Welcome ye fare forwarded voyagers to my humble abode for all that is under appreciated in the world of recorded music. I specialize in the past but the current is certainly not completely ignored either. I hope you will find a gem or two before you mosey on down the road. I mostly post recent finds from my digging expeditions across the land, but occasionally I will post up random things as well. -Transpac Jackson
Who would have thought the Temple High School Stage Band "The Highlighters" would be so damn funky? This is their 1974 3xLP release, and I'm only upping the Pick Up the Pieces track for now. Which is a Bobby Timmons song that Average White Band made pretty huge, if I am remembering correctly. But the album has quite a few winners on it, including the synth backed Epitaph of a Dying Planet, a complex big band jazz fusion with amazing intensity. If you know central Texas well, of all places, Temple was the last I thought would have such left field and complex funk rhythms. Check the saxophonist and Drummer's mad high school band talent. Also, this track is much better at really high volume, because it was probably recorded with only 1 or 2 microphones. Yes they start getting a little bit loose toward the end, and I have heard a few tighter high school bands, but over all for this not getting any blog time or internet/collector appreciate, it MUST be brought to the masses!
I don't normally post this kind of thing, but I have to jump on the Ata Kak band wagon for anyone who has not yet had the pleasure of listening to this gem of a tape, posted by the glorious Awesome Tapes from Africa blog. Below is a link to the site, and it's hosted on a few other blogs now too. One thing I would really like to clear up, and I need confirmation from Awesome Tapes, but there is no fucking way that this tape is from 1986, I have a plethora of reasons but number one is the production, yes it sounds 80s esque in style, almost more like 88-92 to me, but the equipment sounds mid 90s to me. I dunno maybe I'm wrong, but Jesus if this tape is really from 1986 it may actually be the best album of the 1980s, and that's no joke. I think the "1986" dating comes from Awesome Tape's comment "It sounds so home-made, funky yet spooky, like a warped Prince protege from Africa by way of 1986 Chicago." Which is a description not a dating. I think the tape is "fairly" recent, I dunno say the last 15 years. In fact, even over at rateyourmusic.com they have an entry for this tape as 1986, and its made it to the 456th ranked album from 1986, and yet its not even from 1986...? yet another mystery surrounding the awe inspiring life of Ata Kak. I would pay 500 dollars to meet this man and $2000 plus airfare for a concert, no shit. And I bet I could find some really rich folks that would pay even more, so Ata Kak, if you are out there, I hope you are getting rich off this genius work. I have to say, I was more impressed by this tape than I was by the first time I listened to Hi How Are You. Maybe not a fair comparison, but really, is Ata Kak not Africa's Daniel Johnston of Dance music? Anyway, here is a nifty link to everything that Awesome Tape's has about Ata Kak, and PLEASE WATCH THE SECOND VIDEO by Rei Helder, it is mind blowing.
JACK ADKINS - AMERICAN SUNSET (1984) boink records. Recorded in Tampa, Florida.
Private press 500 copies. This album is like nothing I have ever heard before, or will ever hear again no doubt. TRUTH is definitely the most standout track, quite haunting. American Sunset sounds like the Gentleman Losers but 20 years early, and then Sunset Beach sounds like Mantronix and the Gypsy Kings locked themselves in a studio with a lunchsack full of peyote. If that wasnt enough Hurts to be a Hero throws out all your expectations and launches out on what could be the soundtrack to an 80s cyborg film starring Klaus Kinski. A couple of the tracks are less interesting country tinged folk rock weirdness with a drum machine. Jack plays all the instruments himself and then layers them up in the studio. Except he brought someone in to lay down the awesome Linn drums. This record is a perfect representative of why I love crate digging so much. Maybe I'm crazy and this record is really awful I dunno, but it certainly blew my mind when I put the needle down. In the words of Jack: Mind equals ship, Truth equals fuel: have a nice trip.
Another fuckin incredible find this week! Here we have the ultra rare 1993 LP with custom inserts by New York graffiti legend REVS. On the back cover there is a scan of a newspaper police report detailing a great story about REVS and his crew going to bomb a subway car with a bad ass giant mural of Miami Vice when the cops showed up and started ganking everyone, except it would seem that one of the miscreant teenagers got away by hiding in the bushes for a few hours. Anyway, teenage graffiti pranks aside, the album itself is not bad. At times it's even pretty original/innovative/thoughtful whatever. Done in a Brooklyn Punk / Hardcore style with slightly art school edge and lots of ridiculous samples layered in, the LP is decided LoFi, and uses material recorded way back in 83 and then refurbished in the studio, but the majority I think was recorded somewhat close to 93, though again I'm not sure. It's not exactly something to put in your usual listening rotation, but I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. And anyway, this is a real piece of New York graffiti history and an interesting listen for the fans of punk and hardcore. The only other copy I can find recently got auctioned on Ebay and sold for around $300.00. It''s been a pretty good week so far. REVS - Just Stay Away (1993) No Label, New York, NY.
First let me say I'm not posting the entire album because you will never listen to it more than once anyway, because it's all about that one ridiculous track on this bizarro record. Don't know a whole hell of a lot about The Family Tree, they are from Minnesota I believe, and played in various clubs and weddings around Nashville. They originally sang bad country and soft rock covers, which there are 2 other LPs you can get on ebay right now and they are both cheap and truly awful. But sometime in the late 70s the Family Tree decided to get a little funky, as rock n roll was fading out and disco was taking over, I'm sure they got Barry White requests at a lot of weddings, so why not put a fully realized cover song of Never Gonna Give You Up on their last LP. And damn I am glad they did. This gem is quite rare, indicated by the signature of every person in the band on probably ever record they pressed, under 500 total I bet. Recently sold for $250.00 on Ebay, so this is indeed no joke. Not for everyone, I realized that, but for that certain record collector that's heard it all these kind of things are marvelous, and they will often sell like they are marvelous. It is also worth noting that I purchased this in a record store for .49 cents, a price that doesn't even exist normally in the store, but they were so horrified by it's existence (without listening to the whole thing probably) that they felt compelled to skip the dollar bin and besmirch this hideously beautiful stepchild with a 49 cent sticker. So without further adieu, Here is the Family Tree - Never Gonna Give You Up (1979)...
Update: sold the dave mattson finally, mainly out of curiousity to see what it would get. As you know I think its a really awesome and very underrated piece, theres still virtually no info out there on it, except that i did discover that mr. mattson went on to record an album on Word out of waco in the early 80s, a few of the tracks from here are on the lp but they are reworked in a most horendous manner. The record is in vg- condition and the cover was a vg+, so it wasnt in the best shape but it did sound pretty damn good still amazingly, I feel like after I cleaned it the sound got better so I will reupolad this at some point cause this one is a litttle grainy. Anyway in its condition it sold for 155 dollars, which aint bad considering, and the fact that it has no following really makes it surprising, but after selling it on ebay and getting it out there plus my blog hopefully people will become more aware and start looking for it. Its not as dark as some people like their private folk rock to be, but it makes up for that in lyrics and song structure. I think if it was in excellent shape and was in the hands of a guy like Show and Tell, itd have fetched 300 without too much trouble. Thats the way it goes though. Im atleast finally starting to get a reputation on ebay and get some frequent re-buyers and browsers, even though i only have a measly 175 sales. Keep the train rolin.
DAVID MATTSON and SAILOR : August Reunion 1975 (no label) Dallas TX
Musicians: Dave Mattson: Vocals & Guitar Frank Whitney: Bass Terry Rosen: Second Guitar Sailor: Drums, Vibes, Electric Piano, Guitar
Produced By: Randy Gill and David Mattson
I will say this, this LP has been listened to many times by the previous owner, so it sounds a bit worn. Also it is unfindable x10 in every way I have tried, a true obscurity. And it is a grower for sure, I mean at first I thought it was kinda average private folk that was a bit too John Denverish, but I am telling you there are certain tracks on here that I have listened to over and over again in my car and I'm really impressed with how much this album has grown on me. A very personal effort here by Dave and Sailor, at times sounding like Simon and Garfunkel, at times sounding like John Denver, and sometimes sounding like Elliot Smith and lots of new era folksy things but more 70s nature-y ethereal stuff. But some of the tracks are a bit soft and snoozy, so I really recommend / A2: Vancouver Bay A4: Holly Lake A5: Sail Me Away B2: As Long as I Do / for a quick listen, but the whole album is really good to listen to. And I think 'Sail Me Away' is my favorite track. Probably not everyone's cup of tea, but there is something special about finding a record in a pile of junk somewhere, thinking it might have potential, putting it on and liking it, then discovering its basically unknown to all but maybe 50 people on earth. So I'm probably biased somewhat in that, but if it were rubbish I'd throw it in the growing pile of all the unknown but utter shite in my closet.
Truly one hell of a find here, a devastating 12" single with 2 sides that are incredibly different in style yet obviously done by the same band, and both are incredibly good, which is rare on an obscure weirdo like this one. When I first heard that intro bass riff, and then the slammin almost no wave style synth blasts I was thinking my god, how could this not be all over the place. And then I flipped to skywalking and the homedun DIY sweet soul disco lounge modern soul skywalking only served to accentuate the question: How the fuck is this under the radar? Or am I just crazy? No popsike entry, no collector's frenzy entry, no Groovecollector entry, no discogs entry, no ebay for sale, no Gemm, no cdandlp, no musicstack, I mean occasionaly I will happen upon a 7" like Sugarbear that practically no one knows exists except a murmur among the most meticulous collectors of its possible existence, but this 12" just doesnt seem like that kind of thing to me. I know the group has atleast 2 other releases, both of which are known, one which is somewhat sought after. But they are both much later than this one, and this one blows them away by a mile. The DIY quirky uniqueness of this is at maximum level. And the skywalking side will really grow on you, while the mint at very loud volume makes for one hell of a ride. Enjoy this beautiful gem, this is what Digging for Diamonds is all about. And while I'm on that topic, I'd just like to say I didn;t give nough credit to the Alan Fitzmorris 7" I posted a while back, the guy on the kansas city rangers, I have still yet to find a TRACE of info on that release, and it is STILL one of my favorite finds of all time, truly great songcraft and a very unique dark acid folk meets hash rock. So if you havent got that one yet, go back and check it out, I'm also very astonished of that one too.
Found this awesome and surprisingly rare electro rap joint from 86 out of california on the Macola label, (it's one of the 2 hardest to find releases on the label) and sadly I decided to Ebay it but I did get $260.00 for it so I was pretty pleased. Anyhow, I upped the full thing in a rar for yas because there are so many tight instros vocals and accapellas I thought yall might want them all. Personally, I feel like Free Bass 9000 is the standout track on the 12" because it sounds like the kinda shit that El-P jams out to before dropping a wickid crunchy beat, I love how hard this sucker hits, and the A side; Sound Attack, is pretty rad too. Its kind of an exercise in DJ prowess, y'kno the synths scratching cutting and all that good stuff and with pretty tight vocals. Also I was amazed to see that the record had been signed by MC Bam Bam and Debonair Dimension "To JR Boy and Stacy", which is quite bad ass. Anyway, I highly recommend it for the oldschool and electro fans out there, I havent checked to see if its been posted to any other blogs yet but if so I doubt they have all the tracks so ENJOY! BANG YO HEAD LIKE ITS A.D. 9000
Excellent gospel album for those who really like gospel gospel stuff, not just soul or funk gospel, but the one track that is kinda soulful happens to be my favorite, I guess I could put up the whole LP but I figured the interest would be mainly in these tracks so I will stick with this for now. This is the Jubilee Hummingbirds - I feel the spirit LP tracks: Try Jesus. Glory is Coming. From 1977. Try Jesus is very heartwarming and quite a soulful track with great drumming too. Goes to show it doesnt have to be super funky to be great!
I was really going crazy when I first needle dropped this at the flea market cause it starts off massive and its completely unknown, but then like most weird unknown records 75% was not so hot, but it did really grow on me, and that one beginning track is still fire as far as i'm concerned, but I am really upset with myself for not ripping all the tracks from this before I ebayed it out, now I just have a 6 minute clip of samples from the best parts, but its unique enough I thought yall should hear it anyway. Go Bishop Smith!
And last but CERTAINLY not least we have one of the ultimate boner records I've found recently, and as it is technically gospel I thought this would be as good a time as any to unleash it upon you. This is 8 year old Patrick Dwayne Fortson the II. He writes and sings his own songs, and he is a mad player. I can only imagine how much PDF is ballin nowadays. The album cover is definitely better than the music, but it's kind of interesting too in a bad 80s way. Here's a taste, cause you cant handle this LP.
So there are many reasons why this record is odd, but I do like the minimal DIY ambient synth atmosphere approach of Calle Ornemark's Ballad of Glooscap, the poetry I could do without but in small doses it adds a cool element I guess, as it is only on a few tracks, the real winners are the first track Birds of the Sky, with its minimal synth experimental ambiance that really warms the soul in a way, and then the 'rhythm' pieces which are a nod to John Cage as Calle is using a self-altered custom piano to produce strange rhythmic notes that echo out into a weird organic yet mechanical soundscape, the whole album is very trance inducing. The poetry tracks, (the 2 longest I left out of the rar because trust me you dont really want them), are mainly just Calle reading a really earthy mystical Native American style poem in Swedish, and then a female voice reads after him in English translating it sentence by sentence, again freakishly mesmerizing but a little kitschy/ campy I guess. I still am not totally sure what Calle the Swede was going for, my best guess is a pseudo native American homage slash earth prayer warning ala koyaanisqatsi double LP with John Cage like experimental piano etudes, and Klaus Schulze like synth atmosphere, and some Swedish poetry in between tracks. There is some interesting stuff to read when you wiki Glooscap, but I just don't see the Swedish connection. I could not find a date for the recording, but I am guessing about 1977-1985. There is to my knowledge not a single mention of this crazy double LP anywhere on the internet, zero zip nada, though I didn't deeply research Calle Ornemark because I figure the money potential for this kind of thing is never that strong, so I will just enjoy it's weird obscurity until I find something out. Despite all the description I gave it isn't going to floor you musically, but it is quite well done for being a DIY experimental/ambient album.
Here it is, one of the holy grails of the modern soul world and produced and recorded right here in Austin TX. I really dig this track, it's from 1977, and it has the classic modern soul crossover funk sound that really represents what the UK clubs were playing in the 80s to present as floor friendly northern soul (which after about 1975 became modern soul, to mark the difference in era and sound, but still serving basically the same purpose for club DJs.) I don't know a whole hell of a lot about the background of John Calvin or Mary Williams, (probably no relation to Mary Lou Williams but the track she is on is a jazzy number) but I do know that Melvin Winn occasionally produced soul records for artists around Austin and maybe Dallas, and that he also produced another later soul/boogie record by Karizma that is also very good and equally rare, but worth about 150-300 dollars as opposed to Trace of Smoke which fetches 1000-2000 dollars in good shape. Treasure Mind is not only awesome it's a grower too, the first time I heard it I was at about 3.5 stars out of 5, but honestly I am at pushing 5 stars now, atleast for the soul 45 category, theres just something kinda otherwordly about it's lyrics, which are quite elusive, and the breakdown in the middle just levels me. Anyway, I am very thankful to the record gods for this one and I wish I could have kept it but the $ is too irresistible. Enjoy a real non cd comp copy of this, and I'm throwing in the U.R. side too, cause not many people have heard it.
YEEAH, more bad ass unknown texas rap. This is just the beginning of a whole treasure trove of bad ass records I have uncovered in the last month, the records in my ebay pile and blog pile have grown to the point of overwhelming me, I cant figure out where to start or which strategy to take in putting them up, but I'm not complaining about it. I have found some real gems lately, and I will start off with this lovely ELECTRO RAP powerhouse from 1988, out of Fort Worth TX, on Talking Horse records. Features 8 tracks, 4 original tracks on the Aside, all vocal versions, and on the bside there are instrumental versions of those tracks. These guys look so damn fly in that cover I can only imagine how much they were runnin shit back in '88. Each song is a bit different and offers something uniquely bad ass. The first is a great fast rap jam with james brown style breaks and good proto-gangsta lyrics, the second is a pretty good track that has a miami bass feel, the third track is some excellent lofi electro, and the final track is a great lo-fi love jam in the style of ll cool j, but perhaps even better. Oh and check out the rad beer stains on the cover, that only adds to the value in my opinion, kind of like blood on a civil war saber. The whole album is in a rar below.
Absolutely incredible record here. The mega DIY home made recorded in a shack out in the swampland by Famous L Renfroe on all instruments and filling in on much of the backup vocals too, a true master musician Famous L Renfroe has recorded here one of the most striking and memorable rural albums of all time. I wish I had actually found this but I got it from a blog a little while back, and I think they got it from a CD reissue that was very limited and laregely sold overseas, and even with the small CD reissue very few people know about this true gem of an album. Its gospel, its blue, its soul, its funk, its zydeco, its experiemental, its outsider, sometimes even psychedelic but it is foremost all that is FAMOUS L RENFROE. He spills his guts to god and belts out incredible guitar work for Jesus and I have to say it really gives me the willys sometimes when I listen to this at high volume in my car. Lovely piece here and I wish I remembered the name of the site I got it from but I thank you too. Also the picture is from a website without permission so leave a comment if its yours and you dont want it up, but please, share the joy of RENFROE! I have quite a few Xian records that I like but this and James Tatum - Jazz Mass, and D. R. Hooker - The Truth, are all at the top of the list. Also near those are Mary Lou Willaims - Mary Lou's Mass, and Trees - The Christ Tree, and Agape - Le Troisieme Seuil. And Maybe Soul Liberation - Who Are You? Which I will be putting up soon.
So most blog goers probably wont care much about late seventies private press alt country rock western swing stuff but I'm from Texas and I think its pretty bad ass, plus its completely unknown and under appreciated. So without further adieu here is the unknown mike cascio and justus band: equal parts jerry jeff walker, waylon jennings, bob wills and the burrito brothers... but extremely unpolished and whiskey piss drunk! Enjoy.
Amazing and uber rare 12'' here from New York on the Paradise label, Pardis003. Produced by Ossie Hibbert. 1986. Another incredible find this week, wished I could keep it but I just sold it on ebay for $320.00, but that kind of money is just too good to pass up. This track is one of the most sought after 12" digital dub records recently and it is so rare that there has only been 1 other sold on Ebay before mine, and that was pretty recent, so I think it was relatively unknown before about a year ago (no mentions on popsike or other auction sites). Because of the popularity of the dubstep movement records like this are going for huge prices and amazing tracks are being rediscovered all the time. This is one of the best I have heard, I also like Ackie's Rambo track among others, but Roland Burrell and Barry Bailey KILL it with their throbbing deep bass lines, icy synths with crisp linn drum production and great lyrics, but the real killer is on the Bside, where I presume Barry Bailey plays the trombone over the aforementioned track layed down by Ossie Hibbert. What? Spaced out trombone playing over stepper rhythms and deep bass digital productions? Yes Please. Enjoy this bad boy, you won't find it available anywhere else on the net, that's for damn sure. This bad motha is guarded among those in the know like fort knox or some shit. Full versions below, also for download. First the Vocal track, "Rip Off" then the version side "Gun Slinger"
In the last few months I've come across quite a few obscure rap/hiphop joints that I can't find out on the net so figured posting them would be a good idea, some i like more than others but I'm not going to discriminate, everything i found lately that isnt out there for listening I'm gonna put up. Enjoy the weirdness. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Slow to Speak - On and On 12" (1996)
First up is an indie rap record I found which I really like but sadly I did not take a photo of and it is no longer in my possession, so I searched the internet for about 15 minutes looking for one and there is none to be found, so at the least be glad that you have a chance to check this track out because it's very farking rare, and very much under appreciated. Classic beat production on this joint from Texas (I think) with a very un-texas sound, and although a couple of the mc's dont match the mood of the beat,l they are quite good overall, not the best lyrics ever but their cadence and flow is good, and it has a nice' old school abilities vs dissing' and violence style, the beat is great though. I wish i could find more about this group or the release, i think it has a hell of a lot of potential and its only draw back is that its approaching the end of the mid school era and stuff after '95 just doesnt sell for as much as a rule, but for '96 it still has the 93-94 sound and you can tell they have been listening to a lot of Nas and a whole other list of midschool names that i dont care to list right now. Enough of this though, just Enjoy it! +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Special Treat - It's a Treat 12'' (1992)
Special Treat is a group that had a couple singles it looks like, the first being from 89 or 90 and also having a love jam style, this one is much harder to find and practically no information exists on it. It's not that great but it is definitely interesting, the first track "baby it's you" is a real LL Cool J style sax and all jam that is fun but the second track is a little more interesting, "too much" has a nice break and some nifty rapping, still regarding a honey but it's more hip hop. Out of Houston, TX. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Al B. Bad - Half Pack EP (1994)
A personal favorite for its genre hopping, covering ghetto booty club bangers, miami bass explicit electro style, a conscious style ghetto track with the break from the biz markie song, that track is called "what i see" and you will like it's home produced real style or you suck. This crew is from Irving, TX and as far as I know has not released anything else, but who knows. "What I See" -- +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
RCU - Penitentiary Blues E.P. (1992)
RCU had a small hit with this EP in Houston, and they apparently released a full LP a year or so before this, which contained the lead track Penitentiary Blues, that being said the best track is by far "material things make you feel the need to get g'd" because of its Dr Dre/west coast funk revival sound that is kinda ganked but is still a bangin' track. The other 2 aren't bad either. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
God Complex - Seek & Destroy / Bust My Style (remix) 7'' (1995)
This is the early incarnation and first release by 7L and Esoteric, with Karma also, under the name God Complex. It's probably the best known of all these but I couldnt really find it anywhere on the net and it's interesting that the Bside is so superior to the Aside, both are quality tracks (produced by madsol) but "seek and destroy" is a really dope track, with a sort of dark and atmospheric wu-tang style beat and intelligent mid nineties lyrics somewhat similar to company flow style stuff, not quite as good as a lot of coflow but this is still 95 and it's damn good. "bust my style" is not as interesting and you could tell they were dumbing it down some to try and get radio play while their real efforts went to the bside. Obviously the label has held some truly great hip hop artists early stuff, like MF grimm, Mr Lif, and MF Doom. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lethal T. and Outcast- Lethal LP (1994)
Last up we have a full LP which I .rar'd for you, it's from San Antonio, TX and it was somewhat of a local hit when it came out in 1994, but has been lost in the annals of rap since then, being hard to find much about it aside from some web info on the group which is still active, it's a classic texas style gangsta rap LP sounding much like the privately done studio work from Houston at that time, lots of keyboard and some bass solos mixed with a little west coast funk some dark shuffling drum samples from the east and a lot of ghetto style drum programming to top it off, it gets pretty dense and atmospheric sometimes which impresses me a lot and the producer clearly had some musical background or impressive natural talent because for what it is, it's quite good in my opinion. I mean it's nothing revolutionary and its not the cleanest sound or pressing quality, the lyrics can get sorta weak soemtimes (though they have some great hooks) but overall its a fine piece of TX Gangsta Rap.
Here we have a rather strange post but i noticed my sports related finds had been growing in number recently, with a couple really interesting pieces regarding two of my favorite players.. First is a really awesome 45 by Tom Cantrell (with dink and the ooettes?) that pays homage to Earl Campbell as a Houston Oiler/Texas Longhorn, but mainly as a Houston Oiler, done in awesome 60s folksy style, taking after the song Big Bad John and rewriting it as a football song, its level of appreciation for Earl is almost homoerotic, just listen to the line about his sweat drenched and rippling thighs, also I would guess the 45 to be from the late 60s to mid 70ss but I dont know when exactly, no info exists on this release that I can find. Next we have my personal favorite by the Soul Funk legend Tony Lamar, who has a quite a few great 60s-70s releases in the soul funk category, all of which are quite rare, he was never a very well known singer, but he did a couple albums in the 80s utilizing the new studio based drum machine boogie sound of the time, this track is from 1985 out of california and pays massive homage to Magic Johnson, and the Lakers as a whole, again the track is almost homoerotic in its praise but it is truly a fantastic jam, with good lyrics that make you just kind of shake your head but at the same time respect the guy for crafting such a killer jam.
Bishop Lynch Jazz Ensemble - Self-titled. 1982. Dallas, TX. Directed by Joe Cardinale and Bob Quatman. Private Press High School Label.
I have been waiting to drop this for a while, I personally really dig it, and although obviously the stand out track is Tom Sawyer, there are interesting and sample friendly moments all over this record, and it really is an amazing level of musical achievement for a high school band. The drummer is amazing, and the guitarist isnt bad either, they do mostly complex jazz compositions, and yes a lot of it is in full big band style, but even those are pretty good, and they even employ a synthesizer on a few of the more rock oriented tracks. This is the full album, the last time I looked there was zero info out on this album and no blog posts either. I chose this over the 2 North Texas Jazz Lab Band albums I have because even though one has a bad ass cover, I really think this album is better, far more rare, and they are in high school! Turn up the Tom Sawyer track max volume and jam this motha out! * If you are with the aforementioned school or own the rights to this record, I am only trying to honor the musicianship and quality of your band program, so please let the world partake in this impossibly rare item and be happy it's out there, but if there is a problem or you want me to take it down contact me through the comments. I don't normally put any disclaimer but since it is from a well known and active school I will give you the opportunity to decide, and also let me state for the record that Bishop Lynch High School and associates DOES NOT condone in any way nor have any association with myself or the content of this website. The mp3s are from my personal album and are for preservation purposes only, if you download these mp3s and enjoy them, consider giving a donation to your local high school band program to support the continued development of young musicians.
We have here Michael Iceberg's first and only LP that was recorded live at his 100th week playing at Walt Disney, it is from around 1977 I believe, possibly a little earlier I can't remember. Genre-wise I would call it weird loner synth, half of the record is just bizarre demonstrations of the capabilities of his synth and effects setup, and another 1/4 of the record consists of covers of various songs, most are very well known songs and are not that great, but the last portion is his original composition with jam out session and even with a little bit of trippy vocals mixed in that just plain kicks ass. I am sad that I missed out on not being the first person to bring this record to the internet world's awareness but I only missed the boat by about a couple months, I found another blog, a very good one which I cant remember now, that had the record available for download. But, I have decided to leave out the majority of the record (it really isnt worth listening to more than once, and that just to see how weird and grating the whole affair is) and to only include the bad ass jam, which is about 5-6 minutes. I highly recommend this part of the record, the rest just doesnt stand up in my opinion, and I'm sorry I dont have the whole thing availble, maybe I will put it up later, but this is the real gem and this is the part I wanted to get out there to my 11 odd blog fans that I know are just desperately awaiting the next GEM! anyway here it is:
Bad ass electro remix of this classic song, it's got 3 versions on here, the first is a much longer dub that is completely re-done with much more bangin' and crisp drums, lush synth and a much more electro feel than the pseudo atmospheric dance feel of the original. Plus it has a remix with VOCALS! Very campy yes but to here a song written for the uber famous rainforest track is bad ass, by a group named California Jones no less. Also there is a silly sax remix that isn't very good but is interesting. Even has lyrics on the back, and a lovely waterfall to boot.
I include links in each post as either a hyperlink to a .rar that is held on divshare or rapidshare, or if there is a divshare player to listen to a track but no hyperlink to the .rar you can still download the mp3s from the divshare site if you click on the divshare button as they are all stored and ready for downloading as mp3.
