The Godfathers ‎"Dope, Rock'N'Roll & Fucking In The Streets" 1992****

I recently went to Eindhoven to see a couple of bands I used to follow in my youth, and at whose concerts I've always had fun: The Fuzztones and Godfathers both have always had great stage presence as well as many hits to which we used to endlessly dance in rock clubs during the late 80's/90's. I thought I'd go and see them one more time, hoping I wouldn't be disappointed - which I wasn't. I won't try to tell you they've aged like fine wine - after all it's 30 years since I first saw the angry young Godfathers at the Rodon Club, how could they measure up to my memory of that? But they've still got the chops and energy to do justice to their songs, which is more than enough. One thing's for sure, Peter Coyne finally looks like The Godfather. They had the mobster references, suits and all, in place from the beginning but it's only now that I can easily picture their frontman play a threatening, perennially pissed-off, violent London gangster right out of a Guy Ritchie movie. After the show I lingered around the merchandise stand, wondering if should buy their latest live CD (entitled This Is War) but settled on a T-shirt instead. I figured they couldn't possibly top this live album, which I already had.

Every concert, every live record even, has its weak spot, a song that sends everyone to the bar for another beer. It could be the latest single from the new unloved album, a long drum solo, or a Keith Richards-sung ballad. Not this one, though. This is the proverbial all-killer-no-filler. At this stage of their career, The Godfathers had a lot of great material to choose from: 4 LP's -not a dud among them- full of catchy, sing-along-y, anthems combining The Stooges' garage punk energy and Beatles' melodic instincts, loud dueling guitars, and vocals channeling the fury and sarcasm of the Sex Pistols. Not to mention the rhythm section's dark new wave sound, usually buried under the screaming  guitars. I had the chance to better appreciate the rhythm section during one of their Rodon concerts, when they were missing one of the guitarists and the bass was higher in the mix to compensate for that. I was like "I never realized there was some Joy Division in there!" For all the names mentioned, though, the closest relative may be Dr. Feelgood: no-nonsense rock'n'roll, tight song structures, and energetic, nervy, frontman. This live album finds the band in classic 5-man formation tearing through their hits. The sound is clean for a live recording - the songs may be a bit rawer, guitars a bit louder, but otherwise they don't stray far from their studio counterparts. Which is both a blessing and a curse: I buy live albums for two reasons: the first is the small -or big- variations, be it an elongated jam, improvised solo, ad-lib changes to the lyrics etc. Not much of it here. The second is atmosphere, which this album does have. It may also work well as a greatest hits collection: everything you want is here, it flows well and sports a nice live vibe and uniform production style - as opposed to compilations taken from different albums. The CD kicks off with the best songs from each album: "Birth, School, Work, Death", "She Gives Me Love" and "Unreal World", all loud guitars and singalong choruses. During the course of the album, garage punk dynamites ("Lonely Man", "Cause I Said So", "This Is War") are interspersed with mid-tempo indie rock ("Drag Me Down Again", "I Love What's Happening To Me", "Don't Let Me Down") which thankfully doesn't lead to any slacking of the pace, more like taking the foot off the gas pedal on a road curb before hitting the gas again. The CD closes with a cover of John Lennon's "Cold Turkey" and an extract from a speech by 60's anti-cultural icon John Sinclair, advocating his program of revolution through "Dope, Rock'N'Roll & Fucking In The Streets", a connection not lost to those who remember Lennon's campaign to get Sinclair out of prison.

***** for Birth School Work Death, She Gives Me Love

**** for Unreal World, I Don't Believe In You, When I'm Coming Down, Drag Me Down Again, I Love What's Happening To Me,  If I Only Had Time, Lonely Man, I Want Everything, 'Cause I Said So, This Is War

*** for Obsession, Don't Let Me Down, This Damn Nation, Cold Turkey

Sex Pistols "Never Mind The Bollocks & Spunk/This Is Crap" 1976-1977(rec) 1996(reissue)*****

I recently presented my vinyl copy of "Never Mind The Bollocks", along with an entertaining (I hope) account of the Nottingham Bollocks Trial. I need to present the CD version separately, though, as this '96 reissue features a whole disc of bonus tracks. First and foremost, here you get almost all of Spunk, one of the most famous rock bootlegs as well as the Pistols' de facto debut. This album, you see, hit the stores shortly before "Never Mind...". While Virgin had invested good money in what was considered to be the world's most toxic rock band and even more to advertise their upcoming debut as the most revolutionary rock album yet, here slipped out this little bootleg of the whole album in demo form, ruining the great unveiling of punk's Rosetta Stone by giving a preview of the goods inside. It most certainly had Richard Branson running around in panic trying to suppress it. The band's manager Malcolm McLaren was suspected to be behind the leak, a logical conclusion seeing as he's always been a prankster, and greedy enough to swindle Branson trying to make some money on the side after securing a fat check for the rights to the band's debut. Reportedly he's said he considers these demos to be superior to the finished album. While that's a bit of an exaggeration, there's no denying the virility of these recordings. They may lack the power and punch of "Never Mind...", but they gain in spontaneity and are closer to the band's actual live sound. On the official record, producer Chris Thomas (who had previously worked on such landmarks like The Beatles' White Album and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon) overdubbed layers of guitar to give it volume and sped the songs up a bit, giving them more of a hard rock punch. The Spunk versions on the other hand, which were recorded by the band's live sound engineer Dave Goodman, sound closer to garage rock with traces of The Stooges and New York Dolls. The slower tempo sometimes works out, especially in the definitive version of "Submission" with its psychedelic guitar effects and almost Morrison-esque(?) vocal delivery. The vocals here generally display a slightly less aggressive, more sarcastic, tone. "Nookie (Anarchy In the U.K.)" is an inferior take, but usually the songs are well-played and clearly recorded. One may even argue that these demos feature the band's best playing, thanks to the presence of original bassist Glen Matlock. Bass parts on "Never Mind..." were played (semi-competently) by guitarist Steve Jones because Sid Vicious was a pretty incompetent bassist, taken in for what he added to the band visually and for being Rotten's mate. The original Spunk recordings are augmented with 3 demos recorded with Chris Spedding in May '76. "Problems" sounds pretty good at this early stage and even has some nice solos. "No Feelings" sports a rough vocal, but nimble bass lines by Matlock and some surprisingly cool rockabilly guitar. Either Spedding was jamming with the band on this or Jones outdid himself trying to impress him as a fellow guitarist. 4 more bonus tracks are alternate takes from the "Never Mind..." sessions, produced by Chris Thomas. These are not radically different from the ones that finally made it to the record. A bit more hard rock than the "Spunk" versions, with a relatively clear sound but still rough around the edges compared to the finished product. Listened back to back, both the demo and LP versions have their strong points. Getting them both in one package makes sense, if you can find this specific version of the album. If not, Spunk (also available as No Future U.K?) is by far the best-sounding of the countless Sex Pistols bootlegs and would make a worthy addition to any punk record collection.

****/***** for the original "NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS" tracks

BONUS DISC: 
***** for Seventeen (D.G. demo), Satellite (D.G. demo), Submission (D.G. demo) , No Future (God Save the Queen)(D.G. demo), Pretty Vacant(D.G. demo), Problems (C.S. demo), No Feelings (C.S. demo)

**** for Just Me (I Wanna Be Me)(D.G. demo), Liar(D.G. demo), Who Was It (EMI)(D.G. demo), New York (Looking For A Kiss)(D.G. demo), Problems(D.G. demo), Submission (C.T. alt. take), No Feelings (C.T. alt. take), EMI (C.T. alt. take), Anarchy in the UK" (Denmark St. demo)

*** for Feelings(D.G. demo), Nookie (Anarchy In the U.K.)(D.G. demo), Lots of Fun (Pretty Vacant)(C.S. demo), Satellite (C.T. alt. take), Seventeen (C.T. alt. take)

Fuzztones "Gonn Primitive! With Craig Moore" 2008(rec) 2017****

Back in the 80's/90's I had the opportunity to see The Godfathers and Fuzztones many times. I was hoping they'd still be good (they both are) so after work I did the 2+ hour trip to Eindhoven, arriving at the middle of the headliner's (Godfathers') set. That got me worried, but it became obvious that the bands had switched places. As Fuzztones singer Rudi explained, they arrived late because "some idiot committed suicide in front of our train. We had to wait until they scraped that motherfucker's guts off the tracks". Which sounds a bit... insensitive? Unless you live here, and realize it's a weekly phenomenon. I mean, seriously, why can't these people commit suicide privately? Is it really their dying wish to cause delay and discomfort to thousands of commuters? Rudi being a Berlin resident, though, probably didn't know that. After leading completely different Fuzztones bands in New York (80's) and Los Angeles (90's) the current incarnation also includes Lana Loveland on Vox organ, an English guy called Eric on bass, and a bare-chested caveman on drums. During the set Rudi kept having problems with his guitar, which he told us used to belong to Brian Gregory, the mysterious Cramps guitarist who in 1980 pulled a sudden disappearing act "together with his witch girlfriend. He left his guitar to my sister, who was screwing him at the time." Which begs the question: what the hell was Rudi's sister thinking, screwing the boyfriend of a witch? Wouldn't she naturally put a hex on the guitar? Rudi was lucky to just get sound problems. Of course, he's probably protected from bad juju by that tooth-and-bone necklace he never takes off. No, it won't be voodoo that kills Rudi. It'll be his fans. As he told us "I have health issues, any time you see me could be the last. I got it from breathing your fucking smoke all these years. 66 years old, I never smoked a cigarette." 

Gosh, the man loves to talk. And to pose as a bona fide rock star. But maybe that's what makes him a great frontman: the fact that he's a rock-'n'-roll legend in his own mind, and acts accordingly. On sale at the merchandise stall were two thick hardcover volumes of his autobiography. I mean, shit, even Keith Richard's was half that size, and he's been through some stuff. Another of Rudi's vanity projects was to compile a record where some of his greatest influences would cover Fuzztones tunes. Imagine the nerve, to approach your musical heroes and ask them to record a tribute to...yourself. One of them was Craig Moore, singer of 60's primitive garage rockers Gonn. Their collaboration extended to a joint European tour in 2008 and this live record, which I bought from the lovely Lana Loveland after the show. It's credited to Fuzztones Gonn Primitive and recorded live-in-studio when the band found themselves idle because of some cancelled gigs. Which didn't stop Rudi from addressing the audience (presumably one or two dozen persons) as if he was playing a fully packed rock club. Thankfully he makes the illusion work, resulting in a record with the energy and spontaneity of a live performance and the clean sound of a studio recording. 

Lead vocals are shared with Moore, who screams his lungs off on the Gonn songs (punky "Doin' Me In" and "Blackout Of Gretely", folk rock "Come With Me", the semi-ballad "Death Of An Angel") and a cover of The Fuzztones' "Shame On You". He also guests on "She's Wicked", while Rudi sings lead on Fuzztones originals and 60's garage classics that have been in his repertory for decades e.g. "Action Woman" (Litter), 'Be A Caveman" (The Avengers), "Good Guys Don't Wear White" (The Standells) etc. Drummer "Mad Mike" Czekaj sings on The Sonics "Boss Hoss", bassist Bob Hughes on "What You Don't Know", and Lana on The Seeds' "Pushin' Too Hard". The album closes with tour-de-force "Blackout Of Gretely" probably Gonn's most savage song as well as one of The Fuzztones' favorites - they recorded it for their debut 35 years ago, and keep playing it to this day. It's not easy to combine two singers and frontmen, but there's an evident affinity between Rudi and Craig. That camaraderie and general good vibe is the main reason this LP is such fun to listen to. On the other hand, given that it's the Fuzztones' 4th live album -not to mention that a few of these tracks have already been released in the Snake Oil and In Fuzz We Trust compilations- it's far from an essential purchase. For fans like me, of course, it's still nice to listen to the complete fruits of this collaboration. It must work even better as a souvenir of the tour, if you'd actually been there. Newcomers, though, should seek out The Gonn's original 60's recordings and, for a taste of The Fuzztones' live act, either Live In Europe (featuring the original NYC line-up) or Lysergic Ejaculations (with the more "psychedelic" L.A. line-up, also featuring X-rated photos and essential bonus tracks in its vinyl edition).

**** for Caught You Red-Handed, Doin' Me In, Be A Cavemen, Pretty Girl, Pushin' Too Hard, Just Like Me, (I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone, What You Don't Know, Death Of An Angel, Blackout Of Gretely

*** for Action Woman, Hey Joe, Come With Me, Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White, She's Wicked, Boss Hoss 

** for Shame On You

Various "Closer Spirits Cafe" 2003(comp)****

Bars in Greece aren’t just places you go to have a drink. Or just to socialize, or flirt. They can be all of these things, of course, but above all they’re a place to enjoy your favorite music with other like-minded souls. Socio-musical tribes form in them and revolve around them. Well, maybe not all bars are like that, I’m talking about a specific kind, one that thrived at my old Athens neighborhood and which I experienced from the 80’s to 00’s. One of the best music bars of this kind was Closer: the very best music, and DJ’s who interacted with the customers, and who expertly mixed the newest alternative rock hits with classic oldies and cult artists whose discovery could change your life. Not to mention live gigs, often unannounced. You'd go for a drink in your favorite bar and Holly Golightly or Savage Republic would be playing in the corner. Bars in The Netherlands aren't like that. Here the function of the music, if it’s there at all, is ambiance. It’s usually a random playlist played at low volume. Dance clubs have DJ’s of course, but they don’t really play music, just a spastic beat for your body to move to. Anyway, Closer closed  down as it fell victim to the recent Greek financial crisis. Just one of those little things that, when added up, confirm that the country is going to hell...only it isn’t, because it opened again. Different address but same atmosphere and, once more, the best music in town. I really enjoyed visiting it on my last trip to Athens, and when I got back home I found this CD out and put it on the stereo.

So what if this isn't an official CD? It’s a CD-R compilation given away to loyal customers by the owners of Closer Bar at its second anniversary (2003). But it’s also a labor of love, and it very much shows it: from the intricate fold-out case to the 16-page booklet with short stories, poems or dedications by the club’s regular and guest DJ’s, each of whom chose a song for this compilation. Participators include some of the era's top alternative radio producers, club DJ's and music writers but one name hits a nerve more than others: Thanos Anestopoulos, singer of rock group Diafana Krina, who succumbed to an aggressive form of cancer before his 50th birthday. A melancholic and poetic soul, he is very much missed in the Athens music scene. For his contribution here, he quotes a poem by Giorgos Seferis and typically chooses for inclusion a song by Divine Comedy called "The Book Lovers", basically a roll call of Neil Hannon's favorite authors recited over quasi-classical music. Of course to a book lover it's more than just a list, every name brings to mind countless poignant, joyful, or thrilling moments. The collection opens naturally with Joy Division - who else did you think Closer got its name from? It's followed by Interpol, at the time the newest, hippest Joy Division reincarnation - chosen by Athens' favorite Goth DJ, George Fakinos. Co-owner and resident DJ Vaggelio chose her favorite, Nick Cave - a relatively obscure Roy Orbison cover. More gloomy atmospheric vibes follow (Cocteau Twins, Handsome Family, Tindersticks) but that's not indicative of a typical night at Closer.
It was usually much more rock'n'roll, and that's evident in the variety of songs here: from 60's legends (Yardbirds, Stones, Booker T & The MG’s) to The Clash (some of the DJ's dedicated their entries to then recently departed Joe Strummer), not discounting then contemporary alternative radio hits (Kid Loco) and what might be your introduction to your next favorite artist - be it the Velvet-y psychedelia of Brian Jonestown Massacre, punk blues of Beasts Of Bourbon or Paisley Underground of House Of Freaks, the main common thread being great musical taste. Well, you may not be able to buy or download this CD but thankfully if you're in Athens you can still visit Closer for either afternoon coffee or after midnight drinks. I know that's what I will be doing every time I visit the old neighborhood.

***** for Transmission (Joy Division), Jism (Tindersticks), No Hard Shoulder To Cry On (Julian Cope), Straight To Hell (The Clash), Green Onions (Booker T & The MG’s), Time Waits For No One (Rolling Stones), Psycho (Beasts Of Bourbon), For Your Love (Yardbirds), Make It Right (Tim Buckley)

**** for Hands Away (Interpol), Blind Dumb Deaf (Cocteau Twins), The Book Lovers (Divine Comedy), Passenger Pigeons (Handsome Family), Just For Today (Brian Jonestown Massacre), World Of Tomorrow (House Of Freaks), Here Come The Munchies (Kid Loco), Get Closer To You (Terry Callier)

*** for B-Minor (Lanterna), Running Scared (Nick Cave)

Led Zeppelin ‎– Led Zeppelin (blue lettering edition) 1969*****

I'll actually write a full presentation later, but I had to share my excitement about finding an unexpected treasure trove on ebay. This new user who goes by the name kor0.ido1973 is putting an entire vinyl collection for sale. Everything goes for €3, supposedly all lp's are condition Very Good/VG. Among them, this ultra rare original copy of Led Zeppelin's debut, with blue lettering instead of orange. I thought it might be a scam, but it sounded too good to pass. Well it was delivered today and, imagine my surprise, it really is the real thing: catalogue number and other details check out. Furthermore, the condition is far better than VG, in my opinion it's Near Mint/NM. It seems as if some eccentric collector hoarded all the vinyls he could get his hands on, barely listening to them throughout the years. This collection has obviously fell in the hands of an ignorant relative looking to make a quick buck by selling everything on ebay. I logged back in and made a big order snatching the choicest items, but there's thousands of them. Maybe you'll find what you've been seeking, too.