The Real Outlaw Country

BEYONCE' ~ "JOLENE";



I have no interest in Beyoncé, and don't care about her C&W album but I have been fun to watch for those fragile white dudes offended about a black R&B artist doing country like this has never happened before. Besides the usual professional trolls at FOX like Greg Gutfield who has done multiple segments referring to it as "cultural appropriation" (seriously, stop giving Republicans dictionaries) this week has seen the unasked for return of a washed up eighties Country singer John Schneider who not satisfied with the usual angry washed up white guy bleating has kicked off a boycott. Also not satisfied with boycotting the album itself (which OK, fine, don't buy it) he's inspired his own pitchfork wielding mob to barrage Country radio stations with demands to cancel Beyonce. This sort of hicktovism was successful back in the 2000's in cancelling the Dixie Chicks who had been genuine Country stars. Country radio is incredibly conformist and a bare handful of white guys actually do have the power to ban literally any artist at the drop of a hat, they also buried Faith Hill's pop crossover album in the 2010's. However, whether they could actually be bothered to take the time to ban an album they aren't planning to give much airtime to anyway is another matter.

CHARLEY PRIDE ~ "KISS AN ANGEL THIS MORNING";


As for John Schnieder, while he is being billed in news reports as a "Country singer" he actually owes his (past due) fame to being one of the dudes in the eighties from "Dukes Of Hazzard" who raced around in a car named after Robert E Lee decorated with a Rebel Flag. That show was a huge hit and piggie-backing off of that he made a play at being a Country singer and it's true that he even scored a few hits. However at the time most actual Country artists and critics dismissed him as a pretty-boy poser coasting on his TV fame kind of like a Nashville Frankie Avalon or Fabian. Assuming Frankie Avalon or Fabian were Confederate apologists. And assholes. So the next time the dumber Duke Boy whines that Beyonce, who is an actual singer, hasn't paid her dues he should sit this one out. You may remember that General Lee car that had a horn that blared "Dixie"? That car was literally more musically relevant than John Schneider.

Setting aside the usual silliness it's been fascinating to watch mediocre white dudes gnashing their teeth and rending their garments over the insult of a Black R&B star disrespecting sacred Country music. No less a figure than Dolly Parton herself has proclaimed herself a fan of Beyonce's cover as has Willie Nelson and Carlene Carter, a member of Country royalty as a member of the Carter Family and step-daughter of Johnny Cash. Maybe, just maybe they know more about Country music than John Schneider let alone Greg Gutfield or Steven Crowder. Maybe they also know more about the history of black Blues and R&B artists recording Country music.

People have rightly pointed out that Charley Pride had a long successful career as a Country singer but Pride was always a Country singer from the start and never recorded any Blues or R&B. He probably could have done so but was always concerned about maintaining his hard won credibility with his white Country audience so he never did. But you know what black Blues, Jazz or R&B artists went Country?

RAY CHARLES ~ "I'M MOVING ON";


Ray Charles, The Supremes, Bobby Womack, Louis Armstrong, Andre Williams & rural Blues singer Scott Dunbar did entire albums of Country songs. Ray Charles actually did more than one. Whitney Houston's biggest hit was a Dolly Parton cover (which Dolly loved). The Pointer Sisters had a song ("Fairy Tale"), which actually won a Country Grammy in 1974. Singer/guitarist Chris Thomas King appeared in the film “Oh Brother Where Art Thou” (2001) and played on the Grammy winning soundtrack. Blues singer Pink Anderson had previously recorded "In The Jailhouse Now" (1961) one of the songs on that soundtrack. Hootie & the Blowfish frontman Darius Rucker has had a successful career. Charlie Parker admired Hank Williams songwriting, Chuck Berry admired Country pickers like Merle Travis, Sugarfoot Garland & Arthur Smith. Howlin' Wolf was a big Jimmy Rodgers fan and said his trademark howlin' moan was inspired by Rodger's famous yodel. Louis Armstrong even played on a few Rodgers singles. Singer and pianist Big Al Dowling played on several Wanda Jackson songs (I interviewed her once and she mentioned him with affection), the late Blues singer John Jackson told me he grew up on Jimmy Rodgers & Uncle Dave Macon records ("All us Black folks loved them"), Ice-T once told me he liked Johnny Cash ("He once shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, that's Gangsta"), Cash was also super popular in Jamaica where he had a vacation house. As an odd historical note during Reagan's invasion of Grenada the US Army's psychological warfare unit set up a Radio Free Grenada and showed up with a stack of Reggae, Ska and Calypso records only to be amazed to get calls requesting Johnny Cash songs. In the 1930's Folklorist John Lomax made field recordings in the Bahamas including a string band doing an early version of the classic Murder Ballad "Delia's Gone" that had been recorded by several singers and would later be recorded by Johnny Cash among others.

THE NASSAU STRING BAND ~ "DELIA'S GONE";


Records made in the 1920's and 40's in Africa by such guitarists as the Kumasi Trio (from Nigeria), Jean Kalafayi (Congo), Midian Ncube (Zimbabwe) and John Bhengu (South Africa) showing the influences of American Country and Blues records that had been circulating in Africa since the 20's. Jim Reeves and Slim Whitman were very popular in South Africa, mostly with whites but they were familiar to black listeners as well. Leadbelly recorded cowboy songs including the classic "Old Chisholm Trail" originally recorded by Harry McClintock. The Pointer Sisters once played the Grand Ole Opry and so did James Brown, James Freaking Brown. They weren't even the first as early as the 20’s Black harmonica player DeFord Bailey was a regular at the Opry and toured with Uncle Dave Macon.

THE POINTER SISTERS ~ "FAIRY TALE";


None of this should really come as a surprise. Most of these artists were themselves Southerners raised on radio at a time when there were few if any radio stations catering to black listeners outside of a few cities like New Orleans and Memphis and Country radio was the only game in town. Beyond that, serious musicians and music nerds love hearing new things and are never afraid or offended by music from other cultures even if they don't end up as fans. If you can't handle that then you don't actually like music or art at all. You certainly don't deserve it. So how about you leave it to those who do and you just stay in your lane, banning books.

PINK ANDERSON ~ "IN THE JAILHOUSE NOW";

Upcoming 2024 Shows; Feb.17!

Celebrate or work out your Post Valentines Blues with the Surf & Turf Sounds Of Canada's Oroginal Surf Punks, Mark Malibu & The Wasagas vs Toronto's newest Girl Garage Gang The Kewpie Dolls plus the mysterious Surf Garage sounds of Vox Confidential. At the Dakota 242 Ossington, doors at 10.




MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "ASTROBOT";


MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "PET CEMETERY";


MARK MALIBU & THE WASAGAS ~ "SEVEN YEAR SURF ITCH";



THE KEWPIE DOLLS;

Professor's Kitzell's Time Machine; In Search Of The Weems String Band

The first generation of recording artists of Jazz, Blues, Gospel and Country music recorded during the 1920's are vitally important to the evolution of their modern descendents as well as their more unruly Rock & Roll cousins but at the same time they can seem as far removed and lost in time as the Dead Sea Scrolls. As dusty and cobweb encrusted as a forgotten box of 78's themselves. Part of this is just the sound of the records themselves, some with as much scratch, pop and hiss as the broadcast from the Apollo 11 astronauts. Then there's the way 78's actually feel in your hand, heavy but fragile. Mostly there's the fact that for some of these artists are complete enigmas about whom virtually nothing is known, even some important names. Blind Blake, one of the most important of the early Blues guitarists, is still almost a total mystery.



Blake was one of the most important early Blues guitarists and yet he is ghostly figure with only one known photo and the official bio from Paramount Records claiming he was from Jacksonville, Florida while modern researchers have claiming his accent suggests the Sea Islands off the Atlantic Coasts of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina while another scholar found what appears to be his death certificate claiming his birthplace as Virginia. His reported death around 1934 is a mystery as well with contemporary Rev Gary Davis claiming he had been killed by a streetcar while Big Bill Broonzy reported he had died in the streets of Chicago in a winter snowstorm having had a heart attack brought on by obesity and dying of exposure. The latter seems at odds with the known photograph which shows Blake as not being fat at all and it's more likely Broonzy confused Blind Blake with Blind Lemon Jefferson who reportedly did die in pretty much that fashion in 1929 and who actually was fat. That's where things stood until modern researchers unearthed his death certificate reporting he died rather more prosaically of pneumonia and tuberculosis in Glendale, Wisconsin, not far from Paramount Records, in 1934. Then there's Gospel singer Washington Phllips, who recorded several singles of such a uniquely ethereal quality that to this day scholars fight over what instrument he even played. The only grainy photo of him clearly shows him holding two zithers in a promo pic but for decades most scholars have insisted that actually played the Dolceola, an obscure small keyed instrument. His birth remains unknown but for many years it was reported that he had died in an insane asylum in 1938 until modern research turned up records of him dying in 1954 of injuries after a fall.



If some black Blues and Gospel artists are mysteries, many white Old Time Country artists are equally so. One such obscurity is the Weems String Band, who have fascinated scholars and folklorists even though they only recorded one known single in 1928. That single was a version of the well known tune "Greenback Dollar" backed with a likely improvised original "Davy" which basically sounds like the same song albeit with lyics which might be offensive if we fully could make them out. Not on the surface a promising selection but Old Time fiddle nerds have fixated on the unique playing style of the two fiddle players who used fingering positions normally used by classical violinists backed with a bowed cello suggesting some formal training but combined with a clanging banjo and yelping vocals calling out a repetitive chorus resulting in a sound that sounds both crude and driving yet delicate and restrained. After recording their one recording session they disappeared for years. Meanwhile as the Weems String Band receded into the mists of the Appalachia Mountains for decades their one odd single attracted the attention of devoted fans of Old Time Country and record collectors including the artist R Crumb who used the then only known photo of the band for an illustration on one of his collection of "Pioneers Of Old Time Country Music" trading cards in the 80's. The information then given told little more than the names of four of the members and that they hailed from Perry County, Tennessee, with the band including brothers Dick and Frank Weems on fiddles, brother Jesse on bowed cello and cousin Alvin Conder on banjo and vocals with two unknown younger members on guitar and banjo. And for another twenty years that's where things sat.


R CRUMB ILLUSTRATION

In 2000 brought the news that the photo that was used as the basis for the Crumb illustration with the two younger players on either side who had not actually been on the recording session. When Crumb was informed of this he updated the drawing to remove the two younger players in an illustration published in the "New Yorker" magazine in 2001. The internet age allowed for more amateur sleuthing starting with a posting on the website Banjo Hangout in 2008 asking for info on the band and it turned out there were actual folks from Perry County who dropped in including a claimed descendant who reported that the other two members shown on the card were Atlas "Dodge" Conder and Ray "Doc" Hinson who was Dick Weems' stepson the latter of whom was as of 2008 still alive and so could fill out more missing pieces.

THE WEEMS STRING BAND ~ "GREENBACK DOLLAR";


The version of the Weems Stringband that made their only single was indeed a four piece of the three Weems Brothers and Conder who piled into their Model T Ford and travelled to Memphis to do a recording session for Columbia records in 1927. They had apparently planned on recording a few instrumental fiddle jams which was their prefered genre and common fare in rural county fair hoedowns which could go on for hours. However once they got to the studio the producer turned them away saying they were not interested in instrumentals which did not sell very well and if the band wanted to record (and get paid) they had better come back with some proper songs. Therefore the Weems boys and Conder trudged back to their hotel room and pieced together a version of the basic lyrics to the standard "Greenback Dollar" and another tune, did the session, collected their $100 fee and went home. The fairly structure-free, repetative nature of the two songs suggests these songs could have indeed gone on for several more minutes in a hoedown as do the fragmentary and largly incomprehensible lyics which basically consist of the chorus called out periodically to keep things moving.

The resulting record was released the next year which given how fast record companies worked back then suggests it wasn't exactly a top priority and while it wasn't a hit but seems to have done well enough that Columbia Records made an attempt to lure the Weems boys back for another session. However record keeping in 1928 was fairly lax and Columbia apparently lost track of the band and reportedly thought they were from Arkansas and after a half-hearted attempt to contact them gave up. Given that 1929 brought the stock market crash and the Great Depression which led to a steep decline in the recordings of both Blues and Country artists they probably didn't search too hard.


UPDATED ILLUSTRATION

After that the Weems boys continued on playing locally for many years eventually adding the younger Atlas "Dodge" Conder and Ray "Doc" Hinson to the band. Hinson was not born until 1933 so the existing photo of the band which includes him apparently in his teens must have been taken sometime in the forties over a decade after the recording session. Alvin Conder reportedly played at the Grand Ole Opry in some capacity although there is no record of the Weems String Band playing there so he must have played backing up another singer or band.

The Weems boys got their musical background from their father WT Weems who ran the local general store and post office in the village of Mouse Landing which sounds like the sort of place Frodo Baggins would do his shopping. However besides the store WT was also known as an expert fiddler and he passed that on to his sons which begs the question that has puzzled Old Time Fiddle conisures, namely did he teach the boys their unique classically inspired fiddle style and if so where did he pick it up? That is still a question unanswered and likely to remain so.


ORIGINAL PHOTO

In 2008 Ray Hinson was described as "getting up in years" but still happy to talk about the old days of the Weems band and it's a pity that no researcher bothered to make the trek to Perry County and interview him as he was likely the last surviving member of Old Time Country and Blues musicians immortalized by R Crumb and a last link with the early days of C&W music. The only partial updating of the record was a 2013 short video doc made by the Arts Center Of Cannon County which also includes some info on patriarch WT Weems and a few more photos. (although be aware that some of the photos used appear to be random and may not have any actual connection with the Weems Band, the video doesn't specify)

"THE WEEMS STRING BAND" (2013 doc);


Speaking of amateur sleuthing on a whim I decided to do some of my own and discovered the graves of some of the Weems band along with a few other details. In fact the Weems clan were locally prominent enough to have their own cemetery which I found a record of here; https://www.tngenweb.org/records/perry/cemeteries/weems
And another here; http://files.usgwarchives.net/tn/perry/cemeteries/weemscem47gcm.txt

Weems Cemetery is on State Highway Spring Creek area of Perry County being described as well maintained and having over sixty headstones along with possibly several dozen unmarked graves. The gravestones date back as far as the 1890's although there are a couple from the 1860's and the graveyard was still being used sporadically as of 2001. The Weems name shows up twenty seven times and includes bandleader Dick Weems who is shown as having been born in 1888 making him 40 at the time of the recording and dying in 1965 aged 77. There is a Frankie Weems having died in 1933 with no birth date given however as we now know that famous photo which must have been taken in the late forties at the earliest as it includes Ray Hinson who was born in 1933 then this can not be the Frankie we are looking for. However some more searching led to another graveyard at the Howard Methodist United Church north of HWY 412 at the mouth of Cypress Creek. This site can be seen here; https://www.tngenweb.org/records/perry/cemeteries/howard.htm

THE WEEMS STRING BAND ~ "DAVY";


This cemetery is smaller, having about eighty marked graves and an unknown number of unmarked graves. It is not as well tended. Among the marked graves are three more Weems headstones including another Frankie Weems listed as being born on September 20 1879 and dying September 10 1967 which certainly fits with our timeline. Neither cemetery has any stones for Jesse Weems or Alvin Conder so they must have been buried somewhere else unless they are among the unmarked graves mentioned here. We can probably safely assume they're not still around. While Alvin isn't here the Conders (who were referred to as cousins to the Weems) are well represented with seven graves although all but one of these predate the twenties suggesting they moved away at some point. Ray Hinson's mother Virginia is also here, born in 1907 and dying in 1976. The Howard Church does not have any Conder or Hinson graves listed. However remembering that that one of the younger band members who joined later was named Atlas Conder there is a Joseph Atlas Beasley listed (1902-1917) and as Atlas is not exactly a common name and many of these people were clearly related (there are another fourteen Beasleys listed here while back at the Weems cemetery there is another grave which includes three names) he could be yet another cousin who the younger Atlas was named after. Atlas himself became a successful car dealer running the local Dodge dealership which is presumably where he got his name. Back at the Perry Cemetery we do also have a grave for patriarch WT Weems who was born on October 18 1849 and died February 20 1917 aged 68, unfortunately several years too soon to have been recorded himself so whatever fiddle secrets he had he took to the grave.  


WEEMS CEMETERY

As for Ray Hinson I quickly discovered he only died in 2021 aged 88 still living in Perry County. His obit mentions that the Weems String Band kept going at least into the fifties although not as a recording act. After retiring from the music business he ran a housing construction company until he retired in the 1990's, he was also heavily involved in the civic society of Perry County being elected to the school board and church committees for which he also sing in their choir until just before his death. He was described as a great story teller which makes it a shame that nobody thought to interview him as possibly the last surviving link with the pre WW2 era of Old Time Country and rural music as well asthe last suviving subject of R Crumb's iconic trading card collection.


RAY "DOC" HINSON

Make CIUT Great Again!

Yes it's CIUT's Fall Membership Funding Drive again. You know; that time of year when we go to you our faithful listeners to ask for your support for another year. I know it's been a hard few years but CIUT was on the air the whole time with your quarentine radio needs and we even won the runner-up spot in Now Magazine's 2021 Best Radio Station poll. So thanks! But still need to pay our bills. Remember all the money we raise all goes right back into the station, and there's always something that needs fixing or replacing. So it's back to work.

CIUT 89.5fm is Toronto's listener supported community radio station. We have a unique blend of music, news, talk and arts programming not to be found any where else on the dial. All brought by volunteers with very few paid ads for more rock less talk.

THE BB GUNS LIVE ON CIUT;


My show;"Moondog's Ballroom" Tuesdays at 5pm brings the Punk, Rockabilly,Surf, Garage, Psyche, Blues, Honky Tonk, Swing, Gospel, Ska and various combinations thereof from the 1940's, 50's, 60's to today. Including some stuff rarely if ever played on the radio. I've also done live sessions with The Vibrators, Robyn Hitchcock, BB Guns, Split Lip Rayfield, CATL, Speaking Tongues, Fruitbats, Bela Clava, Three Blue Teardrops, Blue Demons, Maximum RnR, B-17, Christian & the Hangovers, Luau Or Die and more for unique recordings, with more planned for the future.

That's where you, our faithful listeners come in.

Just cuz CIUT has very few paid ads doesn't mean we have no costs. We have to pay for the equipment, a small paid staff and our transmitter, and we are hoping to buy a new one to improve our signal. But we need you to become members of CIUT and show your support.



Here's the drill;
1. Listen in to "Moondog's Ballroom" Tuesday Nov 14 from 5-5pm
2. Phone in to 416-946-7800 or more likely go online to our secure server at www.ciut.fm.
3. Make a pledge of $89.50 or more to my show and become a member of CIUT
4. Become one of the Cool Kids!

It's Just That Easy!

B-17 LIVE ON CIUT;


And as an added incentive all those who become members at $89.50 level make a pledge and become a member are added to our grand prize draw which this year includes;
For a pledge of $89.50 You, Yes You can Be DJ For A Day & Host Your Show On CIUT! For one hour you choose the music, we bring the 15,000 honking watts of power. You have a band and want to come down? Cool! Make a pledge, become a member and let's do this!

We also have exclusive CIUT merch including shirts, tote bags, hats and for a limited time only, CIUT Covid masks.

If you can't tune in for Tuesday Nov 14 no worries, you can always go to our website at www.ciut.fm and sign up online, or contact me.



So this Tuesday Nov 14 at 5pm; Tune in, Listen in, Phone in and Join up.

Besides our onair broadcast you can still hear us @;
online at www.ciut.fm
iTunes Radio
TuneIn Radio Phone App
Rogers Digital Cable - Channel 946
Bell Fibe - Channel 970
Star Choice Satellite Channel - Channel 826

THE UNBELIEVERS ON CIUT:




THE SUICIDE DATES AT CIUT;

Thanks Again as always!

Cabaret Voltaire Vs Taylor Swift

Of all the possible artists Taylor Swift could have collaborated with Cabaret Voltaire would not have been on the list but this month the team up nobody asked for finally happened. Sort of, as in the UK Swift fans who purchased the vinyl copy of the Swift single "Speak Now" were puzzled and for some appalled to find that due to a mix-up (obscure Cabaret Voltaire référence!) the track was actually a version of the Cab's single "Yashar" dating back to 1983.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "YASHAR";


UK paper "The Guardian" describes Cabaret Voltaire as "an obscure electronic band" which does not do them justice. formed in the late 70's inn Sheffield, England the Cabs were one of the founders of the first wave of Industrial Music as well as being the genre's most successful and longest lasting icons. Along with Throbbing Gristle the Cabs not only gave the genre not only a name but also a sound (dark, atmospheric, electronic drones with plenty of white noise) and a esthetic (drab, grey, thrift shop, anti-fashion and generic graphics) but even an ideological theory consisting of various threads of Anarchy, art movements Dada, Futurism, Situationism, Constructionism, Pop Art, musical movements Punk Rock, Free Jazz, Avant Garde Classical and thinkers Marshall McLuhan, John Cage, Antoine Artuad, William Buroughs and Alistair Crowley and bands the early Velvet Underground and Roxy Music, Frank Zappa, Tangerine Dream, Kraftwerk, John Coltrane, Ornette Coleman, Albert Ayler, Syd Barrett, Karlheinz Stockhausen and various Kraut Rock bands.  

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "EMPTY WALLS";


Since the 90's what is now known as Industrial Music is basically Metal dance music but the original wave of Industrial bands as laid down by bands like Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, Clock DVA, SPK, Severed Heads, Test Department, Einsturzende Neubauten the more obscure Robert Rental, Jass, Graph and even the early versions of the Human League, OMD and ABC were definitely not danceable and at times barely listenable to most people, and by design. The original Industrial Music bands were hardly bands at all in the traditional sense. Few of them could play any musical instruments, at least not very well. Instead they experimented with cheap analog keyboards, tape collage sound effects, disembodied voices mixed with occasional actual guitar, bass, drums and sax, buried under piles and piles of feedback, white noise and distortion. As Dick Clark would no doubt say (while plugging his ears and running from the room); "It's got no beat and you can't dance to it". After a few years of wild experimentation most of the survivors drifted into Techno Pop (Human League, OMD, ABC) or dance and trance music (Clock DVA, Severed Heads, SPK and the Throbbing Gristle offshoots Psychic TV and Chris & Cosey) with Cabaret Voltaire falling into the latter camp by the late 80's.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "SHAFT";


Before that however they made the best records of the genre. Formed by Stephen Mallinder, Richard Kirk and Chris Watson, their discography falls into different phases with the first era from about 1975 to 1980 including several singles and the first two albums featuring anti-classics "Nag Nag Nag", and "Mussolini Headkick" which codified the cacophonous wall of noise of the first wave. The second era ran through most of the 80's and focused on dense, atmospheric sound collages which eventually led to some obscure dance club hits including "Yashar" and by the end of the decade resulting in a few straightforward dance club albums which were only moderately successful. In the early 90's they broke up but they reformed a few years later recording a couple of brilliantly intricate albums of electronics and sampling as well as remixing several of their early songs. Founding member Richard Kirk died in 2021.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "MUSSOLINI HEADKICK";


Cabaret Voltaire is one of those bands I can actually remember discovering. Growing up in the pre-internet 80's it was still possible to stumble on to music you had never heard before and knew nothing about. Sometime around 1985 or 86 I found a secondhand obscure British compilation from 1979 which featured some straightforward Punk bands like the UK Subs, a Sex Pistols offshoot and Irish band the Outcasts, in fact that's why I bought it in the first place. But side two featured early Industrial bands Thomas Leer, Robert Rental and Throbbing Gristle ("United", one of their Techno Pop songs). And then there was the last track, Cabaret Voltaire's "Mussolini Headkick", one of their early singles full of white noise, grinding machinery and disembodied voices. I had never heard anything quite like it and at the time my reaction was pretty much; "What even is this and how is this even a song"? But after a couple of listens I found it oddly fascinating and eventually fell in love with them especially when I heard the Wall Of Noise anti-classic "Nag Nag Nag" which was a better Jesus & Mary Chain (who I was also already a fan of) than actual Jesus & Mary Chain.  

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "NAG NAG NAG";


The song Swifties found themselves subjected to was "Yashar" from their mid period rather than from their early abrasive cacophony but the reaction was mostly horror with terms like "weird", "creepy" and "cursed" but a few of them at least have come to enjoy the tracks calling it "definitely a vibe" so maybe a few of them will discover some new audio worlds. Surviving Cabs member Stephen Mallinder pronounced himself amused by the whole affair.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "NO ESCAPE";


This is actually not the first time Taylor Swift has had a close encounter of the Industrial kind. A few years ago due to some other technical mix-up (obscure reference call back!) as a few years ago a Taylor Swift track was uploaded onto Spotify which when downloaded turned out to be a couple minutes of white noise. Being a Taylor Swift track it still managed to briefly rocketed to the top of the charts. At the time I recall posting that somewhere in a darkened, cobweb encrusted warehouse Cabaret Voltaire, Throbbing Gristle, SPK and the ghosts of Lou Reed and John Cage are sitting around saying "What the fuck"?

CABARET VOLTAIRE VS QUEEN ~  "WE WILL NAG YOU";


Besides music the Cabs were also pioneers of making videos using Dada techniques of collages and cut-ups of found footage and I've long been using Cabaret Voltaire tracks for my video mashups. Including this one which takes a remix of "Nag Nag Nag" and a short art film by Canadian filmmaker David Rimmer (who also died this year) which gives a good idea of the sonic chaos of early the Cabs.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "NAG NAG NAG" (remix);


Another I'm quite fond of was one I did for a remix of another early track using another Dada film.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "IF THE SHADOWS COULD MARCH";


To close out here's another one for which I took the original version of the above song and remixed it myself by slowing it down and mixing it with some found silent film footage.

CABARET VOLTAIRE  ~  "IF THE SHADOWS COULD MARCH" (slowed down remix);


For any Swifties still reading (Hi BTW) here's a remix of "Yashar" the Cabs themselves did at the end of the 80's when they were becoming more of a dance band which you should find less annoying. Enjoy.

CABARET VOLTAIRE ~ "YASHAR" (REMIX);

Flashback Fridays; My List Of Top 33 1/3 Albums Of 2008

This popped up my feed recently as something I wrote back in 2009 when I was still sorta doing album reviews. I didn't actually have a blog page back in January 2009 but I posted it to my Facebook blog (anybody remember Facebook blogs? No? Me neither) and I still think it holds up as a breezy piece of writing. One thing though; I can usually remember everything I ever wrote but honestly a few of these bands I don't recall at all. Side note does anybody remember albums? No? Me neither. Anyhoo join me as we travel back in time to the dying embers of the Bush Era shall we;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My opinionated list of The Top 33 1/3 albums of 2008;

1. Andre Williams & The Hound Dogs ~ Can You Deal With It? ~ Bloodshot
After his odd country experiments with the Sadies the seventy something Detroit soul man (he co-wrote "Shake A Tail Feather") returns to the Garage Blues that has become his latter day trademark. This time out he has his hottest back up band yet with wailing fuzz guitar, tight rhythm section and a horn section to boot. Oh yeah; and it also has his best country song yet with "Pray For Your Daughter".

ANDRE WILLIAMS & THE HOUND DOGS ~ "PRAY FOR YOUR DAUGHTER";


2. The HorrorPops ~ Kiss Kiss Kill Kill ~ Hellcat
Serious psychobilly purists may pretend to despise them but they know how to make good catchy songs which is exactly why cd's were invented in the first place, unless I've completely misunderstood this whole rock n' roll thing, which is always a possibilty

THE HORRORPOPS ~ "MISS TAKE";


3. The Knifings ~ Superb Limb Of Such Magnificence ~ s/r
For their sophomere effort they continue to toss out their eccentric combination of Art Punk, Math Core, Cow Punk, College Rock, Glam Metal and what ever else they're listening to this week. So what's next? Ska/Metal? Bluegrass/Thrash? Prog/Grunge? I just hope it's not hip hop. Seriously guys, don't do that. I mean it.

4. Creepshow ~ Run For Your Life ~ Stomp
Few bands are able to replace their singer and carry on successfully, let's see, there's AC/DC and ...ummm...not Van Halen. Anyhoo Toronto's Psychobilly crew replaces Jen Hellcat with her (almost) twin sister Sarah Sin and misses nary a beat on their sophomore release. As was the case last time it's a little short so either they are rationing their material or they're not that prolific. We shall see.

CREEPSHOW ~ "RUN FOR YOUR LIFE";


5. The John Henrys ~ Sweet As The Corn ~ Ottawa always seems to have a couple of good country-rock bands hanging around, The John Henrys, besides having a cool name, have the most authentic Burrito Brotherish sound yet. Great songs too.

THE JOHN HENRYS ~ "SWEET AS THE CORN";


6. Gruesomes ~ Grusomemania ~ Riccochet
A rerelease of the Montreal garage teen kings 1987 sophomore (in every sense or the word) album in time to remind us what a solid garage band they were, and how fast they learned their chops. Less fuzz drenched than the first album and an ever so slightly less campy slice of garage trash, it still kicks the ass of all the various Estrus or Jon Spencer spawn that has passed for garage over the past decade.

THE GRUESOMES ~ "HEY!";


7. Gaslight Anthem ~ The 59 Sound ~ Side One Dummy
New Jersey's vaguely rootsy blue collar pop-punks who aren't The Bouncing Souls split the difference between Social Distortion and Bruce Springsteen. It could use a little more aggro, or at least bombast, (see The Roman Line below) but it's probably closer to Middle America (and Canada) than the Anglo-Centric Souls.

THE GASLIGHT ANTHEM ~ "THE 69 SOUND";


8. The Primordials ~ 14 Prime Numbers ~ s/r
A note perfect homage to sixties Brit-beat no frills garage, mostly made up of hopelessly obscure covers, in a perfect case of "we have better record collections than you" nerdly one upsmanship.

9.The Summerlad ~ City of Noise ~ Saved By Radio ~
Speaking of sprawling excess an Alberta psych-prog trio put out an album with only two tracks, one of which is forty minutes long, fully twice as long as "Inna-gadda-da-vida". Makes the Greatful Dead seem like D.R.I., sort of.

THE SUMMERLAD ~ "CITY OF NOISE";


10. Various Artists ~ Life is Hard, West African Music in Britain ~ Honest Jon's
An intresting collection of fiendishly rare recordings made by the community of East African immigrants in Britain in the 1920's for export back to Africa. Since these were done for a small audience of Africans rather than to entertain whites the recordings make no attempt to pander or "Tom" and the songs are in various West African tongues rather than English. As this is the same region of Africa that most American and Caribbean slaves originally came from it's a unique opportunity to hear where the blues truly came from, and how they must have changed once they got here not to mention how these latter African musicians were in turn influenced by the Blues and Country records they heard. It's textbook cultural exchange. Excellent job of remastering as well, they sound brand new, unlike the scratchy field recordings of Lomax and the like. This English label has also put a similar comp from Iraq and probably more for all I know.

JACOB SAM & THE KUMASI TRIO ~ "PALM WINE MUSIC";


11. Various Artists ~ The Great Lakes Surf Battle ~ s/r
A comp of Toronto's oddly vibrant surf scene featuring highlights from The Blue Demons, The Robots, Vo Drats and the Calrizians along with Dr Mysterion and the Wolfman and Montreal's Trebelmakers. The Calrizians mash-up of Black Sabbath and Blondie is a brilliant coup even if some writer (I think it was Chuck Eddy) thought of it first.

THE BLUE DEMONS ~ "CASBAH";


12. Elliott Brood ~ Mountain Meadows ~ Six Shooter
Their second full lengther continues their odd genre of Goth-Grass. I'm not sure what it all means but it's plenty atmospheric.

ELIOTT BROOD ~ "THE VALLEY TOWN";


13. No No Zero ~ Rough Stuff ~ Folk Brand
Ex members of the Exploders continue their odd genre of sleaze-core. I'm pretty sure what it means and it's plenty noisy.

14. Drunkulla ~ All New Moves ~ s/r
Toronto's answer to The Hellacopters (with two ex Sinisters, one ex Illuminatti and one ex Flamejob) offer up more ridiculously excessive trash n' roll sleaze garage on their second album. Chock full o' flying guitars and windmill drums, the songwriting has also improved (songs are longer than 90 seconds) since the debut, so has the production.

15. The Fleshtones ~ Take A Good Look ~ Yep Roc
I don't know how many albums they've done by now because some of them frankly sucked; but when they're on point their trademarked (literally) "Super Rock" shames those half their age (literally), like say the Hives, Vines, Jet etc. Oh, and they also put out a pretty cool xmas album this year.

16. Bravo Johnson ~ The Crooked & The Straight ~ Stone Junction
An Americana Country/Folk rock group from California make a bid for serious cred with a sprawling double album, just like the Band or Dylan...sigh. Any comparisons to the Band, Byrds, Burritos, Buffalo Springfield, and especially Tom Petty are entirely intentional and the whole thing's exessive length pretty much means that at least some of it has to be waste but you have to admire their ambition.

BRAVO JOHNSON ~ "ACE IN THE HOLE";


17. The Pack A.D. ~ Funeral Mixtape ~ Mint
Some folks do the two man band thing because they saw the White Stripes do it, some do it because it's just easier and cheaper and some do it because they really know what to with it. The Pack are the latter, their Joplinsque blues drenched roar is tougher and more authentic than the Stripes, to say nothing of Jon Spencer. In fact lets say nothing more of him.

THE PACK AD ~ "MAKING GESTURES";


18. The Roman Line ~ Between The Stirrup & The Ground ~ indie
They get the obvious comparisons to Social Distortion with their itchy throated vaguely rootsy So-Cal punk. It's not paticularly original but it is well done and considering that most others insist on copying Blink 182 or worse I'm not going to look a gift horse in the mouth. And they manage to write a couple of anthem-like numbers that I can picture an audience of drunken punters bellowing along to.

19. Hollywood Fats & The Paladins ~ Live 1985 ~ Topcat
The California bluesman played with everyone from the eighties revival including the Paladins, Blasters, Kid Ramos and The T Birds and he no doubt would have been a star if he had lived. As it is we have only a few rare recordings and the occasional unreleased obscurity like this one to show his chops. The Blues are in sore need of another hot guitar man right about now.

HOLLYWOOD FATS & THE PALLADINS ~ "LET'S HAVE A PARTY";


20. Blue Rodeo ~ Blue Road ~ WEA
They've put out so many albums that we kinda forget they're there, but this live quickie gives them a chance to get all stipped-down and back to bascis enough to remind us that they were Alt-Country before it had a name, and they can still deliver the goods. It is a little short though, the Sadies have already managed to put out a double live, so they fleshed it out with a full DVD.

BLUE RODEO ~ "TO LOVE SOMEBODY";


21. Fuad & the Feztones ~ Beeramid ~ Riccochet
Ex Gruesomes Bobby Beaton and John Davis take time out from their creative loafing to put out their tribute to the frat-rock garage that pimply and pale white boys got drunk to in the early sixties before the bluesier trash garage of the mid sixties which the Gruesomes themselves would later riff on. If they keep this up they could either go forward and start a prog rock band or go back further and start jitterbugging or something, actually John Davis was in the Crazy Rhythm Daddies so he already did that, or was that the Charleston?

22. The Screamagers ~ The Screamagers ~ s/r
All their lo-fi minamilist trash garage tidbits are less than two minutes long, and are either about monsters, zombies, martians or spiders. And the singer sounds like Glen Danzig's younger brother. I'm not sure why this is so catchy but it just is. This is the sort of thing you would have found on one of those "It came from Canada" comps on OG records in the 1980's. It's a Canadian thing, you wouldn't understand, I'm not sure I do either.

THE SCREAMAGERS ~ "DAY OF THE CENTIPEDES";


23. The Weirdies ~ In 3D ~ s/r
Formed out of various moving parts left over from the Tijuana Bibles and the Threat, they sound more like the former than the latter. As for the original touch, the new girl singer sounds disturbingly like Betty Rubble. A acquired taste that I'm not sure how many others will acquire but strangely catchy I thought.

THE WEIRDIES ~ "PARTY OVER HERE";


24. Oscar B ~ La Morte Aux Trousses ~ s/r
To everything there is a season Turn Turn Turn; Montreal loses one great psychobilly band, The Alley Dukes and gains a new one, out the ashes of the Alley Dukes' last lineup no less. Most of their songs are in French which I don't speak so I'm not sure what the title means, something about dead pants...no that can't be right..oh well what the hell, I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter.

25. The Stolen Minks ~ High Kicks ~ New Romance
Halifax first full length (more or less) slapdash girly garage combo are ever so slightly less slapdash and girly at times sounding rather like Boss Hog. Lest we forget this is exactly how Neko Case started out, not to mention Boss Hog.

THE STOLEN MINKS ~ "CONSECUTIVES";


26. The Speaking Tongues ~ Wild Sounds ~ indie
Yeah I know another crash boom bang bluesy two piece Toronto band, maybe it has something to do with the impossibilty of finding parking down town for a van. Anyway you have to admit the formula still rocks. Highlights include a harmonica hodown, yippie-ky-ay!

THE SPEAKING TONGUES ~ "HELL DOWN BELOW ME";


27. I'm Not Jim ~ You Are All My People ~ Bloodshot
A side project from Silos frontman Walter Salas-Humara (Or is it a side project? Silos bassist Drew Glakin died this year) collaborating with a novelist I 've never heard of and Jon Spencer's producer for some artsy Americana. It's pretty wordy (natch, with a novelist aboard) and gimmicky (Jon Spencer's producer ditto) but it has it's interesting moments. It's worth noting this is not the first time the Silos have gone experimenting, they once did an album with Tortoise I believe.

28. The Wilders ~ The Wilders ~ Free Dirt
Their take on the whole Alt Country thang is less twang and more hoedown, less honky tonk more old timey. The only cover here is of a Skillet Lickers number, and if you don't know who they were then you might not be a redneck. They still put in enough country rock for the younguns' though.

THE WILDERS ~ "HEY LITTLE DARLIN";


29. The Warped 45's ~ The Warped 45's ~ s/r
Debut from Toronto country rock outfit borrows shamelessly from Uncle Tupelo, Golden Smog, Rank & File and Wilco to good effect.

THE WARPED 45'S ~ "RADIO SKY";


30. The Bicycles ~ Oh No It's Love ~ Fuzzy Logic
Not everything in the sixties was all surf, garage, psyche, folk rock, country rock and blooze jams you know. Some pasty kids just liked to make catchy non threatening pop songs, some still do.

THE BICYCLES ~ "OH NO IT'S LOVE";


31. Sarah Blackwood ~ Way Back Home ~ Stomp
Solo debut from the new Creepshow singer reveals that in her heart of hearts she'd rather be Emmy Lou Harris. With tattoos. Remember that cool ballad that Creepshow did on the first one? Like that.

SARAH BLACKWOOD ~ "LONELY PARADE";


32. The Brutal Knights ~ Living By Yourself ~ Deranged
If you're going to recreate 1980's hardcore this is how you do it, short songs with maybe one and a half chords apiece, way too much treble on the guitar, spastic drumming and even more spastic shouting about being a drunken sleaze bag. Then repeat.

THE BRUTAL KNIGHTS;


33. Like a Martyr ~ The North ~ s/r
So what if you haven't bought a new cd since Pearl Jam went into seclusion or wherever, that doesn't mean you should be totally banned from the air waves does it? No? Oh well, I heard this after sitting through yet another collection of cds from that cookie cutter Emo/Screamo/Pop-Punk crap that passes for non-metal or hardcore hard rock these days and thinking that it was pretty cool that these guys from B.C. obviously have no clue how anachronistic they are and don't care.

1/3. Gowiiee ~ The Door ~ Sweetreleaf
Normally the mere thought of a "rock opera" about deforestation in B.C., which is also a fundraiser for said no doubt worthy cause would be enough to make me want to run out and buy a rusty chainsaw, and I actually care about such things, really I do. However; good intentions do not necessarily make for good art, I hope the class is taking notes. Fortunately this Australian dude's tastes run to Led Zep and Free Bird rather than Ani DiFranco and the Dixie Chix so this is actually pretty cool. And it is a good cause for which he's apparently raised a bucket of cash, so there.

Honorable mention: NQ Arbuckle, Baskery, Bellevue, Black Lungs, Micheal Brennon, Christian D & the Hangovers, Galatus, The Get Rights, Gunsmoke, Merle Haggard, The Heavy, The High Dials, Japandroids, Waylon Jennings, The Micronite Filters, My Morning Jacket, Owl Farm, Wyckam Porteous, The Psychs, Micheal Rault, Mr. Rick & Biscuits, Mavis Staples, The Streetdogs, Surefire Machine, Telepathic Butterflys, Teenage Head w/ Marky Ramone, Luther Wright & the Wrongs

Box sets;
1. Johnny Cash ~ At Folsom Prison ~ Sony
2. Hank Williams ~ Rare and unreleased ~ Time Life
3. Various Artists ~ Steelin' it, The Steel Guitar Story ~ Proper
4. Various Artists ~ Rockin' Memphis ~ Proper
5. White Zombie ~ Let Sleeping Corpses Lie ~ Geffen

DVD's;
1.American Hardcore
2.Jandek on Corwell
3.Gram Parsons; Fallen Angel
4.The Last Pogo (reissue)

TEENAGE HEAD FROM "THE LAST POGO";


Dishonorable mention;
Guns & Roses ~ Chinese Democracy ~
After taking at least as long to finish as the Great Wall of China itself (with marginally fewer casualties) Axl finally releases a full album. It doesn't actually suck but it doesn't rock either, slick and ponderous and less fun than cock rock has any right to be. This year their old rivals Motley Crue also put out yet another of their seemingly endless series of comeback albums that was at least cheerfully aware of their anachronistic stupidity, hell they shamlessly revel in it and therein lies the differance. Axl (and Metallica, and Megadeth) always took themselves way too seriously as brooding artistes while the Crue are perfectly happy to be lunkheaded Peter Pans. Who knew that the Crue, (or at least Nikki) would turn out to be the smarter of the two. So it kinda does suck after all.

GUNS & ROSES ~ "CHINESE DEMOCRACY";

Two Post Punk Guitar Pioneers Die

This November saw the death of two guitarists who would help set the stage for the next stage of Punk after the UK Punk explosion of 1976-77 known as Post Punk in the persons of Keith Levene of the original line up of Public Image Ltd and Wilko Johnson of Dr Feelgood.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ~ "PUBLIC IMAGE";


The very name Post Punk is a bit of a misnomer as it obviously implies that it followed Punk but in fact it grew up at almost exactly the same time and by the time of that Post Punk was considered as officially kicking things off with their first single "Public Image" in 1978 several of the most important Post Punk bands had already been in the studio or would shortly do so including Siouxsie & The Banshees (with guitarist John McKay), Magazine (with John McGeogh, future guitarist for the Banshees and PIL), Joy Division, Wire, Ultravox, The Fall, The Cure, The Soft Boys, The Slits, Simple Minds, Japan and shorter lived and now largely forgotten but then important bands Subway Sect, Alternative Television and the Desperate Bicycles. By 1979 we could add in Bauhaus, Gang Of Four, Killing Joke, the Psychedelic Furs, Clock DVA, The Pop Group, A Certain Ratio, The Au Pairs, Delta 5 and early U2 among others. While Post Punk was largely a British (and more specifically English) movement there were some American bands who should be included as well both for their sound as well as general presentation and attitudes some of whom actually predate some of the above bands notably Pere Ubu, Television, Talking Heads (on their first two albums), the Motels (ditto) and possibly Devo and the hard to classify Suicide. Similarly Canada had a few more obscure but influential entries with Simply Saucer, The Scenics, Cardboard Brains, the early version of Martha & the Muffins and possibly FM, all from Toronto aside from Simply Saucer from neighbouring Hamilton.

PIL ~ "THE FLOWERS OF ROMANCE":


The difference between Punk and Post Punk then was not strictly chronological but musical as well as having a different (if related) attitude and aesthetic. Musically Punk took aggressive rejected the bloated monster Hard Rock had become in the hands of lumbering Blooze Busters like Led Zeppelin and Cream, Metal dinosaurs like Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep, Prog Rock leviathans like Emerson Lake & Palmer and Southern Rock Boogie bands like Lynyrd Skynyrd, all of which relied on extended solos, long songs, shrill banshee or bellowed vocals, sluggish tempos and murky, downtuned sounds. Instead they took their inspiration from 60's Garage and Proto punk bands found on the hugely influential "Nuggets" and "Pebbles" collections with the likes of the Count Five, the Sonics, Chocolate Watchband, Shadows Of Knight, Standells and Seeds as well as later bands like the Stooges and MC5 along with more contemporary bands the New York Dolls, Flamin Groovies, Thin Lizzy and Ramones. Being British they also added influences from Glam and Glitter bands T Rex, The Sweet and Ziggy Stardust era Bowie. What they had in common was a belief in stripping the music down to its basics, three or four chords played fast with short solos, lyrics spat or sneered out between clenched teeth and boundless energy if not rage. Instead of the crushing steamroller of Metal or Blooze & Boogie bands with their heavily distorted and bass heavy fuzz sound and booming drums Punk guitars went for a buzzing high treble chainsaw guitar sound and staccato drums.

PIL ~ "DEATH DISCO";


Post Punk bands however were different. While many took their inspiration from the thrashing guitars of Punk and some even started out that way they quickly discarded it for a more brittle, choppy approach with a cleaner sound and plenty of space between the instruments. The bass became a more important feature with more prominent and catchy bass lines influenced by Funk and Dub. While most Punk bands had rejected Art Rock as snobbish and pretentious, Post Punk was happy to embrace some of the more underground Art Rock bands like the Velvet Underground, Pere Ubu and Can.

Punk rock was about energy, immediacy and emotional intensity and honesty while Post Punk was obscure, coolly detached, intellectual and moody. In its aesthetics Punk was similarly direct and in-your-face. In rejecting the long hair, flares, oversized jackets and earth tones of the late sixties and early seventies for their look Punk basically took the traditional Rockabilly leather jacket, tight jeans, boots and pompadour and crossed it with the day-glo colours and flash of Glam filtered through a Dada lens. Post Punk in turn rejected the flash of Punk in favour of somber blacks or greys, button down shirts, sweaters and short hair. The graphics for Punk records and posters were similarly flashy with bold colours and jagged cut-up graphics while Post Punk went for austere simplicity. Lyrically Punk songs were either traditional R&R songs about love, sex and partying or angry politics done in very direct no-nonsense rants while Post Punk lyrics were much more literary and willfully obscure. Punk appealed to mostly working class youths while Post Punk often came from slightly older middle class university students who studied art, design, literature, film or fashion. Punk was music for extroverts while Post Punk was for introverts.These are generalizations of course; Joe Strummer was famously well read and articulate but it was as hard to imagine Joy Division or Robert Smith slam dancing in the pit as it was to picture the Damned in a library.

PIL ~ "CAREERING";


Public Image Ltd became the face of Post Punk not because they were the first, they were not, but because singer Johnny Lydon made a point of saying so and he had been the face of Punk. After leaving the Sex pistols he emphatically rejected Punk as being as brain-dead, conformist and obsolete as the hippie stoners they despised and insisted there was a need to move on to a Post Punk future, although whatever that might mean wasn't entirley clear. And Johnny Lydon had the profile and charisma to be that face. The other reason Public Image Ltd (hereafter referred to as PIL) became the face of Post Wasn't Johnny at all but his band, specifically bassist Jah Wobble and guitarist Keith Levene. Previous Post Punk bands hadn't quite figured out a distinctive enough sound yet. At this point most still sounded like artsy Punk bands with slower, more angular songs and obscure lyrics. Jah Wobble provided the missing catalyst with his deep, rumbling but crystal clear basslines influenced by Dub Reggae (hence the name Jah) and Funk. PIL may have been annoyingly impenetrable and pretentious but they were often irresistibly danceable as well and this would become the trademark for the likes of Joy Division, Bauhuas and Gang Of Four. Almost as important as Wobble's bass was Keith Levene's guitar. He had actually started out in the original five piece line-up of the Clash but they fired him citing his drug use and unreliability. Unlike the early lineups of the Banshees, Wire, Joy Division, Ultravox, Simple Minds, Japan or Clock DVA this Clash lineup sadly did not record so we do not know how his sound evolved but by the time he was recruited to join Lydon's post Pistols project he too had developed a distinctive sound. Instead of the buzzsaw power-chord riffs of Punk he added sheets of even simpler chords weaving in and out or crashing over Wobble's simple but impossibly catchy bass lines for a sound that was far away from the turbo-charged Garage rock of the Pistols and other first generation but even more challenging. Wobble's basslines at least had obvious if unexpected precedents in Dub and Funk but Levene's (who also cited as influences the very Prog Rock guitarists scorned by all right thinking Punks) cascading shards of incredibly tense fragments of Glam riffs seemed as far removed from the direct simplicity of Punk as they were from the Blues of Country riffs all Rock is based on and yet somehow still related.

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ~ "THIS IS NOT A LOVE SONG";


Perhaps predicatably PIL turned out to be only slightly more stable than the infamously fractious Sex Pistols and after two brilliant and groundbreaking albums with "First Issue" (1978) and "Metal Box" (1979) that essentially codified Post Punk as a genre they started to fall apart. After a 1980 live album ("Paris Au Printemps") Wobble was out along with the drummer. Becoming even more experimental and willfully obscure Lydon decided not to replace Wobble at all and Levene switched to synthesizer for the next album "The Flowers Of Romance" (1981) which dabbled in the sort of Post Industrial Rock that Cabaret Voltaire, Clock DVA and the Virgin Prunes had also been exploring with mixed results. The sessions for the next album (tentatively called "The Commercial Zone") turned into an even more fraught affair and ended up being scrapped forcing the band to kill time with another mediocre live album "Live In Tokyo" (1983) by which time Levene was out as well taking with him the demo tapes for the aborted fourth album which he would release in 1984 under the PIL name much to the fury of Lydon who would head back into the studio and re record some of the same songs under under the title "This Is What You Want This Is What You Get" in 1984 which actually did score a mild hit with "This Is Not A Love Song" but got mixed reviews with most critics preferring the Levene versions. Lydon accused Levene of never forgave Levene (or Wobble) and PIL took a few years off before returning with the strong but surprisingly mainstream "Album" which became PIL's biggest hit and led to four more albums of fairly straightforward New Wave with a band that included guitarist John McGeogh, formerly of the Banshees, Magazine and Visage. McGeogh was a fine guitarist and had also done some groundbreaking and even breathtaking work in his previous bands but by this point he was burned out and perhaps so was Lydon who now lacked partners to challenge him. Or perhaps he had tired of banging his head against the wall making experimental albums few people now wanted while watching some of his contemporaries like the Cure, Banshees, New Order, Simple Minds and U2 scoring hits and filling stadiums. At any rate the late 80's PIL albums sound little different from the bands they were now opening for like INXS and New Order with little standing out aside from Lydon's now tamed but still impossible to miss voice. But while these latter albums were solid and successful enough at the time they have not dated particularly well. PIL broke up for good in 1992. John McGeogh retired from music and died in 2004 aged only 48. Lydon released an electronic solo album 1997 that went nowhere (Note; I actually interviewed him at that time and can report that in spite of his reputation for being difficult he was in a good mood and quite chatty) and that was basically it. The Sex Pistols would do a reunion tour in 1996 to mixed but reasonably friendly reviews (I saw that tour and interviewed guitarist Steve Jones who was also perfectly nice). For the past several years he has written his well received memoirs, taken part in the excellent Sex Pistols bio film, dabbled with PIL reunions, the inevitable Broadway show (aborted of course) appeared on "The Masked Singer", feuded with various former bandmate and journalist (I once saw him chewout a paticulaly smug reporter), got fat and become a supporter of Brexit and worse, Trump. To be fair, unlike fellow Brexit and Trump supporting eighties Post Punk singer Morrissey, Lydon hasn't endorsed white nationalism or fascism. He just seems like a cantankerous old troll at this point although he has disappointed more than a few people (song reference!).  

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD ~ "THE ORDER OF DEATH";


Levene's post PIL was more low key. After releasing his "Commercial Zone" tapes he moved to LA and dropped out of sight for a while aside from producing some tracks for the Red Hot Chilli Peppers "The Uplift Mojo Party Plan" in 1986. In 1989 he recorded a solo album backed up by the Chilli Peppers that attracted little attention. He also made a few more obscure recordings and produced some demos for Ice T and Tone Loc. In 2010 he reunited with Jah Wobble to play some gigs and re-record some instrumental songs off of "Metal Box" for an EP and then another album of instrumental songs from "Commercial Zone" in 2014 and that was about it. He died of liver cancer aged 65.

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Wilko Johnson was the guitarist for Dr Feelgood, a band that never got much, if any, attention in North America but scored a number of hits in the early days of Punk. Dr Feelgood were not really a punk band themselves, let alone a post Punk band. Instead they were one of the greatest of a peculiar English genre known as Pub Rock that slightly prestaged and co-existed alongside Punk in the mid-seventies. Pub Rock, which included the likes of Nick Lowe and Dave Demunds and the band Rockpile along with Chris Spedding and more obscure bands the Inmates, Nine Below Zero, Ducks Deluxe and the early Elvis Costello, Graham Parker and even Dire Straits played traditional Blues based Rock & Roll, without any frills but usually with some energy. Although essentially musically conservative in the 1970's they were rebelling against the same bloated and scloratic music industry that Punk was and shared some of the same clubs and independent labels and thus saw a fair amount of crossover appeal in early days of the Punk revolution which they largely sympathized with.

DR FEELGOOD ~ "ROXETTE";


Dr Feelgood were particularly noted for their high energy shows but even more for Wilko Johnson's guitar work. While other Pub Rock guitarists like Dave Edmunds, Billy Bremner and Chris Spedding played energetic and stripped down but basically traditional sixties Rock & Roll guitar Johnson developed his own style noted for his choppy, staccato runs and short sharp spidery solos and his crisp tense sound. By offering a viable alternative to the three power chord thrash of Punk that still had real bite and drive while allowing plenty of space for the bass to drive the song Johnson would give Post Punk guitarists room to experiment and would be cited as an influence by bands that did not at first glance seem to share much with the resolutely not artsy Feelgoods especially Gang Of Four, The Delta 5, and even early Banshees, Joy Division, Wire and the Cure.

DR FEELGOOD ~ "SHE DOES IT RIGHT";


Dr Feelgood would have another thing in common with Punk bands in being a fractious unit and after four albums stretching from 1975 to 1977 Johnson stomped out in a huff. The band would replace him and carry on recording several albums with lead singer Lee Brillaux being the only constant member until he died in 1994. In fact a version continues to tour today having had no original members for almost thirty years. Johnson would record several albums of his own along with working with Ian Dury and Roger Daltrey but he would get the most attention in America appearing in "Game Of Thrones" as the mute executioner. He died, also of cancer aged 75.

DR FEELGOOD ~ "BOOM BOOM";