SPAZ Reviews Three ELVIS Live Legacy Editions!

ELVIS PRESLEY

ON STAGE: FEBRUARY 1970 

(2CD Legacy Edition)

ELVIS: AS RECORDED AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN 

(2CD Legacy Edition)

ALOHA FROM HAWAII VIA SATELLITE 

(2CD Legacy Edition)

There's no denying my love for ELVIS PRESLEY.  I dig every aspect of his career from his groundbreaking early Rock 'n' Roll/Rockabilly sides on Sun Records to his final albums recorded in his legendary Jungle Room at Graceland two decades later. I even love the movies he made in the '60s!  

Oh, and by the way... Elvis is my favorite vocalist of all time, bar none.  There are two particular periods of Elvis that I love the most: 1960-1963 (the early post-Army years) and 1967-1971, a time period where he sounded more passionate than ever before and when he totally connected with the material. Unfortunately, his touring schedule beginning in 1972 drained his passion and his studio output became very inconsistent.  There were a few decent recording sessions, but he never quite captured the magic again.  Then again, a half-hearted Elvis performance was still miles better than his competition!

These days, people think of three different things when they think of Elvis: those classic '50s recordings, his cheesy '60s movies and his '70s live persona (ie: The Jumpsuit Years). Oddly enough, when most Elvis impersonators take the stage, they tend to focus on the Jumpsuit Years with very little time given to any other point in his career.  So, if it's the Jumpsuit Years people love the most, then RCA/Sony has given fans three great and very different live releases that focus on this era. 

And that's what I'm here to tell you about...

ON STAGE: FEBRUARY 1970

When Elvis made his live comeback in Las Vegas back in July of 1969, it was a defining moment in his career. With his hit 1968 TV special still fresh in everybody's minds, Elvis played his first live shows in nearly a decade and sold out every performance.  When he came back to Vegas early the following year, he was a man on fire.  His voice never sounded better and he was filled with passion and electricity. Disc One,  On Stage: February 1970, captures the excitement of these performances.  While not a complete show, the album features Elvis performing some of his hits, old and new, as well as covers of recent hits by others. The CD includes  four bonus tracks and the digital remaster sounds great.  Disc Two is the Elvis In Person album which features tracks from the first set of Vegas live recordings.  Again, not a full show, but the CD includes six bonus tracks.  On both CDs, Elvis' voice is at it's peak. A little gravel and a whole lotta cool...

ELVIS: AS RECORDED AT MADISON SQUARE GARDEN

Recorded two and a half years after On Stage, As Recorded At Madison Square Garden was a heavily hyped affair, being that Elvis' performances there were his first in the Big Apple since the '50s.  Disc One contains the digitally remastered version of the album, recorded June 10th, 1972, and sounds fantastic.  Vocally, Elvis had lost some of the spark that had ignited him in the late '60s, but the electricity in the air was definitely evident in the performance.  The band is extremely energetic during the set and it stands as one of Elvis' most beloved live recordings.   (Incidentally, the original album was released only a week after it was recorded!) Disc Two is the Afternoon In The Garden album, which was officially released in  1997.  It consists of Elvis' afternoon performance recorded the very same day as Disc One.  It's the same set, different performance and still sounds great.  Elvis may have started going through the motions, but was pretty flawless during these two shows. There's also a box set called Prince From Another Planet that features these two CDs plus a DVD. 

ALOHA FROM HAWAII VIA SATELLITE

So, by 1973, Elvis was nearing the end of his '70s peak, but there was one more show that has gone on to become the defining moment of the Jumpsuit Years: Aloha From Hawaii Via Satellite.  This performance was originally taped and broadcast all over the world (except, oddly enough, the U.S.) on January 14th, 1973. The album followed on February 4th.  While this is an iconic performance, Elvis was far more relaxed on Aloha than on his previous live albums, which was both good and bad.  His voice sounded great, but the energy level was low.  Perhaps Elvis' nerves hindered his performance (broadcasting to a worldwide audience was a new thing back then), but that didn't stop people from snapping the album up when it came out.  Now, don't get me wrong - it IS a great show, but not an incredible one. And strangely enough, the actual performance was not televised in the U.S. until April 4th, nearly three full months after it was recorded!  Disc Two contains the Alternate Aloha release, which was recorded earlier in the day and features the same tracklisting. 

There were more live releases to come in Elvis' lifetime (and beyond), but these three are the most essential and should be in every Elvis fan's collection.  Now, perhaps one day I will write about the excellent studio releases that have come out in the Legacy Edition series.  

Thank you, thank you very much

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

THE LIMOUSINES/Hush: The NEW album available June 6th, 2013!

THE LIMOUSINES

HUSH

6.6.13

“One of the Bay Area's most fun-loving bands” 

– SF Weekly 

“ Catchy, dancefloor-friendly melodies à la MGMT while still retaining a lyrically critical edge” 

– MTV Buzzworthy 

“Engaging electro-rock” 

– KROQ 

The Bay Area’s own The Limousines have announced their anticipated sophomore record Hush will be dropping independently on June 6th.  Recorded in San Jose, the synth-driven dance album was produced by the duo’s multi-instrumentalist Giovanni Giusti and was mastered by Karen Thompson (Calvin Harris, Ellie Glouding).  All songs were co-written by Giusti and The Limos’ lead singer Eric Victorino.  

Hush is a testament to change. On one hand the record is slightly similar to their previous projects – lively and witty tunes that are perfect for a summer party soundtrack.  On the other hand you can tell The Limos’ sound has developed since the release of their debut album Get Sharp (2010). Hush branches out of The Limos’ familiar electronic sound and infuses their dirty beats with a stunning, new diverse mix of new wave, soul, disco, funk and Caribbean zouk elements.  Overly excited yelps and childish sing-song melodies the pair had recorded in the past are now toned down and refined with deeper meaningful lyrics about lost, lust, trust and protection.  The guys felt this new mature sound stemmed from their own personal lives taking a humble turn.  While recording Hush both of them unfortunately lost an abnormal number of friends and family to various tragedies, and Victorino himself was dealing with a mental illness in late 2011.  Life’s cruel circumstances forced them out of their own comfort zone – personally and musically – but over time they were able to embrace the change with peace and clarity. 

“I don’t think it would have been possible for us to write the same kind of album now,” says Giovanni. “We’ve become such close friends.  We’ve traveled the world together, and helped each other through a lot of really hard times.” Victorino continues, “The last album was fun, and this one has its fun moments too, but that’s pretty much all the two have in common. Where Get Sharp had no songs about love, nothing sexy, hardly any darkness – Hush is all about love, drugs, loss and sex...mostly sex. This is where the Limousines stop masturbating and start fucking. It’s our version of growing up.”

Their energetic live show has taken them worldwide, opening for Weezer, Neon Trees, and The Sounds. Since 2009 they’ve been invited to play at such musical festivals as: Outside Lands, The Bamboozle, Treasure Island, Noisepop, plus they’ve had the honor to give private performances at various events for Coca Cola at the 2012 London Olympics, Google Play, Red Bull, Macy’s, NYLON, Hipstamatic, and AT&T. Their previous singles - like “Internet Killed The Video Star,” which the track’s video has accumulated over 1 million views on You Tube – have charted on Sirius/ XM’s Alt Nation Top 18, received numerous synchs (including various shows on MTV), and have earned them the title of MTV’s Push Artist of the Week.  

After signing a singles deal with Universal Republic in 2009 and a brief stint in 2011 with Dangerbird Records, that saw downsizing and the eventual departure of the label’s CEO, The Limousines were released from their contract. Independent once more in the fall of 2012, The Limos launched a Kickstarter campaign raising an impressive amount of $75,000 in 28 days for the recording and release of Hush. 

Hush is about going through the emotions of change and sharing some of life’s most defining moments.  Somehow, with all its differences, the new sound of The Limousines is still unmistakably them – just better. 

ARIEL PINK/Thrash And Burn: Info and Tour Dates!

ARIEL PINK

THRASH AND BURN

5.14.13

(Available on CD and LP)

“As with stored memories one has acquired early in life, Thrash and Burn survives for me less as a finished piece of music in/itself or even a moment captured in time; more a catalog of lifetimes, each piece unique and unnamed, together they recall glimpses of forgotten future-pasts; in cosmology, as one peers ever deeper into the void, first beyond the fixed population density of stars nestled in a ‘suburb’ at the outer edge of our galaxy, into an evermore all encompassing blackness surrounding a thin lane of galaxies, one heads off in one direction, floating along a lonely string of Christmas lights which recede with the distance. Much further downstream, a giant wall of light scaffolding fades into view. That is destiny’s orphan multiverse inhabiting a single frame in its infancy. In time, we would transcend it. From where we stand our footsteps recede and fade into the darkness. But our beginnings are not lost; for someone standing off and above our horizon, in a human ear much more young, the secret of our coming of age shall be preserved revealed and discovered yet once again....”

- Ariel Pink, November 2012

Thrash and Burn dates from a time when Ariel Rosenberg, then a few years from turning “Pink”, first proclaimed himself a “20th Century Composer”, without a trace of irony in his voice. Appropriately, this early work takes the form of a musique concrète epic forged from Rosenberg’s late-90’s faux-primitif, garage-punk, and tape-loop experiments.

At 94 minutes and 36 tracks, Thrash and Burn displays the symphonic ambitions of his genre-devouring pop saga, Haunted Graffiti, but with little in the way of fastidious album-oriented constructions. Rather, Thrash and Burn is a free-form tape ramble that uses gauzy atmospherics to strike up a wicked dialogue with the likes of Rosenberg’s non-pop influences like Iannis Xenakis, Pierre Schaeffer and Luc Ferrari. (In particular, Schaeffer’s “Symphonie pour un homme seul” seems to get plenty of nods here.)

Thrash and Burn was discovered in 2005, in an ankle-deep pile of cassettes in Rosenberg’s Beverly Hills flat. After an initial reconstruction attempt, Thrash and Burn became a 4-cassette box set for the inaugural release of Human Ear Music. Similarity with unreleased HEM archive recordings place Thrash and Burn to between late 1997 and 1999. 

Thrash and Burn was remastered in September 2012 in Berlin, Germany. The final master was brought up to 24 bit resolution, prior to being dynamically and tonally balanced on an Apogee Rosetta and two solid-aluminum monoblock amps.

ARIEL PINK TOUR DATES: 

Fri. 05/17 - Los Angeles, CA - The Masonic Lodge at Hollywood Forever
Sat. 05/18 - San Diego, CA - Casbah
Mon. 05/20 - Big Sur, CA - Henry Miller Library
Tues. 05/21 - San Francisco, CA - The Chapel
Thurs. 05/23 - Portland, OR - Wonder Ballroom
Sat. 05/25 - Vancouver, BC - Biltmore
Mon. 05/27 - Gorge, WA - Sasquatch! Fest
Tues. 05/28 - Missoula, MT - Badlander
Fri. 05/31 - Minneapolis, MN - Cedars
Sat. 06/01 - Chicago, IL - Do-Division
Sat. 06/01 - Chicago, IL - Empty Bottle (late show)
Sun. 06/02 - Dekalb, IL - Pink Otto's
Mon. 06/03 - Champaign, IL - Blind Pig
Tues. 06/04 - Cleveland, OH - Grog Shop
Wed. 06/05 - Pittsburgh, PA - Altar
Thurs. 06/06 - New York, NY - Irving Plaza
Fri. 06/07 - Boston, MA - Sinclair
Sat. 06/08 - Northampton, MA - Pearl Street
Sun. 06/09 - Philadelphia, PA - Union Transfer
Mon. 06/10 - Washington DC - U Street
Tues. 06/11 - Baltimore, MD - Ottobar
Wed. 06/13 - Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival
Thurs. 06/14 - Pensacola, FL - Vinyl Music Hall
Fri. 06/15 - New Orleans, LA - Tipitina's
Mon. 06/17 - Dallas, TX - Trees
Tues. 06/18 - Austin, TX - Mohawk

An Appreciation: RAY MASON

An Appreciation:

RAY MASON

The fact that many of you have never heard of Ray Mason, let alone heard his music, is an absolute shame. If his music could only be heard by a wider audience, he would be embraced and beloved by tens of thousands of new fans.  Perhaps that day will come, but if it does, I want Ray to be alive for a long, long time so he can enjoy the well-deserved adulation. I hope that happens sooner than later.

Ray Mason turns 63 this year and has been a musician for roughly 45 of those years. He's not flashy, although he certainly has the talent.  His instrument of choice is a '65 Silvertone guitar. Yes, as in the Silvertone guitar made exclusively for Sears.  If you don't think that's cool, there are musicians such as Jack White who use Silvertone equipment. Beck plays a Silvertone guitar.  Chris Isaak named his debut album Silvertone.  Other musicians who have used Silvertone equipment include  Jerry Garcia, Rudy Sarzo, Chet Atkins, Bob Dylan, David Lindley, Garry Nutt, John Fogerty, Tom Fogerty, Joan Jett, James Hetfield, Dave Grohl, Mark Knopfler, Brad Paisley, and many more.

But back to Ray Mason.  An unassuming but enormously talented musician, Ray has been a staple on the East Coast for many years.  Based in Massachusetts, he has pretty much built up a great reputation as a guitarist and all around performer, but he hasn't really broken out of the 'most under appreciated' category since he started releasing solo albums in the '90s.

So, what does Ray Mason sound like?  He has a very unique style that sounds like the perfect mix of Neil Young, David Lindley and NRBQ with a little dash of Rockpile (Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds) and some of Ric Ocasek thrown in for good measure. The Ocasek reference may not be immediately apparent, but if you listen to The Cars, you'll notice that Ric had a tendency to recycle old Rock 'n' Roll ideas and create something new out of them.  Like Ric, Ray simply takes a bit of Rock's tapestry and sews together a new quilt!

Is he a Blues musician?  Well, some of his songs are informed by the Blues, but his songs are far too melodic for him to be classified as such. Some could say he's Americana/Y'Alternative/Roots Rock, but the best way to describe him is Rock 'n' Roll.  His influences seem to encompass the best of '50s and '60s Rock music yet everything comes out sounding like Ray Mason!

Ray covers a lot of musical ground on his albums. For example, the glorious "I Own The Ending" (from the album When The Clown's Work Is Over) sounds like it cold have come straight out of the Brian Wilson songbook yet it still manages to sound like no one else but Ray Mason. "We Don't Get Along Anymore" (from the album Between Blue And Okay) is a Power Pop delight that is distinctly Ray Mason.  This is pretty much the case for a lot of Ray's catalog.  There are no Rock pastiches in his ouvre, but there are subtle tributes to the music that inspired him.

Ray's music is far from pretentious. It is pure and it is real.  For an artist with a dozen full length albums to his name, there's not a weak one among them.  Even his most recent release, 2009's Like Bugs Chewing On Paper, sounds as fresh and inspired as his debut, the aforementioned Between Blue And Okay (1994).  When trying to decide which titles to start with, go ahead and listen to some of the samples provided on CDBaby.com

You can access the Ray Mason albums HERE 
Or you can access the Ray Mason Band albums HERE

There are a few albums on Spotify, so I've thrown together a mini sampler for you to listen to HERE

I've been a Ray Mason fan for nearly 20 years.  He sent a copy of his debut to the POPsided offices back when I was a co-editor there and I was hooked.  I'm a lifer.  Ray is the man.  Don't you forget it!

Oh, that reminds me.  I have to start tracking down albums by The Lonesome Brothers, which Ray is a member of. They have seven albums out.... and I have a lot of catching up to do!

SELECTED TITLES FROM RAY MASON'S CATALOG: 

LIKE BUGS CHEWING ON PAPER

OLD SCHOOL

WHEN THE CLOWN'S WORK IS OVER

IDIOT WISDOM

THREE DOLLAR MAN

SPAZ reviews THE BLOW MONKEYS' Feels Like A New Morning!

THE BLOW MONKEYS

FEELS LIKE A NEW MORNING

Available NOW!

The Blow Monkeys of the 2000s are very much the same Blow Monkeys of the '80s, only different.  Feels Like A New Morning is their third studio album since reuniting in 2007 and, to be honest, it's a far more consistent affair than anything they've released in their 30 year career.  

Now, don't get me wrong... I LOVE The Blow Monkeys.  I got into them back when the U.S. EP Forbidden Fruit was released in 1985.  I ended up buying their import debut album, Limping For A Generation (1984) and loved it's strange, cool vibe.  When the slick and lush Animal Magic came out in '86, I snapped it up.  "Digging Your Scene" went on to be a pretty substantial hit for the band, but apart from radio plays, it was the 'alternative' stations like KROQ who continued to play the band after that hit, not Top 40.  The album She Was Only  Grocer's Daughter (1987) was an even better album than Animal Magic, but here in the U.S., it didn't get as much attention. The band went in a House-flavored direction in '89 with Whoops! There Goes The Neighborhood and 1990's Springtime For The World (neither of which were released here in the States) but split soon afterwards.

Frontman Dr. Robert pursued a solo career and even worked alongside Paul Weller in the '90s, but by 2007, the band came back together to try to reclaim their magic.  But anyone looking for another "Digging Your Scene" were sorely disappointed.  For those looking to hear some new classic Blow Monkeys tunes were, thankfully, paid in spades.

Now, in 2013, the band offers up Feels Like A New Morning, an album that continues to avoid the gloss of the '80s and embraces the warm, earthy feel of the Doctor's solo albums.  But this is NOT a Dr. Robert album by any means... it is a band effort that succeeds on every level.

Dr. Robert's voice is deeper, richer and more expressive than the band's early work, while the rest of the Blow Monkeys - Neville Henry (saxophone), Mick Anker (bass) and Tony Kiley (drums) - leave their own individual marks on the album.

"Oh My" is the album's first single and on the surface, it may seem as if it's an average, acoustic Blues inspired track, but they throw a few unexpected chord changes in the mix, lifting the track to a different level.  Marc Bolan was great with taking a few standard Rock 'n' Roll chords and then adding a melodic twist by tossing in a fourth chord that changed the course of the song.  The Blow Monkeys pull that off here.

The soulful "Chained", with Robert's passionate vocal, sounds like a logical single and, while it doesn't sound like it came from the '80s, it might be the track that lures back their old audience that may not have been paying attention to their post-reunion recordings.  It is an extremely moving track that bears repeated listenings.  A real stunner and will certainly be one of the best tracks of the year.  

If you're looking for some upbeat tracks, then "Feels Like A New Morning" and "Shake It Off" will satisfy your cravings.  For those looking for something jazzy will fall in love with "In No Time At All".  The band offer up some wonderfully melodic mellow tunes with "Cover Me" and "Hold Everything Dear".  And there's plenty of great songs that straddle different genres here.  More Wilco than Style Council, the new sound of The Blow Monkeys is stylistically diverse and thoroughly engaging.

Feels Like A New Morning will surprise those who only know the band from "Digging Your Scene" or anything else they recorded in the '80s.  The Blow Monkeys prove here that they deserve your love and adulation.  They make it all sound so elegant with an edge..

I am totally digging their scene...

P.S. Be sure to pick up the 2CD version which features acoustic versions of Blow Monkeys classics!






Peace, love and pancakes,
Stephen SPAZ Schnee

Also available on Cherry Red:

Limping For A Generation (Deluxe 2CD Edition)

Animal Magic (Deluxe 2CD Edition)

DAVE RUDE, guitarist for TESLA, to release his 2013 album, The Key, on June 6th!

DAVE RUDE BAND

THE KEY

6.4.13

Tesla guitarist Dave Rude delivers the goods with his latest hard rock offering The Key! This 10 song, riff-laden extravaganza, captures the true spirit and essence of American Rock 'n' Roll music! Produced by Marc Kapetan, The Key showcases both Dave’s solid guitar playing skills, and unique songwriting ability. Along with bassist Marco Guzman, drummer Josh Schmidt and Dave's signature guitar style, this release offers up a straight-forward mix of hard rockin’ cuts that will satisfy any and all fans of the genre!

Listen to "Yours To Hold", the album's first single, 

 HERE!

SPAZ reviews FRONTIER RUCKUS' album Eternity Of Dimming!

FRONTIER RUCKUS

ETERNITY OF DIMMING

Available NOW!

Let's get a few things straight, OK?

1.  I am not a fan of the whole Americana/Roots/Y'alternative movement.  Much of it bores me: always has, always will.  I think that a lot of young bands choose the Americana route because they are unable to write a decent hook  to save their lives... and they look like they don't enjoy shaving or bathing. 

2. I am not a hipster, nor do I pretend to be.  I don't need a certain magazine, radio station or website to tell me what to like.  I like what I like. (Then again, I use a blog to try to encourage others to listen/buy what I like, so I consider that a bit hypocritical). 

3. Sometimes, hipsters can physically resemble an Americana musician.  The only way you can tell them apart is that hipsters pay decent money to look like they don't enjoy shaving or bathing.  

 4. Even though I don't care for Americana and I'm not a hipster, I will still give every band and musician a chance.  If it doesn't tickle my fancy, then it doesn't deserve another spin.  But if I hear something I like, then I'll load the CD into iTunes then listen to it on my iPod.

When I first received a copy of Frontier Ruckus' Eternity Of Dimming, the first thing that made me want to give it a spin was that it was a two CD set.  If a band decides to release a double album, then that automatically piques my interest. Double albums have a 'cool' stigma attached to them, so I obviously wanted to see what the band had to say... and it sure sounds beautiful!

Matthew Milia, the Michigan-based musician behind Frontier Ruckus, creates a world filled with melancholia and wonder.  The songs on Eternity Of Dimming are filled with simple beauty and warmth.  All the trademarks of Americana are here yet the songs transcend any genre.  The melodies are slow burners, rarely hitting their mark immediately.  Instead, they snuggle up to you and worm their way into your very being.  Like Roddy Frame did with early Aztec Camera, Milia's songs eventually make their mark and make you feel as if they have existed for generations.  

As a lyricist, he turns the average into extraordinary. The little things in life never sounded so important, so real and so big. His vocals have a hint of Devandra Bahnart, Michael Stipe and Neil Young, but there's a charm and innocence that sets him apart from the average singer/songwriter.  Not once do you ever get the feeling that he is detached and going through the motions.  The songs seem like they are ripped from the pages of his personal journal. He's a poet with a knack for writing lovely tunes.

Highlights on the album include "Birthday Girl", "Black Holes", "Careening Catalog Immemorial", "Surgery", the title track and so many others.  

Sometimes, when I write a review, the hardest albums to write about are the ones that I FEEL and not just HEAR: this is one of those albums. I could go on and on about each individual song, but it wouldn't do the album justice.  The songs work when taken out of context with the rest of the album, but all 20 tracks conspire together to create an album of exquisite beauty.  

I'm a fan.  In fact, this album has altered my perception of Americana and I will now approach more artists with less skepticism.  That's a pretty big deal for me.  But no worries, I still plan to bathe and shave...just not as often!

Peace, love and good tunes,

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

.