| Author | Message | ||
     Michael Bachman Member Username: Michael_bachman Post Number: 96 Registered: 01-2005 |
One of may favorite bands from the late 60's to late 70's was The Pretty Things. I never got into their mid'60's stuff, but they released two stone classics in SF Sorrow from 1968 that was the first "Rock Opera", beating out Tommy by a few months. Parachute from 1970 was their other classic, it was even Rolling Stones album of the year. Lots of layered textures of sound, great lyrics and the bands smokes. Plant and Page were huge fans and signed them the the LZ lable in 1974. Silk Torpedo from 1974 and Freeway Madness from 1973 are also decent. New Musik from the early 80's I just discovered a couple of years ago. From A to B(Straight Lines), their first album from 1980 is the one to start off with. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 332 Registered: 10-2004 |
microdisney i am now resigned to the fate of being one of maybe 5 or 6 people who truly loves this band. which is just criminal! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 437 Registered: 05-2005 |
american music club | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 429 Registered: 03-2006 |
the dBs Let's Active The Gunbunnies Guadalcanal Diary The Alpha Band The Leroi Brothers Joe "King" Carrasco and the Crowns Roogalator The Anti-Nowhere League Love Tractor | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 19 Registered: 04-2006 |
jeff, if you count me too we are six or seven. especially their first album is a glorious one. when i listen to it i am in heaven or somewhere else. pure magic. | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 20 Registered: 04-2006 |
maybe the deep freeze mice | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 440 Registered: 05-2005 |
Jeff, Microdisney were very special. One of the first bands I ever saw, that looked so menacing, but sounded so plain (yet sophisticated), but underneath, when you heard and understood the intention of Cathal's lyrics their menace bacame all the more poignent. Clock comes down, Crooked mile and 39 minutes are my favourites. Still to this day I can play 39 minutes and like it, however flawed the production (it was the 80's!). Great drummer too. Kev, never gheard AMC, any good? Its one of those I need to catch up with. Hardin, I loved the DB's, Repercussion? You should check out Spike Priggen.com, he's very DB's sounding. For me, forgotten bands.. House of Love Shack (hopefully their time will come shortly) Blue Aeroplanes Wolfhounds Paul Haig Witness Hermens Hermits! | ||
| Kurt Stephan Member Username: Slothbert Post Number: 342 Registered: 04-2005 |
Only Ones (maybe not that forgotten?) Bizarros (Akron, peer of Devo, Pere Ubu, etc.) Tin Huey (another Ohio band of that era) Translator (SF alt-pop band) Units (late '70s SF synth band) Barbara Manning/SF Seals (another SF indie legend) Reivers (Austin indie band) | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 334 Registered: 10-2004 |
spence, andreas - glad to hear i'm not the only one on this board who truly digs microdisney. i love all their albums, but my favorite to this day is their first one, "everybody's fantastic." and spence - i always forget there's another shack fan on board. michael head's body of work is so vastly underrated/largely unknown, it's a serious crime. i recently heard a brand new song called "shelley brown" or something, that was amazing. hardin - glad you mentioned let's active. i think afoot and cypress are brilliant! | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 430 Registered: 03-2006 |
Kurt - the Reivers were very cool, weren't they? I have an album by them when they went by the moniker "Zeitgeist" (at least I think I do - I may have lost it in my last move). They used to gig all over the south. A crazy, but funny musician friend of mine went to up the girl in the band after a show and said something prosaic, but complimentary, like "great show". She, I guess not really being able to take a compliment, said, "if you think we're so great, why don't you help us move these f-ing amps?". My friend cleverly retorted, "F__ you, fatty!" and about-faced out of the club. Nice, huh? Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy...still though, a great band. And Spence, I have 'em all by the dBs - they're all good, but I think my fave is "Like This". Less arty farty, more straightforward and rocking. The band that Peter Holsapple, of the dBs, formed with a bunch of disparate, but like-minded musician friends, the Continental Drifters, was great, too. I guess they're sadly defunct, as well. They used to play all over La., too, including a weekly gig at the Carrollton Street Bar in N.O., which probably isn't even there anymore. Peter Holsapple's day job was as a bookseller at the Borders in Metairie. He actually waited on me one day when I was in there, but it seemed way too awkward to bring up his musical career in that context. And Jeff, yeah - I wonder what ole Easter is up to these days? I just regret not selling my copy of Cypress on Ebay before it was reissued - it was commanding top dollar (something like 75 big ones) and I would've been just as happy with a burn of it. I loves all my little CDs like children, but hey if the price is right...Daddy can always buy more! | ||
| andreas Member Username: Andreas Post Number: 25 Registered: 04-2006 |
and if you guys mention the dbs i think about the feelies, the bongos and the trypes. they all made fantastic - and imncomparable- music which stands the test of time until now. only richard barone of the bongos had a short period of success (maybe limited and maybe only in germany?) | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 432 Registered: 03-2006 |
The Bongos were great too - "Drums Along the Hudson", right? I have, I think, a Richard Barone disc, still. Good, but a little slick. The guy definitely has a way with a pop tune. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 438 Registered: 05-2005 |
Spence - in the early 90s AMC were my favourite band bar none- i was absolutely obsessed. Everclear and California are two albums you must hear - only proviso I would add in is that you either love Mark Eitzels voice or hate it. If you like Elvis Costellos voice you should like Eitzels. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 433 Registered: 03-2006 |
Spence, I would second Kevin's recommendation of AMC: they were, at their peak, mighty indeed, capable of producing some beautiful, powerful & lacerating music. I would add one further proviso, though: don't listen to them if you're feeling the least bit mentally unstable, or are entertaining thoughts of ending it all, etc...they tend a little to the dark and depressing. Mark Eitzel has since lapsed into self-indulgence. His solo career has been extremely weak, spotty and at times just insultingly amateurish...and, the much vaunted AMC comeback was okay, but suffered from them having forgotten to write any actual songs. And Jeff, I have a bit of a Microdisney fetish, too, I'm forced to admit. But, it's for Crooked Mile, which I'm assuming is among their poppiest...Ridiculously catchy and beguiling stuff and I don't know what's going on in the lyrics, but they seem a little acid-tinged. Based on that, I picked up the "So. African Bastards" lp and didn't care for it all, honestly. My forays into Coughlan's solo stuff have left me a little underwhelmed as well. I'm a big lyrics person, but in my view, there's a limit to how much "lyrical freight" a pop song can carry before it collapses in on itself...or, maybe I just miss the poppy influence O'Hagan (sic?) brought to bear... I've looked intermittently for Crooked Mile on disc, unsuccessfully (I have it on vinyl)...the only thing I've been able to find on CD is "Big Sleeping House", an extremely bargain-bin looking, midprice comp, that fortunately, contains a lot of the CM tracks... So, in your view, the 1st is the best? Unless some of the tracks are on that comp, I don't know it... | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 353 Registered: 05-2005 |
I love Microdisney too. That makes five of us on this board. That means there's only one or two others in the whole world! We need to find them and introduce them to The Go-Betweens. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 439 Registered: 05-2005 |
Make that 6. My favourite is Clock Comes Down the Stairs. Birthday Girl, now that was a song! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 356 Registered: 05-2005 |
Just one to go! Who can it be? | ||
| Mark Tuffield Member Username: Mark_t Post Number: 41 Registered: 05-2005 |
I loved Crooked Mile, at least I did until my copy got chewed up by my (then)car's cassette player! | ||
| Randy Adams Member Username: Randy_adams Post Number: 407 Registered: 03-2005 |
I probably should ponder this for a while longer but three easy names for me are (1) the Beau Brummels from the 60s, and (2) Richard Davies in all his various incarnations from the 90s. And while I have so far not been able to get the charms of Microdisney and have yet to hear Fatima Mansions, (3) Cathal Coughlin should be a very well known and revered veteran artist now. His new releases should get the sort of attention now given to Springsteen or Costello. | ||
| Cichli Suite Member Username: Cichli_suite Post Number: 118 Registered: 08-2004 |
I love Microdisney too. By the way, Cathal has a notice on his site about a new album coming out - the 'Flannery album' - a reworking of music he did for a show in Cork late last year. He says it should be ready by 'late Spring'. I can't wait to hear it. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 435 Registered: 03-2006 |
Forgot to mention Fatima Mansions. I loved "Viva Dead Ponies",thought it contained a lot of the same melodic gifts and pissy, dark lyrical themes..."Lost in the New West", well...not so much. In fact, I found it largely unlistenable. I've actually tried trading it in at used shops from La. to Ca. with no success...It's like I have a big sign on my head and they see me coming: "Sorry man, we don't want your stinkin' Fatima Mansions disc, now piss off"...I must still have it someplace...maybe I should try again with it. Sounds like "Everybody's Fantastic" is the one to get, though...ahh, let's see if those 3rd party sellers at Amazon have it... | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 338 Registered: 10-2004 |
Hardin - I love Crooked Mile too, though it seems to be the least popular record among most Microdisney fans. It's got a smoother, more commercial production, but the songwriting is still great, and I think Cathal is in top form, particularly with songs like "Give Me All of Your Clothes." That said, I do love "We Hate You South African Bastards" (reissued as Love Your Enemies). It's primitive and low-fi, with that mechanical drum machine and 4-track sound quality, but I think the music is, for the most part, beautiful. But yeah, my personal fav is their first full length, "everybody's fantastic," none of which turned up on that budget comp. I have no idea if you'd like it, but it is more refined and "mature" than the early singles that are compiled on "Bastards." There's still that nasty drum machine to contend with on most (but not all) of the songs. But, for me it's a great, consistent collection of well-crafted, tuneful, pretty, and of course, moody pop songs. I suppose I can see why some people would think Cathal's lyrics (particularly his solo stuff) are a bit much. Personally, I love his lyrics and music, and agree completely with Randy's sentiments. His lyrics can be pretty bleak, but they're also hilarious, insightful, and extremely well-written at the same time. | ||
| Andrew Kerr Member Username: Andrew_k Post Number: 76 Registered: 04-2005 |
Miracle Legion. Their singer Mark Mulcahy has gone on to have perhaps more success than they ever did, but he is hardly a household name either. ML's '89 Rough Trade release 'Me and Mr Ray' is genius. They suffered from comparisons with REM early on, but this slice of stripped-down alt-country (before the label was invented) sounds just like nothing else and remains in my top 10 of all time. I like Microdisney too. Love might be too strong word. The 'Peel sessions' CD is not a bad intro to the band. I like AMC too, but can't claim to be a total fan: saw a great gig one year in a tent on Carlton hill in Edinburgh. After it finished about half the audience went straight down to a small club to catch Jeff Buckley's first visit north. Mark Eitzel stood right at the front, looking on in awe. Think that 'Mercury' might be my recommendation to any AMC new-comers. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 341 Registered: 10-2004 |
I like AMC too, though I haven't listened to them in ages. Mercury, Everclear, and their first album were always my favorites. I saw them live about 12 years ago, and it was a truly amazing show. It was actually my frist real introduction to the band. A friend of mine had an extra ticket and I went along. The band's performance blew me away. Eitzel was in top form, and even broke both the mic stand and his guitar. | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 446 Registered: 05-2005 |
Back to the question: Forgotten bands!? By the results on this msg board, not likely! Hip Hip Horray!!!!!!! | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 448 Registered: 05-2005 |
Andrew, your recollection of the AMC tent gig in Edinburgh brought back 2 memories for me. The first one being pure frustration at not being able to see that gig. This was about 1995 right? I was possibly the worlds biggest AMC fan and stupidly had arranged a visit to Dublin and so missed the gig. To rub it in more, AMC played Dublin either the day before I got there or the day I left so it felt like I was chasing them back and forth over the Irish Sea to no avail!! Around the same time, The Fall played a gig in this self same tent(it was there as part of the Fringe possibly?). It was around the time of Middle Class Revolt and the band was smokin' - 2 drummers, and Brix had just returned to the fold. Anyway, after 4 or 5 songs of blistering Fall muzik Mark E Smith, for reasons best known to himself took an almighty huff and left the stage never to return. I wonder if that tent had it in for me??!! | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 360 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, give Lost in the New West another go. It is an album that's hard to get into, but when you do it's fantastic. I have Crooked Mile on vinyl. I bought it in 1988 for about the equivalent of $1 (US) in Andorra. | ||
| Jeff Whiteaker Member Username: Jeff_whiteaker Post Number: 344 Registered: 10-2004 |
It's kind of sad, but at the same time good: whenever you see Crooked Mile, it's *always* a dollar! At least in the US. | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 447 Registered: 03-2006 |
Crooked Mile, Dead Ponies and New West all together cost me less than 5 bucks...and the budget comp was probably 8. If nothing else, they're a very affordable group. | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 365 Registered: 05-2005 |
Maybe one day someone 'cool' will mention liking Microdisney/Fatima Mansions/Cathal Coughlan and all these albums will become very expensive to buy. I'm not holding my breath though. | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 67 Registered: 05-2005 |
Interesting thread... I’d like to mention Jules Shear, particularly his solo and Polar Bears stuff, plus anything else he’s ever touched (including Pal Shazar) ;) (though I haven’t yet had a chance to listen to the Funky Kings album I recently picked up). A brilliant lyricist, and terrific live (solo acoustic or with a band). A few of his songs also have been recorded and made famous by “corporate” musicians, most notably “If She Knew What She Wants.” I also am enthralled by Microdisney, plus Cathal’s stuff, including Fatima Mansions and that Bubonique ditty. I remember repeatedly poring over, then finally buying Everybody Is Fantastic in Wax Trax in Chicago, over a couple decades ago... Everybody Is Fantastic, When The Clock Comes Down the Stairs (what does that mean, exactly?) and Crooked Mile are mandatory, with post-Microdisney being more of an acquired taste. As far as the “fame” aspect, Radioactive (FM’s label) briefly tried to cash in on the Ice-T music recall turmoil / publicity by feebly mentioning, in promotional materials, the similarity with the lyric on the song Angel’s Delight. Fortunately, this tactic went nowhere, as it probably would have brought them unwanted attention. I never liked AMC, though I have seen them / Eitzel live on at least two occasions, “trying” to like them. Nothing wrong with the music or songs; Eitzel just struck me as insincere (or, perhaps as Hardin put it, self indulgent; although I can’t say whether or not there ever was a “lapse”). I just couldn’t get around this. Sorry, Kevin... I know a lot of folks that think AMC are gods, but this is one camp I can’t join. What is this “Lost in the New West” album that’s been mentioned? | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 464 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, AMC are very much a marmite band  | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 462 Registered: 03-2006 |
Rob, I'm sure you're aware that FaNetiC (no idea how to replicate the cockamamie spelling) has been re-released by, I believe, Wounded Bird Records (they do some cool reissues). And, Jules' new album is surprisingly good, too... | ||
| Hardin Smith Member Username: Manosludge Post Number: 463 Registered: 03-2006 |
Btw Rob, your professed fandom brings the total up to, what, 7 of us? Microdisney are no doubt reforming as we speak... | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 68 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, being very much a dyed-in-the-wool Jules fan, I bought fanetiks when it was released. The song "the smell of home" is running through my head as I write this, while thinking how that might relate to his hometown of Pittsburgh (some nasty air pollution happening in the 60s and 70s - the air actually was brown at times - I seen it). Do you also know about their "posthumous" CD-only release "Bad for Business?" Anyway, I'll check out wounded bird for other stuff, sounds interesting. (I don't have his latest, Dreams Don't Count, yet.) Kevin, nice metaphor! (The fans of AMC that I know, at least before today, hail from our nation's breadbasket.) Anyway, that challenges one to think of a similar culinary metaphor (yow) that could be used to denote this side of the pond. Pork roll, maybe? ;) | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 69 Registered: 05-2005 |
Hardin, I just wonder how that 7 number might work out as a percentage of the total folks around here? Here's a photo I took of Cathal fronting Fatima Mansions in 1993: http://www.pbase.com/rsub8/image/42251040 | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 466 Registered: 05-2005 |
Modesty probably prohibits Rob from plugging his website( http://www.pbase.com/rsub8/live_music), so I will. Some great gig photos, my favourite being pics of Howard Devoto from the Jerky Versions of The Dream tour. Rob, I caught that tour in Glasgow, can you remember where the pics were taken? There are lots of GO-Bs pics, including some from 1985 when Robert was sporting that preppy David Byrne look. Rob, I think I recognise your name, havent you had your work published in the music weeklies or monthlies? Whats pork roll? ;) | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 70 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, mucho thanks for the plug! btw, that Devoto concert was in the basement of the Cleveland Agora. Very small space, almost could have touched Howard with a yardstick (or meter-stick). I have many more from that show, that still have to be unearthed from a move in 2000... I've written the occasional music piece, but that was many years ago. The person you're thinking of must share my name (it's a common one). My other 20-odd published articles are in technical journals... Pork roll: In evoking pork roll, I was trying to think of a food-based product that's unique to the states. Pork roll was the first thing that popped into my mind, being that it's manufactured in the city where I now live. It's more of a regional thing, so maybe not as good a metaphor as marmite. Pork roll is a sort of processed ham product, similar to but coarser than bologna or its distant cousin, tinned spam. It's spicier and has a touch of smoky flavor. Sometimes local diners advertise "ham" in an omelette, then you find they've used "taylor ham" (which is a synonym for pork roll). Here's a photo of pork roll in its packaging: http://www.pbase.com/rsub8/image/32226808/medium There is a competing product, also made locally by the "Case Pork Roll Company." Strangest of all, there was a two-page blurb touting pork roll on page 17 of the latest (May 2006) issue of Saveur (our favorite international cooking magazine). | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 467 Registered: 05-2005 |
mmmm Pork Roll!! For such a ridiculed "meat" I have always quite liked Spam. However I have always favoured Corned Beef and was most unhappy when it was in short supply at the turn of the 80s when Britain refused to import it from Argentina when the Falklands War was going on | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 71 Registered: 05-2005 |
Kevin, keep in mind that my post didn't necessarily advocate "pork roll" as a nutritious substance. Personally, I avoid it, but it was surprising to see that it was given a complimentary shout in a favorite culinary mag. One of the editors of Saveur lives close to here. Family ties, wot? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 367 Registered: 05-2005 |
Rob, Lost in the New West is actually Lost in The Former West and was the last Fatima Mansions album. It is a lost classic, though not an easy one to get into. Nor an easy one to find anymore. But when you do find it it will probably be no more than $5. I don't know what The Clock Comes Down The Stairs means. It's not a phrase I'm familiar with from growing up in Ireland. But Cathal Coughlan is from Co Cork and they do things differently there. It could be a Cork phrase. I'll ask some Cork people next time I'm in touch with mates from there. | ||
| kevin Member Username: Kevin Post Number: 471 Registered: 05-2005 |
I'll ask Roy Keane the next time I see him Padraig Do you think he will have heard of Microdisney? | ||
| Pádraig Collins Member Username: Pádraig_collins Post Number: 369 Registered: 05-2005 |
Doubt it Kevin! Roy stikes me as a man with a fairly average footballer's taste in music - Rod Stewart, S*&^%y Red etc. But I could be wrong, maybe he's as individual in his music taste as with his football skills. Maybe he's a dub reggae fan... You're up very early/late! | ||
| Keith Weston Member Username: Lumper5 Post Number: 1 Registered: 06-2006 |
Some great bands mentioned - especially nice to see some who remember the Reivers (aka Zeitgeist). My short list of underappreciated bands (here in the US) in no order would include: 1. The Zombies (for great tunes other than their hits) 2. Mojave 3 3. The Bats 4. Emitt Rhodes 5. The Paupers (I really like 'em!) 6. Downy Mildew 7. Let's Active 8. The Rain Parade 9. Beulah 10. Pizzacato Five All worthwhile additions to collections. And, some of the artist I love to feature on my web radio station (http://www.deeperintomusic.net). This last month I've been featuring a tune from Grant and/or The Go-Betweens about every 45-90 minutes. It's the one way I can show appreciation and remember his legacy. Warm regards, Keith http://www.deeperintomusic.net | ||
| Rob Robinson Member Username: Rsub8 Post Number: 73 Registered: 05-2005 |
Pádraig, belated thanks for that info! I managed to locate a copy, but still haven't gotten a chance to give it a proper listen (a long story). However, very odd cover photo on the disc, I thought. And belated thanks; because the message board apparently went down just as I was trying to post the original draft of this message on 06 May.  - Rob | ||
| spence Member Username: Spence Post Number: 477 Registered: 05-2005 |
The Juggernauts and James King and The Lonewolves. The Jugs feature Paul Haig from Josef K on guitar, they meshed pschobilly/rockabilly and skiffle in a real frenetic fusion, shame they never took off, they were fun, and James King, I always though his stuff was great, but in a Moodists way, don't think he was suited to Alan Horne's Swamplands label, again a shame, they looked mean... |