Singleversity #45

Audiversity’s weekly column, even more modified, on random music we stumble across during our sonic adventures. No random numbers, just straight audio goodness.

MA:



Though most of the original magic is gone, it’s hard not to be pleased with Stax Records reactivation in late 2006. Continuing with their string of newly compiled reminders of how the Memphis imprint just plain dominated southern soul music in the 60s and 70s comes Stax Does the Beatles. Maybe a bit of a cash-in and easy attention-grabber, but c’mon, it is hard to hate on Isaac Hayes stringing out “Something” – Harrison’s three-minute Abbey Road love ballad – into a twelve-minute orchestra-soul epic or a few previously unreleased instro-funk covers from Booker T. & the MGs. The jewel of the collection though comes from the least known name, one Reggie Milner. The Detroit native only released two singles with the Volt emblem printed proudly, the b-side to his first being "And I Lover Her". With it’s first ever appearance in the digital medium, Milner’s humbled falsetto and treble-heavy lo-fi production provides a fresh listen to a label heavily picked-over in the last twenty years.

PM:















Freed from the shackles of word limits, this week seems like a good time to open up about Detroit garage-rock kings of incompetence, The Keggs. Not much is known about these monsters of the mid-60s, but according to Crypt Records head Tim Warren, the band had to change their name after every show and the guitarist was killed in a motorcycle accident. Also, Orbit Records (Not the ones from Hamburg) only pressed 75 copies of this 7" from 1967. "To Find Out" is on the a-side, an amazing bit of bar-brawl soundtracking, while "Girl" plays the toned-down b-side. Can you imagine what this group must've been like live? In the catalog of cool, The Keggs stand at the top.