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 The profusely-illustrated book includes a number of previously-unpublished vintage photos of bands like R.E.M., U2, The B-52's, and Pylon from the collections of photographers Tony Frost and Terry Allen and the writing is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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Buzz Kuts: The Gadjits, Guided By Voices, Iggy Pop (1999)

Reviews originally published as a “Buzz Kuts” column, Alt.Culture.Guide™, September 1999

THE GADJITS
Wish We Never Met
Ska punks from Kansas? Although they may hail from the great American heartland, I’d challenge any reader to a blindfold taste test. Through this speaker we have your generic SoCal ska band blastin’ out attitude-ridden tunes about teen angst and getting laid. Out of this other speaker we have, well, ska songs about teen angst and getting laid. Although the grooves they’re laying down may sound like there’s sand between the notes, the Gadjits second Hellcat album, Wish We Never Met, forges its own path through the ska punk minefield. With occasionally whip-smart lyrics punctuated by a steady ska rhythm, Wish We Never Met differentiates itself from many of its California cousins by throwing in a little musical diversity. While songs like the sex fantasy “Manuhkin” or “Angel and A Devil,” an insightful look at drug abuse, showcase an intelligent lyrical slant, the ska undertones of Wish We Never Met are colored with shades of soulful R & B and a little classic pop influence. “Cleveland, Ohio” is a great song about being on the road while the album-closing “Jenny Jones” takes the talk show hostess and her colleagues to task for fucking around with the kids. Overall, the Gadjits grow enough musically with Wish We Never Met to keep things interesting without alienating any fans. It’s a good path to take and one that many ska punk outfits have gotten lost on during the past couple of years. (Hellcat Records)

GUIDED BY VOICES
Do the Collapse
Robert Pollard and his revolving Guided By Voices line-up have long enjoyed status as critic’s darlings, but have never found the edge that would allow them to break-out beyond their significant cult following and become true rock ‘n’ roll stars. Perhaps one of the alt-rock world’s best-known and least understood talents, Pollard defies expectations exactly because nobody really knows what to expect from the man. GBV has always been a vanity project, and where Pollard differs from his contemporaries is in age, outlook, and experience. Pollard possesses an enormous musical vocabulary, one that encompasses almost forty years of rock music. That he often deconstructs his influences and recreates them as his own is one of the facets of Pollard’s peculiar and unique artistic vision.
    Although the last couple of GBV albums displayed an artistic weariness, a new label and a new album – Do the Collapse – go a long way towards providing Pollard with some commercial attention to go along with the accolades. The most-accessible GBV album yet, the songs on Do the Collapse are fully formed pieces, not mere glimpses of ideas or outlines. Do the Collapse provides the best look at Pollard’s considerable talents since the acclaimed Bee Thousand, the songs full of life and energy, filled with charming melodies and lush instrumentation. Although cuts like “Dragons Awake!,” “Hold On Hope,” or “Wrecking Now” are scattered with Pollard’s often-times oblique and highly symbolic wordplay, they also show a maturity of imagery and execution that make them among the best he’s written. The pop/rock soundtrack that underlines the words is as adventuresome as it is familiar. Produced by Ric Ocasek, another artist who knows his way around a pop song, Do the Collapse is a vital, creative work and one that’s a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. (TVT Records)    

IGGY POP
Avenue B
One of the problems of being a cultural icon is that it becomes increasingly harder to fool the marks. So much has been said of the legend that is Iggy Pop – the violent stage antics with the Stooges, his self-destructive “Idiot” era, the Bowie years, movie stardom, MTV, and his rebirth as a buffed-up, iron humping metal master – it’s really difficult to separate fact from fiction, myth from missteps. Sitting, as we are, on the edge of the 21st century, nobody in their right mind could have predicted – not even ten years ago – that Iggy would be poised to begin his fifth decade in rock ‘n’ roll. Stranger still is that with the release of Avenue B, Iggy has transformed himself into some sort of beat poet. Huh?
    That’s right – Iggy fucking Pop, the godfather of punk and founding father of heavy metal, the guy that used to roll around bare-chested on a stage littered with broken glass and flagellate himself with the mike cord – has delivered an album that owes as much to Charlie Parker and Jack Kerouac as it does to “Louie Louie” and chaos theory. Surprisingly enough, though, Avenue B works. Iggy’s baritone vox have always had a smokey room quality to them, and some of his better songs over the years have been more spoken than sung. Avenue B offers up a few no-frills rock riffs, but the main course here is a beat-infused jazzy ambience aided by the instrumental skills of Medeski, Martin and Wood. The old Iggy energy and attitude is still here, as is Pop’s penchant for highly personal and introspective lyrics. Produced by Iggy’s old Motor City pal Don Was, Avenue B presents the artist in an entirely new light, a flattering and intelligent guise for a legend not quite ready to rest on his significant laurels. (Virgin Records)

Archive Review: Iggy Pop's Avenue B (1999)

One of the problems of being a cultural icon is that it becomes increasingly harder to fool the marks. So much has been said of the legend that is Iggy Pop – the violent stage antics with the Stooges, his self-destructive “Idiot” era, the Bowie years, movie stardom, MTV and his rebirth as a buffed-up, iron-humping metal master – it’s really difficult to separate fact from fiction, myth from missteps.

Sitting, as we are, on the edge of the 21st century, nobody in their right mind could have predicted – not even ten years ago – that Iggy would be poised to begin his fifth decade in rock ‘n’ roll. Stranger still is that with the release of Avenue B, Iggy has transformed himself into some sort of beat poet. Huh?

That’s right – Iggy fucking Pop, the godfather of punk and founding father of heavy metal, the guy that used to roll around bare-chested on a stage littered with broken glass and flagellate himself with the mike cord – has delivered an album that owes as much to Charlie Parker and Jack Kerouac as it does to “Louie Louie” and chaos theory. Surprisingly enough, though, Avenue B works. Iggy’s baritone vox have always had a smoky room quality to them, and some of his better songs over the years have been more spoken than sung.

Avenue B offers up a few no-frills rock riffs, but the main course here is a beat-infused jazzy ambience aided by the instrumental skills of Medeski, Martin and Wood. The old Iggy energy and attitude is still here, as is Pop’s penchant for highly personal and introspective lyrics. Produced by Iggy’s old Motor City pal Don Was, Avenue B presents the artist in an entirely new light, a flattering and intelligent guise for a legend not quite ready to rest on his significant laurels. (Virgin Records, released September 21, 1999)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 1999

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Iggy Pop’s Avenue B

Archive Review: Iggy & the Stooges' Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell (1999)

When Elektra Records dumped the Stooges way back in 1971, how could they have known that they had unleashed a literal Frankenstein’s monster of rock ‘n’ roll? Better than a quarter of a century has passed since Elektra released The Stooges and Fun House, and both albums remain happily in print, threatening another young rock generation with their uncompromising musical anarchy and seemingly boundless, chaotic energy. Throw in Columbia’s recent reissue of Raw Power, credited to Iggy & the Stooges and consisting of a reunited and expanded band, and you have three classic albums that, while not chalking up very impressive sales numbers upon their initial release, nonetheless remain among a handful of the most influential rock recordings ever made.

Credit in part is due to Iggy Pop, née Iggy Stooge. Perhaps the most enduring of rock’s legendary wildmen, Iggy’s cult of personality has propped up numerous artistic incarnations and is nearly thirty years old and still going strong. From metalheads to punk rockers, the amazing Iggy is the godfather of them all. This ever-growing fan base has led to an unbelievable number of album releases through the years – some legitimate and some not – that have seemingly shown Iggy, both solo and with the Stooges, in just about every light. There seems to be no end to Iggymania, though, as this release from England’s Snapper Music illustrates. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell is another retelling of the Stooges’ legend, and not a half-bad one at that. 

The material collected for Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell is strictly from the archives, i.e. of interest primarily to collectors and not the casual fan of Iggy or the Stooges. Assorted studio outtakes, a few live tracks, and some demo tapes, some of this been released before on other albums, while other tracks have circulated in the tape trading and bootleg communities. Since this stuff was dug out of the vaults, apparently without much post-production added to the tracks, the sound quality varies wildly, from muddy studio tracks to bright, tinny radio broadcasts.

There are some good performances here, though, including a brilliant studio take of “Cock In My Pocket,” an over-the-edge version of “Open Up and Bleed,” and a wonderful rehearsal take of “Johanna.” A live radio broadcast of “Raw Power,” although of mediocre sound quality, nonetheless sounds great when you turn it up loud, while the bonus tracks, “Tight Pants” and “Scene of the Crime” are an eerie musical foreshadowing of the British punk that would follow, all muscle and bad attitude. Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell may not win points for beauty or aesthetic quality, but for raw, primal rock ‘n’ roll energy and cheap thrills, it works pretty well. (Snapper Music, 1998)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 1999

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Iggy & the Stooges’ Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell

New Music Monthly: September 2019 Releases

We’re finishing up Q3 of 2019 and, from a business perspective, the label levees are about to open as they flood your local record store with new titles vying for your holiday sales attention. No matter, ’cause that means more great music for you and I, and September promises new tunes from folks like Chrissie Hynde, Black Star Riders, the Pixies, Iggy Pop, Opeth, Temples, and the almighty NRBQ, among many others! If you're a blues fan, you’ll rejoice over fresh albums by talents like Janiva Magness, Tad Robinson, Toronzo Cannon, and Rick Estrin and the Nightcats.

There’s honestly not nearly as many archival releases this month, but a whopping four-CD live box set from the Allman Brothers Band should scratch any fan’s itch. If you’re interesting in buying an album, just hit the ‘Buy!’ link to get it from Amazon.com...it’s just that damn easy! Your purchase puts valuable ‘store credit’ in the Reverend’s pocket that he’ll use to buy more music to write about in a never-ending loop of rock ‘n’ roll ecstasy!

SEPTEMBER 6
Allman Brothers Band - Fillmore West ’71 [4-CD box]   BUY!
Bat For Lashes - Lost Girl   BUY!
Black Star Riders - Another State of Grace   BUY!
Chrissie Hynde - Valva Bone Woe   BUY!
NRBQ - Turn On, Tune In   BUY!
Iggy Pop - Free   BUY!
Status Quo - Backbone   BUY!
Those Pretty Wrongs - Zed for Zulu [Luther Russell & Big Star’s Jody Stephens]   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 13
Devendra Banhart - Ma  BUY!
Janiva Magness - Change In the Weather   BUY!
Mike Patton & Jean-Claude Vannier - Corpse Flower   BUY!
Lee “Scratch” Perry - Rootz Reggae Dub   BUY!
The Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie   BUY!
Gruff Rhys - Pang!   BUY!
Tad Robinson - Real Street   BUY!
Leeroy Stagger - Strange Path   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 20
Toronzo Cannon - The Preacher, the Politician or the Pimp   BUY!
Bruce Cockburn - Crowing Ignites   BUY!
Rick Estrin & the Nightcats - Contemporary   BUY!
Fitz & the Tantrums - All the Feels   BUY!
Liam Gallagher - Why Me? Why Not   BUY!
Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender   BUY!
Keane - Cause and Effect   BUY!
Michael Schenker Fest - Revelation   BUY!

SEPTEMBER 27
Hellyeah - Welcome Home   BUY!
Opeth - In Cauda Venenum   BUY!
Steel Panther - Heavy Metal Rules   BUY!
Temples - Hot Motion   BUY!

Album of the Month: With Change In the Weather, Janiva Magness tackles the John Fogerty songbook. If ever there was a songwriter with a wealth of undeniably great songs, it’s Fogerty, and it will be pure pleasure hearing Magness – a former Blues Foundation “B.B. King Entertainer of the Year” award winner – bring her enormous talents and bluesy vocals to the riches of Fogerty’s material.

Archive Review: Iggy Pop's Instinct (1988)

Jimmy Osterberg was one of our childhood idols, you know. The levels of gratuitous, hormone-induced violence performed by even the meekest of adolescent males suffering through puberty during 1969 and ’70 were reflected in and, in some instances, given form by Osterberg a/k/a Iggy Pop. Through his chosen medium, rock ‘n’ roll, and his awesome vehicle, the Stooges, Pop preached the gospel of angst and alienation, singing with a madman’s fervor that appealed to the budding anarchist in all of us.

Iggy lived and breathed the auto-erotic ether of self-inflicted nihilism, nightly plunging through that white light/white heat wall-of-sound to swan dive, headfirst, into the gaping, toothy maw of Death. Painfully flagellating himself with the mike stand in a rite of passionate (un)holy penance; unflinchingly rolling, nearly-naked, across an onstage blanket of blood, feces, and jagged shards of glass; always pulling back at that final moment, never quite breaking through, collapsing in a pulpy heap of battered flesh to be carried offstage for another night’s attempt at destiny.

Unlike Jim Morrison, or even Janis Joplin – both peers of Iggy’s – Pop survived his frequent sojourns into the abyss, fading into late ‘70s obscurity until resurrected by the Thin White Duke to act as an elderly icon for a generation of young, would-be punks hell-bent on self-destruction. Nearly 20 years after the Stooges’ influential vinyl triptych of sonic style and three-chord artistry; after almost a dozen solo elpees which run the gamut from brilliant to brain-dead, Iggy is back with a new label and a new album, Instinct. Working for the first time with producer Bill Laswell (Material, Mick Jagger, Afrika Bambaata)…an odd couple matching if ever there was one…Iggy has put together a tougher-than-steel band led by the blitzkrieg six-string mastery of ex-Sex Pistol Steve Jones that comes mighty close to the aural purge-and-stomp abilities of the heyday Stooges.

Walking the thin line between punk power and metal overkill that he created, Iggy has returned with a saber-rattling fury, knocking down ten new numbers as only Pop could. Jones’ chainsaw guitar riffs compliment Iggy’s guttural vocals, which range from stark primal screams to smoky, lounge-lizard-styled dirges. The angst is still there, and the alienation is tempered by age and an often-cynical romanticism. Iggy may have grown older, but he’s gotten no softer…there’s life in the ol’ boy yet…and with albums like Instinct, Pop can and will influence an entirely new generation of youth looking for a little of that old search and destroy action while he still remains a rock ‘n’ roll idol for us jaded anachronisms. (A&M Records, released 1988)

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Iggy Pop’s Instinct

Review originally published by The Metro (Nashville), 1988

Record Store Day 2017 Preview

Record Store Day 2017 is a mere three weeks away, falling on Saturday, April 22nd this year. As usual, both independent and major labels are flooding the market with a bunch of slick, shiny (and high-priced) vinyl relics designed to separate record collectors from their hard-earned pesos.

We’d be remiss if we didn’t offer some sort of preview of the holiday, so after poring over the massive RSD17 release list, the Reverend has personally ‘curated’ the below listed discs as those most likely to tickle the itch of any That Devil Music reader. Remember – ‘round these parts, every day is “record store day”! Support your local independent music retailer…

The list below is organized alphabetically by artist, with the size of the release (one disc, two, etc) and the number of copies of each limited edition LP (5000x, etc) included.

• David Bowie – Cracked Actor (3xLP, 5000x)
Rhino Records dug deep into the vaults to find this previously unreleased live recording from David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs tour in September 1974. The album’s title comes from a 1975 BBC television documentary film that followed Bowie during his series of concerts in Los Angeles. Whereas the producers of the film used concert footage from the September 2nd, 1974 performance, Cracked Actor the album uses a recording from September 5th and was produced by Bowie before his death and mixed by Tony Visconti. The three-album vinyl set features etching on the sixth side.  

• R.L. Burnside – Long Distance Call (LP, 2500x)
Reissue of 1982 recordings made in Groningen, Netherlands by producer Leo Bruin (founder of Swingmaster Records) and originally released on CD stateside by Fat Possum in 2000 as Mississippi Hill Country Blues. A stunning solo performance by legendary bluesman R.L. Burnside – just the man and his guitar – this is the first time these eleven sides have been offered on vinyl in the U.S.

• Marianne Faithful – Rich Kid Blues (LP, 2000x)
Recorded in 1971 and originally released in the U.K. on CD by Diablo Records in 1998 (and again in 2003), Marianne Faithful’s Rich Kid Blues reunites the singer with producer Mike Leander, who had arranged and recorded much of Faithful’s 1960s-era material for the Decca Records label. A low-budget affair, the album offers Faithful’s haunting acoustic readings of folk-rock songs by artists like Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs, James Taylor, Sandy Denny, and Tim Hardin, among others. This is the first time on vinyl for Rich Kid Blues.

• Hawkwind – The Best of the United Artists Years: 1971-1974 (LP, 2500x)
There is certainly no lack of Hawkwind material to be found on the band’s early recordings and half-dozen (or more) compilation CDs that have been culled from the Hawk’s prolific and productive stint with United Artists Records circa 1971 to ’74. This eight-track LP offers up some of the best recordings from the psychedelic space-rock pioneers, including rare and alternative versions of songs from their studio albums like a live 1971 performance of the classic “Silver Machine” from the Roundhouse. This limited edition RSD release is pressed on swirl color vinyl and was manufactured by Pallas Group in Germany on audiophile-grade vinyl.

• Jimi Hendrix/Curtis Knight – Live At George’s Club 20 (2xLP, 3000x)
First legit vinyl release collecting raw live performances by the rock guitar great with bandleader Curtis Knight, recorded in December 1965 and January 1966, not long before Hendrix’s discovery by Animals bassist Chas Chandler. Live At George’s Club 20 offers up raucous R&B and blues covers of classic songs by Muddy Waters, Jimmy Reed, Ray Charles, and others. A lot of this material was previously released by dodgy fly-by-night labels through the years, usually by Knight himself, but this specially priced two-disc set is offered by Dagger Records, the official bootleg label created by the Hendrix estate and restored by producer Eddie Kramer to their original status. 

• Robert Johnson – The Complete Recordings: The Centennial Collection (3xLP, 2500x)
Delta blues legend Robert Johnson only made a total of 42 recordings during two sessions in 1936 and ’37, but they have been circulated endlessly over the past 50+ years, providing a blueprint for contemporary blues and blues-rock music. These influential, inspiring tracks have been recycled more than once, most recently on the centennial of Johnson’s birthday in 2011, when they were re-mastered and reissued on CD (and thumb drive!). This three-album limited edition set is drawn from those improved 2011 recordings and packaged in a deluxe gatefold jacket and includes extensive liner notes as well as a bonus poster with the original label artwork of Johnson’s 78rpm singles released in the 1930s and ‘40s by labels like Vocalion, Orion, Conqueror, and others. 

• Ken Kesey – The Acid Test (LP, 2000x)
Writer and ‘60s counterculture icon Ken Kesey was, perhaps, the best-known of the loose-knit group of friends called the Merry Pranksters whose experimentation with psychedelic drugs like LSD were immortalized in Tom Wolfe’s 1968 book The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. The 1966 album The Acid Trip was a private label release that was intended to recreate the vibe of an LSD trip for listeners. Allegedly Kesey, Ken Babbs, and other Merry Pranksters were tripping in the studio with members of the Grateful Dead and came up with this cultural curiosity, roughly 30 minutes of humorous spoken word, music parody, and rambling instrumental jams that probably made a lot of sense at the time.

• Motörhead – Clean Your Clock (2xLP, 1500x)

Lemmy may have left the planet in December 2015 but his music is eternal. Clean Your Clock is being billed as a ‘RSD exclusive’ but that’s stretching it a bit. Recorded live at the Zenith in Munich, Germany during Motörhead’s 2015 “Bad Magic Tour,” this performance was released on CD, DVD, and vinyl in 2016. This RSD release is a two-LP picture disc set, though, which is pretty cool in and of itself.

• Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression: Live at the Royal Albert Hall (3xLP, 1200x)
Prior to the great David Bowie’s death in January 2016, his friend and fellow rock ‘n’ roll legend Iggy Pop revisited the music the two of them had made back in the late ‘70s with a live performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Backed by a band that included Josh Homme and Dean Fertitia of Queens of the Stone Age and Arctic Monkeys’ drummer Matt Helders, Pop performed songs from albums like The Idiot and Lust For Life. This RSD ‘exclusive’ seems to be an expanded version of the 2016 CD and DVD release, packaged in a four-sleeve, book-style individually-numbered gatefold with a sixteen-page book featuring exclusive photos.

• Lou Reed – Perfect Night: Live In London (2xLP, 3000x)
A semi-acoustic live album recorded by Reed during the Meltdown ’97 festival in London, England and originally released on CD in 1998, Perfect Night gets its first vinyl reissue for Record Store Day. Reed performs a stellar set, including a version of the Velvet Underground’s “I’ll Be Your Mirror,” originally sung by Nico, as well as solo material like “Coney Island Baby,” “New Sensations,” and the awesome title track.

• John Sinclair – Mobile Homeland (LP, 1200x)
Blues artist, poet, political activist, and 1960s-era cultural hero John Sinclair released Mobile Homeland on CD in 2016, so this is essentially the vinyl reissue of the collection of Sinclair’s beat poems set to music and produced by Tino Gross at Funky D Records in Detroit.

• Sun Ra – Janus (LP, 2000x)
Reissue of space-jazz innovator Sun Ra’s 1999 compilation CD features recordings dating from 1963 to 1970 that includes both studio tracks and wild live performances. I haven’t heard this one, but informed sources tell the Reverend that while it’s not a great introduction to the almighty Mr. Ra, it’s a “must have” disc for the hardcore faithful.
 

• Peter Tosh – Legalize It! (LP, 2000x)
Vinyl reissue of reggae great Peter Tosh’s 1976 debut album features the former Wailers member’s awesome title track as well as songs like “Why Must I Cry” (written with Bob Marley) and the original “Ketchy Shuby.”

• John Trudell – AKA Graffiti Man (2xLP, 2000x)
Reissue of the American Indian activist and poet’s 1992 sophomore album features Trudell’s erudite spoken-word pieces set to a rock ‘n’ roll soundtrack with elements of indigenous folk music. Several songs were co-written by Jesse Ed Davis and tracks like “Rockin’ the Res,” “Baby Boom Che,” and the title song earned the artist a truckload of critical acclaim back in the wild ‘n’ wooly alternative 1990s.

• Towns Van Zandt – Live at Austin City Limits (LP, 2500x)
The late Texas-bred songwriting legend was inducted into the Austin City Limits ‘Hall of Fame’ in 2015 and this RSD exclusive release features Van Zandt’s 1976 appearance on the long-running TV show, performing country-tinged folk-blues songs like “Dollar Bill Blues,” “Talkin’ Karate Blues,” “The Ballad of Ira Hayes,” and “Fraternity Blues.” Highly recommended if you like eloquent songwriting and haunting solo performances.  

• Link Wray – Beans and Fatback (LP, 2400x)
Guitar great Link Wray is best-known for his enduring classic 1958 instrumental “Rumble,” which inspired a rash of U.K. fretburners like Eric Clapton, Peter Townshend, Jeff Beck, and Jimmy Page. By the late ‘60s, though, Wray was an afterthought in a market flush with blues-drenched rockers. Beans and Fatback, recorded at the same time as the guitarist’s self-titled 1971 “comeback” album, was released in 1973 to critical acclaim. A raucous collection of hard-rockin’, whiskey-soaked songs recorded in a chicken coup, the album led to the pairing of Wray and rockabilly revivalist Robert Gordon for a series of late ‘70s LPs.

Record Store Day 2017 also offers up a bunch of interesting 7” and 10” releases along with the above-listed full-length albums, including discs from Steve Earle, the Drive-By Truckers, the Old 97s, the Kinks, Patti Smith, the Zombies, and Sharon Jones & the Daptones, among many others. Check out the entire list on the Record Store Day website and get your pennies ready to spend on April 22nd!

Revisit Max’s Kansas City circa 1976

Originally located at 213 Park Avenue South in Manhattan, the legendary Max’s Kansas City was opened by owner Mickey Ruskin in December 1965. The restaurant and nightclub quickly became the NYC watering hole for the glitterati and from the late ‘60s through its initial closing in 1974, Max’s was the place to be seen for musicians, poets, and artists. The Velvet Underground were regular performers at Max’s and, during the early ‘70s, the club dove headfirst into the glam-rock scene, booking artists like David Bowie, Marc Bolan, the New York Dolls, and Lou Reed. But other legends like Bob Marley, Bruce Springsteen, and Aerosmith all delivered major performances on the Max’s stage.

After closing in December 1974, the club reopened a few months later with new management, including music director Peter Crowley. With an eye towards on the city’s burgeoning punk scene, Max’s Kansas City – along with the equally notorious CBGBs club – provided a stage for NYC’s homegrown sonic terrorists to hone their chops in the middle of the decade. Featuring a punk and alternative bands, Max’s II enjoyed a six-year run, the club closing in 1981. In 1976, Crowley compiled a studio album of artists best known for their association with the club, Max’s Kansas City 1976 featuring a tracklist that included Wayne County, the Fast, Cherry Vanilla, and the first recording by the duo of Alan Vega and Martin Rev a/k/a Suicide.

On May 5th, 2017 Jungle Records, distributed by the good folks at MVD Audio, will reissue that aforementioned album as Max’s Kansas City 1976 & Beyond as both a two-disc CD and vinyl LP. The set has been expanded to 40 tracks on the CD set and 25 tracks on vinyl, with new historical notes provided by writer and musician (and original Max’s patron) Jimi LaLumia, including biographies of the artists in a 20 page booklet. The expanded set allows for a greater representation of the artists who performed at Max’s, and along with the original tracks by Wayne County (whose “Max’s Kansas City” was the club’s unofficial theme song) and the others, you’ll find music by Philip Rambow, the New York Dolls, the Stilettos, Iggy Pop, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers, Nico, Sid Vicious, and Gang War (Wayne Kramer and Johnny Thunders) as well as additional tracks from Suicide, the Fast, and Wayne (later Jayne) County.

Max’s Kansas City 1976 & Beyond is an entertaining document of an exciting and influential era for rock music, where a whole new breed of artists shook up the status quo and broke down the barriers of what rock ‘n’ roll could accomplish. The new expanded tracklist for Max’s Kansas City 1976 & Beyond is shown below along with a link to purchase this important relic of punk rock history.

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Max’s Kansas City 1976 & Beyond

Disc One
1. Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys – “Max’s Kansas City”
2. The Fast – “Boys Will Be Boys”
3. Harry Toledo – “Knots”
4. Cherry Vanilla and her Staten Island Band – “Shake Your Ashes”
5. Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys – “Cream In My Jeans”
6. The Fast – “Wow Pow Bash Crash”
7. Wayne County and the Backstreet Boys – “Flip Your Wig”
8. John Collins Band – “The Man In Me”
9. Suicide – “Rocket U.S.A.”
10. The Fast – “Kids Just Wanna Dance”
11. Philip Rambow – “Night Out”
12. Suicide – “Ghost Rider”
13. New York Dolls – “Bad Girl”
14. The Stilettos – “Pink Stilettos”
15. The Knots – “Heartbreaker”
16. The Senders – “6th Street”
17. Jimi Lalumia & the Psychotic Frogs – “Death To Disco”
18. The Brats – “First Rock Star on the Moon”
19. The Offs – “You Fascinate Me”
20. The Terrorists – “Riis Park”
21. Roland Alphonso & the Terrorists – “Sax Skandal”

Disc Two
1. Von LMO – “This Is Pop Rock”
2. Fast Floyd & the Famous Firebirds – “Frogs Legs”
3. Cellmates – “Everybody Wants”
4. Science – “Twisco”
5. BMTs – “Clothes & Alchohol”
6. Keiran Liscoe & the Attitude – “Hello St. Vincents”
7. Jayne County – “Max’s Kansas City, Parts 1 & 2”
8. Freddy Frogs – “Days On Earth”
9. Joy Ryder – “Johnny Was A Fireman”
10. Sea Monster – “Halloween In Detroit”
11. Ruby & the Rednecks – “Ruby From The Wrong Side of Town”
12. Joey Kelly Allstars – “Amanda”
13. Philippe Marcade – “All Quite Wasted”
14. Jayne County – “Max’s Kansas City (reprise)”
15. Iggy Pop – “Rock Action” [live]
16. Nico – “Saeta” [live]
17. Gang War – “These Boots Are Made For Walking” [live]
18. Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers – “M.I.A.” [live]
19. Sid Vicious & the Idols – “Take A Chance” [live]

Fossils: Iggy and the Stooges' Raw Power (1973)

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Iggy and the Stooges – Raw Power

The early 1970s was a tumultuous time for Iggy Pop and the (Psychedelic) Stooges. While the band had released a pair of critically-acclaimed albums in The Stooges (1969) and Fun House (1970) that would eventually become two of the most influential and iconic albums in rock music history. Both albums were deemed commercial busts, though, and the band couldn’t get arrested even in their Motor City hometown. As the various members drifted into hardcore substance abuse, Iggy tried to keep the band afloat by juggling the line-up and adding underrated guitarist James Williamson, but it looked as if the Stooges were about to become mere rock ‘n’ roll footnotes when an unexpected savior stepped in to put the band on the road to immortality.

A chance meeting in 1972 between Iggy Pop and David Bowie would lead to the British glam-rock star taking the wheel of the badly listing Stooges ship of state and, temporarily at least, setting the band on a straight course. Bowie’s manager took on the band, and the singer – who was at the height of his Ziggy Stardust era fame – took the band into the studio to record their important, groundbreaking third album. Released in 1973, Raw Power would ultimately provide a template for young punks around the world to follow just a couple years later, and songs like “Search and Destroy,” “Gimme Danger,” “Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell,” and the high-octane title track would inspire a several subsequent generations of young, loud, and snotty rockers.

The Columbia Records ad for the album featured the iconic photo of a young Iggy Stooge strangling the microphone alongside influential quotes from Creem magazine’s Dave Marsh and Rolling Stone’s Lenny Kaye (future Patti Smith Band guitarist)…simple, but effective, conveying both the band’s sense of danger (now billed as “Iggy and the Stooges”) and the energetic nature of the music to be found in the grooves.

Iggy Pop’s Rare & Unreleased Psychophonic Medicine Box

There’s no denying that Iggy Pop is one of the true, bona fide legends in rock music. From his time fronting groundbreaking Detroit noise terrorists the Stooges, and through five decades and counting of an influential solo career, there are few rockers that have made a bigger splash in the R&R gene pool than the Igster.

Amazingly, even after some sixteen authorized solo albums and, at a minimum, an equal number of album releases of, ah…shall we say, “dodgy” provenance…there’s still some fuel in the tank in the way of unheard Iggy Pop recordings. On June 23rd, 2015 the good folks at Cleopatra Records will release Psychophonic Medicine, a three-CD box set comprised of a wealth of rare and unreleased Iggy sides that concentrate on the singer’s vital late 1970s/early ‘80s solo years.

Iggy’s Psychophonic Medicine includes a disc of previously-unreleased studio outtakes and alternate takes from his albums The Idiot (1977) and the vastly underrated Party (1981). The disc includes a pair of songs that have never shown up on any Iggy compilation, anywhere, at anytime – “It’s My Life,” taken from the sessions for Party and “Warm Feelings,” from demo sessions recorded with Steve Jones. The disc offers several songs from the 1985 Jones sessions as well as three songs circa 1983 which were recorded by Ric Ocasek of the Cars.

The other two CDs included with Psychophonic Medicine feature a pair of incendiary live performances. Disc two offers Iggy’s Paris Palace show from 1979 for the first time on CD, a dozen red-hot primal screams that include performances of faves like “Cock In My Pocket,” “I Wanna Be Your Dog,” “Kill City” and, of course, “Louie Louie.” Disc three offers Iggy’s often-bootlegged (and appropriately notorious) San Francisco 1981 show, mastered from a newly-discover (and vastly-improved) audio source. That concert performance included such fan favorites as “Lust For Life,” “1969,” and “TV Eye,” a baker’s dozen songs in toto.

Psychophonic Medicine includes a 36-page color booklet featuring rare photos from the archives of longtime Stooges photographer and biographer Robert Matheu, who also wrote the box set’s liner notes. Each of the set’s three discs is packaged in an individual wallet sleeve, and the set includes a bonus track of Iggy’s duet with Bethany Cosentino of Best Coast that was featured on HBO’s True Blood show. Iggy fans, you’re going to want to grab this one up fast ‘cause these sorts of collectors’ wet dreams tend to disappear from the shelves in the blink of a bloodshot eye!

Buy the CD set from Amazon.com: Iggy Pop's Psychophonic Medicine box

Iggy Pop’s Big 7” Box

Well, this is certainly a cool little collectible for the faithful…on May 27, 2014 Cleopatra Records will release Gimme Some Skin, a special Iggy Pop 7” box set in a limited-edition of 1,000. The set will include seven individual 7” vinyl records that feature exclusive new tracks along with classic Stooges songs circa 1972-73.

The 45rpm records come packaged with a color booklet with in-depth liner notes, a custom 7” record adaptor, and a collectible patch. Here’s the complete tracklist for this one-of-a-kind Iggy fan’s wet dream, which is currently selling for $47.99 on Amazon:

1. “I Can’t Explain” b/w “Lonely Boy”
2. “Cock In My Pocket” b/w “Tight Pants”
3. “I Got A Right” b/w “White Christmas (Guitar Stooge Mix)”
4. “Money (That’s What I Want)” b/w “Open Up and Bleed” (single edit)
5. “I Wanna Be Your Dog” (fast version) b/w “Johanna”
6. “Gimme Some Skin” b/w “I’m So Glad”
7. “Louie Louie” / “Scene of the Crime”

Get it from Amazon.com: Gimme Some Skin - The 7inch Collection