Album Review- The Cure- Songs of a Lost World

Listening to the Cure as a teenager was life changing for me. 

While I always loved the new wave bands that made it to radio, my musical journey took a significant change in routes. The Cure hit the kind of commercial and artistic heights that few bands can achieve with 1989s Disintegration and 1992s Wish. Over 30 years later, it's not surprising these achievements overshadow everything else. Contemporary fans may have had a hard time realizing this at the time, but everything is possible when you are young, and if we are being honest, rock was still new. The U2 or REM (or Beatles-Stones) conundrum is real. Continue to churn out albums that are pale imitation of predecessors or break up and keep the legacy intact? 

The Cure chose to continue. The band's trajectory was unusual though. By the time they had mainstream radio play, they had been around 15 years- a string of iconic singles compiled in 1986 for Standing on a Beach. In my mind the preceding albums 1985s The Head on the Door and 1987s Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me are every bit as great as the more well known two that followed. And that's my opinion. 

Heck- those early Cure albums (along with their compatriot Siouxsie and the Banshees) essentially created genres that followed and are considered cult classics. Even the debut of Three Imaginary Boys (resequenced and released in the US as Boys Don't Cry) is shockingly timeless and likely more regarded now than it was 30 years ago. 

But following their peak, the Cure could never quite find that next great recipe. It's funny that at the time, Disintegration was considered an instant classic and Wish was weirdly upbeat for a band known for depressive songs. I think most Cure fans have come around to Wish, but subsequent albums are largely unloved. I have a soft spot for 1996s Wild Mood Swings which strived to do what it said on the cover- jumping styles and emotions. It feels overlong (though it's surprisingly shorter than Wish) and maybe a more selective edit could have saved it. 

The Cure strives to advertise 2000s Bloodflowers as the final chapter of a trilogy of classic albums with Pornography and Disintegration. Try as I might though, I never found much to like about the album. Reviews varied and though it had the traditional sound, it was to some ears, uninspired. 

In 2004, the band tried something new that sounded intriguing on paper, working with Ross Robinson who had produced the biggest Nu Metal albums of all time, working with Limp Bizkit, Korn and Slipknot. 

That eponymous 12th album is better than its reputation with “The End of the World” worthy of inclusion on a greatest hits compilation, and in general, it's a pretty good end-to-end listen even if it doesn't break any kind of new ground. Which brings us to the last time we had a Cure album. 

It's hard to believe it was in 2008 when we got 4:13 Dream. While it has some fans, I found it, as many did, a fairly generic album that tried to recapture some past glories but is ultimately one of the worst albums of their career. Songs of A Lost World comes not only with much delay but also a ton of positive reviews out of the gate. The shock may be that it's as good as advertised. The 2024 version of The Cure has added Reeves Gabriel of Tin Machine on guitar (Of note, the band also re-added Roger O'Connell and Perry Bamonte who were major contributors to Disintegration and Wish respectively but had been jettisoned for the four piece outfit on 4:13 Wish). This feels like a cheap review but there does seem to be a lot of truth to the fact that Gabriels's guitar work is the element to make the band sound fresh. It's maybe even a little jarring upon initial listens, but in quick order, it feels like an important ingredient in the final product. It's also probably a bit unfair to the rhythm section too, who are equally captivating here. While from a quality control point of view, paring down to eight songs as opposed to 14 or 15 as the last two records, means we get the “all killer, no filler” vibe.

 I think some of the newness will wear off - a New York Post review calls it the Best Rock of the Album of the year- but it should also stand up. After a couple of decades or more of trying to recapture a sound, it seemed that everything just fell into place.

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Album Review: Tindersticks- Soft Tissue

Whenever I talk about the Tindersticks, I tell the same story. I listened to their 1993 debut and hated it. 

You can just look at it and see it is weird. Uneven song running times-:41, 4:00, 1:08, 6:03. 2:07. Weird often one word titles - “Nectar”, “Pt. 1” “Marbles” “Jism” “Piano Song” “Tyed”. Although it was similar in many ways to Nick Cave's work, it was even more cinematic, more orchestrated. It is fair to say now, bands like Lambchop, Belle and Sebastian and Portishead had not released their debut albums. 

 Hearing a single off of their second album (1995, originally an UK-only import) and hearing them through a more traditional 4 minute 51 song duet, I immediately got it. 1997s Curtains was the kind of indie gamble that bands could make then. The band brought in Isabella Rossellini and Ann Magnuson for duets. A mix of the band's strengths and a wider accessibility, it's a masterpiece of an album in my mind. 

 I have followed the band off and on ever since. They did have some detours - a hiatus between 2003 and 2007, lineup changes, soundtrack work and Stuart Staples's quite wonderful solo career. But for me, it really was 2019s No Treasure But Hope that reignited my passion for the band. It was heralded by the Critics. Standout tracks like “The Amputees”, “See My Girls” and “Pinky in the Daylight” highlight an album as good as that early work. 

 The follow up 2021s Distractions was short at seven songs- three of which were covers, and though I don't rate it quite as high as its predecessor, undoubtedly is one of the albums that I listened to the most that year. I have similarly spent a lot of time with 2024s Soft Tissue. 

It's hard to believe its album 14 as the band sounds as fresh as only legendary acts do at this point in their career. It does have the monster earworm here in Always A Stranger and the similarly haunting Nancy. Turned My Back has a rousing chorus- the band always having a spiritual kinship to Nick Cave's Bad Seeds, but always retaining their own sound. New World- the song that opens and closes the album similarly with a R&B feel that is part of the many sounds that find their way into the band's resume. 

 Soft Tissue is a standout album for a band that at this point had a ridiculous amount of output but like Cave, somehow manage to keep it fresh.

Album Review: The Rifles- Love Your Neighbor

Out of that mid-aughts explosion of the (mostly British) “the” bands, the Rifles were one of my absolute favorites. Sitting aside in most critics minds with The Kooks, The Cribs, The Zutons, The Fratellis, The Wombats, The Rakes, The Ordinary Boys and the Libertines and the not “the” bands Razorlight, Arctic Monkeys and Maximo Park

On one hand, the band wore their influences on their sleeves like a few others- the Jam, the Kinks and the Buzzcocks. On the other hand, 2006s Ian Broudie produced debut album No Love Lost is a truly great album. Then of note, the follow up 2009s Great Escape was nearly as good. No sophomore slump there. 

The Rifles released three more albums in 2011, 2014 and 2016, and although I found the Magic gone, they all continued to chart in the UK. While so many bands fade away, the Rifles kept busy- an Unplugged album in 2017, a live album in 2020, and in 2023, frontman Joel Stoker released his solo debut. 

While a solo debut disc generally means curtains, in this case, it just seemed to create more buzz for the band and an upcoming album. 

 2024s Love Your Neighbor shows that the Rifles can still sound vital. Although I wouldn't personally rank it with their first two albums, I am shocked at how well it captures their sound and would imagine it would grab new listeners in a way most band's sixth albums could. They have evolved over the years more from that initial Jam sound to a more mature Kinks/Madness sound that is evident here. 

It is like those recent Madness albums - a “keep your chin up, every thing's going to be alright” album. Such bands have remained “Cult” in America and it's a shame the Rifles likely won't get played on American alternative radio or even something like Sirius XM's Pop Rocks channel as they have a great radio sound here.

 

Album Review: The Bug Club- On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System

I put “Bug Club Review” in a seach engine and these are some of the bands mentioned in some of the top results: Jonathan Richman, Violent Femmes, T Rex, Daniel Johnston, Moldy Peaches, the B-52s, the Modern Lovers , Cheekface, Dry Cleaning, Buzzcocks, AC/DC, The Fall, the Kinks, the Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Velvet Underground, Bach, Half Man Half Biscuit, Lovely Eggs, Dr Feelgood, Tiny Tim, the Guess Who, the Beatles and the Strokes. 

I agree most with the Northern Transmissions blog- Bug Club have one leg in the so called “crank wave” movement - the UK post punk movement inspired by the Fall that include Yard Act, Dry Cleaning and Sleaford Mods, but they also could fit in the nerd rock world of Cheekface, Ween, and They Might Be Giants. 

 I fell in love with “Green Dream in F#” the 2022 full-length that came after two EPs. I have to admit that I thought that could be it. Last year, they released “Rare Birds: Hour of Song” and a live record of material from Mr Anyway's Holey Spirits (a band who opened on tour for the Bug Club, but were in fact, the Bug Club themselves) Now signed to Sub Pop, new album On the Intricate Inner Workings of the System is quite enjoyable. 

Songs like “We Don't Care About That” and “Quality Pints” bring the same formula and energy as before. I don't know that the Sub Pop deal has much influence but I do like this album quite a bit which has a similar feel to their debut and adds a little bit more fuzz with some catchy songs which makes it one of the more fun albums you will hear all year.

 

Album Review- BLITZVEGA- Northern Gentleman

I am a huge Smiths fan so it's no surprise that I have an interest in the late bassist Andy Rourke's career. Besides some amazing bass tracks on the Smiths discography, he appears on a few songs on Sinead OConner's “I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got”, the Pretenders “The Last of the Independents” and Ian Brown's “The World is Yours” 

 Rourke's relationship to Morrissey and Marr would end up being overshadowed by the post breakup lawsuits, initial 40-40-10-10 band split and Morrissey calling the rhythm section “spare lawnmower parts” and purposely misnaming them “Bruce (Foxton) and Rick (Buckler of the Jam). What's of interest is that Rourke was a major part of Morrissey's post- Smiths solo band prior to the rockabilly makeover and then addition of the co-writing team of Boz Boorer and Alain Whyte. And yes, this includes while lawsuits were going on. 

Rourke plays on seven of the 13 tracks on the Bona Drag compilation album including singles “Last of the Famous International Playboys” “Interesting Drug” and “November Spawned A Monster”. While in those early solo years while Moz was trying out creative partners, Rourke even co wrote two songs- the B-sides (but incredible songs) “Girl Least Likely To” and “Yes I Am Blind”.

A lot of Rourke's last day output seems a bit gimmicky. Most famously he was part of a group called Freebass- which released one album in 2010- and was on paper at least, a Spinal Tap-ish collection of Manchester's greatest bassists- Rourke, Peter Hook and Mani from the Stone Roses. He next formed a group with Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries and New York based DJ Ole Koretsky called DARK and they released an album in 2016. (O'Riordan's last record released in her lifetime) Rourke passed away in May of 2023 but had started another band in 2016 called Blitz Vega - which was a partnership with Kav Sandhu (who was the guitarist for the 2004 reunion lineup of the Happy Mondays). 

The band released the single “Strong Forever” in 2022 which featured Johnny Marr on guitar. It's been the closest thing to a Smiths reunion since Rourke and Joyce backed Aziz Ibriham circa 2001. The band's full length debut finally arrived in Fall of 2024 produced by DJ Z-Trip who has worked with Public Enemy, Meat Beat Manifesto and Beck. It always seems like “swan song” albums manage to sound special as if otherworldly forces bring out the best out of an artist. 

While I don't think it would have the same effect on everyone, it should resonate with Rourke fans. Like Johnny Marr's recent output (or his band with Bernard Sumner called Electronic) it's classic Britpop with strongly pronounced electronica and glam influences. That said, I feel like I am underselling the album a little bit which on paper sounds like a Wikipedia footnote, because like Marr's recent albums- it's a gem of the Britpop sound and holds up for repeated listens. 

Rourke never got around to touring because of the pandemic and had been working on the album for 8 years, but he left a gem of an album that is a real treat for his fans. 

 

Album Review: Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds- Wild God

Perhaps there is no such thing as a bad Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album. 

 Looking back, his first four albums may be some of the weakest in his catalog, but sitting in 1992 when I first became a fan, it seems incredible that this is the case. They were so ahead of everything else. The band has been incredibly consistent to a label that only the best of the best achieve. 

What’s funny for me is that some of the albums that aren’t as highly regarded on lists are my favorite - Nocturama. Henry’s Dream, and No More Shall We Part. Like Dylan or Neil Young, I don’t think two people will rank the catalog in the same order. 

I don’t know if there is a 90s/00s album I don’t like. I probably listen to Abattoir Blues/Lyre of Orpheus least but it’s still a fantastic album with some great songs. The band’s sound changes on 2013s Push the Sky Away when longtime member Mick Harvey leaves the band. 

You can probably read up on the personnel.. and personal changes since then if you have not already. I really enjoy Push the Sky Away but it is my last of my favorite Cave albums. 

Now to be fair, this is my personal opinion. Others may say Cave got even better with a change in sound. The subject matter is clearly influenced by something deeper- his 15 year old son died in 2015 from a fall off a cliff. His 31 son Jethro died in 2022 and his long time partner Anita Lane died in 2021. 

2016s Skeleton Tree and 2019s Ghosteen are more ambient, using loops and less narrative storytelling. Universally loved, both are undeniably good albums, if not my favorites of the catalog. In 2021, Cave and Ellis released Carnage as its own album (both men have done quite a bit soundtrack work). Still widely praised, I find this easily the least of recent Cave albums in my estimation. 2024s Wild God feels like a mix of recent changes and the more usual signs of the band’s 1990s/2000s style.

 I don’t feel like Wild God is quite among the best album of Cave’s career as a recent Guardian review claimed. But like any long time artist like say Dylan, Costello or Waits, the quality is good but there might not be an element of surprise, so comparison is difficult. That said, I do think Wild God is particularly good. 

Not that the Bad Seeds haven’t had some surprise lineup additions (Cave acolyte and Gallon Drunk frontman James Johnston joining from 2003-2008, early Bad Seed Barry Adamson rejoining in 2013-2015 and the addition of tour support from drummer Toby Dammit (Iggy Pop, Swans) and Saints guitarist Ed Kuepper) but the fact that Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood has joined as a bit of an associate seems significant here. The piano ballad feel of much of the album reminds me a lot of The Good Son, The Boatman’s Call and The Lyre of Orpheus and while manic Nick Cave is still a preference, the slow introspective Goth songs do hit that part that caused me to fall in love with the band many years ago. 

“Oh Wow Oh Wow (How Wonderful she is)” a tribute to Lane is a standout track with an old voice mail playing over the end of the song is at once sad, uplifting and even silly (not in a bad way) depending on the mood of the listener. It’s opening line, I think is a stinker, but I can look past it. The title track has something of the epic of the defining album track following opener Song of the Lake which serves as introduction to the piece of art. It ends with As the Waters Covers the Sea- a proper curtain close as you might find on Murder Ballads, Let Love In or Tender Prey.

Album Review- The The- Ensoulment

The The probably don’t get enough attention but they are a favorite band of mine. I discovered them as a Smiths fan when Johnny Marr joined the band, but my favorite albums are their early ones. 

1983s Soul Mining is the peak for me. In fact, it's a contender of my favorite album of all time. To understand The The, you have to start with 1981s Burning Blue Soul, the debut album of Matt Johnson. An album using tape loops and soundscapes. At once, a mix of synth pop, post punk, dance and industrial. It was immediately a favorite of mine once I picked it up when it was re-released in 1993 as a The The album. The only bad thing I can say about Burning Blue Soul is that it was improved upon by Soul Mining. 

Soul Mining adds some catchy hooks and really nails a timeless sound. “This is the Day” has become a new wave nostalgia radio standard. 1986's Infected remains their top charting album in the US. It is probably the album that nails the band's ideas most. It is overtly political, intimately psychological and in many ways, succeeds despite itself. It at once feels “of the time” and yet, I can only speak of it in positive terms. It's definitely a shot at the Reagan Era. Though their certainly were other bands with similar sentiments (New Model Army, Midnight Oil) sounds (Depeche Mode, New Order) and similar tone (Nick Cave, Echo and the Bunnymen), The The were a distinct niche. 

 The next album was 1989s Mind Bomb keeping some of the same gang - producer Warne Livesay (Foetus, Coil, Julian Cope) and drummer David Palmer (ABC) and adding ex-Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist James Eller (Julian Cope), pianist Wex Wickers (Paul McCartney) and for one song, guest vocalist Sinead O'Conner. Mind Bomb was like “Infected” on Steroids. My intro to the band was the first album I bought with an “explicit lyrics” label. Also in “The Beat(en) Generation” one of their greatest songs. Four years passed, and much of the same group returned for 1993's Dusk. 

With adding keyboardist DC Collard (Subway Sect, The JoBoxers) and Marr more embedded into the band, Dusk is the band at its most commercial. The local alt rock station played tracks of it and to my surprise, now I could turn on commercial radio and hear the band. They also opened on some dates for Depeche Mode's 1993 Devotional Tour. 

 It's the kind of pinnacle that in retrospect looms over the remaining decades. With a new group of Eric Schermerhorn (who was in between gigs with Iggy Pop and They Might Be Giants) and (for a time) Bowie bassist Gail Ann Dorsey. The 1995 follow up Hanky ??Panky was a covers album. Although I really liked the version of “I Saw The Light” and the songs selected probably couldn't be much more fitting, I am not really a fan of the album. In theory, 1997 should have seen the much hyped Gun Sluts. Johnson was planning on following up Hanky Panky with a series of cover albums. That never materialized and Gun Sluts never did either. 

In 2000, Johnson released an instrumental track (which to date is the only evidence we have heard of the album) and in 2010, mentioned another “lost” late 90s album with Schermerhorn called 2 Blocks Below Canal. Instead, the band was dropped by Columbia Records. Now signed to Trent Reznor's Nothing label, they released 2000s Naked Self. Naked Self is flawed insomuch as it isn't necessarily a bad album, but it's not a particularly memorable one. Johnson had never been accused of being boring, but despite a glowing review from Pitchfork, I struggle to defend it. 

 We didn't hear from The The for awhile. Johnson made film soundtracks but they were often released with little fanfare. So I was as excited as anyone when The released a new album in 2024 called Ensoulment. At the same time, I was a bit tempered in my expectations. Ensoulment may not quite be Dusk or Infected, but it does capture the band's essence which was what I was afraid wasn't possible. It would be nice if it had a killer single (opening track “Cognitive Dissident” comes close but doesn’t quite nail it) but on so many songs, like closer “Rainy Day In May” or “Some Days I Drink My Coffee By The Grave of William Blake “ in particular capture the feel of those classic album tracks like “Helpline Operator”. 

“Zen and the Art of Dating” is the sexual politics song here. It could have been a failure but isn't. “Kissing the Ring of POTUS” is of course, political, but isn't as memorable as anything on Infected or Mind Bomb. It isn't a bad song though and reminds me of Portishead which is a connection I hadn't thought of prior. It probably helps- Johnson brings back many key contributors from the band's history- Livesay, Collard, Eller and adds Barrie Cardogan (former Primal Scream) on guitar, who has been with the band since 2018 on recommendation of Johnny Marr. 

 Ensoulment isn't as good as Dusk, but it sounds like a follow up (which I suppose in many ways it is) and hardly disappoints in that regard. Though songs here aren't as distinctive as Dusk, at least the album hangs together in the way of a front to back listen like that album. Matt Johnson always had us guessing so I am not sure if he will have another album out soon or we will have to wait, but at least this is proof he still has it.

Album Review: X- Smoke and Fiction

There is tons of buzz on the new X album Smoke and Fiction. That should not be surprising as the band announced it was their final album and they would commit to one last tour. 2020s Alphabetland was a good album that had showed up 27 years after the last X “reunion”. 

Quick internet searches revealed perhaps it was so good because it consisted of a lot of spare parts from earlier in their career and thus it was able to accurately capture the band. Smoke and Fiction has come out to near universal acclaim. That buzz of media set me up for some disappointment. In relation to the band's classic work, the new album feels a bit generic. Pitchfork had no problem in comparing it positively to the band's first two amazing albums. Yet, most, if not nearly all albums I will listen to reach out those heights and it is perhaps unfair to hold X to their best albums (or maybe even some of them not quite as good but still great 80s albums) when Smoke and Fiction is a good listen. 

Billy Zoom's guitar bursts with energy throughout, as John and Exene exchange lines. In this way, the band does capture a lot of what made them great. And in terms of late-career reunion albums, this certainly matches up with those contenders. (A lot of those good not great later Buzzcocks albums would probably make a proper comparison). At least I don't see it as the big “mic drop” as apparently other reviewers and fans do. It still works as a decent enough send off, an occasional future listen and in “Big Black X” a decent enough final track to include on band compilation playlists. (It seems to be the track most critics have picked up upon, a coda for a career that started with the fantastic “Los Angeles” single. Though I prefer the similarly thought out “The Way It Is”) 

 It's a shame the expectations hang up there for me. With Billy Zoom at age 76, I can't say I blame them for calling it while they can. Still, it's not like it's a bad album and it feels like the creative juices flowing. For example, one assumes John Doe has a few more albums in him and the song “Face in the Moon” here is the kind of songs that will make you anticipate his next release. 

 2024 - Fat Possum Records

  

What I have been listening to : The Highwaymen

I don't know that I have much to add on the death of Kris Kristofferson. He did write Sunday Morning Coming Down which in my mind may be the greatest Country Music song ever. He was great in Blade (I bring this up because that was the headline on my targeted social media which in many ways might be what he is best known for among Gen Xrs).

But I do think this gives me the opportunity to talk about the Highwaymen- the 80s country supergroup which consisted of Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings So when I was a young teen, I spent a lot of time around my aunt who worked at a factory that published magazines. So I always read every month a number of history magazines and Country Music magazine. Now, I am not a huge country fan, though I would probably have perused it regardless. 

The thing is late 80s Country Music was pretty great. After the Urban Cowboy fad but before Garth Brooks, even the top acts like Randy Travis, Shenandoah, and The Judds were good But I read about the stars of the day - a glimpse of Magazine covers online shows they were writing about Dwight Yoakum, Jo-El Sonnier, John Anderson, Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris, Jerry Jeff Walker, Steve Earle, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Riders in the Sky and many more. These artists were at worst, incredibly interesting and at best, some of my favorite artists to this day Not to mention a list of legends they would also cover like Nelson, Cash, Dolly Parton, Roger Miller, Bill Monroe, Webb Pierce and the Stanley Brothers to name a few. 

Yes, I think those days of Crowell, Earle and Yoakum were the best of country radio, probably until present day when we finally have the airways filled with Zach Bryan, Chris Stapleton and Eric Church. But one band I really loved in those days were the Highwaymen Although they are meme heroes of a time “long gone”, I don't know that people really love their albums. And that's okay. They are definitely of a production of their day. No Rick Rubin- this is 80s AOR with synthesizers. The songs themselves for the most part are not particularly outstanding- outside of the band's singles. 

The band gets Wilbury comparisons but as song performances and writing goes- it's typical 80s Nashville fare. Even by the time the second album came out in 1990, it sounded dated. But I don't care, I really love the Highwaymen albums. I think part of it may be that teenage me might have seen Johnny Cash as the badass that Rick Rubin would later make him out to be. Which is probably true. 

Though the album is slickly produced to 21st Century ears- that outlaw image whether it was from Willie and Merle's 1983 Pancho and Lefty album, Waylon narrating the Dukes of Hazard or Kris and Johnny portraying Jesse and Frank James in the 1986 TV movie was alive. And it was alive to me as a kid who had no concept of 70s classic albums like The Red Headed Stranger or Wanted! the Outlaws and too contemporary to notice artists like Steve Earle, David Allen Coe and Guy Clark were taking those 70s artists (and drawing from classic country artists like Loretta Lynn and George Jones) to really birth that into a completely new genre. Earlier this year, I began revisiting this supergroup a lot. 

I think most people know of the first two records (1985 and 1990) but there is a third 1995s The Road Goes on Forever. It is interesting of course that at this point (though record buyers wouldn’t have known it at the time) Cash is working with Rubin, Waylon and Willie are working with Don Was (and making albums that hold up in retrospect - Waymore's Blues-Part 2 and Across the Borderline); but dropping yourself into 1995, no one is talking about any of this (and Kristofferson is acting full time). It's not a bad album with Steve Earle's “Devil's Right Hand”, Frazier and Owens (and Elvis's) “True Love Travels A Gravel Road” and the Robert Earl Keen title track, but the band is no longer on Columbia, instead on Liberty ( a Capitol Records label). 

Listening in now, there's no obvious single on the third album like the first two, and more importantly, the label folds shortly after. Which leaves a record that if not a must have, is surely a nice hidden gem. There is also a live album from a 1990 tour called “Live- American Outlaws” which was released in 2016 and got a slimmed down re-release this year as “Live from Nassau Coliseum” with a track list focusing on “Silver Stallion” - their single at that time- and the four performing their most famous individual songs as a group.

 

Music doc watch: I Get Knocked Down (Chumbawamba)

Every music forum asks almost every day “what is a one hit wonder that you loved”. 

And if you know me, you know I have a bunch. But one band I love that rarely gets serious attention is Chumbawamba. Now, yes I did know them before the hit. They surely are the most unlikely of bands to have a big pop hit. While I could go into some detail of my fandom, let’s just skip to the part we know about. Tubthumper was one of the decade’s biggest hits but where did the band go. As a fan, I bought all the albums afterwards and think most of them are great until they called it a day in 2012. But that band that rode into the sunset - was a folk tinged five piece.

 In 2004, Chumbawamba released Un- and afterwards, the most recognizable faces from the Tubthumper video (and accompanying media appearances) Danbert Nobacon, Alice Nutter and Dunstan Bruce would all leave the band and none would appear on 2005s A Singsong and A Scrape. So the 2021 documentary I Get Knocked Down was perfect for me. 

Holy crap - where did the last 27 years go? Even among one hit wonders, as a superfan, it’s hard to find any coverage on the band. Even artists like White Town or Right Said Fred seem to occasionally pop up on the “where are they now” radar. Even information on Lou Bega surely isn’t too hard to find. The documentary is a bit of a mortality play. 

It’s subject (Danbert) as close to a frontman as the band had. The band surely torn by the dual pulls of being pop stars and being political anarchists. Were they too much of one and not enough of the other. It’s certainly a very artsy (and very on brand) way of making a documentary. It still covers the band’s start as an ambitious collective influenced by Crass and the Mekons through near pre-Tubthumper break up and then that hit (and after). But it works well in those moments like when Danbert interviews Penny Rimbaud to ask him if Chumbawamba had done the right thing. 

That might not be the documentary you expect but in many ways it works well. Dunstan is 59, hair white, an aged version of the bleached hunk of that ubiquitous music video. Was it a life wasted? An opportunity wasted? Surely many of us blink and go from an idealistic youth to seemingly irrelevant elder. Alice and the other members of the band show up too. It is easy to focus the film on Danbert but it was always a collective and it’s nice that everyone shows up. 

The truth is the post - Chumbawamba projects have not gathered attention. They are fortunately easy to find in the modern internet age but out of sight, sadly. The film ends with Danbert fronting his new band Interrobang! If I was aware of them, I doubt I had heard them and even the film only has snippets so I probably need to seek it out more. Of course, the main event is Tubthumping and the rise to fame which was such a huge event. The signing to EMI. The band selling songs to General Motors and then using the proceeds to anti- GM consumer groups. Alice Nutter appearing on Bill Maher’s show and encouraging theft of their album from Virgin Records. The pouring of water over Deputy Minister John Prescott at an awards show. As silly as the idea may sound to some, it works well. 

I would have preferred a more well rounded look at the band, but it surely would have been unruly. The anarchic chaos the band created still stands up as successful as any act of pop subversion. And older punks may be inspired by the second act. It may not play in the headlines, but it is a fine legacy and the band still lives their ideals. Surely, I don’t know where the time went. I remember going to the Chumba.com website which was as good of a primer for interesting music, books and history of social justice. Though I suspect you could possibly find it through archive services, I am still a bit heartbroken that it doesn’t exist in a more tangible form (the website now has the band’s final statement of breakup). Though this is hardly an overview of the band, it is as good as a postscript to the story that could have been made.

RIP: Roli Mossiman

Roli Mossiman has passed away. His name was one that popped up quite a bit in the music I listened to.

His fame was based as being drummer on the first two Swans albums Filth and Cop. I first heard of Swans in a grouping of listening of bands like Einsturzende Neubaten and Test Dept, but by the 90s, they maintained a kind of cult following that kept them just bubbling under the mainstream (and even more bizarrely, the band seems to have a cult of younger listeners who are discovering them via sites like Reddit and RYM). Mosimann next showed up as producer to Matt Johnson’s The The. He co produced some of my favorite music by them - Infected and Mind Bomb. 

He popped up as a producer in a few interesting places- the debut album of The Hair And Skin Trading Company, Celtic Frosts “Vanity/Nemesis”, a couple of That Petrol Emotion albums and the Young Gods’ most successful records. This run for him some high profile gigs- Faith No More’s Album of the Year for one. He was the producer for Skinny Puppy’s The Process, but dropped by the band in favor of Martin Atkins (who was in turn dropped for Dave Ogilvie).

Similarly, he was the first producer for Marilyn Manson, but by the time the album Portrait of an American Family came out, he had been replaced (and much of the album re-recorded) by Trent Reznor. In retrospect, it’s a solid body of work. Mosimann was also the other member of JG Thirlwell’s duo Wiseblood The short lived band (1986 album and a 1991 EP that was later appended) is like many of Thirlwell’s “Foetus” projects but I find it at once both more accessible and more hard hitting. Mosimann playing the instruments (with some help from the likes of Robert Quine and Hahn Rowe) and writing the music for the project. 

I went on a binge of buying up those Foetus discs when Thirsty Ear reissued the albums in the Nineties. Thirlwell has some great albums and if Dirtdish is not in the upper echelon of his work, then surely it has some essential songs. With Mosimann on Percussion, it seems to anticipate the idea of Nine Inch Nails and latter Ministry.

Music doc watch: Revenge of the Mekons

While recently binging music documentaries, 2013s Revenge of the Mekons seemed like an obvious choice. 

Intimate enough to be more of a story of the bands I rather than a “this happened then this happened” narrative l. It seems a perfect labor of love kind of project to capture the band. Truly, as the band says, success cause bands to break up, which is why they are together 40+ years later. Also they were loved by the critics, but critics get complimentary copies and don’t buy albums. 

 I first heard the punk Mekons on the Mutant Pop 78/79 compilation after I already knew of their 80s albums. In many ways, they have always had those punk ethos (and to my ears “Never Been in a Riot” and “Where Were You” are as good of punk anthems as ever were). The band started as an ambitious (but untalented) punk little brother to Gang of Four. “Never Been in a Riot” a response to the Clash’s “White Riot” from non-Londoners. The band, for the first but not last time, would be not well served by a major record label. Although they stopped performing for a time, they would not die, reuniting to play benefits for the Coal Miners Strike. 

Adding Sally Timms, violinist Susie Honeyman, multi- instrumentalist Rico Bell and a couple of established musicians in Lu Edmonds of The Damned and Steven Goulding of Graham Parker and the Rumour, the modern version of the band was born. The band would find an affinity for old time American country music which brought them their biggest success. 

They learn from the likes of the Chicago Honky Tonk pioneers the Sundowners; and Dick Taylor of the Pretty Things and a pre-Wyman Rolling Stones lineup had joined the band. While not a fully in depth history, it is interesting to see the old press kits and how close Mekons Rock N Roll came to being a hit. (As someone coming to age with 1980s Rock critics, it’s hard to imagine this album and Fear & Whiskey being lost to the collective memory). Next is 1991s The Curse of Mekons which seems like a self fulfilling prophecy. The band is dropped from the label after the staff that were promoting them are fired. 

The next phase shows the Mekons more of as a concept than band. There have always been the acclaimed albums and though they don’t get into specifics (you can pick 2000s Journey to the End of the Night or 2002s OOOH for example) but they do acknowledge every new Mekons album seems posed to be better than the previous. 

For their relative obscurity, they do get a buzz every time there a new release. We see the Mekons branch out in the 90s. They do music for Kathy Acker’s feminist musical Pussy, Queen of the Pirates. They go all in on painting and art in early 00s collaborative mixed media projects. They even form a children’s music band the Wee Hairy Beasties (one of the many Jon Langford bands that only have so much room to be mentioned in the documentary). 

In some ways, I am reminded of the Residents- more an art concept than a band. Meanwhile, album sales top out at 8000 and the band tours - mainly hitting their homes in Chicago and the UK and though they aren’t selling out arenas, seem to maintain the same size crowds. The doc may not be the flashiest but neither are the Mekons and it’s a perfect match for the band itself. A mix of high profile guests (Greill Marcus, Fred Armisen, Will Oldham, Jonathan Franzen) join Mekons past and present. 

If you aren’t inspired, you likely never will be. The band continues to reinvent itself and despite all the years together- they try to maintain the spirit of teenage punks.

RIP: Bluegrass legend David Davis

Bluegrass legend David Davis died from injuries caused by a car accident on September 15, 2024 at the age of 63. He led the Warrior River Boys (a band originally founded in 1960) beginning in 1984 and has been honored for being the closest practitioner of Bill Monroe style Mandolin. (Davis’s uncle Cleo played in the first lineup of Monroe’s Bluegrass Boys). 

The band came to prominence by releasing two albums for Rounder Records in the early 1990s. After their success had subsided and the band self-released a couple of albums, the band with a new lineup had a post- O Brother Where Thou renaissance releasing a self titled album in 2004 for bluegrass label Rebel Records, then two more in 2006 and 2009. Bluegrass has had a jump in popularity recently with artists like Billy Strings, Greensky Bluegrass and Trampled by Turtles. 

But before that, the Warrior River Boys were keeping the genre alive in that prior decade with a traditional sound along with the likes of IIIrd Tyme Out, the Country Gentlemen, and the Seldom Scene. What will be the last studio album of Davis’s lifetime is hands down my favorite and in my mind, the band’s masterpiece. 2018s Didn’t He Ramble is a collection of songs from 1920s country music pioneer Charlie Poole. Praised by Paste magazine as one of the best Bluegrass albums of the year and awarded four out of five stars by Allmusic users, it has a sound that would appeal to modern rock ears- think of Del McCoury’s early 00s albums or any number of throwback indie folk bands who appreciate old time country.