WNEW | Where Rock Lives

42 Favorite Finds, Part XIV

In his final installment of honorifics to this year's favorite finds, Fusion 45 has a funny feeling in certain parts of his body.

The Watson Twins - If I had personally met the Watson Twins as a young man, I would've been both attracted and scared at the same time (kind of like the moths that circle the lamp on their homepage) wanting to get close but fearing that I'd get burned. As an old married guy, I don't get that feeling much anymore on the personal level ('cept for my wife, who still both intrigues and scares me), but musically, I certainly get it when I listen to the Watson Twins' Fire Songs album. Unique, melodic, at times windswept, at other times smoldering. A pure delight.

Bar Woman Blues - The Watson Twins

The Weepies - I love the Weepies. If the Watson Twins are the intriguing-yet-fear-inducing girls you saw in the halls between middle school classes, then the Weepies' Deb Talen is the approachable, fresh-faced, nice-to-everyone girl who sat in front of you in Algebra class. She may be out of your league. Correct that: she is out of your league, but she'll never let on. Their Hideaway record, released this past April, reminds me of the Partridge Family updated for the 21st century. I love this record.

All Good Things - The Weepies

The Zutons - As the guy who's seldom written a post that hasn't been classified as "Totally Out There," I guess it's appropriate to close my alphabetical list of my 42 favorite finds with the Zutons. Another discovery from Jools Holland's show, the Zuton's describe themselves as "blues grass rootsy stompy" music. Considering they named themselves after the Magic Band's guitarist Zoot Horn Rollo, you kinda get where they're coming from. Think Talking Heads, Devo, Sly & the Family Stone, Dexy's Midnight Runners and Madness. Bonus: saxophonist Abi Harding is cute and talented but doesn't play like some repulsive pretty face smooth jazz tooter.

Taste Test: Havana Gang Brawl

Video Classics: 'Auld Lang Syne'

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

The final Video Classics of 2008 isn't so much about celebrating a song or video, but a band that normally wouldn't appear in this space. In fact, the band in question doesn't have a single song on either the 1991 or 1996 Firecracker 500 lists. Many have heard of them, but have rarely, if ever, heard them. The band in question is Phish, and if you're not one of their many devoted fans, its likely the most exposure you've ever had to them is on New Year's Eve.

Founded at the University of Vermont in 1983, Phish's four members jammed together for over 20 years before taking a hiatus in 2004. From their inception they received little radio play, little attention from the record companies, and almost no exposure from MTV (a must for any band wanting to make it big in the '80s). Nevertheless, the band developed a strong following by word of mouth (and in later years, by viral marketing over the web and through web-based communities). The Phish fanbase shows a level of dedication that rivals that of fans of the Grateful Dead (to whom Phish is sometimes compared), known for travelling great distances to follow the band about as they toured festivals.

When they were active, Phish gave notable concerts on Halloween (where they would traditionally cover the music of another band) and on New Year's Eve. Their New Year's Eve 1995 concert at Madison Square Garden (one of many memorable concerts by the band on that day and in that venue) was considered by the band one of their best ever, and has been hailed as one of the best concerts of the '90s. The video below, taken in Miami, shows Phish's last New Year's countdown and rendition of Auld Lang Syne before their 2004 hiatus. Fans of the band can look forward to a very happy new year, however, as Phish has announced they will play at least three reunion shows in 2009.

Have memories of this song or the Firecracker 500? Add your thoughts to the comments below or take a look at Video Classics past...

This Week in Rock History: On the Way Out

Rock music has a robust history, so every Wednesday, J.A. Bartlett of the Hits Just Keep On Comin' talks about the biggest and most intriguing moments from years past...

This week in 2002, funeral services were held for Joe Strummer, co-founder of the Clash, who died suddenly at age 50 only six months after the Clash had been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Before he was cremated, two stickers were affixed to his casket: one said "Question Authority" and the other "Vinyl Rules."

... in 1997, ex-Spirit guitarist Randy California drowned in Hawaii while trying to save his son from an undertow. He was 45. California, born Randy Wolfe, supposedly got his stage name while playing with Jimi Hendrix, who started calling him "Randy California" to distinguish him from another Randy in the band, whom Hendrix called "Randy Texas."

... in 1978, the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco closed. Everybody who was anybody played the theater during its 12 years as a rock venue: the Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, the Who, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, and Jimi Hendrix, to name only a few. In 1976, it was the scene of the Band’s Last Waltz farewell show. Several tracks on Frampton Comes Alive and both Live Cream albums were recorded there, including the band’s famous version of Crossroads. Winterland was the home base of the Grateful Dead, who headlined the closing-night show along with New Riders of the Purple Sage and the Blues Brothers.

... in 1962, the Beatles auditioned for Decca Records in London. They played 15 songs for label executive Dick Rowe, who dismissed them by telling their manager, "guitar groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein." At competing label EMI, the Beatles were turned down by three producers before George Martin decided to take a chance on them.

Did we miss something this week? Add it to the comments below...

A.M. Nuggets: New Year's Eve Has Always Rocked (And It Still Does)

Tonight's the big night - the end of 2008 and the start of a whole new year of possibilities. Whether you're taking in a show tonight, partying down with friends or freezing your ass off in Times Square, the ghosts of some amazing NYE shows from years past will be with you.
We want to hear about your New Year's plans - leave a comment and let us know where you'll be tonight. WNEW staff will be all over the map tonight, taking in My Morning Jacket at MSG, enjoying three sets of Gov't Mule at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and who knows what else.
To get your NYE started right here's a clip from last year at Radio City Music Hall where moe. blew the lid off that classy joint and lit up the biggest disco ball I've ever seen. Enjoy, and have a fun safe evening everybody.

Midnight Oil's Messages and Music Still Burn

The weather outside might be frightful in the Northern Hemisphere, but the summer solstice just arrived in Australia. What better remedy for the cold than the fire emanating from Midnight Oil? Unfairly lumped among other Eighties Band and a one-hit wonder in the U.S. (but what a hit Beds Are Burning was), they turned out two-plus decades of socially conscious, punked-up rock.

America was largely spared the polarizing nature of the band. After all, how many Americans can name the Australian prime minister? Whether they are aware of it, most could name this member of Parliament. Australia really hasn’t had a band of that magnitude since -– nor one so rooted Down Under. Wolfmother might hail from Australia, but they anchored their sound to Led Zeppelin’s catalog instead of their home country.

Midnight Oil have aged like wine from a strong harvest. They didn’t fall prey to synthesizers marring too many records from their peak years. Their best material often reflected their Clash-inflected pub rock roots. I struggle to think of recent bands whose sound travels anywhere near Midnight Oil – Peter Garrett will never go down as a great rock singer, but he was always articulate, emotional and as charged as the music surrounding his voice.

Take Best of Both Worlds; it fully lives up to that billing. Behind raging guitar, it offers little hint of its early Eighties origins, becoming a timeless anthem. For all this discomfort their politics aroused in others, Midnight Oil always came across as a band comfortable in its own skin.

Earlier songs like Power and the Passion or Back on the Borderline are the works of raw yet confident band. While a couple of greatest hits packages succinctly sum up the band, the trio of Red Sails in the Sunset, Diesel and Dust and Blue Sky Mining rarely miss the mark. With Blue Sky Mining, Midnight Oil produced the liveliest song ever about asbestos miners sacrificing their health and lives to feed their families. Luckily, a mournful harmonica keeps the song from forgetting its brutal message.

Easily the peak of their popularity, Diesel and Dust sounds as fresh as it did in 1988; its most visceral tune, Dead Heart, opens Side Two with knives drawn and never stops stabbing. Dreamworld swirls in competing guitar arpeggios that coalesce into a wonderfully chaotic whole.

Some late-career highlights equal their early work –- Surf’s Up Tonight presents a seemingly chilled-out Midnight Oil that still simmers with outrage under the surface.

It’s interesting to think of Truganini from Earth, Sun, Wind and Moon, against its contemporaries. Grunge was everywhere, and Midnight Oil stuck to songs of this ilk, with bass-driven verses and sounds born deep in the Outback. The song's subject was another matter, as it references the Tasmanian Aborigines and causes some consternation in Australia.

Although the band called it a day, other members soldier on in new outfits and Garrett now serves as Australia's Minister for Environment, Arts and Heritage, the issues Midnight Oil railed against haven’t disappeared; in fact, more people than ever are aware of environmental degradation.

If only Midnight Oil’s finer works still received such attention.

Video Classics: 'Gimme Three Steps'

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

There are plenty of songs where some man proclaims his interest in a woman and how much he would do or endure for the pleasure of her company. There are far fewer songs where the man looks to drop the woman at the first sign of trouble and go running for the hills to save his skin, and that may just make them all the more interesting. Lynyrd Skynyrd's Gimme Three Steps is one of these.

The song (which may or may not be based on actual events that happened to Ronnie Van Zant) talks about a man dancing at a local hangout 'with a girl named Linda Lou'. An angry, armed man enters, apparently believing Linda Lou to be cheating with the song's protagonist. Rather than protest his innocence, or defend the honor of the lady in question, the singer cravenly (but perhaps realistically) asks if he can be given 'just three steps' to get a head start on fleeing.

The song was written by Allen Collins and Van Zant, and one of the few the band released as a single, though it didn't chart. It did, however, make the cut for their debut album, pronounced 'lĕh-'nérd 'skin-'nérd, and has gone on to be a favorite of classic rock stations everywhere. It came in at spot #372 on the 1996 Firecracker 500.

The video below is taken from a 1976 performance by Lynyrd Skynyrd at Knebworth Fair in Herfordshire, England. The original studio version can be heard after the jump.

Delaney Goes Home

Guitarist, singer, and songwriter Delaney Bramlett died over the weekend. You may not know his name, but you should. Delaney and Bonnie and Friends, a band composed of Bramlett, his wife Bonnie, and a rotating cast of players that sometimes included Leon Russell, Eric Clapton, George Harrison, and Duane Allman is one of the most underrated musical collectives in history. The 1970 edition of the band, 11 pieces in all, made a legendary live album, On Tour With Eric Clapton, and would go on to back George Harrison on All Things Must Pass and The Concert for Bangla Desh. The core of the band, keyboard player Bobby Whitlock, bassist Carl Radle, and drummer Jim Gordon, would become the rhythm section of Derek and the Dominoes.

Delaney and Bonnie themselves brewed up a mix of rock, soul, gospel, and country that we might have called "roots music" if the term had existed in 1970. (Example here: Poor Elijah, unplugged, featuring Clapton on acoustic guitar.) It's best heard on the album Motel Shot, which features D&B's biggest hit, "Never Ending Song of Love." But they could plug in pretty well too, as on this live recording of Comin' Home, which features Clapton, Harrison, and Billy Preston. (And let's give it up to Bonnie Bramlett for being one hell of a soul shouter, too, although that hairdo is not very rock and roll.)

Songs you know by Bramlett include Superstar, famously covered by Rita Coolidge, the Carpenters, and most recently, Sonic Youth, and Let it Rain, one of Clapton's most gorgeous solo performances. After Delaney and Bonnie divorced in 1973, both continued to record and perform separately. Delaney made a handful of solo albums in the '70s and in 2003, 2005, and 2007. He was a native of Mississippi, and was 69 years old. 

A.M. Nuggets: Free Download on iTunes - From the Stars by White Lies

White Lies is a cool new band out of the U.K. that hit the scene late in 2008 with a super-upbeat EP titled Death. The band has gotten into the holiday spirit this week by releasing a bunch of free tidbits to fans, ahead of the release of their first full-length album To Lose My Life (due out in January).
One of the singles off To Lose My Life is this week's free iTunes download - pop that iTunes and check out From the Stars for free.
Let us know what you think of White Lies, we'll be watching these guys and expect them back in the States sometime in early '09.

New Release Tuesday Preview

Every Monday, Alex Young of Consequence of Sound delivers a sneak preview of the top albums being released for the week...

December 30, 2008. The last Tuesday of the year. The last chance for artists to send out their latest creative efforts for the entire world to hear before the New Year rings in and brings a whole lot more new stuff. Under that reasoning, one would think the final Tuesday of any year would be overflowing with noteworthy new music releases. But reality can suck sometimes, and while we're busy playing with our new toys and sipping on some bubbly, the industry has once again decided to stand pat, ready to unveil nothing this week, instead choosing to wait for the calender to flip before releasing anything of any real quality.

So what is one to do over the next seven-plus days? I know personally I'll be relistening to those gems that first entered my ears over the last 12 months, catching up on the ones that haven't had a chance, and gearing up for the head ahead. With that being said, I figured now would be a good opportunity to offer a few suggestions from each of these categories. Think of it at as a recap of sorts:

Alex's Top 5 Albums of 2008:

1. Titus Andronicus - The Airing of Grievances: If you haven't heard of these New Jersey rockers yet, you surely will in 2009. So get on the bandwagon early and check out their shoe-gaze-friendly debut effort.
2. Hot Chip - Made in the Dark: 13 tracks of electro-pop euphoria. Enough said.
3. Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks - Real Emotional Trash: It may not be Pavement, but the Malkmus' current side-project is the next best thing. There's just something about the album's guitar-driven rock and equally gripping lyrics that makes me tingle all over inside.
4. Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend: Us bloggers have been listening to the sounds of Vampire Weekend for almost three years now. If anything, that's just an indictment of how good the New York outfit's debut album really is.
5. The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely: Mind-numbing guitar work + one-of-a-kind Jack White enthusiasm + raw, yet catchy chaos = some of the most chilling garage rock known to man. Seriously, everything Mr. White does truly does turn to gold.

Alex's Top 5 Albums Worth a Second Listen of 2008:
...or in other words, albums I still need to check out:

1. Wale - The Mixtape About Nothing
2. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
3. Matt Costa - Unfamiliar Faces
4. The Presets - Apocalypso
5. The Bug - London Zoo

Alex's Top 10 Albums He's Most Looking Forward To in 2009:

1. Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - Working on a Dream (Jan. 27)
2. Ben Kweller - Changing Horses (Feb. 3)
3. Black Lips - 200 Million Thousand (Feb. 24)
4. N.A.S.A. - The Spirit of Apollo (Feb. 17)
5. U2 - No Line on the Horizon (Mar. 3)
6. The Thermals - Now We Can See (Apr. 7)
7. Eminem - Relapse (Spring)
8. A.C. Newman - Get Guilty (Jan. 20)
9. Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavilion (Jan. 20)
10. M. Ward - Hold Time (Feb. 17)

There you have it. Short and sweet. And now, I will leave you with this: May 2009 bring you and your loved ones great happiness, success, and new music!

Think we missed something? Add your previews in the comments below...

From the Front Row: Matisyahu - Webster Hall, 12/23

Review by Heather McConnell, Photos by Ilan Harel

For some, it was Christmas Eve Eve; for others, it was Festivus.  However, at Webster Hall on Tuesday night, we were all there to celebrate the third night of Hanukkah at Matisyahu’s third annual Festival of Lights. 

The huge menorah to the side of the stage helped set the atmosphere of celebration, and U-Melt was a great band to start the party. I’m not the only one who thought so; from where I stood I had a view of the dressing room, and several times Matisyahu opened the shades to watch the band and check out the audience, only to be jumped on from behind and dragged back into the dancing blur of tzitzit, beards, and beers. 

Video Classics: 'Paint It, Black'

To honor WNEW's legendary Firecracker 500, every day we are highlighting the music that populated the 1991 and 1996 lists, with classic videos, live performances and little-known facts about the songs and how they came to be...

Released in 1966, Paint It, Black was a major hit for the Rolling Stones, reaching #1 on both the U.S. and U.K. charts (and #169 and #184 on the 1991 and 1996 Firecracker 500 lists, respectively). While it was written (as most Stones songs were) by Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, the song's signature riff was contributed by Brian Jones.

According to Richards, that riff had its origins during a trip to Fiji, where the band picked up some rather rustic native sitars. Later, they felt that the sitar would be the perfect instrument to use for Paint It, Black because tones could be bent up and down much more readily than on a guitar. Jones, who had been taught a bit of sitar-work during a visit from George Harrison readily picked up the instrument for the single.

Jagger's lyrics, though it is never explicitly stated in the song, seem to be from the point of view of a man mourning the untimely death of his lover. In deep depression, he wants everything he sees painted black to match his mood. The song was originally (and officially) released with a comma in the title. The band has stated since then, however, that the comma was a mistake inserted by the publisher, and the song has appeared on later compilation albums simply as Paint It Black.

The following video is from a Stones appearance on the British television show Ready Steady Go shortly after the song's release in 1966. For the original studio release (and on the original vinyl, no less) check out after the jump.

42 Favorite Finds, Part XIII

Fusion 45 continues with his list of favorite finds in 2008, bustling about with lucky number XIII.

Up, Bustle And Out - UB&O, as  they like to call themselves, is a UK-based collective of artists, musicians and DJs whose prolific output includes numerous albums, remixes, photographs and, of all things, woodworking. Unlike a lot of players in this genre, UB&O's music takes on a deeper dimension than most mix and beat stuff, adopting the shimmer of a Benicio Del Torro movie mixed with a trip through Trafalgar Square. Equally interesting is their business model: prodigious content, a broad range of talents and a focus on licensing and soundtracks. Smart stuff all the way around. If you jump on their MySpace page you can get a taste of what they're all about.

Taste Test: Hip Hop Barrio

Volebeats - One rock journo described Volebeats as "a Detroit combo that plays the most passioned country-rock, vastly more personal than Wilco and Son Volt." But, as with most good bands, a recitation of their influences is only half the story. I discovered them through their 1997 album, Sky and the Ocean, a plaintive, jangly reverb-soaked recording that recalls black-and-white pictures of Nashville highways and dilapidated roadhouses. Far beyond their influences, this 20+ year old group of musicians is a secret well-kept.

Taste Test: Annabel

The War On Drugs - What's in a name? I figured the War On Drugs would be a thrashy, punky, TVT sort of band. While they can certainly get noisy, Philadelphia's TWOD are a melodic, post-retro band channeling Dylan-style lyrics through an early R.E.M. fuzzbox. They lay claim influences ranging from Townes Van Zant to the Jesus Lizard. A pretty cool mix of styles that never strays too far from a mysterious core.