TS: Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhGJdMv0114

Fucking kickarse band

last night in santa ana: knitters, blasters, x, los lobos. a benefit for phil alvin, who looked great and sounded pretty damn great considering what he's been thru in the past year. emceed by the not-mentioned-anywhere-in-this-thread big sandy. three decades later, the blasters are still a damn good live band, and even better when dave alvin is roaming all over the stage playing lead guitar and, perhaps more important, marking his territory. the knitters were alright but they were trying a bit too hard to rock it up. i think they sound better when they don't rock. much as i love the only knitter who plays an electric instrument, i kept wanting him to turn it down. they were sloppy and endearing anyway. x were x, doing exactly what they've never really stopped doing, john and exene hamming it up and billy zoom standing way off stage right smiling as if trying a little too hard to hide his apparent disdain for the rest of the band. in front of them, the oldiest, motliest mosh pit i have ever seen. los lobos -- the grateful dead of this scene - were short two members, david hidalgo and conrad lozano, but had lotsa guests on accordion, harmonica, guitar and whatnot, and though they devolved into a bit of a random bar-band jam session by the end, their spirit was very much intact and i was very glad for their presence.

all that was missing was dwight yoakam.

Great to know; hope it turns up on YouTube, like so much of this stuff does from time to time. Doe's Keeper is the best of his solo albums I've heard: two marriages, three daughters, four continuing musical partnerships with women (well, two of 'em are Exene, in the contexts of X and the Knitters), times an unexpectedly happy life-love partnership (at least ca. 2011) have really taught him stuff.

Tex & The Horesheads!!!

So, I found a dollar copy of Life's So Cool from 1985. Really wanted to like it, too -- to the extent that I'll probably hang onto it even though it's probably not good enough to hang on to. If this album is any indication, they had total dearth of memorable tunes, Texicala Jones was a dud of a singer, and their music either didn't kick very hard or they needed a more hands-on producer than John Doe to bring the kick (and/or tunes) out. Curious if the earlier stuff is better (or if they had just used up all their decent material by the time this album came out); probably would still investigate if I saw their 1984 debut in a dollar bin, but my hopes are definitely not what they used to be.

hope it turns up on YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H-Mbm7nQ5Qo

thanks!

chuck, are you a flesheaters fan? speaking of bands you try and like cuz people like them so much but you can't really get down with them. in my case anyway. i think it was the voice more than anything else. (been years since i actually heard them though. maybe i'd dig it more now? tried when i was a teen...)

The Flesh Eaters song you've got to hear is "Tightrope on Fire." I haven't heard it in years and don't know how to describe it but...

It's kind of like - it goes as far as early Springsteen goes. Except it's punk rock. It takes punk rock and it goes as far as early Springsteen goes.

Here it is. Just totally screamin' and great songwriting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbZ58gIx7k4

Just found this guy who's more recent, but kind of belongs here I think. Even beyond a pretty solid Bowie cover (!) the stuff I've checked on Spotify so far is pretty intriguing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PN4_jssER78

I kinda feel like the Lazy Cowgirls belong in this thread - they started out straightforward punk rock, but got more and more roots-rock as they went on - had acoustic guitars on their last album, I'm Goin' Out and Get Hurt Tonight. And main man Pat Todd was one of the great working class lyricists of L.A. rock.

I forget which thread had all the Lone Justice talk in terms of them being a great/overblown 'real music' hope circa 1986 and all (and how ridiculous it looks now). Anyway this story about an archival release from 1983 digs enjoyably deep, and a second part to come:

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/our-country/lone-justice-album-fresh-cowpunk-30-years-later-103815697.html

A fair amount of gilding lilies in terms of memories, I suspect, but hey (I kinda like McKee's attitude versus everyone else's -- especially Hedgecock saying that country is the "indigenous" music of Los Angeles, which, like, think about it, dude).

The voice McKee did have was that of a young Dolly Parton, reincarnated while she still walked the earth and transmuted into the slender body of an 18-year-old Beverly Hills girl. Parton herself came down to one of the group’s earliest club shows and offered her seal of approval — something she repeated 30 years later when she contributed an endorsement for the new album’s liner notes, calling McKee “the greatest girl singer any band could ever have.” Of the night Dolly came down, McKee says, “I remember it was on the evening news when it happened. That’s how unusual it was. And there was nobody there, but she was there, in the front, yelling and screaming at me!”

Here it is; Past Critics' Darlings Re-evaluated as Duds?

Yeah, love that Parton story. And thanks for finding that!

Thanks for all these updates! Don't think I've prev. linked my 2001 cosmic cowgirl round-up, wich talks about McKee's Hollywood background, incl. big bro Bryan MacLean's influence: his own music for Love and after, also he got her into Broadway albums---think those who expected a New Traditionalist/alt-country Joan of Arc had no idea: http://www.villagevoice.com/2001-05-01/music/alias-in-wonderland/

Overdid the McCaslin though. The Mckee song "Panic Beach" I describe in there got the Dixie Chicks foresisters so excited about young unknown Natalie Maines, when Daddy Lloyd played them her audition tape.

We should mention (a) McKee scored a #1 hit in England with "Show Me Heaven" and (b) I hear McKee in Neko Case, and not to McKee's credit.

re(b): how so?

Neko Case also a big-voiced artist whose marketing has little bearing on what she is: Lone Justice-style slick rock.

Belters both. Neko could do "Wheels."

Meanwhile:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrLph5vW7BU

Belters both, yeah, and pop elements, but their broody, restless, sometimes woolgathering lyrics tend go against the grain of "slick-rock" per se---increasingly so on the post-LJ albums I've heard (which, in the piece, have me thinking of Ziggy Bowie) def on several Case albums, incl The Virginian, Furnace Room Lullabym and The Worse Things Get.

Thanks for the Green On Red.

Thread revival reminded me a piece I wrote a few years ago on the positioning and marketing of these mid eighties bands.

I saw Lone Justice twice, both times opening for U2. The first time, in early 1985, they were booed before they even started playing. Even a raging cover of "Fortunate Son" didn't lessen the boos.

The second time was in 1987, around the time "Shelter" was a near-hit. They just got polite applause.

I thought their first record was OK, but McKee's Life Is Sweet towers over everything else they/she did (with the possible exception of "Non-Religious Building" on High Dive, easily the most effective and/or hilarious Who pastiche of the last 25 years).

Robbie Robertson didn't do poor Maria any favors in the last minute of this video. It's a tough watch...

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4KP9PNSUME4

Yeah, on Rolling Reissue, Tarfumes and I were talking about the hazards of opening for young U2 and their multiplying multitudes (Pylon's Randy Bewlay: "It was like touring with Jesus Christ").

The weird thing is, supposedly the Red Rockers -- who opened for them the night before -- were warmly received. wrt Lone Justice, I suspect the Chicago crowd thought this "country music" was strictly cornballsville, hence the booing.

But why did they give Pylon so much trouble, at several shows? Zealous converts to B.O.N.O., mebbe.

Pretty sure even REM got a rough time on a U2 led bill in 1985

well, yeah. The hair!

That doesn't sound right? R.E.M. sort of swore off opening for big bands after they toured with the Police around '83.

Pretty sure R.E.M. opened for U2 in Europe in '85, though.

And now that I remember it, I saw the BoDeans open for U2 in 1987 also. They weren't booed. They should have been.

I saw Lone Justice open for U2 on the Joshua Tree tour in East Rutherford. They seemed good but the sound was godawful.

Next time I saw them, the Pixies opened, a few months before they broke up. Last time it was Interpol, who are not a daytime stadium show band.

This Is Lone Justice: The Vaught Tapes 1983--blasting their club set in a good li'l studio. No stereo-typical 80s glitz; like the booklet says, "quick and dirty," never blurry, though a few of the originals could use more well-thought-out trad lifts/folk process, a la "Soap Soup And Salvation," which makes well-timed use of "When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder" without getting mawkish; good speedy, confident cover of "Jackson" too. "This Is World Is Not My Home" goes from Carter Family/Woody G. rumination to poignant-with-a-beat "Soap"-style convocation to whooo, ready to meet them angels with sum white line fever (this would be the punkabilly or cowpunk, I take it).

Oh yeah, and Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy turns out to be surprisingly lively-- not because of Phil's health probs, but mine: I was bored dead by a box of BBB several years ago. Phil's in fine voice, Dave sings okay, and of course plays his ass off, but only to enhance the material, as well he might. Gene Taylor tickles the ivories, and---although guests like LJ's Don Heffington also keep the rhythm section reet---can't help wishing they'd gotten Bazz and Bateman (who have often been live Blasters with Phil) back in there. But making it a full-fledged Blasters album---suggested title: Broonzy--- might bring back a lot of bad blood, which even seemed like it might bubble up in a couple moments of P&D's recent and v. brotherly Fresh Air interview. Common Ground AKA Truce, eh? I'll take it.

Lone Justice or Cruzados or Drivin' & Cryin' or Green On Red or Del Fuegos or Jason & The Scorchers or Long Ryders or Bodeans?

Alex, What is Mitchell Froom?

I love this thread. Probably the best of the lot is the first Maria McKee (Can't Pull The Wool Down, Drinkin' In My Sunday Dress), and the Essential Vol. 1 Jason mentioned upthread, though I'll admit to a fondness for the Del Fu-e-gos Slash debut. Just recently decided Gas, Food, Lodging is vastly overrated, and a get re-acquainted with Drivin'n'Cryin didn't turn out so well either.

I'm most likely to listen to those weird Latin Playboys records these days anyway.

Common Ground: Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin Play and Sing the Songs of Big Bill Broonzy

i've seen phil and dave play this stuff live twice this year. full-band electric set at sxsw was loose and fun if not great. mostly what i remember, from my perch pretty close to the stage, was that phil looked 90 years old but sounded 30 years old. that voice of his is protected by the good lord. in los angeles a couple weeks ago, at one of gary calamar's mimosa music brunches in north hollywood, they played acoustic, just the two of them, and it was fantastic. i'm pretty sure it was the first time i've ever seen dave play an acoustic live (mostly a national steel) -- he's good at it, needless to say -- and certainly the first time i've seen either of them before noon. dave sang more than i expected (and more than i probably would've liked) but the years have been kind to his voice, too. there's more voice there than there used to be. the songs worked great in that setting. also, not surprisingly, the alvins have no idea what mimosas are.

Yes...Latin Playboys records are great. Mustard from the 2nd album could be a hit.

also, not surprisingly, the alvins have no idea what mimosas are.

I kinda love this detail.

Two Green on Red items:

http://blurtonline.com/feature/college-rock-chronicles-pt-4-green-red/

“I was in a band that got thrown on the bill with these ‘Paisley dudes,’” recalls Prophet, of his initial encounter with the band. “My first impression was they looked like guys who should be operating the rides at a carnival. They played and it blew my mind! It was chaotic as hell, but really entertaining and musical, and the songs were there.”

Also, have had this as a bootleg on vinyl since high school, just found the video recently:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixKJq3F4lXo

Dan Stuart was only in his mid 20s during the GOE mid 80s peak?

He seems a lot older

Actually a lot of these people seem older than the Husker Du/Replacements/Minutemen crowd, even if they really werent at all.

GOR = Green on Red

Word from Chuck P.:

-------------------------------------------------------------------
CUT ALONG DOTTED LINE

Hello Trolls, haters, lovers and players,

It’s a party and we’ll cry if we want to. As you have no doubt heard by now Yep Roc will be releasing our new LP, Night Surfer, on CD, cassette and (yes, yes, yes… vinyl too!). RELEASE DATE: September 23rd, 2014.

To celebrate, we’re throwing a private little get-together happy hour party in San Francisco for the insiders who subscribe to this newsletter.

Here’s the deal: The first 50 people to sign up will be our guests at a secret location in San Francisco. Free drinks on us, people! We’ll also have some guitars and drums on hand so who knows? We might even be nudged into playing some music. Hope you can be there when the deal goes down. Next Wednesday Sept. 24th 5-7 PM. Here’s the sign up link: http://tinyurl.com/mkyhjwb

Until then, you can stream our new "jamming, occasionally neurotic" album at Esquire Magazine: http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/chuck-prophet-night-surfer

And in other news: For those of you spread out around the globe, John Murry and I will be on Radio Valencia live. Spinning tales and LP’s and taking calls too. You can call the studio line and listen along to the uncomfortable silence of dead air as the DJ tries to figure out how to get you on air. HERE: 415-962-7979

Seriously, John Murry and I will be opening the lines to our souls on the show. Literally. You can just pick up the phone and call. We’ll be there for you. Whatever is wrong in your life, we will attempt to fix. We will also make fun of you if you call and are utterly disinteresting. There's no greater sin than being a tacky bore. It ruins every dinner party. Look, we just wanna talk, dig? We come in peace. Call us for assistance or spiritual guidance or to attack us or try to win an argument (or start one between us). Or just to tell an entertaining story. Goddammit, talk to us! On the air! Okay? Here are the deets: Sunday night, sept 21. Show is from 10 til midnight. Special thanks to our host Jim Granato for inviting us down to the new Radio Valencia Studio in the heart of San Francisco’s Mission District. It’s gonna be good: http://radiovalencia.fm/waxcracklepop/

In other news our Newcastle show is still very much on. Note the cluster-lunch of gigs below. It’s our little attempt to re-create a Black Flag van tour circa 1983. How are we doing so far?

Always,

-CP

Oops sorry, here's the gigs of which Prophet speaks:

http://chuckprophet.com/gigs/

I forgot that I used to have a Maria McKee solo record. maybe even two of them? I think they were good.

You Gotta Sin to Get Saved is really really good.

seconded

From Nashville, not LA, but def adding to the tiny, out-behind-the-barn cowpunk pantheon: Jason & The Scorchers roll through Irving Plaza, live for local radio and recording for King Biscuit Flour or Flower Hour's syndicated source of so much liberated goodness. '84, "we just signed with EMI-American," fresh 'n' fuzztone-branded, slamming back and forth in the cattle car, with every song I can recall, except "Both Sides of the Line." Not too fast or slow, only 41'21 seconds, though intense enough that I had to take a short break halfway through, which is rare. Only prob: Jason's vocals are so wholesome, he sometimes makes zingers and sexual sour grapes come across like light breakfast materials, but doesn't misplace the caffeine, and certainly nails the stood-up "how could this happen to Meeee?!" of Kid D.'s "Absolutey Sweet Marie."
http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=1975