eMUSIC AUGUST -- BEATING THE NEW SYSTEM

Last month began the new era at eMusic -- where they got all those albums from Sony -- and, by coincidence, they claim, nearly doubled the price of subscriptions. (See my rant about that HERE.) I found a way to beat the system.

Until this month I was paying $19.99 a month for 90 tracks -- just over 22 cents a track. With eMusic's new pricing scheme, my new plan is $19.99 for 50 tracks. That's about 40 cents a track. Still a great deal compared to most other services (except the delightful Aimee Street, who I'm seeing on the side).

But, taking advantage of some new rules at eMusic, I was actually able to download 169 tracks instead of my allotted 50. That's right, more than three times my limit and 79 more tracks than my former generous limit.

The secret is the new policy regarding full-album prices. Under the new rules, most (but not all) albums cost 12-track credits, whether the albums contains 20 tracks or two. This is bad for jazz and classical fans who have been used to spending just one credit for tracks that might be 10 or 15 minutes long. (And there have been lots of complaints over at the eMusic message boards about this.)

But it's great for fans of anthologies of old-time music -- hillbilly, blues, old jazz, etc. -- which tend to have lots more tracks per album.

And it's especially great for those of us who have "picked at" big anthologies over the past few years. I found several examples of collections in which I'd already bough several tracks. As you'll see below there were several anthologies where I was able to download multiple tracks at little or no expense.

The album-price policy is not consistent. Most are 12 credits per disc, but I found one (The Delmore Brothers) where there's more than two discs worth of music for just 12 credits. (I'm betting some of these will be "fixed" before long. And there's some albums where there's no full-album price, so 20 tracks still cost 20 credits.

I won't be able to get so many bargains next month because I don't have many more incomplete compilations. But I thought this was a good way to make lemonade out of the lemon eMusic threw at us.

So enough economics. Here's my eMusic downloads for the past 30 days:


* Travel in Your Mind by The Seeds. Tommy Trusnovic had this CD a few weeks ago when he helped me out on the Terrell's Sound World Sky Saxon tribute. I was jealous, but happy to find out it was available on eMusic.

This is a collection of rarities and outtakes, including a rehearsal of their biggest hit "Pushin' Too Hard," which as Tom pointed out, is remarkably similar to the final product we all know and love (which also is included here.)

There's a 10-minute version of the smoky psychedelic classic "900 Million People Daily" and other journeys to the center of the mind such as "Chocolate River," the near 8-minute "Fallin'" (featuring a harpist) and of course the raga-rock title track.

On "Daisy Mae" Sky sounds almost rockabilly. Likewise "Pretty Girl" conjures Chuck Berry. But most surprising is "Fallin' Off the Edge," which features what sounds like a pedal steel, anticipates The New Riders of the Purple Sage and other country rockers.

* Elementary Doctor Watson by Doc & Merle Watson. This album, released in 1972, is the very first Doc Watson album I ever owned. Just about every track is filled with happy memories -- "Freight Train Boogie" (one of my favorite Delmore Brothers tunes), "More Pretty Girls Than One," "Worried Blues" captures just about everything I love about hillbilly music. My favorite line in "Three Times Seven" -- "I'm wild and woolly and full of fleas, I'm a no-good son of a gun" pretty much summed up my self image back in those days.

When Willie Nelson sang "I Couldn't Believe it Was True" on Red Headed Stranger a few years later, I already was familiar with the song, thanks to Doc. And when I think of "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad," I hear Doc Watson, not The Grateful Dead (or even Woody Guthrie!)

Indeed, to wax corny, the title of the last track, the lovely "Treasures Untold" sums up how I feel about this record.

* Hillbilly Boogie Best by The Delmore Brothers. As I mentioned in the intro to this post, this album represents one of the greatest eMusic bargains -- 60 tracks for the price of 12.

Alabama brothers Alton and Rabon Delmore started recording in the early 1930s and stayed active until the 1950s.

The title of this album is a little misleading. On several tunes -- "Honey I'm Rambling Away," "Old Mountain Dew," "I Got the Railroad Blues" to name a few examples -- you can hear how they were heading for the boogie, but basically this is an acoustic duo with sweet hillbilly harmonies.

Unfortunately this collection doesn't include "Freight Train Boogie" (it's on this collection). But they do have one of my favorite Delmore train tunes, "Don't You See That Train," though I still like the version by The Delta Sisters best.

Sociologically speaking, the most interesting song here is "Lorena the Slave," a song about a plantation slave who loved a "yellow girl" who also was a slave there. But after seven years, the master sells her, and though the singer prays they'll meet again, she dies before any reunion.

I'm also fond of "That Yodelin' Gal Miss Julie" a song about a 300-pound banjo-plucking charmer.


Psychobilly Box (Disc 2) by various artists Here was another good bargain. I got 22 tracks for just two credits. A few months ago I downloaded the first disc. That was 22 tracks, so I just needed to spend two more for the entire second disc.

It was worth soending two track credits, but to be honest, Disc 2 just isn't all that great. As The AllMusic Guide points out, it's pretty obvious that the producers don't really know what psychobilly is. There's some "real" psychobilly here -- The Tallboys, The Meteors, The Frantic Flintstones, The Guana Bats, etc. One of the coolest of these is "Norman Bates," the last song on the album, by The Tailgators.

And some real rockabilly Wanda Jackson doing a decent version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky." There's an interesting live recording of a 19-year-old Elvis singing "That's Alright, Mama" on the old Louisiana Hayride radio show. And a so-so Bill Halley re-recording of "Rock Around The Clock."

But my problem isn't "authenticity." It's some of the weird techno-seance products on this disc that almost seem like desecrations of national treasures. Did the band 13 Cats (featuring ex-Stray Cat Slim Jim Phantom) really believe they could improve on Gene Vincent's "Be Bop a Lula" by adding juiced up drums and an irritating horn section ?

And even weirder -- and further away from rockabilly -- is the mash-up of Marilyn Monroe (!) and a band called The Swing Cats on Marilyn's song "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend." With its production that reminds me of "Stars on 45," this is so tacky I almost like it.

* Man Alive It's The Jumping Jive by Louis Jordan. Best deal yet! Twenty three tracks for FREE! Years ago I downloaded 28 tracks from this album. I visited the album's page on eMusic and saw that I could download the remaining tracks for zero credits.

I already had several of these tracks on an old CD. ("Five Guys Named Moe," "Is You Is Or Is You Ain't My Baby" and others) But you can't argue with free.

Talk about national treasures, it's hard to get enough of sax-man/shouter Jordan. He spanned so many genres -- jazz, blues, R&B. Jordan even took a stab at calypso with "Run, Joe." And I'm not sure if he was influenced by western swing or he influenced it. Probably both. (He was just three years younger than Bob Wills. Both men died in 1975.)

He made a name for himself in a big city (Philadelphia). Like Cab Calloway, his songs were filled with hipster jive talk. He Like Cab Calloway, his songs were filled with hipster jive talk. He was comfortable dueting with Bing Crosby ("My Baby Said Yes") is on this collection.

But Jordan started out as a country boy, born in Arkansa. You can hear those roots in songs like "Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and "Barnyard Boogie" (which features a tasty little steel guitar solo). He even played in a traveling minstrel show. Jordan in many ways was the embodiment of American music

* Presidential Campaign Songs, 1789-1996 by Oscar Brand. Another great deal. Twenty eight tracks for free. Same story as the Louis Jordan collection. Last year I nabbed 15 tracks. Now eMusiclet me have the remaining tracks for free.

I wasn't exactly craving more of these songs. But who knows, some day I'll need "Get on a Raft with Taft" or "Marching With McKinley" for some radio show or podcast.

Actually some of the tunes from especially bitter elections are nice and nasty. This version "Rockabye Baby," rewritten as a campaign song for Martin Van Buren basically accuses his opponent William Henry Harrison as a hopeless drunk who "sits in his cabin drinking bad rum." Meanwhile Harrison's song brags about "log cabin and hard cider."

This album was released during the Clinton administration, so Clinton's the last president to have a song here. Unfortunately it's "Don;t Stop Thinking About Tomorrow." It sounds just as wretched by Oscar Brand as it did by Fleetwood Mac.

Plus :

* "Put Your Cat Clothes On" by Carl Perkins. Perkins was just so cool ...

* The tracks I didn't get last month from How Big Can You Get?: The Music of Cab Calloway by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, August 2, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Sundays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell
101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Let it Out (Let it All Hang Out) by The Hombres
Johnny Jack by Thee Headcoatees
Sorrow's Forecast by Dead Moon
Sometimes Good Guys Don't Wear White by The Standells
Psilocybic Mind by Marshmallow Overcoat
Miniskirt Blues by The Cramps with Iggy Pop
Tobacco Road by The Blues Magoos
Cause I Sez So/Personality Crisis by The New York Dolls

I'm a Lonely Man by Nathaniel Mayer
Kitchen Sink Boogie by Hound Dog Taylor
Put Your Cat Clothes On by Carl Perkins
Stray Cat Strut by The Stray Cats
Plastic Fantastic Lover by Jefferson Airplane
Chocolate River by The Seeds

BILLY LEE RILEY TRIBUTE
All songs by BLR except where noted
Trouble Bound
Hillbilly Monster by James Richard Oliver
Betty and Dupree
Red Hot by Sam the Sham & The Pharoahs
Pearly Lee
Riley's Got a Woman by Dr. Ruth & The Pleasure Seekers
Real Cool Ride by The Hillbilly Hellcats
Wouldn't You Know
Billy Lee Riley and the Little Green Men by Ebo & The Tomcats
Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll

Alabama's Doomed by Wizzard Sleeve
Feedback Rock by The Stillettos
Stop and Think It Over by Mary Weiss
Gossip, Gossip, Gossip by The A-Bones
Ball and Chain by Janis Joplin

CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

R.I.P.BILLY LEE RILEY

He's on a flying saucer to Heaven now.

American music has lost another major one: Rockabilly wildman Billy Lee Riley, who died in a Jonesboro, Ark. after a battle with colon cancer. He was 75.

Riley was best known for his hits "Flying Saucer Rock 'n' Roll" and "Red Hot."

His obit in the Memphis Commercial Appeal is HERE.

I'll pay proper tribute to Billy tonight on Terrell's Sound World, 10 p.m. to midnight on KSFR, 101.1 FM in Santa Fe and www.ksfr.org on the Web. The show starts at 10 p.m. Mountain Time. We'll commemorate Billy Lee right after the 11th hour.

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, July 31, 2009
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Webcasting!
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays Mountain Time
Host: Steve Terrell

101.1 FM
email me during the show! terrell@ksfr.org

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
I'm Coming Home by Johnny Horton
Miss Froggie by Warren Smith
Hospital Escape/Time Flies by Scott H. Biram
Sleeping With the Enemy by Simon Stokes with Texas Terri
Calling in Twisted by The Rev. Horton Heat
Lift Your Leg by Joe Ely
High on a Mountain Top by Loretta Lynn
Crazy Pritty Baby by Heavy Trash
The Hucklebuck by The Riptones
I'm a Hobo by Danny Reeves

Don't Make Promises by Dave Alvin & The Guilty Women
Shakin' All Over by Eilen Jewel
Tennesse Jed by Levon Helm
Hittin' the Bottle Again by Waylon Jennings
Don't Sweep That Dirt on Me by Buddy Shaw
Good Gracious, Gracie by The Light Crust Doughboys

Pussy Pussy Pussy by Light Crust Doughboys
Big Black Cat by R.D. Hendon & The Western Jamboree Cowboys
The Great Car Dealer War by The Drive-By Truckers
She's a Little Randy by Patterson Hood
Country Love by The Gourds
Hey! Toughen Up! by Candye Kane
Wammo's Blues by The Asylum Street Spankers

Trail of Tears by Wayne Lavallee
White Freightliner Blues by Steve Earle
Working at Working by Wayne Hancock
The Problem by Beausoleil
Hemmingway's Whiskey by Guy Clark
The Deep End by Aimee Hoyt
What You Gonna Do Leroy by Buddy & Julie Miller with Robert Plant
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: CONTINUING REUNIONS

A version of this was published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
July 31, 2009

How do you know if a band has been around too long? How do you know whether the latest rock ’n’ roll reunion is the true rebirth of magic or just another casino-circuit wonder? As this thing called rock lurches onward through its second half-century, these questions will arise more and more.

Two recently released albums by reconstituted rock groups might provide some insight into these issues. The latest efforts by Dinosaur Jr. and the newest incarnation of the New York Dolls show the pitfalls and the potential power of rock ’n’ roll longevity.

First the good news.

My initial thought upon hearing Dinosaur Jr.’s Farm was that these guys shouldn’t really still be sounding this great. But, it looks as if the reunion of J. Mascis and Lou Barlow a couple of years ago on their big comeback album Beyond was no fluke.

Truthfully, I should have known that was the case. When I saw the resurrected Dinosaur Jr. at the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago last year, they were indeed mighty and — Mascis’ gray hair notwithstanding — they blew away most of the younger musicians. The band sounded far more vital than when I saw the 1993 version of Dinosaur Jr. — then at its commercial peak — at Lollapalooza.

A little background: Dinosaur Jr. started out in the mid-’80s when Mascis and Barlow were in high school in Amherst, Massachusetts. But by the end of the decade, the boyhood chums parted ways. Barlow went on to form Sebadoh, a highly respected indie band. Mascis carried on with Dinosaur, signing with a major label and, with his Neil-Young-Is-God guitar studsmanship, rode the crest of the grunge era.

While it lasted. Both Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh eventually flamed out. Mascis tried to carry on with a band called The Fog — a trio, centered around Mascis’ stormy guitar solos, which sounded pretty similar to Dino Jr. But hardly anyone paid attention.

Then in 2007, Mascis and Barlow apparently kissed and made up. With longtime Dino drummer Murph, they recorded Beyond, which was the best thing any of them had done in years. But if anything, Farm is even better than Beyond. Not only are they sounding strong as ever, Mascis and Barlow sound as if they actually are having a great time playing with each other.

Mascis remains the dominant frontman/songwriter, penning all but two of the tunes here and taking his trademark long, feedback-laden solos. But the sound is clearly a group effort. There’s frantic joy in all the songs here. My favorites are the upbeat opening cut “Pieces” and the epic “Said the People,” which starts out slow before building to epic Dinosaur Jr. fury by the end of the nearly eight-minute track.

But if the new/old Dinosaur Jr. is an example of the positive potential of the rock reunion, the new album by the New York Dolls — ’Cause I Sez So — helps make the argument that some iconic bands shouldn’t take the chance of messing with their reputations. About halfway through my first listen to this album, a terrible realization occurred. Most of this stuff would fit in just fine on any crappy classic rock station.

Please, God, no!

Back in the early ’70s the Dolls — like The Velvet Underground and The Stooges before them — were one of the primal influences on what would later be known as punk rock. They were loud and raunchy and proudly decadent — part Rolling Stones, part Shangri-Las.

Of course, they wouldn’t last long. The title of their second album summed it up: Too Much Too Soon. That was 1974. The band crumbled not long after that. The band wouldn’t release an album of new material (One Day It Will Please Us to Remember Even This) for another 32 years. By that time only two original members were still alive — singer David Johansen and guitarist Syl Sylvain.

(Note for Dolls fans: If you haven’t already seen the documentary New York Doll, which concerns the later years and death of original Dolls bassist Arthur “Killer” Kane, get thee to a video store — or at least try Netflix. It’s one of the most touching rock bios I’ve ever seen.)

This is actually the third album by the latest version of the Dolls. Last year, there was Live at the Fillmore East December 28 & 29, 2007, a concert album consisting of all ’70s-era Dolls tunes except for a couple of tunes from One Day It Will Please Us. While that one was hardly an essential work, it showed the band in great form, ripping through the old “hits” with spirit and aplomb.

Unfortunately very little of that energy is evident on ’Cause I Sez So. Maybe producer Todd Rundgren — who also produced the first Dolls album — is partly to blame for this. There are just too many slow tunes, Springsteenish folk-rocky anthems, and faux-teenage ballads here.

Fortunately, there’s a handful of tracks in which you’ll find the old Dolls spirit fully intact. The title track is pretty rocking. Even better is “This Is Ridiculous,” a swampy blues with a delightfully obnoxious guitar hook. And they saved their best for last with “Exorcism of Despair.” It’s tough and snarling, fully Dolls-worthy.

But if the New York Dolls are going to continue, they’d better have an exorcism of mediocrity.