Category Archives: Personal History

Things about my past– stories, references, etc.

B-Sides in the Bins #9 – Cedar Rapids, IA & eBay 3/24/07

Posted on by
Reply

I really wasn’t expecting to do any shopping today. Due to my daughter’s car needing to be dropped off at Tires Plus for a strange banging noise and my wife wanting to do some clothes shopping at Lindale I found myself with some time so I hit CDWarehouse.

I walked in and immediately spotted the spine of the new Low CD Drums and Guns in a stack of used CD’s on the counter. While I hadn’t planned to pick this album up, I couldn’t pass on a new release! I verified that it was for sale and asked to have it put aside and started over to the $1 CD’s and made my way through the LP crates and then through the CD’s.

Before I checked out I spent some time talking to John Fisher who owns the store. A great guy to talk to and is pretty passionate about music and music retail. We talked a lot about sales on the Internet versus the brick-and-mortar retail. He is well aware of what his competition is. He is located next to a Best Buy and his prices will typically compete with Best Buy on new releases. He can also place special orders, which Best Buy has no interest in doing. His perspective on his very low vinyl prices is that he needs to compete with eBay on the “non-collector” vinyl. He is also competing with HalfPrice Books who gets their inventory fortified by their other locations. I have to say that I was surprised about the turnover he had in his vinyl so it will continue to be a stop for me. John is also brokering his inventory through Djangos Music which is pretty smart. He said that he has moved a lot of inventory that he wouldn’t normally move just due to the limited audience in Cedar Rapids for the more obscure items. Times are really tough for the independent music seller so it is good to see someone still willing to figure out how to stay viable! Stop by there if you get a chance.

Drums and Guns – Low (CD Sub Pop SPCD 736, 2007) ($7.99) This CD came out this Tuesday. Evidently the previous owner didn’t appreciate the new direction Low is taking on their eighth album and second for Sub Pop. Low has been around for quite a long time in Indie terms with their first release in 1994. Low is known for their slow tempo style sometimes called “Slowcore” and this album is continuing this style albeit with more distortion on the guitars and more sound effects. This album leaked on the Internet early in January and I had those mp3’s. At the time I thought that what was leaked must have been a demo due to the really strange mixing of the vocals mostly in the right channel but this CD has that, too. I need to spend more time with it, but I think it is a grower. I should get the rest of the Low catalog.

Rumours – Fleetwood Mac (2 CD Warner Bros, R2 73882, 2004) ($9.99) Another great find today! This one has been on my Amazon and lala.com want lists for a while. This is a BMG pressing of the CD, which I would normally pass over but it is in Mint condition. This is probably the sixth copy of Rumours I have owned on CD in my life. When I got my first CD player back in the late 80’s Rumours was one of the first CD’s I purchased. (other titles bought that first day were Brothers In Arms by Dire Straits, Hot Rocks 1964-1971 by The Rolling Stones, and Graceland by Paul Simon). I’ve lost three copies to other people– ex-girlfriends mostly. When I was around nine or ten I got a stereo from my parents with an 9-track and had a mix of Rumours and the self-titled prior release that Dad made for the car that I listened to constantly. Dad had an 8-track recorder and used to dub copies of the 8-tracks he bought. This album has been with me my whole life it seems and around for important events. When my wife and I got married in 2000 our invitations had lyrics from the beautiful Christine McVie-penned “Songbird” and Sherry and I had our first dance as a couple at our reception to it. This release has the appended “Silver Springs” that was originally the b-side to “Go Your Own Way.” The controversy surrounding this song has been documented in other places, but this song was another song about the breakup of Buckingham and Nicks. It was pulled from the Rumours tracklist because it was too long and the band preferred “I Don’t Want To Know.” This song resurfaced for the out-of-print The Chain boxset. If I remember right, Mick Fleetwood really pushed for this song to be included in the boxset at Stevie’s initial hesitance. The song was brought back as a single for the reunion album The Dance. The popularity of this song influenced its inclusion in the DVD-A release of Rumours in 2002, and then for this 2004 release. Sonically, I don’t think that this release is much of an improvement over the other pressings of this album on CD. The second disc of bonus tracks and demos serves mostly as an interesting view into the creation of this album and not really something you’d spend a lot of time listening to.

In The Sun – Archer Prewitt (CD Carrot Top SAKI 015, 1997) ($7.99) Another surprise find for me. I’ve had this one on my want list for a long time. This was the missing CD in my Prewitt collection. Archer Prewitt, for those of you who aren’t familiar is a core member of The Sea and Cake. Prewitt’s music is similar to The Sea and Cake, but differs from Sam Prekop’s solo works. Sam has a whispery vocal approach and tends towards a jazzy feel. Prewitt sounds like early breezy Seventies pop. I hadn’t heard any of the tracks off this album before today, but fits right in with his other albums. The Sea and Cake feels more like a Prekop vehicle and Prewitt takes a backseat in that band in my opinion, but he seems very comfortable in his role in the center stage on his own songs.

Afoot – Let’s Active (Vinyl EP I.R.S. SP70505, 1983) ($1.99) Let’s Active was the band fronted by 80’s college rock uber-producer Mitch Easter who I’ve mentioned on here before. According to Mitch, Afoot was an experiment of sorts. I.R.S. let Mitch record and release a record of his own after the success of the first two R.E.M. albums he produced with Don Dixon. This EP had a hit in “Every Word Means No” and even had a video on MTV. This will sit comfortably with my Game Theory vinyl. Mixed by Scott Litt who would later produce six of the best R.E.M. albums from Document through New Adventures in Hi-Fi.

90125 – Yes (LP ATCO 90125-1, 1983) ($1.99) It’s interesting to note that this album was released the same year as Afoot. They seem years apart. Sadly this album hasn’t aged as well as Afoot, however. All of those really nasty “orchestra hit” synthesizer patches and compressed and gated drums peg this album squarely as an early 80’s pop album. Still, this is one of my favorites. Probably the only album in history that is named after its catalog number. I had purchased this album on cassette in 1983 or 1984 largely due to the singles that this record spawned and the videos that were shown on USA’s “Night Flight” and WTBS’s “Night Tracks” shows (no MTV in Bellevue, IA back then!). This album follows the critically-panned Drama album that had the Buggles members Trevor Horn and Geoffrey Downes on vocals and keyboards. Drama was the only Yes album without the distinctive vocals of Anderson. Horn and Downes left after the Drama tour. Chris Squire and Alan white formed another band with guitarist Travor Rabin called Cinema which eventually Jon Anderson joined which allowed them to honestly call the band Yes. Most of the pop-geared single tracks were penned by Rabin and most of the vision of the record comes from him. Production was handled by Trevor Horn, who by this time had produced some significant albums on the ZTT label including Frankie Goes to Hollywood and The Art of Noise and lent a similar big sound to 90125.

Freedom – Neil Young (LP Reprise 25899-1, 1989) ($1.99) This LP has a cover that has a large patch where the printing has torn off, but the front looks good and the vinyl is good. Freedom marks the triumphant return-to-form for Neil on Reprise after his “lost” period on Geffen. Freedom started life as another album titled Times Square which was to be a louder album in a more Crazy Horse vein. Apparently the label didn’t hear a single so Neil went back to the drawing board and selected the best tracks from the Times Square sessions and added three new songs including the smash “Rockin’ In The Free World” in electric and acoustic versions the way Rust Never Sleeps had “Hey Hey, My My” and “My My, Hey Hey.” Many consider Freedom to be a complimentary release to Rust. A number of the tracks pulled from Times Square ended up on a Japanese/Australian EP called Eldorado. I got a copy of Eldorado from a Japanese student who brought one back with him after a break. I consider Freedom to be one of Neil’s finest moments on record.

Aerocalexico – Calexico (CD Our Soil Our Strength, 2001) ($9.99 + $2.50 Shipping) I got this as a Buy-It-Now this week. I’m very happy about this one as it is the last of the Calexico tour-only CD’s I needed. This one is probably one of the best of the series. I think it is great that Calexico pulls these collections together and makes them available to the fans. Some standout/notable tracks are “Pretty White Horses,” the Christmas track “Gift X-Change” and the instrumental track to “Humana” which was the “collaboration” with Goldfrapp on the “Human” remix from Felt Mountain Revamped album. This is still available from the Calexico site for $16

Things I didn’t buy: Franz Ferdinand’s debut CD in special packaging and included a bonus disc, Frankie Goes To Hollywood’s Welcome to the Pleasuredome on LP. They were playing a CD by Dressy Bessy that was pretty interesting– it was their 2002 release Sound Go Round. I’d heard mention of them but wasn’t familiar with them. Worth checking out I think. You can hear tracks at their Myspace page.

On R.E.M. in the Hall of Fame

Posted on by
1

R.E.M.
R.E.M. is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this week. In some respects this is the band that was once my favorite band sealing their fate as a classic rock band. Yesterday on the Onion A/V site Steve Hyden wrote an article about the “Incredible Shrinking Legacy” of R.E.M.— how over time R.E.M. became less of a band able to make music anyone cares about. If you have a couple of minutes you should read the article and the following comments from folks arguing like theologians over the Apocrypha.

As I look up at my framed handbill of the October 31, 1987 show from Palmer Auditorium in Davenport, I realize that Steve is saying something that I’ve slowly come to terms with over the years– that R.E.M. isn’t making music that interests me any longer, and apparently a lot of people feel the same way. Unlike Steve, I haven’t gone to the extreme of selling off my R.E.M. collection, nor have I completely dismissed their importance as a band that nearly single-handedly brought college rock to the colleges (debt to U2 here, too)– making the campuses safe for every band from Soul Asylum to Camper Van Beethoven and– (gads!) Hootie and the Blowfish and Counting Crows.

So, I think their induction marks a significant passing of the torch. As I listen to the music from bands that are the age that R.E.M. was at their peak (the peak defined by college rock historians as 1981-1995) the “alternative” landscape is much different and the influences that feed today’s music is different that it was then. R.E.M. came from Velvet Underground, Talking Heads, Television, Byrds, and Big Star. Today’s bands are influenced by R.E.M., U2, as well as other contemporaries. It’s the passing of the torch and, while it makes me sad that the music that defined my teens and early twenties is history at best– it is what needs to happen for music to move on. Should R.E.M. have quit after Bill Berry quit the band? I agree that the band hasn’t made records that so define an age as Reckoning and Fables have, they are still cranking out albums and seem to really be trying and following their particular creative paths. In the meantime, I’ll keep watching and listening to see if they do something groundbreaking again.

B-Sides in the Bins #8 – Cedar Rapids, IA 3/11/07

Posted on by
Reply

Happy Daylight Savings! Today I needed to get my oil changed which usually entails leaving my car at the oil change place and figuring out what to do for a couple of hours. I decided to go visit the used CD stores in the area. I ended up at Half Price Books and got some good deals. Really, Half Price Books has some of the best vinyl selection in Cedar Rapids. Ratz Records downtown has the most vinyl, but Half Price has the best quality selection in town.

Tusk – Fleetwood Mac (2 LP Warner Brothers 2HS 3350, 1979) ($5.98) Tusk in so many ways is one of my desert island discs. My dad bought this when it came out on cassette. Since this is a double album it came on what would be a 90-minute cassette. This ultimately means that the tape is thinner and more susceptible to failure. We bought two copies of this tape as we wore them out. The second copy wore out and I used a cassette repair kit from Radio Shack to fix it. Looking back I’m amazed that they had cassette repair kits! The plastic liner would wear out from the hubs so I cracked the tape open and moved the tape and spools over to a new case and liner. I bought this on CD when it came out and was punished with a shortened version. Back in the day they could only make 78 minute CD’s and so Warners made Tusk with an edit of “Sara” which is crazy since that was one of the singles. Or, maybe they got the edit from that… Brilliant record which was considered to be extravagant noodling from a band losing its direction or allowing Lindsey too much creative control. In hindsight, this is the White Album of my generation. According to the sleeve, this was $15.98 MSRP!! My copy is super clean. I need to get that remastered 2-disc version one of these days. I’m still looking for clean versions of the other Buckingham-era LP’s. My childhood pressed into shiny black plastic. I also own the Camper Van Beethoven “tribute” to Tusk which is recommended as well.

“Heaven or Las Vegas (edit)” b/w “Dials” and “Heaven Or Las Vegas (album version)” – Cocteau Twins (12″ Capitol/4AD SPRO-79427, 1990) ($1.98) This one was mistakenly stuck in the Rap section with all of the other lonely Rap white label promos. I really didn’t need this as I have the “Dials” track as a CD promo and as part of the extra disc in the maroon Cocteau Twins box set released by Capitol in the early 90’s. For $1.98 I couldn’t pass it up. Maybe this needs to be eBay fodder for someone who is a completist. The cover has major spine injury and someone wrote on it– this is a promo so some radio station had it in its library. The vinyl is very clean. The Heaven or Las Vegas album is pretty much the pinnacle of the Cocteau Twins catalog in my opinion. I saw them that tour in Chicago at the Metro with my friend Urban who turned me on to them that previous year. That album was one of my “makeout” favorites from that year.

Idle Moments – Grant Green (CD Blue Note 7243 4 99003 2 5, 1999) ($3.00) This one was in the “Clearance” section of the CD’s. Part of the “Rudy Van Gelder Edition” remasters of the formidable Blue Note back catalog. Originally released in 1963 as Blue Note BLP 4154. I have decided that I’m going to purchase whatever Blue Note CD’s I stumble across. Grant Green is an amazing jazz guitarist and probably considered the earliest of the groove jazz players. I first became aware of Grant Green due to his inclusion in the Blue Note Grooves compilation from the 90’s. Lots of Blue Note titles were pillaged for the Acid Jazz movement and Blue Note countered with releases of the more popular tracks. Blue Note also sponsored an Acid Jazz sampling effort in US3 which also used Grant Green’s “Sookie Sookie” in its first album. This is a nice, mellow album with two superb renditions of the Modern Jazz Quartet’s “Django.” This release includes two outtakes that are extended versions of “Jean De Fleur” and “Django.” Very cool find. One funny note about this release is that it still has the price sticker from the Record Collector who includes the date it was bought as used. Some time after 5/2004 it was sold for $12.00.

“The Stratocaster Chronicles – Celebrating 50 Years of the Fender Strat” – Tom Wheeler (book Hal Leonard Corporation ISBN 0-634-05678-6, 2004) ($19.98) The original MSRP on this one was $50. Hardcover coffeetable book on the history of the Fender Stratocaster with a forward by Eric Clapton. Includes a CD with samples of the Strat in action as well as interviews with Leo Fender and others. A Fender fan myself, I couldn’t pass up this title. Thank God for Half-Price Books. Nice pretty pictures of the guitar that changed the face of music.

Keller Williams – Dream (review)

Posted on by
2

Keller Williams - Dream (2007)

In 2000 I saw Phish play the Target Center in Minneapolis. I was relatively late to the game when it came to Phish and the Jam scene in general. I hung out with guys in high school and college who were Grateful Dead fans so I was pretty familiar with their music. I have cousins who spent time following the Dead while Jerry was alive as well. It wasn’t until Farmhouse that I paid attention to any of the jambands. I don’t even remember how I heard Farmhouse but I really liked it. I managed to get some complimentary tickets to the show through a vendor who had access to Box Seat tickets. Unfortunately, they couldn’t confirm that they had tickets until after they went on sale, so I had purchased a couple of tickets just in case.

When we arrived at the show my first goal was to sell the tickets I had purchased, so we walked across the street to the “lot scene.” After talking to a number of people with fingers in the air indicating the number of tickets they wanted I found that most people wanted “miracles” — and one person accused me of scalping because I wanted face value for the tickets without Ticketmaster and venue charges. Eventually I did find someone who wanted the tickets and were willing to pay for them. We saw the regular group of fans who follow the band selling their wares, cans of beer, “heady gooballs,” or veggie burritos. I saw a security guard at the venue pick up a bag of pot and chase down the unlucky soul to give it back to them along with the comment that he’d be upset if that had happened to him! Different rules were in force that night.

We watched from our perch above the audience eating typical catered faire of Swedish meatballs, fried chicken strips and BBQ sauce, nachos and any number of alcoholic beverages including Ameretto of which we drank a lot and dubbed “liquid candy.” In a dark box next to us was one lone kid watching the show but seeming to really enjoy himself. We felt bad for him and invited him to our box to share our food at the dismay of our host.

Our host spent part of the show telling our box crasher that he needed to get serious with his life and plan for the future. Clearly that wasn’t on the agenda for him that night. I thought it was a great show. We got to experience a “silent jam” in the middle of “Divided Sky” complete with a shower of glow sticks which was pretty impressive from our vantage point. The kid took me aside and with a hopeful look on his face asked me if I was a “kind brother.” At the time I didn’t know what he meant, but probably he was looking for recreational pharmaceuticals.

Keller Williams spent a number of years following the Dead on tour before he started his music career. Keller is best known for his live show where he employs digital sample loops of live instruments he plays. He stops at each instrument he wants, plays a segment, samples it and layers each additional instrument on. He is literally a one-man band. His acoustic guitar style is similar to Dave Matthews or Ani DiFranco with hammer-on percussive strumming. His albums up to this point have showcased his live style.

Keller’s new album is titled Dream as it was his “dream” album to make– working with a number of artists who have influenced him and supported him through his career. Jam scene veterans such as Bela Fleck and Victor Wooten from the Flecktones, Bob Weir from the Grateful Dead, John Scofield, Steve Kimock, and the String Cheese Incident whose label SCI Fidelity released this album. Also on the album are a couple of artists who very directly influence Keller like 8-string guitar virtuoso Charlie Hunter and Martin Sexton who has a penchant for imitating instruments as Keller does. Of course coordinating the efforts of all of these typically busy people took a lot of time which caused this album to take three years to make. The earliest recording for this record is the alternative rock parody “Play This” which kicks the album off and is the first “single” and is easily the catchiest song of the record. Even though the song was recorded back in 2004 it’s message “speed it up– put some fuzz on it” about the shallow style typical of today’s Top 40 is still pertinent today.

Overall Dream is light, positive and has the slight tongue-in-cheek attitude that I associate with jamband music today. Keller is an accomplished instrumentalist seeming able to play just about any instrument and demonstrates this on this album as well as his live shows. Reading the liner notes and listening to the podcast edition of his radio show special on this album it is clear that he is as much a fan as a member of the jamband community that includes the guests on this album. Maybe you could consider this a love note back to the fans and the artists that participate in the scene that made him the artist he is today. He seems happy to be doing what he is doing and it shows with this album at every layer.

Some standout tracks on Dream are the previously mentioned “Play This,” “Cadillac” the collaboration with Weir and its questionable religious position– Jesus, Buddah, Hare Krisha and Santa all riding around in a ’59 Caddy, “Cookies” is an amazing instrumental track titled after Keller’s nickname for his wife, “Rainy Day” is a fun jazzy track, and “Restraint” which is a current favorite of mine on the album. According to the liner notes “Restraint” wasn’t supposed to be on the album, but it is his wife’s favorite. The first time I heard it, I relistened to it four times. Something about the ringing riff and the simple idea of wanting love at an inconvenient time that many should be able to identify with.

Listening to Dream gave me an opportunity to look back at the Phish concert and the period of time that I spent back then observing the jamband scene. I don’t tend to follow a lot of these bands as I feel like an outsider to the culture and I haven’t been able to really separate the music from the scene. The fact that I watched the Phish show from box seats rather than down in the crowd illustrates that pretty well I guess. This album seems to celebrate this music and shows the virtuosity of these musicians as its own testiment and Keller is the “kind brother” bringing me back to take the second look.

Here is a link to a “Hoooka” at Indie911.com which is a Flash-based player that has the video for “Play This” as well as full tracks of the Dream album. Unfortunately (or not) WordPress doesn’t allow me to embed this player.

Keller Williams featuring Michael Franti - Dream Order Dream from iTunes and get a bonus track “Multisyllabic”

Mitch Easter Releases First New Album in 18 Years

Posted on by
Reply

This week marks the release of Dynamico, Mitch Easter’s first solo album and first album release since the last Let’s Active record on the now defunct I.R.S. Records in 1988. Well, unless you count the re-release of Cypress and Afoot as one CD in 1989. Mitch has been filling the last years doing the occasional tribute album and mostly producing and filling in guitar duties in his wife’s band Shalini.

This release is exciting to me as I’ve been a fan of Mitch’s work in Let’s Active as well as the albums he produced for R.E.M. and Game Theory with Don Dixon at the legendary Drive-In Studio which he owns. These bands mark the beginnings of my interest in “alternative” or college rock and pretty much shapes my aesthetic for rock music today.

Dynamico’s home is the up-and-coming 125 Records which is also the new home of other related releases by Scott Miller’s Loud Family, and Don Dixon. I’m happy to see that this little label is catering to this segment of pop. Mitch is kicking off a tour along with his wife’s band starting this month. Right now there are only a few dates. I hope these will fill in. In an interesting move, Mitch is taking requests for Let’s Active songs to be played at the show. So, the first half of the show will be from the Let’s Active catalog and the rest of the set will be from the new album.

The album is available exclusively from 125 Records until March when it will be available from finer retailers near you and regular online places.

Check out two tracks from Dynamico:

Sudden Crown Drop
Time Warping

Fender Baritone Jaguars and the Bass VI

Posted on by
5

In early December I picked up a new guitar from Bob’s Guitars in Cedar Falls. It is a Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom (025-9400-300). This is the second Fender Baritone I’ve owned. I traded a Jaguar Baritone Special HH (025-9300-306) that I also purchased from Bob’s in 2005 on it.

The current Fender Jaguar Baritone models are descendants of the legendary Bass VI that Fender manufactured from 1961-1975. A unique guitar, the Bass VI was inspired by the Danelectro 6-string bass introduced in 1956. Tuned E-e, the Bass VI bridged the gap between an electric bass and an electric guitar. The Bass VI was used notably by Robert Smith of the Cure and Jack Bruce of Cream. Since Cream was the prototype for a Power Trio, Bruce had to play the dual role of rhythm guitar and bass to Clapton’s lead guitar. I became interested in the Bass VI through some interviews I read with Doug McCombs from Tortoise where he talks about the Bass VI and how its distinctive tone impacts his playing. McComb’s side project Brokeback is influenced by and is a showcase of the Bass VI. A bass player myself, I was interested in an intstrument that would allow me to play six-string while taking advantage of my bass background. My bass style is influenced heavily by New Order’s Peter Hook who tended to use the upper registers of the bass for melody. I believe that Hook also played a Bass VI from time-to-time. So, I felt that a Bass VI-style guitar would be up my alley.

I started looking into getting a Bass VI last year, and was disappointed in how much it would cost to get an original vintage Bass VI. Most of them are going for upwards of $3000. In 1995 Fender introduced a 1962 Bass VI reissue. These reissues are going for as much as the originals on eBay. Due to the scarcity of these guitars– they never really took off originally, and I’m sure the 1995 reissues were also not very popular– some Bass VI fans got organized on the Internet and started a campaign to get Fender to bring the VI back.

The petition was successful. In 2004 and 2005 Fender introduced the two Jaguar Baritones currently in production– the Custom and the HH. Further, in 2006 they announced that a 1962 Bass VI reissue would be available from Custom Shop as a Limited Edition available only until 12/31.

In Spring of 2005 I started looking into the new Jaguar-based baritones. I did some calling around and it turned out that Bob’s in Cedar Falls was one of the few stores in the area carrying one. West Music in Cedar Rapids said that they didn’t carry one because they were “speculative” guitars– which I assumed to mean that Fender wasn’t sure if they were going to continue production of these. The model that Bob’s had was the black and chrome HH edition– “HH” means dual humbucking pickups. I visited the store and tried it out with a friend and bought it. I really liked the way it looked and played and it matched my black and white American Precision Bass. The Baritone Custom came in a more traditional sunburst color scheme with a tortoise pickguard.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough information available about the Jaguar Baritones when I bought the HH. I had assumed incorrectly that the two Baritones were different only in pickup configuration and color. The Baritone Special HH has a 27″ scale versus the Baritone Custom’s 28.5″ scale. The Special HH tunes to B-B (B, E, A, D, F#, B) whereas the Baritone Custom can be tuned in standard E-E (E, A, D, G, B, E)– just like the Bass VI. The Bass VI has a 30″ scale which allows it to be tuned an octave below a standard guitar. The Baritone Custom uses the same gauge strings as the Bass VI as well. Compare this to a standard Jaguar’s scale of 24″.

My remedial 6-string skills don’t include being able to transpose chords to accomodate the B-B tuning– although all of the chords I know “work.” I could have capoed the guitar for E, too. It wasn’t until this year when I was looking through the Fender catalog that I noticed that Fender had re-named the Baritone Custom as a “Bass VI Custom” and moved the guitar to the bass section. The Bass VI Custom has the same model number as the Baritone Custom did (025-9400-300). This was a smart move on Fender’s part as it drives the point home about the Custom’s Bass VI heritage as well as clear up any confusion about the product. The guitar was debatably incorrectly called a Baritone anyway as it wasn’t tuned to B-B.

When I went to Bob’s in December, they had the Custom with the original “Baritone Custom” labeling instead of the new “Bass VI Custom” labeling. This was only a minor disappointment, really, as the guitar is identical in every other respect. One of the complaints about the original Bass VI was that the tremelo made the guitar knock out of tune easily, so Fender addressed that in this guitar with a fixed bridge. The Baritone HH also has a fixed bridge. I was surprised how much difference the inch and a half makes in playability and tone between the HH and the Custom! While the HH was definately has a low-end growl to it– which is helped a lot with the humbucker pickups– the Custom sounds more like a bass. The string gauge contributes to that as well. The longer neck is a bit disorienting if you are expecting a regular guitar. One of the guys from Bob’s commented on that right away when he was tuning the guitar up for me.

Overall, I’m very pleased with this guitar. It is a bit like braving new territory for me as a guitarist. I’m spending a lot of time figuring out what sounds the best. Like a bass, the Custom sounds best single note playing like surf or western sounding. A lot of barre or power chords sound good in the upper registers of the guitar. I need to figure out what I’m going to do amp-wise. I can tell right now that reverb is a necessity.

Continue reading →

B-Sides in the Bins – #2 – Iowa City 11/10/06

Posted on by
Reply

Hello, and welcome to another episode of B-Sides in the Bins where the author deals with the eternal battle of collecting records versus managing a personal budget.

My wife had a doctor’s appointment in Iowa City that Friday, so I took the opportunity to make a run to the Record Collector. It was pouring down rain so that was kind of a bummer, but I set out to make the best of it. I had an hour’s worth of change for the parking meter.

The Record Collector has a prominent used CD table in the middle of the store, so that is usually where I start, and then move to the racks around the sides where the new CD’s and vinyl are. A small haul this time, but some gems, I think.

Aphrodisiac – Andre Williams with The Diplomats of Solid Sound (CD Pravda PR 6383, 2006) ($7.00) This was in the “Recent” section of the used bin. I hadn’t had a chance to hear this record, yet. I know that the guys in the Diplomats have been playing shows with Andre recently. A pretty fun CD, really. Reminds me a lot of RL Burnside. Andre evidently has the distinction of being the earliest recorded rapper with his hit single “Bacon Fat.” He’s had a career that spans 50 years in recording, writing and producing. It’s great that he’s still recording at 70.

“Do You Remember?” b/w “Prove It To Me” – Andre Williams and the Diplomats of Solid Sound ( 7″ VampiSoul 45032, 2006) ($4.00) I had actually not noticed the Andre Williams CD in the bins until I found this 7″ in the singles section of the store. I really like this VampiSoul collection. The Diplomats released a single last year on that label. The label calls it their “jukebox series” so I guess that means they don’t need to have cool sleeve art. No matter it is still cool to get these singles. These two tracks are on the Aphrodisiac CD, no rare b-side, here– too bad. It might have been cool to even get a 2006 version of Andre’s “Bacon Fat” with the Diplomats backing him.

“Hayloft Stomp” b/w “Can Your Frug Do The Boogaloo” – The Monroes split single with The Diplomats of Solid Sound (7″ Speed! Nebraska Records, Speed A-300, 2006) ($4.00) The boys in the Diplomats had been busy in 2006! More 7″ fun. I haven’t had a chance to throw this one on the turntable, yet. Nifty classic purple-on-silver screening on the label. The A side says “Punk!” and the B side says “Funk!”

Manna – Bread (LP Elektra EKS-74086, 1971) ($1.00) While the guys in Bread made their big hits with soft-rock songs like Manna’s “If”, and “Guitar Man, “Make It With You” and “Baby I’m-A Want You” they actually fancied themselves a more edgy rock band than AM Radio would ever have given them credit for. You can tell that the band has a rift in it as the big singles are the ballads penned by vocalist David Gates, and the more uptempo rock songs are written by the partnership of James Griffen and Robb Royer.

This was an album that got a lot of play at the Roeder house in 1972. We had just moved back to my mom and dad’s hometown and into a new house. Both sets of my grandparents lived there and I had a lot of aunts and uncles and cousins there. After a big gap in my dad’s record collection starting around when he was in college in the mid-60’s, he started buying records again and this was one of the first ones he got. This record reminds me of those times and in retrospect it was a new life for our family and a more optimistic time. The track “If” really is still as schmaltzy as it has been– but the great tunes on this record are the uptempo tracks “Let Your Love Go,” “Take Comfort,” and “Truckin’ (not the Grateful Dead song).” Beautiful harmonies layer through the soaring “Too Much Love.” This album was out of print for a long time. In the early 90’s there was a Japanese release on CD. I bought a copy for myself and one for my dad as a gift– complete with OBI strip. In 1995 Elektra released the entire Bread catalog including Manna and it has since fallen back out of print in the US. Apparently a new pressing of Manna occurred in the UK in August.

Download “Let Your Love Go” from Manna

Days to Come – Bonobo (2 CD Ninja Tune ZENCD119, 2006) ($15.00) This was playing in the store and I really liked it. I paid full price for it! I’d heard of Bonobo, but really hadn’t heard anything from him. I would categorize this album as Drum and Bass or maybe Trip Hop. Not to sound all-1997 or anything. The album reminds me of Roni Size and Reprazent’s landmark Newforms album or Morcheeba. The vocals of Bajka have have that lazy, lispy quality that Bahamadia brought to Newforms and a little like Skye the original singer for Morcheeba. I knew that my wife would really like this one, so I picked it up. One of the reviewers on Amazon says that this release– while great– will fall through the cracks of the releases of 2006. I certainly hadn’t heard much about it.

Download Nightlite (featuring Bajka) from Days To Come

What I put back : Pyramids by Pit Er Pat– brand new release, I hadn’t had a chance to hear anything from this, so I held off. In retrospect, I should have grabbed this one. Sherry and I saw Pit Er Pat open for Tortoise on their Minneapolis stop in 2004. Sherry thought the lead singer sounded like Bjork. The couple of tracks I sampled on the Thrill Jockey site sounded like they have matured. Songs and Other Things from Tom Verlaine– another relatively new release on Thrill Jockey. He released two new albums this year– one with vocals and one without. This one is the vocal release.

B-Sides in the Bins – #1 – Minneapolis 11/3/06

Posted on by
Reply

I thought it would be a good idea to keep track of my music purchases, and where I found them as a kind of diary. A friend of mine from the early days of endtroducing.com and The InFlux Mailing list John Book used to post to his website his record purchases from thrift stores and garage sales around the Greater Pasco, WA area. John’s deep and extensive knowledge of music always made for an interesting read. It is from this that I take my inspiration for these articles. I would like to have guest contributors to this section of my site, and have been talking to a couple of people who might be interested.

As you may have read below, my wife and I were in Minneapolis for the Lyrics Born/Cut Chemist show around 11/2. The next morning after the show, Sherry seemed to have come down with the flu and we ended up cancelling our plans with her sister and aunt. We hung out in the very small hotel room at the Millennium for most of the day. Sherry told me I didn’t need to stick around with her and suggested that I should go out for a while. So, I decided that I’d visit the Cheapos in Uptown. I’d been there for a couple of minutes a while back, but ran out of time before I could really dig. My favorite Cheapo’s location is usually the one on Snelling in St. Paul. That one works for us because there is a Whole Foods in that area as well, so we can do something for Sherry, too. She likes to go to the Electric Fetus more than Cheapo’s because they have other things besides records.

This Cheapo’s is set up pretty similarly to the other locations in the Twin Cities. It has an Applause in the basement, which is all vinyl. I didn’t have time this trip to go down there, but I will plan to go next time. My favorite thing about Cheapos is the way they arrange the last week’s worth of Used CD’s by the day of the week that they arrived. I always start there before looking into their other bins that have new and used mingled together by genre and artist. This was a good run for me as I picked up some new stuff that I’d been meaning to get.

Songbird – Willie Nelson ($9.99): Wow! This one was released on that Tuesday! (10/31). This is Willie’s new album produced and performed by Ryan Adams with his band the Cardinals with which he recorded his trilogy of albums last year. Pitchfork didn’t know what to do with this one. I believe that the review called Adams’ production “gloppy.” But, they gave it a 7.4. I think it is well-known that Pitchfork doesn’t like Ryan Adams so probably Willie was penalized a bit due to association. The album is a good listen all the way though. This album is the best that I’ve heard Willie’s voice sound in a long time. I like the choice of the Christine McVie song from Rumours “Songbird,” and I like Gram Parson’s “$1000 Wedding” as well. I question– as the reviewer from Pitchfork does– whether the world needed another cover of “Hallelujah” but it is done with care. “Amazing Grace” is a good wrap-up choice, too.

The Outsider – DJ Shadow ($9.99): Another relatively new release. I’m finally deciding to buy this one to give it a fair shake. I will probably post a review much later. If you’ve been following my blog for long, you are probably aware of my past with DJ Shadow and might be surprised I hadn’t purchased this one, yet. Frankly, I missed the $9.99 sale at Best Buy when it was released and what I’d heard of the album at that point I wasn’t sure I liked. BTW: There were no less than three copies of this CD in pristine condition in the bins this week. If you haven’t purchased this yet, take a look for it used if you are interested.

The Audience Is Listening – Cut Chemist ($8.99) : Another one I missed for $9.99 at Best Buy when it was released. This copy is a stamped promo. A very good effort. It amazes me that Mr. Macfadden waited this long for his first solo record. He has been a mainstay in the Bay Area HipHop scene and has participated in some very notable collaborations over the years: “The Number Song Remix,” Brainfreeze, Product Placement, his own “Lesson 4,” Ozomatli’s first album, Jurassic 5. My favorite tracks are “The Garden,” “What’s the Altitude,” and “The Audience Is Listening Theme Song.” The first two have been singles, and the last one is the new iPod commercial with the guy “painting” with the light of an iPod. A fun album that demonstrates the production and turntable skills of Cut Chemist and doesn’t take itself very seriously. That last part might be the advice I’d give DJ Shadow. Sometimes records need to be fun to listen to.

4th Dimensional Rocketships Going Up – The Gift of Gab ($8.99) : This is one that I’d wanted to pick up for a while. I wasn’t sure what I’d think of The Gift of Gab without Chief Xcel on production, but this album is great! Vitamin D and Jake One take turns producing tracks for Gab, and turn out a fantastic record. I really like what the Quannum “old school” is turning out these days. As they approach their Forties, they seem to be improving. While The Gift of Gab isn’t braving new ground on thie record, his familiar flow and rhyme work on this record.

I hadn’t planned on buying so much HipHop on this trip– or so much Quannum-related for that matter, but I was pretty happy for the haul. At one point in the browsing, I had so much stuff in my hands that I needed to go grab a shopping basket because my back was getting sore! I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money– I gave myself a budget not to exceed $50.

What I put back The Red House Painters 2 CD Retrospective, and Mark Kozelek’s tribute to AC/DC What’s Next To The Moon, The Gorillaz Demon Days (for some reason I haven’t bought this yet– there were many copies of this one), Gnarls Barkley’s St. Elsewhere (I’m waiting on the expanded edition of this one), Lucinda Williams’ Car Wheels (waiting on buying the Deluxe Edition), General Public’s All The Rage, mint copies of the reissues of AC/DC’s For Those About To Rock and Back In Black.

Title I would have bought if I didn’t already own it: Tortoise Standards

New titles to become bin fodder include the new one from Courtney Love (many copies!), DJ Shadow’s The Outsider, anything Coldplay (I still haven’t picked up X&Y, but I could have had many copies of that), Tom Petty’s Highway Companion (there must have been five mint copies of this one), either album from Jet sadly. Scissor Sisters. Phish is hitting the used bins. I saw lots of titles that you wouldn’t have seen three or four years ago during the peak of their popularity.

Stay tuned for another action-packed episode of B-Sides In The Bins!

Lyrics Born and Cut Chemist Live in Minneapolis 11/2/06

Posted on by
2

Lyrics Born Flyer Sherry and I took off work on Thursday so we could hit the road and make it to Minneapolis with enough time to get ready for the Lyrics Born and Cut Chemist concert at the recently reopened club now known as Foundation. The club had been recently renovated as The Level, and prior to that it had been closed after many years known as The Rogue. Sherry used to frequent the club during The Rogue days, so she was pretty interested to see how they changed it.

The information I had about the show said “10PM” which I interpreted to mean the time the show started as opposed to what time the doors were to open. Sherry wisely suggested that we take a cab from the Millennium where we were staying. We saw Lyrics Born and Joyo walking out of the hotel as we were checking in. They said that they sleep on the bus and were using a room for the day– which I didn’t know one could do! We got to the club around 9PM and were informed that the doors were at 10PM. It was cold that night so we didn’t want to stick around outside the club. We walked over to the nearby Lodge Bar for $2 draws and well drinks and kill time.

We came back over at 10:45 and hung out outside waiting for the doors. Sherry talked to the guys watching the door about the renovation. When the door opened, they let us in first– ahead of the line that had formed after we arrived. We walked around the place looking for a good place to perch for the show. Sherry said that one of the big changes was taking down a bunch of red velvet drapery that covered the walls. They also raised the dance floor. We think the place looks good.

After checking most of the vantage points in the place, we picked a really good spot next to the sound board overlooking the dance floor. I went to the bar to set up bottle service on some wine. I picked a 2003 Louis M. Martin Sonoma County Cabernet.

Jim the Soundman

The first act up was Edan and Dagha. I hadn’t heard Edan before. I did some looking on the Internet and found his website. Some reviewers said that he was psychedelic hip-hop, which might be how I would describe Beck most of the time. His gear was set up on the floor in front of the DJ booth. One notable thing about Edan is he is both MC and DJ which is pretty impressive. Like the reviews I had been reading state, he is heavily influenced by old school Hip Hop. They had a small but interested crowd around them. Very interesting and ragged show. He pulled out an acoustic guitar a couple of times and had a kazoo at one point.

Egan and Dagha

Towards the middle of his set, he played some obscure stringed version of “Strawberry Fields Forever” and they handed out white daisys, which we saw people carrying around most of the night. Sherry and I agreed that they were pretty entertaining. I’m going to check out some of his music later.

My plan was to take pictures at the show without using a flash– which could have been accomplished if there would have been more stage lighting. The pictures I have for Edan and Cut Chemist’s sets are not very good as a result. During Lyrics Born’s set I started using a flash. Those pictures turned out better, but are over exposed in my opinion.

Cut Chemist took the stage next after Edan carted his gear away. Cut Chemist’s set was set to some improvisational video editing done by “Tom” on an Apple Powerbook. Cut Chemist and Tom performed in the middle of two big video screens. There was no stage lighting during this. I think this was a pretty cool effect. I think it was DJ Shadow that said on many occasions that having people watch him perform instead of dancing always bothered him. The set was a continuous mix of songs off of The Audience Is Listening like “What’s the Altitude” and “The Garden” and the new iPod commercial song “The Audience Is Listening Theme.” Other tracks mixed in included “The Number Song” remix he did for DJ Shadow. During this song, Edan came out and rapped which was pretty cool.

At the end of the set, Cut grabbed a DV Cam and during the thank yous and crediting the people who helped he filmed himself and the audience– getting the names of the places that some people were from. He also thanked Vitamin D, who spent the set sitting next to us as he was working on sound. I hadn’t heard of him before. Sherry asked him why he called himself “Vitamin D” and he replied that it was because sunshine has Vitamin D. Vitamin D did quite a bit of the production on The Gift of Gab’s solo album 4th Dimension Rocketships Going Up. After the segments were taped, Cut Chemist came back out on stage and started doing a turntable/video set scratching the video captures he just took over what seemed to be the beat to “Chemical Calisthenics.” That is the first time I’d seen anything like that, and the crowd really responded to it! I’d like to get a boot from one of these shows.

It was during Cut Chemist’s set that a guy came up and asked me if I was taking pictures as a hobby or if I was professional. I explained that I was shooting for my blogsite. He said that his name was Rob and that he was the promoter for this show and that this show was a kind of homecoming for him. He said that earlier in the week he was concerned about a low turnout, but that the show ended up turning out well. He asked me for a business card, and I ended up making one with a Sharpie on the back of another card for a barber shop that I found. Later in the night, Jim the house sound guy told us that he thought it was cool that Rob let us stay in the V.I.P. area! We were hanging out all night in the V.I.P. area and didn’t even know it! Rob, if you read this– thanks!

Next up was Lyrics Born and Band. I was really happy to see that he was continuing with the live band on this tour. The band had the always-amazing Joyo Velarde on vocal duties, B’Nai Rebelfront on guitars, and Darius Minaee– who were all on the new Overnite Encore album released on Tuesday of that week. The band also included Uriah Duffy on bass and Kat Ounao on keyboards.

Lyrics Born

During the first part of LB’s set, I walked around the very crowded floor to try to get some shots. There really wasn’t a stage to speak of, just a rope cordoning off where the band was. As a result all of my pictures are at crowd level. For that reason, Foundation isn’t a great club to see a band in. I’d suggest that they get a stage that they can install and remove as needed.

The Crowd Reacts

The Lyrics Born live set pretty much echoed the Overnite Encore album in song choices and down to the false start intro to “Callin’ Out”, but the fact that they had been performing these songs so long really gave the songs some polish. He also introduced some new songs– two from Overnite and a new song called “Differences” that might be on his next album which was a testimony about the differences between the ladies and the guys with some of the standard observations about women taking too long to get ready. The song works really well as it is kind of a “June and Johnny” duet and has a great piano break. I can’t wait for the new album to come out.

Joyo Bringing the Soul

I brought Sherry down to the floor so that she could get closer to the stage. At first she seemed skeptical but had a good time. We only had a couple of people between us and the stage. LB and Joyo work really well together and the live band really adds to the energy of the show. LB delivered his standard message of love and peace that I don’t think can be delivered enough these days. The whole crowd was moving and dancing. One comment my wife made earlier in the night was that she didn’t feel that enough people were “shaking it.” I have to agree with her. The Cut Chemist should have been a floor filler– with dancers, anyway. And LB really brought the funk.

Uriah Duffy brings the funk

For the encore, LB and band did “Hello” and Cut Chemist joined on turntables for a rousing end to the night. After the show we stood in line at the merchandise counter so I could get a couple of CDs and Sherry got a really good picture taken with him. We wished that Joyo would have been out at the counter, too. I picked up a copy of Overnite Encore and Season Two of The Lyrics Born Variety Show, that you can only get on tour at this time.

Cut Chemist on the 1 and 2

Sherry and LB

We had a great time that night and will certainly be out to see LB on tour for his new album next year.

Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live!
Download “Lady Don’t Tek No” (mp3)
from “Overnite Encore: Lyrics Born Live!”
by Lyrics Born
Quannum Projects

Bo Ramsey and Stranger Blues Live in Dubuque 10/14/06

Posted on by
1

“I can’t believe that you came all this way to hang out here and hear the band play– you’re likeable.”
“Likeable” by Bo Ramsey

I managed to see one of the rare shows Bo Ramsey performed to promote his new album Stranger Blues. The last night of the mini-tour was in Dubuque, IA which is where my brother and sister-in-law live, so I called them up. Back in the late Eighties and early Nineties we used to go see Bo pretty much wherever he was playing, so it would be like old times. The venue was an art space/gallery that opened in the Warehouse district of Dubuque called “Voices Warehouse Gallery” which is in the Wilmac Warehouse, which will eventually have office space and condos.

Joining Bo on this run was a group assembled appropriately under the name “Stranger Blues.” This group represents two generations of Iowa-bred musicians. On drums was longtime sidemen Steve Hayes and on bass was Rico Cicalo both of whom worked on Stranger Blues. On B3 was Nate “Count” Basinger from the Iowa City R&B band The Diplomats of Solid Sound. Joining Bo on stage as rhythm guitarist was Bo’s son Benson Ramsey who is in the Minneapolis band The Pines.

The Voices Warehouse has only been open since September and it’s already had a couple of notable shows: the Bo Ramsey show and Andrew Bird played there the previous weekend. It’s a big open space with paintings and photos on the walls split up by artist and some sculptures on the floor. There’s a stage on one wall with old-time movie theater seats apparently bolted to the floor in rows as well as randomly spaced groupings of chairs and sofas. There is a bar of sorts off to one side made of polished limestone that was manned by members of the Dubuque Rotary who were serving three kinds of Menage a Trois wine and import beers like Corona, Heineken, and Amstel Light. Sadly the Rotarians forgot to get limes for the Corona and had to run out and get some. My brother called a friend of his who was joining us there and asked him to stop to get limes on the way there. When he showed up, the table we were standing at got pretty popular!

Running sound that night was Dubuque mainstay George Rondinelli. George has been running a music store in Dubuque for a very long time. George rents out sound equipment, but also shows up to run sound in a pinch. I bought my first bass amplifier from George, and spent lots of time in his store back in high school and college. George has the reputation of being of the genuine “good guys” when it comes to the music scene in Eastern Iowa. On more than one occasion, George lent out gear for acts that played the area and some piece of gear blew up. He managed to have the room sound great– which is quite a feat considering the building is a warehouse. I didn’t even need to put my earplugs in.
Bo Ramsey and Benson Ramsey Live in Dubuque 10/14/2006
Bo played two sets and an encore. Most of the music as you might expect was from Stranger Blues. I had heard reports from friends who attended the Waterloo and Iowa City shows that the first set was mostly drawn from the new album and a lot of it was, but pretty early in the first set he played “In The Weeds” and “Sidetrack Lounge” from 1997’s In The Weeds. Unfortunately, I was having too good of a time to keep notes on the sets, so I’m going to have to rely on foggy memory. I really think I prefer seeing Bo in a bar setting. Due to the size of the place, you had people sitting in the theater chairs and people stacked over by the bar. The bar folks were not really paying attention, and the people sitting seemed to be having a good time, however I remember the packed shows at the Silver Dollar in Dubuque and the Corner Tap in Cascade and Bo had the whole place rocking. My sister-in-law got her wish when Bo played “Get Away”– she sang along with the words. It was pretty clear that Bo and his band had their chops worked out. All of the years of touring Bo did with Steve and Rico helped propel this band to a well-oiled machine, too. Towards the end of the first set a collection of brave dancers formed at the right of the stage. The first set seemed to end too soon. Bo announced they’d take a short break.

I spent a good part of the break and part of the second set hanging out Jim Viner from the Diplomats who was along apparently to help Nate carry his B3 Organ. Jim’s a pretty cool guy. He filled me in on what was coming up for his band. They are going to play a number of regional dates and then are going to head to Italy for some shows.

I brought a copy of the CD I made of the Pines radio show from KUNI’s Live From Studio One in February with me. I was supposed to send a copy to David Huckfelt a while ago, so I decided to bring it. I ran into Benson at the bar in line and introduced myself and handed him the CD. We talked for a bit. I asked him about the solo record that he was working on. He said that the solo record project is parked for now and they are working on a new Pines record that will be released on Red House Records! Red House is the folkie label out of Minneapolis that Greg Brown has been on for years. That’s pretty good news! So, we’ll need to keep an eye on that. I also took the opportunity to mention that it’s really great that Bo is playing solo again and that it would be great if there would be more shows. Benson said that Bo is considering it.

The second set was, in my opinion, a more energetic set than the first. The “dance floor” to the right of the stage filled up and people started dancing in front of the stage as well! We were treated to more nuggets in the second set including “Rockinitis” from the Sliders album of the same name– which excited quite a few “Boficianados.” I don’t even remember the last time I heard that song live. He also did “Long Long Time” with its classic opening line, “A bug-covered windshield and a three-day beard/runnin’ down the road away from somethin’ I feared.” It was at this point when I joined in the dancing. I read in an interview online that Bo was wondering whether after all this time as a sideman that he’d be able to do some of the older songs. From my perspective he was playing as well if not better than any other time I’d seen him. Did I want him to play longer? Yes. The show was over after 11PM, which I feel was a bit early. But considering that this is the first time he’s played his songs in a while, I suppose that was as many songs as they could get rehearsed. It still was a great show, and I’m looking foward to any future shows he may do.

Bo is back on the road in support of Greg Brown. Of note is the fact that these upcoming shows are listed on boramsey.com as “Opening For and Appearing With,” so it looks like this run which starts 10/19 in Eugene, Oregon and continuing through a two night stop in Denver on 12/15 and 12/16. Based on previous shows I’ve seen with Pieta and Greg, it will likely be just Bo and Greg, so I’d say it will be Bo solo, which would be interesting. I’m hoping for some bootlegs to show up.