Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

Startingly big audience for Cherie Currie at Vroman's in Pas. Essentially packed at the premier
book store, the gig in town on Friday on Colorado, Rte. 66.

Much larger than the tally for the showings of The Runaways movie next door at the Laemmle on Colorado. If you had a book signing, you'd be pleased if a crowd of around 140+ and that's a little conservative, showed up, 90 percent or higher with books in hand for signing. I stood in line for an hour easy to get my copy signed.

Phil's Cathedral/Uriah Heap comparison got me to listen to the latter for the first time in my life. I don't know if the comparison would have occurred to me on my own, but I like both records, so that's cool.

The other new quasi-metal album that to me passes for solid Hard Rock is Of Rust and Bones, by Poisonblack. Closer to the Uriah Heap than Cathedral, as there's not much wackiness, but it's soulful and measured and roaring at once. Like a heavier UFO, maybe? Or a darker HIM.

Have yet to identify any Upper Midwest Christian Militia Hard Rock bands (though they've gotta be out there -- c'mon, Washtenaw County and Sandusky? I wonder if they ever do manuevers at Cedar Point.) So meanwhile I have been listening to lots of mid '70s to mid '80s stuff on the pub/powerpop/new wave/hard rock cusp, such as these (all recent $1 purchases except for one*), which I'd rank in this order:

1. The Cretones Thin Red Line (Planet 1980) -- Did George recommend these El Lay dudes before? I hope so, 'cause I like this a lot. Very powerchorded and great melodies. Ronstadt covered three songs on Mad Love later that year, including two of the three songs with "love" in the title and one of the three with ladies' names in the title. Other two of the latter, "Everybody's Mad At Katherine" and "Mrs. Peel," might be my two favorites just for sounding the most idiosyncratic. Album got to #129; "Real Love" got to #79 as a single. Rick Johnson liked them a lot too, judging from a review in his book. Guitars have a lot of proto-Springfield/Adams toughness in them. Got their second album for a buck recently, too; hoping it's this good.

2. *The Romantics The Romantics (Nemporer 1980) Didn't just buy this; I apparently got mine for 93 cents at the Book Trader (in Philly I think?) a bunch of years ago. And a bunch of years before that, it got a ton of radio play in Detroit, though apparently not as much nationally, where it got to #61 and "What I Like About You" only to #49 -- much smaller hit than their four-years-later #4 "Talking In Your Sleep," though in retrospect "What I Like" seems like their much more famous legacy song, thanks I guess to play in movies and at sports events. First local hit in Detroit though was "Tell It To Carrie," a sweet slow one that came out as a 45 on Bomp in '78. But first single overall was apparently "Little White Lies" on Spider Records in '77. I'd say that was the fourth-most-played song in Detroit off the LP; third-most-played being "When I Look In Your Eyes." Also pretty sure they did the red-suit thing before Loverboy. Always seemed to me like Italians and Hamtramck Poles -- good greasy Catholic boys -- though I've never verified that theory. Also they're as much "garage rock" as "powerpop" truth be told -- here they cover the Kinks, but the real proof was on their kinda flop later-'80 second album National Breakout which I actually like (especially for "Tomboy," "Stone Pony," "21 And Over") more than this one. Favorite non-single on the debut (for Mitch Ryderish dance groove) is probably "Girl Next Door."

3. Screaming Blue Messiahs Bikini Red (Elektra 1987) I slammed this in Creem when it came out, which I apologize for; it's a good album, though still kinda thin, songwise and soundwise, compared to '86 debut Gun-Shy. I think their novelty hit "I Wanna Be A Flintstone" pissed me off at the time, partly because they'd done a much more churning song called "Here Comes The Flintstones" five years earlier when they were still called Motor Boys Motor and still had a lot more backwoods Beefheartian twistedness in their sound. ("Walk The Dinosaur" by Was {Not Was} struck me as similarly stupid caveman sellout in '89, iirc.) Still, these guys were clearly one of the only (maybe the only? -- well, Motorhead, maybe, but they'd gone more metal by then) band of Brits carrying on the rebel Bishops/Feelgood pub-r&b tradition so late in the game, and they sound especially good when they get some rockabilly in their rhythm, like in "55-The Law" and "I Can Speak American," though in the latter they insist on pronouncing Lois Lane's first name "Louis". Though maybe that's part of the joke; singling out "Charlie Chann" as an American word is kinda goofy too.

4. Moon Martin Mystery Ticket (Capitol 1982) Yeah, him again. Another brainy weirdo who Rick Johnson and I share fandom of. First side mostly ethereally whistling ozone rockabilly, similar maybe to what Chris Isaak would do a few years later, only better; traceable back to Roy Orbison, probably. Most boogieing stuff is in the middle of the album -- "Firing Line," "Dangerous Game," "Don't You Double (Cross Me Baby)." A step or two down from his earlier solo LPs, but passable. This'd be his fourth I guess; doubt I'd ever go any further than that.

5. Tom Robinson North By Northwest (IRS 1982) Probably the most marginally "hard rock" of any of these. Really didn't like this on first listen, but it's grown on me as a kind of quasi very early Peter Gabriel album or something, in terms of high-tech rhythms, songwriting, and production. Barely any of the motorway oi! shout stomp from his '78 TRB debut is left, but honestly most of that was gone by TRB's second album (which I know longer own). Have never heard the supposedly post-punkish '80 Sector 27 album that Christgau loved so much. And the guy's got plenty of off-key Billy Bragg sap in him that gets on my nerves, but also a little Richard Thompson maybe. And the first side is better than the second side -- opener "Atmospherics (Listen To The Radio)" could've been a cool new wave hit. He does an okay ballad about a dead (boy?)friend (Martin, who he first sang about on the debut) and another okay ballad to drink to on New Year's Eve. But the drinking music now is real cry in your lager down the pub stuff. Keepable, but just barely.

6. The Searchers Love Melodies (Sire 1981) This might sink in more if I spend some more time with it, but so far I'm a little disappointed. Real cool idea: Jangly mid '60s folk-pop Liverpublians (of "Needles and Pins" and "Love Potion #9" fame) given new lease on life for Merseybeat-loving new wavers via songs provided to them by the Motors, the Records (two Will Birch credits), Moon Martin. But the two best tracks, as far as I can tell and as much as I hate to admit it, come from more famous John Fogerty ("Almost Saturday Night") and Alex Chilton ("September Girls"), neither of which has a hope of touching the originals. Loudest song is probably closer "Another Night," which the Searchers themselves wrote. Didn't chart; in fact, Whitburn reveals they had a self-titled album the year before that got higher, to #181.

7. Dave Edmunds Subtle As A Flying Mallet (RCA 1975) Okay, I am totally damning lots of these with faint praise, aren't I? But actually, I'm keeping all of them, and this is on par with the Moon Martin, Tom Robinson, and Searchers ones. Still, another disappointment, mainly because it's mostly just Edmunds by himself, sans band, covering fairly ubiquitous early '60s oldies like "Baby I Love You" and "Da Doo Ron Ron" (the genders in which he doesn't change), plus Ray Charles, Mel Tillis/Web Pierce, and Public Domain ("Billy The Kid") songs. Actually, now that I look, "She's My Baby" is at least credited to "Lowe." But perversely, Nick Lowe's band Brinsley Schwarz don't join Edmunds until the two Chuck Berry side closers, "No Money Down" and "Let It Rock," and those two squash the other tracks like a bug. Maybe if/when I listen more to the rest I'll note more cool guitar, and it's possible that Phil Spector covers in '75 were kinda gutsy. But Edmunds just really sounds better with a band. Of the '70s solo LPs I've heard by him, this is easily the least great. Then again, the others are so good that that's not that horrible a thing.

Fwiw, in the appendix in the back of Marooned, Phil says that with Screaming Blue Messiahs, bald leader Bill Carter came up with "the best rock his country mustered in the '80s," and he actually hears the riffs on the followup as "faster and more ferocious," especially in "I Can Speak American," "I Wanna Be a Flintstone," and "Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge." I dunno, to me they sound sanded down, somehow. Maybe it's the production. I've got an old 4-song Peel Sessions EP by them, too, recorded real early, in '84; need to put that in the play pile. Bet I never see that '82 Motor Boys Motor LP again; should have kept it.

Poker Face, to answer your question, I think -- linked to by hutaree.com. You go out to their website, they have no comment except to say they think the government is framing the hutaree. Since the hutaree are white christian identity crazies, they're straight out of the world of The Turner Diaries, which was the best-selling paparback for the National Alliance/National Vanguard. And years ago there were a number of bands into that but they were mostly from the neo-nazi punk side of things. There was even a label that issued the stuff, Panzerfaust Records, I think. Also, recall the two little blonde girls named after the poison used in the gas chambers? They were xtian identity folkies, though. So this morning while the FBI is making another hutaree arrest, Fox News has some birdbrain on from right wing talk radio who plays a tape of some black women chattering about getting their obama money, whatever that is, probably either welfare or unemployment checks. And then the radio host starts going on about the government being a 'blood-sucking tick on the butt of America.' I would not be surprised at all if this type of thing eventually blows up in their faces in the next year or two. It doesn't seem much of a stretch to think that eventually one of these angry white nut terrorist arrests or snap-outs is going to net someone who is a Tea Party member or who squeals about Glenn Beck telling him to restore the tree of liberty.

When Krugman can essentially call Fox and the GOP the property of nuts white bigots, a lot of this stuff is now more mainstream than it was during the Clinton administration. Stories about white people stockpiling guns and canned foodstuffs seem almost commonplace now and these people all have one thing in common -- they actually want the end to come on.

I liked the Cretones, both the debut and the Linda Ronstadt album where they were the backing band. Never got a copy of the second one.

Totally remember Poker Face -- from Bethlehem, PA, no less. ("One of the Lehigh Valley's longest standing Local Original bands... about 15 years.") Definitely wrote a couple show previews based on their homemade CDs while I was at the Voice; unsearchable now, especially since the Lady Gaga song but I doubt those preview briefs were ever archived on line in the first place. And yeah, there's lots on their Myspace page -- Camp FEMA conspiracies right out of Alex Jones; rants insisting "most organized Jewish groups" "are constantly acting AGAINST Americas interests -- Its time to expose them for the scumbags that they are... THEY are complicit in crimes against our country" (i.e., the same obsessed hardcore anti-Zionism seemingly flirting with anti-Semitism just like every other show on the Genesis Communication Network -- which admittedly also has equally wacky End Times shows insisting that Obama's abandoned Israel just in time to prove anti-Christ predictions of Revelations accurate); Birther stuff ("the illegal alien needs to address and LEAVE the position of POTUS"); Truther 9-11 conspiracy stuff; "James Traficant running again - The real Ron Paul with Balls: Finally - a real American patriot who has balls to stand up to the zionazis running our government." Hard to say how much is actual Poker Face guys talking, and how much is parrotted from elsewhere. Either way, they oughta tour with Shooter Jennings.

I recall their music being potentially interesting, but never actually good. Myspace sez: "Paul, Dennis, Brett, and Rich formed their love of music from such influences as: Kiss, Styx, the American Youth Symphony and Chior Orchestra, Weather Report, Todd Rudgren, King Crimson, Jethro Tull, Al DiMeola, Meatloaf, Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, UFO, and Judas Priest...Similar to the acoustic hard rock sound of Alice in Chains or Days of the New, while keeping their roots firmly planted in the melodic classic rock stylings of Boston & Pink Floyd."

http://www.myspace.com/pokerfacemusic

Lots of back and forth about Hutaree on their band Chat Board today.

Pokerkid: Who is the douchebag Lackomar? never heard of him, or his so called SEVM? He looks like a FED. And yes we saw the ABC hit piece yesterday..

Pokerkid: He sounds schooled on what to say from the anti-Americanites of the ADL & SPLC. Kinda reminds me of the actor that was put forth on 911 to describe how the towers came down when no-one knew what was up. The American people need to wake up, Your government is not YOURS but of the GLobalists.

Pokerkid: Do yourselves a favor and look up PROJECT FALCON, COINTELPRO. theres nothing new under the sun. Today the Hutaree on BS charges, tomorrow it will be you and me.

Pokerkid: Lut - sorry i forgot to answer this.. The reason why Hutaree has a link to us, is because when someone asks to use our music for videos, bumper music for your talk show etc... all we ever ask is that you let folks know whose music it is, and how to find us. They did. Like 1000s of others have. We are the musical story tellers of the coming Revolution the Government is purposefully creating by their illegal and unConsitutional actions. Our forefathers are rolling anround in their graves. This is NOT their America.

kyuubikiller: Hutatree on BS charges? Apparently they were conspiring to murder law enforcement officials. I wouldn't call those anything short of crazy. Lock em up, they can play guns and robbers in a jail cell.

Anon7506: lol only leftists believe that people actually target innocent people and hope it will inspire people to overthrow the government

Anon7506: all they are going to get charged with is illegal weapons charges and no one is going to care the

Anon7506: that they will drop charges on the other things and u will never hear about them again

Anon6411: take the guns, god, and violence out and throw in a little peace and anarchy; and then Hutaree has my support!!

BubbaHoss: when people think the police are the enemy, we have a HUGE problem.

BubbaHoss: Police as a whole are NOT support of the Geovernment.

BubbaHoss: When the Socialist Governement keeps PUSHING god lovimg Americans, we WILL stop and PUSH BACK.

Review of their most recent album from George's old stomping grounds, the Allentown Morning Call:

http://blogs.mcall.com/lehighvalleymusic/2009/11/local-soundtrack-peace-or-war-by-pokerface-a-political-statement-in-hard-rock-.html

A CD release party is scheduled for Dec. 19 at Lupo's Beef & Ale, 2149 Reading Road, Allentown. 610-820-5570.

Washtenaw? nah these guys (the Michigan ones anyway) were from Lenawee. The old guy leader and his son are apparently from my hometown, Adrian, MI. can't say I'm surprised, there are a ton of xtian nutters there.

One raid Saturday night was in Washtenaw though, apparently:

http://www.annarbor.com/news/fbi-conducts-raids-in-washtenaw-lenawee-counties/

http://www.heritage.com/articles/2010/03/29/manchester_enterprise/news/doc4bb100b96fa47055933801.txt

"One of the individuals charged lives in Washtenaw County and is a Manchester Township resident...The largest raid in the region took place in the greater Ann Arbor area at a funeral that several Hutaree members attended. There were also raids in Adrian, as well as in Ohio and Indiana."

ah! did not catch that originally. I only saw Adrian, Clayton and Blissfield.

It's a well known fact, particularly if you worked there, that Morning Call editors would say nice things about Hitler if he'd had a Lehigh Valley connection.

Unintentionally priceless quote from someone who used to work there, now doing free-lance:

There is a goofy brilliance on “Peace or War: Songs for the Revolution,” and I mean that as a compliment. In a time when so many bands sound alike, these guys are following their own road.

From the Poker Face front page:

At the present time, Poker Face has no comment on the situation developing/unfolding
with the Hutaree folks.

But given the governments track record against we the free, it makes us suspect
government motives first, not the Hutaree.

"Poker Face has been dubbed the leading truth/freedom band in the Union. Through the use of various multi-media sources, this four piece band has made it their mission to expose the lies & scandals coming out the Union's Capitol."

Since they started in 1989, they were in action when I was at the Call, so I probably saw them at the Airport Music Hall or other venues. Can't remember anything about them, though.

Incidentally, one of my pieces got picked up by Alex Jones a week or two ago, mainly because infowar apparently thought it conveniently fit into their weird conspiracy theories. Which is kind of the hallmark of a lot of US white identity extremism -- they always kind of pick and choose their news to fit into their cut-and-pasted formulations of tyrannical government and conspiracy.

Btw, the SPLC "anti-Americanites" that the Poker Face guy refers to on his Myspace board are the Southern Poverty Law Center; maybe that was obvious to everybody else, but I don't think I'd seen the abbreviation before, and didn't realize they were so demonized. Though I guess it's no surprise, given their tracking of militias and white supremacist groups. Blurbs on the Poker Face blog accuse them of "running damage control for the Federal Government" and, if I'm reading it right, even go so far as to connect the Law Center with the Oklahoma City bombing.

tape of some black women chattering about getting their obama money, whatever that is, probably either welfare or unemployment checks.

Hell, maybe it's even less evil than that -- like, say, tax refunds.

Anyway, I played a couple more old LPs. Liked Sue Saad and the Next's self-titled one even more than that Cretones debut, which also came out in 1980 on Planet. And as tough-gal corporate new wave hard rock goes, it's also a lot better than the Ellen Foley LP I picked up last year, and probably on a level with Benatar's first two. Especially love "It's Gotcha" and "I I Me Me" on the first side, which do lots of tricky, almost proggy changes at nearly punk-fast tempos. No idea if the Next were a label creation of studio musicians or not (Richard Perry produced fwiw), but they could play. Side Two has more straightforward, blues-based bar-band rock with powerpop hooks, "Your Lips-Hands-Kiss-Love" flaunting the most blatant sex appeal, but I hear a few coulda-been hits. Album never got higher than #131 in Billboard, though.

Even better -- and really, the kind of album this thread was made for --is my favorite hard rock album lately, namely Bad Boy's Back To Back on United Artists from 1978. They came from Wisconsin and seem to get compared to Cheap Trick a lot, which I can kind of see given the way they mix pop tendencies with sometimes eccentric loud arrangements, not to mention being Midwesterners, though I'm not sure Cheap Trick would ever be the first band to come to mind for me. Most of the first side is sort of high school '70s softball-rock, somewhere near Earth Quake maybe, with Who chords in "Accidental" and Beach Boys summer tuneage in "Girls Girls Girls." But then toward the end of that side they get heavier -- "Keep It Up" is some pretty awesome '70s Aerofunk, with a groove also not far from Nuge's "Free For All." And the second side gets even more metal, "I Just Wanna Love You" reminding me of the Hounds; "No Stopping Me Now" maybe yeah Cheap Trick's heavy side; and then closer "Take My Soul (Rock & Roll)/Out Of Control" a doomier eight-minute epic. Earl Slick guests on guitar on that one, and "Keep It Up" and "Rock and Roll Blood" (the latter written about a teen runaway by veteran keyboard guest Barry Goldberg who gives it Mott-style piano), so Slick's a big factor in fleshing out the sound. My copy ($1 last month) came intact with Bad Boy's press photo, inner sleeve (real Dazed and Confused looking dudes), and two-page publicity bio, which explains that this is their second album; first, The Band That Made Milwaukee Famous, apparently came out in '77.

Popoff doesn't like them as much as I do, but he compares them to Starz and Piper, which make sense, and lots of other bands (BTO, April Wine, Trooper, Moxy, Kiss, Dictators, David Johansen solo) where he might be stretching things. (Well, Kiss probably inspired them somehow I guess; how couldn't they?) Also says they made a couple albums later, which I gather weren't as good since he leaves them out of the books I have. Jasper and Oliver call them "a very heavy pop-rock band resembling Cheap Trick crossed with Manowar," which is somewhat hilarious. Adds that Steve Hunter guested on the first LP. None of the albums charted.

Though I guess it's no surprise, given their tracking of militias and white supremacist groups. Blurbs on the Poker Face blog accuse them of "running damage control for the Federal Government" and, if I'm reading it right, even go so far as to connect the Law Center with the Oklahoma City bombing.

The extremist militias have had a jones to get the SPLC ever since it put Richard Butler, the founder of Aryan Nations, out of action in 2000. Since Timothy McVeigh was a serious reader of The Turner Diaries, blaming the SPLC for it is hilarious.

I'm surprised the idiot features editor at the Morning Call waved Poker Face into the newspaper. It shows they're pretty much as I remember them -- not even minimally capable of examining the fine details of what gets pushed at them.

She was just a reporter when I was there. I recall her having a shit fit over my satirical coverage of the Hegin Pigeon Shoot, which was eventually banned because it was for and about dickheads, animal cruelty and illegal gambling. The Call was a place where the people could get behind dickheads and animal cruelty as long as the dickheads who shot pigeons at 3 foot range with shotguns were local salt of the earth.

Scott on the Romantics, on I Love Vinyl: "romantics were way ahead of their time as far as the whole guido/jersey shore look goes. they even look like they have the fake orange tans."

As for Poker Face, what I called "flirting with Anti-Semitism" above might be understating things, given their complaints about "how many treasonous dual loyalist Jews have gotten away with their SPYING crimes," not to mention, uh, "the fraud of the holocaust." (And in re: Oklahoma, they call Timothy McVeith "Tom McVay," say he was a Patsy.)

More from their chat board:

Godgutsguns: It is also not fair to redistribute the hard earned rewards we, not big brother, make for ourselves. They are a gift from our Lord, and we are to use them wisely and share them as needed. That does not mean a socialist prostitute can take our $$ and land and give it to the malcontents that do nothing but take from us and destroy our freedoms!! The freedom loving Americans in Michigan are being railroaded by the NWO thugs in DC!! Who made the lies up and called the feds in the first place?? I don't think you have to look farther than MI itself.
Pokerkid: GGG.. more like the ADL/SPLC/FUSON centers are in the middle of all of this
Godgutsguns: ADL=PR? ;-)
Pokerkid: yup

Meant McVeigh, obv (and sorry to get so obsessed with those dorks.)

Dug my old 1987 Creem review of that second Screaming Blue Messiahs LP out of the closet; here's what I crankily wrote (between lots of anti-college-rock fillerbustering on both ends of the review):

Today I'm out to get Screaming Blue Messiahs. I had hope for these Brits once, I really did; two-thirds of 'em used to be one-half of Motor Boys Motor, who tied postpub punk 'n' blues in some snottily frantic knots back in '82, so they've got a cool pedigree. And though the Messiahs' debut last year didn't smoke like some claimed, I dug its displacement-anxiety politix and back-to-the-woods/every-dog-for-himself survivalist ehtics, and figured there's more (though not much more) unconquered terrain left for Beefheart (or *Give 'Em Enough Rope*?) disciples than Velvet Underground disciples. So more power to 'em.
*Bikini Red*, the Messiahs' new one, has tough guy talk and rock-historic smarts (references to "My Generation," Bo Diddley's "I'm A Man," Link Wray's "Rumble"). But the rockabilly and waltz and ska attempts are as superfluous as you better expect they'd be, and the humor (in "I Can Speak American," "Jesus Chrysler Drives a Dodge" and "I Wanna Be a Flintstone," the latter a blatant rehash of Motor Boys Motor's "Here Comes The Flintstones") is as forced and obvious as everybody else's in 1987. Producer Vic Maile transforms Kenny Harris, who cracked rough-and-tumble-like on the debut, into a drum machine. And he mixes the metrononic timekeeping all the way forward, so the snarls and powerchords of baldie Bill Carter come off as mere incidental gestures. Whatever small urgency the Messiahs once displayed is thus hopelessly obscured.

Well, at least I liked their "back-to-the-woods/every-dog-for-himself survivalist ehtics," ha ha. (Hey, I'm from Michigan, too.)

I did a bit of a wrap here:

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/03/31/pennsyltucky-newspaper-funnies/

The lyrics are painful. One of the references -- the commie-fascists -- would be a great name for a band if it's not already taken.

So I just confirmed with my own ears what George had suggested on Rolling Hard Rock last year about the first Piper album from '76 -- namely, that it doesn't really kick in hard-rock-wise until halfway through Side Two. Except George mentioned "42nd Street" as the only truly metal rager, and to my ears the next (and last) song, "Can't Live With Ya/Can't Live Without Ya" fits the bill just about as much. Really the turning point is the fast-talked extra verse (or at least the one I wasn't expecting) that Billy Squier tacks onto the end of their great cover of the Stones' "The Last Time," in the middle of that side. First side sounds fine but I never seem to remember much about it when it's over; powerpoppiest song is on Side Two, too, at the beginning -- namely "Who's Your Boyfriend," which Squier wound up re-doing on his first solo LP four years later, and which as I said in my metal book could amost be the Raspberries, possibly even more so in this version.

Actually, just checked Popoff and he agrees with me about the final track's metalness, but he dismisses the Stones cover for some reason. Compares "Telephone Relation" with the Dictators' "Sleepin' With The TV On," which similarity I didn't notice. He likes the second LP less; not sure I agree, but then I definitely like Starz' Attention: Shoppers, which it reminds him of, more than he does too. (Also, Piper's drummer Richie Fontana gets bonus points as far as I'm concerned, for later being in Skatt Bros, disco-metal's answer to the Village People.)

Thing about Piper was that it was totally unique for the time. It was a three guitar band, all British invasion influence down to using Vox amps. The only revolutionary use of a Vox amp you'd hear from a US hard rock band was James Williamson blowing through one on Raw Power[i].

Curiously, there's barely any trace of Led Zep I can hear on Piper records, something that would radically change when he went solo. "42nd Street" is probably the closest thing, but -- y'know -- not really.

OK, Raspberries did Vox Brit invasion but I never thought of anything Raspberries as enthusiastically hard rock, or as anything hard rock kids were even remotely interested in. And Artful Dodger's first album also fits the bill. Both things mostly embraced by the power pop enthusiasts.

With Piper, maybe it was Squier working out his Sidewinders thing, since that was also a US Brit invasion band.

I always thought of Piper as mostly Stones-Stones-Stones and hard Kinks stuff, obvious really on "The Last Time" and "Who's Your Boyfriend" which goes on way too long. Best Stones rip was "Blues for the Common Man" on the next album which wasn't as good as the debut but was still a bit better than
fair.

And I never had any use for Starz's [i]Attention Shoppers. Totally pathetic follow-up to Violation. Really, how does a band go from songs about pissing on your girlfriend, life in an iron lung, boys in action, detroit girls, hand jobs at the movies and mugging women on the subway go to something like "X Ray Spex?"

Ludicrous, really.

Yeah, I know it's widely considered a dumbing down and a sellout and a wimping out and all that -- probably because it was one, was all of those things. But I've always liked "Johnny All-Alone" and "Good Ale We Seek" and sorry, even "X-Ray Spex" (all on Side Two admittedly), and maybe someday I'll work up a half-assed defense for the damn thing.

Meanwhile, this morning I was totally getting off on Starz' late '70s New York homeboys Riot, namely Rock City from 1977, on Fire Sign Records whatever that was (actual label on the thing looks really low-rent and grass-roots by the way -- could almost be a homegrown rap label from three years later). Best cuts are probably where they do a super-concise over-the-top fast-as-a-shark proto-NWOBHM/speedmetal thing, in "Desperation," "Warrior," and "Heart Of Fire" (the latter of which has some insane sound effects too) for instance, which sound totally recorded on a poverty budget yet still somehow manage to sound clean to me in ways thrash or NWOBHM hardly ever did a few years later. The heavy funk metal of "Overdrive" is also great. And then on Side Two -- objectification of exotically ethnic women "Tokyo Rose" and "Gypsy Queen," ladies'-choice closer "This Is What I Get" -- they switch to a real good but still rocking proto-AOR/melodic rock sound, especially cool in "Tokyo Rose" for the way it switches between metal riffs and a '70s E-Street Band sort of arrangement (so, proto-Bon Jovi, maybe, but I don't think they ever did anything that was this heavy). Plus, my copy is autographed by the whole band, and the manager, too!

It was Riot's debut, apparently. Popoff gives it a 7/7, not bad, but then gives their next one, Narita from '79, a 9/10, so I clearly need to track that down. Jasper/Oliver say Riot were bigger in Europe than the U.S., so maybe they actually helped inspire NWOBHM?

In other news, Rhapsody wanted me to do something for April Fool's Day, so naturally I wrote about the Nuge:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/03/nugent.html

You certainly proved Rhapsody users are certified cabbage. The comments reveal you went right over their lil' heads.

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David Boulter | April 1, 2010 6:56 AM | Reply
I'm not a big fan of Ted'd politics, but before you equate him with the Michigan Militia, you better check out the recent headlines involving said Militia. I seriously doubt Mr.Nugent has ever advocated killing cops.Even considering this tongue in cheek...well, do I need to say more.

Tim | April 1, 2010 7:03 AM | Reply
I would vote for this true american. Its about time someone stand up for what they believe and not what some guy paid them to say. I mean come on when was the last time someone running for president didn't use millions of other peoples money (beliefs) to run for a job that only pays 400,000 a year. So I guess Iam trying to say that theirs alot of people buying their way in to the white house. My arrow is nocked Nudge.

RON FORMANACK | April 1, 2010 7:09 AM | Reply
ITS ABOUT DAM TIME! BRING IT ON! THE NUGE FOR PREZ! YES, GOT MY VOTE.........

Moe Yonkin | April 1, 2010 7:18 AM | Reply
NOW we are talkin!! Terrible Ted for President! Count me in, im with Ted. He can relate to us Big Game hunters here in the state of MAINE!!! GOOOOOOOOOO TEDDDDDDDDD!!!!!

Fatima | April 1, 2010 7:29 AM | Reply
GOOO TED!!!...Glad to see he's a TRUE AMERICAN! Im sure God, which this country was founded on, is too!

PS Ted, Here's a thought...Why don't U just support the best conservative candidate by compaigning for them...and donate money & time as well!

Fatima | April 1, 2010 7:58 AM | Reply
GOOO TED!!!...Glad to see he's a TRUE AMERICAN! Im sure God, which this country was founded on, is too!

PS Ted, Here's a thought...Why don't U just support the best conservative candidate by compaigning for them...and donate money & time as well!

larry | April 1, 2010 8:58 AM | Reply
GO man GO!!!!!! tear them a new one

Woodman | April 1, 2010 9:20 AM | Reply
You go for it Ted, We as True-Blooded Americans need someone like you as a FrontMan to start kicking some A-- so we and the younger generations to come can enjoy a lifestyle as the Constitution was written.
I have no doubt the end is near if we don't remove these "Fedzillas". I will support you 100% in any way I can.
I'm 100% disabled, but I make my own way; I don’t give em nuthin and I don’t want nuthin!
I'm with ya all the way "Lock n Load"

Woodman

Narita's cool. the title track is a great instrumental and the seal pup makes an appearance on the cover again.

Continued ... the quotes in this one are real doozies.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/04/01/pennsyltucky-newspaper-funnies-with-poker-face/

So yeah, okay, I admit it (just double-checked), first side of Starz' Attention Shoppers! is totally useless -- almost all mediocre ballads until the mediocre faux-rocker at the end. But I like Side Two, even if it is brainless in comparison to Violation before it -- "X Ray Spex" new wave move with technorific sonic doo-dads at the beginning and end, "Good Ale We Seek" weirdo drinking song that I doubt Max Webster or Crack The Sky or Good Rats would've scoffed at, "Johny All-Alone" seven-plus minute depresso-guitar loner tale. First side is such utter bullshit hackwork, though, that I gotta wonder whether the album title (not to mention inner sleeve designed into a brown shopping bag, and store-window-display band photo on back) are explicitly about selling out -- as in, "hey, the suits at Capitol are making us do this crap, let's at least try to make a joke out of it." Or maybe I'm giving them too much credit by blaming the label; maybe they were just lazy. Didn't work, either way -- album actually charted lower than Violation (#105, after #89, after #123 for their debut in '76).

Another comment on that Nuge post:

[i]YES, YES, YES!!! Ted is true Red/White/Blue, he's got my vote! As a "true American", problem is that us "true Americans" are a third world minority in our own USA. Somebody lock down the freck'in borders already, I hear more foreign languages being spoken in public than English anymore. It makes me very said, the USA has become soft & vulnerable since I was a kid, my proudness of the USA is slowly dwindling. Running mate for Ted? How about Dave Mustain from Megadeth! Time to clean house and give the USA back it's pair of balls! [i]

Funny thing is, I had actually considered putting Mustaine's name in.

Shooter Jennings nominated for Supreme Court.

Anyway, I think it's pretty accepted that label and management -- which was Aucoin -- did
pressure Starz into soft-pedaling it. Which was a disaster and effectively the end of the act although they made another record. Should have released "Live in Action" as their third LP. Might have reived them a bit as live albums did for quite a few hard rock acts.

got the first hammersmith album. really like it. just as good as the 2nd album that i got a while back. just a solid band all around.

http://www.angelfire.com/psy/dmrpix/H/hammersmith-1-lp.jpg

oops, oh well. anyway, worth a couple bucks if you see it anywhere. on Mercury.

chuck, think you might like this Philisteens album i'm playing right now if you don't already have it. from 1982. on small new mexico label Radio Free America. they put out an EP too a year later, but i don't have that. yet.

trouser press review of the album and EP:

"Balancing old-fashioned melodies and raw power can be a tricky business, and this ill-tempered Albuquerque trio batters its material like a punching bag. Though ultimately wearying, The Philisteens does offer exhilaration when consumed in small doses. The band slams through such numbers as "I Get Mad" and "Punch in Punchout" with a combination of punk brutality and metal swagger. By the time of Turn Up the Music, the group was resident in Albuquerque and had taken on enough vestiges of power pop to field three-part harmonies. Craig Leon produced."

now playing:

http://www.therecordranch.com/uplimg/img_111982_df6488bfacd707fc396215b0eaef935a.jpg

sounds exactly how it looks.

i have another elektrics album that i like a bunch too. this one:

http://www.johncoulthart.com/feuilleton/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/elektrics.jpg

chuck, think you might like this Philisteens album

Never heard of them! But I will poke, I mean keep, an eye out for them!

So have we ever talked about Billy Thorpe's Children Of The Sun album here? Australian space/psych/acid rock on Capricorn Records (?!) that actually charted in the U.S. (#39 in Billboard, title track got to #41 on the pop chart) in 1979 -- just a total fucking anomaly and anachronism, as far as I can tell. "Children Of The Sun" itself is almost seven minutes long on the LP, what with all of its astronomical galaxy whooshes and everything; I assume they edited it down on the 45 and for Top 40 play, and I'm not sure. (It had to get some Top 40 play if it charted that high, right? The AOR stations in Detroit were definitely playing it, I do know that. Whitburn says the song charted for six weeks on Capricorn, then two more on Polydor, both in the same version.) Album starts out earthbound, with one fairly straightforward Billy Squier type hard pop rocker, "Wrapped In Chains," and then climbs further and further into the stratosphere; single is at the start of Side Two. Not sure I'd call the music "metal," by later definitions anyway, but there's obviously tons of guitar, and Thorpe gets real screechy in, say, "Goddess Of The Night" (a metal title, at least.) Also, he looks absolutely ridiculous on the back cover, open-shirted and hairy chested and bedecked in an shiny amulet around his neck and a big gold belt buckle like a total Golden Rock God parody. Two other guys in his band per se' -- a black guy and an old hippie judging from the inner sleeve photo, one on drums, the other on bass. But then in addition you've got another guy on "perucussion, synthesizer & sound effects programming" and yet another one on "additional synthesizer programming and playing." Pretty sure space rock was more or less extinct in the commercial realm by the time this came out (Journey LP covers don't count I don't think -- is there stuff I'm forgetting?), though the themes had been picked up by lots of Eurodisco groups by then. So how did this hit? Thorpe had been around for ages in Australia obviously (I know George is a big fan of his old Aztecs stuff, though I never much got into the archival live boogie album I heard last year), but in the U.S. he never charted at all before '79. Jasper and Oliver say he moved to L.A. at some point, so that obviously has something to do with it. And maybe programmers just thought of "Children Of The Sun" as a cool novelty track or something (basically, that's what I think of it as). Thorpe's next album 21st Century Man charted too, in 1980 (but much lower -- #151), and that was it, as far as America was concerned. (Jasper and Oliver seem to like the subsequent early '80s LPs though, one featuring Earl Slick.)

Btw, just a disclaimer about that Poker Face stuff above -- Hope nobody thinks I'm equating criticism of Israel's right wing and the ADL with anti-Semitism. I'm pretty critical when it comes to that stuff as well; most sane people are, I think. But Poker Face go way further than that, as the quotes George highlighted on his blog yesterday especially show.

one of my good buddies had that Billy Thorpe album in high school (or rather, I think it might have been his dad's!), and it became kind of a running joke between us. in a good way, though! we used to sing the lyrics to "Children To the Sun" to each other at random moments. Good times.

yeah chuck the title cut totally got played on FM radio! maybe not often, but I've heard it there more than a couple times. with long space intro whooshes and all...

and yeah, once I later became all nerdy record collector and learned of the existence of a Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs from Australia, I immediately flashed back to 'Children of the Sun'. still never heard any of the Aztecs stuff tho! I know it was all reissued recently by the same label that did all the Coloured Balls stuff

thought of this thread the other day when I ran across The Boyzz album in the record store. figured it must have been talked about here at some point, did a search, and sure enough: about 20 posts on various 'expiry' threads, ha. Didn't buy it though, it was 3 bucks. I refuse to pay more than 2

Yeah, it's pretty hard to avoid charges of anti-Semitism when you let slip you believe 'satanic Jews' are 'a cancer destroying humanity.' Their pages would seem to indicate their gigs are probably now fairly limited to out of state backwoods machine gun festivals and a couple places in the Lehigh Valley. There's enough stuff on the net about them in terms of quotes and interviews -- they get 'defended' by Willis Carto's old organization -- that the rep is toast. If you have the patience to read and listen to all of -- they do microradio broadcasts -- there's also this undercurrent gripe of US money being 'debauched' and that people have to come up with their own system of currency, which explains the animosity and song called "FinCen", indicating they'd like to do something bad to the Dept. of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Unit. You got your real case study there.

I've seen that Billy Thorpe LP around, it's on CD and he was run by Quiet Riot's management in LA, but have never heard it. The old Aztecs live CD made me think he was the Mark Farner of down under. Which may explain why the Aztecs were never brought here. We already had Grand Funk.

And here I have some more comment on how xhuxk's AF jest and how it's impossible to tap into the sense of humor of the easily fooled angry American. Plus a belief that was slipped into the stream, one that shows it's no secret what a scary number of them really want:

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/04/02/april-fools-everyday-for-angry-americans/

Anyway, if people go to the Poker Face website it's all very tidy-looking if you don't know the
people linked to such as the American Free Press and the Barnes Review, which are Holocaust as well as 9/11 deniers. If you're judged by the company you keep or association with the philosophies of such, they're damned by their own hand. The Barnes Review had the distinction of one time launching a
campaign to insist Adolf Hitler was an 'overlooked' candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize.

To get out of this ditch -- Poker Face and xhuxk's Ted Nugent joke, which through no fault of his own showed how pandering, morally repellent and indefensible a character the latter has transformed into in old age. I've tried to get uplift through things which show our better selves. A morale boost after the terrible laughing ignorance, discouragement and cruelty.

And one such thing is the rock opera episode of Buffy in 2001, Once More, With Feeling.

"Walk Through the Fire" is still quite the inspirational piece, an equal to the "Overture" from Tommy with vocals. A thing about striving and triumph in a fairy tale it would take the hard heart not to enjoy, a high point of orchestral jangle rock and making the absolute best of the singers at hand. And whoever played drums on that ruled. If you're looking for it, the second highest d/l on YouTube is the best video/music combo. And then you can listen to Giles sing "Behind Blue Eyes."

Error -- it's actually the highest rated vid for it. YouTube's idiot search engine just doesn't show it as the number 1 slot.

So, I'll get back into true hard rock gear here sooner or later, but should mention that, had Stormy been at this guy I talk about below's house this weekend, he could've picked up that Boyzz LP, and both the hit Billy Thorpe LP and his one that charted right after it (which I passed up, maybe I shouldn't have), and many many other things, for a buck each. Here's what I got; definitely lotsa hard rock on the list:

"I'd buy that for a dollar!" Great purchases for a buck or less

Haven't started into the pile yet -- well, one side of the Klart Kent LP this morning, which I liked a lot, but that's it -- but will soon.

Spent some time yesterday listening to a couple new wave/artfuck scene comps from the '80s -- N.Y. in 1980 (Marty Thau Presents 2x5 on Red Star, which Scott gifted to me last year) and L.A. in 1984 (Radio Tokyo Tapes: Volume Two, a $1 purchase last month.) Big influence on the N.Y. one is probably Suicide (maybe not surprising, since their own debut was on the same label), most obviously in the case of the Revelons' "Red Hot Woman" but also maybe in re: The Bloodless Pharaohs, whose artsy fartsy sotto voice goth-prog-wave is basically saved by Brian Setzer's pre-Stray Cats rockabilly twang being put into a context (maybe his last one?) that doesn't turn him into a total cartoon so you can actually concentrate on how much he's learned from Link Wray or whoever. Chris Stigliano (who's heard more of them than I have) says the Pharoahs remind him of Roxy Music, which I can sort of hear (Roxy at their most pompous anyway), especially in their theme song I guess "Bloodless Pharoah." Their singer sounds like a real blowhard dork, but I still think I like them better than Stray Cats. Other bands on the comp are the Student Teachers, Comateens (who Stigliano also likes -- claims both they and the Pharaohs "straddle the boundaries between mid-seventies intense underground energies {Pere Ubu, Kongress, MX-80 Sound...} and early-eighties gnu wave fashion-kitsch," but to me they just sound like an okay co-ed new wave pop band to me), and the Fleshtones, the latter of whom dont annoy me on this comp as much as I'd've predicted, but maybe they just got more annoying (and more quasi-"garage") later. Saw them live once and I thought it was like watching a band full of Fred Schneiders, made me pretty queasy.

Stigliano writes about Bloodless Pharaohs here (just noticed he posted some youtube links over the weekend to the great '70s Midwestern Ghoul TV show, too; I'll need to check those out sooner or later.)

http://black2com.blogspot.com/2010/03/duff-week-if-you-ask-me-and-why-wouldnt.html

Radio Toyko Tapes L.A. comp is artier and sleazier; actually makes for a more interesting listen overall, if you don't hate pagan-ritual-drummed Cali goth bands ripping off the Virgin Prunes (which is how I'd more or less classify Kommunity FK, 17 Pygmies, and Food And Shelter.) Favorites though might be the girl-led post-funk/post-punk groups Animal Dance and Pleasure Mask; could've sworn they both had saxophones, but only Animal Dance credit one in the notes. There's also various shades of diverting bullshit, of course. (Well, even the tracks I like the most are diverting bullshit, obviously. But none of those have bagpipes, or John Trubee doing a Jello Biafra style spoken word rant about -- stop the presses! -- how evil and dirty a place L.A. is.)

Widowmaker self-titled (Jet 1976, feat. Ariel Bender from Mott the Hoople on guitar and
backup vocals

Best tune, clenched jaw belligerence: Ain't Telling You Nothing

I always liked it but doesn't really deliver on what you expect from the personnel -- Bob Daisley on bass, Hugh Lloyd Llangton from Hawkwind, plus Bender. "Leave the Kids Alone" is kind of tail-end
glam mixed with some country & western lilt.

Yesterday And Today (London 1976 -- pre-Y&T metal dudes)

Upstream, talked of this. Animal Woman, Alcohol, 24 Hours a Day, did what they knew, etc.

Glad to see some talk of Riot here. They were totally an influence on NWOBHM. Fire Down Under (1981) might be their best. I've been listening to them mixed on a playlist with early Def Lep, The Angels/Angel City, Teaze, UFO, Legs Diamond, Starz, Rex Smith, Kiss, and 80s Thin Lizzy/Whitesnake/Rainbow.

Another great playlist right now is called Proto-Punk/Trash Rawk, with Radio Birdman, Dictators, Runaways, Suzi Quatro, New York Dolls, Ramones, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, more Kiss, early Motorhead, Slade, Sweet, etc. What else would go good with that?

finally got myself a decent copy of tommy bolin's private eyes. for 50 cents, naturally. god the production on that thing is like one hot overstuffed airless cocaine chamber. but i dig the album anyway. just the way he mixes weirdo disco/pop/funk moves with occasional 5 minute guitar solos. and i actually really like his voice. always have.

i passed on a 1981 whitesnake album for some reason.

did buy fluffy's black eye on vinyl though. fluffy of xgau raves.

got the 1979 album by ALIAS called Contraband. haven't played it yet. southern stuff with a backup band consisting of artimus pyle, ricky powell, billy powell, and leon wilkeson.

also bought the 1980 album by FM. City Of Fear. don't think i was ever that big on FM. always liked their album covers and song titles and they were on passport, but i always forget what the hell they sound like. i'll give this one a go.

"What else would go good with that?"

lots of stuff! read this thread for hot tips.

Another great playlist right now is called Proto-Punk/Trash Rawk, with Radio Birdman, Dictators, Runaways, Suzi Quatro, New York Dolls, Ramones, Cheap Trick, Alice Cooper, more Kiss, early Motorhead, Slade, Sweet, etc. What else would go good with that?

The firs three Joan Jett & the Blackhearts albums, Silverhead, first two Starz albums, Rich Kids, the Move's heavier stuff, first Heavy Metal Kids record, Mott the Hoople's Live album. That's a start.

Oh, and I kept the playlist mostly to 1973-77, probably because I had just seen the Runaways movie. I also had some Lou Reed, Dr. Feelgood, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Mott the Hoople, 101ers, Stranglers, Bowie, Big Star, Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, John Cale, Jobriath, Alex Harvey, George Brigman, Hydra, T. Rex, Heavy Metal Kids, Nugent, Ian Hunter, Gary Glitter, Streetwalkers, AC/DC and Pink Fairies.

Silverhead is a great idea, I've never really heard them yet.

...Count Biships, Brownsville Station, Earth Quake, Flamin' Groovies, Sparks circa Kimono My House/Woofer In Tweeter's Clothing, Ram Jam, the '70s band Mr. Big, Rags, Flame, Artful Dodger, Rocket From The Tombs -- honestly, that's just scratching the surface. But like Scott said, peruse the last few Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock threads and you'll have more ideas that you can possibly use, I promise.

What Streetwalkers do you like, Fastnbulbous? We were discussing them last year; I got an album for $1 but coldn't really get into it.

Also, are these playlists on lastfm, or where? (Is "lastfm" just basically assumed when people say "playlist" now? I am so out of it.)

Bunch more, using bands you've listed as a guideline: Hello, Mud, Racey, Fanny, Bay City Rollers, Dave Edmunds, David Werner, Smokey, Raspberries, Stories, Tubes, Arrows, Sailor, Crack The Sky, Good Rats, Max Webster, early John Hiatt, Elliot Murphy, Coloured Balls, Buster Brown, Thundertrain, Billion Dollar Babies, Hank The Knife And The Jets, Rudolf Rock Und Die Schocker...(Obviously depends on how heavy you wanna keep it, but you've listed plenty of non-heavy stuff already.)

Some of those obviously maybe "too prog" or "too bubblegum" (and for many of them you might want to be selective as to particular tracks and/or albums); depends on what exactly you're looking for, and how you're defining "Proto-Punk/Trash Rawk" (that spelling still always makes me wince, but whatever.) Also, if you're going to include the Streetwalkers and John Cale, you seriously might want to read what is said upthread about Kevin Coyne, since seems to me his aesthetic came close to both of their neighborhoods and probably did it better -- at least judging from the live LP I've got, which has really grown on me since I discussed it up there. (Also, he's proto-punk both in the sense that John Lydon and Mark E. Smith are apparently big fans, and that he was lyrically obsessed with both insane people and a dying England.)

Yeah, definitely re Kevin Coyne. If you check the Youtube vids of stuff I sampled on my blog, you may find some of that definitely has the potential to fit in with your theme.

I have Coyne's Marjory Razorblade and Dynamite Daze, but they haven't really stuck to my brain yet. I figured it would be good eccentric singer-songwriter stuff along the lines of Peter Hammill. I'll revisit, though maybe not rocking enough for that particular playlist. I own Streetwalkers' Red Card (1976), which is fun. I've heard MP3s of Downtown Flyers (1975) which is nearly as good. I have a 2TB flac collection ripped from my CDs both at home, and backed up at work. I make the playlists with Mediamonkey, and at home, use them with my Squeezebox system throughout the house, controlled both on the desktop computer and wireless remote. I play music usually for most of my workday either on the powered Harman speakers or headphones.

might want to try these too:

http://www.myspace.com/grannysintentions

ugly custard

incredible hog

heavy jelly

warm dust

toad

'igginbottom's wrench

http://www.myspace.com/dogthatbitpeople71

paper bubble

http://www.myspace.com/fuzzyduck70

hairy chapter

deaf cuckoo

flasket brinner

shakey vick

plastic penny

agnes strange

wooden horse

http://www.myspace.com/rainbowffolly67

hunter muskett

mighty baby

magic mixture

http://www.myspace.com/ginhouse1971

just kidding.