Wednesday, March 29, 2017

If There Is Something More Than This - Roxy Music

Roxy Music

Seeing Bryan Ferry perform at the Palace Theater in Columbus last night got me reminiscing about my history with Roxy Music.

Becoming an alternative music fan in the early 90s I always heard that I was supposed to like Roxy Music. And I guess I did a little. Every now and then the local alt-rock station would give me "Avalon" or "More Than This" and I thought "Gosh, that's nice sounding music." I even remember being in a college friends' dorm room when she said "Just put on one of my records" and I grabbed her copy of "Avalon."  "Ooh, stylish," she said.  And yeah, that was my impression of Roxy Music. Stylish. Smooth. Nice.  But nothing exciting. I mean, if there's nothing more than this, I'm not going to find myself lining up to see this singer perform 24 years later. But then again, if there IS something....

There is. There is something that I might find. Turns out maybe I had too much cheesecake too soon. A few years after my college days my friend Rich told me I was crazy to not love Roxy Music. We all had (or should have had) a friend like Rich in those days. He was about 25 years older than me, and had been through those years with the same rock sensibilities I was developing. (Rich was also the one who got me hooked on Julian Cope, by the way.) So as happened in those days, Rich gave me a cassette. And the first song on that cassette was "If There Is Something." Oh I know this song. It's all right, I've heard the Tin Machine version.

Well, turns out this is one rare occasion where David Bowie doesn't make a song better.(in case anyone doesn't know, Tin Machine was Bowie's hard rock side project in the early 90s. Good stuff, but not so much on this one cover.) I mean Damn!!! This isn't the same song at all! And this is definitely not the Roxy Music that I know. Well I eventually learned that I had just started with the wrong Roxy Music. And since I was running 40-50 miles a week and pretty much only knew how to cook frozen pizzas and fried potatoes I was blown away that a rock song would contain the line "growing potatoes by the score."

Of course in the ensuing 21 years I've had the pleasure of discovering the rest of the Roxy Music catalogue.  It's not just beautiful models on album covers. If you want the pretty, stylish, soft and sexy sound check out Bryan Ferry's solo career. You want some incredible, never-duplicated glam/prog rock with weird Brian Eno noises thrown in all over the place...here you go!

I'm including  versions of the three songs I most hoped I would see played last night. (I got two of them)

Editions of You from John Peel Session

If There Is Something from John Peel Session

Casanova

Buy Roxy Music On Amazon
(and if you want my advice, stick to "Roxy Music" "For Your Pleasure" "Country Life" and "Stranded"

Monday, March 27, 2017

The Road Gets Darker From Here - Gallon Drunk

Gallon Drunk

My love of the band Gallon Drunk has been an exercise in patience and persistence.  While I was definitely predisposed to like them, it took me several years to truly catch on.
I first heard of the band the same way I heard about everything those days, due to Nick Cave. Gallon Drunk frontman James Johnston was a guest musician when Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds toured as part of Lollapalooza in 1994. This was when I was starting to realize that anyone associated with Nick Cave probably had another band I wanted to hear (Einsturzende Neubaten, Crim and The City Solution, Magazine. I wasn't yet onto the Triffids).  So this Johnston guy, eh? What's his band? Gallon Drunk huh? All right I'll file that away for later.

"Later" turned out to be 1996 I found myself in a record store in Denver. I can't recall, but I was probably looking for one of two things. Either a bootleg of Nick Cave singing happy birthday to his grandmother when he was 4 years old, or some pretty music I could listen to with the Irish girl. But I found three inexpensive Gallon Drunk CDs instead. And Gallon Drunk was not "pretty" music.

At first, I didn't think Gallon Drunk was that impressive music either. Seemed to have an okay formula. Get a heavy driving bassline, add a bunch of hoots and hollers and some growled lyrics and you had a pretty good song. But to my ears at the time, they all pretty much sounded like the same song. Like I said, it's good stuff. It just didn't completely grab me yet.

Then came 1996's "In The Long Still Night".  That bassline is still kicking ass, but now there's more tunefulness. And love those keyboards! (Full disclosure, when I go back and hear those first few albums, the keyboards melodies are there. I just didn't realize it yet.) They found a way to highlight what had been minor elements in their music before and yet not lose any of what made them Gallon Drunk to begin with.

I'd love to say that I became a Gallon Drunk devotee for life. But I lost touch when the band took a long hiatus after their great 2007 album "The Rotten Mile." Not my fault. right? The band stopped, Sure but when they came back around in 2012 where was I? Honestly? I was wasting too many brain cells on how many pairs of f#@kin' socks people were buying at my store. So it took me until 2016 to get back into the "New" Gallon Drunk and James Johnston, but thank goodness that I have. They've released two great albums since returning and James has just released his first solo record. Oh, and he's been touring as part of both PJ Harvey's band, and Mick Harvey's (no relation) "Serge Gainsbourg" tour. James Johnston. It's time to pay attention to this guy.

Take This Poison from 1996

A Thousand Years from 2012

James Johnston Solo "I'd Give You Anything" 2016


Buy Gallon Drunk music on Amazon

Thursday, March 23, 2017

I'm Too Scared To Even Walk On Past - Nick Cave

Nick Cave

I had to do it eventually. I've mentioned Nick Cave in so many posts already that it was only a matter of time before the man gets his own page. I've put this one off as long as I could, but no more.
So it's early 1994. I'm drugged up a bit on pain medication (hernia surgery) and whiny melancholy. The two roommate girls I liked (I wasn't greedy, I'd have been happy with either of them) are both at a dance event with friends of mine. And I'm lying in bed. All right. I'll put on that tape some dude sent me in exchange for some Lou Reed albums and then I'll just drift off to sleep. The tape was Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds' "From Her To Eternity" on one side and "The Firstborn is Dead" on the other. And I was high-tech, man. I had a tape player that would automatically play the other side when the first was done.
If you know those albums, you know they aren't the kind of stuff you go to sleep to. At least not comfortably. So I drifted off to terrifying dreams about falling down wells, being chained to rocks, and a giant fly pulling my limbs off like a demented child. But I woke up to an "extra" song.  Seems the guy who made me the tape had some extra room so he threw on a song from Nick's then current album "Henry's Dream".  The song was "John Finn's Wife" and I was spellbound. The painkillers and the whiny teen female rejection angst probably had something to do with it too! Now I don't understand how great music is made (proof here) but that two note string melody that essentially makes up an instrumental chorus to the song was suddenly the only sound I ever wanted to hear!

Previously I had heard Nick and thought of him as something of a novelty from this song (which I heard from a Soundtrack a friend and I won by placing 3rd in a three-legged race.) And then there were the old newsgroups. Anyone remember those newsgroups? alt.music.alternative or alt.music.leonard-cohen etc.  Damn I wish those old posts were archived somewhere. Well anyway I met a guy named Maurice Maes (anyone know how to get in touch with Maurice these days?) on the Leonard Cohen newsgroup. He kept telling me I gotta try this guy Nick Cave. I posted some diatribe about how the Holy Trinity of Rock was Lou Reed, Neil Young and Bob Dylan and he said "You gotta check out Nick Cave."  I posted "My knees hurt," and he said "You gotta check out Nick Cave."  I posted "Oh God, imagine if this D. Trump asshole ever had any sort of political power," and he said "You gotta check out Nick Cave."

I checked out Nick Cave. It worked. Nick also opened the Australian music floodgates for me. If you want an index of great Australian bands, here's what you do. Get out all your Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds albums, and then research everyone you see named in the credits either as a band member or guest and next thing you know you're in the Aussie rabbit hole and you're begging some dude on the internet to send you taped copies of Tex Deadly And The Dum Dums gigs.

And with this, I now have a post up for each of my current Big 4. The Fall, Luke Haines, Julian Cope and Nick Cave. And yeah, I'm seeing Nick in Detroit in July of this year! Can't wait.

Proof that Nick's as good as ever

Buy Nick's Music on Amazon

Nick Cave fans might like these pages:


Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Don't Ya Don't Ya Wish Ya Met Her Sooner - PJ Harvey


PJ Harvey

I never got rid of her. So it's 1994, I'm at Lollapalooza in Columbus, Ohio. There's only one artist I'm there to see. The friends I'm with are ridiculing me "Huh huh. You just wanna see 'Nick the Cave'. He sounds dumb. We're waiting for the good music, Green Day and Smashing Pumpkins."  To be fair, there's a good chance I was being a smug little prick about it myself though (Yeah, I only weighed about 150 then, I was definitely little.) When Nick did play, me and like three other people near me seemed interested. So eventually I ended up talking to some dude. I don't remember who he was. But he told me to check out PJ Harvey. It was 1994, and I was 20. I was practically begging to find more great music so I followed this guy's suggestion.

I went to a store soon after and bought a CD. Damn!!! She rocks pretty hard for a woman!
Wait a minute!  (Come on, click it. Please? It's only 4 seconds)

"Rocks pretty hard for a woman!" What does this mean? Well, you see, woman normally make softer, prettier music cuz women are softer and prettier than men. Wait really? Do we men play guitars with our cocks? No, but see women are supposed to make gentle music. They're just not naturally as good at hard-rocking masculine music. Really? But this PJ Harvey kicks us just like plenty male artists.  Yeah, she's a rarity, a woman who can rock like a man.

This isn't Greg vs. The Patriarchy here. This is Greg talking with Greg. So Greg tried to learn and grow a little bit. I mean, if I ignore women singers there's a chance I'm missing out on a ton of great music. But still, when I look through my collection I don't find that many women artists. Why is that Greg? Oh well you see, I'm more open to female artists now. But I just don't identify with them as much. You know, cuz I'm a man. So when I listen all alone at home and shout along with the music I can't pretend I'm the singer like I can with Nick Cave or David Bowie. Oh I see. So when you sing along with Nick Cave you identify with him better than PJ Harvey or Chrissie Hynde. But Nick Cave is 6'3" and really skinny and we're 5'10" and chubby. Come on Greg, stop insulting us. Okay but the point is we aren't like Nick Cave either. We've arbitrarily chosen the possession of an attached weiner to determine whether we can identify with an artist.  Oh. I get it. Well maybe we can sing along with PJ Harvey too! "I've lain with the devil, cursed god above. Forsaken heaven, TO BRING YOU MY LOVE!!!" Yeah! That feels pretty good! 

And now it's 2017 and I'm considering NOT going out of town to see PJ Harvey play. Two of my favorites, Mick Harvey (Bad Seeds, awesome solo career) and James Johnston (Gallon Drunk) are in her band. And I'm all worried about spending the money. And yet I spent $40 on some damn film festival....don't get started. The upshot is, I really need to figure out how to get myself to one of those shows. 

Oh, and one little note. If you go to the local record store to buy PJ Harvey records, you might have to look two places. Originally the band was called PJ Harvey so technically should be listed in the "P" section. But since the singer is Polly Jean Harvey I think you'll still usually find them in the "H" sections. Perhaps a little unintentional nod to Alice Cooper there.

If you feel like it, tell me in the comments how dumb I am for considering  not going. And be like the guy I met at that show in 1994, tell me about the other women I should be listening to now.

















Sunday, March 19, 2017

We're All Looking For That Something - The Scientists

The Scientists

Back to Australia for a bit here. Now here's a band that took some work for me to track down.

It's 1997. I've officially gone nuts for the Aussies. And I keep hearing about this dude named Kim Salmon and his band the Scientists. There are echoes of their existence on other albums I owned, such as "Kim's Dirt" from the first Dirty Three album (which Salmon wrote.) And there was a huge enticing entry on Kim Salmon in the true bible of all things Rock and Roll at least up until 1991.  All right cool. Sounds great, let me check out this band The Scientists.

Not so fast. The Scientists turned out to be the most difficult Australian band for me to acquire. I found a few albums by Kim Salmon and the Surrealists (Kim's later project), but this supposedly legendary, influential rock'n'roll behemoth remained unattainable. I was pissed on this planet that I couldn't find copies of Scientists albums like "Pissed on Another Planet."  My Australian hook-up couldn't help me. Goldmine magazine couldn't help me. The legendary rock band from Columbus that I was talking to at a party (New Bomb Turks, by the way) couldn't help me (though they told me it would be worth the search.) So while my frustration grew so did the legend of how f--in' great the Scientists would be.

So sometimes you just gotta keep talking to people cuz you never know when you'll say the right thing to the right person. (As an aside, I should probably apply that concept to my current job search.) So one day I'm in a theatre "rehearsal."  Okay, really I'm sitting around while the fearless leader tries to re-animate a corpse or affix a dildo to Tiresias or something. And I noticed the scary goth opera girl I had a little crush on was carrying around a Nick Cave LP. So I started talking rock'n'roll. Now maybe another dude would have thought "Cool, the gorgeous girl has something in common with me, maybe I can work this into a date." Well I was thinking "Cool, the gorgeous girl has something in common with me, maybe she can make me a tape. If she doesn't decapitate me."

Well wouldn't you know, the scary goth opera girl DID have some Scientists music. "Yeah, I'd be happy to put that on tape for you. But why are you hiding in the corner?"

So I finally had my Scientists!!! And maybe the music wasn't the earth-shaking revelation I had built it up to be but it was still damn good. Eventually I was able to round out the collection with some original vinyl.
Kim Salmon has continued to put out some really diverse albums with the Surrealists, The Business and several other groups. According to Wikipedia, he also teaches music as a "day job."  What kind of world do we live in where Kim Salmon has to have a day job.

Oh, a few months ago I ran into the scary goth opera girl again. And she's not so scary (she's got all of my records.)  Turns out she's incredibly nice and in an awesome new band with her husband. Check them out.  And check out the Scientists.

Set it on fire by the Scientists

Nowadays you can buy music by The Scientists on Amazon

Friday, March 17, 2017

Here's Your Chance To Make Me Feel Awkward - Jonathan Richman

Jonathan Richman

This blogpost today concerns, rocker Johnny!!! He never sucks, he's always great!

So you like the Velvet Underground they say. Well you should listen to Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers then. Jonathan himself was a big fan and he even used to sleep on Lou Reed's couch. Plus, John Cale of the VU produced their first album.  All right yeah! I'm in. Let's find some records.

That's how it started for me, and the first Modern Lovers album fits the bill. Okay, these guys are a little wacky, but there's some damn good rock riffs going on there ("Astral Plane" "She Cracked" etc.) Definitely something a Velvet Underground fan can appreciate.

 Okay, Let's try some more. Uh oh. What's this shit? "Hey There Little Insect," "I'm A Little Dinosaur", A non-ironic "cover" of "The Wheels On The Bus Go Round and Round."  What the hell is going on here? The edgy Boston rocker with a slight naive streak seems to have suddenly transformed into a guy you would hire for a kids' 6th birthday party.

 I won't pretend to really know what changed with Jonathan so early in his career. I've heard two theories. One was that once a musician finds himself a bit more popular with the ladies, the edge and anger are gone. The other theory is more fun, comes from Jonathan himself and can be heard here.  (explanation begins at about 1:20)

So it took me some time to get onto the Jojo happy wavelength. To be honest, I think the more my friends complained about hearing "-a-neat, a-neat, a-neat" the more entrenched I became. And it sure didn't hurt that his songs made the Irish girl smile, which at that time in my life was the most beautiful sight in the world for me. And that's enough 1996 reminiscing for right now.


And being that I think of myself as possessing a completely unique (and therefore often unappreciated) style of humor, no song could be more pertinent than this one.

She Doesn't Laugh At My Jokes - Jonathan Richman

And here's some of that earlier work

Buy Jonathan's music on Amazon

P.S.  Yes, this is the guy you saw on "Something About Mary"

Thursday, March 16, 2017

What About Greg? He's Dead, Well He's Aliiiiiive! - The Moodists

The Moodists

There are no girls that I was smitten with in this post. Nonetheless this is a story of lost love.

It's unfair to the Moodists that they share in this sad story of a waning of passion. It has nothing to do with their music. To quote Bob Dylan somewhat incorrectly, "they just happened to be there, that's all."

But first let's give the Moodists their due. Another Australian band that could (and still can as evidenced from some 2015 videos of them reuniting in what looks like some guys' living room!) rock circles around the majority of career rock n' rollers out there. I learned about them when asking for a recommendation from the original Greg's Music World (Australian Mail Order CD house I used to build my collection in the late 90s). "You'll probably like Dave Graney."  So they send me this CD that's mostly soft (well, and sexy as the title said) lounge singer material. Gregs know Gregs though, and I caught on and loved it pretty quickly.
Anyone remember the Trouser Press Alternative Music Guide? A book (physical thing that used to contain pages and words before the internet) containing all (well at the time I thought it was all) the music I would ever want to know about. Holy shit, the entries are all online now!!! (No duh Greg, you just never thought to look until now!) Well anyway, the entry on Dave's old band The Moodists was incredibly intriguing to me, "graduates of the thump n' grind school of gothic punk."  Yeah, man let's check that out!!!
Alas, Greg's Music World informed me none of the Moodists material was still available. And thus began the great search. The Moodists' records became the holy grail of rock n' roll acquisition for me. I searched the record shows, the pages of Goldmine, sent e-mails to other record stores in Australia. And somehow I found some Vinyl singles and the awesome album "Thirsty's Calling."  But the ultimate jewel, the Double Life EP constantly eluded me.

And then one day I discovered I could put this internet thing INSIDE MY OWN HOUSE!!!! And from there, I could find anything!!! From downloads, orders, youtube there's nary a sound I can't find. This is the best thing ever!!!!!

But it's not the best thing ever. Yeah I acquired those songs from Double Life. And yeah, they were the best music they had ever done. It was worth the wait. So why isn't this the best thing ever?

The feeling wouldn't come back again. The Moodists were my last great Holy Grail of rock. There were things I just never realized about myself before. To quote Deep Purple as they used a cliche in a 1984 song that I never realized was about anal sex until I was much older, "It's not the kill, it's the thrill of the chase."  And as time passed and I acquired every song I ever wanted to hear....the passion waned severely. And the poor Moodists will always be associated in my mind as the band that brought on the change.

Well times change and people change. Writing this little music blog is helping me re-charge my passion, and the Moodists are now poised to be apart of the revival. So listen to "Double Life" below and never forget to love rock n' roll.

Double Life Live

Buy most of the Moodists music on this awesome compilation

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Cracked voice in my drunken head - Johnny Dowd

Johnny Dowd

I'm gonna tell two stories. I swear they will relate eventually, The first story is simple and short. I had a friend named Mark during my last years of college. We just met a few weeks before graduation, but we became mutual music mentors. Mark had a crazy habit of suddenly selling all his CDs and records...only to eventually buy them all back!!!  Well anyway, once we were out of school we would trade cassette tapes through the mail. One day he sent me a tape with a group called Old 97s on one side and some dude named Johnny Dowd on the other side. The Old 97s were amazing!!!!! But this Johnny guy...well I'll listen to it again so I can get the tape back to the beginning of the Old 97s. That's the thing here. You might have to listen to Johnny a couple times to get it. I've heard once that the human brain automatically tries to compare musical sounds to something recognizable, and that this makes completely new sounds difficult to like right away. I'm no sonic scientist but it makes sound sense to me. So about the third time I heard "Just Like a Dog" I got it.

The second story is from 1998. Back when I was young, cool and drunk all the time* Met some sister of a friend of a friend. And oh gosh, she was beautiful, quick-witted, friendly and (most importantly to me at the time) planning on seeing the play I was in the next day. I was immediately and temporarily smitten. But no, this is not a love story. She was a happily coupled up woman, and was not flirting or interested in me. But she was still so damn cool!!!

So the girl, her brother, my friend and several other friends all came to see me perform as a drunken version of Bob Cratchitt in a re-write of a Christmas Carol in which Scrooge was the communist tragic hero. And after that she became sort of a pen-friend. And let me remind you, this isn't a romance story. 19 years later she's married with children to the man she was dating then. But I still thought she was so damn cool!! So when she'd come to town to visit her brother I always looked forward to seeing her among all our various mutual friends.

So one day she sends me an e-mail. "Hey, my boyfriend's band is coming to Columbus. You should check them out, it's Johnny Dowd."  Johnny F--in' Dowd!!!! Her boyfriend is Johnny Dowd's drummer!!! Now by this time I'd grown to love Johnny and not met ONE SINGLE PERSON who had ever heard of him (except my buddy Mark in Chicago who had originally sent me a tape). And now I'm gonna see him in my town and I've even got a small connection. And that was the firs time I saw Johnny Dowd live. He played some amazing songs from an upcoming album I had yet to hear and it was just an extraordinary night. And yes, a couple years later Johnny did in fact play a concert at MadLab Theatre. Maybe that'll come in a future post.

Remember, you might have to listen to this a few times. Or don't. I'm pretty sure Johnny doesn't care. He's going to keep doing what he does whether we like him or don't. And I'm very thankful for that!


* I continued to be young until about 2007. I continued to be drunk all the time until through 2016. I figured out I wasn't actually cool around 2008, then realized "Bullshit, I am too" in 2017.


Just Like A Dog by Johnny Dowd on youtube

Buy Johnny Dowd's music and merchandise


And here's me as Bob Cratchitt in 1998

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

I need security but I hate safety - Julian Cope

Julian Cope

"Oh yeah, I've heard him on the radio. I think he kind of sucks."  That's what I told my friend Rich W. (another musical mentor of mine) back in 1996 when he said "You gotta check out Julian Cope, I think you'll love him."  Copey had two songs get decent airplay in 1991 when Columbus first got an alternative radio station (CD 101, which is now CD102.5. Cuz they've grown by 1.5 over the past 26 years.) "That guy just sounds goofy and wimpy, going all 'byootiful love now, byootiful love'"
Sometimes people persist. Rich persisted. Gave me a tape of a lot of songs of the Jehovakill album from 1994. Thank Odin for that!!! "No Hard Shoulder To Cry On" and "Upwards At 45 Degrees" were the first two to grab me. I've decided to include "No Hard Shoulder" because it's the one that means the most to me right now. "And this world does require a gain each day/ And this world will not tolerate my feelings."
The Drude is one of a kind, man. That's right, he calls himself The Drude or Arch-drude, combination of Druid and Dude. This guy has catchy pop-tunes (perhaps you've heard "World Shut Your Mouth") and 60 plus minute "Meditations" (Breath of Odin). Sweet songs of love and near-violent anti-monotheism dirges. I'd say Julian is vehemently intolerant of intolerance.

Now me personally, I prefer the weird side of the Drude's conventional side. Which is to say, his rock and roll songs, but the less conventional amongst them. He gained some fame early in his career as the singer of the post-punk "The Teardrop Explodes" before he shoved off into a a solo career where he recorded several albums of really catchy alt-rock like "St Julian" and "World Shut Your Mouh" Nice stuff, really. But then he got weird and that's what I love!!! His last several albums have (I believe) only been available via his website headheritage.co.uk and they've all been worth it.  If you want specific recommendations ask me in the comments. Or even better, if you already know the Drude, tell me what's the best in the comments.


Listen to No Hard Shoulder To Cry On on youtube

Okay, I had to add another one. If you listen to this entire track (all 20 minutes) tell me in the comments and you won't win a prize. Except for 20 minutes of ridiculous rocking guitar freakout!!!

Experience (loudly) Julian Cope's "Eccentrifugal Force"


Buy stuff from the Drude!!!




Sunday, March 12, 2017

I Went Off My Rocker - Luke Haines

Luke Haines

All right so yesterday I broke into the Big IV.  I love a lot of music, and I hope that will come through over time on the blog, but there are four artists who do kind stand above everything else for me. The Fall (and therefore Mark E. Smith) is one. Today we get another member of the Big IV, Luke Haines.

I'm not gonna do a "How did I discover Luke Haines" story here. Maybe someday if I post "Former Fan" by his old band The Auteurs I'll write that story. It won't be a very interesting story I promise you.

I don't exactly know why these British misfit artists (Luke, MES, tomorrow's enty) mean so much to me. I mean, quite often the lyrics and topics of songs get very British. I don't really even know what these guys are on about. In fact saying "what they are on about" is a phrase I never would have said if I didn't read so many interviews with these guys. "Here's to Old England" "Leeds United" "The South Will Rise Again" "British Nuclear Bunkers" "9.5 Psychedelic Meditations On British Wrestling in the70s and Early 80s"  I'm lost. But damn these songs sound incredible!!! For me, no one crafts a majestic tune like Luke does. Sometimes it takes the tenth listen to a song before I realize that I've actually been banging my head to a soft, pretty mostly acoustic tune. I mean damn, for years one of the main players in his band was a cello player (who is only referred to as "The cello player" in Haines autobiographies).

It doesn't hurt that Luke Haines seems to love what I love. I mean damn, for those of you who know me...can you imagine how excited I was when I found out one of my favorite singers had a song coming out called "Cats That Look Like MES"? Well I'll tell you. I was....um...really excited. Can you guess the topic of the song "Lou Reed, Lou Reed"?  Oh by the way, if you really love me, ask me for my address and then go to Luke's websites and buy one of his made-to-order paintings of Lou Reed and have it sent.


Lou Reed, Lou Reed

Damn there's so much more to say. It's okay. Haines will be back on this page again. Though at his prolific rate, I can't promise I'll do another post on him before he releases another album. So I will leave you with this picture of me dressed up as Luke Haines for a Halloween party a couple years ago.



And here's a song that should get you started:
Listen to Off My Rocker At The Art School Bop on youtube

Buy Luke Haines music on Amazon


Special bonus, the first person who comments below (with some pertinent comment...."First" is not a pertinent comment!) gets a free copy of a rare and weird Luke Haines CD.  US only though (I ain't paying overseas mailing fees) and only if you want it.

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Something to dance to, A certain style - The Fall

The Fall

I couldn't hold out any longer. This is the first of what will probably be many postings about The Fall. This is it man. This is my favorite group in the history of the universe. The group that makes music just for me. Not the way I would ever think I would want it though. No, MES ("singer" Mark E. Smith) uses his psychic ability to tap into my brain and find out what sounds do I NEED to hear. And I simply can't imagine that there was ever a time before The Fall.

But there was. In or around 1996 I was trading cassette tapes across the Atlantic with my friend Chris (Volvo/Anders/Babic....he'll get his own post one day!). And the beauty of trading cassette tapes is...you've got to fill the extra space with something. So somewhere near the end of a Blue For Two or Triffids tape he threw on two songs I didn't ask for. Smile and Hotel Bloedel by the Fall.

And the world changed. Or at least mine did. Although maybe not all at once. I bought their album "Perverted By Language"  (which contains both songs I had heard) which is still to this day my favorite album ever. It's been said that Fall fans always rate the first one they heard as their favorite, so maybe I'm just another example there. I bought a few others here and there and they just didn't grab me quite as hard. At first.

I didn't become a true FF (Fall Fan? FuckFace? Interchangeable terms I believe. Hey There!!!!) until 1999 when I really came to realize there was more than "Perverted By Language". Of course by that time The Fall were a band of the past with nothing left to offer me. Well, that's what I thought as I quickly collected the past catalogue. (They've released 11 albums since that time, all of them worthwhile and maybe 4 of them great, so clearly I was just being a look back bore at the time.)

I'd love to say more....but there will be further Fall posts.

Go on, you can do it SMILE!!!! on youtube


Buy The Fall's music on Amazon





Friday, March 10, 2017

What happened when I caught the tornado - Jim White

Jim White
Now here's a special entry for me. Not just because Jim White's music showed me that I can in fact like something that sounds like country music. Not just because he played a concert at MadLab Theatre. Not just because it was the most successful concert we ever had. Not just because setting up his show caused me to be in contact with a woman who had once been married to Lou F-in' Reed! Not just because Jim even now is willing and happy to communicate with me on facebook in spite of the pedestal his musical greatness tempts me to put him upon. It's all those things and so much more!
WCBE in Columbus, Ohio first introduced me to Jim White sometime in or around 1998. The songs was "A Perfect Day To Chase Tornadoes" (which is the link included below).  So I bought the album "Wrong Eyed Jesus" and little did I know how much this would eventually mean.
Flash forward to 2001. I chase a tornado (yeah, I know I might be using the reference wrong, just go with me here, okay?)  Which is to say I think "Aw hell, why don't I e-mail Jim's booking company and see if there's some small chance that he would play a show at MadLab."  I'm telling the truth when I say, I thought there was no chance. But the next thing you know, I'm negotiating this thing. With the booking agent, who happens to be Lou Reed's ex-wife!!! And now I have a copy of Jim's next album "No Such Place" before it's even released!!! I must be important now!  And suddenly I've got a concert scheduled of an artist I love whose popularity I questioned. In short, I had no idea who knew of Jim at all. Is anyone going to come to this show at all?
Yeah. Yeah they did. Once I got that thing on the calendar and announced it they started coming out of nowhere. Dudes in industrial noise bands are catching me on the street "Hey. I love Jim White, how can I buy tickets in advance?" 
If you're a fire marshall who's ever been to either MadLab, don't read the next line. We ended up selling over 170 tickets to the show and packed way more people into that poorly (read: not at all) air-conditioned space in mid-summer and Jim and his band put on an unforgettable performance. Still the biggest event I ever put together. And the "hottest show I ever did" according to Jim!!!
Serious here folks, this guy should be a huge star. And if this blog post can deliver Jim anywhere between 2 and 10,000 new fans I'll have done my job. Check him out!!!

Oh and for what it's worth, Jim's just a wonderful kind and friendly person too. I mean, I'm okay with the fact that I know some of my favorites are jerks (cough, cough, Mark E. Smith cough cough. No really, that's just how Mark sounds when he's singing!) But Jim is wonderful. I hope for continued success and happiness and health will come his way.

A Perfect Day To Chase Tornadoes by Jim White on youtube


Buy Jim White's music on Amazon





Thursday, March 9, 2017

This post will give you an Urgasm!

Urga


Oh boy, I've been waiting to get to this one!!!You ever have one of the moments in life that you wish you could go back to multiple times because there are just so many different and wonderful ways to experience the moment? That's how I feel about the time I saw Urga perform at the Roskilde Music Festival in 2000.

Urga was a Swedish group that traveled and performed with Cirkus Cirkör. When my friend Chris (Volvo/Anders/Babic) planned our trip to Roskilde this was one of the groups he highlighted for me. "This group is Swedish like me, so you know they will be good. They sing in their own made-up language called Urgan, and it's fuckin' great."  And you know how words just sometimes don't exactly convey feelings and concepts? Kinda like what I'm writing now. I'm trying to tell you what he was trying to tell me. And you're probably taking it like I did, "Okay yeah sure, we'll check it out." (Forgets thought immediately.)

Fortunately I did end up by the Urga tent. Unfortunately, the entire Roskilde Festival was, for me, an opportunity to see how much cheap Danish beer and wine I could drink and still be able to stand up. Well, the answer was a little less cheap Danish beer and wine than I had, because I spent the majority of Urga's set lying on the grass (not a euphemism) while the music just washed over and through me.

Sounds like I blew it, but that's far from the truth. Yeah, the visuals that I mostly missed were awesome. Yeah, the music practically demands the audience member dance as if his life depended upon it. But  the music also tells you "Why don't you just close your eyes and let me take control of your feelings and happiness for a while." My memories of lying there listening to Urga are still some of the most special memories of my life. So yeah, If I could go back in time, I'd make sure one time I danced like a banshee (do they dance? it seems like they would). Then I'd go back again and stand in the front row staring with my mouth agape and my eyes wide as can be. And I'd go back one time and do just what I did.*

Okay, well that's a lot of bullshit to you, because you can't go back in time and see Urga. But you can listen to this song. At the 1:04 point in the song Urga has taken the human emotion of "joy" and simply turned it into sound. But don't let that make you ignore the rest of the song.

Listen to Urga's "Allo Manne" on Youtube

Buy Urga music on Amazon

P.S. I believe Urga's singer Irya Gmeyner has moved on to some solo work. If you happen to have any insight on what she's been doing let me know in the comments (I'm looking at you, Volvo)




*Well, I wouldn't get as drunk as I did that time, but you get the picture.

Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Beasts Of Bourbon don't care about nothing anymore!!!!

Beasts Of Bourbon
The lack of Australian rock in the first two days lifetime of this blog is appalling. Hell, I even stole the name of this blog from a mail-order record store where I used to shop with in the 90s. Greg's Music World was the best!!! I'd just e-mail them "Hey, I like Nick Cave and the Go-Betweens a lot, what should I try out next?" and the next thing you know, I'm buying Ed Kuepper, Dave Graney and Tex Perkins cds.

About that Tex Perkins. He's been everything from a sensitive country-ish crooner to the founder of a band that once had a hit called "Fuck Your Dad" (and....um...they meant the more literal use of the verb "Fuck")

The Beasts Of Bourbon were an Australian Indie rock supergroup of sorts that kind of fell in the middle of the two extremes listed above.  Formed in the early 80s by Perkins (center in the picture above),  Kim Salmon (The Scientists), Boris Sujdovic (Scientists), Spencer P. Jones (The Johnnys) and James Baker (The Hoodoo Gurus). Over the years the lineup has shifted a bit but always includes Tex and Spencer.

I could have included so many different songs. This may not be their actual best, but it ain't far off. And it's hard to go wrong with lines like "I used to give my money to the motherfucking poor, but I don't care about nothing anymore!"

Yeah, seeing the Beasts live would be a bit of a dream for me. But no luck yet. The Beasts tend to call it quits periodically, go back to their own respective careers, and then out of nowhere show back up and bludgeon some eardrums and sensibilities til they can't stand each other anymore and call it quits again.

Incidentally, if you are among those few people who saw the performance of "Every Dog Has Its Valentine's Day" at the St. James Tavern on V-Day 2016, this song was "featured". Which is to say, when the guy went back in time to kill his younger self at his "happiest moment" this was a song the two versions of me (er...him) connected over.  But we never let the actors hear the original, so don't expect much similarity when they sing it!!!

Beasts Of Bourbon's "I Don't Care About Nothing Anymore"

Since I mentioned it:

Every Dog Has It's Valentine's Day presented by O.G.P.


Buy Beasts Of Bourbon on Amazon


Tuesday, March 7, 2017

The elusive Tam Lin...wait does that make me the Evil Faerie Queen?

Fairport Convention


This is my third post. I'm starting to realize something. I'm not a music critic. So there's no reason for someone to read these posts for in-depth criticism or historical significance. I'm writing about what these songs meant to me. I hope a few people find it interesting.

I've often called Tam Lin by Fairport Convention "the greatest music recording ever made."  I don't know if I still believe that (Stuart Staples' "Goodbye To Old Friends" might hold that distinction to me now) but it remains one of my favorite all-time songs eliciting such wonderful nostalgic feelings and memories (and not all of them are cuz of some girl!)

I first heard this amazing traditional tune on the local NPR station's "Toss The Feathers" program sometime around 1993. I got the name "Fairport Convention" but never caught the name of the song. Remember, there wasn't an internet or Shazam or what-the-hell ever back then to look up any song I ever wanted to hear. "You know....It's by Fairport Convention and it goes 'dun-dun-dun-dun-dun'" surprisingly doesn't work so well to identify a song.  But somehow I found a Fairport record in my friend Rikki's collection and Whoomp there it is!!! (remember, this was 1993 or so)

And then, invariably I lost touch with Janet, the Queen and young Tam Lin for a few years. I wanted to hold onto it forever, but Janet told me "I come and go....and ask no leave of thee!"

We flash forward to 1996. I'm in love with an Irish (American) girl, and I'm trading cassette tapes across the ocean with a Swede (Babic/Volvo/Chris/Anders) who just happens to be a bit of  traditional folk rock fan (and kraut rock, and Aussie Rock, and...and....and.....etc.) and Tam Lin gets re-introduced into my life. And somehow the song sounds even better to me this time. Oh and the Irish girl loved it. And she'd sing along with Sandy Denny and..... Ah....the Irish girl. I miss those days. ...Um.okay let's not let this go on any further. She's not a part of my life....but she did help me understand how much I could love Celtic flavored music. Like the time I was driving to visit her and Andy M. Stewart's "Gaberlunzieman" came on the radio and....damn!!!! Getting too nostalgic here. Just listen to "the greatest music recording ever made" -Greg circa 1996.

Did I mention that's Richard Thompson on guitar?


Listen to Fairport Convention's "Tam Lin" on Youtube

Completely unrelated except for my memories of visiting the Irish girl
Bonus Song. Gaberlunzieman By Andy M. Stewart

Buy Fairport Convention on Amazon


P.S. The Irish girl is very happily married and I haven't seen her in 20 years and would probably be embarassed if she ever read this. Okay let's be honest, she might not even know I'm talking about her!








Monday, March 6, 2017

Is the earth shaking? No, that's just Yat-Kha.



Yat-Kha

There was a time when I had the power to inflict my musical tastes upon the world. Er...upon Columbus, Ohio. Er...upon the dozens of people that chose to attend some concerts I put on. Okay fine!!! Sometimes the only ones affected were the people who agreed to volunteer to work the door or the bar at MadLab Theatre (where I put those shows on) in order to fulfill their obligations to the company.

But Yat-Kha was different. Yat-Kha was something people cared about, waiting for in anticipation, and still talk about today. No....don't ask me how many people. I promise it was more than just me.

So one morning in 2000 while I was attending the Roskilde Music Festival with my greatest musical mentor (Volvo, Anders, Chris, Babic. He goes by many names) I wandered into a tent that promised to be something I'd never seen before. Tuvan throat-singing rock band Yat-Kha. Where the hell was Tuva anyway? (North of Mongolia I learned) Whatever. I'm hungover, I'm tired. I'm already drinking wine from a box at noon. I'll check this out.

WHOA!!!!! This band comes out dressed in traditional Mongolian garb with some recognizable instruments (Guitar, drums) and some thing called Doshpuluur (if I play that word in scrabble I'm using this blog to prove its legitimacy). Then this dude (Albert Kuvezin) starts busting out these metal riffs amidst traditional Tuvan throat-singing. Damn this is badass!!!! Until he starts the kagyraa style singing which is....well....just check out the 43 second mark of this video.



The story of Yat-Kha coming to MadLab Theatre in Columbus? For another time.


You wanna hear more about this Volvo/Chris/Anders/Babic guy? Don't worry. He'll be a regular.


Welcome To Greg's Music World and Goodbye to Old Friends


Hi I'm Greg! And this is my world of music. In a world where everyone believes they have the actual best taste in music, well here's another guy who thinks "Hey, I know such good stuff that people should want to hear what I like."  No. I'm actually not so delusional as to believe that there's that many people who will care. (My friends Holly and Brandon will care!)  

Anyway, I just want to have some fun, learn a little and write about what I love.  If someone other than me (and Holly and Brandon) get to enjoying what I'm doing someday, well that's awesome.




My first entry is my current favorite song in the world.  "Goodbye to Old Friends" by Stuart Staples.   Stuart is the singer of the Tindersticks, and this is the first track off his solo album "Leaving Songs." I first learned of the Tindersticks in or around 1994 from Steve Louis, the owner of Sour Records  in Westerville, Ohio. (Check the link to Steve's current Record Store below)  Knowing I was a loyal fan of Nick Cave, Steve very adamantly suggested the 'Sticks to me, and it worked!  "Goodbye to Old Friends" is the lead track to the 2006 solo album and it's an incredible sonic journey from a lonely quiet guitar to an eventual complex crescendo of melancholic mayhem. It's a soft song that rocks if there ever was one! There are dozens of lines that could vie for someone's "Favorite lyric in a song ever," with mine being "But I catch myself in the mirror, and I remember I gotta do something about my life."

Anyway, listen to it!





Hear a Podcast where I discuss the entire album.


Have Steve Louis turn you on to great new music at his store