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Forgetters – Barbary (Philadelphia, PA) – September 25, 2009
This is BLAKE SCHWARTZENBACH‘s brand new band, following right after the demise of the short-lived band THE THORNS OF LIFE. Playing only their 4th show ever, Forgetters harkened back to mid to late period JAWBREAKER (think 24 Hour Revenge Therapy) much more so than his later band, the also excellent JETS TO BRAZIL. One song, though, sounded like what would have happened if GUIDED BY VOICES had been a Gilman Street punk circa 1989 or so. In other words, this was a POWER trio and they rocked like it was 1994. There were no piano ballads ala “In the Summer You Really Know” or epics like “King Medicine”. Not that I don’t love those songs, but this just had a raw, rockin’, in your face vibe that I hadn’t seen from Blake since the Jawbreaker days. The set was only 35 minutes long and way tighter than any band playing their 4th show has any right to be. All of the songs were brand new, too. I was kind of hoping for a Jawbreaker song or two at the end, but I left quite satisfied with what I saw. Now someone get them in a recording studio pronto!
Jawbreaker – Unfun (Shredder)
Naturally, last night’s great Forgetters show made me pull out Jawbreaker’s first full-length from 1990. It’s an astonishing debut, though they would get even better on 1992’s Bivouac and 1994’s 24 Hour Revenge Therapy, perhaps their zenith. The CD, which I think is now sadly out-of-print, includes the long out-of-print Whack and Blite 7” EP from 1989, their also excellent debut recording.
Jawbreaker – Bivouac (Tupelo/Communion)
Another stunner, their second album from 1992 shows them expanding their melodic, yet guttural and raw punk with more overt post-punk overtones. At times, this even reminds me of some of NAKED RAYGUN‘s more post-punk moments like “Mr. Gridlock” or “Vagabond Dog”, just to use two examples. I can never remember which songs were on the original Lp and which were on the “Chesterfield King” 12” since the CD includes both and includes the “Chesterfield King” tunes (including the incredible title track) in the middle of the running order. Nevertheless, this is absolutely essential for fans of early ’90s punk.
D-Tour (Not Rated)
This is a documentary about PAT SPURGEON, the drummer of the excellent Oakland-based band ROGUE WAVE. Unbeknownst to me and many other fans, in 2006 Spurgeon needed a kidney transplant after a transplanted kidney he had obtained in 1994 stopped working and he went on tour while he was on dialysis (hence the title of the documentary). This movie is about his struggle to get a matching kidney, though thankfully he was able to obtain one. Sadly, though, the film also touches on the story of former Rogue Wave bassist EVAN FARRELL, who died in 2007.
Television – Adventure (Elektra)
This is my favorite Television album and I pulled it out this past week after not listening to it in a long while.
Soundgarden – Badmotorfinger (A&M)
Our friend SCOTT FRANCE cited this 1991 album as “the apex of grunge” and though I’m not sure I agree as I’m tempted to list records that were sort of on the periphery of that whole thing like THE SCREAMING TREES‘ Invisible Lantern or THE AFGHAN WHIGS‘ Gentlemen, I do think that this was Soundgarden’s apex. “Outshined” is the most well-known song here (thanks to a video that was in heavy rotation on MTV back when this came out) and perhaps its best song, but don’t overlook “Jesus Christ Pose”, which has a monster riff and sounds as if a 747 is headed right for your backyard. Furthermore, “Slaves and Bulldozers” is another standout.
David Bowie – Low (RCA)
Elvis Costello with The Imposters, Larry Campbell, Nick Lowe, Allen Touissant, Richard Thompson and Levon Helm – Apollo Theater (New York) – September 24, 2009
This was a taping for the upcoming second season of Spectacle, a show on the Sundance Channel where Elvis sits down with (usually) several different favorite musicians of his and they talk and play music. On this night, Lowe joined DAVEY FARRAGHER on bass, Helm joined PETE THOMAS on drums, Thompson joined Costello on guitar and Touissant joined STEVE NIEVE on keyboards. My impression was that they would each replace an Imposter, but it turned out that on most of the songs, both sets of instrumentalists played.
Still, it was great to hear Elvis and the Imposters start the show off with a great version of “Blame It on Cain” and THE BAND‘s “Rag Mama Rag”. Afterwards, Thompson did “Shoot Out the Lights” and “How I Wanted to”, Lowe did “The Beast in Me” and “Lover Don’t Go” (both from his 1994 album The Impossible Bird) and Touissant sang “A Certain Girl” and several other of his compositions.
Elvis seemed hoarse throughout the evening and in our balcony seats, it was hard to make out what he was saying. Even with all that, though, it was still a treat to attend this taping and see all of these legends together in one room!
Rogue Wave – Asleep at Heaven’s Gate (Brushfire)
I listened to this the day after we saw D-Tour and I still don’t understand why the reviews were fair to middling, at least for the most part. “Chicago X 12” is the band’s absolute peak so far, but others like the closer “Cheaper than Therapy” aren’t far behind, either. This is just a beautiful record and while it’s nice that “Lake Michigan” made a minor splash, this record is so much more than that.
Jets to Brazil – Orange Rhyming Dictionary (Jade Tree)
I’ll end this week’s list the same way I began it, which is with Blake Schwartzenbach. This is the 1998 debut of Jets to Brazil and though very different from Jawbreaker, it’s still a corker. The songs are longer, the playing a little mellower and the PSYCHEDELIC FURS and early ’90s Brit-pop influences are more overt. In other words, this was less of a punk record than anything Jawbreaker ever put out. 2000’s Four Cornered Night is also quite good and on that record, Blake went even further away from punk, venturing into country, ELTON JOHN-ish piano ballads and other unfamiliar territory, all with spectacular results. However, I’ve played this one more often over the years, perhaps because nothing in their catalog beats the new wave guitar riff in “Resistance is Futile” (an apt title) or the epics “I Typed for Miles” and “King Medicine”.
