An Appreciation: THE LAST

An Appreciation:

THE LAST

NOTE: As with my other entries in my An Appreciation series, this is not a history of The Last.  It is written from the perspective of a fan, not an insider.  So, if you are wanting to find out more in depth info on The Last, please visit their website HERE!

In August of 1979, The Last literally changed the way I listened to music. Before then, I would not give a second glance to anything released on an independent label. But then I bought The Last's debut album, L.A. Explosion the very week it was released... and my view of the music world changed....

At the time, I was 15 years old and heavily into New Wave, Punk and Power Pop music. Growing up, I had been an avid fan of The Beatles, Glen Campbell, Badfinger, The Monkees, Queen, Neil Diamond, The Osmonds and many other '60s and '70s acts that I had encountered on the radio and TV. But when I first saw The Jam on TV in '77, they blew my mind and I started following this new kind of music.   But being a pre-internet young teen, I didn't know much about independent labels.  I just assumed that they were pretty much the same thing as private press albums you'd find eccentric multi-instrumentalists like Bobby Brown selling at the swap meet on Sunday mornings. 

And no, I'm not referring to the same Bobby Brown that led Whitney down her self-destructive path... I'm referring to this psychedelic folkie who played crazy instruments and sang crazy songs... well, at least that was my impression when I first saw him when I was in my early teens. Nowadays, I love this stuff:

Bobby Brown

Anyway, I would take my weekly allowance and head over to Licorice Pizza (on Brookhurst and Chapman in Garden Grove) and buy things that were released via major labels.  This is in the days when I'd buy albums from The Records, The Cars, Yachts, Bram Tchaikovsky, The Jam, The Clash and any other band of that ilk signed to a major label.  Most of the time, I bought things based on album covers, labels, etc. I had never heard of most of the bands and I was always searching for something that would excite me. If the band members looked cool and they were signed to Polydor (for example), then I'd buy it.  I would even buy things based solely on who produced it! Anything on and indie label was avoided.  Funny thing is, many of the albums I bought were actually on indie labels in the UK (Stiff, Radar, Chiswick, etc) but were being distributed by majors in the U.S.  I was not aware of this fact at the time. 

So, one day in August of '79, I made my mid-week trek to Licorice Pizza and started going through the bins like I usually did time and time again. I was always in search of anything new that had arrived in stock. In the 'Miscellaneous L" section, there was an LP that I had not seen there before: an album called L.A. Explosion by a band called The Last.  I was vaguely familiar with the name by seeing a 7" single or two, but had not heard them, let alone knew that they were a 'local' (ie: LA.) band. Remember, I was 15 and unable to attend many gigs because of age and transportation, so I never bothered to look at gig guides to see who was in town.  Maybe in the Calendar section of the L.A. Times, but that was about it...   

But let me tell you, for some reason, the album covered grabbed me.  Their logo... the shadowed photo of the band members on the front cover.... the lyrics printed on the back... it all hit me as being really cool. When I saw it was on Bomp! Records, I was surprised.  "How could a band that looks this cool be on an independent label?", I probably said to myself.  The Bomp! name and logo were cool, too. Regardless, it wasn't in my budget for the day (which was zero) but I figured I'd think about it and MAYBE consider buying it when I got my allowance the following weekend. 

THE LAST-L.A. EXPLOSION (1979)

  

By the time I had walked out of Licorice Pizza that day, my mind was made up: I was going to buy L.A. Explosion!  The next few days were torture to be honest: I couldn't wait to get my allowance and go buy this album with the cover that had become permanently tattooed in my brain. What would they sound like?  Would it be Punk?  Power Pop?  New Wave?  I had no clue, but I was hoping it'd be a melodic delight. So, I went down the following Saturday, plunked down my money and bought L.A. Explosion. Fuck, yeah!

L.A. Explosion contained everything I love about music: great melodies, a nice variety of styles (Power Pop, Punk, Baroque, Psychedelic, etc) and songs that did not overstay their welcome. I knew then and there that Joe Nolte was a songwriting genius. He took his '60s influences, mixed them up, added a shot of Punk and then wrote from the heart. But there was more to The Last than his amazing songs. Here's what I had to say some 25 years later about the album on All Music Guide: 

"Perhaps the least known of the late-'70s L.A. pop acts, the Last rose from the ashes of the Los Angeles club scene alongside bands like 20/20, the Knack, the Nerves, the Plimsouls, et al. Releasing their debut album on a small, albeit influential, indie label didn't help them gain exposure outside of California, but the music contained on this platter is as brilliant as anything that came from that era. Led by Joe Nolte and featuring his brothers Mike and David amongst its members, the Last's secret weapon was the keyboard/flute-playing Vitus Matare, who added extra texture and flair to Joe's engaging songs. Heavily influenced by '60s pop, this album has it all: pure pop ("This Kind of Feeling," "Someone's Laughing"), sunny beach pop ("Every Summer Day"), punk-pop ("I Don't Wanna Be In Love," "Slavedriver"), psych-pop ("She Don't Know Why I'm Here"), etc. Thinly produced, this album has a charm and innocence to it that not many other artists have been able to match."

It wasn't until later that I found out that folks were unhappy with the production of the album. Live, the band were a melodic Punk band for the most part, but the album smoothed out all the edges and made them sound a lot more polished than they actually were. I've read in other places that the thin production put some listeners off. Whatever. L.A. Explosion remains one of the finest albums of it's era... and there were a lot of great albums released during the late '70s. I can assure you that almost every mix tape I made for friends back in the '80s contained a song by The Last.

It was another three years before we heard from The Last again when Bomp! released the four track Fade To Black 12" EP in 1982. The title track was written, but not used, for the motion picture Fade To Black starring Dennis Christopher, which had been released in 1980. While "Fade To Black" was a good song,  the other three tracks blew me away: "That's Just Life", "Obsession" and "Subway Song" were incredible slices of '60s influenced Pop with the added bonus of Joe Nolte's distinctive spin on things.

THE LAST-FADE TO BLACK EP (1982)

Years later, I discovered that the band had recorded, but never released a complete second album in 1980 called Look Again! And lo and behold, "That's Just Life", "Obsession" and "Subway Song" were taken from that album while the rest of Look Again's tracks languished in a vault somewhere.  Actually, the tapes probably languished in shoe box, but 'vault' sounds more dramatic.  When I finally heard Look Again some 25 years after it was recorded, I was devastated as I listened to it: not because it was bad... far from it.  It was amazing! I was devastated because it could have been the album that brought the band to the attention of a much wider audience.  It's everything I've already said about The Last and more.  Sadly, it still remains unreleased.

THE LAST-PAINTING SMILES ON A DEAD MAN (1983)

In 1983, a year after the Fade To Black EP was released, I was shopping at Aaron's Records on Melrose when I stumbled upon an import pressing of an album by The Last called Painting Smiles On A Dead Man. What? A NEW album from The Last?  I think I shat my pants then and there!  For the rest of the night, I barely thought of anything else but getting home and putting that album on. And, boy, was I pleased with what I heard. The band had continued in the same direction as the Fade To Black EP, but everything was much more raw and exciting.  Perhaps the production was not as clean as earlier releases, but the band made up for it in their energetic and passionate performances.  Joe Nolte and mates were on fire at this point.  It was such a shame that the band was getting better yet their future prospects were dimming. This was the final album from The Last before they disintegrated.

(By the way, according to The Last's official website, Joe Nolte has a completely different opinion of Painting Smiles... pretty much the opposite of mine!)

Since I didn't have an inside scoop on the band, I was not aware that they had split after Painting Smiles...  If I had known that, I would have tattooed at least two tears on my cheek in honor of the band... or not. A year or so after Painting Smiles... was released, I attended a party in Redondo Beach where my brother Mike Schnee and his band, The Leeks, were playing. The party was at the house of Leeks keyboardist Bob Mest. Bob knew I was a huge Last fan and told me that Joe Nolte was thinking of stopping by (somehow, either Bob or a roomate knew Joe).  Later in the evening, Bob took me aside and pointed to the corner of the room and said "Look, there's Joe Nolte!"  For the second time in my Last-loving life, I shat my pants!  I was far too nervous to go up to him and and say "Hi". Bah.

THE LAST-CONFESSION (1988)

In 1988, The Last suddenly reappeared with a new album called Confession on SST Records. From the original line-up, only Joe and Mike Nolte remained.  The album was well-produced by Bill Stevenson (All) and contained some great songs, but Vitus' keyboards and musical input was sorely missing.  Still, Joe proved that he was a great songwriter and passionate performer. It may have been a different Last, but under Joe's control and with Mike taking a bigger role, it was still The Last and this album reintroduced their talent to their old fans and a new generation who missed them first time around.  Sure, it was only five years since their last album, but music years are like dog years and it certainly seemed like a lifetime since Painting Smiles....

THE LAST-AWAKENING (1989)

The band returned pretty quickly the following year with Awakening, which continued on in the same tradition as Confession. The album had a load of great songs, production by Bill Stevenson and appearances from original members Vitus Matare and David Nolte. Once again, a fantastic album but missing that spark that made The Last so unique. No fault to the songs, by the way, but the band didn't seem to interested in progressing from their previous album. For any other band, Awakening would have been an effin' great album but for The Last, it was just a really, really, really, really good one. 

THE LAST-GIN & INNUENDOES (1996)

Seven years passed before a new album from The Last appeared.  Gin & Innuendoes was the musical step forward that the band should have taken after Confession. The songs, although darker, were superb and there was plenty of the old Last to be had here, at least musically.  The album was produced by the legendary Earle Mankey and his work behind the boards helped flesh out Joe's great batch of new tunes.  Oddly enough, the album had been finished since '94 but remained unreleased for two years.  That seemed to be a classic case of The Last's (bad) luck.

Since the album's release, the band has been active but has not officially released any material in the 17 years since Gin & Innuendoes hit the shops.  There was a great acoustic album from Joe and Mike Nolte (Joe 'n' Mike) that might still be available through the band's website, but that remains the final release to date.

A new version of The Last did head into the studio in the early part of the millennium and recorded an album called Shank, which remains unreleased.  One track, "I Know", was released on the Of Hands & Hearts benefit CD that I put together back in 2005. I caught them live during this period and all of their new songs were shining examples of the Joe Nolte magic.  By the way, the bill that I saw them on also featured 20/20 and John Wicks & The Records!

A few years back, most of the original line-up (including Vitus) reformed and played a series of live gigs over the span of a few years.  Most recently, Joe and Mike have been fronting a new version of the band.  

One can only hope that The Last release a new album... or at least finally issue the unreleased Look Again album from 1980 or the Shank recordings. Or maybe if I beg, they could at least send a copy of their unreleased stuff to ME!??  I promise not to shit myself again!

Oh, and I totally forgot to tell you WHY The Last changed my outlook on music: from that point on, I started buying indie albums and supporting indie labels.  There was a whole new world of music available to me once The Last showed me that it was OK to be on an independent label! L.A. Explosion was a revelation for me and remains one of my fave albums of all-time.  

Peace, love and pancakes, 

Stephen SPAZ Schnee

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!