Revolution Rock (Revisited) The Haunted & Show # 484

This week's program was a repeat of a show that originally aired back in February 2013. The show focused on Canadian Garage Rock bands focusing primarily on bands from the 60s and 80s; The post that originally coincided with this program was on the Toronto band The Ugly Ducklings and their single "Nothin’" originally released in 1966. You can check out my original post on “Nothin’” by clicking this link. There were numerous other bands featured on the program. One of the bands featured was The Haunted:

The Haunted formed in Montreal, Quebec in 1965. The band was formed by guitarist Jurgan Peter and after winning a battle of the bands contest at the Montreal Forum, the band recorded their debut single. The first prize for this contest was recording time, which resulted in the single “1-2-5” backed with “Eight O’Clock This Morning”. The song was one of the first in a string of singles and releases from the band. This song, which is often viewed as a cult classic is seen as one of the first successful singles in the Canadian Garage genre. This song, like The Ugly Ducklings “Nothin” (mentioned here), both emphasize elements of Punk, Garage and Blues. “1-2-5” specifically features infectious harmonica and struck a chord with Canadians and eventually Americans alike.



This Week's Play List:

1. Painted Ship – And She Said Yes
2. King Beez – Found and Lost
3. The Secrets – Cryin’ Over Her
4. 49th Parallel – Citizen Freak
5. The Cryptics – You’re Evil
6. The Ten Commandments – Not True
7. The Bohemians – I Need You Baby
8. The Esquires – It’s A Dirty Shame
9. Tom Northcot Trio – Just Don’t
10. Munks – Long Time Waitin’
11. The Worst – Get That Thing
12. The 14th Wray – Your Face Is On My Mind
13. The Polyester Explosion – Madeline
14. The Beaumonts – She Treats Me Right
15. The Smugglers – That Is Rock ‘N’ Roll
16. Prehistoric Cavestrokers - You're In You're Out
17. The Legend Killers – Born Loser
18. Deja Voodoo - Monsters In My Garage Got Married
19. Great Scots – Ball & Chain
20. The Haunted – 1-2-5 (Original Version)
21. The Northwest Company – Eight Hour Day
22. The Gentle Touch – Visitors Parking Only
23. The Ugly Ducklings – Nothin’
24. The Ugly Ducklings – I Can Tell
25. The Ugly Ducklings - Gaslight
26. The Gruesomes – I’m Searching

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for Novenber 26. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

FUZZ & Show # 483

To say Ty Segall puts out a lot of music is an understatement. Last year alone he put out three full length albums, all of them different in their own way. This year he already has one release under his belt (the acoustic filled Sleeper) and now he has FUZZ. FUZZ is a new project that Ty has been working on in which he plays drums and sings. The album builds from 2012’s Slaughterhouse, taking the heavy grimy sounds that were explored there and adding more filthy fuzzy goodness and Black Sabbath styled riffs, which are supplied by guitarist Charles Moothart. Bass is covered by Roland Cosio, who used to play in The Moonhearts with Charles. This three piece band based out of San Francisco, add the element of heavy Hard Rock to their music. Several songs evolve and devolve (however you look at it) into long jams at time, but all the while not sounding boring.

FUZZ emerged from a friendship that Segall and Moothart have had for quite some time. Both worked in an earlier band together The Epsilons and recently Moothart played guitar on Slaughterhouse. FUZZ starts off with the track “Earthen Gate” a five minute song that starts off with eerie distortion and bass, it builds from a slow guitar riff into a manic fuzzy Proto-Metal romp as Segall shouts the opening lines “Hide your eyes/Ride your lies and deceive/They must believe”. This line could be seen as a comment on Segall’s ongoing prolificness. “Sleigh Ride” echoes elements of early Black Sabbath and Blue Cheer, while “What’s In My Head?” is a slow groove that builds once again. It has an extremely catchy melody, one that will stick with you for days. It sounds as if it was created after spending too many hours in the hot sun, it boils at times and at others lays back. “Loose Sutres” was one of the first tracks from this album made available online to hear. It features Garage-like guitar riffs blended with sludgy solo and catchy vocal harmonies, while the breakdown at the two minute mark sounds like an outtake from Black Sabbath’s Paranoid album. Lyrically words like “I've had it/all the static, buzz, and fuzz/I wish it never was/I'm hidin'/from a black hole on my back/Run” are perhaps another cryptic message on Segall’s thoughts on himself, but then again it could be taken any way. It could be a universal line that could relate to just about any situation.

“Raise” is sung by guitarist Moothart, his vocal delivery is reminiscent of many 70s Hard Rock groups, while the lyrics seem to reflect an apocalyptic nature. The album ends with the six minute jam “One”. It builds with bass and drums as we hear guitar solos aplenty and frantic drum fills. The song ends this mysterious, fuzzy Hard Rock influenced album. The whole album is approximately 37 minutes. Segall’s elements of Garage Rock and Psychedelic drift in and out throughout this album. It is obvious that “fuzz” is a huge part of anything Segall is involved in. This band differs from other projects he has been involved in because Segall takes a back seat more here, just playing the drums and singing for the most part. Moothart covers a lot of ground here too, and it would be wrong to just focus on Segall it is the chemistry between these three that makes it different and unique. The band name and album titled FUZZ gives different meaning to the term. It doesn’t just have to be Garage Rock to be fuzzy, it can also be really heavy at the same time and still sound good.

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Some other bands featured on this week's program were:

Chris Crossroads - who also did a live session in the studio for the show this week - http://chriscrossroads.com/

The Modests from Glasgow, Scotland - https://www.facebook.com/TheModests#!/TheModests

The Mobbs from Northampton, UK - http://www.themobbs.co.uk/

This Week's Play list:

1. The Testors – Together
2. The Mobs – White Collar Worker
3. The Modests – Dylan Was A Punk
4. The Courtneys – 90210
5. The Thrashers - I Won The Dance Contest
6. The Dirty Nil - Zombie Eyed
7. The Dirtbombs – Sugar On Top
8. Chris Crossroads - Shot It Babe (Live CJAM Session)
9. Chris Crossroads - Rock and Roll Monster (Live CJAM Session)
10. Night Beats – Outta Mind
12. The Mongols – Sleepwalk
13. The Bell Peppers – Soda Pop
14. Jimmy Hunt - Rever Souvent
15. The Jam - A Bomb In Wardour Street
16. Big Star – You Get What You Deserve (Alternate Mix)
17. The Replacements – Everything’s Coming Up Roses
18. Hot Nasties - I Am A Confused Teenager
16. The D4 – Savage
17. Wreckless Eric - Waxworks
18. Cosmic Psychos - She's A Cat
19. Fuzz – What’s In My Head?
20. Fuzz – One

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for Novenber 19. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Street Hassle & Show # 482

Lou Reed’s 1978 album Street Hassle is often seen as one of the last raw records that he made. The album itself questions, parodies and dives deep into many beautifully ugly narratives that are prevalent throughout its eight songs. Many of the songs contain poignant personalized themes that reflect Lou Reed’s career at that point in time. It also contains what many fans believe to be the finest solo Lou Reed composition recording, which would be the song “Street Hassle.” Street Hassle also was one of the first commercially released albums to utilize the binaural recording technique. This is a recording method that involves a mannequin head and two microphones to create a 3D stereo sound of sorts. By using this technique, listening on headphones are said to have better results than listening over loud speakers. In addition to all this, Street Hassle also featured studio and live recordings (with the audience sound mixed down).

“Gimme Some Good Times” starts off Street Hassle. In the opening lines of the song Lou Reed parodies himself and one of his best known Velvet Underground songs “Sweet Jane.” Lines such as “Hey, if that ain’t the rock ‘n’ roll animal himself/What you doing bro/Standing on the corner,” and “Jack, sweet Jane, I’m in a rock ‘n’ roll band/
Well, I can see that” emphasize this. The chorus also echoes many ugly themes that are to be displayed on this album with the lines “Gimme, gimme, gimme some good times/Gimme, gimme, gimme some pain/No matter how ugly you are/You know to me it all looks the same.” “Dirt” continues next in a sloppy Rock and Roll fashion questions the scene and critics alike, the lyrics “Cheap uptown dirt” seems to take over as the song comes to a close.

The title track Street Hassle, is approximately eleven minutes and is separated into three parts “Waltzing Matilda,” “Street Hassle” and “Slip Away.” Musically, the song is a moving epic, while lyrically it tells a story in a dramatic way that was once done in a similar fashion on the seventeen minute Velvet Underground song “Sister Ray.” The first part of the song tells of a woman paying for a male prostitute, while “Street Hassle” deals with a drug dealer talking of the death of a woman, and “Slip Away” discusses love and death. This last part of the song is also notable because Bruce Springsteen reads the spoken word section of this song. He was uncredited on the album’s liner notes. This was rumoured to be due to legal related issues that he was going through at the time.  

On the 2004 live album Animal Serenade Lou had this to say of the song “Street Hassle”: "I wanted to write a song that had a great monologue set to rock. Something that could have been written by William Burroughs, Hubert Selby, John Rechy, Tennessee Williams, Nelson Algren, maybe a little Raymond Chandler. You mix it all up and you have 'Street Hassle'." As mentioned, many Lou Reed fans declare this song as one of his finest, if not his greatest recorded moment, as a solo artist.

Other songs include “Real Good Time,” which is a re-worked version of the Velvet Underground song “We’re Gonna Have A Real Good Time Together,” “Shooting Star” seems to recall sounds found on Transformer, with dominant horn sections and an overall sloppiness, “Leave Me Alone” is a more fast paced dirge of a Rock track, while “Wait” ends the album on an offbeat upbeat note musically and lyrically compared to the rest of the recordings found on Street Hassle.

Street Hassle has been analyzed by many critics and contains many diverse elements, which in essence is the reason people have and continue to talk about it. The album at the time of its release can be seen as a reaction to punk, which was taking place at the time. Lou Reed’s Street Hassle is deliberately sloppy, poignant, and raw. Lou Reed was never one to do what was expected. He went against the grain many times in his career with Metal Machine Music being an example of this. Street Hassle had all the attitude and sloppiness that influenced punk, but done by one of the people that helped influence it. Right down to the album’s cover which features a seemingly uninterested Lou Reed in a leather jacket and sunglasses and album font which exudes attitude. That could be argued to be one of the most “punk” thing of all.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Rolling Stones – Dear Doctor (Alternate Version)
2. The Folk Implosion – Waltzin’ With Your Ego
3. Real Kids – Common At Noon (Live)
4. Holy Wave – The Pass
5. Obits – Spun Out
6. Invasions – Rosy
7. Silent Movie Type – Pickpockets
8. Daniel Romano - Chicken Bill
9. James OL – Sk8 Or Die
10. Twin Library – They Have No Fallen
11. U.S. Girls – 28 Days
12. The Mo-Dettes – White Mice
13. TV Smith’s Explorer’s – I Live For Everything
14. Paul Jacobs - Frustration
15. Brazilian Money – Long Black Veil
16. Famines - TWA Flight 553
17. Lou Reed – Average Guy
18. Lou Reed – Don’t Talk To Me About Work
19. Lou Reed – Gimme Some Good Times
20. Lou Reed – Street Hassle

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for Novenber 12. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

CJAM FM Pledge Drive 2013 & Show # 481

CJAM FM first began on the FM dial in November of 1983. The station began its FM status on 91.5 FM on the radio dial in the Windsor/Detroit area and after being on that frequency for over 25 years went through the process of a signal change. In the process they secured a protected signal status and began anew on 99.1 FM on the FM dial in the Windsor/Detroit area. Prior to that CJAM was an AM station and existed in a limited range of frequency around the University of Windsor campus. Campus/Community radio when it started in the late 80’s provided a voice for all things underground and alternative to the mainstream, it created a network of artists and connections for bands and artists alike. Bands such as Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, Deja Voodoo, The Gruesomes, Thrush Hermit, Eric’s Trip and countless other Canadian independent artists would not have had a voice if it were not for Campus/Community radio. CJAM was and still is one of those stations that offer a different point of view and an alternative to the oversaturated and monotonous mainstream media, not just in the realm of music in differing genres, but also in the spoken word and ethno-cultural categories. And while in today’s age, even though we have the advent and convenience of the internet, there is still an oversaturation of sorts to a degree. A station like CJAM proves that Campus/Community radio is still relevant regardless of whether it is 2013 or 1983. It still provides that underground network and alternative point of view that just cannot be replicated elsewhere and it urges you to think differently.

This year CJAM is celebrating its 30th anniversary as a non-profit Campus/Community radio station in the Windsor/Detroit area. Being non-profit means the station relies on donations from its yearly pledge drive to keep thriving and growing. CJAM is working towards its goal of increasing its signal strength to reach a wider audience and that in addition to the usual budgetary expenses such as equipment, etc. are great reasons to support this station. For this year’s pledge drive CJAM has a goal of raising $30,000, thirty for thirty. On my program today a healthy amount of pledges were raised and donated, but CJAM FM still needs your support. By donating to CJAM there are many incentives to offer as a thank you, including this year’s t-shirt. You can view a list of incentives here. You can still donate online by visiting www.cjam.ca and clicking the “donate” button, which is done securely through PayPal. If you are in the Windsor area you can also call 519-971-3630 or if you are in the Detroit and out of town area you can call 1-855-344-2526 to pledge.

Pledge Drive 2013 Play List:

1. Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet - Good Cop, Bad Cop
2. 45 Grave - Party Time
3. The Cramps - Surfin' Dead
4. The Famines – I Like Some Of The Things You Do
5. The Dishrags – Past Is Past
6. Cold Warps - Slimer
7. Marc Fedak - CJAM Pledge Drive Theme 86
8. Papermaps – The Edge of China Town
9. Public Image Limited – Lou Reed Pt.2
10. Magazine – Motorcade (1977 Definitive Daze Demo)
11. The Dead 60s - Riot Radio

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for Novenber 5th. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.