The Lemonheads "Lovey" 1990***

Like most people I discovered The Lemonheads with 1992's It's A Shame About Ray, one of the quintessential 90's indie rock albums featuring, among other songs, a power pop version of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs Robinson". Little did I know they had already 4 albums behind them tracking a course from post-hardcore punk to melodic jangle pop, and shedding band members on the way until Evan Dando was the only original member left. The transformation would be complete by the time of "...Ray", but here the band still featuring original bassist Jesse Peretz (currently a film/TV director) and guitar hero Corey "Loog" Brennan (currently a professor of classical studies) is in transition. Dando's love of melody takes the upper hand on lead single "Half the Time" (the blueprint for his future MTV hits: Byrds-like melody, emotional "wounded" vocals and distorted guitars), as well as power ballad "Ride With Me" and a cover of Gram Parson's country ballad "Brass Buttons". Opener "Ballarat" is a more muscular affair, loud and grungey but never devoid of melody. As with other of the heavier tracks, I'm reminded of Dinosaur Jr. "Stove" is catchy punk-pop and "Come Downstairs" a combination of the aforementioned styles. "Year Of The Cat" starts with an acoustic intro before straying in punk-pop/grunge territory. "Li'l Seed" is more atypical, a pro-weed anthem with shredding guitar, co-written with "professor" Brennan and reminiscent of The Wipers. Brennan's other contribution is "(The) Door", starting as another power ballad but escalating in the kind of metallic solos I would never have associated with The Lemonheads. Last but not least, "Left for Dead" is a pleasant punky tune based on a song by the infamous mass murderer Charles Manson and previously recorded by The Lemonheads under the title "Clang Bang Clang". Admittedly this album sounds somewhat awkward in its attempt to combine the new sensitive and melodic indie direction with the band's heavier past (it's telling that Atlantic totally ignored it when they compiled "The Best Of Lemonheads"). They'd settle into a better fitting and more commercial sound in the future, but it's the mix of all those disparate elements that make "Lovey" worth listening to now. Without them it'd just be an inferior Shame About Ray clone, and would want to listen to that? 

**** for Half the Time, Stove, Brass Buttons, (The) Door

*** for Ballarat, Year of the Cat, Ride With Me, Li'l Seed, Left for Dead

** for Come Downstairs

Prins Obi "Prins Obi And The Dream Warriors" 2018***

As I've probably written before, I left Athens behind a decade ago to settle in The Netherlands. I used to follow the local scene very closely from the late 80's until the early 00's. Back then we learned about gigs from posters around Exarchia or flyers at our favourite bars. Bands gigged for years before they got a 7' single out, and later an LP or CD. No way would you browse the Greek Rock section at a record store and think "just who are these guys?" because you would have already seen them play live - if not supporting a foreign act at Rodon, then at the AN Club, or the indie free festival at Pedio Tou Areos or one of the anarchist's squats like Villa Amalias. At some point during the early 00's this seems to have changed: people began hearing about bands from facebook and watching them on youtube, while the next decade had even bigger changes in store: financial and political crisis, austerity and deep recession rocked the foundations of Greek society. Which, amazingly, didn't seem to hurt the local scene: maybe the monstrous (above 50% at the crisis' height) youth unemployement turned young people away from futile career hunts towards self-expression. The closing of big record shop chains and relative withdrawal of major labels left the field open to indie record shops and labels run by people motivated more by a passion for music rather than for profit. One of them is Inner Ear Records, which has released a great many albums by local indie bands in the last years. Based on the ones I've heard, it seems that the new scene is more open and genre-defying, experimental and introverted. Many many hours playing with recording software, I suspect, not so many playing in front of an audience. Look at this guy Prins Obi: apparently he's got 3 solo albums out plus 5 more as a member of Baby Guru, but in all my visits to Greece I never caught a whiff of them playing anywhere. Or maybe he did, and I just wasn't paying attention?

His new band Dream Warriors gathers musicians from different groups including Chickn who I presented some months ago in this blog. Their music falls broadly under the neo-psychedelic category, though it's by no means the usual Nuggets-style 60's revival stuff (nothing wrong with that, of course!). Side 1 is closer to, say, Ty Segall in its eclectic incorporation of elements from psychedelia, punk and glam. "Concentration" for example reminds me of Iggy Pop circa '77, "Fingers" of Marc Bolan, while "Flower Child (Reprise)" and "Astral Lady Blues" are heavier (think Monster Magnet albeit without the superhuman testosterone levels). "Negative People" similarly starts as heavy drone music, but surprises you with a Greek chorus (by which I mean a song chorus sung in Greek, not a tragedy troupe) right out of the country's cult 70's hippie past (i.e. Nostradamos, Poll etc). They continue to explore this hitherto uncool direction on side 2 with two more Greek songs ("Δίνη" [Vortex] and "Αδαμάντινα Φτερά" [Diamond Wings]). This side is generally lighter and more whimsical, reminiscent of 60's UK pop psych - e.g. in "Sally Jupinero" I hear traces of Nirvana - not Kurt Cobain's band of course, but the one with Patrick Campbell-Lyons and Alex Spyropoulos. "Guilty Pleasure Theme" made me happy by echoing Greece's topmost (90's) psych heroes Purple Overdose with its organ and swirling Eastern melodies, while the closing "Wide Open" is a simple -for once- piano melody. A very pleasant record despite the jumble of influences, it compares favorably to any neo-psychedelic album produced in this decade. It may be a tad too smart for it's own good though, so I'll give it 3* for now and reserve another* until I see how it all translates in a live setting. You can listen to the whole album or buy it here.

**** for Flower Child (Reprise), Δίνη, Guilty Pleasure Theme

*** for Concentration, Negative People / Άμοιρε Άνθρωπε, Astral Lady Blues, Fingers, Αδαμάντινα Φτερά, Sally Jupinero, For Absent Friend, Wide Open

Cocky "Twelve Inches Of Cocky" 1976***

I found this record at my neighbourhood thriftshop (or, as we say here in Holland, "kringloopwinkel"). Nowadays you can scarcely find any good LP records in them, people don't give them away because they think vinyl is the new black gold. But someone did unload his collection of 60's/70's novelty records, including a few Bonzo Dog Band albums as well as this one by an unknown to me band called Cocky. The title 12 Inches Of Cocky "sounds a bit rude" as they say. Many of the songs are of a similar slightly naughty nature, which took me back to my first experience with British humor The Benny Hill Show, which aired on the state TV channel (we had no other kind) when I was a kid. Side 2 opens with a faithful cover of Bonzo Dog's "Jollity Farm", and if you're familiar with the original you will know what to expect from this album: a similar mix of country, trad jazz and music hall with a dash of Monty Python-esque humour. Country instrumental "Dallas Rag" is followed by Phil Ochs' anti-war satire "Draft Dodger Rag" which is played for maximum laughs, while another familiar tune is their jaunty version of jazz standard "Sheik Of Araby" (in which for some reason the chorus gleefully repeats "with no pants on"). Country folk and music hall tunes make up most of the rest, as well as some blues (Leadbelly's "Keep Your Hands Off Her", "Maggie Campbell", "You Can't Leave Me Now") though always played fast an' feisty. Side One closes with "Medley À La Cocky" comprised by "Five Foot Two Eyes Of Blue/ Ain't She Sweet/ When You're Smiling". The internet, for once, doesn't reveal much information on the band so we'll have to make do with what little info is available on the album's back cover. The members are: Kevan (dobro, guitar, harp, bass, shiny banjo, well-scrubbed pine tables), Keith (guitar, base, madolin, jews harp), Clive (guitar, ukelele, bass, jug) and Mal (washboard, wooden bits and brass round things on sticks). It was "Recorded at Riverside Studios with the help of David Le-Neve Foster. Produced by Dave 'Hot Licks' Peabody." It has never been re-released on either CD or vinyl.

*** for Cocaine Habit, I'm Satisfied With My Gal, You Can't Leave Me Now, Medley À La Cocky, Supper At The Ritz, Draft Dodger Rag, Maggie Campbell, Sheik Of Araby

** for Keep Your Hands Off Her, Astor, Side By Side, Jollity Farm, Dallas Rag, Somebody Stole My Wife

Harry Muskee Band "Love Vendetta" 1977****

Rather unknown internationally, Harry Muskee was a living legend in The Netherlands. He came from the north of the country, where he was especially loved - in his native province of Drenthe, as well as in neighbouring Groningen, which is where I lived in 2011 when his death was reported in the local media. Only then did I realize how popular a figure he was: more than the leader of 60's stalwarts Cuby & The Blizzards, he was the embodiment of the Blues to his fellow countrymen. In their minds, at least, Muskee was as much an authentic bluesman as Muddy Waters. Skin colour or nationality had nothing to do with it - and, indeed, why should they? He did serve the blues faithfully for decades. Like his British counterpart Alexis Korner, he started from trad jazz but decided to turn to the blues after listening to John Lee Hooker for the first time. In 1964, he founded beat/blues band Cuby And The Blizzards, whose music was more or less similar to contemporary British Blues Boom bands like John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, Yardbirds, Animals, Savoy Brown etc. They proved to be quite successful, while an early incarnation of the band featured future Dutch rock star Herman Brood on keyboards. They broke up in 1972, with Muskee forming other units before reverting to the more successful Blizzards name. "Love Vendetta" was the only LP he made under the Harry Muskee Band moniker. Something of a lost classic, it appears to have never been re-released. More pop/rock-oriented than his previous records, it opens with the upbeat "Devil Daisy" with soul horns and female backing vocals, somewhat reminiscent of mid-70's Rolling Stones. It was the album's first single, followed by "Mr. Cool" sporting a Country-meets-Southern Soul vibe. Another popular album track was "Victor". For some reason, and despite the bluesy instrumentation, this reminds me of Cockney Rebel. "Claws" and "Bad News" are typical, Eric Clapton-style, blues rockers, and "Piece of Mind" a nice instrumental. "Solid Sender" and "Love Vendetta" are atmospheric slow blues with emotive guitar (played by Bernard Reinke). Probably my favourite songs on the record, thanks to their smoky late night vibe. An album that's definitely worth saving from obscurity, highly recommended for fans of Clapton, Joe Cocker, J.J.Cale, Chris Rea, Eric Burdon etc.

**** for Devil Daisy, Victor, Solid Sender, Love Vendetta, Bad News

*** for Claws, Mr.Cool, Piece of Mind