Mike’s Bs

Songs (in no particular order)

1. Carla Bley—”3/4“
2. Brothers Johnson—”Strawberry Letter #23“
3. Tony Bennett—”I Left My Heart in San Francisco“
4. Bon Iver—”Flume“
5. The Bee Gees—”Nights on Broadway“
6. Bonnie Prince Billy—”I See a Darkness“
7. Johnny Burnette—”Train Kept a Rollin’“
8. Beck—”Lonesome Tears“
9. Anne Briggs—”Go Your Way“
10. Kate Bush—“Mother Stands for Comfort”
11. David Bowie—“Heroes”
12. Toni Braxton—“Un-Break My Heart”
13. Lindsay Buckingham—“Surrender the Rain”
14. Buffalo Springfield—“Mr. Soul”
15. Buzzcocks—“Everybody’s Happy Nowadays”
16. The Byrds–“What’s Happening?“

Albums (in no particular order)

1. The Beatles—White Album
2. Kenny Baker—Plays Bill Monroe (“Lonesome Moonlight Waltz“, “Brown County Breakdown“,  “Jerusalem Ridge“). Totally transcends genre, but “progressive rock” works as well as “bluegrass” as a genre descriptor.
3. Richard Buckner—Bloomed (“Desire“, “Blue and Wonder“). One of the great guitar records of all-time, no percussion on the album, just a whole bunch of acoustic strings that makes you wonder why anyone country bothers with drums, a voice that resonates in your bones, and lyrics as true as anything this side of Dylan.
4. Anthony Braxton—Willisau Quartet (not online)
5. Tim Berne—Diminutive Mysteries (Mostly Hemphill) (not online)
6. Harry Belafonte—Swing Dat Hammer (“Bald Headed Woman“). As far from the light calypso/pop confectionary that dominated his career as you can get. Here are classic and incredibly obscure chain-gang and work songs. Tender, delicate and sensitive (Diamond Joe, Another Man Done Gone) to impassioned and powerful (Rocks and Gravel), Belafonte sings with incredible sensitivity or strength throughout, a perfect setting for his remarkable voice. Soul shattering.
7. Black Sabbath—Paranoid (“Fairies Wear Boots“)
8. Jack Bruce—Harmony Row (“Can You Follow?“, “Escape to the Royal Wood (on Ice)“, “Folk Song“)
9. Beach Boys—Smile (“Surf’s Up“)
10. David Byrne—Music for The Knee Plays (“Tree“, “In the Future“)

I love this theme, but when I started searching for supergroups, I realized that I don’t like any of them apart from Cream – and they’d have been better without Clapton. So here’s my slightly-cheaty list which includes pre-fame-collaborations and one ‘featuring’.

1. Hurdy Gurdy Man (Donovan, with session players John Bonham, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page from a future Led Zeppelin)
2. Over The Top (Motördamn – brief team up between Motörhead and The Damned)
3. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen (Ronnie James Dio, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath, plus metal super-session player Rudy Sarzo & Simon Wright)
4. Flavor (Jon Spencer Blues Explosion featuring Beck and Mike Diamond from The Beastie Boys)
5. Get The Message (Electronic – Bernard Sumner of New Order, Johnny Marr of The Smitsh with Neil Tennant & Chris Lowe from The Pet Shop Boys and Karl Bartos of Kraftwerk.)
6. Yer Blues (Dirty Mac – John Lennon of The Beatles, Keith Richards from The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton of Cream and Mitch Mitchell of the Jimi Hendrix Experience)
7. I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll  (original demo version by Joan Jett with Steve Jones & Paul Cook of The Sex Pistols)
8. As You Said (Cream – Jack Bruce and Eric Clapton of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers and Ginger Baker of Graham Bond Organization )
9. Shake Appeal – (Vicious White Kids – Sid Vicious and Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols, Rat Scabies of The Damned, Steve New of The Rich Kids and Nancy Spungen – other line-ups for Sid’s live shows included Mick Jones of The Clash and Jerry Nolan of The New York Dolls)
10. We Love You (The Rolling Stones plus an uncredited John Lennon and Paul McCartney of The Beatles)

 

Brent’s Supers

This one was tough as I had a bit of trouble defining SUPERGROUP in my head. Whenever SUPERGROUP is mentioned I always think of Blind Faith, Derek & The Dominos, etc….either that or King Crimson and Pere Ubu (aren’t all incarnations of Crimson/Ubu SUPERGROUPS of a sort?). No straight Jazz here as I’m not sure it applies. Anyway…here goes:

1) Carla Bley/Paul Haines/Michael Manter

Tropic Appetities (Cast) – Indonesian Dock Sucking Supreme, Caucasian Bird Riffles

Escalator Over The Hill (Cast) – Businessman, End of Rawalpind

The Hapless Child (Cast) – The Remembered Visit, The Sinking Spell

Not Jazz, Not Prog, Musical Theatre perhaps? I find these recordings such great fun!

2) Venomous Concept –  Infest

Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Danny Herrera (Napalm Death) Buzz Ozborne (Melvins),Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth, Primate). Guest appearance (front row in baseball hat…Bobby)…I was wise enough to stay the hell away from the pit.

3) Jack Bruce/Bill Lorden/Robin Trower –  No Island Lost, Into Money

Power Trio…I admit it…I love me some Robin Trower.

4) Centepede (Cast) – Septober Energy

Keith Tippett’s conglomeration of pretty much the entire Canterbury scene.

5) Slapp Happy/Henry Cow –  Riding Tigers

6) League Of Gentlemen – Minor Man, Dislocated

Robert Fripp (Crimson), Barry Andrews (XTC)

7)  Cato Salsa Experience/The Thing/Joe Mcphee –  Who The Fuck, I Can’t Find My Mind

Nuff Said…

8)  The Styrenes – All The Wrong People Are Dying

Gut…Wrenching…

Cleveland amalgamation of Mirrors/Electric Eels/Pagans etc…this track includes Cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm as well.

9)  Rova Saxophone Quartet & Nels Cline Singers –  Trouble Ticket

Ok…Maybe one Jazz outing here 😉

10) Macha Loved Bedhead – Believe, Only The Bodies Survive