Hey Folks.
I'm still around although I have not been online all that much. My GF doesn't have the net nor cable over at her house so basically it's been just us and the classic rock radio that continues to play the same ole same old. Ya know I have yet to play the first three songs off U2's Joshua Tree CD and I have had that for a few years now. Anyway, I have noted and put up some of your comments except for the usual anonymous spammer who continues to tout some unlock i phone thingy that is outdated as we speak.
The Fourth Of July weekend we didn't do much but made some minor adjustments to Nicole's trailer home. Although she disagrees I really haven't done a whole lot to help her and if I did, I ended up getting more in the way or putting teacups in the cupboard away from her 5'6 frame and her looking at me and saying Now how am I going to reach that far up there to get them? It was much worse when we attempted to put the book shelf together and unfortunately had one of them upside down. However, she woke up early the next morning and corrected it and made it right.
Trying to balance a relationship and the bargain hunts is something that I am not used to and still with all my stuff here, there is no room for it all over there, so I guess we'll have to find a medium. But this week, we find ten songs from various locations to post and comment. The old Crabby way of doing things.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/music_blog/2011/07/remembering-legendary-cleveland-rock-critic-jane-scott.html The oldest teenager in the world passed away at age 92. The legendary Jane Scott who had a most genuine love of music. She'll be missed.
And Rock and Roll And The Brains Blog has now passed the 600 views mark. Somebody promoting it.
The Top Ten Of The Week:
1. Leap Frog-Les Brown And His Band Of Renown 1945 One of those songs that I have heard but didn't know the origin. Basically I've first heard this in the Jerry Lewis Nutty Professor movie but it goes back further by Les Brown who had a big hit for it on Coral. Brown continued to make music till 2000 till Brown passed away from lung cancer. Found a excellent 45 of this at Sweet Living Antiques.
2. Trouble In The Home-Delta Moon 2007 I'm certain the Delta Moon folks may have something to do with the Rock N Roll And The Brains blog going over 500 views this past month so I decided to pay back the favor by adding a track from Tom Gray's Delta Moon, who has lasted longer than The Brains despite a ever changing lineup. Still working on the Universal folks to reissue those damned Brains albums that they have no interest of reissuing in our lifetime.
3. Take It Easy/Our Lady Of The Well-Jackson Browne 1972 Radio overplayed the version by Eagles and I have never heard Jackson's version of this song which is a bit more laid back and country than Eagles. I guess radio doesn't play it since it goes into Our Lady Of The Well. But they sure do overdo it on Doctor My Eyes.
4. Paralyzed-The Legendary Stardust Cowboy 1969 No introduction necessary, some considered to be one of the worst songs ever recorded (and no fewer than three producers are on this 45, one of them J. Henry Burnett). Sounds like some dude trying to scream, play guitar, drums and horn all at the same time. Worst recording ever? Not to me, as long somebody is playing that new Pink song, (which KDAT is every other fucking hour), or Muskrat Love by Captain and Tenille. But then again have you ever heard Think's Once You Understand, to which the guy at Sweet Living Antiques says IS the worst recording ever. Sounds like Up With People trying to do an earnest song. I'll take the Stardust Cowboy any day. Another 45 found at Sweet Living Antiques. I also did find a few more obscurities, Theme From Perry Mason by Ray Conniff which sounds a bit spooky, George Jones-Who Shot Sam/White Lightning in pristine shape despite no sleeve, plus Sam Butera of Louis Prima fame with a subpar version of For You (On Dot) and Jim Lowe's I Feel The Beat which made a lousy followup to The Green Door. The way it goes when it comes to forgotten 45's some might be good, some may be great but when you come across a bad one, it sucks.
5. USA Today-Down By Law 1997 One of my favorite punk songs and a song from Last Of The Sharpshooters, their last for Epitaph Records. Dave Smalley moved on to smaller labels, thinking Epitaph was getting too big of a label and moved to Go Kart for one decent record and then disappeared somewhere between more independent labels and obscurity. That reminds me, my discman player might be on its last legs. After 12 years of going places and playing tunes in the car, it may have been cooked by the hot July sun one too many times. I'm sure getting another discman will not be a problem.
6. I'm On Fire-Dwight Twilley Band 1975 Classic rock radio bores the hell out of me. The other night 105.7 was playing Naked Eyes and Duran Duran late night and this morning turned around and played both songs again. Which made me thought about Rastro's comment about classic rock radio being like comfort food for the ears. True but comfort food will also make you fat and lazy, just like classic rock radio. Imagine my surprise for a change KOKZ played this song that remind me that sometimes that classic rock does play the stuff that doesn't get played too often. Hopefully they will keep it that way.
7. Close To The Borderline-Billy Joel 1980 From his rock album Glass Houses and the only album that I ever listen to from the Piano Man although he can stick that song up where the sun don't shine. In some ways I think Joel is like the better piano playing man to Elton John but unlike EJ, Joel attempt to rock out can be very silly and trite. (Big Shot anybody?) You May Be Right is silly rock and roll fun but for me the fun begins when I turn the 45 over and play what may be the hardest rocking song Joel ever did. Having Liberty DeVito on drums gave Billy Joel that rock and roll credo that he was looking for but I think the guitar riffs are spot on too. KRNA played this as an album cut back in 1980 which eventually got me to buy the album. Joel would never rocked this hard again, going for a more 4 Seasons sound on Uptown Girl and Dion type doo-wop on The Longest Time. We Didn't Start The Fire was his answer to We Built This City. Nuff said.
8. Lettuce And Vodka-X 1993 New wave answer to Jefferson Airplane if the Airplane was new wave, X got plenty of great reviews and kudos during their time on Slash but I never got into them until The Big Black Sun in 1982 with The Hungry Wolf but by then they were slowly becoming more metal sounding and then finally breaking up around 1988 and then reforming in 1993 to make the unjustly ignored Hey Zeus! I'm guessing people were put off by the fact that the sound was more See How We Are than Los Angeles. Zeus does tend to drag in spots, but this has a ultra cool Tony Gillyson's guitar riff that goes on and on for about five minutes.
9. Moondance-Van Morrison 1970 I'm not a big VM fan, I do like some of his stuff and most of what he did for Them but I'm not a fan of Brown Eyed Girl since I've heard it eons of times and Astral Weeks may be the most overrated album this side of OK Computer or Kid A. Astral Weeks was good in theory and if you think it's one of the best albums you heard then so be it. It never do much for me. A lot better was his 1970 Moon Dance which was better realized than the go with the flow moment of the previous album. His biggest hits came with the next album, Blue Money and Domino, both overplayed to death on classic rock radio.
10. Green Machine-Kyuss 1992 Heavy metal of the 1990s from the desert, Kyuss had their Black Sabbath down pat on this little number. Josh Homme guitar extraordinaire, moved on to Queens Of The Stone Age and depending on who you talk, QOTSA were the better of the bands. Kyuss made two definitive albums of the 90s, Blues For The Red Sun and the S/T aka Welcome To Sky Valley album. So far behind the times Kyuss was ahead of the times but they broke up before reaping the rewards. Homme has been very busy with QOTSA and Those Crooked Vultures but Brant Bjork, John Garcia and Ned Oliveri have reunited and reform Kyuss under Kyuss Lives! Which will make stoner rockers out there happy, but as for Josh Homme, he just doesn't seem to be that interested to return. Oh well, ask again in 10 years and maybe he'll reconsider.....
"The offers come in all the time. They're getting more and more expensive, and more and more elaborate. The money is crazy, but I've never been tempted – I don't really care about the money, I never have. That's not what KYUSS was about, so to punctuate the end of our sentence with that would be blasphemy. KYUSS fans are so fuckin' rad, they're fuckin' badass — but to me, reunions are just not necessary. It's not what it was, it's what it is, and KYUSS was a really magical thing — and if you weren't there, well, you weren't. That's just the luck of the draw. I don't feel the urge to do it for somebody who didn't have the opportunity to see us, or just didn't take the opportunity to see us. I'll let other bands alter their great legacies. KYUSS has such a great history that it would be a total error. I like that nobody saw KYUSS, and that it was largely misunderstood. That sounds like a legend forming to me. I'm too proud of it to rub my dick on it." –Josh Homme to Joel McIver, May 2007
4 comments:
Funny thing about X, most people only understand part of the deal.
Myself, I discovered 'em because of "The Hungry Wolf" video that promoted Under the Big Black Sun. I went back and heard the Slash LP's and loved 'em, but they lost me at Ain't Love Grand and I heard nothing further.
My buddy Cerveza was in Southern Cal when the band broke, and he worships the first two discs, but never would get into the first couple Elektra records, despite my proseletyzing.
And now I find you got onboard at the point where I disembarked . . . . Funny.
Although I'd seen their name floating around in the early '90's, I didn't really discover Kyuss until three or four years ago. Pathetic comeback tour or not, I'd jump at the chance to see them.
But I totally understand what Homme is saying. He's talking about the insidious nature of nostalgia, also, if you think about it.
Hi Rastro
I did get Under The Big Black Sun for The Hungry Wolf to which KRNA actually played and put it on a mix tape. But never did buy any other X albums till I've seen Hey Zeus! in the used bins at Rock N Bach before the release date in 93. X fans don't like it much, Tony Berg's Production and Tchad Blake recording had a lot to do with it. I think X was going for a more alt rock sound but the record bombed. It wasn't the comeback that they have hoped. Chances are if you like the early stuff and put off by later Elektra stuff, you won't like Hey Zeus! Only reason why I bought it was it was in the used section before it was even released. There's a couple good songs (Baby You Lied, Big Blue House) but for essential X, you can live without Hey Zeus.
Kyuss was word of mouth and I remember their S/T album being sold a lot at the record store I used to hang at. Found a used copy and played it and the one thing that stood out was the bassy,metallic fuzz of Josh Homme's guitar, mixed way out in front, and John Garcia's vocal buried deep in the mix. Kyuss sound owed much to Masters Of Reality Black Sabbath (And MOR themselves since Chris Goss, leader of MOR produced their best albums) but in time of grunge, Kyuss wasn't grunge. They pioneered the Desert Metal with Blues For The Red Sun and the S/T follow up. Both are recommended. Their first LP Wretch suffers from bad recording and their last And The Circus Leaves Town despite leading off with two great tracks, (Hurricane, sounds like Homme's loud buzz is burying Garcia's vocal into the ground)(One Inch Man perhaps their only song ever played on the radio here) comes across like a big stoner snoozefest.
Homme has gone on to bigger and better things with QOTSA and other things that he'd rather not deal with anymore things that are Kyuss. Which is probably why he booted Nick Olveri out of that band. Olveri's out of control screaming for the Queens rubbed me the wrong way, but I liked Homme's more cooler vocal.
As for the others, Brant Bjork's last album Gods & Goddesses does give QOSTA a run for the money but Brant back behind the drums for the Kyuss Lives! And I'm sure he'll be getting a bigger paycheck doing that rather than his own stuff. Heard he used to play in Fu Manchu but I have yet to hear any of their albums.
Hey Crabby: Cool Top 10 as always. The big rumor about The Legendary Stardust Cowboy was that it was sposta B Pat Boone in disguise! Still, "Paralyzed" is a 1-of-a-kind Xperience. Thank Ghod.
"I'm On Fire," great choice.
I hadta hear Billy Joel's GLASS HOUSES over&over bout 1,000 times when I was workin in the record store. The 1 song that survived all that 4 me was "All for Leyna," I still love it. & "You May Be Right" isn't completely terrible.
Was sorry 2 hear about your old friend passing away. I've spent mosta my week's vacation trying 2 patch-up a relationship. Ya never know when you're gonna bow out -- you don't want yer last words 2 some1 2 B said in anger....
Hope you R in good health. & hang in there with the GF....
Hi Tad, great to hear from ya.
Radio actually played Dwight Twilley's I'm On Fire, I was very impressed till they returned to overplayed Hungry Heart by Springsteen.
I recall the radio station playing the long version of Sometimes A Fantasy where Joel I GOT BLISTERS ON MY BLISTERS at the end of song. That got edited off the LP. I'm sure hearing Glass Houses 1,000 times a day drove ya crazy. It would me.
The Stardust Cowboy was a one of kind dude from Lubbock TX and somehow scored a deal with Mercury Records to which they issued a couple singles including Paralyzed. However, further research showed him appearing on Laugh In to which he performed his song and it looks like that John Henry Burnett was playing drums. The Laugh In cast started appearing and doing their comedy bits toward the end to which Mr. Odum ran off the stage, probably having enough of being laughed at and not with. I think later versions of his best known song having his back up band doing a Bo Diddley beat. Still an acquired taste and not for everybody. Rhino Records used Paralyzed for History Of Texas Music Volume 3 to where it seems to fit along the 13th Floor Elevators, Johnny Winter, Roy Head and a few others.
Cheers!
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