Something for the season

Halloween is not my bag.

That said, I’ve long enjoyed what we have for you tonight on The Midnight Tracker. It’s something in the spirit of the season.

It is, of course, “Tales of Mystery and Imagination,” the first album by the Alan Parsons Project. It’s a prog rock concept album based on Edgar Allan Poe’s stories.

In the mid-’70s, Parsons was highly regarded for his work as an engineer on LPs by the Beatles, Paul McCartney, the Hollies and Pink Floyd. He then became a producer and created “Tales of Mystery and Imagination” with Eric Woolfson, who pitched him the idea.

More than 200 musicians played on this 1976 album, which was arranged by Andrew Powell. It was recorded and mixed at Abbey Road Studios in London from July 1975 to January 1976.

Tonight, we feature Side 1 of “Tales of Mystery and Imagination.” Its five cuts:

– The instrumental “A Dream Within a Dream.”

– “The Raven,” the tune everyone has come to know from this album. Though it’s gotten much free-form FM and classic radio play, it wasn’t the single.

– “The Tell-Tale Heart,” with Arthur Brown — yes, as in The Crazy World of Arthur Brown — on vocals.

– “The Cask of Amontillado,” my favorite.

– “(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” which was the single when this was released as summer arrived in 1976.

Hope you dig it.

“A Dream Within a Dream,” “The Raven,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Cask of Amontillado” and “(The System of) Doctor Tarr and Professor Fether,” the Alan Parsons Project, from “Tales of Mystery and Imagination,” 1976. This is Side 1. It runs 20:34.

30-30-30

-30- in the newspaper business once meant the end of the story.

Today is the 30th of September, the last night of the month.

So why not go for a 30-year-old record for tonight’s side on The Midnight Tracker?

It’s a record that, even though released in 1979, scarcely sounds dated. It’s one of our favorites, a record my wife and I had in our individual collections long before we ever merged them.

“Look Sharp” by Joe Jackson was — and is — a wonderfully intelligent though cynical mashup of pop, rock, ska, reggae and jazz.

Our copies of “Look Sharp” are among the early pressings — a package that consisted of two 10-inch EPs with a small “Look Sharp!” pin. Mine still has the pin. Janet’s pin is gone, and the picture of Joe Jackson on the flip side of her album has light blue crop marks from where she once used it to illustrate a review of the album.

One of the first shows we ever saw together was Joe Jackson. We were sooooo sophisticated then, heading to Minneapolis to see him at the Guthrie Theater on a Sunday night in October 1979. That ticket cost $7.50, or about $22 in today’s dollars. A bargain either way.

The lineup we saw that delightful night is the one you hear on this side: Jackson on piano, Graham Maby on bass, Gary Sanford on guitar and Dave Houghton on drums, with all on vocals.

Dig it!

“Happy Loving Couples,” “Throw It Away” and “Baby Stick Around,” Joe Jackson, from “Look Sharp,” 1979. This is Side 2 of the first 10-inch EP. It runs 8:24.

Get your groove on

Tonight on The Midnight Tracker, we have a side that will allow you to do just that. Instantly.

Curtis Owsley has been gone almost 40 years now — stabbed to death in an argument outside his apartment in New York City in August 1971 — and there are many who don’t know about King Curtis.

He was a tenor sax player, first with Lionel Hampton’s jazz band in the early ’50s, then as one of the greatest jazz, rock, soul and R&B session men around from the late ’50s on.

King Curtis also made a name for himself with a bunch of terrific solo records from 1959 until his death. In the three years I’ve been crate digging, I’ve come across exactly one. I bought it. This is it.

Mostly instrumental, as are all of Curtis’ records, “Instant Groove” lives up to its name from the sizzling first cut.

Time to get your groove on, instantly, with Side 1 of this great album.

That is Curtis on tenor sax, of course. On two cuts — “Foot Pattin’” and “Games People Play — that is Duane Allman on lead guitar.

There are two funky Curtis originals — the title cut and “Foot Pattin’.” There are covers of tunes done first by Jimi Hendrix, Glen Campbell, Joe South and Sly and the Family Stone.

“Instant Groove,” “Hey Joe,” “Foot Pattin’,” “Wichita Lineman,” “Games People Play” and “Sing A Simple Song,” King Curtis, from “Instant Groove,” 1969. It runs 18:39.

The producer was right

Tonight’s side on The Midnight Tracker is one that dates to the ’70s, of course, but one I only recently started digging.

Our friends over at Popdose have been publishing a must-read series of memoirs by producer Tom Werman. Among the groups Werman worked with during the ’70s was Mother’s Finest. He wrote about them, and that’s how I came to learn about them.

Werman describes seeing Mother’s Finest for the first time in its hometown of Atlanta:

“I think it’s fair to say that this band, about whom we knew nothing in advance, fairly incinerated the stage. Fronted by a tiny package of dynamite named Joyce Kennedy and her husband Glenn, this was basically a black hard rock band, years before the days of Living Colour. The bass player, Wizard, went on to play bass for Stevie Nicks. He was a tall, grinning man whose physical dominance made the bass guitar appear as a toy in his giant hands. He just slapped that instrument silly. The drummer and lead guitar player were white, but in this band, the music was really dark gray – their main influence was Zeppelin, but with a very high funk quotient.”

Werman wrote again about Mother’s Finest when he listed some “greatest misses,” or songs he produced and liked that weren’t hits. I left a comment, and he wrote back: “It’s good to know that you like it. Decidedly dated at this point, but pretty interesting for its time.”

Never having heard it until now — it’s no surprise that we wouldn’t have heard much black funk-rock in central Wisconsin in the mid-’70s — it’s still pretty interesting.

Fortunately, I found two of their first three LPs for Epic Records while crate-digging earlier this summer. I’m still on the lookout for another highly recommended by Werman and others — their second album, “Another Mother Further.”

Sit back and enjoy, as I did, Side 1 from their first album for Epic, produced by Werman.

“Fire,” “Give You All The Love (Inside Of Me)” and “Niggizz Can’t Sing Rock & Roll,” Mother’s Finest, from “Mother’s Finest,” 1976. It runs 17:01.

The buy link is to an import CD with two live tracks. It was released last year.

Enjoy also this video clip of “Truth’ll Set You Free,” one of Werman’s “greatest misses.” You’ll see why they were so great live.

A Sleepy summer night

Longtime readers of our other blog — AM, Then FM — may recall a regular feature from its first year. Every Sunday was Sleepy Sunday, on which we rolled out a tune from one of our faves, roots legend Sleepy LaBeef.

Born in Smackover, Arkansas, he stands a solid 6-foot-6 and belts out rockabilly, roots, blues, country and gospel tunes in a deep, smoky baritone while raking away on his guitar. He’s 73 and still touring, albeit at his pace.

When I last saw Sleepy live two years ago, I chatted with him briefly and told him what I was doing, putting his songs out there on the Web for all to hear. “Keep it up!” he roared.

So tonight on The Midnight Tracker, we bring you a Sleepy summer night. It’s a live side, and live is the only way to experience Sleepy LaBeef, American treasure.

Sleepy’s great live album, “Nothin’ But the Truth,” was recorded live at Harper’s Ferry in Allston, Massachusetts, on Oct. 22, 1985 — a Tuesday night, just like tonight.

It’s Side 2, so we’re arriving midway through the show. Sleepy’s starting to crank it up on the first tune, a cover of an Otis Blackwell song. Listen for him to holler for “Piano!” about 2 minutes in. Then — bang! bang! bang! — he covers Bo Diddley, Rockin’ Sidney Simien and Johnny Cash. Now you know why Sleepy is called “The Human Jukebox.”

Sleepy’s in high gear by the time he wraps up the show with a closing medley of “Jambalaya,” “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” “Let’s Turn Back the Years,” “Hey, Good Lookin’” and “Folsom Prison Blues.”

You will find it anything but sleepy.

“Let’s Talk About Us,” “Gunslinger,” “My Toot-Toot,” “Ring of Fire” and “Medley,” Sleepy LaBeef, from “Nothin’ But the Truth,” 1987. It runs 23:47.