BROADCAST #51
AIR DATE: 12-19-06

Hello Fanatics. Here are the notes from tonight’s show. I am sorry that I could not be live with all of you for this show. A few hours before the broadcast, I got on a plane and headed out to Bahrain.
This is the 15th anniversary of the death of Joe Cole. It’s the worst day of the year for me, which I’m sure does not surprise you. This was a hard set of music to put together because it’s just not a day I feel like being alive on. Anyway, I hope you liked the show.
I have a cool post-Christmas show all done that I think you’ll like. Please check it out if you can and whatever you do, STAY FANATIC!! --Henry
Isaac Hayes - Chocolate Chip: I forget when I first found the Chocolate Chip album. I know I found it used for very little. This is Hayes post Shaft, Hot Buttered Soul and all the more well-known albums he did on Stax. The liner notes on the CD version of the album by Stax scholar Rob Bowman depict Hayes as somewhat financially overburdened and under pressure to come up with the goods. If you are at all familiar with the Theme From Shaft, you are familiar with the horn lines, a very similar one is on this tune. The rest of the album is pretty cool but one thing you’ll probably notice is that the sound is a slightly muddy, could be that it was a new studio that he recorded in that was being put together as the album was being recorded. For me, The Shaft and Hot Buttered Soul albums are excellent and while there are plenty of great moments on his other records, none of them deliver like these two.
The Fontaine Toups - Different Life: It’s been awhile since we’ve listened to anything from the TFT album. I don’t know anything about Fontaine, her band, etc. When I go to her website, it always says that it’s under construction so I don’t know what to tell you. It’s too bad she’s not more prolific, this is a really cool album. It’s on Teenbeat. http://www.teenbeat.net/
J Mascis – Maggot Brain: This is from a CD a Fanatic kindly gave me several months ago while I was on the road somewhere. It’s a give away CD Guitar Center. It has four tracks: Where’d You Go (album version) and Maggot Brain, Amma Ring & Repulsion, the last three recorded “live on 2001 tour.” I have not seen this version of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain on any other CDs.
The Fall - On My Own: From 1999’s The Marshall Suite. This was the first of the two albums the band did with guitarist/songwriter Nev Wilding in the line-up. I think he really added something to the band. He wrote some great music for The Fall. I don’t know much about him, we’ve exchanged a few letters over the years. I guess he’s only on this album and The Unutterable. The Unofficial Fall site says Wilding left over royalty disputes from The Unutterable
Kas Product – In Need: From the Try Out CD but as an extra track, not on the original album. Try Out contains the track So Young But So Cold track we listened to weeks ago. I heard that track the first time when Engineer X lent me a copy of the So Young But So Cold: Underground French Music 1977-1983 compilation CD which I probably mentioned I would have never heard of had he not put it in front of me. He’s way more up on things than I am. Anyway, I thought that track was interesting and so I looked around to see if the band had anything else released and found two CDs, Try Out and By Pass. They weren’t easy to come by and at the date of this writing, I have only heard Try Out, which is pretty cool but I’m still getting my head around it. The track we heard tonight is an extra track and I think the original release it’s from an early single and I am sorry I don’t have more information but I have been searching but can’t seem to find a discography on the band. When I know more, I’ll let you know.
Assorted Players - Ladrang Rajamanggala: This is from the Sultan’s Pleasure CD. From the liner notes, it is not clear to me who is playing on this piece so I am sorry that there’s not more information as to who the personnel are. It’s one of the many CDs I have of Javanese gamelan music. I got my first one in 1997 I believe and after that, I was hooked and had to hear as much of this music as I could. I had never heard anything like it. The tones from the gongs combined with the singing is just incredible. Another thing that’s really cool about checking out gamelan music is that I discovered a few new labels that release music from Indonesia and have checked out music I might never had the chance to hear. This is not nearly the best gamelan CD I have. There’s a ton of them out there. Check out ones on JVC and Ocora, which by the way, is to France like The BBC is to England.
This is our Joe Cole set. 15 years ago, on 12-19-91 Joe Cole was shot and killed. Joe was a good friend of mine and we did a lot of miles together in Black Flag. At this point, you have heard the story about how he died. It’s been a long time since it happened but it is still fresh in my mind. These are songs from some bands that Joe liked. Music was a huge part of his life and so on this night, I thought we might spend a little time with some of the bands he used to listen to. I hope you like it.
Black Flag – American Waste: Another one of Joe’s favorite bands was Black Flag. Before he was part of the Black Flag road crew, he would come to band practice and hang out. This was one of Joe’s favorite Black Flag songs.
The Swans - Coward: The Swans played a show in 1986 on Winter Solstice in LA. It was the two drum line-up and it was one of the most crushing shows I have ever been witness to. Maybe it was the most crushing. The high point of the show Joe and I thought that the version of Coward they did that night was as good as it gets. For days and weeks afterwards Joe would repeat a line from the song, “Put your knife in me. Walk away,” and trip people out. So, that’s the Swans track we played tonight and to make it a little more special, this is the actual version from the show. I’ve had a copy on tape for years.
Fred McDowell –I’ve Been Drinking Water Out Of A Hollow Log: In 1986 when Joe and I were driving in the truck at night, Fred McDowell was often the soundtrack. At one point were in the South for quite a few shows and we were playing a lot of Fred and a lot of live Swans tapes we gotten from Michael Gira and other places.
DEVO – Auto Mowdown: DEVO was a big favorite of Joe’s. We would listen to a lot tapes we made of my vinyl bootlegs. We had this track off some bootleg and after Joe was killed, the track was released on a now out of print CD called Hardcore DEVO Vol. 1. The DEVO Hardcore CDs have been out of print for years. I don’t know what happened, perhaps the band isn’t interested in bringing them back into print. I hope they re-surface at some point, these CDs as well as the EZ Listening Disc would be welcomed back by Spuds all over the world.
Black Sabbath - Hole in the Sky: From Black Sabbath’s Sabotage album released in 1975. This was a favorite of Joe’s. Joe listened to a lot of Sabbath. I don’t think he got into The Dio. I think he stayed in the Ozzy era. Sabotage is a really great record and I don’t think it gets enough mention. Sabbath Fanatics are all over it but is often overlooked and it shouldn’t be.
The Butthole Surfers - The O-Men: One of Joe’s favorite bands. He went to see them play any time he could. This is from Joe’s copy of Locust Abortion Technician.
Jimi Hendrix - Voodoo Chile (Slight Return): Joe listened to Hendrix a lot. I think he identified heavily with Hendrix’s spacey/outsider persona and the imagery in his music. He made tapes of all my Hendrix bootlegs. Joe got along with people well but he was very much a solitary guy and he listened to a lot of Blues music and Hendrix was a big part of his listening. Joe liked anything that was heavy, whether it was film, music, people, situations.
The Stooges - Loose: I don’t remember if Joe was a Stooges fan when I met him or if I passed the records to him. He listened to the Fun House record a lot and that’s where this track is from. I think you Fanatics are very familiar with this record so you don’t need me to tell you about The Stooges and Iggy Pop, the true King of Rock and Roll.
Minor Threat - Seeing Red: Joe like Minor Threat a lot. I don’t remember if he saw them play when they came out west. He met Ian a couple of times on the 1986 tour and on the 1987 Rollins Band tour. I think Joe was also at an early Fugazi show at the Anti-Club in 1988 or so. This is from the Complete Discography CD on Dischord. This is a great one.
The Obsessed – River Of Soul: In the summer late of 1986, I was in DC, I forget if it was before or after Black Flag had broken up but anyway, I was there and Ian played me a tape of The Obsessed that he got, I don’t remember where from. I had not heard them since the one single I had of theirs that I bought in 1980 or around then. It was basically the first album and some live tracks. It blew me away. Scot “Wino” Weinrich is one serious songwriter, singer, and guitar player and everything he does is intense. Anyway, I played the tapes for Joe at some point and he became a fan immediately. I still have the cassettes I made him about 20 years ago. Tonight’s track is from The Obsessed on Tolotta Records.
That concludes our Joe Cole set. He was a good guy. He didn’t deserve what happened to him. If I think about it too much, I get very angry and I feel very dangerous at those times. A coward killed him and that’s no way to go out.
Cosmic Psychos - Lost Cause: A great Australian band. I have seen them play at least a couple of times. I don’t have their records but have this track from the Tales Of The Australian Underground CD that my agent in Australia Tim Pittman put out. It’s a 2CD deal with a lot of rare and great Australian music. Tim has been working hard to unearth rare Australian stuff and get it in print. His Sunny Boys 2CD set __ is worth checking out as well. The Psychos are big bastards that is to say, they are burly men. Really funny guys, it’s a great show.
Ramesses – Ramesses II: I got into this band from reading up on Electric Wizard one night. Ramesses has ex-Electric Wizard guitarist Tim Bagshaw and drummer Mark Greening. I read reviews of the album this track came from, We Will Lead You To Glorious Times. It sounded like it might e good and so I checked it out. I am glad I did. It’s fuckin’ brutal. They have another album called Tomb, which I have not yet heard but I will at some point and if it’s good, I’ll bring a track to our show. This album is matching exactly how I am feeling all the time these days.
Saccharine Trust – A Christmas Cry: A little pre-holiday cheer before the War On Christmas starts. There are two sources for this track that I know of. One is the very hard to find one sided single that SST put out in 1982 perhaps and the other way is on the Chunks compilation album. I don’t know exactly when Sac. Trust recorded this song, who was in the band, etc. How about I write to the band’s vocalist Jack Brewer and see if he will tell me? Jumpin’ Jack Gets Back In A Flash Dept.: Thanks Henry! Rob Holzman- drums Earl Liberty- bass Joe-on guitar with wooden cloths pins attached to the guitar. It was one of his early avant-garde secrets. He was doing that when I first met him. But to my knowledge that is the only time the clothes pins have ever been recorded. And also as a special treat Mike Watt played acoustic guitar and Spot played piano. And there you go. I never knew about Watt’s presence on that track. Saccharine Trust, saw them play many times and never saw a bad show.
Maceo Parker - The Soul Of The Black Man: I have meaning to bring this one in for quite some time. I think this is Maceo Parker’s finest moment as a soloist. This is from the Maceo solo album Us. I looked online and can only found a couple of copies on the Gemm site that are not that attractively priced. I looked at all the JB’s comp. CDs and can’t find this track on any of them so perhaps this is the first time some of you Fanatics have heard this tune. It’s my favorite solo of Maceo’s. The “thing” that band had, there’s nothing like it and this track is such a good example of that. The way the rest of the JB’s are just vamping in the background, what a groove.