Sixty Four

 

Today's my 64th birthday and I can't belief the day because nothing big changed during the last years except getting older. I think and feel younger than my date of birth tells me. There's no greater celebration going on today and I will meet another fellow who has his birthday today as well for a couple of pints with a few friends. There were many thoughts of what to feature today but nothing felt confident to me so I decided to check the dates in music history for May 22 and decided to name a few of the list.

2019 - Scottish musician Jake Black (The Very Reverend D. Wayne Love), died age 59. He was a member of Alabama 3 a very underrated band.

1988 - Prince scored his first UK No.1 album with 'Lovesexy.' The cover (based on a photo by Jean Baptiste Mondino) caused some controversy upon release as it depicts Prince in the nude. Some record stores refused to stock it or wrapped the album in black.

1988 - Billy Bragg were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'With A Little Help From My Friends' and 'She's Leaving Home.' The two Beatles songs had been recorded for the childLine charity, sales of the single, which spent four weeks at No.1 on the UK chart, were over £600,000, all of which was donated to ChildLine .

1982 The Hacienda Club was opened in Manchester

1980 Joe Strummer was arrested at a much-troubled gig in Hamburg, Germany, after smashing his guitar over the head of a member of the audience; he was released after an alcohol test proved negative.

1972 The Doors, Pink Floyd, the Faces, Family, Curved Air, Atomic Rooster, The Kinks, Rory Gallagher, Uriah Heep, Country Joe McDonald, Buddy Miles, Status Quo, Brinsley Schwarz, Spencer Davis, The Strawbs and Humble Pie all appeared at the 2nd British Rock Meeting, Insel Grun, Germersheim, West Germany. The festival was due to take place in Mannheim, West Germany, but after protests from the locals, the concert actually took place in nearby Germersheim.

1972 Marvin Gaye released What's Going On

Purchased (Not Only) By The Cover

In the early 80's guitarist Bill Carter formed a classic three piece band Motor Boys Motor and released only a self titled album after they split. The cover showed a snake man and I have to admit that it was pretty disgusting in days before they sent C-socialites into the jungle to eat worms. The band plays a Captain Beefheart inspired heavy blues. Carter plays a rhythmical, hard and feedback-drenched blues with a grabbing electric slide guitar combined with the staccato-like barked speech of Tony Moon. After the split of Motor Boys Motor Carter formed Screaming Blue Messiahs and got more critical acclaim than his former band.

Motor Boys Motor - Drive Friendly

Motor Boys Motor - Clean Shirt And A Shave

The bands name was borrowed by Joe Strummer's 101ers and worth to feature this song.

The 101ers - Motor Boys Motor

Wide Akake!

A few days ago NYC-based band released their new album Wide Awake! that is on heavy rotation when I find the time for music right now. Listening to their former releases that were sometimes hard to listen they made their masterpiece with this record. Seldom listened to a record that has so much influences from the last decades and creating a very unique but also different sound. Adapting the Dutch way of playing football in the early 70's and making a punk-styled song has some kind of belting.

 
That they listended to Joe Strummer you can hear in Tenderness a song Franz Ferdinand would die for.

 
Taking Talking Heads by the times of Remain In Light and leading them to a Mutant Disco in NYC is impossible? They did - and they did it well.

Memories From My Vacation To The USA

I have to go back to the days when I stayed in Florida a few weeks ago. When we drove from one place to another we used to listen to the radio. What was new to me there are a lot of stations playing their music on satellite radio. Most of them played music that was classified in various genres. Old school rock, high school guitar sound or hit stations were often found. We found a radio station that played new wave music from the early 80's all day long. There were so many bands I forgot about them during the last years and was so surprised to listen to their songs on the air. One of those bands are The Passions, a British post-punk band formed in the late 70's. They disbanded in 1983 after the release of a few LP's. When I came home I grabbed out their first record Michael & Miranda from 1980 and listen to their old fashioned songs. But they are still worth to listen again with their bass dominated and retard guitar sound with the voice of Barbara Gogan. Guitar player Clive Timberley played former together with Joe Strummer by The 101ers. Not too bad requirements for a bigger career. Sadly they are just another forgotten  band in the history.

The Passions - Haunted
The Passions - Needles and Pills
The Passions - Body And Soul
The Passions - Oh No, It's You

Mondo Bongo

It's a sunny Sunday morning and it seems like Indian Summer came to stay for a few days. So it's easy to get out of bed and do something I should have done for weeks. During the weeks I was to lazy to do my correspondence in time. When letters or bills arrived I only check the sender and if I think it's necessary I'll open it. Otherwise I put it on the pile of unfinished correspondence. When the pile is too high I have to finish it. And that's my job for this morning. Made myself a cup of coffee and checked out some music that plays in the background while working on my correspondence. One of the most remixed songs by Joe Strummer is probably Mondo Bongo - and here is a nice and slow version.



Tonight the qualification games starts for UEFA EURO 2016. Germany will play against the Scottish team. I really don't know how strong Strachan's boys are but I'm sure they will fight. Because I want to see Scotland with the EURO, besides I would be undecided contented with.

What Happened To Pub Rock # 14

Today I would like to lose some words about a band which has become a firm institution in the pub rock scene. Nevertheless, looking back for many people only the fact that Joe Strummer has left the group to join The Clash will remain. I won't tell you some new facts that The Sex Pistols supported the 101ers. Therefore some statements by Joe Strummer himself:

"5 seconds into their (the Pistols') first song, I knew we were like yesterday's paper, we were over."

" know the 101ers were good. In fact, as far as sound and excitement went we were much better than Eddie and the Hot Rods. The other guys in the group were twenty-five and twenty-six and they played good because they'd spent a few years getting that far. But they were just too old. What I really wanted was to get in with some young yobbo's who I was more in tune with."

Anyway, this band should be named in this series.

Enjoy

The 101ers - Sweet Revenge
The 101ers - Gloria
The 101ers - Motors Boy Motor
The 101ers - Keys To Your Heart

What Happened To Pub Rock # 10

How was said quite several times for me pub rock were the basis and above all the catalyst for punk rock. The music of the bands that belong to this genre reduced their music to the basics. Based on the old R&B they played simple hand-made music again. Most of them learned how to play in front of the audience. Some bands were able to join the new music that would be played in the mid 70s. The best example were The 101ers with Joe Strummer. At the end of this little series I would like to feature Eddie and the Hot Rods. A band that started with playing cover versions of classical 60s cuts is for me the link from pub rock to punk rock. Their single Do anything you wanna do is for many of my mates a classic punk rock song. I think this song has both: the new power of punk and the classic influence of R&B. According to my opinion their first publications are very good examples how pub rock sounded like over 40 years ago.

Eddie and the Hot Rods - Get Across To You
Eddie and the Hot Rods - Teenage Depression
Eddie and the Hot Rods - Horseplay (Wearier of the Schmaltz)
Eddie and the Hot Rods - Been So Long
Eddie and the Hot Rods - Cruisin' (In the Lincoln)

40 Records in 40 Years (30/40 - 2003)

The worries we made about what happened two years ago vanished in normal life. We used to live like nothing happened before and stored it in another file. So me and Christiane decided to take our next step an buy an apartment closer to the main city of our little town. We prepared everything for the move and the day before it should take place Christiane got a lighted appendix. So we had to do the move without her advices and finished it in time. Later this year we started for a longer trip to Thailand. Also a place I haven't been before. We did it close to our trip to India and traveled the country from north to south in local buses or trains. This yourney might be the reason why I am so addicted to South East Asia. Not only the people that are most friendly and helpful it is also the scenery, vegetation and meals. And these countries makes it easy to me to recreate and load up my battery. What else do you need sometimes more than sitting with a cold beer and a lovely woman by your side at pretty beach watching the sundown?

Another year with very good records:

• Kings of Leon - Youth and Young Manhood: 4 brothers bring us back classic rock
• The White Stripes - Elephant: It's the record I noticed them
• Belle & Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress: Another album with great songs
• The Rapture - Echoes: Dance punk at it's best
• Calexico - Feast of Wire: Their next one on high level
• Ben Harper - Diamonds on the Inside: Fantastic songs
• The Raveonettes - Chain Gang of Love: Simply great
• Warren Zevon - The Wind: See my words below
• Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros - Streetcore: His legacy
• Sons and Daughters - Love the Cup: Superb Scottish music

And songs as well:

And as ever - some remarkable movies:

• Mystic River: Great story and a fantastic Sean Penn
• Monster: Charlize Theron shows us the darkest sides
• Cold Mountain: Wonderful western according to the novel
• Love Actually: One of the every years christmas movies
• Bend it like Beckham: Nice story about women and football
• Once Upon a Time in Mexico: Classic drama
• Kill Bill 1.: The revenge of the bride

What happened in the world and was necessary to recall:

Another African Drama: The war in Dafur begins // Global protest against the Iraq war // The Indonesian military starts a operation in the Aceh province // A lot of east European countries join the European Union // The Concorde makes his last commercial flight // Saddam Hussein is captured at the end of the year.

Once more it was hard to decide which record I should feature on this series. The record that touched me most emotional was Warren Zevon's The Wind. Not because it was his last one. He recorded it while he was sick of lung cancer and he told us in his words to say good bye. I'll feature this record in another series these days. So let's go to todays record. It is probably one of the best debut albums in the last decade. British Sea Power brought us back the spirit of Post Punk, New Wave and Independent Rock. Based on the best of Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen and early Pixies they give us a full load of wonderful guitars. Most songs has catchy rhythms and the singer fits to all the songs. Beneath songs with heavy leading guitars shines the febrile hymn The Lately that ends in organized chaos.

Enjoy.

British Sea Power - Fear of Drowninng

British Sea Power - Waving Flags

British Sea Power - Remember Me

British Sea Power - Lately

British Sea Power - Apologies to Insect Life

London Calling

Had a good and relaxed weekend behind me and power enough for another week in business. Last Saturday we my brother, C. and me met for a few beer before she's leaving in our favorite pub. Later we went together to an event. In our town there's a place where younger people where educated as special subject teachers for sports, IT and housekeeping. C. had taken this education for over 25 years ago and knows still a lot of people that came to this event to meet the former class-mates. Once a year a lot of former students meet for a tournament in volleyball and afterwards for a party. These parties has tradition over long long years. In my younger times me and my lads went to these parties to check out the female students. I remember very special evenings there - but this might be another story to be told. Anyway, the evening started with a local band. They use to play two acoustic guitars added with some percussion. The play well known songs in their very own arrangements. Later that night they had some DJ's doing their thing. It's funny because one of them is the son of an old friend from C. I was surprised what kind of music these young kids gave us. Later they gave us 30 minutes of root reggae. Fantastic. So I think we can start the week with a classic tune from The Clash - now in a dub version - I think Joe Strummer would like.

Enjoy and have a good week.

Dub Spencer & Trance Hill - London Calling

Silver And Gold

Too much to do these days to continue the blog I want it to do. But anyway here's a song that is close to me all over the years. Not only that it was from Joe Strummer - no the lyrics mean a lot to me and the older I get the more I can understand his words.

I'm gonna go out dancin' every night

I'm gonna see all the city lights

I'll do everything silver and gold

I got to hurry up before I grow too old

I'm gonna take a trip around the world

I'm gonna kiss all the pretty girls

I'll do everything silver and gold

And I got to hurry up before I grow too old

Oh, I do a lotta things, I know is wrong

Hope I'm forgiven before I'm gone

It'll take a lotta prayers to save my soul

And I got to hurry up before I grow too old

I'm gonna take a trip around the world

Gonna kiss all the pretty girls

Who do everything silver and gold

And I got to hurry up before I grow too old

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Silver and Gold

I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day

My brothers musical distinction is a lot different to mine. But both of us agree on Irish style punk music like The Pogues or Dropkick Murphys. I remember several concerts we both went and had many fun. We've seen The Pogues back in 1982 when they promoted their first album 'Red Roses For Me'. Seldom seen such an intensive concert before. We both wondered also how much Shane MacGowan and Cait O'Riordan could drink along their appearance. How it ended we've seen a couple of years later when he fall down the stage and couldn't get up again so that Joe Strummer had to take over the vocals. This is one of the rare songs from the Pogues when O'Riordan took over the vocals.

The Pogues - I'm a man you don't meet every day

The last post ... if we believe the words

Everybody's talking nowadays about the forecoming end of our planets. Even the local papers edit a eight side extra in their dayly newspaper about what would happen or not. We also discussed about it and what different websites will tell us. I think it is another hype - remember what they told us at the end of the last century. And what happend - nothing. The only things that happend, was that my team won the german championship in football and played in the Champions leage. Also positive was, that the new century brougt us some real good music and opend my ears to new sounds.

So people - what ever will happen: it is a good reason to have a party to watch the forecoming day.
Have fun, enjoy some drinks - I'll go to the beach, get us some drinks and listen to some music I burned while I wrote this post. Cheers

Sons and Daughters - Dance me in
Joe Strummer - Get down Moses

PS: Could this be the soundtrack for the end of the world as we know it?

I'm four and a half hour ahead - I let you know, when something happens