Bedazzled!:

The soundtrack of our lives...

(a tentative part one to a projected series from a personal selection of life meaning cuts... by Astro Le Mocker) :

Some of the music we listen to are evidently meaningful to our existence; I'm not talking only about the lyrics, but sometimes just the notes, a melody has meaning, an instrumental can underscore some pieces, moments of our lives... One such musical score is "the Fly" from David Axelrod's second album, I believe his best : "Songs Of Experience" released in 1969 on Capitol (SKAO-338).

Following a personal hurting, heartbreaking experience I just had, I find myself listening to this particular track out of the album, again and again, like it was expressing my private feeling better than words : a miserable Fly buzzing around from one shit to another bum experience. It is the soundtrack to how I feel now. The notes are so intense, the melody keeps resounding in my head, it's poignant and hearfelt.

Now, I know how easy it is to cite a number by an artist as hyped as David Axelrod among mixing DJs, Breakbeat fanatics, Trip-Hop/ Drums 'n'Bass music programmers and in various hip Rare Groove circles, from the late century's 1990's onwards. I don't need to talk about the artist, how great a Jazz arranger, producer and musical score writer David Axelrod is. Lord knows how I hate fake Fashionistas, being an underdog myself for years but... WTF, it's the Music that counts! And here, the notes are expressive enough to transcend mere hype. Just listen : It should speak for itself.

Starting with this choice, I think I will continue pointing out tracks and particular scores that have meaning enough to be part of the soundtrack of my life... Have a nice Sunday!

Posted by Astre Lemocker on February 26, 2012 | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stupefaction Ephemera: Cool Record Label Poster

Record label poster available here. Previously published at Stupefaction.

Posted by tjb81 on February 11, 2012 in Art, Ephemera, Music, Record Cover, Sleeve & Label Art, Retro Graphics | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The What's New"

from left: Jay Huling, Colin Scot, Kevin Shipman and Carl Berg

The What's New have always fascinated record collectors: mistakenly listed as a Florida band, they released two EPs in France but nothing in the U.S.

Their story starts with the Yachtsmen, a folk group founded by students at Long Beach City College in 1959. They became regulars at Disneyland in Anaheim, releasing an LP on Disney's Buena Vista label (BV-3310), "High and Dry with The Yachtsmen" in 1961.

On the LP the group were Carl Berg (vocals, guitar), Ray Jordan (vocals, banjo, string bass), Jay Huling (aka Jay Hulingpart, vocals, guitar, bongos), and Bill Reed (vocals, bass). Other members included Kevin Shipman and Mickey Elley.

Kevin Shipman created a video history of the Yachtsmen & What's New with photos and music.

The Yachtsmen continued performing at Disneyland for the next several years, adding Scot Thistlewaite (stage name Colin Scot).

Scot had been playing banjo and guitar with a ragtime duo called Bud and Scotty at Coke Corner in Disneyland, with Bud Hedrick on piano.

Bud Hedrick and Colin Scot at Coke Corner, photo courtesy Bud Hedrick.

Scot was born in the UK, moved to Canada in the late '50s where he went to Sir Adam Beck Collegiate High School in London, Ontario, then moved to California where he attended Cal State University at Long Beach.

In October, 1965, French chanteuse Line Renaud and her husband Louis "Loulou" Gasté saw the Yatchsmen at Disneyland and brought the group over to Paris in January, 1966.

The band changed their name to the What's New though they still look very collegiate performing "Des mots d'amor" with Line Renaud on French TV. They performed at the Casino de Paris, and opened for the Beach Boys and Michel Polnareff at the Olympia on October 25, 1966.

They recorded their first EP in July, '66 at Gasté's own studio in Paris, scoring a French hit with a single version of Gordon Lightfoot's "Early Morning Rain". Their first EP also has their version of Tom Paxton's "The Last Thing on My Mind" and two songs by Randy Sparks of the New Christy Minstrels, "Huckleberry Finn" and "Driving Wheels".

Their second EP showcases four original songs by Colin Scot, putting a sharp folk-rock sound behind Scot's plaintive lead vocal and the group's harmonies. It includes the now-famous "Up So High" ("Got no use for LSD, every time you look at me I'm up so high") and the excellent "Get Away" which moves from dreamy verse to tough chorus.

The What's New disbanded in early 1967. Colin Scot became part owner of a nightclub called Kahuna's Cave in Cala Mayor, Palma de Majorca, and toured the folk circuit in the UK in the late '60s. In the 1970s he released LPs on United Artists and Warner Bros, with a final single "Mandolin Man" / "Boris" on RCA in 1977. He died in Amsterdam in 1996 (though I've also seen it listed as 1999).

Chas Kit writes about garage bands at Garage Hangover
What's New EP scans courtesy Jeff of the Limestone Lounge and Obsolete, Yachtsmen LP scan from Vintage Disneyland Tickets