20–28 July 2013 (Days 201-9) – Rockin’ Bronchitis And The Boogie Woogie Royal

My attempts to blog on a regular basis during this period was  completely derailed by my illness.  In any case there wasn't much to blog about and so, in order to spare readers the gruesome and repetitious details, here are the (relative) highlights of the period. 

20 July

Spend day in bed except for quick shopping excursion and a cameo appearance at the major birthday celebration of a friend.  A number of work colleagues are present and I stupidly indicate I’ll be at work on the Monday.

21 July

Spend day in bed in an attempt to be fit for a return to work.

22 July

Go to work. and soon realise I've made a mistake.  Check emails.  Sign off on end of financial year work assessment after which my Manager sent me home.  Spend afternoon asleep at home in bed.

23 July

I become doubly sick as I awake to the news of the birth of His Royal Highness Prince Name TBC, the future King of England and, should we fail again to understand the concept of a republic, Head of State for Australia. 

My newly found sense of nausea comes not  from this reminder that my supposedly egalitarian country, the home of multiculturalism, mateship and the concept of a “fair go” for all, is prepared to put up with a largely ignorant attachment to this last bastion of  old world wealth and privilege. Rather it comes from the sycophantic nature of Australia’s TV coverage of the event.  Realistically, the birth should be covered here in much the same way as that conveyed by the Royal Family in their easel message at Buckingham Palace.  (That is, that a healthy baby of x weight has been born at time y, the mother is fine, a name has not yet been revealed and a nation is happy.)   But I’m bombarded with all kinds of the most useless speculative reporting conceivable and I’m rooted to the coverage much like a horrified onlooker at a disaster site as the media ponders weighty matters such as;  Was Prince William present at the birth?  Did he cut the cord?  Will he be spending the night at the hospital? Has he told his father, Prince Harry, Catherine's parents, Pippa and The Queen?  Who would have been told first? Will the Queen see the baby before going on holidays on Friday? Will anyone be visiting today?  Or tomorrow?  Is there an entrance where visitors can arrive without being seen?  What’s it like to give birth in the hospital?  (I figure lying on a bed just like in any hospital.) What names will be chosen?  What names won’t be chosen? Have they been chosen already? When will the names be announced? Does Prince William need to run the names past the Queen first? Will the announcement of the chosen names be delayed if the Queen goes on holiday without seeing the baby? Can the chosen name be changed upon the Prince’s ascension to the throne? Who’ll be the Godparents?  Can they possibly be Harry and Pippa? What’s the baby’s astrological star sign?  What are that sign’s characteristics? How long will the baby stay at the hospital?  Where will it spend its first night after leaving the hospital?   Will it go to Buckleberry?  Will it go to the Queen’s summer holiday estate? Where will the baby live pending William’s completion of his military placement -  Buckleberry, the Queen’s summer holiday estate or some other place? Will William and Catherine be hands on parents? Will they employ a Nanny?  I wait in vain for anyone to acknowledge that the new Prince will be a future Australian Head Of State.

I escape and see my doctor again.  This time he diagnoses bronchitis and orders me to stay home for the remainder of the week.  Great!  I’d hate to miss out on more Royal Baby news as it doesn’t happen.  Go home and drift in and out of sleep.

24 July

Drift in an out of sleep all day.  Prince Name TBC leaves hospital. At least my nausea starts to recede.

25 July

Prince Name TBC becomes Prince George.  Nausea disappears and daytime TV reverts to its usual numbing state.  My sleep quotient increases…..

26 July

……and increases.

27 July

Leave house for shopping and a family birthday celebration.  Otherwise stay in bed.

28 July

Stay in bed all day.  Watch the Bulldogs defeat West Coast on TV and begin to see light at the end of our tunnel.  Reasonably sure of a return to work tomorrow.  "M", who's been magnificent during this time, inspects my body and finds no bed sores.

With such an incredibly interesting and varied lifestyle, it should come as no surprise that I listened to hardly any music.  The only albums I get through, inevitably over time between bouts of sleep are:

(# 532) The Lurid Yellow Mist featuring Dave Graney And Clare Moore  - We Wuz Curious (2008)

This was Graney’s first album credited to a band since the demise of the Dave Graney Show (and prior to that his albums with the Coral Snakes and the White Buffaloes).  This is not that surprising as this album is very much in the same vein as those bands and their deft combination of rock and lounge music with hints of jazz and a dose of humour.  The opening trio of You Had To Be Drunk, I come From The Clouds and Let’s Kill God Again is as memorable as anything found on the Coral Snakes albums and the rest of the album is extremely consistent.

(# 533) The Huxton Creepers – 12 Days To Paris (2011 extended reissue of 1986 album)

The Huxton Creepers were a gritty Melbourne rock band, much beloved on the local pub circuit, with knack of producing strong melodies with memorable choruses.  This album is one of the more fully realised debut albums produced by any Australian band and includes strong material such as My Cherie Amour, Autumn Leaves, I Swallowed My Pride and the utterly convincing closer, I Will Persuade You.  This reissue expands the original album by 4 tracks and adds a bonus album of B-Sides, demos, tracks released on compilation albums and a handful of live tracks.  The highlight are live versions of Shake Some Action and a brave assault on  Creedence’s Ramble Tamble recorded early in their career for Melbourne radio. 

19 April 2013 (Day 200) – Being Sick At The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame

My illness continues and I’m down to my last music related DVD.  Or should that be DVD box set?
At least it kept me busy.

(AV 31) Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Live (2009)

This is a massive 9 DVD set that includes live performances from the first 25 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction ceremonies.  At each ceremony all of the inducted acts are invited to perform two or three of their classic numbers, frequently with fellow musical superstars (especially Bruce Springsteen) deputising for departed, estranged or deceased inductees.  New members are inducted by a fellow musician of their choice and then provide an acceptance speech.  Each disk contains approximately an hour of live performances selected from these ceremonies. The package’s outer cover provides no idea of each disc’s contents other than a mouth watering list of the various acts whose performances are included.

So far, so good.  Unfortunately, the package makes for frustrating viewing owing to the way in which the performances have been sequenced.  The entire performance of any one act is not included in its entirety; any that are have been spread across the various discs.  Moreover, although each disc is titled, no real theme is apparent in each disc’s selection except for Disc 6, titled I’ll Take You There, a showcase of black acts.  And given the way black musicians are presented in the remaining 8 discs -  usually supporting white acts or appearing in otherwise all white superstar jams and with only Aretha Franklin given their own track – this probably well intentioned showcase could be accused as tokenism, or worse, pandering to racist purchasers.  Women are also under represented in the collection, but this is a consequence of the overall selection process rather than any problem in compilation.

As a result, the key to enjoying this package lies in selecting individual tracks.  And there’s some magnificent performances here, far too many to list here.  My personal favourites include an awesome version of Train Kept A Rollin’ performed by the combination of  Metallica, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, Joe Perry, Ron Wood and Flea; Wilson Pickett’s In The Midnight Hour with backing from Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band; Bo Diddley’s performance of Bo Diddley backed by Robbie Robertson and Eric Clapton and, best of all, a sublime version of the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps initially by Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood and Dhani Harrison which gets transformed to another level courtesy of Prince’s inspired fretwork.

But there’s one other reason to purchase this set.  Included in the extras for the first 8 discs are randomly selected and arranged induction and acceptance speeches from the ceremonies.  (Unfortunately, none of these are specifically identified in the packaging.)  These provide some great moments of heartfelt emotion, such as Bono’s wonderful induction of Bob Marley and Pete Townshend’s tribute to The Rolling Stones in which he reveals the extent to which they influenced The Who.  And then, there’s also Paul McCartney’s induction of John Lennon as a solo act in which he refers only to Lennon’s work in The Beatles! 

But some of the acceptance speeches are also memorable and not all of them for their positivity.  The two most notorious acceptances  - Mike Love’s as part of the Beach Boys induction in which he baits a number of the superstar members of the audience and the speeches by all the inducted members of Blondie which revealed the extent of the rift between present day members Chris Stein, Deborah Harry and Clem Burke as opposed to former members Gary Valentine, Nigel Harrison and Frank Infante  - are present here.  Brian Johnstone quoting Bon Scott during AC/DCs induction was a nice touch, as was the members of The Grateful Dead bringing out a life sized cardboard cut off of Gerry Garcia with them onto the stage.  Hearing Johnny Ramone actually say something nice about deceased Joey was a genuine shock but for mine the best moments were listening to founder and Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner’s seeming incomprehension whilst reading The Sex Pistols letter of refusal and Jeff Beck’s humourous speech as part of The Yardbird’s induction.  It went something like this; “I did record other stuff after the Yardbirds. Someone said that I’ve a lot to be proud but I’m not.  They [pointing to the other members of the band] kicked me out so f**k you!”

18 July 2013 (Day 199) – More DVDs

There has been minimal improvement in my condition.  The phlegm in my throat appears to have broken up a little but I’ve now got a migraine.   This limits my ability to do anything other than view DVDs and I’m beginning to run out of those with a musical theme - in concert performances, documentaries or the occasional compilation of an act’s video clips.  Hollywood musicals are a definite no go area.

I’ve always had a conceptual difficulty with Hollywood musicals.   There’s a story, it proceeds and then at some key or otherwise undetermined moment, the characters break out into song and an elaborate choreographed dance routine.  Just like in real life.  I know musicals aren’t made to be taken literally and songs are meant to express the inner feelings of the characters at the given moment but I simply don’t buy it.  There have been moments in my life where I have burst into song to express an emotion but I don’t sing with perfect pitch and, as far as I’m aware, there are no moveable walls in my house that conceal an orchestra or dancers.  All I know is when I burst into song unaccompanied people stick fingers in their ears and ask me to stop.

Instead I see the musical as something that works best when the actors in them portray real people who sing like the majority of people on the planet (that is badly).  So step forward the adaptation of Mama Mia!  or Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You.  Movies set in a form of fantasy land (such as the Wizard Of Oz) or in a scenario that accounts for why the characters can sing (such as Singin’ In The Rain) are conceptually solid enough to hold my interest, provided of course the music is OK.

But I digress.  In between fits of sleep, today I watched;

(AV 29) The Flaming Lips – The Fearless Freaks (2005)

This documentary was compiled by band associate Bradley Beesley from over 400 hours of footage, home super 8 movies and other sources.  It is a comprehensive history of the band until the release of the Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots album.  Although just about every past and present member of the band is featured, the emphasis is firmly on Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd, their families and their hometown of Oklahoma City.  Scenes set in the latter appear to silently demonstrate just how their surroundings have influenced the creation of such mind blowing, escapist music and, in Drozd’s case, descent into drugs.  In one unforgettable gruesome scene, Drozd describes his heroin addiction to camera whilst calmly setting himself up for a hit.   Fortunately there’s enough music from across their career to keep fans happy and each track can be played in full outside of the film.

(AV 30) Paul Simon – Under African Skies (2012)

This documentary was produced to mark last year is a 25^th Anniversary of Simon’s Graceland album and can be purchased separately or, as in my case, part of the extended version of the album.  There are effectively two parts to the story; the genesis/recording/live performance of the music and the consequent furore surrounding Simon’s breaking of the United Nations anti apartheid  cultural boycott of South Africa.  To tell these stories, Simon journeyed back to South America for a special concert featuring all of the original musicians and a discussion with Ray Tambo, the founder of Artists Against Apartheid and arguably his most outspoken critic.  Simon comes across as slightly naïve about the South African situation.  He eloquently explains how South African music inspired him to seek out the musicians and record with them and that he couldn’t see how his actions could possibly hinder the anti apartheid fight.  After all, he did not discriminate against the black musicians with whom he recorded and toured the world and whose talents he brought before the world.  Naturally they do not say a bad word about him, however, Tambo makes the telling observation that Simon’s actions only benefitted just those musicians and not the wider population, which is why the boycott was in place in the first place.  This appeared to be the key argument that leads Simon to apologise for the offense he caused.  And yet, one can’t help but think that by creating the music and the furore Simon might have generated as much publicity for the anti cause as had the rockers with the Sun City album.  It is absolutely fascinating stuff and an issue that can be debated forever.  Pity, though the documentary makes no reference to the track recorded with Los Lobos and the furore that track has since generated regarding its authorship.

17 July 2013 (Day 198) – In Bed With The Ramones

Still no improvement in my condition but I only started taking the antibiotics yesterday.  At least I managed to find someone get the heating duct repaired today and so can try to recover in some degree of comfort.

The quest for something to occupy my time continues. (Un)Fortunately lethargy gives way to a bit of sleep and four of my waking hours at home without “M” are spent in the company of “Da Brudders” Ramone.

(AV 28) The Ramones – It’s Alive 1974 – 1996 (released 2007)

The Ramones played 2265 gigs before calling it a day in 1996 and this release is a magnificent testament to that achievement.  Its two discs and 113 tracks covers 33 different performances over their 22 year history including concerts and appearances on TV programs.  Every classic Ramones  track is present, including latter day notables such as Pet Sematary, Bonzo Goes To Bitburg and R.A.M.O.N.E.S.

I suspect Disc 1 will be the one that Ramones freaks will play the most often.  It commences with rough black and white footage of three tracks (Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue, I Don’t Wanna Go Down to the Basement and Judy Is a Punk) filmed in CBGB’s in September 1974.  It is a true revelation for any students of the evolution of punk as it conclusively proves that The Ramones in New York City and The Saints in Brisbane had arrived at the same musical point simultaneously and completely independent of each other.  For evidence, listen to these three Ramones tracks and then compare them to the hard to get Saints album The Most Primitive Band In The World Live From The Twilight Zone, Brisbane 1974.

The rest of Disc 1 contains a variety of, mainly US, appearances as the band gradually tighten their sound and learn to run the tracks together, eliminating the awkward silences that are apparent between numbers early on.  There’s a lot of great material here, especially a sensational four track appearance on TV’s Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert in August 1977.  The opening number here, Loudmouth, is an absolutely magnificent and exciting performance that must have won over more than a few fans and the remaining numbers (Here Today Gone Tomorrow, Chinese Rocks, and Teenage Lobotomy) are almost as good.

But it is the final 14 tracks of the disc that forms the holy grail of this entire collection and the single reason to splash out your hard earned if you’re a fan.  These tracks were recorded at The Rainbow Theatre in London on December 31, 1977 which, as all true Ramones fans will tell you, was the performance immortalised on their seminal live album It’s Alive.  (How this was not played up in the marketing for this release is beyond me unless the motive was to preserve sales of the CD.)  This is the Ramones performance and miraculously most of the key parts of the show, especially the explosive finale of I Don’t Wanna Walk Around With You, Pinhead, Do Yo Wanna Dance?, Now I Wanna Be A Good Boy, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue and We’re a Happy Family, have been preserved.  The footage quality is not great and there are times where you think that the soundtrack and footage are not in synch, but I don’t care.  This is how I prefer to remember the band – young, healthy and super aggressive.
 

DVD 2, by comparison, becomes less exciting as it goes on.  Age and other factors gradually catch up with the band so that, by the end, Joey and Johnny are relatively static on stage.  (Crucially, only a total of 11 tracks come from the  final 8 years of the band’s history.)  However, there is still a lot of good material, especially the opening 11 tracks, Blitzkrieg Bop among them, which come from an appearance on German television in September 1978. There’s also a performance of Rock ‘n’ Roll School, appropriately enough on Sha Na Na’s TV show,  as well as some awkward appearances  on the BBC’s Top Of The Pops and better ones on The Old Grey Whistle Test.  And then there’s a 9 track sequence from their set at the original Us Festival in California in 1982.  Despite the inspiration the band derived from Californian surf music, somehow the combination of a daytime set, bikini clad girls in the audience and a large stage seems to dilute the music. Still it is fascinating watching the band try their hardest to win over probably its toughest audience.    

16 July 2013 (Day 197) – Death And Life

I wake up to find nothing’s changed and so I resolve to see my doctor.

My clinic takes daily appointments at the same time each morning.  As I wait for that to tick over I watch the Today program and see an incredibly touching piece of footage.  It was of a woman dying of cancer in hospital who receives a phone call from her idol, Bette Midler.  On the footage I saw (its apparently on You Tube and runs for 9 minutes), Midler asks if there is anything she could do for her; the dying woman asks her to sing Wing Beneath My Wings.  Bette, presumably unaware she’s being filmed, then sings it, clearly crying at one point.  Only her dying fan can see the performance via a smart phone which prevents us from seeing it.  It is simultaneously touching, uplifting and incredibly sad (the woman died a few days later) and earns my admiration for everyone involved.

Shortly afterwards, I’ve made my appointment but the memory of the video remains with me.  I muse over the way in which people respond to the knowledge of their own impending deaths.  Some find solace in a variety of mechanisms – prayer, visits from friends and music among them.  Some refuse treatment and others bury themselves in work.  And then there’s Warren Zevon.

(AV 26) Warren Zevon – VH1 (Inside Out) (2004)

This was the obvious DVD in my pile to watch.  It is a documentary which shows Zevon’s response to the cancer diagnosis that ultimately killed him, compiled largely from a video diary he kept for most of this period, encompassing recording sessions and a David Letterman Show appearance that turned out to be his last live performance. Refusing chemotherapy, he decided to record as many songs as possible in the estimated 6 month period he had been given.  He has little difficulty in having musician friends assist him in the studio including Jackson Browne, Don Henley, Timothy B Schmidt, Ry Cooder and Bruce Springsteen among others.  Parts of it make for difficult viewing, especially his goodbyes to people in New York City, his increasingly obvious physical deterioration and growing realisation of his fate.  The pain is especially visible as he struggles to complete the vocals for the final two tracks recorded for his The Wind album, Disorder In The House (the track with Springsteen) and the poignant Keep Me In Your Heart.  Despite all of that, the documentary ends on a relatively happy note with the disclosure the he outlived the 6 month prognosis which was long enough to see the birth of twin grandchildren.

(AV 27) I’m Not There (2007)

This is the biopic that was inspired by and based on the life of Bob Dylan.  It was co-written and directed by Todd Haynes in an non linear fashion clearly influenced by Dylan’s structure of Chronicles Volume One.  Like the book, not every aspect of Dylan’s life is touched upon and the storytelling moves around a number of phases of his career.  But what Haynes added to the mix was turning aspects of each of these phases into fiction, with one character in each clearly modelled on the Dylan of the era.  For the most part, I could discern what was happening in almost all of the stories with the possible exception of the one involving Richard Gere.  This part seems to refer to the Rolling Thunder Revue, as seen when a heavily disguised Calexico performs Goin’ To Acapulco, and contains references to the Pat Garrett movie (Gere’s character is Billy the Kid) but I couldn’t work out the connection.  The parts involving Cate Blanchett as the electric Dylan and Christian Bale as the folkie Dylan are the most straight forward and impressive.   To fully appreciate this, you must have a familiarity with Dylan’s life, otherwise, I’d suggest you read the Wikipedia entry about the movie before you start.

But there wasn’t much time to contemplate the movie.   By the time it ended, I headed off to the doctor who diagnosed a viral infection and prescribed antibiotics.  This in itself is a sign of the nature of my illness as the Doc normally doesn’t do this. 

Somehow, I think I’ll be watching more DVDs over the next few days.

15 July 2013 (Day 196) – Touch Me, I’m Sick*

(* With more apologies to Mudhoney fans)

I wake up today and I feel even worse.   Throat, head, head, ears even appear to be clogged with phlegm and my voice is reduced to a croak.   I can’t read or concentrate, ruling out work, reading or any form of conceptual writing.  The last thing I want to do is lie in bed and listen to music.  I really need to be mentally active in some way which reduces my options to watching DVDs. 

Fortunately, I’ve developed a reserve of music DVDs that I’ve yet to watch and so have an opportunity to do some catching up.  In between spells of sleep, I manage to watch:

(AV 23) Ramones – Raw (2004)

This is a documentary based largely on films shot by Marky Ramone during his last 8 years in the band.  Interspersed with this is a live performance shot for Italian TV in 1980, a primo performance of 8 tracks, news reports and other items.  (The Italian show can also be played as a stand alone item on the disc.) It doesn’t hold together all that well – there’s really no sense of any theme or narrative arc to hold it together – but individual bits and pieces are worth viewing.  Among these are scenes shot from the inside of buses and cars of insane, mostly South American, fans, a performance of Take It As It Comes with The Doors Robbie Krieger on guitar and a visit by the band to the Melbourne Zoo.

(AV 24) Jimi Hendrix – Band Of Gypsys (2011 re release)

This is a documentary put together by the Hendrix Estate.  It tries to argue that Jimi’s break up of the Experience in favour of an all black trio marked a significant evolution in Jimi’s appeal to Afro American audiences.  I’m not entirely convinced by this argument which is very much undermined by some of the content of the documentary. It makes perfectly clear that the band was put together under pressure from elements in the Afro American community and that band’s only gigs at The Fillmore on 31 December 1969 and 1 January 1970 were held to meet a contractual commitment for a live album (i.e Band Of Gypsys, reissued as the 2 disc Live At The Fillmore East).  Even more importantly, a number of the talking heads attest that at this stage of his career, Jimi wanted to do nothing more than record in the studio with as many different musicians as took his fancy.  Interspersed throughout the documentary are 8 performances from one of the gigs.  A DVD option allows these tracks to be played on their own in full, resulting in an one hour performance.  Irrespective with how you view the historical impact of the shows, this musical footage and content is riveting

(AV 25) Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds – The Abattoir Blues Tour (2007)

With the exception of this year’s gig at the Myer Music Bowl, this was the only Cave tour I missed in about 20 years.  The gig to have seen on that tour was the one at the Melbourne Town Hall but it sold out very quickly and I didn’t want to hear this band at the other tour venue, Festival Hall.  The footage of this show explains why. Disc 1 was shot at The Brixton Academy in London and incorporates a gospel choir in much the same way as the Town Hall gig, I believe.  Disc 2, shot at The Hammersmith Odeon also in London would have been in the vein of the Festival Hall show.  Naturally, tracks the Abattoir Blues/Lyre Of Orpheus albums are highlighted with only a handful of classics thrown in.  There’s nothing especially significant about the release other than being a professionally shot and edited film of one of the world’s great live outfits.

By the end of the day, my situation worsens. Something appears to have happened to the heating again.  After her return from work, I set up “M” with the ladder and she ascends into the ceiling.  The unit is fine but a section of the heating duct has collapsed.  It’s in a spot I cannot reach and, in any case, I’m not well.  What else can happen?

July 13/14 2013 (Days 194/195) – Here Comes Sickness*

* With apologies to anyone expecting this to be a post about Mudhoney.

Sometimes you just know that you’re getting sick and there’s not a lot you can do about it.  Today was a prime example.  The delivery of my two papers at the seminar went well enough but I could hear my voice begin to crackle.  Not helped by the venue which was simultaneously draughty and humid, I felt my energy levels decrease to the extent that I sat outside the venue for the penultimate session (still listening to the speaker mind you) and re-entered for the final panel session.   As soon as that was over I had to walk a few blocks in lightly falling rain to my car and, by the time I arrived home, knew I was done for.

“M” then reminded me that we were due at a friend’s significant birthday celebration.  We decided to go for a short while and then return home and spend the rest of the evening and all of Sunday in bed.  I next rang Mikey to offer my season ticket for Sunday’s home game against Essendon (it was going to be live on TV in any case).  He accepted it gratefully and off we went .

We ended up travelling across Melbourne’s suburbs to arrive at the Pink Rabbit Record Bar in trendy Kensington.  If I were ever going to run a café, this would be the sort of place I would want.  Opposite the railway station, on a quiet suburban shopping strip in a tree lined street, there is probably more than enough passing traffic to make it a going concern, with seemingly little in the way of competition.  We were supposed to have the beer garden out back to ourselves, but the rain put paid to that.  A pretty go flow of delicious finger food kept everyone happy and the décor scheme kept me happy.  There were lots of framed old style gig posters and other items on display including a crazy selection of album covers (The Ritchie Family album anyone?) that were also available for sale.  I was rapt to be seated with “M” in a corner underneath a poster for Frank Zappa’s movie 200 Motels; a photo book of NYC’s former punk haven CBGB’s rested above my head next to a vinyl box set of Queen’s albums.  Such eclecticism though was not apparent with the music on offer.  A DJ attached to the venue spun an inspired mix of mostly 60’s classics, deftly merging garage classics, with Motown, southern soul and more commercial offerings that flowed beautifully. 

Speeches came about 2 hours after we arrived and not a moment too soon.  Rapidly failing, we took our leave and returned home, with a detour to drop off my ticket at Mickey’s.  I took immediately to bed and basically stayed there for the rest of the weekend, cheering on the Bulldogs as they threatened to pull off an upset against Essendon only to concede some late goals to lose by an undeserved 31 points.  My listening matter more or less came as I was proceeding to and from the seminar venue;

(# 530) The dB’s – The Sound Of Music (1987)

If the world was fair, everyone would have heard of The dB’s, their songwriters Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey would be spoken of in the same breath as Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, etc and this album would have been a mega hit.  Full of memorable supremely melodic power pop, mostly written by Holsapple, this album turned out to be their final album until a comeback album released last year.  It starts with a bang encompassing the unbelievably catchy Never Say When and Change With The Changing Times before surging into the moody I Lie, the choruses of Molly Says and the quirky Bonneville (which strikes me a s an uptempo version of Steely Dan’s Barryville). Think Too Hard, Working For Somebody Else and Today Could Be The Day are just as good.  If you like the Fountains OF Wayne, give this a listen and prepare to be impressed.

(# 531) Supersuckers – Live At The Magic Bag, Ferndale Michigan (2004)

Early on this album, frontman Eddie Spaghetti announces “We are the Supersuckers, the best rock’ n’ roil band in the world”.  But after an explosive opening of the very best of the band’s repertoire – Rock ‘n’ Roll Records (Aren’t Selling This Year), Rock Your Ass, Bad Bad Bad, The Evil Powers Of Rock ‘n’ Roll and Creepy Jackalope Eye – you realise that is actually a statement of intent.  And this for a show in a small club in the States on, of all days, a Tuesday night.  The tempo almost never flags, except for occasional humorous  between track patter by Spaghetti , as the band careens through the traditional concerns of many of middle America’s rock bands - drinking, gambling, cars and shooting.  By the time you get to the encores, including a cover of Thin Lizzy’s Jailbreak and their own legendary Born With A Tail (encompassing a detour into one of their country tunes , this one hailing the benefits of marijuana), you realise that Eddie is correct.  When he repeats the statement at the end of show, he’s not boasting but casually stating a fact.  Whatever you might think, on the evidence of this one album, the Supersuckers were at least on this one night, the best rock ‘n’ roll band in the world.  And it remains the album that I’ve played most over the last 12 months.  

12 July 2013 (Day 193) – Great One Offs

Ordinarily, I look forward to Friday as it marks the start of the weekend.  However, tomorrow I’ll be presenting a couple of presentations at an all day seminar as well as sitting on a panel of experts.  I spend part of the day putting the finishing touches on these presentations, proof reading, sending a personal biography/introduction to the organiser, etc.   I leave work at the end of the day wishing I didn’t have to do this, or that I could view this as a one off, but I know it is an essential and part of my job.  Fortunately “M” understands, and suggests we spend a night on the town, or at the very least, dine out and we do just that.

The hope that Saturday would be a one off was not a thought that had occurred to me in isolation.  It had, in fact, provided me with the theme for today’s listening.  By this I mean albums produced by acts that produced just the single – great – album.  Interestingly this definition encompasses four definition situations starting with:

(# 526) Thunderclap Newman – Hollywood Dream (1970)

Thunderclap Newman were a band initially put together by The Who’s Pete Townshend to showcase some tunes written by the band’s former chauffeur John ‘Speedy” Keen.  The band also included jazz pianist Andy “Thunderclap” Newman and 15 year old guitarist Jimmy McCullough who would eventually play with Paul McCartney in Wings.  Townshend, who produced the album, also was their bass player under the alias Bijou Drains. 

This is a tremendous album full of brilliant late 60’s/early 70’s pop/rock.  The centrepiece is the magnificent hit single Something In The Air, a tune that has been endlessly recycled in soundtracks and commercials.  Wild Country, with a Townshend sound alike vocal, should have been a massive hit as well and Hollywood, a track about aspiring to a successful and excessive Californian lifestyle, is so good that two versions were produced.  The band make a cover Dylan’s Open The Door Homer their own, bettering the original with The Band that was eventually released on The Basement Tapes and the title track is a solid instrumental that closed the original album on a memorable note. (The album has since been reissued with bonus tracks.) Unfortunately the band never released another album and is regarded today as a one hit wonder, but that shouldn’t distract you from the fine music on offer here.

(# 527) Jello Biafra With D.O.A – Last Scream Of The Missing Neigbours (1990)

An inspired, though obvious, paring this was the one off that was to eventually result in another one off.  On this, former Dead Kennedys vocalist Biafra and veteran Canadian band D.O.A produced a magnificent collection of raging instant punk classics.  As the case on any album where Biafra is involved, the lyrics contain a fierce political outlook that matches the music perfectly as heard in opening tracks That’s Progress, Attack Of The Peacekeepers and Wish I Was In El Salvador.  But it is the final two tracks that really set this album apart.  The first is a cover of that old warhorse We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, which is so ferociously rendered that even it can be taken as a political statement. Even better, and even more ferocious, is the 14 minute closer Full Metal Jackoff, a Biafra state of the union address about the degeneration of urban life that leaves people with little alternative but to turn to a life of crime or serve in the army, each option replete with dubious moral choices.

(# 528) The No WTO Combo – Live From The Battle In Seattle (2000)

This live album was recorded during the 1999 World Trade Organisation Meeting in Seattle which was the venue for much violence.  The contains Jello Biafra on lead vocals, then former Soundgarden guitarist Kim Thayil on guitar, former Nirvana bassist Kirst Novoselic and his bandmate in his band of the time Sweet ’75, Gina Mainwal.  How well you regard the album depends on your reaction to the polemics of Battle In Seattle, a 15 minute introductory Biafra spoken word piece in which his charisma, humour and political commitment are showcased in equal measure. On the remaining tracks, the band kicks up an almighty din; New Feudalism and Electronic Plantation were new songs and the others were covers.  These are the Dead Kennedys’ Let’s Lynch The Landlord and a shorter, but no less ferocious, version of Full Metal Jackoff.

(# 529) Danny & Dusty – The Lost Weekend (1985)

This wonderful album is the result of a 36 hour session involving members from three of the key bands of LA’s “Paisley Underground”.  The album was the brainchild of Steve Wynn (The Dream Syndicate) and Dan Stuart (Green On Red) who also roped in members of The Long Ryders (Sid Griffin, Stephen McCarthy and Tom Stevens) as well as others.  Naturally the music has a loose feel to it which suits these roots rockers perfectly.  It opens with a couple of absolute gems, The Word Is Out and Song For The Dreamers , incorporates darker lyrical fare in Down To The Bone and Baby We All Gotta Go Down and a cover of Dylan’s Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.   Naturally as I sat to write this I discovered the album was no long a one off, with the band having released a couple of albums in 2007.

11 July 2013 (Day 192) – Jason Molina

After work last night we stopped off at the local supermarket to do some catch up shopping.  I took the opportunity to pop off to an adjoining newsagent to obtain the most recent edition of English music magazine Mojo.  This is their June 2013 edition which was probably published in May.  After dinner and writing that night’s posting, I sat down for a read.

There are many features in Mojo that I really like or, for which I’m at least grateful.  Definitely fitting into the latter are obituaries of individuals who have died since publication of the previous edition.   Now, I’m not one of those people who seeks out obituaries in the daily press and since the Australian mainstream media only tends to highlight music related deaths if the individual concerned was extremely well known (as it was for Ray Manzarek of The Doors recently), a local icon (such as Chrissie Amphlett) or anyone unfortunate enough to die in circumstances (i.e drugs, drink, suicide, etc) allowing for the publication of sensationist reports about the rock and roll lifestyle.  Consequently, I miss out on hearing about the deaths of many worthy acts or figures at the time these occurred and this feature in Mojo keeps me up to date.

And so it was the case last night.  Of all the individuals noted in Mojo, the ones I could recall previously reading in the media here was that of former Mickey Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello and, strangely, original Yes guitarist Peter Banks.  Among others, whose deaths I now discovered were the producer Andy Johns, music critic and Dylan expert Paul Williams and the producer whose surname inspired a band name, Phil Ramone.  But I groaned when I read that Jason Molina had died on 16 March.

Jason Molina was a singer/songwriter who specialised in a folk/country/rock setting, in some respects similar to Neil Young without going to the latter's abrasive extremes, especially when it came to rock.  His songs were often intense and personal, sometimes dark and unsettling but also bright and full of hope.    He had released 18 albums in his lifetime, only three of which were under his own name.  What especially upset me was that he had toured Australian a few years back.  I’d skipped these shows then as they were on rather inconvenient dates, assuming he’ll return.  But now all that’s left are the albums and I knew that I have four on my iPod that forms today’s playlist.

(# 522) Songs:Ohia – Axxess & Ace (1999)

Songs:Ohia was Molina’s first recording entity, basically himself with whatever musicians he surrounded himself.  This album comprises mostly comprises country tinged acoustic tunes augmented by the judicious use of electric instrumentation.  Come Back To Your Man adds mournful violin to brilliant effect and the poignant closer Goodbye Lover is superb.

(# 523) Songs:Ohia – The Lioness (2000)

The Mojo obituary describes this album as “one of the greatest love song/rebound albums of its time” and I’m not going to disagree.  The electrical instrumentation is slightly increased with understated keyboards added to the mix.  Being In Love is a beautiful tune that seems to draw inspiration from some of Will Oldham’s work from the same era and which simultaneously anticipates Bon Iver.  The last few tracks are sparse gems, especially Back On Top and Just A Spark.

(# 524) Songs:Ohia – Magnolia Electric Co. (2003)

The final album released under the Songs:Ohia moniker, this is a very highly regarded album.  It was produced by, of all people, Steve Albini who deftly enables Molina to integrate the full range of traditional country instruments.   The last three tracks are particularly effective.  Peoria Lunch Box Blues is a duet with a female vocalist with a voice quite similar to Joni Mitchell’s, John Henry Split My Heart is dramatic and Hold on Magnolia is a sprawling number that travels at a leisurely pace and reveals much with repeated listening.

(# 525) Magnolia Electric Co. – What Comes After The Blues (2005)

Magnolia Electric Co. was Molina’s other identity, a rock band with a pronounced country influence. Again produced by Albini, the album builds on Magnolia Electric Co (the album.)  The opening track The Dark Don't Hide It notably channels Crazy Horse and Hammer Down is a great ballad that Neil Young could have written or performed.    Leave the City adds a horn making the band sound very similar to Calexico. 

10 July 2013 (Day 191) – The Album Before The ‘Big One’

think I’ve discovered a nice method to determine my playlist for the day.  Pick an album, play it and then find other albums on my iPod that I haven’t played so far this year that can fit a theme.

So far it’s been a relatively simple task.  Buried in my brain are a large number of themes both conscious (i.e the theme has occurred to me but I haven’t acted upon it) and unconscious (i.e the theme dawns on me with the selection of the album).  Today’s theme is a representative example of the latter. If I sat down at a kitchen table with pen and paper and were to write down as many ideas for playlists purely off the top of my head, this one would probably not emerge.  However, once I had to think about a theme to accompany today’s starting point, the theme emerged within 10 – 15 seconds.

Today’s theme acknowledges the album released by major acts that immediately preceded the one that launched the act in question (or, in one instance, a version of an already veteran group) into the stratosphere.  Invariably but not always, the fate of these albums is that they’ve overlooked or, more often, undervalued in appraisals of its merits to the big one and there are certainly some instances of that occurring here.  Some examples of albums that would have fitted this criterion had I not already played them this year include Soundgarden’s Badmotorfinger (the one before Superunknown), Nirvana’s Bleach (Nevermind’s screaming baby brother), Talking Heads’ Fear Of Music (the predecessor to Remain In Light) and Pink Floyd’s Meddle (next stop, The Dark Side Of The Room).  In fact, it could almost be argued that Pink Floyd have two candidates, the other being Animals, the often overlooked little brother to The Wall.

Pink Floyd apart, not everyone would necessarily agree with these examples or today’s playlist.  Just looking over the aforesaid examples, I know some would nominate Soundgarden’s Louder Than Love as it was Badmotorfinger that really brought the a measure of popularity.  And some would argue that Fear O Music provided Talking Heads with their first real meal ticket.  I wouldn’t disagree with either view, hence, my concept of the act being launched into the stratosphere.  What I’m getting at here are albums that have established the firm base for the act both commercially and critically; the ones that left them on the precipice of the truly big time; the one before literally the world caught on.

And this leads to some problems in selecting good examples.  Some bands don’t meet the criterion because they hit the bullseye with their debut, The Beatles, The Doors and Pearl Jam, being great examples here.   But what is more problematical are acts which experienced a steady climb to superstardom with any real massive leap in sales.  It is often said, for example, that each R.E.M album up to and including, I think, Out Of Time, doubled the sales figures of its predecessor.  So which was the big one?  Other acts that posed similar problems to me included, The Rolling Stones, U2, Roxy Music, Steely Dan and a great many others.

But I did include:

(# 517) The Red Hot Chili Peppers – Mother’s Milk (1989)

Album number four was their first with both John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums.  It is very much a transitional album but which at least moved them away from being regarded as a cult act. Some tracks, especially Subway To Venus, Magic Johnson and Punk Rock Classic are reminiscent of the previous good time party boys.  But the album’s highlights – their wondrous cover of Stevie Wonder’s Higher Ground, the infectious single Knock Me Down, the furious Taste The Pain and their take on Hendrix’s Fire – pointed the way to mega stardom that they were to achieve with the next album BloodSugarSexMagic.

(# 518) Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac (1975)

The first four tracks of this album announced what was in effect the debut of a new band.  Opening track Monday Morning and third track Blue Letter introduced fans to the sunny Californian sounds of new member Lindsey Buckingham and the fourth track, the unforgettable Rhiannon, provided the world with an introduction to Stevie Nicks.  Fortunately for any confused listeners, Christine McVie was still around to provide soothing reassurance with her contribution of the classy trio of Say You Love Me, Over My Head and Warm Ways.  But it was the way the band clicked together on World Turning and the final track I’m So Afraid that one can hear elements The Chain, the track that would provide the glue that held their next album – the multimillion selling Rumours – together.

(# 519) Radiohead – The Bends (1995)

Planet Telex, the title track and High And Dry provided the solid start that indicated Radiohead had already made great strides from their debut album Pablo Honey.  But it was the superb Fake Plastic Trees that raised the album to another level and really made people sit up and listen.  Remaining tracks including the propulsive Bones, the intriguing Just and the effective closer Street Spirit (Fade Out) made listeners realise that something special was brewing.  Peppered throughout the album are many of the touches that would emerge fully blown in its successor, OK Computer.  Whilst that album was to massively outsell this and jag unanimous critical acclaim, I still favour The Bends as it seems to contain an emotional pull which OK Computer lacks.

(# 520) Split Enz – Frenzy (1979)

And now to a local example.  Prior to the release of this album, New Zealand’s Split Enz, were regarded here as an eccentric act that was too quirky to obtain any level of mass success.  Examples of this can be found on this album, especially on Master Plan and Hermit McDermitt, but this a much greater emphasis on melody started to pay dividends here.  The frantic I See Red was a deserved hit and tracks such as Give It A Whirl, The Roughest Toughest Game In the World, the title track and She Got Body (She Got Soul) all garnered airplay.  The following album, True Colours, took this new found directness and gave the band its first major success in Australia and ultimately overseas.

(# 521) AC/DC – Highway To Hell (1979)

AC/DC were always superstars in Australia, especially in Melbourne.  But the rest of the world was another matter.  By dint of hard work, Angus Young’s inspired guitar work, a rock hard rhythm section and the tales of excess from charismatic lead vocalist Bonn Scott, they had begun to be recognised elsewhere, particularly in Great Britain.  This success was consolidated by Highway To Hell, their finest and last album with Scott which still provides a number of tracks in their live set today.  The title track, Girls Got Rhythm, Walk All Over You, Shot Down In Flames and If You Want Blood (You Got It) are among the numbers that left the band primed for world domination that was duly achieved, sadly without Scott, on their next album, an album you might have heard of called Back In Black.

9 July 2013 (Day 190) – Ignoring ARIA’s 30th Anniversary

I woke up this morning to a piece of inconsequential music news.  It is that today marks the 30th Anniversary of the compilation of music charts by the Australian Recording Industry Association. 

Now I have no axe to grind with ARIA which presumably does a lot a good work in the local industry.  Indeed, I would regard induction into the ARIA Hall Of Fame as the highest honour any local act can receive.  Rather, my lack of interest in this anniversary stems from two factors.

First, the last 30 years has seen a marked by my increased lack of interest in listening to the great quantity of music that gets documented by it.  Of the albums in this week’s top 50 album chart, for example, there are no more than 5 albums that I would be interested in obtaining and there isn’t a single album there that I own.  Black Sabbath’s comeback album 13 is probably the only album I’m certain to eventually purchase.

But the other factor is far more significant.  It is my belief that the charts now are probably no longer an indication of popular trends.  We all know that a lot of music is illegally downloaded these days, and radio airplay is excluded, so how representative is a sales chart of current popularity? Indeed so many of the entries in this week’s chart can be explained by as short term reactions to recent events, suggesting that it can now be as easily manipulated as an Australian Idol winner.   For example, Pink’s Greatest Hits album (#12) has re-entered the chart almost certainly on the strength of her Australian tour opening; John Fogarty’s Wrote A Song For Everyone (#16)  has been backed by a TV advertising campaign; Harrison Craig’s album (#2) is still riding his victory in  The Voice final; ex ABBA member Agnetha Faltskog’s new album (#5) charted only after a one hour program aired on prime time TV and reason for the inclusion of The Great Gatsby original soundtrack is self evident.   Even more damning is Bliss N Echo’s debut at #1 with Circus In The Sky.  Apparently this was achieved on the sale of just over 20,000 units which represents nothing more than their hardcore audience purchasing it in the week of release. 

And so, I was hit by an idea over breakfast.  Why not “celebrate” the milestone by playing music by some of the acts on my iPod least likely to obtain an Australian chart listing.  However, with my luck, chances are everyone I’ve played has charted, but it’s the concept rather than the reality that is significant here.  

(# 513) Yo La Tengo – And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out (2000)

A great three piece from New Jersey USA, Yo La Tengo essentially produces noisy, squalling guitar epics that can include feedback, quirky instrumentals and minimalist numbers.  This album is dominated by the latter; mainly low key atmospheric tracks with understated vocals.  Our Way To Fall and You Can Have It All are the best of these with only Cherry Chapstick to torment unsuspecting listeners thinking they’ve latched onto a chill out classic.  But then again they could lull themselves to sleep by the wonderful 17 minute closing instrumental, Night Falls On Hoboken.  If the Kaplans really wanted to be perverse, they should have begun the album with this, just as they did the first time I saw them live.

(# 514) The (International) Noise Conspiracy – Armed Love (2004)

Insurrectionary garage rock from Sweden anyone?  The (International) Noise Conspiracy create garage rock complete with cheesy organs and political intent.  On this Rick Rubin produced album, the lyrics of just about every track is capable of being interpreted as a call for a worker’s revolution.  And if you’re too dense to understand the message there is always the rather more direct Communist Moon and it’s relentless chorus of “let’s all share our dreams, let’s all share our dreams, under a communist moon”.  (I dare you to listen to the track and stop yourself from singing along by its end.)  Ordinarily I would have no interest in such blatant sloganeering……but the music is just so damned catchy.  My advice?  Never mind the polemics, just enjoy tracks such I Feel About You, Black Mask, the horns assisted Like A Landslide and, yes, Communist Moon.

(# 515) Shellac – At Action Park (1994)

Does the name Steve Albini mean anything to you?  He is the producer of such uncompromising albums such as Nirvana’s In Utero, the Pixies’ Surfer Rosa and multiple albums by acts such as The Jesus Lizard and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.  True, many of these albums have charted and he has also produced number quieter acts, but his own music is something else.  Prior bands Big Black and the appallingly named Rapeman are very much acquired tastes as is Shellac.  They emit quite a metallic sounding guitar din which is applied to music with jerky rhythms, strange time signatures  and heavy unyielding drumming.  Melodic it is not, but it does create a momentum all of its own.  At Action Park was their debut album and Dog & Pony Show is emblematic of their approach.  You will either like it (as I do) or more likely loathe it.

(# 516) Sunn O))) – Monoliths&Dimensions (2009)

Sunn O))) (essentially 2 Californians) play extremely heavy metal drones extremely slowly usually with screamed vocals and little if any percussion.  Live, band members wear robes and play their guitars shrouded in fog incredibly loudly.  This is regarded as their masterpiece containing just 4 tracks stretched out over 53 minutes.  In it they utilise a number of additional musicians and a choir that are simply swallowed into the overall sound but add intriguing bits to the overall texture.  The opening track Aghartha is long (17 minutes), very loud and contains lyrics that infers the apocalypse is coming. Big Church and Hunting And Gathering (Cydonia), both 10 minutes long are even heavier.  But it is the final track Alice, supposedly a tribute to harpist Alice Coltrane, that is the undisputed highlight.  It is a 16 minute heavy instrumental into which a number of horns have been applied and the overall effect of the meeting is a grand and stately track that rewards repeated listening.

8 July 2013 (Day 189) – Accidently Heavy

II returned to work after a weekend and a work day away from my desk and started to go through Friday’s emails.  For some reason, I’d scrolled through my iPod during the weekend and left it at a particular mini album.  As I’d always loved the opening track I started playing it thinking that, by its end, I would have gone through my emails.  However, this took much longer than anticipated and, by the time I’d finished the task, had nearly finished the album, resulting in today’s unexpected playlist.

(# 509) Deftones – Back To School (Mini Maggit) (2001)

I first heard of the Deftones in 1998 when they performed on the main stage of the Pukkulpop Festival in Belgium.  I was initially bemused more than anything else; whilst the band worked up a commendable racket it seemed ill focused and lacking in variety.  They eventually harnessed that power into proper songs and two years later released the extraordinary Block Pony album.  Full of great material, the most intriguing track was the final track Pink Maggit.  On this lead singer’s Chineo Moreno’s powerful voice is reduced to a painful whisper as the entire band gamely attempts to stop the track from exploding for most of the track.  Even when it did, it was a supressed dirge like muffled explosion that eventually give way to a single heart beat drum pattern that simply added to its power.    Despite this achievement, the band’s record company subsequently convinced it, apparently against its wishes, to re-record the track with full vocals and power.  The resultant track, Back To School (Mini Maggit), contains a suitably massive sound and powerful vocal work that works in its own way.  This mini album includes the track, a mighty live version and Pink Maggit.  Strong live versions of White Pony’s Feiticeria and earlier tracks Nosebleed and Teething as well as an acoustic version of White Pony’s first single, Change (In The House Of Flies) round out the package.

(# 510) Korn – Follow The Leader (1998)

I’m not generally a fan of nu metal, nor of most of Korn’s catalogue.  This album’s predecessor Life Is Peachy was a pretty good effort but is miles from this album, Korn’s undoubted masterwork.  The opening 5 tracks are simply awesome; the fascinating It’s On! a track that keeps threatening to break out but never does, segues into Freak On A Leash which seems to do the same thing until the release valve is hit.  The marvellous, and supremely melodic, Got The Life comes next before giving way to the very, very heavy Dead Bodies Everywhere which, it turn gives way to a rap from Ice Cube that heralds the slow/heavy Children Of The Korn.  It is metal of a very high standard that few bands could hope to succeed, let alone sustain, and it does tend to overshadow the remainder of the album.  Despite that, B.B.K does it’s best to maintain the heavyosity, All In The Family likewise and Seed provides some much needed relief.

(# 511) Slipknot – All Hope Is Gone (2008)

I made the mistake of dismissing this band as a gimmick based on nothing more than their masks and band names (each is identified only by a number).  It was only after I cut a deal with one of my cousins at a Big Day Out (I’ll watch System Of A Down and Slipknot with him, provided he watch the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and The Polyphonic Spree with me) that I allowed myself to be exposed to the band.  Although this album hadn’t yet been released, I was stunned by how tight and inventive the band was live.  I eventually obtained their live album and then his which is simply one the great metal albums released to date this century. A short instrumental opener, .execute., gives way to the fearsome Gematria (The Killing Name) a 6 minute epic that marshals the bands various percussionists and guitars into an impressively suffocating aural apocalypse.  In comparison the incredibly catchy though still heavy Psychosocial and Dead Memories come across almost as pop songs.  Vendetta covers the same fallow ground as Gematria,  Gehenna and Snuff slows the pace down with impressive results and  Wherein Lies Continue and the title track show they’ve learnt a few tricks from listening to Metallica.

(# 512) Body Count – Body Count (1992)

This is the heavy metal band that was formed by rapper turned actor turned realty TV star, Ice-T.   Essentially it is a metal album constructed along the lines of a rap album.  There are numerous linking skits, including an opening one that portrays Ice-T as a cop killer, and just about all of the lyics, except for the impressive The Winner Loses, are of the type you’d expect on a gangsta rap album.  In expressing the realities of gang life, Ice is presumably trying to revamp the supposed horror fantasy themes of heavy metal with the true horror of (Californian West Coast gang) real life, but I suspect this limits the material's chances crossing over big time.  Having said that, the music on this is quite impressive; Body Count’s In The House and the Body Count Anthem are great themes, the title track smokes, Bowels Of The Devil could have easily slotted onto a Black Sabbath album and the controversial Cop Killer spoils a killer tune and a serious theme (police brutality on Afro-Americans) with trite lyrics. (The album’s chief weakness.)  The overall package was sufficient for me to see the band when they toured behind this and its follow up, Born Dead.  The tracks got even better live and Ice-T proved to be a most charismatic frontman.  

6 & 7 July 2013 (Days 187/8) – Catch Up Viewing

It was a strange weekend.  “M” and I did a lot of things around the house we’d been putting off for a while, did shopping, went to Ikea and watched both of Robert Downey Jr’s Sherlock Holmes flicks.  I was obviously aided by the Bulldogs playing in Canberra (an underwhelming  4 point win against cellar dwellers Greater Western Sydney) but it doesn't explain how I was able to fit in watching a number of DVDs.

(AV 19) The Black Crowes – Who Killed That Bird Out On Your Window Sill…The Movie (1992)

This is really clever movie.  It gives fans an idea of the band of the height of its fame through combing a number of different sources including documentary type footage, an MTV Unplugged appearance, video clips, news footage, concert footage, montages and live in studio footage.  Collectively these cover all of the best tracks from their classic first two albums.  Their best known tracks, Hard To Handle, She Talks To Angels, Thorn In My Side,  Remedy and Sting Me are all represented by their official videos and so the surprises come elsewhere.  The studio performances of Black Moon Creeping which starts the movie and Sometimes Salvation are pretty impressive but the absolute standout is a live performance of Stare It Cold.  Shot at, presumably a festival, before a huge crowd on a sodden field in Moscow, the band to rises to the challenge of winning over both the crowd and the armed soldiers deployed as concert security.

(AV20) The Black Lips – Live In Israel (2007)

This is a DVD shot in a Tel Aviv club that was included as a bonus “Australian Tour Edition” disc with my copy of their studio album Good Bad Not Evil.  Reputedly an outrageous live act, any antics are kept on the cutting room floor, keeping the emphasis firmly on their take on garage rock.  Three of the five tracks, I Saw A Ghost (Lean), Cold Hands and a storming O Katrina! come from Good Bad Not Evil.  (The other tracks are Boomerang ad Dirty Hands.) The performance is a suitably sweaty one that is lapped up by the Israeli audience.  But, as all of the cameras are kept firmly on the band and up close, any advantages that could derive from filming in the relatively exotic location are lost.  Indeed the gig could really have occurred anywhere at any time.

(AV21) The Who – At Kilburn 1977 (2008)

I love some of the things written on DVD covers.  In some ways they’re like descriptions of houses up for sale which are flagged as has having “great renovation potential” when it has practically collapsed.  The cover of this DVD states this “…is a holy grail for fans after decades of anticipation”.
Hmmm! I suspect what should have been written that for true fans of The Who, this is the release they’ve been dreading for decades.  It captures Keith Moon’s second last appearance with the band, the show being put on to allow concert footage of key songs to be filmed for inclusion in their The Kids Are Alright documentary.  Rather than trying to explain what actually happened, I’ll let The Who’s biographer Dave Marsh tell the story:

“The Kilburn show was a disaster.  Moon hadn’t practiced “in three years” (in John’s [Entwistle] words), and he was a nervous wreck, distraught at having to face a public appearance in such gruesome physical condition.  For the first time, there was no way to conceal his weaknesses: They showed in his potbelly and in his playing.

The rest of the band was almost as nervous…….”That was the first time I can remember being drunk before a show”, said Entwistle.  Between their ragged playing and the necessity of stopping and starting while camera angles and lenses were changed, the show was such a negative experience that no one could have blamed them if none of The Who ever took a stage again.”

(Dave Marsh, Before I Get Old. The Story Of The Who. First paperback edition 1983, page 494)

Some of the band are certainly nervous; Moon frequently speaks between numbers seemingly using his renowned charm as a form of apology for his appearance and performance and Pete Townshend is a ball of nervous energy.   Despite Moon, the DVD starts off OK, mainly because the producers cut out all of the between numbers guff.  I Can’t Explain, Substitute, Baba O’Riley and Entwistle’s marvellous My Wife are good enough, although I’ve seen and heard these tracks done better elsewhere. An attempt at a medley of Tommy tracks is such a disaster that Townshend cuts it short only for Moon to beg the band into playing, of all things, Tommy’s Holiday Camp.  Shakin’ All Over and My Generation are, at best, passable, but Who Are You is a complete mess probably due to a dramatic rearrangement.  Won’t Get Fooled Again starts off fine but seems to lose momentum as it proceeds. (The same can’t be said of the awesome version capture at a subsequent performance – Moon’s last appearance – that ends The Kids Are Alright.)

But there is a very positive reason for buying this.  There is a second disc that captures a live performance of the band at the Coliseum, a London opera venue, towards the end of 1969.  Unfortunately the picture quality is nothing better than adequate (which probably would have prevented a release on its own) and the producers have been clever enough to include it here.  Watch this awesome performance – split evenly between tracks from Tommy and earlier tracks – and you can see and hear just why the Kilburn performance is so disappointing.  And Keith Moon is so astonishing here that you’d swear they had changed drummers.  Remember him this way.

(AV 22) The Gun Club – Live At the Hacienda 1983/84 (2006)

This DVD contains footage of two shows at the legendary Manchester venue taken a year apart and shows this legendary cowpunk band at full throttle.  The footage is nothing more than adequate and is focused once again just of the musicians; I suspect the tapes were probably made by venue staff.  Collectively, the band powers through some of their best material.  The 83 show, featuring Jeffrey Lee Pierce seated at the edge of the stage for much of the gig, comes out swinging with the lethal combination of Fire Of Love followed by their cover of Creedence’s Run Through The Jungle.  Fire Spirit,  Death Party and Sex Beat are among the remaining tracks but the relentless nature of the playing does become a bit wearying by the end. 

The 84 show, which appears to have previously seen the light as a standalone video called Preachin’ The Blues, is a better paced show and all the stronger for it.  Pierce this time is not seated and plays guitar on a number of tracks starting with the brilliant opener Hey Juana.  Sex Beat and Fire Of Love get another run and Preachin’ The Blues is inspired, arguably the best track on the entire disc.  The closing trio of Goodbye Johnny, Give Up The Sun and Sleeping In Blood City is magnificent.