Thomas, Pat

Thomas, Pat

I Ain't Buyin' It

Empty Cellar

“Pat Thomas has been known as a driving singing / writing / bass-playing force behind San Francisco band Cool Ghouls for years and, over those years, in tandem with the band’s group effort, has cultivated an interesting voice as a solo act. ‘Solo’ isn’t really the correct word though because the tracks on I Ain’t Buyin’ It showcase recordings complete with fully fleshed out arrangements, not unlike other ambitious California classics like The Beach Boys or Love. These comparisons seem lazy, given the obvious associations of the west coast with this sort of sonic imagery, which bands from San Francisco or LA—but SF especially—are seldom able to shake off. But at the entry point of this record, you welcome it as you would a lover of this style. “As this album’s initial feeling moves forward, you get better acquainted with Thomas’s idiosyncratic song-writing and production style, which are playful and groovy and light-hearted. But these songs also convey a deeper inner dialogue which reflects the inherent paradox of life in a city such as San Francisco, or many other American cities. The feeling of general displacement and falling victim to commerce is real. A feeling that includes everything from the seduction of empty suburban idealism, to the city being robbed of its creative force by pointless commerce, to the entire USA being literally robbed from Native Americans. It’s hard to maintain a positive outlook when one reflects on the depth of this situation, but Thomas has succeeded in presenting a...

Thomas, Pat

Coasters Riding In The Air

Empty Cellar

Introducing one quarter of San Francisco’s Cool Ghouls, Pat Thomas! He’s the tall dude who plays the bass. He also writes one third of the Ghouls' songs. Coasters Riding in the Air is a collection of songs written, performed and recorded by Pat Thomas.  The Cool Ghouls have made a name for themselves. Their soulful tunes and energetic live set have earned the band back-to-back slots with toast of the coast acts like Sonny and the Sunsets, Thee Oh Sees, The Fresh and Onlys, Mikal Cronin, Fuzz, Magic Trick and Shannon and the Clams etc., and they have no plans to slow their role. It has been less than a year since Cool Ghouls released their self-titled debut with Empty Cellar and Burger Records, and a new full-length album (recorded by Sonny Smith) is already in the can. The above in mind, one might guess that the Ghouls have their hands full; but like label-mate and fellow San Franciscan, Tim Cohen… Pat has more songs than any one band is prepared to handle.  So as the Ghouls keep on truckin’, Thomas is offering this batch of solo material, Coasters Riding in the Air. He wants to keep the songs flowing; to convey another corner of the musical realm that he and Cool Ghouls inhabit; but mostly, because he recorded ‘em and he’d like to share ‘em. Pat laid these tracks at a leisurely pace, coming back to them whenever he could. He plays everything on the album, except...

Thomas, Pat

Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975

Fantagraphics

***Noted music producer and scholar PAT THOMAS spent five years in Oakland, CA researching Listen, Whitey! The Sights and Sounds of Black Power 1965-1975. While befriending members of the Black Panther Party, Thomas discovered rare recordings of speeches, interviews, and music by noted activists HUEY NEWSTON, BOBBY SEALE, ELDRIDGE CLEAVER, ELAINE BROWN, THE LUMPEN and many others that form the framework of this definitive retrospective. Listen, Whitey! also chronicles the forgotten history of Motown Records. From 1970 to 1973, Motown’s Black Power subsidiary label, Black Forum, released politically charged albums by STOKELY CARMICHAEL, AMIRI BARAKA, LANGSTON HUGHES, BILL COSBY & OSSIE DAVIS, and many others, all represented. Also explored are the musical connections between BOB DYLAN, JOHN LENNON, GRAHAM NASH, THE PARTRIDGE FAMILY (!?!) and the Black Power movement. Obscure recordings produced by SNCC, RON KARENGA’s US, the TRIBE and other African-American sociopolitical organizations of the late 1960s and early ’70s are examined along with the ISLEY BROTHERS, NINA SIMONE, ARCHIE SHEPP, ART ENSEMBLE OF CHICAGO, CLIFFORD THORNTON, WATTS PROPHETS, LAST POETS, GENE MCDANIELS, ROLAND KIRK, HORACE SILVER, ANGELA DAVIS, H. RAP BROWN, STANLEY CROUCH, and others that spoke out against oppression. Other sections focus on Black Consciousness poetry (from the likes of JAYNE CORTEZ, wife of Ornette Coleman), inspired religious recordings that infused god and Black Nationalism, obscure regional and privately pressed Black Power 7-inch soul singles from across America. 90,000 words of text are accompanied by over 250 large sized, full-color reproductions of album covers and 45 rpm...