Another Creation from Jonder

I am loving these homemade cover comps from Jonder and Brian, hopefully they inspire others to contribute the same. I'll let Jonder himself describe the procedeings here:

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NOBODY KNOWS THIS IS ANYWHERE - homemade tribute to Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

1. Cinnamon Girl - Dan McCafferty

2. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere - Dar Williams

3. Round and Round - OP8

4. Down By The River - Low & The Dirty Three

5. The Losing End - Meat Puppets

6. Running Dry (Requiem For The Rockets) - Carla Bozulich

7. Cowgirl In The Sand - Houssaine Kili

Dan McCafferty does "Cinnamon Girl" as a ballad, rather than replicating the crunchy riff of the original. It's from Dan's first solo album, which came out in 1975, the same year that his band Nazareth hit it big with Hair Of The Dog.

Dar Williams matches the country flavor of the title track, with a nice touch of mandolin. OP8's dreamy version of "Round And Round" features Lisa Germano's lovely voice and violin, backed by members of Giant Sand and Calexico.

Warren Ellis adds violin to "Down By The River", a collaboration between his trio The Dirty Three and the slowcore trio Low. Mimi Parker from Low sings. This comes from a series of experimental collaborations called "In The Fishtank", where two groups would meet in a studio to improvise and create songs together. I cut about four minutes of improv from the beginning of the song. Warren Ellis has become well known for his work with Nick Cave.

The Meat Puppets shamble through "The Losing End", which appeared on the punk comp Keats Rides a Harley. The Meat Puppets have claimed that they sometimes played badly on purpose to piss off the hardcore crowd. This is one of those times.

You may recognize the distinctive voice of Carla Bozulich from Mike Watt's "Ball-Hog Or Tugboat", the late great Geraldine Fibbers, her current group Evangelista, or maybe even her first band Ethyl Meatplow. Carla once covered Willie Nelson's album Red Headed Stranger in its entirety. Violin appears again on "Running Dry", this time played by Carla Kihlstedt.

Houssaine Kili is from Morocco. His unique version of "Cowgirl In The Sand" is sung in English and Arabic. He plays an African stringed instrument called the guimbri, and his music incorporates African and rock instruments, like the "desert rock" of Tinariwen.

https://mega.nz/#!XNpnkThR!PtZDtdmMdeDd2sAK-90ZbP_ix8nA_kTia9knKYLdRsI

Another wonderful homemade covers comp

Plase, oh please, oh please, let this trend (credit Brian for starting it) take off..... I would LOVE if
MANY you you would get creative with some of these original, wonderful covers comps (there are more to come).....inspired by Brian's Velvet Underground project of last week, long time blog friend and contributor Jonder jumps on the Velvet Underground bandwagon with a homemade covers take on "Loaded"..........I will let him describe it to ya as he has much more of a way with words than do I, so take it away and THANKS Jonder!

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Load(ed.) - a homemade tribute to the Velvet Underground's 1970 album

01 TEENAGE FANCLUB - Who Loves The Sun

02 PLASTIC PEOPLE OF THE UNIVERSE - Sweet Jane

03 DETROIT WITH MITCH RYDER - Rock And Roll

04 THE CRUEL SEA - Cool It Down

05 RACHEL SWEET - New Age

06 SUBWAY SECT - Head Held High

07 BILL NELSON - Lonesome Cowboy Bill

08 CAT POWER - I Found A Reason

09 SOFT BOYS - Train Round The Bend

10 ZOOBOMBS - Oh, Sweet Nothin'

I don't mean to ride Brian's coattails, but it was fun to make this compilation. I tried to avoid familiar covers and tribute albums, just as Brian did. "Lonesome Cowboy Bill" is the only one from a VU tribute. It probably hasn't been covered more often because it's kind of a novelty song. Bill Nelson (from BeBop Deluxe) didn't do a great cover either, so I shortened it. That's why I call this compilation Load(ed.)

I also recorded "Oh Sweet Nothin" from an online stream. Even though the audio fidelity isn't great, I love the way the band incorporates the ending of "Sympathy For The Devil" into their version.  

You can see the influence that the Velvet Underground has had worldwide, with bands from Japan (Zoobombs), Australia (The Cruel Sea), and Eastern Europe (the Plastic People Of The Universe, whose records were banned and whose members were arrested). Their trial led to the revolution that overthrew the Communists in Czechoslovakia.

Vaclav Havel was a big fan of the Mothers, the VU and the Plastic People. After he became the first elected president of Czechoslovakia, Havel invited Frank Zappa to Prague. President Havel also brought Lou Reed with him to meet Bill Clinton at the White House! How many musicians have inspired a REAL revolution? Czech out this article:

https://reason.com/blog/2013/10/27/how-lou-reed-inspired-anti-communist-rev

The DL includes "liner notes". Ignore my ramblings if you like, but please enjoy the songs!

(LINK IN COMMENTS SECTION)

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Thanks Jonder, spectacular effort, PLEASE contribute as many of them as you care to create......what a unique version of "Sweet Jane", and, of my fave, the underappreciated "Cool It Down".......guys, please take some inspiration from Brian and Jonder, it's fun to create these type of comps and can be a unique signature item that leaves your legacy upon the blogosphere!

A Small History Lesson For Ya, Junior

Gary Richrath passed away the other day......as you may or may not know he was the guitar whiz
behind REO Speedwagon......now, of ALL the bands of the era that I make fun of regularly, REO ranks, along with Styx and Foreigner, at the top of the heap....for the most part, they were awful, a generic 1980's mishmash of idiotic album titles("You Can Tue a Piano But You Can't Tuna Fish", Hi-Infidelity", etc) and even MORE idiotic songs  (The vomit inducing "Keep On Lovin You", "Tough Guys" and LOTS more).....however, PRIOR to that kidney stone of a decade (the 80's), they could really rock the room, on the stage (saw them once, opening for someone, forget who exactly).I was, eventually, as surprised as anyone that they got "big".......but in a decade where swill like Poison and the like were considered good rock n roll, should be no surprise really.

Why am I messing around with this even? Couple reasons.....the "Live: You Get What You Play For" (ANOTHER stupid album title), released sometime during my high school yearas in the late 1970's, is a good one, sounding just like a midwestern metal band who has been playing the tavern circuit for years, which would pretty much be the reality. No "classic" by any means, in fact, it contains pretty much every live-metal cliche known to man, down to the Chuck Berry encore ("Little Queenie" which is pretty good), but a damn good showcase for Richrath's guitar work, with some very good, hard rocking tracks ("Son of a Poor Man", "Like You Do", and the absolute definitive version of "Ridin' the Storm Out", the studio version of which is SO very lame in comparison, worth checking out just for this track, by far thier finest moment.) By the way this is ripped from glorious vinyl, and it sounds SO 1970's......have never heard a digital rip and, well, frankly, ya know.....

And for you REO freaks out there (BOTH of ya), here's a little surprise/rarity for ya, a two disc 1979 Chicago boot......they were well on thier way to suckville by this time, as there are tracks from early in thier "big time" era ("Time For Me To Fly", "Only the Strong Survive"), but also includes a version of "Ridin' The Storm Out" and a couple of others, not the greatest but I don't recall from where I got it, nor have I seen many copies of it, so have at it.....

I have not been kind to this band in the past, justifiably, too, I think (I mean, GEEZ, REALLY? "I
don't wanna sleep......I just wanna keep...............on lovin' you" COME ON), but I don't mean to dis thte 1970's metal guitar greatness of Gary Richrath......not especially an original or an innovator, BUT , for what he was, he was a metal guitar slammer who DEFINITELY could bring the goods on stage........Rest In Peace Gary!



LIVE: YOU GET WHAT YOU PLAY FOR-01 Like You Do/02 Lay Me Down/03 Any Kind of Love/04 Being Kind (Can Hurt Someone Sometimes)/05 Keep Pushin'/06 (Only a) Summer Love/07 Son of a Poor Man/08 (I Believe) Our Time is Gonna Come/09 Flying Turkey Trot/10 Gary's Guitar Solo/11 157 Riverside Avenue/12 Ridin' the Storm Out/13 Music Man/14 Little Queenie/15 Golden Country

CHICAGO 12/28/79 DISC 1-01 House Announcer/02 Intro/03 Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight/04 Like You Do/05 Heavy On Your Love/06 Drop it (an Old Disguise)/07 Only the Strong Survive/08 Easy Moeny/09 Roll With the Changes/10 Time For Me TO Fly (cuts out)/11 Back on the Road Again (cuts in)

CHICAGO 12/28/79 DISC 2-01 The Unidentified Flying Turkey Trot/02 157 Riverside Avenue/03 Keep Pusih'/04 Ridin' The Storm Out/05 Audience/DJ Comments/06 Little Queenie/07 Rock n Roll Music/08 Golden Country/09 Closing (introductions)/10 DJ Comments

Links will be up in a little while.......in the meantime, the next post (above this one) is a serious labor of love from a true FRIEND OF THE BLOG!

Marvelous 3

So, the Vikings DIDN'T embarass me as Ohio State did yesterday (but, thanks, Adrian Peterson, for the three fumbles), so I'm not going to drag out something as bizarre as Iron Butterfly, what I was thinking of today is more along the lines of a LONG forgotten sort of post-grunge/post-pop/punk kinda thing.......Marvelous 3, from Atlanta, relesed three albums, of which I have heard only this one, the second, "Hey! Album"........they consisted of guitarist/singer Butch Walker, bassist Jayce Fincher, and drummer Doug Mitchell.

Having said that I know NOTHING of thier other two discs (1997's "Math and Other Problems" and 2000's "ReadySexGo"), this (thier best known, if those are the words for which I am looking) is from that great year of 1998......and it's REALLY pretty good, power-popping alt-rock I guess, it had a fine single, "Freak of the Week", and a couple of other decent tunes, ("Indie Queen", "You're So Yesterday"). As a bonus, "You're So Yesterday" contains one of those all-time stupid lyrics that I love so much, "I feel like Bobby Brady breaking the vase"........hey dickweeds, PETER braday broke the fucking vase........for God's sake do your homework.

Anyway, not TOO many folks recall this bad or this album, and it is worth a listen, kind of a rarity sorta thing......I'll try to post once or twice during the upcoming week, and Brian is creating a TREMENDOUS surprise for you (trust me) for next weekend......be sure and check because it's gonna be a real fish-scaler, I promise.

HEY! ALBUM-01 You're So Yesterday/02 Freak of the Week/03 Until You See/04 Write It On your Hand/05 Let Me Go/06 Every Monday/07 Indie Queen/08 #27/09 Mrs Jackson/10 Over Your Head/11 Vampires In Love/12 Lemonade

Who the hell DOESN'T want some Iron Butterfly?

Well, I DON'T, really, but after the damn Buckeyes just tortured ME with a wretched  performance
in which they nearly lost to NORTHERN ILLINOIS (!), I thought why not drag out these cheeseball semi-"classics"........

Iron Butterfly, of course, would be TOTALLY and COMPLETELY forgotten today, were it not for the notorious, side long "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida", which I bet you haven't sat through in, what 35 years? (no cheating with the "single edit"!)......actually it's a pretty cool track in a campy sort of way, for it's time it was fairly innovative, so, thusly a TRUE period piece.....I would use a rip of my Dad's scratched up vinyl copy for ya to get the "full effect", but it really DOES sound shitty, so let's go with some crispy clean digital rips to thrill you this evening.

Actualy thier first album was the (somewhat underappreciated, actually) "Heavy",  released with a lineup of organist/vocalist Doug Engle, drummer Ron Bushey, bassist Greg Willis, and guitarist Danny Weiss......I'll bet 85% of rock fans today have never heard this, it's no classic, but again, for its time, fairly innovative, I challenge you to listen to this and not at least appreciate it if you are a fan of late 60's psych (the first two tracks "Possesion" and "Unconcious Power" are decent examples of the sound of the era)

Willis and Weiss left and were replaced by Lee Dorman and 17-year old Eric Brann, and then came "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida"........at one time it was the number one selling album in the history of Atco records, or so they said, and it's, taken at face value, an inferior effort to "Heavy", IMO.......as mentioned before, the side-long title track, while VERY hard to deal with these days, was, nonethless, quite innovative at the time.......again, if you haven't heard it in many years, I challenge you to listen and not crack a smile (or even outright laugh).

That's really about it for the "real" Iron Butterfly, even though they went on and on and on and on with hundreds of members and albums and who really cares, but I do have a couple more relics of theirs, Brann (for some reason) took over lead vocal duties for the third effort "Ball", which is medicre at  best in my opinion but is still quite identifiable as Iron Butterfly......worth a listen only from a scholarly, historic, curiosity perspective.

Last  (for what I have) and certainly least is the 1970 live album, creatively titled "Live".......listed in the book "The 50 Worst Rock N Roll Albums of All Time", it's not quite THAT bad, but it's bad, and THIS side long version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" has, interestingly, never, ever been heard more than once by any human being.

OK, like I said they went on and on, but that's not something we really wish to investigate.....if this isn't enough  Iron Butterfly for ya, you either are related to Doug Engle or have distinct masochistic tendencies.

Imagine what I will drag out tomorrow evening if the Vikings torture me to the degree they did last
week, so let's ALL become Vikings fans for tomorrow!

HEAVY-01 Posession/02 Unconcious Power/03 Get Out of My Life Woman/04 Gentle As It May Seem/05 You Can't Win/06 So-Lo/07 Look For the Sun/08 Fields of Sun/09 Stamped Ideas/10 Iron Butterfly Theme

IN-A-GADDA-DA-VIDA-01 Most Anything You Want/02 Flowers and Beads /03 My Mirage/04 Termination/05 Are You Happy/06 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

BALL-01 In the Time of Our Lives/02 Soul Experience/03 Lonely Boy/04 Real Fright/05 In the Crowds/06 It Must Be Love/07 Her Favorite Style/08 Filled With Fear/09 Belda-Beast

LIVE-01  In the Time of Our Lives/02 Filled With Fear/03 Soul Experience/04 You Can't Win/05 Are You Happy/06 In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida

Groovy, man, no?

Perhaps the best homemade comps, ever

(SCOTT)-Brian created these fantastic comps, featuring covers of material from The Velvet
Underground and the Stooges....if you have,in general, enjoyed the music I have featured here I have to think you are going to love these, I do......Brian's text follows, I really don't have much to add, other than Mott the Hoople's "Sweet Jane" was a huge favorite of mine as a teen, and I always thought Nirvana's take on "Here She Comes Now" scorched the original which is saying something...please comment, I'm sure a lot of work went into these and it shows......and of course I would be thrilled if these inspire you to create a similar covers project on one of your favorite bands that I would share here......something from me over the weekend, but thanks to Brian for these two excellent efforts.....
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Hello all. Got an interesting treat for you music nuts out there. I went on a bender lately looking on MP3 sites and in my collection for good cover songs. After putting together quite a few, I realized I had enough for a post of covers of my two favorite bands - V.U. and the Stooges. Even the most knowledgable of you may find some surprises in here....(P.S. - funny stuff at the end of the post too!)

Someone - maybe Lou - once said that while nobody may have bought VU's albums back in the day, everyone that did started a band. This shows that to be true. I've put together two files of covers to simulate Nico and White Light, and also a third one containing versions of songs from the other two albums.

While there are some unknown names in here, everyone gives a great performance. I had to dig to find a good cover of "Heroin"...I didn't want to include Billy Idol's Cyberpunk version...and Clem Snide's solo take is great - stark and wistful. Please go check his Bandcamp page. And whoever Adam Green is, he does a pretty version of "I'll Be Your Mirror".

R.E.M.'s cuts come from Dead Letter Office. I always thought their "There She Goes Again" was a perfect match. I believe Bowie's versions are from Bowie At the Beeb. I love how his vocals go from deadpan to Ziggy in the middle of "Waiting For My Man". And the guitar tone is great.

The CD6's version of "Venus In Furs" is fucking unhinged! Sexy, menacing, awesome...Dukowski was in Black Flag, for you younguns who may not know.

I don't know who Bettie Serveert is, but that live version of "Black Angel's Death Song" is amazing. I was surprised somebody covered it. "All Tomorrow's Parties" comes from an unknown album. It's stellar, almost chamber music, and Crystal Hall's vocals sell it. And look! Echo & the Bunnymen doing "Run Run Run" live! Pretty well, too. And Half Japanese gloriously mangles "European Son" to lead us out...

TRACKLIST

1. Nina Hagen - Sunday Morning

2. David Bowie - Waiting For My Man

3. R.E.M. - Femme Fatale

4. Chuck Dukowski Sextet - Venus In Furs

5. Echo & The Bunnymen - Run Run Run

6. Jazz Mafia ft. Crystal Monae Hall - All Tomorrow's Parties

7. Clem Snide - Heroin

8. R.E.M. - There She Goes Again

9. Adam Green - I'll Be Your Mirror

10. Bettie Serveert - The Black Angel's Death Song

11. Half Japanese - European SonG

White Light/White Heat proved a bit more problematic. Bowie gives a great glammy, crunchy version of the title track, but who in the hell has ever covered "The Gift"? Big Scott and I joked about it. Well, I found them....it's a Japanese group called Hellivision. They do mostly without Waldo's story, yet they deliver a grooving, feedback-drenched version of the song. Go check them out on YouTube. This was ripped from a live video of them playing in a bar in Japan. Modern technology is great, huh?

I don't know who does this great "Lady Godiva's Operation", but it screams 80's UK indie music to me. Anybody got a clue? Big Scott hipped me to Nirvana's great cover of "Here She Comes Now" from the Smart Sessions. It's great... should've been on one of the main albums. Half Japanese comes back for a paper-thin raveup of "I Heard Her Call My Name". And then we have "Sister Ray"... I almost put Doctor Mix & the Remix's version here, but I couldn't resist putting both Joy Division and New Order doing the song, especially since put together they equal the original track's running time. JD's version is from Still...I don't know what album the New Order version is on.

The remainder of VU covers make up the second file. It's mostly names that are unfamiliar, but some great versions. I deliberately left out Cowboy Junkies' "Sweet Jane" (everybody has it) and included Mott the Hoople's version instead....thanks Scott. NOTE: IF ANYBODY KNOWS WHO THE UNKNOWNS ARE, LET ME KNOW. I can't reply to your comments, but I can see them. And if you know any other VU covers, that'd be cool too.

This next one I'm even prouder of. I was aware of several Stooges covers, but had no idea how many more I would find. Some of you may know the 90's Iggy tribute album We Will Fall. While there's a few good tracks on it, I deliberately avoided sourcing from it. (It can be found easily enough if you want it.) Many of these are live cuts, sound check stuff, or are off albums and EPs. Now look at this track list....

1. The Mission - 1969                                                      

2. Joan Jett - I Wanna Be Your Dog

3. Sex Pistols - No Fun

4. The Feelies - Real Cool Time

5. Spacemen 3 - Little Doll

6. Slayer - I'm Gonna Be Your God

7. SWANS - I Want To Be Your Dog

8. Rage Against the Machine - Down On the Street

9. The Birthday Party - Loose

10. Wylde Ratttz (w Mark Arm) - T.V. Eye

11. Magnolia Strip - Dirt

12. Mission Of Burma - 1970

13. The Birthday Party - Funhouse

14. Wylde Ratttz (w Ewan McGregor) - T.V. Eye

15. Rocket From the Tombs - Search & Destroy

16. Wylde Ratttz (w Ewan McGregor) - Gimme Danger

17. Thrust - Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell

18. No Man's Land - Penetration

19. Yo La Tengo - Raw Power

20. John Mellencamp - I Need Somebody

21. The Girlies - Tight Pants

22. Soundgarden - Search & Destroy

23. The Ridiculous Trio - Scene Of the Crime/Death Trip

24. The 69 Eyes - Gimme Some Skin

25. Screamin' Eric - Cock In My Pocket

26. Harem Scarem - Open Up and Bleed

There's a mix for you, huh? I won't talk about every song, but I do want to lay out the highlights for you. Like the VU, I put these in the order they are in on the albums. In the case where there's different versions, they're put after that particular batch of songs. Though its in two parts, when you upload it, it'll join together as one big ass rock and roll album!

For nervy post-punkers, The Feelies jangle the hell out of "Real Cool Time". Also there's Spacemen 3 doing "Little Doll" by way of Hawkwind. It kicks ass!

The Birthday Party tracks may be familiar from my Nick Cave rarities post months ago. That "Funhouse" is off the rails! Joan Jett's stomping "Dog" is from her '88 Up Your Alley album. It should've been a single. Slayer's version (with different lyrics) is from their unappreciated covers album, while SWANS' funereal version is from the Children Of God period. Each one has a different feel - from candy coated weekend fun, to brutal sexual domination, to masochistic surrender.

One of the more famous covers, the Sex Pistol's "No Fun" (taken from the remastered Bollocks) might be their best ever track - it's not snotty, it's seething and angry, with Rotten's vocals at their rawest! Even The Mission (a mopey band I never really cared for) do a great live version of "1969", giving it just enough madness and ennuì. Rage Against the Machine doing "Down On the Street"...how great is that? They fit perfectly. What is that track off of?

Now, the Wylde Ratttz songs are from the movie Velvet Goldmine. They are basically The Stooges behind Ewan McGregor's Iggy. And it's no studio guys...the band is made up of people like Mike Watt, Ron Asheton, Steve Shelley, Thurston Moore...you don't see them in the movie, but they play the music. Because of release issues back in '98, there's two versions of "T.V. Eye" - one with Mark Arm from Mudhoney singing, and one with McGregor. I've also included a good quality audio rip of the "Gimme Danger" performance that's in the movie. It was never on the soundtrack CD.

Rocket From the Tomb's "Search & Destroy" might be my favorite cover version of the song - certainly better than the Chili Pepper's. And I only just discovered Soundgarden's live version. Mission Of Burma take great advantage of the squall of "1970", Yo La Tengo rip up "Raw Power", John Fucking Mellencamp covers "I Need Somebody"! Never knew he was so hip, huh? It's a great version, too. He did it a long time ago from the sound of it. The Ridiculous Trio is that one album I put up awhile ago...greasy, loud Stooges instrumentals - you can't beat it!

Some of the names you don't recognize are from Hard to Beat, an Australian compilation of Stooges covers. It's pretty rare, so I had to source the songs from rips of YouTube videos. There's a little bit of compression on them, but the tracks sound good. It was a zip on a blog somewhere, but that guy literally died....no asking for a re-up there!

I enjoyed putting these together, and hopefully I made something you haven't heard. Give them a listen. Spread them around. If you have a blog of your own, borrow my links. It's cool.

And as a funny bonus to those who miss that stuff, there's a link for this guy....

It's a two album link. It's a partial repost, because the one track was corrupted before. There's his first album (the file should work perfectly this time), and also a funny album of his from the 2000s. I gotta be vague, folks. Enjoy all this. Give the comps some love. They were fun to put together.

Links are in the comment section

Ramatam

Not to be confused with the awful "Ramjam", these are a pair of semi-forgotten classics of hard rock
from the late, great, early 70's that you know I love so much.......somewhat unique for employing female lead guitarist April Lawton, as well as Mike Pinera on guitars/vocals, and former Hendrix-Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell.......they released a pair of albums, the first, "Ramatam" in 1972, and the followup, "In April Came the Dawning of the Red Suns" during the production of which the band was fighting and quitting and etc, do not be confused, the FIRST album is the on you want (although I DO happen to have em both).......

The first disc, if you are not familiar, you will find to be an unknown gem (IF you are a fan of this type of thing as am I).....it's loaded with great stuff like "Whiskey Place", "Ask Brother Ask", and "Can't Sit Still", I love posting these lesser known hard/psych albums of the early 70's, they were so far ahead of thier time and sound WONDERFUL today........

Second album, though, not so great.......I'll give it to ya since I have it, but if album one is a 3.5 star effort, album 2 cannot possibly top 2 stars.......evidently Lawton was trying to take over the group, and the others were none to excited about this, etc........anyway, the second album sounds strained and forced, although, you may find something on it that appeals to you......"Rhinocerous" and "Bounty on my Table" are listenable, though far from essential.

Anyway, enjoy.......the first    abum is must hear material for fans of this stuff, the second, at least, is a listenable rarity.........have at it, and remember that BigScott is doing he best to keep you supplied with a steady stream of vintage rock n roll.......


RAMATAM-01 Whiskey Place/02 Heart Song/03 Ask Brother Ask/04 What Dream I Am/05 Wayso/06 Changing Days/07 Strange Place/08 Wild Like Wine/09 Can't Sit Still

IN APRIL CAME THE DAWNING OF THE RED SUNS-01 The Land/Rainey Sunday Evening/02
Betty Lou/03 I  Can Only Love You/04 Excerpt From Guitar Concerto I/05 Autumn Now/06 Stars and Stripes Forever/07 Bounty on my Table/08 Downrange Table/09 Free Fall/10 Push a Little/11 Rhinocerous


Let me know what you think about these, they don't pop up every day.......you know I love my early 70' s hard stuff, and at lest the first album here is a GOOD one!

The Barracudas

This blog has undergone lots of changes since it's inception.......I hope they've been favorable, I
change things up from time to time just to keep myself interested, of late, (say the last 3-4 months), I have relied on a LOT of guest material, and my "original" posts have been of the "mega" variety, The Stranglers one was stunningly (to me) popular, and the Dickies and Yo La Tengo were fun to do and well recieved too........but here's something I need to get back to doing now and again, which is to post a fine comp, such as this, from a band that I was, for whatever reason, never all THAT into, in other words, not a band that I havae a complete discography and a bunch of demos, boots and etc.......

The Barracudas, for me, were always sufficiently serviced by this comp, it's all I ever need from them.......I just don't really remember them making consistently good albums (although I'm likely wrong and someone will correct me), but as a singles-based bunch of dyed in the wool garage rockers, there is no better way to round up the best of thier stuff than a double disc anthology that is bursting at the seams with good stuff.

Don't get me wrong, same rules as always.....you have something by these guys you want to share, be it an LP release, a boot, or whatever (I assume they were a fine live act), PLEASE submit......some bands, well, you know, I have a load of material from, these guys, I think this is it.......but it rocks seriously in that wonderfully amatuerish, garagey way that so many of us love......well, I listened to this today (hey I have a THREE HOUR round trip commute to/from work) for likely the first time in 10 years, and hell yes, it holds up and any fan of garage rock should be all over this (if unfamilar).

OK, so who are/were the Barracudas? Well, originally the lineup was singer Jeremy Gluck, guitarist Robin Wills, bassist Starkie Phillips, and drummer Adam Phillips....the Phillips would leave shortly after formation, to be replacead by various others, but the Barracudas, in reality are Gluck/Wills, a pairing that works quite well.

This comp is laid out pretty well, with the great early singles "Summer Fun" and "I Want My Woody
Back" from thier early sessions, several psuedo-surf numbers such as "Surfer Joe" and "Surfers are Back", as well as a desecration of Love's "My Little Red Book" (yes, smart ass I know it technically isn't "Love's", but, so what?) highlighting the first disc.

The second disc concentrates on stuff from a bit later, which is still pretty good although not IN GENERAL essential.......if you liked what you heard on the first disc, check "Grammer of Misery", "Stolen Heart", and "I Thought You Sounded That Way Yesterday", and hear the band maturing before your ears.

OK, this is worthwhile.......if you are unfamiliar, you'll like it I'm sure......If you're already a fan, this is probably a redundancy for you, but it's a good introduction for the unindoctrinated, rocks like hell, and serves as an open invite to anyone who has any essoteric Barricudas material to help revive interest in a good, and underappreciated (by me even, I guess, as I have but these two discs to offer up) band.

THIS AIN'T MY TIME (ANTHOLOGY DISC 1)-01 I Can't Pretend/02 1965 Again/03 Summer Fun/04 His Last Summer/05 I Want My Woody Back/06 Subway Surfin'/07 Rendezvous/08 Neighbourhood Girls/09 Love Is Fun/10 Surfers are Back/11 My Little Red Book/12 We're Living In Violent Times/13 Somewhere Outside/14 I Saw My Death in a Dream Last Night/15 This Ain't My Time/16 Ballad of a Liar/17 Inside Mind/18 Hour of Degredation/19 Next Time Around/20 Takes What He Wants/21 On a Sunday/22 Surfer Joe

THIS AIN'T MY TIME (ANTHOLOGY DISC 2)-01 Grammar of Misery/02 Middle Class Blues/03
When I'm Gone/04 Be My Friend Again/05 Dead Skin/06 Eleventh Hour/07 Dealing With Today/08 Leaving Home Again/09 See her Eyes Again/10 Black Snake/11 Losin' Streak/12 Stolen Heart/13 Two Sides of a Coin/14 Adult Child/15 I Thought You Sounded That Way Yesterday/16 She's Alive/17 Can't Get Away From You/18 I'm The One/19 Wait For Everything/20 It's Easy/21 The Best Years

Comments welcome, opinions very important on bands like this, the ones of whom I am lacking in in-depth knowledge.......would LOOOOOVE to hear some boots or demos, even as-released LP's.......I'll try to be back tomorrow with something, I have, I guess, "rediscovered" the joy of sharing my music collection. Love to ya all!

Spoons

Hey, I'm gonna do my best to get you guys some different stuff on at least a semi-regular basis.......I'll maybe mix in a couple of "mini-posts" like this with some of my "mega posts" (The Stranglers, The Dickies, and Yo La  Tengo of late were quite successful as far as reader interest, next up? I don't know, possibly Siouxsie and thte Banshees, or even maybe the long anticipated (by me) Roxy Music (mu favorite band of them all) post............anyway, every band was not a giant......some just turned out a decent album or two, and I'm here for that as well.........

Tonight I have a pretty cool 1980's new wave/synthpop album that I enjoyed a bit at the time (albeit not my very favorite genre) from the band Spoons. Spoons were from Canada, I think this may have been album #2 for them, it's the only one I have or have heard........VERY typical of the era, those swirling synths and all, but all in all a fairly decent effort.

Spoons were vocalist/guitarist Gordon Deppe, bassist/vocalist Sandy Horne, synth-whiz Rob Preuss, and drummer Derrick Ross.........this album, 1982's "Arias and Symphonies" is NOT a "classsic", so to speak, but for someone who was 20 yearas old in 1982, hearing this LONG forgotten album generally can put a smile on one's now-50 something year old's face............

The best and most well known track on the disc is the single "Nova Heart", but, really, the whole thing is worth a listen as a time-trip experience.........if you were in college in the early 80's, you likely heard this disc, but perhaps the memory banks have erased it...........check it out and remember the early years of Reganomics.......

I'm gonna try to get up a few more posts like this, single album kinda stuff, between the mega-stuff.......and of course am always grateful as fuck for ANY guest submissions.......remember, the Big man LOVES you all, YOU are whom this being done for........I have LOTS more music to share with you, please at least leave a comment and say "This sucks", or "WOW forgot all abaout this one"........that's why we are here.

BigScott62 loves ya and hopefully will find time to post something tomorrow! Requests always welcome too!

01-Trade Winds/02 Smiling In Winter/03 One In Ten Words/04 No Electrons/05 No More Growing Up/06 Arias & Symphonies/07 Nova Heart/08 South American Vacation/09 A Girl In Two Pieces/10 Walk the Plank/11 Blow Away

Honest to God a pretty fair album for one I hadn't thought about in likely 25 years or so.....I like to do that though, dig out the material that I have FORGOTTEN and see what it sounds like to ADULT ears, relative to how it sounded to me as a "child"......lyrically, pretty smooth, and instrumentally a pretty near perfect typical slice of the stuff that was going around in the early 80's......lemme know what it does for ya, K?

Chokin' on the Stranglers

This Stranglers thing has really exploded....   so much wonderful guest submission material, and even now we have a bit more. First of all, my old buddy Petty Vandetta sends us a rare gem, the "Fire and Water" outtakes disc.... I never new it existed, but what a wonderful rarity for all the Stranglers fanatics.....

http://www63.zippyshare.com/v/PoM3lwcu/file.html

Also, a new friend of the Blog, Duncan Broohaw, submits a video link of the Stranglers performing "Nice N Sleazy" complete with strippers on stage.... if you love the Stranglers, as so many seem to, this is a wonderful rare gem you will want to experience....

http://www.filefactory.com/file/4giq3ye7a0t5/s-n-s-78.rar

By the way I've really enjoyed posting this weekend after such sporadic posting.......I will try to do better, keep the guest stuff coming, even if this becomes an all Stranglers blog.........love you all, as always!

How Bout yet another for today

I haven't done any heavy psych rock from the early 70's since forever, and as you know I have a super-soft spot for it..... I know my posting has been irregular, to say the least, of late, but I'm kicking out the jams this weekend so you know Uncle Scott will remain with you until they bury him........ just checked and I don't think I've posted this album before, "The Flow's Greatest Hits"...... and if I have, so what, it's a total piece of guitar freakout psychosis that I could listen to all day long.

The Flow were Pete Fine on guitar/voice, Steve Starer on drums, and Monte Farber on bass/voice....... Blue Cheer inspired all the way ( a GOOD/GREAT thing!), this slab will blow your fucking mind. The opener "It Swallowed the Sun" is the highlight for me, but the whole damn thing is beyond awesome........... you know I strive for variety and I've been in a small Stranglers/Guest Post rut due to becoming a career man again, but I pledge to ALSO start putting up more great shit like this, coz EVERYBODY needs to have a listen at this!

01. It swallowed the sun /02. Searchin /03. Funny funkin woman /04. Mediations /05. Toccata 06. Bijinkes /07. Mousely /08. Troubadour between sets /09. Third movement /10. Get up & smile /11. Sunday night randoms /12. I saw a dog /13. Insanity creeping /14. Things we said today /15. Baghdad express
/16. Wynds

We got a bit more Stranglers-related stuff

Forgot about the Purple Helmets, which an Anonymous reader sent me a link for, actually I already had a couple of em..... A Stranglers side-project, The Purple Helmets is an ad hoc band, playing 1960's R and B numbers. The recording line-up was: Jean-Jacques Burnel, Dave Greenfield, John Ellis, Alex Gifford (a member of the Stranglers horn-section) and Manny Elias (drummer with Tears For Fears). The band was ostensibly put together (from an earlier incarnation) so that JJ and Dave could do some gigging between Stranglers projects. There MAY be more out there, but what I have are these two albums, "Ride Again" (1988) and "Rise Again" (1989).... for my dough "Ride" is the better effort, as we get fab covers of SO many great songs, "Over Under Sideways Down", "Tobacco Road", "Wooly Bully"...... not just carbon-cover copies either, reminds me of Bowie's "Pinups" project to a point. "Rise" is good too, though it suffers from a bit lesser of selection, highlights being maybe "Rosalyn", "She's Not There", "Oh Pretty Woman" and at least a few more.... track lists if you're interested:

RIDE AGAIN-01 Wooly Bully/02 Over Under Sideways Down/03 Don't Bring Me Down/04 We Gotta Get Out of This Place/05 Baby Please Don't Go/06 I Can't Explain/07 Whatcha Gonna Do About it/08 Keep On Running/09 All Day and All of the Night/10 Louie Louie/11 Tobacco Road/12 I Wanna Be Your Man/13 Hip Hug Her/14 Not Fade Away/15 I'm a Man

RISE AGAIN-01 Brand New Cadillac/02 I'm Crying/03 Rosalyn/04 She's Not There/05 First I Look at the Purse/06 Get Yourself Home/07 Oh Pretty Woman/08 homework/09 Don't You Like What I Do/10 Money/11 Under the Sun/12 baby Let Me Take You Home/13 Sha La Lee/14 baby/15 Everything's Alright.

Old friend Dave Sez submits a retrospective of JJ Burnel's work, a handy compilation of his solo albums and etc.... I hope I got the right one here, looks like a double disc......

DISC 1-01. Jellyfish/02. Never Too Look Back/03. Skin Deep/04. By The Sea/05. Garden Of Eden

/06. Dagenham Dave/07. European Female/08. Coup De Grace

DISC 2-01. Un Jour Parfait/02. Don’t Bring Harry/03. Norfolk Coast/04. Where I Live/05. Frog Crossing Road/06. Talking ‘Bout Me And You/07. In The End/08. The Kiss/09. Go Buddy Go/10. Something Better Change/11. Fred And George/12. Quark Strangeness And Charm/13. Big Thing Coming

Let's See If we Can Wrap-Up the Stranglers

It's been fun and it's been very popular, but I am JUST ABOUT out of material.... don't worry I'll get to some other stuff soon, what I have left here is a series of albums that I don't REALLY recall that much about, Hugh Cornwell's solo efforts..... been forever since I've heard em, BUT, if you are a true Stranglers fanatic, perhaps you will enjoy these or not.... just trying to go all out in the name of completeness....... here are his albums, chronologically......

1979 NOSFERATU-01 Nosferatu/02 Losers In a Lost Land/03 White Room/04 Irate Caterpillar/05 Rhythmic Itch/06 Wired/07 Big Bug/08 Mothra/09 Wrong Way Round/10 Puppets/11 Losers in a Lost Land (instro)

1988 WOLF-01 Another Kind of Love/02 Cherry Rare/03 Never Never/04 Real Slow/05 Break of Dawn/06 Club Land/07 Dreaming Again/08 Decadence/09 All the Tea In China/10 Getting Involved

1993 WIRED-01 Ain't It Strange/02 Make It With You/03 My Kind of Loving/04 Wasted Tears/05 Story of He and She/06 Ain't It Strange/07 Stop/08 Mr Insignificant/09 Turn Your Body Down/10 First Bus To Babylon

1997 GUILTY-01 One Burning Desire/02 Snapper/03 Nerves of Steel/04 Black Eyes, Black hair, Black Suit/ 05 Hot Head/06 Endless Day Endless Night/07Five Miles High/08 Sravendrabellagola/09 Long  Dead Train/10 Torture Garden/11 House of Sorrow

1999 BLACK HAIR, BLACK EYES,  BLACK SUIT-01 One Burning Desire/02 Snapper/03 Nerves of Steel/04 Jesus Will Weep/05 Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit/06 Hot Head/07 Endless Day Endless Night/08 Not Hungry Enough/09 Sravendrabellagola/10 Long Dead Train/11 House of Sorrow




2001 HI-FI-01 Leave Me Alone/02 Gingerbread Girl/03 One

Day at a Time/04 All Colours of the Rainbow/05 Putting You In the Shade/06 The Big Sleep/07 Mis TeezyWeezy/08 Dark Side of the Room/09 Lay Back On Me Pal/10 Gingerbread Girl/11 The Prison's Going Down/12 Golden Brown (Live)/13 Always the Sun (Live)

2002 FOOTPRINTS IN THE DESERT-01 If You Wanted To/02 Everybody/03 I Can't handle It/04 Fresh Air/05 One Fine Thing/06 Lady In Mind/07 So  Sexual/08 Touch Touch/09 Venus In Furs/10 For What It's Worth/11 Keep It Under Your Hat/12 Coming of Age/13 Sex Bomb/14  2000 Lights


2006 Dirty Dozen Live-01 Duchess/02 First Bus To Babylon/03 Goodbye Tolouse/04 Picked Up By The Wind/05 Hanging Around/06 Black Hair Black Eyes Black Suit/07 Always the Sun/08 Nerves of Steel/09 Nuclear Device/10 Putting You In the Shade/11 Walk on By/12 No More Heroes

2008 HOOVERDAM-01 Please Don't Put Me On a Slow Boat to Talbridge/02 Going to the City/03 Delightful Nightmare/04 Within You Without You/05 Rain on the River/06 Beat of My Heart/07 Philip K Ridiculous/08 The Pleasure of Your Company/09 Wrong Side of the  Tracks/10 Banging On the Same Old Beat

Long Labor Day weekend,and I OWE you guys some stuff, I guess......

Well, I guess we've lost Brain, at least for now, I have invited him to become a regular guest contributor ala Cliff or jonder or whomever, we'l see if he takes us up on that. While I am at it, ANYONE wishing to be a guest contributor is welcome, this could be YOU..... anyway, over this 4-day weekend, I plan on putting up at least a few discs for y'all.... and the place I guess I need to start is wrapping up the Stranglers thing..... Now, understand this, the Stranglers thing as a whole has been one of my post popular "mega-Projects", understandable, they were great and had a very devoted following...... some of the guest contributions on the topic have been off thte charts..... I do still have a few left, which are solo efforts from Stranglers members..... mind you I haven't listened to these an awful lot, and it's been a long, long time, but to COMPLETE the Stranglers picture, I think it's a good idea to present these as well..... ommentary will be kept to a minimum as I really DON'T recall much about these albums, but, I hope you enjoy them.

OK, lets start with Jean-Jacques Burnell, the Stranglers' bassist and resident creep; I have three solo albums and if I recall, they are quite enjoyable.... I know he had a few more, but what I havae for you is "Euroman Cometh", "Euroman Cometh (Live)" and "Un Jour Parfait"..... let me know what you think, would you please?

EUROMAN COMETH-01Euroman/02 Jellyfish/03 Freddie Laker/04 Euromess/05 Duetshland Nicht Uber Alles/06 Do the European/07 Tout Comprende/08 Triumph (of the Good City)/09 Pretty Face/10 Crabs/11 Eurospeed (Your Own Speed)

EUROMAN COMETH  (LIVE)-12 Ode To Joy/Do the European/13 Deutschland Nicht Uber Alles/14 Eurospeed/15 Crabs/16 Tout Comprende/17 Freddie Laker/18 Jellyfish/19 Triumph of the Good City/20 Euroman

UN JOUR PARFAIT-01 Un Jour Parfait Theme/02 Si Je'tais/03 Weekend/04 Tristeville Se Soir/05 Un Jour Parfait/06 Via Dolarosa//07 Le Whiskey /08 Crazy (She Drives Me)/09 Garden of Eden/10 Reves/11 Waltz/12 Via Doloarosa (Spanish)/13 Le Whiskey (Dance Mix)/14 Elle Assure/15 Reve (12 Mix)/16 Les Mensouges Et Les Lames

I think if you give these a try you may find some unknown (to you) gems hidden here..... Burnell has a good bit of talent. Links in the comment section.

Next we have a colaboration between JJ Burnell and Dave Greenfield, entitled "Fire and Water".... didn't really recall it, listened and it's really pretty damn good,give it a spin.....

FIRE AND WATER-01 Liberation/02 Rain and Dole and Tea/03 Vladamir and Sergi/04 Le Soir/05 Trois Pedophiles/06 Dino Rap/07 Nuclear Power (yes Please)/08 Detective Privee/Consequences

Check it out..... next post will be a shitload of Hugh Cornwell stuff, and a couple more surprises to wrap up this Stranglers EXTRAVAGANZA!