Addressing the ever-shrinking credibility of rock journalism since 2007. With a sasquatch.
Showing posts with label The Beatles. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Beatles. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Deep Cuts: Indie

Dianne Coffee My Friend FishCalifornia's Shaun Fleming, the alter-ego for Dianne Coffee, has spent some important moments of his life in entertainment. At 15, he starred in the opening sequence of Jeepers Creepers II (2003) where he is quickly mauled by the title monster. In 2004, he worked as a voice actor on two animated films from Disney including The Lion King 1 1/2 (2004).

Moving to NYC in 2005, Shaun became a founding member of the 60's psychedelia and avant-garde band Foxygen with friends Sam France, Jonathan Rado and Justin Nijssen. The band gradually became a hit in clubs and college radio culminating with their album "We Are The 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic" released in January of 2013. However, the group's raucous, highly active performances contributed to singer Sam France breaking his leg at a gig at First Avenue in Minneapolis on July 29th 2013.

This freed up Dianne Coffee who was on the back burner for Fleming since December of 2012. Fleming's "My Friend Fish" was released by Western Viynl in October in 2013. It's a stand-out album, featured at SXSW, that blends elements from soul, Motown, classic R&B with 1960's acts like Donovan and The Beatles.



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Friday, May 23, 2014

Deep Cuts: Instrumental

Thrillington by Percy ThrillingtonNothing is better to enjoy that a cleverly perpetrated hoax - once it's revealed. Famous horror writer Stephen King once wrote a series of books under a pen name that later became best-sellers. The Beatles themselves, prior to their 1970 break-up, fostered the idea that Paul McCartney was killed in a car crash in 1966 and replaced by a look-a-like. Radio DJ Russell Gibb announced his own Paul Is Dead Theory on Detroit radio adding to the mystique - taking us all for a ride so to speak.

In 1970, the legal wrangling for the Beatles material was in Britain's High Court. Paul McCartney and his wife Linda began working on three new albums. The first was a solo album simply entitled McCartney (1970), the second was with his first band after The Beatles - Ram (1971) which - let's face it - was poorly received. The last album? This last album is a gem. It was an orchestral themed, instrumental record that was put together with Richard Hewson who had also arranged "Let It Be".

The result: Percy "Thrills" Thrillington (1977). It wasn't until 1989 at Los Angeles press conference that Paul revealed that he was Mr. Thrillington. The album tripled in value and became a collector's item when Paul and Linda confirmed it in the Spring 1995 issue of Club Sandwich. This record is so oddly compelling that it merits more than a footnote in music history. Right off the bat, the lead track "Too Many People", echoes Sgt. Pepper but with a dreamier context. "3 Legs" is the soundtrack for a the bad side of town - on Mars. This album only gets better with a rather formal version of "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" anchoring the record.

Original 1977 pressings are exceedingly hard to find but album was re-issued in 2004 and 2012.

Percy Thrillington - Uncle Albert

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