Wreckless Eric: Le Beat Group Electrique (1989)

Wreckless Eric (more HERE) has stuck to his guns. Those guns, his chugga-chugga guitar and his garbled vocals, are like old flintlock muskets: crude, noisy and deadly at close range.

Following the premature death of the Len Bright Trio, Wreckless Eric, by then dry and living in rural France, put out Le Beat Group Electrique with Catfish Truton (drums) and André Barreau (bass) in 1989. LBGE were almost as grimy and roughshod musically as the LBT but with less noise-for-noise’s-sake and more sharp song-writing. Eric sounds like a ramshackle Buddy Holly on tunes like "Tell Me I'm the Only One", while "Sarah" is Dylan-esque put-down that sounds somewhere between the early Beatles (hopped-up in Hamburg era) and Van Morrison (circa early Them). At one point, he channels Lou Reed on “Just For You” but not until putting a Wreckelss pop spin on mental illness, with the ironically chipper-sounding "Depression".

 

Listen to this whole album, all 32:17 of it, and you'll be struck by how fearless Eric is; how he remains unbowed and well-armed!


Tracklist

A1     Tell Me I'm The Only One 3:10   
A2     Wishing My Life Away      4:02   
A3     Depression     2:56   
A4     It's A Sick Sick World     1:39   
A5     Just For You     4:45   
A6     Sarah     3:17   
B1     The Sun Is Pouring Down 5:00   
B2     I'm Not Going To Cry     2:08   
B3     You Sweet Big Thing     3:50   
B4     Fuck By Fuck     1:16   
B5     Parallel Beds     4:05   
B6     True Happiness     5:00

Hope you  enjoyed the re-up and feel free to leave us a COMMENT! about Mr. Eric and LBGE!


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The Boomtown Rats: The Dudgeon Sessions (1979)

Holy Hell have I got a treat for you on this day, the day that Bob Geldof has announced that he will re-join his fellow Boomtown Rats on the road. These three songs are from  a session done with legendary producer Gus Dudgeon (a name worthy of Charles Dickens!) in 1979. Here you get an early, completely different  version of "I Don't Like Monday" done in a nervous-punky-reggae style and lacking Johnnie Fingers' famous piano part. While this version would likely have never been the massive hit the later version was, this stripped down studio take is an amazing thing in and of itself. As well, you get another rocking version of early B-side "Late Last Night" as well as a shorter, edgier, less Springsteen-y version of "Joey's on the Street Again". Awesome!





1. I Don't Like Mondays
2. Joey's On The Street Again
3. Late Last Night

So what do you make of this unheard Boomtown Rats material? Let us know in the COMMENTS section!


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Barack Obama is Not Pleased

While I await the American president's sitting down with some less-friendly, more relentless journalists, this interview with ally Chris Hughes over at The New Republic is still a crucial read in order understand Obama's current mind-set.

And I want to be very clear here that Democrats, we've got a lot of warts, and some of the bad habits here in Washington when it comes to lobbyists and money and access really goes to the political system generally. It's not unique to one party. But when it comes to certain positions on issues, when it comes to trying to do what's best for the country, when it comes to really trying to make decisions based on fact as opposed to ideology, when it comes to being willing to compromise, the Democrats, not just here in this White House, but I would say in Congress also, have shown themselves consistently to be willing to do tough things even when it's not convenient, because it's the right thing to do. And we haven't seen that same kind of attitude on the other side.

 Who would you like to see interview Barrack Obama?

'If It Ain't Stiff': Amazing BBC Doc on Britain's Greatest Label

The BBC got pretty much every surviving Stiff vet - The Damned, Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, Devo, Madness, The Pogues plus, of course, label honchos Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera - to talk up a storm for this hour-long doc.





Part two, part three, part four, part five, part six

Wreckless Eric: At the Shop (1990)

At the Shop is a crude document of ramshackle performance by Wreckless Eric (more HERE) and his Le Beat Groupe Electrique for a small crowd at the New Rose store in Paris in 1990. For much of the set Eric is teetering on the brink of chaos, and clearly loving every fucking minute of it. Then, on "If It Makes You Happy", Eric enters a staring contest with Nietzsche's abyss and half through the psychotic harmonica break, the abyss blinks.





Following that battle, Eric pulls back, slightly, pour un version Français of "Depression", followed by two oldies; Larry Williams' rockabilly stomper "Bony Maronie" and Eric's own '77 shout-along, "Semaphore Signals". Then, it's once more back into the depths for a harrowing, almost Dylan '66 style, take on The Captains of Industry's, "Our Neck of the Woods." Finally, without a flinch, Eric caps this gutsy performance with another of his tender love songs, "You're the Girl for Me." Those customers, who watched the whole brilliant mess while crammed in-between the racks of vinyl, must've left the store at once baffled and yet exhilarated. 






Tracklist
A1         Big Old World     3:42    
A2         If It Makes You Happy     5:04    
A3         (Waiting For The Shit) (To Hit The Fan)     6:40
A4         Depression (version Francaise)  
B1         Bonie Maronie
B2         Semaphore Signals     3:20    
B3         Our Neck Of The Woods     5:28    
B4         You're The Girl For Me     4:50





Hope you  enjoyed the re-up (with AMAZING new footage!) and feel free to leave us a COMMENT! about Mr. Eric and LBGE!


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