Dictators: Manifest Destiny

The Dictators: Manifest Destiny

1977

Asylum Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Exposed  2. Heartache  3. Sleepin' with the TV On  4. Disease  5. Hey Boys  6. Steppin' Out  7. Science Gone Too Far  8. Young, Fast, Scientific  9. Search & Destroy




Man, how do you follow up "Go Girl Crazy"? That album introduced an entirely new worldview to rock n' roll...The burger-eating, wrestling-watching, slob. It was bold, funny and catchy as hell. But in the meantime punk happened and suddenly a lot of bands were aping their caveman pose. And how funny would the joke be the second time around? Not to mention the album stiffed commercially. Their solution was to play it mostly straight...Play up the Arena Rock angle and hope the Foreigner fans weren't paying too close attention to the lyrics...

It pays off in places, in other places it doesn't...They're throwing a lot of stuff at the wall and seeing what sticks...And I think in the end, the moments that work like crazy are when the band does a bubble-gum version of hard rock...Highlights like "Exposed," and the fan-fucking-tastic "Science Gone Too Far" sound like a smart-ass Kiss...BTW, I'm extremely fascinated by the mad scientist angle of "Science Gone Too Far" and "Young, Fast, Scientific." YES! Scientist Rock! A worthy conceptual conceit to follow up the low-brow lifestyle rock of "Go Girl Crazy"! They should have explored this thread more thoroughly since it makes for the two most memorable moments of the album...Oh yea, Handsome Dick Manitoba gets upgraded from hype man to co-lead vocalist, and he sounds great! Hoarse, sloppy but he nails every hook he's handed and his conversation with his psychiatrist at the beginning of the otherwise so-so "Disease" steals the show...

We also find out the Dictators weak spot...Ballads...To be honest the ballads are only tolerable because they're colored by your previous knowledge of the band and their worldview. The fact that they're coming from the same band that gave us "Master Race Rock" and "Two Tub Man" imbues them with a wise-assedness that may or may not actually be there..."Hey Boys" just sounds like a damn Queen song, but because it's coming from the Dictators, the line "So pass the beer while I shed a tear..." gains additional heft....And "Sleepin' With the TV On" is just overcooked Meatloaf balladry that's only amusing because you imagine Classy Freddy Blassie is what's flickering on that titular TV screen (it's not though...He's watching some old gangster flick or something)...

I'm also a little torn on the merit of their Stooges cover...I mean yea, it kicks ass but I can't help but think it's the sort of thing that should have been relegated to a live disc or something...Their cover of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe?" Revelatory! But the Stooges? Yea, no shit these guys were influenced by the Stooges...It just seems overly obvious to me. Although I'm willing to bet "Search & Destroy" wasn't so ubiquitous back then. Maybe in 1977 it was an obscure or overlooked gem or something...I dunno...

So here's my track listing for the amazing "Manifest Destiny" EP:

1. Exposed
2.  Heartache
3. Steppin' Out
4.Science Gone Too Far
5. Young, Fast, Scientific


Stick to the hard rock stuff and you have a classic EP. A short and sweet warm up for "Bloodbrothers"...'

Here's "Science Gone Too Far" by the Dictators...Enjoy...

Dicks: These People

Dicks: These People

1985

Alternative Tentacles Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.The Police  2. Off-Duty Sailor  3. Executive Dive  4. Sidewalk Begging  5. Lost and Divided  6. Dead in a Motel Room  7. Cities are Burning  8. Doctor Daddy  9. Decent and Clean  10. Legacy of Man  11. Little Rock n' Roller  12. George Jackson




Sorry, I haven't posted much lately...I'm hoping to change all that soon by altering the laws of time and space and adding 5 more hours to each day...

So join me here everyday at around 15:45 PM and read the latest post. Today we're checking out the Dicks on this here firefighter...

YUM!!

Nah, we're checking out the Dicks on this here record...Their 2nd and final (as far as I know) album...This time they skipped right from sounding like the Dead Kennedys to actually hiring one of the Dead Kennedys to produce the album...And oddly enough they sound less like the Dead Kennedys than before...Whereas on their prior releases the band had elements of hard rock in their hardcore punk, I'd say a lot of this stuff would be hard rock with elements of punk...Very anti-police, gay-friendly hard rock with a rough approach that might freak out most fans of hard rock, but hard rock nonetheless...I actually prefer this to their previous album, because this approach de-emphasizes their debt to DK's sound...They sound like the Dicks...Plain and simple...

So I'm calling "These People" their masterpiece...Every single song is fantastic and it all seems very heartfelt...The curtain of blatant offensiveness is dropped away and Gary sings more directly about the subject matter...And their go-to topics were probably so controversial at the time (police brutality, homosexual hook-ups, etc) that all the over-the-top shock value was probably unnecessary...Take the heart-on-sleeve tribute to George Jackson that closes the album...This was something that I can't imagine the band pulling off a mere two years ago, but they nail the shit here...He just states the facts, shows some love for the man, the band tightens things up for the chorus, ramping up the intensity and that's it...Simple and effective...And calling George Jackson your hero is still enough to get any self-respecting suburban whitey all clammy, so mission accomplished...

Yea, this is the Dicks album to get...And it comes bundled with the "Peace?" 7-inch which rules almost as hard...I guess if you're a dumbo hardcore purist, stick with "Kill From the Heart," it's faster or something, but this is way, way better..Isn't there some kinda vinyl revival going on or something? Get with it, then! Run down to your local record store and pick up the latest Dicks reissue and while you're at it grab a $35.00 vinyl reissue of Kiss' "Asylum"! Whoo-hoo!

Here's  "Lost and Divided" by the Dicks...Enjoy...

Dicks: Peace? 7-inch

Dicks: Peace?

1984

Alternative Tentacles Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. No Fuckin' War  2. Nobody Asked Me  3. I Hope You Get Drafted


This 7-inch came with my copy of  1985's "These People" but since this predates that album, I think I'll cover this separately...I think it's deserving of its own post cos' it's a truly fuckin' great 7-inch. Much more straightforward and serious than their previous stuff...Forget that the album is called "Peace?" The whole 7-inch is a rich exploration on the various facets of war..."No Fuckin' War" is a scary good protest song:

"Where will you send us now?
It doesn't matter anyhow,
As soldiers dig a new trench,
Hey thank you Mr. President, 
We don't want no fuckin' war!"

 Real sludgy and discordant, like prime Flipper...Smell the air as this plays...Is that the pungent stench of burning flesh? Mmmm mmm!

 Side two kicks off with "Nobody Asked Me," which is more the hardcore sound you'd expect from these guys, but it's angrier, scarier and faster than before...

Things close with the brutal "I Hope You Get Drafted" that takes aim at those on the sidelines...Watching as kids are shipped off to war without so much a word of protest...Shrugging and saying, "Better you than me..." Damn, this is harsh though...

I can't say this album is a lot of fun to listen to, but it sure is harrowing...And I think I mean that in a good way...Even though it's only 8 minutes or so, I like this more than "Kill From the Heart"...Long Live Dicks...
Here's "I Hope You Get Drafted"...Enjoy...

Dicks: Kill from the Heart

Dicks: Kill from the Heart

1983

Alternative Tentacles Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.Anti-Klan (Part One)  2. Rich Daddy  3. No Nazi's Friend  4. Marilyn Buck  5. Kill From the Heart  6. Little Boys' Feet  7. Pigs Run Wild  8. Bourgeois Fascist Pig  9. Purple Haze  10. Anti-Klan (Part Two)  11. Right Wing/White Ring  12. Dicks Can't Swim ( I. Cock Jam  II. Razor Blade Dance)



I'm not afraid to say it! I like Dicks! Make mine Dicks! Forever and ever! Dicks as far as the eye can see...

I was fairly oblivious to the Dicks' existence, so what made me buy all their albums in a single day? I think it might have been my love of this album cover's color scheme...That striking electric blue and deep red brought back nostalgic memories of Gang of Four's "Solid Gold"...

Oh and the band was called "DICKS"... and the album was called "Kill from the Heart"...SOLD!

And it turns out it's a good album..It sounds like a murkier, bluesier,  Dead Kennedys...It's hardcore, but not restrained by hardcore's usual, narrow mindset...For example there's a bit of a cowpunkish gallop to a lot of this...It's also interesting because they were one of the few bands in that early, super-macho hardcore era to be fronted by an openly gay vocalist and feature openly gay lyrics...This Gary Floyd guy just doesn't give a flying fuck what anybody thinks...The motherfucker sings about killing cops, licking little boys' feet, dropping N-bombs, threatening the Klan...And this dude was doing this shit in Texas during the early 80's, which I understand wasn't exactly a hotbed of liberalism at the time...Oh, and he did it all looking like this...

God bless 'im. I can't imagine that shit could have gone over well...But that's what I love so much about all this...Gary Floyd could have easily just gotten himself a cushy office job, worked all day keeping his thoughts to himself and then come home and quietly watched Knight Rider every night...Instead he decided to go onstage, looking like Divine's unkempt sister, shouting "DEATH TO THE USA!!" to folks who probably didn't care much for the sentiment (and I'm sure, many who did)...

I also like how they're not shy about using redneck musical forms to deliver these messages. "Anti-Klan (Part 2)" is straight-up scruffy country...Blues-rock pops up throughout and they even tackle classic rock radio staple "Purple Haze"... Surprisingly they give it a relatively straightforward reading...Reclaiming some of Jimi's original outsider status in the process...The album even ends on an epic 11-minute blues-funk workout called "Dicks Can't Swim." You can almost imagine all the barflies, jeans tucked into their cowboy boots, getting up and shaking their stone-washed booties, totally oblivious to all the S&M overtones...

Yea, I recommend this to fans of punk in general and early 80's hardcore in particular...Some of the overt Dead Kennedy-isms make wish they'd develop a bit more of their original style but it's all solid, gritty stuff...On second thought, I'd almost consider turning DK into a blues-rock hardcore band a fairly original style, all things considered...Or maybe the only DK they'd heard at this point was "Rawhide"...Who knows...Rules anyway...

Let's listen to some Dicks...Here's the ridiculously awesome title track..."Killing From the Heart"...Enjoy...

Buck Dharma: Flat Out

Buck Dharma: Flat Out

1982

Portrait Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Born to Rock  2. That Summer Night  3. Cold Wind  4. Your Loving Heart  5. Five Thirty-Five  6. Wind Weather and Storm  7. All Tied Up  8. Anwar's Theme / Gnop Gnip  9. Come Softly to Me



Man, the CD version has a bonus track called "Gamera Is Missing"...Why don't I have that version?! Gahhh!!!!

This is the one-and-only solo album by Blue Oyster Cult guitarist Buck Dharma, who is probably the voice most people associate with the band since he handled lead vocals on most of their biggest hits ("Don't Fear the Reaper," "Godzilla," "Burnin' For You"). In fact, "Burnin' For You" was written for this record,but Buck was convinced to use it for BOC's 'Fire of Unknown Origin" instead...This album actually sounds exactly like a less-weird, more radio-friendly version of "Fire of Unknown Origin," where Buck handles all the vocals...Slick, tight, catchy MOR...The only bit of weirdness is the exceedingly bizarre "Your Loving Heart" which is a cold, clinical chunk of 80's rock about death and heart transplants...This song is so fucking weird that I can't believe it was released as a single/video, but goddammit, I'm watching the video on youtube as we speak, so it must be true...

I guess the backwards ping-pong match is pretty weird too... I did the whole "spin the record backwards with my finger" thing but I still can't really tell what they're talking about...I think I heard something about "I buried Eric Bloom" but I'm not sure...

 

There's some excellent pop-rock on this thing...The title track is one of those tongue-in-cheek "rock songs about rock" that BOC always wrote, although this might be the best one (excepting "Cities on Flame With Rock and Roll" of course...), Just super fun, super catchy stuff, that makes me nostalgic, although I didn't hear this song until 2015...It's just so immediately familiar for whatever reason..Maybe because the talk about Thunderbirds and Beauty Queens pegs it as such an early 80's fantasy that I can't help but be swept back to that earlier era when I hear it...Yea, if you're into early 80's BOC or Trans Am radio rock, don't miss it...And the video is fucking awesome, although all the section about his parent's fucking creeps me out, although anything BOC-related should creep you out, I guess...

"All Tied Up" is another favorite of mine...It's got that hazy, moody, early-MTV vibe that I love so much...The chorus sounds like the sort of thing Todd Rundgren would come up with when he was feeling like putting on a skinny tie...This album also reveals that Buck has a soft-spot for doo-wop..."Come Softly to Me" is perfectly preformed 50's doo-wop and I would consider "Wind Weather and Storm" to be a hard-rock/doo-wop hybrid...Huh. It's an influence I can't really recall hearing too much in BOC...

In the end, there's nothing too revelatory or revolutionary about the album...It just sorta confirms that Buck was the pop center of Blue Oyster Cult, but fans of early 80's BOC should definitely check this out...I'm sad knowing that I went so many years without hearing "Fire of Unknown Origins" sister album...And rock fans that found BOC to be a little too odd for their tastes might actually be into this...I'm one of those people who consider Blue Oyster Cult to be one of the most underestimated bands in Rock & Roll history...They put out so much smart, well-written, well preformed music and Buck's solo album is no exception...It's maybe a bit more slight than the surrounding BOC albums but no less interesting...

Here's "All Tied Up" by Buck Dharma...Enjoy...

Desmond Dekker: King of Ska

Desmond Dekker: King of Ska

2014

Secret Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1.  Israelites  2. Jamaica Ska  3.  Wise Man  4.  Intensified  5.  Rudy Got Soul  6. The More You Live  7.  0.0.7 (Shanty Town)  8.  Pickney Gal  9.  Pretty Africa  10. Problems  11.  It Mek  12.  Don't Blame Me


 Dang, this is an album  put out by one of those record companies that tries to fool you into thinking it's something else entirely...Looking at that cover anyone would reasonably think that they're picking up an album by a young, still in his prime ska legend Desmond Dekker...You might look at the back cover and see the list of well-known Desmond Dekker songs and reasonably think, "Oh, this must be a greatest hits album..." 

 But, if you look at the small print on the back cover this is actually a bunch of re-recordings by an old Desmond Dekker two years before his death in 2006...This is one of those Cleopatra Records situations where at least they're ripping you off with some good music...The thing is that this misrepresentation is really unnecessary...Why wouldn't I want to hear some of the last music Desmond laid down? I probably would have picked it up sooner if that was the case...You have to ask yourself, "How many 'greatest hits' albums does the guy have?" and  "How many final recordings are out there?" The answers to those two questions are 1. a bazillion and 2. This is the only release of this material that I know of...So why not go with the uniqueness of this particular product? Slap on a picture of a 60 year old Desmond on the cover and call it, "Desmond Dekker: The Final Recordings"....Honest and I would have bought it just the same...

 Anyway, let's focus on what it is...It's a great listen and the packaging really is beautiful...Secret Records did a great job on that front. And the music is wonderful...Who knew it was even possible to make ska that sounded this authentic in 2004...The tempos might be a half-click slower and Desmond likes to r-r-r-r-r-roll his "R's" a lot more than he used to, but let me put it this way...If I didn't know half of these songs so damn well they could have 100% passed this off as 60's ska to me...The handful of songs I wasn't familiar with sound very period-accurate...And Desmond sounds as high and sweet as ever...If he sounded like a 15-year old girl on his original recordings, he sounds like a 25-year old woman here...I mean, none of these will supplant the classic versions, but for a nice shot of sweet ska it sure does go down pretty easy on a Saturday Night with a couple beers...Head nod city...
 
Here's "Jamaica Ska" by Desmond Dekker...Enjoy...

 

Death: N.E.W.

Death: N.E.W.

2015

Tryangle Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Relief  2. Look At Your Life  3. Story Of The World  4. The Times  5. Playtime  6. At The Station  7. Who Am I?  8. You Are What You Think  9. Resurrection  10. Change


This was unexpected...Went to the record store a few months back and right there in the new release pile was a spanking new album by Death, a band who last recorded new material somewhere around 1980...Not to mention, the death of a key member (when you're a power trio, every member is key), guitarist and songwriter David Hackney...Honestly, when I picked this up, I didn't know what I was getting into...Could it possibly be as great as anything from "...For All the World to See"? Or was it going to be some stand-in crapola?

Luckily, it's mostly the former...The band pretty much sounds the same as ever...Maybe the vocals are mixed a little louder than before...The slower sections aren't as murky....But overall, this is the exact type of hard-charging,  deeply spiritual, Motor City rock n' roll that comes to mind when you think of Death...Heck, the late great David Hackney even contributes a couple of songs...And best of all, there are a couple of tracks that are as great as the very best Death songs...I repeat, there are a couple of tracks that are as great as the very best Death songs, which is a godsend in this post-apocalyptic era where real rock is so rare that I've spent the majority of 2015 driving around in a Ford Falcon XB GT, battling mo-hawked biker mutants for the last precious drops of it...

But yea, "Relief" is right up there with "Keep On Knocking," "Politicians In My Eyes" or "Freakin' Out"...Another flat out, ridiculously catchy, supremely rocking classic to add the pile...It's aptly named too, cos it really was a relief when I put on the new Death album and was first greeted with this...I honestly didn't know what to expect...I was hoping there would be no techno beats or Iggy Azalea anywhere on the album, but I wasn't sure..When I heard "Relief" I knew I was safe...And "Who Am I?" is right up there with it...Just a fine fine piece of yearning pop-rock...It's lyrically spare and repetitive but it works as a mantra and the guitars, bass and drums are always changing things up slightly to keep it interesting...It's one of those songs that passed me by the first listen but its hooks sunk deeper and deeper into me everytime I listened to it...Now at least once an hour  "Who am I? Where am I? And how did I get he-e-e-e-rrrree..." pops into my head...The triumphant album closer "Change" is also a highlight...

Really, the only out-an-out terrible song on here is "Playtime" which sounds like the soundtrack to a kid's show...I know the lyrics directly tell me not to take it too seriously, but why subject myself to this when "Relief" is just as fun and has the added bonus of being a good song that doesn't make you want to claw your ears out...I'm also not huge on "Resurrection" which is one of those "WE'RE BA-AACCK" songs that are never any good...Again, a song like "Relief" is the type of song that truly let's people know you're back,m by just quietly kicking some serious ass...

I actually strongly disliked "At The Station" the first couple of times I heard it, but now it's grown on me immensely...I still think the chorus is ungainly and weak, but the "Through the hills, tunnels and valleys, the mountains...The SEEAAAS!" part is so grand and awesome that I can't help but love it...People are afraid to get this unabashedly powerful these days, but there's no denying there's something inherently satisfying in just going for it, subtlety be damned...Everybody's either too damn cool to feel it these days or so busy in trying to convince you that they're feeling it, that when you hear the real thing it can be kind of shocking...But you can tell Bobby was really feeling this shit when he sang it...Like he just made a damn fist and tells the folks how he's traveled through jungles, oceans and deserts just to get here...If you're some smirking ass-hat who constantly worries about whether shit is corny or not you'll probably think it's silly, but anyone with a soul will feel a stirring in their hearts when that fried guitar riff arrives on the other side of the ordeal and Bobby joyously shouts, "WE'VE ARRIIIIVED!!!!" 

The rest of the album...Solidly good...So here's the final tally...3 all-time greats, 2 stinkers, 1 stinker/all-time-great hybrid and 4 super-solid chunks of rock...Not bad...A week doesn't goes by when I don't pop this in my discman for that long train-ride to work...

 That's the best I can ask for...

Here's "Relief" by Death....

Dead Milkmen: Pretty Music for Pretty People/Pretty Music for Pretty Special People

Dead Milkmen: Pretty Music for Pretty People

2014

Quid Ergo Records

Format I Own it on: Compact Disc

Track Listing: 1. Pretty Music For Pretty People  2. Big Words Make the Baby Jesus Cry  3. Welcome To Undertown  4. Now I Wanna Hold Your Dog  5. Make It Witchy  6. Mary Ann Cotton (The Poisoner's Song)  7. I've Got To Get My Numbers Up  8. Anthropology Days  9. Somewhere Over Antarctica  10. Dark Clouds Gather Over Middlemarch  11. Streetlamps - Walking To Work  12. The Sun Turns Our Patio Into A Lifeless Hell  13. The Great Boston Molasses Flood  14. All You Need Is Nothing  15. Ronald Reagan Killed The Black Dahlia  16. Hipster Beard  17. Sanitary Times


Holy shit, I've been working on this post for almost a week...It's not that it's hard to write or it's anything special...It's just that I haven't had much access to a computer lately...Or I should say, I've had access to a computer but spent that time looking at stupid faceebook... And boy, is it stupid...

Favorite facebook comment of the year?

"So so stupid! Never would I buy this no matter if channing t. Came out of the box and wanted to play. This is the devil game, you play with fire."

I like these reunion-era Dead Milkmen albums just as much as the ones from the classic era...Their style, for a band who usually gets the "haven't aged well" label by poopy-pants critics, is such a seamless fit into the modern era...They haven't altered the basic sound much, outside of some updated keyboard sounds and a slightly more muscular feel (less jangly/gangly than before) , but the lyrics are very much in the here and now...They dropped the whimsical surrealism that characterized a lot of their stuff and replaced it with the nightmarish surrealism of everyday life in the 21st century...

Plus, they're the only band I can think of these days that doesn't kowtow to the empty-headed, phony pop music that's managed to monopolize radio and television, yet which somehow manages to never be criticized by anyone ever!!! Isn't that the job of up-and-coming bands who've slogged thru the underground and emerged in a musical climate where anything that isn't vacuous pre-set stripper pop is immediately dismissed? But no, most young bands I encounter seem to have that same glassy-eyed, empty-headed Taylor Swift stare...If I live to be a hundred years old (spoiler alert: I won't) I'll never understand it...Anyway, the title track provides just the carnival-esque takedown of the modern pop scene that I didn't even know I needed..

And manoman, does "Anthropology Days" ever rule...One of their all-time best...Rodney lists off a bunch of atrocities (including a rundown of some old racist Olympic event, a story of an elephant that was executed for turning on its abusive trainer, the birth of Pat Robertson, etc. Let me put it this way, if this album had come out a year or so later Cecil the Lion would probably get a mention)...And why is he telling us all this? He gets around to it in the chorus where he reveals that he's just trying to get us all riled up  "so the next time you meet an idiot you’ll remember to tell them to SHUT THE FUCK UP!"  Oh and if you've ever wanted a punishingly accurate view into my everyday existence, you should probably check out "I've Got To Get My Numbers Up"...It's hard to believe the Dead Milkmen, as far as I know, aren't cubicle-monkeys themselves, cos they got a lot of the details right...Maybe they read Upton Sinclair's "The Stapler"...

For the first couple of listens I think I still thought "The King in Yellow" was slightly better, but I don't feel that way now...It sounds a little hollow after this...This album is a little longer and denser, but I'm calling it a dang masterpiece...Captures the tenor of our times more than any other record I've heard lately...So let's listen to some...

Here's  "Anthropology Times" by Dead Milkmen...Enjoy...

Dead Milkmen: Pretty Music for Pretty People

2014

Quid Ergo Records

Format I Own it on:Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Pretty Music For Pretty People  2. Make It Witchy  3. Mary Ann Cotton (The Poisoner's Song)   4. I've Got To Get My Numbers Up   5. Sanitary Times  6. Anthropology Days  7. The Sun Turns Our Patio Into A Lifeless Hell  8.  All You Need Is Nothing  9. Hipster Beard


A truncated vinyl-only version of "Pretty Music for Pretty People." I think this was for the folks who bought all the 7-inches, cos it only has the tracks that weren't included on those...If you only buy this (like I originally did) and don't have the singles then you're gonna need to make another trip to the CD store cos you're missing, oh...8 tracks...I picked up this vinyl version first unaware of its purpose and I remember thinking, "This new Dead Milkmen album is awesome, if a bit slight..." Yea, cos I was missing half of it...

Oh well...gives us an opportunity to listen to some more DM...Here's "Dark Clouds Over Middlemarch"...Happy Friday Everyone...