Old Music Monthly #038: October 1996
The Cover
Here we have Tracy Bonham, more on her later. But, I like her shoes.
The Letters
I would say that Robert W. Mitchel of New Mexico kind of misses the point of the magazine.
Tours We’d Like To See (I would’ve called it “Sweet Tooth”)
Wanna Learn Something About Kiss?
You know, before they became digital perverts in clown makeup, or whatever the fuck they’re on about since “retiring”.
Quick Fix
I’m probably never going back to doing Artist Spotlights, unless I finally finish that long gestating Black Sabbath piece, so here have this snippet on Orange 9mm since I’m not likely to ever use it.
(I do have a vision for that Black Sabbath piece, and I do intend to finish it, but there are just so many players involved.)
Weird Record of the Month
Copies start at $11.00 on discogs, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted…
Mix Tape!
Fire up your fax machines! Also, this guy is fronting The 5, 6, 7, 8’s before Tarantino.
Best New Music
Reviews
The Genres
Top 75
I owned 9, how many did (do) you own?
Multi-Media
I want to point out that the Chick Publications Home Page still exists in some form or another. Just in the last week of July of this year, I received a flyer in the mail. It had no return address, but it was double sided fire and brimstone bullshit. No indication where it came from, except for “Chick[dot]com” at the bottom. Mrs. Doom was confused, and I explained it was probably related to “Chick Tracks.” Had I known this would come up, I would have saved if for your amusement.
Localzine
St. Louis!
8 Labels You Can Trust
Before getting to the CD, let’s explore these 8 indie labels.
Dallas Blues Society – Appears to have folded in 2001, only 6 releases.
Mo’ Wax – Folded in 2002, but somehow managed to keep released records the entire time, before being licensed for new releases in 2015. 842 releases.
Thrill Jockey – Still active, 1,048 releases.
Nuf Sed – This label put out 31 releases, and apparently actually went defunct an entire year before this was published.
In the Red – Still active, 618 releases.
Sub Rosa – Still active, 725 releases.
Slumberland – Still active, 357 releases.
Drag City – There’s Drag City, and Drag City Inc (the parent company). The are still active with a combined 2,415 releases.
Without further delay, the CD:
Tracy Bonham – The One
In The Simpsons Season 9 Episode 17, “Lisa the Simpson”, Lisa goes to see a violinist at a club. In the commentary they talk about how they were trying to get a popular alt rock violinist, who they couldn’t get, but couldn’t remember her name. The ultimately decided that it was better that Tress McNeil voiced the character because no one knew who that woman was anymore, anyway.
That person would have to be Tracy Bonham, right? I mean, who else could it have been?
In the post-Alanis world, every record label had to have their own “angry woman” (I still can’t get over how the media pegged Alanis as “angry” for so long), and Island Records found theirs in Bonham. Bonham is a classically trained violinist and pianist, and studied voice at the Berklee College of Music. For her debut, The Burdens of Being Upright, she decided to just get a guitar and see what happens.
You’ve undoubtedly heard “Mother Mother”, her biggest hit. This one is a decent rock song, less aggro but still good. Am I going to check out the album? Probably not, it’s been 27 years and I haven’t yet. But it should be noted that the album has Drew Parsons (American Hi-Fi) on bass, and wildly prolific drummer Josh Freese (Sting, Nine Inch Nails, A Perfect Circle, and about 100 others).
Bonham is still active, her most recent album coming out in 2021. (+)
Eels – Your Lucky Day In Hell
Mark Oliver Everett moved from Virginia to California in 1987, where he started his music career as “E”. I guess he hatched as a fully formed musician. He released two albums on Polydor as E. In 1993, E was dropped from Polydor and he set out recording what would be Eels’ debut album over the next two years.
Beautiful Freak was released in 1996, with lead single “Novocain For the Soul”, and this song was the fourth single but didn’t do as well. It seems weird, because I definitely saw this video more often, and heard the song appear in seemingly every movie for the next two years.
E, and Eels, are still out there as E is really the main guy. There’s been lots of turnover, and members have included Jonathan Norton (Tracy Chapman and Tracy Bonham), Jon Brion (‘Til Tuesday), John Parish (PJ Harvey), and multiple albums have had guest appearances by REM’s Peter Buck. (+)
Finn Brothers – Only Talking Sense
Tim and Neil Finn more or less run Crowded House (#006) and Finn Brothers concurrently, but Finn Brothers never “took a break” like Crowded House does every so often.
The writing for Finn began in 1989, but most of those songs became Crowded House’s Woodface. But the bothers got back together in 1995 to make this version of the album. It’s not terrible, and the video has a gross disembodied tongue and that should be worth something to someone. (-)
Nil Lara – Baby
Mr. Lara was born in New Jersey to Cuban immigrants, but by age 7 he had moved to Venezuela before moving to Miami in middle school. By the time he got to college, he was proficient with the Venezuelan four stringed cuatro, the Cuban six stringed tres, and standard guitar. He began mixing guajiro (Cuban Country), son Cubano (Cuban blues), with funk and prog (?). He had a group in college called KRU, but signed a solo deal with Capitol Records in 1995, and released a self-titled album the following year.
I don’t hear the “prog”, but I definitely hear the funk influence. It’s not a funky song, but it has that kind of stomp to it. I think it kind of falls flat at the chorus, though.
Nil Lara sat on his thumbs for a little while, before being dropped by Capitol and then released two albums in 2004, and collaborated on the score to The New Americans that same year. I’m not sure if he’s still going or not. (+)
Les Claypool & The Holy Mackerel – Holy Mackerel
I was mistaken in thinking we covered Primus already, but I was mistaken. Primus showed up on some Certain Damage discs that predate these, and they’ll show up in #076. Then I remember, “You blockhead, we talked about Sausage way back in #010.”
Here, Claypool plays all the bass and sings the songs (of course) but plays a lot of the guitar on the album, and almost all of the drums. If you liked Primus and Sausage, you’ll like this (+)
Fun Lovin’ Criminals – Scooby Snacks
This New York three-piece started in 1993, and per our good friends at Wikipedia:
“They are best known for their hit “Scooby Snacks”, which features samples from films by Quentin Tarantino, and the song “Love Unlimited”, which recalls Barry White’s backing vocal group. Their songs often focus on life in New York City, as well as urban life in general. Their lyrics can be gritty or existentialist in nature, touching on topics such as organized crime and urban violence, but they are just as often humorous or satirical.”
Sure. You know what, full disclosure, I hate this band. There’s no getting around it. If you like them, no disrespect intended, it’s just not for me. But the song did make Quentin Tarantino a bunch of money and a co-writing credit, which he demanded after hearing all of the samples from Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.
The band is still going with one original member (not even the lead singer), and for a brief time included drummer Mackie Jayson (Cro-Mags, Bad Brains). (-)
Speedball Baby – Rubber Connection
Another NYC band, Speedball Baby, began in 1995 and had two EPs on Matador before MCA Records came calling. There isn’t much out there about this band, one of the sources that comes up is from Angelfire, for crying out loud, and that’s for a band that formed after Speedball Baby broke up.
There isn’t anything really wrong with it, but nothing really right with it, either. What little bit is out there likes to drop rockabilly as a component, and I can kind of see it, but it’s misleading to think it’s a main ingredient.
Speedball Baby broke up… sometime after 2002, it appears. Members went on to play in Madder Rose, Lo-Hi, and most recently, Disturbios. (-)
NY Loose – Spit
Have you had enough NYC rock? You have? Too bad.
NY Loose started sometime, and ended at another time. They released an EP in 1993, then a series of singles and EPs through 1994-95 (5 to be exact), and their debut full length album on Hollywood Records in 1996. This song is from that album, and also on the soundtrack to The Crow: City of Angels. The song was also released as a split single with Hole’s “Gold Dust Woman”, which was also on the same soundtrack.
I didn’t think much of this at the time, but I must’ve listened to it a lot because when I started it, I remembered it right away. It’s a pretty good dirge, and kind of an odd choice to put on a soundtrack or a sampler.
NY Loose ended… sometime after their debut. A compilation of early singles was released in 2007. Singer / guitarist Brijitte West went to play in the short lived Famous Monsters with White Zombie’s Sean Yseult, and then formed Brijitte West and the Desperate Hopefuls. (+)
Holly McNarland – Stormy
Ms. McNarland hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and moved to Vancouver to pursue music in the early 90’s. In 1995 she released her debut EP, Sour Pie, which is where this track comes from. It was re-released in 1996 by MCA Records when she signed with them.
Her voice is nice, but the song is meh. We’re going to get a better one from her in 1997.
McNarland won a Juno Award in 1998. She’s apparently still in the business, but hasn’t released an album since 2012. (-)
Catherine Wheel – Heal 2
We talked about Catherine Wheel back in #001, #005, and #024.
This comes from Like Cats and Dogs, the band’s B-Side collection. It’s s good track, it sounds like Catherine Wheel, what more do you want? (+)
Sam Phillips – Power World
We last caught up with Sam Phillips way back in #010. Here, we’re catching up with her on her third album after ditching contemporary Christian music.
She has a nice quality to her voice, a roughness you don’t expect from looking at her. But as a song, it’s not that interesting.
We’ll see her for a third and final time in 2001. (-)
Emmet Swimming – Arlington
We first talked about Emmett Swimming 9 months ago, in #029.
This is from their second album for Epic, and this is definitely more radio friendly than “Jump In the Water”. Where that song is bleak, this is more bouncy and whimsical. Also, the video is peak 90s. Kissing girls, facial piercings, babydoll T’s and barrettes. Unfortunately, it’s not that interesting.
We’ll see them one last time in 1998. (-)
Red House Painters – All Mixed Up
San Francisco’s Red House Painters are considered a prominent act of “sadcore”. Jesus Christ. Singer / songwriter Mark Kozelek met up with drummer Anthony Koutsos, and they added guitarist Gorden Mack and bassist Jerry Vessel to the lineup. The got signed to 4AD on the strength of their ninety minute demo tape after it was taken to the label by American Music Club’s Mark Eitzel. That’s just excessive.
Here we are catching up with them in their fourth album, Song For a Blue Guitar. I don’t want to say anything disparaging about it, but it’s so clearly not my thing. It doesn’t even approach my thing. And that’s fine, not everything needs to be for me.
The band split, but Kozelek and Koutsos carried on with Sun Kil Moon. But we’ll see Red House Painters again in 2001. (-)
Congo Norvell – The Girl Who Would Be King
Brian Tristan, aka Kid Congo Powers, was a member of The Gun Club and The Cramps, before joining up with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds in 1986. Congo met Sally Norvell (Prohibition) at the deathbed of a friend and performed at a number of shows to benefit friends who were dying of AIDS. They got signed to Priority Records (The house that The California Raisins built) and released their debut, Music To Remember Him By in 1994. They recorded a second album, and a promo came out, but Priority shelved it in 1996. The album, The Dope, The Lies, The Vaseline, is where this song came from. Kinda weird to promote an album you’re going to shelve, I assume they got dropped when Priority shifted 100% of their focus on hip-hop.
I did not save this back in the day, but today, I am enchanted by Norvell’s voice. The song has some of the trappings of the era, the forced orchestral sounds and overdriven guitar. But her voice is too good for me to be too harsh on it.
The group released a final album in 1997. (+)
Metal Molly – Orange
The Discogs page about Metal Molly is pretty comprehensive, so I’m just going to copy and paste it here:
“Belgian rock band.”
It’s almost and embarrassment of riches when it comes to information! I translated the Belgian Wikipedia page, and there isn’t much there, either. They formed in 1994, and lasted to 2000, and reformed briefly in 2006 before disbanding for good. “Orange” comes from their first album, 1995’s Surgery For Zebra, which is a perfectly likeable title. The song itself is kind of meh, the music is ok, the vocals aren’t my favorite…. But I have terrible taste in music, so make of it what you will.
Also, enjoy the MTV2 commercial at the beginning of the video. (-)
The Damned – Shut It [Cleopatra Re-Mix]
Ok, so The Damned. 1.) The Damned definitely deserve the full Artist Spotlight treatment (if they haven’t gotten it already), and 2.) They are a band that I should love, but they just don’t connect with me. That being said, I often hear individual songs I think are really great, this being one of them… but I haven’t found that album yet that is my entry point into the fandom.
You know, I think it was on the No Dogs In Space podcast where they said that singer Dave Vanian got the job simply because he was the only one who showed up.
Anyway, The Damned split in 1989 (yet somehow released two singles in 1990), but had reformed in 1991 for a reunion tour of the US, then split, then reunited in 1993 in a sort of Frankensteinian way with original drummer Rat Scabies, Vanian, guitarist Kris Dollimore (The Godfathers), and bassist Moose Harris (New Model Army). After touring for two years, the band collapsed, again.
But here is where it’s fuzzy. Scabies, Harris, and Dollimore were working on some demos for some time, and Vanian would not be lured back. Eventually, they did lure him back and they recorded Not of This Earth (sometimes known as I’m Alright Jack & The Beanstalk… for some reason) in 1994 and it was released in November of 1995 after they had split (released in 1996 on Cleopatra in the US). The album also has Sex Pistols’ Glen Matlock playing bass on two songs. Why? No one can say.
Vanian would reform The Damned again in August 1996, but with Captain Sensible and no Rat Scabies. I remember distinctly an article where Scabies had his own version of the Damned running concurrently with Vanian and Sensible’s version. Vanian said (paraphrased), “His Damned can play on the opposite side of town as our Damned and we’ll see how many people show up to his.”
Anyway, for more information on The Damned, consult your local library. (+)
Victor DeLorenzo – Blind
Victor DeLorenzo has been acting since he was five years old, and was a founding member of Violent Femmes with bassist Brian Ritchie. He quit Femmes in 1993 to focus more on his own music, and do more acting. This song is from his second solo album, Pancake Day. I didn’t save it back in the day, but this is nice. It’s very much in that pre-grunge “college radio” type sound of the 80s.
DeLorenzo opened his own studio in 1996, and had numerous side projects. He rejoined Femmes in 2000 until their break up in 2009, and they reunited in 2013, but DeLorenzo quit again a few months later when the individual members could not resolve “their long-standing business disputes”, aka MONEY. Which is fine, musicians should be paid. (+)
Headcrash – Safehouse
This German group started as an electronica duo that then expanded to include an American punk singer living Germany… specifically, Kaiserslautern.
Look, I’m not going to waste any more time on this. It’s fucking awful. I don’t even remember this track, which is kind of amazing. I’m sure I NOPE’d out at like 30 seconds or less. It’s proto-Nu Metal. To be fair, every genre has something good in it I think, even Nu Metal. I think in the early days of rap/rock hybrids the mixing of actual rap groups with actual metal/rock bands, I think those work.
Anyway, listen to it, or don’t. No one will give a fuck. (-)
Brian McMahon – Made For Each Other
Cleveland’s (the) Electric Eels formed in 1972, and dissolved by 1975. In that time, they only played five shows, but they were notorious for confrontational with the audience and each other. The fights that they started with the audience never failed to draw police attention. The members had no real musical ability or competence, and for a long time had no proper drummer but did have sheet metal hit with sledgehammers, which made it practically impossible to get gigs in the bars that regularly booked Top 40 cover bands.
Guitarist Brian McMahon left in 1973, but returned to the group in early 1975, before they imploded. Guitarist Jim Jones went onto Pere Ubu, and drummer Nick Knox went onto The Cramps. Singer John Morton formed the band X____X that released a few singles and then formed a performance art “band” called Johnny and the Dicks that performed to a pre-recorded soundtrack (recorded by The Styrenes), and released an “album” that was just a cover with no actual record inside. And Brian McMahon released…. This.
I don’t mean to sound so dismissive. Honestly, the tin can percussion and the lo-fi recording are admirable, but I’m not really into it. It should be noted that Brian is the brother of Kevin McMahon who was in Lucky Pierre with Trent Reznor (swoooon!) and was the main dude behind CMJ alum Prick (#018). (-)
Now It’s Time For Breakdown:
Worthy Tracks: 9/19, only 47.36% for this installment, 62.16% for the series.
Maple Leaf Invasion: 5.26% for this installment; 2.67% for the series.
YEEEEAAAHHH, Here Comes the Roster:
Sam Phillips and Emmet Swimming are now part of the Two-Timer’s Club. They are in company with Orbital, Frente, Versus, D Generation, The Reverend Horton Heat, Me’Shell Ndogeocello, The Figgs, Dig, Sincola, Cowboy Junkies, The Spinanes, Idaho, Cracker, Iggy Pop, The Coctails, Possum Dixon, Rocket From the Crypt, Pharcyde, Gene, Sonic Youth, Meat Puppets, Echobelly, Ben Harper, Hum, Bracket, Chris Whitley, Ned’s Atomic Dustbin, Quicksand, Digable Planets, Adam Ant, Catherine, Ass Ponys, Magnapop, Cranes, Sarah McLachlan, Eve’s Plum, Jeff Buckley, Beastie Boys, Engines of Aggression, Luscious Jackson, G. Love & Special Sauce, Green Apple Quick Step, Letters To Cleo, Big Audio Dynamite, Eve’s Plum, Greta, Paul Weller, Radiohead, Ramones Stabbing Westward, Sister Machine Gun, Superchunk, Lida Husik, Bad Brains, Cocteau Twins, and Blind Melon. Van Morrison is here, too, but no one cares.
Iggy Pop, Magnapop, Therapy?, Catherine Wheel, 700 Miles, Guided By Voices, and Matthew Sweet have each appeared 3 times.
Catherine Wheel joins The Mighty Mighty Bosstones as the only two groups to appear four times.
Over the 38 installments, there have been 653 unique artists.