The Giant Panther

Last night I saw The Black Crowes and The Levon Helm Band. Nice double bill. I've been seeing the opening act a lot more at the concerts I've been attending lately, but I think it's more of a coincidence than anything else. I love a good double bill, don't get me wrong, but trying to fit in dinner and other issues can sometimes lead to skipping the opening act. Maybe it's the $10 beers, maybe it's the lack of real food in the venue, but it's rare that I sit through two or more acts at a given concert. Nobody knows better than I do that this is my loss, but it is what it is. I want to say right here that I am a huge fan of The Band. I've come to appreciate their brand of countrified folk rock more and more as I get older. I realize that they have some Canadian blood in them, but I just feel like they represent a real slice of Americana. It's always a good time to go back and reacquaint yourself if you feel it's necessary. I don't seem to ever get tired of listening to them.

Levon Helm is a living legend. The man is 69 years old. Born in Arkansas in 1940, Helm's voice is unmistakable. Whenever I hear songs like "The Weight" or "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" I see this guy's face in my mind. What soul. You feel like you can just picture Chester or Luke from "The Weight" or Virgil from "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" when you hear him tell those stories. How great is "Virgil quick come see, there goes Robert E. Lee?" The imagery is just outstanding and so very southern. It just boggles the mind that The Civil War was a mere 150 years ago (give or take of course). It seems like it happened centuries ago. Levon Helm brings it right into your living room. Hopefully you've all seen The Last Waltz, but if you haven't get right on that. You need a good three hours, but it's worth it. Last night Levon, unfortunately, was under doctor's orders not to sing so we didn't get the full effect, but the man was drumming his heart out. I'm sure many of you are aware he battled throat cancer about a decade ago and his vocal chords require constant maintenance. Hopefully he'll be back on the beam soon. They say he recorded his last CD, Dirt Farmer, at 80% of his former vocal range. I didn't know this. I'll have to go back and re-listen. He's much more diminutive than I imagined. This was the first time I got the chance to lay eyes on him. He's not a big man. Then again, maybe I'll have done a fair amount of shrinking over the next twenty years. Hopefully around the waist line, but I'm not holding my breath there.

Levon's Band played several Band chestnuts. Chest Fever, It Makes No Difference, and The Weight were all tackled plus they covered The Grateful Dead's Tennessee Jed, a personal favorite of mine. I really enjoyed the whole experience. Chris Robinson came out and took a verse or two of "The Weight" as the band shared the song. Amy Helm, his daughter, was front and center all night and Al Kooper, famous for any number of groups and sessions (most famously for playing the organ on Bob Dylan's epic "Like a Rolling Stone"), made an appearance as well. I guess he lives in Somerville, MA relatively around the corner from me. Overall it was a thoroughly enjoyable show and great to see Levon doing what he loves. I envy that and it was very heart warming to watch.

The Black Crowes-Levon Helm tour connection most recently comes from their idea to record at Helm's recording studio at his home in Woodstock, NY known as "The Barn." He hosts "Midnight Rambles" every Saturday night to help pay for his medical bills. Apparently local musicians drop in quite often and jam. Woodstock is still a haven for artists. I'm not sure my local police would go for weekly midnight concerts, but there is more space out that way. Anyway, I want in. I want to go to Yasgur's Farm and the Baseball Hall of Fame on the same trip. That would be my idea of a great road trip. The Black Crowes recorded their latest record, Before The Frost, in front of a live studio audience. The CD comes out Tuesday, but they played the bulk of it in concert last night and it sounded great. There is a tandem CD with 8 new songs (with one cover I understand) called Until The Freeze that legal procurers of the CD can download with proof of purchase. I'm told it sounds great and their is light audience clapping in the background after each song as if maybe twenty people were there. I don't think it's ever been done before, but I'm sure I'm wrong. I'm looking forward to it.

OK, I need to shut myself off because I could go on for a while here. I'm leaving you with the set list and gentle push to go see this double bill. I've probably seen six or seven Black Crowes shows and I always leave satisfied. I was listening to Warpaint in my car last night and I had forgotten how much I liked that CD. Here is Goodbye Daughters of The Revolution. Rock on Robinson clan.

Good Morning Captain. Make Glad. Let Me Share The Ride. Houston Don't Dream About Me. Whoa Mule. Shine Along. Appaloosa. She Gave Good Sunflower. High Head Blues. I Ain't Hiding. What is Home. Movin' On Down The Line. A Train Still Makes A Lonely Sound. Sometimes Salvation. Twice As Hard. Been A Long Time (Waiting On Love). - Encore -She Talks To Angels. Shake Your Money Maker.

Few bands morph from synth pop to what a friend of mine calls "devil music." He's clueless of course, but Industrial music does have it's detractors. When Ministry released With Sympathy on Arista Records in 1983 I thought it was great. It was so 80's, but it was also very cool. I know frontman Al Jourgensen tries to distance himself from this record, but it's a still a great record. They say Arista took artistic control of the release, much to the chagrin of Jourgensen, but for him to refer to it as "an abortion of an album" is being way too critical. Who knew Ministry could have some nice danceable melodies? Imagine all the folks who thought this band was going to be releasing shiny happy music for the next five or six years only to be hit with "Stigmata" or "Jesus Built My Hot Rod." That probably shocked a few bedroom communities. I know I was a little surprised.

Ministry was formed in 1981 in Chicago, Illinois. The only constant in their entire existence was Al Jourgensen. Original drummer Stephen George was with him long enough to release four 12" singles in on Wax! Tracks Records including "All Day" and the fabulous "Everyday is Halloween" before departing. From then on out it was Al and the somebodies. Ministry's musical assault lends itself to a myriad of recording techniques, but they did tour. There must have been something about that combination because Ministry blew through an awful lot of bodies between 1981-2008. I have to admit I didn't follow Ministry blindly into the abyss. I was disappointed that they chose the path they did, but I respect their right to have chosen it. I have a copy of Greatest Fits on which they fool around with Bob Dylan's Lay Lady Lay, but as much as I love Nine Inch Nails, I don't think heavy Industrial Rock is the place for me. No offense intended to those who love it of course.

With Sympathy might not have been representative of Ministry's body of work, but it has some great singles on it. I was absolutely in love with "I Wanted To Tell Her" back in the day. I also loved "Effigy (I'm Not An)." This album was also responsible for "Work For Love" and another great tune called "Revenge." Playing it back in full, there are a few weak links, but these four songs are very strong. No need for embarrassment; either on my part or Ministry's. Twenty six years later you rarely hear any of these tunes on alternative rock stations and you can forget about any of the balance of Ministry's catalogue except for an occasional spin of "Everyday is Halloween." I don't think Al Jourgensen cares about terrestrial radio one iota. I'm OK with that. He's got a ton of followers and I'm sure he's not hurting for his next mortgage payment like the rest of us.

I'm leaving you with "I Wanted To Tell Her" even though it sounds so 80's. I used to sneak this one into a number of mix cassette tapes as a youngster. Nobody ever seemed to know who sang it. Now you know once and for all; Ministry. Hopefully this will jog a few memories.

My first exposure to The Moody Blues came when I first heard the single "Nights in White Satin." That song was re-issued in the mid seventies for some reason and was a hit all over again. I think one of the proms I never attended at Voorhees High School in Glen Gardner, NJ used it as the theme song if memory serves. That's usually enough to turn you off to any song, but I had a history with The Moody Blues. My best friend Jim had three older siblings and they all had Moody Blues records. We used to play the baseball dice game Strat-O-Matic and listen to these records endlessly. Finally, in 1974, The Moody Blues released This is The Moody Blues as a greatest hits package. It didn't catch everything, but it sure was close. For a 14 year old on a grass cutting budget, this was the jackpot. A double album priced at no more than $7.99 at Korvette's on Route 22 in New Jersey was nirvana. I haven't thought about Korvette's in years, but pow, just like that, I'm back in 1974. I guess E.J. (Korvette) declared bankruptcy in 1980 and folded the chain, but he was my music man for a couple of years. I was a Massachusetts resident by then so I didn't get the memo, but God bless that chain.

Note the vinyl marks on the artwork above. You know this baby sat in a heavy pile of records for a long time. It's not my copy, but it might as well have been. I love The Moody Blues. I know it's not very fashionable to say as much these days, but I've always loved this band. I remember a friend of my father's gave me a cassette copy of Seventh Sojourn in 1972. I played that thing like there was no tomorrow. I just loved it. This is The Moody Blues was one of the first greatest hits records I can remember where you didn't get a break between the songs. Nearly every one of them was blended or had a few seconds of silence between the tracks. I didn't mind it when I was playing the album, but digitzing the music is kind of a nightmare. Songs frequently get chopped unfortunately.

Last night The Moody Blues played the Bank of America Pavilion here in Boston. At 49 years young I felt like a toddler in this silver haired crowd. The Moodies released their first record, Days of Future Passed, in 1967. Many of these folks were obviously long time fans like me with the emphasis on the long. Aside from seeing 60 somethings Justin Hayward, John Lodge and Graeme Edge on stage looking every bit their age, it was interesting to see a crowd of folks pushing 60 trying to rock. Maybe this is how I look at a Kings of Leon concert I'm guessing huh? I know many of you folks out there probably know four Moody Blues songs at best, but these guys were pioneers. They mixed poetry and orchestral soft rock and produced some great music. Like Pink Floyd, there has never been anybody like them. Even with three of the original five on stage, it was like I was back in Boston Garden in 1980 or at Concerts On The Common in 1988 minus Michael Pinder and Ray Thomas. When they broke into "Tuesday Afternoon" about five songs in I was in nostalgia heaven. It practically was Tuesday Afternoon to boot. Great symmetry. I'm a sucker for symmetry.

The highlight of the show, for me, though was "Never Comes The Day" from 1969's On The Threshold of a Dream. I sang that thing at the top of my lungs along with everybody else within earshot. I know most of you probably don't even know the song, but it's a great tune. I love Justin Hayward's voice. It's so soothing. I didn't get to hear "Lovely To See You" or "Legend of a Mind" last night, but I didn't really care. I've heard those first seven records hundreds of times. I was just happy to be there last night on a picture perfect late August evening. Our ten days of summer is coming to a close and even I, allergic to weather 80 degrees and above, was comfortable last night. The weather hasn't quite broken yet, but you can feel it coming. I just love the cool weather of the fall season. I knew I was going to the show all along, but I didn't grab a ticket until yesterday afternoon. I found a single in the 12th row center and had a tremendous view of their gorgeous new flute player dressed in black. She might have been talented, but I was too dazzled by her silhouette to notice.

I saw Bruce Springsteen over the weekend, but I felt like writing about The Moody Blues instead. I feel like these guys just don't get their due in rock history. Thirty years from now the band and us fans will probably be gone so I'm doing my part to remind folks what great artists these guys were and are. I could leave you any number of Moody Blues songs and be happy about it, but I'm going to go with You and Me from Seventh Sojourn. Even if you are a reasonably big Moody Blues fan you might not know this one. I hope you like it.

www.moodyblues.co.uk

I have been meaning to write something about Public Image Limited (PIL) for a while now. This is the story of Johnny Rotten. OK, maybe not but I'm not sure Neil Young was right on top of it either as much as I love Neil. I was a late bloomer to The Sex Pistols. I didn't get them or there fan base when I was 17. All that registered with me was the spitting. I hate spitting. That said, today I'm a huge fan of Never Mind The Bullocks (Here's The Sex Pistols). I love the title, I love "Holidays in The Sun" and I love "Anarchy in The UK." In fact I love "God Save The Queen" and "Pretty Vacant" too. For a band likened to The Monkees in terms of their instrumental prowess Never Mind The Bullocks was a helluva record. It still sounds ground breaking and explosive to this very day. Not bad for alleged hacks huh? In fairness the criticism was mostly aimed squarely at Sid Vicious, but it wasn't his exclusive domain. Rotten & Vicious seemed famous for being famous at the time.

Since I didn't follow The Pistols' saga until Sid & Nancy came out in the mid 80's it stands to reason I didn't know the first thing about PIL when they started making records. The fact that the first two PIL records were too artsy and avant-garde for commercial radio didn't help me at all either. After the demise of The Sex Pistols it is rumored that John Lydon, the ex Mr Johnny Rotten, was proffered by Virgin Records head Richard Branson as a potential lead singer for the band Devo believe it or not. Allegedly, Devo wanted no part of that. I can't imagine why can you? Do you ever feel like you've been duped? Well, no, not really. Whether we are talking The Monkees, The Archies, Josie & The Pussycats, The Partridge Family, The Pistols or any other idea/brand before actual musicianship concept all we have to go on is the finished product right? If you liked "Last Train To Clarksville," and I did, who cares who plays the instruments? I wouldn't go around saying a comic strip that produces "Sugar, Sugar" is a rockin' good act, but you get my overarching drift here (I hope). Of course, it could be that Johnny was talking about something completely different like the length of their show that particular night or how badly they had been managed, but hey, these guys were the perpetrators of The Great Rock & Roll Swindle right? There's gotta be truth in advertising no?

Initially John Lydon formed PIL with bassist Jah Wobble, guitarist Keith Levene and drummer Jim Walker. Naturally that lineup lasted about two clicks, but such is the nature of rock & roll I guess. The band has been officially on hiatus since 1992, but John Lydon is probably the only one who thinks that. The thing is, I really liked these guys. I think "Seattle" from 1987's Happy? and "Rise & Home" from 1986's Compact Disc flat are brilliant. I love John's snarling vocals. I played "Disappointed" from 1989's 9 ad nauseum back when it came out and I think another half dozen of their songs are highly listenable. PIL might have been a bit ahead of their time. They got by on next to no radio airplay until their fifth record named Album, Compact Disc, Cassette or Digital Download depending on your preferred format. And even then it was restricted to "This is Not a Love Song" from 1984's This is What You Want...This is What You Get. Today maybe a half dozen combined tracks from The Sex Pistols and PIL might consistently turn up on WFNX & Julie Kramer's Leftover Lunch, but for the most part Public Image Limited is just that; a band with a limited public image. I could care less. I think they were great and tell anyone that bothers to ask as much and I was never a punk (no, really).

I grappled with which track to post because I only get one crack at it you know? I have a thousand bands to blog about and PIL won't be back anytime soon at The Giant Panther I'm sad to say. I just listened to several of my favorites and just decided "Rise" is the only way to go. Anger is an energy don't you know. If you say it enough times it sticks I promise. Until the next time...

Public Image Limited - Rise.mp3

Public Image Limited - Rise.mp3 YSI

One of the hotter bands the 80's will be remembered for is an English rock band called The Cult. They formed in 1983 and released their first record called Dreamtime in 1984. You can file them under Alternative Rock, Post Punk, Goth Rock, Hard Rock or Heavy Metal, but just make sure you file them. Between 1985's breakthrough Love right up until 1991's Ceremony The Cult rocked my world. I never played in a band, got a tattoo or had hair down to my arse, and maybe that's been a mistake, but the first time I heard She Sells Sanctuary I was on the bandwagon lock, stock and barrel. They just hit my AC/DC sweet spot between Classic Rock and Alternative Rock. I couldn't get enough of them once upon a time. That just happens sometimes doesn't it?

At their inception, The Cult were known as Southern Death Cult before shortening it to The Cult. I think they made the right move. The word "Cult" is quasi off putting as is let alone adding some Southern Death to it no? 1984's Dreamtime was no slouch of a record, but their sophomore record Love was a smash. The first track was called "Nirvana." Hmmm. "She Sells Sanctuary, Rain and Revolution" were all great songs. The record went on to sell over 2 million copies and I'm betting the lion's share of those sales were to U.S. based upstanding citizens like myself. Or maybe not...I'm just guessing. What we can safely say is that The Cult were best described as vocalist Ian Astbury, guitarist Billy Duffy and "Friends." And I'm not talkin' Jennifer Aniston. Pretty soon these two guys weren't even friends if the stories are true. Over on the always helpful, but taken with a grain of salt Wikipedia I count 21 ex-band members. Think those guys are tough to work with? Just sayin'.

Beggar's Banquet was the label that bankrolled these guys and even though they were undeniably successful with Love, the label was apprehensive about their next release back in 1987. They say that their followup to Love was originally called Peace, but I didn't even know that until ten minutes ago. Some rock historian I turned out to be huh? Apparently The Cult were not happy with the sound of the record and they turned to none other than Rick Rubin to remix their new single "Love Removal Machine." The label wanted no part of re-recording or remixing anything, but Rubin's presence can be very persuasive. He produced a minor hit record by a little known act called The Beastie Boys the prior year you might recognize as License To Ill. Holy game changer Batman. How many times have I heard No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn you ask? Don't even go there. Suffice to say, at whatever the cost, The Cult and their label did the right thing letting Rubin talk them into re-recording the entire record and renaming it Electric. I played the vinegar out of this record back in the day.

My favorite Cult tune has got to be "Wild Flower," but "'Lil Devil" and "Rain" or "Revolution" are in the conversation. They have at least ten others that get me going as well. It's funny, you almost have to apologize for liking metal anymore. People get so worked up with genres. I just know what I like and I have no problem saying Joni Mitchell and Carole King are supreme talents. None. I'll be blogging about them when you least expect it. I'm endlessly curious, but I write mostly about what I know cold because I'm still trying to digitize my music library. I don't know if I see a light just yet, but my hard drive has about 65,000 songs on it as we speak. I'm guessing I'm about 2/3 of the way there, but when (not if) I cross the 100,000 mark I'll make a formal announcement. As if anyone cares right?

As for The Cult, they imploded around 1991 after releasing Ceremony in an acrimonious legal haze, but have resurrected, to coin a Resurrection Joe type phrase, a couple of times since. I haven't really followed them since 1991 even though I did buy their last two records. I don't know that The Thrill is Gone, but the rocket fuel sound of their music in the 80's hasn't quite been matched since. "Wild Flower" is still a song that puts a smile on my face every time I hear it. Maybe it'll work for you too.

I love Grace Jones. Sometime in the 80's I discovered her and I don't think I've stopped listening since. There's nobody like her. I'd love to see her perform some day, but I'm not sure I'll get the chance. Grace Jones was born in Jamaica in 1948. Her parents moved to Syracuse, NY in 1965. I don't know the details of Grace's height, but she's got to be close to six feet. She was a model working NYC and Paris before scoring a recording contract with Island Records in 1977. I don't know her sexual preferences either, but she was androgynous looking and had a huge following in the gay community. I could care less about that stuff. I'm not much of a dancer, but Grace Jones makes it happen for me. Sometimes she speak sings, especially when covering acts like Flash and The Pan, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers or Roxy Music, but she can sing too.

In the late seventies she began being seen around New York City with one Andy Warhol, who liked to photograph her, after he got done toying with Edie Sedgwick a couple of years prior. I never quite got the appeal of Andy Warhol, but it's clear he gave the wild ones a place to congregate (The Factory) and he did have one foot in the art world and one foot in the world of movies. That can make a very big impression on young women (or so I'm told). Come to think of it, wish I had been him give or take 90 eccentricities and that pasty mug. Anyway, Grace used to stroll into Studio 54 with Warhol and create quite the stir they say (you know...the people who say she created quite a stir...how hysterical is that line of advertising? They say you should wait to buy a home...who is they?...You know...the ones who say you should wait...makes me laugh every time...I'm such a simpleton). A tall African American woman wearing a flat top haircut dressed in the wildest outfits ever taking over the dance floor. That's one way to raise your profile I guess.

Grace did one last album for Island Records in 1985 called Slave To The Rhythm before moving on to Manhattan Records. In 1986 she released Inside Story on her new label and the song "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You)" was her final charting single. In fact, 1989's Bulletproof Heart, the recording of which allegedly saw major clashes with dance music producer extraordinaire Nile Rogers, signaled a twenty year break from recording for Grace Jones. No matter, she still had relative bit parts in movies like Conan The Destroyer, A View To a Kill, Vamp and Boomerang to fall back on. Last year she released a critically acclaimed CD called Hurricane that seemed to put her back on the rock & roll map, but I have yet to digest that one fully. I'll have to get back to you on that one...

Jones had many dance floor favorites, but "Pull Up To The Bumper" is probably her most well known number. Unfortunately this single has about twelve remixes on the market so I'm not even sure where this one comes from. The version on Nightclubbing is only 4:41, but the one I'm posting is 5:47 and to me is the definitive remix. Hopefully you will agree. Break out the Warm Leatherettes...

P.S. For those of you who play before you download rest assured that the whole song is there for downloading. I don't know why, but for some reason my host doesn't want to finish this track. I checked it twice and downloaded it myself to make sure it works.

I saw The Replacements just once. It was March 22, 1989 at The Opera House here in Boston. The building has been completely refurbished since that broken down venue was hosting the likes of hard partying bands like The Replacements. Nowadays it looks gorgeous, but in the late 80's The Opera House was about to implode on itself. I don't know the history of the building at 539 Washington Street, but it was hosting vaudeville and all kinds of acts decades before I was born. It's got a nice legacy. I saw The White Stripes there a couple of years ago and was impressed. My ticket stub to that Replacements gig, which was probably one of their last 'round these parts, says I paid $17.75 (a 25 cent restoration fee was attached...well, restoration was in order). Increasing ticket prices really shock me now and then. I don't let them deter me, but sometimes it's staggering no?...

Last night I saw a 40 year old band called Mountain (with Leslie West and Corky Lainge still going strong) and that show cost me a reasonable $30. Next Tuesday I'm seeing The Moody Blues for $60 and though there seems to be only three of the original members touring that seems reasonable too. Bruce Springsteen brings his army to the edifice formerly known as Great Woods this weekend and I paid $95 for that ticket. Hey, he's got to pay ten or twelve people right? I'm thinking about Peter Frampton (Showcase Live, as I've mentioned in past posts, is so intimate that it's really hard to pass up legends like Mountain and Frampton playing there) on September 1st and those ducats are going for $62.50. Man, if only he never released "I'm in You" huh? I know he's fallen way out of favor since 1977, but Frampton Comes Alive! is still in the top ten discussion of the best live albums ever recorded and I've never seen him. Hiss if you must, but the man can play guitar.

The Replacements were a Minneapolis, MN band formed in 1979. Disciples of Alex Chilton led bands like The Box Tops and Big Star, The 'Mats even wrote a song about the guy called, amazingly enough, "Alex Chilton." You may have heard it on your local Alterna-Rock station. They were a very enigmatic band in their heyday. Led by Paul Westerberg, The Replacements were known for their uneven live performances. If drinking were a spectator sport, their only rock & roll rival, at least on stage, would be Guided By Voices. God I love those guys, but that's another post for another day...promise. The Replacements were originally comprised of vocalist Paul Westerberg, guitarist Bob Stinson, bassist Tommy Stinson and drummer Chris Mars. Bob Stinson wasn't much of a fan of the Sire Records version of The Replacements (they were signed by Sire after releasing three studio albums in 1983...and in doing so became one of the first "underground" bands to graduate to a major label) that began with their fourth studio album Let It Be in 1984. They began to play softer, more commercially viable music and as Bob's drinking took on a life of its own he was let go after 1985's Tim. Their And Then There Were Three...(how about that Genesis reference right there huh?) record, Pleased To Meet Me, contained two of their most famous songs ever in "Can't Hardly Wait" and "Alex Chilton." The softer version of The Replacements was definitely a commerical hit.

Each of their final five studio records had something great on them. Let It Be had "I Will Dare" and the gorgeous "Unsatisfied" to go along with their cover of Kiss' "Black Diamond." Tim had "Kiss Me On The Bus" and "Here Comes a Regular" plus "Left of The Dial." Post Pleased To Meet Me record Don't Tell a Soul had "Talent Show" and "I'll Be You." The final CD, some say essentially a Paul Westerberg solo effort, called All Shook Down at least had "Merry Go-Round." I became a Replacements fan the very first time I heard "Can't Hardly Wait." It's still probably my favorite 'Mats tune. Minneapolis gets overlooked as a hot bed of music fairly often, but Replacements contemporaries Husker Du and Soul Asylum were from there around the same time period. And we don't even need to mention Prince do we? I'm not going to count the legendary Bob Dylan here as he made his musical bones elsewhere, but Minneapolis should be proud of their output. The Replacements had a couple of memorable disastrous tours with R.E.M. and Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers that only added to their problems. Infighting, personnel changes, alcohol abuse and turmoil ultimately led to their demise around 1991, but they have a better greatest hits package than many bands and "Can't Hardly Wait" is a masterpiece in my book. Maybe they'll reunite one day, but if they don't I'll still be playing their records. There is just something about them. I hope you feel the same way...

The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait.mp3

The Replacements - Can't Hardly Wait.mp3 YSI

I have to admit to not getting Devo for the longest time. I didn't much care for "Whip It" and I didn't like it much when they screwed around with (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction as I will go to my grave a huge Rolling Stones fan. It seemed like music for geeks and shut ins. Well, I guess I'm both these days. Today I'm a pretty big Devo fan. I went to see Devo last summer and got pulled into the 2nd row by a friend of mine. I had a god damn blast. I was singing "Mongoloid" at the top of my lungs like some teenager. Sci-Fi Rock? Newer than New Wave? Synth Kings? I don't really know, but nobody sounds like Devo. When you hear Pink Floyd's Animals there can be no other band in the history of rock that sounds like that right? What greater compliment is there? I've done a complete 180 on Devo.

My two favorite Devo songs are probably "Girl U Want" and "Beautiful World," but I've come to embrace their funky catalogue. I'm Through Being Cool you might say. Those yellow space suits, red hats and crazy eye wear is all part of their schtick. Their fans are inclined to wear all of that stuff to their shows and it's hilarious. Again with the comedy in my rock! I love to laugh while I'm enjoying my music. A good sense of humor is tremendously valuable in rock. No need to take yourself so seriously all the time I say. If you can mix the two (good music and humor) you have me. I really believe that is what made Van Halen such a good time and I know for a fact it makes AC/DC. It's a great combination. Hey man that suit is you!...you'll get some leg tonight for sure...tell us how you do...

Devo were complete pioneers who formed in Akron, OH in 1973. They started out on Stiff Records and graduated to major label Warner Brothers when David Bowie and Iggy Pop got on their bandwagon. Brian Eno produced their first record, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We are Devo!, and off they went. They scored a gig on Saturday Night Live in 1976 and became a bit of a sensation as a result of the exposure. They appeared on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert in 1979 as well. Any young rock fan in the 70's was keenly aware of Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and The Midnight Special because in those days that was the only way you could see your favorite bands perform live, especially at 13 or 14 years of age. American Bandstand or Ed Sullivan didn't really count because they weren't real concerts. And you knew your parents were not going to let you go to NYC (in my case) and see a rock band. Not with all that Mary Jane in the air. Geesh. Talk about Reefer Madness. I remember I got my first glimpse of Kiss on one of these shows (I can't remember which one unfortunately). They did Strutter, Firehouse and Nothin' To Lose and your friend Johnny had seen enough and had to have that debut album. C'mon...Cold Gin...Deuce...Black Diamond...yeah man! All that makeup melting all over the place...it was MTV before MTV. Too bad I wasn't smart enough to invest my allowance...

In 2000 Devo put out Pioneers Who Got Scalped: The Anthology. I'm not sure this is the definitive collection, but it's got a lot of covers on it. They covered many songs including Are You Experienced?, Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Secret Agent Man, Satisfaction, Working in a Coal Mine and the song I came to post today; Nine Inch Nails' Head Like a Hole. All of their covers feel like they've been fed into a blender and synthesized, but they come away with that distinctive Devo stamp on them. I understand this cover was done specifically for the film "Supercop," but I've never seen it. In fact, if I wasn't screwing around on the Internet one day I probably never would have heard this cover. I've long been a fan of Nine Inch Nails so I was curious when Devo took a crack at their signature tune. I'm strangely OK with it, but then I already admitted to being a fan...

I'm not only stuck in the 80's, I'm stuck in 1980 it seems. I don't care. I was jamming (to intentionally coin a phrase) along on my Sony iPod like device this morning at the gym and one of my all time favorite Jam songs popped up. Oh baby, I'm dreaming of Monday, Oh baby, will I see you again...man I love that song. I think I'm the only one because I haven't heard it on the radio since, well, 1980. Yet Town Called Malice from 1982's The Gift seems to get all kinds of airplay to this day.

Sound Affects is a great record. It has Pretty Green, Monday, Start! and the granddaddy of all Jam songs; the brilliant "That's Entertainment." Whoa. The Jam catalogue is full of great songs like "This is The Modern World, The Bitterest Pill (I Ever Had to Swallow), Beat Surrender, Just Who is The 5 O'Clock Hero?," etc, but I favor "That's Entertainment" and "Monday." The irony here is that only die hard Jam fans would even know the song "Monday." It was one of those songs for me that you loved initially, but didn't buy. The Jam were an English Mod Rock band that had been around awhile when they released Sound Affects. I lost track of the song for a number of years, but came across it again around 1986 or so and by then I was flat nailing down every track or album I ever wanted as I built my collection. Today it's kind of embarrassing to be honest. All my friends my age seem to have left their rocking days behind them and even the youngsters I pal around with these days, The Giant Panther excluded of course, just don't seem to get the same charge out of seeing live concerts that I always have. Not only that, listening to music seems to be on the wane too. I know that sounds absurd with the surge of iPod Nation, but it seems like that listening is reserved for the gym and commuting to and from work. I can't remember the last time a buddy of mine and I sat down and listened to the new record by one of our favorite artists and had a couple of beers. It's pretty sad.

I know folks have better things to do and families and everything else, but I still love checking the list of new releases on a given Tuesday. I've been to about fifteen concerts this summer. I don't tell you folks about every one (that takes work!), but trust me when I tell you I'm out there. I've got three warhorses on the docket over the next six weeks in Bruce Springsteen, Mountain and U2, but I'm always a threat to locate smaller shows. I solo most of them now. I used to always buy two tickets and now I just buy one if I buy anything at all in advance. Usually I just show up on the night of event. It's great not having to unload tickets if plans change too. Me & Craigslist. Hello, I'm Johnny Cash...what do you have? The Pretenders and Blondie, among others, just blew through here and I took a pass. Have seen them both and just wasn't feeling it that night. Sometimes you risk the final curtain when you pass. Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde are five to ten years older than me, but they both can still sing. It's just a matter of if they want to. And then it's just a matter if I want to listen on a given night right? Most of the time I'm in The Mood for a Melody believe me.

Back to The Jam...They released six studio albums and one Live album between 1977 and 1982. They had Punk Rock leanings, but they were very musical and had great harmonies. The Paul Weller led outfit wore suits as opposed to shredded jeans and safety pins, but that didn't stop them from being talented angry young men. After the band broke up Paul Weller went on to form the critically acclaimed band The Style Council, but I never loved them like I loved The Jam. I hope somebody out there goes "Oh yeah!" after I post "Monday" and puts it in their iPod. After all, I live for just that.

The Jam - Monday.mp3

The Jam - Monday.mp3 YSI

I'm sort of stuck in the 80's for the moment, but I'll work my way out of it; I promise. I remember hearing about Robin Lane & The Chartbusters on WCOZ in about 1980 if memory serves. They used to broadcast entire records late at night and I used to use my tape deck to record them in my Emerson College dorm room. My memory isn't what it used to be, but I'm pretty sure I recorded Robin Lane & The Chartbusters debut album on one side of a cassette and Heart's Bebe Le Strange on the other. I'll bet if dug deep around here I could locate that exact TDK cassette complete with faint static in the background from the radio station signal. It probably has a recognizable DJ introducing what was new music at the time. I remember playing this particular cassette ad nauseum for months. I loved the Wilson sisters back then and The Chartbusters' first album was solid as well.

In 1980 I lived on the 8th Floor at 100 Beacon Street in Boston in an area we dubbed "Centerville" because we had set up a living room in the hallway that served as community property. It was surrounded by five or six double occupancy dorm rooms that we all lived in. We'd order Domino's pizza and watch Saturday Night Live and make god awful drinks out of anything we could cobble together. I think we used to call them "Smashers" for obvious reasons. It was an innocent time and I don't remember doing all that much studying to be honest about it. We would all share our music with each other and, of course, we'd be in tune with what was being played on the radio. Robin Lane's single "When Thing Go Wrong" was a monster hit back then and we all just loved it.

I was probably the only one who just kept playing the record all the way through though. I'm sure there is a science to releasing singles as it relates to their placement on a full length LP, but if I was in a band I'd never want the first song on a record to be my lead single; particularly if you are in an unknown band. It's just too easy to play the first song and change the record at a party. Do that enough times and you never get to the rest of the album. Buy more records and that first track only record is now associated with being a one hit record in your mind and you wind up never playing it at all. I was never that kind of music listener, but I've seen it happen with friends of mine. I always played B sides of singles and the entire album if I bought it. Part of that was because I couldn't afford more than four new albums every two months or so in those days. I had to listen to everything to get my money's worth. If only that were true today...

That time in my life came and went faster than I could have ever imagined, but my love for Robin Lane's first record, and "When Things Go Wrong" in particular, has never waned. I had mentioned 'Til Tuesday's "Voices Carry" in an earlier post and these two songs are in the same league for my money. Both were female fronted bands and both of these songs should be on any Top 50 list of Boston's greatest local songs. I used to play it at parties decades later and invariably someone would bolt forward to ask me who the artist was. Here are some fun Wikipedia facts regarding Robin Lane I didn't even know. Did you know she was married to future Police lead guitarist Andy Summers for two years? Did you know Robin sang backup on the song "Round & Round" from Neil Young's epic 1969 release Everybody Knows This is Nowhere? And Apparently "When Things Go Wrong" was the eleventh video ever played on MTV's very first programming day back on August 1, 1981. Now that's pretty cool no? I'm sure Robin is so sick of this song by now that she might distance herself from it, but that'd be a shame if that were true. It has held up amazingly well and still sounds like a million bucks.

Yet another Boston band from the 80's was a band called The Del Fuegos. In the late eighties an artist named Juliana Hatfield immortalized The Del Fuegos in her song "My Sister" by name checking them as the warm-up act for a potential Violent Femmes show her sister might have taken her to if she'd stuck around. Before they had a record out, before they went gold...and started to grow. I always liked that line. In 1985 The Del Fuegos released an album called Boston, MA. WBCN was squarely behind them and the first single was "Don't Run Wild." It took me a few spins to warm up to it, but I was soon a huge fan of this single.

I wasn't really sure what to make of The Del Fuegos when they released their first album in 1984. Yeah, they were a garage rock band, but aside from "Longest Day" and "Backseat Nothing" there wasn't much to write home about relative to radio airplay. Led by brothers Dan and Warren Zanes, the band had an awful lot of hype around the station, but I didn't really get the feeling they were headed for big things at the time. If memory serves they were toppled by the Aimee Mann led 'Til Tuesday in the 1983 WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble (a battle of the bands for the unfamiliar). In fact the runner up was The Sex Execs of "My Ex" fame. Talk about where are they now huh? And I'm dead certain none of the judges were dazzled by Aimee's drop dead good looks either. In fairness "Voices Carry" was and is a tremendous song and The Del Fuegos had yet to unleash "Don't Run Wild." The Fuegos were left behind with the likes of Digney Fignus and their hit "The Girl With The Curious Hand." I'm sure they were hoping for more as good as that song was.

After "Don't Run Wild" became a WBCN staple the world was The Del Fuegos' oyster. They had another track called "I Still Want You" and "The Sound of Our Town" that did some minor charting, but "Don't Run Wild" was a killer track. I don't know what exactly happened to these folks after 1985, but it was all over by 1989 for The Del Fuegos. No matter. Every time I hear "Don't Run Wild" I think very fondly of this time of my life. And to name their record Boston, MA was pretty ballsy even though it guaranteed some airplay with a title like that in this town. I hope you like this track as much as I do. I love the whole feel of it. Great tune.

So, with WBCN officially dead and gone, I figured I'd post a song by a Boston band called The Lyres. The only consistent Lyres lineup has Jeff Connolly (who goes by Monoman) on vocals and organ; after that it was just a matter of what era you are talking about. The single I came to post today, "I Want To Help You Ann," was released on Ace of Hearts records in 1981. According to their web site the lineup for this single was Jeff Connolly, Peter Greenberg on guitar, Mike Lewis on bass and Howie Ferguson on drums. It is referred to as Lineup #6 spanning June 1980 to January 1982. The Lyres were a trip to see live, but their buzz exceeded their catalogue for the most part. The artwork I post here was originally from a four song 1981 EP known as AHS: 1005, which I'm guessing is the Ace of Hearts catalogue number. It has since been expanded to include "I Want To Help You Ann," but the lead track on this piece of vinyl was "What a Girl Can Do." They also had minor hits with "Don't Give It Up" and "She Pays The Rent" which I always thought were pretty good tracks, but by and large The Lyres were never much of a household name outside of Boston.

The Lyres were a garage rock band. "I Want To Help You Ann" is a big time cut. It comes at you like a freight train. The Lyres were descendants of an earlier garage rock band called DMZ. Apparently DMZ, Connolly's prior band, was signed to the awesome Sire Records label only to have their initial release tabled due to a poor mix (allegedly by Flo & Eddie of Turtles fame). It is said DMZ eventually morphed into The Lyres. They finally got their debut record, Lyres On Fire, released in 1984. It is a garage rock classic if you read the reviews on Amazon.com, but I'm going to have to go back and listen to it again. I was right there (in Boston, working at WBCN...the radio station that helped break them) when this all went down and I can't recall it being a game changer, but I don't mean to disparage The Lyres in any way. I love garage rock and I love a handful of their tracks, but I would probably place them on a par with a band like The Del Fuegos. The Del Fuegos were another Boston band with at least one monster track in "Don't Run Wild." I wish I had written both of them to be sure, but neither of these acts went on to live in infamy. In fact, I think I'm going to post "Don't Run Wild" in a few minutes for fun. "I Want To Help You Ann" rocks. Simple as that. I hope you add it to your iPods and look fondly on The Giant Panther as a result.

I had been in Boston maybe two years when I first heard Human Sexual Response on the radio in 1980. The song was Jackie Onassis and to this day I still like that single. I immediately had to investigate. Human Sexual Response was a Boston band that lasted, give or take, maybe five years from roughly 1977-1982. That isn't a long time for a band as good as HSR was, but they definitely made their mark here. I have always found their sound interesting for some reason. They had four hits, mostly on the local level; Jackie Onassis, Andy Fell, Land of The Glass Pinecones and the song I came to post today "What Does Sex Mean To Me?" They also did a cover of a 1966 song by The Capitols called "Cool Jerk" which got a little airplay early as well. Making a great song like Jackie Onassis about an American icon just about guaratees this band will never be forgotten. It's not a great Christmas song (meaning it'll get played at least once a year for decades), but it's the next best thing isn't it? They say even Jackie O liked it. Does it get any better than that?

The origins of HSR are fairly typical, but it's kind of surprising to note that they have a background that includes the kazoo and Country & Western music. These folks defy a musical category, but they got lumped into the New Wave category because nobody knew where to put them. Fig. 15, their debut record, was released in 1980 and it definitely made a splash on both local college radio and local rock stations. They had a titillating name, which always helps, but they had some shock value going for them as well. In addition to "What Does Sex Men To Me?" they included a song called "Butt Fuck" on this record. Today the Butthole Surfers are announced by DJs like it is nothing (they only play "Pepper," but that is another story), but in those days I'm kind of surprised it passed the smell test. Needless to say, it was not going to get any airplay. The thing is, this record is really very good. I like the way it was recorded and I love the way lead singer, Larry Bangor, kind of stuttered his vocals. He had a slight quake and quiver to his vocal delivery which adds to their sound. Some may not agree, but I think it has a touch of David Byrne to it. Very artsy. I'd have posted "Land of The Glass Pinecones," because I love that song too, but that doesn't quite illustrate what I'm having trouble describing here. You can find that one on their 1981 release In a Roman Mood. Do check it out if you've never heard it before. The CDs are fairly hard to find these days, but worth the hunt.

Human Sexual Response broke up in 1982. They turned into the The Zulus and what seems like half a dozen other bands over the years. It's kind of hard to explain how much impact HSR's two records had on my listening tastes over the years, but suffice to say they opened up my ears to new sounds. "What Does Sex Mean To Me?" was the first song in which I ever heard the word "vagina" used, much less rhyming it with "China." I thought that was pretty cool way back when and I haven't changed my mind since. This song is well written, it rocks and it's wonderfully irreverent. Hats off to Human Sexual Response, wherever they are. I remain a big fan almost three decades later.

The first time I heard the British band Sweet was when a song called "Little Willy" was played on the radio station I was listening to in 1972. It had a fun cadence and it was right on the Bubblegum fault line. Sweet had a lot of trouble extricating itself from the Bubblegum label and it's not hard to understand why with the name they chose. In fact, they tried very hard to distance themselves from their bubblegum tag by intentionally doing heavier music on the flip side of all their singles. It drove label executives a bit crazy, but it definitely opened some eyes on the other end of the equation. In the days when you only had an "A" and "B" side to make a decision about a band that second song always got played. Maybe not always on the air, but if the "A" side was listenable the "B" side got a couple of revolutions to make sure nobody was missing anything. When you make songs like "Ballroom Blitz," "Little Willy," and "Fox On The Run" you're gonna get pigeon-holed to a degree. The truth is Sweet had more in common with Glam rockers like Queen, Gary Glitter, T-Rex and Slade than U.S. Bubblegummers like The Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Company or The Monkees.

Back to "Little Willy" for a moment; I still don't exactly know what the song was about, but I did know that I kind of liked it. Sweet had that way about them. Sometimes they sounded like a gang of people singing to you as opposed to just one voice. I never much cared for "Ballroom Blitz," but an awful lot of people did. Sweet had the party vibe about them. They sounded like they were having fun. Everybody wants a piece of the "Action" right? I did know that Willy wouldn't go home, but I never did figure out why. The lyrics are vague, but Willy seemed to like to dance and he had an attitude. I gathered at least that much, but the song was a blast and fun to listen to nonetheless.

Well, I didn't pay them all that much mind until the summer of 1978. It was my senior year of high school and we were all preparing for that trip off to college that would change our lives forever. We still had a couple of months to work a summer job and goof off and listen to the radio and that's just what we did. I was painting houses that summer and one of the songs in very heavy rotation was Sweet's masterpiece "Love is Like Oxygen" from their 1978 album Level Headed. It is often mistaken for belonging to the Electric Light Orchestra catalogue, but it represented a new direction for Sweet as they tried to distance themselves from their old sound. Plagued by lead singer Brian Connelly's alcoholism, several personnel changes and RCA's attempts to shape them, Sweet switched to Polydor Records and scored their final Top Ten Hit in "Love is Like Oxygen." Guilty Pleasure or not, I'll always love "Love is Like Oxygen." So consider me outed in a manner of speaking...