The Giant Panther

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...

I love city life. You're always a heartbeat away from seeing a great show. All you have to do is be vigilant. Here in Boston we have a cultural & political free rag called The Boston Phoenix. Politics is not my thing, but you do have to overlook the constant coverage if you want to get to the good stuff. Your friend John has been battling a cold the past week that doesn't seem to want to get lost so I was holed up in my condo much of this past week. Finally Friday rolled around and I was itching to do something fun. I had been mindful of a Robyn Hitchcock show scheduled for November 21st, last night, for about six weeks. I used to write every show down on my bathroom calendar so I wouldn't forget them. Now I don't write anything as a way of sorting out what shows I REALLY need to see (as if I REALLY need to see any of them). I'm trying to be respectful of the Wall Street news night after night. Know what? I know I should just batton down the hatches and start treating quarters like manhole covers, but that will never ever be me. I like to have a good time; plain and simple. Last night was one of those times.

Trying to talk myself into feeling better than I probably was, I hemmed and hawed all day yesterday about trying to scalp a ticket to see Robyn Hitchcock. I hadn't been out of the house all week and I was restless. I waited until the absolute possible last second before deciding to go. I don't recommend my time management skills yesterday to anyone. I called the venue, The Somerville Theatre, around 6:45 PM for a 7:30 PM show to see if there was a warm up band (see my Smashing Pumpkins gaffe below). I was told there wasn't one. I said when did they think Robyn Hitchcock would go on? The oh so cheerful fellow on the phone, who has to answer that question 200 times per show, said 7:30 PM. I knew that was bull, but I could tell this kid was in no mood. I didn't even bother to ask if the show was sold out. I left my house, a good twenty minutes from the venue not counting a dicey parking situation, at 7:15 PM. Davis Square in Somerville, MA is a hotbed of bars, restaurants, shops and theatres. It's crawling with Tufts University students and has a tremendous vibe. It's home to Redbones, one of the best BBQ places around these parts, and there are more nooks and crannies than an English muffin. I love the place, but I don't seem to get over there much. The Somerville Theatre is mostly a movie house, but it still has a small 1000 seat stage set aside for relatively tame rock and folk shows. Robyn Hitchcock is a folkie, so he fits the bill. They even serve good beer. I will say that last March or so The Black Crowes played there. That was one hot ticket. I'm surprised the place still stands to be honest. The Black Crowes are always a good take.

Robyn Hitchcock is an eccentric Englishman. He is sort of an acquired taste I would speculate. He and I have one thing in common though; we both worship Bob Dylan. He put out a CD in 2002 where he covers Dylan exclusively called Robyn Sings. Check that one out Dylan fans. He claims that the song Visions of Johanna is the reason he is a performer today. As for Hitchcock's own catalogue, he is kind of all over the place. I was managing a retail compact disc outlet on Newbury Street in Boston back in the late eighties when CDs first came on the market. We ordered all kinds of imports trying to compete with Tower Records (RIP) and Newbury Comics (my personal favorite brick and mortar music store). One of the artists I immediately noticed during the course of my ordering was Robyn Hitchcock. Man this guy was hard to get a handle on, but was he ever prolific. The titles just kept coming...Black Snake Diamond Role, Groovy Decoy, I Often Dream of Trains, Fegmania!, Gotta Let This Hen Out!, Element of Light, Globe of Frogs, Queen Elvis...and that doesn't cover the half of it. My friend Rick, who worked with me at the store, was constantly playing New Order, Joy Division, The Durutti Column, The Cocteau Twins, and Robyn Hitchcock when his turn came up. It was kind of fun for me, as curious as I am about music, to see all the employees work their preferences into the mix as their turns came up. My other friend Tom was a big Santana and Jazz guy for instance. I was probably just heading into my alternative rock years after living on classic rock for twenty years straight. I couldn't get a handle on Robyn Hitchcock though. He didn't seem to have any hits, but I just loved that accent. He had the strangest tunes, most under three minutes, that were just plain odd. He played with a critically acclaimed psychedelic punk band called The Soft Boys before beginning his solo career in 1981. I recently saw a documentary on him on The Sundance Channel called Sex, Food, Death...& Insects that kind of renewed my interest in him. He plays with Peter Buck of R.E.M. fame these days. You may have noticed him in the photo above.

I love guys like Hitchcock though. They just keep doing there thing without worrying about sales or perception. He has a nice following. He finally got some commercial success in the late eighties when he released Globe of Frogs. WFNX was playing Balloon Man night and day in those days, but I was mesmerized by a song called Vibrating. I have included it for you below. He went on to have a couple of more minor hits, Madonna of The Wasps and So You Think You're in Love specifically, before fading back into relative obscurity by 1992. So obscure in fact that I was able to waltz up to a 7:30 PM show at 7:40 PM, check with box office, and plop down $26.50 for a fourth row center seat. I get inside and the house lights are still on. Perfect! What a treat. I Often Dream of Trains is widely considered to be Robyn Hitchcock's finest hour and I knew he was playing the entire CD during his show this time around. I have to confess I knew Element of Light and Globe of Frogs better, but I read enough critics lists to know that where Hitchcock was concerned I was a novice. I was psyched to hear I Often Dream of Trains as if I had heard it for the very first time. I was not disappointed. Hitchcock was filming his show and when you sit that close you can really check things out you normally couldn't if you were miles from the action. The camera guy was hovering over the piano the whole time. Hitchcock comes out in a shirt with large white polka dots under his suit jacket and top hat. He is a comical performer; constantly telling seemingly nonsensical stories in between songs. It was highly entertaining and recommended. I even witnessed a three man accapella performance during Uncorrected Personality Traits that was probably my first ever. I had a great seat in a tiny venue at a good price, a cold Harpoon IPA and a performer doing what he loves right in front of me. Local scribe Brett Milano was also in attendance. I don't know why, but seeing that guy always makes me think I'm in the right place. If you have any interest in the history of music in Boston check out his book The Sound of Our Town. I was going to blog about it, but I never seem to get around to it. It's well worth reading if you lived it like I did. OK, I've vibrated long enough. Robyn Hitchcock was a lot of fun last night and he just keeps on trucking. Check him out sometime if you get the chance.

Before I begin, let me say that, in my opinion, Smashing Pumpkins produced one the the best CDs of the 1990's in Siamese Dream. I used to absolutely love this band. I can remember hearing Rhinoceros on WFNX here in Boston in early 1991 and instantly taking a liking to it. I recall going to the store the day Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness came out securing my copy. I kept on buying Smashing Pumpkins CDs long after the general public had given up on them. I own copies of Adore, Machina/The Machines of God (still in the running for the worst album title ever in my book), Pisces Iscariot (I am a Pisces after all) and Zeitgeist. There can be no doubting my fandom. The thing is; I have to decide whether I'm still as big a fan as I once was or if Smashing Pumpkins are just a shaky live proposition. There's no shame in that really. I've seen a lot of concerts and some bands just can't make the transition live. Other bands don't even try. As I've noted in previous posts two of my favorites, XTC and Steely Dan, have checkered touring histories (in fairness though Steely Dan has righted the ship and tours fairly regularly these days...for them anyway). Even The Beatles, arguably the greatest band in the history of rock music, didn't care much for touring. I don't think this is Smashing Pumpkins issue, but I really struggled with last night's concert at The Wang Center here in Boston. I wish I could say otherwise.

Before the show, in fact before any show in this general vicinity, that I see at The Orpheum, The Wang Center, or The Wilbur Theatre I stopped for dinner at Silvertone Bar & Grill at 69 Bromfield Street near Park Street Station. Long time Bostonians know of this awesome restaurant, but if you've never been there you should check the place out; great food, drink, vibe, service and prices. It's a great place to go before and after any event within a ten block radius. Sometimes it's a victim of its own success as the concert and show traffic collides with the regulars, but if you give yourself enough time nothing is better. Where was I? Oh yeah, Smashing Pumpkins. One of the head honchos over at Silvertone, my friend Josh, always asks me "who you going to see this time?" When I mentioned Smashing Pumpkins we started talking about them. He mentioned that they had 15 great songs and several good ones. He mentioned Bullet With Butterfly Wings. I got to thinking about that and made my own mental list; Rhinoceros, Cherub Rock, Today, Hummer, Mayonnaise, Disarm, Here is No Why, Porcelina of The Vast Oceans, Zero, Muzzle, Tonight Tonight, Ava Adore, Appels + Oranjes, Pug (a HUGE sleeper cut on their catalogue), probably Stand Inside Your Love and my all time favorite; Drown from The Singles Soundtrack. That's a tad more than 15, but Josh had it right. After the initial 15-20 though, the drop is pretty steep. Still, after spending all day yesterday prepping for the concert by listening to Smashing Pumpkins records I was confident that I was still a big fan. This morning I have doubts.

Didn't I just get done saying how I think more bands should play completely different shows in stops where they are playing more than once in a given city? Well, this time it backfired on me. I did a cursory search to find the set list for the show I witnessed last night, but I couldn't find anything definitive so I'm using the set lists from a prior two stop show in Washington, DC. From what I can gather, the set list from the second show was fairly identical to what I witnessed last night. First, I deserve severe criticism for showing up late for the concert. I didn't call the Wang in advance or search the web for evidence of a warm up band. As a veteran concert goer you have to be aware of a venue's predisposition for entertaining rock crowds. If memory serves, The Wang Center was once known as The Music Hall many years ago. I can remember seeing Heart on the Bebe Le Strange Tour in the late 70's or very early 80's there. Take that Sarah Barracuda. Anyway, the building has a long history with rock music. Bob Dylan and The Grateful Dead played there to name just two of thousands. For the last 25 years or so you'd be much more likely to see Jerry Seinfeld, The Nutcracker or 10,000 Maniacs than you would be to see an all out rock band like Smashing Pumpkins. My point is I was guilty of winging it and showing up 45 minutes after the doors opened figuring there would a warm up act. A venue like the Wang Center is more likely to start the show a little earlier so they can get you out of there earlier. The poor ushers were all used to seating, shall we say, a more family friendly crowd. The ones I saw were older (than me!) and wearing concert plugs. This time they were justified. Sadly I can now add this show to the list of shows over the years where I've misjudged and ended up being late. It doesn't happen often and it's every concert goers nightmare, but I was having a good time at Silvertone. What can you do? As it turns out I missed Ava Adore if the Washington, DC set list matches what they played last night, but aside from that 1979 was never a big song for me. We showed up during Soma missing the first six songs. I was on my third or fourth concert inside of two weeks so I wasn't too broken up about it honestly. I had seen the Pumpkins fizzle in the past and I wasn't expecting much here. Be careful what you wish for.

My friend Marc, who attended the show with me, and I caught Cherube Rock, Zero, Bodies, Landslide (I made a beer run, but Marc was happy he caught that one...and I'm the big Fleetwood Mac fan...go figure) and Disarm. Suffice to say that the Pumpkins do not sound in concert like they do in the studio. The wall of noise and distortion overshadows the music to me. I thought the songs were played too fast and that the band was going through the motions a bit. Billy Corgan is an eclectic dude no doubt, but this is his baby. The Pumpkins are the only vehicle he has to shine as far as I can tell. I don't pay much attention to personnel changes I'm ashamed to admit. I know this is a shell of the original Pumpkins, but as long as Corgan is manning the ship you would expect a decent product. From Disarm on we got, as far as I'm concerned, nearly an hour of feedback, banging, speed metal thrashing and very little in the way of melody. Marc and I left before the encore was over. I don't know...yes only three of my top 15-20 Smashing Pumpkins favorites were played, but I'm not that hard to please when it comes to live music. I'm not hypercritical of set lists or covers or rearrangements. All I ask is that I can discern the lyrics and something akin to an actual melody. I really couldn't do either last night so I'm giving this show the thumbs down. Sorry Billy. No offense intended...to anyone. I'm sure there were many Pumpkin fans in attendance last night that enjoyed this show, but I wasn't one of them. I just can't recommend these guys live anymore.

I'm leaving you with Drown since it reminds me of better times with regard to my relationship with Chicago's Smashing Pumpkins. I hope they keep recording, but with ticket prices and the economy these days I think I've bought my last ticket to see them live.

The Set List for Washington, DC 11-12-2008 - Ava Adore, Cupid de Locke, 1979, 99 Floors, Owata, Sunkissed, Soma, Cherub Rock, Zero, Bodies, Crestfallen, I of The Mourning, A Song For a Son, Landslide, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, Galapogos, Gossamer, As Rome Burns, The Sounds of Silence/Li'l Red Riding Hood/The March Hare/Suffer, Age of Innocence.

Encore - That's The Way (My Love Is), I Am One Part II.

Smashing Pumpkins - Drown.mp3 YSI

OK, let's get the juvenile rock digs out of the way. I know many people, The Giant Panther included, who don't find Australian rockers AC/DC particularly compelling. They're too loud; they're too heavy; they're bad boy image is too juvenile; all of their music sounds the same. I've heard it all and I could care less. I LOVE AC/DC and I don't care if I am 48 years of age. They rock my world. Unfortunately for the masses, most people MIGHT be able to name one song after Back in Black, Shoot To Thrill, You Shook Me (All Night Long), Hells Bells, TNT, It's a Long Way To The Top (If You Wanna Rock & Roll...Thank you School of Rock), Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Highway To Hell or For Those About To Rock (We Salute You). For me and 20,000 other hard core AC/DC fans at the TD BankNorth Garden last night that is a crying shame. I'm a huge fan of legendary guitarists such as Jimmy Page, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Pete Townshend, The Edge and anyone else you'd probably care to name. None of them get me going like Angus Young. I can't explain it and I won't even try. I'm not much of a dancer, but I cannot sit still when this guy is playing his guitar. I'm so glad a camera wasn't on me during last night's rendering of Hell Ain't a Bad Place To Be. It was the second song of the night and I swear I was hollering like some school girl at Paul McCartney. It's quite embarrassing to see a grown man enjoying himself so much. You're going to have to trust me on this. I have to laugh just thinking about it. I must have close to a thousand rock shows under my belt and I swear my level of enjoyment at AC/DC shows borders on the absurd. What a rush. This was my sixth AC/DC concert. For the record I'm noting the dates below for fun...

I'm sure I missed a few over the years, but it doesn't seem like they come around here much anymore. I know the seven year gulf between the last time they played here and last night felt like decades. I went with a couple of long time friends of mine and one of them donned a kilt for the show. I'm not sure exactly why, but two separate TNT chants broke out (Oiy! Oiy!) as we made our way towards our seats and people caught wind of his get up. It was hilarious. Before the show we usually gather at a local establishment owned by a friend of mine called The CharlesMark Hotel on Boylston Street in Back Bay Boston. The place usually caters to the traveling salesman or the families visiting college kids so the music is toned way down to snoozeville most of the time. Every now and then, for special occasions like this concert, my friend Mark will go against the grain and crank out some good old fashioned rock and roll. I love this side of Mark. It's in remission most of the time, but he does have his moments when he lends his bar to our cause. Coupled with our friend Dave the limo driver we do it right for every concert we attend in Boston. So a tip of the hat for Mark from me here...

Like The Rolling Stones, AC/DC is unfortunately bound to play certain songs. The nine I mentioned above are usually wedged into every set to the dismay of folks like me who don't really care if they play them at all anymore. I'm clearly not your average concert goer anymore, but I could subsist exclusively on AC/DC "B" cuts like Rock & Roll Singer, Girl's Got Rhythm, Shot Down in Flames, Down Payment Blues, What's Next To The Moon, Rock & Roll Damnation, Have a Drink On Me, Can't Stand Still, Sink The Pink, Touch Too Much, Rock & Roll Ain't Noise Pollution, What Do You Do For Money, Money Talks, Hard as a Rock, Stiff Upper Lip, Problem Child, Dog Eat Dog, Let's Get It Up, Sin City, Who Made Who, Hold Me Back, This House is On Fire, Burnin' Alive, Whiskey On The Rocks and Jailbreak. In fact, though the concert would reach Springsteenian proportions in length, if they only played these songs I would consider it to be the perfect AC/DC concert. It would be under the radar nirvana for me.

I don't want to start any Blasphemous Rumors, but I'd dump Back in Black, You Shook Me, The Jack, Whole Lotta Rosie, Let There Be Rock, Highway To Hell, and Thuderstruck and For Those About To Rock immediately if I were running the ship. I would keep TNT, Hells Bells, Dirty Deeds, and would get It's a Long Way back into the set as well. If they all sound the same then what's the harm right? You still have to promote the present record, but (and I'm stealing this from an online article I read this morning) AC/DC songs need ten years to mature and become staples of their set according to one fan. It's beer run time for most when the new stuff is played. I go during some of the war horse staples. I realize it's futile to complain about the hits, but I love bands that shuffle the deck and play something different every night. I think that's what made The Grateful Dead so popular. You never knew what you were going to get. People rarely follow bands more than two or three nearby cities in this day and age the way The Dead's following traipsed across the country to see them anymore, but more bands should promote that. It's a great sales gimmick and the artists wouldn't get bored in the meantime. Yeah it's harder to rehearse and recall, but what a draw. It's so fan friendly it seems like a no brainer to me. I don't know why more bands don't do it to be honest, but what do I know?

I'm probably preaching to the converted if anyone is still reading, but AC/DC definitely gets your adrenaline rushing in concert. Go see them if you never have. From Rock 'N Roll Train to the cannons firing in For Those About To Rock it was a spectacle and loads of fun. I don't care how old you are. They rule in my book.

Setlist: 1. Rock 'N Roll Train 2. Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be 3. Back In Black 4. Big Jack 5. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap 6. Thunderstruck 7. Black Ice 8. The Jack 9. Hells Bells 10. War Machine 11. Shoot to Thrill 12. Anything Goes 13. You Shook Me All Night Long 14. TNT 15. Whole Lotta Rosie 16. Let There Be Rock Encore: 17. Highway To Hell 18. For Those About To Rock