Frank Gutch Jr: Musicians on a Mission: Dan Phelps, Julian Taylor, Wes Swing, and Jimmy Lee (formerly Lee’s Company)… Plus a lugubrious panorama of Notes

Meet Dan Phelps, if you have not already done so.  I first ran across him over a decade ago when he was working with both Bill Pillmore and his daughter Jess Pillmore on their respective albums, Look In Look Out and Reveal.  Bill was an original member of Cowboy and I had heard through Scott Boyer, another original member of that venerable band, that he was recording for the first time, to my knowledge, since Cowboy‘s excellent 1971 release, 5’ll Getcha Ten.  When I contacted him, he was in full recording mode, working with Phelps, whom he had chosen to produce.  To my amazement, Phelps did more than just produce.  He was a sideman and a damn good one, a creator of good licks and solid musical ideas.  It was a first look at a musician I would follow from that point on.

Frank Gutch Jr: Amy van Keeken Releases All The Time EP; Jack Meussdorffer Talks Sand, Quarterflash and More; and, Of Course, Them Pesky Damn Notes (There Will Be a Quiz)…

 

There was probably a time when one release would not have meant as much to me as it does today.  I worked in the record business for so many years I became jaded, the major labels releasing numerous albums each month and the independents trying to squeeze the few that they had through the stampede.  I never really cared about the really big ones— it is a part of me I have had since I was very young, this aversion to the stars— and have learned only within the past ten to fifteen years to really appreciate the significance of the lesser-knowns.  I get tired of all the pissing and moaning about how the “new” music biz has watered down the quality of music and allowed the less talented to record massive amounts of lesser works.  As if they were lesser.

Frank Gutch Jr: Music Reviews On the Fly (and these are real beauties); Crushed Out Makes Their Move; Plus Notes

I review lots of records on a consistent basis and pretty much have a policy of giving each album/EP its due.  Usually that means a solid ten listens all the way through with extras for the songs which strike home.  The reason?  I once listened to an album a couple of times and sent a note to the artist explaining why I could not give it a straight-out five star review.  It was possibly the most pompous note I have ever written and one I wish I could have taken back.  Ten or so listens later, I gave it that five star review I had so bombastically refused and pledged to give every album from that point on a fair chance— a real fair chance and not one based upon a needledrop (a term which refers to radio in the sixties and seventies when the single was king— disc jockeys and music directors would listen to the first few seconds of each 45 submitted for airplay to “weed the crop”, i.e. to eliminate the clunkers).  What?  You didn’t think the records charted themselves, did you?

Frank Gutch Jr: Kate & Ruth Brian Cullman Stu Nunnery Bill Jackson No Small Children — Plus Notes

Please allow me to start this column with an aside.  Each year, I compile a list of albums I consider the best.  Last year, I picked Lost Leaders‘ self-titled album because it had that indescribable something which made me come back to it again and again.  I mean, I love this album!!!

Frank Gutch Jr: Radio— The Longest Acid Trip Ever; plus Notes

GodDAMN, I feel sorry for the youth of today!  I just finished listening to Jaimie Vernon‘s Nightmare at 20,000 Watts yet again (What is that— 500 or so?) and I’m thinking radio, radio, radio and while The Vermin’s version might be the latest, it brings back an entire world pretty much lost these days.

Frank Gutch Jr: Vinyl: It’s What’s For Christmas…..

Christmas.  It’s the time for joy and camaraderie and faith.  It’s the time of giving and sharing and, for most, receiving.  Debts are forgiven at Christmas, and people too.  Indeed, the power of Christmas could almost save the world and would, according to Hollywood, if given half a chance.

Frank Gutch Jr: A Short Word About John Stewart; When a Label’s a Label, When a Label Is Not a Label, and When Labels Suck the Life Right Out of Music; a Research Turtles/Flamethrowers Update— Plus Notes…..

I remember it like it was yesterday, hearing that John Stewart had left us.  My heart sank and all that was good seemed to disappear.  John and I had been acquaintances, of a sort.  We had met when a salesman working for a distributor handling Stewart’s own label, Neon Dreams, brought him into the dungeon at Peaches Records in Seattle for a visit.  We were introduced and I liked him from the first handshake.  I at first felt intimidated, of course.  How could you not be when you considered his background— the Kingston Trio albums and before that, The Cumberland Three, and after that, the incredibly huge string of solo albums.

Frank Gutch Jr: Crushed Out: It Was a Party, Jess Roden’s Anthology, Audrey Martell, and Notes You Can Take To the Bank…..

Good ol’ Pandora.  Just when it looks like the whole digital music service thing is about to fade into the background, those asshats raise their whine level a few decibels.  This time, they’re asking to take a portion of the musicians’ cut from them, claiming that the musicians are cutting into their fair share.  Wait a minute!  Wha-a-a-aaat??!!!!!!!  Okay, they didn’t put it in those words, but you have to know that’s what they’re telling legal eagles behind closed doors.  I have to wonder about the reasoning, though.

Frank Gutch Jr: Fun With 45s (Into the Depths of Hell), Jess Pillmore Breaks Her Silence, and Notes…..

That’s what one of my old girlfriends used to call hanging out at my place.  The Depths of Hell.  Of course, as far as I could tell, anyplace which did not exclusively play everything Los Angeles was hell to her.  Linda Ronstadt.  The Eagles.  Joni Mitchell.  Jackson Browne.  Gawd, but I always thought if there was a hell on Earth, it was Los Angeles.  Soft Rock hell.  Bland hell.  Mediocre hell.  Just plain hell.

Frank Gutch Jr: FREE DOWNLOADS? What? Is It Christmas Already?… Kail Baxley: Music Even Your Momma Would Like… and a Little Knowledge in the Form of Notes…..

Boy, the things some of us have to do to find the free stuff, eh?  I was sitting back enjoying college football Saturday when Erin Ivey busts down the door and starts screaming about this Emily Wolfe character and how I have to listen to her album and maybe I can get a free download or something.  I was about to throw her out when she got to the “free” part and, well, you know me— cheapest sonofabitch in the lower 48— so I heard her out, checked out Wolfe’s music and then tossed Ivey out on her keister, after which I calmly downloaded Wolfe’s Director’s Notes.  At least, that’s the way I choose to remember it and I’m sticking to it.