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Jah Wobble meets The Edge

Snake Charmer cover

A few days ago I was reading through Jah Wobble’s discography and noticed something I hadn’t spotted before, an EP with Holger Czukay and U2’s The Edge. This dates back to 1983, and I’m sort of surprised it didn’t get more exposure given U2’s popularity in the 80s.

On further inspection, it looks like one cut (“Hold on to Your Dreams,” track 2 on the EP) made it to Jah Wobble’s Redux: Anthology 1978-2015 but it’s otherwise slipped into obscurity.

Listening to the tracks I found on YouTube, it’s not bad but I’d never have spotted The Edge’s playing on this one. I guess you can sort of detect The Edge’s fingerprints on “Hold on to Your Dreams” late into the track, but it’s more like he’s trying to channel Nile Rogers. Or vice-versa. Vocals contributed by Marcella Allen, whom I’ve never heard of and Wikipedia and Google are of little help.

[youtube https://youtu.be/WF_SxvpS8-g]

Apparently somebody in the props department was a fan, or thought that this is what a teen would like, because a poster pops up in the background of Ferris Bueller’s bedroom.

Unless you’re really, really into Wobble, The Edge, or Czukay this isn’t really a must-have. It’s not bad, but I doubt it’s going to find its way into heavy rotation for me. But it’s worth a few spins, and might grow on you.

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Get your top 40 on…

Casey Kasem

If you’re of a certain age, you probably spent some time listening to American Top 40 with Casey Kasem. While I’m not a big top 40 person—probably more like obscure 40, much of the time—Kasem’s smooth delivery has a special place in my heart. And the top 40 from the 70s and 80s isn’t so bad in retrospect, when you’re not being blasted with it relentlessly.

A question on Ask Metafilter the other day mentioned that a bunch of the American Top 40 broadcasts are available on Archive.org. If you’d like to have a quick trip back in time, you can head over and search through the collection.

The site also has a number of show logs and some commercial clocks and promo scripts. I had a little fun reading a few to see if I can do the trademark Casey Kasem delivery. (Spoiler alert: no. He’s a master.)

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The Staves: Tired as Fuck (and a rant)

A few months ago, I stumbled on The Staves “Tired as Fuck,” and it’s been a go-to listen on YouTube, Spotify, etc. It’s got a great build – adding layers until it turns into a chorus of voices and blistering guitar and throbbing percussion.

Really, you should listen to it right now if you haven’t already.

And now, the rant… I really want to buy a copy of this, but it’s only available digitally. I can buy it via iTunes, or listen on Spotify and Apple Music. (Or YouTube.) Or I can buy it via Nonesuch as an MP3. (Presumably, I hope, at 320.) No CD, no vinyl, not even FLAC.

Maybe demand is no longer there, but I don’t want my only copy of music to be digital.

I recently went with a deal on Bandcamp to buy 200+ releases from Buckethead, and it was similar – no vinyl, no CD, just digital. At least in this case, Bandcamp offers FLAC so the music quality is as good as you get on CD, even if you don’t get the actual physical media. (And Bandcamp has a reasonably good archival experience, I can go back for my purchases anytime – at least as long as they remain in business. Which I hope is a long time.)

Similarly, one of my favorite scrappy Indie labels (Magnatune) stopped offering physical media a long time ago. They’re such an awesome outfit, I’m happy to subscribe and have access to their catalog, but… I’d really love to have physical copies of Ehren Starks’ catalog, and Ninety Pounds of Ugly‘s Richmond Motel Room 3. (Pity they’ve broken up.)

For folks who only want digital, that’s great – but I want a pristine, physical copy. Hell, I want something the artist or band can sign if I get the chance. Something that, assuming civilization survives, somebody might pick up in 100 years and listen to.

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Today’s album pick: Dynamics by Secret Drum Band

Secret Drum Band's Dynamics

This is another Bandcamp win, Secret Drum Band‘s Dynamics. Based in Portland, Oregon the band describes the album thusly: “Dynamics sees composers Lisa Schonberg, Allan Wilson, and Heather Treadway delving headway into creating living, breathing soundscapes, rich in rhythmic textures. Driven by five drummers, each song also employs an array of affected vocals, guitar, and synthesizers from noise musicians, often mimicking sounds found in nature.”

I’m on my third or fourth listen to the album, and I’m still finding new things to enjoy. If a hard, driving beat and textured sounds appeal to you, you really should give it a listen or two.

[bandcamp width=100% height=120 album=2378566956 size=large bgcol=ffffff linkcol=0687f5 tracklist=false artwork=small]

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“Skylarking” by XTC (No. 1)

"Skylarking" by XTC album cover

"Skylarking" by XTC album coverI’m not saying that Skylarking is the best album in the history of the universe, but I’m not not saying it either. Certainly it’s the finest album XTC have produced.

I know precisely when my love affair with XTC began, it was May 3rd, 1987 when MTV played the world premiere of “Dear God” on 120 Minutes. While not on the original pressings of Skylarking, Geffen slapped it on the US version and omitted “Mermaid Smiled” to make room.

Once I finally got my hands on a copy of the cassette, I played it as much as possible – it’s a miracle that the cassette lasted until I made the switch to CDs and was able to retire the poor thing.

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“Abbey Road” by The Beatles (No. 2)

"Abbey Road" album cover

"Abbey Road" album coverAbbey Road is more or less The Beatles‘ final album1, and it contains some of the group’s strongest work – especially George Harrison, who finally gets his day in the sun.

I’m not sure when I got my first copy of Abbey Road. Might have been high school, or it might have been the first release of The Beatles’ catalog on CD. This was back in the dark, pre-Internet, ages when knowing exactly what the “official” Beatles releases were was non-trivial.

The vast majority of Abbey Road was in heavy rotation on the local classic rock stations all through my formative years, of course, but it’s best appreciated in its entirety.

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“Help!” by The Beatles (No. 3)

"Help!" album cover (Parlophone version)

"Help!" album cover (Parlophone version)Here’s where it all began, my lifelong obsession with music. Technically, it was the movie Help! that helped turn me into a music junkie, but we’ll go with the album here.

Here’s how it all started. When I was seven, I came home from Sunday school (yes, really) and turned on the TV. There was usually a movie playing on the local non-network affliate channel around Noon on Sundays, and on one day I cranked the TV just in time to catch Help!.

If you’ve seen the movie, you know it starts with an attempted human sacrifice that fails because the victim isn’t wearing the sacrificial ring. Where’s the ring? Cut to a shot of Ringo Starr’s hand while he’s playing the drums as The Beatles play “Help!”

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“Disintegration” by The Cure (No. 4)

"Disintegration" album cover

"Disintegration" album coverDisintegration is the album that really sold me on The Cure. Yes, I know, I was a bit late to the party.

Some of the singles off Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me were too good to ignore, but I wasn’t a big fan of Robert Smith’s voice initially. And then Disintegration came out, with “Fascination Street” released as the first U.S. single. I was hooked, no two ways about it.

Where Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me was warm and open, Disintegration is the album that launched a thousand Shoegazer bands. “Plainsong” opens the album with a slow, majestic swell of synthesizers and drums. It’s almost funereal, but also entrancing. Two and half minutes into “Plainsong” pass before Smith’s vocals begin, and he’s talking softly and calmly.

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“A Night at the Opera” by Queen (No. 5)

"A Night at the Opera" album cover

"A Night at the Opera" album coverA Night at the Opera has some of Queen‘s best-known songs, including “Bohemian Rhapsody.” But what if I told you that “Bohemian Rhapsody” isn’t even the best song on A Night at the Opera, or at least not the most epic?

A Night at the Opera has Queen trying on a number of musical styles, sometimes several in the same song. The 1975 release has a proto-power ballad, ragtime, quasi-operatic epics, Dixieland, and (of course) straight-up rock ‘n roll.

It’s worth noting that everybody gets some time in the spotlight here, with songs by Freddie Mercury, Brian May, Roger Taylor, and John Deacon.

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