Graham Parker- One Stop Clearance

Here's a special treat for Graham Parker fans wanting to hear re-recorded versions of some of his older songs. The idea was to generate royalties from the new versions because the rights to the original recordings are owned (forever, apparently) by his old publishing company. So, his current publishing administrators proposed he re-record these songs to pitch to TV/film and other media and to generate royalties to Parker and his publishers, Primary Wave. Graham explains this in more detail on his blog, HERE. He's obviously not crazy about this idea, but he has to make a living. As far as I know this hasn't been "officially" released, but it is available as a promo and not officially for sale.
Please respect Mr. Parker's wishes and do not sell this recording.

Mike Gent on drums, guitar, backing vocals
GP on guitars and backing vocals
Ed Valauskas on bass
Professor “Louie” Hurwitz on keyboards and accordion

GRAHAM PARKER
One Stop Clearance
AKA: "Stick It To The Man"
2008 promotional-only

1. Don't Let It Break You Down
2. Life Gets Better
3. Discovering Japan
4. Can't Be Too Strong
5. Depend On Me
6. Heat Treatment
7. My Love's Strong
8. Get Started, Start A Fire
9. Don't Ask Me Questions
10. Local Girls
11. Last Stop Is Nowhere
12. Protection
13. She Wants So Many Things
14. Soul Shoes
15. The Sun Is Gonna Shine Again
16. Next Phase
17. White Honey
18. Wake Up (Next To You)

GRAHAM PARKER- One Stop Clearance. rar

The Replacements- January 19, 1985

By request, here's the complete concert for the Big Star cover, I'm In Love With A Girl, I posted last week. This is a favourite Replacements show with plenty of covers and a guest appearance by Alex Chilton. This show was a couple years before the Mats recorded and released the song, Alex Chilton, so this is kind of cool! Alex joins the band later in the set for a medley of covers from BTO, Bad Company, the Jackson 5, among others. This show doesn't get as crazy and drunken as their CBGB's show in December or as silly as the "Shit Hits The Fans" recording months earlier. Personally, some of the most memorable shows by the Mats are in the 1984-86 years, so if you see any of these recording, I highly recommend a listen. This period was when they were unpredictable and every setlist was different, there is never a dull moment. They could be brilliant one moment, then a totally drunken mess the next.

If you are interested in the legend of the Replacements' live show, be on the lookout for a new documentary that will analyse the influence the band has had on their fans and their personal stories of the band's mystique. Here's a brief description for the film, Color Me Obsessed:
Director Gorman Bechard brings an extraordinary vision to a unique filmmaking challenge with COLOR ME OBSESSED, the first documentary on the influential '80s indie-rock band, The Replacements. "I wanted to give the band god-like treatment," he explains, "but I didn't want to make a VH-1 where-are-they-now style documentary." Combining the band's mystique with the passion of their fans, Bechard made a music documentary with no music and not one single image of the band. 'People believe in god without ever seeing or hearing him or her," the director says. "I'd like viewers to believe in the band that way.'

I'm pretty excited about this project, though it would have been more amazing to see some actually footage of the band, but anything about the Replacements will peak my interest. Did I mention I'm an "backer" for this film? (and you can too!) I donated some money and I'll get an advanced copy of the film and my name will appear in the end credits...!! The film is almost done and should be released sometime this year. When I screen the film, I'll let you all know more about it.

THE REPLACEMENTS
Uptown Bar And Grill
Minneapolis, MN
January 19, 1985

Nowhere Is My Home
Heard You Been To College
Color Me Impressed
I'm In Love With A Girl
Can't Hardly Wait
I Will Dare
Favorite Thing
Polly Wolly Doodle
Waltzing Matilda
September Gurls
I Can't Turn You Loose
Baby Strange
Black Diamond
Lookin For Ya
When The Lights Are Out
Heart Of Stone
Left Here In The Dark
Answering Machine
Left Of The Dial
Gary's Got A Boner
Go
If I Only Had A Brain
Kansas City Star
Yeah!*
Takin' Care Of Business*
Help Me Rhonda*
Little GTO*
Can't Get Enough Of Your Love*
I'll Be There*
Hitchin' A Ride*

* Alex Chilton performs with the band

REPLACEMENTS- 1-19-85. rar

Riff Randells- Doublecross

As you may have noticed I'm a huge fan of girl-pop/punk bands. I love girl vocals set in front of fast guitar driven rock with no pretentiousness and no concern with overproduced vocals and overdubs. I like the music pure and simple, straight from the heart.

Vancouver has produced many fine all-girl bands such as Cub, Maow, Vancougar and The Riff Randells. The Riff Randells formed in 1999 and they built a strong following touring frequently around Canada and the States as well as tours through Europe and Japan. Their infectious lo-fi pop punk sound is not unlike early Donnas, Nikki And The Corvettes and the Ramones. Their band name is named after the character in the film, Rock 'n' Roll High School, who is the Ramones biggest fan in her high school. A crazy, strange movie, see it if you can, especially if you're a fan of the Ramones...a cult classic!

I'm not certain, but I think Doublecross is the last album the Riff Randells have released and I'm not sure if the band is actually still active. They have previous releases on 7" and 10" vinyl and a couple of CD-EP's that might be hard to find. Some great classic three-chord rock that's catchy as hell and a lot of fun!...Get it while you can!
enjoy!

RIFF RANDELLS
Doublecross (2007)

1. Traitor Of The Heart
2. When He Looks At Me
3. Listen Up
4. Parker Place
5. All I Know
6. The Only One
7. When You Go
8. Nothing Without Me
9. Double Cross
10. Bandana
11. Gotta Move On

RIFF RANDELLS- Doublecross. rar

Cub- Mauler

As the text on the bottom of album cover suggests, this is a collection of oddities that was released after the band split in 1996. Cub only released 3 full length albums, but along the way, they also recorded and released a fair share of 7' singles and appeared on many compilations. What we have here is a collection of some of those singles and comp tracks, but unfortunately instead of including all their rarities, this CD includes tracks already available on those 3 proper albums. There are some real gems on here and interesting covers and in some ways it's their most complete and full sounding collection of songs.

I will always have a place in my heart for bands like Cub. Their "cuddle core" sound is undeniable fun and infectious and they play a melodic jangly style of music that is on the surface so simple and unadulterated, yet they could also fuzz it up garage-style when they got too sweet. Considering the band members had no prior musical experience, with each album's release the band's sound matured and it was obvious their musicianship improved as well.

CUB was Lisa Marr (vocals, bass), Robynn Iwata (guitar)and Lisa G. (drums) Original drummer, Valeria Fellini played only on their first album. Neko Case also played drums on some of their early recordings and for you Neko trivia buffs, she sang in front of a live audience for the first time ever when she was with Cub when they performed in Ohio (the song was Cub's, So Far Apart). If you're not familiar with Cub, check out their 3 full length CD's (Betti-Cola, Come Out Come Out and Box Of Hair) or better yet seek out their 45's...if you can find them.

CUB
Mauler (1997)

1. you know he did
2. nicolas bragg
3. day i said goodbye
4. she's like a rainbow
5. exit
6. pregnant
7. my flaming red bobsled
8. pillow queen
9. green eyes
10. freaky
11. fb song
12. secret nothing
13. go fish
14. new york city
15. runaway
16. my chinchilla

CUB- Mauler. rar

Song Of The Day- "I'm In Love With A Girl": Twice!

Alright, it was Valentine's Day today so hopefully everyone got their fill of chocolate, red foods (including wine) and valentine cards. It's always sickening to see all those happy loving couples "enjoying" themselves on this otherwise normal day, by doing happy loving couple things like dinner, flowers, chocolate and some good luvin'! I did half of those things, I ate leftovers, had a glass of wine, went to see the latest Harry Potter flick (it's at the cheap seats now!), ate popcorn, drank Coke and came home and inhaled a handful of M & M's. Yup, just a normal day.

The most sentimental I get on Valentine's is posting a love song, that hopefully my wife might have a listen to. Mariel posted a link on Facebook from a blog posting called, "Alex Chilton's I'm In Love With A Girl Is the Best Valentine's Song Ever" and I can't disagree. It's a beautiful heartfelt song featuring just Alex on the acoustic guitar. It's funny, because I first heard this song on a live Replacements bootleg from 1985, before hearing the original. Paul Westerberg was a huge Big Star fan and the band would often throw in a couple Big Star numbers in their live shows. I thought it would be fun to share both versions of the song and as a added bonus, The Replacements demo version of Valentine!
Enjoy!!



BIG STAR- "I'm In Love With A Girl"




THE REPLACEMENTS- "I'm In Love With A Girl" (live: Uptown Bar And Grill, Mpls, MN, Jan. 19, 1985)




THE REPLACEMENTS- "Valentine" (demo: Aug. 1986- last session with Bob Stinson)

The White Stripes (R.I.P.)- Under Great White Northern Lights

"The White Stripes do not belong to Meg and Jack anymore. The White Stripes belong to you now and you can do with it whatever you want. The beauty of art and music is that it can last forever if people want it to. Thank you for sharing this experience. Your involvement will never be lost on us and we are truly grateful."

This was the official announcement that appeared on The White Stripes website on February 2, 2011 stating their band has officially ended and will make no further records or perform live. The band wanted to clarify, "The reason is not due to artistic differences or lack of wanting to continue, nor any health issues as both Meg and Jack are feeling fine and in good health. It is for a myriad of reasons, but mostly to preserve what is beautiful and special about the band and have it stay that way."

This is sad news for fans of the band, myself included, and wish I had an opportunity to see them live. I had my chance a few years back, but I was kind of on the fence with their music, but more recently I've rediscovered and acquired most of their recordings and now appreciate the great music Jack and Meg recorded. Their breakup isn't much of a surprise, they haven't been active since 2007 (except for a Conan O'Brien appearance on February 20, 2009, their last ever live performance!) when they cancelled 18 tour dates due to Meg's acute anxiety problems and their last studio album, Icky Thump was released in 2007. Jack has been busy with his other projects. He formed The Raconteurs in 2005 (released 2 studio records), as well as The Dead Weather in 2009.

The White Stripes last official release was a documentary film and a live album called, Under Great White Northern Lights which documented the band's summer 2007 tour across Canada. I thought it would be appropriate being that I'm Canadian I should post this album on my blog. I remember their visit to Winnipeg and their impromptu performance on a transit bus and on the bridge near The Forks, very cool! During the tour, they mainly played arenas, but also dropped into smaller clubs and bowling alleys for mini-performances. I haven't seen the film yet, but with the breakup of the band I think it would be nice to revisit the last tour from a truly great American band.
Enjoy!

THE WHITE STRIPES
Under Great White Northern Lights (2010)
(this is the album, not the documentary film)

1. Let's Shake Hands
2. Black Math
3. Little Ghost
4. Blue Orchid
5. The Union Forever (White, Pepe Guizar)
6. Ball and Biscuit (incorporating portions of "I Believe I'll Dust My Broom" and "Phonograph Blues" both by Robert Johnson)
7. Icky Thump
8. I'm Slowly Turning Into You
9. Jolene (Dolly Parton)
10. 300 M.P.H. Torrential Outpour Blues
11. We Are Going to Be Friends
12. I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself (Burt Bacharach, Hal David)
13. Prickly Thorn, But Sweetly Worn
14. Fell in Love with a Girl
15. When I Hear My Name
16. Seven Nation Army

THE WHITE STRIPES- Under Great White Northern Lights. rar