It might be hard to believe, but I didn't have an idea for a mix until I got your comments. It wasn't part of a bigger plan.
I tried to honor as many as possible, but took plenty of liberties. For instance, by including "Johnny B. Goode/Roadrunner" I managed to cover the Sex Pistols, Chuck Berry, and The Modern Lovers in one song.
I worked with what's in my library, so I was up late last night ripping vinyl lp's.
I was looking for Stevie Wonder when I discovered I had "Tusk", and "Songs For Swingin' Lovers".
Who knew?
Better later than never.
BTW when I Googled "transistor radio" for images, the first one that came up, and the one I used happened to be exactly my very first radio, which I received in 1965. I can remember sitting in a tree and not being able to distinguish between "Safisfaction" and "You Really Got Me". All I knew was I wanted more of that.
Recently I was nominated to participate in a FaceBook Game:
"10 all-time favorite albums that really made an impact and are still on your rotation list, even if only now and then. Post the cover (no need to explain) and nominate a person to do the same."
The Beatles, Stones, Who, Bowie, and the usual suspects didn't make the cut. They haven't been in regular "rotation" in years. I've played them to death.
Of course it's a ridiculous exercise. I chose the following, posted one per day in this order:
Johnny Thunders is possibly the most tragically squandered talent and disappointing artist I can think of.
I love both Dolls albums, The Hearbreakers (Lost '77 mixes), and to some extent "So Alone".
He had the looks, a distinctive, if limited guitar sound, and a knack for writing simple, yet memorable songs.
The first song I learned to sing and play was "Sad Vacation". It was one of my signatures with my band, The Crack (1987-8), the other being "You Don't Miss Your Water". A song I learned from another junkie of unrealized potential, Gram Parsons.
I confess I always took credit for writing them, which many audience members believed. We pretended authorship of all our covers, in the silliest of ways like, "I wrote this song for The Rolling Stones, in 1968", when introducing "Dear Doctor". We also wrote "Heroin" for The Velvet Underground.
I keep thinking of a line by Wayne Kramer in "Please Kill Me":
"We had an expression we used to say about Johnny Thunders. We'd say that he was always "snatching defeat from the jaws of victory".
When The Hearbreakers went to England, they showed everyone how it was done. None of the other bands on the Anarchy tour had the professional experience of Johnny, Jerry, Walter, and Billy.
They blew everyone away. And introduced a whole generation to heroin.
I credit Steve Lillywhite for whatever cohesion is evident on "So Alone".
Things went steadily downhill from there.
I have a DVD of "Thunders, Nolan, and Kane" which is pretty together, but it wasn't always that way.
Here is a performance for Swedish Television, taped on March 22, 1982, and never aired for obvious reasons. Fasten your seatbelts, it's a bumpy ride.
I was, and I guess still am a big New York Dolls fan.
A couple months back, I went to my local record store (Iris Records, in Jersey City) to attend a book signing for Curt Weiss's "STRANDED IN THE JUNGLE (Jerry Nolan's Wild Ride-A Tale of Drugs, Fashion, the New York Dolls, and Punk Rock)".
The event was advertised in Face Book, and came with a promo blurb about the author and how he came to write the book. I realized we must have some mutual acquaintances.
BBJ circa 1980
I was born in Buffalo, but grew up in SoCal. I lived in a beach town in close proximity to LA.
I started going to The Whiskey on a regular basis about the time Punk happened. My best friend, room mate, and Bible Burners front man King James, and I went to a lot of shows, often accompanied by his sister, who became my girlfriend.
We got into Rockabilly, as it was pretty easy to fashion spiky punk hairdo into a '50's "quiff".
All it took was a blow dryer. We already had the hair gel.
For "London Calling" The Clash recorded a cover of Vince Taylor's "Brand New Cadillac", and Queen followed with "Crazy Little thing Called Love". The Stray Cats rode the same wave.
This revival was sparked in part by Levi And The Rockats, from England, and formed in 1977.
In late 1980, King James and I went to see them in Santa Monica, far from the glamour of Hollywood.
They came out and tore the place up. About halfway through their set I pointed at the drummer, and, "Holy Shit!, that's Jerry Nolan!". The bar had no dressing room, so between sets, the band hung out. King James and I zeroed in on Jerry. He was charming and accessible.
After the second set, we continued to hang out. Starstruck, I went on about the Dolls, and eventually made Jerry cry. He knew that had been a missed opportunity. He was playing a dive with a bunch of kids. I didn't see him ask my girlfriend for her number, which she provided.
I wasn't suspicious when my new friend Jerry guest-listed us to a handful of shows.
I soon experienced the dumping of my life. I was devastated.
At the same time, Levi left The Rockats and went solo. I went with Levi. Jerry couldn't handle LA, too hard to cop, so he returned to New York.
Curt Weiss aka Lewis King, replaced him in The Rockats.
My girlfriend came back briefly, but then took up with Jeffrey Lee Pierce, of The Gun Club.
Junkie mystique? Whatever.
I arrived early to the book signing and spoke to Curt. Rockat Barry Ryan was also in attendance. They enjoyed my tale, and we indeed had mutual acquiantances. They remembered the girlfriend well, and I learned that she's married to director Gore Verbinski (Rango, Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Ring).
I Google imaged him and there she was.
I don't know what happened to King James. Once he'd achieved his ambition of becoming a heroin addict I moved out. Last I knew he was living with his mother.
Curt's book is extremely well researched and written. Being a drummer he gets the music right.
I didn't know Jerry and Peter Criss were boyhood friends, or that he drummed for and dated Bette Midler during her "bath house" days. Jerry Nolan was talented and should have been a contender, if not for heroin. A terrible career choice. Same goes for Johnny Thunders, but that's another story.
I was planning on something more substantial for today, until I had computer problems last night.
I know that sounds like the dog ate my homework, but it's true.
My computer is not new, and it froze at a moment when my patience was thin, so I shut it off improperly.
When I re-started, it punished me with a black screen and plain text informing me I was really going to have to wait this one out so I went to bed and watched Stormy Daniels 60 minutes interview on my phone via YouTube.
I believe she was telling the truth, but there was nothing really new and it put me to sleep.
Since I'm committed to posting something every day until Sal returns, here's a footnote of sorts to Friday's Weekend Mix.
It's me approximating Ry's sound in an original composition entitled "The Mutant Blues".
"Mutant" refers to the $10 yard sale guitar it was written and performed on.
It sounded good, but the action wasn't great, and the truss rod maxed out, so I ripped all the frets out past the fifth. enabling me to play open chords near the nut, yet play slide further up without fret rattle.
Me and Ry go way back.
So far back that it's hard to pinpoint how or why.
I'm an only child, so no older siblings, or friends clued me in.
I grew up in Southern California, where most of my environment was built in the '60's and '70's.
The oldest buildings in nearby Los Angeles were constructed around 1920.
I went to brand new Middle and High Schools.
Maybe that's why I found a series of Time-Life books in the library entitled "This Fabulous Century" so fascinating, particularly the 1920's -1940's.
I loved old movies, which local TV stations used to fill air space.
I discovered thrift stores and bought a fedora. I tried to carry a pocket watch.
After The Beatles broke up I was a little lost, and short on cash, so I began sending off for Warner's Loss Leaders, starting with the 3 record set "Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies".
That's where I first encountered Ry Cooder.
His album covers really caught my eye, so I bought "Into The Purple Valley" and was hooked.
So much so I wanted to be Ry Cooder.
He's the reason I bought a pawn shop banjo mandolin, and received Jerry Silverman's "Folk Blues" as an 18th birthday gift.
His mandolin playing is distinctive, and bears no resemblance, thankfully, to Bill Monroe or Bluegrass.
I regrettably lost the mandolin as part of a trade for my first pawn shop electric guitar, but I still have the book. I learned to play the intro to "Ax Sweet Mama" at least.
Typically for me, I loved his first few albums, and then he evolved, and I didn't follow.
Gone were the Depression era down home blues in favor of too many accordions and a more modern sound.
Not long after that Punk happened, and that was that.
I loved his soundtrack for Wim Wender's "Paris, Texas". Those of you familiar with it will recognize "Dark Is The Night", from his eponymous first album, as familiar territory.
Ry's not a great singer, but I believe him, and he's probably my biggest influence as a player of stringed instruments, although if you heard me you'd never know.
Two things I learned from wikipedia while doing research for this post:
He started playing guitar at age three, and has had a glass eye since he was four, when he accidentally stuck a knife in his left eye. He found the blues early.
This music has aged better than I have, and is never to far from my ears..
"Oh what a beautiful morning, oh what a beautiful day!"
-Oklahoma
What the fuck happened to Spring?
Except that they both precede and resemble The Clash, and have "Rock" in their titles, there is no connection between these songs.
I can't believe the Clash didn't absorb the 101ers "Letsgetabitarockin'". At the very least it deserved a spot on their set list, and would have been quite at home on either "London Calling" or "Sandanista!".
At about the same time Roger McGuinn recorded "Rock N Roll Time" for his 1976 "Cardiff Rose" album. Written by McGuinn with Kris Kristofferson, and Bobby Neuwirth, and produced by Mick Ronson, who also played guitar, it seems to predict the Clash's sound, and would have fit better on "Give'em Enough Rope" than it did on Roger's album.
While I love "Letsgatbitarockin'", I think of "Rock N Roll Time" time as a curiosity. It took a lot of writing muscle to squeeze out a fairly mediocre song. A rich guys "rebellion".
I bought "Cardiff Rose" when it came out, largely because of Mick Ronson, and was kind of disappointed. It's not a great record. The really good tracks on it are covers: Joni's "Dreamland", and Bob's "Up To Me".
I'm not sure how many posts I have in me, and I'm not making any promises, but here's another fun pair of songs. Fun might not be the right word as they are both emotionally devastating, but powerfully good.
Graham Nash asked Joni Mitchell to marry him. She wanted to be an artist in her own right, and not tied to, or in the shadow of, a famous man. She refused. He was heartbroken. They both wrote songs about it.
She said:
He said:
He's not finished (bonus track):
She is full of regret, and he's reluctantly moving on.
I'm like the lame substitute teacher filling in for a favorite.
With Sal's blessing, my intention is to keep the blog on life support until he feels like returning.
This has happened before, but you never know.
"The future is uncertain and the end is always near",
said drunk Jim after he woke up and got himself a beer.
Most of the time "bonus tracks" are anything but. In reality they're just "filler".
That said, sometimes you find a good one. "Claudine" from the "Some Girls" sessions
is a cut above and probably left off the album for legal reasons.
It was a little too current an event at the time.
The lyrics fairly accurately describe the scenario of Claudine Longet, estranged wife of singer Andy Williams shooting and killing her boyfriend, Olympic skier "Spider" Sabitch in their Aspen cabin, on March 21, 1976. She later married her defense attorney.
It's a rare bit of Rockabilly from the Stones, with "Rip This Joint" being the other example I can think of.
I thought it sounded awfully familiar, but I couldn't put my finger on it until my phone randomly played Jack Scott's "Leroy" from a recently acquired compilation, "Loud Fast & Out Of Control-The Wild Sounds Of "50's Rock" .
It was the b-side of his chart topping (Billboard #3) 1958 single "My True Love".
Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Over the last few hours, a dozen or so friends have reached out to me, wanting to know what happened. These are friends of mine. People I respect. People who respect me. For them, and for the innocent people who have been nothing but supportive, I will explain in the best way possible and it will save me a dozen or more e-mails.
This place has become more than a blog. I can tell you things about people I have never met. I know Shriner's favorite record is "Get The Knack," for example. Troy loves New Orleans. This is not your average blog. So, it shouldn't surprise anyone who matters, when I lose my grip over either a lack of activity, or worse, a lack of respect. I feel like I know many of you, and to see activity drop so drastically, is incredibly disappointing.
This isn't about disagreeing. It's about how you disagree. Many of you have teased me about Todd Rundgren, but you don't mock me. Many of you don't like Queen or Bowie, but you don't take cheap shots every time I post about them. I welcome discussion, but that seems to have disappeared, as well. Weekend Mixes take time. Hundreds download. Three say something.
Think of it this way- you're an artist, you play to almost empty houses every night, and once in a while, you play to a packed house. You're encouraged, so you keep singing. I am not only playing to an empty house more regularly, but the few people who do show up, can't even bother to applaud. Let's not even go into the sociopaths who troll me anonymously. You can all say, "Don't let the bastards get you down!" But I wonder how you would feel, if people you know and trusted, take cheap shots, or betray your trust. Or worse, people who tell you they know you, but won't identify themselves. This isn't a fucking game.
I am tired of it.
I make nothing here. Not a cent. I do it because I can't help it. The second after this morning's post, a song popped in my head and my first thought was to share it. I do that on Facebook a lot. Two people will like it. 78 people loved it when there was a bug in my Greek salad. (See what you're missing on Facebook?)
I am not doing this for attention. But really, all of you who are going to miss this, where have you been? When was the last time you commented or joined in? I know this isn't school. There is no obligation. Doesn't make it any more fun on this end.
There are a lot of blogs out there and most of the time, I don't like the music they share or write about. But I don't use my pages to trash them.
That's it. Now you can all have a field day with how sensitive I am, or how I should calm down and not overreact. That's always a good way to handle things.
The terrorists have won.
Thanks to all you who have shown support and have participated all these years. It was a great ride.
To the disappointing few who found it increasingly more difficult to show any respect, and to the trolls, go fuck yourselves.
See you all down the line, in a much simpler format that will hopefully be more fun than what this has become.
The Beatles are overrated. Bob Dylan can't sing. Kiss
sucks. The Grateful Dead are terrible. Jimmy Page is a thief. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All of these
statements make me twitch, but I am doing my best to ignore those who just refuse to get it. Anyway, it's their loss.
There is something
though, that I really want to understand, and that is the godlike reverance for Johnny Thunders and Willy DeVille. It can't be as simplistic as rooting for the underdog. This is music we are talking about. Everyone gets passionate about what they love and what they don't. I like Willy & Johnny, but I can think of plenty of junkies who wrote better songs and recorded better music.
Every year, the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees bring out the worst in social media. And to quote a very good friend of mine, "I hate Journey as much as the next guy, but what the hell did the New York Dolls ever do to get in the Hall Of Fame?" Well, they aren't, but it seems like a growing number of devotees think they should be.
With
Johnny Thunders, the New York Dolls made one iconic record. They broke
ground and became iconic for good reason. I really like the Dolls first record, but it is of its time. To my ears, it just doesn't hold up musically. "Too Much, Too Soon" pales in comparison. The reunion records are actually very good, but they are no better or worse than so many other glammy records that get zero attention.
Musically, I think "So
Alone," Johnny's solo record, is better than both Dolls records. But that's me. The
Heartbreakers records are great punk records, but then after that, there is mostly painful recordings that probably have been better off unreleased. Just a recorded mess of someone not keeping it together. Yet, Johnny Thunders is a god.
Less baffling, but still of interest to me is Willy DeVille. There is something very charming about
the first three Mink DeVille records. In the middle of the outbreak of
punk and new wave, here were albums that seemed to pay tribute to the
bygone era of the Brill Building and girl groups and doo wop. Really fun records. But let's
admit it, most of these songs were just second rate versions of the
original hits from the era Willy loved. DeVille doesn't even bother to come up with
new titles for his songs. "Mixed-Up Shook Up Girl?" "River Of Tears?"
"This Must Be The Night?" "Lipstick Traces?" None of these are covers.
Then, from the 80's on, drugs took over DeVille's life, some arguably mediocre records
followed, he became impossible to work with, and now he is an icon in
France and a rock and roll hero to many.
What am I missing?
There needs to be more than just an image, or a story. There is something juvenile about knocking music because it is well-produced and well-played. Compared to Johnny Thunders output, Willy DeVille's records are walls of sound. And I do like them. But he is not Bob Dylan. He is not Dion, Barry Mann or Neil Diamond or Doc Pomus, or any of the singers and songwriters he tries to be. That's okay. He had talent. It's one thing to root for the underdog. I just never got trashing the winners.
There is nothing wrong with being able to sing and play, to solo, to harmonize, to keep time, to sing in key, to produce and to write well. It's not cooler to be a mess. And if anyone thinks I am defending Journey, you can kiss my Pineda.
From last week's tribute to Led Zeppelin at Carnegie Hall, here are Colin Blunstone and Rod Argent of The Zombies and a gorgeous take of "Thank You" from Led Zeppelin 2.
As I mentioned last week, I was a fan of Judas Priest, but haven't listened to their music with any real enthusiasm in over 30 years. Then, "Firepower" was released on Friday. I loved the opening track so much, I went all in. I have listened to this record exactly four times since Friday and for the moment, I am thinking it will end up in my Top 10, by year's end.
With all things Judas Priest this past weekend, I decided to go back to some of the records I had missed, mainly all but one, in the last 20 years. "Painkiller," especially, got high marks, but it left me cold. "Turbo" made me laugh. I finally had to put on "British Steel," which as I mentioned last week, is the greatest heavy metal record of all time. It still floored me. So, this made me think, maybe this new record "Firepower" really is the shit, as opposed to me crying nostalgia. With that, I started to think about other bands I listened to with great fervor.
As hard as it is for me to admit this, from 1984-1991, I was a Red Hot Chili Peppers fan. My dear friend, the late, great Tim Vega, took me to a show at The Ritz, with opening acts Royal Crescent Mob and Faith No More, and something about the energy in the room, and the endless supply of white boy punk and funk on that stage, really impressed me. At that time, nothing sounded like "Freaky Styley," the RHCP record produced by George Clinton. I listened to that record continuously until their follow-up was released, and then listened to that until the next.
I tried listening to "Freaky Styley" this weekend. I can't stand the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I listen now and it all sounds like some of the worst music ever put to wax. Maybe a song or two every now and then, will remind me of a fun night out with Tim, but even when their breakthrough record, "Blood Sugar Sex Magic" was released, I was stunned by the success of "Under The Bridge," which is as horrible as it gets, mostly because there is no worse singer than the perpetually flat, Anthony Kiedis. I realize that song was very personal to its composer, but that doesn't make it any less unlistenable.
I listened to Angel. Yes, the band with Punky Meadows. It still sounded okay by me. Nothing to take too seriously, but hardly as offensive as the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I didn't quite feel "Helluva Band" the way I used to, but it didn't embarrass me.
I am listening to the new Judas Priest again as I wind this up, and I am genuinely in love with this record. The musicianship is something to behold, even if metal is not your thing. And while the toughest mountain to climb is believing Rob Halford has aged gracefully, as he preens in head to toe leather, while singing about necromancers and spectres, the band truly does not sound dated, at least not on "Firepower."
Is there an artist or band, that you once loved, but now, can no longer stand the sight or sound of?
So Like Candy (Demo) - Elvis Costello & Paul McCartney
Love Shines- Ron Sexsmith
Rain- Madonna
Augustine- Swandive
Love Missile F1 Eleven- David Bowie
The Lie In Me- Jason Falkner
Taken For A Fool (Live From MSG)- The Strokes & Elvis Costello
There was a time, a long, long time ago, when you would hear a Little Feat tune followed by a Judas Priest tune on FM radio. Ah yes, I remember it well. It happened one night on WNEW-FM. It was a song called "Beyond The Realms Of Death" from an album called "Stained Class" that started it all for me and my love of Judas Priest, and for a few years, I was a full blown metal head.
The trio of records Judas Priest released between 1978-1980 were as important to me as The Beatles, Bowie and Todd Rundgren were, and their 1980 release, "British Steel" is without question, my choice for not only the greatest heavy metal record of all time, but one of the greatest of any genre.
I don't listen much to Judas Priest these days. I'll be the first to admit that this particular brand of metal does not age well. (Or maybe, I am the one who does not age well.) But "British Steel" remains close to the turntable, it's that good.
"Firepower," the new Priest record drops tomorrow and I am very excited about it. I heard the title track yesterday, and no band 45 years after the fact, should be making music this good.
I know Judas Priest isn't for everyone, but give the two tracks here a spin for your old pal Sal. The track below closes out "British Steel" and the groove the band falls into for the coda, is a motherf**ker!
This year's Record Store Day releases were announced yesterday. All you cultists can take a look at the full list at the official Record Store Day page. I found more than a few nice pieces to look forward to, but for the love of Pete, try to contain your excitement.
One release that surprised me is an Elvis Costello/Roots cover of "Someone Else's Heart," the Squeeze track found on their "East Side Story" record. Unbeknownst to me, it was recorded two years prior to "Wise Up Ghost," the EC/Roots 2013 collaboration. It will be a 7" released on the fab Yep Roc label. Or, you can just give it a spin right now. It's pretty okay! If this is old news, I apologize. It must have slipped by me in 2011.
Casino Royale- Herb Alpert & The TJB
Rescue Me- World Party
The Girl's Alright With Me- The Temptations
Rubberneckin'- Elvis Presley
Harper Valley PTA- Squeeze
This Man He Weeps Tonight- The Kinks
Drift Away- Dobie Gray
I hated "Little Willy." All my friends loved it the way I loved Mott The Hoople. I wasn't going for any of that. But then, a few years later, I heard "Action." The playing, the arrangement, the production, all of it still blows me away. I loved this single so much, I did the ol' re-evaluation shuffle, and I've been a Sweet fan ever since. Maybe not every record, but the first four or five, for sure.
Anyway, this felt like a good way to wake up on a dreary Friday morning.
Half standards/half originals. I wasn’t even going to bother with yet another new Van Morrison record, but I’m
glad I did. The originals are better than the standards, but there is some
killer Van gibberish in “Unchained Melody” and “Affirmation” is gorgeous
in that, “where the hell is he going” way of old. Highly recommended!
