Gogol Bordello – Solidaritine 2022****

Yesterday I went to Tilburg NL to see Gogol Bordello play live, for the 2nd time. The first time I saw the band play was  16 years ago, when I was still living in Athens Greece. I was swept away by their energy, and became an instant fan. Now, with half of the original members gone, and with a much bigger back catalogue to choose from, I wondered what I should expect. Well, I needn't worry: Eugene Hutz still is a charismatic and energetic frontman, and the band keeps up well: hyperkinetic rapper/percussionist Pedro Erazo riled up the crowd even more; of course Eugene's trusted lieutenant Sergey Ryabtsev on violin still cuts an impressive figure, while special mention must be made for new girl Erica Mancini on accordion. Filling up the stage even more, and adding to the party atmosphere with their backing vocals and dancing were the two ladies from young New York band Puzzled Panther. All in all a fantastic night, full of joyous energy. Eugene didn't resolve to preaching, letting his politically charged lyrics do the talking; there was the Solidaritine emblem with the fist painted in Ukrainian colors, and the moving song "Solidarity" -not included in the Solidaritine LP reviewed here- which was written for Ukraine together with other artists; that was enough. Interestingly, the setlist was heavily based on older material; about one-third came from Gypsy Punks: Underdog World Strike, only party anthem "Fire On Ice Floe" from Solidaritne, and nothing from the two albums that immediately preceded it. I guess this further signifies a return to their punk roots, something many reviewers noticed when their latest album first arrived. Also of note: support band Split Dogs was a good fit; these Bristolians sound very similar to Amyl And The Sniffers, and have a likewise dynamic singer/frontwoman. Originally the support band was to be Bob Vylan, but they are banned from Tilburg's 013 Poppodium for being too controversial. Now, let's proceed with the album presentation:

I've always loved to see bands combine the energy and politics of punk rock with the exuberance of folk music; I think The Pogues did it first, paving the way for many other Celtic punk bands (Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, The Mahones etc,). Joe Strummer added Latin elements to his records, followed by Mano Negra, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs and others. And of course there are those who combine punk rock with Balkan music, like Kultur Shock and No Smoking Orchestra. The latter included award-winning director Emir Kusturica - their raucous concert on Lycabettus theater in Greece was my introduction to gypsy punk, but Gogol Bordello would become my favorite band in this style. Unlike all the previous, Gogol Bordello come from the USA - but really from all over the place. Their immigrant origins are an important part of their identity, together of course with their leader Eugene Hütz's Ukrainian Roma background. Apparently, his family left their village after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, relocating to Kiev first, then spending seven years in various refugee camps in Poland, Hungary, Austria and Italy, before arriving in Vermont USA in 1992 through a refugee resettlement program. Soon Eugene (born Yevhen Oleksandrovych Nikolaiev-Symonov) left for the great melting pot of New York where he would hook up with like-minded spirits; other members originally came from Russia, Israel, China, Ecuador, Brazil, and of course the US. Next to electric guitars, the band also make prominent use of the violin, accordion, sax and various percussive instruments. Their 8th album Solidaritine was recorded during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and although most of the songs were already written when the war broke out they seem to form a response it. Opener "Shot Of Solidaritine" introduces the central theme of the album, this mysterious essence that lies dormant in most people but is sorely needed in these difficult times. Gogol suggest that a therapeutic dose of this miracle drug could unite people in solidarity and help them cure the world from its ills. Starting with a strummed acoustic guitar, the song quickly works up a furious punk tempo; this is generally one of the band's fastest, punkiest albums. "Focus Coin" is a Rancid-like ska punk party tune, and "Blueprint" a cover of legendary Washington DC punks Fugazi, albeit with a ska rhythm, chanted vocals and violin. In another nod to his punk roots, Eugene invited H.R. (of Bad Brains) to guest on "The Era of the End of Eras", a fast rocker with sweeping violin. Ukrainian artists Serhiy Zhadan and Kazka guest on “Take Only What You Can Carry”  and “Forces of Victory”, two songs addressing the war in their homeland. The former is about the uprooting of people in wars. The lyrics can be heartbreaking, but there's nothing defeatist about it; along with the description of loss comes a small celebrational note in the form of the upbeat music and the hopeful conclusion "I'm not on the list of the dead". “Forces of Victory”, introduced with a swirling violin, is an older Gogol song, sung here in Ukrainian except for the chorus "I can't go on, I will go on". "I’m Coming Out" is a light-hearted, more rhythmic tune with snap-like instrumentation. Together with "Knack for Life" they slow the pace somewhat, while "The Great Hunt of Idiot Savant" and "My Imaginary Son" alternate mid-paced Balkan folk with punk. "Fire on Ice Floe" and "Gut Guidance" are upbeat party/ska tunes. The album closes with yet another punk-folk dynamite "Huckleberry Generation", Ramones-like both in pace and brevity. Reviewers commented that the Russian invasion of Eugene's homeland seems to have re-energized Gogol Bordello, resulting in a furiously paced return to their punk roots. I'd say their passion shows, though I'm not sure that the harder sound is directly connected to the war. I'd say that, after introducing Latin elements in Trans-Continental Hustle, which found the band living in Brazil, they sort of continued on auto-pilot: Pura Vida Conspiracy and Seekers and Finders, found the band in San Antonio Texas, still under Latin American influence. There was no lack of good tunes on those albums, but it probably was time to shake it up a bit. Solidaritine took them back to where they started, recording once again in New York and other East Coast places; probably their chosen music style here reflects their new surroundings as much as a more resolute political stance.

***** for Take Only What You Can Carry, Fire On Ice Floe

**** for Shot Of Solidaritine, Focus Coin, Blueprint, I’m Coming Out, My Imaginary Son, Forces Of Victory, Gut Guidance

*** for The Era Of The End Of Eras, Knack For Life, The Great Hunt Of Idiot Savant, Huckleberry Generation

The Golliwogs "Pre-Creedence" 1964-1967 (rec) 1975 (comp)****

Last summer I saw John Fogerty with his band (including his sons, Shane and Tyler) play a set full of great Creedence oldies. It was a celebratory occasion, seeing as he had just won in a 50-year struggle to regain ownership of his on songs. It was almost 10 years from the last time I saw him play, again at Ansterdam's Ziggo Dome, and I was once again surprised at how young he still sounds - and even looks, considering he's just turned 80. One more pleasant, as well as unexpected, surprise: the retrospective went further back than any other time, even including "Fight Fire", a garage rocker from his pre-Creedence time, when the band was still called The Golliwogs. His son (Tyler I think, the one with the moustache anyway) took center stage on that one, singing lead and playing the maracas. I don't know why John didn't sing it himself. Maybe because it was his brother/bandmate Tom who initially handled the vocals on this one? In those days they still shared group leadership.

I first heard "Fight Fire" in late 80's or early 90's, and that was a cover version by The Chesterfield Kings. It was decades later that I learned of the connection between the original band and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Still later, I learned that The Golliwogs had also recorded early versions of Creedence tracks like "Porterville" and "Walking On The Water", and I decided that I should search for their record. Indeed there was a posthumous LP called Pre-Creedence, which collects all of their 7' singles (recorded between 1964-1967). At some point, I came across a copy at a record fair. When I saw it, my first thought was: why does the cover depict an egg? If this was a compilation of pre-Byrds tracks, that might make sense (p.s. there is such a comp, it's called Preflyte (sic); but that's another story).  And then, immediately, I asked myself what is a golliwog anyway? Wikipedia provided, as usual, the answer "The golliwog is a doll-like character, created by cartoonist and author Florence Kate Upton, which appeared in children's books in the late 19th century, usually depicted as a type of rag doll. It was reproduced as a very popular soft toy... The golliwog is controversial, being widely considered a racist caricature of black people". Well, now at least I know why this comp doesn't feature actual golliwogs on the cover. A picture of the band would also have been a preferable choice, but by the time of this release (1975) they weren't on speaking terms any more, so maybe that had something to do with it. The roots of the band go back to the late 50's, when three highschool kids from El Cerrito, California (John Fogerty, Doug Clifford, and Stu Cook) bonded over their love for New Orleans-style rock & roll, forming a band called The Blue Velvets. After the addition of John's older brother Tom as lead singer and guitarist, they started an upwards course, leading to a contract with Fantasy Records. The label's co-owner changed their name to The Golliwogs; the first couple of singles were Beatles pastiches, each featuring an upbeat pop side ("Don't Tell Me No Lies", "You Came Walking") and a ballad side ("Little Girl", "Where You Been"). That was nevertheless not the way to go, and soon the band took a more earthy direction: "You Can't Be True" is a tough R&B number with lots of harmonica, and "You Got Nothin' On Me" is Chuck Berry-style rock-'n-roll. "You Better Be Careful" is a moody Zombies-like garage pop, and "Fight Fire" a Yardbirds/Stones-inspired garage dynamite. All the aforementioned tracks feature Tom on lead vocals, but as time went by John's talent as songwriter, singer and guitarist began to eclipse that of his older brother. He's first heard here on the last track of Side One: "Brown-Eyed Girl" is a tough Animals-style blues rocker, and the band's most successful single - if by success one means reaching No.10 at the regional charts in Miami FL. "Fragile Child" is poppier, but still exhibits a band further distancing itself from the British Invasion sound. The next single "Walking On The Water / You Better Get It Before It Gets You" is recognizable as Creedence, and not only because the former was re-recorded (slightly slowed down) for their debut LP with the new name. It just has that swampy blues style and John Fogerty growl that would form the basis of the familiar Creedence Clearwater Revival sound. The last single (swampy soul rockers "Porterville" and "Call It Pretending") is CCR in all by name. It's credited to all four band members, while previous singles were credited to the two brothers only. Having perfected their own unique style, CCR went on to record six albums of new music in the next three years, play Woodstock, and tour Europe. Embittered to be sidelined in his own band, Tom left the band early in 1971. The rest released a seventh LP as a trio (Mardi Gras, 1972) and split acrimoniously soon after. Having been duped into signing a very exploitative contract with Fantasy Records, John Fogerty subsequently lost his publishing rights to label boss Saul Zaentz; it even got to the point that Zaentz took him to court because his new songs sounded too much like his old ones i.e. for plagiarizing himself. For many years, Fogerty refused to play his old songs publicly, because every time he did so it meant that he would have to pay royalties to his old boss, which he couldn't stand. The road back was long and tortuous, but seeing the man play his songs alongside his sons, reveling in the fact that he at last owns his life's work was an uplifting experience.

***** for Fight Fire, Walking On The Water

**** for You Can't Be True, You Got Nothin' On Me, Brown-Eyed Girl, You Better Be Careful, 

Fragile Child,  Better Get It Before It Gets You, Porterville, Call It Pretending

*** for Don't Tell Me No Lies, Little Girl (Does Your Mama Know?), Where You Been, You Came Walking

The Fuzztones "Friends & Fiends" 2024***

As I may have mentioned, I've been a big Fuzztones fan since my teens, so when I saw this (unknown, to me) LP at Amoeba Records in LA, I had to grab it and fly it back home to The Netherlands. It didn't matter that all of the songs were covers, because this is what The Fuzztones have always done: dig up obscure 60's gems and infuse them with their own esseence, at times even improving on the originals. This is what they do on the first track here "Strange Mysterious Sound" originally by The Spike Drivers (1967), a ghostly psychedelic track reminiscent of The Doors with an Electric Prunes-like guitar solo. From here on, though, things get weird. In the liner notes, Rudi writes about the artists he loved growing up and how lucky he has been to meet and share a stage with some of them, but most of the collaborations included here are obviously not real. It's not clear whether the Fuzztones ever played with  81-year old Ann Margret on the same-named track of her Born To Be Wild LP, or -more probably- just laid down a backing track for her to sing over. But their working method for the rest of the album seems pretty obvious: they sample vocals from older recordings and paste them over their own instrumental versions. The results are invariably fun, but this reverse karaoke thing seems pointless. I mean, I like The Fuzztones' playing here, but I'd prefer to listen to Rudi sing these songs rather than old vocal samples. I tried to get information on the origin of the vocals, with little success; for example The Grass Roots' "Let's Live For Today" comes from a various artists LP utilizing 1997 re-recordings of Grassroots hits by original singer Rob Grill (R.I.P. 2011). The Fuzztones have played with Screaming Jay Hawkins (R.I.P. 2000) in the past, and even released a live mini-LP together in '85, but their versions of "I Put a Spell On You" and "What Good Is It" use a vocal from 1972, according to discogs. Oldies like "Mary Lou" (With Sonny Burgess, R.I.P. 2017) and "Ain't Got No Home" (With Clarence 'Frogman' Henry, R.I.P. 2024) deviate little from the originals, while Association's sunshine pop hit "Windy" adds a groovy organ bit. It's not clear whether the vocal belongs to original lead singer Larry Ramos Jr. (R.I.P. 2014) or the current line-up. I quite like how the Fuzztones rework Blue Cheer's proto-metal cover of "Summertime Blues" to incorporate their own riff from "In Heat". Not sure whether the vocal belongs to original singer Dickie Peterson (R.I.P. 2009). No such doubts for their dirty blues version of "Messin' With the Kid" (with Junior Wells, R.I.P. 1998) containing, I believe, another recycled Fuzztones riff which I can't quite place right now. "Kicks" featuring Mark Lindsay from Paul Revere & The Raiders. Lindsay (alive and kicking at 83) has shared a stage with The Fuzztones in the past, but the provenance of this specific vocal is unknown. Last but not least, the LP closes with a cover of "Can Your Pussy Do the Dog?" taken from a 2023 Cramps tribute LP - the two bands were friendly when they were both part of the New York CBGB scene, and I remember Rudi telling us during a gig that he got his guitar from The Cramps' Brian Gregory (R.I.P. 2001). Friends And Fiends is a limited release: 250 copies in "coke bottle green" colored vinyl, 500 (mine included) in orange. The cover artwork features skeletons and zombies of sixties rockers rising from their graves - a variation on a theme Rudi seems to love, which is in this case only too appropriate, what with so many voices from beyond the grave. I will not deny that it makes for an entertaining listen, but I think it's a big misstep from one of my favorite bands. I never thought that Rudi would stoop as low as Paul McCartney did when he used old Lennon vocal samples and presented them as a "collaboration" without his dead former bandmate's consent. I just hope that Rudi that he'll use his own voice next time, or at least duet with a living person.

**** for Strange Mysterious Sound, Summertime Blues (With Blue Cheer), I Put a Spell On You (With Screamin' Jay Hawkins), Messin' With the Kid (With Junior Wells)

*** for Let's Live for Today (With the Grass Roots), Born to Be Wild (With Ann-Margret), Kicks (With Mark Lindsay), Mary Lou (With Sonny Burgess), Windy (With the Association), Ain't Got No Home (With Clarence 'Frogman' Henry), What Good Is It? (With Screamin' Jay Hawkins), Can Your Pussy Do The Dog?

Paul McCartney "Back in the World-Live" 2003***

With the exception of the famous rooftop performance for the Let It Be film in '69, The Beatles stopped playing live pretty early in their career, in '66. Even before that, they struggled to be heard above the legions of screaming fans. Their small live legacy consists of some live-at-the-BBC-studio recordings, plus Live At The Hollywood Bowl and Live At The Star Club Hamburg - all displaying their early pop/rockabilly side. The relevant performances aren't bad, but nothing special either. Since the band broke up, John and Ringo have barely ever played any Beatles songs live, and George has stuck to his own compositions for the band. So it fell to Paul to keep the Lennon/McCartney songbook alive. Only, in this case the billing is reversed: instead of Lennon/McCartney, here the songwriting credit goes to McCartney/Lennon. According to Paul, he only reversed the credit on songs written by him (the songwriting team had agreed to share credit 50/50 regardless of each song's principal songwriter). For this specific live album, mostly culled from his 2002 US tour, two thirds of the setlist is comprised by Beatles songs. Which makes it probably the closest one can get to a true Beatles live album. Is this how they would sound like at the beginning of the 21st century? Who knows, really? Truth is, there are Beatles tribute bands out there which sound more than the original than Paul's band does. I can't tell if that's a good or a bad thing though. Would I prefer hearing Paul play with John, George, and Ringo impersonators? Honestly, probably yes. But that would have been a tribute band rather than Paul McCartney and his band. As it is, he doesn't get overly creative with the arrangements: songs either sound similar to the originals ("Hello, Goodbye", "All My Loving", "Fool On The Hill"), or starker ("We Can Work It Out", the ukulele version of George's "Something"). John's harmonies are notably absent at times. When harmonies are evident, as in "Getting Better" and "Hey Jude", they have a more soul/gospel feel. Then, of course, you have the classic McCartneyesque ballads ("Blackbird", "Yesterday", "Michelle") which were very stark and fragile to begin with. Somehow, these never sound great in a live setting. Orchestral arrangements on "Eleanor Rigby", "She's Leaving Home", and "The Long and Winding Road" are replicated; presumeably the orchestral parts are played on the synthesizer. Songs from Let It Be are among the best, with small differences adding to rather than subtracting from the song: some jazz piano on "The Long and Winding Road", sax on "Lady Madonna", an electric guitar solo on "Let It Be". The upbeat rockabilly-ish songs are loads of fun to listen to even if they don't deviate much from the originals ("Can't Buy Me Love", "Back in the U.S.S.R.", "I Saw Her Standing There"). The inclusion of a forgotten Beatles track ("Mother Nature's Son" from 1968's White Album) is a pleasant surprise. Three tracks taken from his then current solo LP Driving Rain ("Lonely Road", "Driving Rain", "Your Loving Flame") sound relatively weak among such company. Conversely, songs from 1973's Band On The Run ("Jet", "Let Me Roll It", "Band on the Run") still sound great. Other notable performances include the funky "Coming Up" (from McCartney II, 1980), "Maybe I'm Amazed" (from solo debut McCartney, 1970), and James Bond theme "Live and Let Die" (1973). There's also a poignant tribute to John Lennon composed shortly after his death ("Here Today" from Tug of War, 1982) while the CD closes majestically with "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End". Back In The World is the international counterpart of 2002's Back In The US : it subtracts "C Moon" and "Freedom", replacing them with four tracks recorded in Mexico and Japan and uses a different performance of "Hey Jude", recorded in Mexico instead of New York. As a souvenir for Beatles fans, it's rather frustrating: on one hand, this is the closest one gets to listening to The Beatles live in the 21st century. On the other, it's disappointingly pedestrian. But who's to say that, had they stayed together and resumed performing, The Beatles would have been a great live band? Unfortunately, nothing except their crazy pre-fame Hamburg days points to that. Maybe it would have been better for McCartney to avoid comparisons altogether and stick to his solo stuff. But these songs deserve to be played live - and who's better equipped to do it than him?

**** for Hello Goodbye, Jet, Coming Up, Let Me Roll It, You Never Give Me Your Money/Carry That Weight, The Fool on the Hill, Eleanor Rigby, Here There and Everywhere, Michelle, Band on the Run, Back in the U.S.S.R., Maybe I'm Amazed, She's Leaving Home, Can't Buy Me Love, Live and Let Die, Let It Be, Hey Jude, The Long and Winding Road, Lady Madonna, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band/The End

*** for All My Loving, Getting Better, Lonely Road, Blackbird, Every Night, Mother Nature's Son, Here Today, Calico Skies, Let 'Em In, My Love, I Saw Her Standing There, Yesterday

** for Driving Rain, Your Loving Flame, We Can Work It Out, Something