Top Ten Of The Week-Alternatives

Coming to the end of month and another death to report.  Dan Peek who was part of America and gave us the top 50 hit Don't Cross The River passed on.  He left the band to become a gospel artist and had some success. He was 60.

Coming to the end of this dismal month,  we started the month blistered by the sun and the last four days of fucking monsoons that turned everything brown to green and cussing out Mother Nature as the grass grew.  With Nicole now in town, I spend the weeknights here at the Crabbhouse and the weekend over there with the exception of watching Chloe The Wonderdog when the GF goes in early.  She's finally got the cable and internet installed so I can now get to somewhat of a normal life.  She's been here two months and it still feels like a blur.  So far she's out-brought me at Half Priced Books but Madison is in the future and I'm sure something will be found up there music wise.

Which leads us to the end of Borders but the beginning of Books A Million who announced they will take over the spot left behind by Borders at around October or early November.  I wouldn't mind seeing a Half Priced Bookstore in their neighborhood, or even in Davenport although the manager of that Borders is trying to convince Books A Million to take a chance on the Quad Cities.  With the final chapter of Borders, there will be other bookstores that remain in business.  Will the Mom and Pop bookstore make a return? Hell I don't know, I'm still waiting for a mom and pop record store to return to Cedar Rapids.  And if vinyl is making this great big comeback as the internet sites are saying, how come there's not a vinyl store in my area?

This week's top ten goes a little bit further than the big hits that you hear on Classic rock radio but basically I always considered this website and the top ten the alternative to the overplayed, even though I've stuck a overplayed on the top ten.  When TAD made his alternative playlist, he added a few of the lesser known although any station that plays Led Zeppelin have been known to play When The Levee Breaks but they never do Tea For One or Baby Come On Home.  In the meantime, I came across this bit of bullshit via Bob Lefsetz on the defense of pop music and this guy's lack of knowledge of rock and roll.  Read and puke on your own free will.
http://nymag.com/arts/popmusic/features/narcissism-2011-7/

Let's face it, rock music as we grew up with isn't played on radio anymore, I mean the new rock and roll.  Have you heard the new Queensryche LP on the radio?  The latest from The Smitereens?  New YES?  I know I haven't.  I have heard the Neil Young A Treasure on public radio.  But not the new Hot Tuna, nor Black Country Communion on the radio.  It's all the same folks and the good rock and roll of today isn't on radio but rather on You Tube or the net radio.  Basically the world is stuck with crap radio, overplayed radio and money talks radio.  Alternative radio died when Kurt Cobain did.  And Modern Rock and Real Rock and Alternative Rock may as well be The Same Thing Rock Radio.

Look, I am alternative in the songs that I play at home and in the car.  Or when Nicole is sleeping on the couch getting to hear Captain Beefheart sing her to sleep.  Or Dorothy Arby's  electric harp.  Or the prog rock Cafe Jacques (so they say) or Starcastle which gets ridiculed by the anti prog folks or calling them YES imitators.  I seek out the alternatives cuz I'm bored with radio, bored with what SPIN or Rolling Stone or Pitchfork touts as the next big thing for rock and roll.  If I really want alternative, then I'll stick in a Latin Jazz album.  How's that for alternative?

I know my good buddies from blogspot, Rastro, Drew and TAD have their very own of the lesser known. And so do I.  I only do it, cuz I grew up in a radio era that soul and rock and country and pop was played at the same time.  And then we went out and bought 45s in the budget bins, used 45 jukebox singles and what was found in those 10 for a dollar prepackages that K Mart used to have around 1971.  I grew up with name association. Which is how I discovered Ray Charles, Tommy James, Steppenwolf, Doors, Hendrix in the four for a dollar bins at Woolworth's and Arlens.   And then the narrow minded of myself discovering Record Realm and Dave Edmunds, Nick Lowe and Rockpile or XTC or the weird odd sounds of Tangerine Dream on imports.



I'm not sure if the term alternative is the term but rather lesser played.  Sure Bill Withers Lean On Me is the classic but consider the alternative songs would be Grandma's Hands or Who Is He (And What Is He To You).  Overplayed Lynyrd Skynyrd Free Bird to the Alternative song Double Trouble.  Overplayed: Marshall Tucker Can't You See, alternative: This Old Cowboy.  You get the picture.  My alt also includes forgotten bands that never made it, bands that albums were promo only or beeline to the clearance bins.  And although my most view blog deals with The Brains, a band that was poorly served by their label, other bands that I care enough are Big Back Forty, Mach Five, The Dylans, Sand Rubies and countless more.  Or throw in a jazz number from Dave Brubeck or Monk or Coltrane.  Or add some country Buck, George hell even Brad Paisley if time and space allowed.  And still find time for the classic rock bands still out there. Cars, Yes, Rush and Aerosmith figure in this.  Perhaps Van Halen or Chickenfoot.  My hobby is to find the music yet to be discovered.  Appently somebody must feel the same way since I've seen a lotta hits from people looking up Mike Eldred Trio.  Money is fine but I would love more time to listen to all my faves.

And not the same old same old turds on the radio.
 

The Top Ten Of The Week:

1.  Shine On-Peter Frampton 1976  I hate to say this folks but I have never owned Frampton Comes Alive which probably makes me a freak.  This album made Peter and it broke him at the same time.  Sure the royalty checks keep coming in since out there in Mega Money Radio Land Show Me The Way or Baby I Love Your Way or Do You Feel Like We Do is being played and basically I'm sick of hearing them all.  So I go for the B side of Show Me The Way to which got some airplay, but since Cumulus Radio blacklisted this number which appeared on Humble Pie's Rock On album, the Frampton live version is a bit more livelier and fun.  But then again, I've never owned Dark Side Of The Moon either.  BTW, Frampton will appear at one of the Casinos here to play the whole set list of Frampton Comes Alive 35 Years Later.  Side note: Frampton got raked over the coals on the followup I'm In You which isn't as wretched as the Sgt Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band movie that appear a year later and Frampton become a bad punch line.  Still made some decent albums for A & M and Atlantic and other labels before returning to A & M Universal for the pretty good Thank You Mr. Churchill last year.  But the money wants F.C.A.

2.  West Coast Woman-Painter 1973  This was one album that I never thought would see the light of day on CD but I did remember the 45 being played by the other AM station in Cedar Rapids KLWW to which people liked better than KCRG to which I prefer KCRG to KLWW. due the latter's poor reception after 8 PM.  Not much is known about this band but to me they sounded a lot like Poco or Eagles with a cross of Uriah Heep Over The Top Vocals.  Came out on Elektra and Wounded Bird reissued it despite some of the most lackadaisical liner notes ever penned. Yep all tunes on that album was written by members of the band but Wounded Bird was too damn lazy to look up who wrote what.



3.  I'm Alive-Mach Five 1998  Another band that managed to get a record out on Island before Polygram got sold to Universal and this band was never heard from again.  I read a review from the so called bass player saying that Mach Five sounded a lot like the Stone Roses but I hear more Del Amitri than the former.  Billboard had a nice write up on this song calling it a potential hit and it would have fitted right at home on Mix 96.5 or KOKZ when they were doing the 90s.  Nevertheless their only album can be found in the cheap bins at any thrift or pawnshop.


4.  Tommy The Cat-Primus 1991  Gotta add this one tune in and dedicated to the dude at CDs 4 Change who reminded me that Primus has a new album out and they'll be up in Madison and couple other places.  Got to see Les Claypool opened up for Rush in 94 and it a lotta fun.  The studio version features none other than Tom Waits as Tommy The Cat. Primus is not for everybody but when I find myself in that kind of mood I'll pull it out.  At least the dude up there was playing some decent music, the tattooed lady at Moondog Music was playing some GD rap crapola.

5.  Samba De Sausalito-Santana 1973  From Welcome, which is as alternative as it got for Carlos Santana.  Taken from the Latin Jazz Ritmo De la Noche (rhythm of the night) comp cd that I got at Borders for 20 percent off.  This might be my fave track off the forgotten Welcome LP that I may have redonated back to Goodwill since I didn't care much for the rest of that album.

6.  Jimmy Jimmy-Mike Eldred Trio 2011  Given the fact that in the search field that over 10 views came from fans of Mike Eldred or perhaps the man himself, I saluted them by adding one more track off his new album 61 And 49 which is on Zoho Records and good luck finding it at your local Wally World.  A given fact of the matter that this is considered alternative music since nobody plays the blues rock like they used to.   As I inch closer to retirement from new music, it's always refreshing to find a album that gives me some hope that good rock and blues will continue to be released somewhere in the Corporate Money World of Radio.   Side note: everytime I do look up a search of Mike Eldred Trio, I don't see none of my blogs on any of the top four or five pages.  But rest assured 61 And 49 will be in my top five albums of 2011.  Side note 2: Mike Eldred is the real deal and hold his fans in high regard.  Which is why I do the top ten, sometimes I get responses from the artists themself!  Thanks Mike!

7.  Thank You For Talking To Me Africa-Sly & The Family Stone 1971  Ain't no hot fun in the summertime or dance to the music on this one kiddies.  In fact this may be the most fagged out classic album that has ever graced the all time 100 best albums ever list.  I finally managed to buy this CD at the Borders End Of Days Sale and still do not know what to think of this.  Guess you can call it a classic.  Once upon a time Bob Dorr found a scratched up copy of this song and played it on Backtracks.  Somehow that's the best way of hearing There's A Riot Goin On, a very scratched up copy, gives it more meaning I think.

8.  I Don't Feel Like Dancing-Scissor Sisters 2006  Alternative music today is something to this effect. While they got some press and airplay these 70's pop loving dudes managed to get Elton John to write and play on this song and it may have been heard a couple times on the radio.  Their first album showed a fond love of The Bee Gees and disco drums but album number two shows them aping EJ's Simple Man and reviews were mixed at best before returning halfway for the better Night Work album of last year and found as a import for less at Half Priced Books rather at Best Buy.  They never really topped their best known hit, Tits On The Radio.  And so it goes.

9.  Mississippi Moon-King's X 1996  Atlantic gave up on them on the delightful Ear Candy which had a minor hit with this song which enticed me enough to go seek out the CD at the old CD's Plus store in Coralville on break.  Think it caught me offguard since it was Ty Tabor doing lead and not Doug Pinnick.  King's X remains one of the best bands who made great albums but never really hit the big time.  I also remember some now out of work smart mouth DJ at Rock 108 making fun of the next album Tape Head, playing a 10 second snippet of one song before going into some nu-metal garbage.  King's X continues to make music, whereas Smart Mouth DJ is probably working at Road Ranger.  Wounded Bird reissued Ear Candy but I'm sure they halfassed on the artwork and liner notes as well.  Can't get too down on them, after all they do a good job reissuing the albums that Rhino nor Warner Music Group would do on their own.

10.  Gray Riders-Neil Young 1984  KUNI has actually been playing his International Harvesters archives album ever since it was released and perhaps this serves best at the end of the show or end of a top ten, when Neil was getting tired of the country and wanted to rock out once again like he did on this finale.  With the 10 minute ending (it feels like) it does foretell Ragged Glory by about five years.  And so this finishes up my version of what is considered alternative music.  Your opinion or music will vary.

Hot Tuna-Steady As She Goes (Red House)
Twenty years after their last studio album, Jorma and Jack return but seems like Jorma has entered a laid back groove in the way of J J Cale (Goodbye To The Blues).  With a female lead singer in tow, it also echoes more of Jefferson Airplane than actual Tuna.  Kaukonen does still gives plenty of pre war blues ala Reverend Gary Davis (Mama Let Me Lay It Out On You, Children Of Zion).  Hard to tell what Jorma is getting at on the by the numbers If This Is Love.  End track Vicksburg Stomp does bring a bit of Burgers era type of boogie blues.  Overall, it owes more to Jorma's last couple solo albums but with a more electric kick.  Not ground shaking but safe. 

Grade B