Pimps of Gore

Michael Jackson: A Pity

2009-06-25T21:42:00.002-05:00

Aw, kid.

"I Want Pity" (a mash-up of Jackson 5 and George Harrison) by CCC

OH, HELL. (Massive Halloween Playlist)

2008-10-28T14:38:00.008-05:00

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, if only because it gives me an excuse to sit down with a bowl of candy and watch Horror movies all month. I like to spend Halloween night proper taking in as many flicks as possible, but since I have the displeasure of having to work Halloween night, I'm going to try and pass along some of the fun to you, with a massive 26 song Halloween pile-up.

They aren't in any particular order -- that's for you to decide -- but I think you'll find some new stuff amidst the old stand-byes.

BUT FIRST... I've got one bit of business to get out of the way:

TUESDAYS WITH LIZZY!

"Suicide" by THIN LIZZY: Somewhat sticking to the Halloween theme (death, hell, etc), I have uploaded a live version of Lizzy's rocker "Suicide," taken from the recently released (on eMusic, at least) UK Tour '75 album. I was going to throw up the studio version of this track, but the live version just blows it out of the water in my opinion.

... okay, let's get to the blood and guts:

Halloween 2008: Pimps of Gore, Gore, Gore

"Black Sabbath"
"N.I.B." by BLACK SABBATH: Do I even need to explain the absolute necessity of having Ozzy and Co. on your Halloween playlist? Especially the dark gloom of "Black Sabbath" and the kick ass "N.I.B." (as far as song titles go, it doesn't get much better than "Nativity in Black").

"Death Valley" by BORIS: This ought to freak those Trick Or Treaters right the fuck out. I guess I should just warn you going forward that this playlist goes heavy on the Heavy. Halloween is no place for Sufjan Stevens; he can have Christmas if he wants it. Halloween is for screaming feedback, like the crazy high pitched bug noises that punctuate the Sabbath-y riffs presented here.

"Please Mr. Gravedigger" by DAVID BOWIE: Okay, this one isn't heavy, but it sure is creepy. From a compilation of some of Bowie's earliest works, "Please Mr. Gravedigger" is a warbly-voiced "tune" about an old man who digs graves for "the dead and the maimed" and steals jewelry from the corpses. Bowie sings from the point of view of a man who killed a woman whom Mr. Graves is helping bury. Bizarre, yet perfect for the holiday.

"I am Stretched on Your Grave" by DEAD CAN DANCE: Sometimes you can't beat a traditional public domain tune to show you that groups like the PMRC were way off in going after Heavy Metal for their dark, death-obsessed lyrics. Sinead O'Connor made a semi-hit out of this number, but Dead Can Dance's live, mournful take would sound perfect over one of George Romero's zombie uprising gore flicks.

"Ghost Dance" by DEATH CULT: Not sure if I've posted this one before, but the combination of Ghosts, Death Cults and dead Native Americans was just too good to pass up.

"Born in a Haunted Barn" by THE DIRTBOMBS vs KING KAHN: The garage rock of Detroit's The Dirtbombs mixes nicely with King Kahn's psychedelic folk rock, and the ghostly chorus is the cherry on top.

"Chase the Devil" by EAGLES OF DEATH METAL: Dubbed "the pigeons of shit metal" by Axl Rose after the band pissed him off and got thrown off of a recent GnR tour. This fact makes me love them that much more. If you're going to make all of these songs into a free-flowing mix, I highly rec' keeping this Cramps-esque romp as the follow-up to the Dirtbombs/King Kahn track. They're perfect together.

"Suspiria"
"Profondo Rosso (Main Titles)"
"Witch"
"Suspiria (Narration)" by GOBLIN: I'll avoid going ape about Goblin once again, but you can't make a Halloween mix without grabbing a few songs from Dario Argento's go-to band for the soundtracks to his twisted visions. Three of these tracks come from Suspiria, while the other is the theme to his fantastic Profondo Rosso (Deep Red). Not to tell you how to do things, but if I were making a mix, I'd start it with the full length "Suspiria" and end the CD with "Suspiria (Narration)." Pepper the other tracks somewhere in the middle and you're guaranteed to have your listener ask at least two to three times, "Who the hell is this?!"

"Devil's Den" by JAMES BROWN: Okay, after all that Goblin, you're going to have the whole neighborhood crapping their costumes. Give 'em a little break with this scorching (mostly) instrumental from the Godfather of Soul. Even the Devil needs a coctail break every once in a while.

"Ripper" by JUDAS PRIEST: Spinal Tap's "Saucy Jack" wasn't the first hard rock song about England's notorious serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Unintentionally hilarious, and yet still totally badass.

"Last Caress / Green Hell" by METALLICA: Okay, time to remind your neighborhood that it's Hell Night, with a little medley from Metallica as they cover The Misfits' "Last Caress" and "Green Hell." Nothing screams Halloween like, "I've got something to say! / I killed your baby today!"

"Horror Hotel" by THE MISFITS: Really, just go ahead and pick any Misfits, Samhain, or Danzig tracks you want. They're all custom made for this shit.

"The Devil's Work Day" by MODEST MOUSE: A Pimps staple, Isaac Brock brings the scary with this grunting, growling piece of swampy goodness. People floating in the river, blood pouring out of kneecaps, hangings and demented laughter... yeah.

"Ghost" by NEUTRAL MILK HOTEL: If only because it's the best indie rock ghost song pretty much ever. Put some step into that skeleton.

"11" by NINE INCH NAILS
"Ghostwriter" by RJD2: You're going to need some atmosphere to back up that smoke machine, dad, and here are a couple of loopable tracks for just that purpose. The former is for that graveyard scene you've got going outside, while the latter is for the party indoors.

"Death Rides a Horse" by RUSSIAN CIRCLES: Sorry, we lost the plot - and the rock - there for a minute.

"Feast of the Mau Mau" by SCREAMIN' JAY HAWKINS: Much like The Misfits, you could pretty much just take any Hawkins track and be set. This is one of those recipe tracks, like "Alligator Wine," where Jay howls out disgusting ingredients, like "Brush your teeth / with a piece / of a goose toenail!" Dude was just insane.

"Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell" by THE STOOGES: Just the sound of the guitar on Raw Power alone is enough to wake the dead.

"To Take the Black" by THE SWORD: I've been meaning to give these guys some love here for a long time, but in case you hadn't noticed, I'm never around anymore. For now, this massive slab of classic cock rock will have to be my treat to you. These guys are opening for Metallica on their current American tour, and I'm sure lameass metalheads all over will be booing them off the stage.

"The Black Angel's Death Song" by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND: The only band so off their rockers that they could make that Bowie song I posted earlier sound like Simon & Garfunkel, The Velvet Underground check in tonight with a song that sounds like beat poetry over the soundtrack to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unsettling!

"Do the Ghost" by X-MEN: Closing things out, we've got the X-Men with their own "Ghost" dance, sounding like Screamin' Jay Hawkins meets the Dead Kennedys.

From Soundgarden to Sinatra! (WTF?)

2008-08-28T20:27:00.006-05:00

I know, it has been a while. I can't say it won't be a while before I'm back, so tonight I'm packing this post with music... and total fucking randomness! If you're the kind of person who doesn't mind mixing his Sinatra with his Pearl Jam and his AC/DC, this one is for you.

"Shake a Leg" by AC/DC:
I must have heard this song dozens of times over the years, but it never grabbed me by the throat until it popped up on my iPod shuffle a few weeks ago. I was embarrassed to find out that it wasn't some obscure b-side, but rather just one of the many blistering rockers on the band's classic Back in Black album. This song easily climbs to the top of my favorite post-Bon Scott AC/DC numbers, and belongs on your next highway road trip soundtrack. I'm sure ol' Frank would have been a big fan. (Revisiting Back in Black takes me back to one of my strangest AC/DC-associated memories: a friend of mine hired a terrible team of DJs for her wedding, and at one point I had left the reception to catch a phone call. Upon my return, they were playing "Hell's Bells." Here's a tip to DJs everywhere: if you want to clear a dancefloor, play "Hell's Bells." I've never seen so many horrified grey-hairs in my life.)

"Flower"
"Hands All Over"
"Stray Cat Blues"
"Girl U Want"
"Mind Riot"
"Burden in My Hand"by SOUNDGARDEN
"Seasons" by CHRIS CORNELL:
Chris Cornell, former lead singer of hard rock bands like Soundgarden and Audioslave, has some new solo material out, and if you haven't yet heard it, it is FUCKING BRUTAL. And I don't mean "brutal" in the sense that thrash metal is brutal. Brutal as in virtually impossible to listen to, and cringe-inducing. I'm not even going to waste time trying to find links to his new music; doing so would be like actively finding someone to kick me in the balls.

Cornell was the next Robert Plant, a stunningly good looking and charismatic frontman with a wicked set of pipes that could evoke Rhythm & Blues one minute and then shatter your windows the next. His work in Soundgarden (and the one-off side project with Pearl Jam known as Temple of the Dog) proved that. Then... dude went solo. And not the good solo, like his "Seasons" from the soundtrack to Cameron Crowe's Singles, which made me hope for the day he would put out an acoustic album. Instead, Cornell released a couple of boring, plodding singer-songwriter-y records. His newest album, Scream, looks like a step in an even more misguided direction, with Cornell seeking to hip himself up to the kids like he's Justin Timberlake by leaning on producer Timbaland. Don't get me wrong, I've got nothing but respect for Timbaland. This misstep is all Cornell's.

Dude: stick to rock. You're in your mid 40s now, so who are you trying to appeal to with this crap? Teenagers aren't going to be fooled by a middle aged man trying to make singer-songwriter dance music. Ask Jewel how that shit went when she tried it. Even your Audioslave stuff kinda sucked, but at least you were back at the front of a muscular rock band.

Sorry about the tirade, but I just wanted to give you guys a handful of tracks that at least represented what was great about Cornell before this shit hits the airwaves (if it hits at all). The above tracks are presented chronologically, for the most part, with "Seasons" the exception. "Stray Cat Blues" and "Girl U Want" are, respectively, covers of Rolling Stones and DEVO songs. "Mind Riot" is a bit of an obscure choice on my part, from Soundgarden's (in my opinion) best album, Badmotorfinger. I've always thought "I was slipping through the cracks of a stolen jewel / I was tightrope walking in two-ton shoes" was one of the best opening couplets in any rock song.

"Reach Down" (live) by PEARL JAM (feat. Chris Cornell)
"Crown of Thorns" (live) by PEARL JAM:
As a sort of extension of the Cornell theme, here's the man joining Pearl Jam for a live performance of "Reach Down" from the aforementioned Temple of the Dog album. In addition, I've included a really rare performance,, Pearl Jam covering the Mother Love Bone song "Crown of Thorns." Mother Love Bone was lead by one of Cornell's best friends, vocalist Andrew Wood, who died prior to the release of the band's first full length album. Cornell joined most of the members of Wood's band (who had begun working with a new singer named Eddie Vedder, for Temple of the Dog. Circle closed. (The performance of "Crown of Thorns" comes from Pearl Jam's 2001 10th anniversary show in Las Vegas, and was released as one of the band's Christmas singles.)

"Hung Up on My Baby"
"Never Can Say Goodbye" by ISAAC HAYES:
It's too late for me to eulogize Isaac Hayes, so I'm just going to let the man speak for himself. Though I must add: listen to the fucking groove on "Hung Up on My Baby." Unbelievable.

"When the Wind Was Green" by FRANK SINATRA:
This has always been one of my all-time favorite Sinatra tunes, but I've only owned it on vinyl until last week when I finally hunted down a digital copy of the brilliant September of My Years. Frank's deep voice is buttery as hell here, and the way ends some of these stanzas (the way he sings "tumbling, stumbling down" or "in a brown wind, dying" for example) can just break your heart. What a voice.

Records for sale - update

2008-08-25T21:18:00.002-05:00

Like I mentioned before:

Anyone wanna buy some vinyl?

Here's the full list of what's goin' bye bye. I'm going to try and update it on a daily basis, since there are a few things I haven't added and some things that I will take down as they sell.

If there's anything on this .doc file that tickles your fancy, please feel free to contact me with questions. Shipping is 1.50 per LP, or free with any order over $30.

Thanks for any help you can provide:

THE LIST

And, since I'm not a completely self-serving douche, here's an a couple more numbers:

"Spin the Black Circle"(live, from Self Pollution Radio) by PEARL JAM

"Making Plans for Vinyl" by GO HOME PRODUCTIONS

Records for sale pt. 1

2008-08-21T14:54:00.002-05:00

Just a brief note here for now, but I've got some songs to post in the coming couple of days, so stay tuned.

Anyone wanna buy some vinyl? I've got bills to pay and records to sell (and miles to go before I sleep).

For now, I've compiled a list of 7" and 10" records I need to get rid of. I will follow up with a list of 12" LPs in the next week or so. I will try to keep this file updated as stuff sells.

If there's anything on this .doc file that tickles your fancy, please feel free to contact me with questions. Shipping is 1.50 per LP, or free with any order over $30.

Thanks for any help you can provide:

THE LIST, FOR NOW

And, what the hell, here's an .mp3 to tide you over:

CHER, covering Bob Dylan's "Tonight, I'll be Staying Here With You"

I know, you're probably thinking Cher?!!. Just click it and see.

"You've had bad breaks? Well that's tough luck."

2008-07-15T17:25:00.002-05:00

"The Ghost of Tom Joad" (featuring Tom Morello) by BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND:
Today sees the release of Bruce Springsteen's Magic Tour Highlights digital EP, featuring collaborations with Alejandro Escovedo, Byrds' guitarist Roger McGuinn and this duet with Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello on Bruce's "The Ghost of Tom Joad" (which RATM covered nearly a decade ago).

The EP features the final performance of E Street keyboardist Danny Federici. Royalties and profits from the EP (iTunes also has videos of each performance for sale at 1.99 a piece) will go to The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund, in honor of Federici, who died shortly after the March 20 Indianapolis concert where "Sandy" was recorded. The EP also features Springsteen covering Escovedo's "Always a Friend" and The Byrds' "Turn! Turn! Turn!" For more information, check out your iTunes store or head over to Amazon.

"My Daily Food" by TOOTS & THE MAYTALS:
This track came on my iPod Shuffle and pretty much plastered a gigantic smile onto my face. An explosion of happy, a party in a pill bottle, "My Daily Food" is over almost as quickly as it begins. What makes someone create such a great song and then decide, "Okay, if we make this thing longer than 2 minutes, we're really wasting everyones time"? A question only Robert Pollard might be able to answer.

"Laissez Briller Le Soleil" by LES BOOTS:
I don't know a damn thing about Les Boots. I can't even tell you how I stumbled onto this song, or where it came from. I most certainly can't tell you what they're singing about (though I'm pretty sure it's in French). All I know is that Garage Rock, in any language, is pretty much the best shit in the world.

Tuesdays with LIZZY!
"Bad Reputation":
Fans of Guitar Hero will recognize tonight's tune as one of the most fun tracks from the second volume in the game franchise. It is completely beyond me why this is the only Lizzy track to ever appear in either the GH or Rock Band series of games, since there are easily dozens of Lizzy tracks that would be perfect. No "Jailbreak," "Emerald" or "The Boys are Back in Town"? Come on, assholes.

(As a side note/afterthought: is every song with the title of "Bad Reputation" pretty kick ass? I can't think of an example where the song is lame, from Lizzy to Joan Jett. . . even Freedy Johnston.)

Bad Reputation, as rendered in Guitar Hero 2 (this version is a pretty spot-on cover):

Our MORNING JACKET

2008-06-27T03:26:00.005-05:00

"It Makes No Difference"
"Black Sabbath"
"Rocket Man"
"Where to Begin" by MY MORNING JACKET:
Louisville, KY's My Morning Jacket have a new album out. If you've come here with the expectation that you're going to hear about it, I'm sorry to disappoint you. Other than a couple of tracks, I haven't heard it yet. I'm sure there are dozens of places where you can find all the latest breaking news, anyway.

Tonight, I'd rather give you a few rarities and live tracks. My Morning Jacket have slowly been earning the reputation as one of the best live bands working today, and judging from what I've seen and heard from dozens of bootlegs and televised performances, that reputation is solid. The band recently appeared on Saturday Night Live and absolutely killed on "I'm Amazed" and the strangely Prince-ian "Evil Urges," a track that has been dividing MMJ fans down the middle. Decide for yourself HERE.

My Morning Jacket have fantastic taste in covers, as represented by the inclusion in this post of their live rendition of Black Sabbath's "Black Sabbath," and their studio recording of The Band's classic "It Makes No Difference." Even when covering a song that has been driven into the ground by classic rock radio, like Elton John's "Rocket Man," lead singer Jim James manages to breathe new life into the tune.

The band were one of the few highlights of Cameron Crowe's Elizabethtown, and also (depending on your opinion of the rest of the movie) Todd Haynes' meditation on Bob Dylan, I'm Not There. "Where to Begin" comes from the former film; I previously posted MMJ's take on Dylan's "Going to Acapulco" a few months back.

For Omaha area readers, My Morning Jacket will be performing outdoors at the Stir Concert Cove in August. I highly recommend checking them out, and I hope to see you there.

Songs my iPod shuffle re-introduced me to this week:

"Big Love" by KEVIN DREW & BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

"Conquest" by TAPES N TAPES

Don't forget to check out Dylan and the Movies to see if watching 365 movies in 365 days takes its toll on my psyche.

With the quickness.

2008-06-25T02:55:00.007-05:00

Okay, no time right now, but I do have a couple of housecleaning issues to deal with:

"The Pusher" by NINA SIMONE

First and foremost, I'm starting a new blog. "What the fuck, Dylan?" you might be saying. "You can't even keep up with this one."

I know, I know. This one isn't a music blog, though. For no exceptional reason I decided to try and watch 365 movies in the next 365 days and write about the movies whenever possible. Since I didn't want to clog up this site or my MySpace blog writing about movies on an almost daily basis, I started Dylan & the Movies. If you ever find yourself bored. . . incredibly bored, please stop by and check out what I've been watching.

In other news, a reader posted a comment in my last post about the old GUIDED BY VOICES 100 I did a few years back. They specifically asked if I could post the entire Jellyfish Reflector album, along with the vinyl-only bonus tracks. Unfortunately for all of us, I can't post the album. I only own it on vinyl, and was lucky enough to find someone long ago who could send me an .mp3 of "Pantherz," one of my all time favorite GBV tracks. I'm reposting that song tonight for that reader. I'm sorry I couldn't do more for you, friend:

"Pantherz" by GUIDED BY VOICES

"I've got a lump in my throat about the note you wrote."

2008-06-16T19:17:00.010-05:00

"Contact"
"Nothing Achieving"
"Canary in a Coalmine"
"I Burn for You"
"Synchronicity II" by THE POLICE:
On a whim, I caught The Police a few weeks ago on the Omaha stop of their reunion tour. I couldn't decide if I was excited to see the show. Something about it felt. . . obligatory. It didn't help matters that I had caught a post-Police Sting show in one of my earliest concert memories (he was touring for The Soul Cages), and little about that show sticks out for me today. At that point, his pretentiousness was rank, a victim of the classic "once cool guy who ages into complete douchebag" / Rod Stewart syndrome.

It doesn't hurt that Sting was backed by two dudes far more electrifying than he: drummer Stewart Copeland and guiartist Andy Summers (or Somers, if you prefer the true spelling). In Omaha a few weeks ago, these two guys proved why Sting's ego couldn't fit within these confines anymore; it was because he was the least talented guy in the band. I'm pretty sure it's a fact at this point that Copeland is one of the best drummers ever, and after seeing Summers play guitar in person, I'm fairly certain he should be considered among the best to play that instrument as well.

As the show neared I stared to listen to my Police albums. I remembered how many classic songs lay hidden away on those records. Weird numbers like "Contact," with it's droning bassline and spidery guitar. Certainly, they weren't going to play these songs at the show, but it was still a cool reminder that these guys were a lot weirder and cooler than their legacy might seem. I'm almost positive I've posted "Nothing Achieving" here before, but I had to drag it back out to prove to the kids that, at one time, Sting rocked. I held out hopes for hearing "Canary in a Coalmine," or even something slow like "I Burn for You" at the show, but neither made its way into the setlist.

I was most bummed by the omission of "Synchronicity II," a song I had noticed they'd been playing on this tour, and one of my favorite Police songs. Listening to it now reminded me of just how dark and bleak the majority of The Police's material is, especially the songs they somehow turned into hits. If anyone is truly the forebear for bands like Radiohead, a massively popular band without a sunny song to its name, it's The Police. "Roxanne" is about a guy who loves a prostitute begging her not to go out anymore. "Every Breath You Take" is about a stalker. Even the seemingly bubbly "Don't Stand So Close to Me" is the story of a teacher trying not to lust after one of his student's. Christ, these guys had a hit called "King of Pain"!

"Synchronicity II" is pretty much the ultimate bummer of a hit song. Full of family strife, suburban malaise, chemical destruction, suicide, the soul crushing nature of work. . . all thematically linked somehow to a creature crawling from a lake to destroy all in its path. It kind of baffles my mind to this day that a lyric like, "And every single meeting with his so-called superior IS A HUMILIATING KICK IN THE CROTCH!" is played daily on radio stations around the country. To go back to my Radiohead comparison, "Synchronicity II" was the "No Surprises" of it's day.

Ultimately, I was definitely glad I went to the show. Hell, the ticket price (approx. $58 with fees) alone was worth seeing Stewart Copeland work his madness. Having the incredible Elvis Costello as the opener didn't hurt one bit, either.

TUESDAYS WITH LIZZY!

"Just the Two of Us" by THIN LIZZY:
Another Tuesday, another Lizzy jam, as promised. This one is a b-side from the Black Rose album. That's all you need to know.

In other news tonight. . .

"S.F. Sorrow" by S.F. SEALS
"S.F. Sorrow is Born" by THE PRETTY THINGS:
Those paying close attention will know that I posted the original version of The Pretty Things' "S.F. Sorrow is Born" (presented again here tonight) a long time ago. I was pleased to have someone forward me the S.F. Seals' take on the track a few nights ago, as it's one of my favorite songs and has always seemed to me to be shamefully ignored. I really like the Seals' take on it, though they don't surpass the chugging psych-rock of the original. I have to give them points for taste, and credit for leaving no detail unexamined in their version.

"I Can Only Give You Everything" by THEM:
Man, Van Morrison had some pipes.

"Décollage" by BALAYEURS DU DESERT:
I've had this one going on repeat for days now. Hypnotic.

"Crackers!", Thin Lizzy Tuesday, etc.

2008-06-03T17:00:00.006-05:00

(Image nabbed from Post Punk Kitchen)

"Do Do Wap is Strong in Here"
"Little Child Runnin' Wild"
"Get Down"
"(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below We're All Going to Go" by CURTIS MAYFIELD:
Say what you will about Curtis Mayfield, but what you're sayin' better be good. Mayfield's intoning and screaming at the opening of "...Hell Below" is pretty much as in-your-face as Soul gets. Hearing "Do Do Wap" again after not hearing it for a year reminds me how much I miss my old DJ gig sometimes.

"Sarah"
"Sarah"
"Cowboy Song (live)" by THIN LIZZY:
That's right, adventures of Phil Lynott and Company continue here at Pimps of Gore, in what will pop up regularly (okay, more likely to be occasional) as Thin Lizzy Tuesday. Back when I used to frequent a blog called Kittytext, my love for the Lizzy blossomed because of that blogger's weekly posts on the band. I hope to convert a few of you on a semi-weekly basis as well. The two "Sarah" tracks posted here today are vastly different; the former is a mostly acoustic piano ballad, while the latter is bubbly, somewhat dated, and impossible not to enjoy. Lynott wrote the latter version with guitarist Gary Moore as an ode to Lynott's newborn daughter. Can you imagine your parents writing a song like this for/about you? Can you imagine having this to listen to after your dad is gone? Sometimes I'm a sentimental bastard. As a bonus, and as a tribute to my friend Brian who performed this song in live band karaoke the other night, I've added a live take of "Cowboy Song" from a concert in Philadelphia circa 1977.

"Goner"
"Keep a Friend" by DR. DOG:
I figure since I'm already bringing up Thin Lizzy for the 400th time, I might as well keep being a repeating piece of shit and post a couple more Dr. Dog favorites. "Goner" is a mindblower, a goosebump inducing masterpiece that evokes (but never apes) everyone from Bowie to Queen to The Beatles. Both of tonight's songs are as good as anything Wilco has ever recorded. Dr. Dog deserve to be big. They've got a new album coming out next month, so keep your eyes peeled around these Internets for previews, etc. Check out Dr. Dog's site for half a dozen more downloads, news, etc.

"Title and Registration"
"Title and Registration (alt. version)" by DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE:
Since we're kind of rocking that mainstream radio "2 for Tuesday" vibe this evening, here are two versions of Death Cab for Cutie's "Title and Registration." The first version comes directly from the Transatlanticism album. I don't know much about the alternate take, but I can only guess it was an early mix of the song before some of the studio tinkering went into effect, and frankly did the song a disservice. I thought of posting a song from Death Cab's new album, but figured WebSheriff would come a knockin'. Hell with that.

There's only one girl in the world for you, and she probably lives in Tahiti.

2008-05-30T08:43:00.003-05:00

Minimal chatter tonight. I've been staring at my screen for hours now. I just want to get this stuff out there to you.

"Whole Wide World"
"Veronica" by WRECKLESS ERIC: "Whole Wide World" is easily in the running for Top 100 Songs of All Time. Recorded for Stiff Records with Ian Dury and Nick Lowe as the backing band, it was pretty much the only hit for Wreckless Eric (Eric Goulden). It also acts as the backbone for one of the only memorable scenes in the quite boring Will Ferrell movie Stranger Than Fiction.

"Gobbledigook" by SIGUR ROS: Sigur Ros are playing, like, 3 shows in America on their upcoming tour. One of those shows is in my town, Omaha, NE, at a beautiful theater with great acoustics. Naturally, I will not be in town for this historic show. Fuckin' figures. Here's the first release off their upcoming album.

"Anna" by THE BEATLES: The other day I pretty much sealed up the remaining holes in my Beatles catalogue, and in doing so stumbled upon this fantastic Arthur Alexander cover (music geeks will recognize that name as the same man who wrote "Soldier of Love") from Please Please Me.

"Love Loves to Love Love" by LULU: The number of songs I swear I've posted before, and then discover I never have, is epic, and this track is from that list. A mix tape staple for me from the early 2000's, this one was sampled by Fatboy Slim on an early single.

"The World Has Turned and Left Me Here"
"Holiday" by WEEZER: I'm closing things out tonight with a couple of favorites from Weezer's debut "Blue" album, as a sort of response to my lack of desire to hear what the band might bring on their upcoming "Red" album. Of course, even back when this album came out and "Undone (The Sweater Song)" was becoming a massive hit, I was uninterested in hearing them until I won their album in a music trivia contest. It was "The World Has Turned and Left Me Here" and "My Name is Jonas" that endeared me to them. Their songwriting took a leap forward with the darker, more personal follow-up Pinkerton, but Rivers Cuomo has retracted that sort of confessional writing and the band's music has, in my opinion, been in decline ever since.

Back upon the mended road, I pause. . .

2008-05-28T05:22:00.002-05:00

"Ooo Baby Baby"
"Savoy Truffle" by ELLA FITZGERALD: It's pretty much indisputable that Ella was possibly the greatest jazz vocalist of all time. I like to imagine alien civilizations coming to Earth long after we've extinguished the human race and stumbling upon her rendtions of The Great American Songbook. If this is the only evidence they find of our existence, they will be rightfully fooled into thinking our culture was deep, luscious, delicate and advanced beyond words. Hell, I'd be happy to know they stumbled upon her 1969 album Ella, which features Fitzgerald covers of pop classics by the likes of Burt Bacharach, Harry Nilsson, The Beatles and Smokey Robinson.

"O Mexico" by DOSH: Martin Luther King Chavez Dosh (is that not one of the greatest fucking names EVER?) is an extremely talented multi-instrumentalist who is probably best known, for now, as Andrew Bird's percussionist of choice. "O Mexico" is from his 2006 album The Lost Take, and is pretty representative of the awesomeness to be found within its folds. Dosh's latest release, Wolves and Wishes came out a few weeks ago. While I haven't heard it yet, I just discovered its release on eMusic, so by the time I finish writing this post, it will be in my possession. Highly recommended. Learn more at Dosh's site.

"Lilywhite" by CAT STEVENS: Goddamn. How do I listen to Cat Stevens for decades and not stumble on a brilliant, beautiful song like "Lilywhite" until now? I guess that's the great thing about being a music fan. . . even the stuff you love can resurface and surprise you all over again.

"Still in Love With You" by THIN LIZZY: The more I listen to Thin Lizzy, the more I think they're going to have to become a monthly, if not weekly, feature here. So many good songs. So underrated. Beat me to the punch and go buy all their albums, or at least the Vagabonds boxed set. You will not be disappointed. Phil Lynott shares vocal duties here with Scottish singer/songwriter Frankie Miller.

"Straberry Fields Forever" by NOEL HARRISON: Re-Pimped from the Iron Leg blog.

"100 million people have been wrong before."

2008-04-02T20:43:00.003-05:00

"Thirty One Today" by AIMEE MANN: Just added! Had to toss this one into tonight's post after discovering an email from one of Mann's publicists announcing the release of this new track from Aimee's hilariously titled June album, @#%&! SMILERS (any guesses on the cuss word? "Motherfucking?"). While still mining somber subject matter on "Thirty One Today," Mann sounds absolutely bubbly this time around. Smilers is Mann's first album of original material since 2005's boxing themed The Forgotten Arm (I'm not counting her holiday album, obviously). I've already addressed both my crush on Mann (she was even in The Big Lebowski, for fuck's sake!) and her songwriting genius here before, so I'll just leave you with this, a link to her website, where you'll find all kinds of bio info, an extensive discography, and links to listen to some of her work.

"Heart it Races" by DR. DOG: Yeah, almost every post I've made this year references Dr. Dog. What of it, punk? Here's their oft-blogged cover or Architecture in Helsinki's "Heart it Races." I'm probably in the minority, but I think this version blows the original right off the map.

"Elevator Love Letter" by STARS: Music has just been piling up on my hard drive for years now, and I have had little time to hear most of it, which leads to awesome moments like the other day when this song came on in my car. Hearing it spurred me to get back to posting here, and it took me three posts to finally get this one onlnine.

"One Slight Wrong Move" by ARCHERS OF LOAF: Speaking of random songs in my car, this Archers classic (from White Trash Heroes, their final hurrah) crept up from the depths on me this afternoon and kicked my entire boring day in the ass. So funky, so dissonant. It was also the perfect lead-in for what followed. . .

"Editions of You" by ROXY MUSIC: I can attribute an entire decade delay in my love of Roxy Music to the father of a childhood friend, who constanly played "Love is the Drug" in his car when he was driving us anywhere. Since this guy's record collection consisted of a lot of Don Henley and Jimmy Buffett, I chalked RM up to being just another group of coked up assholes with no talent. I guess I was right about them probably being coked up, and probably being assholes, but 66% is still a failing grade in my book. (A few years ago, I had my brother in stitches when we pulled up next to a car blaring Jimmy Buffett and I leaned out to their open window and screamed, "BUFFETT CAN STUFF IT!" Fuck that guy.)

"Sport" by LIGHTNIN ROD
"Superfly" by CURITS MAYFIELD
"Egg Man (demo)"
"Egg Man" by BEASTIE BOYS: The deconstruction/reconstruction of a hip-hop masterpiece. Of course, the Beastie Boys' classic "Egg Man" probably features dozens of other samples (including music from "Jaws"), but Lightnin Rod's "Sport" and Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" are the two pillars the rest of the song stands upon. The last book I read for recreation, before this semester got a grip on me, was the 33 1/3 series entry about the making of the B Boys' Paul's Boutique. I highly recommend it, even though it was dying for a footnote section listing as many possible samples used on the record as possible. If you're looking for more, do a Google search on The Beastie Collection compilation, which is packed with original songs sampled for that and a few other B Boys records.

"There's a Wrinkle in Our Time" by 1984: Sweet mother of fuck! There's a wrinkle in my duodenum, and it got there through the 1984-sized boot in my ass.

Ship of fools. . .

2008-04-01T23:37:00.002-05:00

Get it? 'Cause it was April Fools Day?

Is this thing on?

"Like a Fool" by SUPERCHUNK

"I'm a Fool" by ETTA JAMES

"Foolin'" by DEF LEPPARD

"Foolish Fool" by DEE DEE WARWICK

"What a Fool Believes (Intro)" from YACHT ROCK
"What a Fool Believes" by THE DOOBIE BROTHERS
"What a Fool Believes" by SELF

"You Were the Fool" by WEEN

"Old Fools" by THE MAGNETIC FIELDS

"Fool's Life" by DR. DOG

Coming up for air. . .

2008-03-28T16:19:00.007-05:00

While I may be barely living, I assure you. . . I'm alive.

Just a few more weeks until I get a break. I have to admit, a small part of me so dearly wants to put this blog to bed. Just a bullet to the back of the head, and then watch it drop into a watery grave. A larger part of me, unfortunately, can't deal with that ending.

Thanks to anyone who still comes by here every once in a while to see if I'm still kicking. I know I'll never win a blog award behaving like this, but I hope you'll still think of me when you're jamming out to shit like this:

"Consolers of the Lonely"
"Five On the Five" by THE RACONTEURS: Every Spring I search for -- NEED -- some kind of rock gem to help dig me out of the snow and the cold. The Raconteurs' Consolers of the Lonely is that very record. Even the acoustic numbers wind up packing a punch. Nothing groundbreaking, but another stellar album from Jack White, Brendan Benson and company.

UPDATE!!! Raconteurs links removed by request of "Web Sheriff". Wow, for the first time in the history of Pimps of Gore, I've pissed off a record label. Although, I have to admit, they were pretty nice about it all. See Comments section for their note. Sorry folks, getcher Raconteurs tracks elsewhere!

"Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?"
"Change Is Hard" by SHE & HIM: While I confess to an insane crush on Zooey Deschanel that dates as far back to her turn as the smart ass cosmetics clerk in The Good Girl (and of course, the sister in Almost Famous, I have to admit that this album, a collaboration with M. Ward, sideswiped me a bit. I tried to resist it, and then one afternoon a few days ago, that resistance was busted apart by the two songs presented here today. Ward and Deschanel cover a ton of ground in just over 36 minutes, including classic girl group pop, old school country and even a couple of decent covers of The Beatles and Smokey Robinson classics.

"Lost Verses" by SUN KIL MOON: From the newly released April, the first proper record from Mark Kozelek's post-Red House Painters band since the absolutely classic Ghosts of the Great Highway (really, that Modest Mouse covers album should have been considered a Kozelek joint, since it was so dominated by him and an acoustic guitar). There are so many songs from this album I wanted to share with you. . . the crushingly dark "Heron Blue," the Crazy Horse-ian "Tonight the Sky," the Will Oldham-backed "Unlit Hallway." It's a breezy, delicate and yet sometimes heavy work of art. "Lost Verses" pretty much captures it all, and I think you're gonna love that moment that comes at the 8 minute mark, when the fuzzy electric guitars butt in and make themselves known.

In closing, here are a couple other favorite Kozelek tracks from a number of different projects throughout the years. I've posted about the dude a few times before, so I'll try to keep from repeating previous tracks:

"All Mixed Up" (Cars cover, live in San Francisco, 2004)
"Dramamine" (Modest Mouse cover)
"Around and Around" (John Denver cover, which I'm dedicating to my best friend Sarah P.)
"Michigan" (live)
"Rock 'n Roll Singer" (AC/DC cover)
"Wop A Din Din" (7-inch version)
"Drop"

2007: Favorites (plus, some ill Bill)

2008-01-07T21:18:00.000-06:00

It's strange, what sometimes inspires me to get my shit together and write on this blog.

I've had my "Best of 2007" list of 10 made for well over a month now. Thing is, I'm not really a fan of "best of" lists. I'm especially not fond of -- if making such a list -- ranking a bunch of albums against each other. I think the old cliche of "it's like comparing apples and oranges" truly applies here, when you're talking about things like art, which should ideally be dealt with in as subjective a manner as possible.

Who am I to say the ten albums on my list are the absolute "best" that came out in 2007?

When I do make up such lists, I typically only do so by being prodded by some outside influence. I've written a couple for magazines over the years. I did one last year for a foreign website collecting Top Ten lists from as many music bloggers as possible. That turned out to be a decent read, actually.

I did one this year because of a music newsgroup to which I'm subscribed. The guy who has taken over the duty of compiling the stats for the group's top 100 choices uses a point system to rank every member's submitted list. First place gets the most points, with a decreasing amount going from 2nd to 10th.

This year, I wanted Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings' 100 Days, 100 Nights to earn as many points as possible. Such a fantastic, timeless album. So, I submitted my list, which I intended to mirror here.

Then, I got really lazy. I went home to visit the family. I took many naps. I drifted off for a while.

What snapped me back, at least as far as this place is concerned, was what always snaps me back: hearing (or, in this case re-hearing) something magnificent. On that aforementioned music newsgroup, the subject of Bill Withers arose, and I got to once again spout off about how much I love the man and his music. As a bonus to my rant, I added links to four Withers songs, two of which I've posted before on Pimps, and two that I hadn't been struck by until a few nights ago.

Those two songs:

"Hope She'll be Happier": Wow. Just. . . crushing. This like soul music made by Radiohead or something.

"Don't You Want to Stay": "Hi, I'm Bill Withers, and I'm a fucking stone pimp." Much in the same way Wes Anderson initially wanted to use only music from The Kinks for the soundtrack to Rushmore, I want to make a dark indie comedy using only Bill Withers.

With those two new favorites showing up in my headphones, I finally felt the inclination to complete that post on my favorite records of 2007. Not even including the dozens of great records I never even got to hear this year, the dozens of records I bought were virtually impossible to narrow down to ten. Just look at some of the stuff I had to leave out: Arcade Fire's Neon Bible! Aesop Rock's None Shall Pass! Andrew Bird's Armchair Apocrypha! Dethklok's Dethalbum! Feist's The Reminder! Plus, tons of others from the likes of Modest Mouse, The White Stripes, Matt Pond PA, Les Savy Fav, the Shout Out Louds, Pinback. . . even the soundtrack to I'm Not There. In any other year, all of these would be in contention for the top spots.

Damn it all. Here's the ten I went with, no longer in any particular order:

Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings 100 Days, 100 Nights
Sharon Jones is for real. 100%. I made a mention of 100 Days a couple of months ago (along with posting a couple of tracks), but it's probably a record I should have championed more at the time of its release. I've never prided myself on posting about the most currently released music. That's not what this site is for, and there are thousands of places to go if you're waiting to see what's next. This place is more reserved for the stuff that may have slipped through the cracks, or that just doesn't get discussed enough. Hopefully, 2008 will be Sharon Jones' year and I won't have to blog about her anymore because she'll be more popular than R Kelly.

Since I already posted two tracks from this record, here's a bonus track from the digital version:
"The Collection Song"

Kings of Leon Because of the Times
Maybe I didn't read enough music rags this past year, but this record seemed to get totally slept on. There seems to be an undercurrent of hipster hatred for these guys, which is funny, because a lot of the hatred seems to be aimed at the fact that they come off as hipsters. Why cut off your nose to spite your face? Me, I think it's pretty much the best thing they've done yet. "McFearless" (posted here previously) is absolutely one of the best songs of the year. (What, now I'm speaking in absolutes?)

"McFearless"
"True Love Way"

Band of Horses Cease to Begin
You get it at this point, I'm sure: I love Band of Horses. I practically dedicated an entire month to them here, so I'm not going to carry on too much more about this record. While I'm doing you the favor of brevity, let me also be sure to include a link to "Detlef Schrempf," the song I posted about but did not include in my rave review of Cease not so long ago.

"Detlef Schrempf"
"Islands on the Coast"

Eddie Vedder Into the Wild
Another album I've covered here already. The perfect soundtrack for the subject at hand, and an incredibly humane film by Sean Penn. The track I'm including tonight, "Guaranteed," which just last night won a Golden Globe for Best Original Song, is actually two versions of the same song (the second take is instrumental, and comes after a chunk of silence following the vocal version).

"Guaranteed"

Wilco Sky Blue Sky
While nowhere near my favorite Wilco album, Sky is still pretty stellar, and would probably be a career best for any other band besides Wilco. Hell, just writing something as delicate and poignant as "Either Way," "What Light," or "Impossible Germany" would be enough to get by.

"Either Way"
"Hate it Here" (from bonus live DVD)

Rogue Wave Asleep at Heaven's Gate
I didn't see a lot of shows last year (school and work are pretty much devouring the hours of my life at a wicked pace), but one of the best times I had was at Rogue Wave's show at Omaha's Waiting Room on a quiet sunday night. While the turnout was disappointingly small, the band and the crowd were appreciative of each other's company. It felt really good to see drummer Pat Spurgeon smiling and playing his heart out after going through a second kidney transplant not long ago. It felt good to support a band full of obviously decent guys who came armed with an endless bag of hooks and harmony. Asleep at Heaven's Gate is, in my eyes, their third flawless record in a row.

"Harmonium"

Dr. Dog We All Belong
I think to truly appreciate Philadelphia's Dr. Dog, you have to trick yourself into forgetting these guys are around right now. Imagine you're listening to a record that was made 35 to 40 years ago. It isn't hard to do, especially when the opening song on the record sounds like a mixture of The Band, Roxy Music and Village Green-era Kinks. Further exploration in the grooves of this album will net comparisons to Mercury Rev, The Beach Boys, Of Montreal, The Beatles. . . you know, all the best shit ever.

"Alaska"
"I Hope There's Love"

Radiohead In Rainbows
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everyone has this in his or her Top 10 this year. Well, there's a reason for that, sucka. Somehow, they made an organic record that sounds every bit as electronic and trippy as their past couple of albums. Radiohead allowed fans to pay whatever price they wished for the music (I paid about $8), but no matter what the cost, it was worth every penny. ("Bangers & Mash," included here, comes from the bonus disc, released with the deluxe version of In Rainbows.)

"Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
"Bangers & Mash"

Dinosaur Jr. Beyond
The only thing more amazing than Lou Barlow and J. Mascis kissing and making up was the fact that they got the old Dinosaur Jr. back together and made an album that actually rocks just as much as any of their earliest stuff! Do you honestly think when Led Zeppelin finally get around to recording the expected "reunion album" that all reunited bands are expected to record, it's going to kick as much ass as anything on the first Zep album? Not bloodly likely, friend.

"Crumble"
"This is All I Came to Do" (J, in a live solo acoustic radio performance)

The Shins Wincing the Night Away
The album that time forgot. I almost left this on my list because it came out so near the start of 2007, but I spent a good chunk of the beginning of the year hypnotized by this record. I listened to it so much that I found an undeniable correlation between the ending guitar drone of "Turn on Me" and the post-extraneous-solo guitar of Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper." Now that winter has struck Omaha, I've returned to this melancholy little gem. So many good songs on this record. The Smiths-ian "Australia." The Sea Change-era Beck sound of "Sea Legs." Any album that kicks off with something as uplifting as "Sleeping Lessons" can count on my vote.

"Sea Legs"
"Nothing At All" (bonus track)

"Stood Up" on New Years: RICK NELSON

2007-12-31T21:04:00.000-06:00

Well, since we're on the subject of early rock n' roll "teen" stars who definitely don't get the respect they deserve, let's talk for a moment about RICK(Y) NELSON. While this post may seem out of the blue, it's unfortunately quite timely. Unfortunate because it was 22 years and one day ago, December 31, 1985, when Rick Nelson died alongside his fiance and band in a plane crash on his way to a New Years Eve concert in Dallas, Texas.

Rick Nelson's early career on his family's radio and television program (the massively popular The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet) did nothing in the long run to help legitimize his music career. Nelson's musical performances on the television show did a great deal to bring rock n' roll into mainstream households and make the form palatable to conservative parents who may have been fretting where the younger generations obsessions were heading (remember, this was the generation who were frightened of Elvis's pelvis).

Sadly, Nelson's boy-next-door persona and insane good looks would pigeonhole him as one of rock's first "teen idols." This, paired with the fact that his father refused to let Nelson peform any one of Ricky's dozens of hits on any other show but his own, put the figurative shackles on his musical career.

It must have been perplexing for Nelson to deal with having so many hit singles and yet receiving little respect in his lifetime for being one of rock's earliest stars. While posthumous, his induction into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame in its second ever induction (by John Fogerty) was a fitting tribute just a year after his death. Not long afterward, he was also inducted into the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. Too little too late, perhaps, but respect is respect in my book.

"Stood Up": (Previously posted here in October 2005) A staple of my old DJ sets, "Stood Up" was usually played as the last song of the night, as a little joke to all those sad bastards still hanging around the bar trying miserably to arrange that last-minute hook-up. If I owned a bar, this is how I'd announce closing time every single night.

"Travelin' Man"
"Hello Mary Lou": How many great singles did Nelson have? So many that "Hello Mary Lou" was the frigging b-side to "Travelin' Man," and both were massive hits!

"Poor Little Fool": Written by Sharon Sheeley, the fiance of Eddie Cochran who - along with Gene Vincent - was one of the other passengers present in the car crash that would result in Cochran's death.

"I Will Follow You": Originally recorded under the title "Chariot" by Petula Clark, and then covered as "I Will Follow Him" by 14 year old Little Peggy March, who had a #1 hit with the song the same year that Nelson recorded it, 1963.

"Lonesome Town": Whether or not you'd like to admit it, appearing on a Quentin Tarantino soundtrack can go a long way to re-igniting interest in an artist's career. I probably wasn't 18 years old the first time I heard "Lonesome Town," but I'm pretty sure catching it on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack sparked a newfound interest in this guy I'd always assumed was as square as Pat Boone.

"Garden Party": Nelson's biggest (only?) late-career hit, "Garden Party" tells the story of a concert in the early 70s where Nelson joined other rock legends at Madison Square Garden, and was booed after performing new material (some reports say he was covering a Rolling Stones song). While it later came to light that the audience was possibly booing some police officers in the crowd, Nelson took the incident quite personally, leaving the stage and later penning one of the biggest hits of his career. "It's all right now / I've learned my lesson well / You can't please everyone so you've got to please yourself."

"My Rifle, My Pony, and Me" (with DEAN MARTIN): In what has to be one of the most pimp musical moments in celluloid history, crooner Martin joins up with Nelson for this classic little nugget of a country song, taken from the John Wayne movie Rio Bravo.

FOR MORE ON RICK(Y) NELSON:
- His official homepage if pretty packed with info, trivia, merch and more. The gallery of old 45" picture sleeves is a particularly fun way to waste a few minutes. And if you've been confused at my usage of Rick and Ricky tonight, please note that his own site uses both names as well.
- A bunch of Nelson clips over at YouTube

THE EVERLY BROTHERS - 50 years to my ears.

2007-12-29T14:53:00.000-06:00

So, ever since posting their version of "Love Hurts" during my K-Dilly 70s streak a while back, I've been on a bit of an Everyly Brothers kick. Since a small handful of their albums just popped up on eMusic (and they've been running a $9.99 special on Booster Pack downloads this month), I spent the other day downloading pretty much everything they had available.

I will sometimes read the user reviews for albums on eMusic to check out any recommended tracks, or to get fair warning from other users to make sure if these albums are the actual records or re-recorded versions of classic songs. It can be an annoying task, especially when someone ill-informed about the artist takes an opportunity to slag them. I remember once seeing a reviewer by the name of FartHead dis Creedence Clearwater Revival as hillbilly music, saying only "every doublewide needs a copy of this" and "yeeeeeehaaawwww" in his review.

So fucking annoying. Similar to that were the comments from "ElectroJosh" regarding one of the Everly's fantastic albums, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us. States "ElectroJosh":

The look of these fellows on the album cover says it all. This is cheese in its purest form, and I'm lactose intolerant. This album is recommended for those who: missed the sexual revolution, are ashamed of the 1960's (and every decade since), never drank anything harder than Miller, complain about "kids today," and are still to this day afraid of the Soviet Union. If "Hee Haw" is too cutting edge in your eyes, this is the album for you!

I checked out "ElectroJosh's" download history, and he seemed to have somewhat similar tastes to my own. So, what would possess him to go out of his way to review a record he obviously had never even heard? Had he listened to it, he would have seen that it's actually a pretty intense collection of classic early country songs and murder ballads. Had he known anything about the Everly's or their undeniable influence on rockabilly and early rock and roll (there's no doubt in my mind, based on their gorgeous harmony vocals alone, that "no Everly Brothers = no Beatles"), maybe he would have thought twice before hastily rapping his moronic rant out on his keyboard.

Not that I lay too much value in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but it's no mistake that the Everly Brothers were in the first round of inductees in 1986 (they were inducted by Neil Young). With an influence as far reaching on everyone from Gram Parsons to The Who, Simon and Garfunkel, Bob Dylan and Beck, they are, in my book, above mockery. Too bad you can't see it my way, ElectroJosh. Hope you enjoy that Dane Cook album you downloaded, though. Play that William Hung album much these days? Glad to see you know funny just about as well as you know your history.

THE EVERLY BROTHERS:
"All I Have to Do is Dream"
"Bye Bye Love"
"When Will I Be Loved"
"Let it Be Me"
"Barbara Allen"
"Down in the Willow Garden"

A SMATTERING OF COVERS:
"Sleepless Nights" by BECK and EDDIE VEDDER
"Dream (All I Have to Do)" by R.E.M.
"Man With the Money" by THE WHO

FOR MORE ON THE EVERLY BROTHERS:
- The official website of The Beehive, the Everly Brothers fan club.
- Enjoy some streaming clips on the jukebox at Everly.net.
- A ton of Everly clips at YouTube
- The Everlys at the Rock Hall of Fame.

CANON BLUE: Free EP!

2007-12-15T21:10:00.000-06:00

No time to post anything new tonight, but I am going to redirect your attention to some free music elsewhere on the interwebs.

If you recall from a few months back, I posted a couple of songs from CANON BLUE's debut CD. At several thousands of downloads, those tracks went on to become a couple of the most downloaded songs in the history of Pimps of Gore, coming in only slightly behind a handful of Lee Hazelwood songs and a couple of 70s cock rock anthems from Mountain and Aerosmith (note to prospective bloggers: if you ever want to drive traffic to your site, include a lot of songs people might be too embarassed to buy with a credit card).

Needless to say, I was definitely pleased with the response. I was even more pleased to find this email from Canon Blue's Daniel James in my email box a few days ago:

hi dylan!

how are you man? i'm not sure if ever replied to your previous email (editor's note: he had),
so if not im terribly sorry! i hope you are in good spirits and good
health.

anyway, i just wanted to let you know that i'm giving away the new
canon blue ep 'halcyon' for free at this link:

CANON BLUE EP AT RUMRAKET.COM

you can also hear some of the songs and see the art at:

www.myspace.com/canonblue

happy holidays!

Thanks, Daniel.

Okay, what are you guys still doing here? Go enjoy that EP. . .

Pimpcast Volume 2: "They're Dying on the Dancefloor"

2007-12-05T06:05:00.000-06:00

I was driving home from a long all-nighter of studying last week, and on the way back, my iPod decided that it wanted to join an LSD-fueled motorcycle gang. These songs are in exactly the order they popped up. The sole exception is the podcast closer, "In n' Out of Grace," which made the 'cast simply because when I think of biker gangs, that song automatically pops into my head.

And now, the Podcast:

"They're Dying on the Dancefloor"

Sunday (SONIC YOUTH)
Love's Lost Guarantee (ROGUE WAVE)
Transfiguration (SCREAMING TREES)
Outside My Door (CAN)
The Life I Live (Q'65)
Jumble, Jumble (THE WHITE STRIPES)
Starship - snippet (THE MC5
In n' Out of Grace (MUDHONEY)

NOVEMBER - 34 Songs. . . Well. . . Now.

2007-11-30T03:11:00.000-06:00

I'm in the middle of writing a paper and studying for finals, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to meet my deadline here. Get ready for it, y'all, because I'm just going to be puking music all over you tonight.

Thanks to everyone who offered kind words, donations and bids on my Ebay auctions. I'm going to try and post a few more things next week after my tests are over. My auctions went incredibly well. . . just over $400 for about 18 items. That should definitely help.

Anyway, enough about me.

For those of you who don't like to read, tonight's going to be a treat for you. Sorry I don't have time to elaborate and pontificate. My mind is elsewhere. I'm going to be all over the map tonight. Folk. Punk. Hip-hop. All over the map. Let's get to it, eh?

"Ceremony"
"The Headmaster Ritual" by RADIOHEAD:
(Thanks to Stereogum.com for posting these a few weeks ago.) In case you missed it, Radiohead recently did a suprise online "gig" from their studio, apparently just for shits n' giggles. In between individual bandmembers DJing some of their favorite tracks and playing some nutty video footage, they performed a few new songs along with a couple of incredible covers as tributes to some classic British bands of old. The former track is a JOY DIVISION cover, while the latter is a classic by THE SMITHS. Oh, and in case you hadn't heard from just about every online media outlet under the digital sun, Radiohead's new album In Rainbows is awesome.

"Civil War"
"Trampoline"
"Stop" by JOE HENRY:
Joe Henry is an amazing songwriter who has a new album out, Civilians. "Civil War" is from that album, and is a blueprint for his style of songwriting: well written, typically dark songs with incisive lyrics that cut to the bone, no matter the topic. Dude writes some of the best breakup songs out there, and "Trampoline" (from the album with the same name) is one of those songs. "You once kissed me not to hear me speak / and loved me just so you could leave / every bit of life wrung out of me." Dude is like Raymond Carver with a guitar instead of a typewriter. I could have sworn I'd posted that one before, and the follow-up track, "Stop." Oh, he also happens to be Madonna's cousin. "Stop" might sound familiar to some of you because she wound up covering it and making it into a big old hit (and a massive paycheck for him). Naturally, his version rules.

"It's Only Life"
"Let's Go"
"Dancing Barefoot"
"Paint It, Black" by by THE FEELIES:
Any loyal readers out there want to prove to me that I haven't posted these songs before? Because I could swear I had. Not having done so until this point is pretty criminal. What's also criminal is that The Feelies' records are out of print. Some awesome blogger out there posted their cover of PATTI SMITH's "Dancing Barefoot," which I bring you tonight, along with my two favorite original tracks and a second cover, THE ROLLING STONES' "Paint It, Black."

"Molly" by EUX AUTRES:
The Portland-via-Omaha brother/sister duo of Eux Autres have a new record, Cold City, coming out on Tuesday. I highly recommend it, especially to those of you who took a shining to their previous album or heard a couple of their tracks on Pimps of Gore last year. Out on Happy Birthday to Me Records, this album has the same great songwriting with more solid (but not too slick) production and a ton of great melodies. Plus, Nick and Heather are two of the nicest people I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, so rest assured your hard earned record dollars will be going into hands that deserve it, unlike Scott Stapp or Daughtry or some other lunkheaded dickweed. Not that your record dollars were headed there. . .

"God's Zoo (Live)"
"Moya (Live)"
"The Snake"
"Red Jesus"
"Big Neon Glitter (Live)" by THE CULT:
Consider yourselves lucky; I was going to devote an entire week to some of the great, overlooked music by real-life Spinal Tap rockers The Cult, the first band I was truly obsessed with. When I was growing up, my brother gave me a copy of their classic Love album, and a copy of his cassette of the Rick Rubin-produced Electric. Those albums ignited a spark in me, and I turned into a voracious collector. One of my prized posessions was a tape of the band's debut album, Dreamtime, which featured an early concert at London's Lyceum theater as the b-side. The live album was pretty much unavailable anywhere until a few years ago, when Beggar's Banquet finally reissued it on CD. Regardless of anyone's opinion of their later work (the band pretty much became a punchline as their career progressed, with lead singer Ian Astbury going so far as briefly becoming the lead singer of the fucking Doors), their early shit is pretty great. That live album (where the first two songs come from) features several songs from the first Death Cult EP, and even a song from Astbury's previous goth-rock band, Southern Death Cult. I'm also including a couple of b-sides, the wild but a little too long "The Snake," and a later track that popped up on a single from the pretty awful Ceremony album. Probably should have stuck "Red Jesus" on the album, boys. Closing things out is an early radio performance of "Big Neon Glitter."

"Mother Sky" by CAN:
If 15-minute psychedelic freak-outs aren't your thing, I definitely wouldn't rec' clicking this link. Also, if you're on heavy acid, you might want to avoid this, as it will make you think you can fly. If you like awesomeness, step right in. Plus, it's a great lead-in to. . .

"Reign (Anagram Mix)"
"Be There" by UNKLE with IAN BROWN:
Now, I'm positive I've posted "Be There" before, so don't be too quick to download if you've been a regulare here for a while. I'm merely re-posting it in conjunction with "Reign" to show just how badass it is when the former lead singer of the STONE ROSES gets together for a collaboration with James Lavelle's UNKLE project.

"Guns Blazing" by UNKLE with KOOL G. RAP
"Streets of New York" by KOOL G. RAP AND DJ POLO:
Since we're on the subject of UNKLE, here's the opening track to Psyence Fiction, back when the extraordinary DJ Shadow was manning the wheels of steel. The song features one of my favorite old school rappers, Kool G. Rap.

"Let's Start" by FELA KUTI with GINGER BAKER:
I could have sworn I'd downloaded this whole album from eMusic a few months back, but I don't see it anywhere on my external drive. Lamentable. . . looks like I'm going to have to DL it again, because it SMOKES. This is the concert opener, and if I'd seen this go down at a club, I probably would have fainted before it was over. Trust me, you'll probably be sweating -- or wishing you were doing something that would make you sweat (wink, wink) -- by the halfway point. Unreal.

"You Never Knew (Domino Remix)"
"The Who (DJ Kool EQ Mix)" by HIEROGLYPHICS:
How do I make a jump from The Feelies to these guys in the same post? I have no idea. That's just the way my mind is working tonight.

"Nobody" by HODGES, JAMES, SMITH and CRAWFORD:
Ripped from the vinyl-only 2 LP release of DAVID HOLMES' Come Get It I Got It, which features the unmixed versions of songs from his DJ-mix album of the same name. Sexy.

"Be Easy"
"Let Them Knock" by SHARON JONES & THE DAP KINGS:
If this were 40 years ago, I wouldn't have to tell anyone that Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings new album 100 Days, 100 Nights is a monster. You'd already know. You'd be all like, "No shit it's awesome. She's the queen of soul." Instead, it's 2007 and Sharon Jones is not (yet) a household name. Get this album. Get this album for your parents for Christmas. Just don't ask them what they do when they listen to it, cuz you do NOT want to know.

"Rock Your Body" by SHAWN LEE's PING PONG ORCHESTRA:
Trick your friends. Tell them that Justin Timberlake's hit is actually a cover of this track, and that it originally came out in the late 1970s.

"God Gave Rock N Roll To Us"
"So So Sick"
"So Sick" by UNREST:
I'm not quite sure whether Unrest is making fun of the KISS (who had a minor hit with their cover of this ARGENT song) version, paying tribute to the original, or taking themselves seriously here. I don't care. It's a great take on a pretty bad song. The latter track is an alternate version of "So Sick," which appeared on the B.P.M. compilation, and was my first exposure to these long lost indie darlings. Closing things out is the original version of the track, so you can decide for yourself which one you like better.

"One True Vine" by WILCO:
So, let's be honest: I may never get my "Tweedy 100" back in the air any time soon. Hell, I may not even be doing this blog in a month or two. Let's just enjoy the Wilco I can provide while we're all here to share it, okay? This one's off the Sky Blue Sky bonus EP.

"Follow if You Can" by WE ALL TOGETHER:
Yeah, I posted this about two years ago. I'm doing it again. Skip it, or enjoy it for the first time. I've got work to do.

"My Name is Jonas"
"Say It Ain't So" by WEEZER:
I'm just finishing things off tonight with these two tracks because Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band just recently reminded me of how awesome Weezer once were.

Goodnight.

NOVEMBER - 39 Songs in 18 Days

2007-11-13T02:12:00.000-06:00

Well, the liquidation of my LP collection has begun. Putting shit up on Ebay is such a long, laborious process. I usually run out of steam after putting up about 3 or 4 items a night (and that's really all I have time for right now, anyway).

As of right now, I've got up the first three rare, early Cursive 7" singles, a super-rare Pearl Jam Christmas fan club 7" from 1994 (and the limited edition "Wishlist" 7"), a Weezer 10", a never-released-in-stores Beastie Boys jukebox single, an out-of-print Uncle Tupelo clear vinyl 7", and a British import 2 DVD Old Grey Whistle Test set. I'm going to try and add 2 to 4 items every day over the next couple of weeks. If you're looking for some cool Christmas gifts, or if you'd like to help me do cool stuff like pay my medical bills or fly to see my nephews for Christmas, any help would be appreciated. (Of course, straight donations to my Paypal account are always welcome, and I'd be sure to send you a care package full of all kinds of cool stuff.) Who knows, you might even keep this site from bankruptcy.

CLICK HERE TO SEE WHAT I'M PEDDLING!

As for what I'm peddling on this site, here you go. Another short one tonight. . .

"I Got You" by ROGUE WAVE
"I Got You" by PEARL JAM
"I Got You" by SPLIT ENZ

Rogue Wave and Pearl Jam both doing drastically different live takes on one of my favorite '80s numbers from New Zealand brothers Neil and Tim Finn. The Pearl Jam one sticks closest to the original, with just a wee extra dose of testosterone, while the Rogue Wave number, performed just a few weeks ago at a radio station I can't at the moment recall, taps into the foreboding nature of the original single. All three are pretty choice, in my book.

"Too Many People"
"Dear Boy" by PAUL McCARTNEY:

I'm sure my love of Paul McCartney has been stressed enough to my readership at this point. I even wrote a recent column in the now defunct Philadelphia magazine PLAY about my favorite Macca solo albums, including the vastly underrated Ram. Of the two songs from that album featured here tonight, the first is a not-too-thinly veiled stab at former songwriter partner and friend John Lennon. I get chills at the part in "Too Many People" where McCartney intones, "That was your first mistake / You took your lucky break / and broke it in two. / Now what can be done for you?" The seemingly always friendly Beatle is pissed! The latter track, "Dear Boy," would be the most Beatle-esque non-Beatles song ever if Ram didn't already contain "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey." Lennon felt "Dear Boy" was also an attack on him, when, according to Wikipedia, it was really directed toward Linda McCartney's ex-husband.

Don't you want these poor kids to see their Uncle Dylan for Christmas?

NOVEMBER - 41 Songs in 21 Days

2007-11-10T02:27:00.000-06:00

Just a quick couple of songs tonight, both from the newly released DVD of Quentin Tarantino's Death Proof. Those of you who bought the soundtrack way back when the movie, which was part of a brilliant double feature called Grindhouse that also featured director Robert Rodriguez's Planet Terror (a note-perfect tribute to the horror films of George Romero and John Carpenter), probably wondered why these two songs appeared on the CD when they were not in the theatrical release of the film.

When Tarantino released Death Proof to international audiences (whom were robbed of the joyous experience of seeing two movies for the price of one), the excised scenes that featured tonight's tracks were restored. The first, "Down in Mexico" by THE COASTERS, plays over the teased but never revealed (in the U.S., at least) lap dance that Kurt Russell's Stuntman Mike character receives from one of the women he stalks at the beginning of the film. Tarantino's decision to cut this scene is lamentable, as it's one of the better directed and more electrifying scenes in the movie. Plus, the look on Russell's face is pretty priceless.

The second track, Willy DeVille's "It's So Easy," roars from Stuntman Mike's car at the beginning of the movie's second act, as Russell makes the mistake of sizing up a second group of females for his next kill. From the moment you hear the song in the movie, you want it blaring out of your own car stereo. While I can't promise you'll get a lap dance from Vanessa Ferlito with the first song, I can at least provide you with the same thrill on the DeVille number.

THE COASTERS
"Down in Mexico"

WILLY DEVILLE
"It's So Easy"

MORE ON TONIGHT'S ARTISTS:
- Willy DeVille was the frontman for late 70s NYC punkers Mink DeVille. He has released a bunch of solo albums, and somewhere in there even wrote and recorded the theme song to The Princess Bride. This will be all the more bizarre when you listen to "It's So Easy." I can only imagine Tarantino first heard "Easy" on the soundtrack to the Al Paciono film, Cruising. Learn more at his official homepage, or at this informative Wikipedia entry on DeVille.

- The Coasters. . . well, they're just a bunch of fuckin' pimps. Try and tell me that "Down in Mexico," the R&B group's first single, sounds like it came out in 1956. If I hadn't looked it up myself (and known that the band didn't make it long into the 70's), I would have guessed it was far more contemporary. Among many other hits, The Coasters were responsible for "Charlie Brown," "Yakkity Yak," and "Poison Ivy." Learn more here.

NOVEMBER - 60 Songs in 30 Days (v3)

2007-11-05T10:54:00.000-06:00

Regular readers know the drill: November is the month where I strive to post 2 songs for every day in the month. That doesn't mean I'll be on here on a daily basis, but I will be holding to that rule, regardless of whether I post 2 times or 20 times this month (looking at my post history, let's just be honest and say it'll probably be closer to 2 than 20).

I might focus on one artist one day, and a whole assemblage of tracks the next. There's not really a lot of rhyme or reason to it, just a massive delgue of music for you to sort through.

I have to be honest: I'm a little unsure about the future of Pimps of Gore right now. I just got my renewal notice from my web host, and since I've been operating this site out of my own pocket for years (aside from the help of a couple of friends, and one reader who donated money once, way back when I tired to have a Paypal link here), the "returns" seem more and more diminishing each year. Between my doctor's bills, my school debt, my other debts, and my lack of free time these days, the idea of keeping this thing going has become a little illogical (and a lot counterproductive) lately.

With my debt mounting, I've been eyeballing my record collection and have considered a massive Ebay clearance in attempt to raise some money. I've also been considering creating a spreadsheet or document with everything I'm selling and maybe sending it along to interested parties. I'm going to start work on that in the coming weeks, so please feel free to let me know if you'd like to do some record shopping. I'll try to keep the prices fair, but if there's something rare that I might be able to auction on Ebay, I'm just going to be honest and price it at the "market value." Not a whole lot of CDs, probably a few hundred records, and some DVDs will be in the mix.

Anyway, the free tunes will keep coming for the next couple of months, at least. Enjoy!

"Society" by EDDIE VEDDER
"Hard Sun" by INDIO
"Bee Girl"
"Sheraton Gibson" by EDDIE VEDDER
"Tonight You Belong to Me" by EDDIE VEDDER w/JANET WEISS
"Tonight You Belong to Me" by MEREDITH LOUISE MILLER:

To wear my heart on my sleeve for a moment, I have to say that I was profoundly moved by Into the Wild, Sean Penn's film adaptation of John Krakauer's incredible nonfiction book about a young man's tragic journey into -- well -- the wild, in Alaska. I'm not going to get into an entire movie review here, but I thought it was one of the most humane and beautiful films I've probably ever seen, and would highly recommend it, especially to anyone who may have entertained the thought, at any time in their life, of disappearing off of "the grid" and leaving everything they know behind them. I know, as a college kid, I pondered the idea myself more than a few times, and Krakauer's book was a monumental reminder to me that, as Christopher McCandless discovered, happiness is meaningless if you can't share it with anyone.

I think Penn made a pretty wise choice in peppering the film with music written especially for the film by Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder. Even Vedder haters might agree, because he seems the perfect voice as the internal monologue -- and possibly the Greek chorus -- for this incredibly ernest and idealistic young man, who lived his life, and measured all others, by a strict moral code. "Society" is from the soundtrack to Into the Wild, and sums up better than any other song the character and motivation of McCandless. I would not be surprised if we see Vedder performing this song at the Oscars this year.

One of the highlights from that soundtrack is Vedder's cover (paired with backing vocals from SLEATER KINNEY's Corin Tucker) of INDIO's "Hard Sun." I'm posting the original, which reportedly features backing vocals from Joni Mitchell, here this afternoon. Vedder and Pearl Jam's history with Sleater Kinney goes way back (I've even theorized that SK's bombastic, stadium-rock-sized The Woods may have been influenced by their long tour as openers for PJ in the year or two prior to the making of that record), and it's only appropriate that Vedder popped in at SK's final show on August 12 of last year, performing "Tonight You Belong to Me" with drummer Janet Weiss.

I've always loved "Tonight You Belong to Me," a song which I first heard in the Steve Martin film The Jerk, in one of that movie's most quiet and sweet moments, performed on beach between Martin and the adoreable Bernadette Peters. While I couldn't locate that version, I'm including another take of it from Meredith Louise Miller.

The two other Vedder solo tracks, "Bee Girl" and "Sheraton Gibson," are alternately a rare Pearl Jam track about the little girl who appeared in the BLIND MELON "No Rain" video, and a Pete Townsend cover from a 1994 tribute concert. While the latter isn't the best live recording, it still makes for a fun listen.

"Goin' to Acapulco" by JIM JAMES AND CALEXICO
"Simple Twist of Fate" by JEFF TWEEDY
"Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" by CAT POWER
"Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again"
"Simple Twist of Fate" by BOB DYLAN:

Speaking of movie soundtracks, the FUCKING STELLAR soundtrack to I'm Not There, Todd Haynes nutty Dylan semi-biopic featuring a handful of actors playing Dylan at different stages in his career, was just released last week. It's a bargain at any price, but I got my copy of it from iTunes for less than $15. . . not too shabby for 37 songs (the iTunes version includes 3 bonus tracks) by an incredible list of artists that includes the likes of Eddie Vedder, Willie Nelson, Sonic Youth, Stephen Malkmus, Tom Verlaine, John Doe, Yo La Tengo, Sufjan Stevens, and tonight's three artists, who all contribute incredible covers of classic and somewhat obscure Dylan songs.

I'm just going to say it right here: Chan Marshall, I love you. Call me.

"Just Keep Walking" by INXS:

I know I've posted on here many times before that I think even some of the most wack artists can pull out a great song (which is why I think it's important to reserve the word "sucks" for bands that truly, truly suck, like Creed). This INXS song, from the band's self-titled debut (although this comes from an early compilation called INXSive) is further proof of my theory. A nice rip of that whole Adam Ant/Gang of Four postpunk sound, and not something you'd expect from a band that would go on to become so corny that they'd replace their dead lead singer with an Elvis impersonator.

"Magdalene Lane"
"Castles in the Air"
"Crying"
"Till Tomorrow" by DON McLEAN
"Crying" by WAYLON JENNINGS:

Speaking of artists considered corny, Don McLean has been done no favors by being know as that "American Pie"/"Vincent" dude. He inspired the poem that inspired Roberta Flack's "Killing Me Softly," so he can't be all bad, right? "Magdalene Lane" is, in my eyes, his true masterpiece, a harsh indictment on Los Angeles, Hollywood, and the movie industry's tendency to chew up and spit out young stars. More specifically, McLean tackles the tragic story of Judy Garland ("The Wizard brought benzadrine smiles / and he never let Dorothy doze"), who abused pills and alcohol and died at age 47 from an overrdose of barbituates. McLean's song is absolutely scathing.

I once won a Delaware radio station contest where entrants were asked to rewrite the lyrics to "American Pie" and update them to speak to today's music industry. McLean picked the winner, and I was truly honored, but was going to be out of town for the concert and wound up calling the station to ask them to give my prize of going to the show and meeting McLean backstage to the second place entrant. A truly regretful loss on my part, because I would have begged him to perform "Magdalene Lane," or, at the very least, "Till Tomorrow," one of my other favorite songs of his, and one that broke my heart at such an early age that, like The Beatles' "Yesterday," it was a revalation to my young mind that a song could make me so sad. I remember being in love with a girl in elementary school and making her a tape by the time we were "graduating" from junior high that included this song.

Another of those songs that made me aware of music's power to break my heart at an early age was Roy Orbison's "Crying," covered here by McClean, and alternately by country legend Waylon Jennings.

PIMP-strumentals:

"Zaratozom" by GOBLIN:

I finally had the pleasure of sitting down before Halloween and watching the Dawn of the Dead DVD boxed set I purchased a while back, which features several different versions of the movie and includes the Dario Argento edited European version. Trimmed down from Romero's longer version, Argento's cuts to the chase and works more like an action/horror movie. It also features the entire Goblin-recorded soundtrack (Romero's used a couple of the band's songs). "Zaratozom" is a charging little rocker that really sets a fire under the scenes where the biker gang stroms their way into the mall. Good stuff.

"Danelectro 2" by YO LA TENGO:

A gorgeous, simple and sleepy instrumental from one of my favorite bands, and a fine tribute to the guitar(s) for which the song is named. And a nice way to close things out this afternoon. See you around.

A Satisfied Mind: R.I.P PORTER WAGONER

2007-10-28T23:31:00.000-05:00

"Sorrow on the Rocks"

"Eat, Drink and Be Merry"

"Family Bible" (Porter Wagoner w/Willie Nelson)

"What Would You Do if Jesus Came to Your House"

"A Satisfied Mind" (Later recording)

"A Satisfied Mind" (Original single version)

BAND OF BANDS

2007-10-25T03:15:00.001-05:00

No time for love, Docta Jones.

Here, chew on some bands with Band in their names:

THE BACKBEAT BAND:
"Money"
"Long Tall Sally"
I could have sworn I'd written about the movie Backbeat before now, but I guess I was wrong. Backbeat tells the story of the pre-world famous Beatles as they were still in their infancy, playing as a pill-popping bar band in Germany's Cavern Club. More specifically, the movie's focus is on the somewhat tragic story of Stuart Sutcliffe, one of the several "fifth Beatles" debated about by fans across the world (other "fifths" include producer George Martin, keyboardist Billy Preston and drummer Pete Best). While the movie is pretty damn good, it's elevated by the soundtrack of 50s covers (the movie takes place before Lennon/McCartney would become a songwriting powerhouse) performed by The Backbeat Band, comprised of vocalists Greg Dulli (AFGHAN WHIGS) and Dave Pirner (SOUL ASYLUM), drummer Dave Grohl (NIRVANA, FOO FIGHTERS), guitarist Thurston Moore (SONIC YOUTH), bassist Mike Mills (R.E.M.), and guitarist Don Fleming (VELVET MONKEYS, GUMBALL).

THE BETA BAND:
"It's Not Too Beautiful"
"Dr. Baker"
The documentary 7 Days in September is easily one of the best films I've ever seen, and the film's use of The Beta Band's hypnotic, psychedelic "It's Not Too Beautiful" is just one of the many reasons for my high opinion of the movie. I'm not even going to describe the movie; if you haven't seen it, you're really doing yourself a disservice. If you've never heard The Beta Band, you aren't doing yourself any favors there, either. I promise, I was onto them before that famous scene in High Fidelity where John Cusack drops one of their songs into the store stereo to sell a few copies of the album. While the scene itself is kind of geeky, akin to the embarassing "The Shins will change your life" scene in Garden State, it's still a pretty truthful one to anyone who has ever worked in a decent record store. I once had a similar moment at a store I worked at in Omaha, selling two copies of an I AM KLOOT album within a period of 3 minutes based on a single song I was playing. It was pretty gratifying, and a nice "What's up now, bitch?" to the guy I was working with, who doubted that the tactic would work.

A BAND OF BEES:
"The Start"
"Left Foot Stepdown"
I already wrote, a few years back, about my absolute love of A Band of Bees' (in the UK, they are known simply as The Bees) sophomore album Free the Bees, where tonight's "The Start" first appeared. The band's most recent album, Octopus was released months ago, but was virtually impossible to find for a long time, even on iTunes. It's finally started to rear its awesome head, and is definitely worth checking out, based on tonight's groovy "Left Foot Stepdown."

Of course, there can be really only one band. . .

THE BAND:
"It Makes No Difference" (live)
"The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" (live)
I will never forget, as long as I live, a night spent bowling at The Lucky Strike in Chicago years ago with a group of great friends. I dropped about $5 in the jukebox and went to town, playing everything from Built to Spill to Otis Redding. At one point, my choice of The Band's "It Makes No Difference" from the soundtrack to The Last Waltz came on the sound system, and my friend Lesley scoffed at the song, asking incredulously "Did you pick this?" If Lesley had been a man, I probably would have punched her in her fucking face for this indiscretion. The hard part would not have been dealing with the aftermath of our broken friendship; it would have been the difficulty in deciding exactly which reason for punching her in the mouth would have been best. Would it have been in defending the honor of deceased bassist Rick Danko? Would it have been because this song is one of the highlights of that fantastic concert movie, and one of the scenes that brought me near tears when viewing it in a Philadelphia theater the year before? Would it have been because she was dissing THE fucking BAND, the band that backed Bob Dylan through some of the most incredible and creative parts of his career? All I know, it was definitely punch-in-the-mouth territory. If she'd made fun of drummer Levon Helm (who sings the shit out of "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" from the same soundtrack), murder would have been da case that they gave me.

BAND of (M)ORE-SES

2007-10-20T19:35:00.000-05:00

Why mess with a good thing, right?

Actually, things are really busy right now and I decided to take a request from one of the readers and post the out-of-print self-titled Band of Horses EP tonight. You know, in lieu of actually putting forth some effort to write about another band.

I guess I can use this space to correct my previous post. My original leaked copy of Cease to Begin had several jumbled song titles. I remedied the situation by buying the CD the day it was released. The song whose lyrics I quoted was actually entitled "Detlef Schrempf," taking its name from a German immigrant who had incredible success playing for the NBA, and more specifically for the Seattle SuperSonics.

What that song has to do with Schrempf, I have no idea. Perhaps that person leaving town in the song ("If you're gonna go, well be careful. . .") is Schrempf leaving Germany? Retiring from the team? Doesn't matter. . . I like my interpretation just fine.

Anyway, tonight I'm sending out a couple of .Zip files, so make way for a little bandwidth. First up is that aforementioned out-of-print EP:

"BAND OF HORSES" EP

1. Savannah (Part One) - demo
2. The Snow Fall - demo (previously posted here)
3. For Wicked Gil - demo
4. The Great Salt Lake - live (previously posted here>
5. Billion Day Funeral - live
6. (Biding Time Is) A Boat Row"

Next up is a recent radio broadcast from the world famous KCRW studios, aired on Thursday, September 6th, 2007. After hearing his self-effacing banter and seemingly genuine and humble nature, I think I'd really enjoy interviewing singer Ben Bridwell. Anyone who loves Neil Young and Built to Spill as much as I do is a friend in my book.

"BAND OF HORSES - Live at KCRW"

1. Is There A Ghost
2. Islands On The Coast
3. The General Specific
4. (=Interview=)
5. Our Swords
6. Ode To The LRC
7. The Funeral
8. Wicked Gil
9. Marry Song

Some YouTube fun:

Here's an awesome performance, just a few days old, of the band doing "Is There a Ghost" on Late Night With David Letterman. Stay tuned to the end and clock how damn excited Bridwell is to shake Dave's hand:

Here's the video for "The Great Salt Lake":

A video for "Is There a Ghost":

A proposed but rejected video for "The Funeral," created by Super!Alright!:

And, what the hell, here's a cutie in her pajamas doing a piano cover of "The First Song":

For more Horses/YouTube hotnezz, click HERE.

BAND OF HORSES: Cease to Begin

2007-10-08T12:00:00.000-05:00

There are a number of decent releases (the online release of the new Radiohead, for one!) slated to come out tomorrow, October 9th, but the one I'm most excited about is the sophomore release from Seattle's BAND OF HORSES, entitled Cease to Begin.

That band's debut, Everything All of the Time, was an instant classic, lauded by a number of critics. This new record has been the source of some debate, especially online. Some consider it a real dropping off from the first record, while folks like me think it might just be even better than Horses' debut. One of the more hilarious complaints is that this album is too short. This complaint seems a little silly, considering this record is about 56 seconds shorter.

One thing is for sure: produced by Phil Ek, Cease to Begin might be the best Built to Spill album the band has failed to release in the last 6 (or more) years. Where Doug Martsch and company have drifted into caring a little too much about noodling guitars, Band of Horses have streamlined their songwriting on this record, delivering a number of poppier songs that clock in at around the 3-minute mark.

I have to be honest: I've had the album, which leaked on the internet, for months now. I can't stop listening to it, to the point that it's getting ridiculous. My favorite song on the record, and possibly my favorite song of 2007, is the charging "Islands on the Coast." I'm not exaggerating here: I've listened to nothing but this song for a few days on end. I've been going for long walks a few times a week, trying to get back in shape, and on several of those walks, I put that song on Repeat for at least 20 to 30 minutes at a time.

Another song on the record, which I believe is titled "The General Specific" but won't really know until tomorrow (the leaked version of the album had one or two song title swaps), has had a pretty profound effect on me in recent weeks. See, as I'm going to school for a Nursing degree, I am also working in the pediatric intensive care unit at a local hospital. It's a pretty large, pretty reputable transplant hospital, so a lot of the kids on our floor are recent transplants, making them constantly returning visitors.

Recently, one of the kids almost everyone on the floor had taken a shining to died one morning, at the beginning of my shift. Part of my job as a tech when something like this happens is to do hand molds for the family. Hand molds are little cement "statues" we make using that pink dental mold stuff. To make them, you dip the (deceased) child's hands into this solution as it hardens, and then add the "cement" mix later.

On this particular occasion, the family stayed in the room while I did the molds, making an already emotional part of my job almost unbearable. As I made the molds, I stared off at a point in the ceiling, which is painted to look like a cloudy sky, and thought of the words to "The General Specific," a ballad that seems to be about someone leaving the town where they grew up to become anonymous and new somewhere else. I had been listening to the song on my way to work that morning, but the lyrics really struck me in a new way as I hid my crying from the family of this dead child:

(Again, this is my interpretation. . . he could very well be singing something entirely different. . . under a completely different title. . . )

Take a little walk when the worst is too cold
When I saw you looking like I never thought.
You say you're at a loss, or forgot,
that words can do more than harm.
The town is gonna talk. Well, these people do not
see things through to the very minimal.
What's it gonna cost to be gone
If we see you like I hoped we never would?
Eyes can't look at you any other way.
Any other way, any other way.
Eyes can't look at you any other way.
Any other way, any other way.
So take it as a salve, or a lesson to learn
and sometime soon, be better than you were.
You say you're gonna go. . .
well be careful. . .
and watch how you treat every living soul.
My eyes can't look at you any other way,
any other way, any other way.

Those last few lines kept going through my head. . . especially "sometime soon, be better than you were" and "be careful, and watch how you treat every living soul. . ." until I had to leave the room and weep in the bathroom. It's pretty amazing how something can change the context of a song. For all I know, this could be some tune about lead singer Ben Bridwell's crazy ex-girlfriend. For me, it will be linked to that moment in my life forever.

Regardless of your interpretation, the song itself is probably worth the price of the whole album (which, I believe, is going for $7.99 at Best Buy tomorrow). I'm not including it tonight to hopefully encourage people to check it out for themselves. Luckily, the rest of the record is worth paying for, as well.

From Cease to Begin:
"Is There a Ghost"
"Islands on the Coast"

From Everything All the Time:
"The Great Salt Lake"
"The First Song"

From the Band of Horses tour EP:
"The Great Salt Lake (live)"
"The Snow Fall" (original demo for "The First Song")

From the "The Funeral" 7":
"The End's Not Near"

Original version of "End's Not Near" by THE NEW YEAR:
"End's Not Near"

K-Dillie: Now Yer Messin' With a Son of a Bitch

2007-09-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

"Fox on the Run" by SWEET:
Every time I hear this song played unexpectedly on iTunes' Party Shuffle, that goofy intro scares me into thinking that somehow the Steve Miller Band's "Swingtown" snuck onto my computer. Because, man, do I fucking hate me some Steve Miller. Luckily, it's just the opening notes of (the) Sweet classic "Fox on the Run," a sublime rollerskating jam that combines ELO and T.Rex. Of course, Sweet aren't completely innocent in my eyes, having scored a hit with another of my all time least favorite songs, "Ball Room Blitz."

"King of the Night Time World"
"Detroit Rock City"
"Love 'Em and Leave 'Em" by KISS:
The sound of that Sweet song makes me think of one thing: the original glam dorks, KISS.

Last post I covered The Runaways, and this afternoon Kiss brings us a link back to that band of bad ass rock chicks. How? Through the involvement of a man by the name of Kim Fowley. Fowley was a singer, songwriter and musician who eventually made his way into the more promotional side of the music business. . . basically by being an all around bullshitter and "svengali." The Runaways were essentially his creation, with Fowley putting the band together and giving them their jailbait image (and at one point, the backstory hype of them actually being runaways). One of Fowley's other great moves was penning, with the help of his writing partner Mark Anthony, "King of the Night Time World" for Kiss's break-out 1976 album Destroyer.

Now, I may have discussed this around these parts before, but Destroyer, released a month after I was born, scared the absolute shit out of me when I was a kid. The cover imagery, a painting of the band in their kabuki makeup dancing on a pile of rubble as cities burn at their feet, was partly to blame. Part of the blame also lies at my young feet. Not old enough to understand things like sexual innuendo, songs like "God of Thunder" sounded like the embodiment of evil. Little did I know that almost every song on this (and any) Kiss record was really just about fucking.

I'm sure it didn't help matters that the record starts out with "Detroit Rock City" (presented here in its radio-edited form, which excises about 1.5 minutes of "rock theater" where a guy gets into his car, cranks up the Kiss, and dies in a fiery crash), a song about rocking. . . and dying. Maybe if I'd heard a few more of the band's more lunkheaded songs, like "Love 'Em and Leave 'Em," I wouldn't have taken them so seriously. The fact that I did is a testament to the power of theatricality, especially in the eyes of stupid pre-adolescent kids.

"Move Over" by SLADE:
Really, if I wanted to personify the '70s at its most rockin', glammed out, cock flappin' best, I could choose pretty much any song from the Slade catalogue. Aside from penning one of the greatest Christmas songs ever ("Merry Xmas Everybody"), Slade basically created the template for 80s hair metal with tracks like "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" (covered by The Runaways and Quiet Riot, among many others), "Cum on Feel the Noize" (that's right, the other Quiet Riot hit), and more. Since the band was covered and emulated so often, today I'm including "Move Over," their semi-hit cover of a Janis Joplin song.

"Randolph's Tango" by THIN LIZZY:
I already wrote plenty about my love of Thin Lizzy back when I did an entire week of Lizzy posts, so I'll keep this brief. If I'm writing all of this month's posts under the guise that these songs would save you from getting your ass kicked if you put them on in the dingiest of biker bars, "Randolph's Tango" might actually get you laid. Or married. It's also one the most musically intricate and interesting songs of Lizzy's storied career. Man, I really do wish Phil Lynott were still alive, because I think he's one musician who had the skills to keep maturing as a songwriter without becoming a complete puss like Sting or Mick Jagger.

"Hair of the Dog"
"Whiskey Drinkin' Woman"
"Love Hurts" by NAZARETH:
"Love Hurts" by THE EVERLY BROTHERS
"Love Hurts" by GRAM PARSONS:
For a band from Scotland, Nazareth sure sounded like they belonged on the L.A. Strip with hard rockers like Guns 'N Roses and Motley Crue. From the opening cowbell of their hit single, "Hair of the Dog," they let it be known that they were here to bang heads. It's hard not to picture Axl Rose behind the microphone here (Guns would go on to cover the song on their patchy, almost hilarious covers album, The Spaghetti Incident?) especially with the tough guy chorus, "Now you're messin' with a son of a bitch!"

All of tonight's songs come from the Hair of the Dog album, including the sludgy Joe Walsh-ian "Whiskey Drinkin' Woman," and Nazareth's biggest hit, their cover of the Everly Brothers' "Love Hurts" (though I really think they based their version on Gram Parsons' cover. . . listen to all three and judge for yourself). Time for a slow dance between you and the old lady you met up with back on that Thin Lizzy number.

K-Dillie's Seventies in September

2007-09-11T01:41:00.000-05:00

photo by Tom Gold

"Mississippi Queen" by MOUNTAIN:
Because you just can't do a tribute to 70s balls out rock without this song. You're supposed to play pool to this. . . or strip. I didn't realize until checking on the band's Allmusic entry that their fourth live performance ever was at Woodstock.

I've always thought one of the funniest and most telling (about the music industry and what it has become, at least) thing about 70s rock was the fact that you could be UGLY AS FUCK and still have a massive hit. You couldn't do that today. I think the last lump of shit to break the mainstream was John Popper. Seriously, check out Mountain guitarist Leslie West:

He looks like Andre the Giant in The Princess Bride! And yet, massive hit. Dude played Woodstock. Who is the ugliest person on MTV or the radio today? Can you name three truly ugly people? Back in the '70s, it was ugly for miles. Frank Zappa. Blue Oyster Cult. They had better looking dudes in 70s porn, and even those dudes were heinous.

"Wasted"
"School Days"
"You Drive Me Wild"
"Cherry Bomb" by THE RUNAWAYS:
I think I've already said enough around these parts about how Joan Jett was the first woman I ever fell in love with. And that was only because of her early solo career. . . if I had seen her back when she was in The Runaways (she would have been about 16, and I not yet born), I would have run away from home to find her. A cute girl who loved Black Sabbath and AC/DC, and she rocks? Just kill me. Yep, it was her and Diane Lane for me. I'm still dying this day to find a copy of Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains, where Diane Lane pretty much plays Joan Jett in an all-female punk band. Anybody out there have this movie? Please? PLEASE?

Anyway, "Cherry Bomb" is probably the most recognizable of The Runaway's songs. I can't say for sure, but it seems like the soundtrack to Dazed and Confusled kind or rescued the song from obscurity. If you know anyone who likes The Donnas, I want you to slap them right in the mouth, stomp on the part of their hard drive that stores all their Donnas downloads and ringtones (because this person must be 14, right?), and replace it all with music from The Runaways. They did it so much dirtier, and so much better.

"Atomic Punk"
"Jamie's Cryin'"
"Outta Love Again"
"D.O.A."
"Somebody Get Me a Doctor" by VAN HALEN:

Yes.

Van fucking Halen.

I will never, ever make apologies for my love of David Lee-roth era Van Halen, and most specifically for the two self-titled albums they released at the close of the 1970s. Any doubters can just bow at the throne of "Atomic Punk," which pretty much laid out the blueprint for the band's entire M.O.: scream loud, play louder. Just clock the metal-ness of Roth bellowing, "I am the ruler of these netherworlds / The underground. . . oh yes! // Nobody rules these streets at night but me! / The atomic punk! UhAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHAAAAAHAAAAA!!!!" followed by that absolutely insane no matter which way you cut it guitar solo. So their lead singer had flowing blonde hair and wore tights like a goddamned trapeeze artist? Van Halen fucking rocked. It must have really pissed off the punk rock kids that these guys stole their word so early on.

Then you've got a classic like "Jamie's Cryin'," which somehow pushes The Kinks through a Motown filter and cranks the shit out of it on the other end. Great backing vocals from Roth and the rest of the band, great melody, and it's a story song, to boot. I'm telling you, it's because of Roth's clown pants that these guys continue to get robbed of the credit they deserve.

For me, Van Halen II was the real gem. It's just a banger, from start to finish, and chugs along in a surprisingly groovy way. Since any Van Halen fan out there already knows the brilliance of songs like "Dance the Night Away" or "Beautiful Girls," I'm sticking to some of the deep tracks. "Outta Love Again" is just flat out bad ass, and Alex Van Halen's drumming is off the charts. You know when drummer's use the phrase "playing in the pocket"? This is what "in the pocket" sounds like.

Not bangin' enough for you? Check out "D.O.A.." Or try "Somebody Get Me a Doctor," which I'd use as my car chase music if I ever got to direct a movie. Still not bangin' enough for you? Go fuck yourself. Van Halen.

Metal fans: That guitar was buried with Dimebag Darrell

THE RETURN: K-Dillie's Super Sounds of the 70s

2007-09-06T03:56:00.000-05:00

Last year I dedicated a post to a few of my favorite 70s jams. . . the kind of stuff you shamelessly crank up in your car on a road trip when all the music you're not embarassed to listen to starts to bore the living shit out of you. Go ahead, try putting on an Arcade Fire record 12 hours into a road trip. You've passed the cool point. Tossing that Grizzly Bear CD on may just get you a punch in the face from a grumpy travelling companion.

Here's how I described it in my K-Dilly post from last year:

While every era in music has its cheese, from the corny stuff in the '50s to the hippy-dippy shit in the 60s to the Candleboxian "grunge" of the '90s, I seem to have a soft spot for the 70s stuff.

The 70s produced a lot of bad music, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't even be afraid to say that some of tonight's music is, in some way, bad. I just don't care. This stuff isn't brain surgery. This is the 70s stuff that was custom made for a few specific activities. Drinking in your backyard. Lighting a shitload of fireworks. Watching, or participating in, a roller derby. Driving fast, especially in a Camaro.

For the entire month of September, I'm posting only the sweetest in 70s rawk. This time around, my idea was basically to construct a playlist of songs that, if played in a dingy biker bar jukebox, the kind of bar where Pee Wee Herman almost lost his life in Big Adventure, would NOT get your ass kicked.

"Hello There"
"ELO Kiddies" by CHEAP TRICK:
What better way to start things off than with a couple of hello/ello's from Chicago's reigning pop rockers? Some of my earliest memories revolve around Cheap Trick, who -- though we may have forgotten this now -- were HUGE when I was young. Maybe it was just because I was growing up in the midwest, but the kids in my 'hood, especially the ones my older brothers' age, loved them. They had a great look, a cool name, a fantastic lead singer in Robin Zander, a goofy guitarist, and a drummer with one of the best names in the history of rock: Bun E. Carlos. "Hello There" was the song Cheap Trick played to open the majority of their shows, and it's easy to see why: it's punk as fuck. "ELO Kiddies," from the band's debut, is no slouch either, sounding like some crazy mix of Gang of Four and Alice Cooper.

"Last Child"
"Mama Kin"
"Toys in the Attic"
"Back in the Saddle" by AEROSMITH:
I have to admit, it took Guitar Hero 2 to re-awaken my love for old Aerosmith. There's a band who have not done themselves any favors (at least in my eyes) for at LEAST 15 to 20 years. "Love in an Elevator?" "Falling in Love is So Hard on the Knees?" They don't write songs anymore. . . they just go to Spencer's Gifts and lift lyrics off the worst bumper stickers they can find. Don't even get me started on all of those Dianne Warren soundtrack tunes they've been shitting out ad nauseum. But man, back in the day? Aerosmith were kinda the shit. Clock the stoned out brilliance of "Last Child," which starts out all slow like it's going to be another "Dream On," before turning into some kind of whiskey soaked porn soundtrack. (Is it a rule that Steven Tyler has to rhyme something with "sassyfrassy" on every song they do?) I was in grade school when I bought their debut album on cassette because it contained "Dream On." Once I got over that drag of a tune, I found the real gem in "Mama Kin" (so had Guns n' Roses, who covered it on the Live Like a Suicide half of their Lies EP). When I was 14 or 15, my mom and dad gave me the awesome gift of their Pandora's Box boxed set, which collected all kinds of great pre-Permanent Vacation/career revival music like "Toys in the Attic" and "Back in the Saddle." I stupidly sold the set in college, and now more than ever wish I had it back.

"Black Betty" by RAM JAM:
I can't say I own a single Ram Jam record (of course, there are only two). I honestly don't have any idea what the rest of their "catalogue" sounds like. All I know is that I'm dying to play this song on the 8-track player in a crazy souped up Camaro on a backwoods dirt road.

"Parchman Farm" by CACTUS:
Remember that scene in Ghost World, where Steve Buscemi goes to see a blues concert and is met with the white boy blues cockrocksanity of BLUESHAMMER? Yeah. That shit happened in 1970, and that band was Cactus. If scientists had to predict the sound it would make when you combine the rhythm section of Vanilla Fudge with the vocalist from the Amboy Dukes and Mitch Ryder's guitarist, they'd probably actually come really close to predicting this sound. Their debut album, which spawned this rocking but totally hilarious cover of a blues classic, gets an incredibly overstated 4.5 stars over at Allmusic.com.

"New York Groove" by ACE FREHLEY:
As a show, Entourage sucks more and more as it progresses. Lately, however, they've at least been making some interesting musical choices. Digging up this glorious glam rock anthem, off of the Ace Frehley solo KISS record. Back in September of 1978 (29 years ago, Christ!), all the members of KISS released solo albums on the same day. The only one I ever bought (again, on cassette) when I was going through my KISS phase was Ace's, which was just a bit less spotty than the rest of them but still had some great songs like "Groove" and the ode to cocaine, "Snow Blind." I'll get to KISS a post or two from now, so I'll just leave you to enjoy Frehley's take on a song that had been a hit for a band called Hello a few years before this version was released.

Alright kids, that's all for now, but stay tuned all through September for more 70s grooves. . .

Last pimp o' the month: CANON BLUE

2007-08-30T03:51:00.000-05:00

(Sorry about the inactivity. There has been a whole boatload of stress in my hands lately, what with my return to college, my health, etc.. I've got something great planned for September, and I hope you'll stick with me and stop by often. The only hint I'll give is that my radio dial is going to be stuck on K-DILLY for the entire month. This will hopefully be great news to some readers, like Nick from Eux Autres. For now, I'd like to highlight a new artist. . .)

It's pretty rare -- hell, almost never -- that I have a chance to follow up on any of the promos or publicity emails that I get in my Pimps of Gore inbox. It's not that I don't love discovering new artists, it's just that this blog was originally intended to just be this little page where I sent some of my favorite music along to my friends. I never really anticipated that there would be any sort of readership around here. I just figured I'd drop in every once in a while and share a few songs I'd been listening to that day or that week.

After several months of running the site, I started to get random email, sometimes from publicists, sometimes from musicians or bands, pimping new music. At first, I figured this was all just spam. No offense to people who may have sent me this stuff, but I just figured these people were fruitcakes and rarely even bothered to open the mail.

Then I started to notice that people were reading. Songs were being downloaded, and occasionally people would actually return and read more. Gradually, I started paying a little more attention to the emails I was getting. Still, I rarely heard anything that caught my attention enough for me to say "This belongs right alongside the stuff I've been posting." It didn't help that when I did my weekly bloghunt, where I pore over the 50+ music blogs I follow, I'd see that I'd already been beat to the punch on posting this stuff. I never saw Pimps of Gore as a site for new music, but more of a place where you might find something you missed when it first came around 5, 10, 20 years ago.

I got an email a few weeks ago from a guy named Daniel James, a very nice email which discussed a shared love of producer/composer David Axelrod. In the email, James mentioned that he was releasing an album of material he'd recorded on his own, under the name CANON BLUE. Seeing "I recorded/produced it myself" did not, in all honesty, bode well. I've received some of the absolute shittiest "self-recorded" music known to man, but the fact that Mr. James had already referenced David Axelrod was a plus. He also mentioned that his album, Colonies, had been mixed and further produced by GRIZZLY BEAR's Chris Taylor. and mastered by CHRISTIAN VOGEL, an expirmental techno artist whose name I recognized from some of his remix work.

"Okay, maybe this guy's got something," I thought, and for the first time in a long time, I clicked the link in the email that would take me to one of his songs.

That song: "Pilguin Pop"

Goddamn, was I surprised. This didn't sound like some nutjob holed up in his apartment, jerking around and putting it all down on 4-track tape. This was real music: dreamy, somewhat trippy techno folk with layers of instruments, melody and nuance. I immediately wrote James back and asked if he could send me the whole album.

I've been listening to Colonies for a couple of weeks now, and am continually impressed with his music. I know it sucks that all new artists have to go through that phase of their careers where their work gets compared to other people's work, but it's an inevitability. No one has to say "Sonic Youth sounds like . . ." because they're fucking Sonic Youth. So, if I have to do the shitty "Sounds like. . . " thing, I'd have to say Canon Blue sounds like what would have happened if Jeff Buckley had decided not to go swimming in the Wolf River that fateful night and instead decided to make a record that sounded like a mixture of Bjork and the Folk Implosion.

There are some really oustanding tracks on the record, which comes out in about a month on Rumraket records. I highly rec seeking out "Mother Tongue," as it's my favorite on the album, but I'm not going to post it tonight (partly at James' request, and partly to entice you to go seek out Colonies for yourself). I'm closing instead with another beauty:

"Rum Diary"

For more on CANON BLUE:

- Here's a link to CB/Daniel James' MySpace profile, with several more songs streaming from the new album.

LEE HAZLEWOOD R.I.P.

2007-08-06T22:45:00.000-05:00

"Some Velvet Morning"
"Sand"
"Been Down So Long"
"Summer Wine"
"She Comes Running"
"Won't You Tell Your Dreams"
"Trouble is a Lonesome Town"

NANCY SINATRA lip-synching "These Boots. . .":

PRIMAL SCREAM's cover of "Some Velvet Morning":

"See it all. See the world."

2007-07-21T14:07:00.000-05:00

"All I Could Do is Cry"
"Hey Henry" by ETTA JAMES:
My friend Bill sent me a request via email to see if I could fill in some of the gaps for songs he needed to DJ our friend Laura's wedding in a few weeks. The list included some really cool choices from Bob Dylan, Hank Williams (a hilarious choice, "You're Gonna Change (Or I'm Gonna Leave)"), Willie Nelson, Cat Power and more, and also included "At Last" by Etta James. Now, don't get me wrong: "At Last" is a fantastic song with a goosebump-inducing vocal performance from the legendary Ms. James. My problem with it is that EVERY WOMAN ON THE FACE OF THE EARTH HAS IT PLAYED AT HER WEDDING. I'm surprised there isn't just a section in all wedding programs saying, "The playing of "At Last" will be at 11:00." As I said in my email to Bill: "I just want every female to know that "At Last" is like the fucking "Stairway to Heaven" of songs for women. Remember in "Wayne's World," how there's a sign in the guitar shop that says "NO STAIRWAY!" There should be a sign like that at weddings for "At Last." "At Last" is like "Star Wars" for a woman. They have "At Last" action figures and shit."

Anyway, "All I Could Do is Cry" is something like the anti-"At Last." Like the Doug Sahm track I posted the other day, it's the perfect soundtrack for that terrible moment at a wedding when you realize this person you liked is going home with somebody else. . . forever. Next time I watch someone I had a crush on get married, I'll have this song blaring in my head to block out the sounds of "At Last" coming from the dance floor. Really though, if you want to get those asses shaking at your wedding party, try "Hey Henry" instead.

"Maybe Sparrow" by NEKO CASE:
From Neko Case's unbelievable Fox Confessor Brings the Flood comes this haunting, impeccably produced heartbreaker. Case's vocals here are so chilling and note-perfect they will freeze the blood in your veins.

Here's Neko performing the song on Letterman:

"The Beginning of the End" by BILL RICCHINI:
I met Bill Ricchini on the night of his debut CD release party at the North Star Bar in Philadelphia many years ago. I was with a friend who had gone to high school with him, so it was kind of cute to watch her getting all excited and proud about her old school buddy. Of course, Ricchini has since proven himself as a top rate songwriter and arranger, especially with 2005's Tonight I Burn Brightly, which sees Ricchini shining like a young Randy Newman or Harry Nilsson. The Sam Prekop-esque "The Beginning of the End" is from Ricchini's debut, Ordinary Time. I highly recommend both albums, which you can sample and buy here.

"Police On My Back" by THE EQUALS:
The Equals were a multi-racial Merseybeat group formed by a teenaged Eddy Grant (you might know him as the singer of 80s electro/reggae "Electric Avenue"), known for their interesting twist of mixing ska and other island rhythms (Grant was originally born in British Guyana) into their Britpop. It wasn't until recently I'd heard this track, which I'd first heard performed by The Clash. For three days after it popped up on my iPod, it was all I listened to on my 10 minute drive to and from work.

"Hello Sunshine"
"Hello Sunshine (Weevil Mix)" by SUPER FURRY ANIMALS:
Back when I lived in Chicago, I used to love cueing this song up as I got off the subway downtown. It was either this or "The Cedar Room" by Doves, but both songs gave me that same great feeling that I was stepping into something epic, full of the good and bad in humanity, along with that odd sense of crowded isolation that you can only get being in a huge city, bouncing off of thousands of people while feeling connected to almost none of them. With either song, it felt like you were breathing new air. I wasn't sure if I had posted "Hello Sunshine" before, so tonight I'm also including a cool remix from the Phantom Phorce remix album.

"Breath" (live in Italy) by PEARL JAM:
A liquor store run with a few tipsy friends who wanted to hear the Pearl Jam songs from the Singles soundtrack inspired my inclusion of this live track. Even the Italian crowd understands how rarely played this song is in the long legacy of Pearl Jam setlists.

image by Jiri Bohdal

"You say it's the real thing this time. . ."

2007-07-16T21:15:00.000-05:00

From "Alight Trio" by Betsy Popp

"Listen, Listen" by THE MERRY-GO-ROUND:
Thanks to an anonymous response to my previous post on Emitt Rhodes, I now have a few extra Rhodes song in my digital collection, including a handful of songs from Rhodes pre-solo career band, The Merry-Go-Round. "Listen, Listen" is one of those new (to me) songs, and it's a rocking nugget of California pop via filtered through the Beatles (Rhodes never denied his love for the Beatles in interviews).

"I Am Not Willing" by MOBY GRAPE
"Little Hands" by ALEXANDER "SKIP" SPENCE
"I Am Not Willing" by WILCO:
Alexander "Skip" Spence was the original drummer for Jefferson Airplane and one of the founding members and guitarists in Moby Grape. Spence DOES NOT, however, play on the first song in this trio of tunes, "I Am Not Willing." The reason Spence was not in the band by the time they recorded "I Am Not Willing?" Skip, during the sessions for Grape's second album Wow, smashed through one of his bandmate's hotel doors while freaking out on acid. Spence was committed to New York's Bellevue Hospital, the beginning of a long and tragic life ruined by mental illness. The story goes that Spence, upon being released from Bellevue, drove a motorcycle (wearing only his pajamas) to Nashville and recorded the insane and brilliant Oar. "Little Hands" is the first, and probably least weird, song on that record. Spence died from lung cander in 1999, after years of mental and physical illness.

Wilco's cover of "I Am Not Willing" appeared as a b-side on "Box Full of Letters," their 1995 debut single.

"The Mental Traveler" by DAVID AXELROD:
I've written about Axelrod previously, so I'll spare you the explanation this time around. This comes from the soundtrack to Guy Ritchie's "Revolver," a 1995 film I didn't even know existed, and I was a big fan of Lock, Stock and Snatch! That Madonna movie he made, however, is an irredeemable turd.

"Re-Arrange"
"Linus & Lucy" by BUILT TO SPILL:
Built to Spill just announced the somewhat random release of two new songs to online retailers (the tracks are also to be released as a 12" vinyl single), "They Got Away" and a cover of the Gladiators "Re-Arrange." While the former sees the band in a spacey reggae mode, their cover of "Re-Arrange" turns the reggae song into a Built to Spill song, so much so that if you weren't aware it was a cover, you'd swear it was their own. The Gladiators recorded one of my favorite reggae songs of all time, "Soul Rebel." I'll save that one for another day. I will, however, include Built to Spill's live cover of one of the most classic themes from the animated Charlie Brown features, "Linus & Lucy." I've posted this one before, right?

"I'm Glad for Your Sake (But I'm Sorry for Mine)" by DOUG SAHM AND THE SIR DOUGLAS QUINTET:
Ever have one of those moments where you realize you're standing as an observer at the wedding of a woman/man you were once in love with? Where you can't pay attention to the ceremony because you're about to explode inside? Where you watch that man/woman dance with one of the cute young nephews of the groom, and you can't bear to watch so you walk away as you think, "That should have been MY nephew she was dancing with? That was supposed to be MY dad giving the tipsy, embarassing-but-funny toast."

Maybe it was just me. Anyway, if you ever find yourself in that situation (here's a word of advice: get a pack of ciggs, and plan on spending most of the wedding choking down that smoke), I challenge you not to conjure in your mind Doug Sahm's brutally on-the-nose "I'm Glad for Your Sake (But I'm Sorry for Mine)." Also, pray for an open bar.

"M62 Song" (Four Tet Remix) by DOVES/FOUR TET:
Radically different from the original. Gotta respect that.

"Be thankful every day for everything, and pray. . ."

2007-07-14T21:50:00.000-05:00

"Seven Curses" by BOB DYLAN:
One of the darkest, most powerful Dylan songs I've ever discovered was included in the 3 CD box set The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3, the same release from which I previously cribbed "I'll Keep it With Mine." "Seven Curses" tells the story of a man named Old Reilly who goes to jail for stealing a horse and is sentenced to hang. Reilly's daughter hears news of her father and comes bearing riches to free him, but the judge gives her only one option: you must sleep with me to free your dad. The way Dylan describes the tragedy of the pay-off of the judge's sexual bribe without actually describing the act itself is chilling: "The gallows shadows shook the evening / In the night, a hound dog bayed / In the night, the grounds was groanin' / In the night the price was paid." I won't spoil the ending, but suffice to say that "Seven Curses" is as old-school-Country and cold blooded as it gets.

"Sea Ghost" by THE UNICORNS:
Always a mix-tape favorite.

"Dancing Girls and Dancing Men" (live)
"Dancing Girls and Dancing Men" by ROBERT POLLARD:
The sad reality that Guided by Voices are no more shouldn't have an effect on recognizing the continuing greatness of frontman Robert Pollard. I've recently been loving the live version of "Dancing Girls and Dancing Men" (I'm also including the album version, from Pollard's From a Compound Eye double LP). I thought I'd read somewhere that Pollard was releasing a double CD "Best of" from his Fading Captain series of albums, EPs and ephemera. Since I've fallen behind on trying to keep up with the prolific Pollard, this will be a nice way of trimming down his expansive catalogue to the most listenable bits.

"Problem Child" by THE DAMNED:
Every six months, I have a new favorite Damned song. This one just recently beat out the old favorite, "New Rose."

"Teen Age Riot" by DAVID KITT
"Teen Age Riot"
"Teen Age Riot" (live, 2003)
"Theresa's Sound World" by SONIC YOUTH:
While Goo was the first Sonic Youth album I ever heard, Daydream Nation was the first Sonic Youth album I ever owned. For no other reason than that the record store was out of stock in the former, so I went with the remaining album I thought had the best cover art and song titles. "Eric's Trip," "Total Trash," and the best one of all, "Teen Age Riot." Since I was 14 years old, just back from a YMCA summer camp where I'd discovered Goo, my CD buying dollar meant a lot to me. It took a long time, and probably a couple of miserable Omaha summer lawn mowings, to save that kind of money. I remember my thoughts at the exact moment on this song, the album opener, when that fast guitar finally kicks in at 1:22: "Worth the money."

David Kitt, a singer/songwriter guy who dabbles in a bit of electronica, brilliantly extracts the melody of this song and shows any doubters the clever pop sensibilities hidden in some of Sonic Youth's more structured songs. I apologize for the static-y bits that pop up toward this song's end. If you find it really frustrating, I suggest actually seeking out and buying the track or album from a store near you.

As for "Theresa's Sound World," I guess the only reason I'm including it in tonight's playlist is that it kicks fucking ass.

"Kerze" by Gerhard Richter

"One day, I am going to grow wings. . ."

2007-07-12T21:38:00.000-05:00

I'm trying a new thing, a new type of "format" if you will, for Pimps: more songs, more often.

I'm still going try and keep writing longer, more comprehensive posts about some of my favorite bands whenever I have the chance, but lately I've found I just don't have the time for the research and contemplation. The only real minus to my new plan is that sometimes I may post a few songs that aren't tangentially related in the least bit. So, if you don't mind a little Fugazi or J-Live slipping in with your Wilco or Wings, this should all go smoothly for you.

On with the music:

"Lullabye"
"Really Wanted You" by EMITT RHODES:
For those of you who may have stopped by the blog a few days ago and weren't sure whether you wanted to take the time and bandwidth to download either of those out-of-print Emitt Rhodes albums, here's a taste of one of my favorite songs from each album. Wes Anderson fans will recognize the short but beautiful "Lullabye." Listen to this song on headphones and you'll discover one of the coolest things about its production: Rhodes' voice, like a lullabye, rocks you back and forth by traveling from your left ear and slowly back and forth from your right. I only recently discovered Mirror and the song "Really Wanted You," but the composition has become my new favorite Rhodes song. Sometimes I listen to it on repeat, marveling at the arrangement and all of the different instrumentation Rhodes crammed into this pop gem. Just picture this guy, just out of his teen years, coming up with the harmonies. . . the layered guitar parts. . . even the drums, in a shed behind his parents' house.

"Let Down" by RADIOHEAD
"Let Down" by DAVID BAZAN'S BLACK CLOUD
"Bands With Managers" (live) by DAVID BAZAN:
This month marks the 10th anniversary of the release of Radiohead's OK Computer, in my mind (though I'm not alone in thinking it) one of the greatest rock albums ever recorded.

This dark bummer of a record couldn't have found me in a worse place back in 1997. A lot of bad things had happened to me as I stayed the summer in Columbia, Missouri, prior to my final year in college, but nothing worse than the severing of an incredibly important friendship. Of course, that friend had also been bearing the burden of the knowledge that I was madly in love with her, so things had been a bit uncomfortable for a good while.

Not many people had stayed behind that summer, so without my friend, I was pretty much left to my own devices. I spent my days writing for a depressed and alcoholic editor at the city paper, and my nights working at a record store or driving/wandering around listening to music that made it feel okay to feel completely awful. OK Computer, and more specifically "Let Down," was part of that soundtrack. "Let Down" is one of the saddest (to the point of transcendence) songs about loneliness and disconnection, and in my situation, it hit me like a ton of bricks. That summer, "let down and hanging around" became a mantra.

Recently, Stereogum.com released a free tribute to OK Computer, featuring covers from acts like The Twilight Sad, Cold War Kids, and tonight's contributor, David Bazan (Pedro the Lion, Headphones). Bazan has been covering "Let Down" for a while now, at both solo and Pedro the Lion concerts, so it's nice to finally have a studio recording. In his liner notes to the Steregum track, he pretty much nails my feelings on the song:

""Let Down" is the first song from OK Computer that really got me. I was more skeptical then and I remember trying to resist the record that all my buddies were freaking out about, but then the first depressed/hopeful (now classic) guitar line of this song cascaded out of the speakers and caught me off guard. I was instantly moved. By the end of the second verse I was choking back tears, undone. Days later it dawned on me that it was possibly the saddest and most beautiful single the radio would ever play. I still marvel at its sturdy construction and simple, sketch-like beauty."

"How it Feels to be Something On" by JEREMY ENIGK:
Since we're already getting a little heavy, I might as well throw in this crushing live-in-studio performance from Sunny Day Real Estate's Jeremy Enigk. I once chickened out and declined an opportunity to interview Enigk. Some dudes are just so intense that I don't want to find out that they might be regular guys. I prefer imagining this song being hammered out by some mad scientist, his scrubs literally soaked in blood, as he howls this song at the moon. Maybe it's just me.

"I'll Keep it With Mine" by NICO
"I'll Keep it With Mine" by BOB DYLAN:
And since we're kind of on a sad song tear at the moment, here's a little Nico by way of Bob Dylan. I'm not even so sure this is a sad song (the Dylan version featured here is a rehearsal take, and I don't believe an actual album version appears anywhere in his catalogue), but everything coming out of Nico's mouth is pretty depressing. You can find proof right there on Chelsea Girl, the album where this song comes from, with her rendition of Jackson Browne's "These Days." That song is so incredibly sad that it almost cost me my life, but that's another story for another day.

"Self-Torture"
"Scythian Empire"
"Scythian Empire" (Fingerlings version) by ANDREW BIRD:
I've written plenty about Andrew Bird at this point, so I'm not going to bore you with the rehashed details. I just wanted to take a moment to make sure I spoke up about the greatness of Bird's latest album, Armchair Apocrypha. Sometimes when you write a blog and you've already written about an artist, you forget that the time might come when you need to speak out about them again. "Scythian Empire" was one of the songs that I glossed over the first few times I listened to the record. A dark walk to work one morning opened my eyes to its genius, and now I'm presenting it to you in both its album form and an earlier version from Bird's Fingerlings series of tour-only CDs. "Self-Torture" is a brilliant track that appeared soley on eMusic, but may have been used as a b-side at this point.

"Baby Brother"
"Hand Springs" by THE WHITE STRIPES:
I'm closing out tonight with a few more rarities, this time from The White Stripes, whose recently released Icky Thump has been taking residency in my headphones. "Baby Brother" is a new b-side, while "Hand Springs" was released in 2000 as a split 7" record with the Dirtbombs in copies of a magazine called Multiball. I can only assume the magazine is geared toward pinball geeks?

Emitt Rhodes: Back in Print (for now, at least)

2007-07-08T00:35:00.000-05:00

Photo by Max S. Gerber

As a casual record collector in an Ebay world, out of print albums/CDs can be a great thing. Years ago, when the ad agency I worked for (and the corporation that ran us) chopped the heads off of 90% of their staff, my record collection was the thing that not only saved my ass, but also funded my move to a new city. To this day, if I'm ever shopping for music and find a copy of stuff like Sam Cooke's A Man and His Music or the Satan Oscillate My Metallic Sonatas EP by Soundgarden, I buy them immediately and head right to Ebay.

As a music fan, however, nothing bums me out more than an out of print record. It always makes me think of the scene in the excellent DJ documentary Scratch where DJ Shadow is holed up in a record store basement, surrounded by tens of thousands of obscure vinyl albums, looking for beats. There's this almost melancholic moment where he talks about how all these records represent the broken dreams of the people who made them. It was a thought that hadn't really struck me before: these people got to make a record, and put their talent and their dreams down on vinyl, and even THEN, in most cases, all of that work still lead to nothing.

The best those artists could ever hope for, decades after their dreams have faded, collected dust and wound up in a basement, is for someone who cares enough to resurrect those sounds from the dead. Maybe it's a DJ looking for a beat, or maybe it's some complete music nut who runs his own little label. Maybe that little geek finds something that he loves so much, that he goes through the trouble of contacting the people involved with making it, from the producer to the artist or even the people at the record label, to lovingly reissue the thing.

Well, if I had the money, the resources and the time to get it all done, I'd be championing the cause of EMITT RHODES. I've written about Rhodes once before, years ago when I began this blog under a different name. Still, I can't stop championing the guy.

Rhodes, who had previously been in a 60s pop rock band called The Merry-Go-Round, was a 70s solo songwriter of the highest calibre, a feat made all the more impressive by the fact that he was just turning 20 when he recorded his first album. Imagine a young Paul McCartney without all of the baggage that came with trying to top his work in the Beatles. Rhodes was incredibly talented, playing the bulk of the instruments on his solo recordings. By 1970, he had completed his self-titled solo album, a virtually flawless collection of songs (including the dark, heartbreaking "Lullabye," which would finally find a few new fans when added to the soundtrack to The Royal Tenenbaums).

During this time, Rhodes made the ill-advised move of signing a contract with ABC/Dunhill that ensured he would release two albums a year. This contract would be his downfall. When recording for Rhodes second album, Mirror began to take longer than expected, the label sued. By the time he'd reached age 24, Rhodes was burned out and pulled the plug on his own career. In the years that have followed, the story of Rhodes has just gotten sadder and sadder. A reclusive diabetic, Rhodes can barely muster the courage these days to even finish a song (acording to one article I read, it had been 15 years since he did).

A tragedy and a fucking shame, if you ask me. Rhodes has spent decades shacked up in his old neighborhood, recording songs that no one might ever hear. That breaks my heart, and I don't mean that lightly. I have literally shed tears over the plight of Emitt Rhodes. When I hear Jeff Tweedy sing, on Wilco's "The Late Greats," "The best songs will never get sung / The best life never leaves your lungs," I think of Emitt Rhodes, and the pile of tapes that he probably has stored in a closet somewhere, potentially full of some of the greatest pop songs we'll never get to hear.

Sometimes I wonder if it wasn't such a good thing for me to have found Emitt Rhodes' Emitt Rhodes in the stacks of that record store so many years ago. Or maybe I just wish the record hadn't been so damned good. . . one of those albums where there's a good song or two, but you rarely pull it out of your collection. Then maybe I wouldn't care so much about what happened to the guy whose face graced its cover. I wouldn't think about the raw deal he got, and I wouldn't wonder what the man could have done with a different record deal, a different label.

Normally I'm not a fan of posting entire albums on a blog. But when you go to Half.com or Ebay and see Emitt Rhodes CDs going for $50 to $100, and you know he's never going to see a dime of that moeny, it just doesn't seem right.

Tonight, I'm proposing a sort of deal. I know it's pretty futile to think this will even work, but I'm hoping there might be a handful of you readers who understand this gesture:

I'm posting Emitt Rhodes' first two albums in their entirety, as .rar files. (If readers prefer files in a .zip format, please contact me or leave a message in the Comments section.) Download these albums and spend a little time with them. If you love either one of them half as much as I do, or even if you find a few new favorites among the tracks I'm providing, maybe you might consider sending a check (or some well-concealed cash) to:

Rhodes, Emitt
4636 W 132nd St
Hawthorne, CA 90250-5115

Nothing crazy. If you only like a few songs, maybe send him .99 per track, a la iTunes. If you love the albums, maybe $5 or $10 wouldn't be too much to ask. Personally, I'm working on writing Rhodes a letter of thanks.

If you like the music, guide your friends here. If you write a music blog, send your readers over. Hurry, because I don't know how long I'll be able to keep the files up.

I know, I know. I must be insane to think that people on the Internet would pay for music. Right?

EMITT RHODES (S/T)

MIRROR

And hey, if you happen to run one of those cool little indie labels that takes great joy and pride in re-releasing great, forgotten music, maybe you can give old Emitt a call? I bet there's some real gold to be found in all of those unreleased demos.

MORE

- Here's a little scene of DJ Shadow from the aforementioned Scratch:

- A 2001 article on Rhodes from Perfect Sound Forever.
- A pretty incredible, very enlightening L.A. City Beat article on Rhodes today. If the ending of that story doesn't make you want to send a check, or at the very least, a letter of encouragement to Rhodes, you, sir, are an animal.

(break)

2007-05-16T20:37:00.000-05:00

With my 2-week vacation to the east coast a mere 12 hours away, I'm beginning to realize the logistics of dragging my external hard drive out with me are a little bit on the impossible side. Because of that, I have decided to turn this whole Instru'Mental thing into an ongoing series. Besides, how could I devote a mere handful of posts to my favorite instrumental tracks?

I'm almost positive I'll still be able to throw up a post or two while I'm away, so keep checking back. If you haven't already learned it, if you check my site more than once a week, you're just setting yourself up for disappointment.

Tonight, I'm dishing out a mix CD I recently made for a few friends of mine. We just began trying out this idea of "sending" each other mixes (possibly monthly, but I have already set a lateness precedent with this mix that I'm sure the others will follow in the future), so this is volume 2 in the series.

I hadn't originally intended this for public consumption. There are several songs on this mix I found through other blogs over the past half year, so believe me when I say I'm not trying to take credit for unearthing this stuff.

I'm sure you'll sort through the tracks and collect them as you will, but I definitely suggest putting this all onto one mix CD and enjoying it that way if you have the inclination. It's just over 79 minutes, so I crammed as much music as possible onto this thing.

If you live out on the east coast, keep your eyes peeled for me in the next 12 days. And if anyone out there has any connections with the TastyKake organization, please let them know I'll pay top dollar for a few crates to maybe accidentally fall of the back of a truck and wind up in my trunk.

Anyway, enjoy:

I Had An Uncle, But He Got Shot
by DYLAN GAUGHAN

1. "This May be the Last Time" by THE STAPLE SINGERS: Anybody heard that new Mavis Staples album? I got a song or two off of eMusic, but ran out of downloads and can't get the rest for 2 weeks. Man, do I love the Staples.

2. "Intimate Secretary (BBC)" by THE RACONTEURS: I was sitting in the car with a friend, listening to this song, when he started to complain dramatically about how much he didn't like it. Right before the fuzz pedal kicks in and this song explodes, I told him, "Jack White is about to make a fool out of you."

3. "Hold Tight" by DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK & TICH: There was one truly wonderful thing to come out of the very disappointing box office performance of Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse double feature -- the fact that I can finally put a great song from a Tarantino movie on a mix and I don't look like a complete douche because no one saw the movie! This track comes at a pivotal shocking moment in Tarantino's Death Proof. The second it kicked in (you'll know when it's coming because the film's most annoying character, basically Quentin's ego dressed up as a black woman, gives you a full biography of the band), I realized that Tarantino had scooped me once again.

4. "Funky Dollar Bill" by FUNKADELIC: One of the harshest, angriest and funkiest songs I've ever heard. This would be a completely different song if they'd gone with different guitar tones or amp settings. For some reason, this right here is just how the song has to sound.

5. "Get Out of My Life, Woman" by Q'65: These guys were like the Dutch version of the Animals in the mid to late '60s. Their recorded stuff is incredible (especially Revolution their debut record), and chock full of great covers, like this take on an Allen Toussaint song made most famous (?) by Lee Dorsey. I think I owe Diddy Wah for giving me the gift of Q'65.

6. "McFearless" by KINGS OF LEON: Roll your car windows down and crank this up. Holy shit. I hope this new record will finally silence the doubters out there. Thus far, it's definitely one of the best albums of 2007.

7. "My Mind Set Me Free Pt. 1" by HOUSE GUESTS

8. "Cavern" by LIQUID, LIQUID: If you hear this and you're thinking, "These guys totally ripped off Grandmaster Flash," you've got it in reverse. Liquid Liquid were an early 1980s experimental rock band that could probably best be compared to a band like !!! today. This song proves that the origins of hip hop, especially in New York, were indelibly linked to some of the stranger post-punk and funk music being put out at the same time. It's almost visionary for someone like Grandmaster Flash to hear this song and think, "That shit is my new single." Next thing you know, "White Lines" is born. If anyone finds a copy of their very rare self-titled CD, a compilation of the group's singles between 81 and 83 released by the Beastie Boys' now defunct Grand Royal label, snatch it up.

9. "Standing Room Only" by ASAMOV (Featuring J-LIVE, WORDSWORTH, & CASSIDY): In tribute to Liquid Liquid, I couldn't help but segue from "Cavern" to a couple of new favorite hip-hop tracks. I've written about J-Live before, and I'll write about him again, because next to maybe Rakim, Chuck D, the boys in De La Soul and a couple of other rappers, J is an incredible lyricist on par with pretty much no one else. Of course, having Wordsworth and Cassidy along for the ride doesn't hurt this track one bit.

10. "Life's a Bitch (DJ Delay Remix)" by NAS: This song came on my iPod the other day and I was reminded of how great this remix is at evoking that dark early '90s, Cypress Hill/-era hip hop.

11. "Brothers and Sisters (Get Together)" by KIM WESTON: I don't quite understand the use of the fade-in here. After much consideration, I do like that it gives you the sensation that this band has been cooking this insane groove for an hour and you've just stepped into the club as Kim Weston (most famous for her many duets with Marvin Gaye) explodes in a fit of rage.

12. "I Can't Wait Until I See My Baby's Face" by DUSTY SPRINGFIELD: God, this is just about the sexiest thing in the world. I don't think I've ever heard a flute sound so fetching as in the intro to this song.

13. "Another Sugar Daddy" by BO DIDDLEY: My friend Mike started our mixer group off and included a Bo Diddley song that pretty much classed up the songs preceeding and following it on the playlist. I had to return the favor with another great Diddley track.

14. "Cupid" by OTIS REDDING: In the realm of pop music, there isn't much that can touch the work of Sam Cooke, especially on his version of "Cupid," which I think is one of the man's greatest vocal performances. I can think of only one other person who should even give the song a try, and that person is Otis Redding.

15. "Love Letters" by KETTY LESTER: It's hard to get people to ignore the use of this song in David Lynch's Blue Velvet. Obviously, I have no problem with Lynch's use of it, since it works so amazingly in the movie. But man, this song is a crusher, with or without the creepy discovery of a dead body in Dennis Hopper's apartment.

16. "She Never Met a Man (She Didn't Like)" by DOLLY PARTON: I was in love with Dolly when I was a kid, and I'm almost positive it had nothing to do with the boobs and everything to do with her hilarious, intelligent and downhome-girl attitude. If I weren't leaving for Philadelphia tomorrow, I would definitely be catching the midnight showing of 9 to 5 at the Dundee Theater in Omaha. My mother took me to that flick when I was just shy of 4 years old, and I remember certain moments (like Dabney Coleman hanging from the ceiling) that had me in hysterics. I can only imagine my mother's happiness at seeing that it was going to be no problem taking her third and final child to 'R' rated movies without scarring me for life. Anyway, Dolly can sing, too.

17. "Pink Frost" by THE CHILLS: I know I've posted this creepy bit of 80s genius here before. I love the almost nosebleed inducing drop from the peppy opening chords to the dead serious tone change of the verse. For some reason, I always think this song was in Silence of the Lambs

18. "I Read You Like An Open Book" by THE TAGES: After a couple of Google searches, I'm blown away to discover I haven't posted this song before.

19. "Peaches" by THE STRANGLERS: One of the darkest, most creepy summer jams ever. Used brilliantly in the equally brilliant crime film Sexy Beast.

20. "Cartrouble" by ADAM & THE ANTS: If I don't see a stateside release of Adam Ant's 1979 masterpiece Dirk Wears White Socks in the near future, I swear I'm putting the whole thing (with bonus tracks) up on this site. Maybe I'm reading it wrong, but it looks like Sony intended for there to be a U.S. release (their UK and Japanese arms put out a reissue). Anyone know anything about it? Anyway, it's a fantastic, sloppy punk record that features the original Ants, who would soon be pulled out from under Adam and used as the backing band for Bow-Wow-Wow. This is the single version of "Cartrouble," re-recorded in 1980 with Ant's new backing band, along with The Damned's John Moss on drums.

21. "Ain't it Strange" by DR. DOG: People constantly compare Dr. Dog to a garage version of the Beatles. This song ain't gonna help put that comparison to rest, although there's a very Queen-esque guitar moment in here as well.

22. "Take the Skinheads Bowling" by CAMPER VAN BEETHOVEN: I swear I remember "Everybody's coming home for lunch these days!" being a short-lived advertising motto for some sort of food, like Oscar Mayer bologna. Again, a Google search proves pretty fruitless if you're looking for anything besides a reference to the very same song lyric. Anybody?

23. "Run For Me" by RICHARD HAWLEY: This is one of my new favorites. Ex-Pulp and Longpigs member Hawley has had a run of absolutely mesmerizing solo records. "Run For Me" is the album opener for 2003's Lowedges, and it sounds like Mark Lanegan leading an orchestra. Actually, there's even a similar sounding Screaming Trees song called "Look at You" that has always been one of my favorite Lanegan tracks.

24. "Sleeping Lessons (The RAC Mix)" by THE SHINS: I would probably love this Postal Service-y remix of one of the best songs from The Shins' Wincing the Night Away a lot more if the original weren't so goddamned brilliant in the first place. Regardless, it's still a nice way to hear a favorite song, and a quiet, calming way to end this long and chaotic mix.

MAY: It's True 'Mental!

2007-05-12T18:38:00.000-05:00

It's May, and the all-instrumental extravaganza continues. . .

"Return of the Birdland" by LINK WRAY
I would be remiss if I did a series of posts on great instrumentals and failed to mention Link Wray. More important to the electric guitar and perhaps rock itself than Jimi Hendrix, Wray has not yet been inducted in the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame. What the fuck?!

"Bongolia" by MICHAEL VINER'S INCREDIBLE BONGO BAND
The Incredible Bongo Band were most well known for their hit (and oft-sampled) version of The Shadows' oft-covered "Apache." I'm fairly certain my introduction to this song came from one of my favorite sites, Diddy Wah.

"Getting Nasty" by IKE TURNER & THE KINGS OF RHYTHM
In 1951, Ike Turner dropped his amp on the way to record "Rocket 88" with his Kings of Rhythm. The guitar distortion that resulted in his now faulty amp became the first of its kind laid to record, and rock was born. Ike put out some remarkable music in his career (he even appears on the last Gorillaz record), but it has always been overshadowed by his stormy relationship with -- and abuse of -- Tina Turner. It's a damn shame Ike couldn't have controlled himself a little better, because he is truly a legend otherwise. (CORRECTION: See Mark's comments below for further illumination of the subject.)

"Yesternow" by MILES DAVIS
While it's not much of a stretch to say that Miles Davis recorded a few instrumentals in his day, I'm including this particular track (side B of Davis's remarkable A Tribute to Jack Johnson album) because I think it's one of his most interesting and innovative pieces. Clocking in at over 25 minutes, this one is going to require your full attention, and maybe a few glasses of wine.

"Brendan #1"by FUGAZI
I posted about this song over two years ago. Here's what I had to say: "Brendan #1" is an instrumental from (Fugazi's) second album, REPEATER. This is one of the greatest rock records of all time, and if you don't own it, I cannot stress to you more how much you need to get out and buy this thing immediately. I picked it up as a Freshman in high school and it changed my life and my musical habits forever.

"Everglade" by TORTOISE
I could listen to this song, from Tortoise's 1998 album TNT, on a loop for hours. If you're ever in the Philadelphia area and find yourself at brunch at the Standard Tap, wander over to the jukebox and add this to the Sunday morning playlist. It's pretty much the perfect place on earth to hear this song.

"Rhubarb" by APHEX TWIN
Speaking of listening to something on a loop. . .

"Bittersweet Symphony" by THE VERVE
That I got to play the instrumental version of this Verve hit, along with The Zombies "This Will be Our Year," as the recessional music at my friend Andy's wedding will be a highlight of my life for years to come. Of course, having the bride's mother come up and demand Aerosmith & Run DMC's "Walk This Way" will be another highlight.

MORE
- Order Tortoise from their homempage.
- Ike don't need your help! But if you're bored, check out his site.
- Aphex Twin made the scariest video of all time
- Learn more about Link.
- Here's how The Verve got screwed and never made a dime off of one of the biggest singles of the past 30 years.
- Buy Fugazi from the label they created, Dischord.
- Here's a great review of the Miles Davis/Jack Johnson album.

MAY: 'Mental

2007-05-06T23:29:00.000-05:00

I'm going to be a little short on words this month. In two weeks I'll be off on a 10 day jaunt to the east coast to see friends and family. Of course, that means that right now, I'm working extra shifts and scrapping for overtime to pay for this jaunt to the east coast.

In honor of the self-imposed brevity needed to pull all of this off, I'm going to spend the month of May throwing up some of my favorite instrumental tracks. Of course, I couldn't possibly do that without writing a little blurb about each one, but I'm still going to try and make this as painless for you and me as possible.

Okay, lead singers, you can put your microphones down and take a nap on the couch for a while. This one's for the boys in the band:

"Thunderclap" by PEARL JAM
This unreleased instrumental was actually ripped from Pearl Jam's Touring Band 2000 DVD, which featured three behind-the-scenes montages backed by instrumental tracks. "Thunderclap" was always my favorite of the three. It took me forever to find the title of this song, so that is why the file name is simply "Instrumental." Besides, it's still a better title for a song than fucking "Thunderclap."

"Love, Love" by DJ SHADOW: Okay, there's some talking over the beginning of this one, and some tight-assed purists might argue that DJs aren't really musicians. As far as I'm concerned, if you put a sampler and a few turntables into the hands of DJ Shadow, they aren't just equipment -- they are instruments.

"Mark Price P.I." by ARCHERS OF LOAF
Now the Archers of Loaf have got it: if you don't have a name for your surf rock/spy song, just come up with something goofy, possibly including your drummer's name in the process. Not fucking "Thunderclap." Come on.

"Guess I'm Falling in Love"
"Ride Into the Sun"by THE VELVET UNDERGROUND
Both of these come from the 1986 album of rarities and outtakes called Another View. Both are pretty much polar opposites and both are completely awesome.

"Another Routine Day Breaks" by BROKEBACK
Back when I was in college and got my first record player, I bought the 7" single for this song based on the packaging alone, It was a clear vinyl record in an somewhat intricately cut cardboard sleeve, featuring what looked like a hand-screened picture of an orange tree. I didn't know then that Brokeback was a side project of Tortoise bassist Doug McCombs. I was completely mesmerized by the song but could never find it on CD or .mp3 until I stumbled upon the album version of it (from the 1999 record Field Recordings from the Cook County Water Table) on eMusic this year. If I'm not mistaken, the version I had on the 7" didn't feature the dreamy middle section where the beat drops out for about 30 seconds. I actually miss the repetitive crackle (probably a flaw in the pressing) that comes with my 7" copy of this song. It almost seems like it belongs there.

"Sleepwalk" by SANTO & JOHNNY
If you put a gun to my head and forced me to make a definitive decision on the matter, I'd say Santo & Johnny's instrumental version of "Sleepwalk" is my absolute favorite instrumental performance. I remember hearing it in La Bamba and it having a profoundly saddening and yet calming effect on me, even at the age of 11. Right then and there, lap steel guitar became my favorite sound in the world. The song was written by the brothers Farina (with some help from mom) and became a #1 hit in 1959. You want a sad song? Take that, emo kids!

(Bonus Track: Here are the Farina brothers on a 1965 cover of The Beatles' "And I Love Her".)

MORE
- There's only one copy of Brokeback's Field Recordings left at Amazon.com! Or, join eMusic and get it for a couple of bucks.
- Pearl Jam are releasing a 7-disc live box set documenting their 2005 and 2006 shows at Washington's Gorge Ampitheater. Check it out.
- Johnny Farina is still makin' music.
- Here's a page full of Velvet Underground rarities, radio ads and more.
- There's always some dope shit to be heard at DJ Shadow's site.

Pimpcast v1.5: "We'll be the Next Omaha!"

2007-04-19T04:40:00.000-05:00

Where have I been?

I wish I had a good story. Unfortunately, I have no crazy tales from exotic locales to make up for my neglect of this site. My only excuse is that I've been finishing up my first semester of College Round 2. The past few weeks have been spent writing papers, taking quizzes, recording lectures and preparing for finals. In two days, it will all be over and I'll have a little more free time to pursue the idiotic pursuits that keep me happy.

For now, I'm uploading a podcast I had been working on that I have since shelved. It's a brief little thing, clocking in at just over 15 minutes, but it should be enough to tide you over for a few days.

Once again, there's no real rhyme or reason to the whole thing. . . just a bunch of songs catching my fancy. Like the last podcast, there's a little bit of cutting and pasting going on, so if you want the whole versions of some of these tracks, you're going to have to do some shopping. One or two tracks (like "Fire" or "Rave n' Rock") have appeared here before, but most of it consists of material I haven't posted on Pimps before.

For those keeping score at home, I don't consider this one my second proper podcast (hence the "1.5" distinction). Regardless, here it is:

PIMPS OF PODCAST, Vol 1.5: "We'll be the Next Omaha"

Track Listing:
1. -- snippet -- The Great Salt Lake (Band of Horses)
2. Imitosis (Andrew Bird)
3. Yadnus (!!!)
4. Rave n' Rock (Daddy Maxfield)
5. Lady of Fire (Sir Lord Baltimore)
6. Fire (The Crazy World of Arthur Brown)

Once again, play this one loud.

I'll be back soon, I swear.

MODEST Mix

2007-03-20T16:29:00.000-05:00

On Sunday night, I joined a friend of mine on a seat-of-our-pants road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to see a quietly promoted warm-up gig for Modest Mouse before the band kicked off its big spring tour in support of its fantastic new album, We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank.

According to Tickets.com, who were the online sellers for tickets to this show, no more seats were available when I checked on Thursday night. A few phone calls placed to area record stores told me that the website's claims were dubious. My friend and I, fueled by the freedom afforded him by the loss of his job that Friday, decided that, if nothing else, we were going to drive to South Dakota and enjoy a nice dinner before turning around and driving back.

Once we'd burned a few hundred miles of road and made our way to the Ramkota Exhibit Hall, I began to realize that our worries about finding tickets were for nothing. When we arrived 2 hours before show time, we not only managed to find a parking space 20 feet from the main doors, but only three teenagers were camping outside. Even after leaving Omaha 3 hours later than we'd originally planned, my friend and I had arrived way too early.

Still, the box office was not open. As showtime neared, there was a line of a few hundred people snaking around the outside, into the parking lot. While my friend and I argued about whether or not we should join the line, we soon found out that the line was for the poor bastards who already had tickets, but were experiencing a clusterfuck at the box office. My friend and I walked inside, bought our tickets, and were back out at the hotel bar within 3 minutes. The people who had prepared in advance would spend hours in that line, while dickheads like us who just showed up on a whim were let right inside.

Since I had entertained no thought of actually getting into the show, I was suddenly and excitedly realizing the dream of seeing the new Modest Mouse, featuring the additional gutiar skills of The Smiths' Johnny Marr.

I thought about how bizarre the situation had become. If you had told me a decade before that this dissonant, noisy indie band I loved called Modest Mouse would even have so much as a single mainstream radio hit, I would have told you to fuck off. Think about it. . . the same band that started by recording songs like "Dirty Fingernails" are now being featured on American Idol:

Come on, that's just ridiculous. Imagine what it must be like to be MM's Isaac Brock. One day you're fronting your little indie band, slowly selling more records and gathering an audience, and then one day THE GUITARIST FOR THE SMITHS IS IN YOUR BAND. I wouldn't even know what to do.

If you're Brock, you put him to good use, wailing away in your 6-piece band with two drummers and a multi-instrumentalist who looks like Hugh Laurie from "House." Marr fit right in, and it makes sense when you think about Modest Mouse's music, which is driven by the same strange angular riffs that Marr made famous in The Smiths. And really, who else can Brock thank for long song or album titles like Good News for People Who Love Bad News if not The Smiths?

The show was incredible, featuring a mix of mostly new (from the last 3 records) stuff and the occasional classic like "Trailer Trash" or "Doin' the Cockroach." The audience even got to see Brock's semi-psychotic side when limply tossed glass bottle hit the stage, leading the frontman to threaten more than once, "I WILL KILL YOU."

The set covered a lot of ground with a lot of varied instrumentation (the banjo and stand up bass even came out for "Bukowski"), but the band were at their peak when hitting the dance rock grooves with the disco basslines in songs like "Tiny Cities Made of Ashes." Brock's voice roared, the band was a cacophany of sound and the crowd began pogoing like a Justin Timberlake concert. When you can make the complacent indie rockers dance, you've really accomplished something. Even if your first band was The Smiths.

Tonight, a little mix CD of some of my favorite Modest Mouse songs. This was a bitch to assemble, since some of my favorite songs (hits like "Ocean Breathes Salty") had to hit the cutting room floor. Regardless, I think this is a fine introduction to one of my favorite bands. I encourage you to find all of their records, but for now:

1. Here it Comes
2. Never Ending Math Equation
3. Dashboard
4. Convenient Parking
5. Bukowski
6. Blame it On the Tetons
7. Cowboy Dan
8. Steam Engenius
9. Paper Thin Walls
10. Broke
11. Dramamine
12. Dark Center of the Universe
13. Tundra-Desert
14. Night on the Sun
15. Third Planet (live)

BONUS TRACKS
Cowboy Dan (Demo)
Cat Faces (from the Isaac Brock solo project/album, Ugly Cassanova)
South of Heaven (an acoustic Slayer cover by Modest Mouse and Califone)
Four Fingered Fisherman (live MM cover by Sun Kil Moon frontman Mark Kozelek)

MORE
- Order Modest Mouse CDs, LPs and more at Insound.com
- The band's homepage is right here, or apparently right here as well.

Pimpcast Volume 1

2007-03-13T09:37:00.000-05:00

Thanks to my roommate's generous birthday gift, I finally have the ram in my computer do really get nutty with all of the app's on my Mac. While I've owned my computer for a while, it was always frustrating trying to use a program like iMovie, or especially GarageBand, with very little memory. Programs would freeze, or running functions would become so time consuming that it would kill my patience with a project.

If you remember, the only podcast I've ever "published" on Pimps of Gore was the post-Katrina "Pimps of Protest" cast I collaborated on with my friend Matt (at the time, he ran a site called This is a Pocket Protest). He was the poor sucker who had to do all of the work, while I just picked out some songs for him to work around. Now, I can finally leave poor Matt alone and work on these things myself.

Tonight's podcast, entitled "Venus and Mars Are All Right Tonight," was inspired by a single note, played at the end of The Shins "Turn On Me." That note struck me as sounding exactly like the note that brings the guitar solo to an end in Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," and thus, a podcast was born.

I'm not making any promises here. Keep in mind that this is my first foray into my own podcasting, so things will run a little more smoothly from here on out. I kept this one on the short side (just under 30 minutes), largely because I made it for a couple of friends of mine whose commute runs about that length. I had not originally intended to share this with a mass audience, but I had a lot of fun with it and got to screw around with a few ideas that I thought worked okay.

Anyway, no more excuses:

PIMPS OF PODCAST, Vol 1: "Venus and Mars Are All Right Tonight"

Track Listing:
1. Venus and Mars/Rockshow (Wings)
2. Oh Sweetheart (The Shout Out Louds)
3. Steam Engenius (Modest Mouse)
4. Don't Fear the Reaper (Blue Oyster Cult)
5. -- snippet -- Drunkship of Lanterns (The Mars Volta)
6. -- snippet -- Welcome to Stop (31 Knots)
7. Hello Morning (Fugazi)
8. Toys in the Attic (R.E.M.)
9. Ron Klaus Wrecked His House (Big Dipper)
10. Turn On Me (The Shins)
11. Don't Fear the Reaper - outro

As always, this is designed to be played LOUD. Thanks for listening.

Tonight, in brief:

2007-03-12T00:18:00.000-05:00

I'm working out a few hosting issues that should be resolved in the next 24 hours. After that, I have a few big posts planned for the month of March, including some new Wilco stuff (as part of my continuing Tweedy 100 series), a tribute to Modest Mouse (whose new record absolutely SMOKES) some of my favorite instrumental tracks and more.

For right now, I'm just posting one link, to my first of many monthly music columns in this week's issue of PLAY, a Philadelphia based weekly entertainment rag for whom I just started writing.

Initially, it was pitched to me that my column would be the print equivalent of Pimps of Gore. Eventually, the editors decided that the name of my blog was a little too obscure and wanted a more accessible, generic title. I told them that I was sorry I couldn't come up with a generic title, and gave them one other option: the title of a Spinal Tap song, "Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight." Amazingly, they went with that as the name of my column!

My column pertains to the recent announcement by the Rock Hall of Fame and NARM (the National Association of Record Merchants, or some shit like that) of the "Definitive 200" list of albums they think everyone should own in their record collection. Along with the obvious choices, they went for a lot of multi-platinum sellers that I would call pretty fucking far from essential (Creed's Human Clay?! Essential?!). In my column, I recommend a handful of albums I think are just as essential but typically unsung by groups like NARM (why would this organization care if you bought a Fugazi album? They don't, and Fugazi are not on their list).

If you live in the Philly area and are able to find the print version, you'll also get to enjoy some hilarious graphic design features, including lightning bolts, heavy metal font and a picture of me dressed up as one of the dudes in Breakin. It's pretty impressive work on the magazine's part, and I'd love to give my kudos directly to the designer. If anyone is interested, I'd be happy to email you the .pdf of the article.

I will follow up on this post in the next day or two with actual music from all of the albums I mention in the column (including some random rarities or live tracks where available). Stay tuned for classic and rare stuff from the La's, Miles Davis, Neutral Milk Hotel, Fugazi, Funkadelic, Sam Cooke and Sleater-Kinney.

Most importantly: Thanks to all of you out there for reading.

A one hitter (with no hits)

2007-02-23T01:18:00.000-06:00

Just a super quick post tonight as I drudge through hour 10 of a night shift at the hospital. It's nights like this, where time seems to move slower and all you can hear are the occasional buzzes and bleeps of machinery, that I see the one mistake I may have made by heading into a career in nursing: NO MUSIC.

Between this station in my life and the previous one where I played advertising copywriter, I found jobs at record stores in Chicago and Omaha. While the retail environment is definitely not for my personality (I have a short fuse when it comes to stupidity, and retail is littered with it. . . hell, thrives on it), the greatest thing about working in both of those stores was that -- no matter how bad my day got -- I was still listening to something I loved (most of the time).

At the last record store where I worked, Drastic Plastic, you could pretty much play whatever you wanted. Obviously, playing the music sold in the store was ideal, and we usually did because our store was set up for music snobs. The store prior to that was not so user friendly. It was independently owned, yet corporate in nature and size, so the soul the place probably had one or two decades prior had been sucked out and replaced by the thumping, bloodless organ of commerce. The owners were more strict about the music played in the store.

Luckily for me, as one of the night managers, once the owners left in the middle of the day, out came all of the required music and in went dozens of mix CDs I made for the place. The employees, for the most part, brightened up, especially once they realized they didn't have to listen to bad modern Gospel and white boy blues for the rest of the night. A lot of the customers appreciated the change, too. I remember one guy walking in with his girlfriend, stopping dead in his tracks, and exclaiming, "Who the fuck listens to Versus here?!"

The other night I began assembling songs for a future post on some of my favorite instrumentals. As I compiled my list, I came across a song that brought back memories of working in that store. And it wasn't that I was sitting there thinking, "Oh man, what a great song. Everyone in the store must have loved this one." On the contrary.

Imagine you're Joe Average Music Buyer. You're wandering around in a daze at a store somewhat like Tower Records or, hell, even something as lame as Sam Goody. Maybe you're looking for the new Dave Matthews, or the new Kelis, or a copy of that new Tommy Lee Jones DVD (we sold a lot of Tommy, so I'm not pulling that one out of my ass).

And then you hear this:

NOW, WITH WORKING LINK:

"Moya" by GODSPEED YOU BLACK EMPEROR!

What would you do if you were in Joe Average Music Buyer's shoes? Don't get me wrong, the song is completely mindblowing and gorgeous. . . but it doesn't exactly make you want to spend your savings on that Incubus CD you've had your eyes on (nor should it). If you're Joe Average Music Buyer, you probably run for the hills from the onslaught of classical music colliding with bombastic orchestral indie/prog rock. You certainly don't peel off a 10 spot and buy the brilliant Slow Riot for New Zero Kanada EP that hosts this and one other equally mesmerizing track.

Of course, it's also great because Godspeed You Black Emperor! pretty much despise the music industry, so I'd bet the boys in the band would get a good laugh knowing that this song probably drove an entire megastore of customers mad as it slowly, over the course of almost 12 minutes, grew to that explosive crescendo.

Excerpts from CHICAGO: The (Not Gay) Musical!

2007-02-16T14:58:00.001-06:00

As I was enjoying the few hours of free time I have between quizzes and a long night of hospital work, I started listening to an old mix CD I'd made a few friends after moving to Chicago a few jumps back.

By moving to Chicago and abusing the resource of my friend Matt's pimped out Mac, I was finally able to break out the spindles of over 1,000 CDs I had burned over the prior 2 years as I sold off my CD collection disc by disc. Suddenly, I was able to pore over albums I hadn't heard in years, along with being presented with Matt's entire library. It was like someone had opened a store in my apartment and I got to play with everything. With an insanely cold winter to brave and no job to speak of, my free time was spent in front of Matt's stereo.

Before I'd left Philadelphia, I made my closest friends there a 6 CD mix, this massive box set thing full of some of my favorite tracks (a lot of which spoke to a theme of moving / leaving / getting the fuck out of Dodge). Not long after arriving in Chicago, I sent off a 4 CD follow up full of songs that had been my soundtrack as I'd wandered around the city, too broke to eat but never bored with my headphones on.

This afternoon, in no particular order, a few highlights from the 80+ songs on those 4 CDs:

"Lady Don't Tek No" by LATYRX: Finally. I've twice blogged about this song without actually posting it, so now I can finally be done. This is one of the greatest party songs of all time. Try it at your next suaree.

"There Was a Time (live)" by JAMES BROWN: I was tempted to post about The Godfather of Soul around the time of his passing, but I know so many other blogs out there would have handled it better. In my own little way, posting this track is my tribute to Mr. Brown, who brought this white boy more than I think I can really comprehend. If you're looking for one of the greatest live albums ever and you already own Brown's Live at the Apollo (either volume, really), check out Say It Live and Loud, which documents the mindblowing 1968 Dallas concert where tonight's song comes from. I swear I'm not burying you under hyperbole. It's so good that thinking about it right now just gave me goosebumps.

"Race Against Time" by PUBLIC ENEMY: This song was a highlight from a later period (and not very good) Public Enemy record, but it was always a hit between myself and a few close friends. Growing up, I was a huge Public Enemy fan, laregely because they pretty much legitimized hip-hop for anyone who doubted its sincerity, message or power. "Race Against Time" was, for me, their last Great song.

"Grown Men Don't Fall in the River, Just Like That" by LIARS: I had bought, burned and sold the Liars' They Threw Us All in a Trench and Stuck a Monument on Top before I ever heard a single note. It would be a year before it made its way into Matt's computer, and this song jumped right out of that little digital box and punched me in my soggy gut. A great tune for a subway ride, and the people around you who hear this coming out of your headphones will think you're absolutely insane.

"Trouble Everyday" by FRANK ZAPPA: I mentioned incendiary lyrics the other day when I was writing about the Dicks' "Dicks Hate the Police." This paranoid, angry pre-hip hop rant from Frank Zappa is the grandaddy of incendiary. "You know people, I'm not black but there's a whole lots of times I wish I could say I'm not white."

"Dissect" by the JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION: Orange was an album that pretty much carried me through college. I literally wore out my CD, and ownly had the vinyl version by the time I'd moved to Delaware. I finally got to relive its greatness as I darted through Chicago traffic, listening to Matt's digitized copy. It takes a special frontman to pull off yelling "FANTASTIC!" during one of your band's breakdowns, and Jon Spencer is that frontman.

"Lowest Part is Free!"
"Freezing Point" by ARCHERS OF LOAF: The Archers have got to be one of the most overlooked, greatest rock bands - indie or otherwise - to never have a real hit. "Lowest Part is Free!" pretty much speaks to frontman Eric Bachmann's realization that they will never be on the radio or playing stadiums. "Freezing Point" feels like the comedown after that realization. These two songs are paired together on the band's The Greatest of All Time EP, and they should really never be separated. It's pretty much a rule of the mix tape that you never put two songs by the same artist back-to-back, but "Lowest Part / Freezing Point" presents an exception.

"Ohio" by DAMIEN JURADO: This one broke my heart every time it popped up on my lonely walks, but I kept going back to it regardless. It always made me think about all the people I regularly disregarded or ignored, using my headphones to avoid humanity as much as I used them to wryly observe it. The opening lines alone, "Out from my window, across from the city / I have what's considered a good view / Two blocks from the subway, three from the fountain / I walk to break in my new shoes," as vague as they might be, struck me in my situation.

"Brakhage" by STEREOLAB: When you've found yourself rationing $4 a day for food to survive, hearing the repeated lyric "We need too damn many things / to keep our dazed lives going" becomes a sort of mantra. If you're ever bordering on homelessness in Chicago, give me a ring and I'll show you how to get by on hot dogs, noodles and dollar beers. I had even found a bar with a jukebox that gave you 11 songs for a dollar!

"The Cedar Room" by DOVES: For walking around among skyscrapers and dark alleys, there is no better song than "The Cedar Room." God only knows how many miles I pounded out of my sneakers listening to this song, biting my lip as I tried not to sing along as loud as I could.

"Sunset Coming On" by MALI MUSIC: Coming home music. The sun would begin to drop down behind those tall buildings and I knew I'd have to get back, by train or foot, before the temperature dropped significantly. Back to my roommates, take-out thai food, bad television and good conversation. I was poor in a strange world, but I had a great time.

"Love" and "Hate"

2007-02-14T16:21:00.000-06:00

It's Valentine's Day.

And really, that's pretty much all I have to say on the matter. I was going to compile a dozen or so love songs and then pair them off with a dozen or so songs for the jilted hearts out there in the world who spend days like today biting their lip and trying not to look like Public Display of Affection Day bothers them.

Personally (and this will surprise no one who knows me), I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. Not because I disagree with the sentiments that come with it, but because I think it's silly to have a day where people treat other people the way they should treat them all of the time. Sure, chocolate is tasty, but do you really need Godiva one day a year to get that point across?

Just turn on your TV if you want a tribute to Valentine's Day. You'll find hundreds of lingerie commercials, "very special episodes" of your favorite sitcoms, and more guilt inducing ads for diamonds than you can bribe with a dozen roses.

For the rest of us, there is rock:

"Our Love Will Still be There" by THE TROGGS
"Our Love Will Still be There" by THE FLUID:
When I was a freshman in high school, my friend Brian and I both had a deep love for all things related to the Sub Pop record label. The label had two compilation albums in particular (The Grunge Years and Sub Pop 200, to be precise) that saw as our Bible, our guide to the bands we should be looking into. These albums featured early tracks from bands we would go on to love, like the Screaming Trees, Mudhoney and Nirvana. One band featured on both of those compilations was The Fluid, who showed promise with a decent song on each CD. As Brian soon found after ordering the band's debut EP and first album (paired together on the Glue/Roadmouth CD), The Fluid had already shot their load on those compilation tracks. The first song on the CD, "Our Love Will Still be There," was luckily worth the price of admission.

For years, Brian and I would be left to wonder how a mediocre band could have one great song like "Our Love Will Still be There." It was a complete mystery until the night of my 31st birthday two weeks ago, when my friend Mike made me a mix that featured the original version of "Our Love Will Still be There," performed by British garage rockers (who had a massive hit with "Wild Thing") The Troggs. Only a real music geek can relate to the feeling you get when you get scooped on one of your favorite songs, especially when you find out that song has been in existence for decades. The Troggs version is great, with a huge rolling bassline and a lazy pace. It even served to make The Fluid's take that much cooler, knowing now how they changed it to fit their own sound.

On that same mix from Mike was another revelation:

"Dicks Hate the Police"by DICKS
"Hate the Police" by MUDHONEY:
Once again, it was news to me that Mudhoney's classic "Hate the Police," one of my all time favorite anti-authority anthems, was a cover (I'm sure I could have avoided all of this by maybe reading my liner notes more closely). "Hate the Police" always seemed incredibly incendiary to me, with Mark Arm's screeching vocals handling the point of view of a typical meatheaded, violent, racist cop ("Daddy daddy daddy / Proud of your son / Got himself a good job / Killing niggers and Mexicans"). Now dial the clock back another decade and imagine how hair raising Gary Floyd's lyrics would have been in Reagan's America. That's hardcore in every sense of the word.

I love a good surprise, and I love music.

Happy Love Day, everyone.

XOXOXO

BONUS ROSES (from Sub Pop 200 and The Grunge Years):

"Tomorrow"
"Is it Day I'm Seeing?" by THE FLUID

"The Rose" by MUDHONEY

"He's back in town. . ."

2007-02-02T13:33:00.000-06:00

Who needs January, anyway?

In typical Pimps of Gore fashion, the two-year anniversary of this site came and went without note. Instead, as January 9th rolled around, I found myself re-enrolled in college and navigating my university's online education system like an old lady lost in the mall. Two years ago I was hiding from the cold in my Chicago apartment, writing about Guided by Voices. Today, I'm hiding from the Omaha cold in a couple of nursing textbooks. You get lamer every year, you know.

Anyway, I assure you, I'm back. I've paid up my GoDaddy fees and, at least for 11 more months, I'm going to keep driving this boat right into the ground.

And what better way to do that this afternoon than with a few songs by a little unsung 60s British Invasion group called the Rockin' Berries?

In all fairness to us, the listeners, the Rockin' Berries have probably remained unsung because they weren't that great of a band in the first place. I'm not going to sit here like Joe Obscurity Blogger and tell you, "These guys should have been as big as The Beatles!" That opinion is reserved for The Kinks.

The Rockin' Berries, however, had one song so great that it's hard for me to believe it never became even a minor hit in the U.S. I was watching an old movie called Pop Gear a few weeks ago, which features a huge assortment of British Invasion bands (including The Beatles and The Animals) lip synching to their hopefull hits. As I watched this movie, one "performance" in particular jumped out at me:

"He's In Town"

You know how the best part of Harry Belafonte's "Day-O (Bananna Boat Song)" is that falsetto "Wheeeee-ooh-eee-ooh-weee-um-mum-u-wayyyy"? The Rockin' Berries take that same moment and recast it as the most crushing part of this delicate little ballad about losing your girl to that great guy she's been pining for ever since he left town. That perfect, Frankie Valli-esque falsetto comes from one of the Berries' two vocalists, Geoff Turton. Further research showed me why this song jumped out at me immediately: it was originally written for the Tokens by genius songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. (I vow to write a post in the near future about the undeniable pimpness of Carole King.)

I watched the Rockin' Berries scene another half dozen times before hitting the web to try and purchase the track. No such luck, so my hunt went deeper. . . and more illegal. Thanks to some rock fans on LimeWire, I found a few more Berries songs that I liked, but didn't love anywhere near as much as "He's In Town."

See what you think of:

"Itty Bitty Pieces"
"What in the World's Come Over You"
"Yellow Rainbow"

In the end, the Rockin' Berries were a decent band that marginalized itself through the career choices it made. According to Allmusic, the Berries were caught up in the idea of being entertainers - not just a band - and included a lot of novelty and comedy material on their records. They couldn't have anticipated how musician/lyricists like Bob Dylan were about to change the music industry forever by injecting an air of art and seriousness into rock music, a form that wasn't getting that kind of respect when bands like the Berries were on their way up.

Still, I think it's important not to forget songs as good as "He's In Town." It's always good to be reminded that even the seemingly insignificant bands in rock history contributed some great material to the form.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Learn a lot more about the Berries here
- . . . or, here

(I don't believe in) CHRISTMAS 2006

2006-12-24T16:41:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas, Internets. Peace and love to you and yours.

PIMPS OF YULE: Christmas 2006

1. "Specialized Nutcracker Suite" by FLIP
2. "Another Christmas At Home" by EUX AUTRES
3. "Santa Claus Got Stuck (In My Chimney)" by ELLA FITZGERALD
4. "Merry Christmas Baby" by IKE AND TINA TURNER
5. "Don't Believe in Christmas" by THE SONICS
6. "Holiday Hymn" by ORANGE JUICE
7. "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" by THE VENTURES
8. "Frosty DMC" by SAM FLANAGAN
9. "Donde Esta Santa Claus" by LENLOW
10. "Little Drum Machine Boy" by FAKE ID
11. "A Change at Christmas" by THE FLAMING LIPS
12. "Spotlight On Christmas" by RUFUS WAINWRIGHT
13. "Sleigh Ride" by RICK HOLSTROM
14. "Christmas Day" by SQUEEZE
15. "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" by KING CURTIS
16. "Joy to the World" by CLEM SNIDE
17. "Christmas Time is Here (alternate vocal)" by VINCE GUARALDI
18. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" by SUFJAN STEVENS

JoyEUX Noel

2006-12-16T21:51:00.000-06:00

This month is just flying by, isn't it? It seems like just yesterday that I had all my money in my bank account and my sanity intact. The holiday season seems to deplete those resources faster than my 6 year old nephew changes hobbies (making gift buying that much more of a nightmare. . . "Do you still like superheroes? Dinosaurs? Baseball?").

There's no question that Christmas is my favorite holiday, but there are still so many things that bother me. I'm not going to go into them here, because when it comes to Christmas, there's nothing new under the sun to complain about. What I do love is seeing my family, stuffing myself on my mother's exquisite food and cookies, and watching my brothers' kids buried neck deep in toys and candy.

Oh yeah, and I love a good Christmas song. I'm not talking about the typical holiday fare, like all that Burl Ives/Johnny Mathis stuff (which I have absolutely no problem with, surprisingly enough). I just love when someone writes a holiday song so well that it transcends the holiday itself and becomes something that you don't mind hearing regardless of the time and place.

My buddies in the Portland-via-Omaha duo EUX AUTRES have written one of those songs, and I'm happy to share it with you tonight. Maybe it's because we're all from Omaha that this one hits close to home with me, with its mentions of sneaking away from family to drink "where the champagne's on tap" (if you're ever in Omaha, do not miss a chance to visit The Homy Inn, where you'll find the aforementioned tap champagne and peanuts or popcorn served in dog bowls). It doesn't hurt that I think this may be one of their best songs yet, with a country-esque beat and great lyrics, clever internal rhymes and beautiful harmonies by the ladies in the SHEE BEE GEES.

While I'm hosting the track on my site tonight, you should really head over to Eux Autres' website, where they are selling this special holiday CD single with a fantastic cover of SLADE's "Merry X-Mas Everybody" (those Eux Autres kids have great taste) as the B-Side. The limited edition CD is a dirt cheap $4, postage included(!) and comes packaged with a cool, hand silk screened jacket.

For now, enjoy:

"Another Christmas At Home" by EUX AUTRES

While I'm on the topic of Christmas, I'd like to mention that I am hard at work on my PIMPS OF YULE 2006 holiday mix. I'm assembling and editing the track listing as I type this, and I hope this year's mix will be comparable to the one I made in 2005. Keep your eyes peeled in the coming few days for that mix.

As a special little bonus tonight, I am reposting highlights from that mix right here, to whet the appetite of my newer readers and to remind my loyal readers of old that not all Christmas music sucks ass.

Highlights from PIMPS OF YULE: Christmas 2005
1. "Five Wishes for Christmas" by STEVE MARTIN
2. "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" by DARLENE LOVE
3. "Father Christmas" by THE KINKS
4. "Merry X-Mas Everybody" by SLADE
5. "Christmas at the Zoo" by the FLAMING LIPS
6. "Christmas Party" THE WALKMEN/NICOLE SHEAHAN
7. "Christmas in Hollis" by RUN D.M.C.
8. "The Christmas Massacre of Charlie Brown" by DJ JOHN
9. "Santar Klaws" by POJ MASTA
10. "The Christmas Song" by THE RAVEONETTES
11. "Santa Claus" by THE SONICS
12. "Merry Christmas, Baby" by OTIS REDDING
13. "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus" by BRENDA LEE
14. "Come On! Let's Boogey to the Elf Dance!" by SUFJAN STEVENS
15. "Christmas Eve" by GORKY'S ZYGOTIC MYNCI
16. "Old Toy Trains" by ROGER MILLER
17. "Blue Christmas Lights" by BUCK OWENS
18. "Christmas Time Will Soon be Over" by JACK WHITE
19. "Blue Christmas (To Whom it May Concern" by MILES DAVIS and BOB DOROUGH
20. "The Last Month of the Year" by VERA WARD HALL

SHOCKED, BLUE

2006-12-03T04:33:00.000-06:00

"Shocking You" by SHOCKING BLUE

R.I.P. MARISKA VERES
I was informed via a reader comment this evening that Mariska Veres, lead singer of the Dutch group Shocking Blue, died December 2nd from cancer in Holland. She was 59 years old.

Tonight, I'm reposting a previously written tribute to Veres and her band which appeared on this site a few months ago. If you missed these tracks the first time around, here's your chance to discover a great, underrated band:

A couple of years ago, I worked as a writer and assistant editor for a short-lived magazine published by MacWorld called Playlist. One part of my job was to fact check the celebrity iPod playlists we ran in the magazine. . . you know, making sure the artist's name is spelled right, making sure the song even exists, etc. It was kind of fun, especially when I'd be looking over playlists from Jack White or Rufus Wainwright and discovering all kinds of new music in the process.

One artist whose list surprised me was one of the drunken louts in the group Jet. Included in his list was a shout out to a Dutch group called SHOCKING BLUE. While researching his pick, I discovered that this was the band who had a hit in the '60s with "Venus." His choice was a song called "Send Me a Postcard." After a little scouring of the web, I found the song and was immediately blown away. Psychedelic bubblegum pop in the vein of QUESTION MARK AND THE MYSTERIANS or THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, but with deep, powerful female vocals from sexy frontwoman Mariska Veres. "Not bad taste for a guy from Jet," I thought.

Regardless of the fact that they were one hit wonders in the U.S., the pathetic entry on the group at AllMusic.com is still less than the Shocking Blue deserve. "They generated enough hits in enough parts of the world to warrant a compilation on Rhino Records" is hardly a ringing endorsement.

The group was around for quite a while, but the absolute best place to start is by getting At Home, the same album that "Venus" appears on. Tonight I'm posting my own homemade EP, which includes 3 songs from that album. For regular readers, I already posted "Love Buzz" once before. For new readers, that is the original version of the song that NIRVANA would eventually make semi-famous on thier Bleach album.

If you like what you hear, happy hunting for the rest:

1. "Send Me a Postcard"
2. "The Butterfly and I"
3. "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind"
4. "Love Buzz"
5. "Hot Sand"

FOR MORE ON TONIGHT'S POST:
- Learn more about Shocking Blue than you will at AllMusic right here.
- Another Blue page
- Some info on lead vocalist Mariska
- Buy Shocking Blue music at Amazon.com

NOVEMBER - The Final 14. Finally.

2006-11-30T16:33:00.000-06:00

Pretty much just an exercise in lazy writing, the November 60 Songs in 30 Days finds its closure this evening, just minutes under the deadline. Soon, it will be December, and I'll have to go back to writing semi-cohesive posts again. Soak up the brevity while it lasts, kids.

"Strawberry Fields Forever (LOVE Version)"
"Lady Madonna (LOVE Version)" by THE BEATLES: I'm pretty sure I've made it a point to mention on Pimps that I love a good remix or a creative mash-up. Famed Beatles producer George Martin worked with his son Giles to create a soundtrack to LOVE, a new Cirque du Soleil show built around the Fab Four's music. The Martins combined hundreds of snippets from their catalogue, from album tracks to alternate versions and mixes never heard before this compilation. It might sound like a cash in, but it's worth checking out, especially if you have a great sound system and you can score the DVD audio bonus disc. These are two of my favorites from the album. I especially love the cacophony of sound at the end of "Strawberry Fields Forever," which features bits from "In My Life," "Piggies" and more. While "Lady Madonna" isn't altered too much, the addition of "Hey Bulldog" into the mix is pretty cool.

"She's My Girl"
"Buzzsaw"
"I'm Chief Kamanawanalea" by THE TURTLES: It would be a damn shame if The Turtles went down in history as one hit wonders (for the somewhat creepy yet confusingly sugary "Happy Together"). Aside from writing a few other great singles (like "She's My Girl"), they came up with The Turtles Present the Battle of the Bands, a sort of concept album/satire about popular music at the time. Each track on the album has them dressing up in a different genre, like psychedelic R&B ("Buzzsaw") and tribal/surf rock ("I'm Chief Kamanawanalea"). The whole record is really interesting, and if you weren't paying attention you might think you were actually listening to a mix tape.

"Rivers"
"Alexander Bends" by BUTTERGLORY: I found "Rivers" as I was browsing around on eMusic the other day, and it reminded me of a night when I was DJing at a bar in Omaha. A guy approached the booth as I was playing this very song, from a somewhat obscure Kansas-by-way-of California band called Butterglory. It turned out that he was friends with the guys in the band and happened to show up at my bar to hear his friends' Wedding Present-esque wallop welcoming him over the speakers as he arrived. I have to thank my friend Matt for introducing me to the band via the lo-fi as it gets "Alexander Bends."

"Bad Reputation"
"Bad Reputation (Live)" by JOAN JETT: Using Google as a research tool, I'm seeing that I've never once posted a song by Joan Jett. That can't be right. She was my first crush as a child, which lead to my premature drooling over a woman playing guitar. While I loved the TV show Freaks and Geeks, they had my vote the second they chose Jett's "Bad Reputation" as their theme song. Tonight's live version comes from the soundtrack to the cult classic punk/indie doc, Urgh! A Music War.

"Oh Sweetheart"
"The Comeback (Ratatat remix)" by SHOUT OUT LOUDS: Is there a name for this disease I have, where I neglect Swedish bands and then realize a year later what I've been missing? It took me over a year after the American release of Shout Out Louds' Howl Howl Gaff Gaff to finally realize its greatness. I owe it all to my iPod for dropping "Oh Sweetheart" on me during a walk this summer. Track #2 is a remix of Howl Howl's opening track, done by NY electronic rockers Ratatat.

"Kennedy"
"Wildcat (E*vax Remix)" by RATATAT: Since we're on the subject of Ratatat, here are a few more tracks. "Kennedy" is from their most recent album, which the duo had the balls to dub Classics. The E*vax remix of "Wildcat" was done by Ratatat's Evan Mast, so. . . I guess dubbing it an E*vax remix is a bit redundant. I dunno. *COINCIDENCE! One of tonight's other bands, Butterglory, released an EP named Rat Tat Tat.*

"A Party Able Model Of" by JOAN OF ARC: I just had to end it all with this song. Maybe it's because of the time period I first heard it, but it always makes me think of snowy winter nights.

"Everyone's quiet when the record ends.
Everyone's quiet when the record ends.
Oh, it's tragically December tonight.
Lets' stay in, I'll cook you dinner,
anything to eat some time.
Let's stay in tonight."

I'm looking forward to December. Anybody got any good Christmas songs this year?

NOVEMBER - 36 Songs in 6 Days

2006-11-25T21:13:00.000-06:00

The clusterfuck of music continues. . .

"We Dance"
"We Dance (Alt. Mix)" by PAVEMENT: The deluxe 2CD rerelease of Pavement's third album, Wowee Zowee, hit the streets a few weeks ago. I almost ordered a copy until I scanned over the tracklisting and realized that I, in some format or another, own almost all of the material. Thank god for eMusic.com, where I'd previously bought most of the b-sides from the likes of the Pacific Trim EP. It was just a matter of a handful of downloads to catch the rest for less than a few dollars. One of those previously unreleased tracks is the alternate mix of "We Dance." I'm having trouble picking a favorite version. Definitely a great way to start out Pavement's weirdest, most experimental record. "Check that expiration date, man. It's later than you think."

"Here"
"Lovin' Her Was Easier"by RICHARD BUCKNER: I posted the first track in July of 2005, but am reposting tonight in honor of the Pavement blurb. Here's what I said about Buckner's live cover of "Here" last year: I love his groaning, desperate vocals and the off-beat way he strums his guitar. The second track is a Kris Kristofferson cover. I had that song on repeat as I walked to work a few weeks ago. So damn good.

"Russian Orthodox"
"The Light Before We Land"
"Mr. Blue Sky" by THE DELGADOS: Back when I lived in Delaware, right after I'd graduated from college, I found a decent job at an ad agency. With income burning a hole in my pocket and a decent indie store just up the street from my office, I often found myself on lunch break with nothing better to do than shop and ask for rec's from the store's employees. One day one of the kids pointed me toward The Delgados second album, Peloton ("Russian Orthodox" comes from that CD). While I enjoyed the album, I kind of just figured "another twee Scottish band for the pile" and forgot about the band. Then, my dumb ass went and slept on them for a few years, while they released a couple of fantastic, majestic, bombastic records, including Hate. I've got a lot of catching up to do. (To close things out, enjoy the now disbanded Delgados covering one of my favorite Electric Light Orchestra tunes.)

"You Just Make it Worse" by RADIO BIRDMAN: When old punk rockers reunite to rekindle past glories, it's not supposed to sound this good. Is it? From their triumphant return, Zeno Beach.

"Right Around the Corner"
"Shout Bama Lama" by THE DETROIT COBRAS: If you took the shittiest party in the world and added a few Detroit Cobras songs into the mix, you would have yourself a cool place to be. At least until the music stopped. I've never written a complete post about the band because the previous sentence is really all I have to say on the matter. If you don't like the Cobras, you don't like fun.

"A La Queue Les Yvelines" by JACQUES DUTRONC: I got some feedback from my previous posting of a Jacques Dutronc song, so here's another favorite from the Frenchman. I've seen Dutronc's music compared to the writing/music of Ray Davies and The Kinks, and this song definitely fits the comparison.

"Never Far Away" by ALUMINIUM: From semi-tribute/reinterpretation album Aluminium, where composer Jody Talbot worked with a symphony orchestra to rework songs by The White Stripes and Jack White. Tonight's track is a gorgeous instrumental take on one of White's originals on the Cold Mountain soundtrack.

"Four Fingered Fisherman"
"Salvador Sanchez" by MARK KOZELEK: Mark Kozelek, of Red House Painters/Sun Kil Moon/Mark Kozelek fame, just released a limited (to 10,000) edition double live CD, entitled Little Drummer Boy. If you buy it from his label, Caldo Verde Records, you'll also be entered to win one of the guitars Kozelek played on the tour commemorated by this album. Tonight's songs (the first a Modest Mouse cover, the second a solo performance of a Sun Kil Moon song) are just a couple of highlights from the 20 track, 100 minute release.

"Care of Cell 44"
"Time of the Season" by THE ZOMBIES: Look, you can't swing a dead cat around the Internet without hitting a few thousand bloggers telling you to go buy The Zombies' Odessy and Oracle. Consider this loud THWAK to be the sound of that cat hitting me. I've posted "This Will be Our Year" multiple times at this point. Please don't make me post it again. Another selling feature: "Time of the Season" is one of the best songs of all time.

"Time of the Season" by SNOWDEN: Snowden know the rule: if you're going to take on one of the best songs of all time, you'd better do something drastic. Here, they up the tension by about 1000% with a fuzzed out bass line and industrial percussion. This one is definitely Love It/Hate It, and I'm strongly in the former category.

"Blast Off"
"Oh, How to Do Now" by THE MONKS: Thank god for the great bloggers, like The Of Mirror Eye or Diddy Wah, because I'm not sure how long I would have waited to hear about The Monks without them. I guess if I'd paid attention to my liner notes, I would have noticed that The Fall recorded a version of "Oh How to Do Now" in the early 90s. I guess, in a way, it's cool that The Monks exist on record at all. The band was started by a bunch of Army GI's stationed in Germany in the mid-60s, who decided to stay together after being discharged. Their sound was loud and corrosive, and their lyrics blunt and sometimes angry. They were easily a decade ahead of their time.

"Recently Distressed"
"1st Things 1st"
"Big Brat" by PHANTOM PLANET: I keep seeing this holiday themed Old Navy ad, with a soundtrack provided by some unknown band that sounds almost exactly like Phantom Planet. The song, with a chorus of "Get your fash-on!," is horrible, and makes me hope that it isn't really Phantom Planet. Not because I'm a huge fan of the band, but because I think their third album, the self-titled Phantom Planet was really a big step in a different, interesting direction for the band. I bought the band's first album (where tonight's "Recently Distressed" comes from) not long after seeing the movie Rushmore. That movie had a pretty profound effect on me, and I was fascinated so much by Jason Schwartzman that I had to hear his band. While both their debut and second albums had a few good songs in the grooves, they were mostly disposable and bland. Oddly enough, it was the band's third album (and first without Schwartzman on drums) that caught my attention. Songs like "1st Things 1st" and "Big Brat" show hints of Spoon, Elvis Costello and the Police, and there's just a lot of rhythm to the thing. I still wouldn't say I'm a fan, but I liked the record enough to make me dread finding out that they are that aforementioned Old Navy band.

NOVEMBER - 60 Songs in 30 Days (v2)

2006-11-16T15:33:00.000-06:00

Faithful visitors to this blog may remember a time, nearly 350 days ago, when I attempted to post 60 songs throughout the course of November. All was going well and I was on track to complete my task when suddenly, in a post about Jenny Lewis's cover of the Travelling Wilburys' "Handle With Care," STEREOGUM linked to my site where the original was hosted. Literally thousands of people visited PIMPS OF GORE in a matter of hours, and my bandwidth for the month was kaput.

I found it a little bit amusing that my site was crippled not because I posted some rare Decemberists track or a leaked single from The Shins, but because I was unhip enough to post a decades-old song from an album that pretty much no hipster or person under the age of 30 had talked about since it had gone out of print. While I'm pretty sure I'll be safe this time around (my hosting service allows about 10 times more file transfers than the one I was using last year), I like to imagine what song might bring my site down this year.

My idea for this whole November thing is basically that I need to post 2 songs a day. You same faithful visitors know by this point that I have a crippling inability to post in a timely fashion. Hell, we're over 2 weeks into the month and this is my first posting on the matter. So basically, I'm down to this: stay tuned in the next two weeks for a couple of extremely massive posts. Get your Right Click button ready, kids:

"Not Tonight" by MATT SHARP w/MAYA RUDOLPH: Yeah, the Maya Rudolph from Saturday Night Live. Did you know she was Minnie Riperton's daughter (I use the past tense because Minnie is dead)? I like to imagine her doing her imitation of Christina Aguilera while recording the backing vocals here. And yeah, Matt Sharp, the goofy old bassist for Weezer. Apparently, Rudolph was a member of Sharp's group The Rentals before she made it to SNL. Nutty. Anyway, this is their fantastic cover of a Tegan and Sarah song.

"You Send Me"
"I Have Learned to Do Without You" by MAVIS STAPLES: I've mentioned Mavis and the Staples Singers - her family's gospel/R&B band, lead by patriarch "Pops" Staples - here before, but have never posted anything from any of her solo recordings. These two tracks come from her self titled debut and her second solo album, Only for the Lonely, which you can now find paired together on a single disc. I highly rec' seeking that, as both records are fantastic. "You Send Me" is a cover of the Sam Cooke classic. While no one will probably ever top Cooke's rendition, Mavis sings the holy shit out of it here.

"I Want You Back" by DAVID RUFFIN: David Ruffin's may be one of the most heartbreaking stories to come out of Motown. As backing vocalist - and then, eventually - lead vocalist for the mighty Temptations, Ruffin was poised to be a massive star. If you're wondering if you know his voice, think of "My Girl" or "Ain't too Proud to Beg." For various reasons, from his ego to his cocaine use, Ruffin was dismissed from the Temps. As Ruffin eventually left Motown for Warner Brothers and RCA, his cocaine addiction continued. While he had a few minor solo hits (hunt down the incredible "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me"), his career never reached the heights it should have, especially when you consider this slamming take on that old Jackson 5 nugget, "I Want You Back," from the unreleased-until-2001 album David.

"Bewildered" by JAMES BROWN: In my college years, I became a huge fan of James Brown, mainly because a friend of mine rolled through town for a visit with a cassette copy of Spank in his car. After that weekend, I sought out Brown records from all eras of his career (my roommate had a particular, and odd, fondness for that song from Rocky IV, "Livin' in America"). It wasn't until last year that I discovered a great 1960 record of Brown's entitled Think!, which features tonight's amazing "Bewildered." The whole record is 100% R&B (James wouldn't start messing around with funk and dance for a few more years), and as far as I'm concerned, this track is the centerpiece. Listen to those vocals, his phrasing and that piercing decending guitar part.

"Betcha Got a Dude on the Side" by STAR QUALITY AND CLASS: A long while back, I posted a track from Latyrx (Lyrics Born and Lateef the Truth Speaker) called "Lady Don't Tek No." That track featured production from DJ Shadow that borrowed liberally from this original old school hip-hop track. About a year ago, a blog called Cocaine Blunts posted this, so I'm sad to say I can't claim to have done the footwork myself. I've been following that site for years, so fans of hip-hop/rap should head over and check it out. Here's a link to Noz's original post on both tracks.

"The Quickening" by LATYRX: Since we're on the subject, here's another classic track from the aforementioned Latyrx record, The Album.

"Pause"
"Workinonit" by JAY DEE aka J-DILLA: I never get the chance to post enough about hip-hop. While I'm a huge fan, I just never feel qualified to write about it in the same way as the guys over at blogs like Cocaine Blunts or My iPod Weighs a Ton or dozens of others. I have a friend named Bill who would be an invaluable resource on the matter, but he doesn't write. (Now that I'm thinking about it, perhaps I'll invite him as a guest writer if he's up for the task some time.) Regardless, I always wanted to do a little write up of Jay Dee, especially after his recent passing. He was one of the most prolific and best producers of hip hop in the game, working on records from the likes of Black Star, Common, De La Soul, The Pharcyde (he produced "Runnin'", one of my all time favorites). . .even Four Tet! Not to mention his amazing collaborations with Madlib, put out under the moniker of Jaylib. And if he wasn't dishing out beats, he was cutting and rapping on his own amazing records, like Donuts and the posthumously released The Shining. Dude should have been a millionaire.

"The Worst Band in the World" by 10cc: I'm posting this track in conjunction with the Jay Dee track, "Workinonit." Listen to them back to back and you'll see why. How genius does a guy have to be to sample the shit out of a 10cc track, especially when it's one as hilarious and satirical as "The Worst Band in the World"?

"Human Abstract" by DAVID AXELROD: Dare I reference DJ Shadow one more time tonight? As most music geeks will tell you, if there had never been a David Axelrod, there would have never been Endtroducing. Hell, there may not even have been a DJ Shadow. Axelrod was/is a revolutionary music producer/arranger, and once you've heard a few of his records, you can almost instantly spot his style: sweeping strings, thick bass and rolling drums, along with a ton of psychedelia. Tonight's track is taken from his second solo album, 1969's Songs of Experience. Which brings us to. . .

"Holy Are You" by THE ELECTRIC PRUNES: While the Prunes are probably best known for "I Had Too Much to Dream Last Night" and a few other psych-rock favorites, the band itself was nowhere to be found on the record this track comes from, Release of An Oath. The album is basically Axelrod, producer Dave Hassinger and some session musicians (thank Carol Kaye for that bomb-ass bassline here), but it's probably the coolest, most interesting thing the Prunes (n)ever recorded.

"Etienne D'aout" by MALAJUBE: One of tonight's few "new" (while Trope-L'Oeil was released in February of this year, I'm fairly certain it didn't cross the US border for many months) songs comes from schizoid Montreal indie rockers Malajube, who began popping up on blogs a while back. Pinpointing a sound or genre to describe this band is virtually impossible, so all I'm left to do is recommend you check the record out for yourself if you like this track.

"Battle Brigades" by THE FOUNDRY FIELD RECORDINGS: I went to school at the University of Missouri, in Columbia, MO. While the music scene there was great as far as seeing touring bands pass through town, there was never a band like The Foundry Field Recordings when I lived there. As a matter of fact, before I discovered they were from Columbia, MO, I imagined them being from somewhere more exotic, like Vancouver, or Spain or some shit. My hat is definitely off to them, especially after hearing this song on a blog a few months ago. For more info, visit their website.

"The Dark End of the Street" by JAMES CARR: I helped manage a huge record store in downtown Chicago called Crow's Nest a few years ago. After the holiday season, our store lost its lease and we spent the next three months liquidating our massive inventory. While the store's normal policy for playing music on the overhead speakers was pretty strict, I conspired with the employees and two other managers to declare one of the Fridays before the store's close "Black Friday." Nothing but black music for 12 straight hours. It was easily one of the most fun days I had ever worked, and that experience was highlighted (highlit?) by the reaction to a number of customers to this classic by James Carr. This chilling, soulful beauty basically stopped traffic, and a ton of people came up to me asking, "Who is this?!" While I've posted one or two other versions of "Dark End" on Pimps, this one is the definitive.

"I'm Your Puppet" by JAMES & BOBBY PURIFY: I used to hate this song. Now, I have absolutely no reason or explanation why I may have felt that way. I think it should be played at every wedding, and I recently dropped it into my set as I DJ'ed my friend Andy's wedding in Kentucky. (Trivia: James and "Bobby" Purify were not brothers. According to Wikipedia, "Bobby Purify was actually two different singers; the first was James's cousin Robert Lee Dickey. The second Bobby was vocalist Ben Moore, who replaced Dickey when he suffered health problems.)

"You're My Girl (I Don't Want to Discuss It)"
"(I Know) I'm Losing You" by ROD STEWART: I've already discussed this once before, in a post about the Faces a year or two ago, but for those who may have missed it: Rod Stewart used to be a fucking bad ass. I'm not even going to plead my case for the guy this time around, because if these two tracks (taken from, respectively, 1970's Gasoline Alley and 1971's Every Picture Tells a Story) don't sell you on the concept, you clearly don't know what bad ass sounds like. It doesn't hurt that Rod was pretty much backed by the Faces for both of those solo records.

"Le responsable" by JACQUES DUTRONC: When people think of French male vocalists, they always think of Serge Gainsbourg. While I enjoy a lot of Gainsbourg's stuff, Jacques Dutronc was the really real shit. My prediction: this winds up in a Wes Anderson movie in the next couple of years, maybe in some sort of bicycle/moped chase sequence.

"Deluca" by FLAKE: I've been seriously enjoying the next Shins album for the past few weeks. I've been dying to post a song from it, but that thing is being so heavily policed on the web that you'd think the secret to making a nuclear bomb was hidden between the bass notes. Instead, I'm posting the 7" version of "Deluca," which came out back when the band was called Flake (and then, Flake Music). This version is different from the one released on Flake's only CD, When You Land Here, It's Time to Return, so hopefully this will satisfy you few Shins completists out there. I found this version on one of my absolute favorite music blogs, Little Hits. Fans of power pop and early indie rock should not hesitate to follow that link, as there is a massive amount of music to be found there.

"1983"
"(untitled)" by THE INCREDIBLE MOSES LEROY: His real name is Ron Fountenberry. You'd probably go by the name The Incredible Moses Leroy, too, if you thought you wanted a career in music. These two tracks come from Fountenberry's scattershot debut album, Electric Pocket Radio. While the record can be hit or miss, it features a surprising variety of songs, and was a good indication that this guy might be someone to follow in years to come. My favorite track on the album was "1983," a beautiful piece of synth nostalgia that always makes me think of "Don't Change" by INXS. "untitled" was simply that, the untitled bonus track found at the end of the album. TIML's second album, Becomes the Soft.Lightes seemed to indicate that Fountenberry was changing his name to "Soft Lightes," and Allmusic.com says that a band released an album under that name 2 weeks ago. Anyone heard anything about it?

"Last Night"
"End of the Line" by TRAVELLING WILBURYS: In honor of my bandwidth crushing post from last year, I'm closing things out tonight with a couple more of my favorites from that long out of print debut Wilburys CD. I've heard rumblings that this will soon be reissued with Volume 3, along with a host of bonus material, but those rumblings seem to have been going on for years now.

YO LA TENGO fearlessly beats your ass.

2006-10-30T18:11:00.000-06:00

After a few dozen listenings, I'm positive that YO LA TENGO's newest album (the hilariously titled I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass) is not only one of the best albums of 2006, but also one of the best of the band's long and storied career. In much the same way that SONIC YOUTH have done with their recent record, Georgia, Ira and James have made an album that acts as a incredible distillation of everything the band has done to this point, creating the perfect starting point for new fans. If you can't get into both bands' most recent offerings, you probably aren't going to like anything else they've done.

My first exposure to Yo La Tengo came as a double dose in my Junior year of high school. I was working as a deejay at an underground, cable-only radio station dubbed KRCK, which specialized in "college rock" or "alternative" music (the "alternative" tag would eventually take off and gain a life of its own). Working at that station between the age of 14 to 17 had an extraordinary effect on me, as I was constantly being exposed to all kinds of music I'd never heard of, from Big Black to the aforementioned Sonic Youth. One day in the mail we received a compilation called Freedom of Choice, which featured covers of 80s New Wave classics peformed by bands like Superchunk, Big Dipper and Yo La Tengo.

On that compilation -- which, like all compilations, was pretty hit or miss -- YLT did a fun, noisy rendition of "Dreaming", one of my favorite BLONDIE songs. My interest was piqued, but finding a Yo La Tengo record in Omaha, NE, was a pretty daunting task at the time. It wasn't long afterwards that I lucked into a promo for the re-release of the band's second album, combined with a previously released EP, called President Yo La Tengo/New Wave Hot Dogs. While indie rock was still a new concept for me to grasp, several of the songs on that record really jumped out at me, including "Alyda" and "Barnaby, Hardly Working."

So there you have it, my introduction to the band that I have followed faithfully for almost 15 years. What follows is an assortment of my favorite Yo La Tengo tracks, spanning their entire career:

"Alrock's Bells" from Ride the Tiger: While Tiger was their debut album, released in 1986, it would be a dozen years before I heard anything from it. I owe that to my friend Olivia, who was adventurous enough to give it a chance. "Alrock's Bells" was the first song I ever heard, and I still remember Olivia handing over her headphones one day at work so I could hear it for myself. The song kind of wanders around a bit on a groovy little bassline, but it's that glorious burst of guitar and vocals near the end that dropped my jaw and made me realize I'd made a mistake by not seeking this album out sooner.

"You Tore Me Down" from Fakebook: For most bands, resorting to an album of covers is usually a signal that they've run out of ideas and have run their course (I'm looking at you, Rod Stewart, and your new career as cover whore). For Yo La Tengo, it was still the beginning. Their third record mixes a few originals (including an acoustic "Barnaby, Hardly Working") with a ton of great covers, including this take of a Flamin' Groovies song.

"From a Motel 6" from Painful: Pretty much the quintessential Yo La Tengo single.

"Blue Line Swinger" from the Camp Yo La Tengo EP: While I've always enjoyed the sprawling noise-epic that is the album version of "Blue Line Swinger" from Electr-O-Pura, I really prefer this EP version, with Georgia Hubley's soft, mournful vocals. Download them both and choose for yourself.

"Decora (Acoustic)" from A Smattering of Outtakes and Rarities: Here's a sleepy acoustic take on the opener to Electr-O-Pura.

"Sugarcube" from I Can Hear the Heart Beating as One: Of all the Yo La Tengo records I own, none had more of a profound effect on me than this one. It's not even something I can explain without this turning into a therapy session, so we'll just stick to the facts here. This record is virtually flawless, featuring ample chunks of everything from pop, electronica, folk and -- as presented here -- firey psychedelic/punk rock. It doesn't hurt that the hilarious video for "Sugarcube" features some of the cast of the brilliant cult comedy series Mr. Show with Bob and David. The part where Ira takes an eraser to the head gets me every time:

"By the Time it Gets Dark" from the Little Honda EP: Another rocker on I Can Feel the Heart Beating as One finds Yo La Tengo putting a Velvet Underground spin on the old Beach Boys classic, "Little Honda." The accompanying EP features a ton of great cover songs not on the album, including songs by William DeVaughn, The Kinks, and this one by folk singer Sandy Denny.

"Everyday" from And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside out: Initially, I was really disappointed in Nothing as the follow-up to the aforementioned I Can Feel. . .. It's definitely a more downbeat record, with very few rockers ("Cherry Chapstick" being the obvious exception). While not as easily accessible, Nothing has a quiet, almost subliminal power, as evident in the album opener, "Everyday." It drones, it buzzes, it's spooky as hell. Sink in.

"Little Eyes" from Summer Sun: Okay, so I have a thing for Georgia's voice. What of it?

"I Feel Like Going Home" from I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass: Tonight's final song is my current favorite tune from YLT's new record. Unfortunately, it's virtually impossible for me to pick one song to possibly represent an album that covers so many different styles. If you haven't already, just check the record out for yourself. My best rec is to head over to eMusic and get yourself a monthly subscription. You can get the entire thing for about 3 bucks. 3 bucks!

FOR MORE INFORMATION, ETC:
- Get a ton of free downloads at the official Yo La Tengo site, including two songs from the new record.
- This Wikipedia entry has some gerat info on the band, including the roots of their unusual name.
- One of the best Onion articles of all time, 37 Record-Store Clerks Feared Dead In Yo La Tengo Concert Disaster

THIN LIZZY: (Final) Ode to a Black Man

2006-10-08T19:42:00.000-05:00

Twenty years ago (or 21 years this coming January), at the age of 36, Phil Lynott overdosed on heroin.

Lynott was born in England to parents who split up three weeks after his birth. While he was raised in Ireland by his grandmother, his mother frequently visited him as he grew up, and it was Philomena Lynott who discovered her sick son (and learned of his addictions to heroin and alcohol) over the Christmas holiday in 1986. He was taken to a hospital, where he died less than two weeks later of kidney, liver and heart failure.

An unattributed quote from a 1987 Metal Gear article on the demise of Lizzy and Lynott has the man writing his own epitaph: "When I die, I think my final report will say: 'Did better than expected, but not quite as well as hoped for."

It kind of breaks my heart to know that a guy with so much talent and promise felt so sad and helpless. He had accomplished a hell of a lot in his lifetime, and left behind a great catalogue of music. Lizzy fans might argue over my picks in these past three posts, and maybe they can steer you in directions I've missed. I'm just giving you a few of my favorites in the hopes that you'll go out and try a few of the band's records (I personally recomend Jailbreak, their self titled debut, Vagabonds of the Western World, Fighting and, if you're into live records, Live and Dangerous.)

With that in mind. . .

THIN LIZZY, Pt. 3

"Rosalie": Believe it or not, there was a time many MANY years ago, before he became the Mellencamp prototype, when Bob Seger used to actually kick some ass. I'll give you a moment to let that thought sink in. Ready to move on? "Rosalie" is one of Seger's old rockers, and Lizzy covered it as the opener of Fighting. Their cover almost singlehandedly makes the case for Seger as Detroit asskicker (though if you need further proof, download "Ramblin' Gamblin' Man" from his 1968 debut album). The song became a live staple, a version of which you can find right here. Thanks to reader "kelly" for suggesting the Seger cover. Kelly also highly rec's "Fighting My Way Back" from the same record.

"Cowboy Song": Another highlight from the virtually flawless Jailbreak album. I love the slow build up at the beginning into that guitar riff. Now that I mention it, I've never been a huge fan of the word "riff." I always wish there were more words to describe a guitar part. But in the case of Thin Lizzy (and a few other bands, like AC/DC), "riff" is totally the right word. So if you've seen an overabundance of the word "riff" in these past few posts, that is why.

"Southbound": If you're ever looking for that perfect soundtrack for just getting the fuck out of town and blazing a trail off into the sunset, Thin Lizzy is your band. If I had a few million dollars to spare, I'd love to make a modern Western and use only Lizzy tunes as the soundtrack. "Southbound" would probably have to be saved for the end credits. Any film directors out there want to collaborate? Quentin?

"Honesty is No Excuse": The first time I heard this, I was amazed it was from the band's debut album. Lynott's lyrics are so frank, confessional and full of regret that you'd think they were coming from a man twice his age. "Up till now my youthful stage / Was a useless rage, a torn out page, a worn out gauge / A dirty shade, a big charade, a has been made / And honesty was my only excuse."

"For Those Who Love to Live": Another track from Fighting tonight, this one a groovy little mid-tempo/uptempo rocker about living, loving and - again - running away.

"Whiskey in the Jar": The hit that put Thin Lizzy on the map wouldn't come until just before the band's third record, Vagabonds of the Western World. A cover of an old Irish folk song, "Whiskey" tells the story of a Robin Hood-esque character betrayed by his lover. (This Wikipedia entry gives some more detailed information on all of the various versions of the song.) With a hit under their belts and a newly acquired Top Ten status, Thin Lizzy were afforded more time to work on and record their music, giving them their best album to date. While "Whiskey" didn't actually appear on the Vagabonds LP, it has since been added to CD pressings of the album.

"Ode to a Black Man": Tonight's final song is actually from Phil Lynott's 1980 solo album Solo in Soho. Detroit rockers THE DIRTBOMBS do a fantastic cover of this, but unfortunately I'm nowhere near my hard drive tonight to share it with you. Perhaps in a future post. Regardless, theirs was the first I'd heard of the song, and I immediately sought out the original from a blogger at a site called Kittytext, who was doing a regular Thursday posting of Lizzy tracks. The song calls out a number of black heroes, and even calls out Stevie Wonder for turning away from his political songwriting (the lyric "I don't want no songs for plants, I want songs for me" is a reference to Wonder's disappointing Journey Through the Secret Life of Plants). Huey Lewis pops up at some point on Lynott's solo record, and I'm guessing right now that he's the one playing the harmonica here. Anyone know the answer to that one?

R.I.P., Phil.

Riding in the LIZZYmobile. . .

2006-10-05T11:54:00.000-05:00

(Photo: Denis O'Regan)

Welcome to Part 2 of what will probably be a trilogy of posts in tribute to the late, great rockers Thin Lizzy. In the next couple of days, I'll be finishing up what should amount to a CD mixer full of great Lizzy tunes.

The difficulty factor for me is that I will be intentionally leaving out the band's two biggest hits, "Jailbreak" and "Boys are Back in Town." If you don't already have those tunes, you should really just pony up the two bucks they would cost you on iTunes. For the price of playing them on a jukebox, you can own them and add them to the mix yourself. Also, I'm throwing in a couple of bonus tracks at the end of the post, so make sure you get 'em all tonight.

THIN LIZZY, Pt. 2

"Remembering Pt. 2": Here lead vocalist Phil Lynott gives his best raspy-voiced Rod Stewart performance. This track originally appeared on the "New Day" EP, but has since been repackaged with their debut record as bonus tracks. I highly recommend picking up that album, especially if you like Thin Lizzy but aren't a big fan of the bombastic stadium rockers on their later records.

"Little Darling": A friend of mine listed this horn laced single from 1974 as a b-side in his makeshift liner notes for a mix he gave me about a year ago. Wikipedia indicates that it was an A-side single. Either way, it wasn't released on a full album. . . surprising, since it's a such a blast. I love the (double) guitar solo, and how it basically extends into the last verse of the song as everything builds to a crescendo.

"Borderline": Jesus, could Phil Lynott really convey sadneses with that soulful voice. If you played this song in a dive bar in the middle of the afternoon, I'm pretty sure half the room would sneak off to commit suicide in the bathroom, especially after "Seven beers and still sober / It's time to change to something stronger / I cannot take this scene no longer / She could have told me it's all over."

"Dublin": It's hard sometimes to write about classic rock bands because I just know I'm not really bringing anything new to the game. Most people who know about Thin Lizzy know that they were an Irish band. Is this news to anyone out there? Anyway, if you didn't already know, "Dublin" should pretty much blow the case. It's just a short little acoustic ballad with a little electric guitar and what sounds like either a keyboard or bells, but it's a nice little ode to the band's hometown. This also appeared on the aforementioned "New Day" EP.

"The Rocker": Alright, enough ballads tonight, let's get back to rocking. And what better way to accomplish that than with a completely obvious Phil Lynott song about how much he rocks? "I take no lip, no one's tougher than me!" Bragging, posing, acting like a tough bastard: Phil Lynott is hip hop, bitches.

"Toughest Street in Town": Did you not hear me when I said I was tough, Phil seems to be saying. He lives on the toughest street on planet Earth, people! You know how the movie Halloween came out and it was some seriously scary shit, and now years later it's kind of comical but still really badass as far as horror movies go? "Toughest Street in Town" is like that: unintentionally hilarious and yet completely oozing with RAWK.

BONUS TRACKS

"I'm A Cuckoo" by BELLE AND SEBASTIAN: I have a bootleg somewhere in my apartment where B&S cover Lizzy's "The Boys are Back in Town," and they really nail it. "I'm a Cuckoo," from Dear Catastrophe Waitress is an obvious ode to the band. They even lyrically name check the band AND pay tribute to the "Romeo/own-e-oh" lyric I mentioned in my previous post, rhyming "Tokyo" with "Thin Lizzy-oh." It sounds like a cover of something off of Jailbreak.

"Dark Trance (Psychic Lightning)" by HOCKEY NIGHT: While the band's name fails to pop up in the lyrics, I think the influence here is pretty obvious, especially if you've listened to the songs I've posted so far. There's even a double lead guitar solo to cap it all off.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

- Check out the Thin Lizzy Guide for tons more information on the band, including singles charts and some fantastic, rare photos and memorabilia.
- The story of Lizzy over at Classic Bands, including the trivia nugget that Lizzy was started by two former members of Van Morrison's THEM.
- More TL info, including an insanely detailed gig list, over at Rock Legend.

THIN LIZZY week starts now!

2006-10-02T18:54:00.000-05:00

Tonight, apropos of nothing in particular, I'm beginning a weeklong series of posts about legendary classic rockers THIN LIZZY. Lizzy has always been one of those bands that gets pigeonholed in the category of hard rock. While they covered a whole range of songs, from rockers to ballads and even hints of folk (their version of the Irish folk song "Whiskey in the Jar" was a minor hit for them in America), they seem to have been gradually written off in the years since they broke up and lead singer/bassist Phil Lynott died at the age of 35.

I didn't become a real fan of Thin Lizzy until a few years ago, when I caught their single "Jailbreak" in some movie on cable. I bought a copy of their hit album Jailbreak a few weeks later and fell in love with Lynott's Springsteen-esque songwriting and the band's innovative use of dual lead guitars. Around that same time, I made friends with a neighbor named Shane who was absolutely obsessed with the band. Soon I was taking in listenings of Johnny the Fox and Live and Dangerous. I was converted.

For the doubters out there, I hope this series of posts can help enlighten you a little and maybe steer you toward a band you may have only thought was a punchline a la Spinal Tap. By Saturday or Sunday, I'll have posted enough tracks for a do-it-yourself mix CD. Collect 'em all, put them on plastic and pop them in your car's CD player. Turn this shit up loud and hit the road. That's the only way to listen to Thin Lizzy.

"The Farmer": If I'm not mistaken, this was the band's first single, released on 7" in 1971. At the time, the band was just a trio, so that trademark dual guitar thing hadn't happened yet. Not sure who is playing piano here.

"Emerald": Now there is that double lead guitar thing I was talking about. These aren't just dual guitars; they're dueling guitars! Plus, you've got a song about Irish cities ablaze, dead in the streets and pirates and plunderers running amok. Even better than this is the live version of "Emerald" from the Live and Dangerous album. Cock rock at its finest.

"Black Boys on the Corner": Beyond Jimi Hendrix and maybe LOVE's Arthur Lee, there weren't a lot of black lead singers in the rock world in the late 60s and early 70s. Phil Lynott was one of those exceptions, and he often wrote songs from that kind of an outsider's perspective. "Black Boys" is easily one of my favorite Lizzy songs, from Lynott's howling vocals to that incredible off kilter guitar line that carries the verses. To steal a quote from an old Eddie Murphy movie, "That is a stone groove, my man!"

"Romeo and the Lonely Girl": Back when I discovered Jailbreak, this was the first song to jump out at me as being stylistically different than what I was expecting from Thin Lizzy. It's not exactly a ballad, but it's a sweet little song about a great looking guy who couldn't even trust his friends. I think the stretch of rhyming "Romeo" and "sittin' all on his own-e-oh" is a pretty adoreable stretch for a "hard rock" band.

"Little Girl in Bloom": I'm closing out tonight with one of Thin Lizzy's best ballads, a song told from the perspective of a young pregnant girl's fears about her secret and her world closing in on her. There's just something about the way this song starts, with the drone of feedback and the ominous bassline, that gets under your skin. If you can't get into this song, you're not going to get into Thin Lizzy.

---

Stay tuned this week for more Lizzy. Many thanks to my friend Mike for sourcing me some of the great material I'll be sharing with you.

Quick post: "The Crane Wife"

2006-09-09T23:33:00.000-05:00

I don't have time for finding the right picture or the right title for tonight's post. I'm at work, enjoying a few minutes of down time, so I'm going to make this as quick and painful as possible for everyone.

This isn't breaking news, and you can probably find this song on dozens of music blogs at this point. I myself found it on one of my weekly blog hunts, but unfortunately can't remember who posted it so I can give a proper citation.

All I know is this: "The Crane Wife (1 and 2)" is from the upcoming DECEMBERISTS album of the same name, and this track is a stunner.

The only thing perplexing me is why these two songs are combined into one track. I understand the continuity of it and how both songs are part of a whole story. It's a retelling of an old folk tale about a man who nurses a crane back to health, and who is rewarded when that swan comes back to him in the form of a beautiful bride. His eventual greed makes her return to her form as a crane and fly away forever. It's all summed up in this Wikipedia Entry on the upcoming record.

Like I was saying, they tell the whole story but the two don't exactly segue into each other the way another similarly lengthy but ultimately fantastic Decemberists' song, "California One/Youth and Beauty Brigade" does. I guess I'd just rather see these as two separate tracks, but who am I to say what works?

While The Crane Wife doesn't hit stores for another month, the album leaked onto the web a few weeks ago. While I've read several rave reviews of the record, I've avoided pursuing any other material so I can have fresh ears when I buy the album for myself.

For now, enjoy:
"The Crane Wife 1 and 2"

In addition to "CW" and the aforementioned "California," here are a few other fave Decemberists tracks from past releases:
"I Don't Mind"
"Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect"
"Shanty for the Arethusa"

Watching the Sunset with FLUX CAPACITOR

2006-08-25T23:51:00.000-05:00

Just a short, somewhat nostalgic post from me tonight. It may only mean something to one other person out there, but I think it's worth it, regardless.

I was goofing off with my MySpace profile about two weeks ago (yes, I'm a grown man with a MySpace profile), and I decided to add an old DJ Shadow song from Endtroducing as the music on my page. My old friend Olivia -- who sat next to me back at my first post-collegiate job, doing peon work for a major magazine which shall remain nameless out of spite -- wrote me a note not long afterward, talking about how the song reminded her of that job and our shared love of music that brought us together in that hellhole of an office.

I made Olivia a shitload of mixes in the year and a half we worked together (a tradition I try to continue to this day). It was years before I had the technology to burn CDs, so for years I inundated her with good old fashioned cassette tapes. Some were good, some were blah, and some (if I may toot my own horn) bordered on the sublime.

I'm not sure how many of those tapes live on at this point. Some were probably lost, while others died the inevitable death of the mix tape. In a cheesy way, all that remains is sometimes the effect that a song or series of songs, paired with the time and place they were heard, have on the listener. Which is probably why that DJ Shadow song made Olivia think about our old job, her old car and the misery/joy we felt almost a decade ago.

In a way, tonight's post is another little reminder for Olivia and myself. Back to a time when I lived in my brother's house in Delaware and she in her father's home in Pennsylvania. Back when we made exodus after exodus into the city of Philadelphia. Back when I made mix tapes, meticulously poring over track lengths and musical compatibility, long before you could just swap tracks around in iTunes until you found the best segues.

Tonight's two songs appeared on sides A and B of one of those tapes. They're from a little known Delaware band called FLUX CAPACITOR. I originally found them as the A/B sides on a 7-inch single in a Delaware record store. I liked the song titles (sometimes that's all it takes) and, as a newbie to the state of DE, wanted to try and support any local music scene I could find.

Luckily, Olivia loved the songs as much as I did. I think she even had a thing for one of the guys in the band, but we won't go into that.

Olivia, happy birthday. I'm sorry I couldn't be there to celebrate with you, but I want you to know I'm always thinking of you. Maybe the rest of you won't like these, but I know they meant something to someone. Enjoy:

"Watching the Sunset for the Last Time on Earth"

"This is What the Girl's Been Through"

FOR MORE:
- If you ever find yourself in Delaware, wondering what to do after you've just uttered that one line from Wayne's World, check out Bert's Music on Route 202 in Wilmington. It's a small but incredible store that took many a paycheck out of my hands.

The return of the Tweedy 100

2006-08-21T05:00:00.000-05:00

About fucking time, right?

It has been nearly five months since I dropped Volume 1 of my 100 favorite Jeff Tweedy songs on all 14 of my readers. I'm sure half a dozen of you were beginning to wonder if I was ever going to continue the task. Well, fear not, fellow readers (Mom, Dad, that guy from high school who still wants to kill me), the list is back. I'm still hoping to get this completed by year's end, so expect a few more of these in the coming months.

For now:

THE JEFF TWEEDY 100 - Volume 2

"I Am Trying to Break Your Heart" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: You've all probably heard the story by now. If you haven't, it's well documented in a documentary with the same title as this song. When the executives at Wilco's record label, Reprise, heard the somewhat experimental material on YHF, they pretty much lost their shit. Here was this band that they'd hoped to market as the next Wallflowers turning in a record full of hushed vocals (aside from maybe Tweedy's yelling "Disposable Dixie Cub drinker. . . " here), dark, introspective lyrics and elongated bursts of static and dissonance. The label dropped them like a hot potato, and the rest is history. Sometimes when I hear this song, I like to think about the looks on those executives faces. How do you market this, especially when you consider the state of radio and of popular music in general? Luckily for Wilco, their new record label (which wound up being a subsidiary of the label that dropped them in the first place) found a way (HINT: the Internet and great reviews), resulting in the band's highest charting album at the time.

While the aforementioned documentary follows the ejection of multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett from the band, filming began just after Wilco had fired their original drummer, Ken Coomer. The story goes that Tweedy saw the band heading in a new direction and didn't feel like Coomer's more straightforward style of rock drumming fit the band anymore. Decide for yourself by listening to Coomer's drumming on this demo version of the song, and comparing it to new drummer Glenn Kotche's work on the album track or this live version from Wilco's live album, Kicking Television.

"Outta Mind (Outta Sight)" / "Outtasite (Outtasight).mp3" fromBeing There: These two songs appeared singularly on each disc of the double album Being There (the title is a reference to the Peter Sellers movie). Tweedy intended both discs to feel like separate albums, going so far as to sacrifice thousands of dollars in royalties to cover the extra packaging costs. I think it's kind of interesting that these songs are almost meta-songs. Both versions are sort of the template for the kind of sound they're paying homage to, whether it's the former's nod to the Beach Boys and Phil Spector or the latter's country rock spin on the Faces. Plus, I've always liked the idea that there doesn't have to be one definitive version of a song.

"Black Eye" from March 16-20, 1992: God knows I luvs me a good sad song, and this one is as bleak as they come. It's unbelievable how much John Keane, the session guitarist who is picking the guitar in your right ear (if you're wearing headphones), adds to this song.

"We've Been Had" from Anodyne: One of the few Uncle Tupelo songs that still finds its way into Wilco's setlists, "We've Been Had" is rumored to be about an uncomfortable encounter Jeff Tweedy had with one of his rock idols, Paul Westerberg. True or not, it's still a great song about the disappointment that comes with being able to see behind the curtain of something or someone you once saw as infallible. The fact that this song appears on Uncle Tupelo's swan song, a record packed with allusions to the band's inevitable break-up, is telling. "Every star that shines in the back of your mind is just waiting for its cover to be blown."

"I'm Always in Love" from Summerteeth: Has anyone used this title as their blog name yet? It was on the short list of names for what you read here, and I've always thought the title would be great for my headstone. Hands down one of my favorite songs, and not just by Wilco. I know it's bizarre, but that high pitched Moog-y keyboard thing hits me between the eyes like those crazy noises you find in Public Enemy songs. It's songs like this one that remind me of how great Ken Coomer and Jay Bennett were. I guarantee you a lot of the Elvis Costello influence you hear on this record comes from Bennett's general direction. "When I fold the cold in my jet-lagged palm / and I soak so long I forget my mother," is a fantastic couple of images. Here's Jeff performing the song live at Chicago's now defunct Lounge Ax.

"Please Tell My Brother" from Weird Tales: While we're on the subject of headstones, why not play this song at the funeral? The first time I heard this track, I wept like a goddamned baby and probably played it on Repeat another dozen spins. "Please Tell My Brother" is from Golden Smog, a side-project/collaboration Tweedy shares with members of The Jayhawks, Big Star, Soul Asylum and others. The band just released its third record, and I have absolutely no idea why I haven't bought it yet. As a little bonus, check out Tweedy and Gary Louris performing the song live. Sorry about the chatter at the end.

"Muzzle of Bees" from A Ghost is Born: I have a real hard time not declaring this song my favorite in the Wilco/Uncle Tupelo/Tweedy discography. I was going to save this for the last of these lists, but I just couldn't resist putting it out here as soon as possible. It's a magnificent, delicate piece of songwriting, with some incredible lyrics. Some favorites: "When dogs laugh some say they're barking / I don't think they're mean," or "The sun gets passed from sea to sea, silently, and back to me." And, oh, that guitar solo. It only gets better in concert.

"Walken": Currently only making appearances at Wilco concerts, Walken has already made its way into the 100. I can only assume this will pop up on the next Wilco album. For now, you'll have to make do with this recent live performance from Toronto's Massey Hall. Play this as loud as possible.

"Airline to Heaven" from Mermaid Avenue Volume 2" / "Airline to Heaven" from the soundtrack to Jesus' Son: While not solely a Jeff Tweedy song (the lyrics, like all the lyrics on the two Mermaid Avenue albums, are unreleased writings by Woody Guthrie), I think it's fair to treat these songs as collaborations in the same vein of Golden Smog or Loose Fur. In this case, the songwriting partner just happens to be one of the greatest songwriters of the 20th century. And dead. Here's a link to an interview with Guthrie's granddaughter, where she discusses the making of the two Mermaid albums, where Wilco collaborated with Billy Bragg.

"Dash 7" from A.M.: Probably the most solemn and mournful song about having a terrible flight in recent memory. Almost singlehandedly made lap steel one of my favorite instruments.

Anyone out there know how I might retrieve the html for my first Tweedy posting back in March? I just made an error in Blogger and wiped out the copy for that with this posting. Any help would be appreciated.

Image by Miya Masaoka

The boys and girls of summer. . .

2006-07-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

This summer is going by with the quickness. It's hard for me to believe that the event I've been basing the whole summer on -- next weekend's Lollapalooza concert in Chicago -- is just around the corner. Since it's the only real vacation I've planned, it kind of bums me out that, considering how fast the rest of this season has gone by, it will soon be over.

I have mixed emotions about summer. While I have great memories of family road trips to the East Coast and endless days at Elmwood Pool in Omaha, I've really come to dread the heat and excessive humidity. Sitting on the back porch this afternoon in 101 degree heat, I have to say I'm excited at the prospect of Fall rolling through town.

That didn't stop me from coming up with a mix to help get through this sweaty, chlorine-drenched, sand-infested, sunburned, fighting-with-your-brothers-in-the-back-seat final month of summer.

PIMPS of SUMMER

1. "Summer is Coming" by MATT POND PA: How could I start things out any other way?
2. "Fun Fair" by TAHITI 80: I spent many a hot, broke summer afternoon walking around the streets of Chicago listening to this ode to the joys of the theme park. When I was a kid, there was a place right in the middle of Omaha called Peony Park where you went to get your theme park kick. That place is long gone now.
3. "Oslo in the Summertime" by OF MONTREAL
4. "July, July!" by THE DECEMBERISTS
5. "Summer" by MODEST MOUSE: For some reason, the part where Isaac Brock gets a page on his beeper always puts a smile on my face. I think it's the gangsta way he says, "Damn, who's paging me now?." It's nice to hear indie rock getting mindless and fun like this every now and then.
6. "California Sun" by RAMONES
7. "Surf Wax America" by WEEZER: Probably one of a handful of songs from Weezer's debut album that stand up after all these years. It also makes me want to surf, although doing so would require me to overcome my near crippling fear of sharks.
8. "Wouldn't it be Nice" by THE BEACH BOYS: You can't make a summer mix without them. It's an actual law.
9. "California" by THE WEDDING PRESENT
10. "Summer Babe (Live)" by PAVEMENT
11. "Summertime Blues (Live)" by THE WHO
12. "California Waiting" by KINGS OF LEON: This is the far superior version found on the Holy Roller Novocaine EP.
13. "Another Sunny Day" by BELLE AND SEBASTIAN
14. "The Swimming Song" by LOUDON WAINWRIGHT: Yeah, I've posted this one before.
15. "Summer Teeth" by WILCO: In case you're wondering, yes, this one does count toward my TWEEDY 100. For those keeping score, this is #11. I had a friend in Philadelphia who was obsessed with the Grateful Dead and was having trouble finding a new band to love. This song, and the album of the same title, won him over and he has been a devoted fan ever since.
16. "Wishlist" by PEARL JAM: This may not be an obvious summer jam to a lot of people, but it makes me think of driving around on Missouri highways during late summer nights while in college. There's a great Dire Straits-esque guitar solo, an E Bow, and that nice touch of the song fading out just as Vedder sings that final verse, "I wish I was a radio song, the one that you turned up. . ."
17. "Once Upon a Summertime" by ASTRUD GILBERTO: Summer ain't just fun and games, kids.
18. "Cabezon" by RED HOUSE PAINTERS: Probably the happiest song these guys ever wrote. It doesn't hurt that there are no lyrics. It's kind of cool when I consider that I had a group of friends who would actually enjoy when this song came on during a road trip. It became so beloved by our little circle that it could actually be used to break tension or change the mood at the drop of a hat.

The best songs in the world. At this moment. To me alone.

2006-07-17T20:48:00.000-05:00

"Down Home Girl" by THE COASTERS: I had no idea when I started putting this post together that Tuwa's Shanty had their own post going about the Alvin Robinson version of this song. His post pretty much nails everything I love about this song, too, so you might as well head over there to download their track. The first time I ever heard any rendition of this Butler/Leiber song was on THE ROLLING STONES' cover-filled Now LP. The Stones' version is sexy, but The Coasters just lay the mack down on this mother. (BONUS TRACK: "Down Home Girl" by OLD CROW MEDICINE SHOW)

"Jealous Guy" by DONNY HATHAWAY: God bless you, Soul Sides. I can't imagine living my life without hearing this song, and I owe it all to Oliver Wang's blog, and more specifically, the awesome CD of funk and soul gems he curated. I wish I could put out my own album, if only in the hopes I could introduce a song to someone that could move them as much as Hathaway's cover of John Lennon's classic has moved me.

"Incinerate" by SONIC YOUTH: Bloggers have been all over this song for a while now, but I don't care -- this song is just gorgeous and encapsulates everything great about one of my favorite bands. Listening to this you can hear all of the influence these guys have had, on bands like the Smashing Pumpkins, The Pixies, Yo La Tengo, 18th Dye and more. While I enjoyed Sonic Youth's past couple of albums, I really think their new record, Rather Ripped, is exceptional and up there with some of their best albums (Sister, Daydream Nation, Goo, etc.. (BONUS TRACK: A 1988 Peel session from Sonic Youth, where they cover The Fall's "Rouche Rumble")

"For Your Information" by THE CEDARS: Please, God, tell me someone out there can tell me more about the Cedars. What I've learned, I got from a fantastic blog called Little Hits. Everyone I have played this song for has been stunned to find out that these guys were from Lebanon. This song, from 1967, was a huge hit. . . in Turkey. It's a damn shame they never blew up worldwide, because this is the coolest blend of the Middle East and Western pop music I've ever heard, and that includes "Norwegian Wood."

"Lloyd, I'm Ready to be Heartbroken" by CAMERA OBSCURA: It's a fact -- I'm a huge sucker for a girl with a quirky accent, and Camera Obscura's Tracyanne Campbell has a great sexy, Scottish one that turns words like "down" into something that sounds like "doyne." This track is a mini-masterpiece, with soaring strings, a church organ and percussion straight out of a Phil Spector tune. (BONUS TRACK: "Teenager" by CAMERA OBSCURA)

"Quiet Town" by JOSH ROUSE: I've confessed previously to my guilty love of Josh Rouse's pitch perfect brand of lite-rock. Yacht Rock be damned, this guy is just plain SMOOOOTH. "Quiet Town" is from Rouse's newest album, Subtitulo, an album dedicated to Rouse's newfound home in Spain. (BONUS TRACK: Here's a repost of one of my favorite Rouse songs, the imitation Smiths-y-ness of "Winter in the Hamptons")

Pimps of Gore is back, bitches.

COMING (BACK) SOON

2006-06-19T00:17:00.000-05:00

I just moved to a new apartment and we're still working on getting the Internet up and running. I've been in the midst of moving stress for about a week now, so that's why you haven't heard word one from me since my Eux Autres show.

I'll be back in a big way in the next few days. Expect the second in my JEFF TWEEDY 100 series to follow shortly. . .

Thanks for sticking with me.

Hitting the reuxd with EUX AUTRES

2006-06-10T12:53:00.000-05:00

If there were some sort of standard for journalistic ethics in the world of blogging, I guess I'd have to offer this up as some sort of disclosure about tonight's post: I have met Nicholas Larimer, 1/2 of the Portland (via Omaha) duo EUX AUTRES, and gotten along quite well with him. My brother went to high school with the other half of the band, Nick's sister Heather. I'm good friends with the guy who will be selling their merch on the band's tour. He is the reason I ever got to hear their debut album Hell is Eux Autres, which was just re-released with new artwork and lyrics last week.

There, it's out in the open. Now I can pimp them without an ounce of guilt.

I want you to believe me when I say that I wouldn't be pimping Eux Autres if I didn't love their music. I know a lot of people in bands, and you never see me writing about them here. There's a reason for that, and it's the fact that I won't use this site to be a shill for something in which I don't believe.

It took just one listen to the debut album to hook me. I was working at a record store with my friend Mike, the aforementioned merchwhore, when he said the dreaded words that no music fan really wants to hear: "I want to play you a CD of my friend's band." If you've ever been put in a similarly uncomfortable position, you know what normally follows: the CD usually sucks in a myriad of agonizing ways, and you're left to stand there, trying to look interested without trying to look patronizing.

Luckily, Hell is Eux Autres immediately jumped out at me, full of great harmonies, simple songs, and my favorite: lots of hand claps. It's hard to describe without sounding a little silly, but it's basically French pop that has seen one too many Portland rainshowers. It clocks in at a half hour, the perfect length for a debut, and the perfect size for a listener to digest in one sitting and still remember the hooks and choruses that made it so enjoyable. It doesn't overstay its welcome; it leaves you wanting more.

Here are two tracks:

"Ecoutez Bien"
"Salut Les Copins"

The album should be available at fine record stores across the country, and available for download on iTunes.

My main motivation for writing this, though, is to get my readers out there to support the band on their most current tour, which should be rolling near your town soon. For my friends in Chicago, Omaha and Philadelphia (where the band will be playing my favorite bar in the city, The Standard Tap) I implore you to see these cats. They put on a great, fun show and have been known to throw in the occasional awesome cover (drummer/vocalist Heather is also in a Portland-based all female Bee Gees cover band called the Shee Bee Gees). Plus, just look at them. They're adoreable. Buy them a drink or some dinner (reading their tour blog makes my stomach hurt at the thought of so much fast food) and tell them (or at least their merch guy) that I sent you.

EUX AUTRES TOUR DATES:
- Mon 12 : Omaha, NE - The Goofy Foot
- Tues 13 : St. Paul, MN - Big V's
- Wed 14 : Chicago, IL - Schubas
- Thurs 15 : Hamilton, ON - Casbah Lounge
- Fri 16 : Toronto, ON - Rancho Relaxo
- Sat 17 : Montreal, QC - L'Escogriffe
- Mon 19 : Buffalo, NY - Soundlab
- Wed 21 : Philadelphia - The Standard Tap
- Thurs 22 : New York, NY - Pianos

FOR MORE ON EUX AUTRES
- Here's an interview from an Omaha weekly paper.
- Keep up on the band's tour through their humorous tour blog
- A fan-made rudimentary animated video for "Ecoutez Bien"

Too late to water Mayflowers?

2006-05-30T22:33:00.000-05:00

If my readership were a plant in my apartment, I would have forgotten to water it for a long, long time. It would probably look almost dead at this point. If it could speak, it might say, "Kill me."

For those of you who may have stuck around, my apologies. This has been a busy month, and it all culminated in this DJ gig I had over the weekend, playing music for a 10 year high school reunion. DJing a high school reunion is a strange assignment, at least to me. Especially for the year 1996. Good luck trying to find music that everyone can agree on for that year. I think the only stuff I could have played that would have satisfied almost everyone was Beck. . . and maybe Snoop Doggy Dogg? I know, stuff like DJ Shadow's debut came out that year, but do you remember the people you went to high school with? You were lucky if you had 2 other people who knew about DJ Shadow.

I toiled for weeks on coming up with a set list that wouldn't get me beat up. I scoured for crowd pleasers and hits, all the while trying to still maintain some dignity as someone who never wanted to be anything like a professional DJ, always having to reach sheepishly into that embarassing bag of tricks for "The Electric Slide" or "Brown Eyed Girl."

When the time for the big show finally came, I gave up and actually just decided to play shit that I wanted to play. I figured I'd just ride the guise of looking like a hired pro up until the point when people realized they hadn't heard a hit song in over an hour. Then, I figured I'd get punched in the face, so I could close up shop and leave early while still getting paid. For the most part, it went really well. Whenever you DJ there will always be a few people who you know will become problematic after they get a few drinks in them. First they come up cheering you because you're playing something that Vanilla Ice sampled. Then they ask if you do weddings. Then, the alcohol really kicks in and they're telling you that you suck because you don't actually have any Vanilla Ice. (This actually happened, punctuated by "What kind of DJ doesn't have Vanilla Ice?!" I gave the guy two middle fingers and hoped he wouldn't give me a concussion.)

I walked away unscathed from the whole ordeal, and was able to pay for a mixer with the money I made. I'd better start downloading "The Electric Slide" now!

In the midst of all this past month's business, I had a request from a friend (hi "Sal") to help her put together a mix to be played at her friend's (hi Anne-Marie!) wedding shower. Here I was on a Saturday afternoon, trying to figure out what a bunch of high school nostalgists wanted to hear during their party, and now I was being called in to think about marriage songs. It was going to be played during the party and then given away as a parting gift to everyone there. All age groups were represented, which made things extra odd for me. What kind of indie rock do you think your grandmother would like? Oh, and I've never met the person for whom the mix was made. Tall order.

All my worrying was apparently for naught. The mix was a hit and as it turns out, grandmothers have no problem digesting The Zombies. Tonight I'm posting the mix, in order. Regular readers (they're all gone now, right?) will probably notice that a lot of these songs have appeared on Pimps of Gore in the past year. Consider this a sort of "greatest hits" album, then. Pick up some of the songs you may have missed, and enjoy a couple of new ones in the bunch.

And congrats, Anne Marie. I was happy to help.

MAYFLOWERS/WEDDING SHOWERS

1. "Baby" by Caetano Veloso and Gal Costa
2. "Mushaboom" by Feist
3. "I Want to Hold Your Hand" by Al Green
4. "So Fine" by Ike and Tina Turner
5. "A Certain Girl" by The Yardbirds
6. "Everyday" by Rogue Wave
7. "A History of Lovers" by Iron and Wine/Calexico
8. "I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight" by Richard and Linda Thompson
9. "Marriage is for Old Folks" by Nina Simone
10. "The Lengths" by The Black Keys
11. "This Will be Our Year" by The Zombies
12. "In a Funny Way" by Mercury Rev
13. "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" by Sandie Shaw
14. "Sneakin Up On You" by Peggy Lee
15. "A Natural Man" by Lou Rawls
16. "Sunshine of Your Love" by Ella Fitzgerald
17. "Bring it On Home to Me" by Sam Cooke
18. "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" by The Postal Service
19. "The Book Of Love" by Now It's Overhead
20. "When You Love Somebody" by Fruit Bats

And yes, I did realize that I put music from two divorced couples (Ike & Tina/Richard & Linda), and several break-up songs on the mix. You've got to have a sense of humor, right?

Forever NEIL YOUNG

2006-05-11T20:16:00.000-05:00

In the time it has taken me between writing my last post on Pimps of Gore and this current post, NEIL YOUNG could have recorded at least two records. Of course, that's if he was keeping the pace he kept while creating his new album, Living With War, which he recorded in a matter of days and released to the world only a few weeks after completing it.

It's pretty rare that musicians make such truly artistic statements these days. Even if they wanted to speak out about the war or the government the way Young has on his new record, they're usually held up by the folks in marketing, or their managers or the people at their record labels. But when Neil Young shows up at your office with 10 blistering, angry and triumphant new songs -- in the wake of his recently released acoustic album and a performance film, no less -- you make the smart move and release them.

Young has been releasing albums on an almost annual basis (sometimes even two or three a year!) since he began his solo career after leaving Buffalo Springfield in the late '60s. While he suffered a brain aneurysm during the recording of last year's Prairie Wind, the near-death experience only seemed to make his work that much more urgent and poignant.

I have only listened to the new album twice, so I won't go into my opinions too deeply beyond the fact that it's great to hear a record where the immediacy of the message and the artist's need to speak out are in such plain view. Living With War is a raw record, but that doesn't mean it lacks songcraft or production value. This is a record about a moment in time, and luckily for us, that time is right now.

Tonight I'm giving you a sneak preview of the new album, along with a handful of my favorite Neil tracks, many of which I feel have been overlooked in the midst of his huge catalogue. Also, enjoy a few vastly different Neil covers as a bonus.

Neil, this note's for you:

"After the Garden" from Living With War: This is the opening track on the new album. I love that even though this record was recorded in a few days, Neil still took the time to employ an entire choir of backing vocalists on almost every song.

"Don't Cry" from Freedom: A goddamned barnburner from the album that got me into Neil Young when I was 12 or 13 years old and saw the video for "Keep on Rockin in the Free World" on MTV. It wasn't until that song that I realized how much this seemingly ancient man really rocked, but "Don't Cry" was the album track that made me realize that this guy was the gateway drug that would lead me into the really hard shit like Sonic Youth and Fugazi. Listen to that guitar explode!

"Helpless" from THE BAND's The Last Waltz: Here Neil performs one of his most heartbreaking songs with the help of The Band and Joni Mitchell. While some people dismiss it, I think The Last Waltz is one of the greatest rock concert movies of all time, for both its flaws and its successes. The movie's greatest effect is putting the viewing audience up on stage with the band, and not just out in the crowd. This microscopic perspective did lead to one hilarious story: While performing with the Band, Neil Young had a chunk of cocaine so large in his nostril that director Martin Scorcese had to delay its release while he used a technique called Rotoscoping (costing Band leader Robbie Robertson thousands of dollars) to remove the evidence behind the drug fueled performance. In the commentary track on the DVD, Robertson calls it "the most expensive cocaine I ever bought."

"Everybody Knows This is Nowhere" from the album of the same name: While this track comes from Neil's second solo album, it was his first record with his now legendary backing band, Crazy Horse. The album featured the hits "Cinnamon Girl" and "Down by the River," but for me, as a kid from Omaha Nebraska, this song really hits close to home. I could listen to this song on a loop for an hour and not get tired of those off kilter guitar stops and those "la-la-la, la-la-la-la's" that follow the great chorus, "I've gotta get away from this day to day running around / Everybody knows, this is nowhere."

"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" from After the Gold Rush: Okay, so Gold Rush isn't exactly overlooked (it's almost unanimously praised as one of Young's best records). "Only Love" was released as a single and made it to #33 on the pop charts in 1970, but you don't hear it on classic rock radio at all these days, and that's a damn shame.

"Lookout Joe" from Tonight's the Night: After the overdoses of two of Young's closest friends, roadie Bruce Berry and Crazy Horse Guitarist Danny Whitten, Neil Young made one of his most painfully honest records to deal with his loss. His record label balked over releasing the album for almost two years. I personally didn't discover Tonight's the Night until a couple of years ago, but I was floored when I heard it, especially "Lookout Joe."

"I'm the Ocean" from Mirrorball: I think it's fairly safe to say that Neil Young experienced a bit of a comeback in the early 1990s because of his friends in Pearl Jam, who acted as his backing band on 1995's Mirrorball. While Pearl Jam don't get in the way of Young's songwriting or sound, you might notice that the rhythm section on this record -- especially Jack Irons on drums -- chugs along a little more buoyantly than on most of Young's albums. Young would go on to return the favor by playing with Pearl Jam on their Merkinball EP, recorded at the same time as this album.

BONUS TRACKS!
"Only Love Can Break Your Heart" by Saint Etienne
"Down by the River" by Ken Boothe
"Harvest" by The Shins' James Mercer

TRIVIA: Neil Young's full name is Neil Percival Kenneth Robert Ragland Young.

BUILT TO SPILL: Perfect from Now & Then

2006-04-25T10:30:00.000-05:00

The release of the new BUILT TO SPILL album, You in Reverse, sort of snuck up on me. It wasn't until I stumbled on a Tower Records email where the megastore was peddling autographed copies as part of their pre-sale for the record that I remembered the band had been working on new material. Half a decade has passed since the band's last album, Ancient Melodies of the Future, a somewhat patchy record with a few great songs peppered throughout.

After a well-received and somewhat obligatory Live album and a decent if somewhat lightweight solo record from frontman/songwriter Doug Martsch, it seemed like there might never be another Built to Spill record. I've interviewed Martsch two times and both times he gave me the impression that he was the kind of guy who only did things if and when he feels like doing them. Around the time of the Live record, we discussed the possibility of that being his last album for Warner Brothers (contractually, it was). He was totally unconcerned.

Well, at least I can fret no more. Warner Brothers is behind You in Reverse, and I'm glad to see they're doing what big record labels rarely do these days: supporting a band with mid-level record sales and letting them cultivate their own fanbase and following. (Of course, WB dropped that same ball with Wilco. Maybe they learned a lesson?) I like the new album a lot, especially album opener "Goin' Against Your Mind", an 8-minute guitar workout that recalls the band's earlier material.

I still need some time to listen to the new album, so I'd rather spend today's post telling you about the Built to Spill album that had a truly profound effect on me, Perfect From Now On. Perfect was actually the band's major label debut for Warner Brothers, and if you've heard it, you can only imagine the looks on the label honcho's face when he found out that this massive, dark record full of way-too-long-for-radio existential epics is where their money went. Even the band's indie debut, which featured similarly lengthy material, was full of fun and sarcasm (not to mention a few catchy ditties). Their second album, There's Nothing Wrong With Love found Martsch crafting intricate guitar-pop like "Big Dipper" and "Distopian Dream Girl". Great lyrics ("If it came down to your life or mine / I'd do the stupid thing / and let you keep on living"), hooks and quirky little guitar parts galore. . . these are hit songs, the strength of which sold Warner Brothers on Doug Martsch and company.

I wonder if they had any idea where Martsch was going to take things next. I certainly didn't, and neither did the friend of mine who told me how disappointed he was with Perfect. I trusted his judgment and avoided hearing the record myself for at least another year. I remember shopping at a Border's one night and deciding that I liked Built to Spill enough to gamble on buying the album.

It immediately hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm sure part of it was some sort of bizarre combination of time, place and emotional state, but Perfect From Now On was like this Rorschach inkblot of my entire life at that point. It spoke to every concern I was having, every shortcoming and every fear, and the music was as huge to me as the importance of figuring these problems out.

Right off the bat, after an ominous musical build-up, the opening verse of "Randy Described Eternity" has Martsch's title character trying to put the concept of eternity and infinity into some sort of tangible context. "Every thousand years / this metal sphere / ten times the size of Jupiter / floats just a few yards past the Earth / You climb on your roof / and take a swipe at it / With a single feather / hit it once every thousand years / 'til you've worn it down / to the size of a pea / Yeah, I'd say that's a long time / but it's only half a blink / in the place you're gonna be." This is serious business.

The second track, "I Would Hurt a Fly," digs even deeper as Martsch explores the darker side of human nature and the effect of the past on the future. "There's a mean bone in my body," Martsch warns as the band churns around his seemingly harmless voice. "It's connected to the problems that I won't take for an answer." The album's third track, "Stop the Show," seems (again, these are all my own interpretations) to examine who people are and who they present themselves as to everyone around them. Then you've got "Made Up Dreams." It's more lyrically vague, letting you fill in a lot of the blanks (but don't miss one of the best lyrics on the record: "No one wants to hear what you dreamt about, unless you dreamt about them").

It's at about this point in Perfect that the music becomes less ominous and more intricate and exploratory, almost as if the "narrator" is getting older and wiser as the record moves on. Put your headphones on and get a little lost in "Velvet Waltz." "You cold called everybody / but you haven't sold anything" is a great summation of how I felt after graduating from college and found myself in my first shitty job. If you love Neil Young and Crazy Horse, you're going to love the places this song goes in the last couple of minutes.

What follows after that is, in my opinion, one of the greatest album endings in the history of rock. The next three songs, "Out of Site," "Kicked it in the Sun," and "Untrustable," build to this amazingly majestic, almost empowering climax that feels to me like this unholy combination of the end of Kubrick's 2001 and The Beatles Abbey Road. The former for how the songs hint in some way at this larger of redemption and the latter for how things keep piling on top of each other until it's one big cacophonous, glorious explosion.

Obviously I can't give you that whole chunk (really, just go buy the album!), but for now check out the album's penultimate song, "Kicked it in the Sun". Like the other tracks making up the finale, this one actually seems like two or three songs stitched together. I love how the relaxed lounginess of the first half gives way to the second half through a lyric: "It's all right now, I'm getting over / Getting mine." The drums speed up and the the guitars tear into a new rhythm, as Martsch's "lead character" seems to begin some sort of process of acceptance or healing. "Despite his expectations, he turned out mediocre / His master plan was so-so / We're special in other ways / Ways our mothers appreciate." As I worked my first shitty job, I had time to contemplate the meaning behind "That net does not make me feel safe / All those holes make me nervous" and its relation to my discovery that the stability of having a job is an unpleasant compromise to living life like you thought it should be lived. After the company I worked for laid off the entire staff and gave us all a copy of this goddamned Golden Parachute book about landing on your feet, that whole "net" thing really seemed painfully apt.

The closing song, "Untrustable/Pt. 2 (For Someone Else," might be my favorite on the record, but it just didn't feel right posting that song here because it's THAT fucking good. The band deserves your dollar for what they pull off there. It's a great ending to a truly brilliant record. I still feel like Perfect From Now On is criminally underlooked, but maybe that's just because it meant so much to me at such a strange point in my life. It is Built to Spill's masterpiece, in every definition of the word. It's, dare I say, perfect.

A FEW BONUS TRACKS!!
"Big Mouth Strikes Again" (This is a Smiths cover from Doug Martsch's earlier band, TREEPEOPLE.)
"Someday" (Built to Spill have been known to do the occasional timely cover in their set, whether mourning George Harrison's death by playing "What is Life?" or covering a Macy Grey song that was topping the charts at the time. Here they pay homage to the Strokes.)
"Now & Then" (A b-side from another fantastic album in the Built to Spill canon, Keep it Like a Secret, which featured great stuff like "Carry the Zero".

K-Dillie's Super Sounds of the 70s

2006-04-19T21:17:00.000-05:00

There's no denying it -- I'm a child of the 1970s. I grew up in an era where rollerskating and mini-golf were almost a way of life. Back when video games were about 20 times the size of today's computers, with 1/100,000th of the memory capacity. A time when skateboards were just a little larger than the size of a large adult foot, and seatbelts in cars were a recommendation, not a requirement. Go ask your moms: people didn't have baby seats back then. . . they just laid their kids down in the back seat and hoped for the best.

While every era in music has its cheese, from the corny stuff in the '50s to the hippy-dippy shit in the 60s to the Candleboxian "grunge" of the '90s, I seem to have a soft spot for the 70s stuff. In my last post, when discussing Grand Funk Railroad, I mentioned my love for a certain brand of 70s semi-bloated funky rock. A few readers agreed, and one even jokingly told me to come up with a Grand Funk 100.

As I said then, I don't think I could come up with a Grand Funk 10. Like a good deal of the bands I'm posting tonight, I wouldn't even say I'm a fan. I will say that I believe that most bands can surprise you with one or two great songs. Obviously there are more exceptions to my rule than I'd like to admit, but sometimes I'm wary to laugh about a band that might seem cheesey because I know that there's the slightest chance that they could meet my Grand Funk Principle: even a shitty band can pull of a great song, if the moon is right.

The 70s produced a lot of bad music, don't get me wrong. I wouldn't even be afraid to say that some of tonight's music is, in some way, bad. I just don't care. This stuff isn't brain surgery. This is the 70s stuff that was custom made for a few specific activities. Drinking in your backyard. Lighting a shitload of fireworks. Watching, or participating in, a roller derby. Driving fast, especially in a Camaro.

So crack a beer, strap on your skates and hit Random on this playlist. Oh, and wear some sweet ass short shorts.

"Hey Big Brother"
"I Just Want to Celebrate" by RARE EARTH: I mentioned Rare Earth's "I Just Want to Celebrate" in my previous post, but I foolishly failed to post the song. I remember growing up liking this song, and then deciding it sucked after hearing it one too many car commercials. It was David O. Russell's film Three Kings which reminded me of how cool it was after being used in the movie's opening credits. Eventually I broke down and bought a Best Of Rare Earth CD, where I discovered "Hey Big Brother," which has all the elements of my 70s Porno-Rock fetish: funky heavy guitars, tons of multi-tracked backing vocals, and squiggly keyboards or organs.

"Rave 'n' Rock" by DADDY MAXFIELD: While this one is more T.REXian than the rest of tonight's playlist, it's still totally porno and totally 70s. I honestly couldn't make you a rollerskating jams tape without this song, which I discovered with the help of one of my favorite blogs, Bubblegum Machine. Check that super sweet guitar solo. More bands need to ape Marc Bolan. Anyone actually own a Daddy Maxfield album? I don't know a thing about the guy.

"Roller"
"You Could Have Been a Lady" by APRIL WINE: Now this is some corny 1970s shit! Even the band name, like NAZARETH or BLUE OYSTER CULT, reeks of the era's corniness. Still, it rocks. Clock that THIN LIZZY-style dual guitar solo in the middle of "Roller." I've been known to drop my vinyl copy of "You Could Have Been a Lady" into my DJ set, and not exclusively because I find it so hilariously Canadian for a Canadian band to use the word "lady" in a rock song.

"Me and Baby Brother" by WAR: While originally a collaborating (they were formerly called Nightshift)/vehicle for Eric Burdon, former vocalist for THE ANIMALS, War struck out on their own after Burdon quit the band, citing exhaustion. This track, from their 1973 album Deliver the Word is pretty much better than anything they did with Burdon, and yes, that includes "Spill the Wine."

"Mr. Blue Sky"
"Telephone Line"
"Don't Bring Me Down" by ELECTRIC LIGHT ORCHESTRA: If forced to make a definitive statement on the matter, I'd have to say that "Don't Bring Me Down" might be my #1 Roller Skating Jam of All Time. Jeff Lynne, the king of overproduction, really goes all on that one, throwing in sythesizers, hand claps, and a wall of vocals. "Telephone Line" is riddled with melodrama, but it remains a favorite 70s ballad. It's like a great soul song that grew up in a disco but was born for a bowling alley. But when it comes to "Mr. Blue Sky," my tounge is decidedly OUT of cheek. It sounds like an outtake from a George Harrison record (Lynne would later produce one or two bad Harrison records). A little trivia for fans of 60s psychedelic rock: ELO formed from the remains of THE MOVE.

"Nothing is the Same"
"Shinin' On"
"Sin's a Good Man's Brother" by GRAND FUNK RAILROAD: And now for the band that motivated this whole 70s post tonight. While Grand Funk (the Railroad was optional after their third album) was responsible for some truly awful clunkers like "We're An American Band" (yes, even as an Omahan who recognizes that the band namechecked them in a song) and their cover of "The Loco-Motion," they still prove they can tear you a new asshole in songs like "Nothing is the Same" (which De La Soul would sample years later on Buhloone Mind State). The epic "Sin's a Good Man's Brother" also appeared on the same album as "Nothing," and it's the template for all good cock rock. "Shinin' On" is from a few years later and was produced by Todd Rundgren. A little more trivia: Frank Zappa produced a Grand Funk record, and the Butthole Surfers named the band dog, which toured everywhere with them, "Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad."

(PHOTO: Christian Patterson)

Tell your dad to get off my back. . .

2006-04-11T18:45:00.000-05:00

No time for dicking around tonight, as I'm laying around completely lazy as I enjoy the last day of a 5-day "vacation." I have an entire DVD of Undeclared episodes to catch up on, so I'm bringing you a quickie post full of covers (and in some cases, the original versions as well).

"Band of Gold" by the AFGHAN WHIGS: Let's get one thing right out in the open: the Whigs' Greg Dulli can not sing. He can howl and purge his soul with the best of them, but when it comes to hitting the notes in the technical sense, he's Exene Cervenka. In any other band it never would have worked, but the Whigs have a penchant for atonality. Those wiry guitar lines and droning feedback are the band's calling card(s), and they've rarely been as powerful as here, deconstructing and choking the perkiness out of this hit from Freda Payne. Diana Ross (CORRECTION: a sharp reader noted that this is the Freda Payne version I've posted, not the Ross version. . . I must now hunt down the Ross version and post it here when I find it) is the spurned lover, but Dulli is the dude sprawled out on his kitchen floor, covered in self-inflicted slash wounds and stinking of whiskey, surrounded by the shattered remains of his telephone.

"After the Gold Rush" by THOM YORKE: This is a live track from Radiohead singer Thom Yorke's appearance at a 2002 benefit for Neil Young's Bridge School. I've heard Radiohead cover a Neil Young song before (there's a live version of their "Cinnamon Girl" floating out there on the web), but after hearing this song, I won't be satisfied until the band does a whole album of Young covers. While he botches a lyric here and there, Yorke really nails the cracked, longing vocals in Neil's original song. The Flaming Lips once recorded a cover of this one.

"What'd I Say" by RARE EARTH: Anyone who has ever seen me DJ in Omaha can tell you that I have a shameless love for a certain brand of groovy 70s cock rock. I've been known to bust out the odd April Wine or Grand Funk track here and there, and I'll even come to the defense of Rare Earth, who had a big hit with "I Just Want to Celebrate." On "What'd I Say," these guys get their honkey funk groove all over the Ray Charles classic, which is pretty damn scorching in its own right.

"Jumpin' Jack Flash" by ALEX CHILTON: Yes, this is the Alex Chilton the Replacements were singing about. This raggedy cover comes from 1970, an album full of sessions Chilton recorded after the demise of his BOX TOPS (they had a hit with "The Letter" in 1967) but before the arrival of BIG STAR (they. . . didn't really have a hit). The album is a bit spotty in places, but there are a few great songs in there. Stones purists may hate the change in rhythm. I don't mind it a bit.

"Thirteen" by WILCO: Tying together a number of tangents in one song, here Jeff Tweedy pays tribute to the aforementioned Big Star by covering a gorgeous little song from their debut album and possible masterpiece, #1 Record. It's hard to believe the original Big Star version is almost 35 years old. I've heard some people complain that the thought of two guys writing a song about being thirteen and in love skeeves them out, but I just have to ignore their cynicism and enjoy the song for perfectly capturing how awkward and emotionally raw those days were. The recently unearthed version of "Thirteen" by ELLIOTT SMITH mirrors the Wilco version, making things a little more somber and unsure.

"Be Your Husband" by JEFF BUCKLEY: This Nina Simone cover is the opening track to the newly augmented double disc version of Jeff Buckley's debut EP, Live at Sin-e, and it's a great way to start the album because it's basically Buckley's soundcheck (the annoying guy asking for reverb is not Jeff), as he feels out the room and the microphone. Without ever touching an instrument, he hits almost every little nuance in Simone's "Be My Husband", right down to the grunts.

Rocking You with SHOCKING BLUE

2006-03-30T20:14:00.000-06:00

A couple of years ago, I worked as a writer and assistant editor for a short-lived magazine published by MacWorld called Playlist. One part of my job was to fact check the celebrity iPod playlists we ran in the magazine. . . you know, making sure the artist's name is spelled right, making sure the song even exists, etc. It was kind of fun, especially when I'd be looking over playlists from Jack White or Rufus Wainwright and discovering all kinds of new music in the process.

One artist whose list surprised me was one of the drunken louts in the group Jet. Included in his list was a shout out to a Dutch group called SHOCKING BLUE. While researching his pick, I discovered that this was the band who had a hit in the '60s with "Venus." His choice was a song called "Send Me a Postcard." After a little scouring of the web, I found the song and was immediately blown away. Psychedelic bubblegum pop in the vein of QUESTION MARK AND THE MYSTERIANS or THE CRAZY WORLD OF ARTHUR BROWN, but with deep, powerful female vocals from sexy frontwoman Mariska Veres. "Not bad taste for a guy from Jet," I thought.

Regardless of the fact that they were one hit wonders in the U.S., the pathetic entry on the group at AllMusic.com is still less than the Shocking Blue deserve. "They generated enough hits in enough parts of the world to warrant a compilation on Rhino Records" is hardly a ringing endorsement.

The group was around for quite a while, but the absolute best place to start is by getting At Home, the same album that "Venus" appears on. Tonight I'm posting my own homemade EP, which includes 3 songs from that album. For regular readers, I already posted "Love Buzz" once before. For new readers, that is the original version of the song that NIRVANA would eventually make semi-famous on thier Bleach album.

If you like what you hear, happy hunting for the rest:

1. "Send Me a Postcard"
2. "The Butterfly and I"
3. "Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind"
4. "Love Buzz"
5. "Hot Sand"

FOR MORE ON TONIGHT'S POST:
- Learn more about Shocking Blue than you will at AllMusic right here.
- Another Blue page
- Some info on lead vocalist Mariska
- Buy Shocking Blue music at Amazon.com

Falling on our own swords tonight. . .

2006-03-27T15:36:00.000-06:00

I've had a few requests in the past week that I start posting more. I agree, and would love to post here every day, but the logistics of my schedule just won't allow for that right now. I'm definitely shooting to post more than once a week, but sometimes when I think I'm shortchanging my readership, I remember "Oh, that first Jeff Tweedy post was 17 songs deep." There aren't a lot of blogs out there that slip you an entire CD of material over the course of a week, let alone in a single post.

Tonight's post will not fill a CD, but it will be a nice 12 minute distraction for you. Here are a few songs I've been obsessing over this week:

"Our Swords" by BAND OF HORSES: Sometimes I don't know how some bands have the self control to make a short little song out of a melody that I could listen to on repeat for hours. If you remember my post about the Talking Heads' "Thank You for Sending Me an Angel," you'll remember how I said that song loops almost seamlessly when you set your crossfade for a few seconds. This song by Seattle's Band of Horses works the same way. I can't speak for the rest of the album (I'm getting it later this afternoon from my local indie store), but the mixture of My Morning Jacket and Interpol gets under my skin.

"It Overtakes Me / The Stars Are So Big, I Am So Small. . . Do I Stand a Chance?" by THE FLAMING LIPS: The new Flaming Lips record is set for release in one week, and if you haven't already heard it, it is absolutely insane and brilliant. I'm so glad the band hasn't decided to ride the Soft Bulletin sound into the ground. Here, they're trying out all kinds of new sonic tricks, and leaving a few behind. The record sounds like a perfect mixture of the band's acid-casualty psychedelic rock with the more technological aspects of their later records. I chose "It Overtakes Me. . ." tonight because it's almost a microcosm of the entire record: fat, fuzzy guitars interrupted by moments of serenity. I just got tickets to this year's Lollapalooza festival, and I'm really looking forward to seeing this new material performed live.

"The Train From Kansas City" by THE SHANGRI-LAS: I was just reading someone's blog entry where they dissected an Interpol song and pointed out a precise moment that made the song genius. When thinking about this Shangri-Las song, that brilliant moment for me comes when one of the backing vocalists simulates a train whisle right before the group breaks into the chorus. The Shangri-Las are easily one of my favorite "girl groups" from the 60s, mostly because their songs combine that epic sound with such dark and sad subjet matter. "Kansas City" tells the story of a girl dreading the arrival of her boyfriend (via train, of course) because she has to dump him for another man. Other brilliant Shangri-Las songs include "Remember (Walking in the Sand)," "Out in the Streets" and "Leader of the Pack."

FOR MORE ON TONIGHT'S POST:
- Follow this Sub-Pop link for another Band of Horses download.
- Here's a great informative page about the Shangri-Las
- You could probably kill an hour of your life over at the Flaming Lips home page

100th Post = The Tweedy 100 v.1

2006-03-23T20:17:00.000-06:00

Tonight, after almost 15 months of running this blog, I've reached that fabled blog milestone: this is my 100th post. Now, I've been debating the logistics of this because I wrote one Pimps of Gore post last year that never "aired," on the merits of The Who's Live at Leeds. After uploading the tracks and doing most of the writing, I decided that pretty much no one in the world needs to be told that Leeds is one of the best live albums ever recorded. If you hadn't already heard that, you're hearing it now, so go check it out.

Besides, it's a much more romantic notion that I ring in my 100th post with the beginnings of my tribute to one of my favorite living songwriters, JEFF TWEEDY, currently of WILCO and formerly of UNCLE TUPELO. Much like I did with the GUIDED BY VOICES 100, I'm (hopefully) going to be able to do a series of posts throughout the rest of the year where I pick out my 100 favorite songs from Jeff's career and bore you endlessly with my own trivia, interpretations and extrapolations.

Just last night I just had the extreme pleasure of seeing Wilco again (I hadn't seen them since before A Ghost is Born was released) as they concluded their tour at the Val-Air Ballroom in Des Moines, Iowa. I've lost count at this point, but this show was anywhere between my 12th and 15th seeing the band, and easily one of their best performances. Many of the songs on tonight's list were performed at the show, so it was nice to get a kick in the pants from the concert to start publishing this list.

Like the GBV list, these songs are in no particular order of preference.

THE JEFF TWEEDY 100 - Volume 1

"At Least That's What You Said" from A Ghost is Born: While I realize that I just said that these songs are in no real order, if I were making you a Wilco/Tweedy mix, this would probably be the opening track no matter what. "ALTWYS" is also the opening track of Ghost, and it's a perfect starter for a record because it starts out as quiet as a whisper before exploding into a fantastic Neil Young and Crazy Horse guitar freakout. Plus, it's immediately off-putting and creepy, with lyrics that hint at an abusive relationship ("You're irresistable when you get mad" or "I thought it was cute / for you to kiss / my purple black eye / Even though I caught it from you").

"Sunken Treasure" from Being There: One of the two noisy epics from Wilco's second album (the other being "Misunderstood") which really started to hint at the more avant-garde direction the band wouldn't start heading into until the release of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot over half a decade later. This song was like a punch to my gut when I was a depressed college student who was gradually realizing what the real world was all about. "There is no sunken treasure / rumored to be / wrapped inside my ribs" is one hell of a heartbreaking lyric. "Music is my savior." I just recently saw Tweedy play a solo show in Lincoln, NE, and he opened with a solo version similar to this live take.

"Far, Far Away" from Being There: I'm only three songs in, but I'm beginning to realize that a lot of the songs I've picked for tonight's list are easily filed under B for Bummer. That's okay; I love a good bummer. "Far, Far Away," is no exception, telling the simple "story" of a man who feels like he's on the other side of the world from the one he loves. The "kiss and ride on the CTA" is a reference to train stops on the Chicago Transit Authority where there are spots for people to drop passengers off.

"Acuff-Rose" from UNCLE TUPELO's Anodyne: This is as country as it gets: a fiddle-laced country song about two of the greatest songwriters in the history of country music, Roy Acuff and Fred Rose. The two men started a publishing company together (hence the joining of their last names) and put together an incredible songbook that featured both their own works and songs from pioneers and geniuses like Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, the Louvin Brothers, the Everly Brothers and more. As Tweedy says in one of the songs most clever lyrics, "Name me a song that everybody knows / and I'll bet you it belongs to Acuff-Rose." The song is not only a tribute to the two men, but also to the power of song itself. "Everything cuts against the tide when I hear that side." I posted it once before, a long time ago, but here is a live version of "Acuff-Rose" from Uncle Tupelo's final concert in St. Louis.

"Cars Can't Escape" from ?: As far as I know, "Cars Can't Escape" has never had a commercial release, unless it popped up on a European single somewhere. I got my version directly from the Wilco website, WilcoWorld.net, in their Road Case section (which often features rare live recordings). The song has been around in various forms since 1999, and even appeared in a sparse, barren version on a bootleg collection of demos for the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot album under the name "Rhythm". "So I tap my glass and nod my chin / and wonder who you've been in rhythm with," is a far more poetic way to express the sentiment "I wonder who she's fucking now."

"Poor Places" from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot: This is one of those songs where I, as a fan, realized that Jeff Tweedy's songwriting - along with Wilco's production - was going places I hadn't really seen or heard before. It was also a song I never thought could be successfully pulled off in a live setting until a guitarist like Nels Cline and a drummer like Glen Kotche were added to the band. There are so many stellar moments in this song that I can't begin to list them all. Just listen for that great droning, fuzzy piano at the beginning, and that beautiful mystery instrument that pops in after the "Someone ties a bow in my backyard" line. You know in the movie American Beauty, where Ricky Fitts talks about how that plastic bag flying in the wind was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen? "Poor Places" (and another Wilco song not on tonight's list, "Muzzle of Bees") is my plastic bag. For a somewhat surprisingly different version, check out this upbeat demo of "Poor Places".

Handshake Drugs from the More Like the Moon EP: While the album version of "Handshake" can be found on A Ghost is Born, I have always preferred the version that appeared on the promotional EP released with the Australian version of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. I've always been a big fan of Wilco's bassist, John Stirrat, and his bassline on that EP version almost takes center stage. Wilco opened with this song the other night, and it was a great way to start the show and to let Nels Cline's guitar loose on the crowd. For a somewhat approximated effect, check out the live version from the band's recently released live record, Kicking Television.

"Via Chicago" from Summerteeth: Back when I lived in Philadelphia, I did acoustic shows at a coffeeshop near my apartment. A huge chunk of my material was Wilco/Tweedy/Uncle Tupelo related, and "Via Chicago" was one of the songs I loved playing. Tweedy's lyrics here immediately send a chill up your spine with the opening declaration that he "dreamed about killing you again last night / and it felt alright" to him. Summerteeth was a lyrical step forward for Tweedy, whose words on previous records were far more straightforward and less poetic. With phraseology like "crumbling ladder tears" and "the crush of veils and starlight," he enters more impressionistic, almost word-collage territory. Great use of harmonica here, as well. For the Wilco completist, here's a demo version.

"Wherever" from the re-release of Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne: If I'm not mistaken, "Wherever" was unreleased until the Tupelo albums were remastered with bonus tracks a couple of years ago. I had a poor-sounding bootleg of the track for a while, but never noticed how great of a song it was until I heard it on the remastered edition. Apparently, Wilco even performed this song live in its earliest setlists. I can't tell you why this didn't make the cut for Anodyne, but it's such a good album I couldn't begin to tell you what song to take off of it to put this in its place.

"Wait Up" from Uncle Tupelo's March 16-20, 1992: It may not seem that groundbreaking now, but March was a somewhat controversial album when it was released, disappointing the band's more punk rock following with a traditional folk album. Even I was admittedly put off at first, since I was a young teenager with a huge skepticism toward country music who had fallen for the band because of those aforementioned punk leanings. It wasn't long before I was sucked into the record, first by Jay Farrar's dark protest songs like and then by the more emotional, vulnerable Tweedy-sung tracks like "Wait Up." TRIVIA: March was recorded entirely live (the band would continue that tradition on Anodyne) and produced by R.E.M.'s Peter Buck between the days of. . . you guessed it. . . March 16th and the 20th, 1992.

FOR MORE:
- Find all kinds of crazy Wilco information, from song lyrics to setlists and more, at Wilco Base
- Wilco geeks abound over at ViaChicago.org
- Add Wilco World to your Favorites and check often for added shows, photos and Road Case material.
- Here's a Wired interview with Tweedy regarding his opinions on sharing music via the Internet. ("Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either.")

The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had.

2006-02-23T20:48:00.000-06:00

I owe thanks to either another blogger or an unsolicited email for helping me stumble across MESH's cover of an old Tears for Fears song called "Mad World." According to Mesh's bio over at CD Baby (where you can also buy his EP):

"Mesh is a native New Yorker graffiti artist born and raised in the heart of the city. Diverting his creative energies to music when illegal graffiti no longer became an option, Mesh attempts to paint with sound. Where letters as pictures fail, words and music suffice. Suffice it to say, Mesh is on a mission to merge all the experiences of his life into a succinct representative sonic output, therefore thus MESH, an outgrowth of growing up in New York City in an era with every class and kind of people on earth, and the unique experiences it brings."

The whole "paint with sound" thing would sound completely cheesey if it weren't an apt description of what is going on with his cover of "Mad World." It sounds like a mixture of James Brown, James Chance and A Certain Ratio, with maybe even a little of The Bomb Squad on the production end. I practically owe the guy royalties from playing it so many times in my weekly DJ shift. Good thing I can now find his stuff on the iTunes music store, so I can drop a dollar any time I see fit.

I actually love the original Tears for Fears version, an unexpectedly dark song from a band some people treat like a punchline when they talk about '80s music. What can I say, I have a soft spot for them. "Head Over Heels" is a great song. Their "Mad World" can be found on their 1983 debut, The Hurting.

"Mad World" was also covered in a vastly different way by Gary Jules on the soundtrack to Donnie Darko. Here's his version.

ARCTIC MONKEYS in a barrel. . .

2006-02-21T21:52:00.000-06:00

I know, I know. This is Internet Blog Post #1,000,000 about the crazily hyped Arctic Monkeys, whose debut album "Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not" finally reached our shores earlier today. If you haven't already seen a ton of press on these guys, then you're probably some friend or relative of mine and this is the only music blog you've ever read, and you're only doing it to humor me.

In my defense, I'm positive I posted about them as early as October of 2005 (even then I was running late on the bandwagon) and tried my hardest to stay out of the fray until now. It's a little ridiculous to gush about a band when you haven't heard their record, especially if you haven't even seen them in concert.

Finally, I have the record in my grubby little hands so I can have a qualified opinion. Since I have only owned it for about 3 hours, I won't make any definite statements beyond: "This is pretty kickass."

Check out some for yourself:

"A Certain Romance": The first Arctic Monkeys song I ever heard was the demo version of this song. That is a demo version, right? There are a lot of similarities, but a few things that sound off to me (the drums sound like they were recorded differently, for example. You might not notice the clever, postmodern lyrics the first few times you hear it because the song has such an obvious, great melody that it doesn't really need good lyrics. "There's only music so that there's new ringtones" is the best dis on the music industry I've heard in a long time.

"Perhaps Vampires Is a Bit Strong But. . .": I like when a band can pull of having good songs on the second "side" of their album. Most records tend to run out of steam after the first four or five songs because even the band knows they have to front-load that shit so you won't realize how lame the record is in the long run. I love both of Rogue Wave's albums for that same reason; they never run out of good songs.

"Seven": This one is a b-side from the "When the Sun Goes Down" single. I recently read an interview with Mick Jagger where he pimped the Arctic Monkeys, and I'm guessing he loves this song.

FOR MORE ON TONIGHT'S POST:
- The Monkeys' home page
- Listen to the whole album on their MySpace page
- The Brits know their hype: Arctic Monkeys have fastest selling debut in UK history