I...J...K...

Iggy Pop & James Williamson - Kill City

Well, my attention deficit disorder is kicking in & I’m getting tired of this alphabet nonsense. I though it would help me organize my thoughts & determine my choices for posting musick. Now I’m getting bored with the procedure. So today I’m hitting the next three letters all at once...I-ggy Pop, J-ames (Sonny Boy) Williamson, & K-ill City.

After the second break-up of The Stooges (the first break-up & reformation added Williamson to The Stooges as Ron Asheton moved from guitar to bass & Dave Alexander moved from alcoholic to dead) Iggy & Sonny Boy recorded Kill City. This disc is somewhere in the no-mans land between The Stooges & Iggy’s solo career. Although maligned by many (mostly for its less than stellar production values), this is by far my favorite post-Stooges work by Mr. Pop (& really damn good considering Iggy was in drug rehab at the time).

Released in 1977 by Bomp Records. All tunes written by Iggy Pop & James Williamson except “Master Charge” by James Williamson & Scott Thurston, with Scott ‘Troy’ Thurston (keyboard & electric piano player for The Stooges after Raw Power) & Tin Machinists Tony & Hunt Sales (Soupy boys). Players on this album are: Iggy Pop - vocals; James Williamson - guitar; Scott Thurston - keyboards, bass, backing vocals, special effects, & harmonica; Brian Glasscock - drums, congas, African beaters, backing vocals, & guiro; Steve Tranio - bass; Tony Sales - backing vocals & bass; Hunt Sales - backing vocals & drums; John Harden - saxophone; & Gayna (from the Count Dracula Society) - backing vocals on “Night Theme”.

Year of Release: 1977
Label: Bomp Records BLP-4001
Genre: Garage rock, protopunk

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Kill City
Sell Your Love
Beyond the Law
I Got Nothin’
Johanna
Night Theme
Side 2 -
Night Theme (reprise)
Consolation Prizes
No Sense of Crime
Lucky Monkeys
Master Charge
(there are no breaks between tracks 1&2, 4&5 side 2 so I have included the split & merged tracks for you personal choice)

Download: Iggy Pop & James Williamson - Kill City
Download Size: 102MB (ripped from emerald green vinyl at 320Kbps)

Hickey - Self-titled

Hickey was a great punk band from San Francisco by way of Florida. I could probably write columns about Hickey, their history & adventures, personal anecdotes from their many live performances, the bittersweet tale of Matty Luv...but I think as with all great musick, the songs themselves speak more eloquently & more succinctly than can any words.

Suffice it to say that the first time I met Matty & drummer Aesop Dekker, they were still the F’Boyz (the F stands for Fuck). They were playing a party on the rooftop stage at the Dinuba Embassy in San Jose,CA. Even though it was some years prior to the Naked Cult of Hickey, they were indeed, as often, naked (well, actually Matty had a rubber chicken hanging from his schlong, but it was Halloween). When the F’Boyz folded, Hickey followed quickly in their wake adding Chubby on bass (formerly in Schleprock).

Hickey (mostly self-) released many 7“ers during their three-year lifespan, but it is this full-length album that really captures the essence of their musick for me. Aaron Muentz of Probe ‘zine was a fan & friend of Hickey’s & released their album on his own Probe Records label. There are11 songs in a brief 37 minutes. The first side is ten of these tunes in just over thirteen minutes. Then the second side is one 24 minute song encapsulating the history of the world.

Interpunk says about the band, “Hickey was a band, a political movement, a naked cult, & an uncomfortable force to be reckoned with. They were only here for a little less than three years but the mark they left on the San Francisco bay area & DIY punk scenes in general can still be felt. The UCLA Daily Bruin placed Hickey right along side such diverse bands as Nirvana, Radiohead, U2, They Might Be Giants, & Wesley Willis as the greatest artists of the 90's.”

Matty Luv died in October, 2002. There is a great memorial site with all kinds of information, guest comments, artwork & much of their (as well as F’Boyz & other associated bands) musick available here.

Aesop currently plays drums with Ludicra & Agalloch. He also does the fantastic blog Cosmic Hearse.

Year of Release: 1995
Label: Probe Records 05
Genre: Punk

Tracklist:
Side A -
Believe
40oz of Bad Karma
Basic Tips for Squirrel Hunting Success
Sean's Mohawk
California Redemption
Her Prosthetic Hands
Stupid Sun
War of the Supereogs
Treadle of the Loom
Sleepin' Cowboy (not listed on record label)
Side B -
In the Beginning

Download: Hickey - Hickey
Download Size: 85.3MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

Stephane Grappelli - Stephane Grappelli

Stephane Grappelli...born January 26, 1908 in Paris, France. Stephane was the son of a philosophy teacher of Italian origin. He first worked as a pianist, accompanying silent films in a cinema to help his father pay the bills. Outstanding jazz violinist with a swinging, sweet-toned style, great technique & finesse, very tasteful. He studied as a classical violinist early in his career & turned to jazz about 1927. Played with & led groups of his own. Noted for his 30s work with the great guitarist Django Reinhardt in the Quintet of the Hot Club of France. The two met at the Croix du Sud nightclub in Montparnasse, Paris in early 1934. With Reinhardt's brother, Joseph, Roger Chaput on guitars, & Louis Vola on double bass, the idea of the quintet was born. Along with Reinhardt’s guitar, Grappelli’s violin was one of the two features of the groups sound. The Quintet is renowned throughout the world. They remained together until 1939, when World War II created chaos in Europe & particularly France & Paris. Grappelli moved to England were he lived from 1940 to 1948. There he led combos, playing both violin as well as piano again., at times working with the great George Shearing. Returned to Paris in 1948 where he remained active throughout the 50s & 60s. He incorporated more progressive jazz stylings into his later playing. From Reuters December 1, 1997..."French jazz violinist Stephane Grappelli, whose lively, elegant style captivated audiences for more than a half a century, died in Paris Monday after undergoing an operation. He was 89.”

This record was recorded in Paris between March 7 - 9, 1972 with Stephane on violin, Claude Cavalli & Leo Petit on guitars, Guy Pedersen on bass, & Daniel Humair on drums. It is released on the Everest Record label. Everest Records were known for their archive of jazz & folk musick. The illustrious names represented in this line of recordings have long been known & revered by dedicated folk & jazz buffs.

Year of Release: 1976
Label: Everest Records FS 311
Genre: jazz

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Django
Nuages
Alabamy Bound
You’d Better Go Now
Le Tien
Like Someone in Love
Side 2 -
Minor Swing
Daphne
Soft Winds
Makin’ Whoopee
How about You
Pent up House

Download: Stephane Grappelli - Stephane Grappelli
Download Size: 100MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

Godley & Creme - Cry (Extended Remix) 12" 45

Godley & Creme are a duo of English pop musicians & music video directors, Kevin Godley & Lol Creme. The pair began releasing albums as a duo after splitting from the pop band 10cc.

"Cry" was released as a single in1985. The song climbed as high as #16 on the Billboard charts.

Uploaded by Discodandan.

The duo also directed the song's music video, which featured faces blended into each other using analog cross-fading, anticipating the digital effect of morphing used in a very similar way in Michael Jackson's 1991 video, "Black or White".

Years later, the "Cry" video was shown in an episode of MTV's Beavis & Butt-head. The song was also used on Miami Vice in the episode "Definitely Miami" (1986), which featured Ted Nugent & French actress Arielle Dombasle.

I’ve included the song “Art for Art’s Sake” from How Dare You! by 10cc. from 1975 on which KG plays drums, temple bells, woodblocks, & sings back-up & LC plays guitar, marracas, Moog, recorder & sings 2nd lead & back-up vocals, because I felt like it. Keep it or delete it, it’s up to you.

Year of Release: 1985
Label: Polydor Records 881 786-1
Genre: Synthpop

Tracklist:
Side A -
Cry ((Extended Remix by J.J.Jeczalik)
Side B -
Cry (Single Version)
Cry (Extended Version Remixed by Nigel Gray)
Bonus track -
Art for Art’s Sake

Download: Cry (extended remix) 12“ 45
Download Size: 54MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

Falco - Der Kommissar 12" ep

I mostly shot my load of F artists over at Nothin’ Sez Somethin’ in June & July 2008 doing the ‘What the F?' series, so you’ll have to settle for some more Euro-disco, or maybe it’s rap-pop. After all, Falco was one of the original progenitors of rap-pop.

Falco was born Johann (Hans) Hölzel in Vienna, Austria on February 19, 1957. He studied at the Vienna Music Conservatory in 1977 but left after one semester to pursue a career in music. He moved to West Berlin for a short time & sang in a jazz-rock band. When he returned to Vienna he had begun calling himself ‘Falco’. He began playing bass: in the theatrical rock bands Spinning Wheel & Hallucination Company; the hard rock-punk rock band Drahdiwaberl; & the space-disco band Ganymede. While with Drahdiwaberl, he wrote & performed the song "Ganz Wien" which he would also include on his debut solo album, Einzelhaft.

Falco's first hit was "Der Kommissar," from that 1982 debut. It is a song about drug abbuse that combines rap verses with a sung chorus.

Falco died of severe injuries he received when his Mitsubishi Pajero collided with a bus near the city of Puerto Plata, in the Dominican Republic on February 9,1998. It was initially reported that the autopsy showed high blood levels of alcohol & cocaine (Klaus from American Dad refers to having done cocaine with Falco in the episode entitled 'Con Heir': "Sounds like a disco I used to frequent in Berlin. I did lines with Falco in the men's room. Greedy, greedy Falco.").


He was buried in the Zentralfriedhof in Vienna, Austria. The above picture is from the cover of Austria's largest daily newspaper Kronen Zeitung (The Crown) on Feb 15, 1998, the day after the funeral which was attended by thousands of sympathetic fans. The picture shows some members of the group of rockers "Outsiders" carrying Falco's coffin from the mortuary chapel. They are the same rockers who were seen in the video of "Rock Me Amadeus".

This following poem was recited at the beginning of the funeral. It was written by Christian Ide Hintze, owner of the Schule der Dichtung (School of Poetry) where Falco was a frequent guest speaker. (sorry for the babel-like translation)

For Falco:
James Dean of Vienna
Inventor of the Manhatten Schönbrunner German
57 Chevy assembled in Vienna
Chairman of the Board of the cool speech reform
Principal witness-prince of the eighties
Are you now in your tuxedo with Amadeus
sitting on the lap Maria Theresa?
Air-clearing commissioner of the Viennese districts
At one with the twenty-three
close to the formula of the freeing speed
In your world it’s always:
"Valid for all passports to all Planets"
Every pair of sun glasses want to perch on on your nose, Falco
You are still the little Amadeus under Brillantine
Do we still hear from each other?
Thanks Hans!

Year of Release: 1983
Label: A&M Records SP-12053
Genre: Disco

Tracklist:
Side A -
Der Kommissar (The Commissioner)
Side B -
Auf Der Flucht (On The Run)
Helden Von Heute (alles wartet auf...) (Heroes of today [everything waits on...])

Download: Falco - Der Kommissar 12“ ep
Download Size: 27.3MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kbps)

Hey! Is There Anybody Out There?

Is there anybody out there?
Hey, it's lonely here.
Lotsa downloads but few comments.
Tell me somethin' good!

The (English) Beat - I Just Can't Stop It

While the Euro-disco beat of Munich Machine had my toes tapping & my fingers snapping, I really needed a more English beat.

The Beat were known in North America as The English Beat so as not to be confused with The Beat who were known as Paul Collins' Beat to the rest of the world so as not to be confused with The Beat (English???).

Are you confused yet? I know I am.

The English Beat were a ‘2 Tone’ ska revival band founded in England in 1978, whose songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae, new wave, & punk rock.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of ska (disregarding the fact that the ‘only band that matters’ [re. The Clash] & Rancid both ska it up a great deal) but songs like “Click Click”, with its socio-political lyrics raise the ska ante. Yet this album has fond, fond memories to me.

1980 was the year that the Black Dahlia (the legendary Dolores Dahli von Rijn, mi esposa) & I hooked up for the first time. We hit the danceclubs hard. She was a Disco Dahli & I was a Nothin’ punk, so we’d hit the Laundry Works, Hotel St. Claire, One Step Beyond or Keystone Palo Alto & shake a tail feather to that dance-able New Wave sound.

Now I’ve never been a big fan of New Wave, but...

I think we wore out our first copy of I Just Can’t Stop It by 1981 & had to get a replacement. Songs like “Mirror in the Bathroom”, “Hands Off...She’s Mine”, “Twist & Crawl” get me going every time I hear them (plus great covers of “Tears of a Clown” & “Can’t Get Used to Losing You”).

Now that Dave Wakeling has resurrected The Beat for 2009, this is timely indeed. So...

Back to E without too much delay. E...E...Enjoy!

Year of Release: 1980
Label: Sire Records Company SRK 6091
Genre: Ska

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Mirror in the Bathroom
Hands off... She's Mine
Two Swords
Twist & Crawl
Tears of a Clown
Rough Rider
Click Click

Side 2 -
Ranking Full Stop
Big Shot
Whine & Grine / Stand Down Margaret
Noise in this World
Can't Get Used to Losing You
Best Friend
Jackpot

Download: The English Beat - I Just Can’t Stop It
Download Size: 94.3MB (ripped from well-played vinyl at 320Kbps)

Sisco Ducks

Munich Machine - Munich Machine

I know, I know, I should be on E, but I got the munchies for some M&Ms.

You thought the last album I posted was the decline of western civilization, well think again. If this shit doesn’t scare & thrill you at the same time, well crawl back in you’re October coffin. You’re dead, Jim.

Giorgio (Hansjoerg) Moroder, an German-speaking Italian from the South Tyrol area near the border between Italy & Austria, is a three-time Oscar winning record producer, songwriter & performer. His work with synthesizers during the 1970s & 1980s had a significant influence on new wave, house, techno & electronic music. Moroder started Musicland Studios in Munich 1n the 1970s, which was used as a recording studio for artists including Electric Light Orchestra, Led Zeppelin, Queen & Elton John.

Moroder is particularly well known for his work with Donna Summer during the era of disco (including "I Feel Love" “Love to Love You Baby”). In addition to his work with Donna Summer, Moroder also produced: a number of electronic disco hits for The Three Degrees; two albums for Sparks; & numerous songs for a variety of others including Irene Cara, Madleen Kane, Melissa Manchester, Blondie, Japan, & France Joli.

He also founded his own record label, Oasis Records, which later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records. He released three albums on Casablanca Records between 1977-1979 under the name Munich Machine.

Munich Machine was, for the most part, a moniker for the fairly regular cast of studio musicians including: Pete Bellotte; Keith Forsey; Geoff Bastow; Mats Björklund; Dino Solera; & singers Lucy Neale; Gitta Walther (aka Jackie Robinson); & Claudia Schwarz (The Midnite Ladies) among others. Aside from the three albums released as the Munich Machine, the "Machine" was also anonymously credited for the ‘accompaniment’ on a few of Donna Summer's albums & Roberta Kelly's Trouble Maker album. The ‘Munich Machine’ was not just a group of musicians, but also something of a trademark for their distinct sound, characterized as their own disco-era, European equivalent of the Motown Sound which Moroder called the ‘Munich Sound Machine’ in a 1978 interview with NME.

As far as 'Munich Machine,' the recording project goes, the best known Munich Machine single would probably be the slick & sexy 15 minute disco workout "Get On The Funk Train" (check out the bass break-out at about the 10 minute mark) which reached #7 on the Billboard Disco charts in 1977 off this album. The album is essentially made up of sped-up, largely instrumental remakes of the so-called ‘soft-disco’ productions from the albums Moroder & Bellotte did for Donna Summer ("Love To Love You Baby," "Try Me I Know We Can Make It"), Roberta Kelly ("Trouble-Maker"), as well as from Giorgio's own Knights In White Satin lp ("I Wanna Funk With You Tonite"), all augmented with some heavy, loopy synths. This particular album, however, bears less resemblance to the Munich Euro-disco sound & more to the cooler, sharper progressive electronic style that would eventually become Moroder's trademark sound.

Year of Release: 1977
Label: Casablanca Records NBLP 7058
Genre: Disco

Tracklist:
Side 1 -
Get on the Funk Train

Side 2 -
Love to Love You, Baby
Trouble-Maker
Try Me, I Know We Can Make It
I Wanna Funk with You Tonite
Spring Affair
Love to Love You, Baby (reprise)
(because Side 2 is really a disco mega-mix with no breaks between songs, I have included the split & unsplit tracks for your choice)

Download: Munich Machine - Munich Machine
Download Size: 109MB (ripped from disco vinyl at 320Kbps)

Get off yer Ass & on yer Feet!

Everybody is worrying about the Swine Flu but I’ve caught
the Boogie Woogie Fever & I’ve just got to dance.

Various Artists - The Decline of Western Civilization OST

This record is a partial soundtrack for the movie The Decline of Western Civilization, an American documentary directed by Penelope Spheeris that was filmed in L.A. in 1979 & 1980 featuring concert footage of legendary Los Angeles punk bands with interviews of both the bands & with the punks who made up their audience.

The soundtrack was released in 1980 by Slash Records on LP & was later released in the late 1990s on CD. I believe it is now out of print.

Germs singer Darby Crash appears on the soundtrack album cover, as well as the movie poster. He died from a heroin-overdose suicide shortly before the film was released. Live preformances by Germs, Flags, Bags, CircJerks,Claude Bessey & Catholic Discipline, X’s ‘Johnny Hit & Run Paulene”, all of Lee V. & Fear...this album hits hard.

The movie contains eight additional songs by the various bands, so if you want to hear all the great musick, then seek out the film.
Musick contained in the film includes:
The Bags (billed at the time as The Alice Bag Band) - "Gluttony", "Prowlers in the Night";
Black Flag - "Depression", "Revenge" & "White Minority";
Circle Jerks - "Back Against the Wall", "Beverly Hills", "I Just Want Some Skank", "Red Tape" & "Wasted";
Catholic Discipline - "Barbee Doll Lust" & "Underground Babylon";
Fear - "Beef Bologna", "I Don't Care About You", "I Love Living in the City", "Let's Have a War" & "Fear Anthem";
The Germs - "Manimal" & "Shutdown";
& X - "Beyond & Back", "Johnny Hit & Run Paulene", "Nausea", "Unheard Music" & "We're Desperate.

Album contains lyric sheet insert.

Year of Release: 1980
Label: Slash Records SR-105
Genre: Punk

Tracklist:
Side 1-
Intro (thank you)
White Minority – Black Flag
Depression – Black Flag
Break (Blackie’s)
Revenge – Black Flag
Break (Germs)
Manimal – The Germs
Break (Claude Bessey)
Underground Babylon – Catholic Discipline
Break (Exene)
Beyond & Back – X
Johnny Hit & Run Paulene – X

Side 2 -
Intro (desperate)
We're Desperate – X
Break (nu wave)
Red Tape – Circle Jerks
Back Against The Wall – Circle Jerks
Break (Hey, man)
I Just Want Some Skank – Circle Jerks
Beverly Hills – Circle Jerks
Break (just to get aggressions out)
Gluttony – The Alice Bag Band
Break (eat my fuck)
I Don't Care About You – Fear
Break (go die)
I Love Livin' In The City – Fear
Fear Anthem – Fear

Download: Various Artists - The Decline of Western Civilization OST
Download Size: 85.7MB (ripped from vinyl at 320Kpbs)