HARMONY IN MY HEAD

BROADCAST #44
AIR DATE: 10-31-06

     I hope you enjoyed tonight’s broadcast. Perhaps you are listening to this one re-broadcast as you probably had better things to do than hunker down by the radio on this night. We taped this one last week as Engineer X has some event he has to go to tonight. I am sorry it couldn’t have been live at it’s always the best time doing this thing live with you all but this will have to do.
     So, tonight, I basically have the “night off” from the show. Every Halloween, I always think of one Halloween night in particular. It was the Halloween night of 1980. It was the last Halloween before I joined Black Flag. If you look in the opening pages of my book, Get In The Van you’ll see a photograph of a small group of people gathered together. If you look closely, you will notice members of The Teen Idles, Minor Threat, The Slickee Boys and others. This was our small hometown scene. Soon after, it got bigger. A year later, it was a completely different scene and the venue we were standing in front of where the Teen Idles were playing in that night would have needed at least three times the size to supply the demand for tickets for the same show. The pre-explosion months were an interesting time for music and that small scene. I’m not saying it wasn’t any good after the whole thing got bigger but it certainly was different. Halloween 1981 found me on the West Coast playing a show in San Francisco in Black Flag. The days between those two Halloweens put me through a lot of changes. Anyway, here is some information on the songs we heard tonight. Stay Fanatic! --Henry
For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200 – 0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour.

The Misfits – Halloween I: What, there’s any other song we could possibly consider starting this broadcast off with? I think not! The exquisite brutality of The Misfits for Halloween. As you Fanatics remember, we played this track not a few weeks ago during our Misfits 25 song marathon. It would have been easy to have done an hour of Misfits for this occasion but I decided should spread ourselves thin as we are wont to do. I don’t think there’s anything I can say about this track that hasn’t been said and those of you who have played this track on your own have come to the conclusion that The Misfits are one of the great bands of all time.

The Damned - Love Song / Noise, Noise, Noise / Suicide: Our EP of the week is The Damned’s Love Song EP. I remember when this came out. It was a revelation. All we had up to that point was the first two albums pretty much. I wasn’t all that aware of what had been happening with the band in between the time they released Music For Pleasure and Love Song. After the band had released MFP, they were dropped from Stiff and basically fell apart. Luck would have it they reformed with a different line-up. Captain Sensible went from bass to guitar and Alister “Algy” Ward joined the band on bass. This was the start of something good. This is the line-up that brought out the very fine Machine Gun Etiquette album and some great singles. Talk about back with a bang! Noise, Noise, Noise is one of my favorite anthems and Suicide is one of the best songs the band ever wrote, period. I saw them play this one summer 1979. I play the MGE album all the time. I know there’s a lot of music out there and as Fanatics, we try to get to as much music as we can but there’s some albums that inspire Fanatic attention and this is one of those for me. I have a CD I made of the album and all the singles off vinyl and I listen to that one frequently. If you don’t have this album, the 25 Year Anniversary Edition has been released and it’s great. The three tracks you heard here are included. We would be remiss if we didn’t list all the different versions of the EP that were released as it is some interesting information. The Damned are quite the collector’s band, releasing different picture sleeves in different territories and sending collectors scouring far and wide. Love Song had a few different sleeves. Here’s a list as close as I can get it.

UK: Chiswick released the single with four different sleeves, each with a band member’s portrait. Initial pressings were in red vinyl. I am not sure how many of the red ones were pressed up but I still see them now and then but not as often as I used to. After the red copies sold out, the singles came out in black vinyl.

France: A great sleeve with all four of the portraits on the front. This one is not easy to find and often expensive when you do. I have no idea how many were pressed. On Chiswick.

Holland: No picture, just a graphic but still a nice one. This one, like Dutch and also Belgian pressings of anything Punk, hard to find. I don’t think many were ever pressed in these territories, making them quite rare. Dutch and Belgian singles of the Damned, Buzzcocks and others like The Rezillos are some of the rarest. On Chiswick.

Germany: In my opinion, the coolest looking of the lot. Great portrait shot of the whole band. This one is rare but turns up on EBay with fair frequency, perhaps because Germany is a large market.

Then, when the single was re-released on Big Beat in 1982, the whole thing started over again, this time it was only three different sleeves, I guess Algy wasn’t included as he was no longer in the band. This time around the initial copies were pressed in blue. I think I have a couple of them but have never seen the need to look for them. It is possible that there’s test pressings and perhaps even acetates of this record about, there are some serious collectors of this band. I have never seen test pressings or acetates listed but it’s quite possible. Had enough?! Ok, let’s move on.

Mercyful Fate – Evil: Come on! King Diamond is the most Satanic man on the planet. He’s more Satanic than Dick Cheney drunk on a gallon of Condoleezza Rice’s urine! Why, he’s so damn devilish he’s going to tour with Michael Jackson and Mark Foley! This is from the concept album Melissa. I saw him on MTV one time with his make up on and it was too much. I became a fan on the spot. I still have to get some of the King Diamond solo stuff. If it’s nearly as great as this track is, then it’s a must-have. They’ll be playing this album on the day American Forces invade Iran. Look out Mahmoud, the Great Satan is gonna break your door down!

The Fall - Lucifer Over Lancashire: As we usually get to a track by The Fall, I knew exactly which one we were going to be playing tonight. Tonight’s Fall track is a b-side, sharing a 12” on Beggar’s Banquet released 09-01-86 with two other songs, Mr. Pharmacist and Auto Tech Pilot. Mr. P seems to be a song The Fall pulls out frequently. Perhaps it’s an easy one for MES to get through when he’s in one of his altered states that he seems to be in a lot these days. You’re probably wondering at this point, if there’s a website for this Manchester UK band were you, The Fanatic, can find a seemingly endless amount of information. I knew it. Look no further, go here: http://www.visi.com/fall/.

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Up Jumped The Devil: From the Tender Prey album, released 1988. I remember when this album came out. What a great piece of work this one is. I saw this tour at least twice that year. I remember asking Bad Seed Mick Harvey if the band ever played this song live and he said no and said something about the piano part and playing it live being problematic, I honeslty can’t remember the particulars. The TP album is good all the way through. This is the one with Mercy Seat and Deanna on it. Easily one of my favorite Nick Cave albums.

Robert Johnson - Me And The Devil Blues: We can’t have an evil show without Satan’s favorite musician, Robert Johnson, the man who legend says, traded his soul to the Devil for some tasty licks. I got my Robert Johnson albums in the 80’s. I had no money at the time and was buying books and Blues albums whenever I had a few dollars here and there. We were always on tour in those days and book and record stores still had really good stuff in them. Thanks to Barnes and Nobel, EBay, etc., most places are either gone or so picked over, you’ll rarely find anything rare at this point. Back in those days, you could walk out of a place with some real treasures for very little money. I started checking out Blues records, as many as I could get my ears around. Being in my early 20’s and listening to Robert Johnson’s music was a perfect combination. If you have not, you should check out the great documentary Searching For Robert Johnson. It really brings the man to life. As you know, Johnson was a bit of an enigma. There’s only a few recordings, two pictures and a lot of tall tales. A few different grave sites, etc. As far as great music, it’s not hype. He was great, scary great.

Daniel Johnston - Don't Play Cards With Satan: From the vastly talented, prolific, one man trauma unit, whose songs of pain and unrequited love are so nakedly honest and laid bare, you think you’re listening to a man with very little time. The world is finally catching up with Mr. Johnston but a lot of you Fanatics know that he’s been making great music for decades. In my opinion, he doesn’t even need the music, he could make it on the strength of his drawings which are incredible. Want to see more? http://www.hihowareyou.com/

Wesley Willis - Vampire Bat: This is one of my favorite Wesley songs. I truly miss Wes. I feel very lucky that I got to hang out with him all the times I did. I have a ton of his records, his art is on my walls and he once graced my office with his presence and signed up a lot of my CDs. I did some of the liner notes for his last album that Jello put out on Alternative Tentacles. He was one of the true believers of the power of Rock and Roll. Wesley was a mountain of a man a Superstar of stage and studio. I don’t think any of his self-released CDs are still in print. Thankfully Jello Biafra has kept his very cool series of WW in print. One of my favorite Wesley songs, Casper, The Homosexual Friendly Ghost would be so perfect for our show but WW uses some language that the FCC and no doubt many Americans would find objectionable. Torturing detainees ok, getting American kids killed every day in Iraq, no problem. Letting countless thousands of Americans twist in the wind post Katrina, absolutely. Some naughty words? No no no. “Men who drop fire on people aren’t allowed to write ‘fuck’ on their airplanes, because it’s obscene!”

Hank Williams - The Devil's Train: You need Hank Williams in your life. At least a greatest hits CD. Also, the great Morgan Neville documentary Hank Williams: Honky Tonk Blues should be checked out, as all Morgan’s docs. should be. Hank had a hard life. It’s all in the music. One of the most transparent vocalists of all the time.

Gun Club - A Devil In The Woods: Jeffery Lee Pierce was one of the great bluesmen of Los Angeles CA. This track is taken from the band’s 2nd album Miami. If you consider that Gun Club was a Los Angeles area band and their peers were the cream of the crop LA Punk scene, it makes their music all the more amazing. One of the things that sets Jeffrey apart from most band and musicians is the man had a vision. He didn’t have a career in music. He had a life in music. His songs are revelatory, he was a man who traveled and saw. There’s something very dark in his music. When I think of The Gun Club, I always think of Robert Johnson. I am listening to Miami as I write this and it’s such a hell bound record. Jeffrey is one of the reasons I can be so fucking combative on the topic of music and that there’s so much run-of-the-mill material that gets lauded. It’s because I use artists like Jeffrey Lee Pierce as a litmus test against the rest.

Diamanda Galás - I Wake Up And I See The Face Of The Devil (I): I have seen Diamanda perform quite a few times and it’s always the most intense live experience I have as an audience member that year. I have only seen her when she is on her own with no piano or other instrumentation, just her voice and processing. She puts me through a lot when I see her perform. I have no idea what she puts herself though to reach that level of intensity. This track is from the Plague Mass album that was recorded in 1990. I have never heard a voice and a talent anywhere near hers. We have been pals for many years now. It’s been awhile since I’ve seen her.

Dio - Evil Eyes: Well, you know, some eyes are evil. Who has the courage and the skill to approach this topic in song? There’s only one who has the power, the intensity, the range, the voice of ringing thunder. That’s right, The Dio. Everyone likes The Dio. Even people who say they don’t, even those who have never even heard of The Dio. At first, being an Ozzy loyalist, I was not able to accept The Dio into my life. In the Black Flag van, we listened to The Dio all the time and it wasn’t long until I saw the light and became a follower of The Dio. I have all albums of The Dio, including his Rainbow and Elf records. I have written The Dio a fan letter, to which he never replied. No matter, I know he has better things to do than to write back to me. In this song, The Dio asks the listener a very pressing and direct question: “Do you ever think about the way I caught the rainbow?” That’s some pretty heavy shit. He also reassures us all that, “I’ll be there when fire makes you dance.” The Dio knows whether you’ve been naughty or nice. Do you know if you’re going to Heaven or Hell? No you don’t. You don’t know a damn thing. Does anyone know? Well, yeah. The Dio. He knows a lot of things. Keep that in mind, that’s all I’m saying. That’s why The Dio makes albums, to warn us, to teach us and to save us all. Look out!

Henry Williams/Allan Lovelace/George Roberts - Mureau Mureau The Devil: This CD, Peter Was A Fisherman: The 1939 Trinidad Field Recordings Of Melville And Frances Herskovits, V. 1 documents some of the hundreds of songs anthropologists Melville and Frances Herskovits recorded in the summer of 1939 in Trinidad. We listen to a lot of field recordings on our show because I think there is a level of purity from these recordings that cannot be matched. Most if not almost all of the musicians documented in these vintage field recordings brought back from what Mark Twain called “The Territory” by heroes like John and Alan Lomax and Harry Oster, give us a rare treat: music made without thought of chart success, career in the music business or a Rock and Roll lifestyle. I did a little reading up on Melville Jean Herskovits and the more I read, the more there was to like. Mr. H was a historian, a culturalist and advocate for a better understanding of the African continent. He was a tireless traveler and researcher. The Rounder Records site says that this is the first volume of the Herskovits recordings to be released but seeing how long ago this came out and the fact that I cannot find a volume 2 to this anywhere, I wonder if we’ll ever have a chance to hear more of the 352 songs that were recorded. Like a lot of field recordings, there’s not a great deal of documentation on the players themselves. I don’t know anything about who is playing this short but great song. This is recommended listening and Rounder is one of the great labels that has the guts to release stuff like this. No one’s getting rich selling records like this one. They recently released an upgraded version of Jelly Roll Morton’s Library of Congress Recordings. I have an older set of this stuff and it’s amazing. I will get some JRM on the show sooner than later, you’re in for a real treat with that guy.

Thor - Start Raising Hell: Raise Hell?! Why, I know just the man to do it, Hell raiser and pal of mine, The Metal Avenger—Thor! You’ve seen him bend iron bars and burst hot water bottles but have you heard him rock?! You have if you listen to this show! This is perfect Halloween fare. This just in. NO WAY!!! I just went online to check and see if by chance the gods of Metal chose to shine on me and release Thor’s film Rock And Roll Nightmare. LOW AND BE-FUCKING-HOLD it is on DVD!!!! As well as the soundtrack! It’s winging it’s way to me now! By Thor’s might it flies! Have you seen this film?! The epic battle between The Light and The Dark?! A plastic monster vs. Thor?! The drama, the horror, the hairspray! I am beyond stoked!
Slayer - Hell Awaits: Well it does! There’s no way we’re getting out of this one alive without some Slayer. I wonder what they’re doing tonight? Lynn Cheney on line one!

The Mad – The Hell: We’ve played The Mad before. I was lucky enough to see them play many years ago. The singer, Screaming Mad George is now a serious special effects guy now. The two singles of The Mad, both on Disgusting Records, are rare as hell:
Eyeball / I Hate Music Disgusting Records 1978
Fried Egg / The Hell / Disgusting - Disgusting Records 1979
Luckily for the rest of the world who are not one of the 500 or less who own one of these singles, as they were only made in editions of 500, there is a CD of all this stuff out of Japan called We Love Noize. I found mine on Amazon.com. Took awhile to get to me but it got to me and this is what we took the track from tonight.

Rev. A. W. Nix - Black Diamond Express To Hell Part 5: We must include a cautionary tale in our Halloween set. This is the fiery Reverend Nix warning you all that if you keep up your wanton ways of wine, wimmin and song, you will BURN!! I think this is at least the 3rd time we’ve played the good Reverend. I was at Ray’s Jazz in London many years ago and one of the very knowledgeable staffers there who know I’m an easy sell as well as knowing what I like, played me a track from this CD The Reverend A.W. Nix Vol. 2 on Document.

James Brown – Hell: From the album of the same name. Don’t get mad at this opinion, it’s just an opinion: The Hell album is the last of the peak releases of James Brown. These, to me are his most monster releases of his Hard Funk stage:
     Hot Pants
     Revolution Of The Mind: Live At The Apollo Vol. 3
     There It Is
     Get On The Good Foot
     Black Caesar
     Slaughter's Big Rip-Off
     The Payback
     Hell
After that, it was his disco stuff that’s nowhere near as amazing as the above, which, if you’re a JB Fanatic, you have to admit, are pretty damn bomb-proof. I have a photo of the two of us, it’s pretty cool. I should find a way to put that one up on the site.

The Telephone Company - Baby Halloween: From the dynamic duo whose names I don’t know. I know they’re from Austin Texas, they have a CD out on Business Deal Records called The King’s Surprise? and this will be the 2nd time we will have listened to them. Past that, I don’t know anything and from the looks of their website, that seems to be the way they like it. http://telephonecompanymusic.com/

The Misfits - Halloween II: A perfect way to close our show with the equally killer Misfits track Halloween II, bookending tonight’s Halloween broadcast.