I saw Belgium's dEUS in 1994 at the Lowlands festival in Holland. One of those performances that has stuck with me all these years, both familiar and unsettling at the same time, they were fantastic that day. Worst Case Scenario is a great album when all around was post-grunge and pre-brit pop (Oasis were on the same bill somewhere near the bottom). Not really heard them since '99s Ideal Crash which had its moments but not as "out there".
This is from Worst Case Scenario and I've added this great video for this from In A Bar, Under The Sea
He of the white pompadour, James Brown copyist or white funk legend.?
I don't know but there are some classics and hidden gems in his back catalogue. From teen death opera the Last Kiss (covered by Pearl Jam to Going back to Miami (made famous by the Blues Brothers).
And how about this for an album cover?
I first heard this in the early 80s. Made in 1977 with punk and dope in the title I had to get the album. What Do You Want From Live!
I listened to it for a few weeks, got bored, lent it to someone - never ask for it back.
I'd heard about their wild stage shows but had never seen them. Saw this video the other day. Again from Whistle Test (get Jools off and get WT back) Its an amazing performance, a little bit unhinged.
Check it!
For years we've been sold this fairytale about the Punk rock pantomime. One band who seem to be written out of history are the anarcho-punk pioneers Crass. Often cited as being "more punk than thou", Crass were living outside the punk rock rhetoric. Crass were a collective producing abrasive politically inspired rock music as well as fantastic artwork.
They were definitely way ahead of the game with the coolest logos and artwork that informs much of the stencil wielding art anti-heroes and certainly laying the groundwork for Indie (creating their own label and ploughing the proceeds back into other like minded bands). They were a forerunner of the illegal Rave and the Rave culture of the mid to late 80s (holding outdoor festivals in unusual out of the way places that attracted thousands by word of mouth).
You can hear the whole of the LA punk scene in Crass' music and they were never afraid to transcend the rules of that most Conservative of music Punk (Individualism, Not caring about society and what society thinks, small business entrepreneur ism , basically Thatcherism with gob).
Not renowned for their sense of humour this track Nagasaki Nightmare was released at a time when nuclear war was a very real possibility and this sounds very scary indeed.
I've always been a bit unsure about "comedy music", like any joke it is usually a throw away line that doesn't take too much repeat listening. In the past anthing from Rolf Harris to the Barron Knights turned me cold, (although Sun Arise Bring in the Morning is strangely playing in my head as I write).
As a reference point for things that all bands should avoid, Spinal Tap wrote the lexicon on spoof rock, however their music only raises a wry smile and that's due to the titles more than anything else.
Re- discovering Half Man Half Biscuit changed all that for me, they have consistently produced classic seriously funny, darkly humorous tunes. SA at Bagging area posted National Shite Day a couple of weeks ago which should really be the national anthem, it's my anthem anyway. Flight of the Conchords have also produced hilarious tunes that de-construct whole swathes of the music industry and as a spoof band they certainly rival Spinal Tap in their faintly ridiculous, yet recognisable antics. Compare FOTCs Inner City Pressure with We Have Bands sad reworking of West End Girls.
Recently I've taken pleasure and inspiration from bands that mess about with our notions of what pop music is and the way it should be played and definitely have their tongues firmly in their cheek. Check this I think you'll find it's less ridiculous than the original.
There's also one here for leicester City Fans about Kermogant's ridiculous penalty
Check this off the 1978 album of the same name, Japan were always pushing the envelope.
While everyone else was doing their punk or disco thing they were starting off the new romantic thing. While everyone was trying out the angular guitar stuff they changed to synths, when evryone else was doing synth pop David Sylvain was going avant-garde.
Since posting Lift to Experience the other day I can't get this one out of my head.
All the best guitarists have battered old cowboy hats and Jaguar guitars.
I used to work in my dads pub washing glasses to get me monies for records. In the back room they had a jazz club which was well thought of. One night the place was packed to the rafters for this strange blues guy.
This guy turned out to be Alexis Korner. He was getting on and I hadn't a clue who he was. A couple of the "Beardies" told me he was very important cos he had discovered the Stones, and he did the Top of the Pops theme tune. Hey I said that was Led Zeppelin, No they, smiled condiscendingly, it was CSS (Collective Consciousness Society,) led by this gravelly voiced, leather faced, curly haired troubador. As a champion of the British Blues Boom TM Mr Korner's tale of discovering Brian, Mick, Keith and pals is ingrained into the rock conciousness. Obviously I couldn't get enough of this stuff being an impressionable young music fan and I was sad to hear of his death in 1984 as I was myself becoming adept at playing those old Stones and blues tunes myself. Also check out his version of Tommy Tucker's HI Heel Sneakers, which I was going to post, but in light of the news today, oh my god the Tories are back! heres one for Cameron and his toffs
Note other musicians on this record, Kieth Richards, Steve Marriot, Nicky Hopkins and more.....
and Hey this is the BEST Top of the Pops theme tune EVER!
Its funny how you come to things. Back as a Kid I saw a Canadian band called April Wine on Whistle Test doing this song. I liked it so much I bought their album which turned out to be unbelievably crap. However from this experience I learned that the song itself was by King Crimson. KC are much maligned prog rockers and I couldn't eat a whole one, but they are responsible for some of my favourite tracks and have introduced me to a myriad of different bands and styles through their associations and fluid line -ups. The obvious ones are Emerson Lake and Palmer (Greg Lake is the vocalist here) who have been a dirty word since 1976, but through these I heard Peter Gun for the first time (sampled by Basement Jaxx a few years back). KC and especially Robert Fripp are not a band to hang around long enough for you to settle into their sound, so its hard to love everything they have done, and its hard to recommend a way in to them, Islands is possibly the most accesible. This is probably why I like them. By 1972 Fripp was collaborating with Eno ( in Eno's most exciting period producing the extraordinary No Pussyfooting;) and Adrian Belew (This is turn turned me onto Talking Heads) from 1981s Discipline, one of the most unsung albums by the popular music press.
In the the Court of the Crimson King has its dodgy moments especially lyrically as do all KC albums but it is still an amazing album check it!
Great cover too. footnote
KC drummer Bill Bruford produced a series of drum sample CDs which I have used regulary over the years.
Ok the first in a new series. I've had a bit of writers block with one thing and another over the last few weeks.
So a new series. Lift To Experience was a real experience. I've never seen a performance like it.
Josh T. Pearson was character like all great artists, who is probably a little unhinged and possibly dangerous to know. Amazingly he is still relatively unknown - this could be because he has gone deaf from the amazingly loud set up he had in a club as small as the Charlotte. The rig consisted of stadium sized Marshal stacks and a huge rotary leslie that wouldn't have been out of place on a World War 2 bomber.
The noise he produced from this set up was literally awesome! (as in shock and awe).
Supposedly JP was a serious Christian with lots of Christian imagery in their songs not least 2001s The Texas Jerusalem Crossroads . I believe he thought of Texas as being some sort of promised land?
If all Christians produced music this earnest with as much sonic firepower they could have a chance.
check out Falling from cloud 9 as well
I could put Josh Pearson in my series of gigs I have missed too as he played a solo acoustic slot a couple or three years, just to prove he wasn't dead I suppose. I haven't heard from him/them for a few years, got this bit from From Wikipedia According to their label the band is no more with no hope to get together again. Frontman Josh T. Pearson is currently pursuing a solo career. Andy Young formed a project with Elbow frontman Guy Garvey called Western Arms, which appears to be in a long hiatus, with one song, Blue on Blue, available on their MySpace page.
last night i saw the fall for the first time. Pretty amazing really since our paths have criss-crossed many times over the years. I first became aware of The Fall as more than a name when they released Victoria (me being a massive kinks fan at the time). I first started to like The Fall when I heard Victoria played at the Hacienda. The Hacienda was this sort of warehouse in Manchester where we went to listen to indie music. Even though it was fairly new, it was pretty grotty, with its sticky plastic floor, like some serial killer's hideout in Dexter or something.
The show I saw last night was at Rock City in Nottingham, a fantastic venue and a sizeable crowd cheered Mark E Smith's every move.
I knew what to expect and Mr Smith did not disappoint. I was surprised, however, at how there is something ever so slightly pantomime about The Fall, even if a fight had broken out between him and the rest of the band, I think it would have felt like part of the show. He's been doing this so long that he knows the moves by heart and even the iconoclast in him knows which side his bread is buttered, he did his messing about with bands kit thing, without really changing their stride and kept the audience waiting a good 10 minutes before deciding not to do the third encore.Seasoned Fall watchers were delighted at a little smile he produced (rare apparently). Taking off his jacket and getting down to business, like some other people in the news this week demonstrating that he's a well respected man about town, doing the best things most conservatively.
