Forty years ago this evening, the Jam recorded their show at the Hammersmith Palais, in London. It's a good show, three of the songs - including Eddie Floyd's " Big Bird " - ended up on Dig the New Breed . Another six tracks are from The Gift , which would be released the following March. The band is supported by horns (or a horn) and keyboards on the new tracks tracks (organ on " A Town Called Malice ").  Some of their older songs get the treatment as well.  A squeaky sax (maybe a clarinet) rounds out the sound on the bridge of " Going Underground "and the chorus of " That's Entertainment ", something would be mixed better - at least in Glasgow -during the tour supporting The Gift . Nevertheless, some good stuff.

Mick Jones turns 66 today....Mick Jones of the Clash.  One tends to think of the Clash as Joe Strummer's band, and one would tend to be right. Joe was the band's lead singer and primary spokesman and singer, but he wrote most of the songs with Mick or the rest of the band.  Mick, however, sang lead on 2 of the band's 3 mainstream hits (or maybe 3 of 4). In fact, for the casual listener, Mick may well be the voice of the Clash. When the band got experimental on Sandinista , he sang on the more straight forward pieces: power pop and rock. What we have hear is a collection of those songs on which he sings the lead - "Hitsville U.K.", with his girlfriend, Ellen Foley. It's great stuff. As I listen to this playlist, I realize that some of my favorite  Sandinista   tracks are those wherein Mick took the lead vocals.  Happy Birthday, Mick. The other Mick Jones, from Foreigner, is older. His birthday is in December.

This week saw the passing of Vanilla Fudge bassist and Jeff Beck sideman, Tim Bogert, New York Dolls guitarist, Sylvain Sylvain, and the "Tycoon of Teen" and whack-a-doo, Phil Spector. Until recently, I didn't really appreciate Phil's work. He was the guy who gunked up Let it Be . He was also the one who tried to give the Ramones some radio play with End of the Century . Many fault him for gunking that one up as well, but I like it. It is an outlier of a Ramones album, but it was my introduction to the band.  When my children were little, and wanted to watch High School Musical - AGAIN - I suggested we watch Rock and Roll High School Musical . I turned down the volume and put End of the Century on repeat. The kids went outside to play, and I found at least 17 points of synchronicity....more than the Dark Side of the Rainbow. As far as Phil's "wall of sound", that was the period of the "girl groups" that occupied - along with Motown - the per...

Four shows from the Ramones December 1977 tour of England. The fourth was later released as It's Alive , a 54 minute double album, tearing through most of their first three albums.  The first, in Birmingham, was recorded on December 28th. It's tight. Joey claims he's sick from the Indian food that he had....he tells the audience to stop spitting, or the band is leaving. Quite a show. Barry, Dadrock 101 corporate dogsbody and man about town, remarked that a recently circulated playlist of AOR hits from 1976 reminded him of why he started listening to punk. It also remind us of why the Ramones and their ilk started playing it.

During this week in 1982 the Jam played were playing a five night stand at the Wembley Arena. Paul Weller had announced the band's breakup - at their commercial peak - just over a month earlier. Within a week of the fifth show, they played their farewell gig. The show, from the second night's show, was released with five other shows in the Fire and Skill boxed set. It's a retrospective set, with something from each stage of the band's career, although they seem to have skipped the Modern World lp.  I still prefer their first live album, Dig the New Breed , issued the day before their last gig. It is culled from several shows from 1977 to spring of 1982. It wasn't well received at the time, but I don't understand why. It bests the Wembley show with each track that the two releases share. The sound quality is great, the energy is high.  Maybe it could be faulted for missing some tunes, but I wouldn't know how to make room.

Phoney Beatlemania had bitten the dust...so they said...and yet is the Clash, opening for the Who...and at Shea Stadium no less. Doesn't seem very punk, that. Not that they'd been punk for quite awhile. Recorded on October 13, 1982, as the Who were in the middle of their first last tour, I wasn't expecting much. I was surprised. It is a good album, songs from every stage of their career, played with energy...arguably more than I remember the headliners showing on that tour.

Let's try to define it. It could cover a wide range of styles, but in this case, our focus is guitar-driven power pop from 1975 through 1982 or so. It was, primarily, an American (or North American, as there are some Canadians represented) form. In England, it seemed to bleed over into other genres: bubblegum and glam, punk, pub rock, and new wave. As a sub-genre, it seemed to consist primarily of acts who were, at best, bubbling under. Why? Who knows. There was certainly less deserving music taking up space on the airwaves: coprolites, opera men, yacht rock, down south jukers.... This stuff is made for summer and the road. I road tested these songs on a cross country trek earlier this week. My ears are still ringing...couldn't keep the volume down. While some of these bands were national acts - in part due to early MTV exposure - most seem to have been local or regional.  While I tried to make the list comprehensive, it is biased towards some of those local and region...

We polled the Dadrock 101 editorial board as to why they don't listen to  Sandinista     as much as other Clash albums. "Too long." "I used too...guess it didn't stick." "It sucks." "Bullsh!t, it's great...the Mose Allison tune is a gem." It's not an easy album. How do you follow up on a specially priced,  meisterwerk   double album ? The Clash issued a stopgap compilation of odds and sods and then put out a triple. Why a triple? The story goes that they were peeved at the fact that while they had to fight with their record company to put out London Calling as a double. Did they have six sides of music? Yes, six shortish sides, but then they padded it. Five of the songs are doubled up with dub versions of some sort...one of them a backward tape with effects. Vital and riveting, to be sure. Mickey Dread, a girlfriend (on hiatus from Meatloaf gigs), an old friend, and the keyboard player's kids all contribute some g...

In 1983 Iggy recorded the title song to Repo Man . It's great: dynamic drums, droning guitar, driving bass, dumb lyrics. A Doorsy monologue in the middle about "the desert sand"....points to why he was once considered as Morrison's replacement...probably my favorite Iggy tune.... ....except for something off of the first  Stooges  album. That one sounds like midtempo Ramones- maybe  Subterranean Jungle   - or the Sex Pistols: crunchy and simple. The latter's cover of  " No Fun " - a b-side  - was on the mark. I didn't find the later albums as compelling. I guess  Funhouse   is an acquired taste....like a Nuggets garage band, devolving into noise and stretched out over an album.  Raw Power ,  The Idiot ,  and  Lust for Life  had their moments...but what if Iggy were to connect with a classic punk band? He did...well, kind of. Reading up on Repo Man: Steve Jones from the Pistols played guitar....Harrison and Burke fr...

Acid Eaters... ...what would be their penultimate album. The Ramones, covering mostly garage punk, mostly Nuggets era stuff, with some bigger name bands' cuts thrown in. A few tunes were from before the psychedelic era, but it was all the type of stuff that they covered well. They usually put at least one cover on each album, and they were always tight and spirited, as good as or better than the original. It was disappointing. The songs sounded rushed, uninspired. I started the Acid Eaters playlist by assembling the tunes they had covered on their other albums. After that, I added covers by the Jam and the Clash and carried on from there. To be included, a song had to be a cover by a punk, new wave or - at least at some point - “underground” band. It had to be a cut from a proper album or maybe the b-side of a single. No tunes from tribute albums or projects like the original album , the Band's Moondog Matinee , half of Rundgren's Faithful , or albums like  Throu...

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