Under the Bridge

Someone Forgot Their Password?

2009-02-12T11:20:00.001-08:00

Which one of you was it? HMMM??

RIP Bo Diddley

2008-06-02T11:06:00.001-07:00

What a huge loss today. He really did put the rock in rock and roll.

Bo Diddley December 30, 1928 - June 2, 2008

2008-06-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

It is with great sadness that I learned that rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley passed on this morning. He was not only one of the inventors of rock and roll, but a legend that never outgrew his fans. I'm proud to have met him and shaken his hand.

I trolled him in much more depth here.

Rest in peace, Bo. You were awesome, you were necessary, and you will indeed be sorely missed.

Trolling the Underground: Astronomy Domine

2008-05-27T08:55:00.010-07:00

I recently found this online in DVD format, and transferred it to .avi just for you. Here is Pink Floyd's very first television appearance, recorded on May 14, 1967 for the Look of the Week program. Evidently, they also did Pow R Toc H and an interview but this was captured during a re-broadcast and those two parts didn't make the cut. The transfer seems to have heightened the contrast in the picture a little - I'll have to work on that for future posts.

This is the original Pink Floyd with Syd Barrett on guitar and vocals. They play the song much like they later would on the Piper at the Gates of Dawn album. This means it's a little mellower and trippier than it would become with David Gilmour ripping into the solo the way he did.

The TtU Lyrics Quiz!!!!

2008-03-20T09:00:00.000-07:00

As Miz UV has amply demonstrated, you all like these lyrics quizzes! Hers are always very popular, but for me, frustrating. This is not only because I never see them until they're mostly answered, but also because she and I have different tastes in music, and all my encyclopedic knowledge does me not one damn bit of good. So for this one, it doesn't matter what music you normally listen to, because for all of these questions, I've already given you the answers.

You see, all of these lyrics came from songs I've posted on Trolling the Underground. All of you can access those (I did not use any songs posted on the Wordpress blog, although I think there was just one. All of these songs came from here or my main blog.) And no matter your tastes, I'm sure you've been downloading them all and giving them a close listen.

Right?

Here they are:

1 - They bend the facts to fit with their new stories of why we have to send our men to war.

2- "Send back my dream test baby, she's my main feature."

3- Baby, let me check your valves, fix your overdrive. (Trampled Underfoot, Led Zeppelin, Fez)

4- Distant bells, new mown grass smells so sweet. (Fat Old Sun, Pink Floyd, Jodie K.)

5- We asked you what you'd seen. You said you didn't care.

6-She always liked to sing along. She's always handy with a song. (Dixie Chicken, Little Feat, Annie)

7- I'm one of nature's children. (....., Beatles, Fez)

8- When the fish scent fill the air, there'll be snuff juice everywhere. (Wang Dang Doodle, I posted the Ratdog version, Annie)

9- I will now receive my comfort, conjured by the magic power of wine.

10- And if Warhol's a genius, what am I? A speck of lint on the penis of an alien.

11- You're trippin' on a shoe lace - racin' to each new place...

12- But they've turned the nature that I worshiped in from a temple to a robbers den.

13-Give me your lips for just a moment and my imagination will make that moment live. ( A Kiss to Build a Dream On, my post was Louis Armstrong, Jodie K)

14- I talk on the telephone for hours with a pound and a half of cream upon my face! (I Enjoy Being a Girl, Tiny Tim, Miz UV)

15- If silence was golden, you couldn't raise a dime.

16- Eyes are moving but there's no life showing.

17- We don't let our hair grow long and shaggy like the hippies out in San Francisco do. (Okie from Muskogee, I posted a Grateful Dead/Beach Boys version, Annie)

18 - They put a jug beside him and a barrel for his stone.

19- There lies a land I once lived in and she's waiting there for me. (Question, Moody Blues, Miz UV)

20- The secretaries pout and preen like cheap tarts in a red light street. (Synchronicity II, The Police, Fez)

Go!

Just Cuz Nobody's Posted Since February

2008-03-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

Comic grabbed from here.

People Who Live in Glass Houses Shouldn't Roll Stones

2008-02-13T08:14:00.000-08:00

The very picture of health, isn't he?

If you think that Natalie Cole was out of line in her criticism of Amy Winehouse, just check this out.

She's being panned by none other than Keith Richards (see his blog here) and Mick Jagger. Here's the stupidest part:

"When we were experimenting with drugs, little was known about the effects," Jagger said. "In our time there were no rehab centers like today. Anyway, I did not know about them."

Umm, sorry, mooselips. Acid may have been new in the 1960s, but cocaine and heroin were both old hat, and the dangers of both were well known. VERY well known. No excuses for you.

I don't know what's up Richards' ass. He's known for just spouting gibberish, so maybe it's that. Maybe he needs all of his blood replaced again. It certainly is a hypocritical stance for him, considering that it's been less than a year since he made that "joke" about snorting his dad's ashes, a "joke" that no one in the world had a moment's problem with believing. I mean, given his history, why would such a thing be hard to believe?

Jagger's a little easier to figure out. He has to put on this more conservative front now that he's got that entirely meaningless "Sir" in front of his name. I guess we have to expect a bit of hypocrisy from the aristocracy. His claim that they didn't know the dangers is self-serving, however. How could someone be so inspired by the blues without knowing what happened to the old cats that supposedly inspired him?

Now, it would be easy for me to get on my own high horse and say that this will change my buying decisions and I wouldn't listen to the Stones anymore, but what would be the point? I'm not ANYWAY. These guys have been dried-out husks for at least 15 years now. Sheer has-beens. Bill Wyman knew what he was doing when he made the Steel Wheels tour his last. He also knew what he was doing when he kept his mouth shut for all the years before that.

As for Mick and Keith, I have some advice for them, too. Look up Pete Townshend and Roger Daltry. They can teach you how to grow old with grace, and how to hold on to your place in rock history without making stupid, obnoxious, hypocritical asses of yourselves.

Defined A Decade?

2008-02-10T16:20:00.001-08:00

Being a music geek means being comfortable with thinking up themes like "The Bands That Defined A Decade." I'm talking rock bands here. This is something I've been toying with for quite some time, and I'm always tweaking. For now, I'm settled on these picks.

The 50's - I'd love to just say Elvis and get it over with, but he's not a band, even though he was almost as big as one by the time he died. No, I'd have to pick Buddy Holly & The Crickets as the rock and roll band that defined 50's. No, they weren't first on the scene, but Buddy's sound as well as his songwriting took rock and roll to the next level.

The 60's - The Beatles - These guys were the 60's, hands down.

The 70's - Led Zeppelin - Possibly the rockingest band that has ever existed. Their legendary excesses even helped spawn the punk movement.

The 80's - Here's where it gets a little tougher to pick, but I have to go with U2.

The 90's - Another tough decade to wade through. I want to say Pearl Jam, but they only rode in on the coattails of Nirvana. Nirvana brought grunge front and center, and every band tried to be them.

The 00's - I cannot even pick a band who might define the first 8 years of this century. My first inclination is to pick The White Stripes, though, since their garage rock revival has spawned scores of imitators, and hoards of rock snobs continue to cry out, "If it ain't indie, its' shit."

Thoughts?? Contributions?

Trolling the Underground: The Night I Met XTC

2008-01-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

Ah, yes. I remember it as if it were only 18 and a half years ago.

It was May, 22, 1989, a Monday, and I was off work that evening. My friend Mike called to see what I was doing, and if I'd heard that XTC was going to do a live show at WXRT radio studios that night. I was just sitting around with a fellow who had been known at various times as Lima Bean, Big Bird, and Secord, and no, I hadn't heard.

Feel like going to see if we can meet them, asked Mike? Mike was an artist - a painter, and a damn good one, which of course meant that he was entirely unsuited to anything else resembling work. He had time on his hands, was good for finding goofy shit to do, and always needed a ride. Well, we had nothing to do that evening, and stalking rock stars seemed novel enough for a lark. Why not?

I'd been a fan for about six years at that point, having learned of XTC when I left the rural clime of my childhood and went to college. Bloomington, Il. wasn't exactly what anyone would call urban, but being in school exposed me to people from all over the state, including Chicago and St. Louis, so I heard a lot of new things. Our campus radio station, WESN, had a "new releases" format, and I became acquainted with XTC's freshly pressed Mummer album through my weekly three-hour show. I didn't like it, and it's still one of my least favorites.

I heard much better stuff at parties, though. Drums and Wires, Black Sea, and English Settlement were all getting a lot of play on campus, and that stuff was easy to love. Rough, loud, and angry, it was also thoughtful and clever, with a sly joke thrown in for those listening carefully. With their attitude and their skill, they were one of very few bands that could bring the punk rockers and I to the same place.

I'd never had a chance to see them, however, because they stopped touring entirely due to frontman Andy Partridge's near crippling stage fright a year prior. While they continued to produce albums over the years, even kicking up quite a stir when their song Dear God hit the radio, they never set foot on a stage.

That didn't go too well with their record label, as it didn't help increase sales. They were in danger of getting shelved when they had a bit of a hit with their Oranges and Lemons album, and the single King for a Day. The personnel changes and the maturation of the band members had smoothed over the band's rough edge, and their newer, more harmonic approach was getting radio attention. They had to capitalize on that momentum while they had it, so a compromise was reached. In lieu of a traditional tour, they did a tour of radio stations in America's major cities, and on MTV, where they could do interviews and play "live" without all the live show rigmarole, and without an audience. They could get some media exposure without going crazy.

We looked up WXRT in the phone book for the address, and took off. I was cursing myself for having lent my Black Sea CD to an out-of-town friend, as it was the only one I had (in 1989 my CD collection was barely beginning). I brought along my LP of Black Sea, instead.

The station was easy enough to find, and we were not at all surprised to find that about 20 or 30 others had the same idea. It was a mellow crowd, though, and everyone just sat around and listened to the the radio and waited. By the time the show started, we had a little XTChead community going, and we listened to it all as the sun set. Then, after the show, we just waited.

And waited.

Well, they must not have minded, because rather than call the police to chase us away, they came out to greet us. Andy's legendary shyness had made us wonder quite a bit. When they came out the side door, there was a brief, awkward moment when he saw us all and took in the panorama of the parking lot, but his face warmed up and he immediately became approachable.

The others, Colin Moulding and Dave Gregory, were quietly polite and signed all the autographs that were requested, but Andy surprised us. He wasn't just tolerant. He was downright gregarious, talking and joking with fans as if it were his heart's desire, although we were pretty sure it wasn't. As he was getting the lion's share of the attention, the others were able to slip away from the crowd - after signing the inner sleeve of my LP, of course. As I got closer to Andy, they started coming around and dropping hints at him that the car was waiting, and to our surprise he blew them off rather than begging off from us. As the girl in front of me got his autograph, Colin came by and made another request that Andy break away, in a rather cryptic way so as not to offend us. Andy looked at us and said something very sarcastically spy like, as if it were a code, which got the crowd laughing at Colin's expense. He went away and didn't bug Andy again.

I remember asking him what comics he'd enjoyed the most as he signed my record jacket. I'd read that Andy was a comic book fan (and several of his song titles indicated so) and I was in the prime of my collecting days at the time. He expressed a strong fondness for the works of classic artists Jack Kirby and Steve Ditko (the guys who helped put the Fantastic Four and Spiderman, among others, on the map) and then looked at me and said "Adam Strange" in the same way that someone my age might look at me and say "Speed Racer." And then he was on to someone else.

That was my first experience with meeting someone I listen to, and I've been lucky enough to repeat it several times with folks like Adrian Belew, Bo Diddley, Marcia Ball, Charlie Musselwhite, Stanley Jordan, and Mose Allison.

These recordings are fairly easy to find, and seem to make the rounds on the bit torrent sites. They all sound great since they were either recorded from the FM broadcasts or taken from the radio station's tapes. I haven't tried to get them all, but I do have a couple from Boston and the one from WXRT. They all include the interviews and acoustic versions of some of their more popular songs. In fact, XTC being a rather open minded band, there is a website called XTC4U that offers many choice live shows for free download. You don't need to know BT for these, either, they're just point and click downloads. There are some real gems there. Go get you some!

Now, to the music. You can get the acoustic GreatFire/Dear God/Big Day medley at XTC4U, so I won't post that, nor will I post any of the interview. While it was all pretty interesting, and the band members were all in a jovial, wisecracking mood, we're about the music here at TtU. So I'll share two musical cuts.

The first is the other medley they did - Senses Working Overtime/Grass/Love on a Farmboy's Wages. The acoustic guitar and lack of thundering drums gives Senses an entirely different sound, and that difference extends to the second track I'll share tonight as well. That track is the show's finale. It starts with them coming back from a record, chatting for a moment, playing an acoustic version of The Mayor of Simpleton (one of their best "pop" tunes, IMO), and saying goodbye.

While Dave Gregory has since then bid the others adieu, Andy and Colin are still together and have stated plans to continue recording. Here's to more music from, and more success to, XTC.

Music Hath Charms........

2008-01-23T06:11:00.000-08:00

Found here at Froggy's.

At last, the taser industry has given us what we've been screaming for - the combination Taser and MP3 player! Never again feel the embarrassment of trying to disable your opponent with an accidentally-grabbed iPod! Now you can listen to your favorite tunes and disrupt central nervous systems with only one gadget!

Of course, this begs the question...... What would be the MOST appropriate song to listen to while stunning someone into a jelly-like state?

For me, Shock to the System by Yes was the first song to jump to mind, followed very quickly by Peter Gabriel's Shock the Monkey. Or maybe......

Big Electric Cat - Adrian Belew?
Electric Avenue - Eddie Grant?
Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment - The Ramones?
Shock & Awe - CSNY
Electric Guitar - Talking Heads?
Have You Ever Been (To Electric Ladyland) - Jimi Hendrix?

What tune would YOU like to groove to while disarming your attacker?

Trolling the Underground : Happy New Year!

2007-12-31T10:25:00.000-08:00

This is going to be a much shorter TtU than usual, because this time it is ALL about the music, and NOT AT ALL about discussion.

First off, many of you may not have seen this Blondie/Ramones post from way back. It was my 3rd TtU post! It highlights what these two bands were doing on Dec. 31, 1979.

As for this year, my first offering is from my earliest New Year's boot, and one of my earliest altogether. It comes from the man I trolled immediately after the Blondie/Ramones post, the incomparable Louis Armstrong. While I'd like to share his short,sweet instrumental Auld Lang Syne with you, it was unfortunately marred by an idiotic radio voice-over, covering the entire cut. Instead, I'll play a cut that embodies all that New Year's Eve is about - partying. Here's a rollicking number called Indiana from San Francisco's Downbeat Club 0n 12-31-54.

Besides Guy Lombardo, the musical act that made the most of New Year's Eve is doubtlessly the Grateful Dead. They threw a New Year's Bash almost every year they were around, and can you imagine a better party? I have to imagine, because I never saw one except on TV. One of the most famous was the 1978 New Year's Eve show from Winterland. The Dead came on after the Blues Brothers and the New Riders of the Purple Sage, played until dawn, and then served breakfast to the audience. What a way to bring in the year. Here's one of my favorite Dead tunes , Playin' in the Band, straight from the soundboard on that night. It's a fairly mellow rendition that starts with some characteristically quirky harmonies between Bob and Donna, but turns into a sweet jam.

To everyone reading this, I wish you a happy, prosperous and safe 2008.

And to 2007, I won't miss you. Feel free to kiss my ass on your way out.

50 Greatest Rock Soundtracks of All Time

2007-12-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

.
From the folks at Conde Naste Media (they pub Vanity Fair and other snooty hooty shtuff):

The "Movies Rock" 50 Greatest Rock Soundtracks of All Time

Much to be discussed (and disgust, to be sure).

Cross-posted at Film Freaks Film Club
.

Trolling the Underground : Christmas Under the Bridge

2007-12-17T10:48:00.000-08:00

As you can guess, Christmas music is pretty much a find-it-where-you-can proposition where the underground is concerned. While there are a few artists that do special Christmas performances, few of those are likely to be recorded by stealthy means, and those that are broadcast are usually not by artists that people who record by stealthy means would listen to. I've never seen a Perry Como bootleg, for instance, and if I've seen any Anne Murray shows, I didn't take notice.

However, I do know of a few classic Christmas tunes, and searches on my fave boot sites for "Christmas" and "Santa" yielded results from the sublime to the ridiculous. As a result, the very first Trolling the Underground Christmas Collection is going to be a bumpy sleigh ride. There are some very happy songs, and at least one that is really rather sad. There are some funny songs here as well, including one that is funny mostly because it is just so, so bad (and I think you'll be surprised as to which one that is). A few are definitely good for putting that WTF?? look on the faces of friends, neighbors, and unwanted in-laws when mixed into your Christmas tunes! Serious or goofy, happy or poignant, hard or soft, there is something for everyone in this mix.

Two things before we get started. One, I wish I knew more about editing sound files - that way I could have clipped off some extraneous between-song chatter. Some of it may amuse you, though. If you know how to clip it and want to, go ahead. The rest of you can do what I do...... deal with it. Second, if you plan to put these on a disc, as they most certainly deserve, remember that they all come from different sources, and normalize the disc so that they all come out at the same level. Otherwise you're likely to be adjusting the volume a lot.

I put them in what I consider a nice order with a good balance of moods, although some of you may not want to use ALL of them (give them all a listen, though, they're worth it.) Use any or all in your collections as you wish.

Happy, optimistic cheeriness is always a good way to start a Christmas disc, so I'll begin with one of three Beatle-related cuts. This is, in fact, from the very last McCartney & Wings concert, recorded by Paul for a future release that never happened (with the exception of one released cut, Coming Up). Despite what I'm sure was a bittersweet occasion, the song still kicks us off with all requisite McCheesiness. From Glascow on December 17, 1979, this is Wonderful Christmastime.

Next comes a quiet, sweet acoustic tune, one of the first I thought of when I conceived this project, as it is one of the oldest Christmas tunes done by a rocker that I know. This is Greg Lake at the Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham, England on November 6th, 2005. The song is called I Believe in Father Christmas.

Taking a turn toward the serious, I have the first of two duets from Bruce Cockburn's annual Christmas shows, which always seem to have plenty of guest stars. This was from a radio show on December 12, 1993, and features Bruce with Jackson Browne. Not a huge fan of either, I was attracted by the title of the song - Rebel Jesus. Obviously, this is not a deck-the-halls kind of tune, but rather a far more thoughtful song that Browne takes a few pains to keep from being misconstrued. What do you think of it?

Fourth, we go to the WTF? file for a twist on an old favorite. How could I see, and not include, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus by Twisted Sister??? 'Twould be a sin. And it seems that, in this version, Ol' Santa was getting more than just a little kiss! Mommy sounds like she'd be worth a trip down the chimney any old night. This comes from Trädgårn', Gothenburg, Sweden, on November 13, 2007.

I was looking to include in this collection a cut from the Trans-Siberian Orchestra show that our very own Nat saw recently with her son. In particular, I wanted to find the song that her son liked the most. Well, as the song says, two out of three ain't bad. While I was not able to find a recording of the show that they saw, I did find several others, including this one from Hershey, Pa. on November 4, 2007, just a few days before the target show. The song is the one I sought, Wizards in Winter, a bombastic instrumental piece that might actually be a little cheesier than the McCartney song, but has a few cool solo passages and definitely swings the pendulum back from the bizarre.

Getting quiet again, we move to a secluded piano somewhere played by an obviously worn-out John Lennon in November 1970. He had finished a grueling writing and recording project for the Plastic Ono Band album, and was kicking back with Yoko and trying to hash out ideas for what would eventually become the Imagine album. The recordings from this show the very rawest, earliest kernels of the ideas he would soon begin working with. There are two versions of a song called Happy Christmas, with neither being fully developed but one more so than the other. This is that version. While I'm sure it will never be a holiday fave, it is a nice snapshot of John Lennon the Songwriter fiddling and farting about with part of an idea.

Once again, how could I resist downloading a Christmas song by Kiss? Even if it was the no-makeup-only-two-original-members Kiss that played at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Ft. Wayne, In. on December 26, 1987. Unlike the Twisted Sister tune, however, I think you'll find this version of White Christmas to be different than you're expecting, considering the source.

I had to go hunting for this next one as well, since I knew it but didn't already have it in my collection. I didn't think I'd be able to get it, either, since the torrent was old and so poorly seeded, but a few extra seeders came out of nowhere to help me get all three discs worth in no time (unlike the Kiss and Twisted Sister tunes, I wanted to get ALL of this)! While it isn't a traditional Christmas song, it has been around long enough to be a traditional rock and roll Christmas song, and it is a short little rocker indeed. From the Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park (somewhere in England, presumably, as this is a BBC recording) on December 24, 1977, here's the Kinks with Father Christmas.

Plunging headlong back into the absurd, next is the Beatles, fresh from what must have been one hell of a night of partying, attempting to record their annual Christmas Message for the Beatles Fan Club on November 11, 1965. From what I've read, they would record four or more ten-minute sessions in order for the editors to get one floppy single's worth of Beatle banter to use for the fan club. You can tell that the boys are full of good intentions, with the glaring exception of John, but are stretching for ideas. Some of this was actually used, but I don't know what. I'm betting that it wasn't the bit about babies being sliced, frozen, and packaged. I don't know if they were on drugs when they recorded this, but I certainly hope to God that they were. You'll get some chuckles from it, and its inclusion in any party listening will CERTAINLY derail a conversation or two.

The next song comes next because of the beautiful segue that it starts with. Even though that segue was actually referring to a different song, it works just fine coming from that Beatles clip. It also serves as a fine counterpoint tune in any collection of religion-based Christmas songs. From the Greek Theater in Los Angeles on June (yes, June!) 1, 2001, here is Spinal Tap describing Christmas with the Devil.

The penultimate song goes back to being serious, and to making one think not about sugar plums, but about the serious and sad things that offset the shinier aspects of the season. Then again, what would you expect from Lou Reed, sleigh bells? Not hardly. This is Lou's duet with Bruce Cockburn from Christmas with Cockburn on December 20, 1992. It's called Christmas in February.

Rounding out these dozen selections is a traditional tune, but not a traditional Christmas tune. Nonetheless, it is a song that fits right in, and lifts the spirit (which will need a little lifting after Lou gets done with it). It's from the only gospel band I have in my collection, and the only one I've seen live. I speak of the legendary vocal group the Blind Boys of Alabama. When I saw them open for Peter Gabriel several years back, I was dumbfounded when, amidst their wonderfully harmonized gospel songs, the music for House of the Rising Sun began to play. What a strange selection for this group, I thought. I was even more dumbfounded when instead of House, they began to sing Amazing Grace! Never before had I seen the obvious - that the two sets of lyrics had exactly the same meter, and were musically interchangeable! Astounding, it was. I've been looking for a recording of that arrangement ever since, and still haven't found it. This arrangement, however, from the Waterfront Blues Festival in Portland, Or. on July 5, 2007, will show you what I mean. Rather than the organ riff of the version I saw them perform, this is a bluesy guitar-backed rendition that ends this collection on a high note both musically and spiritually.

I hope that a lot of you will download and enjoy this collection, and I hope you'll let me know what you think of the songs and the order I put them in. And please, let us know what your mother-in-law thinks of the Twisted Sister tune!

Merry Christmas to all of you.

Cheezy's Musical ABCs

2007-12-13T11:54:00.000-08:00

I think I'll do mine featuring mainly dance/house/electronica acts, of which I am still very fond:

Aphex Twin
Basement Jaxx
Chemical Brothers
Daft Punk
Evil Nine
Future Sound of London
Groove Armada
Hoxton Whores
Inner City
Junior Jack
Frankie Knuckles
Leftfield
Mylo
Narcotic Thrust
Orbital
Plump DJs
Q-Tip
Roni Size
Stanton Warriors
Tiesto
Underworld
Sven Vath
Crystal Waters
X-Press 2
Yello (pictured)
Zero 7

Nat's Musical ABC's

2007-12-13T04:22:00.000-08:00

No, I wasn't tagged, but I'm playing along, and I'm using all alt-country/Americana/roots artists. (don't quibble with me about the categorization, some of the picks fall loosely within the range, or have at some point in the career.)

1. Ryan Adams
2. The Byrds
3. Calexico
4. Drive-By Truckers
5. The Eagles
6. Five Chinese Brothers
7. Gillian Welch
8. Heartless Bastards
9. Indigo Girls (whew, "I" could have been tricky!)
10. The Jayhawks
11. The Knitters
12. Leftover Salmon
13. Mary Gauthier
14. Neko Case
15. Ollabelle
16. Patty Griffin
17. Quicksilver
18. Robinella
19. Son Volt
20.Tim Easton
21. Uncle Tupelo
22. Varnaline
23. Wilco
24. Texas Tornadoes (ok, so I stretched it)
25. Yonder Mountain String Band
26. Dan Zanes

O' Tim's ABCs of something completely different

2007-12-12T21:47:00.000-08:00

.
Joe has made this impossible for me, so I am going to go with painful counter intuition on my ABCs:

1. Anthrax
2. Beastie Boys
3. Chicago
4. Daughtry
5. Everclear
6. Fugasi
7. Notorius B. I. G.
8. Hagfest (amazing what you can find with Google)
9. Illiterate Puppy (sounds bad to me)
10. J. Lo (okay, not rock, but still painful - NRBSP)
11. Korn
12. Loverboy
13. Megadeath
14. Nickelback
15. Ozzy Osbourn
16. Linkin Park
17. Queensryche
18. Lee Ann Rimes (NRBSP)
19. Slipknot
20. T-Pain (NRBSP)
21. UGK (NRBSP)
22. Jon Bon JoVi
23. Lil Wayne (NRBSP)
24. XCon4God (another Google winner!)
25. Yngwe Malmsteen
26. SwiZZ BeatZ (NRBSP - I’d fall asleep but for the fucking subwoofer)

BONUS: I simply have to throw in .38 Special for a “number” band.

Joe the Troll's ABCs of Music

2007-12-10T09:01:00.000-08:00

1. Mose Allison
2. Jeff Beck
3. CSNY
4. Dr. John
5. ELP
6. Bela Fleck
7. Grateful Dead (I hated choosing between them & Peter Gabriel)
8. Hot Tuna
9. Iron Butterfly (not actually a big fan, but "I" is a toughie.)
10. Jethro Tull
11. King Crimson
12. Little Feat
13. Mahavishnu Orchestra
14. National Health
15. Anders Osborne
16. Pink Floyd
17. Queen
18. Max Roach
19. Steely Dan
20. Taj Majal
21. U.K.
22. Violent Femmes
23. The Who
24. XTC
25. Yes
26. Frank Zappa

Well, I guess I saw both extremes on this one. There were several letters where I had to choose between ones I like a lot (like with "G") and at least one where I had to choose between bands I didn't care that much for. I mean, Iron Butterfly is OKAY, I guess. They come out ahead of anyone else I can think of that starts with "I" (that being the Indigo Girls, Insane Clown Posse, the Isley Bros. and Tommy Iommi. Yeesh).

I don't normally like to tag people, so I'll just tag O'Tim, because he'll love it.

The Soundtrack of Jefe's Life

2007-12-05T07:12:00.000-08:00

See O'Tim's post below for the details. This was way too fun!

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
Hidden - Supersuckers

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Something - The Beatles

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Thank You - Led Zeppelin

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
True Love Way - Kings of Leon

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Linger Awhile - Lester Young

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Pay for What You Get - Dave Matthews Band

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
One and Only - Teitur

8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Have Thine Own Way Lord - Johnny Cash

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
Hush - Tool

10. WHAT IS 2+2?
Lil' Liza Jane - Fats Domino

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
You're All That I Want - Kiss

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Lonesome Head - David Fathead Newman

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Yesterday to Tomorrow - Audioslave

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
In Dreams - Roy Orbison

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Exanthem Fumble - Black Market Flowers

16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Abraham - Jack Kerouac

17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Melatonin - Radiohead

18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Marmaduke - Charlie Parker

19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett

20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
Mrs. Rita - Gin Blossoms

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Got You Where I Want You - The Flys

22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
Let it Die - Foo Fighters

It's crazy how well some of these line up! My personal favorites were that my life's purpose is to linger awhile, and that my biggest secret is Mrs. Rita. Ah, she was a minx!

The soundtrack of my life

2007-12-04T12:02:00.000-08:00

.
Here’s a meme I've not seen before, and it's pretty cool. By posting it here I am tagging all the authors of Where The Vibe Is, and anyone else is welcome to post their results in comments.

The rules:

1. Put your music player on Shuffle
2. For each question, press the Next button to get your answer.
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER WHAT (this is in capital letters, so it is very serious).

BEGIN

1. IF SOMEONE SAYS “IS THIS OKAY” YOU SAY?
21st Century Schizoid Man - King Crimson

2. WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Crosseyed And Painless – Talking Heads

3. WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
LaGrange - ZZ Top

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?
Jammin’ – Bob Marley

5. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
Alabama Song (Whiskey Bar) - The Doors

6. WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Feelin’ Alright – Traffic

7. WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Conservative Christian, Right Wing Republican, Straight, White, American Males - Todd Snider

8. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR PARENTS?
Achilles Last Stand - Led Zeppelin

9. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN?
A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke

10. WHAT IS 2+2?
Give Back The Key To My Heart - Wilco

11. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
John Barleycorn Must Die - Traffic

12. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
I Second That Emotion - Jerry Garcia and Merl Saunders

13. WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Laugh Laugh - The Beau Brummels

14. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Home At Last – Steely Dan

15. WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Eyes Of The World - String Cheese Incident

16. WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
A Wolf At The Door – Radiohead

17. WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Let’s Work Together - Canned Heat

18. WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
I Need More Love – Robert Randolph & The Family Band

19. WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
That’s How AIDS Began - Todd Snider

20. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET?
After The Goldrush – Neil Young

21. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Salt Of The Earth – Rolling Stones

22. WHAT SHOULD YOU POST THIS AS?
The Man Who Loved Life – The Jayhawks

I'm thoroughly amazed at how some fit in so perfect, while others might have fit better under a different question. I'm also amazed that no Dead showed up, but I did get the Jerry/Merle Motown cover and the String Cheese version of "Eyes." This is cross-posted at my personal blog Much That Is Hidden.
.

The Hartnoll Brothers

2007-11-20T12:38:00.000-08:00

Popular music is full of siblings who have made music together, and a lot of them have had rather tempestuous relationships. The fightin' Gallaghers from Oasis spring to mind, as do the Davies brothers from The Kinks. And, going even further back, I believe the Everly Brothers didn't speak to each other for the odd decade or two.

An exception to this rule are Paul and Phil Hartnoll from the seminal electronic act, Orbital. Hmmm... Must have been all the E they took. It's hard to stay angry at someone when you're pilling your tits off.

Despite the lack of any high-profile familial bust-ups, it's a truism of life that all good things must come to an end. And so, after four memorable appearances at Glastonbury, seven great studio albums, and a stonkingly good valedictory tour in 2004, Orbital broke up. Along with the likes of Leftfield, Underworld and the Chemical Brothers, they will be remembered as one of the most vital and innovative electronic bands of the 90s.

(If you're unfamiliar with their work, check out these videos for a taster - The Box and Halcyon).

But what are the Hartnoll boys doing nowadays? This year has provided us with the answer, so it's time to don my metaphorical music reviewer's hat and give the following pair of CDs a listen:

Long Range - Madness and Me

I saw Phil Hartnoll's Long Range at The Big Chill back in summer 2006, so I was expecting a CD of their new material pretty soon afterwards. I didn't think I'd have to wait over a year anyway!
Not to worry - it's here now. And it's got all the ingredients for a great dance album. Filthy basslines? Check. Insistent beats? Check. Heart-fluttering melodies? Check. The title track is a particularly beautiful piece of music.

The only exception to this tale of excellence is the song 'Your Face', in which Long Range 'succeeds' in sounding like some godawful German heavy metal band from the 80s. I don't know what Phil was thinking of there, but the result is complete shit.

Nevermind, things get back on track with the excellent Just One More and it doesn't detract from what's a very promising debut from this band.

8 out of 10.

Paul Hartnoll - The Ideal Condition

Wow, this is an entirely different kettle of fish. It's been said that Paul wants to get into making soundtracks for movies, and it certainly sounds like it. Much of the material comes across like the soundtrack for a movie - a bloody good one.

A lot of The Ideal Condition couldn't be described as house music - or, indeed, dance music of any kind - so a lot of Orbital fans probably won't like it. But personally I love the airy, orchestral, almost pastoral sound of tracks like 'For Silence' and 'The Unsteady Waltz'.

There are still harder, clubbier tracks (and the poppier 'Please' featuring the distinctive vocals of The Cure's Robert Smith) but the overall feel is sweeping and grandiose. For example, 'Nothing Else Matters' is one of the most beautiful electronic tracks I've heard in ages, and the final track 'Dust Notes' reminds me of the sort of grand, overblown orchestral piece that wouldn't sound out of place on the Floyd's 'Atom Heart Mother'.

In other words, it's fookin' brilliant.

9 out of 10.

So there we have it. A narrow points victory to Paul.

The feeling back "in the day" was that Paul was probably the real brains behind Orbital. I think this was mainly due to the fact that Phil, during the live shows, used to cavort around and wave his arms around and generally look like he was having just as good a time as the audience - while Paul generally kept his head down and seemed to be doing most of the 'knob twiddling'.

Despite this public impression, I reckon these albums show that the talent in the Hartnoll family was shared around fairly evenly.

Manic Monday

2007-11-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

It's the last Manic Monday before the official kickoff of the Bigassed Neverending Commercial Holiday Joy Season! Spend, spend, spend!

Blues:

Acoustic Blues - Paul James (reissue)

Explorer - Duke Robillard (reissue)
New Blues For Modern Man - Duke Robillard (reissue)

Country/Folk:

Live Shots - Joe Ely

Greatest Hits - Keith Urban

Old Town School Of Folk Music, Vol. 4 -Various Artists

Rock:

Angel Down - Sebastian Bach - I guess he has time for music now that his gig on Gilmore Girls is up.

A bunch of Holiday Gift Packs are coming out on Capitol Records, each from a different artist (i.e. Pat Benatar, Blur, Blondie, etc. Each features a CD and DVD.)

Ask Forgiveness - Bonnie Prince Billy

Fly Me Courageous - Drivin' N' Cryin' (reissue)

Awakening Live - Melissa Etheridge

Genesis - a bunch of reissues of their 80's stuff on Rhino

Dose - Gov't Mule

Y34R Z3RO R3MIX3D - Nine Inch Nails

Colorado 88 - Phish (and more live Phish, too)

Jukes - Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes - Springsteen light is reissued this day.

Joshua Tree - U2 - 20th Anniversary reissue

The Brit Box: U.K. Indie, Shoegaze, and Brit-Pop Gems of the Last Millennium - Various Artists - Rhino's gift box in a cool-looking package. 78 songs. Stone Roses, Smiths, New Order, Supergrass, My Bloody Valentine, and many, many more artists.

Jesse Winchester - reissues

That is all. Now enjoy the turkey this week, if you're in the USA, and if you like turkey.

Contrast Podcast Needs YOUR Vote!

2007-11-13T13:57:00.000-08:00

As you may or may not know, I participate in a weekly podcast, Contrast Podcast, produced by the fab Tim Young. Each week, he assembles a themed podcast featuring songs introduced by the participants. This week, the theme was Random Shuffle, so each participant shuffled a player and submitted the first song that came up, with a short intro. My song this week was Summer's Coming by Sean Watkins. Next week, the theme is 1986, so I've chosen a song, recorded an intro, and emailed it off to Tim to be part of the podcast next week.

For year's end, Tim's doing a Contrast Podcast Festive 50, and asking folks to submit their favorite 5 songs of 2007. I would love it if any of you would join in the fun. Here's what to do:

1. Decide on your 5 favourite tracks of 2007 and put them in order from 1 (your favourite) to 5 (your fifth favourite). (Note: he's a Brit, so favourite=favorite. Yes, I'm a smartass.)
2. Send this list to me at tim.young@rhul.ac.uk with ‘Contrast Podcast Festive 50’ in the message title by the 27th November.
3. This is open to all contributors and listeners to the podcast .. so spread the word. The more votes we get the better it will work.
4. Three lucky list-makers (pulled out of the hat randomly) will win a copy of the ‘The Trucks – Titties ep’ including my remix!!
5. I will then put the lists together to make a chart and invite contributors to introduce songs that they have liked.
6. The podcast will go out from 18th December to 1st January with a countdown of the top 50 .. hopefully!

If you are shy about recording an intro when/if your song makes the cut, I can do one for you. So, come on, help us out!

What did I submit? It was tough, since there are many songs I couldn't get enough of this year, but my list is:

1.You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb - Spoon
2. Right Moves - Josh Ritter
3.Boy With A Coin - Iron & Wine
4.Down In The Valley - The Broken West
5.Head Like A Hole - Giant Bear (NIN cover)

The Oldies but Moldies.

2007-11-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

Nat of local fame recently discussed the five oldest records in her collection. That got me rooting through the old lp collection, and reminiscing quite a bit. I was all about the black vinyl disks when I was a kid.

My answer, therefore, would have been much too long for a comment, so I'll list mine here.

First of all, there is a lot missing from this collection. After all, I wasn't always about the music I dig now. In elementary school, my collection was chock full of K-Tel collections with names like Fantastic!, Dynamite!, and Out of Sight! I also had everything Kiss yarked up until the under-the-belt combo of the horribly inept Kiss Alive II and those solo albums. Egad, those solo albums. This stuff, along with other mistakes, was purged from the collection when I reached middle school, and never missed. Thus, this answer to Nat's question involves just those that survived.

There are two from those days, and I am certain that they predate any of the Kiss albums I bought, anyway. They were both, of course, inspired by my older brothers' collections, and the first was the only band that they both had.

Hours upon hours were spent in my room, using the little record player my parents had bought in the 50s - you remember, the little portable ones that were self contained and made their own case. I pored over the record cover - the first "real" one that was my property. I seem to remember there being a poster with it, but that's long gone now.

I remember digging this because it was one my brothers didn't have, yet it had all the songs that I liked from the albums I'd heard, and a few new ones. It also gave me a chance to hear different versions, since it was a live album. See how early this whole thing started?

The next one was heavily inspired by my eldest brother M___'s collection.

At the time, live music was more of an economic decision than an artistic preference. A single lp cost about $7.00, but you could get a double album for $10.00, and a triple like this for about $13.00. More bang for your buck. Any of them were a big investment for a 4th grader in the day when a copy of The Flash was only a quarter. And thanks to both the radio and my brother's records, I was really into the Beatles and McCartney both. This three-disc set not only gave me new versions of songs I knew, but also a lot of new songs, as well as live versions of Beatles songs! This is one I'd like to replace on CD.

It's interesting to note that while I played the hell out of these records, they are still in fantastic shape. I'd even say the McCartney is close to pristine, despite getting played for years longer than the Grand Funk. I was careful with my music to the point of neurosis, I guess. My reverence started at a very early age.

This one was a gift from my other brother, R__ . His idea was always to get me music that I wasn't listening to, and broaden my horizons. In this case, however, it's no wonder the lp is in great shape. With the exception of one song, Do You Feel Like We Do, I never warmed up to it. As a kid, I thought maybe I just wasn't "getting it", because this was such a monstrously popular album. I figured I'd like it better as I matured. I didn't. The main reason this is still in the stacks is the fact that I've never found a used record store willing to buy another copy of the damn thing.

The next one was my own decision, made around 6th or 7th grade, and one of the few to escape the "used record store" purges of the 1980s that removed a LOT of records from consideration here.

This is still a great album. When it first came out, my young mind was baffled by Bohemian Rhapsody, but it grew on me in exactly the way Frampton did not. And the first side is simply one great song after another. In fact, I cannot for the life of me explain why I don't have this on CD, especially since good Queen boots have thus far eluded me.

Finally, we come to one that I'm sure I got in 7th grade, as another gift from R___. This time he got it right, as I was ready, largely because of Queen, to start exploring the more progressive rock bands, and Kansas was a terrific primer. While songs like Dust in the Wind are commercial enough for a young listener to consider "normal", songs like The Spider and Paradox challenged me to follow the melodies and rhythms in a way that hadn't happened before. This album prepared me for a lot of bands I listened to later, such as Yes, ELP, and King Crimson, which in turn paved my way toward jazz. Not only that, but it was also a lyrical departure from the teen love that most of the radio fare consisted of, and that meant a lot to me. I wanted something more intellectual than the usual party fare of the day. And look at that cover! The next record R___ got me for a gift was Wish You Were Here. He really hit the nail on the head that time, eh?

Trivia Quiz - Names

2007-11-08T12:35:00.001-08:00

The standing rule: No Googling!

Who is the artist referring to in the song? (Give me the artist/song title, people!) No, these are not the exact lyrics, since what fun would that be? (and none of these are super-obscure songs, ok?)

1. She should wake up, since he's got something to say to her. It's late September and he should be back at school, you know.

2. She made a food (CORRECTION, the word is FOOL) of everyone. She broke the rules, but the world was just waiting for her.

3. This bloated hairy thing winnin' a grammy must not get back together with Glenn Frey.

4. This guy had a hard run, runnin' from her window, and he's on his bended knees asking her not to come around anymore.

5. She need not put out the red light or sell her body to the night.

6. This country boy never learned to read and write so well, but he could play guitar.

7. All he wants to do when he wakes up in the morning is see her eyes.

8. Her phone number was 867-5309.

9. He's crawling up my wall, black and hairy, very small.

10. He looks at the night, and it don't seem so lonely. How can he hurt when he's holding you?

The More Difficult BONUS question:

11. She feeds you tea and oranges that come all the way from China.

Manic Monday

2007-10-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

I have been lax in posting these weekly updates, so it's time to get back to it! I just know you're all dying to get the new Britney Spears release this week!

Blues:
John Lee Hooker - I Feel Good [Deluxe Edition]
The Starkweather Boys - Archer St. Blues

Country/Folk:
Larry The Cable Guy - Christmastime In Larryland
The Highwaymen - Folk Hits Collection
Various Artists - Bearded Ladies

Rock/Pop:
Blue Rodeo - Small Miracles
Blues Traveler - Cover Yourself
Cake - Cream Of The Cake
Chad & Jeremy - Greatest Hits
Ellen Foley - a couple of reissues - You know, Meat Loaf's chick singer from Paradise by the Dashboard Light
Robert Fripp & Brian Eno - Unreleased Works Of Sterling Genius
Gerry Goffin/Carole King - Goffin & King: A Gerry Goffin And Carole King Song
Joy Division - reissues
The Kinks - The Kinks Greatest 1970 - 1986
Pure Prairie League - reissues
Leon Russell - reissues
Britney Spea....never mind
The String Cheese Incident - a bunch of live on the road cds
Tegan & Sara - reissues
The Texabilly Rockets - Bop Potion No. 5
Sid Vicious - Sid Lives
Gary Wright - Human Love - reissue of a 2000 release
Various Artists - Tribute To Prince - artists include Ice T, Gary Numan, and a bunch of people I never heard of

In other words, nothing much came out this week.

Trolling the Underground : Interstellar Zappadrive

2007-10-26T05:47:00.000-07:00

Thirty eight years ago, Paris was slated tohave its first rock festival, the Festival "Actuel".

The festival did occur, but due to bureaucratic nonsense it ended up in Belgium. It must have been one hell of a scene, though. If you look at the list of bands below (click to embiggen) there are some amazing possibilities. I recognize the name Aynsley Dunbar from his work with Zappa and Jefferson Starship, and likewise recognize Keith Tippet from his brief stint with King Crimson in the 70s, but don't know if either of these bands was ever recorded. Better known bands included Yes, the Nice, and the Pretty Things. Zappa was there first as Capt. Beefheart's road manager, and soon stepped up to being the MC for the festival. This presented certain problems, however, since the audience spoke little English and Zappa's command of French was tenuous at best. He abdicated those duties and ended up playing as a guest with many of the bands instead. One of them was Pink Floyd.

I've been wanting to post this for awhile, but couldn't because it's a little too long for the storage I was using before. My new storage site has no limits, so I can post this delicious 20 minute jam from October 25 1969. On that night Zappa joined Pink Floyd onstage to improvise through an uncustomarily long and experimental version of the already long and experimental Syd Barrett classic Interstellar Overdrive.

When I found this, I actually found two different versions of it. One was called Interstellar Zappadrive and the other was Let's Be Frank. Being as it doesn't cost anything, I downloaded them both and gave them both a listen. Not only was IZ the better sounding audience recording, it also came with a few alternate soundboard cuts. What I have here, though, is from the audience - no board of the Zappa stuff. It sounds pretty damn good, though, and has become a favored listen here Under the Bridge. Those of us familiar with Gilmour and Zappa's styles will be able to pick them apart, and it's amazing how easily Zappa fits in with and influences what's going on with the song. Those of you who don't know the difference, just buckle in for some hot psychedelia. You can hear it right here.

There was a film made of this festival called Music Power, and I understand it includes footage of this song. It's never been released, however, due to objections among the artists - including Pink Floyd. It's floating around out there, though, so far eluding your Troll. Another Holy Grail, I guess.

The Trivia Quiz Returns!!!

2007-10-19T15:38:00.000-07:00

.....in a slightly different form. This time around, I'm going to list 15 debut albums. Can you tell me who the artists are without Googling? I deliberately strayed outside my own taste in music to give a wider range of you a shot at it. Here we go-

Cold Spring Harbor (Billy Joel)

Freak Out! (Zappa/Mothers of Invention)

Empty Sky (Elton John)

Truth (Jeff Beck Group)

White Music (XTC)

On Through the Night (Def Leppard)

Los Angeles (X)

Murmur (R.E.M.)

For You (Prince)

Children of the Future (Steve Miller Band)

Ring Ring (ABBA)

Tales of Mystery & Imagination (Alan Parsons Project)

Pretties For You (Alice Cooper)

This Was (Jethro Tull)

Writer (Carole King)

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to find 15 debut albums that weren't just titled with the band or artist's name? Yeesh.

Trolling the Studio: The Who, vol.1 - Lifehouse

2007-10-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

In the last exciting installment of TtS I talked about demo recordings, which are the "test recording" that artists will make of new songs in order to sell them to the record company and show them to other members of the band. These are much more available than unreleased albums, simply by virtue of numbers. In fact, I don't know why I don't see more of them than I do. For every record released, there are a set of demo recordings. You don't get too big to do demos - at least that's what my copy of Pink Floyd's Final Cut demos tells me.

Demos range from raw solo cuts tweaked out on a piano or guitar to fully polished works that might be almost identical to the finished product. The latter are the ones you won't be hearing here. What would be the point?

The Who's songs, unlike many other bands', were never collaborative in the beginning. Pete Townshend laid down the ideas and music for most of their work, especially the operas. Since he was writing the songs, and since he was able to play the guitar and sing well while doing a competent job on bass and drums, he would do the demos, and very fine demos he would do. In fact, no one else has commercially released as many demos as Pete has, to my knowledge. They are, in many cases, legitimate alternative versions of the songs, not just unfinished skeletons. It also seems that few have made as many, also, because while he's released a lot of them, the underground coughs up even more, allowing me to take this album by album.

Who's Next has always been one of my favorite rock albums. I consider it a necessity to a rock collection. Even if you don't think you know the Who, if you've listened to rock radio and you're not too old, you know half of this album. I have long known that it grew from the wreckage of an unrealized project called Lifehouse, but I never knew the story until I looked it up recently while listening to these demos.

Lifehouse was to be the follow up to the very successful Tommy. It was a science fiction story that sounds very much like a popular movie from the 1990s. Pete Townshend had the idea in 1970, however. He got started and did a lot of recording, but the complexity of the project grew, involving film and audience participation over an open-ended period of time. The audience participation part involved the programming of data about a person - physical attributes, personality traits, etc. - into a computer program which would then create a piece of music based on and reflecting that info. The project ultimately failed because it snowballed out of Townshend's control, largely because he couldn't get anyone else to fully grasp his idea. The full story is told pretty well here, and here's a less detailed version that also includes a song list and some interpretations of those songs. It's very interesting reading. Pete was really thinking ahead of his time and outside the box.

At any rate, while the project collapsed, it became more condensed and turned into a conventional rock album, Who's Next, with a couple bits also popping up on the Who Are You album and elsewhere. There are still projects afoot that deal with this concept, and I'll write about that soon.

For now, I'm going to show you a few aspects to this music you've most likely never imagined. First up is the demo version of Baba O'Reilly (If you don't recognize that title, you might think the song is called Teenage Wasteland.) This differs from the FM classic in a few ways. First, it is more than twice as long, clocking in at a little over 13 minutes. It's instrumental. In fact, the length and structure of the piece suggests to me that this was meant to be the overture of the Lifehouse project. While parts of it are identical to what you know, others are completely new (one sounding somewhat like an electronic polka), and others are familiar but different because they are played by Pete instead of the band. Yet despite the vast differences, it begins and ends just like the one you know. I'll be interested to know what you think of it - it's right here.

The second offering is the other FM mainstay from the Who's Next album, Won't Get Fooled Again. This song is arranged just like the finished version. It still sounds completely different. This cut truly points out what a difference the musicians themselves make, and how the Who weren't just taking orders from Pete. It's very cool to listen to, though. Where the finished cut is raw and hard, this version, while still energetic, has a sound much closer to country rock. In fact, I easily closed my eyes and imagined Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young playing while Pete sang. Not only does Pete's drumming remind me of Dallas Taylor, but the overall approach has that unique blend of pissed-off and laid-back that CSNY can reach on a good live Southern Man. It's right here - you can tell me if you hear that same thing, or if you think I'm nuts.

The third and last cut is the demo of one of their more obscure tunes, and one of my favorites, called Relay. Relay is a powerhouse electronic tune about government control and the inevitable underground it breeds. I think I heard it on Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy originally, but I'm sure it's on a CD as a bonus song by now. The one time I heard it on the radio I was stunned.

Once again, this shows the difference between Pete and The Who. It isn't a lesser song by any means - this could be released. It's just wildly different in a wild way. Rather than reminding me of the Who or CSNY, this version of Relay invokes Dr. John more than anyone else. I mean Pete is really laying down the funk right here, at least as much as a skinny white guy from England is going to. It's an amazing new perspective on this song. Once again- listen here and tell me if you hear something different.

I have demos for several more Who albums, but I'll take my time. There's plenty in the studio for me to troll, believe me. We'll not get bored.

This is now my favorite Who photo. I've never seen one that sums them up better. John Entwistle was a rock.

Trolling the Underground : Another Legend Passes.

2007-09-27T05:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a rough couple of months in the jazz world. First, legendary drummer and be-bop originator Max Roach died in August, and then keyboardist and jazz fusion innovator Joe Zawinul passed on on September 11, 2007.

You may not know his name, but I'm sure you've heard of the famous band he co-founded with saxophonist Wayne Shorter - Weather Report. You may not have heard one of their albums, but if you've lived in the western hemisphere at any point since the late 70s, I'm sure you've heard the song he's most famous for - fusion classic Birdland.

So, upon his passing, a similar thing happened as I reported in the Max Roach post - his history started popping up for download at a rapid rate. Much more so, in fact, than Max, perhaps because Joe's jazz music was appreciated by rock fans to a far greater degree. There was so much that I still haven't given it all a listen. The ones I have listened to have amazed me, and captured my undivided attention in a way that few things have in the past year or so. I should, in fact, have paid a lot more attention to Joe while he was alive.

Hailing from Austria, Joe first recorded with Cannonball Adderley in the 60s. He wrote Mercy, Mercy, Mercy, as song that quickly became a staple in Adderley's live act. I find it interesting because in that band he was playing much more conventional jazz than he would soon be helping invent. Toward the end of the 60s and the end of his tenure with Adderley his style had grown toward that which he'd be more known for. I have to offer something from that era, a sweet and not too long rendition of Mercy, Mercy, Mercy from Graz, Austria on March 15, 1969. Joe's piano solo is as close to country as I've ever heard jazz get. It contrasts the free forms he'd be discovering very soon after this show.

After his stint with Cannonball, Joe worked with Miles Davis on two historic albums; In a Silent Way and Bitches' Brew. These albums gave birth to a new form - jazz fusion. It was this band that not only brought electric instruments into jazz, but also played with rhythms that were much more at home in the rock world while loosening up the melodies to improvisational heights like those that Coleman and Coltrane had previously reached for. They not only started a new branch of jazz which is still strong, but also heavily influenced the progressive rock movement of the 70s (not to mention the Grateful Dead). Since Joe played on both albums, I always assumed that he toured with Miles during those years.

I assumed wrong. While doing some research and looking for pictures, I learned that Joe never played live with Miles Davis until a star studded show ( I mean everyone was there) at La Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris on July 10, 1991. Joe played on two songs (the band changed members completely ten times throughout the show). Both songs are one one track, so I can share them both from the FM recording of the event. The track starts with Joe and Wayne Shorter (ss) playing Joe's In a Silent Way, followed by It's About That Time with Bill Evans (ss) joining Shorter and Davis (tp), Kenny Garrett (as), Richard Patterson (el-b) and Al Foster (d) rounding out the band. It's a great example of the style that fathered one new form and heavily influenced another.

After that, Joe got together with Davis cohort Wayne Shorter to form one of the most successful yet exploratory fusion bands, Weather Report. This band went through a lot of changes and did a lot of fantastic music that I am just discovering now. I've had two of there more popular albums, Heavy Weather and Black Market for many years, but only now, when concert recordings from 1970 to 1980 are literally falling onto my hard drive from afar am I realizing what a great groove every incarnation of this band had and how much interesting stuff they had to offer. So much so that I am nowhere near even the halfway point, and obviously will need to make a separate post of it. I've already heard a 24 minute version of Boogie Woogie Waltz that almost made me splat my spats. I can't go without doing some WP, though, so for now I'll go with the obvious.

Like I said above, you HAVE heard Birdland. Yes you have, if you've lived, as I said earlier, in the western hemisphere, especially if you have gone shopping. This is a really great song, despite being heard on AM radios and shopping mall PAs for the last 30 years. It's one of the rare, those oh, so rare times when good music and mass appeal actually meet and don't spit at each other.

Of course, I have to play a live version, and I'm not happy with the one that I have on audio, so it's very fortunate that YouTube has a far better one on video. You can not only check out Joe, but you'll also see brilliant, tragic bass legend Jaco Pastorius at work. Check it out. You recognize it, don't you?

Finally, I have a slinky, funky tune from his most recent band, The Zawinul Syndicate. I'd never heard this band before, and I have to say I'll be hearing a lot more of them. I couldn't find anything about them on the web but I didn't have that much time to look, preparing as I am for a short road trip. This song, Scarlet Woman, comes from the Rose Theater in NYC on the 27th or 28th of October, 2006. It is so unlike the previous songs in this post it has to be heard to be believed.

That is the crux of what made Joe a treasure. He purposely pushed himself to change his style at all times. He didn't buy records because he didn't want to pick up anyone else's chops, and he hated repeating himself. While he was raised on more traditional jazz forms, once he latched on to fusion he constantly took the point and made sure the form didn't stagnate. There are too few like that in any genre.

This post took quite a while to get together due to my unfamiliarity with much of Joe's music, a weak spot soon to be strengthened by considerable listening. I've downloaded enough to keep this fresh for months. It's a shame that it took Joe's death to really get my attention past a few discs but I guess there will always be things I haven't gotten around to listening to yet. He won't be forgotten, and I have no doubt that there will be a dedicated Weather Report post once I wade through the 70s with Joe and Wayne.

Next: Barring any more jazz memorials, we'll be returning at long last to rock and roll.

Gram Parsons rarity surfaces

2007-09-25T10:45:00.000-07:00

.
This just in from Rolling Stone:

A long-lost recording of Gram Parsons playing with the Flying Burrito Brothers in 1969 will be released October 30th. The 27 track set, taped at San Francisco's Avalon Ballroom when the group was opening for the Grateful Dead, contains 10 unreleased covers including Hank Williams' "You Win Again" and George Jones' "She Once Lived Here." The recording - taped by Grateful Dead sound man (and LSD King) Owsley Stanley - was discovered two years ago by Amoeba Records founder David Prinz in the Dead's Marin County vault. Blown away by the recording, Prinz decided to try to release it - a two-year process which involved getting permission from the reclusive Stanley as well as surviving bandmates and Universal Records. "I was standing next to the speaker and it was like Gram was in the room with you," he says. "I have never heard his voice like that, ever." Prinz plans on releasing future Parsons archival albums, including more shows with the Burrito Brothers and a rare show from his brief tenure with the Byrds. "Making these shows available is my dream. " Prinz says. "To all Gram fans, this is for you."

Thanks for making my day, Mr. Prinz!

Last year I wrote this GP tribute.

UPDATE: Joe the Bit Torrent Troll was kind enough to dig up some MP3s of this.

From April 4, 5 or 6, 1969, here are a few samples available for download (hopefully until October 29):

Lucille, an uptempo ditty with a psychedelic flavah,

Get Ourselves Together, a firm tune with that hippie country resolve, and

You Win Again, the Hank Williams standard that the Dead added to their repetoire a few years later.
.

Manic Monday

2007-09-24T12:12:00.000-07:00

New this week:

Blues:
Deborah Coleman - Stop The Game

Magic Slim - Essential Magic Slim

Country/Folk:

A huge series called "Pure" is being released, featuring many classic country artists, including Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Patsy Cline, Lee Greenwood, etc.

Steve Earle - Washington Square Serenade

Billy Joe Shaver - Everybody's Brother

Erin McKeown - Lafayette

Holiday Music is being released by the boatload. 'Tis almost the season!

R & B:
*Bettye LaVette - Scene Of The Crime - If the one song I heard is any indication, this cd is going to be smokin'! Her voice is in fine form, and her band on this record includes David and Patterson Hood and the rest of the Drive-By Truckers and Spooner Oldham.

Rock:
Devendra Banhart - Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon

The Bird And The Bee - Please Clap Your Hands

Pieta Brown - Remember The Sun

Pat DiNinzio - Pat DiNinzio

Melissa Etheridge - Awakening

Jose Gonzalez - In Our Nature

Iron & Wine - Shepherd's Dog - I'm not a huge fan, but I do love the song Boy With A Coin, which is included on the latest Paste Magazine sampler.

The Lemonheads - Best Of The Lemonheads: The Atlantic Years

Nellie McKay - Obligatory Villagers

Joni Mitchell - Shine - her first new release in 5 years.

Iggy Pop - 1977 - reissue

Brian Setzer Orchestra - Wolfgang's Big Night Out

Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War

Tegan And Sara - This Business Of Art

The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour

Winger - The Very Best Of Winger - Because we will settle for no less than the very best.

*Pick Of The Week

Manic Monday

2007-09-17T05:00:00.000-07:00

Do you think 50 will keep his promise to stop recording???

Hey kids, summer's over and it's time for the serious music to come out, so open the wallets and start bleeding money (or the RIAA will hunt you down!)

Blues:
Doyle Bramhall - Is It News

Johnny "Guitar" Watston - Untouchable! The Classic 1959 - 1966 Recordings

Bessie Smith - Nobody Loves You When You're Down And Out

Country/Folk:

Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight And Dark

Emmylou Harris - Songbird: Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems

Reba McEntire - Reba Duets

Iain Matthews - some reissues

Kingston Trio - Lost 1967 Album: Rarities, Vol. 1

A boatload of holiday music gets released this week. Oh, the joy.

R & B:
I hardly mention R & B, but the new Babyface, Playlist, seems like it could appeal to me. There are acoustic covers of James Taylor and Jim Croce and Eric Clapton included. How do I know about this? They are hawking it all over the TV!

Rock:

Alice In Chains - MTV Unplugged [CD/DVD]

Badfinger - two reissues

Cindy Lee Berryhill - Beloved Stranger - with guest artists John Doe, Peter Case, and Dave Alvin

James Blunt - All The Lost Souls - Because he sold his?

Canned Heat - Live At The Topanga Corral - Reportedly not recorded at the Topanga Corral, but at LA's Kaleidoscope club in 1968.
Chesterfield Kings - Psychedelic Sunrise (new) and The Mindbending Sounds Of The Chesterfield Kings (reissue)

Jamie Cullum - In The Mind Of Jamie Cullum

The Dream Academy - Dream Academy - reissue - Here's your chance to grab Life In A Northern Town, since you didn't hear it enough in 1986!
The Fabulous Thunderbirds - reissues

Peter Hammill - reissues

H.I.M. - Venus Doom - for the gothies out there

Danny Kirwan - Second Chapter [Limited Edition]

Alvin Lee - Saguitar
Ben Lee - Ripe

The Legendary Shack Shakers - Swampblood

Barry Manilow - Greatest Songs Of The Seventies - Um. Right. Maybe the greatest shmaltz of the seventies. And he includes a couple of his own hits!

The Monkees - a couple of compilations

Motion City Soundtrack - Even If It Kills Me

The Polyphonic Spree - Live From Austin, TX - Ok, now I know that series has gone too far. This group sounds like an adult version of The Brady Bunch to me.

Seals & Crofts - A ton of reissues. Speaking of seventies hits, these guys had a few!

Sonny & Cher - Classics

Those Darn Accordians - Squeeze Machine - Has me intrigued.

3 Doors Down - Better Life [Deluxe Edition]

K.T. Tunstall - Drastic Fantastic

Wishbone Ash - First Light

Link Wray - Pathway Sessions

Soundtracks:
Eddie Vedder does the Into The Wild soundtrack.

UPDATE: And who is ahead in the 50 Cent vs. Kanye battle of last week's releases?

Billboard reported Friday that Kanye West's Graduation leads with 781,000 copies sold over the 603,000 moved by 50 Cent's Curtis.

Manic Monday

2007-09-10T06:52:00.000-07:00

New releases for tomorrow, Sept. 11, 2007.

Blues:

Homesick James - Shake Your Money Maker - reissue

Eric Bibb - Evening With Eric Bibb
Various Artists - Best Of Mississippi Blues (includes Otis Spann, Son House, and Memphis Slim)

Country:

Kenny Chesney - Just Who I Am: Poets & Pirates

Patsy Cline - Country Biography

Willie Nelson - Country Biography

Folk:
Joan Baez - Carry It On

Ian Matthews - Journeys From Gospel Oak [with bonus tracks] - Reissue.

Rap:

The 50 Cent vs. Kanye West releases will happen. 50 says he will quit if Kanye's debuts higher. I'm all for that. Maybe Kanye could quit if Kenny Chesney debuts at #1?? And that's all I'm ever saying about rap.

Rock:
Animal Collective - Strawberry Jam

Frank Black - Bluefinger

Collective Soul - Afterwords -here is one band I never thought would last this long.

Elvis Costello - My Aim Is True [Deluxe Edition] - This is one of my favorite debut albums ever and I've already got a 2 -cd release from Rhino. How many editions of one release do I need?

Ani DiFranco - Canon

The Dollyrots - Because I'm Awesome

Fleetwood Mac - English Rose - reissue

Peter Green Splinter Group - Time Traders/Reaching The Cold 100 - double album reissue

Joe Henry - Civilians

Nazareth - Complete Singles Collection

Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn [3-cd deluxe] - the one mentioned last week, with a bonus disc of extras

Emma Pollack - Watch The Fireworks

Johnathan Rice - Further North

Shout Out Louds - Our Ill Wills

Ann Wilson - Hope & Glory - she does duets with all sorts of people, including Elton John and Alison Krauss

Wishbone Ash - Live in Hamburg

Trolling the Studio: Talking Heads 1975

2007-09-06T21:41:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my previous Trolling the Studio that the unreleased album is one of the rarer finds. I have only four or five of those. Once an album is invested in, it's usually released eventually.

Much more common is the demo recording. This is an initial recording that a band will do to pitch the music to the record company. The quality will vary; sometimes, it's a rough recording with just the bare bones of a song, other times it can be almost identical to the finished product. They can illuminate a song or album in a few ways, though.

First, it can show you how much the basic musical idea was developed in the studio or onstage, when the entire band was working on it. Many times, the song is written by one member, and the demo is a solo piece not only for the record companies, but also for the rest of the band. Pete Townshend's demos for Who albums are a great example of that. Many were released on the Scoop collections, others will appear here soon. Other times, the band is involved from the beginning, but the song itself evolved, as you'll be hearing in this post.

Secondly, they can show you the tragic, horrible mistakes that were avoided by the above mentioned evolutionary process. It can be as subtle as changing a hook or as major as omitting a song altogether (demos frequently include songs that don't make the cut). You wouldn't believe the original lyrics to Comfortably Numb. You'd thank sweet baby Jesus that Roger Waters re-wrote them.

In this case, they provide a very early glimpse at what would become a great band.

Talking Heads formed in Providence, RI in 1974 and moved to New York the next year, for obvious reasons. The original trio consisted of David Byrne, Chris Franz, and Tina Weymouth. This is the lineup that recorded the demos I present here. Jerry Harrison was added to the fold in 1976 and the first album was cut in 1977.

In the liner notes for Sand in the Vaseline, Tina Weymouth recounts how one record company guy had taken an interest in them, occasionally seeing them perform. He suggested that they could polish their sound if they recorded themselves and listened to the tapes objectively. They got two hours in a studio and ran through two versions each of 15 songs. These were songs that appeared on their first two albums, and a few that got dropped from the repertoire. They didn't have anything to play the tapes on, though, so the exercise was fairly fruitless. A couple of the cuts made it onto the Sand collection, and I have a set of 15. I'm not sure if the ones on Sand are ones I have, though.... even if they're different, I doubt they'd be very much so.

While demos often show a completely different or undeveloped idea of a song, these show that Talking Heads usually have an idea of where they want a song to go from the outset, but may have to do a few tweaks on the way there. I'll start with the first song recorded, Psycho Killer. While most of you may know the electronic version with the whole band and the live acoustic version that Byrne did solo, you'll now hear how the song started... as a combination of those two ideas.

Next I have one of the songs that disappeared. It's a great companion piece to Psycho Killer, since it also comes from the point of view of someone who's about to go over the edge. That similarity is probably why they dropped it, but I think it's a cool song. It's called I Wish You Wouldn't Say That.

Rounding it out is the first version of their first single Love Goes to a Building on Fire, but they hadn't quite settled on that title yet. This version is called Love is Like a Building on Fire.

Talking Heads is one of those bands that I'm very sorry to say I missed in concert. It was their concert film Stop Making Sense that really got me into the band, but that unfortunately chronicled the last tour they would do. Like so many great bands, success and ego tore them apart.

How wonderful that they can still be rediscovered via the Underground.

Manic Tuesday, because Monday Was A Holiday

2007-09-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

I have no excuse other than "it was a holiday and I didn't even get to the computer." Is that lame enough?

I also have no time this morning to give a good list, so here are the highlights of the new releases this week:

Some Townes Van Zandt reissues.
Etta James - Blues From The Big Apple
Taj Mahal - World Blues
Crosby & Nash - Bittersweet
Pink Floyd - Piper At The Gates Of Dawn [40th anniversary 2-cd edition]
Patty Scialfa - Play It As It Lays
Ted Nugent - Love Grenade

2007-08-27T12:14:00.001-07:00

The last Manic Monday of August, people. Where did summer go?

What's new tomorrow:
Blues:
The Blue Voodoo - Back To The Shack
Memphis Minnie - Early Rhythm & Blues From The Rare Legal Sessions
Various Artists - Boogie Woogie Blues

Country:
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band - It's Not Big It's Large
Loretta Lynn - Number 1's
Ralph Stanley - Essential Masters

Folk:
John Stewart - California Bloodlines
Burl Ives - Songs From The Big Rock Candy Mountain
David Bromberg - David Bromberg - reissue
Leadbelly/Reverend Gary Davis - Good Morning Blues - Compilation

R & B:
James Brown - 20th Century Masters: The Millenium Collection
Ruth Brown - Late Date With Ruth Brown - reissue
The Jackson 5 - Number 1's

Reggae:
Toots & The Maytals - Light Your Light

Rock:
Stephen Bishop - Red Cab To Manhattan - reissue - Yeah, he's the guy who gets his guitar smashed by John Belushi in Animal House!
Joe Cocker - Classic Cocker
Demon Dog Sperm - Hopeless - I don't think that band names can sink any lower than this.
The Dixie Dregs - Dregs
Ben Harper & The Innocent Criminals - Lifeline
Dale Hawkins - Back Down To Louisiana
Horse The Band - Natural Death
Danny Kortchmar - Innuendo
Kenny Loggins - Celebrate Me Home/Nightwatch - a twofer reissue
Michael McDermott - Noise From Words - Sample this here. It's sort of Bruce Springsteen-ish.

Michael McDermott - Mess of Things

New Buffalo - Somewhere, Anywhere
Willie Nile - Beautiful Wreck Of The World
Procol Harem - Secrets Of The Hive: The Best Of Procol Harem
Queensryche - Sign Of The Times: The Best of Queensryche
The Young Rascals/The Rascals - a bunch of reissues/compilations
The Real Tuesday Weld - London Book Of The Dead
Ringo Starr - Photograph: The Very Best of Ringo Starr - compilation
The Subdudes - Street Symphony*
The Yardbirds - Live At B.B.King's Blues Club

*Nat's Pick of the week

Trolling the Underground: New Order July 17, 1989

2007-08-25T07:13:00.000-07:00

I've never been a fan of dance music, especially the hyper-electronic nightclub stuff. While I can go see a blues show and dance myself to exhaustion, or join in with the fish-out-of-water- frolics that characterize a Grateful Dead audience, I just can't seem to move to music that has no other purpose than to be moved to. Perhaps it's that stronger purpose that makes New Order one of only two (with Yaz) electronica bands that I appreciate, although I still can't dance to them.

New Order is one of those enigmatic bands that can have songs I love and songs I hate on the same disc. It was in 1983 when I first went away to college and started listening to what the city kids were listening to that I discovered a beautifully haunting synth tune called Your Silent Face. I later learned that this is the perfect song to listen to while driving on a city expressway, like the Kennedy in Chicago, in the middle of the night when no one else is around. The peaceful yet sad melody complements the highway tunnels with the evenly spaced lights on each side in a way I can't describe, but can remember vividly 20+ years later. There were several other songs on that same album, called Power, Corruption, and Lies, that I like a lot as well.

On the other hand, I absolutely hated, and still hate, Blue Monday and it's B-side, The Beach. I don't care that it's the biggest selling single of the 80s. Those two songs just had nothing to say.

So as I began my little obsession with live recordings it became one of my goals to find a good sounding recording, preferably a soundboard, that had Your Silent Face and my other favorite, Temptation (which has a simple but wicked guitar line). As a bonus, I hoped to find one that had those two but not the two I hate. That's not too much to ask, is it?

Of course it is. They played Blue Monday a lot. And it seemed that this band like several others, were haunted by the spectre of poor quality bootlegs. It took a long time to find a soundboard recording at all, and even those weren't sounding too good. I finally found one that sounds pretty good a couple months ago that has both songs. It also has Blue Monday, but I don't dwell on that.

This is one time I can't delve deeply into the history, because I don't know much of it. While I appreciate this music a lot, I never felt a personal connection to the band like I have with Pink Floyd, the Dead and others. I do know that they came from the ashes of a punk band called Joy Division (I refuse to use the commonly applied term "post-punk", because it just sounds farooking stupid) which dissolved when one member committed suicide. Their sound became a bit bouncier and less gloomy as they chose a new direction as a new band.

I can say that I was very surprised listening to it, as their sound is far more layered in the studio than it is live. In fact, I initially thought that the recording was faulty, that I was missing a synthesizer or five. It isn't though, they simply keep their concerts honest by not playing a lot of taped stuff in order to emulate their studio sound. I realized that when I heard Your Silent Face and heard everything I expected to (albeit with much weaker bass than I'd like to hear).

This was recorded At Pine Knob Music Theater near Detroit Mi. on July 17, 1989.

Here's Your Silent Face (It ends a few notes early due to bad tracking on the maker's part)

Here's Temptation.

Did you dance?

The music doesn't stop here. Come see my Trolling the Underground tribute to jazz legend Max Roach at Under the Bridge.

Manic Monday

2007-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

There's lots of good stuff coming out tomorrow! Oh, and I got the new Grace Potter (from last week's releases) and it's not blowing me away as much as Nothing But The Water did earlier this year.)

Now onto this week's releases:

Blues:
James Cotton Blues Band - Pure Cotton*
Omar Kent Dykes/Jimmie Vaughn - On The Jimmy Reed Highway
The Insomniacs - Left Coast Blues
Rod Piazza - Thrillville

Country:
Rerelases of nearly the entire Garth Brooks catalog. You knew it was coming, even though he said they'd all be retired.
Patsy Cline - Signature - a compilation
Conway Twitty - #1's: The Warner Brothers Years

Folk:
Loreena McKennitt - Nights from the Alhambra*

R & B:
Ruth Brown - 1954 - 1956
The Blues Brothers - The Definitive Blues Brothers Collection

Rock:
Aiden - Conviction
Architecture in Helsinki - Places Like This
Blackfoot - Rattlesnake Rock 'n' Roll: The Best Of Blackfoot
Blue Cheer - What Doesn't Kill You
Joe Bonamassa - Sloe Gin*
The Epoxies - My New World
Earlimart - Mentor Tormentor
Firefall - Greatest Hits - on Rhino Records
Love - Greatest Hits
MC5 - Greatest Hits* and some reissues
The Mekons - Natural
Mendoza Line - 30 Year Low
Minus The Bear - Planet Of Ice
The New Pornographers - Challengers*
Over The Rhine - Trumpet Child*
The Pietasters - All Day
The Queers - Day Late And A Dollar Short
The Rascals - Greatest Hits*
Rilo Kiley - Under The Blacklight - if you dig Jenny Lewis, you are a happy camper today.
Josh Ritter - Historical Conquest*
Mitch Ryder - Detroit -Memphis Experiment - reissue
The Waterboys - Book of Lightning* - I'm curious about this one. Loved this band.
*Nat's picks of the day, which she would buy if she had tons of entertainment bucks to spend.

Death Of The Album?

2007-08-16T11:35:00.001-07:00

A music blog I visit often, Fingertips, also publishes a web site. A recent article caught my eye and captured my interest, since I'm all old and shit and I still buy albums (though in CD form.)

Read it here. It's quite an interesting and thoughtful view of the issue.

Trolling the Studio - The Lost Double Trouble Album

2007-08-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've given myself a monumental task recently. I'm finally figuring out what's in my collection, and making a list, as I should have done long ago. Well, to be fair, I started long ago, but the project was dropped.

Then came a period when my old burner went through a slow decline. I was hesitant to replace it because I knew that the entire computer needed replacing, and was saving up for that. First, it stopped burning audio discs, but it would still burn data DVDs. Thus I was able to continue downloading things, listening to them on the computer, and storing them for later burning. And oh, I did that a lot.

So now that I'm needing a snow shovel to move the discs out of my way as I negotiate the hallway, it seems like a good time to figure out what's what. And boy, is there a lot of what. Enough to keep me writing these things for the rest of my life. I've found a lot of things I had forgotten downloading, and haven't listened to yet. So I'm sure you can understand how much fun I'm having discovering exactly what I've been sitting on.

While I've been doing this and the collection as a whole has been taking shape before me, I realized that my Trolling the Underground posts have yet to address an entire subsection of my collection. Thinking I should rectify it with a post, I soon realized that I had enough material in this subset to do a few posts. After a while, I saw a new series starting.

You see, a recording doesn't have to be live to be underground. It only has to be commercially unavailable. That opens a couple doors.

First, you have demo recordings. These are simple tapes that artists cobble together to play for the record companies prior to recording an album. It's their "sales pitch" to the label for that material, and everyone does them. These can vary from being almost identical to the finished product to being wildly different, which is when they are the most interesting. Sometimes they are even released, as in the case of Pete Townshend's "Scoop" collection, but not normally. They get out, though, either as the result of some insider action or else some mishap. I recently acquired a small selection of the demos from Peter Gabriel's first solo album that were found on a reel of tape in a box at the bottom of a stack of boxes in the bathroom of an unused warehouse. Imagine what other gems are sitting forgotten in ancient cardboard on rotting tape next to a leaky pipe. It's almost enough to make me run screaming into the night. We'll hear a lot of interesting demos as this new series develops.

Another form of underground studio recording is the "alternate take", which is frequently used as a special bonus on CD re-releases. These will come from the same sources, and be much more in depth than the bonus tracks.

There is a third category, though, that is much rarer. I have, so far, only three examples out of 1150 entries (and still counting). This is the unreleased album.

These are usually big news when the band is already established, and the legal battles can go on forever before we found out that the album was better left unreleased anyway (take that, Boston).This one, however, came about four years before Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble ended up releasing their first studio album, with a different lineup than the one that first recorded.

For this lineup Stevie had Jack Newhouse on bass, Chris Layton on drums, and Lou Ann Barton singing. Since the album was relatively short (remember, the album was recorded with vinyl in mind, the bootleg was made as a CD) it was matched with a 1979 concert tape of the same lineup, with a lot of the same songs. After that, Lou Ann Barton left to go solo, and Stevie began singing for the band. After one or two more personnel changes, they were heard at the Montreaux Jazz & Blues fest by James Taylor and David Bowie. After recording with both and declining to tour with Bowie (although you can hear them rehearse together here) Stevie finally got Texas Flood recorded and released, and the rest was history.

The bootleg's liner notes contain two stories regarding the boot's origin. To quote:

"The one and only surviving test pressing was recently discovered in a cupboard in South Austin, Texas where it had lain for the last 19 years, all other recordings of the project have been destroyed after alleged contractual disputes arose. These recording, notable for their raw energy and rare slide guitar work are essential for all true collectors. Also featuring four early arrangements of songs that later appeared on the Texas Flood album. Due to the brevity of the Nashville '78 session the producers have added a live soundboard recording featuring Lou Ann Barton and three tracks featuring Johnni Reno on saxophone."

Notes: The above paragraph is the supposed story behind this recording as told on the cd inlay. The real story is that the band didn't like the way the album turned out and paid a large sum of money to keep it from being released. As you would expect, someone got their hands on a copy and bootlegged it.

Well, the important thing is that I can haz it, right?

I'll share two songs for two different reasons. One is called Rude Mood, one of four songs that this album has in common with the Texas Flood album. It's for the fans of Stevie's instrumental style, and shows how it grew in the years between this recording and the one that was eventually released. The second is called I Wonder Why and has Lou Ann's vocals as well as that rare slide guitar mentioned above. What do you think, upon listening? Were they ready, or was keeping this under wraps a good move at the time? These are definitely two of the best tracks.

At any rate, I doubt any SRV fan would want to pass it up now. After all, there's only so much to be had, eh?

Manic Monday

2007-08-13T10:23:00.000-07:00

Good lord, it's the middle of August. Let's see if the releases are as lazy as I feel right now. These are all out tomorrow.

Blues:
Hillstomp - After Two But Before Five
Lightnin' Hopkins - Blue Lightnin' - reissue of a 1965 release
Sue Palmer and Her Motel Swing Orchestra - Sophisticated Ladies

Country:
Some label, Madacy, is releasing a ton of country artist compilations, including one with Johnny Cash and one with Kenny Rogers.

Folk:
Lori McKenna - Unglamorous
Sam Baker - Mercy; Pretty World
Linda Thompson - Versatile Heart

Reggae:
Of course there's a Marley in release, by the same Madacy Special Products. Can't tell what's on it, but I'm guessing I Shot The Sheriff and Redemption Song might be included, ya think?

Rock:
The Alley Cats - 1979-1982
The Blues Disciples - Under Construction
Eisley - Combinations
Enter The Haggis - Northampton
Giant Bear - Giant Bear
Great White - Back To The Rhythm (bonus tracks) - We need a bonus?
Haven - All For A Reason
Hot Flash Band - Hot Flash Band
Little Feat - Little Feat (A Mobile Fidelity rerelease. Must be fab quality!)
Matt Nathanson - Some Mad Hope
The Rentals - Last Little Life EP (I downloaded it..it's fun)
Lee Rocker - Black Cat Bone - I need to hear this one.
George Thorogood & The Destroyers - Bad To The Bone - reissue with bonuses
The Yardbirds - Live At B.B. King's Blues Club
The Wildbirds - Golden Daze

British Baker's Dozen

2007-08-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Remember British music from the 80s? No? Well you might suck at this test then!

What follows is a 'baker's dozen' of lyrical excerpts from British-made pop music from that simultaneously glorious and inglorious decade, the 1980s.

Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to identify the song and the artist. The best of British luck to you:

18/08/07: Updated with the answers:

"With the money from her accident
She bought herself a mobile home
So at least she could get some enjoyment
Out of being alone"

Billy Bragg - 'Levi Stubbs' Tears' (from the album 'Talking with the Taxman about Poetry', 1986)... A typically affecting mix of the personal and the political, from our much-loved 'Bard of Barking'.

"People I see
Just remind me of mooing
Like a cow on the grass
And that’s not to say
That there’s anything wrong
With being a cow anyway"

The Teardrop Explodes - 'Elegant Chaos' (a bit of a rarity, but you can get it on the album 'Floored Genius - The Best of Julian Cope and the Teardrop Explodes 1979-1991)...

"Needles and sins, sins and needles
He's gasping for air
In the wishing well
Dust to rust, ashes on gashes"

Siouxsie and the Banshees - 'The Killing Jar' (from the album 'Peepshow', 1988)... Cracking single from the album the Banshees themselves consider their masterpiece.

"Don't tell me you don't know the difference
Between a lover and a fighter
With my pen and my electric typewriter
Even in a perfect world where everyone was equal
I'd still own the film rights and be working on the sequel"

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - 'Everyday I Write the Book' (from the album 'Punch the Clock', 1983)... This was about as sentimental as Elvis used to get back then, but the lyrics are still nice & caustic.

"I dreamt about you last night
And I fell out of bed twice
You can pin and mount me like a butterfly
But 'take me to the haven of your bed'
Was something that you never said"

The Smiths - 'Reel Around the Fountain' (from the album 'The Smiths', 1984)... The first song on the first album. A real life-changer for millions.

"Hot dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque"

Prefab Sprout - 'The King of Rock'n'Roll' (from the album 'From Langley Park to Memphis', 1988)... 'The Sprout' sound a bit twee these days, but it's still a funny lyric.

"If I wait for just a second more,
I know I'll forget what I came here for,
My head was so full of things to say,
But as I open my lips all my words slip away
And anyway"

Yazoo - 'Nobody's Diary' (from the album 'You and Me Both', 1983)... Melancholy synth classic from the band fronted by Alison Moyet but masterminded by Vince Clarke - also of Depeche Mode and Erasure - and a certified genius of electronica. PS: Apparently this band was called 'Yaz' in the U.S.A.

"Unicorns and cannonballs,
Palaces and piers,
Trumpets, towers, and tenements,
Wide oceans full of tears"

The Waterboys - 'The Whole of the Moon' (from the album 'This is the Sea', 1985)... The Waterboys have two gears. One is quite downhome and 'fiddle-dee-dee' folky. And the other is 'The Big Music'. Like this. This song was so popular back when it was released that I recall becoming thoroughly sick of it - but I saw them a year or two ago and must admit that it's an incredibly rousing number when played live. Sample here.

"Ritual ideas relativety
Only buildings no people prophecy
Timeslide place to hide nudge reality
Foresight minds wide magic imagery"

Big Audio Dynamite - 'E=MC²' (from the album 'This is Big Audio Dynamite', 1985)... The band that Mick Jones formed after he was kicked out of The Clash was very progressive - and chronically underrated. This little beauty was one of the first chart songs to use samples to a large degree, while the lyrics contain a whole slew of allusions to the movies of Nicholas Roeg! (e.g. Walkabout, Performance, Don't Look Now, The Man Who Fell to Earth).

"He's walking where I'm afraid I don't know
I see the firemen jumping from the windows
There's panic and I hear somebody scream
He picks up his newspaper and puts it in my pocket
I'm trying very hard to keep my fingers clean
I can't remember tell me what's his name"

Madness - 'Michael Caine' (from the album 'Keep Moving', 1984)... Top pop song from 'the nutty boys', featuring the dulcet tones of the great man himself. Sample here.

"all the faces
all the voices blur
change to one face
change to one voice
prepare yourself for bed
the light seems bright
and glares on white walls"

The Cure - 'Charlotte Sometimes' (single, released 1981)... Nice and spooky, it's based on a children's novel of the same name.

"Somethings happening here today
A show of strength with your boy's brigade and,
I'm so happy and you're so kind
You want more money - of course I don't mind
To buy nuclear textbooks for atomic crimes
And the public gets what the public wants
But I want nothing this society's got"

The Jam - Going Underground (single released 1980)... A shouty, rabble-rousing classic.

"I've asked myself
How much do you
Commit yourself?"

Talk Talk - 'It's My Life' (from the album 'It's My Life', 1984)... This one was covered, quite faithfully, a few years back by No Doubt... but in place of a mighty synthesizer there was a bland guitar, and in place of Mark Hollis's huge voice there was just Gwen Stefani. So it was a fair bit shittier.

Why I Have A Love/Hate Relationship with emusic.com

2007-08-11T19:51:00.001-07:00

When the free-wheeling version of Napster bit the dust after the RIAA went full-bore against it, I was weary of downloading music. My son continued to use Kazaa and Limewire, but after all the horror stories of grannies getting sued for a few grand due to their grubby little grandkids' nasty download habits, when they themselves didn't even know how to turn their computers on, I laid down the law. There would be NO illegal downloading in my house. I found plenty of songs to download from the labels' own sites and artists' sites to keep me in new music for awhile.

Then I wanted more. I downloaded iTunes, even though I didn't own an iPod. I wasn't happy with the DRM situation or the 99-cent per song cost, so I checked other services and settled on emusic. For 15 bucks a month, I can download 65 songs, plus an additional free song every day. That works out to about 16 cents per song. My kind of deal. There's no DRM to deal with and the songs are fairly good quality (The average bit rate used for VBR on eMusic is 192k.) I can play the songs with any music player, and now that I have an iPod, I can load them in playlists with ease. (I do have a quibble with the iTunes organization, since it creates iTunes music folders, thereby creating two copies of every song file and filling up my drive. I hate Apple sometimes.) Emusic is loaded with music from indie bands or music from artists on small labels, so I love to sift through it all. That's what I love about it.

What do I hate? Well, let's say I'm browsing through the lists of artists and I spot "Chuck Berry." Cool! I can find some good old rock and roll! DING! Then I click his name and see what's available. At first glance it seems like a huge catalog. That's exciting. BUT. BIG BUT HERE. But the offerings, upon investigation, are often crappy-quality live recordings, and sometimes they are not the original artist at all. You really have to listen to clips before you download! I hate having to be wary of the music offered by such a big name in the download business.

So, I do love emusic most of the time. No, I can't download U2 or any other big-name bands. I can grab that stuff, if I want to, at iTunes or some other spot. But I do love finding little gems like The Pipettes, Chris Pureka, Bow Thayer & The Euphorians, or Moonbabies and feeling like I got them for a steal.

Tuesday Ten Trivia: Sly & The Family Stone

2007-07-31T08:23:00.000-07:00

.

This week’s ten is in honor of the re-emergence of the reclusive Sly Stone. David Kamp interviews he of the (formerly) luxuriant Afro and riveted leather jumpsuit in this month’s Vanity Fair - Sly Stone’s Higher Power

What was the band named before becoming Sly & The Family Stone?

What Bay Area band’s #15 hit did Sly produce?

Which S&FS single effectively invented 1970s funk?

What was the band’s first Top Ten hit?

What was the band’s first release to hit #1 on both the pop and R&B charts?

What was their last release to do the same?

Where did Sly marry Kathy Silva in 1974?

Who served as MC at the wedding festivities?

Who did Sly once cut as opening act from the bill because the audience better received him?

What did Sly do to cause a riot at a free concert in Chicago?

========================
Sly & The Family Stone OFFICIAL WEBSITE
and extensive WIKIPEDIA ENTRY

Manic Monday

2007-07-30T13:40:00.001-07:00

What's new this week, the end of July already!

Blues:
18 Greatest - John Lee Hooker
18 Greatest - B.B. King - must be a series by the label Direct Source

Country:
18 Greatest - Glen Campbell
Best Of Freddy Fender - Freddy Fender
Best of Merle Haggard - Merle Haggard
Best Of George Jones - George Jones
Best Of Jim Reeves - Jim Reeves
Best Of B.J. Thomas - B.J. Thomas - These are also from Direct Source

Folk:
Tribe - Luka Bloom

Rock:
Idlewild South - The Allman Brothers Band - reissue of a great recording
18 Greatest - Chuck Berry
Swears - Casual Lean
Made In Europe - Deep Purple - remaster
Under The Influence of Buck - The Derailers
Blue Velocity - The Chris Duarte Group
Nervous Nights And Satellites - The Hooters
Dirty Laundry - Ian Hunter
Untitled - Korn
18 Greatest - Jerry Lee Lewis
18 Greatest - Little Richard
Live On The Sunset Strip - The Raspberries
Country Mouse City House - Josh Rouse - Wow, check those rhymes!

Josh Rouse - Hollywood Bass Player
Have a listen!

One Girl Revolution - Saving Jane
Al Stewart - a whole bunch of reissues
Sincerely/Twilley Don't Mind - Dwight Twilley - Power pop classics!
Strange Pleasure/Out There - Jimmy Vaughan - Stevie Ray's big bro has reissues

Trolling the Underground : August 13, 1967, Windsor, England

2007-07-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

In all of my prior Trolling the Underground posts, I've picked some of the finest sounding samples from my collection, with many more to go. The quality of the sound is not always the most important factor, however. I've been known to make compromises on sound quality for a number of reasons. It could be a special show where a guest artist played or a rare song was performed. It could be the only available recording of a show that I attended. Or it could be something thats very existence is a surprise.

Normally, a band needs to gain some popularity before anyone really feels like recording them. I mean, who wants to spend time and tape on a bunch of nobodies? That circumstance can be mitigated, however, if the band in question is debuting at a music festival like the 7th National Jazz & Blues Festival (Aug 11 - 13, 1967) where a lot of bands that people DO want to record will be playing. It also helps if the members of this band have been making the rounds as members of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.

Mayall had recently fired his drummer, Mick Fleetwood, for drunkenness. Mayall's guitarist, Peter Green, had an affinity for Fleetwood and wanted to be a frontman, so they decided to form their own band. They got Jeremy Spencer to help on guitar, and began wooing Mayall bass player John McVie to join as well, going to the length of including him in the new band's name, Fleetwood Mac. McVie hesitated, though, since he liked the pay he was getting with Mayall. The band recruited another bassist named Bob Brunning, with the understanding that Brunning would go if McVie decided to join up, which of course he eventually did. It was Brunning, however, that played the debut Fleetwood Mac show with Green, Fleetwood, and Spencer on Aug. 13, 1967. Below is a photo of Green and Fleetwood on that very night.

Listening to this show, you'd think the only thing missing from this lineup is Elmore James himself. The bands sound was extremely James-ish, almost a direct copy of his style. The first song I'll feature this time around, titled I Need You, Come on Home to Me, is in fact Elmore's classic It Hurts Me Too with completely different lyrics. The short set that they played had other examples of this, and in fact ended with a rendition of Shake Your Moneymaker that is very true to Elmore's.

The second song, however, is very different. It's an instrumental written by Green called Fleetwood Mac and has much more of a surf sound to it, believe it or not, In fact, I may even play it for a guy I know who's in a local surf band, since it sounds like something that's right up their alley. The links below have the songs.

I Need You, Come On Home to Me

Fleetwood Mac

While I was researching this post and finding pictures, I noticed who else was playing this festival. Pink Floyd, who'd had to cancel because of Syd Barrett's decline (which foreshadowed Green's descent into schizophrenia and departure from Fleetwood Mac in 1970 ), was replaced by The Nice. Cream, The Small Faces, Donovan, Ten Years After, and many others were in attendence, as well as one of my favorite 60s bands, the Jeff Beck Group. As I surfed, I found a site that mentioned that Beck's appearance was on a bootleg recording called Beck to the Future. It was in my hands about 10 seconds later, as I had downloaded that one long ago. It seems I have two sets from the same night of that festival that I had never connected before! Of course, those of you who know me know that I can't slight El Becko, so we'll explore this as well.

This was the original JBG, with Beck on guitar, Rod Stewart singing (such as it is), Ron Wood on bass, and Mick Waller on drums. His spirit must have been in the air, because they also covered Elmore James that night, doing Talk to Me Baby and doing much more than the new kids up above to make it their own. I also felt that the next song should be shared, a sweet blues piece called I Think I'll be Leaving This Morning, because I really like the guitar work on it. When you listen to this song, I think you can understand why one Rolling Stone reviewer called Led Zeppelin's first album "Rehashed Jeff Beck Group." Links below.

Talk To Me Baby

I Think I'll Be Leaving This Morning

If this strikes your fancy, you may want to read this previous post about Jeff Beck with a couple more modern songs. There's pics of the JBG there as well, so for this post I'll leave you with a photo of Peter Green. He's past his mental problems and working again with the Peter Green Splinter Group - something that the modern blues fan may want to check out!

Enjoy the tunes, and let me know what you think!!

The Majesty of Rock Quiz

2007-07-27T13:43:00.000-07:00

.
To make up for my slack* in missing this week's Tuesday Ten Trivia, I'm re-posting this Michaelopedia masterpiece from last year. Enjoy !

1. Which of the following power-chord anthems influenced Beethoven in composing his power-chord anthem, The Fifth Symphony?

A. Smoke on the Water
B. Iron Man
C. Cat Scratch Fever
D. Frankenstein

2. In which of the following songs does Bob Seger reminisce?

A. Down on Main Street
B. Old Time Rock-N-Roll
C. Like A Rock
D. Against The Wind
E. Night Moves
F. All Of The Above

3. Topic: Bob Seger is to reminiscing what Jerry Seinfeld is to observational humor. Discuss.

4. If Steve Miller went from Phoenix, Arizona all the way to Tacoma, Philadelphia, Atlanta, L.A., and Lowell George went from Tucson to Tucumcari, Tehachapi to Tonopah, and both were traveling at 85 miles per hour and both were semi-sober, who would arrive first in northern California where the girls are warm? Show Your Work (5 points).

5. Which of the following is an actual person?

A. Molly Hatchet
B. Steely Dan
C. Pink Floyd
D. Tipper Gore
E. None of the Above

6. Which of the following bands' music wins the Pabst Blue Ribbon Award for sounding most like a beer commercial?

A. Huey Lewis and the News
B. Lover Boy
C. ZZ Top
D. Bon Jovi

7. Match the musician or band to the individual or band of whom they are basically a cut-rate version (one point each):

A. ___ Southside Johnny-----------1. The Rolling Stones
B. ___ Marilyn Manson-------------2. Allman Bros. Band
C. ___ Aerosmith--------------------3. Bruce Springsteen
D. ___ Meat Loaf--------------------4. Jimi Hendrix
E. ___ Lynyrd Skynyrd-------------5. Meat Loaf
F. ___ Robin Trower----------------6. Alice Cooper

8. Which of the following is the worst rock-n-roll song about rock-n-roll?

A. Old Time Rock-N-Roll
B. Rock-N-Roll Hoochie Koo
C. I Love Rock-N-Roll
D. We Built This City
E. All of the Above

9. Physics Theory Question: Could Rod Stewart sell out any further? If “yes” present an equation determining how many light years it would take an average person to get there (4 points).

Break Time!
Here’s a fun game to play while we pause to catch our breath. Use the following band names in varying combinations to create your own laugh-filled variation on Abbott and Costello’s hilarious skit “Who’s on First?”

A. The Who B. The Guess Who C. Was Not Was D. Ah-Ha

10. Which of the following bands started out making decent AOR rock and then devolved into recording cheesy power ballads?

A. Heart
B. Foreigner
C. Chicago
D. REO Speedwagon
E. All of The Above

11. Match the band or individual with the song that should be considered justification for their punishment by death (one point each):

A. ___ Meatloaf-------------1. Amanda
B. ___ Boston---------------2. Anything from catalog
C. ___ Jimmy Buffet-------3. I Would Do Anything For Love
D. ___ .38 Special----------4. Cheeseburger in Paradise
E. ___ Loverboy-------------5. Rockin' Into the Night

12. If the Anti-Christ were to have three heads, which combination of the following bands would it be comprised of?

A. Journey, Foreigner, REO Speedwagon
B. Quiet Riot, Jefferson Starship, Night Ranger
C. .38 Special, Lover Boy, Def Leopard
D. Ratt, Twisted Sister, White Snake

13. Which dude has the funkiest hair?

A. Keith Richards
B. Slash
C. George Clinton
D. Mike Score (dude from Flock of Seagulls)

14. Which band has the best one-armed drummer?

A. Def Leppard

15. Who Do You Love?

A. Bo Diddley
B. George Thorogood
C. The Doors
D. Ronnie Hawkins

16. Which of the following is actually a law firm and not a band?

A. Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young
B. Medeski, Martin and Wood
C. Anderson, Bruford, Wakeman and Howe
D. Bachman Turner Overdrive
E. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme

17. True or False: Gram Parsons is the king of lysergically inclined, Nudie-suited, anti-Nashville mavericks of the late 1960s and early ’70s.

BONUS QUESTION: Beck and Jeff Beck are sitting on a fence. If Beck falls off, who is left? (1/3 point)

ANSWERS:
1. There's no telling (Whatever also accepted)
2. F
3. True
4. Lowell George is dead. Steve Miller's career is, too.
5. E (the Tipper Gore had ya goin' there, eh?)
6. A close one, but we gotta give it to B. Loverboy
7. A-3, B-6, C-1, D-5, E-2, F-4
8. E
9. Yes - .33 1/3 light years
10. E
11. A-2, B-1, C-4, D-5, E-2
12. D, for pure apocalyptic scare value
13. CC, cuz funky begets funky (and I love ya, dred!)
14. Yup
15. A (always the original)
16. E (the Weehauken office)
17. Oh so True
BONUS: The god of all guitar masters. Eat shit, Clapton.

SCORING:
26-33 1/3: You are a true Majesty of Rock. Pick up your air guitar, hair dryer, spandex, and sequined opera cape on the way out.

17-25: Work on your chops in opening bands for a while. You’re not quite ready to headline yet.

8-16: Dude, I’ll bet you think Van Halen wrote All Day and All Night, don’t you?

0-7: American Idol is on tonight (Check local listings or ask mom).

The bulk of this quiz was compiled through the genius of one Michael Hillman, esq. (with a tip o' the hat to O' Tim and The Rock Snob's Dictionary).

*Yes, re-posting is slack of an equivalent nature, but you won't care about that when your LYAO at this, right?
.

Manic Monday

2007-07-23T17:35:00.000-07:00

Blues:

Zion Crossroads - Corey Harris

Another Saturday Morning - Ellis Hooks

Rock:

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection Live - The Allman Brothers

Handful - Betty

One For All - Peter Criss

It's Not The Eat, It's The Humidity - The Eat - included because the title cracks me up

Absolute Garbage [Deluxe Edition] - Garbage

Pigeons Couldn't Sleep - Peter Himmelman

Four On The Floor - Juliette And The Licks - Juliette Lewis is at it again.

20th Century Masters: Millennium Collection Live - Lynyrd Skynyrd

Masters Of War - Mountain

Essential - Carl Perkins

Early Years - Roy Orbison

Day Late And A Dollar Short - The Queers

Red Hot & Live! - Brian Setzer & The Nashvillians

Freed Man - Sebadoh

Slayer - a bunch of reissues

Con - Tegan And Sara

Beautiful Door - Billy Bob Thornton - And Billy Bob is at it again, too.

Emerald City - John Vanderslice

Is Is - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Soundtracks:
The Simpsons Movie - featuring a song titled, Thank You Boob Lady

The Fall at the Islington Academy

2007-07-21T08:56:00.001-07:00

You don't have to like The Fall but you certainly have to respect them. They've been plowing their very singular furrow since punk music's 'Year Zero' (1976) and have released at least one album of original material in nearly every subsequent year. Their progression as a band can be summarised by John Peel's oft-quoted quip about them - "The Fall - always different, always the same".

It should be said at this point that when you say "they" or "them" in regards to The Fall, you're actually talking about Mark E Smith. Since the bands inception, there have been (count 'em) 58 line-up changes, with Smith as the only constant member. So it's not overstating things to say that Mark E. Smith is The Fall and The Fall is Mark E. Smith - plus whoever he happens to be getting along with at the time. Interestingly, this currently includes his wife Eleni on keyboards... although at least one of his ex-wives used to be in the band too. Not surprisingly, Smith has a reputation as being 'difficult'.

As for the music, to say it divides opinion is something of an understatement, and it's suitably hard to describe. On the whole, I'd call it an experimental post-punk guitar-driven melange of sounds, with Smith's unique vocal style (part drunken drawl, part impassioned sermon) being the truly defining characteristic of their sound, as he delivers lyrics which mix "elements of social realism, surrealism, and absurdism, dwelling on subjects as far removed as unemployment and football violence to time travel and ghosts, all with the same wit, astute humour and precarious balance between brutalism and intellect."

Not that we could really hear what he was saying at the gig though. I'm not sure if this was mainly due to the slightly muddy sound, or more down to Smith not really caring whether we could make out his words or not. A bloke we met warned us that, to the untrained eye and ear, a Fall gig can resemble being ranted at for over an hour by a drunken uncle - and I reckon that description wasn't far off the mark. Occasionally some abstract couplet would break through the fuzz ("Baghdad! State cog! Analyst!") but we were generally none the wiser.

Despite this, I decided that Smith - as he skulks around the front of the stage gurning at people, then goes back and concentratedly twiddles with his bandmate's amps (sometimes without them knowing), then pops offstage completely for a few minutes each time (undoubtedly for a quick ciggie - rock'n'roll eh?) - has real stage presence, even charisma... although it's quite hard to work out how or why. Maybe it's just a classic case of the whole being more than the sum of its parts? Or maybe I just get a thrill out of watching genuine nutters? Could be...

Whatever it was, by the encore I was having a reasonable time - and even started singing along to the chorus of the excellent 'Senior Twilight Stock Replacer'. As for the three blokes I went with, one of them agreed with me and thought it was both an interesting and amusing experience, one of them hated it to bits, and the other bloke, the one who's most familiar with The Fall, thought the whole thing was genius. I guess that's them in a nutshell.

We attended the second of four nights that the band played at the Islington Academy, and the wider reaction on the forums, from the really devoted fans, seems to be that the first night was terrible, but the other three got progressively better, and that The Fall have still got 'it'... whatever 'it' may be. Not everyone agrees though, as shown by this Guardian article which appeared mid-week - and which basically called on Smith to retire the band. As ever, there's no pleasing everyone.

The situation is neatly summed up by someone on the forum responding to a commenter who said that they didn't enjoy the gig very much. "Enjoy? You're not supposed to enjoy The Fall!".

Tuesday Ten Trivia - Talking Heads

2007-07-17T08:07:00.000-07:00

.

.
This week’s Ten showcases Talking Heads, arguably the most influential of any artsy post-punk American band.

Where did David Byrne and Chris Frantz meet?

Who did Talking Heads tour Europe with before the release of their first album?

What did XTC's Andy Partridge say of the band after seeing them on that tour?

What band performed Talking Heads’ entire Remain In Light album at their 10-31-96 concert in Atlanta?

Who produced Remain In Light?

Which B-52s album did David Byrne produce?

What Georgia folk artist was commissioned to paint the cover of 1985’s Little Creatures?

What former member of La Belle served as a Talking Heads vocalist?

Who choreographed the video for Once In A Lifetime?

TRUE or FALSE? The footage for Stop Making Sense was culled from several different shows.
.

Sure, Rolling Stone Sucks, But....

2007-07-16T20:29:00.000-07:00

Check out this discussion of soundalike songs. I can agree with some of them, but others are quite a stretch. At the end of the article is a link to an entire site devoted to the quest of finding soundalike songs.

Reminds me of "Spot The Similarity," a feature on a weekly show called "Psychedelic Sunday With Russell Carey" I used to listen to in Columbus, OH in the 80's. (Yes, I ripped off that title for my weekly blog post/podcast.)

I used to keep track of soundalikes, but I've been lazy of late. I can't even think of one at the moment.

Got any you can think of?

The Rules.

2007-07-16T19:32:00.000-07:00

It can seem like a little bit of anarchy, the way I get most of my music, and I guess in a way it is. After all, just about anything is available somewhere, although I have little control over the specifics. It's free, and shared far and wide. I'm not dealing with stores or any hassles as far as acquiring music, as long as I keep my internet on and my computer working, I'm set. What's more, the fact that it's legal doesn't suck the fun out of it.

Keeping it legal, though, is what leads to the rules. They're pretty easy to deal with, although when a site gets to a certain size, like Dime - a- Dozen, it requires a lot of cooperation from the governed.

The main rule for keeping trouble at bay is to not step on the artist's copyright - that is, never torrent anything that is available commercially. Some sites don't watch for this at all, and they're generally the ones who get their plugs pulled by a team of lawyers. Others, like Dime, are ALL over that one, and with good reason. They've been closed before because someone did some dipshit, and learned how to avoid it. If something was ever released, anywhere, at any time for any duration, it is not allowed. That means that if a legitimate (not bootleg) label put out a limited release of 500 copies on prerecorded reel-to-reel in Budapest back in 1968, and the music has never seen the light of day since, it is still off limits. Period. If the official version is missing songs, you can post only the missing songs. If it is a studio recorded "alternate" version, it's still off limits (although demos are fair game, unless they are released later). They used to have a policy that you couldn't even have a 10 second sample of the record being played on the P.A. system before and after the show, but they eventually lightened up about that.

The other unbreakable rule is the Not Allowed Bands (NAB) list. This is the list of artists that have either contacted the sites or published a policy on their website or anywhere else to the effect that they do NOT approve of electronic trading. Of course, this means nothing as far as more traditional methods of trading go, but it stops the downloads right in their tracks. If you want to lose your uploading rights in a hurry, just go ahead and post someone who's on the NAB list.

Sometimes an artist understands the aims and the value of the trading community, but wants to protect their market as well, so they'll just put certain limits on. Little Feat is a great example, with links to bit torrent sites on their website, but they are on the NAB list in terms of soundboard recordings after January 1, 2004, audience video, and shows listed in their non-tradable shows list (which are shows they have made available for purchase). Anything else is fair game, and even though audience video isn't allowed, they have allowed some pro-shot video to spread.

Sometimes it only means one person in a band. Levon Helm's ban doesn't include The Band, but it goes the other way around, too - no Buffalo Springfield anymore because of Ritchie Furay. There are a lot of variations, and the list changes all the time - all it takes is an e-mail. I've seen things come off the list, as well, when fans work with the artist to make it happen, but that's not as frequent.

All in all, these are pretty easy rules to live with, since it's love for the music and respect for the artists that make it that drives us to do this, even more than disdain for the record industry does. Really, there is SO much incredible stuff available without stepping on someone's toes, that there's no reason to do it. I sure wish that Hot Tuna and the Allman Brothers weren't on that list, though.

I've had to reconsider the rules since making the recent change to Trolling the Underground. When I was just posting a song or two to listen to, I wasn't so concerned that anyone would care. Now that I am actually sending out the shows electronically, though, I feel a bigger urge to follow the same rules that keep my favorite sites safe. Unfortunately, that means that there's a few things that I can no longer share over bit torrent, but I think the things I can share will please a few of you.

This week, Trolling the Underground is back at its' original home. I'm featuring some of the fine old blues that Jeff was talking about last week, and of course it has a download. Go get you some!

Give it away now

2007-07-16T11:12:00.000-07:00

Like millions of others, I (broke the habit of a lifetime and) bought The Mail on Sunday yesterday... for the one-and-only reason that contained within its plastic wrapper was the new CD by the artist formerly known as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince... a.k.a. Prince.

I've never been a massive Prince fan, but I must admit he wrote some pretty damn good songs back in the 80s - 'Sign o' the Times', 'I Could Never Take the Place of Your Man', 'The Cross', 'Alphabet Street' and 'When Doves Cry' to name just a few.

Since those halcyon days however, Prince's career has gone a bit tits-up. Personally, I'd say that the turning point was around the time that he did the soundtrack for one of those shitty Batman movies. But nonetheless, I've still got enough respect for his back catalogue to be interested in what he's getting up to nowadays.

Particularly as it's free anyway... Well, not free exactly, because I wouldn't normally buy the Mail on Sunday, so it effectively cost me £1.40.

And yes, as expected, the whole newspaper-giveaway thing has caused a bit of a kerfuffle. There was 'fury' reported among music retailers - I would guess that this isn't so much because of the loss of profits from this particular album (Prince not being a huge seller these days), but more because of the precedent it sets for others who may want to follow suit. Hey, this is the modern way, I reckon. Adapt or die. Downloads and file-sharing should be teaching retailers that little lesson.

Back to the actual music... My verdict is that it's OK...ish.

Although bookended by a couple of worthy songs about the ecological disaster facing the world, the lyrical preoccupation of most of Planet Earth is - not surprisingly - women. And this is fine by me. The fairer sex have been a reliable muse for Prince over the years; plus, I reckon that listening to too many songs about our imminent destruction would start to bum me out after a while.

Prince's voice remains as distinctive as ever, and there are also couple of tracks showcasing some pretty tasty guitar licks too (presumably his)... but ultimately the music - as it shifts from slow jam to uptempo funky workout and back again - is rather undistinguished and (most damningly of all) easy-listening.

I must confess that when I was trying to think of adjectives with which to describe this CD, the word "inoffensive" kept popping into my head...

And, for the creator of Sign o' the Times, this is more than a little sad.

Manic Monday

2007-07-16T06:39:00.001-07:00

Take your pick tomorrow!

Blues:
Popa Chubby - Electric Ladyland (volumes 1 & 2)
John Lee Hooker - Don't Look Back; Jealous - rereleases with bonus tracks
Susan Tedeschi - Best Of Susan Tedeschi: Episode Two - If you haven't heard her yet, check this one out. She cranks out rockin' blues slide-guitar like a man, and has that sexy rasp when she sings (like Janis, but much easier on the ears.) Her hubby, Derek Trucks, makes an appearance here and there, too, which doesn't hurt.
Susan Tedeschi - Cant Leave You Alone
Country:
Raul Malo - After Hours - Included because I love this guy's voice and adore The Mavericks, even though it's contemporary country music.
David Allen Coe - Live At Billy Bob's Texas - with bonus tracks. This guy kicks country ass.

Folk:
Eliza Gilkyson - Your Town Tonight
Judy Collins - Judy Collins Sings Lennon And McCartney - zzzZZZzzzZZZ - *When you need to include your own name in the album title and it's not a "greatest hits," that screams "DIVA!" I guess she's earned it, but still. Nothankyou. I think this is the one for Judy completists only.
Arlo Guthrie - Best Of Arlo Guthrie - See, for this release the name in title is fine. But do I need to hear Alice's Restaurant and The Motorcycle Song again and again?

Jazz: lots of cool stuff coming out, but it's a really long list. Many reissues by Donald Byrd, Thelonious Monk, and Bob Mintzer, plus quite a few "Best Of" cds from various people. Check it out here.

Reggae: The big news here is that for the first time in many months, there is no release by a member of the Marley family, nor any reissues/compilations of Bob's work. WTF?

Rock:
Laurie Anderson - Science (25th anniversary edition) - WHAT? 25 years? SHEESH.
The Beau Brummels - Beau Brummels and Beau Brummels 66 - reissues - You could really be a Beau Brummel, baby, if you'd just give it half a chance!
Big Brother & The Holding Company - Hold Me - Some recent live thing with a vocalist named Sophia Ramos.
Jude Cole - Jude Cole - reissue - I can't really explain why I like this guy's blue-eyed soul. I don't think he has blue eyes, but he's so cute! (and I loved Like Lovers Do from this album.) That's it! He's cute! (I know, I'm destroying any cred I had by admitting this.)
Dennis DeYoung - One Hundred Years From Now - Uh huh. One hundred years from now, you'll still be shitty, Dennis.
Minnie Driver - Seastories - I hear this is good.
The Easybeats - Friends; Volume 3 - reissues
Editors - End Has A Start
Grant Lee Buffalo - a couple of reissues
Great White - Back To The Rhythm - Nooooooooo! Grab your hairspray, girls!
Robyn Hitchcock - Jewels For Sophia - I love this guy. This is on my "check it out" list. It's a reissue, but I've never heard this one.
Tom Jones - Tom Jones Sings The Beatles* - *See Judy Collins comment above.
Danny Kirwan - Second Chapter [Limited Edition] - Ex Fleetwood Mac member flies solo. Another "check it out" for me. I loved Mac when he was in the band.
Molly Hatchet - reissue (two albums in one) - OH BOY!
MxPx - Secret Weapon
Nazareth - Complete Singles Collection - They had multiple singles? I had no idea. And this is a 3-cd set of 50 songs. Perhaps the singles were British releases.
The Quakes - Quiff Rock
Seals & Crofts - Greatest Hits
Teddy Thompson - Up Front And Down Low - Richard's kid impresses me with his songwriting. I'll give it a listen online.
Dwight Twilley - reissues in a double-album set. This guy is one of the unsung heroes of 70's power pop! Am I flying my power pop flag high today, or what?
Suzanne Vega - Beauty and Crime - YEAH!
Wishbone Ash - Tracks 3 - a compilation
The Zombies - Into the Afterlife - compilation

Those are the highlights this week! Now, go spend, spend, spend!

Souwf London in da house

2007-07-11T11:44:00.000-07:00

It's not something that's talked about much, but my current 'hood of South London has been a veritable hotbed of house music over these past few years. And two of our finest specimens - Basement Jaxx and Groove Armada* - have released albums in the last year. So I thought I'd run the rule over both of them to see if they've still got 'it'.

Basement Jaxx - Crazy Itch Radio

Expectations were high for the Brixton's duo's first long-player since 2003's Kish Kash, but I found Crazy Itch Radio a big disappointment. It starts with the overly poppy Hush Boy (which is a bit like Oh My Gosh only not as good) partially recovers with Take Me Back To Your House (I love the banjo!), but then limps and splutters (and only occasionally dazzles) all the way to the end. It's not a complete write-off - On The Train has a certain bluesey charm, Smoke Bubbles isn't a bad paean to the decidedly mixed blessings of 'the holy herb', and Lights Go Down is 5 minutes of beautiful chill-out beats with a great string-based melody. The rest is very hyper, but very average. There's too much bland R'n'B for a start. And ultimately, the unoriginal gimmick of giving the album continuity by making it sound like a radio show is no substitute for the lack of great Basement Jaxx dance songs in the vein of Where's Your Head At?, Bingo Bango, Good Luck, and Jump'n'Shout. I'm still going to a Basement Jaxx gig later this month - because I'm fairly confident that a lot of this will sound better live. Plus, another thing about dance music is that some of these songs could scrub up better on the remixes, when other DJs get their hands on them.

5/10

Groove Armada - Soundboy Rock

Like the Jaxx, Groove Armada like to mix it up. But they strike a more consistently good note on this album - a note which is somewhere between the blissed-out 'Balearic' beats best characterised by the classic At the River, and the more guitar-heavy sound they practiced on much of the Lovebox album. This one veers between hip-hop, house, and dub - and with generally successful results. I particularly liked the kinetic rhythms of Get Down, the reverberating beat of Lightsonic (which got inside my head for a good while and wouldn't leave, even when I asked it nicely), as well as the deep dub of the title track. On the downside, the single Song for Mutya seems a bit lightweight compared to the Armada's best 7"s of the past (like Superstylin', Easy, and Chicago), and there are also couple of ballads that could have been left for the B sides. Not their best album then, but certainly not bad.

7/10

*The Armada are not actually from South London originally, so I hear... but they've been around so much that they might as well be!

Tuesday Ten Trivia - The Allman Brothers Band

2007-07-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

.

This week’s Ten concentrates on the kings of southern rock (by far) who also brought a tinge of psychedelia to their act:

Duane Allman played on whose 1971 debut album (produced by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner)?

Where and when did the Allman Brothers Band record its first live album (venue and year)?

Name one of the two inspirations for the album title Eat A Peach.

Both Duane Allman and Berry Oakley died in motorcycle accidents within a year of each other. What else is coincidental about their deaths?

Chuck Leavell, Lamar Williams and Jai Johnny Johanson went on to form what band?

Duane Allman was the primary session guitarist at what studio?

TRUE or FALSE: When Gregg Allman’s personal manager was busted for drugs, Gregg testified on his behalf.

What occupation did Gregg Allman plan to pursue prior to the formation of the Allman Brothers Band?

What Muscle Shoals soulman began calling Duane Allman “Sky Man”?

Who is Elijah Blue?

Roots.

2007-07-09T12:16:00.000-07:00

I've been spending a lot of time lately with the American roots of rock & roll music: blues and country (aka hillbilly or mountain music). I'm not talking about what passes for most blues or country today. I'm talking about the blues and country that began in the American South in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These two styles share so many commonalities, yet back then they were worlds apart simply because of skin color.

They were both the music of the downtrodden and lower-class. They sang of heartbreak and bad luck, and praised Jesus. They dreamed of having more than they'd ever have, and arriving in Heaven an equal with everyone else.

As a guitarist, I've been drawn to both of these styles equally. And because of the wonders of modern technology, I've been able to recently bolster my collection of both musical styles considerably.

There are two collections I recently picked up that deserve much praise, and many, many listens.

The first, Goin' Mad Blues, is a 200-song compilation of the real roots of American blues music. It's got the Bigs: Big Bill Broonzy, Big Joe Turner and Big Joe Williams. The Blinds: Blind Boy Fuller, Blind John Davis and Blind Willie McTell. The John Lees: John Lee Hooker and John Lee "Sonny Boy" Williamson. Leadbelly, Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, "Hot Lips" Page, Lightnin' Hopkins, the one and only Robert Johnson, and many, many others. Without this music, there would be no Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin or Beatles or Who or any rock & roll. This is where it all began.

The next collection is Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965. This three-disc box set of 55 live performances (53 previously unreleased) comes from 14 concerts in New York City in the early '60s. It's a wonderful cross-section of traditional American bluegrass and folk music, with performances by legends like Fred McDowell, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Doc Watson and Maybelle Carter (of the Carter family), as well as lesser-known artists Annie Bird, Joseph Spence, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith, Ed Young and Emma Ramsay, and Jesse Fuller.

Manic Monday

2007-07-08T17:49:00.001-07:00

New this week:

Blues:
Live: A Night At Tipitina's - Mem Shannon
Chill - John "Juke" Logan

Country:
Live From Austin, Texas - Buck Owens
Chinese Boxes - Kim Richey - You can preview songs here.
a bunch of releases in the Country Biography series (including Glen Campbell and Jim Reeves)

Folk:
Live From Austin, Texas - Kinky Friedman
Diamonds In The Asphalt - Truckstop Honeymoon

Rock:
America - a bunch of reissues
New Maps Of Hell - Bad Religion
Thin Lizzy Blues - Eric Bell
Bruce Cockburn - reissues
Three Easy Pieces - Buffalo Tom
Time On Earth - Crowded House
Family Tree - Nick Drake
Situation - Lily Frost
Noble Creatures - The Gourds
Compass Rose Bouquet - Great Lakes Myth Society
Feel - Jesse Harris
Best of The Sugar Hill Years - Reckless Kelly
Lez Zeppelin - Lez Zeppelin - Yes, it's a Zep tribute band, all female.
Runnin' Blue - Boz Scaggs
Zeitgeist - The Smashing Pumpkins
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon
Spoon - The Underdog
Just Roll Tape: April 26th, 1968 - Stephen Stills
Saturday Night Fever - The Bee Gees - remastered
Else - They Might Be Giants
Tantrum - The Vacancies
Duet For Guitars #2 - M. Ward - remastered

Trolling the Underground: Dallas, Tx June 26, 2007

2007-07-07T07:50:00.001-07:00

I've never been a Police fan. From the beginning, their music absolutely failed to reach me. I can only think of two songs that I ever liked a little, in fact. Not being a big reggae fan, either, their kinda-reggae-in-the-backbeat-but-not-
really type of sound just didn't do it for me.

Another thing that bugged me was the name "Sting." Honestly, it just struck me as silly at best, pretentious at worst. And it was the precursor to hordes of silly-ass names like "Bono" and "Slash". Am I to think that Mr. and Mrs. Edge named their son "The?"

Oddly enough, my vast collection of unofficial recordings doesn't always reflect my tastes. For one thing, I may be experimenting by downloading something I've never heard of, and that I end up not liking. Far more often, however, it's because I'm getting something for someone else. I don't like the Eagles, but I downloaded it for someone I knew would appreciate it. Ditto Soundgarden. I've even got some Cramps shows that I snagged for my neighbor, which aren't as bad as I expected, and might even grow on me. I usually end up keeping the shows, if not in CD form, then in a lossless comressed backup, in case it ever comes in handy for a trade or something. It costs relatively little to keep a few billion extra zeros and ones sitting around.

So it was that when I browsed and perused my favorite site, and saw the Police tour pop up now and again, I thought of a recent post by DangerDoll.

Now, that lady's a Police fan. She made a seven hour round trip to see the Dallas show at the American Airlines Center (which I'm certain had a much better name at some time), and you only do that if you like a band. Of course, I'm no stranger to this - I've gone from Elgin, Il. to Hamilton, Ontario to see the Grateful Dead, and from Albuquerque to Phoenix to see Peter Gabriel. The music you love is worth it, if you love it enough.

So to connect a good- sounding audience recording of the show (judging from the sample posted at the site) with the person who drove seven hours round trip to see it was as easy as making a few clicks to download it. Really, this shit is easier than calling Geico.

Now here's the really great news. It used to be that to get it to her, I would have to decompress it, burn it to CDs, print the info sheet, package it all up, get an address to send it to, and deal with getting to a Postal Service which, here in Albuquerque, seems to keep banker's hours. A lot of effort expended to get the music to one person.

No more. There is a much easier way now, that has always been at my fingertips, but is just recently learned. I can now send the recording of this entire show to as many people as would like to have it directly from my computer to yours. No burning, packaging, postage or hassle to deal with, and this method actually takes up less of my time because it's simpler and more direct. Since I don't need to mail anything, it should put to rest any myths that I'm collecting personal info. There will be a little setup for y'all to do, but only the first time. Once you've gotten yourself started, every future download is simplicity itself. And yes, this is legal.

Now, this is a strange TtU entry because usually I'm talking about the band's performance, or how it's different from the records, or whatnot, but TtU has also always been about the act of collecting itself, and the Prime Directive of sharing. As far as the band goes, I've already said it - I don't have much use for them. DangerDoll's review of the show is behind the link above, and here is another review I found laying about. I also found some photos of this show taken by someone who was right up front.

It wouldnt be a TtU, however, without a posted song, even though I'm making the entire show available. Think of it as a sample. It's one of the two songs of theirs that I've liked for at least a minute, and it's called Synchronicity II. What do you think?

Now, if you would like a copy of the entire show, just follow these simple instructions.

Download and install this program. Easy, free, and safe. This you will only have to do the first time.
Download this file. http://www.mediafire.com/?7twpmgdjyxy
Click on the file you just downloaded (you may have been given the option during the download of opening the file using utorrent - that's just as good, so go for it). The program you just downloaded and installed should pop up. If it doesn't let me know, I'll help.
Decide where you want the concert files to go to. The whole thing, in this case, is 784 MB. Once you choose a place on your HD for the files and okay it, the transfer will begin automatically, and the program will give you status information.

You may notice that you are connected to people other than myself. This is to expected, and encouraged. This is called a swarm, and the more people are in it, the faster everyone gets the music. That's why I'll ask that you not disconnect as soon as you finish, please. Stay on for a little while and help pass the data on. Remember the Prime Directive.

Once you have the files, you will see that they are in a strange file type called flac. This is called lossless compression - music files are typically large, so compressing them makes for a faster download. Lossless compression means that no wavelengths are lost in the process - the uncompressed music is identical to the original music. Some of you may have media players that will play flac files, but you can't burn them to CD without decompressing them. For those who wish to burn them or can't play flac files, decompressing is child's play. Just download this free program (the appropriate one for your OS, o'course). Drag and drop the flacs to the decoder, decide at the bottom where you want the decoded files to go, and click on "decode". Then you can burn.

I hope everyone enjoys this! Let me know what you think of the process and the show. I have downloaded over 1000 G of music, video, books, and comics using bit torrent and never had a problem caused by any of it. It has, in fact, truly thrown my musical horizons to a far more distant place. If people dig it, I'll be happy to share other shows, and since this is so simple from my viewpoint, I can easily entertain requests. I can even fulfill some of them, I'm sure.

While digging up info for this, I found that an audience video recording is out there, too. You can see part of it here. I'm not that impressed, but someone who was there might want to see it.

Assume the Position!!!!

The Steve Allen Show with Frank Zappa

2007-07-04T11:05:00.000-07:00

In his Tuesday Trivia posting the other day, O'Tim linked to a page chock full of rock trivia. If you haven't looked at it, you should. There is something of interest to every music fan on that long, long page. A lot of things caught my eye because they were new to me - I didn't know that Carly Simon's dad was the Simon & Schuster guy, for instance. One thing caught me because it wasn't new, and I knew I could share it.

In the early 1960s, Frank Zappa appeared on Steve Allen’s TV show, performing a "bicycle concerto", plucking the spokes and blowing through the handlebars.

This I knew because I acquired that 16 minute clip over a year ago. The exact date that I have is March 14, 1963 and a clean-shaven young Zappa was the first guest on the show. Not having formed the Mothers of Invention yet, he showed a remarkable musical aptitude in his interview and a ready willingness to issue orders to Steve's band. He also demonstrated his famous sense of humor in performing a duet on bicycle with Steve. Quite simply put, you have to see this.

The quality is likely as good as it will ever be - a lot of these old shows were never kept because the television industry was a bit short-sighted in realizing it's re-run potential in the early days. The version here from YouTube is identical to what I downloaded in content and quality.

It really is amazing what's floating around out there.

1963 Frank Zappa on Steve Allen Show

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Tuesday Ten Trivia

2007-07-03T06:12:00.000-07:00

.
TRUE or FALSE?

The Carpenters were once booked for three nights as the opening act for Steppenwolf, getting fired after the first night.

Cher ended her marriage to Gregg Allman in 1979 after he had passed out in a Mexican restaurant, face first on a plate of chicken quesadillas.

The Who’s rock anthem My Generation took six weeks to break into the Top Ten on the U.S. record charts.

At a 1972 concert, Chuck Berry kicked Keith Richards off stage for playing too loud.

At the end of the Beatles’ song A Day in the Life an ultrasonic whistle was recorded by Paul McCartney for his Shetland sheepdog.

The first record to reach number one in 34 different countries was The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.

The music for the Procol Harum hit Whiter Shade Of Pale was written by Johann Sebastian Bach.

In many U.S. states there is a law against dancing to The Star Spangled Banner.

Ritchie Valens 1958 million-seller La Bamba is a traditional song picked up by the people of Mexico after they heard homesick African slaves singing about their village.

Al Kooper came up with the name for his new band from Winston Churchill’s quote, “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.”

Cheaters need not Google. The answers are located somewhere on this page:

http://www.classicbands.com/trivia2.html
.

Manic Monday

2007-07-02T05:03:00.001-07:00

A regular feature, pointing you to what's new at the indie record shops, online music purveyors, and big-box stores tomorrow. I'll even include what's coming out beyond rock music, but I will admit to being totally clueless about some genres, so I won't touch them (latin, world,classical, electronica, rap, most jazz, modern R & B)

Blues:

Beware Of The Dog; Natural Boogie- Hound Dog Taylor - reissues

Frostbite - Albert Collins - reissue

Pure Cotton - James Cotton - reissue

Still Making History - Ana Popovic

Comedy:

The Rutles - The Rutles - reissue - YES, finally a Rhino reissue with bonus tracks.

Country:

Honky Tonk Masquerade; Joe Ely - Joe Ely - reissues

Tried And True - Hanna-McEuen - Sons of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band guys release another.

Very Best Of Merle Haggard - Merle Haggard

Folk:

Hot Lunch - The Asylum Street Spankers - Don't you love their name? It's sort of acoustic blues, really.

Live At The BBC - Sandy Denny - What a voice.

Original Sandy Denny - Sandy Denny - reissued with bonus tracks.

Soundtracks:

1408

Harry Potter & The Order Of The Phoenix

Live Free Or Die Hard

Transformers

The Pirate Queen

Talk To Me

R & B

Brecker Bros. - The Brecker Brothers - reissue

A load of Supremes reissues

Umbrella - Rhianna

Rock:

1977 - Iggy Pop

20 Greatest Hits - Climax Blues Band

Argus - Wishbone Ash -reissue

At The End Of Time: Churchscapes - Live In England & Estonia, 2006 - Robert Fripp

Beggin' - Frankie Valli

a bunch of Ozzy Japanese imports

Bright - Californias

Bonny Bunch Of Roses; Gottle O'Geer - Fairport Convention - reissues

Captain Sexy Bull - The Damned - a compilation

Choice Cuts: The Capricorn Years - Widespread Panic

Circus Diablo - Circus Diablo

Cryin' Heart Blues - Rick Danko

Dixie Chicken; Feats Don't Fail Me Now; Sailin' Shoes; The Last Record Album - Little Feat - reissues

Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse; Gorilla; Tadpoles- The Bonzo Dog Band - reissues with bonus tracks

Early Elvis - Elvis Presley

End Has a Start - Editors - with bonus tracks

Secret Weapon - MXPX

Stolen Apples - Paul Kelly

Super Tarata! - Gogol Bordello

The Lost Tracks of Danzig - Danzig - for the headbanger in you

Three Easy Pieces - Buffalo Tom - This one's the pick of the day for me!

Era Vulgaris - Queens Of The Stone Age

Flurescent Adolescent - The Arctic Monkeys

From Yesterday - 30 Seconds To Mars

Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga - Spoon

Hang Me Up To Dry - Cold War Kids

Illegal, Immoral and Fattening/Moving Targets - Flo & Eddie - reissues

In Your Face - Duke Squad

In The Beginning - Genesis - reissue of pre- Phil Collins era Genesis' debut.

Kingdom Of Fear - Shitdisco

Libertad - Velvet Revolver - not my thing, but somebody has to like them.

Live at the Grande Ballroom, 1968 - MC5

New Maps Of Hell - Bad Religion

Nocturnal - David Mead

Official Bootleg USA '06 - Jeff Beck

Red Hot Chili Peppers with a bunch of Japanese imports

Take Over The Breaks Over - Fall Out Boy - for your teen daughters

Tarantula - The Smashing Pumpkins

Tell Me Where It Hurts - Garbage - a single

The Detroit-Memphis Experiment - Mitch Ryder - first release on CD!

Time On Earth - Crowded House

Too-Rye-Ay - Dexys Midnight Runners - reissue featuring one of my favorite pop singles, Come On Eileen.

Twilight Of The Innocents - Ash

Uncle Dysfunktional - Happy Mondays

Well Thought Out Twinkles - Silversun Pickups

White Moth - Xavier Rudd

Better People.mp3

A bunch of Wishbone Ash reissues

Year of The Cock - Big Cock - But what about the feet; are they big, too?

Trolling the Underground : MSG 4-27-1971

2007-06-30T11:18:00.001-07:00

In my most recent Trolling the Underground posting at Under the Bridge I, I illustrated two of the joys of collecting unofficial concert recordings. The first was being able to hear a show that I had no way whatsoever of seeing first hand. The other was hearing, whenever I want to, the pairing of two acts that don't work together normally, and had just a couple live experiences shared between them.

To kick off this new blog with my first Trolling the Underground, I'm going to explore a variation on that second theme. That's being able to explore the inevitable strange pairings that occur on stage from time to time, like the night the Grateful Dead were joined onstage by the Beach Boys.

This was a weird little event that came in the middle of the show, when the Dead were having a pretty good night. When the Beach Boys joined them, the setlist deviated far from the Dead's already chaotic norm. They did two songs together, Searchin' and Riot in Cell Block #9 (before which the virtues of a new instrument - the Moog Synthesizer - were extolled), when the Dead took a break to go do whatever it was they did during breaks. Things sounded pretty normal for the Beach Boys during that break, where they took over and played Good Vibrations and I Get Around. When the Dead returned, things got fun again.They did three more songs together; Help Me Rhonda, Okie from Muskogee, and Johnny B. Goode. Amazingly enough, it's the second of those three songs that gets pulled off the best. Help Me Rhonda is just painful to hear, and Johnny B. Goode illustrates how two bands can each do a particular song well, but can't do it worth shit when they're all trying it together. It was simply too many cooks for that particular broth.

So it's pretty obvious which song I have to share. How can you pass up the Grateful Dead and the Beach Boys together doing Okie from Muskogee??

After the Beach Boys left, the Dead continued, and made a little more Dead history by performing one their most famous renditions of the blues classic Turn On Your Lovelight. It's a classic showstopper filled with jams, but what made it famous was Pigpen's speech in the middle in which he condemns masturbation and helps a guy and girl in the audience hook up. It's a riot to listen to, so I wanted to share it also, but alas it's too large for online storage, coming in at about 20 minutes.

I hope you'll all enjoy this little piece of weird concert history. Let me know what you think!