recommended gigs

 Friday 4-26-24 - Fuzz Solow and lots more live at the Compound

Friday 4-26-24 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-27-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-28-24 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 4-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Wednesday 5-1-24 - The Monsters from Switzerland with the Implosiions and the Psyatics at the usual place

Friday 5-3-24 - The Souvenairs at the Underground

Saturday 5-4-24 - the New Waves Star War Extravaganza at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-4-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf

Saturday 5-4-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-6-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 5-8-24 - Fuzz Solow and Trashy Annie at Fat Cat

Friday 5-10-24 - The Psyatics final show at the Double Down Saloon with Big Like Texas

Saturday 5-11-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday May 12 - Bear Supply at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-13-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 5-15-24 - the Femaliens, Popperz and Gob Patrol at Red Dwarf

Saturday 5-18-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 5-19-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-20-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-24-24 - 5-27-24 - Punk Rock Bowling

Friday 5-24-24 - Redd Kross and more at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 5-25-24 - Guitar Wolf, the Schizophonics, the Shakewells and Lords of Altamont at the Usual Place

Saturday 5-25-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-27 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-31-24 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 6-1-24 - Suburban Resistance Record Release Party at the Double Down Saloon

Queen at the BBC

 

After purchasing the 40th edition of their debut, I revisited some of the other Queen CD's that we have (being one of Melanie's fave bands) and came across this one. This 8 song CD of BBC recordings from 1973 had never been released before, so was certainly a treasure at the time for Queen fans!

As with the bonus CD in the expanded version of the debut record, these versions show that the songs were essentially arranged and planned out well before any contracts were signed. This set opens with "My Fairy King", with its grand choirs and various sections sounding very similar to the song that appears on their first record, but there are a few intriguing differences here'n'there. "Keep Yourself Alive" is one of their more rollickin' numbers, and Brian's chuggin' guitar carries it here as Freddie duets with himself and entreaties us all to follow the title. Again, the break varies a bit with some extra drums and the harmonies are slightly adjusted, but otherwise, you won't be too startled. Brian's ballad, "Doin' Alright", sounds like it could be one of Freddie's, except that it is played on acoustic guitar instead of piano and then we get the massive guitar break where May gets to cut loose. Mercury's "Liar" also contains some of their more ferocious guitar sounds and this is probably even rawer than the album take, with more variations. "Ogre Battle" is quite rockin', as well, and again sounds like they've taken more liberties with the melodies and harmonies, although I must admit that I am not as familiar with the second album that this appears on. 

May also wails on Freddie's "Great King Rat", again sounding rawer and raunchier than the "official" take, which is great by me! Taylor's "Modern Times Rock'n'Roll" rocks frantically, with a couple variations and another truly heavy guitar workout and the set closes with May's "Son and Daughter", one more mighty rocker with a slightly religious lyrical content (and some different words here) and a wildly changed instrumental break where May just flies off - this is a pure 70's hard rocker - fine stuff!

Although brief at just 8 songs, this is well worth owning for any Queen fans. Not sure if it is still in print but search it out!

recommended gigs

 Friday 4-19-24 - the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-20-24 - VaVoom, Sandbox Bullies, Project Skeleton at Red Dwarf

Saturday 4-20-24 - Fuzz Solow at the Fortress of O'Hareatude, SK8 SESH BBQ

Saturday 4-20-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-21-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Sunday 4-21-24 - Cromm Fallon and the P200 with Nico Bones and Adult Toys at Red Dwarf

Monday 4-22-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 4-24-24 - the Minges, Muertos Heist, Goodbye Viking at Red Dwarf

Friday 4-26-24 - Fuzz Solow and lots more live at the Compound

Friday 4-26-24 - Thee Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-27-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-28-24 - Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 4-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Wednesday 5-1-24 - The Monsters from Switzerland with the Implosiions and the Psyatics at the usual place

Saturday 5-4-24 - the New Waves Star War Extravaganza at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-4-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf

Saturday 5-4-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-6-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-11-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-13-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 5-18-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 5-19-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at Red Dwarf's Sunday Brunch

Monday 5-20-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-24-24 - 5-27-24 - Punk Rock Bowling

Friday 5-24-24 - Redd Kross and more at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 5-25-24 - Guitar Wolf, the Schizophonics, the Shakewells and Lords of Altamont at the Usual Place

Saturday 5-25-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 5-27 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-31-24 - The Hypnotiques at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 6-1-24 - Suburban Resistance Record Release Party at the Double Down Saloon

Generic Surf Band at Red Dwarf's Sunday Surf Brunch, Sunday April 14, 2024

 I've been meaning to check out "Generic Surf Band" (I'm assuming no "The") for a while now as our old pal, Mark Bartchi is playing drums with them (I've literally lost count of how many other bands he is currently playing in) and our friend Nikki has wanted us to meet guitarist Phil, so we finally made it out today to Red Dwarf to see them hosting the Sunday Surf Brunch. They play trad surf (natch!) from noon until 3:00 with some drink specials and great deals on Detroit-style pizza!

We were running some other errands, as well, so weren't drinking, but dug some white pizza today as we came in during their first set and left during their 3rd set, so got a good variety of tunes from Mark, Phil and bassist Ed.

With a great, traditional sound, this reverb-heavy three piece played plenty of traditional surf numbers through the ages, with cuts from giants like Link Wray and the Ventures, along with plenty of one-hit-wonder-numbers! They are not afraid to take off on tangents, including bass solos (with either a Hofner violin bass or a Hammer 12-string bass!), drum excursions and lots of reverb-soaked guitar! Mark is always the consummate professional and always great to see him play (his 60's-based style totally fits the surf genre, although he can do lots of other styles) and isn't afraid to throw in some curve balls to have some fun with the tunes. The group had videos playing behind them, including the surf episode of Batman, for when they played the theme song! They even brought up one of the bartenders (I am so terrible with names that I forgot hers - sorry!) for a spot on take on another oldie. (I've got to get back in the habit of taking notes if I'm going to go back out to shows!)

Totally fun time, great atmosphere, fine pizza and cool tunes. We will certainly try to get out to these more often, although weekends are already way too short!

The Unwieldies, Pitchfork, Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association at Centennial Park, Saturday April 13, 2024

 While we haven't been able to get out at night for quite a while due to an ailing dog, we can make treks during the day so we had to catch the last local show from our pals, the Unwieldies - at least for the foreseeable future, as the front-duo, Rob and Dani, are sadly leaving town.

Got there early to see the opening act, Pitchfork, a revolving bluegrass congregation that includes the Unwieldies banjoist Erik, today along with mandolin, guitar and standup bass and lots of fine vocals from everyone. Some originals, some trad and some modern songs given a bluegrass twist, like a Ween cover and some other fun numbers. Some combos get a little too jokey with their "unexpected" covers, but Pitchfork managed to ride the fine line and put on a great set throughout.

We stepped over to the food trucks for a bit of lunch (there was supposed to be a vegan/mex pop-op who didn't show up, but we still got some excellent veggie tacos from a different truck - sorry I didn't catch their name) so missed some of the Nevada Old-Time Fiddlers Association but still caught at least half their set. Theirs was a fairly monumental undertaking as there were at least 12 people on stage (I lost count, actually), and they still managed to get a coherent sound in a matter of moments - professionals, I suppose! They ranged in age and gender, with a number of fiddlers, a standup bass, percussion and more. As expected, they had a fairly traditional bluegrass sound and even did a "patriotic medley" that I'm sure goes over well with some crowds and today's was no exception for that. 

Of course, our main reason for getting out was to see the Unwieldies, as we have neglected seeing them for probably a year and are going to miss their presence on the Las Vegas scene along with the support they have given us and so many local and touring acts. Of course, I have talked about these talented folks innumerable times, But Dani and Rob (guitar/vocals and standup bass/vocals) both write some fine alt-count/Americana/uncategorizable-but-terrific songs of love, loss, regret and victories, along with the occasional more esoteric'n'timely subjects. The tunes are fleshed out by their highly talented friends and accompanists, Jack on violin (don't call it a fiddle!) and Erik on banjo - both exceptional on their respective instruments. With songs from their various albums, they wowed the crowd who happily accepted Rob's kind offer of first-come-first-serve free CD's and devoured the entire box in a matter of minutes! Favorites from all the records abounded in their all-too-short 30 minute set and they left the crowd wanting more, and certainly won over new fans.

By the time we did some socializing and said many farewells, we needed to get on with our Saturday and couldn't catch the rest of the acts, but the city put on a fine, family-friendly-and-free event that brought in a huge crowd for some amazing music in a fun setting with spectacular sound. Great job all around!

I don't want to get too sappy here, but I gotta say a huge thank you to the Unwieldies (and the various side projects that everyone is involved in) for making the Vegas music scene a better place with their supportive, friendly and talented selves. Vegas would have been very different for us and many others without them. We will miss them dearly.

recommended gigs

 Thursday 4-11-24 - The Hangmen at the Dive Bar

Thursday 4-11-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Saturday 4-13-24 - The Unwieldies, Pitchfork and more at the 2024 Bluegrass Festival in Centennial Hills Park

Saturday 4-13-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-15-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 4-17-24 - pre-Viva show at the original San Dollar hosted by Shanda and the Howlers with the Blue Ribbon Boys, Rayford Brothers, Mozzy Dee and Angela Tini

Thursday 4-18-24 - Sunday 4-21-24 - Viva Las Vegas

Thursday 4-18-24 - Green Fuzz, Shakewells, the Sound Reasons at Artifice

Friday 4-19-24 - the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-20-24 - VaVoom, Blvd Bullies, Project Skeleton at Red Dwarf

Saturday 4-20-24 - Fuzz Solow at the Fortress of O'Hareatude, SK8 SESH BBQ

Saturday 4-20-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-22-24 0 Cromm Fallon and the P200 with Nico Bones and Adult Toys at Red Dwarf

Monday 4-22-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-26-24 - Fuzz Solow and lots more live at the Compound

Saturday 4-27-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Wednesday 5-1-24 - The Monsters from Switzerland with the Implosiions and the Psyatics at the usual place

Saturday 5-4-24 - the New Waves Star War Extravaganza at the Golden Tiki

Friday 5-24-24 - 5-27-24 - Punk Rock Bowling

Friday 5-24-24 - Redd Kross and more at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 5-25-24 - Guitar Wolf, the Schizophonics, the Shakewells and Lords of Altamont at the Usual Place

Saturday 6-1-24 - Suburban Resistance Record Release Party at the Double Down Saloon

Queen - 40th Anniversary Expanded Debut

 

This 40th anniversary expanded version has a nice version of the band's debut album for Disc One but the special reason for purchasing would be Disc Two, which is a 6 song EP featuring demos the boys recorded in December of 1971 (as well as one from June of '72). According to the liner notes, these are the first studio recordings ever made by the band, which is fairly astonishing, as they are nearly as well done as the final album versions. In fact, while there are a few minor changes in the arrangements and the lead sections, they are pretty well fully formed - especially "The Night Comes Down", which was simply remixed for the album, while the rest of the tunes were re-recorded. They did not believe that "Mad the Swine" was properly completed so time constraints kept it off the record and so this is the first time hearing this one!

As I remember at the time of the initial release, Queen were being compared to the likes of Led Zep, most likely due to their penchant for heavy rock and fairies'n'folk lore in their lyrics. But, in this day'n'age, they really do not sound much alike at all. Brian May's guitar sound is singularly unique and the vocals are highly melodic and, of course, they are known for their impressive'n'excessive harmonies.

The album opens with May's swirling guitar playing against itself before the rhythm section pounds in and the Mercury chides the listener to "Keep Yourself Alive". The sound is excellent - John Anthony and Roy Thomas Baker producing. Freddie's love of piano ballads come through in "Doing All Right", but they can't keep it too simple, so it goes through multiple changes, with an acoustic guitar section that moves into a huge, crunching guitar'n'full band coda before returning to the quiet melody. "Great King Rat" opens with more crunchy guitars and a galloping rhythm from John and Taylor, and a neat, wah-wahed solo from May, while the lyrics reference Christ, oddly. 

May synthesizer-like guitar lines open and augment "My Fairy King" as Freddie and company handle extraordinary vocal melodies'n'harmonies as the song again moves from rocker to sensitive piano ballad and back again while still maintaining a coherence. "Liar" opens with another heavy, 70's guitar rock section and again the tune excels in vocals'n'arrangements'n'dynamics, and while it is clearly Queen and includes some of their eccentricities , this is a more straight-ahead 70's rocker, comparatively speaking. They do like to kinda throw in the kitchen sink with their arrangements, as in "The Night Comes Down" with an intricate instrumental opening that breaks down into a ballad-like number, but they strip things down again for the rockin' "Modern Times Rock'n'Roll" followed by the heavy, dramatic swagger of "Son and Daughter" (with the interesting line from Freddie, "I want you to be a woman" - always wondered about that one). Brian gets religious in "Jesus" (odd, seeing that he is an astro-physicist), a chunky, minor-key rocker that ends in the final "track", "Seven Seas of Rhye", which is simply a short instrumental epilogue to "Jesus".

The bonus disc also opens with "Keep Yourself Alive", with a super-similar arrangement but the production is slightly different - not a bad thing at all, as it still sounds great - and Freddie's vocal line changes a bit and the breakdown is more drum-heavy. Again, the intro to "The Night Comes Down" varies a bit, but not dramatically, but they change things up for the instrumental section. "Great King Rat" again keeps the basic arrangement that we know, but there is a bit more diversity and the drum sound is not nearly as strong as it is on the album take. Same with "Jesus" - not wildly divergent, but some noticeable exceptions, such as the solo section, which is probably the biggest change on this entire disc, until we get to "Liar". The tempo and vocals differ a bit but there's not too much that surprises until we get to the lead section, which really takes off and might be an improvement on the album version! The rest of the song really rocks with more intensity than most of their stuff, and, again the lead parts really stand out, especially when May plays off of himself - really excellent! The finale, "Mad The Swine", is the one song that was previously unreleased in any form and while it is a nice, mid-tempo, Queen number, it is not particularly exceptional, and I can see why it was left unfinished until now - nothing wrong but nothing special, either.

Queen fans will certainly want to check out these demos - definitely worthwhile!

Ugly Things #65

 

Here's the latest installment of Mike'n'Anja Stax's Ugly Things magazine - issue #65, for Spring of 2024 and it's another jam-packed doozy! Of course, there's countless reviews of all kinds of media that will have ya scramblin' to add to your wish lists, along with a treatise on the Yardbirds, the story of "anarcho-Dadist, avant garde rock'n'roll outsiders from Vienna called Novaks Kapelle, 70's punk rockers the Subway Sect, 60's teen combos the Ascots and the Chosen Few (featuring Scott Richardson, James WIlliamson, and Ron Asheton), power-popsters the Paley Brothers, Moby Grape and lots, lots more!

Yeah, I always recommend UT and this is no exception - tons'n'tons of fine reading here.

Mighty Marvel Masterworks - The X-Men Volume 3

 

In this volume we get the marvelous mutants scripted by Roy Thomas with artwork by Werner Roth, not my fave artist by any means, but competent, with good layouts, even if the details are not as worked out as some of the other greats at the time (compare Roth's machines to, say, Kirby's, for an extreme example). But, Thomas has always been a great storyteller, even though there continues to be the misogyny of the time and Marvel Girl's powers are very minor at this point, compared to what they would become. But, the Beast's loquacious soliloquies certainly improved my vocabulary well beyond those of my peers (along with Thor and the Silver Surfer).

In this comp we encounter Lucifer (not the demon), an alien who, in a previous meeting, caused Professor X to lose the use of his legs. Of course, the aliens want to take over the world and use earthlings as slaves (to what end, is not actually discussed, just a random image of menial labor - you would think an advanced race, who had advanced robots, wouldn't need that, but who am I to judge?) and for some reason, only the X-Men, and no other heroes, stand in their way. Of course, they win against all odds, only to then fight Count Nefaria and his gaggle of super-powered villains who attempt to frame them, and from there, a mad scientist appears as the somewhat silly Locust, there's a slightly un-PC villain in the Mayan El Tigre and his compatriots, the Puppet Master, Banshee (as a villain, albeit against his will), the Mimic, the Super Adaptoid and more!

Although there are always some cringe-worthy moments of misogyny and unintentional racism in these early 60's tales, I still revel in re-reading them. These were fantastic stories that were, generally, well ahead of their time. Always dig this stuff!

recommended gigs

 Friday 4-6-24 - the New Waves at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 4-10-24 - the Sillnites with Rhythm Ace and the Nu-Tones at Red Dwarf

Thursday 4-11-24 - The Hangmen at the Dive Bar

Thursday 4-11-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Saturday 4-13-24 - The Unwieldies, Pitchfork and more at the 2024 Bluegrass Festival in Centennial Hills Park

Saturday 4-13-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-15-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Wednesday 4-17-24 - pre-Viva show at the original San Dollar hosted by Shanda and the Howlers with the Blue Ribbon Boys, Rayford Brothers, Mozzy Dee and Angela Tini

Thursday 4-18-24 - Green Fuzz, Shakewells, the Sound Reasons at Artifice

Friday 4-19-24 - the Double Whammys at the Golden Tiki

Saturday 4-20-24 - VaVoom, Blvd Bullies, Project Skeleton at Red Dwarf

Saturday 4-20-24 - Fuzz Solow at the Fortress of O'Hareatude, SK8 SESH BBQ

Saturday 4-20-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Sunday 4-22-24 0 Cromm Fallon and the P200 with Nico Bones and Adult Toys at Red Dwarf

Monday 4-22-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Friday 4-26-24 - Fuzz Solow and lots more live at the Compound

Saturday 4-27-24 - late night - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Thee Swank Bastards at the Golden Tiki

Monday 4-29-24 - Fuzz Solow at Fat Cat

Wednesday 5-1-24 - The Monsters from Switzerland with the Implosiions and the Psyatics at the usual place

Friday 5-24-24 - 5-27-24 - Punk Rock Bowling

Friday 5-24-24 - Redd Kross and more at Backstage Bar and Billiards

Saturday 5-25-24 - Guitar Wolf, the Schizophonics, the Shakewells and Lords of Altamont at the Usual Place

RIP John Sinclair

John Sinclair, Detroit poet, cannabis activist and counterculture icon, dead at 82 

---

He will forever be known and revered for his work with the MC5, but he was an artist and writer in his own right, as well. Sad to see him go.

Black Sabbath Vol. 4

 

I'm current reading Geezer Butler's bio so I am revisiting my Sabbath records and am incredibly surprised that of all of the Sabbath posts that I have done, I never got around to this album. Of course, the Blogger search function is fairly shite, but I'll try writing again....

Although I heard the previous records first, this has got to be my fave album of theirs. The production, sound and songs are all here and it's a great package, even if they were succumbing to cocaine excesses at the time (Ozzy even stage-whispers "COCAINE!" in "Snowblind"). It certainly was their last great hurrah before they went overboard with keys and weaker tunes.

Opening with "Wheels of Confusion", it's Sabbath at their best - great guitar sounds, monstrously heavy riffs, head-banging rhythm section, cool time change in the middle solo and Ozzy sounds on top of his game, as well. As they were wont to do, they added on an instrumental coda at the ending that has more terrific riffing from Iommi - amazing and truly memorable for an instro section! Even more head-bangin' heaviness'n'licks in "Tomorrow's Dream" but then they change course for a truly pretty piano'n'strings ballad in "Changes" - a song that Ozzy revisited not that long ago with his daughter. According to Geezer, they got high in the studio when they recorded "FX", which is just them f'king around with an Echoplex, but they return with another brutal riff'n'chord behemoth in "Supernaut", where Tony again takes off in the stratosphere with his soloing! 

Side two of the vinyl album started off in the same vein with more darkly poundin' metal mania in their ode to cocaine, "Snowblind", which continues to great effect in "Cornucopia", with its various time changes that apparently took its toll on drummer Bill Ward while recording, but it turned out to be an amazing number! Tony shows his sensitive side as he woke up early one California morning to experience a "Laguna Sunrise", and created an acoustic guitar'n'strings ballad, before coming back with a vengeance for the fast-paced "St. Vitus Dance" and closing with "Under the Sun / Every Day Comes and Goes" that begins with a doom-ridden plodding beat that sounds like Godzilla stompin' on Tokyo before speeding up with another iconic Iommi riff and various other changes throughout its seemingly short 5+ minutes.

I know that strains were starting in the band's internal relationships and the drug abuse was getting way out of hand, but damn if they didn't still produce (literally - Iommi produces this record and does an amazing job - the sound is excellent) one of their best and most consistent records here! 

Black Sabbath - Sabbath Bloody Sabbath

 

I guess with the coming of punk, Black Sabbath kinda fell off of my radar after the superb Vol. 4, and what I did hear of this one never really impressed me all that much. Their drug'n'alcohol abuse reached epic proportions by this point and this is a bloated and excessive album, although there are still some good points that sneak through. Even the cover is a bit over-the-top and way more devilish than the band ever presented themselves in their lyrics and stage show.

After the excellent production job on the previous album, the sound here is somewhat brittle and grinding - kinda like their teeth after a cocaine binge. There's a lot more added keyboards, as well, which I never thought worked all that well for them, overall, either.

Although the sound isn't quite as powerful, the opening "Sabbath, Bloody Sabbath" starts the record off with a strong riff and a hard/soft arrangement (and various changes) that is reminiscent of their previous work and is highly promising. I don't know if it's the drugs or if it's the song's key, but Ozzy sounds a bit strained here, as well - reaching for the higher part of his range. He succeeds, but seemingly just barely. The awkwardly titled "National Acrobat" continues with some more good, evil-sounding riffage and oddly, Ozzy seems to pull some of his melody from "Jolene", but maybe that's my imagination! There does seem to be an over abundance of parts being added to the songs as well - kinda throwing in the kitchen sink - and while this doesn't kill the song, it does kind of prevent any groove happening. This album's obligatory acoustic guitar ballad is funnily enough titled "Fulff", but it's a nicely pretty tune, "Sabbra Cadabra" is a fast-paced riffer with an oddly keyboard-dominate middle section, while "Killing Yourself to Live" (relatable title!) is probably my fave and most memorable off of this album, sounding like it could easily have fit in on Vol. 4, down the the riffs sounding similar to some from that record.

"Who Are You?" is a slow, plodding number, dominated by synthesizer twiddles'n'tweaks'n'squeaks - not really something that works in the context of Sabbath. "Looking For Today" is riff-filled, but almost pop-metal, with another subdued middle break, and everything concludes with another bizarrely titled tune, "Spiral Architect", with a quiet opening, some powerful chording and another keyboard-dominated chorus, along with multiple changes throughout, moving from metal to pop to strings to commercial metal and not sounding much like trad Sabbath to me.

Regardless of whatever drugs were clouding their judgement, I understand that they must have felt that they needed to evolve, but for me, this was not a successful experiment. There's way too much going on in most of the songs, a bit too much reliance on strings'n'keys and not a good production sound, overall. Sorry to say, but for me, Sabbath really are just the first four albums, but what great albums those are!

Teenage Head - Frantic City

 

I learned about Teenage Head fairly late, as I recall - although I might have heard/seen the name earlier cuz, of course, I knew they swiped it from the Flamin' Groovies, but I believe I didn't heard their sounds until much later (and I just learned that I missed seeing them play in LA when I lived there! Damn!). Their early punk'n'roll numbers are as much garage and rockabilly as they are Ramones - although the bruthas were certainly an influence, as well - and, as such, I dug that they were not slavishly imitating anything and just grooving, as the Flamin' ones did. The only record I had until now was their earlier one , so was curious to hear how they progressed.

While there were some production issues with their previous recordings, this record also sounds pretty clean overall, although that is not necessarily a bad thing, other than maybe wishing the guitars had a bit more grit. The drums are also mixed down further than I would prefer, but that's just nitpicking at this point...

The band is augmented on this record with some piano'n'sax interspersed throughout, as in the opening number, a high energy take on Johnny O'Keefe's 50's rocker, "Wild One", showing that they definitely had some rockabilly roots, even as they rock this through the stratosphere with some strafing guitar leads and a fun arrangement. Sax adds an early 60's element to the mid-tempo "Somethin' On My Mind", which is also a bit reminiscent of their own "Picture My Face" as well as the Who's "The Kids Are Alright"! Nice influences! They kick it up again for "Total Love" with great melodies, sing-along "heys" and "ohs" and cool harmonies and some more poundin' piano for the outro. "Let's Shake" is a hoppin' 60's garage-styled rocker that again is not dissimilar to some of their earlier numbers, "Infected" is a mid-tempo rocker that is not overly memorable, but certainly nothing bad about it, and I dig the breakdown and the ending guitar solo really takes it up a notch. 

They once again show their rockabilly roots in "Those Things You Do", right down to singer Frankie imitating Elvis and a 50's styled sax solo, which leads into their take on Eddie Cochran's "Somethin' Else", before changing gears for another mid-tempo punkish chunkin' number "Take It", followed by a cool take on "Brand New Cadillac" (dunno if they did this and "Somethin' Else" before or after the Clash and Sid, but does it matter?). I love the title "Disgusteen" (reminds me of "Teengenerate" - they were Dictator fans, I believe) and the song is pretty damn hip, as well - kinda just a good rock'n'roller with great lead guitar work and a silly breakdown that doesn't take away from the song, too much anyway! 

This CD includes another version of their happenin' "Let's Shake" and a live version of "I Wanna Love You", a song I'm not familiar with, but it's a keeper - nicely upbeat, good melody and just another cool rock'n'roller!

Again, I think that there could be a bit more grit in these recordings, but damn if this isn't a swingin' rock'n'roll record! Get the earlier one first, but this is certainly worth it as a follow up!

Deception Point - Dan Brown

 

Another book I randomly picked up at the Founder's Club Book Fair. Like everyone else, I've read Brown's Da Vinci Code and (I believe anyway) Angels and Demons so I thought I'd give this one a try, as well. I consider Brown kinda like Stephen King - almost comic book novelists (and I love comic books!) in that their writings are pure entertainment - nothing too deep or moralistic, just fun escapism, which is something we all could use these days!

Of course, Brown does try to keep things relatively complicated and includes several different viewpoints and several different stories that intersect in one way or another. This is kind of a sci-fi/political thriller, with candidates running for POTUS, interstellar life, espionage, intrigue and murder all intertwined.

Brown spends numerous chapters building up to a reveal, only to then have everything pulled away so you are not sure what to think about anything that has happened in any of the storylines up to that point. There are plenty of twists'n'turns and it's hard to know who to believe in any scenario.

My comic book attention span appreciates the brief chapters, as we jump from scene to scene, and Brown keeps the tension going throughout. There are innumerable cliches here - the good-looking, smart and brave heroine and hero, the childhood trauma resurfacing, the plucky-but-goofy sidekick, the improbable escapes (multiple) from certain death, and more - but ya gotta roll with those and let suspension of disbelief kick in. Like I say, nothing deep or anything like that, but an entertaining read.