Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

i'm digging this album a little:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/98/MStanley_Friends.jpg

pre-dates the first MSB album by a couple of years. good joe walsh guitar on it too. epic closing track "poet's day" is pretty cool. on the track "funky is the drummer" joe walsh is introduced as "Mahavishnu Joe Walsh". which is pretty darn funny.

i always have to remind myself that michael stanley was in Silk. they had one decent album on ABC called smooth as raw silk.

now playing: randy burns and the sky dog band. from 1971. not really digging it. and it doesn't really belong on this thread anyway. here's xgau's review:

Randy Burns and the Sky Dog Band [Mercury, 1971]
My friend from New Haven says, "Except for `17 Years on Your River,' I don't think I'd like this record if I weren't from New Haven." Exactly. This is the kind of testament every loyal local group ought to leave, with a few excellent songs (I also like "Living in the Country") and lots of memories for all the folks it's entertained. Unfortunately, few local groups ever reach this level of competence, but in any case the economics of the music industry discourage such moderate success--if your appeal isn't big-time, you're lucky to record at all, and if it is, chances are even or better that you're working a dumb variation on somebody else's gimmick. Which is not to suggest that I'd give up one great industry group like Crazy Horse for a dozen Sky Dog Bands, but merely to lament a paradox. B-

Played a very manly but very shittily produced 12-inch seven-song EP I'd retained from 2004 by these guys, the Petitioners, who I still know basically nothing about, today. The vocals are Danzig-brute cloddiness, but they manage to do a real good version of Roky Erikson and the Aliens' "Creature With the Atom Brain" and a passable one of Manitoba and Wild Kingdom's "Speedball" (actually not sure I've ever heard the original version of that one), plus they do a sort of death-metal parody called "Sweden," and then one called "Over 30 (Need Not Apply)" where they visit the Capitol Building and Jimmy Iovine informs them their bassist used to be in Bang Tango and is secretly 45 years old.

http://www.myspace.com/thepetitioners

Am now playing a CD that Smog Veil sent me by these guys, This Moment In Black History, who are apparently from Cleveland (it being Smog Veil and all), even though the CD came with no press release. Most of it is just hardcore tantrums, so what, albeit with surprisingly tasty noisy guitar parts by a guy (named Buddy Akita their myspace says) who is not at all averse to melody or rock'n'roll rhythm. 13 songs in 32 minutes, not bad, including a noisy Run-DMC parody (with Schooly D-ish clank beats) called "My Notes" about, uh, how the guy rapping likes to carry around notes in his pocket. But don't worry, that's the only rap thing they do. And it jumps out of the tantrums as much as the guitar solos do. (Actually just played the CD,Public Square, twice straight.)

http://www.myspace.com/thismomentinblackhistory

Also played Black N Blue's self-titled album, from 1984, today. Total dumbshits, obviously, but rocking ones. Most memorable songs: "School Of Hard Knocks" (rhymes with "we're gonna rock your socks off"); "Hold On To 18" ("Jack and Diane" reference?? Also they say "I know what I need but don't know how to get it" so maybe they should've asked Johnny Rotten. What they want, obviously, is to stay young, even though nobody understands them now, since they're so young. No idea if they were really that young, though -- Whitburn only says they were from Portland); fast blitz "I'm the King" ("of the concrete jungle" -- a Wailers/Specials reference?); and their cover of "Action" by the Sweet (which they don't improve but manage not to destroy either.) (Ha ha, just checked Popoff - three of those, all but "Hard Knocks," are his favorites too. He gave the album an 8.) Anyway, don't think I've ever heard a Twisted Sister album this good (though that's clearly what they seem to be going for.) Went to #116 in Billboard; two followups which I've never heard went #110 and #133. Allegedly got some MTV play, too.

And Scott, that Plastic Bertrand LP is loads of fun! Can't believe you've never heard it before. (Think I also used to have a second one by him that was more discofied, though that's been gone for decades.)

Also, I clearly like Be-Bop Deluxe more than you (and less selectively than George.) Just played their often-enjoyable live double last week.

And earlnash, yeah, Hawkwind's Quark Strangeness and Charm is kind of new wave, but try not to hold that against it. (As is the Hawklords album, if you ever find it; mine's long gone but Scott taped me his on the other side of the Gettovetts' Missionaries Moving a few years ago; thanks Scott!) Also think Motorhead's Iron Fist has always been underrated, though I definitely side in general with their early bluesier stuff over their later more metal stuff. The one song I always really loved from Another Perfect Day was "Shine."

I was a huge Black 'N Blue fan back in the day. I was 11 when the debut came out and my best friend and I thought they were amazing. The first is the most rocking - Gene Simmons really sunk his claws into them deep for the followups, and they are definitely poppier. The second album, Without Love, is still my favorite; I think it is because they are so blissfully cheesy - songs like "Nature of The Beach" and "Rockin' On Heaven's Door" are as idiotic as the titles imply, but the band doesn't care. It also has their masterpiece, "Bombastic Plastic", which is trying to be real metal and failing beautifully, once again living up to its name; and a credible cover of "Same Old Song and Dance". The third album, Nasty Nasty had a good title track and the ballad "I'll Be There For You", which was the closest they came to a hit.

There was an Ultimate Collection comp that has everything you need if you're not a fan from their heyday.

Actually, the more I listen to that This Moment In Black History CD (four times in two days! That may not be a recommendation, per se', but it's something -- definitely can't say that about any other new album so far in 2010), the more I wonder if they're actually even classifiable as a hardcore band. They definitely do lotsa slamdancey songs (though oddly listenable ones -- usually scream-yelped in an intense high register that doesn't grate on me), but even those don't necessarily stay slamdancey. Rhythm section knows how to roll; doesn't always stick to moshpit polkas (though there's that, too.) Some notable guitar parts are in "Pollen Count" (which isn't that fast to begin with), "MFA," "About Last Night," "Panopticon" (maybe the most classic Cleveland punk sound -- Pagans maybe? Electric Eels?? -- on the record), "Photonegative" (more Detroit in that one), "Precinct" (more Sabbath doom). Definitely hearing some surf and psychedelic and spy-movie-soundtrack influence, too. Would love (1) some hardcore expert to calibrate what hardcore bands they most sound like and (2) some guitar expert to calibrate what guitarist the guitarist most sounds like.

Meanwhile, Tom Ewing on the Spike Drivers (a "precociously psychedelic Detroit band from c. 1966," Frank Kogan calls them):

http://ittookseconds.tumblr.com/post/372870480/five-minutes-and-thirty-two-seconds-pressed

And Joshua Langhoff on Helloween's all-covers album from a few years ago (which I also liked a lot, though I've never connected with anything else they've done. Supposedly they have a career retrospective coming out, though, so we'll see what happens with that one):

http://joshlanghoff.blogspot.com/2010/02/best-thing-i-heard-today-helloween.html

That was a decent album. The strength of it came in the choice of songs they were actually good at. More than half of them, as it turned out.

Good version of "Faith Healer" by SAHB, "Locomotive Breath" by Tull, "Space Oddity" and the Beatles "A;; My Loving." In addition to those mentioned. Not so good, an Abba cover, a latter period Mahogany Rush thing, the Scorpions "He's a Woman, She's a Man" -- too close to home, and Faith No More.

I think Stradivarius might have done one of these collections, too.

listening to a punk comp from 1983. The Defiant Pose. well, mostly punk. the first side has the alarm and wall of voodoo and the fall on it for some reason. but the second side is one great anthem after another.

you know, i might change my mind tomorrow if you asked me, but "loud, proud, & punk" just might be my favorite punk anthem of all time. i couldn't even tell you how many times i've played it. and when i play it i have to play it at least five times in a row. just like demented teenaged scott would have.

1. Holy War - Lords Of The New Church
2. Drug Train - The Cramps
3. Marching On - The Alarm
4. Gone Are The Days - Crown Of Thorns
5. On Interstate 15 - Wall Of Voodoo
6. Fiery Jack - The Fall
7. The Crack - Cosmetics
8. Evacuate - Chelsea
9. Reality - Chron Gen
10. Loud Proud & Punk - The Business
11. Mr Nobody - Major Accident
12. Insane Society - Menace
13. Fascist Dictator - The Cortinas
14. Red London - Sham 69
15. The Freeze - The Models
16. Political Stu - Circle Jerks

Endtables reissue comp on Drag City is great! You need this, chuck. late-70's Louisville band led by giant transgender/transvestite singer who kinda sounds like david thomas. very stooge-y punky stuff. probably been reissued in the past, but this is from the original tapes and has great live stuff on it as well. 15 year old bass player rules. i'm gonna write it up for my Decibel column. all the recordings are from 1979.

http://a302.ac-images.myspacecdn.com/images01/34/l_1b04c32e6f5ac605a2c791ded890c4d5.jpg

Also, I clearly like Be-Bop Deluxe more than you (and less selectively than George.) Just played their often-enjoyable live double last week.

Live in the Air Age pretty much spans the Bill Nelson gamut from pastoral to gymnastic on guitar. "Blazing Apostles" is probably my favorite from it. Jaunty and Euro and by the last third of it the band bites down.

My fannish enjoyment of Savoy Brown knows no bounds. A cover version of "Needle and Spoon" from Raw Sienna.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/02/09/funky-rock-n-roll-needle-and-spoon/

Listening to Alvin Lee's Saguitar from 2007 which I kinda remember xhuxk reviewing but I couldn't find it.

His "Rapper" song eats it. Take that off and you have an album about as consistent if not quite as
good as In Tennessee although more hard rocked.

"Smoking Rope" is "I'm a Man" update and if you like the Memphis tapeslap sound, it's liberally sprink;ed all through the record.

There's a song called "Memphis" which is not the original, somewhere between Johnny Cash and Elvis doing hard rock.

First four tunes sound like the Ten Years Later band only Alvin's songwriting is better than it was on Rocket Fuel.

And there's a Live at Rockpalast CD of the Ten Years Later band containing almost the same set TYA was doing at the Fillmore Easts and Wests in the early Seventies. Only Ten Years Later covered
"Hey Joe".

It's Friday and this is too odd and funny for many words.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mHtatY7bOUY

The Savoy Brown track I really love is "Hellbound Train". It is a great doomy sounding blues tune, kind of unique sound to some of their other stuff.

Now you've made me want to pull it out and play the entire record. I think I will!

There was a copy of 'Street Corner Talkin' at the record store tonight. $6.99. I passed, even though I love 'Lookin In'. I predict Gorge will tell me the mistake I made..

i passed on a copy of savage return last night! and i need it too, but i just didn't have the cash cuz i was buying other stuff.

One of the more unusual Savoy Brown records. Actually leaning very strongly into heavy metal. Simmonds never repeated it. One number on it sounds exactly like Axl Rose is on vocals, years and years
early.

Nah, no mistake between Looking In and Street Corner Talkin'. Two totally different bands. First is Simmonds backed by Foghat with Lonesome Dave. SCT is Simmonds backed by Chicken Shack with Dave Walker on vocals.

I like them both. Looking In is brooding, particularly on "Money Won't Save Your Soul." Nothing like that on SCT which is one of the more jaunty SB records, turning out to be their best seller in the US and the one with the highest chart action.

Plus Savage Return is produced by Lange before he was 'Mutt.'

i know i would dig savage return a lot. i want all 70's savoy brown eventually. i'm almost there. maybe if i get a chance to go back to that spot, i'll pick it up. just a matter of finances. i picked up some power pop/new wave/punk stuff instead. here's what i got:

The Demons - s/t (Mercury - 1977)

Snopek - Thinking Out Loud (Mountain Railroad - 1979)

The Cortinas - True Romances (CBS - 1978)

20/20 - Look Out! (Portrait - 1981)

The Pop - Go! (Arista - 1979)

Pezband - s/t (Passport - 1977)

Brotherhood - s/t (RCA - 1969)

i'm always looking to upgrade my brotherhood albums. can never find perfect copies! i love those things. there are two if you don't count their experimental psych/krautrock album friendsound. post-raiders band for drake levin and phil volk.

Demons album is pretty cool. "I Hate You" is the best track by far. all about the horrible things the singer wants to do to some girl. mostly he just wants to kill her. but also open her mouth and fill it full of mace.

http://www.vinylrecords.ch/D/DE/Demons/Demons/the-demons-10.jpg

bonus back cover!

http://www.vinylrecords.ch/D/DE/Demons/Demons/the-demons-11.jpg

putting stuff out in the store and i come across The MCA Sound Conspiracy, a comp MCA put out in 1971 to sell its bands on various labels such as Decca, Kapp, Uni, and Coral. here are the bands they are promoting:

wishbone ash (love them)
help
matthews' southern comfort (love them)
melissa
american eagle
fanny adams
virgil fox (strangest act to ever be sold to a hard rock audience?)
chelsea
glass harp (love them)
jeremiah (had this album. terrible. really bad.)
raw

out of all them , southern comfort was the only one with a genuine hit.

i never tire of the fuzz sludge cover of california dreamin' on the brotherhood album. drake 4ever.

I had that Demons album. Don't remember a thing about it except the cover. I'd pay at least five dollars to know if Robbie Twyford and Martin Butler are still crossdressing.

robbie looks a little like wayne county!

you'd like "I Hate You". i wonder if GG Allin was a fan. the lyrics are totally proto-GG.

"She's So Tuf," "She's a Rebel."

the song "Hamburger Holocaust" on the Snopek album could easily be a Tubes song, a Crack The Sky song, or a Tin Huey song. Take your pick. so why would i rather listen to these bands than a Zappa record? it's a mystery.

Demons fellah:

http://martinbutlermusic.com/bio.html

curious about the Fanny Adams album sampled on that MCA sampler. serious slow bloooze thud rock stuff. and an aussie band too! guitarist played with the beegees apparently. and before they settled on Fanny Adams they were called Thighbone Howl! Wonder if they played any Buffalo gigs. They aren't that far off.

250,000 copies! really? seems like a lot. but what do i know.

Yeah, halfway to gold seems high. 75,000 would have been exceptional for a band like that.

The first seven Bob Seger albums are on the net all in one place, so I downloaded a few so as to make better sense of the reissue threat which made it all sound fair to great.

Couldn't stand the guy after he was all over the radio, much like my aversion to Steve Miller after The Joker. Too many bar bands doing too many nights filled up with the stuff.

Anyway, I'm going to digest the debut, Mongrel, Back in '72 and Seven tonight.

Originally, I had Beautiful Loser and the live Silver Bullet band thing. BL was a mixed affair, "Jody Girl-type" stuff, I hated. "Nutbush City Limits" was cool. Also always liked "Get Out of Denver."

the debut and mongrel are so great. truly truly great. haven't listened to back in '72 in a long time.

er, by debut i mean ramblin' gamblin' man. which was his capitol debut anyway.

i still need a copy of noah.

wait, i don't know why i said his capitol debut. it was the first album he ever put out. don't mind me.

Listening to Ramblin Gamblin Man and [/i]Mongrel[/i]. Initially boy, by the late Seventies he'd really shmaltzed it up and toned the thumping funky hard rock down. I can hear the shmaltz starting to creep in around Back in '72, certainly not like when he got gigantic, but the nugget of it is crystallizing. "Stealer" has him imitating Free. Boy, he'd never do that again.

This could just as well be on Rolling Country but it's roots rock n roll. Know idea that Little Jimmy Dickens actually had a record company which thought he was worth singles and LPs since his rep is 'pet' of Brad Paisley.

Been listening to Rock Me which is thirty tunes of straight rock n roll, rockabilly and country, pretty much minus the look-at-the-fat-ugly women and she-makes-my-dick-hard jokes and skits tacked onto the end of Paisley
albums.

And all the time I thought he was just the Fifties version of a short person expressing his lifelong rage at women for being turned down for only coming up to their crotches. Well, wait ... at least the songs on this don't feature that. The Grand Ole Opry, I imagine, wouldn't cotton to it.

Paisley's veiled dirty joke re Carrie Underwood at an award ceremony this year makes a lot more sense when you've absorbed more Little Jimmy Dickens, this album of which sounds like fair knock-off Hank Williams and Sun rhythm section stuff.

Don't take this too seriously. Little Jimmy Dickens sucks. If you were moved to write a Twilight Zone episode, you could base it on being trapped in a bar where Little Jimmy Dickens played every night. One expects more from titles like "I'm Little But I'm Loud" or "Wait Til the Ship Hits the Sand" and they never deliver.

I can't believe I wasted a 30 cent slave-labor-in-China made CD-R on this.

"Where the Buffalo Trud" and he really means 'house full of mud/where the buffalo turd/is a mighty mighty messy messy house'. Except with 'turd' instead of 'trud' it doesn't rhyme. Haw.

Ha ha. Maybe we should just rename this the "Rolling Whatever Old Music Three Old Guys Happening To Be Listening To Today" Thread.

And now I'm wondering whether Roger Miller's "You Can't Rollerskate In A Buffalo Herd" was really about skating in buffalo turds, too.

Anyway. Believe it or not, I only own a couple of the pre-Beautiful Loser Seger albums per se' myself: The Bob Seger System (w/ "Ramblin Gamblin Man" and "2+2=?" etc.) and Seven (w/ "Get Out Of Denver" and "UMC" etc) on vinyl; Smokin O.P.s on CD. The first two of those are good but admittedly spotty (as is Beautiful Losers obviously); the third is a covers album that, to be honest, has always struck me as fairly pointless. Not sure why I ever would've gotten rid of Mongrel, since I always thought "Lucifer" was great; must have decided that was even spottier. But honestly, right now I'm fine with the 1966- 1967 bootleg CD that my wife gave me for Christmas, and even more so, the close-to-flawless 27-song CD-R (which he decided to name Never Mind the Bullets Here's Early Bob Seger) that MX80-loving ILMer Myonga Von Bontee put together late last fall and generously sent out to people like Scott and me. Still very much considering giving that one 30 Pazz & Jop points this year.

Then again, I've never personally had a problem with Stranger In Town and Night Moves, which, while admittedly not as unabashedly hard rock and a little more ballady than the earlier albums, are a lot more consisently crafty (which is partly to say the ballads tend to be a lot better than his earlier ballads), and have songwriting peaks at least as high. Seger doesn't start to lose me until the '80s, really, and I even like a couple songs after that okay. Related thread:

Bob Seger Reissue News

could easily be a Tubes song, a Crack The Sky song, or a Tin Huey song. Take your pick. so why would i rather listen to these bands than a Zappa record?

Because they (and heck, throw in MX-80 Sound too) rock harder and have catchier, more memorable, less amorphous songs than Zappa did 95 percent of the time, maybe? Or at least that's always been my (possibly ill-informed) impression. But there's tons of Zappa I've never checked out, so who the heck knows? Guess I've kinda had a prejudice against the guy since high school, and always assumed his jokes were stupid, though he must have had something going on, since his sound clearly influenced lots of bands I like. (Oh yeah, also throw in Uz Jsme Doma and Jono El Grande, whose albums got 10 Pazz & Jop points from me each last year. And Plastic People Of The Universe/Pulnoc too, right? All those East Europeans.) So clearly I'm some kind of closeted Zappa fan who just won't admit it. Would definitely welcome recommendations. I do kind of like "Flower Punk" and "I'm the Slime," if that's any help.

By the way, anybody have any opinion about the Plimsouls? I've always assumed they were utter wimps, early powerpop-sans-power twerps, but I got this CD recorded live on Halloween 1981 in the mail last week, and the sound's way too thin and muddy, but I'm maybe getting the idea that they might have been, say, a West Coast version of the Romantics (which wouldn't be bad) as opposed to, say, ick, a West Coast version of the Fleshtones (which comparison Christgau made once.)

ugh, the Plimsouls! talk about boring, nothing there wanna-be power-schlock irritants. caught them opening for Costello at the Greek back in '82 to my eternal regret. let's just say that compared to their interminably monochromatic set even the drabbest of the drab Elvis C Imperial Boredom ballads sounded like good fun. thanx for a lot reminding me, Chuck. i hope to return the favor one day.

Man, that album by The Pop is all kinds of good. I know I had some singles by them, but never a full album. They were really going for the cheap trick vibe as far as the power pop goes. meaning, there is more actual *power* on the album as well as excellent pop hooks. produced by earl mankey of sparks and concrete blonde and god knows what else. oh, and some songs just sound like cheap trick a bunch. which is fine by me.

and really digging the cortinas album too. tricky song structures. another one of those brit pop punk bands with secret love for prog.

that demons album is pretty wimpy in comparison actually. to both the cortinas and the pop album. but it does have its charms.

But there's tons of Zappa I've never checked out, so who the heck knows?

Me but I'm too hungover right now to list it all. "Why Dontcha Do Me Right" by examples immediately comes to MY mind. "Directly from My Heart to You" on Weasels Ripped My Flesh. And yoiu gotta love "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" from Absolutely Free if only for two lyrics: "Be a jerk/Go to work!" and the "Smother my daughter in chocolate syrup/Strap her on again/Oh baby!" thing.

This:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoot_Allures

Lotsa stuff on Shut Up n Play Yer Guitar.

"The Illinois Enema Bandit" from Zappa in New York, a couple others on that, also "Punky's Whips."

A lot of Them Or Us, where he has Steve Vai all over.

http://www.amazon.com/Them-Us-Frank-Zappa/dp/B0000009TA

Guess I wasn't as hungover as I thought. There's more...threat or menace?

"Man With the Woman Head", "Muffin' Man" from Bongo Fury, actually most of the second side and "Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead" because I like it, although it's more a show band tune.

"I'm the Slime" from Over-nite Sensation

Backing up John Lennon on Some Time in New York City aka Playground Psychotics/A Small Eternity With Yoko Ono, particularly "Baby Please Don't Go."

i DO like zappa. i like most of the 60's mothers stuff. i like stuff on most of the studio albums from the 70's up to but not including studio tan. the live 70's stuff can be ridiculous in a jaw-dropping way. and funky! like p-funk and mahavishnu and miles davis in rock mode and every fusion band ever all playing at once. which is definitely not for everybody, but he could get seriously heavy when he wanted to. the sour anti-hippie stuff and dated boob and race humor is what makes me cringe sometimes. but like i said, i'm rarely in the MOOD for zappa. you know? but i have respect.

that was me. scott. using maria's computer at the store.