Deconstructing Johnny Ryall

Beastie Boys - Johnny Ryall [CD] [mp3] [vinyl]

I think most sentient beings can agree that Paul's Boutique is one of the greatest albums of the last 20-30 years. Catch me on the right day and I might say it's the greatest album ever. Released in 1989, Paul's was the by-product of 7 men: The Beastie Boys, an LA DJ named Matt Dike (who later went on to co-found Delicious Vinyl), two other LA DJs named Mike Simpson and John King (better known as the Dust Brothers), and producer/engineer Mario Caldato, Jr.

Some critics have asserted that Paul's Boutique is the Sgt. Pepper's of rap, no doubt inspired by the group's ballsy samples of The Beatles. But, I think that's both inaccurate and underselling Pauls' brilliance. If anything, it's the musical equivalent of The Simpsons, strafing our frontal lobes with absurdist tom foolery and dropping more cultural references than JD's got Salinger.

With the Paul's Boutique Samples and References List at my disposal (i.e. nerd heroin) and strategic doses of Dan LeRoy's 33 1/3 book, I want to lift the hood on "Johnny Ryall," a brilliant microcosm of Paul's Boutique's meta-genius. According to LeRoy, Dike was responsible for the basic track, but the song soon became the pet project of Mike D, with his bad self running things.

David Bromberg - Sharon (1972) [CD] [mp3] [eMusic]

David Bromberg was an interesting choice for source material. Where the Beasties were anomalous white Jews in predominantly black rap music, Bromberg was one of the few Jews totally fluent in American roots music. Doug Sahm fans may know him as the dobro player on Doug Sahm and Band. And while I'm only casually familiar with the Bromberg catalog, I can't imagine him producing another track as straight-up funky as "Sharon."

Johnny Ryall excerpt
Donny Hathaway - Magnificent Sanctuary Band (1971) [CD] [vinyl] [eMusic]
Samples: Opening drum beats.

This song is slap yo mama good and a wonderful intro to Donny Hathaway. If you're unfamiliar with his work, I suggest starting with his self-titled 1971 album ... which includes "Magnificent Sanctuary Band" ... and go from there.

It's worth noting that "Sanctuary" was actually written and originally released by Dorsey Burnette in 1970. This is noteworthy because, like Johnny Ryall, Dorsey Burnette was "a rockabilly star from the days of old." With brother, Johnny Burnette, and guitar player, Paul Burlison, the group was known collectively as The Rock and Roll Trio, purveyors of such classics as "Honey Hush" and "Train Kept A-Rollin.'” Furthermore, when the Beasties namedrop Elvis ("Elvis shaved his head when he went into the Army") that, too, is appropriate. As it happens, Elvis, Paul Burlison, and Dorsey Burnette were all employees with the Crown Electric Company in the mid-'50s. "Memphis is where he's from" indeed.

Johnny Ryall excerpt
Paul McCartney - Momma Miss America (1970) [CD]
Samples: Drum beats, particularly after "bottle after bottle he'll always drink more."

I know this is gonna be a shocker, but Paul McCartney's fat bassline makes this song. Paul said of 'Momma' in 1970, "An instrumental recorded completely at home. Made up as I went along -- first a sequence of chords, then a melody on top. Piano, drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar. Originally it was two pieces but they ran into each other by accident and became one."

Johnny Ryall excerpt
Jean Knight - Mr. Big Stuff (1971) [CD]
Sample: "Who do you think you are?"

I'm pretty sure this song was created in a bootyshaking R&D facility. A monster jam upon its release in 1971, "Mr. Big Stuff" seemed to herald big things for singer Jean Knight, but sadly, this was her brief moment of fame. In 1987, the song gained currency within rap circles when Heavy D cut his own "Mr. Big Stuff," featuring the same "Who do you think you are?" sample appropriated by the Boys.

Johnny Ryall excerpt
Pink Floyd - One Of These Days excerpt (1971) [CD] [mp3]
Sample: Wind sound.

According to Wikipedia, the wind sound is "a delayed wind drum slowed down to half speed." I was wondering where my wind drum went. By the way, this is precisely what I love about the Beasties. How many rap groups have the jimmy hat to bump Meddle samples? Maybe Outkast. Definitely the Beastie Boys.

Johnny Ryall excerpt
DJ Grand Wizard Theodore - Military Cut excerpt (1983) [CD] [mp3] [eMusic]
Sample: The PBSRL says chimes. I'm dubious.

This is one of the few times where I disagree with the PBSRL. What they call chimes, I call a triangle sound effect or a kid's toy. Whatever it is, it isn't chimes. "Military Cut" is the first track on the Wild Style soundtrack, which along with the film itself, is one of the earliest legitimate artifacts featuring rap, graffiti, and breakdancing. The precursor to Beat Street, Wild Style emerged in that halcyon 1982-83 period with "The Message," "White Lines," the first Run-DMC singles on Profile, Afrika Bambaataa at his peak, KDAY (LA radio station) incorporating rap into its playlist, and mainstream nods like the breakdancing sequence in Flashdance. Individually, these are curious blips on the radar. Taken collectively over the course of 1-2 years, Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys seem almost inevitable.

Johnny Ryall excerpt
Kurtis Blow - AJ Scratch excerpt (1984) [CD]
Sample: "That's right, y'all, his name is ... "

On the other hand, some early rap has aged poorly. God bless Kurtis Blow, he's an OG, and a great spokesman for the early days in NYC. But, these beats are so dated. Nevertheless, he was a pioneer and the Beasties do right by sampling his wares.

According to the PBSRL, "The 'one, two, three, four' chants can be heard in an Ofra Haza remix of 'Galbi.'" This may be true, but none of the clips on YouTube contained this chant and I Bataan death marched through 37 different versions. I try to keep an open mind ... and I'm mindful of her unfortunate death due to complications from AIDS ... so I come not to mock. But, the door is shut on Israeli synth-pop from the 1980s. Sue me.

Finally, so much has been written about Paul's Boutique the cultural phenomenon that a smaller truth has been ignored. With the Hoskyns book in mind ... and Barney drops the ball on this one big time ... surely Paul's has to stand as one of the finest albums Los Angeles has ever produced. Right up there with the heavyweights, like Double Nickels On The Dime.

Bird is the Word and You're Light as a Feather

Charlie Parker (L) and Dizzy Gillespie, mid-1940s

Another foray into ornithology and again featuring excerpts from Barney Hoskyns' Waiting For The Sun: A Rock 'n' Roll History of Los Angeles. Overall, it's a solid reference book, but the first 50 or so pages are my favorite. Not enough is written about LA's postwar music scene, so respect to Hoskyns for addressing not just Charlie Parker, but Central Avenue R&B, the rise of west coast jazz, and the rise (and fall) of the postwar independent record label.

"When Billy Berg asked Harry 'The Hipster' Gibson to recommend some New York acts for the club, Gibson had no hesitation in urging him to book the all-star Dizzy Gillespie Sextet, featuring the one-man whirlwind of Charlie 'Bird' Parker."

Dizzy Gillespie All-Stars - Shaw' Nuff (May 11, 1945)
Dizzy Gillespie - trumpet
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Clyde Hart - piano
Remo Palmeri - guitar
Curley Russell - bass
Sid Catlett - drums

Charlie Parker Septet - Yardbird Suite (March 28, 1946)
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Lucky Thompson - tenor sax
Miles Davis - trumpet
Dodo Marmarosa - piano
Arvin Garrison - guitar
Vic McMillan - bass
Roy Porter - drums

"Not everybody embraced it, but it was incredibly exciting if you were 22," says Buddy Collette, one of the few players from that era to survive in LA with his health and his sanity intact. "Gillespie and Parker came in with a completely new way of storytelling -- new notes and lines, flat ninths. When those scales and chords came in, it was hard to hear them, you had to know what they were. So it got more technical, rather than just being a case of finding some notes and playing around the blues."

SHOOT THEM WITH THE BOP GUN

"After Dizzy returned to New York, Parker stayed on, landing a gig with Howard McGhee's band at the Club Finale and cutting such famous sides as 'Ornithology' and 'Night In Tunisia' for Ross Russell, an ex-marine who ran a record store in Hollywood and issued records on his little Dial label."

Charlie Parker Septet - Ornithology (March 28, 1946)
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Lucky Thompson - tenor sax
Miles Davis - trumpet
Dodo Marmarosa - piano
Arvin Garrison - guitar
Vic McMillan - bass
Roy Porter - drums

Charlie Parker Septet - Moose The Mooche (March 28, 1946)
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Lucky Thompson - tenor sax
Miles Davis - trumpet
Dodo Marmarosa - piano
Vic McMillan - bass
Roy Porter - drums

GOT TO GET OVER THE HUMP

"Bird's main preoccupations in LA were more accurately reflected by 'Moose The Mooche', inspired by a crippled dope dealer who peddled his wares from a shoeshine parlor on Central Avenue."

"The heroin habit proved increasingly debilitating: after the Finale's temporary closure, Bird (pictured left, flyin' the flannel) ended up living in a garage, all but penniless."

"In July, on the night he recorded the heartbreaking ballad 'Lover Man' at C.P. MacGregor's studio on Western Avenue (Hollywood), he nodded out in a hotel and set fire to his mattress -- a typical junkie tale, but one which landed him in the nut ward at Camarillo State Hospital for six months. The stay probably saved his life."

Charlie Parker Quintet - Lover Man (July 29, 1946)
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Howard McGhee - trumpet
Jimmy Bunn - piano
Bob Kesterson - bass
Roy Porter - drums

Charlie Parker Quartet - Cool Blues (February 19, 1947)
Charlie Parker - alto sax
Erroll Garner - piano
Red Callender - bass
Harold "Doc" West - drums

"Certainly he was in better shape when he emerged in January 1947 to take up residency at the Hi-De-Ho Club with Howard McGhee and Hampton Hawes. By the time he returned to New York in March (1948), he'd cut further electrifying sessions for Dial (including the drolly titled 'Relaxin' At Camarillo') and left a mark on west coast jazz that was truly indelible."

BIRD FOR NEWBIES

Yardbird Suite - 38 songs over 2 discs spanning most of Parker's career (1945-54), with Dizzy, Miles, Thelonious Monk, Erroll Garner, and Max Roach in supporting roles. Lots of cool B&W pics, the liner notes give a good overview of Bird's career, the best starting point in the Bird canon.

In A Soulful Mood - The best single disc overview of the Dial sessions. 26 songs, perfectly divided between its LA and New York halves.

If Charlier Parker Were a Gunslinger...

"...there'd be a whole lot a dead copycats."
--Charles Mingus



Charlie Parker (alto sax)
Coleman Hawkins (tenor sax)
Hank Jones (piano)
Ray Brown (bass)
Buddy Rich (drums)

Super-rare video of one of the 20th century's greatest musicians, Charlie Parker. Coleman Hawkins was a giant of jazz, a legit bridge between swing and bop, and Bird devours him whole like a hawklicious M&M. Coleman Hawkins! Jones, Brown, and Rich are a fantastic, swinging rhythm section and Parker brings out their absolute best.

Chilton's Missing Years + Revisiting Clarence White

Alex Chilton, CBGB, 1977 / photo: Godlis ©

Alex Chilton fans are probably familiar with these stories, but I wanted to collect them in one place. They address what I call his "missing years," a 20-year span bookended by Big Star's dissolution in the mid-'70s and their re-emergence as indie gods in the mid-'90s.

Those two decades are critical in understanding Chilton's iconoclasm, a trip that takes us from Memphis to New York to New Orleans, and includes a wondrous detour through my beloved Tuscaloosa, Alabama. It says a lot about Chilton's legacy that the comments section for each of these stories are as good as the articles themselves. The man left a mark, no doubt.

Incidentally, all the pictures of Alex (1 above, 2 below) were taken by famed NYC street photographer, Godlis. You can link to his website by clicking on his name, but I also recommend visiting his blog, Diary of a Lunatic Photographer. Great stuff.

Alex Chilton: 1975-1981
By David Gendelman, Crawdaddy

"After recording the third Big Star record in 1974, Chilton would spend the next seven years searching for and then fine-tuning his artistic vision. He would find it an aesthetic of raw spirit and destruction that made for great rock ‘n’ roll and left a number of casualties along the way, including, for a time, Chilton himself."

Alex Chilton's life in New Orleans was a mystery, and that's how the Big Star singer wanted it
By Keith Spera, The New Orleans Times-Picayune

"By 1982, Chilton had soured on the music business in general, and his native Memphis in particular. Struggles with substance abuse didn’t help. Hoping a change of scenery would reinforce his decision to quit drinking, he resolved to start over in New Orleans.

Classic. Only Alex Chilton moves TO New Orleans to quit drinking. It's like moving to Texas to get away from the heat.

Getting High With Alex Chilton In Tuscaloosa, 1986-1990: An Oral History
Via Deadspin

"In the late '80s, after the Box Tops and Big Star, but before the Box Tops and Big Star reunions would put enough money in his pocket to make fraternity parties a thing of his past, Alex would pass through town three, four, maybe five times in a year. In Tuscaloosa at least, Alex Chilton was revered, despite, or maybe due to, a mercurial nature that seemed to tip-toe between mischievous and merciless; people felt honored just to buy him weed."

Apparently, the Tide wasn't the only thing rolling in T-Town.

Finally, I've begun the arduous task of revisiting the Clarence White Chronicles. Aside from editing the prose, I'm fixing broken links and replacing pictures as needed. I'm also removing the individual song links from each page and replacing them with zip files. Think of them as downloadable playlists and in some cases I'll be adding a song or two.

In time, every CW post will have a zip file at the top of the page containing every song highlighted in that piece. Furthermore, the zips will work together as a master playlist. For example, the only piece I've edited so far is my first post in the series, Clarence White and his Bluegrass Bebop: 1964-65 (Part 1). This playlist contains songs 1-6. The subsequent zip file will contain songs 7-15, and so on. Therefore, if you DL every zip file and add every song to an iPod, the songs will be labeled in sequential order. Also, while the zips are named for each blog post, the songs themselves are tagged with the same album title: (The) Adios Lounge Presents: Clarence White. This is just another way to organize information in the era of the playlist. Clear as mud???

There's Just God When He's Drunk

Photo: Joel Brodsky/Corbis ©

Tom Waits - Heartattack And Vine [CD] [MP3]

"Whenever I hear "Heartattack And Vine," the bruising title track of one of Tom Waits' best albums, it reminds me of arriving in Los Angeles for the first time thirty years ago. The sheer force of the track never fails to pummel me in the chest. It's as if Howlin' Wolf were prowling the backstreets of Hollywood Babylon and figuring, 'Fuck, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.'

I suppose it helps that "Heartattack And Vine" -- in one of its most caustic lines -- references Cahuenga Boulevard, since it was on said street that I found the Hollywood motel I rashly opted to stay in on my arrival that night. If memory serves, it was a matter of minutes before I was befriended by a crew of feral street creatures who sold me some mind-shredding grass and then vanished into the night with all my traveler's checks.

In a sense it was precisely what I'd come to Los Angeles to find: not the surface glitter and phony glamour, but the noir undertow, the menace lurking behind the palm-tree facade. I wanted to examine LA -- as a symbol, as a metaphor, but also as a living breathing place -- through the music made in it and about it: to trace the line that connected Brian Wilson to Black Flag to Axl Rose. (What is the line? Why, failed singer-songwriter Charlie Manson, of course.)"

Barney Hoskyns, 2009
Excerpts from the preface to
Waiting For The Sun: A Rock 'n' Roll History of Los Angeles

My Heart Lies In Old West Virginia

How beautiful is this song? Bassist John Dalton (pictured right) brings the lowdown fat bottom, while Dave Davies (pictured left) proves for the everythingth time why he was so critical to the genius and longevity of The Kinks. He was the Carl Perkins to Ray Davies' Johnny Cash. Great harmonies and stinging, chugging guitar.

Also great is this shorter, but equally excellent video from 1977.

"Take me back to the Black Hills, that I ain't ever seen ..."

Your New Favorite Band: Ghost Shirt

L-R: Sam Kim (vocals, violin, keys), Branden Barnett (vocals, guitar), David Murphy (drums, vocals), Ryan Haye (bass)

I distinctly remember my first time hearing this band. It was late last year, the song was "History Of The Radio," and 30 seconds in I went Kool-Aid man onto the Ghost Shirt bandwagon. I immediately played "Radio" again, just to make sure I heard what I thought I heard. I've had this experience with 3 (now 4) songs:

• Beatles, Happiness Is A Warm Gun
• Flaming Lips, Five Stop Mother Superior Rain
• Teenage Fanclub, The Concept

Who has the balls, let alone talent, to join that triumvirate of awesome??? Five songs into their career and they're already in the pantheon.

Ghost Shirt - History Of The Radio [eMusic]

Half this song swallows you up with Spector/Bowie claustrophobia, screeching violin, distorted guitar, keyboard drone, and murmurs of noise all fighting for space. The other half of the song can't decide whether it wants to be Astral Weeks or Fisherman's Blues. Yeah, good problem to have. My only complaint is that Murphy's great drumming is a bit lost in the wash, but I think part of that is being in the mp3 era. I expect this to be corrected on the eventual vinyl release. Buy this EP for "Radio" and "Steam Engine" alone.

L-R: Kim, Murphy, Barnett,Haye

Ghost Shirt - WOLFPACK!!! (4 of 52)

Ghost Shirt - Two Cow Garage (6 of 52)

These are the 4th and 6th singles, respectively, in Ghost Shirt's ambitious 52 Singles in 52 Weeks project (more in a sec). The first song pays tribute to Buffalo's Roger Bryan & The Orphans, whose 2009 album was entitled, Wolves. The second song is an homage to Columbus homeboys, TCG, and

Dig this. These crazy mofos from Columbus, Ohio, set themselves the needlessly impossible task of releasing a new single every week this year. If you're like me, you think that maybe on paper that's a great idea. In reality, serious filler potential. Most bands can't write 3 good songs in a year. Ghost Shirt is aiming for 52?!?! But, here we are in April, I have 17 songs by this band on my hard drive, and maybe 2 are meh, 3-4 are good but not great, the rest (around 10) are as good or a hair below these 3 songs.

Oh, and aside from the EP .. . which you really need to buy ... all these songs
are FREE! Fuck yeah, flapjack. Furthermore, from Camp Ghost Shirt:

You guys been staying up on these singles? If not, start catching up now. Branden said at the beginning of this "52 Singles in 52 Weeks" project that he wanted each single to be just that -- a single. And that’s pretty much held true so far. Already a lot of gems among these 12.

Here's another new twist to the project. Last week's single (#11 "homeiswhereyouare") through #21 is going to be a complete album (which means #12 up there is also track 2). So, keep up with the singles on Donewaiting the next 10 weeks and you'll have a new Ghost Shirt record. All the tracks run together, and violinist Sam Kim is composing some orchestral breaks, too. Once all 10 tracks are released, it's going to be mastered and digitally repackaged with artwork and such. The sound is a bit different than the Ghost Shirt you're used to -- as Branden says, it's more "weird and noisy."

AND...That's actually Ghost Shirt's second album, the first of which, Domestique, will be out on Anyway Records in May or June (with niiice artwork; cover above). You can now stream that album on the band's Facebook fan page.

Get in now, friends. This band has all the ingredients for a Neutral Milk Hotel/Pixies circa Surfer Rosa type breakout. Beyond that, who knows? I tell you what. Mild hyperbole aside, I'll settle for vinyl versions of these DLs.

THE INSTRUMENT OF MY ULTIMATE DOWNFALL

As a bonus, here are two of my favorite tracks from the titular bands.

Two Cow Garage - No Shame [CD] [MP3] [eMusic]

TCG Website
TCG Facebook

Roger Bryan & The Orphans - No Bridge [CD/Vinyl]

RBO Speedwagon
RBO Facebook