nuf sed

while lydon and friends deserve mounds of crap thrown at them for their future transgressions, remember this. it ain't a mistake PiL made my list. the orig lineup was one of the best ideas ever. fuck the pistols, this is music.

out-kink this MFer!

listening today to michael shelley's always excellent radio show on wfmu, he and fellow dj gaylord fields started discussing the leopards, a 70s band out of kansas city. they're notable mainly due to the fact that they sound remarkably like the late-60s/early-70s era kinks. i've since "acquired" both their '77 debut, "kansas city slickers" (moon records) and their '88 followup, "magic still exists" (voxx???). it's pretty mindblowing. the tone is there, the themes, lead singer dennis pash pulls the ray vocal off, and they manage the ultimate challenge-- the stealing of the riffs without actually stealing-- with ease. and they're pretty solid albums in their own right. worth checking.

which led me to a band i'd been meaning to mention for a while. chicago's green released an album in 1987 that ranks up there with any of the great records from that era. "elaine mackenzie", like the aforementioned records, owes it life blood to the davies, but what stuck me initially to the band was their sounding like the early pye singles and dragging the kinks oeuvre through it. leader jeff lescher's songwriting is so self-assured that when it hits the wrecklessness of the band (harmonies go everywhere!), it's pure fucking awesomeness. the first four tunes match pretty much any out of the box lineup that i've heard. dig this out of obscurity. i still have the goddamn tdk tape that was given to me with this on it.

sadly, outside of their followup single "REM" (haha) and the next pretty damn great LP "white soul", i don't own anything of theirs. that's a crime.

top 25 albums of the 70s (my mix)

we're currently tabulating entries, by "we", of course, i mean jack. we'll be posting some of our regular contributors lists before the final tally. we start with mine.

GIHYB's top 25

1. lou reed, berlin (this is the one with "i love you suzanne", right?)
2. ramones, leave home (i ain't gonna argue albums 1 through 3 with you ... you ain't gonna win or lose. album 2 produced the pop overload.)
3. john lennon, plastic ono band (ends lennon's rarely acknowledged post-"white album" drought)
4. the rolling stones, exile on main street
5. bob dylan, blood on the tracks (peeps of mine know my allegiance to the unreleased nyc sessions of this record)
6. big star, sister lovers (4 wrist-slashers in the top 6. gotta check my meds ... or maybe get some)
7. new york dolls, new york dolls (i still have a jones for "too much too soon"'s sleazy sound, but song for song, this towers above)
8. television, marquee moon
9. the clash, the clash
10. public image ltd, metal box (technically, the proper LP version "second edition" came out in 1980, but, to me, this record ends the 70s)
11. iggy and the stooges, raw power (put this and funhouse on rotating wheel, blindfold me, and i'll still regret my choice for a week)
12. sex pistols, never mind the bollocks
13. the kinks, muswell hillbillies (not even in my kinks top 5, might give an inkling to the kinks awesomeness)
14. gang of four, entertainment (i even got off on the reunion bullshit re-record a couple years back!)
15. funkadelic, maggot brain
16. marvin gaye, what's goin on
17. velvet underground, loaded (not in my VU top 3, but, calendars work!)
18. lynyrd skynyrd, second helping (album 2 gave em the songs to fit the template)
19. michael jackson, off the wall (not the forum for the argument, but this blows "thriller" out of the water)
20. pere ubu, the modern dance (not their most interesting, but the most immediate. also, the one with laughner residue)
21. the heartbreakers, lamf
22. neil young, after the gold rush
23. big star, radio city (i initially wasn't going to put 2 records by any artist on the list, but while the ramones first three records resemble one another, big star's leap between albums 1 and 3 is a stark one-- and not the general leap in terms of talent)
24. curtis mayfield, superfly
25. boz scaggs, silk degrees (my defacto saturday morning housecleaning record. awesome tune after awesome tune)

my apologies to:

-any woman who released a record during the 1970s
-fleetwood mac, rumours
-patti smith, horses (there, that's settled)
-the ramones, rocket to russia
-the ramones, the ramones
-richard hell & the voidoids, blank generation
-the stooges, funhouse
-neu!, neu!
-john cale, paris 1919
-bob dylan and the band, the basement tapes
-willie nelson, stardust
-the rolling stones, some girls (too little, too late?)
-paul mccartney, ram
-a bazillion neil young records
-the who, live at leeds
-jimmy buffett, you had to be there (i've told this story often, i heard and saw buffett so often during my childhood, i thought he was a relative. i won a bet at a wedding in the late 90s by being able to recite jimmy lyrics)
-willie nelson, willie and family live (see previous entry)

random notes (ha!)

the stooges finally made the rock and roll hall of fame ... won't even dignify that with a snide comment. my friend chris c. said it all with, "after madonna"

the final submissions are in for "GIHYB's greatest albums of the 1970s". a tally will be up soon ... that's a hint for at least 4 MFer's whose lists i have not received!!!! ... no names need to be presented matt, ada, drew, and kate!

and goddamnit, elliott smith rears his head again with an amazing unreleased song. just check out the pitchfork post.

jackson browne

love/despise this guy.

but this song is incredible. and i like a bunch of his songs.

with that song

in my estimation, two of the best arranged hit songs ever are the boxtops "the letter" and csny's "ohio". succinct and free of baggage. not the way it should always be, but their awesomeness is in their brevity.

check this interview from wayback with alex chilton.

hbo part 1

thoughts on the hbo rnr hall of fame bullshit show #1. (also see my xmastime collab on show 2)

-stephen stills is a lost dude in the mix of major rock dudes. vocals a+ and his guitar playing is amazing--easily as good as neil. his brown goatee was a little much, at least give nash n cowardly lion a heads up on the dye job. holy shit! stills is incredible!!!

-metallica gets props for muscular sweet jane. lou's karaoke. dunno. hetfield actually trying! ok, lou was fine

-how come ozzy has better hair than my 3 year old does?

-metallica & ray davies??? best sense of humor ever backed by no sense of humor??? i suddenly remember that metallica's best album was "garage days revisted". kudos

-enter sandman backed by vids of mariano rivera??? own the song dudes. and i'm a yankees fan. i really hate metallica. but i do have to thank them for the funniest movie of all time.

-u2 good lord! patti smith and bruce!!!!! the edge plays a REAL SOLO during "because the night"!!!!!!! and then bruce kicks his ass!!!!!!!!! stick to soundshapes when onstage with the boss mr. edge!

-christ- jagger backed by u2. suck has a new definition. jagger is going through motions. he doesn't even realize u2 isn't giving him the stones backing. guess you call that a "PRO". he's in his own little mick world! i could hug him!

as many readers know, i ain't a bruce guy, but i gotta say, he towers above the crowd here. the dude is amazing. he's aged better than anyone, but that ain't the point. he's just on-- and it ain't going anywhere.

-star= bruce

hail to the thief

here's a really interesting piece by a member of too much joy (i've heard the name, but have no idea who they are) about being an EX major label band trying to collect digital revenue earned since leaving the label. the author not only was in the band, but now works for an online distribution company.

So I was naively excited when I opened the envelope. And my answer was right there on the first page. In five years, our three albums earned us a grand total of…

$62.47

What the fuck?

I mean, we all know that major labels are supposed to be venal masters of hiding money from artists, but they’re also supposed to be good at it, right? This figure wasn’t insulting because it was so small, it was insulting because it was so stupid.

view as an updated companion piece to albini's legendary article about the bullshit major label system of finances and its outright disdain toward the artist. you couldn't make this shit up if you tried.

gibby hayne's quote put water through my nose.

nod to jimmy eight cats for the tip.

CK

nod to joe g for the tip. just watch. oh yeah NSFW.

OMG

wow, i forever (stupidly) shortchange this guy and then this. however, at the time, my fave single. listen to this vocal:

a trend that needs to disappear

band reunions that feature replaying "classic albums"

i just saw a recent vid of the pixies on a late night show. they are currently on a tour featuring the totality of "doolittle", which i like just fine. a great rendition of 'debaser' occurred. i happened to see the pixies back in the day on the first ep tour as well as the trompe le monde tour, and i can happily say ... they've gotten alot better live.

is there any way to make the concert more unappealing than knowing exactly what's about to happen? hey, dvr?

required

and the end's great post got me to thinkin about my own upbringing. my dad fed us a steady diet of snl, steve martin (actually took the family to see him in vegas), carlin, and the prize, richard pryor. won't get into racial & family politics here, but my dad knew funny, and pryor was beyond funny. i idolized this man. come to think of it, my 2 biggest heroes growing up were pryor and ali.

but i digress. i found this last night. unfuckingbelievable. i knew pryor had a short-lived show on nbc. vaguely remember it. don't know if i ever saw it. it was an ill-affair between pryor and the network, and only 4 episodes aired. the 4th, hosted by paul mooney, is wild. a take-off on the dean martin roasts, it features pryor (mostly silent) and his cast just going about the bizness of the roast. money shot= 3 of the cast are robin williams, sandra bernhard & tim reid. watch all 5 episodes, pryor starts in episode 4.

i'm in love

... inneresting WFMU radio interview here with big star drummer (and xmastime BFF) jody stephens. some great stories b/w sometimes baffling lapses of thought-- bits of stephens anecdotal info seems to come purely from what he's read. he does finally provide a clue as to thought process behind the naming of the third record. anyhow, he's there supporting the exhaustive (and i'm not using that term lightly) big star box set collection "keep an eye on the sky", that GIHYB, the biggest big star fan ever, won't even buy (he's spent years and too much $$ accumulating it hisself already). no word whether it includes material from the truly dreadful reunion cd "in space" from a couple years back (well, the posies tracks were good). also on tap is a brooklyn performance by the band tonight at the masonic temple, which bizarrely, MS GIHYB will be attending sans life partner. if it's anywhere near as good as their '06 SXSW show, she won't be disappointed-- and ultimately, that's all that matters to me ... husband of the fucking year ...

VU

this is kinda weird. a semi-reunion of the Velvets at the New York Public Library (no Cale, probably smart on his behalf, no Morrison-- no pulse). There's no music planned, just a discussion between the band and writer David Fricke. Reed and Tucker are present, but then they're really the only two who have remained civil ... the weirdness is that Doug Yule is going to be there. Doug of the final two records that wasn't included on the reunion tour-- and not being included in the hall of fame induction (who fucking cares). always felt bad for Yule. got a shitty hand dealt. was part of 2 great records. yeah, he's never making my all-time velvets line-up, but he did sing some classic VU (that lou wrote).

yes VA

dylan kills! love it!

it's new to me

grant hart, hot wax

this pains me. i just saw an amazing show by this guy a couple months ago, he is one of my favorite singers ever, and i LOVED his last record, but, new albums are NEW albums.

my quick review:

1 awesome. 60s garage. great singing, great keys. no husker overtones
2 cool. awkward sequencing. too long
3 worst mixing intro ever. awesome. classic hart. amazing singing.
4 classic pop ... just weird, and not good weird
5 more nova mob roman nonesense
6 kinda cool, but kinda cool like wings, cool sounds, but nothing there
7 like an outtake from an early 70s beach boys record ... like, not making the cut of an early 70s beach boys record, which wasn't easy
8 cool, but in the sense that grant could sing the phone book and that would be cool
9 his thank you friends (big star's third). sings his ass off. but too little too late

by song 3 i was getting lofty thoughts. after song 7, i was hitting that alex chilton "thanks, but not nearly recently" button

the pips

growin up, i had a strange fixation with gladys knight & the pips. they seemed to be on every show constantly ... this was the era of the variety show. actually, it wasn't to gladys knight and the pips, it was the pips, and it wasn't the pips, it was this one guy in the pips. i'm not going to even try and figure out his name. it wasn't a sexual fixation, it was something along the lines of 'i kinda know you' (dude in the middle). anyways, i got over it i suppose, they stopped showin up on tv, and i stopped watchin.

anyways, michael shelley played this tune of just pips and funk bros on his WFMU show today and it's awesome (no knock on gladys-- midnight train is still one of my all-time faves)! i spend saturday morn's with the boy and we fire his most excellent show up every week.

for the love of god

can we put a stop to this endless parade of old white guys. i know it's the super bowl, lowest common denominator and all that, but do we really need to hear baba o'reilly/won't get fooled again/who are you another time???? i'm struggling to come up with a less inspired choice. hmmm, is the game on cbs this year? maybe all the csi cast members can join on stage

... shame on me, who am i to pass up a piss break?

try me

kickin myself for missing syl johnson's set at the music hall tomorrow night. resurrected by the eccentric soul series, he's on the road as part of their eccentric soul revue. this cut from '67 is tha bomb.

i don't feel like going into the whole eccentric soul thing now, but it's an amazing collection of records. try google.

wow

this is crazy! eddy fronted the amazing equals and had a hit in the 80s. this, is genius.

the new list

the mission:

to create a list of the best 25 albums of the 1970s.

why?:

in the tradition of the first godihateyourband list of the top 100 songs since 1950, we're now focusing on decades, starting with the 70s, cause frankly, after that initial 60s rout, i could care less about revolver vs. sgt. peppers. let's hit a decade when monster rockers started putting out CRAPPY records!

what?:

your list of the top 25 albums of the 1970s (1 being the best)

potential potholes:

a) aka, the "london calling quandary". the record dropped in britain in december 1979. US was in january 1980. use your best judgement. after many emails back and forth with the GIHYB braintrust, I've decided not to care. i mean, who releases a record in december???? fools!

b) compilations that include material from earlier decades. we're going to have to treat on a case by case basis. the sun sessions will be tough ... the red and the blue beatles albums will not be tough.

deadline:

monday, december 14

feel free to include comments with your selections, and pass on to anyone that isn't an idiot. submissions should be emailed to:

info@reeltoreelrecords.com

xoxo,

GIHYB

it's new to me

the low anthem, oh my god, charlie darwin

apparently this album's over a year old. nonesuch rereleased it over the summer. i heard my now favorite song of the year (take that personal and the pizzas!) "horizon is a beltway" on some radio station last week. "horizon" is the kinda song that made the first marah record sound so great. that wedding of banjo & exile pomp, but with a more dustbowl mentality. like the aforementioned marah, there's a shitload of different instruments on here. the trio apparently switch about alot-- but it ain't in some grand fucking orchestration, it's just kinda there. and i kinda dig it. now, i hate to sound like a jarhead dummass, but the rockers on this record are fucking great. they stomp, they bang, they've got a strain of shane in em (not anything in an overt sense, but the attitude's appreciated). it's the goddamn slow songs that are the confusing ones-- and it ain't a small problem, well over half the record is slow. in fact, the leadoff (almost) title track "charlie darwin" is an excruciating 4:33 of that WAY overused indie falsetto bullshit. had i not heard "horizon" before, there's some doubt I would have continued. the slowers are about 50/50 ("to ohio" & "omgcd" are standouts), but all n all, check it.

this

blows my mind that they played this (somewhat credibly) in '07, and forever trumps me in the ongoing beatles vs. stones argument w/ xmastime. check .... mate.

Lucky Three

it's the end of the world ...

if you really wanna go insane

check out the live stuff here. it's mind-boggling.

it's new to me

john doe and the sadies "country club"

i've been clamorin for doe to make a trad country album for years. X hinted at it, and the knitters opened the doors (fuck, bloodshot recs acknowledges "little critter" was the reason they started), but as great as they were, it always had a foot in kitsch. etc etc etc. the voice was there and the sentiment was almighty. so, why does this album not work?

in retrospect, his first solo record underwhelmed the hell outta me (saving graces were mainly X-ish). i've not really bothered with much of his others, save a song or 2 here and there.

i'll be honest, if he'd blown this set out kamikaze style during an encore, i'd still be talkin about it. & though the record gets better as it goes along, the lack of dirt kills. the sadies relatively staid numbering meets his smooth delivery at a steady plane, and that's not a good thing. inexplicably, there's little personality, which is weird after witnessing doe live multiple times (in multiple incarnations!), he's an engaging guy ... and then there's the matter of why he hit on so many well trod songs ... still clamorin.

lennon being ... lennon

godifucking hate retracing these things, but this is kinda interesting

cocksucker blues

the legendary unreleased movie. this might be the drowsiest & best vid ever. an attempt to show the band as they were (and it does). some filmed by themselves. stones circa "exile". only seen it once on blurry vhs. "don't look back" it ain't, and that's what's great. druggzzzzz. stones pulled release at the time. here it finally is.

The Rolling Stones - Cocksucker Blues Part 1 sélectionné dans Musique et Rock / Pop

this might

be the funniest web series i've seen in a while. follow the trail.

file under: essential DC

in college, our band had one hard rule, if we got to open for The Ramones and the Slickee Boys, we would immediately break up. we never got the Ramones nod, but we did play with the Slickees. just found out about this blog that has a link to mp3s from "here to stay", their initial LP collection of EPs & singles. wore this thing out. & it still rules ... they have other great records, but this one's the prize ... prowl on yer own dime ... or buy a copy on ebay for the big bucks.

xmastime is a dead man, miss him, miss him

xmastime has not uploaded a post since thursday. the blog equivalent of me missing work for 47 straight days. i don't want to get everyone worried, but ... let's just be on tom ridge orange warning. sure he's safe. but, keep an eye out.

item 256 ... the stones are douchebags

i'm sure i'm late to this ... like 50 years late, whatever ...maybe pay back the verve for (not) stealing your song, it was a sample of a cover of your song fuckwads. hell, the riff the stones came up with for this song is amazing, but c'mon, this is jimmy page territory.

a ghost to most

i got no prob hearing ghostface rap over every sacred 70s r&b classic. i INVITE that. but this preview off his upcoming record is a bad omen. faux ribby and some dude autotuning his nuts off ain't welcoming. well intents aside, i know stevie, and you ... well, quayle.

vote aqui

happy 4th! let's hear it for tha new world's best band. now put yr money where your loudmouth is. vote at left for the best ramones record and then leave a comment why. vote and be an american (or for you non-americans, pretend to be one).

tha shizzle

MJ RIP

i saw michael jackson when i was about 8 years old, with my dad, jackson 5 live at the richmond coliseum.

schools integrated late in VA. last in the nation as far as i know. i'll never forget the first day of school that year. we stood in the main auditorium of the school, a circular room surrounded by classrooms. white kids on one side, black kids on the other. we just stared at one another. the white kids were from the neighborhood, the black kids bused in an hour from the inner city. i remember the lead up, lots of adult conversation about the upcoming event, but we were kids, and i don't remember giving it too much thought. the year before, they had introduced some black teachers, so it wasn't a complete shock to most. i, unlike alot of my classmates, had actually known black people before. my grandparents employed a few in their business that i regularly saw and conversed with. wow, reading back over those last few sentences is pretty mind-boggling today, but this was the old south where black was black and white was white. i don't remember separate bathrooms and drinking fountains, but the axiom of black and white was ground into us from an early age, and it bugged the living shit out of me from time that i could remember. i can still hear things coming out of people's mouths that crushed me-- and some of those people are ones i'd have taken a bullet for. those were seeds that led me to question race, individuality, and ultimately the southern "thing" as a whole.

it was a funny time. the mix of the suburbs and the inner city was actually pretty uneventful. i don't recall animosity and i really don't remember thinking too much about it. we kinda kept to our own. marching in line with society.

michael jackson was my first rock star. i had the records, the posters, watched the cartoon, had the 'goin back to indiana' record and tv special memorized. he was this 8-10 year old's james brown.

about 2/3 of the way through the school year, the jackson 5 came to town. my dad took me. can still feel the excitement hangin in the nosebleeds watchin tito storm the stage w/ gtr in hand. was a magical moment when michael came out. 8 year me screaming. bout halfway through the show, a group of black kids approached us. i lost it, yelled to my dad, "these guys go to school with me!". they were flummoxed I was there, me likewise. my dad ended up emptying his wallet buying popcorn & sodas for everyone. we had a fucking blast. and next day at school, i ended up being the white dude who knew the black dudes.

i stopped in on michael over the years, but it was nostalgia for me at that point. "off the wall" was pretty great ... i still remember exactly where i was when he did the moonwalk ... i think "thriller" is WAY overrated ('billie jean' excluded) ... king of pop? whatever ... and the ghouly and creepy last decade + was ... well, just that.

mlps again??

what i'm doin i ain't in my youth ...

godihateyourmovie

if you haven't seen the flick, it's prob lost on you. one of the greatest sequences ever:

grant hart live in new haven

easel moment.

it's new to me

the new york dolls, cause i sez so

how'd they get rundgren to produce again??? suppose the new cars are on hiatus (ed note: come back soon boys!). things roll quick with a couple a rockers. it's mainly the same mix as the pretty gr-ood "one day ...". again, it's the dolls through the david jo solo filter (thunders* wrecklessness supplanted by syl's prowess). it ain't always a bad thing, it's a different thing. look, the dude is one of the most underrated singers ever. he's fuckin levi stubbs ... he's fuckin levi strauss! & a hell of a songwriter, which tends to get in the way of the new new york dolls. he's throwin lots of chops around (as is syl) and it gets a little muddled (too many mid-tempo exercises ... i get it, but it don't always fit). rundgren kinda stays out of the way (which was a bit disconcerting???). but it's thought out, occasionally pissed, and frequently fun as shit to listen to. the coupla of bitchin girl group tracks ("better than" & "lonely so long") that the orig coulda rumbled with are pretty great, and that speaks. as i mentioned previously, i dig hearin this band hittin their last quarter, and "muddy bones" is worth any price of admission.

*for elvis is alive freaks, "exorcism of despair" has some creepy thunders-esque b/ups

o captain

pretty cool beefheart bbc doc i'd never seen. for some reason, i can't add the vid.

mekons "memphis, egypt" one of my

all time faves. jon langford (a god among men) told me he'd send me a cd copy ... still waitin on that jon? i've got a blog to run here!

jay bennett RIP

sad. talented motherfucker. beyond all the reality shit that was that flick, he did orchestrate an amazing record (not to mention the others). dipshit even did a solid.

unfair character assasination of the day

i've just watched "the making of the monkees". i love the monkees, pre-fab and post-fab. but the nesmith vs. kirshner stuff is beyond ridiculousness. you (nesmith) were hired as an actor to PLAY a rock guy. to get all incredulous after your FAKE band sold millions (playing other people's "amazing" songs) and demanding you get to do your own thing is silly. you're a) already rich*, so b) quit the damn show.

AND, your solo post-monkees stuff was great. so fuck everybody.

*mom invented white out

love it!

from harry allen's blog

it's new to me

bob dylan, together through life

there's enuff 'gettin ornery & squirrely & dealin' to qualify as an older gent (albeit a legend) givin his read on gettin older. but E-NOUGH? i don't think so. it sounds way more like an older gent playin songs he wants to play with his buds ... which he is more than entitled to (sounds alot like his radio show--WHICH I LOVE). there are cool highlights, "beyond here lies nothin" is primo snear late-bob. and yo, for you late period-dylan naysayers!!!, there's material galore ("life's hard" sounds like a kinda drunk dad doin karaoke at his 50th wedding anniversary ... bob's worst vocal ever???). BUT. i keep goin back to a somewhat similar record that i like alot better ... and it's not the truly great "time out of mind", it's the uneven but kinda awesome ny dolls reunion record from a couple of years back. johansen's gripping take on a glam band hittin 60 (check "maimed happiness" to start). just sounds to these ears like more of a biograph.

all i all ... this ain't any better than a dozen other americana records released this year or next ... and in the scheme of all things bob, that doesn't mean shit.

just hit the link

nod to tinsel & rot. hank ii remains the bodufus.

45 du jour

the worst band name in history notwithstanding (i won't even repeat for fear of no one checking out the link), & maybe the joke's on me, but "i don't feel so happy now" is my song of the year so far. nod to terre t for turning me on to it. hayday (on yet another extended hiatus) and the battlecats (somewhere out there) are officially on warning. get your guitars together.

beat the devil (again)

the bastards who broke up this great band when they were juss gettin started (i have no idea who, so i'm blamin em all) have finally released the idiot's guide record they were workin on when they mattered. AND they just sent out a SCARY email sayin it wouldn't be available for long. yeah, you know, rehab is for quitters and all that.

GIHYB rates it a BUY

required viewing

making of the funniest show in "four fuckin years". love the fact that they have NO baseball background.

The Making of Eastbound and Down - watch more funny videos

geeks only

to the rambler

best of luck on the west coast. before yr exit. best nyc records?

the avett brothers

heard alot about these guys, read alot, dude i work with (who has taste) TRAVELS to see them. i've heard one album, "Mignonette". i cannot stand this band. alt-country/dummass lyrics/wow banjo. am i missing something beyond, "i can sing along"? give me a reason ... and be succinct with yer answer (i don't wanna listen to this again).

fuckit

who doesn't neded a great strummer song?

spare change

easily, the coolest thing i've seen in a while.

jason & the scorchers

the gtr player still bugs the shit outta me (lineage beside the point), but the show i saw the guys play in richmond, va (rockitz) is still one of the best i ever saw.

all apologies

to cale, morrison and tucker

holy fuckin shit x50 ... 17 minutes!!!!!!

http://www.viddler.com/explore/Penda/videos/99/

holy fuckin shit

the quine era lou reed was definitely the 2nd best band lou ever played with on record. this clip from a show in italy pulls all bets off the table.

remainz

Xmastime and were talking about delineating the ramones into periods. the topic sprang because alot of people add road to ruin into the first triumvirate of the catalog. i disagree completely, but, we shall see.

our crack team deals

Jack said:
I agree.  I never think of Road to Ruin as part of the beginning.  People always say "the first four albums" when they should be saying "the first three". 

Or, in my humble opinion, the first LP and the next two.

When I think of Road to Ruin, I think of End of the Century before I think of Rocket to Russia.

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

I group them as the first three, Road to Ruin as a transition and then the next three(the "guest producer" era) and of course the Richie three.I'll leave the post Ramonesmania era out for now. While I can see lumping Road to Ruin in a group with EOTC, because EOTC  has a few classically styled Ramones songs, the Spector album really falls in with Pleasant Dreams and Subterranean Jungle,if only because it has lacks the cohesive flow of the first three, and to a lesser extent the fourth.
 
Road to Ruin is neither fish nor fowl.It's still got Tommy producing and writing, but acoustic guitars have appeared. The choice of a cover is spot on, and a lot of the themes(Germany, loneliness, being a freak, looking for something to do) are still there. It's got a party record flow of the first three, but not the buzz-saw kick. And most of all, on the first three the slow songs just sounded like fast songs at half pace.Here they sound like ballads.

Jack said:

I see what you mean.  I'm pretty sure (hard to remember) that Road to Ruin and End of the Century were the first ones I owned.  I got the earlier ones later and pretty much had a completely different take on the band after that. 

Whenever I would see them live most pisses and beer breaks would take place during songs after the 3rd album.  Plus, you could take a leak and only miss one song with the latter albums.     

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

It was their "In-a-gadda-da-vida" phase.

Xmastime said:

Side 1 of Road to Ruin is my least favorite side on any album until the eat that rat/freak of nature/mental hell/hair of the dog run on side 2 of AB (which is still prolly better just cause of Bonzo/Something to Believe In. i dont really put it anywhere near the first three

Jack said:

Agreed. Side 1 of Road to Ruin is pretty much exactly when they cease being better than all of the other bands.

Jimmy Eight Cats said:

Couldn't disagree more.They just become less better than all the other bands.

GIHYB said:

it boils down to the sound for me. while, in retrospect the debut is rawer (maybe worse mixed-- the bass and gtr separation is dumb) than the rest. the opening 3 have much more cohesion. the "producer era" as jimmy 8 accurately refers to has little to do with the pseudo metal they used after. i think of that as their final third.

had a thought (drunk)

watchin the stones in their 60s. how bout doin this as your old blues heroes did it when they were in their 60s?

GIHYB/Xmastime joint post

on the spot, drunk (start 12:15am)

best albums of the 60s (we took 5 minutes):

GIHYB
Velvet Underground & Nico
Kinks, Village Green
Beatles, Revolver
Rolling Stones, Between the Buttons
Dylan, Highway 61


Xmastime
Velvet Underground & Nico
Beatles, Hard Day's Night
The Best of the Equals
Pet Sounds, Beach Boys
Bringing it All Back Home, Bob Dylan

best albums of the 70s (we took a 60 count):

GIHYB
Ramones, Leave Home
Television debut
Skynyrd debut
The Clash, London Calling
Sex Pistols debut

Xmastime
Blood on the Tracks, Dylan
Exile on Main Street, Stones
Leave Home, Ramones
Sex Pistols
The Clash, The Clash

best albums of the 80s (we took a 30 count):

GIHYB
Replacements, Let it Be
Husker du new day

Xmastime
Violent Femmes, VF
Psychocandy, Jesus and Mary Chain
Tim, the Replacements

best albums of the 90s (we took a 15 count):

GIHYB
Nirvana In Utero

Xmastime
Slanted and enchanted
grave dancers union
gravity rocks

best albums of the 00s (we took an 8 count):

GIHYB
dbt new rec

Xmastime
kids in philly
the hayday album

who cares?

the antidote.

never seen the full vid.

45 du jour

U2, no line on the horizon
from no line on the horizon


i actually don't hate u2, they exist for me in that netherworld of giant critically acclaimed bands/artists*, that in my ever so humble (okay, that's a joke) opinion-- either have a good record in em or enough hits to squeek out a cdr comp, but don't deserve the godhead status they receive. let's cut to the u2 chase:

-a bunch of good songs (and a few great)

-a horrid rhythm section (which is actually beside the point)

-boy completely sucks, the next one too and war sounds more dated than the joke that i wrote to finish this

-a one trick pony guitar player (who's still channelling keith levene's early PiL work ... also beside the point)

bono ... somehow i'm kinda not bothered by him (well, after 'war' and even then sometimes, but 'bad' is GIHYB awesome.)

to me, "achtung baby" was the high water mark. "one" is an amazing song.

that said, they have alot of tunes that i really like. and one (the sole one on my ipod) that i have to have at the ready if i ever wanna get laid again.

i heard the new single on the radio. sounded to me like late-period janes addiction. SURPRISE, i actually love most of janes addiction. i can guarantee you i will never listen to the rest of the album. Xmas already tipped me the official single stinks, so that's enough.

*soon to come chil'n

GIHYB pick of the week

(moving my vinyl a week or 6 ago got me to thinkin)

The Kinks, The Kink Kronikles
subtitled: ray+dave+mick+pete = better than all your records

the best compilation i own (and widely recommend) is the "the kink kronikles". in its orig release, it's a double album of singles, b-sides, album tracks and unreleased tracks recorded by the band between 1966 and 1970 (since released on cd). the liner notes by john mendelssohn are almost worth the purchase. as a retrospective, it's a revelation, and to casual kinks fans, an eye-opener to ray (and dave's) songwriting prowess and inventiveness during their most fertile period. the sequence isn't the usual grab of hits (no "you really got me", "all day"). it's a deep look into the an amazing songwriter. there's no secret in ray davies gift. i still say, if they'd been given the budget the beatles had, there wouldn't be an argument for best british band of the 60s (ed note: and there isn't btw).

and for you nostradomus fans ... ray may be:

RIP Lux Interior

... if the ramones sounded like rock liberators from the exotic grimy streets of nyc to my teenage ears, when the needle dropped on a cramps record it was fucking outer space. freaks, ne'er do wells, prowlers from wrong side of tracks never thought about, and absolute godhead. in the reagan saturated american indie scene i grew up in, sex in rock took a backseat to cold posturing, to longing, to isolation, to a bedroom filled by yrself. but the cramps were sexy. big black may have coined the title "songs about fucking", but the cramps oozed it ... every utterance, every bleach of fuzz, every numbing drumbeat, every mangled microphone stand. lux and ivy shook the pillars. they were the dark screams every parent aired in the 50s. they were the elvis ...

ahem revisited, or, mind the bollocks

from the Guardian UK ...

Country Life butter soars after Johnny Rotten's star turn

It has been one of the more unlikely celebrity endorsements; John Lydon, a member of the seminal punk band the Sex Pistols, advertising Country Life butter. But it appears to have worked.

Dairy Crest today said the campaign, featuring a spiky-haired Lydon, aka Johnny Rotten, dressed in tweeds, had helped lift sales of the brand by 85% in the most recent quarter. Lydon, once better known for sending chills down the spine of middle Englanders, now appears adept at sending them to the chiller cabinet.

The performance of the brand helped to steady Dairy Crest after being forced to issue a profit warning in November. The business has been hit by spiralling milk prices, and sought to keep its costs down by laying off staff at its head office in Esher, Surrey.

In an interim management statement, Dairy Crest said group sales for the nine months to the end of December had improved by 4% compared with the same period in the previous year. Another key brand, Cathedral City cheese, was also a strong performer, increasing sales by 14%. The company said it had also captured a larger share of the Marks & Spencer cheese business, which would improve results next year.

the best post-VU record

our latest gift to the blogzaphere is our crack staff's attempt to find the best solo record made my a member of the velvets. as nico and cale left before the band ended, we start from their moment of departure.

jack's take

john cale, vintage violence

My vote for the best post VU record is John Cale's Vintage Violence.  Originally released in 1970, it bears little resemblance to the VU's catalog either with or without Cale. In lieu of the ugliness found on the two Cale VU records (particularly White Light/White Heat), Cale presents a country-pop record sounding often like a more radio friendly Flying Burrito Brothers.

In the CD reissue, Cale states that the songs are attempts to mimic his favorite songwriters of the time, and he cites the Bee Gees as an example.  While the record clearly draws some of the elements of their early Polydor LPs, influences from several other musicians/bands of the time are apparent.  In addition, the record seems to be a dubious precursor to both singer/songwriter and prog rock.  That being said, Cale's solo debut is not only a calm after the VU storm but also a legitimate attempt at radio accessibility.

The opening track, "Hello, There" could be a happier version of a Syd Barrett song complete with bar band style piano.  This leads into "Gideon's Bible" which sounds exactly like a song named "Gideon's Bible" should: Donovan and tons of marijuana.  "Adelaide", a train station sing-along with harmonica, follows Gideon and suggests the idea of anticipation, something not found on the VU records.  The next track, "Big White Cloud", appears to be the LP's big statement or at least the song that could have been=2 0the hit.  It's a solid song and employs the appropriate AM radio fadeout but sounds too much like a sober Jim Morrison doing karaoke.  This leads into "Cleo", a slightly annoying children's play song with rudimentary piano and call and response vocals.  It's somewhat out of place for a record of this caliber, but it's no worse than Husker's "How To Skin A Cat" and thus can be forgiven.  Side A closes with "Please".  Thematically a poor man's "Help", its melodrama is saved by its understated pedal steel and piano.

Side B opens with "Charlemagne" and suggests that Cale may have been one of the first people in the world to own Elton John's Empty Sky.  This is followed by "Bring It On Up", which would fit smoothly into any Grateful Dead set.  "Amsterdam" is probably the closest thing to a VU track and would probably have been sung by Nico had it been.  Several decades later, Belle and Sebastian would release several wussier variations of this song.  "Ghost Story" follows and is probably the weakest track.  It comes across as a pirate confessional with unnecessarily spooky keyboards and an inexplicably abrupt ending.  The LP ends with the Garland Jeffreys penned "Fairweather Friend". His band, Grinder's Switch, played on the record.  A by the numbers rocker, it seems tacked on.

The CD reissue includes an alternate take of "Fairweather Friend" and an instrumental entitled "Wall".  The latter sounds like Cale tuning for "The Black Angel's Death Song" and is completely superfluous.

On the whole, Vintage Violence is a tasteful, accessible record with a highly disciplined backing band.  It shows restraint not expected from Cale in 1970.  He would later call the record naïve.  After VU however, naïveté was not only in order but also refreshing.

ahem

billy powell RIP

billy powell is dead ... johnny van zant is an idiot

Billy Powell, a longtime keyboard player for Lynyrd Skynyrd who survived the band's 1977 plane crash, died at his Orange Park condo early this morning, according to police.

Orange Park Police Chief James Boivin said Powell called 911 from his condo in Club Continental and was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m. after rescue crews performed CPR on him. Boivin said he was told Powell had an appointment with his heart specialist Tuesday but never made it to the appointment.

Current Lynyrnd Skynyrd singer Johnny Van Zant spent 22 years with Powell in the band. He said the band took the news of Powell's death hard.
"You know, they say they've got one hell of a band up in heaven. My brother Ronnie up in heaven is probably saying, 'Billy, what took you so long?' I'm sure they're catching up on things in heaven."

do you remember?

when mtv was still a pile of shit?

ron asheton, RIP

hell just got a whole lot louder

there is a god!

wu has a new tv show! just saw the ad.

SWINGEN!!!

pleased to meet me

a big star "video" to 'thank you friends'. in the 3.5 minutes, they sport all of the allure and raw sexuality of carpet salesmen, yet, it's the only footage i'v ever seen of the original 4 (2 of which actually played on the song).