Echo and the Bunnymen – Ocean Rain (Sire/WEA)
I’ve been embarking on the never-ending project of importing my CDs into iTunes and recently I uploaded the first four Echo and the Bunnymen albums. This may be my favorite of the bunch. The least immediate, it’s also perhaps the most rewarding of repeated listening. Everyone loves “The Killing Moon” and I’m no exception, but my favorites are “Crystal Days” and “My Kingdom.” Nevertheless, the whole thing is perfect. If I hesitate to favor it over earlier albums, though, it’s mainly because the incredible rhythm section of LES PATTINSON and drummer PETE DEFREITAS aren’t as prominent as on earlier efforts (especially Heaven Up Here and Porcupine). Nevertheless, although without their rhythm section and with singer IAN MCCULLOCH being unable to hit the notes of yore they’re a shadow of their former selves, I still wish I could’ve attended their show at Radio City Music Hall last year where they played this album from start to finish. I hope that somehow they tour for that!
The Rhino reissue from 2003 features the B-side “Angels and Devils,” the entire Life at Brian’s session and two live tracks.
Antony and the Johnsons – “Whose Are These” EP (Hotrod)
A 7” I picked up last month at his show here at the Keswick Theater, it features two songs I’d never heard before that (to the best of my knowledge) don’t appear on anything else. The songs (“Whose are These” and “Tears Tears Tears”) are comparable stylistically to anything on I Am a Bird Now or The Crying Light. It’s a nice picture disc, too, though I’m not sure who it features on each side.
Morrissey – “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris” EP (Polydor)
Although not essential, this is a nice curio for collectors. The A-side is on his solid new Years of Refusal, but the B-side is a re-worked version of “Death of a Disco Dancer,” a haunting tune from THE SMITHS’ last album Strangeways, Here We Come made to sound like some of his more recent solo material.
D.Y.S. – Brotherhood (X-Claim/Taang!)
Although many others favor the first two SSD records or Is This My World? by JERRY’s KIDS, this has always been my favorite early ‘80s Boston hardcore record. Sure, some of the lyrics are cheesy and the musicianship can be shaky, but despite that, this is just raging, back-breaking hardcore that’s extremely catchy at the same time. It’s also the first release to feature DAVE SMALLEY (later of DAG NASTY, ALL, DOWN BY LAW, and THE SHARPSHOOTERS) on vocals. It’s available on a 2004 reissue from Taang! on CD (it’s a shame this has never been reissued on vinyl, as the original is very hard to find), though I have it on an earlier CD called Fire & Ice/Wolfpack. That CD contains both of their albums (Brotherhood and the horrid, self-titled, textbook bad metal follow-up from 1985), the great track “Wolfpack” (featuring BOB MOULD on backing vocals) and some jokey blues, reggae, and heavy metal parodies that are fun but far from essential. Thus, the Taang! CD (which features Brotherhood as well “Wolfpack”) should feature all you need by this band.
Ghost on the Highway (Not Rated)
Directed by KEN VOSS on what appears to be a shoe-string budget, this fascinating documentary chronicles the life and times of JEFFREY LEE PIERCE. Featuring interviews with former bandmates WARD DOTSON, JIM DUCKWORTH, DEE POP and KID CONGO POWERS as well as others who knew him like JOHN DOE, DAVE ALVIN, PLEASANT GEHMAN (though oddly not KEITH MORRIS, his former roommate and friend), it focuses almost exclusively on his early years writing for Slash magazine and the eventual formation of THE GUN CLUB. The period from 1981’s seminal Fire of Love to 1984’s The Las Vegas Story (featuring bust-ups, audience baiting, odd production choices that still worked, and typical rock and roll excess) is covered in great detail and for that reason, this documentary should be seen by all those interested in The Gun Club and Jeffrey Lee Pierce.
However, it unfairly condenses the last 10 years of his life (and a lot of great music) into about 20 minutes of footage. I don’t know if it was because they couldn’t get interviews with NICK SANDERSON (RIP) or ROMI MORI, two key players in the later versions of The Gun Club, or because they just ran out of time and or money, but it was a frustrating end to an otherwise fine documentary.
Tindersticks with Dawn Landes – World Cafe Live (Philadelphia, PA) – March 4, 2009
Although the venue was undersold, the sparsely-attended World Cafe Live still got treated to first-class chamber pop that felt like a slow burn, getting more intense and moving as it went on. My wife thought that singer STUART STAPLES seemed perturbed about something during the show, and I did see him grimace and make some odd faces between songs (perhaps he had issues with the sound, which to my ears was fantastic), but nevertheless it didn’t affect the performance at all!
Opener Dawn Landes provided an opening set of lightly flavored folksy pop.
Tindersticks – Live at Glasgow City Halls (Lucky Dog)
This tour-only release is a beautiful document of a live show from last October in (you guessed it) Glasgow. The packaging is sparse but pretty, featuring a hand-drawn cover, and the music is sublime.
Yung Wu – Rarities (self-released)
As far as I know, this one was only sold at the WINTER HOURS tribute CD record release party at Maxwells back in January, which featured this band along with the excellent WILD CARNATION. Although I regrettably couldn’t attend that show, I was able to get a copy of this disc and I’m very happy I did. I don’t even know it has an official name, but it came up as “Rarities” in iTunes so I’m sticking with that. For those unfamiliar with Yung Wu, they were a Feelies off-shoot featuring percussionist DAVE WECKERMAN on vocals. Musically, it’s similar in style, though perhaps even more explicitly taken with THE VELVET UNDERGROUND. Most if not all of these tracks are covers; among the standouts are excellent versions of THE SKIDS’ “Into the Valley,” BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD’s “Nowadays Clancy Can’t Even Sing,” THE WHO’s “Mary Anne with the Shaky Hands,” and TOM VERLAINE’s “Kingdom Come” (which was later covered by DAVID BOWIE as well).
Michael Patrick McDonald – Easter Rising (Hougton Mifflin, 2007)
McDonald’s memoir of growing up in the Old Colony Projects of South Boston in the ‘70s and early ‘80s reminds me very much of MATTHEU ROTH’s Loser and JOE MENO’s Hairstyles of the Damned even though both are works of fiction and Easter Rising is not. Each book has the theme of a kid from a working-class neighborhood in an urban area transforming himself, with punk rock playing a vital role in the transformation but not being the entire story.
In this case, that applies as well. While McDonald’s tales of sneaking into Boston clubs as an underage kid to see the likes of THE SLITS, BAUHAUS, and PUBLIC IMAGE LTD. as well as attending loft parties and seeing MISSION OF BURMA and what not will inevitably appeal to music fans, the real story here is something else entirely.
Through an unplanned trip to Ireland, McDonald discovers his familial roots and finds his calling doing community service work in his drug-, suicide- and homicide-plagued neighborhood.
If I have any criticisms, it’s that this almost reads like two separate books. It skips from his early twenties to his thirties, as if one part is the “punk” section and other part is the “Ireland” section. Regardless, it’s still a very compelling read!
Echo and the Bunnymen – Heaven Up Here (Sire/WEA)
My other favorite of their excellent four-album run between 1980 and 1984, 1981’s Heaven Up Here was a huge step forward from 1980’s Crocodiles in terms of production, arrangements, and playing. Credit must be given to HUGH JONES (who also produced THE SOUND’s classic From the Lion’s Mouth that year and went on to produce great records for the likes of THE DAMNED, KITCHENS OF DISTINCTION, PALE SAINTS, and others) for turning the sound of the Bunnymen from the almost new-wave sounding Crocodiles to a heavier, thundering, rhythmic, post-punk colossus. The funkiness of the rhythm section on this record (and on 1983’s subsequent Porcupine) is something to behold as well. Still, the tunes don’t suffer, with the A-side being especially strong. “Show of Strength” and “Over the Wall” are stone classics. It’s too bad that their collection Songs to Learn and Sing underrepresented this album (only including the single “A Promise”) so much.
The 2003 Rhino reissue features a non-album track and four live versions of songs from this album. Most notable is “Zimbo”, an early version of “All My Colours”.
