1 May 2013 (Day 121) – Selections From Shuffle Sessions #4

The idea that came to my last night was a simple one.  There are always tracks in a Shuffle Session that provoke a response to play the parent album, so why not do it?

Well that’s as good an excuse to play an album isn’t it?  It’s no more or less valid a reason that others, for example;

- in tribute to someone who’s just died,
- hearing a track from an album in the media or on a movie soundtrack,
- seeing the album in a best of list or the subject of a retrospective article in the rock media,
- hearing a track or the artist mangled by an Idol/Voice contestant, the cast of Glee or some other misguided artist,
- boning up on artist’s catalogue before seeing them live,
- to impress somebody else or on a trusted firend or critic’s recommendation
- for company on a lonely day, night or long drive (especially after a loss at the footy)
- by sheer impulse, or, of course
- for the purposes of writing a music blog.

The one thing that I’ll never do is to utilise something like the Apple Genius in which some form of, presumably computerised, program tries to guess what I’d  be interested in.  I’d also assume that this would be based on my prior listening history.  Now I don’t have anything against the concept, but I’d hate to have music chosen for my pleasure on the basis of a calculated analysis of my listening (or, market research, if you will) when just about all of the examples cited in my list above are emotional choices. (It’s for much the same reason that I no longer listen to commercial radio.)  More importantly, should such a selection be based on my previous listening habits, the chances of such means enabling me to discover new (or should that be, different) music would be significantly reduced and thus shunned on principle.

All of which is a long winded way of saying, here’s the three albums I played today that were inspired by track I heard in yesterday’s Shuffle Session, starting with;

(# 327) Rocket From The Crypt – Live From Camp X-Ray (2002)

Rocket From The Crypt is one of the many vehicle for guitarist John Reis also from Drive Like Jehu and Hot Snakes.  All of these bands employ full bore, driving rock which always manages to stop just that one step away from being punk.  Rocket From The Crypt had more of a 60’s garage band feel augmented, at times, with frantic horns.  Despite the title, this is not a live album.  That honour fell to the next release, R.I.P which documented their final show, although at the time of posting, they’ve just finished a reunion European tour.  This is an extremely short – about 27 minutes – release of mainly top notch material, including I’m Not Invisible, I Can’t Feel My Head, the string enhanced I Wanna Know What I Wanna Know and Too Many Balls.  Brilliant stuff.

(# 328) Shearwater – The Golden Archipelago (2010)

Shearwater specialise in a form of quiet indie rock/Americana punctuated by the occasional outburst of louder stuff, usually at times you don’t expect it.  This is their sixth album, being released after two extremely well reviewed predecessors in Palo Santo and Rook.  It’s a good solid album, far better that I remembered on first listening and it may well provide to be one of those albums that will improve with age.   For the most part, it’s the tracks which break the mould that tend to stand out.  Black Eyes sounds like a very good musical tribute to David Bowie and God Made Me should become mandatory listening to anyone wanting to learn how to construct a slow/fast/slow number.

(# 329) The Twilight Singers – Powder Burns (2006)

Greg Dulli is one of the great, largely, unsung heroes of rock ‘n roll.  He was the leader and main force behind the magnificent Afghan Whigs, who released a number of brilliant alternative rock albums during the 1990’s.  The Twilight Singers was the band he formed after breaking up the Whigs and this is their fourth – and best – album.  Many of the tracks here would not sound out of place on an Afghan Whigs album including There’s Been An Accident, Underneath The Waves and the grand ballad I Wish I Was.

30 April 2013 (Day 120) – The Shuffle Sessions # 4

I’d originally envisaged that I’d do one of these per month and so this one is to bring me up to date, so to speak.

A curious thing happened after I hit the shuffle button.  Song number 1 turned out to be Gene Vincent’s Pink Thunderbird.  Wasn’t this the same track that led off Shuffle Sessions # 3?  I quickly leafed back through the pages of my music journal had this confirmed. 

Now I don’t know about you, but I get deeply suspicious when something like this happens.  Was this truly coincidence?  I thought not and hit the forward button – yep, Trouble Every Day by The Mothers Of Invention, track # 2 of the previous shuffle.  I hit it again and up came the same Muddy Waters track and then I knew; my iPod was repeating the previous shuffle.

Rather than set a new shuffle, I took this one to the end point of Shuffle Sessions # 3 (Whispers by Luna) and decided to continue from the next item:

56.          Earth – High Command (from Pentastar In The Style Of Demons)
57.          The Modern Jazz Quartet –Two Degrees East, Three Degrees West (from At Music Inn, Guest Artist Jimmy Giuffre)
58.          Common - Everywhere (feat. Martina Topley-Bird) (from Universal Mind Control)
59.          Waylon Jennings - Brown Eyed Handsome Man (from The Best Of Johnny Cash TV Show)
60.          Marshall Crenshaw – Someplace Where Love Can’t Find Me (from Good Evening)
61.          John Coltrane – Naima (from Giant Steps)
62.          The Reverend Horton Heat – Liquor, Beer & Wine (from Liquor In The Front)
63.          Ramones – Bop ‘Til You Drop (from  Ramonesmania)
64.          The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – And So It Goes (from Will The Circle Be Unbroken Vol. 2)

Then disaster struck.  In relocating the iPod I somehow managed to break the shuffle and the reluctantly had to set a new one.  A shame because the brace:

1.       Black Cab – Sword & Shield (from Call Signs)

2.       The Ruts – Babylon’s Burning (from Grin & Bear It)
3.       Siouxsie & The Banshees – Cities In The Dust (from Tinderbox)
4.       Rocket From The Crypt – I Wanna Know What I Wanna Know) (from Live From Camp X-Ray)
5.       Smashing Pumpkins – Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness (from Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness)
6.       Paul Kelly – Feelings Of Grief (from Stolen Apples)
7.       Camper Van Beethoven – Tania (from Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart)
8.       Sleepy John Estes – Drop Down Mama (from Let Me Tell You About The Blues – Chicago)
9.       The Beta Band – It’s Over (from The 3 E.P’s)
10.   Shearwater – Landscape At Speed (from The Golden Archipelago)
11.   The Mars Volta – Eriatarka (from De-loused In The Comatorium)
12.   Les Paul & Mary Ford – It’s A Lonesome Old Town (Greatest Hits!)
13.   John Lee Hooker – This Is Hip (from Mr. Lucky)
14.   John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers – It Ain’t Right (from Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton)
15.   Joni Mitchell – Just Like This Train (from Court And Spark)
16.   XTC – Standing In For Joe (from Wasp Star. Apple Venus Volume 2)
17.   Dire Straits – Sultans Of Swing (from Dire Straits)
18.   Diana Ross – Ain’t No Mountain High Enough (from Hitsville U.S.A. The Motown Singles Collection 1959 – 1971)
19.   Bruce Springsteen And The E Street Band - The Promised Land (from Live 1975 – 1985)
20.   The Belle Stars – Sign Of The Times (from The Stiff Records Box Set)
21.   The Twilight Singers – My Time (Has Come) (from Powder Burns)
22.   Bruce Springsteen – My Love Will Not Let You Down (from Tracks)
23.   Neil Young And Crazy Horse – Cowgirl In The Sand (from Road Rock Vol. 1)
24.   Otis Spann – Nobody Knows Chicago Like I Do (Party Blues Line) (from Down To Earth.  The Bluesway Recordings)
25.   Eels – Agony (from Shootenanny!)
26.   The Gun Club – Field Holler (live) (from The Birth The Death The Ghost)
27.   Concrete Blonds – Darkening Of The Light (from Bloodletting)
28.   Guided By Voices – Secret Star (from Live From Austin Tx.)
29.   Pixies – The Happening (from Bossanova)
30.   Omar Rodriguez Lopez – Thermometer Drinking The Business Of Turnstiles (from Se Dice Bisonte, No Bufalo)
31.   Tony Joe White – I Want To Be With You (from The Collection)
32.   Sepultura – Slave New World (from Chaos A.D)
33.   Todd Rundgren - Tic Tic Tic It Wears Off (from A Wizard, A True Star)
34.   Tom Petty – Feel A Whole Lot Better (from Full Moon Fever)
35.   Money Mark – Harmonics Of Life (from Push The Button)
36.   The Neville Brothers – Voo Doo (from Yellow Moon)
37.   Wall Of Voodoo – Spy World (from Call Of The West)
38.   Basement Jaxx – Stop 4 Love (from Remedy)
39.   New Order – Every Second Counts (from BBC Radio 1. Live In Concert)

Well that’s it for another session and a pretty good one at that, even allowing for the need to reshuffle.  It's also given me an idea for tomorrow....

29 April 2013 (Day 119) – My Concert Bucket List

Well, I resisted and resisted and resisted but , amid the roar of the Aerosmith gig, I heard the sound of a dam being breached.  And so today I will finally cave in and post my first music list.

I wrote yesterday that I had crossed Aerosmith off my concert bucket list.  Of course, I didn’t literally have one, rather a mental reckoning of those acts I would love to see before my time is up. 

But there is a real danger attached in creating this list should “M” ever read this. It could be she will refer to this whenever I tell her about plans to buy a ticket to future gigs with an immediate riposte of “it’s not on your bucket list”.  Now she’s never actually denied me the opportunity of attending any show I really want to see, but you can’t foresee everything in the future.  Accordingly, I look upon this post as a form of “gig insurance”. 

And to further insure my attendance at a range of future gigs by favourite artists, I’d better set out my criteria for inclusion on this list.  “M”, if you’re reading, this list includes ONLY acts that;

1.       I have never seen before live
2.       who regularly perform around the world (This is insurance against the possibility of a now
defunct or retired act reforming or deciding to hit the road again. I shall call this my Television rule.)
3.       who I never spurned an opportunity to have seen live in the past, or
4.       I have been prevented from seeing live in the past owing to unfortunate clashes, my being overseas or ill, their gig selling out before I could get a ticket, my not having developed an awareness or taste for their musical abilities, their appearance in an otherwise crappy festival line up or due a failure of my brain.  (I shall call the latter the Lyle Lovett clause.  I still don’t know why I didn’t go even with the opportunity of half price tickets.).

Now I didn’t have much time to listen to stuff today courtesy of a half day corporate strategy planning session but decided to play material staring with act No 1 on my list:

(# 325) Van Morrison – No Guru, No Method, No Teacher (1986)

I love Van the man – his Have I Told You Lately? was “M” &  my wedding dance tune – and this is my favourite album of his.  Magnificently produced with musical backing that firmly put the spotlight on his remarkable voice, this is arguably one of the more logical entry points into his daunting catalogue due, in some part, to lyrics that are less oblique than on other albums. The best tracks – Foreign Window, In The Garden, Thanks For The Information and the incredibly literal Ivory Tower – ranks with the best of his career.  Even the two bonus tracks on the reissued version, especially Lonely At The Top, are worth hearing.

Morrison has only ever toured Australia once, well before I developed an appreciation of his work.  I know he can be quite mercurial live but, in the end, I don’t care.  I just want to hear THAT voice and phrasing in a live environment, preferably Hamer Hall.   Seeing him live would also enable me to finally stop grumbling about stepping out of the main train station in Vienna on my 1990 trip, finding myself staring at a poster for a Morrison/Dylan gig and realising it occurred the previous night.

And so, on to No. 2 on my bucket list:

(# 326) Tom Waits – Small Change (1976)

I’ve always loved Waits’ lyrics but, more importantly, the way he juxtaposes his voice against whatever musical background he chooses.  And the instrumentation used over the 20 years or so has been nothing short of staggering, an triumphant union of rhythm and noise.  This album, though, places that voice against lush orchestration and a batch of some of his greatest songs – I Wish I Was In New Orleans, The Piano Has Been Drinking (Not Me) and the title track.  And as an Australian, just hearing that voice do a portion of Waltzing Matilda on Tom Traubert’s Blues, makes the hairs stand on the back of my neck every time. 

Tom is number 2 for the very simple reason that since the last time he toured Australia he has released Heartattack And Vine, Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Bone Machine, Mule Variations…….
Do I need to say anything more?                                  

And now to the remainder of my bucket list:

3. Aretha Franklin - To the best of my knowledge has never toured Australia. She is probably not likely to as well so I’ll have to fluke a rare gig in the States.

4.       Television - Yes I bought the ticket to their show in the reception place in Altona later in the year but things can still happen.  Not to be crossed off the list until Tom Verlaine walks online and starts strangling his guitar.

5.       Willie Nelson - I’ve twice held tickets to gigs which have been cancelled. He is now 80 and so I’m confident he'll be off the list in the next decade or so.

6.       Camper Van Beethoven - I had a ticket for the show they were going to perform in Melbourne on 24 May 1990.  It got cancelled because the band broke up.  They’ve since reformed and I’m still waiting to sing along to Live Is Grand.

7.       Boris - I only discovered the Japanese 3 piece noisemakers a couple of years back and have spent quality time catching up on their formidable back catalogue.  A tour will top off this voyage of discovery nicely.

8.       Mogwai - The Scottish alt-instrumental genii have been victim to clashes.  I also missed out on seeing them at a Belgian music festival in 1998 as they appeared on the day I didn’t get to.

9.       Richard Thompson Band - Ordinarily, I rate one of the present day masters of the guitar higher, but for the fact I’ve seen him at least twice in the past.  However, each occasion has been an acoustic affair, the latter at least with Danny Thompson on bass.  I’m not complaining but I do want to hear Valerie in its electric glory…and I Can’t Win...and Calvary Cross…and, well you get the idea, electric guitar solo heaven.

10.   Swans - It was only due to their tour after their reformation, that I really listened and started to truly appreciate their music.  Since then I bought up the key parts of the catalogue and was hoping for a return visit…..only for tickets to go onsale and sell out whilst I was blissfully ignorant overseas.

11.   Paul Westerberg - Paul.  Pick up your guitar, hop on a plane and come here. You’ll like it.  Really.  Come as Grandpa Boy if you like.  Surely you’ve had offers?  And The Replacements never toured her either, so some of their/your tunes would be appreciated as well.  Hell, we were able to lure Alex Chilton to play here before he died and we didn’t mind (well, too much) that he didn’t play any Big Star stuff.

12.   Bad Brains - I don’t know whether they’ve toured Australia and that’s a good enough reason to have them on my list.

13.   Van Halen - They have never played Melbourne with David Lee Roth.  Just recently did a single Australian show at a Sydney Festival along with Aerosmith.  What, Ed are we not important enough? May you continue to find brown M & Ms in your backstage bowls until you rectify this injustice.

14.   Lyle Lovett - What can I say other than I’m sorry - again.  

15. Kate Bush - Kate would be much higher on the list if not for the teeny weeny, insignificant minor detail of not having gone on tour for at least 30 years.  Gets on the list solely as extra extra extra insurance should she ever decide to give it a try. (I call this the Kate Bush rule.)

28 April 2013 (Day 118) – Gig # 702 Aerosmith

Today is the day I finally cross off another act from my concert bucket list.  But first I have to manage the day so some last minute disaster doesn’t occur to deprive me of the privilege of seeing Aerosmith.  My solution is a simple one and I pull out a few Aerosmith albums, starting with:

(# 321) Aerosmith – Rocks (1976)

This is a solid hard rock album but not quite the classic it’s been touted in some quarters.  Back In The Saddle and Last Child are great tracks as well as the closers Lick And A Promise and Home Tonight.  But much of the remaining tracks sees them attempting to outdo The Rolling Stones (a criticism made frequently at the time) with tales of rock’ n’ roll excess and its consequences.

(# 322) Aerosmith – A Nite In The Ruts (1979)

This album is as underrated as Rocks is overrated. No Surprize is an absolute beauty, a hard driving number that is the perfect opener. Chiquita, which follows it, is almost as good, sounding very much these days as the prototype for Dude (Looks Like A Lady).  Cheese Cake is almost as good, Reefer Head Woman a convincing blues number and Bone To Bone (Coney Island White Fish Boy) has a solid jam feel.  The album ends with Mia, one of their better early ballads.

(#323) Aerosmith – Get A Grip (1993)

Pump was always going to be a tough album to follow.  Half of this album is great.  Eat The Rich, the title track, Fever and Shut Up And Dance are all great rockers and Living On the Edge and Cryin’ added to their impressive catalogue of slower numbers.  The rest is fairly forgettable but some tracks might have passed muster if the band kept the album to the shorter running times of its predecessors.

At 6 o’clock I said goodbye to “M” and headed into town.  There was only ever going to be one album that was going to blast out of the car stereo:

(#324) Aerosmith – Pump (1989)

Hard rock perfection.  An absolutely streamlined, immaculately produced and played album without a dud track.  The opening salvo of Young Lust/F.I.N.E/Love In An Elevator and Monkey On My Back pass by in a rush.  Janie’s Got A Gun memorably slows the tempo and the album has already reached its midpoint before you’ve realised it. The second half pales a little in comparison but still contains tracks of the calibre of The Other Side, Don’t Get Mad Get Even and What It Takes.  Little details such as 60s style keyboards on Elevator, Monkey and What It Takes add to effect and even the little instrumental segues work perfectly.

With a huge crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for a twilight AFL game and Tool fans headed for a second night at Rod Laver Arena, I knew parking would be at a premium and settle for a spot at the Casino.  (Not that this mattered much; I 'm competing in a walking challenge at work and the extra distance is good for the pedometer.) 

I arrive at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl having missed the Dead Daisies, Spiderbait and Grinspoon but in time for a little bit of music history – the final concert performance by Wolfmother.  It doesn’t mean the current version of the band is to split.  Rather, as Andrew Stockdale is the sole surviving original member, he has decided to retire the band name and go under his own.  As usual they perform a tight 45 minute set incorporating their best known material and a couple of new tunes.

Gig # 702 – Aerosmith – Sidney Myer Music Bowl, Melbourne

A lengthy visual extravaganza ends with an explosion, the formation of the famed wings logo and lots of smoke.  Steve Tyler and Joe Perry emerge from the mist, larger than life.  Perry heads to the walkway extending into the audience and doffs his hat whilst Tyler counts off the band into the opener, Love In An Elevator.  The sound is mightily impressive and the famed guitar interplay between Perry and Brad Whitford is already apparent even though they barely cross each other’s path during the entire show.  Yet the true momentum of the band ultimately rests with Joey Kramer whose massive beats come with seemingly little effort.  He has a different partner on bass as Tom Hamilton is sadly absent, presumably as he recovers from another bout of cancer. Tyler, a true rock star, is in fine form and his voice shows no real signs of age.

Elevetor immediately gives way to a frantic version of Toys In The Attic setting the tone for a show neatly balanced between the pre and post comeback catalogues.  A solid version of Jaded from Just Push Play is followed by Oh Yeah! from the latest album which is received well by the crowd. 

The first of the bands mega ballads – Cryin’ and Livin’ On The Edge, both the only tracks from Get A Grip – are next and each is consumed by the audience in a mass communal sing-along.    Rocks’ Last Child is a canny inclusion only for the audience to erupt when the first lines of Janie’s Got A Gun begin.  This is followed by another intriguing inclusion, a cover of Fleetwood Mac’s Stop Messin’ Around which gives the band a chance to play the blues “as they do in Boston”, for Tyler to have a break and for Perry to exercise his vocal cords.   It is very impressive.

Tyler returns for the cheesy ballad I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.  Yet the reaction this provokes is absolutely massive.  Any man with a girl and a beer seems to be singing along with his other arm around his beloved (i.e the girl, not the beer).  Even the members of the support acts, perched in the VIP area above me seem to be singing along.  No More No More from Toys In The Attic proves to be another canny inclusion.  Pump’s What It Takes starts awkwardly with Tyler acapella but evolves into a fine band performance.

Then comes arguably the performance of the night in the guise of their wonderful cover (originally recorded for the disastrous Bee Gees/Peter Frampton Sgt. Pepper’s movie) of The Beatles Come Together.  Tyler’s vocals are spot on and Perry’s guitar work is full of the menace that characterised the original recording.  Dude (Looks Like A Lady) and Walk This Way provided a memorable end to the main set, with the latter distinguished by a couple of kids the band found earlier in the day performing outside their hotel, performing 80s style breakdancing that provided a nod of sorts to Run D.M.C.

The encore was reserved for magnificent renditions for their two biggest ballads – Dream On and Sweet Emotion.  The latter had Tyler playing a piano over a sea of fog and the latter built up nicely into some fine guitar work.  The show was supposed to end at this point, but Perry pointed out that 5 minutes remained until the 10pm curfew and it would be a shame to waste it.  The band then cranked out a brutal version of Train Kept A Rollin’ – knowing exactly how to cut it short to fit the time limitation - to send all the diehards like me home very happily indeed. 

It was a damn fine show and worth the 23 years of grumbling about missing the 1990 tour.   Although that show showcased the Pump and Permanent Vacation albums, this was probably the one for fans of their entire history to have seen.  I probably wouldn’t have gone this time round if I’d seen that show, so I guess I was ultimately rewarded by fate.

Oh yes, and another act off my concert bucket list.

27 April 2013 (Day 117) – Gigs and Fate

Most of the time, I attend gigs because I’m a fan of the act.  Occasionally, I’ve gone out of curiosity, most recently a couple of years back to see whether the staging of the U2 360  Degrees Tour could possibly outdo ZooTV (musically, a definite and surprising yes; stagewise, almost but not quite).  Sometimes I’ve gone because I had an inkling the act might be a completely different proposition live compared to on record, which definitely was the case with Extreme.   On rare instances I’ve been persuaded to see an act of which I’d never heard.  Many thanks are due here to my mate Mulder for persuading me to see a “Texan bluesman” on his debut Australian tour who turned out to be Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble.  

But I’ve never really thought about those occasions where I’ve chosen not to see an act I love.  In the years since my marriage the reason has been fairly obvious; I didn’t want to leave “M” alone at home.  She hasn’t exactly told me not to go, but I do feel guilty on the occasions I’ve gone nonetheless.  And yet on the times I have gone, one of the comments I’ve frequently made after getting home was, “You know what, I think you would have liked that.”  Of course, that’s being wise after the event, but I’ve always regretted not taking her to see Randy Newman with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra a couple of years back and only God knows why I didn’t take decisive action last year and get tickets for us to see Lyle Lovett.

Before “M” entered my life there were basically only four reasons why I’ve decided not to see an act.  Rising ticket prices only became a factor in the year or two before I met her, and even then not many acts suffered, with the exception of k.d Lang whose shows had been fairly pricey.  Strangely enough, the time I saw her two years back was with “M” lying on the grassed area at the Myer Music Bowl and the ticket price turned out to be cheaper than her previous tours.   As I’ve gotten older, I also started to shy away from midweek shows in pubs as the relatively late starting times were beginning to adversely affect me at work the following day.  And then there have been some acts that I feared might be too sterile live and deliver performances that might not vary much from their recorded versions.  I know that this was my major reason for not seeing Steely Dan and, after years of yearning for them to come, Roxy Music. 

But the major reason has been fate of which there are two manifestations. The first is the dreaded cancellation, such as changing travel plans in Europe to get to the San Siro in Milan to see the Stones in 1998 only to discover the gig had been postponed that morning until months afterwards due to, I think, a Mick Jagger sore throat (or was it the time Keith fell at home returning a book to his library?).  Back home, I've twice held tickets on different tours to Willie Nelson shows that were cancelled and I also had to get a refund on a Camper Van Beethoven gig in 1990 because the band broke up.  (They've since reformed and still haven't made it here.)  And, of course, there has been times when I've  bought tickets and had to cancel due to ill health or other factors including a Beasts Of Bourbon gig at the Punters Club that was recorded, Los Lobos' return to Melbourne a few years back after a 20 year absence and Bob Dylan's fine Rod Laver Arena show in 2001. 

Then there are those terrible instances where an act you love comes and something prevents you from going.  There have been some terrible clashes; the night I attended the aforementioned the sole k.d Lang gig (and a very enjoyable one it was, by the way) clashed with the first Harvest Music Festival with Portishead, Mercury Rev, Mogwai and many more.   In 2006, (I think) I missed a Dylan/Patti Smith double bill, in 1990 a Lonnie Mack gig and, last year, The Beach Boys 50th Anniversary tour with Brian Wilson due to overseas travel.  Almost every one of the acts I've missed due to overseas travel has been overcome with the passage of time and a return tour by the act in question with the exception of Mack and one other act.  (I'm assuming here The Beach Boys tour was a one off and will never be replicated; I have no interest in seeing them without Brian.)

That other exception has been American hard rock icons Aerosmith.  Their first Australian tour was in 1990 in support of the mighty Pump album.  Cruelly, their final night at Rod Laver Arena was whilst I was airborne on route home at the end of a three month backpacking odyssey.   But time did not heal this wound because they never returned.  So you can imagine how I felt earlier this year when an Australian Tour was announced ……. only to find that the Rod Laver Arena date clashed with an engagement I could not cancel.  I thought it was fate, but about 3 weeks ago I received an email at work indicating a presale for a Music Bowl performance on 29 April.  I quickly logged on and got a tenth row seat.  (Naturally fate mocked me a week ago when I received another email with a special offer to get seats at half price but that’s another story.)

And so tonight I’ve off to the footy curious to see if my Doggies could compete with a rampant Geelong.  No one gives us a chance.  They perform bravely but some truly bizarre umpiring decisions and a lack of composure by some youngsters at key points deny us victory.  The night’s stadium playlist is:

1.       Silverchair – Straight Lines (pre game)
2.       MUSE - ?? (pre game)
3.       AC/DC – It’s A Long Way To The Top (pre game)
4.       The Church – The Unguarded Moment (quarter time)
5.       Elvis Costello & The Attractions – Pump It Up (half time)

On the way to and from the ground, I excitedly, ahem,  pump out:

(# 320) Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation (1987)

Very few bands have managed to pull off as spectacular a comeback as Aerosmith.  Although Done With Mirrors came beforehand, this was the album which made everyone stand up and take notice.  It was set up by an opening trio of hard rock gems – Heart’s Done Time (with an intro that gives each member a chance to (re)announce themselves), Magic Touch and Rag Doll.  The since omnipresent Dude (Looks Like A Lady), Girl Keeps Coming Apart, the title track and a killer version of The Beatles I’m Down continued in this vein, Hangman Jury provided a good mid tempo number and Angel was a solid though slightly cheesy ballad.  But, even more importantly, it set the scene for Pump, worldwide domination and, two and half decades later, a gig it turns out I was fated to see after all.

26 April 2013 (Day 116) – Albums By Living Heritage Acts

As expected, it was a very quiet day at work.  Fortunately Jack is in to prevent complete isolation and we put our respective heads down and have incredibly productive days.  

When I look back at today’s listening, I realise that every act I played is on the touring circuit today and have been in existence for at least 25 years.  For this reason I regard them as heritage acts. I don’t intend this to be a derogatory term implying an act now well past its prime.  Indeed two of the artists here are producing music as every bit as vital as those works for which they’ll be forever remembered.  Instead I see the term as suggesting these are acts which today have a tangible connection back to, and thus can evoke, a particular time and place in music history.

I’ve never had a problem with acts pursuing a lengthy career.  After all, most of the forms of music I like are no more that 60-80 years of age and in some fields, especially rock, I think the rule book as to what’s appropriate is still evolving as the industry changes.  (Although I do wish on occasion that 60+ year old heavy metal rockers stop wearing spandex.) In any case, slagging off a band as being too old in the tooth was basically one of the early record industry predatory practices.  Industry pioneers saw rock and roll primarily as something that could only appeal to a) teenagers with disposable incomes who, b) they could exploit through promoting a never ending parade of sweet, young and easily exploitable (financially  and sexually) things before c) they got wise to the world and d) their supposed limited shelf life of popularity ended. 

Whilst it is true that some acts, then and now, have had short spans of popularity, a fortunate few have, for varying reasons, been carried along by the fans of their generation for lengthy and ultimately profitable careers.  In many instances, a number of these acts are seen as survivors in having overcoming exploitative record and publishing contracts, substance abuse problems, possible personality conflicts (for bands obviously) and periods of either record company or audience indifference.  Indeed the great bulk of these acts have learnt to survive without needing to be wholly dependent, if at all, on a record company.  These are the acts that have learnt there is far more money to be had by ignoring record companies and their mantra of the record – release – tour every x years or so by going on the road every year and recording only occasionally.  After all, the whole point of being a musician is to play music publicly and far greater money can be reasonably expected to be generated that way as well.  Put another way they have learnt the simplest lesson of all – that the recording of music and the releasing of albums is something that should be subservient to the act of playing live and not the other way round.  And if the band has some form of world wide following, there will always be any number of places in the world were a healthy concert turn out can be guaranteed in any given year.  No doubt it is this realisation that has resulted in so many bands reforming over the last 5 years or so.

The growth of internet has also been a factor as many acts have also realised that they can record and release music to the hard core fans without even needing a record company.  If a self produced album takes off via this way of marketing so much the better as the record companies can then fight amongst themselves for the privilege of promoting and distributing the recording, which is probably what they should have been limited to doing in the first place.  (How the record industry ever convinced acts that it was their own responsibility to finance records, videos, etc – in other words, take most of the financial risk – is a book I’d love to read.  I mean, if a Hollywood studio botches the selection, production or advertising of a blockbuster, does it demand its lead actors to repay their fees?) The real canny acts, such as Pearl Jam or Metallica, also make recordings of all their live shows for internet sale as aural souvenirs and as a means of overcoming bootleggers.

And so onto my first act;

(# 315) The Meters – Fire On The Bayou (1975)

The Meters reformed in 1989 and during the 90’s renamed themselves as The Funky Meters.  This is easily the best of the 5 Meters albums I bought recently, a sophisticated mix of New Orleans sounds and a no frills Allen Toussaint production.  Instrumentals have been largely ditched except for the lengthy and largely featureless jazz/music of Middle Of The Road (the title really says it all), the album’s sole low point.  The rest of the album, with Cyril Neville joining Art Neville in the band, contains the smooth funky sounds of what ultimately evolved into the mighty Neville Brothers.  The title track (destined to be reworded as the title track of a Neville Brothers album),  Out In The Country, Liar and Mardi Gras Mambo all stand out.

(# 316) The Meters – Kickback (recorded 1975/6; released 2000)

Although a sticker on the jewel case spruikes this as “the great lost Meters album”, the liner notes appear to point out that this is a compilation of previously unrealised tracks recorded around the time of Fire On The Bayou and its successor Trick Bag.  With the exception of the seriously funky He Bite Me, a case probably could not be made for the inclusion of any of the original tracks on these albums.  The area of greatest interest here is the raft of cover versions that have been included.  The Beatles Come Together has a nicely judged Rolling Stones Black And Blue era feel to it, as is Honky Tonk Women.  A “Rock And Roll Medley” including Rockin’ Pheumonia is fun, Hank Williams Jambalaya is extremely funky and Love The One You’re In is fine depending on how you view the lyrics. (I think the lyric is meant to mean "love thy neighbour" but it literally sounds like "fxxk" thy neighbour".)  A full length version of Neil Young’s Down By The River is more problematical.  The slickness here rather puts it at odds with the rawness of its author’s interpretations.

(# 317) Bob Dylan – Tempest (2012)

Bob’s voice these days is increasingly sounding more like Tom Waits’ than his own.  I can only image the strain it’s placed under by these incredibly wordy songs.  (The gruesome vocal start to Pay In Blood in particular almost defies description.) Having said that, this is probably Bob’s best album since Oh Mercy! in terms of matching his songs to music and overall production values. Duguesne Whistle, Soon After Midnight and Pay In Blood all have brilliant melodies and performances to match.  Scarlet Town is a superior ballad, Early Roman Kings is effectively a rewrite of Mannish Boy and Tin Angel sounds like a cheap crime novel gloriously put to music. Unfortunately the title track, about the Titanic, is probably a bit too long to sustain either the story or the music.

(# 318) Robert Plant And The Strange Sensation – Mighty Rearranger (2005)

This is a glorious album in which Plant, for the first time, was truly able to reconcile his interests in new world music against his hard rock past.  The epitome of this is Tin Pan Alley, easily the high water mark of his solo career which achieves the perfect 50/50 balance.  The title track has some nice rockabilly touches whilst Another Tribe and Let The Four Winds Blow are wonderfully constructed. Unbelievably, the successor, Band Of Joy is even better which makes his decision to largely forego tracks from either album in favour of reworked Zep numbers at his recent going here all the more mystifying.

(# 319) The Charlatans – “Live It Like You Love It” (2002)

Easily the most underrated of all the Britpop bands, and just about the only one that hasn’t broken up at some stage, The Charlatans have carved out an impressive catalogue with their version of British alternative rock.  I see them as a sort of Oasis wrapped up in dense keyboards.  This is their live album which is aptly subtitled “The Best Of The Charlatans Live”.  None of the versions here stray too much from their studio originals but with tracks such as Love Is The Key, The Only one I know, Impossible and North Country Boy there really is no need to do so.  A magnificent version of Sproston Green from the first album caps things off nicely. 

25 April 2013 (Day 115) – ANZAC Day

Try as I might, I find it difficult to conceive of playing music on this day.  When I do, I hold true to the general spirit of the day and wait until after Midday.  But by then, “M” and I decide to take advantage of the absolutely glorious, when will this ever end weather and go on a long stroll.

By the time I get back, I don’t feel like doing much and listen to a couple of albums before drifting off for a nice nap starting with;

(# 313) Ann Peebles – Original Funk Soul Sister. The Best Of Ann Peebles (2006)

Ann Peebles was on the same label, Hi Records, during the glory years of label mate Al Green.  As the liner notes for this compilation points out, she was the undisputed Queen to Green’s King.  And it’s easy to see why.  This compilation contains a  number of absolutely first rate soul numbers including the tracks which made her reputation -  I Can’t Stand The Rain, 99 Lbs and I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down.  The rest is of a pretty high calibre with the wonderfully heartfelt I Still Love You, Crazy About You Baby and Come To Mama standing out.

(# 314) The Doors – L.A. Woman (1971)

I have never been able to decide on a favourite Doors album seemingly unable to decide between their debut, Morrison Hotel or this.  One thing that I’ve always been clear about is the power of their music especially when Jim Morrison sings straight forward rock songs rather than enunciating poetry set to music.  For an album frequently acknowledged as a classic, only the magnificent title track , the single Love Her Madly and the splendid Riders On The Storm, are routinely acknowledged as among this band’s best work.  The status of the album comes from the consistent high quality of the remainder.  The Changeling is a very effective opener; Been Down So Long and their cover of John Lee Hooker’s Crawling King Snake are convincing attempts at the blues and Cars Hiss By My Window is suitably atmospheric.

But in the main, today has been one to reflect and take things easy especially with a return to work tomorrow.