ShortWaveRockin

The opening track to one of my top 5 of all time, desert island, if a meteor hit tomorrow and I was the only survivor- found a record player and a shit ton of records all in perfect condition what would I look for and/or play first albums (Have Moicy!, of course) is straight up fun. Bohemian country bluegrass hippie fun. Since I can’t find lyrics to most of the songs off of Have Moicy! anywhere each time one of the songs shows up (and they all will) on this list I’ll transcribe the lyrics to the best of my ability. Peter Stampfel’s singing is so completely discernible from everyone elses singing, and not just on this album. You may not notice the difference in the three other lead male singers on the album, but whenever Stampfel sings a song, you know it’s him. Con Conrad’s and Herb Magidson’s “Midnight in Paris” never sound so…snock:

Sweet is the madness of midnight in Paris, cherie Hearts are young love is free Won’t you share love with me
Toujours l’amour
Though hearts are in danger at midnight in Paris, cherie
What’s to be is to be
Won’t you share it with me?
Toujours l’amour
You wear my beret and I’ll use your bidet, cherie
I’ll be clean you’ll be free
Oh how happy we’ll be
Toujours l’amour
Wine will be flowing till chickens are crowing, cherie
If you just say, “oui oui”
You can share it with me
Toujours l’amour
Come live the daring bohemian life in Paris
Life is short art is long
Every day is a song
Toujours l’amour
Life in a garret
Is great if you dare it, cherie
If you just say, “oui oui”
You can share it with me
Toujours l’a oh! pick it (?)
Sweet is the madness of midnight in Paris, cherie
Hearts are young love is free
Won’t you share love with me
Toujours l’amour
Though hearts are in danger at midnight in Paris, cherie
What’s to be is to be
Won’t you share it with me?

You know those songs that just put you into a good mood? You just listen and you laugh. Give it a chance. You may never stop listening

Tigs has been doing great lists, so I’m gonna jump on the wagon and try one, too. This is the list of my favorite 5 songs Half Japanese covered on record. Half Japanese has done the absolute best covers during their long noisy career. I am not usually a fan of covers. I can probably think of a handful of covers I like that aren’t Half Japanese. Covering a song is difficult, which is why so many fail. It can’t be too close to the original, or what’s the point? It can’t be unrecognizable (although HJ’s take on Spy is unrecognizable). It has to keep the heart of the original, but add something special at the same time. This is where most bands fail. They don’t add anything to the original, or if they do, they are just an unoriginal band that just so happens to have decent taste in music. Ripping off the bands they cover is probably how they got anywhere anyways.

With Half Japanese, it’s a whole new animal. They find the core of they song and beat the shit out of it. They always change the lyrics. Sometimes I don’t think they even play the same/right chords, but when you are Half Japanese, there are no right chords. They are all right. They’ve got a lot of covers and I think all are valuable, but these are the ones I am most impressed with. I’ve got the originals in there so you can compare.

Half Not Japanese

1. “Spy” by the Doors off Loud

2. “Ball and Chain” by Big Mama Thornton and later covered by Big Brother & The Holding Company off Sing No Evil

3. “Hall of the Mountain King/Louie Louie” by Edvard Grieg (from 1876, Norwegian composer) and the Kingsmen

4. “Tangled Up in Blue” by Bob Dylan off Half Gentlemen Not Beasts

5. “Dearest Darling” by Bo Diddley off Sing No Evil

Also- Baltimore’s got it’s very own nyctaper called, well, baltimoretaper. He recorded the Half Japanese show from last month at Ottobar with Double Dagger. You can get it in FLAC or Mp3 right here. It’s very good. They do the Elevators’ “You’re Gonna Miss Me” and close with the Velvet’s “Foggy Notion.”  Download it here.

There isn’t enough that can be said about this song. Over 200 performances and each one of them completely different and amazing in its own way. Instead of blabbing on and on about it, here are my 30 (or so) favorite (in some sort of order) performances of Dark Star:

1. 03-01-1969 Fillmore West (Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings)

2. 02-13-1970 Fillmore East (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 4)

3. 03-02-1969 Fillmore West (Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings)

4. 11-13-1972 Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Hall

5. 09-19-1970 Fillmore East – The Night after Jimi Hendrix died

6. 02-28-1969 Fillmore West (Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings, Fillmore West 1969 (3 Disc Set))

7. 10-12-1968 Avalon Ballroom

8. 08-27-1972 Old Renaissance Fairgrounds

9. 02-11-1969 Fillmore East (Live at the Fillmore East 1969)

10. 12-31-1969 Boston Tea Party

11. 11-08-1969 Fillmore Auditorium (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 16)

12. 09-21-1972 Spectrum (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 36)

13. 02-17-1969 Fillmore West (Live/Dead, Fillmore West 1969: The Complete Recordings)

14. 04-28-1971 Fillmore East (Ladies and Gentleman…)

15. 10-31-1971 Ohio Theatre (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 2)

16. 04-21-1969 The Ark

17. 04-22-1969 The Ark

18. 02-26-1973 Persking Municipal Auditorium (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 28)

19. 04-27-1969 Electric Theater (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 26)

20. 05-18-1972 Kongressaal – Deutsches Museum

21. 02-14-1969 Electric Factory

22. 10-13-1968 Avalon Ballroom

23. 05-11-1972 Rotterdam Civic Hall (47 Min Long!!)

24. 06-27-1969 Veterans Auditorium

25. 11-02-1969 Family Dog

26. 08-24-1968 Shrine Auditorium (Two From the Vault)

27. 03-22-1969 Rose Palace

28. 11-11-1973 Winterland (The Complete Winterland 1973)

29. 09-27-1972 Stanley Theatre (Dick’s Picks, Vol. 11)

30. 01-23-1970 Honolulu Civic Auditorium

31. 04-08-1972 Empire Pool (Steppin Out With)

32. 04-23-1969 The Ark

“I don’t feel bad for dead people”

- Adam Wisnieski  from this post’s opening line, August 23, 2009.

“I have before me a list of names: Circle Jerks, Flesh Eaters, Minutemen, Germs, Exploited, DOA, Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, Fear, Replacements, Really Red. Behind each one of these names in an album and behind each of these albums is an anxiety attack. But some anxiety attacks are more equal than others. DOA’s songs are too long, Bad Brains’ tape has bad sound, the Flesh Eaters’ lead singer Chris D. sounds parched and thin. Two groups only have given me two full sides of unalloyed satisfaction: the Circle Jerks from L.A. and the Exploited from Scotland.”

- Lester Bangs  from “If Oi Were a Carpenter,” The Village Voice, April 27, 1982.

I don’t feel bad for dead people. I don’t even feel bad for dying people. When you actually think about how you feel when someone’s dying, usually it’s selfish. It’s relief. It ain’t me. Hallelujah! It’s almost happiness.  I do, however sturdy I am on these feelings, feel bad that Lester Bangs died almost exactly one year after writing the above quoted article on hardcore April 30, 1983 instead of say, October of 1984. I really don’t give a shit that he died, he did it to himself so my reasons aren’t to say, “oh what a poor soul who died so young,” my reasons instead are this: Double Nickels on the Dime, Zen Arcade, Let It Be and Meat Puppets II.

I would have liked to read Mr. Bangs’ feelings on hardcore when it grew up and burst from the three chord safety pit he calls “the womb.” Bangs concludes his article by saying these bands, for all their anxiety and bad-ass guise, are predictable and safe. He says hardcore is an extension of metal, except “hardcore’s three chords provide its fans with walls that shut them in and any other world out- even when they’re slamming in the pit. Hardcore is the womb.”Had Lester lived one year longer and paid attention to some of the bands he lumped together, he would have heard the Minutemen, Husker Du, the Replacements and Meat Puppets make records to not only break down the walls of hardcore, but to connect with the bigger rock (replacements and husker du), jazz (minutemen) and even country (meat puppets) worlds. Not to mention each of the four records by those four bands from 1984 are some of the best punk albums to ever exist. Many would argue they aren’t even punk, which only supports my argument that the dead Lester Bangs might have liked them. The hardcore scene was the beginning and when some of the bands he lumped together jumped out of the lump, it set things in motion for some great rock music. But, hindsight is, as they say, for the living.

Here’s 4 tracks that broke out of the womb in all different ways:

Minutemen – Cohesion

Husker Du – Never Talking To You Again

Meat Puppets – I’m A Mindless Idiot

Replacements – Favorite Thing

Also- the Flesh Eaters’ A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die came out in 81, when Lester was alive. I don’t know how he listened to that album and was able to corrall it into a list with Fear and the Dead Kennedys. It’s an absolute  masterpiece of 20th Century music and I don’t throw around that word. This should be a later post: A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die: Satan visits Earth and Produces Album.

It’s a simple story really. The record company released The Clash’s song Remote Control without their consent. The Clash were pissed. Instead of sitting back and doing nothing about it they rock out this battle song about the struggle for artistic rights in a world where the distribution of the art is completely up to the business men and if you don’t want to agree with it then fuck you we won’t release your music. Do what we say and if you don’t like it we’ll take it from you and do what we want with it, well fuck you The Clash said. The Clash wanted to start World War III. A battle hymn like non other before it and nothing since has ever come close. There is no freedom once you sign that piece of paper and The Clash discovered. People always tell me, and it seems to almost be a documented fact, that the UK edition of The Clash is better than the US. I always have to hold my tongue. Maybe if the UK release had Complete Control I would think it was truly greater, but it didn’t, doesn’t and won’t ever. Complete Control is truly a once in a lifetime song, and one that will never be forgotten. Happy birthday Joe Strummer. We have all been left with a void in our lives since your passing, but we will never forget you.

By the time this track comes on you’ve already heard all of Side A. You moshed to Teen Spirit, sung along to In Bloom, held your head down and walked around to Come as You Are, jumped up and down to Breed, were stopped in your tracks by Lithium, pulled out your acoustic guitar during Polly and then had to flip over the record. Territorial Pissings blew you away, and you’re still joybombing from Drain You.

All of the sudden a solitary bass lines appears from the emptiness. It’s dark, but you can dance to it. As the guitar and drums break in the song really starts to move while still keeping this dark cloud over it. Cobain sings it differently than any other track you’ve heard. Much softer than Come and much more melodic and smoother than Polly. The band sounds different but it still sounds like Nirvana. What does that even mean? A truly poppy song that zips through the chorus that you can sing before it’s over into the second verse that’s driven by Cobain’s sarcastically popish while still very pissed off voice. As the chorus comes and goes you can feel more fuzz. You think you can hear it but really your bones are starting to shake. Cobain screams into the forefront. His voice rips apart. You think he’s going to lose it but he never does. He keeps it together the whole time. You almost expect him to just throw the guitar down in disgust and say, “fuck this song I don’t want to fucking play it anymore ” but he just wants you to think that. Truthfully he doesn’t care. Or maybe he really did, and that’s why it was so rare that this song was played live.

Damn it’s hot.

I’m not sure when you listen to certain types of music or if you even think about it, but I think there’s a very complex habit that comes with my music choices that depends on the weather. Extensions of this being the month, and to a certain extent the time of day. What the fuck is Adam talking about? OK, it’s hot as hell and I don’t have AC. I just passed out for about 20 minutes and woke up more exhausted and sweaty than I’ve been all this exhausted and sweaty day. I put on PJ Harvey’s To Bring You My Love. I didn’t choose Motorhead – I listen to Motorhead in the fall. I didn’t choose Nine Inch Nails – I listen to that in the winter. I’m not listening to John Coltrane’s Blue Train because I only listen to that when it’s sort of cold outside, but the heat is still on way too high so you have to open the window a crack. I’m fucking serious, too. Now, I am generalizing a little bit, because each album for every band/singer can be different. I’d never listen to PJ Harvey’s Rid of Me today. Rid of Me is for a cold winter night and is only good alone.

I think I used to think (heavy, right?) that choosing music was related to my mood. This is partially true, but I think there are certain bands/albums/songs that I will only listen to at certain times. You could argue my mood depends on the weather, but that’s a lot a bit of bullshit. So why do I d this?  I think it has a little bit to do with where the band is from, a little bit to do with my unconscious and concious memories of listenin to certain albums at certain times and a little bit to do with the overall feel of an album.

So. Where am I going with all this?

Hot Weather Music

“To Bring You My Love” by PJ Harvey.  “I’ve laid with the devil/cursed god above/forsaken heaven/to bring you my love.”

“100 (degrees)/Space Cadet/Demon Cleaner” by Kyuss. Not just because it’s got one part called 100 degrees, everything on Welcome to Sky Valley feels like the desert, especially the middle third “Space Cadet.”

“Ana” by Los Saicos This one is obvious. Everything by Los Saicos should be listened to on hot as shit days when your mind is cracked.

“Pompadour Swamp” by Captain Beefheart from the Brown Star Sessions. I’m not sure about this one, but most Beefheart is better on hot days.

“Up on the Sun” by the Meat Puppets. One of my go to, sunny day, feeling like kickin ass albums. Very underappreciated in the catalog of the Meat Puppets.

“Splash 1″ by the 13th Floor Elevators. Probably best in the afternoon when things get really miserable.

“Jesus And Tequila” by the Minutemen. Nothing needs to be said.

“Cortez the Killer” by Neil Young & Crazy Horse. Only electric Neil Young when it’s hot. Acoustic Neil Young- I’m not sure. Probably spring.

“Making Time” by Creation.

Also- this is not a list for when it’s so hot, it’s starts to lightning. That’s a whole different fucking thing. OK, I feel I’m making a fool of myself now. I think it’s time to go. Enjoy the heat. I included a couple songs, but they should all be available for free DL if you search hard enough. If you really want one, just ask.

adamW

Whoever came up with “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” was an asshole. Check out this album cover, on the left, of the new Jay Reatard album Watch Me Fall. What a fucking horrible album cover. Is that Gollum? or Smeagol? Igor? Jay’s last album Blood Visions, aside from being one of the best albums of this millenium , has a kick ass album cover. It’s Jay standing in red underwear in an all white background with blood covering his body and ground. The album backs up the cover. It’s fast, relentless, and kicks the shit out of you for thirty minutes and stops. It’s a lot like the live show, which some people complain about, but I like. I respect a band going out there, playing a fast 30 min set with no breaks and then walking off stage. If the band is good enough and plays fast and loud, you will be more satisfied than some jerk band going out there for 90 minutes with only a few really good moments mixed into endless boredom. Unfortunately for me and Jay and the good people at Matador, Watch Me Fall is like this: a couple good songs and a lot of endless boredom.

I usually don’t write negative record reviews, actually, I think this may be the first truly negative record review, but I am so dissapointed with this album I felt forces greater than myself pushing me to write something. Watch Me Fall is whiny. I think Jay Reatard has been seeing a shrink and all of his problems have been solved. The end result: no bite. He sounds like a pop punk whiny bitch. Was his voice always this annoying? I went back to Blood Visions to see if maybe my past self was a moron and had bad taste (wouldn’t be the first time). Nope. I am currently listening and man, Jay Reatard, is really pissed off on Blood Visions. His voice is a bit nasaly, but I believe him. There’s bitter hatred in his catchy melodies. His voice doesn’t get in the way of the fucking blitzkrieg guitar attack. Watch Me Fall’s guitars are tinny, and not the good garage tinny, the bad indie pop too cool for school shoegaze on speed tinny.Compared to the blitzkrieg, it’s a toy gun with the orange plastic nob on the front so even cops wouldn’t be stupid enough to believe it was a real gun.

There is one song I genuinely like on the new album because it’s the only song that doesn’st sound like a retarded cover of an actual Jay Reatard song: “Can’t Do It Anymore.” The song sounds a lot like the other songs on the album, guitars hidden too much vocals, until at the 1:16 mark when guitar feedback takes over for 3o seconds. It sounds like a car crash. It’s not exactly groundbreaking, but it’ll at least wake you up a little bit. To knock my compliment back down to this earthly negative record review, Blood Visions was able to give you this jolt of pure energy without resorting to feedback tricks. A simple drum roll could do it (”Death is Forming”) or a scream (the end of “Greed, Money, Useless Children”), or with his lyrics that sound so happy but are actually mean as hell (”Fading All Away”). I’m not sure what to do. I feel betrayed.

There is hope for his live show, because a lot of the blandness of Watch Me Fall is the production. Bad job, Matador dudes. The drums are not loud enough. The guitars are really not loud enough. Everything sits behind Jay Reatard and his melodic voice. Which is another thing I’m pissed about. This record is getting GOOD reviews and almost everyone slobbers over the genius of Jay Reatard’s melodies. The intricacies of his melodies, they say. I say, BULLSHIT. He can woo-ooo all he wants, but he’s moving backwards from Blood Visions and even the Matador singles collection that weren’t that bad. He’s always had the melody, but when he’s got nothing to say anymore, it obviously suffers. I don’t believe him and that’s how I mark things these days. I need tobelieve in things, even if it’s mundane or completely retarded. At the end of the record when he starts singing, “There is no sun,” I don’t believe him. I want to believe, but I can’t. He’s lost it.

What’s the reason for all this? Maybe he really wanted a Pitchfork review, which he got this time around. Maybe he really wanted to fit in. Soften it up a bit and man, those melodies will tear down the indie-pop world. Which is probably true. As bad as Watch Me Fall is, it’s still better than most of the garbage he’s trying to fit in with. For that, I give him a pat on the back. For people like me that place TRUTH above melody, catchiness, loudness, skill or any of that shit, I give him a punch in the balls, if he’s still got ‘em.

Looking back over the track listing, I realize Jay Reatard’s song titles are better negative reviews than my review. If you read this far, sorry, any of the following would make a better review than I just gave. If you miraculously skipped to right here, damn, you are good. Five reviews for Jay Reatard’s new album Watch Me Fall:

“It Ain’t Gonna Save Me”

“Can’t Do It Anymore”

“Faking it”

“Nothing Now”

“Hang Them All”

- your friend AdamW

Another band you’re going to see a lot of tracks from on this unordered list. Give me a second…ahhh yeah. There it is. Thee Olde Trip, from the opening blistering whistle it’s impossible to deny the songs presence. Let me share a story:

Back during one of my many years working at a book/music store we would occasionally mess with the music in the store. We’d put on what we would want to hear or just something to mess with the customers. Christmas music in July was always a big hit. It would get complained about almost immediately by some customer and we’d have to take it off before the barking dogs jingle bell song. Sad. Well what would you do if you had to listen to the same freaking Beach Boys greatest hits every freaking day for 8 freaking hours 5 freaking days a week. And there weren’t even any tracks from SMiLE on this greatest hits, so honestly what’s the fucking point?

I digress.

One of the managers was pretty cool and liked the same music I listened to and he also detested having to listen to the same boring shit all the time. Saturday nights we’re pretty fun usually because the GM wouldn’t be there and if you got a good closing shift you might be able to pull two managers who hated being managers and just wanted to have fun, and the odds were pretty good because a lot of the managers felt that way. So myself and my music loving manager decided that it was time for the Mekons. It’s always time for the Mekons but this was one of those nights where you just sit at the information desk in the center of the store with a bucket of KFC, 3 sides and biscuits all spread out to see what people say. At this point in time the CD player in my car was working and I always carried around a copy of Oooh! (Out Of Our Heads) with me. So we popped it in and stood watching the front doors. A man walked in with his two daughters, ages 7 and 11 roughly. As soon as they stepped through the front doors the song begins. Softly at first as though it’s being recorded on an old tape deck, and as the song slowly begins to form the man takes 2 steps in, looks around the store, grabs his daughters and says they have to leave now, turns and that was the last time we heard from him. Or maybe it was the last time he heard from us. Either way. Mekons rule.

I don’t think I have to defend saying that I am picking the greatest songs of all time. Since no one reads this anyway who cares, and it’s all opinion and isn’t that why I have a blog? I better write these now before the shut down the net of all opinions and creative material.

This is the first of many Ramones songs that will be mentioned in this little experiment to force myself to write more. There isn’t enough that can be said about a song like this. Clocking in at 2:17 this song is truly epic. Originally titled “I’m a Nazi, Baby” this song is a testament to the unwillingness of The Ramones to give in to the demands for radio friendly songs and the industry having there way with someone else’s material.

Original Lyrics (as sung):

I’m a Nazi, Baby. I’m a Nazi, yes I am.

I’m a Nazi schatze, you know I fight for the fatherland

I’m a Nazi, Baby. I’m a Nazi, yes I am.

I’m a Nazi schatze, you know I fight for the fatherland

Little German boy being pushed around

Little German boy in a German town

I’m a Nazi, Baby. I’m a Nazi, yes I am.

I’m a Nazi schatze, you know I fight for the fatherland

I’m a Nazi, Baby. I’m a Nazi, yes I am.

I’m a Nazi schatze, you know I fight for the fatherland

Little German boy being pushed around

Little German boy in a German town

Eyns tsvigh dry feer

Today your love

Tomorrow the world

Today your love

Tomorrow the world

Today your love

Tomorrow the world

Today your love

Tomorrow the world

Today your love

Tomorrow the world

The lyric “I’m a Nazi, Baby. I’m a Nazi, yes I am” was changed to “I’m a shock trooper in a stupor, yes I am” though the band protested. If Joey Ramone, who was Jewish, had the balls to scream out “I’m a Nazi” you’d think that the record industry might have the balls to back it, but the industry is full of no talent loser business people who have absolutely no courage and can’t stand behind an artist that they supposedly believe in.

Johnny’s guitar is as harsh and loud as ever and he makes sure that through the mounds of distortion that you can hear every single fucking note he plays. He wants you to move, he wants you to feel the music, he doesn’t want you to just be hit by a brick wall of noise, he wants to steam roll right over you at a million miles an hour and pick you right back up (so he can hit you again).

The lyrics partially inspired by Dee Dee’s childhood in Germany along with Johnny’s love of World War II movies take the form of an epic (that’s twice now) war story that could last forever. And it’s a good thing because the story is never meant to end. The character singing it never lets go of what needs to be done and repeats it so that he never forgets. Whether he is lying near death in a sea of mud and blood holding on to the only thing he has left, or standing on the top of a hill with the sun behind him as he hold his arms up in victory, or somewhere in between we’ll never know. But honestly, who cares? It’s The fucking Ramones.