Captain Beefhart & His Magic Band: Mirror Man

Captain Beefhart: Mirror Man

1971

Buddah Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Tarotplane  2. Kandy Korn  3. 25th Century Quaker  4. Mirror Man


Oh yea, I think I neglected to mention this last time, but "Strictly Personal" started out as a double-album called "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper" (explaining the cover showing a  parcel in a plain brown wrapper) consisting of the usual 3-5 minute songs interspersed with some epic 8-20 minute jams... The album was scrapped for whatever reason (I'm sure I read the reason in the Beefheart biography, but I can't remember off the top of my head...) and some of the shorties were re-recorded and released as the single-album "Strictly Personal."

Some years later, Buddha got around to issuing those 20 minute jams as another single album called "Mirror Man" (I'm sure the phrase, "I don't hear a single" was tossed around)...If you listen to Captain Beefheart for his stream-of-conscience poetry, this might not be the album for you...At a mere four (albeit very long) tracks, a goodly chunk of it consists of long-form instrumental jamming with the Captain singing maybe only a verse or two or punctuating the song with a repeated phrase...

I don't know, I often find myself engaged and listening attentively to some of the material.."Tarotplane" is just plain awesome...My ears could wander that soundscape forever and I wouldn't regret at minute...Same goes for the title track, where Beefheart exclaims, "Mirror Man! Mirror me!" a thousand different ways...Most memorably with his microphone switching off and on rapidly....The band's strut is especially rubbery here...

 On the other hand, I often zone out during "Kandy Korn" and "25th Century Quaker"...I'm engaged while the vocals are there, but I often find my mind wandering during some of the extended playing...Every so often an especially transcendent moment (like when "Kandy Korn" gets all majestic at around the seven minute mark) will momentarily snap me back to attention and make me go, "Wow"...I don't know...Maybe I don't have the proper attention span for this, but it's hard to imagine many people who would tolerate this more than I would...

Not that I see a big problem with an album that just kind of dances around in the background...It certainly doesn't annoy or bother me...Quite the opposite. After a six pack, I'm deeply digging the groove, foot tapping constantly..Those two tracks don't implant themselves in my permanent memory like "Tarotplane" or "Mirror Man" do...Oh, well...

I would definitely recommend this to any Beefheart fan who already has a few of the group's
albums under their belt... It's that prime Beefheart majorly-askew-electric-blues sound that becomes addictive once you've acclimated yourself to it...And fans who are drawn more to the instrumental side of the Magic Band will flip their lids over this...It's a good place to hear the band stretch out, untethered by any narrative but their own...But if you're new to Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band, I'd  recommend some of their more succinct stuff...

Oh yea, this was later re-released on Compact Disc as "The Mirror Man Sessions" which gathers up more tracks from the unreleased "It Comes to You in a Plain Brown Wrapper" sessions...I don't have a copy of that release at this time, so I can't comment on the quality of it...Hopefully, I can locate a copy soon...

Here's "Tarotplane" by Captain Beefheart...Better grab a couple of extra beers...This is a long 'un...Enjoy...

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band: Strictly Personal

Captain Beefheart: Strictly Personal

1968

Blue Thumb Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Ah Feel Like Ahcid  2. Safe As Milk  3. Trust Us  4. Son of Mirror Man - Mere Man  5. On Tomorrow  6. Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones  7. Gimme Dat Harp Boy  8. Kandy Korn


I searched for a copy of this album forever...Eastside Records had a copy in once before but I got there a bit too late to claim it...The second time was the charm though...

 Some people have told me that the greatest day of their life was the birth of their child...

 Others claim that reaching the summit of Mount Everest as their crowning achievement...

Me? My greatest achievement was the morning I managed to drag my fat hog out of bed early enough to snag a copy of Captain's Beefheart often maligned second album before somebody else bought it...

Waitaminute...Often maligned? Why's that? Well, Captain Beefheart himself hated this album...So we, as his loyal followers must hate it too, right? I have to disagree...Remember, historically speaking, Captain Beeheart appeared to hate everything...Except Abba Zabba's...And whales...And long telephone calls...And Pepsi..And painting...But outside of those few items, he seemed to hate everything..

Sure, it's not the best Captain Beefheart album I've ever heard ("Doc at the Radar Station" or "Lick My Decals Off, Baby") but it's nowhere near the worst (we'll get to those in a few days)...I'd call it squarely middle-of-the-road Beefheart, if it wasn't such a pivotal moment in his discography...If I had only heard his first album,  I would have probably viewed Beefheart as an ordinary, everyday guy who got weird to amuse himself and/or push buttons (see: Frank Zappa)...I'd probably arrive at this conclusion based on the fact that it was largely a straight blues-rock album with a few wig-out moments...In retrospect, when I hear it, I think what I'm hearing is a very weird guy keeping it together long enough to make a straight album made but momentarily lapsing here and there...I think "Strictly Personal" is the moment where it sinks in that he was a deeply different motherfucker....

(the usual cover...I don't know why my copy has a different cover...)

And the change is immediately apparent on the first track, "Ah Feel Like Ahcid"...The Captain, in full-blown, bonk-ola, accapella, Wolfman Jack/Bluesman voice roars and mumbles reams of evocative blather about fried chicken legs and groovy postmen...Van Vliet would always try and mess with us, claiming this song wasn't about acid...Somehow the words "ahcid" and the endless talk about lickin' stamps is just a coincidence and proof that our minds are in the gutter...Riiiight...Anyway, great, lowdown blues...

And next up we have the title track to the last album?  Guess it's a "Houses of the Holy" type of deal...On paper, it's the type of music you'd find on "Safe As Milk"...Crusty blues rock, but the execution is altogether different...More skeletal and spindly...Spidery guitar figures zig-zaggin' all over the rubbery rhythm section..Still, it scans as "electric blues"...Just a distinctive, mutated strain of it, is all..

It's at the end of this song that we get our first glimpse of the "phasing" effect that drove Van Vliet so crazy...It appears here and there throughout the album, but I honestly don't think I would have especially noticed it if Captain Beefheart himself didn't draw so much attention to it over the years...But I can understand that...Anyone who's ever recorded music has encountered the moment during playback, when they can hear a fatal flaw that nobody else can seem to hear...I'm telling you, it's easy to get obsessed with such things, which I'd imagine was the case here...I personally love the way the technique is employed during the spooky raga "Trust Us"...Still, I guess I can picture Captain Beefheart being appalled at his inspired performance at the end of "Son of Mirror Man" being sucked into the vacuum cleaner...

Oh, yea...One super classic moment is "Beatle Bones 'n' Smokin' Stones" which takes the living piss out of Sgt Pepper's-era Beatles...It was enough to get John Lennon (who was previously a booster of Captain Beefheart)  all torqued off...I know it probably wasn't very nice to mercilessly butcher "Strawberry Fields Forever" but I have to admit, it's kinda worth is just to hear Beefheart shout, "Strawberry Caterpillars!" in his dopiest, flakiest voice...Holy shit, it that part funny...

In the end I'd rate this far above "Safe As Milk"...They both tend to get lumped into the same pre-"Trout Mask Replica" early-Beefheart category, but this album is so much more interesting and innovative than that...I can only guess how mind-bending this shit was back in '68...Sure, "Trout Mask" would take it much, much further but perhaps at the cost of the breezy listenablity of "Strictly Personal...(I will admit to clocking out on the album about 1/3rd of the way through "Kandy Korn" though...But in the end I always stick around for that extra little piece of "Ah Feel Like Ahcid ")...

Here's "Safe As Milk" by Captain Beefheart...Enjoy...

Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band:The Legendary A&M Sessions

Captain Beefheart:The Legendary A&M Sessions

1984

A&M Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Diddy Wah Diddy  2. Who Do You Think You're Fooling?  3. Moonchild  4. Frying Pan   5. Here I Am I Always Am



This is a1984  EP containing Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band's first two singles (both originally released in 1966) and an outtake. This is squarely mid 60's garage blues rock...Even more straightforward than "Safe As Milk." Here's what you get:

The "Diddy Wah Diddy/Who Do You Think You're Fooling?" single..."Diddy Wah Diddy" is a Bo Diddley cover...The kind of song you'd hear on a Nuggets compilation...Stomping, over-driven blues rock...Very stomping actually...The B-Side, "Who Do You Think You're Fooling?" is lighter R&B. Would sound okay on an early Stones album...

Next up is the "Moonchild/Frying Pan" single...With its ominous gong, echo-y vocals and out of sync harmonicas, "Moonchild" is the only song that hints at the weirdness of the Captain's subsequent albums. Maybe not "Trout Mask Replica" weird, but as about as far-out as "Safe As Milk"'s more avant-garde moments...It's almost impossible to fathom how young Beefheart was here...He sounds exactly the same as he did in his 40's...Like a crusty old man who smoked too many cigarettes... "Frying Pan" is teenage garage-band R&B, that sounds kinda ordinary coming directly after the other-worldly "Moonchild"...A groovy song nonetheless...

The fifth track, "Here I Am I Always Am"was an outtake that didn't appear on any release prior to this EP...Again, garage R&B, but the time signatures are starting to get a little erratic and jerky, which is always a hallmark of prime Beefheart...

 Ultimately, I think this might be a record that would appeal more to oldies fans than the wonkies who are normally follow Beefheart...Very little weirdness outside of "Moonchild," this is just shakin' 60's rock that's sure to liven up any Friday Night Record Party...Before you spend too much money on it, be aware that the whole thing clocks in under 12 minutes... I might have paid 7-10 bucks for my copy...

Hey, I read somewhere that today's Friday...If that's true we better grab a beer and toss some Beefheart on the turntable...Here's "Diddy Wah Diddy"...Enjoy....

Can of Pork

Can of Pork

1992

Lookout Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Pounded Clown: Bad Trip  2. Brent's TV:  Trinidad  3. Lizards: Promise Is a Promise  4. Engage: Evolution  5. Horny Mormons: Redneck Woman from Planet Mars  6. One Man Running: Get a Job  7. The Lookouts: Kick Me in the Head  8. Anger Means: Void  9. Krupted Peasant Farmers: Piano Song from Hell  10. Preachers That Lie: Whiners  11. Porcelain Boys: Sidetrack  12. Drippy Drawers: Hole 13. Lagwagon: Noble End  14. Los Rudiments: Martian  15. Rice: The Future 16. Blatz: Learning How to Smile  17. Jack Acid: Parents Are Really Weird  18. Fifteen: 17 Reasons  19. Jüke: College Town  20. Mystery Experience: T-Shirt Commercial  21. The Vagrants: Birth  22. Pinhead Gunpowder: Benicia by the Bay  23. Downfall: North Berkeley  24. The Wynona Riders:Break  25. Spitboy: Dysfunction  26. Good Grief: Why Quit?  27.  Freefall: Other Day  28: Sawhorse: Two  29. The Mr. T Experience: Vive le France

Super classic Lookout Compilation, often cited as being highly influential and historically important (it even says so on the spine)... A common debate in the punk community is whether "Can of Pork" or the earlier "The Thing That Ate Floyd" is thee truly great Lookout comp... Personally, I have no stake in  the argument...I don't own a copy of "Floyd" and haven't heard it enough times to proclaim a winner...Although, I do have to point out that "Can of Pork" doesn't have anything as era-defining as Crimpshrine's "Summertime" on it (I hate the phrase "just sayin'" so I'm not going to use it here, although it would probably be appropriate in this case)... "Can of Pork" does carry a ton of nostalgia for me, since it's so representative of the era when I first discovered Lookout ("Floyd" was way before my time)...The cover art alone brings back so many memories of filling out those little catalogs that used to come in every Lookout release...And oh my god! When that big catalog would come in the mail... Mowed many lawns and babysat lots of brats to get enough scratch to buy the latest batch of Lookouts...I've been keeping an eye open for any and all old Lookout stuff recently and when my local record store got in a used copy of "Can of Pork" I was there to snag it before anybody else beat me to it... Now, I don't know if just my copy is screwy or if it was an issue on all copies, but the track listing is slightly screwed up... I've looked everywhere online and can't find a listing that exactly matches mine...Some of these bands are pretty obscure to me, so hopefully I'm talking about the correct band (Hey! I figured this would be a good opportunity to flaunt my ignorance!)... Anyway, I'm doing this a little bit differently today and breaking it down track by track and assigning a grade to each one...Keep in mind the grades are relative to the album. For example, if I was rating Beethoven's Fifth I would probably give it a 5/5, which is also the score I would give a Blatz song. But that doesn't mean that Blatz wrote a song every bit the equal of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. (Awww, who am I kidding, I like "Fuk Shit Up" way more than Beethoven)...I wouldn't take this grading shit too seriously anyway...It's not like Spitboy is going to have to repeat 8th grade just because I didn't like their song...Anyway, here we go...So you can listen along, I put up the referenced track when available on youtube...Most of these aren't however. So I also put a link at the bottom of the page that takes you to somebody's youtube page where they posted the whole damn thing.... 1. Pounded Clown: Bad Trip  Kicking things off on the WTF tip, we have "Bad Trip"...Not the sort of thing you would normally associate with Lookout Records, it's a truly bizarre psychedelia  track with fast-forward vocals...However, it works as a reminder of the diversity you could often find in the Lookout roster...I don't know whether to give this 5/5 for its uniqueness or 1/5 cos it vaguely irritates me...Let's say, 2.5/5... 2. Brent's TV: Trinidad Ramshackle Beat pop...Doesn't knock me over with its awesomeness but it sure is a lot of fun...I love the "I love 'er, love 'er, love er" bit...4/5... 3. Lizards: A Promise is a Promise  Surf/punk/psyche...Kinda sounds like a bored Dead Kennedys. 3/5 4. Engage: Evolution:  Pretty decent metal-tinged hardcore.   I probably would have flipped my lid over this when I was 14 years old. I can hear a lot of Ian MacKaye in this...4/5 5. Horny Mormons: Redneck Woman from Planet Mars  Great band name...I'd imagine that's probably the main reason they're here...Jokey, doo-wop/ska reminiscent of  a less clever or inventive Skankin' Pickle...Pass... 1/5 6. One Man Running: Get a Job I love the shit outta this! Classic style pop-punk with some emo-ish guitar detail....This kind of stuff is the reason why I buy Lookout comps...5/5 7. The Lookouts: Kick Me in the Head Larry Livermore's band, also notable for introducing the world to Tre Cool...This is over-the-top macho, wah-wah-drenched, 70's rock...There's probably a bit of irony here, but I suspect a bit of sincerity too...I've heard much better by the band, but cool enough...3/5 8.  Anger Means: Void Crusty, gutter-voiced punk...Reminds me of a a more metallic Crimpshrine or possibly Operation Ivy stripped of their ska. Which is to say, it has a very early Lookout tone...4/5 9. Krupted Peasant Farmers: Piano Song from Hell After reading the song title, I was hoping to hear something along the lines of "Lick My Love Pump," but there's not much in the way of piano here. For fans of "Liberal Animation' or "S&M Airlines"-era NOFX... 4/5 10. Preachers That Lie: Whiners This style of out-of-control hardcore  always fascinates me. The vocals are a bit colorless, which is a slight hinderance. Gets my toes tappin, though...3/5 11. Porcelain Boys: Sidetrack Great backing vocals on this one. Possibly the catchiest melodies on the entire comp. Definitely in the running as one of the record's best tracks...Must hear more of these guys...5/5  12.  Drippy Drawers: Hole  Some guy yelling about his penis being split three ways... Sorta all over the place...To be honest, this song goes in one ear and out the other for me...2/5 13. Lagwagon: Noble End Woah, Lagwagon on Lookout! They're usually associated with Fat Wreck Chords's brand of NOFX sound-alike bands. It's always cracked me up to imagine Fat Mike listening to Lagwagon's demo and thinking, "Hmmm, I can't quite put my finger on it, but there's something about these guy's  that I like..."  All kidding aside, Lagwagon's easily one of my favorite Fat bands and I'm glad to have them here...This song also appeared in a slicker version on the band's debut album (which is the version I posted above cos I couldn't find the "Can of Pork" take )....5/5 14. Los Rudiments: Martian Organ-driven 3rd wave ska.  Lots of wacky sound effects, samples and Star Wars references done in the usual "Chk! Chk! Chk!"/ "Pick it up! Pick it up!" style... I've heard worse 3rd wave ska but I've also heard better... 2/5 15: Rice: The Future Alright, this might be one of the tracks throwing me off...I saw Rice listed as one of the featured bands on the back cover, but the actual track listing omits them...But now that I listen to this more closely, they are technically on here, it's just not an actual song. I had always heard this as yet another sample at the end of the Rudiments song...Basically, it's just a few seconds of recorded dialogue where someone tosses around a couple of insults and then proclaims "Rice is the future" or something to that effect... No actual music. Weird.  Rice was a pretty entertaining hardcore band...A proper track would have really livened things up...1/5  16. Blatz: Learning How to Smile Quintessential Gilman Street stuff...Tough, ramshackle punk with a bit of sweetness at its core. Not the best song by the band, but it's always great to hear them...To me, this is a real turning point of this comp, where the patchiness ends and it just becomes great song after great song.... 5/5 17. Jack Acid: Parents Are Really Weird Pretty cool, chugging old school punk. Lots of little twists and turns...3/5 18. Fifteen: 17 Reasons Hey! I'm wearing a Fifteen shirt as I write this! One of my all time favorite bands. This song is in their funky, sloppy Hendrix mode, with Jeff Ott alternating between his high nasal whine and his gruff bark. This would have sounded great on side two of "Swain's First Bike Ride!"  5/5 19. Jüke: College Town This is an F-in' good song! Summery, Ramones-y pop-punk. Makes me long for the 90's punk era when killer shit like this was seemingly all over the place...  5/5 20. Mystery Experience: T-Shirt Commercial This song is basically just Mr T Experience recording a jingle for their merchandise. A perfect example of why I consider MTX the funniest and most clever band on Lookout...Catchy as hell too! 5/5 21. The Vagrants: Birth Alright, I'm declaring this the official best song on the album. Just fuckin' epic. The shimmering verses lead to a towering emotional monster of a crescendo...Everything great about 90's punk is contained in this track. Why wasn't this band way bigger?! I don't even know if they ever even released a full album...5/5 22. Pinhead Gunpowder: Benicia by the Bay I also have this song on the "Jump Salty" album. Pinhead Gunpowder is  notable for teaming Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong with Crimpshrine's Aaron Cometbus. This falls squarely in the Cometbus style of gritty, socially conscious, yet always catchy punk. As I listen to this, there's very much the feeling of, "This is how you do this shit..." .5/5 23. Downfall: North Berkeley  The reason this album is still a much sought-after item. It's one of the few places you can hear the band Downfall, which was Tim Armstrong and Matt Freeman's post-Op Ivy, Pre-Rancid group...Dave Mello from Op Ivy was also a member of this band. Punkish reggae that sounds like Rancid, but not early Rancid, oddly enough...Reminds me of something off of "Life Won't Wait" or "Indestructible"... This band was notable for making an album that still has never been released due  to...apparently no reason whatsoever...Release this shit already! And while you're at it round up the remaining Operation Ivy tracks so I can stop paying 16 bucks for bootleg singles! 5/5 24. The Wynona Riders:Break Another one of my favorite Lookout bands...The "J.D. Salinger" album was a real staple of my late-teen listening years...These guys were so damn ambitious while retaining a sense of humor...Qualities I greatly admire. I'd describe this track as "technical pop-punk" with lots of  well-constructed guitar riffs...Hell yes. 5/5   25. Spitboy: Dysfunction I hope I'm talking about the correct band at this point...This is where the track listing gets really screwy...Similar to the Rice situation, I see the band Spitboy listed as one of the included bands on the back cover, but they're not listed in the track listing.  I had to look up who this band was and the song title online. Anyway, this is fine hardcore with overly operatic vocals that drive me nuts...If this was an instrumental track, I would probably be all over it...2/5 26. Good Grief: Why Quit? Jerky and sing-songy...This song is cute and I want to hug it... 4/5 27.  Freefall: Other Day Hey, I like this one! Sounds like the sort of boyish emo that was popular in the mid-to-late 90's...I could easily picture them on the Jade Tree roster...5/5 28: Sawhorse: Two Damn. I'm still really hoping I'm talking about the right bands at this point...If not, please send me a quick note stating: "What the fuck, poser?! You can't even tell Sawhorse from Freefall?!?! Why would you even bother writing a review when you're not even sure what fucking band you're reviewing?!?! Why don't you go back to your Blink 182 albums  and kill yourself, pussy!"  If you could do this for me, I'd really appreciate it! Anyway, this is post hardcore with a few tough-guy moments...A smidge better than alright-ish...3/5 29. The Mr. T Experience: Vive le France Another variation of "God Bless America." There was a time when every MTX compilation track had the exact same music with different lyrics, resulting in "God Bless Lawrence Livermore" and "Vive le France." Funny, but at this point I'm somewhat sick of this song...5/5 for the first time I heard it as "Good Bless America"...2/5 for this particular iteration...You can find all three variations of "God Bless..." on the Cd reissue of "Big Black Bugs Bleed Blue Blood"... So overall, I'm giving "Can of Pork" a 4/5...A few bum tracks and quite a bit of middling stuff but there are so many classic bands here that it's worth checking out. Especially if you're an admirer of early 90's Lookout...The Downfall track is reason enough to buy it...I think you can still find used copies at a  reasonable price...I got mine for maybe 13-15 bucks... Here...You can listen to the album at the link provided below if you can't find a copy at your local record store: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPjojmFz3xw

John Cale: Guts/Caribbean Sunset

John Cale: Guts

1977

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Guts  2. Mary Lou  3. Helen of Troy  4. Pablo Picasso  5. Leaving It Up To You  6. Fear Is A Man's Best Friend  7. Gun  8. Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll  9. Heartbreak Hotel


I first became aware of this album a couple decades ago when I was looking at the Island Records sleeve insert included in the "Harder They Come" soundtrack, which I'm certain I went over this before (http://fridaynightrecordparty.blogspot.com/2013/11/jimmy-cliff-harder-they-come-soundtrack.html)... I used to sit in my bedroom and stare endlessly at this colorful, exciting list of Island Records releases and solemnly swore to buy every single record depicted....Particularly exciting was some album by John Cale entitled "Guts" depicting him playing a Flying V while dressed as Jason Vorhees...

Anyway, I kept my eyes peeled for a good twenty years and never encountered a copy until early last year when it practically jumped out of the "New Arrivals" section at Eastside Records and right into my perennially grubby hands...

Turns out this album is a compilation that collects all of the down and dirtiest tracks from John Cale's post-Velvet Underground solo albums from the Island Records era..In reality, John's albums also contained gentle baroque pop and even some country & western touches, but punk was all the rage in '77, so I'm sure this was the record company's not so-so-subtle reminder that John helped invent the genre back in the 60's...And as someone who is naturally inclined towards harrowing rock, this shit is fan-freakin'-tastic...Check out the title of the 8th track: "Dirty Ass Rock 'n' Roll "...That's a pretty apt description of what you're getting...A lot of it has the suave-yet-abrasive feel of  early Roxy Music...There's also a bit of Brian Eno's jerky, experimental pop in its DNA, which makes a lot of sense considering the band line-up consisted largely of Roxy alumni (the musicians credited to this album is pretty staggering...).

Best tracks? "Fear is a Man's Best Friend" is pretty incredible...It starts out as mildly unhinged boogie pop that slowly unravels under the weight of nervous shouting and the most out of control basslines I've ever heard and ...Although best known for his shrieking viola, John's Velvet Underground vocals were always so mannered and composed...As a result, it's super fun to hear him lose his shit here...Who knew that he was such a fine rock n' roll screamer? The campy, staccato melody of "Gun" has also managed to worm its way into my subconscious and I kinda like it there..."When you've begun to...Think-like-a-gunnn..." Super fun stuff...You should also check out his sinister cover of "Hearbreak Hotel" that shines a light on how creepy the lyrics are...

 Yea, so fans of Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, Brian Eno, or lovers of dirty ass Rock N' Roll will love the hell out of this...I was expecting so much less for some reason...I think the only other John Cale album I had ever heard prior to this was 1990's "Songs for Drella," which was more in line with what I was expecting...Totally worth the 20 year wait...

Here's "Fear Is a Man's Best Friend"...Enjoy

John Cale: Caribbean Sunset

1984

Mango Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Hungry For Love  2. Experiment Number 1  3. Model Beirut Recital  4. Caribbean Sunset  5. Praetorian Underground  6. Magazines  7. Where There's A Will  8. The Hunt  9. Villa Albani


Shortly after buying (and falling in love with) "Guts" I found this at the same record store and took a momentary glance at the cool dude on the cover: Bitchin' shades,  Cosby Sweater, chillin' on a  beach with his hands behind his head, not a care in the world...I  momentary thought to myself, "Yup, generic yacht rock and/or 80's pop," before noticing the name "John Cale"...What?!?!!

Was this some joke?" To me, when I hear the name John Cale, I expect some nervous energy...Maybe a few dark, urbane observations...Was he really capable of taking the Jimmy Buffet route and writing an album of callow beach-pop called "Caribbean Sunset"? There was no way on Planet Earth that I was not going to buy this album...I had to know...

And I'm here to report that yea, he is fucking with you...Kinda....

It is marginally more accessible than most of the other stuff I've heard, but "Experiment Number 1" and "Praetorian Underground" are hardly "Margaritaville"...I'd describe the bulk of the album as gritty new wave...Opening track "Hungry For Love" recalls both Joy Division, Roxy Music and Talking Heads...The song seems to be aiming for inspiring grandeur but touches like an ominously out of tune piano solo kind of undermine the feel-good spirit, which of course is the entire point...You know John's never going to make things that easy for you...

Who  knows maybe this is John Cale's twisted idea of a pop album...Perhaps he did expect the middle eastern funk of "Model Beirut Recital" to be plastered all over MTV...Although, I'm sure radio programmers probably balked at all the coked-out jabbering, clench-jawed proclamations and shouting...Oh well...

For some reason, this album never even gained the respect of John Cale fans..The general consensus is that its a bit of a mess...Which I can see to some extent. Check out "The Hunt" for a prime example of this: It starts out like its going to be a good-time J Geils band "Freeze Frame" type of thing before the sprightly keyboard figure starts to turn into something closer to the Munsters theme...Then it becomes shouty punk punctuated with primal screams...I don't know though...To me, it sounds great...Tons of energy and intriguing atmosphere...I say give this thing a long overdue CD release, forcing a reassessment of the album...It strikes me as one of those records that would make more sense now than it probably did at the time of release...I hear bands putting out stuff in the vein of "Villa Albani" all the time now...A mysterious, Kraftwek-y type of world music...I think this would go over great now...

Anyway, let's wrap things up...Here's "Praetorian Underground" by John Cale...Enjoy...

The Business: Saturday's Heroes

The Business: Saturday's Heroes

1985

Taang! Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Spanish Jails  2. All Out Tonight (Remix)  3. Never Be Taken  4. Shout It Out  5. Harder Life  6. Frontline  7. Foreign Girl  8. Nothing Can Stop Us  9. Freedom  10. Saturdays Heroes  



"SAT' 'UR 'AY'S!  SAT' 'UR 'AY'S 'EROES!"

Look at that cover photo! They look like perfectly respectable, alligator-logoed, polo-shirt-clad fellows...I bet you'd never guess they were a bunch of  lager-'eaded 'ooligans! Playing burly, mid-tempo oi punk.... 

Keep in mind, I haven't heard every Business album, but I'm probably pretty close at this point...So barring any heretofore unheard-by-me electonica or hip-hop albums, I'm safe to say these guys fall into the ultra-consistent category...The AC/DC of Oi...Whenever I pick up an album by the Business I know it's going to be packed with loud guitars, terrace-ready chants and songs about football and broadly political sloganeering...But this is a good thing! I wouldn't want them to do anything else! They're so good at anthemic punk...I guarantee you'll be shouting along to each and every song on here by the second chorus, even if you've never heard the song before...

Oh yea, I should mention that the track listing on this Taang! version is more mixed up than Hogan's goat...I was a little confused on first listen but it's pretty easy to figure out once you realize the song title of each song is just whatever line they chant for the chorus...

Alright, I don't really feel like discussing the intricacies of some old Business album tonight...I'm ready to drink some Friday juice, so I'm making this extra short today: Title track good, Spanish Jails good, Business rocks, go Tottenham!

Here's "Spanish Jails" by the Biz...Happy Friday!

Burning Spear: Mek We Dweet

 Burning Spear: Mek We Dweet

1990

Island Records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. Mek We Dweet  2. Civilization  3. Garvey  4. Elephants  5. My Roots  6. Take A Look  7. Great Men  8. One People  9. African Women  10. Mek We Dweet In Dub


I think I've covered my Bud Light & Clamato Chelada addiction (aka: alcoholism) in previous posts...

Couldn't get enough of the damn things...

Anyway, one night I was at the local Pride station (which has the most supernaturally low beer prices I've ever seen...I have no idea how they do it) and ran across these...

Foam Michelada cups! This wasn't the exact brand (the brand I usually  bought  somehow does not exist online...wha?), but the concept was similar...A foam cup filled with spicy powder and a couple of Saladitos (dried, salted plums) that you fill with beer and tomato juice (optional)...And oh my God!!! So great...I never even bothered with the tomato juice...It was so delicious as is...

I spent the last year or so buying them like freakin' crazy!  But then roughly a month ago I went to Pride to pick up my usual $14.99 30-pack of Rolling Rock and Michelada cup, but this time something was wrong!  The rack that was usually filled with Micehlada's wasn't there anymore...Just a shelf with a bunch of crappy wine! What?!

"Are you out of Michelada's?" I asked the girl at the counter.

"Oh, yea...I don't see 'em...We must be out..."

Alright...A minor setback...My weekend would seem a little empty, but no big-ola...I can go back to Bud Light Chelada's for a weekend...But over the following weeks, I kept going back and going back and still...Nothing but crappy wine...

I hate you yellow wine!!!

Out of desperation, I went to every other liquor store I could think of, but to no avail...No place carried the damn things anymore...So I decided to take matters into my own hands...

Well, I had plenty of beer...And Saladitos are no problem to find...Any gas station sells those...

But what was that powder? Chili powder? Cayenne pepper? I wasn't 100% sure, but last weekend I was at Walmart and saw this...

Fruit Seasoning!! One look at it and I could tell it was the seasoning inside the Michelada cup! I opened it up and tasted it right on the spot to be sure (Note: I would have bought it, even if it wasn't, since I did open it...The Friday Night Record Party never condones theft (chops stealing hand off thieving infidel))...And yup! This was it...I bought it along with a bottle of Worcestershire sauce...

I got home, mixed the Saladitos, Fruit Seasoning, Worcestershire and beer together in a big cup and YES! I'm stating this mixture is roughly 90% accurate...I think I know what's missing...I think a bit of lime would put this over the top, so I'll pick up some next time I'm at my local grocers...I'm also missing the Tamarind, which I remember seeing as in the ingredient list on those old foam cups, but what I have is close enough...I've been happily gulping this stuff down by the bucketful  since I first made them...Try it at home sometime if you like, it's delicious as hell...

But I didn't invite you here to swap recipes, I invited you here to talk about some Burning Spear...

Well, I enjoyed "Marcus Garvey" so much I decided to jump ahead 15 years and a dozen albums and get right down to the nitty gritty...1990's "Mek We Dweet"!

Nah, I didn't plan on making this my second Burning Spear album...It was just the only other one I've found so far...I played this over and over, reading and re-reading the album title, trying to figure out what in the hell "Dweet" meant...I've listened to enough Jamaican albums to pick up a bit of patois and could usually decipher any new words that would come up, but this one had me stumped...

Dweet, Dweet, Dweet....

 Turns out I was over-thinking it..."Dweet" is exactly what it sounds like..."Do it"...And "Mek" is "make," and "we" is "us," so I think what's being said is essentially "Make Us Do it"..."Let's Do it"?  "Let's do it for Jah Jah Rastafari"... I dunno...Anyway, for awhile this was a thing keeping me up at night...

Boy, listening to this back to back with "Marcus Garvey" would be jarring if the opening track wasn't so immediately likeable...This album is bright, happy shiny, slightly synthetic  late 80's-early 90's reggae...But it's among some of the best I've heard from that particular subset of reggae...See, if the music seems a bit synthetic it's not a problem because Spear himself brings such deep, rootsiness to it all...

Still, it's the type of album you listen to while lying on a beach while you're drinking a pina colada out of coconut with a little umbrella in it....The title track just makes you so happy to be alive... Winston's semi-toasting style fits this sunny style to a tee..."Mek we dweet, make me dweet...." Great shit if you any love whatsoever for 80's reggae (yes, I'm aware this came out in 1990, but it sounds very 80s')...

Then the second track, "Civilization" storms in with pop metal guitar riffing and I had to make sure someone didn't replace my Burning Spear record with a Winger record...But it turns out it's just a bit of set dressing and the light reggae starts up again...

I'll give you three guesses as to who the third track (titled "Garvey") is about...

 Ding! Ding! You guessed correctly...Again, Burning Spear is at his/their best when singabout Marcus Garvey, so I'm not going to complain...If it ain't broke don't fix it, I guess...

All in all, I'm pretty happy with this album..Could have been worse...I think even if you have a deep hatred for 80's production you might be able to dig the title track at least...It's hard to hate on something so positive, even if its never going to be in the same ballpark as his classic "Marcus Garvey" album...

Here's "Mek We Dweet" by Burning Spear...Enjoy..