BROADCAST #20
AIR DATE: 05-15-07

Fanatics! I am amazed I am able to even stand up after three nights of Dinosaur Jr. at the Troubadour here in Los Angeles. The band played great. In A Jar, The Wagon, Freak Scene, Bulbs Of Passion, Forget The Swan, tracks from the new album Beyond, etc. ETC.!!! Lou, Murph and J all played great and it seems that all had a great time. Still reeling from it all, I had to play a little Dinosaur Jr. tonight to even out a little. Abe Vigoda will be playing at the Bark Bark Bark CD release at The Smell on the 16th and also XBXRX is at The Smell on the 20th along with Abe Vigoda. I have not seen them play in awhile, looking forward to seeing them Sunday if I can. I hope you enjoyed tonight’s show. Like I said tonight, I already have next week’s all ready to go and it’s going to be a good one, no, make that a great one! Until next week you Fanatics, STAY FANATIC!!! --Henry

For you Fanatics who can’t live without hearing this show again or if the original broadcast time is too hard on your sleep cycle here’s the re-broadcast schedule: USA: Fridays: 0200 – 0400 hrs. PST / UK: Fridays: 1000 hrs. – 1200 hrs. / Continental Europe: Fridays 1100 hrs. – 1300 hrs. / Australia: Fridays 2100 hrs. – 2300 hrs.

The Undertones - Here Comes the Summer: From The Undertones on Ryko. I got this many years ago at the Tower Records in Boston and I am sure there is a more in-depth series of Undertones releases at this point. I tried to see these guys once at a place called The Bayou in DC. I didn’t get a ticket in advance and it was sold out when I got there. I sat on the curb and tried to listen outside and actually fell asleep for awhile. It wasn’t the music that was making me tired, it was the fact that I had just gotten off work and did a lot of walking to get there. With the weather starting to get hotted up, I figured this was a good song to start our show with.

The Fall – Mother-Sister: Hey, look! It’s a Fall track! This is from Live The Witch Trials album released 03-19-79. this was the band’s first album and it’s a great start. They followed up quickly, in October of the same year with the Dragnet album. The early Fall albums are incredible, there’s nothing like them. By November of 1980 they had also released Totale’s Turns (It’s Now Or Never) and Grotesque, all of them are must-haves. It’s great to hear Mark E Smith have so much energy and intensity. In those days, he had it to burn. I have seen my future and it says that I will be playing The Fall a lot this summer! Here’s a site where you can get some information on this band: http://www.visi.com/fall/

Rites of Spring – Theme: From the End On End album. One of the finest albums Dischord ever released. This is one of my favorite summer records. I can listen to this one any time but I think it’s even better when it heats up. This band was Guy Picciotto and Brendan who later were half of Fugazi, Eddie Janney of The Untouchables, One Last Wish, The Brief Weeds and Mike Fellows on bass. This album was re-mastered a few years ago and sounds better than ever. The Dischord label has been slowly remastering their catalog and I think the remasters are better every time. The Fugazi remasters are ridiculous. I think Red Medicine just came out remastered, that’s a keeper for sure. Anyway, Rites didn’t play many shows and much to my regret, I never saw them. I have some live tapes and it sounds like some people got their lives changed at those shows. I will have to bring in the live version of Drink Deep where everyone is singing along, it’s amazing. Dischord has a site where you can check out the bands and get the records really cheap. The ROS CD comes with their EP as well so it’s a good, long playing deal. http://www.dischord.com/

The Clash - I'm Not Down: I have been playing a lot of Clash from the 1st album but leaving out later tracks. Well, here’s a track from the London Calling album. This is a great one. I am still buzzing from meeting Paul Simonon the other day. If you want to get deeper into this album, you should check out the deluxe version that contains The Vanilla Tapes which is demos and practice work-ups of London Calling-era stuff. Worth checking out for sure. I miss these guys a lot. I was always hoping they would all get onstage again and do at least one show for one of these massive save the world kind of concerts. How hard would people freak out when they saw those faces up there? It makes me mad just thinking about what could have been.

Dinosaur Jr. - In A Jar: From the You're Living All Over Me CD. I know we have been playing a lot of Dinosaur Jr. lately and I don’t think that’s making any of you Fanatics all that mad but we have been hitting the new album pretty hard so tonight, we go back to one of the band’s older tracks. Get ready, get set you LA based Fanatics! Dinosaur Jr. will be leveling the Troubadour for three nights later this week. All you need to do is go the Troubadour’s site for information. The band’s new album Beyond is a monster record. I have not gotten my LP version yet but I will. Can’t wait to hear that one in analog!

Discharge - Realities Of War: From the Why CD. I have been playing this band a lot lately, haven’t I? They’re short so even if you don’t like them, you aren’t suffering for long. I have been listening to this band ever since I heard their first single in 1980 or whenever it was I finally got to it. They were like Motorhead, they killed, had a thing and a form that they kind of always followed, for awhile at least. The later stuff is different and not bad but there is something really great about all the records up to Why, they are all pure, rippin’ kill. It’s funny, the older I get, the more I like them. You might want to check out the CD that has all their singles, that’s a good one to start with.

Bad Brains - Pay To Cum (Don Z Mix): You have probably heard this track on the amazing Black Dots CD on Caroline. You have perhaps heard this song before but I doubt you have heard this exact mix and that’s why I played it tonight. This is a mix that Don Zientara of Inner Ear Studios did many years ago. I like it a little more than the one on Black Dots, it’s a little heavier and reminds me more of the original mix of this tape I heard back in 1979 right after the band had made the tape in August of that year at Don’s studio. It’s just another take on a song that you know so well. I only wish the band out this out as an album right after they made it, had they done so, they would have altered the course of the Independent music scene in America and perhaps some other places as well. The album is in fact, that good. There’s a good chance you will have your chance to check out the Bad Brains this summer as they will no doubt hit the stage here and there in support of their new album Build A Nation. I have played it a few times and it’s pretty good, I am sure many a punter will find it to be to their liking. The Bad Brains are one of the more frustrating bands out there. They are on again, off again and not always well organized and at the same time, one of the most potent bands there ever was. I am so glad I saw what I saw when I saw it. They are a DC band all the way.

Soccer Team - Cavity Called Home: From the self-titled CD on Dischord. I live this album. I looked in the index of all the songs we have listened to this year and noticed that we have not drawn anything from this album yet this year. I gave you a little break from this album and now it’s time to get back into it. I play this one all the time. Soccer Team is Ryan Nelson on drums, vocals and guitar and Melissa Quinley on bass and vocals. Ryan has done some great work with the Beauty Pill and The Routineers. I have never seen The Beauty Pill but I saw The Routineers a couple of summers ago and they were fantastic. I don’t know anything about Melissa’s musical past. This is one of the smartest and coolest records on Dischord I think. http://www.dischord.com/

Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Child (Slight Return): From the Live At The Isle Of Fehmarn CD on Dagger Records. This show, on 09-06-70, was the last time Jimi Hendrix took the stage. 12 days later, he was dead. There has been some speculation as to why the young Jimi died. Some say suicide, I say that’s not true. I think it was an accident. If you listen to the intensity of his playing here, it’s hard to think that he wanted to leave for good. There’s some other versions of this show floating around in the bootleg world. I have a few of them but I didn’t listen to them to see if I could have perhaps provided a cleaner version. This one sounds good and it’s released by the Hendrix estate. If you were curious about the Dagger Records line, it’s very cool, it’s mail order only rare Hendrix stuff. I have all 9 Dagger CD releases and all of them are worth checking out. Let me see if I can find that address for you, here you are: http://www.daggerrecords.com/.

Joe Lally - Factory Warranty: Have you checked out the Dischord tours page and seen the places Joe Fugazi has been?! The man is live and on the move! Tonight’s track is from the There To Here album, Joe’s solo album on Dischord. We got to one or two tracks this year and it’s time to dip in once again. There’s some serious guests on this album, Joe has some major talent at his disposal, being a DC musician and all. This is a great album, Dischord is on a serious roll at the moment, great records coming out of there. Next week, we’ll get into the new Antelope album Reflector. That’s another great DC band.

Family Fodder - Film Music: From the Savoir Faire best-of CD. I am really liking this CD. I am sorry I didn’t find out about this band many years ago. I would have been a fan back then. The band’s stuff isn’t all that easy to find. I managed to find their singles, most of which are on the best of. I have not heard their albums though, they are quite hard to locate. The band makes really smart pop/post-punk music with cool gal vocals. If you see the best-of at a good price, you should check it out. I wish they would re-issue this stuff, I hate it when records go out of print. I would like to hear all their songs some time.

Flin Flon - Leading Tickles: From one of my favorite Teenbeat releases, Flon Flon’s Boo Boo album. It’s been awhile since I’ve played this band. When I was in NYC recently, I got an e-mail from the band’s bass player Nattles. She came to one of the shows and I got to meet her, that was cool. Also on that trip, I met Andy Comer of Tel Aviv and Mosaics. Pretty cool Teenbeat aspect to my trip east. Flin Flon is one of my favorite warm weather bands and the heat is here so it’s time to get back Flin Flon. I like all their albums. You can find them all at http://www.teenbeatrecords.com/.

UK Subs - Keep On Running / Perfect Girl: From The Singles 1978-1982 CD. One of my favorite UK Subs singles ever. This was released in April of 1981. There are two versions of the single. There is the two song version that we played tonight and there’s an EP version that includes the song Ice Age and Party In Paris sung in French! The version of Ice Age is different than the one that showed up on the Endangered Species album. The version on the single is way better I think and it’s also one of my favorite Subs songs of all time. The single we played tonight was a revelation to me when I heard it. I played the record over and over. It sounded nothing like any of their songs that came before it. It’s like they had turned a corner in their song writing and had broken through to a whole new thing. The band recorded the Endangered Species album in late summer of this year, it’s a good one but I must say, I was hoping for more songs like these two.

Wire - Map Ref. 41ºN 93ºW: From Wire’s 3rd album, 154, the title which I read, is in reference to the number of shows at the time. While it’s not my favorite of the band’s first three albums, Pink Flag and Chairs Missing being the first two, it is perhaps of the three, the band’s most interesting and deserves great consideration. I think these three albums are some of the best of the whole Punk / Post-Punk shooting match. Pink Flag is a masterpiece of minimalism, Chairs Missing, my personal favorite shows the band evolving and showing that they had a lot more under the hood than what was contained on the previous album. It’s 154 that shows the band starting to fragment somewhat, with single writer contributions making up a little more than half of the album. This makes the record go in different directions almost track-to-track. It’s good listening but not as much a cohesive band effort as they previous two. I imagine many of you Fanatics are familiar with this album, if not, you need this one I think.

Birthday Party - Kiss Me Black: From the Junkyard album. This is an amazing album, as if I had to tell you that. I remember once asking Nick Cave if they ever did this song live and he said they never did. I have heard many BP live tapes and have never heard Kiss Me Black done live. I remember this song really jumping out from all the rest. It’s a knockout album but this song is special, it would have been the perfect b-side. Nick’s scattered vocals and the start-stop tempo of the song are like an epileptic fit caught on tape. There are so many songs from this album we could have played that would have been fine, Dim Locator, She’s Hit, Hamlet, etc. ETC!!

The Buzzcocks - You Tear Me Up: Have we listened to The Buzzcocks yet on our show? If not, we should get to them. Wait, oh. Ok, the band’s first album on United Artists was Another Music in Different Kitchen and that’s where we got tonight’s track. This is one of my favorite albums of all time. To me, it is a perfect album. We did an hour of Buzzcocks music on our show last summer and I would love to do it all over again if nothing more than to have the fun of writing about them for a few inspired nights. We are going to get into the band’s 3rd and very good album A Different Kind Of Tension later on in the year so I am warning you now. Anyway, this first album. Howard Devoto had left the vocal position to form the band Magazine and so Pete Shelley took over and The Buzzcocks that most of us have come to know and love came to be. All that UA-era Buzzcocks stuff is great, all if it is desert island listening to me.

Wolf Eyes / Smegma - Track 04: I got this CD, The Beast because I was interested in hearing more Wolf Eyes stuff. I don’t know much about Smegma besides they have been around a long time. I like this record a lot. I know I have only heard a fraction of the Wolf Eyes stuff that’s out there and am always interested to hear more. That’s a great group.

Frank Zappa – Valarie: The 2nd time we have gone to Burnt Weeny Sandwich album for a track. This is the only Zappa album I have although it’s not the only Zappa album I like. I had a few of his records in high school and over the years, I have heard a lot of them and really liked them but don’t know if I would be inspired to listen to them often enough to go to the record store and drag them back. I will be borrowing Engineer X’s copy of the Mystery Disc CD for a track in the weeks upcoming. I know there are some serious Zappa Fanatics out there. I am a respectful fan and really bummed when he died. He was young and such an intelligent, talented and funny man it was a bad loss to music. The Ryko label has released Zappa’s every breath it seems. That must be great for Zappa Fanatics.

Mohammed 'Jimmy' Mohammed - Yeheywete Heywet: This is from the Ethiopiques 2 CD. What a great series. I am waiting on his solo CD Takkabel to arrive. Ian played me a track from it the other night. Ian and Amy were on tour and did shows with him and Ian actually played onstage with him. Pretty cool. He became blind as a child and spent his life blind. I believe Ian said that Jimmy recently passed away although I can’t find any information on that.

The Evens - You Fell Down: I hope I get a chance to get to DC this July for The Evens show at Fort Reno. There’s a summer series of band shows at Fort Reno all summer and for the last few years, I have been getting out there to see some shows. I have seen The Evens there once. I didn’t get to the show last year because I was in Canada working on a film but this year, I might be able to make it out there. This track is from the band’s new album, Get Evens. The band just returned from a tour that included Brazil, Argentina and Chile. That pretty cool. Not as cool to be traveling through Brazil during the middle of airport workers strikes. Ian said they were sitting in planes on the ground for hours, still the shows went well so that’s cool. I saw the band play twice this year and am hoping to get some more shows of theirs under my belt before 2008.

Empire – Today: We have checked out Empire a few times on our show. For the few of you who have not heard of this band, it’s basically Mark Laff and Bob “Derwood” Andrews of Generation X. Right after the Valley Of The Dolls album, the two of them left and formed Empire. One album and a few shows later, Empire was gone. Their album, Expensive Sound was a record that many of the DC bands checked out and drew inspiration from. My manager is British and saw Empire play, I think he’s the only one I know who ever saw them. The record came out on CD a few years ago but the label doesn’t really have it together and has no real distribution. Dischord carries the title and you get it from them very easily and I recommend it. Really interesting record and a cool piece of Punk / Post-Punk history. This is one of those records that I wait until the warm months to play. For some reason, it doesn’t work as well in the winter.

Erase Errata - Giant Hans: From the Nightlife CD. This is the 2nd time we have listened to this band on our show. You might remember that we listened to their song Rider last year on Broadcast #48. I know I need to do some catching up on this band. I only have this one record and I only have it because someone kindly gave it to me. I really liked it when I heard it. I never wonder why it takes me so long to get to good bands that have been around for some time. I am quite often one of the last to know. I am used to it by now. Engineer X has been very helpful to lead me by my withered paw to new music. I just got the band’s album Other Animals and will check it out soon.

Eno – Totalled (I'll Come Running (To Tie Your Shoe)): Another track from the Eno Peel Session 03-05-74 that I downloaded from The Perfumed Garden site: http://www.theperfumedgarden.blogspot.com/. It is listed as Totalled but many of us know the song as I’ll Come Running (To Tie Your Shoe), found on the Another Green World album. Recently we listened to the Peel version of Baby’s On Fire, also downloaded from this site. Now that you have the address, you can do it too!

XBXRX - The End of Quitting: Are we playing XBXRX again?! I think we are! This is from the Sixth In Sixes CD. I will get something from the new album Wars on the show soon. That’s a good record too, I played it very loud the other night and I will perhaps live an extra five years for having done so. I am excited to play their stuff on our show, to me, XBXRX is what music is all about, these guy rip it ever time. As long as there are bands like this one around, we’ll always have great music to check out. The band is coming to LA to play at The Smell on the 20th of this month. Should be great. I will be working all day that day and will do my best to get to the show after I get off the set. One minor complaint about the band and it’s really not a knock against the band but some of their albums are out of print and they should be available, Love Songs For The Blind and Gop Ist Minee are hard to find and they shouldn’t be they are really cool. I hope they put them out again. XBXRX shreds! I can’t believe I just wrote that.