Thursday, March 28, 2024

Two For Thursday

 


It's always great news when John Cale releases new music. Cale has been one of my favorite artists for a half century now, and though his last record "Mercy" received mostly glowing reviews, I found it a bit too dense and demanding. But if the new single, as well as the title of his forthcoming album "Poptical Illusion" is any indication, come June, we may have a Cale classic.

If that wasn't enough to brighten what has been a pretty dark March over in my neck of the woods, there is a new interview with Jason Falkner in Guitar World. It's mostly gear-related, so you guitarists might get all hot and twitchy. I managed to stay awake until the last paragraph, and was thankfully rewarded with the news (I'll believe it when I see it) that there will be a new Jason Falkner album and tour this year.

 

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

 Please stand by. 

Monday, March 25, 2024

C'est La Vie, Damn It!

 


It's 6:43A.M. in New Orleans as I write this at 7:43A.M. from my office in Queens, New York. I should have been walking up Ursuline towards Royal for some coffee at CC's, and then having a nice leisurely breakfast overlooking the French Quarter from my balcony. But alas, a medical emergency on Thursday got in the way of my belated birthday celebration in the Crescent City. 

New Orleans, I will see you soon enough.

Now the good news.

•Everyone is okay.
•No money was lost on the trip, save the cost of one pair of tickets to see Stanton Moore.
•A van arrived on Friday night at 9PM with 1200 records and I bought them all with my New Orleans food and beverage money.

I spent most of the weekend rifling through the vinyl, cleaning, pricing and listing. If I can't be in New Orleans, this is the next best thing.

I saw a Chet Atkins record called "It's A Guitar World." I knew what to expect from a Chet Atkins record, but I wasn't expecting to enjoy this as much as I did. There are killer versions of "For No One" and "Cast Your Fate To the Wind," the latter you can check out on Today's Cover Version to the right.

There were half a dozen Kiss records in this collection, and so I went on a mini Kiss binge. "Hotter Than Hell" was the first one I purchased upon release in 1974. I always thought it was one of the worst sounding records in recorded history. At least a half dozen great songs, with one of the most godawful mixes I had ever heard. I listened to this record for the first time in 25 years or more. It sounded pretty damn good. The mix wasn't bothering me, for some reason. It also triggered a memory of me singing "Mainline" in my bedroom and my mother bursting through the door screaming, "MAINLINE? IS THAT WHAT YOU ARE SINGING?" 

Another record I discovered is one I almost tossed. The cover was shredded and shabbily repaired with silver gaffer's tape. (What's wrong with people?) It turned out to be a Jamaican pressing of a 1975 record by Sonya Spence. Further inspection showed me the legendary Ansel Collins was involved, so I pulled the record out, and was shocked to see a very solid VG+ slab of wax. So I played it and I loved it. It was a perfect, upbeat rock steady reggae record that is also apparently so rare, even with a trashed cover, still fetches between $75-100.

There was an original French press of Jimi Hendrix "War Heroes." This is one of too many posthumous Jimi records, but happens to be my favorite of them all. The first time I heard "War Heroes" was after finding a copy at Titus-Oaks Records in Flatbush almost 50 years ago and it blew my mind.

Anyway, no New Orleans this week. But I got a truckful of vinyl to keep me busy.

That's the way it goes. You know me, always positive.

😳

If you're interested in the haul, check the link here. I will be adding to it all week.

Finally, I hope you dig today's selections.








Sunday, March 24, 2024

Songs Of The Week, 2024: 3/16-3/22

 


Flame Thrower Love- Dead Boys
It's Love- King's X
Sugar Babe- Mance Lipscomb
For All That I Am- The Creation
Hopper- Paul Weller
I Want You- Cyril Neville
Fools Fall In Love- Elvis Presley

zip

Flame Thrower Love- Dead Boys
It's seems you either love punk or you don't, but if you do, you'd probably agree that "Young, Loud & Snotty" is the "Let It Bleed" of punk rock records. This is not from that album.

It's Love- King's X

I've never been able to categorize King's X. Yes, they hang somewhat comfortably with the heavy metal crowd. But they possess so much more.

Sugar Babe- Mance Lipscomb

"All I want my babe to do
Make five dollars and give me two"

For All That I Am- The Creation

Mods or rockers? I highly recommend Numero Group's "Action Painting" collection.

Hopper- Paul Weller
The revisiting of some later Weller records that didn't hit me first time around continues to pay off. Check out this beauty from "A Kind Revolution."

I Want You- Cyril Neville
One of my very favorite Dylan covers.

Fools Fall In Love- Elvis Presley

A b-side recorded during the "How Great Thou Art" sessions! How's that happen?



Saturday, March 23, 2024

BW's Saturday #11

 

Friday, March 22, 2024

Ian Hunter: THE WEEKEND BOINK!!

 


How about a new occasional series?

Loosely using The Replacements' "Boink!!" as a template---6 album tracks, a b-side and an unreleased track---here are my choices to rep Ian Hunter.

I pulled out "Shades Of Ian Hunter" after it was mentioned in yesterday's comments, and it really is a smart set of songs. So this set of eight isn't trying to outdo that, so much as it is staying closer to the "Boink!!" format. I tried keeping it under 30 minutes as well, but that will be difficult moving forward.

TRACKLIST
Central Park N' West
Wash Us Away
Foxy Foxy
Rest In Peace
Your Eyes
23A, Swan Hill
I Wish I Was Your Mother
Women's Intuition

zip

Thursday, March 21, 2024

Boink!!


 

 

"Boink"" is a 1988 Replacements record that runs a little over 25 minutes long. It is a compilation, but it is not a hits collection. It's not even a rarities collection. It contains three tracks from "Hootenanny," three from "Stink," a b-side and an unreleased track. And it never came out in the United States. I play "Boink!! more than any other 'Mats record. As a matter of fact, I checked my "Now Playing" blog and it appears I have played "Boink!!" a dozen times in the last year and will probably listen to it again today.

Why am I so in love with "Boink!!?"

Because I think it perfectly represents this band. If you had never heard a note by The Replacements and wanted to know why they are one of my favorite bands, I would say listen to "Boink!!" It covers it all truthfully. 

I could suggest 10 of their most commercial tracks, but that wouldn't be fair to the band, since they'd most likely hate five of those songs themselves. I could suggest 10 of their fastest and quickest punk tracks, but that wouldn't highlight the beautiful melodies that Paul Westerberg has written over nine records.

To put it succinctly, if you don't get "Boink!!," then you won't get the Replacements. Whereas, if you do get "Boink!!," you're most likely ready to go all in.

Whoever compiled "Boink!!" is a genius.

Which leads me to this question-

Is there an album, could be catalogue or a compilation, that you feel perfectly represents one of your favorite artists?  Think on it because your favorite album may not sound like anything else in that artist's catalogue, and so it wouldn't be a very good representation.