"What's wrong with a mom on acid?"
- Hippie girl in line for a Stones show wondering why the state took her baby away
I'm watching the Stones' long-lost documentary "Cocksucker Blues." I say long-lost because the thing has been the subject of a bizarre ruling which only makes it legal for a person to view the film if the director is actually present. There's some tasty live sequences and a bit of interesting footage of the traveling circus that was the Stones' life around the release of Exile On Mainstreet. For the most part the footage just hangs together without much context or narrative to hold it together. As a behind-the-scenes look at the debauchery of the Stones, it has its uses. Personally it seems to me like the film pulls some punches though... I mean I think the Stones' life off camera would have been similar, just with more blowjobs and shooting up.
The copy I downloaded cuts to a TV performance of Blue Cheer doing Albert King's "The Hunter" after the movie is over. Cool.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Anthropology
Sonic's Rendezvous Band are the great "should have been" of the mid 70s. The were the best band in America at a time when their former neighbors and tourmates like Grand Funk, Alice Cooper and Ted Nugent were all either burnt out or sinking into sad self parody (Well, the Nuge at least was still rocking it despite the silliness of the loincloth). Led by the MC5's mighty lead guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith, the band was a haven for veterans of Detroit's burnt out rock scene of a few years earlier. With an unstoppable secret weapon in the form of the Stooges' "Rock Action" Scott Asheton holding down the kit and members of Michigan also-rans the Up and the Rationals rounding out the lineup, SRB pounded out a furious uptempo brand of rock n' roll that was equal parts motor city traditionalism and boundless proto-punk energy. Their whiplash raveups served as a launching pad for Smith's serrated guitar histrionics, and damned if the man didn't take every opportunity to remind a dwindling rock audience of the sheer power and excitement of the electric guitar.
Unfortunately, thanks to a series of bad breaks that left them with a virtually invisible historical profile and a scant recorded legacy, the band met an ignominious end some time in the early '80s amid drug abuse and critical as well as popular indifference. Their only commercial release during their lifetime was the astonishing "City Slang" single, which was pressed with the same song on both sides because the band only had enough cash to mix one track. But what a legacy! This song is an absolute barn-burner. The unstoppable momentum of the track comes courtesy of the aforementioned mister Asheton, who it must be said knew a thing or two about making a rock song move. Meanwhile, Smith goes head over ass soloing throughout the whole thing. The breakdown in the middle is so perfectly placed that it would simply be a crime against sound not to milk it for all it's worth and take off on an incendiary jam section in the song's second half. In concert they were known to push it to upwards of nine minutes in length, pretty incredible for the energy level sustained throughout. Tragically, the few bits of recorded music that do exist have been tied up in legal battles between various partners, including the now-deceased Smith's estate and they never legitimately saw the light of day.
Fortunately for us, this is the 21st Century, and you can download an extensive collection of bootlegs and studio outtakes recorded between 1975 and 1980 that has mysteriously made its way onto the cyberweb. I believe it was an unlicensed boxed set compiled by who knows in 2006, but the details are sketchy, and good luck ever finding it in an HMV. So really we are left with one option, those of us who require a mainline of the most potent Detroit rock n' roll. If you always thought the MC5's Kick Out The Jams was the only proper way of hearing the 'Five and that their studio albums were pale attempts at FM gold by burnt-out radicals high on the politics of the day, you'll be pleasantly surprised to know that the collection of SRB recordings available to you far surpasses Smith's more heralded band in quality and quantity. Imagine if you will about a dozen sides that not only kick out the jams, but permanently revoke their membership, roughly heave them out the door, and beat them up in the alley with a sock full of pennies. Go and download it all now. Don't worry, I'll wait.
Now I don't condone theft of people's intellectual property or copyright infringement. But, I do condone incredible rock n' roll. Come on guys, get your shit together. Clean up the masters, press 'em to vinyl and slap a price tag on it.
It makes me wonder just how many other great, unrecorded bands there could be out there. Food for thought. How many songs have been recorded for record companies who, for one reason or another, left their young charges twisting in the wind. How many face-melting live performances never went recorded? How many bands never even saw the inside of a studio? Record companies -- Open the vaults please! Come on, you're not going to use this shit. Stick it on the web and make it free. Ha ha, I know, I know. But seriously, get the SRB stuff out there at least. Us junkies will happily part with our hard-earned dollars.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Waves
Radio has failed music fans utterly. It should be the most important medium for exposing listeners to new music. Unlike listening to records or mp3 players, radio is not a closed medium. It is free, and accessible to virtually anyone. As a transmitter of culture, it is irreplaceable.
Unfortunately radio has spent the last half century dissolving into a vile steaming puddle of toxic afterbith. Radio stations do not sell music, but air time. The more time they can sell to advertisers (which they make money off of) and the less time they spend playing music (which they must pay for) the more successful they will become. Radio stations want to attract the largest possible share of the marketplace, and therefore will attempt to play things that will attract the largest amount of listeners. In many cases this means getting a hold of a few well-liked radio personalities who then make prank calls, donate prizes and shoot the shit into a microphone during rush hour to basically eat up airtime and do anything they can to avoid playing any music at all.
Many people who love and care about music get into radio stations with the best of intentions. The problem is that the machine is so big, these people don't have the power to change anything. They get jobs handling stations in backwater outposts with limited listenership until they land a gig with a major station and get to sit at a console and listen to music that is played automatically by a robotic playlist that is compiled by a pre-determined radio format that has been market researched to appeal to a core demographic in the local market. Very few musical decisions are made at all. The real decisions are made by the bean-counters who have an eye on the bottom line, and no one that I know has ever asked an accountant about good music. Gone are the days of a pioneering DJ like a John Peel who had the freedom to play whatever he wished and still be guaranteed an audience.
Radio has become more homogenized than ever before. In the 60's there were regional hits from obscure groups that could get picked up and go national with the support of local stations. Virtually unknown and stridently uncommercial groups like Blue Cheer, the Barbarians, The Sonics, the 13th Floor Elevators and The Monks had hits very early in their careers. Now there is almost no chance of a local group of unknowns getting airtime without getting the backing of known management and distribution. At one time, radio stations were independently owned, and thus only needed to respond to the needs of their local listenership. Today, there is no law against a private entity buying up as many radio stations as it wants. In the U.S., Clear Channel now owns the majority of commerical radio stations and also holds a staggering 99.9% if the stations in the top 250 markets. This means that we are hearing the same songs over and over again. There is no diversity, no outside voices, no alternatives. Oh wait, yes there are... you just have to turn away from radio to find them.
Moreover, payola still exists. All the major labels do it, but they are more clever about it than in the days of Alan Freed. Major label artists get the most airtime not because they are the best, but because they have the largest promotional budgets behind them. In fact, all the major labels have at one time or another been forced to pay significant fines due to violations of the current broadcasting laws. Of course, they can (or could) afford it, and it boosted their sales enough to cover their expenditures. Major labels also spend exorbitant amounts of cash and influence to convince lawmakers to altar government policy in order to make such activity legal. That was before then internet allowed musicians and fans to circumvent not only the major labels, but also the technological barricade that radio had artificially created in the past several decades.
It should come as no surprise that a generation of kids are turning off the radio. When I was young I listened to the radio constantly, beginning with the local top 40 station (and I still have an enormous database of 1994-1997 dance pop hits stored away in my memory banks) and then moving on to rock stations and later college stations as I grew older and my music tastes changed. But once it became possible to download music, I turned away from the dull, formulaic pablum of the radio industry. I got tired of hearing the same songs by the same bands at all times. I also got tired of the digitally frosted, ultra-compressed sound of modern radio rock, wherein musicianship is made secondary to the auto-tuned chorus and vocal effects that are pushed way up in the mix. I suspect I'm not the only one.
Lately I've been considering a career in Radio. Maybe its naive of me to think I can affect change. I'm not really that idealistic anyways though, I think I could make a living while having a good time. Maybe I can be a sports broadcaster or something. I mean, I might love music, but I doubt very much a job at a radio station will allow me to convey what I like to listeners.
Unfortunately radio has spent the last half century dissolving into a vile steaming puddle of toxic afterbith. Radio stations do not sell music, but air time. The more time they can sell to advertisers (which they make money off of) and the less time they spend playing music (which they must pay for) the more successful they will become. Radio stations want to attract the largest possible share of the marketplace, and therefore will attempt to play things that will attract the largest amount of listeners. In many cases this means getting a hold of a few well-liked radio personalities who then make prank calls, donate prizes and shoot the shit into a microphone during rush hour to basically eat up airtime and do anything they can to avoid playing any music at all.
Many people who love and care about music get into radio stations with the best of intentions. The problem is that the machine is so big, these people don't have the power to change anything. They get jobs handling stations in backwater outposts with limited listenership until they land a gig with a major station and get to sit at a console and listen to music that is played automatically by a robotic playlist that is compiled by a pre-determined radio format that has been market researched to appeal to a core demographic in the local market. Very few musical decisions are made at all. The real decisions are made by the bean-counters who have an eye on the bottom line, and no one that I know has ever asked an accountant about good music. Gone are the days of a pioneering DJ like a John Peel who had the freedom to play whatever he wished and still be guaranteed an audience.
Radio has become more homogenized than ever before. In the 60's there were regional hits from obscure groups that could get picked up and go national with the support of local stations. Virtually unknown and stridently uncommercial groups like Blue Cheer, the Barbarians, The Sonics, the 13th Floor Elevators and The Monks had hits very early in their careers. Now there is almost no chance of a local group of unknowns getting airtime without getting the backing of known management and distribution. At one time, radio stations were independently owned, and thus only needed to respond to the needs of their local listenership. Today, there is no law against a private entity buying up as many radio stations as it wants. In the U.S., Clear Channel now owns the majority of commerical radio stations and also holds a staggering 99.9% if the stations in the top 250 markets. This means that we are hearing the same songs over and over again. There is no diversity, no outside voices, no alternatives. Oh wait, yes there are... you just have to turn away from radio to find them.
Moreover, payola still exists. All the major labels do it, but they are more clever about it than in the days of Alan Freed. Major label artists get the most airtime not because they are the best, but because they have the largest promotional budgets behind them. In fact, all the major labels have at one time or another been forced to pay significant fines due to violations of the current broadcasting laws. Of course, they can (or could) afford it, and it boosted their sales enough to cover their expenditures. Major labels also spend exorbitant amounts of cash and influence to convince lawmakers to altar government policy in order to make such activity legal. That was before then internet allowed musicians and fans to circumvent not only the major labels, but also the technological barricade that radio had artificially created in the past several decades.
It should come as no surprise that a generation of kids are turning off the radio. When I was young I listened to the radio constantly, beginning with the local top 40 station (and I still have an enormous database of 1994-1997 dance pop hits stored away in my memory banks) and then moving on to rock stations and later college stations as I grew older and my music tastes changed. But once it became possible to download music, I turned away from the dull, formulaic pablum of the radio industry. I got tired of hearing the same songs by the same bands at all times. I also got tired of the digitally frosted, ultra-compressed sound of modern radio rock, wherein musicianship is made secondary to the auto-tuned chorus and vocal effects that are pushed way up in the mix. I suspect I'm not the only one.
Lately I've been considering a career in Radio. Maybe its naive of me to think I can affect change. I'm not really that idealistic anyways though, I think I could make a living while having a good time. Maybe I can be a sports broadcaster or something. I mean, I might love music, but I doubt very much a job at a radio station will allow me to convey what I like to listeners.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Jerusalem - Jerusalem
Band: Jerusalem
Album: Jerusalem
Label: Deram
Year: 1972
Say, do you supernauts like heavy, overdriven riffage roaring out of vintage '70s stacks with balls-out soloing all over it? Do you think that nobody has ever truly done justice to the creeping dread of early Sabbath? Do you frequently get disappointed by supposed "lost treasures" of seventies hard rock when they turn out to be high fantasy prog-flute suites in the manner of Jethro Tull? Do you like music that sounds like it was recorded in a cathedral cemetary? Should a lead singer ever wear a shirt?
Give Jerusalem's "Primitive Man" a listen. This melting soundscape of brutally fuzzed-out bass and harsh, bellowing rock god vocals is less funky than Grand Funk and gets more medieval on your ass than Argus-era Wishbone Ash.
Now rendered little more than a footnote in proto-doom history thanks to a few dudes from California, Jerusalem crawled out of the primordial muck of the early '70s and laid one platter of arcane sludge on us grateful acolytes and promptly sank back in. If they can be said to have a claim to fame, it is that Ian Gillam produced the record. I admire his taste, because this record trumps Tony Iommi's similar pet project, Necromandus. Orexis of Death and many other albums that I have come across in my search for holy truth carry legends that are often much heavier than their riffs.
Thankfully, Jerusalem delivers a good dose of gothic atmosphere along with its miles of heavy droning crunch, as that crusader cover indicates. "Hooded Eagle" is a nimble crusher with enough instrumental twists and turns to pull in prog rock enthusiasts but never wimps out. Deeply indepted to the devastating power of Sabbath and the stark tension of ofter British rockers, Jerusalem would point the way towards future magickal chyldren like Pagan Altar and Witchfinder General, as well as the over the top myth metal of the NWOBHM variety as demonstrated by Maiden and Priest. Nothing here ever gets overly polished or technical, the sound is raw, and the musicians are naive enough to try and fail to pull off moves they've swiped from better bands. Their boundless energy and sheer dedication to tearing down cathedral spires elevates the material, and occasionally as on the stomping "She Came Like A Bat From Hell," they catch a shot of divine inspiration with a memorable hook too. Give this a listen and you'll be riding off on a charmed steed to Antioch to slay infidels on the morrow.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
