FT Wrote:
1. The Standells - "Have You Ever Spent the Night in Jail?"
JAIL4LIFE!!! Some might consider this a cautionary tale, but to me, it plays much more like a recruitment spiel. Great harmonica toward the end on this.
It's pretty funny how sweet and quaint this song sounds these days. It probably scared a few parents back in '66. It was written by Ed Cobb - the 5th Standell - who also wrote "Dirty Water", "Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White" and a little ditty called "Tainted Love" that Soft Cell took to the bank.
FT Wrote:
2. Rich Hope & His Evil Doers - "Sweet Vanilla"
Fantastic band name. This song must be the yin to "Brown Sugar"'s yang. Reminds me a little of Georgia Satellites, and not in a bad way. Plus, HANDCLAPS! Love that gutter guitar.
3. Marah - "Head On"
Track delivers. Them's some crazy horns. Me likey.
4. You Am I - "Baby Clothes"
More handclaps! AND horns!!! Yeah, I am pretty much contractually obligated to love this. There'll be no suit for breach here. When he sings "matters, matters, matters, matters," I can't help but think of The Stones' "Shattered." Well played!
The horns 'n' handclaps trilogy.
FT Wrote:
5. Tsar - "Wanna Get Dead"
The hits just keep on comin'. This would be in heavy rotation on K-GAR, had that station's license not been revoked by ATF before the Senator even had the chance to apply for one.
I hope Tsar keeps their shit together to make at least one other album. They've got the goods to put out something amazing. This is from
Band - Girls - Money, which is only about halfway amazing.
FT Wrote:
6. The Dragons - "3 Steps From the Bar"
The "woo-hoo-hoo"s flirt a little too closely with Barenaked Ladies territory, but that doesn't diminish from the irrefutable wisdom being imparted by these slurring sages. In the immortal words of Brad Hamilton, "Learn it. Know it. Live it."
Y'know, I never made the Barenaked Ladies association before. Even after reading your paragraph it took me a minute to conjure up what BNL song it was. But now I hear it loud and clear. YOU BASTID.
FT Wrote:
7. The Dogs - "John Rock 'N' Roll Sinclair"
I can easily picture these guys playing the Cher-Gregg Allman wedding reception, with ol' Jaimoe out on the dance floor gettin' his Adam West on and throwing down some sort of incredibly molo version of The Batusi.
The Dogs had the worst timing in the world. They came around just a couple years too late to be MC5/Stooges contemporaries, then moved to LA just as punk was beginning and were outcast as the old farts on the block because they could sort of play and favored guitar solos. There's not much left of them out there.
FT Wrote:
8. Crash Kelly - "Penny Pills"
This sounds kind of like a latter-day incarnation of The Dwight Twilley Band, but with chapped lips and collapsed veins.
9. The Everyothers - "Like a Drug"
The singer's got a little bit of an Iggy Pop thing going. Leaving this track playing while driving across state lines is punishable by a 3-year stint at GITMO.
The modern glam two-logy.
FT Wrote:
10. Asteroid B612 - "Shotdown"
This is nice-n-grimey. Kind of a Dirtbombs vibe at work. Makes me want to buy a roadhouse and book these guys as the permanent house band.
These guys remind me of an Aussie Mudhoney. If the word "grunge" hadn't already been coined, these guys would've invented it to describe the scum coating their amps.
FT Wrote:
12. Nikki Sudden - "Lookin' For a Friend"
Gotta love that barfly piano. The only way to improve on this would be to add some percussion...like whiskey bottles being bashed over skulls.
13. The Honeydogs - "Glee"
Mongtastic! I'd like another hit of this. Everything's better when gin-soaked!
The Keef imitator two-logy.
FT Wrote:
14. The Jetboys - "You Tell Me Lies"
Holy Mother of Hunter S.! Fear and Loathing on the Tour Bus. Is it just me, or is this absolutely drenched in New York Dolls?
15. Kevin K. - "Whores From Babylon"
"Things go better with dope." You gotta love any song whose philosophy can be summed up in a single phrase short enough to fit on a fortune cookie.
Johnny Thunders' roadie and his drug-stabbing buddy, respectively. So, yup, they come by their Dolls worship honestly.
FT Wrote:
17. Chuck Prophet - "Credit"
Can't beat the barmaid backing vocals. "Is that a birthmark, or a scar?" Not just a scar, but a C-Section scar! But jes' 'cuz Mama 's been gutted like a Crappie, don't mean she still don't like ta party!!!
Chuck's stepped away from his Stonesy side of late, preferring to tinker with loops and samples. I don't mind it either way - but I'm hoping he ultimately mixes the two styles together. 'Cuz somebody should.
FT Wrote:
19. Slow - "Have Not Been the Same"
The beginning of this song sounds like some sort of bastardized hybrid of the opening riffs from Skynyrd's "Double Trouble" and Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses." That is GARriffic! And this dude's voice is slaying me. I think I have a new personal anthem.
This comes from
Against The Glass, my fave ep of all time. It's never been put out on CD, and this comes from a fellow fan's home studio pirate mastering. Anyway, a glimpse into the soundtrack of my summer '86.
FT Wrote:
22. Jerry Lee Lewis - "It Was the Whiskey Talkin'"
I've never heard The Killer sound so Hank before. Goodness, gracious, great balls of firewater!
Yeh, that is a whole lotta Hank now that you mention it. Beats the hell outta the Barenaked Ladies.
FT Wrote:
23. Maria McKee - "You Gotta Sin to Get Saved"
I guess it's a good thing there's so many ways to be wicked from which to choose. That farfisa is causing me to dampen my Dockers. And handclaps, to boot! Thanks for ruining my last pair of khakis, fucker!!!
That's Maria with Gary Louris and Mark Olson (of the Jayhawks) and Benmont Tench (of Tom Petty) behind her. I don't know why she didn't stay on this stylistic tack a little longer, because this album is as close as she's ever got to fulfilling her promise.
FT Wrote:
The only reason I'm not giving this mix an A+, is because you can't be BOTH a monger AND an honor student, so take your A and shut the hell up, punk! Seriously, though...you do realize, Rads, that based on this mix alone, you are now considered by the RCMP to be a "person of interest." I'm not really sure how you sleep at night, you sick fuck. Your parents must be absolutely horrified at what a wretched reprobate you've become. May God and Pierre Trudeau have mercy on your soul.
Well done, Sir Pearl!
Hey, keep my soul out of this, FT. I sold that fucker for rent money years ago.
Great review! I'm glad you got one of mine in before you got fed up with the lack of responses. Now I just gotta hope you stay interested long enough to do the second one
Thanks, dood!
