Return Of the Jedi
Remember read along book and record sets? Here’s one that came out for Return Of the Jedi. Listen to that amazing narration! Sounds like Yoda, Luke and the gang are in for one giant adventure!
Marc Riley
Marc Riley and The Creepers were always a bit hit or miss with me, although I did enjoy Mr. Riley’s time spent with The Fall (1978 - 1982 or so). Their single, “Jumper Clown”, might be my favorite single by the band. The a-side just beats you over the head with its repetition and sounds a lot like The Fall did when he was still with them, while the flip has the same screetchy violin that you might hear Mark E. Smith noodling out. Good stuff all around. If you get BBC radio and want more Marc, he’s still hosting a show called Brain Surgery.
Monday’s Week In Review 7/16/07
Songs that got a lot of play this past week in the Press Random household. Plus I got to put a cute monkey picture on the site. Seriously, isn’t that just sickeningly adorable?
From their latest single, The Victorian English Gentlemens Club have put out two perfect songs here. I’m really digging the bass on this record a lot, it has something Fall-related that I love.
Stupid As Wood (from the double A-sided single “La Mer/Stupid As Wood”)
I have a few Peter Murphy solo albums kicking around here somewhere, as well as pretty much everything Bauhaus ever recorded. Unfortunately I have no idea where they are, and I was really in the mood to hear “Dragnet Drag”, so I broke down and picked up “Wild Birds”, a collection of Murphy’s solo works. While there are a few stinkers here ( “The Sweetest Drop” just gives me a headache), I remember loving many of these tunes back in the late 80’s and still have a weak spot for them. Covering Pere Ubu was just a great move for his first record.
Final Solution (from “Wild Birds”)
I’m really picky when it comes to bands with screwy keyboards, and most annoy me more than entertain. Das Wanderlust has a circus/manic vibe that I’ve been driving my wife crazy with the past few weeks. There’s something about toy-keyboard sounds that always gets me.
Supermarkets vs Greengrocer (from Sunday School EP)
Not to continue with music that drives my wife nuts, but she really can’t stand Lolita No. 18. Featuring one of the strangest vocalists around, they sound like a weird metal band fronted by a possessed 11 year old. I know she’s probably not 11, I just can’t describe her voice any other way. Well, maybe I could say she sounds like she’s being tortured while singing pop music on drugs. That might work.
Aojyashin Baka (from Lolita Let’s Go! Go!! Go!!!)
TVEGClub - Impossible Sightings Over Shelton
Peter Murphy - Wild Birds 1985-1995
Lolita No. 18 - Great RockN Roll Festival
Smashing Pumpkins
It looks like everybody and their brother/sister are posting Smashing Pumpkins material to celebrate or poorly rate their latest album, “Zeitgeist”. I actually sort of like Zeitgeist, a few tracks aside. The guitar solos are still noodling, Corgan’s voice is still shrill, there’s not much different here from earlier works. Rather than post songs from that album, I’m assuming unless you hate the band (Steve Albini, I’m looking at you) there’s always room for more rarities/live tracks. All songs below were taken from the 5 CD “Mashed Potatoes” set, and no, I’m not posting the entire thing. The bill for the bandwidth would be ridiculous. Enjoy the sampling, and you can find the whole thing floating around out there somewhere.
Jesus Loves His Babies (1991 Outtake)
Mayonaise (1993 Outtake)
Venus In Furs (Live Radio 1988)
Stars Fall In (1989 Demo)
Spaceboy (1993 Outtake)
Smashing Pumpkins - Zeitgeist (W/Book)
Pinback
I just got word that the first song from Pinback’s upcoming record “Autumn of the Seraphs” is available for free streaming and also on sale via Touch & Go. If you like indie pop rock then definitely give it a listen, this is a great song. Well worth the .99 cent download cost if you want a 256kbit, DRM-free version of the mp3 or if you just want to support an indie label doing online music right. Hell, I just like giving Touch & Go some free advertising, they’ve been a favorite label since the 1980’s. That this song is actually excellent is a sweet bonus.
Listen to the song “From Nothing To Nowhere”. Buy it here.
Warning: I don’t usually do pop-up windows, but I couldn’t figure out how to get around one here.
The Clash - Rat Patrol
Before there was “Combat Rock” there was “Rat Patrol From Fort Bragg”. With Mick Jones mixing the album that broke the Clash huge, it had a different feel and even some different tracks. There’s been yet another version of this bootleg released that has an extra CD of instrumentals and other songs (including the version of “Straight to Hell” from the “On Broadway” box. Most if not all of it is available on other boots so I’ve skipped that release and stuck with this one. The source of this is an original tape so the quality’s pretty good considering. There are a few glitches here and there, I’m not sure if it’s just my copy or on the original leaked source.
The Beautiful People Are Ugly Too
Walk Evil Talk
Should I Stay Or Should I Go
Atom Tan
Download the entire album here.
Note: This was originally posted on August 4th of 2006. I’m doing a repeat due to the amount of hits this site gets for this particular post.
Somebody’s Gonne Get Their Head Kicked In
Most people know the song “Somebody’s Gonna Get (Their Head Kicked In Tonight)” from The Rezillos, even if they don’t realize it. Many other bands have covered it over the years, and I’ve heard lots of different versions. I had absolutely no idea that it wasn’t actually a Rezillos song though. If you knew this already, cheers. Finding out that an early formation of Fleetwood Mac actually performed it first is something out of Bizarro World to me. Played under the name of Earl Vince and the Valiants, this was the B-Side to Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 single “Man of the World”. Seriously. Who knew? Ok, maybe you, but who else?
Here are a few versions of the song to drive most people around you nuts. Make sure to loop them!
Derelicts
Moonstomp
Murphy’s Law
Youth Brigade
Rocket 69
Putakaska
Large Hardware
And last but not least:
The Rezillos (buy “Can’t Stand The Rezillos” here)
Earl Vince & The Valiants
Image borrowed from Art of the Mix.
Monday’s Week In Review 7/9/07
For no reason other than to promote bands I like AND add more posts to this site, I’m going to start a Monday “4 or 5 songs I played the most over the past week” series. Some songs will be new(er) and some old(er), and as always, BUY the albums if you like the music!
The Bad Brains latest is a back to basics Brains record, it’s growing on me more and more. HR’s voice is buried low and has lots of effects, I’m guessing years of screaming probably haven’t left it in the best shape it’s ever seen. Great song regardless.
Bad Brains - Pure Love (from “Build a Nation”)
The latest single by Editors has been on constant repeat the past week. I could easily see this as being a huge “alternative” hit back in the late 80’s, early 90’s. A great track, it has something that compels me to listen more and more. The album is still import only, but the domestic is coming out soon! I’ve seen comparison to Interpol, but since Interpol sounds like tons of other bands as well, it’s hard to pin down.
Editors - Smokers Outside the Hospital Doors (from “An End Has a Start”)
I confess that the only reason I’m even remotely aware of the existence of this band is through the anime Death Note. I’m not even a huge anime fan, but that one gripped me like few others, and this song became the opening theme about halfway through. They sound like Slipknot from Japan, although I’m sure fans will correct my opinion.
Maximum the Hormone - What’s Up, People! (from “Buiikikaesu”)
The a-side from their single, this song by the Mules is jittery, guitar-skittering pop at its finest. Catchy and bound to get in your head.
Mules - Polly O (from the “Polly O” single)
Maximum The Hormone - Buiikikaesu
Random
I’m making an effort to post more often here, and what better way to keep the random in Random than to throw some single tracks out there? Hi to everyone who came for the Bowie bootleg, that was more popular than I thought it would be.
The quality may be bad, but this is from an old radio broadcast. I’m amazed someone even had it to encode it.
The Stooges - Radio Advertisement for “Funhouse”
I’m not an Eminem fan, and I must confess that I’m was never too into the comedy stylings of Benny Hill. Ok, the bald guy always made me laugh, that’s about it though. Still, if you mix the theme song used in the Benny Hill show and speed up Eminem’s voice to match it, I’m sold. Also, I promised a co-worker I’d throw this online somewhere for him, and what better place than here?
Eminem vs. Benny Hill - Without Me
When the driving force behind amazing shows like Brass Eye, The Day Today, Blue Jam and more makes a parody of The Pixies, you know it will be good. When fans of The Pixies still aren’t sure it’s not their favorite band, it’s a classic.
Chris Morris - Motherbanger
It’s bad enough that an album called Pink Panther Punk ever existed, but to classify covers of Billy Joel and Pink Floyd as punk in 1981 was just stupid. Play this to any Floyd fans you may know, they’ll probably want to fight you.
Pink Panther Punk - Another Brick In the Wall (taken from the defunct Scar Stuff.)
David Bowie
Not too many people could pull off a birthday concert at Madison Square Garden. That’s one big room for a party celebrating one person. Back in 1997 David Bowie hit the age of 50 with the help of Robert Smith, Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, Billy Corgan, Frank Black, Sonic Youth and others. A great bootleg from a unique show, this was recorded on January 9th, 1997 (Bowie’s birthday is actually the 8th, but who cares). Besides the guests appearing on various songs, there are plenty of solo Bowie songs as well.
Highlights:
I’m Afraid of Americans (With Sonic Youth)
Scary Monsters (with Frank Black)
Heroes
You can download the entire 27 song show here.