Sometimes It Seems, I've Been Robbed--The Chills' Soft Bomb

You Have To Give Them What They Want

There was a time when The Chills were critically on top of the music world. Music fans were delighted by the excellent singles anthology Kaleidoscope World and Brave Words, their first album. Then came the polished masterwork Submarine Bells, released to a worldwide audience on Slash Records, which catapulted Martin Phillips to the status of a potential next big thing. The New Zealand music scene appeared to be the next flavor of the month. So what happened?

Soft Bomb, the followup to Submarine Bells is a fine fine album. Its major problem is that it came after Submarine Bells. That album would be tough for anyone to top and it does fall a bit short. An A- to the prior A+. But critics voiced their disappointment. Nobody really said it was terrible--they said it was weaker, that the songs were not so good. I listen to the album and I get a different impression. The songs are mostly strong. In fact, some of his best songs are contained here. Soft Bomb appears to be loosely constructed as a concept album, with some short tracks attempting to create some continuity. Probably not successful on that front. I presume one of the main themes had to do with environmental destruction due to pollution, judging by the album title and cover art. The album is in turn joyous, bitter, cynical, and even whimsical.

Perhaps Martin Phillips did have some prescience as to the way things were going. On the piano pop anthem Song For Randy Newman etc., he gives a shout out to Wilson, Barrett, Walker, Drake. No, not the malevolent law firm from the TV series 24. That was McLennan-Forster. They were the misunderstood songwriters that preceded and were influential to Phillips musical growth. Maybe he had an inkling that history was about to repeat itself with his career and was reflected in this song. Throughout the album there are examples of bitterness, growing cynicism, frustration and the toll the music world can take on the creative psyche.

Certainly he had big ambitions on Soft Bomb. I think he tried to reach the heights of his idols and fell a little short on a whole. But he comes close. He has some magnificent moments here. But that is a huge accomplishment in itself, and certainly merited more major label releases. This album was not qualitatively a deal-breaker. Perhaps quantitatively it fell short. I don't find a duff track here at all.

Life Never Tires Of Great Surprises

Male Monster From The Id is a strong first track, with Phillips' typically eloquent delivery. Ditto for the evocative lyrics of Ocean Ocean, continuing the recurrent water imagery in his music. The first Soft Bomb is shuffling and melodic and upbeat yet bitter, a song more resembling an earlier phase of this band. I wonder whether critics were disappointed in the big budget production and use of mostly non-Kiwi personnel in Martin's last band incarnation. Peter Holsapple of the dB's was on this. People were entranced with the lo fi charm of the Kaleidoscope World singles, and the oddly muted pop gems of Brave Words.

This was a big budget album, and the Kiwi terroir was missing from this. The early albums have a sense of place--you knew this was Flying Nun New Zealand. Soft Bomb sounds like it could have come from anywhere, Hollywood, Perth, Liverpool. He was also no doubt under pressure to sell mass quantities. Despite all that, taking the album on face value, you have a terrific pop album by an inspired songwriter. Any other view is completely unmerited in my estimation.

My favorite song on this album is Halo Fading, and it is one of my favorite ballads of all time. Very well constructed, changing gears throughout... Pop brilliance.

Halo, fading in Silence
I know you hear me-- I know you're there being quiet
Someday a song I'll sing for you, that finally says goodbye,
Right now that the words won't come to me--
I'm torn apart trying...

Another great moment is the epic Water Wolves, where he recruited Brian Wilson collaborator Van Dyke Parks to write the string arrangements. Despite what some people think I really like how this one turned out.
I know he also did a version without the strings which is also good on a concurrent Cd single. The Entertainer is a cleverly written sarcastic lounge song, Phillips' own version of Piano Man. Equally affecting is the creepy spousal abuse tale of  Sanctuary. The mandolin driven pop of So Long is another highlight on Soft Bomb. "I've heard all the brilliance advice, I learned that everything comes at a price."

One of the singles off this album Double Summer is another pleasant with imagery somewhat of the Beach Boys Southern California, if not similar stylistically. Tremendously melodious, upbeat happy lyrics, expressions of wonder. Great keyboards here played, with verve by Lisa Mednick. Similar in tone is Sleeping Giants, a jaunty high speed pop number that name checks Gigantor the Robot.



Unfortunately Martin Phillips has suffered a number of misfortunes in subsequent years, including serious health issues. After Soft Bomb, The Chills released Sunburnt on Flying Nun, and Sketchbook Vol. 1 under his own name. There was also the 3 Cd limited edition Secret Box, full of unreleased songs, b-sides and rarities. The Chills in different forms have continued to exist, with an ep Stand By released a few years ago. I had the good fortune to see The Chills live twice, during the Submarine Bells tour, and again in support of Soft Bomb. I loved both shows, but preferred the original lineup. I definitely appreciated the stellar keyboard work of Lisa Mednick on the latter tour. Keyboards have always been a big component to The Chills' sound, as was the case with Andrew Todd.

In any event, if you are new to The Chills, I would start with Submarine Bells, but you can't go wrong with albums Soft Bomb, Kaleidoscope World, or Brave Words (long out of print). The Chills are one of the top New Zealand bands ever, so they are a group that you probably need in your life.

Ghost--Hypnotic Underworld---Japanese Psychedelic Prog Jazz Folk?

Hypnotic Underworld is a very interesting recording issued on the Drag City label in North America.

They are a Japanese improvisational group under the leadership of Masaki Batoh (6 & 12 string acoustic guitar,vocals). Takuyuki Moriya performs on electric bass, contra bass and cello. Junzo Tateiwa plays drums tabla and percussion and Kazuo Ogino is on piano, mellotron, korg ms-20 synth, organ, lute, recorder and Celtic harp. Michio Kurihara is on electric guitar and Taishi Takizawa plays theremin, saxophone, tin whistle, bouzouki, and etc). With such a great variety of instrumentation on this album, the number of musical possibilities could make your head spin. And on Hypnotic Underworld this Tokyo sextet's possibilities are fulfilled by virtuoistic musicianship.You could say that they are a psychedelic band, but their music zig zags through numerous genres. Folk, Japanese Traditional, Acid Rock, Devotional Music, German Electronic--Ghost make it all seem simple. With some of these instruments I wouldn't be surprised if these guys could break into a set of Pogues song if they wanted to.

But it is not all an easy listen. But with some patience you will appreciate this album in all its diversity. The first track, the eponymous Hypnotic Underworld, is a four part suite. God Took A Picture Of His Illness On This Ground is 13 minutes plus of quiet reflective feedback tinged wind chime drone. But there is a sort of jazz bass underpinning it all. I honestly couldn't tell you what anyone is playing on this. Almost Moroccan Joujouka sounding. If I was directing a movie I would love to use these guys for my soundtrack. Escaped And Lost Down In Medina is a middle eastern drone over a jazz accompaniment. Pretty brilliant. Aramaic Barbarous Dawn? Electronic musik, acid rock, demon choirs. You know, same old, same old. It's cool to listen to an album when you have know idea what is about to happen. The suite ends with the hyper kinetic percussion of the brief snippet Leave The World! There is definitely a crazy kind of sanity at work here, but it all works.

Then Ghost does a cover of Hazy Paradise, which was originally by a Dutch psych band Earth and Fire, which I know little about. Kind of mellow west coast psychedelia with Michio Kurihura's guitar pyrotechnics reminiscent of Nels Cline's leads in Wilco. Kiseichukan Nite is an ambient spoken sung piece with Japanese instrumentation, including reflecting pool drip percussion. In our modern world of short attention spans these songs take a while to get a payoff. I don't know if this is for everyone, but I find this music fascinating, a visit to new and different musical philosophies.

Piper begins bucolically with tin whistle and cello and transforms into a blazing acid prog mutation. Blue Cheer meets Yes? I'm grasping at straws here. The hypnotic Ganagmanag is one of my favorite tracks, which starts with a flute playing atop a measured German electronic beat. The best part is after being mesmerized by the beat, at about halfway through you are jarred out of the trance by a shift into lute ostinatos. At the conclusion the tempo speeds up into a rhythmic piano pounding conclusion. Feed is pastoral dreamy psychedelia that morphs into a proggish synth and mellotron driven Yes workout. Holy High despite the heavy renaissance style piping passages, reminds me a little bit of an Ennio Morricone soundtrack or even Calexico.



The last song is a combo number, first a soft introspective version of Syd Barrett's Dominoes. Then it changes into Celebration For The Gray Days, an minor key organ number with heavy majestic guitar chords.
A strong finish to an always interesting, ambitious, and creatively arranged album. Some people who listen to this album might be dismissive--if music does not fit into the framework of one's preconceptions, there is an innate impulse to shut it out or turn it off. The best thing is to take off your ideological shutters for a few minutes and judge the music on its own terms, and exercise a little patience. The rewards will be revealed before you realize what happened. I have to say that I haven't heard anything quite like this before. Hypnotic Underworld is a extremely well crafted sonic journey that is a perfect  reflective tonic for your musical complacency.

Farewell And Thanks To Not Lame Records--Power Pop promoters cease operations

For all the amount of time I may listen to Bad Brains, Boris, and Big Black albums, anyone who is reading these posts understands that I also have a sweet tooth for pop music. While my smile is not reminiscent of Shane McGowan's, I still enjoy a well executed and well harmonized pop song. I blame it on my years as a child listening to AM radio, and singing along to Beach Boys anthologies.

I have to give credit to people like Bruce Brodeen of Not Lame. He and other fans of this genre turned a pejorative term into a compliment. Like the term yuppie, which was meant to castigate young people of the 80's who only cared about money and success and not the social values that young people valued in the 60's. Some people took that term and adopted as a badge of honor. Not anything I would be proud of personally.

But power pop was a derisive term I believe--anything you might compare to the Beatles would wind up on the losing end. So bands like Badfinger and The Raspberries, who followed in the footsteps of the Fab Four were seen as also rans. Power pop was a genre of music that was technically well executed pop music, with huge hooks, great melodies, intricate arrangements, possibly baroque and complicated arrangements, but in essence superficial. A bunch of copycats who are unoriginal and inspiring.

The other and sane view is, I like harmonic catchy sounding music played with panache. I want to listen to it and this is the music I wish to consume. I think sometimes these people have too much of a chip on their shoulders as far as punk goes. Styles and fads come and go. I think being doctrinaire musically is unhealthy and ultimately that attitude has little to do with the spirit of music. And these days there are so many things that fall under the power pop aegis that in some ways the term is not a good description. Cheap Trick, The Jam, The Barracudas, Big Star, XTC, The Posies, Tommy Keene? But why do people fight about this anyway?

Bruce Brodeen formed the Not Lame label to promote music that he liked, and over sixteen years put out hundreds of cds and on his web site sold melodious pop music from all around the world. Notably he put out a Posies 4 cd boxset, filled with all sorts of demos, curiosities, live tracks, ephemera. Simply amazing. It goes beyond the idea of mere profitmaking in a business venture. He also put out a Jellyfish boxset, which had twice as many discs as their studio recorded output.



Not Lame has put out numerous Tribute Cds, to Gene Clark, ELO, The Cars, Bubblegum Music, Buffalo Springfield, Teenage Fanclub. He reissued out print power pop cds, albums that were only available on vinyl, and promoted acts like The Rooks, Shazam, Bobby Sutliff, The Black Watch, Myracle Brah, Martin Luther Lennon. It seemed he sold some of these albums because he heard them and thought they were good. Whether they were on some small obscure indie label or on EMI. They could be from California or Finland.
He even put out a guide to power pop music called Shake Some Action!

So I just wanted to say thanks for a good 16 years from a great music label. Bruce Brodeen is moving on to new projects, but his love of  tuneful pop has not wavered. Here's to Bruce and people like him who tirelessly work and sacrifice for the love of music. Thanks.

Silence Can Speak Louder Than Words--The Sound-- From The Lion's Mouth

I first heard about The Sound in a record store in White Plains. Back in the 1980s, at least in the UK, this London foursome were considered to be competitors with acts like U2, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Teardrop Explodes. But unfortunately the big break never came, and commercial success eluded them. Posterity has not been kind to them either. Their music is not that easy to get a hold of. If it were not for the Renascent label reissues from ten years ago they would be complete unknowns. Why this band is not appreciated is a complete baffler. They sound to me very much like a more pop oriented Joy Division. But that is not a slur at all. The songs are fantastic sounding, and as lyrically tortured as anything Joy Division did. Singer Adrian Borland of course had his own dark poetic slant on the world, a grim world that he was in a seemingly Pyrrhic struggle with.

From The Lion's Mouth is the second album by the Sound and they seemed to be poised on the edge of stardom. The album was engineered and produced by the great Hugh Jones, who has done amazing work with Echo and the Bunnymen, Gene, Simple Minds and Shack. This album is no exception as the sound quality is excellent; austere, crisp and terse. Graham Green's bass is a dominant instrument on many of the tracks, and the hypnotic glacial keyboard work of Max Mayers adds to the intensity of the songs.

The album begins with Winning, an almost tribal sounding keyboard driven track. It's a song about perseverance in a hostile environment. Typically strong vocal and hypnotic guitar performance from Borland.

I was going to drown
Then I started swimming
I was going down
Then I started winning...

Sense of Purpose is another introspectively powerful tune.

Are we what we want to be?
All wrapped up in our safety?
Comfort and complacency
It hurts me, It hurts me so...




Tough stuff. But even though Borland is struggling to make sense of the world around him, he is not simply griping. He is in the fray, battling, getting involved. Things may be bad but he is not giving up. And in doing so comports himself with consummate class and intelligence.

This album is simply a masterpiece of the 80's. You could program this album on shuffle and come up with a great song without fail. I especially like Skeletons with its frenetic bass pulse and we're alive but really dead lyrics. Another favorite of mine is The Fire, "led by the heart, drawn toward the heat". The ghostly keyboards are a nice contrast to the uptempo rhythm section. Silent Air is another pensive philosophical ballad that is unbelievably moving in its unpretentiousness.




The final cut is the epic New Dark Age. Dark tribal slow burning intensity remotely similar to Killing Joke. Which segues into uptempo bursts.

In the darkest times
Darkest fears are heard
And from the safest places
Come the bravest words

Scratched away at the walls for years
All we've got to show is the dust on the floor...

That cut has the single Hothouse appended to the end of the track. While a nice track it has a lot more levity than the other 10 songs here. While I like the song, it seems a little out of place here.

Sadly after a solo career complete with some very worthwhile recordings, Adrian Borland took his own life in 1999, more than 10 years ago. Mental illness unfortunately took its toll. A sad end to a great underappreciated talent. He deserved better. It seems that today The Sound reissues are going out of print, but some are still available via the Renascent Label including 5 live concerts from the Netherlands. For those interested in Adrian Borland post-Sound, the Red Sun Records website would be a good place to look. He also recorded as White Rose Transmission. As far as From The Lion's Mouth is concerned, I think anybody who enjoys bands like Wire, Joy Division, Echo and the Bunnymen, Jesus and Mary Chain, Gang of Four, Ruts, even Duran Duran would find favor here. One of the forgotten post-punk classics of the 80's.

Tommy Keene--The Real Underground--My 80's Inner Soundtrack

Washington D.C.'s Tommy Keene first came into my crosshairs due to a positive review in the Village Voice by the critic Robert Christgau.

It was an ep on Dolphin records called Places That Are Gone. I made a nice investment the day I bought that slab of vinyl. I wore that album out listening to those 6 great songs. And it just dawned on me that my introduction to Alex Chilton began here (not counting The Letter), with Keene's cover of Hey!! Little Child. I only knew at the time it was a cover of someone else's song that I liked. Anyway, I was just blown away with the eps stripped down acoustic pop perfection.

The idea of a personal soundtrack was first revealed to me during a viewing of The Graduate, when Dustin Hoffman played his role to a backdrop of Simon and Garfunkel. It seemed to be a pretty appealing idea for a pre-teen, and I incorporated this concept into my life, first with Simon and Garfunkel and then I branched out and improvised with The Beatles, The Who, AC-DC, The Jam, and so on...Tommy Keene became a part of this after my college graduation. Unfortunately the use of the soundtrack has now been used in cinema and Tv ad nauseum. Sometimes it works, but often it is used as filler in the same way a student might try to pad the length of a term paper.

One of the requisites of being in ones soundtrack is being sympathetic. Romance, youth, rebellion. Some people identify with a Springsteen, a Joni Mitchell, Elliott Smith. A lot of it has to do with timing I suppose.

Feelings Never Quite Complete

Also how you view yourself, at least in a romanticized way. The reality of it is that it is probably clutter in my head that I could do better without. Now songs stick in my head and I can't get rid of them, like a pleasant form of tinnitus, if that is even possible. Tommy Keene comes off like a young aspiring guy, not like a Robert Plant or some other otherworldly star. Somebody a lot like me at that time.

The Real Underground is a compilation cd put out by Alias Records, and it is a handy place to hear Tommy's early recordings. Included are unreleased songs from the time period of Places That Are Gone. The eponymous song is one of Tommy's best known songs and it is a breathtaking pop masterpiece. "Just looking back before they take it all away, I'm almost glad that we never wanted to stay". That song is followed with Nothing Happened Yesterday, another melodic gem. Babyface is a poignant ballad about a fantastic woman whose qualities are unappreciated by the world around her.



Probably the best song on the ep is Back To Zero, the first song on the B side. Great lyrics, and timely hand claps. "Stayed away, far from the maddening crowd, you try to listen, they were talking way too loud". When The Truth Is Found is also excellent, passionate delivery of a terrific melody. The ep closes with the aforementioned Hey! Little Child, a fine take on Alex Chilton. Definitely an A+ recording.

But alongside these gems are 17 more great cuts. Other notable tracks are Back Again...Try, Safe In The Light, Something Got A Hold Of Me, Sleeping On A Rollercoaster, Something To Rave About, and Love Is The Only Thing That Matters. Dull Afternoon and Don't Sleep In The Daytime are also winners. There obviously isn't a lot of fluff on this anthology. There are also two other choice covers, The Flaming Groovies Shake Some Action and The Who's Tattoo. Recently a two Cd anthology covering Keene's career (Can You Hear Me) through 2009 was released. I'm sure it is excellent, but as I haven't heard it I couldn't say with any authority. Maybe this release will help get him his due now. A great tunesmith and lyricist of Keene's calibre belongs in any self respecting music library.

Velvet Crush--Teenage Symponies To God--I Don't Want To Wait Forever To See You Smile

Feeling All Alone But I'm Feeling Hip

I knew of Velvet Crush before there was a Velvet Crush. When I lived in Champaign Illinois Ric Menck and Paul Chastain played under a variety of guises, including the Springfields and Choo Choo Train. I think I saw them perform under the Choo Choo Train moniker a few times. I still remember a young Menck getting on stage with some band and singing an early Beatles song in a ramshackle out of control manner, maybe Twist and Shout. I also remember Paul Chastain's exceptional voice. I had heard that there was an interesting music scene in Champaign when I first moved out there and I wanted to see  for myself. To my disappointment, The Elvis Brothers had recently split up, as had Turning Curious. But there were still plenty of good bands to see, not to mention the many bands that passed through town on tours.

But I really liked what Menck and Chastain were doing. They seemed like throwback performers, who had a great love of traditional classic 60's groups, and they had a great love and enthusiasm for what they were doing. When I heard they had formed a group in Rhode Island with Jeffery Borchardt called Velvet Crush I had to hear what they were up to. Their first album, In The Presence Of Greatness made a huge impression on me, and I even went out and bought the singles that went with the album. But this post is dedicated to their equally fantastic second album, Teenage Symphonies To God. The title is a reference to the famous Brian Wilson quote regarding what he was trying to create with his songwriting and arranging with The Beach Boys. Although some of the songs on TSTG have the 90's alternative guitar crunch you might expect on an album of this era, many of the songs sound like actual relics from the 1960's.

For a simple comparison, let's just say that Velvet Crush and Teenage Fanclub are kindred spirits. Except of course, Velvet Crush never had their Bandwagonesque. Early on, Velvet Crush even performed a nice cover of the classic Everything Flows by the Fannies. On TSTG there are huge hooks, big chiming guitars, soaring harmonies---classic 60's fare. From my ears the biggest influences are The Byrds and Gram Parsons, but you can hear groups like The Records, Raspberries, Big Star, The Beatles, Badfinger. But they are more than mere imitators. The songs are too well crafted, the recordings too well executed. They simply add to very tradition that they obviously hold in such great reverence.

Hold Me Up is the first song and it is an auspicious beginning. A heavy guitar sound with an almost country twang to the guitar leads, with beautiful harmonies perched on top. My Blank Pages is one of the top song on the album, with strong vocals by Paul Chastain, and searing guitar by Borchardt. After this is a musical changeup, an exquisite cover of Gene Clark's country ballad Why Not Your Baby. Well done, guys.

So much excellence. Probably the high point for me is the truly exceptional Atmosphere. "I don't want to sit and watch a good thing going down. And I don't want to wait until I lose all that I've found." This is completely classic power pop--maybe this is their "September Gurls" or "Starry Eyes" moment. Pop doesn't get any better than this surfers. Most remarkably, when I heard Chastain singing the following ballad #10 I thought for a second that it was Elliott Smith for a moment.



Star Trip is also another Velvets classic where they fantasize about being successful. The chorus is about the catchiest thing you could hear. This Life Is Killing Me, on the other hand catapults the band back to the 90's with a furious Husker Du attack. "I believe I'll shut up before I scream". They return to the country on tunes like on Faster Days, and the Gramparsonesque Keep Lingerin'. Another favorite here is the Byrdsy Weird Summer. Songs like that are for sunny blue sky days with the top down on your car. Happy fun classic rock music played by students of the art form.

 As I listen to this album again for the umpteenth time, I ponder the viscissitudes of the music industry. There are a slew of albums a lot worse than this that made people rich. I don't pretend to understand how things get marketed, or the fickle habits of musical consumers. It may just be that in the era of Nirvana people simply had no interest. On the other hand, Teenage Fanclub were pretty successful for a time. And this music I feel is just as good as what they were doing. So if this is style of music you like, by all means dip into this band's discography and enjoy. Teenage Symphonies To God is one good place to start.

We Got Everything But We Can't Have It

Whipping Boy--Heartworm--A Fire That's Wild And Glorious

They built portholes for Bono, So he could gaze...

Whipping Boy was a great but somewhat unsuccessful Irish band from the 1990's. Heartworm, their sole major label album, was critically acclaimed, but did not sell enough in the eyes of Columbia to merit a followup.



Barefoot And Blind

 Which is too bad. They did put out a fantastic self-finance eponymous album , but internal strife and lack of commercial success led to an implosion. A tragedy for them and all music fans, as they deserved a much better fate. Because folks, there is a world of contemporary Irish music beyond Bono and the Cranberries that more people need to know about. Whipping Boy was one of the greatest Irish bands ever, and when they sank, most of the world didn't notice the ripple.

You Lead Me Astray

I picked up Heartworm in a used Cd shop years ago for $3.99. You can probably get a copy of it now for under a dollar through Amazon, a bargain that I would encourage you to not overlook. Their second album is currently a rarity. It just seems crazy that a label would drop a band that had a relatively successful album with hit singles. You probably could make the argument that Whipping Boy are not exactly a singles band. Their music is dark, moody, passionate, literary, touching on difficult subject matter. But with a very Irish sensibility--there is very much a point of origin for these songs. Their musical style is heavily influenced by the shoegazer movement. Vocalist Feargus McKee has a talking singing delivery and a commanding presence at the mike, not unlike a Hibernian Lou Reed. Rounding out their lineup is Paul Page (guitar), Myles McDonnell (bass,backing vocals), and Colm Hassett (drums).

The album begins with the huge single Twinkle. Poundingly loud and dreamlike, it is a dark and jaded love anthem. The second tune is the bittersweet warts n all nostalgic narrative of When We Were Young. "The first time you got drunk, you drank Pernod and dry cider, smashed a window in as police came round the corner." Darkness and brooding thoughts cast a dark cloud across this album. Struggling through the difficulties of everyday life and resulting deteriorating relationships are a recurring theme. Paul Page's guitar work is a revelation on this album, huge explosive bursts of power at times, then fading into quiet elegant restraint. Reminiscent of a classic band like The Who (I'm reminded of Quadrophenia), Whipping Boy are masters of dynamics.

Another single from this album was the gripping, revelatory We Don't Need Nobody Else, which is as much a short story as a novel. The song received criticism for misogynist lyrics--I personally don't see it that way. It tells a story, and highlights the grim irony of claiming to love someone yet turning around and being the agent of their harm. Destroy what you love, including yourself. What is happening in the song is that the narrator betrays himself by demonstrating that he is not the person he imagines himself to be. By no means is this any celebration of violence against women.

More accurate is that this is a gut wrencher of an album, full of cynical opinions, withering self-criticism, abject sadness, human failing. Uncompromising. Tripped starts out slowly and builds with a crescendo to a powerful conclusion. "I've lost my faith in all things good, just like mother said I would. She tripped, she had nothing left to give." The Honeymoon Is Over Is Another tale of the cruelties we perpetrate in relationships. A bit of a contrast is the dreamy stream of consciousness of Personality with lovely string accompaniment. Another winner is the pounding Welleresque shoegaze pop of Blinded. The beautiful noise intensity of Fiction is very much in the vein of  Kiwi eardrum destroyers Bailter Space.

Now I Know The Distance Between Us

The album conclude with the epic string filled Morning Rise. Starting with steady gravitas, the song builds gradually to a sad but hopeful finish. "I look down and all I see, is nothing staring back at me". Puzzlingly, there is a song appended to the end entitled  A Natural. It's basically a spoken word disquisition on mental illness. A sad and strange ending to a special album. Overall, Heartworm is a sonically amazing set of songs with difficult challenging subject matter, an introspective and poetic look at the difficulties of everyday life.Whipping Boy made quite a statement here, an album that can stand toe to toe with any of the more celebrated classics of the 90's. Yet relatively unappreciated and forgotten. Don't you make the same mistake. Hopefully their third album will be reissued someday soon. But more about that in a future post.

You Look Just Like An Elvis From Hell! Fire Of Love--Gun Club Classic for Thanksgiving

I will be your Lover and Exorcist--but you will never get my soul.

Well it's Thanksgiving day once again in the old USA. A day when family and friends come together and give thanks for what they have. What better way to celebrate than to post a piece on a classic psychotic blues punk slab? Fire Of Love is one of the classic punk albums ever, with a demented Jeffrey Lee Pierce leading us on a tour of the backroads of the Old South. Ward Dotson is a complete terror on guitar throughout and at times the rhythm section Rob Ritter (bass)and Terry Graham (drums) is at times so frenetic they threaten to run the songs off the rails. It is without doubt one of the great singing performances you will ever hear. His persona on the album is that of a crazed preacher, or Jerry Lee Lewis or Elvis Presley on an out of control bender. This is one of the great ones folks, and an important cornerstone of any rock and roll collection.

Fire Of Love is their first album, and I think their best. You could be tempted to call them a below the Mason-Dixon line version of the Cramps, but in reality they are much more than that. There is crazy literary quality to the songs. They seem more like short stories or insane sermons. Like characters out of a Jim Thompson pulp or Falkner. Or updated old traditional folk tunes or old American legends. The narrators in these stories seem to be bad people in general, people who are conflicted, angry, out of control.

And racist. You will find the N word on this record. I always consider that when people who use that word it is more a reflection on the speaker than the people they are referring to. As is the case here in these songs. The characters are mean, vengeful, out of control  and hate filled people and use of such an offensive term is merely icing on the descriptive cake. No soft pedaling on this album.It is no endorsement of the use of the word by any means. Just as in the Dead Kennedy's song I Kill Children. Jello Biafra is playing the role of a maniac, not engaging in any form of advocacy. I'm putting this out there because it is a good thing to know when you get a record that has something offensive inside. I don't know if people sometimes understand the history and amount of suffering encapsulated in that term. It's a past most Americans would like to put behind us completely, but one we can never forget about. And there still is much work left to do in that regard, making America a place where everyone can live a good life.

But there are also so many other themes touched on here. Cars, alcohol, raging hormones, religion, unrequited affection, but with infinitely greater bluntness. Fire of Love begins with the revved up 50's styled Sex Beat. This song is very reminiscent of the LA legends X. "They can twist and turn, they can move and burn, they can throw themselves against the wall, but they creep for what they need, and explode to the call."
Equating rebellion with sexual abandon. Preach The Blues is powerhouse gale force blues, with Jeffery Lee in full testifying form but capturing a life in conflict. The music kicks down to quiet confessional mode (as it does on other songs on this disc) "But the womens and the whiskey, they would not let me pray."

Probably the most intense song on Fire Of Love is the scorching She's Like Heroin To Me.

We sit together drunk like our fathers used to be,
I'm looking up to and God is saying what are you gonna do?
I'm looking up and I'm crying I thought it was up to you!

She's like heroin to me, she cannot miss a vein...

She is like an ivory swimming pool

There is a surreal dreamy quality to some of the songs, like rural folklore. They cast spells, like voodoo. Things are not always as they seem. Songs like Fire Spirit and Ghost On The Highway, or Promise Me. Ghost on The Highway has some of the wildest slide guitar you will hear any time soon. For The Love of Ivy has a confessional quality to about it, like a Jim Thompson novel where the lead character think his behavior is rational and sane, but the more you get to know them, the more they reveal themselves as reprehensible psychos. A running battle between religious proscription and the inner demons of desire. What could be more American than that? The album definitely strikes a nerve when it comes to America. These songs were formulated in the Texas of Jeffrey Lee's childhood. While these songs don't demonstrate that America is crazy, the underlying themes that are articulated here are very real.

Sadly Pierce died in 1996 from a brain hemorrhage at age 37. His musical career was plagued by years of alcohol abuse unfortunately. But The Gun Club is deserving of all their critical accolades. Furthermore they are recognized as being a very influential band. Many groups have been inspired by their groundbreaking melding of blues and punk. Bands like The White Stripes, Pixies, Mark Lanegan, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Raveonettes, Henry Rollins. If you like this album you will no doubt want to explore The Gun Clubs other records. Miami, Las Vegas Story, and Mother Juno are all pretty excellent too. But Fire Of Love is the one I keep coming back to. One of the great albums of the last 30 years. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Bags Wrapped Tight, Keyed To Every City Light---Greg MacPherson--Maintenance Ep

This is a fantastic little 5 song Ep from Winnipeg troubadour Greg MacPherson. Heartfelt passionate edgy folk music, a bridge from the old school protest singers to the modern day. He has feet set firmly in both worlds. In a world where concerns about poverty and egalitarianism are buried under mountains of advertising mantras, his music is like a breath of fresh air. The spirit of Woody Guthrie and John Steinbeck live on in his straightforward and razor sharp lyrics.

Dark Glasses And A Reason Not To Go Back Home

And we need this today, as the sad results of our last election approach, and the war on the lower 90% of our country resumes in earnest. Soon the unemployed will become part of the poor and disdained for not having enough training or not willing to work below a living wage. Soon it will be not within the role of government. As I've said before, when class war works in one direction in our country, when the middle class and poor stand to benefit. When the rich get richer, it is just part of the national order of things. People are blabbing all day about Freedom, without acknowledging that there is an economic component that is integral to a free society. We need more brave honest voices like Greg McPherson, full of fight and confidence.

And there is that cracker of a Clash cover, a kick ass version of Bankrobber from the Sandanista! album. Silly person that I am, I imagine that in that song Joe Strummer was singing "Kramden was a Busdriver", instead of Daddy was a Bankrobber. You know, Jackie Gleason from the Honeymooners. I can't help myself sometimes. Macpherson has a university degree in labor history which is very evident on these tracks. Of particular note is the poignant tale Company Store, which recounts the dynamics of life in a mining town.

"Half the town will die from the mine or the cold, the other half will leave when the mine decides to close. The people who are left will starve to death at the hands of the Company Store. They'll bring the Army in on us when the Union gets to close to them."

Whew. The song is quite reminiscent of Richard Thompson's take on the old song Blackleg Miner. Another killer is the closer, the ironic Good Times. "Good times coming back again, I hear them touching down on the runway." The other two songs Wide Turn and Slowstroke are also very good songs but they don't grab you as much as the other three. Wide Turn is a nostalgic bucolic sounding tune, while Slowstroke is an effective series of character portraits. The songwriting is full of affecting imagery and power and on a literary level beyond the scope of most artists. In addition to this Ep Greg has another 6 full length albums which I have not heard. But I can vouch for this excellent disc. And you can get it used really cheap on Amazon.

Pre Thanksgiving Special--80's Mystery Band from Worcester Mass??

The Kulus--part time punks
I don't know what a kulu is.
Guess who I am.

Wilco wrote a song called the Late Greats. I'm pretty sure it wasn't about us. But we still had a lot of fun. People loved us or hated us.We even played a brief set at a battle of the bands at Ralph's Chadwick Square Diner on Halloween. It was so hot up there, felt like the lights were inches from our faces.

But that was after Pat joined our band. Ralph's let us play as a favor to him. You see, he was Pat Lynch of the celebrated Lynch Mob. Not the metal band, but the cool band from Worcester. One of my friends in our band went to some shows in Worcester and got to see the Lynch Mob. One day he was walking around the Holy Cross campus and he recognized the singer of the band. Turned out Pat worked at the College at the time. He introduced himself and told him that he had seen them play. Ultimately a bunch of us wound up at Ralph's a couple times to see The Mob play. I thought that they were a great live act, with a nice mix of punked up covers and originals. I remember Doug Hartwell was in the band, and one time Pat's brother Mike was also singing. The Lynch Mob put out only one single that I know of, Naughty Girl/Pick of the Litter. Very good high energy stuff.

One day my friend told me that Pat wanted to play with us. I thought he was out of his mind! What happened was, the Lynch Mob had recently broken up. I think they had their share of tiffs. I remember he said that one time they were doing a gig with record industry people in the audience. They set up the set list and were about to start playing when the drummer refused to play the first song. He wanted to play another one. So they grabbed his drum kit and started tossing it off stage. Another time Pat mentioned that he was playing guitar on a particular song because the guitarist had gotten into a fight with another band member and got his hand bitten. The upshot was that Pat knew we had a band and just wanted to keep playing music. The one condition was that he would only play guitar and not sing lead vocals. He didn't want fans from town coming up on campus and crashing keg parties. After all, he worked there.

But Pat was a pro, a real rock and roll guy, with an intense presence. We gave him a tape of our songs and he had them down cold by the first practice. He was the real deal, in my opinion, as much as the so called stars you hear about in the music mags. But he was also a nice guy, down to earth but with a wicked sense of humor. After all he did agree to perform with us, something I still can't believe. I still remember hanging out with him at a Neighborhoods show in Auburn. He had so many musical anecdotes. The only record I have of those days is an old cassette of our last concert before graduation. I think its pretty great, but then again, I'm really really biased. We did have our moments though.

Pat's son is a guitarist in the Dropkick Murphy's and he has seen a lot more musical fame than his dad. Nonetheless, I did hear that Pat performed on stage with Rancid at least once on Warped Tour, and even did some backup vocals on the song Manthem from The Bouncing Souls' How I Spent My Summer Vacation. It's funny that there is so little I can find about that 80's on line. I remember how good bands like the Nebulas, Unattached and the Odds were. They used to play the Unattached all the time at the college station WCHC. I bet there is a really fantastic compilation of that scene just waiting to be made. If it exists, I haven't heard about it. Possibly the fact that Worcester is so close to Boston has unfairly impacted on the reputation of the local scene.



Can't hear us on the radio.
Can't hear us anywhere you go.



Sad note: Jeff Tweedy is performing in Tarrytown  next month. Show sold out in about 2 seconds. Boo hoo.

Poem Of The Day: Derek Walcott--Map Of The New World

Map Of The New World

I   Archipelagoes

At the end of this sentence, rain will begin.

At the rain's edge, a sail.

Slowly the sail will lose sight of islands;

into a mist will go the belief in harbours

of an entire race.

The ten-years war is finished.

Helen's hair, a grey cloud.

Troy, a white ashpit

by the drizzling sea.

The drizzle tighten like the strings of a harp.

A man with clouded eyes picks up the rain

and plucks the first line of the Odyssey.

No More Insults! No More Backbites! Look Blue Go Purple

Look Blue Go Purple are simply another shining example of why New Zealand's Flying Nun Records was so great in the 1980's. They were an all female combo from Dunedin that played shambling lo-fi acoustic psychedelia with haunting harmonies. This Cd is a compilation of their recorded output, 3 Eps. At worst, their music is charming mesmerizing Velvety garage pop. At their best, their songs rival the best of the artists on this legendary label.

The band is comprised of Denise Roughan (guitar,vocals), Lesley Paris (drums), Kath Webster (guitar, vocals), Kathy Bull (bass), Norma O'Malley (keyboards,flute,guitar, and vocals). At times the music on this album is so mesmerizing, with swirling organ and the piping of the flute. I'm imagining Norma O'Malley playing the flute and organ at the same time, but I guess they were probably recorded separately. They remind me a bit of the Velvet Underground and at times Nick Drake. As far as Kiwi bands go, the instrumentation reminds me a bit of the early Kaleidoscope World era Chills.

As Does The Sun reminds me a lot of Nick Drake or the band Love, particularly in the opener. The flute on this song is really fantastic. Safety In Crosswords has a nice 60's mysterious garage edge to it. Days of Old, which concludes the album is in marked contrast--it sounds to me like a medieval madrigal. If you noticed above, three band members sing so there are some tremendous harmonies here and group singing, almost like a Greek chorus, if we knew what they sounded like. My main regret is that I can hardly understand what they are singing, and there are no lyrics included. I'm sure my sound damaged ears are partly to blame. I love the music here, and I'm sure what they are singing is interesting, but I just don't know.

My favorite song is the exhilarating and powerful I Don't Want You Anyway. Full of energy and great group lead vocals. In my view one of the great Kiwi songs. Cactus Cat is another one of the choice tunes here. You don't have to love cats or deserts to enjoy this song, but if you do, you need this song. Circumspect Penelope is a hypnotic classic also. Listening to it is putting me into a trance as I type, in the same way I get when I listen to the narcotic crooning of Neko Case. The tribal beat of Hiawatha is not making things any better on that front. The song Grace is a charming melodious song with extremely sad lyrics about a woman who is falling apart. "You used to look so pretty, but now you look dead".

Look Blue Go Purple were only together from 1983-1987. They were such a talented outfit--it's unfortunate that they never put out a full album. That might be why they do not seem to be as appreciated as some of the better known New Zealand acts of the era. Which is unfair. I can hear a host of influences here, but they are blended together to make something original. I can't think of a band that sounds quite like this. I prefer them to bands like The Bangles and The Go-Go's, bands that I do happen to like. Listen to a song like Year Of The Tiger; it's an absolutely stunning song! A band would be justified selling their soul to come up with something this good.

The talented women of Look Blue Go Purple went on to other projects after the bands demise. Denise Roughan was in the 3Ds and Ghost Club. Norma O'Malley was part of the group Chug. Lesley Paris was in the band Olla, and Kathy Bull was in Cyclops. So check this great disc out. It is still in print on Flying Nun--it can be had for a decent price.

Greatest New Wave Children's Album Ever--Abba Babb!!! Dr. Gunni and Friends



Happy Birthday!!!

 My niece is going to be 8! She's has gotten so big recently. No exaggeration. I'm just thankful that she has such a nice temperament, because she could easily crush her classmates like grapes if she chose to do so. So I've decided to celebrate the event by introducing readers of C-Funk to my favorite New Wave Children's album. Which is a long winded way of saying greatest children's album ever. The only drawback for language challenged America is that it happens to be in Icelandic. But trust me, this album is pure genius. I give this record as gifts to people with small children. So be warned. I'm not sure if the disc ever winds up in a Cd player outside of my own, but I am conscienciously trying to spread the gospel. Forget Dan Zanes. Burn your Raffi discs. I'm talking Abba Babb! (Note: Keep the Cd Play, which has Visqueen doing John Fogerty's Centerfield, though.)

Yes, Abba Babb! You can get this on iTunes, or you can go to the Smekkleysa (Bad Taste) website and get digital or physical copies. In Iceland, this disc has been a bit of a sensation. Mamma Mia for the diaper set. First the disc, then---the musical. Then-- the book? As far as I know there is no movie in the works yet. Gunni had me by the first song, the eponymous title track. But who is Gunni, and why should we care.

Well, I will now reveal an Icelandic state secret. Every hipster slob is aware of Bjork, Sigur Ros, Mugison,
Mum, Singapore Sling. But I will tell you something in the strictest confidence of the blogosphere.

Dr. Gunni is Iceland's secret weapon. Iceland's Simon Cowell? Shel Silverstein meets Steve Albini?

I don't know much about him really. Years ago when I was in Iceland I popped into a now defunct music shop called Hljómalind and the record guy there recommended a number of items. One record he played for me was a really noisy single by Dr. Gunni. Lots of screaming, Big Black instrumentation. I had to have it of course. A lot of this music was later compiled on a disc called TUÐRUR. The clerk also explained that Gunni was some sort of journalist or television critic. He showed me an item where Gunni described the American show Cheers--people sit and drink beer. According to his website, I think he is also the host of a long running pop music game show called  Popppunktur, that has been released as a board game people can play in their homes. He was also a member of a pop band called Unun, which actually released an album Super Shiny Dreams (æ in Iceland). When I started buying Cds online from Smekkleysa, he was their self-proclaimed "mail-order slave". He would send e-mails describing new releases that the label was selling. But since they went digital, no more messages. Too bad, as I was buying all sorts of stuff on his recommendation, when I could afford it. Prices were pretty steep. Gunni was also in a band called S.H. Dramur which has had a retrospective released last month. He also collaborated on song for the Eurovision Song Contest with the band Dr Spock.

But back to childhood. Even though I don't speak any Icelandic outside of takk, band names and Brennivin, this is really a wonderful record. Even if you don't know what is going on, the spirit and childlike enthusiasm is there. The pictures in the Cd booklet are very helpful in describing the song topics. This is not a record intended for grownups, though they may very well enjoy it. So often, children's things, especially movies, are saturated with pandering. They try to sell the parents--they get Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, to do voiceovers. Kids don't care about that, but the parents are buying the tickets. I look back fondly on the days when you had pros like Mel Blanc doing cartoon voices. I bought an album where punk bands play Ramones songs for kids. It's not bad, but again, it is selling to parents who like punk rock. Ramones songs aren't really for little kids. Abba Babb! is an album with punk passion and energy, but it is the kids that are being pandered to. It is clever without overintellectualizing or being ironic.

Abba Babb! begins with the song Abba Babb! which is a keyboard driven silly nonsense song.
Prumpufólkið on the other hand is a children's classic that was a bit of hit in Iceland.


Music Is The Universal Language....

 That's right, dear surfers, "The Farting People" a subject that crosses national and linguistic borders.  Og karlinn prumpar svona....TTTTHHP!!!. A musical feast fit for any Thanksgiving get together. The gentleman who makes the farting noises (the Prumpaði), Jon Gnarr, is currently mayor of Reykjavik!! There is an obvious B-52's vibe to some of the songs, with a lot of female and male vocal interplay. Stóru Strákarnir is a perfect example of this style with its tag team vocals. There is a picture of old guys dressed up like rappers. Hundaóli Óli is also performed in this musical vein. That song has a picture of a dog reading a book. Upp i sveit is on the other hand, a lively little number replete with horse whinnys and energetic kazoo.

In addition to Gunni, there are many musical guest that contribute to this silly oglio. Pall Oskar contribute lead vocals to the super catchy Doddi Draugur, one of the best songs here. I think it has to do with an elf living in a rock. Didda sings with great energy on Systa Sjóræningi (girl with pigtails on pirate ship with slingshot)and Heiða completely destroys on the angelic closing lullaby Ó Kisa Mín. A genuine stunner to close this entertaining album.The vocals send a tingle up my spine.

Doddi Draugur

Other great songs are the rowdy and goofy Hr. Rokk Og Fýlustrákurinn featuring vocals by Runar Juliusson
and Komdu Út Að Leika, the latter seeming to be a traditional Icelandic song about playing with fireworks. What's nice about the album is the childlike and silly voices used. I bet the kids when crazy when they saw the musical. But I think most little kids would dance around to these tunes, maybe even some of their parents. You have my personal assurance that there are no shortages of Woo Hoos! on this album. They ought to translate this into English and release it over here. But I don't care so much because I love this album the way it is. I know this probably won't appeal to everyone, but I've pretty much explained what this is to the best of my ability. The rest is up to you now.

Roaring Lion--Sacred 78's-Handy, Dandy, and Very Cool Calypso!!

Years ago I thought that Calypso was merely cheesy tourist music, inconsequential. But that was my exposure to the music, novelty songs in old movies and cameos on shows like the Love Boat, or Fantasy Island. When I was in College, one weekend a steel drum band was performing in the school pub. My friends and I were punks mostly and this seemed to be some more bland stuff booked by the Madras wearing preppy types that were on the entertainment committee at school. I mean, they hated us and would never book us there. And they tried to do it while avoiding confrontation of course. So they left us hanging for weeks with no definitive answer.

Of All The Islands In The West
Trinidad's The One That's Loved The Best

But the steel drum music was different than what I had expected. The musicians were very talented and we really enjoyed what they were doing. I did not realize that steel drums were literally 55 gallon barrels converted into instruments! The Trinidadians brilliantly came up with this and I was really impressed with their inventiveness. We even went up and chatted with the band after they completed their set. We actually caught them by surprise and they were on their guard. Once we complimented them on their set, they relaxed a bit. They had not been well received by the crowd that night. No doubt the alcohol consumption did not help. The band members in fact commented that there seemed to be a lot of assholes at our school. As I recall some drunk even poured beer on one of the musicians. They said that they had played other campuses and were treated well. I had no ready explanation for the boorish behavior that weekend. But I personally discovered that night that there was a lot more to Caribbean music than Reggae and Ska.

I don't know a lot about Calypso, but every once in a while I managed to buy a few discs. There was a company called Ice Records (run by Eddy "Electric Avenue" Grant) that put out a bunch of anthologies in the 1990's of Calypso legends. Roaring Lion was one of the original Calypso stars and I was immediately captivated by the elegance and swagger of his classic singles. A few of the songs were recognizable, as they had been discovered by American performers in the 30's and 40's, and his songs were hit recordings in the US made by others. The overall quality of music on Sacred 78's is so excellent that it should not be a big surprise that people would want to latch onto a good thing.

Like other musical styles, Calypso is a vehicle for expression, so there is a great variation in subject matter and quality. There are lots of double entendres in the music, both sexual and political, which seem more charming than daring today. Calypso artists generally have cool names--Attila The Hun, Lord Kitchener, Mighty Sparrow, much like rappers and old school punk rockers. If there was no royalty on the island they created their own. And they took the big band orchestra sound and created something that was distinctly Trinidad, a music so infectious that you can't help but enjoy it.

Roaring Lion was one of the great icons of Calypso--when he sang people listened. Some of the songs on this collection are public service announcements, like Lovely Trinidad, Love Thy Neighbor, and Wash Your Hands. The latter is particularly interesting, as it is a song about the importance of good hygiene. Some of the songs are novelty songs, but mostly the music is just fantastic. One of my favorites is the dynamic J'ouvert Barrio, which was recorded in the 1930's but sounds decades ahead of it time. Another amazing cut is the song Suzi Q with Lion's truly hip cadencing.There are recognizable songs like Mary Ann (All Day, All Night), The Blue Tail Fly, and of course the song Ugly Woman, which offers the advice "never make a pretty woman your wife." Like the old Abbott and Costello routine. Another international classic is the elegant ballad Cheek To Cheek, another personal favorite.

The Lion is definitely a sharp slick guy. A lovable rascal who always comported himself with class. He seems to know about everything going on around town. He waxes political on songs like Advantage Mussolini and Royal Tour. He portrays himself as ladies man and boast that he can "make more love than Romeo."

I can quote more love verses than Byron and Scott
I quote Shakespeare and Longfellow to get the girls head hot
Off and on, gazing at them with my deep blue eyes,
Displaying a most enchanted style to get them hypnotized.

Sounds like proto rap lyrics. He definitely has a way with words and his cadences are skillful and inventive.
He comments on society and the foibles of human nature. People gossiping, people getting to other peoples business.

We have some suggestion here and there in Calypso
We add a little smut to give it flavour
But the public always spoils it with a heap of black pepper.

Some songs are meant to be funny like Miss Tina, where Roaring Lion sympathizes with a love lorn woman, but she is so ugly, he can't marry her (face like a walking dead, English horse, etc). Sitcom humor. The Weatherman is a poke at weather forecasters, they are always wrong so do the opposite of whatever they do. There are plenty of "nudge,nudge, wink, wink" tunes, like I Ain't Gonna Do It No More and Bananas. Another tune with some sexual sub context is Concertina, which is a Caribbean precursor to The Who song Squeezebox.

I can't get enough of Roaring Lion. He reminds me a little bit of Louis Jordan as a performer. These are definitely classic recordings that any music fan should treasure.

The Ukrainians (Ykrainцi) Pisni Iz Smiths

Sashenka Take A Bow

Years ago I read in some music mag, probably the now defunct Option Magazine about a member of  British alternative band The Wedding Present creating a spin-off band called The Ukrainians. They played a punked up version of Ukrainian traditional songs using some traditional instrumentation. Sung in the mother tongue, naturally. The band was comprised of Pete Solowka (guitarist,Wedding Present), Len Liggins (violin) and Roman Remeynes (mandolin). Well, of course it sounded to me like it was worth a listen. Stirring stuff like Cherez Richku, Cherez Hai, Oi Divchino (My Sweet Girl). Then they began playing with the formula....

Whether from a perverse sense of humor, or a desire to garner attention to the group, they came up with an ep of Smiths covers "Ukrainianized"! Again, this was too amazing to pass up. Four Morrissey songs reinvented. Batyar (Bigmouth Strikes Again), Koroleva Ne Polerma (The Queen Is Dead), M'yaso-Ubivstvo (Meat Is Murder), and Spivaye Solovey (What Difference Does It Make?).

Very East European, yet it works perfectly--the maudlin bitterness of The Smiths complement the traditional arrangements. Funny, but also musically wonderful. The first song Batyar, is the highlight of this Ep, with its percussive stomp and mile a minute mandolin. On Koroleva Ne Polerma the Ukrainian male chorus beginning is another highlight, which then dramatically kicks into the song proper. The record has to be heard to believed. They have also done covers of the Sex Pistols, Velvet Underground, and Nothing Compares 2 u, an Ep of Prince covers. I'm still looking for the Prince Cd, unsuccessfully. The Smiths ep is long out of print but has been appended to the 2009 reissue of their Kultura album.

The Hetman Is Dead

I am remiss in not having more of these guys. I like their music. It is party music. I don't like to create cultural stereotypes, but in my experience many of the Ukrainian people I have met in my life are the most amazing partiers I have ever seen. I really don't know how they do it. I am a rank amateur in comparison. Great people to hang out with. But you listen to this music and you get the urge to let down your hair, celebrate, and have an enjoyable time with the people you care about. And there is a lot of pride and history in the traditional songs. A sort of nostalgia is here similar to the fascination Americans have for the cowboy days of the Wild West. Only this is out on the Steppe, on the borders between East and West.