Lloyd Price: "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" b/w "Little Volcano" (Lloyd Price's Turntable, TT-509, 1969)

In April 1952 Specialty Records (who would release Little Richard's Tutti Fruitti three years later) released Lawdy Miss Clawdy. The single spent seven weeks at the number one spot on the Billboard R&B chart, and was named R&B Record of the Year by Billboard and Cashbox. It was written and sung by Lloyd Price (with Fats Domino on piano), was Price's first hit, and is a seminal piece of R&B and early rock'n'roll. Larry Williams (who had been Price's valet, per wikipedia), later reworked the song into Dizzy Mizz Lizzie. Lawdy Miss Clawdy has also been covered many times, but I think in my personal experience I've heard Dizzie Miss Lizzie more often.

Lloyd Price (born March 9, 1933) had more hits (Stagger Lee, Personality) and a long career in music and business. Price currently manages Icon Food Brands, which on top of Southern-style foods also features Lawdy Miss Clawdy clothing and collectibles. He's got a street named after him in his hometown of Kenner, Louisiana, and that city celebrates an annual Lloyd Price Day. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Per Wikipedia, he and his wife live in New York and he continues to sing.

There's a couple of different recordings of Price doing this song on Youtube, but none are as upbeat as the one that's on his Millennium Collection. I assume that one on the Millennium Collection is the original single, and the others are re-stylings, like this 1969 version I present tonight, along with its b-side.

This electrical soul version was recorded for his own label, Lloyd Price's Turntable. Per Discogs, he opened an identically named Manhattan restaurant-nightclub the same year he started the label. The label design is particularly groovy and features a picture of Price looking sharp. The B-side is another funky soul reworking of one of his older songs, the Luther Dixon-penned Little Volcano.

I didn't find either of these versions after my customary quick Google search. I picked this up over at Josey Records, for $3.

As always, this is presented strictly for educational and historical purposes, and will only be up for a limited time.

Lawdy Miss Clawdy (1969)

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Lawdy Miss Clawdy (1969)

Little Volcano (1969)

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Little Volcano (1969)

Ear Baby

I'm trying out squarespace and eventually a little advertising over at this new site of mine, Ear Baby. It'll focus on new music from bandcamp, and I hope much more frequently, while I continue to use good old ad-free CNQ to share my record finds.

Truthfully, I dunno if I have the audience to pull this off - I'm not real sure I have an audience - but it never hurts to try.

So, for the near-future of CNQ, expect more of what I initially set off to do with this blog back in 2012 - sharing cool record finds. As always, if you'd like me to share a song of yours, contact me at matt at cleannicequiet dot com. If it's something new, I'll be sharing it over on the new site.

So CNQ. Ear Baby. Clearly, I got time on my hands.

Los Flamas: "Ella No Esta Ahi" (Dicesa, 1971)

I picked up this LP, La Ensalada De Los Flamas, for $12 from Josey Records. It's a little scratchy but it plays through without skips, and both of my loyal readers know I like a little crackle and pop in my vinyl.

This was put out in 1971 by El Salvadorian label Dicesa. I'm not sure if Los Flamas is from El Salvador as well. I can't find any info on them via the internerts. All of side A is the title track. I had to look up Ensalada because I was like, "Salad of the Flames?" But other than meaning salad, Ensalada is a Spanish term for a music genre of songs that are a medley of upbeat melodies in various languages.

So the first side starts with a few Spanish songs, and they're really good. I'm not sure if the songs in Spanish were written by the band or not. About halfway through the band goes into these far-out ESL versions of Proud Mary, Banana Boat Song, and The Limbo Rock. The Limbo Rock ends with a wicked organ freak-out. Then it's back into some really rockin' Spanish-language songs.

The b-side begins with a couple of excellent garage-psych Latin songs, I think they're originals, but I'm not sure. Then there's a couple of more covers: Bruce Channel's 1961 Hey Baby -- Wikipedia says Delbert McClinton played harmonica on the original track -- and Jackie Trent's 1964 Only One Such As you.

And then it comes to this Zombies cover, the climax of the entire album. So many choices these guys made on this song, all so right, all so eternal:

Ella No Esta Ahi

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you: Ella No Esta Ahi

Man, that new Kendrick Lamar album is awesome.

New From Bandcamp

Dallas grindcore act Pissed Grave has a new 10 song album streaming on bandcamp that I'm excited about.

Speaking of punk in Texas, these guys are from Fort Worth. Pill Binge is probably the coolest name for a band ever. Pill Binge will be playing with Pissed Grave and some other hardcore acts, including Lycanthropy from the Czech Republic, on May 10 at Three Links in Dallas.

More grind from Edinburgh's awesome Mind Ripper Collective:

These Boston punks are charging $20 for their mp3. Go 'head on, then:

Sauna Youth's new record will be out in June, here's a track from it they've released already:

Here's another one from Sauna Youth, this one from 2013:

CNQ fave pop-punkers Dot Dash have a new album:

Dirtnap Records is offering a digital dl of 20 Mean Jeans singles. How fun is that:

CNQ's favorite freak-out artist Anklepants is touring Europe and has key dates set for the U.S. - he urges U.S. promoters to get in touch with him at facebooking@qwerty.net.au.

Click here for a 40 minute or so long live video by URSS of Anklepants' last headline show of 2014. Total freak-out, hope he comes to my neck of the woods.

To round out the post we'll swing in another direction with this new jazzy/funky vocal:

Fells: "Walking & Wanting" (Peyote Stomp, 1994)

I have not posted a 45 in a while. On a recent CNQ Las Vegas junket, I picked up Fells' Walking & Wanting b/w their cover of The Buzzcock's E.S.P. for $5 at The Beat Coffeehouse. The Beat was a super-cool place; the food was excellent and they had a neat little record selection.

I'd never heard of this band before, the label just looked cool. I know we're at the point now where I can just look it up on my phone real quick, and I will do that if I'm on the fence about something. But if it looks too cool there in my hand like this one did I like to take my chances and don't bother looking it up until after I've bought it. Usually, like with this seven inch, I am pleased at the outcome of that adventurous gambit.

Looks like the band went by Fells and The Fells, but since Fells is what's on the label of this 45, I'll go with that for this post.

Back in 2009, this writer cat Jason Gelt wrote a good piece for examiner.com which reminisces about Fells as "Arizona's greatest garage band." Gelt mentions Walking and Wanting was his favorite Fells song.

Per Discogs, this was recorded live to 2-track on February 28th, 1994, at Waterworks West, Tucson Arizona, and broadcast on "Gimme Indie Rock" KXCI 91.3 FM. 500 of these seven inches were pressed.

In doing a little research on the band and their discography, I found some transcripts of an Austin fanzine called Geek Weekly that have been digitized. I'm not sure who the author is, but they mention Heath Heemsbergen, the lead singer, and Fells in a story about what otherwise sounds like a pretty righteous punk party if you're twenty in 1994:

"Then it all fell apart...and the Fells fucking went to hell in front of us all. It was insane nad (sic?) by the end no one was playing their own instruments or anything and people were getting on the stage and Heath was under a ladder in back of the stage nursing wounds."

In 1994 I was eighteen and I hitchhiked to a Lollapalooza with a hobo sign. It was different times back then. For me, anyway. This song is songs are copyright 1994, Heemsbergen and Fells:

Fells: Walking & Waiting

Or, try: Fells: Walking & Wanting

Blastin'

I've been away for a couple of weeks, so this post is some catching up with some new stuff from the U.S. and abroad, courtesy CNQ's fave labels and bands on bandcamp.

Robert Belfour was a Mississippi bluesman who died at age 74 this past February 24. I have been sadly ignorant of Belfour and his work until tonight. R.I.P., Robert Belfour:

Pretty little garage rocker by the Lemons. They're from Chicago:

This Brooklyn band has a Paper Chase thing going on:

This was put out two years ago but it's new to me, and I like it:

Birthday Suits are from Minneapolis/St. Paul and the label, Recess Records, is outta LA:

Here's an L.A. band, also from Recess:

These are both courtesy France's Frantic City Records:

CNQ fave avant-folkie Clara Engel has teamed up with an experimental minimalist from the UK on this track:

From Wales' Small Bear Records and Sweden's "jazz-tinged indie" band Club K, this is so hep:

Speaking of the Swedes and their rich traditions of modern popular music, here's some Swedish punk:

New awesomeness from Poland's first DIY label, Nikt Nic Nie Wie:

I'm into this punk 7" from German label Terrortubbies Tonträger. Love that organ:

More hc from another German label, Sabotage Records:

Ska's not really my thing but these UK punks have a cool thing going on:

Oh, you wanted to hear some Peruvian wandering folk beatniks? Well, turn it up:

More "skramz," man, from Indiana and Middle Man Records, this is 30 seconds of rad:

Raleigh North Carolina's Sorry State Records just brings it and brings it:

You can pre-order the new Dirty Fences through the Slovenly Records bandcamp page:

This is interesting breakbeat that uses samples from Abbey Road. Cassette orders are sold out:

Rounding out this long set with three new hip-hop tracks from the LNS Crew, which is Denver-based artist Cory Kendrix, and Austinites Kydd Jones and Tank Washington:

Doctor Nod and Adam Holtz

Check out my mane mang Kale Ogle's Arkan-psych garage action. Kale and I were Muppet Babies together, which is weird because I'm a decade older than he is. You can pick up this single b/w a b-side on cassette through Portland's Resurrection Records. Trés hep:

Longtime CNQ readers know Alabama's singer/songwriter/guitarist Adam Holtz. Adam's produced a new set of 22 tracks, volume 20 of his classic rock and ballad work:

I Like To Rock

If the above doesn't work, try clicking this link: I Like To Rock

The Music Back Then

If the embedded player above doesn't work for you, try this: Just For You

Just For You

Or try this link: Just For You