The Giant Panther

A Winner Is You!

As I sit here watching the first big snowfall of the winter of 2008-2009 I feel like I'm under contract to produce a Top Twenty for the year we just experienced. As much as I consider myself fairly learned on the subject of popular music, the way I absorb music isn't always very conventional. Take a band like Coldplay. I know going in, particularly as good as they are coupled with their fanatical female following, that I won't have to work very hard to have the top three or four songs on their latest CD creep into my consciousness. They'll be played in retail stores, coffee shops, supermarkets, TV shows and in all formats on the radio. In fact, I don't even have to buy the CD for the short term. It'll just be there wherever I go. U2 has the same type of cache. The demand is there so I just let it happen. I don't feel the urge to be at Newbury Comics on release Tuesday or play the thing night and day for two weeks until I have it down. Unfortunately I find myself in catchup mode an awful lot nowadays. I have chosen my favorite releases of 2008 to date, but I feel like I'll know much more about them a year from now. Of course, by then I'll have to choose another twenty for 2009. It's a vicious cycle, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am probably now more qualified to talk about 2007 than I ever was, but fat lot of good it does you folks now huh? Hindsight is still 20-20 isn't it?

A couple of Christmas Eve's ago two friends and I were driving around Cambridge and Somerville, MA looking for a bar that was open. After we stumbled on the aptly named Thirsty Scholar on the Cambridge/Somerville line and settled in one of my friends starts going off about how little good music there is these days. Sounding like my father circa 1968 when he went off after hearing Crimson & Clover by Tommy James & The Shondells one too many times on my Close and Play, I started whaling on him. You won't find any new young bands listening to talk radio 24x7 in your car I told him. What was the last CD you bought I asked him. Naturally he couldn't recall, but he realized he hit a sore spot with me. I told him I'd put together a spreadsheet covering the last 15 years with a top five and, as a bonus an additional honorable mention five. Ten records from each of the last 15 years. That's 150 CDs he'll never buy I figured, but I had a blast putting the list together. The reason I tell you the story is because I came to realize how much the passage of time can skewer your perspective. As I pared down the list of 150 or so CDs to 10 for each year of the 90's I had to make some hard decisions. Some of the CDs I swore by in those days fell by the wayside. It was an interesting exercise and one I could not have done at the time with the same historical perspective.

I guess what I'm saying is consider this a rough draft starter kit for the year 2008. I guarantee it will change in the coming years. Don't pay a heckuva lot of attention to the exact order here either. Just be thankful you aren't Portishead, Elbow, Steve Winwood, The Pretenders, Bon Iver or any number of a handful of bands eventually cut from my original 2008 list. It's a no win situation, but since we are apparently a comment free web site there are no repercussions to be had right? So without further adieu the dreaded list...I haven't seen The Giant Panther's list yet, but I'm placing the over/under at 7 artists overlapping our lists. And it could be less...

20. Metallica - Death Magnetic - Well, we know for sure this one is not on the GP's list. I was listening to this one the other day and thought not bad...why not them? They're good for Rock & Roll.

19. Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy - I wanted to crucify this one. No record needs ten years of maturation, well, unless you're Brian Wilson, but it isn't the chocolate mess I expected. Axl Rocks.

18. Edgar Winter - Rebel Road - This one bashed it's way onto my list with a late charge. Glad he's rocking again. Slash guest stars for some delicious Chinese irony. Better go find The Ju Ju Hounds.

17. Lenny Kravitz - Love Revolution - The GP hates Lenny Kravitz. I love him. Go see this guy live and I promise you will too. A smokin' version of Bring It On on David Letterman sold me on the spot.

16. AC/DC - Black Ice - Hey, 0-5 versus The GP's list. Are we sure about that over under? Nothing new regarding the AC/DC catalogue, but that is precisely the point I guess. More wicked big fat fun.

15. Mudcrutch - Mudcrutch - I guess ten years is nothing when you consider this one was basically on the shelf for 30. The truth is Tom Petty could record feedback and I'd still be buying. The ugly truth.

14. The B-52's - Funplex - Another band the GP doesn't care for. Why won't he dance with me? I'm not no Limburger. A sixteen year hiatus and they come out with another kitsch classic. Unbelievable huh?

13. Radiohead - In Rainbows - I know this is sacrilege, but Radiohead should consider righting the ship a bit. I don't find them nearly as musical or interesting as I once did. Still, they rank somehow.

12. Weezer - The Red Album - I have totally reversed course on Weezer over the years. I hated the name, I hated The Sweater Song, I hate that they name every CD Weezer. Now I think I love them.

11. The Black Crowes - Warpaint - I'm a sucker for the battling Robinson brothers. I really think they have only had one bad CD and this one isn't it. As long as they record, I will buy. I don't question it.

10. Airbourne - Runnin' Wild - Good old fashioned Foot Stompin' Rock & Roll. Yeah, the AC/DC comparisons are there, but this CD rocks. Rock & Roll is Dead? Long Live Rock! End to end rockers.

9. The Raconteurs - Consolers of The Lonely - I like this one better than the first and I didn't want to like that one because it wasn't The White Stripes. I loved Many Shades of Black. Just like this site.

8. Death Cab For Cutie - Narrow Stairs - I loved The Postal Service. I've never really been on this band's bandwagon, but Cath is a tremendous song. I love that it might be a true story too. Emotive.

7. TV On The Radio - Dear Science - I have to admit, I struggled with these guys initially, but they represent a return to outside the box recording. It sounds like they answer to no one. Now that's cool.

6. Beck - Modern Guilt - I've been digging Beck for 14 years and I don't plan on stopping any time soon. Some of his catalogue is a bit uneven, but this one is pretty solid. Color me satisfied...again.

5. Neil Young - Sugar Mountain Live at Canterbury House 1968 - Even as a lifelong Neil Young fan I was still surprised to find myself loving this one as much as I do. It's superb acoustic buried treasure.

4. MGMT - Oracular Spectacular - Chicken Soup For The Ears. The unexpected underdog dragon slayer of the year. Synthpop back in full force and for a change I'm loving it. Very easy on the soul.

3. The Black Keys - Attack & Release - Nothing affects these two. A throwback band for the ages, The Keys rule. Blues and Garage gettin' their freak on. I just love this band. Go see them play live.

2. Kings of Leon - Only By The Night - I'm in the minority, but I don't even think this is their best record and I'm already sick of Sex On Fire. That said, buy this record. This band is great and very hip.

1. Coldplay - Viva La Vida - This band is polarizing. Do they deserve all the praise or half the criticism? I don't know, but chicks dig 'em and that's good enough for me...every now and then.

OK, that's a wrap. I didn't leave any links this time because I didn't want to short change anyone, but I'll be back in 2009, if not before, with more interesting suggested Music For The Masses. A Happy and Healthy New Year to all of our readers!

I was thinking about my recent Silencers post and I thought I'd toss another relatively hard to find chestnut out to the masses. BM (Before Morphine) there was a local eighties band here in Boston called Treat Her Right. The band's lead singer was Mark Sandman. Unfortunately Mark is no longer with us having suffered a fatal heart attack while touring with Morphine overseas in 1999. Sandman had a unique baritone sounding voice that oozed blues, booze and cigarettes. The song I Think She Likes Me was getting a ton of airplay way back in the late eighties (I believe RCA Records re-released the original 1986 recording a couple of years later resulting in a slight resurgence) and I was instantly smitten by this tune. If the legend is true, Sandman was at a bar in Colorado when a woman, he felt, started coming on to him. Not knowing she was married to someone in the bar he proceeds to buy her a drink and they get to chatting. The next thing he knows the husband is all over him trying to protect his territory. I don't know if Mark actually told this guy "I Think She Likes Me," but the story is great. You've probably witnessed something similar yourself somewhere along the line.

Treat Her Right was one of several Boston bands fighting to get noticed after forming in 1985. This particular incarnation of Sandman and company only lasted two studio releases, both of which are very good (Tied To The Tracks is the other one) before morphing into Morphine around 1991. I can distinctly remember being bummed out at the time and fighting the urge to get into Morphine due to my discontent. Boy was I wrong. If you aren't into Morphine wake up and smell the coffee right now. I'm not much of a Jazz Man (as Carole King might say), but this stuff is the perfect blend of blues and jazz music. Saxophone galore. Treat Her Right had more of a harmonica dominated sound, but both bands rock. The music makes me want to find a martini and take up smoking. I know I listed this post under One Track Mind as opposed to extolling the virtues of the entire CD, but trust me when I tell you this is not the only track on this record. That is, if you can find it. Treat Her Right could never quite get off the ground nationally and Morphine ended up selling 100 times the records (warning: no proof of that statement), but Mark Sandman was one helluva musician. I just loved his stuff. He was just 47 when he died; younger than I am now. Memo to self; take nothing for granted.

You won't hear much from Treat Her Right on any radio station and their records are long out of print, but grab them if you can find them. And for God's sake, buy the four Morphine CDs and anything else you can get your hands on by Mark Sandman. I hope you like this one as much as I do. Merry and Happy to everyone out there in Giant Panther land!

Treat Her Right - I Think She Likes Me.mp3 YSI

OK, turn on the way back machine and tune in to a long forgotten mini classic by The Silencers. The Silencers hail from Glasgow, Scotland. I suppose I have a thing for Scottish bands truth be told. Simple Minds of course spring to mind, but you will find lesser bands like Big Country, Del Amitri (I really love these guys) and a band The Giant Panther didn't care for much if memory serves; The Proclaimers in my collection. Upon further review great bands like Nazareth (now you're messin' with a SOB! Hair of The Dog was one great rockin' tune in the 70's, I don't care what anybody says, but I'm not afraid of Miss Misery at all), The Eurythmics, Teenage Fanclub, Belle & Sebastian, Snow Patrol, Franz Ferdinand, The Jesus & Mary Chain, Aztec Camera, Primal Scream, The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and The Average White Band can all trace some of their roots to Scotland. We can also thank those folks for The Bay City Rollers too. And don't forget Craig Ferguson. I love his show. Not a bad legacy overall. Simple Minds and The Eurythmics would have to be the top of the food chain here, but I'm a big fan of Primal Scream and The Jesus & Mary Chain too. Then along comes The Silencers with something a little off the beaten path...

In 1987 WFNX here in Boston was playing a song called "A Letter From St Paul" by The Silencers. I was instantly smitten. It's mostly about a woman writing from college in Minneapolis to a friend in London. It's very spooky and mesmerizing at the same time. Do you remember the first time you heard Eminem's "Stan?" Take out the rap and some of the gorier detail and then add some jangly guitar sounds (man I will love those forever and ever amen) and get ready to hear a story. It's wicked cool as they say here in the northeast. Long out of print and very hard to find, A Letter From St Paul is on my all time list of CDs I Alone (With a tip of the hat to the band Live here) seem to own, let alone love. I just listened to the whole CD again after not having heard it for several months and I've decided I still love it. My love of the single A Letter From St Paul is probably clouding my judgment of the whole record, but it is what it is. I just checked Amazon.com to see what they are getting for it these days and they have two copies for $150 each! Blymie. Even the used ones are going for $28 a pop. Unreal. Well, apparently I have 20 or 30 friends worldwide who love this CD too because it didn't sell worth a damn at the time. Smart folks. Bang, Bang, I got mine as Iggy Pop used to say.

You will find songs like I Can't Cry (which I also love), Painted Moon, I See Red, and God's Gift on this CD as well. Not a bad song in the bunch I promise. 1987 was my own personal inflection point for turning to "alternative" rock bands (at the time) like R.E.M., Big Audio Dynamite, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Godfathers and on and on. I was a child of the 70's and grew up with Zeppelin, The Who, The Stones, and Bob Dylan. Love them all, but the tweener bands I was listening to like Steve Miller, Electric Light Orchestra, Supertramp, and the like were starting to bore me a bit. No disrespect to those acts intended because I still own the lion's share of all of their catalogues, but musically I was searching. Along came The Smiths, The The and scores of other interesting new bands and I sort of changed musical teams on the spot. With that I stopped listening to WBCN here in Boston, a station I had worked for as an unpaid (for the most part) intern for a number of years so I could get into the scene. A station called WLYN in Lynn, MA eventually morphed into WFNX thanks to The Boston Phoenix around 1983 and by 1987 I was a full time listener. Morning Guy Tai was my new Charles Laquidara. Joanne Doody was my new Ken Shelton. Neal Robert was my new Mark Parenteau. I was hooked. I felt so hip and musically informed. I had a whole new genre of bands and Songs To Learn and Sing as Echo once told me. It was exciting. I think alternative music was a phrase I personally pin on the years up until the age of Grunge, which commenced roughly in late 1990 as far as my memory will allow. Oh whatever, Nevermind. I think you get the picture.

When A Letter From St Paul came across my listening canvas I knew it was there to stay. I kept buying Silencers records the next few years, but though they still record to this day I never felt like they were able to recreate the magic of this CD. I haven't listened to anything new by them since 1992 so I'm probably missing out, but I thought this record was great and I just loved this single. I hope you get a kick out of it. You will never hear this song on the radio and if you download it you might be the only one to even own it, but make no mistake; this is a forgotten classic. You'll thank me some day. It was very representative of the time, though I struggle to remember it sometimes.

I'm going to start mixing in some shorter passages next to my notoriously long entries. It will hopefully be a bit more digestible for whatever audience The Giant Panther has created. I'm calling the feature One Track Mind because I'm going to stick to individual cuts in some of my posts. Unfortunately for artists, but great for Apple, we live in an iPod world now that seems to exist solely for singles. I don't mean singles in the traditional sense as the song they play on the radio. I'm referring to the way we slice and dice only our favorite cuts from each CD or artist. It's regrettable from my point of view, but as I was making mixed tapes (remember those?) for my mobile entertainment needs for years (think the beach or just about any party where I got to be Mix Master Jay in the 80's or early 90's) so what's the difference right? The difference is most of today's music buyers are not listening to the whole CD. Nine out of ten times that is where the gems are. OK, I promised to keep things on the shorter side...here is a case in point...

I wouldn't dream of calling myself a Marillion aficionado. I would say I'm very well versed in the Peter Gabriel era Genesis though. I was just reading about Selling England By The Pound today in Classic Rock Magazine at the gym this morning. They run a cool feature called Every Home Should Have One where they feature a CD from days of yore and this Genesis record was this month's gem. If you don't own Selling England By The Pound I kind of feel sorry for you, but that is another story. I have been doing a bit of progging lately and came across my copy of Marillion's Marbles. You will notice I am not even attempting to go down the road of the long standing debate on the lead singing merits of Fish vs Steve Hogarth because I am definitely not qualified to weigh in on that matter. Fish, apparently the Sting of his genre since he had no need of a second name to identify him, left the band after the first four (sometimes) legendary albums beginning in 1983. In fairness, if your given name was Derek Dick you might be in search of alternatives too. That aside the band has more than thrived with Steve Hogarth manning the mike over the years. I want to draw your attention to a cut from 2004's Marbles called Neverland that I got stuck on the first time I heard it. It's an opus so strap yourselves in, but in my view it's worth the ride. It's got an other worldly cadence and a kind of driving operatic sound to it. Top that off with some voice echo and I'm in a trance. 21st century British Prog Rock at its finest. I was playing this song non stop for about two weeks last month and I'm just getting around to writing about it. I hope you like it. Check out the video on YouTube as well to really get the feel for it. Call them a poor man's Genesis if you must, but they need make no apologies in my book. I love to mix stuff like this in next to my normal (but widely varied) fare.