Tag: rock

549. Dead Milkmen

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(February 2024) Episode 549 is DEAD MILKMEN. I seems like there were a thousand bands like this when I was in college, but somehow Dead Milkmen stuck in my memory, probably due to the prevalence of “Bitchin’ Camaro” on college radio. It’s easy to see why suburban kids like me in a comfy dorm room would label this punk rock; at most we can call it nerd punk. It’s more fitting to consider them as humor rock because that’s the main thrust of their lyrics and songs. But I find that it hasn’t aged well, compared to bands that exhibited more cleverness and absurdity in their approach, like They Might Be Giants, Violent Femmes and King Missile. Much of my sour impression is due to the vocal style of Joseph Genaro, who comes off as the kid who tried to write a comic series in high school that no one but him thought was funny.

Favorite album: Big Lizard in My Backyard

Favorite song: Bitchin’ Camaro

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Only if it scratches your nostalgia itch, otherwise no need to bother.

548. Siouxsie and the Banshees

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Episode 548 is SIOUXSIE AND THE BANSHEES. There was a goth girl at my high school who was really into Siouxsie and the Banshees and, despite never having heard their music, I declared that therefore I hated the band. Many decades passed and I have gotten into many other bands that also emerged from the late-70s UK punk scene (Wire, Buzzcocks, Stranglers, etc.). So I thought Siouxsie and the Banshees deserved a try. Well, I didn’t dislike it for the reasons that I thought I would have hated it in the 1980s. But I still didn’t like it. I found their music … boring. And Siouxsie Sioux’s wailing annoying. I don’t want to write off all things labeled “goth rock” because of this, but it doesn’t help.

Favourite album: The Scream

Favourite song: Hong Kong Garden

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Nah

542. Cat Stevens / Yusuf

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(January 2024) Episode 542 is CAT STEVENS, who has also recorded as YUSUF ISLAM and YUSUF.  I detect four phases of his career. 1967-71: He started out in folky pop before transitioning to singer-songwriter mode with gentle songs and sweet melodies. This era produced his most popular tunes and is also his best. 1972-78: Stevens broadened into pop with more orchestration, but also lost the charm of his peak period. 1995-2004: After his conversion to Islam and two decades away from the recording studio, he made some recordings of religious content. 2006-present: As Yusuf, he returned to secular music and a return to his original form with pleasant results albeit with a time-worn voice (also credit to the guru of comebacks, Rick Rubin).

Favourite album: Teaser and the Firecat

Favourite song: Wild World

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: You can make do with a greatest hits of his first period. But for an interesting diversion, try some albums from the recent decade, like Tell ‘Em I’m Gone.

539. Meat Puppets

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(December 2023) Episode 539 is MEAT PUPPETS. In a slightly alternate universe, I would have been into the Meat Puppets from the beginning. But maybe because I didn’t hang around the college radio station enough, I never experienced that entry point that many of my peers did (same goes for me with lots of SST and other bands that followed a similar career arc, like Flaming Lips and Butthole Surfers). Coming at this retroactively, I’m not sure how to approach them. Is it through their first punk offering, their odd prog-guitar/slacker-vocal thing from the late 80s, their Nirvana-aided 15 minutes of MTV fame, their later conventional rock and country rock? Don’t get me wrong, there is lots of good music in here. And I appreciate that they evolved and didn’t rely on retreads.  But I can’t figure out what makes their music special enough to make me want to return to it. Maybe my hipper peers can inform me.

Favorite album: Meat Puppets II (1984)

Favorite song: Lake of Fire

Best mid-period album: Too High To Die (1994)

Best late-period album: Lillipop (2011)

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Kinda depends on your preference, given their style evolution (see above). But I’d recommend the first two raw-sounding albums.

538. The Stranglers

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(December 2023) Episode 538 is THE STRANGLERS. I have this odd fascination with the late 1970s UK musical moment, when vocalists chose to assert rather than deemphasize their British accents; Johnny Rotten’s God Save the Queen being a prime example. The Stranglers were among the burst of groups that emerged from the punk or punk-adjacent scene featuring angular and bass-driven beats and think accents: Wire, The Jam, Buzzcocks, The Clash, Gang of Four, the Damned, etc. Lovely stuff. The Stranglers’ first three albums are classics of this style, but they also stood apart, neither political nor in-your-face. Their sound evolved over the years, not chasing fads but also not plowing new ground. They’ve stayed active until the present, and while the recordings are successively less interesting, they’re not bad. “Golden Brown” is both their most popular and most unusual song with its neo-baroque pop sound.

Favourite album: No More Heroes

Favourite song: (Get A) Grip (On Yourself)

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Listen to the first three albums.

537. Elton John

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(December 2023) Episode 537 is ELTON JOHN. In third grade, the quiz on the playground was “Elton or Elvis.” I answered Elton, of course, because I wasn’t a loser. This anecdote tells how absolutely huge he was in the mid-1970s, to be put on par with the King. I like Elton John, but never collected his albums or sought out his music; it was always on the radio. His popular songs remain enjoyable classics. But there’s a reason it took 537 episodes for me to get to this megastar. I anticipated I would be bored by most everything after Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. And so I was. It seems sacrilegious to say this, but much of his stuff is crap. I’m not drawn to piano troubadour acts, so it’s not a surprise my favorite song of his is guitar-led. Even so, Sir Elton’s music, showmanship and longevity well earn him the title of Elder Statesman of Popular Music.

Note on favorite album choice: Elton’s first recordings in 1968 were psychedelic/baroque pop songs in fashion in the wake of Sgt. Peppers, which explains the copy-cat album title, Regimental Sgt. Zippo. Producers felt this wasn’t the right sound for him and they were shelved in favor of the piano songman approach of his first issued album, Empty Sky, and onward. This early collection wasn’t released until 2021. I list it as my favorite because I happen to love that particular kind of late 60s music. But that album is not representative of the rest of his work and far from his best album.

Favourite album: Regimental Sgt. Zippo

Best album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Favourite song: Saturday’s Alright for Fighting

Favourite ballad: Love Song

Worst album (among many) Duets

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: It suffice to have a greatest hits album of his big hits from the early 1970s.

535. Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich

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(December 2023) Episode 535 of the “opus project” is DAVE DEE, DOZY, BEAKY, MICK & TICH, the biggest mouthful of a band name I’ve reviewed since King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard (episode 255). They emerged within the British Invasion of the mid-1960s, although they didn’t make a mark in the USA much beyond an obscure reference in a Quentin Taratino film (extra credit if you can name the film). Their sound is on the lighter pop side of the Invasion-era sound (closer to Herman’s Hermits than the Rolling Stones) but it features some nice hooks. Like so many contemporaries, they kept with the fad by recording an obligatory psychedelic-ish album (Fresh Ear), which is my favorite of their recordings but not representative of their sound.

Favourite album: Fresh Ear (as D,B,M&T)

Favourite song: She Was A Raver

Favorite song (of their usual sound): Hold Tight

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Not really necessary unless you like deep tracks of the British Invasion

530. Butthole Surfers

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(October 2023) Episode 530 is the BUTTHOLE SURFERS. Based on long-ago exposure to their first EP, I thought they were a punk band. That was true in that moment, but over their career they were a lot else, and that else is hard to characterize. It’s a mishmash of rock, noise, metal, psychedelic, experimentalism, tape collages. The attitude was irreverent and inflammatory, designed to shock and offend. I had no idea until now that the 90s alt-rock hit “Pepper” was by the same dudes who gave us “The Shah Sleeps in Lee Harvey’s Grave.” Butthole Surfers is a group that earns its cult following. I love bizarre stuff but on first listen I’m not sure it’s my kind of bizarre. Ask me after a few more listens, I may change my mind.

Favorite album: Locust Abortion Technician

Favorite EP: Butthole Surfers

Favorite song: P.S.Y.

Favorite freak-out covers: Hurdy Gurdy Man and American Woman

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Per above, I’ll need more to pass judgment. but I got enough to say that they deserve their cult following.

527. Blue Öyster Cult

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(October 2023) Episode 527 is BLUE ÖYSTER CULT. I was not into BÖC back in the day other than hearing their songs on FM radio. About a dozen years ago I tried out a couple albums but couldn’t understand their raison d’être and set them aside. But after seeing Blue Öyster Cult listed as an influence for several hard rock and heavy metal groups I’ve covered, I reviewed them for this project. I still don’t get it. Their music doesn’t easily fit in any category but also never develops its own identity. I suppose lacking an identity can be its own identity. I gave them my best shot but as a result I was bored.

Favorite album: Secret Treaties

Favorite song: Godzilla

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Pass, but I’m open to arguments from fans in case I’m missing something.

526. The Youngbloods

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Episode 526 is THE YOUNGBLOODS. You’ll recognize them from the hippie anthem “Get Together.” They are labeled a folk-rock band, staying on the lighter side of the counterculture-era musical spectrum, akin to the Lovin’ Spoonful, the Association and country-ish Byrds. They recorded five albums from 1967-1972. The music is fine, but to me it never coalesces into a musical identity.

Favorite album: The Youngbloods

Favorite song: Get Together

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: It’s OK to take a pass.