Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2010

And the latest hilarious quote from Ted Nugent.

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/06/25/take-advice-from-the-ninny-nugent/

Times the Nuge called the Obama administration variations on the 'Mao Tse Tung fan club' in the media last week: Four.

Once for a slobbering interview by one of the New Times properties (you can tell how bankrupt and bad alties are when one of them actually sucks up to someone like Ted), once on Fox, and twice for two columns in the WaTimes.

So having gone back and checked, I can now say conclusively that I have no idea what Popoff was hearing when he put Styx's "Put It On" in the same category as "Midnight Ride." There's a (very) intermittent rock riff in there, but it's surrounded and buried in mush. Actually, occurs to me that one Midwestern precedent for Styx's abandonment of hard rock for thespian kitsch might be Alice Cooper, a few years before. Except Styx obviously weren't as good in the first place. Thing is, I still have at least a grudging respect for their '77-'81 The Grand Illusion to Paradise Theater period -- I still have all four of those LPs on vinyl, and though I don't put them on real often (and, the more I get into the band's earlier stuff, expect I'll put them on even less), I also don't anticipate getting rid of them any time real soon, since they all have a couple-to-few real hard-to-deny MOR/AOR radio cuts. Big problem with Crystal Ball is that it doesn't. (I've never heard "Mademoiselle," which hit #36 pop, on the air. Do think the LP ends on an okay guitar solo, though -- called, yuck, "Ballerina.")

Turns out the other 9-or-10 out of 10 track on Flynnville Train's Redemption, besides their America cover, is "Friend Of Sinners," about asking Christ's forgiveness since you've fucked up all the commandments. Might sound cheesy on paper, but a big part of what makes those two cuts rock the hardest is their use of space and quiet to let the rhythm and lead guitars build over the monster drums. They're also the two darkest and most menacing (and maybe the longest -- haven't checked) cuts on the CD. Rest of the album comes as close to Skynyrd as any contemporary country I've heard, with subliminal rockabilly and Chuck Berry parts and really good songwriting; "Preachin' To The Choir" and "On Our Way" (which says the band got their start back in '83 -- not sure if that's to be taken literally or not) being two of the higher highlights. "Turn Left" is the NASCAR song; "Scratch Me When I'm Itchin'" the horndog song; "Alright" the one that sounds like Dave Edmunds in Rockpile; "The One You Love" the token ladies' choice, and at first I thought they mushed out, but its guitars are really purty.

Sister Sin, on the other hand, can't really write tunes. Fast metal, theoretically NWOBHM-like or at least pre-thrash speedy (think their label likens them to Crue, Scorps, Priest, despite the girl singer), but the songs all sound the same, and the clumsy gang grunting dude makes them feel almost nu-metal, probably by accident. Still like the novelty of a 2010 metal song ripping "Teenage Rampage," but I wouldn't say that even that one, "Outrage," has much else to recommend it.

Tried listening to the new Gaslight Anthem album in the car (where it should work if it's gonna work anywhere, given this is working class Jersey road rock supposedly), and I'm not hearing them at all -- dull regular-guy singing, nothing rhythm, boring college-rock guitars. Occasionally a melody sounds slighly more rousing than the others, but if there are words there, the singer's not putting them over. More emo than Bruce, to my ears -- much less a rocking blue collar bar band like say early Iron City Houserockers. And they don't have even the wit of Hold Steady (whose newest album was their worst by far, fwiw) or the brawn of Dropkick Murphys to fall back on -- and I've cut both of those bands more slack than they've deserved over the years, to be honest.

Thinking that, of those four huge Styx albums, I'd probably rate Pieces Of Eight highest, for "Renegade" and "Blue Collar Man." By Paradise Theater, they've probably actually let dumb concept crap get the best of them, though I've always liked the Devoluted new waviness of "Too Much Time On My Hands." Draw the line at Kilroy Was Here, though I'd probably keep a 45 of "Mr. Roboto" if I had one. (Actually really love Tommy Shaw's 1984 synth-pop single "Girls With Guns" -- so sue me.) And I guess if a best-of fell in my lap that put all the catchy hits from these LPs in one place, I would get rid of them, to open up a little more space on my LP shelf, if nothing else.

And eh...forget I mentioned Skynyrd in re: Flynnville Train. Dumb comparison. Skynyrd had more than rockabilly and Chuck Berry going for them anyway -- for one thing, they were a lot funkier. And Flynnville seem much more inclined to be pandering (sometimes in the usual modern Nashville ways) as songwriters, and also (unlike Skynyrd) they're not geniuses. Guess I just mean that, like with the best Headhunters stuff, you can really tell you're hearing a seasoned, self-contained band, who know how to work and rock as a unit. Which, with Nashville still using session musicians no matter how loud it gets, remains a rarity. The guitars do sometimes sound kind of Skynyrdy, though.

...and they still do have a more swinging rhythm section than say Drive By Truckers (or Neil Young, for that matter -- can't think of when he's rocked as hard as Flynnville's "Sandman," which is neat since I've always figured America as the wimp version of Neil in the first place. Still have no idea what the lyrics are supposed to be about, though.)

You may not believe this but I saw more than one high school band turn "Sandman" into a fuzztone
proto-metal dirge around '70-'72. It was basically a simple dirge all along, so you could hammer the shit out of it. Which may or may not be what Flynnville does but thought I'd mention it. There was precedent.

The New York Times thing on Gaslight was more than enough to turn off all my curiosity last week.

If someone in the arts section likes it ... then it has no real business here. I stupidly bought the previous record last year, left a thumbs down on one of these threads. The lyrics were beyond terrible, much more so because they're so achingly sincere about it, they seem to really believe their own horseshit.

Worse is the Jersey Springsteen/Beaver Brown blue collar bar band shtick, except with nary a rock 'n' roll or Chuck Berry lick in any of the guitar players, just the ringing college rock thing. Which is similar to claiming you're in a Stones cover band but not one of the guitarists can pull off Keith Richards. The idea is that they've somehow squeezed all the roots and swing -- except the lyrics and image -- out of bar band rock. Perfect for NPR.

a fuzztone proto-metal dirge around '70-'72. It was basically a simple dirge all along, so you could hammer the shit out of it. Which may or may not be what Flynnville does

It's pretty close! Dirge into raveup, maybe. Wonder if any amateur versions like that from 40 years were actually recorded; if not, it's crazy that it took so long.

Playing Dirty Looks' 1989 Turn Of The Screw now -- Philly/L.A. big hair band, on Atlantic. Came in a giant box of discards from Metal Mike last week. Singing has the high squeal of Kix's Steve Whiteman, and like Kix they definitely seem to like AC/DC, song structure wise; funniest song title is "C'Mon Frenchie." But so far I'm thinking the production has ironed out all the meat from the riffs and memorable hooks from the songs. Maybe it'll just take them a couple listens to sink in. Don't think I've ever actually played a Dirty Looks LP before -- though I tend to confuse them would Dirty Tricks, so I could be wrong.

"Nobody Rides for Free" has a lot of swing, 'bout the best of 'em. That and "Oh Ruby" from the previous album. They were frequently an undercard band in LV.

Which is to say I could never remember much about their sets except they were competent, tight and like AC/DC.

was really enjoying Styx 2 the other day. had never played it before! just a really enjoyable album.

I'm always pleasantly surprised whenever I put on the Wooden Nickel retrospective from a few
years ago.

This week's rock critic-administered whoopie cushion: the new CD by Alejandro Escovedo. I stupidly bought 2008's. NOw more promises: Escovedo's even harder and louder than before! According the LA Times, by way of tribune's Greg Kot.

Sort of like last week's offering in which Tuscaloosa Ann Powers, the Los Angeles Times pop rock writer in Alabama, compared Miley Cyrus to the Runaways, at a House of Blues concert to which she
took her 8-year old.

this is probably a stupid question, but did The Alarm ever rock? somehow i ended up with a ton of albums and singles here at the store by this band and i don't know if i can even bring myself to play them. the poor man's U2. i actually bought their first album when it came out cuz i liked the one song they used to play on college radio, "the stand". which was based on my favorite stephen king book. anthrax would best them later with their stand song. i think i played that first album once. and i was even a hunters & collectors and easterhouse fan. yeah, i don't think i can do it. never mind.

Apologies if already posted, but I assume some of you no longer follow the rolling metal thread and this may interest you?

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xidKY9MOr-M/TC3E3xO8tSI/AAAAAAAAAJg/kQtfp3KoZCM/s1600/774356395-1.jpg

I think sometimes our slab of daily Riff Rock doesnt have to be necessarily gloomy, dark, swampy or depressing. Sometimes all it needs is to bbe rockin' and, why not, even funny.

Biggus Diccus are funny. But, beware, they're far from being a simple joke band. Their music is finely sculpted: pure muscular Riff Rock. Heavy, sweaty, catchy, fuzzy and booty shakin'.The riffs are the right measure of fat and badass and the vocals are delicously Chris Goss oriented, with a lot of crooning swagger. Their hooks get in your head and you'll find yourself singing them mindlessly in a few minutes.

And that's where the problem, or the funniest part, comes in. Because you'll find yourself singing out loud refrains that talk about unstoppable erections, devinat S/M nymphomaniacs, obese lovers, lesbian gangrapes and everything your filthy head can thiunk of. The opener "Flagpole of Love" is an irresistible jewel of almost QOTSA-esque catchiness wrapped around some of the most obscene and explicit lyroics since Turbonegro. And they get worse.

So if you like your rawk rollin and thunderin' but you dont mind some (very) filthy and (very) sexual humour to it, give it a try. NOT FOR THE KIDDIES!!!

Get their album on Bandcamp (for free): http://biggusdiccus.bandcamp.com/

Read more: Doomed To Be Stoned In A Sludge Swamp: Just Put Some Cock In Your Rock... http://sludgeswamp.blogspot.com/2010/07/just-put-some-cock-in-your-rock.html#ixzz0sXhiSNww
Your source for Sludge, Stoner, and Doom

It might. Thanks for posting, pfunk!

I think it should be mentioned Bill Aucoin died this week.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/02/arts/music/02aucoin.html

Without him, no Kiss. And up until and including Destroyer, they fit this thread in spades. The first album is still a play for me, plus some of the third.

Course, then he took them into lunchboxes, dolls, bad comic books, handpuppets and a really bad TV movie and so on.

"My favorite is Kitty Kat," said my cousin when he was about 8 or 9, at some point, which was all Bill Aucoin's doing. Of course, you have it made in spades when some sissy kid who doesn't even know what a blow job is yet says a bandmember named Kitty Kat -- Peter Criss -- is his idol. No more "Cold Gin".

Aucoin also managed Starz and Piper, neither of which scored for the management team. But Billy Squier would a few years later. And he was seemingly the perfect fit for Billy Idol.

Aucoin was certainly contributed a significant piece to hard rock, the kind that wound up very popular.

These days it's tough to give Kiss CDs away, I would imagine.

i still sell kiss records though. and my five year old son is obsessed with them. they are kinda timeless by now. band as superheroes. they are a brand. but so is spiderman and iron man. and they will live forever too. don't know what happens when gene and paul die, but by then there will probably be expert kiss robots to go on tour with.

i tell ya, i have heard more kiss in the last year then i ever have in my previous 40 something years.

And here's some side inside information in a thread on Casablanca over at the Starz board.

http://starzfanzcentral.yuku.com/topic/3436

I'd forgotten Toby Beau was also an Aucoin group. Saw them once at my undergrad school. Not half bad southern pop rock with a pitch to little girls that almost worked.

I kinda wish Kiss had been popular in the UK so we could've had the joy of kiss lunchboxes and action figures. But they really werent big at all. Crazy Nights was their only big hit here until bill & ted.
I guess we had Queen as the nations rock band instead?

Iron Man destroys Kiss. Even the crappy Iron Man. I loved my Marvel Comics way more than I ever liked Kiss.

http://www.dickdestiny.com/blog/2009/01/shamed-by-your-english-40-years-of-x.html

Re Queem, I mean Queen. Yes, I think you're OTM. Queen were also big here and, in the end, they've had a bigger audience -- for the rock, anyway -- than Kiss.

I remember deviling my girlfriend on a trip to the Outer Banks with the album that Kiss put out to coincide with the Bill & Ted movie. I'd gotten it as a review copy and it had a ridiculous
lyric that went something like:

shake your panties in the air, lick your lips and wave your hair

She was ready to kill me the second time I played it.

i like queen way more than kiss. well, i guess i like most things better than kiss. but since cyrus has shown such an interest i have found myself enjoying the odd tune or two. and like you said, the earlier the better. if you don't get the kiss bug between the ages of infancy to 14 than you are probably never gonna get the kiss bug. i was still in love with the beatles when my brother was at the height of his kiss fandom. my brother's holy trinity was ted nugent/aerosmith/kiss. later, van halen would kick kiss out onto the street in my brother's world.

Were Queen big in the US? I always thought they had 1 or 2 big hits while in the UK everyone of any age loved them at some point in their life.

queen were huge here. queen are still huge here.

queen cracked the code. they got millions of teenage boys to buy their albums AND millions of teenage girls. if you can do that, the world is your oyster.

Hah-ham, pfunk, "Flagpole of Love." You may not believe this but it sounds almost exactly
like the old Christ Child LP we used to talk about infrequently on here. That's a good thing.

xhuxk, you'll laugh at that one.

It also has that Macc Lads, actually more Pork Dukes, filth punk flavor.

Ok i'll give this album a go then.

Here's one for chuck because he went through a bunch of bad disco albums and such.

Sean Delaney, who was a big part of Aucoin management, and Aucoin's boyfriend, sez here on Wiki:

"After releasing the solo album, Delaney formed a band in 1979 called Skatt Bros."

Which I seem to recall being a joke and very gay name just about what you think. Did you
ever hear or have Skatt Bros. album?

Not only have I heard it and owned it, George, I own it now, and have at times counted it as one my favorite albums in my collection. Maybe still do. No joke. Last time I played it was, oh, maybe three weeks ago.
I like it so much that, a couple months ago, I almost bought a second copy that I saw for a buck; probably should have -- whichever copy was less clean would've made a wonderful gift idea. Anyway, the album is Strange Spirits, Casablanca 1979; Richie Fontana (from Piper) on drums; rest of the lineup, besides Delaney (on keybs) goes Pieter Sweval bass, Richard Martin-Ross guitar, David Andez lead guitar, Craig Krampf also drums (plus five "auxilary musicians" -- not sure whether they ever existed as a live entity; the overlapping credits suggest not every cut was the same "band".) Probably either as "rock" a disco album or as "disco" a rock album as ever existed. And yeah, gay gay gay -- like, Leather Nun Accept Turbonegro leather bar gay (think they were marketed as the "metal" Village People or something), as the back cover below indicates even more than the front cover. Best song, "Walk The Night," an Andez/Fontana writing credit, sounds basically how Wax Trax leatherman fascist industrial fetish metal disco (KMFDM or whoever) should have sounded, almost a decade early -- Michael Freedberg, who I first heard of them from, suggested it for the disco-metal appendix of Stairway's second edition, which is the only place they're listed I believe. Scariest/Most hilariously wtf hook: "I got a ROD beneath my coat/It's gonna RAM right down your throat/Hooo-ah!!!" Other two most awesome cuts (both credited to Delaney-Sweval) would be "Life At The Outpost" ("give your love to a cowboy man/He's gonna love ya hard as he can, can") and "Midnight Companion" (almost-county ballad, about disguising one's self as a trucker to meet bikers to spend the night with). Those three songs are unbelievably catchy, though they really don't sound much like each other, even if they all come from the same place. Again, I have no idea the extent to which the lyrics were serious, though supposedly "Walk The Night" became a fairly sizable leather-bar hit regardless. Anyway, those three cuts could carry the LP alone, as far as I'm concerned. Rest is fine, sometimes much better than fine, but what what kind of caught me by surprise last time I played it is how a few of the cuts really predated the kind of dance-metal AOR people like, say, Aldo Nova (assuming there was anybody else "like" Aldo Nova) were hitting with three years later.

And now I need to clearly track down Biggus Diccus.

Rough boys on the front cover:

http://www.richiefontana.com/images/SkattAlbum2.jpg

And back:

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_IBigK-nP7zw/S0KZLxcGzOI/AAAAAAAAItk/ckM04QN_1Qk/s400/Skatt+Bros-+Strange+Spirits-Back.jpg

Biggus Diccus is a free download from their website, Chuck. Don't know if there's a physical copy available yet.

Gotcha. Will check website. Soon.

xp: "county" = "country." (Made the exact same typo tonight on the Rolling County I mean Country thread, oddly enough.)

Sweval was the bass player for Starz. Like Delaney, he died a few years ago. There's the "Aucoin' logo on the back.

The album and back cover is such an ott straight outta cruising ha-ha-ha moment. That's Delaney on the far right on the front cover, BTW.

Sadly, the great interior obviously not ready and waiting for heavy metal Village People with cultural joke name. But Casablanca was certainly the right label.

Chuck could take a week in metal club and choose it as one of the albums. It cant be any worse than aldo's picks this week.

All of you are welcome to take a week and choose 3 albums while we all listen to them and discuss it.

Take a listen to "Walk the Night" on Youtube, pfunk. You'll immediately grasp why it was big in gay dance clubs in Manhattan and why it charted, as a result. But much outrage might transpire.

It makes me laugh, though, and apparently they got an entry in Jasper & Oliver although I don't have it to check right near the desk.

Leather Nun, intentionally or not, definitely recycled their shtick later on.

Just had to report, best news item of the weekend:

Herculean hot dog eater Takeru Kobayashi was released from jail Monday morning and said he felt empty inside.

"I'm really hungry. I wanted to eat hot dogs," he said as he walked out of Brooklyn Criminal Court after being arraigned on charges of storming the stage at the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest in Coney Island Sunday.

Kobayashi, 32, was released without bail on charges of trespassing, resisting arrest and obstructing governmental administration.

The one-time champion said he'd only been able to munch on a bologna sandwich and a glass of milk while in central booking following his arrest.

His absence left the door wide-open for his arch nemesis, Joey Chestnut, to storm to his fourth consecutive title with 54 dogs in 10 minutes.

Still wearing a "Free Kobi" T-shirt as he left court, Kobayashi said he'd only tried to get on stage to congratulate "his buddies" and to "prove himself."

I just did. I dont know anything about gay clubs but I can definitely see why Chuck likes it!

haha wtf

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34sqrLWF_tQ&feature=related

better quality i think
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fujgQXeTPmk

Priceless. Seeing the bass player from Starz in that video -- and you have to recall his pics on the first two Starz albums as a scary tough guy -- is hilarious. Better song than anything on the third Starz album, too.

Hut! Shoot 'em up! Hut! Ride!

Apparently that song was a huge top 10 hit in Australia. Wonder if any ilx aussies know it?

Hmm, Wiki says they actually put out a second album -- Rico and the Ravens, 1981 -- only in Australia, too. But their main Wiki entry is misleading; says "In 1980, the band released Walk the Night (written by Fontana and Andez[4]), which has been widely popular, reaching #9 in the Billboard charts and #1 on various national charts"; perhaps that might refer to Down Under, too? Because the band charted no albums or singles at all on the Billboard 200 or Hot 100 in the States; not sure about disco/dance chart. (Also, fwiw, I was under the impression they had an entry in Jasper/Oliver, too but I'm not seeing them in there -- They do get a mention in the Piper entry, though.) (Finally, guess I slightly misquoted "Walk The Night" above. But I got the gist right.)

Singles

Life At The Outpost (1980) #7 Australia

Bob Probert, a strapping forward for the Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks who became one of hockey’s most accomplished brawlers but struggled with drug and alcohol abuse, died Monday in Windsor, Ontario.....When Probert traded punches with an opposing player at the Red Wings’ Joe Louis Arena, the singer Pat Benatar’s voice would be heard over the sound system: “Hit me with your best shot! Fire away!” T-shirts with Probert’s caricature, reading “Give Blood. Fight Probie,” were hot items at the souvenir stands.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/07/sports/hockey/07probert.html

"Prog On The Prairie: Midwestern Bands Roll Over Beethoven" (me, on Kansas, REO Speedwagon, Starcastle, Shooting Star -- with mere mentions of Styx and Head East, since they don't have any music on emusic):

http://www.emusic.com/features/spotlight/2010_201007-essay-prog.html

this is for gorge:

http://www.myspace.com/mooseboner

Huh, REO Speedwagon and Kansas on eMusic. I used to write for eMusic. Back then, like everyplace else, it had the reflexive subconscious antipathy to letting anyone write about hard rock, even if it was in their catalog. So if I wanted to write about the Screaming Lord Sutch catalog I had to find it hidden in their only Jimmy Page anthology.

Nice job. You'd like Shooting Star's Silent Scream LP. It grew on me, was produced by Ron Nevison which gave the guitar a razor-like crunch on some tunes. But -- overall -- it has this really optimistic mid-Eighties young-adults-having-fun vibe. This was, of course, well before anyone actually knew that Reagan was setting them up for a grim maturity. And now I bet they're all Tea-Baggers and Glenn Beck worshippers.

Boy, REO on eMusic though. That's almost as surprising as something like Tuscaloosa Ann
suddenly discovering electric guitars not played by Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain.

My latest Ted watching:

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/07/08/infame-the-new-fame-for-ted/

http://dickdestiny.com/blog1/2010/07/06/then-now-well-theres-always-hannity-and-cursing-the-obama-administration/

great write-up, chuck.

do you have the second fireballet album? i can't remember. i like it better than their first album. first album noteworthy for their prog rendition of night on bald mountain. second album is more fun. don't know if they were from the mid-west though.

http://strider01.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/gayles1.jpg

Boy, don't remember seeing that album cover. Great find, scott.

As for xhuxk's eMusic write-up, did you get to any of the Starcastle albums past the debut? I never did.

I'd agree with what you said re Genesis and the US comparisons. Yes, a bit of a different matter. There was
a good deal of crunch -- intentional or a side-effect of Steve Howe and Chris Squire in tandem -- on Fragile and Close to the Edge. Which may have been Offord's production bringing it out. Anyway, you can hear the mayhem real good on the first live album.

Ironically, the guy who was their loudest guitarist, Tonyt Banks, got sacked after two albums. And he really didn't get to show that until the Flash records which Christgau disparaged, in a way that was accidentally hilarious,
considering how things turned out.

Three and a half decades late, the Dictators get some moolah/recognition for something from Go Girl Crazy!, the lowest selling album in or close in Epic's history. (Not really, anymore, though.)

The Angels are using the Dictators' cover of "California Sun" in their local TV ads. It being soCal, that hits a pretty big audience, more than the population of most states.