Quote Of The Week

"Don't be discouraged by a failure. It can be a positive experience. Failure is, in a sense, the highway to success, inasmuch as every discovery of what is false leads us to seek earnestly after what is true, and every fresh experience points out some form of error which we shall afterwards carefully avoid."

45 Revolutions

Short-lived UK mod band The Scenery featured Ian Hunter (Mott The Hoople), Miller Anderson (The Voice*, Paper Blitz Tissue), Dave Dufort (East Of Eden, Angel Witch), Dante Smith, and John Vernon Smith. Their stomping, freakbeat floor-shaker "Thread Of Time" was recorded in 1967 at Regent Sound — with drummer John Banks from The Merseybeats subbing for Vernon Smith at the session — and released on France's Impact label as the b-side to "To Make A Man Cry." (The 45 was also released in Japan via Columbia Records.)

Download: "Thread Of Time"

* The Voice, who released the monster "Train To Disaster," are
rumored to have been the house band for The Process Church,
the infamous cult led by Robert and Mary Anne DeGrimston.

Lovesong

The Kingdoms Of Experience

Dig: "Abandoned Love" live @ The Other End, NYC

Download: "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right" by John Martyn

Download: "Positively 4th Street" by Paul Westerberg

Download: "Gates Of Eden" by Marc Carroll

Buy: Bob Dylan Revisited (book)

Quote Of The Week

"A man's work is nothing but this slow trek to rediscover, through the detours of art, those two or three great and simple images in whose presence his heart first opened."

"People Never Believe You"

"I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse...

I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."

J.D. Salinger

Rest In Peace

"J.D. Salinger, who was thought at one time to be the most important American writer to emerge since World War II but who then turned his back on success and adulation, becoming the Garbo of letters, famous for not wanting to be famous, died on Wednesday at his home in Cornish, N.H., where he had lived in seclusion for more than 50 years." ... Story continues here: J.D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies At 91 (NY Times)

The Guitar

The weeping of the guitar
begins.
The goblets of dawn
are smashed.
The weeping of the guitar
begins.
Useless
to silence it.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps monotonously
as water weeps
as the wind weeps
over snowfields.
Impossible
to silence it.
It weeps for distant
things.
Hot southern sands
yearning for white camellias.
Weeps arrow without target
evening without morning
and the first dead bird
on the branch.
Oh, guitar!
Heart mortally wounded
by five swords.

Nietzsche Family Circus

Quote Of The Week

"The greatest discovery of my generation is that a human being can alter his life by altering his attitudes of mind."

Security

The twins strut proudly down the avenue, in plain view of all. It's obvious that they have not a care in the world, with their hoods pulled tight on their aging skulls, scratched-up goggles strapped even tighter around the back of their necks. They carry tattered shopping bags, rumored to be filled with decades of newspaper clippings — headlines to be specific. They seem... Protected.

No one seems to know how long they've worn those goggles, why, or where the two of them live. They've been around forever. Rumor had it that one of them died. But no, there they are, walking lock-step, with a determination that's inspiring. Never a smile, but you can sense their contentment — they radiate it. They seem... Free.

The street has changed over the years. Stores open and close. The old charmed faces fade into younger, colder ones and the sense of community folds into a heartless nod of the head. The twins never left, despite their scarcity at times... One day, I'm going to miss the twins — and I don't even know their names.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

The Other Sidewalk

The Superfine Dandelion's obscure self-titled 1967 album is an odd hybrid of country-rock, folk-rock, and psychedelia, with a hint of jug-band sounds a la The Lovin' Spoonful — straight out of Arizona, of all places! The real knock-outs are psychedelic tunes, like the trippy, sitar drone-filled "Ferris Wheel," the harder-edged "The Other Sidewalk" (both of which wouldn't sound that out of place on a volume of the British psychedelic compilation series Rubble), and "Crazy Town," which is in more of San Francisco, hippie/psych-vein. And then there are the country-rock/folk-rock numbers, like the Gene Clark/Byrds-y "My Place" and "Don't Try To Call Me," and the wonderful, must-hear "Shameful Lady," a song that could've been performed by the Flying Burrito Bros. Included on the now out-of-print, Sundazed CD reissue of the Mainstream album, is the previously unissued "Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head," a monster acid-rock ditty that is reminiscent of Jefferson Airplane highlighted with ripping guitar-work and punky vocals; alternate versions of two album cuts, and four songs — including a Pretty Things cover —by pre-SD band, The Mile Ends. All in all a challenging, eclectic, and ultimately rewarding album. [Trainspotting Note: Superfine Dandelion's Rick Anderson went onto to form The Tubes, of "She's A Beauty" fame!]

Download: "Shameful Lady"

Download: "The Other Sidewalk"

Download: "Don't Try To Call Me"

Download: "Mr. And Mrs. Potato Head"

Download: "I Can Never Say" by The Mile Ends

Quote Of The Week

"In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow, one can remain alive long past the usual date of disintegration if one is unafraid of change, insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things, and happy in small ways."

Correspondences

In Nature's temple living pillars rise,

And words are murmured none have understood,

And man must wander through a tangled wood

Of symbols watching him with friendly eyes.

As long-drawn echoes heard far-off and dim

Mingle to one deep sound and fade away;

Vast as the night and brilliant as the day,

Colour and sound and perfume speak to him.

Some perfumes are as fragrant as a child,

Sweet as the sound of hautboys, meadow-green;

Others, corrupted, rich, exultant, wild,

Have all the expansion of things infinite:

As amber, incense, musk, and benzoin,

Which sing the sense's and the soul's delight.

Fading All Away

Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr.

Rest In Peace

"Jimmy Lee Lindsey Jr., a prolific songwriter who, under the stage name Jay Reatard, was a force in the worlds of punk and garage rock, was found dead in his home in Memphis early on Wednesday." ... Story continues here: Jay Reatard, 29, A Force In Punk Rock, Is Dead (NY Times)

Download: "Such A Creep" b/w "You're Bugging Me To Death"

(Unreleased Reatards 45)

Download: "You Fell In"

(Angry Angles EP track)

Download: "An Ugly Death"

(Jay Reatard 45 track)

Photography © 2009 Lee Greenfeld

Farewell Conquering Lion

Vivian "Yabby You" Jackson

Rest In Peace

One of seven children, Vivian Jackson left home at the age of twelve to find work at a furnace in Waterhouse. At seventeen, the effects of malnutrition had left him hospitalized, and on his release he was left with severe arthritis which had partially crippled his legs. His physical condition meant that he was unable to return to his previous work, and he was forced into hustling a living on the streets of Kingston.

His Christian beliefs were markedly different from that of his Rastafarian comtemporaries, which often prompted debate on religio-philosophical matters, and it was after one of these discussions that Jackson first headed towards a recording studio, having heard music "like a strange ting, inside a my thoughts — like an angel a sing."

Another spell in hospital meant that finding money for recording was difficult, but eventually the "Conquering Lion" single was released late in 1972, credited to Vivian Jackson and the Ralph Brothers. Cut for King Tubby, the popularity of the song and its distinctive introduction (the chant of "Be-you, yabby-yabby-you") earned Jackson the nickname "Yabby You," which has remained with him during his entire career.

The next few months saw the recording of several more singles, released under different names on various record labels (although usually credited to Vivian Jackson And The Prophets, and often featuring a King Tubby 'version' on the b-side); culminating in the release of the Conquering Lion album. A King Tubby mixed dub set, King Tubby's Prophesy of Dub, was also issued, albeit on a limited run of 500 copies, helping to establish Jackson as a roots artist.

Yabby's success allowed him to branch out as a producer, and he began working with both upcoming and more established artists including Wayne Wade, Michael Rose, Tommy McCook, Michael Prophet, Big Youth, Trinity, Dillinger and Tapper Zukie, while continuing to release his own material.

Jackson continued to record, produce and perform (often with the aid of crutches) until the mid 1980s. He re-emerged in the early 1990s, issuing both new and old material, and his recordings have been the subject of several high quality reissues in recent years. [Wikipedia]

Buy: Dub It To The Top 1976-1979 (CD)

Read: Yabby You - Jesus Dread

Quote Of The Week

"It was morality that burned the books of the ancient sages, and morality that halted the free inquiry of the Golden Age and substituted for it the credulous imbecility of the Age Of Faith. It was a fixed moral code and a fixed theology which robbed the human race of a thousand years by wasting them upon alchemy, heretic-burning, witchcraft and sacerdotalism."

The Fireman And The Beggar

"Some days I feel like a warmonger Catholic,
and others, a Zen Buddhist."

"Still paying your dues in the house of god;
running your mouth in computer school?

Walking the fine line between song and dance;
strutting down the crossroads of prayer and sanity?"

"You're opening the door to your own personal scorn."

"Yeah... And tripping the long road home."

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld

A Gallery Of Cool, Take Two

"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad.

People are either charming or tedious." -Oscar Wilde

Winter Twilight

On a clear winter's evening

The crescent moon

And the round squirrels' nest

In the bare oak

Are equal planets.

Teenage Dreams So Hard To Beat

"Young people are in a condition like permanent

intoxication, because youth is sweet and they are growing."

Download: "Teenage Fever" by The Dogs

Download: "Teenage Treats" by The Wasps

Download: "Teenage Faces" by The Exploding Hearts

Download: "Teenage Heart" by Cock Sparrer

Download: "Teenage Hate" by Reatards

Quote Of The Week

"You fools and idiots of time, which is nowhere but in your heads! I ask you, what have you done? If you want to be and have what you hope for, what you await... do it."

Release The Bats

Roland S. Howard

Rest In Peace

"Roland S. Howard — the Australian guitarist behind the Birthday Party, Crime And The City Solution, and These Immortal Souls — died early this morning (December 30th) in a Melbourne hospital after losing a battle with liver cancer. He was 50." ... Story continues here: Roland S. Howard Succumbs To Cancer (Exclaim)

Quote Of The Week

"Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."

Fairytale Of New York

The Times Are Nightfall...

The times are nightfall, look, their light grows less;

The times are winter, watch, a world undone:

They waste, they wither worse; they as they run

Or bring more or more blazon man’s distress.

And I not help. Nor word now of success:

All is from wreck, here, there, to rescue one—

Work which to see scarce so much as begun

Makes welcome death, does dear forgetfulness.

Or what is else? There is your world within.

There rid the dragons, root out there the sin.

Your will is law in that small commonweal…

Don't Believe In Christmas

Download: "Sock It To Me Santa"

by B.S. & The Last Herd

Download: "Santa Claus Just Burgled My House"

by Frankie Flame & Another Man's Poison

Download: "Punk Rock Christmas"

by The Alan Milam Sect

Quote Of The Week

"Patience serves as a protection against wrongs as clothes do against cold. For if you put on more clothes as the cold increases, it will have no power to hurt you. So in like manner you must grow in patience when you meet with great wrongs, and they will then be powerless to vex your mind."

Nothing Twice

Nothing can ever happen twice.
In consequence, the sorry fact is
that we arrive here improvised
and leave without the chance to practice.

Even if there is no one dumber,
if you're the planet's biggest dunce,
you can't repeat the class in summer:
this course is only offered once.

No day copies yesterday,
no two nights will teach what bliss is
in precisely the same way,
with precisely the same kisses.

One day, perhaps some idle tongue
mentions your name by accident:
I feel as if a rose were flung
into the room, all hue and scent.

The next day, though you're here with me,
I can't help looking at the clock:
A rose? A rose? What could that be?
Is it a flower or a rock?

Why do we treat the fleeting day
with so much needless fear and sorrow?
It's in its nature not to say
Today is always gone tomorrow

With smiles and kisses, we prefer
to seek accord beneath our star,
although we're different (we concur)
just as two drops of water are.

A.I.T.A. Hall Of Fame: Laughing Hyenas

"One of the highest-voltage punk acts to hit the Midwest in the late '80s, the Laughing Hyenas matched the thudding grind of the Stooges with the bluesy, scuzzed-up post-punk of the Birthday Party and Pussy Galore. At first, the band specialized in noisy dirges overlaid with the tortuous, throat-shredding vocals of frontman John Brannon. As time passed, their blues connections became more and more explicit, looking back to the Rolling Stones and original sources like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. However, the Hyenas weren't quite prolific enough to take their place alongside similar indie stalwarts like Royal Trux or the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and quietly faded away.

The Laughing Hyenas were formed in Ann Arbor, MI, in 1985 by vocalist John Brannon, formerly of area hardcore band Negative Approach, and guitarist Larissa Strickland, who'd been playing her instrument for a scant six months and had previously been in a local group called L-Seven (not the L7 who later went on to grunge-metal fame). The two added bassist Kevin Strickland and drummer Jim Kimball, and quickly made a name for themselves on the Detroit-area scene. Signing with noise rock specialists Touch and Go, the Laughing Hyenas issued their six-song debut EP, Merry-Go-Round, in 1987, with production by a pre-Nirvana Butch Vig. The full-length You Can't Pray A Lie followed in 1989, and the group went on tour supporting Sonic Youth.

1990's Life Of Crime was hailed by many as the Hyenas' most fully realized album to date, but it proved to be the original lineup's last hurrah. Kimball and Kevin Strickland both departed to form the roots-punk outfit Mule with P.W. Long in 1991. Brannon and Larissa Strickland regrouped with a new rhythm section of bassist Kevin Reis and onetime Necros drummer Todd Swalla. Still coming together, the new version of the Hyenas cut the Crawl EP in 1992, but further turnover ensued when Reis decided he couldn't tour as extensively as the band wanted to. He was in turn replaced by Ron Sakowski, also a former member of the Necros. After honing its chemistry via heavy touring, the band finally returned in 1995 with Hard Times, the bluesiest album in their discography. After a long break, Brannon and Sakowski fronted the group Easy Action. Larissa Strickland passed away on November 4th, 2006." [All Music Guide]

Larissa Strickland

Rest In Peace

Download: "Solid Gold Hell" (demo)
Download: "Serves Me Right To Suffer" (live)
Read: Brooklyn Voodoo 1988 Tour Diary

Hammer And Branch

Accept the realities within reach, and those which give resistance. Give thanks for steel and wood, blood and fire, skyscraper and tree, brick and soil... Hammer and branch! Strive to live above the sheep yet sans prejudice and snobbery, with the fire of the elite that burns deep within the heart and mind.

© 2009 Lee Greenfeld