Ass Sniffers and Record Collectors: Sound Hounds are the purest of breeds
Why is it that when dogs first greet each other that they stick their noses right up the other dog’s ass and take a good whiff? I have two dogs. They are always doing this.
We’re out in the park playing fetch or taking a walk and we run into another dog. Like a fucking thin, red laser beam, my dogs zero in on the other dog’s asshole. This is the gut reaction, the centuries old knee-jerk response…dogs are natural born shit sniffers.
Yeah, they could smell the other dog’s face, they could sniff the other dog’s coat, but to really find out what that other dog is all about, to really get a feel for how they roll, they’ve got to get a good snort of that other dog’s shitter.
Record collectors are natural born shit sniffers, too.
That’s right. We ain’t no dogs, but we are shit sniffers of a high order…evolved, upright, thumbs. I’ll admit it, I’ve sniffed a lot of shit in my days, and I bet you have, too. We can’t help it either; it’s just what we do.
Record collectors. Music lovers. Sound hounds. When we meet people, there is only one way to find out what they are all about and that is to stick our noses as far up the other person’s record collection as possible. Case in point…
Take my new friend, George. George and I just met recently. I had heard about George through a friend. George has worked in the record / radio industry for a number of years. From what I was told, George knows his music (confirmed). So, when we were introducing ourselves I passed him a link to my record collection that I have stored in an online doc.
What better way for George to know where I am coming from than to have virtual finger flip through my collection. I am my collection. It says a lot about me. I am happy if George, or anyone else, makes their first impression of me based on it. Shit, I have been curating that now for close to twenty-years. As I tell my wife: “sorry baby, but my first love and longest lasting relationship has been with my music”. Oh yeah, she loves that one.
After he had a look through my list, George said something that made me smile. He said when visiting some one’s home for the first time, he heads straight for their record collection (like a thin, red laser beam). I laughed because I do exactly the same thing. Other people don’t want you looking through their fridge, they don’t want you pawing through their underwear drawer, but they certainly don’t mind if you flip their records.
(As George rightly pointed out…not many people have records anymore. Now we have to spin their CD rack, or worse, scroll through their iTunes)
George had good things to say about my collection (mustard officially passed). One thing he did notice was the “total lack of any punk”. Good eye, George…I am not a punk fan. He was cool with that (personal taste), but what he could not tolerate was me having no Clash records in my collection at all.
Before I go any further, let me say that my preconceived notions about the Clash and their music was completely misguided. I disobeyed a cardinal rule of one my heroes, Boo Diddley: You can’t judge a book by looking at it’s cover.
I am a blues man. Punk just never resonated with me. As far as I knew, the Clash was punk. I didn’t even take the time to validate that judgement. Fuck it, I have Otis Rush and Charley Patton…who needs the Clash.
I stand corrected. There is definitely room in my predominantly 12 bar collection for the Clash.
After getting berated by George for my Clash oversight, I went head first into “London Calling“. Yes there is punk in there, but there is so, so much more, too. There’s R&B, rock, Bo Diddley’s beat, jazzy shit, ska…you name it, its in there. There are rockers, slow ones, aggressive ones and flat out ball-busters. The best thing about it is that it sounds different and not contrived.
The band put themselves and their scene into the sound and what came out was a true and honest representation of who they were at that point in time. Like all true classics, that point in time has the legs to live on forever.
As always, I was interested in the story behind the album. I watched the docco on the making of it: “The Last Testament”. I was hooked after that. I LOVE the back story. It adds so much depth and richness to the listening experience. Have you seen it? If not, have a go…it is well worth it.
So, thanks to George’s sniffing around my record collection, I am now knee deep in learning about the Clash…and a better man for it. Hopefully I get a change to flip through George’s collection when we meet. Who knows, I may be able to turn him on to something that I think he is missing in his collection…?
We shit sniffers need to stick together.
_____
If you haven’t looked at my collection before, please do so. I call it Judd’s Juke Joint (click that link). I’m always updating it. You can even subscribe to it and get emails on when I feed the dragon and buy new sounds. There are a few tabs at the bottom of it: CDs & Downloads, Vinyl, DVDs and “The Honour Roll”. Have a look at all of them.
You’ll find a note atop Judd’s Juke Joint. It reads: I do not believe in conventional genres. Genres are used to sell records. I believe in music that is deeply engraved in the background of the music makers; all of of whom are connected by a shared experience that links them inextricably; music with a message and a literal truth. Everything else is a product of the record labels.
Damn straight.
Special note on Judd’s Juke Joint: While living in Sydney, Australia, my collection grew not just in numbers but in sheer quality. I owe most all of that to my good mate, Nev…The Kingfish. I’ve written about Nev many times on The 6149. Nev is the owner and resident keeper of the independent record store chain in Sydney Australia. He taught me more about the blues than I ever could have learned on my own.
Six days of the week you can find him hanging at his shop, Mojo Records, bestowing bits of blues wisdom on bow-down tracks and albums that are ball-tearer’s. Stop in and tell him Judd sent you…
Roust on, Kingfish. Long live “Nev’s Nuggets”!
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The last pic has my dogs in it: Booker T. (L) and Raffy (R). They love listening to my music: Sound Hounds unite…
Just took my dogs out to the park. They teamed up on one dog and did a double ass sniffing. I’m back in the house listening to Jeff Beck. These two incidents are unrelated.
Just added some Jeff Beck to Judd’s Juke Joint: Line 585
I didn’t realise how cool this Jeff Beck song (cover) is. It feel’s cinematic: http://tinysong.com/j7p6
My fave Jeff Beck tune: Rice Pudding (http://tinysong.com/u68W). It starts off with such force. If the song was only those 20 seconds long it would still be my fave.
My friend Kip @horring has his collection online as well. I told him that when I go through it I need to pack a lunch. MASSIVE collection.
Within a jaw dropping set-list, Dr Beck did both Rice Pudding and Cause We Ended as Lovers at The Enmore a few weeks back. The big difference with this gig was his band — a funkified collection of session musos beyond sensible description. Having seen him at the same venue six-months earlier, I assumed the professor would’ve slipped back into his laboratory to tinker between gigs and I wasn’t wrong. He doesn’t need new material in the tradition sense; every tour is a new adventure. Wow!
Now take one step back and listen to Sandinista! and Give ‘Em Enough Rope. The Clash were ahead of their time. And definitely not just a punk band. Now move forward and listen to Streetcore by Joe Strummer. You can do it….baby steps.
@horring Kipster, love what you said here: “He doesn’t need new material in the tradition sense; every tour is a new adventure. Wow!” All he needs is a canvas, paint and inspiration…nothing more…no concept albums or any other crap. Again…probably why he is considered an anomaly or an outsider or an underachiever. I wonder if Clapton is tired of playing “Crossroads”?
@jukebox65 Baby steps! Ha. I’m full throttle now…leaps and bounds. I’ll check those out for sure. Thx.
Forgot to mention what a brilliant metaphor this colourful ass sniffing piece is, Judd. Classic! Among other things, it illustrates evolution so precisely that it’s spooky. I’m sure early cave men used a similar tool in their getting-to-know-you phase. Which begs the question: where are dogs headed???Did you read the letters to Lefsetz re. Jeff Beck? One in particular stood out for mine:”Of the great British guitarists who are still with us – Peter Green, Mick Taylor and Eric Clapton- Jeff Beck is the only one who, in my opinion has continued to grow as a musician and guitarist. He has invented a new vocabulary all his own and no one comes close to touching him. No one has the emotional range he has – he can make you laugh and cry, all in the same song without a single lyric in the way Etta James, Billie Holliday or James Brown could in their prime as vocalists. Economy, elegance, fire and humour.”A professor unable to stop tinkering in his lab . . .
As for the surprise punk angle in this brilliant piece. Like Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash, whose final albums were among their best, Global a Go-Go and Streetcore by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros sends Strummer into rock & roll heaven a roaring, laughing, snarling beast. His work here was done.
@horring Kip…yes, mate. Evolution at its best. Dogs are the new black. Soon they will be sniffing human asses and we will be licking our own balls, out in the open, on footpaths and unabashedly, in public.Beck/Lefsetz. Yes, I read that one. I agree with that guy. When you wrote previously, “He doesn’t need new material in the tradition sense; every tour is a new adventure. Wow!”…that is EXACTLY what I thought of.Obviously Jeff has a record to promote…he is all over the place (for a suposed recluse). In the last couple days I have downloaded his “Live at Ronnie Scott’s” and his new album. I am in the zone. “cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” tears my head off each time I have listened to it.Fuck yeah.
As for the surprise punk angle in this jolly piece of entertainment. Like Muddy Waters and Johnny Cash, whose final albums were among their best, Global a Go-Go and Streetcore by Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros sends Strummer into rock & roll heaven a roaring, laughing, snarling beast. His work here is done.
@horring Sign me up! I’ll be listening to those soon, too.
@thebuddymiles I just added “Long Time” to my music collection: Judd’s Juke Joint. Thx, brother…
@thebuddymiles Thx, man. My collection will be even better once we get that Live ’71 Buddy in there!
Someone told me over a beer last Sunday that dogs are born with the wrong arse, and spend their entire life looking for the right one.
Ha! Shan…I laughed out loud while in the line for a coffee when I read that. Good one. Hopefully, fortunately…I think I have the right record collection.