The David Bowie estate has released a second box set of remastered early works – Who Can I Be Now?
The set covers the years 1974 – 1976 and includes some of the Thin White Duke’s funkiest records – Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, and Station to Station. It also includes two versions of David Live, a remastered version of David Live Nassau 1976, a disc of B-sides and obscure singles, and The Gouster – an album produced in 1976 and never released until now.
The original producer of The Gouster, Tony Visconti, has returned to remaster the album from the original tapes, so it’s in good hands.
It’s a staggering release of material at a fair price, and The Gouster and the remastered two live albums would be a great set on their own.
Keep your mind open.
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Post-punk legends Public Image Ltd. are offering impressive “super deluxe” sets of two of their classic albums – Metal Box and Album – through a PledgeMusic campaign.
Both records are available on either CD or vinyl and include remastered versions of the albums, a live record, unreleased tracks, art prints or posters (depending on which version you get), B-sides, BBC session cuts, and a lot more.
Metal Box was first released in 1979 as three 12″ singles in one package (a literal circular metal box) that made up the entire album. Album came out seven years later (and, full disclosure, is one of my favorite albums of all time).
The signed versions of these deluxe sets sold out on September 20th, so don’t wait to get an unsigned copy if you want one.
I’d planned to make it to Chicago an hour before show time so I’d have a chance to meet with a friend and grab a leisurely bite to eat with her. That plan was dashed, however, when the Lowe’s appliance delivery service showed up nearly two hours late with our new washer and dryer. My wife had to come home from work early so I could leave for the show.
On the way to Chicago, I chose the slowest moving toll road booth lane nearly every time. Once on Sheffield and near the Vic Theatre, I thought my luck had taken a good turn when I found a sweet parking spot just a block from the venue. I then discovered it was only for people with the “383 permit sticker” on their cars. That wasn’t me, so I ended up parking eight blocks away. I walked to the venue and was turned away by security due to me having a digital voice recorder I’d brought in case I had a chance to interview Buzzcocks before (if the delivery drivers had arrived on time) or after the show. I had to walk back to my car to leave the recorder in it. Of course, there is a voice recorder app on my cell phone and every other cell phone in the building, but apparently security didn’t realize or care about that.
I managed to grab a sandwich before the show and breezed into security without issue. I walked in and immediately spotted the merchandise table. A wavering drunken man was looking at the shirts with his buddy. I heard the woman behind the table ask the drunk guy, “So you came to see a band you hate?”
“I didn’t always hate them,” he said. “I liked them before they sold out.”
I chuckled. Buzzcocks have never sold out, no matter how you define that.
I met up with my friend and we got a nice spot on the main floor about five bodies back from the front of the stage. Buzzcocks came out and immediately broke into one of their fastest, hardest hits – “Boredom.” The show was anything but boring, as it turned out.
Not boring whatsoever.
They tore through classic cuts like “Fast Cars” (a personal favorite), “Totally from the Heart,” and “I Don’t Mind,” and cuts from their newest album, The Way, like “People Are Strange Machines” and “Virtual Reality.” Unfortunately, some of these songs were drowned out by the bass mix being too loud, but the sound board guys corrected it by the time Buzzcocks got to “Why She’s a Girl from the Chainstore.”
Pete Shelley – still sounding great.Steve Diggle – still shredding great.
This was also about the time two girls tried to get a mosh pit going. They finally succeeded, bringing in two people, then four, then six, and finally up to about ten or twelve. This was about the time someone made a bad decision.
An old school British punk rocker, probably in his 60’s, decided to walk from one side of the main floor to the other, along the edge of the mosh pit, with a full cup of beer in each hand. He was surprised and angry when a young man in the pit accidentally bumped into him and caused him to spill half of each beer on his shirt. Again, why he thought something like this wouldn’t happen at a punk rock show is beyond me.
The old schooler was instantly pissed. He chugged one half-cup and poured the other on top of the young guy’s head (who thought that was great). The old schooler then stepped to the back of the pit and waited, right fist balled up and ready. This poor guy missed Buzzcocks tearing through fun cuts like “Last to Know,” “Unthinkable,” “Autonomy,” and “Breakdown” while he waited to get within arm’s reach of the young guy. He eventually slugged him (a glancing blow) and four of us pulled them apart. The old schooler kept yelling about his shirt being ruined as he walked away from the pit. Security never showed up. It was up to us to break it up and keep the pit civil. That’s a punk rock show for you.
Pure punk power.
I got in the pit for the finale, which included “Orgasm Addict,” “What Do I Get,” “Ever Fallen in Love?,” and “Harmony in My Head.” I was the oldest guy in there, and I was able to keep up with the young’uns.
Steve Diggle getting us to sing “Harmony in My Head” with him.
Buzzcocks were more than able to keep up with them, too. They played hard, fast, and loud. They reminded everyone there that they haven’t sold out. I hope that wavering drunk was paying attention.
Thanks, lads, for keeping it 100, as the young kids in the pit say.
Keep your mind open.
[Thanks to John for setting up my press credentials for the show.]
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Guitar / rock legend Jimmy Page has remastered the excellent double album The Complete BBC Sessions. The album drops tomorrow (September 16th) and has eight new tracks previously unreleased. The original BBC sessions album was released in 1997 as a two-disc set, but this newest edition will be three discs and contain rare versions of “You Shook Me,” “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” “Sunshine Woman,” “Communication Breakdown,” and “Dazed and Confused.” There’s also a 48-page book in the deluxe edition.
In even better news, Page has announced that he has a new album in the works. Look for it next year.
I’m a big fan of The Police. They were the first band I loved as a kid, and the first band who made me appreciate their craftsmanship. Plus, everyone forgets they were punks at the outset who played songs about their dickweed landlord, working dead-end jobs, and shagging blow-up dolls.
So I was intrigued when I learned Police frontman Sting is releasing his first rock / pop record, 57th and 9th, in a decade. Producer Martin Kierszenbaum claims Sting hasn’t “rocked like this since Synchronicity.”
The album drops on November 11th, and the deluxe editions come with three bonus tracks – one of which is a live version of the punk Police classic “Next to You.”
Keep your mind open.
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UK label Mega Dodohas released a rare recording of John Peel live session tracks from the obscure 1970’s psych band Big Grunt. Featuring members of the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, the World, and Sean Head Showband. These four tracks (one of which, “Cyborg Signal,” was never released until now) have rarely been heard since the early 1970’s, and Mega Dodo is releasing them for download and on limited edition 12″ yellow vinyl (only 500 copies!).
Keep your mind open.
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John Carpenter’sfirst Lost Themes album was a delight for fans of horror films, film scores, and progressive rock. Lost Themes II is another treat, as Carpenter, his son Cody, and his godson, Daniel Davies, return to bring us a record just as good as the first.
“Distant Dreams” could easily have been part of the Escape from New York soundtrack with its thumping bass. It’s an excellent live track as well. “White Pulse” has Carpenter and crew moving into industrial territory with heavy 50-gallon drum percussion and angelic synths.
I love the underlying menace of “Persia Rising.” The low-end keys bring to mind something crawling from a dark, wet tomb. I hope Carpenter was thinking of movies like Angel’s Revenge when he wrote “Angel’s Asylum,” because it would be a great song for any of those trashy 1980’s Angel movies. It’s a great mix of action themes, mystery themes, and even a little sci-fi thrown in for good measure.
“Hofner Dawn” and “Windy Death” are quiet, mellow affairs. “Hofner Dawn” borders on New Age with synths that evoke sunrise, while “Windy Death” is like the early winds that build into a tornado when the conditions are right. You know something bad is looming, but you don’t know when it will arrive.
It’s easy to think of “Dark Blues” as a lost cut from the Christine score, as it starts with a revving engine and a car driving away. The heavy rock guitar chords and the high-beam bright synths practically evoke Dean Cundey cinematography images in your head. The song also features some of Davies’ best guitar work on the album.
“Virtual Survivor” brings to mind someone trudging through a dystopian wasteland in search of a secret that will save humanity. Carpenter’s piano anchors the song while his son’s synths are perfect for a new sci-fi masterpiece.
It’s nice to hear one horror master acknowledge another horror legend, as Carpenter does on “Bela Lugosi.” The stabbing synths hit like a stake through the heart. The song has goth touches, of course, like the parts that sound like a child’s music box or others that remind you of a creepy circus sideshow. Think more “Black Cat” than “Dracula” and you’ll get the idea.
“Last Sunrise” oozes dread, even with the light piano chords throughout it. It would fit in well in the third act of that post-apocalyptic film I mentioned earlier. “Utopian Facade” is a nice follow-up to it. I can’t help but think it has some inspiration from his soundtrack for They Live, which is a film all about how our seemingly happy existence in the materialistic, consumer-driven economy is a facade. The Gary Numan-like synths blend well with the Vangelis-like electric piano. It’s a good ending to the record…unless you got the digital download that contains the bonus track of “Real Xeno.” It harkens back to his early horror work and seems to blend Halloween themes with In the Mouth of Madness ones. Synths buzz like horseflies while weird things whisper in the darkness…and wait until the drums and guitar step in to turn it into a song for a bad-ass antihero.
Lost Themes II is just as good as the first one, and better in some ways (a more natural flow to the tracks, it seems). It’s essential if you like Carpenter’s work.
Keep your mind open.
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I’ve been mildly obsessed with Gary Wilson’s music since seeing him perform at Levitation Chicago earlier this year. It’s to the point where I’m probably dressing up as some variation of him for Halloween. I’ve been awaiting his new record of avant-garde lounge music, Friday Night with Gary Wilson, for months.
It starts with the brief, chaotic, and weird “A Tree Cries in the Wind.” It’s some sort of tape-looped fever dream of a car crashing through a swanky bowling alley lounge and then into the recording studio next door. It moves into “I Want to Hold Your Hand Tonight,” which gets us back to familiar Gary Wilson material – A guy just wants the chance to treat his lady (the ever-mysterious Linda, in this case) right. “Every night is Friday night,” Wilson sings as he lays down peppy electric organ grooves. Every night can be Friday night with Wilson’s music if you open yourself up to it.
Wilson tells Linda “I’m Going to Take You to a Thousand Dreams,” including flying to the moon, walking through the park, and making sweet love to the sound of a rather hot guitar solo. “You’re the Coolest Girl Tonight” isn’t about a girl who’s cool as in Miles Davis / Fonzie / Joe Cool-type of cool. It’s about a girl who’s cold to everyone around her, but Wilson can’t resist her beauty and the chance to thaw out this fine lady and show her a good time.
Gary Wilson’s Fridays aren’t always smooth, however. “Sick Trip on Friday Night” has him too timid to talk to Linda, even though he knows he’s the right guy for her. He goes through it every weekend. The quirky synths on it bounce like the thoughts and dreams in his head.
“Yeah, let’s swing,” says Wilson at the beginning of “We’ll Dance into the Stars.” Dancing on the moon and through the galaxy is a common theme on the record, and this groovy lounge cut is perfect for a slow dance (or an all-skate) aboard your favorite starcruiser.
Wilson’s obsession with Linda continues on “Like a Scene from a Movie Long Gone.” It even starts with the lyric, “Gary loves Linda.” Wilson sings about himself in the third person and then in the first, so you’re never sure how much of his songs are fantasies and how much is something that really happened to him. The song has some of his best electric piano work on the record.
“The Mermaid Song” is about a dream in which a mermaid sings for Wilson from the ocean, possibly luring him to either the love of his life or his doom. Wilson drops Linda, Cindy, and Cheryl’s names, but is any of them the mermaid, or is the mermaid a composite of all of them? Wilson’s synth work on it is outstanding. Beck wishes he had grooves this good.
The drums on “Soon I’ll Be Kissing Sandy” almost sound reversed, but the song is too playful to be weird. “Linda” returns after that, with some nice strings accompanying her. Wilson name checks his band (the Blind Dates) in it, and even one of his best hits, “Linda Wants to Be Alone,” in it. The groove on this is so sick that it needs antibiotics.
Even a song with such a blue title as “You Made Me Feel My Misery” can’t avoid Wilson’s ultra-lounge grooves. Wilson pines for a lost love, even though the relationship was miserable. “I Thought of You Last Night” is a weird mix of crowd noise, ambient piano, drunk synths, and something a bit nightmarish. It quickly fades into “I’ll Make You My Dream Girl,” which makes me wonder about Wilson’s obsession with the girl mentioned in the song.
The album ends with “Sometimes I Cry Late at Night,” an instrumental that showcases what a damn good pianist Wilson is. His skills are easy to miss in many of his songs as you listen to his quirky lyrics or dance to his lounge grooves, but Wilson is a fine jazz player who can put it down with the best of them.
You could spend your Friday night watching bad TV and eating those leftover chicken wings, or you could spend it with Gary Wilson, the Blind Dates, Linda, Sandy, Cheryl, Cindy, and a bunch of other fine ladies. I know what I’d pick.
Keep your mind open.
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Members of the psychedelic pop group Pink Floyd. From left to right, Roger Waters, Nick Mason, Syd Barrett and Rick Wright. (Photo by Keystone Features/Getty Images)
Start your Christmas wish list now because Pink Floyd is set to release The Early Years 1965-1972 this November – a 27-disc box set covering not only albums like Atom Heart Mother and Ummagumma, but also rare BBC sessions, unreleased studio sessions, remastered singles, unreleased video, and over seven hours alone of unreleased live audio tracks.
They also plan to release a two-disc (and far more affordable) set called The Early Years – Cre/ation. This stuff is gold if you’re a fan of Pink Floyd, classic rock, prog rock, or psychedelic rock.
Keep your mind open.
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Electro and trip-hop legends Massive Attack have released two new singles this week – “The Spoils” (which isn’t yet available in the U.S.) and “Come Near Me” (teaming with Ghostpoet on that one). “Come Near Me” is, no surprise, excellent and both tracks hopefully portend a full-length album later this year.
Keep your mind open.
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