Trey Gunn Band - Live Encounter (2001)

Multi-instrumentalist Trey Gunn made his bones as a student in Fripp’s League of Crafty Guitarists and subsequently became a member of King Crimson in 1995. Since then, the master of the enigmatic Chapman Stick has developed a following of his own through a handful of adventuresome albums with his Trey Gunn Band. Although his work with King Crimson has no doubt exposed Gunn’s considerable instrumental prowess to a larger audience, it is his personal work, such as Live Encounter, which has earned the artist a solid reputation.

Culled from tours in September 2000 and February 2001, Live Encounter revisits previous Gunn compositions in a live setting, allowing the band members to stretch out and experiment. A new song – “Hierarchtitiptitoploftical” – is sandwiched in between four songs from Gunn’s 2000 album The Joy of Molybdenum and his 1996 release The Third Star. For listeners unfamiliar with Gunn and company’s considerable chops, Live Encounter serves as an excellent introduction. Playing a 10-string Warr guitar, a remarkable instrument created by California designer Mark Warr that allows a skilled user to play both percussive rhythms and straight melody (if I understand correctly), Gunn creates a rich tapestry of sound.

The instrumental sound sculptures crafted by Gunn are complimented by the efforts of collaborators Joe Mendelson on 8-string Warr guitar, Tony Geballe on electric and 12-string acoustic guitar and percussionist Bob Muller. Together the foursome create a magnificent noise, incorporating Eno-inspired ambient passages and Eastern-influenced rhythms with an electric jazz/rock fusion undercurrent that draws as much from King Crimson as it does John McLaughlin and Carlos Santana. Defying musical genres and critical pigeonholing, the Trey Gunn Band are gamblers taking music to the edge, challenging the boundaries of live sound much as jazz artists like Miles Davis and John Coltrane did half a century ago. Making music that is both entertaining and thought provoking, Trey Gunn and crew solidify their reps as instrumental virtuosos with the amazing Live Encounter. (First World Records)

(The Live Encounter disc also includes a pair of Quicktime videos that you can view on your computer, including a full-length performance of “Kuma” that allows you to see these incredible instrumentalists at work.)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Live Encounter from Amazon.com)

Dead Kennedys - Frankenchrist (2001)

Although they’re often underrated when mainstream pundits revise the history of punk rock, the Dead Kennedys were nevertheless one of the most influential and important bands in hardcore America. They provided a voice of sanity during the Reagan era and set the lyrical stage for other politically oriented bands like Rage Against The Machine and Corporate Avenger. This CD reissue of 1985’s Frankenchrist is part of Manifesto’s overall revamping of the Dead Kennedys’ catalog; this being the band’s third and, perhaps, most notorious album. The original vinyl release included a fold out poster by Swiss surrealist artist H.R. Giger that led to the arrest of DK frontman Jello Biafra on obscenity charges. Although Biafra eventually won the case, the attempted censorship and subsequent legal trials and tribulations broke the DK’s apart.

Strangely enough, Frankenchrist is long way from being the band’s best album (a spot still reserved by Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, their debut). Frankenchrist may be the most politically strident release in the DK catalog, but it eschews the satirical good humor of earlier efforts in favor of more poisonous lyrical barbs. Musically it is perhaps their most accomplished effort, however, with guitarist East Bay Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro coming into their own as instrumentalists. The album kicks off with a mutant surf guitar riff, “Soup Is Good Food” documenting the early days of corporate “downsizing” and the hidden costs of consumerism. Biafra’s “Chicken Farm” offers a wicked raga-flavored guitar riff beneath a chilling tale of life during wartime. “MTV - Get Off The Air” points out the enervating, soulless corporate nature of “music television” while the pedestrian lyrics of “At My Job” are matched with a brilliantly martial undercurrent courtesy of some strange time changes and recurring rhythms. Biafra’s “Stars And Stripes Of Corruption” would later be revisited in spoken word form but here it sports an unrelenting guitar attack punctuating Biafra’s unique and powerful vocals.

At the time, the Dead Kennedys were a perfect fit between Biafra’s often-brilliant social commentary and the player’s hardcore punk assault. Biafra’s manic performances are legend, the energy and passion that he and the band brought to the material unmatched by any punk band in the decade and a half since. (Manifesto Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Frankenchrist from Amazon.com)

Dead Kennedys - Give Me Convenience Or Give Me Death (2002)

Although often overshadowed by legendary outfits like Black Flag, X or the Misfits, the Dead Kennedys were arguably one of the most important and influential punk bands in the history of the genre. They were the most political of the new breed, mixing a radical worldview with a tongue-in-cheek lyrical style and uncompromising hardcore punk chops to create a thought provoking and unique, hilariously satirical sound. A late-80s PMRC-inspired obscenity trial didn’t shut the band up but rather managed to censor Amerikka’s most infamous punk rock troublemakers by breaking the band apart. A decade later, the band members have gone through another (very public) break-up, with East Bay Ray, Klaus Flouride and D.H. Peligro wresting control of much of the Dead Kennedy’s catalog away from vocalist and songwriter Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label.

Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death is one of those former AT titles, reissued by Manifesto Records with the dissenting band member’s blessing; Biafra has disavowed the reissue series entirely. A sort of “greatest hits” compilation, Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death is a great place for the uninitiated to sample the Dead Kennedys’ experience firsthand. Some of the band’s best material is collected here, including early songs like “Police Truck,” “California Uber Alles” and “Holiday In Cambodia.” A killer cover of “I Fought The Law” shows the band’s retro chops while a Biafra rant, “Night Of The Living Rednecks” foreshadows Jello’s spoken word career.

Old hardcore DK fans probably already have this title on vinyl or CD, but the reissue does offer cleaner sound via digital remastering and a 32-page reproduction of the album’s accompanying booklet, including song lyrics and Winston Smith artwork. I’d recommend Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death for new fans, and would suggest that if you like this stuff, you should check out Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables, the band’s best album and the lone title still available on Alternative Tentacles. (Manifesto Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Give Me Convenience OR Give Me Death from Amazon.com)

The London Quireboys - This Is Rock & Roll (2001)

Proving the old adage that “you can’t keep a good band down,” the London Quireboys have come roaring into the twenty-first century with a new line-up, a new album and a trademark sound that is pure, timeless rock & roll. Formed in 1984, the Quireboys were less "glam" than Hanoi Rocks, less obnoxious than Motley Crue, and more roots-oriented than Guns ‘N’ Roses. Their sound was firmly influenced by classic rockers like the Stones and the Faces yet, due to the time and place, they were always thrown in amongst the L.A. glamboys and MTV hair bands. The band enjoyed a modicum of success in the U.K. with a handful of albums and hit singles before finally breaking up in 1993.

The flame refused to die, though, and the Quireboys kept plugging away at it throughout the '90s. Various roster changes did little to change the band’s raw hard rock sound, the one common thread in the various band line-ups being vocalist Spike Gray. The Quireboys recorded their fourth album proper, Lost In Space, in 2000 and with their latest effort, This Is Rock ‘N’ Roll, they have delivered a rocking coup d’grace. For Spike and the Quireboys it’s always 1973 and This Is Rock ‘N’ Roll echoes the arena rock of Aerosmith, the Stones and the Faces. Spike’s raucous vocals evoke memories of a young Rod Stewart, his inflection part whiskey and part cigarettes, while the twin guitars of long-time member Guy Griffin and newcomer Luke Bossendorfer wail and roar like ghostly doppelgangers of Keith Richards and Mick Taylor.

The album’s title track is an affirmation of rock & roll and band brotherhood that hides a dirty little secret – that for some people, rock & roll is the only way to go, their only means of escape and, as Rod once sung, a “reason to believe.” It’s more than a livelihood, it’s a reason for being and for veterans like the Quireboys, it’s been a collective identity for so long that they can’t stop now. Shuffle just a few songs down, though, and you’ll find “C’mon,” a rowdy admittance that rock & roll may well have passed the band by. Spike sings “don’t go changing my favorite songs, keep them rolling along” with the sad realization that rock music has changed and that, just as for the mods and rockers of the '60s and the punks of the '80s, rock & roll has turned its back on the Quireboys as well. These two songs are the cornerstones of This Is Rock ‘N’ Roll, providing a revealing glimpse behind the rock & roll party-time façade the band has projected for two decades now.

The rest of This Is Rock & Roll rattles and shakes like a ’73 Plymouth Satellite, tracks like “Seven Days,” “Turn Away” and “Show Me What You Got” redlining the speedo, moving from 0 to 100 mph in a single drumbeat. At the proper volume, these songs will peel the veneer siding from your speakers, but for an all-too-brief hour, you’ll experience sheer rock & roll bliss. Rock & roll may have changed through the years, but the music’s heartbeat remains the same and the London Quireboys prove with This Is Rock & Roll that they have their finger on the pulse. (Sanctuary Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy a copy of This Is Rock & Roll from Amazon.com)

Pissing Razors - Where We Come From (2002)

Ya just got to admire any band that still follows the seldom-traveled thrash path these days. Old-fashioned crash-and-burn guitars and guttural vocals are so out of favor with the mindless mainstream that it is refreshing to hear somebody like Pissing Razors pick up the torch and beat the bloody hell out of the listener with it. Where We Come From showcases the Texas foursome’s mighty sound, all tortured vocals and screaming six-string and relentless rhythms that will provide fodder for nightmares long after you’ve put the disc back up on the shelf.

I particularly like the staccato machine-gun riffs of “Vengeance Is Mine,” singer Jason Bragg’s twisted vocals sounding like a leather-winged harbinger of doom while guitarist Cesar Soto’s axe cuts through the mix like a dentist’s drill gone astray. The guitars on “Cursed” teeter on the edge of insanity, squealing and grinding like metal clashing on metal while “Open The Gates” delivers enough raw electricity to induce spontaneous combustion. Pissing Razors follow the same legacy of brutality that fellow Lone Star State madmen Agony Column did back in the '80s, cranking up the volume a notch and delivering no-frills, uncompromising, tough-as-nails, thrash-n-bash heavy metal. Where We Come From is no album for wussy “modern rock” fans or denim-clad poseurs – this is the real stuff, acid-bath aural enjoyment for metalheads who haven’t forgotten what a rock & roll lobotomy is really like. (Spitfire Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Where We Come From from Amazon.com)

Peter Tosh - Live & Dangerous Boston 1976 (2001)

When the reggae is mentioned to the casual fan, the first name that comes to mind is Bob Marley. If the person is really into the “island riddims,” then they might throw names like Jimmy Cliff or Steel Pulse at you. An original member of the Wailers with Marley, Peter Tosh is the ultimate reggae cult artist – popular enough to attract new fans to his music years after his death, but too hardcore and edgy to appeal to a mainstream audience. Whereas Marley softened his songs of struggle and liberation with a healthy dose of melody and “peace and love” styled lyrics, Tosh was raw, politically outspoken and brutally honest, sort of the “punk rocker” of Jamaican reggae.

To many of his fans, Tosh’s uncompromising stance and undistilled sound were part of the artist’s charm, and his albums from the '70s – classics like Equal Rights or Legalize It – stand up well to repeated listening today. Unlike his former bandmate Marley, Tosh’s musical catalog has remained fairly static, which makes the release of Live & Dangerous Boston 1976 a treat for the longtime fan. For his first American tour, in support of his debut album, Tosh assembled a band that included both Jamaican and American musicians, and which he subsequently dubbed “Word, Sound and Power.” Beginning with bassist Robbie Shakespeare and drummer Sly Dunbar, the greatest reggae rhythm pairing that the genre has ever seen, Tosh added the lead guitars of New Jersey native Al Anderson and bluesman Donald Kinsey. Twin keyboards were provided by Earl “Wire” Lindo and Errol “Tarzan” Nelson, with vocals and rhythm guitar from Tosh, and thus the stage was set for as dynamic a reggae band as you could ever ask for.

Live & Dangerous Boston 1976, taken from a November performance in nearby college-town Cambridge, is more-or-less typical Tosh. One of the most outwardly political of the Rasta artists, Tosh was a strong lyricist who wrote of the struggle of the poor and dispossessed against the police, the government and the corporations that oppressed them. You’ll find a healthy dose of political content here; songs like “400 Years,” “Babylon Queendom” and “Mark Of The Beast” among some of the best that Tosh has written. There are some laid-back performances as well, songs like “Burial” or “Ketchy Shuby” featuring mellow Rasta grooves matched by winsome vocals heavy with island patois, and there are the usual spiritual numbers like “Igziabeher (Let Jah Be Praised).” The band is phenomenal, tight as the proverbial drum, providing the proper backdrop for Tosh’s charismatic and electric performances.

Peter Tosh’s Live & Dangerous Boston 1976 is a fine documentation of a night’s performance by one of reggae’s most important artists. One minor cavil must be expressed, however – the eleven songs presented here time out at seventy-five minutes and change, but only seem to scratch the surface of the night recalled by former Tosh manager Herbie Miller’s liner notes. Where are the performances of “Legalize It” or “Apartheid,” important songs from the Tosh canon and both from the album he was touring to promote. Perhaps a double-CD set clocked at 90 minutes might have served Tosh fans better? This oversight would gladly be overlooked if Legacy digs up and releases some other vintage Tosh performances from their vaults. (Legacy Recordings)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Live & Dangerous Boston 1976 from Amazon.com)

The Strokes - Is This It (UK import - 2001)

New York City rockers the Strokes have been on the receiving end of some mighty hype, mostly from the British music press. Proclaimed the saviors of rock & roll, the overabundance of critical enthusiasm directed towards the Strokes is understandable. In a world populated with pop pap and watered-down “modern” rock, old-school rockers such as myself (and, presumably, rockcrits at NME, Mojo and Q) thirst for the real thing. Luckily, the band’s much anticipated debut lives up to almost every promise made for the Strokes.

Roaring out of the “Big Apple” with a slack-rock sound that is firmly based in the garage band vibe of the '60s and '70s-styled D.I.Y. punk fervor, the Strokes are a revelation. Vocalist Julian Casablancas sounds like a youthful Lou Reed and affects an on-stage wardrobe that mimics a young Bryan Ferry. Guitarists Nick Valensi and Albert Hammond Jr. keep a steady flame burning throughout the songs with ever-present riffs that result in a virtual wall-of-sound. A strong rhythm section of bassist Nikolai Fraiture and Fab Moretti build a solid bottom line; together the instrumentalists create a fat, dense and sometimes chaotic signature beneath Casablancas’ vocals. Kudos are also due to producer Gordon Raphael, whose subtle hand captured the band at its grungey best, warts and all. No Pro Tools manipulation here – Raphael leaves the sound muddy and noisy, the vocals often struggling above the mix and the entire affair wheezing and rattling like my aging ’74 Mercury four-door.

“What about the music,” you ask? Think of the Replacements minus Westerburg’s melancholy, the Velvet Underground with Ron Asheton on guitar and Brill Building pop filtered through the New York Dolls and you’ll come near hitting the mark. I don’t understand half of what Casablancas is singing about, but when you can make out his lyrics, you’re overwhelmed by the verbal gymnastics and clever wordplay. The material on Is This It rocks without qualification. An irregular rhythm kicks off “The Modern Age,” a New Values-era Iggy soundalike with a wire-taut guitar lead and driving instrumentation. “Barely Legal” has a nifty circular riff and muddy, echoed vocals and bittersweet lyrics while “Someday” has some ultra-cool doo-wop rhythms and pleading vocals. “New York City Cops” offers some tongue-in-cheek humor about New York’s finest, a story-song with a raging chorus and wickedly delicious rhythms.

In the wake of September 11th tragedy, RCA pulled the original recorded version of Is This It and substituted "Take It Or Leave It" in the place of the stronger “New York City Cops,” lest listeners feel that the band was overly-critical of the NYPD. They also replaced the more attractive cover artwork available on the British import in favor of a psychedelic swirl cover for the U.S. market. The music stands on its own regardless of these feeble marketing ploys, and there are still plenty of copies of the import disc to be found (and well worth getting even if for the one song). In the tradition of other cult-rockers like the Dictators, the Flamin’ Groovies or the New York Dolls, the Strokes draw inspiration from the primal wellspring of sound and energy from which classic rock & roll is born, commercial considerations be damned. (RCA Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy the import version of Is This It from Amazon.com)

The Who - Thirty Years Of Maximum R&B (1994)

Okay, I'm going to risk my already doubtful reputation as a critic and make the following statement: the Who are not only one of a handful of the greatest rock bands of all time (no argument yet), but they were also influential far beyond what they're generally given credit for. I'd argue that without the collective efforts of Peter Townsend, Roger Daltry, John Entwhistle and Keith Moon, we probably would never have had bands like the Replacements, Soul Asylum or R.E.M. They may all claim the Velvet Underground as their big influence, but even Lou and the gang wouldn't have gotten a second look by their record label if not for the ground-breaking success of The Who.

The Who created and fused together the archetypes that would become rock music. Daltry was the Hollywood dandy, the pretty boy and a perfect foil to Townsend's bristling, attitude-ridden young punk (spitting in the eye of convention while Johnny Rotten was still in diapers). Entwhistle was to become the model of the quiet rock journeyman, while the late Keith Moon was rock's original wild man. At their best, the Who were sloppy, amateurish and obstinate, shining with a creative genius even while destroying the stage. At their worst, The Who were among rock's first superstars – by the time of the band's first "break-up," they had over 15 years in it together – and they didn't have the sense to stay retired rather than subject their fans to numerous "final tours."

So why should you buy Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B, the recently-released four CD box set documenting the Who's career, rather than, say, any one of a slew of "best of" discs that have been released throughout the years? Because Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B is the definitive Who collection. If you grew up with the band, suffering through their trials and tribulations, savoring classic discs such as Who Are You or Who By Numbers, then you'll want what this set has to offer. And if you're coming at the band from a newer perspective, a young rocker whose familiarity with the band may only be their sad latter years, then you'd be interested in hearing some of the greatest, most impassioned rock music ever created.

Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B collects 79 songs, many remixed for CD, including over a dozen unreleased songs and an equal number of rare live tracks. Scraps of interviews, commercials and studio dialogue fill in the gaps on disc, while a monster booklet complete with photos, liner notes, a discography and more will feed your head with more than you ever wanted to know about The Who.

As for the music, there's a little bit of everything to be found herein. Disc one begins with a handful of cuts by the Who's predecessors, the High Numbers, meaty early-60s British R & B that is interesting, but not very distinctive. All of the hits are here, from '60s-era gems like I Can't Explain, My Generation and I Can See For Miles to their heavier seventies material like Won't Get Fooled Again or Long Live Rock.

Much of the previously unreleased material is interesting mostly as a historical footnote, creations that tend to further reinforce the band's already concrete image. A number of the live tracks included on Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B show the band in what was always their best element: on stage. That was always where the particular chemistry of the foursome became its most volatile, its most passionate. Unreleased gems like See Me, Feel Me or Dreaming From The Waist, as well as familiar performances such as Substitute or Summertime Blues, taken from the Live At Leeds album, are what created the legend that is the Who. This is the way that the band should be remembered, and Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B is a fitting tribute to one of rock's greatest bands. (MCA Records)

(Click on the CD box set cover to buy Thirty Years Of Maximum R & B from Amazon.com)

Edwyn Collins - Gorgeous George (1995)

As a label, the idea of an "international" artist seems as good as any; in reality – here in the U.S. of A, at least – it seems to be an albatross to be hung around the neck of any European good old boy without the common sense to tread firmly on such easily identifiable ground as "punk" or "Goth" rock. That, in a nutshell, is where Edwyn Collins may well find himself. Gorgeous George, the first Collins' effort to be released in the United States, has already rung up impressive sales and charted a handful of hit singles in several countries on the continent.

With this third solo disc – after a half a decade stint with the seminal Scottish outfit Orange Juice – Collins has matured into a master pop craftsman, casually blending U.K.-styled pop/rock with a touch of Celtic blue-eyed soul, tying the entire affair together with a wonderful baritone voice and an immense skill as a wordsmith. Collins' songs are witty, intelligent affairs, wordy and lyrically flowing in such a way as to almost insure a lack of airplay stateside. His status as a European hitmaker may further assist in his domestic obscurity, however, as if the powers that be have decreed that any success overseas automatically precludes acceptance by a U.S. audience. It's a damn shame, indeed, for Collins is a natural talent, Gorgeous George a musically delicious collection of tunes. Hopefully Collins will outlive this grim prediction and break through to the massive U.S. audience that he deserves. (Bar/None Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Gorgeous George from Amazon.com)