More Live Magic

Doing happy hour at Tube again tonight. Every other Wednesday from now on. Same deal, $2 well drinks, $2 tall boys, cheap vegan food, interesting attractive people, cool drunk chicks, power pop, glam rock, new wave, hard rock, any song I think is good from 1975 to 1985... Come hang out!

Every Night is the Best Night of my Life

Come to Tube tonight for happy hour. I will be providing the soundtrack to your quest to hang out and get wasted. You will feel like you are going 100 miles an hour, no joke. $2 wells and tall boys. Plus it's my birthday!

11/18 @ Tube for happy hour

Prepare yourselves! This blog is entering the realm of reality this Wednesday. Well, I guess I've played records at parties and shows a million times, but I am trying to move into the bar scene. You get to get drunk for free and listen to exactly what you want to. Amazing! Tell all your friends, put this shit all over Facebook, come have an excellent time. Don't let me down.

The Godfathers "Birth, School, Work, Death"

Let's keep this hard rock bulldozer ripping. The Godfathers are giving us 100% huge balls on this white hot jam. Call and response riffing and leading is the name of this game, and if you can't take the heat then get the hell out of this kitchen. It's so easy to picture these dudes on stage, jaws clenched, beating those guitars as if they had somehow done something to deserve it. Solo after solo, chorus after chorus. And we haven't even gotten to the lyrics yet. Stark dismal reality presented with no regard to the blind and pacified. Drugs can't even please The Godfather's anymore, their souls have turned to dust and their eyeballs have hardened to stone.

I cut myself but I don't bleed

Eric Martin Band "Don't Stop"

Warning: This track smokes! I haven't exactly figured out what this song is actually about because that secret knowledge is buried deep beneath sexual innuendo. But it is getting me all worked up! Just kidding. Anyway, this song was merely a stepping stone to Eric's true destination, handling lead vocal duties for popular rock group Mr. Big. As I stand here banging my head to this song I see a thick cloud of fog. The music coming out of the speakers slowly clears the room and Eric's future comes into view, crystal clear. There was never any chance that Eric wouldn't end up behind the mic in front of thousands of crazed Japanese fans.

PS: I was initially drawn to this record because it has the same title as my favorite Franke and the Knockouts song, available elsewhere on this blog.

Push. Pull. Hot.

The Buckinghams "Susan/Foreign Policy"

Let's keep this kind-of-psychedelic free ride going with some less wild but equally catchy leftist rock. First of all, I have to admit that this record is really fucking warped. It looks like the devil pinched it and his super hot fingers created a lump in the edge. So the beginnings of both songs suffer in varying amounts. Foreign Policy kind of gets mangled but what doesn't? Anyway, Susan is one hell of a JAM! These dudes don't waste one second before laying down a hundred and one extremely satisfying melodies. Impressive work! Foreign Policy seems to contain some seriously political content! It's about peace and war and hunger and pain and all this heavy stuff. It also contains all these strings and horns and those big drums that you hit with mallets in an orchestra. Plus at the end it gets really weird!

Blessed with fertile thoughts upon our minds

Daughters of Albion "Well Wired/Story of Sad"

Whoa! It's been a WHILE. My bad. Excuses, I've got plenty, but I digress. Get your ears ready for some ridiculously overproduced psychedelic pop. Not really trippy, but there is a whole lot of music going on here. Like 20 tracks per song. Many many instruments are played. This is starting to sound a little heavy, but Well Wired is really catchy and light as a feather and a total jam. You'll be singing it at the dismay of your peers for sure! The other song is intense. Try not to shed a tear.

I'm going with a simpler format here. Less classy scans of the records, but smaller files and thus faster to download.

So alive in overdrive

Gonzalzez "Ain't No Way to Treat a Lady"

Some serious funky disco here. This song's got a deep groove that is fully in the pocket and a righteous message! Gonzalez is a modern man with some seriously now idea's about sexual politics. He realizes that every woman is beautiful and a complex equal who deserves the opportunity to flourish and fully realize her own potential. I also just noticed that a woman wrote this song and it says "Recorded in England" on the record. As if that vague detail could somehow persuade someone into liking this or deciding to purchase it.

Your baby, your woman, your friend

Johnny and the Distractions "Deep in the Night/Diamonds this Time"

Nice one! This is some real good American pop music here. Guitars, piano, saxophone, bass, drums, singing; it's all there. The B side is a tear jerker. This record appears to be self released which automatically adds 82 cool points. Act quickly and download this because I have a feeling that once this starts to get around Johnny Koonce is going straight to the top!

I'm on the street and I'm waiting for you

The Want "Take it or Leave it/The End"

By request! This is another single I found on Mega City Records, home of Jason Didit and his classic "Sell Me Some Beer". I googled the hell out of this The Want record and came up with nothing. Well, there was a stoner metal band from DC called The Want in the 90's. Anyway, this is some interesting stuff here. Both songs are good. I apologize for the wicked skipping on the B side. There is a nasty gouge and this was the best I could do. I'm having a hard time describing this, it veers into all sorts of weird areas and the lyrical content only complicates things. I guess it is 80's pop with British leanings and ripping guitar? As I listen to this again I question why I get this Cure/Echo and the Bunnymen/Chameleons feeling but I do. Then the B side has these prog power rock parts... Totally confusing.

PS: The songwriting credits on this record and the Jason Didit record go to the same two people. And their names and weird. Kerri and Kelly Kristjanson.

I'm no virgin

Red Rider "Rock and Roll Kids/Ya Got What it Takes"

Allright. I'll be the first to admit this isn't the greatest thing that has ended up here. I guess Red Rider was fucking huge in Canada but could never crack the US market. Like they tried really hard and toured here alot and opened up for Rush, yet still no one gave a shit. I can understand why, the singer has this soulful voice that seems to be the main problem. The B side is horrible, but the A side has some killer lazer guitar work and I like the horns.

PS: These posts are coming up in a weird order because I made this foolish mistake. It won't happen again.

You know we gotta, gotta shake it up

The U.S. Apple Corps "Get High on Jesus"

This post is to make up for the Red Rider record. This song absolutely rules. It's soulful in the right way. It's so good it actually makes me want to get high on Jesus. I don't know how you do Jesus, smoke it or snort it or what, but we should get some and do it and listen to this song.

Notice initially the talent of the drummer, the panning of the dueling male/female vocals, the richness of the choir. They build it up and break it down. They sing as if speaking directly to god. The U.S. Apple Corp has got the goods.

When you're feeling sad and weary

Keith "98.6/The Teeny Bopper Song"

How insane is it to attempt a musical career under a totally common normal first name? Some people can pull that move off, but they have names that beg to be famous: Madonna, Prince, Sting... Plus this dude's name isn't even Keith, it's James. Anyway, this song is especially nice and pleasant. However, I think he is implying that love has cured him from some illness. Maybe he should think twice and talk to some of those people who pray instead of going to doctors. Some of those people go to jail for murder...

The love that is my medicine

Derek "Cinnamon/This is My Story"

Another legacy of creativity here. Another poorly conceived stab at glory. This guy's story is pretty sad. He had a few hits in the early/mid 60's under his "real" name Johnny Cymbal. Unfortunately his first career was put to rest as he was labeled a novelty singer for releasing a song that was a goof on Here Comes the Bride. A few years laster he wrote this hot number and released it under his younger brother's name, who happened to play in his band anyway. Lo and behold, Cinnamon rises to the top of the charts and the people demand to witness Derek perform live. I guess Johnny Cymbal was old or hideous or something because he just taught his brother to sing real fast and Derek went out on the road for a string of shows.

In the song Derek wants to screw this girl Cinnamon really bad. He'll do anything. Plus, he knows he's going to screw her eventually, so she should just really give up now.

You know I'm gonna get ya

The Keggs "To Find Out/Girl"

It's no secret that I absolutely love garage rock. The shittier the better! This record is a prime example of teenagers turning their fears and frustrations into something magic. It's sloppy as hell and angry. This record has a cool story, they originally pressed 300 copies then 225 copies were burned in a fire. The stuff of legends! Unfortunately the record has been bootlegged extensively and the record I own is a product of this despicable practice. Regardless, get drunk and turn this up really loud. Something good will happen.

I'm going around town telling lies

Franke and the Knockouts "Don't Stop/Sweetheart"

Holy shit!! Franke can shred! This is some disgustingly catchy early 80's pop rock here. For some insane reason the executives at Millennium decided Sweetheart should be the single here while Don't Stop is the B side. Anyone with ears can tell that Don't Stop is the superior track. Sweetheart is ok, I guess, but for some other reason it climbed to #10 on the charts in it's day. Final notes: a quick google search will reveal how foxy Franke Previte is, and this band shares the home state of New Jersey with pop metal's bad boys Starz.

Say babe, are you for real?

Nick Gilder "Hot Child in the City/Backstreet Noise"

A true masterpiece of disco metal. The A side tells the tale of a sexy underage street walker whom the narrator, eventually reveals his desire to have sex with. The B side is about a group of dudes who are rockers. I hear that! On a side note, Nick Gilder is Canadian and Hot Child in the City reached platinum single status even though the other song is undeniably more rad.

Rock and roll's electric boys

The Lordz "So We Jam/Miss Lucy"

Fuck! This is a beefy track. Totally killer. It's about a typical situation, being so bored you jam. If you haven't been there, get there. Also there is this. The B side is ok, nothing to tell your friends about. The Lordz were from Detroit. They jammed in the early 80s.

No place to go, no money to spend

Starz "Cherry Baby/Rock Six Times"

Another total rocker. Allmusic says "Starz were a mid-'70s pop-metal band consisting of blah blah. They had several singles scrape the bottom ranges of the chart." I read that Cherry Baby is a prisoners lament for the sweet touch of a woman. This is a true gem because both sides rule!

You're Never Gonna Get Away From Me

Jason Didit "Sell Me Some Beer/You're Bringing Me Down"

A very rad 45. The A side is called "Sell Me Some Beer" and the B side is about hating cops. Doesn't get much more bad than that. The only information I can find is that this dude was from Washington and this record either came out in 1980 or 1982. More power rock to come shortly...

Sell Me Some Beer!