MELOMANIA feels the heat and provides a cooling balm
and then puts you on the road with a lengthy Hard Rock/Biker Rock playlist.
W(H)ITHER XAVIER?
Look, we have to hand it to Spotify. Having a vocal guide to your journey through their voluminous library of mostly useless music could be helpful. However, turning AI loose with picks from editors (nice try, there will be no Thirty Seconds To Mars as “Alternative” even if they record in a studio named “The International Centre for the Advancement of the Arts and Sciences of Sound,”) and rifling through your collection of playlists and habitual listening (Stats.FM seems to be the best place to mine your own playback for inspiration) proved to be largely ineffective so far. However, a voice coming on every four songs to let you know what you just heard and will be listening to next - now that is a fantastic idea.
JOHANNA SAMUELS - Bystander [LP/CD](Jealous Butcher/Redeye)
Thanks to the warmth of producer Josh Kaufman (Bonny Light Horseman and Charlotte Cornfield’s excellent album from this year,) Johanna Samuels uses “Bystander” to demonstrate that she can write Warren Zevon-ish caustic humor (“Valentine Day’s Is Stupid”) and poignancy (the jaw-dropping beauty of “Holy Mothers.”) “The Rest of Us” is a brave arrangement that shifts between verse and pre-chorus while being that rare song that is a character study. When Samuels arrives at the crux of her track, it is to lead us all within ourselves (“There’s nothing wrong with you that isn’t wrong with the rest of us too.”) “Holy Mothers” is an even bigger triumph of Samuels “detached narrator-meets-character” style of writing. As a Carole King-ish piano ballad, it would be too easy to make it a “So Far Away”-ish tearjerker. Instead, Samuels turns it into “Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore” as a sort of nursery rhyme handing out images, small events that move the needle, and advice from the world-weary. Stunning - easily one of the best tracks of 2023. Samuels proves herself capable of telling brilliant stories (“Little Buckets”) that provoke thought by refusing to be linear. Then when it peaks, Samuels drops in with only her guitar to draw the threads together. “Bystander” is not another journey of self-exploration whose cobblestone path is immediately comparable to your life. These are episodic, and like foreign films, the confusion and/or enchantment they elicit on the surface are their means to burrow deeper into you.
CORY HANSON - Western Cum [LP/CS](Drag City/Redeye)
On his first two solo albums, Wand’s Cory Hanson journeyed into starry-eyed Seventies-ish Country & Western (“Pale Horse Rider” is still in rotation.) For his third record, Hanson cranks up his eclectic electric and finds a connection between crushing pre-Grunge Indie Rock like Dinosaur Jr and Southern Rock like Drive-By Truckers. For example, on the muscular M.J.Lenderman-ish “Housefly,” Hanson heats up the sizzling main lick and wisely adds Grateful Dead-ish filigrees to end his vocal lines during the verse. This “see-saw” effect keeps the collection of riffs surprising you consistently - even when you know what is coming. Following that theory, the standout cut here in “Persuasion Architecture,” only because it actually challenges how high (those distorted/gated Punk bookends are louder than even what Wand would might do) you are willing to go before Hanson settles into a beautiful dreamlike acoustic verse with lush Eagles-like harmonies. “Western Cum” functions as Hanson finding what makes him comfortable and then augmenting it for humor (the lovely “Ghost Ship” tells a salacious tale) and weird authenticity (the steel-guitar driven “Twins” with Power Pop changes.) Most of all, “Western Cum” is not an Americana record. Nor is it a singer/songwriter sojourn. It’s not Country/Rock. Or Cosmic American. It takes most of its influences from Seventies Rock music (dig into that ten minutes of the swelling near Prog of “Driving Into Heaven”) and is brash enough to point out that all those bendy-licks and fiery runs were Country & Western before they were Rock N’Roll.
MAMMATUS - Expanding Majesty [LP/CD](Silver Current/AMPED)
Purveyors of Heavy Prog/Technical Metal, Santa Cruz’s Mammatus want to take their compositions to great lengths (the shortest is 15 minutes) in sounding like more spirited Doom Metal. The beats and drums are generally slow and methodical (those Melvins-ish fills on “Foreveriff!”) but provide a lot of room for guitar wizardry and these bass notes that drop out of the sky (the buoyant “Beams of Light.”) “Expanding Majesty” might be the least heavy Heavy Metal record you enjoy this year. The smoking riffs and twinkling fretboard work on the title cut get your head nodding, but the chord changes (and the hint of Seventies synths) make it as transportive as Musik Kosmiche. However, these are not minimal jams, the trio put everything into them (the album took eight years to make.) When they hit the high harmonies against the low-string thunder on “By The Sky,” Mammatus can make you feel like a tractor beam is slowly pulling you away from Earth.
LISTENING JOURNAL
Various Artists - WE'RE AN AMERICAN BAND [3CD](Cherry Red UK)
BROWN ACID: The Series [LP/CD](Riding Easy)
When the Sixties faded into the Seventies, everyone raced off in their direction. The Folkies turned inward and became “singers/songwriters.” R&B grew socially and culturally aware thus becoming Soul. Country was picking up steam and Spiritual music, newly rebranded as Gospel took off. Rock assumed its role as the umbrella for everything. While Top 40 radio and AOR radio fought it out for supremacy, there was a lot of music that had no hope of being played on the airwaves. Out there on the open road, away from the perils of clocks, newspapers, and most importantly - change - was Biker Rock.
Biker Rock typically follows the same formulae, again and again, with a few different strains growing out of it. Like Power Pop, Biker Rock is mostly pursuing a good time. Unlike Power Pop and most of the music mentioned above, it can get pessimistic in its search for the larger truth. It's always LOUD, cheaply recorded, and throws out hooks like flicking cigarette butts. This listening journal deals with the outgrowth of Acid Rock into Hard Rock/Biker Rock.
The Cherry Red box "We're An American Band" is a four-hour long behemoth that is programmed for a long drive, perhaps even a round trip. Kicking off with the "knowns" to set the tone is a great idea especially given the well-programmed triple play of Iron Butterfly (instrumental,) the immortal Blue Cheer breakthrough of "Summertime Blues," and a grinding Steppenwolf deep cut. "The Ostrich" provides a thrilling end to their 1968 debut, especially thanks to John Kay's sloganeering and the call-and-response from organist Goldy McJohn. San Francisco's Fever Tree was a fascinating band that was over far too quickly. Their "Man Who Paints The Pictures" still has that dynamite drive (but to be honest is just a hair better by the UK's Stray.)
The first of the prizes on here is the first appearance of Ohio's Noah as Sound Barrier in 1968. "Why Should I Care" by Sound Barrier is a sweltering buzzing Acid Rock jam with organ, fuzzy guitar, and slapback echo on Mark Scheuring's vocals.
A couple of surprises from some Garage greats await you. The Blues Magoos' trippy "Chicken Wire Lady" and its Blues-meets-British Invasion writing transition into wild Psychedelics. While The Human Beinz crank up the FuzzFace and deliver on the overdriven "April 15th." Like Fever Tree, Detroit's SRC flamed out too quickly. However, their 1968 debut and 1969's "Milestones" are still very worthy of any Psych Rock set. "American Band" chooses 1968's "Black Sheep" which is one of their more Progressive cuts taking its influence from stately Procol Harum. With majestic organ, warped guitars, and dark lyrics, "Black Sheep" was truly ahead of its time. While Dragonfly's "Crazy Woman" is by the numbers with those yowling vocals and sniffing glue guitar, the end of verse/chorus changes are amazing - especially the ending.
The second prize is the rumbling, messy joy of "Good Morning Day" from Omnibus. They only know one volume, but that in-your-face feeling makes it a brilliant three-minute slice of hard-driving Rock.
While "We're An American Band" packs its favorites in for familiarity, the intensely Prog-ish nightmarish duo from Nazz (The Who-ish "Under The Ice") and early Alice Cooper ("Fields of Regret") are inspired selections. The Cooper cut in particular ties this Psychedelic Hard Rock to both the influence of The Beatles and The Doors, while its raw middle section predicts the essence of a great Biker Rock freakout. "Donovan's Monkey" by Stalk-Forrest Group bears all the hallmarks of future greats Blue Oyster Cult, Chicago's Fuse (the album closer "Sad Day") shows the first hint of Rick Nielsen's organizational skills pre-Cheap Trick. Morgen (who we reviewed previously) is yet another Hard Rock band translating their influences into heavy Rock that while likely falling prey to their egos (and typical production) still sounds shockingly pure on "Welcome To The Void." Louisville's Conception (one of quite a few Brown Acid crossovers) uses every production trick in the bag to make Blue Cheer's 'Babylon" a ripper even if that sounds like it is out of their league. (While we really want to include the always-jaw dropping cover of "The House of The Rising Sun" by Detroit's Frijid Pink - probably saving that for the 2CD set Cherry Red is dropping soon.)
More prizes. Portland's Brigade apparently put out a one-off in 1970 called "Last Laugh" that contains the upbeat organ/guitar gem "Self Made God." As a whole, the song is a bit like hearing Rod Evans-period Deep Purple jamming on "Beck's Bolero." However, there is something riveting about Bob Anderson's funky drums playing against the long, languid chords of Eric Anderson's organ that is intoxicating during the verses. It is almost like Brigade is looking beyond Hard Rock to that wild Madchester sound out there years in the distance.
The private press Psychedelic Blues from Wildfire circa 1970 is a proto-metal stunner with Blue Cheer-like guitars and an awesome bass solo. However, the best part is right at the point where you think you have Wildfire all figured out as a post-Cream rumbling power trio, "Stars In The Sky" morphs into a Santana-like break that may have you driving a little faster than you should. Brooklyn's Sir Lord Baltimore is a Hard Rock/Proto-Metal band long overdue for some respect. There is a reason that Loudwire has it on their list of the Top Hard Rock + Metal Albums of the Seventies, "Helium Head (I Got A Love)" does it all in four mind-bending minutes.
A final prize. Earlier on "We're An American Band," there is a hot single from Bubble Puppy called "Hot Smoke & Sassafras" that was actually a chart single (#14, 1969.) When Bubble Puppy moved to their next phase it was as Demian (a Steppenwolf reference as they had taken on the band's manager more than likely.) "Face The Crowd" from 1971 is a sparkling example of how Hard Rock can still have harmonies and great driving breaks.
For the grand finale of "We're An American Band," the best examples of where Hard Rock is going are best exemplied by Cactus (the amphetamine Willie Dixon jam "Evil" that almost matches the power and speed of their cover of Mose Allison's "Parchman Farm" from their debut - secret weapon: Jim McCarty,) the verrrry Sabbath-ian Bang ("The Queen,") and a pair of tracks that expose the darker side. The Flow's "It Swallowed The Sun" wants to be Sabbath like too. It begins beyond gloomy and then picks up double-time into hard-driving Rock. Finally, the eternally underrated Dust should have been the successors of Cream, Jimi Hendrix, and the other power trios. Dust was all skilled musicians (Richie Wise and producer Kenny Kerner would go on to produce Kiss, among others; Kenny Aaronson would become a session/A&R legend, and Marc Bell would be a Voidoid behind Richard Hell before changing his last name to Ramone.) The thrilling "Suicide" is indicative of the brute force yet precision proto-Metal they would unleash on their two albums before calling it quits.
Keeping this trend alive for years now is the “Brown Acid” series from Riding Easy Records. Carving out this subgenre from scratchy singles and private press albums that wound up gathering dust in their heyday (roughly 1967-1979,) the “Brown Acid” compilations - while hit and miss - are a resource of so many go-to songs on modern playlists. Just this week, the rare recordings of Master Danse of Detroit (featured on #13) were released by Riding Easy in their entirety.
There are so many fantastic jams to list and discuss. “Brown Acid” is truly the factotum for it all. The Quietus lists “Brown Acid: The First Trip” among The Top 40 Genre Compilation Albums of All-Time. Zekes “Box” retools the ur-Biker Rock template of Blue Cheer. Texas’ Kanaan put so much into “Leave It” that it nearly disintegrates under the weight of its own heaviness. Bacchus takes Southern Rock and Power Trio Blues to a new level of interstellar boogie. Speaking of power trios, Milwaukee’s Raw Meat stomp so hard - it is still hard to believe that there are only three of them.
The Litter (who are on the Cherry Red compilation) reformed as White Lightning. Their metallic thundering “Prelude to Opus IV” approaches Prog-like melodiousness. However, when they choose molten riffage “Opus IV” emerges as an early headbanger. While Montreal’s Max put out a Zeppelin-esque rocker that trades in heft for lithe licks that even give “Brown Acid” a dose of high-end crunch.
There are very few tracks in the entire series that feel like they simply do not belong. However, the sixteen (!) records (since 2015) coalesce together into such a volume of music - a track that does not hit the spot today, turns out to be just what you need the next time through (looking at you Ash’s “Midnight Witch” for pushing through the Sabbath-ian haze to find your own take on what everyone else was playing.)
“The Sixteenth Trip” was released on April 20th. It kicks off with a grinding Seeds unknown track from 1972 and ends with Pennsylvania’s KISS-inspired Clinton who turns in a Glammy late-night ode “Midnight In New York” whose 1976 release was perhaps too late for the Glam craze - but seems to represent “Brown Acid” still growing as a series.
If that was not enough for you (or that strip of highway still has a long time before it leads you home,) we conjured a playlist that keeps those engines running until you need to stop for snacks.
We hope you enjoyed this music. We always leave hoping that there was something on the list or the page for everyone. Support these artists. They are working on music that they love and firmly believe could be loved by others too. Glad to be your musical sifter/selector. Thank you.
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