In the old days, rock and roll was an alternative to school, the spirit of rebellion and the defiance of convention. That’s all well and good for audience members, but what those trying to make a living in the rock world soon found out was that certain “square” guidelines–write things…
Dyer straits B.B. King and Robert Lockwood were radio pitchmen for Pepticon (a patent medicine) and Mother’s Best Flour respectively, so it’s not without blues precedent for Johnny Dyer to use his talent in commercials. He’s the harp-honker on West Coast TV ads for Budweiser, AT&T, and Nabisco crackers. Born…
Thanatos ‘n’ roll Are You Dead Yet? The Necro Tonz Last Beat Records Any time a band develops a personal style past the jeans ‘n’ T-shirt mainstream that prevails in rock music, they run the risk of being labeled–and dismissed–as a novelty act. While the premise behind the Necro Tonz…
During a recent VH1 documentary on the making of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours, Lindsey Buckingham sat behind the console, fiddling with knobs and dials until he managed to separate out each piece of one particular song. He isolated the vocal tracks, the myriad guitar lines, the bits and pieces of percussion,…
Reputation and fame–how many people will show up for your show, or buy a souvenir–are two sides of the same coin in the world of rock and roll, and proper attention to one can make up for deficiencies in the other. With the possible exception of Some Girls, The Rolling…
Door mats All For Nothing, Nothing For All The Replacements Reprise Records Sometimes I listen to old Replacements records and wonder why I still listen to old Replacements records. Their Twin/Tone albums were loaded with KISS riffs and Beatles rips, novelty songs and poignant ballads, country goofs and punk poses–it’s…
It was standard operating procedure from the ’60s through the ’80s: You made a tape, shopped it to labels, and hoped to get signed. “If it was the old days, that’s what I’d have done; nowadays the ante’s up”, says Shawn Pittman. He’s among a number of artists who have…
The story is so old, so familiar, as to border on the trite: A young man grows up in a poorer neighborhood, where the most affordable entertainment is the sound of his own voice, joined with those of his friends. He studies his heroes, the soul singers he admires, voices…
Through the past Texas Compilation (Mark’s Dream) Various Artists Mind and Eye Records Mark Migliore–who took his own life a little over a year ago–had a profound influence on the local music scene, both individually and through his Rockadelic Records, a vinyl-only label dedicated to sounds that could broadly be…
Electronica meets Judaica The Covenant Wally Brill Island Records The idea of mixing old and new is only slightly less obvious than the peanut butter/chocolate pairing that so revolutionized confectionary science. This is why–musically–so much of that hybrid breed (certain types of new age music, Enigma, and any non-liturgical chanting)…
Billie Joe Armstrong could be forgiven a bit of ego. After all, his band, Green Day, sold more than 9 million copies of its major-label debut, 1994’s Dookie, and almost singlehandedly brought punk rock back above ground. In fact, Spin magazine crowned him “The King of Punk” a few years…
Where you going? Where You Been, the 1993 album from noise-rock pioneers Dinosaur Jr, held the promise of great things to come. “Start Choppin,” “On The Way,” and “Get Me” combined the band’s trademark fuzzed-out guitar skronk with tight arrangements and solid songwriting. Singer-guitarist J Mascis still wielded distortion as…
If at first you don’t succeed… The first time Ray Condo and his Ricochets toured Texas, things didn’t go so well. The gig previous to their appearance in Dallas–in Bryan-College Station–had been less than auspicious. “They can pull in a couple hundred people out here on the coast,” Jeff Richardson…
As downtown Los Angeles fades to a smoggy silhouette in the rear-view mirror, the freeway winds past Olvera Street and toward cities with names such as Hacienda Heights and La Puente, reminders of Los Angeles’ true heritage. Although East Los Angeles merits only three exits off the Pomona Freeway, its…
Forward into the past Golden Section System 7 Hypnotic Records Time Pie Yamo Hypnotic Records “Originality consists in returning to the origin” reads the inner sleeve of System 7’s Golden Section. Its maker should know: Rewind almost a quarter of a century, and you will find System 7’s mastermind Steve…
He’s the man Frank Sinatra called “the only genius in our business.” He’s written some of the greatest pop songs of our era, yet has never really considered himself a writer, saying that he did it merely to put bread on the table. His history is full of diverse, often…
It’s an age-old trade-off that exists in most art forms, but music probably illustrates it better than most: Work at the local level and enjoy the support of people who are familiar with you, who understand your vision and your process, and who have a personal interest in your success…
Aged in the cask Barrel Chested Slobberbone Doolittle Records Slobberbone never quite fit into any of the usual country-rock categories, and there always was a suspicion that the songs of leader Brent Best encompassed a bit too much for that kind of easy treatment. Barrel Chested confirms it, and makes…
Shake your Soul Finger Like sacred relics during the middle ages–wherein St. Agnes had so many sanctified finger- and toe-bones that she must’ve resembled a millipede more than a martyr–bands with long-running names and reputations often have the most tenuous links with their original incarnations. Even revered names like the…
When Keith Richards gets aroused, he gets a wild, distant look in his eye, his voice cracks, and his left leg rises slightly, the way a cat’s hindquarters do when you stroke its butt. It happens when he plays a signature guitar line, like in “Honky Tonk Women”; when he…
Vital preservation That’s What Daddy Wants Wayne Hancock Ark 21 Records In the Spirit of the Sharecroppers Good Medicine Band Captive Audience Records Given the rate at which pop culture chews through things, it’s hard to argue with the concept of preservation, even if it does conjure up images of…
Ordinarily the idea of being privy to a rock legend’s private home recordings is intriguing, but when that legend is Buddy Miles–singer, songwriter, guitarist, drummer, and notably indulgent wild man–a bit of ambivalence can be forgiven. Not that Miles lacks rock credentials–far from it. The man was the vocalist, drummer,…
