Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Mo' Taters, Momma





Woke up to my brain trying to escape through my right eye the other day (See: Chronic Migraines), yet the weather was such that after weeks of snow-bound dementia I’d be damned if I didn’t make it out into the sun to photosynthesis even a little (Gotta get that Serotonin flowin’). After and large coffee and self administer injection of Sumatriptan I made it down to a local record store, passing the time before it opened (Run by teenage punks- one can never truly count on it opening on time, and on a Saturday morning no less!) in an adjacent antique-shop. Pouring over the records there, it occurred to me that I had shuffled through all this crap before, several times in point of fact, and was just about to abandon ship when the familiar feeling came over me; every time I pass on a stack of records somebody dives in and come up w/ doubloons, so I grabbed a random stack and shuffled through…the result: Mo’ Taters.

Popularized by Crypt comp series Las Vegas Grind, this kinda late-in-the-game R&B is now generally referred to as a ‘Titty-Shaker’, though desperate attempts to quantify and categorize such a broad stroke of music seems woefully inadequate (Gothabilly and Surfabilly are two ridiculous subgenre’s that spring to mind). Unbeknownst to many, the Earthworms (Great name!) are actually Oliver Sain (of ‘Bus Stop’ fame) and his little protégé, Little Milton though one doubts he stayed very ‘little’ for very long, what w/ all that starchy intake of his (If his proclivity for Potatoes were to bear-out as the song suggests)

Be it Titty-Shaker or just plain old R&B; call it what you like, just don’t call Tater’s later for dinner, or else run the risk of a side-dish mutiny; the streets flowing w/ the chicken-gravy of the non-believers.

Look for the aptly named flip ‘Fish Tale’ on an upcoming BFTRB soul mix. Until then, pass the taters…

Mo' Taters - Earthworms

5 comments:

The Hound said...

That's Little Milton on guitar, he also gets co-writing credit (Cambell).

Mondo said...

Love it - The Las Vegas Grind albums are full of gems..Return of the Instro Hipsters are another great series - in a Swinging London way.

The RedBoy said...

"That's Little Milton on guitar, he also gets co-writing credit"

Yeah, him and Sain were both aces(even though Sain took a more radical departure in the 70's). I particularly like 'Meddlin' on Checker.

"Love it - The Las Vegas Grind albums are full of gems..Return of the Instro Hipsters are another great series - in a Swinging London way."

Ain't never heard o' no Return o/t Instro Hipsters(I never knew they left). Gonna have to give it a lookie-loo. Say, have you ever heard a series of comps called 'Hotel Easy'?

Anonymous said...

"Ain't never heard o' no Return o/t Instro Hipsters"
Look to the Great White North and ye shall receive!

Instro-Hipsters a Go-Go series is pretty swingin', too... shall we combine forces and have a spin-off shakestravaganza?!?

Do you need any of the Hotel Easy series?

The RedBoy said...

Yeah, all of em'