Back to the Velvet Underground!: "Sweet Jane" b/w "Rock n' Roll"

What can you say about the Velvet Underground that's not been said already? I figure you should always have a few VU tunes in your back pocket, with Nico or without, however you take 'em. Both these songs, here played by me and my old Iona Prep buddy John Stackpole in summer '11, come off the VU's 1970 swansong, "Loaded".  Yet another Rock Pantheon record, "Loaded" was a fun, transitional one, with Lou starting to step away from the Velvets, John Cale already gone, Mo Tucker away on maternity leave, and Doug Yule beginning to take the reins.  Anyway, that disc continues to supply great cover fodder such as these tunes and more obscure numbers like (watch this site!)"Oh! Sweet Nuthin'".

As to these, I've managed to wheedle almost every band I've been in to play a version of "Sweet Jane", goddarn national anthem that it is to many of us. I do love including the melancholy "heavenly wine and roses" bridge section that proverbial "studio execs" clipped from the "Loaded" version but which was played on the Velvets' "Live, 1969" record and resuscitated by the Cowboy Junkies.  Here, though, we hew to the bones of the rockier versions.  This one is patterned off that done through the early '70s by then-huge, and now-unsung Mott the Hoople (featuring the even more unsung but still-going-strong Ian Hunter).

I have less of a history with "Rock n' Roll" but recall taking a stab at it with the post high-school band (Dillo, Maff and maybe Andy O') back in the day. This particular version is in the vein of Lou Reed's early 80s band of Robert Quine, Fernando Saunders and Fred Maher (check out "Live in Italy"!).  Certainly, the world probably doesn't need another cover of either of these tunes but you can't keep me from playing the first one and on this one it sure was fun to double track those funny slide parts on the lap steel, to approximate Lou's sing/ speak, and all that.  Stag's lead guitar makes its big entrance after the last chorus. Rock n' roll indeed!

Sweet Jane:      https://www.box.com/s/165i4et38c2aeyy0sq6n

Rock n' Roll:     https://www.box.com/s/si4ccmso9082lcq698lb

Re-gifted, 2012

Well, we may've done botched our time management this year, here at RKBS Industries.  Sadly, we have a couple holiday tunes in construction, but they didn't manage to squeak in under the yule wire for '12.  Irregahdless, that kinda thing happens.  Maybe we'll put them in the Cry-O-Vac 'til next year.  Maybe just change some things around and make them into Easter Songs, or Labor Day.  But in the meantime, I did get the chance to remix the old Christmas hits, so here you go, new coat of paint and all.  With all the usual sloppy kisses and hopes to see you this year, or see more of you:

Christmas Ain't for Family:        https://www.box.com/s/vk72ls7ajmstuh0dgix0


Christmas Parties:                       https://www.box.com/s/ns5e81i7f1ntibd8olle


Everyday Christmas:                   https://www.box.com/s/9czyyvj38hvywhm94av0

The Man Known Only as Beez

He asked that we refer to him only as "Beez".  It was just over one year ago that from distant (?) lands (south and west?) he came, with messages in a peculiar tongue.  We still don't know whether "Beez" is even his real name, or perhaps one of many.  In any event, we thought it wouldn't help to ask, as concepts like "true" and "false" seemed not to concern him much.  Anyway, what was the point?  We suspected that his true nature would remain beyond our mortal ken, just over the horizon.   Miss Oonagh and I did our best to make him comfortable during his stay, and I tried to convert his messages to, I suppose, a more common parlance.  And then he was gone, as if dreamt.  There's blurry Flipcam video of some kind of blinking light he sported, and some audio, as follows:

"Tree":    https://www.box.com/s/u7z46qpeyou2hsxzgw33


"Looks Like We'll Have to Row":  https://www.box.com/s/ocll81dlsmve0haa2xi8


"Nine More Minutes":      https://www.box.com/s/s31v4sz2zrnp1844znkt


"Tree (acoustic demo)":    https://www.box.com/s/1gpuglc4vlm2ajszfq34

Woodpile 2: "Brand New Bird" b/w "Five Days Crawl"

Good day all.  Here's hoping that your Thanksgivings were leisurely and unencumbered.  It's a quiet time up for us in the midcoast, which is a nice break.  The only think we can't really give thanks for is our not being able to see more of you fine folks, but plug away at that we shall.   And this post wraps up the second Woodpile.

Anyways, both of these songs date back to our days on the north end of Bath, ME, Miss Oonagh and me.  "Brand New Bird"?  One spring day, the loudest goddarned bird set up shop in a huge, bedraggled oak across the street from us, in our neighbor Madeleine's yard.  At the time, I was trying to be a good do-bee and study for that vile veterinary pathology board exam, but that dang thing was making me nuts for a few days with its boring-ass but extremely loud, sing-song "Peter-Peter-Peter" whistling.  Turned out that crazy noisemaker was a plain old tufted titmouse.  I'd always loved those lil' rats on account of their wide-eyed, crested, cartoon-y look and outgoing ways but I'd never appreciated the lungs on 'em, and things were looking grim for a while...  Anyway, a metaphor ensued and I was off to the races!  Mules kicking in the stall?  Old-timey jug band stylings?  Ain't that America!

"Five Days Crawl" is another ode to weeks spent working away from home.  And a rockabilly player I am NOT, on rhythm, lead or bass, but I do love the rockabilly music. and by now at least I can fake it a bit.  I'd written this as a straight up Elvis-Scotty-Bill rip-off, so such a version is long overdue.




Brand New Bird:     https://www.box.com/s/k8395yfyq2w50bn155i6



Five Days Crawl:     https://www.box.com/s/771crnuwzzrii6bvn4hh

RKBS4 Covers "EP"

Continuing a little pre-Thanksgiving belly-stretching, we follow up the previous post's gut-busting cornucopia with the remaining tasty leftovers from that session.  This "EP" gets you the remixed cover material, as follows:

- "A Goodby Rye" (Richard Buckner).  Good lord, but what heart-stopping and near-perfect albums comprise Buckner's out-of-the-gate trilogy!  "Bloomed" (1995) finds him getting his dusty legs, and "Since"(1998) is a masterpiece, but "Devotion and Doubt"(1997) is the pinnacle.  Band, voice, production, lyrics, songs... It all comes together and crushes you.

- "Game of Pricks" (Guided By Voices).  From the best-by-far incarnation of Dayton's slop-pop-prog-lo-fi kings.  We used to take this one up now and again back in the day with the Dillo band ("Motor Away" as well) but I swear I never knew the chords, which is a shame.  Still atoning for past sins, I guess.

- "Save It for Later" (The English Beat).  You might not peg me for a Beat fan but, oh my friends, I am one in spades!  Someday we'll get back around to again covering their version of "Tears of a Clown" (as the pre-Buttsteak JHU roadshow used to do-- fast, fast, fast!) but in the meantime there's this classic.  It's the sort of non-ska, non-political, poppy number that raised some hackles within the Beat at the time but Dave Wakeling (and management) won out and we're all the better for it. 

- "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" (The Smiths).  Yet another fine Smiths tune, and one long-covered by the Buttsteaks.  This particular version reflects an effort on the part of Mike and me to rock it up a bit and keep the sappy maundering down to a minimum-- to dial up the Marr, Joyce and Rourke side and tone down Morrisey a tad.

- "From a Buick 6" (Bob Dylan).  Tip of the hat to Son Volt, whose rip-roaring encore version of Dylan's "Obviously Five Believers" at Bohager's in Fell's Point back in the day convinced me that we should take a stab at this one.

A Goodbye Rye:         https://www.box.com/s/hgbu1olsvgxsub6dcuoj



Game of Pricks:          https://www.box.com/s/2z97neyh8gjcaj6qw0fm



Save It for Later:        https://www.box.com/s/h6vcazl6n201a7qn85xz



There Is a Light That Never Goes Out:
                                  https://www.box.com/s/bgfjzvf29vppc5daagz8



From A Buick 6:        https://www.box.com/s/vyozlol9nl44a3ojauu6

RKBS4 Originals "EP"

Yep, you've probably heard some of these songs before.  Hopefully you have, as Mikey and I are pretty proud of this batch, which dates back just a couple years.  So here's the story....

I was rooting around on the ol' iPod a while ago for a song or two from the RKBS unit, and realized that some tunes had gone missing, probably on account of some computer or iTunes shuffling/ uncluttering binge, or maybe they were melted in the big burndown.  Dunno.  I reopened the files and tweaked them, but once that horse's snoot was out the barn door, along came the rest of the tunes from those sessions, which I've packaged here into a couple "EPs". In the intervening time since these songs were first recorded and mixed, I've hopefully made some gains in skills, software and/ or hardware, so hopefully these versions are indeed new and improved.

This week's RKBS4 "EP" (that's shorthand for an "extended play" single, you vinyl lovers!) is comprised of the non-cover material.  By way of refresher:

- "North Marin" speaks for itself.  Man, what a place for a drive!
- "Rock n' Roll Town" is the previously discussed shout-out to East Douglas, MA. 
- "Blowing It" is something of a tribute to my fondly recalled Boston sound of the late 80s- early 90s (e.g. Dino Jr, Buffalo Tom, Lemonheads). 
- "Wavey" was an off-the-cuff instrumental, done in the usual melancholy vein, that turned into a fun workout for a bunch of relatively new gear I was getting to know at the time (organ, ElectroHarmonix delay, Gretsch 6121 hollowbody with a sweet, smooth vibrato).
- "Tupelo" is just one of my favorite songs ever, written by our old amigo Johnny "Rock" Marsh back in the Dillo band days.  

North Marin:            https://www.box.com/s/n96uxsuzgca6b14wh3cv

Rock n' Roll Town:   https://www.box.com/s/y0qffo6ut0912tcoo886

Blowing It:                https://www.box.com/s/lc0v3u6t2s637ewd9omd

Wavey:                     https://www.box.com/s/v7czl1hfu41xj7yuz1sv

Tupelo:                     https://www.box.com/s/z2tfe6hgbhh6ugu0y0s8

Woodpile 2: "Northampton Sun" b/w "Down the Waterline"

Back in '03-'05, at the start of my professorial stint, Miss Oonagh and I spent a 2-year exile from the Pinetree State.  Prior to establishing ourselves back at the luxurious Harpswell Estate, we were living in East Douglas, MA, halfway between Providence and Worcester, down in the MA-CT-RI "metro" area.  Like a lot of places in the historic Blackstone River Valley, East Douglas is a tiny little town with a couple blocks of commerce, but nothing you'd even want to glorify by calling downtown.  It backs up to the "mighty" Mumford River, which is mightily dammed, even there at the headwaters where it's little more than a stream.  There was forestry and some granite quarrying back in the day, and ice production in the winter, but things apparently quieted right down when the woolen mill went down in the post-war years.

Anyway, we were living at the edge of the "main drag" of town, on the main floor of an old Victorian, formerly a funeral parlor.  The trucks would rumble by and shake the house, and that stretch of road was a popular speed trap so there was no shortage of being awakened by flashing blues seeping into the bedroom at all hours.  There was also not a lot to do except cook, play music, quilt, dispose of some wine, and walk the dogs at the State Forest (see the song "Rock n' Roll Town" for all the details).  Many weekends that we for some reason stuck around MA instead of taking up our permanent guestroom at the Samsons' up in Brunswick, it was trips out west to Northampton that kept us sane.  Heading up the foothills on the west side of Worcester, Massachusetts does get a little wilder and scragglier: the Brookfields and Ware, the storied Quabbin Reservoir and its four sunken towns, the trout-laden Swift River, Belchertown (!) and Hadley and Amherst.  We'd stop for a hike at Mt. Holyoke or Mt. Tom, and head over the Connecticut River to kick around Northampton for the rest of the day.  Art!  Music stores!  Vinyl!  Restaurants, plus lots of beer!  Dirty hippies!  Hoo-ray!  And now that the Sorkin-Camachos have relocated to lovely Florence, MA, on the NW side of town, "Northampton Sun" has gotten a new lease on life.

Not to slight the B-side, but not having much to say about it either: "Down the Waterline" is a more resigned number, also written during the Exile Years.  Definitely to be filed under "Plonky, acoustic, obscure, the usual".

Northampton Sun:         https://www.box.com/s/ftib65vzqq5jtfu4xj35



Down the Waterline:     https://www.box.com/s/p63dtyeszxjt4pgjonsv

Woodpile 2: "Sally Colgan" b/w "TransAmerican"

Good day gentlefolk!  Hoping you are well.  Sliding into autumn, work and play conspired yet again to delay the posting here at RKBS Industries, as ever, but behind the scenes we roll on.  The long game involves some new RKBS originals but more proximately you'll have seen the last of Woodpile 2, and will have enjoyed some more classic rock from the Stackpole-Keating axis, somewhat less classic rock from Harpswell Hootenanny '12, and long-delayed tunes from the mystery man known only as Beez....  But meanwhile, back at the Woodpile....

Every once in a very long while, the workshop churns out something with a Celtic undertone, and that's the case with "Sally Colgan".  It started off as an exercise in writing a typical story song, which in this case was a barely cautionary tale of a young girl heading off to the city.  Soon enough, I'd stuck in the quick double-break leading into the chorus, realized that I was treading on middle to late-era Van Morrison turf ("Veedon Fleece" and "Pay the Devil" were on heavy rotation), and went with that, plus a dose of Steve Earle (listening to lots of "The Mountain" back then).  For years I'd heard some accordion and bouzouki or tenor banjo on this and was happy to get them in there, even if I did end up laying off the tin whistle.

"TransAmerican" started with a similarly Celtic bent, but was inspired by the other side of the Atlantic.  The lyrics came out of the Maine/ New Brunswick border crossings that the Keating-Wacks were doing fairly frequently at the time, and it's about that small, warm, safe feeling you can't help but get in your bones when you get back on home soil, even after being someplace as non-foreign and easy going as Canadia.  I have to say that I still hate crossing borders, or at least coming back stateside, 'cause those US Customs and Border Protection folk are serious bad M-ers who scare my pants off, even under the most benign of circumstances.  I'm happy to report, though, that St. John, NB has come a way in my estimation since I wrote the song, even if I left  the last verse kiss-off just for fun.  Musically I was aiming something of a Maritime Province feel and in the re-recording, I really played up the influence of St. Johns, Newfoundland's wonderful roots-rock sing-alongers Great Big Sea, whose stuff (the kitchen party, non-cheesy stuff, that is) is well worth a spin.

Folk it up!

JK

Sally Colgan:          https://www.box.com/s/9k5kocpt26cb3er1488g



TransAmerican:      https://www.box.com/s/epnkqkks80agmsz23x4a

Woodpile 2: "Baby, You've Been On My Mind" b/w "Baby's Bringing Kisses"

Baby, baby, baby, BAAAYYYYBEEEH, bay-buh!!  That's rock n' roll speak for you.  Silly, isn't it?  But if you had a nickel for every "baby" cut to vinyl since, oh, I dunno.... since Ike Turner, Jackie Brenston and Co. Cut "Rocket 88" with Sam Philips in '51?  To paraphrase the Fab Four, baby, you'd be a rich man.  But, baby, it's a great lyrical tool-- a little word that can be deployed in any number of ways, with any number of intentions.  Shouted, whispered, lascivious, sincere, whatever you've got.  Sincerely lascivious, maybe?  Anyways, two variations on the theme follow, in the acoustical format:

The title "Baby you've Been On My Mind" is a blatant Dylan rip-off, and the song isn't far off, either.  It supplies the cockeyed, puppydog, corn pone, yelpy/ pleady variant of the rock n' roll "baby".  Good lord, but it's a stupid song.  Fun as heck to play, though.  It started out as a deliberate attempt to dumb down and do things like rhyme "moon" with "June", "true" with "blue" and so on, and to give shout-outs to those delicious Carling's Black Label and Pabst Blue Ribbon beers, which were on heavy rotation at the time.  It was even too dumb for the Honcho band of Baltimore back in the waning '90s, which might be saying something.  But, next thing you know, the lil' bastard's done grown on me....

"Baby's Bringing Kisses" is more stately number.  (Hint: The slow pace and fancy shmancy chords are the tipoff!)  It was written on a rickety upright piano in my old apartment in "The Eden of America": Jamaica Plain, Boston, MA, late '99 or so. Despite the trappings, though, the allegiances of the "baby" in question are equally up in the air as in its country cousin above.  It's a hard-knock life fer sure... 

JK

Baby, You've Been On My Mind:  https://www.box.com/s/7a77b7e94f8d60a87d8a


Baby's Bringing Kisses:                https://www.box.com/s/6bd14d3a1c254c02996e

Woodpile 2: "Arms of this Town" b/w "Ashley Magee"

Hey Ladies and Gents of Summer!  The heat and heaviness of July is behind you (and half of August even), and here come those fine, fine, slanted and golden days of early autumn--- Hot Dang!!  Up here, there are still mammoth hornworms to be plucked off the tomatoes, the potatoes are mostly still in the ground, the peaches are coming in and the okra's still going strong, but we're getting there....   At this point, I'll try not to bemoan the growing pile of musical material that I've labeled "Crap I've Got to Do", and just get on to it.

This week we're headed back to fetch some more quality goods from the Woodpile.  This is actually a second and separate batch of acoustical numbers, cleverly entitled "Woodpile 2".  Working again on re-learning and figuring out how to mic these wooden contraptions, there are some minor technical differences from the first set, but don't kill yourself listening for them.  If you notice the presence of the "dobro" (actually a National Reso-phonic Model D square neck/ spider bridge/ single cone resonator guitar), well, good on ya!  Gold star!

"Arms of this Town" is another in a long line of Baltimore songs I've written over the years, this one coming after I'd decamped for MA yet again and dating back to '02 or so.  Yeah, sure, if you break it down there's probably some Bob Dylan in there, and some Eagles and Tom Petty even, but it's a song that I've come to love on its own melancholy terms.  Just now taking a spin of the original, I'm reminded that at some point, I really should do a back-to-back post of the original and prior versions together with these re-dos...  We shall see.

"Ashley Magee" is a tad older and bears the name of an actual person whom the song in reality has little or nothing to do with.  Sometimes all you need is a fragment on which to hang a song, and in this case it was mysterious and southern enough to get the ball rolling.  The original is a '98 vintage or thereabouts, and written whilst staying in the "Kacynski Cabin" behind Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic (where the roses grew by the stairs), commuting weeks on/ off between Annapolis, MD and Somerville, MA.  Crazy days, those.

Enjoy all the strumming and plinking and plonking!

JK

Links:
"Arms of this Town":         https://www.box.com/s/c0578ee5a5b8b3a9a341



"Ashley Magee":               https://www.box.com/s/76a43ef4c8360b65c0e0

Roadkill/ Buttsteak 6: "Vientiene" b/w "Time Slows Down"

Hey alls-- Sunday night's getting on, so in the interest of moving thins along, I'll just say that we have a couple more new versions of old goodies for you.

I wrote "Vientiene" back in the late '90s in Baltimore, at the time that Goff and Johnny Rock and I were living on Riverside Ave. on the South Baltimore side of Federal Hill. As a quick spin might make clear, there were two things that I was doing right around the time I wrote this song: listening to a lot of Buffalo Tom and reading Stanley Karnow's great history of the Vietnam war. As the internets will tell you, Vientiene (or Vientiane") is the capitol of Laos, and seemed a romantic, mysterious place that might make a good kernel for a pop song of desperation and dislocation. The Buffalo Tom stylistic appropriation just came naturally.

"Time Slows Down" came a bit later, when I was shuttling back and forth between Bath, ME and Grafton, MA at the waning of my Poor Residency Days. As with "Vientiene", the goal was to give an impression of a scene with a few strokes. Oh, and in this case to give a muted shout-out to the Velvet Underground, whose mojo I was attempting to lift.

Me and Mike E on both of these.

Keating out.

Link, stream or download:

Vientiene:
https://www.box.com/s/254f32b6563aa3c49e89



Time Slows Down:
https://www.box.com/s/ae245e50bcf1276624ea

Roadkill/ Buttsteak 6: "Wonderful Mistake" b/w "Rules of Conduct"

Well, we here at the Roadkill-Buttsteak Corporation never promised you a neverending show of polished jewels, did we?  As you know, we are notoriously fond of the half-baked, off-the-cuff stuff.  Particularly if we're not aiming to take a track to the stage, or trying to make it album-worthy, RK-BSCo. Mgmt. figures what's the point of being too fussy?  Plus this allows us to reclassify the all the blown changes and make-do lyrics as officially rock-y!  Come see how the sausage is made: Four on the floor and get 'em done in under 2:15!

"Wonderful Mistake" is a straight-up, love-gone-wrong-but-that's-OK song. Needs no explicating.

"Rules of Conduct" is roughly a true-life story, pulled in large part from the cautionary posting that used to grace dear, departed Tio Loco's "cantina" in Federal Hill, Bawlmer.  After Tio's gave up the ghost, the Rules left with Brian Whitcomb and ended up in a danker, darker pace behind the bar at good ol' Mum's tavern.

jk/ me

Link, stream or download:

Wonderful Mistake:
https://www.box.com/s/7609b289a4eb02e3fcb0



Rules of Conduct:
https://www.box.com/s/ddbd88e9f588160ffee7

meet me in maplewood

It all went down in New Orleans. The Roadkill/Buttsteaks and Levines had converged on the Cresent City for music, food and a sazerac or three. That's when Jason's phone rang. It was Opportunity. Flash forward a few scant weeks to a leafy yard in Maplewood with a large gang assembled to send Shell, Jason, Cal & Zoe off on another cross-country move. The highlight of the afternoon was clearly Cal sitting in on the drums. The rest of the afternoon it was me back there with the full roster of (state-side)Buttsteaks ripping through two sets of wildly unrehearsed music.

Fun was had and plans were hatched for the next official JHU reunion show that will feature a new roster of hits. Consider yourself warned. Thanks to everyone who hauled equipment, came to the party, put us up (and up with us). xoxo, RK

Roadkill/ Buttseak 6: "Style" b/w "Never 'til the Next Time"

Well, happy 4th to you all!  We've no Independence Day-related material to post, and none pertaining to Canada Day, or Bastille Day for that matter.  But hopefully these posts are summer-y enough to get you through.  Each clocks in at the industry standard 3 minutes flat, so they won't make a dent in your leisure time (or workday), plus each was intended to have enough laid-back '70s L.A. vibe to roll with your midsummer day.  (I should note that by "L.A.", I mean Los Angeles, CA rather than Lewiston-Auburn, ME, our neighbors up the Androscoggin River.  The Lewistonian vibe is altogether different...)   As with the rest of "RKBS-6" these feature me and Mike E.

The A-side, "Style", sneaked up on me during one of my periodic Black Crowes revivals, and I admit that with head held high.   After the usual crash-course in the song's structure (no rocket science involved),  Roady needed no real direction as to where to turn, on account of his extensive database of AM radio hits.  As usual, we were good to go with the 2nd or 3rd take.  Cue the Wurlitzer and the harmonies and the hot winds and the Canyon and all that. 

The B-side, "Never 'til the Next Time", was put together in the same spirit.  Yeah, admittedly it's kind of a throwaway song, but that's what the good lord created B-sides for, isn't it?   It's another in a long line of "let's keep making the same old mistakes over again" songs and, as with"Style, we were shooting for the So Cal feel.  Cue the soft focus golden light and the lyrical reference to the Wrecking Crew,  And if you're not familiar with the 1960's A-team of L.A. studio hands (most famously Hal Blaine on drums, Carol Kaye or Joe Osborn on bass, Larry Knechtel or Leon Russel on keys, and many, many more unsung heroes) who have, unbeknownst to you, probably brought joy into your heart and a skip into your step nearly every day of your dang life... well, that's definitely a story for another day....

As to our ramshackle project, link, stream or download:

Style:
https://www.box.com/s/a8a326416350cefc64d2



Never 'til the Next Time:
https://www.box.com/s/8b415d1fce93b500559f

Roadkill/ Buttsteak 6: "Hazy Angels" b/w "The Light Went Down"

Hey friends- I admit that I've been busy of late, but have indeed been keeping a wary eye on the days flying by between posts. And here we are on the downward slope of summer already! A shame, as there's no shortage of goods to share-- Aside from the stuff already queued up, I was aiming for a brief Levon Helm tribute, and then we went and had a great Buttsteak band get-together over the weekend down in Maplewood, NJ, and so probably should wrangle you some posts related to that... Such is life...

Well the good news at least is that we're back to good ol' Roadkill/ Buttsteak on the namesake site!

"Hazy Angels" started as a simple "krautrock" riff on the Wurlitzer, plunked away when I was still spending the week out in Grafton. The song came together much later, and RK and I recorded the backing track last November up in Harpswell, relishing the chance to stretch out a bit and to play a bit with dynamics and atmospherics-- something my default pop rock/ rootsy thing generally steers us away from. The lyrics basically applied themselves, with heavy inspiration from blurry urban weekends and especially from Wim Wender's masterpiece "Wings of Desire", which I'd seen just once, back in my mid-90's art-cinema heyday.

More fever-dreamy in comparison, "The Light Went Down" is actually a proper B-side of our angular pop song "Generator" (which deserves a proper re-post of its own, I suppose). Both of those songs commenced in spring '10 or so, on the heels of one of our biennial 2-3 day Harpswell blackouts. "Generator" is an upbeat ode to making it through, while this one is a bleak stare down the barrel. I'll gladly drop a nickel into Richard Buckner's tip jar for this one, I suppose.

JK

Link, stream or download:

Hazy Angels:
https://www.box.com/s/8aadda743938f7cb3731



The Light Went Down:
https://www.box.com/s/ff14b0d57d5e75f4ff13

Woodpile: "Manor Park" b/w "Annabelle"

Hey all--

We're back to business after a little radio silence to allow for work, travel, Hootenanny-ing, recording, typing up loose ends and generally taking stock of things.  Tons of stuff in the hopper from all corners--- Roadkill-Buttsteak, The Man Known Only as Beez, Stackpole, Hoot '12 (Bonanos, Cardillo, Evitts) and Your Man in the Basement.

Winding up the first "Woodpile" (there's already a second batch mostly finished) are a couple of old hits from the Charm City days, both dating to '97- '98 or so.  Both had received the full-on Pourbillies treatment, and were shelved by the time the Honcho band rolled around, as we were trying to eschew at least some of the roots-rock and clear the decks for some more pop/ punk stuff.  Dusted off here, "Manor Park" gets a tremolo guitar and "Annabelle" finally gets the accordion it was intended to have all along. 

While you listen, pour some out for my old Monterey (i.e. Sears) mandolin that I bought used back in '95 from the Folk Shop on N. Campbell Ave in Tucson, as these recordings are the last it made.  It was a tarnished, buzzy particle-board contraption but it treated me until its (timely, to be frank) end, in the Great Lexington Blaze of December '11.  These "Woodpile" recordings were basically excuses for me to learn how to play/ record the upright bass, but it's nice to have a chance to pull out all the "old-timey" gear and spend some time....

I'm using a new pair of speakers for mixing, so let me know if these sound weird and/ or crappy.  Otherwise, here's to a fine, long holiday weekend for you and yers.

jk

Manor Park:
Link: https://www.box.com/s/a550656f898330bc6066


Annabelle:
Link: https://www.box.com/s/3dd83ed9ac0153f0727f

Woodpile: "Big Dipper" (Cracker cover)

For as much love as I have for the psychedelic and faux-world music of Camper van Beethoven (and my devotion indeed is mountainous), I must say that I've got just as much for David Lowery's equally long-lived, more traditionally rock-y band Cracker.  Sometimes it's that the craft of his songs stands out a bit better among less clutter.  Sometimes it's the presence of good ol' rock or funk comfort food.  Sometimes it's just the fact that Johnny Hickman and his Les Paul make some of the best guitar lines going. 

This one's a solo workout on a Cracker tune off their hit-and-miss "The Golden Age" rekkid (1996).  First heard this on a visit to Dan and Jesse's old place in Brooklyn Heights.  It floored me then, sticks with me to this day and, as songs may do, it somehow carries for me a truckload of nostalgia for some very disparate times and locales-- in this case NY and the SF Bay area (no offense to anyone in Santa Cruz, as I dunno what they consider themselves).  Maybe part of my weakness is that the song refers to the Giant Dipper, a 1920's era wooden frame roller coaster, not unlike my old Dragon Coaster at Rye Playland where I happily toiled away one warm summer years ago.  More on my amusement park escapades at some later time.  Suffice it to say, there is most definitely a place in my heart for carny life.

Giant Dipper, Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, CA

Dragon Coaster, Rye Playland, NY

Anyway, been meaning to record the song for about 15 years now.  Here 'tis:

Big Dipper:
http://www.box.com/s/0e905b5a3c1b6e2a02a6

Big Dipper:

Woodpile: "That Pomade" b/w "Coffee and Wine"

Got a two-fer of semi-oldies today, or maybe a one-and-a-half-fer....  Each of 'em about a decade old by now.  "That Pomade" is a chilling, heartbreaking and stirring rockabilly tale of a man, a woman and the hair product that nearly tears them apart.  "Coffee and Wine" is a loping lecture about approaching bottom, though less a cautionary tale than a descriptive one. Somewhat appropriately, a recording glitch cut it off a tad early, hence the early fade-out.  Folk yerselves out:

That Pomade:
http://www.box.com/s/71dbac83e7ce76fe2943


Coffee and Wine (partial):
http://www.box.com/s/a8511e7a340864c1d0c7

Woodpile: "Peter Pan- Trailways"

Keeping it brief, here's another one from the woodpile.  Also an old Honcho band favorite, this song is an admittedly slight, stream-of-consciousness number.  The lyrics were basically pull as-written from a page of my "little black book", written on a Peter Pan- Trailways bus out of Baltimore headed to NYC, while gazing out at the splendor of North Jersey's Meadowlands.  This version lacks the guitar contortions of Paul B and the propulsive thwacks of Roadkill on the tubs, but such is the acoustic scene.

Should've a/b-ed this into a "single" with "Firefly" from the last post but crossed my wires somehow.

Peter Pan- Trailways:
http://www.box.com/s/beb52c6a71afaa0ae56a

Peter Pan- Trailways:

Woodpile: "Firefly"

Taking a break from the electricity and rock-y cacophony, this post commences a set that I refer to as the "Woodpile".  These are just from-the-hip, mostly acoustic versions of old songs of mine.  I recorded these in part to present what I think are some good tunes in more "hi fi" form than the originals, using better gear, some nicer instruments and (hopefully) a little improved playing skills.  Mostly, though, this project started as a simple means of learning how to play and record an upright bass that I'd acquired a little over a year ago.  Seemed like fun, and I've just commenced recording a second batch which should be complete in, oh, a decade or so....

Anyway, this one is the "Firefly", an old "hit" from the Honcho days.  Hopefully we'll get one of those Honcho versions posted at some point, with Paul B's ticky-tacky Telecaster picking and Road's rim-tapping and snare bashing, but for now, this one is a quiet version of a sweet-natured song that dates back to my days living in the Kacyznski Cabin behind the Anne Arundel Veterinary Emergency Clinic, down in "'Napp'lis, Merlin"....  It's a real summer evening backyard picker, and one that you can put squarely in the "Basically Stolen from the Charlie Chesterman Playbook" File. 


Firefly:
http://www.box.com/s/02a958b75a5bfb196f6c

Firefly:

Stackpole- Keating, Part 5: Who Do You Love?

We took some liberties with this one, we did, and turned out some kind of hybrid that I still don't quite know what to think of. I guess you all can be the judge. Nearly everyone's played a version of this old Bo Diddley hit, that's for sure. We started with the Band's version, took some liberties with the chord progression, dumped on a bunch of percussion and smeared some cheesy organ on top. Ended up here:

Who Do You Love (link):
http://www.box.com/s/2864d63c756d4a540290

Who Do You Love (stream/ download):

Stackpole- Keating, Part 4: Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker) b/w Gimme Shelter

Hey gang--- We're still mining the old veins, it seems. After some digging, it turns out that more classic rock tunes remain from the summer, '10 session of my buddy Johnny Stack and me. What we have here is your basic meat and potatoes Rolling Stones fare, not quite bookending the tenure of guitarist Mick Taylor in the band (a.k.a. the "Golden Age" to many Stones fans).

 "Doo Doo Doo Doo Doo (Heartbreaker)" bears one of the my favorite dumbest rock titles of all time (I dunno-- possibly to discriminate it from the Zeppelin song?).  It hails from '73's "Goats Head Soup", one of the minor gems in the Stones' catalog.  It's a fine and groovy and grimy tune.

"Gimme Shelter" (1969) is, of course, a certified rock classic, emerging from the Brian Jones- Mick Taylor interregnum.  Given that, little needs to be said, other than that anybody trying to cover the song without the vocal assistance of Merry Clayton is probably gonna fall flat on their face one way or the other.

Links here:
Heartbreaker: http://www.box.com/s/5fb21b02093741059f81
Gimme Shelter: http://www.box.com/s/42352a13c81ee2267982

Stream/ download here:
Heartbreaker:


Gimme Shelter:

Harpswell Hoot '11 redux, part 2: Thin Lizzy

Get right to the link: http://www.box.com/s/xzdkl69jtg8g59yfxf8a

Well, here's the last electrical hunk of Harpswell Hoot '11 for all of you.  The long and short: this cover fell apart at the end, we had some drum mic drop-out and, as with the last Springsteen post, it took waaaaay too long in post-production.  It still isn't quite where it should be, but what the hell--- one makes due, and it certainly beats a sharp stick in the eye.  Time to get to wiping the slate. 

Thin Lizzy.  Sadly remembered by most people for "The Boys Are Back in Town", and only for that one (great) song.  Take a listen to the records from around '75-'77-- "Fighting", "Jailbreak", "Bad Reputation" ---  for the full story.  Ever-changing lineups. Dual lead-guitar onslaught plus signature guitarmonies.  Fat '70s tom-tom drums.  Hard rock with a soft heart.  Heroic rise, tragic fall.  Phil Lynott, poet of the working class, and victim of the sad cliche ending. The only black English emigrant bassist rocker that I know of with a life-size bronze off of Grafton St. in Dublin, complete with afro and Fender jazz bass.  Ran into it completely by accident a few years back.  "Hey Oonagh, y'know that statue over there looks just like Phil Lynott......"

This was a Sunday tune, so Roger had already hightailed it back to the Pioneer Valley.  The basics were recorded with Dillo on guitar, Paul B on Wurlitzer, RK on drums and me on the bass. 

Running Back:

Harpswell Hoot '11 redux, part 1: Springsteen/ E. Street Band

Direct link for Appleheads, etc: http://www.box.com/s/us26se7acjuhp4339gig

Well, after additional recording in Lexington and Harpswell and Florence, and tweaking and re-tweaking, and incineration of my old laptop, and 3 months as houseguest of the Kindly FitzGeralds, and vacation and work and such, and them some more rearranging of deck chairs.... I think I finally done finished with the last two songs from the Harpswell Hootenanny 2011. This week is the '73-era E-Street goodness part of that.

I prefer not to think of Bruce Springsteen as having recorded much of anything after "Nebraska". At some point, the songs tended towards meathandedness, the production became too clean. Synthesizers appeared. For us diehard fans of '70s Bruce, it was about the crazy and sprawling, character-driven songs, and the rough-and-tumble bar-band onslaught of the E Street Band, with the Hammond organ, loosey-goosey drumming, squawling Telecaster riffs and all that. "The Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle" has a little something that the other albums don't quite feature.

I'd been hoping to record this one for a long, long time, and my only regrets are that I wasn't able to get Roger to record a lead guitar track, or to to get Paul B to overdub vocals. Damn shame, especially as this cut was fully built upon Mr. Bonanos' shoulders. Matter of fact, it was a few years back that I determined to nail down a version of this tune, during a visit to Bonanos HQ, way out in San Fran's Outer Richmond. Paulie let fly a great version on the Lefferts' pianner, and I saw the goddarned future.

That future didn't exactly include the number of takes we needed on this one, nor the nearly full-blown mutiny it may have led to But hopefully the wait is worth it. Paul B is on the Wurlitzer, Roadkill on the drums, Roger on lead and harmony vocals.

Incident on 57th Street:

Stackpole-Keating, part 3: Mr. Soul b/w Almost Cut My Hair

Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield):
http://www.box.com/s/dfuzhlh0qy0ri7pkvyd9

Almost Cut My Hair (CSNY):
http://www.box.com/s/q3tfd7q596oco18y945v

Neil Young....  What can I say?  As covered in enough detail previously, there's Creedence and Dylan and the Band.  The Who, the Stones, the Kinks, the Beatles, and a few other go-to's on my classic rock front.  But NEIL!  He's most often been THE  guy, throughout all his phases and stages, whether folksy and warbling, fuzzed-out and stomping, oddball, overwrought or plain ol' cantankerous.  That's one cat who's cut his own swath, deep, wide and however the hell he wants it.  Yet there's something about his singing, and his playing (acoustic and electric guitar, harmonica), and his writing (and his failures) that's always seemed just within reach.  His solos never move too fast, and he doesn't rain down notes or verses.  It's more tone and phrasing and leaving spaces.  But the whole package is inimitable.  Even within his output with Buffalo Springfield (not as good as I always hope) and CSNY (not as bad as I always prepare myself for), Neil leaves a mark.  Sometimes a welt.

Mr. Soul (Buffalo Springfield):



Almost Cut My Hair (CSNY):

Stackpole- Keating, part 1: Effigy b/w Lover of the Bayou

Well, let's see now... First some housekeeping matters.... In response to some good suggestions from those trying to organize their iTunes and such, I do plan on re-posting a bunch of stuff in "album" format as zip files. Also, the rock onslaught will subside shortly, as I have some acoustical things to post. But first....

Links for iPads and such, go here and click "download" at top right:

http://www.box.com/s/yhugtebje3tqsopbmgoz

http://www.box.com/s/sxmjco8o5vsizbymppqk

Speaking of albums and rock, the next few posts will be some covers done by me and John Stackpole, a great high school buddy of mine, and member of my earliest quasi-band (along with the legendary Dillo, from whom we'll also be hearing soon). Anyway, Stag and I managed to get back in touch a few years back and he's made a yearly trip up to Harpswell, at which time we try and get a few recordings in the can. God bless the internets for allowing such conections to happen with so little effort! The first time we say down to play after 20+ years off, it was like we hadn't missed a day, except we'd both improved quite a bit, which was fortunate, to say the least. In a much-needed departure from the weird, claustrophobic, stressful, metronome-driven world of solo recording, it's great fun to stretch out and go with the dynamics of a song and see where you land up.

Not surprisingly, the songs we take up are straight out of the old-school classic rock that permeated our otherwise fairly drab suburban New York lives in the early '80s. Man, we used to live for those records, and Stag had (and has, in the very same room!) an absolutely tremendous collection. We learned some great things up there spinning those records and diving deep into the details. All the tropes of us vinyl obsessives certainly apply here. And when it wasn't those walls of well-cared-for records, it was tape decks in whatever car we were tooling around in (his Corolla, my Nova, Dillo's Nova, Bill's Malibu) or whatever boombox we had handy. Anything to keep the mostly vast wasteland of FM radio at bay.

For listening to, and certainly for jamming on and trying to impress our friends (and the girls we would've liked to be our friends), Creedence Clearwater Revival was often the go-to. Yep-- The ladies love cool Creedence! OK, maybe it was not the most stylin' choice, but we had workboots and flannel. Creedence songs were bountiful, easy to play, and EVERYBODY knew about 20 of 'em. "Effigy" is a deep cut off of "Willie and the Poor Boys" from '69. It's a hell of an anthemic burner, brimming with the palatable kind of Sixties outrage.

The flipside of this "single" is "Lover of the Bayou", a sorely unknown gem from the late-era Byrds (1970's "Untitled"). After Gene Clark left, and David Crosby too, and Gram Parsons came and went, and Chris Hillman left to form the Flying Burrito Bros. with him, Roger McGuinn soldiered on. By the early '70s the Byrds weren't making any good records (total stinkers, matter of fact), but they were a terrific live act, and this song was a creepy highlight of their sets. For me anyway, that 12-string Rickenbacker is just hardwired to my brainstem. We never played any Byrds with the bands back in the day but, man, we should have! Andy O'Brien even had the Rick, though he just used it for strumming. That, however is another inexplicable story...


Effigy (CCR):


Lover of the Bayou (Byrds):

Stackpole- Keating, part 2: Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)

MP3 link for iWhatevers or anyone who needs it:
http://www.box.com/s/b7qc7ac8fvbb1f55018o

For your funkier-than-usual listening pleasure, today's hit rekkid is a version of Jimi Hendrix' "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)" off the sprawling "Electric Ladyland" from 1968.  It's precisely the kind of tune that I can't create or execute on my own---  the psychedelic appointments welded on top of the classic blues structure, the progressively speeding (in this version anyway) drum-conga-bass-organ groove, the dynamics.... and especially the presence of actual guitar playing,

Lemme tell you one thing that I am not: a guitar player.  Yeah, you'd never know by the number of gitboxes that I own, and the amount of time I spend trying to play them.  Sure, I can coax some passable noises out of them but doing so does not make me a player, the same way that being able to exchange some basic information doesn't make me a Spanish speaker or writing and playing a bunch of songs make me much of a musician.  It's what my friend and pathology mentor Rich Jakowski refers to, in a slightly different context, as the "difference between a lightning bug and lightning". 

Rich and I also discuss the world in terms of the difference between chimpanzee people and orangutan people.  In the music world, us shrieking, easily distracted poop-hurling chimps are just grateful to have more measured primates to steer us right every now and again. Sometimes, I suppose, that orangutan is my buddy John Stackpole, with a guitar.

Voodoo Chile (Slight Return):

Kink-y New Year! (Supplemental)

Hello again Apple users-- To link directly to the song via BoxNet, cut and paste this here into your Safari or whatever fancy browser you're running:

http://www.box.com/s/fadm8yx23egaumpmg1n6

And a good day to the rest of youse also!  Things have been hectic lately, including a typically "hectic" swing down to Baltimore, if you know what I mean...  Anyway, I apologize for the slackness in posting, and hopefully can make it up to you with one last Kinks cover I had in the hopper.  "Strangers" is one of little brother Dave Davies' many minor hits, and it's a predictable fave of the Kinks cognoscenti, in all its yelpy, 5/4 glory and garbled syntax.  Being a member of one of the leading lights of the British Invasion certainly propelled Dave to stardom and, taking advantage of that, he did stepp out under his own name a tad in the late 60's.  I like to think there's little doubt he'd have been a successful solo artist irregahdless, or at least a niche fancy for the usual music obsessives.  (Matter of fact, his output has just been slapped onto a 27-cut import compilation of wheezy, wailing Dave-ness, so there is some justice in the world...)

So I'd been meaning to cover this one for a long while and before I was finished, I saw some YouTube/ Onion Undercover videos of the Baltimore band Wye Oak doing their stellar take on it.  I almost hung up the enterprise right there but figured "Ah, the heck with it--- Let's just steal the idea of a fuzz-laden guitar spasm in the solo part, and be done with it."  Enjoy!

jk

Strangers:

Kink-y New Year! (part 3)

The links, if you need 'em:

OK, USA:   http://www.box.com/s/6uc33grm8q338h3d66om

Muswell:      http://www.box.com/s/b845k6fbcih01rl2qs0y


Wrapping up the Kinky kick-off to '12, a couple deeper cuts for you. Both are from the wonderful "Muswell Hillbillies" LP from 1971, an album that was regarded as a bit of a flop at the time, even for a band that was gliding into the '70s having already slid into the periphery of bands that "mattered". And after "Muswell", the Kinks certainly proceeded to veer off into more dubious, theatrical territory (five albums' worth!). And, sure, "Muswell" is a bit muddy sounding but, lordy, is it ever a catchy, rambling statement that dwells on some or all the usual Kinksy concerns--- England, America, the 19th century (nostalgia) and 20th (paranoia), Mum/ Dad/ family, the tedium of touring, assorted food and drink, spinsters, dancehalls, holiday, etc.

So get enjoyin'!

jk

Oklahoma, U.S.A.:


Muswell Hillbilly:

Kink-y New Year! (part 2)

Once again I encourage you Appletons to try out these links on your iPad, iPhones and whatever you've got, and to let me know if they fly:

Long Way from Home: http://www.box.com/s/l1oo8cxxzs72917r2tql

Victoria: http://www.box.com/s/exl8oti1z8pea4aaxemz

Continuing our warm, Kink-y January, we move along the Davies timeline just a bit.  "Long Way from Home" is a short, musically sweet, lyrically biting little number off 1970's "Lola vs. Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part 1", the album title being almost longer than the song itself.  "Victoria" hails from 1969's "Arthur, or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire".  It's a more uptempo rocker (crying out for a horn section) that would be a cover band staple in a just world.

From a recording perspective, both of these songs can be real lung-busters, especially trying to nail Dave Davies' inimitable harmonies.  Though he's sung lead on his fair share of songs, little brother Dave was not blessed with a stellar voice but his high, reedy, raspy wail (similar to Keith Richards') sure does wonders on the harmony front.  And for a much active and passive aggressiveness as there was (and is) between the brothers Davies, they've always sounded perfect together.

Long Way from Home:


Victoria:

Kink-y New Year! (part 1)

Hey all- 

As I mentioned last week, I'm still trying to find out a way to be Apple-friendly.  Despite their inability to support the Flash Player that my storage site (Box.net) uses, those of you with the iPad and the iPhone and iFill-in-the-Blank should be able to cut and past these links and then listen or download.  Do lemme know:

Waterloo:               http://www.box.com/s/gsp4gm0mj557z0dk0dox
Village Green:        http://www.box.com/s/9oq5o16lnv30sd5q63b3

Anyway--- Hope you all done rung '12 in with style, or at least are planning on proceeding with gusto and joie de vivre from here out.  Along with all the other things to resolve for the young year-- along with travel and seeing friends and living right and such-- I recommend taking a tiny sliver of time to listen to one of my all time favorite bands: the Kinks.  To that end, I thought I'd supply you with a few covers I finished in '11 after starting in summer of '10.

I really could go on and on about the Kinks but the long and short is that, even after the late '90's reissues and a bit of deserved praise over the past couple years, they're a band that's never quite gotten their due.  On account of bum luck, bad timing, union problems, self-destruction and their incurable baseline Britishness, they missed their biggest shot and never really caught on here.  They remain regarded as a second-tier British Invasion band, and most people's knowledge stops at "You Really Got Me" or maybe "Lola" or "Come Dancing" from their '80's revival or (heaven help us) a Van Halen cover or a TV commercial.  It's a damn shame.  Matter of fact, the Giants-Cowboys NFL game I'm watching just went to a TV timeout with NBC playing 1st quarter highlights to an instrumental cover of "Picture Book" and nobody knows...

I look past the fact that big brother Ray seems to be a flaming A-hole and younger brother Dave an absolute moonshot.  I love Ray Davies' songs, and Dave's as well.  I love the harmonies and the characters and the wistful and weird details.   There's something to love in all their eras, including the interminable rock operas of the mid-'70's. I love the way they overextend, and re-tool and triumph and drop the ball again.

So here are a couple of the cornerstones.  My only hope is that I've not done any significant damage to "Waterloo Sunset", which to me is one of the absolute finest songs ever written.

JK

Waterloo Sunset:


The Village Green Preservation Society: