Tune Tag #28 with Michael K. Fell of "Home is Where the Music Is": Vibrators, Love, Spirit, Eddie Harris, Elliott Murphy, Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes

Spanning the decades as well as genres, Michael Tags a Mean Tune...but, don't take our word for it!

Hey, Michael! Pounce & Tag, You’re It!

Tune Tag welcomes Michael K. Fell of Substack’s Home is Where the Music Is…!

“I was born in 1969, and am an artist and art educator who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, but left when I went to art college. In 1992, I met an English woman and moved to London, where I lived and worked for 14 years. In 2007, we decided to uproot and come to the US, making Portland, Oregon, our home.

In Portland, I'm an artist and art educator. I also write the newsletter Home is Where The Music Is..., which allows me to release the many music conversations I usually have with myself to an audience. 

“My love for music was kickstarted at six when my uncle gave me a copy of Kiss Alive! Not long after, I discovered Aerosmith, Grand Funk Railroad, AC/DC, and UFO. When I was a teenager, craving more than my diet of hard rock and 80s metal, I discovered psychedelic rock, and my love affair with all things psych became a 30+ year obsession of collecting thousands of records, books, and films/videos!

About seven years ago, I descended deep down a rabbit hole of collecting funk, soul, and late ‘60s/early-‘70s jazz. And, for the past year, I have been neck-deep in ‘70s African music. 49 years have passed since I first received that Kiss album, and both my collection and knowledge of music have grown tremendously!

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Michael’s song #1 sent to Brad: Oscillations, “Death Has Come Today,” from I Can See It Coming, 1978 (Teal Records/Zambia only), 2020 U.S. Strawberry Rain Records re-issue

Michael’s rationale: Firstly, thank you, Brad, for the invitation to participate in Tune Tag! I thought it might be fun to kick this week off with some ass-kicking, ‘70s Zamrock!

Recorded in 1974 and released in 1977, the Oscillations’ album, I Can See It Coming, is my favorite Zambian rock record from the 1970s. The songwriting is superb, and the music is a fuzzy wall of sound. It’s full-throttle Hendrix’y guitar rock saturated with infectious funky grooves and African rhythms.

The musician behind the band was a young guitarist named Victor Kunda Kasama (above). He was self-taught, and to add to his story, his legs were paralyzed from polio, and his arms were also mildly affected. Miraculously, he was able to play the guitar, and man, what a player and showman he is (was)! He would often roll around on the floor when performing. He was also known to play with his teeth, use his forehead, and even sit on his guitar to create unusual sounds!

From start to finish it is a monster album, but Death Has Come Today is my favorite track as it packs everything I love about ‘70s Zamrock: A thick groove, blistering fuzz guitar, African drumming, and the whistling and chanting that eventually enters completely elevate the song to a whole other level.

Brad’s song #1 sent to Michael: Vibrators, “Baby Baby,” 1977

Michael’s response: I know the name, but I don’t own anything by them. I have some punk in my collection, but not many ‘70s punk records. However, I do have a side story about ‘70s punk: For several years in the 1990s, I lived in Ealing, West London, and we were within walking distance of Brentford FC (football club i.e. soccer).

Brentford Bees was my introduction to English football. Next to the stadium, there is a pub called The Griffin, and the first time I went, Rat Scabies, former drummer of The Damned (pictured above), was holding court. I soon found he was a huge Bees fan and a regular pre-game drinker at the pub. We chatted a couple of times, and he thought it was hilarious that of all the big-name teams to watch, an American chose to be at Griffin Park. Nevertheless, meeting Rat and the stadium’s proximity to our flat made me adopt Brentford as my English team!

Anyway, back to the music: I like the immediate fuzz guitar of the Vibrators track.

It reminds me of the opening track, “Flash” (above), from the killer 1973 Aussie punk album, Ball Power by the Coloured Balls (below), released by EMI only in Australia. It has since been released in the U.S. with a 2012 re-issue on Sing Sing Records.

Regarding the link with The Oscillations, at first spin, I thought you chose it due to the fuzzed-out guitar and its drumming. But, the obvious quickly hit me square in the face. The definition of oscillation is a “back-and-forth movement,” as is vibration.  So, the connection has to be the band’s name!

Brad’s rationale: A synonym for “oscillations” is “vibrations,” so I went all Funk & Wagnall’s on the first one! The song was written by Ian “Knox” Carnochan, the primary songwriter in the Vibrators. The song was recorded by them, and released as a single in May 1977. It was their first single released on Epic Records, and also appeared on their debut album, Pure Mania, produced by the band and Robin Mayhew, the sound engineer for David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust live shows five years earlier.

R.E.M. (rapid eye movement involves vibrations) covered “Baby Baby” (with bassist Mike Mills singing) as a 1991 fan club-only Christmas single, limited to 4,000 copies:

Michael’s song #2: Eddie Harris, “Why Must We Part,” 1975, Atlantic Records single

Brad’s response: Not finding a connection between The Vibrators and Eddie Harris, or their songs. Harris was a Chicago-born jazz saxophonist in the ‘60s and early ‘70s for Columbia, Vee-Jay, and Atlantic Records, before he began singing on a few albums, including this, his 33rd, Bad Luck is All I Have, on Atlantic in 1975. “Why Must We Part,” written by Harris and Bradley Bobo, was released as a single.

Schizophrenic album-recording seemed to haunt his career, as later in ‘75, Harris recorded a virtually all-comedy album for Atlantic, The Reason Why I’m Talking S**t. He succeeded in all but alienating his audience as well as Atlantic execs, most of whom, likely, didn’t want him talking on his records at all!

Michael’s rationale: Poor Eddie Harris. He released some tremendous records throughout the ‘60s and ‘70s, but he is often a forgotten man in jazz circles. Despite being one of the great tenor sax players, Jazz purists often dismissed his later work due to his electrified sax in the late ‘60s and ‘70s.

He would also take a turn for the unexpected and became the jazz version of Peter Frampton by creatively singing through his sax. It’s a weird and unforgettable sound, but you have to love him for trying!

So, the Vibrators song is about a crush and wanting to get closer to the girl. On the flip, we have Eddie Harris’ song, which is about a lost love. And, what a sad song, right?  Wow, Eddie’s voice is full of heartache and sorrow. The link between the two tracks is the title of the Vibrators tune, and the first lyric in Harris’ song is “baby.” 

Throughout the song, Harris pleads repeatedly for his “baby” not to leave him. While The Vibrators’ track is fun and youthful, Harris’ song is desperate and expresses emotional pain. It gives me goosebumps and brings a tear to my eye.

Brad: Nice link’n’tag, Michael…you’ve been paying attention, and have realized the last thing I look at in a song is the lyrics, so I missed the “baby” link!