Weekend Music Roundup

Welcome to the first official weekend of winter! As I prepare to gather my final best of list for the year, I offer you some thoughts on recent older discoveries that I've collected on vinyl over the past few months. Some of these are albums I'd been hunting for, and others are ones that I found on whim. This is mostly rock, with some psych folk and prog thrown in. While I'm thoroughly dedicated to staying atop of new music, I believe it's every music lover's duty to study what came before. Enjoy.

Dead Moon - In the Graveyard: Over the past two or three years, this Portland band has been a favorite of mine, and I'm still perplexed as to how they escaped my notice in the early 90s. I came across this, their '88 debut, at a small bookshop in Philly over Thanksgiving and snatched it up. Like all their music, it's raw, rocking, and coated with a hint of darkness. "Out on a Wire," "Dead in the Saddle," "Don't Burn the Fires," and "I Hate the Blues" are personal favorites. Fred Cole has been making incredible music since the late '60s and I hope one day he finally gets the recognition. Do yourself a favor and find some of his work to enjoy. 

The Chesterfield Kings - Here are the Chesterfield Kings: The 1982 debut from the garage rock revival band out of Rochester. I'd been searching for any of their records for years and never came across any until the other week. There are so many great bands from the first garage rock revival wave of the late 70s and early 80s, and this band is one of the best. Sure, these are covers of once obscure garage rock tracks from the '60s, but that's what makes it great in many ways. They were scholars of the genre before anyone ever put together the cannon. "I Told Those Little White Lies," "Won't Come Back," "Come with Me," and "60 Second Swinger" are personal favorites. 

Jethro Tull - Too Old to Rock 'N' Roll: Too Young to Die: Released in '76, this was the 9th album from the progressive rock icons. I've been a huge fan of Tull for over twenty years, and still find myself working though their catalog. It took me a long time to get into anything after "A Passion Play" simply because I was so disappointed by that record and thought for sure that it was the beginning of their ending. In recent years, I've discovered the greatness that followed in albums like "Minstrel in the Gallery," "Heavy Horses," and not this album. Their mixture of blues rock, folk, and prog is unlike any other band, making them one of the most unique bands ever. Certainly not their top tier, but certainly in their second tier which is still pretty amazing stuff and surprising a Bowie feel to some of the music on here. "Crazed Institution," "Taxi Grab," and the title track are standouts for me.

Dory Previn - Mythical Kings and Iguanas: One of the great lost folk artists of the early '70s, I came across Dory's work by accident. Her fantastic '70 album "On My Way to Where" was in a box of free records I picked up back in the spring and it blew me away. On a recent trip, I came across this follow-up, released in '71 and snatched it up for under $5. This is equally brilliant. She mixes contemporary folk styling with avant chamber pop ingredients, giving it a strange psychedelic sound that reminds me of The United States of America record. Her albums are what I always hoped Nico's albums would sound like.  "Her Mothers Daughter," "Mary C. Brown and the Hollywood Sign," "Angels and Devils the Following Day," and the two parts of the title track that open and close the album are my personal favorites on this amazing album. 

Arab Strap - The Week Never Starts Round Here: This 1996 debut from the UK slowcore indie band was just re-released, 13 years after the band broke up. Listening to this album today, it feels very familiar, but at the time, this style of lo-fi was pretty groundbreaking. There were a few of these sort of bands coming out of the UK at the time (Appendix Out comes to mind). It's lonely music and it really fit a rather lonely period of my life. I'm entirely sure I'd connect to it if I were hearing it for the first time today, but it's such a relic of my past that it sounds soothing. Glad this has the chance to reach a new generation of lonely teens.

Caresse and Sickmob - R.U. Experienced?: Released in 1989, this is a 7" single collaboration between Fred Giannelli (guitar player for Psychic TV at the time) and Caresse P-Orridge, the seven year old daughter of Genesis (frontman of Psychic TV and Throbbing Gristle). It's an experimental interpretation of the classic Jimi Hendrix song with Caresse speaking the vocals. The combination of a child's voice saying the lyrics and Fred's amazing guitar work give this song an unforgettable sound. This was a nice addition to the collection, especially since it's nearly impossible to find in the States.