"Still Transmitting" b/w "Ashes to Ashes"

Alright, listening public-- Here are the last two cuts from the 7th-ish Roadkill Buttsteak recordings, from  September 2012, a day or so from Torrey Smith and the Baltimore Ravens executing a jaw-dropping Sunday night comeback against the Pats at whatever they call that big purple-y stadium by Camden Yards.

"Still Transmitting" is a hat-tip to "Straightaways"-era Son Volt.  Thinking a lot of goldrush/ boomtown '90s Baltimore when I wrote it, it's another song about just keeping at it, whatever "it" is, and generally enjoying the ride.  I also figured I'd tack on the demo version, so you could see what, if anything, Roadkill gets in advance by way of song structure, and how much these things evolve as they go.  "Are you receiving?", indeed!

We also did us a little David Bowie cover, in the usual slapdash fashion, with too much slathered on, or not enough.  But what a fine tune, and fun to play.  Back in the "Let's Dance" era, I remember going with my sister into the old music store on White Plains' Post Road, and he asking the guy to get the "Scary Monsters (...and Super Creeps)" cassette from the display case.  I sort of got this song at the time, but I preferred his MTV stuff, if any at all, and it took decades for the album to sink in....  Such is life.

jk

"Still Transmitting":         https://app.box.com/s/2ndefb66hzfrcm7rqr47


"Ashes to Ashes":          https://app.box.com/s/273lqmozxapmuap8p9rm


"Still Transmitting" (demo):  https://app.box.com/s/blen8ddldw4kdq4yfev9

"Caroline, Yes" b/w "The Ghost In You"

Summer wanes and whaddaya get?  Well this week, there's a sweet ol' RKBS original instrumental, name of "Caroline, Yes".  We are oh so clever for making this here wordless reply to the Beach Boy's "Caroline, No", aren't we?  In any event, it's a nice lil' song, and we do hope you get to digging this one, too...

The other goodie continues our ongoing '80s revisionist history: a measured, somewhat "MTV Unplugged" version of the Psychedelic Furs' A-No.-1 classic, "The Ghost in You", from their last good album, "Mirror Moves", in 1984.

JK

"Caroline, Yes":          https://app.box.com/s/bupsgqu658amy17j0w0t


"The Ghost in You":    https://app.box.com/s/i37log22lz83tjbno0lb

"Hot Rod" b/w "The Killing Moon"

One original for you cats, and a cover...

"Hot Rod" is the "original"-- a character study admittedly heavily influenced by the dearly departed Phil Lynott (he of the great Thin Lizzy).  It came together last year and immediately earned itself a soft spot in my heart.  This on account of the excuse to bust out the dumb rock thump, the guitarmonies and the wah-wah, but mostly on account of the subject matter.  Gives me a warm late '90s Baltimore feeling all through my sullen bones, it does.  "Hope you dig it, Jack!"

"The Killing Moon" is cover of Echo & the Bunnymen's dark classic from their '84 masterwork, "Ocean Rain", gussied up with a little REM-style Rickenbacker, tinkling piano and some swoops of pedal steel.  I'd mentioned last time how nice the drums sounded in that torn-up, post-tenant/ pre-renovation room at Stately Roadkill Manor?  Check 'em out on this one!

jk

"Hot Rod":                          https://app.box.com/s/su6ax7nd2h3u91vrcvmc


"The Killing Moon":            https://app.box.com/s/guteahq16x5vljw9z7ph

"Nicky, I Never Knew" b/w "Dominique"

Briefly, a couple more originals are up next, via me and Señor Roadkill.  As with the rest of this batch, the drums were recorded at the Roadkills' Charm City Manor back in autumn '12, in a great-sounding room downstairs, post-tenant and pre-renovation.  There's really not much to say about the songs otherwise.  You decide:

"Nicky, I Never Knew":        https://app.box.com/s/t3cvwg69omdaikb7dpk2

"Dominique":                        https://app.box.com/s/gkrg88p1scqyeaehgita

"To the Moon" b/w "Buckout Road"

First off, to put our cards on the table, this is "fresh" product, rather than "new", these two tunes dating back to the old Honcho days of the roaring late '90s Baltimore.  They've been gussied up a bit and, with any luck, generally given their due.

"To the Moon" is such a blatant Scruffy the Cat/ Charlie Chesterman lift that it barely needs mentioning to anyone familiar with those guys' records.  But do I ever have a soft spot for it.  And the Rickenbackers and cheeseball organ only help....

"Buckout Road" does refer to an actual road--- a mysterious, winding, hilly lane on the ass end of the area we knew as Silver Lake, NY (or East White Plains, though technically West Harrison).  Buckout Road started (still does) behind the quarry and went way up and around, getting darker, curvier and more narrow as you went, eventually emerging lord knows where, behind one of the reservoirs, I think.  It had dark aura of "no return", and was rumored to be the kind of place you'd be likely to find albinos, cast-outs, adulterers, criminals and all that kinda thing.  It's even worse nowadays, and particularly scary if you have a fear of McMansions.  Sad, sad, sad.

JK

"To the Moon":         https://app.box.com/s/nkmcgrsdlbi6epd564ju



"Buckout Road":      https://app.box.com/s/wgw5uu64vdnflmo3yq7r

Stackpole- Keating '12 (5): CCR, in case you needed more

Original RKBS tunes coming next post!  But this one wraps up last year's Stackpole sessions, and just in time for this year's Harpswell Summer Rock Camp....

Fogerty, Fogerty, Cook & Clifford.  What can you say?  It's hard to overstate how good and how productive those guys were over the short blast of time centered on '69-'70.  And how textured and varied they could be.  It's also hard to overstate how little the world needs any more cover versions of Creedence tunes.  But yet again that's what you get here.  For completeness' sake:

Born on the Bayou:         https://www.box.com/s/ow4fvquz6d3mcr1nd9tt



It Came Out of the Sky:  https://www.box.com/s/tn4xwv8f12rm1k31ast0

Stackpole- Cardillo- Keating '12 (4): George Harrison, Led Zeppelin

Hope everybody's Independence Day weekend went swimmingly (perhaps literally), and the summah sweltah didn't weight too heavily on you.  Admittedly, there was some intermittent shelter sought in the cool basement of the Buttsteak manse, but it's summer, after all.

Not much text needed for these posts from last year's Stackpole-Keating band camp.  Both songs come from 1970, and both feature the remote bass-playing contributions of The One and Only 'Dillo.

"Isn't It a Pity" came off of George Harrison's sprawling, world-stunning post-Beatles triumph, "All Things Must Pass".  This was another milestone rekkid that featured all those usual musical suspects of the time (talked about in detail a couple posts back), and we were again shooting for that loosey-goosey, barnstorming feel that we love so much. 

"Hey Hey, What Can I Do" didn't make it onto "Led Zeppelin III", and remains one of the greatest non-LP cuts of the rock era, along with the Beatles' "Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" single.  It provided good cover for me to bust out the acoustical instruments and try and hybridize them to the rock.  Robert Plant I am not.

JK


Isn't It a Pity:                      https://www.box.com/s/2y0lwkevc6i4fnasvgz8



Hey, Hey What Can I Do:  https://www.box.com/s/ifbviwj6qejeoq6mtke2