The eight tracks that make up Pat Metheny’s debut album Bright Size Life are exactly what I was looking for. They hit the spot.
One Saturday afternoon in the summer I was enjoying instrumental jazz on the front porch. I wanted more, and was recommended Bright Size Life by jazz enthusiast Robert Lawson. The presence of the legendary Jaco Pastorius on fretless bass made me more intrigued.
From the very start of the title track, we’re treated to smooth, rich guitar tones and melodies. Drift back, but not too far, because the lyrical basswork of Jaco deserves your full attention. From harmonics to chord bending, his basswork is thick with technique. Little waterfalls of notes splashing here and there. Though sometimes fast and unpredictable, it always settles back into the groove of the song. Meanwhile, Bob Moses on drums paints a picture with cymbals.
Bright Size Life is warm but sparse, featuring a basic jazz trio with Metheny playing both six and twelve string guitars. His fingers dance a dance of tone and texture. The melodies he plucks are challenging with unexpected notes and runs dotting the landscape. The drums are often light and the cymbals bright. Jaco’s bass is usually telling its own story.
You can hear the influence on instrumentalists since. The guitar is the main focus, and it is always delivering interesting melodies to and fro, rarely repeating but always exploring. It’s a clean, clear sound with richness and natural depth. On some tracks, Metheny plays it slow and relaxed, on others like “Missouri Uncompromised”, it’s a race with Pastorius and Moses neck-and-neck. Yes even so, an unexpected melody darts in here and there, keeping you on your toes. Speed is employed effectively but not exhaustingly.
Top track: “Midwestern Nights Dream”, a suitably noctunral beauty with smoke and atmosphere. A Jaco bass melody dominates the second half to delicious effect.
It was truly an honour to be invited back onto Rock Daydream Nation to discuss to infamous “documentary” film The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years directed by Penelope Spheeris. This deep discussion went right to the hotspot scenes we still talk about today: Chris Holmes (W.A.S.P.), Ozzy, and a parade of airheads wanting to be rock stars.
It’s not a flattering look at the Hollywood metal scene in 1987-88. The cavalcade of cartoon characters rolled out largely range from jerkoffs to misogynist douchebags. Our panel takes the position that Spheeris set up most scenes to portray the genre and its artists in a negative light. We discuss the portrayal of women in the film and hard rock, as well as the alleged staging of controversial scenes.
The panel: a seasoned septuplet of rock experts comprised of:
Kudos to Reed Little for gleaning the value of rarely-revealed financial data, of being a hard rock band on the road in the 80s, from the film. Brilliant observations and research here from Reed. We also asked questions such as: where were Guns N’ Roses? What happened to Odin? Is Ozzy unable to pour a glass of OJ for himself, and what’s with the raw bacon? Each panel member brought something from their own unique perspectives to the discussion.
Special attention was paid to the Chris Holmes pool scene. Is it exploitation? A cry for help? Partially or completely staged? What was the impact upon W.A.S.P.’s career from that point onwards? We had W.A.S.P. expert John Clauser on hand to give that issue a close look. Peter Kerr pointed out that the pool scene haunts Chris to this day, as it inevitably comes up in every interview he does. I talk about the impact of seeing the first rock star that I ever liked sitting in that pool, and how it affected me.
We looked back upon our first impressions of the film back in the day, our feelings in 2024, and memorable scenes. From Poison, London, Aerosmith and Faster Pussycat, there’s a lot of hair to wade through. Please give this show a watch – we are all very proud of it.
Wanna see that “Holy Grail” CD I spent $300 Canadian for in 2001? Then check out this episode. This week’s CD show & tell is for fans of Metallica, Alice Cooper, The Four Horsemen, Coney Hatch, The Who, Sting, The Police, Pink Floyd, Rainbow, Deep Purple, Rock Candy, deluxe reissues with bonus tracks, jazz, Japanese imports, Canadian content, and Guns N’ Roses!
Revisit memories of the Mike Bullard show, and Mrs. LeBrain’s Mom. Find ingenius way to make your own 2 CD deluxe editions. See Rorschach blots on two different albums. Hear about Listening stations and recommendations from Martin Popoff. Listen to me rant about having to buy multiple deluxe copies of the same CD to get “all the tracks”. Witness amusing stories about customers who accused me of selling them “scratched up crap”. Hear me drop a couple F-bombs. And of course, a big thanks to those who watched last night, and a “BOOOO!” to Metal Roger who missed me razzing him over Metallica’s much maligned Lulu album!
In the spirit of the CD bonus track, if you stay tuned to the end, you’ll get to see a very cool musical instrument made of little plastic bricks….
If you missed it, enjoy this 45 minute episode below.
Next week:
Harrison, Jex, John Snow, Aaron and Metal Roger go LeBrainless!
GRAB A STACK OF ROCK With Mike and the Mad Metal Man
Episode 51: Too Much Music 2?
Welcome to Part 2 of “Too Much Music?”, a new solo series I’m doing here on Grab A Stack of Rock. These are shorter, pre-recorded episodes, but the first one was popular so why not do another? The concept is, I grab a random stack or two of CDs from my collection, show them, and discuss. I often have no idea what I’ll be showing prior to taping. And, sadly, there are always CDs I have not played yet. That’s why we call this series Too Much Music! Because this is what happens when we have too much music!
On display in this episode:
A stack of Metallica, standard and rare.
Rock Candy Coney Hatch and some Andy Curran.
A ton of compilations from The Who, Sting, The Police, Pink Floyd, Rainbow and more.
Lots of live Deep Purple.
Deluxe reissues with bonus tracks.
Some jazz.
Alice Cooper & a rant about Record Store Day releases.
Japanese imports.
Guns N’ Roses and a rant about reissues.
The Four Horsemen.
Canadian content: The Beaches, The Glorious Sons, and more.
The “holy grail” CD that I once paid $300 Canadian for.
I hope you enjoy this special episode which goes “live” tonight at 7:00 PM E.S.T. I try to comment along, but I can’t guarantee where I’ll be. Please do leave some comments and I promise I’ll address them as soon as I can!
Friday Feb 19 at 7:00 P.M. E.S.T. / 8:00 P.M. Atlantic. Enjoy on YouTube,or Twitter!! (Facebook has been problematic of late.)
DUDES – The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1987 MCA)
Every collector is different. My time is a valuable commodity, so when I buy movie soundtracks made up of mixed songs, I generally only play the songs by the bands I like, and I may never hear the rest of of the album. So it came to be, I have never played the Dudes soundtrack, despite owning it almost 30 years. I don’t know the premise of the movie either. All I know is the old Keel music video for “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw” featured some of the movie footage, starring Jon Cryer, Flea, and Mary Catherine Stewart. It was clearly a comedy. Back then, they didn’t tell you what movie or album a video was from, so I never knew the movie was called Dudes until I saw the CD physically.
I bought this disc at the Record Store in 1997 mostly for Keel, W.A.S.P. and Steve Vai. One look at the cover and I said “This is that movie with the Keel song! I recognize those two guys!” And so it was.
The Keel video commences with a stern warning from a police officer: “You know, maybe this wouldn’t have happened if you looked like normal folks.” He scolds a hilariously punky-looking Jon Cryer. We know what kind of movie this is without seeing it. (Lee Ving of Fear is also in the film.)
“Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw”, produced by Kevin Beamish, is the opening track. It’s loaded with attitude and a cool riff, backed by electric slide guitar. “All I need is a rock and roll band, and somewhere new to play!” howls Ron Keel, a distinct singer that never achieved the level of success he was due. There’s a dual solo, with Marc Ferrari comedically using a pistol as a slide in the music video. “Rock ‘N’ Roll Outlaw” is one of Keel’s top tunes, and it wasn’t on their album. The drums are recorded a little clanky, but otherwise this tune is top-notch road rock.
I have never listened to the Vandals, as far as I know, in my life until this moment. “Urban Struggle” begins with a mock Indian war beat, and a mutation of The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly theme. It’s a joke song with cowboy-themed lyrics in a mock accent, and then going into a punk western style, and words about mechanical bulls. Not a song I’ll be coming back to.
“Show No Mercy” by W.A.S.P. (produced by Mike Varney) is more my speed. A non-album track, it hearkens back to early W.A.S.P. The lineup pictured inside was the current W.A.S.P., including Johnny Rod and Steve Riley. The actual track is from an earlier lineup with Tony Richards and Randy Piper. As such, it sounds exactly like the first album, and having more tunes with that sound is never a bad thing. It is a smoker, and Chris Holmes’ familiar guitar sound is welcome in my ears. This song easily could have been on the album, if not used as a single.
Simon Steele & The Claw don’t seem to have released much music over the years. Shame. “Vengeance Is Mine” is a traditional metal gallop. The vocals are decent, usually occupying a low John Bush-like growl, but occasionally releasing into a scream. There’s an awkward key change midway through, but the pace remains relentless throughout.
Megadeth’s jokey cover of “These Boots Are Made For Walkin'” was on their first album as “These Boots”, but this version is slightly longer. Produced by Paul Lani, it is a different recording from the album version by Dave Mustaine and Karat Faye. It remains as entertaining as ever. It may as well be an original if not for the lyrics. You’d never think it was “These Boots” if it was purely instrumental.
A complete change of pace is the pop rocker “Time Forgot You” by Legal Weapon. Apparently they were primarily a punk band, but this is a really cool mainstream 80s rock track that could have been a big hit on radio if circumstances allowed. Singer Kat Arthurs is a breath of fresh air after the grit of Mustaine! This is the hidden gem of the album, with a strong bassline and catchy, well-recorded stabs of shimmering rhythm guitar.
“Jesus Came Driving Along” by Swedish band The Leather Nun is like a gothic punk rock hybrid. The vocals are recorded low in the mix and odd sounds are rampant, but it’s pretty cool. It has a beat you can drive to, which might be the intent.
I was never a big Jane’s Addiction fan, but “Mountain Song” is a brilliant piece of swirly-whirly rock brilliance. A big Jane’s fan told me at the time that he never heard this particular version of “Mountain Song” before, produced by the band themselves. He considered it a rarity. The riff to “Mountain Song” seems like it has been ripped off so many times over the years since. There’s a Zeppelin-esque massiveness to it, but with a tribal beat, an 80s haze, and a howling Perry Farrell. Utter musical magnificence.
Punk band The Little Kings have a very cool song here called “The Lost Highway”. The exaggerated warbling mannerisms of the singer recall Elvis a bit, as the band chop out a greasy rockabilly sound behind him. It’s hard hitting and unique. It goes breakneck for a moment, and then back into a rockabilly groove.
A short instrumental from the movie score, “Dudes Showdown” has twangy guitar, and tense synth backing. It certainly sets a scene. It sounds like a setup for a climax.
The final song is almost a coda. It’s Steve Vai’s rare rendition of “Amazing Grace”, which he has since released as part of his Secret Jewel Box collection. At the time however, it was one of those scattered one-off rarities. Vai goes surprisingly delicate here, with heavy, dreamy guitar effects and a very experimental arrangement of the traditional music. Steve used to say, “Sorry, I can’t help myself!” and here’s an example. He couldn’t help doing something completely different.
And that’s the album! Not bad actually, with only the Vandals track being the one I’d skip today.
One of my favourite tapings of Tim’s Vinyl Confessions dropped yesterday. With Matt Phillips, we listed and showed our favourite albums that deserve a reissue on CD today. These included:
Albums out of print on CD for 20 years, 30 years, or more.
Albums, cassettes and EPs never printed on CD.
Records that deserve the deluxe treatment.
Music from deluxe editions and box sets that deserve individual releases.
Lots, and lots, and lots of rarities.
A Holy Grail.
There were some solid rants, about record labels, NFTs, and snobby collectors alike. This episode is for lovers of the CD format. Enjoy!
RECORD STORE TALES #1110: Happy Winter Memories Vol. 3 – Rocking the Basement
To an unsporty Canadian kid, growing up in a cold climate had its disadvantages. I didn’t give a fuck about hockey (to coin a phrase from Gord Downie), and nobody likes to shovel. The only good thing about fall and winter to me were Christmas and the return of my TV shows, like the Transformers and GI Joe. Otherwise, it was like hibernation. There were a lot of things I wanted to do and could only do outdoors, so I passed the time inside with my music and shows.
In a sense, winter was the best time for my friendship with Bob Schipper to flourish. In the summer we’d be outside a lot, riding bikes or hitting balls. Or, just getting into trouble as we often did. During the colder months, we spent more time being creative.
A typical Mike & Bob winter Saturday morning would go as follows:
Around 10 AM, Bob would pop by my place. Our creative Saturday mornings would usually happen at my house. Bob’s parents were more strict than mine, and we could listen to music in the basement. The basement was the best place because that is where the big TV with the VCR was. That was where MuchMusic lived. My VHS collection would grow video by video, week by week. The Pepsi Power hour ran twice a week (“Molten” Mondays, and Thursdays) and I would collect music, clip by clip, on my VHS collection. It would be my responsibility to show him what was new in music.
We did not always agree!
Savatage struck me from the moment I saw “Hall of the Mountain King”. It was the riff, the singer, and of course the little guy running through the caves looking for the king’s treasure. I had to record it. I thought Bob would really be into this song. It had a lot of what we both liked: nice, heavy melody metal with a screamin’ singer. Disappointingly, he was not as impressed as I was. He thought the video was less than great, and the singer not as impressive as I hyped him.
On the other hand, one viewing of “We Came to Rock” by Brighton Rock had him hooked immediately. In this case, singer Gerald McGhee really did blow him away. That scream at the end of “We Came to Rock” made his jaw actually drop.
If music videos were not on the menu that morning, I would bring my “ghetto blaster” downstairs and we would play whatever newest tape one of us had acquired. If it was a good one, we’d dub each other a copy.
Then, out came the paper and we would get down to creating. We were very much into drawing military vehicles, cars, and muscle-type men with warrior’s garb and jagged guitars. Our self-portraits were always masked, muscled, and flexing.
We would fantasise about being on stage. We’d picture the drum riser, and why not have it elevate? We would both be singers and guitar players, sharing lead duties from song to song. It had to be democratic. We came up with cool melodies and song titles. Mostly though, we sang our lyrics to other peoples’ songs. Of course, I can’t repeat the lyrics to anyone.
The two of us had enough creativity to power the world for decades. If only we had the technology to do the things we really wanted to do!
Still, it was in that basement during the coldest of months that Bob and I amassed binders full of drawings and cassette tapes full of our goof-offs. I kept everything I could. Of course, some things couldn’t last forever, such as the cardboard guitars or silly sketches. As unofficial archivist, I kept a lot. I have almost all my VHS tapes with those special music videos. When I play them, the memories return. These things matter to me. They show a snapshot of the best childhood anyone could have.
Friends, what would you do if you ordered a used CD from a small chain, only to find somebody defaced the artwork with black magic marker before sending to you? What if that defacement was specifically aimed at you?
My love of Marillion was known far and wide at the Record Store. Nobody else liked Marillion. I’d play them when I could, but everybody I worked with hated Marillion.
Everybody.
But I never found out who hated Marillion so much that they would ruin a CD just to tell me that “Marillion sucks”.
I wish I had taken a picture, but here’s the story. After I quit the Record Store and became a regular customer, I still received preferential treatment for a few months. They would often set stuff aside for me and call me asking if I wanted it. That was very cool of them. They didn’t have to do that. Other times, I received treatment that was simply unacceptable.
One day in 2006, a few months after quitting, I placed an online order for some used CDs. Free shipping, no fuss no muss. I found three discs I wanted. One of them, which I was buying just “for the collection” was Gene Simmons’ spoken word CD, Speaking in Tongues. I didn’t plan on playing it every day, but I did plan on cherishing it as part of my Kiss collection. Everyone at that store knew my favourite band in the world was Kiss. They all hated Kiss about as much as Marillion. That said, I ordered Speaking in Tongues and awaited the arrival of my mail.
Discs from my old store often arrived in broken cases; that was par for the course. They also often arrived more scratched than I liked, but I wasn’t going to be as picky about what I bought as I was when I worked there. What was unacceptable and tantamount to sabotage was what I saw when I got my Simmons disc.
Everything appeared fine. The case was cracked, the disc was a little scuffy, but it should play fine, right?
I never got that far.
After removing the disc from the case, I saw that someone wrote on the inside back cover “MARILLION SUCKS” in big, black indelible magic marker.
Hah, hah. Funny.
Who does that to someone they know is a collector? Who does that to someone they obviously knew personally, since they knew I loved Marillion?
I never found out. I complained and nobody ever told me. I returned the disc immediately, unplayed. I was really pissed off.
The fact that this happened at a Record Store that preached “professionalism” was absolutely shocking. I remember getting in shit for telling a customer I hated Radiohead when asked! Did this person get in shit for writing “MARILLION SUCKS” on my CD?
I wonder if anyone will ever own up and tell me who wrecked my Simmons CD. I doubt it.
PAT METHENY – Bright Size Life (1976 ECM)
mikeladano.com 