The Grifters Guide To The Galaxy

 

The first half of the Nineties was a period when I wasn't paying close attention to new music.  I was busy getting married, buying a house, finishing a degree and starting a family.

"Alternative" FM radio wasn't bad, and it was easier to listen to the radio than buy records and read music magazines.  As a result, I was mostly oblivious to Britpop, No Depression, post rock, noise rock, shoegaze, low-fi, the Medway scene, Elephant 6, and trip hop.  Labels like Drag City, AmRep, Kill Rock Stars and Warp.

I got into some of the bands after they broke up.  One of my favorites from this period is The Grifters.  Since I didn't follow them from the beginning, I tend to prefer their later, more structured and less noisy songs. 

Grifters songs have a Stonesy swagger.  They may seem sloppy at first, but (as I discovered when I attended a reunion show), they had a fantastic rhythm section, and they were one of those "loose but tight" bands.  They came out of Memphis around the same time that Pavement, GBV and Archers Of Loaf were gaining notice, so they all got lumped into that "low fi" scene.  There's also a psychedelic influence in The Grifters' music (which becomes more pronounced in later songs like "Spaced Out" and "Parting Shot").

Covered With Flies

A HUNDRED BONUS POINTS to the first eagle-eared reader who can answer me these questions three:

Which song namechecks Joe South?

Which song namechecks Colorblind James?

Which song borrows a lyric from Lynyrd Skynyrd (and which Skynyrd song did the Grifters borrow from)?

SONGWRITERS SINGING SONGS THEY WROTE VOL. 1 P.F. Sloane HARLAN HOWARD John Martyn

SONGWRITERS SINGING SONGS THEY WROTE VOL. 1

An out of work composer sees a sign in a fancy restaurant window that reads: “Pianist Wanted”.  He goes in and asks to see the owner, who suggests he play something on the baby grand.

The proprietor can’t believe his ears as he listens to a breathtakingly beautiful song, played masterfully, & he exclaims: “That was wonderful!”

The composer beams & says: “I wrote it.”  The owner asks: “What’s the name of that piece?”  And the musician replies: “It’s called: ‘Fucking Your Asshole On The Kitchen Floor.’”

The restauranteur is taken aback, but asks his guest if he’ll play another number, & this one's even better than the first.  Again, the owner responds enthusiastically.  

“I wrote that one, too,” says the composer.  “I call it: ‘Your Tits Are Juicy, & I Want To Bite Them.’”

The owner is so moved by the music that he has tears in his eyes, so he decides he doesn’t care what the songs are called.  He hires the composer on the spot, on the condition that he does NOT share the song titles with his patrons.  “The job pays $300 a night plus tips and, of course, you’ll have to wear a tuxedo.”  

Thrilled to have employment, he agrees to the terms, but has to borrow a friend’s tux for the first night, & the pants are a little tight.

His debut goes splendidly, as the maestro plays original composition after original composition to the delight of the patrons, AND the proprietor.  His tip jar is overflowing.

After a rather rigorous rendition, the owner of the restaurant notices the pianist’s trousers have torn.  He runs over to the piano & says: “Do you know your pants are ripped, & your dick is hanging out?!”

And the pianist says: “Know it?  I WROTE IT!”

Which is the actual title of today's share.  I made fake cover art & supplied a fake title to the post, so I wouldn't telegraph the punchline of the joke.

Represented on Vol. 1 are Nashville greats Harlan Howard, Tom T. Hall, Mickey Newbury, Kris Kristofferson, & Willie Nelson.  Country songwriters Townes Van Zandt, & Sonny Curtis provide their renditions of two of their most valuable copyrights.  Cowboy Jack Clement was a Sun Records songwriter & producer who also recorded as an artist.   Vol. 1 is the home of I Guess Things Happen That Way—a hit for Johnny Cash.

Some of the most successful rock songwriters are included, as well.  P.F Sloan wrote Let Me Be for The Turtles, & Secret Agent Man for Johnny Rivers.  Chip Taylor wrote Angel Of The Morning, & Wild Thing, which he tears into with the help of Carrie Rodriguez & Buddy Miller.

Songwriters Tommy Boyce & Bobby Hart supplied several of The Monkees’ hits, and after their show was cancelled, they formed Dolenz, Jones, Boyce & Hart with ex-Monkees Mickey & Davy.  

We all know Del Shannon wrote hit after hit for himself, but he also wrote Peter & Gordon’s I Go To Pieces.  Gary Valentine was a member of Blondie, and contributed (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence Dear to their repertoire.  The Cretones’ main songwriter Mark Goldenberg had two songs covered by Linda Ronstadt, but his band failed to turn that big break into chart success.

I always loved Eric Clapton’s version of May You Never from Slowhand, but composer John Martyn’s is hard to beat.  The lone Motown songwriting great on this collection is Barrett Strong performing a showstopping version of his I Heard It Through The Grapevine Live At The Bottom Line.

The ACTUAL artwork is included.

 

Grandpa & Grandma

Our faithful contributer Richard says:

GRANDPA

Here is the fourth and last of my series from ‘Cil’s tapes. These are mostly well known bands in their own, right now, but back in the 80s they were hard to find.

I have brought them here coupled with a selection of tunes that weren’t on these tapes. Songs from women I love. A full section on female pleasure and punk.

I will take you rapidly through it.

Big In Japan started the career of some great ones. 

The Now, The Wasps, Magic Michael, Eater, the Partisans, Patrik Fitzgerald, The Flys and The Boys might not be huge names but over the years they proved unmissable pillars on punk compilations as rare gems. (how can they be rare when so often featured)

X-Ray Spex, John Cooper Clarke, Chelsea, The Models, 999, Sham 69 and The Outcasts are also often seen on the various retrospectives.

These songs are all late 70s and form a good view of the d.i.y. attitude.

GRANDMA

Even though there are quite a few women featured on this and the previous GWT’s I also want to present an all female volume of (post)punk from the early years. With the exception of Shop Assistants.

The Sailors (Die Matrosen) by Liliput is one of my favorite whistling tunes and was the starting point for this selection, Icy Wind (Eisiger Wind) is one of my most beloved la-la-la songs.

Essential Logic were formed after Lora Logic left/force to leave X-Ray Spex and after a hiatus made Land of Kali in 2022 here punk goes instrumental

Fatal Microbes only released one single. Within their ranks was Honey Bane who made quite a few solo projects and seems to be working on a new album. She has made a Punk Goes Soul gem, presented here.

Mania D and Malaria are German and best known for the included hit Kaltes Klares Wasser

You cannot get around Siouxsie when presenting Pure punk women.

Shop Assistants were big in 1986 having John Peel Sessions, an album and a few singles and should have been big.

The Slits are among the originators of Punk AND white reggae. 

From The Slits a lot of bands emerged The Raincoats and Dee Sign being only two. Dee Sign (mostly Danish) brings you a French treat.

Another classic band was Penetration with Pauline Murray. Her version of Nostalgia (Pete Shelley) and Holocaust (Alex Chilton) I love very much.

Finally there are 7 (seven) songs by Girls At Our Best. Simply because for me they are the songs that matter. Judy Evans came from The Butterflys and after GaoB made an appearance with Thomas Dolby and disappeared. There is something about these. It’s not easy to define but every time I hear them they lift me. And I guess that is what music can do. After 40 odd years still install joy in me.

The first track by Girls at our Best – Warm Girls has them shouting "Girls At Our Best" and they seemed it fit to use as the band name.

IN THE MIX Chrissie Hynde Edition Vol. 1

IN THE MIX Chrissie Hynde Edition Volume 1 

It seems everyone wants to sing with Chrissie Hynde.  IN THE MIX Chrissie Hynde Edition Vol. 1 is packed with The Pretenders’ leader lending vocals to her friend’s songs (Chris Spedding, Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello, INXS, Ringo Starr) joining legends onstage (Jeff Beck, Rod Stewart) & supporting relative newcomers (Hybrid, Incubus, Rufus Wainwright, Tube & Berger).  She adds some credibility to Russell Crowe’s band (one of my favorites of the tracks included here) & I included a couple tracks from her new duets album—songs with k.d. lang, & Julian Lennon.  Maybe my favorite track is Hynde's live pairing with another go-to duet partner to the stars; Sheryl Crow.

Hynde is a tough as leather rock chick who’s too kind to eat meat.  She's skippered a pirate ship on rock & roll's testosterone sea for 45 years without ever losing her femininity.  And to me, Chrissie sings like no one else.  The only influence I pick up from her singular vocal style is maybe a tiny bit of Cher—who I also find to be unique & unusual in a different way.

And despite all Hynde’s gone through—including the death of two of her original Pretenders bandmates in the space of ten months—she’s always written & recorded great music.  And I've always liked that she tends to keep original Pretenders drummer Martin Chambers close.  I feel like she's true to her friends, and her fans.

Even when I thought some material was weak, Hynde has proven my assessment to be inaccurate.  The songs that failed to grab me on 1990’s Packed (recorded without Chambers) like Sense Of Purpose, & Criminal, and on 1986’s Get Close’s Chill Factor, & Hymn To Her took became some of my favorites when recorded with an orchestra for 1995’s The Isle Of View.  The same is true of Revolution from 1994’s Last Of The Independents.  I stand corrected, Ms. Hynde.

 

NU-DISK Colony Deluxe Edition

Vinyl records, love them or hate them, but I still have a soft spot for those black ‘groovy’ discs: the singles, extended plays, and long players… But there’s one odd format which for no particular reason I like perhaps most and that’s the 10 inch, a sort of ‘inbetweenie’!

Which brings us to record labels’ gimmicks, such us EPIC with their 1980 NU-DISK series. In their own words: WHAT A CHEAP WAY TO GET YOUR ATTENTION!

Well, at least they were honest about it…

Those NU-DISK platters were 10 inches with (at first) 4 songs each, which to be honest isn’t that much, but then again, the keyword was CHEAP, right?!

The first four were by Cheap Trick, New Musik, Propaganda, and The Continentals of which only the first one is still around (perhaps due to their CHEAP name?!)

The other three UK bands threw in the towel many years ago, but actually their music included some really neat New Wave/Powerpop tunes and therefore deserve to be heard again.

No need to say much about Cheap Trick I guess as they’re pretty well known, except for the info regarding their four tracks is misleading!

On the A side “Day Tripper” isn’t live, but was actually recorded in the studio, the crowd noise is apparently from their 1978 US Tour and “Can’t Hold On” is from the 1978 Budokan shows.

“Such a Good Girl” was recorded in 1979 and “Take Me I’m Yours” from 1980.

Another gimmick, this 10 inch was released in two versions, with different pictures of the band members on the Sides…

New Musik (Tony Mansfield, Clive Gates, Tony Hibbert, Phil Towner, & Cliff Venner) was an English new wave pop band from South London, active from 1977 to 1982. They started out as End Of The World and became New Musik in 1977, originally with musicians who also played in the Nick Straker Band. They released three albums between 1980 - 1982.

Propaganda (Gary Finch, Graham Seviro, Julian Macqueen, & Milo Lewis), UK band formed in ca. 1980. Some members were previously in The Passengers together. They released only one album…

The Continentals (Bill Holliday, Tom Doherty, & Alan Harris) came from London and were managed by Doug Smith, then manager of Motorhead. They released only 2 singles and this 10 inch… Bill Holliday and Tom Doherty also co-produced and wrote tracks for the well known UK Rockabilly group Whirlwind.

In 1980 EPIC even released a NU-DISK Colony sampler with one track each of the above bands.

Later artists that got the NU-DISK treatment were Gary Glitter (Glitter And Gold, 6 tracks), Rick Nelson (Four You, 4 tracks), Shakin’ Stevens (Shakin’ Stevens, 4 tracks), and The Clash (Black Market Clash, 9 tracks).

It was all in vain, sales were disappointing & NU-DISK ended up on the scrapheap…

Anyway, I put this Deluxe 16 track NU-DISK Colony version together for JOKONKY, so do give it a spin!

Songs That REIGNING SOUND Taught Us - plus more PUNKS GOT SOUL

After the Memphis bands Compulsive Gamblers and Oblivians broke up, Greg Cartwright debuted a new group called Reigning Sound with a 2001 single featuring a Gene Clark cover ("Here Without You") on the A-side, and two Cartwright originals on the flip. This was followed by a full length album (Break Up... Break Down) which further defined the sound of Reigning Sound: garage punk energy with an appreciation for mid-sixties pop and soul, and a keen sense of Memphis musical history. 

Cartwright once stated in an interview that seeing Tav Falco's Panther Burns at the Antenna Club sparked a realization of what he wanted to accomplish as a songwriter and performer.

Between 2001 and 2021, Reigning Sound released seven studio albums, three live albums, and an odds & sods comp (Home For Orphans).  The band also backed Mary Weiss of The Shangri-Las on her Norton Records comeback album, Dangerous Game (2007).  All of these albums featured Cartwright's songwriting talent and soulful vocals.  Cartwright announced the end of Reigning Sound in 2022. 

There are cover songs scattered throughout the Reigning Sound discography, most of them "deep cuts" from the 1950's and 60's.  The most familiar song would likely be "Keep On Dancing", a soul cover that was a hit for Memphis garage rockers The Gentrys.  Today's set ends with a John Felice composition that first appeared on the Mary Weiss album. The Real Kids later recorded it for their 2014 comeback album).

While we're on the topic of garage rock, punk and soul, it seems like a good time to trot out Volume #7 in the blog series Punks Got Soul.  This one is packed with 28 great songs, with many moments of "why didn't I think of THAT one before?" while they were being compiled. One of those "aha!" moments happened when esteemed reader Guypinot recently mentioned Evie Sands (whose "I Can't Let Go" was covered by the Hollies and the Dickies).

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: Songs The Dickes Taught Us, Songs The Panther Burns Taught Us, and many more!

BEST OF THE SINCEROS LIVE! - Power Pop/New Wave Perfection!

BEST OF THE SINCEROS LIVE!

THE SINCEROS signed with Epic Records in 1979, & put out their debut: The Sound Of Sunbathing.  It was hampered by a terrible album cover in the UK, but the US version’s cover is pretty cool.  Their first single: Take Me To Your Leader got a lot of airplay—peaking at #70 in Australia.  

Their second album was shelved in 1980—eventually getting reworked/re-recorded & released as Pet Rock in 1981--but the delay cost the band their momentum.  Both albums are great new wave/power pop showcases for their clever & catchy songwriting, & quirky, yet cohesive, playing. 

The Sinceros had so many songs with hit potential.  Other highlights are; I Still Miss You, Little White Lies, Disappearing, Are You Ready (A Mark Kjeldsen solo single that was also released as a single by The Sinceros) and the very Joe Jackson-sounding Worlds Apart which are all included here. 

Members went on to play in Squeeze, Eurogliders, The Teardrop Explodes, Procol Harum, Nick Lowe & The Impossible Birds, and in Van Morrison’s band.  

Drummer Bobby Irwin is probably the member I was most familiar with after the band broke up.  He played with everyone in Rockpile—one of my favorite bands.  The Sinceros backed LENE LOVICH on her Stateless album—which I consider to be a classic--& they backed Lene on her BE STIFF tour.

Mark Kjeldsen joined forces with the great Danny Adler.  I spotlighted Adler here: THE BEST OF DANNY ADLER Vol. 1 & I did a BEST OF THE SINCEROS studio work that can be found here: BEST OF THE SINCEROS.

Tracks on this live compilation are from shows at the legendary London venues The Hope & Anchor, & The Paris Theatre, and Boston’s Rat Club.  Some (most?) of them are from the wonderful BB Chronicles blog: BB Chronicles/Sinceros.  A tip of the hat to them!