BROADCAST #45
AIR DATE: 11-07-06

Hello Fanatics! I hope all you Americans all voted today. I dont care who you voted for, as long as you voted. May the voice of the people be heard. As long as all the votes are counted, I will live with the results, no matter who wins or loses. Past that, heres all this great music. Tonights show is the last bit of fun Im going to have for some time as I have to be downtown bright and early tomorrow morning for LA County jury duty. Always wonderful. Below is tonights show notes and some information on upcoming shows for Pere Ubu. I wish I could be at those Cleveland and Chicago shows! I hope you all liked the show tonight. I think we put together a good one. Next week is our all b-sides show. I have been working on this one for weeks, please check it out. Until next week, stay Fanatic! --Henry ,

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.

Heres some upcoming Pere Ubu shows:

November 2006
Wed. 22: NYC NY @ The Knitting Factory
Fri. 24: Cleveland OH @ The Beachland Ballroom
Sat. 25: Chicago IL at Abbey Pub in
Sun. 26: Minneapolis MN @ The 400 Bar

Iggy Pop  96 Tears: Two ways to get this track that I know of for sure. Theres a lot of Iggy releases out there of varying legitimacy. I have this track on The Legendary Breaking Point Tour 1983 CD and the much easier to find and better sounding Nuggets 2CD set. Its not perfect sound quality but its plenty good and I love it when Iggy actually sings because I think he can really do it. If the tour was 1983, that would be Zombie Birdhouse era I guess. I didnt see any shows of his on that tour but I heard good and bad reports. In any case, hes got more charisma than is possible. If you listen closely at the end of the song, it sounds like David Bowie doing backing vocals but if this really is from 1983, I dont think Bowie would be out with him, that was in 1977 I think.


Helios Creed  Fire In The Head: I met HC briefly many years ago and at this point, I dont remember where it was the meeting took place but he was really intense and it made me want to check out his music immediately. I dont know much about him or his previous band for which he is well known, Chrome. I have their Half Machine Lip Moves record but have not played it in a long time. Chrome and Helios Creeds music are at this point, very unfamiliar to me so I will have to work on that. I really like his guitar playing. I only have two of his records, Planet X, which this track came from and The Dark Side Of The Sun album. Curiosity gets me into a lot of music.


The Evens  No Money: The long wait is over. The Evens new album, Get Evens, was released yesterday. I have been waiting to play this CD. Ian asked me if I could hold off playing it until it was properly released. Well, now it is and here it is. This is my favorite song on the album so far. In the time between the two albums, the band have done a lot of touring and it shows on this record, especially in Amys drumming. Shes such a badass. This album was recorded for the most part, in the basement of Dischord House and the tapes were taken to Inner Ear, transferred to 24 track and a few overdubs were done and then the tracks were mixed. It has a much different feel and sound than the first album and I think this new one is a better effort all around. I had hoped this record would reflect the chops gained from all the shows theyve been doing and it does. Get Evens is a great follow-up, cant wait for what happens next.


Bo Diddley  Pills: I have a few different versions of this song. Many of you Fanatics are familiar with the New York Dolls version and some of you know of the Lurkers version but there is a possibility, although slight, that you might not have heard Bo Diddleys version of the song. You have heard my story about how I saw Mr. D open for The Clash in 1979 so I dont need to roll that one out again. I have always been interested in his guitar sound as he had his own thing going on. You get yourself a best-of from the Chess Records era and you will get a listen to one of Rock And Rolls architects.


The Brides Of Funkenstein  Ride On: The Brides, Lynn Mabry and Dawn Silva were at one point, Sly Stones back up singers. George Clinton made them into a group and joined them into his entwined forest of Funk. I am aware of two studio albums, Funk Or Walk and Never Buy Texas From A Cowboy and a live one that we heard a track from tonight, Live At Howard Theater, Washington DC recorded November 1st and 2nd, 1978. This is the only one of their records I have. I looked it up and it seems to be out of print and selling for way too much. This is happening way too often. I got all the above info by typing their name into the search engine and reading up at different sites. If you liked this track, the whole album is as good.


UK Subs  Tomorrows Girls / Scum Of The Earth / Telephone Numbers: This whole EP of the week thing is working out really well for me because the UK Subs put out a lot of EPs and it gives me a good excuse to play the band all the time. The band released this in August of 1979. I think I prefer this version of Tomorrows Girls more than the version found on the Another Kind Of Blues album. On the 2nd verse, theres a noticeable uitar or some kind of noise happening in response to the vocal. The guitars are a little chunkier. The album version is good but a little less noisy. One of the things that I have always found interesting about this single is all the different versions of release. These are the ones that I know of:
USA pressing on RCA
USA pressing on RCA DJ promo
UK pressing - blue vinyl
UK pressing - blue vinyl A-label promo
New Zealand pressing  black vinyl no sleeve
France pressing w/alt. sleeve
Holland pressing  sleeve is pretty much the same. Front has RCA logo on bottom left and theres addition writing on the back. Big hole center, black vinyl, orange label.


Nico  One More Chance: Nicos voice put a big hook into me the first time I heard it. We used to listen to The Velvet Underground in Black Flag a lot and I always thought her vocals on their first album were amazing, especially Ill Be Your Mirror. At some point, I read a book on The Velvets and read about Nicos solo work and became very curious. I had no money to buy records with but luckily for me, SST Records worked with Byron Coley, who very charitably gave me some Nico records, which I still have. When I heard her albums The End, The Marble Index and Desertshore, I was flattened. I had never heard anything like those records ever. Of those, it was The End that really destroyed me. Nico+Cale=!!!! I forget what year it was, probably early 1983 when I got a hold of Nicos album The Drama Of Exile. Of all her albums, this was the one that I found myself going back to more often. Its rock compared to her other albums. Theres guitars all over it, and what great guitars they are. The player, Mahammad Hadi, I dont know anything about him but I have never heard anything like him. His playing might be what I like best about the album. The drumming on the album is good but basic, for all intents and purposes, its a Post-Punk album with Nico singing on it. I looked around on the internet and theres mixed reactions to this album. Some people who like her early work say that The End was the last good album. The Drama Of Exile, by the way, was her first recording after she released The End seven years earlier and it was much different and nowhere near as unique as the work she did with John Cale. Perhaps some of her fans resented her going rock on them. Of all her records, Drama is the one thats most accessible to me. As much as I like the earlier ones, they are so heavy, you have to be in the mood for them and this Drama is more somber than anything else. Anyway, I played this album a lot when I got it and it made me pay attention to her later recordings, which were at that point, mostly live and I liked those as well. Two live ones, Do Or Die! and En Personne En Europe I still listen to. I got this 4 track 12 of her many years ago. Theres a song on there called Procession thats as heavy as anything she ever did. I had not played it in awhile and since it became evident that I was going to be writing about Nico for awhile, I put it on. Its playing now and again, I am knocked out by her intensity. I never looked at the credits, Martin Hannett produced! Martin Hannett as in Joy Division Unknown Pleasures producer Martin Hannett. Theres also a Hannett-produced version of All Tomorrows Parties on this 12 and its SO Hannett sounding. Thats so cool. Anyway, you Fanatics dont need me to write up a Nico bio for you, you know she liked heroin. By the time she was working on Drama, she had quite a habit. Heres where things get interesting. The Drama Of Exile was material she had worked up with a producer named Philippe Quilichini. It was 9 songs, 7 originals and 2 covers: Bowies Heroes and Lou Reeds Im Waiting For The Man. She signed a deal with Aura Records, took the advance and re-recorded the album. I read that Nico either stole or tried to sell the original tapes. Aaron Sixx, who owns the label intercepted the attempt and the whole thing went to court and held up the release for about two years. Finally, it was released on Aura and over the years, it was released on different labels. The 2nd version of the album has been released as well. I first encountered it was in 1996 when it was released on CD as Drama Of Exile: Version Originale. From the title, I thought it was the original version of the album. If you are a fan of the Drama album and have not heard this version, I think youll find it interesting. It definitely has its merits as the band tries some different things on their parts. Nicos vocals are great on both versions but its the 1st version where she really gives herself to it. The vocals on the 2nd album sound like shes singing material she has put behind her. I really notice it my favorite song on the album, Sixty Forty. As far as I can tell, both versions of this album are out of print. I see it here and there on EBay and Amazon.com. If you are a Nico Fanatic and dont have this one, you should seek it out. Nico was a one-take, theres nothing like her. Check out the great Nico documentary Nico Icon, if you can find it. I did some searching and found a lot of press on Nico from the Drama album onwards and its all pretty bad. From album reviews to live reviews, its all fairly mean. I have no doubt that she may have put in some tired performances but some of the reviews of the Drama album go out of their way to be nasty. Its like they didnt know what to do with the record or compared it to her earlier work but made me wonder if they had even really heard those records. It doesnt matter at this point I guess but she was very interesting and one of a kind. Check the versions of The Drama Of Exile album if you get a chance, especially the first version.


Ludus  Mouth Piece: From Pickpocket. Damn. The more I listen to Ludus, the more intrigued I become. Not only is the music strange and cool, there and not there at the same time, the singer, the genre-unto-herself Sterling Linder, is like nothing I have ever heard before. This will be our second dip into the Ludus catalog. As I wrote in the previously, Sterling designed the Orgasm Addict single cover for the Buzzcocks and the Ludus was signed to New Hormones, the label that released the first Buzzcocks record, Spiral Scratch. In the Wikipedia write up on the band, it says that Morrissey, my favorite, is their biggest fan. I dont have any of his records but every time Ive read an interview of his, he seems sharp beyond sharp and very funny. Im glad hes still around. Anyway, Ludus, some could probably write the band off as pretentious art school but they would be way off the mark. Ludus has been one of the more if not the most interesting musical discovery I have made this year. Heres a great biography that will hopefully interest you: http://home.wxs.nl/~frankbri/ludushis.html


Cath Carroll  I Remember The Sun: I dont know much about CC. I only know of her via the band Unrest as they did a song about her and put a picture of her on their Perfect Teeth album. Theres a couple of songs of hers on various Teenbeat compilation albums, which is where I got tonights track from. I have heard three songs of hers so far and I am not completely sold. I will have to check out some of her other stuff eventually though, curiosity always gets the best of me. Heres the address for her very informative site: http://www.cathcarroll.com/


Malaria!  Dead: I dont know how I got into Malaria!. It was in the 80s. When I was checking out The Birthday Party and Einsturzende Neubauten, that lead me into checking out Die Haut and Malaria!. The band were all female, which I thought was interesting. I found their records used here and there and became a fan. Very heavy, very German. I was in Germany in 1987 touring with the band and met some girls who were in a band called Matador. We got to talking and I told them that I liked a German girl band called Malaria! and they laughed and said that two of them had been in that band. I told them what a Fanatic I was for the band. They gave me a copy of their album A Touch Beyond Canned Love. I played it when I got back to USA and it was really cool. Years later I contributed some vocals to a Matador album. Some of their stuff is on CD. If you liked what you heard you can easily find their Compiled 1981  1984 CD. This is where I got this track. Has an almost Swans like feel.


The Fall  The Joke: Tonights Fall track comes from the bands 1995 release Cerebral Caustic. I remember when this came out. I was at the record store down the street from the office and went through The Fall section to see if perhaps something had been released and there it was. I purchased and walked back to my place and put it on. How happy I was and how happy I am to play this record over and over. So many great songs on this one. The recent re-issue is a 2CD affair with corresponding Peel session plus a bunch of rough mixes. Weeks ago, we listened to a track from this record called Bonkers In Phoenix. Hey, is it your first time listening to our show? Welcome, Fanatic! Heres a website to check out, its the Unofficial Fall Site: http://www.visi.com/fall/index.html


Roy Orbison  Drifting Away: This is what Roy O sounded like in 1977. I have listened to all his hits countless times and theres nothing not to like but then I became interested in what Mr. O sounded like when he wasnt burning up the charts so I checked out some of his more obscure compilation CDs and there were a lot of songs that I thought were really cool, besides singing so well on even them most mediocre song, there were some very heavy lyrics like the one we heard tonight. I always like it when singers you think are more mainstream oriented are not afraid to show a different side thats not so ready for prime time as in Frank Sinatra, who really tore into some bummed out material. Roy Orbison is one of those guys who could do no wrong. Not every song he ever sang is the greatest thing you ever heard but he sure sang them great. The Roy box set is definitely worth checking out.


Max Roach  Deeds, Not Words: From the album of the same name. Max Roach is the gold standard of Jazz, a true legend. He played with everyone in his day and has made some remarkable records. Three of the ones I listen to the most are Deeds, Speak, Brother, Speak! and The Max Roach Trio Featuring The Legendary Hasaan. Oh yeah, hes also on that insane Jazz At Massey Hall album with Parker, Mingus, Dizzy and Bud Powell. A few years ago when I was in Toronto for a show, I did some radio interview and the promoter was taking me and Road Manager Mike back to the venue and we passed the Massey Hall. I had the guy stop so I could check the place out. The door was open and I walked in. There was a man in the lobby and I asked him if I could look at the stage and explained about the album and how I always wanted to see the place. The guy said it was ok so I walked down to the stage and checked it out. The show happened about 50 years before so I dont know what changes had been made to the place but it was cool to be in there for a few minutes. Back to Max Roach, if you made a list of all the people hes played with, its incredible. He could have stopped just with the Massey Hall show. Hes played with Sonny Rollins, Monk, Miles, Clifford Brown, Hank Mobley, Dexter Gordon, etc. I dont have anywhere near all of Roachs output but I love what I have so far. The line-up on the track we heard tonight: Max Roach  drums, Ray Draper  tuba, Booker Little  trumpet, George Coleman  tenor sax and Art Davis  bass.


The Swans  Why Hide: Some of the most mind splitting, ear shattering experiences I have had in my short life have been Swans live shows. I saw them in 1986 and 1987 and they were brutal and transcendent. I have almost all their records and my favorites are the LP and EP duo of Cop and Raping A Slave. This would be the band around 1984. What came after, the Greed and Holy Money releases were great as well but no one, not even the Swans, were able to rise to this level of sullen malevolence again. That being said, I dont think that was the plan. I think Michael Gira and his Swans were not about repeating what they had done before. I think he works in phases or works through ideas and this stage of his work captivates me the most. Michael is a prolific as he is unique and talented. You can check out all the things hes doing with his Young God label by going online.


The Blood Brothers  Devastator: From the Crimes album. Not their new album but a great one anyway. They just taped some songs for my show on IFC and they killed it! They played a song, I think its called Set Fire To The Face On Fire. Its on their new album Young Machetes, which well play something from soon. I am a new fan, which is lame as they have been around for awhile. I find out things later than everyone. Engineer X gave me this record a long time ago and I never thought of playing it until recently. After seeing them play like crazy motherfuckers on the set the other day, I became a fan on the spot. Also, the new album was produced by Guy Picciotto which gave us something to talk about. Looking forward to seeing them play a whole set.


The Ramones  Sheena Is A Punk Rocker (Live 11-14-77 Utica NY): From one of my many Ramones bootlegs. I think this is one of the greatest songs Ive ever heard. Its perfect in every way. 


Johnny Dollar  Action Packed: Another track off the very cool Rockin Bones box set on Rhino. I have this song on some other comp. CDs. From what Ive been able to find out about him online, he was quite the originator. I found a CD best of his stuff and am waiting on it. I will get back to you on how it sounds. Well have to at least check out his version of Rockin Bones, which it is said, was to be an influence on Ronnie Dawsons version.


King Tubby  Bag A Wire Dub: If you have checked out the thousands of Reggae singles in the world, you will often see that the A-side is the vocal version of the song and the b-side is an instrumental dub version of the song. Many times its the b-side that interests me. This track is taken from the very cool collection of King Tubby mixed tracks called Dub Like Dirt on the Blood And Fire label. The more I read about the early days of Dancehall, Dub and Reggae, the more interested I get. PA systems would compete for listeners by boasting the loudest set ups and newest tunes. This is where King Tubby started out with his Home Town Hi-Fi system. This is amazing to me. These days, DJs show up with their music or whatever but who shows up with their own sound system? Thats so cool. From what Ive read, Scientist, someone who weve listened to before on our show, was an engineer at Tubbys studio. On 02-06-89 King Tubby was shot and killed outside his home.


King Sunny Ade - Aiye  Le: When it comes to King Sunny Ade records, I am an easy touch. A good number of the CDs I have of the man are total bootlegs. Color xerox sleeves and crunchy vinyl source are good tip offs. I think the record I took tonights track from, Old School is one of those. Theres no way King Sunny is going to use that phrase for an album. No matter, I got it anyway. From the liner notes crookedly stapled into the booklet:
KSA is well known and recognized. He projects himself as a source of inspiration and pride to many people most especially, among the music enthusiasts.
Its always been an ecstasy when KSA entertains his teeming fans with rousing tunes from his guitar on his past works.
The amiable president of the United States of America, Bill Clinton testified to the melodiousness of KSAs music during his visit to Nigeria at the International Conference Centre, Abuja in a grandeur style of the new millennium, it was fantastic!
Yeah, its a bootleg. The return address is in Lagos. Its a cool record. I have never heard a King Sunny record I didnt like. If you find yourself liking this music, you might want to start with some easier to find legit releases like Return Of The Ju Ju King or Synchro System. Did you know that the great Robert Altman film OC And Stiggs is finally on DVD? Oh yes, it is. King Sunny and band make a cameo and do some of the soundtrack. Its one of my favorite films of all time. Theres a good little bio on this Nigerian guitar god here: http://africanmusic.org/artists/sunnyade.html


Charley Lincoln - Ugly Papa: Since when we listened to Barbeque Bob weeks ago we ended up talking more about his brother Charley than Bob. Now we hand it over to Charley. All the Charley Lincoln recordings I have been able to find are on a CD called Charley Lincoln & Willie Baker (1927  1930) on BST Records, which I think is a division of Document Records. 12 songs at all and its all good, as they say.


West African Rhythm Brothers - We Have It In Africa: Another track from the London Is The Place For Me series. This track is from Vol. 3 that further expands the scope of the series from Calypso music being performed in Britain to include African music that was performed by Africans who arrived in England in the fifties. This set chronicles the music of Ambrose Adekoya Campbell and his West African Rhythm Brothers band. Heres a nice write up on the album: http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=20603 