Producer Spotlight: Jon Tiven (Vol. 2)

Koen and I started looking into Jon Tiven's production credits while we were working on our Fantasy American Explorers project.  When Koen interviewed Peter Lubin, we learned that Jon Tiven appointed Peter as associate editor of the New Haven Rock Press, back when both of them were teenagers.  Jon and Peter cofounded Big Sound Records in 1977.

In a sense, Jon Tiven's career has now come full circle, as his current band (The Midnight Hour) is fronted by legendary guitarist Steve Cropper AND vocalist Roger C. Reale. Big Sound released Radio Active by Roger C. Reale & Rue Morgue in 1978.  

Garnet Mimms was on Peter Lubin's initial list for Fantasy American Explorers.  Koen and I found Garnet's 2008 comeback album Is Anybody Out There?  and noticed that Jon Tiven had produced it.  As we dug further into Tiven's extensive credits as musician, composer and producer, we decided that a compilation would be our next project.  

Jon Tiven wrote a fascinating column called American Beat for Music Republic magazine. He recalls his early days as a working musician, record label rep, producer, and songwriter.  He shares memories of some of the legends that he has worked with, as well as younger performers whose careers he has helped to promote.  

We didn't go all the way back to the days of Big Sound and Ork Records (where Jon Tiven produced Alex Chilton and played in his own band, Prix).  We started with the 1993 and 1994 tribute albums and worked our way forward.  We found over 40 records from 1993 to 2024 that Jon produced or co-produced. Jon and Sally are on many of them as performers and songwriters, and many of their compositions have been recorded by other artists.  

So that's why there are two volumes, and they still don't include everything! Tiven also produced a 2019 solo album for Handsome Dick Manitoba and has collaborated with Stephen Kalinich.  A lot of singers, songwriters and musicians appear on multiple Jon Tiven productions.  He has a wonderful ability to bring talented folks together to collaborate, and we hope you enjoy the blues, country, funk, R&B, rock and soul music contained in these sets.

The Best Of Andy Fairweather Low - Sideman To The Stars

Andy Fairweather Low rose to prominence as Amen Corner’s lead singer.  The band had a string of hits in the 60’s, but they didn’t write songs.  Without income from publishing, they only made money when they played live.  There are two Amen Corner tracks on this collection: (If Paradise is) Half As Nice & Hello Suzy, which was written by Roy Wood.

Andy downplays his time with Amen Corner saying that he basically just showed up and sang. His first solo hit was the wonderful Wide-Eyed & Legless… a song he wrote about drinking.  A hit single wasn’t selling albums, and he was deeply in debt when punk hit, and his solo career was “done & dusted.”

Andy’s old friend, producer Glyn Johns pulled some strings to get him on a benefit show, and his unassuming nature lead to his ubiquitousness.  He played with most of the participants again.  Fairweather Low credits producer Johns with most of his impressive credits.  While it’s common for a producer to prefer to work with specific musicians—Fairweather Low points out that for a time, he was staying in Johns’ house which added proximity to his preferential standing.  Humility is part of Andy’s charm.  

Andy has said being a sideman was the first time he made any money.  He was in Eric Clapton’s touring band for over 20 years, & they backed George Harrison during the former-Beatle’s triumphant return to Japan in 1991.  He also toured with Roger Waters and David Gilmour (separately) and played and recorded with Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Steve Winwood, and Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend (on their Rough Mix collaboration).

Andy got the call from Bill Wyman to record with both of his “super groups” Willie & The Poor Boys & Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, and was a member of drummer Steve Gadd’s The Gaddabouts (along with Edie Brickell).  

While he's primarily a rhythm guitarist, he played drums on Dave Edmunds’ Egg Or The Hen, & often provides background vocals.  Fairweather Low has struck out on his own again (at 77) with his backing group The Low Riders which are some of the best tracks on this compilation!

I don't think I've ever worked as long on the order of the tracks as I have on this tribute to Andy Fairweather Low, but I think I got it right.  If you enjoy it, his IN THE MIX is in the pipe!

 

Producer Spotlight: Jon Tiven (Vol. 1)

We began to feature record producers here awhile back with our Get A Leg Up series (well-known musicians paying tribute to their heroes and boosting the careers of lesser-known artists).  More recently we have featured Dan Auerbach, Ted Templeman and Don Was.  Come to think if it, the first were actually Adrian Sherwood and Dennis Bovell.  

Today's featured producer is Jon Tiven, who is a friend and colleague of Peter Lubin.  Tiven went from writing about music to making music, as a member of Prix, The Yankees, and The Jim Carroll Band.  He also produced the 1975 sessions with Alex Chilton that became known as Bach's Bottom.

Like Chilton, Tiven turned his attention from power pop to soul.  He utilized his musical talents and industry connections to produce and perform on a series of tribute albums in 1993 and 1994 spotlighting the songwriters Don Covay, Arthur Alexander, Curtis Mayfield, and Otis Blackwell.  These tribute albums featured a wide range of performers from the worlds of rock, country, punk, soul and blues.

All of this activity led to more songwriting and production work with singers and songwriters: Wilson Pickett, Freddie Scott, Syl Johnson, Sir Mack Rice, Willie Jones, Betty Harris, Howard Tate, Garnet Mimms, Little Milton, Don Nix, Donnie Fritts, P.F. Sloan and Essra Mohawk (among others).  Tiven has produced four albums for soul singer Ellis Hooks, four for guitarist Steve Cropper, and three for Pixies frontman Frank Black.  His wife Sally Tiven plays bass on many of these records, and writes songs with Jon.

Jonder and Koen each chose songs from the past 30 years or so of Tiven's career writing, producing and playing with these legends of soul, blues and rock music. Today we share the first of two volumes, which features Koen's choices. 

Leftover Explorers and Triples

Anchovies?  You've got the wrong man. 
I spell my name with VITRIOL!

Peter Lubin set a high bar for our American Explorers fantasy camp.  He wanted to make sure the tracks were representative of the artists’ talents and the ethos of the original American Explorers series, which featured legendary practitioners of many genres of popular American music:  blues, country, jazz, soul, gospel, zydeco, rock, and rockabilly.  

We combed Discogs, AllMusic and RateYourMusic for releases and appearances by the artists on Peter's list, and we “auditioned” about 70 albums.  Peter discarded a lot of his own nominees, and he suggested alternates for some of the tracks that we proposed. Some of the artists (like Marty Stuart, Rodney Crowell and Ray Wylie Hubbard) were dropped simply because they have thriving careers and didn’t need our “help” as imaginary A&R representatives.  We also had a surplus of blues and jazz guitarists, all of whom were deserving. We gradually whittled four hours of music down to two.  

The compilations are stronger as a result of this aggressive “pruning” – but there were songs I fell in love with that didn’t make it past the final round.  Even these discards are top quality tracks. Today (for my own listening pleasure, and for anyone who might be curious) I'm sharing some personal favorites that were cut from the project or replaced by other songs.

One of Peter's favorite musicians who we didn't get to include is Don Randi.  Peter highly recommends the early 60's albums by the Don Randi Trio.  Don is still an active performer, but hasn't recorded in years.  He would be perfect for an album in a revived American Explorers series.  Here's Don in action:

In addition to these Leftover Explorers, there's another trifecta of Triple Song Titles.  Many were sent in by Richard, as well as andreyud, Berni, CC, and Stinky.  I had no idea how many songs there were at the start of this thing.  It has gotten way out of hand, but (as with the Fantasy American Explorers project), it has also led to some truly wonderful artists and songs that I might not have heard otherwise.  Here's one cool example: Cool, Cool, Cool by The Clare Sisters (click on the song title for a cool-cool-cool animated video!)

If you're not exhausted by the triples, please enjoy Six Six Sixties (rock songs of the decade), Shame Shame Shame (funk, soul and disco), and Poing Poing Poing (schlager and chansons).  

LOOSE! Vol. 6 -- Now with 10% more nudity!

The LOOSE series dares to shine a light on what goes on in the dark.  There's sausage-hiding, back-riding, & finger sliding.  Folks are used, abused, & knocked out of true.  Some participants are uncaged, all the rage & underage, and others are stewed, screwed, & tattooed.  But they’re all LOOSE!

Various & sundry pastimes are represented.  The Amazing Rhythm Aces, Rodney Crowell, & Nashville Pussy all make the beast with two backs.

Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show & The Beat Farmers add some drugs & alcohol to the mix.

Some women are bad news according to: Led Zeppelin, Sarah Jarosz, The Spongetones, & Nick Gilder.

And some women are bad news in the best possible way.   Just ask: Lazy Lester, Bill Withers, Hoodoo Gurus, Le Tigre, & Hot Chocolate.

 

Fantasy American Explorer Series

About one year ago we posted Exploring The American Explorer Series, an in-depth overview of an almost-forgotten Elektra/Nonesuch series from the 1990s which sought to shine a spotlight on some American musical artists whose contributions were under-regarded or near-forgotten. As usual, we got some feedback from our regular followers.

However one Anonymous comment stood out:

“The American Explorer Series of the early 90s at Elektra was the product of the best intentions of the label's leadership to revitalize deserving American artists coupled with the extraordinary skill and ability of the A&R staff at the time to deliver on the vision. Profit motives and the bottom line were NOT a factor in this mission!”

We were intrigued by this remark and queried the writer for more details, which subsequently did follow via email. It turned out that one of the actual people involved in the American Explorer Series, Elektra A&R man Peter Lubin, had reacted as he was pleasantly surprised to see that some people still remembered that series fondly!

During the year emails were exchanged and the idea of doing an interview with Peter started to grow and ultimately materialized in a Zoom meeting with Koen last December.  He somehow managed to convert the rambling but highly informative and entertaining chat into a more coherent text. The results were shared with Peter and after loads of emails and revisions a fully-illustrated 27-page PDF had become a reality!

As everyone involved was rather pleased with the results, we continued on to the next phase of the project: a brand new “Fantasy” American Explorer Series with full input from Peter!  He took this challenge very seriously and subsequently presented us with a massive master list of 84(!) potential candidates that could possibly qualify by meeting the criteria to ‘bring forgotten artists back into the spotlight’. Even so, that list scared the sh#t out of us. Where to start??!?

With Peter’s guidance, we began living out the "fantasy" of being hard-boiled A&R men making critical decisions for the good of the record label as well as for the benefit of the listening public at large. This too required plenty of time as we took the mission seriously indeed. Some of the artists hadn’t recorded anything in years and it seemed too far-fetched to “revitalize” them, while others were disqualified owing to their citizenship (this is the ‘American’ Explorer Series, after all!) or a variety of other factors. Some, sadly, passed on during the time it took to bring this project to fruition.

We then hemmed and hawed about how we could approach compiling the music to accompany the interview. Finally it was decided to simply find the most recent recordings by each artist on the list and choose an appropriate song from that material. This rule applies in many but not in all cases.

Jonder took the lead and presented us with compilations of potential songs. Unlike some Tesla dude who enjoys wielding a chainsaw, we very slowly fine-tuned the number of chosen songs.

Jon’s original concept for the blog still stands—we post CD-length compilations—so there was the task of paring the material down to two volumes. All that remained was the running order of the tracks, which we created with an eye towards offering the best possible listening experience.

Koen submitted artwork for the front and back covers, and capped it all off with this introduction. ;-)

We let Peter have the final word: “I think this evokes the spirit of the original undertaking as well as the fantasy that we set out to conjure!”

For your reading and listening pleasure (and musical education) we proudly present…

Fantasy American Explorers Volume 1: Staxability

Fantasy American Explorers Volume 2: Kentuckiana

A fully illustrated 27 page interview with Peter Lubin PDF

The Wonderment of The Embarrassment

 

The Redd Kross documentary (Born Innocent) finally came to A City Near Me.  I give it two thumbs up, five gold stars, and 100% on the Tomatometer.  Those of you in the UK and continental Europe will have the opportunity to see Redd Kross live on their summer tour with Melvins in July and August 2025.  

Last year, I attended a screening of We Were Famous: You Don’t Remember (a documentary about The Embarrassment, a band from Wichita, Kansas that existed between 1979 and 1983.)  I watched it again this week after seeing Born Innocent.  

Three of the four Embos were friends since childhood.  They didn’t grow up in the same house (unlike Jeff & Steven McDonald), but they spent a lot of time at each other’s homes, listening to records, learning to play instruments and (once they were old enough) traveling to OKC to attend concerts by David Bowie and the Sex Pistols. “Punk rock changed their lives” and they formed a series of bands.  Eventually (like Redd Kross), they created a sound of their own which both incorporated and transcended their influences (Velvets, Bowie, Iggy, Alice Cooper, Modern Lovers, garage rock, etc.)

The music they made was noisy, melodic, nerdy, and witty.  Most of all (like Redd Kross), it was FUN.  They called it “blister pop”.  They got REALLY good.  Bill Goffrier is a unique and inventive guitarist.  Brent “Woody” Geissmann is an explosive and expressive drummer. Ron Klaus shaped their sound with driving and melodic basslines.  John Nichols developed a visual and lyrical personification of the band’s sound and aesthetic: the skinny guy with glasses who is unapologetically uncool but confident, sarcastic, and smarter than the average bear (without being obnoxious about it).  The members inspired each other lyrically to write songs about American history, space travel, dinosaurs, Mexican monster movies, Elizabeth Montgomery, mathematics and furniture (as well as cars, girls and death).  

They had influential fans and supporters.  Jonathan Demme tried to get them signed to A&M.  Sub Pop, NY Rocker and The Offense championed them. They opened shows for some of their heroes:  Iggy, John Cale, The Fall, and PiL. Mike Mills of REM has acknowledged their influence.  The talking heads in the documentary include Evan Dando, Grant Hart, and Freedy Johnston (who puts it bluntly: “They were so much better than REM.  They were better than Husker Du.”)  

Cultural historian Thomas Frank, journalist Bud Norman, milliner Jack Kellogg (Hatman Jack), and Jeff Jensen (Andrew Earles’ prank calling partner) are also interviewed.  Will McRobb (creator of TV series The Adventures of Pete & Pete) isn’t interviewed, but he's one of the backers listed in the film credits, and he paid tribute to the Embos by choosing “Wellsville” as the name of the town where Pete & Pete lived.

There’s a central conceit to We Were Famous: You Don’t Remember which is implied by the title but doesn't tell the whole story. Thomas Frank opines that it's the nature of culture to create something great which will be forgotten. Viewers are told that the band members (frustrated by their lack of success) went their separate ways in 1983.  Brent became Del Fuegos’ drummer.  Bill got a MFA in Boston and formed Big Dipper.  John and Ron left music behind completely.  

What the film doesn’t tell you is that The Embarrassment reunited several times (in 1985, 1989, 2006, and 2022).  They made another record (God Help Us) in 1990.  Their music has been compiled for several releases: on cassette, album, a double CD, an authorized bootleg, and (most recently) vinyl and digital reissues of their single and their two EP’s.  Bill Goffrier continues to perform their music (in The Embarrassed Men and The Embarrassmen).  A fan website has existed for years, and there’s a massive trove of audio and video at Archive.org.

John Nichols attended last year’s screening of the film and answered questions afterward.  I asked whether there will be a home video release, and if it will include any bonus features.  The 2006 and 2022 reunion shows were professionally filmed.  During the Embos' original run, they made their own music videos, and several live shows were captured on video.  Clips appear throughout the documentary, but none of the band’s songs are performed in full.  Audiences learn why the band is beloved, but don’t get to hear the object of that devotion. (John said a DVD or BluRay release has been discussed.)

Almost Ready Records has done a tremendous job on the reissues, and I don’t want to cost them any revenue.  I encourage you to buy The Embarrassment EP, Death Travels West, and the single (Sex Drive b/w Patio Set) on vinyl or from Bandcamp.  You can also buy or stream We Were Famous... on Amazon, Night Flight, and Hoopla.

Today’s DL comes from the live archive (digitally restored and generously shared by Demolition Kitchen Video).  The songs are from the outdoor show, a 1983 gig in Lawrence, and a 1989 reunion concert in Wichita.  The only changes I made to the mp3's were separating and tagging the songs, removing dead space, and fading out the applause.  Here are two dozen prime examples of Blister Pop.