I had no plans to turn my “Tubular 2021” post into an annual tradition, but here, by request, are some of the songs I most enjoyed discovering on YouTube or that got stuck in my head since then.
[1] “The Train to Disaster” by The Voice
Introduced on the box set Chocolate Soup for Diabetics: 82 UK Psych Classics with a sample from Arthur Brown’s 1968 classic “Fire”, this 1966 destroyer wrecks the peace with organ stabs, fiendish, spiraling guitar tentacles, and bunker-busting drum bombardment that earn it a spot in the ranks of the finest sixties psychedelic shockers. Band members included future Spider from Mars Mick Ronson, and the group received support from the infamous Process Church of the Final Judgment according to the Chocolate Soup for Diabetics liner notes, which continue: “In June 1966 the cult abruptly decamped for the Bahamas […] leaving Ronson to join The Rats and – eventually – find fame and fortune with David Bowie.”
[2] “Nasty Nazi” by Big Boy Pete
Though never achieving international superstardom, accomplished guitarist Peter “Big Boy Pete” Miller operated in immediate proximity to the British rock greats of the sixties, and as a member of Peter Jay’s group the Jaywalkers toured with the Beatles and Rolling Stones in the early part of the decade. Miller’s solo recordings, many previously unissued, received new attention with a series of CD releases decades later, and this output, though not uniformly brilliant, does include some amusing rockers and oddities like “Nasty Nazi”, a lewd and bouncy freak-fuzz virtue signal from Pete’s psychedelic experimentation phase.
[3] “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” by Toots Thielemans
Belgian harmonica master Toots Thielemans, familiar to movie fans for his memorable contribution to the Midnight Cowboy soundtrack, hits just the right notes of big-city desolation, sleaze, loneliness, longing, mystery, and danger to suit the 1977 Diane Keaton vehicle Looking for Mr. Goodbar, a wacky, bizarre, and upsetting seventies trash-film that has to be seen to be believed. The song also appears on Thielemans’s 1980 NY-themed album Apple Dimple.
[4] “Was Wollen Wir Trinken” by Oktoberklub
Based on the traditional Breton drinking ditty “Son ar Chistr” (“Song of the Cider”), “Was Wollen Wir Trinken” (“What Will We Drink”) has been recorded in several versions. Celtic harpist Alan Stivell recorded it in 1970 as “Son ar Chistr”, Dutch band Bots rendered it as “Zeven Dagen Lang” (“Seven Days Long”) in 1976, and this version by East German communist volk-singers Oktoberklub apparently dates from 1977. Changing the line “We drink together, not alone” to “We drink to Luis Corvalan” in solidarity with a Chilean communist leader imprisoned by Augusto Pinochet, “Was Wollen Wir Trinken” was popular among European socialists during the seventies and was also recorded in Spain under the title “Socialismo en Libertad”.
[5] “The Red Banner Is Raised” by Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades
I spent quite a bit of last year reading about the history of the Palestinian struggle, and one of the most interesting figures I learned about was George Habash, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a nazbollish group that emerged from the volatile Pan-Arab revolutionism of the previously Nasserist Arab Nationalist Movement (ANM) in the late sixties. This song of the PFLP’s paramilitary Abu Ali Mustapha Brigades celebrates Habash (“Hakim”) and elevates the ethos of militant rebellion, nationalist heroism, and immortality through bold deeds. “The Red Banner Is Raised” is the ideal track for getting pumped up to challenge the Zionist occupation and capitalist scum.
[6] “Albulena” by Eduart Sokoli
I came across “Albulena” by chance when, always on the lookout for obscure musical artifacts and historical inspirations, I discovered We Vybz TV’s colorful reaction video. The gory and boisterous Albanian nationalist anthem commemorates the 1457 Battle of Albulena in which Ottoman forces were crushed by Albania’s Skanderbeg, “a flippin’ national hero” as We Vybz puts it. Proud, brutal, and pounding, “Albulena” rivals “The Red Banner Is Raised” as a sword-swinging blood-pumper and goad to rebellious action.
Rainer Chlodwig von K.
Rainer is the author of Drugs, Jungles, and Jingoism.