Tag Archives: Dr. John the night tripper

163. walk on gilded splinters

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“I seem to recall Dr. John getting some late night FM radio play way back when, and not just the obvious hit. And then there was that time he showed up on TV in full Night Tripper guise — headdress, voodoo regalia and deeply strange music to match. But it would be decades before I’d finally hear a full album. 1968’s Gris Gris to be specific, bought cheap at a yard sale, and a delicious gumbo it was – the musical equivalent of rare herbs, old bones, strange elixirs, a little bit of everything. In other words, soul, blues, gospel, honky tonk, even a few voodoo chants. But that’s what it takes, I guess, if you mean to go walking on splinters, gilded or otherwise.”

DrJohn-NightTripperLIVE-1970

(photo: Richard Blair)

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20. reSEARCH – star songs

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Installment #20 of the Research Series aired in December-2018 on CiTR.FM.101.9.

The twentieth of a planned forty-nine movies, each forty-nine minutes long, featuring no particular artist, theme or agenda beyond boldly going … who knows? Or as Werner Von Braun once put it, “Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.” And we definitely have no idea where all this will take us.

reSEARCH-020

20. star songs

Tangerine Dream – Rubicon [excerpt 2a]
Howard Shore – mugwumps
Air Liquide – Sun Progress
Dr. John – twilight zone [fragment]
Arthur Lyman – kalua
Orb – blue room [part 1]
Agitation Free – Malesch frag
Gong – Isle of Everywhere
Miles Davis – sivad [frag-2]
Sly + the Family Stone – time
Jerry Harrison – the red nights
Vince Guaraldi – star song

Further installments of the Research Series will air most Sundays at approximately 1am (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and download options usually available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

005. The Final Countdown*

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Installment #5 of The Final Countdown aired Saturday-April-14-2018 (c/o CiTR.FM.101.9).

Tracks available on this Youtube playlist (somewhat inaccurate).

The Final Countdown* is our longest, most random and (if we’re doing it right) relevant countdown yet. Which doesn’t mean we’re one hundred percent clear as to what it’s all about – just the end of result of a long and convoluted process that finally evolved into something halfway tangible a month or so ago. The 1297 Greatest Records of All Time right now right here, if that makes sense. And even if it doesn’t, we’re doing it anyway for as long as it takes, and it will take a while.

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Installment #5 of The Final Countdown* went like this.

1211. Negativland – The Playboy Channel
1210. LCD Soundsystem – yeah [crass mix]
1209. Residents – suburban bathers
1208. Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark – messages
1207. Ulrich Schnauss – on my own
1206. Love + Rockets – lazy
1205. Dr. John – Danse Kalinda Ba Doom
1204. Harmonium – un musicien parmi tant d’autres
1203. Gary Wright – love is alive
1202. Art Ensemble of Chicago – funky AECO
1201. Mothers of Invention – dog breath in the year of the plague
1200. Mothers of Invention – Montana
1199. Waterboys – nobody ‘cept you
1198. All Mighty Whispers – Love Revolution
1197. War – seven tin soldiers [the middle jam]
1196. Clash – junko partner [and dub]
1195. Fiery Furnaces – one more time
1194. Flying Lizards – in my lifetime
1193. Flying Lizards – glide-spin
1192. Simple Minds – seeing out the angel

Randophonic airs pretty much every Saturday night, starting 11 pm (Pacific time) c/o CiTR.FM.101.9, with streaming and/or download options usually available within twenty-four hours via our Facebook page.

 

610. Angola Anthem

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“1970’s Remedies found Dr. John in full-on Night Tripper mode, particularly on side long Angola Anthem, which someone once told me was pure evil. To which I now say, nah, but it is about an evil place, Angola Prison, Louisiana (the Alcatraz of the South), the kind of place that hardened criminals would break down at the mere mention of, because doing time at Angola was a journey to the nightmarish past, the days of slavery. I don’t think Dr. John (aka “Mac” Rebennack) ever did time there himself, but a little research reveals he did do some federal time in Texas, so the feeling is he must have heard some stories. So yeah, welcome to those nightmares.” (Philip Random)

DRJohn-1970

871. pots on fiyo [who I got to fall on]

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“Dr. John (aka Mac Rebennack) serves up some genuinely weird gumbo with one of those songs that sound exactly like what they’re about, not that I’m remotely clear what this is about. Except how could it not be about great primordial swamps, and heat, and weird stews laced with certain medicinal ingredients, which thus take one well beyond normal notions of space, time, meaning, unmeaning. From 1971’s The Sun Moon + Herbs, one of those albums that’s always existed way outside of time, both backward looking and still lightyears beyond any now that’s ever been. I’d call it beautiful but that would just confuse things.” (Philip Random)

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1041. Babylon

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It’s 1969 and Malcolm John Rebennack (aka Dr. John) is deep into his Night Tripper phase with Babylon (both song and album) hitting as a strange and delirious warning of great trials and tribulations to come. Babylon being the great city-state of Ancient Mesopotamia that lasted more than two thousand years before finally dissolving into the sands of time. Babylon being the root of the word babble, that state in language acquisition, during which an infant appears to be experimenting with uttering all the weird and wonderful sounds of language, but not yet producing any recognizable words – confusion in a word, but not without a purpose.