"The easiest blues move ever": Thurston Moore, Robert Quine, Guitar Player Magazine and the Natchez Burning

Thurston has always been a great storyteller. This one is no exception. I was pretty excited when Hell (and Quine) were pulled into the SY orbit. The anecdote is short and via flowers crack concrete. In a recent Vice interview, Hell has said of the Dim Stars:

It was a total of one month. I like all those guys, and originally, we were gonna go in and have this one session and make a single out of it and it sounded like a kick. If I could just make a record every 18 months and there were no other responsibilities or obligations but as a musician, that would be great; I’d love to do that. It’s just that I don’t want to have the life of a rock ’n’ roll musician where I’m out touring all the time and I’d have to pay a band and deal with all the promotion and the music industry. It’s all that peripheral stuff, but I love making records.

Now if we can get a mash up of Quine playing with the Byrds circa 1969-1970:

Are Those Iggy Stooge - Judee Sill Rumors True?/"Kinda Chipmunky"/"Where I Came From I Was a Legend" [repost from March 2011]

I had never really given it much thought, but I guess we can thank the alignment of Judee Sill and Iggy Stooge with providing the title of the Dead Boys' debut "Young, Loud & Snotty." Is it some mere coincidence that Iggy provided the phrase in early 1973 and one of his biggest disciples - he of the apocryphal peanut butter handling and rated second only to Jim Morrison as rock vocal stylist by Mr. Pop - usurps the term for the lp. Maybe Cheetah Chrome can confirm that the phrase was from Iggy - I'm guessing in a contemporaneous interview it may say so. [ed. - thank you Cheetah for confirming back in 2011]. And to think Judee Sill triggered it in a contemptuous putdown, possibly by the very OGWT performance posted here a few months back. Time machine me back to the double bill of Roy Harper and Judee.

Battalion of Saints v. the Cheese Factory Round 1

Giving the Battalion of Saints, and the spiritual mentor of both bands - Motorhead - a run for their money at the same time, true metal madness from Caracas, February 1980, one month before the introduction of colour television in Venezuela. An almost Ginn/Sharrock-esque solo is in there as well at 1:26. Thanks to Eddie for the tip: Now, the similarities are pretty strong in execution but the low tech Cheese Factory takes the prize even though this may have been the Crue's best moment - was there an equivalent to the Strip in La Castellana or Altamira in Caracas?

Love Over Gold Part II: Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band "Beat Club Session," Bremen, Germany, June 24, 1972

As I have said before, the "Clear Spot"/"Spotlight Kid" 3 cd outtake set is one of the holy grails up there with the "Funhouse" boxset (if you like that particular era of the Magic Band - who doesn't really). The Beat Club clip of "I'm Gonna Booglarize You Baby" taped when the Magic Band was on their 1972 European summer tour has been a favourite for decades now, from crappy VHS tapes of upteenth generations to the fantastic quality of the clip below with an introduction that I only have just seen. What I had not seen but hoped had existed were the other three songs recorded that day. Now we can see Mark Boston's solo bass on the signature "Mascara Snake," Golden Birdies," all time fave "Click Clack" and the Captain in a Nudie suit jacket and satin pants (the outfits! on the entire band), all recorded on June, 24, 1972. Warren Ellis seems to be currently channeling Elliot Ingber's 1972 style crossed with the Captain's threads more than any particular member of the Band:

The Real Dropout Boogie 1969-1970/Edgar Broughton Band live

From the incredible power trio rock of the German clip to the crazy LA fantasy hybrid of the Doors, Captain Beefheart AND the early Mothers simultaneously (as a trio!!!) at the start of the French TV Pop2, the Edgar Broughton Band's records do not do them justice as good as they are. Some serious lessons to be learned on dynamics for bass, guitar and drums. Mind you Dez's DC3, Sun City Girls, the Sylvia Juncosa band, BGB, Rangda, the Clean, Monoshock, the Entrance Band and any live trio with Watt know this already - the list goes on:

'Cause when all the water's gone/The feeling lingers on

Gilles Caron died at thirty. You may know his work "The Student Revolution in Paris, May 1968" from a couple of different sources. Blink and you can miss the photo pinned to Malcolm McDowell's dorm wall in Lindsay Anderson's If. It is found in my home on the cover of Heldon's Allez Teia. Which brings me to Le Noise. I swear that when I first saw the cover of Le Noise at the mall in Henderson I was looking at the cover of the latest Thin Wrist, Ultra Eczema or Not Not Fun release. And on multiple listens, it could be. And that cover photo of Neil in the mansion - well, yeah, the font screams Heldon! I saw Richard Pinhas (b. 1951) several years ago. Live, not so good as it was difficult to tell what was programmed and what wasn't. He could have phoned it in - would it have altered the dullness? Neil (b.1945) plays here with Crazy Horse next week, and I am assuming he won't phone it in. Far ahead of the curve and the link between Crazy Horse, Television and the then (ever) evolving SST/New Alliance aesthetic, Slovenly's SST years have aged well. For what it is worth, other than Slovenly, I can personally attest that the original Rain Parade hit that same Television/Crazy Horse sweet spot live. So often in fact that it could be the reason Rain Parade guitarist Matt Piucci joined Crazy Horse for their lp just prior to Ragged Glory.

Technotronic Lad: Shawn Phillips, Alien Soundtracks and Half Machine Lip Moves

Creed: “We were really inspired by Pink Floyd, from Syd Barrett all the way to Meddle, and by early Hawkwind. But we weren’t hippies. It was something else.” Another element that came through when Creed himself sang was the influence of the post-psychedelic folk singer Shawn Phillips, especially the albums Contribution and Second Contribution. You can hear it especially on the amazing track “Pygmies in Zee Park”. Creed: “That’s left over from my folk days – that’s the way I used to sing. Shawn Philips was a big inspiration. He did a lot of lyrics for Donovan. Hehad the most incredible voice and the most incredible range, and me and my friends all tried to sing like him.” (from the the footnotes to Rip It Up and Start Again).