Thank you for starting your new year listening to The GO Mechanism. Number 5 will be aired on January 1, 2022 on Luxuria Music’s music streaming website. Here are notes on some of the songs:
In the Science Corner, which takes place during the second hour of the show, the music of the Japanese guitarist Takeshi Terauchi is featured. Starting in the early sixties, Takeshi was one of Japan’s greatest rock’n’roll guitarists. He was inspired to make mostly instrumental music after seeing The Ventures, who were very popular in Japan.
For the most part, Takeshi made music with two or three bands—depending on how you count them. In 1962, he formed The Blue Jeans. He left that band around 1966 and formed The Bunnys. Then, about two or so years later, he formed another band which he also called The Blue Jeans. The recordings presented in this edition of The Science Corner, although all of them are with The Bunnys, are fairly representative of his music. The first one, which he calls “Fate,” is a re-working of the famous theme from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. Do we need to remind GO People that Electric Light Orchestra was not the first non-classical act to borrow from classical music? The concept had been around. B. Bumble & the Stingers used a theme from The Nutcracker Suite for its hit “The Nut Rocker.” Hadda Brooks incorporated themes from classical music into her boogie woogie instrumentals during the forties. A year after “Fate,” the British freak beat group Love Sculpture recorded a similar guitar-workout with its version of “Sabre Dance.”
Takeshi also took ancient Japanese folk melodies and served them up as frantic guitar showcases. Our second selection is such a recording. Called, “Kanjincho,” it comes from either a samurai or a kabuki tradition—depending on the translation you read.
“Test Driver” is a fabulous rock’n’roll guitar instrumental. An original composition, it is as good as anything by The Ventures, Link Wray, Jeff Beck or any guitarist you care to name. At the end of The GO Mechanism a fourth track will be played—another re-working of a Japanese folk melody.
Takeshi Tarauchi passed away in the middle of 2021 with little notice here in the U.S.A. A recent NPR article on its website of internationally renown musicians who died that year doesn’t even mention him.
Get more better information about him—in English—at these websites:
No Recess
Fancy Magazine
Perfect Sound Forever
Or in Japanese here:
This installment of The GO Mechanism leads off with a composition by David Rex, an Australian saxophonist whose album Collision Course was released in 1998. It is very modernistic and suggested listening for GO Mechanism enthusiasts.
The Oliveira Trio is a musical ensemble from Porto, Portugal. Featured here is a groovy version of the theme song to the TV show Knight Rider. The group also does a great version of our favorite Bill Doggett song, “The Worm.”
James Brown recorded many instrumentals during his career. One was aired on GO Mechanism #4. The GO Mechanism producers hope to present many more in future episodes. The one presented on GO #5 serves as the background music to a reading of the first three paragraphs of “A Chase (Alighieri’s Dream)”, a short story by Leroi Jones, later known as Amiri Baraka. It is aptly read by Oweinama Biu exclusively for The GO Mechanism and is not available in stores.
Our pal and hero, Todd-O-Phonic Todd, has a cool show that airs on WFMU on Saturday afternoons. The Rubinoos recorded a fabulous theme song for him, which he plays about 30 minutes into his show each week. The GO Mechanism producers were able to track down an instrumental version of the song and it is presented here. We hereby challenge Todd-O-Phonic Todd to play The GO Mechanism theme song, “Lester Leaps In” by Earl Bostic on his show!!
Ronnie Kole was a New Orleans-based pianist. No, he is not in the Professor Longhair/Fats Domino/James Booker tradition. Kole was associated with Al Hirt and Pete Fountain—THOSE New Orleans musicians. That’s why this version of “The Batman Theme” is so unexpected; it is a favorite here at the Tree Frog Studios where The GO Mechanism is conceived.
The version of “Caravan” heard on this edition of The GO Mechanism is by Ralph Marterie, a band leader in the swing music tradition. During the early fifties, Marterie had great success with “Caravan.” The GO Mechanism producers have chosen his early sixties re-recording of the song that has a twist beat—thus the song is called “Caravan Twist.” Manny of Marterie’s records are rather square, covers of pop hits, but some of them are actually, unexpectedly, rockin’. Perhaps a future Science Corner pin-pointing his hip tracks is in order.
“Man on the Moon” by Ornette Coleman was only released as a single.
“The Groovy Line” is from the album Learn How to Dance. It is a two-record set of cheesy and very square dance tunes (waltz, foxtrot, Irish jig, charleston, etc.). One is expected to do the frug to “The Groovy Line.” Jack Hansen is credited as the musical director. I pray that this track is on a single somewhere so I can ditch the album.
Apparently, nearly every copy of the Lee Harris record, “Skate, Boogaloo and Karate Too,” has had its labels scratched off. The copy in The GO Mechanism library is no exception. According to legend, this was done at the record company itself, perhaps because someone wasn’t happy with the credits on the label. Further, The GO Mechanism producers are currently researching Karate records for a future Science Corner.
Official GO Mechanism track listing:
Earl Bostic – Lester Leaps In (King)
David Rex Quintet – Collision Course (Jazzhead; Australia)
Ahmad Jamal – Rico Pulpa (Epic)
Los Salvajes – Al Capone (Regal; Spain)
Cannonball Adderly – Marabi (Blue Note)
Lord Flea and His Calypsonians – Out De Fire (Capitol)
Oliveira Trio – O Justicero (Knight Rider Theme) (Dinamite; Portugal)
James Brown – The Chicken (King)
Mwana Amin – Africa Kung Fu (Zeida; Guatamala)
Ondatrópica – Pig Bag (Soundway; UK)
The Rubinoos – Todd-O-Phonic Todd Show Theme Song (Toddoprise)
Ronnie Kole Trio – Batman Theme (White Cliffs)
King Coleman – Do the Booga Lou (Port)
The Jaguars – Roundabout (Epic)
Big Jay McNeely – 3-D (Federal)
The Plimsouls – When You Find Out (Planet)
Preston Epps – Afro Mania (Jo-Jo)
Professor Longhair – Cuttin’ Out (Ron)
Pud Brown Trio – Take the A Train (Capitol)
The Golden Cups – Hiwa-Mata-Noboru (Capitol; Japan)
Freddy King – High Rise (Federal)
Astor Piazzola – Tanguedia III (American Clavé)
The Buddies – The Beatle (Swan)
Ralph Marterie – Caravan Twist (United Artists)
–Takeshi Terarauchi & the Bunnys – Fate (Symphony #5) (Seven Seas; Japan)
–Takeshi Terarauchi & the Bunnys – 勧進帳 [Kanjincho] (King; Japan)
–Takeshi Terarauchi & the Bunnys – Test Driver (King; Japan
The Teemates – Nightfall (Audio Fidelity)
The Phoenix Authority – Journey to the Center of the Mind (Mainstream)
Los Guacharacos – Esperma y Ron (Discos Fuentes; Colombia)
Olatunji – Akiwowo (Chant to the Trainman) (Columbia)
Ornette Coleman – Man on the Moon (Impulse)
Mikis Theodorakis – The Jet (20th Century)
Perez Prado – Sexomania (Orfeon; Mexico)
Charly Antolini – Charly’s Drums (BASF/Cornet; Germany
The Ventures – Nightstick (Cathy’s Theme) (Dolton)
Nick Venet & Orchestra – Theme from ‘Out of Sight’ (Decca)
Nino Ferrer – Cornichons (Riviera; Canada)
Jack Hansen – The Groovy Line (HRB Music)
The Sugarman Three—Soul Donkey (Daptone)
Lee Harris – Skate, Boogaloo and Karate Too (Forte)
Curtis Mayfield – Freddie’s Dead (Boogaloo edit) (Curtom)
Terry & the Blue Jeans – Kuroda Bushi (King; Japan)
Spoken bits:
•The Road Not Taken read by Robert Frost
•A Chase (Alighieri’s Dream) by Leroi Jones (Amiri Baraka) – read by Oweinama Biu exclusively for The GO Mechanism
Thanks for diggin’!!
If you’d like to hear the show after it is first aired, go to the Luxuria Music home page, click on the “Podcasts” button and scroll down to the “Saturday Night Special.” Then click on the “Saturday Night Special” icon and scroll until you find the one posted on 1/2/2022. The shows are usually available for about a month. Or, just click on the mixcloud hustle below:
All four previous GO Mechanisms have been posted on the Mixclouds. This GO will be posted on the Mixclouds a few weeks after its broadcast. Check out The GO Mechanism on the Mixclouds here:
Also, we ask that all GO Mechanism enthusiasts support the Luxuria Musics. Please go to its website, listen to its music stream when you’re at work, and buy something from its store—or just send it money! Like all of us these days, Lux Mu needs help.
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