Today's Great Popular Favorites

Yep, today's great popular favorites ... or rather, yesterday's. And were they all that popular?

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Diary of a Plague Year

We think we're at our peak
We look at how high we can reach
But like Sisyphus
We go a-tumbling down
We go to church
And we pray for our souls to be saved
The water's rising
And we're scared we'll drown
Can you see Him
God is sleeping

A donation of any amount would be greatly appreciated. On an unrelated note, check out the 20th Anniversary Edition of DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing." It features lots of bonuses, including extensive liner notes by yours truly.

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Kusudo & Worth

An article on the Custom Fidelity label in the recent issue of Ugly Things brought this haunting, homemade folky gem to my attention. Now I am bringing it to yours. Check out more Custom Fidelity tracks here.

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Groovie Goolies

Some bubblegum for your Halloween sack.

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Behind Closed Doors at a Recording Session

One of the more curious posts I've tossed up here.

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Elsewhere

They fuck you up, your mum and dad
They may not mean to, but they do
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you

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Music Is News

More never-to-be-hits from the Capitol Tower.

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The Very Soul of Me II

This record is a sequel to "The Very Soul of Me," which can be found HERE. On an unrelated note, the 20th Anniversary Edition of DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing" is about to be released. It will feature lots of bonuses, including liner notes by yours truly. Pick it up.

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Vocal Hit Sounds

Yet another groovy Capitol comp.

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Steve Douglas

With many thanks to Jim, here's a rare sax-y record by sessioner Steve Douglas.

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Things You Love

And love them I do.

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Alternatives

Rare Warner/Reprise comp with some familiar titles.

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A Star Fell Down on Indiana

A star fell down on Indiana
Just like it did in the beginning of time
We all turned out to see what happened
Some of us laughed
Some of us cried
And together we held onto each other's hands
Until the last of us had died

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Steve Feldman

More obscure singer/songwriter stuff on the Evolution label. BTW, I'm being peppered with requests for re-ups, and I won't be performing that function anymore. So grab 'em while the links are still alive.

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Breathe

Do you feel a certain pressure at night
Like something big pushing down on you
What do you think that it could be
Is it just this old wandering Jew
Oh I whisper in your ear
All the words you long to hear
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Stations of the Elevated

I wish there were some crazy cure
But all I can offer are these words
Write it all down, every detail
'Cause it will fly away like birds
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The Rubber Band

Definitely a strange one. Michael Lloyd put together this Hendrix tribute, adding lush strings and horns. Tough to categorize, which makes it that much more fun to listen to. More of the Rubber Band can be found here.

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Pete Jolly

Another fine album (with bonus cuts) by Mr. Jolly, by request.

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Gove

Obscure album by talented Nashville songwriter, featuring Bergen White and David Briggs.

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Higgledy Piggledy

The world it is a frightening place
Gettin' scarier by the second
Hate is blown' up all around
More than anyone could have reckoned
Who can understand it, yeah
Don't wanna participate
Rather live in my tiny bubble of love
Than to live in a world of hate
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Louie Shelton

Ace solo record from the session dude who went all flamenco on the Monkees' "Valleri."

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Hells Angels on Wheels

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The Creedence Clearwater Revival Songbook

What were they thinking when they made this? Wait, lemme guess ...

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Al Delory

Amother fab Al Delory record. DIG IT

Sounds of Our Times

More Sounds of Our Times. And the rest can be found here.

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Herbie Flowers

Solo record by Herbie Flowers, the dude responsible for the iconic "Walk on the Wild Side" bass line, backing up Elton John and countless sessions.

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Gary S. Paxton

As promised, here's one of my occasional posts. This one is dedicated to the memory of Gary S. Paxton, who will forever be terminally weird but goodly right.

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Jerry Riopelle

Pretty amazing record from virtually unknown singer/songwriter/arranger.

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Witness

The key to life
Or so I've found
Is being wide awake and at the ready
Pulling your head
Out of your ass
So your vision's clear
And your hands are steady
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The 18th Century Concepts

Looking for this band's other album, "Off On a 20th Century Cycle." C'mon, someone out there has this.

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Stark & McBrien

A re-up for Monkeeboy. Half of this duo, Rod McBrien, was involved in the Children of Prague album below, as well as Salt Water Taffy, the Trade Winds, the Critters, and Tommy James.

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T.G. Sheppard

Fine country record from singer who was signed with Melodyland (later Hitsville) Records, a short-lived country label owned by Motown Records.

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Sound of Summer Showers

By request, here's a re-up of a sunshine-y comp from Japan, this one featuring artists from the Dunhill label.

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The Electric Junkyard

From Allmusic: The Electric Junkyard shows up occasionally in Moog sections but is not an electronic album. Instead, electrified horns and recording techniques ("nine months alone were spent experimenting") are supposed to justify the name and concept. But the result is an album of fun but standard blues-based dirges, items a Lalo Schifrin or Les Baxter might have written for the jukebox scene in a biker movie. There are interesting touches, such as female laughter; arranger Frank Hunter had arranged abstract female vocals in an exotica album a decade earlier (as had Les Baxter). Fans of progressive 1960s rock looking for new kicks could do much worse, but it would be no surprise to learn that the Electric Junkyard sold in the dozens.

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The Devil You Know

And the bleached sun it does not flatter
All them babies getting fatter
And the moms and the dads
They waltz around grotesque
As they dance this strange burlesque
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Hair

You might get the impression from the cover art and song titles that this is some sort of lost pysch record. But you'd be wrong. This being Design Records, what you get is something that sounds like a lounge act performing, with varying degrees of ineptitude, a few hits of the day along with what I'm guessing are originals (penned by who? Who knows.). Another stone classic.

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Danny Bonaduce

Although what passes for singing on this is not as wretched as, say, Rodney Allen Rippy's own Bell disk, Danny's no David Cassidy. I guess all you needed to get a record deal back then was a popular TV series, and MGM Records likely figured some young fan would be suckered into buying this. Featuring such sessioners as Ben Benay, this might qualify as a guilty pleasure. But I dare you to get through it more than once.

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Rig

This nice little country-rock record goes out to monkeeboy.

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Libby Titus

Been reading the book "Small Town Talk," which tells the tales of the many colorful and, at times, tragic figures who populated the town of Woodstock while svengali Albert Grossman held court. Libby Titus was one. Here is her rare, first record on a Capitol imprint.

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Bo Grumpus

Simply lovely record featuring Eddie Mottau (see below) as well as others who became known on the Woodstock scene.

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Heart

Twelve instrumentals aimed at the heart.
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The Young and the Restless

With thanks yet again to Derrick Bostrom, here's the Pickwick soundtrack to "The Young and the Restless."

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Sounds of Sunshine

With thanks again to Derrick Bostrom, here's "Nadia's Theme" by the Sounds of Sunshine.

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The Square Root of Zero

No doubt you've been waiting for this one.

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Eddie Mottau

Boston-born session guitarist best known for supporting Noel Paul Stookey, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and David Peel.

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What a Way to Go!

I saw you fall into a black hole
When I reached out to you
You let go
After such a long trip
You simply lost your grip
And now I can't find you
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The Glories

Super-rare girl group sounds featuring big-voiced singer Frankie Gearing.

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Jesse Frederick

Some '70s singer/songwriter stuff, with Todd Rundgren at the knobs.

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Ben Benay

By request, here's a re-up.

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Rain

Soft and crunchy at the same time.

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