I Was a Fool has my most cherished vocal style, the siren song. Wordless female strains, luring you home, to another home, your celestial death. Love's Dream and Flamingo are also sublime. But wait, V.12 has more--to knock you out! You'll surely awake all black and blue. Black Night by Cheryl Thomson starts like a twangy rendition of Taboo, but swiftly leads into a dark midnight. Tears rolling down your face will be the only thing your senses will detect. Blue Carnation by Dennis Roberts is another twanger to give solace to your busted, lonely heart. Sorry for the volume drop on this one. Just listen closely, turn it up, and pin the flower to your bare chest.
If you're ready to leave this place, to take flight, Comet by Les Jimmy Guitars will be a good one to throw into the rocket's audio system. Make sure to keep the stereo playing, because Link Wray's subsequent tune will propel you further into the cosmos. I first heard Cross Ties during my nascent days as an instromaniac on Ben Vaughn's juicy collection of cover songs. The bastard child of Philly and South Jersey helped point the way for Prince Bloodstone's journey into night.
Without a doubt, this month's side-band name prize goes to The High Tensions. Not only is it a great moniker for Instros to End the World By, but the song itself, Lost Horizon, is an exalted call out to the slow, surf dirges of The Lively Ones. Wandering by The Expressos first broke my brainwaves when I picked up the Surfer's Mood comp on the fab Dionysus label. My knowledge of surf is relatively dim, but a bit of research shows that The Expressos would eventually become The Lively Ones.
Cuban Jungle is a fine mix of Martin Denny, Yusef Lateef, and Sun Ra. I think of this inclusion as a short, but literal, shout out to Frankie Fink's cat calls, hoots and howls from our days in The Vipers. 2017 will be the 20th anniversary of The Vipers one and only release. Stay tuned to King Bloodstone's blog for a special post.
Some final notable vocals to send you to bed: Sleepwalk by Betsy Brye comes close to Santo & Johnny's original in soliciting ripples of somnambulism into your nightlife. Vocal renditions of well known instros are always a fun and surprising find. Check out the WFMU fan-made comp out there somewhere. Here is a taste from the defunct blog.
St. James Infirmary by Miss Johni Naylor is a glorious prayer to dying souls. Naylor's voice calls out from atop the mausoleums of New Orleans to all the greats that have covered this classic standard. Miss Naylor did the equally transcendent Red Wine for My Blues found on V. 1. Now that we know (nothing of) her story, "let's have another shot of booze."
If your tears are not watering down your drink by the end of this collection, then go back and replay Billy Ward and The Dominos. Bells is dug up from the oldies micro-genre: weeping and wailing doo-wop (e.g. Death of an Angel - see V. 9 or LAIF #1).
As a logistical note, I'm now averaging one post a month. V. 12 was culled back in 2015. I'm currently at volume 18, so we should finally catch up to the present sometime this year. May 2017 bring us there to End the World!
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