Since the end of World War II, more and more US soldiers have been stationed around Stuttgart. In recent years, their numbers have decreased significantly, but to this day, Kelly Barracks in a suburb is home to AFRICOM, the headquarters of the US military for operations in Africa. In the early 1980's, we often visited the barracks for the annual German-American Friendship Day. To be honest, it was mainly to buy cheap cigarettes. When we talked to the soldiers, they often complained that there was no country club like the ones they knew from home.
The Longhorn Country & Western Saloon opened in March 1984, catering to the need of US military personnel stationed in Stuttgart for an American-style bar. We became aware of this club at the end of 1984 because it was the venue for the nationwide public male striptease. At that time, the strippers were US soldiers; men were not allowed in. Other events such as mud wrestling and wet T-shirt contests are also unthinkable today. When we visited the club for the first time, we were presented with a strange competition.
From 1987 onward, local concert promoters became aware of the club because they had the opportunity to organize concerts for up to 1,000 spectators. Since then I became a regular visitor of the club and was lucky enough to The Pixies, The Levellers, The Fall, Steele Pulse, The Woodentops and George Clinton among many others.
I particularly remember The Gun Club concert in 1987. At that time, there was still a public bar and a pool table on the first floor in front of the artists' dressing rooms. We arrived quite early and passed the time playing a few games until the opening act, Dinosaur Jr., came on stage. After that, we sat down at the bar and ordered a beer. Then a young Japanese woman sat down next to me and we had a nice chat until a long-haired punk with red eyes and an open mouth came up to me, grabbed me by the collar, and told me to leave his girlfriend alone. Several security guards immediately separated us and asked me to leave the floor. How could I have known that I was talking to Romi Mori, the bassist and then-girlfriend of Jeffrey Lee Pierce? Happy that nothing more happened, I was able to enjoy the concert.
Yesterday's post was dedicated to the latest album by SAULT. Our friend Ernie has left the following comment: Good stuff but I thought from the title this would be your tribute to the pioneering LA punks of the same name. Maybe there is a follow up post there. Let his wish be my command, because it can't be that this band has never been mentioned here before.
X was one of the first punk band formed in Los Angeles in the late seventies by John Doe and Exene Cervenka. Doe was raised in Brooklyn and got infected to punk when he saw Talking Heads at CBGB's and The Heartbreakers at Max's Kansas City. He packed his things and moved to the west where he met Cervenka where they got friends and formed this legendary group together with guitarist Billy Zoom.
In 1980 they released their debut album Los Angeles which got some critical acclaim but it wasn't successful at it's release. I owned this album by recommendation of my local music dealer and not really knowing what kind of music awaits me. The album thrilled me right from the start because it doesn't just consist of three chords, but the musicians have mastered their instruments (although that shouldn't be essential). The fact that they have allowed other influences such as Eddie Cochran and rockabilly right from the start sets them apart from West Coast punks like the Black Flags.
Their songs, in which Doe and Cervenka alternate, are highly melodic and the quirky harmony vocals became the band's most distinctive element. With their following album Wild Gift they added more country influence to their sound and I think The Gun Club was inspired by their sound. In the mid eighties X vanished from my radar and I got aware of them again when they released their last album last year.
I don't know why they didn't got the reputation The Ramones got because their first records were highlights from this music/decade.
In the late 70's/early 80's the heads of Blondie and Ramones fan club. Jeffrey Lee Pierce and Kid Congo Powers started their band The Gun Club. Not knowing that they made a groundbreaking album with Fire Of Love from 1981 when they combined classic blues, rockabilly and punk to a melange named psychobilly blues and a never heard before slide guitar . In the early and mid-80s, The Gun Club were probably one of the most influential bands on the Los Angeles music scene, if only because of their legendary debut album "Fire of Love". What made Pierce and his band stand out was their wild, raw fusion of punk and blues, captured in killer songs like Sex Beat and She's Like Heroin to Me, roughly comparable to what The Cramps had done with rockabilly in a similarly legendary way at almost the same time. When I bought the album and played it for the first time, I couldn't believe what I was hearing. This mixture of priestly enlightenment and punk was unusual and disturbing. But this music captivated me right from the start and Miami, the follow-up album, was another highlight. For me, it is still an album that is almost perfect and should appear in SWC's series.
Another three songs that appeared on my mobile phone in a row a few days ago on my way to work. The first one was by The Gun Club's second album Miami from 1982. A long time ago of course but I love this album from the first time I listened to it until now. It was a rough and grounded sound torn between post punk and pre-grunge. Seldom listened to a true sound like this later.
In 1979 The Flying Lizards released their first self titled album, an experimental excursion in new sounds trying to find their own way between pop, experimental and dub. Their legacy will be superb cover versions by Eddie Cochran and Berry Gordy.
Polly Scattergood is an English singer/songwriter and released more than one year ago her latest album In This Moment. It is an album I enjoy listening from time to time to her Eighties-tinged pop that could be recorded in David Bowie's Hunky Dory days
Back in normal life in my first own flat. Also back in my regular job with no big view that there will be no big chances that something real important will happen. My life oscillated between the everyday work, to enjoy the time of my own with music and books at home and to go out with my mates. Nothing boring but just everyones live at this age. With a few colleges we planed to travel for five weeks through the western states of USA.
We sat together for many evenings to plan our vacation. Our plan was to rent a camper in Los Angeles an move northward on the coast highway to San Fransisco. I remember that I was a little nervous because it was the first time I will take a ride on an airplane. But afterwards it was the start to travel most of the times by plane. We arrived in LA in a misty afternoon in may and I was a little disappointed because I always thought that there must be sunny weather. After we checked in in our hotel me and one of my colleges wanted to get out for a few beers. This was a good plan but we checked out the wrong place because we stumbled into a bar on the strip - not knowing that this place is filled with whores and junkies when the night comes. So we went to the bar ordered some pints and tried not to get in any trouble.
So we could start a few days later our round-trip that lead us up to Frisco then up to Lake Tahoo. Our travel guide told us that there would be a lot of flowers to see but we arrived in snow around the whole area. That's we decided to move through Death Valley to Las Vegas. Impressed by driving lot's of miles and seeing nothing more than sand and dunes we arrived at our destination by night and one more time surprised by all that neon light that made day out of night. Next destination were the big canyons. The Bryce Canyon is not as famous as the Grand Canyon but worth to visit. One peaceful moment was when we walked down the Grand Canyon to the Colorado river. We just to a rest near the river listening to some Americans playing guitars and singing.
The next days we traveled over Flagstaff and Phoenix to San Diego to take a short trip across the Mexican border. We met a lot of friendly people over there - don't knowing if it is possible to do this in our days now. All in all it was great experience to stay in this country with people that are open to visitors from other countries. I remember one afternoon when I decided to take the car and go to the next record shop to get me some LP's. Bought myself around 25 records like The Gun Club and The Fleshtones. When it was my turn to pay the cashier, a young pierced girl, was astonished about my collection and asked me where I come from. So we started to talk and talk with the result, that I was invited to a local party. It was really great to listen on this garage-rock, punk, New Wave and also some soul tunes, standing around talking and enjoying some cool drinks.
Although I stayed in the US here's some of the songs from 1982
Joan Jett - A song that rocked every party these days
Dexy's Midnight Runners with their biggest hit
Culture Club mixing soft reggae with pop
The Jam with one of their last masterpiece before they split
Great voices from over the Atlantic ocean - perfect pop
Tears for Fears brought the sadness in songs
ABC: Simply perfect after all the years
Toto - Africa: I used to listen to on every radio station for five weeks
Blancmange with perfect synthie sound
Political statements from NY by Grandmaster Flash
And one we didn't need neither in that time still today:
Records I remember that was published in 1982:
The DB's - Repercussion: Collage rock at it's best.
XTC - English Settlement: Great songs arranged perfectly
Van Morrissn - Beautiful Vision: Van the man is back with a bucket full of great songs - especially 'Scandinavia'
Lou Reed - The Blue Mask: The guitars of Lou Reed and Rupert Quine on separate channels combined with a few very good songs from his later period.
Haircut 100 - Pelican West: Simply wonderful
Fun Boy Three - same: A great record after the split of The Specials. Very own songs with reggae background.
Level 42 - Strategy, the early tapes: Jazz and funk with a memorable bass
Ry Cooder - The Slide Area: Return to the classic blues and rock sound with a heavy slide guitar
Joe Cocker - Sheffield Steele: The comeback from the white Ray Charles with great songs and a lot of reggae influences with the rhythm section by Sly and Robbie
ABC - The Look Of Love: A monument - nothing more to say
Joe Jackson - Night and Day: Takes us back to the times of barroom music with really remarkable song.
Donald Fagen - The Nightfly: New songs from the former Steely Dan member
Marvin Gaye - Midnight Love: His legacy before he was killed by his father
Violent Femmes - same: Folk punk and independent folk from the US
1982 in movies - what was worth to watch:
ET - Very big hype in the US but a nice movie - nothing more
An Officer And Gentleman - Richard Gere gets famous and it was the start of a lot of movies with the same theme
48 Hours - Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy. A classical buddy story with great actors. Also the start to movies with the same theme
Gandhi - Biopic about the life of Gandhi with a gigantic Ben Kingsley
Blade Runner - Mr. Scott shows us his version of the future
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid - Great homage to the classical detective movies of the 1940s with the classical dialog: 'What does F.O.C. mean' - 'It's another word for making love'
Fitzcarraldo - Klaus Kinski as a weired fan of Enrico Caruso trying to built a opera house in Peru
The World According To Garp - One of the best novels by John Irving transformed to a remarkable movie
What happened in the world in this year:
First computer virus was found on apple computers written by a 15 year old kid; Hama massacre in Syria - the first time the Assad regime starts slaughter; the European Cort of Human Rights rules that teachers who cane, belt of tase children against the wishes of their parents are in breach of the Human Rights Convention; the Falkland war begins - Argentine troops invades and occupy the Falkland Islands; Aston Villa wins the European cup by beating Bayern Munich; the Lebanon war begins when Israel troops invade in southern Lebanon under the order of Ariel Sharon; Italy wins the world championship in Spain against Germany with 3:1 - I still feel ashamed about the shame of Gijon when we stopped playing against Austria. Just keeping the ball over 60 minutes in our own half and Austria wouldn't attack us. It was the first time I stopped watching our team; Helmut Kohl replaces Helmut Schmitt as Chancellor of Germany through a constructive vote of no confidence.
It's another difficult decision which record touched me more this year. For sure - The Gun Club with 'Miami' was the best heavy record of this year. Jeffrey Lee Pierce brought us a unbelievable combination of post punk, punk blues, cowpunk and deathrock. Pierce former head of the Blondie fan-club in Los Angeles formed this band together with Kid Congo Powers who joined The Cramps beforte their first record. Some backing vocals on this record were sung by Blondie. Every song on this record is a killer. They transported CCR's 'Run through the jungle' as a swamp blues into this days. Also his version of the traditional 'John Henry' is fast ride on speed through this song. I love this record until now and I am sure, that I'll play it often in the future.
But the record that impressed me much this year comes from August Darnell's Kid Creole and the Coconuts. It was the new big thing from New York and gave us a superb mixture of variety styles like Caribbean, South American and Trinidadian sounds combining this with Cab Calloway and the golden era of the big bands. The Coconuts were a glamorous trio of female backing vocalists. Their first records were well recommended by critics but not successful. The got their breakthrough with 'Tropical Gangsters'. It is a perfect mixture of great arranged and very danceable songs. It was the record the most of my lads could agree this year and we all went to see them live in Stuttgart. It was a fantastic evening listening live to all them songs and getting a little Caribbean flair. Also their performing on stage was great. We used to watch bands playing their music mostly in rotten clothes and now we saw the musicians dressed up in style. That's what became also popular this year - look over to ABC and it was the start into the new disco and club thing. Kid Creole opened my ears to the forthcoming sound of this kind of music.
