Living With War

To our troops who we don't think of enough.

Who'll Stop The Rain (Live) - CCR
Living With War - Neil Young

Black Snake Moan

I got to see a sneak preview of the new movie "Black Snake Moan" last night (thanks to HoJoToGo). While the movie itself is pretty fucked up, it has easily the best soundtrack to any big movie that I can think of in a really long time. I enjoyed the movie, but thought that there were some parts of it that weren't really tied together too well, and there are a few scenes that would probably offend those who tend to be offended. The underlying issues of the movie are also pretty intense (racism, misogyny, S&M, etc.) but they still manage to get a few nervous laughs out of the audience. There is a scene where Lazarus (Samuel L. Jackson) returns to play at the juke joint for the first time in a while, and it is awesome. The band, as you can see above is Kenny Brown on slide guitar and Cedric Burnside on drums. That's RL Burnside's adopted son and his grandson, not to mention the lineup of his last band. The movie also has Samuel L. playing solo throughout, and for an actor, he's not a half-bad blues singer. For fans of Fat Possum style blues, this movie is a must see. Redemption aint all that bad. Oh, and someone should also tell Wilbon's boy Justin that he shouldnt act.

Kenny Brown - France Chance

Whiskeytown Live At Slims, Part 2

Linked below is part 2 of the February 6, 1998 Whiskeytown set from Slims in San Francisco. Part 1 was posted just over a week ago.

Whiskeytown Live at Slims, Part 2

Enjoy

iPod on Random

On this week's version of iPod on random, I figured I'd just run all the Springsteen on my iPod through the mill.

My Hometown - Special Night Bootleg from the Born In The U.S.A. tour
Downbound Train - Born In The U.S.A.
Sherry Darling (Outtake) - American Madness: The Darkness On The Edge Of Town Outtakes
Prove It All Night - Giants Stadium 7/27/03
This Land Is Your Land - Coliseum Night - Nassau Coliseum on The River tour.
The Ties That Bind (Outtake) - A Tear Must Fall (The River Outtakes)
Lost In The Flood - Live In New York City
Sad Eyes - Love, Tears & Mystery (disc 10) - from the Devils & Dust tour. On Piano
Your Missing - Cincinnati 2002 Rising Tour
Evacuation Of The West- A Tear Must Fall
The Promise - 18 Tracks (One of the all time best unreleased songs)

Lets Go To Church

The HBBB would like to start another Sunday tradition. Every Sunday, we'll post some songs about the lord, or just with religion as a central theme.
Come On People, Let's Go To Church (non-denominational of course...):

The Soul Stirrers - Lead Me Jesus
The Soul Stirrers - Jesus Be A Fence Around Me
Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins - Born Secular
Preacher & the Saints - Jesus Rhapsody Part 1
Reverend Charlie Jackson - Fix It Jesus
Scott H. Biram - Only Jesus

Bjork, Vespertine

While I never got too into Bjork, everything i have heard I have enjoyed, though I don't think I would enjoy it all at the same time (does that make any sense?). Mind you I have also not heard that much Bjork so really I have nothing to base the last part of the first sentence on. Vespertine is one of two Bjork albums I possess and it's a good one. It's lots of futuristic, Flaming Lips-ish & Kid A like sounds with more crackels and pops to it and of course, Bjork's voice. A sound that as far as I know has never been repeated.

I've noticed over the last several years that Bjork has released a lot of material, or seems to have. She has allowed her fans entry into her live recordings and other such tidbits that only true fans crave. She's also democratic, letting her listeners pick tracklistings. Perhaps Bjork is the people's weird icelandic, duck wearing, songstress. But then again who isn't?

Aurora - Bjork

Dylan Covers

By Special Request:

Absolutely Sweet Marie (live) - Jason & The Scorchers

No Way

From today's New York Times. Link here.

Dylan Covers

Don't Thin Twice It's Allright - Bill Morrissey
Blind Willie McTell - Rick Danko
Everything Is Broken - Neil Young
The Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll - Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
Abandoned Love - Chuck Prophet

Young Gifted And Black (Happy Birthday Nina Simone)

Here's a pinch hit from Stuben:

Hendo pointed out to me that it's Nina's birthday, and since I've been grooving (yes grooving) to the reissue of her 1967 record Silk and Soul, I figured why not post some quick props to one of the most inimitable and passionate voices that has ever been commited to wax.

Nina (born Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933–April 21, 2003) was, of course, a tremendously gifted vocalist, songwriter and civil rights activist, but unlike many other singers of her generation, her reach far exceeded those of any of her contemporaries. As a credit to her legacy, she has influenced artists as diverse as Fiona Apple, Alicia Keys, Jeff Buckley (who covered "Lilac Wine" live -- see Mystery White Boy), Greg Dulli ("Black Is The Color Of My True Love's Hair" from the Twilight Singers record She Loves You) and Antony of "the Johnsons" fame. I always found it strange that these guys (particularly Buckley and Antony) managed to nail her breathy delivery and distinctive tremolo more effectively than any female artists.

Happy Birthday to the High Priestess of Soul, and anyone who has any interesting covers/tributes feel free to post:

Nina Simone - Come Ye

Also, happy birthday eliza.

Not That Damn U2 Song Again"

Apparently some staffers on the Obama 2008 campaign are hip to the Hendo Bendo.

Last week I called out Senator Obama's team of advisors for playing U2's "City Of Blinding Lights" before their candidate walked onstage to officially announce his run. Sure, nothing screams "one world" like Bono, but I knew they could do better.

Here's an excerpt of a play-by-play description of Obama's South Carolina debut appearance over the weekend, from Slate's political correspondent John Dickerson (find the full article here):

Obama arrived beneath an enormous American flag and swam about 30 yards
through the pawing crowd to the stage in the middle of the hall. A medley of
Bruce Springsteen songs had been playing, but upon the candidate's arrival the
music quickly switched to Aretha Franklin's "Think."

Bruce into Aretha?!!! Now THAT'S the kind of love I'm talking about.

Unfortunately Slate's recap doesn't offer more details than just "a medley of Bruce Springsteen songs," but you can bet yer asses "Born To Run" made it's way into the mix.

Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band - "Born To Run" [Live at Hammersmith Odeon, London '75]

Aretha Franklin - "Think" [Aretha Now]

Sound Opinions

While I was in the NYC area last weekend, I caught a show on Sunday afternon on the fantastic WFUV, called Sound Opinions. Sound Opinions is a show based out of Chicago, and is hosted by music critics Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot. The show I happened to hear was the Valentine's Show, and as their special guests, they had Robbie Fulks and his wife performing in front of a live audience. I gotta say it was one of the cooler things I had heard on the radio in a while. Here is a link where you can listen to a podcast of that particular show. Keep an ear out for Robbie's cover of the Mudhoney classic, "If I Think", it needs to be heard to be believed.

Here's an extra one from Robbie from a Bloodshot Records compilation:
Robbie Fulks - Bloodshot's Turning Five

Songs for Presidents, No's. 25, 35-43

#25 WILLIAM MCKINLEY
First up is an old Charlie Poole song about William McKinley's assasination, when an anarchist stuck a bullet in the man up in Buffalo and his wife (or so the lyric goes) had to book it up to Buffalo to bid farewell to her dying groom.

Charlie Poole - "White House Blues"

#35 JOHN FITZGERALD KENNEDY
Sixty-some-odd years later, another President was struck down by a bullet - this time in Dallas. (What's up with Presidents being assassinated in shitty American cities?). Roger McGuinn & co. lamented their fallen leader with an update of this traditional folk song:

The Byrds - "He Was A Friend Of Mine"

#36 LYNDON BAINES JOHNSON
As we escalate another quagmire war, forcing down a military fix when a diplomatic negotiation better serves the situation, let's pay tribute to "Hey, Hey, LBJ, How Many Kids Did You Kill Today?" No more wars like this please.

MC5 - "The Human Being Lawnmover"

#37 & #38 RICHARD MILHOUSE NIXON & GERALD RUDOLPH FORD
No assassinations here in the explicit sense, but in the way of decaying morality and an assassination of checks & balances, the rule of law & of general human deceny. Hunter Thompson wanted Bobby Kennedy's campaign slogan to be "Richard Nixon represents the dark side of the American Dream," and indeed after '68 and '72, that dark side has been spinning into the wool that now covers our eyes.

With Nixon out & Ford in, James Brown penned a song to help heal the nation's wound, to get us out with old & in with the new. In 1981, Chrissy Hynde would write a song that surely had nothing whatsoever to do with Tricky Dick, but the lyrics are as spot-on as could be.

James Brown - "Funky President (People It's Bad)"

The Pretenders - "Bad Boys Get Spanked"

#39 JIMMY JAMES EARL CARTER
Was he actually a real president? I can't answer that, but I am sure that everyday he sat in his Oval swivelchair he was longing to be back there, among the cats and dogs, and the pigs and the goats...

The Kinks - "Animal Farm"

#40 RONALD WILSON REAGAN
A rollin' country ballad from the Drive By Truckers about how hard everyday life can get when sons 'a bitches like Reagan get voted in to man the ship.

Drive By Truckers - "Putting People On The Moon"

#41 & #43 GEORGE HERBERT WALKER BUSH & GEORGE WALKER BUSH
During Mission of Burma's 20 year sabbatical, singer/guitar-man Roger Miller penned a song about the Bush 41 invasion of Iraq, drawing the proverbial lines in the sand to implicate the U.S. government's role in establish Saddam The Dictator, only to later knock him down. When MoB reformed in 2002, at the height of the Bush 43's pre-Iraq 2 fear-mongering/intel fixing, they recorded Roger's song for their ONoffON LP, complete with a morbidly appropriate children's chorus to counterbalance the world-weariness behind the lyric.

Here's a "dub" remix from a 2003 EP, which centers more around the children's vocals more than the album version.. because really it is a family affair, isn't it?

Mission Of Burma - "Wounded World" [Dub Remix, Four Hands EP]

#42 WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON
In the latter part of the 20th century, Bill Clinton was the Hurdy Gurdy Man. 'Nuff said.

Histories of ages past
Unenlightened shadows cast
Down through all eternity
The crying of humanity.
'Tis then when the Hurdy Gurdy Man
Comes singing songs of love

Here's a Hurdy Gurdy cover, courtesy of the Butthole Surfers.

The Butthole Surfers - Hurdy Gurdy Man

#43 GEORGE WALKER BUSH
Presidents/Presidents' Day enthusiasts will tell you it's about the office, not the man. Today marks our 7th holiday with Junior: 7 down, 1 to go. On his second to final holiday, 2 American soldiers were killed and 17 injured when a suicide bomber rammed his truck into an American base in Iraq. Two other suicide bombers tore though an open-air market in downtown Baghdad today, killing over 60 people and injuring over a hundred others. The bombings happened less than 15 minutes after American troops patrolling the area did a security check on the market, as part of the Baghdad security crackdown behind George Bush's Surge.

Presidents are called upon to serve many roles - leaders, Commander-in-Chiefs, policy-makers, philosophers, orators, diplomats, negotiators, and even & especially politicians. In 2007 we're left with a president who's a politican first and a politican last, who's abandoned any responsibility to the dignified ideas we've ever had of "the Office" that we celebrate today. (And of course it was the promise of restoring this responsibility that predicated his original White House bid in the first place).

Now we need a leader to step up to re-restore some virtue of responsibility and to clean up the mess... before the whole shithouse goes up in flames.

Whomever you might be, Sir or Madam, we welcome you.

Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - "Counting Down The Hours"

News Of The World: A Wrap-Up Of The Week That Was

Sadly, David Fricke did not win a Grammy this week, but Ike Turner, Bob Dylan and Rick Rubin did. The High Llamas & Lucinda Williams put out new records, and Neil Young is streaming two songs from his new Live 1971 album on his Myspace.

Have Mercy, the new LP from those once-upon-a-timers The Mooney Suzuki, is caught in legal limbo after the dissolution of the label they just signed to, V2. Which may be a good thing, according to the vapid suckness of these leaked tracks posted on the I Rock Cleveland blog. The White Stripes, another band affected by the V2 breakup from record label vultures Sheridan Square, are reportedly signing to Warner Brothers (and with them The Raconteurs, we imagine, who released their debut on JW's Third Man imprint last year).

The White Stripes also confirmed for this June's Bonnaroo, along with Gillian Welch, Richard Thompson, Ween and Tool, as well as predictables Ben Harper, The Flaming Lips and yes, The Police, the latter of whom reunited last week and are to embark on a world tour that promises to net them $175 million. In a non-typical move, Sting has agreed to split up those profits in an equal three-way, according to Page Six. In non-Sting news, a California judge ruled on Friday that the Phil Spector murder trial will be televised, Elliott Smith fans get a new double discer in May, and the House did something, while the Senate did nothing.

On the blogs, Captains Dead has some live soundboards from The Twilight Singers (Nov '06), Hüsker Dü (1987), and a barely listenable taped radio broadcast from Pavement in 1989. A new Nine Inch Nails leak is making the rounds, and a slew of early Fugazi demos are up for grabs over at Runout Groove. PureMania has a kickass 7" posted from the modern-day Buzzcock-worthy The Briefs, as well as some catalogue from The Pagans & The Modernettes. Idolator's got the Travelin' Whilbury's, and NPR (!) has the last night of The Arcade Fire's 5-night residency at a NYC church available here. Speaking of The Arcade Fire, they'll be performing on this Saturday's SNL, hosted by Rainn Wilson, aka Dwight from "The Office"/sketchball mortician-in-training from "Six Feet Under," and speaking of NPR, Terry Gross spent her Valentine's Day hilariously interviewing John Waters about a new love song comp he's putting out, A Date With John Waters, again demonstrating Terry's superhero ability to cut her chops in the most bizzare interview scenarios her producers can dream up.

iPod on Random

San Antonio Rose, Patsy Cline, The Definitive Collection
Hand In Hand, Elvis Costello & The Attractions, This Year's Model
Let The Duchess Know, Al Kooper, Easy Does It
Tram #7 To Heaven, Jens Lekman, When I Said I Want...
Lazy, Suede, Singles
Opus 17, Dustin O'Halloran, Marie Antoinette Soundtrack
Downtown, Tegan & Sara, So Jealous
Return The Gift, Gang Of Four, Entertainment!
The Life Of Riley, The Lightning Seeds, The Best...Album In The World...Ever!
Doris DayTheEarthStoodStill, Future Bible Heroes, Eternal Youth

Mojo Baby

The newest issue of Mojo features an article about Sgt. Peppers and comes with a CD of various artists covering the whole album. Mojo is pretty on top of this as they have recently given away a free disc of Revolver covers (Uncut recently did one of Highway 61). Needless to say for a free disc attached to an excellent magazine it is worth the price of importation. Most of the artists, I must confess, I have never heard or heard of but these records are a fun and fresh take on amazing albums. Below are two samples from the compilation.

Also for a good time check out Mojo's message boards. They have a ton of interesting topic within their forums and you get a British point of view from the Mojo readership which we rarely are privy to. Some of my favorite topics regarded "bands that represent a city," a store in the U.K called the vinyl solution that specialized in psych albums, "how does one approach GBV," "Could you date someone that doesn't like soul music?", and clever games revolving around music and album covers - like creating a concept album from existing songs. There's hundreds of these pages. So it's geeky, what of it?

Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds - Circulus
Lovely Rita - David Cloud And The Gospel Of Power

Whiskeytown Live At Slims, part 1

Whiskeytown, the volatile alt-country band, broke up way too soon. I.e. before I could ever see them live. And it's unfortunate as they seemed to have put on a pretty decent live show. Some bands that you connect with on disc just can't pull it off live and I unfairly lumped Whiskeytown in that ghetto. Live at Slims works to prove that assumption wrong.

Here is part 1 of the show. Enjoy.

Whiskeytown at Slims, San Francisco, CA 2/06/1998 Part 1.

New Rules

Bill Maher and his show, Real Time, are back on HBO. Thank God. Last night's New Rules were great especially the one about Joe Biden. For those who missed it the rule is reproduced here courtesy of the HuffingtonPost.

Whether you agree with Maher or not, he's hilarious and if you do agree with him, at least part or most of the time, he is as refreshing as they come these days.

Lone Justice, Shelter

If Lone Justice had an obituary, the lead off line would read something like this, "Lone Justice was a band that was never able to live up to the hype that got heeped upon them by critics, fans and record labels alike. That hype eventually did them in, though not as quickly as one would have predicted and only after they had released two memorable albums.

Lone Justice released two albums in the 1980's and a comprehensive comp. The band was led by Maria McKee and they were predominantly a cowpunk/rockabilly/alt-country outfit though by their second release those sounds had mellowed out just a bit in favor of more pop. That change of genre and styling can be a great way to enlarge your audience or lose the one's you already had and in Lone Justice's case it was the latter.

Lone Justice's second album, Shelter (1996), which would also be their last, was produced by Jimmy Iovine (Tom Petty, U2, Interscope Records), Little Steven (who needs no introduction here) and the band. Van Zandt, besides helming the board, penned a few of Shelter's tracks with the band including the lead off track, I Found Love. Shelter's last track, Dixie Storms, is eprhaps their most well known. It sounds a little like Tom Petty's Southern Accents with a more rootsier Stevie Nicks singing.

Dylan Covers

Queen Jane Approximately - Mojave 3
Sweetheart Like You - Guy Davis
I'll Keep It With Mine - Richard and Linda Thompson
She Belongs To Me - John Doe
Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands - Robyn Hitchcock

Matt Groening

Today is Matt Groening's birthday. I think we should celebrate it as a national holiday. The Simpsons is quite possibly the greatest American invention of the last 30 years. Granted, the last few years may not have been amazing, but still. Cut a guy some slack, he produced some of the greatest moments ever broadcast on tv. I still base my evening schedules around when the Simpsons reruns air, and I probably will for the next 50 years too.
Here's a list of some of the musicians/bands that appeared on the show:
Tony Bennett, Ringo Starr, Michael Jackson (Yes it really was him), Aerosmith, Sting, Spinal Tap, Tom Jones, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Barry White, David Crosby, George Harrison, The Ramones, James Brown, Robert Goulet, James Taylor, Tito Puente, Paul & Linda McCartney, Paul Anka, Cypress Hill, Peter Frampton, Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Hank Williams, Jr, U2, The Moody Blues, Cyndi Lauper, Dolly Parton, Elton John, The B-52's , NRBQ, Britney Spears, The Who, R.E.M., N'Sync, Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger, Lenny Kravitz, Tom Petty, Keith Richards, Brian Setzer, Baha Men, Little Richard, Blink 182, "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Byrne, Jackson Browne, Phish, The White Stripes.

I know there's more than that, but seriously people, how many other major tv shows do you know that have had The Ramones, Elivs Costello, The Who, The Stones, Little Richard, NRBQ, and George Harrison. He curated an All Tomorrows Parties Festival, and he appeared in the Devil And Daniel Johnston when he went to one of shows.Quite simply, the man is the BSE.

Best of Both Worlds right there folks.

Will You Be My Valentine?

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Even though this is a stupid holiday card excuse to make money, its the one time of year that even the toughest thug can feel comfotable listening to love songs. Here's a collection of songs gathered by us here at HBBB for you to listen to with your loved ones.

Bobby Bare Jr. - Valentine
Steve Earle - Valentine's Day
Steve Earle w/ Lucinda Williams - You're Still Standing There
All Girl Summer Fun Band - Cutie Pie
Dwight Yoakam - Tired Of Waiting For You
Dwight Yoakam - Claudette
Tegan & Sara - Take Me Anywhere
The Hold Steady - You Can Make Him Like You
Johnny Burnette - You're Sixteen - You're Beautiful (And Your Mine)
Buck Owens & His Buckaroos - Fallin For You
The Supersuckers - Hungover Together
The Buzzcocks - Love You More
The Cool Jerks - You Really Got A Hold On Me
Holly Golightly - My Love Is
The Damned - Love Song
The Troggs - I Want You
Daniel Johnston - Love Will See You Through
Aretha Franklin - I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You)
The Silver Jews - Honk If You're Lonely
Django Reinhardt - Sweet Sue, Just You
Buddy Holly - Words Of Love
Sam Cooke - Cupid [Live at the Cotton Club]
Roky Erikson - Starry Eyes

Happy Vadge Day!!

All Hail The Queen

West is an album to scare St. Valentine right out of his red and pink boxer shorts:

West ain't Car Wheels On A Gravel Road, but not too many records are, not even any of the other albums made by its creator, Lucinda Williams. Produced by Hal Wilner, West, is Williams eighth album in almost thirty years and finds the singer-sufferer-songwriter digging back into the material that has made her a darling of not only critics and alt-country fans but people that like to come across words and characters that are not normally captured in a song but usually are found within a short story.

The album takes a listener up and down, high and low, but don't be fooled because if West is a roller coaster it is mostly heading South and fast so don't let anyone on line tell you otherwise, not even Williams who on the title track tells her man to head out West because "who knows what the future holds or where the cards may fall." Her optimism, as sincere as it may be, is not to be beleived if the rest of West is to be factored in.

From discussing traveling plans and desires, Williams moves on to other, more carnal solitications. The singer, on Unsuffer Me starts off sounding as if she's that woman, at the bar, who with too much drink begins coming on to a guy she has only just met. By the song's conclusion, either the guy didn't mind her advances and they know each other a bit better or Williams (and her voice) got used to all that alcohol, maybe even sobering up a bit.

The quick fix of Unsuffer Me may not be enough for the narrator and on Everything Has Changed, Williams is once again searching for her joy (as on CWGR). Without much fanfare, the songstress discovers you cannot always find what you have lost nor most heartbreakingly what you most need. This is Williams' signature as of late.

West, besides displaying the strongest rasp Williams has ever laid down on tape also displays Williams uncanny and growing ability to write about men and women who find themselves in relationships. Though she ends up telling the man in Come On to fuck off there was obviously a good reason for her to do so and the Crazy Horse-ish melody and tempo makes the song all the more interesting. Williams as a few men must know can really give a guy a good shellacking when she feels like it.

The song Where Is My Love? could have been answered by Come On but even so it's a keeper and worth the gate price. Set to a slow and drifting melody with a simple drum patter, Williams searches the South for her man (you knew we weren't really heading West), painting lucid images at every stop of textbook fairytale romance. Aided by violin, smokey and drawn out vocals and the cracks and turns of Williams' voice, the singer takes a simple sentence or stanza and make it gutwrenching. "Is My Love In Tupelo, Whispering Down The Blues?" is just such a line and makes one think that perhaps Lucinda can't keep a love for herself but she sure as hell can record the sound of it.

As an avid listener and fan of Lucinda Williams you can't really help but hope Williams doesn't ever find what she has been searching for all these years. For if she got her wish and found her special someone what then would compel her to keep writing and what would tempt that voice to breath into a microphone? That's a harsh thought to conjure up out of one's skull but maybe you and her could forgive me this one time since it was only produced out of it's own kind of love.

West is not the sequal to Car Wheels that many crave and unfairly expect. Lucinda Williams is smart to stay clear of such territory as matching the achievement of that album would be near impossible. Even so, Williams' new album takes the style of songs featured on her post Car Wheel albums and brings it up to a new level. The songs are mostly sad and the narrator is one we feel sorry for but all in all it is a strong album and one that should not be tossed aside lightly. On this Valentine's Day, here's hoping Williams is happy, but please don't get too used to the feeling.

Where Is My Love

We Will Never Agree On Anything As We Agree On...

I think it's a pretty safe assumption that all of here at HBBB like Tom Waits. Now, with a back catalogue as impressive and extensive as TW's is, there is sure to be some descrepancies as to our favorite albums. I pose the question to all of you.....What is your favorite Tom Waits album, and why??

Jarv Day Four, Touchdown, Present Day

Apologies for the delayed wrap-up for the week 'o Jarv, but cherubic duty takes prioirty. The finale as planned is to offer up a full serving of Jarvis's new LP, The Jarvis Cocker Album, set to be released stateside by Rough Trade on April 3rd.


Jarvis finds the 43 year-old Monsieur Cocker in exceptionally usual form - shameless wit, jingly jangful popness & the usual nasal-yet-friendly vocals. Probably the most striking addition in this batch of Jarv's art is the emotional state he embeds the album in. In simple terms, it sounds like the world we're living in, full of stormy weather, declining empires and half-hearted optimism. There's somberness here for sure, but it's the kind of somber dread you feel everyday when you turn on your TV and start wondering what all this shit means (if anything), and then shut it off and crack on the headphones & a beer.

On the closing track, the cheeky, why-the-fuck-not dance popper "Running The World," Jarv creeps out the best lyric thus far of 2007:

If you thought things have changed, friend you'd better think again.
Bluntly put, in the fewest of words, cunts are still running the world.

Speaking of which, I noticed last night that Barack Obama - perhaps the only non-cunt with a decent chance of running the world - kicked off his campaign this weekend with of all things a fucking U2 SONG ("City Of Blinding Lights," for the scorekeepers among us). I'm far from an Obama knocker (in fact, I'm giddy in love), but I know his advisors can do better than U-fucking-2.

In the words of Beck Hansen, "What is this, a fucking U2 concert?"

To wit, Jarvis.

Jarvis Cocker - The Jarvis Cocker Album [zip, 67 mb]

Hendo bonus track:

The Wyrd Sisters - "This Is The Night" [Jarv, Steve Mackey (Pulp) Johnny Greenwood & Phil Selway (Radiohead) & more, as featured in Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire]

I Got The Monday Blues

Mondays suck. We all know this. But Mondays can become slightly more bearable with some good tunes. Unfortunately, I don't have any of those to offer, but here are some lukewarm ones. I reccomend listenting to these songs, then watching a timeless classic such as Ghost Dad. Enjoy.

Wild Billy Childish & The Musicians Of The British Empire - Joe Strummer's Grave
Shakin' Joe Woods - Fat Bacon
Jack McDuff - Hunk O' Funk
Brian Glaze - Don't Believe In Love
John Fahey - How Green Was My Valley
Miss Alex White And The Red Orchestra - In A Hole

Reggae

If you listen to reggae music often enough but none of your friends do, you get to feeling like you have a deep dark secret you can't tell anyone about. Like having a crush on your friend's girlfriend or their sister (or brother). I got to say I am fortunate to have a few compadres who enjoy the sounds of dub, but sadly none of them live in the same city as me so we can't get together often and check out the reggae shops (Jammy's for one) or spin some tracks.

So as my reggae collection grows so does my secret. When asked by a friend what I've been listening to lately, I lie. First I think of what I actually have been listening to and then then I think of something that is conceivable that I could be listening to and if enough time hasn't passed between the asking of the question and my fabled albums of choice I spit them out, hoping no one as noticed my doubt.

Seriously, it ain't that bad at all. I don't really think anyone I know actually cares whether or not I listen to reggae. It was just a funny thought I had.

Reggae Splash: Gregory Isaacs - Peel Session.

iPod on Random

Healthy Choice, Jon Brion, Punch-Drunk Love Soundtrack
Ghardaia Dub, Prince Far I & The Arabs, Cry Tuff Dub Encounter
All Nighter, Elastica, S/T
Diamonds In The Dark, The High Dials, A New Devotion
Hey Mama, The Wild Tchoupitoulas, S/T
Come To Dub, The Aggrovators, Dubbing It Studio 1 Style
Honky Tonkin', Townes Van Zandt, The Late Great TVZ
Skanking Dub, Augustus Pablo, King Tubby Meets...
I Had To Tell You, Volebeats, Country Favorites
You Wreck Me, Tom Petty, Wildflowers

It's all happening tonight...

Who's In?

2007 SXSW Lineup

This Just In...

from HBBB reporter Stuben, an undercover report from deep inside the trenches of the 92nd Street Y:

Last night the upper east side's quintessential cultural institution, the 92nd Street Y, played host to an unexpected pair of guests: former Phish frontman Trey Anastasio and Anthony DeCurtis, contributing editor for Rolling Stone. Since I live only a couple blocks away, I decided it would be a shame to miss out on seeing Anastasio in such a small venue, and under such inauspicious circumstances (he was arrested in December on charges of drug possession and driving under the influence). DeCurtis too has a reputation as a great interviewer -- see his In Other Words: Artists Talk About Life and Work.

The ticketholders congregated outside in the cold before the interview, and there were some crunchy, dread-ed types, but for the most part it seemed like the suburban diaspora that spawned the Phans had come full circle. Oddly enough I saw at five people from high school I never expected to see again, and it wasn't that bad.

Inside, DeCurtis prefaced the interview with a caveat: stating that no introduction could do justice, since the people in the audience probably knew much more about Phish than he did. He was right. Phans are pretty covetous of this, so this helped win them over early on. Quoting a previous interview, he pointed out how Anastasio considered himself a "conduit" for the music, not it's originator, and how his job was merely to point the audience in the direction of that sound, and get them to the same place he was at. That was the magic of Phish for Anastasio. He later confessed that when band became hugely successful, he became disillusioned with this role and that this, among other things (drugs), prefigured the band's demise.

When Anastasio hit the stage DeCurtis said it was nice to see him without a shirt with numbers across the front. Breaking the ice early opened up the conversation for personal discussions of the break up of Phish, Anastasio's drug use and his stint in rehab. DeCurtis proved himself a good mediator and this was the first of many quick deflections that led the interview to the boundaries of what was apropriate to discuss (for legal reasons). Anastasio was noticeably jittery but I was surprised that he opened up so much. He confessed that those close to him would not help him with his drug addictions, but that it was the fans that confronted him . He also described rehab as the best thing that has ever happened to him. Questions from the crowd led to a discussion about the role Phish played as a reflection of the cultural zeitgeist (seriously) but the answer was never really clear (Phish as the post-postmodern band?).

Finally, the question of a reunion was brought up. The answer according to Trey: "If the four of us were to play onstage again, I would be the happiest guy in the room."

Plus he also played some music. To wit, a setlist:

Wherever You Find It > Case of Ice and Snow > Pebbles and Marbles.

Phish: Ghost - 11/17/97

Song Of The Day

Burn Down The Disco
Hang The Blessed DJ
Because The Music That They Constantly Play, It Says Nothing To Me About My Life
Hang The Blessed DJ
-Panic - The Smith, from Rank

ever notice the rock n' roll part 2 drumming?

Jarv Day Three, Lift Off 1993-1995

A few things about Pulp before we get to the posted tracks. Jarvis Cocker and his band were overlooked in their home country until the massive explosion of Britpop in the mid-nineties. By the time of their singing to Island Records in 1994, Pulp had already released three so-so albums but with the release of His ‘n’ Hers, that same year, the band took off and nobody looked back. His 'n' Hers peaked at #9 on the U.K. charts, was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize and was a grand statement by a band realizing their potential. Different Class a year later would cap
off Pulp's coming out party.





By the time Different Class hit the racks Britpop had officially become a bona-fide musical movement in the U.K. and alongside Oasis and Blur, Pulp perched themselves right at the top of not only the charts and the tabloids but the consciousness of the British youth. Different Class spawned off the massively successful hit single Common People and saw the band winning the coveted Mercury Music Prize. If all that were not enough the band performed a smashing set at Glastonbury. Perhaps part of the success was achieved due to the band hiring its fan-club President to play guitars and keyboards (Just think if Moz got his wish...).


Britpop has been well documented in books, documentaries and magazine articles including an oral history in Vainty Fair a few years ago, but nothing properly captures the excitement, originality, and to a certain extent recycling of the '60's British Explosion that the U.K. bands were able to achieve and document onto album. Nothing in English music, despite what the NME or Q may publish, has ever come close to matching that kind of output since. No doubt it is the memory of Britpop that keeps the NME printing machines churning with its editor's fingers crossed for another go.





Pulp, unlike their British peers, most notably Oasis and Blur (whose “Song 2” had achieved relative American success), never caught on in the States as they did in the U.K, which is unfortunate because if anything Jarvis Cocker was ahead of his time. Pulp’s mashing of Kinksian sounds, Bowie swagger, British ingenuity and Cocker’s headspun originality would fit in nicely in today’s music scene. I’d put money down on the roulette table that if Pulp released Common People today, they would be sought after by all the American labels, blogged about until you downloaded their whole album on different websites, and the novice reporters over at the Rolling Stone reality show would be sent down to the Bowery to cover their first Stateside show.

Despite any "what if fantasies," Pulp are forever destined, lest something spectacular occurs, to be one of the great bands of our time to remain under the radar. That's ok for we are used to some of our favorite artists being a tad under the radar.

Like all music scenes, the Britpop bubble eventually burst, but Pulp didn't go down easily. Jarvis Cocker may have become a tabloid star but he wasn't the kind of fodder that the Gallagher brothers had become. Pulp and Blur suffered too, though not as poorly as the brothers Gallagher. Neither band ever regained the footing it had during the Britpop era, though both bands, despite suffering numerous line-up changes, continued to release high quality music. Both bands are also on an indefinate, ongoing hiatus.

After Different Class, Pulp remained an influential and productive outfit as displayed on both This Is Hardcore and We Love Life. Stay tuned...

From His 'n' Hers
Joyriders
Lipgloss

From Different Class
Common People

And Of Course, The Theme From Peter Gunn from Pulp's Peel Sessions

Today's Bonus Material: Pulp at Glastonbury - 1995

For more on Britpop check out Britpop! and Live Forever.

Jarv Day Two: Coutdown 1992-1983

Although we've been preempted by our friend (rival?) over at Radnauseum, we've decided to push forward towards our goal of unveiling the new solo album from our man-of-the-week, JC.

The discography of Pulp's earlier years are indeed difficult to navigate, mainly because a lot of is contrived & shitty. But there are too many great songs to shrug it all off, so let the HBBB show you the way -- or a way, as it were.

The 2xCD compilation Countdown 1992-1983 is a very excellent primer, with pretty much all you'd be interested in hearing. Although it was illegitimately released in 1996 at the height of Jarvdom, it really serves its purpose well. More likely than not it's long out of print, but definitely worth keeping your eyes out for as you scour the used bins at the local record store (if you in fact subscribe to such philosophies of the world).

The singles are of course where it's at, so here are a few A-sides from those pre-His 'n' Hers, pre-top-of-the-pops years:



Pulp - "Little Girl (With Blue Eyes)", 1985.

Pulp - "Dogs Are Everywhere", 1986.

Pulp - "They Suffocate At Night", 1986.

Pulp - "My Legendary Girlfriend", 1990.





Here's JC doing his best Leonard Cohen on an album track from the 1992 LP Separations:

Pulp - "Don't You Want Me Anymore"

And here's JC really doing his best Leonard Cohen, from the soundtrack to the Mel Gibson-produced(?) concert film/doc, I'm Your Man:

Jarvis Cocker - "I Can't Forget", 2005.

Until tomorrow, when we focus on the big-boy days of Mercury Prizes & Glastonberries, we leave you with the 2nd of Pulp's many Peel Sessions, recorded on March 5th 1993, about a year before His 'n' Hers was released.

Pulp Peel Session #2 - 3/5/1993

Peel Seesion #2 Tracklist: "Pink Glove," "You're A Nightmare," "Acrylic Afternoons"

JOHN PEEL FANS GO HERE

Post of the day

ickmusic has an awesome mp3 retrospective about Harry Nilsson up. The only complaint is where's The Point?

Jah Gainsbourg

As the end of the 70's crept towards the 1980's, Serge Gainsbourg sought to reinvent himself just a little with a change in genres. However it is you define the music that Monsieur Gainsbourg became well known for making throughout his career it is certaintly not reggae music, but this is in fact a percentage of his output. In 1979 Aux Armes et Caetera was released. The album features Sly and Robbie, The I-Threes and Ansell Collins among others and is essentially a classic dub album with the french language spewed all over it.

The title track is apparently a reggae version of the French national anthem. This album is not Gainsbourg's only foray into reggae. More was to come, but I like this one the best.

Aux Armes et Caetera
Daisy Temple

Jarv Day One: Peel Sessions 1981

In light of the recent attention given to Damon Albarn on the Hendo, we decided we'll spend some time this week with another 90s British rock & roll man entering his middle life - shall we say - "reflective" pop period.

Jarvis Cocker's solo debut LP Jarvis isn't out in the States 'till April 3, but has been out in England since November. We at Hendo happened upon a copy, and can say we're quite seriously enthralled with it. So much that we're willing to revisit the Pulp backstory all week long. If you'd like you can keep tabs on his new happenings on his frequently attended Jarvspace page, but until then, enjoy the early (early) days of Pulp.

Back in 1981, when just a wee schoolboy band, Jarv & friends ended up landing a BBC Session with the mightiest of mighty, Sir John Peel. John Peel was out on one of his roadshows, where he would bring along his record collection and assorted unknown live bands to colleges & bars around England. At one of these roadshows, up walked Jarv with a demo tape he made with his schoolmates, as a group they'd been calling Pulp. Well John Peel liked what he heard (even if they were the very similar generic New Wave stocked by every British university at the time), and invited them in for their first Peel Session, on November 7th, 1981.

Pulp - Peel Sessions, November 7, 1981

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas

I am part of a group of people at work that parcipate in a cd swap. There are about 11 of us, and the way it works is that we each make a mix, and make enough copies to give to each person. They usually have different themes that we need to stick to. For the latest mix that I made (I'm actually handing it in tomorrow), the theme was to re-make a soundtrack for the movie of your choice with you whatever songs you want. I chose to make a new soundtrack for the 1998 Terry Gilliam movie, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, which was an adpatation of the semi(?)-autobiographical book by Hunter S. Thompson. I was considering Where The Buffalo Roam, but Fear and Loathing was more tongue-in-cheek druggy, which lent itself easily to a psych soundtrack. Also, Where The Buffalso Roam's soundtrack was done by Neil Young, and quite frankly, you dont fuck with that. I made a zip file of the mix I made, and hopefully it will have transferred without problems.


Here's the zip file.
Here's the tracklisting:
1. The Gun Club - The Las Vegas Story 0:23
2. The Sadies - Rubber Bat 1:16
3. Jack Margolis & Jere Alan Brian - General Effects 1:31
4. The Electric Prunes - I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night 3:00
5. Hawkwind - Upside Down 2:43
6. Reverend Horton Heat - It's Martini Time 3:14
7. Entrance - Grim Reaper Blues 4:29
8. John's Children - Smashed Blocked 2:56
9. Link Wray - Fatback 2:47
10. Comets On Fire - Organs 1:41
11. Kim Fowley - The Trip 2:03
12. Ol' Pal Joe - Intro 0:42
13. Alexander "Skip" Spence - Doodle 1:02
14. Man Man - Against the Peruvian Monster 2:51
15. The Flying Burrito Brothers - Sin City 4:11
16. Mojo Nixon & The Toadliquors - I Like Marijuana 3:43
17. The Charlatans - Codine 2:25
18. The Upsetters - The Strip 2:05
19. The Holy Modal Rounders - Mister Spaceman 1:56
20. The Count Five - Psychotic Reaction 3:07
21. Os Mutantes - Bat Macumba 3:08
22. Giant Sand - I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry 3:18
23. The Brian Jonestown Massacre - In India You 3:40
24. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band - Zig Zag Wanderer 2:40
25. The Sunburned Hand Of The Man - Unless You Confess 3:24
26. Del Close & John Brent - Basic Hip 1:14
27. Bob Taylor - After Hours 2:20
28. Alice Coltrane - Stopover Bombay 2:54
29. The 13th Floor Elevators - Reverberation (Doubt) 2:51
30. Ananda Shankar - Jumpin' Jack Flash (Rolling Stones go to India) 3:35

iPod on Random

Sound of Lies, The Jayhawks, The Sound of Lies
A Dead End, Portastatic, Looking For Leonard
Lost In The Supermarket, The Clash, London Calling
Pickney Dub, Aston "Familyman" Barrett, Familyman In Dub
Marie, Randy Newman, Good Old Boys
Pencil Skirt, Pulp, Different Class
Woman, Wolfmother, S/T
Widow's Walk, Swan Lake, Beast Moans
Creepy Jackalope Eye (6/6/6 version), Paid
Surrender, Now It's Overhead, Fall Back Open

Eric Von Schmidt

So Eric Von Schmidt passed away. He will probably be remembered by many of us for his part in Bob Dylan's Baby, Let Me Follow You Down. That ain't too bad a thing to be remembered for.

His New York Times Obit

Baby, Let Me Follow You Down from Biograph

My Boss

As many of you may know I am a Bruce Springsteen fanatic. I have tried to seek counseling for this illness. And it is an illness, ask my girlfriend. You sort of get the hint you have a problem when you think of Clarence "Big Man" Clemons as your protector as well as Bruce's. Or lie awake thinking about just how great another E Street tour would be so you could go to every single show possible.

I go back and forth about which Springsteen album is my favorite. Most days its The Wild, The Innocent, And The East Street Shuffle (The city poet shit kills me). When I'm at my most melancholy (and I mean that in a good way) it's the Tunnel Of Love. Darkness On The Edge Of Town is my running album, fists in the air. And Born In The USA fits in when all the others fail. This week, though The River hit the spot. A double record I most often overlook but a classic of the genre. The album represents the cold beers on the hood of a car at the end of the weekday that Springsteen most embodies. It's got the rockers - Sherry Darling, Out In The Street - and the slower tunes - Point Blank, Fade Away. The only issue I take with that record is Hungry Heart, but ask Hendo that has more to do with a Japanese restaurant and a broken satellite radio (56 times we heard the first 45 seconds of that song with nobody doing a fucking thing about it). Below I have posted The Ties That Bind and Drive All Night, two tracks that really get at the essence of The River.

I don't know what it is about Springsteen, but his music sits so well with me. It has to be a mixture of the songs, the studio recording style, the words, the band and the man himself but for me it's the perfect combination. I have to admit when people talk shit about Springsteen or his music I get truly offended (see above for that illness thing (ed. (g-f) insert). It's the same as when people spout off about Dylan. You just know they haven't listened and if they have, they are fucking hopeless. An issue of Uncut that had musicians picking out their favorite Boss songs referenced a bunch of times, the story of a person that didn't like the music, or thought they didn't like the songs but then sat, listened and got sucked in. That said, if I really had to pack for a desert trip, he would make up the bulk of the albums I took so don't express your anti-views here because you know I won't have a kind word for you, though I will only express it behind your back.

Albums, to the music nerd, are special friends. In the High Fidelity vein, they are companions that travel with us all the time, in good and in bad and we remember them as such. We think of some of our favorites as if they were an actual, living and breathing person and that is something not too many people can understand. But for those that do we have so many more friends than the rest, even frat boys. Here are a few of mine:

The Ties That Bind
Drive All Night
If you are one of the aforementioned haters, take a deep breath and try to listen to the posted tracks. If you can't deal, no biggie.

Jackie Greene

A few years ago, I caught Jackie Greene opening up for Taj Mahal. He was an unsigned dude who looked a kind of like Dylan and also sounded a bit like him as well. Unlike most opening acts he had stuff, like a pitcher throwing somewhere in the sticks that you just know when a scout sees him will be primed for big things.

Fast forward a few years, and I'm working at a record company that was made for someone like Jackie Greene. We got a copy of his album debut album Gone Wanderin' sent to us. I pushed for it but to no avail. Verve Forecast though had the foresight to sign him and they released his fourth album American Myth and it's a keeper. Below are two tracks from it. Greene can pull off the Ramblin' Jack type ballads as well as the proverbial house rockers. Quite a talent if you ask this writer. No doubt Jackie Greene will one day release a fine record a la Blonde on Blonde or Green River.

From what I remember about his introduction at the Taj show, Greene was a blues prodigy, making his way along the blues circuit with honors and winning a bunch of awards/talent shows or something like that. But I got no proof of that at all.

Greene along with a few friends recorded and released a Dylan tribute album titled Positvely 12th and K. I got to say before splitting that Gone Wanderin' is fearsome and a total shakeup. Not every song is great but the one's that are, well they just are. The raw talent the guy has is remarkable. He also appears on Endless Highway, a new trib to The Band (you can listen to the whole album at the site).

I'm So Gone
When You're Walking Away

Fat Possum Day 5 - Robert Belfour & Scott Dunbar

Sorry for missing a day there folks, I was too busy to get a post done yesterday. But anyway, at least you get to hear some Robert Belfour today. Belfour was born and raised near Holly Springs, Miss. where a lot of these guys recorded by Fat Possum lived. He learned to play the guitar by emulating his hero Howlin Wolf and his neighbor Junior Kimbrough. Although he moved to Memphis as an adult, his sound and style have stayed rooted in the Mississippi hill country style. Here are some songs of his (that are also available on the fat possum site). Unforunately, one of my cds of his is too scratched for the computer to even read it, so both of these songs are from his album, "Pushin My Luck".

Breaking My Heart
I Got My Eyes On You

Scott Dunbar was born in 1904, and before he died in 1994, apparently never traveled more than 100 miles from his home on Lake Mary, near Woodville, Miss. Although his isnt a household name across the country, Dunbar made quite a name for himself in the region, playing primarily for white audiences. This sets him apart from a lot of the other guys we've talked about, who payed their dues at parties, picnics and juke joints. He was self-taught, and since he was illiterate, could never even read charts to learn songs. This gives his music an authentically basic and raw feel. The album, "From Lake Mary" was originally recorded and released in the early '70s by Ahura Mazda. Fat Possum re-released it a few years ago, and now we all get to hear his music.

That's Alright Mama
Who's Been Foolin' You