Bob Dylan duly dumped about another thirty-seven (at last count) albums in our laps last year, while on much the other hand the vast majority of my aural Good Times! during oh-16 came courtesy of that PreFab Four. Nevertheless, there still remained room on the Pig Player for the following splendid, purely alphabetically-listed ball-busters as well âŚwhich you should all be playing too if you arenât already:
8X8Â Inflorescence
(8X8 Records)
Once again virtually producing their sonic bridge between Queens, NY and Kiev, UKR, Lane Steinberg and Alexander Khodchenko return with forty three minutes which never fail to fully mystify as much as melodize. To begin, âStop The Madmanâ takes its fanciful funereal march clear off our collective cliff, then âMy Summertime Highâ trips Todd Rundgren straight over Colin Moulding before signing off with a most significant SMiLE indeed. But⌠is it Sunshine Pop?? Soon however, unlike on their previous offering, Alex and Lane start stretching out magnificent, purely instrumental passages: âAftermathâ sports a dense Mellotronic concluding quarter while âThe Essenceâ tags on nearly two whole minutes which would sound completely at home beneath the very next Tom Cruise green-screen action caper; in fact two songs, âHead, Heart, & Tailâ and âBetween The Double Curtainâ are almost totally instrumental. Yet wherever and whenever words do enter into it, the utterly Blonde on John âBubblesâ in particular, the lyrics weave a near Ray Davies level of storytelling detail (âNo More Second Chanceâ). Which reminds me: Lane Steinbergâs vocals â I single out âSome Surreal Ideaâ above all â are perhaps the best he has ever done. Which is saying quite a bit over a career which already spans decades. And counting.
MIKE BADGER and the Shady Trio Honky Tonk Angels On Motorbikes
(Generator)
Delightfully direct from the Joe Strummer School of roots ânâ roll, Mike Badgerâs northern UK ancestry (The Onset and, yes, The Laâs to cite only two) plays as sure and smooth as his hollow body Gretsch upon this disarming little disc. âMiss Jones,â for starters, slyly sways in a Nesmith National Band way, while â27 Miles to Memphisâ should without doubt be railroaded in Dave Edmundsâ direction asap. And while weâre at it, John Fogerty sure could use a tune or two just like âMean And Nasty Devilâ right about now. Elsewhere, âAdios Amigoâ wouldnât sound a single inch out of place on your favorite Rank and File album while âJohn Got Shotâ fires 21st Century skiffle, I kid you not, complete with crackling Crickets-y guitar breaks here and then there. But itâs whenever his expertly Shady Trio channel those Tennessee Three â on âYou Canât Keep a Good Man Downâ and âMaybeâ mainly â that Mikeâs way with a word and a chord shine brightest; and âThe Countyâs First Psychedelic Cowboyâ spins tall tales which could make Shel Silverstein roll over âŚwhile telling Mick Farren the news.
P.S.: Mikeâs exemplary The Rhythm & The Tide should be considered Required Reading as well, one and all.
BEACH BOYS Classic Albums: Pet Sounds
(Eagle Rock Entertainment)
The Little Album That Could celebrated its 50th (!) Anniversary in 2016, and naturally Brian Wilson + Band fearlessly toured this whole world (âone last timeâ?) performing it to rapt audiences young, old, and definitely in between. To help with said commemoration on film, the venerable Classic Albums series gathers together the usual interview subjects (various Beach Boys, past and present, living and otherwise), some fascinating, seldom-heard-from figures (veteran Capitol Rec.s exec Karl Engemann), plus several downright dubious speakers (British teen singing starlet Helen Shapiro who, well, opened for the Boys back in â67) to relate the oft-told yet still somehow captivating saga of one of our favorite-ever thirty-six minutes of vinyl. We get to view many an original Pet Sounds session reel box â one with Jan Berryâs phone number still visible â and hear snippets of raw recording chatter (thrill to Mike Love Not War attempting âI Know Thereâs An Answerâ Jimmy Durante-style), while engineer Bruce Botnick, listening to a playback of âGood Vibrations,â demonstrates how to correctly identify â within mere notes! â each studio used to record each suite section. Most interesting as well to hear Tony Asher recall how a brief hallway meeting between he and B. Wilson lead to his being asked, out of the proverbial blue, to write most of Pet Soundsâ lyrics, while Hal âDrummer Manâ Blaine deciphers how the âSloop John Bâ percussion was arranged to depict in sound the tiny shipâs increasingly choppy ocean voyage. âItâs all visual!â as Hal exclaims, and youâll soon see too this is without doubt one Classic Album that more than deserves vivid A/V treatment.
BIG BOY PETE Millerâs Tales
(â˘22 Records)
As the man/the legend himself has admitted, âThis is what happens when you give Big Boy Pete a movie camera for Christmas.â And what happens all over this 90-minute (again, as BBP sez) âalbum of EyeTunesâ is precisely the sort of seat-o-the-pants decorum-be-gawddamned DIY-ness which has infused Peter Millerâs career ever since he built his first Warblerama guitar in late-50âs Britain before going on to create some of the farthest-out sounds this side of Syd Barrett in Joe Meekâs parlor. And now, for the first time heâs bringing his all to the small â even laptop screen on this DVD: Be it chicken-pickinâ his way up and down the local record emporiumâs vinyl aisles (âOnce Upon a Tuneâ), sliding the kind of solos which would make even Zoot Horn Rollo recant (âUpside Downâ), or plopping Sinatra in the middle of the nearest Nirvana video (âBaby I Got Screwed by Youâ). The accompanimentâs always top top notch of course (e.g.: Just when one thought there couldnât be any more wah-wah Wonderwall Music comes âNo Limeys Left in Londonâ), but the visuals also wholly live up to their tasks (âThe Flickerâ imagines Casino directed by David Lynch as opposed to Martin Scorsese, while âMy Loyal Shadowâ displays genuine Bernard Shakey sensibilities, if youâd catch my drift). So! Call me Crazy Boy, but I for one hope we all live long enough to hear â and see â the Big Boyâs âWinnieâ blanket-broadcast every 24th of January âcross the length and breadth of that once United Kingdom in honour of Sir Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill.
ALEX CHILTON Ocean Club â77
(Norton Records)
They say cool things come to those who wait, and I had to wait about a year til this gem safely arrived here at the olâ sty. Then again, we all had to wait 38 times as long as that to finally have those now sounds of Alex, Chris Stamey, and Lloyd Fonoroff blow their Live in New York proto-punk directly cross our paths. Kinda hot off his Singer Not The Song EP, Alex and those sometimes-called Cossacks, taking a night or two off from demoâing up a storm for Elektra Records (who, I suppose not surprisingly, never bit) hit the Ocean stage with the following words: âCan I have a Coke and, uh, Canadian Whiskey on the rocks?â How else to follow that up than with a blast into âSeptember Gurlsâ (how very odd though to hear Alex introduce this number to near silence; the Chilton revival/renaissance still, we must recall, a few years off) followed by a detour home to Chuck Berryâs âMemphisâ as only a Box Top can, âIn The Streetâ â yes, that 70âs theme â and then âBack Of A Carâ (âThereâs a screw loose in this speaker!â it sounds like Stamey saying by way of, um, introduction). Add a nice Seeds nugget, a âWouldnât It Be Niceâ in â wait for it â Beach Boys Love You(!) fashion, a too-wily-for-words âWalk Donât Runâ and a de rigueur âLetterâ (no, not âPlease Mister Postmanâ as Alex teases) and we honestly have a fifty-minute trip back to a simpler time when Big Star albums could only be found in Woolworthsâ 99-cent bin and âpower popâ was strictly a phrase uttered in crinkly old Pete Townshend interviews.
SIMON FELTON Return to Easton Square
(Pink Hedgehog Records)
One of my favorite singing songwriting types from the far-flung Isle of Portland â thatâs in Dorset, England btw â takes good time off from his Garfields Birthday band to bring us a dozen, and I quote the Press Release, âessentially demos. The intention would be to one day record them âproperlyâ in a studio, but the reality is that this is as good as theyâre ever likely to sound.â But! With material as finely tuned as Simonâs, thereâs nothing whatsoever amiss in keeping said recordings raw, ripe and ready. âWill You Be Thereâ for example rests with a low rumbling cello pulse; a most effectively spacious arrangement which features often throughout this collection. âAlibiâ employs a perfectly playful rhyming scheme, lyrically speaking, while âGood Morning Britainâ really makes me wonder how often Simon stays home to watch Gavin & Stacey reruns. Everything hereinâs sung with a soft Colin Blunstone approach; which reminds me: âI Would (If I Wanted To)â should be sent the Zombiesâ way without delay! And, so far as my ears are concerned, âGoodbye (Again)â represents just about the absolute best two-and-a-half minutes theyâve had all year. âDemosâ? Well, these ones prove, yet again, that less can honestly amount to more. MUCH more.
THE FLESHTONES âŚThe Band Drinks For Free
(Yep Roc Records)
Joyously celebrating, as their sticker sez, â40 Years Of Rocking Harder Than Anyone In The World,â those ever-touchy-feely Fleshtones defiantly continue to put the Rage in the back of Garage âŚand then some. To wit, this latest and very possibly greatest release of theirs turns the guitars up and screws the snare taut for the kind of witful wallop weâve long come to expect from these masters. More specifically, âLove Like A Man,â not to mention âRick Wakemanâs Capeâ (Title of the Year, btw) deftly add the Sir to the Douglas, âSuburban Rouletteâ should be considered for immediate cover on the very next Teenage Head platter, and âRespect Our Loveâ sounds as if those Dead Boys actually arenât. I personally cherish that little Ox outro, bass-ically Who speaking that is, on âLiving Today,â and Bonus Points aplenty for shutting completely down Gary Usher/Roger Christianâs golden vintage âGasserâ to boot. Then, signing strategically off âBefore I Goâ with said fuzzânâFarfisa-crusted capper and this is, without debate, oneband who can live up to its album title. Any time. On me.
JANIS JOPLIN Janis: Little Girl Blue
(MVD Entertainment Group)
The mark of good filmmaking, especially of the docu genre, is the ability to capture and hold the viewerâs undivided attention even if the subject matter is unfamiliar or of little if any interest. Iâll admit to falling into the latter category insofar as Janis Joplin is concerned, for while I have always admired her talents and drive, I never really appreciated the range and depth of both until Little Girl Blue laid it plainly to see …and hear. Not only is the wealth of historical footage, both performance and otherwise well chosen, but so is the inevitable swell of talking heads â notably Janisâ Holding Company, her younger sister Laura, and intriguingly her âformer boyfriendâ David Niehaus â and thankfully all the young, Century 21 celebrity testimonials are saved til the end credits, lest they divide and distract from Those Who Were Actually There And Know (John Lennonâs final words on the subject, from a 1971 Dick Cavett Show, remain most chillingly profound). BEWARE, however, the âBig Brother Acapellaâ on the Special Features menu âŚyouâve been warned. All from our heroes at MVD, who have also just brought us magnificent audio compilations from John Coltrane (!) and John Lee Hooker (!!), not to mention â speaking of fine documentaries and even finer record stores â All Things Must Pass.
THE LEGAL MATTERS Conrad
(Omnivore Recordings)
Meanwhile, from the fine folk over at Omnivore who, on the most recent Record Store Day alone brought us lotsa Bangles, Beach Boys and Big Star present (to kinda quote the sticker right there on the CD cover) the highly anticipated second hook-filled and harmony-drenched release from Michiganâs Keith Klingensmith, Chris Richards and Andy Reed. And while absolutely no time whatsoever is wasted as âAnythingâ lulls ânâ floats most gently in on a lush Badfinger-by-way-of-Crowded House bed of oooohâs, ahhhhâs and six strings, these Legal Matters, baby, are never content to toil merely within the boundaries of any musical pigeonhole: thereâs âMore Birds Less Beesâ which goes one further plus deeper into vintage â guess who? â Randy Bachman & Burton Cummings territory while the sweet chilling âPull My Stringâ adds a slight scoop of Townshend, but with the âtude toned properly down. May I add âThe Cool Kidâ should henceforth be piped through the PA at the conclusion of each and every International Pop Overthrow festival clear round the globe? Andyâs Reed Recording Company right there in Bay City, MI checks that all sounds shimmer, yet pack punch when need be, ensuring and reassuring any out there who may often fret over who killed all the rock and roll stars â yes, the ones that used to make us wanna learn our guitars in the first place.
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