ZZ Top "Fandango!" 1975****

Dusty Hill's demise a couple of months ago was another unexpected rock'n'roll death this year. I was curious to see whether the band would continue without him - ZZ Top were one of a few bands that remained consistently together, they haven't had any personnel changes for 50 years. As it turned out, the band didn't even pause, immediately replacing Hill with longtime associate Elwood Francis and going ahead with 2021 tour dates as planned. As far as I can tell, the same is happening with every other band that recently lost a founding member without whom they are difficult for us to imagine: The Stranglers also replaced keyboardist Dave Greenfield who died from COVID-19 early in the pandemic -  Jean-Jacques Burnel is now the sole original member left. At least the new tour is called Final Full UK Tour, indicating they might retire soon (though the "UK" and "full" prefixes leave a lot open on that front). Charlie Watts' death did not seem to bother The Rolling Stones too much, their tour also going ahead as planned. I seem to remember Keith Richards very clearly stating: "Without  Mick, Charlie or me there isn't any Rolling Stones", half-jokingly leaving Ron Wood out as he's the "new boy", having only been in the band for 45 years. To make myself clear... I wouldn't want bands to retire after losing a member. If you love the songs, you'll want to see them performed live even after the originators are gone. Hell, I was getting ready to go see Queen with Adam Lambert in Amsterdam - and then I saw the price of the ticket. Are you fucking kidding? not even if Freddy Mercury came back (well, maybe yes in that case, but not for any artist not supernaturally resurrected from the dead). But this haste to go out on tour seems to me somewhat indecent. Take some time to grieve folks, and let the fans also grieve. I guess it's the pandemic effect: 2 years without concerts were too much, and had everybody impatiently waiting for the doctors to allow big gatherings again. Still... ZZ Top could have waited a few months for Francis to grow a real beard in emulation to his predecessor, rather than wear a fake one in his first gig. What, did they hope no-one was going to notice?

Despite being rather uneven, Fandango! is one of my favorite ZZ Top records. I think the reason is "Blue Jean Blues". When I was young, in Greece the word "blues" did not denote a music genre: it just meant slow dancing, that dance where you wrap your arms around your partner's waist and hold her close to you, slowly swaying to the music. Consequently, a "blues song" was any song that could be slow-danced: Bonnie Tyler's "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was a blues, Muddy Waters' "Hoochie Coochie Man" wasn't. When I was 14 or 15, someone gave me a cassette with "blues" songs: it contained ballads by the Scorpions, Moody Blues etc. but also ZZ Top's "Blue Jean Blues". Sure, a couple could slow-dance to it, but the sadness of the music and expressiveness of the guitar solos put it on another plane altogether. It was my introduction to the real blues. Even if ZZ Top were never a pure blues band, they had incorporated the real thing into their music - even their name was inspired by legendary bluesman B.B. King. They then electrified it, and added some hard rock and country to create their own mix, doing for Texas what The Rolling Stones did for the UK - or, more correctly, for the world. 1975's Fandango! is a half-live half-studio affair, something that doesn't bode well for them. It says "I don't have enough songs for an LP but I've promised one to my record company, so I'll just record my set and use some of it to fill the album". Side 1 (the live one) opens with a couple of energetic rock'n'roll covers: The Nightcaps' "Thunderbird" and Elvis' "Jailhouse Rock". When the writers of the former song demanded a share of the profits, they found out they didn't own the rights to it: back in the 50's,  the Nightcaps, who were still in their teens at the time, had neglected to copyright it, so ZZ Top filed the copyright under their own names. That's followed by "Backdoor Medley" consisting of their own "Backdoor Love Affair" mixed with a couple of blues numbers: Little Walters' "Mellow Down Easy" and John Lee Hooker's "Long Distance Boogie". It sounds like it could be an entertaining interlude in the context of a ZZ Top concert, but not so much on record. "Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings" and "Balinese" are a couple of typical Southern boogie rockers, pleasant but forgettable. "Heard It On The X" is a great hard rock boogie about Mexican radio, and "Mexican Blackbird" a slower one in praise of a Mexican hooker. The things rock bands sang about in those pre-politically correct days! Good slide guitar, though! Saving the best for last, they close with one of their most infectious, good-time Southern rock tunes, called "Tush". I have this album on CD, which I'm told is a different mix to the original one - at least regarding the studio side. You'd have to get the deluxe 2006 CD edition or the 180gr vinyl reissue to listen to the LP the way it sounded originally - or, of course, get the original vinyl second hand. Listening to this again, I think the song sequencing doesn't serve it well at all. Especially on CD, you have to sit through the mildly interesting side 1 and mediocre side 2 opener before you encounter the disc's first highlight "Blue Jean Blues", while the other two very strong tracks are tucked away at the very end of the album. Still, on the strength of those 3 veritable classics, the album still merits a 4* rating, and a position among the band's Top 3. Which are the other two? Stay tuned...

***** for Blue Jean Blues, Tush

**** for Heard It On The X

*** for Thunderbird, Jailhouse Rock, Nasty Dogs And Funky Kings, Balinese, Mexican Blackbird

** for Backdoor Medley (Backdoor Love Affair/Mellow Down Easy/Backdoor Love Affair No.2/Long Distance Boogie)

 

Γενιά Του Χάους (Genia Tou Chaous=Chaos Generation) – "Genia Tou Chaous / Requiem" 1983-1989(rec) 1996(comp)****

Now here's something that reminds me of my student years. I narrowly missed seeing Genia Tou Chaous, along with other Greek first generation (early 80's) punk bands like Stress and Adiexodo. They had disbanded a few months before I got into the University and started going to punk concerts, but their music was still very popular at the time. Not so much in my college which was kind of preppy, but in the student haunts and underground clubs around Exarchia in downtown Athens. It was late '88 or early '89 when another first-year student gave me a cassette including songs from the aforementioned bands including selections from the holy grail of Greek punk, 1984 compilation Διατάραξη κοινής ησυχίας (Disturbing the peace). At the time I was familiar with some English and American punk bands, but not local ones - the reason being that radio stations were under state control and prohibited from playing this music, while the range of pirate radio was so small that in Nikaia, where I lived, it was impossible to get signal from Athens (10 km away) where they might be more open to "underground" bands.  When my friend asked me what I thought about Genia Tou Chaous, I said I liked the music and appreciated their political sensibilities, but I found their lyrics somewhat naïve and grotesque - I probably meant bleak, but couldn't find the right word. She was very disappointed because her punk friends thought of this album as Gospel. To fully understand what it meant to be a punk at that time and place, one must keep in mind that it was a highly politicized stance. People who just listened to The Sex Pistols and Ramones, which I also did, were not punks. Spiky hair or wearing safety pins was not punk by itself. Punks did have a fashion code, but they were also immersed in the anarchist movement. Music and fashion had, by that time, become complimentary to ideology. The whole thing started as a fashionable trend in the late 70's. There were a few punk boutiques at the trendy Plaka area near Acropolis, while the first bands came from middle class suburbs like Genia Tou Chaous' hometown, Agia Paraskevi. Working class suburbs like Nikaia were initially totally oblivious to punk. Concurrently, during the late 70's, there was a growing anarchist movement mostly around Exarchia Square and the Universities in the area. They were fighting increasingly violent clashes against police and fascists, but also against the communists who then dominated the universities and trade unions. The pivotal moment came in 1985, when 15-year old demonstrator Michalis Kaltezas was shot dead by police outside the Polytechnic School at Exarchia. The fact had a tremendous impact on many youths. I had the same age with Kaltezas, and it just blew my mind that a kid my age could get shot by a policeman - I actually had nightmares about it. It was a Them-Or-Us moment and it caused the punk and anarchist movements to merge, and the epicenter of punk to move from the boutiques and pubs to the squats and the streets - especially those of downtown Athens.

 

Now, when I said to my friend that I found Genia Tou Chaous' lyrics "naïve and grotesque" I may have been a bit harsh. They were also political and rebellious, just not in the organized way in which I was accustomed to: Nikaia had a communist mayor, and high school students marched in demonstrations together with our teachers, and under the protection of hardened Builders' Union members. Some of our classmates would peddle Communist Youth's weekly paper Odigitis (The Guider) at school (yes, they were ashamed of doing so, but they had quotas to fill). Plenty of room for anti-systemic rhetoric, but none for anarchy. The politics of Genia Tou Chaous seemed pretty uncooked to me: on album opener "Κοινωνικά Υποπροϊόντα" (Social By-products) they posed a societal division, but it wasn't the class one I knew: on the one side it was the punks and anarchists, whom I could sympathize with, but also all kinds of lumpen elements: junkies, whores, and criminals. The enemies were the State and its repression apparatus, the docile masses, and all political parties, especially those on the left. "Κοινωνικά Υποπροϊόντα" is the most openly political and most musically aggressive song on the album. Listening the CD again, there's less revolution than I remembered and more "poetic" doom and gloom: the bleak and alienated worldview of self-proclaimed misfits, though nothing too strange for teens going through a pessimistic and rebellious phase. Musically, with hindsight, I hear many similarities to Californian punk: Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Adolescents, early Bad Religion and -especially- early Christian Death. There's certainly a strong Gothic influence, especially in the theatrical and desperate vocals, as well as a hardcore and metal one. Songs 1-12 consist of the band's 1986 eponymous debut Genia Tou Chaous, plus an acoustic demo of "Stigma" recorded in 1983, a few months after the band's formation. The dramatic vocals on the latter track remind me less of punk groups, and more of Orthodox church psalms - makes me wonder whether these punks had spent some time as altar boys. Other, typically punk, songs like "Ψυχρές Τοξίνες" (Cold Toxins) and "Καμμιά Ελπίδα" (No Hope) are notable for their irresistible shouted refrains, while some alternate an aggressive lead vocal with a melodic one - usually by more voices singing harmonies. Another notable track is "Τα Παράσημα Του Παραδείσου" (The Medals Of Paradise), featuring a long keyboard intro followed by a nice metallic riff and the aforementioned vocal combination. I also quite like the dark and slow eponymous track "Γενιά Του Χάους" (Chaos Generation), despite the dismal lyrics (they literally sing "life has turned into shit", c'mon, anyone can do better than that!). Album number two Requiem was recorded in 1989, shortly before the band broke up. The guitars display a thrash metal influence, the lyrics are more wordy and less directly political but in the same dark and gloomy style. The vocals remain ultra-dramatic, straining to fit all the words. Greek isn't the best language for rock, much less when you're trying to sing a poem or mini-manifesto. The undisputed highlight of Requiem is "Ο Χορός Της Σιωπής" (The Silent Dance), a speedy tune with a catchy refrain presented here in two (not too dissimilar) versions. My other two choices are also fast and simple, "Αργά Το Βράδυ" (Late At Night) and ''Για Τώρα Και Για Πάντα" (For Now And Forever). On the whole, the second album is rather more mature and better played, but I slightly prefer the immediacy of the first. This CD contains them both but is burdened with a huge omission: their best-known song -arguably Greek punk's best moment- "Μπασταρδοκρατία" (Bastardocracy) remains available only as part of the, now very rare, Διατάραξη κοινής ησυχίας (Disturbing the peace) compilation. A second, less important, foul is replacing the original artwork with the one you see here. Still, it's a piece of history and this CD is a must have for anyone interested in Greek punk/alternative rock - especially since the original vinyl LPs are so rare.

***** for Κοινωνικά Υποπροϊόντα (Social Byproducts), Ψυχρές Τοξίνες (Cold Toxins), Ο Χορός Της Σιωπής (The Silent Dance)

**** for Γενιά Του Χάους (Chaos Generation), Στίγμα (Stigma - 1983 demo), Καμμιά Ελπίδα (No Hope), Τα Παράσημα Του Παραδείσου (The Medals Of Paradise), Στίγμα (Stigma), Αργά Το Βράδυ (Late At Night), Για Τώρα Και Για Πάντα (For Now And Forever), Ο Χορός Της Σιωπής (The Silent Dance - demo)

*** for Ηλίθια Αθώοι (Stupidly Innocents), Λύτρωση (Redemption), Πόσο Μακριά (How Far), Μαύρο Το Χρώμα Της Στέρησης (Black-The Color of Deprivation), Εισαγωγή Στο Ρέκβιεμ (Introduction To Requiem),Αμόκ (Amok), Κραχ (Crash), Ρέκβιεμ (Requiem), Το Μύνημα Της Ήττας (The Message Of Defeat), Δόγμα (Dogma), Αυτός Ο Κόσμος - Θάνατος (This World-Death)

** for Προκατακλυσμιαίες Εικόνες (Precataclysmic Images), Παροξυσμός (Frenzy - demo), Άγγελοι Χωρίς Φτερά (Angels Without Wings)