The Way Podcast: August 23rd, 2012; Outlaw Pop/Rock

On tonight's episode of the Way I play some of my favorite songs about "outlaws" (still on an Old West kick apparently). Songs range from the Byrd's "Pretty Boy Floyd" to Dylan's "Drifter's Escape", the Bobby Fuller Four's classic crime anthem "I Fought The Law" and Old West-Retropop from Harper's Bizarre. A rare Monkees outtake is also included with Michael Nesmith's somber country-rock ballad "Nine Times Blue". The music here is mostly acoustic and has a distinct rustic and pastoral quality. Most of the tunes were recorded from the early to mid sixties and not all are explicity about outlaws, but most of lyrics and music suggest characters, experiences and stories from dusty old Southwestern towns. Click the link below to listen to stream the podcast or right-click the link and press "save link as..." to download it in .mp3 format to your computer. The show starts in at about the 3 minute mark. Enjoy:

The Way: August 23rd

The Way Podcast: 8/2/2012, "Cosmic Americana" A Sampler of Rootsy California Psychedelia

On this week's show I provide a sampler of what I refer to as "Cosmic American Music", a term first coined by the late Gram Parsons in reference to his band the Flying Burrito Brothers. While I think it's a good description of that band, I also think it's a label that fits a lot of other Los Angeles and California based pop/rock acts that successfully merged elements of country, rock 'n roll and psychedelia. I played some of my favorite latter-day Byrds and Moby Grape tracks and also some RARE Curt Boettcher songs that were originally intended for a solo album he would have released on the ill-fated Together Records label, that he and Gary Usher had founded in 1969. The tracks would later end up on the Curt Boettcher compilation "Misty Mirage". To listen to the podcast, click the link below:

The Way: August 2nd, 2012

Russ Giguere: Hexagram 16 (1971) Original Warner Bros. Vinyl Transfer

Russ Giguere, one of the key cogs in the Association's sun-drenched harmony blend, had always stood out from the rest of the group. Probably the biggest "folky" of the band, his precise, wavering vocal delivery was unmistakable and he was one of the Association's best in-house songwriters, although he wasn't the hit maker that Terry Kirkman and Jim Yester were. In 1971, as the Association were in a full commercial and critical decline, Giguere must have known his band wouldn't be around too much longer. Smartly, he decided to venture out on his own, secured a deal with WB and teamed up with the Associations then-current producer, John Boylan, to make a record.

The result, Hexagram 16, is surprisingly good, and at times rivals some of the Association's finest moments, although Russ's sound does differ a good deal from the band's. Most of the music here is rooted in a folk/country soft-rock sound, with lite-psychedelic accents sprinkled throughout. The very first track on the album, the Giguere original "Now We Begin" is a haunting and sparse folk number. The harmonies that you'd find on an Association record are nowhere to be found here, it's just a delicately picked dreamy acoustic pattern, some echo-y guitar (especially at the fadeout) and one of Giguere's best ever vocals he committed to tape. One of the top tracks on the record. But there are other equally gorgeous moments. Russ's take on Judee Sill's "Ridge Rider" is a blissful country-pop trot, with an ethereal harmonica accompanying the gentle melody and Giguere's acoustic. Giguere, and maybe John Boylan, must have been listening to what the Byrds had been putting out at this time (particularly the Untitled album), as the soft country-rockers "Let it Flow" and "Rosarita Beach Cafe" are perfect examples of that early 70s twangy and breezy pop/rock that had become ubiquitous in LA around this time and they end up being two of the best tracks on the album.

There are some heavier and even psychedelic moments on the album too. The Bill Martin penned "My Plan" and the Jules Alexander composition "Pegasus" are almost prog-rock in their epic scope, with the former sounding like an organ-heavy Moody Blues number and the latter employing a massive, swirling symphony to accompany Alexander's mystical lyrics. For me, these two tracks probably don't play to the strengths of either Giguere, Boylan, and the session musicians on the record, many of whom at had played on the Association's better known material. Although the instrumentation is nice, these two songs are just a bit too..."clunky", if that makes sense. These songs lack the melodic precision of the other material and instead maybe focusing to heavily on the grandiosity of the production and stick out like a sore thumb in contrast with the soft-pop on the rest of the album. But, thats just my take on it, you guys might find these songs to be great (I hate to sound like a music critic).

Overall, a pretty great record, and a very obscure one. Never been re-issued and still isn't that well known, even among Association fans. I found a pretty clean copy of the album at a local record store and transferred it to .mp3 @ 320vbr using EAC's .WAV editor. Compressed to .mp3 using dbpoweramp and LAME 3.97. No EQing, no pop removal, just a flat transfer as always. Enjoy: http://www.mediafire.com/?en7oa0299nv198d

-Casey