The Fleshtones featuring Lenny Kaye – Brooklyn Sound Solution (2011)

Often tagged as garage rock revivalists, the Fleshtones mix the fuzz guitar and Farfisa organ sounds of that genre with rockabilly, ’50s and ’60s R&B, and surf into a potent retro stew the group likes to call “super rock.” The group formed in 1976 in Queens, New York with vocalist/keyboardist Peter Zaremba, guitarist Keith Streng, bassist Jan Marek Pakulski, and drummer Bill Milhizer and aimed to return rock & roll to the simplicity and unself-consciousness of the ’50s and early ’60s. (The group was often joined on-stage and in the studio by sax player Gordon Spaeth, who passed on in 2005.) The group fit nicely into New York’s punk and new wave scene, and an early single, “American Beat,” attracted the attention of independent label Red Star and, in time, I.R.S. The group’s debut EP, Up-Front, was released in 1980 and was followed by their first full-length album, Roman Gods, and Blast Off!, an unreleased studio album recorded for Red Star in 1978. 1983 produced Hexbreaker, widely regarded as the Fleshtones’ finest album. The band continued to record through the ’80s and released Powerstance in 1992 and Beautiful Light in 1994. (Powerstance also marked the debut of new Fleshtones bassist Ken Fox, who replaced Pakulski in the lineup and has been with the group ever since.)

While the group’s popularity dipped under the radar in the last half of the ’90s, in 2003 the group bounded back when they were signed to the potent indie label Yep Roc Records and released one of their best albums, Do You Swing? An equally solid follow-up, Beachhead, was issued in 2005 and was produced in part by Detroit garage rock kingpin Jim Diamond. Fleshtones side projects include Keith Streng’s band Full Time Men, which featured R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck, and Peter Zaremba’s Love Delegation. In 2008, more than 30 years after the group formed, they released Take a Good Look, proving their ability to be just as raucous as they were in the good ol’ days. (by)

Man oh man, you’ve got to be some kind of ballsy dad rock bar band to think you can get away with covering “Day Tripper” on this side of the new millennium. Well, it’s a good thing the Fleshtones, circa 2011 (featuring Lenny Kaye, from the Jim Carroll Band, the Patti Smith Group and the Lenny Kaye connection) are precisely this kind of dad rock bar band. The perpetual garage rock revivalists return with more of the same fuzzy, concise, toe-tapping rockers. Brooklyn Sound Solution is comparably low-energy, weighed against the ‘Tones prime ’70s and ’80s output. But considering that they all look like uncles and college professors now, that’s to be expected. Still, tracks like “I Can’t Hide,” “Rats in the Kitchen” and Kaye’s sole songwriting contribution, “Lost on Xandu,” reward repeated listens. They may not be quite as vibrant, but the Fleshtones still sound good. Sure, they’re old, but they’re better than the Stones. (by John Semley)

“Pardon us for living, but the graveyard is full.” or so goes the title of a new documentary film telling the tale of The Fleshtones. While that sentiment is a bit tongue-in-cheek, it’s also true. The Fleshtones have been grinding out garage rock before garage rock was even called garage rock, and turning rock clubs like Max’s Kansas city into impromptu discos for over 30 years. While chart hits and magazine covers weren’t to be their fate; a reputation as the hardest working, most sincere rock band on the planet was cultivated in the process. The result of that distinction is their new album ‘Brooklyn Sound Solution’ featuring the legendary Lenny Kaye. In addition to his role as long-time guitarist for Patti Smith, Kaye also curated the seminal garage and psychedelic music compilations nuggets. Have a problem you can’t solve? The Fleshtones offer you a ‘Brooklyn Sound Solution’. (by roughtrade.com)

Personnel:
Ken Fox (bass, vocals)
Bill Milhizer (drums, percussion, vocals)
Keith Streng (vocals, guitar)
Peter Zaremba (vocals, keyboards, harmonica)
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Steve Greenfield (saxophone)
Lenny Kaye (guitar)
Matt Verderay (vibraphone)
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background vocals on 09.:
Anne Streng – Dave Faulkner – Phast Phreddie

Tracklist:
01. Comin’ Home Baby (Tucker/Dorough) 2.45
02. I Wish You Would (Arnold) 2.41
03. Day Tripper (Lennon/McCartney) 2.41
04. Bite Of My Soul (Zaremba) 2.37
05. You Give Me Nothing To Go On (Instrumental Version) (Taylor) 2.24
06. Lost On Xandu (Kaye) 3.05
07. I Can’t Hide (Parker) 2.21
08. Solution #1 (Streng) 2.45
09. Rats In My Kitchen (Estes) 2.03
10. Back Beat #1 (J. Petze/L. Petze/Collins/Pizze) 1.53
11. You Give Me Nothing To Go On (Taylor) 2.12
12. Solution #2 (Zaremba) 2.11

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Link Cromwell And The Zoo (Lenny Kaye 1966) – Crazy Like A Fox (2000)

Lenny Kaye (born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.

Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of upper Manhattan, New York, along the Hudson River. Growing up in Queens and Brooklyn, Kaye originally began playing accordion, but by the end of the 1950s, had dropped the instrument in favor of collecting records. His family moved to North Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1960 where Lenny attended high school, and later, college, graduating from Rutgers in 1967. He became a fan of science fiction and gained experience in writing, publishing his own fanzine, Obelisk, at the age of 15. Though he majored in American History, his true avocation was musical, and it was there that he first began playing in bands, on a college mixer and fraternity circuit. His first gig, with the Vandals (“Bringing down the house with your kind of music”), was at Alpha Sigma Phi on November 7, 1964

As musician, writer, and record producer, Kaye was intimately involved with an array of artists and bands. He was a guitarist for poet/rocker Patti Smith from her band’s inception in 1974, and co-authored Waylon, The Life Story of Waylon Jennings. He worked in the studio with such artists as R.E.M., James, Suzanne Vega, Jim Carroll, Soul Asylum, Kristin Hersh, and Allen Ginsberg. His seminal anthology of sixties’ garage-rock, Nuggets, is widely regarded as defining the genre. You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, an impressionistic study of the romantic singers of the 1930s, was published by Villard/Random House in 2004.

His uncle, songwriter Larry Kusik (“A Time For Us” from Romeo and Juliet; “Speak Softly Love” from The Godfather) took note of his lengthening hair and musical commitment, and asked him to sing on a song he’d recently penned with Ritchie Adams, once of the Fireflies (“You Were Mine”). Kaye soon found himself in Associated Recording Studios on Times Square, recording “Crazy Like A Fox”, along with its flip side, “Shock Me”. The resultant 45, issued under the name of Link Cromwell, was leased to Hollywood Records, a division of Starday Records located in Nashville, Tennessee, and released in March 1966.

It garnered a Newcomer Pick of the Week from Cashbox (“A rhythmic bluesy folk-rocker with a pulsating beat”) and was issued in England as well as Australia; but failed to move in the charts. Though hardly a smash, it gave Kaye a sense of self as a musician, and inspired him to continue performing and playing. His group at the time, The Zoo, worked a college circuit ranging from New York to Pennsylvania; this early experience has been captured on a live album issued by Norton Records, Live 1966. (by wikipedia)

Lenny Kaye is a legend! From his early days as a rock writer/tastemaker to his landmark NUGGETS compilations of sixties garage band recordings to his current status as founding member/guitar god with the Patti Smith Group to his work as producer for the likes of Suzanne Vega and Soul Asylum, Lenny Kaye rolls on as the coolest rock n’ roll cat on the planet! Now, Lenny has unearthed a treasure trove of 1966 live recordings of his own garage band, the Zoo, for which Lenny, a/k/a the energetic LINK CROMWELL, made noise and snarled as the quintessential sixties punk frontman! This set features his 1966 Hollywood label single Crazy Like A Fox / Shock Me plus a cool dozen never issued live tracks! The ultimate sixties garage band live set from the ultimate sixties garage band chronicler/ historian/ enthusiast/ perpetrator!

Long before Lenny Kaye became one of America’s best writers or Patti Smith’s lead guitarist, his mid-’60s days were spent as front man Link Cromwell for a local college frat band the Zoo. This collection rounds up his lone Broadway single of the title cut along with surviving homemade tapes of the band bashing it out at a frat mixer circa 1966. The set list is loaded with garage band staples like “I’m Crying,” “Just Like Me,” “She’s Not There,” and “Little Latin Lupe Lu,” and the entire package gives not only insight into Lenny’s roots but also to the whole teen/frat band scene back in the day. A marvelous little document. (by by Cub Koda)

Personnel:
Lenny Kaye (vocals, guitar)
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??????

Tracklist:
01. Crazy Like A Fox (live) (Kusik/Adams) 2.35
02. Zoo Theme (unknown) 1.43
03. Out Of Sight (Wright) 3.38
04. I’m Crying (Burdon/Price) 4.27
05. Tell Me (Jagger/Richards) 4.28
06. Just Like Me (Dey/Hart) 3.53
07. Mojo Workout (Morganfield) 5.11
08. She’s Not There (Argent) 3.58
09. I’m Mad Again (Hooker) 4.14
10. Gross Man (Link Cromwell And The Zoo) 4.17
11. Green Onions (Cropper/Jackson/Jones/Steinberg) 3.59
12. Crazy Like A Fox (Single) (Kusik/Adams) 2.19
13. Carol (Berry) 3.12
14. Little Latin Lupe Lu (Medley) 4.25
15 Shock Me (Kusik/Adams) 3.45

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Lenny Kaye in 2017:

Lenny Kaye Connection – I´ve Got A Right (1984)

Lenny Kaye (born December 27, 1946) is an American guitarist, composer, and writer who is best known as a member of the Patti Smith Group.

Kaye was born to Jewish parents in the Washington Heights area of upper Manhattan, New York, along the Hudson River. Growing up in Queens and Brooklyn, Kaye originally began playing accordion, but by the end of the 1950s, had dropped the instrument in favor of collecting records. His family moved to North Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1960 where Lenny attended high school, and later, college, graduating from Rutgers in 1967. He became a fan of science fiction and gained experience in writing, publishing his own fanzine, Obelisk, at the age of 15.[3] Though he majored in American History, his true avocation was musical, and it was there that he first began playing in bands, on a college mixer and fraternity circuit. His first gig, with the Vandals (“Bringing down the house with your kind of music”), was at Alpha Sigma Phi on November 7, 1964

As musician, writer, and record producer, Kaye was intimately involved with an array of artists and bands. He was a guitarist for poet/rocker Patti Smith from her band’s inception in 1974, and co-authored Waylon, The Life Story of Waylon Jennings. He worked in the studio with such artists as R.E.M., James, Suzanne Vega, Jim Carroll, Soul Asylum, Kristin Hersh, and Allen Ginsberg. His seminal anthology of sixties’ garage-rock, Nuggets, is widely regarded as defining the genre.[citation needed] You Call It Madness: The Sensuous Song of the Croon, an impressionistic study of the romantic singers of the 1930s, was published by Villard/Random House in 2004.

His uncle, songwriter Larry Kusik (“A Time For Us” from Romeo and Juliet; “Speak Softly Love” from The Godfather) took note of his lengthening hair and musical commitment, and asked him to sing on a song he’d recently penned with Ritchie Adams, once of the Fireflies (“You Were Mine”). Kaye soon found himself in Associated Recording Studios on Times Square, recording “Crazy Like A Fox”, along with its flip side, “Shock Me”. The resultant 45, issued under the name of Link Cromwell, was leased to Hollywood Records, a division of Starday Records located in Nashville, Tennessee, and released in March 1966. It garnered a Newcomer Pick of the Week from Cashbox (“A rhythmic bluesy folk-rocker with a pulsating beat”) and was issued in England as well as Australia; but failed to move in the charts. Though hardly a smash, it gave Kaye a sense of self as a musician, and inspired him to continue performing and playing. His group at the time, The Zoo, worked a college circuit ranging from New York to Pennsylvania; this early experience has been captured on a live album issued by Norton Records, Live 1966.

Moving back to the city, Kaye began writing reviews for Jazz and Pop magazine (which was edited at the time by Jim Morrison’s soon-to-be wife, Patricia Kennealy Morrison; branching out to such nascent rock publications as Fusion, Crawdaddy and Rolling Stone. He became the music editor of Cavalier, a men’s magazine, and would write a monthly column for them until 1975; and the New York correspondent for the British weekly, Disc. As a free-lance writer, he wrote for a wide range of periodicals, including Melody Maker, Creem, and edited such publications as Rock Scene and Hit Parader throughout the seventies.

While working at the record store Village Oldies on Bleecker Street in New York, Kaye met poet-singer Patti Smith. On February 10, 1971, he backed her at a reading at St. Mark’s Church on E. 10th St. When they resumed performance in November 1973, their artistic efforts bore fruit as one of the major rock bands of the 1970s. Kaye produced Patti’s debut single (“Hey Joe / Piss Factory”), and performed as part of her Group throughout the decade, as reflected in four Arista albums: Horses (1975), Radio Ethiopia (1976), Easter (1978) and Wave (1979).

Following the Patti Smith Group’s final performance in September 1979, Kaye joined the Jim Carroll Band, as well as fronting his own Lenny Kaye Connection. He co-produced Suzanne Vega’s first two albums, including her 1987 hit single, “Luka”, which was nominated for a Grammy as Record of the Year. He has been nominated three times for Grammy awards in the liner notes category for boxed sets on the sixties folk revival (Bleecker and MacDougal), white blues (Crossroads), and progressive rock (Elektrock); and has co-authored a comprehensive hall of fame with David Dalton (Rock 100).

In 1995, he reunited with Patti Smith and has been a part of her band since, creating five studio albums, a retrospective, and celebrating the thirtieth anniversary release of their landmark debut album, Horses.

In 2010, Kaye contributed a solo recording for Daddy Rockin’ Strong: A Tribute to Nolan Strong and the Diablos (The Wind/Norton Records). Kaye recorded a version of “I Wanna Know,” a 1950s R&B ballad. He appears on and wrote one song for The Fleshtones 2011 album Brooklyn Sound Solution (Yep Roc). Also, he appeared on “Alligator Aviator Autopilot Antimatter” and “Blue” on R.E.M.’s 2011 album Collapse into Now, an album that Patti Smith also contributed to, also on “Blue” and another song, “Discoverer”. (by wikipedia)

Lenny Kaye with … who the fuck is Mick Jagger ?

And this is his first solo-album after the split of the Patti Smith Group.

Rock critic, guitarist, Patti Smith musical cohort, producer, New York scene veteran, Nuggets albums compiler, Jim Carroll sideman — Lenny Kaye has done a bit of everything, distinguishing himself in most areas. He also led a band under his own name and released this solo album. Kaye may fumble a few lyrics in an attempt to express schmaltzy emotions, but his obvious sincerity makes up for the occasional prosaic excess. The title track is brilliant pop with an infectious hook and anthemic sound; “Luke the Drifter” is a memorable old-fashioned cowboy ballad updated with a pumping rock beat. A swell record from a swell guy. (Ira Robbins)

Personnel:
David Donen (drums, vocals)
Paul Dugan (bass)
Lenny Kaye (vocals, gutiar)
C.P. Roth (synthesizer)
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Jim Carroll (background vocals)
John Giorn (background vocals)
Jonathan Helfand (pedal steel-guitar)
Jan Mulaney (organ, synthesizer)
Patrick O´Conner (bass, vocals)

Tracklist:
01. I’ve Got A Right (Kaye) 4.21
02. Luke The Drifter (Kaye) 3.28
03. Still Life /Carroll/Kaye) 4.17
04. Tell-Tale Heart (Kaye) 3.46
05. Jealousy (Kaye) 2.56
06. I Cry Mercy (T.Smith/S.Smith) 3.49
07. Record Collector (Kaye/O´Conner) 3.30
08. As I Make Love (Kaye/O´Conner/Mulaney/Donen 6.18

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