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...

The View On Pop Culture: Joey Ramone, The Chemical Brothers, Da Capo Best Music Writing 2001 (2002)

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After the 1996 break-up of punk icons the Ramones, the band’s frontman and teen idol Joey Ramone worked sporadically on a solo album for several years. Uncompleted at the time of his death last Easter from cancer, Ramone’s long-awaited solo bow has been wrapped-up by producer, guitarist and long-time compatriot Daniel Rey, and is being released in time for the Ramones’ induction to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame in March. Ironically titled Don’t Worry About Me (Sanctuary Records), the album is a fitting tribute to an enormous talent.

With a band that includes Rey, the Dictators’ Andy Shernoff, Frankie Funaro of the Del-Lords, and former bandmate Marky Ramone, Joey has delivered the perfect pop masterpiece that he’s wanted to create his entire career. The album opens with a strong affirmation of life over death, Ramone masterfully providing the Louis Armstrong classic “What A Wonderful World” with new meaning and power. From the funny schoolboy crush of “Maria Bartiromo” to an inspired cover of the Stooges’ “1969,” Don’t Worry About Me offers up the same sort of bubblegum punk and hard rock that was the trademark of Ramones’ former band. Joey’s imperfect vocals remain infectiously friendly, his simple lyrics concealing the depth of thought behind them.

Joey speaks openly of his disease only once, with “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up),” a powerful song of defiance and hope. The album closes with the title track, fittingly an old-fashioned love song. In his heart, Joey was always a mark for pop music, a rabid record collector with a fondness for bubblegum pop and sixties garage rock. With Don’t Worry About Me, Ramone reaffirms his love for the music that gave his life meaning. Joey brings the same sort of passion and fire to this wonderful collection of songs that he did to that first Ramones album better than twenty-five years ago. Joey Ramone leaves a magnificent recorded legacy, one that will continue to reach new fans when today’s hypermarketed artists have fallen by the wayside.
 
It was just a couple of summers ago that the major label “five families” tried to cram electronica – a dance music that blends big beats and driving electronic rhythms – down our throats, failing miserably in their attempt to create a new (and lucrative) musical trend to exploit. If they had been smart, they would have waited for the cream to rise to the top of the fledgling scene, creating mainstream stars in the process. Since the summer of ‘99, several electronica-oriented artists and deejays, most notably Daft Punk, Fatboy Slim, and the Chemical Brothers, have become dance-floor royalty, selling oodles of CDs, appearing in teevee commercials and generally appealing to a mainstream audience in a way that the previous hype could never have accomplished.

Back in the mid-nineties, the duo of Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons were the hottest deejays on the U.K. club scene. After a handful of albums, the pair – known as the Chemical Brothers – remain cult favorites in the states even as they consistently go top ten in their homeland. With the release of Come With Us (Astralwerks Records), though, the Chemical Brothers are poised on the brink of a major breakthrough stateside. Fueled by the high-energy dancefloor hit “It Began In Afrika,” the album mixes acid-house and techno dance music with elements of hip-hop and funk, the duo then delivering their monster beats with an undeniable rock aesthetic.

The result is an electrifying collection of tunes on Come With Us that punch you directly between the ears while forcing even the most hidebound rocker to move their feet to the rhythm. I suspect that tracks like “Galaxy Bounce,” “The State We’re In” with vocalist Beth Orton, “Star Guitar” and “The Test,” featuring vocals by Richard Ashcroft of the Verve, will all get a lot of play in clubs during the months to come. My guess is that the Chemical Brothers’ Come With Us is certain to become the dance-floor soundtrack for the summer of ‘02.

Music journalism ain’t rocket science, folks, and not even quantum physics offers as many possibilities as does the wide world of music. When rock criticism hits the bull’s eye, however, it provides the reader with valuable insight into the artist’s psyche, the musician’s methodology and the style’s sensibilities. For several seasons now, Ben Schafer of Da Capo Press has worked with various “guest editors” to compile an annual collection of the year’s best writing on the various aspects of music – popular and otherwise – culled from newspapers, magazines and web sites. This year, with the help of novelist Nick Hornby (author of High Fidelity), the pair have put together a stellar representation of music writing for Da Capo Best Music Writing 2001 (Da Capo Press).

Some of the names represented in Da Capo Best Music Writing 2001 are familiar, and Richard Meltzer remembering a young Cameron Crowe, Anthony DeCurtis on Johnny Cash, and Greil Marcus writing about the distaff punk trio Sleater-Kinney do not disappoint. It’s the writers that you don’t know that deliver the real thrills herein, though, such as Carly Carioli’s excellent reporting on the Napster phenomena or Monica Kendrick’s piece on the Stooges’ Fun House Sessions CD collection. “The Rock Snob’s Dictionary” is a brilliant piece of satire and a valuable guide to rock ‘n’ roll exotica while observations by Charles Mann and Nick Tosches on the record biz are entertaining and informative. If you enjoy music of any style and want to gain a greater knowledge and understanding of the musician’s craft, look no further than this indispensable annual collection. (The View On Pop Culture, February 2002)

Various Artists - Sun City [w/Little Steven, Afrika Bambaata, Bob Dylan, George Clinton, Peter Gabriel, Joey Ramone & more!] (1985)

U.S.A. For Africa, Live Aid, Farm Aid and similar fund-raising efforts illustrate a recent return and growth of social consciousness in rock music. The Sun City project is a blatant politicization of this consciousness, an open and above-board call to arms against South Africa’s abhorrent official policy of racial segregation and oppression known as apartheid. In support of this project, founder Little Steven Van Zandt, ex-guitarist for Springsteen’s E Street Band, collected the combined efforts of over 50 artists in the creation of the Sun City album.

Artists United Against Apartheid is the name taken by these artists, and it includes some big league talent: among others, Sun City features the contributions of Afrika Bambaata, Pat Benatar, Bono of U2, Bob Dylan, George Clinton, Miles Davis, Peter Gabriel, Joey Ramone, Lou Reed, Herbie Hancock, Gil Scott-Heron, Peter Townshend, and the ‘Boss’ himself, Bruce Springsteen. The result is no feeble entertainment all-star sing-a-long … Sun City is not only an important social statement (perhaps the most important of the decades to date), it is an inspired use of talents and abilities. Both Van Zandt and co-produced Arthur Baker are old pros in the studio, and they use the collected entourage to its fullest.

The six songs on Sun City (including two versions of the title cut) are intelligent and exciting, stylistically ranging from the rocking title track to the Afrikan instrumentation of “The Struggle Continues” to the rap/spoken word “Let Me See Your I.D.” The most chilling moment of Sun City, though, is a song that no lyricist could write the words for: “Revolutionary Situation” is a collection of scraps from speeches from both sides of the issue set to a musical backing. Listening to the point/counterpoint from Bishop Tutu, Ronnie Reagan, South African Prime Minster Botha, and unnamed protesters underlines the relevance and controversy of this struggle.

All artist royalties from Sun City go to the Africa Fund, a non-profit organization working towards freedom and equality for South Africa’s 20 million blacks. (Manhattan Records, 1985)

Review originally published by The Metro, November 1985

Buy the CD from Amazon: Artists United Against Apartheid’s Sun City

(Editor’s note, 2022: The Sun City album and single raised more than a million U.S. dollars for anti-apartheid projects, and inspired other musicians (notably Johnny Clegg) to create their own local organizations. Apartheid would come to an end in 1994 when former state prisoner Nelson Mandela was elected president of South African and his African National Congress (ANC) party won 60% of the seats in the legislature.)

The View On Pop Culture: George Harrison, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, "Hullabaloo", Joey Ramone, Argyle Bell (2001)

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Who could have imagined that, thirty years after their demise, the Beatles would again rule the pop charts as they did at the end of the year? Sure, a lot of old geezers bought the greatest hits compilation Beatles 1 (Capitol Records), but a younger generation – one weaned on pop music – has embraced the Fab Four as another boy band. If the young ‘uns want to hear some real pop gems they should look no further than All Things Must Pass (Capitol Records). George Harrison was an integral part of the Beatles’ overall sound, his skilled lead and slide guitar work creating strong roots for Lennon and McCarthy to build their songs upon. Harrison’s classic 1970 solo album, reissued as a two-CD boxed set, includes bonus tracks and a booklet with liner notes, lyrics and photos. Harrison’s songwriting prowess, largely untapped by the Beatles, led to hits from All Things Must Pass in “My Sweet Lord” and “What Is Life.” Other stand out tracks, such as the lush “Beware of Darkness” or the lovely “If Not For You” are memorable songs as well, contributing to Harrison’s success as the first solo star of the famed Liverpool foursome.
   
There’s been a lot of hype surrounding the self-titled debut from the Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (Virgin Records), and for good reason – the album kicks tail! Taking their name from Marlon Brando’s gang in the film The Wild Ones, B.R.M.C. offer a vintage rock sound that’s long on fuzz, feedback and obscured vocals. Cuts like “Love Burns” or “Whatever Happened To My Rock ‘N’ Roll” sizzle and burn like an open flame, drawing comparisons to English bands such as the Jesus & Mary Chain or Stone Roses. To these ears B.R.M.C. remind me instead of the sort of garage bands found on Lenny Kaye’s Nuggets compilation. There’s the same passion, the amateurish raw talent and the reckless abandon that often creates great music. The lush, wall-of-sound production provided Black Rebel Motorcycle Club overwhelms the senses, the album a multi-layered and finely textured mixture of raging guitars, primal rhythms and oblique lyrics. A solid debut disc that will peel the paint from your walls, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club is a band worth keeping an eye on.   

Long before MTV or VH-1 or network specials by Garth and Britney, music on television was represented by shows like American Bandstand and Hullabaloo, which offered a variety of musical styles performed in a studio setting. The recent release of Hullabaloo, Volume 1-4 on video and DVD (MPI Home Video) is a godsend for music lovers. The digitally remastered DVD volume includes seven complete shows from 1965 and 1966, hosted by folks like Beatles manager Brian Epstein, actor Michael Landon and singers Trini Lopez, Gary Lewis and Sammy Davis Jr. The musical performances rise above the often absurd studio backdrop, with talents such as the Sir Douglas Quartet, the Byrds, Johnny Rivers, the Yardbirds, Chuck Berry, Sonny & Cher and almost two dozen others delivering their own unique brand of music. There are almost four hours of musical performances here and whether in black & white or NBC’s glorious Technicolor, Hullabaloo, Volume 1-4 provides a glimpse through the looking glass to a time past but not forgotten.       
        
Two men died over Easter weekend, one well known in the music world and the other more of a “behind-the-scenes” kind of guy. Both musicians were approximately the same age and although their careers varied greatly, both shared a love of music that defined them as artists and individuals. Joey Ramone was one of the true grandfathers of punk music, known the world over as lead singer and songwriter for the Ramones. A giant in pop culture, Ramone fronted his band for almost a quarter-century, their live shows legendary for their speed and fury. I can’t imagine punk bands like Green Day, Rancid, the Queers, Boris the Sprinkler, and others existing without the humor and simple honesty found in the music of the Ramones.

Argyle Bell was not as well known, but was no less well loved in his small world. A fixture on the Nashville music scene for almost twenty years, Bell was a talented musician and producer and an early supporter of many artists who would go onto varying degrees of success. Bell could always be found in the bars and honky tonks that serve as both a training ground and final stop for country and rock talent in the town, offering advice and support. He organized several star-studded charity tributes to musical idols such as Gram Parsons and he traveled often to Ireland and was instrumental in bringing Celtic music to Nashville audiences. His life touched many in the Music City and he could count artists such as John Prine, Vince Gill, and bluegrass picker Peter Rowan among his friends. In a cultural era of plastic pop stars and corporate modern rock, both men were true originals…and both will be missed. Rest in peace, guys. (View From The Hill, April 2001)

Archive Review: Joey Ramone's Don't Worry About Me (2002)

After the 1996 break-up of punk icons the Ramones, the band’s frontman and teen idol Joey Ramone worked sporadically on a solo album for several years. Uncompleted at the time of his death last Easter from cancer, Ramone’s long-awaited solo bow has been wrapped-up by producer, guitarist and long-time compatriot Daniel Rey, and is being released in time for the Ramones’ induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in March. Ironically titled Don’t Worry About Me, the album is a fitting tribute to an enormous talent.

With a band that includes Rey, the Dictators’ Andy Shernoff, Frankie Funaro of the Del Lords and former bandmate Marky Ramone, Joey has delivered the perfect pop masterpiece that he’s wanted to create his entire career. The album opens with a strong affirmation of life over death, Ramone masterfully providing the Louis Armstrong classic “What A Wonderful World” with new meaning and power. From the funny schoolboy crush of “Maria Bartiromo” to an inspired cover of the Stooges’ “1969,” Don’t Worry About Me offers up the same sort of bubblegum punk and hard rock that was the trademark of Ramones’ former band. Joey’s imperfect vocals remain infectiously friendly, his simple lyrics concealing the depth of thought behind them.

Joey speaks openly of his disease only once, with “I Got Knocked Down (But I’ll Get Up),” a powerful song of defiance and hope. The album closes with the title track, fittingly an old-fashioned love song. In his heart, Joey was always a mark for pop music, a rabid record collector with a fondness for bubblegum pop and sixties garage rock. With Don’t Worry About Me, Ramone reaffirms his love for the music that gave his life meaning. Joey brings the same sort of passion and fire to this wonderful collection of songs that he did to that first Ramones album better than twenty-five years ago. Joey Ramone leaves a magnificent recorded legacy, one that will continue to reach new fans when today’s hyper-marketed artists have fallen by the wayside. (Sanctuary Records, released 2002)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2002

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Joey Ramone’s Don't Worry About Me

 

Archive Review: Amy Rigby’s Little Fugitive (2005)

Thanks to Little Steven’s addition of “Dancing with Joey Ramone” to the playlist of his weekly Underground Garage syndicated radio program, Amy Rigby has probably received more airplay for her fifth album than she has for her first four combined. Van Zandt has always had a good ear for ‘the song,’ and his inclusion of Rigby’s catchy pop-rocker is as much for the song’s killer hook and clever wordplay as for its subject matter.

Amy Rigby’s Little Fugitive

Weaving song titles like “Be My Baby,” “Gloria” and “Needles & Pins” into her fantasy of dancing with the rock ‘n’ roll hall of famer, Rigby delivers her vocals with vintage girl-group glee, the song’s infectious melody standing up to repeated listens. I know, ‘cause I’ve spun the song several dozen times and haven’t gotten tired of the damn thing yet. In “Dancing with Joey Ramone,” Amy Rigby has written the perfect tribute to rabid record collector Ramone and I have no doubt that somewhere in rock ‘n’ roll heaven, my pal Joey is dancing along with Amy.

One would think that a song as inherently cool as “Dancing With Joey Ramone” would dominate an album, overshadowing the other material, but that just ain’t so here. Little Fugitive is a solid effort from a veteran performer, brimming over with great songs. Rigby writes songs like a Renaissance master, her musical palette swimming with shades of pop, rock, folk and even a touch of psychedelia. Rigby’s highly-personalized lyrics offer a mirror to her soul, and it seems that sometimes she even surprises herself with the resulting reflection. In the defiant “Rasputin,” Rigby takes stock of her life and compares her resilience to that of the infamous Russian mystic.

On “The Trouble with Jeanie,” she obviously wants to dismiss her husband’s ex-wife except for the fact that the woman is “so nice” that it’s hard to dislike her. “So You Know Now” is a direct throwback to ‘60s psych-pop, Rigby’s sultry vocals simply hypnotic above the swirling, chaotic instrumentation. “Needy Men” sounds like a movie moment, one of those Brill Building tunes with a bright sunny melody and deceptively cynical lyrics. Lenny Kaye’s excellent “The Things You Leave Behind” is provided a magical reading, Rigby’s charming vocals matched with a middle-aged weariness that jaded young artists, for all their alleged “worldliness,” have yet to discover.

The Reverend’s Bottom Line

Woven throughout Little Fugitive are the little insights that often escape lesser wordsmiths. Rigby’s talent is in taking the mundane realities of daily life and recognizing the humor, the sadness, the irony and the joy in each little moment. Paired with an unerring artistic sense that makes the best use of 50+ years of popular music as a foundation, Rigby delivers songs that are emotional, invigorating and intelligent in a way that is far too often missing from the radio these days.

In a perfect world, “Dancing With Joey Ramone” would be blaring from the airwaves of every pop-oriented radio station in America. As it is we’ll merely have to thank Steve Van Zandt for his recognition of excellence and be satisfied that, in this day and age, a talent the caliber of Amy Rigby can still find an appreciative and supportive ear now and then. (Signature Sounds, released August 23, 2005)

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2005

Buy the CD from Amazon.com: Amy Rigby’s Little Fugitive

Archive Review: Live at Continental, Best of NYC (2005)

In honor of the closing of the infamous East Village music venue Continental, we’re republishing this vintage album review from the Rev’s archives. For more info on the legendary NYC club, check out Eric Davidson’s article at the Rock and Roll Globe.

Every city in America with any music scene at all has a rock ‘n’ roll club of some notoriety. In Nashville, it was Cantrell’s, the legendary late ‘80s dive that hosted bands like Black Flag, the Replacements, and the Gun Club as well as serving as home base for the Music City’s growing rock music scene. In Detroit circa 1980, the club du jour was the New Miami over in the Cass Corridor, where rich kids from Grosse Point would go slumming alongside rockers, fighting rats for their beer while watching Motor City bands like Flirt, Destroy All Monsters, and the Mutants. As for New York City, well, there are too damn many clubs to consider, from the infamous CBGB’s and Max’s Kansas City of the ‘70s to the late ‘90s hub of New York/New Jersey culture, the East Village’s Continental.

Continental opened in 1991 on Third Avenue in the East Village, a rather smallish club holding around 300 people. Club owner Trigger opened Continental with the idea of having a venue for local talent to get off the ground, a place for NYC bands to gather, swap ideas and create great music. Continental soon attracted some of the scene’s heavy hitters, with folks like Joey Ramone, “Handsome” Dick Manitoba and Adny Shernoff of the Dictators, and Blondie’s Debbie Harry hanging out at the club, hosting shows and generally supporting the scene. During the almost decade and a half of the club’s existence, local talents have graced the Continental stage alongside national artists like Green Day, Patti Smith, Iggy Pop, and Guns ‘N’ Roses.

A few years back, Trigger decided to document the music scene that had grown up around Continental and brought in the Rolling Stones Mobile Unit to capture a week’s worth of performances in the club with the idea of releasing the recordings as a live CD. Those performances, along with various live recordings from the club through the years, make up Live at Continental, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2. If you’ve ever had a fondness for NYC rock, and this scribe does, you absolutely, positively need these two records. Joey Ramone, Cheetah Chrome, Lenny Kaye, the Ramainz (Dee Dee and Marky Ramone), Murphy’s Law, and the Bouncing Souls are among the many artists gracing these two discs, delivering live performances you won’t find anywhere else.

Live at Continental, Vol. I kicks off with a slice of NYHC courtesy of Agnostic Front, followed quickly by Jesse Malin’s Bellvue, whose “Faded Flowers” sounds like an inspired cross between Jim Carroll and the Jayhawks. The Bouncing Souls deliver their “Quick Check Girl” with the usual reckless abandon and solid punk rock fervor. Other highlights of the first disc include Cheetah Chrome kicking out the jams on the Dead Boys’ “Sonic Reducer” with “Handsome” Dick on vocals; the Cro-Mags’ blistering hardcore rant “Street Justice” and Joey Ramone’s reading of “I Wanna Be Sedated,” which lights up the record with its spirit and energy.

Lenny Kaye, best known as Patti Smith’s guitarist, is an artist of considerable talent in his own right, delivering the dark, somber “Going Local.” Among the few bands here that I was unfamiliar with, Heap’s “Puerto Rican Girl” is a red-hot rocker and Furious George’s “I Am the King” is a punky rave-up. The vastly underrated H2O smacks down the crowd with its “Liberate” while LE.S. Stitches, Lunachicks, and Murphy’s Law crank out fine variations on a punk rock theme. Dee Dee Ramone and Marky Ramone are joined by Barbara Zampini in possibly the coolest cover band ever, the Ramainz running through a faithful reading of “Cretin Hop.”

Live at Continental, Vol. II features many of the same artists found on the first disc, with Bellvue, the Bouncing Souls, Cheetah Chrome, Joey Ramone, H2O, the Ramainz, Lunachicks, and Murphy’s Law cranking out dynamic live performances for the Continental crowd. Bellvue’s “Money Runner” drones like the Pixies and hits with the power of a hundred ‘80s college rock bands while Cheetah Chrome’s “Love Song” leaves scorched earth in its wake behind Chrome’s incendiary guitarwork. Joey Ramone’s “Blitzkrieg Bop” and the Ramainz “Commando” illustrate the longevity and power of the Ramones’ legacy. H2O kicks serious ass with “Empty Pockets,” an anti-poverty screed that will make your ears bleed while the raucous Murphy’s Law classic “Somebody’s Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonight)” will certainly satisfy your hardcore Jones.

The second volume also offers a number of performances by lesser known (to audiences outside of NYC) artists such as Battershell, Independents, Stab City, Blisster, Gutter Girl, and Harley’s War. Battershell vocalist/guitarist Tammy Lynn sounds like a cross between Karen O and Wendy O Williams on “Shower Song,” the hard-edged pop song spiraling out of control into a cacophonous clash of instrumentation and attitude. Gutter Girl’s “Crazy Chicken” hits your ears with all the subtlety of a jackhammer while Harley’s War, fronted by the Cro-Mags’ Haley Flanagan, serves up the powerful “Steal My Crown,” a minimalist dirge punctuated by hard riffs and explosive rhythms. Blisster offers up guitar-driven pop/rock with a razor-sharp, punkish edge and Independents’ “Vampires From Outer Space” evokes memories of the Misfits with three-chord recklessness and B-movie soundtrack lyrics.

Other Big Apple bands featured on Live at Continental, Vol. I and Vol. II include Honky Toast, the Waldos, Toilet Boys, the Voluptous Horror Of Karen Black, Vasquez, Superthrive, Simi, Helldorado, Frankenorange, Bottom, the Bullys, Sea Monster, Suicide King, Candy Ass, and the David Ellis Group. There are 46 tracks here altogether, stretched across two excellent CDs. Produced by club owner Trigger and Continental soundman Noel Ford, the sound is uniformly good – not as slick and processed as your typically lifeless major label recording but head and shoulders above the usual live club bootleg. There is a bit of echo and a slight hollow feel to the tracks, but overall the performances are dynamic with crisp guitars crisp and sharp vocals. Turn up the volume a notch and it sounds like you’re standing right in front of the stage.

If you’re looking for the Strokes, the Mooney Suzuki, or the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, you’ll have to look elsewhere, bunkie! The bands on Live at Continental, Vol. I and Vol. II tend to lean towards the punk and hardcore side of the musical equation, but there’s enough pure, unvarnished indie rock in these grooves to satisfy a wide variety of tastes. Kudos to Trigger and Ford for creating the essential audio documentary of the Continental club scene in these two volumes – this shit rocks! The Rev says “check it out!” (Continental NYC, 2005)

Buy the CDs from Amazon.com:
Live at Continental: Best of NYC, Vol.I
Live at Continental: Best of NYC, Vol. II

Review originally published by Alt.Culture.Guide™, 2005

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock

Excitable Press and That Devil Music’s Rev. Gordon are happy to announce the publication of the second volume in the Rev’s ongoing series of archive interviews. The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock is a budget-priced collection of eleven vintage artist interviews from 1990s-era punks like Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys), Billy Idol, Joey Shithead (D.O.A.), Michael Muir (Suicidal Tendencies), Joey Ramone, and members of Rancid, Descendents, Blanks 77, Choreboy, the Screamin’ Sirens, and the Meat Puppets. This second volume also includes album reviews for many of the featured artists.

The “Reverend of Rock ‘n’ Roll,” Rev. Keith A. Gordon has been writing about music for 45+ years. A former contributor to the All Music Guide books and website, and the former Blues Expert for About.com, Rev. Gordon has also written for Blurt magazine, Creem, High Times, and The Blues (U.K.), among many other publications, and has written ten previous music-related books, including The Other Side of Nashville and Scorched Earth: A Jason & the Scorchers Scrapbook.

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock is a 64pp 5.5” x 8.5” paperback with B&W photos, priced at $5.99 retail with a $2.99 eBook version with the same content. Get your copy through the handy Amazon.com links below:

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock print edition

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume Two: Punk Rock eBook edition

Also available:

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers print edition

The Rock ‘n’ Roll Archives, Volume One: Southern Rockers eBook edition