So here is the deal folks!
Last night I attended a listening party hosted by Jimmy Page who is promoting the remasters of the last three Zeppelin records. I’ve written a story for the people who sent me and will post it after it is published by them next week. However, I will be posting an entirely different story on the same event here… when I get back home from a few days off with the family.
How I spent my evening…
Stories to follow soon…
Box after box opened, pulling out the literary contents and placing them on carts to be shelved by other peons. Day after day, month after month, year after… ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! It’s good to work, but the isolation of a receiving dock can sometimes get a little, um… mind numbing. So the 2003 version of me brought in a boombox with auxiliary for my first gen ipod to keep me company and I kept in search of energetic music to distract myself. The second cycle of Brit-Pop with the Kaiser Chiefs leading the way helped a bit, but I needed more.
At lunch I started reading magazine reviews and a name kept popping up – Motion City Soundtrack. Like most Epitaph albums I Am The Movie started out with a flood of guitar but as things progressed it became something else, something really cool. A friend had a Napster shit download copy on a burned CD. Light synth backing up a dual guitar attack put together with lyrics that had tongue planted firmly in cheek emanated through crappy speakers and I smiled. Songs were sarcastic, confessional, and ridiculous. Like life they played through all the various range of emotions, but most all, it was fun.
So after my shift finished, I journeyed the suburban strip mall sidewalk to the big box record store and they of course looked at me like I was an alien.
“What soundtrack?”
“Not a soundtrack, a band! Motion City Soundtrack!”
“Why would they call themselves a soundtrack?”
“Not sure, but if I ever get to LA, I’ll ask?”
Eventually I ordered the thing online, because, well, the dead eyes of mindless big box suburban record store floor staff that see boy bands as high art really piss me off.
Fuck yeah – I’m a music snob. If you got a problem with that we can thumb wrestle.
It’s been more than a decade, and like most music I love have an attachment to, I want it on vinyl. With only two options open to me, the decision is pretty easy. Sealed copies of the now out of print original 2003 pressing run for about $35 and up on reseller markets.
Or
Hot Topic just recently released a limited orange translucent version of I Am The Movie. While I had thought it sold out back in March, it showed back up and is now spinning on the turntable. My 11 year old is even trying to “bust a move.”
See what I did there… oh never mind. Buy the record and you’ll get the joke.
Posthumous releases hold a strange place in the collective consciousness of the music masses. In most cases we see established artists whose lives have been cut short having albums put out by record companies mining demos for a last nugget of gold. Other times, records were near completion when tragedy struck and band members finish recording as a memorial. Chris Bell didn’t fit either of these bills.
The failure of Big Star’s #1 Record to get recognition beyond critics and music insiders meant that Bell never received or understood the extent of his talent and eventual influence. Disillusioned he left Big Star and from time to time he recorded out of differing studios hoping to release something that might connect and ultimately gain a modest amount of respect and adulation. Of course, it never happened. Other than the limited 1978 7” for “I Am The Cosmos” and “You and Your Sister” nothing was released before a car accident took his life on December 27th 1978.
So it was that others were left with the task of compiling a record together to at once honour, shine a light and in many respects introduce the brilliance of a young and gifted solo artist. In 1992, the first Ryko edition of I Am The Cosmos arrived on record store shelves in only the CD format. Cassettes were sent out as promos to various media outlets and for quite a while, that was it. Mean while, the first wave of the Big Star revival was taking place and interest in the late artist was increasing with a bunch (Posies, Jayhawks, This Mortal Coil…) of recording artists doing cover versions of the title track.
With more knowledge of both Big Star and Bell, many people have wanted to get their hands on a definitive copy of I Am The Cosmos. The problem with that is there isn’t much more to expand upon beyond the quality of the initial release.
So here are the options:
The initial 1992 CD copy by Ryko
A 2006 180 gram vinyl version released by Four Men With Beards
In 2014 Rhino released a two CD remaster with companion disc containing alternate versions of some songs as well as three songs from Bell’s pre-Big Star days. (Some copies went out with a bonus 7” reproduction of the original “Cosmos” single)
Going through the various forums sound quality on all versions has come into question amongst the audiophile community. It isn’t that the criticisms aren’t valid, but certain facts need to be pointed out. Bell didn’t record a completed album, and had bounced between several studios in producing all the material that went into it. While I’m certainly no authority on recording studios in 1970’s Memphis, I can hypothesize that not all are equal. Different equipment and atmosphere from place to place means that things can be disjointed in terms of overall sonics.
That said, the songs are incredible and they rise above such criticism by the sheer beauty of the captured moment. Having both the Ryko and Rhino editions I can hear slight variance, but the music captures me in such a way that I quickly forget about any such thoughts. Honestly, I fully intend on purchasing the vinyl as well; trusting that the recording process was done with the same reverence as I carry for this record.
It’s a gorgeous record with some great songs and one I even hold amongst the greatest all-time. Give it a listen.
There was a point in the 1970’s when you couldn’t put on the radio for five minutes without hearing Jeff Lynne and co. pumping out crappy speakers with their latest single. Funny, but Electric Light Orchestra still sounded good through the crackle of a transistor radio. ELO at their best took on Beatles inspired tunes mixed with classical music and prog productions and boiled them down into three minute hit singles. Whether the songs were anthems, ballads or straight up rockers there was an atmospheric quality that loaned itself easily to emotional resonance; in other words you either loved or hated them. Arguably, they’re greatest record was 1977’s double album Out Of The Blue, with songs “Turn To Stone”, “Sweet Talkin’ Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky” leading the charge.
So what’s the vinyl story?
Well… being a massive band back in 1977, there was a pre-order of 4 million records in anticipation of their huge following. It wasn’t just released on the standard vinyl, cassette and 8- track, but also on reel to reel. Some special limited edition vinyl was released in the UK and US on blue translucent vinyl which can still be found at both ridiculously low ($10.00) to outrageously high prices ($400).
The first batch of reissues started arriving in 86-87 with the release of the CD. As was popular at the time, it was just thrown out on the market without a proper remastering job.
In 1999, the first remaster resulted in a UK reissue on 180 gram vinyl. They can still be found on the reseller market for about $60 and up.
The biggest remaster was in 2007 for the 30th anniversary of Out Of The Blue. Released by Music On Vinyl on 180 gram vinyl the first 1000 copies were issued on blue translucent vinyl and all after were on black vinyl.
Sound quality is reputed to be outstanding on the release with the blue vinyl fetching over $100.00 for unopened copies. The black vinyl will run you a minimum of $35 (it is a double album) but likely more in North America as it is an import.
Anyway, it’s great fun, and all you Muse fans should see what over the top production really means by giving this a spin. How can you go wrong in a world made of neon spaceships and classical influenced rock? I would love to get my hands on one of those original blue ’77 copies.
Rotating between having her head out the window or on my lap in intervals of less than ten seconds, Mugs would bounce around the inside of the Jeep like a canine pinball. The A.M. radio would play those adult contemporary hits which blurred the line between folk – rock – country and polite crooning intended to placate the masses who found The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour funny. Between being stepped on, loved and driven to distraction by the sounds of Hot Butter’s “Pop Corn” that my friends was seven year old me in my dad’s AMC Jeep in the summer of ’74.
It wasn’t all bad, slipped in between the greatest hits of Neil Sedaka and Anne Murray came Gordon Lightfoot’s “Sundow,” a subversive little number promising murder “if I find you been creeping ‘round my backstairs.” I had no idea what that meant, but it sure sounded bad. That song and the follow up single “Carefree Highway” helped propel Sundown into #1 in both Canada and the U.S. in June of 1974.
Of course, vinyl was still king back then and plenty of records were issued in the year of its original release, but… what since?
Surprisingly, for a hit record, Sundown hasn’t seen much in reissues and remasters with two notable exceptions. In 1979, Mobile Fidelity gave Sundown the all-star half-speed recording treatment. You can find used copies for around $20. (Saw a still packaged one selling for over $200.00 on E-Bay, but let’s not get insane just yet). Then just last year a remastered 180 gram edition showed up for Record Store Day and you can still find them easily for about $40. Sound on it is outstanding.
If you’re crate digging you can still find decent copies of the original kickin’ about for under $5.
So, the vinyl spins I think of my Dad, my dog, and drives to the cottage along a carefree highway. Wish I knew where the hell that is! “When do we get there?”
Sitting alone on the bus bound for Toronto I looked down at my feet and exclaimed “Oh shit!” louder than I should have. People turned to see this large man who looked more biker than student, wearing a pair of headphones shaking his head at his own stupidity. Sandles… I was wearing sandles to a freakin’ big ass concert at the Exhibition Stadium. Worse, it was general admission floors and I realized that I had made a huge mistake.
I hook up with my girlfriend at the bus station, and meet with my roommate at the show as Blues Traveller put on a set that was entertaining to the few people who had arrived. I had expected a large crowd for Soundgarden who were still touring Badmotorfinger but that didn’t really materialize either. Despite low turnout for their set Cornell and co. put on a great performance. When they left the stage, that’s when things started getting weird. The crowd started filling in, but it wasn’t too bad until Pearl Jam walked on and the opening chords of “Go” rang out. Finishing the last dates supporting Ten, and having just finished the as yet unreleased VS. Pearl Jam was at the top of their popularity. Suddenly every kid who had a seat relinquished it and started breaking for the floor. Security was helpless as hundreds of people started to rush the stage.
I was perhaps 50 – 60 feet from the band when this started and within just a few seconds I was thirty feet from them; except I had not taken a single step. It was a current of kids turning into rapids. My girlfriend started to stumble. At that moment a mixture of fear, anger and adrenaline took over. I grabbed my future wife, said excuse me to the first couple people, and with no other choice just started pushing through the crowd sideways. Each step I became angrier and despite the music I could hear screams of pain in the distance. Finally, the three of us came into a bit of a clearing when some poor kid, who had my height but was twig thin, ran straight into me.
BANG!
He looked down, went white and murmured, “I’m sorry.”
I didn’t have to look down to know what had happened. His Doc Marten kicked my big toe nail, and ‘pop’ my foot was now a bloody mess. All that adrenaline went straight to my chest and I bellowed “GET THE F#!K OUTTA MY WAY!!!” He disappeared in a shot. We went to a concession stand got a few napkins and then watched the rest of Pearl Jam’s set from the furthest seats of the stadium. Pearl Jam finished with a rousing rendition of the Who’s “Baba O’Riley” and left the stage. As they did so did the Pearl Jam fans. Hundreds just left.
We made our way back to the floor which was now civilized and found ourselves pretty much where we were standing before all the chaos.
Neil Young took the stage with the legendary STAX band Booker T & the MG’s and knocked through a set that pulled from both his acoustic and electric sides. The crowd was mostly in awe at the aging veterans who were putting on an awesome spectacle. For the first encore Young pulled out his harmonica and began to play the familiar whistle opening to the late Otis Redding classic “(Sittin On) The Dock Of The Bay” (Booker T &b the MG’s play on that Redding original). Unlike other covers by artists like Michael Bolton, Young didn’t use the song as some opportunity to emote through musical masturbation of vocal range, instead he stuck to the true dreamy nature of the original. Then he went electric again and broke into the Dylan stomper “All Along The Watchtower.” When the band finished everyone left the stage.
For the second encore Young & the MG’s were joined by Pearl Jam for “Rockin’ In The Free World” which delighted fans both young and old.
My girlfriend decided to drive me home when the radio started announcing several injuries due to the crush of people. I looked at my foot, considered myself lucky for only losing a toe nail, and popped Harvest Moon into the tape deck. That was the last time I ever went to Exhibition Stadium. It was torn down in 1999.
Back in ’93 I was given an album to review that became a best friend of sorts. Surprisingly it was a compilation record (which usually just don’t stand up due to inconsistency) of songs by an artist whose music was only known previously to musicians and music geeks, but it knocked me over. One song after another caught my imagination with vivid imagery and music that could be both morose and uplifting within the same moment. It was brilliant, which is something you usually can’t say for a record recorded by “various artists.” However, what holds it together is the artist to who the album was benefiting – Victoria Williams.
“My sister got bit by a copperhead snake in the woods behind the house” is the first line that pops out the old speakers as Soul Asylum breaks into “Summer Of Drugs” and I as listener was hooked. By the time Evan Dando (of the Lemonheads) sings “Frying Pan” I’ve decided I want to play guitar. By the conclusion I’m looking for a bullhorn so I can tell any and everyone within earshot that they have to listen and buy this record. Williams’ songs are so detailed in character that songs feel like you’ve both read an exceptional short story and listened to a new musical experience. Despite the different styles of the various artists performing the songs, the original vision of the songwriter herself remains potent and shines through any genre leaping in the album itself.
If you don’t know the story, Williams star was on the rise when she was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Having been bogged down with debt from increasing medical bills a virtual who’s who of 90’s alt rock and beyond joined forces to help her and others out. The Sweet Relief Charity Fund was set up to help musicians in need of expensive health care.
More than 20 years have gone by and Pearl Jam is still playing their contribution “Crazy Mary” live, and my CD still has a home within twelve inches of the stereo. So, you can see my love for this record runs deep, and I want a vinyl copy… I just didn’t think that one actually existed. That is until the other day when I just started putting album titles into the discogs search engine and… oh my, it exists. But damn… only in European used stores that would raise the price with shipping to over a hundred bucks.
So, I hope that it gets re-issued on vinyl eventually or that the ghost of Ed McMahon shows up at my door with an oversized check.
Sweet Relief can still be purchased at your better record stores on CD and has two follow up LP’s.
Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation – The Songs Of Vic Chesnutt
And
Sweet Relief III: Pennies From Heaven
Check them out, give ‘em a listen, and maybe you’ll want to drop a few dollars to a worthy cause.
P.S. – Here’s a video of Victoria Williams covering the great Sam Cooke
A life time ago it seems I was getting the opportunity to interview some of my favorite artists for the now defunct id Magazine. In this case, it was the summer of 1995 and I was in my new overheated cheap rent apartment having just finished university. Sitting beside the phone random chords were filling the air as I strummed my guitar for no one but myself to hear. Once the phone did ring I was talking with Matthew Sweet for the better part of 30 minutes about his recently released album 100% Fun.
I wish I could reprint the article, or even remember the questions and answers, but it was a different time. While I have the interview on disc, it is one of those old 2.5 inch plastic jobs that haven’t been used in computers since before the turn of the century. The actual interview was recorded on a mini cassette, but I have no working player to even hear it with. So all I can tell you is this… he was super nice and patient with me when I asked him for the chords to the song “Someone To Pull The Trigger” from his previous record Altered Beast.
I hadn’t been playing guitar for all that long and I really wanted to learn how to play this song, but unlike the current version of the internet, you couldn’t just Google or YouTube to get answers – so I asked.
Remarkably, he laughed and started giving me the chords in enough detail to allow for a beginner, even giving me alternate and easier ways to play them. I’m guessing I thanked him for both the interview and the guitar lesson, but honestly, I don’t remember how things ended other than I was sweating in an overheated south facing shit-hole with a lovely view of the Humber River, trying to learn how to play a Matthew Sweet song that I really loved.
As the summer continued, “Sick Of Myself” was in heavy rotation at CFNY (the Edge) and I found myself turning off the radio when the song ended and picking up my guitar for another shot at figuring out my one and only guitar lesson. Unfortunately, I think I stopped trying when I finally attempted to add my own vocals and scared all the birds away from my balcony.
Anyway, 100% Fun is a classic power-pop record full of chiming guitar, powerful hooks and sing-a-long choruses that hide a wee bit of darkness and self loathing in the overall lyrical content. It is a record I keep coming back to year after year, and is one of my favorite albums to hear on those long drives. It is being re-issued later this month on 180 gram wax by Music On Vinyl over in Europe. I’m sure you can order it at your favorite local record retailer or online store.
Sweet is also working on a new record that will hopefully arrive at my door before the annual Christmas specials have me contemplating an apartment on the moon.
It’s August 1985 and the news in Toronto is all about the possibility of it raining on Bruce Springsteen who is touring the biggest album on the planet – Born In The USA. Thing is, the rain arrives a day early, and the CNE Grandstand has a totally different show going on that night. George Thorogood and the Destroyers with Johnny Winter opening are set to perform.
Drew and I left from the pool I lifeguarded at in total sunshine and headed down to the Canadian National Exhibition grounds with tickets that put us only seven rows from the stage. With some sense of over geeky enthusiasm I remarked how it looked like the rain would hold off. Drew, always the master of understated sarcasm raised an eyebrow glanced at the sky and shook his head in that “you don’t know your ass from a hole in the ground” way.
Johnny Winter hits the stage and the wind picks up. His set is phenomenal as his hands fly all over the neck of his guitar. I had known he was good, but WOW! This was damn impressive. He left the stage as the sun dipped out of site in the west and some dark clouds started to roll in quickly from the south.
Thorogood and the destroyers took the stage and started rocking out right away. I wish I could remember the setlist, but it was thirty years ago. What I do remember is that about 30 minutes into the set, the sky opened up and the rain drops were the size of quarters. The wind was blowing the water right into stage.
A drenched Thorogood looked out into the crowd as his band tried to step further towards the back of the stage and hollered “Does anyone want to hear some blue?” and the crowd replied with cheers. He broke into “The Sky Is Crying” and he just didn’t stop. Between songs a guitar tech would hand him a dry guitar and into another song he would go. The crowd was having a fantastic time and no one was leaving. The band that had initially tried to find shelter further down stage came forward and challenged Mother Nature to a duel. Over 90 minutes in the rain and they just kept playing until the damn sky cleared… and then, they did encores.
By all rights, Thorogood could have stopped the show and probably should have. Electric guitars and rain don’t mix, but this “nut job” musician was committed to putting on a great rock ‘n’ roll show, and he succeeded beyond the crowds wildest dreams.
In later years my taste in music changed and George got less and less of my time on the stereo, but when people would talk about the best concerts they ever went to, this still sits as the #1.
On Record Store Day Thorogood re-released his debut album, except in a way never before heard. It was originally recorded without a bass guitar. Initially the destroyers billed themselves as “the original five-piece trio” and this record reflects that. It is a trip to hear “One Bourbon, One Scotch and One Beer”, “Madison Blues” and “Ride On Josephine” as they were done in those first recordings back in the mid-seventies.
Anyway, I haven’t found an amount issued, but it is limited and on blue vinyl. I still saw copies kicking around on Sunday, but I wouldn’t wait if you’re interested.
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