Handy Man (aka Vermond Chryar) - The Adventures of Handy Man CD 1996

Hello my friends, it's been a while since I posted and I have a whole slew of items to put up, I mean the chest is literally overflowing at this point so I figured I would just start at the top and go down.



First up. Legendary Texas rap cd by Vermond Chryar AKA The Handy Man. Adventures of Handy Man was released in 1996 on a private label. Handy Man got his name because he is disabled and in a wheel chair. How gangsta. The music is pretty great actually, the his delivery is really interesting, the lyrics kind of go to some dark places sometimes too. Standard Texas G-Rap stuff with 'live' instrument bass and keyboards of course, like all good Texas G-rap. This predates crunk (thank goodness) and owes most of its style to the godfathers of this genre, UGK. In early Texas rap you either have the UGK sound or the Ghetto Boys sound, that's a mass oversimplification but it works, and this is much more the former. The cd is quite rare, and though the songs all play thru, the CD had a number of small scracthes and the case was cracked, it still fetched a cool 80 bucks but I was hoping for  alot more, but I guess understandably it was not quite an archive copy.  This album really never comes around though so be happy and enjoy this rare treasure. On a side not, I also found the original Street Military - Aggrivated Rasta EP from 1991 (I was flipping out when I found it) and when I got back home (I just threw it in my bag with a bunch of other rare rap cd goodies from a thrift store) I opened it up hoping it wouldnt be scratched, and WHITNEY HOUSTON is staring back at me, damn, what a rookie mistake, didnt even check, and now inside this 300 dollar legendary Houston cd with Klondike Kat and others, instead is the previous owners' sisters' lost Whitney CD. Oh well, atleast I got handy man.

Handy Man (Vermond Chryar) - Adventures of Handy Man. 1996


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Plus bonus tracks from unknown hip hop at risk youth project (high school level) from Austin TX,
Tribes - Covered in Red.
Unknown 3 track cd from 1994 that has a couple hip hop tracks and a freestyle/dance track made by the students int he program, its actually really quite good for being produced by amateurs.

The Crowns of Glory - Won't It Be Grand (Peacock LP)

A nice gospel soul/funk album in a slightly more traditional style than some of the more popular Peacock LPs that have made a resurgence with the gospel funk genre, but it is quite good and I rather enjoy the more soulful less funk side of gospel anyway.  I couldnt believe this wasnt available anywhere and it needs to be heard so even tho it is somewhat major label I felt the need to post this. For any gospel fans or soul fans out there you should definitely get this. It's really a damn shame how much incredible gospel music was recorded from the 50s 60s 70s that has been out of print in all forms since its first release. There are probably 50+ extremely good records on Peacock and Songbird alone that deserve rerelease.Also there are some really great moments and bars for sampling in peacock albums, including this one. Sometimes even great drum breaks that havent been used, but usually just a stirring sample passage. check it.

Crowns of Glory - Won't it Be Grand LP

Michael White - Where Are You Now LP

The first full length LP I am featuring from my recent comp, it is actually not technically speaking a Christian album, it just has one Xian themed track. Really it is just an excellent, previously ungoogle-able 80s soft-rock/folk-rock LP of the highest caliber (for the genre), and I happen to think it is quite good myself actually, though yes 70s folk rock is preferable but there is something nice about the crystal clear mellow yacht vibes of 80s soft rock ya know? $200 value and this was a sealed copy when I bought it so the sound doesn't get much better. Enjoy.

Michael White - Where Are You Now

Records from the comp on EBAY

Hey, just letting you know that some of the records featured in the compilation are being auctioned on EBAY under the seller name Tilly1774. Also there are 3 or 4 others that are going to be featured in the Bonus track comp that I am working on, so you will be ahead of the curve. But be ready to battle, because there are some extremely dedicated Japanese collectors that seem to bid up the good 80s Christian records into the upper atmosphere, IE Turning Point selling for 356 dollars and M&M Co selling for 450. But, that being said, a lot of these are unknown so there is a chance to snipe them for good prices. Enjoy. Oh and I will be featuring some full LPs of all sorts soon. LOOK OUT.

TILLY1774. (awful seller name I know but I inherited it.)

NEW COMPILATION: Boat Shoes and Mustache for Jesus (An 80s Retrospective of Collectible Christian Soft Rock)

The Xian Yacht Rock Compilation is complete! Get it now and feel the wonderful ocean breeze bristle through your mustache, and take a minute to think about how lucky you are to have a yacht with a cassette deck. Captain and Tenille eat your heart out, now these guys know BOAT SHOES and JESUS.

Well friends, it has been a long while since my last post, and I have finally accumulated enough rare Christian Soft Rock/AOR records (the majority have never been heard before or if so were sold by me on Ebay), to put together the compilation which I've talked about for quite some time now.  I've come to realize that my specialty in the crate digging game is Xian rock of the mid 70s to late 80s era. I don't know if this is because it is an untapped genre in my region that few diggers are out there looking for, or if I just have some strange knack for it, but the demand for them worldwide is very high. Regardless, I've unearthed quite a list of these guys that have not been heard and have gone for good money, so I thought if it's that popular why not comp all of the best songs from the best and rarest releases.  And, it is kind of the next logical step from my previous comp, the Paler Shade of White, which was a suburban disco/boogie comp that had much success. The next comp I featured was more of a mini project (Jerry Curls For Jesus) and didnt rely as much on my own digging as on others, so it was not really an official HeadLamp Shovel Presents compilation, more an interrum project. The current comp, Boat Shoes and Mustache for Jesus, does not have quite the universal appeal that 'Paler' did, but I suspect it will be even more endearing to the few that really enjoy the sounds of obscure Michael Mcddonald and Hall and Oates wannabe's. Yes I have these albums and I will be putting up a few in full as I go and there are many other albums I considered that were not included, I will release some of those as bonus tracks soon. (album pictures are in .rar)

*Okay I have decided since this is a fairly large comp and thus a large file to download, here is a sample of what youre getting, this is a sample of a track by Turning Point, this is the general style of the comp:



Boat Shoes and Mustache for Jesus (An 80s Retrospective of Collectible Christian Soft Rock)
Link to comp^

TRACK LIST:

1. James Mckenzie - Live Again
2. Turning Point - The Sacrifice
3. Michael - Blue Bird
4. Brown and Jackson - So Much Stronger
5. George Nasif -Don't Let The Devil
6. Jim Schmidt - Love Has Taken it All Away
7. Sound Advice - Caleb
8. Turning Point - Loving You
9. John Mcclure - New Song
10. Michael Gonzales - Eternity
11. Don Wallace - It's Not So Hard
12. Byron Peden and Jericho - Didn't I Tell You That
13. M & M Co - Devoted To You
14. Jim Tucker - Serious
15. Sound Advice - Imagine
16. Davis Pedigo Band - Fire
17. Michael White - Let Me Stay


*Here are the Albums included, a picture of 'John Mcclure - Finally Headed Home' is not present because it was a late addition and I haven't taken photos of it yet because my camera is being borrowed. .

Fabulous Friends - Hard Enough (Budweiser Records 1983)

Well things have been going really well for me lately, found a crate of rare NY indie rap records from the mid to late 90s, sold my metal cassette for 120 bucks and my UGLY WANDA metal cd for 175 on ebay. Found a copy of HAIR - 31 Flavors. and this wonderful, wonderful modern soul item on Budweiser records from 1983. This is from the radio station V103 out of Houston, TX. Very few of these pressed up, wish I could find more they sell for 300-500 bucks. The back side is blank.

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I also thought this record auctioned on ebay recently was pretty awesome, its 90% of the entire track but it is missing the very tail end :(
It is by Winston 'Flook' Richards and the Blue Rhythm Combo - Eatin' Corn. From Barbados. This has to be the most expensive Carribean Funk 7" sold on ebay in a long long time. Whoever found this is a bad ass. I've found lots of calypso/carribean/funk/steeldrum/soul items and they mostly aren't too impressive, I did find some great 50s era 78s but as for 7" carribean stuff, it is very rare to dig up something as blatantly funky as this.

NEW COMPILATION! Jerry Curls For Jesus and The Heavenly Amen (rare gospel boogie of the 80s.)

Well friends, it's been a while since I have posted anything so I figured I would do something big, I've been promising a xian yachtrock soul comp for a while, and it is still in the works, but untill then, how about the other side of the spectrum... Gospel Boogie! I have a mild obsession with the genre, actually all forms of gospel music, but the synth-driven danceable funk of the early-mid 80s black gospel artists is hard to beat, and there are some hugely expensive records out there, many of which are on this comp, though I am still avidly searching for THIS... 1730 dollar 80s gospel? yeesh. Anyway, there are a few good gospel boogie comps out in blogoland already, but this particular comp, though brief (8 tracks), has some killer artists that you can't find anywhere else out there! Including tracks from Majesty - Deliverance (1984 Morada records), which is a 1200 dollar record itself. Speaking of, here is the track listing and link...

 Jerry Curls For Jesus and The Heavenly Amen (Rare 80s Gospel Boogie)...

1. Calvin B Rhone - I Believe
2. Majesty - You're Number One
3. The Gospel Seekers - Never Gonna Give You Up
4. Soul Liberation - Touch Me Again
5. Joy - The Time is Right
6. Majesty - Jesus is The Best
7. The Gospel Miracles - Building Up Myself
8. The Last Generation - Just a Chance at Life

(photos of each artists album are included in .rar but here are some to entice you.)

Hello all, info, an imaginary comp, and an update.

Hello, the auctions are going well, I have decided to put together a compilation of all the best tracks from my giant collection of rare and 80s christian smooth pop/yacht rock/disco LPs, (Turning Point just sold for 315, huzzah!) instead of posting all the vinyl up here because it would take forever and most of these only have one or two good tracks anyway.  So yeah, look for to that coming ASAP.

And now more immediate items.... I have here a compilation which I have had sitting around as an idea for a little while but as I have been able to track down a whopping 3 songs from the list the idea has been scrapped, but here are some of the albums I am looking for to create this wonderful 80s African juju-synth-funk compilation, the main artist behind the genius tracks that have yet to be comped and featuring a style like nothing else I've heard is the inimitable WILLIAM ONYEABOR. The man is a genius. Everyone knows his classic album 'Atomic Bomb' but very few are familiar with Crashes in Love and Good Name. The only thing I can compare the production style to is certain RD burman billywood soundtracks but its so much more than that. So anyway, I will give you a couple sound clips from Good Name, and then show you the album covers.  I have all of Dizzy K's discography, he seems to be one of the few artists on here whose music can be tracked down easily. Of extreme desire to obtain is the N'Draman Blintch - Hit Track Self-Destruction LP, if you have this please let me know.

 (update while writing this, a fellow has made a tribute comp to william onyeabor! hurrah! tho my comp would only have 2 tracks by mr. onyeabor, it is good to see that someone has made a comp totally devoted to his unique genius. Find it here: http://dailyleftover.blogspot.com/2009/12/tribute-to-william-onyeabor.html 


William Onyeabor - From Good Name:


Abidjan City Breakers!

 Dibson and Essody!

 Dikoto Mandengue!

 Eko!

 Ipa Boogie!

 Jik Emmy!

 Jimmy Semyah!

 Kg Band (Kiki Gyan)

 Kio Amachree!!!

 Mixed Grill!

 N'Draman Blintch!

 Sidiku Buari!

 William Onyeabor pt 1!!!

 William Onyeabor pt 2!!!

Charming Charlie!

Francis the Great! (just look at this cover, my goodness. it even says the words "negro phasing" ? And the music is bubbling synth funk madness.

William Onyeabor - Anything You Sow (clearly this cover would be the cover to my compilation. It describes precisely what the music therein would contain.)

First round of ebay auctions up, more to come

User: tilly1774

Lots of interesting and unknown xian items and soul/funk/modern stuff too. Much more to come hopefully. Ending Sunday.

Andrew E - Ober Da Bakod (The Ata Kak of the Phillipines... Almost.)

Andrew E remixes 'other movie themes' for us in freakishly weird Filipino hip-house/techno-hop/mickey mouse club meets ata kak and skeelo without a rabbit or a hat. This is somewhere between Genius and Joan Rivers on bad acid, and it's probably a hell of a lot closer to the latter, but it did kind of remind me of listening to the crown king of weird foreign cassettes, Ata Kak, for which all other bizarro tapes aspire to and fail miserably.  But until Ata puts out his second album, little treats like this will have to do. Check out his awesome 90s Sonic the Hedgehog shirt! And how interesting is his MC-ing in hybrid filipino/english.  And like Ata Kak he also has a random female voice that does completely unnecessary choruses in English, again, the Ata singers are way better. So theres just one thing left I wanna know... what films are these fantastic scores from and where can I see them?

I've decided to go ahead and post all the tracks up on here so that you can check them out before downloading a rar, because i really think this needs to be heard immediately. It's not beautiful lofi techno brilliance like Ata Kak, the comparison is not in quality, but in style and theme, and even that isn't a perfect analogy by any means, but as I am always on the look out for something like Ata, this is the closest thing I've got yet, the main difference being that it lacks earnest love songs and some mental illness.  So here are the tracks.

ROW FOUR: MANDURUGAS: PIN TSIK: IKANG MISS UNIVERSE: OBER DA BAKOD: ANG BOYFRIEND KONG GAMOL: LOOK ALAYK: KOOL ISKOOL: Which is the best? Which is the worst? And is the worst the best? A Paradox.