The Seeds: Night Time Girl (Norton Records/2014)

The Seeds were allegedly the best live band from Los Angeles in the 1960's, so it's a mystery why their label would want them to record a “live” album in the studio and then overdub crowd noise over the results. In April of 1968 the band recorded the album at Western Recorders and would be released as Raw & Alive: The Seeds In Concert At Merlin's Music Box. In 2014 the UK label Big Beat Records released the album without the dubbed audience noise plus another earlier attempt at a full-length live-in-the studio affair, on a two-disc set simply called Raw & Alive.

The wonderful Norton Records released a 7” vinyl teaser from the album. “Night Time Girl” starts off with what sounds like an early synthesizer but it's probably just an over-modulated keyboard. The song sounds like The Stooges meets The Doors, which isn't so surprising. You can hear how Sky Saxon's vocal prowess influenced Iggy Pop on the B-Side “Gypsy Plays The Drums”. These may be my favorite recordings by The Seeds.

If you're a fan of proto-punk, garage rock or rock and roll in general this most very highly recommended.   

Here's the video review:

David Bowie: ChangesTwoBowie (RCA/1981)

David Bowie was a legend. A musical chameleon with a flair for the dramatic who adapted to or set trends. He was a trendsetter for glam rock, proto punk, experimental electronica, art rock, new wave, dance rock and blue-eyed soul.  He had impeccable style, taste and always worked with the most-interesting musicians. He's influenced basically everyone, indirectly in one way or another. He's produced music that is very easy to take for granted in that he completely made it sound too easy.

I've chosen to review a lesser-revered release of his. ChangesTwoBowie, which was a follow-up compilation album to ChangesOneBowie, and was a contractual obligation release that RCA put out without any involvement from Bowie. Needless to say, it's not as satisfying a compilation as it could be, as it omits several singles from 76-81 (namely "Boys Keep Swinging", "Heroes", "Beauty And The Beast", "Be My Wife", "Up The Hill Backwards", "Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)", and "Look Back In Anger"). In other words, it could have easily been a very satisfying double-album.

It does however feature the amazing "Fashion",  the equally fabulous "Ashes To Ashes", the great "DJ" (which supposedly was Bowie aping David Byrne), the funky "Sound And Vision" and the underrated and unique ballad "Wild Is The Wind". It also contains the remake of "John, I'm Only Dancing". The seven minute long "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)", which was recorded in 1974 during the Young American sessions but not released as a non-album single in late 1979. It also contains the pre-1976 songs "1984", "Starman", "Alladin Sane" and "Oh U=You Pretty Things".

It's not as perfect as ChangesOneBowie (nor as successful), but it's still a great listen as these tracks are all top-notch Bowie and stand as a mini-testament to his unique talent.