Fellow music nerds, let me regale you with my bloviations on the first ten songs that pop up in shuffle mode this mighty fine Wednesday evening.  Huzzah!

“The Ballad Of Lupe Montosa” Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, Sonoran Hope and Madness

Odd how shuffle works…  I just bought this CD on Saturday and loaded it in my iPod and it’s the first cut of 30,000 plus songs this go round.  And that ain’t a prob cause this is a fine tune, Clyne in excellent cowboy song mode here about the demise of Lupe Montosa with some great harmonizing from his fellow Peacemakers.  Nice story lyric that sets the tone with some simple acoustic modification and fairly sparse instrumentation from the band, allowing you to focus on the heartfelt vocal.

“The Escape Artist” OSI, Music In Progress, Vol. II (Inside Out sampler)

From an InsideOut sampler (great label for progressive rock, check it out!) comes OSI and “The Escape Artist”, featuring a fairly simple yet chunky riff from Jim Matheos (also from Fates Warning) with spacy keys courtesy of Kevin Moore and guest drums from Porcupine Tree’s Gavin Harrison.  A banging cut, leans pretty close to modern rock with that riff but branches out into proggier territory midway through plus has a fairly staid and laid back vocal courtesy of Moore.  Proof positive that top notch musicians can write some heavy duty modern rock and sound 100 times better.

“A Slight Attack” The Tea Party, Triptych

Canada’s The Tea Party is a great band-  early days leaned towards the Kashmir-esque side of Led Zeppelin with the middle Easternisms but in latter years they stretched out to get a bit noisier, maybe more techno or industrial in a way.  “A Slight Attack” takes a Zeppish riff and dirties it up with some echoey drums and distorted vocal but throws in a couple of awesome curveballs via a dramatic, pomp rock vocal and equally dramatic piano driven section.  Toss in some oddball keyboard effects into the mix to bounce around the sonic spectrum and you’ve got quite a thrilling cut.

“Dirty Hands Empty Pockets/(Already Gone)” Corrosion Of Conformity, In The Arms Of God

Post grunge years I thought for sure that stoner rock was definitely THE next big thing to take over the world, but it wasn’t meant to be.  COC is one of that genre’s greats and “Dirty Hands Empty Pockets” gives you a good taste of the rock that they bring to the table.  Funky bass courtesy of Mike Dean, great Woody Weatherman riff, and the always excellent Pepper Keenan show you how its done.  As much as I love Stanton Moore as a drummer he’s a semi-odd fit, obviously enjoying the opportunity to pound the kit but it ain’t like his dayjob with the awesome and funky Galactic.

“Sometime” King’s X, Ear Candy

“Criminally underrated” is a phrase often thrown around anytime King’s X is brought up and I tend to agree.  “Sometime” is a classic example of what these guys do best, which is not only bringing the solid rock but nailing it with a great song and outstanding vocals.  Simple and effective-  great riff?  Check.  Solid bass? Absolutely low down and groovy.  Kicking drums?  Truly stomping.  Fab hook?  Definitely.  How about the vocal?  With Doug Pinnick it’s shut your mouth good, especially when he’s got the ultra clean Ty Tabor and Jerry Gaskill mixed with his soulful rasp.  Sing this from the rafters!

“Whistle For The Choir” The Fratellis, Costello Music

Man these guys are soooo good.  Toss in The Kinks and T Rex with a nice dollop of The Beatles and you’re in the ballpark as to what The Fratellis are all about.  “Whistle For The Choir” sounds like it could come out of the music hall or cabaret days of the 1920s or 1930s, just a nice singalong with acoustic guitars and a memorable lovelorn lyric (check out the whistling part too!).  Not many bands are making sounds like this these days, but The Fratellis proudly do and often rock things up quite a bit as well.  One of my favorite bands that started in this century- look for a Spotlight On post soon!

“Slow Marching Band” Jethro Tull, The Broadsword And The Beast

The Tull has covered quite a wide variety of musical territory, from hard rock to folk rock to on “Slow Marching Band”, what appears to be a bit of a pompy, beer hall singalong power ballad.  Sounds like an odd description but hey, that’s what it sounds like to me.  As always with Tull the melodies are interesting, this one mostly guided by a moving piano and the ever entertaining Ian Anderson on smooth vocal and intro flute passage.  “Locomotive Breath” this ain’t but for a change of pace in the Tull canon it’s a decent tune.

“Long Way From Home” North Mississippi All Stars, Hernando

I like my Allstars raunchy and low down dirty blues, but “Long Way From Home” sounds like some fuzzed out psychedelic trip; kinda bluesy, kinda space rock, kinda improv jazzy in the guitar solo and possibly stoned (ha ha).  Kinda reminds me of Space Cowboy Steve Miller but without the cool synthesizers, more like a fumbled mess recorded in a haze of pot smoke with lyrics made up on the spot (“Chickenfoot… and my mind is blown”).  Yet…  I like it for its oddness and wanting to be “out there” for the sake of being out there.  Or was that the point?  🙂  I dunno, you decide.

“Things Are Getting Better” The Kinks, Kinks Size/Kinks Kinkdom

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhIY_R5_c6s

Who says songs under two minutes suck?  Not me!  “Things Are Getting Better” rides Dave Davies’ rockin’ Bo Diddley beat in 1:57, featuring a laid back brother Ray vocal and some cool boogie woogie piano and harmonica midway through.  Early Kinks were a mix of ramshackle rock and wistful melancholy depending on Ray Davies mood yet this cut certainly falls in the former category-  no wistfulness here, just an awesome blast of guitar and fun band vocal.

“Cold Turkey (Acoustic)” Cheap Trick, B-Sides Demos Outtakes Rarities

Snagged from the incredible B-Sides Demos Outtakes Rarities boot comes a high speed acoustic cover of John Lennon’s “Cold Turkey”, which the band had originally recorded fully plugged in and rockin’ at regular speed for the Working Class Hero tribute album.  Not sure if this version was recorded for future release, but it’s a fun run through the tune with some sprightly guitar from Rick Nielsen and the ever awesome Robin Zander on vocal.  Psst…  hey guys…  can ya officially release this one?

Wow, tough call for the top three songs this time around (Cheap Trick pun!) but I gotta go with “Sometime” for the gold medal followed by “Whistle From The Choir” and “Things Are Getting Better” for the silver and bronze.

It’s pretty rare when I listen to music that I’m paying attention to the lyrics but I’ll be damned if Walking Papers doesn’t paint some compellingly stark yet incredibly moving visuals.  I mean, hey, the music is often killer and matches the mood but I feel like I’m listening to the soundtrack of a movie adapted from some cheap pulp fiction crime novella featuring fractured relationships and various sordid characters from the dark and grimy streets of the big city straight out of a Scorcese film.  This ain’t no “happy happy joy joy” at all…  no, this is often bleaker.  Still the occasional ray of light will shine through and offer hope for the parties involved.

Walking Papers’ debut disc released in 2013 was one of my favorite releases that year and when word came out that album #2 was due in early 2018, I quickly went to the PledgeMusic site and plunked down my $12 on a preorder.  First cut I’d heard from that debut was the stomping “The Whole World’s Watching”, featuring Barret Martin’s Bonhamesque kicks anchoring a semi-doomy yet bluesy Sabbathesque riff, which hooked me immediately.  The rest of the disc was just as incredible, mixing similar rock tuneage but what really grabbed me was the overall rich, bluesy, and soulful vibe of the seamier cuts featuring the smoky vocals of Jeff Angell, whose half-sung/half-spoken depictions are hued in various shades that often add to the various tensions in the music (check out “The Butcher” and “A Place Like This” for examples).

So how about that second disc?  If you liked the debut, you should like this one as well.  Overall it may rock a little more than the debut and the mix is a little more compressed and dense, thickening up the sound a little more as it dirties up the guitars yet flattens Martin’s drumwork.  The debut had a bit more clarity and openness with cleaner separation between each instrument that provided some excellent sonics, which worked incredibly well with the songs.  Still, this is a minor knock on the disc as it does offer up a slightly different vibe, maybe showing a more confident and comfortable band that has no problem playing off each other and jamming a little bit more than on that debut.

Enough of the sound quality…  what about the songs?  Kicking off with a bouncy rocker in “My Luck Pushed Back”, the band swing a bit mightier and harder across a good chunk of this disc.  If that’s your bag, then jump straight to heavyweights like the punky “Somebody Else”, the swirling thump and swing of “Hard To Look Away”, or the Deep Purple grooves in “Into The Truth” for some solid rock.  But if you are like me, the atmospherics of this band are truly their bread and butter-  songs like “Red And White”, “Yours Completely”, “This Is How It Ends”, and “I Know You’re Lying” are some of the real standouts here, although all four are totally different from each other…  “Red And White”‘s dark and desolate landscape is similar to the songs on the debut while the sexy and pulsating drive in “Yours Completely” is its polar opposite , and “This Is How It Ends” is a swirling groovy maelstrom with a fantastic lyric about…  well, just take a listen below. But “I Know You’re Lying” may be my favorite of all-  with a tempo laid back and in the pocket, the song sits back and gives the melody ample space to shine.  And when the short coda hits, the result is truly sublime.  A dead on stunner with a fine, fine lyric.

If I had to pick an unsung hero on this disc it’s keyboardist Benjamin Anderson, who splashes a lot of color on most every song-  a little bit of piano here, organ stabs here, and various other touches.  Odd that I didn’t pick up on his handiwork on the first disc, but on WP2 he’s mixed a bit higher and on some songs he acts more as a lead instrument (the heavy organ vibes on “Into The Truth” and “Death On The Lips”; the spacy keys on “Right In Front Of Me; the hook in “I Know You’re Lying”).  As for the rest of the band-  rhythm section is incredibly solid; I’ve already talked about my love for Barrett Martin’s work but Duff McKagen is spot on with his basslines, often comping the guitar work or providing unique grooves on his own like in “Yours Completely”.  As for guitar and vocals?  Once again, Jeff Angell shows off his subtle and smoky style on each song and his guitar work is a perfect accompaniment to the band and songs, mostly solid rhythm work (and cool slide too, check out “King Hooker”!) with the occasional tasty lead break.  Seriously, this guy should be a star.

If you like elements of classic rock with some dirty blues, excellent musicianship, vivid lyrical content, and killer songs, then Walking Papers’ WP2 is for you.  And while you’re at it, pick up that debut too.

Gene…  Paul…  Ace… Peter…  outside of The Beatles, what other band out there can you rattle off the first names of each member?  Those of us impressionable youth of a certain age group likely knew as the KISS phenomenon was definitely mega in the mid to late 70s.  Some of us had the albums, the lunch boxes, the bubblegum cards, the dolls, the posters, and even dressed up as the members for Halloween (guilty as charged).  But how do you explain KISS to those who were born in the 80s or 90s or 2000s?

I didn’t know KISS from Adam until I was in the sixth grade, where at one of our school holiday parties (Christmas?  Maybe Valentine’s Day?) it seemed like EVERYBODY brought in a copy of KISS Alive II album to play during the last hour of the day.  I can remember taking an instant dislike to the cover-  who ARE these weirdos?  What’s with the clown makeup and why does that guy have blood dripping out of his mouth?  And what’s so special about these guys if I’ve never heard them on the radio before?

Silly me…  I didn’t listen to the album that day but shortly thereafter I did hear my first KISS album, courtesy of someone I played Little League baseball with.  I was probably eleven, maybe twelve years old at the time and Pat (my friend’s name) had an older brother who had a decent record collection with a lot of KISS records.  I remember seeing Alive II in the stack and likely made the comment to him that I thought these guys were weird but boy did he set me straight.  He didn’t put on Alive II at first-  no, he put on their first live album Alive and it changed my life in ways unimaginable.

Man…  what a racket!  I don’t know if it was the songs, the guitars, the music, the vocals, the excitement of the crowd, the liner notes, whatever…  this was something new.  This was HUGE!  This was awesome!  Once we got done listening to that we threw on Alive II and I was kicking myself because these “weirdos” were awesome!  Everything just sounded big and was totally different from anything I’d ever heard before.  At some point his brother came home and told us not to screw up his records but we didn’t care- we just turned it down so he didn’t hear us and listened to the others that he had (maybe Rock And Roll Over and Destroyer, but that’s almost 40 years ago!).

So for a good two years, KISS was pretty much THE band for me.  They hadn’t quite released the solo albums yet, so my brother and I got hooked on the early stuff up to Alive II and were mesmerized.  Shortly thereafter the solo albums did come out but to me, something had changed and I couldn’t quite put my finger on it…  I loved Ace’s, Paul’s had some decent songs (my brother loved it), Gene’s was a little strange in spots with a couple of good songs, and Peter’s was…  well, something that my young brain couldn’t quite absorb.  All that said, that early magic for me was suddenly gone and everything was just different-  I don’t know if it was the original element of danger or the thrill of discovery, but my love for KISS took a pretty big hit.  Dynasty was the next big album and “I Was Made For Loving You” was cool, but it was no longer the same.  Soon after drummer Peter Criss left, then guitarist Ace Frehley (my all time favorite member), and then…  my fandom kinda sorta left too.

Well, not totally.  I still hung around and my brother or I would buy their latest releases through the 80s (the non makeup years) and into the 90s (Revenge is a pretty damn good record) but by that time my tastes had changed tremendously and the urge to pick up the latest KISS album for old times’ sake had gone bye bye.  However, I will admit the mid 90’s reunion of the original band donning the grease paint and costumes piqued my interest but the resulting Psycho Circus album did nothing for me other than the stomping title cut and Space Ace’s “Into The Void”.  And when the reunion died and Tommy Thayer donned the Spaceman makeup and Eric Singer became the Catman I still held out some hope, but…  it’s just not the same.  Those guys are great players but the resulting albums that they’ve played on (Sonic Boom and Monster) are just missing that special magic that the original four had.

All that said, I have huge respect for the band and support whatever it is that Gene and Paul want to do.  While my KISS ship has sailed, there remains a legion of adoring fans of all ages that still love them and eat up anything and everything they put out, whether it be CDs, T shirts, dolls, Mr Potato Heads, or KISS Koffins.  My comment earlier about explaining KISS to those that were born after their heyday?  Just tell them this…  at the time it was a phenomenon like no other.  The lights, the costumes, the explosions, the blood, the smoke, the fire, the SHOW was 100x bigger and more grandiose than anyone else at the time.  And much of that live spectacle that you see in shows today may very well have come from “the hottest band in the world…  KISS!!!”

Ahhh, the cover song…  over the years there have been quite a few good ones, just as many bad ones, and some that transcend the original and become THE version (“All Along The Watchtower”, anyone?).  Back in the ’80s, record companies seemed to push cover songs onto new bands left in right because…  well, if it was a hit before it can be a hit again with a newer audience, right?  Suuuuuuuuure…  maybe sometimes.  But what about those artists that do it to pay homage to their musical forefathers or just want to do their own personal take on a classic?  As for Animal Bag, they recorded an EP of five originals and two covers back in 1994, one from Jethro Tull (“Dun Ringill”) and an outstanding take on the Crosby, Stills, and Nash classic “Wooden Ships”.

While I often enjoy covers of classic hits, it’s pretty rare that I prefer a cover of a song that was instilled in my memory banks at such an early age.  While the CSN original may not be as familiar as sweeter fare such as “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes” or “Our House”, it certainly received frequent airplay on the more daring AOR stations that would pluck those deeper and often more experimental tracks on the albums for airplay.  And with Crosby, Stills, and Nash (and occasionally Young) running a parallel trajectory with the rise of FM radio and eventually the AOR format, I grew up hearing and enjoying a good chunk of their music.  The original “Wooden Ships” is certainly a bit darker in tone lyrically, featuring a co-lead vocal between Stephen Stills and David Crosby as they trade off lines in the verse until the two join together with Graham Nash for some sweet harmonization come chorus time.  As for the music, there is a contrast to the vocal as Stills lays down some jazzy yet occasionally frenzied lead guitar lines accompanied with Hammondish organ stabs that fit well with the chaotic lyrical landscape based on a perceived outcome of a nuclear holocaust.  The song was written during the height of the Vietnam War, which likely colored the tension of the subject matter and the overall feel of the music.

Amazingly, with the Animal Bag version, the musical tension is relatively gone; replaced with a dreamier and more languid flow that works incredibly well both musically and vocally.  The key to this version is the pace:  the rhythmic strum follows a much slower vibe, the lead guitar is much bluesier than the push/pull exhibited in the original, and the multiple vocals are beautifully measured and more fluid.  The feel here is reminiscent of a late night jam after the lights are dimmed, the incense lit, and a few cocktails consumed-  there is no rush, leaving room for every vocal line, every emotional lead guitar bend, and every snare crack to breathe in a magically ethereal fashion.  While the original offers an atmospheric yet bleaker tone based on the dynamic ebb and flow of the music, the cover feels much more illusory yet hopeful thanks to its relaxed and restrained pace.

As much as I enjoy the original, this is an example where I love the cover even more.  Oddly enough both songs are in that five minute range but the Animal Bag version feels much shorter, making me hit the repeat button and leaving me enveloped in the song’s warm embrace.  Yes folks, it is THAT good.  Unfortunately, the band has been long gone and the EP is out of print and hard to track down-  if you dig the tunefulness though, you can support lead vocalist/acoustic master Trent Edwards and his new bluegrass band The Grassbillies out of Shelby, North Carolina.  Maybe go catch a gig and surprise him with a special request 🙂