Takoma's one-offs and obscurities

we should have a "takoma one-offs and obscurities" thread; so many weird things on that label. i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."

― by another name (amateurist), Tuesday, February 23, 2010 12:51 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark

I'm surprised there's not a thread for this. Here's their complete discography
http://www.wirz.de/music/takomfrm.htm

I've been loving these, but I know there's more out there looking through their back catalog
http://img691.imageshack.us/img691/7430/thefloatinghouseband.jpg
http://img848.imageshack.us/img848/8272/coyotesdream.jpg

and Homegas, man that record is something else.

What about the Mike Bloomfield records or any of the 80's stuff?

Larry McNeely's "Live At McCabe's" is pretty good... also Charlie Nothing to thread!

That Robert Pete Williams album is one of my favourite blues records ever.

Laser Pace - Granfalloon (Takoma - 1974) Wow!

i'm partial to joseph byrd's "yankee transcendoodle."

Is that the United States of America guy?

^ yes!

Wasn't expecting to see all that UK folk rock stuff in the later releases

yes! see also the LP he did with the Field Hippies.

xp

the Homegas record is one of my faves.. an incredible piece of wax. Also a fan of the Floating House Band, Granfaloon, the Tony Thomas record (traditional texas style fiddle! with fahey on gtr on a few tracks.), Norman Blake's Takoma LP (is there only one?)

Not so into the Rabindra record on the Devi sublabel. The One-String Jones LP is decent, but sort of a novelty.. I bought a sealed covpy and it's got a skip! Pressing defect?

hmm those Phil Yost recs look interesting too... anyone heard them?

Phil Yost record are great!! My friend Otto played one for me a few years back. I always get outbid on ebay for them.

I regret not buying a sealed orig charlie nothing record for $20 about 7 years ago...

that first george winston album is rilly good. that rick ruskin album is not so good.

The Contemporary Guitar comp is ace too. with Max Ochs, Harry Taussig, Fahey, Basho and Bukka White.

i like all the dobro bluegrass rekkerds on takoma.. mike auldridge and stuff like that. but that norman blake record! loving it the past week or so.

bola sete good too.

rick ruskin was to takoma what bill horwitz was to esp.

tut taylor good too.

oh yeah, rick ruskin, not great. tut taylor! i don't know if i have anything by him on takoma..

also not super into the Randy Brook album on devi/takoma.
Janet Smith's "The Unicorn" is a cool record too. Mellow, fairly traditional folk.

post-fahey, the roulettes album is pretty bad and i like all kinds of bad power pop records.

I like that T-Bone Burnette album--"Boomerang"!

My cousin told me that back in '79 in Austin you could buy that Fab T-birds lp (their debut, which got picked up by Chrysalis) at Conan's Pizza parlours.

I'd like to hear Rita Weill record.

the Chris Darrow record on Takoma is not good, it pains me to say.

Was wondering about that one, I *love* Kaleidoscope but have never investigated any of those guys subsequent stuff.

Xp to Scott: I have that Phil Host Bent City record and it's pretty good. Gets filed near my Basho records. I bought it off my friend Kate when she was moving, and I think later she regretted selling it.

I know Yankee transcendoodle has been talked about here before. I kind of like that record, but maybe it's because I like the source material. The bass is really heavy on it. The copy I bought was sealed ($1), and I wonder if that's not common, as if it was a record no one cared for or bought and so ended up stored unopened in the boxes they came in from the record pressing plant?

Yost! Yost! Autocorrect.

I've got that Rabindra (Danks) LP. It's weird.

man, i know almost none of these! someone make me a comp of takoma's greatest mixes, plzzz?

NickB -- there are other, really good Chris Darrow records... check the s/t on United Artists and "Artist-Proof" on Fantasy; I am a big supporter of those albums. I like them better than most Kaleidoscope stuff.

Craig Leon's Nommos is fantastic.

I've only heard the self titled Chris Darrow record and I love it. I've been looking for the Janet Smith and Rita Weill records but ebay and musicstack turns up nothing. This thread will surely keep me on ebay for awhile.

Ian, I will definitely check those - thanks for the tip!

Did Fahey at some point sell Takoma or release his reins?

sold to Chrysalis at some point...

ok so is that tony thomas thing actually what it purports to be -- recording of an old-timer fiddler -- or is it actually what i think it is, recordings by the younger, african-african fiddler whose name happens to be tony thomas (and who is a prolific reviewer on amazon these days)? knowing fahey i wouldn't be surprised if he's up to more of his tricks.

btw when did fahey's involvement w/ takoma end?

also what about maria muldaur stuff? i have never investigated that.

Pretty sure the Tony Thomas record is not a ruse; seems too elaborate. The record is good. Info inside indicates it's just what it says it is.

wiki re: Takoma sale:

In 1979, Fahey sold Takoma to Chrysalis Records, owned by Terry Ellis and Chris Wright, which had artists such as Blondie, Pat Benatar, and Huey Lewis.[3] Jon Monday continued as General Manager of the label for Chrysalis until 1982 when Chrysalis sold the Takoma catalog. During the Chrysalis years, Takoma released albums by The Fabulous Thunderbirds, Maria Muldaur, Canned Heat, Mike Bloomfield, and T-Bone Burnett. The catalog was purchased in 1995 by Fantasy Records,[1] which in 2004 was taken over by the Concord Music Group. Fantasy has a handful of the Takoma recordings on the market as CDs as of this writing in 2007.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A92JQlOQEEE

http://www.discogs.com/buy/Vinyl/Swamp-Dogg-Im-Not-Selling-Out-Im-Buying-In/446775-2993708?ev=bp_titl

^^ don't think i've ever seen this one.

I love Jerry Williams or Little Jerry Williams. I have most of his Swamp Dog records. My favorite is 'Cuffed, Collared & Tagged.' I've never seen 'I'm Not Selling I'm Buying In' on vinyl though. I have it on cd. Westside records rereleased most of his albums on cd in the early 00's.

Yeah, I'm a swamp dogg fan! It surprises me that I never knew he had a record on takoma. my faves of his are cuffed, collared..., rat on, and gag a maggot. but i like them all for at least a few killer tracks... so far anyway. steered clear of disco-era material. just not ready yet.

His cover of Sam Stone sounds so natural that I think it surpasses Prine's original.

I have a dumb question: Is it pronounced Home Gas or like H+Omegas?

I love the Floating House Band LP.

uh, i pronounce is Home Gas but who knows?

I would think more people would like Lawrence Hammond's 'Coyotes Dream'? He was the singer in the Mad River, which their last record hinted at the sound he would have. It's pure country gold! Their are only three very short reviews on his RYM page, all in italian.

I think I've seen that record but never listened to it? I was never a huge Mad River fan tbh.

after you posted abt it i went to look in the country & folk bins at the store, but it must have sold.

instead of ppl moaning abt too many polls or what kind of polls or who should be polled or not or whatnot they cld be reading and getting edumacated by this great thread, thank you jacob for starting it

i wish i cld contribute, but you just never really see this stuff in the uk, don't suppose most of it ever got propertly distribbed outside the usa. in fact thinking abt it, ian and scott pl collaborate on a bk abt this shit, you have one britishes buyer and eager reader, here.

Which is the cover for this:
Since 2005, Tompkins Square label's 'Imaginational Anthem' compilations have featured some of the greatest acoustic guitarists in the world, with recordings spanning five decades. More than mere samplers, these albums have served as state-of-the-art dispatches from the front lines of the art form. The first three volumes, available as a low-priced box set, intermingled generations of American Primitive players - lost, forgotten masters next to contemporary players. Volume 4 saw a departure from that formula, featuring only new jack players.

Volume 5, available November 13, also features the current crop of younger players, but with a twist. This is the first volume not compiled by Tompkins Square's Josh Rosenthal. Instead, he recruited guitarist Sam Moss. Josh explains, "I felt I'd exhausted most of the older guys I wanted to dig up, and I wasn't hearing that much new guitar that I really liked. I sensed that Sam knew what was going on."

The result is a gorgeous panoramic view of contemporary guitar, full of agile finger-style, and a few jagged detours.

'Imaginational Anthem vol. 5' will also be available as part of the 6-CD box set, 'Imaginational Anthem vols. 1-5', (TSQ2790) out November 23 (Black Friday). The limited edition box (only 999 units) features all five volumes in their original packaging, plus an exclusive live disc from William Tyler (Lambchop), entitled 'Elvis Was A Capricorn.'

Imaginational Anthem vol. 5 track listing :

1. Temple Walk - Steve Gunn
2. I Think We'll Be Happy Here- Jordan Fuller
3. Lookout Point- Danny Paul Grody
4. There Is A Place In This Old Town- Nick Schillace
5. Hemet Pine Singer- Will Stratton
6. John Fahey Commemorative Beer Can- Bill Orcutt
7. Confederate Rose- Daniel Bachman
8. Through A House Of Violet Abandon- Eric Carbonara
9. Her Unmediated Eyes- Tom Lecky
10. Standing At The Entrance Of A Hidden City- Alexander Turnquist
11. Modern Man In Search Of A Song- Cam Deas
12. Rivers Gone Badly Wrong- Yair Yona

this series is always great.
seeing bill orcutt on here is making me happy, a step towards the weird & abrasive most artists in this series wld be afraid to touch

also: steve gunn is the best

yeah these comps are always a pleasure. love orcutt's song title. anyone heard daniel bachman's new one on tompkins sq. jack rose fans will love it.

I forgot who was wanting it, Evan maybe, but there's a copy of Homegas up for sale on ebay right now! I haven't seen one for sale since last year.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FOLK-PSYCH-LP-HOMEGAS-S-T-TACOMA-LABEL-PRODUCED-BY-JOHN-FAHEY-/170925089715?pt=Music_on_Vinyl&hash=item27cbede3b3

tyler listening to that george cromarty - grassroots guitar albums you sent me
soooo goood.

also playing phone tag with peter lang! i have his number in my phone which is kinda cool. i spoke w/him briefly but have a message out now about lessons.

globaltetrahedron - did you ever do the lessons?

if yr still on ilm that is

cool, glad you're digging the cromarty.
root blog put it up over here http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7596 along with his kids album (which is ehhhh) http://rootstrata.com/rootblog/?p=7614

also: steve gunn is the best
he really is! i've really been listening to him a lot this year.

Oh my god, Craig Leon "Nommos" rules, what a strange and beautiful record this is

This is really the best

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WD5KRsRdFYA

This is the latest dispatch from my buddy John W., with intriguing links re Fahey and raga. Start from the top or scroll down:

For decades, Don Cherry's "Malkauns" was a favorite track of mine before I learned that the title is taken from a well-known and widely performed Indian raga; and therefore the entire piece is essentially a performance of the raga just the way any other track called "Raga Malkauns" by an Indian classical musician is. But now that I now this, I don't like the piece any less.

samples here:
http://www.amazon.com/Malkauns/dp/B001NU6EVK
and here:
http://www.last.fm/music/Don+Cherry/_/Malkauns
You're on your own as to locating and downloading an mp3 that has the whole thing.

So today I went over to the fabulous multimedia lending library to try to locate versions of the raga as done by Indian musicians -- ideally, to try to find one that sounds like what might have inspired Don Cherry and Charlie Haden so that I could hear the connection, how they got from A to B and came up with what they did.

As you can see at this link to the library's online catalogue, they have many recordings of the raga, but most of them are in the archive/storage and weren't available out in the bins:
http://www.lamediatheque.be/med/rech_n.php?intervenant=&morceau=&titre=malkauns&ref=

I did however find 4 recordings of Raga Malkauns on the premises (one of them included in the apparently encyclopedic "The Raga Guide: A Survey of 74 Hindustanis Ragas", a book accompanied by 4 CDs). To my Occidental ear, none of the versions seem to bear any relation to each other or to the Don Cherry track -- except of course that they happen to use the same scale.

There's one exception however: the version by Zia Mohiuddin Dagar and his brother Zia Fariduddin Dagar, which lasts SIXTY-NINE MINUTES and is available on YouTube!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-W_AYI0n_Kg

If you listen to this all the way through, by the time you get to the end you can hypothesize that the drone that one of them often uses in the lowest register might have provided the original impetus for what Charlie Haden does on the bass on the Don Cherry version. And also by the end, the notes of the scale are ingrained enough in your brain that you also have a sense of how Don Cherry came up with the trumpet part. For instance, if you play the notes of the scale in your brain, and imagine them played on trumpet, you can produce an inferior but similar version of Don Cherry's improvising.

btw, my discovering Z.M. Dagar is something of a revelation -- this is seriously trippy stuff. When he's playing both with his brother and with other people, he's not accompanied by any percussion, and each of his CDs includes a performance of only one raga. 70 minutes' worth of the same raga, the same drone. And therefore, often the first 40 minutes (the opening "Alap" section) is nothing but drone with ornamentation, and then finally he introduces a pulse (in the concluding Jor and Jhala sections) -- except that the pulse is conveyed only via string instruments (the vina and accompanying tamburas).

I'm sorry to say this, but once you hear Z.M. Dagar's stuff, you hear how avant-garde minimalist guys like Phill Niblock and Glenn Branca have a long way to go, and Jim O'Rourke and Loren Mazzacane Connors should just pack it in altogether. On the other hand, the stuff that John Fahey was doing at the end of his career really is as good as Z.M. Dagar (e.g. check out the samples of the first four tracks of this:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/sea-changes-and-coelacanths-a-young-persons-guide-to-john-fahey-mw0000566552

If I understand the Indian musical system correctly, a raga is a scale (not necessarily the same notes ascending as those descending), the musician improvises on the scale, and then the resulting "piece" is simply given the title of the raga. So that in the end, any pieces called "Raga Yaman" might not sound any more similar to each other than, among Western composers, any two pieces called "String Quartet in C major" do.

But still, this seems very strange to me when I read liner notes of Indian music CDs and then attempt a cultural transposition and come up with examples like these:

1. "Beethoven's 5th Symphony is surely the most compelling and insistent performance of C minor in recorded musical history."

2. "John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' stands as what is likely the most moving rendition of the Dorian mode, especially in D."

3. "Charlie Parker's compositions 'Constellation' and 'Anthropology' belong to the harmonic system known as 'Rhythm Changes', whose pieces are traditionally performed in the milieu of urban clubs late at night, between the hours of midnight and 2 a.m."

snagged an original pressing of
peter lang - the thing at the nursery room window
last nite! :) :)

(it's the one pictured upthread with the amazing sphinx art!!! love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du7O8pF5ddU

Jesus, when oh WHEN will someone reissue this fucking album?? It's one of the greatest folk albums ever made, and one of about five records I can think of that I'd easily drop $100 on without even thinking about it. Grrrr.

I'm desperate to find a copy as well. That particular song sounds kind of Leonard Cohen-y to me btw.

http://ghostcapital.org/phil-yost-fog-hat-ramble-takoma-1968/

i need a copy of fog hat ramble.. i have the other two yost records and love them.

http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/clt/3892820791.html

that's a bit spendy!

interested in this:

IN SEARCH OF BLIND JOE DEATH: THE SAGA OF FAHEY . . ..A Documentary by James Cullingham

tangentially related: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0985302801/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_asp_wTEmF.1DXF9ZB

I know this guy was pretty involved in the 'Your Past...' box set, dunno if it's a retread of some of that or like an expanded Fahey Files kinda thing, sorta curious, but tight on $ right now, so I'm not about to find out.

I mean like:
"Each record is presented with all its known issues and variations."

sounds too much for even me. 476 pages! and that's just volume 1. ah, who am I kidding, I'll buy it eventually.

i bought it.

Taking one for the team. Interested to hear how that is btw.

Craig Leon's Nommos appears to be about to be properly reissued. I'm delighted by this after just discovering it upthread.

http://www.superiorviaduct.com/products/craig-leon-nommos

fahey book sounds great. too bad it looks like this! come on, design a cover, dudes!
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51xDUHh2siL._SY300_.jpg

also kind of amazing that the list price is $57 and amazon is selling it for $13? guess i should buy it quick.

Yeah, it's ugly. And the supposed inflated price is exactly why I snapped it up when I did! I 'll report back on what it exactly is once it comes...

i ordered it too! BOOK CLUB!

Ordered. Looks great. Can't beat the price, either. Let's meet back here in two weeks and discuss!

for those interested -- my friend who is working on the Homegas reissue has been in touch with all the surviving members, has gotten some awesome rare photos, and is going to continue working towards getting it reissued. This is the same dude who did the F.J. McMahon record so you know it'll be high quality.

(also just ordered that book, lol saving money.)

Now I will quit bumming out that I lost a bid on a clean copy of that Homegas LP last week (went for over $150). One up now that looks OK - cover's trashed but the vinyl looks fine - already over $50. Can't swing it, not with this ridiculous free jazz list up right now. Err, perhaps I've said too much.

Ian, please keep me posted re: this reissue. Holy grail record for me, one of three or four LPs I'd drop $100 on if I saw it

yeah what's the label?

circadian press. small one man operation.

Welp, my "Fahey handbook" came, it appears to be a combination of truly useless arcanum (a family tree of Fahey's great grandfather?, truly obsessive levels of categorizing of each and every pressing of every single Fonotone issue and reissue) combined with quite interesting-seeming biographical and songwriting details I haven't seen yet scattered throughout. Glad I bought it, but glad i didn't drop 50 bucks on it also. I suppose the maniacal level of detail is useful for collectors and whatnot, but I don't know if this is a book you can exactly 'read' per se

how the hell did the Sir Douglas Quintet's "Best Of" LP come out on this label?? at first I thought it had the wrong inner sleeve. such a non sequitur.

Prob contract filler after SDQ's Border Wave, also on Takoma (and Takoma-Crysalis), in 1981. Here's my fave track---a Kinks kover, but fits their sound perfectly, which was the orig premise of the deal (Hey Kids! Yall like that skinny tie, skinny organ New Wave sound---here's Border Wave! Of course the original Sir Douglas premise, w "She's About A Mover" etc. was also re Southwestern influences on Brit Invasion)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8WcinP-YgyM#t=24

I haven't seen any mention of this record which is nice 12 string with xylophone
http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8454/7994234850_fa6aa6a34e_z.jpg

test imbed (Fahey live, full show)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCOQr7o8A4

Maybe it'll show a frame if I spell it rite?
test embed!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCOQr7o8A4

fug---one more
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlCOQr7o8A4

[url] doesn't help either.

really loving this!

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20080506/270235271611.jpg

one side has just two long a cappella songs. trance-inducing.

dow - to embed you need to delete the s in https

that J.B. Smith is great.

Similar vibe to Bukka White's "Sky Songs."

Can anyone speak about sq differences between the Rvng, Intl reissue of Craig Leon's Nommos and the Superior Viaduct reissue? I've heard that the Rvng, along with adding Visiting and using entirely different cover art, is a noisy pressing, but I also recall reading a piece in The Wire in which Leon himself disapproved of the Superior Viaduct edition for whatever reason. Providing one is unable to procure an og Takoma pressing, which reissue is preferable?

Also, is it weird that this was reissued by two different labels less than a year apart?

I'm so excited to finally have found a copy of Homegas, and the disc itself looks near mint.