Theryl DeClouet (September 17, 1951 – July 15, 2018)

Theryl DeClouet (September 17, 1951 – July 15, 2018), also known as House Man, was an American soul/R&B singer, best known as the one-time lead vocalist of the musical group Galactic.

Born in Hollygrove, New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, he appeared on Galactic's first four studio albums as well as a live release and a compilation before health concerns forced his departure from the band and its heavy tour schedule. His independent solo release The Truth Iz Out featured support from longtime friend Ivan Neville and guitarist June Yamagishi of Papa Grows Funk. He also appeared on Charlie Hunter Quintet's 2001 album Songs from the Analog Playground, Hunter's first to feature vocals. DeClouet sang on versions of Earth, Wind & Fire's "Mighty Mighty" and the Willie Dixon standard "Spoonful."

In 2005, DeClouet also briefly appeared as Judge Locke Randolph in The Dukes of Hazzard.

On July 15, 2018, DeClouet died at the age of 66.

Galactic double LP Coolin' Off [Tipitina's Record Club – TRC-0103, June 2021] has scribed on the Side A runout:

 THERYL "THE HOUSEMAN" DECLOUET (1951-2018)

 

Steve King of Pye Records on Outsight Radio Hours #44 08-Feb-04

 

It was a great pleasure to speak with someone who had direct experience in the process when I interviewed Steve King of quality control at Pye Records, Lyntone, etc. on Outsight Radio Hours #44 08-Feb-04. The original audio for this interview is archived as selection #382 at archive.org and a transcription is going to be part of an anthology of interviews, etc. that I am compiling covering a quarter century of music journalism. 

He confessed to some individual record marking on the UK edition of the eponymous album George Thorogood And The Destroyers [Sonet SNTF 760, 1978].

SK: Yeah. And I actually did inscribe records. Not masters or positives, but I actually inscribed a number of records individually myself, saying “George is thoroughly good.” 

Really? 

SK: Really, yeah. And if you've got one of those out there, then you're very lucky, ‘cause there's probably only about four or five out there in total.

[...]

Was there many other records you or other quality people did that with or was that highly irregular?

SK: That was highly irregular. Yeah.

Then that was an incredible vote of confidence. 

SK: It was, yeah. I did it with one other record. I don't know if you've heard of Van Der Graaf Generator. 

Oh yes. 

SK: Yeah, well there was an offshoot group in the years when the Van Der Graaf Generator was inactive and it was called The Long Hello and I sort of wrote “hell”, and then sort of dash, “low”. And then in brackets, “was that long enough?” I did that on a few.

If you see one of these, let me know!

 

Davie Allan & The Arrows ‎– Shape Of Things To Come

Label:

Total Energy ‎– NER3020

Format:

Vinyl, 7"

Released:

1998

"Shape of Things to Come" was featured on the 1998 4-CD box set, Nuggets: Original Artyfacts from the First Psychedelic Era, 1965–1968. The version on Nuggets is by "Max Frost & The Troopers" which is believed to have actually been a band called The 13th Power. The vocal was definitely by The 13th Power's vocalist Paul Wibier. There were rumors that the Arrows were Max Frost & The Troopers, but Davie's version is an instrumental that replaces Paul Wibier's vocal with his own guitar on the 13th Power's track. Davie's "Blue's Theme" is on Nuggets, though…. 

The deadwax on the single says "Never Mind Max Frost & The Troopers / Smash The Thirteenth Power".

Max Frost and the Troopers were a fictional rock music group created for the exploitation film Wild in the Streets, released in 1968. The film featured Christopher Jones as the highly influential singer Max Frost. The songs performed by Frost and his band, a group that was never formally named in the film, were credited to Max Frost and the Troopers in the subsequent singles and album. The band name "Troopers" is based on the term "troops," the designation Frost used in the film to refer to his friends and followers. A studio group appeared on the soundtrack album for the film, along with incidental music penned by Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann and composed by Les Baxter; however, the songs were not originally credited to Max Frost and the Troopers, but rather to The 13th Power. Owing to the success of the song "Shape of Things to Come" as a single, an accompanying album by "Max Frost and The Troopers", Shape of Things to Come, was issued on the Tower record label in 1968. Musicians playing on the album were at first believed to include members of Davie Allan and The Arrows (who also released the "Shapes of Things to Come" without lyrics) with lead vocals by Paul Wibier (who also wrote a majority of the songs on the album), however, it is now thought that the album was actually the work of Wibier's own group, the 13th Power, who had previously recorded for Curb under the name The Moms. 

Davie Allan - So what was the deal?

 

The Mekons ‎– The Quality Of Mercy Is Not Strnen

Label:

Virgin ‎– V2143

Country:

UK

Released:

30 Nov 1979

I used to have a Mekons t-shirt in camo with hammer and sickle proclaiming some desperate railing "last to get paid/first to die". I say used to, since this was in the 90s and as my love for The Mekons has grown since then, so has my abdomen--to the point I had to leave the shirt behind.

It really typifies for me their plugger, underdog, earnest and dogged attitude of the band still thriving on low expectations. In putting together this debut album, they famously borrowed the gear of Gang of Four who Virgin -- apparently in error -- pictured in the lower right of the jacket reverse.

From the jacket

Not on the jacket

Here the A-side Runout Inscription "A PORKY PRIME CUT" is indicative of George Peckham. This British lacquer-cutting and mastering engineer, better known as "Porky" has had an illustrious career that includes work on records of The Beatles, Genesis and Led Zeppelin. The B-side Runout Inscription echoes the spirit of the band: "BOTTOM OF THE POPS".

Dead Kennedys ‎– Bedtime For Democracy

Label:

Alternative Tentacles ‎– VIRUS 50

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album, Gatefold

Country:

US

Released:

1986

A-side dead wax reads: JOHN SCOPES DIED FOR YOUR SINS
B-side dead wax reads: "POWER IS THE ULTIMATE APHRODESIAC" - HENRY KISSINGER

I got reading this as I listed to and admired the cartoons on this early (first?) pressing. I like that a band that includes Klaus Flouride misspelled aphrodisiac. Also, among the most intellectual of punk rock acts, they reference the so-called Scopes Monkey Trial.

The Coctails ‎– Hip Hip Hooray!

Label:

Hi-Ball Records ‎– HBS-8255

Format:

Vinyl, LP, Album

Country:

US

Released:

1990

Side A and B are etched with "Where is Bobo?" What I like about this is that it is self-referential for the album. The dog it refers to emerges in the story song "Ghost Town".

Cruel Frederick - The Birth Of The Cruel

Cruel Frederick - The Birth Of The Cruel

LP, Album
SST Records SST 127
1988 US

Free jazz on this largely punk rock label is unusual. As a matter of fact, I know of no other example. I like the two beat worship-to-incursion rhythm of their deadwax message:

• Side A runout, etched: ANGELS SING
• Side B runout, etched: SAINTS GO MARCHING IN