BROADCAST #19
AIR DATE: 05-02-06

Heres the notes from tonights show. I thought we played some good music tonight. I had a good hearing it all while we were in the studio and I hope you liked it as well. 
     Looking forward to this upcoming tour The Rollins Band will be doing with X. I am such an X fan, its not to be believed. Looking forward to seeing them night after night. 
     For you Europeans, Australians and New Zealand Fanatics, there is a re-broadcast time of Friday mornings, 0200  0400 hrs. West coast time so you all can check out the show and not have to set your alarms to too rude an hour. If you want to download this show, http://www.rollins-archive.com/ is the place to go for that. 
     Thanks for listening and Ill get back to you as soon as I find out about that Mark e Smith interview-special on an upcoming broadcast. Until next week, hang in there!
     --Henry

Tinariwen - Oualahila Ar Tesninam: From the Amassakoul album. While looking up information on another album, I came upon a listing for this band and looked them up. The description of what they were like was interesting to me so I rolled the dice and checked them out. I was richly rewarded for my faith in someone elses review of the band. I got this album and another called The Radio Tisdas Sessions and both of them are amazing. Members of Tinariwen are Touareg people from the north of Africa. Their language is Tamascheck. Electric guitar isnt not a native instrument of these people but the band got their hands on some nonetheless and there is an unmistakable blues feel in their music and I swear, at least one of the guitar players has heard some John Lee Hooker records. I read some of the reviews of this record and other people are saying the same thing. If any of you are familiar with the sound and attack of Hooker, youll immediately make the connection. There are tracks on this album that are almost rap. Its an amazing blend of musics that somehow drifted over the Sahara to these people. Worth checking out.

Fugazi  The Argument: The perfect band to play next. Several months ago, I was at Ians house and was going to tell him about Tinariwen and how cool they were when I noticed the Amassakoul album sitting on his desk. Ex-Spectator is from The Argument. I dont know for certain but I am reasonably sure that this would be the last proper studio album of Fugazi if you do not include Instrument. This is my favorite Fugazi album. I like them all but this one to me sums up the considerable strengths of the band in the studio. Live, it was a completely different thing and as anyone who was witness to those shows will tell you, they were flat out one of the greatest live bands of all time. The Argument took a long time to finish. I remember Ian playing me instrumental song pieces at one point and then after what seemed like a really long time, he gave me a CDR of what became the album. I listened to it in one concentrated sitting alone in front of the speakers. I wrote him immediately afterwards, I was amazed. There are sounds and textures on that album that I have never heard before. If this turns out to be the bands album, its no low mark to finish on. If its not their last one, they have their work cut out for them to follow up. Like I said, I like all the Fugazi albums. I think the band really hit their stride with In For The Killtaker and it was strength to strength all the way to The Argument. I imagine many of you Fanatics are familiar with the Fugazi catalog. It is one amazing body of work, not to be ignored. http://www.dischord.com/main.shtml.

The Rezillos  (My Baby Does) Good Sculptures: A great song off a great album. If only we were playing the album version but were not because its just not fanatic enough. Tonight we listened to the single version thats out of print and has never been on CD as far as I know. Theres a lot of singles left off the one official Rezillos CD called Can't Stand The Rezillos: The (Almost) Complete Rezillos which is aptly titled and really great even though its not complete. Several months ago, in a fit of fanatical exuberance, I took all the Rezillos singles and made a CDR of all their songs that werent on the Cant Stand CD. It plays great. http://www.rezillos.com/

Jimmy Giuffre 3  Emphasis: From the 1961 album. The Cool Jazz trio Of Jimmy Giuffre on clarinet, Paul Bley on piano and Steve Swallow on bass. I only have this one record by him. I remember a long time ago, when I used to hang out with Raymond Pettibon a lot, I used to pay attention to the music he would listen to. Not only is he an amazing artist, he has serious taste in music. I dont know what record of Giuffres we listened to at his place but the tracks I remember are not on this album but this was a worthwhile purchase. I saw this in a store in Canada I think and I got it, hoping to hear the music I had heard at Rays but this 2CD set is completely great. 

The Fall  Free Range: Its time for our weekly dose of Fall music. From the Falls 1992 album Code: Selfish. This was third in a string of brilliant Fall albums released one-a-year. In 1990 the band released Extricate, in 1991 they released Shift-Work. All three of these are must-have albums for Fall fans. Now, back to Free Range. One of my favorite Fall songs. We find out by looking up the single on the amazing Fall website http://www.visi.com/fall/ that the Free Range single contains slightly different mixes and edits of Free Range, Return, Dangerous and Everything Hurtz than the ones contained on the Code: Selfish album. I played them both back-to-back, listening for the differences. The album version comes in at 3:58 while the single version comes in at 4:21. The single version has a bit more going on with effects and the vocal seems a little lower in the mix or perhaps seems that way as the effects on it might be sinking it a little as compared with the album version which is relatively dryer and more straight ahead overall. Theyre both great but I chose the single version as its a little harder to come across, which is perfect for this show. Besides the actual single, I dont know any other way to get this version of Free Range. As far as I know, its not on any other compilation and not issued on the Code: Selfish album.

Iggy Pop  Old Mule Skinner: I first heard this on a cassette someone gave me in 1984 I think. I was told it was a demo Iggy did with Car frontman Ric Okasek. The tape had this track along with another called Fire Engine. I lost the tape. Theres a lot of Iggy bootlegs and other releases of questionable legitimacy. The cleanest sounding versions of these songs I have been able to find are on the Nuggets 2CD release. Its easy to find and has a ton of rare Iggy stuff on there. Not every track has the best sound quality but its still really cool. Its Iggy, the Heavyweight Champion and King of Rock and Roll!

Die Cheerleader - Smothered: From the out of print Son of Filth album. I always thought they should have been one of the big bands. They were a great live band and great in the studio. Three women and a guy on drums. One of the cool indie bands out of England in the 1990s. This records around online and worth checking out.

Agent Orange  Everything Turns Gray: From the album of the same name. Cool OC punk from back in the day. Perhaps best known for their song Blood Stains but this is a good one. Agent Orange has a lot of good songs. I saw them for the first time about 25 years ago. Their show stuck with me. I really liked that flanged guitar sound they have happening. 

Birthday Party  Fears of Gun: From the Bad Seed / Mutiny In Heaven CD. I imagine you fanatics are familiar with Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and have gone backwards to dig his previous band called the Birthday Party. The Fears of Gun is one of their coolest songs. Some of you may disagree but I think they saved their best for last with their two final releases The Bad Seed EP and the Mutiny In Heaven EP.  I damn near wore these records out when they were released. I am still amazed at how great this band was. If you have not, checked them out, please do. At the very least check out Prayers On Fire, Junkyard and the two EPs listed above. I saw them 03-30-83 in Los Angeles. They did not disappoint. They were amazing. I have a tape of the show and I play it now and again to hear the version of their song Pleasure Avalanche they played that night. Still my favorite version. 

Mark Robinson  Tasty Black Licorice: This Mark track is from the Teenbeat 2003 Sampler CD. The label puts out one of these a year and I always get them because theres always unreleased tracks on them. This track, as far as I know is exclusive to this album. Mark is the big boss over at Teenbeat, one of my favorite labels. Mark was in an 80s  90s band called Unrest, which as you know, gets a lot of airplay on this show. Marks other incarnations include Flin Flon, Olympic Death Squad, Air Miami and Grenadine. All these records can be found on the Teenbeat site and are worth checking out. I like giving this label special attention because I think they are what independent music is all about. http://www.teenbeatrecords.com/. 

King Crimson  One More Red Nightmare: One of my favorite tracks from Crimsons must-have album Red. This album along with Starless And Bible Black and Larks Tongues In Aspic are desert island listening. They feature Robert Fripp, Bill Bruford and John Wetton. To many, this was the core of the classic Crimson line-up. Fripp is the mainstay in King Crimson which is around to this day. Hes had this band going for over 30 years and doesnt seem to show any signs of letting up. I have all the KC studio and live albums and many bootlegs. I listen to all eras of Crimson but this line-up is something to write home about for sure. 

Generation X  Fridays Angels / Trying For Kicks / This Heat: This was a single off Generation Xs 2nd album Valley Of The Dolls which was released in 01-26-79. The 1st  single, Valley Of The Dolls w/ Shakin All Over was released 03-23-79. Fridays Angels was the 2nd single, released 06-17-79 with Trying For Kicks and This Heat on the b-side. I always thought this was a great EP. Bob Andrews guitar is amazing and the b-side tracks are as cool as anything on the album. Valley Of The Dolls was produced by Ian Hunter of Mott the Hoople fame, which made Generation X fans leery. Although this album isnt often picked as the favorite by the classic line-up (Idol, Laff, Andrews, James) it has great songs and shows the band reaching artistically past what was called Punk Rock at the time. I remember this album when it came out and it took a little getting used to but after a few plays I really started to enjoy it and still play it frequently. This is a pretty cool site to get some Generation X info. Its where I got the release dates I listed in this write-up. http://www.nemsworld.com/genx/. 

Experience Unlimited  EU Freeze: This was my favorite song of 1985. This is from the 12 I got in that year. As far as I know, this isnt on CD anywhere. Theres a live version on a Go Go compilation but not this one. These guys are probably best known for their song Da Butt that was featured on that Spike Lee film I cant be bothered to remember the name of. It would be great if these guys got it together to put out a retrospective of their stuff. Theyve done some really good music in DC. This rhythm section is just incredible. We played this song before on the show but I figured it would be a good one to play again. Its one of my favorites of the DC Go Go singles. 

Wycked Witch  Witches Sabbath: Years ago I was hanging out at CBs in NYC, waiting to see Inger Lorre and Motel Shootout when I met a metal band who gave me their tape. Very nice folks. I played the tape. This song might contain the best middle section of any metal song I have ever heard. If Youre reading this right now and didnt hear the track, theres not a lot I can do to describe it so please go to the archive thing if its still around and see of you can listen to this track. Amazing!

Manifesto  Pattern 26: Manifesto is has old DC pals of mine Mike Hampton on guitar, Ivor Cutler on drums and Bert Q on bass. Mike was in a lot of Dischord bands like SOA, Embrace, One Last Wish, Faith and the Snakes. He was also in Clear. The Manifesto album holds up rather after all these years. If you like thoughtfully pop music written under slightly overcast skies, you might like them. The band called it quits a long time ago so I dont know if theres much information out there on them. Michael continues to make music in NYC. He wrote me recently about some new project hes working on. If he sends me anything hell let me play, I definitely will. I always like to check out what hes up to next.

Black Eyes - Drums: From Cough, the 2nd and last album by The Black Eyes. Im glad I got to see them once. I can recommend this album and the self titled first album. If you liked what you heard here, then both of these records are great. I think the Cough album is a bit more experimental and has arrangements that are a bit less song like and more going for atmosphere and the moment. I dont know why they stopped working together. I would be interested to hear what their next album would have been like. Both albums are available on Dischord. http://www.dischord.com/main.shtml.

Curtis Mayfield  Miss Black America: The amazing Curtis Mayfield album Curtis is a mandatory one for your collection I reckon. Its my favorite studio album of Mr. Mayfields. Theyve been putting out a lot of the Mayfield back catalog in the last few years. Another great studio album of his is the Superfly soundtrack. My favorite record of his is the live album Curtis / Live!, check that one off if you can. As you know, we lost the great man 12-26-99. 