So, The Wallflowers, a band led by Dylan The Younger, have joined forces with former Clash-man, Mick Jones, who Jakob's dad described in his book Chronicles as "the definitive Clash guitarist". (This was either a back-handed swipe at Vince White and Nick Sheppard or Bob had just run out of adjectives for guitarist.)
The song on which Dylan and his band, The Wallflowers, colluded with Jones on is called "Re-Boot the Mission" and it's a funky-reggae number that sounds somewhere between a lost Sandinista track and a good BAD song. (Rolling Stone has a run-down here)
While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Beatles (X 2), The Rolling Stones, the Ramones, Nirvana and the Dead Kennedys comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, a reader requested the Dr. Feelgood comic, so now via the Dr. F Archive here it comes.
Now this item is a little closer to a tour program (but it rips off old EC comics, just as the Ramones comic posted earlier did) and demonstrates just how simultaneously cutting edge and unerringly retro this band was in their prime.
Being that I'm only a fair-weather Stones fan I've always had mixed feelings about the Feelgoods. Again, I love some of their songs (esp "Milk and Alcohol") but have never found that one album I need to know. Despite my mid-level fandom, I'm still chomping at the bit to see Oil City Confidential.
Let is know what you think of the Feelgood and their life in comics in the COMMENT section!
While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Beatles (X 2), Ramones, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana and Dead Kennedys comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including one on The Sex Pistols.
What we have here is another B & W Revolutionary Comics bio, that gives a bit of a fresh angle on the old, old punk story (hands up who amongst you who can recite the exact curse words Rotten and Cook said to Bill Grundy).
While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Beatles (X 2), The Rolling Stones Ramones and Dead Kennedys comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including Godspeed: The Kurt Cobain Story.
God, I wanted to hate Nirvana. As the eighties bled into the nineties I nursed a loathing of Soundgarden, a dislike for Mudhoney (well but for two songs - guess which two) and a disdain for much of the the retro-dullness of the Sub-Pop 200, minus The Fastbacks. Despite having it forced upon me, Bleach never really hit a nerve, one way or the other. But Never Mind was a like a shock to the system. Nirvana may have been ripping off seventies tricks like their brethren but they were using them to build this skull-rattling rock-punk-pop that sounded ferocious and inducing all at once. Honestly, I haven't listened to Never Mind in years but I know it's power is still there.
While the worship of Cobain can be stomach-turning, this full-colour graphic novel does an intriguing job of telling his story without making him out to be as much of an emo angel as that cover implies.
As it turns out his particular comic is not so rare and can be purchased at Amazon.
MRML Readers,
Let us know what you make of this Kurt & Nirvana comic and whther you want to see more rock n' roll comics in the COMMENTS section!
West Coast Doug recently brought me up to speed with veteran Vancouver underground power-pop guy, Robyn Stanley:
Back in 1980s, there was a Vancouver power-pop band called Fun With Numbers, who were great live. The leader of Fun With Numbers was Robin Stanley. Like most musicians he eventually settled down with a good job to raise a family. Music is his avocation and not his vocation. Robin Stanley has released three excellent solo albums; Mad Kingdom (2004), Chronic Empire (2007) and Cosmology (2012). Alongside Alejandro Escovedo's Big Station and Marty Stuart's Nashville Volume 1: Tear The Woodpile Down, Robin Stanley Cosmology is one of my favourite albums of 2012 so far
There've been rumbles that Teenage Bottlerocket's new album, Freak Out!, is uneven but that's just part of their M.O. As long as the ratio of hits to hmmm's remains this high we can all be fuckin' thankful that these Wyomingites are like no band on earth. Okay, it's a pop-punk album by a pop-punk band but hook-filled tracks "Maverick", "Done With Love", "Never Gonna Tell You" and "Summertime" up the pop to dangerously cool levels. Also, there's a metallic undercurrent here exemplified, poorly, in "Cruising for Chicks" and excellently in "Headbanger" (explained here).
So sure Freak Out! has some filler tracks (though few agree which ones) but even Screeching Weasel's My Brain Hurts has a couple weaker tracks. And sure TB re-recorded re-used the originals from last year's Mutilate Me E.P. but the Mr. T Experience did the same thing for Milk, Milk Lemonade and who (other than me!) remembers that now?
On a road trip recently Chuck Berry's "Too Much Monkey Business" came up on the 'ole iPod and both me and my wife had a blast picking out the clever lines ("Blonde haired, good lookin' - tryin' to get me hooked/Want me to marry - settle down - get a home - write a book!"). It got me thinking how under-discussed Berry's lyrical prowess is.
And then lo and behold Steven Akey over at The Millions writes an article called: Chuck Berry: Neoclassicist that puts a great deal of discussion into the poetic power of Berry's words. Please go read it and then feel free to tell us what you think!
Reminder Note: Since NSDLD volume 38, MediaFire has locked my account. So even though each and everyone of the tracks in this series is a recordings
of
independent origin (ROIO), people are being denied access to the
music. I've made no decision on whether the old volumes should be
re-upped.
Compiler Jeffs98119 (check out his excellent blog HERE)
has ended another lay-off to do another volume of Nobody Sings
Dylan Like Dylan. This volume is centered around material from the Dylanfest in New York retailer in 2012. That set list includes some current buzz figures like Regina Spektor, some old vets like Donald Fagan and even punk survivor, Jesse Malin showed up.
As always, what you value and I value here may differ but hopefully most of us can agree that Richie Havens version of "License to Kill" is powerful as hell.
01 Bob Dylan's 115th Dream - Austin Scaggs
02 Where Are You Tonight - Antony Ellis (Five O'Clock Heroes)
03 Sara - Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith (Dawes)
04 Standing In The Doorway - Nicole Atkins
05 It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Regina Spektor
06 To Ramona - Donald Fagan
07 From A Buick 6 - Jessie Malin
(Tracks 1-7: May 25, 2012, The Cabin Down Below Band, Dylanfest 2012, Irving Plaza, New York, NY)
08 Jokerman - Joseph Parsons (Oct 31, 2006, Cafe EXpresso, Neustadt, Weinstrabe, Germany)
09 License to Kill - Richie Havens (Nov 23, 1984, Grand Ballroom, Penta Hotel, New York, NY)
10 If Not For You - Ryan Ross, Michael Runion, Alex Greenwald & Dave Rawlings (Sep 12, 2009, Spaceland, Silver Lake, CA)
11 Leopard-Skin Pillbox Hat / Highway 61 Revisited - J.J. Cale and Steve Ripley (Dec 19, 1981, McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA)
12 She Belongs to Me - Death Cab for Cutie (May 1, 2012, Tennessee Theatre, Knoxville, TN)
13 Goin' to Acapulco - Bob Weir, Chris Robinson, and Jackie Greene (May 29, 2012, Thomas Wolfe Auditorium
Asheville, NC)
14 Million Miles - Bonnie Raitt (Jun 9, 2012, Wellmont Theater, Montclair, NJ)
15 You Ain't Goin' Nowhere - Doc Watson, Richard Watson, and Charles Welch (Oct 28, 2001, Stevens Center, Winston-Salem, NC)
Your COMMENTS on the series and the artists it covers help towards keeping the series alive!!
Thanks to Jeffs98119 for compiling these, to pdiamond for the images, to slugline for the spreadsheet and to Karl Erik Anderson @ Expecting Rainfor tagging these for iTunes.
To read about V.'s 1-39 of Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan go here
So the catalog of the English Beat (name discussion HERE) has been beautifully done over by BOTH Edsel Records and Shout Factory. The decision with which to purchase is going to be tough. In the meantime, here, via a soundboard recording from the Jamaica World Music Festival in 1982, is a reminder of why you NEED more Beat!
Setlist:
d1t01 - Introduction
d1t02 - Hands Off...She's Mine
d1t03 - Big Shot
d1t04 - Doors Of Your Heart
d1t05 - Save It For Later
d1t06 - Too Nice To Talk To
d1t07 - I Confess
d1t08 - Spar Wid Me
d1t09 - Ranking Full Stop
While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Beatles, Ramones, Rolling Stones and Dead Kennedys comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including yet ANOTHER Beatles comic.
This 1968 Gold Key comics adaptation of the camp Yellow Submarine movie is done by a team of lesser know comic book figures, namely Paul Newman, scripter, Jose Delbo, penciller, and Jose Delbo, inker. Expect Blue Meanies, kitschy G-rated psychedelia and a dose of nostalgia - real or imagined!
If you want to see more rock n' roll comics let us know in the COMMENTS section!
While we had a great reaction to our posting of the Ramones, The Rolling Stones and the Dead Kennedys comic (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including the Marvel Super Special Number 4: The Beatles Story.
The text is by the rock-critic-turned-comic-wrtiter David Anthony Kraft and the art is by future comic industry titan, George Perez. It's an entertaining, if unauthorized, biography of the band and is NOT to be confused with Marvel Super Special Number 7, which attempted to adapt the cinematic nightmare that was Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band to so little avail that it was quickly withdrawn. (Anyone who has a copy of THAT is asked to contact me forthwith).
MRML Readers,
Let us know what you make of this Beatles comic and whether you want to see more rare rock n' roll comics in the COMMENTS section!
While we had a great reaction to our posting of The Rolling Stones and the Dead Kennedys [!] comics (see HERE), MRML is not planing on becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including the comic from the Weird Tales of the Ramones set. (More Ramones HERE)
Rather than go the autobiographical route, this comic uses some amazing artists including Sergio Aragones (Mad Magazine), Bill Stout (EC Comics), Bill Griffith (Zippy The Pinhead), Xaime Hernandez (Love And Rockets), and Matt Groening (The Simpsons) to illustrate different aspect of the Ramones career..
MRML Readers,
Let us know what you make of this Ramones comic and whether you want to see more rare rock n' roll comics in the COMMENTS section!
.
Update: This is not to be confused with the issue of
Revolutionary Comics called The Ramones: The Birth of Punk, pictured above.
If any one has a
scan of that, please let me know!
The New Model Army Small Town England 2 X CD was ten bucks NEW (and I had $23.00 in trade!) from Into the Music.
The Roman Line Morning Portraits and the Teenage Bottlerocket Freak Out were 16.99 and 17.99 (ouch!) at War on Music.
The Gordon Lightfoot 3 X CD (which covers five full LP's) was $4.00 at an antique store which was awash in metal (but also Johnny Cash and the Ramones) CD's.
As for my $10.00 in vinyl, purchased early this morning not from a 'garage sale' but a 'man cave' sale, I got a number of things from outside my ken but cheap vinyl is fun to buy and ripe fo re-sale.
Lunch was at Five Guys Burgers & Fries, a US import which ought be labelled the Peanut Allergy Death Star* for it's obsession with using peanut oil for everything. That said, the burgers were both busy (eight or nine toppings is the basics) and highly tasty. I prefer to limit my chain restaurant visits but I'd go back for a burger that good.
Did you buy anything this week?
let us know in the COMMENTS Section!
* I suggest a sign on the door that says "If you have any peanut allergies, you've already come too far. Please flee immediately."
When Chumbawamba singed to EMI, after a career of attacking that arms-dealing label (Fuck EMI, anyone?) it was considered the anarcho-punk equivalent of the Nazi-Soviet pact.
So while the volte-face of the Nazi-Soviet Pact inspired perhaps the greatest book of thr 20th Century, George Orwell's 1984,
this anti-Chumbawamba EP is a bit of a damp squib. There are those of us who'd
prefer the Technicolor rave-punk of "Amnesia", "The Good Ship Lifestyle" and even the played-to-death "Tubthumping to this dour bit of vinyl posturing. Well, okay, there's a bit of dour Crass-like posturing here but really this is pretty amusing slab of satire, as all the titles nicely demonstrate. (Plus the Bus Station Loonies song is pretty fun.)
Tracklist
A1 Riot/Clone – Chumbawanka
A2 Anxiety Society – Always Tell The Punter...
B1 Oi Polloi – Shhh-it
B2 Bus Station Loonies – Give Me Charlie Harper
Notes
On the 7" sleeve the tracklisting is:
A1 The Chineapple Punx - Grateful
A2 Riot/Clone - Chumbawanka
A3 Love, Chips & Peace - We Wish You'd Give Up
B1 Oi Polloi - Shhh-it
B2 The Bus Station Loonies - Charlie Harper
B3 Wat Tyler - New Labour New Chumbawamba
Tracks A1, A3 & B3 were removed before release, but were secretly made available for free by returning a coupon inside the sleeve to Ruptured Ambitions Records (or Propa Git Records fort this release).
So, readers, do tell.
What do you make of this facet of the Chumba backlash?
Despite the great reaction to the Dead Kennedys comic (see HERE), MRML isn't becoming a 'scan blog'. However, thanks to Big Scott we've received an avalanche of rock n' roll comics, including one on The Rolling Stones.
Deep in my classic rock phase (circa 1980), my elder brother and I would argue incessantly (and occasionally homophobically) about the alleged superiority of The Doors or the Rolling Stones. I was The Doors defender, my brother the Stones supporter. While my appreciation for Mr. Mojo Risin' and his doors of perception has fallen over the years, my feeling for the Stones have stayed exactly the same. Good band. I like a lot, if not all, of the hits but I've never owned a proper Rolling Stones album (though I kept a vinyl copy of Exile on Main St. that someone gave me for a few weeks). I don't mean to besmirch the band on their golden anniversary. After all, the band's longevity is mind-boggling, their influence boundless and they always make great copy (e.g. Mick Jagger once claimed his wrinkles were merely 'laugh lines' to which British jazz codger George Melly replied, "nothing's that funny").
In this issue, from Revolutionary Comics, we get the Stones story from the meeting of Mick and Keef till the multimillion dollar Steel Wheels tour (plus three bonus features), told in simple black and white images with forty-six numbered historical reference points!
Speaking of Chumbawamba (more HERE) and their sole HIT, "Tubthumping (see HERE), let us not neglect that single's phenomenal B-side, "Farewell to the Crown". It's a delicious mix of Pistols-ish treason ("Goodbye to the king of nothing really"), British folk-traditionalism (that's the legendary Oysterband backing them up) and the requisite BPMs (and who's really tried that mix before?)
This blatant bootleg, collects up B-sides, re-mixes, rarities and web-site freebies from the band's nineties era. Obviously, not everything here is as essential as "Farewell to the Crown" but it's fascianting portait of the depth of a group 99% of the world will forever consider One Hit Wonders.
(click to enlarge)
So tell me,
What do you think of "Farewell to the Crown"? What do you make of all these B-Sides, rarities and remixes?
(Thanks to David Quinton for being the model for MRML's own cover for Volume Ten!)
Very
final batch of stellar mod-punk-new-wave power-pop from an L.P. that
dates back to 2003* (ah nostalgia for a better nostalgia). Volumes one to nine are <HERE>
In previous comments, Iron gives these dates for the series:
Vol. 1, 2 & 3: (1998)
Vol. 4 & 5: (1999)
Vol. 6 & 7: (2000)
Vol. 8 & 9: (2001)
Vol. 10: (2003)
01. The Pylons - Marvel World
02. The Pop - Wait a Minute
03. Last Words - Every Schoolboy's Dream
04. Tripple Cripple - Baby, I Don't Mind
05. Liquid Stone - Here Comes the Weekend
06. Chuzpe - I Loved the '60s
07. The Reaction - I Can't Resist
08. Sensuuri - Goodnight NYC
09. The Trend - Teenage Crush
10. David Quinton - Make Up Your Mind
11. Bees - Mr. Gaynor
12. The Haskells - Pop Art
13. The Blitz Boys - She Told My Friends
14. Skymning - En ängel
15. The Reactions - Marianne
16. The Limit - My World at Night
17. Manikins - Love at Second
18. Duggie Campbell - Real Nice Girl
Speaking
of comments a word or two from readers about these nifty offerings
would be a darling way to finish off this bounty (After all this only one series....)
I think it's brilliant, a highlight of Chumbawamba's (more HERE) problematic anarcho-rave era.
That era's albums are is fitful, for sure but the singles from that time ("Ugh Your Ugly Houses", "Timebomb" and "Amnesia") were often excellent.
Now, obviously, I'm not gonna post an album that is both in-print and available in every dollar bin in the Western world but what I have to offer instead is even better. Knock Hard...Life is Deaf is a long out-of-print Japanese-only, limited edition 1997 CD that features acoustic versions of mid-nineties hit(s) as well as some interviews. The acoustic versions offer a unique view on the band's song-writing and a preview of their future
Tracklist Interview
1 Introduction 0:22
2 Background History - Punk & Squatting 2:45
3 Staying Together For So Long 1:11
4 First Single (1985) And Scams 3:08
5 Music, Popculture, Women In Rock 'N' Roll 1:48
6 Tubthumper 1:43
7 Kill Your Idols! 1:03 Previously Unreleased Versions
8 Tubthumping (Country & Western Version) 3:43
9 Amnesia (Acoustic Version) 3:03
10 Mouthful Of Shit (Country & Western Version) 2:58
11 One By One (Acoustic Version) 3:14
12 Drip Drip Drip (Country & Western Version) 3:55
13 The Big Issue (Acoustic Version) 3:42
14 Stitch That (Country & Western Version) 2:45
So tell me,
What do you think of 'Tubthumping'?
What do you make of Chumba's anarcho-rave era?
Are these acoustic versions better, worse or just different?
Note: Chumbawamba fans are great commenters, therefore this series will continue, if irregularly and irreverently. Also, the series is wildly non-chronological not out of some attempt to adhere to anarchist principles but because the band's discography is utterly bewildering.
Hey, here's the first Chumbawamba (more HERE) single from 1985 (which is not to imply I don't have old demos, if you're so inclined). This single, whose track list won't help you much, feels kinda like a rehearsal for Pictures of Starving Children Sell Records, as a couple of the 'sections' done here are repeated on that classic album. Ultimately, it's a formative document, which, while not foretelling every shift the band would go through, does show a band determined to be attacking on multiple fronts simultaneously.
Tracklist
A HMV Side, Introduction To History And Where We Stand. Which Side Of The
B Fence Side, And Its Application To Everyday Life. The R'n'R Factory Strike.
Line-Up
Bass, Vocals – Dunst
Drums, Guitar – Artmi
Guitar, Drums – Man Afraid
Guitar, Vocals – Boffo, Loo
Keyboards, Voice – Simon
Vocals – Alice Nutter, Danbert Nobacon
Notes
Recorded at Woodlands Studio.
An ajit-prop rekawrd.
Disc is encased in 8-page booklet (in black & white & red).
Suggested retail price on front sleeve: "one pound + twenty pence".
If you wanna hear some STILL more rare Chumba, please leave a COMMENT, there's a folder full of oddities and absurdities that I'm willing to share, non-chronologically, if you're willing.
