JJ RASSLER STORIES : SONGS THE ODDS TAUGHT US AND OTHER RANTS

I'm collecting, 'now', some tunes I collected, 'then' as, Songs the Odds Taught Us.   

Exhibit A: Bop-A-Lena ... by Ronnie Self

I miss the Odds and some of the things we tried to recapture, and there were many eras, but that 65 era of Brit Invasion was primo. There is this documentary called  "British Rock Born in a Basement" which tells it all. 

Actually, a rather well crafted 90 min doc with all the appropriate talking heads and arse's. Quite contemporary descriptions from the guys who knew what's what. Well done, and for those of us who'd like to be in the know, a rare treat.

As the elders get elder, the word must be shared to a generation who could care less....imagine!?! Ealing Club? Eel Pie Island...and much more from  the near mythical primordial ooze. Take a Bite O' This. 

 

 

The Teisco's, Harmony's and Hagstrom guitars. Jammin two guitars and a vocal mic into 1 big Magnatone accordion amp and an Ampeg bass amp.

 

The cool shirts and tight glen plaid and houndstooth pants. The Desert boots and Beatle boots.

 

. Guess it was my 1st band, the Deserters, I was trying, in part, to relive... aw, but ya know...

Baby, Please Don't Go....   THEM....

 

the Deserters, in 1965

l-r: Glen, Henry, Clyde, Curtis, Jon( aka JJ)

 We worked fairly steady from late 64 - late 66 at teen dances, cellar parties, school functions, etc I still have an index file card box, a card for each song we did, the key, lyric crib notes etc. There were three songs in there that carried on into the Odds, almost 20 years later, including 'Roses Are Red' from a 45

Glen (my partner) turned me on to, 'Come On Now', that was another. I've done this Kinks song in every band  I've been in. The other was Dave Clark 5's 'Anyway You Want It'.  

It's funny, absorbing Deserters songs into the Odds, knowingly, trying, in some way, to relive that initial rush, and then, attempting the same thing with Odds songs into JJ & Thee Cuban Heels, was in a way, homage, but it really was more Peter Pan, I don't wanna grow up.

 

I'd rather recall my thinking being, 'If a song's good, hang on to it'  but the truth is closer to Peter Pan. If I could find a pair of suede Beatle Boots that were standard issue in both the Deserters and the Odds, I'd wear 'em here in the old folks home.

 

Caught this show in Philly, just after Monterey Pop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It just happened on January 31st 2024...File in your 'JJ', or 'To Listen To', or 'Stone's' file

The Rolling Stones - Another, Alternate, Exile On Main St - 2024 Edition Full Album complete with Robert Frank films and Alternate Versions, Outtakes, Instrumental, Demos, many from the 'Nicky Hopkins Archive'

  produced by Jimmy Miller, with Sound Engineers being brothers, Andy & Glyn Johns, 

recorded at Nellcote and various other locations via Stones Mobile Unit, many years recordings from best quality live bootlegs available, around the world, multiple tours, and precious rare studio oddities from various session bootlegs, like from Leon Russell's 1st Solo Studio LP sessions, a DCC 24 Kt Gold recording (Steve Hoffman?) and many other variations of note.

There is a highly detailed playlist under the image on YouTube. I'd have given almost anything  to have been a participant in its compilation. Enjoy.

Play in full, or in part, should pick up from where you pause from the most recent play, should anyway. So you don't have to listen to all 32 tracks in one sitting, unless you kindly invite me over. I'll make cardboard hitch-hiking signs to Owl's Head, the Cape, Brittany, Paris, or all the way up to Arlington Heights, to listen, in its entirety to, with a loved one, just to kibitz with.

 

My Heart's Beatin' Louder Than a Big Bass Drum...

            JJ

 

PS, yeah, that's from a different album, but which?

 ( Bitch from Sticky Fingers - J_B)