Top Ten-Crabb visits New Bo And Madison Again!

We got drowned in the springtime, flooded out in May and June and then watched everything dry up from that moment onward.  Welcome to Summer 2K13.


1.  Make Time For Love-Trillion 1980  I have been doing the top ten for 10 years now and I don't I'm making much headwave about getting the word out about obscure bands that nobody knows about and I don't have connections to major labels to get the word out, I'm no Lefsetz, nor will ever be.  We're all better off over that.  I was very liberal back then in terms of blowing my money on the up and coming bands that CBS had out in their 5.98 new artist series.  Trillion was one of those bands, hyped up to hell on their bloated first album and never liked that one.  A change of singers (the screechy Fergie Fredricksen who went on to LeRoux then Toto in exchange for Thom Griffin) and producers (Styx's Barry Mraz for John Boylan) and Clear Approach was the end result.  I liked it better than the first album and Make Time For Love was chosen for a single but didn't chart.  Gene Cotton did a version of it in 1979 with no results either. Patrick Leonard would become a sought after producer (Madonna, Outfield, Toy Matinee). Rock Candy, the import rock label reissued both Trillion albums a few years ago.  I suggest Clear Approach over the first.

2.  Iron Child-Rhett Miller 1989  One of the best discoveries of CD bargain hunting was coming across four copies of Mythologies from the future Old 97's leader in the Quad Cities at the old Mister Money pawnshop.  Back in the late 90's I made a thrice yearly trip to Davenport since they had a big used CD selection and they never sold much, for everything I looked at, there was always a great chance that it would be waiting for me to pick it up on the next trip (bands like Blue Rodeo, Andrew Cash, 54-40 benefited from this since I like them enough to seek out their catalog).  But the Moline store had four copies of Mythologies and I picked them all up as a favor to friends who liked the Old 97s and sold two of them elsewhere.  He only made 1000 copies of this album, to which I have copy number 110.  He was 18 or 19 when he did this album and showed a Robyn Hitchcock influence, a night and day from the Old 97's Americana country pop and roll.  I can probably sell it for a 100 dollars or maybe more if need be but I do like the album enough to hang on to it, unless I can't make the new car payment.  Only then will I let it go. FYI: Murray Hammond, future Old 97 member also helps out on this album as well.

3.  New Morning-Bob Dylan 1971  This is the Al Kooper arranged horn version that is on the new Another Self Portrait album that Columbia put out in the Bootleg series.  A lot of folks didn't like or didn't get Self Portrait but I can listen through the whole album and still enjoy it better than the Blonde On Blonde album.  Tastes vary, but New Morning the album was a much rougher go.  It's weirder than Self Portrait (If Dogs Run Free featuring a jazz scat female singer, odious).  Listening to the outtakes of this new bootleg comp, Self Portrait would have followed along the lines of Nashville Skyline or John Wesley Harding but a bit more odd.  Which was the reaction of most people that listened to both albums.

Al Kooper sez: When I was working on the album New Morning, I asked Bob if I could overdub a horn section on the title song. He said sure and I did. When I played it for his approval he didn’t like it. That was the end of that until last year when they started working on the authorized bootleg #10 and Bob’s manager, Jeff Rosen, invited me to remix the track with the horns the way I wanted them. It's available NOW on the Another Self Portrait box set. Your comments?

4.  Right Action-Franz Ferdinand 2013  Hard to believe they've been around for ten years.  Mark Prindle hates them and with good reason; most of their albums are the same, start out great then get boring along the way.  This continues the pattern of great lead off song, meh the rest of the way.

5.  The Real World-The Mighty Lemon Drops 1989  They could do Echo And The Bunnymen better than the actual band in the late 80s but they begin to alter their sound after World Without End did better than expected.  The next album Laughter shows them going away from the Echo/Bunnymen sound to a alt British power pop of sorts, which is not a bad thing but the horn sounding synths  dates the late 80s production.  Wounded Bird reissued their Sire albums with bonus tracks up the booty but if you don't want to spend new prices for the bonus material, the Sire/Reprise CDs can be found very cheap.  I did like World Without End and their first album Happy Head but never paid much attention to Laughter and the other two till I found Laughter for 2 dollars.  Picks up where World Without End left off and maybe I'll go find the last two albums to see what I missed.

6.  Jezebel-The Everly Brothers 1962  This goes back to Frankie Laine I think but The Woggles took a stab at it on their latest album which actually borrows more from the Herman's Hermits version to which I never heard till it was played on Underground Garage on XM radio.  But Phil and Don put this out on the lackluster and title deceiving  Instant Party! (issued on Collector's Choice Music when Gordon Anderson got the go ahead to release the Everly's Warner Brothers albums of the 60s) and the public didn't buy the album. Doubt if they had better sales when it came out on CD.  Found it in the dollar bins at you know where......Half Priced Books (CD hoarder's heaven, or hell).

7.  Same Old Wine-Loggins & Messina 1971  Sittin In remains their best studio album with classic cuts like House On Pooh Corner and Danny's Song both hits for Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Anne Murray but Jim Messina knows a thing or two about the extended jam since he used to be in Buffalo Springfield and Poco. Another FM deep cut that you can hear on XM radio from time to time.  There's more to them than just Your Momma Don't Dance.

8.  Move Over-Steppenwolf 1969  In reality Monster, their concept album about corruption in the government and America still rings true to this day, even more since Warmongers are forming at the mouth to invade Syria, 2003 all over again.  Return to the days of 69 and Webster City to which I could go downtown to Woolworth's to check out the 3 for a dollar 45s although I think some hardware store down the road was selling the hits of the day and I brought this, or had my mom buy it.  Life was good back then.  As long as Jerry Edmonton was playing drums and Gordy McJohn was playing the keyboards, Steppenwolf  was great. But that was a long time ago. http://www.metrolyrics.com/move-over-lyrics-steppenwolf.html

9.  Trucker's Lullaby-The Randy Cliffs 2004  Been a while since I added a cut from their classic Trixie's Trailer Sales CD so here ya go.  A more beer soaked and rowdier version of Dash Rip Rock although DRR was never this reckless good.  But I can guarantee you that no band of the 2000's was this sloppy drunk good as The Cliffs were and it even took me a good six years later to find that out but by then, they broke up and reunited and broke up again.  My loss for not paying attention in the first place.

10.  Deep Sleep-The B 52s 1982  Their most unconventional song, very moody and not exactly dancelike and David Byrne might have something to do with that since he produced their 1982 EP   Basically we're all sick of Love Shack, the 1989 comeback song of the year played in every dance club and sports arenas all across the land.  The goofy classic Rock Lobster is the stuff that legends were made of but even in the 80s I was still buying 45s and came across this on a whim.  Nobody bought this or the followup Mesopotamia. But somebody dropped the ball at Warners, B side Throw That Beat In The Garbage Can would have made the top 70.  But in the words of the late great Mark Lasack, you're on your own.

New Bo festival over the weekend.  The hippie culture returns to Cedar Rapids with like minded hippie bands and freaky vibes all around.  Kids were flying makeshift kites while bands are playing but I do remember the band from last year playing Sunday.  I remember the big fat white guy rapping to State Of Emergency  to which I excused myself for a trip downtown, and around Cedar Lake.  A nice breeze going on but no shortage of riff raff, especially hearing some bozo methhead yelling at me from behind the bush past the train tracks.   First rule of thumb is not venture off into the tracks and second rule not to converse with riff raff methheads hiding behind bushes behind the tracks. Bascially I told him to mind his manners to which he starting about having a lack of a functioning penis.  No time for losers but I did managed to drive by the place and yell at Marvin Methhead to go find a job.  To which he was still complaining about his small man size.  Can't wait for fall, when I go back out to the nature center trails and not deal with the elite.

Last week, it was Miley Cyrus bizarre song and routine that made news but since MTV repeated the VMA's all over and over, I decided to watch the whole Cyrus routine and take away the shock value and bad porn dance, we gave this way too much exposure.  Meh.

A new car, new car payments, less money for AZ bargain hunts.  Another discouraging sign, The TSA's 85 dollar dignity fee, for that money you don't have to take your shoes off or get the full body search but that's not guaranteed anyway.  Flying has been a pain in the ass in every trip I go out to (Seattle, Arizona, Chicago, VA) and as much as I would love to visit the new Zia's Record Store, it might be a long time before I ever go out there to the desert again.  Unless I retire and move out there. 

This week another 15 minutes of fame goes to Vodka Samm aka Samantha Goode for being arrested while intoxicated and bragging about it on Twitter.  And getting plenty of followers that way.  I guess she's doing all she can for keeping the University of Iowa number 1 in top party school in Iowa.  I'm surprised she managed to maneuver her way around the road construction leading there.

Passings: Joe Kelley, guitarist who played on Shadows Of Knight Gloria and later Time Won't Let Me by the Outsiders   Kelley is also a highly regarded blues guitar player as well.

Little Richard has decided to retire at age 81. Del Amitri has returned from their hibernation with a UK tour for the first time in 10 years. 

Owen Brown:  The oldest heavy metal fan in Britain who had a love of Iron Maiden, Sabbath and other metal passed away from cancer at age 87. https://metalinjection.net/around-the-interwebs/worlds-oldest-metal-fan-dies-will-megadeth-playing-funeral

The Ben Franklin store in Iowa City's Sycamore Mall is closing up shop.

Big Lots return to Madison on Whitney Way, a couple doors down from Half Priced Books. I did venture up there for a day of cheap bargain hunts and Pawn America continues to phase out their CD section with them selling for a quarter a piece. Sad to say that the selection was terrible, with a lot of cds not in their jewel cases or too scratched up or the wrong CD was in the wrong case.  St. Vincent De Paul had a big selection of 45s but perhaps the big finds were recent country CD releases for a dollar.  Ample copies of Uncle Kracker's latest plus 6 cds from Kix Brooks and a couple of the new Mavericks album could have been yours for a dollar a piece.  I guess the Madison new country station Q106 had a promotion of giving out free cds and those who picked and choose decided that Kix Brooks' latest wasn't worth getting.  The new Mavericks has some decent songs on it but I have seen it used more often than not.  Other copies included the new broken up Dirt Drifters This Is My Blood, Sunny Sweeney's Concrete from a couple years ago and something from Wade Bowen called The Given which was produced by Justin Niebank who did the Dirt Drifters album.  Even tho it's on the odious BNA (second worst to Curb) label, I come to find it's a pretty good listen.  Bowen co wrote all but one song and he covered a Townes Van Zant song with the legendary Guy Clark helping out.   Former  Little Dog/Saguaro Road artist Adam Hood helps out on songwriting as well.  A bit too much on the slower songs but when he turns it up a notch on Saturday Night and hard rocking Patch Of Bad Weather, it's damn near Southern Rock.  Then again there's no songs about trucks and tanned women that drink and party all night either, a reason why KHAK never played anything off The Given.  But the future still remains bright for Bowen, let's hope he doesn't sink to desperation and call Dallas Davidson on the next album.

Next week, Samantha Fish releases her anticipated second album.  She's been a very busy girl lately: Kinda wished she'd get GO GO Ray on drums in the studio though: There was a link to it but it's now 404, which means not found.  The dreaded three numbers we all hate in net land.  Anyway, the new album picks up where Runaway ends.  Recommended.


Finally, I haven't been posting much here in Blogland, I've been fighting carpel tunnel once again and been advised not to type so much for a while.  So, I'll type when I can and when the pain isn't bad.  But as we all know,  I tend to not heed advice to take it easy.  But I got a few things in the cooker, another Singles Going Steady series and the all time best rock soundtracks this month.  So I must continue.

More morphine please ;-)


Link: http://www.q106.com/
Madison's Pop Country station.