Flipper - Generic Flipper

I've always had a soft spot for bands that really piss people off...

... and I've always been a soft spotted fan of Flipper, mainly because they really irked those who were supposed to love them most.

____________________________





AMG: If great rock & roll is supposed to be about breaking the rules, then Flipper's still-astonishing debut, Album — Generic Flipper, confirms their status as one of the great rock bands of their day. Album captures a band who not only refused to obey the accepted guidelines of rock & roll, they didn't even bother to pay much attention to their own rules. On the opening cut, "Ever," the band displays a willful contempt for rhythm, playing in a sludgy mid-tempo that wavers back and forth — and then they add a snappy (if casually executed) clap track over the top, making the sloppy mess seem almost catchy. Flipper slogs along through a slow, noisy swamp through most of the album, only to snap-to with a dose of up-tempo hardcore near the end on "Living for the Depression," and then close out with the brilliant "Sex Bomb," the closest thing '80s punk ever created to the beer-fueled genius of the Kingsmen's "Louie Louie," and a song with a great beat that you just can't dance to. And while Flipper seemed sincere about their utter lack of faith in mankind, on "Life" they dared to express a tres-unhip benevolence, declaring "Life is the only thing worth living for." (Not to mention the angry but deeply committed finale to "Living for the Depression," in which Bruce Lose declares, "I'm not living my life to be/A real cheap f*cker like you, copout!") About the only accepted rule of rock that seems to mean anything to Flipper is that music isn't worth playing if it doesn't have passion; every noisy moment of Album — Generic Flipper sounds like Flipper was willing to live and die for this music (and in a sense, that's just what Will Shatter did). On Album — Generic Flipper, Flipper plays noise rock with none of the pretension that later bands brought to the form, proving that music doesn't have to be fast to be punk (a lesson that gave the Melvins a reason to live), and creating a funny, harrowing, and surprisingly engaging masterwork that profoundly influenced dozens of later bands without sounding any less individual two decades later.


HEAR

Steel Pole Bath Tub - Butterfly Love

Noisey and grumpy and just a whole bunch of mess throw out there to sort out. Creeping basslines and big guitars and just a big fucked up mescaline horror show vision accompanied by some severely spooky and often hilarious sampling.

There was likely considerable amounts of cough syrup ingested during the production of this fine effort.

_________________


A long but informative SPBT bio from AMG: Enigmatic noise rock trio Steel Pole Bath Tub crafted a grungy, droning, offbeat sound from a palette of fuzzed-out bass riffs, blasts of guitar feedback, and tape loops, plus a raft of alternately kitschy and disturbing dialogue samples from vintage TV shows and movies. Additionally, the band had a penchant for deconstructive covers of rock classics, some of which appeared only on 7" singles. Critics were split on the effectiveness of their often repetitive compositions, with some praising their originality and others bemoaning a lack of consistent songwriting polish. A highly unlikely bet for commercial success, Steel Pole Bath Tub nonetheless managed to score a major-label contract (albeit briefly) during the alternative rock feeding frenzy of the mid-'90s.Steel Pole Bath Tub was founded in Bozeman, MT, in 1986 by guitarist/vocalist Mike Morasky and bassist/vocalist Dale Flattum. After moving to Seattle, they joined up with drummer Darren Mor-X (born Darren Morey), a veteran of the local early-'80s hardcore band Mr. Epp (which featured future members of Green River and Mudhoney). Taking their name from a feature in a true-crime magazine (a Clue-type combination of murder weapon and location), the trio relocated once again, this time to San Francisco.Steel Pole Bath Tub landed a deal with the Bay Area indie label Boner, which was also home to the Melvins in their pre-Atlantic days. The band's debut album, Butterfly Love, appeared in 1989, and was followed in 1990 by the Lurch EP (both were later combined on a CD issue). These early releases established the band's fascination with pop-culture references and TV dialogue snippets, and led to several Bay Area side projects: Morasky teamed with Boner label head Tom Flynn in Duh (aka Death's Ugly Head), and the whole group worked with Jello Biafra under the name Tumor Circus. Fans and critics tended to agree that Steel Pole Bath Tub really began to hit their stride on 1991's Tulip and its follow-up, 1993's The Miracle of Sound in Motion. During the same period, Morasky and Flattum teamed up (under the aliases C.C. Nova and Bumblebee) in an electronics-oriented side project called Milk Cult, which gave their interest in sampling a whole new outlet. 1994 brought a new Steel Pole Bath Tub EP, Some Cocktail Suggestions, which would prove to be their final work for Boner. Slash Records -- at the time a subsidiary of Warner, though they would shortly switch affiliations to London -- offered the band a major-label contract, perhaps swayed by similar jumps from Steel Pole influences the Butthole Surfers and labelmates the Melvins.Steel Pole Bath Tub's major-label debut, Scars From Falling Down, was released in 1995. Due to copyright concerns, their trademark dialogue samples had to be held in check, which placed more focus on the band's music itself. In 1996, they set about recording a follow-up, initially hoping to cover the Cars' debut album in its entirety. Slash, unimpressed with the postmodern prank and the demos of new material that accompanied three Cars covers, promptly dropped the band from its roster. Caught in limbo, Steel Pole Bath Tub gradually drifted into oblivion. The bandmembers remained active, though -- in 1997, Milk Cult received a grant from the French government to join an artists' collective in Marseilles, where they recorded an album that would be released in 2000 as Project M-13. Morasky subsequently went to New Zealand as a special effects technician on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy, while Flattum retired to North Carolina to pursue the visual arts while working for a software company. Morasky (now calling himself Agent Nova) and Mor-X reunited as Novex in 2002, pursuing a style similar to Milk Cult on their debut, Kleptophonica. Meanwhile, Steel Pole Bath Tub finally recovered the rights to their lost major-label follow-up, and issued the material in 2002 on the 0 to 1 label as Unlistenable (the title a quote from Slash executives' response to the tapes).


HEAR

The Soft Boys - Underwater Moonlight

Clean and refined, straightforward guitar rock for nonpussies and pussies too! Oh yeah it's smart, by the way (which probably appeals more to all y'all pussies).

A real slumpbuster, baby.

______________________


AMG: After recording the material that would later comprise the bulk of Invisible Hits, the Soft Boys recorded their masterpiece, the shimmering neo-psychedelic Underwater Moonlight. Essentially, the band didn't change their style for the record -- they merely perfected it. The Soft Boys don't hide their influences -- whether its the ringing guitars of the Beatles and Byrds or the surreal humor of John Lennon and Syd Barrett -- but they assimilate them, resulting in a fresh, edgy take on '60s guitar pop. Robyn Hitchcock's subject matter tends to be more explicitly weird and absurdist than his influences, as titles like "I Wanna Destroy You," "Old Pervert," and "Queen of Eyes" indicate -- even "Kingdom of Love" equates romance to bugs crawling under your skin. But the lyrics aren't the only thing that are edgy -- the music is too. The Soft Boys play pop hooks as if they were punk rock. "I Wanna Destroy You" isn't overtly threatening like their post-punk contemporaries, but with its layered guitar hooks and dissonant harmonies, it is equally menacing. Furthermore, the group can twist its songs inside out and then revert them to their original form, as evidenced by "Insanely Jealous." Although the neo-psychedelic flourishes are fascinating, the key to record's success is how each song is constructed around rock-solid hooks and melodies that instantly work their way into the subconscious. In fact, that's the most notable thing about Underwater Moonlight -- it updates jangling, melodic guitar pop for the post-punk world, which made it a touchstone for much of the underground pop of the mid-'80s, particularly R.E.M.


HEAR

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Savvy Show Stoppers

Ahh, Shadowy Men... totally unpretentious, complete, solid, knows their place, fulfills their promise, makes you think differently about surf music, instrumentals, makes you think it might be okay for you and your mates to can that lameass, hopelessly conceited and unaware singer in your indiepunkfunkska band.


Surf music as only Canadians can do it.

___________________________


AMG: In the vast wasteland of the music biz, artists of truly original vision are rarer than hen's teeth. Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet -- Canadian punk rockers hailing from Toronto, Ontario -- have nonetheless managed to create a style uniquely their own. Quirkily eccentric it is, drawing inspiration from old sci-fi and drive-in horror film scores, but their confident approach makes the music instantly accessible. Almost without exception, they play in minor keys, adding spice and intrigue with unexpected melodic twists. The galloping guitars, loping bass, and crashing drums each speak with voices so powerful that the lack of a human one goes unnoticed. Their enthusiasm is infectious; their naive sincerity charming, and their self-deprecating humor a refreshing change from the industry norm. Savvy Show Stoppers, the band's first CD release, collects tunes from five previous 7" vinyl records released from 1985-1988 on the group's own Jetpac label. In fact, the first three songs Shadowy Men ever waxed -- "Our Weapons Are Useless," "Bennett Cerf," and "Having an Average Weekend" -- still remain among the group's finest recordings. "Weapons" is a high-voltage march of the aliens, "Bennett Cerf" is a killer tune with just the right amount of string-bending and wah wah bar, and "Weekend" (the quintessential Shadowy Men track) gained fame as the theme song for the television comedy series The Kids in the Hall. Most of the CD's other tracks are of similarly high caliber. Still primarily an underground phenomenon, Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet are one of the finest bands ever spawned north of the 49th parallel. Their music is unique and tongue-in-cheek. Not only good listening, but great fun.



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Tar Babies Face The Music / Respect Your Nightmares (1982 -1985)

We’ve waxed on at length here before

about our great love of all things Tar Babies.

I’ll go as far here as to say that this stuff is amazing.

Not necessarily because it’s all breathtakingly innovative (as Bucky notes below, these EPs are deeply marked by their formative influences) – this is not the self-realized high art of Fried Milk, but at points, not too far away from it either (most notably the terse dream of “Kicking” and the skewed riffage of "Virgin Sound").

These here EPs are testament to the depth and breadth of the Tar Babies musical odyssey.

NTM a fucking slice in time.

But I’ll shut up, and let you read them here in their own words, courtesy my hand-typed transcription of Bucky Pope’s wonderfully recollective liner notes to this 2005 Aussie CD re-ish of their first two records:

Before Face The Music came out in 1983, the Tar Babies had already opened up for the Misfits in NYC, rolled our van in Raleigh NC, played a whole lot of shows in city parks and stinky basements, and a few in a pilgrim church.

Before that, Robin and I were in the Bloody Mattresses.

In 1980, there were a handful of “punk rock” bands in Madison, Wisconsin, but it was before hardcore, so they were all doing their own out-there kind of music. My first punk show was the Appliances at the Memorial Union. They were great but I threw up in the ladies lounge and I had to walk five miles back to my mom’s apartment.

Back then there was an excellent club in Madison called Merlyns. We saw Iggy Pop, The Selector, Black Flag, Sun Ra, X, The Revillos, Minor Threat, Slits, Bad Brains, and the Replacements several times, all within its year-and-a-half-long life.

Most of the punks were college students who listened to British punk.

We were younger and listened to Black Flag and the Germs.

Robin was the singer of the Bloody Mattresses. We covered the entire second side of the Circle Jerks’ Group Sex record. That was the summer of 1981. That fall, Robin’s younger brother was deported from Switzerland for selling acid at his high school. He had been living there with his parents, but had to finish his senior year in Madison with Robin as his legal guardian.

That winter Robin and I started the Tar Babies with Dan, who was the guitarist from another West High School punk rock band, Mecht Mensch. Dan played drums with us. Jeremy was the bassist in Mecht Mensch but joined our bad as well to do vocals. I was on guitar, Robin on bass.

Our early sound was inspired by DC hardcore bands. Our first four songs were superfast one-two, one-two, one-two beats under distortion-box bar-chords (you can tell which ones they are when you listen to Face The Music).

We recorded four more songs about six months later and had become Black Flag wannabes. You’ll see what I mean when you hear them. That was Face The Music, 1982-83.

Over the next couple of years we played Minneapolis with Husker Du, Milwaukee with Die Kreuzen, and Chicago with Articles of Faith and tons of other bands, as well as doing that ill-fated East Coast tour that ended in Raleigh. And when those bands played Madison, Robin set up their shows.

We recorded again a year later and were still kind of imitating Black Flag. Those songs were the first part of Respect Your Nightmares.

The summer of ’84 we recorded “Lazy Decision,” “Suffer the Pain,” “Kicking” and “Virgin Sound.” This is where we lost Jeremy and fell off into the weird funk-rock hybrid that we coasted out the rest of our career with on SST.

We were pretty young when we started the band. I was 16, Dan was 17, and Robin was a college freshman. At the time, I thought hardcore punk was mostly pretty lame. A lot of time shows were just a bunch of kids standing around while being sonically assaulted by a band whose singer was really pissed off about Reagan and the fascist cops.

But looking back, it was a pretty interesting time in music. Punk was still on the outside. The biggest punk bands barely sold 20,000 records and would never get a mention in Rolling Stone.

Ordinary people had no clue. The kids at my school thought punks were fags and our music was shit.

Now, of course, they’re using punk rock to sell flat-screen TVs.

I’m glad I was born when I was and got to experience punk when it was still stupid.

Dave Lang took the initiative to re-release our first two EPs, as well as a bunch of other songs that were recorded during the same time. I say fine.

If this music raises a smile from somebody who remembers what it was like back then, all the better.

No war, No KKK, no fascist USA.

Thanks,
Frank Buckly Pope

Hear Face the Music / Respect Your Nightmares

Tape - Milieu Plus [2003(8)]

As the weather warms I find I'm seeding less in the digital forest and spending more time in the analog forests. When relegated to the flat screen, increasingly I find my rifle jammed as I attempt to fire shots into the forest, as posting always hinges on striving to write some pithy, engaging copy to entice the denizens. I could wax rapturous about Tape for quite some time, but that would just monopolize your busy day. Just know that three Swedes originally released Milieu in 2003, it sold out of print, and then was rereleased in 2008 as Milieu Plus with the addition of four outtakes from the same period. Interestingly, the four new tunes aren't tagged on the end, but interspersed throughout which livens up the recording for those familiar with the original. I've adored these guys since their debut, Opera, and recommend all of their releases, but Milieu was the album that immediately made me feel like I knew these guys.



Taped in the forest, with the forest, for the forest






Just look at these guys. If you had them over for dinner with your entire family your grandmother would ask how those sweet boys were when you next deigned to call her. (And why haven't you called her lately.)



E-music now features many of their recordings.

X -- Los Angeles (with Bonus Tracks)

On the run today but wanted to throw this log on the fire because activity has dropped off around here a bit. Must have something to do with more sunlight, nicer days and the venom of the indoors wearing off in Middle Teabaggin' America and else/where.


So here's something to discuss: If X were the Beatles of American punk rock, who were the Rolling Stones?


Chew on that cud. Have a lovely weekend friends.

____________________________





Allmusic.com: By the late '70s, punk rock and hardcore were infiltrating the Los Angeles music scene. Such bands as Black Flag, the Germs, and, especially, X were the leaders of the pack, prompting an avalanche of copycat bands and eventually signing record contracts themselves. X's debut, Los Angeles, is considered by many to be one of punk's all-time finest recordings, and with good reason. Most punk bands used their musical inability to create their own style, but X actually consisted of some truly gifted musicians, including rockabilly guitarist Billy Zoom, bassist John Doe, and frontwoman Exene Cervenka, who, with Doe, penned poetic lyrics and perfected sweet yet biting vocal harmonies. Los Angeles is prime X, offering such all-time classics as the venomous "Your Phone's Off the Hook, but You're Not," a tale of date rape called "Johnny Hit and Run Paulene," and two of their best anthems (and enduring concert favorites), "Nausea" and the title track. While they were tagged as a punk rock act from the get-go (many felt that this eventually proved a hindrance), X are not easily categorized. Although they utilize elements of punk's frenzy and electricity, they also add country, ballads, and rockabilly to the mix. [In 1988 Los Angeles and Wild Gift were combined as part of a CD reissue by Slash Records.]


HEAR

Nation of Ulysses - Plays Pretty For Baby

This one here's for Johnny...

You hear whispers of revolt seemingly everyday anymore. Let's lynch the CEO... Tar & feather the congressman... Decapitate the trader... Eat the rich cuz the working man is pissed. So now the Situationalist vibe of NOU resonates even more. Fuck da machine/the man/the world. Multi-layered manifestos dolled up in jazz, dub, Black Pantha rhetoric set atop a screaming machine. Schtick or the real deal, doesn't matter. Give it a chance. Sip the politics. Chug the rock.

____________________


Allmusic.com: This is genius. This is a revolution, of both thought and sound. The Nation of Ulysses is unmatchable by any band ever; they have created a dialectic, a movement, and a youthful assault of the mind and senses. Like Greek to a Caucasian child, most will never understand even partially the spirit that lurks in these movements for it is about something higher than mere music. There is something that moves beyond the lingoes of "The Aspirin Kid" Ian Svenonious, the complicated scriptures that fill the liner notes, the infamous reputations of insane and overwhelming live performance. A warped hybrid synthesis of trashy garage rock, spastic jazz, and creative freedoms. Languages created and swallowed amidst the words and discordant melodies. Full of fervor, anger, wit, and remorse. Solid spastic percussion, swirling distorted guitars, droning bass, and swollen horns. Rambling exploding vocals spitting words of animosity and love, of rebellion and unity, of awakening and medicine. The Nation of Ulysses must prevail."


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Eddie Hazel - Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs

Man, the road is just littered with the bodies of dead guitarists. It seems they all turned themselves inside out to make something stunning and in the process destroyed themselves. Eddie Hazel was one of them.

Considered the rightful heir to Hendrix's legacy, Eddie Hazel added funk to the shred. The man responsible for Funkadelic's classic Maggot Brain and its searing guitar solo played his heart out for George Clinton through the early catalog. Sadly, the title Maggot Brain was actually a reference to Hazel's hardcore habit. Clinton eventually grew tired of it and eased Eddie out of the band, but in 1977, in an act of kindness to an old friend, he gave Hazel a solo album. Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs is killer. Funky, fuzzy, shred that has few peers. Of note, the most soulicious cover of California Dreamin you've ever heard and a blistering version of the Beatles's, I Want You (She's So Heavy).

Out of print for years until Rhino re-released it in 2004 and appended it with the entirety of Hazel's earlier recorded, but later released (and absolutely, wicked showcase), Jams From the Heart EP, this is a document testifying to genius wasted. The guitar work is so funky, so fierce, so... good, you are left lamenting what might have been.


Hazel died in '92 from internal bleeding and liver failure, a forgotten figure. A damned shame, and the only shame larger would be to miss this one.

allmusic:

Eddie Hazel's Games, Dames and Guitar Thangs has long been a holy grail of sorts for real funkateers, as it was the only thing released under Hazel's name while he was still alive, and it's been out of print for years. Enter Rhino Handmade to remedy the situation, not only re-releasing Games, Dames and Guitar Thangs for the first time on compact disc, but nearly doubling the amount of music by including the Jams From the Heart EP. Truth be told, the album itself is a bit light. Barely over 30 minutes long, about half of the album consists of two covers (and a reprise), and the remainder of the tracks are little more than slightly fleshed-out jam sessions. But what the album lacks in songwriting and original material, Hazel more than makes up for with his guitar playing. The album starts with the most soulful version of "California Dreamin'" you've ever heard. Hazel totally makes the song his own by slowing it down and adding an even more pronounced sense of longing, then there's the wicked molten guitar leads that are worth the price of admission alone. "Frantic Moment" and "So Goes the Story" are little more than jams with some Brides of Funkenstein vocals added (and of course, great guitar), but the epic cover of the Beatles' "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is just fantastic. "Physical Love" and "What About It?" are solid instrumentals that just let Hazel strut his stuff ("Physical Love" also gives some spotlight to Bernie Worrell) before the reprise of "California Dreamin'" closes the set. Again, what this album lacks in substance it makes up for in performance, and there just isn't enough material that really features Hazel's guitar playing upfront like this. The Jams From the Heart material is of a piece, but slightly less polished. These recordings sound like your basic studio jamming, and were never intended for release in this form. That being said, there is some absolutely fantastic playing on display, especially on "Lampoc Boogie," which approaches "Maggot Brain" as an Eddie Hazel tour de force. Hazel was an undeniable guitar genius, but his troubled lifestyle led to a dearth of material that really showed his strengths. Rhino Handmade has done music fans a tremendous service by making this lost classic available again, and putting some spotlight back on a pioneering and undersung guitar great. Funkateers rejoice.

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The Jesus Lizard - Live at Max's on Broadway, Baltimore MD, August 23, 1992

This was likely the last tour I saw of the Jesus Lizard. A tour where a Yow shit-kicker roper boot laid to the side of my head resulted in nose on side of face, bloody snot and a black eye. GREATFUCKINGSHOW. They always were... and I understand the return again. Though admittedly I'm not too excited about it. They will never be able to outdo the moment of that '92 show when opening the set came the thumping thundering low end starting "Then Comes Dudley" and it was almost as if the entire packed house started to throb, inhale/exhale in sync. A pot simmering near boil, building waves moving over water. It was beautiful and kind of scary. You knew something was about to happen.


The Jesus Lizard will always be some of the best pissed-off music. When you're seething without explanation, just throw on Goat and you have a friend.


In honor of all the live treats Yow Corp, the tight n shiny and the throbbing horde have provided, here's a taste of that live feel. But, again, nothing compares 2 U seeing it live.







HEAR

Backbeat - OST

Kicking back with Richard Lester's "A Hard Day's Night" last night on IFC it occurred to me how much I appreciated early Beatles. This little record gets that sound right. There's an anxious, angry immediacy here that approximates that early Beatles groove quite well. Ignore the movie - but indulge yourself with the soundtrack. Mike Mills, Dave Pirner, Greg Dulli, Dave Grohl, Thurston Moore and Don Fleming may not be the Fab Four, but they tear it up just the same.

allmusic:

Though more notable for the musicians who contributed to the album than for the actual music contained therein, the Backbeat soundtrack is actually a fantastic record that holds its own even when judged by purely musical criteria. Backbeat (the movie, which is unfortunately a bit of a hack job) chronicles the Beatles' developmental period in Liverpool and Hamburg, so the idea behind the soundtrack was to assemble musicians who could accurately convey the raw, quasi-punk feel of the early leather jacket-clad Fab Four. Producer Don Was, though not usually associated with high-power garage rock, does an excellent job of assembling an amazing post-punk supergroup, the members of which perform cover tunes from the Beatles' actual repertoire with aplomb and surprising cohesion. The band includes powerhouse vocalist Greg Dulli, best known as the leader of the Afghan Whigs, R.E.M. bassist Mike Mills, Nirvana drummer/Foo Fighters guitarist/vocalist Dave Grohl, Thurston Moore (legendary six string strangler with Sonic Youth), noted alternative rock producer/guitarist Don Fleming (Gumball, Hole, Teenage Fanclub, Screaming Trees), and Soul Asylum vocalist Dave Pirner. Pirner, though he only participates on three songs, contributes some of the most energetic lead vocals of his career. Dulli, too, sounds like he's having the time of his life. Overall, the band sounds pretty convincing, except for Grohl's drumming, which, though typically excellent, is obviously from the post-John Bonham hard rock era. Despite that small flaw, however, this album is highly recommended, as it gives a much better idea of the early Beatles over-the-top energy than the film itself.

Hear

James Brown - Revolution of the Mind (Live at the Apollo, Vol. III)

The hardest working man/band, etc. This shreds. Tight as a cat's ass. And the routines sound fresh, the banter racy and chock full of 'hot pant' analysis. And yeah there's a lot of 'right ons', just ridiculous riffs and Brown's trademark nutty showmanship. This is the finest - live at the Apollo - where else!?!


Throw this on with some coffee, bright 'n tight in the a.m., friend.


Tracks :
1. Intro/It's a New Day So Let a Man Come in And Do The Popcorn - 2:38
2. Bewildered - 7:55
3. Sex Machine - 5:08
4. Escape-Ism - 3:05
5. Make It Funky - 12:53
6. Try Me - 2:45
7. Medley:
- I Can't Stand It
- Mother Popcorn
- I Got The Feeling - 1:30
8. Give It up or Turnit a Loose - 1:58
9. Call Me Super Bad - 4:37
10. Get up, Get into It, Get Involved(Part 1) - 3:23
11. Get up, Get into It, Get Involved(Part 2) - 4:55
12. Soul Power - 1:47
13. Hot Pants (She Got to Use What She Got to Get What She Wants) - 8:36

James Brown - Organ, Vocals, Producer
St. Clair Pinckney - Sax (Tenor)
Bobby Byrd - Organ, Vocals
John Morgan - Drums
John Starks - Drums
Fred Thomas - Bass
Fred Wesley - Trombone
Danny Ray - MC
Robert Coleman - Guitar
Russell Crimes - Trumpet
Hearlon "Cheese" Martin - Guitar
Jimmy Parker - Sax (Alto)


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The Smiths - The Troy Tate Sessions

So it looks like the FROXX supporters took an unscheduled Spring Beak holiday. There is no required attendance for this class.

So what better to admonish our absence and neglect tha the self-imposed misery of a little Smiths (that's what she said...)

I only recently discovered this gem. I'm so bad about fetishizing a band's debut and never following the career arc. Yeah I saw the video for "How Soon Is Now" and I'm sure they did some nice stuff after their debut... don't care really. I've always loved their debut. Always looking for new sounds, this really was one. So after listening to Smiths S/T consistently for more than 20 years, encountering the Troy Tate Sessions was pretty seismic (as seismically rocked as my internal Smith's world gets).

So here's the story according to the Magic Answer Machine called the Internet: These are the original studio recordings from the summer of 1983 for the Smiths' debut album with producer Troy Tate, hence the name, "the Troy Tate outtakes or sessions," or incorrectly referred to as the Troy Tate demos. Unsatisfied with his work as a producer, the Smiths re-recorded their debut with producer John Porter and this is what ended up being released. Unfinished versions (at varying degree) of the shelved Tate recordings are in circulation on various bootlegs.

The Troy Tate recordings are grittier, more organic and portray the Smiths in a light inconsistent with what I suspect was Moz's vision (refined & elegant, etc.) Of course I prefer it to the Porter recordings for that very reason. These are the torn jeans and dirty hair Smiths and not the dapper buttoned-down, precious/dandy Smiths.







Hear