Carnival of Soul

The Top 7 Most underrated ARTISTS, ALBUMS, SONGS in my collection of 678-plus records

I’ll say it out front. This is a list story.

That means: Three lists, with 7 spots each. No artist can have more than one spot in the whole deal.

<See bonus coverage at end giving honorable mentions and giving a nod to two underrated local bands>

The collection I am using on my website, www.myvinylcountdown.com is my own. I am counting down 678-plus records to raise awareness of a fatal brain disease called Lewy body dementia. The disease is underrated in a sense in that it is little known despite being the second leading degenerative brain disease after Alzheimer’s. It’s a killer and I don’t want it to be underrated and unknown. Music has been my best medicine.

(Side note: John Hiatt does not qualify because I wrote an earlier post pretty much anointing him the most underrated artists of the 1980s.)

I will provide links, please listen to the music, especially if you haven’t heard it. When we talk about underrated we are mostly dealing with folks who have lower name recognition but deserve better. But a band of renown could have an underrated song or album, for example. Also worth noting that since these are from my vinyl records collected decades ago (for the most part), there’s a good chance that most will be music from the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, although there are some exceptions involving cases where I bought new vinyl. So here we go. .

The Top 7 Underrated ARTISTS from MyVinylCountdown.com

• Tonio K. – Those who know me well won’t be surprised at this choice. Tonio K. aka as Steve Krikorian debuted with Life in the Foodchain, a punky, intelligent tour de force in 1978. It is a legitimate classic with the title song, Funky Western Civilization and H-A-T-R-E-D, <Note language in that song that may be objectionable to some>standing out. The rest of his body of work is excellent as he followed Foodchain with an almost equally angry album “Amerika’ and later some spiritually infused albums with songs like ‘You Will Go Free’ that, with exceptions, deep-sixed the anger — but let fly intelligent, socially conscious music elevated by great writing.

Excerpt:‘ Funky Western Civilization’

They put Jesus on a cross; they put a hole in JFK; they put Hitler in the driver’s seat and looked the other way; Now we got poison in the water; and the whole world is in a trance; but just because we’re hypnotized don’t mean we can’t dance.

(Queue Dick Dale chicken scratch guitar and a river of melodic metal by Earl Slick and Albert Lee.)

(2) 10cc — A British band that walked a fine line between art school pretension and brilliant pop songs. The music is full of biting satire, irony and good playing. The album ‘100cc 10cc’ is a compilation of early songs that is top-notch from top to bottom, including Rubber Bullets and the Wall Street Shuffle. Later they had some well-known singles, ‘I’m Not in Love,’ ‘Dreadlock Holiday’and ‘’Things We Do For Love.’ But they never rose to levels expected given the talent here. They probably lost the cool crowd with the high charting bubble-gummy ‘Things We Do for Love.” They had to pay the rent you know, but some of their work such as the record ‘How Dare You’ experimented with jazzy, multi-layered sophisticated sound as on that album’s ‘Don’t Hang Up. Queen, though brasher and more theatrical, was influenced by this band.

(3) War — The band had some hits. Cisco Kid, Low Rider, Why Can’t We Be Friends. Those first two were some of the best songs on Top 40 radio at the time. ‘Friends’ was just kind of a ditty. Those who heard only the radio and didn’t get the albums were missing out on an extremely tight funk/jazz/rock band. I don’t think they ever got their due as true pioneers, perhaps overshadowed by Earth Wind and Fire, Parliament, and Sly and the Family Stone. But they could jam like the best of friends in songs like ‘Smile Happy’ and ‘Four Cornered Room.’ BTW my two old War albums have terrific sound with a heavy bottom as this music needs.

(4) Gayle McCormick/A Group Called Smith

McCormick had the kind of voice that made you marvel where it came from, powerful as a bullhorn when she sang ballads and straight ahead blues and rock and roll. Despite her obvious break-out talent, with Smith (and a Group Called Smith after legal conflicts with another group — and, no it was not the Morissey group that came much later out of the UK.) The group and McCormick scored big with a song “Baby It’s You,” later picked by Quentin Tarantino to be used in ‘Pulp Fiction.’

She went on to record a couple of albums that are hard to find. I got a used copy of her first solo album which has some decent covers of popular songs such as ‘Superstar’ and ‘You Really Got a Hold of Me.’

The two Smith group albums, however, should be better known. There’s good hard rock and roll on these. Highlights: ‘Tell Him No,’ ‘Last Time,’ Let’s Get Together,’ ‘What Am I Gonna Do‘ and ‘Take a Look Around.‘ Oh and did I mention there’s some nasty organ and dirty horns on these, not to mention a bass player who gets under the songs and lifts..

(5) Peter Himmelman (Solo; Sussman Lawrence)

OK get the ‘newsy’ thing out of the way, his wife is Bob Dylan’s adopted daughter. On to the music which Catherine, my wife, and I would agree has been at many times the soundtrack of our lives — from Mission of my Soul to Rich Men Run the World ; from Woman With The Strength of 10,000 Men‘ to The Boat that Carries Us; From Raina (beloved Raina) to Angels Die.

When Peter learned I had Lewy body dementia, he sent me three vinyls of his music. Listening right now to ‘Fear is Our Undoing.‘ Brilliant song off of the brilliant record ‘There is no Calamity.’ )

A Minnesotan by birth now in California, Himmelman played in an indie band called Sussman Lawrence before going solo. He has been nominated for a Grammy for a children’s album and has written music for several TV shows. His songs are great and I can hear between the notes and words a search for that elusive truth that connects us.

(6) Ronnie Lane (Small Faces, Faces, solo)

Ronnie Lane was an elfin man with a lilting voice that worked to perfection when he was harmonizing, Lane embodied happy music, and yes probably happy hour music. He played his long necked electric bass like he was hugging a woman taller than he was.

The bass player was a founding member of Small Faces and Faces, two highly influential rock bands. ItchyKoo Park and All or Nothing were sizeable hits, at least overseas. And Ooh La La is a classic.

Listen to his music and try not to smile. You’d follow him out to the country side and he would lead like the pied piper to his dilapidated country farm. When Steve Marriott left Small Faces, Rod Stewart joined. Because the band’s name was based on Lane’s and other group members’ stature — they were all under 5-foot-5, they dropped the ‘Small’ when the 6-footer Stewart joined. Faces.

In addition to his fabulous singing and writing and playing with both Faces incarnations, he also had successful collaborations with Ron Wood (Mahoney’s Last Stand) and Pete Townshend solidifying his status as a top-notch collaborator and creator. The songs ‘Stone,’ ‘The Poacher’ and ‘Brother Can you Spare a Dime’ are standouts on his Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance album, which I have. (I also have Mahoney’s and Rough Mix plus lots of Small Faces and Faces, including the experimental concept album Ogden’s Gone Nut Flake.) The beautiful song ‘Annie‘ was one of the best on his Townshend project ‘Rough Mix. After battling Multiple Sclerosis for 21 years, Lane died in 1997 at 51.

(7) Joseph Arthur (Solo, Joseph Arthur and the Astronauts)

It’s hard to describe this prolific musician other than to say he’s been writing some of the best songs of the millennium. But there seems to be a million of ’em. His latest — or probably not latest at this point — but a recent one teaming up with REM’s Peter Buck. The album, ‘Arthur Buck,’ approaches ear weevil stages at about the fourth listen. It’s good and gets better the more you listen and figure out what’s going on. Arthur has a good two decades behind him. I’ve seen him in concert a couple of times in the SF Bay Area and he’s the real deal. As I said, he has so many great songs including, ‘In the Sun,’ in which he recorded several versions, one featuring REM’s Michael Stipe and the other featuring Coldplay’s Chris Martin — all for Hurricane Katrina relief. Other songs that he’s known for include ‘Honey and Moon,’ ‘Temporary People,‘ and ‘The Smile that Explodes, ‘I Miss the Zoo‘ and ‘Say Goodbye.’ Albums include. ‘Nuclear Daydreams,’ ‘Redemption Son,’ and ‘The Ballad of Boogie Christ.’ He is well worth exploring because even if you run into songs you don’t like if you keep looking you’ll find something that will change your life — or, at least, your week. And one close to my heart, a tribute to Robin Williams who had Lewy body dementia like me, except he didn’t know he had it. I do. And that’s what this is all about. Early diagnosis so you can organize your defenses.

Second list: 7 most underrated ALBUMS in MyVinylCountdown.com

Rockpile ‘Seconds of Pleasure’ (feat./Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds) This is just easy to listen to, even easy to dance to. It sounds like fresh and rock and Roll every time you listen even though much of it harkens back to 1950s-60s rockabilly sound. This is a party record. Key songs ‘Teacher Teacher,’ ‘Play that Fast thing (One More Time),’ ‘Pet You and Hold You,’ and ‘When I Write the Book.’

The Undisputed Truth –Contemporary 70s soul music, mostly covers reinterpreted. A deconstructed ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ and a blowout psychedelic ‘Ball of Confusion are highlights. Oh yeah, and the enjoyable paranoid classic ‘Smiling Faces Sometimes.’ That was their only original song on the album of covers, produced for Motown by Norman Whitfield. Another bargain bin find. They also do a funked up version of ‘I Heard it Through the Grapevine.’ This album puts the fun in funky. Yes I just wrote that.

Spencer Davis/Peter Jameson ‘It’s Been So Long.´ I have to say this is one of the great lost albums. You can’t find any songs or snippets online.No traces of it on YouTube. Amazon and EBay have some copies, last one I checked was $40 bucks. I don’t need it, I have a very good condition vinyl record for me, but I really wanted to link to some music just to give you, my readers, a taste. It is an acoustical classic. If I, just before I die could go to a bar or any small venue and have Spencer Davis and Peter Jameson play this album from top to bottom I’d know there was a heaven and I’d be in it. I had never heard of this understated record until last year, when I found it in a bargain bin for $1. I picked it because it looked interesting and I knew Davis to be a pioneer in blues rock in the UK during the 1960s, behind such well known songs as ‘I’m a Man’ and “Gimme Some Loving” and buddies with Traffic’s Stevie Winwood. This is the kind of find that makes bargain bin hunting so rewarding. Yes it mellow. It is soulful music. I just don’t know what to tell you to do to get a listen.

Jared Mees ‘Life is Long’ This is new vinyl (2016), which I don’t have a lot of because of its expense. But my sister from Portland sent me this and said the record store clerk thought I’d like this after she told him the kind of music I liked. The clerk made an awesome pick. This is funny, poignant, tuneful and smart. Hard to put in a category but I’d call it alternative folk. (From Portland. That explains something, no?) Blue Angels is a pretty song, but makes me wonder – do they do that? The Angel pilots? Other songs of brilliance: Life is Long; and Echo Chamber.

Neutral Milk Hotel ‘In the Aeroplane Over the Sea’ Some of my alternative universe friends would argue with me calling it underrated. Heck it is revered by record store workers across the globe. But for every NMH worshiper there are millions who have never heard this eccentric gut-wrenching record inspired by the Diary of Anne Frank. (And a few who just don’t get it or like it.) Here’s the title song. When I first heard the album and picked up the powerful subtle references to Anne Frank, I wept. Just a little.

The lead singer and songwriter Jeff Magnum and band worked out of my town, Athens, Ga., for a while. Leading to the cult status of this record, Magnum made himself super scarce after this record hit (probably all digital in 1997). ‘Found’ living in NYC, Magnum was cornered for an interview in which he said he didn’t know if he would ever record again. This is really one of those you have to listen to the whole album as it is all tied together. But here’s some key songs: ‘Two-headed Boy’ – The story is that Magnum recorded this song all in one take to the astonishment of those in the studio. Also ‘King of Carrot Flowers.’

Richard and Linda Thompson ‘Shoot out the Lights.’ Depression, used properly, can be helpful to artists, if they can reach deep down inside of it, wallow in it and come out like a newly born infant, soggy and screaming. The album, ‘Shoot Out the Lights,’ recorded when the couple Richard and Linda were breaking up is depressing and cathartic. The saddest great rock and folk album of all time. Just look at some of the song titles: ‘Did she Jump or was She Pushed,’ ‘Wall of Death,’ ‘Walking on a Wire,’ and ‘Don’t Renege on our Love.’ Whew. But Linda’s voice is in top form (listen to her harmonize on Wall of Death), and Richard’s guitar playing is unusual in that it has its own voice. A voice that says stop, listen, hear what I’m going to say next.

Lyric: I’m walking on a wire, I’m walking on a wire and I’m falling.

Too late, I jumped.

Here’s the title song. With Richard getting his demons out on guitar.

PJ Proby ‘Enigma’ This album is aptly named. The big burly Rock and Roller who looked and sounded like Elvis Presley and at one time had stage roles as Elvis and Roy Orbison. He is from Texas and his stepsister dated Elvis. He never made it big in the U.S. as a rocker or a silky voiced crooner a la some kind of Tom Jones Elvis amalgam, with a touch of Englebert Humperdink. But in Britain, they loved him. At least the people did. He kept splitting his pants – yes you read that right – he would split his pants after some stage-hopping caterwauling and the crowd would go wild. The country’s Committee on Moral Standards (Or something like that) ultimately kicked him out of the country. His wild career included a stint with the Dutch progressive hard rock band called Focus, on an album called Focus con Proby. Focus was a mostly instrumental band known for its electrifying or terrifying yodels on the earlier hit Hocus Pocus. This album, Enigma, from 1967 features his minor hit ‘Niki Hoeky,’ This song was also covered by Bobbi Gentry in a sultry performance on a TV show.

He also has a nice cover of the Rolling Stones penned song– Out of Time.’– that charted on Chris Farlowe’s version. Proby, whose voice could be Elvis, Little Richard and Wilson Pickett, chose the fat Elvis as his model with a slice of Humperdink and a dash of Tom Jones. He really never found himself. I have to say though: I am a fan. I have three records — want more.

Van Morrison wrote a song called ‘Whatever Happened to PJ Proby.” They sang it together.

Third and final list. Bonus coverage at the end.

The 7 most underrated SONGS in the MyVinylCountdown.com collection.

Smithereens ‘Behind the Wall of Sleep’ This is just straight head rock and roll from a great band. But while the song was played in its day (late 1980s), you don’t hear it much anymore. It’s as good as rock and roll gets people.

UFO ‘Can you Roll Her’ UFO was called a heavy metal band because of the instant shredding guitarist Michael Schenker could put forth at any given time. However songs off this album such as Belladonna and Martian Landscape showed softer, tuneful, side. This song ‘Can you roll her’ showed both a tuneful touch with the guitar power rock that was the band’s staple.

Squeeze ‘Pulling Mussels from a Shell’ This conjures up a summer beach setting, but there’s something going on behind the chalet? I’m not 100 percent sure what it is or what it has to do with mussels, but I have long liked the song. (And I love mussels from a shell).

Tina Turner Better Be Good to Me Tina Turner was a longtime R&B singer with her husband Ike whom she said beat her and abused her. When she broke out in the 1980s with a solo album and the worldwide hit ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It,’ she was a superstar. But while Better be Good to Me was a hit, it seemed overshadowed by others including What’s Love Got to Do with It. ‘Better be Good to Me’ was the stronger song, powerful rock and roll sung by one of the best entertainers ever, who sang from real life pain and passion. Underrated? Many would say no. I say yes it is so.

Steve Harley’s ‘Make me Smile (Come Up and See Me)’ I discovered this on a British Rock compilation and then realized I had a live Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel double album obtained at a flea market that had a live version of the song. What a great catchy song. The pause for effect part is genius. The acoustic guitar solo is cool. The over-the-top Dylan imitation is also groovy.

Waterboys ‘Whole of the Moon” The Waterboys could have been on Underrated Artists list. They put out a really nice body of water, er, work. Mike Scott was the driver of this band, which did nice work with a core band that used a lot of violin, saxophones, trumpets and piano in addition to guitar. Best album is probably ‘This is the Sea’ although I really like ‘A Pagan’s Place’ as well, which really introduced the band as one that plays ‘Big Music.’ “Whole of the Moon,’ with its upfront piano, sounds like a timeless classic. Maybe it already is.

Lou Reed ‘Strawman’ An angry sing-along about corruption in the world. Lou Reed is not underrated I’d say, but given his long career, he had few radio hits. Radio stations must be afraid of him. Of course there was the anomaly ‘Walk on the Wild Side’ which falls in the ‘Lola’ basket – it may be controversial but it has a tune that just won’t be denied.

BONUS COVERAGE ON Honorable Mentions and Underrated Local Bands