The Perfect Sound Forever story is a first-person piece about growing up outside of St. Louis and being able to tap into the Tubeworks show, which seems to have broadcast over the phone lines (and through a converter box) on a regularly irregular basis. Read the story for the impressive list of performers and note that John Sinclair was a regular in studio guest. This was rock TV before cable.
The Dangerous Minds website has a story about a 1970 appearance by John Lee Hooker (and his sons) on a local Detroit TV show in 1970. Plus clips! The old video archive was recently found and transferred. The video is cruddy, but the sound is as clear as ringing a bell. Great stuff.
When I heard that Tangerine Dream’s Edgar Froese had died I immediately thought of Michael Mann’s first movie, Thief, which starred James Caan. I may have heard of Tangerine Dream before that, but I wasn’t a fan of synth-driven atmospherics and certainly didn’t follow them.
But Thief grabs you with a terrific opening scene that propels into the story with terse visuals, no dialogue, and Tangerine Dream’s immersive and propulsive score. It makes me want to watch the whole movie again.
Okay, this is going to mess you up. This tune was written by Walter Vinson and Lonnie Chatmon of the Mississippi Sheiks. Sam Chatmon was Lonnie’s brother. He sometimes played with the Sheiks, but here’s a recording of him playing the song for Alan Lomax in 1978.
But since we were talking about Cream, it’s worth noting that they recorded this tune on Wheels of Fire, in 1968. It’s a little bit different.
I never got into Sleater Kinney, one of those most-revered-bands-in-the-world bands. But in their first incarnation, when they won lots of Pazz and Jop polls and were always on Top 10 lists, I tasted and I spit. Everyone was calling them America’s most essential rock band, or at least Greil Marcus was, but I wasn’t having it. For me the sound was always too fractured, the angles didn’t speak to me, and I have to admit that I gave up. They just weren’t working for me.
Which was a little funny because I’ve seen their drummer, Janet Weiss, play live as a member of Quasi a couple of times, and listened to Quasi’s many records a lot, and I would say (and have said) that she’s one of my favorite drummers. Even on Sleater Kinney songs I have liked listening to her. And I’ve found Carrie Brownstein to be a winning actor and fine writer on Portlandia. And (I know this from Wikipedia) Corin Tucker married a guy named Lance Bangs, in 2000, and they had a kid and named him Marshall Tucker Bangs! How cool is that?
Sleater Kinney broke up in 2006, in order to pursue solo projects, which they did, but got together again last year to make a new album. I saw them on David Letterman last week and, surprise, I didn’t much like the song, but I was kind of surprised how bouncy and rockish and leg kicking Carrie was, and the angular riffy song got me thinking about other rock grrl bands that chose layers of dissonance and angular rhythms and, when you listened closely, pretty-neat harmonies in the vocal, over straight rock pounding. Even when there was straight rock pounding. I’m thinking post-punk icons like the Delta 5, the Slits, the Raincoats, for three, all of whom I loved back in the day and still listen to, and wondered why Sleater Kinnney got stuck in my craw.
If you’re expecting an answer here, well, you’re going to have to wait, but in listening to songs by SK tonight I came across this one. The lyrics are a little schematic, but the sound isn’t angular, it’s as heartfelt as a folk song (if that folk song is Factory Girl) and just as angry as you might hope. With almost no drums—Janet plays harmonica!
This could be a demo for a song by the Bangles, but it’s also a really strong piece. I like it. (It’s from 2006.)
Just as the conventions of punk/new wave could make other bands sound good, if a little ridiculous, so could the conventions of disco. I’m not saying this is a great song or anything, but it’s fun to listen to the boys through the Donna Summers lens.
The video that went along with Lawr’s post of Deportee spoke directly to the issue of the state of California keeping dust bowlers from Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas out of their state. Bastards!
Woody Guthrie wrote a rollicking good song about that situation. I saw this band back in 1977 at the Bottom Line. They seem a little stiff, but professional, on the Old Grey Whistle Test, but they were rollicking in NYC when I saw them. It was a great show.
I’ve been listening to the Pink Fairies pretty constantly lately. They raise this really interesting question: Can I find a new favorite band from the early 70s when it’s now the mid teens? And will I be as enthusiastic when I put those Beatles and Hendrix sounds in the context of the timeline.
Blue Cheer pushes the line back a few years. Summertime Blues was a big hit, and is generally considered the birth of the Heavy Metal genre. But the interview with Dick Clark in this funny clip is notable for its directness. Plus, the words Heavy and Kashmir in the same interview, even before there was a Led Zeppelin. Far out.
