Cut In The Hill Gang "Mean Black Cat" 2010****

Give me a few hours in any city and I'm bound to spend at least one hour in a record shop - and come out with something interesting. Usually it's a CD by a local band, but in the case of Luxembourg I didn't have the time to delve into the local music scene - if, indeed, there is any. I'm not dissing the Grand Duchy, it's just that it doesn't seem to have produced anyone even remotely famous, other than the president of the European Commission mr. Junker. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that artists still play there - on the night of my visit, it was fellow Greek Maria Farantouri, a favorite performer of the great composer/songwriter Mikis Theodorakis. OK, nobody in Greece listens to Farantouri any more so that's not a good example, but 3 days ago it was Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree fame. Not bad! Anyway, I stumbled into Le Réservoir, a combination of video game/comic book/CD & DVD shop. They had a number of indie CD's on sale, most of which were unknown to me, but I singled out this one: 

It's a covers album, mostly of blues songs, but also of MC5, The Kills and Gun Club (hmm, interesting combination). The singer's name is Johnny Walker - sounds familiar, where have I heard this name before? What? Whiskey? Nonsense! Oh, yes - the former frontman of the Soledad Brothers. Stag-O-Lee (the record company) has released the latest Fuzztones albums, which I loved, plus I like the handmade black and white esthetic of the cover, it reminds me of Dead Moon. And then, there's the price. OK, I'll bite... It took 20 seconds for the band to justify my faith in them: Frank Frost's "Don't Ever Leave Your Daddy At Home" is a dynamite garage-blues stomper with killer harp. "Help Me" is a cover of an excellent (hitherto unknown to me) gospel by Lula Collins, with neat organ and a heavy soul vibe that reminded me of The Bellrays. "Please Give Somethin’" is rockabilly as it would be performed by the Stooges/Flamin' Groovies, and the original belongs to another relatively unknown singer, Bill Allen. I love it when someone turns me on to a new artist. "I Wanna Holler" by Gary US Bonds is more familiar, if only via the Detroit Cobras version that I've recently reviewed. This one's different but just as good, with groovy organ, African-style drumming, rough lead and sweet backing vocals. You know what? the band are going to hate me for saying it, but it sounds like the Santana band backing Lee Brilleaux from Dr Feelgood - in a good way. The medley between Hound Dog Taylor's "Let's Get Funky" and MC5's "Back To Comm" is emblematic of Cut In The Hill Gang's two core influences. If you're a fan of the Stooges (Iggy's gang, that is, not the comedy trio) or Jon Spencer, you'll love it. The band falls into a slow, deep blues groove for John Lee Hooker's "Serves Me Right To Suffer" while "Come On Home" by R&B unknown Louis "Blues Boy" Jones gets an energetic, Mitch Ryder-style, garage treatment. "The Right To Love You" is an honest-to-God pure soul song written by soul demi-legend (and former pimp) the Mighty Hannibal. Some modern influences follow: The Kills' punk blues "Fuck The People" is played as a medley with Spacemen 3's psychedelic drone "Revolution". In case you didn't know, The Kills' Alison Mosshart is, together with Jack White, the leader of Dead Weather - one of the many ways that Cut In The Hill Gang's and Jack White's paths cross, e.g. Walker guested in early White Stripes albums, his former bandmate Ben Swank is White's partner in Third Man Records, etc. Last but not least, we've got an acoustic slide guitar-dominated take on Gun Club's "Promise Me". All in all, this album was so much better than what I had right to expect by an unknown band from Cincinnati (Ohio) recording for an indie German label - enough for me to advise Johnny Walker to leave his whiskey-bottling business behind and start dealing in rock'n'roll, full time!

**** for Don't Ever Leave Your Daddy At Home, I Wanna Holler, Come On Home, The Right To Love You

*** for Help Me, Please Give Somethin’, Let’s Get Funky/Black To Comm, Serves Me Right To Suffer, Fuck The People/Revolution, Promise Me

Pixies "Indie Cindy" 2014***

Backpackers in Luxembourg? Must have gotten lost

The Palace of Grand Duke Henri

My, this is going to be long intro. But I couldn't resist the urge to comment the fact I'm finishing this review from a hotel room at Luxembourg City in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. Because, let's face it, how often does one find himself in a Grand Duchy? Or even a regular Duchy? Sure, there was a time when Europe was full of them, you could find ballrooms full of Dukes and Duchesses and even Grand Dukes and Archdukes - but they've all been absorbed by boring Republics. All, that is, except Luxembourg - presumably because people forgot it existed until it became a founding member of the European Union, by which time it was too late to annex it into any of the bigger states. The existence of EU Institutions seems to account for most of the visitors here, as there don't seem to be many tourist attractions. Not that it's ugly or anything, far from it. The mountain scenery is pretty and the city is as old and rich as the term Grand Duchy implies, but there aren't any features exclusive to it that you can't find in many other Central European cities - except, that is, if you're fascinated with the anachronism (and slight ridiculousness) of the term Grand Duchy - you can tell I am,  because I keep repeating it and placing the word in italics. Another one is obviously Frank Black (aka Black Francis) who named one of his bands Grand Duchy. It'd be fun if I had their CD and was able to present it here, buy I don't. Instead I'll present the latest Pixies album, right after another short story (let's call it a flashback, just like in the movies) about their first gig in Athens, Greece.

  

It was 1989 when the Pixies played Athens for the first time. For once I don't have to google the exact date: It was Saturday, May 20 - and I wasn't there. I was at the Peinaleon tavern in Exarchia. It was the eve of St. Constantine's day, and -as is traditional in Greece- people named after the Saint throw a party in celebration. So I (Kostas is short for Constantine) and my girlfriend at the time, Constantina, invited our friends out for mezedes (tapas) and drinks. It was a merry occasion, friends brought their instruments (guitars and bouzouki) and we sang, ate and drank until closing time. One guest arrived after midnight - let's call her Ziggy, her nickname at the time. She sat herself next to me and proceeded to tell me how unlucky I'd been to miss that night's concert. She said that I wasn't the bouzouki type and that I should have gone with her to Rodon instead celebrating at the tavern with my girlfriend Well, she was never a subtle one but she had a point: I soon became a big Pixies fan and was tremendously disappointed when they broke up in 1993. I thought I had missed my only chance to see them live. Thankfully they reformed after 10 years and in 2004 they played the Rockwave festival in Athens. They gave a great performance, but were they authentic or were they just going through the motions? Were they as good as in their prime? Was Ziggy right when she raved about their performance that night? Judge for yourselves: that concert was recorded for the public television channel and is now out on youtube.

In any case the Pixies reformation gave (tens of) thousands of fans a chance to see them live, for which we are grateful. But was their heart really in it or were they just filling their pockets so that they could go on with their other projects? The lack of new material in their second incarnation pointed to the latter. Then, in 2012-13 a few new EP's appeared, collected here in the form of full length CD. They were only recorded after Kim Deal left the band, which begs the question of whether this is even a Pixies album at all or rather a Frank Black album featuring Joey Santiago on guitar and David Lovering on drums. Given that this isn't the first time a band loses an important member, one has to focus on the music and ask whether it is a natural progression from their last outing, 1991's "Trompe le Monde". First of all, and rather predictably, Kim's absence shows. Her bass and, especially, backing vocals are sorely missed. More importantly, what's missing is Frank's counterpoint, a co-leader to counterbalance his influence. No offence to the other guys, but Santiago had played guitar in FB's solo albums, so it was probably natural for him to take a back seat here. As for Lovering, he had abandoned music altogether for a career as a magician. One cannot expect much creative input from him. Not to mention that he's the drummer - case closed! On the other hand, these are recognisably the Pixies; All the markings are present: the abrasive guitars, the shouts and shrieks, the surrealistic lyrics, that loud-quiet-loud dynamic that Nirvana so heavily copied.

Indie Cindy: the carton CD case, unfolded.

Yet, there are differences: e.g. "What Goes Boom"'s metallic riffs could have used Kim's feminine touch to balance them out. Santiago's guitar, though thoroughly enjoyable, is a tad too macho all around, edging the band a couple of inches towards classic rock territory. Not so in "Greens and Blues", which could have come out of the band's masterpiece "Doolittle" - with its acoustic/electric guitar interplay, it sounds like "Wave of Mutilation"s bigger brother. "Indie Cindy" the song has a schizophrenic feel, with FB alternately pleading sweetly for love and spouting aggressive nonsense lines like "I’m the burgermeister of Purgatory''. The speak/singing style he employs here is an old trick of his, probably one he copied in turn from The Fall's Mark E. Smith. He also uses it on the next track, lead single "Bagboy". It's the one song that sounds completely new and different from both Pixies and Frank Black's solo records. Starting off with a drum machine beat, it features heavy Zeppelin-ish guitars, call-and-response vocals that remind me of Nick Cave's Grinderman, and a Kim impersonator chanting the song's title. This must be what they mean with the phrase everything but the kitchen sink - shouldn't work but it kinda does."Magdalena 318" with its melodic sci-fi keyboards and vocals is a mid-tempo throwback to the Pixies' classic sound circa "Bossanova", while the slow psychedelic "Silver Snail" creates an unwarranted lull in the middle of the album. Maybe as last track of side 1 it could be forgiven, but it has no business being in the middle of the album. It's followed by one of the album's most upbeat numbers: "Blue Eyed Hexe", with heavy-funk guitars of the Black Keys/White Stripes school and screaming vocals. "Andro Queen"is a folk-ish ballad about extraterrestrial love, while "Snakes" and  "Jaime Bravo" have the typical Pixies sound but are otherwise uninspired - the former's surf-metal guitar and latter's backing vocals offer only a slight saving grace. All in all, and to answer the question I posed at the beginning of the review, yes we can safely consider this a genuine Pixies album, but there's no getting around the fact that it's the lowpoint of their discography. Maybe we should just content ourselves with the fact that they still exist, take their albums for what they are and not expect them to equal the masterpieces of their youth - after all, who can? 

***** for Greens and Blues

**** for Bagboy, Magdalena 318, Blue Eyed Hexe

*** for What Goes Boom, Indie Cindy, Ring the Bell, Andro Queen, Snakes

** for Silver Snail, Another Toe in the Ocean, Jaime Bravo

Nouvelle Vague "Bande A Part" 2006***

Rarely is one band's name so indicative of their intentions. "Nouvelle Vague" is of course French for "New Wave" but the very act of its translation makes it sound different, somehow lighter and more cultivated. Likewise what NV did was take familiar New Wave/Post Punk hits (and some cult favorites) and transform them by using a different musical language. The singers here seem to derive inspiration from the French 60's ye-ye and pop girl singers like Francoise Hardy.  Gentle electronica, light 60's pop and bossa nova replace the angular guitars and brooding dispositions of some post-punk originals. And at the same time that punk-rock becomes more palatable with the addition of gentle electronic beats, the synth-heavy new wave hits (e.g. Yazoo's "Don't Go", Heaven 17's "Let Me Go") are given a more organic, bluesy treatment, resulting in a homogenized mix where Yazoo can sit comfortably next to The Cramps. As this is NV's second CD milking the same idea, some songs seem to have been chosen not because the band was inspired by them but based on a "who haven't we done yet?" mentality. Including a New Order or Blondie song in such a project becomes obligatory in this respect and NV go for the obvious choices "Blue Monday" and "Heart of Glass". The former works well in latin dance mode, while the latter is taken back to its rocksteady roots. Neither is transformed as in previous examples - I'm thinking especially of previous album's "Guns of Brixton" which was my introduction to the band. It was placed in a Clash tribute CD given out with Uncut magazine and immediately caught my attention. "Killing Moon" opens the album with a carnival intro that remind me of Nick Cave's "The Carny" and continues with a sultry sweet Lolita singing "So soon you'll take me/Up in your arms/Too late to beg you/Or cancel it...". With the addition of some eerie background noises, we've got a winner very early in the race. "Ever Fallen in Love" is a close second, an immortal pop song given a bouncy bossa treatment. The Fine Young Cannibals were the first to liberate it from its punk wrapping, so this new version isn't as groundbreaking as it'd otherwise be. Stiv Bators' Lords of the New Church are often unfairly forgotten when it comes to discussing 80's post punk, so it's cool that NV chose to include one of their songs here. Billy Idol's "Dancing with Myself" is the exact opposite, a loud catchy number that never completely left the airways. The NV version is likewise the album's most unsubtle and populist moment. The Wake's "O Pamela" was completely unknown to me, so I should thank Nouvelle Vague for turning me on to that post-punk gem. The Cramps' "Human Fly" is an absolute favorite of mine and it's sung here in a drunk stripper voice. Unpolished and rude, it goes well with lyrics like "I'm an unzipped fly". I like what they've done with the song. "Bela Lugosi's Dead" begins with spooky sound effects as the Bride of Dracula spouts lines like "The bats have left the bell tower/The victims have been bled". Though only half as scary as the original, it's still disquieting listening. The only NV track guaranteed to chase (all but the most perverse) customers away from the bar. Their jazz, happy-go-lucky version of The Sound's "(I Can't) Escape Myself" would be enough to make Adrian Borland commit suicide all over again. Shame on you, people! Visage's "Fade toGrey" is given a uncommercial dark, accordeon-heavy sound. They must have figured that, by this point, no-one but the most dedicated fan is still listening. Which is a pity, because their nostalgic, rainy take on Blancmange's "Waves" is a late highlight - probably the only track that works even if you don't know the original - I confess I didn't!

**** for The Killing Moon (Echo & the Bunnymen), Ever Fallen in Love (Buzzcocks), Waves (Blancmange)

*** for Dance with Me (The Lords of the New Church) Don't Go (Yazoo), O Pamela (The Wake), Blue Monday (New Order), Human Fly (The Cramps), Bela Lugosi's Dead (Bauhaus), Let Me Go (Heaven 17), Fade to Grey (Visage)

** for Heart of Glass (Blondie), Dancing with Myself (Billy Idol), I Can't Escape Myself (The Sound)

Bettye LaVette "Interpretations:The British Rock Songbook" 2010****

Based on her voice, Bettye LaVette should by rights have been as big a star as Aretha Franklin or Roberta Flack. Yet, after a few R&B hits in the 60's, she disappeared until the early 00's when she was discovered by white audiences. In the last 10 years she's recorded more albums than in the preceding 40. She's not really a songwriter, more a master interpreter, and this album is her tribute to British Rock. It was borne out of a single occasion, a Kennedy Center show in honor of The Who. She was invited to sing "Love Reign O'er Me" from Quadrophenia and her emotive performance shook the house, almost moving guests of honor Townshend and Daltrey to tears. It was then decided that she'd do a whole album of British Rock to reciprocate the respect that British rockers showed to black blues artists when they were treated like outcasts in their own country. The album is accurately titled "Interpretations", as she really gives her own version of the songs rather than simply cover them. It starts off with "The Word", a Beatles (Lennon:"mainly mine") song from 1965. Her version is an upbeat gospel soul triumph that would have made John proud. The Beatles dominate this collection as she also chooses one song each from the solo albums of George, Paul and Ringo. Harrison's "Isn't It a Pity" gets a very sparse arrangement that allows the vocal performance to shine even brighter, but I don't much care for its funereal pace. Ringo's "It Don't Come Easy" is, like most songs here, slower than the original but well served by its Deep South blues rock arrangement. As the song says "Got to pay your dues if you wanna sing the blues/And you know it don't come easy". It sure didn't come easy for LaVette, who's been paying her dues for 50 years now. McCartney is a master writer of sensitive love songs and his "Maybe I'm Amazed" is perfect for her expressive voice. She's helped by the heartwarming string arrangements and Gilmour-like guitarwork. Which brings us to..."Wish You Were Here". For rock singers, tackling Pink Floyd's masterpiece can be intimidating, but LaVette felt at ease making changes to it - as she explains, these songs never got played on black radio stations in the US, so she didn't have any preconceptions about how they should be sung. She treats it like a blues - when they explained to her it's written about a former bandmember that died recently, she approached it as a lament for her singer friends that have left this world. It's a moving performance, embellished once again with strings. Led Zeppelin's "All My Love" is earthier than the original, with a smoky late night feel and a stirring tortured soul delivery. Traffic's "No Time To Live" is another slow song with a similarly emotive performance. As for "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", at first I didn't understand why it's here, For me it's foremost a Nina Simone song, but it seems that Bettye had The Animals' version in mind. She gives it a funky Southern Soul twist. The Rolling Stones' "Salt of the Earth" is completely reinvented as gospel. The song sounds as if it's just now found its true calling - Hallelujah, take it to the Mississippi to be baptised and let it forevermore be sung by Baptist choirs all over the American south! "Nights in White Satin" is a tricky one: in the wrong hands, it can get syrupy sweet instead of emotional. No such fear, that voice carries such passion and hurt it can never sound soft. "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad" is introduced with some funky basslines - at last a much needed change a pace, with a James Brown-style dance rhythm and soul horns. Elton John's "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me" is another slow blues song and, frankly, the most indifferent track of this CD which closes with the aforementioned Kennedy Center performance. Such is the power of Bettye LaVette's voice, she can sing the phonebook and transform it into heart-wrenching blues. Imagine what she does with The Who's masterpiece. Wait a minute, you don't have to imagine it, just click on the video below!

***** for The Word" (Beatles)

**** for Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood (Animals), All My Love (Led Zeppelin), Wish You Were Here (Pink Floyd), It Don't Come Easy, (Ringo Starr), Maybe I'm Amazed (Paul McCartney), Salt of the Earth (Rolling Stones), Nights in White Satin (Moody Blues), Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad (Eric Clapton), Love Reign O'er Me (The Who)

*** for No Time To Live (Traffic), Isn't It a Pity (George Harrison), Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me (Elton John)

Joe with Flower Travellin' Band "Times" 1971-1974(orig) 1975(comp)*****

That Joe Yamanaka must have been quite a character. Just look at him at this record cover: A bare-chested Japanese guy with a big afro with blonde streaks, wearing cowboy boots and hippy multicolored bell-bottoms and posing atop either Grand Canyon or -more probably- Mount Fuji with a samurai sword (or is it a scimitar?) in hand. I mean, is he for real or did he just disembark from a UFO? Notice how the other bandmembers are just floating heads around him: obviously they weren't crazy to get close enough to the sword-wielding singer for a group photo, so they sent their astral projections instead. "The Times" is, as the title implies, a compilation of early 70's Flower Travellin' Band material, previously released as part of their 1971 magnum opus "Satori", 1972's "Made in Japan" or the half-live/half-studio 1973 double LP "Make Up". Musically the band was really out there, comprising elements of hard rock, psychedelia and progressive/experimental rock to form a unique sound. Heavy metallic rhythms and screaming vocals dominate both cuts from "Satori", often combined with weird oriental musical scales (also notably on "Hiroshima"). "Shadows of Lost Days" is more conventional heavy blues a la Led Zeppelin while "Make Up" is closer to Deep Purple, down to the beautiful Hammond fills by Nobuhiko Shinohara. "Look at My Window" is a long trippy ballad somewhat reminiscent of West Coast 60's psych (think Jefferson Airplane/ Grateful Dead). "Spasms" is more experimental, sorta like Can jamming with Hendrix. The guitarist is a rare talent who could probably give Page or Iommi a run for their money. I first noticed him when I heard the Yuya Uchida & The Flowers (actually an early incarnation of the FTB) album, but there was no information about the players on the sleeve - OK, there was something written, albeit in Japanese which (surprise!) I can't read. So now I looked him up and learned that his name is Hideki Ishima and that he has nowadays abandoned the guitar in favor of the sitarla, an instrument of his own device. Closing track "I Wanna See You" seems to be exclusive to the compilation, and it's a soulful rocker, embellished with strings. Despite being too short for the CD era "Time" offers a welcome concise introduction to the group, cherry-picking their more accessible moments. It's amazing that the rock world is so narrowly focused to England and America and lets giants like FTB pass them by. If you do, it's entirely your loss!

***** for Satori Part 2, Satori Part 1

**** for Shadows of Lost Days, Hiroshima, Make Up, Look at My Window, I Wanna See You

*** for Spasms 

Alice Cooper "Love It To Death" 1971****

Venom Inc at Baroeg Open Air, Rotterdam 19/9/2015

I recently returned from a trip to the Netherlands (for business and pleasure, as they say). By chance it was also the weekend of Baroeg Open Air, Holland's (maybe Europe's also) biggest free heavy rock festival, headlined this year by the mighty Venom. Until now I was only familiar with their fame as "the godfathers of Black Metal". So I had no expectations and was pleasantly surprised by their set: well-played classic heavy metal -not at all unlistenable as I feared- and solid showmanship. Nice guys, too - for "satanists", that is. I don't own any of their records to present here, but came back itching to write about heavy metal. Then I realized I didn't take any metal CD's with me when I moved to Brussels and left most of my collection behind. The closest I've got is this triple-CD collection of vintage Alice Cooper I bought from an electronics chain store, containing "Love It To Death", "Killers" & "School's Out".

As it invariably happens, the shop had filed Alice Cooper at C. Will they ever learn that they're a group and that there's no-one with the name Cooper, Alice? Strike that, there probably is a person named Alice Cooper somewhere that curses the band for dragging her name through the mud - but she is otherwise unconnected to the group. It's true that, as years went by, the public began to identify singer Vincent Furnier with a character called Alice Cooper, but in 1971 that was yet to happen. The band had released a couple of commercial flops under the tutelage of Frank Zappa and made a last attempt for success with young Bob Ezrin as producer. He kept the humour and craziness of their early songs but sensibly steered the music away from freaky psychedelia towards glam and hard rock. Helped by the inclusion of the ultimate teen anthem "I'm 18", the record was a resounding success that propelled the band to a world of notorious onstage antics and backstage excess. The album opens with excellent boogie rocker "Caught in a Dream" and then, after a short harmonica intro, come the immortal lines describing teenage alienation in a few simple words "Lines form on my face and hands/Lines form from the ups and downs/I'm in the middle without any plans/I'm a boy and I'm a man/I'm eighteen/And I don't know what I want...I'm eighteen and I like it!". Kudos also to guitarists Glen Buxton and Michael Bruce, hitting all the right notes without hijacking the song as it so often happens in heavy metal. "Long Way to Go" is a fast Yardbirds-style garage rocker and "Black Juju" is...filler? Many tend to think so, because of its length. It's certainly a loose and semi-improvised 9 minutes of psychedelia, dominated by tribal drumming and creepy organ. Early Pink Floyd and Doors seem to be musical influences, while the lyrics draw on classic horror films as Alice would increasingly do in the future. Onstage it would be the highlight of his show, featuring a theatrical mock-execution on a prop electric chair. "Is It My Body?" is one of the harder rocking songs here, with funky bass and sexual lyrics, although it eschews macho chest beating by adding that insecure question mark. "Hallowed Be My Name" has a garagey 60's feel and touches on the theme of religion and hell "You're fighting to go up 'cause you're on your way down/ cursing their lovers/ cursing the bible", similarly to the theatrical "Second Coming" "I only know hell is getting hotter/ the devil's getting smarter all the time". The latter song starts off ballad-like with a bit of piano, gradually attaining a pounding military rhythm for a while and segueing into "Ballad of Dwight Fry", another piece of rock theatre about madness which Alice performs to this day tied up in a straightjacket. Closer "Sun Arise" is an upbeat pop number, probably aiming to dispel the darkness and end the album on a hopeful note. There is no denying that, lyrically at least, "Love It To Death" is as much a part of heavy metal's DNA as Black Sabbath's debut or Deep Purple's "In Rock". Without them, there probably wouldn't have been any Judas Priest, Iron Maiden... or Venom.

***** for I'm Eighteen, Is It My Body

**** for Caught in a Dream, Long Way to Go, Black Juju, Second Coming

*** for Hallowed Be My Name,Ballad of Dwight Fry, Sun Arise

Mekons "The Mekons Story 1977-1982"(comp)***

Election day again in Greece. I never intended this blog to have a political character, but it just kind of evolved as an outlet for my thoughts in general. It's the only place I sit and write my opinion on things, so I sometimes take a detour and comment on things unrelated to the records at hand. Maybe the orthodox way would be to keep this blog as a strictly musical affair and create a 2nd, more personal, one for everything else - but maintaining two blogs seems like too much work. So, if you're here strictly for the record reviews, by all means ignore everything written in red and go straight to the body of the review. Tonight's election result is a surprisingly wide victory for leftist prime minister Alexis Tsipras (it was projected to be a tight race, yet he wins by 7,5% points). But he's not the same man who won the leadership of the SYRIZA party 8 years ago. He went from candid ideologist to populist leader to pragmatic politician, accepting the dominant EU policy and trying to manoeuvre within its narrow limits. He keeps reminding me of that old Leonard Cohen lyric "They sentenced me to twenty years of boredom/ For trying to change the system from within". Which is funny, because Cohen continues "I'm coming now, I'm coming to reward them/ First we take Manhattan, then we take Berlin". Funny, since Berlin proved to be Tsipras' nemesis, blackmailing him into abandoning his party's agenda and allowing the powerful German chancellor and European bureaucrats to dictate Greece's future. But I still hope there's something of the old Tsipras left, laying low until the European balance of power shifts to his favour. At least, to his credit, he isn't trying to convince anyone that austerity policies are justified. Meanwhile, SYRIZA's detached Left Wing (now the Popular Unity party) fell a few thousand votes short of the 3% representation threshold and will not be present in the new Parliament. Doesn't matter: the fight is in the streets. I'd like to dedicate today's song to them, it's The Mekons' anti-Thatcherite punk anthem "Fight The Cuts". I already own a couple of Mekons compilations - a pretty exhaustive best-of and one with various rarities.
So whatever possessed me to buy a third one? Well, first of all, it was the price: at €2,5 you can afford to gamble that this is a potentially interesting album. Then, the over-enthusiastic Lester Bangs article in the inlay, favourably comparing them to P.I.L. Did the gamble pay off? Partially yes. Interesting it may be, essential not. After a certain amount of CD's, you have to become more choosy or they'll take up all of your living space. Not to mention I'm on a mission to present all of my record collection which won't be possible if it keeps expanding. It's already a 25+ year project, if I can keep my current pace. Remind me to say no, next time. But since I didn't, let me start by saying that these are rare or unreleased tracks from the early, experimental Mekons - quite different from the band that made "Rock n' Roll" and "Fear & Whiskey". As can be expected from the recording date, punk exerts a big influence: the music is at times very aggressive, production is lo-fi and lyrics usually informed by anarchist politics. The Crass seem to be a reference point. Opener "Letter's in the Post" is hardcore punk a la Dead Kennedys/GBH while "Not A Bitterman" sounds like a Ramones/P.I.L. collision and "Dance And Drink The Mekons" and "Trouble Down South" like The Fall. "Bomb Train", "Car-Men" and "Frustration" are experimental collages reminiscent of Pere Ubu or P.I.L. "Eden" and "Myriam Always" are more listenable, almost melodic in comparison. The politically charged "Fight The Cuts" is typical English punk a la UK Subs and "Byron" combines chanting with weird electronic bleeps. "This Sporting Life" sports some nice African-style drumming and "Rosanne" is the most "commercial" piece thus far, in a funk/punk style a la Gang Of Four. "Garden Fence of Sound" is Fall-like punk, "Walking Song" has a sinister Tom Waits-meets-Jesus and Mary Chain vibe and "Building" is a drunken acapella anarchist tirade. "I'm So Happy" and "1st Guitarist" are noisy improvised punk and "I Brought You These" a psychedelic mid-tempo piece. Penultimate track "He Beat Up His Boyfriend" is one of the highlights, a new wave song that could almost have been an unused Velvet Underground outtake. All in all, the album makes for a difficult, genuinely underground, listening experience which is probably why Lester Bangs liked it so much. The Mekons wisely chose to leave that sound behind and take their message to a wider audience.

*** for Not a Bitterman (Born to Be Mild), Dance and Drink the Mekons, Eden, Fight the Cuts, Rosanne, Garden Fence of Sound, Miriam Always, Walking Song, I Bought You These, He Beat Up His Boyfriend

** for Letter's in the Post, Bomb Train, Trouble Down South, Car-Men, Frustration, Byron, This Sporting Life, The Building, I'm So Happy, 1st Guitarist

Flaming Stars "Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia Singles 1995-1996" 1997(comp)****

I saw the Flaming Stars for the first time at the AN Club in 1998, immediately after the release of this (exquisitely named and presented) compilation. For those not familiar with it, AN is the oldest live music establishment still standing in Athens. It was founded in 1987, the same year with Rodon, which stood less than a kilometre away at Victoria Square. AN is at the notorious Exarchia area, Athens' student neighborhood with a rich history of counterculture, art, anarchism, defiance and violence - naturally, my chosen place of residence until I left Greece. But it's never been the same for me since December 2008, when a policeman shot a 15-year old kid a few blocks from my home for no other reason than that someone in his company swore at him. It was a disaster waiting to happen: Successive Ministers of Public Order had vowed to clean up the neighborhood from the lawless anarchists and junkies, while big-time property developers bought de-valuated real estate in anticipation of the next boom that would transform this very centrally located place into the next commercial/entertainment theme park - if only the annoying students, leftist inhabitants and small shop owners could be swept away to make room for the offices and big chain stores. For the months preceding the shooting, teams of armed-to-the-teeth cops performed police crackdowns, basically consisting of harassing pub customers and passersby - leading to confrontations and the occasional molotov cocktail thrown at the SWAT team guarding the PASOK party headquarters situated at the borders of the neighborhood. After the shooting all hell broke loose: I'm telling you I've seen clips of riots in Palestine and assorted war zones and it really was no different than that. When the dust settled, we were left with a hardened, violent group of youngsters consumed by hate for the establishment, which included everyone who worked for a living or had any kind of ideology that didn't include blowing everyone up. On the other side, we lived under permanent siege with submachine gun-toting policemen guarding the entrances of the neighborhood and harassing everyone. While the government was drowning in scandal and corruption, they demonized the youth movement and anyone opposing their schemes. I knew then that I had to leave the country. Only months later, the debt crisis exploded, plunging Greece into chaos. The oligarchs and intertwined business/political interests who had been profiting from the loans promptly withdrew their money from the Greek banks and sailed for safer havens while the EU instigated a crushing austerity program in return for an economic bailout. This led to unprecedented recession, the social results of which are evident everywhere - nowhere more so than the center of Athens, with rows of closed shops and homeless people searching the trash bins for food. Exarchia has likewise fallen in a state of decadence, all plans of gentrification abandoned due to the crisis. At least, thanks to the graffiti artists and musicians, it's still decadent in an artistic and interesting way. And, beyond all expectations, AN Club still stands, although more celebrated entertainment venues have succumbed to the crisis.

Back in happier times, the promoters of the Flaming Stars concert had for some reason advertised it as a "Rockabilly Orgy", using a suitably 50's-oriented poster. As a result it had attracted a small band of tough-looking rockabilly types. Now, in Greece as elsewhere, rockabilly fans were a closed circle with a gang mentality (probably similar to English teddy boys). By '98 they had ostensibly softened and attracted more attention for their pretty stylish girlfriends than for the violent outbursts of the past, but still they weren't the kind you'd want to mess with. AN is a small underground club with a low ceiling so there's not much separation between bands and audience. If you're not tall (as I am) it's difficult to even see the stage. Not to mention that the place is a fire hazard (or would be, if not for the fact that when it's packed there's not enough oxygen to start a fire). Anyway the band starts playing and, three songs in, they still haven't played a single note of rockabilly. The guys in the front rows are starting to get agitated and move toward the "stage". You can see the sentiment isn't friendly when one of them shouts "You promised us a rockabilly orgy, so when the fuck are you going to play some rockabilly?" to which the singer coolly replies "Why don't you start with the orgying and we'll provide the rockabilly". For a moment it seems like there's going to be a fight, but the rockabillies finally choose not to get insulted, they relax and have a nice time while the band plays their music which includes traces of garage rock, jazz, indie pop, surf, country, spaghetti-western and -yes- 50's rock'n'roll. Stylistically and lyrically they draw inspiration from 50's pulp literature and film-noir. It's not coincidental that singer (and former Gallon Drunk drummer) Max Décharné is foremost a writer of short stories and journalist. And while his music is retro, his relaxed singing style owes more to acts like Nick Cave or the Tindersticks. This compilation brings together all the early singles and EP's and makes for a great introduction to the band. It starts off with "Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia" a cool reference to the Sam Pekinpah western "Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia", with lazy vocals, surfing beat and floating 60's organ. The same elements dominate "Money to Burn" while  "Bury My Heart at Pier 13" and "3AM on the Bar Room Floor" are jazz noir, set to a slow calypso beat. "Like Trash" justifies the rockabilly tag with its frenzied Jerry Lee-style piano and the instrumental theme from "Get Carter" provides another cult movie reference. "New Shade of Black" is an atmospheric country-ish ballad while "Ten Feet Tall", "A Hell of a Woman" "The Face On The Bar Room Floor" sound like early Lou Reed backed by a 60's garage/psych band. "Bandit Country" is a spaghetti western-style instrumental and "Downhill Without Brakes" a rolling garage/surf rocker. Love the drums in this one! "Revenge" is a country ballad with great harmonica and "Broken Heart" a garage/rockabilly dynamite while "Davy Jones' Locker" and "Spaghetti Junction" are cinematic instrumentals. "Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye" sounds like a combination of Velvet Underground and the Tindersticks and "Eat Your Heart Out" and "Burnt Out Wreck of a Man" like Bob Dylan covered by new-wavers Suicide. All in all an exciting idiosyncratic mix of musical genres, impeccable style and inspired writing. Play loud!

***** for Bring Me the Rest of Alfredo Garcia, Broken Heart, Downhill Without Brakes

**** for Money to Burn, Like Trash, The Face on the Bar Room Floor, Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, Burnt Out Wreck of a Man

*** for Bury My Heart at Pier 13, Get Carter, New Shade of Black, Ten Feet Tall, A Hell of a Woman, Bandit Country, Revenge

** for Davy Jones' Locker, 3AM on the Bar Room Floor, Eat Your Heart Out, Spaghetti Junction

The Detroit Cobras "Baby" 2004****

Here I am, back in Brussels and with an internet connection once more. That makes for 3 countries, 5 cities and 8 homes I've lived in during the last 15 years. Bit of a nomadic existence, but you know what they say: Home is where your record collection is (or something similar). Alas this time I had to leave my collection behind in Delft. Didn't make sense moving dozens of heavy boxes when I'll probably be hitting the road again soon. At least it's only a 2-hour drive away and I made sure to have visitation rights. But I had to give up on my blind selection routine which unearthed some interesting and hitherto forgotten stuff. I took with me about 100 of my favourite CD's and another 100 of the most recent purchases, which should provide us with enough blogging material for the next 6 months. The DC's "Baby" belongs to the former category (i.e. my favourites). I could have chosen any of their albums, they're all great to listen to. This is their cleanest-sounding one, not necessarily an advantage when it comes to garage rock but I've noticed I play it more often than the rest. 
Try asking people about their favorite 21st century garageband from Detroit: 80% will think you're nuts (maybe 95%, if you ask this question in Greece). Of the rest, 90% will say "The White Stripes, of course". Some may mention The Dirtbombs or Von Bondies. But if, like me, they've seen Rachel & co. live they're bound to answer "The Detroit Cobras". Very few singers rule the stage like the Cobras' Rachel Nagy. I guess a prior career as an exotic dancer helps - not that she's trying to be sensual or seductive, mind you, she's just sexy in a relaxed, self-assured way. Guitarist Mary Restrepo (the other permanent member in the band) is another super-cool female presence in this tight band which displays a deep knowledge of the 60's musical vocabulary. Which is both a blessing and a curse, since almost all their material are covers. They mostly choose obscure 60's soul, so for most listeners it will be their first contact with the songs - but, no matter how good their performance is, critics and dj's will snub them because they're not "original" enough. Except, that is, some dj's with nothing to prove: they're one of the few modern groups that Bob Dylan has played on his theme hour radio show. He chose "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)", incidentally this record's sole original song. As it happens The Cobras also play something from the Dylan repertory: "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" out of his debut. Their style throughout the album can be described as a, deeply rooted in the 60's, garage/R&B hybrid. Imagine the Detroit Wheels with young Tina Turner on vocals instead of Mitch Ryder. Add some Animals, Sonics and Solomon Burke to the mix and a dash of Amy Winehouse. Does that sound appealing to you?

The album opens with a couple of garage dynamites, Art Freeman's "Slipping Around" and Gary U.S. Bond's "I Wanna Holler (But the Town's Too Small)". The originals are so good and relatively obscure that I've decided to post youtube links for every single one. Thank you Cobras, for introducing me to them. "Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand" has been covered (with slightly changed titles) by Dylan and The Animals but the blueprint here is the Hoagy Lands version, which starts off slowly and then turns into a veritable party song after the 1st verse. Ruby Johnson's 1966 Stax single "Weak Spot" provides us with Rachel's first real soul performance on this CD, not to mention some nice Southern Soul-style guitar licks by Mary. Then it's back to garageland for a hi-energy "Everybody's Going Wild". As I previously said, "Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat)" is the album's lone original song, composed by Nagy, Restrepo and collaborator Greg Cartwright (of Oblivians/ Reigning Sound fame) who is also credited with production assistance and guest guitarwork in this album. Betty Harris' "Mean Man" is a potent soul rocker while "Now You're Gone" is given a rootsy delivery that improves on the original by Bobbie Smith & the Dreamgirls. Topping the great Irma Thomas on the ballad "It's Raining" would be an impossible feat for anyone (well, with the probable exception of Aretha), but Rachel puts on a soulful performance that does the song no injustice. "Just Can't Please You" by Jimmy Robins is another 1966 dance number and was very popular with the Mods in the U.K. The 5 Royales' "The Real Thing" was a charming 1958 R&B/Doo-Wop number, but the Cobras' version is ragged and punky. Ditto with Percy Sledge's "Baby Help Me", only this is one case where louder isn't better. But they make up for it big time with the last song, Brice Coefield's "Cha Cha Twist". The Cobras' version is not only louder, but sassier and funkier and generally kicks ass! This is actually their 2nd take on the song. It went unnoticed when released as their debut single, until it was used on a Coke commercial and people starting looking for it - so the band recorded a new, cleaner, version for their next CD with this audience in mind. Listening to this album is always fun, but writing this review got me checking the original versions of these songs and that was rewarding in a new way. Be sure to check them all out 'cause it took me quite some time to find the best available versions in youtube. Now, if only it was possible to magically extract the audio from youtube videos, one could burn an amazing compilation for the car or for an impromptu dance party. If only... Thankfully you can still buy the Detroit Cobras' "Baby", which is just as good or even better. Slip it in your CD player and try not to dance. It's impossible, I tell you...

***** for Cha Cha Twist,

**** for I Wanna Holler (But the Town's Too Small), Baby Let Me Hold Your Hand, Weak Spot, Everybody's Going Wild, Hot Dog (Watch Me Eat), Now You're Gone, It's Raining

*** for Slipping Around, Mean Man, Just Can't Please You, The Real Thing 

** for Baby Help Me

Synanthesia "Synanthesia" 1969****

Even after buying this CD, I kept getting the band's name wrong. I refered to them as Synesthesia, a condition named after the Greek words for mixing the senses - the neurological phenomenon of hearing colors and seeing sounds, most commonly occurring under the influence of psychedelic drugs. It would make sense given the era (1969), but it'd also be a bit kitsch, jumping on the psychedelic bandwagon just as the train is leaving the station. It turns out the band is really called Synanthesia, a meaningless word in English, but one which Greeks will understand as flowering together. It gives off a completely different vibe, hippy-ish but also naturalist and pagan. Paganism and Antiquity seem to be the main source of lyrical inspiration here, with most song titles deriving from ancient Greek and Roman mythology. Opener "Minerva" for example is the Roman name for the goddess known to ancient Greeks as Athena, goddess of wisdom to which the ancient city of Athens was dedicated. Interestingly, Athenians' archrivals the Spartans also considered Athena halkioikos to be their city's protector, but to them she was foremost a goddess of war rather than wisdom. Which may speak volumes on the differences between the two dominant cultures of ancient Greece but isn't very enlightening on the album at hand. Musically, "Minerva" is a winsome piece of acoustic acid folk with lots of flute and a driving rhythm led by the bongos. "Peek Strangely and Worried Evening" is a gentle Donovan-esque ballad, while "Morpheus" is a proggier one, with unexpected tempo changes, mystical lyrics and jazzy saxophone. "Trafalgar Square" and "Fates" have this whimsical and weird fairytale quality you find in Incredible String Band records of the time. "Spider and the Fly" sports a rather gloomy theme  but it's made lighter by the airy flute intro and solos. "Rolling and Tumbling" isn't the same-named Muddy Waters song, but it is more bluesy and down-to-earth compared to what preceded it. "Mnemosyne" and "Aurora" return to the mythological themes and prog-folk stylings and "Just as the Curtain Finally Falls" closes the original album on a melancholic note. It sounds remarkably like gothic-folk mid-80's artist Paul Roland. This compilation adds bonus track "Shifting Sands", a more pop-oriented song with nice vocal harmonies. Very often, when you listen to a "legendary" obscure album from the 60's, it turns out to be overhyped and overrated just because of its rarity. This is definitively not the case here. The songwriting and playing is excellent throughout and the band combines folk, jazz and classical elements to create a melodic masterpiece that is sure to satisfy friends of English folk, psychedelia and progressive rock. A regular hidden gem!

***** for Minerva 

**** for Morpheus, Trafalgar Square, The Tale of the Spider and the Fly, Rolling and Tumbling, Mnemosyne, Aurora, Just as the Curtain Finally Falls, Shifting Sands

*** for Peek Strangely and Worried Evening, Fates, Vesta

Dia Prometido "Dia Prometido" 1971**

I found this at the "psychedelic rock" session, although it's neither rock nor psychedelia. The mislabeling has caused me to be a little negative in my rating, I'm afraid. Based on the liner notes, I was expecting something akin to Orient Express or Kaleidoscope (US). Instead what you get here is similar to the Lord Sitar album from the 60's: easy listening and pop hits performed with traditional instruments. That album (to be presented, sometime) is usually dismissed as psych-sploitation riding the wagon of the Beatles' infatuation with the sitar and India in general. Here the sitar is replaced by what the liner notes identify as a psalter and which Greeks and Asians will recognize as santur(i). It is indeed descended from an ancient Greek instrument sometimes called psaltery or canon - whence the modern Greek name for one of its variations, canonaki. Various versions of the instrument are also to be found in Turkish, Arabian, Persian and Indian traditional music. Western variations include the zither, dulcimer and autoharp and were popular with British acid-folk groups of the time. These are nevertheless strummed with the hand and sound quite different from the santur, whose strings are struck with a couple of wooden mini-hammers. For all purposes, this is probably the first use of santur outside Middle Eastern or Greek folk music. The player is an Iranian with the very un-Persian name of Guillermo Polo. He is joined by a Chilean guitarist and Spanish rhythm section while the album was recorded in Spain and simultaneously released in Spain and Iran. It's one of very few Iranian pop albums I'm aware of, although neither "pop" nor "Iranian" is an accurate description. It starts off with Mozart's "Symphony No 40 In G Minor" and immediately achieves its goal, if that goal is to convince you of the instrument's expressive capabilities outside oriental forms. "The Windmills Of Your Mind" benefits from a sprightly jazz arrangement including organ and flute, but "One Note Samba" isn't quite the harmonious marriage of East & West its makers doubtlessly envisioned. Beatles songs like "Something" and "And I Love Her" sound a bit like elevator music, a feeling I often get when pop/rock hits are given the instrumental treatment (Did I mention that the album is completely instrumental?). Soundtrack themes like "A Time For Us", "Love Story" or "The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg" are much more natural in this setting. "Sounds Of Silence" is the one song where the record approaches psychedelia, thanks to some electric guitar and more pronounced bass and drums. I decided to give the album a 2* rating because it's marketed as psychedelic rock, which it isn't. Neither does it offer an introduction to Persian music and culture, as the compositions are all standards of Western music. As an Easy Listening collection, it has it merits: It's well played and the use of the santur is a novelty worth hearing. Too bad I'm not a fan of Lounge music... 

**** for Symphony No 40 In G Minor, The Windmills Of Your Mind, A Time For Us

*** for Concerto per Una Voce, Love Story, The Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, Sounds Of Silence

** for One Note Samba, Something, Airport Love Theme, And I Love Her, Yesterday When I Was Young

Vanilla Fudge "The Return" 2002***

On October 17 2003 (of course I had to google the date - it's not exactly etched in my brain) I went down to Liossion street in Athens  to see Vanilla Fudge play the Gagarin 205 club. Two weeks before that, I had no idea the band still existed. I'm guessing most of you still don't know the Fudge are out there, playing gigs and making records. The concert went by more than smoothly, with the band tearing through old classics and a few "new" covers, including Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?". Their comeback had began the previous year with this album, featuring 3/4 of the original group: Vince Martell on guitar, Tim Bogert on bass and Carmine Appice on drums. Newcomer Bill Pascali provides ample replacement for Mark Stein on keyboards while guitarist Teddy Rondinelli poses for the CD booklet but does not play a single note in the record. The band all share vocal duties. "The Return" contains reworkings of 4 out of the 7 songs from their 1967 debut, The Zombies' "She's Not There" and soul classics "Take Me For A Little While" (Evie Sands), "You Keep Me Hangin' On" (Supremes), and "People Get Ready" (Curtis Mayfield). Donovan's haunting "Season Of The Witch" (from "Renaissance", 1968) and Junior Walker's explosive "Shotgun" ("Near the Beginning", 1969) also get rehashed. The new versions don't try to sound identical to the old ones but neither do they stray far from them: Imposing organ, heavy guitar, bombastic drumming and soulful vocals - just like in the 60's. Despite the fact that its material consisted of covers of contemporary pop hits, the Fudge's 1967 debut became the blueprint for many later hard rock bands. In the words of Jon Lord "When Deep Purple started, we just wanted to be the English Vanilla Fudge". It's obvious when you listen DP's first albums, with their organ-dominated Beatles and Donovan covers. The Fudge's "Return" opens likewise with classical-style organ leading to a heavy soul version of Marvin Gaye's "Ain't That Peculiar". Original compositions "Good Lovin'" and "Need Love" are more straight hard rock, with screaming guitar and organ and frantic drumming. They remind me of Free, Deep Purple and Uriah Heep. The latter song also sports some nice Jon Lord/Ray Manzarek style Hammond. Rod Stewart's disco hit "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?" seemed to me like a curious choice when I heard it live. Little did I know that Carmine actually co-wrote the song, when he was Stewart's drummer back in the day. Whatever, suffice it to say that the Fudge's version kicks ass, with its trademark classical organ, torrential drums, funky bass, heavy guitar, David Coverdale-style lead vocals and Kiss-like chorus. An ill-advised short rap section prevents it from being the album's highlight. That honor belongs to "Tearin' Up My Heart" which, I was surprised to learn, is a cover from boy-band 'N Sync. The Backstreet Boys also get a nod with "I Want It That Way". Now, you'd be excused to think that hard rock covers of such fare are done as a joke. But The Fudge treat them just as seriously as they did with "Hanging On", keeping the songs' melodic pop core and investing them with their familiar trappings. I guess they just figured that 'N Sync and Backstreet Boys are the modern-day Beatles and Supremes. Which is, sadly, kinda true. Anyway, the end result justifies their odd cover choices. It's always pointless to compare classic rock groups to their 60's or 70's heyday, but it's safe to say that Vanilla Fudge can still look their old selves in the eye - metaphorically of course, doing it literally would pose a problem. Fans of classic rock and 60's psychedelia won't find much to complain about here - and, for my part, any album featuring Carmine Appice's drumming is worth hearing - the man is a good candidate for rock's best drummer ever. He'd probably lose the title to Keith Moon or John Bonham, but he's got one big advantage on them: He's still breathing - at 68, he's actually already lived more than both of them combined.

**** for You Keep Me Hangin' On, Tearin' Up My Heart, Shotgun, Season Of The Witch, Do Ya Think I'm Sexy

*** for Ain't That Peculiar, People Get Ready, Take Me For A Little While, Good Lovin', I Want It That Way, Need Love, She's Not There, Tearing Up My Heart (Psychedelic Radio Edit)