Volume 25 - Fall 2018

The hits just keep coming! Here we have another volume of marvelous music to drown by as the waters rise and the ice caps melt, turning our stiff, yet vibrant sea-water cocktails into lame, diluted soft drinks. Nonetheless, I raise a glass of this plastic filled cup of mermaid tears and wish everyone Happy All Hallows' Eve and a cold weather holiday season (that is, while the cold keeps coming). SALUD!

To continue along with the oceanic theme, we got a couple nice ones to start us off, including Atlantis by The Blue Bells. Let's hope the lost kingdom is discovered soon and perhaps we can all take some refuge there. If Atlantis doesn't give us a place for renewal, then Bermuda surely will. About as far from paradise as one can get, this instro is brought to you by a bunch of kids from Pennsylvania. Did the Vikings ever sail to Bermuda?

Bird Walk by The Victors is some kind of soundtrack to a suspense surf movie. When you add horns like this it's automatically an Oscar winner. I picture ex-Nazis on a fleet of surfboards in hot pursuit of our hero. Stuffed into his board shorts are the fascist blueprints for a colossal flightless robot bird to be unleashed upon the denizens of Wildwood, New Jersey.

"Honey, do you hear squawking?"

I, King Bloodstone, hereby declare that Hoppin' with Emily (by Dave Burgess and Dale Norris) now stands for Millennial slang to mean filled with anticipation AND vigor. I don't know who Emily is and I don't know if Dale and Dave even knew her, but if hoppin' with her sounds like way they make it sound then I'll vow to stay alive for another 40 years to make sure the phrase enters into the American vernacular. End of the world be damned!

Innersanctum is another one I'm ripping off from Kogar's Lux and Ivy's Favorites comp. It's too dark not to include in our film score to the end of the world. I'm feeling generous, so I'll go ahead and award the T-Towners (with Jim Wolfe) for the Sidemen Band Name of the Month Contest, not that they had much competition this time around.

Well, just in time for our favorite spooky holiday (although President's Day can be creepy) I have one tune to include on this set. Satan's Holiday by The Lancasters nicely adds to our ongoing satanic themed tunes. This one of course paying homage to Hall of the Mountain King. This melody is also ripped off by another devil worshiper, Diablito, on his sinister tune The Jungle, heard of course on Jungle Exotica. Wait a minute. Diablito...Satan's Holiday......some one ripped off more than Edvard Grieg.

As luck would have it we have another All Hallows' Eve themed song that we can pigeonhole into our seasonal set. Theme from the Black Cat by Scotty McKay's Bolero Band sounds like some demented, blackened version of Quiet Village. We've crossed the cat's path by now. Nuthin' left but bad mojo.

Al Rio nearly closes our set out by asking Why. He's singing about some lost babe of his, but we can all ask "why" these days.
Why now? Why must this be? Why did you do this, humanity?

Why not click below, folks?

Enter the infernal Plaza Lounge here and I'll see you inside...

Volume 24 - Summer 2018

Welcome to another slew of instrumental and vocal slop poached from the depths of the interwebs, like shrimp sucked from the sea bottom. All the reefs, flounder, and Sponge-Bob and his poor friends are fatally trawled down.

No cream. Just liver damage.

Nice dark image to start us off, no?. And speaking of murkiness, to begin the set: I'll take my java black, just how I like my death. Won't you join me for a cup? We'll sit at the counter, drinking it black and full of blues. And beat, man, beat. Carolyn Carpenter serves us Black Coffee. Don't even add sugar. Drink it down sip by sip, my dear listeners.

There are multiple great instrumentals (and vocal tunes) here--almost too many to mention by name. The first three colorful ones are all fabulous and worthy of a toast to the Big Sleep, and I don't mean the Bogey flick or the Chandler rag. For instance, Blue Castaway by The Shelltones is truly sublime and perfectly matched to this volume's cover--no pun intended. The guitar glistens, the tide takes us out to the ends of the seas, the pure, un-ozoned sun burns our skin, eyes and hearts.

"My other friends are all extinct!"

While we're far out on the salty waters, keep your eye out for the Creature from Under the Sea. Milton DeLugg spins up a swinging '60s salt water confection with some kind of silly, yet ominous guitar sound. Who knows what the hell that is making that noise! I've heard of wet reverb before, but Milton knows how to make it really drenching. Maybe the creature is a friendly ghoul, like Casper...or Sigmund.


Rusty Draper’s Devil of a Woman must be from Don’s brother. Unlike Don, Rusty was able to get in touch with his mother complex and process it through song. Still, the description of his gal could lead anyone to excessive amounts of drink the way that Rusty puts it.

So, every time I feel like I come upon a singularly spectacular song it turns out that Lavender Jungle already had it in their comp. Halvah, the sesame "sweetness from a land afar," is one of them. I decided to keep that song in here for posterity simply because the Middle Eastern instrumentalist Ganim and his Asia Minors were the maniacs responsible for Come with Me to the Casbah. Nonetheless, Lavender Jungle is one of the best comps in existence, and you should buy it digitally, physically, spiritually. It also has the fantastic zinger, Algiers by The Bambinos, which I poached for Volume 15.

I almost forgot about the Sidemen Band Name of the Month contest! I sure as hell wish the Mad Men of Note had a bandleader because they would have won hands down, cuz we're all nuts, except they are NOTABLY so! Alas, only two contenders this time 'round. The first is the Three Blazers (with Johnny Moore) doing Dragnet Blues. You had better know the Blazers from their searing rendition of Bullfrog (heard on the other best comp of all time, Frolic Diner) or you are to stop following this blog immediately. So the head to head between The Three Blazers, and...this month's winner: The Mercyaires (with Mel Ball). Give me a wordless vocal as they do, on I Remember, and you have me at la la la. Oh, mercy!

Isle of Love is so damn good the singer can only have one word to her name. Carmen, I will wait for you until you return. I will wait for eternity but I doubt that's even possible, given the the theme of this here blog. Make it fast, come back to me post haste! This song, along with many other fabulous ones in this set, reminds me of how Volume 12 came together. Beautiful combinations of vocals and instrumentals worthy of Twin Peaks season 7. Tell your friends if they only choose one or two of my selections, make it one of these. Carmen's dreamy song is one example to take you far away from the dreariness here in this modern day world.

Okay, so in the last entry I was gushing about my hippie parents' love lovey dovey, hippy-dippy stuff because of Nature Boy. Well this time in honor of the new women's movement we have Clete Grayson giving us the female version. Put on our fluffy shirts and purple velvet blazers and cut a rug to this swinging ode to Mother Nature's daughter.

Happy birthday, Mr. Oak

Hug a tree here and get Lyme disease! Enjoy the coolness of summer, folks. It's only hotter seasons going forward!

Volume 23 - Spring 2018

1 2 3, on your marks, get set, DIE!!!

Welcome to yet another set of swinging, banging, and clanging instrumentals to dig as the Earth heads towards its demise--as we all dig our graves. I collected this set rather quickly, finishing it up a lot sooner than expected. I've been busy though, kinda in a last-days-hedonism phase for the past several weeks. Fortunately, this spat of time has allowed tracks on volume 24 to add up, which is just around the corner.

I'm going to dispense with any preliminary mumbo jumbo and off-the-bat declare the Sidemen Band Name of the Month contest winner, which is from the lead off track: The Wheels (with Rolls Royce) doing a number called 1 2 Many. We've all been there haven't we? Just perhaps not at the start of the party. Nonetheless, global catastrophe is nigh so, bottoms up!

You all know Baghdad Rock by the Sheikh's from Jungle Exotica, but do you know Part 2 even existed? I didn't. So, one more chapter to close. At least as far as two-part instrumental craziness goes. Allah Akbar, you infidels!

Blue Blazer is another fun tune to follow the jihadists. It reminds me of Danger is My Beer by the fantastic Reverend Fred Lane. While the Reverend’s instrumental is from the 70's or 80's, this tune also carries some of that generic crime theme, rolling tempo sound. You picture underneath that blue blazer is a .38 ready to be swiftly clutched by your sweaty palm and discharged to vanquish the Communist spy that's been on your tail for a fort-nite. The fact that the artist is unknown adds to the unsolved mystery of your end.
[side note: If any segment of you likes Fred Lane, be sure and catch up with his other (mostly) vocal and instro work. Buy the Shimmy Discs if you can. He's like the bastard cousin of Frank Sinatra & Sun Ra. Great stuff indeed-o!]

Oh Lord, what can be said about Dangerous Lips by The Drivers! The peril and pain, with intense longing for a connection of two moist slabs of flesh despite the inevitable outcome of pain, is an apt metaphor of my life--our lives, dear reader--of this tragic story we all live today.

The Pride of D-Boys

If you're not listening listening closely enough you may miss the quiet beauty and moodiness of Moon Over Harlan Kentucky. Not Harlem, New York. We're talkin' Bluegrass Country. And don't ask me why the song is performed by The Pride of Detroit. Maybe the dudes in Motor City were dreaming of another place that's not involving a internal combustion engine, nor contributing to greenhouse gases.

Francis is thinking, "I smell damp fur."

Speaking of ecology, the next song to follow, Nature Boy is one of my favorite songs for many reasons. One: the freak that penned this song was most certainly an anomaly from the 1940s. Eden Ahbez was the proto-hippie long before there ever was a psychedelic gleam in the eye of Tim Leary. Second: Nature Boy was covered by countless people during the mid-twentieth century. From Exotica stalwarts to John Coltrane--one of the greatest blowers that ever lived and died too young. Finally: the song touches my corazón, because I'm a tree huggin’-son-of-hippie parents, and a believer in the one thing that could probably save this godforsaken rock: L-O-V-E.

Onto more morbidity. Lenny Davis gives us another installment of devil-themed songs. We’ve had a few recently entries. Satan’s Got You (By the Hand) is, in actuality, not so great. It’s just a mediocre love-lost song. I honestly threw it in here because, you know, Satan. [Insert joke how Mr. Fallen Angel has us all by the cojones.]

Rye & a Nat Sherman for my last meal.

The Night People close us out with Zazerac. This is a rye whiskey cocktail (often spelled Sazerac). I guess this is their version of Tequila, with a random Joe calling out the name, after the break. A little pouring sound and hiccup effects can never hurt.


Clink here to the end of ends!

Volume 22 - Winter 2018

May Your Year be bitter-ful!

Happy and hellish New Year to everyone! I have managed to cull a new set of tunes to begin another year headed toward doom. For whom do these tunes toll?

I am slightly sad to report that there aren't really any glorious gems in this set (with two exceptions). Let's hope that it doesn't portend for a rotten or uneventful 2018. In some ways, maybe we don't want an eventful 2018. 

Let's start right off with the query, Am I Worth It? Is anything worth it? Is the world worthy of saving? The Gimmicks seem to have their answer, in a 12 bar blues format. It's a good starter for this volume, because there are many, many more songs in this set that are blues-based. It gets a little monotonous I know, but hang in there. If you made it though last year, you'll likely make it to 2019. At any rate, Catwalk is another good number even with a guitar twang that never really seems to go anywhere. But, it passes the time.

Voted Most Likely to Be Satanic

I must touch upon Conquer by Ronnie and The Red Caps. Again, not the most unique song but it has a marked intensity. And of course we have to mention that we're talking Ronnie James Dio here. The late, dead, the never coming back, former front man of Black Sabbath. Mr. Padavona may return from the beyond later on. Pay attention!


At some point I will stop apologizing for the mediocrity. Nonetheless, I want to highlight another so-so tune called Four O'clock by The Van-Dells. Aside from being moderately generic, it is notable for the fact that it was recorded near my old college dumping grounds in Camden, New Jersey. Yes, Admiral Wilson Boulevard has been around for a long time and this acetate from the early sixties predates me by about a decade. The Doomsday Clock has moved far from 4pm, ever closer to midnight since those early days.

I wish The Sneaky Pete's had a side band so I could instantaneously crown them the winner for this month contest. Alas, it's just a bunch of guys named Pete. The fantastic Gila Monster Crawl is anything but mediocre. Picture a suave, emerald creature within the depths of Lake Tahoe, arising to his feet to get his woman and do the Twist in the most awkward fashion. Think of the sorrowful sounds of the theremin as the creature's ineptitude and self-consciousness for being a foreigner in a hostile land. The military's coming to whoop his green ass!

The lively number, Party at Vern’s Place was recorded in Berkeley, CA. Vern's place is somewhere in the Berkeley Hills, in the East San Fran Bay Area. Nowadays, Vern is a venture capitalist driving around in his electric Tesla, practicing his survivalist skills. When the shit hits the fan we'll all be coming for you, Vern! 

Vern, honey, where's the Pappy stashed?

Pedro's Shimmy is a crunchy, rockin' number. Good to have a little bit of a Latin flavor in the mix. And while we're at it, why don't we give The Neptunes the crown for the Sidemen Band Name of the Month Contest. Bob is a little bit nervous with ideas that Pedro's shimmy is actually preliminary defensive maneuvers of the rising minority taking over our jobs. What Bob doesn't realize is that the biggest threat to his Caucasian existence is the orange guy in the White House.

and it hurts like...

I think Steve King gives Skip Manning a run for his money when it comes to songs about diabolical dames on Satan is Her Name. First, it's cool, and it is a song about broken hearts and Beelzebub. Second of all, I don't know how I've lived these last 25 years delving into music of the '50s and '60s and have not come across this dark jewel!

Screaming Pt. 1 is 95 seconds of how I feel every time I think about the next 1 to 100 years. Nothing more to say there. Yet, speaking of screeching, The Shin-Diggers' version of The Mummy Walk sure has a mad crowd, like the mop tops are on stage wrapped in toilet paper, driving the girls insane.

So, we end with another diddy arguably about the dark one. Well, in this case we have the privilege of hearing the pipes of Ronnie James Dio again, this time waiting for his lady to come home. It might as well be a teener for the Unspeakable One, as he'd be singing such fare in a decade-or-so's time. Listen for the bell at the end of the song, because it tolls for thee and me.

Hail Him or Her Here!