Brit Power Pop: Spiky Hair and Angry Young Men

Or, if you like, British (and Aussie) Skinny Tie, 1975-82: guitar-driven power pop, late pub rock, proto and post-punk. In some cases, the guitars are crunchier than the American variant, the lyrics dour. There is likely more keyboard or quirkier music. It's great for a drive, and at 8 hours, this one will take you 500 miles while the roads are still open, gas is cheap, and the BnB rooms still empty and discounted. Don't like a song? Wait two and a half minutes for the next.

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This One, I'm Sure, You All Know....

Today, April 28 in l978, Cheap Trick recorded the first of two shows from which Cheap Trick at Budokan was culled. Initially a Japanese only release, it proved a popular import and was released domestically in early l979. It was my first real album purchase aside from some Beatles and Beach Boy ‘Best Ofs” and...um... Paperlace (when I was 8). I remember the booklet that came with the album –– the lyrics were in English, there were some tour photos and everything else was written in Japanese. Five (and a half) of the album's lO songs were from In Color . I read somewhere that the band wasn't happy with that LP's slick production, and wanted a do-over. It certainly worked with " I Want You to Want Me " and " Clock Strikes Ten "...the other three songs on this expanded version do not disappoint. Later, during the summer of '79, my dad took me and three friends to see Cheap Trick. The Pez Band (later Off Broadway ) opened up. Dad was over 4...

1977 or So: the Early Punk Singles

Here's a long playlist: 1977 or So . It attempts to track the punk sound through singles arranged, more or less, in the order that they were released. When I could only find the month of issue, I placed it in the middle of the month. If I could only find the year of release, I stuck it between June and July. Imagine you had a friend at a cool record store with access. And no, I do not have a lot of time on my hands. I made this playlist years ago. On Instagram @dadrock101 On Twitter @dadrock101

Yes, There's Gas in the Car

In 1970 the police raided the house of Owsley Stanley - famed financial backer of Blue Cheer, architect of the dread "Wall of Sound" and LSD producer of renown. It was the third bust of note. The first, in December of 1967 found him with millions of dollars of acid. He was released on bail. Three years later, in Jnnuary, 1970, he was arrested along with the Grateful Dead in New Orleans - as related in " Truckin ". This last arrest resulted in the revocation of his bail and he spent the next two years in prison. On his release, Stanley returns to the Dead - a band that he initially bankrolled - to run sound for them again, but all is not the same. He's no longer the player he was. The road crew has emerged as a power center. He builds the Wall of Sound but the band goes on hiatus in 1974. The Wall is dismantled and Owsley never works with them again. The whole arc of his time with the Dead inspired Steely Dan's " Kid Charlemagne " - working in his...

Cookin', Steamin', Workin', and Relaxin' With the Miles Davis Quintet

Sixty five years ago, on October 26, the Miles Davis Quintet assembled for a recording session that yielded most of the Cookin' and Relaxin' albums and a tune apiece that appeared on the Workin' and Steamin' discs. The other tracks on those albums were recorded in a one day session earlier that year. Four quality albums, not bad for two days of work.

Who's Next At 50

It should have been a double album. That's what they recorded for Lifehouse , Pete's sci-fi rock opera follow up to Tommy . For some reason, he couldn't get the plot or libretto right and ended up paring it down to a single album. They didn't waste a track. Like Sticky Fingers , IV, and others, it is one of those 1971 albums that dominated AOR FM into the '80s and classic rock channels to this day. While I'll usually change stations when a couple of the tunes come on....again....I still listen to some of the tacks that don't get much play anymore. Most of the other material came out as singles, Townshend solo tracks, cuts on the Odds & Sods compilation, or bonus tracks on one of the several expanded definitive deluxe reissues of Who's Next . The version of "Greyhound Girl" is a live track included on Endless Wire. Here is Pete's demo: The songs here are not all part of the Lifehouse plot, but they either are from those sessions or ...

Roky Erickson - One flew east and one flew west....

Probably the saddest of the acid casualties was the singer and frontman of the 13th Floor Elevators, Roky Erickson. We lost him just over a year ago. He and the other Elevators were open proponents of various psychedelics, deep in the heart of Texas. Roky himself purportedly dropped acid about 300 times. In 1968 he was hospitalized after an episode wherein he began speaking gibberish on stage. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia. In 1969 he was busted with a joint. In a move to dodge a 10-year prison term, he pleaded insanity and....um....won, subsequently being committed to a state psychiatric hospital. After several escape attempts, he was transferred to another facility where Nurse Ratched gave him shock therapy and Thorazine treatments. No lobotomy, thankfully, but he was released in 1974, a changed man. From then on, he labored in obscurity, producing a solid four albums worth your attention. Doug Sahm produced his first single release - "Two Headed Dog." CCR's...

It Was 50 Years Ago Today...

No more Beatles...miss them, miss them. Paul announced the breakup. It was sad, I am sure, although I don't remember it. We now know that Dave D had already left, leaving George, Mickey and Tich to finish off I Me Mine. Consider, also, that obvious collaborations between Lennon and McCartney after Rubber Soul are arguably few - a snippet of one's song would occasionally be inserted into another's. From the White Album on the Beatles were largely a backing band for each member's "solo" tracks. Then, they officially break up. It's not like John, Paul and George suddenly lost their ability to write, but the magic was gone. Or was it? What is missing? Several things come to mind. The guitar sound....who got the Leslie? George Martin wasn't producing anymore. Paul's tunes no longer have Ringo's drumming. John and George no longer have Paul's bass lines behind them. None of them have the Beatle harmonies on back up. George and John no ...

Little Richard: He Got What He Wanted, But He Lost What He Had

He'll be missed. In Mystery Train, Greil Marcus writes about Little Richard's antics on The Dick Cavett Show. His segment runs from about 1:00 to 1:07...but he interjects himself throughout, expounding on life, love, art, and his big toe (at 1:18, 1:37-1:40 and 1:51). Ten years or so before this appearance, he'd been on the top of the charts. Then he walked away from it...to go to seminary school. He returned to show business, guesting in Catalina Caper, which MST3K film critic, Tom Servo, surmised was done while "whacked out on goofballs". Goofballs or no, he could still rock. For my part, I caught on at some point in the 80s, after hearing "Tutti Frutti" a soundtrack. I bought a cheap cassette of his Greatest Hits at Woolworth's, not realizing until years later that it was from rerecordings, made in the 1960s for VeeJay. Normally, these are to be avoided, but not in this case. There is a murk and ragged feel...like Exile on Main...

NRBQ

Here's wishing Joey Spampinato a happy birthday. His old band, NRBQ, should've been a presence on the airwaves. Instead they showed up mostly on the college radio and NPR affiliates left of the dial. While the band had friends and admirers in high places - Keith Richards, Bonnie Rait, REM, the Simpson's, Dr. Demento, Captain Lou - they never managed a mainstream breakthrough. In part, perhaps, it was of their own making. They could play, play anything: and they did. Their first album, in 1969, includes covers of Sun Ra , " Hey Baby ", Eddie Cochran - that last, one of the best ever. With three songwriters contributing equally, they may've been too eclectic and radio didn't know what to do with them. The debut also included a song of Joey's - " You Can't Hide " - which points the way to the the band's power pop of their late '70's - early '80's heyday. In fact the band would return to the song on 1980's " Tidd...

Jerry Lee at the Star Club

With Little Richard's passing, my mind turned to Jerry Lee Lewis. Who would've thought that Jerry Lee would be the last man standing? He seems ornery, to be sure...and I guess he's tough. How tough? This concert shows it. By April 1964, when this was recorded, Jerry Lee was a washed-up has-been. They had all fallen. Eddie and Buddy had died. Chuck took an underage girl across state lines and was sent to prison. Johnny took pills. Elvis came out of the army, made silly movies, took pills, and - with her parents' permission - took an underage girl into his home where he looked over her moral upbringing. Jerry married a 13-year-old...his first cousin...once removed. I think he was taking pills too. The scandal destroyed him. He went from making $10,000 a night (in 1958 dollars) to $250 a night (in 1968 dollars). One of those nights was captured here at the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. Yes, that Star Club. He's backed by the British Invasion pre-one-hit wonders, ...

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