Sans Lizard King

So your lead singer has either had a heart attack or gone into perpetual Enquierer-esque hiding to escape being famous or some other pretentious bullshit. What does a band do when you've arguably just released your crowning comeback album 6 months earlier? You take the trademark music you've already laid down and throw some Morrison-esque vocals on it. Which brings us to Other Voices, one of the two post-Jim albums the Doors would release, most assuredly as contractual obligations to Elektra. The fact that by the 70's the band was pretty much creating the music and letting Morrison just do his thing when he showed up at the studio so the guys were almost there. That being said, how is it? Actually pretty solid. The music is great, a depressing window into what could have been for their seventh album had the band been whole. Acknowledging the point that some of the Doors' biggest hits weren't written by Morrison ("Light My Fire", "Touch Me", "Love Me Two Times", etc.) all three remaining band members summoned their lyrical skills and gave a best shot trying to channel their deceased lead singer's arcane style to complete the record. So, not surprisingly, if the album has a problem. it's the fact that Krieger and Manzarek aren't great vocalists. It works (kinda) with the harmonizing on the bluesy "Variety Is The Spice Of Life" but on some of the other songs Manzarek just sounds like a kareoke's Mick Jagger or Roger Daltrey (or pretty much any other popular 60's-era lead singer other than Morrison). Not that that's terrible, it's just not the Doors. Musically it's amazing, lyrically it works somewhat, the guys channel the vibe Morrison generally went for - it's just different "voices" and hence the album title I guess. But what the fuck, I really like this shit (especially the crazy end to "Hang On To Your Life" which is definitely shades of their live versions of "Not To Touch This Earth") and it's a somewhat melancholic window into the musical talents and potential future of a band who ended way too soon. Interestingly, the members of the band assured Elektra they never had the record's master tracks after the initial LP release... this album (and its follow up, 1972's Full Circle) never saw life on CD until 2006.

Other Singers

Pretentious Long-Winded Sophomore Album Title>>

Wow, way back when I was proclaiming good ol' Whale as the "next big thing that never happened" my pretentious ass never even realized those crazy Swedes actually released a second album just three years later. With the delicious Cia Berg again at the helm (talk about the pioneer of the "hottie nerd" revolution, no?), Whale's second slab of wax delivers in just that way late 90's alternative rock did. Of course comparisons can be made with nearly every female-helmed band at the time (Breeders, Garbage, Veruca Salt, etc) but Whale owns a weirdly Euro Pop sensibility that most bands this side of the pond lacked (or at least lacked at the time). The band eschews a rocking "Hobo Babe" anthem on this record for a lot more depth and darkness; a bunch of slow, heavy-lyric ballads mixed in with lots of manic trip-hop. Not quite the party album as their debut (unless you are still holding raves in your basement) but a lot more satisfying a listen. The epic "Go Where You're Feeling Free" cannot help but bring shades of "Happy Colored Marbles" or some similar bigger-than-its-britches mini-epic. Solid stuff that still sounds as good 20 years later. Enjoy.

Deliver The Juice

Dream Punk

Already a fan of his long-running Rocket Science blog, I was pleased to read curator Dave G’s involvement in the promotion of local record label Killing Horse Records. Himself the once-owner of a DIY indie label defunct for nearly two decades, Killing Horse launched in 2010 and focused primarily on northern NJ bands (half of which the guys were friends with). One of the earliest records Dave G reviewed was 2012’s self-titled debut by NJ’s Wreaths, a refreshing genre-spanning album which quickly brought to mind flashes of Ween and the Flaming Lips. At a time when Ween had just broken up (and, to be honest, I never found La Cucaracha terribly satisfying) this was exactly what the doctor had ordered. Clear Quebec influences aside (shit, half the songs have a weird "Chocolate Town" groove to 'em), Wreaths exudes a wonderfully trippy vibe that gives the record an almost ethereal quality (and makes you want to instantly drink/smoke yourself into a stupor just to immerse yourself in it). The opener, "Coke Straw" would make the Boognish proud, a cosmic pounder that is probably my favorite track, although nearly every song stands out on its own. Heavy use of the reverb pedal here folks, nearly every rhythm chord is stretched for maximum sustain - a space rock sludgey-ness which really sounds cool. The latter half of the record is more akin to an alien instrumental space dirge spanning one track to the other - "Love Me, Dark Wizard" reminds me of something the Black Keys have done and is a fitting close to the LP, a looping feedback overdub spanning the stereo channels to wrap up the 50-minute acid rock trip. The band has a few other releases floating around out there, your best start is with Discogs, Soundcloud and their Facebook (oh, and buy the record here). Good stuff for sure. Enjoy.

In case you’re interested (or an incredibly esoteric vinyl collector), info on Dave G’s circa-90’s Rocket Science Records can be found here. Killing Horse Records is still actively releasing records and you can check out their bandcamp page here. Lastly (for those who are not tired of links), while Dave G’s blog isn’t really updated anymore you can still noodle around the pretty cool archives here.

Leaves On The Leaves

Stimpak Soundtrack

Like the 15 million+ other people out there I am painfully addicted to Fallout 4, just like I was to 3 and New Vegas. Currently on my 28th in-game day or whatever in the post-apocalyptic Commonwealth, there are times I feel like I'm more concerned what's happening in that world then the real one. The commercial is an absolute work of genius and using "The Wanderer" was an ideal choice; fitting in perfectly with the frozen-in-time 50's art deco vibe of the whole game. I was surprised to see that Dion didn't burn out as the teen idol I pegged him to be, he's still churning out records to this day - switching genres through the decades from blues to eventually more religious-themed stuff; impressive for a guy pushing 80. "The Wanderer" was on the second single from his 1961 Runaround Sue album, his first solo LP after splitting with the doo wop trio The Belmonts. Paired with "The Majestic", "Wanderer" ended up with a ton more airplay than its A-side and ended up actually hitting #2 on the Billboard charts. Will all that being said, here's something a little different than my usual posts, an oldies revisit thanks to a game taking place 200 years in the future. Of course you'll know some of the songs on the album, notably the title track but and "Dream Lover" but there are a couple humorous forgotten rock & roll treasures worth a listen. Ironically, "Kansas City" sounds almost exactly like the "Wanderer" and has become my second favorite track on the record. So grab some RadAway and enjoy a trip down memory lane.

Runaround

Draw The Kitten

Go figure, in the cut-out dustbin at the local library I found this long-forgotten Richmond, VA gem. Mixed in with a sorry collection of Celene Dion, Billy Joel and Miley Cyrus beer coasters was a strange photocopied CDr that just screamed for its generic 50¢ "donation" fee. And boy, it did not disappoint. Recorded sometime in the early part of the millennium, this self-released demo (the CDr is hand-written "Rough") is a refreshing lo-fi garage rock dream. Think a slightly bluegrass-tinged Ween with some other assorted Kids Eat Crayons jazz oddity and you'll have a general idea of what to expect. Thanks to some sparse info on Teen Beat Records' website (forever noteworthy as being the label for the debut recording of one Mr. Aaron Freeman and who put DtK on the map with their inclusion on a 2004 compilation), Eternity With Numbers was piece-mealed over several sessions at a few different VA studios and had almost a dozen musicians (both official and non-official band members) contributing. The number of performers explains the somewhat chaotic style of the record which spans genres to the extent it almost doesn't sound like the same album from song to song. The record appears to have been intended for a legitimate 2007 release by Teen Beat but there is no mention if that really happened and I can hardly find anything about the band on the web so me thinks not. Which makes this CD even more rare and kind of even more cool so enjoy this slice of Richmond indie rock history.

Meridian

What Have You

Goddamn I wish I was Nick Hexum. Not only does the guy not look like he hasn't aged a fucking day since he graduated college but he owned a fucking island in the Florida Keys. An island. That is some serious shit. Anyways, twenty years before he became a paradise entrepreneur, his band released their second demo on Hexum's What Have You Records. In case you've been living in a soundproof cave on Mars since 1990, Hexum is the lead singer for perennial funk rockers 311; one of the few 90's bands that weathered the death of MTV just fine and still release arguably good shit to this day. I just picked up 311's 4-disc Archive box set and was kinda disappointed they didn't include the band's pre-Music demos. I've sifted through boatloads of illegitimate mp3s over the years trying to find a definitive copy of most of them and the aforementioned Dammit! (1990) has proved the most elusive. Sure there are umpteen "first generation" rips out there but they all seem to be from one of two sources; are completely inconsistent in their mastering; are actually songs from the more readily findable Unity (1991); and many rips clip off several minutes of some tracks (or are missing a song or two entirely). With that being said, I compiled a few "versions" and tried to form what is a reasonable facsimile of an entire album. Side A is actually pretty listenable but make no mistake, the quality is rough (think 64kbps mp3s sleazily up-ripped in disguise). Oh well, what the fuck, you can't have everything. Enjoy.

Fuck The Bullshit!

Straight Outta Stockholm

Something a little different-sounding from my usual posts - and tough to actually describe. While their bandcamp handle is "dvaladoom" don't be fooled, this Swedish 5-piece plays a pleasantly unique smorgasbord of post punk, lo-fi and croony, arty indie rock (they evidently posit themselves after 80's Swede alt rockers Broder Daniel whom I've never heard so the reference is completely lost on me). I present their 2013 release Vanföreställningar (Delusions), a 4-song EP that skirts across a large chunk of the musical spectrum. Most of the songs have two separate parts, one somewhat gloomy and bluesy followed by a more traditional R 'n' R finale. Guess which part I like better. If I have one complaint it's having no idea what the vocalist is wailing in any of the songs (à la watching a foreign movie without subtitles) but I can't really point too much of a finger since most of the music I listen to is abject screaming and gurgles anyway. The band appears to still be active (and poised to drop a full-length LP) via the usual social media pages so check 'em out (fb/bc).

Harborside

Chocolate Town

Undeniably Ween's finest hour. 2003 was both the best and worst year in my life (besides signalizing my turning 30 that is). Best: the girl I absolutely loved at first sight from the day I ever layed eyes on her actually took me up on my standing 2-year offer to grab a drink. Our whirlwind relationship (which is a whole other demented blog post) started at that point and never let up for one second over the next two years. Worst: My crazy ass dog - a giant Shepherd/Collie mix who was the most loyal friend I ever had needed to be put down after struggling with hip dysplasia for so long I can barely remember him being normal. I also watched my career collapse right in front of my eyes and had two good friends kill themselves within weeks of each other. For the latter half of this crazy year I had Ween's Quebec as my constant audio ally. Alternatively depressing, uplifting, happy, sad - the seemingly innocent songs on this album morph into whatever you want them to be. Starting with the barnstorming "It's Gonna Be A Long Night" (Deaner's cock-rock bar band ode long before it got tiring) and including such New Hope classics as the goose-bump inducing "Happy Colored Marbles" (possibly their best song ever?), "I Don't Want It" and the ultimate closer "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" - Quebec is less of an album than a good friend. I have listened to a million LPs in my life and this one is truly at the top of the list. Even the outtakes and B-sides are show-stoppers - I included the epic "Mountains and Buffalo" as well as "Ooh Va La" for completists out there. The brownest Ween album since the Chocolate And Cheese days - and the musical pinnacle from a band I had figured had already done it all. In 2011 Deaner released Caesar online - a 2CD collection of outtakes and demos from the Quebec recording sessions - what a treat to hear. Who knows why some of the tracks didn't make the cut - "Hello Johnny" being a personal fave - but such is the enigma of the Boognish. Ween slowly unraveled after Quebec both personally and musically - 2007's odd The Friends EP left a lot to be desired. But seriously though - how can you top perfection? God, I wished I'd married her...

Studio                                                              Demo

The Dude abides...

Awesome record from Detroit one-man musical extraordinaire Dude. Shit, this motherfucker flies solo, dig? You only wish your home-grown 4-track recordings could lick the guava like this fucking guy. If you haven't realized, I was pleasantly surprised by Dude's amazing debut of which I stumbled upon after many drunken hours surveying the tripe on bandcamp. Influenced by a myriad of bands ranging from the Beatles to the Bee Gees (c'mon tell me you can't envision the "Spicks & Specks" chords during the opening to "In The Next Pocket"), Dude is channeling the vibe Ween and Beck brought to the forefront a decade ago. An easily listenable album worth some of your hard earned duckets. Enjoy.

iamdude

Sting... Sting...!

MCA was really scraping the Townshend/Daltrey barrel in 1987 when they finalized the last of their much-contested drawn-out contract with The Who. Keith Moon had been dead for nearly a decade and the band hadn't recorded anything new since 1982's It's Hard... MCA acquired rights to The Who's significant back catalog soon after (an ownership that continued until 2003) and not only re-released every legitimate album but started marketing era-appropriate obscurity compilations to keep the masses hungry for more. After 1985's Who's Missing chronicled most of the band's B-sides and random live "hits" there wasn't much left but to dig through lowly master tapes of long-defunct record label reel-to-reel archives. The result? Who knows if this is stuff the band would have ever actually wanted to be released but for enthusiasts there are real diamonds in the rough to be found here. Some sweet blues tracks - "Bald Headed Woman" and the incredible "I'm A Man" (a song I'll always love thanks to Mr. Hendrix) as well as a couple covers for Stone and Vandellas fans make this record impossible to listen to without a smile. Sadly, this LP did not get the gold certificate as did its predecessor - nixing the potential for a Three's Missing...

Wasp Man

College Music

Being a tried and true Ween fan I guess it was inevitable that I would eventually stumble into the world that is the Flaming Lips. Not only did they both break into the early 90's quasi-mainstream together via Beavis And Butthead ("She Don't Use Jelly" and "Push Th' Little Daisies" for the non-video savvy millenials) the groups would actually tour together in 2006 for almost a dozen shows. Musically, the anti-rock parallels are almost blatant; Ween was still a little more Casio-esque lo-fi than the 'Lips but both were still tinkering with the edges of "alternative" rock for an audience who still didn't know what they liked yet. 1993's Transmissions was arguable step ahead of Ween as far as production quality/song structure goes, the music is way more palatable than anything on Pure Guava; though in Ween's defense it helps when you have a whole band instead of a Tascam 4-track. Outside of 120 Minute faves "Turn It On" and the aforementioned "She Don't Use Jelly", the best thing about this album is how the last 4 songs kind of blend into a weird 16-minute mini-epic. Not only is "Slow • Nerve • Action" the best (and most touching) song I think the Flaming Lips have ever done, the lack of song breaks between the last few tunes convert the end of the album into a strange story focusing on Jesus, early-life crises, lepidopterans and invisible dogs named Paul. Maybe I've powdered a few to many hydrocodones tonight but this album is essential. Enjoy.

Tangerine

Bryn Mawr Stomp

A friend and fellow Ween fan recently brought up this gig and I thought I'd pull it from the archives and revisit it in its entirety. Recorded at The Point, a small quaint coffeehouse in equally tiny Bryn Mawr, PA (population 4000 which is mostly college students). Sadly the establishment closed in 2005 but this gig, recorded in 2002, captures a very intimate, mostly acoustic evening with Ween at a time they were near their musical peak. Quebec was a year from release, their creative spirits were flowing and hearing the band jam some of the old "hits" broken down slow and lazy is a real treat. The small crowd yells out request after request (I seriously think they cover Ween's entire catalog) and the band tries to keep up with a smile - managing to belt out some obscurities like "Right To The Ways And The Rules Of The World" and "Scrape The Mucus Off My Brain". My favorite is a very personal version of "If You Could Save Yourself (You'd Save Us All)" - Gener sings the lyrics over his own strumming acoustic - a really nice take of one of my favorite songs by the band. The encore is great - the mellowness of "Birthday Boy" played acoustic really enhances the love song it's supposed to be. "El Camino" is awesome as well, they somehow morph "cuando, cuando" into "White Rabbit" - fucking hilarious. And they play "Someday" twice to boot. A great gig from a truly legendary band. Someone actually had both a video of it and the good sense to upload it to YouTube - check it out.

Someday

See ya in 2015...

Recorded during rehearsals for the famous Fillmore East Band Of Gypsys concert 45 years (!) ago, Hendrix, Cox and Miles put down their beers for a few minutes and jammed out one of the cooler holiday medleys from the era. "Little Drummer Boy", "Silent Night" and "Auld Lang Syne" all recieve their acid rock due and Hendrix (as usual) turns what was probably an impromptu jam into a single for the ages. The 7-minute "extended mix" made available just a few years ago is the definitive version so it's the one I included. Enjoy.

MMXV

Matt Mark Matt

Straight outta New Brunswick, NJ comes a post-grunge outfit "known for their dungeon master skills and lack of integrity who play rock music in the vein of Lita Ford and Quiet Riot." Well, I don't know all about that, what I do know is that 2011's Psychrockbullshit came out about fifteen years too late. Perfect mid-90's alternative radio indie fodder, the Dinosaur Jr.-esque trio blast through six sweetly melodic songs in sixteen minutes without devolving too much into their hardcore roots. This is the closest thing to "happy" music I've listened to in probably three months and it didn't disappoint. They have a few new-ish songs out there, all for free - check 'em out here. Enjoy.

Guitar Solos For Your Eyes

Brown Town

Man, one of the best things about Ween in the 90's was the amount of material they released. Calling them prolific is almost an understatement. From soundtracks to guest appearances to non-US singles, the wealth of songs and remixes the band released outside of legitimate albums is impressive. Unfortunately, as with most "underground" band discographies, compiling all that stuff can be elusive. Thanks to Ween being early friends of the internet, various mp3's of the material surfaced with relative frequency on FTP servers, albeit of varying, often extremely rough quality (were talkin' muddy 32kbps rips here). More recently, thanks to the innovation of music-ripping software (as well as the speed of the internet), a few good souls have dusted off their extensive Ween collections and made available excellent new rips of the material - resulting in a compilation entitled The Brown Sides: Official B-Sides. From sources as obscure as the Australian CD-single of "Push Th' Little Daisies" to their Sub Pop released "Skycruiser" single, the record compiles original, non-LP tracks by the band. Some are hits, some misses, my favorites are the instrumental "Bakersfield" (from the "I Can't Put My Finger On It" CD-single), the heart-wrenching "I'll Miss You" (from the Beautiful Girls soundtrack) and amazing "Mountains And Buffalo" - a dropped track from Quebec which is probably my favorite song by the band. You can't listen to this without finding something you'll love - play loud and enjoy.

Jambon ou deux Schweppes, bebe

Songs For Clay

Yet another movie soundtrack that far exceeds the quality of the movie it represents, Less Than Zero was curiously released by Def Jam Records (soon to be Def American) and helmed by none other than producer extraordinaire Rick Rubin. While the film suffered from a healthy blanket of late-80's cheese that simply does not age well with time, the accompanying music has some nice surprises, at the time unavailable anywhere else. Def Jam veterans Public Enemy debuted "Bring The Noise" (later released on the seminal It Takes A Nation Of Millions) and L.L. Cool J contributes his smooth talking "Going Back To Cali" - showing a much more mature side of the rapper after his sophomoric BAD album earlier that year. Slayer covers Iron Butterfly in a solid, blissfully 3-minute version of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" played at their typical breakneck speed. For the top-40 crowd, the Bangles offer their version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Hazy Shade Of Winter" (of which I'm sure everyone remembers the video), Aerosmith covers an old Huey Smith tune, Poison invokes Kiss, and Roy Orbison croons through the dark "Life Fades Away" (penned by Glenn Danzig no less!) Speaking of Glen (sic) Danzig, he does his best Elvis impression on the amazing "You & Me" - performed with the oddly-monikered "Power And Fury Orchestra" (evidently the original lineup of Danzig with George Drakoulias playing bass for Eerie Von who was clashing with Rubin on the song's arrangement). Probably the Lodi, NJ native's most heartfelt tune and the high point of the record. There are a couple other tracks on the album (mostly R&B) but I'd be lying if I said they ever graced my stereo speakers. It would be interesting to see Less Than Zero remade in today's graphic, dark Requiem For A Dream-esque style - some rumors claim Quentin Tarantino is trying to do just that.

Rip

Dropping Anchor

Aah... what a blast from the past. Passing around an ounce of blow while driving down to celebrate the millennial New Years in New Orleans and this was like the one CD we had in the car for the whole fucking trip. Man, that was a fun jaunt down I-85. Made it down in record fucking time, too. Anyways, JCS had a pretty solid following in Richmond (shit, they were only like one state away) and floated down to play the now-defunct Flood Zone a few times. While I liked their quasi-hit "High" (beaten to death by zillion hours played of BMX XXX), the opener "Dropping Anchor" is definitely my fave - a rocking fucking tune that takes me back fifteen years every time I hear it. The rest of the album is just as good - a bit of a foray into the nü metal world notwithstanding - pop this one in at your next party and I'm sure you'll get some smiles. Enjoy.

Remenisce

Weencognito

Here's a random live show that popped on my iPod today bursting with all the quality that you'd expect from late-90's 56kbps mp3's. Ween was at odds with Elektra at the time - the major had just assumed control over a live album Dean had compiled; intended to be the first indie Chocodog release, the label quickly packaged it as Paintin' The Town Brown. In response, Ween "leaked" their quasi-album Craters Of The Sac to the internet as a free mp3 download, much to money-hungry Elektra's chagrin. All of this leads me to assume it didn't take much for the guys to play gigs under a pseudonym, especially on the tried-and-true stomping ground of the New Jersey shore. I'm sure there's a anecdote-laden back story as to who Michael Carbone is - without it, all I am left to say is that the band rips a solid 45-minute (opening?) set packed with lots of stuff forthcoming on White Pepper, a Beatles cover, the cooly obscure "Beacon Light" and everyone's favorite, "The Rainbow." Enjoy.

You Fucked Up

Footprints In The Snow

Ahh... another snow day to start the week off and just fuck everything up. Actually, it's more like a rain day since that's all it's doing outside (the gun-shy schools around here like to call it a "proactive" snow day) and they'll be cancelled again tomorrow due to the 10° temperatures forecast tonight. It's just cold people - put on a fucking sweater. Kids can deal with chilly hands for ten minutes at the bus stop, it's not like they're holding school in a fucking lean-to. But I digress. Up for your approval today is a remastered "lost" Hendrix album recorded during the mid 60's. I use the term loosely since it is primarily an Isley Brother's album and Jimi's participation has been part of his folklore since the tracks were originally released in the 70's. It is common knowledge that Hendrix played with the group but as to how many sessions he actually sat in on the 50-year old details have become somewhat hazy. A breakdown of the album is as follows. Tracks 1-8 are from the original Isley Brother's album In The Beginning (1970) (of which Hendrix plays on most, if not all of the songs). Tracks 9-13 are the single versions of those songs ripped from vinyl 45s; and tracks 14-21 hail from an obscure January '64 recording session. Debate ensues as to whether Hendrix actually participated in this session, he joined the band in 1963 so timelines potentially match. Take a listen and decide for yourself. Enjoy.

Twist & Shout

Soy Un Perdador

I'll give Beck a lot of respect for what he's accomplished over the last few decades but to be honest, I've never been that crazy about anything he released after Mellow Gold. Sure, ¡Odelay! wasn't bad and there are various songs here and there that I've dug but Gold was definitely where it's at, to coin a phrase. In addition to Gold, several CD maxi-singles (ahhh, those were the days mang!) were released on the heels of the "Loser" video breaking big on MTV. The singles were released in the UK and Canada (finding their way to our shores via the brutally overpriced "imports" rack) and were slam packed with some great unreleased material - not the typical filler "live" dreck that usually populated these releases. I've gone ahead and merged the two singles since they both had different tracks entirely - stuff that easily matches the caliber of songs on Mellow Gold. You got the epic trip-hop anthem "Corvette Bummer," the weird acoustic/tribal/experimental "Alcohol" and a six-minute "reject" version of Gold's "Soul Suckin Jerk" (while I prefer the LP version, this is a cool snapshot of Beck fucking around with everything in the studio). "Fume" is a fantastic ode to huffing, "Totally Confused" originally found itself on his 1993 indie effort Golden Feelings - this is a great re-recording and a personal fave of mine. The singles close with "MTV Makes Me Wanna Smoke Crack" - a thinly veiled jibe at the video giant and an unusual look into an alternative universe where Beck is a second rate Vegas lounge act. Enjoy.

Why Don't You Kill Me