"The Boys Are Back in Town" 45 RPM single with sleeve
Today’s review covers the Irish hard rock band Thin Lizzy. Not only were they a great band, but Lynott was not your typical arena rock band front man; his songwriting drew upon rather eclectic influences, including the entire Irish literary tradition, as well as contemporary artists such as Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, and Bruce Springsteen. Formed in Dublin, Ireland in late 1969, the band originally consisted of Phil Lynott (vocals, bass guitar), Eric Bell (guitar), Eric Wrixon (electric organ), and Brian Downey (drums). Eric Wrixon, of course, was also a founding member of Them (the one whose parents wouldn’t sign the recording contract and who was replaced). Wrixon was gone by early 1970, and the group relocated to London in 1971. Thin Lizzy signed a recording contract with Decca Records, and in 1973, they had their first major hit, “Whiskey in the Jar”. The band initially had problems matching the success of “Whiskey in the Jar”, and Bell left the group in 1974.Gary Moore briefly replaced Bell while the rest of the group auditioned replacements; eventually they recruited a pair of guitarists, Scott Gorham and Brian Robertson. Their 1975 album “Fighting” contained some memorable songs, such as “Wild One” and a cover version of Bob Seger’s “Rosalie”. But their real breakthorugh would come in 1976 with the release of “Jailbreak”, and that happens to be the LP that produced today’s featured single: “The Boys Are Back in Town” b/w “Jailbreak”.
“The Boys Are Back in Town” supposedly began life as “G.I. Joe Is Back in Town”, as Phil Lynott originally intended to write a song about a soldier returning to the U.S. after the Vietnam War. The main melodic riff was apparently based on the early Bruce Springsteen song “Kitty’s Back” (from “The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle”). Eventually, the song was transformed into a song about a bunch of rowdy friends going out and having a good time. The song opens with three chords strummed on a guitar (Lynott’s bass guitar is interspersed between the first and second chords). About 1 minute into the song, we get the first appearance of the second lead guitar; the twin lead guitar attack of Gorham and Robertson was a key element of the Thin Lizzy sound starting with the “Fighting” LP. But arguably it is on “The Boys Are Back in Town” that they really made the interplay between their guitars work in a big way. And what can be said of Phil Lynott’s lyrics? Once again, he shows a knack for making the common man seem sublime: they’re not just local toughs hanging out, they’re hanging out at Dino’s Bar and Grill, picking up chicks and driving the old men crazy, “[a]nd if the boys want to fight, you’d better let them.” Lynott’s voice is part of the appeal of the track, his light touch is a perfect counterpoint for the brutality of the take-no-prisoners twin lead guitar attack, and Lynott could croon with the best of them. “The Boys Are Back in Town” was destined to become one of Thin Lizzy’s signature tunes and a major international hit, reaching number 1 in Ireland, number 8 in the U.K., and number 12 in the U.S.
"The Boys Are Back in Town" single with alternate blue label
“Jailbreak” is such a good album that virtually any song off the album that had been selected as a B-side would have been a great choice, but as it turns out, the B-side is the title track itself. “Jailbreak” also happens to be another of the band’s signature tunes. It starts off with a single chord, followed by what one critic referred to as a “wonderfully sparse three chord riff”. Once again, Gorham and Robertson build a twin lead guitar attack that conveys the drama of the jailbreak referenced in the song title. They use this to build tension in the music, dancing on the edge of losing restraint, but pulling back, until the final jailbreak signaled by the “Breakout!” cry of Lynott and the subsequent siren-filled middle section, which gives way to the song’s ending, in which the song pulls back from the fury of the midsection. Downey’s drumming deserves some acclaim here, as it really fills out the sound and gives the rhythm section some muscle. “Jailbreak” was not the hit that “The Boys Are Back in Town” had been: released as the second single a few months later, it only reached number 31 on the U.K. charts and did not chart in the U.S., but it’s still a great song and arguably one that is more representative of the classic, hard-driving Thin Lizzy sound than “Boys” is. It was also a great vehicle for the band in live performances, and the band rarely held this one back for encores: rather, they would use it early on in the show to get the crowd going.
This single (catalog #: 73786) was not issued with a picture sleeve, but it did come with a company sleeve for Philips/Mercury/Vertigo Records. The label is the typical Mercury Records label from this period, with the Mercury logo across the top, the song title across the bottom, superimposed over a background of the Chicago skyline.
External links: Jailbreak video
"September Gurls" b/w "Mod Lang" 45 RPM single
Memphis musician Chris Bell was involved in two separate projects in the late 1960s: Icewater and Rock City. These groups involved a revolving set of musicians; among those involved in them were drummer Jody Stephens and bass guitarist Andy Hummel. By the early 1970s, Bell, Stephens and Hummel formed the lineup for Icewater. Around this time, Bell invited Alex Chilton, who had been the lead vocalist in the Box Tops before their break-up in 1970, to join Icewater. He accepted, and the quartet was re-christened Big Star (after the grocery store chain). The band was signed to Ardent Records, and soon began work on their debut album. Their first album, “#1 Record”, was released in April 1972. Although the album received favorable reviews from several publications, Stax Records, Ardent’s distributor, couldn’t get the album into many record stores; the situation did not change when Columbia became distributors for Stax’s entire back catalog, and Columbia even had existing copies of “#1 Record” pulled from record store shelves. Without adequate distribution, “#1 Record” became a commercial flop. Disappointed with the failure of the album and at odds with his band mates, Bell quit the band towards the end of 1972. For a brief time, Big Star was defunct, but a few months later, the band reformed as a trio with Chilton, Stephens and Hummel. This lineup recorded “Radio City” (1974), which spawned two singles, the second of which was “September Gurls” b/w “Mod Lang”. This is today’s featured single.
“September Gurls” initially evokes comparisons to jangle pop, and it could be classified as such. At the same time, it’s comparable to the melodic guitar pop of The Beatles, and the angst-ridden energy of the early Who. It’s an interesting amalgam of these influences, and a great pop song. The lyrics don’t rival the obliqueness of a Dylan or a Leonard Cohen, but not every great song does: “September gurls do so much/I was your butch and you were touched/I loved you well never mind/I’ve been crying all the time”. The result is an insouciant tone and an angst that was not lost on 1980s bands like The Replacements as well as other bands who cited Big Star as an influence. Although the song clocks in at a mere 2 minutes and 49 seconds, we get a catchy instrumental break about halfway through the song, concluded by a nice, staccato drum beat. Although many consider this song a classic, the fact remains that few people are aware of it, a result of Stax’s chronic distribution problems which resulted in the failure of Big Star’s commercial aspirations. This is not to say, however, that they did not influence other artists; their influence can be discerned, if from nothing else, from the number of bands that have covered “September Gurls” (The Bangles, covered it on their breakthrough album “Different Light”, as well as The Searchers and Cheap Trick). “September Gurls” is definitely on of the band’s most enduring songs.
The B-side, “Mod Lang” may not be the classic that “September Gurls” is, but still has a lot working in it’s favor. We have the similar, barely coherent, almost random lyrics: “I can’t be satisfied/What you want me to do/And so I moan/Had to leave my home”. We have a similar jangle pop feel, even the same cowbell which punctuates the A-side. Although the song doesn’t reach the stature of “September Gurls”, when the song abruptly ends after about 2 and a half minutes, it left me hungry for more, a feeling I did not have after listening to the A-side. One of the side effects of good albums is that virtually any two songs from the album would make a good single. “September Gurls” was especially good and thus was ideal material for a single, but for a B-side, “Mod Lang” is pretty good and up to Big Star’s high standards.
The single (catalog #: ADA-2912) was released on Stax subsidiary Ardent Records in May 1974. The label (shown here), with what appears to be an azimuthal projection map of the world, may or may not have reflected the global aspirations of the record company. Whether or not this was the case, Stax’s poor distribution seemed to ensure that any record released by the label was not likely to become a hit. This was the case with Big Star: sales of “Radio City” were minimal (though much greater than the first album, with sales of 20,000 copies, the improvement suggesting what might have been achieved with good distribution). Andy Hummel left the band after the release of “Radio City”, and the two remaining members, Chilton and Stephens, entered the studios to record another album, this time accompanied by what Big Star biographer Bruce Eaton described as “a large and revolving cast of Memphis musicians”. The group broke up in late 1974, and the resulting album, “Third/Sister Lovers” was not even released until 1978, but it became a cult classic, although, as with the previous Big Star releases, did little commercially. Original guitarist Chris Bell died in a car accident in 1978. Big Star reformed in 1993 when guitarist Jon Auer and bassist Ken Stringfellow joined Chilton and Stephens. Although initially the band did not release a studio album of new material (instead, two live albums were released in the early 1990s, one being a recording of the first performance of the reunited band at the University of Missouri spring music festival in April 1993), Big Star released “In Space” in 2005 on the Rykodisc label. Alex Chilton died on March 17, 2010 after being admitted to a hospital three days earlier with heart problems. Andy Hummel died of cancer on July 19, 2010, leaving Jody Stephens as the only surviving original member.
Picture sleeve for "Seven Days" b/w "Lost and Lonely" 45 RPM single
I usually think of Ron Wood as a member of either The Rolling Stones or The Faces (or, back in the day, the Jeff Beck Group and The Birds), so at first it didn’t occur to me that he might have released a single worthy of being the featured single of the day. But yesterday, “Sure The One You Need” off of Ron Wood’s first solo album came up on my iPod in shuffle mode, and it got me thinking about Ron Wood’s oeuvre as a solo artist. He probably had the most productive solo careers of all the Stones, and arguably had the most consistently good solo career of all the ex-Faces. So I started to look around to see if he released any great singles. Mission accomplished: today’s featured single is “Seven Days” b/w “Lost and Lonely”. This single was taken from Wood’s fourth solo album, “Gimme Some Neck”. After the departure of Ronnie Lane from The Faces in 1973, the band began recording tracks for a new studio album, but they soon lost enthusiasm; their last release was the U.K. Top 20 hit “You Can Make Me Dance, Sing, Or Anything”. In the meantime, Ron Wood released “Got My Own Album To Do” in 1974; both Mick Jagger and Keith Richards contributed to the album. When Mick Taylor left the Stones in 1974, Wood essentially became an unofficial fifth member of the band, even touring with the Stones in 1975, but his commitment to The Faces precluded him from becoming a full-fledged band member. Wood then released another solo album in 1975, “Now Look”. When The Faces officially broke up in late 1975, there was nothing standing in the way of his joining the Rolling Stones, and he was announced as the new rhythm guitarist for the band in February 1976. For a few years, his solo career was put on hiatus (the movie soundtrack to “Mahoney’s Last Stand”, which he recorded with Ronnie Lane, was released in 1976, but it had been recorded in 1972). Finally, in 1979, Wood resumed his solo career with the released of “Gimme Some Neck”. The album was not really a major hit – it peaked at #45 on the Billboard album charts – but it represents a solid slab of guitar-driven rock and roll. Wood can’t sing that well, yet his rough voice is well-suited for the material on this LP. All of the songs on the album except for “Seven Days” are written by Ron Wood, and in spite of the fact that all of the songs on this album are quite good, “Seven Days” was a good choice for the first (and as far as I know, only) single from this album. What makes “Seven Days” unique, amongst other things, is that it is a Bob Dylan song which at the time had not been recorded by Bob Dylan. The author of this blog first heard the song as part of a Dylan A through Z broadcast on a local radio station over twenty years ago. The idea was to present the complete Dylan, including songs recorded by Dylan (whether or not he wrote the song), and songs written by Dylan (but not necessarily recorded by him). “Seven Days” came up, and since Dylan didn’t record it (it would appear in 1993 on a Dylan live album), they played the Ron Wood version. I thought it was a good song, but didn’t bother to buy the album then. Many years later, I finally bought “Gimme Some Neck”, and discovered that “Seven Days” was just one of the better – if not the best song – on a great album. The track starts off with a guitar riff, followed by a rhythm section accompaniment, along with a saxophone (courtesy of none other than Bobby Keyes), and later in the song, an organ (ex-Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan lends a hand or two). The lyrical content, in which the protagonist anticipates the arrival of a woman who’s been gone “[e]ver since I’ve been a child” clearly conveys a sense of longing and anticipation, as does the music (especially the lead guitar riff). Ron Wood does his best Dylan impression for this song, and on the whole, he does Dylan serious justice. The B-side, “Lost and Lonely”, is the penultimate track of the album, is a ballad that begins with a minor key melody played on a bass guitar, accompanied by a single guitar until the vocals begin 24 seconds into the track: “Lost and I’m lonely/Looking for you/Out of my mind/’Cause it’s you I can’t find”. The song’s protagonist vows that “if there could be a next time/I promise I’ll stand by you”. Wood’s vocals are ideal for this track; the lyrics are sung with a world weariness that makes this a credible slab of AOR. Background vocals on the song are provided by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, and there is even a brief harmony part when Wood vows that they should “be together again”. In the context of the album, this melancholy-sounding tune is a nice change of pace from some of the more upbeat songs on the album before Wood finally brings it home with the ebullient-sounding “Don’t Worry”. Presumably, this single (catalog #: CBS 7425) was issued with the orange and yellow Columbia label common during this period. The U.S. release of this single seems to have been issued with a picture sleeve (shown above). I did find Canadian and Australian releases of this single as well, and a white label promo of this single (one version of the white label promo had “Breakin’ My Heart” on the flip side instead of “Lost and Lonely”).
"Mongoloid" b/w "Jocko Homo" picture sleeve
The name “Devo” comes “from their concept of ‘de-evolution’ – the idea that instead of evolving, mankind has actually regressed, as evidenced by the dysfunction and herd mentality of American society.” Kent State University art students Gerald Casale and Bob Lewis developed this idea as a joke as far back as the late 1960s. Casale and Lewis created a number of art pieces satirically based on the theme of de-evolution. At the time, Casale was performing with local band 15-60-75 (The Numbers Band). The two met Mark Mothersbaugh, who introduced them to the pamphlet “Jocko Homo Heavenbound”, which eventually inspired the song “Jocko Homo”. The Kent State shootings of May 4, 1970 were cited as the impetus for forming Devo. The initial Devo lineup consisted of Casale, Lewis and Mothersbaugh, as well as Gerald’s brother Bob on guitar, Rod Reisman on drums and Fred Weber on vocals. Their only live performance with this lineup was at the 1973 Kent State performing arts festival. They performed at the university’s 1974 Creative Arts Festival with a lineup consisting of the Casale brothers, Lewis, Mark Mothersbaugh and his brother Jim on drums. Devo later reformed as a quartet, retaining Jim and Mark Mothersbaugh and Gerald Casale from the previous lineup, and adding Bob Mothersbaugh (Jim and Mark’s brother) on guitar. This lineup remained intact until 1976, when Jim left the band. Bob Casale rejoined the band at this point on guitar, and the band also found a new drummer, Alan Myers. The band gained some fame that year when the film “The Truth About De-Evolution” by Chuck Statler won a prize at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. That year, they also released their first single, “Mongoloid” b/w “Jocko Homo”. This is today’s featured single.
“Mongoloid” opens with a relatively simple riff played on a guitar (soon accompanied by a synthesizer), which gives the song a garage rock feel to it, showing the contrast between the early Devo and the Devo of the “Freedom of Choice” era. The lyrics tell the story of an unfortunate man who nonetheless lives a relatively normal live: “Monogoloid he was a mongoloid/Happier than you and me/ Mongoloid he was a mongoloid/And it determined what he could see/Mongoloid he was a mongoloid/One chromosome too many”. But “he wore a hat/And he had a job/And he brought home the bacon/So that no one knew”. Notably nobody is singing lead vocals; the harmonized vocals of the band members enhance the mechanized feel of Devo’s music here, as does the electronic-sounding drum beat and Mark Mothersbaugh’s synthesizer. Yet at the same time, the distorted guitars and pounding bass line make the song sound like a punk anthem, the result being a song that is a punk and new wave hybrid. The band’s sound was cutting edge, but cutting edge music doesn’t always translate into sales, and “Mongoloid” was not a hit. Nonetheless, the song is generally acknowledged as one of the band’s early classics. The song was re-recorded for Devo’s debut album, “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” (1978).
The B-side, “Jocko Homo” is probably the better-known of the two songs on this single. “Jocko Homo” crams a lot of ideas into 3 minutes and 22 seconds: the lyrics primarily concern themselves with de-evolution, with the song title taken from a 1924 anti-evolution tract called “Jocko Homo Heavenbound” by B.H. Shadduck. Most versions include a bridge that begins with “God made man, but he used the monkey to do it.” There are also several call and response choruses, including the repeated chant “Are we not men?/We are Devo!”. [The line “Are we not men?” is supposedly lifted from the 1932 film “Island of Lost Souls”.] The song begins with the unusual signature time of 7/8, but switches partway through to 4/4 time for the call and response sections. The rising and falling guitar riff also distinguish this song, as well as its denigration of civilized society: “Monkey men all/In business suit/Teachers and critics/All dance the poot”. Like “Mongoloid”, “Jocko Homo” is equal parts punk and new wave, and the descending guitar riff gives the song a garage rock feel to it; combined with the synthesizer it provides an almost hypnotic-sounding melody for the band’s de-evolution lesson. The video for the song, featured in the short film “The Truth About De-Evolution”, features Mark Mothersbaugh as a professor lecturing to a group of students, who, as the song progresses, begin to riot. While performed live, “Jocko Homo” is often the centerpiece of the show, and early performances could go on for 20 minutes or more, until, as Mark Mothersbaugh said in an interview, ” people were actually fighting with us, trying to make us stop playing the song.” A faster-paced version of the song was recorded for the band’s debut album; the original version was released on Stiff Records in the U.K. (with “Jocko Homo” as the A-side instead of “Mongoloid”) and peaked at #62 on the U.K. Singles Chart.
The single (catalog #: 7033-14) was released on the band’s own Booji Boy label. A picture sleeve was issued with this single (shown above). It was also released in the U.K. on Stiff Records (catalog #: DEV 1). Devo caught the attention of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, who championed the band and helped them secure a contract with Warner Bros. Records, who released their debut album, “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” (1978). Their second album, “Duty Now for the Future” (1979), but reached a new level of popularity with their third album, “Freedom of Choice” (1980), which reached #22 on the Billboard album chart and spawned the single “Whip It” (#14 U.S. #62 U.K.). This proved to be the commercial peak of the band, as subsequent albums “New Traditionalists” (1981), “Oh No! It’s Devo” (1982) and “Shout” (1984) resulted in diminishing returns. “Shout” peaked at #83 on the Billboard album chart, and soon after it’s release, Warner Bros. dropped Devo from its label. Alan Myers left the band soon afterwards, and Devo went on hiatus for a brief period. In 1987, Devo reformed with a new drummer, David Kendrick; this lineup produced an album, “Total Devo” (1988), released on Enigma Records. “Total Devo” was a commercial and critical failure, but the tour in support of the album became the basis for the live album “Now It Can Be Told: Devo at the Palace” (1989). Their next studio album, “Smooth Noodle Maps” (1990) was also a commercial dud, and a European tour had to be cancelled due to lack of ticket sales. The band had a falling out and broke up in 1991. Mark Mothersbaugh formed Mutato Musika, a commercial music production studio, enlisting the help of Bob Mothersbaugh and Bob Casale. Over the next two decades, there would be sporadic Devo reunions (with Josh Freese on drums, but with the remainder of the original lineup otherwise intact), but they would not release a new album until “Something for Everybody” (2010).
Picture sleeve for Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young's "Woodstock" single
Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young had its genesis in three different 1960’s bands. David Crosby (guitar, vocals) had been a member of the legendary folk rock band The Byrds, but had been fired in 1967. In early 1968, Buffalo Springfield was on the verge of breaking up, and Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stills began jamming with Crosby. Graham Nash, the lead guitarist for The Hollies, had first met David Crosby when The Byrds toured the U.K. in 1966. In February 1969, at a party at Cass Elliot’s house, Nash asked Stills and Crosby to perform a new song by Stills, “You Don’t Have To Cry”, and Stills improvised a second harmony part. The three realized they had a unique vocal chemistry and Nash, frustrated with The Hollies, decided to join forces with Crosby and Stills. After failing an audition with Apple Records, the band signed with Atlantic Records – Ahmet Ertegun had been a fan of Buffalo Springfield and was disappointed by their breakup. They opted to use their surnames to identify the band to ensure that the band couldn’t simply continue without one of of them. There was a slight problem, as Nash was already signed to rival label Epic Records; a deal was engineered by which Nash was “traded” to Atlantic in return for Epic getting the rights to Richie Furay’s band Poco. The trio’s debut album, “Crosby, Stills And Nash”, was released in May 1969 and was an immediate hit, reaching #6 on the Billboard album chart and spawning 2 Top 40 hits (“Marrakesh Express” and “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”). But now that it came time to tour in support of the album, the trio needed additional personnel to perform the songs live, as Stephen Stills had handled the lion’s share of the instrumental parts on the record. Stevie Winwood was approached, but he was occupied by the newly-formed Blind Faith. Neil Young seemed a natural fit, since he and Stills had been bandmates in Buffalo Springfield, and after several meetings, Young was added to the lineup, after signing a contract that gave him the freedom to pursue a solo career with his backing band, Crazy Horse. CSNY toured from the late summer of 1969 until January 1970, with their second gig being the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. The band’s follow-up LP (and first as Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young) was eagerly anticipated. “Deja Vu” was released in March 1970, and quickly reached #1 on the Billboard album chart, and spawned 3 Top 40 singles: “Our House”, “Teach Your Children”, and “Woodstock”. The last of those – “Woodstock” b/w “Helpless” – is today’s featured single.
“Woodstock” was written by Joni Mitchell, but her version, which appears on “Ladies Of The Canyon” (1970), was overshadowed by the Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young rendition. The song starts off with a somewhat meandering guitar riff from Stephen Stills, which eventually gives way to a relatively simple guitar rhythm (there are six chords used in total), before Stills begins singing lead vocals, backed by Crosby and Nash. The lyrics begin by referring to a fellow traveler (“Well I came upon a child of God/He was walking along the road”) and they conclude with them reaching their final destination (“By the time we got to Woodstock/We were half a million strong”). In between we have a chorus that invokes imagery of the garden of Eden (“we’ve got to get ourselves back to the garden”) while also reinforcing the ties that bind all humans (“we are billion year-old carbon”). There is also vivid imagery of swords turning into plowshares, at least metaphorically (“And I dreamed I saw the bombers jet planes/Riding shotgun in the sky/Turning into butterflies/Above our nation” – possibly a drug-induced hallucination?). This arrangement is notable for its stop-start pattern just before the chorus. This song is not the only one written about the Woodstock Festival (“For Yasgur’s Farm” by Mountain comes to mind), but it is probably the most memorable one.
Red Atlantic label on CSNY's "Woodstock" 45 RPM single
The B-side of the song, “Helpless”, is Neil Young’s creation, with Young getting the only songwriting credit on the song and singing lead vocals on it. [In fact, of the ten songs on the LP, each member got two sole compositions, with the last song, “Everybody I Love You” being co-written by Stills and Young, and “Woodstock” was written by Joni Mitchell.] The song has a slow tempo, with a country feel to it, and is yet another Neil Young song with a very simple chord progression (chords D, A, and G are repeated throughout every line in the song from beginning to end, and as simple as it is, it makes for a very melodic, compelling tune, as was the case with “Cinnamon Girl”, Young is skilled out of getting the most even when restricting himself to a relatively limited musical palette). The song is about Young’s childhood in north Ontario, and is nostalgic without being very specific (“There is a town in north Ontario/With dream comfort memory to spare/And in my mind I still need a place to go/All my changes were there”). The images conveyed in the lyrics are those of nature (“Blue, blue windows behind the stars,/Yellow moon on the rise/Big birds flying across the sky” – vivid imagery, to be sure, but not necessarily exclusive to north Ontario), and they ultimately leave the singer and his companions helpless – and that’s about all there is to it. The song is augmented by Young’s haunting, high tenor vocals, a subdued (yet melodic) piano, and an electric guitar that sounds more like a pedal steel, and of course, Crosby, Stills, and Nash’s harmony voices repeating the word “helpless” over and over. Although it was relegated to the B-side of this single, “Helpless” is a creditable addition to the Young song catalog, and one that has been covered many times, by artists as diverse as Nick Cave and Nazareth.
The single (catalog #: 45-2723) was issued by Atlantic Records in 1970. It has the red and black Atlantic label that was typical of Atlantic single releases in the 1960’s and 1970’s (the big Atlantic logo across the top, and the song/artist/publishing information across the bottom, with the song length on the right side. It did not come with a picture sleeve in the United States, but some foreign releases included a picture sleeve (e.g. Portugal, which is shown in my picture gallery). Although Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young were highly successful, the deliberately tenuous nature of the partnership of strained by this success, and the group imploded after a tour in the summer of 1970. This tour yielded a double live album, “Four Way Street” (1971) that would top the charts, but from September 1970 onwards, the members went their separate ways, with each member releasing a successful solo album over the next eight months. The band finally reunited in the summer of 1974 for a stadium tour, but old tensions resurfaced, and plans for a new CSNY album were scrapped, although Crosby and Nash teamed up and recorded an album. Crosby, Stills and Nash would reappear with a new album in 1977, and would record and tour sporadically over the next decade, in between Crosby’s struggles with his addiction to freebase cocaine. Crosby served an eight-month prison sentence for drug and weapons charges; upon his release from prison, Young agreed to rejoin the trio after Crosby agreed to clean himself up. “American Dream” (1988), the first CSNY release since “Deja Vu”, was released, but Crosby and Stills were barely functioning for the recording of the album. It received poor critical reviews, and Young refused to support it with a CSNY tour. CSN recorded two more solo albums in the 1990’s, “Live It Up” (1990) and “After The Storm” (1994). The latter album barely made the Top 100 on the Billboard album chart, and Atlantic dropped CSN from their roster. Without a record deal, the band started financing their next album, and when Stills invited Young to guest on a few tracks, the project eventually turned into a new CSNY album, “Looking Forward” (1999), released on Young’s label, Reprise Records. The ensuing CSNY2K and CSNY Tour Of America 2002 were major money-makers.
”]Rudolf Schenker launched Scorpions in 1965 in Hannover, Germany. In 1969, Schenker’s younger brother Michael (guitars) joined the band along with vocalist Klaus Meine (until then, Rudolf performed double duty as a guitarist and lead vocalist). Lothar Heimberg and Wolfgang Dziony filled out the lineup, and in 1972 the band released its first LP, “Lonesome Crow”, on RCA Records. During the “Lonesome Crow” tour, Michael Schenker was offered the lead guitar position in UFO; he accepted and quit the band. Ulrich Roth, the lead guitarist for the German band Dawn Road, filled in for Schenker on the remainder of the tour. The departure of Michael Schenker, however, led to the breakup of Scorpions. Rudolf Schenker opted to join Dawn Road, which up to this point consisted of Roth, Francis Buchholz (bass guitar), Achim Kirschning (keyboards) and Jurgen Rosenthal (drums). Roth and Buchholz convinced Rudolf Schenker to invite Klaus Meine to join the band, which was now renamed Scorpions because it was well-known in the German rock scene and they had already released an album under that name, even though only Schenker and Meine remained from the “Lonesome Crow” lineup.
The new lineup released “Fly To The Rainbow” (1974), which outsold “Lonesome Crow” and contained the fan favorite “Speedy’s Coming”. After the release of this album Kirschning decided to leave the band and Rosenthal had to leave Scorpions as he was drafted into the army; he was replaced by Rudy Lenners. Their third album, “In Trance”, marked the beginning of a long collaboration with producer Dieter Dierks. “Virgin Killer” (1976) followed with its controversial cover (a naked prepubescent girl covered with broken glass); the album was success with critics. In 1977 Lenners was replaced with Herman Rarebell, and the band released their fifth studio album, “Taken By Force”. Scorpions toured Japan in support of the album; Roth, however, was not satisfied with the artistic direction of the band and left after the Japanese tour. The live double LP “Tokyo Tapes” was released in 1978; it was released in the U.S. and Europe in 1979, 6 months after its release in Japan. In mid-1978, the band recruited new guitarist Matthias Jabs after auditioning 140 guitarists to replace Roth. Scorpions then left RCA Records for Mercury Records, releasing their first album for the label, “Lovedrive”, on February 25, 1979, an album that contained 3 songs featuring Michael Schenker, who had briefly rejoined Scorpions after being fired by UFO for alcohol abuse. The album peaked at #55 on the U.S. Billboard album chart, and was eventually certified gold, making it their most commercially successful LP in the United States up to that point, and some critics consider it to be the pinnacle of their career. It cemented the Scorpion formula mixing rockers with melodic ballads, and it also contained today’s featured single: “Is There Anybody There?” b/w “Another Piece Of Meat”.
“Is There Anybody There?” starts off with with a laid-back reggae beat established with a four-note riff (D/C/B/E), played the first time with a clean, funky sound, and the second time with distortion (to accompany Meine’s dreamy “Ah-ah-ah-ah-ah” vocals). The guitar riff accompanying the verses contains only 2 chords (Bm/A); the riff on the chorus adds two additional chords (G/D). The lyrics seem unusually eclectic for a heavy metal song: “Open my mind let me find new vibrations/Tell me the way I must take to reach my destination/And a place where I can stay/Where is the love of my life couldn’t find her”. Although the lyrics are awkward at some points, I found the idea of drawing an analogy of someone separated from his significant other as akin to being “lost in the ocean” and “in the darkness of these days” to be a compelling one. Although the song doesn’t really fit into either of the band’s traditional categories (it’s essentially an easy-going mid-tempo song; it’s not really a rocker or a ballad), it’s a worthy addition to their catalog, and it’s a reggae-influenced song released around the time that a lot of pop music sported a reggae influence (e.g. The Police, The Specials). And Meine’s vocals give the song an ethereal quality, even if the sound doesn’t quite transport you into another world.
The B-side, “Another Piece Of Meat”, is a pretty straightforward Scorpions rocker. While the band was altering its sound somewhat with this album to sound more contemporary (emulating newer bands such as Van Halen), I don’t think that “Another Piece Of Meat” would be out-of-place on any of their RCA-era LPs. The song is driven by a simple four-chord riff, and the lyrics – about a wanton woman (“She said: “Hey, let’s go, don’t put on a show/You’re just another piece/Another piece of meat”) makes it a much more prototypical heavy-metal material than the A-side. [If that’s not enough, the girl in the song has a fetish for violence: “Violence really turned her on, oh no/She was screaming for more blood”. Thus we get both sex and violence injected into the lyrical content.] There’s an energetic guitar solo about halfway through the song, and this is one of the tracks in which Scorpions reaped the benefits of having no less than 3 guitarists, since Michael Schenker plays guitar (along with Rudolf Schenker and Francis Buchholz) on this track (he would play guitar on two other tracks on the album, “Coast To Coast” and “Lovedrive”). Although Schenker would once again leave the band, the guitar pyrotechnics on this track are intriguing enough to make you wonder what might have been if he had stayed.
This single (catalog #: HAR 5185) was, as far as I know, only issued in the U.K. “Is There Anybody There?” was also issued as a single in Germany, but with “Can’t Get Enough” as the B-side. I couldn’t find any evidence of a U.S. release for this one. I did locate a picture of the U.K. single, albeit a white-label promotional copy, pictured here. It has the same picture as the cover of the “Lovedrive” LP (only in black and white), only with the “Scorpions” logo in big print across the top instead of in small print in the upper left corner. This single was a hit in the U.K., peaking at #39 in the charts (the LP peaked at #36 in the U.K. and #11 in Germany).
External links:
Scorpions performing Is There Anybody There? on West German TV in 1979
Scorpions performing Is There Anybody There? live in 1979
Michael Schenker performing Another Piece Of Meat live in 1997
The Velvet Underground's "White Light/White Heat" single, on Verve Records
The Velvet Underground had its roots in a meeting between New York native Lou Reed and Welsh native John Cale in 1964. Lou Reed was a college student who played with garage bands and had worked as a songwriter for Pickwick Records. Cale had moved to the United States to study classical music, but was also interested in rock music. Reed and Cale formed a group called The Primitives, with Lou Reed as the guitarist and lead vocalist, and Cale playing other instruments and also providing vocals. Reed soon recruited college classmate Sterling Morrison, who played guitar, and the band added Angus MacLise to play percussion. The quartet called themselves The Warlocks, then the Falling Spikes, and they finally settled on the Velvet Underground. Angus MacLise, left the band when they decided to take a gig playing Summit High School in Summit, New Jersey in 1965 (for the princely sum of $75); he viewed this as a “sell out” and was replaced by Maureen “Mo” Tucker, the younger sister of a friend or Morrison’s. Andy Warhol became the band’s manager in 1965 and helped them secure a recording contract with MGM’s Verve Records. He also suggested that they record with the German-born model Nico, who sang on 3 songs on the Velvet Underground’s debut LP, “The Velvet Underground and Nico”, released in March 1967. The album was a modest commercial success, peaking at #171 on the U.S. Billboard chart, although sales were undoubtedly hurt as a result of the album being pulled from stores by MGM as a result of a legal dispute with “Chelsea Girls” cinematographer Eric Emerson (he claimed that a still from the movie had been used on the back cover of the album without his permission).
The Velvet Underground subsequently severed ties with Andy Warhol and Nico, and began work on their second LP. The album, “White Light/White Heat” was recorded in September 1967 and released on January 30, 1968, entering the Billboard chart at #199, and remaining there for 2 weeks before sliding off the album chart. The album showed Lou Reed and John Cale pulling the band in different directions, containing both Cale-inspired noisefests like “Sister Ray”, and shorter, more conventional, almost pop-ish numbers written by Lou Reed, like the title track. Although this album proved to be the last hurrah of the Reed-Cale collaboration (Cale would leave the band in September 1968 before work on their third album started, and was replaced by Doug Yule), it did contain today’s featured single: “White Light/White Heat” b/w “Here She Comes Now”.
“White Light/White Heat” demonstrates why when MGM president Mike Curb decided to purge MGM of all hippie/drug-related acts, the VU’s days on the label were numbered. “White Light/White Heat”, unlike some of the band’s other songs (e.g. “Heroin”), sounds like a commercial for amphetamines. The song features only a few chords (the verses only have 2 chords – A and D – and the chorus includes 4 chords – A, D, G, and F), but the chords are all downtuned a whole tone. The enthusiasm that Reed exudes as he sings suggests that speed was his drug of choice at the time: “Oh, I surely do love to watch that stuff drip itself in/Watch that side, watch that side/Don’t you know gonna be dead and dried”. And while he notes that it’s “messin’ up my mind”, it’s doubtful that he thinks this is an unwelcome side effect. There’s a great dissonant, droning guitar chord at the end (G), perhaps influenced by Cale. The song is relatively short (2 minutes and 45 seconds), but in concert it became a showcase for Reed’s guitar work, and, as a result, the version on “1969: The Velvet Underground Live” is three times as long. John Cale and Sterling Morrison sing backing vocals on this track (the “white light/white light/white heat/white light” backing chorus). Cale also plays a rollicking, barrelhouse-style piano on the track, not unlike he does on “I’m Waiting For The Man”. This song has had a major influence on glam rock and punk, and was covered by David Bowie and Mick Ronson, not to mention Reed himself, who resurrected it on his live LP “Rock and Roll Animal” (1974).
The B-side of the single, “Here She Comes Now”, seems even more minimalistic than “White Light/White Heat”. It is possible to replicate the entire lyrics in this posting, because there are only 9 lines in the song: “Here she ever comes now now/She ever comes now now/She ever comes now” (repeated several times) and “Oh oh, it look so good/Shes made out of wood/Just look and see”. The lyrical content is mysterious; the song is credited to Morrison, Cale and Reed, and they claim that it is “a 7-line thesis on the possibility that a girl might come.” It works for me. The song consists of 3 chords (D/C/B5), and although it’s a rather simple song, the piano playing of Cale and the light touch of Mo Tucker on the drums (not to mention the melodious dissonance of Reed on guitar) impart a unique sound to the track. Whereas Reed sounds passionate on “White Light/White Heat”, on this track he sounds indifferent and impassive, a vocal styling that he would hone to perfection during his solo career and that one suspects was an influence on many artists (David Bowie comes immediately to mind, but undoubtedly there are others). The song was originally intended to be sung by Nico, who did sing it live several times. A demo was recorded with Lou Reed singing vocals; this version had two additional verses and was released on the 1995 box set “Peel Slowly and See”. By the time the Velvet Underground recorded the LP “White Light/White Heat”, their collaboration with Nico had come to an end, and “Here She Comes Now” was again recorded with Reed supplying the vocals. The song clocks in at 2 minutes and 4 seconds, making it the shortest song on “White Light/White Heat”. Incidentally, Nirvana apparently did a cover version of this song, released in 1991 as part of a split single with The Melvins.
The single (catalog #: VK10560) was released by Verve Records, and was the last Velvet Underground single released by Verve Records (subsequent singles would be released on the parent label, MGM). No picture sleeve was issued with the single. The label is blue, with the Verve Records logo across the top, the band’s name on the left side, and the track name on the right side. I’ve profiled quite a few singles in this blog, and this does seem to be one of the more unusual labels. The band would be active for a few more years, but commercial success still eluded them. “The Velvet Underground”, the band’s third album and first with Doug Yule, was issued in March 1969 but failed to make the Billboard album chart. They spent much of 1969 on the road (which yielded the abovementioned live LP, released by Mercury Records in 1974), and recorded a number of studio tracks, many of which went unreleased for many years due to disputes with MGM. Finally, in 1969, MGM president Mike Curb decided to drop all hippie/drug-related acts from the label and the VU were unceremoniously dropped from MGM. They were snapped up by Atlantic Records, who issued their fourth album, “Loaded”, on their Cotillion subsidiary in August 1970. The album contained 2 of their most radio-friendly tracks – “Sweet Jane” and “Rock and Roll”, which garnered considerable airplay – but Reed became disillusioned with the band while recording the album and left the band. Doug Yule became the new singer/lead guitarist, and Walter Powers was recruited to replace Yule on bass. Sterling Morrison left the band in 1971 to pursue an academic career, and was replaced by keyboardist Willie Alexander. This lineup was touring the U.K. in 1972 when their manager secured a contract with Polydor Records; Yule sent the band back to the United States and recorded the fifth Velvet Underground LP, “Squeeze” (1973), essentially by himself. A new lineup was assembled to tour in support of the album (which was released only in Europe), but when the brief tour ended in December 1972, Yule pulled the plug on the band. Yule assembled a new band, called it the Velvet Underground, and toured the New England bar circuit in the spring of 1973, but other than Yule, this band had no connection to the old Velvet Underground, although they did play VU covers. The band has essentially been defunct since 1972, although Reed and Cale have reunited on several occasions, and the classic lineup of Reed-Cale-Morrison-Tucker finally reunited in 1992. The band toured Europe in 1993, but before long, Reed and Cale had a falling-out and the VU were in limbo again. The death of Morrison in 1995 seemed to put an end to any talk of a reunion, although Reed and Cale put aside their differences to perform (along with Tucker) at their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction in 1996.
External links – I couldn’t find any footage of the VU performing – does any such footage exist? Well, here’s 2 links anyway:
Lou Reed and Pete Townsend performing White Light/White Heat
White Light/White Heat “video”
The "White Punks on Dope" single
The Tubes was a band formed by high school friends from Phoenix, Arizona. The Beans and The Red White and Blues band relocated to San Francisco in 1969 and merged, forming The Tubes. The original lineup consisted of Fee Waybill (vocals), Bill “Sputnik” Spooner (guitar, vocals), Roger Steen (guitar), Prairie Prince (a.k.a. Charles L. Prince, guitar), Michael Cotten (synthesizer), Vince Welnick (piano), and Rick Anderson (bass guitar). Re Styles (vocals) and Mingo Lewis (percussion) were also fixtures of the early Tubes. Their forte was in being media savvy and having theatrical skills, and several of their numbers (e.g. “Mondo Bondage”, “Sushi Girl”) turned into full-fledged theatrical productions in their live shows. One critic even went as far to note that The Tubes were born to create rock video, but arrived several years too early. (Jakubowski and Tobler, “MTV’s Who’s Who in Rock Video”) In 1973, The Tubes opened for the New York Dolls, Iggy Pop and Led Zeppelin; the following year, they recorded a demo for A and M Records, who signed them and released their debut album in April 1975. That album spawned today’s featured single: “White Punks on Dope” b/w “What Do You Want from Life?”.
“White Punks on Dope” was supposedly written as a “tribute” to their rich, white fan base in San Francisco, and it definitely ranks as one of The Tubes’ early classics. It starts off with a guitar-driven, synthesizer-laden opening, which sets the tone for Fee Waybill’s unconventional vocals (at times the lyrics are barely sung, and he conveys the sense of the main protagonist’s desperation while delivering lines like: “Other dudes are living in the ghetto/But born in Pacific Heights don’t seem much betto”. Listening to this track, one senses that radio stations must have had a hard time figuring out exactly where on the musical spectrum The Tubes reside. They certainly have the punk attitude, which is probably why they were selected as the opening act for the New York Dolls and Iggy Pop, but they sound much more musically proficient than most punk bands (which perhaps explains why they opened for Zeppelin). And their elaborate stage act evokes comparisons to Alice Cooper and Slade, although musically they seem quite a bit different than those bands. Although Cotten’s synthesizer plays a prominent role on some of the band’s tracks, here the guitars are the driving force behind the track, and the synthesizer compliments the track rather than providing the back bone for the sound. The late Vince Welnick’s piano is also there, clearly audible and also playing a complimentary role in filling out The Tubes’ wall of sound. The message of the song – that being a white rich kid on drugs isn’t much fun is driven home with lyrics like these: “I go crazy ’cause my folks are so f**king rich/Have to score when I get that rich white punk itch/Sounds real classy, living in a chateau/So lonely, all the other kids will never know”. There’s a nice false ending to the song, before the song fades back in, and the music stops, giving way to someone babbling in Japanese. Even though the running time of the track is 6 minutes and 49 seconds long, the single contains an unedited version of the song, and how cool is that? The anthology “T.R.A.S.H. (Tubes Rarities and Smash Hits”) contained a 3 minute long version of the song (with the F word expurgated) that I assume a radio edit version. Al Kooper’s production, by the way, is flawless, giving the song a clean, professional sound.
The B-side of this single, “What Do You Want from Life?”, was also an early Tubes classic and a staple of their live show. The song opens with Cotten’s synthesizer – it plays a more prominent role than in “White Punks On Dope” – giving way to a melody provided mainly by the rhythm section (Anderson and Lewis). Welnick’s piano, sounding like a rollicking, barroom piano, punctuates the music at appropriate points. The theme of the song – an attack on American materialism – is explored brilliantly in the lyrics: What do you want from life/To kidnap an heiress/Or threaten her with a knife/What do you want from life/To get cable TV/And watch it every night”. But for me, the real highlight of the song is the laundry list of consumer items listed at the end of the song: “Well, you can’t have that, but if you’re an American citizen you are entitled to: a heated kidney shaped pool/A microwave oven–don’t watch the food cook/A Dyna-Gym–I’ll personally demonstrate it in the privacy of your own home/A king-size Titanic unsinkable Molly Brown waterbed with polybendum” – and so on. This was expanded on in the live version of this song included on the “What Do You Want From Live” in which the band plucked a fan from the crowd and offered her prizes, simulating a game show; offering her a lifetime supply of 7-Up, Waybill promised her “cavities for the rest of your life”. But even though the song is well-suited to Waybill’s ad-libbing on stage, the studio version is quite good, unlike many of the other songs on the debut LP, in which some of the songs consciously created for the stage ultimately fall flat. The single (catalog #: 8591-S) was issued without a picture sleeve. I couldn’t find a picture of the original single (the one pictured is a reissue), but I assume it would have had the arch-style A and M letters in the background with the song title across the top and the band’s name across the bottom (above a smaller A and M logo).
The Tubes performing White Punks on Dope in London
The Tubes performing What Do You Want from Life live in 2007
Cover to Budgie's "If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting" EP
Budgie was formed in 1967 in Cardiff, Wales; their original lineup consisted of Burke Shelley (bass guitar, vocals), Tony Bourge (guitar, vocals), and Ray Phillips (drums). Their debut, self-titled album, a slab of blues-influenced hard rock which was produced by Black Sabbath producer Rodger Bain, was released in 1971. They followed this up with “Squawk” (1972); their third album, “Never Turn Your Back On A Friend” (1973) contained the hit “Breadfan” which was later covered by Metallica. Ray Phillips was replaced by Pete Boot before the release of Budgie’s fourth LP, “In For The Kill” (1974).
By late 1974, Boot left the band and was replaced by Steve Williams. “Bandolier” (1975) was the first LP Williams recorded with the band, followed by “If I Were Brittania, I Would Waive The Rules” (1976). Bourge subsequently left the band, and “Big” John Thomas was recruited to replace him in 1978, leaving Shelley as the sole remaining original band member. Budgie recorded 4 tracks to “break in” Thomas, but these tracks were initially left unreleased although they did release the LP “Impeckable” that year. In 1980, however, the initial sessions with Thomas saw the light of day when the EP “If Swallowed, Do Not Induce Vomiting” was released. This is today’s featured EP.
Side 1 opens with “Wild Fire”, a straightforward rocker built around a 4-chord riff. Thomas rocks on as Shelley and Williams fill out the sound, and Shelley wails away with a voice that sounds somewhat like Rob Halford’s. The lyrical content isn’t particularly inspired; with lines like “I can’t talk/I can’t walk/I can’t think/I can’t drink”. “Wild Fire” is about a woman who is wild, we might assume; the testosterone-driven lyrics compliment the music well, and the rhythm section provides a solid backbone to the band’s sound. There’s an inspired guitar solo about 2 minutes and 55 seconds into the track, giving new guitarist Thomas a chance to shine. For hardcore Budgie fans, listening to “Wild Fire” surely brings back memories of their early 1980’s barnstorming performances.
The second track is “High School Girls”, which features an even simpler (3-chord) riff. This time, Thomas and Shelley play the same melody for most of the song, with Thomas again getting his own guitar solo about 1 minute and 37 seconds into the track. Shelley’s guitar seemingly plays a more pivotal role on this track, although Thomas gets a chance to display his guitar proficiency. The lyrics are not all that different than the first track: “Well she’s dreaming the boys through their day/She goes out and about in her way/And the teacher is perfectly down/’Cause she’s strutting her stuff through the town”. There’s some great wordplay here, though: “But she can’t get away from the rules/It’s a hell of a bondage in school”. But in the chorus, Shelley reassures us that “[S]he’s just a bad, bad, girl”. Like most Brownsville Station songs, this one’s not going to change the world – or even the musical landscape – but it’s an easy listen.
Side 2 starts off with “Panzer Division Destroyed”, which if nothing else shows Budgie’s knack for catchy song titles. This song features a relatively simple rhythm played in 4/4 time, not unlike Zeppelin’s “Immigrant Song”. The song runs almost 6 minutes, and much more so than the first 2 tracks, it is a showcase for the guitar work of Budgie’s 2 guitarists, especially Thomas. The lyrics, which tell of the grisly fate of a Panzer division from a decidedly British point of view, are pretty pedestrian as far as heavy metal lyrics go: “Hear me call, panzer division destroyed/Power gun pounding and well deployed/Every man seems to burn, die in hell/Twisted steel, twisted mess sealed the deal”. Still, they compliment the martial-sounding melody quite well, and since the real draw here is the axemanship of Thomas, the song doesn’t require the lyrical subtlety of a Bob Dylan.
The final track is “Lies Of Jim (The E-Type Lover)”, which I found to be the most compelling (although the melody is somewhat similar to “Wild Fire”). The song is about a bounder who is humorously brought to book for his misdeeds. It contains a dreamy lyrical passage: “Love is not a thing you buy/Love is not a car/Or compensation for the man/Who lost a precious Jaguar”, which is essentially an interlude in an otherwise upbeat rocker. This is definitely the most atypical song on the EP, and once again the song is anchored by raw but powerful guitar licks, courtesy of Thomas and Shelley.
This EP (catalog #: BUDGE 1) came with a picture sleeve (well, it was a 12-inch EP, after all), with a black and white photo of the band. The label (at least on the West German release) featured the orange RCA label (with the RCA logo on the left side oriented on the Y-axis, with “Victor” written on the right side along the X-axis). The artist name was printed across the top with track information written underneath. “If Swallowed Do Not Induce Vomiting” is considered by many to be Budgie’s last creative gasp, although they successfully rode the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal for a few years, even headlining the Reading Festival in 1982. They built a following in Poland, becoming one of the first heavy metal bands to play behind the Iron Curtain. Their last album was released in 1982 and the band was defunct by 1988, although they re-formed for one-off gigs in San Antonio, Texas in 1995, 1996, and 2000. They also re-formed to tour from 2002 to 2006, touring the U.K., Texas, and returning to post-Communist Poland during that period.
Budgie – Wild Fire
Budgie performing Panzer Division Destroyed in Warsaw, Poland in 2007
Budgie performing Panzer Division Destroyed in Sweeden in 1999
Budgie performing Panzer Division Destroyed in Poznan, Poland in 2007
Sonic Youth's "Teenage Riot" single
Sonic Youth’s history began in early 1976 when Thurston Moore moved to New York City. Interested in punk, Moore joined the Coachmen, a guitar-based quartet. Les Renaldo, an art student at Binghamton University, became a fan of the Coachmen and he and Moore became friends. Renaldo was a member of Glenn Branca’s electric guitar ensemble, which toured Europe and the United States. After the breakup of the Coachmen, Moore began jamming with Stanton Miranda, whose band, CKM, featured local artist Kim Gordon. Moore and Gordon formed a band, which went through several name changes before settling on Sonic Youth by June 1981. Moore asked Renaldo to join the band, and he agreed. Initially, each member took turns playing the drums, until they recruited drummer Richard Edson. Branca signed Sonic Youth as the first act on his record label Neutral Records. In December 1981, the group recorded five songs in a studio in Radio City Music Hall. The material was released as the “Sonic Youth” mini-LP, which, while not commercially successful, got generally favorable reviews. Edson then quit the group and was replaced by Bob Bert, who was the drummer for Sonic Youth’s first full-length album, “Confusion Is Sex” (1983). Later that year, the band released “Kill Yr Idol” (1983), a German-only EP. During the early 1980s, the band was well-received in Europe, but the New York press largely overlooked Sonic Youth and other noise rock bands. But after another tour of Europe in 1984, the band got rave reviews in Sounds an NME, resulting in the band reaching new levels of popularity in New York City, playing shows almost every week. That same year the band released their first live album, “Sonic Death”, on the Homestead label (Moore and Gordon also married that year); the band had a dispute with Branca over royalty payments and defected from Neutral Records. Their next studio album, “Bad Moon Rising” (1985) was critically acclaimed in the U.K., yet the band was still largely ignored by the New York music press. Bob Bert quit the band after the supporting tour for the album and was replaced by Steve Shelley. The band switched labels again, signing with SST Records in early 1986 and began working on “Evol” (1986) with Martin Bisi. They released a concept album, “Sister” (1987), before switching labels again, this time to Enigma, which released their double album, “Daydream Nation” (1988). The lead single from the album was “Teenage Riot”/”Silver Rocket”/”Kissability”. This is today’s featured single.
"Teenage Riot" flexi-disc from The Catalogue magazine (U.K.)
“Teenage Riot” starts off with Moore and Renaldo playing a repetitive, almost staccato melody, accompanied by Kim Gordon’s mumbling of phrases like “spirit desire” and “say it, don’t spray it”. This opening slowly builds and develops until, 1 minute and 22 seconds into the track, it gives way to a popish hook, which is soon supplemented by Thurston Moore’s vocals: “Everybody’s talking ’bout the stormy whether/And what’s a man to do but work out whether it’s true?” The song has a genuinely catchy melody and arguably represents a turning point in the band’s history as their first real pop song. Looking at mainstream pop culture through a decidedly interesting prism, “Teenage Riot” was quite popular on college radio, and was one of the signature tunes of “Daydream Nation”, and indeed of Sonic Youth’s entire career. With tunes like these, it’s not surprising that Sonic Youth was soon signed by a major label (Geffen), presaging the alternative rock explosion of the early 1990s.
“Silver Rocket” begins with a minor key melody, which gives way very quickly to the songs punk-flavored main riff. Moore’s vocals begin 50 seconds into the track, which switches to a cacophony of detuned guitars 1 minute 32 seconds into the song, which is what one would typically expect from a Sonic Youth song. After a little over a minute of this, however, the band returns to the main riff for the final verse of the song, briefly returning to the noisy soundscape of the middle part before coming to a conclusion at the 3 minute 47 second mark.. Overall the track has a garage-like feel to it, but it is much more mainstream alternative than many of Sonic Youth’s earlier material, and along with “Teenage Riot” is one of the band’s more accessible songs.
“Kissability” rounds out the 3-song maxi-single, and is a fast tempo song with driving guitar rhythms punctuated by Kim Gordon’s tuneless vocals: “Look into my eyes, don’t you trust me/You’re so good you could go far/I’ll put you in a movie, don’t you want to/You could be a star”. Throughout the song, Shelley’s insistent drumming provides a solid backbeat to the song. The band’s noise rock roots show through much more clearly on this track than on the other two, but even so, the main riff is quite catchy and even the instrumental break is only moderately indulgent. “Kissability” fits in well with the other tracks on “Daydream Nation” and is a worthy addition to the Sonic Youth catalog.
This 12-inch single was issued in October 1988. No picture sleeve was included with this release. In 1990, Sonic Youth released their first album on for Geffen, “Goo” (released on Geffen subsidiary DGC), which continued the trend of recording more accessible material than their earlier work. In 1992, they released “Dirty”, which featured the song “100%”. The band reached new levels of popularity with “Experimental Jet Set, Trash and No Star” (1994), which was their highest-charting album up to that point, peaking at #34 on the Billboard album chart. In 1995, the band released “Made in USA”, a movie soundtrack made up of previously unreleased material recorded in 1986. That same year, the band headlined the Lollapalooza music festival; shortly afterwards, their ninth studio album, “Washing Machine” (1995) was released, containing several tracks with Kim Gordon playing guitar. In 1996, the band established their own label, SYR Records, which would be utilized to release a series of experimental, avant-garde EPs. Their next full-length album was “A Thousand Leaves” (1998), which was also the first album recorded in the band’s private Manhattan studio, which was dubbed Echo Canyon.
