Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

Been very much enjoying quasi-superpowertrio St. Paradise's self-titled '79 LP -- their first and only, I believe -- for the past couple weeks as slickly boogiefied turn of '80s post-Foreigner corporate hard rock. Band is singer Derek St. Holmes ex of Nugent's band (also on guitar); Rob Grange who played bass for the Nuge; and Montrose/Hagar/ Heart drummer Denny Carmassi. At least one track got played on Detroit AOR that year (I remember the band showing up in weekly countdowns), though damned if I can be sure which one -- best guess is "Live It Up," a dumbbell but Diddley-beated weekend party rocker that Nugent gets co-songwriting credit for, though maybe that just sounds familiar because he'd done it himself on Cat Scratch Fever. That starts Side Two; both sides advance from basic catchy medium-weight butt-rock to heavier and tricker cuts -- namely "Miami Slide" (funkiest track, about viceful sleazeballs with spoons under their noses and gold chains) and "Hades" (not as frightening its name suggests, but then neither were Styx) at the end of Side One and the incrementally proggier "Tighten the Knot" then "Beside The Sea" (only two cuts over five minutes) at album's end. Attempts at mythic songwriting don't exactly stick, yet do manage to add some melodrama somehow. A minor album, but extremely listenable.

Oh yeah, also worth mentioning that second song on the album, "Gamblin' Man," sounds more like Bob Seger's "Travelin' Man" than "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man." And St. Paradise also do a song called "Jesse James," though not the Woody Guthrie one Bob did on Smokin' O.P.'s.

Given the album covers w/his art on 'em (Molly Hatchet, Nazareth, Dust, Wolfmother), it bears mentioning in this thread that painter Frank Frazetta died today. I put a selection of his album art on my MSN metal blog.

One of his family homes is in Monroe County, Pennsyltucky.

Interestingly, on the St. Paradise record St. Holmes does "Live It Up" as a Bo Diddley tune with a couple gospel-like singers on the chorus. Plus he drops a bit of a reggae break into the bridge. It's a hard rock tune but I can see Tedly forbidding him to play it that way for a Nugent album.

Post Ted Nugent I thought this album was a bit lightweight, squandering an opportunity. However, it's certainly aged better than most of the Nuge's sans-St. Holmes LPs from the same period.

So, speaking of Styx (well, I mentioned them in passing here earlier today), is the learned consensus that they never did anything else that rocked harder than "Earl Of Roseland" and "I'm Gonna Make You Feel It" at the end of Styx II? (As much Who as Heep to my ears, and the use of fancy pants Limey words like "yesteryear" and "sport" instead of "sports" as well as the title itself in "Earl Of Roseland" are kinda hilarious for a bunch of Chicago boys; makes it sort of the '70s pomp-rock answer to "Duke Of Earl" or something.) "You Need Love" at album's start is pretty rocking too. So, what else they did sounded that tough? (Have never heard the three other Wooden Nickel LPs, shamefully enough.)

Also, I'm sure I could find this if I wasn't too lazy to poke around online, but I'm guessing "Lady" must've hit locally in Chicago then got picked up nationally later? Went #6 pop in early '75, though the album had come out in 1973; album itself debuted on the national chart January '75. They didn't have another Top 10 until "Come Sail Away" in late '77. ("Lorelei" reached #26 in between.) My copy of II seems to suggest it was distributed by RCA, but I'm not sure if that was a one-off deal where the album got major distribution after the single finally started taking off, or if Wooden Nickel was a fake indie imprint, or what. (II peaked at #20 nationally; no other Wooden Nickel Styx LP got higher than #154, so one-off seems likely to me.)

I have all four Wooden Nickel albums in my iPod; that's all the Styx I own. They're weird, shifting from thud-rock to proggy stuff to weird, pompous pop. Not bad at all, and occasionally quite rockin'.

list of recommended albums (George) sent me a couple decades ago, when I was mapping out my metal book. Still have it somewhere

I just found it! Still don't think I've ever heard a note of music by Axis (It's A Circus World RCA 1978 - "intense power trio blast ala Dust. Really!"), Taste (Polydor 1969), More (Warhead, Blood & Thunder Atlantic 1981-82 "Smokin stuff"), Harvey Mandel (Cristo Redentor), or Terry Brooks & Strange (No Exit). George also recommends Man's "very early stuff"; still clueless about that. Used to own a Tucky Buzzard LP once; not sure why they didn't make the book.

Taste was Rory Gallagher's band before he went solo. I've never heard them but they're probably worth checking out.

The first Taste album is great. Outstanding tunes like "Blister on the Moon" and "Born on the Wrong Side of Time." Gallagher about had a nervous breakdown when they broke up, he thought the band was so good. The live Taste albums sound just like live Rory Gallagher solo except without Lou Martin on piano, I think.

"Warhead" is the best More album, although not the heaviest produced. Great tune, "I Have No Answers" and the
title track -- produced by Brownsville Station's management, Al Nalli of Michigan.

"It's a Circus World" is still a good hard rock trio album, was reissued in Canada a number of years ago. There's also some modern psychedelic ooze to it, particularly on "Ray's Electric Farm."

The Styx Wooden Nickel albums all have their moments, as does the one after, Equinox. When Tommy Shaw showed up I went the other way.

I definitely hear the same Who bits in esrly Styx. It was there. The guy wanted to write his own rock opera. Eventually it burned him, with Killroy was Here and Mr.Roboto." I still think it's hilarious to hear one of the Stux guys, probably Dennis DeYoung, ruefully describing how they had to follow Sammy Hagar who was selling his Standing Hampton album and single, "There's Only One Way to Rock." He mighta also been playing "I Can't Drive 55". One imagines the arena crowd was about ready to rip a new hole
in Styx on those shows.

Okay, so next, what do people here think about Focus, assuming anybody thinks about them at all? Was listening for the first time in a while to this 1977 LP called Ship Of Memories, and definitely thought "Can't Believe My Eyes" and "Out Of Vesuvius" had the twisted galvanic loud guitar churn prog energy of good early Crimson or heavy fusion, and "Glider" was maybe even better, funky like they'd been listening early '70s Miles Davis. Rest of the album, especially when they let Moogs and organs dominate, was mostly just okay. Thing is, I get the idea from producer Mike Vernon's really long and not exactly conclusive liner notes that this record was sort of a hodgepodge; apparently recorded at a bunch of different sessions around the world, spread out through the '70s. Here's what Wiki says, though it seems to at least slightly contradict the notes: "In 1976, frustrated with group's lack of direction and the constraints of working with its commercial ambitions, Jan Akkerman left on the eve of a sell-out UK tour. His last minute replacement was Belgian jazz-fusion guitarist Philip Catherine. The group's US label Sire Records released Ship of Memories, an album of largely unfinished Focus tracks from the aborted 1973-1974 rehearsal sessions to produce a follow-up album to Focus 3... Ship of Memories was released largely due to the effort of Mike Vernon and without the active involvement of the band." So okay, maybe that also explains why the songs are almost entirely instrumental, beyond maybe a couple seconds of "Hocus Pocus"-type opera gurgling in "Glider"? Or were their other albums mostly instro, too?

Uh, think I meant "Mellotrons" there, not "Moogs." (Also at least occasional clavinets, flutes, and piccolos, according to the notes.)

Vernon's appraisal is right. It was a hodgepodge and isn't there best although it's better than later stuff they did after he was no longer producing.

The best was a double LP, the cited Focus 3. That has a lot of berserk instrumental jamming, prog and even Vernon's beloved blues rock on it. It has the great Vernon production tone -- the special sauce he put on all the Savoy Brown and Blue Horizon Brit blues boom sessions. Moving Waves is the one everyone knows because of the "Hocus Pocus" single. The live album, also with Vernon, is pretty good although there was really not much difference between Focus in person and in the studio. I may have to drag that stuff out tonight.

You should scan those notes of mine and send them over as attached pic images. It was so long ago, I'd be interested to see what I actually said and if I still hold to it. I'm astonished they're still
around as it was so pre-computer and Internet.

And, yes, the Focus albums were primarily if not exclusively instrumental with Mike Vernon. I think "Moving Waves" only had vocals, if you want to call it that, on "Hocus Pocus" and the title track --which was mostly just a bit of a chant.

The first album, I forget its title, had a tune that was a dead ringer for Jethro Tull. After Akkerman left, they stank. His solo albums weren't that great, either.

Harvey Mandel (Cristo Redentor)

As a kid I had a promo 45 (nabbed from a radio station trash basket) of "Wade In The Water" from this LP and played it to death. It's a lengthy album cut, so it was divided into Part 1 and Part 2. Still have never heard the rest of the LP, but Mandel's tone on this is awesome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRcv_RREGC0

always liked this album a bunch

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B0000011PO.jpg

i never thought i was a fan of focus until i heard the third album. that one is a keeper.

"Wade in the Water" does have riveting psychedelic blues sound. It was Mandel's best moment. Wound up replacing Henry Vestine in Canned Heat and was tabbed to replace Mick Taylor in the Stones, winding up on some of the cuts from "Black 'n' Blue."

From over on the old thread I started on Harvey Milk, a blurb that their new album is being streamed by NPR. Haw. From pigfuck bludgeon to pinnacle of nerd rock appreciation in five years of work.

You should scan those notes of mine and send them over...astonished they're still around as it was so pre-computer and Internet.

Will do, though my graphic designer wife has the scanner in the family, so I'll have to wait for her. (I'd kept the list in a manilla envelope of old metal articles, in a box in the closet; I'm not exactly a pack rat, but did hang onto some potentially useful pre-Internet-era things.)

And in the latest hard rock news from Lehigh Valley, David Lee Roth never married a woman from Allentown, the Morning Call reports:

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-van-halen-david-lee-roth-allentown-0509,0,53161.story

Jesus wept.

Have to thank Gorge for allerting me to the Jeffrey Salen's cranked guitars on the Sparks' Big Beat, about which he is OTM; in fact, I'd maybe add the album's first couple cuts, "Big Boy" and "I Want To Be Like Everybody Else," which are pretty hilarious no matter what, to his list. Also love how the implausible "I Like Girls" at album's end follows "White Women" ("They walk with a swagger/Their power's on the wane...To me it doesn't matter if their skin's passe...The places that I'm cruising/The places that I stay/Are filled with Anglo-Saxons.")

Speaking of big boys, I've also been liking Big Boy by Mark Andrews And the Gents from 1980, on A&M, Joe Jackson's label, which makes sense because Andrews had apparently played keyboard in a pre-new-wave band with Jackson called Arms & Legs, and this is probably the best surrogate version I've heard of those very punchy (if more bass-based than guitar-based -- but rocking enough that Anthrax covered one of the faster songs once) first two Jackson LPs from the year before, especially in "Laid On A Plate," "Let Yourself Go," and speedy album closer "In A Jam." Loudest song on the album is probably the fast- talked opener "West One," which almost sounds like the Screaming Blue Messiahs several years before the fact. "Big Boy" itself is the deepest reggae groove (there's not a lot of that, but this a good one, though the ganjafied "Born to Be Wild" cover is horrible, and Andrews is apparently scared to plug "heavy metal" so he says "every little thunder" instead.) "Don't Let Go" is a good jangly powerpop track. He can't write songs like Jackson could back then, not even close, so the words barely stick at all, but when the energy gets pogo-ing I don't mind. Also weird: Andrews' greased down pre-Misfits forelock, or whatever it's called. Was that a thing for proto-goth rockabilly bands back then? Can't think of who else had one, but I doubt he invented it.

I always thought of it as something inspired by Gene Vincent with a bit of perversity added.

Two mediocre stinkers:

Backstreet Sally, self-titled, Atlantic 1983 -- This came in a box of free LPs from Metal Mike a few years ago, I think. Must've listened to it then, but nothing stuck with me about it. Early-Benatar-style pop-shclock-rock from people (four men and a woman) who look to be in their 30s, at least; album recorded in Rochester, NY, and that's all I know. No idea how or why they had a major label contract. Maybe they knew somebody. Anyway, they get the elements more or less right, except they can't seem to come up with a memorable tune or hook to save their lives.

Mondo Rock, self-titled, Columbia 1985 -- Had no idea these Aussies actually put out an album in the States until I saw a slag in the Rick Johnson Reader. Didn't believe him, because the late '70s stuff that Aztec Music reissued Down Under last year was so great. And actually, I just checked; he was writing about an LP called Mondo Rock Chemistry they did for Atlantic in '82, so guess they had a couple U.S. releases. (And he doesn't completely hate it -- calls them "lightweight AC/DC with a couple melodies that go right to work.") But this is six years after the last of the reissue songs, and only singer Ross Wilson is still in the band from then, now doubling on guitar instead of harmonica, and they even get Jellybean Benitez (??) to remix one track, and that doesn't stop them from sounding like they're ineptly trying to keep up with Men At Work and The Little River Band, neither of whom were even getting hits anymore anyway -- MOR with sad tinges of reggae and funk. No rock. Best track is probably "Fight 28" for its vaguely dubby Policey spaciness, and it's not even that good. Anyway, here's what I said last year about Primal Park:

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009

Although I really like "Eagle Rock," whenever I see the vid and hear it I think Mr. Greenjeans inspired hippies, or whatever passed for that in Australia.

My old hard rock obscure essentials list.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/05/15/sludge-in-the-seventies-a-list/

"Six Degrees of Foreigner 4" thing, where I write about that album and connect it to albums by Loverboy, Shooting Star, the Clash, Thomas Dolby and Junior Walker:

http://www.emusic.com/features/hub/six_degrees_foreigner/index.html

Pretty cool 72-minute funky hard rock DJ mix some person or persons called RockTits made, featuring Atomic Rooster, Free, Traffic, James Gang, Blue Oyster Cult, and Grand Funk in just the first ten minutes:

http://aordisco.blogspot.com/2010/03/rocktits-heavy-cosmic-groove.html

Thread about '70s Aussie "Sharpie" culture, which we talked about some on Rolling Hard Rock '09:

Australians: Please Explain Sharpies

From a 2007 essay by Bruce Milne that somebody on that thread linked to; sounds like the Sharpies had kickass taste in music:

The Sharpies loved their music tough, loud and simple. Suzi Quatro, Sweet, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, T-Rex, Gary Glitter and Bowie (as long as it was songs like "Rebel Rebel" or "Jean Genie"). But the most popular overseas group was Slade. They were probably bigger in Australia than anywhere else. "Slade Alive!" was played at every party I went to where there were Sharpies. When Slade toured with Status Quo in early '73, every gig was like a mass meeting of the Sharpie clans. Weirdly, the tour also included Lindisfarne and Caravan on the bill. I am surprised those two bands made it through the tour alive.

Of the local acts, the most popular were Billy Thorpe & the Aztecs, AC/DC, Buster Brown (featuring Angry Anderson, later of Rose Tattoo, and Phil Rudd, later of AC/DC), Skyhooks, and Hush. But none were more popular than Lobby Loyde and the Coloured Balls. In their short lifespan ('72–'74), they were the undisputed number one Sharpie band.

Looking back, all of the fave Sharpie songs tended to be the simple, call-to-arms anthems – "Can The Can, " "Rebel Rebel, " "Get It On," "Metal Guru," "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am!)," "Rock'n'Roll Pt. 2," "Jean Genie," "Ballroom Blitz," "Liberate Rock," "All The Young Dudes," "Smokin' In The Boysroom," "Speed King," "Teenage Rampage," "Framed," "Get Down and Get With It," "Mama Weer All Crazee Now," "Cum on Feel the Noize."

The Sharpies had a particular dance. They'd form small circles and bounce on their legs a bit whilst thumpin' their fists up and down in front of their bodies.

speaking of canada, digging this right now

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AJcpmbP_Sow/RqalgtSNEfI/AAAAAAAAAQM/uEIqQB62msI/s320/folder.jpg

man, this guy brought in records today and it was like this thread in a box. very cool. now playing Toronto's Head On album. speaking of canada. I really like it! total aor/hard rock gem. other stuff he had:

starcastle - s/t

st. paradise - s/t

kansas - s/t (never ever heard the first kansas album)

joe vitale - roller coaster weekend (joe walsh's drummer. had high hopes for this since it features three of my fave guitarists: joe walsh, rick derringer, phil keaggy. but it's not that great)

warner brothers presents...montrose

the sharks - shark treatment

the neighborhoods - fire is coming

the sharks - seven deadly fins

toronto - lookin' for trouble

reo speedwagon - this time we mean it

starcastle - fountains of light

legs diamond - fire power

gryphon - red queen to gryphon three

duke jupiter - sweet cheeks

chris spedding - i'm not like everybody else

2 edgar winter records

the zantees - out for kicks (on BOMP)

johnny reno and the sax maniacs - full blown

and other stuff

Starcastle's "Lady of the Lake" from the debut laid claim to best Yes imitation since Peter Banks'
Flash.

There was a Pennsy band called Sharks who made a couple indie records. Don't know if this is them. Doesnt sound, title-wise, like the Brit band.

"Warner Bros. Presents" is the third Montrose record. Bob James replaces Sam Hagar, totally changes the band and sound.

Legs Diamond's "Fire Power" has a version of "You've Lost that Lovin' Feeling" which, as I recall, wasn't that great. It's their third, an up and down thing. I liked the debut best.

A lot of Ted Nugent fans must've bought St. Paradise on faith. Then been a bit disappointed.

yeah, the St. Paradise album has some solid tracks, but mostly its not that exciting.

I was surprised by how much I like the Toronto album I was playing. Don't know why. It's got really stong songs and whatsherface's vocals are great. good riffs too.

the sharks records are tiny label new wave/bar band kinda records. lots of cities probably had their quirky nrbq gone new wave acts. going new wave was a way out of the bar circuit dead end. if you were lucky.

i don't think i'm that big on the neighborhoods. they have their fans. boston local legends. new wave/power pop stuff. but maybe i should listen again. being in massachusetts, i get a lot of those local willie alexander kinda club act records.

speaking of boston, i bought a 3cd cars retrospective thing today from someone and now i wish i had brought it home. i could go for some digitally shiny cars music right about now. this butterfield blues band album isn't cutting it.

Right now I am pricing albums for a yard sale I'm having tomorrow, while listnening to Willie Alexander and the Boom Boom Band's self-titled LP! Which is great and much heavier than I ever would have guessed, even some Sabbathy riffs. (Also, they cover "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" too! Which is the lead cut and maybe my least favorite.)

Last couple days, have been playing Streetwalkers' self-titled (which has really grown on me since I waxed skeptically about it on this thread -- totally into the gruffness of Chapman's voice, esp. when singing about crawfish), Doctors of Madness's Sons Of Survival (Senational Alex Harvey Band crossed with proto Anti Nowhere Leauge or something??? Weird, and kinda awesome), and Tutu and the Pirates' Sub-Urban Insult Rock For the Anti/Lectual 1977-1979 (new LP by never before compiled alleged first punk band in Chicago, and as wacked out as their name and title and that description imply -- supposedly they were into the Mothers and Kinky Friedman as much as the Dolls & MC5. Haven't determined how well they could play yet; not sure I care.)

i started a doctors of madness thread, chuck, feel free to add to it. more people should hear that stuff.

Doctors Of Madness - Figments Of Emancipation

I will! Eventually!'

Playing Widowmaker's self-titled now. Starts out right heavy and rocking ("Such A Shame"), then turns pleasingly, uh, '70s Elton Johny I guess, and then more boringly soft-rocky, with Southern rocky gospely parts such as in "Shine The Light On Me" (proto Collective Soul?), which is on now. I'm not sure how close I've been paying attention though. Maybe I missed some good cuts.

"Shine A Light On Me" I mean. '70s Jesus freak boogie, more or less. Albeit from ex-Motter Ariel Bender and other British-I-presume guys.

Now Gringo Locos, Hanoi Rocksy Finns-I-think (don't have a reference guide with me right now) in cowboy hats on Atlantic in 1979. Was sounding just okay in the background til just this minute, the third song, "Rain," which has a good Nugent riff.

Oops, actually the Nugenty song was called "Living On Borrowed Time." "Rain," which is the fourth cut, is just a fair-to-middling ballad.

OK, now Bloodrock 2 before bedtime. Clearing my system of Gringos Locos' (whose LP cover reminds me of the long lost glory days of Rock City Angels btw, which is why I bought it) mostly bleh-ness.

the sharks records are tiny label new wave/bar band kinda records. lots of cities probably had their quirky nrbq gone new wave acts. going new wave was a way out of the bar circuit

This sounds like the Reading, Pennsy, Sharks. Is there a song called "Osha Don't Care" on any of these? I saw them many times. PA version of The Fools only not as good. Fair, though.

Playing Widowmaker's self-titled now. Starts out right heavy and rocking ("Such A Shame"), then turns pleasingly, uh, '70s Elton Johny I guess

How is it you keep missing "Ain't Telling You Nothin'" -- the heaviest cut -- Luther
Grosvenor stud rock? That's the cut that makes the Widowmaker album worth returning to.

A lot of the rest of it is Exile on Main Street rips, mediocrely so. No "Rip This Joint"
or "Rocks Off." Maybe a bar band fakebook take on "Turd On the Run" and "Ventilator Blues" or "Sweet Virginia." Nothing wrong with that, just sayin'.

I always thought of "Shine a Light On Me" as a hysterical histrionic overwork of the Stones' "Shine a Light" or something pathetic and pseudo-American Peter Frampton would try to pull off. Which reminds me, I really want to hear his new record on Churchill.

I have to say if you listen to angular untuneful hard rock -- like Streetwalkers -- long enough, you start to appreciate the tough artistic quality of it, the grainy guitar, the drums and ugly voice.

I listen on the same level. It's not catchy but it's well played hard rock. It will appeal to the same small number of people a decade from now.

so, the sharks were from albany. the album and ep i have are on Blotto Records.

now i'm listening to BOMB. you guys dig them? 80's san francisco band. kinda funny indie acid rock/hard rock. never heard them before. apparently they had one major label album at the end of the 80's. this album is called Hits Of Acid. on Boner Records.

wow, KILLER southern rock! never even heard of George Hatcher before today. this is his first album from 1976. Dry Run. apparently he was a yank living in the u.k. and this album only came out in europe. i think. he should have been huge! this u.k. united artists copy i got is pristine too. sounds phat! this is serious southern hard boogie action.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_msHZhK8UVUE/SPuO5RPea0I/AAAAAAAAAQ8/1ubvaZj-FmU/s400/dry+run.jpg

http://www.sweethomemusic.fr/Interviews/Hatcher/GHB76.jpg

He had more than one. I recall seeing them occasionally in import bins. And I'm betting he has an entry in Jasper & Oliver although that books not near my desk right at the moment. Status Quo created a good market for denim longhair boogie in the UK. Blackfoot wound up with a big UK audience. Their label's biggest mistake (Atco) was -not- to publish their live album, recorded in the UK, domestically. It was easily one of the better things in their catalog, very high energy before an enthusiastic crowd.

Cue Dumpy's Rusty Nuts, too.

8) Ted Nugent. No one rocks a loin cloth like the Nuge, and anyone who shoots flaming arrows at his concerts with a crossbow is someone you want to party with. Plus, the outdoorsy-est of rock stars can probably skin a deer faster than you can say “Cat Scratch Fever.”

Some blurb generated for the crap movie, "Get Him to the Greek," on the ten 'baddest boys' in rock.

How 'bout the ten meanest coots in rock, of which Ted must surely be either number one or two?

You're not so much a 'bad boy' when Time asks you to write a graf slobbering over Sarah Palin or the WaTimes grants you a weekly column to use the descriptors 'gluttonous Fedzilla" or "bloodsucking entitlement punks" in every essay. So that it gives the Jim DeMints erections.

Nope, Hatcher's not in Jasper Oliver, oddly enough. Popoff's '70s book relegates him to the second appendix: "almost heavy enough; Florida guy transplanted to the UK playing heavy Allmans or funky, de-clawed Molly Hatchet-type Southern rock. Doesn't 'think' like a heavy metal guy at all. John Thomas, however, ended up in Budgie."

Speaking of Nugent, has anybody here ever found more use than me for Survival Of The Fittest Live from 1971? The two shortest cuts, "Rattle My Shake" and "Slidin' On" (both around three minutes) hint at getting a heavy funky groove going, but they never coalesce for me as memorable songs or even riffs, and neither does anything else; 21-minute "Prodigal Man" jam is barely bearable. Are my ears on wrong?

In other news, probably worth mentioning here that watching quasi-Libertarian ("socially conservative", apparently, though I'm still not sure what that means in his case) Rush fan Rand Paul (used "Spirit Of The Radio" as his pre-victory speech music last week apparently) make his own bed and lie in it over the past few days has been entertaining.

the new Mount Carmel album on Siltbreeze is surely one for you dudes...

Mount Carmel is a straight-up blues rock power trio. And by straight-up we mean sans revisionist three-dollar currency, Sub Pop grunge hybridization or ironic posturing. These guys have been weened on a diet almost steadfastly consisting of British blues/rock innovators: Peter Green-era Bluesbreakers, Cream and Ten Years After are immediately recognizable in their sound (in fact, the latter's "Hear Me Calling" is covered on here). This isn't a lark or something these guys are doing between noise projects--it's their life. Good, old-fashioned rock 'n' roll, plain and simple.

lovingly f'd with by Mike Rep, except you wouldn't know it to hear it