Time is Tight
I finally filled my Clash collection this weekend when I picked up ‘Super Black Market Clash’. What took me so long? I have no clue. But I’m really enjoying hearing some new-to-me Clash songs like “Long Time Jerk”, as well as some cool remixes and dubs of songs like “Mustapha Dance” (a remix of “Rock the Casbah”) and Robber Dub (the dubbed out version of “Bankrobber”).
Also included is a Booker T. & the MG’s tune that the Clash soundchecked on a regular basis. The song was written in the mid 60’s by Booker and the MG’s, and was released first on the 1968 soundtrack to the movie ‘Up Tight!‘. Great album cover, huh? There’s a whole lot going on in that picture.
This was also the tune that the Blues Brothers used as they took the stage in many of their live performances. It’ll sound familiar to a lot of you.
The Clash:
Time is Tight(mp3) – from Super Black Market Clash.Booker T. & the MG’s:
Time is Tight(mp3) – from the Up Tight! soundtrack.New Strays Don’t Sleep in U.S.
It took a while, but Strays Don’t Sleep‘s debut album will finally see its U.S. release next week (June 13th). Being a fan of Matthew Ryan’s work, I eagerly bought the UK import late last year and wasn’t disappointed. There’s something very fulfilling about Ryan’s music & lyrics. His solo work is full of quiet acoustic moments building up to blinding, power-chord crescendoes. Everything seems to fit into the right place. He knows just what note to hit, and just the lyric to plug in. Add the raw power of his singing voice, and I’m a happy listener.
My favorite song of his is probably “Chrome”. It’s heartache, desperation, and hope. But it’s all of those emotions being released, and by the end of the song, you’ve gone from tense to feeling like a load’s been lifted. Like Springsteen, it’s so easy to step right into Matthew’s songs and feel like he’s singing about your own life, your own experiences.
Chrome (music & lyrics by Matthew Ryan)
It’s not the things that I can’t change, that bother me
It’s not the things that I don’t know, that undermine me
It’s not the thing that I can’t hold or the balancing wire that broke, that throws me
It’s not the fact that you walked out, that bewilders me
It’s not the sleep that I can’t steal, that wires me
It’s not the coffee or the pills it’s not this space that I can’t fill that kills meWell in case you didn’t know I’ve got a heart made of chrome
It’s been bent ’til it was twisted
And in case you didn’t know I’ve got a heart made of chrome
It’s been burned, but it’s still willing to try
And shineIt’s not the drunks and their devices, that provoke me
It’s not the politics of love and distance, and all that that shit evokes in me
I’ts not the Sunday morning fights or this soul on ice, that numbs me
It’s not the passing of another Indian summer, that saddens me
It’s no the shutter in the undertow, that bears down on me
It’s not everything ending as it begins or the loneliness that grins that destroys meWell in case you didn’t know I’ve got a heart made of chrome
It’s been bent ’til it was twisted
And in case you didn’t know I’ve got a heart made of chrome
It’s been burned, but it’s still willing to try and shineI came across this live recording recently of Matthew and his band performing their last show on the European leg of their 1998 tour. It’s a great recording, thanks to a very quiet German crowd (sounds like a very small club show) at the Kultufabrik Krefeld (I assume that’s the name of the club? I can’t tell for sure from their web site. A little help, German readers?). Give these a listen, and see if you don’t understand a little of what I’m talking about.
Matthew Ryan – Live
June 28th, 1998
Kulturfabrik Krefeld, GermanyComfort
Watch Your Step
Irrelevant
The Dead Girl
Beautiful Fool
Me & My Lover
Railroaded
ChromeStrays Don’t Sleep is basically a collaboration between Ryan and Neilson Hubbard, who is an accomplished artist in his own right.
Hubbard is a Jackson, Miss. native who teamed up with Ryan in Nashville. I like what I hear from what’s available on his web site, and also judging from earlier comments on a previous Strays post, I need to get around to listening to his albums.
Here’s a couple that I like, available from his site:Neilson Hubbard: Just a Guy (mp3) | The Girl That Killed September (mp3)
What they’ve come up with is a sound that is subdued and fresh. It’s nice stuff. One of the songs, “For Blue Skies”, made its mark last year when it was featured on the TV show ‘One Tree Hill’.
So here comes the U.S. release. Here’s the tracks, with one preview:
Strays Don’t Sleep
Track listing:
Love Don’t Owe You Anything
Pretty Girl
Martin Luther Ave.
Night Is Still
For Blue Skies
Spirit Fingers
April’s Smiling At Me
Cars And History (mp3)
Falling Asleep With YouBONUS TRACKS (CD Only):
You Belong To Me
StayThe package also includes a DVD with 9 short films inspired by the music. Strays kicks off their tour schedule this weekend with a record release show at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville. Check out their site for the dates. Unfortunately, they don’t go further west than Minneapolis.
- Order/buy Strays Don’t Sleep’s debut
- Strays Don’t Sleep’s MySpace Page and Official Site
- Matthew Ryan’s MySpace Page and Official Site
- Neilson Hubbard’s Official Site
June 16 UPDATE: Not so great news from Matthew Ryan’s blog regarding the upcoming tour:
Friday, June 16, 2006
Shows Cancelled
Hello Everyone
First bit of bad news in a long time. Strays needed to take a break from eachother for a minute. Neilson and I are at each other’s throats. I’m sure a couple weeks off will go a long way. I’ll keep you posted as things settle down.
Apologies to anyone that was looking forward to these shows. I’m hoping that we can pull it together for Conan O’Brien.
Best
MPrince at 48
June 7th marks the big 4-8 for Prince. Let’s listen to some guitar work, shall we? It seems like Prince always surprises people when he tears it up on the guitar. Remember the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame ceremony a few years back? Prince came out to solo on the all-star performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, and stole the show. I remember Tom Petty looking over in amazement. SNL’s “Fury” performance a few months back is another example. I guess people forget about his talent on the guitar, and need to be reminded every now and then.
‘The Undertaker’ definitely showcases his guitar skills. According to Wikipedia, “Prince originally intended to give this live CD away free with 1,000 copies of Guitar Player Magazine in 1994, but he was told by Warner Brothers Records that he couldn’t. Some rare copies were leaked and heavily bootlegged.” Whether this is true or not, who knows. But it never found its way on to store shelves (to my knowledge). So take a listen to a few of these live tracks… the ten minute blues jam that is “The Ride”, the driving rock guitar of “Bambi” (originally released on 1979’s ‘Prince’), and the bass-driven dark funk of “The Undertaker” (with some killer guitar effects, and a blistering solo six minutes in).
Prince:
The Ride(mp3) |Bambi(mp3) |The Undertaker(mp3)Now go make the birthday boy happy and visit his web site to snatch up all the music you don’t have.
HABOOB!
I have to pass along a photo of the Great Haboob of 6-6-06. Living in the Arizona desert, we miss a lot of the weather phenomena you see in other parts of the world (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, etc.). But haboobs? Oh we’ve got your haboobs. A haboob is basically a very tall wall of dust that crawls along the desert floor, reducing visibility, coating everything in dirt. It’s usually followed up by a little rain, but not last night (at least where I was). Yeah, we get a little excited about weather around here.
From the Clash to Carbon/Silicon
I’ve been reading a bio of the Clash called The Clash: Return of the Last Gang in Town (thanks to a recommendation from Ickmusic reader Sean – thanks Sean). I’m only 100 pages into a 500 + page book, but it’s really cool to read all of the background of the members leading up to the formation of the Clash.
Mick Jones was Clash guitar-man and the higher pitched voice that complemented Joe Strummer’s snarling rough and tumble vocals. Before the Clash formed, he and bassist /guitarist and friend Tony James were in a number of bands together, the most popular of the bunch called London SS. Tony later went on to form Generation X with Billy Idol. Later in the 80’s, he formed Sigue Sigue Sputnik.
So naturally you tend to wonder what these blokes are up to these days. Mick had his post-Clash success with Big Audio Dynamite (later renamed BAD II), but I hadn’t been keeping up with his whereabouts lately. Much to my surprise, Mick Jones and Tony James teamed up in 2004 to form Carbon/Silicone. They’ve been busy recording and releasing mini EPs exclusively through their web site.
From their Wikipedia entry:
Similar in many respects to Jones’ earlier work in Big Audio Dynamite, Carbon/Silicon aims to break the traditional approach to rock and roll. The band was described by critic Alan McGee as “…the Stones jamming with a Laptop,” and they make use of samples in their recordings and live shows. The formation of the band was catalyzed by the internet and p2p file sharing. The first song written by Jones and James was entitled “MPFree,” in which they expressed their willingness to embrace the technology of the internet and file sharing, in the interest of spreading music, rather than profit. The band still makes live bootlegs and recordings freely available through their own site, and the popular fansite – carbonsilicon.info.
It’s great stuff. Two of my favorites are featured here. Go to their web site to download about a dozen other tracks as well.
Carbon/Silicon:
The Second Time Around(mp3)
Carbon/Silicon:BarnesWallis(mp3)Hard-Fi and the Premier Ickmusic Contest
You’ve hit on the premier Ickmusic contest!! You’ll find it at the bottom of this post….. Continuing down the path of recent British-themed posts (The Style Council, The Clash, Robert Plant), today we take a look and listen to Brit band Hard-Fi. Their debut album, ‘Stars of CCTV‘, has been very well recieved in the UK (it hit #1 on the UK album charts in January). Their biggest gigs to date have been opening for Green Day at Milton Keynes Bowl northwest of London, and they just wrapped up a five night stand (May 14-18) at the Brixton Academy in London (one of a short list of bands to do five straight nights there: The Clash, Bob Dylan, The Prodigy, and Massive Attack being the others). Did anyone out there catch any of these shows?
The band rose out of Staines, a town just outside of London (the town that the great Ali G proclaims to be from). Every good band has that charismatic front man, and Richard Archer plays that role in Hard-Fi (as well as the songwriter).
So hear and see for yourself. Here’s some Hard-Fi goodness coming your way….
Hard-Fi: Hard to Beat (Video in Quicktime) | Also Windows Media Player: Hi, Lo
Hard-Fi: Middle Eastern Holiday (Real)
Live From The Manchester Apollo, 7 May 2006
Middle Eastern HolidayGotta ReasonTied Up Too TightFeltham is Singing OutUnnecessary TroubleBetter Do BetterCash MachineHard To BeatMove On NowStars Of CCTVLiving For The Weekend
Now, the premier Ickmusic contest: For a brand spanking new ‘Stars of CCTV’ CD… What is the only nightclub in Hard-Fi’s hometown of Staines, Middlesex, England? Email the answer to me. I’ll select a random winner from the first ten correct answers. We’ll ship to the U.S. or U.K. (sorry to all you others!) Good luck!
UPDATE: We gotta winner! Kevin from Cary, North Carolina correctly answered with Cheekee’s. Well done Kevin. Your Google skills are impeccable. A few of you answered Simply Neon, which isn’t a nightclub, but a neon light manufacturer. Ah well. Stay tuned for more exciting contests like this!
Quote of the Day: “There’s a lot of people out there who don’t like the fact that we’ve connected with them and jumped all that kind of scenester shit, all those bands walking around dressed like they’re from a fucking charity shop when you know they’ve got money. It gets on my tits.” – Richard Archer
My new favorite saying is officially “It gets on my tits.”
Keith Keith in the Coconut Tree
Oh Keith, what are we gonna do with you, man? I guess you’ve been unpleasantly reminded that – as immortal as you have proven to be – you’re no spring chicken any more. You’re 62 years old now. You can still rock out on stage my friend, but you, as a 62 year old man, should probably not be climbing palm trees to loosen the coconuts, and you should probably lay off the jet skis. Sure, 60 is the new 40, but pal, that doesn’t apply to you.
That being said, I’m glad you’re going to be okay. It’s been a rough few weeks. Why not take what you will away from this experience and go back in the studio for another solo album? We haven’t had one from you since 1992 when you released ‘Main Offender‘, a great, raw, rootsy rock & reggae album; much like your 1988 solo debut, ‘Talk is Cheap‘.
I think you need to be cheered up, Keith. Listen to this 1993 show from your ‘Main Offender’ tour. Take it in… get well, and EASY DOES IT!
Keith Richards
Live from the 1993 Tour – “The Vampire Strikes Back”Download ZIP (mp3)
- 999
- Wicked as it Seems
- Eileen
- Yap Yap
- Body Talk
- Hate it when you Leave
- Will But You Won’t
- Demon
- Before They Make me Run
- Happy
- Gimme Shelter
- Time is on my Side
Prince does America, Girl
Reaching back into the Prince 12″ extended version archives, by request, it’s the 20 minute – yes, 20 minute – version of “America”. Rockin’ and funkin’ and whatnot. And a bonus too.. oh yes… the B side to “America”, the extended version of “Girl”, a glimpse into the lil’ Purple one’s erotic zone before he found Jehovah.
Prince:
America(mp3) – extended 12″
Prince:Girl(mp3) – extended 12″Original version of “America” found on ‘Around the World in a Day‘ (1985).
Marah Video: This Time
Another one for the Marah fans out there (present and future) …this time it’s “This Time”, one of my favorite tracks (and the “hidden”track) from their latest, If You Didn’t Laugh You’d Cry. This is live at the Abbey Pub in Chicago, Feb. 17th, 2006. Once again, thanks to Zack for the footage.
Robert Plant and Strange Sensation Live
Okay, I’m in the live music mood these days, and since the frequency of my live music outings has decreased significantly as I’ve gotten older (in other words, I got married and had children), I’ve turned to Dimeadozen.org to feed my addiction. One of the shows I regret missing last summer was Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation at the Dodge Theater in Phoenix (where I just saw the Wiggles on Sunday – awesome!). So the next best thing is getting to at least hear a show from the tour.
I’ve been curious to hear how Robert’s live show has evolved since I saw him 18 years ago in Milwaukee when he was touring behind ‘Now and Zen’ [buy]. This Seattle gig from last summer was just what the doctor ordered. Performing tunes from last year’s great album, ‘Mighty Rearranger'[buy], some Zep classics (“Going to California”, “Thank You”, “Four Sticks”, “Gallows Pole”), and even a Dylan tune (“Girl from the North Country”), Plant is still as musically vibrant and fresh as ever.
This show took place 25 years to the day after the death of John Bonham, Led Zep’s drummer.
Enjoy.
Robert Plant and the Strange Sensation
Chateau Ste Michelle Winery
Woodinville
Seattle, WA
September 25, 2005IntroMoby Dick IntroShine it all AroundBlack DogFreedom FriesSkip’s SongGoing to CaliforniaGirl from the North CountryHey JoeThank YouTin Pan ValleyFour SticksGallows Pole IntroGallows PoleBand IntroThe EnchanterSugar Mama IntroWhole Lotta Love
Marah Can’t Hardly Wait
My man Zach from Milwaukee has delivered yet again with a great live Marah video (see his previous offering). Recorded live at the Abbey Pub in Chicago, IL on February 17th of this year, here is Marah performing a Replacements song, “Can’t Hardly Wait”. Thanks Zach.
Gotta love the cigarettes and F bombs. Take it away….
Update: Check out this Dutch blog for some more video clips of Marah (04/22/06 Utrecht, The Netherlands)
- buy Marah music