BROADCAST #50
AIR DATE: 12-12-06

Alright Fanatics, this is the last live show for a few weeks. I will be heading out on a USO tour in a few days and will detail the locations in the broadcasts to come. Over the last few weeks, Engineer X and I have put together some really good shows for you in anticipation of the travel I have coming up. This The Sisterhood Of Convoluted Thinkers is a very interesting band and I have been checking them out over the last couple of weeks. I hope you found them interesting as well. I am trying to take advantage of the fact The Fall has done so many covers by pairing an older version of the song with theirs for your assessment and enjoyment. I hope you liked tonight’s show. Please stay tuned for the upcoming shows as I think we have some really good sets coming up. Thanks for tuning in and 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.

Tralala - The Girls Say: We’re kinda going backwards with this band’s discography. A few broadcasts ago, we listened to something from their new album Is That The Tralala. This is from their first album, which is self-titled. If you heard the track, you heard what you heard, if you’re just reading this and need a description, it’s not rocket science, what they’re doing but it’s cool. It’s Ramones feel rock with four gals up front with three guys backing it up. It’s good. I think the new album is better than the first and I am interested in seeing if they have the ambition and interest to take it anywhere farther than these records as they are not all that far apart. This is my favorite song on the album. Whenever I listen to them, I think of all the things could be done in the production to make it more than what it is here. If you liked what you heard, the albums are definitely worth checking out. http://www.tralalatheband.com/home.html

The Sisterhood Of Convoluted Thinkers - Ramanhat Nbaddah: I got into this band via Teenbeat. As I have said a million times, I am very taken with the idea of label identity. Some labels have it, they are into a “thing” and other labels just throw records out there for whatever reason. I am always interested in anything Teenbeat releases. It’s always worth a listen and there’s not a lot from Teenbeat I don’t like quite a bit. I caught up with Sisterhood only recently because I am usually behind the curve. This is from their self-titled album on Darla Records. The band’s 2003 album, Better Days Coming Now, is on Teenbeat. I went from that one and went backwards through their work. I like it.

Scotty McKay - Rollin' Danny: Also known as Max Lipscomb. How’s that for a non-sequitur start of this notation? I know some of you Fanatics have heard the Gene Vincent version of this song. Scotty played in Vincent’s band. As much as I like Gene Vincent’s version of this song, I wanted to play this version of the song because we’re going to listen to The Fall play the song next and they seem to be covering the GV version of the song and this version is a little more primitive and the arrangement is a little different. The GV version is readily found, this one, not so much. I got it from a CD comp. called Compated Cats Vol. 2. I don’t know anything about the guy and don’t know anything about his recorded output. I guess I’ve heard him on Gene Vincent stuff as I have heard a great deal of that.

The Fall - Rollin' Dany: The Fall re-titled the song, losing an “n” in Danny. The Fall do a lot of covers and they seem to like old Rockabilly and Rock and Roll tracks. Like I said in the previous notation, it sounds like the band are taking their cue from the Gene Vincent version of the song. I think the band and Mark E Smith do a bang-up job of it and do justice to yet another cover song. We could do a good short set of The Fall covering songs. If you go to this section of The Unofficial Fall Site, you can see all the songs they have covered: http://www.visi.com/fall/discog/covers.html. There’s over 50 listed! Some of them, I didn’t know where covers. I had never been to this part of the Unofficial Fall site before. Why, this site is the gift that just keeps giving. This was released as a double A-side single along with Couldn’t Get Ahead and can also be found on the A-side collection on Beggar’s Banquet. It’s also on the This Nation’s Saving Grace CD. That Unofficial Fall site address: http://www.visi.com/fall/index.html.

Archie Shepp - In A Sentimental Mood: I know you think I have like three Jazz records. I have a few more than that although I know I don’t play many different artists and I play Shepp a lot. I think he’s one of the hardest core, no bullshit, frighteningly talented musicians ever. His tone caught me up as soon as I heard. Listen to how he handles and re-interprets this piece. It’s like he’s in great pain and pure paradise at the same time. Even on the more mellow numbers like this one, he’s still furious at something. Find one record where Shepp’s not totally intense. This is from the On This Night CD on the Impulse! label.

John Fahey - Hope Slumbers Eternal: From the City Of Refuge album. Over Fahey’s multi-decade career of haunting and beautiful guitar playing, some of his most interesting records, in my unschooled opinion, came towards the end of his career. Two albums come to mind: Womblife and City Of Refuge, released in 1997. City Of Refuge was recorded in a hotel room in Oregon where he was living after he lost his home. Someone once told me about seeing him in DC sitting in his car outside the show he was about to play. He spoke to Fahey, who told him he was living in that car. Towards the end of his life, Fahey seemed to go deeper into the darkness his music was so imbued with. Fahey found a way to keep his music interesting and primitive all the way to the end. Womblife is so out there and yet completely Fahey. It’s appropriate that he had a tune on the album called Coelacanths. That’s what Fahey was in the world of music. Fahey jamming with gamelan in the background? Some of his purist fans might have already cleared the room at this point but I think he was making more sense with his playing at that point than anyone who deemed him over with. I don’t think either of these records are in print but worth checking out if you run into them. Towards the end of his life, Fahey was really broke, living in hotels and rummaging through Salvation Army stores for albums of Classical music which he would re-sell. From reading interviews he did at this time, he seems only mildly put out by the situation he seemed more amused than anything. We'll play something from Womblife soon. Byron Coley did a great piece on Fahey. Coley is a massive wealth of musical knowledge, a very skillful writer and he’s always worth reading. http://www.furious.com/PERFECT/fahey/fahey-byron2.html

Die Cheerleader - Remember Zelda: We listen to this band fairly often, I know. They broke up a long time ago. Whenever I listen to a lot of female vocalists and girl bands, it always makes me come back to Die Cheerleader because of the vocalist Sam Ireland and her very powerful voice and righteous lyrics and I always come to the same conclusion that they wipe the floor with all these bands. You can still find their CDs Filth By Association and Son Of Filth here and there. I have written about his band a lot over the years so there’s really nothing new to add. If you’re new to this show and have never heard this band, run, do not walk to their albums and singles. They’re all out of print but I see them here and there. There’s probably some online info on them out there.

Brian Ferneyhough / Nieuw Ensemble - Etudes Transcendantales II: I got turned onto this CD by Matt our computer repair guy. You’ve heard me mention him whenever we go into his bag of Avant stuff he lent me many moons ago and listen to Ligeti, Mosko and the like. Well, here we go again with British composer Brian Ferneyhough and one part of Etudes Transcendantales a piece in 9 movements. Damn it Fanatics, I’m just a country doctor! I don’t know how to write about this stuff. I don’t know what to compare it to. It’s very new and challenging to my ears but I know that I like it and want to know more. This wasn’t an easy CD to find but I did eventually. I will hopefully connect with more of Ferneyhough’s work and get it on the show. The singing reminds me somewhat of what Diamanda Galas does.

Fela Kuti – You No Go Die...Unless: From the Na Poi album. Thanks to Universal and the hard work of people like Jennifer Ballantyne, a massive amount of Fela Kuti’s catalog hit the bins all remastered a few years ago. There’s a lot of it. I don’t know how much Fela I have heard. I have a lot of his records but I don’t know how much more there is out there. I am kind of lost in a sea of Fela. I have never heard any of his records I didn’t like. One of his that I go back to fairly often is the one where he jams with Ginger Baker. I think you can thank Fela for the what’s known as Afrobeat. It’s not like he was the only guy from Nigeria playing music, there’s at two others but I believe he’s the one who coined the term. Fela’s life was one of largest I have ever read about. He played all over the world, made presidential bids in Nigeria, was arrested and jailed on trumped up charges, made a ton of records, brought a ton of much needed attention to Africa and eventually died of AIDS related heart failure in 1997.

VVV - Black Crucifix: Another slice of The Vega of the Mika Vainio / Ilpo Väisänen / Alan Vega unit also known as VVV’s release Resurrection River album from 2005. I don’t know when The Vega hooked up with these two who are otherwise known as Pan Sonic, but the results have been really great. I think it’s been to The Vega’s benefit that he’s been collaborating with other people than Marty Rev of Suicide as there’s bound to be less tension and also think The Vega really shines when he partners up with other people. He’s doing it more often and it’s been really great. I think there’s a lot of people who want to work with him, he really is one of those people who were doing it decades before it was the thing to do.

The Harptones - Mambo Boogie: The 3rd single for Bruce records, released in 1954, I Depended On You / Mambo Boogie, didn’t do all that well for the band but they had a great career with lot of success. One of many vocal groups from this time. The Harptones, originally called The Harps, are scattered over many compilation albums. Most of the original members are still around and the group is still doing shows! I went to their site and they have shows happening right now. That’s so cool. http://www.theoriginal-harptones.com/frameset.htm. Marv Goldberg’s bio is very informative: http://home.att.net/~marvart/Harptones/harptones.html

John Lee Hooker - Mambo Chillun: The first time I interviewed John Lee Hooker, I asked him about this song. He said, “Mambo Baby?” I said yes. He told me that he hadn’t heard that song in a long time and didn’t know how to find a copy so I gave him mine. I found another one somewhere. I guess if you were John Lee Hooker, there might be some songs you recorded that you might not be able to locate readily. The man recorded so much music, it’s hard to imagine that he slept. He was one of those guys. He played all over, all the time and made a lot of records. Some I like better than others. He’s always good but sometimes the band around him isn’t as good as he is, or they’re not on his wavelength. I don’t know if he had steady players all the time. I saw him play a few times but it was always just him and his guitar, which is my favorite version of him. The starkness of his voice and guitar together is really something. I met the man three different times, once at a show and two other times to interview him. He was always really friendly and soft spoken. One day we watched some of the OJ trial together. I’ll never forget the red white and blue socks he wore. This is from The Gold Collection 2CD set, which looks like one of those releases where no one who made the music gets paid.

Hamza El Din – Abdin (Greeting Card): It was pure curiosity that brought me to Hamza El Din’s music. After my first trip to Egypt, I became interested in music from there. I went to the record store and bought his album Music Of Nubia. After listening to the album, I became a Hamza Fanatic almost immediately and checked out everything I could find on the man. His playing and singing is beautiful. He made good friends with Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart, who has spoken about El Dinquite a bit in interviews. The track we heard tonight is from the Al Oud album on Vanguard. There’s a nice little write-up on Mr. El Din, who recently passed away. http://www.hamzaeldin.com/

Curtis Mayfield - Check Out Your Mind: I know what you’re thinking. Every time we listen to Curtis Mayfield, we always listen to something from the Curtis/Live! Album. That album as well as the album Curtis, are my two favorites. You all remember how we lost Curtis Mayfield. If you don’t know, the information is easily found and I don’t want to write about it again. Death makes me tired. This sounds stupid, but I take it all personally. It’s hard for me to listen to Hendrix for too long because I get mad at the fact that he’s gone, same with Coltrane. It’s a rip off that Curtis Mayfield is gone. Who doesn’t like Curtis Mayfield?!

Blind Willie Johnson – Dark Was The Night Cold Was The Ground: There’s a lot of conflicting information about Blind Willie Johnson. I’ll see if I can avoid putting down any conflicting information here. He was born in America in the last century. Maybe Texas probably. He was blinded at some point, perhaps by lye thrown in his face or by thinking bad thoughts. He played guitar and sang and recorded several sides for Columbia which you can buy as a 2CD complete recordings set. Ry Cooder ripped him off big time for the Paris Texas movie soundtrack on the other hand, through some worm hole in time, BWJ could have heard the Paris Texas soundtrack gone back in time and recorded his version. It is said that rock icons and corny hipsters alike have covered and been influenced by BWJ music, they could have also just written the same lyrics by mistake or coincidence. It is said that he died many years ago, this could be true. There is also a chance he never existed at all and this is all just an illusion. Trippy.

J. Mascis And The Fog – Too Hard: This song seems like a good one to lead into out of Blind Willie Johnson. This track isn’t on either of the domestic versions of the Fog albums. It’s on a single off the More Light album. The Japanese CD version has this as an extra track. It’s also on a pretty easy to find CD single with Where'd You Go, Can I Tell U Stories. You don’t need me to write about how much I like J.’s work. I have a great J. Mascis track I’ll play soon that you might not have heard yet. I’ll tie it in with something else really cool.

Discharge – Tomorrow Belongs To Us: All those early Discharge singles are perfect. I would play any of them as our EP of the week but they curse so much I can’t do it. Their concept was so cool. They only screwed it up when they got “better.” They wanted to start using more notes and stuff and it didn’t always go well for them. They Metal records are not as good as the original concept, which is so damn good. They could have written the same songs over and over for a couple more years and everyone would have been fine with that. If you like what you heard here, there’s some CDs you can check out that are insane. The Clay Punk Singles Collection has 27 tracks, came out on Clay in 1995. It’s not the best sounding CD though. You might want to check out the remastered version called Decontrol: The Singles. That’s a 2CD deal with 39 tracks and sounds better. Listening to Discharge really loud will add at least two year to your life. Keep the arteries clear.

Public Enemy – B-Side Wins Again: Many of Fanatics know this song from Public Enemy’s Fear Of A Black Planet album. Did you know it was a b-side off the Nation Of Millions album before that? Many years ago, I found a CD3 with Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos, B-Side Wins Again and Caught, Can We Get A Witness (Pre Black Steel Ballistic Felony Dub). Today, I compared the two versions of the song and they are very different mixes. The Fear version has a lot more going on, more tracks and is in general, a busier bit of business where the original is more almost “demo” in the way it sounds. I have not been able to find this version on anything else but this 3” CD single so I figured this was the version to play for our show tonight.

Frank Sinatra – In The Still Of The Night: Sinatra live in Las Vegas at The Sands November 1961 from Saloon Singer bootleg CD. One of the best guilty pleasure reads of all time for me is Kitty Kelly’s Sinatra book. The more stories of Sinatra being a bastard I read in her book, the more it made me a Sinatra fan. I like that he had people who gave him bad reviews roughed up. That’s just great. After he died, I saw a broadcast of Larry King and he had on some of Sinatra’s friends to talk about him and King asked them why they worked so hard, making movies by day and doing shows at night, drinking and whatever else. One of them said that they all came out of the Depression and they had no plans on going back. This is one of my favorite Sinatra albums. I got it in Holland about ten years ago. It was one of a bunch of Sinatra boot CDs in this store and I got only one. I have been searching for the others ever since and have not been able to find them.

The Clash – Robber Dub: This is from the Super Black Market Clash CD. I always thought this was a really cool Clash record and through the years, I would buy the different versions of it as it morphed and expanded. Recently, they remastered the CD yet again, actually, they remastered the entire the catalog and it sounds really good. Anyway, what’s interesting about this track is that it is only available on this record. It was the b-side of a single that was never released. I am a Clash fan but am not at all up on all my Clash facts. There’s a lot of singles, EPs and the like. I have the albums and a lot of bootlegs but there’s so much Clash product, I never got my head around it. It’s one of those bands I don’t play as often as I used to because I am frustrated at the loss of Joe Strummer. I don’t mind listening to dead people’s music most of the time but there’s a few bands where it irks me to varying degrees. Hendrix is great but frustrating because he was so young and I think what he would have done musically in the 70’s would have been monumental. The Minutemen are hard because of how D Boon died and again, the band were so great and would have made some great records and D was too young to die and even though The Clash were long over with, 50 years old is too young for Joe Strummer to go. It doesn’t make the music less good for me, just sometimes harder to listen to. Talk about a band that so many bands wanted to be, tried to be, wished they were, that’s The Clash.

Electric Wizard – Son Of Nothing: From the Come My Fanatics . . . album. With a title like that, how could we not play this one? I have been wanting to play these guys again on our show for awhile now. Remember many months ago when we listened to their song We Hate You from the Dopethrone album? Dopethrone and Come My Fanatics . . . are my two favorite records of theirs but their self-titled one and Supercoven is great as well. I think Let Us Prey let down Wizard Fanatics a bit but I like that one as well. In fact, I am listening to it as I write this and it’s killing. Electric Wizard records played loud is a really great way to kill off all those pesky brain cells.