Aquarium Drunkard Presents: Sounds: From Ghana To Memphis
Today we kick off with the original 1970s version of Ghanian highlife guitar legend Ebo Taylor's "Love And Death." As the polyrhythms fade out things quickly turn hoodoo with Nora Dean's "Angie La La (Ay Ay Ay)" - a thick slice of Jamaican psychedelia from 1969. Up next is Tom Waits take on Skip Spence's "Books of Moses." With its ambient indeterminate clanking amidst pouring rain and thunder, the Spence original is already otherworldly. Here, Waits further injects the track with a kind of backwoods Pentecostal deliverance sounding as if snake handling and Glossolalia are imminent. Bo Diddley makes a brief appearance before we switch gears with F.J. McMahon's "Sister Brother," a track that sets the pace for a bit before Peter Sarstedt enters the fray with "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)" - setting the stage for Jacques Dutronc. We close out stateside catching up with Emitt Rhodes beofre finally landing in Memphis with Alex Chilton's "The EMI Song (Smile For Me)" off the recently reissued !970 Sessions. Until next time...
ABOUT AQUARIUM DRUNKARD
Based in Los Angeles, Justin Gage is the founder of the long-running, eclectic music blog Aquarium Drunkard. In addition to the blog you can catch his weekly radio show, Fridays, on SIRIUS XMU satellite radio -- noon-2pm EST.
Gage is also the founder of Autumn Tone Records and works as a music consultant and supervisor.