The Sisters of Mercy "Floodland" (1987)

THE MERCY OF ELDRITCH

• The Sisters of Mercy are a rock band that emerged out of the English post-punk scene in 1980-1981. After achieving early underground and goth fame in UK, the band had their commercial breakthrough in mid-1980s and sustained it until the early 1990s, when they stopped releasing new recorded output as a strike against their record company.

• This was my first Sisters of Mercy album, and, as such, I have a soft spot for it; it's certainly not my favorite work of theirs, but that doesn't really mean a lot in that every LP they released seemed to have caught them in vastly different periods of their overall sound. Floodland shifts the emphasis from the struming, harpsichord-like guitars of their previous album to driving basslines and echoing, snare-heavy drum rhythms; in fact, the percussion, at least in my opinion, seems to be the focus of it. Eldritch applies his layers of drums tastefully, and the songs manage to be agressively percussive without being abrasive (like most industrial music tends to unfortunately be).

• Eldritch, along with then Sister-of-mercy Patricia Morrison seemed less occupied with creating melodies (the exception being the single "This Corrosion") and more interested in experimenting with various musical styles that had begun to emerge at the time- to mention the percussion again, it rings of late 80's quasi-industrial acts; just the same, the various synth lines inserted throughout the album echo of emerging EBM and industrial-dance music (much of this change can probably be pinned on the departure of Wayne Hussey and Craig Adams).

• I keep on wanting to say that it's not as good as First and Last and Always, but that's simply not the case- the fact is, they're both solid, atmospheric, forgivably faux-dramatic pieces of music. Floodland is just a slightly different taste of the band, and, typical to them, interesting, catchy, cohesive and satisfying.

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Dead Can Dance "Within the Realm of a Dyin Sun" (1987)

MUSIC FROM A HAUNTED HOUSE

• Dead Can Dance is a band comprising Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry. Formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1981 and initially based there, it disbanded in 1998 but reunited temporarily for a world tour in 2005.

• The fantastic "Within the Realm of a Dying Sun" is a haunting exploration of layed antiquity that everyone should experience in the dead of the night. The composition of the entire album is striking: The cover's simplicity, the duality of the song order, the intense instrumentation, the literate lyrics, and the grounded and limitless vocals.

• Brendan Perry dominates the first half of this fine record with his warm, earthy voice. After a welcoming intro, "Anywhere Out of the World" develops into what could be excerpts from a diary on the meaning of life, and the journey is carried on with a menacingly arty structure that very nearly could be considered light relative to what comes later. We fall next into the instrumental "Windfall," which has a pleasant waltz charm to it. Plucking up next is "In the Wake of Adversity"--what could pass for an impassioned love song a life-weary gentleman would sing to his distant, despondent companion. Rounding out Brendan's half, "Xavier" picks up on life's commentary from the opening track and develops it in story form, making this a great starting point for the curious listener who knows DCD but not this album.

• As if one was not aware, "Dawn of the Iconoclast" starkly notifies the listener that it is Lisa's turn to charm the willies out of all who will listen to her otherworldly voice. This track is short and symphonic, the sonic equivalent of yanking off the warm sheets Brendan placed on the listener's bed. As if to give us a brief rest after that surprise, "Cantara" slowly builds into a grand, Middle Eastern-flavored exploration of vocal prowess. This particular track lends itself well to curious music fans who are unfamiliar with DCD or know only Into the Labyrinth. As "Cantara" fades, the listener should prepare for the epic journey of the final two tracks. First is "Summoning of the Muse," a painfully beautiful journey across wave after wave of strings, bells, brass, atmosphere, and voice. This song stands as one of my personal favorites--from not only DCD but any band period. Last is "Persephone (The Gathering of Flowers)," a more vocal-based work that slowly builds into an aural epic nearly as fascinating as its predecessor.

• Albums as consistently captivating and timeless as this are rare, which makes WTROADS all the more important to even the casual fan of darker, slower music. This album is required for anyone who likes ethereal music. WTROADS sits at the most comfortable point between Spleen and Ideal, which has a rock edge at points, and The Serpent's Egg, which maintains a musical subtlety for its duration. This album is at the point of maturity where the passion of youthful reform has not been forgotten.

• Once, someone who does not listen to this kind of music overheard me playing WTROADS and commented that it should be played in a haunted house. I concur in theory, but I find it far more complex than one would expect to hear in such a place. But do understand this is a lights-off affair. Sleep tight.

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The Church "Blurred Crusade" (1982)

THE CHURCH OF AUSTRALIA

• The Church is an Australian rock band formed in Canberra in 1980. Initially associated with New Wave and the neo-psychedelic sound of the mid 1980s.

• For their second lp, The Church completely abandoned the new wave side of their debut and replaced it with a Byrds-like use of plenty of 12-string guitar (courtesy of Marty Willson-Piper). Another notable change is that some tracks are much longer here, and a couple are much shorter. Mix in the generally superior talents of the two guitarists, and what results is an album that often comes across like something from an accomplished progressive rock band.

• The first two tracks, "Almost With You" and "When You Were Mine," quickly lay out a sound that for many is quintessential Church. "Field Of Mars," sung by Marty rather than Steve Kilbey, is a patient, mellow atmospheric work-out that adds a little bit of tubular bells for just the right accent. The rest of the album is dominated by several strong songs of varying speed (but not mood), notably "Just For You," a song that opens with a door knock, a "who is it?", an acoustic guitar thrown carelessly onto the floor, a door squeak...and there enters the song. Other fine tracks are "A Fire Burns," "In Your Eyes" and "You Took." This is the most consistent Church album before Heyday, and is probably the best place to start for those unfamiliar with the band, after the compilations.

• I sometimes wish epic rocker b-side "Life Speeds Up" was on this; perhaps in place of "You Took," which has only moments of brilliance.

• And credit should also go to Richard Ploog, who was the perfect drummer for The Church in the Eighties. Always professional, he made sure they could at least rock when they weren't yet ready to be something else.

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Shel Silverstein "I'm Totally Distracted - A Retrospective" (2001)

A BOY NAMED SHEL

• Sheldon Alan "Shel" Silverstein (September 25, 1930 – May 10, 1999) was an American poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He sometimes styled himself as Uncle Shelby especially for his early children's books. To this day he remains one of the most beloved authors of children's books in the United States.

• Silverstein confirmed he never studied the poetry of others, and therefore developed his own style: laid-back and conversational, occasionally employing profanity and slang. Silverstein's talents were great already developed by the time he served in the U.S. army. Silverstein was stationed in Japan and Korea in the 1950s, and while in the military, he was a cartoonist for the Pacific edition of the military newspaper, Stars and Stripes.

• Silverstein's passion for music was clear early on as he studied briefly at the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. As a songwriter, Silverstein kept a low profile but cast a long shadow. He tended to shun publicity and even photographers. Nonetheless, his musical output included many songs which were hits for other artists.

• Most notably, he wrote the music and lyrics for "A Boy Named Sue" that was performed by Johnny Cash (for which Silverstein won a Grammy in 1970), "One's on the Way" (which was a hit for Loretta Lynn), and "The Unicorn", which, despite having nothing to do with Ireland nor Irish culture, became the signature piece for The Irish Rovers in 1968 and is popular in Irish pubs all over the world to this day. Another Silverstein song recorded by Cash is "25 Minutes To Go", sung from the point of view of a man facing his last 25 minutes on Death Row, with each line of the song counting down one minute closer.

• He wrote the lyrics and music for most of the Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show songs, including "Cover of the Rolling Stone", "Freakin' at the Freakers' Ball", "Sylvia's Mother", and the cautionary song about venereal disease, "Don't Give a Dose To the One You Love Most". He also wrote many of the songs performed by Bobby Bare, including "Rosalie's Good Eats Cafe", "The Mermaid", "The Winner", "Tequila Sheila," and a co-write with Baxter Taylor for the song "Marie Laveau" for which the songwriters received a BMI Award in 1975. The song "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan", recorded in 1979 by Marianne Faithfull and later featured in the films Montenegro and Thelma & Louise, was also by Silverstein, as was "Queen of the Silver Dollar", which appeared on Emmylou Harris' 1975 album Pieces of the Sky and was also covered by "Dave & Sugar". He was nominated for an Oscar for his music for the film Postcards from the Edge. He also composed original music for several other films, and displayed a musical versatility in these projects, playing guitar, piano, saxophone, and trombone.

• Silverstein also had a popular following on Dr. Demento's radio show. Among his best-known comedy songs were "Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout (Would Not Take The Garbage Out)", "The Smoke Off" (a tale of a contest to determine who could roll—or smoke—marijuana joints faster), and "I Got Stoned and I Missed It". He also wrote "The Father of a Boy Named Sue", in which he tells the story from the original song from the father's point of view, and the 1962 song "Boa Constrictor" that is sung by a man who is being progressively swallowed whole by a snake, although it is now better known as a children's playground chant.

• A longtime friend of American singer and songwriter Pat Dailey, Silverstein collaborated with Dailey on the (posthumously released) 2002 Underwater Land album. It contains 17 children's songs written and produced by Silverstein and sung by Dailey. Silverstein also appears along with Dailey on a few tracks. The album also contains artwork by Silverstein.

• Silverstein was posthumously inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002.

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Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show "A Retrospective - 1971-1975" (1991)

SOME STRONG MEDICINE FROM THE CHIEF-DOCTORS

• Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was a pop-country rock band formed around Union City, New Jersey in 1968. There the band's earliest incarnation played many small clubs around the 'Transfer Station', an area of bars and restaurants, all advertising 'live' music.

• The founding core of the band consisted of four friends--George Cummings, Dennis Locorriere, Ray Sawyer, Billy Francis--who had played up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest, ending up in New Jersey one by one, with invitations from founding band member George Cummings. Told by a club owner that they needed a name to put on a poster in the window of his establishment, Cummings made a sign: "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul." The name was inspired by the traveling medicine shows of the old West. To this day, frontman Ray Sawyer is mistakenly considered Dr. Hook because of the eyepatch he wears as the result of a near-fatal 1967 car accident.

• The band played for about two years in New Jersey, first with drummer Popeye Phillips, a session drummer on The Flying Burrito Brothers first album, The Gilded Palace of Sin. Citing musical differences, Popeye returned home to Alabama and was replaced by local drummer Joey Oliveri. When the band began recording their first album it became obvious that they would need a more solid back beat, and Olivieri was replaced by session player John "Jay" David, who was asked to join the band, full time.

• In 1970, their demo tapes were heard by Ron Haffkine, musical director on the planned Herb Gardner movie, Who Is Harry Kellerman and Why Is He Saying Those Terrible Things About Me?, starring Dustin Hoffman as a successful songwriter having a nervous breakdown. The songs for the film were written by cartoonist, poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein, who determined that Dr. Hook was the ideal group for the soundtrack. Among the several songs the group did for the film, Dennis Locorriere sang the lead on "Last Morning," the movie's theme song, later re-recorded for their second album, Sloppy Seconds. The film was released in 1971 by National General Pictures to mixed reviews.

• Meanwhile, CBS Records head Clive Davis had a memorable meeting with the group, described in Davis' autobiography. Drummer David used a wastepaper basket to keep the beat, and while Sawyer, Locorriere and Cummings played and sang a few songs, Francis hopped up and danced on the mogul's desk. This meeting secured the band their first record deal. Subsequently the band went on to international success over the next 12 years with Haffkine as the group's manager as well as producer of all the Dr.Hook recordings.

• Their self-titled 1971 debut album featured guitarist Cummings, singer Sawyer, drummer David, singer/guitarist, bass player Locorriere, and keyboard player Billy Francis. The album included their first hit, "Sylvia's Mother."

• The Medicine Show's lineup changed a few more times over the years. In 1972, the band added a full-time bassist, Jance Garfat, and another guitarist, Rik Elswit. When David left the group in 1973, he was replaced by John Wolters. The next to depart was founding band member Cummings, who left in 1975 due to personal and musical differences. The band also had an able guitar player in Elswit, so they did not initially replace Cummings. When Elswit was diagnosed with cancer a couple of years later, the band added Bob "Willard" Henke (formerly of Goose Creek Symphony). Elswit recovered and returned to the lineup, but they kept Henke on as well for a while. Later, when Henke left, they added Rod Smarr.

• The band's second single, "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'" from Sloppy Seconds attracted the attention of those who would appreciate their irreverent attitude and stage show. It also actually did get the band on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine — albeit in caricature rather than photograph.

• In the United Kingdom, the BBC Radio network refused to play "The Cover of 'Rolling Stone'," as it was considered advertising a trademark name, which was against the BBC's policy. The song was rereleased with a host of BBC DJs shouting 'On the cover of the Radio Times!' over the band's vocals in the choruses. The song was released as "Cover of the Radio Times" for the UK market. The BBC found no problem in playing the record, since they published the Radio Times, weekly. The single found real cult status after that.

• In 1976 Shel Silverstein and Dr. Hook parted ways, and the band went on to become a plain popact with several hits like "A Little bit more" and "When you're in love with a beautiful woman". They took out The Medicine Show from the name to just Dr. Hook, and also became just another boring popgroup. But when they still was The Medicine Show, they really was something else.

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Okkervil River "Don't Fall In Love With Everyone You See" (2002)

PRETTY MESSED-UP BEAUTY

• Okkervil River is an indie rock band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1998, the band's name comes from a short story by Russian author, Tatyana Tolstaya. They self-released their first album, Stars Too Small to Use which led them to the South by Southwest music festival.

• Those of us unfortunate enough to be stricken with an inability to see are also those of us fortunate enough to discover the often overlooked power of our auditory senses. Why do we notice sounds at night that go completely overlooked during the day, and get spooked by those normal sounds (walls and tables creaking, pipes rustling) that we couldn't notice less in the sunshine? Have you ever watched a scary movie with the sound off, or noticed your car stereo getting louder as the day grows dimmer? As sight, the most relied upon of all senses, goes, our ears seem to take up the cause to make us aware of our surroundings. More often than not, it is sound and not sight that arouses the most gripping emotional response in our brains.

• That said, Okkervil River do a damn good job of conveying emotion, mostly depression and an unforeseen, conflicting, and tortured relationship with vocalist Will Sheff's mother that hints toward some type of unresolved, deeply rooted oedipal conflict. Where Bright Eye's Conor Oberst tends to obnoxiously mope and moan on the mike, Sheff seems to be on the verge of suicide, displaying a cool yet agonizing connection to his tales of adolescent murder and adult heartbreak. Mostly muted and collected, he occasionally breaks into an all-out shout that hints at Oberst-like emotion, yet manages to maintain a restraint that Oberst is incapable of showing.

• Playing alt-country like the best Neil Young or Jackson Browne song, the twangy banjos, harmonica, and slide guitar fill in the cracks, acting as bridges between verses or interludes between lyrics, but never taking over. The real star here is Sheff, who stands out most on the classic "Westfall," a disturbingly collected tale about a high schooler, who, along with his best friend, murders a fellow student from a neighboring Christian school. "When I killed her/ it was so easy/ that I wanted to kill her again," he states in a tempered melody, which, when combined with his cool detachment from the narrative, is apt to send shivers into your skull. The crowds and cameras gather round, with all "looking for evil/thinking' they can trace it," however, Sheff reminds the crowd gathering that "evil don't look like anything."

• With at least three songs directly referencing "mother," Sheff oddly centers this maternal figure at the center of many songs, displaying emotion from anger at her actions to a blatant want of attention-it is quite apparent that either Sheff can sell his songs like no other, or he's been through some pretty messed up times. This album stands to show that beauty comes from the strangest places.

• Facts of Life: Okkervil River (Russian: Оккервиль) is a river in Leningrad Oblast and the eastern part of the city of Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest left tributary of the Okhta River. It is 18 km long, the width is 1.5-25 meters. The name Okkervil appeared in the XVII century, after the Swedish colonel who owned an estate on the bank. On some ancient maps of Saint Petersburg, the river is called Little Okhta (Russian: Малая Охта) as opposed to Big Okhta. Yet other times it is called Porkhovka (Russian: Порховка). "Okkervil River" is the title of a short story by Tatyana Tolstaya, which is the namesake of a band named Okkervil River.

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Neutral Milk Hotel "In the Aeroplane over the Sea" (1998)

SEA OF MILK

• Neutral Milk Hotel was an American indie folk band. The band's chief lyricist and songwriter, Jeff Mangum, played with a number of other musicians on the band's two full-length albums. Notable contributors to the band's oeuvre include Jeremy Barnes (drums), Scott Spillane (horns), Julian Koster (banjo/bass guitar/saw) and producer-instrumentalist Robert Schneider. Neutral Milk Hotel is a part of The Elephant 6 Recording Company, based out of Athens, Georgia.

• There is a bit of an indescribable quality to the brilliance of Neutral Milk Hotel’s "In the Aeroplane Over the Sea". It’s one of those albums that people will either love or hate, to be honest. There isn’t much of a middle ground because if someone feels repulsed by Jeff Mangum’s unique vocal style, then the whole album will be marred in his eyes. For some, enjoying Mangum’s vocals will take time, but personally, it only took a couple listens before I thoroughly enjoyed them.

• Neutral Milk Hotel, eh? What a strange band name, and look at that album cover. It’s someone with…well what is it? A tambourine maybe for a head? And they’re waving? Great stuff. Anyway, I’m looking at that and thinking that this must be something which is really really weird.

• Well, maybe it is, but when it starts off with some simple acoustic chords and the voice comes in to sing over the top of it, you realise that this doesn’t sound at all complex. It isn’t an illusion either. Almost the entire album is made up of a voice and some chords, with various backing instruments used. So seriously people, what is the big deal? I mean, all I can play on the guitar is the G chord and the E minor chord, but I feel like I’m already on my way to playing these songs just as good if not better than this guy. How good can an album be if it’s just some guy and his guitar? Surely you need a solo or some really complex stuff right? Well, this might just be the ultimate example of a master songwriter at work. It might be easy to play but it ends up still being like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

• This album is extremely personal. Some people absolutely love it and some people just don’t see what the fuss is about. Those who don’t see what the fuss is about are fully entitled to their opinion. Some of the album’s biggest fans might say that these people just don’t know art or that they only dislike it because they don’t understand it. I’d be acting like “The Fool” though if I did the same. They can’t see what the fuss is about, so who cares? They can like what they want. Reviewing this album is kind of a pointless exercise. Great, I’ve said that only after I’ve written 390 words (thanks word count). What I mean is that if I write a review praising it, the other people who love it will read it and think: ‘oh yes! That describes the album perfectly!’ On the other hand, those who can’t understand the fuss will be like: ‘what the hell man? It sucks!’ That leaves those (un?)lucky people who are yet to discover it.

• I could tell you about how I liked In The Aeroplane Over the Sea on the first listen, and then became almost obsessed with it on the second listen. I was walking around all day with my head acting almost as a Neutral Milk Hotel jukebox, rotating all the songs on the album around and playing each one. I was trying to concentrate on what someone was saying but all I could think of was ‘but then they buried her alive/one evening 1945/with just her sister at her side…’ Then when that finished, another song on the album would start. Now how cheesy does that sound?

• I could tell you about how it took me ages to actually enjoy any other music at all after this. Almost everything seemed to pale in comparison. I even listened to “Too Drunk to Fuck” by the Dead Kennedys without laughing, because all I was thinking about was ‘Daddy please hear this song that I sing/in your heart there’s a spark that just screams…’ Everything seemed so inferior and it took a bit of time to get over that. No doubt this is actually turning you away from the album because what I’m saying is so clichéd and stupid.

• I could tell you about how this album is more emotional than almost anything else out there. It is at times heart-wrenching, at times depressing, and at times uplifting. ‘The sun it is passed/now it’s blacker than black/I can hear as you tap on your jar/I am listening to hear where you are…’ Am I getting weird stares yet?

• I could even tell you about how yesterday I read a news story about a 16 year old girl with leukemia, who knows that this Christmas is going to be her last. Still though, you see her smiling and stating her wish to enjoy the rest of her life as much as possible. All I was thinking of was ‘and one day we will die/and our ashes will fly/from the aeroplane over the sea/but for now we are young/let us lay in the sun/and count every beautiful thing we can see’. I think that if I forced it a little I could have cried.

• Put it down. Let it go. Perhaps if you get the album too, then you might love it as well. Who knows, you might come and join me and the rest of them as we get out our guitars and serenade the night away while standing in our cheese-filled paradise. Sounds like something out of a Neutral Milk Hotel album.

‘Say what you want to say

And hang for your hollow ways

Moving your mouth to pull out all your miracles…’

• I’ll stop now, shall I?

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The Pogues "Red Roses for Me" (1984)

THE IRISH PUNKS FROM LONDON

• The Pogues, before they got produced by Elvis Costello, Steve Lillywhite, and Joe Strummer; before they had a #2 hit throughout the U.K.; before they played live on the BBC with Kristy MacColl on Christmas eve; before they sold out huge stadiums on the bill with U2, and before they blew off a series of opening dates for Bob Dylan.

• Yes, this is the Pogues in their rawest form: a bunch of piss-drunk little punks, at a time when the life of their band consisted of playing gigs in seedy London pubs, getting into chair-smashing brawls, throwing up on stage, and drunkenly ducking their audiences' hurled bottles. And that, not stellar instrumentation, nor poetic lyrics, nor beautiful melodies, is what makes this album so appealing. Here, they aren’t woefully decrepit alcoholics—they’re rowdy little bastards. Shane's antics aren’t pathetic, they’re entertaining. Now, their songwriting isn't as outstanding as it would become, and their playing is a tad haphazard. But that's perfect for these songs.

• The best track is "Boys From The County Hell," a dark, violent tale narrated by the bitter black sheep of an upstanding Irish family. With lyrics about breaking the landlords fucking balls, it'll have you sluggin' down the brown in no time--or at least, wishing you were. Other highlights include the edgy reading of Brandon Behan’s “The Auld Triangle,” the jaunty sing-along “Dark Streets of London,” and the sheer charge of “Waxie’s Dargle.”

• If you already love "Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash" or "If I Should Fall From Grace With God", then you'd better buy this.

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The Pogues "Hell's Ditch" (1990)

THE IRISH LAMENT

• After the embattled recording of Peace and Love, the Pogues were slowly starting to fall apart. It had started to become rather clear the Shane's excesses were starting to affect his muse. Shane had began to sink deeper into drugs and alcohol, even going as far as to not showing up for gigs. Things really took a turn for the worst when Shane missed a series of West Coast gigs supporting Bob Dylan. Shane's solace was to distanced himself from his bandmates, and even went as far as too take a much needed holiday in Thailand. The Pogues themselves, exhausted by the constang touring, retreated to the Welsh countryside, to record new music for their next album Hell's Ditch. Former Clash frontman Joe Strummer was brought in to produce and as a result the Pogues sound tighter than ever, which may explain why most critics found Hell's Ditch to a be a vibrant return to form.

• This release showed the Pogues moving away from their familiar Celtic roots to a more global perspective, and overall this release seems to have a more relaxed, pastoral vibe to it than the previous Pogues albums. Contrary as ever MacGowan would later state he wasn't in the mood to write any Irish music, but instead wrote rock songs with Far Eastern and Spanish sounds. Indeed, Thailand seems to be the overall theme for MacGowan's songs, ranging from Sayonara, Summer In Siam, and House of the Gods. The Jem Finer/Shane MacGowan songwriting team that was lacking on Peace and Love returns with the fantastic upbeat tunes The Sunnyside of the Street, which Jem started writing in New Zealand, while MacGowan added his experiences in Thailand to it.

• The title track is a squalid tale about a rather nightmarish prison. Lorca's Novena draws on MacGowan's infinity with Spain and the writing of Federcio Garcia Lorca. Rain Street reminds me of the Pogues of the old, as does The Ghost of a Smile. Terry Wood's provides the harrowing Rainbow Man, about the Irish experiences at the infamous Vinegar Hill. The Wake of the Medusa, a Jem Finer song, relates the cover art used on the Pogues second album, to the politics of Margaret Thatcher. 5 Green Queens and Jean reminds me of Bob Dylan, while Maidrin Rua is a typical Irish tradtional number. The albums closes with Terry Wood's rather bizarre Six To Go, which lays claim that the Guilford Four were finally released from British jails, but the Birmingham Six were still incarserated.

• Hell's Ditch was seen by many as a return to form for the Pogues, and while their standard Celtic sound is not found on this release, there are still some songs that really shine through. MacGowan would later disown much of this record, claiming he wasn't for the musical direction the Pogues were going in and the track listing itself. He wanted such songs as Pinned Down and Curse of Love submitted onto the release. However, Hell's Ditch, like Peace and Love, does contain some ho-hum songs, but overall it's still a well crafted album.

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The Pogues "Peace & Love" (1989)

THE IRISH AFTERMATH

• After the success of their third album the Pogues had become one the hottest live attractions in the world. However, all was not joyous in the Pogues camp. Shane MacGowan, who made no mistakes about his hedonistic lifestyle, had slowly began to slip to an abyss of alcohol and drugs. Furthermore, Shane had become deeply involved in the acid house music scene, a far different musical scope to that of Irish music. Shane even recorded an acid house track Contact Yourself, which he wanted to appear on the Pogues new album. Other members of the band were facing troubles as well. Philip Chevron and Darryl Hunt witnessed the horrible Hillsborough disaster, which would seriously affect one's own psyche.

• Steve Lillywhite was brought back on board as the producer. However, with MacGowan now exploring the new sounds of acid house, the other band members were now forced to work around Shane's state of mind. Through it all the Pogues actually shine. Make no mistakes the Pogues fourth album is probably the most diversed album that they ever recorded while Shane was still in the band.

• It opens rather startling with the jazz instrumental Gridlock, but unlike Metropolis, there would be no Irish compromise. This songs leads into one of Shane's best songs and typical Pogues sounding, White City, a dazzling song about a demolished London dog racing track. Young Ned of the Hill, Terry Wood's blistering assault on Oliver Cromwell, continues the more typical Pogues Irish sound.

• Next up Jem Finer's Misty Morning, Albert Bridge echoes A Rainy Night In Soho, and while it's not up to the same standards it's still a rather well crafted romantic ballad. Cotton Fields seems to be influenced by Shane's new musical interest. A fast number that combines acid house with Irish music. Blue Heaven which is cowritten by Philip Chevron and Darryl Hunt, combines Irish music with calypso. A song that most Pogues fans dismiss. MacGowan returns with the classic Down All the Days, which pays tribute to Irish author and painter Christy Brown. USA, again inspired by MacGowan's new musical tastes, sounds very similar to the songs of Nick Cave. Lorelei is a fantastic Philip Chevron tune about lost love, which paves the way for the typical Irishness of the Terry Wood's Gartloney Rats and MacGowan's Boat Train. Tombstone about the Aboriginal experiences in Australia and Night Train To Lorca, are two Jem Finer songs. The album closes with MacGowan's wonderful London You're a Lady, Shane's very own tribute to the fair city, in again typical Pogues Irishness. The production of Peace and Love is fairly overproduced, with Steve Lillywhite mixing MacGowan's vocals way down. However, Peace and Love was and still is my opinion one of the Pogues most underrated albums.

• Many fans were confused by the direction that the band was going in and were turned off by some of the songs on this release. While not as nearly as strong as their first three albums, this release still proved the Pogues could still pull off a rather vialiant effort, considering the hardships that the band were going through at the time.

• In closing Peace and Love is not the Pogues best album, but it certainly is a very good one.

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The Pogues "If I should fall from Grace with God" (1988)

THE IRISH TRIUMPH

• After the Pogues recorded Rum, Sodomy and the Lash and The Poguetry In Motion EP, they were fastly becoming a very popular live attraction. The time between their second and third album, saw the Pogues providing music for the Sid and Nancy soundtrack, to appearing in Alex Cox's campy western Straight To Hell. Cait O'Riordan would eventually leave the band and marry Elvis Costello, and was replaced by roadie Darryl Hunt. Terry Woods, a veteran of the Irish folk scene found his new spiritual home, becoming the Pogues cittern player. The Pogues were at a cross with their record label, which would finally end with them leaving and finding a new record deal. The Pogues teamed up with The Dubliners and recorded a recorded a few classics. The Pogues would soon start to record demos for one their most popular albums. The seminal If I Should Fall From Grace With God.

• If "Rum, Sodomy and the Lash" declared the Pogues as no mere novelty act, than If I Should Fall From Grace With God is the triumph that they deserved. Shane's writing was now at mythical proportions with such classics as The Broad Majestic Shannon and Lullaby of London. Philip Chevron, who joined the Pogues at the tail end of 1985, brings the harrowing epic Thousands Are Sailing, a stirring songs about the Irish diaspora and the hardships they faced when arriving in the "land of opportunity." New Pogue Terry Woods brought the sadness of Streets of Sorrow, a two part song, the first being about the troubles in Northern Ireland, which paves the way into one of MacGowan's most overtly political diatribes, Birmingham Six, which condemns the British government for their wrongful convictions of supposed IRA terrorists. Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road To Dublin/The Galway Races, are a combination of traditional numbers with added "Pogues" incentive. Bottle of Smoke, an exciting fast paced number about one's experiences at a horse racing track is fantastic. Sit Down By the Fire is classic MacGowanesqe, about a typical Irish bedtime story, one that's sure to give any young child nightmares.

• However, this release marked the emergence of other sounds into the Pogues already heady mix. The title track, which plays tribute to Spanish Civil war veterans, is a typical Pogues song; fast guitars and banjos, accompanied by a bouncy accordion. Fiesta echoes the Pogues experiences in Almeria, while shooting the film Straight To Hell. The ghost tale epic Turkish Song of the Damned, brings a weird Eastern-European vibe, which ends in typical Pogues Irishness. Metropolis, another Jem Finer instrumental, which is inspired by American cities during nightime, successfully combines Irish music with jazz.

• However, the most remembered song of this release is the all-time classic yuletide anthem Fairytale of New York. Like Thousands, it tells the tale of an Irish immigrant couple having not the best holiday experience in the Big Apple. Kristy MacColl was brought on board and her vocal sharing duties with MacGowan has made this song of the best Christmas songs of all time.

• Combining the typical Pogues Irish sound and melding it with other musical influences, "If I Should Fall From Grace With God", is a brilliant, democractically written album by a band at their most creative peak.

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The Pogues "Rum, Sodomy & The Lash" (1985)

THE IRISH BASTARDS

• "Rum, Sodomy & the Lash" is indeed a fitting title for a band whose original name (Pogue Mahone) means 'kiss my arse'. The band's infamously bad-toothed leader, Shane McGowan has never shied away from an offensive lyric or two- nor the odd beverage. This album is all the better for it.

• The Pogues are well known for their unique fusion of folk-punk, but this was more than a smart stylistic ploy, and before there were such categories in your local record store (!). Born in England of Irish heritage during the Thatcher era, The Pogues scoured history books for tales of that great American gentleman-outlaw in "Jesse James" and Irish mythology in the hilarious "The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn" (every good lapsed Catholic will spill their beer and/or whisky due to laughter when they hear the line about forgoing the selfless donation of a coin and vomiting in church).

• "The Old Main Drag" is a story of a loss of innocence in equal measures of poignancy and street saviness. McGowan's lyrics go beyond the profanity of a young male prostitute being 'shat on and spat on and raped and abused' to a disillusionment with the bright lights of London and the modern world.

• McGowan isn't the only one telling these stories. So too are the rest of their band, comprised of some rather impressive musicians. Drummer Andrew Ranken, suitably nicknamed 'the clobberer', displays some amazing coordination skills in "Sally MacLennane". Why this number isn't belted out in pubs everywhere come St Patrick's day is beyond me. When Cait O'Riordan sings "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", I can't help but recall the Irish tradition of sitting in a pub with a bunch of musicians who are most likely family, friends and the people from across the road. Meanwhile, James Fearnley's accordion and Jem Finer's banjo playing in "A Pair of Brown Eyes" makes a beautiful song worthy of a few tears.

• The underlying theme of Rum, Sodomy... is obvious enough. The title is a quote from Winston Churchill (who was quite partial to a good war) describing life in the Navy. And so, the military theme is spread throughout the album: from the instrumental "A Pistol for Paddy Garcia", suitably reminiscent of a Western to "The Gentleman Solider"- an unfortunate tale of a young woman who falls for an already married soldier, and has 'a little militia boy', to the killer version of "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda", replete with a thudding base line, recalling the eerie cannon blasts as seen in Peter Weir's retelling of the events at Gallipoli.

• This, teamed with copious amounts of alcohol, pub brawls, and the lives and loves of old comrades is life in the Navy according to The Pogues.

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The Jesus and Mary Chain "Barbed Wire Kisses" (1988)

JESUS AT THE END OF THE RAINBOW

• Let's get the obvious stuff out of the way first - The Mary Chain were fantastic in oh-so-many ways:

• They wore leather jackets (and leather trousers) – but not in a clichéd INXS way. They freely “borrowed” riffs (purely through love – not through creative dishonesty). They had bad acne on an almost mountainous scale. They liked using the words “Candy”, “Cherry”, “Barbed Wire” etc., and Most of all, in an otherwise anodyne and sterile period for British guitar music, they genuinely seemed dangerous, subversive and sexy – kind of like Iggy Pop used to.

• "Barbed Wire Kisses" catches the brothers Reid towards the end of their golden period: Psychocandy and Darklands have been and gone and Sidewalking single (included here in its truncated form rather than its full rock-juggernaut/car-crash eight minutes) had pointed towards a more bass/rhythm future which "Automatic" never quite managed to realise.

• The b-sides, rarities and out-takes compiled here are compelling – along with The Smiths, JAMC seemed to employ high quality control on virtually everything. “Kill Surf City” retains its (probably correct) claim to being the finest b-side ever (it pisses all over "April Skies" from a great height) whilst “Upside Down” still thrills a whole generation later. Amongst all of this are torrents of feedback, plenty of mumbling and those oddly endearing moments when the Reids went acoustic.

• Things would never be this great again and a gentle decline followed this LP. Captured here is something akin to essence of teenage-angst (although all involved had long since passed that point) – an obnoxious, lustful, brutal but somehow beautiful noise.

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The Jesus and Mary Chain "Darklands" (1987)

THE DARK, BITTERSWEET HEIGHTS OF JESUS

• Back in the 80's, the Jesus & Mary Chain blasted onto the scene with Psychocandy, an aural assault of fever-drenched guitars, spare lyrics, and a knack for crafting catchy, hook-ladened anti-pop.

• 1987, the JMC released Darklands, to the cowsternation of some and the warm embrace of many udders.

• Some original JMC fans decried the "cleaned up sound" of Darklands, but in truth the pared down accoustics in this masterpiece merely pushed the Chain's drenching wall of feedback into the background, allowing the Brothers Reid to focus on moore traditional melodies.

• Cuts such as "Happy When it Rains", and "April Skies" still resound with great, crashing guitar-crunching sound, but are balanced with slow, dark, moody cuts like "Deep One Perfect Morning", and "Nine Million Rainy Days" - songs which say as much about the JMC as any screeching, white-noise torrent from Psychocandy.

• The long, jangly title-track slowly unfolds like some poisonous night-blooming flower, sucking you in with its dark sweet bite. Like the heroin-sparked melage from which this album comes, "Darklands" itself is a statement about chasing the dark, bittersweet highs of a substance which is slowly murdering you.

• Though moody and broody, Darklands is probaby the moost balanced of all the JMC discography, and is certainly the moost accessible. And accessible, in this case, doesn't mean "sell-out", or "corporate-friendly fm palp".

• Like the best albums, every song is a winner here, every song counts. No filler, no throw-aways. No sophomore slump hanging over the Reid's heads,like the Sword of Damacles, even though they were uncomfortably burdened with being rock's Next Big Thing.

• You'll never hear this (or any of the great JMC music) played on the radio, as this is not moosic to sell used cars too(ironically, "Happy When it Rains" was used in a car cowmercial not too long ago), so you will search in vain trying to find any Darklands tracks on yer FM dial. You gotta go out and buy it(at a real moosic store, not yer local Death-Mart, or Top 40 Malltrap). Believe the MooCow, it is worth the effort to find.

• If you cowsider yerself a devotee of great "alternative" music, then this is essential listening, boys and girls. 'Nough said!

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The Jesus and Mary Chain "Psychocandy" (1985)

THE BAD JESUS FROM SCOTLAND

• As the breezy first chords of "Just Like Honey" drip out of the speakers in the viscous fashion the title might suggest, you immediately feel it. As so many critics have mentioned in so many different contexts, you can't really describe it, but you definitely know it's there. You feel it as the first chords reverberate and your bones shiver along with the vibrations. You feel it in the effortless vocals that drone alongside beautiful melodies that completely contradict the hideous, sweeping noise in which they are encompassed. In my feeble attempt to ascribe meaning to it, the only conlusion I can come to is that it is some intangible, accidental little thing hidden in the music that causes pure euphoric listening pleasure in certain listeners. It is an intangible uniqueness and individuality that emanates from the music of the best. Jeff Buckley and The Velvet Underground had it. So to do The Jesus and Mary Chain.

• There are those who view the JMC's first offering as some sort of twisted Beach Boys-esq anti-pop, seen through the twisted lens of Velvet Udderground songwriting and amplifiers set at maximum squeal. But Psychocandy is far moore than very loud anti-pop. It's an all-out assault on traditional songcraft, its an aural meltdown that grabs pop moosic and stomps it into the ground, rakes it with blistering teeth, and then sets the bleeding corpse on fire.

• Songs such as "In a Hole", "You Trip Me Up", and "Never Understand" will absolutely shred your speakers. One churlish critic cowpared the JMC sound as "a chainsaw in a hurricane", and it fits, but in a good way - try and find that on Pet Sounds!

• The JMC have a big, noisy, disjointed, screaming sound - if yer used to the slick, friendly sugary-sweet mop-top-pop of the Beatles and the Beach Boys, you will moost likely run screaming from the twisted clarion of Psychocandy. Which is a shame, because it is a brilliant album.

• Aside from the raw white-noise wail of the aforementioned 3 songs, Psychocandy is also blessed with several slower, moodier cuts, such as "Cut Dead" and "Sowing Seeds", dark, melodic swirls that hint at the cowming "Darklands" album. Udder cuts such as "My Little Underground", "You Trip Me Up", and "The Living End" simply sounds scary as hell.

• The spartan production values, underplayed rhythm section, and almoost monotone vocals were a massive slap in the face to an industry which spent moooch of the first half of the 80's spoonfeeding the masses slick, over-dubbed, crystal-clear, empty fluff.

• Lost somewhere in the shuffle of the most beautiful and inconspicuous melodies I've ever heard, the effortless yet totally convincing and powerful vocals, the clatter of distortion and feedback, hypnotic riffs, and covert stop/starts and musical mood swings is it. I'm sorry I'm giving such a vague, cliched review, but I find it very hard to positively ascribe redeeming factors to pop music drenched in awful noise. You've just gotta believe its there. Looking beyond the influence and importance of Psychocandy, you can find 15 of the most blissfully enjoyable and liberating tracks of all-time. There is not a weak moment to speak of. Every song has irresistable hooks and infectious melodies laced with sinister undertones and blistering noise. The dorky hair-do's and awesome leather only add to the legacy. Where everyone at the time was creating pop music in similar outfits and hair-do's, The Jesus and Mary Chain made better pop music and completely mutilated it in the name of art and rock and roll. It worked to perfection.

• Psychocandy is the work of pure, unbound genius.

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Jason & The Scorchers "Lost & Found" (1985)

SHIT-KICKING STOMPING TORNADO

• "Lost & Found" is a relentless rock & roll record that's hypercharged with high spirits, if fraught with flaws of overeagerness. The album is unbalanced, with all of the faster songs on one side, and the band sacrifices finesse and detail for reckless thrills. But if Jason and the Scorchers occasionally lose control of the wheel, that's part of the point: Lost & Found is a joy ride that'll leave you hooked on speed.

• With a whipcrack drumbeat, Jason and pals dive in feet first with "Last Time Around," playing as if on this, their first full album, they were making their last stand. Guitarist Warner Hodges is the firebrand behind Lost & Found's ferocious drive, performing punk-tempo variations on a whole catalog of Chuck Berry licks. Certain riffs are by now old enough to collect Medicare, but Hodges plays powerfully, and remember, this is a party, not a study hall. If side one of Lost & Found – six smokers, served right down the middle of the plate – doesn't drive you into a honky-tonk frenzy, then you ought to trade in your rock & roll shoes for a pair of loafers.

• Like Hodges, singer Jason Ringenberg has limitations that he turns to his advantage. His Southern-fried yelping in "Lost Highway" is an unbridled delight. He sings the penitent words without a shred of remorse – "I'm a rolling stone/All alone and lost/For this life of sin/I have paid the cost" – making sin sound like salvation, profligacy like the only road out of an even more accursed life of boredom. And the band bashes on: Hodges raising great balls of hellfire on the guitar, bassist Jeff Johnson pumping eighth notes till you can feel the calluses, and drummer Perry Baggs banging away with muscular, unrestrained zeal.

• Then the Scorchers slow it down for a triad of more reflective numbers. "Still Tied" is an unnerving ballad about a black man for whom the South hasn't changed all that much. "Broken Whiskey Glass," from their first EP, reappears here in a novel arrangement that goes from pensive to rollicking. "Far Behind" is tinted blue with Kenny Lovelace's country fiddle, a nod to their purist C&W roots. Finally, the band calls out to "Change the Tune," contrasting a tough rock guitar with the dulcet tones of a mandolin – and, incidentally, making the point that musical labels don't matter here.

• "Lost & Found" rediscovers the wild, frolicsome feeling that comes when a band of soulful roadhouse roustabouts like Jason and the Scorchers follow their hearts, their instincts and their wandering feet.

More Jason and The Scorchers at C-60:

Reckless Country Soul (1982)

Fervor (1983)

Still Standing (1986)

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Alternative Xmas - Day 20

THE RAMONES "Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight)"

• The one and only legendary Ramones. Now known to millions as something cool to have on you T-shirt (ohh, is it a band as well!??). I can't make up my mind if this is a bad thing or not, because The Ramones gets out to lots of new listeners that way also! (Well, if they discover that this is a rock-band and not just a brand!)

• In 1989 The Ramones put out maybe one of the low point of their carreer with "Brain Drain". But they manage to pull out one of the coolest christmas songs ever from that boring album. "Merry Christmas (I don't wanna fight tonight)" is one of my all-time christmas-favourites, and actually one of many highlights from The Ramones catalogue.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive 2007

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Green "White Soul" (1990)

WHITE ON GREEN

As told by Green's vocalist & Guitarist Jeff Lescher:

• White Soul, hmmm? Where to start? Where to end? The White Soul Lp was a teapot in a tempest--whatever that may be. Green returned to the U.S. in 1989 after a couple of European tours to a quandary. It was clear that continued touring in the U.S. under the brutal hand-to-mouth conditions that we'd endured to that time would destroy the group physically and spiritually. A few members had already pulled out due to the thrashing we'd been taking. Add to that the lack of record label attention in this country and the band, while enjoying a modicum of critical applause, was losing ground in terms of getting enough financial and industry attention to justify the continued abuse.

• A ray of light in the form of a proffered record contract from Giant records (later Rockville) seemed to offer some remedy to the situation. We'd been handled roughly in our dealings with domestic record labels though. In addition the European tours had been a startling revelation: we were respected as Artists, fed regularly, driven in road worthy vehicles to our shows, and put up in nice hotels. This made one mean meal a day at McDonald's and sleeping in an old van at the truckstop seem a might distasteful. At any rate when we were approached by a European label, Megadisc from the Netherlands, with a pretty generous recording deal, we thought to cast aside the hard road of the gigantic American musical landscape and try our hand at breaking into and out of the European rock scene. We had hoped that this would have a slingshot effect on our American fortunes and return us to these shores as the honored prophet. This was not to be.The group that accepted the Rockville contract was Uncle Tupelo.

• The "White Soul" material was also a result of our European tours. To say that the Euro experience was a mind expander, would be to make miniscule the epic. We were put into contact, through the NME and through word of mouth, with the Seattle bands (largely unknown in the U.S.) who were then touring in and very much the rage of Europe. Three points were becoming clear to us. There was a vast change about to occur in the musical landscape; we needed to address this change in order to have live material that would sustain us in larger venues, and thus attract a major record deal; and the three minute pop song might not be a suitable vehicle.

• Sounds like a sell out? Not really. We liked the Seattle bands as much as anyone. We'd listened to the same bands as they growing up. And, going on the basis of the theory of kids listening to their older siblings record collections, thus recycling the styles every ten years, Sabbath and Zep were starting to sound pretty good again, suddenly. Thesis, antithesis, synthesis. "White Soul" is rock Dante. The journey of a soul to the soul of his soul. The chap meanders through the funhouse mirrors of his deeds and misdeeds and ends up looking into the reflection that is he. Will the gates of heaven open or remain closed? The cover tried to convey some notion of the album's contents by the purgatorial representation of us with eyes open on the front (i.e. alive), and eyes closed on the back (i.e. dead). This effect might have been lost somewhat when Megadisc changed the back cover without asking us to a nice but completely unconnected photo (by Ester Kroon) of us playing outside in a suburb of Amsterdam? Mark Mosher replaced Rich Clifton before this recording. At various times it was going to be called Purp or Dittmeyer's Maroc. It is a very beautiful record, probably the best recorded (thanks to Megadisc who really shelled out to do it, and to Iain Burgess producing), probably the closest recording to what was originally intended, and we really thought that we were on the verge of breaking things wide open with it. It completed a trilogy of our first recording phase, and I dare anyone to come up with a trio of the first three records of any band that are better, except for a bunch of bands that have three better first records.

• P.S. White Soul was originally intended as a double (!) album with most of the contents of the Bittersweet Ep mixed in, as well as a few other tidbits--an idea the record company promptly nixed.

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Archer Prewitt "Wilderness" (2005)

LOST, FORSAKEN AND BEAUTIFUL

• “Wilderness”: unexplored and empty place, which someone has forgotten to love; a desert, where you feel friendless, lost and forsaken. In fact, tasteful, sophisticated and perfectionist, Prewitt's last effort crosses the desert, lacking strength and vigour, but all of a sudden, and as easily, either touches the sky or dives deep into the Ocean: inside a shell of straightforwardness there is the magnificence of a gem. Even its rather interesting cover illustrates this contradicting feeling. A woman is completely nude, showing herself unpretentious and disaffected; at the same time, she seems to be timid and mysterious, covered by her long hair, though. So, if you give Archer Prewitt a chance to guide you once, you will find yourself begging for more whiffletrees. It will be a pleasant journey.

• The album is the renaissance of classic 70's pop: a refreshing breeze in the present infertile panorama of the genre. It starts on with “Way of the Sun” and “Leaders”, which easily could be included in the list of the best songs of 2005. They are so memorably and melodically haunting… and upbeat letting me with a wide smile whenever I listen to them. In the midst, “Cheap Rhyme” wakes up the whole thing, showing his unknown rebellious side. Here, his vocals are really bold and sound unexpectedly fine. "Without You" could be described as a trekker changing its course inconspicuously. Notice carefully the way Archer alternates the use of some instruments here. The languid and fragile “Wilderness” closes the album with merit.

• Archer Prewitt sets up lovely tunes, has a pleasant voice, is a skilled producer and makes accurate and enchanting arrangements. It seems to be effortless, but the romantic sentiments and lean arrangements of his classic pop tunes shouldn’t be mistaken for simplicity. He almost reaches the brilliance. How many artists have made an album including at least six 10/10 songs? Actually, at the present time, Archer Prewitt is one of the best songwriters I know.

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Alternative Xmas - Day 19

THE VIPERS "Christmas I'll Be Home"

• The Vipers were an obscure '80s band that was transfixed with '60s garage/proto-punk, often drawing comparisons to such similarly styled outfits as the Chesterfield Kings, the Cynics, and the Lyres.

• From their debut-album from 1984 "Outta The Nest", here is one of those really punky garage songs about christmas, a cross between The Sonics and The Rolling Stones anno 1964, The Vipers christmas song "Christmas I'll Be Home" is an instant classic.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive

Fruit Bats "Mouthfuls" (2003)

FRUITS & DIAMONDS

• "Mouthfuls", produced by Brian Deck, is a stunning bit of psychedelic folk-rock. Driven by acoustic guitar and the vocal harmonies of Eric Johnson and Gillian Lisee, the Fruit Bats aesthetic -- with help from Deck, who provides "electronics" and "household objects" -- falls somewhere between the epic pop of The Shins and the backwater electronics of Holopaw.

• On "The Little Acorn", the group references Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon, both with the vocal arrangement and the lyric suggesting you "warm your bones", not "by the fire", as Pink Floyd would have it, but "in the northern snow". Like most songs on the album, rural allusions collide with the comparatively stiff sound of modern production.

• While there are fits of gratuitous electronic noodling ("Union Blanket"), it's Johnson's keen sense of melody that carries the album. On the beautiful ballad, "Lazy Eye", he sings, "You are a diamond in the dirt", summing up in one line the confluence that becomes the de facto theme of the album: the juxtaposition of the natural and the produced, the organic and the electronic, a world where cars and riverbeds live side by side. Mouthfuls is essential for anyone currently enthralled by Sub Pop's bold and pastoral new directions.

• If you have not discovered Fruit Bats "Mouthfuls", do not miss out!

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Alternative Xmas - Day 18

THE CHEEPSKATES "Christmas Time with You"

• Led by singer/guitarist Shane Faubert, the Cheepskates were a big part of the '80s revival of the garage rock scene on the East Coast, U.S.. They released two albums with their first lineup, a four-piece that concentrated more on the retro side of the sound.

• "Christmas Time with you" was the second single-release from their debut-album "Run Better Run" from 1984. It's one of those lovely pop-tunes with an melancholy twist. Really great christmas-music, if you as me.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive

Alternative Xmas - Day 17

SMASHING PUMPKINS "Christmas Time"

• Smashing Pumpkins mainman Billy Corgan recorded a solo song for the charity record "A Very Special Christmas". Apparently, Corgan recorded the song - appropriately titled "Christmas Time" - when he was in New York in the autum of 1997.

• Christmas? Billy Corgan? Maybe he even smiled while singing it? Well, Smashing Pumpkins is credited on this song even if it was just Corgan alone. It's a nice little tune, and in a strange way it does make sense to hear Corgan singing a Smashing sugary christmas song.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive

The Levellers "Mouth to Mouth" (1997)

POP GOES THE LEVELLERS

• The Levellers are a popular English rock band influenced by punk and traditional English music.They are based in Brighton, England where they were founded in 1988.

• A totally unexpected return to form for the argumentative and finger-pointing Levellers, mainly due to the fact that they largely abandoned their argumentative nature and finger-pointing. "Mouth To Mouth" is something of an oddity for the band, as protest songs are kept to a minimum and a vibrant seam of pop-rock is mined to good effect.

• The first half of the album is largely upbeat and celebratory, with songs like "Beautiful Day" and "Celebrate" sounding more optimistic and embracing than anything else they had released to date. In "Far Away" they had written an anthem with the sole purpose of giving their fans something to wave their lighters in the air to at gigs, but despite this it's really rather good.

• In the second half things get a little darker, with a little of the accusational tone of yore making a return, but when it's bolted onto strong tunes like "C.C.T.V." and "Chemically Free", it becomes much more palatable. With "Elation" The Levellers discover the art of being sinister and brooding and with the closing "Too Real", not only did they release one of their best songs, but they managed to write the anti-heroin anthem that they had been attempting to write since their lack-luster self-titled album.

• The whole album is excellent, the production is superb,there is more to discover here than on any other levs album and in my opinion is their best work.

• Facts of Life: The Levellers were members of a mid 17th century English political movement, who came to prominence during the English Civil Wars. They were not a political party in the modern sense of the word, so people whom historians have labeled Levellers did not subscribe to a specific party manifesto; nevertheless, many Levellers agreed with the view expressed in the Agreement of the People.

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Gary Higgins "Red Hash" (1973)

ROGUE BOY INTO JAIL

• "Red Hash", Gary Higgins' melancholy masterpiece, is often cited in the same breath as such admired hippy-folk obscurities as Skip Spence's "oar", Linda Perhacs "Parallelograms". and Vashti Bunyan's "Just another Diamond Day". Unlike those artists, however, Higgins' story has a novel twist: by the time the album was relased in March 1973, he was doing time in a maximum security Jail!

• Higgins and his chums were self-described "hippies living in the country", the extent of their crimes limited to smoking marijuana ("I even inhaled," Higgins reveals). The situation turned serious, however, when Higgins and manager Gary 'Chico' Cardillo were caught up in President Nixon's newly declared War On Drugs. As a result of their involvement in an October 1972 pot bust - they'd become unwitting pawns in a large undercover police operation - they found themself facing long, hard prison sentences.

• "It certainly shocked us." says Higgins. "But it brought forth an urgency in getting some songs down on tape because I didn't know if I'd ever get another chance."

• The inspiration on display is of a much higher order than mere peacenik lament, however: Higgins never directly touches on his own plight, and despite the title and the circumstances surrounding the record, drugs are only a feature of one largely irrelevant track. Such transmutation of private grief into patient hope is rare in the piteous annals of early 70s folk music; tinged with a moving, red-eyed faintness, the restrained pleas of the 'cuckoo in pain' will resonate. Higgins refrains from the delicate melancholics that so fatally tempted lesser folkies like Joseph Pusey or Arthur Lee Harper, and his mature sensibility is of a higher class than most folk artistes you can name, well meriting this album's reputation among responsive folk critics - if Higgins continues to serve as the grandfather to the new Devendran fold, folk is in good hands.

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Alternative Xmas - Day 16

LITTLE SUZANNAH "Mom & Daddy, Please don't steal for me this Christmas"

• Some of the classic christmas songs is meant to be sad. Just put in a misplaced childhood, some bad grown-ups and sweetish, sugary melody on top and you are bound to have a hit. Well, maybe!

• This is not exactly the case with our christmas song today. It's not well known, and have never been a hit, but I think that ought to do with marketing, because this song has it all. A sad little girl singing about her mom and dad who's criminals and probably drugaddicts as well. I don't know any facts about this record. If there is someone who can tell us when it was recorded, who Little Suzannah is and more, please do! Until then, enjoy (if you can) one of the saddest, and call me cynical, funniest christmas songs around!

The C-60 Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive

Timbuk 3 "Edge of Allegiance" (1989)

A POSTCARD FROM A CROSSROAD

• In many ways, "Edge of Allegiance" presented Timbuk 3 at a crossroads. It was their last album as a duo (1991's "Big Shot in the Dark" would find them replacing their well-worn drum machine with a real-life rhythm section), so it was a transitional effort in that respect, but it also brought to fruition the musical maturity and sense of nuance that had been blossoming since the pair's 1986 debut.

• No longer were Pat and Barbara K. MacDonald singing merely about the personal or the political; they were combining the two, and at times using one as a metaphor for the other, with multi-layered songs like the incisive "Standard White Jesus" (perhaps Timbuk 3's crowning achievement), "B-Side of Life," and "Acid Rain." Rhythms were becoming more complex, presumably as a result of the contributions of jazz percussionist Denardo Coleman, who produced the album; the snaky, Latin-leaning "Standard White Jesus" left barely a hint that Timbuk 3 was still in possession of its famed drum machine.

• As such, Edge of Allegiance was Timbuk 3's least funky record; only "Count to Ten" kept that aspect of the band's sound intact. But Pat MacDonald's lyrical observations and facility with wordplay were razor sharp here, and as a collection of intelligent pop songs, the album ranks with the best of its period.

• In three short verses, "Wheel of Fortune," sung by both vocalists over a stark guitar accompaniment, sums up the bittersweet reality of relationships more elegantly than do most songs given twice as much space.

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Even more info about Timbuk 3

Timbuk 3 "Eden Alley" (1988)

A POSTCARD FROM EDEN

• Do you like your rock sparse, bluesy, smart, and rough around the endges, you can't go wrong with Timbuk 3, and this is one of their best. A lot of variation here, from the smash-bang funkiness of "Reverend Jack" to the freakishly catchy "Sample the Dog" and the dreamy darkness of "Easy". The tunes are great, and some (like Jack and Sample) are absolutely indispensible.

• If you are familiar with their first album, this one carries on in a similar vein. It is so easy to listen to with catchy guitar work and penetrating lyrics with just a splash of cynicism and a whole lotta irony.

• It's a bit more personal than the first album, less about the outside world and politics, less social commentary, and more songs about people and strange situations.

• Overall, a great sophomore effort.

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Some more info about Timbuk 3

Timbuk 3 "Greetings From Timbuk 3" (1986)

A POSTCARD FROM AUSTIN

• For most people, Timbuk 3 is the answer to that music trivia question of what band had the one hit in the mid-1980s about the future being so bright you have to wear shades. But for those of us who followed their career, they were the little band made good on the same Indie label as R.E.M., and when their second album didn't strike the same national chord as the first, we shrugged and thought the third would. But it didn't, nor did the fourth or the fifth even though fans like myself bought them. Pegged as a novelty band, their fifteen minutes were used up in that one song, to be replaced on national radio by quirkier bands like Smash Mouth, Barenaked Ladies and Cake.

• I like all their albums, but I find this debut to be the most consistent although certain later individual songs are stronger. At the time of this release, Timbuk 3 were the husband and wife team of Pat and Barbara McDonald. Pat played guitar and harmonic while Barbara played bass or guitar. The unofficial third member of the group was the boombox with drum loops. For their live shows, for example, Pat would place the boombox on a stool on the stage of the Hole in the Wall, a burger joint on the Drag next to the University of Texas, and he and Barbara would swap out cassettes depending on the song they wanted to play. (They would later expand to an actual four piece with a rhythm guitar and drummer.)

• "Greetings from Timbuk 3" captured perfectly the quirky and unconventional arrangements fostered by being a two-piece trying to sound larger (think They Might Be Giants). The opening one hit, signifying its difference from the run of the mill with the opening funky guitar and harmonic, then the nasally voice of Pat singing, "I study nuclear science / I love my classes / I've got a crazy teacher / He wears dark glasses." Personally, the song appeals to me as much for the intertwined voices of Pat and Barbara (recalling some kind of 80s indie Fleetwood Mac) as the implied sarcasm (or is it understated irony) of the lyrics. Like the Mac, each song features the harmonies of a male and female singer, with one voice taking a slight lead.

• The album switches between the goofy ("Hairstyles and Attitudes"), the serious ("I Love You in the Strangest Ways"), and the indescribable ("Facts About Cats"). But all of the songs have infectious melodies on the order of "The Future's So Bright," albeit neither vocalist has a strong or soothing voice, typically sounding more like Stan Ridgway and Exene Cervenka than Elvis Presley and Karen Carpenter. What then becomes the focus is the lyrics, which, even in the love songs, are clever and surprising.

• I'm sure some of the reasons why I like this album is its Austin routes roots. But the main reason it appeals to me is its strange blend of cynicism and humor and the egalitarian union of male and female. It's an album that reflects me, my beliefs and style, and that proves it irresistible.

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Music-Video: Timbuk 3 "Life is Hard"

Music-Video: Timbuk 3 "The Future so bright.."

Alternative Xmas - Day 15

TIMBUK 3 "All I Want for Christmas"

• Timbuk 3 was formed in 1984 by the husband and wife team of Pat MacDonald (acoustic, electric, bass and MIDI guitars, harmonica, vocals, drum programming) and Barbara K. MacDonald (electric guitar, mandolin, violin, rhythm programming, vocals).

• Timbuk 3 was signed by I.R.S. Records after appearing on an episode of MTV’s The Cutting Edge in 1986. Soon after, they released their first album, Greetings from Timbuk 3, which included their only single to chart, "The Future's So Bright, I Gotta Wear Shades".

• In 1987 they came up with a melancholic christmas song about the state of the world. "All I want for Christmas" is a typical Timbuk 3 song with harmonica and Pat & Barbara K. Macdonalds vocal-lament harmonies. Not very jolly, but very good.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive

Died Pretty "Pre Deity" (1988)

FOREVER YOUNG

(Thanks a lot to Bruce for this one)

• Early in 1984, a Sydney inner-city band sought to create their own distinctive style, challenging the musical preconceptions of the time. Died Pretty quickly garnered a reputation for live shows full of raw passion, intensity, and more often than not, complete disintegration - the most basic elements of musical expression.

• Reissue of the seminal compilation that brings together Died Pretty's first two singles (neither of which appear on the Very Best of, despite that album taking its name from their first single) and the breakthrough Next To Nothing Ep.

• "Pre Diety" sounds and runs like it's a proper album and many people think it's one of their best releases. These tracks feature the first two lineups of the band and there's something to be said for the opinion that the early lineups of the band and its songwriting approach have never been matched.

• Includes the tracks "Out of the Unknown", "World Without" and the epic "Mirror Blues".

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Alternative Xmas - Day 14

CANDYE KANE & COUNTRY DICK "Let's put the X back in Christmas"

• Candye Kane is an American singer, songwriter and performer best known in the Blues and Jazz genre. She has been included in the Rolling Stone Guide to Jazz and Blues, Elwoods blues by Dan Aykroyd, The Blueshound Guide to Blues, The All Music Guide and several other blues books and periodicals.

• Country Dick Montana, a former record store owner, one-time (short-term) high school class president, ex-Crawdaddy drummer and past president of the Kinks Preservation Society fan club formed the Beat Farmers in 1983.

• Candye & Dick recorded this novelty in 1993, and it's a shame they didn't record a whole album. "Let's put the X back in Christmas" capture the style from both of these big performers.

C-60's Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive 2007

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Opal "Happy Nightmare Baby" (1987)

THEY KNEW THE DREAM, THEY FELT THE RAIN

• Opal was formed initially under the name Clay Allison by the duo of David Roback of Rain Parade and Kendra Smith, who had recently departed The Dream Syndicate. The two had established a working relationship during the short-lived Rainy Day project in 1983, and along with Green On Red's Keith Mitchell on drums (and also, briefly, guitarist Juan Gomez), they made their live debut in December of that year just as Roback opted to leave Rain Parade.

• Hypnotic! It’s the first impression I can feel after that this vinyl rested for 2 months always on rotation on the turntable. Hypnotic, acid, psychedelic and visionary: what can I say more? One of those albums that I would bring in the famous desert island!

• Opal are practically disappeared after this record and we can’t say that their discographic production is very wide: "Happy nightmare baby" was preceded in 1984 by the EP "Fell from the sun" and "Nothern Line" from 1985, and followed in 1989 by "Early Recordings" containing, as title says, old recordings. This group was founded by two historical figures of new-psychedelic American scene in the ’80, that are Kendra Smith, ex-bass player and voice of Dream Syndicate and David Roback ex-guitarist of Rain Parade, and the only fault we can give them is that they recorded very little.

• The peculiar elements of this record which contribute to its psychedelic atmosphere are: persistent riffs and solo guitar really very acid, the deep and singsong Kendra’s voice, the beat without rest by the bass and the dreamy sound of Hammond organ. Over all we can add a percussion precise like a metronome so we get an really unrepeatable mix such is the perfection of these recording.

• The more interesting moments of a record that, if you didn’t understand I judge on the whole not to loose, are: the clattering start of “Rocket machine” with a repeated guitar riff and the first tasting of Kendra’s sing. The following “Magick power” that would have disfigured in “The piper at the gates of dawn” by Pink Floyd: really psychedelia at pure status with in evidence organ and solid bass. “She’s a diamond” an oblique ballad in the balance between a lysergic trip and an electric blues (very fine the Roback solo). “Supernova” driven by Kendra’s voice over the guitar always in distortion thrown on an Arabic solo and the final “Soul giver” that we can consider as the summa of the whole album because in it, outlet also as 45”, are concentrated all the peculiar elements of “Opal sound”. - Magick power to everyone!

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Alternative Xmas - Day 13

EELS "Christmas is going to the Dogs"

• Eels is an American rock band formed by singer/songwriter Mark Oliver Everett, better known as a Man Called E, Mr. E, or simply E. Other members rotate frequently, both in the studio and on stage.

• Here is one of my all time favourite christmas-song. "Christmas is going to the dogs" from 2000 is typical Eels. It's charming, it's catchy and it is not very much like "White Christmas".

Well christmas is going to the dogs

We'd rather have chew toys than yule logs

And things aren't looking very good it's true

So i'll just lay here and chew

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive 2007

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Alternative Xmas - Day 12

THE WAITRESSES "Christmas Wrapping"

• The Waitresses started life in Akron, Ohio possibly as a joke by Chris Butler who had previously (or possibly concurrently) been in the band Tin Huey. When most of the band moved to New York, they were joined by ex Television drummer Billy Ficca and signed to New York label Ze (probably most famous for it's nurturing of Kid Creole and the Coconuts) in 1981. Probably the most unusual aspect of the songs on the first LP, "Wasn't Tomorrow Wonderful?" was that despite being written by Butler, were all seen from the womans perspective.

• The Waitresses most famous song however must surely be "Christmas Wrapping" which is played annually on the radio and appears on numerous seasonal compilations, indeed it started out on Ze's excellent "A Christmas Record" in 1981.

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive 2007

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Edwyn Collins "Gorgeous George" (1994)

HIP AND GORGEOUS COLLINS

• Edwyn Collins (born August 23, 1959 in Edinburgh) is a Scottish musician. He formed the musical group Nu-Sonics in 1976, which became Orange Juice in 1979. Critically admired within independent rock circles, Orange Juice is perhaps best known for the #8 hit "Rip It Up", their only major UK Top 40 single and biggest commercial success. In 1985, Orange Juice disbanded, and Collins has since then pursued a solo career.

• Collins is best known for his 1994 hit single, "A Girl Like You", which was a big hit in both the UK and the US and was featured in the films Empire Records and Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle.

• A cynical, lugubrious ex-indie star with a sense for stylish clothing returns to celebrate the last of the imaginary dandies. Since good fashion is always timeless, so is the sound of Edwyn Collins’s third (and most successful) solo-long play. Mostly sixties and seventies-inspired sounds, yet never simple retro-nostalgia, are blended with indie-guitars and slight funk-borrowings. Here and there it’s time for a country-esque acoustic ballad.

• Despite such a tasty wardrobe, the album starts in truly bad-tempered style. Collins makes no bones about his boredom with the youth-culture in the nineties. Nothing is taken seriously here anymore and instead all that Collins can comment about the fashion of his time is how much Guns’n’Roses suck. “The campaign for real rock” is a bit of a red-herring; a seemingly shabby piece of frayed trousers in a corner of the closet. But what else would one wear for another /truly detestable summer festival/?

• How much brighter, glamorous and hip are the suit and the tight trousers for the Northern Soul-disco evening next to that. This plain model has been tested by generations and remained a winner every time. “A girl like you” suits Collins’s voice splendidly and is never out of place in any music-mix. The surprise-hit of 1994 still hasn’t lost its immediate charm.

• “Low Expectations” turned out to be mis-titled, as its clear cut surpasses any expectations for moody acoustic balladry. Yet the closet is also filled with brighter colours, such as the breezy “Out of this world”-jacket, e-piano and steady groove inclusive, or the summer combination “If you could love me” for the contemplative beach-walker.

• The good old country-style clothes are given a little twist by Collins on “North of Heaven” and after that, the laidback tune of the title-track caresses the skin of the contemporary gentleman with pop roots. For a completely new design of raincoats try Collins’s “It’s right in front of you”. Cosy casual wear is on offer, too: “Make me feel again” is ideal for daily usage at home or when you go jogging in the park. /Forget this melodrama/! Even workwear with an earthy character looks good in this collection – “I’ve got it bad”, but I wear it well.

• For those who understand him, Collin the pop-designer adds a plain t-shirt on top with the striking slogan: /This music won’t take you higher, unless you’re a moron/. You made your point.

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More info about Edwyn Collins

Alternative Xmas - Day 11

JUSTIN LOVE "Here's What I Want on a Christmas Day"

• New Yorker Justin Love is more famous for his art work than his music. But he made a few memorable tunes, and one of the highlights is a real treat for anyone who's diggin' the garage-sound.

• "Here's What I Want on a Christmas Day" from 1984 is about lust, desire, sex, drugs and rock'n'roll. All the things we love about christmas (ehhh...what??!)

Alternative Xmas Calendar Archive 2007

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Died Pretty "Free Dirt" (1986)

WAY DOWN YONDER

• Way back in the mid eighties alot of people in Orstralia held these guys in the highest esteem. I've gotta admit that this disc still sounds mighty fine, Peno's vocals do annoy me sometimes, but the guitar coming out of Brett Myer's hands sets this record into classic status. What a fucking beautiful racket.

• This was the bands first album after a couple of ep's and singles and alot of people expected the band to become very popular after this album was released, which they were in continental Europe. Their following releases were much more poppy (like side two on this release), less manic and a little disappointing to my ears, although I've now changed my feelings about the direction the band took after this album.

• But for me, this record is definately one of the greatest Australian releases of all time and as such deserves to be treated with respect. Produced by Rob Younger, the album drifts and sways along, then Brett Myers' full throttle guitar solos launch the band (on the first side anyway) into some kind of drug induced pirahna feeding frenzy. Just what were these guys thinking of when they recorded this monster? They sure captured the rock beast in all its ugly throbbing beauty on this disc.

• I hear a kind of Doorsy, Stooges, VU mood in these grooves. Classic reference points mixed with a definate mid 80's Sydney, maybe Kings Cross after a night on the town and coming down whilst the rain falls down in the early morning light. The cover shows a rain storm in some desolate outback setting, but the feel here is definately inner city urban. This is a great release and these artists definately tapped into something big on this album. A very fine effort. Just listen to the freak out on 'Next to Nothing' and you'll hear what I mean.

• Some bands touch you deep down in your soul. The mix of guitar, keyboards and voice get inside you and elevate.This recording is a masterpiece.

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Alternative Xmas - Day 10

MOJO NIXON "Christmas, Christmas"

• If you in the mood for the more wild side of Christmas, I strongly recommend a shot or two of Mojo Nixons "Christmas, Christmas". This rather far out rock icon have done an energetic version of The Kingsmens "Louie, Louie" (does it exist a mellow version of that song by the way?), and written new lyrics.

• This is some way to get in the right christmas mood, if you ask me. Open a can of beer, put your feet up on the table, be sure to just be dressed in your underwears and start rambling "Christmas , Christmas ...oh yeah, I got go...to the Shopping Mall.."

Les Negresses Vertes "Mlah" (1988)

THE GOOD, THE BAD & THE VERTES

• Les Négresses Vertes, formed in 1987, are a French music group who are best described as a fusion of world music and some aspects of alternative rock. Their particular musical influences were Gypsy music, Punk Rock, Algerian raï, Mediterranean and South American music and French café music.

• Their tracks often feature acoustic guitar and accordion, as well as some tracks containing many other 'traditional' instruments such as piano and brass. Their style is fairly upbeat and energetic on the majority of their tracks, with unusual rhythms, vocals delivered with a generous dose of zeal and vibrant energy, and accompaniment melodies ranging from lilting and distant to eccentric and fast-paced. These two factors give many of their pieces a strong sense of direction.

• This album must be one of the best forgotten albums ever. I haven't listened to it for some times but played it the other day and was surprised at the freshness of this band's first effort. It's an album that was hoisted to the top of the retro's chart when the folkish bands of the late 80s become popular again i.e. The Pogues and the Waterboys.

• "Mlah" is full of good musicianship, songwriting, humour, tragedy, folk, rock, punk etc. It is a shame that the following albums never saw the band reach its' potential - as well as the death of the singer. This is an album that any serious fan of music should listen to, if not own it.
• Any Gogol Bordello fan will hear Vertes influence on their style and the lead vocals. This is real 'Gypsy Punk' with half of the band coming from the Gypsy hovels in the South of France.

• If you could harness the energy in "Malh", you'd solve the world energy crisis. An absolute diamond of an album. An intense, exhuberant blend of ska, punk, folk, rai with a few classic chansons thrown in for good measure. Trumpets, trombones, guitars, pianos, accordions and throaty, gravelly voices fight it out... oh who am I trying to fool, this album defies description.

• The most criminally overlooked and underrated band of the last 15 years. Buy it!!

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Alternative Xmas - Day 9

THE LONG RYDERS "Christmas in New Zealand"

• As the Alternative Xmas Calendar keep on truckin' you get a dopey little novelty number called "Christmas in New Zealand" that Jonathan Richman would be glad to call his own. But it wasn't of course Jonathan Richman, but The Long Ryders.

• This song was only printed as a flexi-disc that was given away at selected Long Ryders gigs in November and December 1986. The band didn't even called themself Long Ryders on this christmas-number. Thery where credited as Spinning Wighats, But it's the same line-up as Long Ryders so let there be no doubt who's playing this charming little christmas-tune

World Party "Bang!" (1993)

BANG BANG A-BOOMERANG

And God said "Look after the planet"/ but man said: "Fuck you!"

• This sort of pop is eager to attract the thinking men and women who don't mind a catchy song. Whereas Karl Wallinger was still trying to preserve the world and thanking her on the previous album Goodbye Jumbo, which gained his quasi-group wider popularity, he takes great delight in letting all things burst apart this time round with that mother of all comic-strip sounds: BANG! Yet it could be the 'Bang' of all origin as well. Neither is World Party's third studio effort a destructive nor a chaotic affair; it is pensive and catchy.

• The constant addition of a certain Guy Chambers whose infamous hour was still to come, Chris Sharrock and Dave Catlin-Birch give this a much stronger 'band-feel' that seems less synthetic and less tinkered around with in a private cellar. On the whole, it's a little improvement over the first two records. Hence it is very sad that World Party never reached great acclaim and are now practically forgotten except among some devoted fans. The songs reach for the stars and the great secrets of life, the universe and everything with a bit of spirituality always present. "Let the kingdom come" starts off with a funny, bumpy rhythm and hooky melody, instantly displaying Wallinger's old heroes again. The eclectic mix works even better on this one than on Goodbye Jumbo.

• Next up is the 'hit' of the album! "Is it like today" is very neo-sixties, fusing The Beatles and Pink Floyd both in their "Behind the Looking-glass"-phases, while God just looks out the window to state that he's really worried 'bout his creation. Bad luck, old chap, because mankind subsequently flies out into space to meet their Lord out there. In lyrics like those, Wallinger is moving deeper into a sceptical position that should later culminate in the rejection of God all along on Dumbing Up. As we can see, he has read his philosophical books thoroughly between tuning guitars and watching 'The Magical Mystery Tour'.

• The chorus of "Is it like today?" is so irresistible, I walked around the house, enervating everyone with the same line over and over again, until I got hold of the album a few years later. Here, Wallinger came up with such a well-crafted pop song that is not ashamed of its slight psychedelic borrowings, even MTV chose the single to be included on one of those 'Greatest Hits-compilations'.

• With the next track, the group changes musical styles once more with ease. Wallinger gets out his best swingy soul swagger and has another substantial question at hand: "What is love all about?". I don't know either, Karl, but that piano sure has got some groove going on! Some of the more 'modern' tracks, featuring what was considered 'a sample' and 'synth drums' back in the day, are not exactly up to par with the more conservative retro-tracks, but there is hardly any fully disappointing contribution on Bang!.

• On his (quite British-sounding) ride through epochs and musical genres - always staying true to the rules of well-crafted pop tunes -Wallinger furthermore has some bluesy licks, narrow-chested funk-pop ("Rescue Me"), and more sunny guitar-pop ("Sunshine", which is one of the most accurate musical versions of a sunny day I've ever heard). Finally the "sha la la la"s on "All I gave" scream for radio-single, and then the good old gimmick of a Reprise is employed to round off this ever varying, yet coherent release.

• As a hilarious bonus track even the Beach Boys are channelled, only the way does not lead to Californ-I-A, but Kuwait-city "who ho hooo"...Wait, something happened there back then, right? Who said that political cynicism is not supposed to be fun?!

• On the release of Bang, John Lennon turned on his heavenly radio and thought 'Thank God I'm already dead; otherwise I would have to get my arse in the studio now to top this guy!'

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World Party "Goodbye to Jumbo" (1990)

HELLO GOODBYE

• This is like The Beatles ("Put the message in the box") and Prince ("Ain't gonna come till I'm ready")have melted together into one nondescript English bloke, who also happens to be a member of Greenpeace. People did not want atomic wars, the golf-crisis, and they certainly did not want to see Jumbo being killed by hunters in the threatened rainforests. While the ecology was the big issue in the mid- and late eighties, this band (or rather one-man-project) succeeded in showing political awareness in a decidedly hook-intense way.

• Leaving the Waterboys probably was the best decision in Karl Wallinger's (yes, he is a Brit!) entire life. Wearing his political and social attitudes for everybody to see, he also was not ashamed to wear his 'politically correct' musical idols on his sleeve. So much 'goodness' is usually doomed to result in a terribly humourless and pathetic stew of bland pop-rock, soothing the minds in Christian clubs of middle-class suburbs, but on Goodbye Jumbo we are surprised by simple, as well as clever reference-pop that should make our melody-hungry ears grow at least as big as those paraded by Wallinger's elephant-brother on the front cover. The songwriter Wallinger returns to the virtues of John Lennon, George Harrison, Bob Dylan and fuses them with more contemporary soul-pop influences and early programmed drum patterns that sometimes may sound a bit thin, but often provide a pleasant groove. And all this a good four years before 'Britpop' was to become the future un-word of music journalism around the globe.

• Proper politically conscious rockers, of course, always need to be worried about something: the general state of the world at best ("Is it too late?"). In a mixture of hippie spirit, Indian esotericism, World Aid enthusiasm, Bertrand Russell and the naive pop-vocabulary, Wallinger presents us a reflection of man and world along the lines of: We've only borrowed the earth from our children; Mother Earth suffers from our crimes; but most of all the universal truth of a smacking "La la la la laaa" at the right time! And as much as he gets his daily sickness attacks from watching the media (in the glorious Stones-revisit "Way down now"), this eco-warrior has also learned that mass presence is the most important thing to get your interests across, so therefore:

/Put the message in the box/ put the box into the car/drive the car around the world/ until you get heard.

• - we will, Karl, as long as we can sing along to your messages as good as this! Lest we should forget it: people with the right ideals of course attract other important people with similar ideals. We thus have (almost unnoticed) Sinead O'Connor on backing vocals for the more stolid "Sweet Soul Dream".

• Apart from the serious issues, Karl adds also a more introspective, personal note, musing on "Love Street" (with some ultra-cheesy and nowadays 'culty' eighties keyboard-effects) or melancholically "falling back alone" with just a guitar strumming in an empty room. World Party's patent: Take the best of old-fashioned pop and some stylish elements of the then current chart-toppers and you get an indeed worthwhile album of catchy-tunes for grown-ups. It has dated, of course, but it has dated gracefully.

• Thank you world; thank you Karl - wherever you are right now!

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Alternative Xmas - Day 8

WOOFING COOKIES "Santa ain't Santa"

• Scott, Joe, Len and Chad were the Woofing Cookies, a New-York based quartet who released one full length album on Midnight Records. Prior to this LP, they had recorded two singles, the second one "In The City" being produced by Peter Buck from R.E.M.

• "Santa Ain't Santa" is one of those really grim, trashy christmas songs where all the good christmasmood is trade in for a depressed, dark feeling. Yep, it's another one of those alternative Xmas songs you love to play when you had enough of White Christmas.

More Woofing Cookies here

The The "Mind Bomb" (1989)

MATTS EXPLODING MIND

• "Mind Bomb" is unbelievably intense and heavy, because of its slowest tracks, not in spite of them. Sex, religion, death, war, God once again take center stage here, with Johnson not offering opinions and solutions so much as painting a portrait of conflict with ominous overtones.

• This album isn't for everyone. Not for the reasons above, but because of the music itself. On this album, Johnson still utilizes a sort of dance music backdrop (on the first side, mostly), blended with a slowed-down industrial sound (sort of like The Swans). Ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr proves to be a patient and effective side man, but his contributions here aren't exactly as prominent as they would be on Dusk four years later.

• The first half of the album features Johnson's disgust with the major religions (along with governments both left and right), and how they seem to be dragging us all helplessly down a path of self-fulfilling prophecies. But the final tracks hint at his apparent breakthrough realization that the pain isn't "out there", but rather inside. In between is Matt's duet with Sinead O'Connor ("Kingdom of Rain"), a song that seems uncommonly mature and adult when compared to most songs about the death of love.

• "The Beaten Generation" also feels a little out of place, because by comparison the lyrics seem almost hippie-ish and naive. And the music is gently acoustic.

• Very highly recommended to those who feel 1980's offered no relevant musical or artistic statements. Matt Johnson remains one of those relatively unknown 20th century artists who belongs in same sentence with Dylan, Lennon, Hank Williams (whom he has covered), or whomever is mentioned as an example of peak artistic songwriting achievements. But with The The, it is almost always a good idea to start with his 1983 album Soul Mining. Otherwise, it can be hard to understand how he evolved into this particular style of music and songwriting.

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The The "Infected" (1986)

MATTS INFECTED MASTERPIECE

• "Infected" is supposedly a commentary on the state of Britain in the modern world. I say supposedly because I would hate to think this could in any way be true but I'm also fearful that it is just that. The The's follow-up to "Soul Mining" is so texturally rich and contains such visceral lyrics and stark soundscapes that I make no apologies for including several lyrical clips in the body of this review.

• Anyone who can describe an attempt to relieve the stresses and pressures of modern life as "Trying so hard to cleanse myself I was turning into somebody else" ("Out Of The Blue – Into The Fire") deserves respect and, given the current Middle East and Afghani situations, the apocalyptic line "When all the planet's little wars start joining hands" ("Sweet Bird Of Truth") seems so prescient, it's frightening. There's also social commentary that makes you wonder whether Johnson was using a crystal ball to look into the future; "This is the place where pensioners are raped and the hearts are being ripped from the welfare state" ("Heartland") – a song which also finished with the line "this is the 51st state of the U.S.A." – hmmm!

• "Infected" is not an album to take lightly and certainly not something you should listen to if you're feeling in any way depressed. You just know when Johnson sings the line "it's just sometimes I get so lonesome I could die!" ("Slow Train To Dawn") it's meant literally. He doesn't have a great voice but he manages to inject such a range of emotion, venom and menace into every word any inefficiencies are forgotten. The lyrics are so concentrated they're difficult to swallow.

• Johnson also released a video of each track to coincide with the album which was more like independent cinema than disposable MTV fodder and, when coupled with the music, proved an even more disturbing experience.

• Those unfamiliar with The The should steer clear of "Infected" to begin with. It will leave the uninitiated disturbed and dissatisfied and unable to appreciate anything else by the band. Try "Soul Mining" and then move on to this – careful though this infection is highly corrosive and contagious.

Track-List in the Comments

Some more info about The The

The The "Soul Mining" (1983)

MATTS SOUL SEARCH

• Popular opinion would have it that Matt Johnson's later works as The The - Infected, Mind Bomb, Dusk - are more essential than Soul Mining. I can understand the argument. There is an intensity to the internalised pain which escalates them to the "serious/difficult" status. But this was the first album by the band I bought and I was so bowled over by the whole deal it still retains an important place in my personal genealogy. Besides I think the more poppy approach gives the lyrics added bite. Nowhere have lyrics been so vivid and explicit and vocals more raw and aching. Soul Mining (and what a perfect title that is) is the most crisp, wounded and hurtful summation of the angst/angry borderline ever written.

• There are so many high-spots sufferers from vertigo beware. "This Is The Day" is so infectious it should carry a government health warning and the line "you didn't wake up this morning because you didn't go to bed, you were watching the whites of your eyes turn red" is one of my all-time favourite lyrics. "The Sinking Feeling" and "Soul Mining" are hauntingly beautiful. And "Uncertain Smile" is a masterpiece containing an absolutely jaw-dropping piano solo by Jools Holland which remains the finest thing he's ever done.

• "How can anyone know me when I don't even know myself" Johnson sings on "Giant" and it remains a line that's stuck with me since the first time I ever heard it. It might seem trite and banal to some, but it struck and immediate chord and became something of a personal mantra. The song itself has a seemingly never-ending chanted outro that manages to be repetitive without ever outstaying its welcome.

• "Soul Mining" is one of my most loved albums of the eighties. It's unsettling and cutting, but heart-warming and joyous – and it's never less than truthful. This is the sort of album that accounts for my love of music in general.

Track-List in the Comments

More Info about The The

Alternative Xmas - Day 7

JOHN PRINE "Christmas in Prison"

• John Prine (born October 10, 1946, in Maywood, Illinois) is an American country/folk singer-songwriter who has achieved widespread critical (and some commercial) success since the early 1970s.

• In 1993 John Prine made a whole album of christmas-songs, and one of my all time favourite has to be this bittersweet song about life in prison during christmas.

More info about John Prine

Alternative Xmas - Day 6

DISNEYLAND AFTER DARK "Sad Sad Xmas"

• D-A-D began playing together in the early 1980s in Copenhagen, Denmark, under their original band name Disneyland After Dark. D-A-D released their first EP in 1985 and has now been together for more than twenty years. In 1986 they released the single "It's after dark", with "Sad Sad Christmas" as a B-side.

• This song have become one of Denmarks classic christmas-song (The danish is quite cool!) and it's about time the rest of the world take part in the refrain. Let's sing "Son, its a sad sad Xmas, Yeah Boy, it's a sad sad Xmas".

• I just love the Casio-synth here!

More info about D.A.D.

Mazzy Star "She Hangs Brightly" (1990)

THE VELVET GHOST

• Mazzy Star was an American 1990s dream pop/alternative band. They formed in 1989, from the band Opal, a collaboration of guitarist David Roback and bassist Kendra Smith. Smith's friend Hope Sandoval became vocalist when Smith left the band.

• Albums, like books, should never be judged by their covers. Well, to be honest the album art is pretty intriguing, sort of abstract, but opening tracks is what I was referring to on "She Hangs Brightly". "Halah" is a cute, dream pop song that became the registered trademark Mazzy Star kept later in their career.

• How David Roback managed to leave behind some of the elements that made this album a delight will always be a mystery to me. I'm Sailin' seems like it could have come straight from the days of Blues from Robert Johnson, though with a slight ethereal feel and drone to it. The title track pays homage to The Doors, haunted by cold vocals and frigid organ keys, though there is something warm about it.

• "Give You My Lovin'" and "Blue Flower" compare to some of the mellower sides of The Velvet Underground & Nico; the album seems to draw from so many styles, yet it still manages to be very cohesive; just enough blues to not be depressing, just enough folk not to sound dated, enough energy from ballads without seeming overly sentimental, enough shoegaze without running into a lamppost, and just enough Psychedelic Rock to not wander on aimlessly.

• On paper it seems like this mesh of genres would never work, but "She Hangs Brightly" is a testament to the contrary. Roback's insightful incorporation of these elements never disappoints, his compositions brought to life by Hope Sandoval's delicate echoes of love and loss, commanding without ever being demanding; the album certainly contradicts itself over and over, but never in a bad way.

• In short, genre lines blur on this record; calculating and attempting to understand how well the mix is created on the album will undoubtedly have listeners keeping the album on repeat. Sad but uplifiting, bleak but hopeful, hollow yet sincere. A true gem of the 90s.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Mazzy Star

Baader Meinhof "Baader Meinhof" (1996)

A CONCEPT ALBUM ABOUT TERRORISM

• Not many people write songs about terrorists.Even less name their bands after them....alright,so Luke Haines already had one band (The Auteurs) but when this came out in 1996, I just had to investigate....and it's fantastic.

• Like a cross between a snotty, Etonian punk & the hardest of early 70's harlem ghetto dudes - 27 minutes of perfection. This album is pure genius and it's sad that it has gone unrecognized for so long. If I recall correctly, it came out the same year as The Auteurs' After Murder Park, which is almost as good.

• Nothing Luke Haines has recorded since has quite reached these heights. Perhaps it's simply too strange for most people's tastes ... that's very likely. Either way, I highly recommend it. This is without a doubt the best concept album about terrorism ever made.

• How about Volume 2 sometime????

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Luke Haines (the man behind this concept album)

Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel "Nail" (1985)

THE COCKROACH IN YOUR TINSELTOWN

• Jim Thirwell, a man of undoubted talent, his backcatalogue of different releases, under a multitude of different guises attest to that. It's just a shame that so rarely did he manage to get all his ideas together to make a coherent album. This is one of those rare occasions.

• Never willing to undersell himself, he opens the album in the most dramatic way possible with "Theme From Pigdom Come", a psuedo Wagnerian classical piece, as if heralding the entry of a gladiator. It's a gutsy way to open a record, that's for sure. You can hardly imagine Nick Drake starting off the same way, can you? Well, for once he's got the tunes, and the wordplay to back it up. He sounds like he's having a whirl of a time, as he stomps through "Throne of Agony", a sneering rock stomp, which even has the cheek to throw in the theme from "Mission Impossible" half-way through. If you've heard mid '80s Foetus, you know what to expect, rattling rhythms, that psychotic rockabilly vocal, and Neubauten-esque clangs and clatterings.

• Perhaps the most used label for Foetus, no matter how varied and complex the songs get, is "Industrial", which is evident in the instrumental "Private War":, a song with an uneasy passage of clattering metal more akin to, say, an Einsteinzende Neubaten track, which is an impressive show of range for coming after a neo-Classical overture. This is indeed Foetus' talent: juxtaposing elite composing skill with the absolute "trash" of modern music, like trite pop music of the past (Surf) and the current trend (at the time) of amateur noise. The clattering and percussive "garbage" of Foetus manages to keep going around the rhythm of the music, even in "Pigswill", where it sounds as if Thirwell is slamming shards of metal on the table and recording it. But even in the Industrial genre, he has no precedents, and bands like Ministry and Nine Inch Nails owe half their careers to this man.

• Not only does he know how to open an album, he knows how to close one too. The final track, "Anything (Viva!)", is quite possibly the best closing track to any album. It's choral chants of "I can do any Goddamn thing I want", it's PCP-fuelled lyrics of meeting life's challenges head-on, the dramatic neo-classical ending, it begs to have a 21 gun salute and a firework display accompaniment.

• This album is a thorough exploration of the worst sides of the human race (What happens to human waste?) through a dastardly complex series of movements that range through so many styles that the only reason it's called "Industrial" is its appearance of being clattering and noisy. Truly, Foetus was ahead of his time and may be equalled again, for only now in a digital age do we have the technology to cheat our way to the complexities of his sound, yet the chances of a human soul equaling "Nail" are extremely slim. The vile pervert -- the "cockroach in your tinseltown" -- rises to power through indescribable, twisted acts, and society is a wasteland of warring monkeys on the verge of hell -- all documented by Jim Thirwell in this immense composition.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Jim Thirwell (Foetus)

Alternative Xmas - Day 5

PADDY ROBERTS "Merry Christmas You Suckers"

• Paddy Roberts (1910 - 1975) was a popular songwriter, having previously been a lawyer and a pilot (serving with the RAF in World War II). He was born in South Africa and died in the United Kingdom. He enjoyed success with a number of songs in the 1950s and 1960s and wrote songs for several films. He released several LPs and EPs of his own material, often featuring what were, for the time, slightly risqué lyrics.

• In 1961 he wrote an instant christmas classic that is of current interest even today. "Merry Christmas you Suckers" tell us that it was stressful to celebrate this holiday 46 years ago as well. Very funny, very catchy forgotten little christmas gem. Let's open the C-60 Xmas vault and play it loud....Meeeeerrry Christmas you suckers, you miserable men...!

Review and Lyrics here

Elvis Costello & The Attractions "Armed Forces" (1979)

IT'S NO LAUGHING PARTY

• This is, in my humble opinion, Elvis Costello's finest, most consistent album. There are no weak "filler" tracks. Aside from the hit singles 'Oliver's Army' and 'Accidents will happen' it contains a host of timeless, melodic gems. 'Party Girl' in particular is a standout track, the descending bass-line is similar to the end of 'You never give me your money' by The Beatles.

• Elvis calls this his "ABBA album" and you can see what he means: glossy production, shiny keyboards and melodies that are sweet and -- dare I say it? yes, I should -- Beatlesque. EC wasn't the first songwriter to realise a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down (and he wouldn't be the last) and what keeps you coming back to this record is the way those brilliantly tuneful songs -- "Oliver's Army", "Green Shirt", "Accidents Will Happen", "Sunday's Best" -- are also full of bile.

• "Armed Forces" was originally titled "Emotional Facism", which - while off-putting - is quite apt. This record is all about thrilling, exciting music that's simultaneously plastic and robotic - as good an analogy for 1979 as any.

• If every Elvis Costello album offers something different for the listener, this is where he perfected his melodic songwriting. Every single song has a memorable hook, from the dramatic opener "Accidents Will Happen" to the upbeat closer "Two Little Hitlers." Many people speak badly of the keyboards and production, but I think they give the album a warm and special atmosphere. Especially when coupled with Elvis's pissed off lyrics and vocals, weaving military, government, and love metaphors together throughout the entire album. Everyone has "their" Elvis album, and why not, he's made so many good ones. This is mine.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Elvis Costello

Rain Parade "Crashing Dreams" (1986)

THE RAIN AND THE DREAM AND DAMN GOOD PARADE

• The first time I heard "Crashing Dream" it blew me away. After listening to it many times since it still blows me away. I am mystified by the fact that nobody seems to care about or remember this album. Chiming guitars, aching vocals, beautiful songs - another great record from Rain Parade and one of the finest output of the "Paisley Underground" era. The highlight, for me, is "Depending on You" but this is definitely one of those albums that maintains its quality from start to finish. Not a dud in the bunch.

• This is a great morning album to help start your day off to a good mark. Great playing with some McCartney type bass playing on alot of the tracks especially the second one, "My Secret Country". Well worth seeking out, though long out of print.

Track-List in the Comments

Even more info about Rain Parade

Alternative Xmas - Day 4

WALL OF VOODOO "Shouldn't Have Given Him a Gun for Christmas"

• Wall of Voodoo did some great recordings in the 80's. What is not very well known is their cotribution to the christmas. Some of the songs they recorded in the studio in 1987 for the album "Happy Planet" didn't make it to the final cut, and one of the tune was called "Shouldn't Have Given Him a Gun for Christmas". It was never meant for release, but WOV let a small record company use it in a christmas sampler. And from there, this great christmas song have lived its own life, and have become a favourite for those who have heard it.

• And now it is obvious that this song is meant for our Alternative Xmas Calendar. So here you are folks, Wall of Voodoo's legendary "Shouldn't Have Given Him a Gun for Christmas".

Aztec Camera "High Land, High Rain" (1983)

THE CAMERA AND THE FRAME

• To call Aztec Camera a band is a bit of a misnomer. In effect Aztec Camera is Roddy Frame. A Scottish singer-songwriter who compares favourably to Elvis Costello. His trademarks are thoughtful, wordy songs delivered in a soft, almost spoken voice which, whilst not particularly tuneful, manages to pull the listener in with a kind of strained emotion.

• The songs are typical for someone of Frame's ilk; loss; loneliness; defeat; but, ultimately, hope for the future and an indomitable attitude of picking himself up and trying again. But the lyrical content puts him on a different level than most of the rest. There isn't a bad song on High Land, Hard Rain, from the only obvious single "Oblivious" to the purely acoustic "Down The Dip" every track is a small masterpiece of musical poetry. The only weakness is the lack of any memorable hooks and, possibly, this is the reason why the success Roddy Frame deserved never really came.

• Throughout, Frame provides some lovely acoustic interludes proving he had an all round talent - "Back On Board's" introduction is very reminiscent of Spandau Ballet's "True" and, as they were both released in the same year, does beg the question.

• A great purchase - and one you'll always want to dip into. This is a beautiful album from a band who was grossly underrated.

This review is written by Mr. Grumpus

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Aztec Camera

Alternative Xmas - Day 3

KAY MARTIN AND HER BODY GUARDS "I Know what he wants for Christmas (....but I don't know how to wrap it!)"

• If it were not for the Internet, the works of Kay Martin, a one-time centerfold / nightclub entertainer / "party album" recording artist, would have been forever lost to the vinyl bins of America. Her six albums (that I know of) consistently sell on eBay for remarkable prices - including her most popular album: the 1962 Christmas album "I Know What He Wants For Christmas (but I don't know how to wrap it!)". ...

• And the title track from that faboulous Christmas Album is of course todays Xmas-song at C-60. No one can wrap presents like Kay!

The Xmas Calendar archive 2007

More Kay Martin here

The Mighty Lemon Drops "World Without End" (1988)

RICKENBACKER & THE CHUNG CHUNG SOUND

• I could sum up The Mighty Lemon Drops with one word, ‘Rickenbacker Guitars.’ Well actually that’s two words, but you get the gist. It was the guitar sound that was the mainstay of this wonderful band. A Rickenbacker has a sound like no other guitar on earth, I know, my husband has several vintage Rickenbackers and he wouldn’t sell any of them for anything. Have I mentioned that The Beatles were given Rickenbackers for their first performance on the Ed Sullivan Show?

• But back to the guitar, the sound is very clear, almost ringing in its nature and lends itself so well to vocals and harmonies. U2 picked up on it’s sound but took quite some time before they were able to understand and prefect its inter workings. Rickenbackers lend themselves to that chung chung sound, not to mention the swirling high ends necessary for sustained neo-psychedelic music, and the magic little notes that float and blend from one guitar to the next when played in tandem.

• I first became aquatinted with The Mighty Lemon Drops shortly after the release of this, their second album, and yes, in 1988 the source was vinyl for ‘World Without End.’ What they bring to their release they briought to their live performances times two. There were no gimmicks with these guys, what you see, is what you get, and for my part, they had it all.

• There are comparisons to Echo and The Bunnymen, but I don’t think that Echo got to this sound until they broke up and then reformed. The work here is brilliant and polished without having the feeling of being overworked or scripted. Sure, they came out in the 80’s with the likes of the Cure, but they are hands down in my book the best of their genre. If you have ever seen the Cure’s ‘Live In Orange’ you have an idea of this music, and the Cure had to do it live to pull it off. The Mighty Lemon Drops are relentless here. They don’t knock you flat with drowning guitars, but the texture and layering is all their own, holding you and your attention in check.

• They also manage to get this eastern feel to their sound, like the Stones and The Beatles did. This is one of the few ‘beginning to end’ albums you will encounter. They have great slower songs [such as ‘Closer To You’] were the drums beat rhythmically, the vocals are performed without the need for guitars in the beginning, then the guitars fade in and out in the most longing manner.

• Other songs drive in your head, set you smacking you hands on your knees, or steering wheel if you’re driving. The vocals are ever present, but they’ve mixed them within the musical structure, one wouldn’t exist without the other. And the coolest part is that with each listen, you pick up more and more on the lyrics till you are just screaming them in your head [dig ‘Shine’ for this]. The sound of The Mighty Lemon Drops seems to come down from the ceiling and dance all around you, yet, as I said, in a restrained manner that makes it all the fuller and better.

• With all of this going for them, internal struggles took their toll and the band was disbanded in 1992. The hardest part about being in a band that existed for such a short time is, that unless you were there, you have probably already missed them and their music, unless of course, you take my words to heart and pick up on this disc.

• The Mighty Lemon Drops and this album ‘World Without End,’ is what a guitar band should be. Their style represents an era in musical history without being dated in the least. Wonderful music is just wonderful music...

Track-List in the Comments

More info about The Mighty Lemon Drops

The Pale Fountains "Pacific Street" (1984)

AHEAD OF THE REST BY A LONG MILE

• The Pale Fountains were one of those bands who really should have made it big. Unfortunately, things aren't' as cut and dried as that and despite Virgin ploughing in a reported quarter of a million pounds, the band never did leave their mark on the British pop charts.

• I feel I must have read a review of the album before buying because the cover leaves no clue as to what to expect but, if so, I have no recollection of doing so. Perhaps it's because the initial impact of Pacific Street was so totally unexpected that it remains high up in my estimation. Then again, maybe it's because Pale Fountain's debut is pure class. It is quite simply stunning.

• One of the finest pop albums of the eighties or, indeed, any decade. A swingeing statement for an album that went comparatively ignored but then reviewing is all about personal discretion.

• The driving force behind the band was one our most underrated songwriters, Michael Head. Indeed the NME called him Britain's Greatest Songwriter and featured him on their cover in 1999. Despite this hype and many beautiful record releases in the last 23 years, Michael Head and his various musical projects; the Fountains, Shack and the short-lived Strands, he's never gone on to fame and fortune.

• Still, there's a rich back catalogue to plunder and it started way back in 1983 with this album, Pacific Street. Don't expect 80's synths or funky basslines, put on Pacific Street and you'd think you'd been given a Burt Bacharach CD by mistake. Michael can sure write a mean tune and Pacific Street chock-a-block with them; take the opener "Reach" a headstrong blaster with plenty of guitar. The mood mellows for the next few tracks with the Bondesque Something On My Mind and the wonderfully poignant Southbound Excursion. The Fountains knew when to turn the tempo up though with a couple of real stormers in Start A War and Natural. Highlight for me is the wonderful Crazier¸ complete with cocktail lounge piano and oil drums, exotic and creative.

• The lyrics are witty, emotional, shallow, deep and sometimes all four in the same song (apart from the two instrumentals, of course). Acoustic guitars chime along with trumpets, steel drums, violins with hardly any synthesisers to be heard, until they become the centrepiece of the teenage angst song 'Unless' which, presumably, bases part of the melody on great vocal samples.

• Gone on, buy this CD and chuck a bit of cash Michael's way. You won't regret it.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about The Pale Fountains

Ottoman Empire "Lester Square" (1993)

ONE CLASSIC ALBUM & AND A SHORT-LIVED EMPIRE

• The short-lived Atlanta septet the Ottoman Empire were a sort of Georgia indie supergroup starring guitarist Bob Elsey (formerly of local legends Swimming Pool Q's), bassist Rob Gal (formerly of the jangle pop ironists the Coolies and musical partner of former Swimming Pool Q's singer Anne Richmond Boston), guitarist Mark Harper (ex-Bogues), his brother Clay Harper (later of Jack Logan and Liquor Cabinet) on vocals, and Walter Brewer (formerly of both Southern freak-out specialists Colonel Bruce Hampton and the Aquarium Rescue Unit and the tragedy-touched jazz-pop combo the Jody Grind) on drums, along with violinist Danny Pearl and accordion player Dick Tamber.

• Formed in 1993, the Ottoman Empire released their first album, "Lester Square" (not, one would assume, named after the Monochrome Set's pseudonymous guitarist), later that year on the estimable DB Records. Although the Ottoman Empire's mix of jangle pop, alt-country, and subtle art rock textures (think Electric Light Orchestra, not Emerson Lake and Palmer) was enthusiastically reviewed, sales were minimal and after a follow-up, 1995's "Ottoman Gold", the group splintered.

• Is it just me who love this album? I can't find nearly a tuddle of info about Ottoman Empire anywhere. It sold just over 7. 000 copies on it's release, and still a hidden gem 14 years after its release. I actually got the national radio in Norway to play "Do you know what you like", and was pretty sure that lots of people would start asking for more, but no. It is probably just me who love this gang. But I will make a last attempt to make people aware of this great album. Therefor it should be put out here at C-60. If you like it, take it with you to friends and family, and let the people get to know Ottoman Empire.

• Why I love this album? Well, it's the feeling in the music that gets me. It's genuine and quite happy at times and of course quite melancholic as well. The lyrics is much better than average, some good storytelling here. The mood change often and make this an album I never get tired of. But I'm not sure how to explain any more, just take a listen yourself, and tell me why in the world this band is totally unknown!?

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Ottoman Empire

The Rainmakers "Tornado" (1987)

THE SONS OF THE WILD WEST

• The Rainmakers were a Kansas City, Missouri-based original rock band, fronted by Bob Walkenhorst, which had a small string of hits in the late 1980s in the United States and Europe.

• "Tornado" was the break-through for The Rainmakers in part of Europe. In the States it was a big failure, and nobody noticed what a great album it was. But the europeans and especially Scandinavia, made this a success for The Rainmakers.

• Very well produced, nearly too polished, but the sound was unmistakeable The Rainmakers. After their first album "The Rainmakers" (1986), and the hit "Let my people Go-Go", the band sticked to the formula. Energic roots-rock with lots in common with Creedence Clearwater Revival, particularly "The Lake View Man" and "One More Summer". Bob Walkenhorst have the twang in his voice that you either love or hate. I'm with the last.

• After a tremendous opening in "Snakedance" (This is where the angels and the devils fight, and their choosing up sides tonight), and the vocalist Bob proclaiming that he is the son of the wild, wild west, there is no turning back. What was always good about The Rainmakers was the fun lyrics and the humour in their music. They where never to serious, but still not on the stupid side.

• The rockabilly sound of some of the track from their debutalbumn is gone, and the keyboard is more central in the sound. Maybe the only thing that makes this not as great as their first one. But still, this IS a very good album. One of the highlights in Rainmakers carreer comes with track three. "The Wages of Sin" is one of my all time favourites. The guts, the twisted lyrics, the way it makes me wanna jump in joy everytime I hear that song. This is Rainmakers at their best.

• It's all about love, religion and last man standing. Yiii-haah, check them out!

Buy The Rainmakers album here

Track-List in the Comments

More info about The Rainmakers

The Hooters "One Way Home" (1987)

HOOTERS HOME-RUN

• By the time of release of their 2nd album "One Way Home", The Hooters were already an established chart act, having achieved significant success with the MTV staple "And We Danced", and the corresponding album "Nervous Night". In addition to this, chief songwriters Rob Hyman (Keyboards/Vocals), and Eric Bazilian (Guitar/Vocals), were enjoying the fruits of Cyndi Lauper's success, having written and performed on her breakthrough 1983 album "She's So Unusual".

• Anticipation could not have been greater for this 1987 release, and although "One Way Home" was not supported by any smash singles, it would go on to remain in the U.S charts for a number of months and achieve Gold sales status. Drawing heavily on traditional instruments such as the Melodica, Mandolin, and Accordian, the album blends traditional eclectic Folk and Rock with quite stunning effect. From the nagging insistence of the opening Keyboard flurry and Edge style Lead Guitar on the opener "Satellite", one is taken through a series of brilliantly performed songs, none lacking in energy or originality, and draw comparisons with R.E.M., U2 and Del Amitri at their best.

• Following on from the outstanding "Satellite", the startling quality continues with "Karla With A K", which contains one of the most memorable traditional Celtic Folk intro's I have ever heard, and is a great love song. "Johnny B", "Graveyard Waltz" and "Fighting On The Same Side" continue the momentum unabated and just when one thinks that the quality of writing will start to meander on Side Two, the listener is again pleasantly shocked by "Washington Day", a gargantuan ballad, comparing the vitality of love to the most important day in American history. The song seems to have so much a traditional earthy feel, that one might have thought it had been sung around campfires since Independence Day, so memorable is the song.

• The band would release two more less well received original albums and a live set, and Bazilian and Hyman would go on to write for artists such as Joan Osborne, and would leave the world with this album as something worth cherishing. Almost full marks, except for the slightly clumsy Reggae on the title track "One Way Home".

• Buy, borrow, or steal, it's your choice, but don't let it pass you by.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about The Hooters

Low "I Could Live in Hope" (1994)

HANGING BY A THREAD OF HOPE

• Low is an American indie rock group from Duluth, Minnesota. The group was formed in 1993, by Alan Sparhawk (guitar and vocals), Mimi Parker (drums and vocals) and original bassist John Nichols (bass guitar).

• "I Could Live in Hope" embodies hopelessness, loneliness, and everything in everyday life that just brings people down. It's simple in its delivery--snare, crash, bass, guitar--but that makes the messages much more lucid. There is a beauty to the depression, like a lone person taking a nap in a meadow in the dead of a winter night. The harmonies of Sparhawk and Parker choke under the weight of the sparse music, submitting themselves to the music.

• There is a sense of hope that the writers will be able to escape their afflictions, hence the title, but it's far off at the end of a tunnel where no light can be seen. They know they can escape the pain, but they don't necessarily know how to escape it or even desire escape.

• The album is hard to write about creatively, because it's simply a set of solid, slow dirges. They're delicately energetic from time to time, and occasionally really beautiful.

• I played it on the crappy CD player at my office. One I'm working together with (who's fairly open-minded about music for someone who listens primarily to Nickelback, Linkin Park, and Top 40 rap) said it sounded almost like "hotel music," until he heard "Rope" ("rope - you're gonna need more -don't ask me to kick any chairs out from under you") which sketched him out. Eventually I could explain to him that Low's music, unlike Muzak, forces itself into dark territory more often than not, even though it does soothe.

• We have to wonder whether the members of Low do live in hope. With grim announcements, drawn out over tens of seconds, like "It works much better if I let it drag me around," or "She used to let me cut her hair," the question takes on key significance in thinking about them as a band. They seem to be some of the most sincere people I can imagine, so in turn how they feel, which their music may accurately represent, sometimes seems important.

• The rest of the time, I don't pretend to be able to penetrate the stylistic oddities of this album, and it calms me just fine. It isn't lyrically heavy -- at most solemn, but airy enough that nothing seems pretentious at all -- so it's a deep, fairly hypnotic listen.

• Words, from which Low are detached enough to name a song about them collectively, cannot do this album justice. Usually that phrase is intended as a clue that whatever's being described is sublime and fantastic, a prominent work of art. I Could Live In Hope might be such things, but primarily it's just best when listened to, not digested later.

• By the way, what the hell's that album cover about?

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Low

Lime Spiders "Volatile" (1988)

SECOND TO CAVE BUT BETTER THAN MOST

• Not quite as powerful and edgy as "The Cave Comes Alive" (which remains for me the greatest Spiders moment). On average the songs here are slower and don't pack as ginormous a punch as "Cave..".

• Some upbeat punky tracks such as "Main Attraction," "Deaf Dumb and Blind" and "Strange Kind Of Love" lift Volatile's tempo, and it is afterall the Spiders we're talking about. But for a perfectly measured dose of the garage grunge experience that was the Lime Spiders I go for "Cave..." over "Volatile" every time. But remember, the second best Lime Spiders are ten times better than most of the music out there!!

• "Volatile" is a great album for keen Spiders fans who crave more Spiders, but it's probably not as good a first-timer's intro to this awesome band as "Cave...".

Track-List in the Comments

Some more info about Lime Spiders

Alternative Xmas - Day 2

PAUL REVERE & THE RAIDERS "Rain, Sleet, Snow"

• Paul Revere & the Raiders is an American rock band that saw enormous mainstream success in the 1960s, best-known for hits like "Indian Reservation (The Lament Of The Cherokee Reservation Indian)". The group, initially located in Boise, Idaho, started as an instrumental rock outfit led by organist Paul Revere (legal name Paul Revere, born January 7, 1938).

• They released a christmas album so early as September in the year of 67'. The album, "Christmas present...and past" was one of the best Xmas-records ever, and the best one from the album is the one we put out on our advent-calendar today. Here is "Rain, Sleet, Snow"!

More info about Paul Revere & The Raiders

Lime Spiders "Slave Girl EP" (1985)

TAKE A TRIP BACK TO THE STONEAGE

• Lime Spiders were an Australian post-punk unit resurrecting the trashier elements of '60s garage and psychedelic rock with willful abandon. Vocalist Mick Blood formed the band in the early '80s with guitarist Gerald Corben, bassist Tony Bambach and drummer Ricky Lawson. The band recorded two singles during 1983 (released on the Slave Girl EP two years later) and signed to Virgin Records.

• This Mini-Lp contains the first two singles : 25th Hour - double 7" - Slave Girl / Beyond The Fringe. Especially "Slave Girl" have become a garagerock-classic and can still be heard quite often on alternative radiostations.

• All in all one hell of an EP by one of the toughest guys in class.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Lime Spiders

The Trilobites "I Can't Wait For The Summer To End" (1988)

GET AWAY FROM THE EVIL BEACH

• A fine five-track EP, or should I say a five-track EP plus two bonus-tracks. These seven hard-hitting punk-pop songs all feature fine production (maybe even a tad over-produced?) and excellent song writing.

• Track 1, the title track "I Can't Wait For Summer To End" is a cynical ode of hatred for Sydney's beach culture: "The carpark at Wanda is choked with exhaust and the smell of the sea, I know that it's the one place in the world that I don't wanna be..." Quite a poppy song for The Trilobites, it starts with mock Hawaii Five O style drumming before launching into a dreamy wash of guitars, and it's back to solid guitar fuzz in the chorus.

• Track 2, "Tall Poppies", laments the local tradition for cutting down success stories: "nobody knows you could work for years, forever suck their rears, to be destroyed for their peers..." and has a much more rugged sound, relying on the barrage of guitars to carry the song.

• From there on to Side Two, a side of three quite political songs. First track, "Why Can't I Remember", is a stand out. Dalton's voice angrily & bitterly soars over the rising throb & buzz of guitar, which abates into a dreamscape while he sadly tells the tale of a drunk driving hit-n-run accident occurring on 11 November 1975, the same infamous day in Australian politics when the democratically elected Whitlam government was dismissed by the Queen's rep, the governor-general, and the entire nation stood still. The song retraces the rise of Whitlam: "I remember the spirit of '72 and the cork platform shoe and the box screaming that it was time" ...and the fall of Whitlam: "as Gough stands, maintaining the rage from the steps". Dalton's voice then opines, in the words of the drunk driver, "why can't I remember 1975, 11th of November?"

• "Critical Mass" belts along and maintains the political angst in a tight grind of guitar fuzz. The words of the song say it all: "some pensioner's seeking her nourishment from a can meant for a pet, a new home loan has become more of a financial Russian roulette... who'll be the first against the wall when the revolution comes?... South American dictators punish their people for 'Pineapple Face', and transmissions of Dynasty are being beamed out right now into deepest space... It's reaching critical mass..."

• Track five, "All Hail The New Right", deserved billing as it's up there with the finest Trilobites stuff. Again unashamedly political, with an infectious foot-tapping beat Dalton rails against the rise of hate politics (that led on to Hansonism): "what has started as a trickle has now become a torrent, tens of thousands of wonderful people are standing on a beach", a subtle inference of The Cure's Killing An Arab to illustrate the racist pulse beating within the far-right. "C'mon baby, join the New Right, never shed this feeling, all you need is tunnel vision and TLC, we're gonna set the world on fire with a boy-and-girl desire... All hail the New Right!" Amazing that this incisive view was being sung in Oz in 1988, the Bicentennial year, and nobody seemed to pick up on it.

• In this version of the EP, two bonus-song from two 7 inches are included. "Venus in Leather", their debut-single from 1985 and the B-side of the 1986 7' inch "American TV" called "Legacy of Morons".

• In all a very sharp, very intelligent and very hard-hitting pop-punk record from The Trilobites. A good intro for curious unaccustomed listeners.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about The Trilobites

Alternative Xmas - Day 1

PLAN 9 - "Merry Christmas"

• Until the 24th of December, every day at C-60, we will celebrate in our own way that this is the season to be jolly. A new song every day in what we can call our own little avdent calendar. The tunes will not be your average sweet christmas song, but it will be about christmas one way or the other.

• We start up with one of my all time xmas favourites - Plan 9 who is an American band from Rhode Island formed in 1979, with several releases on Midnight Records and Enigma Records. In 1984 they released a christmas 45'er. The B-side was an ok version of "White Christmas" and the A-side was the ultimate garage version of Xmas. "Merry Christmas" was the jolly title. Enjoy!

More info about Plan 9

Mercury Rev "Deserter's Songs" (1998)

THE PLANET OF MERCURY

• Mercury Rev are an American rock music group, formed in the late 1980s in Buffalo, New York.

• In the UK, NME Magazine made "Deserter's Songs" their Album of the Year. Donahue's earnest, high-pitched vocals and concentration on relatively concise, melodic songs gave the band's material an entirely new feel and much increased popularity. Deserter's Songs spawned three UK top 40 singles.

• "Deserter’s Songs" is not your typical album of pop songs. It’s more like a sequence of mood pieces that form a developing emotional narrative. The singer has a distinctive voice, a gentle croaky falsetto that is slightly out of key, like a cross between Ian Curtis and Tiny Tim. It might sound awful to some listeners, but it has a fragile quality that suits the general mood of confessional intimacy.

• The lyrics are poetic and sometimes surreal, forming a diary of reminiscence that tries to recapture the intensity of faded memories. The music also creates a nostalgic atmosphere, relying heavily on mellotron and synthesized strings for ambient texture. A range of acoustic instruments, including sax, horns, flute and bow-saw, add life and color. Basically it has an ‘easy listening’ feel that incorporates more upbeat elements of jazz, pop, and folk.

• The album opens with the melancholic languor of the song Holes, and gradually evolves towards a folky hoedown with the final track Delta Sun Bottleneck Stomp. In between there is gentle ballad with a tango feel (Tonite It Shows), some ethereal whimsy (Endlessly), a dirgelike radio friendly song (Opus 40), a feel good jazzy number with cool sax and guitar (Hudson Line), a catchy radio friendly song (Goddess on a Hiway), a slowly building psychedelic track with a funky drum beat (The Funny Bird), and an ambient organ and bow saw number (Pick Up If You’re There).

• ‘Deserter’s Songs’ is seductive and melancholic, but ultimately life-affirming. It would be a classic if it weren’t for the tone of blandness that hovers over the album. The music is sometimes too laid back - interesting maybe, but a bit lifeless. Even so, it’s a strong album as a whole - a unique creative work with some mesmerizing and enjoyable tracks.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Mercury Rev

Mono Men "Stop Draggin Me Down" (1990)

THE MONO SOUND

• The Mono Men were an American band, based in Bellingham, Washington. The band rose up from the ashes of another Washington band, The Roofdogs. John Mortensen came from the Dehumanizers and Game for Vultures before joining the Mono Men.

• Their sound contained elements of grunge (distortion-heavy guitars, sneering vocals), but The Mono Men filtered these through a mimicry of 1960s Washington proto-punk, garage rock bands such as The Sonics.

• The debut-album is a bit grim to be a classic, but the dark sound is also something that gives the album a special sound. The next albums by Mono Men was a lot brighter and more pop-oriented. They pay their tribute to the 60's garage-scene, and especially The Sonics. The title track "Stop draggin me down" could have been Sonic anno 1965.

• I love the sound of this album, and even if some of the stuff Mono Men put out later was more enjoyable, this is where they really made tough garagerock.

Track-List in the Comments

More info about Mono Men

A great Mix Tape of Garage Rock incl. Mono Men here