I need to reveal a little secret. I love Mrs. John Murphy, Tammy Ampersand; aka Kimberley Ann Deal. I can distinctly remember the first time I fell for her. It was a wintery weekend afternoon in February and the Pixies’ “Gigantic” was playing on the radio. Back then, I didn’t have a cassette deck to capture broadcasts, but rather an old Sony TC-280 reel-to-reel, which I was lucky enough to connect for the second half of the song. And that’s how I listened to that track for about two more years.

The Amps were Kim Deal’s replacement project while The Breeders took a hiatus. They were only together for a year, with one release, Pacer, but like most of her stuff it’s an album filled with some amazing songs.
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“Bragging Party” is one of my favorites. It’s a downtempo, ominous track, with brilliant lyrics and her charmingly distorted vocals. 

Enjoy the advertisements and the seven minutes of actual gameplay :)  

Gene McDaniels scored a string of top 10 pop hits in the early 60’s, but after Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, he moved to northern Europe and re-evaluated his music career. He soon returned with a string of progressive and socially consciousness songs, most notably his 1969 “Compared to What.”

Headless Heroes of the Apocalypse was released in 1971. It was his second record for Atlantic, and although it wasn’t as socially conscious as his first (Outlaw), it took on more of a creative stance, featuring aspects of psychedelic soul, jazz, funk and folk. It also featured an all-star cast of session musicians, and is considered a landmark album today.

Gene McDaniels passed away in 2011. I think he’s one of the greatest songwriters ever, and one who deserved more attention than he first received.