ShortWaveRockin

After Adam’s post about The Eternal I decided to go back and do a reverse chronological discography listen to all of the Sonic Youth albums, something I hadn’t done since the release of Sonic Nurse. Well needless to say with the release of the new Yo La Tengo album (not that I’ve listened to it yet, but I’ve thought about listening) and my obsession with seeing every film that was at the NYAFF this year I only made it up to Washing Machine, I will complete my listen over the next few days. Anyway I decided that I should rank the albums as I always do, and even though I am not finished with the complete discog yet I have a feeling that the top picks will stay close to the same:

1) A Thousand Leaves

2) The Eternal

3) NYC Ghosts & Flowers

4) Rather Ripped

5) Sonic Nurse

6) Murray Street

A Thousand Leaves has always been my favorite of Sonic Youth’s records and it appears to still have the same impact on me that it had back in 1998. For an album that I’ve played out, worn down, and made most other people sick of, that’s saying a lot.

The Eternal being numero 2 for me was a bit surprising. The whole reason I did this (am doing this) listening is because of Adam’s review of The Eternal. I liked it but I didn’t love it. I felt that it was too close to ATL at moments and, forwhateverreason, I didn’t enjoy it as much the first 3 or 4 times. The same can be said about NYCG&F but we’ll get to that shortly. After this play through I couldn’t stop thinking about the album, while making my way through Rather Ripped and Sonic Nurse I would find myself singing "Walking Blue" constantly and thinking about Thurston’s dead-on Lou Reed impersonation on "Poison Arrow".

NYCG&F and I had an interesting start. Released in May of 2000 the album didn’t click with me until late August of 2001 when I moved out of New York and down to Nashville. Sitting in my empty room the first day I moved, my parents dropped me off and I had just returned from the local comic/record/videogame store (The Great Escape, represent) I thought why not give NYCG&F another try. I don’t know what I was listening to for the first year and a half after the album came out but that first listen outside of NY, it was a religious experience. Still to this day there is little I enjoy more than laying outside in the sun (weird for me right?), eyes closed looking up, headphones on (sorry Adam but I feel the need for headphones with this), volume cranked and listening to the title track, because nothing ever crashed, exploded and stayed together like "NYCG&F" did, and I still don’t think anything does.

That’s Right. Richard Meltzer is the rock crit I like. Unlike most music writing, you can read his shit and feel good because its not only about something worthwhile, it is worthwhile- and being about something worthwhile is the questionable part. He was good at bashing! He was good at expounding. Someone once told me (that guy from the Hold Steady with the mustache) he didn’t like Meltzer because he didn’t write about the music enough. I see that point. He did wander. He did write about himself listening to the music, but most times it was more interesting than the actual subject he was writing on. Yea, he’s sometimes a complete ass, but if he wasn’t I wouldn’t like him. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how to write about music and I think Meltzer’s way was the best. I hate these phony music journalists regurgitating vocabulary to describe the most basic things in the most basic of rock n roll sounds: the distorted guitar, the heavy drumming, the bass/drum combo. The amount of words used to describe guitar fuzz could fill a dictionary. Or a thesaurus. Well, you know. I don’t like the word frenetic. I don’t like the word murky. If I wasn’t so drunk, I could come up with about 15 more words I don’t like that THEY throw around, but I am so I can’t. I like sludge, but it’s hardly used.

Back to my point, Richard Meltzer could write about music while not writing about music and do the exact opposite of that as well and it all worked. He tired of the rockroll thing, which I can understand, and now writes, uh, books, about, other things, I don’t know. Way WAY back though, when he was just starting the rockwrite thing, he wrote lyrics for Blue Oyster Cult. Since I was born after BOC was already huge, I grew up only hearing two BOC songs: Don’t Fear the Reaper and Burnin’ For You. Needless to say, I was never that impressed with them. They seemed like a novelty band. A big inside joke for stoners in the 70s that I would never get. I was very wrong.

I have to give a lot of credit to Mike Watt for turning them on to me, other than the fact that I read 2 Meltzer books before realizing he wrote Burnin’ for You. When I had Watt in my head telling me to listen to BOC and Meltzer was a part of the band AND even PATTI SMITH wrote lyrics, I tried ‘em out. I listened to Tyranny and Mutation first and it blew my mind. The Red and the Black (lyrics by Meltzer) is one of the best songs ever. As I got more into the first 4 BOC albums, I started reading the lyrics and they are all very weird and very good but the Richard Meltzer ones stick out. Harvester of Eyes and The Red and The Black and Cagey Cretins are some of the best rock n roll lyrics ever. Meltzer understands what rock n roll is supposed to accomplish more than almost anyone. Rock n Roll is supposed to be fun, supposed to be about monsters and when it’s not about monsters or horror-related topics, it could be about love, but only about love in a laughing at it way. The fear is funny. What are we so serious about? That’s why I like BOC, they aren’t at all serious, but they could still shred like the best of them.

Without any more rambling. I give you the Richard Meltzer Blue Oyster Cult lyrics.
Also, my apologies to BOC for not adding the two little metal dots, I can’t figure it out and I’m too far gone to try to figure that out now. ALSO- what a great fucking logo. If I had money, I’d buy a shirt.

Stairway to the Stars

You can have my autograph
I think I’ll sign it love to you
But should I sign it just for you

Stairway to the stars, I think I’ll write good health to you
Stairway to the stars, we got better things to do

You can drive my motorcar
It’s insured to thirty thou
Kill them all if you wish

Stairway to the stars, I think I’ll write good health to you
Stairway to the stars, we got better things to do

You can have my autograph
I think Ill sign it good health to you
Upon the cast, your broken arm

Stairway to the stars, I think Ill write good health to you
Stairway to the stars, I hope you heal up real quick
Stairway to the stars…

Cities on Fire with Rock n Roll

My heart is black, and my lips are cold
Cities on flame with rock and roll
Three thousand guitars they seem to cry
My ears will melt, and then my eyes

Oh, let the girl, let that girl, rock and roll
Cities on flame now, with rock and roll

Gardens of nocturne, forbidden delights
Reins of steel, and it’s alright
Cities on flame, with rock and roll
Marshall will buoy, but Fender control

Let the girl, let that girl rock and roll
Cities on flame now, with rock and roll

My heart is black, and my lips are cold
Cities on flame with rock and roll
Three thousand guitars they seem to cry
My ears will melt, and then my eyes

Let the girl, let that girl rock and roll
Cities on flame now, with rock and roll

The Red and the Black

Canadian mounted baby, a police force that works
Red and black, that’s their color scheme
Get their man, in the end

It’s all right
Oh yeah my honey knows it’s all right
It’s all right
Oh yeah my baby knows it’s all right
C’mon little husky

Frontenac Chateau baby
I’ll cross the frontier at ten
Got a whip in my hand baby
And a girl or a husky at leather’s end

It’s all right
Oh yeah my honey knows it’s all right
It’s all right
Oh yeah my baby knows it’s all right

Hornswoop me bungo pony, dogsled on ice
Make a dash for freedom baby don’t skate on polar ice
It’s too think to be sliced by the light
Of long and white polar nights

It’s all right
Oh yeah my honey knows it’s all right
It’s all right
Oh yeah my baby knows it’s all right

Teen Archer

She got less than you or I, she got less than me
She get, she get tired, she gets tired

She got more than you or I, she got more than me
She get, she get wild, she gets wild

Balling all night balling all day, she won’t ball on me
She will, she will die, she will die, she don’t care

Crying all night, crying all day, she will cry for me
She will, she will smile, she will smile
She will die, she will die, she don’t care

Cagey Cretins

Ooooh cagey, what you got?
What you got there dummy? What you got there man?
Ooooh cagey, what you got?
What you got there honey? What is it a worm?

Dumb clouds are raging, stupid clouds at my door
Creepy weather coming, hanging ’round my floor
Dumb clouds stay away, and don’t come back no more

Ooooh cagey, what you got?
Got an awful tummy, Oh no it’s inflamed
Ooooh cagey, what you got?
It’s so lonely honey, in the state of Maine

Dumb clouds are raging, stupid clouds at my door
Creepy weather coming, hanging ’round my floor
Dumb clouds stay away, and don’t come back no more

I’m graduating in one more term
Because I haven’t any time to burn
Repeating taste of hi-heeled shoe
An eel is waiting under the train
Being chased around by the neighbor’s cat
Well it’s so lonely in the state of Maine

Dumb bells are ringing, ringing in my ear
Mother’s wombs are crying, ringing in my fear
Mother’s never run, except when rape is near

Ooooh cagey
Ooooh cagey
Ooooh cagey

Harvester of Eyes

Harvester of eyes, that’s me
And I see all there is to see
When I look inside your head
Right up front to the back of your skull

Well that’s my sign that you are dead
And my list for you checks off as null
I’m the harvester of eyes

I’m the eyeman of TV
With my ocular TB
I need all the peepers I can find
Inside the barn where you find the hay

Well just last week I took a ride
So high on eyes, I almost lost my way
I’m the harvester of eyes

Harvester of eyes, that’s me….harvester of eyes
And I see all there is to see…harvester of eyes
When I look inside your head….harvester of eyes
Right up front to the back of your skull….harvester of eyes

Godzilla

With a purposeful grimace and a terrible sound
He pulls the spitting high tension wires down

Helpless people on a subway train
Scream bug-eyed as he looks in on them

He picks up a bus and he throws it back down
As he wades through the buildings toward the center of town

Oh no, they say he’s got to go go go Godzilla
Oh no, there goes Tokyo go go Godzilla

History shows again and again
How nature points up the folly of men

Death Valley Nights

Bleached by the sun
And scorned by the moon
If I make it ’til tomorrow noon
I’m leaving

‘Tween the horror of space
And the terror of time
My heart in crystal
Down the line I’m screaming

What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it’s hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before this stampede arrives

Desolate landscapes
Storybook bliss
Darling let me tell you
This is crazy

Hell of a memory
Is a Heaven a pain
Snow is cold but so is rain
Please save me

What I need is a kiss from you babe
Before it’s hangover time
What I need is some love from you babe
Before the stampede arrives
I need you

Dr. Music

Dance on fire with me babe
The flames ain’t gonna stop
Come on and show me
That you’re ready to trot

So if you really wanna do it
You better do it hot

Ah my babe
You tell me that you’re scared
But your fear
Is just driving me mad

Well, you can call me Dr. Music
Music is my game
Well, you can call me Dr. Music
Music is my name

Girl don’t stop that screamin’
You’re sounding so sincere
So much beauty
In the tracks of your tears

So if you wanna face the music
Open up your ears

Meet my friend
Calamity Jane
Hear the rhythm
In the sound of her pain

Well, you can call me Dr. Music
Music is my game
Well, you can call me Dr. Music
Music is my name

Lips in the Hills

I am gripped, by what I cannot tell
Have I slipped or have I merely fell
I’ve been tricked, my senses telling lies
I’ve been stiffed by serpent’s soundless cries

Up in the hills, an apparition
Filling me with superstition
A fiery night, the night that I saw,
the night that I saw,
the night that I saw,

Lips in the hills, lips in the hills
Lips, Lips, Lips Lips in the hills

I’m so lonely, stabbed by beating claws
I’ve been tripped, I’m crawling on all fours
I’ve been stripped the insulation’s gone
Wish I slept to waken in the morn

Up in the sky, beyond the chasm
My eyes behold, a rare phantasm
The godless night, the night that I saw

Up in the hills, an appariton
Filling me with superstition
The godless night, the night that I saw

Burnin’ For You

Home in the valley
Home in the city
Home isn’t pretty
Ain’t no home for me

Home in the darkness
Home on the highway
Home isn’t my way
Home will never be

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can’t see no reason to put up a fight
I’m living for giving the devil his due

And I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you
I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you

Time is the essence
Time is the season
Time ain’t no reason
Got no time to slow

Time everlasting
Time to play besides
Time ain’t on my side
Time I’ll never know

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I’m not the one to tell you what’s wrong or what’s right
I’ve seen signs of what freezing their eyes went through

Well I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you
I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you

Burn out the day
Burn out the night
I can’t see no reason to put up a fight
I’m living for giving the devil his due

And I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you
I’m burning, I’m burning, I’m burning for you

Spy in the House of the Night

I, I have no church or philosophy.
I’ve never known or told a joke in sin.
I smoke in bed. I smoke instead.
I know the in’s and out’s of smoke.

And where there’s smoke, there’s fire, the flip side of desire.
And if it’s true, it can’t be you, it might as well be me.
A spy in the house of the fire; a fire in the house of the night.
A white-hot dark-black rendezvous.
I’ll see you there tonight!
I’ll see you there tonight!

I’ve never been to Spain nor to Germany.
I’ll never know my way around the city of Gorky.
I’ve made love in halls. I fell in love in malls.
I’d love to love you in the dark.

And when it’s dark, it’s night, the flip side of delight.
So, if, in fact, it can’t be wrong, well, then, it must be right.
A spy in the house of the fire; a fire in the house of the night.
A white-hot dark-black rendezvous.
I’ll see you there tonight!
I’ll see you there tonight!

And when it’s dark, it’s night, the flip side of delight.
So, if, in fact, it can’t be wrong, well, then it must be right.
A spy in the house of the fire; a fire in the house of the night.
A white-hot dark-black rendezvous.
I’ll see you there tonight!
I’ll see you there tonight!
I’ll see you there tonight!

It’s amazing the lens you listen thru. I really want to go to Baltimore, Maryland in a couple weeks to see Half Japanese play, but I can’t because it’s on a Friday and I have to work that Friday and Saturday. Jad Fair and Co. are playing their only listed show on the planet with this band called Double Dagger at Ottobar. Lately, I’ve been listening to DD’s new album More. Since they are playing with Half Japanese, I’ve been listening to it as if I had Jad Fair’s ears. Are these three dudes worthy of opening for the mighty Half Japanese? My answer after a few listens is: yes.

The likenesses to Half Japanese are slim, but there. This band loves feedback and fuzz and thinks it makes great weird music. And it does. Double Dagger can do what Half Japanese is best at, explode from simplicity. Repeat shit. Stand on a riff or phrase for so long, watch it generates a life of its own. The lyrics are not as addictive as Half Japanese, but that’s like comparing a Diet Dr. Pepper to Heroin. (Does Diet Dr. Pepper have caffeine? Is that that how you spell caffeine?) The lead singer does have the trailing on and on lyric style and weirdo inflections down, which is a lot of fun. This pulls them up from the muck of really serious bands in this stupidly named genre post-punk. That’s where the similarities end. Really, Half Japanese is a hard band to compare a band to. There’s someone else out there. Ah, yes. Fugazi.

Almost every single time Double Dagger is mentioned in writing, this band Fugazi is mentioned. You may (should) know them. As I listen now thru a Fugazi lens, I’m not sure I’m so excited anymore. Ian MacKaye ears are hard to wear because when you put them on, you listen to everything and think, “Man, these guys are trying to be like me!” I can’t help but get that feeling now. And I hate comparing things to the past, especially a band like this that really does kick the shit out of most of the new shit being devoured out there. Hmm. It’s something to ponder. Classic rock can’t leave me alone. And by classic rock I mean the 80s to early 90s.

Let’s do an experiment.

Put on Jad Fair ears. Listen to Double Dagger- Camouflage.
Put on Ian MacKaye ears. Listen to Double Dagger – Two-Way Mirror.