Category: Alternative

Long Ryders – I Had A Dream

When I was discovering the Paisley Underground Scene from the 1980s, this was one of the bands that jumped out at me. I did a post on them a few years ago with a song called Looking for Lewis and Clark.  I still can’t believe this was released in the 1980s because it lacked big production and a Casio-sounding keyboard. To me, this sounds like grounded roots music, and reminiscent of the Byrds, and I love the sound. It’s both country twang and chiming power chords.

If you’re going to kick off your first proper album, you may as well come out swinging, and the Long Ryders do just that here. This song wastes no time; the guitar riff is a jangle straight out of the Byrds’ Rickenbacker playbook, but it’s dirtied up with a garage-band growl that says these guys were listening to as much Crazy Horse as Mr. Tambourine Man.

The Long Ryders cut their debut album Native Sons in early 1984 at A&M Studios in Hollywood, with Henry Lewy, Joni Mitchell’s longtime collaborator, behind the board. He understood space and warmth, two qualities the Ryders wanted in spades. The sessions were quick; they were on an indie budget, so this song went down live in the studio, the band feeding off each other’s energy.

The album was praised by critics, Melody Maker saying ” “a modern American classic” and Allmusic has praised the album, writing that it “established their eclectic mixture of Byrds/Clash/Flying Burrito Brothers’ influences … while turning in an original sound that became the banner for both the paisley underground and cowpunk styles in the mid-’80s.”

The album peaked at #1 on the UK Indie Chart in 1984. 

I Had A Dream

Tried so hard to explain
The way things are and how quick they can change
But you never listened you just turned your head
Never even heard a single word that he said
While it’s true now that I’m not a saint
I felt pain when you live to hate
Said it before and I’ll say it again
Leave me alone man or treat me like a friend

I had a dream last night
Everybody’s laughing and everything was alright
Still some hope in sight, that was last night

I had a dream last night
Nobody’s crying, nobody’s frightened
Still some hope in sight, that was last night

Well if it seems like I sound like the rest
We’re trying hard not to be too depressed
Once they take everything I’ve left, it’s so easy
So if you’re dreaming I hhope that you do
Wish for the best and hope that it comes true
Who knows what they’ll leave when they’re through

I had a dream last night
Everybody’s laughing and everything was alright
Still some hope in sight, that was last night

I had a dream last night
Nobody’s crying, nobody’s frightened
Still some hope in sight, that was last night

Creeps – Just What I Need

Four years ago, I posted a song by this band that I have loved ever since. It’s called Down At The Nightclub (I’m including it as well at the bottom). It was during the mid-1980s, and I so wish I knew about them then. This would have been what I would have listened to rather than the Top 40 in 1986. This is one band I found that I keep coming back to. 

They were fueled by Vox amps and a steady diet of Nuggets and Stax singles. This Swedish band is one of those rare bands you stumble across on a late-night college radio show. It’s the kind of band that never broke into the mainstream but somehow managed to bottle a sound so cutting that it demands rediscovery every few years. 

In the mid-’80s, while the rest of the world was drowning in synths and drum machines, The Creeps doubled down on garage soul. It’s a reminder that sometimes, all you really need is a fuzz pedal, an organ, and a chorus you can shout at the top of your lungs.

This song is on their debut album, Enjoy The Creeps, and it was released in 1986. Critics have said that they never managed to translate the excitement of their live show to records, but this one is an exception. They released it on a small label named Tracks on Wax, which was a Swedish Garage Rock label in the 80s.

They formed in Sweden in 1985. They were influenced heavily by the Animals and Yardbirds, Robert Jelinek (vocals, guitar), Hans Ingemansson (Hammond organ), Anders Olsson (bass), and Patrick Olson (drums). Whenever I think of music from Sweden, I think of Abba… This is not Abba by any stretch of the imagination.

After a few years, the band dropped the dirty sound of their debut album and went more for an ’80s funk dance sound.

Here is the song I posted earlier…Down in the Nightclub which is one of my favorite 1980s songs. 

 

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Blue Shadows – Don’t Expect A Reply (Runaway Train)

This isn’t the same Runaway Train that brought Soul Asylum into heavy MTV rotation a year earlier (or Blue Rodeo’s song). No, this one’s more haunted, more twangy, and more soaked in country rock. It might be better, at least to me. Since I heard this band a few months ago, I cannot shake them, nor do I want to. I feel a Big Star love for them. 

The Blue Shadows never got their due. They existed in that strange space between country and power pop, never quite fitting into either scene completely. But that’s exactly what made them special. This song stands as a testament to what happens when talented musicians follow their instincts rather than market trends or what’s hot today. This song was released in 1995 on the album Lucky To Me, their last studio album.

Led by Billy Cowsill, the Blue Shadows carved out a very different space in early ’90s Canada. The song was written by Jeffrey Hatcher and Billy Cowsill.  Cowsill had the kind of voice that was country tinged with an edge. Hatcher was equal parts Buddy Holly with a touch of Chris Hillman cool, which makes for a killer songwriting partner.

There’s an alternate timeline in a perfect world where the Blue Shadows catch fire, tour with Uncle Tupelo, Wilco, or The Jayhawks, and end up as alt-country royalty. Instead, their last album, Lucky To Me, went quietly out into the world, loved by those lucky enough to hear it, and this song remains one of the most gorgeous things to ever slip through the cracks of the 1990s.

Billy Cowsill’s last interview, he was asked what he was most proud of in his career, and he answered with The Blue Shadows’ first album On The Floor of Heaven. “To my mind, that is the finest piece of work I ever did. It is just so good. The writing is so good. The production is so good. It is a nice little piece de resistance.”

Runaway Train

There ain’t a ball and chain
That can tie me down
There ain’t a jail been made
That can hold me now
I heard some fool say
He’s got to be insane
Well it kind of looks that way

From a runaway train that’s out of control
No matter what I do
No matter where I go
You can say goodbye
I won’t be back again
But don’t expect a reply
Not from a runaway train

Oh no they can’t catch me
Because they move too slow
And they’re new at this game
I started long ago
I tell you I was here
Before the track was laid
I was the first to ride

On that runaway train that’s out of control
No matter what I do
No matter where I go
You can say goodbye
I won’t be back again
But don’t expect a reply
Not from a runaway train

I used to roll on through
When it was countryside
Then the cities they grew
Until they reached the sky
I’m going to hit the coast
Then roll right on through
Wish you could see the view

From that runaway train that’s out of control
No matter what I do
No matter where I go
You can say goodbye
I won’t be back again
But don’t expect a reply
Not from a runaway train

From that runaway train that’s out of control
No matter what I do
No matter where I go
You can say goodbye
I won’t be back again
But don’t expect a reply
Don’t expect a reply
Don’t expect a reply

No, no don’t expect a reply

….

Camper Van Beethoven – Eye Of Fatima (Pt. 1)

I want to thank obbverse’s brother for recommending this song to him and then him to me. Love the bass in this one and the guitar licks that complement the bass. I hear a little bit of Bakersfield in this one as well, with some twang. The song feels like the first part of a bigger story, which it is. The second part song follows as a kind of comedown, but this first part is where the hooks are. Also, it’s even kind of radio-friendly.

Back in the late eighties, I was working while going to college. A co-worker of mine kept playing this band, and it drove me up the wall. My first reaction was to ask…”what the hell is this and why are you playing it?” By the end of the week, I wanted a copy of it, so she taped it and gave it to me on cassette. The song was Take The Skinheads Bowling and it was heavily played on college radio in the late 80s. That’s how I started to know about this band. 

This song was a few years later than that one. This one was on their 1988 album called Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. The first Camper Van Beethoven record for a major label, Virgin, no less, and it’s as if the band decided to storm the gates of MTV with fiddles and surrealism. With this band, you know you’re in for something strange, but also something oddly familiar.

With all that is going on, there is something subversively pop about this song. It grooves. It twangs. It rambles with purpose. And you can sing along to it even if you’re not quite sure what it’s about.

Just so we cover this sufficiently, here is Eye of Fatima (Part 2)

Eye of Fatima (Pt. 1)

He’s got the Eye of Fatima on the wall of his room
Two bottles of tequila, three cats and a broom
He’s got an 18-year-old angel and she’s all dressed in black
He’s got 15 bindles of cocaine tied up in a sack

And this here’s a government experiment and we’re driving like Hell
To give some cowboys some acid and to stay in motels
We’re going to eat up some wide open spaces like it was a cruise on the Nile
Take the hands off the clock, we’re going to be here a while

And I am the Eye of Fatima on the wall of the motel room
And cowboys on acid are like Egyptian cartoons
And no one ever conquered Wyoming from the left or from the right
But you can stay in motel rooms and stay up all night

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NRBQ – Stomp

The 1969 NRBQ self-titled debut album, released on Columbia Records, is a wonderfully scrappy introduction to a band that never played by the rules, even from the jump. This one caught my ear and never let go. I’m a newbie to the band, but I’ve listened to many of their albums and songs throughout their career in the past few months.

This is the beauty of blogs, everyone. When I first started, my foundation was the holy trinity of rock: the Beatles, the Who, and the Stones. I listened to more than them, of course, but now with all of your help, I’ve picked up on artists that I missed completely in real-time or the ones before I was aware or born. I love expanding my musical knowledge, and this band is part of that. It’s never too late to learn new/old music or movies for that matter. 

I believe that some of NRBQ’s greatest assets, such as eclecticism, unwavering artistic values, and humor, are also the reasons they never sold the millions of records they deserved. They are incredible musicians who have no problem being silly and loose as well.

While other bands at the time were chasing hits, studio trickery, and long jams, NRBQ (short for New Rhythm and Blues Quartet) decided to follow  Sun Records, Spike Jones, and Cecil Taylor, sometimes all in the same song. The album is a pre-punk, pre-power pop, pre-alt-country, pre-everything slab of glorious fun. There’s no single style to pin it down; it’s equal parts rockabilly, jazz, R&B, novelty, garage rock, and pure American musical mischief. One minute they’re playing jazz, the next they’re writing AM-radio pop that could’ve given Big Star a run for their money. In other words, if you want diverse music, NRBQ is the way to go. 

They were formed by pianist Terry Adams, guitarist Steve Ferguson, and drummer Frank Gadler, with the addition of bassist Joey Spampinato (originally Joey Spampanato) and drummer Tom Staley completing the lineup.

The album NRBQ peaked at #162 on the Billboard album charts. Stomp peaked at #122 on the Billboard 100 in 1969. The band has 24 studio albums, 14 live albums, and 15 compilation albums. Terry Adams, who formed the band, is still with them… to this day. 

Stomp

Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
People got to know, miles and miles around
About the hidden secret of the stoppin’ so sound

Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
Go and tell your friends, all about to stomp
They can tell there cousins and there mama and pa

And if you do refuse the rhythm my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
The biggest generation yet has come
But we got something for the old and young
And if you do refuse a+rhytum my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
You just might stop and stare and wonder why
But you’re just wasting time so come on try
(make it quick)

And if you do refuse a+rhytum my friend
Then you will have to miss the boat in the end
Everybody stomp, play it on the ground
Having lots of fun till the sun goes down
People got to know, miles and miles around
About the hidden secret of stoppin’ so sound
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp, everybody stomp
everybody stomp

…

Marshall Crenshaw – Mary Anne

Marshall reminds me of Nick Lowe a little because they make every song sound like a potential hit in a good way. It’s a kind of song that makes everything feel alright for three minutes. It’s one of those perfect power pop songs. 

He got his first break playing John Lennon in the off-Broadway touring company of the musical Beatlemania between 1978-1980. Crenshaw said: “In the beginning, I was bothered by it, as an egotistical young person, maybe because I had just gotten out of Beatlemania, and I was sick of any kind of heavy association with some other figure.”

He later played Buddy Holly in La Bamba in 1987. “I’ve been a Buddy Holly fan all my life. The joy still comes across in his music. It’s really got its own je ne sais quoi. It really stands apart from a lot of ’50s rock, because it conveys a sense of intimacy. I think it’s because it was made in this little building on the side of a highway late at night with this isolated group of people.”

Marshall Crenshaw’s 1982 self-titled debut is a rare bird in the rock canon, a flawless record that never seems to age. On the album with the jangle of Someday, Someway and the Buddy Holly bop of Cynical Girl, Mary Anne is the track that quietly steals the show. That chorus. It just opens up like sunshine bursting through the clouds. “Mary Anne, you’re not alone,” Crenshaw assures her, and suddenly you’re not alone either. 

The arrangement is a masterclass in restraint. The chiming guitars are pure Rickenbacker, and the bassline has a McCartney-esque melody. No frills, no tricks, just three minutes of songcraft that feels like it could’ve been pulled from AM radio in 1966. In the endless search for a great pop song, Mary Anne is the kind of track that makes you stop searching for a while. 

Marshall Crenshaw peaked at #50 on the Billboard album charts in 1982. As the old phrase goes…it’s got more hooks than a tackle box.

Mary Anne

It isn’t such a crimeIt isn’t such a shameIt happens all the timeYou shouldn’t take the blameGo on and have a laughGo have a laugh on meGo on and have a laughAt all your misery

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (don’t cry Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of youMary Anne, Mary Anne (don’t cry Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

You take a look aroundAnd all you seem to seeIs bringing you downAs down as you can beGo on and have a laughGo have a laugh on meGo on and have a laughAt how bad it can be

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (you’ll be all right)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of youMary Anne, Mary Anne (you’ll be all right)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

Mary Anne, Mary Anne (goodnight Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary AnneI’m thinking of you Mary Anne, Mary Anne (goodnight Mary Anne)I really wanna tell you Mary Anne, Mary Anne, Mary Anne

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Reverend Horton Heat – Psychobilly Freakout

This one was fun to write about. Sometimes I like to post the offbeat kind of artists, and the Reverend fits that description. This is what happens when you turn frantic Rockabilly up a notch or three. Let’s just rip the band-aid off. This thing doesn’t walk into the room, it tears the hinges off the door, screams in your face, steals your beer, and does donuts in the church parking lot. It is high-octane and has some great guitar. 

He does some Brian Setzer and Duane Eddy style guitar playing at 11. It’s NOT a storytelling song. It’s a vibe, a warning, and a shot of tequila thrown down your throat.  I love Dylan, Prine, and the other great songwriters, but this isn’t it, and it’s not meant to be. Some songs make you want to sing. Some make you want to cry. This one makes you want to smash furniture and swing from the rafters. 

He was on the record label Sub Pop, which also had Nirvana, but he sounds nothing like them. His real name is James C. Heath, and he grew up in Dallas, Texas. His influences were Junior Brown, Willie Nelson, and Merle Travis. He and his band have made 13 studio albums, and many of them charted. In the early 2000s, a friend at work named Lee played this one and a song called Wiggle Stick (live version), which, to be truthful, is more accessible than this one. I loved the sense of humor and sound right away. 

This song came off the album Smoke ‘Em If You Got ‘Em released in 1990. Reverend Horton Heat’s songs have been in movies, and he has a huge following. 

Wiggle Stick

Psychobilly Freakout

It’s a psychobilly freakout!

Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!
It’s, it’s, it’s a psychobilly freakout!

Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!

I’ll tell you what it is! (what is it, God dang it?)
It’s some kinda Texas psychobilly freakout
That’s what it is

Well, we’re off, we’re off, we’re off!
It’s a psychobilly freakout!

Ben Vaughn – Shingaling with Me

This song has been in my head for a week now and won’t get out and thats a good thing. The feel of this sounds like it crawled out of the back seat of a 1963 Rambler. It really fits in with The Swingin’ Medallions, Doug Sahm’s 60s style of music, with a tiny bit of a tame Lou Reed thrown in. You can also hear a little of Springsteen in his music at times.

I’m far from an expert on Ben Vaughn, but he shouldn’t be so unknown. Big Star is more well-known than this man. His music is instantly catchy and likable. The song I covered a few years ago, “Too Sensitve for This World,” has hit written all over it. I’m surprised no one has covered that one. Well, I double checked and someone has! Deer Tick…now that is a name that…no I won’t say it. 

Vaughn is from New Jersey. He got his start in the late ’70s, playing in punk and new wave bands before forming The Ben Vaughn Combo in 1983. The Combo was everything great about mid-’60s rock and roll, reimagined with a little punk energy. The band was together for five years, releasing two albums and touring the U.S. several times.  They received rave reviews in Rolling Stone and People magazine and video airplay on MTV.

This track comes from Mood Swings, the 1992 album that put Vaughn on the map as a Jersey jangle-pop garage guy with a deep record collection. It’s a compilation album that contains his best songs from 1985 to 1990. This song was originally on his 1987 album Beautiful Thing.

Vaughn started a solo career in 1988 and has released over 17 albums. He is very versatile… he plays Rock, blues, jazz, folk, soul, R & B, country, Power Pop, Bossa Nova, movie soundtracks, easy listening, and more, all with Vaughn’s musical slant.

His older albums are not on Spotify, but here is a YouTube playlist that covers a lot of this album. It really doesn’t matter because his songs are just plain out good.

I blogged about Vaughn a while back with this great song.

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Jam – That’s Entertainment 

I learned about these guys from a friend’s brother, who introduced me to Big Star, The Clash, and The Dead. They had export albums that no one else I knew had at the time. There was no Spotify…you had to work for it. You had to hunt songs and albums down. It made it that much better when you heard them. 

I wrote this for another Jam song a while back and it holds true: Sometimes people say…oh this or that band was just too British. I never found a fault in that and wanted more British bands.  But…if ever a band could be considered “too British” this may very well be the band. But I want more…

This is one of those rare songs that doesn’t just describe life, it feels like life. Weller wrote it in a single night after stumbling home drunk (“Coming home pissed from the pub”), acoustic guitar in hand. And you can tell, the lyrics have that bleary, late-night poetry, where ordinary objects take on greater significance. A “policeman’s baton,” “a smash of glass,” “a freezing cold flat”  these aren’t metaphors, they’re scene-setting. There are strong Ray Davies vibes going on in this, with working-class life. 

He’s not glorifying his world; he’s documenting it. And in doing so, he’s creating a kind of working-class poem, a collage of British life with all the glamor scratched off. This is why I love the Kinks, the Who, and other bands that deal with everyday life. I would include Squeeze in there as well. 

They formed in 1973 and released their first album in 1977. Their members included guitarist Paul Weller, bassist Bruce Foxton, and drummer Rick Butler. Paul Weller is the best known out of the band, but they were all great musicians. Being a bass player…I’ve noticed a lot of Foxton’s bass playing is terrific.

The song was released in 1981 and peaked at #21 on the UK Charts and #34 in New Zealand. The song was on the album Sound Affects, which peaked at #2 on the UK Charts, #72 on the Billboard 200, #39 in Canada, and #2 in New Zealand. 

Paul Weller: “It was just everything that was around me y’know. My little flat in Pimlico did have damp on the walls and it was f–king freezing. I was doing a fanzine called December Child and Paul Drew wrote a poem called ‘That’s Entertainment.’ It wasn’t close to my song, but it kind of inspired me to write this anyway. I wrote to him saying, Look is it all right if I nick a bit of your idea, man? And he said, It’s fine, yeah.”

Thats Entertainment

A police car and a screaming sirenA pneumatic drill and ripped up concreteA baby wailing and stray dog howlingThe screech of brakes and lamp light blinking

That’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

A smash of glass and a rumble of bootsAn electric train and a ripped up phone boothPaint splattered walls and the cry of a tomcatLights going out and a kick in the balls

I say, that’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

Days of speed and slow time MondaysPissing down with rain on a boring WednesdayWatching the news and not eating your teaA freezing cold flat and damp on the walls

I say that’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

Waking up at 6 a.m. on a cool warm morningOpening the windows and breathing in petrolAn amateur band rehearsing in a nearby yardWatching the telly and thinking about your holidays

That’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

Waking up from bad dreams and smoking cigarettesCuddling a warm girl and smelling stale perfumeA hot summer’s day and sticky black tarmacFeeding ducks in the park and wishing you were far away

That’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

Two lovers kissing amongst the scream of midnightTwo lovers missing the tranquility of solitudeGetting a cab and travelling on busesReading the graffiti about slashed seat affairs

I say that’s entertainmentThat’s entertainment

…

A Replacements Revival

Thanks, Dave, for asking me to participate. Dave wanted us to pick a band we would like to see reunited based on reality and not bringing people back to life. A lot of bands that I would love to get back together, but most have deceased members, and under his rules, we cannot raise them again. Allman Brothers, The Band, Big Star, and many others where one or a few are alive. I considered The Kinks because Ray and Dave Davies are still alive, along with Mick Avory, the drummer. I also considered REM, CCR, J Geils, and The James Gang. Even if Dave had said we could resurrect people, I still would not pick The Beatles. I’m forever grateful they didn’t try it before Lennon passed. There is no way they would have lived up to people’s expectations. 

The Replacements, Paul Westerberg, Tommy Stinson, and Chris Mars are still doing well. Their lead guitar player, Bob Stinson, passed away in 1995. He was replaced by Slim Dunlap in the ’80s when Bob quit. Slim passed away in 2024. He didn’t tour with them in the teens when they DID reunite because of a stroke he had in 2012.

They reunited in 2012 and started to tour, which lasted until 2015. They sold out huge arenas, made more money, and played in front of more fans than they did in their prime. Although their last show in Chicago drew over 50,000 people in 1991.

They had a penchant for shooting themselves in the foot in the ’80s over and over. Grabbing their new producer and tearing his clothes off and throwing him in the hall, saying the F word on Saturday Night Live and then getting banned, guest hosting a radio show and picking old blues records they knew had cuss words, and getting kicked out of there, and opening up for Tom Petty and breaking in Petty’s dressing room and stealing and wearing his wife’s clothes on stage (they finished the tour though…Petty had a sense of humor), refusing to make videos, knowing that record executives from big labels were coming to watch them and getting drunk playing TV theme songs plus KISS covers all night long. No need to add more things…you get the point.

I’ve heard from people who saw them in their prime. They usually have two things to say about them if they have seen them at least twice. “The best rock and roll band I’ve ever seen or heard” OR “The most drunken display I’ve ever seen” but even when they said that…they said they liked them and they still beat most bands. It does make sense, though. They started off as a punk band and slowly developed into a rock band when Westerberg developed as a songwriter. They had a rebellious spirit to the end. 

Personally, I think if they had played the music company game like REM, they could have been popular in the mainstream. They had some of the strongest songs of the 1980s because of Paul Westerberg, and I put his songwriting on the level of Springsteen. Now let’s get into the songs of the band. I think many of their songs rival The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Stones, or anyone you could throw out there. Bastards of Young, Here Comes A Regular, Alex Chilton, Androgynous, Can’t Hardly Wait, I Will Dare, Left Of The Dial, Unsatisfied, Kiss Me on the Bus, Skyway, Color Me Impressed, The Ledge, and so many more. If they had gotten proper airplay, I have no doubt they would have been hits. 

Most indie bands were out of touch with the mainstream at the time, and that is the reason they all had such a large fan base. It started to cross over, though in the late eighties or early nineties at last, but by that time…The Replacements were winding down. This is a band I would want to see again, clicking on all cylinders. From the reviews of all of their reunion shows…they were on. 

So Paul and Tommy…how about one more go around? Please include some TV Themes and KISS cover songs…just because you can. If you guys are happy…we will be. 

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Gene Clark – No Other

As big a Byrds fan as I am, I’m surprised I’ve never covered Gene Clark. Recently, I’ve started to listen to more of his solo work. Clark was in the Byrds from 1964 to 1966. He was one of the main songwriters of the band, along with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby. He wrote or co-wrote songs such as I’ll Feel A Whole Lot Better, Eight Miles High, She Don’t Care About Time, and more. One of the reasons he quit the band was that he would get physically sick while flying in airplanes. 

Aphoristical is one of the few bloggers who talk about him. I can certainly see why now, I went through a lot of his catalog, and it was hard to get it down to one song….so I added two. Great, singing and songwriting. I think he should, at least, get some recognition that past him by during his life. He has Byrds’ jangly music, Americana, Folk, Country, and more. 

I listened to his album No Other and was floored… It’s great through and through. I have the Spotify link at the bottom, and here is a link for it on YouTube. No Other was the title track from his 1974 album. I don’t talk about albums much, but I would consider this a masterpiece that wasn’t appreciated in its time but gained cult status years later. He blended rock, folk, country, gospel, and even a touch of funk and psychedelia. Jesse Ed Davis and Danny Kortchmar were on guitar, plus Jim Gordon on drums. The artist Beck has sited this album as a huge inspiration.

The other song, the 1970 song One in a Hundred sounds like The Byrds, and there is good reason for that. This was during Clark’s attempt to form a Byrds reunion with original members. All five original Byrds contributed to the track, making it the first time since 1966 that the original lineup recorded together. The song was unreleased for several years, as the reunion project failed without a label’s support. It was finally released on Gene Clark’s 1973 Dutch-only LP Roadmaster. The Byrds did reunite in 1973 but they didn’t match this song. 

No Other

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherSo the Lord is love and love is like no otherIf the falling tide can turn and then recoverAll alone we must be part of one another

All alone you say, the power is perfectionIs the power of peace or merely the connectionTo the God of love that powers the protectionFrom the tide of life that flows in each direction

When the stream of changing daysTurns around in so many waysThen the pilot of the mind must findThe right direction

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherSo the Lord is love and love is like no otherIf the falling tide can turn and then recoverAll alone we must be part of one another

When the stream of changing daysTurns around in so many waysThen the pilot of the mind must findThe right direction

All alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no otherAll alone you say that you don’t want no other

Mason Ruffner – Gypsy Blood

As soon as I clicked on the link that CB sent me I knew I heard this before on our old rock station here WKDF. They would mix new songs with old and it worked well. Love the groove in this one with that guitar constantly riffing through the song.

Mason Ruffner grew up in Texas but has adopted New Orleans as his home. In 1987, he released his second album entitled Gypsy Blood with the title track becoming a Mainstream Rock Track hit in 1987.

In the early 80s, his band backed musicians such as such as John Lee Hooker and Memphis Slim. He was spotted in 1985 by a CBS scout and was offered a contract. He released his self-titled album in 1985 to critical praise.

Ruffner’s style attracted notable musicians, including Bruce Springsteen, Jimmy Page, Carlos Santana, and ZZ Top, who would attend his performances or sit in with him. He opened up for a variety of acts that included  Crosby, Stills & Nash, Jimmy Page, U2, and Ringo Starr. He also played on Bob Dylan’s album Oh Mercy.

He released his album Gypsy Blood in 1987 and it was produced by Dave Edmunds. The song peaked at #11 on the Billboard Hot Track Charts in 1987. The album peaked at #80 on the Billboard Album Chart.

Gypsy Blood

Lord knows I was born a gypsy
My heart can steal you blind
I got my hand on my suitcase
Lots of travelin’ on my mind
Yeah, it’s that blood yeah, that gypsy blood
That carries me far from my love
My spirit flies just like a dove
I got that gypsy blood

I know that there ain’t nothin’
There’s nothin’ like a woman’s touch
But love just burns me like fire
Love is costin’ me too much
Must be that blood, must be that gypsy blood
That carries me far from my love
My spirit flies just like a dove
I got that gypsy blood

Do you wanta ride along with me, baby?
Well, I’m on the run
Well, I’m restless and I’m weary
I’m gonna shoot my gun!

Take me out there on that highway
Let the wind blow in my face
If I fall by the wayside
Somebody else can take my place
Yeah, it’s that blood yeah, that gypsy blood
That carries me far from my love
My spirit flies just like a dove
I got that gypsy blood

Golden Smog – Glad and Sorry

If you take acoustic country and mix it with Big Star, you get bands like Wilco and this band Golden Smog. You literally get Big Star, Wilco, Uncle Tupelo (who I spelled wrong in the past), and The Jayhawks; the explanation is at the bottom. I’m glad that CB mentioned this band because they are exactly what I’m into right now. 

They started as a loose collaboration of Minneapolis-based musicians who got together to play cover songs under pseudonyms. The name Golden Smog comes from a character in a Flintstones episode. The band initially played country and rock covers, but it evolved into a serious musical project over time.

Membership in this band has been fluid. They have had Chris Mars (Replacements drummer), Jeff Tweedy (Wilco),  Louris and Perlman of The Jayhawks, Dave Primer from Soul Asylum, and more. Also in 1997, Jody Stephens became their drummer. He was an original member of Big Star. 

All in all, they have released 4 albums starting in 1995 with Down by the Old Mainstream. This is the album that this song was on. It was a cover of a Faces song written by Ronnie Lane, and they did a super job on it. I love both versions, and I’m not easy on cover versions, but this hits the mark. 

I will be going over all of their albums in the future. I’ve liked everything I’ve heard by them so far. Here is a list of their members…present and past.

Kraig Johnson (Kraig Jarret Johnson and the Program)
Dan Murphy (Soul Asylum)
Gary Louris (Jayhawks)
Marc Perlman (Jayhawks)
Steve Gorman (Black Crowes)

and their past members

Dave Pirner (Soul Asylum)
Chris Mars (Replacements)
Noah Levy (Brian Setzer and Soul Asylum)
Jeff Tweedy (Uncle Tupelo and Wilco)
Jody Stephens (Big Star)

Glad and Sorry

Thank you kindlyFor thinking of meIf I’m not smilingI’m just thinkingGlad and sorryHappy or sadAll is done and spokenYou’re up or I’m downCan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can ICan you show me a dream?Can you show me one that’s better than life?Can you stand it in the cold light of day?Well, neither can I

…

Steve Earle – Feel Alright

Every so often, I always go back to Steve Earle. When he first came out, rock and country stations would play him. I was way more of a rock fan than a modern country fan, but artists like Earle and Dwight Yoakum changed that for me. They brought in the Merle Haggard and Buck Owens Bakersfield sound, which I liked. Earle also brought in a Townes Van Zant and Texas songwriting approach. I saw many of my musician friends who were songwriters starting to pick up this approach, which was great to see. 

This came off of his 1996 album I Feel Alright. It was his 6th album, and he had signed to Warner Brothers. I heard of him in the late eighties with a song called I Ain’t Ever Satisfied. I first saw him in 1989, opening up for Bob Dylan at the now-demolished Starwood Ampitheater in Nashville. He was one of the best opening acts I’ve ever seen, to that point. That night, Bob was sick (we found out later), and he only played for 45 minutes, but Steve Earle made the show worth it. I do remember someone yelling as Bob was leaving the stage, “I know you are an old son of a bitch but 45 minutes?” Bob was 48 at the time!

The album was released after Earle had successfully overcome heroin addiction and incarceration, and the lyrics matched that:  Yeah, but be careful what you wish for friend ‘Cause I’ve been to hell and now I’m back again. One critic said at the time that this album was Earle telling people in the 90s: Don’t feel bad about feeling good. The album was critically acclaimed. 

The album charted at #38 in Canada, #106 on the Billboard 100, #29 in New Zealand, and #44 in the UK in 1996. This song was released as a single but didn’t chart. 

Steve Earle:  I’m a folkie. I come from coffee houses just like Gram (Parsons), Townes (Van Zandt), Guy (Clark), and Chris (Hillman). We’re all post-Bob Dylan coffee house bred songwriters. South Texas was a great place to grow up musically, but then things really busted open when I moved to Nashville. I was still only 19 and got to see bluegrass music up close for the first time – and old-time music, music that was more from the Appalachian Mountains versus western swing – one of the main components of rock and roll in the first place. 

Feel Alright

I was born my papa’s sonA wanderin’ eye and a smokin’ gunNow some of you would live through meThen lock me up and throw away the keyOr just find a place to hide awayHope that I’ll just go away, hah

Well, I feel alrightI feel alright tonightI feel alrightI feel alright tonight

And I’ll bring you precious contrabandAnd ancient tales from distant landsOf conquerors and concubinesAnd conjurers from darker timesBetrayal and conspiracy, sacrilege and heresy

And I feel alrightI feel alright tonightI feel alrightI feel alright tonight

I got everything you won’t needYour darkest fear, your fondest dreamI ask you questions, tell you liesCriticize and sympathizeYeah, but be careful what you wish for friend‘Cause I’ve been to hell and now I’m back again

I feel alrightYeah, I feel alright tonightYeah, I feel alrightI feel alright tonight

Ywah, I feel alrightFeel alright

My Top 5 Big Star Songs

This band is one of the big reasons I started to blog in the first place. To meet more Big Star fans and if I got just one person who didn’t know them to listen… my mission was a success. Want a great documentary?  Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

I thought I would list some songs that would be in my top 5 of their catalog. So maybe one of you reading this will take a listen. Here are Graham’s top 10 Big Star songs on his site. These songs are up there with the Beatles, Stones, Kinks, and Who to me. They didn’t have the quantity those bands had, but they had the quality.

Let’s make it 6. My bonus pick is:

BONUS: In The Street – I would say, hands down, the most known song by them besides September Gurls because it was the theme of That Seventies Show. Cheap Trick covered it and someone else for the intro…I wish they had used the original version. 

5: Life Is White –  Love this driving song by Big Star. It was on Radio City, their second album. Some say it is a response to the Chris Bell song off the first album called My Life Is Right…or a message to his girlfriend Diane (Don’t like to see your face Don’t like to hear you talk at all) that he was splitting with at the time.

4: When My Baby’s Beside Me: Great riff by Alex Chilton and full of the hooks that Big Star is known for. This song was the A-side to In The Street released in 1972. Both songs are on Big Star’s album #1 Record.

3: September Gurls: If Big Star had been heard, this would have been a top-ten hit or at least top 20. It was one of the best pop songs that didn’t chart. September Gurls was rated #180 by Rolling Stone in the magazine’s top 500 songs of all time.

Released as a single, it did not chart despite receiving excellent reviews, due mainly to poor marketing and distribution. It was on their second studio album Radio City. The song was later covered by The Bangles on their album Different Light.

2: Thirteen – This song is an absolutely perfect song about adolescence. I played it to my then 14-year-old son, and it made him a Big Star fan, now 10 years later. This song is the most covered song by Big Star, with 49 different covers. It’s almost a perfect acoustic song. The song is about an adolescent guy and his girlfriend who are rock fans, being what 13-14-year-olds are…confused and lost.

1: The Ballad of El Goodo – There are some songs that I hear, and I think…damn I wish I would have written this. This is one of those songs. To me, it’s a perfect song and represents everything I like. The way they transitioned into the chorus is magical to me. It comes very close to being my favorite song of all time. 

The Ballad of El Goodo

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
And I’ve been trying hard against unbelievable odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
But guns they wait to be stuck by, at my side is God

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

There’s people around who tell you that they know
And places where they send you, and it’s easy to go
They’ll zip you up and dress you down and stand you in a row
But you know you don’t have to, you could just say no

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

I’ve been built up and trusted
Broke down and busted
But they’ll get theirs and we’ll get ours if you can
Just-a hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on

Years ago, my heart was set to live, oh
Though I’ve been trying hard against strong odds
It gets so hard in times like now to hold on
Well, I’ll fall if I don’t fight, and at my side is God

And there ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round
Ain’t no one going to turn me ’round

Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on