The Giant Panther

I know many of you are way too young to remember the 1960's daytime Gothic Soap Opera Dark Shadows, but my friend David from River Road in Millington, NJ and I used to watch the thing with his older brother Joe. There was this game by Mattel called Creepy Crawlers that was very famous in the mid 60's that allowed you to make rubbery monsters from a mold. My guess is that the game would never get by the child safety inspectors today, but back then it was very popular. Between that and The Munsters & The Adams Family, which were both comedies, and shows like Alfred Hitchcock Presents & The Twilight Zone there was a lot of interest in monsters, vampires and the unknown back then. It's not so different today, these things are cyclical and I'm a Sookie Stackhouse watcher myself, but I'm all grown up now. I have yet to see a real life vampire so I'm betting such things do not exist, but back in the late 60's Dark Shadows literally made the hair on the back of my nine year old neck stand straight up. I was banned from watching it by my mother because I would have nightmares. It sounds kind of laughable today, but I gotta tell ya Jonathan Frid and company scared the living bejesus out of me. Even at nine or ten years old I couldn't get enough of Lara Parker, or Angelique as her character was named, back then. Lara was gorgeous and scary all at once. She went on to be a nice character actor appearing in hit TV shows such as The Incredible Hulk, Kojak, Hawaii Five-O, The Rockford Files and Baretta (you remember that sweetheart Robert Blake right?). Something about "Don't do the crime if you can't do the time" if I remember correctly. Speaking of loser ex-stars, I saw about ten minutes of Naked Gun II the other night and there was O.J., in his glory days, saving the day. Brutal. I know the Naked Gun movies have a cult following, but I struggle with that kind of slapstick humor. I realize I'm probably in the minority.

Before I get to your Halloween treats I saw this picture on the Internet of a couple of books I bought at our school's Book Mobile back in the day. Remember those babies? It couldn't have been more than 1972, sixth grade for me, and the five year run (1966-1971) of Dark Shadows had just ended. I don't know how many of these books Marilyn Ross wrote, but they were hot property amongst my peers at the time. Get a load of the price tags on these books; 50 cents! If we had five or six dollars back then we were rich by Book Mobile standards. Naturally the smart kids were buying Catcher in the Rye or House of The Seven Gables, but I was buying The Mod Squad or The Love Bug or some such garbage. Hey, not a word about Peggy Lipton! She was right up there with Marlo Thomas, Agent 99, Marilyn From The Munsters, Patty Duke and Marcia Brady...ha, kidding, but you see what we had for female hotties way back when? It was Mary Tyler Moore or bust I'm telling you. Now you know why I had a thing for Peggy Lipton. She was so cool and laid back. No Charlie's Angel she.

I'm not a horror movie fan. I think Dark Shadows knocked me off the horror thing forever. I've never seen Nightmare On Elm Street, Scream or any of those movies. I think I got through The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Night of The Living Dead at least once, but we did have this TV show called Chiller Theatre on WPIX Channel 11 while I was growing up in NJ so I still had one foot in the supernatural in the 70's. I think the show originated out of Pittsburgh, PA and it mostly dealt with science fiction, much like The Twilight Zone, but as long as nobody was creeping into a dark basement with no hope of not encountering trouble (hello Jodie Foster in Silence of The Lambs...just call for backup for chrissakes!) I was usually OK. Chiller Theatre was eventually on Saturday nights at 11:30 for the most part and it was so popular in Pittsburgh that it kept Saturday Night Live off their local channel for many years before finally giving way around 1978. The show ran, in form or another, from 1963 to 1983. A heckuva run for a TV show nobody remembers wouldn't you say?

OK, I'm posting several Halloween favorites today. I have a folder on my hard drives with about 83 songs on it. I can remember being invited to a costume party about three years ago and not really wanting to go. I love Halloween except for the costumes and the candy and the obligatory parties. Call me the Grinch of Halloween I guess. I have no imagination when it comes to costumes and no girlfriend to dress me up. I always buy some stupid mask or some expensive costume and I dread the whole affair. So, around 7 PM I started sorting my database by key phrases like ghost, graveyard, devil, zombie, Dracula (I just saw this great documentary on Vlad The Impaler on The History Channel...I guess he's the original Dracula...nasty person...but he had some wild castles and escape routes...that impaling thing though; geesh...looks downright painful), spirit, vampire, Halloween and whatever else I could think of and started making a folder. I eventually showed up around 11:30 PM without a costume, but carrying a flash memory drive. Three years later and nobody has even heard it and I've totally dropped the ball about adding to it. My Christmas file, by contrast, has nearly 900 songs in it and I could never listen to the whole thing even if I started on December 1st and listened 'til I dropped. Besides, there are only about 25 central Christmas Carols so I have forty versions of The First Noel and all the other suspects...not exactly enticing, but there are some awesome versions. I guess what I'm saying is if you think you have some great newish Halloween songs I should know about please drop me a comment and point me in the right direction.

I'm going to post some 20 old standbys and some of my personal favorites, but these are by no means my absolute favorites. I was just in the mood. Hope you all have a blast tonight. Be safe.

So, I had never heard of Sterophonics until I was watching FX's Rescue Me a couple of years back. I love a good TV show that also breaks (relatively) new music. My first class at Emerson College, way back in the Fall of 1978, was Introduction To Mass Communications. I couldn't tell you the professor's name for tonight's Mega Millions number, but down the road there were classes I had where the student teacher was Denis Leary. I don't remember if I took an Introduction To Comedy Writing course or what, but somewhere along the line I had Denis as a student teacher. Wikipedia says he graduated with the 1979 class, but I'm a bit skeptical. That would have meant we went to the same school for a year. I remember seeing his friend Mario Cantone (of Sex in The City Fame to name one thing) perform at The Emerson Comedy Workshop, but I can't honestly claim to remember seeing Denis Leary perform in person. I know I saw Eddie Brill (a national comic that warms up The David Letterman crowd nightly in addition to touring all over the place) perform several times. Every time I look at Gina Gershon though, who was also apparently a classmate of Denis Leary's, I think it's a shame I can't remember potentially having gone to school with her either. She's two years younger than I am so I must have. Remember you fool! No? Oh well...my loss for certain...

Where was I? Oh yeah, I discovered the Welsh band Stereophonics while watching Denis Leary's Rescue Me. The song they used was "Devil," which is apropos if I don't have time to do a Halloween blog tomorrow, but hopefully I will. I don't know much about Stereophonics to be honest, but I liked their record Language. Sex. Violence. Other? I gather the title of the CD was snatched from the back of a video rental, but no matter. I'm clearly a late bloomer here because they had been together since 1992 and had been making records since 1997. Language. Sex. Violence. Other? came out in 2005 and it was Stereophonics' fifth record already. All I know is I loved "Devil" after hearing it on Rescue Me so I went out and bought the CD. They remind me of another band I like that nobody seems to know in Monster Magnet. I'll probably catch some flak for that, but I think "Devil" would have fit right in on Monster Magnet's Dopes To Infinity. I realize Monster Magnet is considered Stoner Rock (there's a category for every imaginable sliver of Rock no?), but Stereophonics are all over the place themselves. Both of these records are very good, but New Jersey's Monster Magnet is a tad heavier. You'll hear some faint Oasis in Stereophonics' music, but that was almost to be expected in those days in that geography. Not that that's a bad thing. After all that's like two degrees of separation from The Beatles. With a love like that, you know it can't be bad...

Language. Sex. Violence. Other? featured the singles "Dakota" and "Superman" before "Devil" surfaced. A fourth song, "Rewind" has its fans as well. I haven't followed their career as closely as I probably would have liked to, but I understand they have a new record coming out in a couple of weeks called Keep Calm and Carry On. We wish them well. As for Rescue Me, I always wonder if somebody on the staff of the show is responsible for tabling this tune or if Denis himself chose it. Denis is plenty cool as is, but I'd like him even more if he knew his way around a modern rock record bin. Either way I enjoyed it and love this CD. I know TV shows like The O.C. have a string of CDs of music that they "broke" on their show, but I haven't seen that show believe it or not. I think it's really smart though to do what they're doing. I just looked at The Music From The O.C. Mix I on Amazon and Jet, Spoon and The Dandy Warhols (We Used To Be Friends....tremendous!...I know I told you to go out and buy The Dandie's Welcome To The Monkey House about a year ago, but I'm telling you again...fantastic record) are all on this CD so they've got some big names going for them. Oh wow, I gotta get with the program here...I just checked out Mix II and found great bands like The Eels, The Killers (though I'm fast getting sick of these guys), Death Cab For Cutie, Interpol, Nada Surf and The Thrills on it. Somebody knew what they were doing five or six years ago huh? I don't know if the show is still on the air, but that is tremendous branding. I always pay attention to the music in the background of any show. It's the music geek in me I guess.

OK, without further ado....I'm passing along 2005's Stereophonics' single "Devil." Hope you like.

Another one of my favorites from Days of Future Passed is Graham Parker. He had a couple of different backing bands over the years, but there is no mistaking his voice. I have remarked in the past about my college years basically transforming what I thought were my musical tastes. Graham Parker & The Rumour were a British "New Wave" (I get so tired of adhering to the labeling of bands, but if nothing else it gives it a bit of a time stamp I suppose) act that had three relatively well known records by 1979's Squeezing Out Sparks. All I know is that when I was leafing through famous used record store Nuggets in Kenmore Square in the early 80's I saw a lot of these album covers; Heat Treatment, Howlin' Wind and Stick To Me. The argument could be made that the more you saw particular records the poorer the quality or they wouldn't be there. Respectfully disagreeing I always went home and tried to find out more about artists that had more records in their section than most. There was no Internet, obviously, in those days so I had to go back to my DJ friends at the restaurant where I worked to get the skinny on some of the UK bands I was really just learning about.

The thing is, I went home to New Jersey for the summer of 1979 and worked in a factory that made those horseshoe things you see on the back of big truck cabs. They're called fifth wheels. It was a filthy disgusting job that I worked with other so-called respectable college kids home for the summer. I'll bet I was making $4.50 an hour tops to assemble these monstrosities on big chains hanging from the ceiling. If you did 25 a day you were considered a hard worker. I will say that since college kids are often too stupid to stay home the night before a 7:30 AM factory job, there were many days that seemed like weeks to this clock puncher that summer. The regular year 'round employees basically had a good chuckle at our expense and we knew we didn't want to end up like them so it was a volatile three month mix as the foreman chased us around trying to make sure my friends and I weren't dogging it (which we were as often as possible if memory serves). The reason I relay this intensely boring tale of 1979 is because the kids I was working with didn't all necessarily come from the same school district. Many times we were gladiators on the sports battlefield of The Delaware River Conference (DRC) in rural NJ. Once we put that aside there were always interesting exchanges about music. We used to sit in our cars during our fifteen minute breaks or half hour lunches and listen to, gulp, eight track tapes. One kid I didn't know at all before I started working at this factory played Squeezing Out Sparks and I liked it. I remember he was big Tom Petty guy too so maybe he started me down that path as well. I still love "Listen To Her Heart" to this day.

In 1979 some of the top records, not really counting The Clash's London Calling since it came out with a couple of weeks to spare in the decade, were Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures, Gang of Four's Entertainment!, The B-52's debut album, The Police's Regatta de Blanc, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Damn The Torpedoes, Pink Floyd's The Wall, Elvis Costello's Armed Forces, Neil Young's Rust Never Sleeps, Public Image Limited's Second Edition, David Bowie's Lodger, Supertramp's Breakfast in America, Joe Jackson's Look Sharp, Talking Head's Fear of Music, AC/DC's Highway To Hell, Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust, Fleetwood Mac's Tusk, Blondie's Eat To The Beat, The Cars' Candy-O, The Eagles' The Long Run, Led Zeppelin's In Through The Out Door, Cheap Trick's Dream Police, Roxy Music's Manifesto, Iggy Pop's New Values, The Patti Smith Group's Wave, Gary Numan's The Pleasure Principle, Marianne Faithfull's Broken English, Ian Hunter's You're Never Alone With a Schizophrenic, The Kink's Low Budget, Wire's 154, Frank Zappa's Joe's Garage, The Jam's Setting Sons, The Cure's Three Imaginary Boys, Dire Straits' Communique, XTC's Drums & Wires, Prince's debut album, Tim Curry's Fearless, Van Morrison's Into The Music, Bob Dylan's Slow Train Coming, Molly Hatchet's Flirting With Disaster, Van Halen II, The Alan Parsons Project's Eve, The Undertones debut album, ZZ Top's Deguello...and that doesn't include records by Michael Jackson or Donna Summer and others that weren't my style. Why did I list them all? I know I'm old, but does it strike anyone else that the top 100 records in this day & age just don't seem to measure up? It might be a case of the older I get the better it was, but that is one heckuva lot of great music concentrated in one era for some random year thirty years ago no? Maybe it's just me, but I'm not somebody who says "in my day" contrary to the occasional Giant Panther eye roll as I wax poetic about a long lost body of work. I love today's music just as much as if I grew up on it if it strikes me, but explaining what struck me in my formative years in here on this blog is very difficult to do without sounding like some clueless middle aged guy. Which I'm not...clueless that is...

The first time I heard "Local Girls" by Graham Parker I was on the bandwagon no questions asked. But Squeezing Out Sparks has other great songs like "Passion is No Ordinary Word, Nobody Hurts You, Discovering Japan, You Can't Be Too Strong, Saturday Nite is Dead and Love gets you Twisted." Anyone who followed Graham Parker's career knows full well this guy has a boatload of great songs like "Soul Shoes, Don't Ask Me Questions, Heat Treatment, Stupifaction, Temporary Beauty, You Hit The Spot, Mercury Poisoning, Don't Let It Break You Down, Get Started, Start a Fire and countless others. His Passion is No Ordinary Word compilation is a nice place to start if you would like more information about Graham Parker. For now though don't bother with the "Local Girls." Here endeth the Rumour, er, lesson...

I've done my part to understand and digest Husker Du. I own Candy Apple Grey, Warehouse: Songs and Stories, Zen Arcade, Flip Your Wig and New Day Rising. These records all came out between 1984 and 1987. I didn't buy them until well into the 90's, mostly because of their critical acclaim. I'm not saying I don't like Husker Du, but these records don't get a lot of airplay at my house. I realize these guys were Minneapolis legends on par with The Replacements, but I prefer Bob Mould's solo stuff and his short lived band Sugar to Husker Du. Maybe it's sacrilegious, but that is how I feel. I can distinctly remember my friend Jefferson playing Bob Mould's solo debut Workbook for me in 1989 and it sold me. I've been a big fan of his ever since. You may remember the singles "See a Little Light" or "Wishing Well" from that record. It was almost acoustic Husker Du slowed down to a more reasonable speed. It could have been construed as a folk record. I just love this guy's voice and the pain he sometimes radiates. He's been wronged by lovers, record companies, band mates, alcohol and all the usual problems a rock musician seems to go through. Get this man a Behind The Music!...

Husker Du broke up in 1988 and Bob Mould has been releasing solo records ever since give or take a side project like Sugar. Sugar surfaced in 1992 and it was everything I loved about Mould solo in an alternative rock setting. Mould even has a song called "I Hate Alternative Rock" because I don't think he likes being typecast. For those of you who never followed his solo career he's got several tremendous songs I highly recommend. Among my personal favorites are "One Good Reason" from 1990's solid Black Sheets of Rain, "Fort Knox, King Solmon & Next Time That You Leave" from 1996's Bob Mould, "Can't Fight It" from the 1993 No Alternative compilation and "First Drag of The Day & Skintrade" from 1998's The Last Dog & Pony show. You can find all of these records in the cutout section of your local used CD store, but that just makes me love them all the more. You'd think I'd hate seeing records I paid full price for when they were first released selling for 99 cents (in some cases), but not me. I feel like grabbing the person next to me...you know the one; he has to look at the "M's" at the exact same time you do and has no clue about waiting his or her turn...and saying "buy this!," but I never do. I guess my point is if you like Bob Mould or Sugar think about scooping up all of his solo records between 1989 and 1998. They are all very good in my opinion.

Looking back on it, you could see the Sugar thing coming on if you were paying attention to his solo work. He was slowly picking up the pace and featuring a harder edged sound after Workbook. By the way, Bob can wield the axe. When he rocks, on top of that voice, he delivers the goods. I saw him play at The Paradise a couple of years back and he stayed and signed CDs for about 20 of us after the show. He couldn't have been nicer. He had a firm handshake (sounds ridiculous, but I'm believer in a solid handshake) and he looked you right in the eye. I loved his humility. He seemed like a normal guy to me. I'm aware that he has a colorful personal life, but I'm all about the music so I bought this last three CDs and got them signed as a show of support. His music has changed a lot after The Last Dog & Pony Show. They say his latest album Life and Times, which came out recently, puts him back on track, but I haven't heard much of it as of yet. I think he DJs a lot and some of the stuff on his records the last decade or so has revolved around dance music and technology experimentation.

Sugar was a different animal. A very good Bob Mould on steroids. Teaming up with ex Mercyland bassist David Barbe and drummer Malcolm Travis from my old friends Human Sexual Response (see earlier post), Mould hit a real sweet spot in his career. Copper Blue was released in September of 1992 and I went to see them play at The Orpheum Theatre in Boston in May of 1993. They rocked. WFNX was playing "Good Idea, Changes and If I Could Change Your Mind" and I was all over this record. My favorite track though was "Hoover Dam." Standing on the edge of the Hoover Dam. I'm on the center line. Right between two states of mind. Great lyrics. For those of you who are unfamiliar, The Hoover Dam is located on the state line between Arizona and Nevada and harnesses the power of the mighty Colorado River. Completed in 1936, the dam is still one of the biggest electricity generators in this country. I watched a documentary a couple of years ago on the building of the dam and it was pretty educational. We lost a lot of men on that job. Herbert Hoover got all the credit, but it's probably the biggest tourist attraction outside of Las Vegas to this day. My mother lives out in Nevada so while out in Vegas on a business I let her drag me over there. I don't know the name or number of the highway, but the imagery in Mould's song is all I could think of while I was there. I stood where Bob stood. Pretty cool. I'm leaving you with Hoover Dam because I just love this song. Hopefully somebody out there will agree with me.

A friend of mine comes over my place from time to time and likes to call it "Mantown." I laugh every time he says it. Why does he call it "Mantown?" Because everywhere you look there are framed rock posters. Led Zeppelin, Robert Johnson, Nirvana, The Who, Nine Inch Nails, Peter Gabriel, The Rolling Stones, U2, New Order, Dave Mason, The Clash, Bob Dylan, Gov't Mule, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, She Wants Revenge, AC/DC, Bruce Springsteen, The White Stripes, Radiohead, John Hiatt and a Chicago blues bar called "Blue Chicago" all have prominent wall space in my crib. It's only a 1500 square foot condo or I'd have more stuff up there. It's my own little personal Rock & Roll Hall of Fame I guess, but in the absence of anyone telling me what to do for the moment it just sorta happened. My friend's been married and divorced twice so the implication, even as he now cohabitates with yet a third female, is that if I was presently living with a woman this kind of thing would not stand. Maybe he's right, but at least they are all tastefully framed and not slapped up on the wall with thumbtacks right? That's gotta count for something don't it? I love horrible grammar sometimes, don't you?

One of the posters I had framed is an oversized picture of the cover of The Clash's London Calling. The poster is bigger than anything else I own and it's so big I couldn't fit it in my Volkswagen Passat when I went to pick it up. It was quite hilarious until then. I had to put it back in the store and dig up a friend's truck to move the thing the twenty miles (I had it done near work) from the framing store to my wall. Hanging the thing was a major bear as well. Putting one of those three pronged, three nail required thingamajigs in the beautiful brand new pristine wall (this was about three years ago now) was painful enough (but not nearly as painful as watching them cut a hole in my wall to brace my new flat screen on the cantilever arm...that was pretty wild for a new condo owner...they had to thread the wires through the wall so there was no getting around that one), but I ended up solo hanging the thing and that was pretty hairy. Although the worst, by far, hanging story is when I hung my oversized The Song Remains The Same Poster (it came with the release of the DVD a couple of years back if you mailed in for it) over my stairwell that leads up to the master bedroom. It's so high in the air you needed a ladder, which I promptly went out and bought. The thing was, the stairs were relatively steep with no carpet to brace the ladder on and the art of getting behind such a high space combined with the length of the poster had the ladder nearly perpendicular. Naturally I was soloing the task so there were some very precarious moments involved. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so stupid. It looks beautiful today, but I may never be able to get it down.

Where was I? Oh yeah, The Clash. Over my kitchen table hangs the biggest Clash poster I have ever seen. It's not that unusual or anything, but it's big. It creaks every now and then I'm always waiting for the worst. I bought a corner hutch about a year later so I had move the thing over four inches on the wall. Glad it's still there is all I can say. I'll sell the place before those old holes are exposed for all to see. London Calling was released way back in December of 1979 just in time for the stocking stuffing masses. I was just reading a Classic Rock Magazine reprint of an article that originally appeared in the NME (New Music Express) that same month. It was about a Mod DJ turned producer named Guy Stevens. Guy was a bit of a badass, but he was famous for producing bands like Free and Spooky Tooth while serving as the first house producer for Island Records. He claims to have invented Mott The Hoople (at least making sure that the name Mott The Hoople, taken from a book by Willard Manus, was used as the name of a band he was involved with at some level) and to have introduced Keith Reid to Procol Harum. He then allegedly failed to sign Procol Harum to Island and watched them sell over 90 million copies of "Whiter Shade of Pale" for someone else.

His legend also included making tapes of his fearsome record collection he mostly mail ordered from America for groups like The Who so they had something to cover inbetween originals. But his real Calling, pardon the obvious bad pun, was that he discovered The Clash by happenstance as he was visiting someone across the street from where they were rehearsing. He allegedly heard the Clash song "White Riot" and set off to reclaim his sagging career. Apparently the disappointment of being abandoned by Mott The Hoople after producing their first five Island records and losing out on untold millions via the Procol Harum fiasco set off the usual alcoholic haze...only this one lasted nearly seven years. When The Clash told CBS Records they were going to use Guy Stevens the label pushed back. They didn't like him. Good thing they buckled.

Guy Stevens produced the fabulous London Calling album and regained his place as the Phil Spector of the UK in the process. As a youngster of 19 in 1979 I was still getting used to being on my own and still had a record collection full of Supertramp, The Cars, Boston, Cheap Trick, The Beatles & The Stones, Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Heart and Steve Miller (not that there's anything wrong with that); I just wasn't yet prepared for the onslaught that was The Clash. You're going to laugh, but you know when it really hit me that these guys might be pretty good (let alone the only band that really mattered)? It was about three in morning somewhere around 1980. I had just got off my shift as a line cook at TGI Fridays and about 12 of us headed back to someone's apartment in the Fenway here in Boston. Someone put on a copy of "Magnificent Seven" from The Clash's Sandinista! and the girls all started dancing. Funny how you come upon certain points in your life and attach them to bands and the memory sticks as a result. I know I had heard London Calling prior to this. My college roommate must have played "Brand New Cadillac" about eight gazillion times. I liked it fine, but I didn't yet love it. All of the sudden I was a Clash fan. "Julie's Been Working For The Drug Squad" mad for this "new" band called The Clash. I didn't get a Mohawk, but I can remember going to Strawberries when Combat Rock hit the streets. They were all but done by them, but I didn't know that. I was just getting started! I even bought Cut The Crap and thought "This is England" rocked!

OK, my post is way too long now. London Calling was voted the #8 record in the latest Rolling Stone Top 500 Records of all Time poll. It's fitting. It's a double album with nary a weak cut. Sandinista!, by comparison, is a triple album that could have been a great double album. None of us could afford it back it the day even though I think it sold for a respectable $11.99 (don't quote me!). It had fantastic songs on it, but there was a lot of filler for my money. No filler on London Calling. Everyone knows the title track and the unlisted smash hit "Train in Vain," but there are great songs mixed in there. My personal favorite is The Guns of Brixton, but Death or Glory is always right behind it. Most folks know "Lost in The Supermarket" and "Clampdown" because they were played ad nauseum on AOR radio, but songs like "Revolution Rock, Rudie Can't Fail, Spanish Bombs, Jimmy Jazz, Lover's Rock and The Card Cheat" are fantastic. It's a must own. But for me, the Paul Simonon penned track "The Guns of Brixton" just does it for me. It's fitting because it's Simonon that is the Clash member that is about to do serious harm to his instrument on the cover of London Calling.

In 1992 a band from Great Yarmouth in the UK meandered onto the scene with a record called Ferment. Local WFNX DJ Julie Kramer seemed inordinately enamored of these guys and played "Black Metallic" until the whole region finally got it. I didn't need much prodding to be honest. "Black Metallic" is just a fantastic song. Write that down. FANTASTIC. I know I've prattled on about this many times, but from 1987 to around 1993 I was all over new bands the way The Giant Panther is on them today. In fact, he stumbled on "Black Metallic" about two years ago now and came to me wondering if I'd ever heard it. Heard it? I'd say this song stands as one of the very best the so called alternative 90's had to offer. The 90's get a bad rap from a lot of folks including The GP, but once you get past the flotsam and jetsam there were a ton of great artists and music in my opinion. The same as in any other decade in my opinon. Catherine Wheel was one of those artists.

Catherine Wheel consisted of guitarist and main vocalist Rob Dickinson, guitarist Brian Futter, bassist Dave Hawes and drummer Neil Sims. Formed in 1990, Catherine Wheel took its name from a type of firework, but "Catherine Wheel" was also a type of medieval torture device. I don't think the band minded the duel associations. They were lumped in with what the British press referred to as "shoegazing" artists. I guess the prevailing definition at the time was used to describe artists that stood on stage performing almost motionless with no intent of trying to rile up the crowd with inane phrases like "Hello Cleveland!" Frequently said performers were actually looking down at their shoes while they sang. It might be more of a myth than anything, but it was kind of a humorous way to describe low impact live shows in those days. I never did see Catherine Wheel now that I think about it, but I could swear I did see them once at Boston's Hatch Shell. Alas, I have no proof or memory of such a show. You had to manufacture your own ticket at free outdoor events and sometimes I spaced it. Oh well. Since I don't remember it I can't imagine it had much of an impact if in fact it ever took place. Nice huh? Nothing like advertising my over indulging early 90's memory loss I guess...

Regarding Catherine Wheel, they had a nice run from 1990 until roughly 2000. They toured incessantly, but never really got over the metaphoric hump. They were big around Boston and I'm sure in the UK, but records sales were so-so at best. The press loved them that's for sure. I did too actually, but while their records always had a "hit" or two they never really felt complete to me. Ferment broke some ground, but none of their records made it higher than 25th on the U.S. Charts according to Wikipedia. Still, many of you might remember songs like "I Want To Touch You, Heal, Balloon, Crank, Show Me Mary, and Judy Staring at The Sun," but by and large they never reached the ethereal heights of "Black Metallic" ever again. They had a terrific cover of Pink Floyd's "Wish You Were Here" on 1996's Like Cats and Dogs compilation that also went under the radar. Their last gasp CD Wishville, released in 2000, received more of the same lackluster consumer attention and the band went on an open ended hiatus. Still, "Black Metallic" will keep Catherine Wheel on the tip of my tongue forevermore. What a great single. Consider them Giant Panther Hall of Famers as a result.

Give yourself a pat on the back if you can recall these guys. Think Tree was an eclectic Boston band that used to play places like Chet's Last Call and The Rat in Kenmore Square. They were really tough to get a handle on. In those days nobody was labeled an "Indie" band per se, but if there was such a designation these guys deserved it. There isn't a heckuva lot of information about them on the web, but I wanted to post this song anyway. I have some kind of masochistic streak in me when I post I think. I want to post under the radar chestnuts that push folks to post comments, but sometimes I guess I go too underground. I'll probably have 25 people download this song, but I don't care. Somebody somewhere will go; "oh yeah." I only need one person to make the post worth my time.

Think Tree put out an EP in 1990 called 8/13. I was reading an interview posted on the web somewhere and lead vocalist Peter Moore claimed the 8/13 had a cryptic meaning that couldn't be revealed for some reason. He did offer that electronic drummer Jeff Biegert once lived at 813 Terrence Wood Drive in Colorado, but that seemed designed to throw us off the trail. They came and went inside of five years, at least based on their releases, but they were definitely part of the local rock scene in the early 90's. I first heard "Hire a Bird" on WFNX that first year and took to the song right away. It's quirky and the lyrics can be indecipherable at times, but that didn't stop me. I see that they published the words in the CD now that I look into it, but I don't recall ever actually reading them at the time. I just taped the song onto one my cassette mixes and off I went. "The Lovers" and later "Rattlesnake" from their 1992 release Like The Idea (on Caroline Records) also made later tapes for me. This band blended all kinds of odd noises and they definitely weren't Slaves To The Rhythm that's for sure. I saw them play at Avalon on February 18, 1992 at a Nomination Party (my ticket was ripped, but I'm guessing it was related to The Boston Phoenix somehow), but I don't recall anything about the show. I know they were headliners, but I'm guessing there were other good bands there that night as well. My memory of the early 90's isn't so hot I have to admit. It's really kind of sad.

Unfortunately, they disbanded around 1995, but then again they never could quit their day jobs. Caroline didn't fund their tours they way they would have liked so they actually toured Europe more than North America by the time they were done. There is a story that Nine Inch Nails honcho Trent Reznor heard "Hire a Bird" in a Burger King restaurant and took Think Tree backstage after warming up a Peter Murphy Boston gig at Citi way back when. There was talk of Reznor performing a song with Think Tree at one their shows at some point, but it never did materialize. It's a shame these guys never found their place in this tough business, but it's a story told a thousand times. They can be proud of "Hire a Bird" though. It's kind of amazing how little information is available about these guys, but maybe that only bolsters their legacy. A little mystery never hurt anyone.

Think Tree - Hire a Bird.mp3 YSI

OK rockers. Want to know the two very best kept secrets in rock today (only in my humble opinion of course)? Is that a yes? OK, I'll tell you; Built To Spill and The Black Keys. One band is from Idaho (Built To Spill) so you understand why they might not be a household name and the other is from that rock bastion Ohio (The Black Keys). Are you aware that Cleveland Rocks? Even the legendary Ian Hunter and Drew Carey know this...get on the stick! Seriously, I can't say enough about these two bands. I just love them to death. Tonight, Built To Spill is playing The Middle East in Cambridge. The venue holds maybe 1000 if the Fire Marshall is properly greased so it's a must see if at all possible. Naturally I procrastinated to see if my baseball team was playing the night of the concerts (there are three this weekend) and now that I want to go this evening I have no ticket. I should go camp out right now because this is going to be a murderously tough scalp I fear. This band is just fantastic in concert. This would be my third or fourth time seeing Built To Spill if I get in. The Black Keys I've probably seen five times now. Both bands are highly recommended and Giant Panther approved.

My Built To Spill story is actually kind of accidental and funny. I hope I haven't told it before in past blogs, but now I have a year's worth of history to space. I wouldn't know Built To Spill from spilled milk but for a fortuitous incorrect purchase about nine years ago. I was playing softball in North Cambridge for a bucket of blood pub called Sligo's in Davis Square (Somerville, MA) and we would retire to the bar after we played every Friday night for years. Davis Square is a great little college beehive of activity; Tufts University is over in nearby Medford and Somerville in general has been slowly gentrified the past fifteen years or so. It's about eight miles from Boston at most, but it houses some great bars, BBQ, theaters and live entertainment clubs (no, not those kind...geesh). It is just flooded with beautiful coeds and youth. I just love visiting the place. Sligo's, our sponsor at the time, is a giant throwback bar. It opens at dawn for third shifters and basically gets by on the spill off from packed clubs like The Burren, The Joshua Tree and Redbones (the best BBQ in our part of the world). It is crawling with nefarious types perched on their stools right next to college kids. It's a mixed everything venue; people who start drinking to prevent their hangover from taking over the following day (you know the types; boilermakers and red eyes before noon) and college kids who could care less what time of day it is. Does the day end in "y?" Yes? One Pabst Blue Ribbon please...

How do I always get so far off track? Oh yeah, drinking after softball. Sometimes we'd have to run various errands for money and slices or ice or whatever after a given game. Parking in Davis Square is no picnic, but once that is settled sometimes we'd hit the bank for drinking money just before showing up to explain how we dropped the ball or hit the big homer. It was fun. I didn't like tying up my Fridays, but the league was competitive and we just kept playing. We only won the thing once in 1997 for our seven or eight years of trouble, but we never gave up trying. One team was always better than we were...every year. It all came down to pitching and we didn't have much. Anyway, one night while my buddy was getting cash I wandered over the to used CD store (remember those?) across the street and bought some music for fun. I must have picked up the latest CD by some artist (they sold new stuff too) and headed straight for the register because I know I wasn't in there long. Unbelievably, there was a line of four or five people trying to get out of there so I had time to check out the equivalent of your garden variety grocery store magazine rack as I was waiting. One CD just popped up as I was browsing (we must have won that night because I was feeling curious) and it said Live - Built To Spill. Some of you may remember the York, PA band Live that had numerous hits in the early 90's. I thought this was their new CD so I bought it! I had no idea the band was Built To Spill and the album was Live. That was one of the best mistakes I ever made.

Built To Spill is an Alt-Country band, but not like, say Uncle Tupelo or Wilco. They are a Blues band, but not like The Black Keys or Gov't Mule. They are a Jam band, but not like Phish or Blues Traveler. They are tough to pin a label on honestly. They are considered Indie, but so is everyone with absolutely no radio airplay. I think it's safe to say they are Neil Young disciples, but it's almost like Neil Young meets The Allman Brothers Band. But not quite. First of all, I don't really even like live albums per se. I think I mentioned this recently. And this was my first foray into the world of Built To Spill. Wow! This is a fantastic recording all around. I instantly went out and bought their entire catalogue. I just love this band. Their studio records are great and their live show is flat awesome. Doug Martsch is one of the most underrated guitarists around. I'm out of superlatives I swear.

OK, wish me luck getting in tonight, but I don't like my chances about now. I'm posting an exceedingly long cover version of the awesome Neil Young dirge Cortez The Killer from 1975's Zuma. Built To Spill lovingly reproduce this song with such intensity I was hooked after a single listen. The rest of their Live album is so good I can't even convey my enthusiasm with any clarity. Under the radar for their entire existence, they get by on their enormously loyal cult like following (Hello) because they deliver time after time in concert. Check them out and enjoy this flawless remake of Cortez The Killer. Grab a cup of coffee or something because this is no three minute throwaway cover. And to think I haven't even heard a note of their brand new record called There is No Enemy that just dropped this past Tuesday. Hopefully that'll change this evening.

P.S. I'm in!! Just scored a ticket off Craigslist while waiting for this bear to upload. Score!

I didn't know anything about Glam Rock when I was a kid. I didn't know T-Rex as Glam Rock. I didn't know that Mott The Hoople, David Bowie, Gary Glitter, Slade, Roxy Music, Sweet, The Tubes or The New York Dolls were considered Glam Rock either. I didn't know the genre was mostly associated with androgynous bi-sexual secretive (stage persona only or otherwise) types that wanted you think something (anything!) that would draw attention to their act. I wasn't much for David Bowie's early shtick honestly, but his music was so good it just didn't matter. Even one my personal musical heroes, Mick Jagger, had multiple rumors circulating that he might have been bi-curious back in the day. I was never that guy myself, but it was a tad unnerving to hear about my favorite musicians (I'm talking to you Lou Reed...as if he gives a rats backside) potentially playing for or with the other team. And forget about that old Rod Stewart rumor... I guess my point is Glam/Shock Rock's infancy wasn't very shocking looking back on it, but it did produce some great records.

It has always been about the music for me. If I liked the music I could overlook differentiating sexual preferences, politics or garden variety idiocy. That is what made them human. I have mentioned my childhood friend Jim in my blog in the past. He had three older siblings that all had a pretty big influence on our listening habits when we were between 14 and 18 years of age. They weren't always around, but their record collections were. It's part of the reason I lug my 1200 or so albums (I haven't bought one since 1987's Landing On Water by Neil Young) whenever I move. I just can't get past the visual and the nostalgia (let's be honest about what it is now...and that was only 22 years ago...The Times They Are A-Changin' no?). One of the records we got stuck on as young boys was T-Rex's The Slider. We had already seen 1971's Bang a Gong (Get It On) played on Dick Clark's American Bandstand and, I swear, the first time I heard this song it was a must own proposition for me. I bought Electric Warrior (the record Bang a Gong first appeared on) and The Slider a couple of years later, but first we had to listen to Jim's sister Nancy's copy of The Slider for free over a thousand times. I was just listening to it before I began to blog today. It still does it for me.

T-Rex's lead singer Marc Bolan was something else. He was a very charismatic performer and oozed sensuality as he spit out his lyrics. Some of them made you laugh ("I've got a Rolls Royce, 'cause it's good for my voice"), but humor was also part of his persona. Marc Bolan was a larger than life character. Unfortunately he died in a car crash in 1977 effectively ending T-Rex. If you still don't own Electric Warrior (1971) and The Slider (1972) and you have some early 70's David Bowie in your collection, go out and buy them. I still listen to them 35 plus years later. "Children of The Revolution" was eventually covered by Wisconsin products The Violent Femmes in 1986 on their CD The Blind Leading The Naked. The do a nice job on the cover, but the T-Rex version still rules. I've long been a fan of The Violent Femmes and have seen them a couple of times over the years. They have their own fantastic catalogue of originals, but I was immediately impressed when they chose to cover this T-Rex song. Very solid choice. Now go out and buy some Violent Femmes records.

"Children of The Revolution" was released as a single in September of 1972 and was eventually included as a bonus track on the reissued 1972 albums Ride a White Swan and The Slider as well as on the 1973 reissue of Tanx. How it didn't make the original cut on one of these records is beyond me. It's always been a favorite T-Rex track of mine. Hope you agree.

Children of The Revolution - The Violent Femmes.mp3 YSI

I don't know how many of you folks know that UB40 is a the British equivalent of our unemployment application over here in the states. I love the name of this band. I know there were UB-40 German submarines in the first World War, but the band UB40 was allegedly formed while actually waiting in the unemployment line. How appropriate is that for today's economy? Brother. UB40 is a reggae band formed in Birmingham of the UK in 1978. The word is they were discovered in a bar by Chrissy Hynde of The Pretenders. I tell you, I learn more about the bands I listen to by posting than by natural curiosity sometimes. I haven't posted much about Reggae music so far, but I'm working on it. I definitely enjoy it from time to time, though I'm no aficionado. The Giant Panther dumped a bunch of modern day reggae artists on me recently, but it's taking me forever to go through them for a number of reasons. I'm on it though. I have goals. It'll happen and I'll report back to you eventually.

UB40 had a number of hits of their own, but they really embraced the cover as a money making vehicle. They had great taste in music as they covered The Temptations, Neil Diamond, Al Green, Jimmy Cliff, Bob Marley, Elvis Presley...even Sonny & Cher. Labour of Love (I & II) was the name of two full albums of cover songs released in the mid 80's. They later added a third in the late 90's. They have sold over 70 million records worldwide and they have been called the most successful reggae act of all time. I guess Bob Marley wasn't around long enough, but I'm only going by what fact king Wikipedia is saying. UB40 still records today, although lead vocalist Ali Campbell left the band in 2008. Apparently Maxi Priest has taken over for him, but don't quote me. Although bands like The English Beat, The Clash and The Police were mostly contemporaries, I can't help but think a little UB40 rubbed off on these guys. There was quite a reggae scene in the UK once upon a time.

I'm going to post UB40's cover of the Al Green classic "Here I Am (Come and Take Me) today. I am an Al Green fan from way back and this cover, while fairly close to the original, is a nice blend of Reggae without sacrificing the Soul of the original. It's a great song to begin with, but UB40 does a nice version of it. I've been lacking on my cover posts lately, but mostly it's because I can't think of the ones I want to post when under the gun. My cover posts are some of the most popular for some reason so I'm cognizant of that and will post more in the future. Thanks for reading.

Sometimes I forget how many songs I've forgotten. Literally. I was just over in the "G's" of my library looking for something else and on the end of the row was a band I had long since forgotten about called The Grapes of Wrath. I knew they had a great song I hadn't heard in years, but for the life of me I couldn't quite remember what it was. I hadn't yet digitized the CD so I grabbed it and fired it onto my hard drive. Another one behind me. If you do these right they are fairly time consuming and I'm always happy to have whatever I was just working on behind me. I will be ecstatic when I get to the end. Bands that I only have one CD of are kind of the best because I know it won't take me long. I procrastinate over the big boys believe me. I'm dreading going back over my Rolling Stones or Who catalogues and upgrading their quality. Unfortunately it must be done.

I'm not going to take up a lot of space today on The Grapes of Wrath. Fortunately I don't have to do a book report on John Steinbeck's famous novel here, just piece about a folk rock band that had a great song that made me buy their record back in 1991. These guys were Canadian Folkies that rocked a tad. They were from British Columbia and had released five studio albums before breaking up in 1992. They also released a greatest hits record in 1994 and reunited for a sparkless record called Field Trip in 2000, but it wasn't to be as they broke up again soon afterwards. I know I listed this band under my One Track Mind feature, but they were actually pretty good through and through. I've got a well documented thing for Folk music as we know. I didn't blog about the recent passing of Mary Travers of Peter, Paul & Mary fame recently, but I probably should have and kind of regret it.

Ironically, I hadn't heard "Leaving On a Jet Plane" in decades when I was in the famous ski resort town Killington, VT over the weekend at one of the clubs at the foot of the mountain seeing a great cover artist called Joey Leon (I hope I have that right Joey!). The reason I tell the story is that they took a half hour break between sets and "Leaving On a Jet Plane" magically appeared in their between set music mix. The drunken crowd, admittedly hanging around all day without a flake of snow to exercise their brains with, all started singing along with Mary. I started feeling guilty about being so lazy regarding her passing and was even enjoying the song myself, which as we know is very uncool. Joey, who let some seven songs play in the interim between sets, actually took the time to go back up on stage, short circuit the song mid crowd vocal and declare his hatred for it. Even though she just passed away! We'd been cheering him all night, but we had to boo him then...

It was kind of a bummer, but he may not have realized that she just passed away. It'll probably be another decade until I hear it again, but Peter, Paul & Mary were pretty big in the late 60's. Between your Bob Dylan covers, your Puff The Magic Dragons, your I Dig Rock & Roll Musics, Your This Land is Your Lands, your If I Had a Hammers, your Lemon Trees and your Jet Planes this folk trio was all over the convergence of Folk and Rock. By the time Rock was in charge, Peter, Paul & Mary were fairly passe. However, they went down kicking and screaming with 1970's (technically December 1969, but who's counting?) "Jet Plane." Even though it was written by John Denver and had to be re-released two years after it first appeared on their album 1700 in 1967, it was to be PPM's only number one hit. Nevertheless, they had a wonderful legacy. R.I.P. Mary...what a voice...

I guess my point is between Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel I really developed a love for Folk music early on. I followed it right into rock behind bands like The Byrds, Buffalo Springfield and later, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. When a band adroitly combines Folk and Rock I'm usually a soft touch. The Grapes of Wrath did just that. I guess Sarah McLachlan once warmed up for them on one of their tours. Oh those crazy Canadians looking out for each other huh? I thought that was pretty cool actually. Kind of like when Joni Mitchell and Neil Young shared the stage for a song or two in The Last Waltz. Anyway, I'm intentionally cutting this post right here so I can catch the one game baseball playoff this afternoon. I love those one game Game Sevens! I Hope you enjoy my posting of "You May Be Right." I really loved this song when it was on that old fangled thing known as the radio way back before the turn of the century. If you are going to call yourselves The Grapes of Wrath you'd better be good huh? I'd say this song qualifies. Hopefully you agree.

The Grapes of Wrath - You May Be Right.mp3 YSI

I was just rummaging through my collection to find something to blog about and came across a song I really liked from 1993. You remember 1993 don't you? C'mon, it was only 16 years ago now. It was the year of brilliant songs like The Breeders' Cannonball, The London Suede's Animal Nitrate, Beck's Loser, New Order's Regret, Nirvana's Heart Shaped Box, Pearl Jam's Daughter, Smashing Pumpkins' Cherub Rock, Belly's Feed The Tree, Mazzy Star's Fade Into You, Liz Phair's Fuck and Run, Urge Overkill's Positive Bleeding, Juliana Hatfield's My Sister, Elastica's Stutter, Soul Asylum's Black Gold, Bjork's Human Behaviour, James' Sometimes (Lester Piggot), Porno For Pyros' Pets, Alice in Chain's Rooster, King Missle's Detachable Penis, Radiohead's Creep, The Screaming Trees' Nearly Lost You, Stereo MCs' Connected, Midnight Oil's Truganini, Stone Temple Pilots' Plush, Cracker's Low, Grant Lee Buffalo's Fuzzy...heck even Sting's If I Ever Lose My Faith in You. Solid year no?

One song that is long gone and forgotten that I loved from that year is a song called "Butterfly Wings" from Industrial Rockers Machines of Loving Grace. They took a page out of the Nine Inch Nails playbook for certain, but they are slightly more melodic than NIN pound for pound. Industrial Rock, as we have discussed previously in the space, does have its detractors. I never quite made the Industrial Rock distinction when I was soaking up everything within earshot back then. If it was good it was good and this song was great. The Machines of Loving Grace were a Tucson, Arizona band that formed in 1989. They weren't around very long, but they did release three records before disbanding in 1997. I have just learned from our friends at Wikipedia that the song I am posting was featured on the original soundtrack to the movie Punisher: War Zone. I've never seen it, but it's probably one reason some of you folks might recognize this track. I could swear I heard them perform it live at The Hatch Shell in Boston many moons to the south, but I have no proof.

I was going post a link to their web site, but it turns out some guy who collects old typewriters, apparently machines of loving grace, has what should be their URL. How funny is that? I'm sure that why they broke up (he said facetiously). I wish I could think of the next big phrase, company, technology or product name, buy the naming rights and force them to pay for my summer and winter homes in order to get it back. Oh wouldn't that be sweet? Unfortunately my hindsight is better than my foresight and I'm just not that smart. If I had that kind of insight into the future I'd just save it for Mega Millions and be done with it. As for the real Machines of Loving Grace, they gracefully bowed out of the game over a decade ago and haven't been heard from since. They have a My Space page I noticed, but that could just be another unofficial fan generated page. As I've said many times before though; it's better to have one great single than to have none. Hope you like...

Machines of Loving Grace - Butterfly Wings.mp3 YSI

Hey everybody (say it like The Simpsons' Dr Nick)! It's my one year anniversary of blogging. I posted my first entry one year ago today. I bet you guys are thrilled huh (not)? No? Well, I'll try to do better this year. I was listening to my local Alterna-Rock station this morning and the DJ, Julie Kramer, was on a Grunge jag. Alice in Chains is back. Layne Staley isn't, but they are. I have to admit I like "Check My Brain." I didn't want to like it, but it really maintains the AIC sound and I'm happy for them. WFNX plays a lot of so-so things they think are good, such as Paramore (sorry to all you Paramore fans...I don't mean to offend anyone), but this station is very funny nowadays. Granted the early 90's were all about the Seattle Grunge sound, but man was I loving it. Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Mudhoney, Screaming Trees, Temple of The Dog, Mother Love Bone...even Hole (indirectly)...I loved it all. It was a great muscial era I thought.