I gotta move on with these Top 10 from 2003. Repeat offenders all over again: #4, 2004 and #4, 2008. Many more groovy hits from the prodigious, beloved, late, lamented retro-pop ensemble. 1960s fetishism without all the laziness.
Straight outta Ohio!
"Heather (Whatever)" from The 3-Dimensional... (2003)
It gets a little more difficult (and pointless) to go on & on about some great album, when you can just stream the whole thing yourself - but that's my job. The Pillbugs made a handful of official videos, and that's one right there. Organ rattles, tambourine & handclaps, drum breaks, so forth and so on...
"Red Light Summer" from The 3-D I-P Dream (2003)
Mellow grooviness, nice little tune, animated in the style of Yellow Submarine (#6, 1969). Or as much as possible.
O yeah, this CD also came with an actual set of red/blue 3-D glasses! I think I've owned about twenty of those over my life, and this is probably the only ones left standing.
"Charlie Blue Car" from The 3-D I-P Dream (2003)
As always, I'm left with a couple of Pillbugs albums that I need to pick up - I think Buzz for Aldrin (2007) should be next. What else? Here's a label commercial with some Warholian SFX. And unofficial slideshow vid for another good track, "Liberty Town of Love."
I've touched on the acclaimed ladies and rockers of 2012, based on what I saw other people listifying. Now we're going to dig deep into the musico-historical psyche of Canadia, and I guess some USA too.
Might as well get America out of the way first... and that doesn't mean NY.
"Duquesne Whistle" by Bob Dylan, from Tempest (2012)
I liked Together Through Life (2009) pretty well, but this new one by Bob Dylan (#3, 1966) is getting even more love. I never got the Christmas album... Hard to judge from one video from one song, but I'll probably pick this one up eventually. I like Bob.
"Show Me The Place" by Leonard Cohen, from Old Ideas (2012)
Never have known too much of Cohen's music, but I have respect. Apparently these recent live tours have been completely epic, but I don't remember him coming around here. (Well, Austin it would seem...) The album also received a lotta love.
"Psychedelic Pill" by Neil Young, from Psychedelic Pill (2012)
Like Cohen, ol' Neil Young in secretly Canadian - but it's kinda one of those "open secrets." Back together with Crazy Horse for this one... Did I ever tell you about the time I saw Sonic Youth open for Neil Young & Crazy Horse at the Summit? In 1991, that was! They opened with "Tom Violence" as we were finding our seats. Thurston wore a Pain Teens Born in Blood t-shirt. The Neil Young crowd was not impressed - after the set, many seemed on the verge of rioting. That was not a pleasant trip to the restroom, in my Butthole Surfers acid-sheet-artwork t-shirt! I read special emphasis in my neighbor's menacing insistence about "Cortez the Killer" ... Wait, what was I talking about? O yeah, Sonick Youth! Their stadium opening set was a lot like this (3 weeks earlier).
Nah, I just really don't have that much to say about the 2012 Neil Young. Might be great, but I haven't been drawn to his new output in a long while. Maybe I should read up on this one. There's quite a few official videos from this album on Neil Young's YouTube. I did see a Psychedelic Pill Blu-Ray at Cactus, which might explain that.
Skip played drums for Jefferson Airplane on their debut album, and then got one of his songs on Surrealistic Pillow (1967) - without even appearing on it.
"Omaha" from Moby Grape (1967)
As many drummers do, Spence decided to be a guitarist... one of three in Moby Grape, a terrific late-'60s SF psych-pop rock band. He only wrote a couple of tunes on their debut, but one was the band's most famous song, "Omaha." His other song was "Indifference."
"Just like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot" from Wow/Grape Jam (1968)
Skip Spence contributed more to their next record. Some of his songs were more rockin', more dramatic, or more country... but none was as weird as "Gene Autry."
As explained on that YouTube:
"Just Like Gene Autry: A Foxtrot" is a 1920's-era sounding dance number complete with a cameo spoken introduction by Arthur Godfrey himself, who also happens to play ukelele and banjo on the number. As if this tune isn't odd enough, the original vinyl on Columbia mastered this one track at 78 rpm rather than the typical 33-1/3 rpm as the rest of the album is pressed at. An announcement precedes the track "reminding everyone to kindly get up and change your turntable to 78, thank you!" after which there is a lock-groove that stops the needle from playing any further until you pick it up and place it on the next track.
During the making of the album, Spence freaked out on acid and apparently chopped down a hotel door of another band member.
"Save me" indeed.
"War in Peace" from Oar (1969)
After Skip got out of the psych ward (not psychedelic), he took his ideas, bought a motorcycle with his record advance, drove down to Nashville, and recorded Oar all by himself. It's a harrowing but incredible minimalist doom-folk album. For some reason, "Little Hands" seems to pull the most attention, but pretty much the whole album's excellent.
"Grey/Afro" from Oar (1969)
The unprecendented final jam. And other than some re-issues and compilations, I kinda thought that's where it ended. But I happened to notice that Skip had actually participated in some later Moby Grape output down the years.
"Chinese Song" from 20 Granite Creek (1971)
So that's a Skip Spence song on a Grape album that Skip actually played on. Looks like he also played on 1978's Live Grape, where they included 1 total Spence tune (and it wasn't "Omaha" either).
It's too bad how things worked out for Skip, but he made some fine music during his burning-bright youth.
Jean-Pierre Melville is one cool dude. He renamed himself after the author of Moby-Dick. He was such an influence on the Nouvelle Vague that Godard cast him in Breathless (1960, S&S #13). And the latter of these two practically embodies the term 'cool.'
Felix: I've set up a table and some chairs.
Gerbier: We're not here for a trial. We're here for this.
Not being a WWII historian, the first thing I noticed was how much detailed information I needed to fill in during Army of Shadows. The Arc de Triomphe? 1836. The Vichy regime? 1940-44. The Phony War? Declared but unfought. Kabyles? Algerian Berbers. Ausweiss? Occupation work permit.
Talking about the movie proves a little difficult for me. It’s about people working in the French Resistance against the Nazis - the operative word being "work." Despite a couple of semi-dramatic escapes, the resistance here mostly amounts to logistics... just doing what needs to be done, taking care of business, of course with extremely high stakes and severe risks. Traitors have to be eliminated, agents need to be smuggled, there's a submarine rendezvous, Gestapo headquarters must be infiltrated. But then everything is so understated, almost business-as-usual... very much more human, with only the most stoic of heroism - but few of the traditional "heroics." When on a mission, there's no dark humor or one-liners, and even torture at the hands of the Nazis happens offscreen. It's like Melville had never seen a war movie! But he did see war, actually fighting in the French Resistance.
Our hero Gerbier is a nebbishy civil engineer, a leader in the Resistance and cool in the face of evil. Perhaps not cut out for dominoes, but he'll plunge a knife deep in the Nazi occupation's throat. Or at least insure that the necessary forged documents make it to the appropriate clandestine agents. You really get to know the operatives in his cell: trusted Felix, hypercompetent Mathilde, codename: Le Masque, physical enforcer Le Bison, new recruit Jean-François - and even Jean's detached older brother, mathematician Luc Jardin. So I became attached to their fates, which are not all glorious in victory. The sub takes Gerbier to London for a ceremony. The snooty Englishers won't offer much help, but he gets to see Gone with the Wind (1939, S&S #235), Big Ben, an American jazz party, the Blitz (city on fire just like in the movies)... and I recognized Charles de Gaulle, even from behind! After parachuting back into occupied France, there are cyanide capsules, double-blind secret missions, a low-tech airstrip, a sign reading "EINGANG VERBOTEN," moonlight on safe house, and always what needs to be done. But I won't reveal any secrets.
Police Superintendent: General alert. Routine roundup. Identity checks all night. The killer is described as tall, young, wearing a raincoat and a hat.
This was a new-school (at the time) film about old-school crime: murder for hire. Revenge and honor too. The beginning of the movie firmly establishes that it is not a world of idle chit-chat. Speaking too much, or under the wrong circumstances, does not pay. The police investigators, on the other hand, are nothing but talk: smarmy cajoling, underhanded pressure, line-up trickery... But all their efforts are worth less than the caged bird's whistle.
I definitely don't want to get into the plot, so here's some other stuff. The film is extra stylish, with a crystal-clear mood. The minimalist palette is mostly grays, blue-grays, gray-blues, blacks, with some pale tan for a splash of color. The killer's room is dingy, his bird is dingy, the city is dingy. (I can't remember any scenes where you can tell it's Paris.) But his overcoat and hat are crisp, as are the cars he boosts. There's a famous or influential chase through the Metro, and that's the right place for it. Either Jef Costello or Alain Delon was really not a very good driver. At the beginning, I thought "he wants to live outside the cage." And I thought it again at the end of the movie.
Did you hear all about the recent results of BFI's decadennial Sight & Sound poll? Vertigo is finally better than Citizen Kane!! So I'll be watching 1+ film per day throughout September - and blogging it...
Not the first film from the Nouvelle Vague, but the directorial debut of Jean-Luc Godard - the new waviest of the French New Wave.
I've only seen a handful of Godard films, as few as three total. Wait, I'm counting Jules and Jim (1962), which was Truffaut - so I think it was just two. Breathless being the first for me, and it's probably been around 20 years since. Again, kinda why we're here...
JAZZCRIMEYOUTHWAVEJUMPCUT
Michel Poiccard: Informers inform, burglars burgle, murderers murder, lovers love.
Regardez, what a difference a couple of decades can make. Back in my early-20s, I think I found these characters pretty cool. Don't get me wrong - the film is extra cool, Paris 1960 is definitely cool, Jean-Luc Godard was the king of cool. But in the flush of youth, I must have seen another young rebel romancing the city, living fast, burning bright. Jean-Paul Belmondo plays a Parisian car thief. Jean Seburg plays his American sociopathic pixie dreamgirl. They each have several screws loose.
Michel fancies himself a tough guy, boasting a false identity (László Kovács!), chain-smoking ill-rolled cigarettes. Cracking wise in some rhyming slang, like "Maintenant je fonce, Alphonse!" ("Gotta make tracks, Max!") Although right upfront, he admits he's just an asshole. Really he's just naïve and juvenile, accidentally getting deeper & deeper in trouble than he ever intends. Patricia carries the unearned superiority of Americans abroad, or else she wears that mask to hide her mental and ethical hollowness. Or is she just a pathological liar? Her interactions with other people are odd, to say the least.
Lots of great little moments of cool occur throughout. "Not much of a looker, but I'm quite a boxer" is perfect self-deprecation. Everyone constantly throwing lit matches and cigarettes on the floor. "That scooter just passed you!" made me laugh out loud. Maybe the first ever high-five in movie history? And also lots of weird uneasiness, like Michel's desperate anti-suave begging for sex, or Patricia's boss telling the story about forgetting to sleep with the girl he'd meant to.
But I think this is a loveletter to art - mostly the movies. Godard was a film critic for Cahiers du Cinema, and right near the beginning a young girl tries to sell Michel an issue on the street. The credits are a Who's Who of French/New Wave: story by François Truffaut, supervised by Claude Chabrol, Parvulesco by Jean-Pierre Melville (we'll get to him later this month), and Godard as the informer (the one in the quote above). There are movie posters everywhere: Ten Seconds to Hell ("Live dangerously until the end!"), The Harder They Fall (I finally figured out that Michel dresses like a '40s Bogie character), Westbound (the French Western film?)... I liked how during the American film noir, Patricia hides in the DAMES restroom. Oh, and the film is dedicated to Monogram Pictures. There's talk of the great artist Renoir, Maurice Chevalier, and Romeo & Juliet - which certainly foreshadows the unintended consequences of young love oustside the bounds.
Yesterday being a Saturday, I went for a double-feature. Picking the 2nd film was quite difficult - given the critical reverence for a wide range of Godard films, plus any of the other French/New Wave auteurs: Truffaut, Rohmer, Resnais, even Roger Vadim or Jean-Pierre Melville. But in the end, it was always Godard's only experimental film noir sci-fi headtrip...
Turned out to be the perfect complement to Breathless. Stylistically could not be more different... and the French-American slots are reversed for the lead actors. Maybe not as good a film, but I think I actually enjoyed it more.
"I'm fine, thanks. Don't mention it."
The noir-style score is relentless & ridiculous. Everyone's always walking around through various doorways, repeating the same lines of dialogue. Mathematics Park. Lemmy Caution always taking photos with his Retro camera. Dick Tracy and Flash Gordon have gone missing. Natacha von Braun has "the voice of a pretty sphinx." Mr. Nosferatu is α-#1? Seems like maybe we're heading for a black-and-white Oz reveal, but the film changes track. Computer monologues, flashing of negative print images... The triumph of poetry over logic? Maybe.
The "R" of The A-to-Zed of Erol Alkan: Ramases & Selket, apparently "a guy who fixed boilers in Blackburn." Who suffered from temporal lobe epilepsy... or maybe came up with a squirrelly promotional gimmick. I mean, had a Philip K. Dickensian vision of iconic reincarnation. He was a Pharaoh reborn!
Witness... the evolution, of Ramases!!
"Mind's Eye" - B-side, by Ramases & Selket (1968)
This is the song on Erol Alkan's BBC list. Very authentic, evocative of ancient Egypt, to wake the Pharoahs. Selket was the missus.
"Crazy One" - A-side, by Ramases & Selket (1968)
The cover of this single, along with the "Crazy" title, and the actual song itself, lines up pretty well. Ahhh, the sixties.
"Screw You" - A-side, as Ram and Sel (1970)
This is so totally bent! I'm really not grokking the Apache beat, and the single-entendre, and... everything.
Here is some musico-biographical info about Ramases. He appears to have been a loon. The debut full-length album was enabled by the people in 10cc.
"And the Whole World" from Space Hymns (1971)
With the expanded palette of an entire LP, Ramases seems to have gotten serious. Like, real serious. Mystical prophecies of the brotherhood of man type stuff. I'm not expert enough to pass judgment between the outrageous novelties and the mind-expanding conceptual-psych-folk-pop... Only you can decide.
"Golden Landing / Long Long Time" from Glass Top Coffins (1975)
With the twin assists of the Royal Philharmonic and London Symphony Orchestras, the 2nd record seems like the come-down of a broken savant. "Long Long Time" shows the distinct thumbprint of The Beatles, in multiple ways.
As a reminder, the "A to Zed" show with Erol is well worth getting, here at Archive.org. Seriously good.
The Pillbugs do the same thing consistently - write albums crammed with '60s style hooks and melodies with plenty of psychedelic effects, and peace and love. Even though I put them at #4 Discovery of 2008 , it was actually a rediscovery. Because I'd totally forgotten about this 2004 cd, now rare & out-of-print and everything. Why this is the only Pillbugs album it's impossible to still get is kind of a mystery. It's their 3rd, very pop, with lots of strings and woodwinds and such. Maybe some record label business or something...
"Happy Birthday" from Happy Birthday (2004)
Like most Pillbugs cd's, this one has a fairly long running time (1 hour), with a huge number of songs (20). I think I'll just throw out a sampling from the album, and keep the commentary to a minimum. You either dig this kind of retro-popcraft or not... Should be able to tell fairly quickly.
"Your Taste is Mellow/Wild Bird" from Happy Birthday (2004)
I went ahead and included the first two of four "Life As It Happens" interludes that appear throughout the cd. They're the short, trippy instrumentals.
"All in Good Time" from Happy Birthday (2004)
The Pillbugs are from Toledo, OH - and bill themselves as "The World's Most Psychedelic Band." That might be stretching it a bit, but still...
"Climbing the Walls/I Wake Up" from Happy Birthday (2004)
That's about as heavy as The Pillbugs will get - the first song, not the second.
"Peasant Girls" from Happy Birthday (2004)
European fairy tales, classic American animation, and girls... ladies and gentlemen, The Pillbugs!!
The only Bowiesque song I can recall from these guys, I guess he's more '70s that '60s. "Ein zwei drei..." Towards the end of the album, so you get your "Life As It Happens Part 4." So, that's probably about half of Happy Birthday, and the other half's about the same quality. As are their other albums I've got.
Oh, how I wanted to enjoy Paul Drummond's Eye Mind: The Saga of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators, The Pioneers of Psychedelic Sound (2007). It even has a Forward by trusted psych apostle Julian Cope! But "enjoy" is not the word...
The "saga" in the title gives the impression of an epic adventure yarn, but you're really getting more of a "historical accounting." It is informative. Heavy with dates and details, the book is not however rich with the wild spirit of the Elevators themselves. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn the author's background was in Napoleonic military history, and rock 'n' roll just some quirky hobby.
Nuggets of interest abound. Stories like how a young Roky was banned from church because his long hair might offend the visiting LBJ. Or how a phantom band was available to cover the Elevators' whole set when they were too messed up, or didn't show up at all. The problem is: you've basically read the entirety of those stories... just now.
There are repeated (and repetitious) "cat & mouse games" with law enforcement - but details are rare, and sketchy when provided. They apparently stashed pot on roadsides outside Kerrville, so they could go get it at night... and smoke in the car before the cops pulled them over. Which makes absolutely no sense, as told.
There are a series of bandmates' and friends' girlfriends that leave them for Roky. But they're usually only mentioned when introduced ("Jim was dating Nancy, a young beauty from Corpus Christi...") and when jumping ship 50 pages later ("Nancy got Roky alone and declared her deep, abiding love"). Nancy wha? For the first half of the book, time flies by - tons half-remembered trivial minutiae share equal footing with far fewer half-remembered critical events.
But I'm glad I got it, and I'd still recommend the book for the serious 13th Floor... uh, scholar [see Cope, Julian]. For a few reasons. First, those nuggets of interest are numerous enough, regardless of pacing. If you take a step back and squint a little, you'll get a serviceable picture of the mid/late-'60s freak lifestyle in Texas. Beyond tidbits like Spring being "the home of redneck hippies," there's the whole general fear & loathing of the time and place.
Also, some of the central players get drawn more fully as people. Roky least of all, probably because the legend of the fragile genius-holy fool is so firmly in place. But loads of great information about the mysterious Clementine Hall and her deep involvement in the band. Her husband Tommy's role as messianic acid guru has been pretty well nailed down. Fortunately for him, he's left a paper trail of endless talk - so you get a lot of his crackpot ideas and tendencies straight from the horse's mouth as it were. And lead guitarist Stacy Sutherland's struggles with the lifestyle and his personal demons are detailed way beyond the vague post-Elevators info I'd heard before.
Finally, there's the chapter on Easter Everywhere (1967), which ties together lots of information on the source texts for Tommy's metaphysical theories and lyrics - primarily "Slip Inside This House." Again, with loads of direct quotes from the man himself. Since I consider this a seminal '60s psychedelic record, the fairly brief section was probably all worth it. Hell, I would have just made writing and recording info about half the whole book! With less of the "played the Vulcan Gas Company show on March 8th, 1967, the band continued to struggle with Tommy's complex new arrangements." O well...
Okay, okay... I think that pretty much covers it (and then some). You can sample the publisher's preview. Here's a review at Texas Psychedelic Rock (below the giant banners), which says a lot of the same things - just more briefly and bitterly. Plus, check out the recommended online/free 13th Floor bio at the very bottom of this page (in two parts). And here's a more positive review.
This is kind of a reminder to me: Remember to do a full post on music found via British music magazines' supplementary cd's.
Okay. So as to avoid being the worst post ever, here's a prime example!
"Blackwaterside" from Jack Orion (1966)
The August 2004 issue of Mojo Magazine came with a complimentary mix cd, The Roots of Led Zeppelin. I certainly knew a bunch about the "roots" (appropriation) of blues songs like "Whole Lotta Love" (Muddy Waters and Willie Dixon) and "The Lemon Song" (Howlin' Wolf). So... no surprise to find bluesmen like them, Robert Johnson, even Blind Willie Johnson and Bukka White.
What is great, beyond the opening "Long Tall Sally," was the acoustic folk stuff. I didn't really that "Black Mountain Side" was basically a cover. And that the original is so spine-tinglingly awesome! Same with Joan Baez's "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You." And it's always nice to have an extra John Fahey tune on hand!
Anyway, Bert Jansch was a guitarist in British folk stalwarts Pentangle. Wait... maybe this should be titled "The Discovery of Blackwaterside" instead. Still, no less a man than Johnny Marr said: "He completely re-invented guitar playing and set a standard that is still unequalled today... without Bert Jansch, rock music as it developed in the '60s and '70s would have been very different. You hear him in Nick Drake, Pete Townshend, Donovan, The Beatles, Jimmy Page and Neil Young. There are people playing guitar who don’t even realise they’ve been influenced by him one step removed" (according to Bert's official website).
Headed downtown to Discovery Green tonight, to see The Big Lebowski (1998) from The Coen Bros. So maybe something more substantial over the weekend. Until then... Kenny Rogers, dude!
"Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)" The First Edition (1968) The Big Lebowski OST (1998)
Somewhere to think, Need to leave you. It appeared to me on grass, And if the rocks should fall. David and his irises, In some place of mind - Rays. Behind the UFO's, Between some sisters. Later I come back... Acid driven, I returned crazy. I go with the new! - títulos da canção
"Onde Meditar" from Os Haxixins (2007)
Ignoring the last three decades of musical advances (hell, three and a half!), Os Haxixins do one thing: mid-'60s garage-psych. And they do do it well. Drugs, fuzz, and rockin' in the streets of Sao Paolo, Brazil! Next time you have a happening and it freaks you out... you'll have been to a party where they were playing Os Haxixins, but never one where Os Haxixins were playing!! Based on this interview, I think the name is either Portuguese for Assassins or has something to do with hashish, or is a play on the connection between those.
Seriously, they've got the whole scene down. Songs rush by, with 17 in 40 minutes on the album, 3 minutes is an epic. You get some Mayo Thompson vocal stylings on "Dirty Old Man" (live), but overall, beyond the language, it could be any American punk band from the '60s with a fuzzbox and cheap organ. And it feels as vital as anything since the originals. "Preciso Te Deixar", "Surgia por Sobre a Relva" (live) - that's right, I'm just throwing song links in randomly!
***After tinkering with this, dropping the volume, upping the quality... I think that's the best I can do, without making it a 10min load. The album does not have that fluttering though.***
Not sure if it's purely the garage influence or just the similar levels of studio experience, but they get everything so right/wrong so effortlessly. The way certain instruments (guitar and organ) are so out front, weird early fade-outs while things are still going, etc... Most of the available clips are live (and YouTube), so it doesn't really convey the garage authenticity of the actual recordings. But the songs and the playing are up to the pure sounds of the freakout! Check out the interplay on the back half of "E Se as Pedras Cairem" (embedded above). Or "Em Algum Lugar da Mente" (live), or "Raios" (live)... I want them playing the Astral Headspace Fest 2010!!
There's another studio one, "Depois eu Volto!" And another from the album, "Acido Fincado!" And "Eu Vou de Novo" (live).
Okay. Awesome, right? Here's the A-side to last year's fantastic single, "Depois de um LSD" ("After Some LSD")! Something tells me Mtv Brasil is slightly cooler than the American version... ever was.
Oh, I looked it up: "haxixe" is Portuguese for hashish.
Remember this? These are some discographies that I love all the way. Not necessarily best bands or albums ever (but that helps)...
You might have heard once or twice that The Velvet Underground were largely overlooked in their own time, but have since become somewhat critically acclaimed. Don't be confused - those aren't unrelated. One thing leads to another. Anyway, the acclaim is right on, and those hippy beatniks were fools.
The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967) 10/10 - In addition to the actual VU, this has the model Nico - invariably referred to as a Teutonic chanteuse. She sings in the most feminine Germanic baritone imaginable. Andy Warhol "produced" the album, supposedly, and did the banana thing. Perfect balance of mellow balladry, art noise, and rock 'n' roll. Plus, the best S&M song ever. The subject matter (heavy drugs and kinky sex) always gets the attention for being out of step with the times, but it's the songs that still sting. Superb album.
White Light/White Heat (1968) 9/10 - I think it's hilarious to follow up the rollicking noise-gospel of the opening title track with a Welshly goofy story from Cale on "The Gift." (Music and voice hard-panned to separate channels.) And there's more good stuff in here, but it all gets blown out by the mammoth tidal wave of "Sister Ray" [part 2]. Overall, slightly weaker on the song front, but more meaty on the experimental and jamming parts.
Then everything changed. Up until this point, the VU made a noise that didn't sound produced by musicians. It was expertly crafted to sound like random scum/freaks that just happened upon some instruments and made an awesome racket. Not coincindentally, John Cale also left the band at this time. Going forward, they would drift away from more arty pretensions and put out their most musical music.
The Velvet Underground (1969) 10/10 - Definitely my personal favorite of these albums. Lou Reed and Doug Yule (John Cale's replacement) trade vocals, but sound eerily alike. It's got some great down-tempo songs like "Candy Says" and the classic "Pale Blue Eyes." As always, excellent rave-ups in "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light." Quasi-religious hymns, such as "Jesus" and "I'm Set Free." And the grand finale: Moe Tucker's touching "After Hours"... so sweet.
Loaded (1970) 9/10 - This completes the transition, “Ba ba ba-ba!” Dynamite song after song, including an all-time one-two punch: "Sweet Jane" then "Rock and Roll." Really, I'm going to just leave it there (that's plenty!) - but check out any of the clips with the great NYC-style cover art. It's quite the compendium of guitar-pop excellence.
The VU archives were raided for the next couple of decades as the legend grew. So, there's plenty of live albums, outtake collections, best-of attempts, reunion specials... The one package really worth noting is The Quine Tapes (2001, Bootleg Series Vol. 1). A mind-blowing 3xCD set of 1969 audience recordings by the future Voidoids guitarist, it is super-extra-double well worth getting. Along with any of the aforementioned albums you might be missing.
Just bought the DVD set of Gerry Anderson's UFO series (1970-71). He made a lot of television shows for kids in the United British Kingdom of England. But I've always wanted to see this one based solely on the show's intro. Groovy!
After the switch to live action, and failure of UFO, Anderson struck gold again with Space: 1999 (1975-78). Which I remember watching at my dad's house on those '70s weekends... [alternate opening]
Finally if you watched any of those videos at all, you must check out Peter Cook & Dudley Moore (Not Only... But Also, 1965-66). Insanely hilarious!
Extending the non-music streak to 2 posts! Ex-cel-lent.
Remember what psychedelic-tinged '60s pop sounded like? So do The Pillbugs - like a whole lot!
"Soundman" from Everybody Wants A Way Out (2008)
So, I guess I'm cheating again. Counting the Pillbugs as a top discovery of 2008, when it was really more of a re-discovery. See, five years ago, I bought Happy Birthday (2004, now OOP) on the recommendation of Black Dog Records store. I listened to it, liked it, but it never took center stage in the rotation. Just another Beatlesque band making the sound of a day-glo grin over a cartoon horizon. When I saw Everybody Wants A Way Out (2008), with it's escape-from-dystopia painted cover, it looked good. A bit more 'with it,' for a completely retro-'60s psych-pop indie band.
A Pillbugs album tends to be packed to the gills, with at least a couple of double-cd albums (the s/t debut, Buzz for Aldrin from 2007). Happy Birthday has 20 tracks, The 3-Dimensional In-Popcycle Dream (2003, with 3-D glasses) has 24. The new one pares it down to 14, with added focus. First there's a really catchy psychedelic rocker, then a totally psychedelic pop song, and then there's a very melodic bit of psychedelia, followed by a really rockin' psychedelic rave-up with a great hook... They play around with all the building blocks handed down from the post-Rubber Soul, studio-bound Beatles.
They have of course covered the Beatles, as well as the Monkees (again with Head):
Although the overall sound centers on a very specific time and place, the songs don't all sound the same or like just slightly-tweaked covers. There are various moods and combinations, and the song-writing is suprisingly consistent - between the rockin', the pop, the psychedelia, and various admixtures. You either like where this is going, or you know you won't. Album title links in this post go to a YouTube sample from that record. I still don't own the two double-cd's - the 1998 self-titled debut (1998, OOP) gets the least coverage, and is definitely the hardest to find.
Buzz for Aldrin (2007) was the acknowledged masterpiece, prior to the new one's release. So that's where I'm heading next: To Jupiter and Beyond the Infinite!!
Extra! If that's not enough Pillbugs video for you, you can also check out this two-partdocumentary on the band from a couple of years back.
