various artists - I Give You The Head Of Corporate Rock And Roll Vol. I

If you're like me, and an interest in public radio intersects with a love of punk rock, then this one's for you, pally.

Recorded live on air at KPFK 90.7 in Los Angeles, "I Give You The Head Of Corporate Rock And Roll Vol. I" is a snapshot of the West Coast's edgier left of the dial bands, just as "Nevermind" was starting to really break through.to 14-year-olds like me. Not that I would have heard this, residing, as I did, on the literal side of a mountain in Moonshine Country, Virginia.

But I probably would have enjoyed this immensely in 1992. Calamity Jane, who I've written about here before, provides a cut. Long Gone John's taste is well represented, with Oiler, the Humpers, and Trash Can School all chiming in. Kyle Ryan would probably be stoked to see Anus the Menace, Bulimia Banquet, and Sandy Duncan's Eye contributing cuts. And operating at the center of this fuckin' sick Venn diagram are Distorted Pony and Mudwimin, making circus music for little monkeys like yours truly. There's even a Man Is The Bastard connection, as former PHC bandmate Bob Durkee's band Shoeface can also be found here.

L.A. seems like it probably was fun in 1992.

Discogs

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R.E.M. - Animal's Attactions

Here is another Italian bootleg I found at the Goodwill; this time, it's R.E.M.'s live appearance on MTV Unplugged in 1991 (minus a few songs from that session). I'll never cease to be amazed how these guys managed to become the biggest band in the world for a few years on the back of jangle pop and mandolin leads. It's pretty cool, when it gets right down to it.

I'm pretty sure this got overlooked at the store due to the AH-MAH-ZING cover art. DOGS IN HAWAIIAN SHIRTS?!? WHERE TO BEGIN? Who wouldn't regard this a legitimate release worth $3 plus tax?

Discogs

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Portishead - Live on Later...With Jools Holland, 15 April 2008

Beth Gibbons, Portishead, "Later...With Jools Holland"

Jesus. 10 years since the last Portishead release. 13 years since their last full-length. Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley are making soundtracks and guesting on other folks' records. I can only imagine what Beth Gibbons is up to; I hope it's something involving her, some folk songs, and an English cliffside. The magic, the mystery of how and when they make music. There's very little like it in this world.

Listening to a Portishead record for me is a bit like reading a Bible is to others. Seeing them live is church. It's a worship of sound, a spiritual experience unlike few others I've had. I'd see them anywhere, but I feel like the best would be to see them in a deconsecrated space, to keep with the metaphor. Give a holy sound a proper venue.

"Third" came out April 2008. I remember it being a really odd time, an odd sense of doom and hope permeating the air. The first single from Portishead in 10 years, "Machine Gun", had debuted a couple months ahead of the full-length; I think it was one of the last times I went to Pitchfork for any music news. It sounded like the end of world to me. I couldn't wait for the whole deal.

I wouldn't get "Third" right away, but I was more than satisfied by the group performing live on "Later...With Jools Holland" the week the new record came out. They played two cuts: "The Rip" and "We Carry On". Some soul during the heyday of music blogs kindly ripped both performances to MP3 for me; I share them here. These are, by far, my favorite versions of each song. "The Rip" sounds even more ethereal, Barrow's drums so thin and ghostly. "We Carry On"...it's a song that makes me want to run through walls, its motorik beat, slapped against metal, and Silver Apples-style keyboards offset by guitar that plinks and then EXPLODES! I can't hear it without imagining a music video, directed preferably by Ben Wheatly, of medieval soldiers, muddy from head to toe, fighting and dying.

There should be a new Portishead record in 2021, is what I'm saying.

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The Gories - Complete Bandin Sessions

If you're not a fan of the Gories, then you're probably a dipshit, your actions are suspect, and you're not invited to my birthday party.

Is that harsh? Yes, but fair. The Gories are that good. If you've ever liked the White Stripes, or rock 'n' roll in general, you probably should have heard them. Along with The Cramps, Thee Milkshakes and Tim Warren, they were the wellspring of garage punk in the 80s. They released three LPs and a wealth of singles from 1989 to their breakup in 1992. Despite not having the best distribution, their legend grew via word of mouth throughout the 90s and 00s, culminating in a reunion tour in 2009. They've been houserockin' ever since.

I got turned onto the Gories shortly after I heard guitarist/vocalist Mick Collins' next band, the Dirtbombs, in 2001. I'd just started listening to bands like the New Bomb Turks, the Hives, and Oblivians, so the rawness of the Gories fit right in. I never thought I'd get to see them, yet once they reunited, they headlined U+N Fest in Baltimore in 2013. Mrs. Mummy and I snuck in to see them; they were beyond fantastic. Just raw-ass, primitive punk rock 'n' roll; AM radio, mono recordings blasting my ears, raising my pulse and my loins.

Here's the story on the Bandin Session, as told by Dan Kroha to Savage Magazine back in 2007:

The guy who put out our 1st LP, Lenny Puch, had Wanghead Records. His recording studio was where the Bandin show was filmed, so the studio you see in that video is the studio where we recorded our 1st LP. The walls of the studio were covered in carpet and Mick felt that the sound was too dead, so we asked if we could move all our stuff into the metal walled machine shop next door and record in there. Which is what we ended up doing.The Bandin show was shown on a local cable channel back when cable was like the radio station at the end of the dial. Like in a place where no one would see it. I never actually saw it until years later when someone gave me a videotape of it.

So there you have it: a Gories record that never actually came out, and, as far as I can tell, has never really been bootlegged. Someone ought to get on that.

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