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20 Years Ago, Part 3
Now we’re into the albums that I like but that have flaws.
Chatham applied the principles/structures of minimalism to rock. Die Donnergotter means The Thundergods, apt for a title track for six electric guitars, electric bass, and drums. The drummer is J.P. “Thunderbolt” Patterson, whose main gig was the Dictators; one of the guitarists is Robert Poss of Band of Susans. The most famous piece, “Guitar Trio,” dates from 1977, although this is a later version (Chatham can’t find any recordings of the 30-minute version; this one’s a highly concentrated eight minutes). “Waterloo, No. 2” switches instrumentation to three trumpets, two trombones, and percussion, and just can’t match the sonic allure or visceral power of the guitar pieces.
Having guys with jazz chops playing rock doesn’t always work so well, but Sharrock’s got so many crunching riffs, and the rhythm section’s so well anchored by bassist Melvin Gibbs, that no matter how freaky or atonal Sharrock’s slippery solos get, it’s still solidly rawk. The double drummer team of Abe Speller and Pheeroan Aklaff lays down some pretty heavy grooves too. Sometimes the rhythmic intricacies take this into the realm of fusion, but always with more than enough sinew to keep it from floating away.
I believe this has never come out on CD; the artist’s website offers it only on vinyl or tape. His debut, it was produced by Alex Chilton. de Forest’s main axe may be ukulele, but make no mistake, this is no joke – though it is witty. “Crack’s No Worse Than the Fascist Threat” by itself is enough to make this memorable.
Lovett’s sophomore LP troubles some with tracks that could be labeled as misogynist, but if you can stomach that – and much of it is no worse than in many comic strips – this is a witty country classic. “If I Had a Boat” is nearly surreal.
“I’m Lost” starts out like old times, but the energy level dips after that. Tempos are slower, and many songs seem to consciously aim at anthem status, whether because Exene and John Doe were writing differently or because Tony Gilkyson replaced Billy Zoom. It says something, I suppose, that the second-most anthemic song on the album, “4th of July,” was written by Dave Alvin of roots-rockers The Blasters. Even the uptempo tracks lack the sense of dangerous momentum of the older albums. And yet, the ballad title track is such a great expression of disillusionment, and so memorable, that it ranks with their very best songs.
Yeah, it’s cheesy guitar flash with little substance. But it’s as good as that stuff ever gets, one of the classic rock instrumental albums. And the quiet track, “Always with Me, Always with You,” sets aside the grandstanding and is just plain beautiful.
This broke through to a worldwide audience on the strength of “Beds Are Burning.” Longtime Oil fans may have noted that the album rocked a bit less, but a tiny bit of compromise was probably necessary if an album largely concerned with Aboriginal rights was going to reach a large audience.
Yeah, they were no substitute for the Minutemen, but on its own terms this was an enjoyable trio. My favorite is the snarky “For the Singer of R.E.M.”
The riff of “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” and the way the arrangement build, and even Axl Rose’s electrical-appliance-whine vocal tone, perfectly mesh into an undeniable classic. If I’m not in the right mood, some of the songs here just annoy me, because of style or lyrics or both. But “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” and “Mr. Brownstone” call me back.
I’ve never been fond of the sterile production on this low-key album – too artificial a drum sound, too much syrupy synthesizer, everything too sonically separated (to be expected when most of it’s overdubs by Bruce) – but there are too many good songs to write it off: “Tougher Than the Rest,” “Tunnel of Love,” “Brilliant Disguise,” and most of all “One Step Up.”
