CD Review: The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else (2026)

Almost 55 years of listening to, collecting, and writing about music have taught me to be suspect of “cover songs.” Far too often, the song being covered is less an homage to the original artist – ostensibly beloved by the person doing the ‘covering’ – than a coldly-calculated, computer-generated, demographic-tested and corporate-approved ploy for airplay and sales by tying a sinking band or solo artist to a former chart favorite in a desperate attempt at relevance. 

On the other hand, I usually dig entire albums of cover songs like David Bowie’s Pin Ups, Metallica’s Garage Days Revisited, Willie Nelson’s Stardust, or the Ramones’ Acid Eaters. If an artist takes enough time to arrange and record enough songs of material they truly love to fill out an entire album, there’s usually a good bit more passion behind the project than just a ‘Hail Mary’ at scoring a hit single. Featuring ten red-hot and ready to roll covers of classic rock songs by folks like the Yardbirds and the Stones, the Damned’s recently-released Not Like Everybody Else is a covers album unlike anybody else’s.

The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else

British rockers the Damned have spent nearly five decades defying everybody’s expectations. With better than a dozen albums to their credit ranging from pioneering punk (Damned Damned Damned, Machine Gun Etiquette) and trailblazing Goth (Phantasmagoria) to new wave (The Black Album) and good ol’ rock ‘n’ roll (Strawberries), the band has dabbled in garage-rock, British pop, psychedelia, and other forms of musical expression. Not Like Everybody Else is more than merely a ‘covers’ album, however, but rather a tribute to their fallen comrade and band co-founder Brian James (dead at age 70, March 2025). The album is a heartfelt collection of some of James’ favorite songs, from the artists that influenced and helped shape his chainsaw guitar style.

As such, Not Like Everybody Else is a stroll backwards in time to relive the glorious ‘60s through the decade’s groundbreaking music. Some of the covers here are easily recognizable to even the most casual rock fan while others – like the album-opening R. Dean Taylor track “There’s A Ghost In My House,” co-written by Taylor with the legendary Holland/Dozier/Holland team at Motown – are obscure even by the Reverend’s lofty standards (tho’ it was a big U.K. hit in 1974!). Damned vocalist Dave Vanian’s sonorous baritone wraps around the words like a moth-eaten blanket while the instrumental clamor behind him bangs and crashes like a car crash even while keeping the melody intact.

Summer In The City

The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Summer In the City” (a chart-topping hit in 1966) plays it fairly straight, although Vanian’s vox will never be mistaken for Spoonful frontman John Sebastian. The band revs up the arrangement, so the song rolls by at a comfortable 90mph, with a few urban street noises thrown into the mix for authenticity. Although reasonably obscure stateside, the Creation was an extremely influential band in the U.K. Their “Making Time” is a cult favorite, if only for the impactful opening riff, and it’s since been covered by folks like Das Damen, Television Personalities, and the Circle Jerks. The Damned rock out like it’s still ’66, with Captain Sensible providing some hot git licks and good ol’ Rat Scabies banging the cans with reckless abandon, delivering a pulse-pounding performance.

The Stooges had an outsized impact on bands that followed in their wake, and the Damned are no different. “Gimme Danger,” from the Stooges’ 1973 Raw Power album, is tailor-made for the Damned, Vanian’s low register vocals reminiscent of Iggy’s while keyboardist Monty Oxymoron adds some spooky keyboards to what is an unbridled (and possible unholy) marriage of gonzo Motor City rock and British Goth. Sensible’s low-slung guitar solo is mid-way in the mix, but leaps out of your speakers like a pirate with a knife in his teeth nevertheless. 

Damned guitarist Brian James

Heart Full of Soul

Pink Floyd’s “See Emily Play” is a great song, and the band provides their version with plenty of psychedelic instrumentation and swirling notes. Sensible’s vocals are a bit wan but are just good enough to stand out against the busy musical backdrop. The Kinks’ “I’m Not Like Everybody Else,” from which the album takes its name, was the B-side of the chart-topping 1966 single “Sunday Afternoon” (later included on the Face To Face album), but soon took on a life of its own to become an enduring Kinks fan favorite. 

Written and sung by Dave Davies, the song’s defiant lyrics and musical stance make it an influential punk touchstone, so it’s no wonder that the Damned cover the song with cacophonic aplomb. Vanian’s vocals here are the best on the album, while the vocal harmonies, eerie keyboard hum, subtle but biting fretwork, and booming drumbeats make a powerful statement. The band’s cover of the Yardbirds’ 1965 hit “Heart Full of Soul” (Top 10 in both the U.S. and the U.K.) is delivered with a similar fervor, the Captain building on Jeff Beck’s intricate raga-spiced guitar lines to take the song into another universe. 

The Last Time

Representing the core of Not Like Everybody Else, these two songs deliver on every promise the Damned have ever made. You’d think that following up these two stunning performances would be difficult, but then the band offers a truly obscure cover with a delightful performance of Fred Cole’s “You Must Be A Witch,” recorded in 1968 by the Lollipop Shoppe. The Damned’s version does the song’s garage-bred psychedelia proud with scorched earth guitars, thunderclap drumbeats, and a spirited vocal performance. 

One would think that a cover of the Animals’ 1966 single “When I Was Young” is a bit too on the nose, but the song only achieved modest success in the U.K. (Top 20 in the U.S. though…). The cover version is somewhat perfunctory, with Vanian’s vocals sounding a little too much like Eric Burdon’s, although the instrumental textures behind him are pretty groovy. The album-closing cover of the Rolling Stones’ 1965 chart-topper “The Last Time” is an inspired choice, and features Brian James’ razor-sharp guitarwork from a previous live recording. It’s a banger, to be sure, with lively vocals, Scabie’s trainwreck drumming, and a heavy bottom end that all spirals into chaos at the end.

 

British punk pioneers The Damned

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

  
Not Like Anybody Else features The Black Album (1980) band line-up of vocalist Dave Vanian, guitarist Captain Sensible, bassist Paul Gray, and drummer Rat Scabies, the same guys that recorded the pop-psych classic Strawberries LP two years later. Keyboardist Monty Oxmoron (a/k/a Laurence Burrow) hooked up with the Damned for 2001’s Grave Disorder and has been with them ever since, providing a bit of gravitas and classical influence to the band’s Goth-punk ‘Sturm und Drang’. With Not Like Anybody Else, the Damned have provided a raucous, rockin’ tribute not only to Brother Brian but also to those artists whose influence helped make the Damned one of the most enduring bands in rock ‘n’ roll history. (E.A.R. Music, released 2026) 

Buy the CD on Amazon: The Damned’s Not Like Everybody Else

Fossils, Classic Rock Relics, Volume 3: More 1970s & '80s

Once upon a time, rock ‘n’ roll fanatics had to learn about new album releases through label advertising in rags like Creem, Trouser Press, Rolling Stone, Zoo World, Phonograph Record, Bomp! and other music zines of the 1970s and afterwards. There was no internet and no social media to hype new tunes from your favorite artists. These ads could be inane, they could be insulting, and they could be inept but when they were good, they featured a level of artistry on par with an album's carefully-crafted cover art.

With this third volume of Fossils, award-winning rock critic and music historian Rev. Keith A. Gordon peers through the looking glass into the past and these “classic rock relics,” reconsidering vintage album ads from the 1970s and ‘80s. Offering insightful and informative commentary on 76 more ads along with images of each, the “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll” explores this often overlooked creative aspect of the classic rock era and makes the case for album advertising as art with its own merits and history.

Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about rock and blues music for over 50 years for over 100 print publications and websites worldwide, including Creem magazine, Rock ‘n’ Roll Globe, High Times, Blurt magazine, Book & Film Globe, the East Village Eye, Perfect Sound Forever, Blues Music magazine, and The Blues (U.K.).

Fossils v3 is a 164pp 5.5” x 8.5” paperback with B&W photos and is only available in paperback at $16.95 with shipping (no eBook version of this one, kids!). Get your copy through the handy Amazon.com link below or buy an autographed copy direct from Excitable Press:

Fossils, Relics of the Classic Rock Era, Volume Three

Buy an autographed copy direct from Excitable Press (PayPal):

CD Review: Very 'eavy, Very 'umble...Humble Pie Live! (2026)

Humble Pie, in my…ahem…‘humble’ opinion, are one of the great lost bands of the 1970s. To my knowledge, they’ve never even been considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (for what that’s worth), much less ‘snubbed’ even if Pie frontman Steve Marriott was honored as part of an oddly unsatisfying dual induction for the Small Faces and the Faces. Although Humble Pie’s oversized influence on later outfits like the Black Crowes, the Georgia Satellites, and Badlands, to name but a few, is out of proportion to the band’s modest commercial returns, there’s no denying frontman Marriott’s impact on generations of artists to follow in his wake.

Although Marriott tragically died in a house fire in Essex, England in April 1991, his work lives on through regular reissues of Humble Pie’s ten studio albums circa 1969 and 1981, as well as the band’s stellar live release, 1971’s Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore (no, I don’t count 2002’s Back On Track…). Marriott’s Small Faces albums remain more-or-less eternally in print and are an essential addition to any British rock fan’s collection, while various solo projects like 1976’s solo Marriott album or The Legendary Majik Mijits (recorded in 1981 with Small Faces bandmate Ronnie Lane and finally released in 2001) showcase different facets of Marriott’s talents.

Humble Pie’s Sunset Blvd 1969

Jerry Shirley, the band’s original drummer, Humble Pie archivist, and “keeper of the flame” for his former mates has ensured that the band’s legacy carries on through a series of unreleased live albums, some of which should have definitely remained in the can collecting dust and cobwebs. For better than a decade, a number of these semi-bootleg albums have been released by Cleopatra Records (or their Deadline Records subsidiary). There’s a lot of chaff to sort through among these 21st century archival releases, but Cleo has found a real winner in the recently-released Sunset Blvd 1969 album.

As you may have glommed from my comments above, Humble Pie was formed when singer, songwriter, and guitarist Steve Marriott left his popular 1960s-era teen-beat outfit the Small Faces to hook up with fellow teen idol Peter Frampton (from The Herd), a fine guitarist in his own right, bassist Greg Ridley (from Spooky Tooth), and drummer Shirley (ex-Apostolic Intervention, which enjoyed a 1967 hit single in the U.K.). Signing with former Rolling Stones’ manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate Records imprint, Humble Pie released a pair of exquisite records – As Safe As Yesterday Is and Town and Country – both in 1969.

Sunset Blvd 1969 features a dynamic performance by the original band line-up at the legendary Whisky A Go Go club in Los Angeles in December 1969, during Humble Pie’s first U.S. tour. Although the album’s scant five songs may seem to short-change the diehard Pie fanatic, they nevertheless stretch across fifty minutes of playtime. The party starts with a brilliant cover of the 1965 Yardbirds hit “For Your Love,” with Shirley’s tribal drum patterns setting the stage for Frampton’s graceful, almost jazzy guitar lines to introduce Marriott’s soulful vocals. Although bluesier, of sorts, than the Yardbirds’ version (which featured Eric Clapton on guitar), Marriott and Frampton and the gang take the song through unexpected sonic detours, fleshing out the single from its original 2:38 length to a staggering nine-minute-plus, dancing across esoteric soundscapes in the creation of a mesmerizing listening experience.

A cover of Johnny Kidd’s classic “Shakin’ All Over” – a 1960 U.K. hit for Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, and later covered by the Who on Live At Leeds – is provided plenty of room to breathe, a bluesy hippie jam with every flavor of guitar, bass, and drums available in a busy, albeit fascinating performance that clocks in at an impressive 12 minutes but could have seemingly played on forever, given the band’s energy level. A pair of songs that would later grace Performance: Rockin’ The Fillmore are included here: a swinging reading of Ray Charles’ “Hallelujah, I Love Her So,” which captures the magic of the song’s R&B roots while Dr. John’s “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” is provided an airy instrumental romp gradually extending to over 20 minutes of stunning and soaring instrumentation. Marriott’s “The Sad Bag of Shaky Jake,” off Town and Country, growls like a hungry wolf, raw-boned and semi-metallic with wiry guitar solos and an overall menacing blues-metal vibe that would later spawn bands like Badlands.

Humble Pie’s Live In Cincinnati 1983

There were a lot of highs and lows for Humble Pie between 1969 and 1983, including fleeting stardom and subsequent obscurity. The band’s self-titled 1970 A&M Records debut and the following year’s Rock On pushed Humble Pie onto the lower rung of rock ‘n’ roll success stateside, and Performance sealed the deal, solidifying the band’s status as mid-card festival performers and occasional headliners. Frampton bolted after the release of Performance to pursue a solo career that would strike gold a half-decade later. Adding second guitarist Clem Clempson (ex- Colosseum), the band hit its stride with 1972’s Smokin’ (peaking at #6 stateside and selling at Gold™ Record levels) and 1973’s Top 20-charting Eat It.

Subsequent releases like Thunderbox (1974) and Street Rats (1975) – a Pie album in name only, really, given Marriott’s lack of involvement – saw diminishing returns on investment and the band broke up. Marriott resurfaced years later with a brand new Humble Pie featuring drummer Shirley, former Jeff Beck Group guitarist Bobby Tench, and American bassist Anthony “Sooty” Jones, the line-up recording two albums, On To Victory (1980), and Go For the Throat (1981), neither of which barely grazed the Billboard album chart. Marriott relocated from the U.K. to Atlanta, Georgia in the early ‘80s and put together yet another version of the Pie featuring Tennessee guitarist Tommy Johnson, Atlanta bassist Keith Christopher (The Brains, The Georgia Satellites), and drummer Fallon Williams III. Johnson was later replaced by Phil Dix, and this is the roster that performed in Cincinnati in December 1983. Touring as “Humble Pie” out of necessity rather than desire – Marriott was trying to launch a new band rather than rest on the laurels of his former outfit as he struggled to find a record deal – this Cincinnati performance is nevertheless a real banger. 

Live In Cincinnati 1983 features a set list mixing Small Faces and Humble Pie songs with favored covers and a splinter of new material. The diminutive frontman with the larger-than-life voice sounds great here, the band well-practiced and ready to rock. The Small Faces’ “Whatcha Gonna Do About It” opens, sounding little like those British pop-rock stalwarts as Marriott and his freshly-baked Pie deliver a scorching take on the song that features Marriott’s powerful vocals, band harmonies, and a grinding instrumental soundtrack. Marriott resurrects “Fool For A Pretty Face” from On To Victory, the medium-strength former FM-radio hit pumped up on ‘roids and rolled out with a rollicking performance that mimics “I Don’t Need No Doctor” later in the set.

The Pie fan favorite “30 Days In the Hole” is raucous recreation of the hit single with introductory drumbeats leading into Marriott’s leather-lunged vox and lusty guitar riff. For those of us who love the song, it’s a welcome reminder of how electrifying Marriott could be on stage, even at this late date. Ditto for “I Don’t Need No Doctor,” an Ashford and Simpson-penned R&B gem that Pie pumped-up and pumped-out into the world on Performance, an edited version of that nine-minute jam achieving mid-level chart success when released as a single back in the day. This 1983 version doesn’t lack in enthusiasm or energy, Marriot belting out his vocals like it was his first day on the job. Marriott’s “Big Train Stops At Memphis” appropriately bleeds into a cover of Rufus Thomas’s Southern soul classic “Walkin’ the Dog,” both songs delivered by the band with reckless abandon, shimmering guitars and wailing vocals matched by a deep instrumental groove that infects both songs with joy.   

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Before embarking on what would be the last Humble Pie tour (disillusioned by the record business, and with his marriage on the rocks, Marriott returned to England at the end of 1983 and played with various short-lived and mostly unremarkable bands until his death), the singer/songwriter had taken his 1982 version of Humble Pie into Pyramid Eye Studios in Chattanooga, Tennessee (where the Allman Brothers Band recorded Reach For the Sky), to record three demo tracks after a deal with the beleaguered Capricorn Records label fell through. Two of those (previously-unreleased?) studio tracks are tacked onto the end of Live In Cincinnati 1983, proving that the battle-scarred rock ‘n’ roll veteran was still firing on all cylinders. “Trouble You Can’t Fool Me” is a smoldering, mid-tempo R&B tinged number with a funky groove and blazing horns while “Lonely No More” is a gorgeous ballad with a rockin’ undercurrent, Marriott’s emotional vocals, band harmonies, and a subtle, soulful backing soundtrack.      
   
The quality and brilliance of these studio tracks – both Marriott originals – present the eternal question of “what if?” the band could have gotten a record deal and further explored Marriott’s new musical fascinations. Of the two live releases, Sunset Blvd 1969 offers the better sound quality, remarkably so for a recording of its vintage, while Live In Cincinnati 1983 is noisier, muddier, and closer to a soundboard bootleg (but still quite listenable…turn it up!). Both albums offer high-octane performances from different versions of the band, and the Cincinnati set includes lengthy, insightful liner notes from music historian Dave Thompson (a former editor of mine). Both albums will thrill Humble Pie fans, a legion that continues to grow 40+ years after the band’s unfortunate demise. (Cleopatra Records, released November 2025 & March 2026)

Buy the CDs from Amazon:
Humble Pie’s Sunset Blvd 1969
Humble Pie’s Live In Cincinnati 1983

Also on That Devil Music: Humble Pie’s On To Victory/Go For the Throat CD reviews 

Andy Anderson's Help! There's A Fire - Reflections On Nashville's '80s New Music Scene

Throughout the 1960s and ‘70s, Nashville was known as the “home” of country music. Although several significant rock ‘n’ roll albums were recorded in the ‘Music City’ by artists like Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and others, the growing metropolis had little or no rock music scene until the early 1980s when bands like David Olney & the X-Rays, Cloverbottom, The Smashers, the White Animals, and Jason & the Nashville Scorchers took the first steps at establishing a foothold for rock music in the Music City.

This fledgling music scene was nurtured, aided, and abetted by the Nashville Intelligence Report. Over the course of a little more than three years from 1982 to 1985, Nashville Intelligence Report zine publisher/editor Andy Anderson and his dedicated crew of rock ‘n’ roll fanatics published 28 issues of the city's first rock music-oriented publication. 

The zine’s intrepid reporters were quite clever in worming their way backstage and grabbing interviews with superstars-in-waiting like R.E.M., the Police, the English Beat, Katrina & the Waves, and the Bangles, talking with many of them early in their careers. They also spoke with established artists like Johnny Ramone, Iggy Pop, and Joe Strummer along with lesser-known, but no-less-influential bands like Black Flag, the Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, and Minor Threat.

Help! There’s A Fire offers a selection of  some of the best writing from the Nashville Intelligence Report as curated by Anderson and N.I.R. contributer Rev. Keith A. Gordon. The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is representative of the quality and diversity of content published by N.I.R. during its tenure, capturing the magic of the music being made at the dawn of the Nashville rock scene.

"The Nashville Intelligence Report always will hold a special place in my heart. The influence of the NIR on the nascent Nashville rock scene of the early 1980s cannot be overestimated. The NIR gave coverage to a wide array of bands that no one else was even aware of. Andy Anderson had his hand on the pulse of the exploding Southeastern music scene, and helped it along immeasurably. It gave us crazy left field rockers some self validation when we needed it most. On top of all that, the writing was excellent. Indeed it was world class, all done on a shoestring budget. I read it cover to cover every time it came out." – Jason Ringenberg, Jason & the Nashville Scorchers

Help! There's A Fire is a 224pp 7.5” x 9.25” paperback with B&W photos and is available in paperback at $16.99 with shipping. An eBook is available for $3.99 from Amazon [eBook link].

Get your copy through the Amazon.com link below or buy copies direct from Excitable Press:

Help! There's A Fire (Reflections on Nashville’s ‘80s New Music Scene...) [Amazon link]

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Jersey Beat Archives: The Cinch, Deerhoof, Furthermore, The Gossip, Morals Galore (July 2003)

For several years in the early 2000s, the Reverend contributed CD reviews to Jersey Beat music zine. It was a heck of a lot of fun, with JB editor Jim Testa mailing a package of punk and alt-rock CDs that I’d work up reviews for every month. Some of these reviews deserve representation in this archive...

July 2003

THE CINCH – ep 
A half a world away from the much-vaunted NYC scene of the Strokes, the Liars, et al, Vancouver BC’s the Cinch were blazing their own fiery path towards garage rock heaven. Fronted by the angelic vocals of Jennifer Smyth and supported by the wire-taut six-string work of guitarists Kathy Dube and Mark Epp, the Cinch released this enchanting five-song EP themselves in Canada before it was picked up stateside by the good folks at Dirtnap. It’s a good thing, too, because ep kicks ass on so many levels that it’s hard to count them all. The Cinch wears its musical influences on its collective sleeve, stylistically recalling every honest bunch of rock legends from the Velvets and the NY Dolls to Television and even Brit buzzsaws like the Jesus & Mary Chain and My Bloody Valentine. That songs like “French Maid” and “Once A Week” manage to pillage rock history so blatantly without pretension and without sounding overly derivative is part of the Cinch’s magic. Extra credit is hereby rewarded for a bullseye shot at the Modern Lovers’ “She Cracked,” swirling guitars and pounding rhythms deliciously surrounding Smyth’s vocals like watercolors dripping across a canvas. Worth your hard-earned coin however you have to get it, check out the Cinch. (Dirtnap Records)

DEERHOOF – Apple O’ 
Deerhoof is a product of the multi-cultural musical stew that is San Francisco, and not unlike other mixed-bag bands that have come out of the “city on the bay,” it’s real hard to place your finger on Deerhoof’s sound. The ambitious foursome makes music that is, at times, a gorgeous blend of harmony and melody; a heartbeat later, they’ll crank out a chaotic cacophony that would have Eris hiding her head and covering her ears in disbelief. Apple O’ is ostensibly a romantic album, tho’ the band’s minimalist lyrics would make Picasso shrug, and while John Dieterich and Chris Cohen are imaginative, if limited guitarists, bassist Satomi Matsuzaki’s cutesy, childlike vocals grate after a cursory spin or two of the album. Adventuresome to a fault, Deerhoof may be unlike anything you’ve ever heard. It will be up to the individual listener, however, to decide if the glorious din of Apple O’ is worth the investment in time and money. (Kill Rock Stars)

FURTHERMORE – She And I
Salt Lake City’s Futhermore rock the mic on the hip-hop tip…er, that is, the male/female duo of Fischer and Lee create a unique sound with rap roots and infectious dance rhythms. The pair is at their best on tracks like “Letter To Myself,” where Fischer’s awkward attempts at rhyme are overshadowed by Lee Chang’s deliciously lofty vocals and the lush backing instrumentation. Although a lot of the lyrics on She And I wrestle with problems of a romantic and spiritual nature (Furthermore is signed to Tooth & Nail), Fischer sometimes spirals into surrealistic, stream-of-consciousness fits that end up nowhere. Really, what the hell does “bearable abominable karma comical possible cause is jellyfish” mean? It’s a mystery to me. When Fischer sings “furthermore is for my enjoyment,” it’s a Freudian slip that sums up She And I perfectly. Enjoyable in an odd, disquieting way, kind of like hitting your funny bone… (Tooth & Nail Records) 

THE GOSSIP – Undead In NYC 
Although the Reverend has vintage bootlegs in his collection with better sound quality than Undead In NYC, there’s no denying the power and the passion of the Gossip’s performance. Kicking out mutant punk blooze with a whiskey edge and an amphetamine heart, the Gossip’s secret weapon is singer Beth Ditto. Ditto’s sweaty, leather-lunged vocals rise above the muddy mix to grab the listener by the ears and shake ‘em out of their major label induced coma. Axeman Nathan Howdeschell rails at the world with all the subtlety of the Mississippi River breaking through its levees and flooding the Delta. With Ditto’s vocals lost in the din, and her lyrical obsessions with love and lust all but indecipherable, the band rocks like a drunken fratmonkey and the audience’s obvious enthusiasm is contagious. A raucous cover of the Stooges’ “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” performed with friends from Chromatics, quickly spirals out of control and into chaos before ending in an orgy of feedback and clashing instrumentation. Undead In NYC may not be the best example of the Gossip’s charms but it does show that 30 minutes is all it takes for this Arkansas trio to rock your world. (Dim Mak Records)
     
MORALS GALORE – Donerail  
Northern Kentucky, culturally existing forever in the shadow of Cincinnati, is an unlikely place to spawn a great rock band. Yet, the area has produced one of the more interesting (and entertaining) alternative rock bands these ears have heard in Morals Galore. They sound a lot like Guided By Voices and, indeed, have been mentored and supported by GBV resident genius Bob Pollard. Where GBV tends to wear its Britpop influences on Pollard’s sleeve, however, Morals Galore imbue Donerail, the band’s debut, with a spy mix of musical influences. The album opening “Best Day” takes its first chords from the Clash, the fast-paced rocker offering hidden vocals, machine-gun guitars and crashing rhythms. “Best Day” sets the pace for the rest of Donerail, the band throwing out dark-hued introspective numbers with subdued vocals and overwhelming instrumentation alongside frenetic, hyperkinetic rockers. Think of a cross between the Replacements and Creedence Clearwater Revival (with a hint of Big Star thrown in for good measure) and you’d be in the right ballpark. The band supports its songs with thick, meaty instrumentation, stinging guitars and powerful rhythms riding high above the vocals (which really should be brought up in the mix, to better decipher the lyrics). Donerail is the musical equivalent of comfort food – it soothes the soul even while it rocks your head. (self-released)

Archive Review: Steve Wynn & the Marvelous 3’s …tick…tick…tick (2006)

Former Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn has enjoyed a lengthy, distinguished, and sadly uncommercial solo career over the past couple of decades. Unfortunately, critical acclaim doesn’t put food on the table, you can’t wear your good reviews on your back, and making great records won’t necessarily put a roof over your head. Wynn has refused to give up, however, continuing to write and record at an impressive pace, haunting the dark corners of the indie-rock world with his sonic experimentations.

While most of his solo efforts have involved virtual pick-up bands of friends and admirers, for …tick…tick…tick Wynn has pieced together a talented outfit that enjoys a real band chemistry, the trio serving as the perfect foils for Wynn’s ever-wicked artistic vision. With “The Marvelous 3” in tow, Wynn has attempted to “convey the sensation of post-millennium panic” (his words, not mine).

Steve Wynn & the Marvelous 3’s …tick…tick…tick

All in all, I’d say that Wynn accomplished what he set out to do. The songs and performances on …tick…tick…tick are at once both hauntingly beautiful and darkly alluring, the band capable of moving from a whisper to a scream at the speed of a heartbeat. Guitarist Jason Victor’s six-string wails like a wolverine caught in a trap while bassist Dave DeCastro and drummer Linda Pitmon serve up a barn-burning beat behind Wynn’s fluid (and often-echoed) vocals.

The effect is both disconcerting and undeniably charismatic, Wynn and crew masterfully blending anarchic rock ‘n’ roll, chaotic rhythms, jangling psychedelica and folk-influenced lyricism to a powerful conclusion. Wynn’s nuanced wordplay plays across the artist’s usual noir landscapes, dark-hued story-songs and bleak confessional poetry inhabited by loss and confusion, betrayal and frustration in a world of reckless betrayal and helpless romanticism.

It’s heady stuff, to be sure, but Wynn has pulled off this delicate lyrical balancing act more often than not. With a young, hungry band behind him to assist in shaping his unique vision, Wynn has delivered in …tick…tick…tick his best work, arguably, since the Dream Syndicate days. Damn near every song here would sound great on the radio, and if there was any justice in this cold, cruel world (hint…there ain’t none), Steve Wynn & the Marvelous 3 would enjoy massive CD sales and constant radio airplay to go along with the almost-guaranteed critical accolades.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Ready for his coronation, …tick…tick…tick cements Wynn’s status as indie-rock royalty, an artist ripe for rediscovery and appreciation by an audience thirsting for real rock ‘n’ roll cheap thrills. (Down There Records)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2006

Zine Review: Plastic Crimewave’s Galactic Zoo Dossier #7 (2007)

If you’re a fan of psychedelic delicacies, acid-washed rock, stoned blues and other musical obscurities from the hallowed ‘60s and early-70s, then Galactic Zoo Dossier is a zine made with you in mind. Created by musician/artist “Plastic Crimewave” (a/k/a Steve Krakow) with a little help from friends like Byron Coley, Scott Wilkinson, Kit Moore, and others, Galactic Zoo Dossier is a delightful compendium of rock music history, with a fanatical focus on the wild and wacky tunes of the past.

Plastic Crimewave’s Galactic Zoo Dossier #7

First things first, however: Galactic Zoo Dossier is not your typical music zine in that its pages are almost all entirely hand-drawn and lettered by the skilled Mr. Crimewave. Yeah, there are a few photos scattered about, and in keeping with the Plastic one’s long-standing obsession with funny books, a handful of scanned-and-pasted strips from vintage comics are accompanied by the artist’s comments. The amazing and impressive bulk of the 100+ pages of this seventh issue of Galactic Zoo Dossier, however, were hand-crafted by Crimewave, with articles often illustrated by his unique, thick-lined portraits of the artists; the issue also includes several pages of the artist’s original collector’s cards.

The crude, penultimate D.I.Y. vibe of the zine takes getting used to, but like a favorite record that you at first hated and couldn’t understand, but later grew to love, the hand-lettered pages become easier to navigate with every article that you read. And this issue of GZD has a hell of a lot of reading for the dedicated follower of fashion. Band/artist features include early ‘70s psychedelic soul outfit Rasputin’s Stash, pop star-turned-folkie Dion, prog-rock forebears the Nice, proto-punkers Crushed Butler, British rockers Manfred Mann, and a slew of long-forgotten psychedelic-era wonders like Sam Gopal, H.P. Lovecraft, Arthur Brown’s Kingdom Come, and others. Interviews in this issue include fascinating conversations with Dave Lambert of the Strawbs, Clive Palmer of the Incredible String Band, Kevin Coyne, and cartoonist Gary Panter.

Pioneers of Distortion & Patriarch Hippies

Every issue of Galactic Zoo Dossier is a treat, but along with the expanded page count of this issue comes several impressive works of criticism, art and academia. Scott Wilkinson’s “Pioneers of Distortion & Patriarch Hippies,” which emphasizes the influence of the blues on psychedelia, garage, and folk-rock, is simply fascinating, a well-researched-and-written piece that further broadened a subject that I was already quite knowledgeable about. Kit Moore’s piece on hippie horror films is both informative and entertaining for an old psychotronic film buff like the Reverend, while Crimewave’s “catch-all” articles, like this issue’s pieces on “The British Underground” and Motown’s “psychedelic soul,” are both informative and introductory, leading the reader to find out more about the (often obscure) bands/artists featured. 

From an artistic perspective, Crimewave’s collector’s cards are simply amazing works, each sheet of nine cards featuring portraits and information on the featured artist. Issue #7 comes with two very different but equally impressive sets of cards. The first is actually the third set in the “Damaged Guitar Gods” series and features such underrated and obscure six-string geniuses as Rory Gallagher, Phil Manzanera, bluesman Skip James, R&B legend Ike Turner and others, a total of 45 collector’s cards (yes, the sheets are perforated if you want to separate your cards). The second set of cards that comes with this issue is the first grouping of “Astral Folk Goddesses” featuring artists like Nico, Judy Henske, Vashti Bunyan, Sandy Denny, and 23 other distaff songbirds.  

Galactic Zoo Dossier doesn’t come cheap, with this issue running $16.00 from Drag City Records mail order. But the zine and accompanying collector’s cards also come packaged with a free CD of some of the most whacked-out music that you’ll ever hear, compiled by Plastic Crimewave. This issue features Teenage Meadows of Infinity, a two-disc set that includes tunes from folks like the Stooges, Blossom Toes, Michael Yonkers, Ed Askew, Devendra Banhart, Vincent Black Shadow and, yes, Mr. Crimewave his own bad self. These rare and exclusive tracks are guaranteed to get your toes tapping and start your head spinning. For the cost of a CD at that obnoxious mall chain store, you can have a copy of Galactic Zoo Dossier #7, eight pages of rock ‘n’ roll collector’s cards, and two full CDs of music – enough psychedelic swag to scrub your brain, feed your soul and drastically expand your musical horizons.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Lauded in the pages of hipster publications like Spin, Mojo, Fader, and Blackbook as “the premier hand-drawn underground psychedelic journal,” hopefully the increased notoriety of GZD has also led to increased sales. A labor this intense, passionate and, dare we say it – insane – deserves more than mere unrequited love in return. (Drag City Records, published July 17th, 2007)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™ zine...

Archive Review: The Ramones’ ¡Adios Amigos! (1995)

As the Ramones pass their twentieth anniversary together, the Queens, New York foursome that was long considered a one joke, “here-today, gone-tomorrow” band has managed to outlive most, if not all of their critics. During the past two decades, the Ramones have been no more or no less consistent than any other artists during the same time period, and the fact that they’re still alive and kicking in 1995 says something about the band’s genuine love of music than many of their more “serious” artistic peers can lay claim to. That the Ramones can still kick out the proverbial jams with an album as hard-rocking and vital as ¡Adios Amigos! after all of this time is a further testimony to the fountain of youth that is rock ‘n’ roll.

¡Adios Amigos! draws heavily on material penned by former bandmate Dee Dee Ramone, with six of the album’s thirteen songs either written by or co-written by Dee Dee. The manic energy of these songs, with their pop culture obsessions and slightly off-kilter sense of humor is matched perfectly with the band’s current musical mix of high-energy, three-chord punk rock and slightly more complex, metal-edged hard rock. “The Crusher” is, perhaps, the best rock tune ever written about pro wrestling, while “Cretin Family” and “Born To Die In Berlin” revisit various periods of the band’s history, their 1970s roots and their more cynical ‘80s material, respectively. Avid record collector and 1960 pop devotee Joey Ramone contributes a wonderfully innocent slice of psychedelic-edged bubble gum in “Life’s A Gas” while Marky offers the wonderfully offbeat “Have A Nice Day.” A secret bonus cut tacked onto the end of the CD has the band running through an electric cover of the ‘60s-vintage theme to the Spiderman animated Saturday morning cartoon.

Most telling, however, is the inclusion of Tom Wait’s “I Don’t Want To Grow Up” as the opening cut on ¡Adios Amigos! Much has been said about a rumored Ramones break-up, that after twenty years of constant touring and studio work that the band has run its course. From their very first early ‘70s performances at New York’s legendary C.B.G.B.’s, the Ramones have been a staple of youth culture, a major influence on the hardcore scene of the 1980s as well as the current pop punk artists of the ‘90s. As the various members of the Ramones approach middle-age, however, it’s got to be harder and harder for them to get energized for another tour or another album. The song’s line “how the hell did it get here so soon?” easily becomes much more than a rhetorical question when sung by frontman and founding member Joey Ramone. With its fierce denial of the inevitable passage of time, “I Don’t Want To Grow Up,” is a song particularly suited to the seemingly ageless icons that are the Ramones. (Radioactive Records, released July 18th, 1995)
   
Review originally published by Review & Discussion of Rock ‘n’ Roll (R.A.D!) zine...

Book Review: Dave Thompson’s London’s Burning (2009)

British music journalist Dave Thompson is a veteran author of rock ‘n’ roll biographies, penning dozens of books on folks like Iggy Pop, Kiss, Nirvana’s Kurt Cobain, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, among many others over the past couple of decades. As frequently as he has turned his insight towards dissecting the life and art of others, however, this is the first time that Thompson has used his undeniable talent to look inward at his own life and experience.

Subtitled “True Adventures on the Front Lines of Punk 1976-1977,” Thompson’s excellent London’s Burning is, as he calls it, a “memoir” without “too much me” included. Ostensibly the story of a year in the life of British punk rock, the teenage Thompson had a front seat to the birth and evolution of punk from a provincial underground phenomenon to a worldwide cultural revolution.

Dave Thompson’s London’s Burning

To tell this tale, Thompson relies on his own memories, and those of the many musicians that he has interviewed through the years, as well as those he spoke with specifically for the book. Beginning with the death of the glam-rock era and the lingering descent of pub-rock into obsolescence, Thompson’s personalized history of the first stirrings of punk is developed from his youthful vinyl obsession and eager attendance at dozens of shows by early versions of bands like the Sex Pistols, the Adverts, the Stranglers, and the Damned, as well as his friendships with many of the music-makers.

Thompson marks the flashpoint of British punk rock with the first performance of American rocker Patti Smith, her powerful, primal sound launching a hundred bands. Although the story touches upon many of the aforementioned and better-known punk outfits, Thompson takes great care to include obscure (but no less talented or fondly remembered) bands like the Arrows, Radio Stars, and Heavy Metal Kids in his exploration of the music. Sometimes his stories are funny, sometimes poignant, and sometimes even harrowing as Thompson describes the racism present in mid-to-late-‘70s England, as well as the violence that would come to be leveled against anybody perceived as being a “punk rocker.”

Thompson is being only a little disingenuous when he calls London’s Burning a memoir without too much “me” because, in truth, it is the presence of his younger self, and that experience that is central to the book’s immense charm. In remembering his youthful love of the music, and unbridled enthusiasm for the changes wrought by punk’s ascendance, Thompson also reminds us of why the “Class of ‘77” was so important in the overall evolution of rock music. The stories and memories of the assembled musicians are vital to the story here, but it is Thompson’s interaction and role as a documentarian that drives the book.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

British punk rock circa 1977-79 has been covered in abundance, almost to the point of absurdity, by dozens of books and hundreds, if not thousands of magazine articles and even compilation albums. Few have the firsthand knowledge and experience of Dave Thompson, though, and the talent to express it so succinctly and in an entertaining manner. Nobody has the stories that Thompson has accumulated, making London’s Burning the final word in ‘70s British punk rock. If you’re an old-school punk fan, you should definitely check this one out… (Chicago Review Press, published May 1st, 2009)

Review originally published by the Trademark of Quality (TMQ) blog…

Buy the book from Amazon: Dave Thompson’s London’s Burning