Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

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Ricks made a genuine effort. He's older than me. But I know him, too, because he was an old subscriber to a newsletter I made.

The deadening presence of "Bodies Hit the Floor" is very real. It's inescapable on security video, if you are familiar with that -- on commercial TV and private stuff, of which I know a lot. And that's all leakage from noncom military positions.

Gorge, Saturday, 13 November 2010 07:16 (thirteen years ago) link

That song is very effective at its intended purpose -- there's a reason it's still being used in action movie trailers a good decade later.

Moving Pixels (J3ff T.), Saturday, 13 November 2010 17:32 (thirteen years ago) link

That's for sure. Royalties from reality shows on prison life and cop/swat engagements alone must be really eye-opening.

Gorge, Saturday, 13 November 2010 19:11 (thirteen years ago) link

I actually think that's fairy interesting list. Had never given either Drowning Pool or Dope a second's notice in the past before; didn't even have a good idea who either of them were until I checked Wikipedia last night. Probably figured Drowning Pool for generic Staind-cum-gnu-metal types, which probably they were. I should actually listen to those two songs, though; not sure whether I've ever even heard them -- and if I did, I wasn't listening close enough for them to make any impression. But right, looks like "Bodies Hit The Floor" has been licensed like crazy since it came out in 1991 -- WWF placements, too. Wasn't much of a hit on 1991 release, though still the closest they ever came to hitting the pop chart. But apparently they've been a consistent presence on "modern rock" radio, which I never listen to, ever since. Dope aren't as big, and of course their "Die Motherfucker Die" wasn't any kind of hit at all. (They had some kind of Nine Inch Nails or Marilyn Manson connection, I think? Could be mistaken about that.)

Wondering, though, about the the sample of soldiers that Ricks surveyed. If I'm understanding him right, those are from responses of military people who actually read his blog column? The demographic of which, he says, would explain why there's no rap on the list --I have to believe that more soldiers would use hard crunk and coke-dealer rap (not to mention Toby Keith or Montgomery Gentry, or are the grunts all too young for country now?) to motivate themselves than Hold Steady. (Why that particular song, anyway? I don't really get it. I bet only two soldiers named "Stevie Nix", at most. I like Hold Steady a lot, their first four albums, as indie rock goes, but at least the old Zevon song Ricks mentions in passing was about a mercenary.) Also thought that comment he quoted from the guy who used the Twin Peaks theme after learning relaxation techiques at West Point was interesting. (Also, Metallica and AC/DC are eternal, obviously, though I never thought of AC/DC as sounding especially warlike. Do understand "Hells Bells" though. And RATM is no surprise -- when I was in the Army in the early '80s, seem to me like the favorite band for lower enlisted guys was the Clash.)

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 20:29 (thirteen years ago) link

Meant 2001 for "Bodies," obviously, not 1991.

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 20:32 (thirteen years ago) link

Anyway, in the past few days I've been listening to two new CDs of unearthed tapes of '70s wannabe rock bands seemingly inspired by Sabbath, boogie, glam, Stooges, etc. -- Triphammer, who eventually partially evolved into the Banastre Tarleton Band, one of the biggest bar bands in Central Missouri, and O. Rex, proto-punk fanzine types from Brooklyn who eventually partially evolved into Bloomington, Indiana's Gizmos. Triphammer CD is live in 1970 in the Ozarks, and so far I'm liking it more. Just good early '70s drone sludge with leftover garage tendencies, not quite evolved past Blue Cheer in other words, albeit small-club bootleg sound quality. O. Rex one has great liner notes which tell you which songs were trying to rip off Brownsville Station, Blue Oyster Cult, Black Oak Arkansas, Dolls, Alice, whoever -- one song called "Suzi" is even a tribute to Quatro, and the title track, "My Head's In '73," recorded in '76 (most songs were earlier), is glam nostalgia, already, though it obnoxiously uses the n-word when claiming that white kids didn't listen to soul back before disco happened. Halfway amusing homophobic "Pushin' Too Hard" cover too, and they also cover the Stones, Link Wray, Yardbirds, and Skyhooks ("She Only Likes Me Cause I'm Good in Bed," or whatever -- probably not geting the title quite right; don't have the CD in front of me, and I've never heard the original.) Anyway, I wish the music was as good as the notes, but so far it's mostly theoretical -- teenagers (one guy just 13) learning their instruments, playing in parents' living room. Just super lo-fi, and thin, with original songs not even halfway written. Totally muddy guitar sound, though.

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 20:53 (thirteen years ago) link

a little surprised hey man nice shot isn't on that army list.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:02 (thirteen years ago) link

some of the records i bought last night that might fit here:

The commercials – compare and decide (eat records – 1980)

The radiators – ghostown (chiswick – 1978)

Michael kamen – new York rock (atco – 1973)

Human investment – invest your efforts into humanity’s struggle or be a human investment (rotten propaganda) (that’s what it says on the cover anyway. Crass fans in Pittsburgh with a crass-style logo. I couldn’t resist even though its from the 90’s.)

Virgin steele – wait for the night (mongol horde – 1983)

Nova mob – the last days of Pompeii (rough trade – 1991) (the only post-husker album I have ever owned. I love it. I’ve always had the tape. Vinyl was a dollar. Man, lots of this stuff was a dollar. I love you, western mass!)

Ramatam – in april came the dawning of the red suns (atlantic – 1973) (april Lawton I love you and want to marry you in a time machine! You rule!

East of eden – snafu (deram – 1969) (yeah!!!! Needed this!)

Kingdom come – journey (polydor – 1973) (clean u.k. original.)

Angst – mystery spot (sst – 1987) (don’t like this. Even for a dollar.)

Ruts dc – animal now (virgin – 1981)

Accept – metal heart (cbs – 1985)

Jimmy pursey – alien orphan (epic – 1981)

Sham 69 – the game (polydor – 1980) (yay! Needed this.)

Uriah heep – innocent victim (wb – 1977)

Hauser orkater – op avontuur (dutch artiness/weirdness from 1974)

Dfx2 – where are they now (world records – 1980)

The reds – s/t (a&m – 1979)

Lyn todd – s/t (vanguard – 1980) (just got bobby orlando’s THE NOW album and now I have this. He was a busy guy at the turn of the decade.)

u.k. subs – endangered species (nems – 1982) (yay! Needed this too.)

sore throat – sooner than you think (hurricane records – 1979)

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:08 (thirteen years ago) link

actually didn't have a copy of the reds album even though i used to see it in philly for a buck everywhere. and i couldn't remember if i owned a copy of innocent victim or not. um, its possible that i now own two copies.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:09 (thirteen years ago) link

chuck, you would LOVE the lyn todd record. it was made for you.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link

Will keep a lookout! I used to own that debut DFX2 EP; was retarded to get rid of it. (Still have Emotion, at least.) Blurbed about that Commercials album (which wasn't as good as I remembered, when I played it) either upthread or on Rolling Hard Rock (despite it not being hard rock) last year. And my blubbering fanboy worship of the Reds is somewhat legendary. (Did I mention upthread that Rick Schaffer put out a decent blues-sludge solo CD called Necessary Illusion this year? Well, he did.)

Few other things (mostly off the top of my head):

Favorite songs on Pat Travers' Heat In The Street, I decided, are probably "Hammerhead" at end of side one(Nugent-style speed-rock instrumental that sounds like its title) and "Go All Night" at start of side two (really really funky.) The closer, "One For Me And One For You," reminded my wife of Styx.

I like the second side of Happy The Man's Crafty Hands, where they sing, way more than the first side, where they don't. Fusion prog, I guess? Warmer than I'd expect. Apparently from D.C... Scott said on a different thread that he's a fan.

Glass Harp's Synergy peaks at the very beginning with some hot guitar jam action, but the rest is passable or better, and at times Beatles-like (says my wife, anyway, who listens to the Beatles way more than I do).

Doug and the Slugs often convince me they were Canada's answer to the Tubes -- or at least Side One of the LP I bought, and its liner notes, do.

The Family album I bought always sounds interesting to me when it's on in the background, but not a single song has sunk in.

The Alcatraz album I bought wound up as boring and irritating as I thought it would, though one fast song (at the start of Side Two I think) was tolerable.

Eddie Money's second album (Side One especially) turns out to more hard-rocking and consistent than his first one (and presumably than any album he made later), and the disco move "Maybe I'm A Fool" on Side Two is really convincing, too (also familiar -- a #22 pop hit, though I'm pretty sure I haven't heard it on the radio since. Anyway, he's clearly a soul guy at heart, and he pulled it off.)

Scott convinced me to pull out my copy of Nantucket's 1980 Long Way To The Top, and it sounded great. AC/DC cover (in tribute to ex tourmate Bon Scott liner notes say), boogie-rock originals of comparably heavy density, '60s garage soul with saxophones, Wet Willie type Southern soul rock, catchy AOR pop material, at least one good song about the music industry (I think), what seems to be a good-natured sense of humor all around -- they had plenty of ideas, and I probably need to play it more before they all sink in.

Been keeping up with George's blog ("Act Naturally" video cracked me up), but I'm still too bummed out about election results and resulting impending middle-class carnage to talk much more about it here. (Wonder if Rand Paul played Rush at his victory rally.)

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:36 (thirteen years ago) link

sound is bad but who cares APRIL IS ON FIRE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOIUCe1-7p0&feature=related

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 21:53 (thirteen years ago) link

Yeah, but were they better than Birtha??

Ha ha, speaking of unearthed tapes, just got a CD recorded 1978-1982 in the mail by Z'ev! Pretty sure George knows who this guy is, from back in his noise days. "L.A. percussion typhoon," not hard rock in any earthling sense, but as I recall he was doing the beating-on-pots-and-radiators thing before even Einsturzende Neubauten or Test Dept. thought of it. I used to own an LP by him back in the early '80s; not sure I ever played it all the way through though. Guess I'll try to play this one; good luck. "Technical info: Radical de-tuning of drums - LOW's producing HIGH's. Use of stainless steel, titanium, military aluminum -- HI TEMP/PRESSURE in their production creating a multiplicity of complex signals not available in LO TEMP/PRESSURE metals. Same holding true for plastics." Etc. Scott, you definitely have to include this one in your Decibel noise column.

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:22 (thirteen years ago) link

i am! it's going in my next column.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:31 (thirteen years ago) link

also got some cool lo-fi punk noise stuff from mike williams, the singer for eyehategod. that's going in my column. the noisy stuff he is doing totally reminds me of bedroom 80's industrial noise stuff. i dig it. i've got TOO much to write about this month. the world of noise/weirdo/whatever music is very healthy. and prolific.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:33 (thirteen years ago) link

xp I should have guessed! And oh wait, duh, what was I thinking -- Scott, I have that Lyn Todd record already. Pretty sure it came in one of those great Metal Mike charity boxes, a few years ago. Super sleazy glam-rock/disco merger for gay bars, as I recall; she(assuming she's technically a she -- could be a drag queen for all I know) covers "Rebel Rebel" and "Pinball Wizard." But now it's moving back from the shelf upstairs again, to the to-be-played pile by the turntable downstairs.

xhuxk, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:34 (thirteen years ago) link

that's the one! so much fun.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:35 (thirteen years ago) link

Bobby Orlando is/was a genius. The Fast, The Now, The Flirts, Man 2 Man, the stuff he did for Divine. All the dance stuff in the 80's. i was excited to find the Lyn Todd record.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:38 (thirteen years ago) link

Orlando produced and penned numerous hits that span multiple genres in mostly self-created groups and aliases, often just consisting of Orlando himself. His productions were released as: Ian Darby, The Beat Box Boys, Spooge Boy, Something/Anything, New Breed, Jonny Bankcheck, Hotline, Banana Republic, Oh Romeo, Teenrock, The New York Models, Hippies With Haircuts, Girly, Barbie & the Kens, Wow, 1 plus 1, The He Man Band, The Boyd Brothers, Nancy Dean, Ian Darby with Ya Ya, Cha Cha featuring Don Diego, Yukihoro Takanawa, This is House, Joy Toy, Dressed To Kill, Band Of South, Dynasty featuring Dexter D, Darlene Down, The Fem-Spies, Gangsters of House, Girls Have Fun, Zwei Maenner, Gomez Presley, Gringo Lopez, Patty Phillipe, Malibu, Lilly & the Pink, Miss Tammi Dee, Mc Fritz and the P-Rockers, Charlene Davis, Claus V, Ronnie Goes to Liverpool, The Bang Gang, Bubba and The Jack Attack, Fascination, Free Enterprise, Sandra Ford, Future Generation, Citrus, The College Boys, Condo, The Bigalows, Free Expression, Lola, Lifestyle, I Spies, Latin 1, Kinski Music, Gina Desire, Beachfront, Vision 1 and others.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:39 (thirteen years ago) link

great info here:

"So, when leaving the music business, what did Bobby do then? He actually completed his law studies and he completed a book he had been writing which refutes Darwin's theories of the evolution. The book was called Darwin Destroyed, a book I have failed to retrieve."

http://www.disco-disco.com/artists/bobby-o.shtml

i want a 10-LP boxed set of Bobby O.

scott seward, Saturday, 13 November 2010 22:45 (thirteen years ago) link

Stiglano on that O. Rex CD I was talking about above:

http://black2com.blogspot.com/2010/11/o.html

A page on Triphammer, with MP3 samples from a retrospective CD by them, which I've never heard

http://www.empirearms.com/triphammer.html

Both bands probably Grand Funk Railroad fans too, come to think of it.

xhuxk, Sunday, 14 November 2010 02:39 (thirteen years ago) link

("Act Naturally" video cracked me up), but I'm still too bummed out about election results and resulting impending middle-class carnage to talk much more about it here. (Wonder if Rand Paul played Rush at his victory rally.)

The subtler point was at least the GOP has stars. They may be crazy but at least they're something. And their plan, and it seems a good one, is to gum up things so the economy will get far worse, enraging voters who will take it out on Obama again in 2012 because the man either can't or won't make the simple argument that they are, indeed, crazy. At which point they'll be able to get someone with a reality
show and/or in a straight jacket elected because the blue voters will be so discouraged they'll either be homeless, not vote or go for some trivial third party candidate.

Plus I wanted to do something with early Beatles guitars.

Gorge, Sunday, 14 November 2010 04:52 (thirteen years ago) link

Pretty sure George knows who this guy is

Yeah, I had his first LP. Him, Monte Cazazza and Factrix. They were the dudes. Fun times alienating people in the grad school apartment.

Gorge, Sunday, 14 November 2010 04:57 (thirteen years ago) link

Accidentally switched to the AM band on my car radio today and heard a Tea Party/Gig-is-up-for-Obama/Take-back-the-country updating of "Renegade" by Styx -- or the last verse or two of it, anyway -- but I'm not finding it on line. You're not missing much, though.

Played that Lyn Todd LP that Scott picked up the other day, and am leaning toward thinking that Lyn may well be a man, especially since the singer his/her husky voice most reminds me of is Divine doing "Walk Like A Man." (Possibly the only Divine track I've actually ever heard, come to think of it.) And though Lyn says "ever since I was a young girl" in "Pinball Wizard," he/she also makes a point of covering the Bowie song where the hot tramp's mother's in a whirl for not knowing if he or she is a boy or a girl. Really fun album, either way -- British invasion pop-rock ("It's You") and Sex Pistols guitars ("This Time I'm Doin' It For Love") in a pop glam disco new wave context, and Bobby O's Italodisco instrumental "Metropolis Suite" is totally gorgeous. Also, most of the songs are really short (including two well under two minutes). Drums, I just noticed, are credited to Jerry Nolan, presumably of the Dolls and Heartbreakers. Bobby Orlando plays most of the instruments, though, but also credits "Bobby Orefice" (!) for some additional guitars. (Actually, the other 1980 record it reminds me of is the new wave disco EP by Amy Bolton that I mentioned once in Accidental Evolution since she covered "Talk Talk" by Music Machine on it. Have no idea why I got rid of that one.)

Also surpised a few days ago to discover that, on the Ohio Express's 1968 debut LP (with "Yummy Yummy" and "Down At Lulu's" on it), they also did three eerie psychedelic tracks, or notable attempts, at least: "First Grade Reader," "Turn To Straw," and the five-minute closer "The Time You Spent With Me" all sound like Kasenatz-Katz had been absorbing lots of Yardbirds, and maybe Byrds too.

xhuxk, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 05:31 (thirteen years ago) link

lots of K&K bubblegum albums had great psych tracks on them. i mean, they usually had a couple of surefire singles to sell and then a whole album to fill. so i don't think they were very picky about how it got filled. (kinda like how the b-sides of the singles would be nonsense like the single played backwards. they were all about the a-side. like phil spector before them.) playing this the other night. AWESOME psych guitar jams on it that sound absolutely nothing like their smash bubblegum hit:

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_qZMtGqhHP_o/S4dzmoe51lI/AAAAAAAAA2E/9FfNwNsVOTI/s400/LemonPipers.jpg

scott seward, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:34 (thirteen years ago) link

oh and yeah i love that ohio express album too. have always thought it was overlooked or dismissed by a lot of rock fans. a lot of people probably just think that its silly kid stuff or whatever. their loss.

scott seward, Wednesday, 17 November 2010 12:39 (thirteen years ago) link

How you're allowed to make money for others. The internet music economy, in under 500 words

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/11/17/advertising-funnies/

So while you don't have the grease to bribe into iJobs or Rhapsody, you're good enough to finance others through click micropayments.

Gorge, Thursday, 18 November 2010 11:13 (thirteen years ago) link

So you can flog for BP, the asshole football player known as Chad Ochocinco and Susan Boyle. Among many others.

Explain to me how pro music journalism isn't interested in this.

Gorge, Thursday, 18 November 2010 11:22 (thirteen years ago) link

Lemon Pipers were a big Cincinnati area psych band in the late 60s (formerly Ivan & the Sabres) - those filler trax like "Dead End Street" were what they "really" sounded like. as you all know guitarist Bill Bartlett went on to RamJam of "black betty" fame. actually RamJam was the name K&K assigned to Bartlett's glam band Starstruck. history repeats...

hubertus bigend (m coleman), Thursday, 18 November 2010 11:36 (thirteen years ago) link

Was just listening to the Lemon Pipers. And RamJam's "Right On the Money". Coincidences.

Gorge, Thursday, 18 November 2010 13:00 (thirteen years ago) link

I have only ever owned one-half of a Lemon Pipers album -- a split record with the 1910 Fruitgum Company called Checkmate on Buddah, presumably from the late '60s. It's been in my nebulous "sell pile"; seemed ignorable or redundant to me before (i.e. the 1910 cuts I liked overlapped ones on Rhino's Best Of Bubblegum LPs I guess), but yesterday I pulled it out to re-check it. Guessing, though, that it's mostly singles from both bands, which would probably mean minimal psychedelia. Wonder if it's worth anything.

The youtube scenario George has been talking about on his blog sounds vaguely familiar to me, from my time at Billboard -- Was it part of some deal the company cut not only to potentially monetize user videos, but to keep label copyright lawyers off their backs? I might be wrong about that. But if so, I don't think I ever had a good grasp back then about how it would actually work on the ground, I'm not finding much about it on line, and I don't remember anybody bringing up the issue of fair use. Sucks, either way.

Old song that surprised me this morning, and that I probably never even noticed before: "Benny And The Bouncer," the two-minute Cockney greaser bar-brawl on ELP's Brain Salad Surgery; lands somewhere on the evolutionary line between music hall and oi!

xhuxk, Thursday, 18 November 2010 14:14 (thirteen years ago) link

i still need a copy of this album. their latter-day super-k effort.

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20100619/170502511317.jpg

scott seward, Thursday, 18 November 2010 14:25 (thirteen years ago) link

got a sweet copy of syndicate of sound's little girl album and i always think i'll keep a copy when i find one, but then i play it and i'm reminded of how wimpy it is. obviously little girl is genius and their cover of witch is okay, but the rest ain't so hot. i'm probably good with just a 45 of little girl.

scott seward, Thursday, 18 November 2010 14:29 (thirteen years ago) link

was playing back door men the other night (great sundazed reissue that i've had for years - the sound is extra punchy and punky) and i almost shed a tear. so glorious. so heavenly. this is just great 20th century art. period.

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20100126/300390959167.jpg

scott seward, Thursday, 18 November 2010 14:31 (thirteen years ago) link

Was it part of some deal the company cut not only to potentially monetize user videos, but to keep label copyright lawyers off their backs?

If it wasn't an actual come right out and say it deal, it certainly looks that way in practice. It gives them the opportunity to say to the copyright nazis (where fair use means no use) -- here's some money and how you can profit off this. It also gives them a hook into attaching advertising to a much wider base among their users.

The regular presence of ads on "Act Naturally" for the corporate pariah, BP, is an example of one obvious money maker. BP must pay YouTube/Google to try and direct viewers to their commercials which are obviously held in the same regard as rat poison. No one would do such a thing without seeing a check. Corporate nuisances probably jump at paying YouTube to do this -- credit card companies, anything associated with Steve Jobs/Apple/iStuff, etc.

Gorge, Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:07 (thirteen years ago) link

Comically and pathetically, I always see BP commercials on Sunday mornings, interrupting the politics shows like This Week and Meet The Press (or Face The Nation, or whatever it is), usually right after a story putting BP on the hotseat.

Scott, I've got Back Door Men (always a big Metal Mike/Gregg Turner fave iirc) as a (1998 I think) Sundazed reissue too, albeit on CD. (I gathered yours was vinyl from the picture you posted, might be wrong.) Definitely a big-deal proto-hard-rock album.

And I was right the first time about the Lemon Pipers half-album I have -- "Green Tambourine" is nice, but the rest of their side is just way too cups-and-cakes twee for my ears; no psych at all on this one. 1920 Fruitgum's funky "Soul Struttin'" kinda rules, tho.

Played Grand Funk Railroad's Closer To Home this morning, too, and liked it more than I'd remembered. Must be in good mood.

xhuxk, Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:19 (thirteen years ago) link

Or maybe not, because Alice's West Side Story rewrite "Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets" from School's Out is on now, and it's kind of making me wince. Dude was already letting his thespian side win the battle over hard rock, wasn't he?

Also, I meant 1910 Fruitgum, obviously.

xhuxk, Thursday, 18 November 2010 19:24 (thirteen years ago) link

Eh, "Public Animal #9" still fun high-school glam I guess. (Popoff picks that one and "Gutter Cat" as the two non-hit highlights.)

Now back to Nantucket Long Way To The Top -- AC/DC cover (best one ever?) into excellent hard powerpop ("Living With You") into new wave Nazareth partially about law school (??? that's what it sounds like anyway, a few times) with a proto-Kix explosion at the end ("Time Bomb") into high-harmony stretched-out multi-part road-life hard rock with saxomaphones and squealing synths ("50 More") into a speedy stuttering number about rock celebrities in Rolling Stone that again partially reminds me of Nazareth and has more sax honk ("Media Darlin'") into another bubbly-and-efervescent-as-Kix AC/DC rip w/ boogie-woogie piano ("Rugburn").

Then Side Two. More new-wave-leaning powerpop AOR ("Too Much Wrong In The Past") into chunky catchy rock with Who's Next guitar/keyb loopage and singing that could again pass for Dan McCafferty ("Over And Over Again") into a happy finger-snappy one about rock radio that I'm guessing was probably the AOR airplay track (might even remember hearing it on the air -- "Turn The Radio On") into a funky hey-hey-hey frat-party soul-rocker seemingly based either on "Good Lovin'" or "Do You Love Me" or both ("Tell Me [The Rhythm Method]") into some hard-guy macho Bad Co./Foreigner gutbust with lonely pretty lovelorn yacht-pop harmonies and melodic sections and eventually smooth-jazz sax interspersed ("Rescue") into an endearingly dorky kiss-ass early Loverboy-style powerchord-and-Cars-keyboard semi-ballad just in time to ring in the decade ("Rock Of The '80s," where they plead "let's have some fun"!) Cool!

xhuxk, Thursday, 18 November 2010 20:58 (thirteen years ago) link

i was listening to that nantucket album last week. was digging it.

scott seward, Thursday, 18 November 2010 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link

Played Grand Funk Railroad's Closer To Home this morning, too, and liked it more than I'd remembered. Must be in good mood.

― xhuxk, Thursday, November 18, 2010 2:19 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

That's a killer album, good mood or not.

Randy Moss' dog's personal chef (Bill Magill), Thursday, 18 November 2010 21:03 (thirteen years ago) link

xp Oh, and after "Rock Of The '80s" Nantucket stick in a free half-minute barbershop-harmonied singalong maybe called "Stella" (but not named on the cover or label) where they rhyme "rock'n'roll" with "doggie bowl." Also, on the back cover, the bassist ("Pee Wee Watson") is crouched down with a silver jacket and a hat with Highway To Hell horns (I guess) on it; lead guitarist has a real bushy '70s-disc-jockey mustache and chest hair to match and is wearing what looks like a kimono; sax/keyb guy is wearing a Hawaiian shirt; another guy (second guitarist I think) has a button on his shirt that says "FUCK RUSSIA"; and a skinny scraggly longhaired guy (drummer I think) with a comb (??) sticking out of his back pocket seems to making a mincing stance with his butt sticking out. You can tell which guy is the singer (Larry 'L. Factor' Uzzel) just from his pretty boy hair, Jagger lips, arrogant expression, and the apparent cucumber in his pants. (And oh yeah, almost all their clothes are really bright and colorful, to boot.)

xhuxk, Thursday, 18 November 2010 21:11 (thirteen years ago) link

they had to be colorful to match those album covers.

scott seward, Thursday, 18 November 2010 21:21 (thirteen years ago) link

*love*

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4MJXw3oKEo

scott seward, Friday, 19 November 2010 02:44 (thirteen years ago) link

I want to like Wishbone Ash, but I can't get past that vocalist. He over-enunciates and it bugs me. Musically, the band is great, though.

that's not funny. (unperson), Friday, 19 November 2010 02:49 (thirteen years ago) link

the vocals are a means to an end. bands like wishbone just wanted to jam.

scott seward, Friday, 19 November 2010 03:02 (thirteen years ago) link

Scott, what albums by Wishbone do you recommend, other than Argus (which I think is great)? I've heard some later ones (late '70s/early '80s), which were passable, but nothing on those ever stuck with me, and I never feel any need to put them on.

Btw, played Nantucket's one-album-earlier ('79) Your Face Or Mine after Long Way To The Top, and it seemed solid, just not nearly as much fun. More workaday, I guess (Jasper/Oliver call it a temporary AOR sellout), though one song (didn't note which) seemed like they were shooting for Aerosmith. Checked their Wiki bio, and turns out that they started out as a "beach music" band called Stax of Gold (!) in North Carolina. So the soul influence I've been hearing definitely was not my ears playing tricks on me.

xhuxk, Friday, 19 November 2010 03:31 (thirteen years ago) link

first two albums before argus are really good. s/t and pilgrimage. demo version of the first album that came out on cd a couple of years back is REALLY good, but probably not easy to find. maybe find There's The Rub in the dollar bins too. I dunno, I have a pretty high tolerance for the later stuff, but i might have a hard time justifying that tolerance. i mean, i'm someone who owns (and likes), at last count, like, 9 or 10 Barclay James Harvest albums, so i might not be the most reliable narrator.

scott seward, Friday, 19 November 2010 03:46 (thirteen years ago) link

That's about my opinion, too. First album has a couple crushing pieces on it, the hardest. The reissue of Argus is excellent because it contains the a promotional live ep they did in the US around the same time. Also sounds very hard and rocking. The live album, Dates, which was big here is not critical. It's not as good as the first studio records. The fourth album begins the slump -- becoming a bit like the Dead. Everything else is pretty negligible.

http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2010/11/18/johnny-winter-return-of-the-screamin-demon/

Excellent piece on Johnny Winter. Second page has a great low key version of Hootchie Koo from what likes the early Seventies, in a tv studio.

Gorge, Saturday, 20 November 2010 17:30 (thirteen years ago) link

i agree about the live album. was excited to hear it when i got a copy, but its not very exciting.

scott seward, Saturday, 20 November 2010 17:36 (thirteen years ago) link

my deep , abiding and enduring love for Wishbone Ash is well-documented. So I will just say that *Argus* is all time top-10 lp, without even thinking about it. That and Pink Fairies 'Kings of Oblivion' are my two go-to smashed-out-of-mind albums to jam at 3 AM. If you like the sound of the electric guitar, you should love Wishbone Ash. because they were all about the sound of the electric guitar. just listen to that "Jailbait" clip that Skot posted. and yeah, first two albums rule! "Vas Dis"! Brother Jack McDuff cover! they ruled so hard. Hipgnosis cover art, sweet Martin Birch production, what's not to love?

Stormy Davis, Saturday, 20 November 2010 21:26 (thirteen years ago) link


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