RANDOM BITS:

Where to begin? How about missing the Stanley Cup playoffs... all I have now is baseball [as boring as watching grass grow] and Nascar [only once a week]. On the other hand, the thought just struck me that the Stars are one year closer to losing Pierre Turgeon's $ 6 million per year salary for not much. What a bust he was. And we will never know if Modano would have come back strong from last year's distractions or continued to wallow in red ink. But we will also not see if Brett Hull and Mike Ricci and other signing would boost the Phoenix/Arizona Coyotes into contenders in the Pacific division. If the aging Maple Leafs could put together another miracle run at the Cup like the aged 1967 group. If the Tampa Bay Lightning or the Calgary Flames [and up and comers like the Nashville Predators] can prove that the last Cup finals were no fluke; that if you build a team around youth and use your money wisely, you can win.

We may never see Steve Yzerman, 'Chopper' Al MacInis, Chris Chelios, Peter Forsberg, Dave Andreychuk, Ed Belfour, Dominick Hasek or Mario Lemieux lace them up again. And that's just aged stars. Who will be lost forever in a new, salary capped NHL?

No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion

This 4 CD set, the forerunner to the Left of the Dial Set, is an excellent collection of US and UK 'punk' from about 1974 to 1981 or so.

Yes, a lot of these tracks were anthologized on Rhino's D.I.Y series... sell them back. [Keep the Boston, Mass one!] Yes, there are a lot of tracks by the usual suspects [Ramones, Clash, Damned, Buzzcocks, Blondie, the Jam, X. Television, Patti Smith, Elvis Costello, Dead Kennedys... several of whom have catalog on Rhino!] NO, the Sex Pistols are not on the set. There were apparently sticky negotiations, but you own THAT ALBUM anyway don't you?

What makes me saddest though is that this set points out the inadequacy of the Left of the Dial set. LotD is spread too thin, trying to cover all the cool bands in one fell swoop and really kind of failing to do any of them justice. Which points to a glaring need for a second LotD set or perhaps one called Riding the New Wave focusing on say 1980-1985 and then letting LotD intermix from college radio bands say 1984-1989 [Grunge]...

Anyway, back to the great No Thanks. Like LotD, I found a LOT of interesting things here I had not heard before. Just random playing right now, there's Mink DeVille's Loaded era-Velvet Underground sounding Let Me Dream If I Want To, Pere Ubu's dark and spooky Final Solution, the Saints' I'm Stranded and the Stranglers, who I have all ready gone and bought another collection by. I know I've heard Richard Hell's Blank Generation, but I swear this is a cleaned up version that sounds so much more powerful than I remember. Same with the Stooges' Search and Destroy. And OH MY GAWD, the X-Ray Spex Oh Bondage Up Yours! HOLY COW, where did Poly Styrene come from? And that's just disc one!

There's a well of the lost here: Generation X with Billy Idol up front come off very well with Your Generation and Ready Steady Go... the early Boomtown Rats tracks here, Lookin' After No. 1 and She's So Modern are so far removed from their "hit" I Don't Like Mondays its hard to believe it's the same band. The Avengers' We Are the One is a fantastic lost cut. Ditto Don't Dictate by Penetration, Homocide by 999, [My Baby Does] Good Sculptures and Top of the Pops by the Rezillios, Babylon's Burning by the Ruts, Borstal Breakoutt by Sham 69...

Yes, there are some things I could do without... putting Joe Jackson's hit Is She Really Going Out With Him? over some of his more punk things like Look Sharp! or Got the Time or I'm the Man; Elvis Costello's Radio , Radio and Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart AGAIN... but it's a few little personal things versus a really great and dedicated set.

I hope this leads some people to buy Stiff Little Fingers and the Stranglers, the Jam, the Damned [whose Strawberries and Machine Gun Etiquette are out on re-issue!], the Vibrators excellent Pure Mania and the Dead Boys. As for myself, I think I will begin looking for the Avengers, some Soft Boys and the Rezillios...

4.0 Stars... that's 4 Safety Pins through the Cheek to You!

Changes Aren't Permanent... but Change Is

I was thinking the other day [instead of concentrating on my JOB] about R.E.M. because of the impending [as in doom] release of the Warner Bros. years catalog [remastered, bonus tracks, all the bells and whistles]. And I asked myself, why did I grow to ... loathe this band so? Did I turn away from a band that did some very good/bordering on great work in the 80's or did they turn away from me? Which led me to a broader question: How is it that we can complain about bands who change and also complain about bands that stay the same?

Let me state up front that this is not to bash R.E.M.; I wouldn't buy one of their new records if they were giving away gold bricks with them, but I can say the same for U2 after the disasters that were Zooropa and Pop. And while I see myself interested in only ONE of the WB catalog, the under rated Monster; maybe Green--- used, and I still believe they should have followed their original plan and broken up with the millennium [or when Bill Berry quit... Buck lost a powerful part of his rock and roll voting block there and Mills and Stipe took advantage of the power vacuum], I can see that some people still did them. I don't get it, but I don't get a lot of things. Who are they making record for these days? Is there some urgent void in music that only they can fill or is it because it's what the DO, the only thing they CAN do??

Staying on R.E.M. for a second: they made those great jangly records in the early 80's that no one was making anymore. Peter Buck and those Rickenbacker's and clean arpeggios ringing out like bells instead of sludging around in power chords like everyone else... it was another breath of fresh air. And that group was frighteningly original, the bass player and drummer only falling together by accident most of the time, not locked into each other like every other band, and Michael Stipe like a big old fog horn in the middle of it all. [Thanks to Musician magazine for the imagery]. They showed a touch of roots in folk, musically and politically] beginning on Reconstruction of the Fables/ Fables of the Reconstruction [Green Grow the Rushes, Wendell Gee], but by the time of their major label debut, Green, featuring the worst pop song in the history of music, Stand, they seemed torn between folk and rock, not really finding a middle ground, and it seemed the album suffered as a result. I was disappointed in their next effort, the decidedly un-pop but very popular Out of Time [well produced, but kitschy], never heard much of Automatic for the People, reveled in the return to rock of Monster, then got lost in the lushness of New Adventures in Hi Fi, bought Up, listened once and sold it back...

The band changed, but so did I. Why was I unable to roll through these changes? What was it about these albums that made me want to retch? How about the Replacements fan who put on Don't Tell A Soul and said 'What happened to my favorite band?' Neil Young changes styles and bands like some people change their jeans, and not that I like every one of Neil's records, but you can never be sure so you have to check them out. David Bowie is also famous for his changes and shifting gears and again, some of it works better than others. Ryan Adams is struggling with who he wants to be. I think part of him wants to be a rich and famous Rock and Roll STAR, and part of him wants to be the guy with the guitar singing sad songs in bars, and the only time he's put them both together in a completely satisfying way was Gold. Unfortunately I can no longer buy his records on the strength of his name. Unfortunately Aerosmith is stuck making their 90's records over and over and now they're something I can't stand the sight of anymore. They updated their sound for Permanent Vacation, a good [not great] record, Pump rocked, they they [or their record company] decided they have to sound like Bon Jovi and they have ever since, much to the dismay of those who remember and still worship Toys in the Attic and Rocks. U2 also updated their sound with resounding success on Achtung Baby, but then did one okay record and one over the edge record and now I am no longer interested, no matter how much you tell me they sound like Boy or War. Wilco continues to make challenging and interesting albums, refusing to be locked into anyone's box. There may come a day when I say Tweedy too has gone to far though.

On the flip side of the coin, we have bands that don't change: the safe as milk bet. Son Volt made Trace, then Trace 2 and Trace 3... or so it seems. One was a critical hit and a good record, why didn't the other two connect in my mind? The Stones changed way back in '68 and grew into something great, but they've been regurgitating that formula ever since '72 with mixed success... only Some Girls and Tattoo You seem to have had any lasting bite in the last 25 years! AC/DC continues to go in and out of style, but they rarely alter the formula. The Black Crowes regurgitate the Stones, Faces and Zeppelin but I love that...

I guess I just need to know if we're all thinking the same way: we want what sounds different but the same from out favorite bands. We want them to grow but not grow. We want to grow up but not change too much. We want to have it both ways.

The great part of music is that what I like and dislike and what you fellow listeners like and dislike are all matters of opinion. I try to make you a convert to what I like and vice-verse. We argue, we debate, but I think in the end we agree that we will never all agree. And that's the fun part. You make me explore something I haven't heard before and I turn you onto something. The we all gang up on someone else and make him listen to something we both like. And the beat goes on, eh?

The $44.00 Experiment - Side Tracked

I have not been able to concentrate on the vinyl portions of the experiment in a while, though I have put the Silos on and I am working on the words... but I got myself side tracked by two of the bands I found: Roxy Music and Let's Active.

I got Let's Active's Big Plans for Everybody and it's GREAT in an R.E.M. meets the Waterboys and Dream Syndicate kind of way. Basically a Mitch Easter alone project in the vein of Prince's Sign O' the Times, the album is eerily similar in sound to R.E.M.'s Fables and shares the sort of timeless-ness, i.e. not locked into any cliche keyboard/guitar sounds of the day [1985]. Frighteningly original. 4.0 stars

I mentioned having the Roxy Music on order, I got the CDs and they are grand! Country Life sounds like nothing else that was coming out in 1974, kind of pre-dating Bowie's 'Heroes' sound, especially on Thrill of It All and Out of the Blue. All I Want Is You is a kind of nod to Mott the Hoople. The second side suite of Bittersweet, Tryptich, Cassonova are odd but interesting theatrical pieces, kind of Alice Cooper's Billion Dollar Babies meets Bowie's Alladin Sane meets Lou Reed's Berlin. A Really Good Time adds a touch of Randy Newman into that mix. Prarie Rose closes with a bit of funky rock. Very very good. 4.0 stars, maybe 4.5 with a few more listens.

1975's Siren [yes, that willowy lass on the cover is Jerry Hall] opens with what I swore was a Ferry solo song, Love Is the Drug proably the closest thing to Roxy having a hit. End of the Line is a slower ballad with great fiddle work on the break by Edwin Jobson. Sentimental Fool opens with a minute and a half of feedback worthy of any Funkadelic album and leads into a mid tempo soulful tear jerker. Whirlwind opens with a blast of noise worthy of any of the New York punk bands, then falls into something similar to Television or Blondie. She Sells is the song Jeff Lynne would steal for E.L.O.'s Evil Woman [well, who steals from whom? I don't know...] Both Ends Burning is a galloping dance track. Nightengale follows with a nice phased guitar phrase and descending chorus, catchy typical 70's... 4.0 stars

1973's For Your Pleasure [with Eno] opens with the cracked mirror beats of Do the Strand. Beauty Queen features some shimmering keyboard sounds under Ferry's tremlo voice. This album is harder to describe, much more arty and dramatic, more SOUND oriented than SONG oriented than the others. Not in a bad way necessarily, but... 3.5 stars

Book Report

A while back, the Rock and Roll Report ran a fiction essay contest, which I happen to have won [probably by being the only entry, but a W is a W, though I am still waiting for my pat on the back from former Rolling Stone editor Ben Fong-Torres, by the way...], but I happened to be in the bookstore last week and I found a book that could have won easily with any of the short stories contained within: Sylvie Simmons' Too Weird For Ziggy.

This collection of 18 stories, most running between 12-15 pages, though a couple go for 20, centers loosely on several recurring characters, mostly British rock stars, managers, hangers and journalists [including the author taking a first person perspective in a couple of the tales]. You'll recognize the inspirations for the characters: Pussy, the sex kitten front woman who goes into seclusion when her songwriting guitarist/boyfriend dies in a car crash; Cal, the LA surfer boy who locks himself away from the industry for 10 years; Reeve, who channels the spirit of Jim Morrison for his 'Tribute Band' and winds up a German TV talk show host; Lee Ann StarMountain, the country singer with the fire and brimstone mama from Hell; Jeanie, the obsessed groupie who writes her letter of devotion on a roll of hotel TP to be delivered by the maid...

Some of the stories are downright WEIRD, like Allergic To Kansas, a tale in which the alpha male lead singer grows female type breasts in some sort of stress reaction and Too Weird For Ziggy in which a manager attempts to revive/reanimate his 'dead [thought it never says physically or just dead career wise] Bowie-type star.

But there's also the wickedly funny Spitting Image, in which a spoiled pretty boy star buys his robot/puppet likeness from an exhibition and throws it a reception only to receive an ear and a Polaroid from somewhere, but not a ransom note... and continues receiving them until one day in Hollywood... Close To You about a series of apparitions of the true holy mother Karen Carpenter and the Karen Clubs that spring up in their wake [blasphemous to be sure, but with a wink and a grin]...

This book just reads like a series of vignettes for a straight to DVD Rock and Roll Twilight Zone movie. Picture three people, a writer, manager and roadie all sitting in a bar swapping war stories and gossip... My speculation is that this is the stuff real rock and roll writers do while waiting in bars, airports and hotel rooms. According to her credentials, Simmons has done her share of waiting, writing for Mojo, Rolling Stone, Kerrang, Q, Sounds and Creem [BOY HOWDY!].

There's nothing earth shattering here; it's not Dante's Inferno or even Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. But it's a quick and fun read, easily devoured during a week of lunch breaks or wherever you do your reading.

Reflections of Hunter Revisited: Last Thoughts on Hunter S Thompson

After a couple of weeks to reflect [and a wickedly funny tribute in this week's Doonesbury] to review and reflect on HST. In reviewing that last book, Kingdom of Fear, I still think that the The Doctor's writing had been sliding, but it is only in comparison to the strikingly radical work he did in the 70s. No respectable journalist had ever inserted themselves as part of the story. A GOOD journalist was supposed to present the facts as a disinterested observer and let the reader draw his own conclusions. Hunter not only injected himself, often violently, into his stories, he often let his biases and opinions be slathered all over a story like barbecue sauce on a brisket. It's a style few have been able to copy, though PJ O'Rourke seems to be able to pull it off on a less grand scale.

Of course Hunter had free reign at Rolling Stone, a freedom that allowed him to ramble at great length between making his points. So of course the 80s and 90s attempts to package Hunter into bite sized easily digestible [and mainstream] columns were a failure. It's akin to having Michelangelo painting postage stamps or engraving coins. Some people need large canvases for their work and Hunter was one of those.

Remember that Hunter was a little older than the people he wrote for. When he was 30 in 67 or 68, he was all ready a seasoned world traveler writing for the National Observer, The Nation and Scanlan's and he'd all ready written Hells Angels. He's go through Chicago, Nixon's election and go hide out in Vegas where that book was born of a depraved and drug addled mind. But Thompson was able to turn all that warped perspective into a tool. He was able to come back from mind bending binges and focus the razor sharp insight and describe it to us. Something as simple as describing tail lights flashing by at 100 mph at the end of Angels, just a simple zaaappppp... Brilliant.

Think also of all the changes in media during his career; from twice daily newspapers and large glossy magazines to the instant news of the internet and satellite and cable TV; from manual typewriters to the IBM Selectric to the PC and laptop; the 18 minutes per page Mojo wire to the fax to instant email... I don't think Hunter wanted to see the first cyborgs, humans with instant communication ports built into them; sit down at your laptop and think it and it appears on the screen and is published on your web page.

And make no mistake, Hunter's impact is HUGE on the Blogger nation. There's thousands of us HST wanna bes out here and now we have our forum. The BLOG has opened up media the way the four track recorder opened up the music business... who knew there were so many after work Jimmy Page/Eric Clapton/ Johnny Rotten's out there? But we are all pale imitations of the master. Surely his writing was an exaggeration, a larger than life tall tale from a vivid imagination. He knew Americans like their heroes BIG, like everything big, loud and bold, so he was. But one could only maintain that peak, ride that wave for so long, and it became obvious that the burnout was beginning by the time he covered Ali/Spinks for Rolling Stone in 1978 [reprinted in The Great Shark Hunt collection].

I guess my point is this: Hunter S Thompson will be remembered as a radical voice for a radical time; in other words the right voice at the right time. But like many of his readers he burned through the nova of the late 60s and early 70s very brightly then imploded into... the stardustof Joni Mitchell's Woodstock? The anger and repulsion of the twin national nightmares of Vietnam and Watergate took a heavy toll; what was left to do after the war was over and Nixon dropped out of sight? Thompson seemed to wander aimlessly after the fall of Saigon piece for Rolling Stone [also in TGSH collection], occasionally surfacing with something to remind us of how great he could be [the Roxanne Pulitzer trial coverage, A Dog Took My Place or his last words on Richard Nixon, both in RS], refusing to do another Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, perhaps knowing you can only get away with that once. Mostly he retired to his compound in Colorado where he could only do harm to himself. Mostly.

Like many of out heroes, it's hard, sad, almost painful to watch them in decline. Think of Ali, still dignified but silent and shaking in the throes of Parkinson's. We Want to remember Ali as The Champ, the Ali of the Rumble in the Jungle and the Thrilla In Manila. We want to remember Elvis as a young vital newly minted rock and roll star, not Fat Vegas Elvis. We like our heroes young and energetic. Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, James Dean, Jim Morrison, Marilyn Monroe: all forever frozen at their peaks. We never suffered through bad albums, horrible movies, fat, balding, rehab, etc. Jack Kennedy forever enshrined with his youth, enthusiasm and energy still very much alive. And we wanted Thompson to be the Thompson/Raul Duke of Fear and Loathing forever. Now he will be.

Thompson wrote his own eulogy at the end of Hells Angels:

But with the throttle screwed on there is only the bareset margin, and no room at all for mistakes. It has to be done right... and that's when the strange music starts, when you stretch your luck so far that fear becomes and exhilaration and vibrates along your arms. ...The Edge... There's no honest way to explain it because the only ones who know where it is have gone over. The others-the living- are those who pushed their control as far as they felt they could handle it, and then pulled back, or slowed down, or did whatever they had to when it came time to choose between Now and Later.*

So long Hunter.

*from Hells Angels: A Starnge and Terrible Saga - 1966

Comments, Apologies and Loose Ends...

1. Well the Westerberg show did not suck. In fact it was brilliant. 95% electric [only Skyway and Here Comes A Regular solo acoustic, and they were GREAT] with a good tight band. Not that there are any 'hits' to play, but a good chunk of Tim and Pleased to Meet Me [including my favorite, Can't Hardly Waitt] along with a few numbers from the new record, Folk Star especially good... he played for almost two hours and I am glad I went.

Apologies to Kat, Amy and Kitari... how could I have doubted?

That makes five of my top six bands of all time I have seen [Stones, Wilco, Superchunk, pre-1990 Aerosmith and now Westerberg/Replacements] I would not count seeing Paul McC as seeing the Beatles, so I don't think that one is ever going to happen... throw in seeing Springsteen & the E Street Band on the indoor leg of Born in the USA, Queen, X, Red Hot Chilli Peppers at Bronco Bowl and at Clearview, Fishbone/Primus double bill, BAD/PiL, Lou Reed at Bronco Bowl, Black Crowes hot Amorica shows at the Bomb Factory... I'd say I've seen lots of good shows in my history...

2. On the strength on Instiutionalized on the Left of the Dial box, I have to admit that Suicidal Tendancies maybe has a little bit of punk credibility... I apologize Mike [Holy Mikey] Haywood.

3. In light of recent acquisition of the remastered Let There Be Rock, [AC/DC] I must apologize to one Ed Voyles and update my rating of this album to a 3.75 [of 5]. It is still not my favorite of the Bon albums [Powerage and/or Highway], but it is chock full of fine AC/DC...

4. 03/07/05- "BW&BK reports: To tide fans over before a new studio release, Velvet Revolver is planning on unveiling a live album and DVD at some point.

"We record everything," Slash says. "We've done a bunch of shows where we've full-on multi-tracked and we're actually mixing the stuff."

What is going on here? A band has one album and they're ALREADY talking live album? That's insane!

There used to be a real spot in rock and roll for live albums. And live albums used to mean something. But now it seems they're just part of the souvenir packaging available at shows. [Grabbing back, leaning on my cane...] Back in my day all we got was a lousy T-shirt or tour book.. and we liked it!

There was a period when the live album was used to break an artist, to use the energy that a band would feed off of during the live show to drive them to new heights. Of course, a lot of them seem rooted in that mythical time when rock and roll was going through it's adolescence and not afraid to experiment a little, roughly 1969 - 1976... starting with, oh 1969's Live Dead by the Grateful Dead and ending with Frampton Comes Alive or [maybe] the Stones' Love You Live. Think about some of the great live albums in those years:

Allman Brothers - Live at the Fillmore East
CSNY - Four Way Street
Rory Gallagher - Irish Tour 74
J Geils Band - Full House
Humble Pie - Performance: Rockin' the Fillmore
Kiss - Alive!
Lou Reed - Rock N Roll Animal
Rolling Stones - Get Your Ya Yas Out
Johnny Winter And... Live
Wishbone Ash - Live Dates

[*And I am sure Mike Leone and Rich will add Vanilla Fudge's live album and Rare Earth Live.]

After this golden period, the live album became a 'rite of passage' or a 'contract filler'...think about mediocre live albums like the Stones Still Life, Aerosmith Live Bootleg, J Geils Blow Your Face Out, David Bowie's David Live, Fleetwood Mac Live, The Alice Cooper Show, any number of Grateful Dead double discs that could have been cut back to single albums... sure there were a couple great ones like Cheap Trick at Budokahn and Foghat Live, but they became exceptions.

Now it appears that bands are using the live album as another concert souvenir. I blame the Grateful Dead for this mess, but Pearl Jam releasing all those live shows and the Stones, Pink Floyd and Paul McCartney following each tour with a live album set an ugly and dangerous precedent.

A live album does not give the experience of seeing the band from your chair, trying to see around people or trying not to choke on all the smoke in a bar show and the guitar player taking an extra solo because the singer is yelling at the monitor engineer... but it DOES put a part of that experience onto plastic and freezes it like a photograph as compared to a video. Frampton found this out on his next tour following the live album. I remember reading an article in the 90s where he described the next tour as hell because 'they didn't want new music, they wanted the live album.'

My point is this: in a mass consumer, instant gratification age, where there is a lot of competition for the dollar, this is just bands taking advantage of people wanting to consume product and being obsessed with bands. Instead of saying 'Use your dollars to check out some of the people who influenced us,' I think this is saying [in the words of the Thamesmen a/k/a/ Spinal Tap] 'Gimme Some Money.' The Stones, Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Pearl Jam, etc need more of your dollars for their old age retirement funds.

In recent years there has also been a huge glut of previously unissued live works by 'Classic Rock' acts, such as the Live at the BBC series, Live at the Fillmore [Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Janis Joplin... you know Bill Graham also recorded AND FILMED a lot, if not all the acts that played there...] and the King Biscuit Flour Hour series. We've also seen additional or expanded live releases by the Who [Isle of Wight, and TWO expanded Live at Leeds packages], Jimi Hendrix [always a target for the questionably legal release, hopefully the family is getting some $ for these releases], the Led Zeppelin live album that for years the band refused to do [saying The Song Remains the Same would be the only live release... how many Benjamins did it take to change Jimmy Page's mind?] and the Doors Hollywood bowl appearance [with a rehearsal added too! Which do you think Jim was more sober for?] and The Band's Last Waltz. Again, all these recoding paid for and/or written off years ago. How many of these are truly quality performances? Is there historical significance to any of these performances? Okay, I'll grant the BBC tend to be very good and the Zep is very good, but I do not have much interest in a lot of this any more; I am looking for something NEW, not rehashing past glories.Is this just the record company's last grab at the Baby Boomer's yearn for nostalgia?

This is the same argument I have against endless repackaging of bands. How many Best of the Doors are there? Aerosmith? The Stones? The Beatles? The Who? Record companies issue these because the material is all ready paid for several times over, it's proven to sell and they usually pay a lower royalty rate on repackaged material. It's a money grab by the record company!

I have nothing against getting a best of to check out a band you know little about, just don't get fooled into buying the same song ten different times. And beware of the live album... once you have it you will forget your real concert experience and only remember what you hear on that piece of plastic.

Distracted by the Left of the Dial box set and the No, Thanks box set coming, plus an influx of Roxy Music, out hero gallantly returns to his challenge:

The $ 44.00 Experiment- Part Duex

Live, Love, Larf & Loaf - French, Frith, Kaiser, Thompson

Being familiar only with the name of Richard Thompson and thinking Fred Frith was somehow associated with the Cocteau Twins [he is apparently associated with some band called Henry Cow, some Robert Wyatt recordings and Brian Eno's Before and After Science; John French is known for his work with Captain Beefheart; Henry Kaiser has a solo career, though he appears to have recorded with Crazy Backwards Alphabet also] I picked this up...

Sometimes from mistakes we find interesting things... Deb once told me she bought the Swimming Pool Qs because of a cool album cover... well this record is a TREAT. Not because it's overpowering or a life changing album, but it's got a JOY and sense of fun SADLY lacking in music in recent years. The closest thing I can think of to comparing this to is Adrian Belew's solo work.

The album kicks off with the very fun Wings A La Mode, then runs into Killerman Gold Posse, a slab of Belew era Frank Zappa [Sheik Yerbouti] fun.. I say FZ because of the ensemble vocals on the break. Where's the Money sounds like Todd Rundgren's Utopia meets King Crimson meets the Rutles ... Hai Sai Oji San is a Russian sounding oriental folk song.. the jacket advises the language is Okinawan, but it really sound like something the Swedish Chef would sing on the Muppet Show. Drowning Black Night sounds like a typical Richard Thompson piece, Thompson's heavy burr and Mark Knopfler guitar meets the Terry Bozzio-Tony Levin rhythm section of Black Light Project... or perhaps Adrian Belew joining Television? A cover of the Beach Boys Surfin USA sounds like a Russian bar band doing the song... whoever sings the second verse sounds like the late Paul Lynde. The Second Time is a nice Duane Eddy meets Dire Straits riff with a vocal in the Jimmy Buffet range [except more meaningful and no mention of boats... just the TONE of Buffet]. Tir Nan Dyrag sounds like a Russian military march as performed by King Crimson. Disposable Thoughts rides a very Discipline era King Crimson riff. Bird In God's Garden/Lost and Found sounds like a middle eastern chant; roughly Soundgarden's Like Suicide meets Frank Zappa and Jon Luc Ponty... great violin work by Frith.

Again, this is not a life changing album, but it will be one I come back to from time to time to be reminded that the music business doesn't always have to be so serious.

3.5 stars

Afoot [EP] - Let's Active

Before or while he was allowing R.E.M. to use his studio, Mitch Easter had a little outfit called Let's Active, also signed to Miles Copeland's IRS Records. This EP was put out in 1983 or early 1984... and I have to say IRS did things right, using the EP as a way to generate interest. Personally, I think R.E.M.'s EP Chronic Town kicks the holy shit out of the much praised Murmur. What was actually recommended to me was Big Plans for Everybody [now on it's way courtesy of ebay].

Every Word Means No featuring Easter's extremely nasal voice is three piece heaven with chiming guitars. Good pop! Make Up with Me is more original catchy 80s pop that will have you singing along by the second chorus. Edge of the World is straight ahead pop with lush echoed vocals. Room with A View is synth driven pop, one of the girls singing, a surprisingly full sound with a very full funky Duran Duran style bass. In Between, more female vocals, sounds like October/Gloria era U2 with a nice intricate guitar solo [no Edge type echo]. Leader of Men is a Go-Gos [Talk Show era] challenging rougher pop song. Vocal rhythm taken from the Clash's Stay Free. Great bass on the last three... the jacket advises there were three sessions, I'm betting the last three songs were from the last session... the band just sounds so much tighter and fuller and more confident.

4.0 Stars