Blue Velvet ost

Blue Velvet/Blue Star Montage - Isabella Rossillini and Angel Badalamenti [1986]

Speaking of Blue Velvet which is still kinda my favourite all time movie like The Pixies' Doolittle is my all time favourite record because I experienced these at the age of 16 and 17 and they were my favourites then and apparently this is how brains work...

Perhaps everything Lynch did after this was better but this was the seed from whereth it all groweth. 

Here we have the deliciously aberrant nightclub singer Dorothy Vallens played to perfection by Isabella Rossillini having a a bit of a sing. Accompanied by Angelo Badalamenti's stylish arrangements (he even appeared in the film as the cocktail lounge pianist). 

...so dark...

Lumberton U.S.A. / Going Down to Lincoln Sound Effects Suite - Angelo Badalamenti [1986]

Disorientating jazzy nightmares with unnerving creepy dark ambient and sound effects.

Akron Meets The Blues - Angelo Badalamenti [1986]

Further disorientating jazzy dreams, noir blues and quirky lounge-core.

Honky Tonk Part 1 - Bill Doggett 

I mean the title says it all. This is a supreme honky tonk instrumental jam perfect for the cinematic vision of David Lynch. What a groove, mesmerising guitar and rock'n'roll sax-a-muh-phone baby! Originally a hit single back in 1956.

Ricky Dean - Blue Tears

Ricky Dean - Blue Tears [1963]

The lovelorn dreamy teen sound of Ricky Dean's Blue Tears was on the label Del-fi who had previously brought the talents of Richie Valens to the world. 

This is the sorta thing you could imagine being in either a cheesy nostalgia movie or a David Lynch film.

Larry & The Loafers - Let's Go to the Beach

[1966]

Come on all you over 40 teenage delinquents let's go to the beach! Get your board shorts and beers, bikini girls await! 

Sometimes I think this crude lo-fi beach party banger is the greatest fun beach tune of all.

I'm On Fire · Dwight Twilley Band

[1975]

So these guys didn't always miss. This was their debut single and their one and only hit in America reaching #16. I mean it shoulda been number one for two weeks at least...

Hooks galore in a crunchy power pop style with a great glam-y caveman beat and an undercurrent of chunky chugging boogie.

Stunning infectious pure pop that outdoes Cheap Trick and Big Star at their own game...

... doesn't get better than this!

Looking For The Magic · Dwight Twilley Band

[1977]

All the non-hits and non memories. Cardross Maniac bringing you all the the great misses of the 70, 80s & 90s. 

Today it's the sound of supreme melodicists, the power pop duo Dwight Twilley Band. That's Dwight Twilley and Phil Seymour.

Talk about out of time and in between scenes. 

This was kinda late glam, pre new wave power pop, sorta pub rock but also classic rock'n'roll in the original rockabilly sense. I mean it sounds like it coulda been recorded anytime between 1969 and 1982.  

Looking For The Magic has been described as a song to rob banks to, whatever that means. Insane fluttering vocals giving Alan Vega a run for his money. Like a lo-fi drug fucked ELO without the disco element but going ecstatic and throwing in more hooks than a tackle box. The vocals, hand claps, Jangly guitars, drums and slippery bass are all put through an echo chamber and then some for maximum dream-a-delic affect. 

Whatever it is, it's just excellent! 

They made the rock'n'roll magic here folks.

Rewind forever babeeee.

The Mad Turks from Istanbul - Holding my breath

[1987]

As heard on 3MA on Sunday nights in the late 80s. The show which was maybe called Underground or The Underground or something like that. They played independent Aussie hits of the day. Stuff straight off Juke' Magazine's Independent chart which of course was where all the best music was to be found at the time. I think the radio announcer/DJ was Pat Gary. 

Anyway I never understood why Mad Turks weren't as big as say Died Pretty or Ups & Downs. They had the pop smarts and the catchy tunes with great guitar interplay in a brisk jangly power pop style but I don't think they ever got anywhere near the top 40 which is a shame. They missed. While they were out of time and in between scenes their debut LP Cafe Istanbul is an unheralded 80s guitar pop triumph. We get twelve tunes with plenty of hard strumming and pop hooks galore all done with an irresistible youthful urgency.  

On Holding My Breath you gotta love the take it down now moment at 2:23 where the instruments drop out and its just the "chicka chicka" of the muted strummed guitar and vocals. This trick is always excellent because you can't wait for the rest of the band to come back and when they do it's satisfaction guaranteed.

Thanks boys. 

Looking Forward To Destroy [1987]

You can't get more 80s power pop than this. 

More hooks than a butchers shop here with imaginative and infectious vocal melodies as well as toppermost tuneful guitars.

onyas. 

Todd Rundgren - I Saw The Light

[1972]

Sweet soft rock sounds from radio's golden era.   

One of those tunes you've heard your entire life and finally you go "hang on! wait a a fucking minute, this is fantastic!" 

The state of the art sound of the 70s with all of the gorgeous hooks effortlessly in the right place.

Like a really excellent multilayered cake. Each element is a delicious harmonious hook: the jaunty piano, those melodic tom toms, the slide-y Harrison-esque guitar, the immaculate multi-tracked backing vocals, the bass, the myriad of minuscule percussion flourishes, the entire delectable melody ripped straight from Carol King etc. 

Evocative of first love, carefree summers and more innocent times, I Saw The Light kinda now makes you wonder "Where did my life go?"

Pop-rock perfection.

Play it again Sam.

Teenbeat Mayhem - Slipped Thru The Cracks

I can't remember when the last essential American 60s garage rock compilation was issued... sometime in the early 00s with the ace Teenage Shutdown cd series and those seven volumes of Fuzz, Flaykes & Shakes. This month however an excellent cd has been released Teen Beat Mayhem: Slipped Thru The Cracks. 

So these never previously compiled tunes come from the secret stash of Mike Markesich's record collection. Markesich is of course known to garage fans as the author of 2012's TeenBeat Mayhem, the most exhaustive and authoritative reference guide to 60s garage rock, teenbeat & garage psych 45s. 

Below are the only four tunes from this cd I can find on youtube at the moment and they were only just recently uploaded by the legendary channel Bolt24 Hot Sounds. Discogs info on almost all of these groups has only been added in the last couple of days. So this is rare stuff indeed but I wouldn't be talking about if it wasn't such good stuff so as Molly used to say "do yourself a favour"

Rogues 5 - Oh So Right [1965]

Outa Lorain Ohio comes the restrained menacing fuzzed twangery of Oh So Right from one and done group Rogues 5. All shadowy and threatening but uptight and controlled creating a simmering sinister tone. 

Incredible stuff.

Egyptians - Walkin' Shoes [196?]

Mesmerising moody and brooding teen garage. A dreamy lo-fi sound not dissimilar to the Velvets in mellow mode. A pulsating, haunting and ultimately addictive tune. 

Downbeat baby!

Soul Survivors - Need You Love [1967]

Scuzzy party time. Get the dance floor sizzling at your next shindig with this groovin' organ driven garage banger.

Resurrection - Like The Way [1967/1968?]

Catchy girl/boy lusty obsessions lyrically captured in a tune with great organ riff, jangly guitar, hypnotic organ and a groovy beat. 

All done in a nonchalant rudimentary manner. 

The coolest.

Outa sight!  

*That's just the tip of the iceberg there's another twenty four crude unknown regional gems waiting for you to discover. I gotta say I'm pretty fucking surprised at the strike rate of the tunes on this cd. Who would have thought that we'd still be finding toppermost primitive 60s garage, homespun jangle-y pop and lo-fi moody teenbeat tunes in 2026.  

Richard & the Young Lions - You Can Make It

[1967]

A scuzzy fuzz monster with a neanderthal "bam bam" beat sweetened by the use of some er... very cool bells!

The fuzz and bells in this snarly stomper are a highly unusual but excellent combination! 

The New Era - We Ain't Got Time

[1967]

Roll up roll up for some teenbeat moody and broody garage from Holland Michigan group The New Era. 

This killer sunshine pop smash has got all the irresistible rolling jangly guitars and hook laden sweetness you could want from an ace 60s pop song yet it's still barely even a cult record.

Unknown pop gold right here folks!

Rewind.