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.