Old Music Monthly #039: November 1996
The Cover
Look, it’s heart throb Evan Dando!
The Letters
I can’t think of anything pithy to say, but damn, are these people cranky.
Tours We’d Like To See
Random Fact
So, this has lived rent free in my head for almost 30 years. We were taking trips to Canada, and I said, “We’re going to a CD store and I’m going to buy Sixteen Stone, but it has to be by Bush X”. So we went to one, I found a used copy! But I was disappointed because the “X” wasn’t part of the logo or anything, it was just an ariel narrow red letter stuck on after their name. Since it wasn’t an interesting novelty, I decided I’d rather just keep the 8 Loonies it cost.
Quick Fix
I know some of you will appreciate this.
Or maybe you’d like this full page ad for Pinkerton?
Weird Record of the Month
Copies start at $7.69 on discogs. It’s amazing he’s still doing this.
Mix Tape!
Fire up your fax machines! Do you think Hugh Brown has (had) a crush on Clara?
Label Profile
Someone page Pupshaw!
Best New Music
Reviews
Was Wesley Willis exploited? Is it wrong to enjoy his music? I think people genuinely loved him that met him, I like to think he was able to do what he loved while he was on this planet.
The Genres
That crack about King Diamond and the black metal floorshow in Vegas still makes me smile.
Top 75
I have owned 10, at different times of the years, how many did (do) you own?
Multi-Media
Mixed Media
In 1996, we were already looking back on grunge and picking it apart.
Localzine
Champaign-Urbana!
Without further delay, the CD:
Lemonheads – If I Could Talk I’d Tell You
We talked about The Lemonheads all the way back in #004. At this stage, the band is mostly just Evan Dando with some studio musicians filling in, including Patrick Murphy (Dinosaur Jr.) and Kenny Lyon (Divinyls, INXS, NOFX, and Jann Arden). This song leans very heavy on the “pop” of pop-punk. Is this what Lemonheads fans want from this band? I’ve never followed them, but it seems like this element has been with them almost since the beginning.
The Lemonheads are going to break up in 1997, and they won’t reform in time to be a part of this column again. (-)
Kula Shaker – Tattva
This is kind of a mess, so bear with me.
Singer / guitarist Crispian Mills is the son of Hayley Mills, who was in the original version of The Parent Trap, and Good Morning, Miss Bliss which evolved into Saved By the Bell. At age 11, Mills realized he was going to die, so he converted to Hindi. This is the Reader’s Digest condensed version. Mills formed The Objects of Desire with bassist Alonza Bevan in 1988, and in 1991 drummer Paul Winterheart joined up, but by 1993 they hated each other’s guts, so they split and Mills fucked off to backpack around India. Later that same year, the three reformed and as The Kays and played Glastonbury. Talk about being a nepo-baby. Soon, they joined up with keyboardist Jay Darlington.
In 1995, Mills suggested they become Kula Shaker in honor of the ninth-century Indian emperor King Kulashekhara, because in Indian culture the name is considered to be lucky. At this point I’d like to ask, dear reader, today would we consider this cultural appropriation? Is this fetishization? My column is filled with snark, but I genuinely wonder where we’re at with this. Obviously, we didn’t give a shit in 1996.
Anyway, they won a contest (who Placebo also won, somehow? Was it a tie?) and got signed to Columbia Records. I mean, they already played Glastonbury, so did they really need to enter a contest? Columbia released their debut, K, which was the fastest selling debut in Britain since Elastica smashed it the year before. Here we have “Tattva”, and it’s a good psychedelic rock song.
Their biggest hit would come in February 1997, when the recorded Joe South’s “Hush”, which was a big hit for Billy Joe Royal in 1967 and Deep Purple covered it immediately in 1968 (as was the style at the time). Kula Shaker recorded it closer to the Deep Purple version, of course. How did Mills celebrate the song peaking at number two on the British charts? He immediately told NME that he “loved swastikas” and that he would “love to have flaming swastikas on stage, just for the fuck of it.” Now, obviously, he meant the Hindu version, but my dude, you have to be smarter than that. Naturally, it led to the UK media calling him a fascist.
By 1999, the band split. Mills toured as Pi, but the label hated the resulting album, so he was released from his contract and formed The Jeevas. Bevan joined Johnny Marr and the Healers, and Darlington joined Oasis as a touring member in 2002. But no one cares about that because Kula Shaker reformed in 2004 and are still going.
We’ll see Kula Shaker again in 1999. (+)
Pusherman – Sold
England’s Pusherman were signed to Ignition Records, which was run by the manager of Oasis. They released their debut album, Floored,in September 1996, which is where this track comes from.
This song sounds like drugs. Not in a good way.
Their drug use split the band in 1997. Singer Andy Frank died in 2008, other singer Yank Reid died in 2000. (-)
John Parish and Polly Jean Harvey – That Was My Veil
Polly Jean, or PJ Harvey as she is known, was someone we talked about back in #020. But that was not as a duo with John Parish.
Parish is an English record producer and musician, who has produced a number of Harvey’s solo records, but this album they co-wrote together so I guess she gave him credit. I wasn’t really into Harvey yet, but I did immediately like this song.
Parish and Harvey had another collaborative album in 2009, A Woman A Man Walked By, but he also was part of her touring band from 1994-1999, 2009-2012, and 2015-2017. He has also worked with Eels, Giant Sand, and Tracey Chapman. (+)
(The) Roots – It Just Don’t Stop
Philadelphia’s The Roots have their…. Roots… going back to 1987 when drummer Questlove would bucket drum and Black Thought would rap over it. They were then Radio Activity, then Black to the Future, then The Square Roots. They added rapper Malik B. and bass player Leonard Hubbard. They became The Roots by 1993, and briefly moved to London when they didn’t get any traction in their hometown, and this is where they released their first independent album. After their debut, they worked hard to gain a cult following in Europe, which led to them signing with DGC. Here, we’re getting a track from their third album, Illadelph Halflife. What I like about this is that in the year of 1996, mainstream hip-hop was still pretty gangsta and this is more socially conscious.
We’ll see the Roots again in 1999. (+)
King Chango – Melting Pot
Hailing from New York, King Chango is an American / Venezuelan ska band that is either named for the Afro-Cuban God of War, or Drums… depending on who you ask. There’s very little about them out there right now, other that stuff talking about how hardcore they are. In watching the video, I realized that they used to be in an MTV2 bumper. I used to see that all the time, and I didn’t think they were a real band. I thought they were just assembled to king of look a certain way on TV.
The group split in 2003, and lead singer Blanquito Man died from colon cancer in 2017. His brother, Negrito Man, reformed the band in 2020 and is apparently still going. It’s not my thing, but maybe it’s yours? (-)
The Heads – Damage I’ve Done
You folks know about Talking Heads, right? We all know that David Byrne and the rest of the group (Tina Weymouth, Chris Frantz, and Jerry Harrison) had a very nasty split, and have several million used bandaids worth of bad blood between them. Byrne thinking he outgrew them kept the other three on hold while he putzed around, so they toured as Shrunken Heads before Talking Heads officially broke up. After the break up was official, the trio recorded an album as The Heads (not as good of a name) with a variety of singers… in fact I bet this is where Santana stole the idea from. The singers included Debbie Harry (Blondie), Gordon Gano (Violent Femmes), and Andy Partridge (XTC) among others. Why, even that placenta tosser Ed Kowalczyk (Live) lent his vocals to the album. But this one has Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano, and I don’t remember the rest of the record but I remember thinking this was the best track on it. The band toured as The Heads with Napolitano as the only singer, and Byrne sued the band to prevent the use of the name. I’m not sure the result of that lawsuit, but the band ceased to be after that tour.
Talking Heads reunited for their Rock N Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2002, and they managed to get through that without killing each other, so … progress? I do think the Weymouth gets a lot of flak, as if she’s responsible for the breakup, and I don’t think that’s fair. Some sources go so far as to say that she’s obsessed with Byrne in an unhealthy way, but that could just be misogyny at play. Byrne continues to do what Byrne has always done, meanwhile Frantz and Weymouth have Tom Tom Club and they’ve also produced albums by Ziggy Marley and Happy Mondays. Harrison produces a lot of albums, including albums by Fine Young Cannibals, Violent Femmes, and 3 albums from those placenta mongers, Live. Harrison also recently embarked on a tour where he performed Talking Heads’ Remain In Light with Adrien Belew. (+)
Kristen Barry – Created
Seattle’s Kristen Barry stole her dad’s keyboard after being fascinated with Gary Numan’s “Cars”. At 16 she was playing keyboards in a band, and waiting outside the clubs until it was time to go on, since she was underage. In 1987, Soundgarden’s manager (and future wife, and future ex-wife of Chris Cornell) Susan Silver took notice and signed her. Barry recorded demos at Reciprocal with Uncle Jack Endino in 1989 and played around the city that year, but had trouble finding her niche. She says, “I remember Mark Arm from Mudhoney coming to one of my shows at the Central Tavern and standing in the front row. He looked confused, like he couldn’t figure out if he should like it or not.”
In 1990, Pearl Jams’s Jeff Ament passed her demo on to Epic Records, but they couldn’t figure out what to do with her, so they cut her loose in 1991. In 1994, she signed with Virgini Records as they wanted her to be “the new female Soundgarden”. However, something else happened between 1994 and the 1996 release of Barry’s debut, and that something was Jagged Little Pill. Now, there was a new round hole to try and force a square peg into.
I wouldn’t call this bad, but it definitely has a lack of identity in the 1996 musical landscape. As a result, it just kind of doesn’t sound like anything. Barry would go on to work on her second album, but it remains unfinished. Today, Barry has a PhD in Clinical Psychology. (-)
Lilys – Cambridge, California
Washington D.C.’s Lilys is the brain child of Kurt Heasley. Heasley is kind of interview adverse, and the ones I found were from a decade past this release. Anyway, this is a good tune, like a Monkees and Kinks hybrid.
Wikipedia lists 57 former members of this band, we’re not doing that. We’ll see Lilys again in 1999. (+)
Robyn Hitchcock – Balloon Man
English singer / songwriter Robyn Hitchcock had already been in The Soft Boys and The Egyptians by 1996. In fact, he put out and album (Moss Elixir) and an outtakes album (Mossy Liquor), but instead we get a song from a hits album. Anyway, this song was originally written for The Bangles, he sent it to them, and they never used it. Hitchcock told the Mothership in 2013, that he’d be happy not to ever hear the song again, “although I do like the money I get from the royalties.” It’s a shame, it would’ve made a good Bangles tune.
We’ll see him again in 1999. (+)
Future Sound Of London – We Have Explosive
This UK duo met in college while studying electronics. They began DJing together, and started releasing singles under a variety of names. They have, at minimum, 32 aliases. But their first Future Sound of London release was in 1991.
You might have heard this one in the game Wipeout XL (or Wipeout 2097). I like this, but it almost feels like the soundtrack to overstimulation. (+)
Sense Field – Different Times
California post-hardcore/emo band Sense Field formed as a side project of hardcore band Reason To Believe in 1990, but when Sense Field became more popular, Reason To Believe called it quits. Sense Field was a way for the group to explore sounds broader than just straight ahead punk music. The released three albums, including 1996’s Building, which is where this track comes from.
The signed shortly after with Warner Bros, and hearing this it’s easy to hear why. Unfortunately, Warner Bros. kept them tied up for five years before finally setting them free, and the group released their follow up in 2001. They released one more album in 2003 before calling it quits in 2004. The members went onto various projects, and had one off reunions in 2012 and 2013 for Revelation Records anniversary shows. Sadly, singer Jon Bunch committed suicide in 2016. The band reunited one more time as a benefit for his son. (+)
Neurotic Outsiders – Jerk
In the endless negative zone between The Spaghetti Incident? (1993) and the formation of Velvet Revolver (2002-03), the members of Guns N’ Roses struggled to fille the days. The band had studio time booked for three years and did not have a single song to show for it. Guitarist Slash formed Slash’s Snakepit, while bassist Duff McKagan and drummed Matt Sorum set up shop in L.A.’s Viper Room, and jammed with friends. The first version of the group included Billy Idol and his guitarist Steve Stevens, but that didn’t pan out.
Instead, McKagan switched to guitar, and they were jamming weekly with Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Duran Duran bassist John Taylor. They ended up having some chemistry, and before they knew it, they had a record deal with Madonna’s Maverick Records. In September 1996, they released their self-titled album (produced by Talking Heads’ / Heads’ Jerry Harrison!). The result is a stripped down hard rock / punk record, which was pretty refreshing. McKagan was always the down to earth one in GNR, anyway.
The group split in 1997 after a short tour. They did 3 reunions shows in 1999, and one in 2006. (+)
Susanna Hoffs – All I Want
Speaking of the Bangles, and the Egytians… or, walking like them… hey, everyone! Susanna Hoffs!
We’re catching up with Hoffs on her second solo album, which is a mix of originals and covers. This is a cover originally by The Lightning Seeds. As usual, her vocals are delightful.
Hoffs continued her solo career, of course, as well being involved in Bangles reunions and a series of albums with Matthew Sweet (who met while both were part of the fake 60s group Ming Tea in the first Autin Powers movie). (+)
Multiple Cat – My Planet
Here is a minor mystery. A 3-piece from, well, hard to say. But the main songwriter is Patrick Stolley from Iowa. They’re apparently still going, at least as of 2016. Pretty good, very much like Guided By Voices. This video only has 120 views! (+)
Photek – The Third Sequence
Photek (Rupert Parkes) is a London based DJ who is credited with creating “Intelligent Jungle”. Wouldn’t that just be Swamp Thing? He’s also credited as a “sonic scientist”. Sure. Anyway, he released series of singles starting in 1994, but this is his ninth. His debut album (Modus Operandi) wouldn’t come out until 1997. There’s a lot about his debut, but not much of anything about his series of singles leading up to it. You might have also heard this one in the game Wipeout XL (or Wipeout 2097). This is fine, it does what it says on the tin. Exactly what you’d want in a racing game from ’96, or to spruce up a mixtape.
We’ll see Photek again in the distant future of the year 2000. (+)
Terrell – Hopeful Sinner
Austin’s Charlie Terrell says, “everyone just calls me Terrell”, but then every album after this he goes by his full name, so whatever, I guess. Our pal Chuck befriended Joan Osbourne, which no doubt managed to get his album Beautiful Side of Madness out on Virgin (she appears on the album, but not this track). But guess what? It didn’t work out. This video is atrocious, but really, I don’t know what this is going for. It’s like it’s aiming for a few variations of rockabilly / white boy blues, but it doesn’t really land in either, and it becomes more easily listening white dirtbag hip hop.
Terrell hasn’t released anything since 2010, but I’m sure he’s out there, waiting. Watching. (-)
Squeeze – Squabs On The Forty Fab
I can’t get too deep into Squeeze. I don’t know much about them, but if you were to print their Wikipedia it would be 12 pages, and you don’t want me to regurgitate all of that here.
This comes from the collection Piccadilly Collection, and is originally a b-side from 1981. CMJ says this is their own version of “Stars On 45” but of their own stuff, complete with generic disco beat. (+)
Jane Jensen – More Than I Can
Chicago’s Jane Jensen studied art, music, dance, and theatre at Columbia College Chicago. In 1992, she starred in Tromeo & Juliet which was written and directed by James Gunn & Lloyd Kaufman. In 1995, she was in a group called Oxygiene 23 with Jim Marcus and Van Christie (both of Die Warzau), which I must’ve heard at some point because I wasn’t far from that scene. Anyway, Jane Jensen somehow managed to release her debut, distributed through Interscope, in either later 1996 or early 1997. This is a kind of industrial-lite song, as was the style at the time. However improbable, I found a mint copy of this on cassette at the Goodwill back in 2019. I’ve never listened to the album, though.
This album failed to make a dent, obviously. Jensen has released two other solo albums, and toured with an all-girl punk band called The Dolls. She’s also been part of the Chicago music collective The Joy Thieves, which also has had contributions from Chris Connelly, Matt Mercado, Groovie Mann, among many, many others. (+)
Sarge – Dear Josie, Love Robyn
Champaign, IL’s Sarge was a punk-pop (“punk” comes first) trio that formed in late 1995 and played their first show in January 1996. Elizabeth Elmore (guitar, vocals), Rachel Switzky (bass), and Russ Horvath (drums) recorded this as a single, and later included it on their debut album, Charcoal. This song is so fun, I love it.
They added a second guitarist, and then the lineup kept shifting and changing. Switzky and Elmore were the constants until Switzky quit in late 1998 and the band ultimately ended in 1999 when Elmore enrolled in law school. This month’s Localzine was written by Switzky and Elmore, with some photos by Horvath. (+)
Now It’s Time For Breakdown:
Worthy Tracks: 15/20, 75% – one of the highest; 62.5% for the series.
Maple Leaf Invasion: 0/20, again! 2.59% across the series.
YEEEEAAAHHH, Here Comes the Roster:
Lemonheads are the only repeat offenders this time out, and they are joining 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, Blind Melon, Sam Phillips, and Emmet Swimming. 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 39 installments, there have been 672 unique artists.