Monday, January 31, 2022

45 Revolutions: Shoot The Pump



It doesn't get much more early '80s NYC than this. Truly funky proto hip hop with a ton of Latin flavor, featuring graffiti writers ALI-1 and COCA 82. Rrecorded and released by none other than the legendary John Hammond (issued in the UK by Island Records).

Monday, January 24, 2022

Don't Feel So Bad

 Don't get me wrong, I generally dig the entire Rodgers & Hammerstein (and Hart) songbook, but find the original film version of "My Favorite Thing" to be aural pablum with truly cringe-inducing lyrics. Coltrane took the song and injected it with otherworldly spirit and soul; while his studio version is gorgeous, he took it even further into the stratosphere live. My favorite version is from 1961 with Eric Dolphy killing it on flute (found in mediocre fidelty on the European Impressions LP), but this version here from a few years later, which I only recently discovered, is fucking sonic perfection on par with the greateast of all American art.

Saturday, January 22, 2022

Friday, January 7, 2022