Greetings Teeny-Boppers, Bobby-Soxers, Super fans and Funkateers! It appears to be that time of year when I exhibit my personal obsessions and prove that, yes, I probably do have too much time on my hands. Nevertheless, it all seems to be working out in your favor…Please feel free to peruse my version of what went down musically in 2004, and discuss and argue amongst yourselves as you see fit.
Who loves ya, Babies? Apparently I do! See you all at a show some time…
David “Bindi Boy” Immerglück
And now,
Immy’s Annual Year-End Roundup (Deluxe Edition)
Top 10 Albums 2004
30 years after the fact, these 2 egghead futurists reunite to create another ambient masterpiece in a single afternoon, seemingly out of thin air! The searching ache and subtle menace of Fripp’s treated guitar combines perfectly with the otherworldly soothe of Eno’s abstract backdrops to realize the rarest of items: a “chill out” record with DEPTH! I’m a sucker for this shit…
At first I wrote this guy off as “karaoke Tyrannosaurus Rex”(please see “Fave Reissues”below), but fairly quickly I fell under his mysterious spell. Masterfully sounding both childlike and worldly at the same time, Barnhart trades in a darkly erotic, mostly unadorned folk music of the dangerously psychedelic order. He’s quite the guitar picker, and his obviously Bolan-influenced vocal quaver is certain to sizzle a few brain cells, not to mention the utterly insane lyrics. You’ll reek of patchouli oil and hydroponic raw meat after listening to this guy, but ‘tis a small price to pay for two entire CDs recorded during the same 10 day span, with nary a stinker to be found on either! A remarkable accomplishment.
It Came From Ohio! My new favorite band comes up aces with yet another testosterone fueled slab of medium fi blues rock gronk, somehow making the industrial wasteland of Akron seem sexy!?! I hear they absolutely slaughter live…can’t wait!
Yep, I’m a card-carrying member of the cult. I’m always interested in whatever this band of Scottish lunatics is up to, and they certainly didn’t disappoint in 2004! What the hell are they anyway? A modern hippie drug collective? Computer nerds with too much time on their hands? Sunshine Pop hypnotists? Video game action figures? Idiot savant trip-hop garage rockers? All of the above, and I’m quite sure so much more! This might be their best effort since being immortalized in the film “High Fidelity”, and repeated listenings bear many a reward.
No one sings harmonies like these guys! One acoustic guitar and two sets of vocal chords genetically melded in uni-thought, what more does anyone need these days? Not much, if it happens to be these two whimsical minstrel wonders trading their unusually beautiful songs with each other like some kind of impossible dreamland hootenanny. The S.F. Bay Area’s finest, without a doubt.
Britain’s answer to Eminem successfully beats the dreaded curse of the “2nd Album fall off’, and hits hard with a winner! Following his killer debut ”Original Pirate Material” from a couple of years back, now our lyric spitting, pint swilling geezer anti-hero falls hard in love but blows it even harder, invoking violent confrontation and serious self examination along the way. This irreverent concept album reads like a cinema-veritÈ BBC loser soap opera, but ya just can’t help loving the guy, and the sparse awkward music is extraordinary.
True blue country aficionados seem to be suffering vague irritation at the current mass of green gilled indie-rockers suddenly deciding Ms. Lynn to be mega cool just cuz a White Stripe sez so, but the fact remains: Great songs, great singer, great players, great unobtrusive production – what’s not to love? Jack White appears to be able to do no wrong at the moment…
This DJ compilation of super rare psyche-soul-rock 45s from the early 70s should probably be in the “Reissue” category below, but the Cherrystones collections are always so original and strangely of the “now” that I think it has to qualify as a “New Release”. You’re definitely going to want to be checking out the extremely unlikely cover of Dr.John’s “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” by a rough and randy Cher; and the Klaus Doldinger track had me creeping down Ventura Blvd. with mirrored aviator shades on as if I were in some 70s crime-sploitation flick. Fun for everyone!
I can’t even begin to describe to you the scene at a packed Firehouse 7 (a 150 max capacity “venue” in S.F.) when this unbelievable band of exquisite loonies from Japan played some 7 years ago. Manic blistering Krautrock drone gave way to pastoral sitar reveries morphing into 60’s Taiko fusion space rock, all the while with Masaki Batoh (the band’s gentle leader) injecting the chaos with haiku recitations or garage rock shrieking, sometimes within the same song, always melodically beautiful, generally directing the proceedings with a sensitive and watchful eye. I had to escort out a poor soul who passed out in front of me from psychedelic sensory overload, and consequently couldn’t get back in to the oversold club, but I certainly drove up interstate 80 the next night to see them play an even more outrageous show of strobe-lit freak rock in the music lesson room of a mom and pop sheet music store (!?!) somewhere between Berkeley and Sacramento. I shan’t be forgetting that night soon! Needless to say, I’ve been a huge fan ever since and was happily surprised to find they’d put out a new release this year. It turns out “Hypnotic Underworld” is my favorite record they’ve made thus far! The beautiful and aptly named title track (a 25 minute suite of expert and exotic improvisation) is worth the price of admission alone, and elsewhere they reach flaming celebratory heights and narcotic watercolor depths in a series of varied short-form songs. Still, I must submit a warning: this band isn’t for everyone; but if you’re a stone cold nut and relentless music enthusiast like myself, you’re bound to love them…
Is the dream really over? I’m so sad to see these stalwart surreal rockers call it a day, but leave it to Robert Pollard to sign off with one of the best records in their huge catalogue! I’m sure it’s not the last we’ll be hearing from him, fountain of rawk enthusiasm that he is. Diverse and affecting, this record just never lets up, making for a triumphant and bittersweet goodbye, and my god, I wish I’d written “Window Of My World”!
True, I live in the basement of his house whenever I’m staying in Berkeley, but hey, I only freeload off the best! Two-time bandmate of mine E.Blake Davis (Papa’s Culture, Sunkist…) sheds his recent dabblings in electronica (see “e blake”) and asks you to “dig” his “new direction”: namely spartan “The Who Live At Leeds” inspired braniac guitar rock executed by an “all killer, no filler” power trio. E. Blake beats Townshend at his own game with this blink-or-you’ll-miss-it song cycle derived from his personal roller coaster ride through the corporate world of Microsoft, and his musings on the fantasy vs reality of marital “bliss” and fatherhood. Sure, he says “Zeppelin!”, I hear “Devo”; He says “The Who!”, I hear “Lene Lovich”. Whatever, this thing rocks! Bonus cut “Tony Alva (explicit)” gets my vote for song of the year…
Fave Reissues 2004
5 cds worth of mind melting acid-funk-jazz-rock-sludge and screet to amaze your friends and frighten your enemies with! I cut many a day of high school to go hang out with my degenerate musician friends on the wrong side of the tracks and try to jam along with the original “Jack Johnson” album, while personally trying to decode the genius/exotic guitar stylings of an ascendant John McLaughlin (still working on it!). It’s all there in numerous and gloriously variant alternate takes, not to mention a Pandora’s boxload of related cuts, for anyone with an enquiring mind to check out now. Absolutely essential!
Who sez the 80’s were vapid? They’re looking a whole helluvalot more adventurous than the double-ought’s right about now! Jesus, I forgot what an outrageous visionary band The Heads were! This double live cd spans the first few chunks of their career, from their humble beginnings as a nerdy psychotic art-pop project to their transformation into a full blown noir p-funk from outer space. I’d say ya had to be there, but this fine album (expanded to twice it’s original length) proves them too infectious to be denied!
Sandy Denny leaves Fairport Convention and forms this British folk rock semi-super group with current boyfriend Trevor Lucas (soon to join Fairport himself). Sadly short-lived, the band released just this one record in 1970; still, it remains a sleeper masterpiece of the genre, brilliantly produced by Joe Boyd (I have yet to hear a record bearing his name that I don’t eventually fall head over heels for!). Denny stays spine tingling throughout, and spectacular lead guitarist Jerry Donahue (also soon to join Fairport-go figure) gives Richard Thompson a run for his money. Highlight of the album is their utterly haunting version of Gordon Lightfoot’s(?!) “The Way I Feel”, of all things…
Before there was a T.Rex; before the cocaine/champagne cocktails; before the feather boas and the zebra tights; before the private jet/limousine pre-Ziggy hysteria of “T.Rextasy”; before “Get It On (Bang A Gong)”/”Telegram Sam” etc. (and yes, before there was a Devendra Barnhart), there was Marc Bolan of Tyrannosaurus Rex-pixie/hippie/woodnymph/ultra-fey acid poet/Donovan poseur/acoustic prophet/would-be wanna-be psyche-folk super star. I LOVE all 4 Tyrannosaurus Rex albums reissued this year, but “A Beard Of Stars” continues to “tickle me where I live”!
“Absurd?”-Yes. “Ridiculous?”-Yes. “Magical?”-You better believe it!
There are so many excellent compilations of Dub music available now, but this is easily my favorite I’ve come across. Every track is stellar on this 2 CD comprehensive overview of one of the unmatched originators of the genre. You’ll get a super-buzz contact high while Tubby gives some of Jamaica’s greatest singers and players his patented stoned out drop-delay treatment that made space travel seem a definite possibility from a shotgun shack studio in the heart of the Kingston ghetto. Transporting, to say the least!
Break out the Remy Martin! Finally, a looooong overdue 4 CD celebration of Rock ‘n’ Roll’s most soulful and haphazardly rocking drinking consortium! All the classics are here, as well as tons of killer live BBC recordings and the requisite rare demos, etc. Ron Wood never sounded better and Rod Stewart hasn’t sounded this welcoming and raucous since. Bound to get you “in the mood” for all sorts of things, from a wild night of boozing out on the town to chasing down an illicit shag to forming a band…
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Everything this maverick bohemian guitar visionary released under his own name, crammed onto six discs complete with live takes, out takes, rehearsals and instructional naval gazing. His 1st solo album is probably my favorite item of all The Dead’s studio recordings, seamlessly mixing an exceptionally strong brace of Hunter/Garcia “cosmic cowboy” songs with some excellent flipped out electronic sound collage. The other albums generally celebrate Garcia’s unquenchable enthusiasm for traditional song forms (he even covers Irving Berlin). Garcia tended to save his more experimental inclinations for his main band; still, I managed to have an out-of-body experience in my bedroom one exceedingly hot summer day while listening to his 16 minute version of “Don’t Let Go” (outtake on the underrated “Cat’s Under The Stars”). As a man once said, “He took it all too far, but boy could he play guitar”. He’s simply one of my all time favorites!
O.k., this seriously has to get some kind of award for being re-released, re-packaged, “re-mastered” and re-supersized the most amount of times! I think we’re up to 5 different versions now, and gawd knows I’ve bought them all, but what can I say? It’s a stone CLASSIC, holding pole-position (by my estimation) in this most underrated band’s classic-ridden catalogue! It just never gets old to me, and the added disc of related singles and rare tracks from the era provides a well rounded picture of this unique band during a difficult period of their storied career (jesus, see what I mean? I really believe this shit! That’s exactly how they rope me in, time and time again…). Oh, ferchrissakes, just go out and get a hold of the damn thing and thrill to the sound of the British experience, circa a very nostalgic 1968, as only Ray Davies can write it!
I was seriously zapped on the top of my head with the magic wand of ROCK when I had the good fortune to see this “everyman’s glitter rock band” at the fabled Winterland Arena in S.F. during the tour that this album documents. Bringing their interstellar mentor, Ziggy Stardust, down to earth, they made it seem to a precocious guitar toting teen punk like myself that anyone with a little brain and attitude could get up on stage and have a bash, and I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for them! Once an unsatisfying single album, “Mott The Hoople Live” is now expanded to two complete shows on two cds, with revelatory results…a touch of rouge, a snifter of brandy, some garish platform boots, smoking Marshall stacks-it’s all palpable and yours for the taking! Without Mott there is no Clash…without Ariel Bender there is no Bindi Boy…Long Live Mott!!
Criminally lost Nuggets!!! Not to be confused with the British psyche-pop band of the same name and era (late 60’s), this outrageously eclectic rock (?) band hailed from the incense dens and film lots of a flower power gripped Hollywood. How did I possibly miss this dizzyingly musical ensemble?! Led by a young multi-instrumental virtuoso by the name of David Lindley (yep, later of Jackson Browne, Linda Rondstadt, El Rayo X, etc.), they went head to head with The Byrds for state of the art folk rock, beat out the S.F. bands for shear psychedelic blues rock blowing, and injected more than a working knowledge of various middle eastern musics into their unheard of jug band/world music/psyche-soul/garage rock stew. Johnny Guitar Watson recorded with them (one of my favorite cuts on this exhaustive collection!), Jimmy Page named them his favorite band at the time, Camper Van Beethoven shamelessly stole their version of the ancient traditional “Oh Death”; the list goes on…This triple CD set contains everything these bouzouki wielding maniacs recorded, and yes, it’s ALL good!
How come, 50 years on, this record still sounds fresher than anything on the market? Most musicians just really miss some crucial points about feeling, spontaneity and content vs technical perfection and ear candy. You can’t fuck with Chuck! He mops the floor with everybody. Astonishing!
A complete 1972 set from D¸sseldorf, Germany (were Kraftwerk in attendance?). From arguably their best year, worth it just for the OUTSTANDING version of “The Loser” (one of my all time favorite Dead tunes); I spent an entire weekend obsessing on the guitar solo in the confines of my truck, aimlessly driving around while maniacally replaying the section over and over…nuthin’ special – just Garcia worrying a single note in his inimitable way while the band supports with hard earned clairvoyance…
Ahhh, The Beach Boys’ “Smile”- the most famous “album-that-never-was” of all time… Yes, it’s both tragic and beyond hilarious that it took the NUT nearly 40 years to get his head around completing this record. Yes, the hi-fi state of the art digital clarity of the production, and the reverential performance by young acolytes (most not born when the album was 1st attempted) fails to capture the magical sweep and blur of the original (if fragmented) takes on the numerous bootlegs from the original 1967 recordings (not to mention the few excellent tracks that DID emerge commercially from the aborted project-anyone here remember “Good Vibrations”?!). Nevertheless, the music stands on it’s own. “Smile” proves to be a master class in “Variation on a Theme” and Wilson comes with some of the most imaginative instrumentation found on a pop record (sarod, banjo, harmonica and fuzz bass, anyone?). Hey, I dig “Surfin’ Safari” as much as the next guy, but this is what earned Brian Wilson his permanent status as “GENIOUS”!
What I Was “REALLY” Listening To This Year
This was hands down my most played CD this year. One of England’s most influential and rebellious interpreters of the traditional folk song, she might disappear for years at a time to live with a couple of dogs in a caravan while her friends and managers beat their heads against walls. She once missed a clutch gig at The Royal Albert Hall because she was too busy entertaining 30 or so drunks at a pub on the other side of town (lucky bastards!). Her chimerical “career” remains sadly under-documented, though fortunately someone was able to capture her in the studio with this shockingly good album from the early 70’s. The results are staggering. Her singing is utterly supernatural, her musicianship is sublime, and her material is unparalleled. It’s a Mystic Document.
Just cuz they’re hip, overblown and overexposed doesn’t necessarily mean they’re no good! I don’t think they’ve made a bad record yet, but I was particularly loving this, their 2nd, in 2004… (Meg White remains my #1 dream date)
Unsavory white trash banjo player tells it like it is from beyond the grave…riveting…spooky!
These guys put on one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. I still remember Toots Hibbert looking nervously down at his left shoe, it being steadfastly clasped by a crazed 14 year old (me) who hoped the magic might rub off…this double whammy two-fer of arguably their greatest sides puts a smile on my face every time!
Back when they were the best little R‘n’B cover group in the world. My high school band played every song on this early classic. Still one of my favorites…Still kills me…
White voodoo space rock from Germany with a transplanted Japanese hippie improvising vocals in “english as a 2nd language”. There were a couple of years back there in the late 80s/early 90s where all I listened to was Can, much to the annoyance of housemates, bandmates and girlfriends. I never seem to tire of them, and this immaculate album once again got a lot of play in my hotel rooms this year as Counting Crows gallivanted around the globe!
Japanese robots with pathos? Almost human, mostly synthesized dance music with a deliciously strange sense of dread permeating the proceedings…This 20+ year old record still sounds like a bizarre transmission from the future! For some strange reason I dug out the old chestnut and it remained in my player for a solid month.
You sort of can’t miss with any of his first 20 records or so, but this one really got it’s hooks into me…may I be so lucky to one day be able to man-handle an acoustic guitar like this guy! A lot of his work in the 60’s was recorded in my hometown, so it’s not too hard to catch a whiff of his ghost every now and again. Hypnotic, heroic, and definitely visionary!
You better have already heard this one…The Master’s Masterstroke! I always come back to this…
Elegant top-shelf instrumental “head shop” music from 1968. I’ve copped more than a few licks from this unsung guitar master! When I was a kid, I was partial to his excellent funky 3rd album, “Baby Batter”(the title track’s guitar solo was one of the 1st I ever learned), but it turns out that this immaculately produced soulfully psychedelic debut album is the superior item!
(box set)
Never leave home without one!
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