Cosmic Letdown

Group Music Blog For the Masses

[cosmic-letdown]

The Jesus Lizard

“Then Comes Dudley” from the album Goat

Touch and Go, 1991

[submitted by Slim]

Last night I setup my new turntable DJ setup.  With the copious amounts of vinyl I have in my possession, I felt like I needed a better way to listen to it and share it with the world.  So I moved the Audio Technica clone of a Technics 1200 turntable from it’s home in the kitchen into my room and moved the fancy audiophile grade belt driven Pro-Ject Debut Carbon with the Ortofon Red cartridge and stylus into the kitchen.  

Then I proceeded to purchase a used DJ coffin for two 1200 style turntables, a second Audio Technica Turntable and went on the hunt for an inexpensive DJ mixer.  Funny thing about that part, nobody buys DJ mixers anymore other than Clubs or DJ’s who scratch, EVERY DJ ON THE PLANET USES SOFTWARE NOW, so your options are a two channel mixer for scratching or a super high end club mixer.  I need more than two channels and wasn’t spending north of $2000 for my room, so I decided on a Berhinger DDM-4000.  Berhinger is a notoriously cheap (as in quality) brand that many folks won’t go near with someone else’s wallet.  This model has the features of a high end mixer, but at a budget price.  We will see if it lasts....

At any rate, I’ve got it all setup and the outputs are going direct to my computer audio interface so I can crank it  up AND record any mixes I make in real time.

Once I had everything setup, I reached for my stack of never played records and did a quick sort.  The Jesus Lizard doesn’t get much play in the kitchen because the wife HATES them.  Nobody was home at the time, so this was the obvious choice.  Side 1, Track 1 cranked at ear punishing volume.  I proceed to play a bunch of the records I hadn’t listened to yet from when I went to Denver.  Johnny Thunders So Alone sounded excellent on 200g vinyl.

You can expect some mixes coming out of me in the near future.

[cosmic-letdown]

Ian Curtis rides a rollercoaster.

[cosmic-letdown]

Climax Blues Band

“Couldn’t Get It RIght” live on Top of the Pops,

BBC, Nov. 4, 1976

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

One of my favorite songs, 1970s or otherwise.

This live version is excellent, losing nothing from the superbly produced studio version... with the added bonus of digging the look of that lead singer. I want that dude to buy me and my friends some beer in exchange for a doob.

This song has the wonderful lyric “I kept on looking for a sign in the middle of the night, but I couldn’t see the light, no I couldn’t see the light”. I love that spiritual seeker poetry vibe to that bass groove...

But in reality, the lyric was sparked by the very tired band in a van late at night looking for the Holiday Inn sign so they could catch some zzzz’s.  Still awesome though.

Furthermore, in this live version, the Top of the Pops MC says that he thought the band was American but turns out they are from the Midlands...  That was news to me too. Until four minutes ago, I thought it was an American band.

I am gonna listen again.

[cosmic-letdown]

Lifter Puller

“Nassau Coliseum” from the album Half Dead and Dynamite

No Alternative, 1997

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

Last night I saw the epic Minnesota lineup of Lizzo, Lifter Puller, Brother Ali and Atmosphere at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheater just outside of Denver. It reminded me of when GrefeMogul and I saw The Hold Steady on a rainy Sunday in San Francisco at Bottom of the Hill.... it felt like our hometown came to visit us. In this case, judging by the cars in the parking lot, they really did. It was a Minnesota party in Denver.

Although ActionMan had posted Lizzo prior, I hadn’t connected that she was on the bill until she started performing. I instantly recognized her. She won me and my girlfriend over instantly... and the better part of the crowd as well. She was funny, and real, and like a more energetic Vanity 6. She was awesome.

Then came Lifter Puller. I had never seen them before... though I had seen Craig Finn’s band The Hold Steady twice in concert (the other was at the Fillmore with Drive-By Truckers, the band that inspired him to start the Hold Steady after breaking up Lifter Puller in 2000, disillusioned, and moving to NYC).

He seemed a little nervous at first, commenting that it was by far the biggest crowd he’d performed in front of... at which point I turned around from my spot in like the 20th row to look at all of the people elevated behind me.... I nearly fell over from Vertigo. It is a steep place. (Lizzo was amazed too-- she performed one song while just filming the audience with her iPhone).

It was only Lifter Puller’s sixth performance since 2000. They were the only rock act on the bill and while a third of the audience knew them, and enthusiastically, it was obvious that a lot of the hip-hop crowd weren’t too familiar. He even mentioned “I bet you’re wondering why we are here” and told the story of drinking at Minneapolis bar called, I think, Jitters, in 1997 as a semi-regular and meeting Slug from Atmosphere who told him all about his plan with Rhymesayers collective and the label and self-releasing albums... and all his plans... and how he went out and did just that. That warmed the crowd to Lifter Puller, and Craig Finn’s performance won over even more. They only performed like eight songs, ending with an epic rendition of this one. A dude in front of me, part of a scary looking group of dudes-- think hip-hop/bikers -- turned to me during the Lifter Puller set and asked who again it was on stage.... he loved them.

I grinned from ear-to-ear during the entire set and I was reminded of when Slim took me to see Prince at the Paramount in Oakland a few years ago.... that same crowd vibe... and that tingly goosebump feeling... my eyes momentarily welled a bit. It was awesome.

Prior to performing this, the song that closed the set, he commented about how the list of cities that he mentions near the end of the song, and he said that the list was comprised of cities that he knew friends from college lived in because he figured they would be the only ones to listen to the song. I am glad the musical life of Craig Finn worked out so well. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

And then came Brother Ali. He was hands-down amazing. So great. And I will keep that story for a different post.

[cosmic-letdown]

The Leather Nun

“Summer’s So Short” from the album Steel Construction

Wire, 1987

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

Though this is from 1987, one of my favorite years in music... I didn’t hear this until a few days ago. I never knew The Leather Nun, but if I had when I was 17, I know I would have loved them.

They are a Swedish band that blends goth and garage, which is just about my chemistry circa ‘87.

And it is a good end of summer song. I hope ActionMan has a slate of Autumn songs coming up.

I am kind of glad summer is coming to a close. Not because I can wear khakis again without a buttcrack sweat stain (I don’t wear khaki), but because the movies get better.

That, and you know, fuck the sun.

[cosmic-letdown]

Sting

“If I Ever Lose My Faith in You” from the album Ten Summoners Tales

A&M, 1993

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

Sometimes I feel so alone. I am 46 years old. I know how I got here. I was awake for a large part of it. And yet, it starts to feel more like a dream... as in I fell asleep at 23 and all of this is just... well... it is fucking weird.

Some people, their lives turn out how they want. But I know that even Michael Jordan would change some shit, and not just his Daddy being murdered.

None of us asked to be here, and yet we’re born with this desire not to die. We are full of gratitude for the love given us... the beauty of friendship, love, family, trees, and maybe just even those little private moments when you’re laying there on the floor... simply aware of existing.. and nobody is around you. Yet you feel the presence of others. You feel them around you...

And sometimes, you’re just dreaming. If you read this, you’re alive now.

And you do care. Not just for your kin.

It was a weird day. I woke up alone. Age 46.

And my friends and loved ones came to me. Not to soothe me. But to be soothed in a way.

That was a kind gift.  Thank you.

[cosmic-letdown]

The Frogs

“Swamp Broad” from the album Death Songs

self-released, 1982

[submitted by GrefeMogul]

...

“And as I was stabbing her, she began to sing…” Ok - wow - this tune will alienate … uh.. everyone?  Lol.  Back in the Minneapolis college radio day, this was part of the wacky songs from 82 that made it on the airwaves, along with the Frogs “I Come Out at Night to Ride My Dragon” (although I remember a heavier version than I could find on Youtube. I actually remember another version of Swamp Broad too - maybe it was a live version, who knows )  As for Swamp Broad… despite its strange other-inner-world dementia and retarded offensiveness, it still manages to contain an seeming random, underlying depth charge of spine-shaking, chain-jerk punk rock and roll and deep doomy jungle beats as felt at various points in the irritating “story” such as the 1, 3 and 4 minute marks.  You gotta love lines like “..she wrapped her legs around my back… I  found a piece of seaweed in my mouth.. stuck between my teeth..” sung by what sounds like King Arthur’s denture-less, 80 year-old inbred cousin prone to anger management issues. This album just recently surfaced on youtube and had apparently been lost - at least to me - for over 30 odd years.  Perhaps some things should remain that way, yuk, yuk, yuk.    

“Swamp broad… don’t die on me, baby!”

[cosmic-letdown]

Gene Wilder

“Pure Imagination” from the movie Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

1971, Paramount

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

News of Gene Wilder’s passing arrived today. He was 83. He was one of my favorite actors. Such a sweet man, and so funny.

The Producers is my favorite film of his, hands down... but the single funniest scene to me was from another Mel Brooks film, Blazing Saddles.

Gene Wilder plays a gunslinger with a serious drinking problem and little will to live. Cleavon Little, the new sheriff in town, after witnessing Wilder’s character taking a huge drink of whiskey comments “That’s gonna kill you.”

And Wilder, looking slightly optimistic at the suggestion asks with that innocent look, a hopeful “When?”

RIP Gene Wilder

[cosmic-letdown]

Nazareth

“Hair of the Dog” from the album Hair of the Dog

A&M, 1975

[submitted by ActionMan[

...

Christopher Walken gets his fill of cowbell on this one.

Just got back from our last camping trip of the summer, in our pop-up at a state park up north. We are about 60/40 on our camping efforts lately: 60% we complete our site reservation time with no serious issues, and 40% we end up bailing early and heading home due to some child ailment or injury. This was the latter. Isaac had a reaction to mosquito bites and his face puffed up. He’s fine, but it’s odd because he looks like a different kid. Vaguely Asian. I won’t lie. Camping with your family is still fun, but not nearly as much as drinking with your buddies in the woods. There was a bit of hanging by the campfire and listening to classic rock but not enough. Oh well. Here was a highlight. Makes me want to hear more Nazareth!

[cosmic-letdown]

Public Enemy

“Bring The Noise” from the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Def Jam, 1988

[submitted by Slim]

The wife took me to see Digable Planets the other night at the Fillmore in SF.  She was a huge fan of them in the 90′s as were most of the folks in the audience.  It was a great show and it was refreshing to see a hip hop show that didn’t have some dude spitting over a backing track.  They had a full band and brought a really great show into town.  

Before the show, we were talking about out our hip hop roots.  I told her about all the hip hop I listened to as a young punk rocker in the 1980′s.  All the usual suspects, but I told her this was the band that really hit me hard and gave me a deep appreciation for hip hop.  

She looked at me and said “Yeah, they are pretty punk rock.  I can see that.”

I already planned on posting this song, but in a moment of serendipity, about 20 minutes ago she came home from a trip to go grab a few things at the store and came back with a copy of this record on vinyl.  I already have a copy, but it was really sweet that she was thinking of me.

Crank it up and bring the noise.

[cosmic-letdown]

Prince

“Pop Life” from the album Around the World in a Day

Paisley Park/Warner Bros., 1985

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

A few fellow caddies that I got along with well asked me if I wanted a job at the Minnesota State Fair. I said yes. From 1985 thru 1988 I worked one of the easiest, most fun jobs of my life... selling pre-packaged peanuts from a booth at the Great Minnesota Get Together.

When ActionMan brought it up yesterday, my nostalgia hit hard. I haven’t been to the Fair since 1990.

The first year, I was 15. I met so many people. I worked in the grandstand. There were a couple of dudes in their late 20s who ran a custom t-shirt business. One of them had a huge impact on me when while discussing music, he said that he decided rather than try and keep up, he would just by records from the 50 cent bin. I started doing that too, and discovered some great stuff... Sparks comes to mind.

I got to know all the vendors in that building. It was a cool community, and almost all of them were there the next year. Plus, the people that owned the peanut fair business had 12 other stands around the park, and so I would get to deliver product to them and give them breaks, and so I knew all of those people too and I got to hang out at all the different areas of this huge fair.

For those two weeks, I would stay in the upstairs duplex of my grandparents place in St. Paul. I barely saw them because I would leave at 7am and get home after 10pm. It was so much fun.

My third year, I got a booth by the beer garden. My buddy Matt and I ran it. I had to start my junior year and school started early, so he would work til 3 and then I would come by. Sometimes he would just hang anyway. A lot of action at the beer garden. We would make a cardboard sign that showed the Twins score... this brought the drinkers over and they bought peanuts and listened to the game. I remember there being a particularly dramatic ending to one off a Tom Brunansky homer.  The Twins would go on a month or so later to win their first World Series.

1988 was a bummer. The drought that year meant that there was only one peanut stand. The fun was over. So it goes.

When I think of the State Fair, instantly a few songs come to mind. Because there are booths for all of the radio stations, I would hear a lot of the same songs: “Money for Nothing” by Dire Straits (after a week of hearing that I realized it was Sting singing “I Want My MTV”), “Dress You Up” by Madonna, which I almost featured here, but then there is this... one of my favorite Prince songs, and one that always reminds me of the State Fair whenever I hear it.

Have fun at the fair, ActionMan. I hope you get some deep fried cheese curds!

[cosmic-letdown]

Blondie

“Love at the Pier” from the album Plastic Letters

Chrysalis, 1977

[submitted by ActionMan]

...

The countdown for the end of my “Summer Songs” has officially begun (sad face emoticon) The reason being is that the Minnesota State Fair - The Great Minnesota Get Together, as it’s called - starts tomorrow. The Minnesota State Fair is the second largest State Fair in the country, behind only Texas. The warm weather here continues well into September and sometimes beyond, but the end of the Fair, on Labor Day, is regarded as the official end of Summer - mainly because that is when the kiddies go back to school. School and the Fair actually went toe to toe and the Fair won. Advocates of a longer school year wanted it to start a few weeks earlier, but Fair boosters and sane people everywhere quashed that notion quickly. The reason sited was that the Fair vendors needed the youth’s cheap labor to run their food stands (which is true), but c'mon the kids want to GO to the Fair too - not school, not yet. So I have a limited number of these themed tunes left and I’ve got to get some Blondie on. With their 60s girl-group vibe and surf rock sounds, Blondie has several songs that could fit this category. This is the one that immediately came to mind. You can just picture (like the photo at 01:37) Debbie and her her leather-clad boys, hanging out at Coney Island enjoying hot dogs and cigarettes. Debbie Harry…so timelessly hot…so effortlessly sexy…. If it is in the 90s in late September, I can’t promise I won’t bring back “Summer Songs”, but for now, the clock is ticking.

[cosmic-letdown]

Benny Goodman and His Swing Orchestra

“Sing, Sing, Sing” from the 12″ 78rpm recording

RCA Victor/Bluebird, 1935

...

You know this song, even if you don’t recognize it by title. It is mainly used in documentaries now when they need a burst of energy, which comes in the form of Gene Krupa’s legendary drumming. The normal version you hear is about five minutes, but this is the complete original recording which when released, had to be split into two sides of a 78rpm single.

It was written and first recorded by Louis Prima, and was written with lyrics, but Goodman eventually lost the vocals, and along with the aforementioned drumming of Krupa, this has become one of the most enduring songs of the big band era.

There is another cool interpretation of it on YouTube from when they performed it at Carnegie Hall in 1937, though not quite as bombastic... until the final 30 seconds when Krupa goes nuts. Awesome.

[cosmic-letdown]

Sly and the Family Stone

“If You Want Me to Stay” live

unknown date or show

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

Sly and the Family Stone will always remind me of the summer of 1990. That was the year that GrefeMogul and I moved to the Bay Area from St. Paul and rented a house with ActionMan in Marin County.

That summer was so much fun. In a way, it doesn’t seem that long ago. ActionMan brought home Sly’s Greatest Hits, and man, that thing got played a lot.

This song wasn’t on it, but I found it after, and it has been my favorite Sly song ever since. So many mixed tapes in the landfill with this song closing side B.

This live version is pretty cool. I don’t know what show.

[cosmic-letdown]

The Velvet Underground

“Heroin” from the album The Velvet Underground and Nico

Verve, 1967

[submitted by shlepcar]

...

When I was fifteen, the caddy master at the golf club GrefeMogul and I caddied at would hook us up with music we hadn’t heard before. He was one of the biggest influences on my musical taste. From his we were introduced to Big Star, The Teardrop Explodes, The Soft Boys, and The Velvet Underground to name just a few.

Spin Magazine started around the same time, and I would buy the new issue and a Big Gulp at the 7-11 down the street from the golf course. In the new released review section of the magazine, I remember seeing one for The Velvet Underground album VU, which was a compilation of rarities. I didn’t know it though, but just took note of their cool name.

So later when caddy master Mark hooked us up with The Velvet Underground & Nico, I just assumed that they were a modern band. I listened to that album so many times. I loved it and it was unlike anything I had ever heard before... and I listened to it for nearly two years before finding out that they weren’t an 80s band, but rather the album had been released in 1967.

I know it seems obvious now that they weren’t a modern 80s band, but consider that what I knew about 1967 was “All You Need Is Love” and The Doors and the Stones.... and that world sounded nothing like the Velvet Underground.

Even with songs as innovative as this one, it didn’t prepare me for White Light/White Heat. And it would be another decade before I heard The Velvet Underground or Loaded. Every album completely different. Each one of them perfect.

Slim and I have talked about the greatest examples of four albums in a row, and of course this band belongs there... probably at the top. Also mentioned were the Stones of Sticky Fingers, Let It Bleed, Beggars Banquet and Exile on Main Street (out of order, I know) and the first four Ramones albums.

[cosmic-letdown]

Pere Ubu

“Final Solution” from the 7″ single b/w “Cloud 149″

Hearthan , 1976

[submitted by Slim]

This is one of my all time favorite songs.  Originally, it was a song for the infamous Cleveland band Rocket From The Tombs.  Members of RFTT split off in two directions.  Some went to Pere Ubu and others went to Dead Boys (who went on to make the RFTT song Sonic Reducer a punk anthem).  I first heard this on a Twin Tone records comp of early Pere Ubu, Terminal Tower, many fucking moons ago.  

Finding a copy of Terminal Tower is on my list of records to look for when in a record store.  Yes, I know I can find a copy in the Internet  for $15 bucks or so, but finding something you’ve been searching for is part of the fun of record stores.  

I was in Denver last month to visit Shlepcar and hit up a few local vinyl spots like I do when I’m in any city.  You know, because lugging home 30 pounds of records on an airplane is MY idea of a good time.  While I didn’t find a copy of Terminal Tower, I did find a Pere Ubu Box set that included a disc of the early singles, the first two LPs and a live set from 1977 at Max’s Kansas City (in NYC).  I didn’t immediately buy it along with the other 6 or 7 records I bought.  I had to think about it, talk about all evening and then walk back to the record store in question to buy it the next day after Shlepcar woke up and told me he had a dream about it.  

I’m glad I own it.

Turns out Pere Ubu is touring the West Coast in December in support of said box set.  You now know of one person who will be in attendance of the SF show.

[cosmic-letdown]

Grand Funk Railroad

“I’m Your Captain/Closer to Home” from the album Closer to Home

Capitol, 1970

[submitted by ActionMan]

...

Keeping this short as I am posting from my phone as the fam heads up to Duluth for a quick get away. Duluth is one of the great inland port cities on the Great Lakes, Superior in this case. You don’t get that great salt smell in the air but the town still has that cool nautical vibe. We are heading up for the annual Tall Ships festival, where dozens of large sailing ships come into port. There are reproductions of 16th to 19th century vessels and original newer ships. For sailing songs you gotta go to 70s classic rock, and there are lots of great ones. There’s Southern Cross by Crosby Stills and Nash, Cool Change by Little River Band, and of course Come Sail Away by Styx (which actually is not really about sailing, but rather a starship, as it turns out)

This one is probably my favorite. At 10 minutes, epic in scale, like some of those sailing ships we’ll be checking out soon.