The Perlich Post

Thursday, March 28, 2024

Pete Townshend explains the origin of The Who and his rock opera Tommy

On a rare Tonight Show appearance, Pete Townshend recalled how rock critic Nik Cohn played a key role in the pinball wizard idea.





Wednesday, March 27, 2024

Remembering Eddie Shuler on his birthday with his funky Goldband & ANLA gems

The Tramp Records comp The Funky Side of Goldband/ANLA Records collects some of Eddie Shuler's rawest productions.  

Here's the scoop...

Goldband Records played a key role in documenting and shaping of musical traditions, tastes, and trends, both regionally and internationally since 1944. The focus of the Goldband catalog is certainly set on Country & Western, Swamp Pop, and Cajun music. However, from the 1960s until the early 1970s Goldband, and it's sub-label ANLA Records, released many high-quality Soul and Rhythm & Blues recordings. Simply put, Shuler had an ear for talent. He always believed in "...;giving a man a chance; otherwise, how would you discover what somebody could do?" That was the guiding philosophy and the secret to the success of Goldband Records.

Born March 27, 1913 in Wrightsboro, Texas, Eddie Shuler moved to Lake Charles in 1942 to work as a dragline operator. He found additional part-time work in a music store, leading him into a career in the music business. He then joined the country, western swing, and Cajun group The Hackberry Ramblers. Having sharpened his musical skills, he left the group to form his own band, The Reveliers.

By the early 1950s, Shuler acquired the Goldband complex in north Lake Charles. It would be a combination record store (Eddie's Music House), television repair shop (Eddie's Quick Service T.V.), and recording studio for over a half-century thereafter. Being the one and only recording studio in town, it did not take long for other artists in the area to migrate in Shuler's direction.

A grassroots operation, Shuler was head of distribution and promotion. He distributed the recordings from the back of his car to record stores and to jukebox operators. Knowing that getting airplay was the key to increasing sales he created multiple labels which assured him better chances with the radio. One of those auxiliary labels was ANLA which featured Soul and R&B artists from South Louisiana and East Texas, including Clifton White, Charles Greene, and the Original Soul Senders. Around the same time, future Zydeco celebrity "Count" Rockin' Sidney joined Goldband for almost a dozen releases. Tramp Records has put together a well-chosen 23-track selection of Shuler's rawest productions, aptly named The Funky Side of Goldband/ANLA Records). 

At the time of Eddie Shuler's passing on July 23, 2005, he was the head of the nation's longest running independent record label, Goldband, which is still based in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Get a copy of the excellent Tramp Records collection The Funky Side of Goldband/ANLA Records (originally released in 2014) via Bandcamp right here. Check the track list below.  



THE FUNKY SIDE OF GOLDBAND / ANLA RECORDS (Tramp Records)

01.Snowboats - Sidewinder 

02.Count Rockin' Sidney - Life Without Love 

03.Claude Shermack - Keep On Keeping On 

04.Count Rockin' Sidney - Dedie Dedie Da

05.Count Rockin' Sidney & Dukes - Do Your Stuff

06.Count Rockin' Sidney & Dukes - Put It On

07.Claude Shermack - Your Gravy Train

08.The Showboats - Too Much

09.Lee Bernard - Turn Around & Go 

10.Count Rockin' Sidney & Dukes - Feel Delicious

11.Lee Bernard - Getting Out Of Town

12.Count Rockin' Sidney - Boogie's Boogie Shack

13.Charles Greene - Double EE Agent

14.Chester Randle - Soul Brother's Testify (Part 1)

15.Count Rockin' Sidney - Back Door Man

16.Clifton White & Royal Knights - The Warm Up

17.Chester Randle - Soul Brother's Testify (Part 2)

18.Count Rockin' Sidney - Bury The Hatchet

19.Freddie Love - Crazy Girl (Parts 1& 2)

20.Chester Randle's Soul Senders - Why Did I Let You Go

21.Soul Shouting Tommy - I'm The Man

22.Chester Randle's Soul Senders - Take A Little Nip

23.Dynamic Adam & Excitements - Forgive Me




Dana Gillespie announces new album First Love co-produced by Marc Almond

Dana Gillespie's new album First Love – recorded with her good friend Marc Almond – is out on May 31 via Fretsore Records. 

Here's the scoop...

Legendary singer/songwriter Dana Gillespie, with over 70 albums to her credit in a career spanning six decades, adds a new chapter with the release of her new album First Love slated for release by Fretsore Records on May 31. While First Love is a deeply personal album, it marks a shift for Dana who teams up with close friends Marc Almond and Tris Penna who together produced the album. 

Born in 1949 and raised in London in an era of unrivalled experimentation and artistic rebellion, Dana began her recording career at 15 with Pye Records. Her journey in entertainment is marked by significant milestones, including collaborations with icons such as David Bowie, Bob Dylan and Elton John.  A project of refined integrity, First Love – including the first single, the Morrissey-penned “Spent The Day In Bed”  – showcases a diversity of influences that only those who have lived the experience could so masterfully convey.

You can pre-order a copy of Dana Gillespie's First Love album via Rough Trade right here or try Fretsore Records right here. Watch an episode of Globetrotting with Dana Gillespie featuring Marc Almond followed by a clip of Dana's performance of "The Last Polar Bear"





Happy Birthday Robert Lockwood, Jr.

Remembering Chicago blues guitar great Robert Lockwood Jr. with "I'm Gonna Dig Myself A Hole" and a few performance clips. 






Tuesday, March 26, 2024

Catherine MacLellan lights up Hugh's Room Live, Tuesday

PEI singer/songwriter Catherine MacLellan plays songs from her Coyote album and more with Nick Gauthier at Hugh's Room Live. 



Watch Catherine perform her father's song "Snowbird" with Nick Gauthier at Hugh's Room Live right here.   Photo: Wayne Hodgson



Happy Birthday Charles Stepney!

Remembering Chicago producer/arranger Charles Stepney with the 4-part "Out Of The Shadows" documentary series. 






Whaddya mean you don't know Stu Davis

Check out Canadian Country Music Hall of Famer Stu Davis singing "Broken Love" recorded with the Adlibs in 1959.


Here's the scoop...

Although a mostly forgotten figure today, popular Canuck country & western performer Stu Davis – born David Stewart in Boggy Creek, Saskatchewan (near Regina) in 1921 – was ubiquitous on radio during the late 40s and on numerous CBC programs through the 50s and 60s. The man who came to be known as "Canada's Cowboy Troubadour" began his singing career with his brother Fred as the Harmony Boys on Regina's CKCK in 1939 before a stint in the Royal Canadian Air Force. 

After the war, Davis settled in Calgary and found a new broadcasting home at CFCN. A few of his recordings were released  Stateside by the Chicago-based Sonora label in September 1946 but none of the four 78s created much of a buzz for Stu Davis and the Northwesters. However, Davis suddenly became a much hotter commodity when an Eddy Arnold cover of his tune "What A Fool I Was" hit big and went on to become one of the biggest selling country songs of 1948. Unfortunately for Sonora, by then their contract with Davis had lapsed and Davis took up with RCA Victor. He subsequently played the National Barn Dance in Chicago and even made it to the hallowed stage of the Grand Ole Opry. 

Other country music hotshots including Ray Price, Hank Snow and Wilf Carter also cut versions of some of the 300 songs Davis wrote but by the late 50s, Davis was already an anachronism. The younger record-buying public were more interested in hearing uptempo rock 'n' roll than lovelorn ballads crooned by lonesome cowpokes. In an attempt to reach the new audience in 1959, he tried changing things up with a song called "Broken Love," backed by a vocal group called the Adlibs. Have a listen below.     

"Broken Love, a ballad written, arranged and vocalized by local talents, may hold new horizons for the group if its recording by a New York firm clicks. CBC stagehand Don Tomiuk penned the song in collaboration with Elmer Sexsmith and pianist George Reznik a year ago. Now put to the beat of rock n’ roll, the new version will be premiered by Stu Davis on next week’s Saddle Songs. Davis and a vocal group made the recording for London Records of Montreal a month ago and from there it went to New York. The boys, who are working on other songs, report this may be the door-opener for them." – Carole Kowalson – Winnipeg Tribune, January 16, 1959

Unfortunately, despite the positive publicity, "Broken Love" didn't click for Davis. On the upside, the CBC decided to commission Davis to compose and perform a song to welcome Queen Elizabeth II for her royal visit to the Calgary Stampede that year which he considered a career highlight. Watch The Queen Stampede's Canada right here. Davis continued on as the singing host of Red River Jamboree (which ran on CBC-TV from 1960 to 1965) followed by a 13-episode CBC-TV documentary series Trail-Riding Troubadour. Sadly, none of the footage of Davis shot by the CBC over the years has been made available for viewing since it originally aired. 

Davis continued recording and releasing albums on London (15 LPs in all), Dominion in 1971 and as his 70s alter-ego "Johnny Canuck" for Birchmount in 1975. In 1993, Davis was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame He passed away on March 25, 2007 at the age of 85, better known to country music fans in the UK and Europe than at home in Canada where his recordings remain out of print.