P'Twaaang!!!: Revolution Surf 2024 & Show # 1027

This year’s Revolution Rock featured guest host Greg Maxwell (of The Ugly Vision) and we played a selection of old/new international surf, obscure horror themed surf and some surf songs from bands you might not expect to have had a surf song.

Messer Chups are a surf band from St. Petersburg, Russia and have been playing their own version of surf music mixing elements of classic surf rock, bands like The Cramps, low-budget horror monster movies, drag race surf culture, and much more into their sound. The earliest version of this band formed in late 1998 by musician Oleg Fomchenkov (known as Guitaracula or Gitaracula). The band started off as a duo and has gone through many lineup changes. Currently the band performs live and records as a trio (usually with a few guests) featuring Svetlana (Zombierella) (who joined around 2007) on bass and have gone through several drummers, but currently Signor Mattia plays drums. They have had lots of music and albums released over the years. In 2013, they released their surf cult classic Church of Reverb on the band's own Gitaracula Records. It has had a few reissues, most recently via surf-based UK label Hi-Tide Recordings for its 10th anniversary with new artwork by Grey Haas. It features Messer Chups classics such as “Surf N’ Rolla,” “Cemetery Beach,” “Zomboanga,” “Rockin’ Zombie,” and “Dracula Hates Photoshoots.”

Find that album here.

While perhaps best being known for being in Devo, Mark Mothersbaugh has been involved with making music for TV and film. He formed a production company called Mutato Muzika in 1989, which has produced tons of music for commercials, TV, and movies, many of them Wes Anderson films. Mark created music for many Nickelodeon shows such as Rugrats, Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and many others. In 1999, he was tasked with creating a theme song to a new cartoon series that focused on extreme sports called Rocket Power. Shortly after that the group The Wipeouters released an album in 2001 called P’Twaaang!!! This group consisted of Mark Mothersbaugh (vocals/keyboards), Bob Mothersbaugh (guitar), Bob Casale (guitar), and Josh Mancell on drums. Two-thirds of this group was made up of members of Devo. The album would also feature guest appearances from Gerald Casale of Devo, and others from his production company. The album is a mix of surf and Devo-ish keyboard-induced sounds. This album has some great hidden surf gems such as the robotic surf sounds of “Dangerdog,” the surf exotica influenced “Surf’s Up On Goon Island,” the keyboard synth surf of “Twist n’ Launch,” “Luna Goona Park,” and the spy-themed “Rocket Full of Power.” P’Twaaang!!! is an interesting detour in the Devo discography.

Revolution Surf 2024 Playlist (Originally Aired On February 24th, 2024):

1.  Nick and The Jaguars - Ich-I-Bon #1 (Ich-I-Bon #1/Cool and Crazy - 1959 - Tamla)
2.  Satan’s Pilgrims - Dilation (Psychsploitation - SP Records - 2009)
3.  The Vettes - Super Stock Vette (Rev-Up - MGM Records - 1964)
4.  The Vondells - Rough Road (The Vondells - Unreleased - 2003)
5.  Luau or Die - Breaking the Law (Dead on the Floor Vol.1 - 2015)
6.  Os Aquamans - A Mafia (Os Aquamans II - Uala Records - 2020)
7.  Los Tiki Phantoms - Mondo Senior (Y El Enigma Del Tiempo - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2023)
8.  Mary Ann Hawkins - Hawkinsmania (Mary Ann Hawkins - Svart Records - 2023)
9.  The Surf Coasters - Hungarian Dance ‘95 (Rising - 78label - 2016)
10. Stereophonic Space Sound Unlimited - Land of Swinging Atoms (The Flawless Ms Drake - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2022)
11. Messer Chups - Zamboanga (Church of Reverb - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2023)
12. Messer Chups - Twin Peaks Twist (Heretic Channel - Solnze Records - 2009)
13. Flat Duo Jets - California Luau (Lucky Eye - Outpost Recordings - 1998)
14. The Greasy Gills - Aloha Prisoners (Bodega Boys - 2018)
15. Bloodshot Bill - Smoke Den (Songs From the Sludge - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2022)
16. The Swinging Pussy Cuts - Undertow (Going Out With... - 2022)
17. The Ichi-Bons - Snake Eyes (Live) (Live in Tucson Vol.2 - 2022)
18. Shango - Plan 9 From Pipeline (Reverb of the Living Dead - 2023)
19. The Slimetones - Space Slime (Turtle Music - 2023)
20. Johnny Thunders - Pipeline (So Alone - Sire Records - 1978)
21. The Replacements - Buck Hill (Hootenanny - Twin/Tone - 1983) 
22. Ketamines - No Grand Design (Spaced Out - Mammoth Cave Recording Co. - 2012)
23. James OL & The Villains - Kill the Devil (On The Banks of the Detroit River - 2014)
24. Roye Trout - Bite the Tow (Salty Waves/Bite The Tow - Single - 2014)
25. The Wipeouters - Dangerdog (P'Twaaang!!! - Casual Tonalities - 2001)

26. Jonathan Richman - Grunion Run (I, Jonathan - Rounder - 1992)
27. The Deadly Ones - It’s Monster Surfing Time (It's Monster Surfing Time - Vee-Jay Records - 1964)
28. The Munsters - Eerie Beach (The Munsters - Decca - 1964)
29. The Ventures - The Bat (The Ventures in Space - Dolton Records - 1964)
30. The Storms - Tarantula (Thunder/Tarantula  - Single - Sparton - 1964))

31. The Traditional Fools - Surfin’ with the Phantom (Fools Gold - In The Red Recordings - 2016)
32. The Surfrajettes - Priscilla (Roller Fink - Hi-Tide Recordings - 2022)
33. Super Krystal - Brnjica (Super Krystal - 2022)
34. The Babalooneys - False Start (Winternationals/False Start - Hi-Tide Recordings - Single - 2023)
35. The Sadies - Rat Creek (Pure Diamond Gold - Bloodshot Records - 1999)
26. The Just Brothers - Sliced Tomatoes (Sliced Tomatoes - Single - 1972 - Music Merchant)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the February 24 file to download/stream the episode.

Systems Edge: An Interview with Dion Lunadon & Show # 1026

Uncompromising rock and roll is a good term to use when describing the music of Dion Lunadon. With his latest and third full-length album Systems Edge out on In The Red Records, he explores the intense and wild framework of rock music, revealing a sense of gritty rock and roll, garage and punk sounds. When describing the music, bands such as Raw Power-era Iggy & The Stooges, The MC5, Rowland S. Howard, David Bowie, Ramones come to mind, but these are only reference points. After creating music for many years in different groups, his solo efforts have been described as a “voyage through self-discovery” and the listener is along for the ride. The first single for this album arrived near the end of 2023, less than a year after 2022’s Beyond Everything. “Secrets” delivers a new sonic space within the makeup of Dion’s music. Fuzzy guitar, basslines and catchy choruses delve into 70s punk and power pop aesthetics and opens Systems Edge with something you might not expect.

“Nikki” is a noisy punk edged track with driving bass, drums and chaotic guitars as lyrically it seems to tell a horror movie inspired story of a dark romantic fantasy, “Diamond Sea” is one of the standout tracks on Systems Edge. In a press release about the song Dion had this to say about the song: “Diamond Sea is about the first time I took acid when I was about 16 with my best friends. We were the only ones on a beautiful giant beach. It was about 5am and we watched the fog disappear as the sun came up. Half of those people are alive and half are not. This song is for them!” Moving into glam rock territory, the song starts off with guitar and drums, when the bass hits glam rock vibes echo elements of David Bowie and The Spiders From Mars mixed with New York Dolls styled rock. The lyrics in “Diamond Sea” cut deep with a sense of the idyllic being contrasted with the existential. “I Walk Away” simmers with gritty intensity that you wouldn’t think was possible after hearing some of the tracks that precede it. The lyrics such as “I see the view/Sweet retribution/With no one to defend you,” and “I wanna stay/But you know I won’t,” have Lunadon wading through a world surrounded by antagonistic negativity. A one-note organ part during the chorus adds further tenseness while drums crash and guitars build with climbing sinister riffs.

“Rocks On” is a combination of body shaking bass grooves and energetic guitar work that doesn’t follow a predictable song structure. As the chorus hits, its intoxicating melodies grab a hold of you as the song exposes the cracks of a cold society. “Shockwave” is a noisy, dirtier sounding punk song. Dating back to a recording from the first album that Dion released, this song fits at home here with its thrashing drums, lethal guitars and a penetrating, yet catchy chorus. “Grind Me Down” slows down the pace a bit with yet another groove heavy bass riff in between steady drums and wild frenzied sounding guitars as lyrics such as “You grind me down to nothing/You can’t I’m already dust/Serenade to someone/Lies shrouded in love/Shake it off” and “I Couldn’t see your love,” which repeat throughout the song in a fervent fashion. This song conjures up a danceable anarchy, as the lyrics search for meaning in the embers of a fragmented situation or relationship.

“I Don’t Mind” arrives as a deep cut on Systems Edge at track nine of ten. With fuzzy basslines, crunchy walls of guitar distortion and a catchy, mesmerizing bass and a drum heavy chorus of “I Don’t Mind/If I never see you again,” Lunadon sings of a corrosive toxic relationship that he avoids for his own well being. Further lyrics such as “Don’t wanna be a low life zero/I don’t wanna be an open cut,” “I walk across the street/To get away from you/I cut my mind so deep/And stitch it up real crude” in the verses add to the universe created in this character driven song as unrelenting, wild guitar licks and bends further stress the frustration and friction of the song’s dynamics. “Room With No View” ends Systems Edge. The longest track on this album at almost eight minutes, the live and spontaneous feel of this slow, heavy dirge of a song digs into darker lyrics as it delves into blues and psych rock elements, while also being a style of its own. Throughout Systems Edge, Dion Lunadon delivers ten songs that don’t always follow a standard formulaic song structure, providing an unpredictable collection of songs that reveals something else with each listen. Systems Edge breaks from the cycle of the bland and journeys through a universe of real, uncompromising rock and roll.

Listen the interview that Revolution Rock did with Dion Lunadon here:

Systems Edge Playlist (Originally Aired On February 17th, 2024):

1.  Dion Lunadon - Eliminator (Dion Lunadon - Agitated Records - 2017)
2.  Dion Lunadon - Negative Energy (Schreien EP - Discofridge - 2020)
3.  Dion Lunadon - It’s the Truth (Beyond Everything - In The Red Recordings - 2022)
4.  Dion Lunadon - Shockwave (Systems Edge - In The Red Recordings - 2023)
5.  Dion Lunadon - Diamond Sea (Systems Edge - In The Red Recordings - 2023)
6.  Dion Lunadon - I Don’t Mind (Systems Edge - In The Red Recordings - 2023)

DION LUNADON INTERVIEW PART I

7.  Dion Lunadon - Nothing But My Skull (Beyond Everything - In The Red Recordings - 2022)

DION LUNADON INTERVIEW PART II

8.  Dion Lunadon & Kate Clover - When Will I Hold You Again (When Will I Hold You Again - Single - 2020)
9.  The True Lovers - Obsession (The True Lovers - Altra Records - 2010)
10. A Place To Bury Strangers - Straight (Album Cut)
11. Nothing At All! - Busted (Nothing At All! - Zerophonic - 1995)
12. Nothing At All! - Get Some (Nothing At All! - Zerophonic - 1995)
13. The D4 - No Antidote (John Peel Session 2002) 
14. The D4 - Exit To the City (Original 4 Track Radio Single Version) (6Twenty One (Digital Version) - Flying Nun Records - 2022)
15. The D4 - Come On! (6Twenty - Flying Nun Records - 2001)
16. The D4 - Get Loose (6Twenty - Flying Nun Records - 2001)
17. The D4 - Do No Right (Out of My Head - Flying Nun Records - 2005)
18. The D4 - Stops Me Cold (Out of My Head - Flying Nun Records - 2005)
19. Dion Lunadon - Com/Broke (Dion Lunadon - Agitated Records - 2017)
20. Dion Lunadon - Goodbye Satan (Beyond Everything - In The Red Recordings - 2022)
21. Dion Lunadon - Room With No View (Systems Edge - In The Red Recordings - 2023)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the February 17 file to download/stream the episode.

Ramblin' Rose: The Music of Wayne Kramer and His Influence & Show # 1025

Wayne Kramer was co-founder and guitarist in The MC5. Formed in 1963 in Lincoln Park, Michigan, with the MC5 Kramer’s explosive guitar playing was part of a dual guitar attack with Fred “Sonic” Smith, musically one of the early proto punk bands, MC5 pulled influences from early Motown, R&B with early rock and roll sounds of artists such as Chuck Berry and also had an interest in free jazz. Alongside the high-energy performances they were also politically charged lyrically, speaking to the counterculture and underground music scenes at the time. Releasing three albums, their first album was the live album Kick Out The Jams, which was recorded over two nights in October (30th & 31st) of 1968 at the legendary Grande Ballroom in Detroit. It also featured the title classic and highly influential title track "Kick Out the Jams." Their first album was decided to be a live album due to the band’s lack of studio experience at the time. All of their efforts were put into performing live at the time, so the idea to capture the band’s live energy on record made the most sense. Kick Out the Jams, featured songs such as “Ramblin’ Rose,” “Rocket Reducer No. 62,” “The Motor City is Burning,” among others such as MC5’s take on Sun Ra’s “Starship,” which ends the album in a mixture of free jazz, rock and roll and chaos. The album was also surrounded in controversy, due to the use of the words “Kick out the jams motherfucker!” which was uttered by vocalist Rob Tyner on the recording. The linear notes by manager John Sinclair also featured profanity, which nowadays probably wouldn’t bother anyone, but back in 1969 it caused a Detroit department store to stop selling any Elektra album. They were dropped from the label shortly after.

The MC5 bounced back quickly, recording Back in the USA with future Bruce Springsteen producer Jon Landau at GM Studios in Detroit on Atlantic Records. Released in 1970, many felt Back in the USA failed to capture MC5 properly in the studio at the time, but lyrically and musically it is quite a strong album. With songs such as “Tonight,” “Call Me Animal,” “The American Ruse,” “Human Being Lawnmower,” the albums lyrics built upon the five’s political and social themes. Musically, the lean garage sounding tracks pre-dated punk and power pop musical movements that would happen within the next decade. One more album would follow in 1971, High Time before the band’s split. Produced by The MC5 and Atlantic Records engineer Geoffrey Haslam, High Time is definitely the best studio-sounding recording to be released by The MC5. Although lyrically it pulls back on the political themes a bit, musically the band is unstoppable on this record, with a strong rhythm section and dual guitar attack switching focus from track to track, this was also the first album of theirs to feature individual song writing credits. Featuring now classics such as “Sister Anne,” “Miss X, “ “Future/Now,” ”Over and Over,” and “(Skunk) Sonically Speaking,” MC5 cut loose showing the dynamics and versatility of their sound in addition to their evolution as musicians at that point in time, while never losing what made them so great in the first place. But, due to a variety of factors, such as poor album sales, heavy drug use, internal tensions and being bankrupt, the band split in 1972.

Following his time with The MC5, Kramer continued with music, however, in 1975 he was busted for dealing drugs and spent four years in prison. But, something was happening in the underground, the music of bands such as The MC5 and The Stooges were informing underground bands in the UK and all over. Kramer joined the funk rock group Was (Not Was) in 1979 and played in the New York underground music scenes throughout the 80s. He formed Gang War with guitarist Johnny Thunders also in 79. The band did not last long though, they did record some demos in the same year, as well as playing live shows for about a year, but they fizzled out shortly after that. In the 90s he began releasing solo music, signing to Epitaph Records. Despite putting out several albums and singles (including his excellent version of “The Harder They Come”), Kramer’s breakthrough solo effort came with 1995’s The Hard Stuff on Epitaph Records. Several followed, Kramer also worked as a producer and worked with other bands as well as doing some soundtrack work.

Wayne Kramer seemed to always be working on something. He even released a free jazz album titled Lexington with the Lexington Arts Ensemble. The music was put together for a PBS documentary The Narcotics Farm, about the Federal Narcotics Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. This free jazz album was inspired in part also by Kramer’s time in prison where he played in a prison band called Street Sounds with jazz trumpeter Red Rodney. Rodney is a jazz legend who played with the Charlie Parker Quintet, the two studied music together while incarcerated with Rodney giving Kramer music lessons. Also when the Lexington album was released in 2014, it charted at #6 on the Billboard Top Jazz Charts. The MC5 reformed in different incarnations several times (in 2001 and again in 2018).

In 2009, Kramer, along with his wife Margaret Saddi Kramer and British musician Billy Bragg, started Jail Guitar Doors, an organization that brought instruments to prison inmates in hopes of rehabilitating inmates through the transformative power of music. The non-profit organization was named after a song of the same name by The Clash, which references Kramer’s incarceration. Kramer published his memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities in 2018 and was set to release a new MC5 album, featuring surviving MC5 member Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, alongside several other musicians prior to his passing in February 2024. Kramer and his music influenced generations of musicians and helped to lay the groundwork for what would become known as punk rock.

Ramblin' Rose Playlist (Originally Aired On February 10th, 2024):

1.  The MC5 - Ramblin’ Rose (Kick Out the Jams - Elektra - 1969)
2.  The MC5 - Human Being Lawnmower (Back in the USA - Atlantic - 1970)
3.  The MC5 - Miss X (High Time - 1971 - Atlantic)
4.  The MC5 - I Can Only Give You Everything (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
5.  Wayne Kramer & The Pink Fairies - If You’re Going to the City (Cocaine Blues - Total Energy - 2000)
6.  Gang War - Crime of the Century (Demo) (Crime of the Century - Sonic Records - 1996)
7.  Gang War - Hey Thanks (Live) (Johnny Thunders & Wayne Kramer's Gang War! - Jungle Records/Skydog Records - 2020)
8.  The MC5 - Kick Out the Jams (Single Version) (Kick Out the Jams - Single - - Elektra - 1969)
9.  The MC5 - Tonight (Babes in Arms - ROIR - 1983)
10. The MC5 - Poison (High Time - 1971 - Atlantic)
11. The MC5 - Look What You’ve Done Done ('66 Breakout - Total Energy - 1999)

12. The MC5 - The Motor City is Burning (Thunder Express - Skydog International - 1992)
13. Wayne Kramer - Get Some (Ramblin' Rose - Single - - Stiffwick - 1978)
14. Wayne Kramer - The Harder They Come (The Harder They Come - Radar Records - 1979)
15. Wayne Kramer - Street Warfare (Negative Girls - Single - Pure and Easy Records - 1983)
16. Wayne Kramer - Junkie Romance (The Hard Stuff - Epitaph Records - 1995)
17. The MC5 - I Just Don’t Know (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
18. The MC5 - Looking At You (Back in the USA - Atlantic - 1970)
19. The MC5 - Thunder Express (The Big Bang!: Best of The MC5 - Rhino Records - 2000)
20. The MC5 - Gold (Babes in Arms - ROIR - 1983)
21. The MC5 - Starship (Kick Out the Jams - Elektra - 1969)

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the February 10 file to download/stream the episode.

King of Soul: The Music of Sam Cooke and other Soul and R&B Selections & Show # 1024

Article Written By Adam Peltier

Who was the real Sam Cooke? Its one of the many mysteries left after the artist’s premature death in 1964. Like any person, he was many things, so many that these facets often appear to be in contradiction. He was a schmaltzy crooner and a throat-rending RnB showman, a gospel-singing spiritualist and a licentious lothario, a shrewd businessperson and an influential Civil Rights activist. Sixty years after his murder, the pieces of this puzzle remain. Will we ever know whom exactly this golden-voiced “King of Soul” was or will we remain projecting our own notions onto the man, defining an identity of the “Sam Cooke” we want him to be? As Virginia Woolf wrote of the titular character in Jacob’s Room:

“It seems that a profound, impartial, and absolutely just opinion of our fellow-creatures is utterly unknown...life is but a procession of shadows, and God knows why it is that we embrace them so eagerly, and see them depart with such anguish, being shadows. And why, if this -- and much more than this is true -- why are we yet surprised in the window corner by a sudden vision that the young man in the chair is of all things in the world the most real, the most solid, the best known to us--why indeed? For the moment after we know nothing about him.”

Much like Jacob, whose inner-voice Woolf kept suppressed and unheard during the course of the novel, Cooke is a man we will never truly known beyond the shadows projected on him by history and our own hungry gazes.

Sam Cooke’s legacy tends to cast him as a social conscious activist-singer. This conception of the man is undoubtedly bolstered by his epochal hymn of humanism, the song that went on to be considered the unofficial anthem of the Civil Rights movement, “A Change is Gonna Come.” This is an incredible legacy to be associated with, but is one that overlooks the multifaceted career and character of the singer.

Cooke’s greatest commercial successes was not as an activist, but an entertainer. He longed for crossover success between coloured and white audiences, doing all he could to be considered a type of “Black Sinatra” (to borrow an idea from his friend and fellow activist, Muhammad Ali), a standard-bearer of feel-good anthems and dance tunes. This contradicts the legacy imposed on Cooke as a social justice songwriter; the majority his songs were not about political activism, but were pop ditties about falling in love, being in love, and having a good time. His 1962 Greatest Hits compilation is replete with such songs: “Cupid,” “Having a Party,” and “Twistin’ the Night Away” to name a few. So, is this the answer? Was Cooke simply a pop entertainer, one who longed for unparalleled success, but who saw the light and began making socially conscious music? No life is so simple and linear.

Cooke started as a spiritual singer with the gospel-group The Soul Stirrers. His initial career was not in secular, but spiritual music. The Soul Stirrers found success with Sam’s debut recording, “Jesus Gave Me Water.” Not only did this garner a major hit for the band, with its framework going on to influence a great deal of secular pop music like doo wop and Motown, it also gave Sam his first taste of success. Critic and biographer Peter Guralnick credits Sam and the Soul Stirrers for bringing gospel music to the attention of a wider and younger audience. Particularly, an audience of young women. In Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke, Guralnick writes that girls would rush to the stage when the Soul Stirrers performed, hoping to glimpse the charismatic and handsome singer. Already, lines were blurring; the pious gospel singer experienced the type of treatment normally received by pop idols. This may have been the catalyst for Sam to leave the group and pursue a career in pop music. Despite this shift, many aspects of his gospel background would remain implicit in his recordings, imbuing tracks like “Mean Old World” and “Summertime” with a sense of spiritual longing and hope. “A Change is Gonna Come” permeates with the fervor of faith and transcendence, even as Sam frets in the song over mortality and the uncertainly of what lays “beyond the sky.”

So, does this straighten the narrative? Was Sam Cooke the once faithful gospel singer who discovered his voice in secular music, pursued success in the realm of pop, and then grew into a socially conscious activist? Again, the story is murkier than that. What of numbers like the empathetic ode to prisoners in “Chain Gang” or his touching rendition of “Deep River,” both released during his boom period of pop success? How do these contribute to this narrative? This adds another layer of complexity to the mystery of Sam Cooke.

Another aspect to consider is how sanitized Cooke made his music during this bid for pop success. Producers and agents forced the artist to chase trends, layering songs with syrupy string arrangements and encouraging him to write about flash-in-the-pan dance crazes (e.g. the twist, the cha-cha). How do we consolidate the boundary-breaking artist of social justice and radical declarations for Civil Rights with the man who frequently capitulated to trends of the music industry?

Then there was the intimate Sam Cooke, a side of the artist revealed in twofold during 1963. This year saw the release of the introspective Night Beat album. The parred down recording, lacking the studio embellishments and orchestrations of much of his discography, revealed a different aspect of the artist. As per the title, Night Beat features an eerie late night vibe, unlike the smooth trappings of his previous albums. It is a recording marked by melancholy, doubt, and longing. This album displayed a type of intimacy and maturity unprecedented in the singer’s previous work. This pensive and reflective Sam Cooke not only stood at odds against what came before, but what else he would record that year, a raucous live performance at the Harlem Square Club in Miami, Florida.

The Sam Cooke of Live at the Harlem Square Club is not the pop balladeer of “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World,” nor is it the contemplative singer from Night Beat. This Sam Cooke is energy incarnate, hard-hitting and raw. Standards like “Cupid” and “Having a Party” receive new life, as Cooke howls through his back catalog. Fiery passion and intensity replaces the slickness of the studio recordings. Gone are the saccharine trappings of “For Sentimental Reasons” and “Nothin’ Can Change This Love,” the words to these pop hits meaningless. It is all about the energy Cooke sings with, and that voice. That voice. Sam could sing nonsense and make it sound profound. The voice was all that mattered. This was as far from away from being a “Black Sinatra” as he would ever get. Perhaps this performance was too intense, as executives at Cooke’s label decided releasing the boisterous performance would jeopardize their star’s pop persona. The label canned this release in favour of the schmaltzy Sam Cooke Live at the Copa. The glitz and polish of that recording could not stand more in contrast to what was captured that night in Miami in 1963. Thankfully, the record saw a proper release in 1985 and has since been rightfully recognized as one of the greatest live rock/pop recordings ever released. We finally had a chance to hear that performance, and that voice. Indeed, that voice is all we have left of Sam Cooke. Yet, where does that leave us?

The landmark release of “A Change Is Gonna Come” in 1964 created another disruption to the identity of Sam Cooke. This is a song that no essay or critique can encapsulate the power of. It must be listened to, inhabited. It is a call to action, an existential reflection, and a plead for justice so profound and powerful that it has usurped almost all other aspects of Cooke’s legacy. The song turned the singer into “the civil rights singer,” despite the scarcity of political material in his catalog. It is that monumental of a song, its impact hardly deluded despite its 60 years of existence. Despite the legacy-defining power of this track, it may be surprising to learn the song was not initially released as a single. This epochal song saw release on the album Ain’t That Good News in February, and was only released on a single in December as the B-side to the track “Shake,” a return to the more feel-good dance music of Cooke’s past hits. The song would only see its official release as an A-side in 1967, three years after the singer’s passing. Despite this, it would wind up being the Sam Cooke song.

The album “Change” was released on, Ain’t That Good News, much like the artist himself, is full of seeming paradoxes. The first side of the record is a stream of hard soul and horn-laden RnB. Its sound has more in common with releases from contemporaries like Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett than the polished pop of Cooke’s past. Yet this is a juxtaposition to what comes on the second side. While it opens up thunderously with “A Change is Gonna Come,” the remainder of the side features a series of orchestral ballads and traditional numbers. This pairing may seem an odd choice, but it shows the complexity of Cooke’s character. He was not one thing, but many. Despite the comfort taken in calling the artist the “civil rights singer,” easily identifying and cataloging him, Sam Cooke was not so easy to pin down. He could extol the pleasures of life in “Good Times,” issue world-shaking profundity with “A Change is Gonna Come”, and croon hackneyed tripe about giving his love “a chicken that has no bone” on “The Riddle Song.” Sam was that complex, that human. As Woolf alluded, many have taken to embracing the shadows of only certain aspects of his legacy, yet people are more than the penumbra of how others chose to view them. As a Black American fighting for Civil Rights, Cooke knew all about the oppression that such aspersions cast by others could engender.

Cooke passed away in tragic fashion, murdered on December 11th, 1964 in a Los Angeles motel at the age of thirty-three. Many questions remain after his death, but one of them was what would have happened if tragedy had not struck that fateful day? Who would Sam Cooke have become and what other facets of his person would we have witnessed? Would he continue pursuing socially conscious topics in his music? Would he follow the path set by Night Beat, creating intimate and introspective songs? Would he revert to the type of accessible pop balladry he built his career on? Alternatively, would we have witnessed a completely new artist, inspired by the changes of popular music in the 1960s as heralded by the likes of The Beatles, Hendrix, and Cooke’s inspiration for “Change,” Bob Dylan? Ultimately, we will never know.

The question remains, not just for Sam Cooke, but also for the myriad of Black lives taken too young, unjustly robbed of their chance to live, breathe, and be free: who would they have become? We will never know the true Sam Cooke (who do we ever learn to know in a true sense?), but let this mystery stand as an emblem, a reminder of all the lives that we cannot know. When I think of Sam Cooke, I do not think of the man as an activist, entertainer, zealot, nor victim. People are more complex than that, impossible to distill down to a single idea. I choose instead to struggle, to make out details through the shadow cast by my own gaze, to take in the complex and often contradictory elements that made up this singular human being, gifted with a voice like none other and who inspired countless many with his charm, skill, style, and ideas. Sam Cooke was a man, and like all men, was prone to ambition, contradiction, tragedy, and triumph. When remembering Sam Cooke, it is crucial to remember not to let our perceptions, the shadows we cast, loom over who he was. Even if we will never truly grasp the entirety of this incredibly talented human being, the point is to try and embrace the unknowability and seemingly paradoxical nature of who Sam Cooke, who any of us, are.

So, who was the real Sam Cooke? Artist? Businessman? Trend-setter? Trend-follower? Lothario? Faithful? Faithless? Activist? Capitalist? Victim? Hero? Voice? Legend? Yes, but also no. Peer through the shadows, scrutinize, and be prepared for an obfuscated view. The act of looking is the point.

King of Soul Playlist (Originally Aired On February 3rd, 2024):

1.  Sam Cooke - Mean Old World 
2.  Sam Cooke - Meet Me at Mary’s 
3.  Sam Cooke - It’s All Right/For Sentimental Reasons (Live) 
4.  Sam Cooke - (Somebody) Ease My Troublin’ Mind 
5.  Eddie Spencer - Power of Love 
6.  Eddie Spencer - If This is Love I’d Rather Be Lonely 
7.  Eric Mercury - Everybody Has the Right to Love 
8.  Salome Bey - Paper Man 
9.  Jackie Shane - Send Me Some Lovin’ 
10. Jackie Shane - Chickadee
11. The Soul Stirrers - I’m So Glad (Trouble Don’t Last) 
12. Dale Cooke - Lovable
13. Sam Cooke - Introduction/Soul Twist (Live) 
14. Sam Cooke - Feel It (Don’t Fight It) (Live) 
15. Sam Cooke - Nothing Can Change This Love (Live) 
16. Sam Cooke - Nobody Knows the Trouble I’ve Seen
17. Jo-Jo and the Fugitives - Fugitive Song 
18. Lloyd Delpratt - Together 
19. The Sheiks - Eternal Love 
20. Jackie Mittoo - Grand Funk
21. Jackie Mittoo - Soul Bird 
22. Otis Redding - A Change Gonna Come 
23. Aretha Franklin - Good Times 
24. Jackie Wilson & Count Basie - Chain Gang 
25. The Supremes - Shake 
26. Gary U.S. Bonds - Quarter ‘Till Three 
27. Gary U.S. Bonds - Not Me 
28. The Equals - Police On My Back 

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the February 3 file to download/stream the episode.

Coming Up on Revolution Rock in February 2024 & Shows # 1023, 1022, 1021

It’s February and that means theme month has arrived for Revolution Rock. Every episode that airs in February will be devoted to a specific theme. Dave and Adam have some cool programming lined up ranging from our annual Black History Month program to our Revolution Surf episode. Revolution Rock can be streamed and downloaded from cjam.ca (and also after it airs on this website). Revolution Rock became a syndicated program back in 2020 and can now be heard on several different campus/community radio stations across Canada in addition to CJAM FM.

King of Soul: The Music of Sam Cooke and other Soul and R&B Selections
February 3rd, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Who was the real Sam Cooke? It is one of the many mysteries left after the artist’s premature death in 1964. Like any person, he was many things, so many that these facets often appear to be in contradiction. He was a schmaltzy crooner and a throat-rending RnB showman, a gospel-singing spiritualist and a licentious lothario, a shrewd businessperson and an influential Civil Rights activist. Sixty years after his murder, the pieces of this puzzle remain. Will we ever know who exactly this golden-voiced “King of Soul” was?

Live at the Harlem Square Club was originally recorded in 1963, the Sam Cooke of Live at the Harlem Square Club is not the pop balladeer of “You Send Me” and “Wonderful World,” nor is it the contemplative singer from Night Beat (released in 1963). This Sam Cooke is energy incarnate, hard-hitting and raw. Standards like “Cupid” and “Having a Party” receive new life, as Cooke howls through his back catalog. Fiery passion and intensity replaces the slickness of the studio recordings. Perhaps this performance was too intense, as executives at Cooke’s label decided releasing the boisterous performance would jeopardize their star’s pop persona. The label canned this release in favour of the schmaltzy Sam Cooke Live at the Copa, but thankfully, the record saw a proper release in 1985 and has since been rightfully recognized as one of the greatest live rock/pop recordings ever released.

On this episode we will be celebrating Black History Month by featuring a selection from Cooke’s discography, including several tracks from the Live at the Harlem Square Club in addition to music from other R&B and soul artists.

Ramblin' Rose: The Music of Wayne Kramer and His Influence
February 10th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Wayne Kramer was co-founder and guitarist in The MC5. Formed in 1963 in Lincoln Park, Michigan, with the MC5 Kramer’s explosive guitar playing was part of a dual guitar attack with Fred “Sonic” Smith, musically one of the early proto punk bands, MC5 pulled influences from early Motown, R&B with early rock and roll sounds of artists such as Chuck Berry and also had an interest in free jazz. Alongside the high-energy performances they were also politically charged lyrically, speaking to the counterculture and underground music scenes at the time. Releasing three albums, their first album was the live album Kick Out The Jams, which was recorded over two nights at the legendary Grande Ballroom in Detroit. It also featured the title classic and highly influential title track. After two more albums (Back in the USA and High Time), the band split in 1972.

Following his time with MC5, Kramer continued with music, however, in 1975 he was busted for dealing drugs and spent four years in prison. But, something was happening in the underground, the music of bands such as The MC5 and The Stooges were informing underground bands in the UK and all over. Following his time in jail he started Jail Guitar Doors, an organization that brought instruments to prison inmates in hopes of rehabilitating inmates through the transformative power of music. The non-profit organization was named after a song of the same name by The Clash, which references Kramer’s incarceration. In the 90s he began releasing solo music, signing to Epitaph Records. The MC5 reformed in different incarnations several times (in 2001 and again in 2018). Kramer published his memoir The Hard Stuff: Dope, Crime, the MC5 and My Life of Impossibilities in 2018 and was set to release a new MC5 album, featuring surviving MC5 member Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson, alongside several other musicians. Kramer and his music influenced generations of musicians and helped to lay the groundwork for what would become known as punk rock.

On this episode, Revolution Rock will devote an entire episode to the music of Wayne Kramer and his influence.

Systems Edge: A Dion Lunadon Radio Special
February 17th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

High-energy rock and roll music is something that has been present in everything that Dion Lunadon has been involved with. Starting out in New Zealand and performing with bands such as The Snitches, Nothing At All, The Rainy Days, he would form The D4 with fellow vocalist/guitarist Jimmy Christmas in the late 90s, along with drummer Rich Mixture and bassist English Jake. The band began to strike a chord as the early 2000s garage rock revival began to take off alongside bands such as The Hives, The Strokes and The White Stripes. The D4’s first release was the album 6Twenty. Released in 2001 and named after a guitar amplifier, the album featured six singles several of which charted in the UK. After touring the US and different parts of the world (in addition to being featured on US late night TV shows such as David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel) and two full-length albums, The D4 called it quits in 2006. Dion would go on to perform briefly with a new band after relocating to the US called The True Lovers in 2010 pulling in more soul and blues influences, following that he joined as bassist in the noise rock band A Place To Bury Strangers. In 2017, Dion released his first self-titled solo album, featuring intense and uncompromising rock and roll sounds. Leaving APTBS around 2020, Dion switched focus to his solo work releasing Beyond Everything in 2022 on In The Red Records and touring with a new live band. A third full-length followed also on In The Red in late 2023/2024 called Systems Edge.

On this episode we will dig deep into Dion Lunadon’s discography, playing selections from his solo work, The D4, Nothing At All and other bands he has been involved with in addition to an interview with Dion Lunadon. 

Revolution Surf 2024
February 24th, 2024
7-9 PM EST
CJAM 99.1 FM (www.cjam.ca)

Every February, Revolution Rock does theme month based episodes, but it all began with an annual surf rock episode in the early halcyon days of the program. The tradition continues this year at the end of February. The influence of surf music is everywhere. You can find it in movies, TV shows and it pops up in other genres as well. The crack of the reverb and twang is hard to miss, but there have also been several bands that you might not expect to have done surf songs. For example, Johnny Thunders covered The Chantays classic “Pipeline” on So Alone in 1978 (it was also a staple of his live set), The Replacements did “Buck Hill” on 1983’s Hootenanny, even members of Devo formed a band called The Wipeouters and released their own unique take on the surf genre titled P’ Twaaangg!!! in 2001.

On this episode of Revolution Surf, we will feature several surf songs by bands you might not expect to have done a surf song, in addition to a selection of new and old international surf bands. This program will also feature friend of the show and graphic designer/illustrator extrrodinaire Greg Maxwell (also known as The Ugly Vision).

Check out the most recent episodes/playlists of Revolution Rock below:

Show 1023 (Originally Aired January 27th, 2024)(Positive People, Brian Eno, Big Star, Bob Dylan, Muddy Waters, The Verlaines, Devo):

1.  Window Lamp - Screen Zombie 
2.  Private Lives - Get Loose 
3.  Positive People - Siren 
4.  Positive People - Another Self 
5.  Merin - A Place That Time Forgot 
6.  Packs - AmyW 
7.  Corridor - Mourir Demain
8.  Paul Jacobs - Expensive 
9.  Outta Controller - Gimme Nothin’ 
10. Hot Garbage - Mystery
11. Brian Eno - Baby’s On Fire 
12. Brian Eno - Blank Frank
13. Big Star - Mod Lang
14. Big Star - September Gurls
15. Bob Dylan - The Times They Are A-Changin’ (Demo)
16. Bob Dylan - The Ballad of Hollis Brown 
17. Muddy Waters - My Home is in the Delta 
18. Muddy Waters - You Can’t Lose What You Never Had 
19. Weed - Puncture 
20. Cameronoise - Hillbilly Heroin 
21. The Sweet Kill - Forbidden 
22. Devo - Ton O’ Luv 
23. Victor Dimisch Band - It’s Cold Outside
24. The Verlaines - New Kind of Hero 
25. The Terminals - Batwing 
26. The Expendables - Head for the Hills

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 27 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1022 (Originally Aired On January 20th, 2024)(Shangri-Las, Packs, Ty Segall, Ducks Ltd.):

1.  The Shangri-Las - Dressed in Black
2.  The Shangri-Las - Dum Dum Ditty
3.  Packs - Missy
4.  Packs - HFCS
5.  Dana Gavanski - How to Feel Uncomfortable
6.  Sleater-Kinney - Untidy Creature
7.  Shadow Show - Aunt Maizy
8.  It’s All Meat - Feel It
9.  Ducks Ltd. - Train Full of Gasoline
10. Ty Segall - Egg Man
11. Sprints Shaking - Their Hands
12. Sprints - Adore Adore Adore
13. Spectres - AM Gold
14. Pissed Jeans - Moving On
15. Look Blue Go Purple - Safety in Crossword
16. The Great Unwashed - Born in the Wrong Time
17. The Axemen - Rocks in My Heart
18. The Fall - Room to Live
19. The Exploding Budgies - Hank Marvin
20. Fever Feel - Running Through An Open Door
21. Breeze - Disposable
22. Folly Group - Strange Neighbour
23. The Bug Club - Four Sisters
24. Rick White - Big Mess
25. Rick White - My Cage
26. Klark Kent - Thrills (Demo)
27. Women - Untogether

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 20 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 1021 (Originally Aired On January 13th, 2024) (Shadow Show, Dog Day, Joni Mitchell, Two Dollar Bill, Gram Parsons):

1.  Shadow Show - Mystic Spiral
2.  Daniel Romano’s Outfit - Field of Ruins
3.  Dog Day - Suffer Surfer
4.  Dog Day - Wasn’t It Nice
5.  Angel Face - You’re No Angel
6.  Imploders - What Do You Want?
7.  Psychic Void - Something Sweet
8.  Neil Young & the Santa Monica Flyers ft. Joni Mitchell - Raised On Robbery
9.  Joni Mitchell - People’s Parties
10. Gram Parsons - Return of the Grevious Angel
11. Two Dollar Bill & His Bad Pennies - Newfoundland Bullet (Live)
12. Bob Dylan - Can’t Wait (Version 2)
13. The DoubleHappys - Needles & Plastic
14. The Sneaky Feelings - Someone Else’s Eyes
15. Jean-Paul Sartre Experience - Jabberwocky
16. The Bats - Had to be You
17. The Gordons - I Just Can’t Stop
18. Tall Dwarfs - Shade for Today
19. Mo Troper - Citgo Sign
20. Diners - So What
21. Wetface - Man in Love
22. Aversions - New Whip
23. Ghost Woman - Highly Unlikely
24. Bog Moss - Dayglow Tree
25. Bloodshot Bill - You Gotta

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the January 13 file to download/stream the episode.