TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 17, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell


OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Leave the Capitol by The Fall
No Confidence by Simon Stokes
Memphis, Egypt by The Sadies with Jon Langford
Jet Set Fleshtones by The Fleshtones
D'accord Tony D'accord by Tony Truant with The Fleshtones
Golden Strings by Flat Duo Jets
El Kabong by The A-Bones
Oceans of Venus by Dengue Fever
Treat Me Like a Dog by The King Khan & BBQ Show

16 Candles by The Crests
Only 16 by Sam Cooke
You're 16 (You're Beautiful and You're Mine) by Ringo Starr
I'm 16 by Ros Sereysothea
Livin' on the 16 Shadows by The Gimmes
Fifteen by Big Daddy Meatstraw
Foolkiller by Johnny Rivers
Spasms by Little Willie John

Young Man Blues by The Who
Exploder by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
Texas by Boss Hog
Dirty Action by Texas Terri Bomb
Astral Plane by The Rockin' Guys
Mojo Man from Mars by The Cramps
I Had Too Much To Dream Last Night by The Electric Prunes
Incense & Peppermints by The Strawberry Alarm Clock
Journey to the Center of the Mind by The Amboy Dukes

The Stations by The Gutter Twins
Me and Mr. Jones by Amy Winehouse
Me and Mrs. Jones by Billy Paul
I'm Not Satisfied by Ruben & The Jets
Steal Away by Carla Bozulich
Baby by Os Mutantes
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 15, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Red Brick Wall by The Waco Brothers
Tore Up Junction by Arty Hill & The Long Gone Daddies
Endless Sleep by Tav Falco
Kung Fu Cowboy by Alan Vega
Devil Girl by Jody Reynolds
Just Us Kids by James McMurtry
Let's Waste Another Evening by Josh Lederman & Los Diablos
Help Me Make It Through the Night by Jon Langford & Chip Taylor
The Real Thing by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez

Cool and Dark Inside by Kell Robertson
Live in the Studio: Kell Robertson & Blonde Boy Grunt
Mad Love/She Knows the Words to the Song by BBG
It Hurts Me Too/Drinkin' Wine Spodee Odee by KR
Roll My Blues Away by BBG
'Cause I'm Crazy by Kell
(end live set)

Hoboin'/You Rock by Blonde Boy Grunt & The Groans
Big Daddy by Dewey Cox
You've Got To Take Care of Yourself by The Cornell Hurd Band
You Comb Her Hair by George Jones
Let's Run Away by Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh
Cajun Joe (The Bully of the Bayou) by Doug & Rusty Kershaw
Conquest by The White Stripes
Walker by The Santa Fe All Stars
Truly by Hundred Year Flood

Touching Home by Jerry Lee Lewis
Down to My Last Dime by Johnny Paycheck
Homewrecker by Grey DeLisle
Gamblin' House by Malcom Holcolmbe
Lean on Me by Michael Hurley
Out in the Parking Lot by Guy Clark
Monument Valley by Drive-By Truckers
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots
Radio list

SOUNDCLICK PLAYERS

For those of you interested in hearing my own tacky tunes, I've installed these nifty Soundclick players on My MySpace page.

There's my own stuff plus those wild Covelle Brothers from Moscow, Idaho, THE WINKING TIKIS. I won their contract in a poker game with a group of dogs, so I guess I'm their manager.

I'll stick the players here just for giggles.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: CORNELL CAN'T HELP BEING COOL

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 15, 2008

Cornell Hurd, one of Austin’s premier purveyors of fine honky-tonk sounds, is so prolific it’s hard to keep up with all The Cornell Hurd Band albums he releases. But with his most recent, Beyond the Purple Hills, Hurd shows it’s worth the effort to try.

Like most of his records, Purple Hills is an impressive collection of two-steppers, carrying on the musical traditions of Ernest Tubb and Ray Price and infused with Hurd’s twisted sense of humor.

Hurd’s got a great country band; most of the musicians play regularly with him at his weekly gig at Jovita’s restaurant in Austin. (They rarely play outside the Austin area.) Among the members are Paul Skelton on lead guitar, Howard Kalish on fiddle, Lisa Pankrantz on drums, and Blackie White — sometimes called “the Sexsational Blackie White,” and also known as graphic artist Guy Juke — on rhythm guitar. And, as always, this album has an impressive array of cronies and guest performers, including singers Johnny Bush, Justin Trevino (both of whom are semiregulars), and Maryann Price, a former Lickette with Dan Hicks.

Among this CD’s highlights are “I Can’t Help Being Cool,” in which Hurd starts off singing, “I’ll wear petroleum products in my hair if I want/When I get involved I remain nonchalant”; and the bluesy “You’ve Got to Take Care of Yourself,” featuring baritone vocals by tenor saxman Del Puschert and White. Then there’s “Mom’s Tattoo,” on which Hurd swaps lines with Bush.

The title song is an instrumental that sounds like a theme to some epic Western like The Magnificent Seven. The liner notes, however, say it originally was titled “Come in Krypton” and came from “a vivid dream I had about a musical being rehearsed in Peggy Ashton’s garage.”

Well, there you go.

Hurd writes nearly all the songs, but he always includes some good covers. Here he does “Never Going Back (to Nashville),” a Lovin’ Spoonful tune written by the late John Stewart, and a jazzy little Moon Mullican song called “Moon’s Rock.”

You might say the last song, “Del’s Metal Moment,” transcends the honky-tonk. With Hurd’s sons Vance and Casey Hurd on guitars and Puschert on sax, it’s supposed to be a “heavy-metal” piece, but it actually sounds closer to drag-strip grind.

That’s Cornell for you. He dependably delivers fine country music but loves to throw a curveball every now and then.

Other country albums I’ve been enjoying in recent weeks:

* Holdin’ Our Own and Other Country Gold Duets by Jesse Dayton & Brennen Leigh. This has the feel of a tribute album — celebrating George & Tammy, Conway & Loretta, Johnny & June, Porter & Dolly, Gram & Emmylou, Dewey & Darlene, and other great male-female combos. However, the majority of the 12 songs are written by Dayton — they’re not classic country songs; they just sound that way.

Dayton is not well known. He’s young-looking, though his résumé is pretty impressive, having played with the likes of Ray Price and Waylon Jennings. He has a twisted side, too. He played with thersuckers on their country album Must’ve Been High. And he was commissioned by Rob Zombie to write and record tunes — like “I’m at Home Getting Hammered (While She’s Out Getting Nailed)” — for the faux band Banjo and Sullivan in conjunction with the filmmaker’s slasher extravaganza The Devil’s Rejects.

Leigh, on the other hand, comes from the world of bluegrass. She sounds especially at home on “Somethin’ Somebody Said,” a high-speed, banjo-driven rouser.

The opening song, “Let’s Run Away,” is an up-tempo country-rocker that would have been at home on Southern Culture on the Skids’ recent Countrypolitan Favorites album. “We Hung the Moon” sounds like a Roy Orbison tune. Meanwhile, Cornell Hurd probably wishes he had written “Two-Step Program.”

To be sure, there are several “country gold” songs here: “Brand New Heartache,” “Somethin’ to Brag About,” “Take Me,” “Long-Legged Guitar Pickin’ Man,” and “Back-Street Affair.” That one’s best known as a Webb Pierce weeper, but Jesse and Brennan apparently are following the Conway and Loretta version that graced their classic duet album, Lead Me On.

On that song, as well as the other covers, Dayton and Leigh treat the material with respect but don’t stoop to blatant imitation. All these songs sound familiar yet fresh.

* Live From the Ruhr Triennale by Chip Taylor & Carrie Rodriguez. Speaking of fine country duets, Taylor and Rodriguez have been making some wonderful music together for several years, releasing three studio albums since 2002. Here the two play a 2005 festival in Germany with a band that includes guitarist Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz on steel guitar and Buddy Miller making a guest guitar appearance.

Taylor is best known for writing two huge hits of yesteryear — The Troggs’ sludge-rock classic “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning,” which was made famous by folk popster Merrilee Rush in the ’60s and later by urban cowgirl Juice Newton. “Angel” was extremely controversial when first released. It’s about premarital sex nobody dies or gets pregnant!

But even though those songs are old enough to run for president, Taylor, in recent years, has written some fine, not very well-known tunes. Some of those, like the aching “Must Be the Whiskey,” the mournful “Let’s Leave This Town,” and the rocking “Laredo,” are included here.
Unfortunately Taylor and Rodriguez spend too much time on way-too-familiar cover songs — Chuck Berry’s “Maybellene,” Merle Haggard’s “Today I Started Loving You Again,” and Johnny Cash’s “Big River” and “The Long Black Veil.” Their versions are listenable but offer little in the way of new revelation.

I’m happy that the duo has included Taylor’s golden oldie hits — especially “Angel.” I’ll take Rodriguez’s slightly hoarse but undeniably sexy drawl over Rush’s or Newton’s voice any day.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: THREE MORE YEARS ... MAYBE

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 14, 2008

Gov. Bill Richardson said something at a news conference this week that made the ears of every reporter in the room perk up:

“I invite anybody to test whether Bill Richardson is a lame duck. I’ve got possibly three more years here. Everybody who wants to test if I’m a lame duck, please proceed. I’d be very interested in facing that challenge.”

He might not be a lame duck. But he sure sounded like a thin-skinned duck.

No, it wasn’t the “bring-it-on” belligerence of his “challenge” that stuck in the ears of reporters.

It was the “possibly three more years” part.

Even before Richardson announced his presidential campaign early last year, there was widespread speculation he actually was gunning for a slightly lower position in a new Democratic administration in Washington, D.C. Some assumed he was thinking of the vice presidency. Others assumed secretary of state or maybe some troubleshooting ambassador-at-large gig.

Richardson of course consistently brushed off such talk. Aw shucks, I’m flattered, was his basic attitude. When going through the denial ritual on television news shows, he’d always laugh, as if whoever was asking was foolish to even think such silly thoughts.

And — except for a couple of times when he was pressed and admitted, “I never say never” — Richardson inevitably would say if he didn’t win the White House, he’d come back to New Mexico where he’d go back to being governor — “the best job I’ve ever had.”

Sometimes it was “the greatest job in the world.”

But by early this week, the thought of serving out the rest of his elected term as governor was expressed only as a possibility.

This sparked immediate speculation that Richardson might already have something lined up with one of the candidates. The momentum and delegate mathematics at the moment seem to be with Barack Obama, who could use some help with Hispanic voters. Of course, Hillary Clinton can’t be counted out yet, and remember Richardson is her husband’s football-watching buddy.

Or maybe there’s nothing lined up yet. Aides to the governor say both camps constantly call, trying to win the Richardson endorsement. Richardson has more clout within the national Democratic establishment than he does with the general electorate, one staffer said this week.

And apparently he has more clout with national party honchos than he does with his own Legislature.

By early this week, Richardson’s legislative agenda was in shambles.

Ethics bills are limping toward oblivion. His domestic-partnership legislation was stomped to death in Senate Judiciary.

He said he’d settle for a watered-down version of his health care reform bill — as long as the governor would have the power to appoint the executive director of the proposed new Health Coverage Authority. But the Senate might not be inclined to give him that. By Wednesday night, a fight was brewing over vetoed capital outlay projects.

Richardson threatened to call a special session if he doesn’t get it his way. But there’s no evidence a special session this year would be any less a disaster than the one he forced last year.

Richardson found himself at odds with a Democratic attorney general, who sided with the Legislature over who can accept bills sent to the governor. (The governor in the end, decided not to press that issue, though his staff still insists the governor was right.)

And he’s even in a public spat with an increasingly independent Lt. Gov. Diane Denish, who for five years was dependably loyal to him.

Last year, when Richardson was out of state running for president for most of the year, Denish voluntarily gave up the extra pay she earned for serving as acting governor. She did this so the extra expense to the state wouldn’t become an issue that could be used against Richardson. Now Denish says she has been denied state police protection sometimes while serving as acting governor.

So even if Richardson doesn’t have a new job lined up, maybe leaving before his term is up seems like a pleasant possibility.

I’m getting the idea that being governor of New Mexico isn’t the greatest job in the world anymore.

SXSW AT FIRST GLANCE

Glancing over the recently posted band list for this year's South by Southwest, here's my initial thoughts:

Lots of old favorites -- Joe Ely, Alejandro Escovedo, Junior Brown, Petty Booka, Johnette Napolitano -- and of course the mayors of SXSW, those wascally Waco Brothers.

I'm most excited about Eleni Mandell, Half Japanese and Andre Williams, none of whom I've seen before.

Also, Houston mystery man Jandek, who in recent years has come out of hiding and started playing festivals.

I also hope to see Yo La Tengo and My Morning Jacket.

Carla Bozulich is playing with her band Evangelista. Now I don't feel so bad about missing her in Santa Fe that next Sunday.

Thurston Moore is playing, but not Sonic Youth.

Donita Sparks of L7 is playing with what I guess is her new band, The Stellar Moments. (But my heart belongs to Suzy!)

Blue Cheer! I bought Vincebus Eruptum when I was in junior high in the summer of '68.

Dolly Parton!

Although both Iggy Pop and Lou Reed are listed as speakers at the conference, I don't see either listed as performers. Perhaps that will change. I saw them both at SXSW in 1996.

No Panda Bear, but someone or some band named Panda, from Mexico.

There's some real '60s cheese pop: The Cowsills (I've seen Susan Cowsill at SXSW before and she's actually good) and Bob Lind, creator of the "Bright Elusive Butterfly of Love."

80s cheese: Daryl Hall (but no Oates).

Some '90s cheese too: HANSON!

Of personal interest: This Bike is a Pipe Bomb, a Florida band I saw the first (and only) time I ever went to CBGBs.

Also listed is "Abe Vigoda." Maybe there will be guest appearances by Hal Linden and Max Gail and they'll do some old Barny Miller routines.

Of course, there's lots of funny band names. Ringo Deathstarr, Yuppie Pricks (An Austin band I think I've seen listed before), A Place to Bury Strangers, Corn Mo and the .357 Lover, Faceless Werewolves, 17 Hippies, Soiled Mattress & The Springs, Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin (they're from Springfield, Mo.), Tokyo Sex Destruction (they're from Spain!).

There's the Fuck contingent: Holy Fuck, Fuck Buttons, Fucked Up.

There's some robot bands: Robots in Disguise Droid Attack, Afrobots.

This should be fun.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, February 10, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Meat Man by Jerry Lee Lewis
Don't Slander Me by Roky Erikson
Youth Against Fascism by Sonic Youth
Jailhouse Blues by Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
White Sand by Boss Hogg
Trash by New York Dolls
Sonic Reducer by The Dead Boys
I Love Petit Girl by Sinn Sisamouth
Mr. Orange by Dengue Fever
I'll Never Belong by The King Khan & BBQ Show
Live Fast, Die Strong by King Khan & The Crowns

Rapping With Lee by Lee Fields
Let the Music Take Your Mind by The Soul Providers
Jemima Surrender by Howard Tate
Egg Roll by The M & S Band
Mystery of Black by Shades of Black
Your Thing is a Drag by Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings
They Call it Love by Bettye LaVette

Heaven's Grocery Store by The Dixie Hummingbirds
Stand by Me by The Violinaires
Gospel Train by The Gospel Harmonettes
I'm Willing to Run by The Original Blind Boys of Mississippi
If I Could Hear My Mother Pray by The Staple Singers
Do Lord Send Me by Georgia Peach & Her Gospel Singers
Run All the Way by Mahalia Jackson

Sharkey's Night by Laurie Anderson
I Hear They Smoke the Barbecue by Pere Ubu
Baby, That's The Creeps by Carla Bozulich
A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors by The Hives
Adios, Hermanos by Paul Simon
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, February 8, 2008
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

Now Simulcasting 90.7 FM, and our new, stronger signal, 101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I Wanna Be Sedated by Two Tons of Steel
Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw
Waco Express by The Waco Brothers
Jockey Full of Bourbon by The Santa Fe All-Stars
Drunk All Around This Town by Scott Miller & The Commonwealth
3 Dimes Down by Drive-By Truckers
Redneck Friend by Dave Alvin
Hot Rod by The Collins Kids

Beatin' Ya Down by Dave Insley
Whiskey and Women and Money to Burn by Joe Ely
Morning Goodness by Robert Earl Keen & Butch Hancock
Angels of the Wind by Terry Allen
Lou's Got the Flu by Roger Miller
Oxycontin Blues by Steve Earle
A Few Extra Kilos by The Gourds
A Prisoner Says His Piece by Donna Jean & The Tricksters
No Swallerin' Place by June Carter

Moonshiner by Uncle Tupelo
(Mama) You Got to Love Your Negro Man by Dewey Cox
Yellow Mama by Dale Watson
Great Train Robbery by Ronny Elliott
Jesse James by The Pogues
O.A. Cargill & The Bandit by Acie Cargill
Jack of Diamonds by P.W. Long
Carve That Possum by Tom, Brad & Alice

Love Me by Elvis Presley
More Than I Can Say by Rosie Ledet
Come a Little Closer by The Last Mile Ramblers
Try Me One More Time by David Bromberg
Wild Bill Donovan by Stan Ridgway
Old Five and Dimers Like Me by Waylon Jennings
Always Life Him Up and Never Knock Him Down by Dwight Diller and John Morris
My Ship Will Sail by Johnny Cash
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

Steve Terrell is proud to report to the monthly Freeform American Roots Radio list

eMUSIC FEBRUARY

* What's For Dinner by The King Khan & BBQ Show. Guitarist King Khan is a Canadian of East Indian descent who has recorded on the Voodoo Rhythm label with a hopped-up soul band called The Shrines. (I was lucky enough to nab the album Three Hairs and You're Mine right before Voodoo Rhythm pulled out of eMusic.) BBQ, aka Mark Sultan, is another Canadian who performs as a one-man garage band (think King Automatic, Bob Log III).

Together these two make spirited, stripped-down lo-fi raunchadelic magic. There's raw Yardsbirds/Count Five rave-ups and primitive blues. But what makes this collaboration special is the sweet doo-wop sounds on several tunes. Sultan and Khan aren't afraid to let their inner Frankie Lymon shine.

* Problems by Lee Fields. Fields is one of the leading lights of the current soul revival. Though this proud follower of James Brown started out back in the '70s, about 10 years ago he was one of the major dudes at the influential Desco Records. More recently he's recorded with Sharon Jones.

This is a cool, funky album, not quite as electrifying as Let's Get a Groove On, the album that turned me on to Fields nearly 10 years ago. But there's some great tracks. "Rapping With Lee," with his advice for good relationships, reminds me of those old Joe Tex talking songs. And "Bad Trip" should have a movie scene written around it.

* The World's Rarest Funk 45s by Various Artists. I can't swear these are the "rarest" funk tunes, but I do know I hadn't heard of any of these artists or any of the songs until I stumbled upon Lenny Kaye's monthly column in e-Music.

These funksters -- bands like Tony Bowens & the Soul-Choppers, The PCs Ltd., and Shades of Black -- might not have achieved fame, but they got the sound down. If you like the cool, obscure soul and funk you find on the Funky 16 Corners blog, you'll like these funk 45s.

Unfortunately there's no liner notes available (one of eMusic's weaknesses), but I'm guessing most of these were recorded in the late '60s or early '70s. My favorites so far are "Funky Thing" by Larry Ellis & The Black Hammer (great chugging organ and swampy guitar) and "Eggroll by The M&S Band (hard-charging horns led by a baritone sax.)

* Feels by Animal Collective. I'm a newcomer to this cult. I recently was turned onto Panda Bear -- one of the animals in this collective -- and his solo CD Person Pitch, which was on loads of critic Top 10 lists last year. (It's also available on eMusic.)

This is AC's 2005 album. It's spacey and out-there, but very melodic and accessible. And it rocks without ever getting cheesy. Both Panda and Animal Collective are influenced greatly by Smile-era Brian Wilson. They also remind me of a techno-version of early Mercury Rev.

While I was writing this blurb, I came across a live version (from Lisbon) of Panda Bear's "Bros," a show-stopping 11-minute tune also on Person Pitch. I couldn't resist I just wish there were more live Panda tunes here.

* Evangelista by Carla Bozulich . I've been a Carla fan ever since the night back in the early '90s when I saw The Geraldine Fibbers open for Mike Watt at Club Alegria in Santa Fe. This album, released in 2006, isn't as accessible as The Fibbers or Carla's 2003 take on Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger. Aided by former Fibber and current (I think) Wilco guitarist Nels Cline, Carla on this album sounds much closer to her earlier band Ethyl Meatplow.

The album starts out with a 9-minute existential cry ("Evangelista I") that I can only described as "bruised gospel." It sounds like a tortured sermon from the very pits of Hell, harsh and naked. The next song, "Steal Away," is gentler, though still infused with despair. It sounds like a lost Bob Dylan gospel song. Then with "How to Survive Being Hit by Lighting" she's back in the fires -- though this one sounds like an electrical fire. There's never a moment that's not intense on this album. On "Baby, That's the Creeps," when Carla, backed by a spook-show organ, sings "I won't go now into your dark room ..." you get the feeling she's about to be ensnared by a serial killer.

Evangelista ain't easy listening by any stretch of the imagination. You have to be in the mood -- and that's a pretty strange mood -- but it's powerful stuff.

* Everything is Possible: The Best of Os Mutanates. (The eight tracks I didn't already have from Technicolor.) Imagine a mash-up of "The Girl from Ipanema" with Santana's "Evil Ways," mix in a goofy Beatle-y sense of humor and you've got a start on comprehending Os Mutantes, Brazil's best known "psychedelic" band from the late '60s and early '70s. They were playing their unique style back when it was dangerous to do so under the military regime of the era.

At first the softer edges of these Mutants put me off a little. But their melodies, pretty, Sergio Mendes side gets to be addictive. It hooks you in and before you know it, you're being sideswiped by some craziness.

* Mind of Fire by S.T. Mikael. I guess I've been in the mood for foreign psychedelia lately. Mikael is a Swede who's been cranking out strange and sometimes wonderful rock for years. Released last year, this is his first album in 11 years.

The first tracks are lengthy studio tracks, lots of fuzz-heavy guitar and Deep Purple organ sounds, recorded with other musicians. But the last 10 are bedroom recordings made during the last decade, which in the "Bonus CD Intro" track Mikael describes as a time of loneliness and feeling lost. There's lots of meandering LSD rock rock, but also some disturbing slow acoustic doom passages in which Mikael sounds like a Scandinavian Jandek.

*Venus on Earth by Dengue Fever. Speaking of foreign psychedelia, if you're not familiar with Dengue Fever, change that now! They're a southern California band featuring the vocals of Cambodia-born Chhom Nimol. They specialize in surf/garage sounds colored by the type of American-influenced Asian rock that young Cambodia loved in the '60s and '70s until it was wiped out by those most evil Commie maniacs, the Khmer Rouge, who took over in the mid '70s, doing their best to wipe out all vestiges of "corrupt" Western cultural influences. Pol Pot is dead and discredited and Dengue Fever lives. Long live rock 'n' roll ! (See my full review of this album HERE)

Plus:

* "Rockin' Chair Daddy" and "Rock a Little, Baby" by Harmonica Frank Floyd. This is the original version. After downloading the latter-day Harmonica Frank album last month, I had to get some of his original stuff. The first one is from a Sun Records compilation, the latter from an obscure compilation, Memphis Rockabillies, Hillbillies & Honky Tonkers, Vol 2 from a just as obscure label, Stomper Time. Unfortunately, in each case it's the only Harmonica Frank cut included.

* "Cheney's Toy" by James McMurtry. This single from McMurtry's upcoming Just us Kids was a free track from eMusic, so I snatched it, even though I have the advance CD. It's a diatribe against the current chief executive, which I don't mind, though I have trouble with the truism that forms the premise of the title. McMurtry's written far better protest songs. This comes nowhere near "Can't Make It Here" or even "God Bless America" (the McMurtry song, not Kate Smith's), which is on Just Us Kids.

TERRELL'S TUNE-UP: JON SPENCER -- THE TRASHMAN COMETH

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
February 8, 2008

I didn’t realize until a few weeks ago when I downloaded a rarities compilation called Jukebox Explosion: Rockin’ Mid-90s Punkers! by The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion just how much I’ve missed Jon Spencer in all his get-down gonzo glory.

It’s not that Spencer hasn’t been around. In recent years, he’s done a couple of albums under the guise of Heavy Trash, a quasi-rockabilly duo with Matt Verta-Ray. True, Heavy Trash is kind of fun — I really enjoyed their guest appearance on The Sadies’ In Concert, Volume One album a couple of years ago.

But Heavy Trash is just a light snack compared with the all-you-can-eat, Hound Dog Taylor-on-angel-dust banquet that was the Blues Explosion, which hasn’t released an album of new material in four years.

The JSBE seemed to be everywhere back in the last decade. The band once opened for The Breeders at a Sweeney Center show here in Santa Fe. You could say Spencer and the boys tore up the place years before the city did.

Spencer started the Blues Explosion following the breakup of his ’80s band, Pussy Galore, a delightfully raunchy and anarchic group that received even less mainstream notice than the Blues Explosion. (Some of the group’s album titles I can’t even print in a “family” newspaper, and I probably shouldn’t admit how much I like ’em.)

For the Blues Explosion, Spencer recruited fellow guitarist Judah Bauer and drummer Russell Simins for a stripped-down (not even a bass!) sound. Aghast blues purists never fail to note that this band did not produce sounds normally associated with the blues.

However, as one wise critic noted in a review of one of the group’s early albums, they did play blues and soul riffs, but it was blues filtered through The Stooges and New York Dolls. It’s a sweaty, joyful sound. Spencer and crew were roots conscious but not shackled to tradition. When they teamed up with Mississippi blues shouter R.L. Burnside on the 1996 album A Asspocket of Whiskey, Spencer, Bauer, and Simins fit right in, adding spirit and energy what must have been some wild recording sessions.

Jukebox Explosion is a collection of mostly old singles that had been available only on 7-inch vinyl, which means only serious collectors had ever heard this stuff before now. (And some tracks have been previously unreleased.) Most of the songs were recorded from the band’s mid-’90s glory days, although some are later.

“Ghetto Mom,” for instance, is an outtake from Plastic Fang, the Explosion’s 2002 album. Unserious collectors who love Spencer won’t be disappointed. All 18 tracks are high-charged, high-decibel offerings to the voodoo blues gods with Spencer howling like a soulman trapped in the rubble of a subway wreck.

The album is released on a label called In the Red — which might describe the company’s finances, though more likely it’s a reference to where the sound-level needle was when these songs were recorded.

There’s an ode to a serial killer, “Son of Sam,” which features a jittery guitar intro and a guest saxophone player who makes the horn scream in sympathy with the killer’s victims. And there’s a tribute to an exotic dancer, a chaotic little rocker called “Show Girl,” featuring background vocals by Spencer’s wife, Cristina Martinez (formerly of Pussy Galore, now with the band Boss Hog).

The Explosion actually slows down for “Jailhouse Blues,” an ominous spoken-word dirge featuring Spencer on theremin. In the minute-and-a-half “Get With It,” there’s a desperate harmonica and a crazy piano. I thought the latter probably was the ivory tickler from Reefer Madness, but in reality it’s none other than Dr. John.

All in all, this is beautiful trash, and I’m happy to see it unleashed to the masses.

Also recommended

*The Black and White Album by The Hives. Despite what The Hives may tell you, The Hives is not my favorite band.

I do enjoy these Swedish meatheads quite a lot, however, and few current bands have made a dent in the mainstream rock as relentlessly as The Hives.

On The Black and White Album, the first Hives album in about three years, the band, fronted by singer Howlin’ Pelle Almqvist, continues down its path of straight-ahead, punk-metal-edged guitar rock.

The band saved its best for the first. “Tick Tick Boom” is the hardest rocker on the record and an instant classic Hives tune. The group sounds like it’s been listening to Green Day on the bouncy “You Dress Up for Armageddon.” But The Hives go for the throat on other rockers like “You Got it All ... Wrong,” “Square One Here I Come” (check out the Alice Cooper influence here), and the album closer “Bigger Hole to Fill.”

The Hives frequently display an off-kilter sense of humor and their special way with self-referential titles and shameless self-promotion. For instance one song is called “T.H.E.H.I.V.E.S.” (”We rule the world/ This is our world,” goes the robotic chorus.)

There’s also an instrumental tune called “A Stroll Through Hive Manor Corridors,” a break from the romp ’n’ roll, that features a creepy Casio organ. This one, as well as the piano-led singalong “Puppet on a String” (no, not the Elvis Presley song) are in the tradition of other inspired sore-thumb tracks that stick out on Hives albums — the weirdo soul of “Diabolic Scheme” on Tyrannosaurus Hives and the quirky Impressions cover “Find Another Girl” on Veni Vidi Vicious.

The Hives long ago wore out their “next-big-thing” status, but its great they’re still having this much fun on record.