THE PORTRAIT OF BILLY JOE

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 3, 2004

It’s no wonder that The Portrait of Billy Joe is bound to remind viewers of Tender Mercies. Robert Duvall, the star of the Oscar-winning 1983 film about the tribulations and ultimate redemption of a down-and-out country singer, is the executive producer of this new video documentary about “outlaw” country bard Billy Joe Shaver.


Duvall’s girlfriend Luciana Pedraza directed it. (More trivia: Pedraza first met Shaver on the set of The Apostle, a 1997 film directed by and starring Duvall and which featured Shaver in a bit part.)

The similarities between Shaver and Tender Mercies’ “Mac Sledge” are numerous. Both are songwriters from rural Texas who took a stab at mainstream C&W success -- Shaver’s songs have been covered by Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, Tom T. Hall, John Anderson and others -- only to fall victim to old demon alcohol. Both suffered immense personal tragedies, including the deaths of their only children, and both found strength through religious faith.

And like “Sledge” -- whose musical career was reborn, albeit on a smaller scale than his heyday, due to the interest of a worshipful band of younger musicians -- Shaver got a second wind in the 1990s fronting a band led by his guitar-stud son Eddy.

Portrait begins with a scene of a shirtless Shaver shaving. He’s grown a big white mustache, but he’s tired of it. His Mama wouldn’t have liked it. It’s coming off.

As he shaves the mustache he jokes about keeping a “stiff upper lip.”

“I guess I kept a stiff upper lip until I got the face I deserve,” he says.

While in front of the mirror, he points out his scar on his chest from a quadruple bypass surgery.

Shaver, who turned 65 this year, has had a pretty rough decade so far. In course of one year, his mother, his son, and the love of his life, Brenda Shaver died. The heart attack followed.

Memories of Brenda dominate much of the documentary. The couple married and divorced three times.

In a painful interview Shaver talks about how after Brenda died he discovered letters and pictures attesting to her relationship with another man.

“He was younger than me,” he says wistfully. “Taller … I don‘t know where he is now, but I wish him well.” Then Shaver makes a shooing motion with his hand and repeats ruefully, “Wish him well.”

Still, Shaver says she’s the only woman he ever loved. He describes in loving detail in the documentary how he wrote the song “I Couldn’t Be Me Without You” in an effort to win her back.

We see Shaver in concert. We see him at his uncle’s farm. We see him win a chicken at a lottery. And we see him in church. The full-immersion baptism scene with his guitarist friend Jesse Taylor takes us right back to Tender Mercies.

But it’s over before we know it. Portrait of Billy Joe is less than an hour long. As a fan of Shaver’s music I wish it would have been fleshed out with more songs. His retelling of all his tragedies indeed is moving, but more of his songs would have made a more complete portrait of the man.

Billy Joe Shaver is scheduled to appear at a V.I.P. only party at Willee’s tonight. For those of us who aren’t V.I.P.s, Steve Terrell’s Santa Fe Opry will feature a lengthy segment of Billy Joe music 10 p.m. tonight on KSFR, 90.7 FM.

I will introduce Billy Joe Shaver at the Santa Fe Film Festival's screening of The Portrait of Billy Joe 2 p.m. Saturday at the CCA theater, so I'm feeling like a V.I.P.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: HELLO DUMMY!

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 3, 2004

They’ve been together for more than 35 years. They’ve recorded with rockabilly titan Carl Perkins, the late country star Skeeter Davis, The Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian and pro wrestling great Captain Lou Albano. While never achieving mass commercial success, they’ve long been considered “musicians’ musicians” and critics’ darlings.

And they’ve even been on The Simpsons.

But most importantly, NRBQ, one of the most versatile and longest lasting bands in the history of rock ‘n’ roll, still is cranking out amazing albums full of songs that are sometimes challenging, frequently taking strange turns and almost always catchy.


Their latest album Dummy is evidence of that. The boys of the Q can still rock like madmen one moment then create sweeter than sweet pop the next.

The title cut, which opens the album starts out with a discordant little riff, punched up by horns, which sounds like it might have been the soundtrack of a 1960s commercial for a headache remedy, then slows into a funky, Randy Newman-ish groove as singer Terry Adams drawls a bittersweet lament about self-inflicted ignorance.

What follows are samples of the entire NRBQ everything-but-the-kitchen-sink bag of tricks. “One Big Parking Lot” is a chunka-chunka rockabilly/Johnny Cash style workout. “Imaginary Radio” is pure sweet weirdo pop that sounds like Adams is mainlining Brian Wilson’s melodies -- as well as his lyrics. “Do the Primal Thing” sounds like gorilla warfare. “I Need Love,“ written and suing by NRBQ cofounder Joey Spaminato, sounds like a lost Al Green song. And “What You Mean to Me” is one of the prettiest songs NRBQ’s ever recorded.

All these are originals, written by Adams and/or Spaminato. But there’s a couple of inspired covers here too.

“All That’s Left is to Say is Goodbye” is a bossa nova written by Antonio Carlos Jobim. “Be My Love” was an Italian pop hit by Mario Laza, though NRBQ do it as a sweet country song.

The there’s “Little Rug Bug,” which started out as a “song-poem” -- a tune whose lyrics were written by a wanna-be songwriter who responded to one of those “Put Your Poems To Music” ads. (Q drummer Tom Ardolino is a leading song-poem collector and enthusiast.) On Dummy, “Little Rug Bug” becomes confectionary reggae.

The album ends with one of the few -- perhaps only -- overtly political tunes NRBQ has ever done, “Misguided Missiles.” Clocking in at under two minutes, this song blasts “misinformed patriots, their flags unfurled/ while their misplaced leaders destroy the world.” Amazingly, this tune was recorded 13 years ago. (And former Q-man Big Al Anderson, a part-time Santa Fe resident, is playing rhythm guitar.)

In a way, NRBQ records like Dummy are like those of The Firesign Theatre. Each new listen reveals something new you didn’t notice before.

Hear a lengthy NRBQ segment Sunday on Terrell’s Sound World, KSFR, 90.7 FM. Show starts at 10 p.m., the NRBQ segment will start right after 11 p.m.

Also Recommended:

*At The Organ by The Minus 5. Like NRBQ, Seattle-ite Scott McCaughey is a sucker for a sweet pop melody as much as sonic weirdness. With his revolving-door band that sometimes includes REM guitarist Peter Buck, ex-Posie Ken Stringfellow and, lately members of Wilco, McCaughey is responsible for some gorgeous madness.

This 7-song collection mostly consists of outtakes from their 2003 album Down With Wilco. In fact there are a couple of remakes of DWW’s best songs, “The Days of Wine and Booze” and “The Town That Lost Its Groove Supply.”

Among the highlights:

“(I’ve Got a) Lyrical Stance,” kicks off the CD. It’s a minute-and-a- half crazy rocker, with a Red Elvises Slav-rock synth hook. McCaughey and Jeff Tweedy share vocals, shouting lines like “I’ve got something in my pants/And it’s a lyrical stance.”

“Film of the Movie” is an outright country tune with clip-cloppy percussion and a prominent steel guitar. It might remind you of Bob Dylan’s “Lily, Rosemary and The Jack of Hearts.”

“The Days of Wine and Booze,” a dreamy ballad in its previous incarnation, is now a hard-edged rocker with Jeff Tweedy playing guitar as if he‘s auditioning for The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion . But the melody is just as memorable.

* Living With the Animals and Make a Joyful Noise by Mother Earth. I’ve waited for years for these classic hippie roots albums to be re-released on CD. Now here they are, on a little label called Wounded Bird.

Mother Earth was a San Francisco-based band that combined blues, soul, gospel and country. These are their first two -- and best --albums.

The band is best known as the launching pad for belter Tracy Nelson, who went on a respectable recording career. Her signature song “Down So Low” first appeared on Animals, though her greatest moment is the Memphis Slim song that gave the group its name.

But Nelson wasn’t the only Mother Earth singer. There also was the Rev. Ronald Stallings, a soul shouter who joined up on Joyful Noise, his best song be “Stop That Train.”

Then there was the quivering voiced R.P. St. John, Jr., who performed cosmic/comic tunes like “Living With the Animals” on the first album and the “I’ll Be Moving On” -- a close encounter between a freak and a southern police officer -- on the second. St. John also was responsible for a couple of cool psychedelic relics like the jazzy “The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You” on Animals and “The Fly” on Joyful Noise.

In general, Animals -- which includes guest appearances by guitarist Mike Bloomfield, organist Barry Goldberg, and keyboardist Mark Naftalin --is more bluesy, while Joyful Noise -- with backup on some cuts by steel guitarist Pete Drake and fiddlers Johnny Gimbel and Shorty Lavender has more overt country. (In fact, the album is divided between a "City Side" and a "Country Side")

Both albums sound just as refreshing and just as true as they did in 1968 and ‘69 when they first came out.

ROUNDHOUSE ROUND-UP: WITH NEW LEADERSHIP, WHITHER DWI?

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Dec. 2, 2004

For years many New Mexico anti-DWI activists have called Sen. Michael Sanchez, D-Belen and Rep. Kenny Martinez, D-Grants "obstacles."

Now they're both going to be called "majority leader."

Sanchez and Martinez - both of whom are lawyers - were elected by fellow Democrats in their respective chambers to the leadership posts. Both have been chairman of their judiciary committees for several years.

Those who have fought for tougher laws against drunken driving took notice when Sanchez and Martinez ascended to their new posts, wondering what the effect will be on DWI legislation.

When interviewed, activists tend to be diplomatic about Sanchez and Martinez in their new positions. "It will be interesting," said Terry Huertaz, executive director of the state Mothers Against Drunk Driving chapter. "This is a great opportunity to put our state on the right track. I'll give them the benefit of the doubt."
But privately, some activists aren't as sunny.

"I think they're going to block anything that moves," said one DWI opponent interviewed under the condition of anonymity.

Sen. Kent Cravens, an Albuquerque Republican who has sponsored and backed many DWI bills, said Wednesday, "It's been difficult to talk to Michael and Kenny about increasing penalties and mandatory sentencing. They've resisted both of these ideas during the years.

"We have to work within the framework," Cravens said. "It's going to be all the more difficult to do these things, but they need to be done."

Asked about the perception that he's been an obstacle to tougher DWI laws, Sanchez said Wednesday, "I treat every bill fairly. I can't tell people what to think. I just do what I think is right.

"I can tell you that I've talked to several DAs who say they wish we wouldn't pass any more DWI laws," Sanchez said. "They say nobody truly understands all the laws we've passed in the last few years. Things are falling through the cracks."

Martinez, interviewed Tuesday, said he thinks any perception that he's an opponent of DWI reform is unfair.

"I don't know why (anti-DWI activists) should be worried," he said. "I worked pretty hard on the comprehensive DWI package a couple of years ago. I think we've seen some good DWI legislation in the past five years."

Martinez recently has been on a state task force that is recommending expanding the use of ignition interlocks to fight DWI. Interlocks require drivers to blow into a breath analyzer that won't allow a vehicle to start if his or her alcohol level is too high.

Martinez noted that he took much political heat earlier this year for sponsoring a bill to require ignition interlocks in all vehicles. "I've been cast nationally as being too aggressive on DWI," he said.

2005 DWI package: One thing is for certain. DWI will be an issue in the upcoming legislative session. Gov. Bill Richardson has made the fight against DWI a cornerstone of his administration.

Richardson spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said Wednesday that the governor, who held retreats with lawmakers, has received positive reception of his latest DWI and crime from legislators in both parties.

On Wednesday, Richardson's DWI czar Rachel O'Connor appeared at the Corrections Oversight, Courts and Justice Committee to present four proposed bills from the governor's office. They include requiring ignition interlocks on vehicles belonging to all convicted DWI offenders; lowering the legal blood-alcohol level limit for convicted DWI offenders; allowing local governments to impose tougher restrictions on liquor sales in areas of high alcohol abuse; and establishing a "Drunkbusters Hotline" to report drunk drivers.

O'Connor said more DWI legislation is likely to emerge in the session, which begins Jan. 18.

At least we know he was reading us. A "behind-the-scenes" story about the recent presidential campaign in the Nov. 15 Newsweek indicated that Democratic candidate John Kerry didn't get the rest and relaxation he needed during his mid October visit to Santa Fe.

"Kerry felt anything but relaxed and confident, however on the morning of the third debate on Oct. 13 in Tempe, Ariz. He was irritated by a headline in a Santa Fe, N.M. newspaper, TIME TO BREAK THE TIE. Kerry was tense and whiny: "I don't understand this," he groused to an aide. "I've beaten this guy twice now - and somehow it's a tie. Why is this a must-win for me? When is it going to be a must-win for him?"

"This guy" was President Bush. The newspaper was us.

The headline - which actually didn't include the word "the" - referred to the dead heat in the polls at the time.

HOAXES, PRANKS & WEIRDNESS

I just want to pass on a couple of sites I stumbled across this morning:

THE MUSEUM OF HOAXES CLICK HERE

BOING BOING CLICK HERE

and one of my all-time classic faves:

LANDOVER BAPTIST CHURCH CLICK HERE

Hours of entertainment ...

NM ODs ON CAMPAIGN ADS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
Nov. 28, 2004

(Somehow this one missed the New Mexican's web site.)

So you think you saw significantly more campaign commercials on television this year than you saw during past election seasons?

You’re right.

According to a new study by a Washington, D.C.-based organization called the Alliance for Better Campaigns, politicians spent an estimated $28 million on campaign commercials in the Albuquerque/Santa Fe market this year.

That’s nearly four times the amount spent in 2000, the previous presidential-election year.

Furthermore, the Albuquerque/Santa Fe market, while ranked 47th in market-area population, ranked eighth in the nation for number of political commercials aired in the study. Meanwhile, only six television stations in the country aired more political ads than KOAT-TV, Albuquerque’s ABC affiliate.

“Television air time is the No. 1 cost center for candidates in competitive races,” said Meredith McGehee, president of the Alliance for Better Campaigns.

She made the point that the amount of political-ad revenue nationwide is “an enormous election-year windfall for broadcasters, who receive free licenses to operate on the publicly owned airwaves.”

New Mexico got so many political ads, because it was considered one of a handful of battleground states. Democrat Al Gore beat Republican George W. Bush here in 2000 by 366 votes. This year, the polls were close throughout the race. Bush eventually defeated Democrat John Kerry here by about 6,000 votes — less than 1 percent.
According to the study, which used figures compiled by a private firm called Campaign Media Analysis Group, New Mexico stations aired more than 38,000 political ads this year.

This includes ads for presidential candidates as well as state and local candidates, McGehee said in a telephone interview last week.

Besides the presidential race, candidates in Congressional District 1 — Republican incumbent Heather Wilson and unsuccessful Democratic challenger Richard Romero — both ran intensive television-ad campaigns.

In the previous presidential-election year, Albuquerque stations aired 18,871 political commercials at a cost of $7,169,600, according to the Alliance for Better Campaigns statistics.

Even though 2002 wasn’t a presidential year, politicos paid more than $10 million for more than 21,000 television commercials.

In a written statement announcing the release of the study, McGehee said the heavy volume of political advertising in presidential battleground states far outweighed the amount of news coverage of the election.

This adds weight to the argument made by critics of television news that people who get most of their news from television are more likely to be influenced by political commercials.

Citing statistics from the Lear Center Local News Archive, she said 30 minutes of local news in battleground states averaged almost six minutes of campaign advertising, but only three minutes of campaign news. Forty-five percent of all television campaign stories were about strategy or polls, while only 29 percent focused on campaign issues. Ad-watch stories, which check the truthfulness of political spots, made up less than 1 percent of campaign stories in the study’s sample, McGehee said.

New Mexico wasn’t one of the 11 television markets included in that study. However, in a 2002 study by the Lear Center, Albuquerque stations’ percentages of campaign stories were in line with those of other stations in the study.

The Alliance for Better Campaigns is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to reducing the cost of campaigns and increasing the flow of issue-based political information before elections. The organization’s honorary co-chairmen are former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Gerald Ford and retired CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite.

TERRELL'S SOUND WORLD PLAYLIST

Sunday, November 28, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, N.M.
Now 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
Thanksgiving in Reno by Too Much Joy
Friends Like Mine by The Donnas
Mt. Everest by Royal Crescent Mob
The Town That Lost Its Groove Supply by The Minus 5
Repo Man by Iggy Pop
Down to the Well by The Pixies
Special Rate Sherry by Vinnie Santino
Sex With My Hat by The Firesign Theatre

Sentimental Marching Song by Sally Timms
Big Zombie by The Mekons
Wedding Dress by Johnny Dowd
Xracothep by The Fall
No, I'm Ironman by The Butthole Surfers
King Kong by Tom Waits
Devil Town by Daniel Johnston
If I Couldn't Say a Word by Lamar Nelson


Agua Boogy by Parliment
Quickie by George Clinton
Blasters by Bootsy's New Rubber Band
Let's Take It To the Stage by Funkadelic

Hyperballad by The Twilight Singers
I Need Love by NRBQ
Surf's Up by Brian Wilson
Boobytrappin' by David Holmes
God Walks Among Us Now by The Flaming Lips
The Kingdom of Heaven is Within You by Mother Earth
My Little Corner of the World by Yo La Tengo
CLOSING THEME: Over the Rainbow by Jerry Lee Lewis

THIS MAN NEEDS NO INTRODUCTION

And yet I've been asked to introduce Billy Joe Shaver next Saturday at the screening of the documentary The Portrait of Billy Joe at The Santa Fe Film Festival. The screening is scheduled for 2 p.m. Dec. 4 at the CCA.

I'll also be introducing the documentary Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus for the film festival. This screening is 8:45 p.m. Thursday Dec. 2 at The Screen. (For my review. scroll down a couple of posts below.)

THE SANTA FE OPRY PLAYLIST

Friday, November 26, 2004
KSFR, Santa Fe, NM
Now Webcasting
10 p.m. to midnight Fridays MDT
Host: Steve Terrell

OPENING THEME: Buckaroo by Buck Owens & The Buckaroos
You Asked Me To by Shaver
Blacklisted by Neko Case
Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young by Faron Young
4,000 Rooms in Amarillo by Sid Hausman & Washtub Jerry
You Win Again by Mother Earth
You're the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly by Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn
Queen of Country by Nancy Apple
Delta Land by Susie Salley
Love Birds by Roy D. Mercer

Dying Breed by Lonesome Bob with Allison Moorer
Fire and Water by Buddy Miller
I Just Lost My Mind by Rex Hobart & His Misery Boys
Cold War by Gerraint Watkins
Out on the Highway by Eric Hisaw
Nashville Radio by Jon Langford
Red or Green by Lenny Roybal
Carve That Possum by Uncle Dave Macon

Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus Set
Still Waters by Jim White
First There Was by Johnny Dowd
Phyllis Ruth by 16 Horsepower
When That Helicopter Comes by The Handsome Family
Graveyard by Trailer Bride
10 Miles to Go on a 9 Mile Road by Jim White

1952 Vincent Black Lightning by The Del McCoury Band
21st Century Garbage Man by Joe West
A Six Pack to Go by Hank Thompson
Dear Mother by Acie Cargill
I Don't Want to Get Adjusted by Iris DeMent
Thanksgiving by Loudon Wainwright III
CLOSING THEME: Comin' Down by The Meat Puppets

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

SEARCHING FOR THE WRONG-EYED JESUS

A review of a film to be shown at The Santa Fe Film Festival
As Published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 26, 2004

Singer Jim White, the star of the documentary Searching For the Wrong-Eyed Jesus, observes that in the South the simplest most mundane conversation has the potential of becoming a major theological discourse on right and wrong, sin and redemption, God and the Devil.

And the blood.

Blood, as Rennie Sparks of The Handsome Family points out in the film, is a major motif, whether it's the Blood of the Lamb in religious sermons or the blood shed in the old murder ballads and tragic songs of life still being sung in the backwoods.

Indeed, all through this strange and captivating little film by Andrew Douglas, the glory of God and the temptations of Satan dance around each other. You feel this dance in the whiskey-soaked honky tonks, the backwoods Pentecostal churches, at the truckstops, the swamps, the coal mines and the barber shops. You hear it in the music, in the hellfire sermons, in the conversations, and, as novelist Harry Crews points out, in the stories Southerners tell, those essential stories that give people their identities and explain their place in the world.

Douglas, an Englishman, got the idea for the documentary when someone gave him a copy of White’s enigmatic 1997 debut CD The Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted Wrong-Eyed Jesus. He had to know where these songs came from. Douglas contacted White, who lives in rural Florida. The singer agreed to be the tour guide for a trip to the South, where, he explains in the movie, if you go five or 10 miles away from the interstate you can find life as it was 50 or 100 years ago.

Also enlisted for the journey were writer Crews, who talks about spitting birds and the proper way to cook a possum, as well as a bevy of musicians -- who, like White, represent the “gothic” side of the alternative country universe. These include The Handsome Family (who now live in Albuquerque), Johnny Dowd, David Eugene Edwards of 16 Horsepower, Trailer Bride’s Melissa Swingle. David Johansen (former New York Dolls, Buster Poindexter) sings a bluesy “Last Fair Deal” in a motel room. But the most impressive music here are the unknown pickers and singers Douglas and White meet along the way -- a gospel rockabilly group playing in a church, The Singing Hall Sisters, who harmonize on “Knoxville Girl” in a booth at a truckstop, elderly banjo man Lee Sexton, who sings “Little Maggie” and “Rye Whiskey” as if he wrote them himself.

Searching For Wrong-eyed Jesus is an unforgettable glimpse into poor, white Southern culture. A key word here is “white.” You’ll see few African-American faces in the movie. And there’s no discussion of race. It seems like a huge omission, but the issue of race is such a huge can of worms it probably would take an entire other movie just to scratch the surface.

Urban viewers, especially those not acquainted with true Southern culture might tend to look down their snoots on the people encountered here, with all their talk of sin and blood and Jesus.

But despite the obvious poverty, ignorance, tragedy and superstition, the culture presented here is rich and complex. As White, who sometimes attends Pentecostal services, says, you’ve got to leave your mind at the door and go in with an open heart.

Tune into The Santa Fe Opry, 10 p.m. - midnight MST tonight on KSFR 90.7 FM, for a segment featuring musicians from this film. That segment starts right after the 11th Hour. And it's streaming live on the internet.

Searching For The Wrong-eyed Jesus will be shown 8:45 p.m. Thursday Dec. 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday Dec. 5 at The Screen at the College of Santa Fe. For Santa Fe Film Festival tickets call 505-989-1495.

TERRELL'S TUNEUP: IN THE WORLD OF TIMMS

As published in The Santa Fe New Mexican
November 26, 2004

Back in the mid ‘80s Sally Timms made a strange and wonderful contribution to punk rock.

Before Timms hooked up with The Mekons, most female punk vocals was virtually limited to the Wendy O. Williams growl, the Exene whine or the Joan Jett snarl.

Timms added a whole new dimension: Subversive beauty.

Her warm, honey-toned voice was -- and still is -- nothing short of heart-breaking. Not to mention jarring when the lyrics she sang were harsh and acidic.

In recent years, Timms' solo work, that that of fellow Mekon Jon Langford, mainly has been in the country-folk genre -- her 1999 album Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments For Lost Buckaroos being the best example.

But with her new work In the World of Him, a nine-song EP, Timms branches out produced by genius weirdo Johnny Dowd and his musical sidekick Justin Asher.

Dowd‘s musical backdrops range from crazed proto-techno soundscapes (the opening tune Langford‘s “Sentimental Marching Song”) to somber folk (Ryan Adams‘ “Fools We Are As Men,” on which Timms is backed by just an acoustic guitar and accordion.)

Except for the final song, “Little Tommy Tucker,” which she wrote herself, the songs of In the World of Him are written by men - Adams, Dowd, Langford, Mark and Kevin Coyne. Shey also revamps a couple of classic Mekons songs, “Corporal Chalkie” and one of her signature songs, “Bomb,” in the sputtering quacky Dowd style.

It’s almost an answer to those patronizing politically-correct “women in rock” thumb sucker essays that pop up every few years in music journalism. Timms is after the male perspective here. And, doggone it, there are some fine male songwriters out there.

The best songs on Him are Coyne’s “I’m Just a Man,” a slow, pretty melody -- perfect for Sally’s voice -- rising above a clunky percussion track and Eitzel’s “God’s Eternal Love,” one of the darkest tunes ever penned by this unrepentant purveyor of darkness. Timms captures the disturbing spirit of the song. Timms croons “and your death is only the key to the future/ and your children are just pigs/ they will roast …” over an acoustic guitar with what sounds like an electrical storm in the background.

But not all is darkness here. The funniest song on Him is Dowd’s “139 Hernalser Gurtel” which sounds like a war song written by Kurt Weil obsessed with pornography and tripping on acid.

“In the world of him/girly men waltz sweetly/across the borders of skin/latex icons line the shelves / like toy soldiers in a sex army,” Timms recites.

Finally, someone captures the male perspective.

Speaking of Johnny Dowd: I reviewed his latest album Cemetery Shoes late last April after it had been out on the Dutch label Munich Records, thinking it would come out on an American label fairly soon. Actually, it didn’t get released in this country until about a month ago on the tiny Bongo Beat label

And you can read my review on my blog, in the April archives.(CLICK HERE then scroll down just a little.)

Also recommended:

*Heaven & Hell by The Mekons. Amazingly, even though The Mekons have been around in one form or another for more than a quarter century, nobody until now has compiled a “greatest hits” collection.

If you’ve read all the way through a review of a Sally Timms CD -- and indeed if you’ve read my music rants for any time -- chances are you don’t need an explanation of who The Mekons are.

But if you’re an average American and just a casual rock ’n’ roll fan, you’re probably part of the 99 percent of the unfortunate deprived and uninformed masses who have never known Mekon pleasure. So for you, here’s a quick history:

The Mekons started out in the late ‘70s in Leeds, England, originally becoming notorious for their 1978 song “Never Been To a Riot,” a send-up of The Clash’s “White Riot.”

By the mid ‘80s original members Jon Langford and Tom Greenhalgh led a reconfigured Mekons with a new sound that stole any sound not nailed to the floor -- country music, reggae, eventually acid house and other styles. They added a fiddler, Susie Honeyman, an accordion player, Rico Bell, and a singer named Sally. They sang socialist screeds, songs of drunkenness and depravity and ballads of doomed love. Critics loved them. Record companies screwed them. The public ignored them.

Heaven & Hell is a double-disc collection that just might be the perfect introduction for the uninitiated. It goes all the way back to their punk origins with songs like “Never Been To a Riot,” and “This Sporting Life,” their ill-fated but still glorious stab at commercial success “Memphis Egypt” and more recent gems like the fierce rocking “The Olde Trip to Jerusalem” and Timms’ gorgeous “Millionaire.”

And there’s four songs from out of print So Good It Hurts as well as selections from Eps, singles, etc.

Of course I’m still going to grumble about a couple of omissions. How dare they omit “Cast No Shadow” from Journey to the End of the Night or “The Flame That Killed John Wayne” or “The Ballad of Sally” ?

Of course these oversights will be initiative for the millions of new Mekons fans to seek out the original albums.