Rollins' Angry Words Please Crowd

http://www.newsrecord.org

Henry Rollins commanded the attention of a full house of eager listeners during his spoken word engagement at Bogart's Saturday night.

The stage was bare, except for a symmetrical arrangement of two speakers and a lone microphone stand, like the scene from a public speaking nightmare, except Rollins wasn't in his underwear. The former punk star and current enraged citizen was dressed head to toe in black and grey, his T-shirt sleeve just skimming his skull tattoo.

Instead of the usual empty wood floor, the venue was neatly arranged into five sections of folding chairs. Six-dollar beer flowed like water and a cloud of cigarette smoke hung over the crowd.

Rollins took the lengthy applause and standing ovation, bemused, and began his three-hour speech about the state of America, saying, "If you'll allow me, there's a whole lot of things to say to you."

He railed first about injustices perpetrated against America's working class: the recent Wal-Mart uproar surrounding employee health benefits, and Bush's reversal of the Davis-Bacon Act, which allows the workers rebuilding post-Katrina New Orleans to be paid less than minimum wage.

"The president doesn't care about poor people," Rollins said.

The audience clapped and whistled, while Rollins became progressively louder and more animated.

"I'm not trying to get on a soapbox here," he said. "I've got a stage for that."

Then he moved on to the war in Iraq. During a recent antiwar protest that Rollins attended, he said that those holding up "Support our Troops" signs failed to make their point.

"Everyone supports the troops," Rollins said. "Except maybe four psychos in an

underground bunker somewhere."

"I've never been in the majority on anything," he said, referring to the those who disagree with the war and the way Bush is running the country. "I've always been the ant in the windstorm."

Rollins continued with a real crowd pleaser - Bush jokes. He praised Bush for his ability to re-invent the language.

"When he busts an improv, I'm so there for that guy," Rollins said and began reading off a series of Bushisms and botched sentences like it was a national pastime.

After digging into America about diet pills and fast food and doing a believable impression of Dr. Phil, Rollins began to talk about himself - what makes him tick.

He told a story about a cab ride he had in New York City where a cabbie was asking him a series of questions.

Rollins said, "Unfortunately for him, I find most things interesting," and so began a very pointing, shouting, convulsing monologue, almost all in one breath, about how he "has a good deal of contempt for fun" because he is an angry, angry man who lives in a utilitarian hovel in Southern California covered in books.

Rollins talked about a trip on the Trans Siberian Express where he was violently ill after forcing himself to eat rotten fish on the train.

"I even sopped up all the leftover congealed matter on that plate with a piece of bread," Rollins said.

He then related to the audience that there are only two moments in life when a human is truly human: when they are dry heaving and when someone scares them.

His show came full circle as he finished the night talking about America, his USO involvement and his visit to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. "One thing I learned from that visit: limbs come off very easily," Rollins said.

When he was leaving the hospital, the USO organizer came up to him and asked how he felt and if he regretted coming to the hospital. Rollins didn't regret it.

When the organizer said, "I bet you won't do it again," Rollins said, in the spirit of defiance, "Book it."

He left the audience with hope that America was going to be OK. He said that although the government is poorly run, people can pull through as long as they maintain their positions as civic watchdogs.

As for America after Hurricane Katrina, Rollins said, "the American private sector raised $1.3 billion... the American working class is giving money they don't have to support other Americans...We are strong. We are the heroes right here. We are unbeatable."

He left the stage to another standing ovation.

Pared-Down Folds Really Rocks

http://www.democratandchronicle.com

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

(October 31, 2005) — Ben Folds could be the Elton John for today's new pop audience. But I'm afraid his sense of humor will get in the way.

"I know I've said this many times before," Folds told the sold-out crowd of 1,500 Sunday night at SUNY Brockport's Tuttle South Gymnasium. "But this is the best-sounding gymnasium we've ever played in."

Played in.... Played in..... It takes a moment for that echo to circle the rafters, you know.

And, indeed, it was a very collegiate-feeling evening, with the wood bleachers folding back against the walls and the gym floor covered with a tarp to prevent it from being damaged, or perhaps soaked in blood: Fortunately, the Brockport crowd was mindful of the signs out in front of the venue, urging them to not mosh or crowd surf.

Moshing's not a Folds thing, anyway. And quite frankly, there's something about Folds' breezy manner and rumpled look (he wore blue jeans and a white T-shirt) that fits the college atmosphere.

Backed simply by a rhythm section of bassist Jared Reynolds (sportin' an "I'm With Satan" T-shirt) and drummer Lindsay Jamieson (sweaty brown T-shirt), this was an evening of Ben Folds Five faves, obscurities, and highlights from the latest album, Songs For Silverman.

And Peaches and Herb's "Reunited," which Folds had to sing while holding a sheet of the lyrics. But he didn't need any prompting for his now-legendary re-interpretation of Dr. Dre's "Bitches Ain't S***," which he turns into neat little ballad. And was that "Careless Whisper....?" Yes!

Folds really rocks, despite the geeky-cool demeanor. He's "Rockin' the Suburbs," as he sings behind those eyeglasses, and snagging Reynolds' bass for a solo. Folds was frequently leaping up from his stool behind the grand piano, creating great crashing mountains of chords wherever Eddie Van Halen might be expected to show.

But it's really songs like the delicate, tumbling, soaring "Jesusland," sweetly sung by Folds, with matching harmonies by the band, that he does best. If one thing distinguishes this outfit from the Ben Folds Five, it's those harmonies.

Oh, and "Brick." That's also something Folds does well. For a while, he was rarely playing his biggest hit at his live shows. But it's turning up frequently now, the thoughtful tale of an anxious guy taking his girlfriend to get an abortion delivered as a solo piano ballad. The crowd sang along in a hushed, respectful tone.

That string of songs by Folds on piano included "Army," which he dedicated to anyone getting their college education through ROTC, with Folds even stepping to the front of the stage to conduct sections of the audience singing and "la-la-la-ing" along.

Opening was Denver's the Fray, whose sound and keyboard-playing frontman was very mindful of the Folds concept; it's Folds with guitars. Coldplay? Gavin DeGraw, maybe?

Or maybe two bands for the price of one, as Folds put it, thanks to that sturdy gymnasium echo. A situation that the old pro knew how to make the best of.

"Anything you miss," he pointed out, "you get to hear twice."

GSOTD: Uncorrected Personality Traits

http://www.fegmania.org/

From Robyn Hitchcock's album I Often Dream Of Trains

Uncorrected personality traits
That seem whimsical in a child
May prove to be ugly in
A fully grown adult

Lack of involvement with the father
Or over-involvement with the mother
Can result in lack of ability
To relate to sexual peers

And in homosexual leanings
Narcissism, transsexuality --
Girls from the waist up
Men from the waist down --
Attempts to be your own love object
Reconcile your parents to you
By becoming both at once

Even Marilyn Monroe was a man
But this tends to get over looked
By our mother-fixated
Overweight, sexist media

So, uncorrected personality traits
That seem whimsical in a child
May prove to be ugly in
A fully grown adult

If you give in to them
Every time they cry
They will become little tyrants
But they won't remember why
Then when they are thwarted
By people in later life
They will become psychotic
And they won't make an ideal husband or wife

The spoiled baby grows into
The escapist teenager who's
The adult alchoholic who's
The middle-aged suicide

Oi
So

Uncorrected personality traits
That seem whimsical in a child
May prove to be ugly in
A fully grown adult

GAOTD: The Modern Lovers

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Modern_Lovers

Led by Jonathan Richman, the protopunk band The Modern Lovers came out of Massachusetts in the early 1970s. Their classic debut album contained heartfelt songs about dating awkwardness, growing up in Massachusetts, and love for life. Many feel their best work is the first album and the outtakes from those sessions.

For the first album, The Modern Lovers, the band included Richman, bassist Ernie Brooks, keyboardist Jerry Harrison, and drummer David Robinson. The album featured the tracks "Roadrunner", "Astral Plane", and "Pablo Picasso".

After recording several tracks in 1972 and '73, including the haunting "I'm Straight" (referring here to abstinence from drug use), and "Government Center", Richman wanted to scrap the tracks that were recorded and start over with a mellower, more lyrical sound. The rest of the band, while not opposed to such a shift later, insisted that they record as they sounded now. They continued, and eventually, the first album was released in 1976. Long before, however, creative differences split the band apart.

Harrison moved on to the seminal new wave band Talking Heads. Robinson became the drummer for another nationally-known Boston band, The Cars.

Beyond this first album, the band became a solo project for Richman as he experimented with different music styles. Almost three years after the first album's release, the album Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, featuring a completely new lineup, was released.

Halloween Movie Recommendation

http://www.badmovies.org/movies/chainhooker/

Plot
What can I possibly say about this movie? The whole gist is that some whacko "Master" dude creates a religious cult for hookers involving chainsaws. To get a little more specific, you have private detective Jack Chandler looking for a missing girl. Well, he stumbles across Mercedes and the girl he's looking for (Samantha) at the same time. Unfortunately Mercedes drugs him and he narrowly escapes with Samantha's help. Turns out the hot young lady isn't brainwashed after all, she's out to get revenge on the cult for killing a friend. Soon the inept detective and girlfriend are back in trouble, Jack is going to be sacrificed by the ritually drugged Samantha! Lucky for him she shakes it off in time to save the day. Guys are going to like this film a good deal more than most gals, come on - it's nothing but naked woman chopping up guys with chainsaws. The death scenes involve a "choppie" eye view of the "chopper" with blood being splashed on her, so don't look for anything elaborate. I've got a hearty respect for Sears after this one.

Lessons Learned
* Never give freaked out hookers chainsaws.
* Hookers really like Elvis.
* Cops use chains and padlocks on prisoners.
* Men love pictures of naked women holding baseball bats.
* When a woman talks back to you headbutt her.
* You just don't ask a woman, "How's it hanging?"
* Always keep your chainsaw full of gas.

Characters
Jack - Private detective.
Samantha - Linnea Quigley! Young girl who joins the chainsaw cult to avenge a friend's death.
Mercedes - Michelle Bauer! Chainsaw hooker who loves Elvis, loses in chainsaw to chainsaw combat.
The Master - Gunnar Hansen! Weirdo who created the chainsaw cult, Samantha runs a gas powered one through him.
Lori - Psycho chainsaw hooker who gets arrested.
Hermie - Wormy guy who likes to photograph hookers, hit in the head with a bat then chopped up.
Jake the Bartender - Another cult member, a very dour man.

Jojo Posters

GSOTD: Divorce Song

http://www.matadorrecords.com/liz_phair/

Written and performed by a Pre-Pop Princess version of Liz Phair

And when I asked for a separate room
It was late at night
And we'd been driving since noon
But if I'd known
How that would sound to you
I would have stayed in your bed
For the rest of my life
Just to prove I was right
That it's harder to be friends than lovers
And you shouldn't try to mix the two
Cause if you do it and you're still unhappy
Then you know that the problem is you

And it's true that I stole your lighter
And it's also true that I lost the map
But when you said that I wasn't worth talking to
I had to take your word on that
But if you'd known
How that would sound to me
You would have taken it back
And boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Boxed it up and buried it in the ground
Burned it up and thrown it away

You put in my hands a loaded gun
And then told me not to fire it
When you did the things you said were up to me
And then accused me of trying to fuck it up
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

And the license said
You had to stick around until I was dead
But if you're tired of looking at my face I guess I already am
But you've never been a waste of my time
It's never been a drag
So take a deep breath and count back from ten
And maybe you'll be alright

GAOTD: Naked Raygun

http://trouserpress.com/entry.php?a=naked_raygun

NAKED RAYGUN
Basement Screams (Ruthless) 1983 (Quarterstick) 1999
Throb Throb (Homestead) 1985 (Quarterstick) 1999
All Rise (Homestead) 1986 (Quarterstick) 1999
Jettison (Caroline) 1988 (Quarterstick) 1999
Understand? (Caroline) 1989 (Quarterstick) 1999
Raygun...Naked Raygun (Caroline) 1990 (Quarterstick) 1999

PEGBOY
Three-Chord Monte EP (Quarterstick/Touch and Go) 1990

BOMB
Torch Songs (Jettison Music) 2001
Indecision (Thick) 2005

Chicago's Naked Raygun was one of the encouraging new punk bands that bloomed in the Midwest long after thrash had apparently isolated the punk aesthetic in its own circumscribed ghetto, where it would never again challenge the musical values of regular folk. Lump the longer-running Raygun in with Hüsker Dü, Man Sized Action, Big Black and Breaking Circus and you'll be oversimplifying, but you'll have your finger on an early-'80s movement of sorts. All of these bands expanded the boundaries and cast aside some of the trappings of punk to bring it back into contact with the mainstream. If none of them ever attained huge success, all at least appealed to adventurous people who don't have mohawks.

Naked Raygun (like most of the other bands mentioned) had an unabashed love for the naïve arty experimentation of Wire and the Buzzcocks. Basement Screams is a hodgepodge of underproduced, underconceived songs with a lot of Misfits-type paramilitary chanting; energetic and articulate but not directly compelling. (With that, guitarist Santiago Durango left to join Big Black and was replaced by John Haggerty.) Throb Throb's songs are much better, its drive more urgent and Haggerty's piercing guitar lines a sonically expansive, sharp force. Even at low volume, the album is loud. The best track, "I Don't Know," is a grippingly melodic art-punk anthem that turns on singer/plumber Jeff Pezzati's anti-idol wail, "What poor gods we do make." A potent, impressive album.

All Rise keeps up the all-out assault level, with dynamic co-production by Iain Burgess making the guitars roar with speaker-shredding distortion. Pezzati's subtly vindictive lyrics (e.g., "Mr. Gridlock" and "The Strip") voice their critiques in an oblique, ironic fashion generally outside the capabilities of punk auteurs. All Rise may be a bit short on melodies (something hinted at in "Knock Me Down"), but Raygun is obviously getting better all the time.

Raygun continue to achieve excellence on their third LP, Jettison. Quite different from previous releases, the music's considerably slower speed (only the most notable change) gives almost breathtaking impact to the already forceful sound. "Hammer Head," "Soldier's Requiem," "When the Walls Come Down" and the utterly brilliant "Walk in Cold" are staggering in their intensity. The CD adds four songs: three live cuts and "Vanilla Blue," originally issued as a single.

Understand? finds the band at peak power, delivering its best collection of songs to date. Continuing a trend begun on Jettison, all four members contribute more or less equally to the songwriting, resulting in a compelling array of martial chants and supercharged rockers. With one exception (the overtly geopolitical "Hips Swingin'"), the lyrics all stick to the theme of personal politics as filtered through macho adventure comics.

John Haggerty then left to form Pegboy, creating a void in the band which new guitarist Bill Stephens doesn't adequately fill on Raygun...Naked Raygun. A disappointing album full of pretentious cyberpunk lyrics and half-baked ideas (isn't it a bit late for skateboard songs?), some cuts add insult to injury with muddy, almost demo-quality production. Stephens lacks the chops to step into Haggerty's combat boots, but he is the author of the disc's best song, "The Promise," an aggressive shot of melodic punk that does the band's class of '77 forebears proud. Though hardly a total disaster, Raygun...Naked Raygun is a definite misstep from a band that has done much better.

As for Haggerty's new endeavor, Raygun's loss is Pegboy's gain. On the introductory 12-inch, Haggerty, his drummer brother Joe and a couple of ex-Bhopal Stiffs race through four blistering doses of melodic punk reminiscent of, well, Naked Raygun and Bhopal Stiffs. A nice job, but the gooey, introspective lyrics could use some work.

Since 1999, Pezzati has fronted the Bomb, a bracingly loud but tuneful punk quartet. The self-released Torch Songs was produced by Albini; following a lineup change, J. Robbins (Jawbox) produced Indecision, an album of speaker-shaking guitar chords, earnest singing and agitated, angsty lyrics ("Indecision," "Further From the Truth," "Never Want to See You Again," "Bring the Shotgun"). In "Up From the Floor," Pezzati spits from a new place in his life. "They say young's wasted on youth / Whoever said that didn't speak the truth." If he's suffering a bit for his endurance, it's still reassuring to hear an oldtimer bring it with such conviction.

All of the 1999 Quarterstick Raygun reissues include bonus tracks.

[John Leland / Altricia Gethers / Doug Brod / Ira Robbins]
See also Big Black

Raygun Posters

GSOTD: Lawrence of Euphoria

http://www.sundazed.com/artists/sspence.html

I'm Lawrence, from Euphoria
I'll share your tent, pay your rent
It's worth every single cent
I'm Lawrence, from Euphoria

You'll rise from the deep
Come in your sleep
No more will you weep
I'm Lawrence, from Euphoria

There's Vivian, from Oblivion
She does it for free, for my friends and me
She's Vivian, I'm Lawrence
Lawrence, from Euphoria

There's Ellie Mae, from Californ-i-a
She does it all right but her lips are tight
She tucks me in to bed at night
She's Vivian, I'm Lawrence
Lawrence, from Euphoria

There's Ellie Mae, from Californ-i-a
She does it all right but her lips are tight
She tucks me in to bed at night
She's Vivian's twin sister, Ellie Mae
And I'm Lawrence from Euphoria

Words And Music by Alexander Lee Spence
Alexander Lee Spence Music/All Rights Reserved

GAOTD: Poi Dog Pondering

http://www.poidogpondering.com/
http://www.trouserpress.com/

POI DOG PONDERING
Poi Dog Pondering EP (Texas Hotel) 1988
Circle Around the Sun EP (Texas Hotel) 1989
Poi Dog Pondering (Texas Hotel/Columbia) 1989
Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea (Texas Hotel/Columbia) 1990
Fruitless EP (Texas Hotel/Columbia) 1990
Jack Ass Ginger EP (Texas Hotel/Columbia) 1991
Volo Volo (Columbia) 1992
Pomegranate (Pomegranate) 1995 (Pomegranate/BarNone) 1995
Electrique Plummagram (Platetectonic/BarNone) 1996
Liquid White Light (Plate. Tec. Tonic) 1997
Natural Thing (Plate. Tec. Tonic/Tommy Boy) 1999
Soul Sonic Orchestra (Plate. Tec. Tonic) 2000
Sweeping Up the Cutting Room Floor (Plate. Tec. Tonic) 2001

PALM FABRIC ORCHESTRA
Vague Gropings in the Slipstream (Carrot Top) 1994

Sometimes, being poised on the verge of success can be the most enlightening — and embittering — place for a rock band. For Poi Dog Pondering, the large and amorphous Chicago-via-Austin (but originally from Waikiki) ensemble led by singer/guitarist Frank Orrall, that's one place they are unlikely to either be willing or welcome to visit again. On the strength of two breezy, folk-tinged debut EPs, Poi Dog was snatched from its road-happy ways and enlisted by the Major Label to make some Alternative Music. (If only they had come along a few years later and been able to take advantage of the rise of neo-hippiedom.) After Columbia repackaged the two EPs together as the band's eponymous full-length debut, Poi Dog set about making a proper album. Whether owing to Orrall's faulty effort or to the blinding glare of impending stardom, Wishing Like a Mountain and Thinking Like the Sea betrays the band's whimsically beautiful music with a slick, hippified mélange of overarching "global musics" and dry, by-the-book folk. Gone, for the most part, is Poi Dog's gleefully reckless musical abandon, replaced with a studied effort to solidify a sound. The Fruitless EP (two live tracks, a Wishing remix and studio covers of Canned Heat, New Order and Roky Erickson), Jack Ass Ginger (two edits of the titular preview of the forthcoming album, a collaboration with the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and two more non-LP tunes) and Volo Volo (which bears an occasional disconcerting resemblance to smart UK popsters like the Smiths, Wedding Present and Waterboys) continue the sad trend. When it was all over, the presumption was that this extraordinarily promising group had come to an end.

Despite appearances, Poi Dog didn't simply disappear after Volo Volo. Relocating to Chicago in 1992, Orrall enforced a creative hiatus on the band; meanwhile, he put together his funkily exotic Palm Fabric Orchestra's Vague Gropings in the Slipstream, a masterpiece of instrumental nonchalance. Violinist Susan Voelz took the time to record the first of her two stunning solo albums.

The hiatus proved worthwhile, for when Poi Dog reemerged in 1995 with Pomegranate, the band had not only gotten better, but had also become more conscious of its original intentions. A collection of groovy, danceable numbers propelled by Orrall's dramatic voice and overly poetic lyricism, Pomegranate manages to recapture both the fun-loving spirit and accomplished musicianship that made Poi Dog such a delight at the start. Electrique Plummagram takes Poi Dog cross-culturing further down a Chicago dance alley, offering clubby remixes of three Pomegranate songs and four new tracks, including a version of Frankie Knuckles' "Hard Sometimes."

[Jason Ferguson]
See also Coctails, Susan Voelz

GSOTD: Walkie Talkie Man

http://www.steriogram.com/

Well you’re walkin and a talkin
And a movin and a groovin
And a hippin and a hoppin
And a pickin and a boppin
Those bods are being bad
You better take a stand
You gonna wake up that thing in your hand
You’re looking all around
There is trouble to be found
Make sure when you find it you get to say it loud
Gotta code three
Need back up
Bring me
My bright red fluro jacket

[Chorus]
He’s fat and he don’t run too fast
But he’s faster than me
Last night at the show we saw him
Going out of his tree

Well you’re walkin and a talkin
You’re my walkie talkie man
Well you’re walkin and a talkin
Go Go Go Go

[Verse 2]
Well you’re walkin and a talkin
And a freakin and a yellin
And a bossin and a speakin
And a lookin and a pointin
Always tell us what to do
With your high top shoes
And you wave your torch
With your black short shorts
Don’t let em get away
Don’t think they can play
Nail ‘em to the wall
Cause you really need to say
Gotta code three
Need back up
Bring me
My bright red fluro jacket

GAOTD: The Pogues

http://www.trouserpress.com

POGUES
Red Roses for Me (UK Stiff) 1984 (Stiff/Enigma) 1986
Rum Sodomy & the Lash (Stiff/MCA) 1985
Poguetry in Motion EP (Stiff/MCA) 1986 (UK WEA) 1991
St. Patrick's Night EP (UK Pogue Mahone) 1988
If I Should Fall From Grace With God (Island) 1988
Peace and Love (Island) 1989
Misty Morning, Albert Bridge EP (UK WEA) 1989
Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah EP (Island) 1990
Hell's Ditch (Island) 1990
Essential Pogues (Island) 1991
The Best of the Pogues (UK Warner Music) 1991
The Rest of the Best (UK Warner Music) 1992
Waiting for Herb (Chameleon/Elektra) 1993 (Elektra) 1993
Pogue Mahone (UK Warner Music) 1995 (Mesa) 1996
The Very Best of the Pogues (UK Warner Music) 2001

NICK CAVE & SHANE MACGOWAN
"What a Wonderful World" (Mute/Elektra) 1992

SHANE MACGOWAN AND THE POPES
The Church of the Holy Spook EP (UK ZTT) 1994
That Woman's Got Me Drinking EP (UK ZTT) 1994
The Snake (UK ZTT) 1994 + 1995 (ZTT/Warner Bros.) 1995
Christmas Party EP (UK ZTT) 1996
The Crock of Gold (UK ZTT) 1997
Across the Atlantic (UK Eagle Rock) 2001

POPES
Are You Looking at Me? EP (UK Scarlet) 1998
Holloway Boulevard (UK Scarlet) 1999 (Snapper Music) 2000

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Straight to Hell (Hell/Enigma) 1987

NIPS 'N' NIPPLE ERECTORS
Bops, Babes, Booze & Bovver (UK Big Beat) 1987

As the Anglo-Irish octet's singer, colorful public persona and primary songwriter, Shane MacGowan was always the man to see about the Pogues, from the band's early days as punk's idea of an Irish folk group through its adventurous maturity as lusty world music dilettantes. But alcohol and other bad habits made MacGowan increasingly erratic, and for a while the London-based band's figurehead threatened to plow its prow into a figurative, if not a literal, tree.

The Pogues (originally known as Pogue Mahone, which is Gaelic for "kiss my ass") managed to make five albums — none of which are bad, and two of which (If I Should Fall from Grace With God and Peace and Love) are extraordinary examples of literate traditionalism feeding contemporary invention — before taking the gutsy cure-or-die (for both bodies) step of chucking MacGowan out in the fall of 1991.

As a young raver, MacGowan was in the late if unlamented Nipple Erectors (later the Nips), a frisky Ted-style punkabilly-cum-beat quartet memorialized a decade after the fact in the eight-song Bops, Babes, Booze & Bovver retrospective; guitarist Philip Chevron led Dublin's estimable Radiators from Space, also in the late '70s.

The Pogues' original repertoire mixed traditional Irish, English and Australian folk songs with MacGowan's stylistically antiquated originals. The first two albums are exploratory, but both have their fine moments. Concertina, banjo, pipes, guitar, bass, minimal drums, mandolin and the like in the hands of post-rock rebels make for an intriguing blend of old-fashioned and newfangled. Recorded as a drape-jacketed six-piece, Red Roses for Me (the American cassette of which adds three cuts) mixes traditional balladry ("Poor Paddy," "Greenland Whale Fisheries") with Shane's derivative but promising creations ("Boys From the County Hell," "Dark Streets of London").

Red Roses' rudimentary acoustic instrumentation gave way to relative sophistication on the more varied Rum Sodomy & the Lash (produced by Elvis Costello), which evidences growing stylistic ambition as well. MacGowan, a besotted Tom Waits-like figure with an obvious Brendan Behan/James Joyce jones, shows increased confidence and talent as a songwriter on numbers like "The Old Main Drag" and "A Pair of Brown Eyes," notable examples of his gritty, realistic tales of life's urban downside.

Miles better than either of those, however, is Poguetry in Motion: an EP of three new MacGowan songs and a reel. Mixing zydeco with Gaelic soul, "London Girl" is a rousing singalong; "A Rainy Night in Soho" plays a hauntingly beautiful Van Morrison-like waltz on piano, with tasteful horns and strings; "The Body of an American" is a drinking song that most closely resembles the Pogues' primal busker sound, with uilleann pipes, martial drums and jolly tin whistle.

Along with Costello and Joe Strummer, the Pogues fell in with director Alex Cox, contributing a pair of tracks to Sid & Nancy, appearing in the motley Straight to Hell and providing the bulk of its soundtrack. Surrounded by contributions by the (Declan) MacManus Gang, Strummer and others, the Pogues offer atmospheric Latinisms like "Rabinga" and Ennio Morricone's "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," as well as more European creations like "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (a preview of their next album) and the traditional "Danny Boy," recorded as a reunion with ex-bassist Cait O'Riordan.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God is an exciting, strong album that opens new vistas for the Pogues. Almost all of the material is by the band; amidst winningly unreconstructed folk designs ("The Broad Majestic Shannon," "Medley," the title tune) is a jazz/swing instrumental ("Metropolis") and the oddly accented "Turkish Song of the Damned." But the record's easy standout is another example of the melancholic urban balladeering introduced on Poguetry in Motion: "Fairytale of New York," a fragile piano-and-strings lullaby with guest vocals by Kirsty MacColl, wife of the album's producer, Steve Lillywhite, and daughter of folk titan Ewan MacColl, whose songs the Pogues have covered.

What were merely digressions on If I Should Fall form the stylistic basis of Peace and Love, an amazing album (also produced by Lillywhite) that redefines the Pogues and demonstrates the enormous breadth of talent the eight men possess. Kicking off with a blistering big-band instrumental ("Gridlock") and then careening joyously into one of MacGowan's finest folk-rock creations ("White City"), the record is a marvel of rich playing, resonant emotions, sturdy melodies and low tales. In this varied effort, mandolinist Terry Woods offers a fiery acoustic calumny against Oliver Cromwell in "Young Ned of the Hill"; Chevron contributes the rollicking New Orleans-accented "Blue Heaven"; banjo-player Jem Finer chips in with the dramatic "Night Train to Lorca" and a wistful waltz ("Misty Morning, Albert Bridge"). Meanwhile, MacGowan tops things off with "Boat Train," an engrossing recollection of a drunken voyage, the American-conscious "Cotton Fields" and "London You're a Lady," ending the album in an orchestral flourish. (The Misty Morning EP offers three album tracks — one in a surprising dub mix — and Finer's "Train of Love.")

Although the excellent stomping and lusty R&B single "Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah" was released in 1988, a 12-inch EP built around it — adding a rambunctious banjofied rendition of "Honky Tonk Woman" and a pair of Irish folk songs (one a Pogues original) performed with the Dubliners (the two bands had previously teamed up on a 1987 single) — suddenly appeared in 1990.

Joe Strummer produced Hell's Ditch, a casually organized musical voyage that spends far too much of its time in Spain and the Mediterranean. While keeping the music close to home, MacGowan drops eight place names in the first three songs (two of which — "The Ghost of a Smile" and "The Sunnyside of the Street" — are positively wonderful examples of Poguetry) but that's only an orientation session. Once the Pogue ship sets sail, he turns cinematic, spinning spaghetti western yarns ("Hell's Ditch," "Lorca's Novena") with sinuous Middle Eastern accents. Before finishing (with an African-styled chant no less), the Pogues try out cocktail jazz (complete with piano and harp), insert what sounds like a Semitic dance melody into Finer's "The Wake of the Medusa" and manage a convincing early-'70s Dylan impression in "5 Green Queens & Jean." Track by track, there's some fine stuff here, but Strummer's casual production and the album's maddening stylistic hopscotch make it, overall, a frustrating exercise.

MacGowan was then banished from the group and replaced for road work by Strummer. (For his part, MacGowan claimed to have left under his own power, dubiously complaining the group had grown too progressive for his taste.) While the Pogues worked out their next move, the band's label bought some woodshedding time by releasing two British compilations and the American Essential Pogues, a fair dozen tracks from the preceding three albums augmented by the long version of "Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah" and a cover of the Rolling Stones' "Honky Tonk Women." Both of those songs are also on the not-entirely bottom-scraping Rest of the Best, along with fourteen more, from the first album's "Dark Streets of London" to the high points of Hell's Ditch, "The Sunnyside of the Street" and "Summer in Siam." Essential has some overlap with the more consistent fourteen-song Best of the Pogues, but not as much as might be imagined: "Fairytale of New York" (which features Kirsty MacColl), "Misty Morning, Albert Bridge" and a few others.

As MacGowan sloped around the perimeter of launching a solo career, managing little more than a duet on "What a Wonderful World" with Nick Cave (the three-song CD single also packs Nick's version of Shane's "Rainy Night in Soho" and his take on Cave's "Lucy"), the courageous but chastened Pogues returned to action. Waiting for Herb, a modest back-to-the-roots record that could have been much worse, unveils tin whistler and occasional vocalist Spider Stacy as the band's new singer. (As if to reinforce the choice's inexorable logic, bazouki/concertina/cittern/mandolin player Terry Woods wraps his ungainly voice around "Haunting" early on. 'Nuff sung.) Had MacGowan still been at the helm, the album's diffident stylistic retrenchment and lyrical tepidity would have been seen as a creative collapse; without him, Waiting for Herb introduces a corporeal ghost of the band that does its memory no serious harm. After Stacy's "Tuesday Morning" and accordionist James Fearnley's "Drunken Boat," guitarist/banjo player Jem Finer contributes the record's best songs ("Smell of Petroleum," "Once Upon a Time," the collaborative "Sitting on Top of the World"), but nothing here has the fervid imagination or riveting poetic imagery of MacGowan's finest worksongs.

Pogue Mahone, the second post-Shane album, is a bit more troublesome. The septet's membership has even less in common with the old band: Stacy, Finer and the rhythm section of Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt (who replaced founding bassist Cait O'Riordan) are the only holdovers from Herb, joined by newcomers in the slots left by James Fearnley (off to join the Low & Sweet Orchestra), Terry Woods (a solo career) and Phil Chevron (illness). A resultant shortage of songs that are more than workably agreeable and a complete lack of edge in their performances leaves the harmless album sounding like the work of a skilled and spirited but bog-ordinary Irish pub band (never more so than in the fine but inexplicable cover of Bob Dylan's "When the Ship Comes In"). That makes the album title seem doubly unwarranted: this one goes down without a fight or a sneer.

Meanwhile, the man who was in no shape to make a Pogues record managed to pull his own out of a hat as if by wizardry in 1994. Decorated with depressing photos of the dental disaster in various poses of appalling dissipation (including one where the flame of his lighter hovers a half-inch to the left of the cigarette he's attempting to light), The Snake introduces the enfeebled star's ironically named sextet, a rock-oriented outfit that can also mix up a convincing Gaelic-flavored bustle. The Pogues never invoked the memory of Mott the Hoople (with a nod to the Clash) the way this lot does on "Victoria," but on traditional ballads like "Roddy McCorley," "Nancy Whiskey" and "The Rising of the Moon," the Popes reclaim enough of the older band's sound for the transition to hardly matter. (Of course, the lengthy list of guests, which runs from Johnny Depp to members of the Pogues and Dubliners, might have something to do with the Popes' evident stylistic breadth.) Anything The Snake gives up in the way of subtlety or stylistic invention it more than gets back in the consistent excellence of MacGowan's songwriting, which is as sweeping, foul and fully realized as anything in the Pogues catalogue. The profanity of "Donegal Express" sounds as natural as breathing, but so does the cinematic fable of "A Mexican Funeral in Paris," which MacGowan growls against crisp horn blares. "That Woman's Got Me Drinking" is a careening doozy on an all too familiar theme, but the touchingly sincere "The Song With No Name" is a gorgeous pledge of romantic troth and "Haunted" is a campy but seductive Sonny and Cher duet with Sinéad O'Connor. The Snake is a shockingly good record from a cat with nine lives.

MacGowan continues to lurch along productively, but the Pogues called it quits after Pogue Mahone. In December 2001, Shane joined Jem Finer, Darryl Hunt, Phil Chevron, Terry Woods, Spider Stacey, Andrew Rankin and James Fearnley for a Pogues reunion tour, which amounted to three shows in London, three more in England and one each in Dublin and Glasgow.

[Ira Robbins]
See also Circle Jerks, Men They Couldn't Hang

Artists join in tribute to Beatles' 'Rubber Soul'

http://www.thejournalnews.com

By J. FREEDOM DU LAC
WASHINGTON POST

Original publication: October 28, 2005)

When Ben Lee was invited to appear on a tribute to the Beatles' landmark "Rubber Soul" album, the Australian indie rocker had one concern — and it had nothing to do with the project's potential for blasphemy.

"There's all kinds of people who are so precious about these sorts of things," Lee says of revisiting a cherished piece of cultural history. "But if anything, I think people — even purists — should realize that the Beatles empowered thousands of people to make pop music of their own and that something like this is a fitting tribute."

So, Lee says, he worried only about this: "I just wanted to know if I could cover 'In My Life.' That's like the pinnacle for pop songwriters."

Lee got his wish, transforming the song that John Lennon once called "my first real, major piece of work" into his own rendition, "sorrowful with a lot of tenderness." It's part of "This Bird Has Flown: A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' 'Rubber Soul,' " in stores now.

The album represents the high-water mark in the vast ocean of 2005 tributes, which is saying something.

Album-length homages became a genre unto themselves ages ago, and this year's list of feted artists includes everybody from Donna Summer to Luther Vandross, Iron Maiden, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin and U2. Twice. (You don't need an artist's permission to record such an album. So, no, Paul and Ringo were not consulted.)

"I'd love to know what they think," says the project's producer, Jim Sampas, architect of several tributes, including 2000's brilliant "Badlands: A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's 'Nebraska.' " "But that's always so intimidating."

"Most tribute records run the gamut of somebody's career and feel a little bit scattered," Sampas says. "I think you get a wonderful continuity when you focus on one album. And 'Rubber Soul' has to be one of the most influential albums of all time. It's the first Beatles record that really dealt with the complexities of love. Suddenly they're writing these dark, minimalist pop songs with introspective lyrics.

"What do you hear the most of on the radio today? Minimalist pop songs with introspective lyrics. So I'd almost argue that it's the most influential album ever."

Sampas got an early confirmation from alt-country singer Mindy Smith.

"Getting that first artist is incredibly important," he says. "Nobody wants to jump into the water first because they don't know what's going to happen. So when you can get somebody like Mindy, a highly regarded young indie singer-songwriter, it becomes a lot easier to get other people."

In January, they began working on The List — undoubtedly the most important part of the tribute-album process. Not only do the projects sell based largely on their guest lists, the quality generally depends on who's on them and what they're doing.

Sampas brought up more than 50 names at these meetings, and left with about 30. No System of a Down, or 311, or Sting, or Oasis, the brash British rock outfit that's made a career out of aping the Beatles. But Sufjan Stevens and other college radio faves? Absolutely. Same for alt-country/singer-songwriter/Americana artists.

The project's headliners are probably the Donnas (doing an almost note-for-note re-creation of "Drive My Car"), Ben Harper (a reggaefied "Michelle") and the Cowboy Junkies (a brooding "Run for Your Life").

The rest run the left-of-mainstream gamut from the Fiery Furnaces (a wildly experimental "Norwegian Wood"), Low (a hyper-minimalist "Nowhere Man") and Ted Leo (a ragged, Caribbean-inflected "I'm Looking Through You") to Old 97s front man Rhett Miller ("Girl," played pretty straight), Dar Williams ("You Won't See Me," similarly straightforward) and Nellie McKay (George Harrison's "If I Needed Someone," which becomes a cabaret tune).

As the first artist to sign on, Smith had her choice of pretty much any song and went with "The Word," though she later regretted her pick.

"I went into the studio and realized just how tough that song is. It was pretty hard for me to put any of myself in it."

Ben Kweller discovered something similar while recording "Wait," on which he's joined by the Strokes' Albert Hammond Jr.

"It's one of my favorite songs on 'Rubber Soul,' " Kweller says, "So I was psyched." He says his father played Beatles tunes for him in his baby crib.

"But I'd never really listened to it the way I did once I was covering it. I'd never analyzed what Paul and John were doing vocally. It was like: '(Expletive), I'm going to have to sing both parts!' But it was cool to figure it out and analyze it and learn from it."

Some artists went with pretty faithful re-creations of the "Rubber Soul" songs. Miller, for instance, did little to alter "Girl," though "I got to correct what I saw as one of the only flaws on the record," he says. "After John sings 'girrrrrl,' there's this sharp intake of breath and it sounds like he's taking a bong hit. That's always bothered me, having to hear his respiratory. So I didn't do that."

Williams, too, played it straight. "Exotic for the sake of being exotic doesn't really serve the song," says Williams, who was born in Chappaqua. "I figured if people were doing a spectrum of interpretations, why not do one that's pretty straight-on to provide some contrast?"

But in Low's "Nowhere Man," much of the music from the original arrangement is stripped away to make way for the vocals, with the harmonies intact.

"I like it being sort of a shock, a glaringly different arrangement," says Low's Alan Sparhawk. "What's the best balance between what we have to offer and what this song already is? Taking crap away was the trick."

Leo plays all of the instruments, including some wobbly drums, on a relatively radical reggaefied "I'm Looking Through You." "In the Great Argument, I come down on the Paul side," Leo says of the Paul vs. John debate. "People make fun of 'Obladi Oblada,' but I always tell them that it's one of the first pop-rock songs that brings in those Jamaican elements. Paul deserves a little respect for that."

("It's so spare, I had a panic," Sampas tells the Los Angeles Times. "I was like, 'Oh, my God, this doesn't fit in.' … But they said, 'Think Nina Simone, that's what we were going for.' I listened to it again and I totally got it. And then when you put it in the sequence of the record it works really well.")

"As I assembled the album and listened to the songs all the way through," Sampras says, "I felt like there was this magical thing, a continuity between each interpretation. Somehow it seemed very cohesive to me."

Sampas is more than ready for an encore. He's already drafting plans for a 40th anniversary "Revolver" tribute.

Ben Kweller

Libertines Have Not Split For Good

http://www.contactmusic.com

Defunct British band THE LIBERTINES have not split but are on "hiatus", according to frontman CARL BARAT.

The singer and guitarist is convinced that there is hope for a reunion between himself and PETE DOHERTY, who has since formed the band BABYSHAMBLES, once their past issues have been forgotten .

Barat, who originally threatened to leave the band if Doherty did not seek help for his drug problems, says, "There's so much that needs sorting and things get in the way. Dust settles and as long as it's left alone then anything's possible.

"(Seeing Pete earlier this year) was reassuring. We're not ready to work together again right now, and I don't know what Pete would say.

"But there's someone in there I love very much as a friend and will do until my dying day. I'd quite like to think that it's reciprocated."

Folds Symphonic Shows Coming To DVD

http://www.billboard.com

By Jonathan Cohen, N.Y.

Ben Folds' two March concerts with an 83-piece orchestra are in the spotlight on a new DVD. Due Dec. 6 via Epic, "Ben Folds and WASO Live in Perth" finds the artist and the Western Australia Symphony Orchestra running through 13 selections, including "Brick," "The Ascent of Stan" and "Rock This Bitch."

"Live in Perth" also features behind-the-scenes footage of Folds and the orchestra plus an interview with the American-born artist, who now lives in Australia when he's not on the road.

In the midst of his fall North American tour that visits Chicago tonight (Oct. 27), Folds will reprise the orchestral format for three shows next month with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra: Nov. 10 at Stratford Hall in North Bethesda, Md., and Nov. 11-12 at Baltimore's Meyerhoff Symphony Hall.

Folds is out in support of his latest studio album, "Songs for Silverman," which debuted in May at a career-best No. 13 on The Billboard 200, thanks to first-week sales of 50,000 copies.

Here is the track list for "Live in Perth":

"Zak and Sara"
"Smoke"
"Fred Jones Part 2"
"Boxing"
"Annie Waits"
"Brick"
"Steven's Last Night in Town"
"Evaporated"
"Rock This Bitch"
"The Ascent of Stan"
"Lullabye"
"Narcolepsy"
"The Luckiest"

Folds Isn't Afraid of Deep End

http://www.democratandchronicle.com

Jeff Spevak
Staff music critic

(October 27, 2005) — Ben Folds is in the dark. In his basement. Printing photos. Folds may be one of the premier photo-pianists in the world.

This is a musician who goes where piano has never gone before. Even if it is only to SUNY Brockport this Sunday. A pop star who plays hard in a world dominated by guitars. A one-hit wonder maker — "Brick" — who has learned that hits are bad. A kinda-cult icon who decided he wanted to record with a full-out cult icon, William Shatner. Yes, Captain James T. Kirk.

"My head never even goes there," Folds says from beneath his Nashville home. It wasn't Kirk he wanted, but the worldly self-importance of Shatner. "When he opens his mouth and speaks, people listen. ... Once you get into his world, his animal level, he has charisma. There's method to his madness. And not as mad as you think. He's not afraid to go off on several deep ends."

Before Shatner's career rebounded with his nervously buffoonish performance as a Priceline TV pitchman, before his insecurely buffoonish triumph as a TV lawyer on Boston Legal, Folds had sent Shatner a letter asking him to make a cameo on his Fear of Pop, Vol. 1 album. That experience in self-indulgent poetry augmented by coolly cheesy drum tracks prompted Shatner to seek out Folds when he wanted to do an entire album.

Folds isn't afraid to go off the deep end, either. The result was Has Been, a terrifically funny but endearingly serious album produced by Folds that made at least one critic's Top 10 list for 2004.

Mine.

"Great!" says Folds.

Has Been worked because it was unexpectedly sincere. If it had a theme, it was maturity. Beyond maturity, even, with Shatner reciting offbeat beat poetry from the point of view of a man who has lost quite a bit; and is aware he will soon lose it all.

"It was obvious we had a way of working together that made sense," Folds says.

Indeed. Because, as we've watched Folds evolve from the piano punk of the Ben Folds Five to the alternative piano pop of a married guy folding diapers, we've been hearing a guy mature right before our ears.

That doesn't always happen. Consider the Rolling Stones' excellent new album: Those guys are in their 60s, but are singing about partying and women.

"They got something that really worked," the 39-year-old Folds says. "They landed on something and got patted on the back for it. I have never gotten patted on the back, universally, for anything. I've had some good record sales, some good reviews, but I've never landed on anything where people said, 'Aww man, that's what you need to stick with.'

"I had the hit with a ballad, but it rarely got played live. I did the piano-rocker thing, but nobody said, 'That's what that guy does, you stick with that.' The piano doesn't rock as hard as even the wimpiest guitar band.

"I've got a sense of humor, but that seems to bum people out if I make too many jokes in songs. And when I write a song without any jokes in it, people wonder what happened."

And hits. Hits don't work for him.

"The record label got behind 'Landed,'" Folds says of his latest album, Songs For Silverman, recorded virtually live so it would sound rough. "And I think, 'That's not ready, let me clean it up.' So I go back in and comb its hair and try to make it sit up straight at the dinner table, and the other ones just end up looking rude."

For my money, the best of Songs For Silverman is "Late," Folds' tribute to Elliot Smith. It reveals, among other things, that Smith played "some dirty basketball."

"He throws a lot of elbows," Folds says. "Threw. He can't refute that message now."

Indeed, the perpetually tortured genius songwriter — as hit-starved as Folds — plunged a knife into his chest two years ago. That's the story, anyway. Like a few people close to Smith, Folds believes it was murder.

Folds also believes the raw emotion of Smith's songs was murdered by over-production, too much polish. "As centered as he was musically, and as good as he was, just hearing the Zen part of his live performance, the way he was locked in ...," Folds says, stumbling like the moon trying to explain the sky. "It's like Neil Young. Not being around someone like that once in a while, or to not brush up against it. ... He was just so musically and spiritually centered on his performance.

"I did an album, Rockin' the Suburbs, that was one single after another. And it wasn't a success. So I've decided, 'Well, having a hit single or not does not affect anything about my career.' I don't have that noise in my background anymore.

"I'm free to move about and be myself. I don't have anything to lose."

JSPEVAK@DemocratandChronicle.com

GSOTD: Turning Japanese

I've got your picture of me and you
You wrote "I love you" I wrote "me too"
I sit there staring and there's nothing else to do
Oh it's in color Your hair is brown
Your eyes are hazel And soft as clouds
I often kiss you when there's no one else around

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of you all round my cell
I want a doctor to take your picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down
And turning in and turning 'round

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

I've got your picture, I've got your picture
I'd like a million of them all round my cell
I want the doctor to take a picture
So I can look at you from inside as well
You've got me turning up and turning down and turning in and turning 'round

I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

No sex, no drugs, no wine, no women
No fun, no sin, no you, no wonder it's dark
Everyone around me is a total stranger
Everyone avoids me like a cyclone ranger
That's why I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
I'm turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so
(think so think so think so)
Turning Japanese
I think I'm turning Japanese
I really think so

GAOTD: Gorillaz

http://www.gorillaz.com/flash.html

http://www.trouserpress.com

GORILLAZ
Tomorrow Comes Today EP (UK Parlophone) 2000 (Parlophone/Virgin) 2001
Gorrilaz (Parlophone/Virgin) 2001
G-Sides (Japan. Toshiba/EMI) 2001 (Parlophone/Virgin) 2002

SPACE MONKEYZ VERSUS GORILLAZ
Laika Come Home (Astralwerks/Parlophone/Virgin) 2002

Their names are 2-D, Murdoc, Russel and Noodle, and they are cartoons. Through a series of inspired videos and a killer website, this unlikely British quartet has become the new millennium's hipster version of the Archies — a lofty concept that actually sounds as good as it looks on paper. The real Gorillaz — Damon Albarn of Blur, Dan "The Automator" Nakamura of Handsome Boy Modeling School, Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club alumni Chris Frantz and Tina Weymouth, Miho Hatori (Cibo Matto), DJ Kid Koala and rapper Del tha Funkee Homosapien — have created a unique amalgam of Britpop, new wave and hip-hop to accompany Tank Girl creator Jamie Hewlett's shadowy artwork. Sometimes the gimmick goes too far, as in the endless parade of remixes and an ill-conceived tour (in which the musicians were reduced to shadows complementing video screens), but generally the moody modern rock and jagged animation makes up for the cheesy bits.

The throng exposed itself through a teaser EP featuring three soon-to-be album tracks (“Tomorrow Comes Today,” “Rock the House” and “Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)”), an enhanced video and the non-album tune “12D3,” which would resurface on G-Sides. It’s a slightly confusing glimpse at the project's intentions, but a fine sampling of the group's intriguing sound.

That sound, both eerie and reassuring, is fully explored on the million-selling Gorillaz. Nearly half the songs fall under a steady but slow trip-hop trance that can be both delightful (“Man Research (Clapper)”) and dismal (“Starshine”), thanks to Albarn’s lazy vocals, which fit the mood but can drag the slower numbers to a halt. The catchy synth-pop — think Imperial Teen meets Blur in the come-down tent at a rave — of “Re-Hash,” “5/4” and “19-2000” is more agreeable. The drugged soul of “New Genious (Brother)” is also successful, as is the spaghetti-western themed “Clint Eastwood,” where Albarn (or is it 2-D?) reveals he has “sunshine in a bag.” With any of the adopted styles — including old-school rapping, which plays a crucial role — it is remarkable that the songs remain arresting while being so simple and detached.

Gorillaz truly shines when it attacks near-novelty numbers with a secure sense of atmosphere and pacing. “Punk” is just that, disclosing the group’s bubblegum roots through a Ramonesy rush of handclaps, tinny guitar, manic drumming and unintelligible lyrics that even the band’s official fan site can’t decipher. The piano-recital pop of “Slow Country” is not what the title suggests, but it does possess an unexpected airy tone despite tear-in-my-beer lyrics. The pleading sample (“Hello, is anyone there?”) that ushers in “M1A1” is downright spooky; the rest of the song explodes with drama: revving guitar builds and builds until the drums finally kick in, giving Albarn a chance to reference Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner” while mimicking Johnny Rotten.

Gorillaz certainly do not lack for product. Six CD singles have been released, along with a multitude of reissues and promos. There are also several forms of Gorillaz, including extended foreign editions, a “clean” version and the US release with two uncredited tracks (“Dracula,” “Left Hand Suzuki Method”) not found in the UK. All versions of the disc include the hidden “Clint Eastwood (Ed Case/Sweetie Irie Re-Fix).”

Originally intended for just the Japanese market, G-Sides compiles the miscellaneous dreck, like two remixes of “19-2000,” an English translation of “Latin Simone (Que Pasa Contigo)” and yet another take on “Clint Eastwood.” The B-sides of G-Sides include the electro-pop of “Faust” and the noteworthy “Ghost Train,” but most of it is obvious filler (“The Sounder”) with prerequisite weird, high-pitched vocals and not much else.

Prompted by the “Tomorrow Dub” mix on the “Tomorrow Comes Today” single, Laika Come Home (a reference to the first dog in space) offers a dozen dub versions of the debut’s songs as done by the Space Monkeyz, another anonymous outfit shrouded in fiction. The album’s consistent, but it is dub, so it slows even the spunkiest of melodies to a complacent pace.

[Floyd Eberhard]

Soft Boys' Posters

http://www.thesoftboys.com/

GSOTD: I Got The Hots For You

http://www.thesoftboys.com/

Ah, Mmm, Mmm
Said the dentures to the peach
Said the tide of filth to the bleach
Said the spike to the tomato
Said the curry to the corpse
I got the hots for you
I got the hots for you
I got the hots for you
I got the hots for you

Here I am
Looking out on a crystal world
Floating currents of human eyes
Baking land under creamy skies

Yeah

Said the vicar to the waitress
"The best thing about you is your waist"
She laughed a laugh that echoed round a fortress
Said "Wait till you see the statues in my bathroom"
I got the hots for you
I got the hots for you
Huh, huh
I got the hots fro you
I got the hots for you

There she was
When you see her your eyes awake
Electric bulbs on a birthday cake
Would you care for a lump of steak?
Or a piece of hake?
Or another take

GAOTD: The Soft Boys

http://www.trouserpress.com

SOFT BOYS
Wading Through a Ventilator EP (UK Raw) 1978 (UK DeLorean) 1984
A Can of Bees (UK Two Crabs) 1979 (UK Aura) 1980 (UK Two Crabs) 1984
Underwater Moonlight (UK Armageddon) 1980 (UK Glass Fish) 1990
Two Halves for the Price of One (UK Armageddon) 1981 (UK Glass Fish) 1990
Invisible Hits (UK Midnight Music) 1983
Live at the Portland Arms [tape] (UK Midnight Music) 1983 (UK Glass Fish) 1987
Nextdoorland (Matador) 2002

From Cambridge they came, in 1976: a brilliant songwriter leading a two-guitar band that revered the Byrds, the Beatles and, most of all, Syd Barrett's Pink Floyd. Some called it the start of a psychedelic revival; the Soft Boys' verve and wild-eyed sincerity made it more of a post-psychedelic awakening.

Wading Through a Ventilator shows a promising weirdness that sets it apart from what most everyone else was doing in 1977, but reveals singer/guitarist Robyn Hitchcock as a still-embryonic songwriter. He got off a few good ones on A Can of Bees, by which time guitarist Kimberly Rew had joined the band, but the rest declines disappointingly into grating medium-metal power pop. (The album's second reissue is somewhat revised from the original, adding "Anglepoise Lamp" from a 1978 single and other tracks.)

That same year (1979), the Soft Boys recorded an uncharacteristic all-acoustic live tape — later sold by mail to buyers of Invisible Hits as Live at the Portland Arms and subsequently reissued and generally distributed on disc — which contains the most bizarre assortment of cover versions imaginable. But then cover versions were always one of the band's strong suits, from Hitchcock's intense reading of John Lennon's "Cold Turkey" on Can of Bees to his hilarious ravings on Portland Arms' "That's When Your Heartaches Begin." Also of historic interest are two Syd Barrett numbers: "Vegetable Man" on a British maxi- single (also included on the Canadian Attic issue of Underwater Moonlight) and "Astronomy Domine" on Two Halves for the Price of One. That album is actually two, with individually titled sides and cover art: Lope at the Hive was recorded at London's Hope and Anchor, while Only the Stones Remain contains otherwise unreleased oddities mixed in both chronology and quality.

The core of the Soft Boys canon, however, are Invisible Hits (actually recorded in '78 and '79) and Underwater Moonlight. Some form of insanity prevented the timely release of the former; it shows Hitchcock at his best — maturely immature and crazily serious — as he races from hearty lust ("Let Me Put It Next to You") to vulnerable harangue ("Empty Girl," "Blues in the Dark"). Few other albums capture the humor, pathos, anger and grotesquerie of man/woman so well.

Underwater Moonlight is one of the new wave's finest half-dozen albums and unquestionably its most unjustly underrated one. "I Wanna Destroy You" is a rant against war and intolerance; "Insanely Jealous" builds to a frenzy — twice; "I Got the Hots" contains some of the funniest erotic lines ever written. This album has everything — melody, power, wit, laughs and heart, not to mention a great guitar sound.

Hitchcock reunited with the original Soft Boys rhythm section of Andy Metcalfe (also in the reformed Squeeze) and Morris Windsor for some of his solo recordings; Rew went on to form Katrina and the Waves.

[Mark Fleischmann]

See also Robyn Hitchcock, Katrina and the Waves

GSOTD: Pina Colada Song

http://www.rupertholmes.com/

Escape (The Pina Colada Song)

By Rupert Holmes

I was tired of my lady, we'd been together too long.
Like a worn-out recording, of a favorite song.
So while she lay there sleeping, I read the paper in bed.
And in the personals column, there was this letter I read:

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
If you're not into yoga, if you have half-a-brain.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape. I'm the lady you've looked for, write to me, and escape."

I didn't think about my lady, I know that sounds kind of mean. But me and my old lady, had fallen into the same old dull routine. So I wrote to the paper, took out a personal ad. And though I'm nobody's poet, I thought it wasn't half-bad.

"Yes, I like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
I'm not much into health food, I am into champagne.
I've got to meet you by tomorrow noon, and cut through all this red tape. At a bar called O'Malley's, where we'll plan our escape."

So I waited with high hopes, then she walked in the place.
I knew her smile in an instant, I knew the curve of her face. It was my own lovely lady, and she said, "Oh, it's you." And we laughed for a moment, and I said, "I never knew"..

"That you liked Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain. And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne. If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape. You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."

"If you like Pina Coladas, and getting caught in the rain.
And the feel of the ocean, and the taste of champagne.
If you like making love at midnight, in the dunes of the cape. You're the love that I've looked for, come with me, and escape."

GAOTD: Squirrel Nut Zippers

http://www.trouserpress.com

SQUIRREL NUT ZIPPERS
Roasted Right EP (Merge) 1994
The Inevitable (Mammoth) 1995
Hot (Mammoth) 1996
Sold Out EP (Mammoth) 1997
Perennial Favorites (Mammoth) 1998
Christmas Caravan (Mammoth) 1998
Bedlam Ballroom (Mammoth) 2000

JAMES MATHUS & HIS KNOCKDOWN SOCIETY
Play Songs for Rosetta (Mammoth) 1997
National Antiseptic (Mammoth) 2001

KATHARINE WHALEN'S JAZZ SQUAD
Katharine Whalen's Jazz Squad (Mammoth) 1998

METAL FLAKE MOTHER
Beyond the Java Sea (Moist) 1991

Oh, why the hell not? The increasingly eclectic and eccentric Southeast — Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to pin specific geographical responsibility where it belongs — grew the Squirrel Nut Zippers, musical wackos who turn the clock back to half-past-swingtime on The Inevitable, a rollicking and skillful not-so-big-band platter of almost entirely original hi-de-ho, zip-a-dee-doo-dah and vo-de-oh-do. The tuxedoed septet's entertaining folly rolls down memory lane with Blossom Dearie-meets-Billie Holiday crooning (by banjo-strummer Katharine Whalen) and the less stylized vocal vamping of guitarists Jim Mathus and Tom Maxwell and saxophonist Ken Mosher. Vic Godard, Brian Setzer and other modern nostalgists have tiptoed through these tulips before, but none with the straight-faced charm lofted by this merry bunch of coconuts. A defiant ode to influenza ("La Grippe") is worth the price of admission. "If it's good enough for granddad, good enough for me."

Pushing a good regressive gimmick toward dedicated stylistic fetishism, the Zippers recorded Hot live, down to the vocals, in a New Orleans studio. They haven't covered "Winchester Cathedral," but they're getting there.

Before the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Mathus plied his trade in the syllablically consistent Metal Flake Mother, a Carrboro quartet whose Beyond the Java Sea sounds, on the surface, like a dull echo of Superchunk. Generic indie-pop, however, is merely the launching pad for an industriously multifarious effort. Gamely going along with the band's stylistic impulses, producer Lou Giordano documents Metal Flake Mother's skilled and confident forays into grandiose pop ("Dance for Nails"), not-so-grandiose pop ("Matador"), piano balladry ("Open a Vase"), twang-guitar instrumentals ("Moss Howl," "Squash Beetle"), continental drama (the House of Freaks-meets-Nick Cave "Sutpen" and "Safer") and tuneful garage-rock ("Mr. Flavor").

[Ira Robbins]

Social D: Album Won't Come Out In 2006

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com

Social Distortion fans awaiting a new album may have to wait indefinitely, according to singer/guitarist Mike Ness. He said the new album may not be recorded until towards the end of 2006. It was previously believed to be released the same year (read story on UG). The CD will also be the follow-up to 2004's "Sex, Love and Rock N' Roll", the band's first album of new material since 1997's "White Light, White Heat, White Trash", and the first without longtime guitarist Dennis Dannell.

According to a Social Distortion fan site, there are some rumours saying that the recent bass player Brent Harding will still in the band. He is the replacement of short staying member Matt Freeman (of Rancid) who replaced longtime bassist John Maurer who left last year to spend time with his family just a month before their last album ("Sex, Love and Rock N' Roll") finally picked up for release on September 28, 2004.

On September 28, 2005, Ness was interviewed by Rob Todd & Melissa Goldberg about the new album. Read it below:

Crush Music Magazine: First off, I’d like to clear up some of the member changes. Brent Harding, is he Matt Freeman’s (Rancid) permanent replacement or do you expect him back?

Mike Ness: Yeah, Matt was just temporary. Matt was basically just doing us a favor and filling in a slot until we found somebody.

Also, I noticed last night that you have a keyboardist but I find no mention of him anywhere. How long has he been with you?

Two or three years, I mean, there’s no mention of him because he’s not technically a member. We only use him for a certain amount of songs. He’s kind of one of our friends who we bring along with us.

What, if anything, can you tell us about a new album rumored to be coming out in 2006?

Well, I can tell you it probably won’t come out in 2006 (laughter). I feel like we’ve got a great start on a new album, we’d like to do a new album soon but I doubt it will be that soon. I figure I will use my time off next year to do the writing and maybe start it toward the end of 2006 recording. It’ll be soon but I don’t know if it’ll be quite that soon.

So you’re reassuring us that it won’t be the length between albums like in the past?

No, it won’t be eight years (laughter). We’re really writing a lot right now and I think it’s a great time to do another record.

You played a new song last night, “Diamonds in the Rough” correct? Is that one of the songs you already have set aside for the new album and how many other songs do you have written?

Yeah. I don’t know, probably like four or five. It’s been very hard to focus on that when we’ve just been touring for the last year so we need to decompress from touring for a while then get into writing and focus on writing.

When you write do you guys just sit down and write like 30 songs and then take the best ones for a new album.

Yeah, ‘cause there’s a lot of songs left over that we didn’t use. They’re not bad songs, they just need a little bit of reworking.

Sex, Love, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, as a whole, was an obvious criticism to things inherent in living the “rock star lifestyle.” Will the next album continue along those same lines or shift to something else?

I would like to shift to. I like to surprise people. There may not be any rad songs on the next record. I may be harder. It may be softer, I don’t know. I want it be better. Each record I make I want it to be better than the last record.

How do you feel about the impending doom of CBGB’s?

It’s just very disappointing that a landmark, even though it is a rock ‘n’ roll landmark, it may not be a historical, architectural – although people have been mowin’ those things down anyway – it’s just disappointing. That place is a significant landmark in rock ‘n’ roll history and I think it’s worth the effort trying to save it.

In today’s music industry, or even the broader scheme of society, where our younger generations need role models and people to keep the flame burning that Social Distortion has always been about, what would be your message to the youngest generations?

Well, I think it’s very important to just learn how to be yourself. When you’re young you’re obviously trying to find an identity and belong to something but if parents could instill to believe in themselves at a younger age and to be themselves then people would be making changes a lot earlier on in their lives.

Last night you talked about “consequences” for your actions, how important is it to you to be seen as more of a positive role model for your fans?

I think it’s not a role that I ever set out to be but hopefully someone can hear, ‘Oh, if you shoot heroin you might die or go prison, oh that doesn’t sound very good.’ Rather than someone glamorizing it and talking about how cool and shit it is. I just like to show people a clearer picture of things and my experience is valuable in that aspect that I can do that for people. I don’t know, maybe it might just prevent people from making some of the same mistakes that I did.

What you’re saying is you’d rather just tell people the truth.

Yeah, even if I was wrong, just ‘cause I was an asshole when I was 18 doesn’t mean you have to be and yeah, if you cheat on your wife and she leaves you, tough shit buddy that’s what happens. I like to tear down stereotypes, I like to expose things, I like to bring truth to things.

Thanks to Crush Music Magazine for providing this information.

In related news, Social Distortion has been forced to postpone all three dates in Philadelphia due to illness. The shows will be re-scheduled and all tickets will be honoured for the new dates. If you cannot make the new dates (currently being determined), you can receive a full refund at the point of purchase. They apologize for the inconvenience.

Richman, Chesnutt: Smile-ist and Nihilist

http://www.suntimes.com

Saturday night was tough for musical acts touring through Chicago. Artists were forced to compete for the affections of locals enraptured by the glamor of Game One of the White Sox' first World Series since 1959. This would account for the Abbey Pub's reduced attendance for Jonathan Richman and Vic Chesnutt, artists esteemed enough to fill the room on separate bills. Under the circumstances, both musicians knew that the crowd in hand belonged entirely to them.

Athens, Ga., native Vic Chesnutt stripped the Southern Gothic lushness of songs from his recent "Ghetto Bells," reducing songs to the sparsely strummed accompaniment of his Gibson hollow-bodied electric guitar. The minimal arrangements focused attention on Chesnutt's lyrics, which were often clever though spiked with hard-bitten cynicism. From his wheelchair, Chesnutt sang lines like, "I know why the cagey fellow won't sing," from the ghostly "Gnats," with a combination of jaded and scrappy defiance.

"I'm going to sing a song in the guise and voice of Uncle Sam," announced Chesnutt, introducing "Iraq." The tune elicited uneasy titters as a story unfolded of a hero who rescues a battered bride only to force himself upon her. By the song's end, there was no laughter as Chesnutt groaned in his raspy Southern drawl, "You'll learn to love me."

Lighter moments included the comic "Girls Say," sarcastically describing the never-ending battle between the sexes. Chesnutt's most disarming touch came during a song about his current tour with Richman. "I am such a nihilist," sang Chesnutt. "And Jonathan is such a smile-ist."

Truer words were never spoken. The room brightened upon Richman's appearance -- by the sheer power of his beaming face. Accompanied by longtime touring foil Tommy Larkins on drums, Richman's nimble European inflections on guitar and boyish joy contained not a whiff of Chesnutt's world-weariness.

Richman's set opened with "Give Paris One More Chance" from 2001's "Her Mystery Not of High Heels and Eye Shadow." Cradling his classical-styled guitar without a strap, Richman took breaks between sprightly Spanish guitar leads for flamboyant dance steps. Later, he would shake sleigh bells or beat a cowbell while prowling the small stage to view fans in the balcony, while Larkins continued as a one-man dance band.

Richman delivered songs in English, French, Spanish and Italian, telling their stories as he sang. During "Cosi Veloce" from 2004's "Not So Much to Be Loved as to Love," Richman encouraged calm upon his racing mind. "El Joven Se Estremece" described drunken friends goading a trembling youth who is uninterested in the soulless caresses offered within a brothel.

The bouncy "He Gave Us the Wine to Taste It" urged listeners to enjoy life's simple pleasures without question or criticism. During the song, Richman made his first appeal for audience interaction. "Don't sing because I'm pressuring you, or because you think it will make me feel better. If you don't like my little chorus, don't sing the damn thing," he said with a wink. The room erupted with singing voices. By the time Richman offered the funky "I Was Dancing in a Lesbian Bar," his crowd needed no prompting to join the song.

Jeff Elbel is a Chicago free-lance writer.

GSOTD: Radio Free Europe

http://www.remhq.com

Beside yourself if radio's gonna stay.
Reason: It could polish up the grey.
Put that, put that, put that up your wall.
That this isn't country at all.

Raving station, beside yourself.
Keep me out of country in the word.
Deal the porch is leading us absurd.
Push that, push that, push that to the hull.
That this isn't nothing at all.

Straight off the boat, where to go?
Calling on in transit, calling on in transit
Radio free Europe, radio.
Beside defying media too fast.
Instead of pushing palaces to fall.
Put that, put that, put that before all.
That this isn't fortunate at all.

Raving station, beside yourself.
Calling on in transit, calling on in transit
Radio free Europe, radio.
Decide yourself, calling all of the medias too fast.
Keep me out of country in the word.
Disappoint is into us absurd.
Straight off the boat, where to go?

Calling on in transit, calling on in transit
Radio free Europe, radio free Europe.

Calling on in transit, calling on in transit
Radio free Europe, radio free Europe.