What I Am Listening to- Cherry Red Presents Action Time Vision- A Story of UK Independent Punk 1976-1979

As an American teenager in the 90s, I loved classic UK punk. And UK punk was more than the 76-77 Clash and Sex Pistols, it was so much deeper and extended a seeming decade. It was quite easy to sell cheap compilations to kids like me. You could get Dave Goodman’s recordings, slap a couple of Sex Pistols with lesser known bands and voila there you have it One of the compilations I bought that was out of that mold was 1996s Politics of Punk put out by Dressed to Kill Records. 

DTK was most famous for their colorful anthology primers. Want to know about Punk, Goth, Ska, Reggae, or Ambient? They had a collection for you. Before the label folded in 2002, they had released compilations for some of the movers and shakers in these genres, as well as plenty of tribute albums and a few leftfield choices like David Koresh, Rev Jim Jones and Sid Vicious. But unlike Rhino Records who captured the punk story in their DIY series, DTK used mostly cheap live recordings. 

Politics of Punk was a bit disappointing sure, but I played the heck out of it. It only vaguely collected bands like the MC5, the Exploited and Dead Kennedys who had a political theme among some cherry picked bigger names like the Fall, the Mekons and Sham 69. But it also introduced me to plenty of quality unsung bands. It was my introduction to the splendid Newtown Neurotics and Tom Robinson Band. 

A decade letter, British label Cherry Red Records is doing the compilation thing- but instead of cheap recordings in shoddy packaging, they are doing it right. 2013s Scared to Get Happy is a well loved indie pop compilation. 2017s Close to The Noise Floor explores early UK electronica. 2021s Shake the Foundation highlighted late 70s/early 80s Militant Funk. 2022s C91 updated the idea of C86 to focus on those early 90s bands These are but a few of their fabulous works. 

While they aren’t the only record label doing amazing box sets, they are definitely one to recognize. 2016s Action Time Vision is a collection celebrating what was then 40 years of Punk- specifically focusing on independent label punk. It shows the breadth of punk topics and styles. Punk fans will recognize many names here- Sham 69, UK Subs, Angelic Upstarts, Chelsea, The Fall, The Ruts, the Adicts, Eater, Vice Squad, Rezillos, the Boys, Patrik Fitzgerald, Cockney Rejects, SpizzEnergi and of course, given the title, Alternative TV. 

There’s also some important bands that have only started to get their due after their influence faded like Pure Hell and Hollywood Brats. There’s Punishment of Luxury who never quite lived up to their promise and Disco Zombies- “never were”s whose music holds up amazingly well. There’s lesser known musical acts like The Pack with Kirk Brandon of Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny and Demon Preacher featuring Nick from Alien Sex Fiend. Of course, there’s also more than a few obscurities who show his great the scene was. That not all of the songs are great but so many are interesting really speaks to the scene. Songs that target disco or Elvis may or may not have aged well but capture the era.

Album Review- Zach Bryan - The Great American Bar Scene

Zach Bryan has put together a career like few others. Like practically everyone, I first noticed him on his third album 2022s American Hearbreak, his major label breakthrough after two self released recordings. 

The singles were practically inescapable- simultaneously getting play on Country, Pop and Americana radio. I had mixed feelings about American Heartbreak but it most likely was the two hour run time (and 34 songs). Even the best music group to ever do it struggled it when they attempted a triple album. If the Clash and Prince resorted to filler, undoubtedly Bryan did too. (After I wrote this, I read the Allmusic review which sounds about the same as mine. I guess there’s only so many triple albums. Site users do seem to rate Heartbreak much higher than me? 2023s self titled follow up would prove whether Bryan had it or not. 

In the course of 15 months, he went from unknown to one of the most buzzed artists in music. He had a massive hit single “I Remember Everything” the first song to simultaneously hold the # 1 spot on the Hot 100, the country chart and the alternative chart. Musically, it was a pretty great balancing act of being popular with the alt Country Crowd and country radio, in a way that few ever did, and even those who come to mind like Steve Earle or Jason Isbell never did quite conquer the charts like Bryan did Bryan was never going to sit still for long. He followed the album with a surprise five song EP. It contained two superstar collaborators (Noah Kahan, Bon Iver) and one of his best songs to date “9 Ball”. He should be tapped out for ideas but like the best artists in their creative peak, he keeps churning. The Great American Bar Scene is only an hour long but brings 19 songs and poems. 

 Modern pop country has a lot of 1970s Rock influences and one of those threads is The Boss (who was the topic of Eric Church’s 2012 #1 country song “Springsteen”). Bruce seems like the most obvious influence on Bar Scene, whether it was overtly through listening to Nebraska itself or as carried on by Earle and likely Bryan influences like Whitey Morgan, Drivin N Cryin or the Turnpike Troubadours, the literate lyrics here are part of that lineage. Interestingly, Bryan maintains that tightrope if intentional or not. “Pink Skies” (backed by North Carolina folk duo Watchhouse) is already a monster country hit. 

Though he would likely hate the comparison, Bryan reminds me a lot of Johnny Cash insomuch he isn’t trying to be anything specific. He seems comfortable in big arena crowds but he has been particularly critical of the record industry. He has no interest in politics despite being the kind of artist people would want to “choose sides”. It’s the kind of unicorn musician who doesn’t pick and choose his audience in a way that only the elder class of musicians like Johnny, Willie and Dolly could get away with. And maybe he won’t be able to get away with it forever, but for the time being, it’s working. Working man narrative is his strength and he leans into it with a “State Trooper” reference in the title track and “Oak Island” sounding like a spin on “Atlantic City”. If that isn’t enough, there’s another star studded guest list with artists like John Moreland and John Mayer and sure enough Bruce himself on “Sandpaper” The Springsteen track like much of the second half of the album isn’t a particularly standout (though it does have a great Born in the USA vibe). Which isn’t to say it isn’t good, but some of the “singles” are so top shelf. The Mayer duet likewise is part of that lesser half- not an essential Bryan track though both make for interesting additions to the whole here. 

 The Great American Bar Scene is a strong next chapter in the Zach Bryan story. While country music trends will eventually swing back, Bryan has set himself up for what looks like a fine career 2024 - Warner

Album Review- The Decemberists- As it Ever Was, Shall It Be Again

The Decemberists were part of a high water mark for indie rock circa the early 2000s, -which now has been called by the masses “Dad Rock”- with bands like Wilco, the National, and TV On the Radio- Pitchfork endorsed favorites whose audiences have inevitably aged. It’s all kind of silly, but every generation needs its Steely Dan. 

 The Decemberists were one of my favorite bands of this movement. It may technically have been indie rock but it featured sea shanties, murder ballads and other various narratives. Almost every in depth story of the band states that they were theater geeks in school not garage band punks. Colin Meloy is famously a huge Smiths fan and that intersects with REM- style college rock and as their Allmusic profile says - a strand of folk from bands like Fairport Convention and Pentangle. Their sound was truly unique which is why I liked them. Something offbeat akin to the Pogues or Camper Van Beethoven. 

For me, the band’s third album “Picaresque” was where every thing gelled. On that album, what may be their signature song “The Mariner’s Revenge Song” which did what it advertised. The band made the major label jump for 2011s The Hazard of Love which was still telling a complicated plot, but things were changing, and the next album 2011’s The King Is Dead despite the Smiths’ sounding name really seemed as if the band was now moving into respectful indie rock territory. Peter Buck guested and it seemed the band was hoping to duplicate REMs mainstream success. But with the change in sound, I found myself no longer really that interested in the band. Albums in 2015 and 2018 came and went with little attention from me 

 But ahead of 2024s As it Ever Was, Shall It Be Again, the band released “Burial Ground” a collaboration with another Aughts indie hero James Mercer of the Shins. Probably their most striking single since 2011s “ The Rake’s Song”. Band promo materials suggest that the album title may be apt with the band looking to incorporate all the sounds of their two-decade-plus career. 

Indeed, songs like “William Fitzwillam” would probably fit comfortably on those early albums. It’s interesting to see Redditors try to pin down the sound - Lyle Lovett, John Prine, Drive By Truckers- and I am not sure I would use any of those artists, it does give some insight into how left of center the band remains. To further prove the point, while the album begins with the radio hit sounding “Burial Ground”, it ends with the near 20- minute “Joan in the Garden”. Sure, it probably could have been edited but for the most part holds all the way through and if the bands want to add prog rock and 70s arena rock to their arsenal, I think we should let them. As It Ever Was is a wonderful return to form, and while album promo materials tend to be hyperbolic, it certainly sounds like the band put a considerable amount of effort in making the best album they could.

Album Review- Richard Thompson- Ship to Shore

A standard question that everyone asks is “What is the outlier in your music collection” and my answer is always Prince. 

Now, there may be better answers for me- Ice Cube, A Tribe Called Quest, Rodney Crowell, Glen Miller, Bobby Darin, the Four Tops, Bill Monroe, U-Roy, Screaming Jay Hawkins, even Tom Petty, might be a better response. But maybe I should say Richard Thompson. 

 Not that I don’t listen to singer- songwriters or folk- but Thompson is such an outlier to popular music in general. There are few artists quite like him. Not that Thompson ever makes bad albums, but his best albums seem to usually have a binding theme and almost always, a striking album cover. 

Thompson looks like a fisherman, more like someone on the Deadliest Catch than a rock star- in the cover painting with seagull on each shower. The album follows a similar nautical theme to previous album 13 Rivers. Recorded in Woodstock, New York, critics are general agreement that it will rank with his best albums. It has a variety of sounds and styles that like the Classic Richard and Linda Thompson still holds together and yet upon reflection, shows a great deal of emotions. Yes, it is most somber and serious, but not always. 

Like my favorite of his 1990s albums- I love that I feel like every song is important and striking. Yes, the last few albums were good but they were also the typical collection of songs where only two or three were of great impact. That said, the most striking songs here are The Fear Never Leaves You- a song about losing half your crew to a terrible storm and the much more upbeat “We Roll” a sea shanty of inspiration.

Album Review- The Libertines- All Quiet on the Eastern Esplanade

The Libertines were one of my favorite bands of the early 2000s. They had two albums which were pretty fantastic (2002s Up the Bracket and 2004s self titled). The best thing about them (or worst if you were a critic) was that they combined the sound of the Smiths and the Clash. That said, they became a supporting act for Morrissey and Mick Jones produced the band’s first album. Of course, the two frontmen - Pete Doherty and Carl Barat had separate careers but they were never as good apart as they were together. The band unexpectedly reunited to release Anthems of Doomed Youth in 2015. 

Although the first two albums are elevated by history, Anthems is a great album. It didn’t get a ton of publicity but in my eyes, really captures what is great about the band. I am a huge fan of Doherty, who was a self- destructive punchline for a time. 2019s Puta Madres and 2022s collaboration with Frederic Lo- The Fantasy Life of Poetry and Crime are some of his best solo work. 

We are now another nine years before we have another album, but we now have All Quiet on Eastern Esplanade. The Libertines can be captured with the album reviews for the recent disc. Critics aren’t interested and reviews are not glowing. Yet, on user based sites, Libertines fans seem to love it. So it goes. 

The most interesting thing might be that All Quiet sounds like a band’s fourth album (even if for most bands that time span might be seven years, and in this case it’s 22). But it’s a benefit that the album sounds like an act of growth and not some flimsy attempt to copy a certain sound. The band selected Dimitri Tikovoi (Placebo, Blondie, White Honey) producer and he gives it a pretty slick sound (Tikovoi also produced one of my favorite records- I’ll Gotten Gains by Michael J Sheehy) that might not capture the punk sound the way that Jones did, but captures the poppier side. 

A band that has always been defined in terms of cultural references. There are two songs that sound like they could be classic alternative covers (they’re not) - “Run Run Run” and “Oh Sh*t” and “Night of the Hunter” like the Mitchum movie. “Merry Old England” is a bit of the band’s Anglophilia they have always had a la Kinks/ Smiths/Jam and the strongest moment. There are a few songs that sound classic like “Be Young” and some that expand the sound “Shimmer”. There’s few clunkers. (“Oh Sh— was one of the singles but it may be the weakest song here) The album ends with “Songs they never play on the Radio” (another borrowed title-the name of a Nico biography) a fitting Beatlesque finale of a Doherty song from the early days of Babyshambles. While fans might slot this as the fourth of four albums in quality (which it likely is), I can see why Libertines fans are happy. I am more than happy with it.

Album Review- Old 97s- American Primitive

 My favorite band of the late 90s early Alt Country days is and was the Old 97s. They never seemed to get the attention that Wilco, Son Volt, the Jayhawks, or even Whiskeytown did, but they have hung around now that they have got their due. I always thought the band broke up between their 2004 and 2008 records but I am not sure that they did. 

In any case, Drag It Up is perhaps their low point and after that four year layoff, they have come back with one great album after another. American Primitive is their fourth album in the last decade (fifth really - but one is a Christmas album). All of these albums are good but they all have different feels. 2017s Graveyard Whistling is probably my favorite but there is no wrong answer. (I may have thought the band broke up when Rhett Miller released 2006s The Believer. However, his solo career has run concurrently with the band. 

I saw the band live in 2022 when Rhett’s album The Misfit was only a couple of weeks old. While I don’t think Rhett’s album are quite as consistent as the band’s- but the catalog is still quite good). American Primitive comes with an entirely different feel and though surely the band is due an inferior album, this isn’t that. It’s another worthwhile addition to the catalog. 

Recorded and imagined as an album to catch the live feel of the band. American Primitive is at once a Stephen King reference and a reference to the Musical style made famous by John Fahey. This album is their first to be produced by Tucker Martine who has produced a good deal of respected Americana artists like My Morning Jacket, Laura Veirs and the Decemberists. Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey show up in guest spots too. However you rate it, there are a few songs like Falling Down that will be additions for Old 97s playlists for years to come.

Concert Review- Southern Culture On the Skids

 One of the bands that I discovered in College Radio was Southern Culture on the Skids. I mean if you have an album named Too Much Pork for Just One Fork, you are going to stand out. The band goes back to 1983 but albums like 1992s For Lovers Only and 1993s Peckin Party EP was putting them on the map. In 1996, they got their major label moment with Geffen’s DGC indie label and although it did not set the world on fire, did gather some attention and musically is probably the best distillation of the band’s sound. The band’s next two albums were able to keep them in the indie spotlight until 2000, and I hate to say it, but I kind of lost track of their band. 

But the band didn’t stop and to their credit, as the world shut down for Covid, SCOTS was trying their best to take advantage of the downtime and released a fantastic album - 2001s At Home With… Before Covid, they had been a touring workhorse, yet somehow I never managed to see them When I found they were playing the local 250 capacity venue, attending the show became my number one priority. The opening band was the Surf Zombies. The Cedar Rapids based band are bona fide local legends, and whereas I usually think of that term as diminutive, in this case, they are a fantastic band - as good as any surf band whose only nearby body of water might be the Des Moines River. 

Whether the audience were brought in by the opener, or by the surf and rockabilly advertised, it was certainly an older crowd. I am not sure what the typical SCOTS crowd would be, but the fabulous folks in their 50s, 60s and 70s outperform their younger (possibly nu metal listening) peers. Iowa is a weird place. SCOTS has a unique niche. It’s almost impossible to describe them without some comparison to the B-52s and the Cramps. Besides the retro obsession and rockabilly and surf influences, there lies the “white trash” celebration that might fit between John Waters and Mike Judge’s King of the Hill. Or is it satire. Songs like “My House has Wheels” don’t make the answer any clearer. No surprise most may know them from the Rob Zombie curated 1998 album Halloween Hootenany, and the band took a moment during the concert to acknowledge the recent passing of Roger Corman as they performed Zombiefied (not the Alien Sex Fiend) and Goo Goo Muck (the Gaylads song made famous by the Cramps) As much as the music, the band is known for throwing Oatmeal Creme Pies, Fried Chicken and (not today) Banana Pudding into the crowd. Which is as great as it sounds. 

Age suits frontman Rick Miller. Now in his late 60s, he really resembles a King of the Hill or Squidbillies character. Bassist Mary Huff may be one of the unheralded female indie musicians of the 90s. She proves a nice counterpoint to Miller and she can sing as if she was born to be a 1950s or 60s country chanteuse. Drummer Dave Hartman is quietly amazing. He doesn’t say much but they moved him so he is pretty much in line of sight with the other two. I suspect that the band’s schtick hasn’t changed over the years, but it’s still hard to beat a group that gets fans onstage to sing about fried chicken and I was so glad I got to see them and definitely recommend them.

Concert Review- Violent Femmes

My adopted hometown has seen some ups and downs as far as bands coming through. It will always fall second to neighboring cities like Kansas City and Minneapolis, even failing in comparison to Omaha. The one thing that makes up for it is that the concerts are usually more intimate affairs. I worry Des Moines doesn’t draw, though. In any case the last couple of years, two venues really did the hard lifting. There is an arena football stadium for the big names, of course. Also a 1200 person theater that usually focuses on songwriters. 

But Des Moines losing a cool 200 capacity venue felt awful - one has finally sprung up in its place. Now, a new spot has been built and is being sponsored by Live Nation will bring in some large names. Bands like The Black Crowes, Pixies, Chicago and Gladys Knight have been some of the first to play here. But somewhere in here, the downside and upside is also augmented by the remodeling of the Val Air Ballroom. I had only been there to see Wilco, pro wrestling and MMA. A history that goes back over a century. The image draws forth images of 40s and 50s big bands but the renovation caused it to close for a year and a half. Anyone who is anyone has come through and I just don’t get to too many concerts anymore but I am glad I got out to see the Violent Femmes. 

The Femmes are touring behind the 40th anniversary of their second album Hallowed Ground. They had been touring last year on the 40th of their first album, so this tour is featuring both played in their entirety. That doesn’t leave much for a Greatest Hits but they have been doing two song encores and we got American Music and I Held Her in my Arms. I hadn’t spent a lot of time with Hallowed Ground but I of course knew the first song which is a great opener. Country Death Song In retrospect, I am not sure that the Femmes get their dues as the roots of Americana. Released in 1984, I know Nick Cave and others were doing Goth country in Australia, it’s really kind of a late 90s/early 00s thing with Johnny Cash’s Rick Rubin albums kind of opening the genre and bands like BR549, the Handsome Family, Th’ Legendary Shakeshackers, Slim Cessna and 16 Horsepower bringing old school country death ballads to a rock audience. 

The Femmes were doing it before that with this album, of course. Like 16 Horsepower, audiences weren’t sure that Gordon Gano was mining from Christian lore or an actual Christian. Famously, he was the latter. (Brian Ritchie, however is an atheist and has always been a tense counterpoint to Gano. An 2018 interview with Gano in Magnet suggested the two’s interactions with each other are completely limited to band performances) Hallowed Ground is not quite the album the debut is but it is an interesting album with a lot of highlights like “I Hear the Rain”. Gano played expertly on guitar and fiddle, Ritchie on his unique bass and drummer John Sparrow on two snares and a charcoal grill. Gano’s voice is exactly as it sounds on record. 

The insecure frustrated teenager who wrote this album. I always think Modern Lovers-era Jonathan Richman is the prototype and dozens of 90s indie frontmen the progeny but Gano might be the best to ever portray that angst correctly. The band as always was accompanied by the Horns of Dilemma. Gano came out for the second set with his long hair down and the kind of colorful bathrobe looking outfit that he used to wear. The Violent Femmes debut a-side is probably as good as any five songs recorded in a batch. It makes for a definite crowd favorite. The B side isn’t half bad either and also has the strong anchor near the end of Gone Daddy Gone. The band hardly said anything to the audience. Gano before going into American Music- a perfect peak for the bands talent said “This place was good enough for Sinatra so it’s good enough for us” (referencing the Ballroom’s history). But without any interaction, there was just something in Gano’s presentation to communicate to the crowd (There’s also a noise ordinance so maybe there wasn’t time to fool around). 

I was glad I got to see the band. I was a bit worried that I arrived at door open and that place wasn’t packed (NuMetal band the Disturbed were playing the same night at the Arena) but that only guaranteed a good view as the place did seem to fill the 2000 person vicinity by show start.

Real Estate- Daniel

The local public radio station has been playing songs from Daniel the new album by long time indie band Real Estate and I have been digging it. 

The band released their debut in 2009 and to my ears, they feel very much like the bands of that time like Death Cab for Cutie and the Shins. I never really took notice of them until their last album 2020s The Main Thing had a song featured on an Uncut sampler and I liked it quite a bit. 

Many reviews of this album mention REM. It’s not a perfect analogy for me but I think the thread of American indie rock is there. This album definitely reminds me of those Aughts bands with a poppy indie feel that could get chart success- Death Cab and Shins of course, but bigger picture also Vampire Weekend, Deerhunter, Best Coast and Wilco. 

Being their sixth album, it won’t get noticed by the Pitchforks of the world, who move on after bands reach a certain age, and it may not be something for those who like rougher edges, but I think it’s a solid sounding album that I think you will find holds up years for now- even if the radio landscape of the past no longer exists for it to get played on.

Documentary Watch : Joe Strummer: The Future is Unknown

I have been watching music documentaries and like in the early days of cable and satellite TV and VHS tapes, in these days of streaming, there are so many options. I find a half dozen Clash docs with even the most basic search. But I wanted to watch the well regarded and well promoted The Future Is Unwritten- the story of Joe Strummer. 

It is as fantastic as one can hope so. It covers the early years through the Clash as a new band to stadium superstars to his wilderness period back to being productive. There are a ton of stars. They are not identified but 95% of the time they are recognizable or identified well by dialogue. There's Terry Chimes, Tymon Dogg, Joe Ely, Keith Levene, Topper Headon, Don Letts, and Palmolive from the Slits. Mick Jones and Bernie Rhodes appear in footage. There’s fans like Johnny Depp, John Cusack and Bono and those who crossed paths in those post-Clash/pre-Mescaleros wilderness years- Xander Schloss, Steve Buscemi, Jim Jarmusch, Flea and Courtney Love 

The theme of the interviews is the idea of gathering around the campfire and that fits the final plot. There’s music from all over his life that sounds familiar and is Strummer on radio DJ ing and playing his favorite songs which stretched from Dylan and Guthrie to Tim Hardin and Nina Simone to U-Roy and Andres Landero There’s tons of footage of Strummer too. 

It’s nice to see the doc offering a candid view of Strummer equally the good and bad. I am sure it was a push of being the idealistic troubadour and getting your music to the masses. This probably hurt not only Sandinista but tore his band up and probably tore him up as he was getting away from his ideals as the Clash grew bigger. Strummer wasn’t good at conflict and Bernie Rhodes squeezed his way into the Clash music making process. I still wonder what Strummer could have done (with or without Jones) without Rhodes intervention. 

I became a Strummer fan during his Wilderness years. It’s nice to see it covered here - Earthquake Weather and the movies he was involved in - Walker, Straight to Hell and Down By Law. I’m not sure what else Strummer could have done. He needed that time to find his way back. Strummer gets an unexpected Hollywood ending though sadly he passes at 50. However, he was creatively refreshed again with the Mescaleros. He even was on South Park and worked with Johnny Cash. Then famously, he reunited with Mick Jones for a fire fighter benefit five weeks before he passes. Julien Temple sets out to make the definitive film on Strummer and succeeds

A few more words on the Beatles- Get Back and Let It Be

I took on and finally finished the near eight hour Peter Jackson helmed Beatles documentary The Beatles: Get Back. 

As a teen, I loved 1982s The Compleat Beatles- the Malcolm McDowell narrated biography that has since been replaced by newer media. In many ways, my complaint about Get Back is that I would love to have seen it as a narrated story. That’s not Jackson’s goal. He wants to present these 21 days with minimal intrusion. 

 This doc has been covered extensively but I do want to add my thoughts. As the biggest band in the world, you can’t blame the Beatles for wanting to do something magnificent as they discuss a concert in front of the Sphinx, Primrose Hill, Parliament or in Asia. There surely is something to those bizarre “Rattle and Hum” moments like making a movie where you play gangsters, farmers and knights or filming your rehab and band’s therapy session. Equally, one can feel that any band surely would just rather make music than something grandiose (and surely even more so if you had been recently forced into some Ken Kesey bus role play ) 

Famously, we know that George briefly quits the band. To an outsider, it seems they surely could have talked it out. Surely, the cameras and pressure and having your songs pushed to the side would do a number on anyone. Lennon suggests (probably not seriously) that they can replace George with Eric Clapton. As often occurs in these types of stories, one wonders if a hiatus would have solved some issues. (The answer here most likely is that the band was chartering new territory and the idea likely never popped into their heads coupled with the animosity of the ensuing years). 

 I think the one thing everyone picks up on is the presence of Yoko. It’s clear that teenage John and Paul did everything together as but as inevitably they grew, they started to share their songs first with their girlfriends before bringing them to each other. It’s nothing nefarious. It’s surely the natural evolution of any young band. This doc debunks the Evil Yoko myth we have heard for decades but we do see politics starting to pull apart the seams. Paul and John play to their stereotype. Paul the hard working musician with his eye on the prize. He creates the song “Get Back” in literally a matter of minutes. John is the creative dreamer who probably needs to be reigned in. To be fair, I like both but it feels like they’re solo careers bear this out even more The transition to “Paul McCartney and the Beatles” is probably a story that comes up in a lot of bands breakups. 

Another thing most everyone brings up is how things seem to improve when Billy Preston shows up. It is interesting to ponder how adding someone like Preston might have changed the sound of the band had progressed. I suppose the biggest revelation of the doc is just how music is made in the studio (in this case, specifically the Beatles in the late 60s). Hard work, boredom, jams, laughter, creativity.

I thought I should next watch the now restored and re-released (and maybe now redundant) 1970 Let It Be film (now added to Disney +). Again, without some background narrative, it feels a bit formless. The contemporary criticism may have been on the money. It is just footage of the band in the studio. Not that doesn’t hold any interest in itself. I have said I am not a fan of the bands later work but listening to it again, I feel like it would be similar to complaining about Achtung Baby or Metallica’s black album. The band is anticipating the music of the next decade and chose to change to the future instead of staying in the past. The finale of course is the rooftop concert which we know would be the last performance. 

Let It Be transitions with no explanation. We know from Get Back that the concert was the final decision to get something done before the studio time was up. The crowd reaction is quite fun. It’s happening in real time and there isn’t that gravity of the situation which would be added with time.

Documentary Watch: Theory of Obscurity- A Film About The Residents

I will never forget. I was in high school and listening to alternative music and someone said “If you want to hear a weird band. You ought to check out the Residents and they have a new album of Elvis songs”

The implication being the Sex Pistols and the Cure weren’t mainstream but they sure weren’t as submervise as the Residents. I bought 1989s The King and Eye immediately.

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t a good jumping in spot ( the Allmusic review of 2.5 stars feels accurate) - I probably would have had a better reaction to their first two much more loved albums- but regardless I now had the Residents in my life.

In college, I became good friends with a big fan of the band. “Cult Band” is a term that gets thrown around a lot but they truly are the definition of that.

I have always been interested in what they are doing and they always seemed to be on the brink of new technology. I am probably not proud to say that my favorite moments of theirs are what might be their most accessible- 1991s Freak Show and 2009s The Ughs (in this case both of these albums are rated 3 stars on Allmusic and are some of the lowest ranked on that site. So it goes.)

I did get to see the Residents in concert which seems like a bucket list band. I believe it was the 2008 Bunny Boy tour. I don’t feel like I remember a ton of details bit it was certainly interesting

A key component of the Residents was the mystery. Certainly, more recent artists have taken similar approaches, but the Residents were surely the first major artist, and we loved to guess. Could it be one or all of the Beatles? That was far fetched but a lot of people thought it could be Frank Zappa.

As the Residents certainly aged, there was a bit of the lifting of the veil with some alignment to the group’s business company The Cryptic Corporation.

Hardy Fox who died in 2018 was identified as the bands main composer. Homer Flynn remains the band’s manager and shares the songwriting credits with Fox from the band onset.

The original four members of the Cryptic Corporation included Flynn, Fox, John Kennedy and Jay Clem. Kennedy and Clem left the corporation in 1982 around the time the band was in financial straits amidst an European tour.

In the last few years, I have made friends with Residents fans online and can be found in these corners of the internet and had exchanges with artists I never would have suspected.

I finally sat down and watched the band’s documentary 2017s Theory of Obscurity. For a band that doesn’t really have a “history”, this doc couldn’t be any better.

It is a history of the band who as weird as they were, somehow managed to stay in the spotlight. It also interviews all the members of the Cryptic Corporation and follows their journey from Louisiana to San Francisco.

It also interviews the people who worked with them throughout - early friends, later era celebrities like Penn Jillette and those bands that are closest to descendants of the band- Primus and Ween and perhaps their cousin Devo. (Who came to some of the same artistic aesthetics independently of the Residents but Jerry Casale complains here that the record company focus on Mothersbaugh broke the band teamwork).

There is a lot of early footage. There’s the story behind their iconic before their time videos and there’s a ton of behind the scene stories like Vileness Fats and their other memorable videos, the origin of the art including the iconic eye and a look at the fandom

I don’t know that the doc could be any better. It might have been nice to have more info than the brief flash of info on Ralph Records or collaborators like Snakefinger but it would be too much.

I recommend it to any Residents fan even if you only have the slightest appreciation for them or are just hearing of them. It is the kind of documentary that makes want to go out and create. It’s also an amazing story of a true American artist that transcends music into visual arts.

Shane MacGowan RIP

Shane MacGowan has now been gone six months and I never got around to writing about him. 

 I don’t know that I have any insight but 1988s If I Should Fall From Grace with God and 1989s Peace and Love were huge modern rock hits. My first Pogues album was their next one and the seams had fallen apart on 1990s Hells Ditch. People hate this album and they hate me for defending it. It is the bomb that it was when it was released, but it is definitely a mood and I think you can make a case for at least a handful of tracks. It was reissued in 2005 with extra tracks and though Punks News gives it a whopping four star- a review I doubt many would agree with - I find little fault with that that. I was able to follow the band after that but I wasn’t crazy about what I heard. No one was. 1993s Waiting for Herb and 1996s Pogue Mahone are MacGowan-less records to round out the band discography (Though in the “select a song” 21st Century, the Spider Stacy sung “Tuesday Morning” is a fine addition to any playlist) I tried following MacGowan post Pogues with the Popes but it wasn’t my thing (with a differing opinion, Allmusic gives 1994s The Snake four stars).

I never did buy those popular late 80s albums, eventually opting for 1991s Essential Pogues which was a misnomer only covering the three Island Records albums and Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah EP. Those are great songs but the band had released two albums before their American success- 1984s Red Roses for Me and 1985s Rum Sodomy and the Lash. Once I was able to find these imported CDs from a big city record store, I did. 

In my mind, Rum… is about as good as it gets. It creates a genre in itself - not only obvious bands like Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly but any band that fuses punk to traditional sounds- Gogol Bordello, Frank Turner and the Felice Brothers It’s not that the Island Records are bad. It’s that they are a more commercialized version of what the band created on those first two albums- Wild and raw. The band smartly mixes their own songs with a selection of traditional ones. Elvis Costello produces and as he did with the first Specials album and Squeeze’s East Side Story nails it.