Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs (1977)

Eddie left Funkadelic in 1971 but played on a few more Parliament records- Chocolate City would be the last studio record featuring his otherworldly axe slanging. He contributed some vocals to 1976 release The Clones of Dr. Funkenstein and is featured heavily on the Live P-Funk Earth Tour record from 1977 but this record marks his first foray into solo land.

George Clinton's production and songwriting help are all over this record, as well as utilizing a line up that's basically 1978 era P-Funk.

It's probably the only Parliament/Funkadelic-related release outside of their own oeuvre considered essential.
Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs (1977; Warner Bros. Records)

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) 1978

Rest in peace, Mr. Donald Glen Vliet. Thank you for all the music you've left behind. I'm gonna go ahead and plug a bunch of your records.

I'm gonna give you my favorite of his later period stuff, and that's 1978's Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller). It's accessible but still arty as all hell; the band is a tightly knitted sweater of weird grooves, the Captain retains his trademark growl- it's considered his comeback album and has a bunch of leftovers from his more (dare I say) commercial attempts (Bluejeans and Moonbeams, etc...) that existed as instrumentals and snippets of songs that were given a full-on re-model here.

I'm gonna up his duet record with Zappa (Bongo Fury) in the next few days as well; it's probably the greatest record from the mid-70s (that gets better and better upon every listen). So without further ado; here's the Captain. 

Wherever you are, you are loved everywhere by music nerds like me...

Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band - Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) (1978; Warner Bros. Records)

Stéphane Grappelli / David Grisman - Live (1981)

This album was my introduction to violinist Stéphane Grappelli; I learned later that he made his name playing with Django Reinhardt, opening their famous Quintette du Hot Club de France together in 1934. About this same time I learned about mandolin-player extraordinaire David Grisman from his association with Jerry Garcia from their Old And In The Way project.

So there's the back story on how this album came into my consciousness; this laid back affair recorded at Boston's Berklee Center in 1979, simply titled Live- a wonderful collection of traditional jazz tunes done in a bluegrass, down-home style. Rob Wasserman (of Ratdog and Lou Reed's bands of the early '90s) plays bass, Mike Marshall on guitar and second mandolin, Mark O'Connor (guitar and second violin) and Tiny Moore on electric mando.

Stéphane Grappelli / David Grisman - Live (1981; Warner Bros. Records)

Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun (1971)

It's strange how many people (especially "psych" fans) tell me they "don't get the Dead". There's nothing to get, man. It's psychedelia pure & simple- in fact it's closer to the heart of real psychedelia than almost anything else. I'd say that along with The 13th Floor Elevators, no other band integrated the LSD experience into their work as openly and persistently as the Grateful Dead.

I'm not a Dead-head, and I'll probably never get into their post-Warner Bros. stuff (I can stomach Terrapin Station, but everything after that is pretty much crapola- Go To Heaven is a cruel joke, right?), but I find myself enjoying the late 1960s (Tom Constanten-era) Dead more and more, both studio and live.

It's as close to a live record as you can make in the studio; that's what happens when you give a bunch of lysergically-induced, stoned-out happy freaks unlimited studio time. The Dead actually ended up owing Warner a ton of money from this record; they didn't recoup it until the money started rolling in as their unstoppable tour machine gathered steam in the late '70s.

Grateful Dead - Anthem Of The Sun (1968; Warner Bros. Records)