Posted on

Big Audio Dynamite–645

ALBUM: This is Big Audio Dynamite (1985)

MVC Rating: 4.9/$$:

This is really interesting. Mick Jones, exiled from the Clash, in 1985 decided to go avant disco hip-hop with a pinch of Zappa discordant sauce. Some of it is interesting, as I said, some is not so listenable.

I don’t mean that in a totally negative way. I admire the exploration. Big Audio Dynamite was looking for the next big bang.

Here’s how I’d describe one (or more) song passages: Gunshots amid the Ennio Morricone whip-snaps, guitar strums and radio free Europe  broadcasts burst out of looping ska-like background music. Whew. What does that mean. Almost got to hear it to believe it.

One thing I would have nixed if I was in studio: drum machines. Already program-y sounding, the machine powered drums push it too close to ready made.

‘Sudden Impact’ and BAD are songs where the band’s vision comes together for fully functional and interesting dance music. Kind of like a funked-up Sandinista sound. If you don’t have Sandinista the near genius mish-mash by the Clash, I’d go there before you go here.

This came out in 1985 so I probably bought this from Chuck at the alternative WUXTRY in Birmingham.

From BAD on the album:

These are the things that drive me crazy

These are the things that make me mad

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

Posted on

Chuck Berry Rocks, Except When He Sings of His Ding-A-Ling– 647, 646

ALBUMS:The Great Twenty-Eight (1982), The London Chuck Berry Sessions. (1972).

MVC Rating:  Great 28 5.0/$$$$; London Sessions 3.0/ $$$

What I have here are two Chuck Berry albums. One is his worst. And the other is his best.

The worst: ‘The London Chuck Berry Sessions’ features the song: ‘My Ding-a-Ling.’

My what?

My Ding-a-Ling

No, not mine. It’s his …bad little sing-along, ding-a-ling song and he has to live with it or would be had he not died earlier this year. RIP.

For the good stuff, we go to the ‘Great Twenty-Eight’, a two-record compilation of the best songs from the man they say invented Rock ‘n Roll.

“The Great Twenty-Eight” has classics, ‘Maybellene,’’Brown-Eyed Handsome Man,’ ‘Roll Over Beethoven,’ ‘Johnny B. Goode,’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen,’’

Rock stars around the world have stolen Berry’s guitar riffs. Guitarist Keith Richards alone has a loaded rap sheet of lifted Berry riffs throughout the Rolling Stones’ catalog.

‘My Ding-A-Ling’ is not one of those sampled songs.

Funny, or not so funny, is that of all of these great songs Berry wrote and performed,  “My Ding-a-Ling,’ a 1972 novelty tune (a cover at that),  was his only No.1 hit.

Seriously makes you question the wisdom of folks in the USA.  The rest of London was mediocre live music.

Maybe, just, maybe “My Ding-a-Ling’ could been nominated along with ‘Bread Butter” and “How Do you  Do” as one of the best worst songs of all time. But alas, that contest is over.

So, I’m sticking to the Great Twenty-Eight.

All songs on it are, indeed, great. ‘Brown Eyed Handsome Man’ a subtle rock commentary on racism, is one of my favorites.

Counting down my 678 vinyl records before I die of brain disease.

Posted on

Dickey Betts — 649, 648

ALBUMS: Highway Call (1974), Dickey Betts and Great Southern (1977)

MVC Rating: Highway Call, 4.0/$$$; DB and Great Southern 3.5/$$

I have here a Richard Betts record, and a Dickey Betts record.

Two records. Same guy.

But the bands are different and the music is a bit different, well maybe a teeny bit different.

I believe I like the Richard Betts  better.

Whatever he called himself, Betts is one of the founding members of the Allman Brothers Band and these albums were side projects, which sound like Allman Brothers musicians  doing side projects.

Betts along with Duane Allman  became known for their twin guitar approach often running into extended, melodic jams with a jazzy blues home base.

Betts has a very clean and lucid picking style on electric guitar that is an Allman Brothers’ trademark.

This is a guy who won the Grammy for his beautiful instrumental, ‘Jessica.’

Highway Call gets my nod between these two because it, and this may sound strange, seems a little more tossed off. Kind of like a live set on the front porch in Macon, Ga. But you know it’s not tossed off when you have band members such as fiddler Vassar Clements and keyboardist Chuck Leavell. They just have a way of making music that goes into the wind and comes back in all the right places.

‘Highway Call’ is one of several standout tracks with a little country swing and nice piano from Leavell.

Dickey Betts and Great Southern strives for that feel but is a little more produced. It definitely has a more rock sound, e.g. ‘Run Gypsy Run.’ Both albums  have some extended instrumental jams, conducive for relaxing.

And that, as you get older, is a good thing. And gives these records shelf life.

But if you are starting off on Southern rock, first go see Allman Brothers’ ‘Brothers and Sisters’ or ‘Eat a Peach.’

These are records I certainly bought used at Wuxtry in Athens, Ga. during my high school years.

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Here’s how you’d imagine Betts, just picking and singing on his front porch in 1974:

Here’s Allman’s w/Betts doing his Grammy winner, Jessica.

Posted on

The Bellamy Brothers — 650

ALBUM: Restless (1984)

MVC Rating: 3.0/$

OK, I’m going to break all sorts of protocol here  and say this radio-friendly country duo is all right by me.

In reality, the Bellamy  Brothers are a little too pop country radio for me. Not sure where or why I bought this.

But Googling them, the first thing I found was a video where  they are havinga singalong with breast cancer survivors at an event by Susan G. Komen, a group that supports these survivors. I greatly admire the group and have written about various aspects of breast cancer research and treatment.

These brave women (and men), who have stared down death, have a lot to teach me and all of us with diseases that have no cure.

The video features a Bellamy Brothers song that is not even on the  Restless album. Restless is good for those who like their country music  smooth as Woodford Reserve Kentucky bourbon. But the music is a little less rootsy than I  care for in my country. I do love some of the lyrics; the singing is fine if not slick; and the music playing is doggone good. Since my diagnosis of Lewy body dementia, I realized I see things differently, probably with a heightened sentimentality. But if they are all about raising awareness and promoting research into a deadly disease, they are all right by me.

The song on the video, we’ve all hummed a thousand times over the years and probably tried to get it out of our heads a thousand times more. It is the Bellamy Brothers biggest hit, but over 40 years they have had a stream of country hits and crossovers. Everybody with a radio is familiar with it.

Well the song suddenly became  profound to me, if not for a minute:

Here’s last verse followed by the video.

It’s the season
Let your love fly
Like a bird on the wing
And let your love bind you
To all living things
And let your love shine
And you’ll know what I mean
That’s the reason.

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Here’s the video

Posted on

Beau Brummels — 651

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALBUM: Best of Beau Brummels (1981)

MVC Rating: 3.5-$$$

I was a sucker for these Rhino Records compilations of obscure and semi-obscure music.

The company put out ‘best of’ compilations of records by one or two-hit wonders like the Left Banke and Beau Brummels. I will review BB here but wait for the ‘L’s” for Left Banke. Rhino also picked up obscure but good original albums – not just anthologies and greatest hits. One of those was the Beat Farmers, which I earlier reviewed.

‘Laugh Laugh’ is Beau Brummels’ biggest hit and arguably, their best song. It has a sweet little melody driving along bittersweet lyrics:

Don’t say you can get any boy to call
Don’t be so smug or else
You’ll find you can’t get any boy at all
You’ll wind up an old lady sitting on the shelf
Laugh, laugh, I thought I’d die

 Funny laugh laugh, right? No not really, but they’re working on that irony thing.

This was a big hit and deservedly so, I suppose. They get compared to the Beatles a lot but I’d put them more in leagues with the Kinks, in their early British Invasion stage. They seem like they could have done one of my favorite Kinks’ songs, ‘Nothing in this World Can Stop Me Worrying ‘Bout That Girl.’

But surprise! The Brummels were from San Francisco. And their later stuff starts turning toward a little psychedelia-tinged country.

Their songs are from a different time and place. ‘Laugh Laugh’ and ‘Just a Little’ and ‘You Tell Me Why,’ are songs you probably say you don’t know. Then  you hear them.

Then  you say: ‘Well, yes.’

Then …”well maybe.”

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Posted on

The Beatles Live At the Hollywood Bowl — 652

ALBUM: Live at the Hollywood Bowl (first released 1977)

MVC Rating:  3.5/$$$

This is a live album from a group called the  Beatles. Seems like a decent enough band, kind of a cross between the Dave Clark Five and the Flaming Groovies.

Too much screaming by fans to tell if these Beetles are the real deal, though. NOTE: There’s aparently another  re-mixed version from 2016

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Posted on

The Beach Boys — 653, 654

ALBUMS: Pet Sounds (1966) Shut Down Volume 2 (1964)

MVC Rating:  Pet Sounds, 5.0/$$$$$; Shut Down 4.0/$$$$

So, we’ve had the Beat Farmers, Beat Rodeo and the Beat. Before we get to another band with a ‘Beat’ in it, let’s go to the Beach.

This  copy of ‘Pet Sounds’ is a little worn. My rock roots were decidedly Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Who, Al Green, Hendrix, Janis, Otis Redding, Allmans and so on.

The Beach Boys didn’t sound like those. To my rock n roll ears, the Beach Boys tilted slightly toward Pat Boone’s version of ‘Tutti Frutti’ not Little Richard’s definitive take.

The Beach Boys on the west coast, specifically Southern California, seemed so white-surfer- boy with a decidedly middle class orientation — and there’s nothing wrong with that.

But for all their initial radio beach and car songs, there was genius at work from Brian Wilson. Listening to arguably their best work, ‘Pet Sounds,’ one is struck  by the arrangements and interlocking melodies, a jazz sensibility.  ‘God only Knows’ is a near perfect song. Sloop John is perennial.

Shut Down has Fun, Fun, Fun, which is definitely worth the three Funs. Shut Down also had some talking interludes which reminded me of a Zappa interlude if Zappa wasn’t so cynical. Come to think of it Zappa was actually making fun of the Beach Boys. Interestingly on Pet Sounds, there is some secret freak out at the end of the album after ‘Caroline No.’

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Posted on

The Beat Farmers — 656, 655

ALBUMS: Tales of the New West (1985), Van Go (1986)

MVC  Rating: ‘Tales’ 4.0/$$, Van Go  3.0/$$

Now this group I haven’t listened to in more than a decade but I remember a time in the 1980s that some of my close Birmingham News friends thought this (first record anyway) was the greatest thing since sliced  beets. We even had a tradition that lasted years where we passed around a can of beets. Never opened it mind you, just passed it along, the same can.

I don’t know how it started exactly but at the height of Beat Farmer mania, someone bought a can of beets to a party held by say Will and Adele. So then Bob and Tondee have a party and guess what:  Will has a can of beets behind his back. Surprise! Beets! Tag you’re it!

(I know it, sounds like a B-52’s song but that’s what happens when you are living in your own private Idaho). This little beet shenanigans was going on about 1985-86

When the Beat Farmers came to Birmingham we all went to the Nick to see them. Or was it still the The Wooden Nickel at that time? Anyway, the band lived up to its reputation as being one of the best bar bands anywhere.

I have to say, and stop me if you can, but I truly believe that The Beat Farmers’ style was rootsy,  and grounded in the beat.

And they were  funny. If not a little profane.

Their funny songs were often sung by the now deceased Country Dick  Montana, who had to be midway between 6 and 7 feet tall and had a bass voice so low, it made the china chatter when we put one of his songs on in the  house. Here’s a sample lyric from California Kid with Country Dick on beat vocals (at the risk of revealing what we all thought was funny when we were 20-somethings.

She undid my boots, she untied my jeans
She untied my tubes I had tied in my teens
‘Bout that time the front door was kicked in
And there stood some scumball all covered in sin
He said “that’s my woman” I said “that’s no lie”
I blew a hole in him just as big as the sky

I got my Colt Forty Five, right by my side
I’m the California Kid, I hope you’re quite prepared to die

Whew! The Beat Farmers ladies and gentlemen.

They also had a song called Happy Boy which was silly enough to be a regular feature on the Dr. Demento show.

Country Dick died Nov. 8, 1996 with his boots on in the middle of a song, massive heart attack at age 40.

The video below will feature one of their more ‘normal’ songs.

Counting down my 678  vinyl records  before I die of  brain disease.

Posted on

Beat Rodeo — 657

ALBUM: Home in the Heart of the Beat (1986)

MVC Rating: 3.0/$$

Well, I don’t even know what genre this is. Easy listening power pop with fresh commercial country thrown in?

It’s on IRS records with Scott Litt (REM) producing.  I had some high hopes going into revisiting this 1980’s album.

It’s not bad, it’s just kind of, well, (whisper) boring.

Probably not a good thing to say about a rock band.

I think ‘It Could Happen here’ and ‘Song for an Angry Young Man’ are solid and nearly excellent songs. But there’s a lot of filler here.

I actually enjoyed this video more than the album.

Counting my 678  vinyl records down before I die of  brain disease.

Posted on

The Beat — 658

The Beat (1979)

MCV Rating: 4.0/$$$

How did these guys not make it big. Strong tuneful forceful power pop.

‘Rock N Roll Girl,’ the opener should have been a Top Tenner.

‘Don’t Wait Up’ should have melted into teen turntables all over the early 90s.

This was a cross between early Beach Boys and the Cars.

Every song is a mini-power pop anthem with boys singing simplistically about girls coming and going from their lives.

Depth? None.

But framed in sharp  tasty guitar chords, they had a formula that had a good beat and  you could dance to it.  Timing? 1979 was dominated by a slice of power pop in its own right: My Sharona by the Knack. Arguably weaker than ‘Don’t Wait Up,’ which got nowhere near the success of Sharona. They also had some name fight with the English Beat, AKA as the Beat, which played in a ska-band.The Beat had some affiliation with the Plimsouls and Peter Case, which I will get to when their lettesr comes  up, like the draft.

Who knows why this egregious over looking occurred. I remember I first  received the 7″ promo single for ‘Don’t Wait Up’ in  a  magazine. Can’t find that  yet, but not much  later got the full length album on vinyl.   Probably from Wuxtry. Probably for a couple bucks.

Counting my 678  vinyl records down before I die of  brain disease.