Ray Condo & His Hardrock Goners: Crazy Date (1986)

(Thanks to regular reader/commenter Doug P. for this guest post)

The recently remastered and expanded reissue of The Blue Shadows 'On The Floor Of Heaven' album got me thinking of other bands that were gigging around Vancouver in those days. Bands like Buddy Selfish and his Saviours, Herald Nix and Ray Condo. Ray Condo and his Hardrock Goners put out 5 great albums.The first two were the out-of-print albums 'Crazy Date'(1986) and 'Hot 'n' Cold'(1988). I particularly liked the addition of a fiddle to the rockabilly sound.

Later Ray Condo formed a band Ray Condo and his Ricochets that was more in a western swing style that even covered jazz standards.Unfortunately, Ray passed away in 2004 but has left a fantastic musical legacy. Ray Condo and his bands certainly deserved much more success.

The Hardrock Goners drummer Peter Sandmark(Slim Sandy) has posted info on Ray Condo.

http://sandmark.tripod.com/condo.html

Many of Ray Condo's albums are for sale as CDs and downloads from the regular sources.Crow-Matic Records has two excellent compilations for sale.Both compilations are recommended.

http://sandmark.tripod.com/store.html

A detailed discography can be found here.

http://countrydiscography.blogspot.com/2010/11/ray-condo.html


Track Listing
A1 Greenback Dollar
A2 Your True Love
A3 Sunset Blues
A4 Freight Train
A5 Her Love Rubbed Off
A6 Skala Bop Baby
A7 Crazy Date
B1 Willing And Ready
B2 How Come It
B3 Jolie Ti Catin
B4 It Don't Matter To Me
B5 Who's Baby Are You? / Oh Baby
B6 Push Button Boogie
B7 Pocketful Of Rainbows

Since your friendly neighbourhood Blogger is taking some time away from his computer, the link for Crazy Date is HERE but since I've holstered my Crackberry like a six-gun, COMMENTS are still requested.

Hard Rain: A Tribute to Bob Dylan Vol. 1 (2002)

It's interesting that many editions of Jeffs98119's Nobody Sings Dylan Like Dylan (all 36 volumes HERE) compare so favourably to this tasteful, well-compiled (but now out-of-print) set done with the professional backing and major label access of Uncut Magazine. As always, your highlights and mine may differ but for the record I'll recommend this for the fine versions of Dylan classics by The Band, The Waterboys, Howard Devoto and Paul Weller.

Tracklist
1 Waterboys, The – Girl From The North Country 4:25
2 Bill Kirchen – Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues 5:42
3 Johnny Marr – Don't Think Twice, It's All Right 4:28
4 Howard Devoto / Luxuria – She's Your Lover Now 3:36
5 Thea Gilmore – I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine 4:34
6 Band, The – When I Paint My Masterpiece 4:18
7 Hollies, The – The Times They Are A-Changin' 3:17
8 Robert Palmer – I'll Be Your Baby Tonight 3:27
9 Cat Power – Paths Of Victory 3:22
10 Todd Rundgren – Most Likely You Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine 3:26
11 Thurston, Kim And Epic – Sitting On A Barbed Wire Fence 3:54
12 Mary Lou Lord – You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go 3:46
13 Manfred Mann – With God On Our Side 4:25
14 Cassandra Wilson – Shelter From The Storm 5:18
15 Nice, The – She Belongs To Me 11:48
16 Paul Weller – I Shall Be Released 3:02


Let us know what you think of these Dylan covers in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Hard Rain V. 1 link).

Guns n' Wankers (Ex-Snuff, Wildhearts): S/T

We talked a lot about Snuff last week (see HERE) but declined to offer a theory on the peak of Snuff singer/songwriter/drummer Duncan Edmonds career. Is it the Not Listening E.P., the Snuff Said... album, the Flibbiddydibbiddydob E.P. or something more recent? Or might it this bastardized collection of Redmonds short-lived band Guns n' Wankers?

All the songs on this mini-album were released in 1994 on a series of genre-themed 7"'s ('pop', 'metal', 'hardcore' and the freebie "silly') which was then issued in somewhat abbreviated format (no 'silly') as S/T by Damaged Goods in England and finally in even more truncated form by American label Fat Wreck-Chords (no 'silly', no 'metal') as For Dancing and Listening.


So with such a discographical fiddling, how will I argue this is Redmonds' finest work?

1) Songs like "Skin Deep" are "Help" are full of rough, racing guitars and choruses wound-up so tight that they just explode but yet these well-crafted songs could easily be done outside the punk idiom - just imagine what Lucinda Williams would do with a sad-but-defiant tune like "Help".

2) While Redmonds stepping out from behind the kit (shades of Dave Grohl!) may have been a bit disappointing, adding a killer Wildhearts rhythm section (Patrice Walters on drums and Joolz Dean on bass) allows his singing to be sharper, more controlled and more dominating than usual.

3) Lyrically, this release has the most resonant words of Redmonds' career. While early albums are dominated by either a twenty-something angst or whimsical cover songs (which it must be stressed are wondrous things) this album faces the sad, hard, fucked-up choices of life and then finds a "better place". Plus it make for one hell of a break-up album - jus' sayin'.

4) With just eight filler-free tracks, this album, unlike this post, proves that brevity is soul of wit.


So is this Redmonds best work? Let us know what you believe in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the S/T link).

If you love this album and don't already own it go and buy the quintessential version of the album at either FAT WRECK-CHORDS, iTunes or AMAZON.

GABBA: Leave Stockholm

In the days before the mash-up became the purview of every digi-geek, merging two contradictory (but weirdly complementary) styles of music involved intense labour. Witness London's currently-inactive Gabba, who like Dread Zeppelin before them created a fascinating hybrid of two divergent seventies phenomenon, the Ramones and ABBA. While the novelty factor is outta site here - bordering on dinner theater - this out-of-print 1999 record has grown on me over time despite my long-espoused ABBA-ophbia.




Let us know what you think of this culture clash in the COMMENTS section, which is where you'll find the Leave Stockholm link.)


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Lolite No. 18: The Great Rock n' Roll Festival (Ft. Joey Ramone)

We've been talking about German and American men covering the Ramones covers and we've been talking about Japanese women covering the Ramones but we've yet to talk about Japanese women covering the Ramones AND The Toy Dolls! To rectify this egregious oversight, here's Lolita No. 18 who snagged one of the the last appearance by Joey Ramone on their version of "Rockaway Beach" from this 2001 album.

So whadya think of Lolita No. 18? Let us know in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find The Great Rock n' Roll Festival link).


Due to my cultural ignorance I can't tell you much more about the band but f you want to support them visit Sister Records