Have You Dug Don Covay Yet?

Do you dig on The Rising Storm? If you are saying "Who the heck is Don Covay?" then the answer is undoubtedly no. Wait....should I back up? Do you dig classic funk/soul/rhythm and blues/rock and roll? Then peep The Rising Storm out. In their words: "The Rising Storm is an mp3 blog about fine forgotten albums. We focus on lost gems in the genres of garage, country rock, psych folk, psychedelic rock, and other overlooked classics." Need I say more???? Don Covay is a soulful brother whose "Mercy Mercy," which I first found on Aquarium Drunkard (through The Rising Storm) a few months back, was recorded with a young Jimi Hendrix on guitar. The difference between the record discussed in that original post, See Saw, which is a classic soul groover and "The House of  Blue Lights," which more closely resembles a gritty Taj Mahal record of the same era shows the range and roots of this forgotten talent. The mp3s from the older post have expired, but the new one has two downloadable tracks and if you see one of this cat's records in some dingy bin somewhere then buy it. If you don't want it hit me up and I promise to pay you twice what it cost you plus shipping or whateva. Grazie

RVOW: Elton John's Tumbleweed Connection

Welcome to the working week...Random Vinyl is back and this week the Newb-Log is spinning a classic, as always, Tumbleweed Connection. If you don't think you like Elton John then shut up and buy this record. Mine was $1.99 at Rasputin in Berkeley during my vacationing in the Bay last month and I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the vinyl was in near perfect condition at this price (sigh of joy/an f-u to LA stores). I stumbled on this LP in a small stack preserved under the Hi-Fi at my lovely girlfriend's house on Christmas day. She had convinced her folks that I loved vinyl and that they should let me peruse the stacks and make a selection to back our lovely dinner (BTW if you have any friend's with Portuguese mothers or G-ma's invite yourself over for dinner, STAT!!!). Mr. Fedrick gave me the thumbs up and I quickly found some classic country including Cash, Haggard, Springsteen's Nebraska, and then this odd little storefront picture with Elton slumped in the corner. I knew I had heard of this record, but couldn't place it. Had I read about it on The Rising Storm? No, too popular for that, right? What about a reference on the Drunkard? I later remembered that I had heard the second half on 100.3 The Sound's Album sides Wednesday. So I queued the needle and trotted upstairs to where the system was set to play. I literally blurted out "Oh, Shit. This is rockin'." Well......we made it through that first tune and through the second, which is a fantastic ballad and arrangement entitled: "Come Down in Time." Then I was urged to put on one of the old Christmas LPs instead, which was fine because they had a classic compilation with Bing and Nat King Cole. It didn't even matter, though. I knew I needed this album and where to find it on my way back to Berkeley, San Frisco, and ultimately back home. I don't even want to get too technically deep on this record I just want to say thank you very much to Dee Fedrick for turning me on to it and say that I have rarely enjoyed a record's every single song this much on the first listen. The records they shove up your ass and down your throat these days are all designed to sound great on first listen, but they don't reward any further upon subsequent listens. They just sit there like stale bread and they taste much worse. Tumbleweed has lovely arrangements and hooky chorus' and flows like a classically structured work with movements. Happy New Year, kids, one of my resolutions is to post more/post music/study up on me ingles. Throw a brother a comment, talk shit, c'mon!!!