Marty Wilde - Let's Rock This Place

Considered one of the pioneers of British Rock and Roll, Marty Wilde released his debut single in 1957.  In addition to his career as a singer in the ensuing years, he has also been a successful songwriter, having written songs for the likes of Status Quo, Lulu and Hot Chocolate, as well as numerous songs for his daughter Kim, including co-writing her biggest hit “Kids In America” with his son Ricky.  Now, sixty-nine years after that first single, he’s back with a new album, Let’s Rock This Place.  The album is a collaboration with Darrell Higham, who has toured with Imelda May, recorded with Chrissie Hynde and Jeff Beck, and alongside The Stray Cats’ Slim Jim Phantom, was a member of The Kat Men.  His rockabilly band Darrell Higham and the Enforcers contribute as the backing band on the album.  The tone for the album is set perfectly with the opening title track, a really fun, high energy cut of old school rock and roll with a rockabilly beat.  Originally recorded by Wilde as a b-side in 1961, he revisits “Your Loving Touch” and gives the rocker a modern day shot in the arm.  “The Boogie Was King” is a little more laid-back with a boogie woogie beat and some great piano.  Cliff Richard and the Shadows first recorded “Dynamite” back in 1959 and here Wilde keeps the rockabilly spirit of that original alive but also gives it a much fuller and meatier sound.  “How I Cried” is a variation of his song “I Cried” that was released by The Wilde Three (Wilde, his wife Joyce and Justin Hayward, later of The Moody Blues) in 1965, and is a heartfelt ballad with an emotional vocal performance and some really nice soulful guitar work.  One of the biggest surprises on the album is his cover of The Police’s “Can’t Stand Losing You”, which is a super refreshing reinterpretation of the song, turning it into a bouncy rockabilly track.  The straight-ahead British rock with a touch of country of “Back On The Road” reminds me at times of Junior Brown.  First recorded by Jim Bullington and the Continentals, and then a hit for Jimmy Edwards, "Love Bug Crawl" is a fun and bouncy rockabilly track with a hint of early Elvis.  "Just Walkin' In The Rain" was a hit single for Johnnie Ray in 1956 and here is a dreamy, slow melancholy ballad with Wilde showcasing his crooning along with some really nice harmony vocals and Higham's acoustic guitar work, while the upbeat “Lonely Weekends,” (originally a hit for Charlie Rich) adds a hint of honky tonk country flair to the mix.  The album closes with two tracks that are not only my favorites but are also completely unlike the rest.  Frankie Laine’s original version of “Remember Me (The Girl In The Wood)” had a haunting quality to it, but here it’s taken to an all-new level creating a dramatic, folk-tinged ballad that reminds me of Joe Meek’s production on the John Leyton song “Johnny Remember Me.”  The final track is “Words Fell Down,” a song he and his wife wrote that was recorded by their daughter Kim on her debut album.  It’s a really cool merging of Kim’s synth heavy new wave pop sound and rockabilly that if given a chance could be a hit.  It's so refreshing to hear the eighty-seven year old Wilde experiment with his music, so do yourself a favor and give Let's Rock This Place a listen.

(Cherry Red Records)

Bucket - Mosaic

Following an early full-length, a couple singles and then last year’s EP Muck, Dublin three-piece Bucket is back with the 4 song EP Mosaic and their own brand of industrial hardcore electronic noise rock.  While that sounds like it would be loud, noisy and abrasive, and it is, they always manage to give every song an incredible sense of melody.  Having never heard of the band before listening to the new EP, I went back through those earlier releases.  While you can hear the rumblings of what they sound like today on that first release (the details of this release are very limited and it appears it may just be the band's guitarist and vocalist Cian Dahdouh), there is more reliance on elements of garage rock and psychedelia.  As I made my way through their other releases I could hear them honing more and more into their sound, which they have really found on Mosaic.  Lyrically Dahdouh says, "All of the lyrics are interior monologues from fictional narrators dealing with extreme psychological states - paranoia, mania, trauma, obsession. I liked the idea of these different perspectives forming a bigger picture, like a mosaic. I found it interesting to think anyone around you could be having thoughts like this and you’d never know."  “56345” gets things started and is a fifty-five second wall of screeching, pummeling, mind numbing noise that will have you jumping in your seat the moment you hit play.  After opening with manic flutters of percussion, “DNB” explodes into a blistering blast of aggression and noise, then about halfway in the tempo changes into noisy screeching chaos.  After starting off with a hard-edged, pulsing electro industrial tune that comes across as suffocating, “Nonsense” shifts into more of an industrial dance beat with an extremely catchy groove.  “Nails” is sparse and slow building at first, giving it a sense of anxiety, but then becomes a wall of raw, speaker rattling noise with a groove that will have your head bobbing.  With Emmet McNamee’s mysterious bassline running underneath it, “Memento” has a hardcore drive with Korey Thomas absolutely pummeling the drums and their ever-present wall of noise.  Mosaic is an incredible new EP with a sound that is honestly hard to describe and really needs (and should) be heard to really understand what’s going on.  Really looking forward to hearing where Bucket will be going from here.  

(Bucket)

Franck Carducci - Sheeple

Franck Carducci is a multi-instrumentalist who started playing Hammond organ at five and then went on to learn guitar, bass and drums.  He joined his first band when he was fourteen and, in his twenties, he played with around twenty different bands of various styles.  Although Sheeple is his fifth studio album (including Naked, an acoustic album with Mary Reynaud) and his debut goes back fifteen years ago to 2011, for some reason he has been off my radar until now.  Thanks to this outstanding release that has all changed and I’m now not only familiar with Carducci, but it has sent me diving deeper into some of his collaborators, most notably Reynaud.  The title track opens the album and is a short organ instrumental with sheep noises (or sheeple?!?) that leads into the excellent, hard-driving AOR rocker “Self-Righteousness,” which has some great organ and guitar soloing from Anthony Honnet and William Remond, respectively.  “Sweet Cassandra” is up next and is the first of a three-part suite that is spread out through the album.  It’s a beautiful track with some folk tendencies that is largely just acoustic guitar, harmonica and vocals from Carducci and Reynaud.  The remaining parts of the suite pop up later with “Sweet Cassandra (Reprise),” a short instrumental with a mediaeval flair that has Franck accompanied by Roy Van Oost on flute, and “Sweet Cassandra (2019),” which is similar to the original, but with Franck handling everything.  At ten and a half minutes, “The Betrayal Of Blue” starts with laid-back, primarily acoustic psychedelia and then twists and turns through hard-edged rock passages that give it an element of intensity to quieter sections of psychedelic introspection.  It has a really playful tone, at times reminding me of his incredible label mate Rosalie Cunningham and even includes a brilliant theremin solo.  “The Limits of Freedom” kicks off with a blast of solo piano and then shifts into a classic AOR rocker with another blistering guitar solo.  With Carducci handling everything except drums and extra vocals, the darker and less playful “Love Or Survive” is a powerful thirteen-minute prog track that is often reminiscent of the early days of Yes.  The sheep noises are back again on “Do What You’re Told,” which is listed as a bonus track, and is a silly little, laid-back song that wraps things up with a funky blues groove and lyrics that repeat slight variations of the title. 

(Esoteric Antenna)

  

W.D. Miller - Child Of The Kindly South 

After spending his teens and early twenties playing in hardcore, death and sludge metal bands, W.D. Miller shifted to folk and country for his band Los Bastardos Magnificos.  In 2018 he released his debut solo album and has now followed that up with Child Of The Kindly South.  The album features performances from members of Horse Feathers, Magnolia Boulevard and Frigidkitty among others and showcases his stellar songwriting and well-worn vocals that at times bring to mind Blaze Foley.  The album kicks off with “Etude No. 1 in A,” a short instrumental that sounds like something you would have heard during a break on old time country radio, then moves into “Banquet of Stone,” a slow, dark track with a slight old school country waltz beat.  The pace picks up on the midtempo, rock-tinged country track “Go, Go! (or The Songwriters Lament,” about the perils of trying to write hit songs.  With Michelle Miller helping out on vocals, “Carry Your Burden” is a beautiful country ballad (again with a bit of a waltz beat) about family taking care of each other when times are tough.  “Dear John” is a melancholy cut written as a letter to the late John Prine, who was a massive songwriting influence of Miller’s, while standing out from the rest of the album, “Best Revenge” is a catchy, upbeat tune that has a fun little bounce to it.  One of the album highlights is “Fell Apart,” which has some killer, emotional vocals from Maggie Noëlle of Magnolia Boulevard and has all the makings of a classic, old school country heartbreak duet with a touch of a rock edge.  It’s also fleshed out nicely with piano from Logan Hill and some great slide guitar.  “Watch It All Burn” reminds me of Tyler Childers and is a nice ballad about the responsibilities of adulthood and reflecting back on your wild, carefree younger days.  Another high point is the haunting “Shades Are Drawn,” with Miller’s fragile vocals and a gorgeous atmospheric quality thanks to J. Tom Hnatow’s synths.  “One Hell Of A Ride” is a rocking honky tonk song that lightens things up and brings us to the reflective closer “Little Things / CODA,” which is stripped down to just Miller’s voice and acoustic guitar accompanied by J. Tom Hnatow on glockenspiel.  Child Of The Kindly South makes a welcome addition to any true country music playlist.

(Think Like A Key Music / W.D. Miller)

The Four Horsemen - Nobody Said It Was Easy

In 1987, when former Zodiac Mindwarp and the Love Reaction bassist Haggis (real name Stephen Harris and later known as Kid Chaos) came to play some bass on The Cult’s Electric, producer Rick Rubin took him under his wing.  Once the album was released, he joined the band on tour and got a call from Rubin saying he should start his own band and should meet a singer named Frank C Starr, which led to the formation of the Four Horsemen.  Rubin also suggested Ken "Dimwit" Montgomery, brother of legendary punk and metal drummer Chuck Biscuits, who then came on board as drummer, and with Haggis switching to rhythm guitar and the addition of guitarist Dave Limzi and bassist Ben Pape the band was complete.  Following the release of their eponymous four-song EP in 1989, the band went into the studio with Rubin handling the production and recorded their full-length debut Nobody Said It Was Easy, which has now been reissued by Dissonance Records.  Unfortunately, the album’s release had a two-year delay due to Starr’s six months in jail on drug charges, but when it finally saw the light of day it was well worth the wait.  The title track kicks the album off and does a good job of setting the tone.  It’s a sleazy, blues rocker that comes across like The Black Crowes on steroids.  The band doubles down on the next track, “Rockin’ Is My Business,” which takes the elements of the opener and adds a strong shot of AC/DC.  Starr’s vocals really shine on this one and the end result isn't too far removed from what Haggis had been doing a few years earlier with The Cult on Electric.  Drenched in slide guitar, “Tired Wings” moves things in a bit of a Southern Rock direction, but with a raw energy that bands in that genre tend to be lacking.  “Can’t Stop Rockin’” is a hard-edged boogie-woogie rocker that takes a page from the Status Quo book and brings us to “Wanted Man, which is a repetitive track that really doesn’t go anywhere and is the album’s only real misstep.  From the title to the music, “Let It Rock” is pure, straight-up AC/CD.  Driven by an extremely infectious groove, “Hot Head” is a straight-ahead, midtempo blues rocker, followed by “Moonshine,” a breezy tune with a really fun beat that is a bit of a different direction for the band.  They dip their toes back in boogie woogie on the next two tracks, with the easygoing “Homesick Blues,” which is a really fun listen, and “75 Again,” which add a southern rock edge that is reminiscent of Black Oak Arkansas and has some outstanding guitar work towards the end.  “Lookin’ For Trouble” brings to mind AC/DC again, but with an intense, raw and ragged punk energy.   The album closes strongly with the lazy blues rock of “I Need A Thrill / Somethin’ Good,” which has some great guitar work and organ and sounds like a jam session that would close a live show perfectly.  While the album was met with positive reviews, the delay caused its release to coincide with the surge in grunge’s popularity resulting in poor sales.  On top of this, Starr was arrested again on drug charges and spent another year in jail, and the combination of all of that caused the label to drop them.  Although Haggis and Pape ended up leaving the band, in 1994 the remaining members started working on a third album, but then faced another tragedy in September of that year when Montgomery died of a drug overdose.  The band finished the album with his brother Chuck Biscuits playing the drums, but just over a year after his death, Starr was hit by a drunk driver and ended up with a severe head injury.  In hopes that Starr would recover and return to the band, they went on tour with Ron Young handling the vocals, but that never happened and he died in 1999, resulting in the band breaking up.  While it would've been nice to have some bonus cuts, like possibly the EP, but if you don't already have a copy of Nobody Said It Was Easy in your collection, this is a great time to rectify that.  

(Dissonance Records)

Bosh Rothman - Joshua EP

In 2001, drummer Bosh Rothman, along with his brothers Lawrence and Yves and guitarist Cory Becker, got his start in the band Living Things.  They released 4 albums and 3 EP's, several of which were produced by Steve Albini, before calling it a day in 2011 (they did reunite for an EP and single in 2020).  Following that band, he co-created the band Kill Birds and worked with a wide variety of other artists.  His new EP, Joshua, was inspired by a dark time he was going through in his life.  In his own words, "I slipped even deeper into a dark place. I was eating too much, sleeping all day, and living in constant pain-mentally and emotionally. I needed help".  He said he remembered hearing about how Ringo Starr and Dave Grohl, two of his drumming heroes, dealt with pain and the loss of their bands with music, and was inspired to use that to help himself.  After writing the song "Joshua," which became the title track, he decided to record versions of five of his favorite songs by his favorite drummers, resulting in this six cut EP.  Covers of songs from the two aforementioned drummers open the EP.  For Foo Fighters’ “Big Me” he slows things down in a gorgeous reinterpretation that turns it into a very introspective and vulnerable song.  His take on Starr’s “Photograph” sticks a little closer to the original but gives it more of a rootsy power pop edge.  Rothman calls the title track, and lone original, “a personal letter to himself.”  It’s a stunningly beautiful, very melancholy song with some great vocal harmonies from him, Lily Elise and Andrea Wasse, that lyrically deals a lot with those dark times he had been in and how you can move past them.  While The White Stripes’ “In The Cold Cold Night” is a very sparse tune with Meg’s vocals and very minimal instrumentation, Bosh's take on the song has more of a lo-fi, raw bluesy sound that is not so unlike what The White Stripes were known for.  His take on The Carpenters’ “Superstar” is a stunningly beautiful version stripped down to haunting slide and acoustic guitar with captivating female vocals accompanying his (I was unable to find liner notes, so I'm not sure who the female vocalist is).  The EP closes out with a cover of Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby,” which doesn’t stray too far from the original, but gives it a rootsier, Americana spin.  Joshua does a great job of marking this new chapter in Rothman's career and is one that I look forward to following.  

(Bosh Rothman - instagram)

Johnny Cougar - American Dream: The Mainman Recordings 1976-1977

In 1976, three years before he first hit the singles charts with "I Need A Lover," John Mellencamp released his debut album Chestnut Street Incident under the name Johnny Cougar.  He had been trying to get his music career going for several years and went to New York looking for a deal, where he ended up working with Tony Defries, whose company MainMan had been David Bowie’s manager and represented other artists including Lou Reed, Iggy Pop and Mott The Hoople. He went back and forth between New York and his home in Indiana, recording the album with musicians that included the likes of Mick Ronson (guitarist for Bowie’s Spiders From Mars), composer and arranger Michael Kamen, David Mansfield on steel guitar, violin and mandolin (played with Dylan and composed numerous films), Hilly Michaels (drummer with Sparks) and guitarist Mike Wanchic, who still plays with Mellencamp today.  Unfortunately, the album didn’t sell very well, and due to that and changes in personnel at the label, the songs he had recorded for a follow-up were shelved and he was dropped.  Around this same time, Indiana record label Gulcher released an EP of songs that were recorded before his debut called US Male (included here on CD for the first time). Following this he moved to London and signed to Riva, releasing the album A Biography, which contained the aforementioned first hit single. Ironically the song hit number five in Australia, but the album wasn’t released in the US, but then became a US hit when it was released the following year on his John Cougar album, hitting number twenty-eight.  His next album was American Fool, and this is when his career really took off reaching number one in the US and containing the hit songs “Hurts So Good,” “Jack and Diane” and “Hand To Hold Onto.”  Due to that success, nine months after that album was released, Defries decided to release that shelved second album The Kid Inside.  All of this brings us to the new double CD American Dream – The Mainman Recordings 1976-1977, which collects those first two albums, the US Male EP, ten tracks from Skin It Up (demos and lost tracks from The Kid Inside sessions) and ten previously unreleased demos, early mixes and alternate versions.  

His debut album, Chestnut Street Incident, starts things off and while far from a great album, I have always felt that Mellencamp himself, along with many of the critics, never gave it a fair shake.  There are signs of the direction he would head later in his career, but it’s definitely a work in progress. The album opens strongly with “American Dream,” a gritty, heartland rocker that is quite catchy and reminiscent of Bob Seger.  One of two songs on the album co-written with George M Green, a childhood friend who would go on to write many more songs with him and others, “Dream Killing Town” has lyrics about living in a small town that Mellencamp would become known for and is a rootsy rocker with piano and sax giving it a Springsteen vibe.  The album’s strongest cut is “Chestnut Street,” a beautiful, atmospheric ballad featuring some outstanding piano from Kamen along with Mansfield’s fiddle and mandolin (the actual title track shows up later in the album and is more electric rock version of the song).  “Good Girls” is a big, classic rock tune with twin guitars, and closer “Sad Lady” is the other Green co-write and another sweeping ballad with more of Kamen’s piano.  The remainder of the album consists of covers, a couple of which work way better than the others.  While “Oh Pretty Woman” and “Jailhouse Rock” have already been covered way too many times and these versions don’t anything to the original, his take on The Lovin’ Spoonful’s “Do You Believe In Magic?” gives it a bit of swagger and really works, as does The Doors’ “Twentieth Century Fox,” which is reinvented with more of a garage rock sound.  The final cover “Supergirl” isn’t usually mentioned as a cover, and is credited to Aldo Legui and Bob Marcus, but is actually a version of “Superlungs My Supergirl” which was written by Donovan, who recorded a psychedelic rock version (Terry Reid also did a bluesier version).  The Mellencamp version is poppier and while not bad, loses some of the edge of their versions.  Although it was released after his debut, the US Male EP was recorded before it, and is now available here for the first time on CD.  It starts with “2000 AD,” a simple tune of just Mellencamp singing and playing acoustic guitar, but lyrically it foreshadows his future work in things like Farm Aid detailing the abuse of the environment.  “Lou-ser” is a really strange and interesting track that has a bit of a Springsteen feel, but with elements of new wave, jazz and even a bit of Scott Joplin’s “The Entertainer.”  While “Hot Man” has a glimmer of his rootsier side, it’s more of a straight-ahead hard rock tune and probably EP’s weakest cut. The closing cut is a really good cover, this time Paul Revere and The Raiders’ “Kicks,” which Mellencamp gives a good kick in the pants.  This EP is a great addition to this set giving a listen to the earliest days of his career.  

Although it was initially shelved after it was recorded, and not released until American Fool became a success, The Kid Inside is another solid collection that really hasn’t gotten its fair due and continued to show Mellencamp getting his footing.  This is shown perfectly right from the start with the title track, a solid, gritty rocker that also has a touch of a Stones vibe.  While “Take What You Want” is extremely catchy, it moves a little too far into pop territory as does the rootsy “R Gang” a few tracks later.  Rocker “Cheap Shot,” which has some Stones-ish guitars, ballad “Sidewalks And Streetlight,” and the seven minute plus epic “Too Young To Live,” all show that Springsteen influence.  “American Son” is a ballsy, hard rocker driven with twin guitars.  A couple of the album’s high points are up next with “Gearhead,” a sweeping, largely acoustic track that has a great arrangement, and “Young Genocides,” a piano driven ballad with a very emotional vocal along with some really nice piano from Tom Wince.  The album ends impressively with “Survive,” a bit of a mini suite about the perils of growing up that includes some really interesting piano and even a little flute along with the sax.  

As for the bonus tracks, the first set of ten was actually released in 2000 as Skin It Back and were supposedly recorded during the sessions for Chestnut Street Incident.  There are two versions of the song “Skin It Back” here, which are interesting for a couple of reasons.  One is labeled “acoustic version,” which is actually not acoustic and according to what I found after scouring the internet isn’t Mellencamp singing, but is actually Dave Parman, who among other things played bass and guitar on those early albums.  This version is a work in progress where you can hear them working out the chords on the fly and has unfinished lyrics.  As for the song, it’s a very dramatic tune with some great piano and one that I would love to have heard finished (the other version is a full band, electric instrumental take).  “Last Of The Big Time Spenders” is another demo with someone else on vocals (this time it’s sax player Wayne Hall) and is a decent Mellencamp flavored blue collar rocker.  Other originals include “Little Heroes,” a bouncy pop tune that comes across a bit cheesy and “The Whore,” an acoustic guitar and vocal track that show some promise but isn’t quite there.  On the other hand, “When I Was Young” has a haunting, late sixties west coast psychedelic rock sound that really shows a different side to him in these early days.  There are a few more covers here as well, and ironically most of them are much stronger than the ones that were included on the album.  His take on Bowie’s “The Man Who Sold The World” has an arrangement that is similar to the one Lulu released a few years earlier, but with some more rock-oriented psychedelic flourishes.  The Stooges’ “I Need Somebody” was an interesting choice compared to the others, and he does a good job with it by sticking close to the dark and slinky sound of the original but giving it more of his rock edge.  While “Hit The Road Jack” is another one of those songs that have been overdone, he delivers it with that Mellencamp swagger that really makes it fun.  Unfortunately, the version of “Kicks” here is a more straightforward take that loses all the punch of the one on the Gulcher single.  The remaining ten bonus tracks are all previously unreleased.  The only new song among them is “I Just Wanna Be Black,” a bizarre funk tune with very Seventies synths that is absolutely unlike anything else from him (there is also a stripped down demo version). The remainder of the tracks are demos, alternate versions and early versions.  Some of the notable ones include a couple takes of “Chestnut Street” and one of “Sad Lady” where you can hear them experiment with the arrangements and instrumentation.  There is also an alternate electric version of “Gearhead” that turns it into a gritty rocker that is just as good as the album version.  American Dream makes for a fun listen back to those early, early days of Johnny Cougar and is a great addition to the collection of anyone that considers themselves a John Mellencamp fan.  

(Lemon Recordings)