Slade - "Run Runaway" (forgotten song)

So here's a guilty pleasure you probably haven't heard in a long time...

Slade was one of the original glam rock bands of the early 70s and while they were big in the UK, they never really became famous in the US. Kiss cites them as big influence, but they are probably best known in the US for being the writer & original artist of two of Quiet Riot's biggest singles: "Cum on Feel the Noize" and "Mama Weer All Crazee Now". Even in 1983 & 1984 I was never terribly fond of either song, though I will say the originals work better than QR's covers since Slade has a sense of humor that QR just can't pull off.

By the time of their 1983 LP "The Amazing Kamikaze Syndrome", they were about 40 years old and veterans of the music scene. The US version of that LP came out in 1984 and was titled "Keep Your Hands Off My Power Supply" and from it the single "Run Runaway" was released. For a short while it received moderate rotation on radio & MTV, probably because of the recent success Quiet Riot had with their songs.

The song itself is fun and shows Slade certainly knew how to write anthems. It also has the rock/folk sound (i.e., guitar + fiddle) of other early- & mid-80s UK bands like Dexys Midnight Runners and Big Country, so it should sound familiar even if you haven't heard it before.

Run Runaway: YouTube 1, YouTube 2 (slightly better audio).

N.B. You might enjoy some of the other songs from the YouTube channel "Back Porch Video". Apparently something of a real-life Wayne's World, it has a surprisingly good selection of alternative 80s songs.

Bonus Links: The Slade originals that Quiet Riot made famous: "Cum on Feel the Noize" & "Mama Weer All Crazee Now" (featuring the finest in 1972 video technology). Maybe I'm just projecting, but I think the difference between the QR & Slade versions is that Slade knows these are silly songs...

The Kinks - "Days" (forgotten song) (the song remains the same)

Although I first heard it as performed by Elvis Costello on the the 1991 soundtrack "Until the End of the World Soundtrack", "Days" was originally a 1968 single from The Kinks (it also appeared on some versions of their 1968 LP "The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society").

Before Costello, Kristy MacColl covered the song in 1989 on her LP "Kite" with an arrangement pretty true to the original. But it's the Elvis Costello version that strips away the modish production of the original and reveals yet another excellent song from Ray Davies.

And while the original single apparently did well in 1968, I don't recall it receiving radio airplay on classic rock radio stations. The Kinks canon is filled with great songs, but here's one that you probably haven't heard before, or maybe haven't heard in a long time.

The Kinks: YouTube 1, YouTube 2.

B-Side Bonus Link: The Kinks - "She's Got Everything".

Kristy MacColl: YouTube 1, YouTube 2.

Elvis Costello: Lala, Grooveshark.

Elvis Costello & Chrissie Hynde: MSN, Metacafe.

The Chemical Brothers - "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" (LP Review)

Although The Chemical Brothers originally began as producers and DJs, it wasn't until 1998 and after two successful studio LPs that they officially released their first DJ mix LP, "Brothers Gonna Work It Out". Ok, technically this mix is based on their 1997 "Radio 1 Anti-Nazi Mix", but that was a limited release on their own label, Freestyle Dust, and "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" was released on the much larger Astralwerks label.

I became a big fan of the Chemicals when singles from their 1997 LP, "Dig Your Own Hole", surprisingly received a fair amount of radio airplay (powered mainly by Noel Gallagher singing on "Setting Sun", although even "Block Rockin' Beats" made the playlist). After getting a copy of the then hard to find debut LP "Exit Planet Dust", I was hooked.

So in 1998 I got this LP as soon as it came out. I'm pretty sure it was the first DJ mix LP I bought, and I have to admit that buying an LP of people mixing other people's music seemed a little odd at first. Since then, I've become quite a fan of the genre and I've lost track of how many I've added to my collection. The expectations for a mix LP is to 1) tell a story and 2) recontextualize both the familiar and unknown in the DJ's own unique style.

"Brothers Gonna Work It Out" succeeds at both. First, all the songs are presented through The Chemical Brother's big beat filter; indeed several of them are either remixes of songs by the Chemicals or other people's remixes of their own songs. There are a few 70's era funk songs (mostly from soundtracks) thrown in the mix for variety, but mostly it comes from their contemporary mid 90's big beat bands. As such, the entire mix very much sounds like a Chemical Brothers LP, and that means it is as subtle as a sledgehammer. Thievery Corporation makes smoother mixes, James Lavelle/Unkle make more experimental mixes, DJ Spooky makes more abstract mixes, and DJ Shadow's mixes are like a textbook, but I'm not sure anyone rawks harder than the Chemicals in their mixes.

The mix also does a good job of taking the listener on the journey. They take their foot off the accelerator for a few short moments ("Gimme Some Love", "Mother Earth", "I Think I'm in Love"), but mostly it slams from one track to another because, well, that's what The Chemical Brothers do. They do a good job of foreshadowing upcoming tracks and referencing motifs from previous songs (e.g., "Mars Needs Women" and "Take That Motherf*ers!").

Here is the track list taken from Wikipedia, with links to the more obscure bands going to discogs.com if they don't have a Wikipedia entry:

• Track 1
  • Willie Hutch - Brothers Gonna Work It Out (1973)
  • The Chemical Brothers with Justin Warfield - Not Another Drugstore (Planet Nine Mix) (1998)
  • The Chemical Brothers - Block Rockin' Beats (The Micronauts Mix) (1997)
  • On the House - This Ain't Chicago (1998)
  • The Jimmy Castor Bunch - It's Just Begun (1972)
  
  
• Track 2
  • Kenny Dope presents Powerhouse 3 - Makin' a Living (1991)
  • Badder Than Evil - Hot Wheels (The Chase) (1973)
  • Unique Three - The Theme (Unique Mix) (1989)
  • Love Corporation - Gimme Some Love (1991)
  
  
• Track 3
  • The Micronauts - The Jazz (1995)
  • The Serotonin Project - Sidewinder (312 vs 216 Stomp Mix) (1995)
  • Carlos "After Dark" Berrios - Doin' It After Dark (D-Ski's Dance)
  • Freestyle - Don't Stop the Rock (1990)
  • Metro L.A. - To a Nation Rockin' (1995)
    
  
  
• Track 4
  • The Chemical Brothers - Morning Lemon (1997)
  • Meat Beat Manifesto - Mars Needs Women (1994)
  • Renegade Soundwave - Thunder (1990)
  • DBX - Losing Control (1994)
  • Dubtribe Sound System - Mother Earth (1994)
  
  
• Track 5
  • Barry De Vorzon and Perry Botkin, Jr. - The Riot (1970)
  • The Ultraviolet Catastrophe - Trip Harder (1992)
  • Manic Street Preachers - Everything Must Go (Chemical Brothers Remix) (1996)
  • Spiritualized - I Think I'm In Love (Chemical Brothers Vocal Remix) (1997)
    

I think tracks 1-3 are the strongest, or at least sample from songs I like better. Track 4 starts off strong with "Mars Needs Women", but "Losing Control" and "Mother Earth" are a bit weak. Track 5 echoes the psychedelic final two tracks on "Dig Your Own Hole", and while it is strong (and points are awarded for integrating Spiritualized into the mix), it doesn't standout as much as the first three tracks.

Standout tracks: Track 1 (YouTube, Grooveshark), Track 2, Track 3. (N.B. the tracks make more sense in the context of the entire LP).

Skip 'em tracks: none.

Final Score: 9/10. There might be some nostalgia for this being my first mix LP, but the bottom line is if you like The Chemical Brothers, you're going to like this LP.

Galaxie 500 - "This Is Our Music" (LP Review)

First post of 2010 and time to complete the Galaxie 500 hat trick...

Released in 1990, "This Is Our Music" was Galaxie 500's third and final studio LP. The name of the LP is a nod to the Ornette Coleman LP of the same name. That alone should tell you that the band is simultaneously 1) clever, 2) ambitious and 3) just a bit pretentious. I mostly like the reference, but sometimes it is seems a bit much for a garage rock band.

The short version: "This Is Our Music" is a very good LP, but pales in comparison to their first two LPs, "Today" and "On Fire". I'm not sure if they were running out of ideas, becoming worn down by touring, or perhaps their initial unassuming -- almost timid -- sound was unsustainable.

The LP represents a continuation of direction that was introduced on their second LP, "On Fire". But some of the ideas don't work. For example, the opening track, "Fourth of July", is a good song, but is lyrically awkward. Prior songs found the poetry and beauty of quotidian events, such as this from "Snowstorm" on "On Fire":

Well I listen to the weatherman
He's changed his tone of voice
And he can see it on the radar
Only seven hours away
Well there's gonna be a snowstorm
When the t.v has gone wild
And they got nothing else to think of
And they're letting me go home

"Fourth of July" tries to be too clever for its own good:

I wrote a poem on a dog biscuit
And your dog refused to look at it
So I got drunk and looked at the Empire State Building
It was no bigger than a nickel
...
I stayed at home on the Fourth of July
And I pulled the shades so I didn't have to see the sky
And I decided to have a Bed In
But I forgot to invite anybody

"Snowstorm" is precious; "Fourth of July" is affected.

Perhaps I'm being too critical... There are no bad songs on this LP, and some are excellent. But more so than the first two LPs some are nondescript, such as "Hearing Voices", "Spook" and "Way Up High".

The excellent songs include bassist Naomi Yang singing the Yoko Ono song "Listen the Snow is Falling", "King of Spain, Pt. 2" and "Melt Away", which is perhaps the best song on the LP. The 1997 Rykodisc reissue includes an outstanding cover of "Here She Comes Now" by the Velvet Underground (originally a B-side to the "Fourth of July" single). Galaxie 500 had always borrowed heavily from the Velvet's aesthetic and this cover just makes it official.

"This Is Our Music" is a strong LP that deserves to be in your collection. And while it would be a remarkable LP by almost any other band, it just doesn't quite live up to the standards set by their first two LPs. Dean Wareham left the band in 1991 after touring and went on to form Luna. Damon Krukowski and Naomi Yang would eventually form Damon and Naomi. Both bands would release decent LPs, but neither band would capture the magic of their original band. For those whose are interested, the site "Head Full of Wishes" expertly covers Galaxie 500 and their various post-1991 bands.

The Galaxie 500 discography would be posthumously extended with a live LP, Peel sessions LP, B-Sides LP, etc. But "This Is Our Music" is an appropriate coda for a band that was criminally undiscovered while they were active.

Standout songs: "Fourth of July", "Listen the Snow is Falling", "King of Spain, Pt. 2", "Melt Away", "Here She Comes Now". (Many of the above are live versions; the studio versions can be found on Grooveshark.)

Skip 'em songs: none.

Final score: 8/10.

Galaxie 500 - "On Fire" (LP Review)

As I said on my review of "Today", Galaxie 500 "sounds like college" to me, even though I did not learn of them until nearly 10 years later. If there is ever a movie made of that time of my life, songs like "Blue Thunder" or "Snowstorm" should serve as the soundtrack.

"On Fire", Galaxie 500's second LP, is considered by many to be their finest LP. As I said before, I might give that nod to "Today" because it was first, but one could certainly make an argument for "On Fire". "On Fire" continues the sound and concepts introduced with "Today", but with some small advancements such as expanding their minimalist arrangements with additional instruments on some of the songs, as well as bassist Naomi Yang singing on "Another Day".

I would say the quality of the songs of "On Fire" is a little more variable: the best songs are better than anything on "Today", but there are a few songs that while not bad, are also not quite as magical as the others. Every song on "Today" is a gem, but even though none of the songs on "On Fire" are bad, they're not all gems either.

However, the first five songs of "On Fire" is without a doubt their best five song sequence (that's "side 1" if you're rocking the vinyl):

1. "Blue Thunder"
2. "Tell Me"
3. "Snowstorm"
4. "Strange"
5. "When Will You Come Home"

Each is a tour de force, but since "When Will You Come Home" is very similar to "Tugboat" (their first single) thematically and structurally, it deserves special attention:

When, when will you come home?
Watching TV all alone
Watching Kojak on my own
Staring at the wall
And waiting for your call
When, when will you come home?

This is clearly by/for the same person as "Tugboat"...

Past side 1, only "Another Day" and the cover of the George Harrison song "Isn't it a Pity" achieve the same level as the first five, the latter being the closing song on the original release. Fortunately the Rykodisc reissue of "On Fire" includes three excellent bonus songs from the 1990 "Blue Thunder" 12": "Victory Garden", "Ceremony" and "Cold Night". "Cold Night" is a Galaxie 500 original, while the other two are covers: "Victory Garden" is a cover of a Red Krayola song and "Ceremony" is a cover of the Joy Division / New Order song which I have already reviewed.

Standout songs: "Blue Thunder", "Tell Me", "Snowstorm", "Strange", "When Will You Come Home", "Another Day", "Isn't it a Pity", "Ceremony", "Cold Night". (Many of the previous links are live versions; find all the studio LP versions on Grooveshark.)

Skip 'em songs: none.

Final score: 10/10. The original 10 song release would have merited a 9/10, but the three excellent bonus songs push it to a 10/10.

Galaxie 500 - "Today" (LP Review)

Prior to discovering The Cribs 3-4 years ago, Galaxie 500 was my favorite lo-fi, garage-rock band. And while the two bands are not directly comparable, Galaxie 500 remains a close second.

Active from 1987-1991 (corresponding exactly with my college years), I did not discover Galaxie 500 until about 1999 or 2000. Despite not knowing about the band while I was in school, their sound so perfectly captures the sound of the era that it invokes nostalgia for the late 80's, even though I learned of them nearly 10 years later.

Formed by Dean Wareham (guitar, vocals), Damon Krukowski (drums), and Naomi Yang (bass, vocals) while all three were at Harvard, the band took their name from the Ford Galaxie owned by one of their friends. The magic of their sound is not virtuoso performances (though they are certainly more than adequate), but through excellent song writing and hazy, dreamy production quality. Similar to but generally softer and quieter than most shoegazing bands, their sound invites the inevitable comparisons to The Velvet Underground. Although on one hand, their sound is very much of their time, on the other hand they sound nothing like the stable of 4AD artists, nor the Athens, GA sound. By default, they become the Cambridge, MA sound. Credit to producer Mark Kramer for generating such a unique sound.

"Today" is the band's first LP, released in 1988 after their "Tugboat" 7" single from earlier that year. While many critics consider their 2nd LP, "On Fire", to be their best, I have to give the nod to "Today" since 1) it establishes their sound and 2) has no false steps -- every song is a gem, even the aptly named "Instrumental". The LP was initially released on the tiny Aurora Records, but was later re-released by Rough Trade, and then ultimately re-released by Rykodisc. Although the original release had only 9 songs, both re-releases have the B-side to the "Tugboat" single, "King of Spain", on them.

"Tugboat" is a fitting song to discuss, since it was their first single and may actually be their most representative, if not best song. The song features sparse, reverberating, haunting sound, with distant, and almost apologetic vocals from Wareham with the lyrics:

I don't wanna stay at your party
I don't wanna talk with your friends
I don't wanna vote for your president
I just wanna be your tugboat captain
It's a place I'd like to be
It's a place I'd like to be
It's a place I'd like to be
It's a place I'd be happy

After repeating the above, the the song closes out with an extended instrumental portion. After admitting "I just wanna be your tugboat captain", there's really nothing left to say. While Galaxie 500 has many, many excellent songs, this has to be their definitive song.

Standout tracks: All. Sure, that's a cop out, but just listen to the entire LP.  If forced to select just a few, I'd settle on: "Tugboat" (studio, live 1989 - from their "'87-'91" DVD), "Flowers" (studio, live -- from their "Peel Sessions" LP, live 1990 from "'87-'91"), "Pictures" , "Parking Lot", "Temperature's Rising".

Skip 'em tracks: none.

Final score: 10/10

The Pretenders - "Stop Your Sobbing" (forgotten song) (the song remains the same)

Sure, this was originally by The Kinks, on their 1964 eponymous debut LP, but they never released it as a single so I'm going to credit it to The Pretenders. The take away lesson here is that Ray Davies is such an incredible song writer that a "filler song" for The Kinks can be a hit single for any other band.

"Stop Your Sobbing" was released as the first single by The Pretenders and was also featured on their 1979 debut LP, Pretenders. Despite doing well for their first single, few people probably remember this song because 1) there was no video for MTV (to the best of my knowledge anyway), and 2) "Brass in Pocket", also from their debut LP, pretty much overshadowed the rest of the band's songs, at least by The Pretenders Mk. I.

That's too bad, because "Stop Your Sobbing" is easily the band's best, or second best song (some days I think "Talk of the Town" deserves that honor). Ray Davies writing, Nick Lowe producing, and Chrissie Hynde singing... well, it is just hard to improve on that. This is one of the few cases where the cover surpasses the original.

The original lineup of the band produced two excellent LPs, and then bassist Pete Farndon and guitarist James Honeyman-Scott died of drug overdoses during a three day span in 1982. The Pretenders recruited new members and found greater commercial success with 1983's "Learning to Crawl", but I never cared as much for this version of the band. Hynde was always the principal song writer, but the sound just wasn't as good.

But none of that matters -- "Stop Your Sobbing" is a brilliant song and a testament to both The Pretenders and The Kinks.

The Pretenders: 1980 on the Kenny Everett Show, 1987 on the David Letterman Show, Live Aid (1985).
2016-04-15 Edit: I just now discovered the "official" video.

The Kinks: "Stop Your Sobbing"

B-Side Bonus Link: "The Wait" (live version from the 1981 LP "Concerts for the People of Kampuchea")

2010-11-15 Edit: A cover by Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson.

Obligatory Hynde/Davies fact: well after this song was recorded, they began a relationship (~81-84) and had a child together. This has no bearing on the song, of course, but I think there is a rule somewhere that states this fact must be repeated when discussing "Stop Your Sobbing".