Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

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.

=============

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.

I cut the http off this so it wouldn't mount. So cut and paste if you wan't another example of bizarre, if mostly rocking, extremist stuff from Pennsy's soft white underbelly. It's The Mysterious Fog...

youtube.com/watch?v=W4IRY4BbpEE

To be fair, this falls right in the great statistical mean of the stuff discussed here. He could do a lot worse.

http://www.spin.com/articles/watch-slash-wolfmother-frontman-rock-leno

As far as this number is concerned, it <strike>almost</strike> makes a stoner rock vibe respectable
rather than just monochromatic, slow and turgid.

Should I get this record?

Fave comment, in response to someone who made a tangential comment about Lady Gaga collaboration
and apparent resistance to growing old more gracefully:

what do you know? youre just som e liberal junkie who knows nothing about music. so shut up
you retard.

Wait, was that comment to you, George, about one of your Pokerface posts? Or to Slash? (By the way, I'm curious to what extent you think Pokerface's brand of anti-Semitism is connected to their Lehigh Valley roots, in general. I keep remembering all those Nazi paraphernalia booths at the Q-Mart in Quakertown. Also wondering how to what extent their pondering "What is a Turkish Mongol – Yiddish speaking race of Ashekenazi/Khazars who have little to no SHEMite blood in them doing in Palestine to begin with?" is a running meme within the U.S. Jew-hate realm; there's an unduly crimes-of-Israel-obsessed commentator on Genesis Communication -- the radio network that also runs Alex Jones --who also brings up the Israeli-Jews-are-not-actually-Semites thing a lot, but in a seemingly more civilized way than Pokerface; I'd actually never heard the argument before, and now I'm guessing it's a red flag.)

Haven't heard the Slash album; actually didn't even think to check it out (even though Rhapsody asked me to write up a post on solo albums by guitarists last week pegged to its release.) Maybe I'll try sometime. Here's my solo guitarists thing. I'm really no expert, so don't laugh too much at it. I know there's probably lots of great ones I missed:

http://blog.rhapsody.com/2010/04/riffing.html

Anybody else heard this new EP by Batusis on Smog Veil? Cheetah Chrome and Sylvain Sylvain doubling on guitar and vocals; couple ex Joan Jett sidemen on rhythm instruments. Some surf, some quasi AC/DC, some poppish hard-rockish punk, four songs in 15 minutes, sounds promising but after a dozen or so listens I gotta say none of it is actually sticking to my gills. Anybody wanna convince me it's better than that?

http://www.myspace.com/batusis

(Er, "brings (it) up a lot" might be an overstatement; I've heard him bring it twice, maybe. But given how erratically I actually happen to tune into that station while punching buttons in the car -- yeah, I've got the conspriacy theorists on pre-set now, it's like gawking at a car wreck -- I bet he does mention it fairly often.)

The jew-hate thing was around in the Lehigh Valley. You could come upon it any place in Pennsy's
interior. Some of the Pennsylvania Dutch harbor it, unsurprisingly. It wasn't everywhere in Pine Grove but it was also not exceedingly rare.

As to where they come up with this cockamamie stuff -- you can wade through Poker Face's site, or Paul Topete's quotes for hours, he's certainly not shy with them EXCEPT when talking to the local newspaper, as I showed today. And there's no logic to anything he spouts. It's just a hodgepodge of conspiracy theories, references to books and newsletters no one in their right mind would read or give credence to, paranoia, anger at the government. These people are upside down on everything but there's no talking with them. Whatever broke them, they're permanently screwed up. Enlightening reason doesn't work. It's just more evidence to fuel their fires.

What's new is that now the gentler side of it is mainstream. Glenn Beck is, by any definition, a profoundly screwed up John Bircher. John Birchers -used- to be viewed with extreme disdain in this country. I watch him for a few minutes each week and can't find anything logical or well reasoned from him ever. So the even more extreme elements see this and it encourages them to be more vocal and active which is why Poker Face was always interested in doing political shows for Ron Paul and the Tea Party.

It's like in the movie Falling Down, where the Mike Douglas character walks into a military paraphernalia store, and the neo-Nazi running it rushes to congratulate him and say, hey man, you're one of us, and then goes to show him his prize possession, an empty canister from a concentration camp gas chamber.
And then the Mike Douglas character expresses shock and they get into a fight in which he kills the neo-Nazi.

So did anybody know that the Gap Band covered a song by Free, "Little Bit Of Love," on their debut LP in 1977? Me neither. Thing is, if there was ever much hard rock in the Free version (I'd have to go back and check), the Gap guys drain it all out; their version is more like a pop reggae ballad, with a slight Latin lilt. Still makes me wonder whether they had hopes for a rock audience -- back cover shows two long-haired white guys in the band along with the five black guys (hilariously, on the inner sleeve the only white guy there has his hair pulled back to resemble an Afro, and is jumping around in funky clothes); Leon Russell plays piano on one track; and they were kind of a funk throwback in '77, half-competently aiming for Sly and Stevie overall, pretty much ignoring disco except for in "Hang On (To Yourself)," which oddly might be the catchiest cut on the album. Which really isn't all that good; they actually whomped a lot harder when they got less purist in the early '80s, in the big hits "Early In The Morning" and "You Dropped A Bomb On Me" and especially smaller hit "Burn Rubber On Me." Bet more rock fans bought those too. (Not sure about country fans, though they were from Tulsa, Oklahoma, and wore cowboy hats sometimes, so maybe.)

To answer your question, yes -- there was some hard rock in the Free tune.

BTW, did you ever get around to listening to the 'new' Uriah Heep rehash CD, Celebration? I saw it in the store today.

i can't believe how much i have enjoyed listening to motley crue's too fast for love album today. what a great record. haven't heard it in a zillion years.

Boy, the new Hendrix record seems to have gone over like a lead balloon. I read Tuscaloosa Ann's review of it in the LA Times a few weeks back. Since she liked it, I figured it must have been fairly skippable.

I listened to that new Heep album once; sounded good, but haven't been able to convince myself there's a point to it. Think I'm waiting for somebody else to do A/B comparisons with old versions. Who knows, maybe some songs are better than before. Will try to put it on again soon, but can't promise I'll have anything more enlightening to say about it.

I was kinda shocked myself that the Hendrix estate wasn't able to get a Rolling Stone cover out of that compilation. I'm sure they got a Guitar Player cover story, though.

Even more likely Guitar World, too.

god, I have no interest in this new Uriah Heep thing, even though I defy anyone on ILX to be a better fan than me of the original group.

in the sense that: my fave rhythm duo of all time is Lee Kerslake on drums and Gary Thain on bass.

^^^^ right there, those two, favorite rhythm sections of all time

I actually thought this was AMAZING:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Se4YjAV4CZA