Welcome to the Thursday, 4-23-2020 edition of JoeViglione.com Joe V is an expert on pop culture, psychic phenomena and rocket science. In fact, he’s quickly speeding towards his sixty-sixth travel around the sun! And proud of it. In fact, having survived obstacles that would make the Mos Eisley spaceport blush with envy, he has the street cred to say:” You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious.” We filter out the craziness so that you can enjoy this humble yet fascinating website. Who needs a site menu when as above so below. Above is our table of contents, below the page pertinent links to other like-minded genius types.
Adam Ezra in today’s Boston Globe https://www.bostonglobe.com/2020/04/24/arts/adam-ezra-raises-glass-with-his-nightly-concert-series/
“Shimmy Baby, Pt. 1,” a lively early-’60s rocking studio performance with overdubbed applause and glasses tinkling, easily melts into a creative Hawaiian instrumental from Eden Ahbez entitled “Lonely Island,” which in turn weaves its way into the third track, “Walking Down the Street.” None of Joey Dee’s five Roulette Records Top 40 hits appear on this Scepter release called The Peppermint Twisters, and no one song stands out as memorable, though it is an interesting artifact from the day. Dee singing “hey hey” in “Walking Down the Street” could be the precursor to Chris Montez asking “Let’s Dance,” or Tommy Roe’s plea to “Sheila,” a low-rent predecessor to the two big hits that would emerge a year after this outing. “(Bad) Bulldog” resembles many a Kingsmen album that would follow in these footsteps, so the style of the sound that Joey Dee was imprinting on these Scepter discs would have its impact, which makes these dozen performances all the more interesting. “Coming Back to Me” dips into the ’50s — and though there are no credits other than the star and liner note writer Ira Howard, one wonders if actor Joe Pesci is performing in this 1961 version of a band he was a part of in that era, the Starlighters. Joey Dee sounds more like a teen idol cutting the Doc Pomus classic “Lonely Avenue,” Willie “Loco” Alexander giving it a more intense reading two decades later as documented on El Loco’s Greatest Hits release. The manufactured “live concert” sounds return on the second side, along with “Shimmy Baby, Pt. 2,” and those sounds are as bothersome as they would be showing up on The Kingsmen on Campus a couple of years later. Maybe it was a Scepter/Wand label thing. If you ever had a need to hear the Flamingos backing up Bobby Vee, the song “The Face of an Angel” sure comes close. “These Memories” keeps the mellow mood before the instrumental “The Twister” kicks in like a B-side from the Champs, with presumably Joey Dee on saxophone. “Before We Met” might have the most personality on an album that lacks that quality, though is a pretty accurate imprint of the sock-hop sounds of the early ’60s. ~ Joe Viglione
Canned Heat includes: Bob “The Bear” Hite (vocals); Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (various instruments); Henry “Sunflower” Vestine, Harvey Mandel (guitar); Larry “The Mole” Taylor, Mark Andes (bass); Frank Cook, Adolfo “Fito” De La Parra (drums).
Recorded between 1967 and 1973. Originally released on Liberty/United Artist Records. Includes liner notes by Bill Dahl.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
JV REVIEW
This initial best-of package, Canned Heat Cookbook, was released rather quickly in 1969 after the band’s initial burst of creativity resulted in four albums and two hit singles between 1967 and 1968. Friend/manager/producer Skip Taylor lists tons of the band’s engagements from 1966 on the gatefold of the album, which constitutes its only liner notes. Dozens and dozens of gigs, from the Monterey International Pop Festival to Club 47, the Boston Tea Party, and what they call the Woodstock Pop Festival, are all listed and this is a staggering resumé suited well to a greatest-hits package. There are baby photos of the five bandmembers (and the obligatory thanks to their moms for providing them), as well as a very cool cover design by Dean Torrence which features his artistic rendition of each performer along with a couple of butterflies. They look somewhat like the Band here, and their rocking blues was actually somewhat similar to the dudes who backed up Bob Dylan. But the sound of their records differed from that other ensemble, and Al Wilson’s personality shines through on “Goin’ up the Country” and “On the Road Again,” two blasts of ’60s pop which were quite different from anything else on the radio at the time. Repackages are often arbitrary and one can quibble that the song named after the group, “Canned Heat,” is missing, but this best-of album is worthy of the moniker regardless and contains “Bullfrog Blues” and “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” from the 1967 self-titled debut; tracks from 1968’s Boogie With Canned Heat, including “Amphetamine Annie,” the hit “On the Road Again,” and the 11-minute-plus “Fried Hockey Boogie”; and material from yet another 1968 album, Living the Blues, including “Goin’ up the Country,” which was as identifiable to the band as “On the Road Again” with Alan Wilson’s high-pitched, earnest, nasal request giving the audience a musical handle, as well as “Boogie Music,” also getting the nod from the Living the Blues disc. Three selections from 1968’s Hallelujah album — “Time Was,” “Sic ‘Em Pigs,” and “Same All Over” — round out the original vinyl version of the LP. The group would release a live album on Liberty in 1970 after this compilation, and hit again with “Let’s Work Together” from another studio album in 1970, Future Blues. For those who want to get a good glimpse of this band, Canned Heat Cookbook is the place to start. Len Fico at the Fuel 2000 label put together a 2002 compilation which features the same tracks along with the addition of the third hit, “Let’s Work Together.” ~ Joe Viglione