Is it controversial to post an over half hour version of Dark Star by the Dead here on the DM? I guess I’ll find out. The Dead have grown on me over time. Hated ‘em as a kid, perhaps you have to be a decrepit old hippy to “get” them. Whatever, they sound great to me now, maaaaan. Here’s some footage of them at their exploratory best that I was never before aware of that I found whilst stumbling around the series of tubes (as you do). Some delightfully acid-fried “you are there” scenes and some Gilliam-esque animated interludes as well as the crystal clear sound coming off the stage. Evidently this is from a film that was considered even too lysergic by the band themselves to bother completing.
 

 
Much more after the jump…

 
Pre-Halloween disco grooviness.

Hot Blood’s classic ‘Soul Dracula’ was released in 1975. Here’s a clip from French TV
 

 
The good folks over at See Of Sound have uploaded Jamdown, described as “the holy grail of reggae films”, to their Youtube channel. Reggae fans rejoice.

Jamdown takes you on a journey back to 1980, straight into the heart of the Jamaican reggae scene, following legendary reggae artists Toots Hibbert and The Congos. The film, shot in 1980, had a limited release in France and therefore remained undiscovered by the rest of the world. Since its initial release almost 30 years ago, Jamdown has become what reggae footage collectors often refer to as “the holy grail of reggae films” due to its rarity and the difficulty in finding an original copy of the film. The film contains some of the only known early footage of The Congos, performing tracks from their legendary ‘Heart Of The Congos’ LP, which was produced by Lee Perry at the Black Ark studios at the height of their career. For the first time in almost 30 years, this film has finally been made available to own on DVD. ‘Jamdown’ contains some of the most electrifying live reggae footage ever captured on film, and we hope you enjoy this legendary film as much as we do.

Here’s Jamdown in its entirety. This is deeply rootsy.
 

 
A young Frank Zappa makes his TV debut playing the bicycle on The Steve Allen Show.
 

 
More Frank Zappa after the jump…
 

Sammy Davis Jr leads Max Harris’ ‘Dee Time’ orchestra in an utterly-unrehearsed version of the then-new Bacharach/David number ‘This Guy’s In Love With You’. The band is sight-reading, Sammy’s winging it, and the result is magic.

‘Dee Time’, hosted by Simon Dee, was a British variety show that aired in the late 1960’s.

Watching this clip tonight revived my love for Sammy. I read ‘Yes I Can’ as a kid and Sammy, along with James Brown and Chuck Berry, was one of the Black cats who really shook up my cracker ass. I grew up in the South at a time when most my white friends hated “niggers”.  I didn’t. Whitebread American suburban life in the sixties deadened my soul. Rock and roll and rhythm and blues changed all that. Sammy Davis Jr. was accused by some of being an Uncle Tom, a sellout to the man. But, for kids like me, seeing Sammy on hipster TV like ‘Laugh In’ was the beginning of a process of breaking down age old racial barriers that reached its apotheosis with the powerful energy of Hendrix, Marvin Gaye, Huey Newton and Martin Luther King. I didn’t give a shit what anybody said, Sammy Davis was a god.

This video is sublime.

I’m seein’ Andre 3000 in a biopic of Sammy’s life. Right?
 

 
In what is beyond the shadow of a doubt UK pop crooner Paul Young’s finest moment I have somehow found the mythical and difficult to obtain Dangerous Minds toaster post. I guess this was a top 20 hit in Blighty back in ‘78. Fine topic for a tune,really. Any song wherein actual toast is used as an instrument is just fine by me. Every time you go away you take a piece of toast with you.
 

 
Thanks again, Tony Coulter !

 
More sad news in the music world: the great roots reggae crooner, Gregory Issacs has died. Issacs was well-known for his soulful vocalizing and “lover’s rock” sound. He was also known for being the reggae world’s answer to Keith Richards. Issacs died in his London home after traveling around Jamaica for a while following a lung cancer diagnosis last year. He was 59-years-old.

Below, “the cool ruler” in a memorable performance from the movie Rockers:
 

 
Hey everyone, it’s lucky episode 7 of the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour. Dig the dream logic inherent in this latest batch of selections from musical nerdiac Brad Laner and his bottomless well of miniature personal epiphanies. There is nearly too much sonic goodness packed into this one 70 minute session. Please enjoy in moderation.
 
BPeople - “Whether to Worry”
Moonshake - “Coward”
Bubble Puppy - “Thinking About Thinking”
Slapp Happy - “The Drum”
Betty Harris - “There’s a Break in the Road”
Os Mutantes - “Desculpe, Babe”
John Lee Hooker - “Tupelo”
Chris and Cosey - “Raining Tears of Blood”
This Heat - “Health and Efficiency”
Kate Bush - “The Dreaming”
The Beach Boys - “‘Til I Die (Alternate Mix)”
Kim Jung Mi - “Towards The Sunlight”
Dennis Parker - “Like an Eagle”
Heléne Sage - Frissons Dans La Cochlee
 

 
Download this week’s episode
 
Subscribe to the Dangerous Minds Radio Hour podcast at Alterati

 
35 years and still rocking, Motorhead has indeed become an institution. Who woulda thunk they’d be doing TV commercials for beer in 2010.

From the Kronenbourg website:

On October 4th 2010, we took Lemmy and his band Motörhead to a French bar. Here, inspired by the laid back atmosphere and a slow, cold Kronenbourg 1664, they played their legendary manic song, The Ace of Spades, at half the normal speed.

 
Dressed like a cross between Ed Grimley and Quentin Crisp and looking surlier than Joan Crawford with a wire hanger up her ass, Bowie has never appeared less like a rock star than in this woefully executed video. The song ‘Be My Wife’ is from Low, one of the only Bowie albums I actually like, but this really stinks.