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The Move
Message From The Country
Harvest/EMI [UK]
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Folks, it just doesn't get much better than this. For the newbies: The Move were a Birmingham, England pop band who morphed into The Electric Light Orchestra after Jeff Lynne joined in the late '60s. This album, and its bonus tracks, perfectly sum up that era—kinda like The Beatles meet prog rock, with a dash of heavy metal thrown in for good measure. This is the music that led into ELO's excess of pomp and over-orchestration in the late '70s. But there's none of that here! The abundance of reed instruments (oboe, bassoon, etc.) hasn't seemed to age a bit in the 34 years since Message's original release. Or maybe,it's because the songs and performances are uniformaly top notch. Unlike most reissues, this stuff hasn't aged. Whatever the reason, score this disc, it's mandatory. If you wanna hear "Do Ya" done proper, buy this. If you wanna hear where Cheap Trick latched onto "California Man," buy this. If you wanna hear where The Travelling Wilburys come from, buy this. Just buy it, it's great. I love it.
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Various Artists
Harvest Showdown
Harvest/EMI [UK]
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If you need more of the same, check this collection out, the perfect companion disc. When the Move moved their home to EMI (and the side door to Abbey Road), they joined a custom label, a somewhat more "underground" imprint as it were. Returning to Harvest's tradition of issuing budget samplers, Harvest Showdown is chockfull of rarities, radio edits, single mixes, from those same legendary talents, Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne. Collaboratively and on their own as ELO, The Move, Wizzard and Roy Wood. "Do Ya" and "10538 Overture" (single versions, 'elo Tricksters), "Ball Park Incident" and "Carlsberg Special" (Wizzard), "Rock Down Low" and "Music TO Commit Suicide By" (Roy Wood), all long unavailable in the ever popular CD format.
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Pixies
Sell Out 2004 [DVD]
Rhino Home Video
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Capturing the Pixies on last year's comeback tour, this live DVD culls 27 of its 43 tracks from a stop at the Euroékeennes Festival, and contains additional performances pulled from Coachella, Austin City Limits and the New Orleans Voodoo Festival, among other places. Having witnessed their show in Indio, it was nice to relive the moment I saw one of the most important and influential bands of '80s back onstage. I'm sure many would share the same sentiments, especially for the generation that got into the group after-the-fact. The band is in top form here; it seems as if they never skipped a beat, despite the 11-year hiatus. And while an opportunity was missed to make a full-blown documentary in the vein of The Year Punk Broke that could have cut up the live footage, or at least provided something a bit more entertaining than watching the mostly motionless band on stage, this is still an excellent memento of a time many may never forget.
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The Makers
Everybody Rise!
Kill Rock Stars
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Ain't nothin' I like better than listenin' to wastrels wasted beyond recognition. If they're not dissipated I'm disappointed so that's why I'm cottonin' to this new one by the Makers who are about as wrecked beyond redemption as can be.
For one thing, the sneerin' snot box vocals by Michael "D'yer" Maker come straight from the boozy school of on-the-nod theatrics once made popular by the loaded likes of Alice Lou JoHansen. For another, the whole band precipitously tips on the snarky punk precipice as if they're about to fall teetering tits up into their amps at any given moment.
But even in the sad shape I'm in, I ain't none too impressed that "Meat'yer" Maker hadda go 'n' rewrite Aerosmith's "Home Tonight" into the arch Ziggyfield Follies summer camp closer "Promises For Tomorrow."
Which is why I'll prob'ly think that they suck big time once I sober up. But from where I'm lyin' right now they sound pretty good to me.-- Jeffrey Morgan
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Paul McCartney
Chaos And Creation In The Backyard
Capitol
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Let's face it Paul McCartney is the King of the world. Think about it. Who's a bigger living pop culture icon? Dylan? Very close, but he wasn't a Beatle. Michael Jackson? Please! Brittany, Mandy, Kelly or the new INXS singer? Hardly. The only close candidates I can think of are Mick Jagger or possibly Muhammad Ali but James Paul McCartney is the clear winner. He's got all the stats. Beatle boy in the '60s, chart topping head-Wing in the '70s, solo star for the last 25 years and for Christ sakes he's a knight!
So when his majesty makes an album in 2005 he has to compete with a bar, which was set at its highest peg some 40 years ago. With that said, Chaos & Creation in the Backyard is one of McCartney's finest solo efforts to date. Stylistically there's nothing really new in these 13 tracks and that's what so pleasing about this collection. After reports that this was going to be another "full band" effort it was a quite a surprise to find that Macca has returned for Vol. III in his do-it-all-yourself series that started in back in 1970 with the McCartney album. Like his debut, the beauty here is that Paul's not trying to compete with NME's group of the minute or attempting to lead a band through his ideas. This is the music of a man who is simply writing about his current state of mind and doing it with the casual confidence of an artist in his early '60s who goes to bed every night knowing that it's good to be the King.
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Ringo Starr
Choose Love
Koch
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One of the most unique things about The Beatles was their endearing habit of referencing their earlier songs. For a guy who claimed that he didn't believe in Beatles, Lennon sure liked to mention them a lot in his lyrics. And while Harrison and McCartney were also prone to recalling their legacy from time to time, the all time champ remains Ringo.
From the Lennon-penned "Yes my name is Billy Shears, you know it has been for so many years" to his own "Sexy Sadie you look like the devil to me," Ringo has always used The Beatles' back catalogue as a inspirational touchstone during his solo career.
So when he began 2003's Ringo Rama by wistfully commenting "Remember when I said 'it don't come easy'? That seems so long ago," Ringo was carrying on a long standing tradition—one that's continued on Choose Love when he takes a brake from "Waiting for the van to come" (on "Don't Hang Up") to remind us that "All we really need is love" (on "Fading In Fading Out").
But when Ringo sings on the title track that "The long and winding road is more than a song, tomorrow never knows what goes on" he's not just casually nodding to three songs from his past: he's seriously waxing philosophic about the fragile and transitory nature of life. "To live your life right you've got to let in the light and let all the darkness go" is a much needed cure for the rampant negativity that infects so much of today's music.
Remember so long ago when Ringo sang "Please remember peace is how we make it, it's there within your reach if you're big enough to take it" on "It Don't Come Easy"? Well, the heartening news for us all is that 35 years later Ringo's still preaching what he practices on Choose Love. And that's the greatest message in this world, in the next world, and in any world you can find.
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Blind Arvella Gray
The Singing Drifter
Conjuroo
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Bob Dylan name-checked this Chicago country bluesman back in his earliest days as a Woody Guthrie clone. Sadly, Gray only recorded one record, and it's been out of print for years. Sadly, that is, until now. The Singing Drifter is the inaugural release on Cary Baker's Conjuroo imprint. This reissue of the 1972 LP features bonus tracks and extensive liner notes, hopefully rectifying Gray's status as a nearly-forgotten street singer. With his thrilling blend of folk and blues roots that come straight from the primordial source, musicians like Gray are all but extinct. That’s why discovering them anew is such a treat.
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Blows Against The Empire
Paul Kantner/Jefferson Starship
RCA Legacy
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On this sci-fi masterpiece from Paul Kantner's Airplane spin-off he collaborates with his former bedmate Grace Slick and all their post Haight-Ashbury folkie pals—Cassady, Gracia, Crosby, et al. It is difficult to express what it meant in the aftermath of Woodstock, the dream they were living and selling back to Amerika's youth of the day. Even after Altamont, which you might be able to blame on all of these very culprits (it was after all their friends the Hell's Angels who were offended by the fray Jagger and the Stones telling them off), their utopian dream hadn't been shattered. The year after Blows…, Slick delivered her solo album Sunfighter with many of the same fiery sentiments. Sharp biting social and political jabs taking to task the elders and the barbaric hypocrisies they ruled under. In retrospect we can understand her resistance in taking the stage in the last 10 plus years. If Kantners' promise to build a Starship in 1980 and leave this wasted planet behind had panned out, may be some his cohorts wouldn't have spent the '80s building a city on rock 'n' roll, but alas. Their daughter changed her name from God to China and went on MTV and they settled for Marin and Malibu instead of Mars. Like H.G. Wells or Orwell today, reads as great fantasy as opposed to prophecy.
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Various Artists
The Ikon Records Story
Frantic
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Subtitled "America's #1 Unsung Garage Label 1964-1966," for all its good intentions, this overly well-packaged comp is definitely more than anyone in their right mind would want to hear. And yes, the common denominator amongst these teenage acts is uncultivated crudity. The fact that Ikon Records (a "pay to play" vanity label) operated out of a converted Safeway grocery store in unhip Sacramento might lower expectations considerably further.
To digress somewhat, possibly the brightest, loudest... and most hysterically sped-up sounding (partly courtesy of the helium-breath vocals of teenaged Timmy B. Schmidt, later of the Eagles) 45 rpm of the mid-'60s garage band era is "Want Ad Reader" by Sacramento's New Breed. An original vinyl copy of this Who-inspired killer easily tops the entire Rolling Stones SACD remaster campaign for sheer sonic brilliance.
While not included in this collection, "Want Ad Reader" was in fact captured on tape at Ikon. It at least serves as a good indication of the generally incredible sound quality on offer on this related studio/label retrospective.
As mentioned, there is some really horrid crap here that did not need to be rescued. But the batting average of this 2-CD set is better than expected, including some real winners. "I'll Be the One" by Madd, Inc. is classic girl-putdown bravado whereas "Surf Express" by the Nervous Kats applies a Bo Diddley beat to one of the many rockin' instrumentals found throughout. Another fave is "Meet My Little Sweety" by the Denny & Kenny Duo, consisting of a drums 'n' budget organ sound fronted by the same two hipsters on vocals. These boys alternate between unison yelling and call 'n' response a la early Righteous Bros. Great!
The Knightsmen's "Daddy Was a Rollin' Stone" features an absolutely MENTAL vocal, cool midtempo arrangement and a longish, spidery guitar break from Keith Richards Jr. The wildly exaggerated final repeats of the song's (Pre-Temptations!) title serve as a perfect snapshot of the local rebel-teen recording experience. For those that cringe at the thought of wading through 60 tracks to find more goodies, there's a seriously condensed vinyl edition of 'The Ikon Records Story' on, um, iconic garage-punk reissue label, Crypt Records.
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Various Artists
Festival! [DVD]
Eagle Rock
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In this 1967 Murray Lerner documentary, we watch the storied Newport Folk Festival through a critical time in its development over several years through the mid-'60s. Here we see blues artists like Son House, Mississippi John Hurt, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee alongside then-nouveau folkies like Joan Baez and Peter, Paul & Mary. It's easy to see the elements of the hippie counterculture coming together.
All of these great folk, blues and traditional artists built up a massive pile of traditional, woodsy American culture. And then we get to see Bob Dylan, backed by members of the Butterfield Blues Band, pour gasoline on it and strike a match. His first electric performance there in 1965 has been characterized as the moment a great cultural shift happened. Maybe it was. But what's clear is that Dylan's kick-down-the-doors attitude was punk rock at its purest. And all the Pete Seeger bitching in Scorsese's new Dylan documentary proves that he and some of his cronies have a tin ear, because the version of "Maggie's Farm" included in both films is one of the most scorching slices of rock ever recorded.
This DVD is worth it for the Dylan alone, but there's so much more here worth watching.
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Ian McLagan
Here Comes Trouble
Maniac
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We'll if you are a regular reader of these pages and still don't know of our fondness for all things Faces, or don't know Mac, then I really don't know what to tell you. Faces fans, you need this. After the lead singer fell into a bottle of Swedish peroxide bringing about the untimely demise of the lot... You all know the story, Woody dragged Mac along to some Stones' sessions, out of it we got "Miss You" and a tour. That wasn't enough though, the following year, Keith needed to play a gig for his parole officer in Toronto and Woody had a solo album to hype. The New Barbarians were born, road tested and Mac took them into the studio for their only proper recording together. That track, "Truly" is here along the 10 others that made up his 1979 debut Troublemaker. "La De La," "Little Troublemaker," and "If It's Alright," all feel like they fell right off the back of the Faces wagon, with Ronnie Wood on the bulk of this, how could it not?
If finally getting this li'l gem on CD wasn't good enough, Mac sweeten the pot, adding Last Chance To Dance, with the mighty fine "You're My Girl" that was rerecorded for last year's Rise & Shine. Along with a couple more very cool rarities, the unedited take of "Truly," Mac tells us that it went on for much longer but apparently the tape ran out around the 12 minute mark and a brilliant version of "Pictures Of Lily" from of all things, a Japanese Who tribute album. No, it's not in Japanese, but if you do need a laugh, ol' man Wood puts in a cameo as Dad! Available online from Mac's Pages.
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Dr Israel
Inna City Pressure
ROIR
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This reissue of Dr. Israel's seminal 1998 dub concept album comes off as a cross between King Tubby, Marvin Gaye and Black Sabbath, filled with political commentary, deep beats with crushing guitars. In fact, Dr. Israel's frantic reimagining of Sabbath's "The Wizard" is one of this record's high points. It's frankly a little too frenzied and content-heavy for this scribe (who prefers his dub on the chilled-out and minimalist side). But it's tasty and aromatic nonetheless.
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Conversations With Tom Petty
by Paul Zollo
Omnibus Press
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His Southern gentleman charm comes right through on the page—smooth, like Jack Daniel's. Petty is always an eloquent storyteller, whether in song or on the printed page. Relaxed and endearing, great tales of Dylan, Cash and my favorites the Wilburys, their songs and how they came to be. Tom seems to enjoy the jokes he's letting you in on, as much as he seems to be amazed by the fact that these are first hand stories. I'd like to borrow one of Tom's own comments, but this from a conversation we once had about Bob's "Love And Theft" album, "...Good For Him!"
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Dirtbombs
If You Don't Already Have A Look
In The Red
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It's long been known that the Dirtbombs are favorites 'round the CREEM offices, and this two-disc collection provides ample evidence why. One disc is covers, the other originals. Throughout, the band's gritty lo-fi fuzz is combined with danceable pop sensibilities and a huge sense of humor. The fact that these songs don't get played on the radio just proves that the world is stupid.
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Quantic Soul Orchestra
Pushin On
Ubquity
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Quantic is the stage name of electronic dance artist Will Holland. For Pushin' On, he assembled a live band that brings Blaxploitation funk into the 21st century. It's filled with burbling bass lines, a stabbing horn section, sweeping strings and chunky guitars. Singer Alice Russell adds a spiritual dimension on several tracks. Pushin' On is danceable and deeply funky, proving that they haven't yet built machines that can take the place of human musicians.
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Tony Joe White
The Heroines
Sanctuary
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The title might be a bit of a giveaway as to what the King Of The Swamp has been up to of late. Well, he's been prowling around with some fine fillies who've helped him deliver one of his most solid records since I don't know when. It's like an album full of "Polk Salad Annie." Shelby Lynne, who has a recent album full of TJW songs, Lucinda Williams, no stranger to the swamp herself, White's daughter Michelle, with Emmylou Harris and Jessie Colter rounding out ladies night. A hot damn down and dirty exercise in southern fried funk. Don't overlook ol' Tony Joe any longer, an American original that shouldn't be ignored.
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Suphala
The Now
Rasa
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Viva K
Viva K
Stinky
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On The Now, gorgeous tabla virtuoso Suphala mixes Indian and Western instruments to weave a chilled-out carpet of sound. With a guest appearance by fellow dreamy Desi Nora Jones among the notable collaborations, it is a sensuous pan-global triumph.
On a completely different note, Los Angeles weirdos Viva K took a bunch of Indian instruments like sitars and tables and beat the crap out of them, proving that great punk rock can be made with instruments besides the guitar.
And somewhere the cryogenically frozen head of Walt Disney sings "It's a Small World After All."
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Gang Of Four
Return The Gift
V2
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Reconstituted and rejuvenated, Gang Of Four are back on the boards this year and I for one am glad to have them there. In theory I didn't find this concept of rerecording these songs appealing, thankfully those feelings have been proven wrong. Sometimes mastering your instruments can be a very bad thing, when accompanied by loss of passion, loss of conviction. That's not the case here. Unlike some antiquated socio-political motivated musical statements of the past (i.e. see my Jefferson Starship comments elsewhere on this page), these songs hold heavy authority in 2005. None stronger than the dancemixless revamping of "I Love A Man In An Uniform" or that other former dance fave "Anthrax."
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The Hard Lessons
Gasoline
No Fun
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Detroit's the Hard Lessons are a charming pop trio whose electric organ-drenched songs feature just the right level of grit to keep the sing-along rockers rolling. The songwriting is catchy—it's only a matter of time before the creamy pop number "Milk and Sugar" becomes a commercial for dairy products, the sugar industry, or tea importers.
Vocals are split between the mod sweetness of guitarist Augie and the blues belting of keyboardist Ko Ko Louise. The drummer is named the Anvil, and it ain't cuz he's a blacksmith. It's because his drumming solid and heavy. As great a debut as Gasoline is, it's a pale shadow of the trio's live delivery. Catch 'em if you can.
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Brain Donor
Brain Donor
Mid-Heaven/Revolver
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U.S. comp of Julian Cope's Spinal Tap fantasy band, Brain Donor is stoopid heavy metal at its finest. Stooges and MC5 fans will find the proceedings fun enough, but humor-less fans of Copey's more "serious" work should approach with caution. With song titles like "My Pagan Ass," "Shaman U.F.O.," and "Love, Peace & Fuck," you ought to know right away what side of this fence you're on.
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Turbonegro
Party Animals
Abacus Recordings
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Three years ago, Norway's favorite group of degenerate Alice Cooper worshippers roared back to life, after a dramatic, acrimonious break-up in '98 that encompassed heroin addiction, mental illness, and sanitariums. Their comeback record, Scandinavian Leather, was an admirable return, introducing a whole new generation to the wonders of the band's own brand of "death punk," but it's Party Animals that comes closer to matching the brilliance that was Apocalypse Dudes, Turbo's finest hour on disc to date.
Co-produced with ex-Redd Kross man Steve McDonald, Party Animals has a bright, punchy sound that just begs to be turned up LOUD. As usual, the songwriting and playing are top-notch. Singer Hank Von Helvete still sounds menacing and cuddly, both at the same time, while the ferocious guitar work of Euroboy is killer, as usual. Why this man isn't revered by punk and rock guitarists remains a mystery to this humble scribe.
Party Animals begins with the Stephen Hawking-ish "vocals" on "Intro: The Party Zone," but kicks into high gear on the next track ("All My Friends Are Dead") and doesn't let up for the rest of the record. Along the way you get such gems as rhyming "Jesus" with "feces" (not in a scatological or irreverent way, believe it or not), the must-be Spinal Tap-inspired "Blow Me (Like the Wind)," and the puerile, yet charming "If You See Kaye (Tell Her I L-O-V-E Her)."
Elsewhere, you'll be delighted by Circle Jerks' mainman Keith Morris (billed here as "the artist formerly known as the greatest beerdrinker in the world") taking a hilarious turn as the outraged neighbor on "Wasted Again," (itself a reference to the Black Flag compilation, Wasted…Again). Plus, the belated U.S. release of the album adds DVD content (unavailable for review), sweetening the pot for fans that didn't already shell out for the import when it came out in the spring.
The verdict on Party Animals is simple: Still as stupid-smart as ever, Turbonegro retain their title as the planet's greatest living punk rock 'n' roll band.
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Red Sovine
Honky Tonks, Truckers & Tears (1964-1980)
Ace
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This country retrospective is required listening for meth-addicted truckers, cheating spouses, adult failures, Tom Waits fans, new divorcées, sentimental saps, and anyone else who appreciates songs with forceful emotional delivery and as much twang as the human heart can stand.
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Unknown Instructors
The Way Things Work
Smog Veil
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The Way Things Work is a challenging freeform blast of intelligent noir beat poetry that plumbs the same depths of freakiness that Sun Ra and the MC5 did in days of yore. But, those comparisons aside, it is the specter of the Minutemen that looms largest over the record. That's because vocalist Dan McGuire and Saccharine Trust guitarist Joe Baiza are joined by the two surviving Minutemen—Mike Watt and George Hurley. Watt's bass is sublime in many contexts, but it always seems most at home with Hurley's drums. The pair has the kind of deep, psychic simpatico when playing that comes only from people who played together as brash young men trying to take on the world.
That's not the only Minutemen connection on the record. "Punk (Is Whatever We Made It To Be)" is a meltdown of lyrics from a million Minutemen songs thrown together. It's amazing, because each line is a jewel of perfect wisdom. Dig this one: "Should a word have two meanings / What the fuck for?" Om, baby!
That's not to say this record is moldy relic of the past. It's as timeless as space—and we know space is the place!
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Michael Penn
Mr. Hollywood Jr. 1947
SpinART
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Split into two sides, this concept album about 1947 America begins just like the third Asylum Choir album that Leon Russell and Marc Benno never recorded only to morph into a full blown Beatles meet Bob Dylan hybrid. But even Lennon at his primal nadir never dared to confidently start an album by cheerfully confessing: "I'm the walking wounded, take me to Walter Reed tonight."
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Andi Camp
Magnetic
Grafton
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Now here's a record that's well worth spending your hard-earned money on. Backed by only a rocking 4/4 tempo provided by Ryan Heise on drums, Andi plays piano with the fluid laser pinpoint accuracy of John Cale merged with the swirling vertiginous sequences of Terry Riley. Then she opens her mouth to sing and angels take flight on a breathy voice that's evocative of Julee Cruise, only in much sharper focus. Bonus points for the inventive handmade hand-numbered magnetic packaging which makes this one helluva class act from start to finish.
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Rolling Stones
A Bigger Bang
Virgin
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OK then, I promised last time to get back to you on this one. I have the good news, the Rolling Stones have delivered one of their finest records. All the hoopla surrounding this, sounds like this record, sounds like that record, it sounds like the Stones and that's that.
A Bigger Bang is just a damn good Rolling Stones' album, enough said?
I've already championed "Rough Justice" with that great Faces' chunka chunka crunch, now that's proper opener for a Stones album I'd say. I could go on, "It Won't Take Long" evokes Goat's Head Soup or it sounds like Keith found his missing phase shifter, circa Some Girls and Emotional Rescue, on "She Saw Me Coming" and "Infamy." Like "Rough Justice" and "Back Of My Hand," "Oh No Not You Again" are destined Stones classics, spot on perfect in my book. Why bother with a song-by-song analysis?
But, I must say, that I was mistaken when I threw kudos to Woody for the fine slide on "Back Of My Hand," who knew? It's Mickey J! But the lone Stone that shines the strongest on this whole affair is the one that never gets the proper nods. OK I'll say it, Charlie's good tonight inn't he?
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All The Way [DVD]
First Look Home Entertainment
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Dennis Hopper as Frank Sinatra. I'll repeat that in case you think you're having a peyote flashback. Dennis Hopper stars as Frank Sinatra in this nice 'n' sleazy movie about old screw eyes on his 1974 drunk and disorderly tour of Australia. Hopper's so cool he doesn't even try to impersonate the man, like he was Frank Gorshin getting the look right or Vaughn Meader mastering the voice.
Instead, seething with barely suppressed rage, Hopper portrays the uptight chairman of the broads with an intense level of contempt that makes the real Sinatra look like Joey Bishop. I mean, just dig this scene where he's getting a shave in his hotel suite while watching a news report about Watergate on TV:
"You cut me, I cut you. How d'ya like that, huh? Years I carried this cheese around. I sang... at his fuckin' inaugural. Get Nixon on the phone and ask him what he needs. Dat broad? You know, the one with no arms no legs, you find out where she lives, send her a couple grand. For what? She's got no arms and legs. Yeah, she's got little flippers. They cut off her welfare. What's a matter with you? You got no pity?"
Dennis Hopper as Frank Sinatra. He's got something in mind for you. Aren't you curious about that? I'm curious. I'm very curious. Are you curious?
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Various Artists
20 Greats From The Golden Decade Of Power Pop
Varese Sarabande
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This collection of hits ‘n’ misses mines the same turf as earlier and now out of print Rhino anthologies. In other words, here’s a convenient way to pick up a sampling of the '70s guitar pop of the Raspberries, Romantics, Cheap Trick and Todd Rundgren, ably abetted by the classic flops of the Flamin’ Groovies and Big Star. Kudos to the compilers for including the latter’s “In the Street” in a garagy non-LP take.
Besides the Big Star rarity, the other big reason for picking up this disc—even if you already have all the other essential stuff—is the inclusion of Dwight Twilley’s “I’m on Fire.” This tune shakes some serious action. I remember this on the radio back in the day but we kids could never take the Dwight Twilley Band seriously once we saw in the rags that they only had two members!
Somewhere along the way many of us have been misinformed ‘bout power pop, thinking of it as an exclusive formula of melodic tunes with musical muscle. For some reason, I associated it with “Pictures of Lily”, “Friday on My Mind” and “Do Ya”. But as with its Rhino ancestors, this latest power pop round-up subjects us to a fair share of 90 lb. weaklings.
If the Raspberries succeeded as '70s retro outlaws (in dorky matching white suits, no less), it’s because they possessed a direct, undiluted link to the electrifying mid-'60s singles of the Who and Small Faces. You’ll hear it in the power chords of guitarist Wally Bryson, animated drumming of Jim Bonfanti, and the superlungs of front man Eric Carmen. Pezband and the Scruffs, on the other hand, each flaunt lead vocalists that could only be described as ringers for the more mawkish ballad singing of Carmen. Sorry, but one is plenty where that came from.
A dozen greats might be a more accurate assessment. But with “I’m On Fire” and the other indispensable hits ‘n’ misses, that’s reason enough to pick-up this bargain.
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The Like
Are You Thinking What I'm Thinking?
Geffen
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Perfect gutsy girlie pop confection. Why did they put Bambi on the cover when these teenage queens are pinup-ready? With what might be a double-edged sword of their pop pedigree linage, these daddy's girls are posed for stardom. Mark it a guilty pleasure, sorbet if you will, I should know better and have outgrown being a sucker for this kinda stuff.
Dr. Robert
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The Blackfire Revelation
Gold And Guns On 51 [E.P.]
Southern Reconstruction
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The New Orleans duo of guitarist/singer John R. Fields and drummer Ryan “Hank The Bull” Haney make a noise that's far greater than the sum of its parts on Gold and Guns on 51. The music here is blunt and dense—almost more like sculpture than sound. There are easy comparisons to Blue Cheer and the MC5 to be made here—partially thanks to the cover of the latter's "I Want You Right Now." But the real revelation here is that revolution through music still sounds so cool.
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Dream Boogie: The Triumph Of Sam Cooke
by Peter Guralnick
Little Brown
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Exhaustively researched, Dream Boogie is a must read for all Sam Cooke fans and anyone that has a passion for the linage of rock 'n' roll. Sam Cooke, the recording innovator, artist and producer, businessman and notorious womanizer. The latter proved to be his infamous doom, but as is with those things, far from the whole story. Peter Guralnick, who wrote two books on Elvis, Last Train To Memphis and Careless Love, turns his eye on Cooke and gives us a volume of a much less celebrated American icon, but possibly a far more influential.
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The Faunts
High Expectations, Low Results
Friendly Fire
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Oh, Canada. (Is it wrong that the Hockey Night In Canada theme song just played in my head?) From the great white north and Canada’s Festival City come The Faunts with their debut album on Friendly Fire Recordings High Expectations, Low Results with an album that does the capital city proud.
Formed in 2000 by brothers Tim and Steven Batke, at the core of this release are layers of shimmering guitar, gauzy vocals and whirring enveloping sound. Signed to Friendly Fire earlier this year (a relatively new label), the band re-worked a few songs they already had and added quite a bit of new material for their first release. So far, The Faunts have been drawing the easy comparison to Sigur Ros--Frosty, expansive music tinged at times with sadness and sometimes with pop sensibilities. But while Sigur Ros corners the market on icy melancholy, The Faunts are seemingly more about ups and downs. Each of the songs seem simple and yet have a genuine depth that carry them through. "Memories Of Places We’ve Never Been" definitely exudes a dreamlike quality with the aforementioned shimmering guitars. The seemingly innocent "Parler De La Pluie" starts out as a sleepily sensual missive, before it lazily ascends into its guitar crusted climax. Cigarette please. "Will You Tell Me Then" has a temp that seems like techno compared to the others and is a stand out because of the contrast.
This is a solid album from start to finish. The influences here are clear, and well chosen. We’re not talking shoegazer here, we’re talking The Faunts turning loose a moody mix tape that just happens to be all their own. While Montreal may be the hot bed of Puss Rock™, Edmonton is showing it’s got some secrets to share.
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Esquivel
Sights And Sounds Of Esquivel
Bar None
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This recently discovered recording of Juan Garcia Esquivel proves how badass the King Space Age Bachelor Pad Music really was. It was recorded to coincide with a 1974 engagement in a Chicago nightclub. The band and backup singers are every bit as otherworldly as they are on Esquivel's studio works, and it's illuminating to hear how little they relied on studio tricknology and how much they relied on sheer virtuosity. It's exotic party music at its best.
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