Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009

That I Got the Fire solo is insane

The Backsliders' myspace page bit me, so I went to their domain. Am listening to the album now and it is, indeed, really good rock 'n' roll with a tough girl singer. And, blimey,
they can write songs. Twenty plus minutes is just the right length. But for some reason, their website design is toxic, too, crapping out on the LP play halfway through, or somewhere before "Keep a Knockin'." I smell too many Mac users spoiling the soup. They can't do anything right. Whoever Isotope Interactive is, the Backsliders should ask for their money back and
plus damages.

Liked "Maybellene Don't" a lot although the YouTube video of it doesn't do it justice. Just another desperate afternoon at a walk-in festival in Texas, I guess, turn down or you'll scare the kids in strollers. And why isn't the camera at the front of the stage? Fuck, it's not lkem there's a crowd one would get in the way of.

There's a fragment of a show from SXSW that shows 'em digging into a Yardbirdsy-style
real good.

Damned by faint praise in USA Today. They should've not sent the review copy. Thanks, Ken, I'm sure they thought.

USA Today April 24, 2008

THe Backsliders, You're Welcome (out now): Dallas band with a highly promising singer in Kim Pendleton and a few impressive songs, mostly front-loaded (the remainder slide down into mere adequacy). Definite growth potential.

-Ken Barnes

Damn. It is damn near impossible for me to type a message into the ILX reply box without it scrawling off the side of the screen and forcing errors.

A couple old records randomly pulled out for replay while unpacking boxes recently turn out to accidentally work as matched pair. But one is better.

The Janitors Thunderhead EP, In Tape UK, 1986 -- gallant but failed apparent Brit attempt to keep up with mid-American fake-hard-rock pigfuckers of the Killdozer/Scratch Acid persuasion, but with an even more inept singer and rhythm section and sense for writing tunes. Topics, inasmuch as they can be made out, concern stuff like (of course) mass murderers who (of course) kill with their bare hands. Still, pretty beefy for Brits at the time, especially guitarwise; they may have even passed for blues-based if you let blues mean Beefheart or the Birthday Party. Side openers "Thunderhead Johnny" and "Really Shining" are the most memorable tracks. Singer is an off-tune one-note whiner in usual '80s Brit fashion; sounds like the guy in Age Of Chance. Prodcuer Jon Langford from the Mekons and Three Johns (the latter of whom did catchier if less self-consciously quasi-dangerous loud quasi-rock) was spending a lot of time in Chicago at the time; I'd be surprised if he hadn't been exposed to say Big Black, or some of the noisy Touch 'N Go bands from then. Many of whom (just like Green River etc from Seattle) seemed refreshing from an indie-rock perspective at the time for not being wimps, but few if any of whom actually made convincing hard rock.

There's way more convincing thunder on Thundermug's 1973 Strikes, which I bet I picked up for $1 somewhere along the line because of their name, and because the band members on the back all look like total hang-dog hippie slobs, one of them with a neck beard, and the fattest one wearing a ponytail. Turns out, according to Martin Popoff, they came from London, Ontario. And they really do get that big-bottomed BTO buffalo-burger hockey-rink funk into their sound -- in "Jane 'J' James," "Where Am I," the start of "Garden Green" before it goes more hard pop. "Africa," too, though as the title suggests that one pulls of some nifty fake jungle polyrhythms (and may or may not mention "the colored man," I'm scared to go back and make sure.) Closer "Bad Guy" has the most bad-assed sound, approaching heavy Nazareth. And they do Beatles and diddybop harmonies elsewhere, when the mood suits them, plus a loud Kinks cover and something called "Mickey Mouse Club" that I gather might be political. Overall -- idiosyncratic, confused, rocking, with hints of prog and glam like they didn't know what they were. I like it a lot -- wondering if George or Scott have ever heard it. (Popoff liked it, too; gives it a 5 for heaviness and 8 for quality, and compares it to not only BTO, but also early Trooper. Though if I'm reading him right, his copy has different side-openers than mine. Maybe they shuffled the track order for American release, which was on Epic.)

the 2nd thundermug album is pretty collectable. harder to find.

thundermug means toilet, right? in some places. probably canada. or chamber pot.

xp Another inspiration on the Janitors at the time might be the Screaming Blue Messiahs, also from the UK and signed to Elektra; they put out their debut LP in '86 but an EP the year before (and some guys in the band had released an album as Motor Boys Motor as far back as 1982). Janitors feel sonically noisier, but that's the only way they're better -- Messiahs had more boogie, a singer, tunes, lyrics.

" And they really do get that big-bottomed BTO buffalo-burger hockey-rink funk into their sound..."

^I love this

also, the U.S. copy of Thundermug Strikes is actually songs from their first two albums. Strikes and Orbit. for instance, "Mickey Mouse Club" is on Orbit.

I sold a Moxy album yesterday! This guy said, "where did you get all this weird Canadian stuff from?" and i said, Moxy aren't weird, they're cool!

i bought myself a present on ebay. the only album by Texas band Houston Fearless. ten bucks for a sealed copy. 1969 hard rock. i dig it. a minor album. great rockin' cover of "mr.soul" on it.

http://www.popsike.com/pix/20060509/4877841590.jpg

finally got a really nice clean copy of the first Isis album. for 50 cents!

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_xQ-zn51BoTk/Rc_zdBHdk7I/AAAAAAAAAAs/cWEWfy3EzKo/s320/Isis-Isis.jpg

For half a buck you can't go wrong, I guess, but I remember that record being pretty dire. I probably sold mine about the same time I got rid of Fanny's "Rock and Roll Survivors,"

i had a crappy copy of the isis album and i liked it. it's kinda bonkers. how often do you get to hear all-female psych/jazz/funk/folk/rock albums anyway.

This album I bought for $2 last year (and wound up not totally hating despite itself) sort of applies (notes from the '08 buy-that-for-a-dollar thread):

The Deadly Nightshade F&W (Phantom, 1976 -- all-woman -- all-lesbian, maybe? -- power trio. I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to be very good, but they look really badass on the cover, plus they apparently do songs about Mary Hartman and an Irish bar, and they cover "Little Old Lady From Pasadena")

Deadly Nightshade F&W = "Funky and Western."

Deadly Nightshade almost mind-boggingly shitty so far; not all that funky or western -- and closer to show-tuney than folky, despite the discofied program music of the Mary Hartman theme (which may or may not be a cover); covering "Dancing in the Streets" is entirely pointless, maybe not worse than Bowie/ Jagger but definitely a lot worse than Van Halen's.

almost look like they could be a metal band on their LP cover by the way, especially given their very goth-metal name).

the isis album is totally funky. and has great guitars. and wicked flute solos. if someone doesn't like horns or horn rock i can see them not being into it. but, seriously, suzi ghezzi was an awesome guitarist.

plus, i think they pre-date Les Rockets as an all silver rock band.

plus, meco did the strings. and shadow morton produced. and allen toussaint produced their second album. and they have a song called "do the football". and one called "cocaine elaine". and bongos. and they thank three dog night and Crawdaddy on the back cover. and they are completely naked.

Christgau seems to prefer Isis, too:

http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=isis

http://robertchristgau.com/get_artist.php?name=deadly+nightshade

you gotta hear the epic "servant saviour" by isis. serious p-funk/hendrix shredding guitar solos by suzi.

i'm really glad to hear this again after years.

now i'm listening to the first album by Talas, Billy Sheehan's old band, but i think i have to take it off cuz it's pretty bad. the no-budget production is horrible. they try and sound slick for a dollar and it just sounds like a dollar being wasted.

Alright, listening to the clips available on youtube, Isis is better than the BS&T knockoff I remembered. Probably as good/better than some of the half-dozen Cold Blood records I own. Plus, Scott's description = LOLOL!

"I probably sold mine about the same time I got rid of Fanny's "Rock and Roll Survivors"

Another really dire record. If you actually liked some of Fanny's first four
albums, this one's really bad by comparison. 'Course, not quite the same band, anymore, either.

I wrote about Talas up above (see permalink below), but by "debut", Scott, do you mean their 15,000-run self-released debut from '79 (which I've never seen; only know it existed because of Popoff's book)?:

Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock 2009

(x-post) I think I would still rep for Fanny's "Butter Boy" single (It's been years since I heard it, but it was no "Charity Ball" in any case.) Can't recall another note of the music on R&R Survivors. Like the naked/silver Isis cover, I may have been swayed by Patti Quatro's legs. She is apparently as tall as her sister is short.

isis album is WAY better than that fanny album. i have that fanny album for sale in my store. and i have suzi quatro albums for sale in my store. AND i have a mike quatro album for sale in my store. i'm covered when it comes to that family.

"Scott, do you mean their 15,000-run self-released debut from '79"

yeah, that one. it's bad.

this album is really good though. listening now. yes, i did receive my four zillion tapes in the mail today.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_zvKZzfB66eE/RtM9TSutxvI/AAAAAAAAAJs/jqetw_L1QWs/s400/Assassin_Interstellar%2BExperience.jpg

assazzin's cover of "pipeline" might even be better than JFA's version.

2.0 out of 5 stars comical overtones but with fairly solid music, May 21, 2009
By Funeral of Gravewurm (VA) - See all my reviews
a somewhat poor follow-up to the great "Upcoming Terror" album. ok so the music is decent enough overall (even with the surf-rock cover song), but the lyrics are just unfocused and not very metal-minded. "Junk Food" ? why would a serious thrash band write a song about junk food? Well because they weren't serious. In similar vein to the band Tankard who started out strong, just went in a more comical approach to their thrash...not bad, but not as strong as the debut.

21 bucks for an import copy of that assassin cd. 25 cents for a sealed tape copy. you do the math.

this album by The Accused i'm listening to is on Nastymix, Sir Mix-A-Lot's label. I love that label. Nastymix got bought out by Ichiban, my fave gutbucket soul/blues label.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/52/b8/95dd225b9da04b7bb696e010.L.jpg

chuck, please tell me you own this album it's great!

http://www.earthwaverecords.com/pictures/albumimg/b/a0078243.jpg

great songs, great pop, great southern rock, it's got it all! great production. great guitars.

i love it. here i am in 2009 opening a tape that was factory sealed in 1979 and digging the hell out of it. life is good.

found this on the web:

"In '78, I started another band, "Blue Steel". We recorded an album, "No
More Lonely Nights"(Infinity Rec.), and toured with the Eagles on their "Long
Run" tour in 1980. In the middle of the tour, our Record company folded.
We regrouped, went to another label, cut a second album, "Nothing But
Time"(Elektra Rec.), and then the band folded. I decided to move to
Nashville to write songs. The "band business" was just not working out.

[4] 1982 through 1998

I hit Nashville in the fall of '82 and met a songwriter named Sandy Pinkard.
He'd had several hits and wanted to write together. It didn't work out.
We started having too much fun making up stupid lyrics to our own songs, as
well as others, and without really trying, we found ourselves with a comedy
act. It worked out. For lack of a better name, we called ourselves "
Pinkard and Bowden". We recorded four Warner Bros. albums, "Writers In
disguise", "PG-13", "Live, In Front Of a Bunch Of D-dkh--ds", and "Cousins,
Cattle and Other Love Stories". We toured the country making people laugh
for almost 16 years. We were frequent guests on all the great morning radio
shows and eventually got our own late night TV commercial (the kind I really
hate but secretly always wanted to have), for a compilation album called
"Gettin' Stupid". Our songs can still be heard today and our records are
still available on the web at http://www.pinkardandbowden.com/.";

No More Lonely Nights (1979)

1. No More Lonely Nights (3:51)
2. Bulldog (3:18)
3. Guitar Song (3:19)
4. Baby, You Can't Dance (3:42)
5. Twist One Up (4:43)/
6. Shark (2:20)
7. I Should Be Sleeping (2:27)
8. Honey Dew (3:02)
9. Take Me (3:09)
10. Willie & Waylon (3:11)
11. Hoo-Doo-Voo-Doo (3:11)

Members & Other Bands:
Leonard Arnold - Guitar (Lavender Hill Express)
Richard Bowden - Guitar (Austin Lounge Lizards, Pinkard & Bowden, Shiloh, Cold Steel, Maines Brothers Band)
Howard Burke - Guitar
Marc Durham - Bass (Buckwheat)
Mickey McGee - Drums
Michael Huey - Drums (The Swingin' Medallions)
Ken Perry - Mastering
Jimmy Watchel - Album Design (for Dawn Patrol) & Cover Photography
Michael Curtis - Cover Photography
Rose Ware - Group Photos
Intrepid Productions - Direction
Noah Shark & Max - Producers

I had that album! Don't recall liking it much but it was '79 and I was probably listening almost exclusively to Robin Trower, still hoping for one more -g00d- Foghat album, and punk rock.

And today's funny paper: Stumble and fail.

i read that fancy beer and wine sales have gone way down and that sales of the cheap stuff is soaring. people stocking up on gallons of vodka instead of their precious microbrews. i don't think i could drink night train though. yuuuuughh.

After getting used to Thunderbird, I'm now a little skeptical ZZ Top were actually fans rather than just singing a song about the jingle they heard in the city. It's just not something that really goes with a huge spread of Mexican food.

this is what i used to drink in high school. 1.5 liter jugs. i would carry one around with me at parties like a security blanket.

http://www.grape-nutz.com/soldiers/labels/images/carlo.gif

by the end of the night i would be pretty snockered. i liked cheap whiskey too. i got into beer after high school when i lived in philly. that's when i lived on meister brau, iron city, blatz, olde german, yuengling, etc. i could get a 12 pack of olde german in west philly for $5.99.

I liked the jugs of the chablis, but same concept. And I liked blatz,i thought it tasted pretty good, esp. the dark one.

From the 'Stumble & Fail' entry:

"The experience did awaken some old engraved muscle memory. Back in the good ol’ Eighties, the early days of grad school, DD spent Friday nights in Pine Grove, listening to new records at a friend’s home on Wideawake Street. He always had something like Night Train, sometimes T. J. Swan, or combinations of these and Black Velvet or Seagram’s Seven. The morning’s after tended to be much worse, though."

Generally, we'd be listening to things like his old copy of Billion Dollar Babies -- the AC band minus Alice which, at the time, was rare. Now it's a lot easier to find mint copies of vinyl -- I have one -- and it sounds a lot better than it did then, primarily because after 'Welcome to My Nightmare,' ol' AC put out many, many albums much worse than the debut of the Billion Dollar Babies. Which actually, on many cuts, still sounds close to the best material from the old Alice Cooper band. I mean, they were still trying. And then we might follow that with Chrome's Half Machine, or the Dictators, or a Nutz record. Nutz were marginal but the art on the first album, and the last, was good. It was an eclectic mix of relative nobodies.

Speaking of which, I dragged out my pristine copy of the debut of Hookfoot.

It baffles me that a CD reissue of it would go for $40.00

http://www.amazon.com/Hookfoot/dp/B000FGGVPC?SubscriptionId=06KMPSHEDSXXQMQVT482&tag=askcom-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B000FGGVPC

The five star gurgle is equally astonishing.

Hookfoot was associated with Dick James Music (DJM) and Elton John. And on the first album, the band shows it can't really write, but it can play. So there's a pastiche of things which reflect their influences in an enthusiastic manner. Primarily, that was California singer/songwriter done in a band context, by Brits. The best tune is Stephen Stills' "Bluebird," the second best, Neil Young's "Don't Let It Bring You Down." Both are electricfied. Plus, there's a lot of Steely Dan-esque stuff and a couple nods to hippie-fied Jethro Tull.

Hookfoot answered the question, can a black guy -- Caleb Quaye -- play the part of a white addled California guitarist still a bit entranced with the Summer of Love, mystic ladies, golden eagles, and what not... Answer: Damn straight he could!

Listen to this and it's pleasant but you know why they never went anywhere, despite being pushed for for at least three whole albums.

Although Quaye and drummer Roger Pope were in and out of the backing bands of big stars -- Elton John, Hall & Oates, etc..

Just wanted to pop in to tell you guys that I love reading this thread, even though I can't contribute anything to it. In the past week I've picked up that Last Vegas record and Ten Years After's Stonedhenge based on your guys. Still lukewarm on the first (couple really great songs, but feels spotty) but LOVING the latter.

Love this! I was gonna put it out for sale, but i think i need to keep it:

http://tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:xMbN-6bu8UVflM:http://www.musicobsession.com/Pictures/s/l/slaughter134678.jpg

i need a good slaughter & the dogs collection. i know there are a couple of 2 disc sets.

I have the live LP, with the interview disc - think you had to be there!

Went Googling for Slaugher's Bite Back and found this instead, at the top of the results:

http://punknotprofit.blogspot.com/2008/02/dogs-77-bite-back.html

The Dogs were French, not at all like Slaughter & the Dogs, and I'm not even sure the thing profiled and ripped is even a real album. But it does collect much of their best
material.

The best of which was Go Where You Want to Go, an EP I found in '78 or '79 and was surely one of my favorites that year. They were heavily influenced by Detroit in the same way Flamin' Groovies ca. Teenage Head, only they played lots faster. Almost everything they did early was never slower than 130 bpm, the top cuts from the EP being "Here Comes My Baby,"
"My Life" (the guitar coda on this is, to use a bit of hyperbole, 'bitchin'), and
"You're Gonna Lose Me." It was put out by a French record shop called Melodies Massacre, I think.

The Dogs made a bunch of records, some of them on Euro-divs of majors, and were
successful in France. I had one of their later records, too, which might have been more common domestically: Too Much Class for the Neighborhood. It was a bit of a power pop thing and I didn't much care for it.

However, "Go Where You Want to Go" and their very first 45 are on the Punk site collection, and they're terrific, very much concise sneering hard rock 'n' roll with a great rhythm section, all song around 2:30 or less.

A fair amount of video of the Dogs is on YouTube, most of it lacklustre in comparison to their recorded high points.

With Shakin' Street and Telephone, you have a trio of French bands, all doing rock 'n' rll mostly taken from US sources, really well.

And included is this

http://sonsofthedolls.blogspot.com/2007/11/little-bob-story.html

which is Little Bob Story's first EP, on Chiswick, which was swept up by the UK punk rock scene in the late-Seventies because of its pub rock sound.

Both bands appeal to fans of the Vibrators' first record.

i'm a fan of the first Vibrators album.

what i like about that Slaughter album is that is has the conciseness and snarl and thump of punk, but also great freespirited hard rock guitar solos. i like the punk + 70's hard rock combo. neither one or the other. lord knows, there are enough albums that fit that bill, but i'm pretty insatiable.

played the Starz debut yesterday for old time's sake. that first side is so great i had to play it again. (though i'm always a little bummed out when fallen angel ends the side.)

i've listened to The Dogs on youtube and seen their albums but for some reason i never picked one up.

listening to and loving the second Piledriver album today. from 1986. what an apt title too. can't get enough of the crunchy two dollar guitar sound on this album. two dollars canadian, even.

wikipedia says that the two original Piledriver albums have sold over 500,000 copies!! i had no idea.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/c6/f2/5348808a8da0170a742d5110.L.jpg

Didn't Buffin from Mott the Hoople produce that Slaughter album? Or was it a different
one?

Heck, one of the guys -- the one in the pink coat -- looked like he could have been in early Mott the Hoople.