Did you ever have the feeling that something was missing in your life? I found something that I didn’t realize I was missing and I am so glad I found it. That thing is Heavy Ohio Organ Funk!! You read that right. I had no idea this was a thing, but apparently it is and it is awesome. And it is fairly current although it sounds like it is straight out of the 70’s, this album was original released in 2010 (maybe 2009). Organ Funk is where it is at and I have found it with a band called The Jive Turkeys.
And who are The Jive Turkeys? In their own words, they are the Whitest Guys Playing The Blackest Music. They are Matt Amburgy (organ), Terry Cole (bass), Andrew DeRoberts (guitar), and Rob Houk (drums) and if you notice, no one on vocals and that is because this is an instrumental album. It is as if James Brown decided to do only instrumental music. It is soulful and funkilicious. It is pretty much an homage to the funk of the 70’s, but unique in its own rights. Sit back and get ready for your bread to be buttered with the soulfulness funk that will transport you to another time.
If you had a 2 Loud 2 Old Music Mug, I’d tell you to sit back, fill it up with whatever you like and prepare yourself for what is to come. This was an interesting month and some incredible finds…for cheap!! And I mean cheap!! But before we get to the cheap stuff, let’s discuss what first showed up on our doorstep for May…well, it was actually April but it was the day I posted the April Purchases wrap-up so it missed that post. That is the boxset for the Whitesnake album ‘Good To Be Bad”…titled “Still…Good To Be Bad”. Another impressive boxset…or is it?…review to come.
And there was an album that came out months ago on CD and digital, but the album just showed up in May. It is for the lead singer of one of my favorite bands Needtobreathe. It is Bear Rinehart’s second solo album under the name Wilder Woods. It is different then NTB which it should be since he is the voice of NTB. If it sounded like NTB, it would be a NTB album…
I know, I know. I am a little late to this book as it came out way back in 2011. But I’m finally here, I’ve finally drenched myself in to the pages and I am ready to tell you all about it. Thanks for being so patient with me. Sammy Hagar! What is there to say about Sammy. I remember seeing “I Can’t Drive 55” on MTV and really starting to discover who he was. I found out he was the lead singer of the band Montrose from the 70’s and then around 1985, I remember he was named the new lead singer of Van Halen. That was when I really started to find out who he really was. I picked up some Sammy albums and definitely bought the Van Halen albums and I really liked him. Then in the 90’s after leaving Van Halen, he started up his solo stuff again. Eventually he turned in to what I felt was the Jimmy Buffet of Rock & Roll. He had this laid back, surfer dude, all sunshine, relaxation and Tequila. He has always seemed like such a cool dude! And this book proved that to be the case, but I discovered so much more.
The book has Sammy really focusing on his rock & roll life with nuggets of his early childhood, but thankfully he stuck to the music mostly. Well, almost thankfully, as I would’ve loved to hear more about his business side as he only touched on it (except for Cabo Wabo and the Tequila) a little and that seems to be the area where he made most of his money and let me tell you, the man looks like he made more money on the business side of his life then the music side and I find that fascinating. Hell, he sold his Tequila brand for around $100 million…DAMN!!! He had a fire safety sprinkler company before there as really such a thing. He’s had his bar Cabo Wabo which is now bar’s’ with an ‘s’. He seems to invest in the right things at the right time and I have never been that lucky.
But the main reason to read the book for any Sammy fan is the Va Halen stories and they don’t disappoint. I’ve heard that he was really harsh on Eddie Van Halen and he regrets that a little, but I don’t think it was that harsh. I don’t think it is anything we didn’t expect or know. Eddie was an addict and his behavior over the years has shown that. I think Sammy was being honest with how he interpreted the stories and that is what I want in a book. I can read other people’s books to get their side and then draw my own conclusion, but Sammy’s seemed authentic to me. The sunshine and roses of how he got with the band seems to coincide with what Ted Templeman said in his book which is all good. But the downfall is where it got interesting. The little things they did to each other, the backstabbing, the drugs and alcohol and just the shitty way things went down was outright riveting to me. Sammy laid it all out there for you to read. So go do it.
We are about to the end of July so time for another wrap-up of my purchases for the month. We had a little quieter month and some things I am so happy to have in my collection. The vinyl was limited this month, CDs ruled the month and I even have a nice new book to read. I would say it was a really great month of finds.
We will start off with some simple finds from when my kids and I hit up Manifest Discs and a little shop called 2nd & Charles. At Manifests, I found a couple of Velvet Revolver CDs that were in my collection at one time, but we won’t go in to that right now, I am just happy to have them again. The one on the left, ‘Contraband’, is the one my brother-in-law was the engineer on so yes, he worked with Slash and Scott Weiland!! Pretty cool.
Then we went down the street to 2nd & Charles and my daughter picked up 7 Volume set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer graphic novels and I grabbed a couple CDs. These were two more that were in my collection years ago and now they are back as well. A nice Richard Marx one and Chickenfoot. And Richard Marx will come up again soon…
Happy Friday! I hope there are some new releases here that you might like. There is not a whole lot coming out, but a few will be on my list to listen to during the week. I will highlight those in Blue. You will see something from the Jerry Garcia Band for you Deadheads and if you liked Soft Cell from the 80’s there is a greatest hits package from Marc Almond. There is an album by the great country artist Marty Stuart that actually might be worth a listen, but isn’t first up on my list. I will eventually get to that one.
Chickenfoot – Best + Live – (Chickenfoot LLC & Entertainment One): I am not sure how you have a Best of album after only 2 studio albums, but Chickenfoot seems to think they need one. I am thinking it is a contractual obligation they have to fulfil. I will be glad for the Live songs and the one new single “Divine Termination”. No matter what, when you have Sammy, Joe, Chad & Michael together, you are in for a good time.
Bush – Black and White Rainbows – (Zuma Rock Records): Bush is still going strong. This is the first album for Gavin Rossdale since his well publicized divorce from Gwen Stefani. It will be interesting to see how that impacted his song writing for this album. Can’t wait to hear this one regardless of that fact.
2 Loud 2 Old Music 