7.10 vinyl podcast - New Earth Rhythm Band
On this show, I play a track called “Pork Butts” recorded by the New Earth Rhythm Band. This is not to be confused with the Whole Earth Rainbow Band, who I’ve played before. The New Earth Rhythm Band were a Chicago group in the mid- to late-70s, that near as I can tell only ever recorded this one song. This track is off of a compilation of Chicago bands called Hometown Album, released by radio station WKQX, 101 FM in 1977.
I picked this album up on a whim the other day for 99 cents, because, well, when you like the kind of music I like, you’ll spend 99 cents on just about anything with a song containing either the word “Pork” or “Butt,” so when I saw “Pork Butts” in the tracklisting, I had to have it. I got lucky. “Pork Butts” is smoking uptempo big-band-style horn funk, which is surprising, since all the rest of the bands on the album sound like like half-hearted Eagles ripoffs.
Even though this track is unmistakeably party music, the musicians are really precise. The horn lines are tight and interesting, and there are times when it sounds like if Kool and the Gang listened to Frank Zappa’s “Peaches En Regalia.”
As a saxophone player, I’m a little sensitive about the instrument, which I feel is often really cheesy. I, for one, have my doubts that the soprano sax can ever be reclaimed from easy listening hell. On this track, however, Linda Shew plays a tight and soulful alto line that really drives the song.
\
July 10th, 2005 at 9:47 pm
Yay! Cody’s back! It’s like christmas and hanukah all rolled into one. My iPod will be so pleased! Monday morning listening.
July 10th, 2005 at 11:18 pm
Yeah!!! Thanks Cody.
So should we just get use to the idea that new vinyl podcasts might go away for extended periods of time sometimes.
I hope everything’s ok. For someone I’ve never met before, I was really worried that something bad might have happened to you.
Nice track,
Thanks
July 11th, 2005 at 10:46 am
Welcome back!
July 11th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Thanks for the kind words. Nothing dramatic happened, but I did start grad school, which in addition to my full-time job, has left me without a lot of free time for podcasting. Hope to keep it more regular from here on.
July 11th, 2005 at 10:57 pm
Welcome back from me too! I missed your juicy slices of musical goodness. Thanks for sharing your discoveries with the rest of the world!
November 8th, 2005 at 4:51 am
Hey Cody, it seems like your .htaccess is broken. For example, I couldn’t access this page by its human-readable URL:
http://vinylpodcast.com/archives/61/712-vinyl-podcast-new-earth-rhythm-band/
(404 Page not found) but had to use this instead:
http://vinylpodcast.com/?p=61
Perhaps WordPress is not writing to .htaccess when you update your “Options” –> “Permalinks”. You should turn off permalinks (blank out the fields) or update the .htaccess by hand until you get it working. Until then, no one will be able to browse your website beyond the home page.
November 14th, 2005 at 5:38 am
Cody,
Just want to let you know that you are very much missed and not at all forgotten, at least by this listener in Virginia! I hope all is well. Good luck with grad school–a real bear, or it can be anyway. (I speak from experience.)
November 17th, 2005 at 9:11 pm
Cody,
I miss you. It’s been too long. Your casts make me feel smarter.
November 20th, 2005 at 3:55 pm
That goes for me too. I really miss your insights and I keep your feed in my aggregator in the hope that one day it will pop back up.
Best wishes,
Adrian
November 23rd, 2005 at 6:32 am
yeah what’s up ? I really enjoyed this blog.
greets from germany
December 27th, 2005 at 5:20 pm
i just discovered your podcast. It was strange really, i was actually looking for a song by rene costy called scrabble (iv’e only listened to the rap song that sampled it) and ended up here through my journey. Just wanted to say the songs you post are real awesome and i really enjoy the brief history behind them the music. Keep the Funk alive. good work :)
This track is banging!