You & Me (Less than Zero)

Various
Less Than Zero OST
1987

I've been on a bit of a Danzig kick for a week or so. It started as a Samhain kick, and then before I knew it I was full on into the Danzig years. I'm trying to listen to everything after Danzig III with an open mind, as I've never paid any attention to that stuff. Love those first three records, though.

Anyway, this soundtrack features Glenn Danzig in full-on schmaltzy night club singer mode, doing a sort of precursor to Lucifuge's "Blood and Tears". The Power Fury orchestra backing Sir Glenn is the original lineup of Danzig, minus Eerie Von and plus George Drakoulias.

Other notable tracks here are Slayer's cover of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (seriously), The Bangles' fantastic "Hazy Shade of Winter" cover, and Poison fucking "Rock'n'Roll" right in the pooper. Public Enemy's "Bring the Noise" is here without Scott Ian whiting it up. Oh shit, "Goin' Back to Cali" is on here too, so it's got that going for it.

All in all, this is a typical shitty soundtrack, but the Danzig and Slayer tracks are shit you gotta hear.

Less than Zero

The Separating Fault

Elf Power
When The Red King Comes
1997

You have probably heard of Elf Power, an indie rock band from Athens, GA. They are (were?) a part of the Elephant Six collective, of which Olivia Tremor Control, Neutral Milk Hotel, and Of Montreal were also a part. They've been pumping out good quirky, sometimes lo-fi-leaning, sometimes lush and bright indie pop for 15 years now, and pretty much each album falls somewhere on the pretty good to great spectrum. This particular album, however, is really something special. It's very lo-fi, full of fuzz, and borderline psychedelic at times. It's a concept album about the Red King and his kingdom, so it's basically like a few triumphant narratives away from power metal subject matter, which is kind of unusual for this kind of music. But the lyrics fit the music so well, and I can't even put my finger on why.

This record won me over on Elf Power in a huge way, and I'd spent a good 3 or 4 years talking serious shit about them before I heard it. Without going into massive detail, let me just say I hated these guys on a personal level due to an incident at a friend's house (a place known as The Landfill, where plenty of Athens bands played in the late 90s. Where my Athens duders at? Holla.) that involved a friend of mine barfing in some dude's car and passing out in the parking lot next door. This eventually led to Elf Power carrying my friend off and one of them calling me a "bad friend," words that sting almost as much now as they did then.

But then I downloaded "The Separating Fault" one night while drunk and everything suddenly became ok, because holy shit it's good. The whole record is. You can trust me. I'm a good friend.

When The Red King Comes

Over the Edge

Alice 'n Chains
demo
1987

Here's a fun little relic of the hair metal era. This pre-grunge-fame version of Alice in Chains featured Layne Stayley and some other dudes. At some point this band folded, Stayley met up with Jerry Cantrell, who was playing in a hair metal band called Diamond Lie at the time. Through a series of events, Stayley joined Diamond Lie, who then changed their name to Alice in Chains. A coupl'a years later they got famous. THE END.

Well not really obv.

Anyway, this demo blows, but "Over the Edge" is pretty rockin'. I wish Diamond Lie had recorded a demo before changing their name, cause I'd love to hear the full AiC lineup doing hair metal. I'd probably like it better than their regular records. Anyway.

Alice 'n Chains demo

My Way

Low Pop Suicide
On The Cross of Commerce
1992

Man, what a fucking great record this is. Though they never had much of an impact at all, Low Pop Suicide boasted a few hefty credentials. Bassist Dave Allen was in Gang of Four and Shriekback, while drummer Jeff Ward played with Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Nine Inch Nails, 1000 Homo DJs, and Lard before taking his own life in 1993. (Side note: Ward's brother Jason Ward is the bassist for Flotsam and Jetsam, and on their 2008 live album Once in a Death Time, they cover Lard's "Forkboy" as a sort of tribute to Jeff Ward. It's pretty good. I'll post it some time.) Also, before this full length, they released an ep that was, if memory serves, produced by Trent Reznor.

The album isn't as industrial as you might expect, though. There's some noisy industrial flourishes, but this is all live-band, heavy drumming, and mostly crushing guitars. The production has a 90s chorusy sheen to it that suits the music, and guitarist/vocalist/primary songwriter Rick Boston's warbly, strained vocals are a cut above a lot of the 90s alternative crap. There are a few dreamy, almost shoe-gazey tracks breaking up the heavier ones too.

Some of the stuff I post here has been discovered on the internet, or was stumbled upon in dollar bins over the years and that sort of thing. This is one of the ones I bought when it came out and that has never fallen out of favor. I bought this and The Disengagement ep upon their release and listened to the hell out of both. Great stuff that's sort of hard to categorize.

The final minute of "My Way" will blow your balls off.

On The Cross of Commerce

Dead Man

Dragonwyck
Chapter 2
1971

Dragonwyck is a band who has benefited quite a bit from the Internet age. They formed in Cleveland in 1969, recorded 2 albums that they never released, and basically made a reputation for themselves with their live show. As far as I understand, the albums they recorded, of which Chapter 2 is logically the second, exist only as a handful of acetate copies out there somewhere. There have been a couple of reissues (or just issues I guess) in recent times, but they seem to survive mostly on blogs. I stumbled across this record a couple of years ago, and while it's not one I rock on a daily basis, it's the kind of thing I put on every coupl'a months and say "Damn this is good. Why don't I listen to it more often?" So here's me doing my part to spread the word.

The music has bits of folk, psych, prog, and just plain ol' rock and roll. There's some big Moody Blues influence, but there's a little Who, early Pink Floyd, Amboy Dukes, etc. They sound more England than Cleveland, that's for sure. But hey, it's great stuff.

Chapter 2

I Will Never Die

Turbonegro
Never is Forever
1994

You probably don't know this, but I once played in a Turbonegro cover band. It was an absolute blast. I played 2 shows with them in the Rune Rebellion slot, and they went on to play 2 shows without me after I tragically broke my ankle and couldn't rock out for a bit. Our set mostly came from Ass Cobra and Apocalypse Dudes, with a coupl'a newer (at the time) songs thrown in. I don't think we did anything from the albums before Ass Cobra, but I specifically remember suggesting "I Will Never Die" as a possible cut. Of course I was outvoted for whatever reason. It's a great song.

To get to the point, Turbonegro is a great band. It's almost a shame they're called Turbonegro and dress like they do, because they are all too often dismissed as a novelty or, even worse, taken seriously and offensively. Yes, I realize their original/non-us name is TRBNGR or Turboneger, either of which seem more offensive than the already vaguely offensive Turbonegro. But I trust the band when they say their motivations were actually anti-racism, and I mean shit I listen to Burzum and Peste Noire and plenty of other "questionable" black metal, so whatever. I've typed far too much on this topic.

Never is Forever is a great record, showing the band before they went balls-out punk on Ass Cobra. There's a poppy element to this record that they never touched on again. Just whatever download it or don't I'm tired of typing about it.

Never is Forever

Grande Days

Flaming Heart

DiAnno
DiAnno
1984




Gogmagog
I Will Be There
1985


Iron Maiden's first two records are punky, rough-around-the-edges metal with a leather-and-studs biker vein running through them, so you'd expect that, seeing how polished and sophisticated (for lack of a better word) their material became with Bruce Dickinson, Paul DiAnno was bringing that tougher sound to the table. So it would stand to reason that his post-Maiden music would be tough, aggressive, and pretty rocking.

Funny how that worked out.

Here's his first post-Maiden record, a cheese-slathered mix of mid-80s rock and synthesizer power-balladry. If you're a fan of 80s inspirational soundtrack rock (and who isn't?), then you'll dig this. Some of it's pretty crappy, but it's interesting if nothing else.

As a bonus, I'm also throwing in Gogmagog's I Will Be There ep, which also featured DiAnno on vocals, former Maiden drummer Clive Burr, and future Maiden guitarist Jannick Gers. This ep isn't too far off from the DiAnno record, but all three songs are good. It's much catchier and not quite as cheesy. It's a shame this is the only thing they ever released.

DiAnno and I Will Be There

Lay Down and Die, Goodbye

Alice Cooper
Easy Action
1970

Tomorrow marks the 1-year anniversary of this blog, so I since my first post was Alice Cooper's first album, Pretties For You, I thought I'd take this moment to post the band's second release, Easy Action. They were still in the weirdo-psychedellic phase in 1970, though some of the more garagey aspects had dropped away. The next album would be Love it to Death, where they toned down the psychedelia even more (though there's still plenty of weird to be found throughout the band's entire catalog), and reach classic-rock superstardom with "I'm Eighteen". This album has some great Beatles-esque stuff mixed in, too, though, and the production is a little more refined than on Pretties. They never really did the sweeter sounding harmony-laden thing after this album. The lyrical content is still bizarre, though. Oh, and Michael Bruce sings two tracks here, marking the last time anyone besides Alice himself sang lead.

The title is from a line in West Side Story, a musical and film the band liked so much they borrowed heavily from it on 1972's School's Out.

But yeah, just like I said when I posted their debut, let me just stress that if all you know of Alice Cooper is the stuff they play on the radio, give this album a chance. They were a really odd band, especially on the first two albums.

Easy Action

Under the Rose

Kiss
Music from the Elder
1981

I'll try to keep this brief, but understand my love for this record is almost unparalleled. Let's look at the facts:
1. I love KISS. I mean, they are seriously my absolute favorite band ever. No one else is even close.
2. I love Bob Ezrin, particularly his work in the 70s, when he was pushing bands up and up and producing these huge, ambitious projects (some of which were total failures, *cough*maybe like this one*cough*)
3. I love it when bands do weirdo records that are totally out of sync with the rest of their catalog, as this blog is a testament to.

So maybe you can understand why this album is so dear to me. I love it. I mean, it's like a desert island album for me. Not like a "so bad it's good" thing, either. I genuinely love it.

Some background for the uninitiated: Kiss was at an all-time low in the late 70s. Peter Criss had left, and they'd just released the two worst-selling records of their career, the wrongly maligned Dynasty and the rightly maligned Unmasked. Peter hadn't played much on either of those, but they'd finally officially replaced him with the phenomenal Eric Carr (The Fox) and had promised fans a return to the straight-up rock'n'roll of their earlier records. Eric Carr was just the kick in the pants they needed, too. He was a much heavier drummer than his predecessor (and probably the most talented guy to ever play in Kiss), and they were in the perfect position to reclaim their glory. They called in Bob Ezrin, who'd produced the wildly successful Destroyer to helm the board, and Ezrin inexplicably convinced them to do a concept record. He was hot off of doing Pink Floyd's The Wall. That's the only explanation. The record bombed so hard it's a wonder the band persevered. They didn't even tour for it. Given the way future members were treated, it's a wonder Eric Carr wasn't fired on the spot. Ace Frehly had had enough at this point and bolted for a solo career.

At any rate, this album was downright legendary when I was a kid. It was out of print (or, barring that, very, very hard to find) and was widely considered a joke. My brother tracked it down through a mail-order company, and was so disgusted by it that he purposely scratched it and sent it back. They knew the deal, though, and promptly sent it right back, and that very album is sitting in my record bin a foot or so away from me as I type.

So why the beef? It doesn't sound like Kiss. It's not particularly rock'n'roll, really. Gene Simmons once said that it sounded like a bad Genesis record. Paul Stanley, clearly exhibiting the better taste of the two, once said that it was a good record, just not a good Kiss record. But it was the perfect soundtrack to my young-life of being obsessed with The Legend of Zelda and The Hobbit and crap like that. That's definitely the vibe I get. Does it sound like Kiss? Not really. Is it a failure? Probably. But I still love these songs, and I truly wish the band would treat this album with a tad more respect. Some of these songs are just incredible. "The Oath" is one of the heaviest songs in the band's catalog, certainly the heaviest up to that point. "Just A Boy" is good for reasons I can't quite explain. And "Escape from the Island" is the first Kiss instrumental since their debut record 8 years (and 8 albums, not including live and solo records [which brings up a crazy point about how prolific this band was in the 70s. From 1972 to 1980 they released 8 studio albums, 2 live albums, and 4 solo albums for a total of 14 records in 8 years]) earlier.

Oh, by the way, maybe you're familiar with the 33 1/3 book series (books dedicated to specific albums, written by music journalists, musicians, etc). There are like 70 of them at this point, but back in 2005 they were gearing up to do the second or third run and sent out a call for idea submissions, and I promptly threw my hat in the ring for this record. For the intitial screening (which preceded the official pitch), the editor, David Barker, responded with something along the lines of, "Yeah, huh, not many people like that album." Needless to say, my book isn't on the shelves.

But I demand this record be given a second chance. And I guess I didn't keep this brief after all. But trust me, there's a lot of stuff in my head that I didn't type.

Music from the Elder

Ain't Nothin' To Do

Nine Pound Hammer
"Radar Love" b/w "Ain't Nothin' To Do"
1995
Vinyl Rip

The greatest redneck punk band in history covering two songs that are awesome in their own right, Golden Earring's "Radar Love" and The Dead Boys' "Ain't Nothin' To Do". Forget all the cowboy-hat wearing, rebel-flag sporting, faux-country posewads; this is the real deal. It's a shame Nine Pound Hammer called it a day shortly after this, paving the way for the far inferior Nashville Pussy, and then the equally inferior reunited version of Nine Pound Hammer. So maybe it's not a shame they called it a day, but rather a shame they didn't stay down. Or maybe I'm just selfish.

At any rate, chug a beer, download this, crank it, play air guitar, and go smash something. Or, you know, be a pussy. The choice is yours.


"Radar Love" b/w "Ain't Nothin' To Do"

Kill The King

Masters of Reality
Masters of Reality
1988

Chris Goss is the unsung hero of the desert rock scene that gave us Kyuss and its many offspring. Goss produced the three Kyuss records that matter, and his influence is strong even on current Queens of the Stone Age stuff. That whole oddball, bluesy rock thing w/ the smooth vocals over top that QOTSA does is lifted from Goss's playbook. You already know all of this, I'm sure, so I'll get to the point.

Masters of Reality is Goss's band. They've had a revolving door of a lineup over the years (that's included all the usual suspects [Homme, Oliveri, Lanegan, Catching] as well as Ginger Fucking Baker) and have released 6 or 8 records or so. This is the first album, and it's nuts that this came out 21 years ago. Awesome heavy blues rock that is a hundred times better than anything termed "blues rock" should be. "The Candy Song" was a minor Headbanger's Ball hit. Dig it.

Masters of Reality

I've Got Gingivitis

Show Business Giants
Let's Have A Talk With The Dead
1995

Nomeansno guitarist Tom Holliston invites a revolving door of guest musicians to perform in his side-project Show Business Giants. He's released a half-a-dozen records or so, and this record has always been a favorite of mine. Style-wise, it's a mish-mash of punk, lounge, faux-cock-rock, goofy folk, and just all kinds of other oddball weirdness. And it's really funny, too, particularly "Sound Check" and "The Other Side of Mr. Sulu". If you're a fan of Nomeansno, you should definitely hear this, as you can definitely tell it's one of the same dudes, and and the other two guys play on here too.

Also, I just realized this is the second Nomeansno side project I've posted, which probably makes me look like some Nomeansno superfan, but I'm actually not. I've got a coupl'a their records, but but you know, that's it.

Let's Have A Talk With The Dead

Wonderfully Colored Plastic War Toys

Dead Milkmen
Soul Rotation
1992

When the Dead Milkmen dropped this record, their legions of fans immediately shat the bed. This was a band that was massively popular in underground circles, with the punks and skaters, the college rock dudes, even some of the goths and metalheads all having one of the ubiquitous smiling cow t-shirts. My first exposure to them was before I was even into punk at all, when someone let me hear "Bitchin' Camaro" and "Rastabilly" and inexplicably told me it was early Anthrax. What did I know.

Anyway, Soul Rotation isn't funny. At all. That's it's biggest misstep. Even when they weren't hilarious, the Milkmen were consistently chuckle-worthy, or at the very least you could tell they were trying. On this record, the lyrics are occasionally odd, but not really in a humorous way. So there's that. Another weird thing is that Joe Jack Talcum (or Butterfly Fairweather as he went by on this record) sings more songs than Rodney Anonymous (H.P Hovercraft on this record).

But the music is really great. The simple punk sound of their early records is gone, replaced by melodic pop, funk, even a little ska. There are a coupl'a punkish songs here, but it's different. Anyway, I've always stood by it, even though the band never really recovered from the perceived quality drop (Not Richard, But Dick was a pretty good return to their earlier irreverence, but Stoney's Extra Stout (Pig) was terrible). What was side 2 (starting with the excellent "Silly Dreams") is stronger than side 1, FYI.

Soul Rotation

The Drought

The Organization
Savor the Flavor
1995

Death Angel were trying to distance themselves from the gorier, darker images of thrash metal almost from the get-go. I saw an interview some time ago on youtube (which I just tried to find again to no avail) with frontman Mark Osequeda where he's practically still a teenager and he talks about how the name isn't intended to be as dark or scary as people make it out to be. By the time "A Room With a View" from Act III (which, slight forays into funk-rock territory notwithstanding, is a thrash masterpiece that no collection should be without) was in Headbanger's Ball rotation, they were calling themselves D.A. So it's on surprise that after the band dissolved in the late 80s, their reformation took on a totally different tone.

The Organization is Death Angel minus Osequeda. Just look at that cover up there. Pretty shitty, isn't it? But even with the stupid album title and terrible cover, this record isn't nearly as bad as you're expecting. While it doesn't sound like the mighty thrash of our Filipino friends' hey-day, it still offers some solid heavy alt-metal, 90s style. Not unlike Anthrax's early John Bush material, this record is a bit of a mish-mash of melodic rock, metal, alternative, and grunge (do people still use that term?), and it isn't quite sure what it wants to be, but when the grooving is kept to a minimum and they focus on straight-ahead rocking, the results are mostly positive. The production is really nice, too, offering a good 90s sheen without sounding too dated.

The Organization released 2 record (I think), and this is the second. I haven't heard the first.

Savor the Flavor

Police Truck

Various Artists
Virus 100
1992

As of this writing, Jello Biafra's Alternative Tentacles has released over 400 albums, constantly skewing to the weird. Admittedly, I don't like a lot of what they release, but boy do I appreciate their presence and voice in the underground music world. Over the years, a ton of really cool stuff has come out bearing their (admittedly awesome) logo. But back in 1992, they reached the milestone of their 100th release. And what better way to celebrate it than to make it a tribute album to the band that started it all, Dead Kennedys.

As with most tribute records, this one is incredibly hit or miss. Stylistically it runs from punk, grindcore, and metal to rockabilly and hip-hop. Some interpretations are by-the-numbers, while some use the original only as a jump-off to something wholly original. I won't bother pointing out the ones I think blow cod, but I will point out the great stuff here: Didjits' "Police Truck" is fuggin' awesome, and only goes to solidify how criminally underrated they are. Les Thugs' "Moon Over Marin" is a fantastic super-melodic interpretation of one of DK's poppier (at least musically) tracks. Both Napalm Death and Sepultura throw down some seriously intense punk/grind/metal shit. And Nomeansno's a capella version of "Forward to Death" is borderline genius. Oh oh and Mojo Nixon's "Winnebago Warrior" is great too. Aaaand Faith No More's lounge interpretation of "Let's Lynch the Landlord".

Ok cool you know just dl and listen and delete the tracks you don't like or whatever.
Virus 100

Escape and Run

7 Seconds
Ourselves
1988

By the late 80s, 7 Seconds' sharp hardcore edge had been dulled considerably. Gone were the fast tempos and crunchy guitars, and in their place were shimmery, overprocessed guitar jangles and catchy, mid-tempo melodies. But hey, that's all right. Their transition album was New Wind, which, while a departure from their earlier sound, still managed to produce a coupl'a their best tracks (most notably "Still Believe" and the title track). Ourselves, the third record after Walk Together, Rock Together, is the most fully realized of their indie-pop sound. Frankly, Kevin Seconds voice is pretty well suited to this style anyway. And while it's hard to compare it to the aforementioned posi-core masterpiece, it is still very good for what it is. With a different production, this album could've been an influential piece of emo-core history (I definitely hear a little Texas is the Reason in "Escape and Run"...or I guess the other way around...whatever). One odd note is how the band seems to be publicly saying goodbye to their hardcore roots on the final track on this album, "Seven Years", which not only features the refrain "Why'd it take so long? It's time to move along," but also revives the line "If we can walk together, why can't we rock together." And then they dropped the pop thing and went back to playing hardcore like 3 years later for their next album, Out the Shizzy. So maybe what was meant to be closing the door on their hardcore years was actually closing the door on this little jangle pop experiment.

Either way, this is a good album from a somewhat wrongly maligned time in 7 Seconds' career. Listen w/ an open mind.

Ourselves

Atomic Harvest

Anti-Nowhere League
The Perfect Crime
1987

The last two records I've posted have included words like "fantastic", "great", and "pleasantly surprised" in their descriptions. Let me contrast those two entries with this one, Anti-Nowhere League's sophomore release, The Perfect Crime. It's not very good. If you've been paying attention to this blog, you know I'm generally a fan of albums by bands that are, for whatever reason, different than the rest of their catalog. In this case, ANL traded in their street-punk origins for slick synths and catchy, sing-a-long choruses. It's not a total failure; a few of these songs are really good. But they can't decide if they want to be Big Country/Midnight Oil-esque new wave rock, Bauhaus style goth rock, or cheesy 80s soundtrack pop. There's a little of all three in just about every song. Still, "Crime", "The Shining", and "System" are all pretty good.

Anyway, the band broke up during/after this record and didn't reform until Metallica covered one of their earlier punk gems, "So What", on their Garage, Inc. comp.

I had this on cassette back in the day and sold it for 1 dollar at Wax'n'Facts in Atlanta.

The Perfect Crime

Stoned in the Bathroom

Chubby Checker
Chubby Checker
1971

This is going to blow your mind. A friend of mine turned me on to this record just last week by pointing me to Cousin Mike's blog, and I haven't been so pleasantly surprised in some time. You know the name Chubby Checker, right? He's the guy who did "The Twist", "Let's Twist Again", "Twist it Up", "The Peppermint Twist", "Twist and Shout", "Twist of Cain", "Twisted Sister", and was the inspiration for the 1996 Jan de Bont film Twister. But after his pop career faded, and before he resigned himself to the oldies circuit, he apparently decided to experiment a little (in more ways than one, presumably). This psych/garage/blues record never got a US release, but was recorded in Holland and released on a few budget labels over there. Nine of the Eleven songs were written by Checker himself, and let me just stress how good this stuff is. The first two tracks will convince you.

Check out Cousin Mike, too. Tons of great stuff there.

Chubby Checker

What's In A Name?

Bullet LaVolta
Swandive
1991

In 1991, I went with a few friends to see Prong and C.O.C. While we were driving up to the club, one of the guys in the car informs us that C.O.C. had revamped their lineup and changed their sound. We had no idea. We were all pretty disappointed by the new C.O.C., and unfortunately my friend Corey's curfew meant that we actually left literally moments before Prong's first song (I could hear them playing as we got into the car, and I was crushed). But the night wasn't a complete loss, because the first band on the bill was this odd punk/metal/rock band called Bullet LaVolta. The thing about Bullet LaVolta, though, is that I've struggled since that time to accurately describe their sound. When I say punk/metal/rock, you get a certain image in your mind, I'm sure. Well they don't sound anything like that. They are technically proficient, yet the songs are straightforward and melodic. They are full of piss and vinegar, but they're certainly not your simple three-chords-and-three-minutes affairs. Grunge? Alternative? I really just don't know. I could see some similarities, maybe, to early Smashing Pumpkins, but way cleaned up and way more technical. Allmusic tries to peg them as emo, and I can tell you flat out that that's 100% incorrect. But the point is, this is a fantastic record. Like really fantastic.

They put out two full-lengths, and ep, and a live record, and this one (their second full-length) is by far the best. None of their records are in print now. Guitarist Clay Tarver went on to play with Chavez, and other guitarist Corey Brennan (not the same Corey who's curfew caused me to miss Prong, though that Corey did go on to play in a pretty popular acousticy-folk duo you might've, possibly, heard of) played with the Lemonheads. Their singer, Yukkie Gipe, is now in a garage band called The Konks, but they don't do much for me. It's nothing personal, Yukkie.

Swandive