White Blood Cells, Blue & Shows # 889, 888 & 887

On June 22nd, 1971 Joni Mitchell released her fourth full-length album Blue. The album has since gone on to be named one of the best albums of all time from many musical critics and was a commercial breakthrough. It went to number nine on the Canadian RPM Album Charts, number three on the UK Album Charts and number fifteen on the Billboard 200 Charts. Musically, Mitchell produced an album that was open, honest and not afraid to go to darker places. The personal honesty displaced by Mitchell on Blue was a reflection of the happenings in her life at the time. Mitchell had by this point in her career stopped touring and decided to travel overseas which in part inspired the songs that would make up Blue. Recorded at A&M Studios in Hollywood, California, Blue is notable for its simple musical accompaniments and arrangements. Several of the songs feature just piano, guitar and Appalachian dulcimer. On the album Mitchell works through relationships, her life, pain and grief. in 2021, Blue celebrated its 50th anniversary.  This album is now identified as a classic, but it continues to have a profound effect on fans and listeners. 

Originally released on July 3rd, 2001 White Blood Cells was the third full-length album released from The White Stripes. This was also the first critically acclaimed album from the band. Featuring breakout singles such as “Fell In Love With A Girl” and “Dead Leaves On The Dirty Ground,” the album also featured songs such as “We’re Going To Be Friends,” “This Protector,” “Hotel Yorba” which showcased Jack White’s songwriting abilities. This was the band’s commercial breakthrough record and was also the first album that the band recorded outside of Detroit. White Blood Cells was recorded at Easley-McCain Recording in February 2001 in less than four days. The album would go on to sell over one million copies. The innocence and rawness that is displayed on this album mixes with the simplicity of the band’s dynamic which contrasted with the complexities of the lyrics that White expressed. The Michael Gondry Lego themed music video for “Fell In Love With A Girl” also helped quite a bit. In 2021, this album celebrated its 20th anniversary. Third Man Records released White Blood Cells XX as part of its Vintage Vault series featuring demos, outtakes and a live concert. It was also reissued digitally featuring a live concert from the Gold Dollar in Detroit from 2001 and also on vinyl through Third Man Records.   

Show 889 (Originally Aired On July 3rd. 2021)(Joni Mitchell's Blue, The White Stripes White Bloodcells Anniversaries):

1.  Sloan - A Case Of You
2.  Universal Honey - Carey
3.  Arc Isis - Little Green
4.  The Supremes - All I Want
5.  Cat Power - Blue
6.  Beth Orton - River (Live Radio Broadcast)
7.  Joni Mitchell - Hunter (Demo)
8.  Neil Young (Ft. Joni Mitchell) - Raised On Robbery
9.  Neil Young - Everybody's Alone
10. Ed Kuepper - Spratch The King of Eurodisco
11. Desperate Journalist - Personality Girlfriend
12. Yoo Doo Right - Presto Presto, Bella's Dream
13. Packs - Clingfilm
14. Julien Baker - Ringside
15. Mononegatives - Living In The Age
16. Aversions - Famous Last Lines
17. Dean Marino - Devil's Day
18. The Routes - Society
19. Night Beats - Hell In Texas
20. The White Stripes - Dead Leaves and The Dirty Ground (Peel Session)
21. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl (Alternate Take)
22. The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba
23. The White Stripes - The Union Forever
24. The White Stripes - We're Going To Be Friends
25. The White Stripes - I Think I Smell A Rat
26. The White Stripes - This Protector

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

Show 888 (Originally Aired On June 26th, 2021)(Guest Hosts Brady & Carley Part II - Shoobies, Dragsville, Mudhoney, The Garrys, Evaporators):

1.  Shoobies - Surfin' Surgeon
2.  Dragsville - Royal Drag
3.  Avantis - Gypsy Surfer
4.  Link Wray - Dinosaur
5.  Amyl & The Sniffers - 70s Street Munchies
6.  Viagara Boys - In Spite of Ourselves
7.  Dry Cleaning - John Wick
8.  Dale Crover - The Bowie Mix
9.  Mudhoney - An Ounce of Decption
10. Chad VanGaalen - Golden Pear
11. CHAI - Action
12. Century Egg - Do You Want To Dance?
13. Bachelor - Stay In The Car
14. The Garrys - Get Thee To A Nunnery
15. Childbirth - Siri, Open Tinder
16. Shadow Show - What Again Is Real?
17. Habibi - Detroit Baby
18. TEKE::TEKE - Yori Ni
19. Fitness - December '98
20. Leanne Betasamosake Simpson - Head of the Lake
21. The Mountain Goats - The Slow Part in Death Metal Songs
22. Lucy Dacus - VBS
23. Man Or Astro Man - Defcon 5
24. Damaged Bug - Smile For A While
25. Oblivians - Pinball King
26. The Amino Acids - The Amino Acids vs The Space Bettys 
27. Amyl & The Sniffers - Gacked On Anger
28. Cellos - Bury Me On Highway 3
29. Los Plantronics - Plantrosaurus
30. Tough Age - My Life's A Joke and I'm Throwing It Away
31. The Evaporators - I Can't Be Shaved
32. The Evaporators - I Can't Puke
33. The Evaporators - I Say That On Purpose To Bug You
34. Paul Jacobs - Your Last Words

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 26 file to download/stream the episode.

Show 887 (Originally Aired On June 19th, 2021)(Guest Hosts Brady & Carley Part I - Cub, METZ, Linda Lindas, Black Country, New Road, Parquet Courts):

1.  Cub - Go Fish
2.  The Exbats - Try Burning This One
3.  The Rolling Stones - Connection
4.  Catl. - Get Outta My Car
5.  The Highest Order - I'd Ask You To Stay
6.  Daniel Romano - Green Eye Shade
7.  Shotgun Jimmie - 401
8.  The Blasters - I'm Shakin'
9.  The Ventures - The In Crowd
10. NOV3L - Group Disease
11. Squid - Houseplants
12. METZ - Slow Decay
13. The Linda Lindas - Big Mouth
14. Colleen Green - You're So Cool
15. No Joy - Hare Tarot Lies

16. Black Country, New Road - Instrumental
17. Black Country, New Road - Athens, France
18. Godspeed You! Black Emperor! - Fire at Static Valley
19. Women - Grey Skies
20. Neil Jarvis - Time
21. Lightman Jarvis Ecstatic Band - Elastic Band
22. Faux Fur - Rough Palms
23. Sarcasm - (Above The) People Wall
24. Autogramm - Anxiety
25. Souvenir - Holding Pattern

26. PONY - Chokecherry
27. Tommy & The Commies - Devices
28. Pardoner - Spike

29. Parquet Courts - Hey Bug
30. Parquet Courts-  Outside
31. Parkay Quarts - Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth

To hear this program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and click the June 19 file to download/stream the episode.

The White Stripes De Stijl & Show # 485

De Stijl [duh stahyl]

Noun Dutch

1. A Dutch phrase meaning “The Style”

2. A school of art that was founded in the Netherlands in 1917, embraced painting, sculpture, architecture, furniture, and the decorative arts, and was marked especially by the use of black and white with the primary colors, rectangular forms, and asymmetry.

3. An album released in 2000 by The White Stripes.

In the year 2000, The White Stripes released their second full length album entitled De Stijl. The album’s title has its origins in the early 1900’s, but was most likely brought to Jack White’s attention during his work as an upholsterer, which he continued to do during the making of De Stijl. The architecture and format of the school of art and style couldn’t be more relevant when looking at The White Stripes second album. Following some early singles and their first full length album released in 1999, De Stijl set out to offer more than just the Garage and Punk sounds emphasized on the early White Stripes recordings. This album brought in more elements of Pop and predominately Blues, while at the same time incorporating the Garage and Punk dynamic that this Detroit duo had been producing at the time. De Stijl was also recorded primarily in Jack White’s living room in Detroit, Michigan on an eight track tape recorder. Additional mixing/engineering was done by Jim Diamond, who produced the first White Stripes album at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit.

 

The album starts off with the “You’re Pretty Good Looking”, a song that displays a Power Pop/Garage dynamic. It also displays satirical lyrics such as “And your thoughts have been stolen by the boys/Who took you out and bought you everything you want now “, which lyrically comments on a relationship built upon vanity. “Hello Operator” comes in next, a catchy and raunchy Garage track infused with Blues elements, this song was also the first single to be released from this album. It was backed with a cover of Dolly Parton’s :”Jolene”. This song is a strong song and an indication where the band would go with songs such as “Fell In Love With A Girl” and songs that would formulate on 2003’s Elephant. “Apple Blossom” showcases the bands more Pop sensibilities sounding heavily influenced by The Kinks Village Green Preservation Society album. The song also brings in the theme of childhood and school which is prevalent in a few songs on this album and in future White Stripes songs like “I Can Tell That We’re Gonna Be Friends”. “I’m Bound To Pack It Up” pulls in Folk and Blues and lyrically addresses a relationship gone sour. “Sister, Do You Know My Name?” is steeped deep in the Delta Blues, and “Truth Doesn’t Make A Noise” is a piano driven ballad. “Truth Doesn’t Make A Noise” features lyrics such as “I cant explain it/I feel it often/Every time I see her face/But the way you treat her fills me with rage and I want to tear apart the place”. These conflicting lyrics, when combined with the piano driven accompaniment, prove to be very powerful songwriting.

Other notable tracks on this album include, “Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me?” which features a heavy Blues influences mixed with elements of Classic Rock, “Let’s Build A Home” is a furious fast paced start and stop Detroit styled Garage Rock song with a slow Blues sliding breakdown, while “Jumble, Jumble” is another song adhering to the Garage format with Punk and Blues overtones. De Stijl features covers of two Blues songs one called “Death Letter” originally by Son House which is an epiphany oriented tale about love and death and “Your Southern Can Is Mine” originally by Blind Willie McTell, which ends the album on a light hearted Country flavoured note musically, and weighs in heavier lyrically.

There is a line in the song “Sister, Do You Know My Name?” that goes “And I don’t want to break the rules/Cause I’ve broken them all before” that can be rather fitting here. Some fans argue that De Stijl is the strongest album to be released by the band. This album redefined The White Stripes style bringing in different elements such as Blues and showcasing the future songwriting abilities of Jack White that would bring them greater acclaim on albums such as White Blood Cells and Elephant. This album is dedicated to bluesman Blind Willie McTell and Dutch artist Gerrit Rietveld from the above aforementioned De Stijl school of art. De Stijl took from both those elements the Blues, and the De Stijl school of art. Both the school of art and the Blues involved a highly simplistic aesthetic, which resulted in a dramatic effect.



This Week's Play List:

1. The Fruit Tones – Chicken Lollipop
2. The Chants R&B – I’m Your Witchdoctor
3. The Milkshakes – Let’s Stomp
4. Stegosaurus – Eleven Forty Eight
5. The Sundelles – Fight For My Time
6. Teenanger – Very Ape
7. Gringo Star – Want Some Fun
8. Cults – I Can Hardly Make You Mine
9. Harlan Pepper - Secret Spy Decoder Ring
10. Animal Parts – Big Bird
11. Beverley’s All Stars – Smoke Screen
12. Jimmy Cliff – You Can Get It If You Really Want
13. The Munks – Marie Please Come Back to Me
14. The Scenics – Wild Trout
15. Actual Water – Fire On George St.
16. Light Bulb Alley – Jemon Jaws
17. Avengers – I Told You So
18. Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – 78 Style
19. Pell Mell – Spy Vs. Spy
20. The Traditional Fools – Party At My House
21. The White Stripes – Hello Operator
22. The White Stripes – Apple Blossom
23. The White Stripes - I'm Bound To Pack It Up
24. The White Stripes – Jumble, Jumble

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for December 3. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

White Stripes Elephant ... Ten Years Later & Show # 455

It is hard to believe that it has been ten years since Detroit’s The White Stripes released their fourth full length album Elephant. The year 2003 was a very different time, in the midst of the Garage Rock revival bands, The White Stripes had been making their brand of Garage Rock, blended with elements of Blues, Folk and Country since 1997, releasing several singles and three full length albums prior to this. The album played into the bands gimmick, two piece band donned in red, white and black colours, and the obssession with the number three. All of these things can be seen in the artwork for this album from the number three's on the back of the album to the front cover in which Jack and Meg site atop a trunk, making out an actual elephant shape. For Elephant, The White Stripes headed to London in the UK and recorded all but one track (“I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself”) at Toe-Rag Studios with Liam Watson in the engineering seat and Jack White in the producing seat.

Elephant was recorded in a two week period in April of 2002 to eight track tape, using vintage recording gear that pre-dated The Beatles, no computers were involved for this albums recording process. During the two week time The White Stripes would record what would be their major label debut on V2 and also an album that would change their status as a band forever. The album opens with the chart topping hit “Seven Nation Army”, a song that was reportedly written at a sound check and attacked with its bass-like, drum/guitar dynamic. What most people at the time didn’t know is while it sounds like bass in the verses it was actually a guitar run through an octave pedal, an effect that fooled many. The song is most notable for its simple structure has a title that dates back to White’s childhood. “Seven Nation Army” is what Jack thought the Salvation Army sign said as a kid. With lyrics such as “I’m gonna fight ‘em off/A seven nation army couldn’t hold me back” White starts off the album with a new sense of anger that was previously not as evident on 2001’s White Blood Cells, while at the same time referencing the difficulty the band had in the past and determination to persevere in the present.

Elephant also had songs referencing Whites early Punk influences “Black Math”, “Hypnotize”, “Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine”, his Pop influences “I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother’s Heart”, “You’ve Got Her In Her Pocket” which along with “Well It’s True That We Love One Another” reflect Country/Folk influences, and there are also elements of Jack White’s Delta Blues influence that runs deep through out the album. Other stand out tracks include the other successful hit “The Hardest Button To Button” a driving Garage Drum/Guitar combination, utilizing the same guitar octave pedal effect as “Seven Nation Army” and is a song as Jack White has stated about “a child trying to find his place in a dysfunctional family when a new baby comes”. "Ball and Biscuit” is the closest that the band ever got to a “Bar Room Blues” track, clocking in at over seven minutes the song features heavy hitting drums by Meg White several distorted guitar solos and breakdowns. Lyrically the song tells a Folk-like tale of the seventh son, a common theme in American Folklore, and also referencing Jack White’s own history as he was the seventh son in his family. The title references the characters drug problem the “ball” being Cocaine and the “biscuit” being MDMA.

Of the Punk/Garage themed tracks “Girl, You Have No Faith In Medicine” could be best described by one of the songs lyrics “Give me a sugar pill and watch me just rattle down the street”, as the song rattles in a frantic Garage stupor. “Little Acorns” is a peculiar song that starts off with an introduction from Mort Crim a news anchor from Detroit news television. The song builds from the intro with piano to loads of feedback not unlike sounds heard on Nirvana’s In Utero. Lyrically the song tells how a girl figured out how to solve her own life problems by watching a squirrel storing acorns for the winter. By breaking her problems into small pieces she figures out that she can carry her problems in small pieces one at a time, just like little acorns.

Overall, Elephant built on many of the sounds The White Stripes had been creating, picking up from where 2001’s White Blood Cells left off. Lyrically the album is loosely based on as stated in the linear notes the “death of the American sweetheart”, musically the album proves Jack White’s song writing abilities are nothing to scoff at. Whether a delicate Pop song like “I Want To Be The Boy To Warm Your Mother’s Heart” or the 70s Garage Punk of “Black Math”, “Hypnotize” or the dynamic feedback frenzy of “Little Acorns” to the Country/Folk of “Well It’s True That We Love One Another”, Elephant carried its own weight. Prior to its release The White Stripes were talked about, but were always the elephant in the room so to speak that nobody addressed in any large scale means. Following Elephant’s release in April 2003, they were no longer the elephant in the room that no one was addressing, they overtook the room and became the only topic of conversation.

This Week's Play List:

1. The Nils – Tuesday High
2. The Smugglers – I Need A Vacation
3. DMZ – Baby Boom
4. Zona 84 – Estan Buscandrome
5. The Count Five – They’re Gonna Get You
6. The Stomach Mouths – Don’t Mess With My Mind
7. The Sonics – Wake Me, Shake Me
8. The Vibrants – Wildfire
9. The Golden Hands Before God – Oh No
10. The Scenics – Oh Boy
11. Brother Dan’s All Stars – Eastern Organ
12. Bob Marley & The Wailers – Midnight Ravers
13. Public Imaged Limited – Albatross
14. Gang of Four – Armalite Rifle
15. Sloan – Bully
16. Sloan – Gimme Sopor
17. The Damned – Melody Lee (BBC Session)
18. Young Rival – Time
19. Thee Oh Sees – Minotaur
20. White Stripes – Hypnotize
21. White Stripes – Little Acorns
22. White Stripes - Well It's True That We Love One Another

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for May 7. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

The Ruby Spirit & The White Stripes & Show # 374

This week I will post a few videos for a change of pace. First up a quirky, peculiar video from a Canadian Indie Rock band with a dash of Garage and a peppering of Pop called The Ruby Spirit. The band currently has a six track EP available titled Born under a Veil. The video for "Cagliari" is a stop motion created video that was done by Mike Walter. For more info you can visit http://www.therubyspirit.com/. 

The Ruby Spirit - Caligari from THE RUBY SPIRIT on Vimeo.

Here's another cool music video that may or may not be stop motion based:

Also Revolution Rock is now on facebook.  Like Revolution Rock on facebook!!!

The Play List:

1. The Stomach Mouths - Eegah
2. The Rationals - I Need You
3. ? and The Mysterians - It's Not Easy
4. The Barracudas - Rendez-Vous
5. Invasions - Out Of Touch
6. The Remedials - That Look
7. Finks - Can't Say No
8. Martha & The Muffins - Copacabana
9. Southern Culture on the Skids - Zombified
10. The Ruby Spirit - Caligari
11. Magnificent Bastards - She Won't Do It Anymore
12. Bad Vibrations - Losing Time
13. Mad Ones - Behaviour
14. Shimmering Stars - I'm Gonna Try
15. Bear Vs. Shark - Catamaran
16. The Specials - Little Bitch
17. The Equators - Baby Come Back
18. The Ruts - Babylon's Burning
19. The Skids - Night And Day
20. Famous Names - Blind Date
21. Exits - Going Places
22. The Jam - When You're Young
23. The Professionals - Just Another Dream
24. Guided By Voices - Teenage FBI
25. The Hives - Thousand Answers

To download this weeks program, visit CJAM's schedule page for Revolution Rock and download the file for October 18. Or subscribe to Revolution Rock as a Podcast.

Show # 176 - 2007 Highlights

This week I played a selection of older material with some of what I thought were the best releases of 2007. The Following are some of my top favourites:

White Stripes - Icky Thump

This is the follow up release to 2005's Get Behind Me Satan. This album picks up where Elephant left off and where Get Behind Me Satan never went. Overall the album is a mix of De Stijl and Elephant White Stripes. The White Stripes also cut their tour short. It appears that they might not tour again, but they may still record. They just released The Conquest EP.

Favourite Tracks:
You Don't Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You're Told)
Bone Broke
Effect and Cause
White Stripes - Conquest (Music Video)

The Hives - The Black and White Album

This album was the follow up to 2004's Tyrannosaurus Hives, which I loved. Overall, the album isn't as good as the previous two, but I still love it. The song is a mix of rock Hives numbers with experimentation. We hear The Hives do disco and funk, as well as play around with synthesizers and piano. The Hives can still rock like nobody else, they just also tried something else to prevent being stale.

Favourite Tracks:
Hey Little World
You Dress Up For Armageddon
Bigger Hole To Fill
The Hives - Tick Tick Boom (Music Video)

Dead 60s - Time To Take Sides

Dead 60s sophomore release shows them jumping into a more new wave and rock direction and jumping out of the dub/reggae direction of their first self titled release. The album produced by David Kahne (The Strokes) is a good album, there are elements of the old and new Dead 60s here.

Favourite Tracks:
Start A War
All Over By Midnight
Liar

  Dead 60s - Stand Up (Music Video)

Queens of the Stone Age - Era Vulgaris 

This was the anticipated release following 2005's Lullabies to Paralyze. While the last album seems to have more new wave influences, Era Vulgaris drew in elements of punk and old Queens of the Stone Age (Rated R). Upon first listen I did not like this album, but it is really good filled with awesome Queens of the Stone Age style riffs.

Favourite Tracks:

Sick, Sick, Sick

3's & 7's

                                           Make It Wit Chu

                                           QOTSA - Make It Wit Chu (Music Video)

Other interesting releases of 2007 included Your Favorite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys and Carbon/Silicon (Mick Jones' new band) Last Post. I also played a new song by Pearl Jam "Santa God" which can be found on the recent 2007 Ten Club Christmas single and Radiohead's "Banger's n' Mash" which can be found on the bonus disc of their new album In Rainbows.

Play List:

1. The Who – Out in the Street
2. Standells – Medication
3. Northwest Company – 8 Hour Day
4. Them – I’m Gonna Dress in Black (Version 1)
5. The Kinks – I Need You
6. Neil Young – Spirit Road
7. Stooges – Greedy Awful People
8. White Stripes – Rag & Bone
9. Young Rival – Dead End Scene
10. The Furies – What Do You Want Me To Do
11. Sinners – No Brains Required
12. Extroverts – Living in Poverty
13. Vertical Struts - Stab, Stab, Stab
14. Gruesomes – Whirlpool
15. Generation X – Friday’s Angels
16. Klark Kent – Thrills
17. Arctic Monkeys – The Bad Thing
18. Fiction Plane – Death Machine
19. The Hives – Try it Again
20. Queens of the Stone Age – Battery Acid
21. Carbon/Silicon – The Whole Truth
22. Radiohead – Bangers n’ Mash
23. Pearl Jam – Santa God
24. Dead 60s – All Over By Midnight
25. Dirty Pretty Things – 9 Lives

White and Red Blood Cells ... Show # 134

This post used to feature information on The White Stripes and The Raconteurs.  For more information on The White Stripe please visit the following links:

The White Stripes De Stijl: An Article About De Stijl

The White Stripe Elephant: An Article About The 10th Anniversary of Elephant

Also I played "Myxomatosis" by Radiohead. The song is from their 2003 album Hail To The Thief and is about a disease introduced to the Britain rabbit population to help control it. Last year singer Thom Yorke released a solo album and now Radiohead have no record label, but Radiohead still show interest in playing and recording music. Next week I will be doing a show devoted entirely to garage rock and surf music. Bands such as The Ventures, Dick Dale, The Missing Links, The Vipers and many more obscure, but great bands. Be sure to check this show out next week because it will definitely be a different one.

Here's the play list:

1. The Clash – radio one
2. The Police – shadows in the rain
3. Pointed Sticks – true love
4. Gruesomes – hey!
5. Buzzcocks – sixteen again (BBC Session)
6. Pointed Sticks - 1-2
7. Ramones – Chinese rocks
8. Terrorways – never been to Borstal
9. The Saints – (I’m) stranded
10. Undertones – emergency cases
11. Dishrags – I don’t love you
12. Actionauts – party dog
13. Iggy Pop – loco mosquito
14. Talking Heads – found a job
15. Blondie – call me
16. Pretenders – Thumbelina
17. Fratellis - flathead
18. The Ride Theory – on fire
19. White Stripes - hypnotize
20. The D4 - rocknrule
21. Albert Hammond Jr. – postal blowfish
22. Sloan – suppose they close the door
23. Radiohead – myxomatosis
24. Richard Hell & The Voidoids - love comes in spurts