MOG - RobP's Posts

Jackson Saints, Where Are You?

RobP — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:54:11 GMT

Okay, apparently I know where the Jackson Saints are - San Francisco, which is the only place I've seen them. Only it's been 15 or 20 years, and when I was reminded of them tonight while listening to the Dictators (they used to cover a Dictators song - Stay With Me, I'm pretty sure, and I think Chuck Davis was the name of their singer then, and he was great, and I saw him in the crowd at a Dictators reunion show, early 90s, and said to him, "You guys shoulda opened" - and Chuck or whoever their singer was nodded and smiled in agreement, I didn't know him I just thought they were the best band in SF at the time, somewhere on a level approaching Sister Double Happiness, and I don't think a whole lot of bands from <anywhere approach SDH, I mean for a couple of years that was just one of the best bands in the world...)

Rambling on (without the R Plant Tolkien references, as amusing as they might be), I was really surprised upon googling the Jackson Saints tonight to find them apparently still extant, and apparently still based out of SF, and with mostly the same players. Although of course the time my brother came up from Santa Cruz to see them at my insistence they'd changed vocalists without notifying me and they were still damn good but they weren't the same band, they didn't cover the Dictators. And I really liked that earlier singer a lot. Oh, the point being that I don't see any way of contacting the Jackson Saints except via their Myspace page. Which would require me starting a Myspace account. Which I did once, but that guy who greets everyone and becomes your friend seemed suspiciously like a child molester, and I'm too old to do anything with one of those except kill him. I genuinely was concerned several years ago when my young son started a myspace account and this older guy was his "friend." Bizarre premise, "Hi, I'm presumably in my twenties and I like to have a lot of teenage friends." Yeh. One time I was talking to a cop about a convicted child molester who was in our neighborhood, and the cop intimated that I should take care of it myself. Which I had no problem with on certain levels, although I assumed there would be certain lifelong legal and emotional issues involved if I actually killed someone. I did think the guy deserved it though.

So, much as I used to like the Jackson Saints, I do have certain issues with myspace. Which is why I'm posting this, in the hopes that at some point someone who knows some other way of getting in touch with the band can give me a heads up. Of course, if someone actually in the band saw this that would be ideal. But I guess that point would be clear by now, eh?

The Dictators vs. Motorhead

RobP — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 04:57:33 GMT

Driving home tonight, thoroughly enjoying Motorhead but the entire 2 album cd had run its course and after letting the magnificent recorded in a toilet anthem 'Motorhead' play for the second time today, I decided to switch to the Dictators. Who, it occurred to me, I actually prefer to Motorhead. Although whether they have a song as good as 'Motorhead' or 'Ace of Spades' I don't know.

The two cd's I listened to in the car were comparable: the first Motorhead album was followed by the much later 1916 album, with two or three tracks excluded. Similarly, the Dictators cd was their first album, 'Go Girl Crazy,' followed by all but two or three tracks from their 'Bloodbrothers' album.

I know this is a really stupid comparison. Motorhead has many more years of consistently releasing albums, and I don't have enough of those albums to judge accurately but from what I've heard their best stuff made the best of albums. Which are great, of course.

And I love the Dictators. The whole idea that Handsome Dick Manitoba would proclaim himself the best looking man in rock n roll - well, I'd just been thinking yesterday that maybe he'd been comparing himself to Lemmy. Or the singer in the Anti-Nowhere League, have you seen that guy? Anyway...

The Dictators just had a fucking attitude. And it came across in the songwriting, which was pretty much Adny Shernoff, but it was also in the performance - Handsome Dick was absolutely brilliant and also funny as hell. As was Adny. The songs had a cocky sense of humor, a sense of superiority, and they overtly tried to draw inappropriate criticisms - Back To Africa and Master Race Rock are consecutive tracks on their debut album, and neither is remotely offensive and both are damn funny and rock, but those titles sure as hell get your attention.

Motorhead is a different monster altogether, badass from the getgo and with a superior vocalist - much as I like Handsome Dick, Lemmy has one of the great voices in hard rock, a voice where you can't envision the man in another career. He'd clear the block selling ice cream.

And Fast Eddie, when they had him, was the right guy for the job, definitely. A monster guitarist, although of course Ross The Boss for the Dictators left nothing to desire. Fucking perfect fills.

I guess what I really want to do here is rave about two great bands who took different takes on similar turf: punk attitude with more of a metal play. I'm listening to a lot of both bands lately and that part of life is good.

Does he need the fucking money?

RobP — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 05:13:43 GMT

So, there's a rumor that Jimmy Page might play the close of the Olympics with Leona Lewis. I just now tried to listen to a Leona Lewis song; I don't think I lasted 5 seconds. Whereas, if I've got live Zep on my car stereo I'm hoping I get stuck in traffic so I can hear the songs all the way through. Fuck it, the albums all the way through. Have a goddamn earthquake, just leave me in my car with Jimmy Page for two hours. Leona Lewis? Two minutes in my car and my hands would be on her throat.

I know Jimmy used to be a session man so in theory he'd play with anyone, but he no longer needs the money. He gets paid every time Stairway comes on the radio. Oh, and they did okay on their tours and album sales. And there's the Cadillac commercial. So unless the facial surgery was SO expensive (and he does look like a 40 year old Japanese businessman now, instead of a 60 year old British rocker with extremely decadent habits) that the debt he owes is literally to the devil, Jimmy Page can play with whoever he wants whenever he wants. I doubt that he's doing the popstar - she's over 14 for Chrissake.

Maybe he just wants the stage. I just gotta say, as a fan, it's beneath him.

Ladies and Gentlemen, the Author of Black Magic Woman

RobP — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 00:36:40 GMT

I don't know if it's right to say Peter Green's an underrated guitar player, because I think anyone who ever heard him was flat out blown away. What he is is underheard. He tore it up with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers after replacing Eric Clapton in that band; Clapton was probably the best British guitarist alive at the time, at least everyone thought so until they heard Peter Green. I don't know if I've ever heard straight up blues rock guitar played this well (unless you count some of the original blues guys as blues rockers - there's no way this is intended as a disparaging of the studs who played with Howlin Wolf, Muddy Waters, et al.)

Peter Green left Mayall and took a chunk of the Bluesbreakers with him, mainly drummer Mick Fleetwood and, after a few months, bassist John McVie. Green was so eager to have this rhythm section (McVie was apparently reluctant to leave Mayall) that he named the band after them - Fleetwood Mac, which had been the name of an instrumental they'd performed with Mayall.

Among other dazzlements, Green wrote the song Black Magic Woman for Fleetwood Mac, and it was a top 40 hit for them in the UK. Of course, another fine guitarist took a liking to that song, and Carlos Santana's cover became the version that most of us know best.

I haven't yet heard the Fleetwood Mac studio version of Black Magic Woman - it was apparently a staple of their live shows, and there's a live version on at least one album, but the studio version was originally released only as a 45 - but it wasn't a song that apparated out of nowhere. On the Mayall & the Bluesbreakers album A Hard Road (an absolute classic album, worth killing for and if you don't think so I could provide a long list of people who deserve to die), Green takes lead on a song he wrote called The Super-Natural. Check this out. This was 1967, and outside of Hendrix there probably wasn't a guitarist alive who didn't envy this playing.

This one's for the PIMP

RobP — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:52:25 GMT

About two years ago I started on Mog, and my first post got responded to by, among others, some asshole calling himself the Rocknroll pimp. Well, I've still never met this guy from Georgia and a lot of our tastes are totally different, and I've witnessed and been a part of a whole lot of stuff on line the last couple years. I don't know how much I've learned from him or how much he's learned from me, but Keith you motherfucker there's been a helluva lotta music and a helluva lotta living. And an early thing you said to me was you didn't have a lotta Motorhead. I know some of that's been taken care of by now, but this goes back to their first album, and it's a ZZ Top cover and it's great and I figure you've earned at least one dedication. Not that this is the first, but for this place we're oldtimers, i guess we gotta stick together. Cheers ya fuck.

Thank you, Fastnbulbous and Nacao Zumbi

RobP — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 02:05:30 GMT

I don't know when this post was from or if it was just a link to http://www.fastnbulbous.com/nacaozumbi.htm that led me to this incredible band, but as of today I now actually own an album by Nacao Zumbi and this stuff is amazing. Some sort of Brazilian fusion of Latin jazz/hiphop/psychedelia/callitwhatyouwant, this is an amazing album that I simply had to purchase. Enjoying the hell out of this; there's more about the band at the link above, more sample tracks available for streaming on last.fm and presumably elsewhere. It was hard to pick one sample track, but then you can't go wrong with anything from this album.

In Honor of Dan Federici

RobP — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 20:02:00 GMT

Danny, one of the original E Streeters, died last Thursday at age 58. If you ever saw this band, they were always like a gang and a family and they always assumed their audience was part of them. Danny was usually one of the unassuming guys in the back, doing nothing but playing absolutely essential keyboards. Nothing to me epitomizes this band more than Rosalita as they were playing it on the 1978 Darkness tour de force. From all the clips I've seen and heard, Bruce was even better this tour than in 1975 behind Born To Run. Anyway, this one's for Danny.

Brand New Hellacopters (Or Wait Til Next Year In The U.S.)

RobP — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 05:55:00 GMT

So, it's bad enough that The Hellacopters broke up. Then there's the good news, they have a new album out, all covers, all but two of songs by bands I've never heard of - they cover Dead Moon and the Bell Rays back to back, actually covering songs from albums I own. An album of covers of songs hardly anyone's gonna recognize is a little weird, as one of the joys of listening to covers is comparing them to originals, but the Cramps introduced me to a lot of great bands I'd have never heard of otherwise, so I'm open to the concept.

Except, of course, the new Copters is available in Japan now, in Europe soon, and in the U.S. probably some time next year. Which makes absolutely no sense from the band's standpoint - why not make digital versions available so someone will pay for at least some copies of your album? The way they're doing it, by the time the damn thing comes out in the U.S., everyone who wants it will already have it, and unless they're forking over $35 for an import cd they're finding it free somewhere. Um, guys, I know you had a crappy time on your last U.S. tour but that's no reason to take it out on yourselves.

Anyway, the track here is the Copters covering Dead Moon's Rescue.

Hendrix Machine Gun 22 Minutes Live

RobP — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 02:25:03 GMT

Well, if people are gonna put Jimi pictures on my posts, I guess I damnwell better mention some of his music. I think I got pimped to this one anyway.

Isle of Wight festival, 1970. The theme continues. Peace.

Blind faith in your leaders, or anything, will get you killed

RobP — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 17:08:50 GMT

The name of this post comes from Bruce Springsteen's spoken intro to his hit version of Edwin Starr's War. Of course, Bruce precedes these words with "In 1985," but I don't think the year changes anything.

Thought I'd post a version that wasn't such a mega-hit. From The Bitterest Pill single by The Jam.

kill em, they aint us

RobP — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:41:39 GMT

Oh cool, can't sleep cuz I'm pissed off for personal reasons, maybe I'll just turn this page into an anti-war section. God knows I must have enough songs. What else is a great anti-war song of the moment?

Is there anybody here who'd wouldn't mind a murder by another name

RobP — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 07:20:36 GMT

Presidents would rather kill my sons than themselves. I'd prefer the opposite. What else is new? I think we'd be better off if there was a lottery that started with superdelegates going to Irag; put the people who pay the politicians on the front lines. Fuck em, if the best we can do is hate em let's hate em to death.

Is there anybody here who'd like to change his clothes into a uniform,

Is there anybody here who thinks they're only serving in a raging storm.

Is there anybody here with glory in their eyes, loyal to the end, whose duty is to die,

I want to see him, I want to wish him luck,

I wanna shake his hand, wanna call his name,

Pin a medal on the man.

Is there anybody here who'd like to wrap a flag around an early grave, Is there anybody here who thinks they're standing taller on a battle wave. Is there anybody here who'd like to do his part, A soldier to the world and a hero to his heart, I want to see him, I want to wish him luck, I wanna shake his hand, wanna call his name, Pin a medal on the man.

Is there anybody here proud of the parade,

who'd like to give a cheer and show they're not afraid.

I'd like like to ask him what he's trying to defend,

I'd like to ask him what he thinks he's gonna win.

Is there anybody here who thinks that following orders takes away the blame

Is there anybody here who'd wouldn't mind a murder by another name

Is there anybody here whose pride is on the line,

with the honor of the brave and the courage of the blind,

I want to see him, I want to wish him luck,

I wanna shake his hand, gonna call his name,

Pin a medal on the man. Medal on the man.

If Musicians Hate War, Maybe I Should Too

RobP — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 07:33:04 GMT

Anti-war song of the moment, from Joe Lally (ex-Fugazi bassist), not my favorite song on this excellent album but it seems appropriate right now. Most of the album is great lo-fi with killer bass (of course), kinda like Joe was hangin with Bill Callahan for awhile.

don't wear flowers in yr hair

RobP — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 03:15:01 GMT

if yr goin to sxsw - hey jen - you may find yrself relating to the title track from joe ely's musta notta gotta lotta, his first studio record after the lubbock calling tour when he opened for the clash:

please understand me everything's alright i just musta notta gotta lotta sleep last night

cheers all, enjoy

Badass As She Wants To Be

RobP — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 07:23:27 GMT

So, lucky me, I happen to be vaguely acquainted with Ava Mendoza, a guitarist I lucked into seeing one night who I later recognized when she came into the place where I work. Like many a fine musician, Ava plays with more than one band, including Bolivar Zoar (and oh god I love the song of theirs mentioned elsewhere on my page) and Mute Socialite. Well, the Mute Socialite album is absolutely stunning from the opening note, includes a Fred Frith cover, otherwise reminds me of Last Exit which is a compliment pretty much beyond any words I can come up with.

This shit is loud, goes in numerous directions, is total noise fusion like what if Ornette Coleman just went for it with a four piece rock band, and with that in mind is real easy to listen to if you're into that sort of thing - it's definitely mood music, but it's melodic as hell. A chaotic world requires music like this, because this is actually a response to the chaos, an acknowledgment of the world as it is that doesn't accept what the world gives us as all we are.

Oh, and the drummer used to be in Sleepytime Gorilla Museum.

There is very little new music that comes along and does this much; offering something genuinely NEW, with the music industry offering god knows how many categories that I don't have a clue (or curiosity) as to what they mean. I just want things that sound good. Sometimes they're pretty, more often they rock. But the best stuff is beautiful noise. That's what this is.

I think they've cheated themselves, because I don't think Mute Socialite is a great name. And this is definitely a great band.

KILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILLKILL

Don't know why this song fucking kills me

RobP — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 07:21:34 GMT

but it does, always has. Their best song was Palace of Love, this comes before it on the debut album. Doll By Doll was lauded by the English press when this came out, the new metal wave or whatever the fuck they were calling it at the end of the seventies. I just think this song's beautiful, don't have any idea what that ending means but I absolutely love it, damn good song from a damn good album: "Walking backward through the snow/Baby please don't go." I'm from California, god knows why this means so much to me.

the prisoners

RobP — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:01:20 GMT

hey benjimon, check this one out til i get around to putting something together. great forgotten band.

GREATEST SOLO ALBUM: Alan Vega?

RobP — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 01:40:49 GMT

Was listening to the first Alan Vega album (recorded soon after Suicide's breakup), thinking how great it is, drawing blanks on other great solo albums by musicians after leaving the band that made them famous. Thought of Johnny Thunders, David Johansen, John Lennon, otherwise not much. And of those mentioned here, Thunders' So Alone is the only one that I think compares to Vega's solo debut, a throbbing psychotic rockabilly venture, as though Iggy sang for the Cramps.

The instrumentation is sparse, the guitarist a guy I've otherwise never heard of, Phil Hawk. One of my favorite albums, obscure or otherwise.

Tunng SMELLS LIKE SYD BARRETT

RobP — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 04:57:02 GMT

Just got this album, this song is a HIT if it ever gets played once, just a great bizarre pop song and it reminds me of very early Pink Floyd. Anyone who can write tunes as catchy as this and Bricks - and check out the first verse to the latter -

The bicycles inside your skull Send you away and off you go Into the streets where all the pretty girls collect their thoughts for you and pin them up to clouds and trees And aggravate your paranoid and shivering fears and rolling aches Can you not see a star out there

- well, I'm hooked. I do not like this KIND of music, but this band KILLS me. Softly, with their songs, telling surreal life.

Fave songs of 2007

RobP — Tue, 25 Dec 2007 08:11:39 GMT

Ok, I think these were all 2007 releases, anyway, that's when I got em, and there's no order to this (or anything else):

3s and 7s - Queens of the Stone Age Summers and Autumns - Monotonix Rock and Roll - Jerry Lee Lewis w/ Jimmy Page Heart's On Fire - Christopher Denny Anna Leigh - The Sadies Pale Rider Blues - Arbouretum Tout va pour le mieux dans le pire des mondes - Les Breastfeeders Spoke - Shellac Dress Blues - Jason Isbell Icky Thump - White Stripes Caw of the Amazon Jungle Woman Queen - Bolivar Zoar Devil's Arcade - Bruce Springsteen

Thanks to all who turned me on to however much of this.

Segue Suggestions?

RobP — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 07:06:22 GMT

Ok, top songs for the week from my trusteds includes 'Fuck and Run' by Liz Phair and 'I Spent My Last $10.00 (On Birth Control And Beer)' by Two Nice Girls. Are you guys working together or is it just spring fever kickin in? I have a sudden urge to play Ministry's version of Lay Lady Lay.

Sex With Mom

RobP — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 01:02:41 GMT

Letter to Bowie Knife by Calexico is better than sex with your mom. That's right, yours. It's even better than a good slice of muenster cheese. Although maybe not better than one in yr mom.

Now, what else is better than yer other paltry offerings? Oh, anything by the Stooges is better than anything by any band with Cutie in their name.

Any band with Velvet in their name should shut the fuck up unless Lou Reed is their singer.

And I know all you emo folk have deeply emotional sad lives, but you could be in Iraq or Rwanda or my bedroom so maybe you should just move out of mom's house and stop yr whining.

Cut me off in traffic, see what happens. This ain't rage, this is existence.

Best Damn Rock Singer in the World

RobP — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 04:54:04 GMT

Ok, I don't mind stirring up a debate cuz I got a viable candidate and I'd love to hear anyone I might prefer. But I just got the album by Catfish Haven and to my ears George Hunter is the best singer to hit the rock scene since Graham Parker. It's similar turf, and I remember Graham getting criticized for having limited range so he recorded some tracks where he hit high notes that shoulda been abrasive coming from a man but were fucking beautiful without going into any phony falsetto a la certain singers from world's greatest rnr bands.

Oops, knocking a hero there, not the intent of this. Just that when I say someone is a great singer, I mean he's got chops and he's got taste and I'd pay to hear his version of Happy Birthday. And I've listened to a lot of music, but most of my favorite singers of the 80s and 90s weren't really great singers - of the batch, I probably like Steve Albini's vocals best. Scratch that, Gary Floyd on the first Sister Double Happiness album is probably my favorite rock vocal post 1980.

I found Catfish Haven through Mog, specifically Bawston Sean and Grand Palace and I think at least one other person, but there is no way to describe a great voice. There are samples on Catfish Haven's web page, there are some songs on Multiply; my advice is check em out and do yourself a favor and buy the damn album. Too many times I've heard a band and thought, if only they had a better singer. With this band that possibility never enters my mind.

Because it makes for a pleasant drive, AJ

RobP — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 19:14:59 GMT

For starters, thanks to lemontwist and mogroith for the Pavement; AJ was wondering why she liked Slanted & Enchanted so much. I think cuz it's really good pop music with strange structures/changes, and it still rocks. The band is naturally strange to the degree that their songs are strange, there's never any sense of "maybe we should do something weird here to be artistic." And, it rolls right over in the car stereo, from last track back to first and it flows beautifully. They seem to have roots in some of the popper aspects of the Velvet Underground, but also in the noise guitar parts. And they write absolutely great songs. A band it has taken me far too long to get into, because the first person to try to turn me on to them was my best friend's soon-to-be-a-junky ex-wife; basically, I no longer trusted her judgment. Then I couple years ago I heard the song Harness Your Hopes, loved it, checked out a few more songs that didn't do much for me. Until I heard Shady Lane, which by itself was enough to make me more actively curious. And now I have found this absolutely gorgeous and rockin album, thanks to the absolutely gorgeous and rockin AJ and Mike, and must listen to it over and over.

And all the jokes are bad. Hahahahahahaha.

Sister Double Happiness - I Love You

RobP — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 08:15:20 GMT

So, once upon a time there was this amazing San Francisco band called Sister Double Happiness. It was some kind of zen punk name and I loved the band so much I never wanted an explanation. Hell, the first song on their first album, the one on SST, was called Sister Double Happiness and presumably explained the phrase, although godknows I played the song numerous times without ever trying to figure it out - I loved it far too much, I needed only the song, not its meaning.

Anyway, this goddamn record came out in 1988, and it was the best thing around, and I lived in San Francisco and they were a San Francisco band or maybe I would've never heard about it. The deal - Gary Floyd, from punk band The Dicks (they did the amazing song Hate The Police, later covered by Mudhoney, but far as I know were rarely that good) was looking for a new band, but hard rock, not punk. And he managed to put together one of the greatest bands the west coast has ever known, as evidenced by their live shows and their one album on SST (they went major label after that, put out at least one good album but not AS good).

Of even greater importance to me is that Gary was a social worker who really helped out a friend of mine who was a runaway at an early age, a real young punk, and because of Gary's help she was able to get her shit together and make it through some difficult homeless years. I already loved SDH before I met this woman, but it's always nice to find out someone is actually living the ideals they're putting forth in their lyrics.

All this comes to mind because today I received my cd copy of the first Sister Double Happiness album, which up til now I've owned only on vinyl, which is a damn tough squeeze into my car stereo.

This is my salute to Sister Double Happiness, who I think were San Francisco's greatest band, a band down the coast from all those grunge bands that followed, a link between punk and I don't know what.

And if anyone remembers the Jackson Saints please write me, I loved that band, saw their original singer at a Dictators show and next time I saw them they'd changed vocalists.

Talladega Nights ROCKS

RobP — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 06:51:23 GMT

I'm not a Will Ferrell fan, but was roped into seeing this movie (ok, 40 million folks saw it before me) and it's funny as hell. That ain't the news. We were watching the dvd, and not only were the songs in the movie great (3 Steve Earle songs, 1 required as movie set in south Skynyrd song, Lucinda Williams over closing credits, one real cool version of Paint It Black and a bunch of killer hard rock riffs that totally fit the racing scenes) but there were little bits of guitar throughout that reminded me of something. So I waited for the credits, and what they sounded like had nothing to do with what I read: "Incidental Music, Brother Wayne Kramer." Which is how the man was introduced after his vocal on Ramblin Rose on the first MC5 album. Kick Out The Jams, Motherfuckers.

David and Patterson Hood: Like Father, Like Son

RobP — Thu, 14 Dec 2006 07:07:31 GMT

As a recent convert to the Drive-By Truckers, I was interested when I found out that DBT frontman Patterson Hood's dad is David Hood, bass player for Muscle Shoals, one of THE classic r&b house bands. (David has a wikipedia bio: http://www.hoodbass.com/main.html). And Aretha used to record with the guys at Muscle Shoals. And I knew that Duane Allman had played guitar on Aretha's amazing version of The Weight, so I tried to find out if David Hood had played with Duane, which would have made for a beautiful southern thang considering some of the DBT songs. No luck re The Weight (haven't found credits yet), but David Hood has played with Duane. And ya wanna see some credits? Wikipedia has those too, which indicate that, for instance, in 1976 David Hood was one of the most played musicians on the radio. He was on Bob Seger's Night Moves, Rod Stewart's A Night On The Town, and Johnny Taylor's Eargasm, 3 HUGE records that year.

More importantly to me, in 1967, he was the bass player on Tell Mama by Etta James, I Never Loved A Man by Aretha, and I'm Your Puppet by James & Bobby Purify. Holy SHIT, 3 songs that nearly 40 years later are still classics, and the rhythm section on every one of those tracks is brutally great, just fucking perfect.

If that ain't funky enough for ya, he's played with James Brown, Wilson Pickett, and Screamin Jay Hawkins.

I'm leaving out a batch of good folk because there's just too many of em, check that link then the discography for more details, but if you're wondering what David's doing now - he's in the studio with Frank Black (he's been there before), among others.

God I love this shit.

KALX Tuesday night 8:00

RobP — Wed, 22 Nov 2006 04:16:35 GMT

Who the hell is dj'ing on KALX right now, this is fantastic. Hendrix followed by Silver Apples right when I'm trying to rush out of work, and there's been good music playing for quite some time, a decent amount of which I even recognized. If anyone knows who this dj is please let me know.

Gods and Monsters And Then Some

RobP — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 03:25:15 GMT

Electric guitar buffs, you HAVE to hear this song. It's available at garylucas.com . Lucas played guitar with Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley. The Trouser Press Guide to 90s Rock says "Imagine a combination of John Fahey, Jeff Beck, Robert Johnson, Jimi Hendrix and James Williamson..." This song is by Abdullah Ibrahim; Lucas's music is all over the map, including at least one album of primarily traditional Jewish music recorded on John Zorn's label. I'm just finding this stuff myself, but I saw Lucas when he was with Beefheart and he's an amazing player.

Missed Hardly Strictly Bluegrass AGAIN - ARRGGGHH!

RobP — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 16:29:21 GMT

Okay, a week and a half ago I missed this annual free music festival yet again. I normally hate this sort of can't find parking monstrosity - last year we went, got there late, missed Steve Earle, got some real good Korean food then found out traffic to the East Bay Bridge was horrendous; we took the long way round, found out from someone else later that it was taking over 2 hours to get TO the bridge (should take minutes). Anyway, the full list of folks at this thing is at the link below, so some of y'all can click on it and join me in my whiny American suffering.

http://www.strictlybluegrass.com/

This year my biggest regrets are Drive-By Truckers, who I started getting into right about the time the festival was taking place so I might notta sought em out anyway, and Steve Earle, who I am fanatical about but have never seen alive (this is middle-aged fanaticism; if I'd gotten into him when I was younger and he was too I'm sure I woulda caught him by now.

My favorite Steve Earle album, one of my faves by anybody, is El Corazon, goes from grunge to bluegrass and a whole lot in-between. Steve's regular band, The Dukes, backs him on most of this album, but he also records one track with the Del McCoury Band and one with the Supersuckers. (On Copperhead Road he did a track with The Pogues, too, which is why the damn labels had trouble categorizing him - what bin does it go in? The real good one, okay?)

Also, Steve once said of his politics that he's "left of Mao," which must've gone over big in the country music community (I know, there's more than one, but think mainstream). But also, in his long career, he claims that one of his highlights was when Emmylou Harris offered him some of her cheeseburger. Of course, Steve's been married about six times, so methinks he gets hit by the lightning bolt a lot, but I still this is a sweet story coming from a definite badass. (Story about him kicking crack to be saved for a separate post unless someone else wants to tell it first).

The TRUCKERS, Pimp! Damn sometimes my timing's off.

Mix for Anti-Amy

RobP — Sun, 15 Oct 2006 04:56:37 GMT

I'm going to her Multiply account and if she gives me an address, I'm sending this mix. Cuz this community will miss you Amy, whether you see this or not. So, here's what I'm listening to:

Johnny's Got A Gun Cat Power Happiness is a Warm Gun Beatles The Weight Aretha Franklin All Along The Watchtower Bob Dylan Manic Depression String Trio of New York Highway Chile The Jimi Hendrix Experience The Lost Art of Keeping a Secret Queens of the Stone Age Suffragette City David Bowie Priestmaker Drunk Horse Doesn't Remind Me Audioslave Tell Mama Etta James Personal Jesus Johnny Cash Evil Hearted Ada The Flamin' Groovies give it to me j geils band Heartbreaker Led Zeppelin The Nile Song Pink Floyd Three Cigarettes in the Ashtray Patsy Cline Desire The Raconteurs Don't Ask Me Questions Graham Parker It's O.K. Dead Moon

Me tink she like. And the Cat Power cover is of a Dead Moon song that I think the original is still available only on vinyl from the band themselves because apparently they have their own record press. THAT'S fuckin indie.

Family Affair

RobP — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 03:49:44 GMT

Opened Mog the other day, noticed Josh Haden's picture among the artists, and thought, oh shit, he looks like Charlie Haden. Charlie's one of my all-time favorite bassists for his work with Ornette Coleman, and he also did an amazingly beautiful album of duets, so I googled. And not only is Josh his son, formerly with Spain and about to release a solo album (if you're seeing this, Josh, or anyone else, correct away if I get any of this wrong), and brother of the Haden Triplets, sisters who've recorded together, one of whom was in the Rentals, one of whom is in the Decemberists, and one is married to Jack Black.

Then I remembered that Denardo Coleman, Ornette's son, has been a professional drummer since he was nine years old. And Don Cherry, the trumpet player in the original quartet, is the father of Eagle-Eye Cherry, Jan Cherry, and David Ornette Cherry (yeah, sometimes musicians get pretty close), and step-father of Neneh Cherry.

I don't know about the children of early Coleman drummers Ed Blackwell and Billy Higgins, but even without them, this strikes me as a stunning batch of musicians who are the children of the players from a single band. Any other bands breeding so well musically?

Baby Please Don't Go

RobP — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 06:36:17 GMT

I profoundly believe that the greater a man is the more he exposes himself to being wounded by all. Peace and quiet are only for the mediocre, for those whose heads disappear in the crowd. - Barjavel

This quote comes up because I've seen a few postings lately where someone's feelings got hurt, or they were worried they'd offended someone, and it was getting to the point where some people were considering leaving Mog because of it. And Mog etiquette postings got put up, which unfortunately may have become necessary.

Well. Some of you motherfuckers know who I am. I'm not a sensitive type, I'm not a dangerous type (no threat here), I just come here to talk music and sometimes other stuff, I'm all in favor of instigating arguments about music. And I'm not trying to start a pile-on about how we're all good people (although I've never had a response to anything I've posted that was remotely close to negative on a personal level).

I love this fucking site. It's one of the friendliest, cheapest, and longest parties I've ever attended. I drink as much as I want, I'm in charge of all the music, other people recommend other music but don't force it on me, and there's quite a few people on here I'd be happy to meet. And I don't usually travel, but there's a lot of folks outside of my area I'd like to track down.

So, I return to one of my favorite Dylan lines: "Negativity won't see you through." Just for selfish reasons, I'd like the people I like to stay here. But I think the sub-communities that form here are all part of one bunch of music freaks, and although I've never understood the lyric "Come together/Over me" (sounds like a bad position in a porn flick) I agree with the basic idea behind it. Part of what I like about this site is that musical agreement can be specific to one song, one artist, and we don't have to agree about anything else, but two people with very little else in common can connect on that level.

Deep deep thesis on music as human connection to follow, when I determine whether that requires more beer or less. Oh, but this is a cheers and love message, hearts and flowers, so envision all that shit, I already gone as far as I could.

Do ya love me? Now that I can dance?

Gods Like Us

RobP — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 05:39:41 GMT

The world requires form, at least according to those of us in it. We look for explanations and meaning, science philosophy and religion. We want to know what's going on and why we're a part of it. The meaning of life, or at least the name of the song on the radio.

"I don't know, sounds like Skynyrd."

"Didn't they get big after they died?"

"Some of em died, yeah."

That's part of the meaning of life: you get more popular when you're dead. Of course, that's more about the meaning people give to other peoples' lives. Which I suppose raises the question of what we mean by the meaning of life. Are we talking about the judgment of other people (whose judgments we should then feel fit to judge), or about our meaning as determined by a greater authority, a God or Gods that only some of us believe in?

"Were they better before or after they died?"

"The ones who died were better before. The ones who didn't, I don't know."

It's as though with musicians we're the Gods, determining their position (if any) in the musical pantheon. They put forth the effort and we rank them, make some of them heroes and most of them bums. Like us. Just another bunch of Gods.

Modern Times SUCKS

RobP — Thu, 05 Oct 2006 06:43:20 GMT

Okay, "sucks" is an overstatement, but I love Dylan, and I read so many posts about how great this album was that I bought it new. And this is not great Dylan. Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Blood On The Tracks - these are great Dylan albums. How can I tell? Well, each one starts with a great song, everything else on the album is at least good, there are other great songs - you know, it's like a letter grade - more A's than B's generally averages to an A. And Dylan has several albums besides the ones I've mentioned that I would give an A. I don't think there's a single track on this new album that comes close to an A.

I mean this more as a knock on the reviews I've read than as a knock on Dylan. Bob's out there doing his best, he's given us a lot of great work over the years, he's been putting out albums nearly 45 years, they ain't all gonna be his best work. But it's unfair to the great albums to suggest something like this is equal. I'm sure I'd have been far happier getting a clean copy of Before The Flood (a great live album he did with The Band, a 2 album set on vinyl with about half being their material, half his, everything excellent and quite possibly the definitive version of Like A Rolling Stone included, and I own the damn thing on by now warped vinyl).

If anyone thinks there's a great song on Modern Times I'd probably be no more than mildly amused to know what it is. Because if you say it's a great Dylan song, I'm going to compare it to great Dylan songs. There isn't one on this album. There is a lot to suggest that rock music needs a senior league, so the old folks don't need to compete with the young ones. But the senior citizen discount should apply to those of us buying the music made by these enervated citizens.

Trust Us

RobP — Mon, 25 Sep 2006 02:19:21 GMT

Just got an email that I was now one of my own trusted Mogs. So I went to my Mog page and sure enough, it turns out I now trust myself. Well, I know this not to be true, so I've deleted this attempt at self-trust. And yes, Trust Us is a Beefheart song, and of course I like it but it has nothing to do with this post. Now I have laundry to finish and Hendrix to listen to. Hasta.

A Rock n Roll Alphabet

RobP — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 02:17:35 GMT

A is for At The Drive-In (this one's already been disagreed with - cool) B is for Big Black C is for Clash D is for Dylan E is for Elvis (not everyone needs a last name) F is for Funkadelic G is for Giant Sand H is for Hendrix I is for Iggy & the Stooges J is for The Jam K is for Kinks L is for Led Zeppelin M is for (Van) Morrison (over MC5 and Motorhead - Jaysus) N is for New York Dolls O is for Only Ones P is for Pixies Q is for Queens of the Stone Age R is for Rolling Stones S is for Springsteen T is for Television U is for Uncle Tupelo V is for Velvet Underground W is for (Tom) Waits (a surprisingly difficult letter - The Who, Wire, Wilco, White Stripes) X is for Captain Beefheart, cuz frankly, there aren't any bands I like THAT much whose names start with X - I think my favorite would be X, the Australian 60s garage band, who I believe had songs covered by the Saints Y is for Yardbirds Z is for Zombies

No claims to being definitive or right here, I think a few of these could be upgradeable, so fire away. My 8 year old says T should be for Tenacious D, but hey, that's his alphabet, this is mine.

Moribund the Burgermeister

RobP — Thu, 14 Sep 2006 06:49:56 GMT

Been listening to the first Peter Gabriel album a lot lately. It's great, I've known that since 1977, when it came out, a great year for new music - my other two favorite albums from that year are The Clash and Television's Marquee Moon, every damn one a debut. Although, of course, Gabriel had been around awhile as the leader of Genesis back when they were interesting.

This album is a gem. Got a little radio airplay at the time, with "Solsbury Hill" and "Excuse Me," the catchy little barbershop quartet number. But as good as it began, the real magic was saved for the apocalypse trilogy at the end - "Waiting for the Big One," "Down the Dolce Vita," and "Here Comes the Flood."

Talk about gloom n doom, but absolutely beautiful music.

"Waiting for the Big One" is an almost minimalist blues, piano and vocals dominating with sweet guitar tossed in, building building building but it's always a blues. Great vocals, I sing along in my car and I feel like I should be smoking but there's too much subtlety in that voice, I never sing louder than him, the twists and turns his voice takes on this album are amazing.

Followed by the London Symphony Orchestra playing a rockin horn riff (this is how Down the Dolce Vita begins), which is somehow followed by a great funk guitar riff and another great Gabriel vocal. The LSO comes back, and leaves again, and it's all organic, elegant, as things should be.

The album ends with "Here Comes the Flood," which is a fucking epic, not to be messed with, "We'll say goodbye/To flesh and blood." The remake he recorded on a Robert Fripp album may be even better, but this one caps a great album with such emotional power I'm still often overwhelmed, and I've owned this damn thing nearly 30 years.

It's not just that this is a great album but I don't own other albums like this - it's a singer/songwriter/musician (and I don't get the feeling that most singer-songwriters are musicians) staking out so much turf and claiming it for his own that it feels as though he may never stop. And as though he never should. And damned be the knight who tries to cross this bridge.

I GOT MY TURNTABLE BACKKKKKK!

RobP — Wed, 06 Sep 2006 07:09:36 GMT

Which means I will now be really obnoxious about different things, as I have a whole lotta records just dying to be played. I still have a batch of stuff to get out of storage (ain't moving fun?) but for starters, thinking I was inspired by a cool rockabilly post, I wound up playing Purple Haze by the Fibonaccis, Love Me by The Phantom, Paralyzed by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy, and She Said by Hasil Adkins. Yes it was weirdness and Cramps related, so to that degree it was rockabilly. I refuse to be who I was yesterday. Except I'm still the same. Cheers.

cheese

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 10:11:01 GMT

when i'm on a lot of heroin the cheese doesn't taste as good. My teeth - they don't move right. i feel my face, and it isn't melting, i know it isn't. the cheese though - there should be some bread and then there should be some mice. they're here, they're in the walls. the neighbor tells me about them, although she died last winter. she still talks too much, although not as much as she did. the rats. her name was jane, she liked me a lot, she patted my head and called me jeffrey. i don't know why she called me that. there's bread, it's in the walls too, i hear it. it's waiting to be sliced. so am i.

gnihtoN

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:51:02 GMT

So, I know Ashton Kutcher was in town the other day: am I being Punk'd? Well, as nothing else is happening, it'd definitely be worth it. I'm out of beer and it's past 2 so I can't get any more, might as well have a celebrity tell me everything I'm going through is all a fake. But what would that mean? I'm not really going through anything. So if nothing is not even real, that means nothing isn't nothing. Which damn near means everything I ever learned while stoned is true. Life is not life, which would explain my job, but what about television? What if the artificial isn't really artificial? Is that awards show I didn't watch correct? Is someone I've never listened to really the best rock act? And what do they mean by act? I assume they mean not real, which would put everything in reverse again. So, if I walk backwards to the liquor store, will it be open again? That's what I would hope for, but what if hope is backwards too? Then I have to epoh.

Has time stopped?

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:29:17 GMT

Ok, so there's this band called Led Zeppelin, I'm not making this up. It's like a joke name, but they kept it cuz no one laughed except Keith Moon, who came up with the name but was too fucked up to even know it basically. And now it's 2:20 in the morning on a Saturday night and no one's saying anything, which means I'm the only one alone at his computer with a beer? I doubt it. Anyway, these guys are really good, and you should check them out, cuz like the guitarist can play really really fast and hit the notes he wants to, and the singer sings and like there's these high notes and man, it's like he hits them. also, the drummer is really crazy, and good when he's not dying on his own puke, and the bass player, man, i guess he's like the luckiest man alive. anyway, they're called like led zeppelin, and you should check em out dude, they're pretty good. oh god. next time i'll tell you about this cool thing i found, it's called the internet. it's a place where you can get like totally wasted man and say anything you want.

JOE ELY

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 09:16:07 GMT

For my next rant, Joe Ely. He's had one great album after another, while the record companies fulminated: "Is it country? Is it rock? We don't know what to fucking do with it cuz it doesn't fit." Yeh. Joe Ely's first album was with The Flatlanders, with Jimmy Dale Gilmore on most of the vocals and Butch Hancock was also in the band and granted, that may be a little too much talent for one small label to handle, so the story as I understand it is the guy who signed them left the label and their first album wound up getting released on 8-track only. (4 copies or something, but it got re-released later, like 20 years later.)

Joe was this great singer, and he and his friends Jimmy Dale and Butch were all good songwriters. After the Flatlanders split up, Joe put out three excellent studio albums that sold close to nothing but got great reviews - Joe Ely, Honky Tonk Masquerade, and Down On The Drag. Each is a gem, each shows his roots in traditional country, honky-tonk, and rockabilly. And each sold shit.

BUT - among the small group of devoted Ely fans was the Clash, who invited Joe to open for them on their British tour in support of their London Calling album. They called that part of the tour Lubbock Calling, and the album Live Shot was recorded on some of those dates. It's a great album, I think it's Joe's best, and mainly I'm really pissed off that he wasn't included on the American part of the tour.

Anyway, Joe has gone on to do numerous fine albums since, but if you're not familiar with his music you should start with the early albums, especially Live Shot, which encapsulates the live rockabilly/honkytonk/country performance pretty much perfectly.

Minor bug

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 08:54:06 GMT

I think I understand the "don't tell me if you like my post" concept. Cuz it's anonymous. If you like what I have to say, say something about it. Don't just say you like it, go all the way out on the big damn limb and comment. I've seen this where apparently someone liked my post but they said nothing and that was it. So they liked what? Go buy a postcard, if you wanna write, write.

All Too Requited Love

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 08:46:06 GMT

Next rave: I'm gonna pick Dolorean. I haven't been listening lately, but the Not Exotic album is beautifully depressing. Break up with the love of your life, and before you kill yourself, listen to this. It won't change your mind, but you'll have a better idea why you're doing it.

This album is so beautiful, every song so gut-wrenching, I don't know how to hear a single song on here without getting pulled in, so even if there's no way I should relate I find myself in the midst of it. No, there's nothing exotic about it. It deglamorizes everything, yet lets you feel everything a heart could possibly want to feel before being crushed.

This album is addictive, romantic, depressive. Every song is like you've found your one true love and then you feel it as everything falls apart.

A lot of emotional investment is required to truly appreciate this album, but you don't have to offer anything. The songs will come to you, and pull you in. I love this album, but I wouldn't recommend listening to it a lot. But it's perfect for certain moods, a la Leonard Cohen's Songs of Love and Hate.

No one else is awake

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 08:27:16 GMT

Ok, it's barely past 1:00 Pacific on a Saturday night, I just got off a long drunken phone call and there's hardly anything new in the Mogosphere. Which I suppose means I need to ramble about every possible thing I can think of.

So, let's pull up my Itunes list and see what I'm listening to.

Tom Verlaine for starters, I don't know what album this track's from, it's a real pretty one, new I think. His first album was Television's Marquee Moon, one of those amazing debuts that kinda fucks the rest of your career, everything you do afterward will be compared to it. And Marquee Moon didn't sound like anything that came before it, the guitar lines were distinctive in a way that got them aligned with the punk movement, and Tom had these reedy Dylanesque vocals seemingly designed to alienate the masses. But MARQUEE MOON IS ONE OF THE BEST ALBUMS EVER MADE. That is, if I got stuck on one of those Desert Island quizzes, this is one of the albums I'd have to consider. Probably wouldn't make my top ten, so I die on an island without Television, but definitely up there. And he has some solo albums that are excellent also. As a guitarist who extended the realm of aural pleaure, Tom is definitely one of the best musicians to emerge from the last quarter of the 20th century.

What's with the kids nowadays?

RobP — Sun, 03 Sep 2006 03:28:47 GMT

Just in case my last post sounded a little defensive - I was just shooting for accuracy, explaining which songs on my top plays were mine - I'm delving into Itunes right now. I think my boys have great taste in music. Here's the playlist my 8 year old son has put together:

Tongues - Jo Carol Pierce Ace of spades - Motorhead Naggin - Ying Yang Twins Institutionalized - Suicidal Tendencies Bike - Pink Floyd Kung Fu Fighting - Carl Douglas Give Up the Funk (Tear the Roof off the Sucker) - Parliament Low Rider - War Master of Puppets - Metallica bombs over bagdad - Outkast Hey Ya - Outkast We're A Happy Family - The Ramones Immigrant Song - Led Zeppelin T.N.T. - AC/DC Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs It's a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock 'n' Roll) - AC/DC No one knows - Queens of the Stone Age Lucifer Sam - Pink Floyd superfreak - Rick James Walk This Way - Hayseed Dixie Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen

Considering how twisted a son of mine could've been, I'd say he's doing pretty good. And his older brother makes great mixes too, tends to throw them together right before we're going on a long drive, I just don't see any of them on this pc.

Darn kids, nothin but noise. (Oh, but this Hayseed Dixie track - sounds like some old pervert from the hills rednecking his way through Steve Tyler's want me a schoolgirl lyrics - the boy just thinks it's funny.)

My real top songs of the month

RobP — Thu, 24 Aug 2006 19:43:40 GMT

It's the last week before my kids go back to school and they've been hijacking my Itunes a lot (which is cool, they're listening to music that I own for the most part) but a quick look at my Itunes and which songs have been played by me tells me I've selected nothing or close to it of what's showing in my Mog top 10. So, in case anyone cares, here's the tracks that I think I've been playing (although it's my birthday and I'm about to spend a load o cash at Amoeba plus I got mixes from both my brothers that will substantially alter this, but as August ends...)

1. Steady As She Goes - The Raconteurs 2. Cold To The Touch - Brian Jonestown Massacre 3. July, July! - The Decemberists 4. The Nile Song - Pink Floyd 5. Doesn't Remind Me - Audioslave

And, despite the fact that my life is really good right now, I found this quote online this morning and love it, feel the need to share:

"Someday they will invent microscopes so powerful they'll begin to understand life is empty." - Jack Kerouac

Yes, this is what I enjoy when I'm in a good mood. Will miss the Mog party but I really do look like my picture, so if anyone wants to pretend they're talking to me and I'm passed out and not responding, just have a drink and think of me that way.

Cheers, Rob

Silver Apples

RobP — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:58:37 GMT

Silver Apples get their own post for sheer weirdness and innovation. Suicide may have upped the ante, but this game didn't even exist before Silver Apples. Two guys, vocals, drums, and a shitload of oscillators, whatever those are. The weirder this band gets, the better. Their lesser songs have psychedelic sixties pop vocals with weird backing sounds and drums. So do their better songs.

The thing about this is, I've heard a ton of 60s bands and none of them sound remotely like these guys. And these guys are good. Not on a Velvet Underground level, their songwriting is a notch below that, but at their best the Silver Apples weren't far below that. Because they made sounds that sometimes challenged the idea of what pop music was, yet retained the pop framework. This is a helluva lot better than, say, the Vanilla Fudge (well, not always, but generally, whereas with the Velvets it's always).

Their first two albums have been repackaged as one, which is probably best, because although a consolidation would have been ideal, there are no bad tracks and in the land of psychedelia it's often difficult to settle on which tracks are best. (Because, like, we often have trouble finishing a sentence, much less a thought, an opinion, a... a...)

I think upon relistens preferred tracks emerge, but I enjoy the hell out of this shit, driving with reverberating oscillators blasting or oozing out of my car, or if my windows are up these weird sounds are swallowing me and I want to be swallowed.

It works musically, but mainly it works as another world to be entered.

Real Life Mogging

RobP — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 06:21:46 GMT

Ok, for starters, Mog sometimes tells me I have mail from people and when I check there's nothing in my Inbox. So even if it's a reply to something I've sent, if you mailed me and it seems like I'm ignoring you just post however irrelevantly onto my mogpage, "responding" to anything, nothing I'm doing here's private and I ain't sensitive, lived in Oakland for years, if you ain't shootin I won't take it as a threat.

So, to my veiled semi-point: I've been reindulging in my psychedelic/prog roots (I've got a lot of the Nuggets type anthologies, some even on CD although a lot's on vinyl) and along those lines I've been having a blast listening to early Pink Floyd, some Peter Gabriel, the first King Crimson album, Comets on Fire, Brian Jonestown Massacre - most of this stuff if it's recent I don't really know it but if it's weird and you're not faking it's normal, if you're faking you're posing and it shows - so I love Captain Beefheart and Pere Ubu (I saw them both live around 1978/79 - I remember David Thomas taking a solo where he pounded a hammer against a block of wood, I remember the Captain said things that were so bizarre they were incredibly funny at the time but totally unexplainable afterward, thank god i went with a friend - as someone said, "he speaks and you're on acid.")

So I walked into a bar at the end of a long work day this week and was pleasantly surprised to have my beer poured by a local musician I know. And he and the other bartender were discussing Bukowski, and I chimed in, and there were other talks at the bar involving the people on either side of me where we talked about Love and Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis (the Love - Jerry Lee connection has to do with acid, which wasn't illegal for a helluva long time because it didn't exist for a helluva long time: so Jerry Lee and his band arrived at a California airport in the early 60s and the cops were there waiting for them, ready to bust them for possession, but the only drug they could find on them was LSD, which wasn't illegal yet. And they were carrying 300 hits - 150 for the Killer, and 150 for the band.) And the guy on my right was 55 and when he was 17 saw Led Zeppelin as the number two band on the bill somewhere in San Francisco, and he asked me if I'd heard of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, who I knew something about, mainly that they did a killer version of the Tom Jones song Delilah. And he said something about the guitarist from The Cure (Paul Thompson?) totally outplaying Page on a Page/Plant tour, and I tried to steer the conversation toward how musicians from supposedly different genres often know each other, which is how you get something like Paul Weller playing with Peter Gabriel on And Through The Wire at a time when their styles of music might have been totally oppositional according to some members of the music press.

Meanwhile, behind the bar there was a great r & b mix that included James Brown's Talkin Loud and Sayin Nothin, which I own but I don't know if I'd ever realized the sheer perfection of the bass on that song - I don't know if this was when Bootsie was in the JB's, but word was that James fined his band members for making mistakes in rehearsals and Bootsie was damn proud to be the only guy James never fined - and some amazing Ike and Tina Turner songs I asked about and forgot the answers to and I'm damn glad I know the guy who made the mix so I can ask again.

This took about half an hour, during which I drank two excellent Stone IPA's. Life is fucking good.

Arthur Lee R.I.P. Reminds Me

RobP — Sun, 06 Aug 2006 18:33:15 GMT

The recent death of Love's Arthur Lee reminds me of great covers of great 60s songs. Cuz we'll always have the music. A partial list of personal favorites, begins of course with

The Hellacopters - A House Is Not A Motel (orig. version by Love) Willie Alexander - You've Lost That Lovin Feelin (The Righteous Brothers) Twisted Sister - Leader of the Pack (Shangri-Las) PJ Harvey - Highway 61 Revisited (Dylan) Fibonaccis - Purple Haze (Hendrix) Johnny Thunders - Pipeline (Chantays) Undertones - Under The Boardwalk (Drifters) Devo - Satisfaction (Stones) Roky Erickson - Heroin (Velvet Underground) The Jam - Heat Wave (Martha & the Vandellas) Television - Knockin On Heaven's Door (Dylan) Uncle Tupelo - I Wanna Be Your Dog (Stooges) The Clash - I Fought The Law (Bobby Fuller Four) Dead Moon - The Times They Are A Changin (Dylan)

I've intentionally left out all Kinks covers because there isn't one I've heard that doesn't make me wish I was listening to the original instead. Not that all of the above are superior to the originals, but the arrangements make them at least interesting, and to me, enjoyable.So this of course is an invitation to name other great cover versions cuz hell, I don't even have all these in my digital collection yet.

The Clash meet The Dils

RobP — Sun, 30 Jul 2006 04:34:04 GMT

As a southern Californian at the time, I saw the 2nd American Clash show, Santa Monica 1978. It was not only great but weird, because one of the support bands was the Dils, who two years before were a cover band that had played at lunchtime at my high school, and were one of the bands nominated to play at the prom but were voted down by the student body. And in that short amount of time they'd improved enough to come out of San Diego County and play the L.A. area show for "The Only Band That Matters." (Hype from the pr department, but it didn't seem all that hyperbolic to those of us who were hardcore Clash fans--these guys were the best band on the planet, and it felt like everyone who went to see them knew it.)

The Dils weren't even all that good at the time; the Kinman brothers put out a couple of pretty good albums after forming Rank & File, but those came later. And on that tour the Clash had Bo Diddley as the 2nd act (I think they had Lee Dorsey the next tour, same general concept) and a local punk group opening at every show. Why it wasn't the Alleycats or X I don't know; there were definitely better punk bands in L.A. at the time. But I'm glad for the guys in The Dils. Not only did they go on to make some good albums of their own, but they got to play a show with a truly great band in the process. And it can't hurt to rub shoulders with those who are setting the standard in the field you work in.

Sonny Sharrock: bad axe

RobP — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 08:26:14 GMT

I've spent a lot of time loving bands that weren't real popular, but when I'd go to a club to see them it turned out that on that particular level they were huge. Even when I saw Sonny Sharrock at Slim's in San Francisco several years ago the place was packed. But I think it's safe to say this is one guy who was definitely underappreciated.

Sonny was a guitarist who claimed to be a jazz sax man with a bad axe. He played uncredited on Miles Davis's Jack Johnson album (the credited guitarist, John McLaughlin, is flat-out amazing, and I don't have a clue how much Sonny played on that record-he said he played on it, and afterward Miles asked him to audition for his band, and Sonny, indignant, refused-oops). Both on solo albums (Guitar is absolutely amazing and his most mainstream rock album) and with Last Exit, Sonny took the idea of noise rock combined with free jazz to levels unheard of except possibly in Hendrix's head.

I'm a huge Hendrix fan; Sharrock is the only guitarist I think has come close to touching his legacy. Both his solo albums and the Last Exit albums vary significantly in style and consistency. Most of his music took chances that, because of his heavy jazz influences, would never allow Sharrock the pop accessibility that Jimi's music could achieve. And sometimes he went for the mainstream and wasn't that successful. Sharrock's best music wasn't pop; a lot of Hendrix's was. That's not a judgment, but it does affect who will like each man's music. Sharrock at his best often reaches a level that melds music and noise--he claimed to be a jazz man, but also wanted to make peoples' ears bleed.

I've left out a lot of album titles here because the best Sharrock material I have is either on record or cassette in my collection, and I've just moved so I'm writing this without easy access to the exact album titles. But anyone's welcome to ask and I'll look around, or if you want to post recommendations please do. Anyone into rock/jazz/noise guitar should hear the best of Sonny Sharrock, then branch out.