Chuck Berry – More Rock ‘n Roll Rarities (Chess/MCA)
Not many new albums have really inspired me of late, so I’m still delving into my vinyl collection I hadn’t played in years (lacking a turntable until X-mas). For this week, I played my old game of blind man’s bluff. I chose 10 albums at random off the shelves, having no idea what I’d get. It’s always pleasant to play albums you almost definitely wouldn’t have otherwise-both the more off the beaten track albums by favorites, and those by bands (such as Girlschool) that never seem to scream “play me!” at you, even though you kept it because you liked it (because there’s so many other choices). To wit, going in alphabetical order, this 1956-1965 rarities collection I bought upon its release in 1986 is hardly what I think of when I am in a Berry mood. But damn if I didn’t fall in love again with “I Got to Find My Baby” (here on stereo remix), which swings way more than most of Berry’s typical R&B and rock, bridging his love for the blues. The original demo of “Rock ‘n’ Roll Music” is the guitar rock pioneer at his rawest, too, and those of us who are male and brown-eyed have always appreciated “Brown Eyed Handsome Man!” Thanks, Chuck!
The Chameleons – Tripping Dogs (Glass Pyramid U.K.)
The only drawback of potluck is that you sometimes pick the one release by a favorite artist that you didn’t much care for. But it gives you a chance to listen again 15 years later, and see if you like it better. In this case-nope! Not much! I never saw the wisdom of releasing a posthumous tape of a band’s rehearsal (in a studio) for an upcoming concert, when there were already so many fine live recordings of this incredible atmospheric British post-punk band out there, and as a result, all these songs are better heard elsewhere! So why is it in my Top 10 this week? It just proves that the least important work of the greatest bands of all time is still better than the best of most others, and I still listened to these songs (I hadn’t heard them in a long time) as they were played in 1985 with appreciation for the artistry, songwriting, pathos, post-punk edge, and ethereal float of a band that meant so very much to me and still does.
Girlschool – Hit and Run (Stiff)
It’s true that I have precious little heavy metal in my collection, having never much cared for the genre. (There’s a hair-metal “power-ballads” album being hawked on a TV commercial right now that makes me want to pull my hair out every time, it’s such torture!!) What little I have tends to be from groups that have just as much punk rock in them as metal-a string of MOTORHEAD LPs, one by TANK, a couple by late-period SSD, etc. This all-girl foursome has just such a connection, given that one of them had been in 1977 punk greats THE KILLJOYS (with a raspy, sore-throated, young KEVIN ROWLAND, before he sang so differently in DEXY’S MIDNIGHT RUNNERS), and they were friends with Motorhead, even recording with them. Songs from this 1981 pinnacle debut, like the screw-you-mom! song “Yeah Right” and the anthemic “C’mon Let’s Go,” all sound huge. It’s like THE RAMONES and Motorhead and MC5 thrown together in a metallic stew.
The Last – Fade to Black EP (Bomp!)
This is where potluck really comes through. I hadn’t listened to this in ages!!! This is what Bomp! salvaged from the sadly unreleased second-LP follow-up to 1979’s classic (but thinly recorded/mastered) L.A. Explosion. This great L.A. quintet melded classic ‘60s pop and power-pop and garage with late ‘70s punk energy on their early singles. And here it is again, benefiting from much better sound in 1981 on these four great songs, the last the original lineup gave us. I bought a test pressing of the never-released LP from their old manager in the mid-’80s and I think I will likely take that out and play that now. Songs such as “Obsession” and “Fade to Black” were the blueprint for many L.A. bands to follow, notably the punkier DESCENDENTS, who borrowed liberally from The Last and were never shy about saying so!
The Monkees – The Birds The Bees & the Monkees (Screen Gems)
Man, I haven’t played this one in, I don’t know, 25 years? Whenever I think Monkees, I think of the four the preceded it. I didn’t even remember a few of these songs, and the ones I did (their final two hits, the gold selling “Daydream Believer” and “Valleri”) proved to be the least interesting. If far from their best, this eclectic and interesting 1968 work benefits from them writing their own songs and having to rest on their own music in another way too—their TV show had just gotten cancelled, removing the greatest promotional vehicle a group had ever enjoyed this side of PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS’ even greater ‘60s TV show run.
R.E.M. – Chronic Town EP (I.R.S.)
They sure sounded young but perky in 1982, on their first 12” release, pre-fame. These days I even prefer this EP, having rediscovered it here this way, to the murkier Murmur LP that followed the next year-if only because MICHAEL STIPE’s vocals are much more prominent and the band seems really kicking on “Carnival of Sorts (Boxcars)” and the other four.
Athletico Spizz ‘80 –
Do a Runner (A&M)
I file this under “S” because the band had just changed their name, for the third time, having made their name as SPIZZENERGI the year before on the U.K. hit (and ubiquitous U.S. club smash) “Where’s Captain Kirk.” I saw this group supporting this LP in 1980 a few times as an opening band for 999 and took a pretty cool posed photo of them backstage before their Mudd Club gig at 3 A.M. one night that November, the same night they’d already played Irving Plaza!!! Ah, to be a teenager and stay up all night and not get tired!!! Anyway, this album hasn’t held up that well, as there’s a fair amount of filler on it, and they’d already moved away from the slashing post-punk of “Kirk.” (And for some reason, the excellent single “Room” failed to be included!) But some of the cuts like “Touched” and “New Species” were kind of interesting post-punk new wave fare for its time, and it was a “memory lane” moment to hear this again. Never would have thought to play this!
The Undertones – The Peel Sessions (Strange Fruit U.K.)
There’s no beating their fantastic 1979 debut-the greatest marriage of punk and pop ever, aside from their heroes BUZZCOCKS. But this would be the next best thing to get. I loved hearing the BBC session versions from these 1979 and 1980 sessions again. In particular, for those who wonder what the second LP might have sounded like with first LP production, look no further than “Tearproof” and “Girls That Don’t Talk” and “What’s With Terry,” here, which I would argue are the definitive versions! Amazing that we had to wait until 1989 for this posthumous release to hear them!!! And anyone who saw how shockingly good this reunited band was the last two years on tour of the U.S. should listen to this again!
Larry Williams – Unreleased (Specialty)
This is my favorite for this week. I will never understand why Williams isn’t one of the 10 most famous rockers of the 1950s. Anyone who had three of his songs covered by THE BEATLES on their proper EMI releases, you think would be venerated. (JOHN LENNON sang a mean Williams on “Bad Boy,” “Dizzy Miss Lizzy,” and “Slow Down,” too, making it clear what a huge fan he was.) And THE WHO were fond of doing his songs, too, among many others. Using the same backing group as the one who cut LITTLE RICHARD’s equally hot records for the same Specialty label should have also gotten him more respect, and that will give you an idea of what can be heard here. Of his little Specialty output, this posthumous 1986 collection was a huge find for me, having made due with the proper LP before, as I think it actually has the definitive (alternate) versions of “Bad Boy” and “Slow Down”-a lot hotter, harder, and most of all wilder, and all these cuts are as feral as Little Richard or ESQUERITA for pure rock ‘n’ roll shakin’ action!!!! “This rock ‘n’ roll has gotta stop/Junior’s head is hard as rock/Now junior, behave yourself! Woooohhh”
Various Artists – This Are Two Tone (Chrysalis)
As I hadn’t (for limited funds reasons) bought a lot of the import U.K. ska revival singles, but was eating them up on the dance floor at NY’s Tier 3 and Hurrah and Irving Plaza, I bought this 13-song sampler when it finally, mercifully appeared domestically a few years later in 1983. The sticker on the plastic sleeve indicates I got it used for $2.99, too, i.e., half off. Oh, it was so much cheaper and easier to be a music fan back then in the pre-CD days! Anyway, apart from the original Jamaicans in the early 1960s who founded this stuff, it’s hard to find more insistent dance music. And apart from being fun, the likes of THE SPECIALS, MADNESS, SELECTOR, and ENGLISH BEAT had plenty to say, too about racial relations and everyday life for the less well off.
