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A.C. Newman with The Broken West – Johnny Brenda’s (Philadelphia, PA) – March 17, 2009
See my full review here.
A.C. Newman – The Slow Wonder (Matador)
Although I prefer his new solo record Get Guilty, his recent live show made me pull this one out. Other than the standouts “The Town Halo” and “On the Table”, there are other slow burners here like “Drink to Me Babe, Then” that oddly enough, have take me four to five years and a great live show to fully sink in.
The Dickies – Live in London (Castle)
Released in 2002, this live set chronicles a 1990 show at the wonderfully named Tufnell Park while they were supporting their 1989 album Second Coming. The sound here lives a little to be desired (at times it sounds like a good audience recording instead of a soundboard recording), but the show is great. Only playing a few of the standouts from Second Coming (“Cross-Eyed Tammy” and “Going Homo”) along with the then fairly recent “Killer Klowns” EP (the title track) and 1990 single “Just Say Yes”, most of the set is devoted to their A&M glory years. Their parody of songs from THE WHO’s Tommy (during “If Stuart Could Talk”) and singer LEONARD GRAVES PHILLIPS’ hilarious stage banter make this one a keeper, too.
The Fiery Furnaces – Gallowsbird’s Bark (Rough Trade)
Although I’m also quite fond of some of their later records (particularly 2004’s Blueberry Boat, 2005’s EP compilation and 2006’s Bitter Tea), I think this will always remain my favorite Fiery Furnaces album because it’s the first one I ever heard and in particular because of the brilliance of two of its tracks. “Tropical Ice-Land” (which they also re-recorded for a UK single that later ended up on EP) and “Two Fat Feet” are twisted works of genius that are as catchy and addictive as they are obtuse lyrically.
Various Artists – Dance Craze (Chrysalis)
For no particular reason other than my recent CD purchase of this excellent compilation, I’ve been listening to a lot of Two Tone era British ska over the past few days. Along with the similarly excellent This are Two Tone comp, this stalwart live comp (which I listened to many times on tape as a kid) is a perfect introduction for neophytes. Selections from THE SPECIALS, THE ENGLISH BEAT, THE SELECTER, BAD MANNERS and the incredibly awesome and underrated “Easy Life” from THE BODYSNATCHERS make up the proceedings here. You can revel in this incredible music (for me better than the original Jamaican article, which I like as well, and certainly much better than most of the third wave revivalist ska that followed in its wake) and skank up a storm if you’re so inclined.
The English Beat – What is Beat? (I.R.S.)
While I was listening to FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS’ The Raw and the Cooked (don’t laugh; it’s actually a pretty good album) since I’m now up to the ‘F’s in my iTunes CD importing project, it occurred to me that I should pull out The English Beat’s incredible debut album I Just Can’t Stop It. Since I didn’t feel like digitizing the vinyl, I pulled out this CD compilation instead, which contains no less than five songs from I Just Can’t Stop It. A great place to start for Beat neophytes, it’s also got later records such as “I Confess” (their biggest U.S. hit) and “Too Nice to Talk To,” a non-album single that might be my favorite Beat song. Still, it’s the stuff from the first record that generally thrills the most, particularly the well-known “Mirror in the Bathroom” and the lesser known but just as awesome “Best Friend” and of course their version of “Tears of a Clown.”
Idlewild – Live at King Tut’s (no label)
OK Idlewild fans. Don’t fret. This isn’t an officially released live album. Instead, these are tracks from their shows at Glasgow’s King Tut’s Wah Wah from last December where they played each of their five studio albums (and the “Captain” EP!). So how can you get them then? Well unfortunately it’s a bit too late for that now, but if you pre-ordered their new album, they let you download 15 songs of your choice from these shows. I would’ve listed this earlier (when you could still pre-order the album from them directly) but I only realized that these songs were available a few days ago, so sorry about that!
However, it looks like you still may able to get tickets to their upcoming London shows (where they’ll play all of their albums again) here.
Death – For the Whole World to See… (Drag City)
There’s been quite a bit of fuss made about this reissue of the mid ‘70s African-American power trio from Detroit’ only recorded material, and with good reason. Not only did they beat Philly’s own PURE HELL and the much better known BAD BRAINS to the punch by several years when it came to African-Americans playing full-throttle punk rock, but more importantly, this stuff kicks a lot of ass! Any fan of the Detroit-bred rock of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s (in particular THE MC5 and ALICE COOPER’s early material) will appreciate this. It should also be noted that The MC5 and THE STOOGES (not to mention gobs of acid) profoundly influenced GEORGE CLINTON’s also then Detroit-based FUNKADELIC at their early ‘70s peak (see “Free Your Mind… and Your Ass Will Follow,” for example) I’m just happy that this is available now and you don’t have to spend $500 or so on Ebay to hear their only previously released material (the “Keep on Knocking”/”Politicians in My Eyes” 7”). In addition to that single, only five other previously unreleased songs are present here.
The Middle Class – A Blueprint for Joy: 1978-1980 (Deny Everything)
This compilation (which is actually called “Out of Vogue” on the CD sleeve but for whatever reason iTunes says it’s the title I listed it as above) focuses on the early years of this Southern California based band. Starting out as a raging hardcore band (in 1978!) with the absolutely incredible (for its time period) “Out of Vogue” 7”, they actually got better as they went along. Most of this sounds not entirely dissimilar to what bands like the great BIG BOYS would do later (combining hardcore punk with post-punk a la GANG OF FOUR and JOY DIVISION), though without the overt funk elements. This comp skips over their 1982 album Homeland (which is much more overtly post-punk), which is a shame, but it’s still well worth seeking out.
The Exploding Hearts – Shattered (Dirtnap)
Although not as essential as their sole LP (2003’s incomparable Guitar Romantic), this is still a great way to collect all of their 7”s, rarities and alternate takes in one place. Of particular interest are the alternate mixes of about half of the tracks from Guitar Romantic and several versions of the great single A-side “Busy Signals” while others such as “Making Teenage Faces” (an almost perfect rewrite of “Rock and Roll High School,” or “School’s Out” for that matter) just confirm their greatness.
