Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

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

gorge and chuck, i think you both would LOVE the hatcher album. seriously, it scratches every southern rock itch anyone might have. more majestic than early molly hatchet and, well, let's be honest, Hatcher didn't really have the tunes like Skynyrd did, but i've only played the album once. gonna play it again right now. i don't even know what i mean by "more majestic". it is in the vein of blackfoot/hatchet/doc holliday/henry paul band. i'm just always happy to find ANOTHER solid album like this.

produced by tom allom who of course did a lot of judas priest albums and engineered all of the best sabbath albums. he also produced that awesome live pat travers album and a couple of doc holliday albums.

Oops, I was wrong! Jasper/Oliver just put George Hatcher Band under the G's, not the H's, duh! Lists two LPs, both on United Artists: Dry Run 1976 and Talking Turkey 1977: "The band scored a moderate success in a support slot for Status Quo, but they never really achieved major success. Hatcher disbanded the group after Talking Turkey, and legal wranglings forced his self-imposed exile. He moved to Germany in the late 1970s and released a solo LP but has since disappeared." Goes on to say drummer Terry Slade wound up in Uriah Heep.

chuck, do you have this album? i know i've heard it before, but i don't remember liking it as much as i did today. great crunching title track AND a great disco track in "lip service".

http://991.com/newgallery/Steppenwolf-Skullduggery-453844.jpg

i searched online and apparently Hatcher still plays in and around north carolina.

don't know when this interview is from:

http://www.sweethomemusic.fr/Interviews/HatcherUS.php

sample of Mount Carmel here....

Talked about the Cretones upthread somewhere; finally gave their 1981 followup Snap! Snap! a few spins. The only song that's really immediate impact -- the one you'll absolutely remember, and may or may not find annoying; pretty sure it was a sort of college-radio novelty hit back then -- is "Swinging Divorcee," about the singer hooking up with a cougar. Beyond that, the album's clearly got more jangle and less crunch than the debut, which is easily still the better record. But the entire second side of the second album is just really catchy and listenable anyway, full of tricky, almost Carsy keyboard angles; a sound so cool in the background that it took me four listens to even try to concentrate on individual songs. Also like "Lonely Street," which follows Side One's divorcee tune -- sonically a sort of ethereal doo-wop homage (think Fleetwoods) about a lady making a visition on Graceland to meet the King (hence the "Heartbreak Hotel"-spawned title.)

Another keyby followup to a hard rocking new wave record; well, to two actually -- The Brains' four-song Dancing Under Streetlights EP from '82, obviously no match for their '80 debut (one of my all-time favorite new wave albums, period), but probably at least the equal to '81's Electronic Eden (which had "Heart In The Street," which Manfred Mann covered; debut of course had "Money Changes Everything," which Cyndi Lauper covered.) Anyway, the EP puts them on an indie after the two Mercury LPs, and "Tanya" -- which evolves into some awesome ominous organ loopage -- now ranks with my favorite Brains tracks.

xpost re Mount Carmel: Yep, that tune sure does bring the Cream vibe. Virtually exact.

i don't know why i always pass on brains albums when i see them. i see them often enough. i'm sure i'd like them.

I really like the Brains debut, too. Unusual, considering what's on it, that it's never been reissued. Also featured Rick Price on guitar, eventually better known as the Georgia Satellites' bass player. And husband/ex-husband, I think, of some famous alt-country star whose name I forget.

Wanna voice my approval now of the second Bryan Adams LP (first one to chart in the States, though it only got to #118), You Want It You Got It from 1981. Punchy powerchord songs galore; only one ballad per each five-song side (kinda Rod Stewarty "Coming Home," Cindy Bullens duet "No One Makes It Right," both passable); nothing as earth-shaking as "Cuts Like A Knife" or "Summer of 69" or "Run To You" (or "Roxy Roller" if that counts) I guess (opener "Lonely Nights," a #84 single, comes closest), but still maybe as consistently catchy and rocking an album I've heard by him. Cover art and his slightly spikey haircut suggest A&M was maybe tentatively considering marketing him as new wave, or at least trying to cover all possible fan bases, and there are some little Carsy keyboard touches here and there, though I'd pick as the new-waviest cut "One Good Reason" -- which, musically, I swear could almost pass as a more kicking version of some semi-twisted indie-leaning '90s/'00s guitar band like Spoon or Cracker (maybe he was going for Roxy Music or something?) Interestingly, the Rolling Stone Record Guide (blue edition) gives the album four stars and calls its music "very good Byrds-to-hard rock," which sounds about right; they also refer to him as a "blue-eyed soul" singer; well, sometimes. (Toys In The Attic and Rocks only get three stars each on the same page, though, which is obviously really goofy. Curious now how all those grades might've evolved in later editions.)

Dug up The Brains from '80 and the production choices on it put it well beyond most
rival New Wave. For one, it's a heavy-sounding record. There's a lot of thud and crunch on it and the singer's voice and keyboard fills are dark and a bit Gothic.

And then they play some boogie, too.

"Treason" -- album opener -- is an instrumental. "See Me" has said Gothic feel and metal rhythm guitar.

"Raelene" is two minute hard rock 'n' roll boogie with big guitar power chordage in the breaks.

"Sweethearts" sounds like it steals the opening to BOC's "Veteran of the Psychic Wars."

"Girl In a Magazine" is another modern boogie about jerking off to porn that intermittently breaks into Mick/Keef Stones vocalese.

"Gold Dust Kids" and a couple others fulfill the new wave parts of the deal. And then there's "Money Changes Everything."

Electronic Eden seems to go in a bit twitchier direction, sounds less heavy, more dancey and toy-like. Parts of it sound like what the Hooters would wind up taking to the bank for about a year.

They're still capable of bringing the rock -- "Asphalt Wonderland," f'r instance -- but it's all weighten down with 80's let's get this on a movie soundtrack production. Plus there's the tradition of instrumental, started by "Treason" on the debut, continued by "Ambush" on this one. Which constitutes a theme, some of which is surf-music and Bond movie influenced.

i love that there was once a world where the brains and the dickies were major label, um, heavyweights.

listening to dawn of the dickies today and my first thought is: god i love this band. second thought: man, green day fucking suck.

I remember listening to the Dickies' second album and marveling at the title "Stuck in a Pagoda with Tricia Toyota."

And then two decades later, I get to soCal and find out there actually IS a local beauty queen and newscaster named Tricia Toyota who was mildly famous.

The record company art department gave 'em a great cover and Steve Lillywhite as producer. Not much elese, though.

http://www.dickdestiny.com/brains.JPG

Worth a head's up if you haven't seen it, pfunk's post of the link to the free download of St. Vitus' Heavier Than Thou 'greatest hits' on the SV poll thread. I voted for the debut and have always liked the Reaghers sung stuff more. So this covered both what fans liked about both editions of the band.

Considering all the stoner rock records I've listened to, St. Vitus is one of the only bands still in my collection. And they weren't even called that originally.

Sea of Green's version of "Breathe" and the album it came on is prob'ly equally favorited. And whatever happened to Orange Goblin? Don't have Hidden Hand anymore or even Spirit Caravan.

And I still have something somewhere by Fireball Ministry.

Their best achievement was bringing about the business revival of Orange amps, virtually driven out of business by changing times. Now really back in style.

On Scott's mention I dug up Steppenwolf's Skullduggery. As said, good title trick -- kicks off the thing, sounds a bit like Blue Oyster Cult around the time of Mirrors to my mind. Kind of interesting, since BOC always performed "Born to Be Wild."

Pleasant album with mid-70's nice production, the brutality is gone, there's the disco song, one also called "Rock & Roll Song," stodgy but in a nice classic rock way. And then I put on Monster from 1969 and had forgotten that I liked that quite a bit, too.

Title track is the reason to have it -- Steppenwolf's mini-opera about American decay and the Vietnam war. Hasn't aged. John Kay should do one about 2008-2010 and Wall Street, all things considered.

Spirit Caravan and The Obsessed are the only Wino-related bands I listen to with any regularity. I have tremendous respect for Saint Vitus, but if I'm being honest I really only like three or four songs. To my ear, SC was where Wino really took his biker-rock power trio sound into the realm of the paradigmatic and archetypal.

i think i would actually buy remastered steppenwolf CDs. cuz, jesus, dunhill vinyl mostly sucked and even when i find clean copies they are nothing to write home about. i would even buy a box set if it wasn't too much money.

I still drag Obsessed material out for a listen from time to time. And I found, as usual, that I liked the Reaghers sung material on the end of Heavier Than Thou.

Re Dunhill, I guess no feels any urge to mint anything new other than the 'best of' Steppenwold I see in stores. The live album wasn't bad, either.

Am listening to Steppenwolf Live. Protest concert, legalize dope, stop the war, quaint how they seemed enthusiastic about it back then, like it might be possible to change things.

Lots of pre-Frampton talk box all over it, interestingly stuck in the middle of a David Allen Coe-type tune named "Twisted." Either Kay was taking the talky from Joe Walsh or vice versa.

Lots of really funky hard rock, particularly well-played and recorded for the time. 'Course, don't know how much was corrected in studio.

i don't think i even have Live. my dad had a copy. maybe he still does. still have a copy of early steppenwolf, renowned for its 21 minute version of the pusher.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e0/Early_Steppenwolf_-_Steppenwolf.jpg

album i never EVER see used that i need a copy of, 1974's slow flux.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/SteppenwolfSlowFlux.jpg

1. "Gang War Blues" – 4:52
2. "Children of the Night" – 5:11
3. "Justice Don't Be Slow" – 5:00
4. "Get into the Wind" – 3:00
5. "Jeraboah" – 5:41
6. "Straight Shootin' Woman" – 4:04
7. "Smokey Factory Blues" – 4:09
8. "Morning Blue" – 4:12
9. "Fool's Fantasy" – 3:37
10. "Fishin' in the Dark" – 5:47

I'm ashamed to say that the double live one George is listening to (which I picked up in a thrift store last year) is the only Steppenwolf album I now own. I clearly need to get some more, soon.

always been curious about the 80's steppenwolf/kay albums. thought you guys would have been all over that for me.

i like all the old records. they are all worth hearing/owning. they were such a huge influence on biker rock of the 70's. they might be the greatest biker rock band of them all. their importance as far as 70's hard rock/metal goes can't be overstated.

finding old steppenwolf vinyl that is clean can be a chore. i think people used to fight, fuck, AND do drugs on top of those records.