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.

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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.]


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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.

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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.







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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.

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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.







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