Archive for June, 2009

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Spread This Noise

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

First up, some recent reviews:

Phil Asher & Mark de Clive-Lowe – Boutique Breaks: Nu-Jazz breaks. That’s all I got to say.

Street Sweeper Social Club – s/t: We get it Tom (and Boots) you wanna fuck the man.

Moby – Wait For Me: Pretty.

In related news, I interviewed Moby a bit ago. Read that too. It’s awesome.

Now onto the business at hand.

I like my blog. I like writing my stupid little rants and posting stupid remixes of stupid songs. It’s enjoyable. However, there’s one things I really hate about my blog and that’s all the damned email I get.

Sure, there’s the (very) occasional “I just wanted to say I love your blog, thanks!” message in my inbox, but most of the time it is instead flooded with automateed mass-emailers from retared PR agents, marketing teams and bands themselves looking to get themselves exposure on as many music sites as possible, even though many of them (lke mine) really don’t focus on new music.

Sure, I’ll occasionally get something cool, maybe word on the new Erasure album or something, but usually it’s just bullshit through and through. I hate these emails, they drive me crazy and no matter how many I unsubscribe from there are always more waiting for me.

This is my little message to the stupid little bastards who send these emails out. I know it will do no good since none of them actually READ MY BLOG, but it will sure as hell make me feel better.

To all the PR agents, marketing assholes and no-talent garage bands, indie-rockers, remixes, producers and DJs out there…

I don’t care about your remix. I don’t care that you took a popular(ish) song and added beats to it. That doesn’t impress me. You found the acapella off a torrent and added some loops thanks to your stolen version of ProTools. Piss off, you’re not a DJ, producer or remix artist. Please go away.

I don’t care about your digital EP. I don’t care that you and a few of your friends got together in your parent’s basement to churn out three or four average tracks that at best are as good as Hinder. And I really don’t care if the digital EP has a remix on it. See above.

I don’t care about your exclusive online promo. I don’t care that you’re giving me the opportunity to download a track from an upcoming album that will “be huge” and “drops soon.” I’m not your PR agent. And while you call it an online promo, I call it what it really is, a fucking MP3.

In fact, I don’t care about your band at all. This is a site that is dedicated to rare and hard-to-find music that at least some people fucking care about. It is not a site dedicated to exposing new and upcoming artists. And even if it was, I still wouldn’t be profiling 99% of the bands that I get emails from. Why? Because they all suck. And you don’t read my fucking blog. It’s obvious you don’t. It’s annoying. I don’t come to your show and say how awesome you are before I hear a single song, so don’t email me and tell me how awesome I am without reading the fucking site.

If you are a wanna-be band looking to make it huge, do yourself a fucking favor. Turn off the fucking computer, drop your fucking PR agent, get a fucking van and fucking go on fucking tour. Leave me (and every other besieged blogger) the fuck alone. We have real music to talk about.

Shit.

And one more thing, I must be getting popular again (dammit) because the amount of requests for reposts has increased substantially over the past few months. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (because people don’t listen): I DON’T RESPOND TO REPOST REQUESTS! I don’t care how long you’ve been looking for the song, what the song means to you or how much you love my blog. Flattery will get you nowhere and neither will begging, pleading or offers for sexual favors (okay that might work, but I’d need a pic first). The only thing that will get me to even pay attention to you is an offer for something in return. And don’t bet on that either.

Because I have more music than you do. 37,668 itens, 117.3 days, 222.92 gigabytes worth. So y’know, just leave me alone.

Michael Jackson
Blood On The Dance Floor (Fire Island Vocal Mix)
Jam (Silky 12″ Mix)
Another Part Of Me (Extended Dance Mix)
Smooth Criminal (Extended Dance Mix)
They Don’t Care About Us (Love To Infinity’s Walk In The Park Mix)
Bad (Extended Dance Mix)
Black Or White (Clivillés & Cole House With Guitar Radio Mix)
Black Or White (The Civilles & Cole House Club Mix)
Billie Jean (Original 12′ Version)
I figured now was as good a time as ever to clear out all the remaining Michael Jackson remixes in my collection. Most of these originally appeared on 12” singles or CD maxi-singles, but in the interest of full disclosure I’ll be honest and say that I actually grabbed most of them off the internet. Michael Jackson singles have always been hard for me to find (even harder now) and the only one of these I actually own is “Smooth Criminal” but my version is scracthed to all hell. This one is better. God I love that damn song.

Non-MJ stuff later on this week.

Posted in Michael Jackson, remixes | 13 Comments »

Everything I Own I Give

Friday, June 26th, 2009

I don’t particularly have a lot to say about Michael Jackson. I was a pretty big fan of his in the 80s (who wasn’t?) and it’s safe to say that he played a pretty big part in my life for a long time. I wasn’t that big into Thriller when it came out, I was very young and the video scared me, but I thought Bad was the shit. Smooth Criminal is one of my favorite Jackson songs, and the video remains one of the best ever made.

His death does make me think about the superstars I grew up worshipping in the 80s, and looking back at many of them is just depressing now. Michael Jackson is the most obvious tragedy, but don’t forget the downfalls and tribulations of artists like Prince, Axl Rose, Whitney Houston, George Michael, and Michael Hutchence. That decade ate its young. When Madonna is the most sane and rational of the bunch that’s fucked up.

Sometimes I feel like we slipped into an alternate mirror world (ala Star Trek) where everything went horribly wrong. In the “real” world Prince is still sane(ish) Axl Rose and Slash are still tearing it up, Whitney Houston isn’t schooling Diane Sawyer on crack, George Michael isn’t offering to blow dudes in public restrooms (or at least not getting caught) and INXS never had to go on a reality show to find a new lead singer. In that world Michael Jackson was never accused of molesting children, his skin never faded away and his plastic surgery obsession stopped around the “kinda weird” phase of Bad. It may sound like I want time to stand still and celebrities to never change, that’s not true. I know that time marches on and people change, but damn, these guys didn’t fade they imploded into black holes of insanity and drug abuse.

So yeah, it sucks that Michael Jackson is dead now, and while I’m sure I’m just one of dozens of blogs that will be offering tribute to him over the next few days, I think I have some unique tracks that others definitely won’t be offering.

Scream (Classic Club Mix)
Scream (Pressurized Dub Pt. 1)
Scream (Naughty Main Mix)
Scream (Dave “Jam” Hall’s Extended Urban Remix)
I remember the hoopla surrounding this song and the video when it first came out. Both because it was his first single since the abuse allegations and because the video cost something like 80 bazillion dollars to make. I dug the song when it came out, and was especially stoked with the video, which featured some references to Akira, my favorite move at the time. These remixes are pretty good, the best being the Classic Club Mix, not just for its funky beats, but because Michael and Janet say “stop fucking with me” about a hundred times.

The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix)
The Way You Make Me Feel (A Cappella)
Not much for me to say about this one other than that it’s another classic tune. The extended mix is good, but the a cappella is classic and it transforms the tune into the sexiest babershop quartet song in the history of the world.

Will You Hurt My World
A bootleg/mash-up mix of “You Rock My World,” “Will You Be There” and Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt.” This shit is haunting, reforming the original into something far more poignant and touching, especially after today. I know very little about this mix, it’s by a guy who called himself DoKs (I think) and I downloaded it years ago off of a mash-up message board. If anyone can give me more information about this one and the guy who did it I would appreciate it. I really can’t downplay how damn good this mix is, you have to hear it.

Posted in mash-ups, Michael Jackson, remixes | 4 Comments »

Whites Lines! Snort this post!

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

I’m stoked.

Duran Duran
White Lines (Junior’s House Mix)
White Lines (Sound Factory Dub)
White Lines (70s Club Mix)
White Lines (Oakland Funk Mix)
White Lines (Freestyle Mix)
White Lines (Sound Factory Dub 2)
White Lines (Global Groove Mix)
White Lines (Rif Raf Mix)
Today whilst browsing the selection at The Greatest Store In The World I found a blank white label promo with a pink Duran Duran sticker on it. Curious, I picked it up and discovered that it was the 2×12” promo single for “White Lines!”

Most people would be all “meh” but “White Lines” is totally one of my favorite songs of all time, fitting somewhere between Prince “Erotic City”, Sugarcubes “Fucking in Rhythm and Sorrow (Live)” and George Clinton’s “Atomic Dog.” It’s the only real reason I bought the 86-95 singles box set that Duran Duran put out a few years back (that and some cool versions of “Ordinary World”) because that box set had two remixes of the (should-be) classic tune, the “70s Club Mix” and Junior Vasquez’s House Mix. In addition to those two versions, this 2×12” promo had six additional ones! I nearly wet myself. The 2 LPs of happiness cost me a scant 6 bucks, I ran (drove) home and immediately put them on my turntable. I was nervous. I’ve had a bad run of luck lately with records, and have lost several mixes to scratchy, skip-filled LPs over the past few weeks. Thankfully both of these records were crystal clear, with nary a skip nor scratch to be found. Awesome.

This song has a bad rep I just don’t get it. It’s one of the best party tracks of the nineties, and is probably the best cover of a rap song by a non-rap group in the history of the planet (not including the P.E./Anthrax version of “Bring the Noise”). I think its lack of credibility comes from the fact that its on Thank You, which didn’t exactly light the world on fire when it came out. Sure, that album has some pretty big problems (“911 is a Joke”) but it has a few choice cuts on it, including their beautiful version of “Perfect Day” and a damn good cover of “Ball Of Confusion.”

At least I know I’m not the only person that likes the song.

Posted in Best Song Ever, Duran Duran, remixes | 5 Comments »

Blogger Smash!

Friday, June 19th, 2009

I had a very bad day today. Usually I like to counter by bad days with hardcore industrial music, but an industrial song doesn’t exist that is hard enough to counteract my rage for the shitstorm of a day I had. It would have to be a collaboration between Skinny Puppy, Ministry, Mussolini Headkick and the sounds of a factory itself for me to exorcise the demonic rage within me. So instead I’m gonna put up some Stereolab and shit. Whatever.

Dajjamondo
The Phoenix
Big Hum
According to Discogs Dajjamondo is an alias for Marcel Hol, he has about a billion other AKAs (my favorite one is Bizarre. Supreme!) and he’s from Belgium. He’s the only Belgium techno producer I’ve ever heard who wasn’t obsessed with incredibly graphic sexual metaphors, so good for him. These tracks are trance, nothing spectacular, but worthwhile for fans of the genre.

Spear Of Destiny
Was That You? (Live)
Miami Vice (Live)
Outlands (Live)
Was That You? (Remix)
I’v heard of Spear of Destiny for a while and I’ve been meaning to pick up their supposedly awesome album Westworld for a few months. I respect any band that named an album after a movie that featured Yul Brenner as a killer cowboy robot. Also, that album was produced and features guitar by Mick Jones, and he’s my Jesus. This song was not on Westworld originally, it was on Outland. I got these versions from a 12” single and I have been enjoying them for a few days.

Stereolab
Miss Modular (Automator Mix)
Rainbo Conversation (Russell Simins Mix)
Refractions in the Plastic Pulse (Autechre’s Feedbate Mix)
Contronatura (Kid Loco’s Prelude to the Autumn of a Faun Mix)
This is a band that I’ve always wanted to get more into. When they were their most popular with the college crowd they were definitely not my thing, I was more into IDM glitch and hardcore metal. The smooth stylings of these wacky Brits were just not my thing. Now I’m finally coming around and they go “on hiatus.” These remixes are truly amazing and really worth the downloads. The Autechre mix of “Refractions in the Plastic Pulse” is a real highlight, combining Stereolab’s smooth grooves with Autechre’s crazy-ass polyrhythmic beats. Crazy crazy shit and one of the favorite songs of mine that I’ve put up in a long while.

Posted in Dajjamondo, live, remixes, Spear Of Destiny, Sterelab | 5 Comments »

Fuck Chilling Effects

Thursday, June 18th, 2009

Before I rant, thank you to the many people who offered me copies of Peter Gabriel’s German records, I have them now so your work here is done…until I beg for something else.

Now, to the hate.

A few months ago I got my first DMCA notice for copyright violation. (you can read my initial response to that here). At first it wasn’t that big a deal to me, after all I know a blog like mine kind of skirts the edge of the law, and a copyright owner has every right to complain to me about the hosting of their music, they do own it after all.

But it’s not that simple. When I said that “I” got a DMCA notice that’s a bit inaccurate. Actually Blogger got the notice. They then removed the blog post in its entirety and let me know about it with the following message, dated March 17th, 2009:

Blogger has been notified, according to the terms of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), that certain content in your blog infringes upon the copyrights of others. The URL(s) of the allegedly infringing post(s) may be found at the end of this message.

The notice that we received from the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) and the record companies it represents, with any personally identifying information removed, will be posted online by a service called Chilling Effects at http://www.chillingeffects.org

. We do this in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). Please note that it may take Chilling Effects up to several weeks to post the notice online at the link provided.

The IFPI is a trade association that represents over 1,400 major and independent record companies in the US and internationally who create, manufacture and distribute sound recordings (the “IFPI Represented Companies”).

The DMCA is a United States copyright law that provides guidelines for online service provider liability in case of copyright infringement. We are in the process of removing from our servers the links that allegedly infringe upon the copyrights of others. If we did not do so, we would be subject to a claim of copyright infringement, regardless of its merits. See http://www.educause.edu/Browse/645?PARENT_ID=254 for more information about the DMCA, and see http://www.google.com/dmca.html for the process that Blogger requires in order to make a DMCA complaint.

Blogger can reinstate these posts upon receipt of a counter notification pursuant to sections 512(g)(2) and 3) of the DMCA. For more information about the requirements of a counter notification and a link to a sample counter notification, see http://www.google.com/dmca.html#counter.

Please note that repeated violations to our Terms of Service may result in further remedial action taken against your Blogger account. If you have legal questions about this notification, you should retain your own legal counsel. If you have any other questions about this notification, please let us know.

Sincerely,

The Blogger Team

Affected URLs:

http://lostturntable.blogspot.com/2009/03/they-call-it-winwood-weird-soundtrack.html

Okay a few passages to note there.

1. They have the DMCA notice, they recieved it. However, they won’t give it to me. Instead they handed it off to a site called Chilling Effects, which is an independent site dedicated to provided help regarding DMCA notices and copyright law. Why they are more justified to recieve a legal notice regarding ME than I am I fail to see.

2. Blogger does not challenge any DMCA notice, so the notice could be entirely without merit but they’ll remove it anyway.

3. At not point do they mention WHAT I put up that violated the DMCA. The post in question had several songs from several different artists, who did I piss off? Why? I have no idea.

As I said before, this was originally sent to me on March 17, at which point I was told that Chilling Effects would post the notice on their site in “several weeks.” Well, fuck all that never happened. It’s been three full months now and I have yet to see my DMCA notice on their shitty joke of a goddamn site. I emailed the people at blogger and Chilling Effects four times to find out why and I didn’t even get a response.

Chilling Effects claims to be a resource to help people fight copyright abuse. That’s fucking bullshit. They’re a fucking joke. The site was founded by lawyers and legal experts (so they claim) so they should know that an important aspect in any legal matter is timeliness, and waiting more than three months to post a legal file ISN’T FUCKING TIMELY.

It’s bullshit. A complete crock. A joke of a site run by a piss stain of a group that doesn’t know what the fuck it’s doing. And the fact that they somehow have more of a right to a legal document related to MY blog is bullshit.

Now I understand that techincally this isn’t MY blog. It’s on Blogger’s servers and they are legally responsible. However, since I am in control of the content that is put on their servers, you think they’d want me to know what I did wrong so I might not do it again. Why does Chilling Effects get this information and not me? That’s fucked up. Who the fuck made Chlling Effects the guardians of all DMCA notices and legal resources?

The thing that pisses me off the most about all this bullshit is that no one, not a single person from Google, Blogger or Chilling Effects ever bothered to respond to the multiple emails I sent asking for more information. I emailed every support, question, news and help email address at Chilling Effects and I got nothing. I even emailed Wendy Seltzer, the woman “in charge” of the organization, and I got nothing.

How do I even know I got a DMCA notice if I’m not even allowed to fucking read it!

Fuck Chilling Effects.

Big Audio Dynamite
Free (Club Mix)
Free (Film Version)
The Bottom Line (Film & Club Version)
Punk ass bitches….anyways, “Free” is another great track by B.A.D. and the last one to feature the group’s original line-up. This song originally appeared on the soundtrack to the film “Flashback” and many of the odd movie samples in the song are from that movie. The Club Mix has one of those annoying false fade-out endings, that’s not my fault. “The Bottom Line” originally appeared on This Is Big Audio Dnyamite, but not in this extended form. These are all from a 12” single.

Iggy Pop
Motor Inn (Felix Da Housecat’s High Octane Mix)
Okay, this song is…um…something. I think I like it, I kind of go back and forth on it. Iggy Pop’s rambling about his “brown girl’s” titties is just embarrassing and the occasional yelping by Peaches is a bit unneccesary, but then again so is this entire electro remix which I got from a 12” single.

Eurythmics
Love Is a Stranger (Obsession Mix)

Another quick disclaimer; this is an odd mix that puts Lennox’s vocals in the back, instead focusing on the beat and electronic effects. This is not a fault of mine, if you wanna hear Annie’s beautiful voice more then buy Sweet Dreams, which is where the original version of this song is from. This remix is from a 12” single.

Howard Jones
Things Can Only Get Better (Extended Version)
I mentioned that I wanted this remix a while ago and two people offered it to me. I never took them up on the offer and bought the 12” single myself. I’m like that.

Posted in Big Audio Dynamite, Eurythmics, Howard Jones, Iggy Pop, rant, remixes | 9 Comments »

Willkommen auf der Drehscheibe Verloren

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

I saw Nine Inch Nails last week. Good shit. Want to know how to make me go nuts? Perform a cover of a Gary Numan song. Trent did, rocking out an epic version of “Metal” that had everyone but me bored to tears. I want to start a Gary Numan tribute band. I bet I could get Gary Numan to join.

Anyways, I recorded some of the opening act, which is the Street Sweeper Social Club. It’s Tom Morello’s new band and they were much fun live. I’m reviewing their CD right now and I’m sad to report that the fun didn’t make it to the studio. I’ll give a link to that review in a few days. If you want to check their cover of MIA’s “Paper Planes” go here. The camera work is less-than-good I know.

Speaking of links to reviews…

Hell – Teufelswerk: I very rarely give 5 star reviews (I think) and I don’t toss around phrases like “best album ever” a lot, so take my word for it when I say that Teufelswerk just might be the best electronic album of the decade. This record blew my mind 8 times over, it’s just fucking amazing. This is the best electronic album I’ve heard in a decade, and probably the best since The Orb’s Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld, Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James album or The KLF’s White Room. Yes it is that damn good. I don’t know why more people aren’t talking about this album, it will change what you think house music can do.

Now for some stupid b-sides and remixes

The Pretenders
In The Sticks
This is an instrumental jam, recorded I don’t know when and written by I don’t know who. I grabbed it off of a compilation called “Attack of the Killer B’s” which features B-sides by a ton of popular artists, the next four songs are also from this same compilation. If anyone can give me any information about this tune I would greatly appreciate it.

The Blasters
What Will Lucy Do?
I know this is a cover of a Frankie Lee Sims song because I looked this one up. I knew it wasn’t a Blasters original because it sounds nothing like them. This song is older than your parents. It’s fairly awesome. A live version appears on a Blasters greatest hits compilation, but I think this is a studio cut.

John Hiatt
Take Time To Know Her
John Hiatt is most famous for writing songs that made other people famous, such as “Thing Called Love,” which Bonnie Raitt covered to massive success in 1989. This is uber-80s adult contemporary pop/blues. Dated but fun.

Peter Gabriel
Shock Den Affen
German version of Shock the Monkey. That’s the only way this song could be made weirder. Peter Gabriel actually released several of his albums in German, sadly they are all out of print in America. I wanna hear “Games Without Frontiers” in German.

The Time
Grace
Morris Day has a female reporter stroke his…ego in this silly skit. I think Morris Day is the only Prince protege that has a bigger ego than Prince. It’s kind of sad considering that The Time is best known nowadays for their cameo in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back

Thomas Dolby
The Devil is an Englishman (Extended Version)
An extended remix of the theme song to Gothic, a horrible movie that no one has ever seen. I’ve already written more than anyone else ever has about that soundtrack, which you can read (and download) here.

Jesus & The Mary Chain
Surfin’ USA (Summer Mix)
How the fuck did this happen? They did a lot of drugs right? That’s the only explanation. From a 12” single I think, it’s been a while since I recorded this one.

Posted in B-sides, Jesus and The Mary Chain, John Hiatt, Peter Gabriel, remixes, The Blasters, The Pretenders, The Time, Thomas Dolby | 8 Comments »

Highlights From The Light Of Day

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Light Of Day was a movie that came out in 1987 starring Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox as two musicians struggling to make it in the tough, no-holds-barred world of the Cleveland bar scene. It was a box-office dud that went nowhere and is remembered now more for its (out-of-print) soundtrack and that Trent Reznor is in one scene for about two seconds.

While the soundtrack itself is out of print, most of the songs on it were either from other albums to begin with or have since been included on other albums, so I’m not featuring the entire album, only some highlights that are still hard-to-find, as well as the title track, which is just awesome.

The Barbusters
Light Of Day
It’s All Coming Down Tonight
Rude Mood
All three of these tracks are credited to The Barbusters, which was the band in the film. “Light Of Day” is the stand-out, which makes sense since Bruce Springsteen wrote the tune. “It’s All Coming Down Tonight” is kind of meh, while “Rude Mood” is an instrumental blues song and a cover to boot, the original being by Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The Hunzz -Rabbit’s Got The Gun
Now, I’ve never seen Light Of Day, but I’m assuming that The Hunnz is a band that Joan Jett joins later in the movie, since she sings on this track too. The Hunnz are actually a band called Joined Forces, but I don’t know anything else about them.

Michael J. Fox – You Got No Place To Go
That’s right, Michael J. Fox decided to perform a song solo for the movie. It’s…not bad, but Fox’s vocals are about as strained as can possibly be for this one.

Rick Cox, Chas Smith, Jon C. Clarke & Michael Boddicker – Elegy
This is a quiet instrumental number that I’m betting closed out the film. It’s very minimal and I’m kind of shocked that it took four people to record it. Of those four the only one I recognize is Boddicker, he’s probably known to nerds as the composer of the Buckaroo Bonzai theme. He also is a session musician and has worked with Michael Jackson in the past.

In case you’re wondering the other tracks from the soundtrack were:
The Barbusters (Joan Jett) – This Means War
The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Twist It Off
Ian Hunter – Cleveland Rocks (Live)
Dave Edmunds – Stay With Me Tonight
Bon Jovi – Only Lonely

Get the live version of “Cleveland Rocks”, it’s bitchin’.

Posted in Joan Jett, soundtrack | 2 Comments »

Wow, this is a themed post.

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

That’s right, two posts in one night. Don’t take this as a sign of increased productivity on my part, because I’m not going to be posting anything else for a week. Real life has gotten in the way of my internet shenanigans. Which is also why tonight’s posts are kind of light on my usually witty charm and stuff.

See you all next week sometime.

Edgar Winter
Frankenstein 1984 (Monster Version)
Frankenstein 1984 (Human Version)
Frankenstein 1984 (Monster Rap)
This…is the greatest song I’ve ever posted. Okay, maybe not, but it’s definitely in the top 5. As “Frankenstein” is one of my favorite instrumental jams of all-time, I had no idea that Edgar Winter reworked it in the 80s, transforming the boogie rock classic into an electro/dance masterpiece! Seriously, this is incredible. It combines the groove of the original with the beats Kraftwerk and the overall funkiness of Herbie Hancock’s “Rockit”. The Monster Version is nearly 10 minutes long, and the Human Version is the radio edit. The Monster Rap is a version that includes (surprise) some rapping, but don’t worry it’s not by Edgar Winter. That would really be weird.

Nash the Slash
1984 (Radio Version)
1984 (Dance Version)
You know it’s a weird double-bill when the albino keyboardist and his electro cover of his own classic rock jam isn’t the weirdest thing I’m posting. No one, I mean no one, outweirds Nash The Slash. This mother is one crazy Canadian. I previously mentioned the bandaged violin player before when talking about FM, and now I’m proud to present one of his solo cuts, one that has never been on a proper Nash The Slash album as far as I know. This song has no relation to the David Bowie number of the same name, other than the fact that both wer most likely inspired by Orwell. Because when I think dystopian facist futures I think prog and glam.

Posted in 1984, Edgar Winter, FUCKING AWESOME, Nash The Slash | 3 Comments »

Highlights From The Light Of Day

Wednesday, June 10th, 2009

Light Of Day was a movie that came out in 1987 starring Joan Jett and Michael J. Fox as two musicians struggling to make it in the tough, no-holds-barred world of the Cleveland bar scene. It was a box-office dud that went nowhere and is remembered now more for its (out-of-print) soundtrack and that Trent Reznor is in one scene for about two seconds.

While the soundtrack itself is out of print, most of the songs on it were either from other albums to begin with or have since been included on other albums, so I’m not featuring the entire album, only some highlights that are still hard-to-find, as well as the title track, which is just awesome.

The Barbusters
Light Of Day
It’s All Coming Down Tonight
Rude Mood
All three of these tracks are credited to The Barbusters, which was the band in the film. “Light Of Day” is the stand-out, which makes sense since Bruce Springsteen wrote the tune. “It’s All Coming Down Tonight” is kind of meh, while “Rude Mood” is an instrumental blues song and a cover to boot, the original being by Stevie Ray Vaughan.

The Hunzz -Rabbit’s Got The Gun
Now, I’ve never seen Light Of Day, but I’m assuming that The Hunnz is a band that Joan Jett joins later in the movie, since she sings on this track too. The Hunnz are actually a band called Joined Forces, but I don’t know anything else about them.

Michael J. Fox – You Got No Place To Go
That’s right, Michael J. Fox decided to perform a song solo for the movie. It’s…not bad, but Fox’s vocals are about as strained as can possibly be for this one.

Rick Cox, Chas Smith, Jon C. Clarke & Michael Boddicker – Elegy
This is a quiet instrumental number that I’m betting closed out the film. It’s very minimal and I’m kind of shocked that it took four people to record it. Of those four the only one I recognize is Boddicker, he’s probably known to nerds as the composer of the Buckaroo Bonzai theme. He also is a session musician and has worked with Michael Jackson in the past.

In case you’re wondering the other tracks from the soundtrack were:
The Barbusters (Joan Jett) – This Means War
The Fabulous Thunderbirds – Twist It Off
Ian Hunter – Cleveland Rocks (Live)
Dave Edmunds – Stay With Me Tonight
Bon Jovi – Only Lonely

Get the live version of “Cleveland Rocks”, it’s bitchi’.

Tags: ,
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Only Happy When I’m Whining

Friday, June 5th, 2009

Rant contained within.

Pearl Jam
U
Angel
Happy When I’m Crying
Santa Cruz
Golden State
Pearl Jam’s been in the news a lot recently. First Jeff Amet got the snot kicked out of him outside a recording studio in Atlanta, then they helped usher in The Conan Era of The Tonight Show by being their first musical guest (and playing this awesome song).

However, what everyone is talking about now is how Pearl Jam has “sold out” because of some deal they made with Target. A quick snippet of comments from across the web:

“Looks like those thugs in Atlanta stole their cred too.”

“I just can’t stop laughing. The unwavering antiestablishment band has finally sold its soul to the corporate machine.”

“I’m still laughing – SELL OUT’s”

If there’s one thing about me that people who read this blog know it’s that I fucking love Pearl Jam. If there’s another thing people who read this blog know about me is that I fucking hate stupid people. So you can imagine the backlash to this non-story is annoying me.

Here’s the article that caused all the ruckus. Now, if you actually read the fucking article you’ll see that it says nothing about Target being the ONLY place where you can buy the album. From the sound of things it will most likely be the only “big box” retail store where you can pick up the album, meaning places like Best Buy and Wal-Mart won’t be carrying it. From the sound of things you can still go to your local independent store and buy it, and you can definitely still get it at Pearl Jam’s website, which is where you should buy all Pearl Jam stuff since you get it sooner and usually with bonus stuff.

I’m having a hard time understanding why signing with a multi-billion dollar corporation like Sony is okay in the eyes of some people, while working with a retail store like Target is not. In a perfect world an artist wouldn’t have to jeopardize their artistic integrity in order to sell records, but that’s not the case. Even a group like Radiohead or NIN has to work with “the man” to get their records out there.

Most importantly, I don’t think any of this really goes against the Pearl Jam code of ethics (that others have seem to supplanted onto them). They aren’t supporting some right wing organization, they’re not working with any major label and they aren’t changing their sound to accomidate a corporation’s desire. People need to shut up and learn to read before bashing someone or something for no good fucking reason.

And by the way, if you want to call Pearl Jam a Sell Out, you can just site when they let Friends use “Yellow Ledbetter” for the series finale.

Enough of my complaining (yeah, right) lets get to the music. “U” was the b-side “Wushlist” Angel was on the 1993 fan club single, “Happy When I’m Crying” is from the 1997 fan club single and the last two are from the newest fan club single that just came out a few weeks ago. I didn’t rip any of the fan club singles personally so if the quality is sub-par for once it’s not my fault. “U” is from a CD single so I don’t want to hear any complaining about that one, especially since the song is great

Posted in B-sides, Pearl Jam, rant | 6 Comments »

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