MELOMANIA invites to race through the garden of delights that is RSD 23!
Let's roll in the meadow all day Saturday celebrating these releases and more.
There was some excellent NEW MUSIC (even in the store e-mail) this week - which we will hopefully get reviews in this time next week, listen to that playlist below. Of course, this one rolls heavy on Record Store Day selections - and gives each of you a few surprises to look for on the shelves.
RICH KIDS - Ghosts of Princes In Towers [LP](Parlophone)
GENERATION X [LP](Chrysalis)
On this pair of Punk-era reissues, these two albums make sense of the wave that the Sex Pistols created with their classic “Never Mind The Bollocks” and illustrate how its influence over performance and attitude would permeate everything that followed. As the Pistols “one and done” phase was indeed very Punk, it might have been even more Punk to just smash it overhead like a guitar and see who was pierced by the flying shards. Ex-bassist Glen Matlock joined the bratty Rich Kids in 1978, but the influence of Midge Ure pushes “Ghosts of Princes In Towers” in a whole new direction. With that familiar Pistols thrust (“Rich Kids” and “Young Girls” - which honestly five years prior could have been cut as Glam rockers,) their back-to-basics songwriting (“Marching Men” and its synths) Rich Kids start to sound like where Ure and Egan will go in Visage. “Hung on You” might borrow directly from the slash-and-burn Steve Jones-style, but Rich Kids had a grasp on thundering Rock. Nonetheless, the brilliant title song is the ultimate handoff of Pistols and (unknowingly) early Ultravox to where the participants were headed next.
Bromley Contigent’s William Broad channeled the desire to be on stage that was fueled by Pistols shows into the marvelous Punk/Pop of Generation X. Now christened Billy Idol, he and bassist Tony James practically wrote an entire album that answers both eternal questions of Rock: Will the little girls understand? (the sailing opener “From The Heart”) and Does it speak for a generation? (“Youth Youth Youth” bludgeons its message home - even in its dubby version.) One of 1978’s best singles, the gleeful “Ready Steady Go” remains a brilliant combination of childlike open-eyed admiration and newly-christened teenage lust. It plays as both tribute and mockery, riding the line to be whatever you wish. “Kiss Me Deadly” is equally fantastic. While young Idol does quite have the command yet to carry the first portion, once the band roll in like a combination of the Who and the Pistols, it both aches and quakes. However, those are the pre-sold highlights. Guitarist Bob Andrews regularly slashes through any solo or lead given. Andrews gives a unique Mod-like burn to the Kinks-ian “The Invisible Man,” soars on the tail end of the Buzzcocks-ish “Promises Promises” and powers the calculated anthem “One Hundred Punks” with textbook slashing chords, single-note leads, and Keith Richards-like rhythmic prowess.
While both albums may have been caught in the aforementioned wave of the Pistols’ magnificent rise and fall, separated from the pack after time - they deserve to stand alone as a continuance of that mixture of the confrontational and obliquely commercial. In a word, Punk.
OCEAN COLOUR SCENE - B-Sides: Seasides & Freerides [2LP](Demon//Edsel)
Friends with Oasis, Ocean Colour Scene took a more Blur-ian path to success. When their debut led them to the charts with its timely pursuit of Madchester (and remixed against their wishes,) OCS returned with the sublime “Moseley Shoals” that painted a Beatlesque picture of life (“Top of The World”) as sung by Cat Stevens. Having found their voice, the acoustic songs on “B-Sides” are the closest the band gets to solid, earnest songwriting (“Chelsea Walk.”) The longing and experience in Simon Fowler’s voice are neatly accented by their homespun early Sixties sound. If that fits into the age of Britpop, it is understandable. However, the “Moseley Shoals”-heavy “B-Sides” collection is a great reminder of Britpop’s ties back to the original British Invasion.
HORSE THE BAND - The Mechanical Hand [2LP](MNRK)
On their 2005 album, the synthoid Prog-Metal of Horse The Band probably had more in common with the noisy chaos of Dillinger Escape Plan and Dysrhythmia. However, all these years later, the most standout facet is Erik Engstrom's video-game-sounding keyboard parts (the thrilling but brief "Soaring Quails.") While The Band is drilling angst and anxiety into the wailing/stop-start/flip a-time-signature-on-a-dime movements ("Manateen" is a stunner,) Engstrom's touches soften the focus (the Rush-like additions to "The House of Boo") and make The Band's hard work erupt in a sharper sense when they return (the spiraling ending of "Heroes Die" that disappears into distortion.)
IVY - Apartment Life Demos [LP](Bar None)
After establishing themselves as a clever fusion of Indie Rock and French Pop (thanks to the sweet but detached-sounding vocals of Dominque Durand,) Ivy moved a major with this 1997 album. Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Ivy has pieced together the demos that led to the Galaxie 500-ish ("Sweet Mary") record. "Apartment Life" is not all sadness and light (the bonus nugget "Sleeping Late.") These early recordings show their real knack for hooky songs that can be led in several different directions once placed in a studio with a producer.
THE HAPPY DRAGON-BAND [LP](ORG)
This strange and enchanting private press record from 1978 is alive with synth sounds straight out of Pink Floyd (circa "Animals" and "Wish You Were Here") as well as Alan Parsons Project. While the songs ramble a good bit ("In Flight,") the Detroit-based rockers accomplish a lot with a lo-fi manipulation of sound. "A Long Time" starts out like Lothar & The Hand People exploration from 1968 before catching up to modern AOR songs that lean slightly toward Prog weirdness. There are a wealth of interesting vocal effects and wild mic-ing techniques in play here ("Bowling Pin Intro,") but one thing is certain the Happy Dragon-Band is not happy. This is one gloomy, druggy record that is well-constructed for late-night missions.
Various - PSYCHE FRANCE VOL. 8 [LP](Parlophone)
Each one of these Sixties French Pop/Rock compilations finds interesting ways to demonstrate the infiltration of American and British ideas while the French Pop structure of the early Sixties (its signature movement) holds its ground. The weird, wild howling Jacques Filh is having a Dylan-esque moment on "Fini Borniol" (while the other track out there, "Wraaaaach!!" is a messy celebration of what we do not know.) Elsewhere, the mysterious Jacques Dudon on guitars, as L'Assemblee is out to introduce Free Jazz into his minimal Rock like a European Stooge or MC5-er, and Quo Vadis pretends like they are Led Zeppelin fronted by Serge Gainsbourg. Phillippe Chatel takes Pop into the Seventies with a rousing Scott Walker-esque "Partir" with bending guitars, orchestra, and horns. Finally, to relax, it is Gilbert Deflez's psychedelic journey with trilling flutes, winding guitars and exotic narration, "Si je t'offrais une branches d'amour (La mandragore.) Not a single track is streaming.
MAX ROACH AND ARCHIE SHEPP - Force [2LP](LMLR/Culture Factory)
On this 1976 record, a pair of legends improvise off of each other with thrilling results. On the lengthy opening suite "Sweet Mao," Max Roach is unbelievably muscular at times almost outdoing Shepp (who continues to reach for the highest notes to be heard.) Still, around its midpoint, Shepp scores some huge points with blistering runs that bring together so many notes at once. Roach while deep in "the Marche" section is doing some masterful work on the snare and still keeping the furious beat going with his hi-hat. When they close it out with the funky hard-bop of "Commencement," you are likely sweating as much as they were. A steamy missing classic of improv Jazz from the days when it was sadly ignored.
Various Artists - HILLBILLIES IN HELL: A CHRESTOMATHY [LP](Iron Mountain Analogue]
On the latest compilation of these well-selected dark Country songs from the past, the sins and transgressions are turned into lessons and warnings. Country Music has no true parallels today in its junk imitations of each other or whoever they deem as the next to follow. It is still hard to believe that Porter Wagoner's sepulchral voice took the harrowing tale "The Cold Hard Facts of Life" to #2 on the charts in 1967. "Hillbillies" is a reminder of the days when this craft was used to write, produce, and record songs - again as chilling as this one - could lead to consistent airplay. Waylon Jennings' magnificent "Revelation" from 1972 fits perfectly here (even if it does not on his first album to use the word "outlaw" in its title - and Waylon would disown it.) In the year of his biggest hit "Marie Laveau," Bobby Bare cut an album with his family ("Singin' In The Kitchen.") In the middle of all the happy "family" songs, Bare slipped in "Maggie (I Wish We'd Never Met)," a story of young love drowned out when the worldly needs of a couple ("it's hard to pretend/when things that need to end keep draggin' on") take over. Of the smaller names, the "ministry in song" of the Lowell Lundstrom Team from the Sixties does a great job at contrasting the chords with the impending doom of going to "Hell." The private press cut is especially impressive when the haunting organ joins in the benedictory final verse. "Hillbillies" is serious, even in the moments where the music might be lighter (Gary Williams' "The Devil,") proving its point about how some serious music did filter through the Country charts and radio many years ago.
ALBERT AYLER - Europe '66 [4LP](ORG Music)
The successor to John Coltrane's "Spiritual Jazz" (played freely,) Albert Ayler and his band could make a lot of joyful noise unto the Lord. The Stockholm '66 session is a firebreather where the loping traditional "Truth Is Marching On" morphs into violin/horn/drum disintegration of "Omega (Is The Alpha.)" There are points in the pristine recording where the highest frequencies (the strings) and lowest frequencies (the bass) are playing together in completely different time signatures. The Berlin set is in almost the same order but captures an entirely separate bundle of energy. Ayler's hallowed "Our Prayer" in Stockholm is performed with an eagerness that pushes one player in front of the other. While in Berlin, they enter reverently and then proceed to tear it apart with each instrument taking the next flurry of notes up to a spellbinding height. Four different sessions over two weeks in Europe that have been released separately here and there - finally joined together to give a more accurate portrait of Ayler as both a giving bandleader and a firebrand player.
DEATH - Fate: The Best of Death [BLUE LP](Relapse/The Orchard)
While this 1992 compilation is not the definitive look at the now-legendary Metal bands, it does a fairly brilliant job of covering the Morrisound production ethos (the stop-and-start borrowed from Punk on "Mutilation" sounds massive) and demonstrating how Thrash and Speed Metal are really pushing the limits to become Death Metal as it will be defined in the Nineties. At the head of Death is guitarist and growler Chuck Schuldiner whose chromatic riffing ("Suicide Machine") and soloing are breaking new ground for Metal players. "Pull The Plug" remains a stellar example of how the Motorhead gallop is morphing into the blastbeat as Death pushed Metal to get more technical and ...faster.
We sincerely hope that this was time well spent. We thank you for reading, listening, subscribing, and most of all supporting the artists listed here. Thank you.
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