Archive for the ‘punk’ Category

Album Review: Hymn for Her Presents Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin’ Flames

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

Rock’n'roll doesn’t have a long list of successful male-female duets; at least not ones that, y’know, rock. Other traditions have done well with the duet format: Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash, the one-off Frank and Nancy Sinatra duet, and others. But when it comes to hard-driving rocking, there just haven’t been many of note. Perhaps the best of the sixties was Jefferson Airplane‘s Marty Balin and Grace Slick. Try as I might, I can’t think of a single rocking duet act from the 70s (and no, Donny and Marie Osmond do not count). In the 80s we were fortunate to have John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X.

And it’s that last duo who spring immediately to mind when I hear Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin’ Flames, the new album by Hymn for Her. The comparison isn’t perfect: Hymn for Her lean in more of a cowboy country direction than X did, but this music is pretty compelling, strong stuff.

The arrangements are quite spare; the songs were all performed live to the recorder. And the instrumentation echoes another well-known male-female outfit, The White Stripes. But the dozen songs on Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin’ Flames rock with malevolent glee in a way that Jack and Meg White didn’t always achieve, and – more importantly – when I listen to these tracks, I don’t think to myself, “Boy, this act could really benefit from a bass player, and maybe even a keyboardist.” In fact, the instrumentation – wiry acoustic guitar, distorted electric guitar, and lots and lots of foot stomps – serves these songs in such a good way that embellishing them further would take away from their power.

On “Trash the Sun,” the duo engage in spoken dialogue, but Lucy Tight‘s vocals are run through a processor that makes them sound like an old land-line telephone. The lyrical nod to David Bowie‘s “Space Oddity” is clever in the extreme. Some of the tracks are manic blues numbers (“Rosa Parks Blvd”) and others evoke a windswept, southwestern desert vibe (“Landescape”). Rarely has a two-piece achieved so much emotion-laden musical texture with such basic instrumentation.

Tight and partner Wayne Waxing have a clear love (and facility) for wordplay: witness the title “Lucy Fur” (say it out loud and fast if you don’t get it). And while the music provides the backdrop for the lyrics, the music itself is interesting enough that one can ignore the words at will.

Just when you start thinking it’s going to be one nonstop hell-in-a-bucket ride, the duo switch gear and deliver the lilting, fragile “Burn This.” And while I’m generally not a fan of the banjo, “Dark Deeds” – which sports an intro that features that instrument plus slide guitar – is quite effective, due in no small part to the loose-limbed duet vocals.

The disc ends with a left-turn: the torchy “Passion,” a number that spotlights the sultry, sexy vocals of Lucy Tight. When the song ends, you may be tempted to sit quietly for a moment to allow it all to soak in. Then, after a suitable pause, play the whole thing again.

This album was crowd-funded using a Kickstarter program; that platform is rapidly becoming a viable means for financing all manner of creative projects (more related news on that in this blog very soon). An then right out of left field we have a tie-in product, a hot sauce concocted by the duo plus some Orlando friends. Based on a recipe that includes bananas(!), jalapeños and paprika, it’s unusual (to say the least) but delightful for those who like that sort of thing (and I do). It delivers quite a kick, which means that it pairs nicely with the music on Hymn for Her Presents Lucy and Wayne’s Smokin’ Flames.

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Album Review: The Scenics – Dead Man Walks Down Bayview

Thursday, April 4th, 2013

I don’t pretend to know much (or anything) about the Toronto music scene. But I feel safe in my assertion that The Scenics aren’t typical of whatever it sounds like. With a country-punk vibe that owes as much to Johnny Cash as to The Replacements, The Scenics are in fact a highly-regarded punk band that have been active since the 1970s. Wedding a ramshackle jangle and melodic songs to a punk aesthetic, the group ends up with a singular sound not especially redolent of few others act I could name. But fans of Mekons will delight in finding a few similarities and a compatible sensibility.

When – as on the oddly-titled (and decidedly NSFW) “A Fox, Her Fur, and Where She Parks It” – the band ostensibly aims for a tender, romantic vibe, the result is equal parts that and something vaguely sinister and disturbing. But then “When You Come Around” feels like a Paisley Underground update of The Byrds, albeit with more, er, uncommercial-sounding lead vocals. Speaking of commercialism, the group’s sturdiest tunes evoke memories of when The Velvet Underground attempted (quite successfully, as it would happen; see Loaded) to craft pop music. But just when things start to sound a bit like the aforementioned pop music, the band takes a turn toward dissonance, with jagged guitar lines and a woozy, slightly off-kilter beat, with buzzing guitars and clattering drums. And the songs – like “Growing Pains” – are all the better for it.

It’s manic psychobilly time for “No Sleep,” which feels like a cross between Jason and the Scorchers and The Damned. “O Boy” takes a similar approach, putting creamy harmonies behind a much less refined lead vocal; the two textures play off one another nicely. The story-song “I Can’t Be Careful” is reminiscent of “Oh! Sweet Nuthin’” (VU’s Loaded again). As it happens, The Scenics are serious Velvets fans, having gone so far as to release the live collection How Does it Feel to Be Loved: The Scenics Play the Velvet Underground in 2008. The group has clearly learned from the Velvets’ approach, and applied those lessons to their own original material.

The production style on Dead Man Walks Down Bayview is free of artifice, as close (one suspects) as the group to come to an accurate document of their onstage sound. (By the way, after a 26-year break from live performance, the band returned to the stage starting in 2009.)

Both guitarists – Andy Meyers and Ken Badger – write the songs, and each guitarist takes the lead vocal on his own material. Some listeners may find Badger’s guttural vocals a bit harder to take, but his compelling and oblique lyrics make sticking with it a worthwhile effort most of the time. (Though you earn a merit badge of some sort of you can endure all nearly nine minutes of “The Farmer.”)  Meyers’ vocals are much more conventionally pleasing; one suspects he’s more involved in vocal harmonies as they occur.

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Album Review: The Moving Sidewalks – The Complete Collection

Monday, December 10th, 2012

When The Moving Sidewalks are mentioned at all, it’s general in the context of them being a forerunner of ZZ Top (guitarist Billy Gibbons fronted The Moving Sidewalks). But the Texas quartet deserves more than a footnote in some ZZ Top essay; the group’s music is of a piece with other sixties Texas bands of note (Bubble Puppy, 13th Floor Elevators and – I would even argue – Green Fuz.

The Moving Sidewalks folded in many of the familiar trippy/hippie influences of the day: swirling sitars, a bit of studio effects here and there. But at their core they were a hard-charging rock’n'roll band. Though they only released one record (1967′s Flash), and though by the time that LP hit the streets, the group had already folded (or begun its metamorphosis into the very different ZZ Top), their music remains noteworthy.

The group’s bluesy, riffy garage-punk style was showcased on Flash as well as on a clutch of non-LP singles and unreleased alternate takes. The latter – along with five previously-unreleased tracks by The Coachmen (an embryonic version of The Moving Sidewalks) form a second disc in a new package from Rock Beat titled The Complete Collection.

The biggest difference between The Moving Sidewalks and ZZ Top is the former’s reliance on keyboards. There are plenty of gospel-flavored Hammond textures in the group’s slim catalog. “You Don’t Know the Life” is a downtempo number not miles removed from Boz Scaggs‘ cover of Fenton Robinson‘s “Loan Me a Dime.” But that number is contrasted with “Pluto – Sept 31st,” a tracks that mines a vibe very similar to Jimi Hendrix Experience‘s “Fire,” a clear influence. “No Good to Cry” sounds a good bit like early Procol Harum; Gibbons’ guitar tone and finger style is reminiscent of Robin Trower’s approach. This may be pure coincidence; Procol Harum recorded their debut LP in June ’67, so it’s unlikely – though not inconceivable — that Gibbons and his bandmates heard the British band’s music.

The Hendrix influence pops up again on “Eclipse,” a snaky number that bears traces of Axis: Bold as Love‘s “EXP.” The tune gets weirder and further out the more it unfolds; it’s exceedingly unlikely this cut was ever part of the band’s live repertoire. “Reclipse” is even stranger, and in places suggests Frank Zappa‘s Lumpy Gravy.

The Moving Sidewalks seem to have been a relatively democratic outfit: though Gibbons had a hand in the composition of six of Flash‘s ten tracks, keyboardist Tom Moore wrote two of the songs, and an extended blues is credited to all four members. (Producer Steve Ames gets partial credit on nearly half of the cuts as well).

As it turns out, Hendrix himself does crop up in the Moving Sidewalks’ relatively brief story; the Texans opened for the Experience on some gigs, and – according to the delightfully detailed liner note essay by Bill Bentley – the two groups got on quite well.

The tracks on the bonus disc often sound like the work of a wholly different band, even when they’re not. Whiny combo organ is the highlight of the non-LP single “99th Floor,” a legendary garage nugget/classic. Some tasty guitar dialogue enlivens this treasure, which sounds much more like Roky Erickson‘s 13th Floor Elevators than anything on Flash. (Two demo versions of the song from 1966 by The Coachmen are included as well; they’re interesting, but pale in comparison to the released version.) The other non-LP tracks sport a harder, punkier edge as well; those tracks would sound right at home on a Pebbles compilation. Three takes of The Beatles‘ “I Want to Hold Your Hand” pretty much reinvent the tune as a heavy rocker; think of what Vanilla Fudge might’ve done with the song, remove all the pretentious trappings they’d apply, and what you’re left with is something like The Moving Sidewalks’ version.

In addition to putting together a sonically brilliant package – no small feat for relatively obscure music from more than 45 years ago – Rock Beat has applied great attention to detail to the box set. A pair of LP sleeve replicas hold the discs, and a fifty-plus page, CD-sized booklet is chock-full of photos, memorabilia and the essential essay. (Be sure to check out the photos of Sidewalks bassist Don Summers for proof that he invented Robert Smith‘s hairdo.) The whole thing comes in a sturdy pink box. With the release of Moving Sidewalks: The Complete Collection and the various-artists Surf Age Nuggets: Trash & Twang Instrumentals 1959-1966 (reviewed separately), Rock Beat is staking a claim as the rightful successor to Rhino when it comes to thoughtful box sets.

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