Manic Street Preachers - Street Preaching (1996)

It's been five years now since my trip to London, but I remember most of it like it was only yesterday. The buzz on the street was for a band that many were calling a cross between the Sex Pistols and the Clash. The British music media was raising a clamor, as well, with such stiff-lipped rock & roll stalwarts as New Music Express and Melody Maker waxing ecstatic over the band. Intrigued, I spent most of that week trying to hunt down the handful of singles released at that time by the Manic Street Preachers.

Half a decade later, the Manic Street Preachers are one of rock's great "might have beens." Hugely successful in the U.K., throughout Europe and Japan, their blend of hardcore punk and British pop – or "popcore" as my former colleague Jesse Garon has termed it – never quite caught on in the United States beyond a small cult audience. Just as their American record company was about to release their third album, titled The Holy Bible, guitarist Richey James disappeared. Vanished, gone, dropped off the face of the planet entirely. That was a year or so ago and to the best of my knowledge, he's yet to be found.

'Tis a shame, actually, given that there seems to be a minor Brit-pop fever spreading stateside what with bands like Oasis, Pulp and Blur catching on, commercially, at different levels. Had their third album not been shelved by Epic, who's to say what MSP might have achieved? For fans of the band, there exists a handful of live discs from the band's short-lived career. Street Preaching, on Italy's Kiss The Stone (or KTS) bootleg label, is a fine documentation of MSP in a performance atmosphere. Culled from 1992 tours of Europe and Japan in support of Generation Terrorists, the band's debut, Street Preaching includes many of the band's early English hits, cuts like "You Love Us," "Crucifix Kiss," "Stay Beautiful" and "Slash And Burn." A few songs are included twice ("You Love Us" three times!), represented in slightly varying forms from different shows.

The performances captured on Street Preaching may or may not be typical MSP. Never having seen them myself, I can't say for certain. This seventy-minute disc does a fine job of showcasing the band's electric appeal, however. Vocalist James Dean Bradfield's charismatic delivery mesmerizes the various audiences while James' guitar burns and blisters through every song. Bradfield's between song patter is keep to a minimum, what is presented illustrates a swaggering, confident rock & roll frontman. Given another shot, I feel that the Manic Street Preachers could have been a big band in the U.S. Instead we've got Street Preaching, a musical snapshot freezing the band forever in time. (KTS Records - bootleg)

Rage Against The Machine - Who's On First? (1996)

Rage Against The Machine's debut album literally exploded onto the American musical landscape, its energetic hybrid of hard rock, molten metal riffs and rap-inspired vocals as deadly as a gutshot, as powerful as a police officer's nightstick to the head. RATM are unapologetically political, musically radical and overall a great band to see live.

A favorite among tape traders and bootleggers, there are a number of RATM performances circulating among the collectors community. One of the better collections, taken from the band's 1993 U.S. tour, is Who's On First?, released by the Hawk bootleg label in Italy. The songs compiled on Who's On First? represent some of the band's better performances, versions of "Bombtrack," "Bullet In The Head" and "Killing In The Name" offering extremely energetic musical and vocal gymnastics. Zach de la Rocha's spoken rendition of Alan Ginsburg's "How To Be Played On A Jukebox" is particularly potent, tying together the FBI, CIA and the Mafia in the world drug trade, fighting against Democracy in Vietnam and elsewhere under the aegis of multi-national corporate capitalism. Underscored by darkly threatening instrumentation, it is a fiercely venomous rendering of the song.

Altogether, Who's On First? runs nearly fifty minutes in length, offering a fine live set of Rage Against The Machine's most popular songs. With the band's recently-released Evil Empire tracking quite well on the charts, a summer tour and a handful of guest appearances at Lollapalooza, Rage Against The Machine will continue to increase its fan base with an incredibly monstrous live persona. Until the inevitable live recordings from their upcoming 1996 tour start to appear, I'd heartily recommend Who's On First? to the band's rabid fans. (Hawk Records - bootleg)

Midnight Oil - Earth And Sun And Moon (1993)

Expectations have been raised, the ante upped with the release of Earth And Sun And Moon, Midnight Oil's ninth album and their first studio work in nearly three years. If 1987's platinum-selling Diesel And Dust proved to be the Australian band's breakthrough album, 1989's Blue Sky Mining left the Oils poised on the brink of international superstardom. A lengthy creative silence was punctuated only by the reissuing of long unavailable early Oils' albums and last year's lackluster live set (which failed to capture that band's real live energy and ability).

Earth And Sun And Moon lives up to every single artistic promise Midnight Oil has ever made, as the band stays true to both their musical roots and their political and philosophical underpinnings. Their distinctively unique sound – a hybrid of '60s-styled American-influenced hard rock and quirky Australian pop has proven to be the perfect vehicle for the delivery of their politically-oriented message of racial equality, brotherhood and environmental populism. This disc offers a set of songs that should please both die-hard fans and attract new listeners with several radio-friendly yet powerful cuts.

Americans tend to view Australia as the land of "Crocodile Dundee," with a jaunty "g'day mate!" and "shrimp on the barbie." It is a culture familiar, yet alien to our own, and it is in this light that the Oils and their work must be viewed. The band lives on an island that is part urban decay and part pastoral countryside, part tropical rainforest and part desert. It is in this microcosm of the planet at large which tempers their unique point-of-view and fuels their artistic vision. Some critics have complained of the band's alarmist frame of mind and radical ideals; they miss the optimism boiling under the surface which says that "we can change the world, if we want."

The core trio of what was to become Midnight Oil...drummer Rob Hirst, guitarist Jim Moginie and bass player Andrew "Bear" James...first came together in 1971 in Sydney. In 1975 the fledgling Oils advertised for a vocalist, attracting charismatic frontman Peter Garrett; a year later they added additional guitarist Martin Rotsey. They changed their name and Midnight Oil was formed. Current bassist Bones Hillman joined the group in 1989 during the Diesel And Dust tour.

By 1978 the Oils went from playing the rough seaside surf joints of Sydney's northern shores to playing for the rougher inner city punk clubs. Their aggressive style and dynamic live show (along with Garrett's unconventional vocal delivery) won them a cult following and led to widespread, year-long touring across the country. The band subsequently formed their own record label, releasing their self-titled debut in November of 1978.

The Oils have never been afraid to take a controversial stance, and their political preferences are well-known. Ten days after the release of their first album, they played a anti-uranium mining benefit. They never looked back, forever linking their art with their politics, activists at heart, championing causes and groups such as Greenpeace and Save The Whales. Formidable frontman Peter Garrett, tall and bald-pated, ran for election to the Australian Senate under the Nuclear Disarmament Party ticket in 1984, suffering a narrow defeat in the closely-contested race.

"Earth And Sun And Moon," the song, as well as the album, is an unbridled celebration of the human spirit. Recorded in Sydney on an analog deck to create a live sound, Earth And Sun And Moon brings a new perspective to the issues which the Oils hold so dear. Since the band's eye-opening 1986 tour of their homeland's aboriginal settlements (which in turn led to Diesel And Dust), witnessing for themselves the poverty, alcoholism and pain visited upon the land's native population by white settlers, they have incorporated a great deal of aboriginal influence into their work, expanding it to include the influence of indigenous peoples worldwide.

From the thick, multi-layered guitars ringing with a handful of static notes which begin the title cut to the reverent tribal chants which close it, the song documents our social losses even while creating a season of hope for our collective futures. "Now there's oil spills in the water where Columbus once sailed/And there's history and mystery and it's rolling away" sings Garrett of our fortunes. "Too messed up to care/Anyone got a wing and a prayer?" he asks passionately, tossing off "In the blink of an eye/Thank you and good night." The popish, flower-child harmonies of the chorus sing of better days, closing with "Earth and Sun and Moon/Human tribe, one thin blue line/Earth and Sun and Moon will survive, will survive, we will survive..."

"Truganini," the album's first single release, is the sad story of the last Tasmanian Aborigine, Truganini. The sole survivor of a military pacification and resettlement program which eerily parallels that directed towards our own Native Americans, she begged to be buried in the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. After her death in 1876, her remains were buried in a vault in the Hobart Penitentiary, to later be dug up and stored in an old apple crate. Crudely displayed in the Tasmanian Museum until 1947, the noble queen finally got her wish after 200 years of unrest as her remains were cremated and scattered on the channel. The Oils use her story as an allegory for how life treats us all, as well as a comment on racism which is all pervasive: "Blue collar work, it don't get you nowhere/You just go round and round in debt/Somebody's got you on the treadmill, mate/And I hope you're not beaten yet." The chorus closes the somber tune, "I hear much support for the monarchy/I see the Union Jack in flames, let it burn/I see Namatjira with dignity/I see Truganini's in chains."

It is the final cut, though, of Earth And Sun And Moon, "Now Or Never Land," which serves to frame the album's contents and define its lyrical stance. An activist call to arms, it showcases the band's commitment to its ideals and its view of our future. A musically sparse song, with throbbing bass lines and rhythmic percussion underlining Garrett's course, effective vocals, "Now Or Never Land" explains "I grew tall in this lucky land/And I thank god for that/But there's needles in the sand." Describing the economic and environmental waste which greed has created in his land and ours, Garrett nonetheless goes on to proclaim, "It's a rhythm of the sea/Lost island of hope/It's a rhythm of the sea/Who will discover you?"

It is this island of hope which Midnight Oil sings to, hoping against hope to help create. "Rises in rivers, in power of the sun/Rises in sea level, look out mammon's bastard son/Infidels are praying at the stock exchange/Chrome camels are crashing on the smooth terrain," sings Garrett, damning the fools who have destroyed our garden of Eden. As the band winds down, though, his vocals describe the utopia possible – if all of us work to make it so – "Dream a South Pacific dream of now or never land/Suitcase full of good ideas, history that's filled with tears/Kill nostalgia, xenophobic fears/It's now or never land..." Although other cuts on Earth And Sun And Moon may speak volumes, such as "My Country" and its questioning of the blind following of patriotism, to the bittersweet memories of "In The Valley," it is this simple, eloquent closing statement which stands as a powerful illustration of the Oils' music. It's "now or never," folks, to create the sort of land we want to live in.... (Columbia Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Earth And Sun And Moon from Amazon.com)

Van Morrison - Too Long In Exile (1993)

Like a fine wine, Van Morrison just keeps getting better with age. By the time that most rockers hit the half-century mark (if they survive that long), they've become absurdist parodies of themselves. Not so, Morrison, who has suffered battles with drink and defeated his own personal demons to become rock's true Poet Laureate. That he is an almost universally respected artist, beloved by young punks and old geezers alike, is a testimony to both his talent and his tenacity. Too Long In Exile is an excellent example of both.

Too Long In Exile is a masterpiece of Morrison's own unique fusion of rock, blues and jazz, with a top notch group of musicians (like keyboardist Georgie Fame and sax sensation Candy Dulfer) offering support and input. Through the years, much has been made of Morrison's vocals, and, truthfully, they have influenced everyone from Bruce Springsteen to Patti Smith and beyond. It is his songwriting that is the cornerstone of his reputation, however, his ability to spin tales as earthy as Ireland's green fields and as lofty as the heavens above. Too Long In Exile proves that the years have done nothing to diminish his songwriting abilities, even while showcasing the instrumental acumen of the band he has assembled.

"Big Time Operators" is a scathing damnation of the music biz, written, perhaps, with an autobiographical frame of reference. With Morrison offering a mournful, wailing guitar lead to match his hoarse, angry vocals, he belts out "they were glorified by the media, they were heroes who had names, they said that they would bury me, if I didn't play their game." He describes the sordid, dark side of the industry in a way that no investigative reporter ever could, never naming names, merely ending the cut with an enigmatic "baby, you know who I mean."

"Wasted Years," a duet with bluesman John Lee Hooker, offers the heartfelt regrets of two aging men looking back upon lost opportunities with an eye yet on the future, while Morrison's tender reading of poet W.B. Yeats' "Before The World Was Made" is an entirely appropriate interpretation of that work. It's evocation of the memories of a grieving lover seem to have been written for Morrison's sincere delivery: "And if I look upon you now, as though I have my view, with the earth beneath your feet, and heaven up above, would you think me cruel, after everything's been said, you're only looking for the face you had, before the world was made..."

Songs like "Till We Get The Healing Done" or the soulful "Ball & Chain," a love song which serves well Morrison's long-standing fascination with the subject matter, easily escape the cliches heaped upon such material by lesser artists. Cover tunes are carefully chosen, this disc's rendition of the Doc Pomus classic "Lonely Avenue" or Brook Benton's "I'll Take Care Of You" spotlighting Morrison's love of R & B. Skillfully crafted instrumentals, like "Close Enough For Jazz" or the unnamed piece leading into "Tell Me What You Want" offer a respite from the intensity of the songs surrounding them.

It is with the retelling of a hit from twenty-five years ago, "Gloria," that the Morrison magic, and the essence of his legend, shines through. Originally recorded in 1967, Morrison's band Them burst out of Belfast with what was to become a garage-band standard. This version, a duet with John Lee, moves a little slower, a bit more deliberately than the original. The years have passed, leaving their mark on both men. On the surface, yet another, more conservative remake of this classic song seems unnecessary; beneath the surface, however, a young man's pulse is racing and the passion spills out with each joyful singing of the familiar chorus, revitalizing both men. It is this power, this heart of the lion which separates the pretenders from the poets. This is the poetry of Van Morrison.... (Polydor Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy Too Long In Exile from Amazon.com)

Wayne Kramer - The Hard Stuff (1995)

The MC5 – with guitarist extraordinnaire Wayne Kramer – are one of those bands that has grown large in legend, receiving much more acclaim after their demise than they ever did during their brief artistic and commercial life span. As the cultural arm of the White Panther Party during the late-60s, the Detroit-based band mixed radical, "power-to-the-people" styled politics with crunching power chords and primordial metallic rock and roll. Along with fellow Motor City rockers Iggy & The Stooges, the MC5 did more to influence the punk rock revolution that would define the late-70s than any other band, save, perhaps, the New York Dolls.

Twenty-five years have passed and here is Kramer resurfacing with his solo debut disc. At a time when most forty-something artists from the '60s are totaling up their mutual fund yields and cranking out safe-as-milk reunion albums, Kramer's The Hard Stuff burns and scrapes like a shot of raw whiskey with a broken glass chaser. Recruiting an all-star team of punk rockers, including members of Rancid, Bad Religion, Clawhammer and the Melvins, Kramer shows that he can still run musical circles around the young 'uns.

Along with co-writer Mick Farren, Kramer has assembled eleven killer cuts for The Hard Stuff, with songs like "Edge Of The Switchblade," "Junkie Romance," "Incident On Stock Island" and "Crack In The Universe" brimming over with the sort of street poetry, colorful imagery and sheer attitude we haven't seen since Lou Reed's day in the sun. It's the music that truly sets The Hard Stuff apart, however, as Kramer's guitar screams, cries, moans and roars with a passion and a ferocity few players can even attempt, much less coax from their instruments. A quarter of a century may have passed since the MC5 broke up, but Kramer proves with The Hard Stuff that he can still kick out the jams. (Epitaph Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The Hard Stuff from Amazon.com)

Anti-Flag - For Blood And Empire (2006)

Since punk rockers are an argumentative bunch of boojies under any circumstances, I’m sure that the major label defection of indie hardcore stalwarts Anti-Flag has already been chewed over and spat out on dozens of chatrooms and message boards across the star-spangled ‘net. Maybe the Reverend is too old for this sort of hijinx, or maybe I just don’t give a damn. These ears honestly can’t hear much diff between For Blood And Empire, Anti-Flag’s controversial major label debut, and the three or four other AF CDs that rotate off my shelf and onto the music box from time to time. Let’s take a peak at some of AF’s new major label concerns, shall we? Anti-war? Check. Anti-racist? Check. Anti-corporate? Check. Anti-WTO, Big Media and social injustice? Check, check and checkmate.

The music on For Blood And Empire still blisters and peels, the guitars cut all the way down to the bone, and frontman Justin Sane’s vocals still spit out venomous lyrics with an admirable fury. Is Anti-Flag signing with Sony BMG to reach a wider audience with its radical agenda any different than Bad Religion releasing albums through WEA? I say that Justin and crew should grab the cash and hightail it back to Steeltown before the Germans running RCA wake up and realize what they’ve done. In the meantime, all you young punx relax…Anti-Flag still kicks ass and For Blood And Empire is the balls. The Reverend sez so…. (RCA Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy For Blood And Empire from Amazon.com)

Against All Authority - The Restoration Of Chaos & Order (2006)

While many of their ideological brethren have fled the punk-rock playground in search of corporate sponsorship, respectability and a pension plan, Against All Authority has done an admirable job of adhering to its D.I.Y. aesthetic. The Restoration Of Chaos & Order doesn’t break any new ground, lyrically or musically, but for Warped Tour kidz whose only exposure to radical politricks comes from The Daily Show, this should hit ‘em like a typhoon. The disc reveals just enough skankin’ riddims to soften the band’s hardcore punk sound a bit in the face of an unrelenting barrage of blistering guitars and throbbing basslines, every song displaying honest “rage against the machine.” AAA is unafraid to tackle issues like corporate greed, televised warfare, corrupt politics and the homogenization of punk with a righteous anger earned by a decade of living right, and a defiance that hasn’t budged an inch in over a decade. “We turn it up cause we like it loud,” indeed. (Hopeless Records) (Click on the CD cover to buy The Restoration Of Chaos & Order from Amazon.com)

Mardo - The New Gun (2006)

None of the current crop o’ revival kiddies trying to relive the boozy glory days of their grandparents can walk the ‘70s-styled cock-rock mambo line like the brothers Mardo. Weaned on mildew-crusted 45s by the likes of T-Rex, Slade, Sabbath and Zeppelin, the band’s self-titled debut was a brilliant bit o’ retro rock. With this second shot at overnite success, it seems like a committee of advisors, consultants, image-shapers and other ne’er-do-wells have chopped and screwed, flanged and wah-wah’d away the psyche-drenched booger-rock of Mardo’s debut in favor of a blatant grab at respectability. The money men behind the band smell a quick return on their investment and they’ve brought back producer Les Pierce to make sure that the boys play ball.

It’s the jazzman that fumbles the pill this time out, though, cleaning the band up a little too much, injecting bits-n-pieces of balladry where there should be strutting, funk where there should be mindless riffing, and jazzy licks where there should be, well…more mindless riffing. The New Gun has its moments, tunes like “Lolita Live & Learn” displaying the Mardo of yore, the guys showing more chops than a Kobe chef. Far too often, however, they’re reduced to merely mimicking Bon Scott and AC/DC, or worse yet, Bret Michaels and Poison. It may grab them some airplay, but it sure won’t get them any respect. Better luck next time, boys…. (House Of Restitution Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy The New Gun from Amazon.com)

Rebel Meets Rebel - Rebel Meets Rebel (2006)

The senseless death of metal giant “Dimebag” Darrell is all the more tragic considering that the talented guitarist had a lot of music left to share. The best example of this is Rebel Meets Rebel, a collaborative effort between Dimebag, his brother Vinnie Paul and outlaw country legend David Allen Coe. Growing up in Texas, the brothers were huge fans of Coe’s music, and somewhere along the Pantera/Damageplan road-to-ruin they had the pleasure of meeting their longtime idol. As musicians are often want to do, they agreed that they should get together sometime and write some songs. Mind you, these informal agreements seldom bear musical fruit, but in the case of these three madmen, they created the metallic twangfest that they called “Rebel Meets Rebel.”

With Coe supplying vocals and lyrics in front of a band that includes brother Vinnie blistering the skins, Dimebag delivering his typical scorched-earth six-string pyrotechnics and bassist Rex Brown holding down the bottom end, these songs kick serious ass! An unlikely mix of honky-tonk country, Southern-fried funk and uber shred-metal, this bastard hybrid actually works! The album’s inspired instrumentation reveals previously unseen facets of Darrell’s talents, the hard-rocking results both breathtaking and invigorating. This is muscular music that takes the best of its myriad influences and proceeds to knock down the house with a sonic fury, creating a fitting epitaph to the amazing career of the one-and-only Dimebag Darrell. R.I.P. (rock in peace) big guy! (Big Vin Records)

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