Rock & Roll & Recycle! Two weeks ago, Marko showed you how to use an old cassette case to hold a smartphone such as a Blackberry Z10. Unfortunately, as Aaron pointed out, the iPhone charges from the bottom.
So, for iPhone users, I present to you my own original idea of an alternate use for an old cassette case! We all have a ton of these things sitting around!
RECORD STORE TALES Part 215: Mono
Today, I was listening to some old-school Dio, and I had a thought. A sudden thought that I wanted to explore:
“My taste in music was 100% solidified by that month in 1986 that I had mono!”
Yeah! I think it’s true! I was sick at home for a month (at least) too tired to do anything except record videos on the Pepsi Power Hour! I was inundated with a steady intake of incredible songs, in many cases for the first time. And because I still have the old VHS tapes, I know exactly what’s on them. This brief but intense period of my life was rocked by this soundtrack, over and over again:
Ozzy Osbourne – “The Ultimate Sin”
Dio – “Rock and Roll Children”
Lee Aaron – “Shake It Up”
ZZ Top – “Rough Boy”
Kim Mitchell – “Lager and Ale”
Thor (Jon Mikl Thor) – “Keep the Dogs Away”
Triumph – “Never Surrender”
Loudness – “Let It Go”
Spinal Tap – “Hell Hole”, the theme song that my sister and I dedicated to our old Catholic grade school!
These songs were first impressed upon me during that period, the visuals always cool and intriguing to me. Especially Lee Aaron. Ahem. Anyway. I watched these videos over and over again. I recorded the audio (in mono) (…hah, I made a pun!) to a cassette so I could listen to them on my Walkman. This came in handy at the cottage. We didn’t have a VCR or cable there, so the only way to bring my songs was to tape them from the TV.
That one intense period of being stuck at home with nothing but heavy metal heroes might have made me the LeBrain I am today. I’m glad something good came out of it! I couldn’t even go swimming that entire summer!
Back in March, I said that the Klassic Kwote well had run dry. I just remembered this one that I had to share.
In summer 2003, we carried Electric Version by the New Pornographers on our front chart. One customer thought he was tremendously clever with this question, asked in loud bellow:
“The NEW Pornographers? What was wrong with the OLD pornographers? I didn’t know there were new ones! HA HA HA! Haaaaaah..ha ha! Didn’t get the memo! Hah…”
JETHRO TULL – A / Slipstream (2004 Chrysalis CD/DVD, originally 1980)
Unlike most Jethro Tull remasters, A did not contain any bonus tracks. Rather, it includes the only official DVD release of Slipstream, an old Tull live/music video VHS release.
Cole’s Notes version of the history: A began life as an Ian Anderson solo album, featuring new Tull bassist Dave Pegg and ex-Roxy Music multi-instrumentalist Eddie Jobson. Jobson brought along his drummer friend Mark Craney, and then finally Ian asked his Tull bandmate Martin Barre to come in and play on a couple tracks. Somehow, this turned into Martin playing on the entire album.
Anderson says that the record label, who were pushing for A to be released under the Jethro Tull banner, suddenly announced that Craney and Jobson were replacing current Tull members Barriemore Barlow, John Evan, and David Palmer. This and other factors led to that exact lineup change, but with Jobson listed as a “special guest”.
Regardless of the office politics, A is a solid albeit very different and 80’s sounding Jethro Tull album. I’m not a huge fan of the opener “Crossfire”, but I think that “Flyingdale Flyer” is a great combination of progressive rock Tull with the modern tweaks. “Working Joe, Working Joe” is OK, but I’m not a fan of that funky synthy bass line. I love the spacey sci-fi intro to “Black Sunday”, a precursor of sorts to “The Final Countdown”. Then it changes to something a little more challenging with the flute leading the charge. At 6:39 and with multiple sections and tempos, this is easily the most epic track.
The digital pulse of “Batteries Not Included” is pretty cool, but it’s not really an outstanding track. “Uniform” rolls along solidly. “4.W.D (Low Ratio)” is a guilty pleasure. “The Pine Marten’s Jig” sounds as the title implies, but perhaps just a little more complex than the average jig! The closing song is the dramatic “And Further On”. Its mood is appropriate for a closer, and I dig that cascading piano.
Incidentally, this is one of those CDs that were “Copy Controlled”. Boy, did that piss people off. Some people said you had to take a black magic marker to the outer edge of the disc in order to copy them. I never felt the urge to try this trick, and it doesn’t matter because the obsolete software does nothing to inhibit ripping today.
And that’s the album. The DVD Slipstream opens with a homeless-looking Anderson (sleeping under a Thick As A Brick newspaper) being chased by the balloons from The Prisoner. He then stumbles into a Jethro Tull concert, not a security person in sight! When has this happened to you?
Tull then open with a hard rocking “Black Sunday”. Martin Barre and Ian Anderson are really the only guys that look like they’re in the same band! The excellent “Dun Ringill” is presented music video style. It’s like Anderson playing over the end of 2001: A Space Odyssey, when Bowman’s in the pod. “Flyingdale Flyer” is better, with Tull as some sort of band of interstellar explorers. Anderson’s facial expressions make this one irresistible. The next song is once again live, and it is the classic “Songs From the Wood”. Jobson’s got his hands full with two keyboards! This is paired with “Heavy Horses” sounding unfortunately cumbersome due to the domination by those same keyboards.
“Sweet Dream”, one of my all time favourite Tull songs, ever, cannot be tamed by the keyboards. They are there, but the song is powerful nonetheless, as it should be. In this clip, Anderson plays both the homeless ragged man, and…a vampire! I actually like this clip a lot. My favourite clip is “Too Old To Rock ‘N’ Roll”, the entire band dressed as old men. This is the album version of the song.
Next is the lovely “Skating Away on the Thin Ice of a New Day”. On this track, which is live, Eddie Jobson plays a neat electric mandolin. “Aqualung” is pummeling, Mark Craney keeping busy while also hitting hard. The set closes with “Locomotive Breath” which starts completely awful, as a new-wave-funk-prog song of some kind, before finally picking up steam as it should. The flute solo is as brilliant as ever, and I’ll never get tired of watching Martin Barre shake his skullet wildly.
3/5 stars
Rush and The Tragically Hip 2013 postage stamps – Canadian Recording Artists series
Package of 10, $6.30.
I went down to the post office to pick up my latest CD treasure from Discogs, when I noticed these beauties: the new 2013 Rush, and Tragically Hip postage stamps! Had to have ’em. The budget didn’t allow for the Guess Who set (apparently their best seller). I’ve never heard of Beau Dommage, but apparently they are “considered the Beatles of Quebec and French music” (Canada Newswire).
I love the little details. The “Stereo 1” on the Hip package. The “Side A” and Anthem Records serial number on the Rush. It’s the little things like these touches that make these stamps fun to keep in package, safe in my collection!
For your viewing pleasure, please enjoy these cool postage stamps. I’ll try to pick up The Guess Who next week.
5/5 stars!
Are you a Tragically Hip fan? Then read on.
TRAILER PARK BOYS – The Movie (2006 Alliance Atlantis)
Directed by Mike Clattenburg
The story goes that Ivan Reitman, who produced Trailer Park Boys: The Movie (aka “The Big Dirty”), wanted to do a movie that would re-introduce the characters and target them to a new audience. He preferred the flavour of the earlier seasons and steered the movie in that direction. This is sort of a good and bad thing.
The movie is out of continuity with the TV series, unfortunately. There are characters and events in the movie that would never be referenced in the series. Lahey loses the roof of his car in both the movie and the TV series, but in different ways. You’ll notice Trinity is played by a different actress (Lydia Lawson-Baird), and her character is slightly different in tone as well.
Remember those movie trailers where the Boys are auditioning actors to play themselves? I think it’s best to think of this movie in that context: It’s the Boys playing themselves, in a movie based on themselves. Even though we’re talking about fictional characters in a mockumentary movie.
The plot: Ricky and Julian go to jail (again) and are about to be released (again). No fair! cries Ricky, who wants to play in the jail hockey tournament against the prison guards, captained by Donny. The rivalry between Ricky (a goalie) and Donny (Gerry Dee) result in a few classic exchanges:
Ricky – “Suck it, Donny.”
Donny – “You suck it. More.”
Ricky – “What kind of comeback was that? I said ‘suck it’ and you just added ‘more’ to it.”
Donny – “Because it’s more, you suck it more.”
Out of jail, Rick goes home to Sunnyvale trailer park, only to find that things have changed. Lucy’s got a new job. “An awesome new job,” according to Sarah. “She workin’ at Horton’s again?” asks Ricky. Nope, it’s not a coffee shop, it’s a “gentlemen’s club”. This “gentlemen’s club” is owned by Sonny (Hugh Dillon, of the Headstones), and he’s banging Lucy.
Julian, also out of jail, has an idea to get rich “without getting caught”: Do small crimes. Steal change! Ricky, on the other hand, has met a lot of really “smart” guys in jail, and they all say “the big dirty” is the way to go: one big crime, and you’re retired. The two ideas are combined and a plan is set in motion. Will Ricky still be able to play in the hockey tournament?
In addition to new characters like Sonny and Donny, look for cameos by Alex Lifeson (Rush) and Gordon Downie (The Tragically Hip). The soundtrack kicks ass, featuring Helix, April Wine, and lots of The Tragically Hip. I always think of this movie now when I hear the songs “Bobcaygeon” and “38 Years Old”. Hell, Julian even goes to see a movie called “The Dark Canuck” in the film.
I really enjoyed Trailer Park Boys: The Movie even if it’s not quite pure Trailer Park Boys. It sort of attempts to recapture what worked in the early seasons (you can tell by casting Trinity as a younger girl) and by and large, it works. Sonny works as a replacement antagonist, a role that Cyrus often filled on the show. All your favourite regulars such as Philadelphia Collins, Jacob Collins, and Officer George Green are here. Lahey is suitably drunk, and Randy as shirtless as ever.
This actually works pretty well as a way for newcomers to get into the show. It distills what worked best in the earlier years, into a two-hour package that stays funny and doesn’t wear out its welcome. Bonus features include the music video for “I Fought The Law” (featuring Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson!), and lots of alternate takes.
5/5 stars. Two smokes, let’s go.
“I could easily fuck over 10 pieces of chicken”
RECORD STORE TALES Part 214: The Rules 2
One of my most popular posts from the first year of this site was Part 19: “The Rules”. We had a lot of rules. Some made sense, some were ludicrous, but one thing’s for sure: we had them! I’ve talked about the store play rules, the piercing rules, and others. Here’s some more!
Some of the rules I had problems with included the following:
But it’s all good, no hard feelings. With hindsight, my sister is doing pretty good now anyway.
Here’s a selection of rules that I would have liked, in a perfect world:
BLUE RODEO – Tremolo (1997 Warner)
I first saw Blue Rodeo live in July 1991, just after highschool graduation. Instant fan! I saw them again in 1996 and 1998, supporting Nowhere To Here and Tremolo, respectively. Both albums grew on me tremendously after I saw the show. Before that, I struggled with them a bit, not quite liking them, not quite disliking them, and not wanting to give up on them. Funny how that goes. I rate them today in my top 3 Blue Rodeo albums, along with Five Days in July.
Tremolo requires your complete attention, this is not background music, although it will still sound great in the background. This is one of those deeper albums, one that needs multiple listens. I find it reveals different faces when I listen to it in different settings as well. The cottage is better than the car, for example. For me.
Nowhere To Here and Tremelo, albums #6 and #7, both originated at the same time as Five Days. The recent Blue Rodeo box set, 1984-1993 contains early different versions of “Moon & Tree” and “No Miracle No Dazzle”. Tremolo is much like a brother record to Nowhere To Here, an acoustic brother record. They both share the same laid back origins, the same jammy style and meandering arrangements. They also share the same lineup which was my favourite: Jim Cuddy, Greg Keelor, Bazil Donovan, Glenn Milchem, keyboardist James Gray and pedal steel player Kim Dechampes.
Most songs are mellow, laid back, spare in arrangement and very acoustic. At times, this is also the most “country” sounding of Blue Rodeo records. Witness Jim’s “Shed My Skin”, which is beautiful. “No Miracle No Dazzle” is an upbeat one from Greg, another awesome tune, while “Falling Down Blue” is for slow dancing. All of these are loaded with spirit, be it Jim’s melancholy wordplay or Greg’s gleeful guitar playing. All the players shine on this album, not necessarily as solosists (although that is often the case), but how they all mesh together. The blend of instruments is flawless.
I still think of albums as having a side one and a side two. I had to tape Tremolo on a cassette so I could play it in the car back in ’97. It’s “side two” of Tremolo that I really like. “It Could Happen To You” was a popular upbeat Jim single that received a lot of airplay. “Dragging On” is an atmospheric Jim tune, with some beautiful watery keyboards backing it, with fantastic lyrics of heartbreak that only Jim can sing. You left a hole in me, and the rain comes pouring in, sometimes I’m swept away…”
“Brother Andre’s Heart” and “Frogs’ Lullaby” work together as one Greg tune, quite extended and jammy, 12 minutes in total. After a tune like that, they had to end it with a corker! It’s the best song on the album as far as I’m concerned, and conspicuous by being so different: “Graveyard”.
Well I love these nervous breakdowns,
And I love these new skins,
And I love that you were brave enough,
To sleep with all my friends.
Greg was pissed off at someone, lemme tell you, and this sounds like some kind of punk-a-billy song.
This album has 14 songs on it, and I’ve only talked about around half of them. The rest of them are also great, but different songs will appeal to different people. I wanted to talk about the ones that get me almost every time. You might find that you really like a song like “Fallen From Grace” because it reminds you of the early Blue Rodeo country-blues vibe.
If you love Blue Rodeo, I consider this album a must. It’s not an instant pleasure, but it is a very rewarding listen. It continues to reveal new layers of music and lyrical poetry to me today. In my humble personal opinion, I don’t think Blue Rodeo ever attained this lofty standards again.
5/5 stars
Aaron says this is the first cassette he ever bought! He picked a good ‘un.
ZZ TOP – Eliminator (2008 CD+DVD Collector’s Edition, Warner)
Consider all earlier CD releases “eliminated”!
Say what you will about ZZ Top’s foray into 80’s music. Using sequencers and compression on the drums wasn’t everybody’s cup ‘o java, but it sure made ZZ Top millionaires. I like this album. Reverend Billy Gibbons’ guitar tone was so sweet on this album. It’s so smooth and creamy, I just love the tone. This might be my favourite album of his, purely for guitar tone. Just listen to that sweet picking on the album version of “Legs”. Man, how does he get that sound?
The original album has been lovingly remastered, with the original album version of “Legs” restored. However, fear not, the single version is still here as a bonus track. Other bonus tracks include live versions, the most exciting of which is a fiery “I Got The Six”. And hey, if you don’t like the techno sounds of the album, the live tunes give you an idea of what they’re like stripped down to the bone…like a juicy rack of ribs, meat falling right off. It’s cool how Frank Beard is just as metronomic on the live versions. He’s not a flamboyant drummer, but he’s definitely solid. Just like the Beatles wouldn’t have sounded the same without Ringo, or the Stones without Charlie, Frank is essential to that whole ZZ “Je ne sais quoi?”
I like the whole album, with only a few songs I call filler, such as “Thug”. I always enjoy hearing “Sharp Dressed Man”. I don’t know how all these years later I’m not sick of it, but I’m not. “TV Dinners” always makes me smile. Really, will these guys write about anything?
“I Need You Tonight” is one of those smooth ZZ Top blues. It’s slick, but unquestionably still blues. “If I Could Only Flag Her Down” is another blues based standout. This one’s a bit more of a boogie. Finally, “Bad Girl” (sung by Dusty Hill) is pure rock and roll.
The DVD is cool. You get the original music videos and some live TV performances. If you’re a ZZ Top fan (and for your own happiness, I hope that you are) I think you will enjoy the video stuff. Liner notes are also ample.
5/5 stars. It’s never too late to pick it up!
Click the pic of the Ford to see yesterday’s gallery of the Monogram ZZ Top Eliminator model kit!
…and here’s your CD gallery.
This time last year, I dug up my old 1933 Ford ZZ Top deco “Eliminator” Monogram model kit. I would have assembled this when I was 13 or 14 years old. It’s been collecting dust for a long time, but I posted some pics with a crappy Nokia cell phone anyway, just because it was a cool find.
This year, I took some new pics, with my new BlackBerry Z10! I also took the liberty of cleaning it (as much as I dared to). In the process I snapped off one headlight (an easy fix) and detached part of the body from the chassis, a trickier fix. Unfortunately some of the chrome pieces did not age too well and show a lot of chrome wear, (on the headlights).
Regardless, the pictures are pretty. Enjoy.
mikeladano.com 