Kendra Steiner Editions (Bill Shute)

RICKY SHAYNE—One of the Mods (Bear Family), CD
Don’t let the “mod” title confuse you. If you come into this album expecting music that sounds like The Creation, you’ll be let down. The title (and the cover image on the album) refers to the 1966 German-Italian film Battle Of The Mods, the item for which Shayne is best-known in North America. In the early 70s I caught the film at 2 or 3 a.m. on a UHF television station in a time slot usually reserved for German krimi or Italian sword and sandal movies. To say that the film blew my mind would be an understatement. With its bizarre Germanic depiction of Liverpool (which appealed to me because of my taste for the similarly unique depictions of Victorian London in the German Edgar Wallace films often playing in the same time slot) and the undeniably charismatic Shayne (featuring a thick mop of hair that would have made Fabian or Arch Hall Jr. jealous) in the lead role, belting out a number of moody Euro-beat numbers, I had never seen a rock and roll film anything like this one…or a performer anything like Shayne.

This collection contains 20 prime tracks from 1965-67 that capture Shayne at his moody sometimes-rocking best, along with an additional 10 tracks from 1968-69 that find him moving into more of an MOR sound for his Italian and German audiences. The 65-67 material, though, is well-worth owning if you enjoy Elvis-inspired rockers from the 60s beat era such as Britain’s Lee Curtis.

Born in Lebanon, the multi-ethnic, multi-lingual Shayne had an exciting band, The Skylarks, and was a popular live performer (his “act” as depicted in the Mods film is certainly torrid and memorable), recording in Rome for the 65-67 sessions. Elvis material is well-represented (“Mean Woman Blues,” “Danny,” and an Italian-language version of “Love Me Tender”), as is Cliff Richard (“Apron Strings,” “When The Girl In Your Arms Is the Girl In Your Heart”), and the more Beat-oriented tunes such as “Number One” and “My Babe” show that Shayne and crew could rock when they chose to. On the whole, though, this collection would be best appreciated by fans of moody European Elvis-inspired performers who came up in the 1960s, but were rooted in the late 50s. Italian UT readers who like that sound should enjoy this, and I can also imagine Johnny Hallyday fans getting into it.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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…and while you are enjoying this fine album of exotic European 60s beat music rooted in the Elvis era, why not peruse one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, available for only $4.95 each from any local A-zon outlet internationally as a local purchase.

In the period of September-November 2025, I issued a three-part series of poems inspired by the work and by the method of visual artist Henri Matisse: WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437), THEMES AND VARIATIONS (KSE #438), and NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND (KSE #439). Here is the ordering link for WITH APPARENT EASE: http://bit.ly/464f9Yg

FRIJID PINK – The Deram Recordings 1970-1971 (Esoteric, UK), 2-cd

     Michigan’s Frijid Pink are not too well-remembered today, which is surprising since they actually made the Billboard Top 10 and earned a gold record for their third and breakthrough single, a “heavy” re-interpretation of “House Of The Rising Sun,” released in late 1969. They were big when I was in junior high school, and I remember seeing their distinctive eye-catching album covers at many friends’ houses…and hearing album cuts played late-night on the “underground” radio stations in Denver and Boulder. I haven’t heard any Frijid Pink since the early 80s, alas, but upon blasting this 2-cd collection of their two 1970 albums on Parrot Records (Deram in the UK) and the related non-lp sides, I’m glad to re-acquaint myself with them.

    This is hard Michigan rock and roll, rooted in the blues but with a heavy edge. An organ is used well to color the sound, and their garage-band roots keep everything unpretentious and raw. Fronting the band are vocalist Tom Beaudry (also billed as Kelly Green), who is soulful in a Scott Richardson or Rob Tyner kind of way, and guitarist Gary Ray Thompson, a fine blues player whose leads are a pleasure to listen to. I’m not so much reminded of Michigan bands such as The Frost, but more reminded of the Mainstream-era Josefus, or Kent-era Pacific Gas and Electric…or maybe (to make a Michigan reference) if The Woolies were booked in 1970 at a venue that usually featured hard-rock bands. Most of this material (except for the later singles, which are more sophisticated productions) features a basic quartet, pretty much recorded live in the studio, with few effects on the guitar, sounding like a club gig, minus the audience. To me, that’s a strength, and also makes a good case that Frijid Pink could easily perform this material live, and probably did before these pieces were ever recorded.

     The band soldiered on, recording a third and a fourth album on other labels and minus the original lead singer and lead guitarist, but both albums would appeal to those who like the first two, with the fourth album, All Pink Inside (Fantasy Records) going back to their blues roots.

     Frijid Pink are a shining example of the midwestern “heartland” rock’n’roll I would read the cheerleading about every month in Creem magazine back in the early 70s, and this compilation is the definitive look at their finest period.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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…and while you are enjoying this fine album of blues-drenched Michigan rock and roll, why not peruse one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, available for only $4.95 each from any local A-zon outlet internationally as a local purchase.

In the period of September-November 2025, I issued a three-part series of poems inspired by the work and by the method of visual artist Henri Matisse: WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437), THEMES AND VARIATIONS (KSE #438), and NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND (KSE #439). Here is the ordering link for WITH APPARENT EASE: http://bit.ly/464f9Yg

SANFORD CLARK – Rocks! (Bear Family) CD

     From Arizona, Sanford Clark burst upon the national scene in 1956 when his first single, the Lee Hazlewood written and produced “The Fool,” was picked up by Dot Records for wider distribution and rose to #7 on the national charts. Built around a bluesy variation on the “Smokestack Lightning” riff and punctuated with the twangy guitar of Al Casey, Clark delivers the lyrics in a stoic, resigned manner that was quite distinctive. The song has been widely covered, and Clark continued to record through the 50s and 60s, with 31 tracks from 1956-67 included here.

     Clark has a mellow, unforced delivery not unlike Rick Nelson (who came after Clark—I’m guessing Rick loved “The Fool”), though he can bring a Johnny Cash-like gravitas to a performance when the material calls for it. In fact, the material here is quite eclectic—from moody rockabilly to teen rockers to hard country, and it’s all handled comfortably by Clark. All but four of the 31 tracks here were produced by Lee Hazlewood, and Lee also wrote or co-wrote sixteen of them. Lee knew how to record Clark’s voice well, to use a small amount of echo and to leave space for the recordings to breathe. A cover of the song “Ain’t Nobody Here But Us Chickens”, surprisingly not released at the time by Dot, is a model for how relaxed rockabilly should sound.

     Hazlewood continued to work with Clark for decades, including a stint at Hazlewood’s LHI Records in the late 60s, but nothing from LHI is included here, nor from Jamie Records. However, that material has been reissued elsewhere over the years. Twenty of the tracks here come from Clark’s 56-58 period at Dot, three come from 1964-65 Los Angeles sessions for Warner Brothers, including the original version of Hazlewood’s composition “Houston,” which was beaten out on the charts by Dean Martin’s cover.

     Hearing this much Sanford Clark in one sitting leads to the conclusion that the man had his own unique style and was able to adapt it to different kinds of material. His delivery would be at the opposite end of the spectrum from the crazed energy of a Johnny Burnette or a Johnny Carroll at their most animated, and that “cool” approach has dated well.

     Any rockabilly fan or Lee Hazlewood fan needs a Sanford Clark album in their collection, and this is definitely the one to get.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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…and while you are enjoying this fine album of mellow Arizona rockabilly from Sanford Clark, why not peruse one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, available for only $4.95 each from any local A-zon outlet internationally as a local purchase.

In the period of September-November 2025, I issued a three-part series of poems inspired by the work and by the method of visual artist Henri Matisse: WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437), THEMES AND VARIATIONS (KSE #438), and NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND (KSE #439). Here is the ordering link for WITH APPARENT EASE: http://bit.ly/464f9Yg

Why not give KSE pocket-sized poetry chapbooks as holiday stocking stuffers: I have 17 of these available for only $4.95 each at any international A-zon outlet. They will fit in even a smaller stocking and will keep your friend or relation pondering them all year!

Ordering link for USA: https://amzn.to/2XRNgjl

Disc: 1
1 A Woman’s Way
2 A Story Book Affair
3 I Couldn’t Keep from Crying
4 That’s Me Without You
5 Mexican Joe
6 Honeymoon on a Rocket Ship
7 Big Jim Boogie
8 Honeycut Stomp
9 Wednesday Night Swing
10 Wild Strings
11 Long Lost Girl
12 Making Believe
13 More Than a Man Can Stand
14 You Ain’t Got My Address
15 By the Sweat of My Brow
16 Mama Loves Papa (And Papa Loves the Women)
17 I Wanna Feel Good
18 I Knew Her When
19 I Used to Love Her
20 Too Used to Being with You
21 Baby Brother
22 Ride Gunman, Ride
23 Ramblin’ Fever
24 Half Hour Til Sundown
25 Stowaway
26 Seven Years
27 When God Dips His Love in My Heart
28 Amazing Grace
29 This World Is Not My Home
30 Where We Never Grow Old
31 Cool Tom Cat (Unedited Tape Fragment)
32 Secret Date (Unedited Version)
33 Secret Date
Disc: 2
1 Cool Tom Cat
2 Jailer Man (Unedited)
3 Jailer Man
4 Jailer Man (Alt. Take with Guitar Overdub)
5 Legend of Billy the Kid (Unedited)
6 Legend of Billy the Kid
7 Cross Road
8 Good Lord to Keep Me Happy
9 Won’t You Go There with Me
10 Full Time Religion
11 Thank You Dear Lord
12 Only a Tramp on the Street
13 Your Last Day on Earth
14 God’s Mansion in the Sky
15 Ain’t You Gonna Change
16 The Gates of Glory
17 Where You Gonna Hide
18 Glory in Your Soul
19 Pony Express
20 You’ll Never Know
21 Dreambowl Commercial with Black Jack Wayne
22 Colt 45 -Part I
23 Colt 45 -Part II
24 Shot Four Times and Dyin’
25 Stranger Shake Hands with a Fool
26 The 12th Man
27 From Time to Time
28 I’ll Be Still Loving You
29 Steamboat’s A-Comin’
30 Climb That Scaffold, Jimmy
31 Stranger Shake Hands with a Fool (Uptempo Version)
32 Looking Through the Bars
33 I’ve Missed You
34 Better Times Are Coming

BILL CARTER—Ramblin’ Fever (Bear Family), 2-cd

     In the 1980s and 90s, country singers from the post-WWII era who flirted with rockabilly and who’d had a good-sized body of work released on one label that was nationally distributed, such as Mercury or MGM or Columbia, often found their old records reissued on attractive European LPs and later CDs, building up their reputations and their places in the history books.

     Unfortunately, California-based Bill Carter recorded for a number of different labels—Tally, 4-Star, Rural Rhythm, MGM, Ozark, Republic, and Honee-B—so he was passed by in that reissue era (except for tracks on some key compilations), but fortunately, Bear Family has assembled an exhaustive 2-CD career survey of Carter’s music, ranging from his first issued recording in 1954 until his retreat from secular music in 1961 (he’s worked in the Gospel music world since then). Carter was truly a major player in the California country music scene of the 1950s, as a live act and as a radio and TV performer, and even a promoter. He was also a kind of Zelig who crossed paths with a number of other significant country artists, many of whom looked up to him as the successful and established artist, including Elvis, Bill Anderson, and Del Reeves. Also, he was actively promoted by legendary blues/R&B label owner Bob Geddins (not a name usually associated with country music), in the Bay Area, who recorded him and believed in his talent.

     Fortunately, the 67 tracks included here, spanning from 1953-1961, clearly show why Carter was a popular figure on the California scene. He does not have an instantly recognizable voice like an Ernest Tubb or a Webb Pierce, but he has the authenticity of a Carl Smith and the flexibility of a Lefty Frizzell. Carter worked in a number of styles—honky tonk, covers of hits for budget labels, historical songs (in the “Battle of New Orleans” tradition), prison songs, gospel quartets, rockabilly (his “Cool Tom Cat” has been considered a classic for decades), songs celebrating western lore, songs of lost love, and of course some boogie material. He never had that major national hit that cemented him into a certain expected style, so he tried a lot and it all worked well. With a detailed history in the liner notes and unreleased material provided by Carter himself, this album is a model of how to do an archival reissue on a lesser-known artist.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

CYRIL DAVIES AND HIS RHYTHM & BLUES ALL STARS, Hullabaloo (Rhythm and Blues, UK), CD

     Considered along with Alexis Korner as one of the two most important pioneers of British R&B/Blues, singer and harmonica player Cyril Davies was playing the blues from the mid-1950s on, and starting in 1957 operated (with Korner) the legendary London Blues and Barrelhouse Club, often featuring imported American blues artists. In fact, it was at this club in 1958 where Muddy Waters “went electric” and shocked some UK purists, while inspiring both Korner and Davies to also plug in, and things were never the same.

    Eventually, Korner and Davies went their separate ways (after both appearing on the classic 1962 album R&B From The Marquee) as Korner had a broader view of blues music and wanted to present everything from jump blues with a horn section, to soul jazz, to acoustic pre-WWII styles, while Davies preferred to work in the amplified Chicago Blues vein. In the early 1960s, Davies was a hero to British teenagers starting blues bands, and Brian Jones and Mick Jagger and Paul Jones and Tony McPhee would catch him live as often as possible and try to pick up some skills while in the presence of the master. Unfortunately, Davies died in January 1964 (already considered “Britain’s Little Walter”), releasing only two singles with his Rhythm & Blues All Stars on Pye in 1963 (“Country Line Special” and “Preachin’ The Blues”), sides which have been legendary and sought-after since the day of their release.

     While a handful of broadcast sides have surfaced over the years, not until now, 60 years later, has there been a full CD of material from Davies, and it’s an amazing and powerful collection, 28 tracks live from ATV’s regional Hullaballo TV show (where Davies and crew were something of a house band) and from some BBC radio shows (including an episode of Pop Go The Beatles!). The band is sizzling hot throughout, with the powerhouse drumming of Carlo Little (who played in the pre-Charlie Watts Rolling Stones and who gave Keith Moon drum lessons) animating everything, fine guitar from Geoff Bradford, and on a number of tracks Long John Baldry’s vocals, sounding like Big Bill Broonzy’s younger brother. There’s also a variety of material, including acoustic numbers, barrelhouse piano-based rockers, and some tracks featuring a Raelettes-style female vocal trio…and four different versions of Davies’ instrumental anthem “Country Line Special.”

     The most important British R&B/Blues archival discovery of the last few years!

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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while soaking up this collection of prime British R&B/blues, why not peruse one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, such as VACANCY (KSE #434), available for just $4.95….you can order it here: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

Dick D’agostin and the Swingers – Nancy Lynne
Sanford Clark – Love Charms
Jimmy Dee and the Offbeats – Don’t Cry No More
Joyce Paul – Baby You’ve Had It
Leroy Van Dyke – Honky Tonk Song
Tommy Danton & the Echoes – Oh Yeah
The Casuals – Help Me
Jim Lowe – The Crossing
Al Reed and the Blue Notes – I Love Her So
Ken Copeland – Where the Rio De Rosa Flows
Keith Courvale – Steelworker Blues
Don Johnson – I’m Hypnotized
Snooky Lanson – Stop Let Me Off the Bus
Dick Lory – Cool It Baby
Earl Henry – Whatcha Gonna Do?
Ned Costner – Jeopardy
Howard Crockett – If You’ll Let Me
Billy Adams – True Love Will Come Your Way
Ronnie Smith – My Babe
Jimmy Work – That’s the Way It’s Gonna Be
Billy Joe Tucker – Mail Train
Bob Denton – 24 Hour Night
Mac Wiseman – Hey, Mr. Blues Man
Leroy Van Dyke – My Good Mind Went Bad
Jackie Shannon – Trouble
Jimmy Dee – Here I Come
Sanford Clark – Modern Romance
Prentis Slade – Scrapiron
Tom Blair & the West Coasters – Rock It
Al Casey – Come What May
Jimmy Newman – Step Aside Shallow Water
The Nighthawks – All’a Your Love
Mac Wiseman – Meanest Blues In the World
The Casuals – Till You Come Back To Me
Sonny Curtis – A Pretty Girl
Robin Luke – Bad Boy
The Nighthawks – When Sin Stops

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V.A.–That’ll Flat Git It, Volume 41: Dot/Hamilton Records (Bear Family), CD

     Though Dot Records is most associated in the public mind with the pop of Pat Boone or the lounge instrumentals of Billy Vaughn, label founder Randy Wood originally found success selling rhythm and blues records through his mail-order outfit Randy’s Record Shop, so he certainly “got” the appeal of rockin’ music (as Dot’s many sanitized, watered-down pop covers of R&B songs also shows), and although rock and roll never became the major part of Dot’s output, that output was so large there inevitably would be a number of fine rockers that trickled out on Dot and its Hamilton subsidiary.

     37 of those tracks are included here, covering 1956-1961, and they tend to fall into three categories: material provided by savvy producers/entrepreneurs such as Arizona’s Lee Hazlewood (Al Casey), New Mexico’s Norman Petty (Ronnie Smith), and San Antonio’s Bob Tanner/TNT Records (Jimmy Dee & The Offbeats); one-off leases of songs from tiny local labels (Keith Courvale and Tommy Danton & The Echoes), which probably cost Dot very little to take a chance on; and rockin’ material from artists associated with other genres such as country (Mac Wiseman, Leroy Van Dyke) or pop (Snooky Lanson, best known from the early 50s ‘Your Hit Parade’ TV show). As usual, compiler Nico Feuerbach has done a masterful job of programming these deep cuts, mixing styles and tempos so every track sounds better in the album’s context than it might have by itself.

     Some of the tracks here are early efforts by artists who went on to find greater fame as writers and producers in the 1960s: the bluesy tracks from The Casuals are early recordings of Nashville’s Buzz Cason, while the Jerry Lee Lewis-inspired track “I’m Hypnotized” by Don Johnson is not the actor, but the man later known as Bob Johnston, producer of Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash. Had these early singles been hits, who knows how their later careers might have evolved differently!

     Another excellent aspect of this compilation is that when familiar artists such as Sanford Clark or Robin Luke or Jim Lowe are included, lesser-known tracks are used, so it’s a fresh listen from beginning to end. There are no annoying novelty tracks here, and even a relatively “square” artist like Snooky Lanson rocks almost as well as Louis Prima. A wide variety of vintage rock and roll, all first-rate, and most will be new to the majority of listeners. Highly recommended!

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while you are enjoying this fine compilation of Dot/Hamilton rock’n’roll, why not read one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, VACANCY (KSE #434), only $4.95, and you can order it here: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

Ritchie Adams – Imaginary World

Young Stuff – Poor Boy

Allan Shatkin – Tears Won’t Run

Gary Kane – Too Good To Miss

Wayne Carson – I’ll Make It Easy For You

Gullivers People – Somehow Somewhere

Danny Price – Come To Me

The Kinetics – Gone To Work It Out

Jon Gunn – If You Wish It

Mike Clifford – This Time, Time May Be Wrong

Joey Cannon – A Good Thing

The Badd Boys – Folks In A Hurry

The Tokens – Almost Make Believe

Mary Lou Collins – Information L.A

Jerry Palmer – The Heart You Break May Be Your Own

The Cardboard Zeppelin – City Lights

Joy – So Lovely

Ricky Shaw – Gotta Keep Movin’

The Visions – Keepin’ Your Eyes On The Sun

Larry Henley – In The Hush Of Night

Marshall Scott Etc – Goin’ Where The Lovin’ Is

The Blackwell Manner – Watermelon Summer

The Establishment – Don’t Cry, Sing Along With The Music

Christopher Robbins – The Street Of Forgotten Lovers

The Book – It’s Gotta Be Love

The King Brothers – Everytime I See You

Me And Dem Guys – Simple Thoughts Of Love

Sean McLeod – Kathy

The T-Bones – The Proper Thing To Do

Allan Shatkin – Better Do It Now

Jesse Lopez – My Sorrow

Kenny Lynch – The Other Side Of Dreamland

V.A.—The Other Side of Dreamland: Sunshine, Soft & Studio Pop 1966-1970 (Teensville), CD

     If you are familiar with Teensville’s recent compilations Don’t Stop The Carnival or The Love Revolution, then you know the kind of material on offer here: sparkling carefully-arranged and well-produced studio pop which was trying to share in the chart success of Brian Hyland or Bobby Vee or The Turtles or the Columbia-era Buckinghams. Each of the 32 tracks here was aimed at the Top 40, but the charts featured varying styles in this period (just think about how different the above-mentioned artists are), so there’s a pleasant variety in the material here, and as usual for this series, there are many super-talented producers and songwriters at work, ranging from Gary Zekley, Teddy Randazzo, Bob Montgomery, Jimmy “Wiz” Wisner, Michael Lloyd, to the team of Guy Hemric & Jerry Styner. It’s no wonder that every track sounds like a hit from some alternate universe.

     Also, the talent found among the performers (although this kind of music is really more of a producer’s and arranger’s medium) is quite impressive. We have early recordings of actor-musician Joe Pesci (as Joey Cannon), and songwriter Wayne Carson Thompson (of “The Letter” fame), along with later recordings from former Sunrays mainman Rick Henn and early 60s pop songwriter and hit recording artist Ritchie Adams. There are also actual bands such as The Visions (from Texas) and The Badd Boys (the core members of which had previously been in Sean & The Brandywines, and later evolved into Houston Fearless) who teamed up with Los Angeles producers/arrangers to make their try for the Top 40 brass ring. And artists such as The Tokens, ex-Newbeat Larry Henley, and British singer Kenny Lynch could always be relied upon for quality material, whatever happened to be in style in any particular year.

     Every record collector knows how much horribly dated and cringe-inducing 60s pop is out there in the 45 rpm record bins, so our hats are off to Teensville for wading through a hundred singles to find the one or two gems among them. If you’re the kind of listener who gets excited about the productions of a Jerry Fuller or a Snuff Garrett, or who has spent time arguing how The Robbs or Steve Alaimo are underrated, then you are the target audience for this impressive and consistent collection of pop confections with sweet caramel filling and unexpected beat clusters. Beautiful artwork/design and fascinating liner notes too.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while enjoying the squeaky-clean 60s “studio pop” earworms from Teensville, why not enjoy one of my recent pocket-sized poetry chapbooks, VACANCY (KSE #434), only $4.95. You can order it here: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND (KSE #439) is the sixteenth in a new series of 16-page open-field poems from San Antonio, Texas, poet Bill Shute (Static Strut; Junk Sculpture From The New Gilded Age; Satori in Natchez; Tomorrow Won’t Bring The Rain), in a convenient 4″ x 6″ pocket size…and only $4.95, or the equivalent in your local currency. It is available as a local purchase on all international A-zon platforms. For the US, use the following link to order: https://amzn.to/4nRWmq5

NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND was composed in the Fall of 2024, back home in San Antonio, after Shute’s Summer 2024 writing sojourn in Louisiana and Mississippi, which produced three previous pocket chapbooks in this series: STANZAS FOR PAUL HORN, published in January 2025, SKETCHES FROM A ROOFTOP, published in February 2025, and CAUGHT ADRIFT, published in March 2025.

It is the third of three poetry chapbooks in a new series inspired by the work and method of visual artist Henri Matisse (1869-1964), growing out of a six-month period in 2024 where the poet was engaged in a daily deep study of Matisse’s diverse body of work. The first and second offerings in this series are WITH APPARENT EASE and THEMES AND VARIATIONS (both already available).

As usual for Shute’s work, it is a mosaic of the things and activities and characters found in his corner of the world: a poetry of steak bones, salt and gravel, strategic napping, wood smoke, clipped hedges, balance sheets, pretzel salt, demolition experts, suitcases, and toothbrushes.

It is unlike any other contemporary poetry work you’ll encounter this year.

This short, accessible work is an excellent entryway into Shute’s longer works while still possessing the most essential qualities of Shute’s distinctive poetry. Readers of poets such as Paul Blackburn or Ted Berrigan or Philip Whalen will understand where Shute’s roots lie and how he has taken his early influences (back in the 1970s) and extended them and developed them into his own distinctive poetic world. These shorter works in the pocket-sized poetry series are still open-field poetry, but composed on a smaller canvas.

Shute has two book-length poetry works appearing in 2025 and early 2026: FOUR RAGAS was published by KSE (USA) in April 2025 and TRIFECTA: ON THE EVE OF THE FASCIST INTERREGNUM from Moloko Print (Germany) early in 2026.

You can access the Bill Shute author page at A-zon at the link below. Presently, there are 30 items available there: https://amzn.to/2XRNgjl

Our friends at Acheron Press have begun a new series of Charlton Popeye reprints, the first volume containing issues #94-101. Charlton picked up the Popeye license in 1969 (King Features had been issuing them via their own King Comics line prior to Charlton) and put out comic books until 1977, for a total of 45 issues. If the initial volumes sell, Acheron will eventually do the full Charlton run. Available in either paperback or hardcover. Sold exclusively via Barnes & Noble website (online only, not available in stores and can’t be picked up at a store). Here’s the link for the hardcover (because why would you want this fine material in softcover when hardcover is just a few dollars more): https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/popeye-the-charlton-series-volume-1-hardcover-standard-color-brian-muehl/1148523764?ean=9798260326343

Can’t wait for Volume two…

FLEETWOOD MAC IN CHICAGO: THE LEGENDARY CHESS BLUES SESSION by Jeff Lowenthal and Robert Schaffner (Schiffer Publishing; Dec. 2022; 160 pages).

     One cold Saturday morning, January 4^th 1969, in the midst of an American tour, the members of Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac (Green, John McVie, Mick Fleetwood, Danny Kirwan, Jeremy Spencer) assembled at Chess Records’ Ter-Mar Studio for a session, produced by Blue Horizon Records’ Mike Vernon with Marshall Chess, featuring authentic Chicago-based blues musicians, assembled/supervised by Willie Dixon who also plays bass, such as Otis Spann, S. P. Leary, Honeyboy Edwards, Walter Shakey Horton, J. T. Brown, and earlier in the day, Buddy Guy. The band had a gig that night in the area, so the session did not even last an entire day, yet two LPs were eventually issued of the material (after Mac had moved on to Reprise Records), issued variously as Blues Jam in Chicago, Blues Jam at Chess, and Fleetwood Mac in Chicago, and staying in print in one form or another for 50+ years now (it’s one of those items I own on LP, CD, and cassette). With the studio chatter in between tracks, and the many small photos from the session in the gatefold or the back cover of the various LPs, this material attained legendary status the day it was released. Despite the one-take nature of the session, it has remained the best-loved Green-Mac material by many fans, including myself.

     This wonderful and fascinating oversized volume mixes the photography of Jeff Lowenthal (photographer for Newsweek magazine and also Chess Records) with the text of Schaffner’s, along with his collection of comments from various musicians about the significance of the sessions to them…and also some guitar-makers provide fascinating analyses of how Peter Green’s playing led them to advanced study of the instrument and eventually to becoming guitar artisans. Lowenthal manages to be close-in to the action, but anonymous and not in-the-way to the musicians. His background as a jazz photographer leads him to avoid the excesses of celebrity and rockstar photography (he wasn’t familiar with Fleetwood Mac prior to meeting them) and to focus in on capturing the mechanics of musicians working on a session.

     While Buddy Guy and Otis Spann were more aware of the significance of blues music to younger British musicians than the older blues veterans here (and Willie Dixon was definitely aware because of the multiple royalty checks from UK covers of his songs), Leary and Edwards and Horton were the kind of hardened veterans who could adapt to any situation, and as in jazz where musicians from different countries and generations can unite via the playing of standards or jams in familiar forms, here everyone fits into the picture, whether a Brit or an American is singing or playing, whether the song is an existing blues tune or a Mac original. To Mick Fleetwood’s eternal credit, even though I’ve owned this album for 50 years, I still need to check the credits to see whether he or S. P. Leary is playing drums on a particular track—the ultimate compliment paid to a British blues musician (as Mick was in 1969). With so much early Fleetwood Mac being rooted in the patented Elmore James “Dust My Broom” guitar riff and song structure, Jeremy Spencer must have been ecstatic to have performed James’ “Madison Blues” with the man who played saxophone on the original, J. T. Brown (who passed away later in 1969, so this was a precious moment), and then to play guitar behind Brown on the man’s own “Black Jack Blues” (check out the Delmark album Windy City Blues for a collection of Brown’s 1952-60 recordings as a leader himself). Also, for me, having Willie Dixon play acoustic bass on much of the session really adds depth to the music, and an element one does not expect from a blues album with British musicians—when I first heard this music circa 1971, that element blew me away.

     The rich black and white portraits (about 30% of the pics are in color) collected here, with a running Greek chorus of comments from dozens of people for whom this material was and remains a touchstone, and anchored by the usual detailed and insightful commentary of producer and Blue Horizon mainman Mike Vernon, in the tradition of the great notes he provided on the many Blue Horizon reissue CDs over the years, really put you into the scene on this historic day in January 1969. The Chicago musicians went on to their next gig, Fleetwood Mac had a show in Chicago that same evening and continued on an American tour, and soon after some (though not all) of the Mac crew would work with pianist/singer-songwriter Otis Spann on an album for Blue Horizon recorded in New York. This important book complements the two Mac in Chicago albums well and should be an essential purchase to fans of Peter Green-era Fleetwood Mac.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in UGLY THINGS magazine in 2023

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when you order that fine Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac in Chicago book, why not spend a few more dollars and also pick up my recent pocket poetry chapbook VACANCY (KSE #434), only $4.95, and available here: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

THE HENCHMEN — My Baby’s Gone (Martin Jarvis)
JOHN STOUGHTON — Sticks And Stones (Turner)
THE TREES — Please Go Steady (unknown)
FACES IN THE DARK — All I Need (Faces In The Dark)
FORE GONKS — The Teaser (unknown)
GENERATION 5 — Come On Back (unknown)
NEW CONCHORDS — In This World
THE DIATONES — Faces (unknown)
THE CHEVRONS — Why Don’t You Love Me Like Before (unknown)
THE GRASS — I’ll Keep Holding On (William Stevenson, Ivy Jo Hunter)
FOUR’S COMPANY — I Keep Forgetting (unknown)
THE FABLES — I Try Too Hard (unknown)
THE BREEZE — Three Day Eternity (unknown)
ITEM — N.S.U (Jack Bruce)
SOLE SYSTEM — Glendora (Ray Stanley)
TOMORROW’S CHILDREN — LSD (Dick Taylor, Phil May)
THE CLOUD — Doo Doo Song (The Cloud)
20th CENTURY SOUNDS — Flight Of The Fortune Teller (unknown)
THE BREEZE — Hey Joe (Billy Roberts)
1984 — Hush (South)
BRITISH MAD — December 4st (unknown)
THE ARTHUR HINGE SPEED BAND — Somebody To Love (Darby Slick)
CHARLOTTE BLACK — So You Want To Be A Rock ‘N’ Roll Star (Jim McGuinn, Chris Hillman)
THE CLOUD — Something You Got (The Cloud)
1984 — Fresh Garbage (Jay Ferguson)
THE SUN — Mind’s Garden (unknown)
BRITISH MAD — Talking To The Rain (unknown)
CHARLOTTE BLACK — Charge Of The Light Brigade (Terry Clark, Terry Dobson)

V.A.—Faces From The Dark: Beat and Psychedelia at the Modern Music Centre 1965-1969 (Top Sounds), cd

     Hardcore rockabilly and garage-rock fans can tell you all about the significance of acetates as a source of raw, under-the-radar rock and roll. While today, anyone can create and disseminate digital “content” easily, in the 1960s releasing a 45 rpm single was an event, and it represented in itself a certain level of success. Local newspapers would even publish an article on a band that got to release a single.

     Acetates provide us with documentation of the bands who were fighting to get a weeknight opening gig at a local music venue, bands who dreamed about releasing a single on an existing label, and in the case of the bands on this compilation, that dream never came true.

     Modern Music Centre, located in the Chiswick area of West London, was related to the Norton York Agency, which took newspaper ads looking for new talent to market/represent. For many, the first step was to pay approximately 30 pounds to record a primitive acetate at the firm’s small demo studio, a record that could presumably be given to booking agents and club owners to open doors for the band. 28 of those acetates are included on this revelatory new CD from Top Sounds, containing material that is kind of a British equivalent to the self-financed American garage-band records that came out on Carolina’s Justice label…but these are British bands, and except for the various Oak Records compilations and demos/acetates that surfaced in the Rare Mod series, we haven’t heard as much UK material of this sort (compared with the US), and for the serious UK beat/mod/freakbeat fan, this cache of primal unknown material by obscure bands, most of whom never released anything at the time, is the closest you can get to dropping into random neighborhood teen-oriented dances and youth events in far-flung unromantic parts of the London metropolitan area on a Thursday night in 1965-1968, hearing the true street-level bands of the era. No production gets in the way of the music, sounding exactly like it would crunching out of the low-wattage amps at a CYO or union hall dance. That’s the core of what rock and roll is about, motivated young rockers with little money or equipment wanting to “make it”—bands such as The Henchmen, Fore Gonks, New Conchords, British Mad and the many others featured here. Fascinating and in-depth liner notes too. Highly recommended!

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while you are enjoying this collection of primal UK 60s beat acetates, why not also enjoy one of my recent pocket poetry chapbooks, VACANCY (KSE #434), only #4.95, and available here: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

JOHNNY KIDD—So What?!: The Brits are Rocking, Vol. 7 (Bear Family), CD

      When Johnny Kidd burst upon the UK recording scene on the HMV label with the May 1959 release of his first 45, “Please Don’t Touch” backed with “Growl,” it was clear that something fresh and new had arrived: a British rock and roll singer who performed with abandon and did not mask his British accent. He also had an amazing guitarist in Alan Caddy, a UK equivalent of such American greats as Cliff Gallup (Gene Vincent) or Paul Burlison (Johnny Burnette), with his angular stringbending fills and leads (Caddy is well-known to UT readers and Joe Meek fans for later being lead guitarist for The Tornados, after leaving Kidd). Kidd (real name Frederick Heath) had gotten his start in show business in what is described as a “comedy skiffle group,” and that experience as a stage performer gave his live shows and records a dynamism lacking from many of his fellow artists of the day. He also developed a stage persona rooted in a pirate mystique, which was perfected when his champion, music promoter/producer Jack Good, suggested the eye patch, which became Kidd’s trademark.

     Stories have circulated for decades about how every young guitarist in whatever town Kidd and his Pirates played would be standing at the foot of the stage, closely watching the hands of Alan Caddy (and later Mick Green) and trying to learn his tricks for themselves…while the entire audience would be thrilled by Kidd’s exuberant swashbuckling antics and spellbinding singing.  This exciting album, consisting of both studio recordings and BBC broadcasts from 1959 through 1962, will do a lot toward re-introducing Johnny Kidd and the Pirates to modern audiences and cementing the band’s stature as the premier pre-Beatles UK rock and roll band.

     Kidd’s recorded output (he died in an auto accident in 1966) has yet to be presented in anything like a comprehensive manner. For many years, the easiest to acquire Kidd album was See For Miles Records’ “Rarities” LP, which mixed lesser-known tracks (including a 1965 remake of “Shakin’ All Over”) with previously unreleased material. However, this definitive presentation of Kidd and crew’s early stinging rockers (“Shakin’ All Over,” “Restless,” “Big Blon’ Baby,” etc.), mixed with stylish ballads and a few rocked-up standards—supplemented by 11 sublime BBC live performances—is an essential purchase. Let’s hope the rest of Kidd’s too-brief career will be documented in such a thorough and respectful manner.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while you are enjoying this fine UK beat music from the master, Johnny Kidd, when not read one of my recent pocket poetry chapbooks such as VACANCY (KSE #434), available here, only $4.95: https://amzn.to/4keu08l

THEMES AND VARIATIONS (KSE #438) is the fifteenth in a new series of 16-page open-field poems from San Antonio, Texas, poet Bill Shute (Static Strut; Junk Sculpture From The New Gilded Age; Satori in Natchez; Tomorrow Won’t Bring The Rain), in a convenient 4″ x 6″ pocket size…and only $4.95, or the equivalent in your local currency. It is available as a local purchase on all international A-zon platforms. For the US, use the following link to order:  http://bit.ly/46K5lmr

THEMES AND VARIATIONS was composed in the Fall of 2024, back home in San Antonio, after Shute’s Summer 2024 writing sojourn in Louisiana and Mississippi, which produced three previous pocket chapbooks in this series: STANZAS FOR PAUL HORN, published in January 2025, SKETCHES FROM A ROOFTOP, published in February 2025, and CAUGHT ADRIFT, published in March 2025.

It is the second of three poetry chapbooks in a new series inspired by the work and method of visual artist Henri Matisse (1869-1964), growing out of a six-month period in 2024 where the poet was engaged in a daily deep study of Matisse’s diverse body of work. The first entry in the series was WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437), published in September 2025, and the third and final entry in the series will be NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND (KSE #439), to be published in November 2025.

As usual for Shute’s work, it is a mosaic of the things and activities and characters found in his corner of the world––a poetry of steamed rice, crimps in the garden hose, beehives, goldfish bowls, chisels, welders and bricklayers, suitcases being weighed, changes of address, exotic plants, and homemade sandals sold at the farmers market.

It is unlike any other contemporary poetry work you’ll encounter this year.

This short, accessible work is an excellent entryway into Shute’s longer works while still possessing the most essential qualities of Shute’s distinctive poetry. Readers of poets such as Paul Blackburn or Ted Berrigan or Frank Samperi or Philip Whalen (this work is dedicated to PW) will understand where Shute’s roots lie and how he has taken his early influences (back in the 1970s) and extended them and developed them into his own distinctive poetic world. These shorter works in the pocket-sized poetry series are still open-field poetry, but composed on a smaller canvas.

Shute has two book-length poetry works appearing in 2025: FOUR RAGAS was published by KSE (USA) in April 2025 and TRIFECTA: ON THE EVE OF THE FASCIST INTERREGNUM from Moloko Print (Germany–although this one may wind up appearing in early 2026).

You can access the Bill Shute author page at A-zon at the link below. Presently, there are 30 items available there: https://amzn.to/2XRNgjl

CLARENCE EDWARDS—Baton Rouge Downhome Blues (Wolf, Austria), CD

    Baton Rouge, Louisiana, blues singer-guitarist Clarence Edwards (1933-1993) first recorded for folklorist Harry Oster in 1959, and that material eventually appeared on a number of labels, including Arhoolie and Flyright. He then appeared on Mike Vernon’s seminal Swamp Blues compilation, which came out in both the US and the UK in 1970, and eventually had fine albums released on Patrick Mathe’s acclaimed French labels New Rose/Fan Club and Last Call. However, he never had a large body of work for one American label or one producer which could be easily reissued, and in the post 60s period he never had a contract with a well-known blues label such as Alligator or Blind Pig. Fortunately, the Austrian ‘Wolf’ label has continued to stand by Edwards in the years after his passing (Wolf’s earlier album Louisiana Swamp Blues Volume 4 is probably Edwards’ best-known and easiest to find work), and this fine new collection of unreleased early 1990s material, mostly live, should excite any listeners looking for deep Louisiana blues in the tradition of Lonesome Sundown’s or Lightnin’ Slim’s post-Jay Miller work.

     The core group consists of Edwards on guitar and vocal, Steve Coleridge on bass (he was also managing Edwards in this period), and Ronnie Houston on drums, with guest harmonica on some tracks and fiddle on others (scattered throughout the album, creating a varied listening experience), and Edwards’ rich, authoritative, slightly behind the beat singing, which goes down as smoothly as a bourbon barrel-aged dark ale, pulls the listener in, and his choppy mix of rhythm and lead guitar keeps the musical gumbo simmering throughout. Though he takes on a wide variety of material—ranging from Fats Domino to Muddy Waters to Earl Gaines to Guitar Slim—he makes it all his own and one never thinks of the originals while hearing these swamp-tinged Edwards versions.

     Most of us did not have the chance to see Edwards live, unfortunately, and it’s not as if his work is as easily available today as, for instance, the later recordings of Lazy Lester (which are highly recommended!), so Wolf has done us all a public service by making available 71 minutes of 100-proof swamp blues from a master. The performances are timeless, and could have been recorded in 1966 or yesterday, and the tracks with fiddle, in particular, have a tart and satisfying flavor. Blues lovers should not miss this collection.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while you are enjoying this fine Louisiana blues, why not read one of my recent pocket poetry chapbooks, such as VACANCY (KSE #434), only $4.95, available at https://amzn.to/4keu08l

CLEVELAND CROCHET & THE SUGAR BEES—Hillbilly Ramblers and Sugar Bees (Bear Family), 2-cd

    With the 100^th anniversary of the first commercially released Cajun record (by Joe Falcon and Cléoma Breaux) coming soon in 2028, the time is right to celebrate significant innovators in the genre, and this exhaustive collection of fiddler-bandleader Cleveland Crochet’s body of work, which also contains the related recordings of his key musicians, brings this exciting and varied SW Louisiana music to a wider audience. It’s also a tribute to Lake Charles-based Goldband Records founder Eddie Shuler, a tireless champion and documenter of the music, who recorded most of the 38 tracks here.

     Crochet’s first single came out of Shuler’s Folk Star label in 1954, and it’s a rollicking bilingual version of “Keep A Knockin”. Another single appeared in 1957, and by that time the core group of accordion player Vorris ‘Shorty’ LeBlanc and steel guitarist Jay Stutes had joined Crochet, and they were responsible for blowing the lid off the Cajun music genre (and bringing the music and culture outside of its native SW Louisiana/East Texas region) in late 1960 with their Goldband recording of “Sugar Bee,” an infectious slab of energy with a definite rock and roll beat played on the snare drum, a raw and ragged vocal (by Jay Stutes) with catchy lyrics sung in English, over-the-top steel guitar (reminding me of Glenn Ross Campbell of the Misunderstood), and a thick, swirling layer of close-miked accordion that sounds distorted and electrified in the manner of electrified harmonicas in Chicago blues music, but is totally acoustic.

     Shuler knew he had something original with hit potential, but local LA stations would not play the record initially, and he had to go over the border to Beaumont, Texas, to get legendary bluesman-broadcaster Clarence Garlow to break the record in that market, and from there it became a Louisiana classic and even made number 80 in the national charts after a leasing deal with Atlanta’s NRC Records widened the distribution (and NRC was represented on the West Coast by none other than Kim Fowley, who no doubt helped get the record into the Top 10 in San Francisco!).

     The Crochet-Stutes-LeBlanc trifecta continued recording often in 1961 and 1962, trying for that follow-up hit, offering up a bounty of exciting Cajun rockers, all of which are included here. The formula worked well and almost every track had the qualities that made “Sugar Bee” such a classic. An unexpected delight from Bear Family.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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and while you are enjoying this fine Louisiana music, why not read one of my recent pocket poetry chapbooks, such as VACANCY (KSE #434), only $4.95, available at https://amzn.to/4keu08l

1 Herbie’s People – You Thrill Me to Pieces
2 The Originells 4 – I Can Make You Mine
3 The News – This Is the Moment
4 The Peeps – Don’t Talk About Love
5 George E. Washington – Spare a Thought for Me
6 The Bruisers – Give It to Me
7 Tony Tripley – I’m Gonna Cry
8 The Hi-Fi’s – Kiss and Run
9 The Pentad – It Better Be Me
10 Zero Five – Dusty
11 Micky Clark – You Want My Love Again
12 The Hygrades – She Cared
13 The Texans – Being with You
14 David MacBeth – Nothing Matters But You
15 Ian Robbins – Ain’t I Met You Somewhere Before
16 The Juniors – There’s a Pretty Girl
17 Peter & the Headlines – Tears & Kisses
18 The Cockneys – After Tomorrow
19 Johnny Carr and the Cadillacs – Give Me a Little Time
20 The Frame – She
21 The Viscounts – Kiss Me
22 The Limeys – Some Tears Fall Dry
23 Freddie Self – Don’t Cry
24 The U.K’s – I Will Never Let You Go
25 The Echoes – Got to Run
26 The Merseybeats – Janie, I Love You
27 Size Seven Group – Walkin’ Proud
28 Tony Field – Dial My Number
29 The Slade Brothers – Sad Songs
30 The News – Ya Ya Da Da
31 The Originells 4 – Nights
32 The Bruisers – Your Turn to Cry
33 The Peeps – What Can I Say
34 George E. Washington – Words of Love

V.A.—You Thrill Me To Pieces: Beat & Pop From The United Kingdom, 1963-1966 (Teensville), CD

     There are still a lot of quality unreissued UK beat-pop singles from the prime 1962-1966 era, when labels were releasing dozens of records every week, hoping some would take root and generate interest. Most did not, and these 34 tracks come from the ranks of those also-rans.

     How to categorize the material here? The common denominator is that these bands do not have any blues influences, and unlike The Beatles, they are not rooted in Buddy Holly or the Everly Brothers or Carl Perkins. They would not fit on a Beatfreak compilation. They are primarily bands who are adapting early 60s American Brill Building pop and the girl group sound to a UK male beat-pop template, with some more in the style of such early 60s UK heartthrobs as Craig Douglas and the others more in the style of the poppier beat bands such as Herman’s Hermits or Freddie and the Dreamers.    

     Though there are some covers of obscure American records, most of the material on offer is from the pens of UK songwriters, songs both from music-biz pros such as Roger Greenaway and Les Reed and from the bands themselves. Though songwriters Mitch Murray and the team of John Carter/Ken Lewis are not represented here, these are the kind of songs those Denmark Street tunesmiths could churn out in their sleep. This was a golden era in UK music history, so even the barrel scrapings and records that may not have gone beyond the promo copy stage are gems full of enthusiasm and spark, with their eyes set on Ready Steady Go or Radio Caroline.

    The only well-known band here, The Merseybeats, are represented by a ballad from an unreleased acetate. Many readers will also be familiar with The Hi-Fi’s, whose German-only album Snakes and Ladders is a long-time cult favorite, and with The Juniors (of “Pocket Size” fame), who included the pre-John Mayall Mick Taylor. Herbie’s People and (Tommy Bruce’s former backing band) The Bruisers will be known by serious fans, but George E. Washington, The Texans, Size Seven Group, The Originells 4 and the others here are fresh discoveries. As usual for Teensville, there are exhaustive liner notes and pictures, and the album is well-programmed to vary the styles and tempos, making the whole more than the sum of the parts.

Can’t wait for a second volume of similar sparkling UK beat-pop rarities.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

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Don’t forget to pick up a copy of my newest pocket-sized poetry chapbook, WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437). You can order it here: http://bit.ly/464f9Yg

Press release: WITH APPARENT EASE was composed in the Fall of 2024, back home in San Antonio, after Shute’s Summer 2024 writing sojourn in Louisiana and Mississippi, which produced three previous pocket chapbooks in this series: STANZAS FOR PAUL HORN, published in January 2025, SKETCHES FROM A ROOFTOP, published in February 2025, and CAUGHT ADRIFT, published in March 2025.

It is the first of three poetry chapbooks in a new series inspired by the work and method of visual artist Henri Matisse (1869-1964), growing out of a six-month period in 2024 where the poet was engaged in a daily deep study of Matisse’s diverse body of work. The second and third poems in this series will be THEMES AND VARIATIONS and NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND.

As usual for Shute’s work, it is a mosaic of the things and activities and characters found in his corner of the world––a poetry of smoked salt, income streams, open wounds, pleated skirts, bake shops, wine corks, tree trunks, parking lots, card playing while incarcerated, and banana bread.

It is unlike any other contemporary poetry work you’ll encounter this year.

As someone who has every note memorized of the Beatles’ Star-Club recordings and the 1962-63 BBC sessions heard on old bootlegs such as Yellow Matter Custard, I’ve been enjoying some of the strange AI versions of this material which have been popping up on YT for the last few years, extracing elements from this and that source, and Frankensteining together some new creation that somehow manages to shine a fresh light on the greatness of the originals. I’ve noticed that some of these “creations” use elements from covers of this material from a Spanish band called The Silver Beats, so I thought I’d share a few of their performances.

The Silver Beats definitely have the magic touch and love this material as much as I do…and I hope YOU do… Enjoy…

WITH APPARENT EASE (KSE #437) is the fourteenth in a new series of 16-page open-field poems from San Antonio, Texas, poet Bill Shute (Static Strut; Junk Sculpture From The New Gilded Age; Satori in Natchez; Tomorrow Won’t Bring The Rain), in a convenient 4″ x 6″ pocket size…and only $4.95, or the equivalent in your local currency. It is available as a local purchase on all international A-zon platforms. For the US, use the following link to order:  http://bit.ly/464f9Yg

WITH APPARENT EASE was composed in the Fall of 2024, back home in San Antonio, after Shute’s Summer 2024 writing sojourn in Louisiana and Mississippi, which produced three previous pocket chapbooks in this series: STANZAS FOR PAUL HORN, published in January 2025, SKETCHES FROM A ROOFTOP, published in February 2025, and CAUGHT ADRIFT, published in March 2025.

It is the first of three poetry chapbooks in a new series inspired by the work and method of visual artist Henri Matisse (1869-1964), growing out of a six-month period in 2024 where the poet was engaged in a daily deep study of Matisse’s diverse body of work. The second and third poems in this series will be THEMES AND VARIATIONS and NEITHER FIGURE NOR GROUND.

As usual for Shute’s work, it is a mosaic of the things and activities and characters found in his corner of the world––a poetry of smoked salt, income streams, open wounds, pleated skirts, bake shops, wine corks, tree trunks, parking lots, card playing while incarcerated, and banana bread.

It is unlike any other contemporary poetry work you’ll encounter this year.

This short, accessible work is an excellent entryway into Shute’s longer works while still possessing the most essential qualities of Shute’s distinctive poetry. Readers of poets such as Paul Blackburn or Ted Berrigan or Philip Whalen (this work is dedicated to PW) will understand where Shute’s roots lie and how he has taken his early influences (back in the 1970s) and extended them and developed them into his own distinctive poetic world. These shorter works in the pocket-sized poetry series are still open-field poetry, but composed on a smaller canvas.

Shute has two book-length poetry works appearing in 2025: FOUR RAGAS was published by KSE (USA) in April 2025 and TRIFECTA: ON THE EVE OF THE FASCIST INTERREGNUM from Moloko Print (Germany).

You can access the Bill Shute author page at A-zon at the link below. Presently, there are 30 items available there: https://amzn.to/2XRNgjl

Recent poetry publications include:

BOOKS:

FOUR RAGAS (available in both pocket paperback and larger hardcover)

PROJECT BLUE

STATIC STRUT

NEUTRAL

TWO SELF-PORTRAITS (After Murillo)

COMPLEMENTARY ANGLES

POCKET-SIZED CHAPBOOKS:

VACANCY

STANZAS FOR FREY

STANZAS FOR WERDER

SKETCHES FROM A ROOFTOP

STANZAS FOR PAUL HORN

SEEDLINGS AND ASHES

WINDOWS WITHOUT SCREENS

STANZAS FOR FLETCHER HENDERSON

MARGINALIA

STANZAS ON IMPERMANENCE

1 You Don’t Miss Your Water
2 Formula of Love
3 Any Other Way
4 Please Help Me I’m Falling
5 I Told You So
6 What’cha Gonna Do
7 Just As I Thought
8 I’m Waiting on You
9 What Can I Do (To Forget)
10 Somebody Mentioned Your Name
11 I’ll Show You
12 Monkeying Around
13 Don’t Make Something Out of Nothing
14 Who Will It Be Tomorrow
15 Crying All By Myself
16 Don’t Stop Now
17 Share What You Got (But Keep What You Need)
18 Marching Off to War
19 Never Like This Before
20 Soldier’s Goodbye
21 Everybody Loves a Winner
22 You’re Such a Sweet Thang
23 Eloise (Hang on in There)
24 One Plus One
25 Every Day Will Be Like a Holiday
26 Ain’t Got No Girl
27 A Tribute to a King
28 Every Man Oughta Have a Woman

WILLIAM BELL, Never Like This Before: The Complete Stax ‘Blue’ Singles, 1961-1968 (Kent/Ace), CD

     Vocalist and songwriter William Bell was a mainstay at Stax Records from 1961 through the label’s demise in 1975 (only Rufus Thomas had a longer run), regularly releasing quality singles and eventually six LP’s from 1967-1974. Bell has a powerful and soulful style, but it’s restrained and understated—he never screams or howls but pulls the listener in, radiating a kind of calm authority. For me, the handsome mustachioed Bell has a classy image similar to actors such as Cesar Romero or Billy Dee Williams—indeed, he’s smoking a pipe on the cover of his popular (R&B Top 50) 1969 album Bound To Happen.

     Bell had a background in church singing but was also in a vocal group The Del Rios who released a single on the legendary Meteor label (that “other” Memphis label in the mid-50s) in late 1956. His initial 1961 Stax release, barely making it into the Top 100 but soon becoming a widely covered song praised as a classic, was “You Don’t Miss Your Water,” and from the churchy piano intro to the deeply felt vocal from Bell, the song’s composer,  he inhabits a character who is strong but somewhat shattered, devoting himself to picking up the pieces and learning whatever lesson he can from the situation, and then sharing that wisdom with the listener. With Stax’s minimal, uncluttered backing locking into a mellow but downbeat groove, the song established Bell as a serious artist to watch, and though he lacked Top 10 hits, and his career was interrupted by military service (he could record while on furloughs, but could not tour to promote the records), he continued to deliver the goods, most of them self-composed.

     He was able to evolve successfully with the times (and continued to do so on other labels after the demise of Stax), and the collected A&B side singles approach presents him quite well. Female backing vocals and horns are added as the years go by, but Stax understood that Bell’s art was best presented in a pure form presenting the man front and center with the patented laid-back Memphis groove bubbling underneath. The final single presented here is his moving 1968 eulogy for his friend Otis Redding, “A Tribute To A King.” At that point, Stax reorganized and began their next (and final) phase through 1975, which the second volume will document. If you only own one Bell album, this should probably be the one.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023

1 Sunds Unlimited – Cool One
2 The Eighteenth Edition – When You Love Someone
3 The Mod VI – Show Me How
4 The Misfits- the Magician
5 The Turks – Tell Me Now
6 The Opun Rodes- on Your String
7 The News- the Boy Who Smiles
8 Swingin Sensations- There Is a Girl
9 Gil Weaver – Do Like I Do
10 Gary & the Universals (Lexington)-The Fifth Dimension
11 Shirley Hughey – Pink and Green
12 The Huns- You Know
13 The Senn Bels- Don’t Leave Me
14 The Shadows – She’s Like That
15 The Rogues – St. John’s Wood
16 The Londons – You’re the One
17 Blu-Erebus Plastic Year
18 The Monarks- Gonna Miss Me Girl
19 Steps of Stone – Keep Away from Me
20 Sincerely Mindfield – I’ve Gotta Get
21 The Next Step – the Way I Feel
22 The Grifs- Catch a Ride
23 The Blades- Movin’ Out
24 The Nurks- Another Rainbow
25 The Missin’ Clues – Turn Out the Sun
26 Psychic Motion – Big Teaser
27 The Stepps – I’ve Got It Made
28 The Outcasts – Think
29 The Preludes – on My Lovin’
30 Pendelums -Tell Me
31 Inmates – Baby Come on
32 The Mod VI – It’s Not the Same
33 Charles Brad Spencer (Swingin Mozacks) – Come on Love
34 Inexpensive Handmade Look-Ice Cream
35 Revolution -Revolt
36 Arrogance- An Estimation
37 The Blades- I’ll Shead No Tear
38 The Jesters – Happy
39 The Revised Edition – Thoughts
40 August – August
41 The Ron-De-Voos – Trip So Wild
42 The Scribes – Just Last Night
43 VI Pak – Love My Babe
44 The Rogues – Cherry
45 The Speckulations – Hulu Hoop
46 The Wyld- If I Had It
47 The Electric Love- She Wants to Be Free
48 Clear Blue Sky – Morning of Creation
49 Craig & the Ethics- Sylvia
50 The Blazers- the Touch of Your Hand
51 Mike & the Dimensions- Why
52 The Kaks – (Leave It) in the Hands of
53 The Huckleberry Mudflap – Goodnight Mrs. Kollendoffer (Wherever You Are)
54 The Graf – Too Many Tears
55 The Si-Dells- Watch Out Mother
56 The Victors – Come on
57 Tymes Syndicate -An Uphill Climb
58 The Fabulous Spectaculars- Boo-Da-Rac-Ka-
59 The Marke V- Pay
60 The Male – You’re Playing with Fire
61 The Universals- in Your Heart
62 The Penetrations- I Got a Girl
63 Gary & the Eastmen – I Love You
64 New Generation – That’s the Sun
65 The Bearings- I Can’t Take It
66 Black Rain- Comic Books
67 New Generation – Sunflower Annie
68 The Fabulous Wunz- If I Cry
69 Gary Collins & the Variations – Whatca Gonna Do?
70 Teen-Beets- I Guess That’s Why You’re Mine
71 The Invaders- (You Really) Tear Me Up
72 The Madhatters – Who’s That Girl
73 The Abbrev’s- True Fine Lovin’
74 The Knights of the Road – the Color of Dream
75 Chuck Martin – It’s Too Late
76 The Young Ones – Too Much Lovin’
77 The Symbols – Give Me Time
78 Pauline Scribner & the Pepperment Triangle – What Can I Do
79 The Playthings- You Were Gone
80 Glas – Love Dreams

V.A.—Psychedelic States: The Carolinas in the 60s (Gear Fab), 3-cd box

     Gear Fab made a wise decision to combine 3 cd’s of prime 60s garage singles from North and South Carolina into one 80 track box set, rather than to divide up the material onto multiple separate cd’s, the way they did with their surveys of New York, Ohio, and Florida. With so much quality material in one place, supported by excellent documentation on each band (where available), the listener can’t help but be impressed by the quality and variety found here, with the majority of the material not being cover versions.

     The Carolinas were fortunate to have a number of professional recording studios which actively sought out local bands who wanted to make a record at a reasonable cost: the Justice Records operation in Winston-Salem, Arthur “Guitar Boogie” Smith Studios in Charlotte, and JCP in Raleigh (a number of singles are on JCP’s in-house “custom” label). Thus, many groups had the opportunity to record, and the cross-section of records compiled here (tracks range from 1964-1971, but most are from 66-68) is quite impressive.

     Although some bands have clearly modeled themselves on their heroes (The Londons are fans of Hard Day’s Night-era Beatles, while The Abbrev’s (sic) are heavily into The Shadows of Knight), the surprising thing here is how so many of the bands—only including in most cases just the standard guitar/farfisa organ/bass/drums/vocal lineup–are out to create their own sound, though within the boundaries of the 60s teenage garage band. No doubt these groups saw their fellow Southerners such as The Nightcrawlers (Florida), the Uniques (Louisiana), The Gants (Mississippi), and The Gentrys (Memphis) gaining regional popularity and even issuing LP’s on nationally distributed labels, and figured that they could do it too, and step one was to record a single…and those singles make up this set.

     Styles range from pre-Beatles dance-oriented frat-rock all the way to grungy late 60s power trios, but most of the material is classic 1966-67 garage beat-punk, with the occasional freakout. There’s effervescent jangle, there’s moody lo-fi slower tunes dripping with atmosphere, there’s the crunchy fuzz-tinged ex-girlfriend put-down anthems, and many other varieties of circa 1966 teenage rock and roll, but it’s all high-grade ore, and I’d have to label this the most impressive reissue of regional 60s American garage-band singles of the last few years. Thanks to Gear Fab for staying with physical media and keeping the 60s garage-band aesthetic alive.

BILL SHUTE, originally published in Ugly Things magazine in 2023