Dillinger Four: Midwestern Songs of the Americas

Dillinger Four: Midwestern Songs of the Americas

1998

Hopeless Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. O.K. F.M. D.O.A  2. #51 Dick Butkus  3. It's a Fine Line Between the Monkey and the Robot  4. Portrait of the Artist As a Fucking Asshole  5. Twenty-One Said Three Times Quickly 6. Super Powers Enable Me to Blend in With Machinery  7. Doublewhiskeycokenoice  8. Supermodels Don't Drink Colt .45  9. Shut Your Little Trap, Inc.  10. Mosh for Jesus  11. Hand Made Hard Times Handed Back  12. "Honey, I Shit the Hot Tub"  13. The Great American Going Out of Business Sale


Wow...Two Hopeless Records bands back to back...First Digger and now Dillinger Four...But these they're about as radically different as two bands that arguably fall under the banner "pop punk" can be...Effectively showcasing  the roster's sonic diversity within the supposedly "narrow" confines of pop-punk...See, we here at the Friday Night Record Party blog like to label our music...

We even have our own Label Maker!! And as catchy as Dillinger Four is, I'd label them more as an absurdly melodic hardcore band than a pop-punk band...And boy, "Midwestern Songs of the Americas" is a freakin' great absurdly melodic hardcore record...

Although, come to think of it, it's always fallen under the category of "albums that have an opening track so blindingly brilliant that the rest of the album cannot hold up" (the Label Maker strike again!)...The record kicks off w/ one of the band's signature scene-setting samples before launching into "O.K. F.M. D.O.A"...
 
And here's where we're introduced to the band's sound...Scratchy vocals that sound like they're being piped in from the world's most blown speakers...Clanging distorted bass...Giant fuzzy punk guitars and maybe the most glorious chorus I've ever heard:

"Move with the rogue set choking out the radio,
A thousand voices booming out in stereo,
From top to bottom knock them down like dominoes..."

As you might've gleaned from the album's title, this isn't some slick Western Coast shit...Or meat-headed, tough-guy New York hardcore...No, this is big, thick, beer-soaked Midwestern hardcore, and I'm telling you, it's just the most amazing shit ever...If you don't listen to "O.K. F.M. D.O.A" at least ten times in a row you're hearing it wrong... Check it out if you don't believe me...

I said earlier that this song was so awe-inspiring that the rest of the album couldn't hold up, but that's not entirely true..."Doublewhiskeycokenoice" is easily one of the band's best tracks...I always hear people say that Green Day ripped off the song for "American Idiot" but my guess is that those folks probably haven't listened to much punk yet..."Doublewhiskeycokenoice"'s choppy little riff is one that turns up all the time in the genre and with good reason...It's a great riff...I think this recurring  accusation speaks more of the sheer power with which D4 wields this particular iteration of the riff...With that "D-4!" chant filling the spaces, they effectively write their name on it, making the riff theirs forevermore...And to top it off they manage to come up with at least 6 other top-notch melodic ideas throughout the song's 2 and a half minutes (not to mention a cameo from the late, great Otis Redding)...A good drinkin' song...

Other highlights include "Super Powers Enable Me to Blend in With Machinery"...If you've ever hung out with a group of people that are familiar with this album, you'll know that it's customary for everyone present to raise their fists in the air (preferably with the neck of a cold beer clenched in said fist) and bellow along, "FUUCK 'EM ALLLLLLLLLL...."  as loudly as possible (If this doesn't happen, change friends immediately)...

Oh yea, My friend Joe used to always say that Erik Funk sounded like he had a deviated septum during the accapella outro of  "It's a Fine Line Between the Monkey and the Robot"...I've always felt that was pretty sound medical advice...

Listening to this again, I can't help but think that maybe Dillinger Four were the last truly great punk rock band...They hit that perfect balance between political outrage and irreverent humor...The songs were always catchy...Always exciting...I'm hoping some fresh, young band will come along and make D4 look like a buncha chumps, but I'm starting to get a little worried that it's not going to happen at this point...I'm officially urging all the kids out there to unplug their Skrillex-y macbooks and plug in some guitars and make some catchy punk rock! (Good luck though...I tried doing it and nobody listened to me)...

Oh well, let's check out "Doublewhiskeycokenoice" by Dillinger Four...Enjoy...

Ah, what the heck...I don't feel ready for bed yet...I think I can listen to another one...



Dillinger Four: This Shit is Genius

1999

TDR (Compact Disc)/No Idea (Vinyl) Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl and Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Shotgun Confessional  2. Unemployed  3. Smells Like OK Soda  4. One Trick Pony  5. Open and Shut  6. Sally MacLennane  7. I Coulda Been a Contender  8. Hi-Pro Glow  9. Two Cents  10. He's a Shithead (Yeah, Yeah)  11. Holy Shit  12. Bite the Curb, Bite the Curb  13. You're Not Blank  14. Inquiring Minds (Should Read a Book)

 

Oh, I was just telling a friend of mine that despite hearing them a million times, I don't know the names of most D4 tracks...Sure, "Honey, I Shit the Hot Tub" and a few others stand out, but for the most part I call them "Track 1," "Track 7" etc...I felt weird about this until I recently read that even the band member's themselves have this same problem...So now I don't feel so weird...

 Anyway, "This Shit is Genius"  is a compilation of early Ep's/Compilation Tracks/7-inch singles/12-inch singles/13 inch singles/16-centimeter singles/flexidiscs/inflexidiscs representing the band's earliest material...

The first four tracks come from 1995's "Higher Aspirations: Tempered and Dismantled" EP...It strikes you immediately that this is even more raw than "Midewestern Songs..." which is really saying something...You'll also notice that they had their shit down cold right from the get-go...If you liked "Midwestern Songs..." then there's a 100% chance that you'll love "Shotgun Confessional" and "Unemployed"...Prior to hearing this, I'd always had a bit of a hard time pinpointing the band's influences...They were clearly punk/hardcore but they didn't sound like anyone else, really...But after wrapping my ears around "One Trick Pony" I had to smack myself on top the head and say, "Ohhh yeeeeaaaa....Crimpshrine!" I also find "Smells Like OK Cola" interesting...For one, it's a swinging, mid-tempo rock song...And on top of that it's about OK Cola...A short-lived Daniel Clowes-flavored soft drink...

 1995 also saw the release of the band's split EP with another Midwestern band, the Strike...Their cover of the Pogue's "Sally MacLennane" sounds appropriately wasted and "Open and Shut" rules...When I first heard that clean, funky opening riff I was like, "What the hell?" It was a thing of true beauty...It doesn't last long, eventually giving away to bulldozing hardcore with a chorus that somehow manages to shift things into an even higher gear...

Also included is the 1996's "The Kids Are All Dead" ep...You can hear the band's songwriting get marginally more complex and melodic with "I Coulda Been a Contender" and "Two Cents" is remarkable for sounding abso-fucking-lutely exactly like Crimpshrine right down to an awesome half-time breakdown and Erik emulating Jeff Ott's scortched vocal style...As much as I enjoy "He's a Shithead (Yeah, Yeah, Yeah)" I think I enjoy the little low-fi "Dillinger Four" ditty that's attached to the end of the song even more...It's so cute and catchy...Rounding out the EP is "High Pro Glow" which features the hilarious lyric, "High and Mighty, barely nineteen..."

The remainder of the material comes form various comps...The key tracks here include their fantazzackle cover  of "I'm Not Blank" (and I think I've covered how much I like the Dils elsewhere on this site) and "Bite the Curb, Bite the Curb" which is powerful enough to knock you on yer ass, ya big pansy...

Boy...I'm starting to get a bit loopy...I think I better pull the plug...To sum things up, I've always enjoyed this release...Sure, it drives me nuts that the "More Songs About Girlfriends and Bubblegum" EP isn't included and I wouldn't recommend this for newcomers to the band (I've showed this to a friend who loves D4 and even this was a bit raw for him)...Still, there's so many must-have tracks here...

Start elsewhere, but don't miss this, is what I'm trying to say...

Here's "Two Cents" by Dillinger Four...Check it out...

Digger: Monte Carlo

Digger: Monte Carlo

2000

Hopeless Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Detroit River  2. Feeling What I'm Saying  3.  Slur  4. Lucky  5. Nervous Reaction  6.  Plastic Wings  7. Postcards Across The Atlantic  8. Living It Up  9.  Taking The Consequences  10.  Round 2  11. I Hate You When You're Sleeping  12. Dragging My Feet  13.  Trying  14. Alcohol, Women, And Misery



The other day I was talking about how much I equate "The Promise of an Uncertain Future" with my college days, "Monte Carlo," however came out well after I had finished college and moved into the lucrative career field of pizza delivery! 

Don't let anyone tell you a good liberal arts education doesn't pay off!! That last customer left me a five dollar tip!!!

 To be honest, I think working at a pizza joint is one of the most valuable educations a person can receive...If I never worked at one I wouldn't have ever seen a grown man chase a customer outside of a building grabbing his groin and shouting, "EEEAAAT THIIIIS!!!"...And then there was the time a woman who worked there buttered a guy's dick using the same brush that was used to put garlic butter on the pizza crust... Don't worry! She washed it afterwards (on the other hand,  there's not enough Palmolive in the world to wash that mental image from your mind)...

To this day, the minute I put on "Monte Carlo" the scent of crazy bread wafts through my memories and I suddenly get a garlic knot in my throat...Come to think of it, I think I had a lot more fun delivering pizzas than going to college...So my advice to the graduating class of 2015 is to skip Harvard altogether and go straight to Domino's...

Oh, and if you were around and listening to music back in 2000, you'll recall it was the era where emo had completely overtaken the punk scene...I consider 1998-2000 to be the years where 90's pop punk truly died...Shortly after the release of "Monte Carlo," the familiar Hopeless Records roster of pop-punk bands were replaced by groups devoted to the pursuit of faceless mall-emo and shit-screamo...

...but "Monte Carlo" appeared briefly before all this...Before emo was a dirty word...Before even I (a man who owns multiple Sugar Ray albums) was embarrassed to admit that I enjoyed the genre...Despite all my emo ramblings, I'd still classify the majority of this album as the band's usual brand of angsty-yet-good-natured pop-punk...The E-word is mostly contained to a couple of select tracks (" Plastic Wings" and  "Alcohol, Women, And Misery"), but it's hard not to notice a certain Get Up Kids-iness creeping into their sound...50's style pop melodies have been replaced by Moog sequences and "best time of your life" lyrics...It often comes across as pop-punk without any pop hooks in it, which made the whole thing run together for the first month or so that I listened to it...But remember, I was a pizza guy back then...Broke as fuck! If I spent $10 on a mail order CD from Hopeless, I was going to get my money's worth, by God, so I listened to it and listened to it and listened to it...

Eventually, shapes began to emerge from the mist...Turns out "Feeling What I'm Saying" is a pop-punker just as catchy as anything else they'd ever released and it was interesting to hear them toughening up their punk in some places ("Detroit River") while softening it up in others (again, "Alcohol, Women, And Misery")...For something that seemed so monolithic on first impression,  it  actually turned out to have a lot of depth...

On first listen I assumed that they'd embraced emo because..well, they had to...After all, wouldn't it have been tacky to release a straight-up pop-punk album in 2000?! But eventually I had to revise my original opinion...I truly think these guys were feeling emo at the time...The band sounded noticeably bitchier and homesick...The lyrics alternate between bitter recriminations against some unspecified other with tales of travel fatigue...Driving on three hours sleep...Postcards sent across the Atlantic...Those kind of things...That odd malaise where something's wrong but nothing's wrong...I remember there being a lot of this feeling going around at that time..Like I said earlier...Garlic knots...

This brings me to a few months back where Jens and I were reminiscing about 90's Hopeless Records and it struck me I hadn't heard "Monte Carlo" in a long time...As a lark, I went to the band's website and went straight to their vinyl section...After scrolling through pages of Taking Back Sundays, and Wait Until Wednesdays, and Scream About Thursdays, I started to run across names I hadn't seen in awhile...The Nobodys...Selby Tigers...Falling Sickness...Digger...Their vinyl was reasonably priced ($10.00 a pop) so we ordered a big, fat pile of records...In that pile was "Monte Carlo" and it felt great to revisit it...I honestly can't imagine relating to something this self-absorbed now, but I couldn't imagine my life without it then...So let's toast to all those long-forgotten emo/pop-punk bands that brought us so much joy with their misery! Hear hear! 

Here's  "Feeling What I'm Saying" by Digger...Enjoy...

 

 

Digger: The Promise of an Uncertain Future

Digger: Promise of an Uncertain Future

1998

The Promise of an Uncertain Future

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Pieces  2. Quitters Never Win  3. Tour Diary  4. Yammer  5. Board Games  6. Okay  7. Space Cadet  8. Living On A Couch  9. Picture Perfect  10. Day Off  11. Blocked Up  12. Stuck  13. Past Mistakes  14. Benner Has No Soul


Dang, sorry I haven't been able to update this as much as usual this month...I've been so busy  running my Fortune 500 company (somethingsoft) that I just plain haven't had a chance to explore the complex intricacies of Digger's Discography...But  I'm clearing my slate and tonight it's just you and me, lady...

I remember buying "The Promise of an Uncertain Future"when I was in college...I fell into some money (thanks, Mom) and bought this CD and a nice, tasteful pair of Jnco Jeans..

"No way, Daddy-o...These things are gonna be cool forever...Turn up that shit up!"

(cranks up some damn Coal Chamber...)

"Who would you rather bang? The chick bass player from Coal Chamber or (insert name of chick bass player from another 90's metal band)? hyuk...hyuk..."

Speaking of Nu-Metal, I had a very good friend who explained to me the difference between Mudvayne and Slipknot...The description really stuck with me for some reason...It was one of those weird moments where a spotlight shines down from the heavens on you, while you ask yourself, "Man, is this really a conversation I'm having?" Here it is...An explanation of what makes Slipknot and Mudvayne distinct musical entities:

"Slipknot wore masks, whereas Mudvayne had special-effects make-up..."

I don't know why but that answer is so simple and brilliant...Almost poetic...

Alright, I'm getting off topic...Here's the skinny, fatboy..."Promise of an Uncertain Future" is my personal favorite Digger album (of the ones I've heard anyway)...The band sounds much more mature, dropping most of the High School humor (minus the gross Taco Bell shout-out during "Tour Diary") and Madonna nostalgia of "Powerbait"...But it also doesn't get as introspective as the emo "Monte Carlo" album that would follow...This is just pure, heart-on-yer-sleeve pop-punk/near-emo..They sound toughened-up...Not as fluffy and geeky... 

The difference is immediately striking as soon as opener, "Pieces" begins...Their habit of stacking dual interlocking lead-vocal melodies over each other is incredibly exciting, and they use this technique throughout the album, which finally helps in establishing a unique, signature sound for the band..."Powerbait," however enjoyable most of it was, felt all-over-the-place...The band sounds so zeroed in here that the whole thing runs together on the first few listens, but I don't know many folks who listen to punk who can't overcome such an obstacle...

Despite the homogeneity of the sound and song-writing, I see "Space Cadet" often singled out as the album highlight...And it is an awesome song...Between the walloping guitars in the chorus and the spidery leads, this song does come off as a bit more dynamic than the others, particularly when it momentarily shimmers during the "...and now I'm wasting all my time..." tag....I can see how this might grab somebody's attention more than the other material on here...

I think I heard this album at the exact right moment in my life...A song like "Blocked Up" is precisely what a college kid needs...Those feel-good/feel-bad "I'm down but I'm not out" anthems...I can remember hearing this and singing along, throwing a few fists along with the crashing riffs..."Fuck you, cruel world! I'll show you! Just wait until 2 years when I get my Associates Degree in whatever subject it is that I show up for once every two weeks!" The hard-won optimism of "Okay" falls into this same category...Where you're as low as you can get, but you feel on top of the world...A difficult thing to capture in a recording, actually...

This is another one of those albums that always brings back a ridiculous flood of memories for me...And I think it still holds up...Sure, it's not the most ground-breaking music ever recorded or anything, but it's a solid-as-hell pop-punk record...Lots of hooks, but not too slick or sugary this time around...If you just out-and-out love the genre, then it's hard for me to imagine you not cranking this on a Friday Night...

Speaking of Friday Night, this feels like a good beer-drinkin' Friday...Like The beers will taste especially cold and crisp tonight...So we better get crackin'...

Clinkadink!

Here's "Pieces" by Digger...Happy Friday, forevermore...

Digger: Powerbait

Digger: Powerbait

1996

Hopeless Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Digger  2. Boy Toy Days  3. Dale  4. I Want My Hat Back  5. Lifestyles Of The Middle School Lamest  6. The Boot  7. Rollercoaster Girl  8. String In My Throat  9. Day In The Life Of Joel  10. Bigwheel  11. September  12. Geek Love  13. Ducky's Curse  14. True Blue



I love Powerbait! Sometimes I'll put on some Skinemax and powerbait all night long! 

 Tug-tug-tug-(make muscle in mirror)-tug.... 

The other day I was paging through the "Powerbait" CD booklet and after being initially stunned by the picture of the guy holding the big-ass fish...

...I glanced at the "thank you" list and the first names on it kind of popped out at me... Tim and Joel Heidecker...Is that the same Tim Heidecker from "Tom Goes to the Mayor"?

  Is there a Tim and Eric/Digger connection? It seems like that might be the case, since Tim Heidecker is from Pennsylvania and look at the address listed as their contact address! Coldplay, PA?!?!  

 So I can only assume that Joel is Tim's brother...Does that mean that the song "A Day in the Life of Joel" is about Tim Heidecker's brother?!?!

 I think I'm in the wrong line of business...I should be a Private Eye or something...

 Bourbon on my breath...Feet up on my desk...Getting mixed up with murderous dames...I mean, I do all that stuff already, but I think the Private Eye job has a better 401k...

Oh yea, I should talk about the album itself..."Powerbait" is the debut full-length by pop-punkers Digger, who sound like a less pie-fucking version of Blink 182 or something...Real Second-Term Bill Clinton punk...Lots of nerdy, sugary songs about teachers, holding hands on  roller coasters and 80's pop-culture references...And as someone who loves this kind of shit, I love this kind of shit...I'll admit, it's a bit juvenile at times and I skip about 1/3rd of the album whenever I listen to it (I guess I just don't share their nostalgia for Madonna...

...I remember being slightly more forgiving when this first came out, but listening to this in 2014 after having survived "Music" and "American Life" I can't help but grit my teeth a little....), but when these guys were on, they were on..."Dale" is a textbook example of how to write the perfect late 90's pop-punk track...The near-emo dynamics, the girly lyrics, the in-jokes...I'm not quite sure who Dale is...Is he the guy holding the giant fish in the inside cover? Who knows...I'm not even sure if that certain something in the water makes the narrator like Dale as a person or if it makes him act like Dale...I also remember "I Want My Hat Back" being something of a Summer of '96 favorite...I can assure you I spent many an hour driving around Michigan aimlessly while blasting this track before King Horsin' in at a bonfire...

So, I guess this album is all about nostalgia for me...If someone's asking me what are the vital punk albums of the 90's were, I don't think "Powerbait" would leap immediately to mind...But when I'm pounding the cheap beers on a Friday Night thinking back on the good ol' days it's one of the first things I often reach for..Comfort punk...

So let's do it...Let's put on "Dale" and drink to the old days...Hear, hear...

The Dictators: Go Girl Crazy!

The Dictators: Go Girl Crazy!

1975

Epic Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. The Next Big Thing  2. I Got You Babe  3. Back to Africa  4. Master Race Rock  5. Teengenerate  6. California Sun  7. Two Tub Man  8. Weekend  9. (I Live For) Cars and Girls




Every once in a while you hear a record and suddenly the meaning of life becomes clear...It's like, it was right there in front of your face the whole time and you just never noticed it...But here it is...In the album's final minutes, The Dictators point it all out plain as day:

"Cars, girls, surfin',  beer,
Nothin' else matter here..."

This is one of those key records that popped up in the years prior to the Ramones debut that  presaged punk...The Dictators' big contribution  was their lowbrow obsessions (TV, wrestling, White Castle hamburgers and other unsavory corners of pop culture ) and their sloppy, artless vocals...Musically, this is big, arena-shaking, power-chord hard rock, but the vocalists sound like regular guys...Adny Shernoff sounds like a sarcastic smart-ass and "Handsome" Dick Manitoba shouts hoarsely and makes wrestling style threats:

 "I don't have to be here, y'know!  I don't have to show up here...With my vast financial holdings, I could be basking in the sun in Florida. This is just a hobby for me! Nothing, ya hear? A hobby!!," he shouts at a crowd at the beginning of the album...He also calls out Eric Bloom and Haystacks Calhoun...

 ...So in a way, I would consider this also a precursor to "wrestling rock"...It shares DNA with both the Ramones and Macho Man Randy Savage's "Be a Man"...

 And man, what a perfect weekend record...There's even a song called "Weekend"...

"Oh Weekend
Flashing rock and roll guitars,
Cruising in my daddy's car,
I'll do my homework in the bar..."

Really, they didn't even have to be that on the nose...Every single note of this record screams good times...My personal favorite Friday Night songs are "Teengenerate," (which has the most bittersweet guitar hook and 50's vocal melody...Think of a man-child version of the girl-group sound)  and "(I Live for) Cars and Girls" which might be my all time favorite album closer (and party starter)...A clever/dumb hard rock update of those single-minded Beach Boys hits (complete with falsetto backing vocals)...Whenever I hear them sing, "Good good good good bye..." I get a feeling of profound sadness...I don't want this record to end...I don't want the good times to end! I understand there's more to life than fun, but I'm not interested in those parts! I just want the fun, dammit! Don't end!!! And that's why it's in my running for the greatest closing tracks ever...

Oh yea, I remember when I first bought this record and brought it home I looked at the song titles and saw, "Back to Africa" and "Master Race Rock" and was suddenly a little afraid that I had brought home a durn ratzi skinhead record!! "Oh no," I thought to myself, "Did I accidentally pick up a Skrewdriver album by mistake?!?!"  Nah...That's another one of their contributions to the punk era: They're winding you up...Trying to piss you off..."Back to Africa" is a "Back in the U.S.S.R" type song where the narrator can't wait to go back to Africa...He falls in love with an African girl and takes her back to America but then she adapts to Western ways and he gets nostalgic for how the girl was and wants to go back to Africa to find another...Alright, maybe it's a little racist...Or misogynist...I can't tell...Wait, didn't Eddie Murphy do a comedy routine based on this premise?

But what about "Master Race Rock"? Surely that must expose the band as nothing but a buncha Hitler Youth! Nawww, they're actually Jewish, as pointed out in the lyrics to "Next Big Thing":

"I knocked 'em dead in Dallas,
And I didn't pay my dues,
Yeah, I knocked 'em dead in Dallas,
They didn't know we were Jews..."

They're winding you up...What a classic record...I haven't been able to locate physical copies of their follow up album, but "Go Girl Crazy!" is readily available anywhere...So if you missed it, what are you waiting for?!! It's never a proper Friday Night without it!

So let's bust out a case of the cheapest beer possible and check out "(I Live for) Cars and Girls" by the Dictators...Enjoy...

 

The Dickies: Second Coming/Idjit Savant

I feel like I should probably proof-read this or something, but I like to live dangerously...Sticking my schlong in the edge of disaster...Danger is my middle name...Well, it was until I had it legally changed to Edward...Anyway, Gosh Darn the torpedoes, today we're finishing up the Dickies section...Yee-hawwww!!!






















The Dickies: Second Coming

1989

Enigma Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Hair  2. Monster Island  3. Town Without Pity  4. Cross Eyed Tammy  5. Going Homo  6. Dummy Up  7. Booby Trap  8. Magoomba II  9. Caligula  10. I'm Stan  11. Monkey See, Monkey Do



One hundred years after "Stukas Over Disneyland," the band released "Second Coming"...There was an EP in between that long stretch that featured their theme song from the "Killer Klowns from Outer Space" film , which I think snagged a couple Oscar Nominations for Glenn Close's breakthrough role as "Clownzilla"...

...but I don't have that EP, so we're skipping it...

Anyway, the band moved over to Enigma Records, and I think I've mentioned before that Enigma Records always seemed to have great bands at the wrong time...They had TSOL during the hair metal days...They signed Wire just in time for the band to release dollar-bin disco albums...They signed Montrose in 1987!!! And "Second Coming" falls into that same pattern...

I just can't fully get into this album...It's incredibly hit or miss...I think it's the only Dickies album that's probably ruined by the cover songs...Instead of using their earlier formula of taking a WTF song and turning it into Eureka! pop-punk, this time the band takes the WTF songs and play them WTF...So their cover of "Hair" sounds like a slightly sped-up Broadway musical and "Town Without Pity" is doomy, big-band schmaltz..And these both turn up within the first three tracks making the album a real head-scratcher at first...Sandwiched in between the covers is "Monster Island" which is  straight Beach Boys surf pop that's really only punk if you consider the Beach Boys a punk rock band (which there might be a valid argument for)...The end result being that it takes 4 tracks to run into anything that resembles the Dickies trademark power-pop-punk style...But when it does finally happen on "Cross Eyed Tammy," it's a wonder to behold...The chorus is a knockout...

The remainder of Side One is similarly strong..."Going Homo" would probably be a no-no in today's PC market, but it's actually pretty funny...Leonard can't find a girl so he decides to switch teams as if it were as easy as changing socks:

"I can't find a dame
they're always the same
  I'm going to shame my family name
'cause I'm going homo

I always used to flirt
my feelings got hurt
now I'm going out with Kurt
'cause I'm going homo..."

Side One ends with one of my favorite tracks, "Dummy Up" that finds the band stretching out but hitting it out of the park for a change...It's blue-eyed soul pop that reminds me of Wham! or something until it hits that dreamy Brian Wilson-esque break...Suddenly, I find myself 100% warmed up to the record...It was a rough start, but they've straightened it out...Alright, let's check out Side Two...

Aaaad Side Two is just alright-ish...Fine pop songs like "Booby Trap" clash with icky Power-Metal tracks like "Caligula," and they chose the yuckiest keyboard tones possible...I love keyboards, but you know those settings on a cheap Casio that are so tacky sounding that nobody with even a shred of musical taste would ever use them? Well guess what? The Dickiest manage to utilize every last one of those...I would almost admire it if the cheesy sounds didn't succeed in destroying otherwise enjoyable tracks like "Magoomba II" (which I still recommend for the spoken word section where Leonard sentences his mother for her myriad crimes against Magoomba)...And Leonard's keening counter-melody in the "Hail Claudius, Hail Flavius..."section of "Caligula" is pretty awesome...

Yea, that's the problem...It alternates between awful and amazing so fluidly that I ultimately have a hard time determining how I feel about the record...I think it's definitely the band's weakest album, but if you're a hardcore Dickies fan you can't miss "Cross Eyed Mary" and "Dummy Up" so all I can recommend is locating a cheap copy, if possible...My used vinyl copy was pretty pricy and I'm not so sure if I would pay that much for it again if I ever lost it...

Here's "Cross Eyed Mary" by the Dickies...Enjoy...

The Dickies:Idjit Savant

1995

Triple X Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Welcome to the Diamond Mine  2. Golden Boys  3. Toxic Avenger  4. Zeppelina  5. I'm Stuck in a Condo (with Marlon Brando)  6. Just Say Yes  7. Elevator (In the Brain Hotel)  8. Pretty Ballerina  9. Make it So  10. I'm on Crack  11. Oh Boy!  12. Roadkill  13. House of Raoul  14. Song of the Dawn



I think the mid 90's pop-punk explosion really lit a fire under the Dickies' collective ass because I see this is a total rebound from the iffy "Second Coming"... It's the one album where the band's many styles and diversions all come together for one harmonious moment...

You want early 1979 style pop-punk? Try out the opener "Welcome to the Diamond Mine," which bounces all over the walls with its hyperactive hooks...

 Also be sure to check out the Star Trek: TNG tribute "Make It So" (Best Line: "Kunta Kinte's blind and he's at the controls, oh no!"), "I'm on Crack" and "Just Say Yes." The latter two songs are particularly hilarious considering how often the band's career has been derailed by drugs...Anyway, these are all fine pop-punkers that stand up to anything from the band's first three albums...

Then there's "Zeppelina" which is a "Second Coming"-style  WTF-er that somewhat reminds me of a loopy, distant relative of Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain" with its bongos and whistles...Maybe the similarities are intentional, considering the song's title...I don't know, but the line, "I can't wait 'til Halloween, so that way I can see you in disguise," seems particularly sweet and moving for some reason despite its inherent creepiness...This song must have been around for awhile since the songwriting credit bears Chuck Wagon's name (who had been deceased about 14 years at this point)...I also think that "Toxic Avenger" succeeds where "Caligula" failed...It's still bombastic metal but pared down enough where the Dickies can effectively handle it...They even get in a "Killer Klowns" style circus romp with "House of Raoul."

Where the album really shines though is the cover songs, which I believe are the best batch the band ever put out...Whereas "Hair" and "Town Without Pity" were ill-fitting and incompatible with the band's sound, the selections on here are so perfect that they almost bring tears to my eyes sometimes...First we get "Golden Boys" which I knew from the old Ruthensmear album...

 

Punk legend has it that this track was the last song written by Darby Crash before his overdose/suicide, but to be honest it sounds waaayyyy beyond his skill level...If this song was any indication of what lied ahead had Darby Crash lived then it's a bigger loss than anyone ever suspected...I can't help but shake the feeling Pat Smear did most of the heavy lifting on this song...And the Dickies version is the best version of I've ever heard...It finds the song's sweet spot and the whole thing is truly transcendent and beautiful while managing to rock like a motherfucker...Their covers of Grapfruit's "Elevator (in the Brain Hotel)" and the Left Banke's "Pretty Ballerina" are the most inspired Psychedelic AM choices possible...Those delicate, intricate melodies set against the jackhammer riffs are pure pop heaven...The best shit out there...

Man, I love this record so much...This album seems to have been somewhat overlooked in the tsunami of glossy pop-punk albums released in 1995, but don't miss out on this if you're a fan of the genre...The AM radio touches might overwhelm some of the more stone-headed punks but anyone who can appreciate a fun pop hook should appreciate this...

Since "Idjit Savant," the band has only released one other full-length album to date...I don't own it but 2001's "All this and Puppet Stew" was another good record that found the band getting back in touch with their inner Ramone...I don't currently have a copy but as soon as I find it I'll cover that one too...But until then, the Dickies section stops here...I feel like I should have more to say...Maybe I'll say "peanut."  Yes, I believe that sums things up quite nicely...

This peanut is a male because it has two nuts...

Let's check out "Elevator (in the Brain Hotel)" by the Dickies...Enjoy...

Dickies: Stukas Over Disneyland/Great Dictations (The Definitive Dickies Collection)

Dickies: Stukas Over Disneyland

1983

PVC Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Rosemary  2. She's a Hunchback  3. Out of Sight, Out of Mind  4. Communication Breakdown  5. Pretty Please Me  6. Wagon Train  7. If Stuart Could Talk  8. Stukas Over Disneyland




Happy Friday, kids! Is it just me or are there not enough Fridays in a week? I think there should be at least three or four...Here, let's make August Official Friday Month...

So, let's all agree to use this calendar...So don't forget to turn off your alarm clocks and buy some extra beers this month...And don't forget to visit the Friday Night Record Party Brand Blog almost everyday cos it's always Friday here!  Anyway...Let's make with the Dickies...

There was a four year break between "Dawn of the Dickies" and "Stukas Over Disneyland," which is understandable...The band actually started recording the album in 1980, but halfway through the recording Chuck Wagon committed suicide, which halted proceedings, as you'd imagine...The band eventually resumed the sessions and the album was finally released in 1983...Despite the terrible circumstances, this is my personal favorite Dickies album...

Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if this is considered an EP or an LP...There's only 8 songs and the whole thing barely clocks in at 20 minutes, but I think its brevity is a virtue...There's not a single weak track here...The album kicks off with "Rosemary," which is a perfect slice of power-pop with gleaming chrome harmonies and precision hooks...They've perfected their AM-radio punk to such an extent that when I first heard it I figured it was one of their covers, since it hits every mark so flawlessly...I can't stress what a perfectly executed pop-song this is...Same goes for "Out of Sight, Out of Mind" that has a chorus so poppy it almost makes me woozy...

I also love "Wagon Train," which never comes right out and says it, but has to be a tribute to Chuck Wagon...A pop-punk/Country& Western hybrid that manages to be melancholy and fun:

"Wagon train what's my name,
Can you guess my crime?
Wagon train ease the pain,
And leave the world behind...

A brave new world for all those boys and girls,
A universe for us to roam.
They cast us out and left us with no doubt,
They're never gonna bring us home..."

 There are a few cover songs too...A boppy, harmonized run through Led Zeppelin's "Communication Breakdown" and a cover of the Quick's "Pretty Please Me," which was a song I first encountered on the Redd Kross album "Show World" album back in the 90's...What a freakin' amazing song BTW...The Quick were essentially just a local Los Angeles band that quietly wrote one of the greatest power-pop anthems of all time and this style blends seamlessly with the rest of the album...Most of the band's covers songs up to this point had an air of winking absurdity, but not this time...They give it a very straight-faced,  reverential reading...

The record goes out on a high with the final two tracks: The awesome "If Stewart Could Talk" which has a melody that seems to foretell 90's pop-punk...For the longest time I was under the impression this song was about a puppet, but on closer inspection, it turned out I had it wrong...Check out Stewart's mid-song monologue:

"Yes my name is Stuart and I assure you i can speak,
and lately i find myself astounded
at the sort of company you keep...
Something further i must mention,
of this fact i cannot understand
is your insatiable attention at annoying me with your hand...
And in closing may I offer this point must be succinct,
my purpose is for procreation
and not facilitating in your sin..."

Stewart is clearly a penis! With a British accent! But wait! I was watching videos of some of the band's live shows and look at this!!!
 

It turns out Stewart is both a penis and a puppet...Listening back to it, I don't know where I got the idea it was about a puppet...Who knows...

The album closes with the title track, which imagines a Nazi invasion of Dineyland set to 50's doo-wop...It's surprising how effortless this all is...This album doesn't seem to get the love that the first two do, but I have to disagree...I hear a band at the top of their game delivering an airtight hits-filled set...I'd even go so far as recommending this to someone looking to get into the Dickies..

There was a later reissue that re-sequences the track lising and inserts three bonus tracks dead-center in the middle of the record...I haven't heard the album, but I know the extra tracks and I can't see how they wouldn't screw up the flow of the album...So I'd stick to the original 8-song version, or pick up the reissue and just re-sequence it back into the proper running order yourself...

Here's "Rosemary" by the Dickies...Enjoy...

The Dickies: Great Dictations (The Definitive Dickies Collection)

1989

A&M Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Hideous  2. You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)  3. Give It Back  4. Paranoid  5.
I'm OK, You're OK  6. Got It At The Shore  7. Sounds Of Silence  8.Banana Splits  9. Rondo (The Midget's Revenge)  10. Nights In White Satin  11. (I'm Stuck In A Pagoda) With Tritia Toyota  12. Manny, Moe & Jack  13. Fan Mail  14. Attack Of The Mole Men  15. Gigantor  16. Eve Of Destruction


I think I got one more in me...Let's give "Great Dictations" a spin...

God, what a drab, ugly cover...Luckily the back of the booklet has an alternate cover you can use...

Ahhh, much better...This is a great little compilation...It cover their A&M Records era, which covered...what...a year? But what a year!! Two albums and a smattering of EP's and singles...Due to the short time frame this covers, a large chunk of "Incredible Shrinking Dickies" and "Dawn of the Dickies" are represented, but the real reason to pick this up is all the rare single and EP tracks that didn't appear on the full-lengths...

 From the "Paranoid" single, we have the kitschy pep-talk "I'm OK, You're OK,"  that features some groovy electric piano...Boy, this makes me miss Chuck Wagon...

We also have their pop-punk spin on the Holiday standard "Silent Night" that makes me want to get hammered on eggnog and pogo around the Christmas Tree...If you're anything like me and have a hard time stomaching the usual holiday fare, this is a life-saver...The B-Side is even better...It's a cover of the classic Simon & Garfunkel weeper, "Sounds of Silence"...It starts out exactly like the original, with that delicate acoustic opening, but suddenly with a few spiraling stabs of an electric piano,  the band steps on the gas...On first listen it might seem irreverent, but you start to notice that the band takes the fighting spirit that meekly peaked its head here and there in the original and brings it to the forefront...The results are so excitingly grand that I honestly think they end up improving the song...The band has done many covers, but I'd put this one in the top five, easily...

 Oh yea, I almost bought this EP a few months back but I skipped over it for something else...That beautiful white vinyl was very hard to pass up, but ultimately I already owned all the tracks on it...But if I run across it again, I'll probably pull the trigger on it...The main draw here is "Hideous," which didn't make it on the debut...It's a straight-up Ramones style steamroller-punk...Not my favorite, since the hooks are a bit basic, but a good track nonetheless...

 This compilation also includes their cover of the Banana Splits theme which thrills me to no end! I love the Banana Splits...Especially that weird, furry elephant thing with raw hamburger in his eyes...

 Their version is the best! No wonder this became one of their most popular songs...Leonard's counter melody in the chorus "Tra-La-La's" is a thing of wonder...The B-Side, "I Got it at the Store" is alright too..Pretty standard early Dickies...

 To finish things off, we have the band's cover of the "Gigantor" theme song...I have a soft spot for the Gigantor theme...I remember being a teenager and watching re-runs of the show on the Sci-Fi channel during the summers...A longtime favorite of mine, and they do the song justice...It's a pretty faithful cover...It just rocks a bit more...

Y'know, this would also make a fine introduction for newcomers...If you pick up this and "Stukas Over Disneyland" and play them back to back you just might be convinced that for a brief period of time, the Dickies were one of the best punk bands in the world...Or at least the most fun...I can't think of a better night of listening...

Here's "Sounds of Silence" by the Dickies...Have a good Friday Night everyone!...