honest opinion was? The composition is good. But I really wish I could get those tapes of Thriller to really make Michael Jackson–hear how he really sounds. Here’s what the gospel truth is: Thriller is a form of electronic music that came out of reggae. I am a person who created hi-fidelity and set the standard and the benchmark. So when I hear Michael Jackson’s music–to people in that time, because it was new to them, it was like “Wow,” but I could hear all the defects. Just like I could hear all the defects in Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” song. The whole world knows that song. But when that song came out about the same time, I could hear all the weakness that Motown was putting on it, because people never heard that music in any other way and they grew up listening to it like that, they believe that’s what it’s supposed to sound like. The evidence is when you go back and listen to the exact same track that I remixed–it’s just a rough mix–the original mix comes nowhere near to it. The same exact instruments. Reggae is what set the benchmark for these other genres. It’s not the other way around like what people who are trying to confuse the world to think. Remember, Jamaica’s the place where a recording console became an instrument.