Yep, I'm Still an eMusic Fiend

It's been several months since my last eMusic report and my inbox is full of angry emails demanding I get back on my monthly routine. (Actually, nobody has seemed to notice I'd stopped doing it. I guess I'm just posting this shows how obsessive I am.)

Anyway, I'm just going to give a quick glance at what I've downloaded in the past 3 or 4 months.

Naturally, I downloaded some of those excellent, bargain-priced compilations that eMusic is known for.

These include:

* Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers vol. 1. This just might be the most spirit-filled, tambourine-shaken', hallelujah-shoutin' old-time gospel collections I've ever come across. This music -- African-American gospel of the '40s and '50s -- truly is the spring from which rock and soul music flowed. And, yes, it was this collection that prompted me to include a wild gospel set on my recent Big Enchilada podcast Shout When the Spirit Says Shout.  Compiled by "Radio DJ and TV presenter" Mark Lamarr for the British Vee-Tone Records, this album features some gospel giants such as Marie Knight, the Famous Davis Sisters and the Blind Boys (both Archie Brownlee's group from Mississippi and their rivals, Clarence Fountain's group from Alabama), as well as several I've never heard of. Each track is tremendous And here's some great news: There's a Volume 2 of Screaming Gospel Holy Rollers.

* Rockin' Boppin' Hillbilly Gals. The title of this 40-track (!!) collection might be somewhat misleading. Whoever slapped this together -- and indeed, the album does have a slapdash feel -- has a bigger-tent definition of "hillbilly" than most of us. The "hillbilly gals" include country stars like Loretta Lynn, Rose Maddox and Kitty Wells; first-generation rockabilly fillies Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin; blues belters like Big Mama Thorton and Lucille Bogan; gospel great Clara Ward; and even an early jazz singers, Bertha "Chippie" Hill and Eva Taylor, both of whom sing on tracks with Louis Armstrong. With songs ranging from Bogan's "Shave 'em Dry" to Ward's "King Jesus is All I Need, " you can't say there's not variety here. 

 * Cool Town Bop. This is an international rockabilly revival collection from the early '90s. "International?" you ask. Indeed, there's Greek rockabilly, Dutch rockabilly, Swedish rockabilly, some token American rockabilly, a bunch of British rockabilly, and  my favorite Cannuckabilly, the late Ray Condo doing a song called "One Hand Loose." Condo is the only act I recognized here and his contribution probably is the best thing here, though I'm also fond of "Please I Wonder" by The Roomates, an English band, though it's more doo-wop than rockabilly. While there's no great revelations here, it's a good listen

I also downloaded these single-artist albums

* House of Blue Lights by Don Covay & The Jefferson Lemon Blues Band. Did I say I was obsessive? Back when I was a freshman in college, (1971-72) I was listening to the KUNM blues show (It was on Wednesdsay nights back then too.) and decided to tape it. One of the songs I remember from that tape was "The Blues Don't Knock" by Don Covay. It wasn't your typical blues song. it was slow and dreamy and featured a flute, I lost that tape years ago, but a few months ago I started thinking about that song and with a few quick Googles I learned it was on this 1969 album, which is available on eMusic. And I'm happy I found it. Though he's best known as an R&B and soul artist, this is a stab at raw blues, backed by a rock band. Though I came for "The Blues Don't Knock," I stayed for the title song, a seven-minute-plus minor-key show-stopper about a guy whose life is ruined by a whore house. (There's a shorter reprise of the song at the end of the album that's nearly as intense.)

* Fire On the Bayou by Stephanie McDee. I'll admit it. I downloaded this because it has the original version of "Call the Police," which was covered by The Oblivians on their great comeback album Desperation earlier this year. McDee's music is a hopped-up zydeco hybrid with elements of hip-hop and techno. This album is less than a half-hour long and it gets pretty repetitive. But I bet it's great live.

* Love Visions by Nobunny. Cwazy Wabbit! If he were more famous, singer/guitarist Justin Champlin would do for shopping mall Easter Bunnies what John Wayne Gacy did for clowns. And he should be more famous. Behind the ratty rabbit mask is a master of irresistible, hooky pop/punk songs. Just about all these songs will get you hopping.

* Live at the Fish Fry by Pocket FishRmen. This band of wild Texas punks started out in the mid '80s. They broke up around the turn of the century, but in recent years they've reunited at least once a year to host an annual charity show in Austin called "The Pocket FishRmen Fish Fry." This album, released in 2011, was recorded at one of those. It's full of frantic, foul-mouthed fun, including odes to Amy Carter, Santa Claus and Saddam Hussein.

* (The songs I didn't already have from) Blank Generation by Richard Hell & The Voidoids. The title song of this was one of the earliest and still one of the greatest punk anthems ever. While  no other song came close to "Blank Generation," the rest of the album is good. How can any band with Robert Quine on guitar be anything but? I love Hell's weird barking in "liars Beware." And I'm a complete sucker for the slow dance cover of the Sammy Cahn /James Van Heusen standard "All the Way." For punk/lounge music, it's matched only by Iggy Pop's version of "One for My Baby (and One More For the Road)."

* The Anti- Naturalists by The Voluptuous Horror of Karen Black. I downloaded this right after the death of Karen Black this summer. Black herself was a talented singer and songwriter, but, no, she wasn't part of this 1990s New York punk outfit that took her name and honored her voluptuous horror. VHKB, fronted by singer Kembra Pfahler, wasn't exactly groundbreaking, but this record showed they were a lot of fun.

* Moon Sick by Thee Oh Sees. Back in May, I declared Thee Oh See's Floating Coffin as my likely choice for album of the year. Months have passed and I still feel that way. This four-song EP consists of outtakes from the Floating Coffin sessions. The first three songs, "Born in a Graveyard," (which starts off with some computer beeping right out of Wall of Voodoo's "Mexican Radio") "Sewer Fire" (one of the band's harder-edged tunes) and "Humans Be Swayed" would have fit in on Coffin. The more I listen to this EP, the more I'm impressed with "Humans Be Swayed," which starts off with slow droning, then bursts into a frantic, choppy rocker. The last song "Candy Clocks" is almost folk-rock. I continue to be amazed and infatuated by Thee Oh Sees.

* The Devil in Me by Big Foot Chester. I just downloaded this album a couple of days ago. It's raw, minimalist punk blues from a 1990s band led by Texas harmonica man Walter Daniels, who has played with some of my favorite musical acts including Hickoids, Buick MacKane and Eugene Chadbourne. I saw Daniels last year in Austin playing an acoustic set with guitarist John Schooley and banjoist Ralph White.

Several of the albums I got from eMusic in recent weeks ended up being reviewed in my weekly Terrell's Tuneup column.

Namely:

* Signed and Sealed in Blood by Dropkick Murpheys (My review is HERE)
* Fayt by Cankisou (My review is HERE)
* Electric Slave by Black Joe Lewis (My review is HERE)
* Haunted Head by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds (My review is HERE)
And though it's not really an album ...
* Nine Songs by Tim Timebomb "(Between the Two of Us) One of Us Has the Answer"; "Dope Sick Girl"; "Gentleman of the Road"; "Hard Travelin' "; "Jim Dandy"; "Jockey Full of Bourbon"; "Rock This Joint"; "Squeezebox"; and "Rocks Off"  (My review is HERE)

I've also downloaded several individual songs including:

* Three Ty Wagner songs (who I'm looking forward to see this weekend in New Orleans at the Ponderosa Stomp.)
* "Blues in the Night" by Eydie Gorme. (R.I.P.)
* "Warmed Over Kisses" by Dave Edmunds. A nice dose of bluegrass-rock.
* Two songs from Nancy Sinatra's self-titled 2004 album (which since has disappeared from eMusic!) The best of these is "Ain't No Easy Way," which is funky duet with the mighty Jon Spencer. "Don't Let Him Waste Your Time" which is nice and pretty with Nancy singing disparagingly of "some skinny bitch in hotpants."
* Three songs from Other Voices by The Doors, the band's first post-Jim Morrison album. No Freudian pyscho-odysseys without ol' Jim. But these tunes, "I'm Horny, I'm Stoned," "Variety is the Spice of Life," and "In the Eye of the Sun" are just decent bluesy rock.)

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

 Hey, Sound World fans, there's a brand new Big Enchilada episode posted just a couple of days ago with serious New Orleans overtones 
CLICK HERE


Sunday, Sept. 29, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell
Webcasting!
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

 OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres

Negro y Azul by Los Cuates de Sinoloa

New Orleans by The Plimsouls & The Fleshtones

Electrify by Left Lane Cruiser

Don't Do it by Ty Segal

Down in the Lab by Deadbolt

Blues Blues Blues by The Cramps

Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by The Standells

There But For the Grace of God Go I by The Gories

I Been Hoodood by Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias

Su Su by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds

Your Haunted Head by Concrete Blonde

Monkey Dog by Big Foot Chester
Black Shiny Beast by Buick MacKane

I'm a Nut by Roosevelt Sykes

Wildwood Boogie by Charlie Gracie

Fire by Geno Sparks
One Track Mind by Nathan & The Zydeco Chas Chas

Gimme Rock 'n' Roll by Big Ugly Guys

Life on the Mountain by Los Tentakills

Geraldine by Figures of Light

What Goes Boom by The Pixies

Let's Snap by The Mobbs

Lost and Thirsty in Palookaville by Coconut Kings

Total Destruction of Your Mind by Swamp Dogg

Battle of New Orleans by Big Chief Monk Boudreaux 

I Thought I Heard Buddy Bolden Say by Jelly Roll Morton

All These Things by Art Neville

Indian Red by The Wild Tchoupitoulas

The Last Mistress by Body/Head

Girl on the Carousel by The Dirtbombs

Lucky Day by Tom Waits

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Hey SF Opry Fans, there's a brand new Big Enchilada episode posted earlier tonight with serious New Orleans overtones CLICK HERE

Friday, Sept. 27, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
Side Effect by Augie Meyers

A. On Horseback by Charlie Pickett

Keep on Drinkin' by David Bromberg 

Honky Tonk Merry Go Round by Kelli Jones- Savoy & Emma Young

Pay Dearly by Kim Lenz & The Jaguars
Dirty Hands and Dirty Feet by Ashleigh Flynn

Bernadette by Lynn August

Cajun Stripper by Doug Kershaw

Old Man from the Mountain by Brian & The Haggards with Eugene Chadbourne 

Dancin' to a Pack of Lies by Pat Todd & The Rank Outsiders

Briggs' Corn Shucking Jig/ Camptown Hornpipe by The Carolina Chocolate Drops

Mama Don't You Tell Me by The Howlin' Brothers

The Night That Porter Wagner Came to Town by Tabby Crabb
I've Got a Tender Heart by Merle Haggard

Chevy Beretta by Johnny Corndawg
Two Headed Baby by Angry Johnny

I Wanna Hug Ya, Kiss Ya, Squeeze Ya by Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs

Burn the Place to the Ground by Dinosaur Truckers

Hangover Tavern by Hank Thompson

Texian Boys by DM Bob & The Deficits 

After the Fall by Terry Allen

Liquor and Whores by The Misery Jackals

A Girl Named Johnny Cash by Harry Hayward

Who Put the Turtle in Myrtle's Girdle? by The Western Melody Makers

I Ride a Tractor by The Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Chicken and Gravy by Richard Johnston & Jessie Mae Hemphill

Stoned Slow and Rugged by Rusty Wier

Middle Aged Hippie Blues by Moe Averick

Belle Isle by Bob Dylan 

Shawnee by Steve Martin & Edie Brickell 

I Know I've Loved You Before by Big Sandy & The Fly-Rite Boys

Wreck on the Highway by The Waco Brothers

Gotta Travel On by Jimmie Dale Gilmore

CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

A New Big Enchilada! We Goin' to New Orleans!

We goin' to New Orleans! Next week I'll be attending the 2013 Ponderosa Stomp, billed as a celebration of the unsung heroes of American music. This year's headliners include The Standells, The Sonics, Swamp Dogg, Ty Wagner and other under-appreciated R&B, rockabilly and garage-rock warriors. In anticipation of the festival, this episode -- following some of the crazed rock 'n' soul you expect from The Big Enchilada, you'll hear a rollicking tribute to the Ponderosa Stomp.  Stomp on!

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Here's the playlist:
(Background Music: Mardis Gras in New Orleans by Dirty Dozen Brass Band)
New Orleans by The Plimsouls with The Fleshtones
Do the Trash by The Cryptics
Life on the Mountain by Los Tentakillls
Your Woman by Andre Williams & The New Orleans Hellhounds

(Background Music: Way Down Yonder in New Orleans by The Kansas City Six)
That's Your Problem by Mal Thursday & The Cheetahs
Sewer Fire by Thee Oh Sees
Switched On by The Insomniacs
The Cat Never Sleeps by Mama Rosin with Hip Bone Slim & The Knee Tremblers

(Background Music: Shoo Fly by Bo Dollis, Monk Boudreaux & Rebirth Brass Band)

PONDEROSA STOMP SETS

Mr. Nobody by The Standells
Walking Down Lonely Street by Ty Wagner
Cops and Robbers by Boogaloo
Playin' Hide Go Seek by Eddie Daniels
Makin' Love by The Sloths
Baby Doll by Charlie Gracie

(Background Music: Tin Roof Blues by Louis Armstrong)
Boss Hoss by The Sonics
Fire by Gino Parks
Rebecca Rodifer by Gaunga Dyns
Crawdad Hole by Swamp Dogg

Play it below:

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Kid Congo Haunts Your Head

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Sept. 27, 2013


Brian Tristan, better known to his cult as Kid Congo Powers, has one of the best résumés in underground rock ’n’ roll today. Going back to the early ’80s, he’s done stints in The Cramps, The Gun Club, and even Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds. But with his band The Pink Monkeybirds, with whom he’s made three albums since 2009, the Kid has created his own unique sound, one that doesn’t sound like he’s trying to recycle those influential bands of his youth.

His latest album, Haunted Head, is another sturdy and impressive effort highlighting Powers’ guitar prowess without sounding self-indulgent, predictable, or wanky. The Pink Monkeybirds — guitarist Jesse Roberts, bassist Kiki Solis and drummer Ron Miller — are a tight little unit. The music is seamless, and there’s little punk-rock clatter or garage-band slop. And yet they don’t come off as too smooth or polished.

Haunted Head is heavier on the noir than the group’s previous works, especially tunes like the title song, “222,” and the slow and low album opener “Lurch,” all three of which could be set in a misty graveyard on some midnight dreary. With its reverb-soaked twangy guitar, “222” might even evoke memories of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game” — as used right before the car-wreck scene in David Lynch’s Wild at Heart.

Because the title song is so similar to one of Concrete Blonde’s greatest numbers (the explosive “Your Haunted Head”), it’s got something to live up to. Powers’ song doesn’t have the rage of that tune, and certainly his vocals are nowhere near those of Johnette Napolitano. But the Monkeybirds’ song has its own sinister integrity. And the intense (if too short) shredding guitar solo toward the end of the song is a wonder to behold.

Currently my favorite song on this album is “Su Su.” It’s a beefy, atmospheric rocker that shares a subtle sonic kinship with Talking Heads’ “Life During Wartime,” though it’s supposed to be a tribute to actress Susan Tyrrell, who died last year.

I’m also fond of the minimalist, almost avant-garde “Let’s Go,” which is driven by Miller’s sci-fi keyboard playing.

Undoubtedly the craziest song is an unlisted “surprise” song that appears after “Lamont’s

Requiem.” It opens with some faux doo-wop before Powers comes in reciting lyrics lifted right out of “Monster Mash”: “I was working in the lab late one night when my eyes beheld a hideous sight.” And then a story unfolds involving Humpty Dumpty. I’m not making this up.

There are a couple of songs — “Lady Hawke Blues” and “Loud and Proud” — that are built upon blues riffs. The latter, with its chicken-scratch guitar played over a spacey soundscape and caveman drums, is irresistible. Powers’ buried vocals could invite comparisons with those of The Fall’s Mark E. Smith.

Speaking of buried vocals, that’s my chief complaint with the album as a whole. It’s a weakness slightly less obvious on The Monkeybirds’ previous albums, Dracula Boots and Gorilla Rose. In all three, Powers’ vocals are mixed down way too low. Granted, he’s never pretended that his vocals are the main draw of this band. Basically, Powers doesn’t sing. He growls, reciting the words like one of those spoken-word artists fronting rock groups in the ’90s. But on the new one, the Kid’s vocals are so low that it’s difficult to make out the words in several songs.

Fortunately, the music of Haunted Head is evocative enough that it tells stories of its own.

Not recommended:

* EP1 by The Pixies. Let’s cut to the proverbial chase. This isn’t bad — well, it’s not terrible — but ultimately it’s pretty disappointing.

A little background: Rock ’n’ roll bands are like comic-book villains. They’re never really dead until you see their bodies.

Take my beloved Pixies. It looked as if they died in the early ’90s, right at the height of their popularity and influence. Not long after the release of their album Trompe le Monde, Pixie potentate Charles Thompson, aka Black Francis, aka Frank Black, announced The Pixies were no more.

And that seemed to be the case for a decade or so. But after a couple of years of reunion rumors, The Pixies actually did get back together for a tour in 2004. And apparently it was so successful that they did several subsequent tours.

At the outset of their rebirth, the band recorded a couple of new songs: Warren Zevon’s “Ain’t That Pretty at All” for a Zevon tribute album and “Bam Thwok,” a rocker written by Pixies bassist Kim Deal for (but not used in) the movie Shrek 2.

The two songs were a hopeful sign. But as far as new material went, there was no follow-up. Black Francis and the crew seemed content with playing their classics. And that’s what the fans wanted. The Santa Fe folks who packed into the Sweeney Center in November 2011 went to hear The Pixies play their breakthrough 1989 album Doolittle, not for “Bam Thwok” (though that would have made a pretty bitchen encore).

But something strange happened this year. Deal announced she was leaving the band around the same time Black Francis and the others went into the recording studio for the first time in nearly 10 years. (A guy named Simon Archer replaced her on bass for these sessions. Another Kim, Kim Shattuck from The Muffs, has since been hired for the touring band).

In July, the group released a free MP3 of a techno-edged slow-burning rocker called “Bagboy.” And now there’s this four-song EP. It kicks off with the slow, spacey “Andro Queen,” which sounds like a space-alien love ballad. That’s followed by a bland soft-rocker, “Another Toe in the Ocean.” If I’d never heard this one before and you told me this was Bob Welch-era Fleetwood Mac, I probably would have believed you.

Things start to get interesting with “Indie Cindy.” After a slow “Wave of Mutilation”-like instrumental intro, the song goes into what sounds like an angry rant by Black Francis. The chorus slows down into a pretty melody as he sings “I’m in love with your daughter.”

The finally song, “What Goes Boom,” starts off with a boom — hard ’n’ heavy, near-metal guitar from Joey Santiago. It’s the most rocked-out song here, but in the end, it’s forgettable. And that’s the case with the other three songs as well.

The Pixies surely will plow on and hopefully, even without Deal, they will keep thrilling audiences as they recreate “Monkey Gone to Heaven” and “Caribou” and “Broken Face.” But something tells me the restrooms will be crowded when they play “Another Toe” and “What Goes Boom.”

Blogging from New Orleans: Next week I’ll be in New Orleans looking for the ghost of Mr. Bojangles, eating oyster po’ boys, and attending the 2013 Ponderosa Stomp, a festival dedicated to the unsung heroes of American music. There are R&B, soul, rockabilly, zydeco, and garage-rock acts on the bill, including a few you might have heard of like The Standells, The Sonics, Maxine Brown, and the mighty Jerry Williams, better known as Swamp Dogg. Assuming I can get the crawfish off my fingers, I’ll be blogging about the Stomp right here at the Stephen W. Terrell Web Log. Bookmark it!

Meanwhile, here's a couple of videos:

First, Kid Congo.


And here's the official "Indie Cindy" video from The Pixies.

A Musical Tribute to Breaking bad

In honor of the final episode of Breaking Bad this coming Sunday, here's a musical tribute with some memorable songs from the series.

I'm really going to miss this show. When it's over Sunday, I'll probably be so depressed I might just go down to Albuquerque, check into the Crossroads and live off Dog House chile dogs ... and Wendy ... for a few days.

Have an A-1 day!

Here's the narcocorrido "Negro y Azul" written for the show performed by Los Cuates de Sinaloa



Here's Gale's delightfully strange karaoke video of "Major Tom (Coming Home)", a song originally done by German singer Peter Schilling.



Everyone knows it's Wendy (though the song by The Association actually is titled "Windy."

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M. 
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell

Lightning knocked KSFR off the air but we are still  Webcasting!

email me during the show! terrell(at)ksfr.org

Stick a Fork in It by LoveStruck

Tomboy by Acid Baby Jesus

Cops and Robbers by Boogaloo

Oscar Levant by Barrence Whitfield & The Savages

Grown in a Graveyard by Thee Oh Sees

Do the Gargon by Johnny Dowd

Back Street Hangout by The Oblivians 

Hey! Cookie by The Dirtbombs 

The In-laws by The Raunch Hands

Love Special Delivery by Thee Midnighters

Jump, Jive and Harmonize by The Plimsouls 

The Hipster by Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears

Rebecca Rodifer by The Gaunga Dyns

Frankie Baby by Mojo JuJu

Wait for Me by Roger Damawuzan

Willie Meehan by Manby's Head 

Wish That I Was Dead by The Dwarves

The Innocent Gadfly by Brave Combo

English Civil War by The Clash 

Lost in The Supermarket by The Afghan Whigs

Ghetto Defendant by The Clash

I Fought the Law by Bobby Fuller Four

Junco Partner by The Dirty Dozen Brass Band

Jail Guitar Doors by The Clash

Rock El Casbah by Racid Taha

Haunted Head by Kid Congo & The Pink Monkeybirds

Papa Won't Leave You Henry by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

Mona by Pere Ubu

I'll Take Care of You by Sonny Green

Ando Queen by The Pixies

Oh No Not My Baby by. Maxine Brown

I'm a Soldier by The Blind Boys of Mississippi

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

Like the Terrell's Sound World Facebook page

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THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, Sept. 20, 2013 
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM 
Webcasting! 
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time 
Host: Steve Terrell 
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrel(at)ksfr.org
 OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos

Shine on Harvest Moon by Laurel & Hardy

Train in Vain by Dwight Yoakam

Brand New Cadillac by Wayne Hancock

Your Friends Think I'm the Devil by The imperial Rooster

How Far Down Can I Go by T. Tex Edwards & The Swingin' Kornflake Killers

My Life's Been a Pleasure by Willie Nelson, Merle Haggard & Ray Price

Heartaches, Meet Mr. Blues by Loretta Lynn

TJ by Hickoids

Midnight Shift by Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen

Damaged and Dangerous by Rob Nikowlewski 

Playin' Hide Go Seek by Eddie Daniels
Rainwater Bottle by Chipper Thompson

She's My Neighbor by Zeno Tornado & The Boney Google Brothers
Devil's at Red's by Anthony Leon & The Chain

Buena by Joe "King" Carrasco & El Molino

Lonesome Onery and Mean by Waylon Jennings

One Day a Week by Johnny Paycheck

I'm Headed Back to Austin by Junior Brown 

Superbird by Halden Wofford & The Hi- Beams

Let's Do Wrong Tonight by Simon Stokes & The Heathen Angels

Waiting Around to Die by The Goddamn Gallows

Texas Talking by Shineyribs

Cracklings by The Gourds

Don't Let 'em Get You Down by Joe West & The Santa Fe Revue

Buffalo Hunter by J. Michael Combs

Saginaw, Michigan by Left Frizzell

Borrowed Car by Tom Adler

Your Conscience by Bobby Crown & The Kapers

Streets of Laredo by Webb Wilder
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: Too Much Clash for Just One Stash

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican 
Sept. 20, 2013

Back in the late ’70s and early ’80s, when The Clash was a living band — “The Only Band That Matters” according to the hype — you never would have guessed that they would be joining Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and The Beach Boys as one of the most repackaged, rereleased, reissued, and recycled musical acts of the 20th century.

Indeed, Joe Strummer, Mick Jones, and Paul Simonon seemed to the very embodiment of rock ’n’ roll rebellion, combining the passion of protest music with the crazy fire of punk rock, colored by the righteous rage of reggae.

But its true, even though The Clash’s discography is modest compared to those others. In their career, The Clash only made six albums (though London Calling was a double record and Sandinista! contained three LPs).

Even so, it seems every time you turn around, there’s a new Clash compilation or box set popping up. There was The Story of The Clash Vol. 1, a double CD set from 1988; Clash on Broadway, an impressive three-CD set released in 1991; and The Singles, just one disc, from the same year. Skip ahead to 2003 and you’ll find the double-disc The Essential Clash. In 2006 there appeared another collection called The Singles, a box set with replicas of every commercially released single as well as a stray EP.

And now, in the second week of September, come three more. There’s The Clash Hits Back, a double-disc collection based on a set list from a July 1982 show in Brixton. (It’s not the concert itself. These are are the studio versions of the songs played there, plus a bunch of bonus songs.) There’s a compilation called The Clash 5 Studio Album Set (omitting the band’s much-reviled final album from 1985, Cut the Crap, made after Mick Jones was kicked out of the band, isn’t here)

Sound System spread out

And then there is the massive 11-CD-plus-a-DVD Sound System, which includes all the albums (again, minus Cut the Crap) plus a deluge of non-album singles, songs from EPs, live material, demos, outtakes, and oddities, including some tunes I’d never heard before like “The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too” and “Idle in Kangaroo Court” ( both outtakes from what would become the album Combat Rock).

Sound System is selling for $177 and change at Amazon ($100 for the MP3 version of the songs). All these new products strike me as serious overkill. I can’t help but imagine the late Strummer rolling over in his grave at the idea of such an expensive extravaganza with his band’s name on it.

And yet, I also worry about the fact that, despite the endless stream of Clash compilations, there are those who never knew the pleasures of “White Riot” or “London’s Burning” or “This Is Radio Clash” or even “Should I Stay or Should I Go.” It tugs at my conscience that there are bored kids in the U.S.A. who have never heard “I'm So Bored With the U.S.A.” So if these new Clash products stir up some attention for this glorious band and help lead new generations to them then heap on the hype. Kids, heed the call and pick up a copy of The Clash Hits Back (truly a bargain at $10) or better yet, the Clash’s first, self-titled album, Give ’Em Enough Rope, and/or London Calling, and prepare for revelation.

Listening to several hours of The Clash in preparation for this column inspired me to compile a couple of lists.

Clash covers: a Magnificent Seven (and no, The Clash’s song of that title was not a cover of the Elmer Bernstein Western theme).

1. “I Fought the Law.” The original was by The Bobby Fuller Four, written by Sonny Curtis, one of Buddy Holly’s Crickets. Fuller’s version was great, but The Clash actually topped it. The refrain is the same: “I fought the law and the law won.” But Strummer and crew sound like they want a rematch.

2. “English Civil War.” This is a blazing update of “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” which was written during the American Civil War by bandleader Patrick Gilmore, an Irish immigrant. According to the Library of Congress’ online Performing Arts Encyclopedia, Gilmore wrote the song in 1863, when he was posted at occupied New Orleans, serving as a Grand Master of the Union Army, with the duty of reorganizing the state military bands. Though “When Johnny Comes Marching Home” was an upbeat “support the troops” song that became popular in both the North and South, its melody is based on an old Irish anti-war protest song, “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ye,” which is as mournful as The Clash’s mutation of the song is ferocious.

3. “Brand New Cadillac.” First recorded by British rockabilly Vince Taylor in 1959, one of my favorite versions is the rockabilly/swing cover by Wayne Hancock.

4. “Junco Partner.” This is a New Orleans staple about a junkie who was “knocked-out loaded,” first recorded by James Waynes in 1951, though I’ve always been partial to the Professor Longhair version.

Junior Murvin

5. “Police and Thieves.” One of several reggae songs The Clash covered, this was first recorded by Jamaican reggae singer Junior Murvin a year or so before The Clash included it on their first album. Murvin’s version is much slower and featured falsetto vocals. Apparently the Jamaican was not happy with the cover by these upstart punks. His reaction was reportedly, “They have destroyed Jah work!”

6. “Wrong ’Em Boyo.” This was a rewrite of a song — “Wrong Emboyo” by a Jamaican band called The Rulers — which in turn was drawn from the classic early-1900s outlaw ballad “Stagger Lee.” Both The Rulers and The Clash start out with a verse that sounds like Lloyd Price’s hit R&B version of the song.

7. “The Man in Me.” Bob Dylan did this on his 1971 album New Morning. The Clash’s lo-fi, reggaefied version wasn’t released until 2004 as part of “The Vanilla Tapes,” an old reel of demos that became Disc 2 of the 2004 London Calling 25th-anniversary reissue. I’ll admit this isn’t in the same stratosphere as any of the previous covers. I include it just to show the range of The Clash’s influences.

My favorite versions of Clash songs by other artists.

Racid Taha

1. “Rock el Casbah” by Rachid Taha. Algerian-born singer Taha’s take on “Rock the Casbah” is sung in Arabic and is even heavier on percussion than The Clash’s original.

2. “Lost in the Supermarket” by Afghan Whigs (from Burning London: The Clash Tribute). This soulful take with Gregg Dulli on lead vocals and Harold Chichester doing a trademark falsetto response, was the best track on this various-artists album.

3. “Train in Vain” by Dwight Yoakam. This is Bluegrass Clash! And yes, that’s Dr. Ralph Stanley himself playing banjo and singing on a Clash song.

4. and 5. “Should I Suck or Should I Blow” by Thee Stash. This actually is a parody of the Clash hit by an ad hoc Billy Childish band in the early ’90s. Childish was angry that a Clash song was being used in a Levi’s commercial. The flip side of this single showed Childish wasn’t so bored with Clash parodies. It was titled “We’re Selling Jeans for the U.S.A.”

THIS IS VIDEO CLASH

Two of their greatest




Here's Racid Taha, The Clash's Mick Jones and Brian Eno rockin' the Cashbah



Billy Childish puts it in perspective

Shine On Harvest Moon

Last night I saw a couple of tweets from astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson:

Harvest Moon tonight -- the full moon that lands closest to the September equinox. There's nothing special about it. At all

Harvest Moon tonight. Enjoy it as you would any of the other dozen full moons in a year. No more. No less.

Well, you can believe that.

Or you can believe Oliver Hardy.