The Giant Panther

I don't exactly know what possesses bands to try and remove the "UK" from their name once whatever US based band name conflict has been resolved, but I don't like it. You would think bands like the Charlatans UK and The Chameleons UK would wear the "UK" proudly. It sure does take the guess work out of where they come from right? It even sounds cooler. The Chameleons and The Charlatans are going by their non "UK" names these days (if they are going at all) and I'm not sure what the benefit is. Is it cheaper to make t-shirts with two less letters? They sound like they've been neutered to me. Once you go "UK" you can never go back. That's my motto (among others). OK, now that one of my pet peeves is out in the open let's talk cool alternative rock songs for $500 Jack.

The advent of the compact disc sort of immortalized a lot of these under the radar bands. By that I mean they are digitized for evermore. I can recall for a decade or more many lost classics were never available on CD. Sometimes the artist wasn't satisfied with the condition of the master tapes. Sometimes the labels were shooting themselves in their collective foot and sometimes the tapes were just plain missing, but a CD seems so much more permanent than some reel to reel tape to me. With that an avalanche of bands like The Chameleons UK were able to have what I consider to be a more permanent footprint in rock history. The CDs might go out of print, but at least there is a pristine copy out there somewhere if someone wants it badly enough. Albums got all scratched and neglected (not mine of course) and tapes are an even more shaky proposition. How are all those mixed tapes doing today that you made in the 80's and 90's? Pretty soon we won't be able to buy a machine to play them on I figure. The CD itself will probably be obsolete in ten years, but once they are converted to the MP3 format it shouldn't matter much in our lifetime. But that is not what I came to talk about today (if you can believe that coming from a tangent king)...

There were a handful of 80's and 90's "alternative rock" songs (whatever that means) that came from short lived acts on small labels that became hard to locate as the years went by. I can remember this Manchester band breaking up shortly after releasing their third album, Strange Times, back in 1986. I have to admit right here and now that I didn't buy this record then. It was only years later, after I kept hearing Swamp Thing on WFNX in the 90's, that I made it my mission to own this song. It is an exquisite piece of music for my money. It is ethereal, gothic, melancholy and gorgeous all at once. It is the kind of song that once made you buy a $16.99 import for a single track. It was that good. Fortunately the CD is very good as a whole and it led me to investigate their previous effort, Script of The Bridge, as well. I just checked the preaching to the choir review section of The Chameleons UK & Strange Times and you'd think they were the most influential band of all time. We know that is not true, but Swamp Thing is absolutely one of the greatest alternative rock songs you will ever come across. The fact that you didn't hear it that often and that is was hard to come by only adds to its mystique. I hope you see and hear it the way I do. Enjoy.

www.thechameleons.com

Since I was nine years of age when Midnight Cowboy was a box office smash, my first real exposure to Harry Nilsson was when his cover of Badfinger's Without You turned into instant AM Gold in 1971. Of course that is not altogether true since Harry penned "One" by Three Dog Night which was massive hit in 1970. I also watched about 1000 hours of The Courtship of Eddie's Father featuring Bill Bixby, but I didn't know the theme song for the TV Show was "Best Friend" by Harry Nilsson either at the time. His cover of Everybody's Talkin' netted Nilsson a Grammy Award and seemed to put him on the map in 1969, but Harry Nilsson didn't start really believing in his talent until he was endorsed by John Lennon who mentioned that he thought highly of him in an interview. They would go on to be infamous drinking companions later in the decade, but this is all about me (kidding!). Songs like Nilsson's version of Without You, Rod Stewart's cover of Tim Harding's Reason To Believe and other sappy fare like Climax's Precious and Few or Terry Jacks' Seasons in The Sun hit me like a ton of bricks as I was discovering the opposite sex for the first time. I couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 years old, but I was having serious anxiety attacks regarding who I would be sitting next to at lunch. At night behind closed doors? Forget it. Aside from my 3rd grade teacher Ms Conomos, my first quasi mutual love affair (sans the sex of course) was a girl named Valerie. I couldn't live if living was without her....or so Harry said. Oh the drama in those days. Never even kissed her if memory serves...story of my life as it turns out I'm afraid...

Nilsson Schmilsson came out in 1971. I think I owned about six records in those days; Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Volume I, The Best of Tommy James & The Shondells, The Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed, The Boxtops Greatest Hits, Donovan's Barabajagal, and The Beatles Let It Be. Not a bad starter kit if I don't say so myself looking back on it. I also had around 100 45 rpm records that I foolishly sold at a garage sale around that time so I could buy baseball cards. Who needs vintage Beatles 45s when you could own two copies of Yankees catcher Jake Gibbs' baseball card? If you said "who?" I wouldn't blame you. Goodbye Glad All Over by The Dave Clark Five. So long Ball of Confusion by The Temptations. Everything must go! Idiot. My point here is my Album Oriented Rock (AOR) days had yet to be realized so being cognizant of Harry Nilsson's Nilsson Schmilsson was not an option yet. I remember a kid named Don that I went to middle school with in rural NJ turning me onto several records simultaneously in the mid seventies. My recollection of those days is understandably foggy, but I remember our music teacher, Mrs Pritchard, was unbelievably cool about letting us listen to contemporary rock music back in the day. Suddenly I was keenly aware of Yes' Fragile, Black Sabbath's Sabbath Bloody Sabbath, Led Zeppelin IV, Aerosmith's Toys in The Attic, the debut Kiss album, Don McLean's American Pie and Nilsson Schmilsson. The rest is history. At the expense of nearly everything of material value and a nice savings account I was spending my brains out on music. Not a lot has changed in 35 plus years I have to tell you.

OK, I'm going to tighten this up now. Many of you are familiar with the song "Coconut" from this record, but the best track on it has always been "Jump Into The Fire." Some of you may have first heard it when it was featured in the movie Goodfellas (a long time favorite of this blogger), but I was already very familiar with it. We used to have these no touch dances in middle school, but the cranky principal, with whom I was on a first name basis strangely enough, was cool about letting us play our music while we tried to work up the courage to ask our favorite classmates to dance. We used several songs that started fast and ended slow or vice versa. Stairway To Heaven, American Pie, Roundabout and Jump Into The Fire seemed to fit into that category. It was debatable if you could dance to any of them frankly, but we definitely tried. These are four iconic songs, but 35 plus years down the road I can barely listen to classic rock staples like Stairway To Heaven and Roundabout because they've been seared into my brain by non imaginative radio formats. American Pie remains a masterpiece to these ears, but you won't find me playing it much or singing along in some bar when it comes on. Call me too cool for school if you like, but it's a little too popular and preppy for me; at least in public. It's enough that I own a copy of the CD. But if I hear note one of Harry Nilsson's Jump Into The Fire? Look the bleep out. The drumming on this track were done by Derek & The Dominos drummer Jim Gordon and it's perfect. In fact the whole track is perfect. I've always been a huge fan of it. Thanks Don wherever you are!

Harry Nilsson's flat in London had its own colossal coincidental claim to fame; when he was out of the country he used to lend his living quarters to musician friends of his in the late seventies. Mama Cass Elliot of The Mama's & The Papa's and legendary Who drummer Keith Moon both died while staying in Harry's apartment roughly four years apart! Are you kidding me? After Moon's death a distraught Nilsson sold his flat to Pete Townshend and stayed in Los Angeles from then on. Harry Nilsson suffered a major heart attack in 1993 and died a year later of heart failure in 1994. He was 53 years old. Hard living apparently finally caught up to him. He had several other minor hits over the years such as Me and My Arrow, Good Times, Spaceman and as the writer of The Monkees version of his "Daddy's Song," but never again would he scale such heights. No matter. Nilsson Schmilsson is a tremendous record and was inducted into my own personal rock record Hall of Fame years ago. You can climb a mountain, you can swim the sea, you can Jump Into The Fire, but you'll never be free...hopefully I'll make Harry a new fan out there somewhere. Enjoy.

OK, I'm on a minor roll so I'm Bringing The Noise again today. Today's trip down memory lane is an exquisite number by a guy named Willy Deville. Willy was making music with his band Mink Deville, originally from San Francisco if I have my facts straight, but was a house band at the legendary New York club CBGBs in the mid seventies. Mink Deville was finally signed by Captiol Records in 1976 and started recording for the masses. Considering they were performing nightly next to The Ramones, The Talking Heads, Television and Patti Smith that gives you an idea of the kind of stage presence this guy had. His reputation was that he radiated blues, story telling and a street knowledge vibe that was a killer combination. Unfortunately I never saw him perform live myself, but I'm keeping my eyes peeled for an opportunity. I always comb the smaller venues for more intimate settings.

Mink Deville went through too many personnel changes to mention here, but Willy finally decided to go solo after after six records and eleven years touring as Mink Deville. If you like what you hear in the song I share below you should look into this guy. He had several great songs like Soul Twist, Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl and Cadillac Walk just to name a few. A greatest hits package like Cadillac Walk: The Mink Deville Collection should get you squared away short term. I'm definitely a fan.

After Mink Deville broke up Willy formed an alliance with Mark Knopfler of all people. According to legend, Mark's wife inspired this collaboration saying Mark couldn't sing like Willy and Willy couldn't play like Mark. I love that kind of stuff. I don't remember making the connection at the time. I don't pay much mind to producers to be honest. I either like a record or I don't; I could care less if it produced by Mark Knopfler, Todd Rundgren, Nile Rogers or Quincy Jones. I'm sure it has more to do with the finished product than I'm giving it credit for, but no amount of production is going to make a bad record sound good in my opinion. As I was researching this record, called Miracle by the way, it hit my like like a ton of bricks. D'oh!! How could I have missed the connection with the first couple of chords being a dead giveaway on my featured cut; Southern Politician? It's classic Mark Knopfler.

Deville is at his all time best for my money on this cut. He does a speak sing thing here that is reminiscent of Lou Reed big time. I might have heard this song once in 1987 and was instantly a fan. That is pretty rare for me. I believe in love at first sight without a doubt, but love at first listen? Well shut my mouth. This song is flat awesome, I don't care what anybody says. I never get tired of listening to it. Willy Deville's solo career unfortunately was even less noticed by the record buying public than Mink Deville was, but I don't care about any of that. People always ask me who sings this song and one of my friends on Cape Cod is just as nuts about it as I am and we have next relatively little in common musically give or take the 1977 masterpiece collaboration by Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane called Rough Mix. I say that with love in my heart too. Anybody who can find the absolute beauty in this song has common ground with me. I hope you agree.

Editor's Note: Since this post was written Willy DeVille passed away on August 6th just three weeks shy of his 59th birthday. R.I.P. Willy.

I just can't help myself. I love the Way Back Machine! Sherman and Mr Peabody haven't got anything on me. I feel like I'm using that thing everyday these days. If that reference went whistling over your head don't worry about it. Cartoons from the 60's and 70's were my specialty once upon a time. Thank god I have graduated to more respectable fare like The Simpsons, King of The Hill, and The Family Guy huh? I'm all grown up now...yeah right...

Regarding this blog, I struggle to stay current. I absolutely love posting here (thank you GP!), but I feel like I have so many lost classics to get to and every time I look at the release year I feel like Father Time. It's an incredible feeling. I'm not that old! If I didn't have anything else to do I could post three times a day no problem. I have ideas at the gym, at the pizza place and while I'm reading the sports page. We don't get too many comments here at The Giant Panther, but we know people are checking us out. I just hope somebody is enjoying the yesteryear posts I've been throwing at you. Maybe when my entire CD collection is digitized a year from now I won't be so nostalgic. Then again who am I kidding? Folks in my age bracket don't read the Internet blogs like younger music fans do. The younger fans might find my alternative "oldies" fixation antiquated, but I'm trying not to be pedantic. I love the music of today (I'm listening to and digging a band called N.E.R.D. as we speak...oops, just moved on to Ladytron...the GP keeps me hopping even though I'm hopelessly behind in my listening to current Indie music). It's just that I can't leave it alone when I think a song was ignored in its day and is buried beyond words today. I love trying to resurrect them. You don't have to tell me it's completely fruitless. I already know that. It's just that a poor record label can really bury an artist and today we can all be promoters even if the band hasn't spoken or recorded in decades. It's fun! If you are patient with me I'll have it all out of my system in a couple of months...promise (not)...I could do this for another couple of years and never table everything.

As it pertains to this blog The Giant Panther is basically responsible for today. I feel like I'm basically responsible for yesterday. By rights it should be an excellent match, but only the readers know for certain. I was trolling through the "N's" the other day and came across yet another out of print special by The Northern Pikes. I popped in the CD and it all came rushing back to me. In 1987 I was buying everything in sight and I was playing this one a lot back then. The name of the record is called Big Blue Sky and the song I'm sharing today is called Things I Do For Money. These guys hail from Canada and their sound is spacey and expansive to me. It feels like it comes from the great white north. I hope this rings a bell with at least one reader. If it does my work is done. I haven't followed them since to be honest, but they apparently reformed in 1999 and their web site is current. Big Blue Sky was a real sleeper back then and it still sounds good today. Please consider buying the CD the way I did if you can find it. And by all means go see them if they come around. They were good! Enjoy.

Hi Folks - Just a quick tip for those local to the Boston area. You may have heard me mention these folks about four months ago during my maiden post on The Giant Panther, but Heartless Bastards are scheduled to play Great Scott in Allston in a couple of weeks on February 3rd. It's a school night (a Tuesday), but I plan on attending anyway. I missed them the last time they were around and I don't want to make the same mistake again. The tickets are a very affordable $12 (remember when all concert tickets were in that neighborhood? No? Me neither) so don't let that get in the way of seeing a budding blues garage rock band. Troll through our archives for my two cents on these guys from back in The Fall. Hope to see you there! Don't be afraid to say hello...

All is quiet on New Year's Day. I can remember when U2's War was released. I was a measly 23 years of age, but I instantly knew they had broken through. I loved October, particularly a little known U2 song called I Threw a Brick Through a Window, but when New Year's Day hit the airwaves it was A New Day Yesterday (thank you Ian) even though it's an old day now. It's kind of funny how the song New Year's Day may never be able to be shelved the songs like David Bowie's 1984 or Prince's 1999 have been. No date. I bet even U2 can't stand that song now. It definitely does describe something very tangible no? Before I blather on, Welcome back to The Giant Panther. I don't know where he's been hiding, but glad he's back on the beam and re-energized about posting...

I didn't come to talk about U2, new beginnings, or resolutions. I came to talk about Elliott Smith. Chances are he's not a very big draw amongst your friends. If you didn't hear Waltz #2 during it's two month run on the radio in 1998 (Happenings Ten Years Time Ago for crying out loud!) it's quite possible you have never heard an Elliott Smith song on the radio. I never would have heard of him myself but for these two female bartenders at one of my favorite hole in the wall bars in Boston called Bukowski's. Obviously named for German American writer Charles Bukowski, this bar is a no frills beer and wine joint on Dalton Street in historic Back Bay Boston. I would have linked you folks to their web site, but it appears they don't even have one. Now that's what I call no frills!

Bukowski's has long been one of my favorite bars in Boston. Not because they have 112 flavors of beer on their menu and delicious cheapo mcgeapo american style bar food served with care; it's because of the music they play. Finding a bar that plays decent music consistently is near impossible these days. I should open a bar for that one fact alone, but I know as an Irishman that is probably not the smartest idea I've ever had. In Boston and Cambridge there are maybe ten bars you can count on to either have a great jukebox (not one of those god awful "make mine next for an extra selection" two songs per CD jukeboxes you see everywhere), I'm talking about a real jukebox with full CDs and a great selection. Charlie's Kitchen in Harvard Square comes to mind. So does The Seven's on Charles Street in Beacon Hill. J.J. Foley's on Kingston Street in the Financial District is a third. A bar that not only has a good jukebox, but isn't afraid to play it loud...with good sound quality. I think nothing of pouring five or ten dollars in these jukeboxes even if I don't plan on being there very long or know if I'll hear even a single song I played. It's just such a pleasure to spend time in these places. I have to admit that I don't really care much for any bar that doesn't put the accent on music and sound quality. It blows my mind frankly. I don't care who the clientele is or what they represent. Lousy sound just grates on me like nobody's business. Where was I? Oh yeah, Bukowski's...what makes this place even better than these other places I mentioned is they let their bartenders play whatever they want complete with volume. Whole CDs. It can be very educational if you are a sponge like me...

One day about five years ago I strolled into Bukowski's in the late afternoon. The girls behind the bar were singing along to Elliot Smith's Figure 8 CD. I had never heard anything else by him except that one song called Waltz #2. As I often did, I inquired and wrote down what they told me. Half the time I'd hit Newbury Comics on the way home and picked up the CDs I'd just asked about in the bar. Those were Good Times; Damn Good Times. Sorry, I just can't help myself sometimes. In those days, I would grab an entire handful of CDs by an artist I was curious about on somebody's say so. I think I bought Figure 8, Either/Or and XO that day. It's kind of dangerous because if you don't get to them right away they could all sit unlistened to. Luckily I gave these a fair shake. Some years later I read one of his biographies called Elliott Smith and The Big Nothing too. I was intrigued; not only about his mysterious death/suicide, but where this guy came from. If memory serves he was born in Nebraska and migrated to Texas and Portland, OR during his childhood. He attended Hampshire College in Amherst, MA and struggled his brains out with self confidence. That's tough for a solo artist huh? Maybe he was manic depressive, but the way his life ended was just plain sad.

I have had real trouble relating Elliott Smith to friends. I made the mistake of dumping his entire catalogue on a friend of mine and he was lukewarm at best to his music. I can see where that might happen, but it only made me more determined to find a way to boil this guy down for mass consumption. I was at The Giant Panther's DJ gig about three weeks ago and he didn't have Smith's whole catalogue on his computer. It was surprising because he seems to have nearly everything since the turn of the century the way I think I have nearly everything since 1965. He didn't have a copy of Junk Bond Trader, one of my all time favorite Elliott Smith tracks from Figure 8. As I sit here typing I'm actually recalculating my top five Elliott Smith cuts. Five Songs. That's it. If you can find a way to latch onto these five songs something might click for you here. Yes Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith is basically just an acoustic singer songwriter and they are a dime a dozen, but I swear this guy was just getting started. It seemed as if he'd been through the worst in his life. I don't know why he did it, if he did it, but he shouldn't have. Elliott Smith died on October 21, 2003 at age 34 in Los Angeles. Based on these five songs I would love to have witnessed his musical future. Know what else makes this guy great? Someone else could swoop in and give you five completely different songs that they like best. Don't be afraid to leave a comment to that effect. OK, we're off in 2009...

A Winner Is You!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I've been sifting through my stacks of CDs I've been meaning to rediscover lately and came across this self titled debut solo release from Robbie Robertson. Released on either New Year's Day 1987 (according to Amazon.com) or October 27, 1987 (according to Wikipedia.com), depending on which allegedly reputable source you trust. I remember thinking how much I loved this record way back when. According to my database I bought 149 CDs as a scrawny 27 year old, but I d0 remember listening to this record incessantly that year. Legends Peter Gabriel and Bono joined a Wisconsin band called The BoDeans (score two points at home if you own even a single BoDeans CD....I just went and checked and apparently I own three....the first two and their fifth....I hate when I have gaps in my collection....stupid economy....say it like Homer Simpson) in support of this record. It didn't sell as well as it should have as I recall.

I don't have access to sales figures, but it did eventually win a Grammy for one of those useless categories nobody remembers. You and I would like to think big stars like Robertson, Gabriel and Bono just happened to be palling around in some swampy southern locale, but the circumstances aren't quite so mysterious. Apparently, at the time, now legendary record producer Daniel Lanois was working Gabriel and U2 at the same time he was messing around with The Band's lead song writer trying to make this record. You may have heard of a couple of minor projects Lanois was working on at the time called So and The Joshua Tree by now. Can you imagine! Talk about monster records. He was on his way and making it (Big Time). Thank you very much on both counts. And Robbie's record makes three great production jobs inside of a year. I was reading Chronicles Volume I by Bob Dylan last summer (absolutely riveting book if you haven't read it...the detail is outrageous. How does he remember what someone was wearing 40 years ago? I can barely remember what I had for breakfast yesterday) and there was a whole chapter dedicated to Dylan working with Lanois during the recording of Dylan's 1989 release Oh Mercy. I know he had some help from Brian Eno on The Joshua Tree, but that's pretty heady territory for a Canadian who basically got his start producing tracks for local bands like his sister Jocelyne's Martha & The Muffins (of Echo Beach fame). Anyway...

The Giant Panther and I agree on one thing for certain; The Band were tremendous. I just happened to catch The Last Waltz, again, on VH1 Classics about three weeks ago on a Friday night. I just cracked a bottle of wine, sliced up a hunk of cheese and thoroughly enjoyed the heck out of the next three hours...again. They really had such a slice of Americana going it was hard to resist. Levon Helm was apparently the only American in The Band, but I would have never known that if I hadn't done a little research on them many years ago. The Band formed officially in 1967 and packed it in, after eleven years on the road, in 1978. I don't want to presume what Robertson was up to for nearly a decade before releasing his solo debut, but did you know Robbie Robertson was allegedly the primary guitarist for the Blonde on Blonde sessions after replacing Mike Bloomfield? Let's just say, as a session musician, if he needed or wanted work, it was there for him. Did you also know he ranked 78th on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time not all that long ago? I don't usually pay much attention to rankings like that lest I lose my mind, but that's pretty impressive when you think about it. I do know he spent time producing Neil Diamond and scoring a couple of movies, one of which was Raging Bull, after The Band broke up, but his debut CD was pretty cool. There is no mistaking the voices of Gabriel and Bono, but probably the best track on this record was Somewhere Down The Crazy River and it had Robertson written all over it. Back when local alterna-rock radio station WFNX was cool, it played songs like this one and Robert Cray's Don't You Even Care right next to The Cure, Talking Heads, New Order, Echo & The Bunnymen and Big Audio Dynamite. Ah Blues and Rock side by side. Yes! Again, sadly those were different times...

It's not like this record was a one hit wonder though. It had another favorite of mine called Showdown at Big Sky and several fairly recognizable cuts in Broken Arrow, American Roulette, Testimony, Sweet Fire of Love and Fallen Angel. It's a subtle and forgotten beauty of a CD. I went back to the reviews on Amazon.com and the preaching to the choir section was handing out stars like this baby was Blood On The Tracks. Know what? I'm glad it was for somebody because I've been enjoying the heck out of it lately myself. How can you go wrong with an intersection of Rock & Roll Hall of Famers like Peter Gabriel, U2 and The Band? Now take a little stroll with me to a much quieter time...in an abandoned '59 Chevy...layin' in the backseat listening to Little Willie John...yeah, that's when time stood still...