THE SKELETONS Live At Euclid Records & On Public Access TV!

THE SKELETONS Live At Euclid Records & On Public Access TV

It’s timely that I’m diving deep into THE SKELETONS catalogue around HALLOWEEN, even if it's entirely coincidental.

Last time around--I shared tracks that are available nowhere else--and I’m doing the same this week--if you count these two performances I found on YouTube and converted into Homemade Records!

Being many folk’s choice for THE WORLD’S GREATEST BAR BAND, the way to experience THE SKELETONS is live.  First up is a live set recorded at EUCLID RECORDS in 2011, & an earlier set on Public Access TV.  Nineteen sizzling servings of honest-to-God rock & roll with a couple of the musical curveballs the band was known for thrown-in for good measure.

On the EUCLID set, they play a smoky jazzy version of THE KINKS’ You Really Got Me alongside songs by fellow midwestern musical heroes WAYNE CARSON & CHUCK BERRY (who they point out wrote Jaguar & Thunderbird while he was in prison nearby).  

Part of their appeal is that they’re a band of obsessive record collectors who record music for obsessive record collectors. 

Another thing I’ve learned about them is that they always championed up-and-comers.  On a different live performance, they sing the praises of CORNELL HURD before they play a song they backed him on; If You Play With My Mind (You’re Gonna Get Your Hands Dirty).  On the EUCLID set they play an AMY RIGBY song that they say hadn’t appeared on one of her records yet.

And like any band who've learned how to hold the attention of an audience that’s drinking, & more focused on fornication, they know how to grab your attention with an obscure cover song.  One of their songs that I viewed purely as a way to do so has become one of my favorite songs by the group; The Monkey’s Uncle.  A theme song from an ANNETTE FUNICELLO Disney movie!  It drives home the other quality any great bar band possesses; great musical taste.  They aren't looking to waste anybody's time.

The final ability they possess in spades is the ability to write great songs about subjects no one else has bothered to write songs about.  A gift they share with artists they’ve backed on vinyl like HURD, JONATHAN RICHMAN, & ROBBIE FULKS.  There are countless rock songs about (girls and) cars, but none like their Gas Money, or Trans Am.  

So if you liked THE SKELETONS’ edition of IN THE MIX (scroll down if you missed it), I think you’ll enjoy these live sets!

If you'd like to take your own deep dive into THE SKELETONS/THE MORELLS/THE ORIGINAL SYMPTOMS a friend of theirs started his own label & relleased two different 4 CD sets, and a couple of other single CD releases on his own Almeron Records.  You can email him at: tomtaber_14411@yahoo.com

 

Holiday Inn Spain - The Field Guide To The Raybeats

At times it can be frustrating to ‘discover’ a band only after they’ve already split up…  I guess I might have encountered some of (The) Raybeats’ instrumentals before on a compilation, but despite my love for this kind of music, somehow it didn’t register enough.

That finally happened once their ‘lost’ 1982 session with Philip Glass was released, because his name for sure piqued my interest. The minimalist guy teaming up with a neo-surf rock combo? Unreal!  Three tracks: Pack Of Camels, Black Beach, and A Sad Little Caper got the full Glass treatment with Michael Riesman on keyboards which certainly made a difference… 

Another sign was the discovery of Neville Brody’s sleeve of their Holiday Inn Spain single…  From there on I backtracked and started listening to their other records as well, which sadly enough weren’t that many.  Altogether they released only 3 albums and a couple of 45s between 1981 - 1984…

The Raybeats formed in 1979 out of the ashes of the New York no-wavers, The Contortions. They decided to focus on Link Wray style guitar instrumentals and combine this with Dick Dale surf/space age/spy movie/no-wave, an interesting mix to say the least!

Lineup was George Scott (bass), Don Christensen (drums), Pat Irwin (guitarist/keyboardist/sax), and Jody Harris (guitar).  Scott sadly enough died of a drug overdose in 1980 and was replaced by Danny Amis (bass, guitar).

Their records output started with an EP Roping Wild Bears (1981), followed by an album, Guitar Beat (1982), which was recorded in England in Martin Rushent’s brand new studio.  According to Greg McLean’s Bar-None rerelease liner notes: This is modern American music-each song a chapter in a Bill Burroughs novel, cutting up sci-fi secret agents with the pulp of travelogues, voodoo recipes and bartending texts. 

Only one more album followed: It’s Only A Movie!, before the band decided to throw in the towel in 1984.  The band members moved on; Jody (The Golden Palominos), Pat (B-52s), and Danny (Los Straightjackets).  

No official compilation was ever released, therefore leave it up to Jokonky to correct this serious omission! It includes several tracks from their albums and as they apparently had quite a reputation as a live band, I added 2 examples from a live Stiff Records album as well. 

Two Drummers Drumming

 

This week I saw Redd Kross on their current tour with Melvins.  Dale Crover and Steve McDonald are doing double duty as the rhythm section for both bands.  Melvins are touring as a quartet, with two drummers (Dale and Coady Willis).  Thus the inspiration for today's post: bands with two (or more) drummers.  

There's something visceral about seeing and hearing two drummers playing.  Dale and Coady were sometimes locked in sync; at other times, they alternated as "lead" drummer or played off each other with separate but complementary drum parts.  

Two drummers playing together is a feat of athleticism as well as musicianship.  It's been done in jazz and prog rock, but also by the Grateful Dead, Allman Brothers, the Glitter Band, Wizzard, Adam & The Ants, and The Fall.  There are live videos from 1983 of The Fall playing Smile, Garden, and Tempo House with Karl Burns and Paul Hanley that -- even to this day -- can cause the Dutch to weep, in four languages at least.  

Here are 20 songs from groups which included two or more drummers.  Some were temporary lineups, as when Fugazi added a second drummer to several songs on their final album, or when Pere Ubu had both Scott Krauss and Chris Cutler on drums.  Sadly, nothing today from the Four Goddamn Girl Drummers, but we've got everything from God to Gnod.  It's fitting that the compilation ends with House Of All, which now includes three goddamn Fall drummers (Karl Burns, Paul Hanley, and Simon Wolstencroft).  

ELSEWHERE ON THE BLOG: more MX-80, Ubu, and The Mighty Fall.  

HALLOWEEN 2025

HALLOWEEN 2025 contains a few bands you may not identify with All Hollows' Eve, but I think you’ll be surprised to find the tracks by THE PRETENDERS, T BONE BURNETT, & MARTY STUART, nestle in nicely (like mutant blood-thirsty ticks) alongside tracks by THE CRAMPS, THE COFFIN NAILS, THE FUZZTONES, & JOHN ZACHERLE!

I always appreciated HELEN REDDY’s Twilight Zone-themed: Angie Baby, and JIM STAFFORD’s Swamp Witch is surprisingly spooky, as is TAV FALCO’s Vampire From Havana.

Some bands' names are enough to warrant inclusion, like BARON DAEMON & THE VAMPIRES, THE TOMBSTONES, & THE 69 EYES.  Others, not so much, like BIG BOB KORNEGAY, THE EARLS OF SUAVE, & THE GINTOWN BOOZERS.

All of them were carefully selected by THE ONE WHO STINKS to darken your HALLOWEEN (as is my annual tradition).  In the words of Creature Feature's Master Of Scare-a-monies DR. PAUL BEARER: “I’ll be LURKING for you!”

 

The Last Testament Updated - Fetish Records

Besides Barney Bubbles, Neville Brody is another one of my favorite designers/artists, therefore it isn’t very surprising that I starting taking a closer look at Fetish Records.
According to Discogs, Fetish was an industrial and electro label started by Steve Brown and the late Rod Pearce in 1978 with the rerelease of Throbbing Gristle - The Second Annual Report. 

Steve and Rod split in 1979 but Rod continued with acts like 23 Skidoo, Bush Tetras and Stephen Mallinder from Cabaret Voltaire.
It was known as much for the music as for the highly stylized and eye-catching Neville Brody sleeves…

As for the music it’s probably best described as a fusion of industrial, post-punk, no wave, alternative dance, rock, and dub.
Most acts had a short lifespan with the exception of Mallinder’s Cabaret Voltaire and Throbbing Gristle…
Besides a bunch of 7 and 12 inch singles Fetish released only 1 (one!) compilation album; 1983s excellent The Last Testament which shockingly enough has never been released on CD or any other format!
However there were enough tracks for a companion compilation which became The Last Testament Updated.

32 years later these tracks are still very listenable, occasionally still challenging perhaps, but definitely not boring/dated. Although for me personally there’s an exception, a good friend told me many years ago that if you ever want to end a party, play Throbbing Gristle… 

With that in mind I added TG as the final track!

The Updated Testament includes the following bands and artists:

23 Skidoo - a British band playing a fusion of industrial, post-punk, alternative dance, rock, and world music.

Bush Tetras - All-woman group who were a mainstay of New York's club scene in the 1980s, playing a brutal blend of Minimalist, No Wave, Funk-influenced Punk.

The Bongos - American new wave / power pop group from Hoboken, New Jersey. They broke up in the mid-1980s but reformed in the 2010s.

Snatch - Legendary Punk girl duo (Patti Palladin, Judy Nylon) from New York, associated with the Art-Rock scene, they recorded only 1 album. The 2 tracks here were produced by John Cale.

WKGB - Consisted of David Goessling and Dennis Kelley, they recorded only 1 single.

L.O.K. - Consisted of A.A. Pritchard (Poet and street artist from Greenwich Village, New York) and Eliot Michaels (American musician, songwriter and record producer), they recorded only 1 single.

8 Eyed Spy - American no wave band from New York City, consisting of Lydia Lunch and Jim Sclavunos, Michael Paumgardhen, Pat Irwin and George Scott III.

Stephen Mallinder - British singer/musician born 1 January 1955 in Sheffield, England. Founding member of Cabaret Voltaire.

Clock DVA - Adi Newton formed the first line up of Clock DVA in 1978, together with Judd Turner but soon expanded the group. They focused on experimental music inspired by SF and the occult, but later became more industrial and electronic in their recordings.

Perry Haines - Early 80's co-founder of UK style-bible "ID Magazine" who released only 1 single.

Throbbing Gristle - Industrial group, growing out of the extreme performance art group COUM Transmissions. Members included: C.C. Newby, Chris Carter, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge, & Peter Christopherson

I Was A Teenage New College Student

As a high school senior (Class of '84), the only college I applied to was New College of Florida.  From the 1960's until just a few years ago, it was an innovative school where students had opportunities to design their own education. Under the current governor (who likes to say that Florida is "where woke goes to die"), the college was essentially dismantled by a new state-appointed board who fired faculty members, discarded a dumpster full of library books, rewrote the curriculum, and remade New College in the image of Hillsdale, a conservative Christian school.  

Whether you view that as a victory or a loss is a matter of perspective, but it was an early win for the Project 2025 activists who are now deconstructing the federal government from within.  You don't come here for political opinions, and I'm not going to rage against the machine or mourn the New College that I knew.  Let's talk about the music.

Palm Court (pictured above) was where we held our parties, dancing among the Florida palms at the center of the dorms.  There's a low wall around Palm Court that was the right height for sitting (while drinking, smoking, chatting, and watching the dancers).  An informal party was called a "Wall".  The bigger parties were called PCP's (Palm Court Parties).  That was when they brought out the big speakers, the kegs, and the punch bowl spiked with acid.  MDMA wasn't outlawed until 1985, so we were "sorted for E's" (if not wizz).

Today I'm sharing a selection of songs that were often played at those parties in the mid to late 1980's.  Students made mixtapes, and someone would plug in an amplifier, a cassette deck and a pair of speakers.  Throw in a case of Busch, and you've got a Wall.

There was something special about hearing these songs in the Florida night, dancing under the trees with the smell of cheap beer, patchouli and clove cigarettes in the air.  Hearing these songs again now is interesting.  It was a time when the US and Russia were sworn enemies, and we never imagined our presidents becoming friends. Many of us feared that Ronnie was going to let the nukes fly (as he joked about in the sample used in "5 Minutes").  Apartheid still existed ("Free Nelson Mandela").  Gil Scott-Heron's intro to "B Movie" sounds surprisingly relevant to the current efforts of Project 2025 Project 1955. 

It's also interesting to look back to what we imagined the future of music might be back then.  A lot of the tracks are examples of (or influenced by) electro, an offshoot of hip hop and one of the roots of EDM.  This was back before the internet, so I didn't know at the time that we were listening to Arthur Russell ("5 Minutes") and the members of Tackhead (who backed Grandmaster Flash and other rappers on the Sugar Hill label).  Keith LeBlanc's "Malcolm X (No Sell Out)" was also popular at our parties.  Bill Laswell, Bernie Worrell and Nicky Skopelitis were listed on the sleeve of the Time Zone 12", so I did know that Material members were backing John Lydon and Afrika Bambaataa (and I recognized the "White Lines" bassline from "Cavern").  I really can't describe how amazing it was to hear "World Destruction", "Uncertain Smile" or "Bela Lugosi's Dead" at top volume in the open air on a warm night.  I invite you to Turn Your Watch Back and join me in a Time Zone...

IN THE MIX The Skeletons Edition Vol. 1 - with STEVE FORBERT & DAVE ALVIN!

 IN THE MIX The Skeletons Edition Vol. 1 POST

There were two contenders for the title of “World’s Greatest Bar Band” NRBQ & THE SKELETONS.  Both bands’ styles are nearly indefinable because they play a kitchen sink combination of rock, rockabilly, surf, R&B, bluegrass, & country.  And they both inserted obscure songs into their set-lists, and wrote songs about topics other bands didn’t.

THE SKELETONS had at their core bassist LOU WHITNEY and guitar whiz D. CLINTON THOMPSON.  Depending on who the other players were, they performed/recorded as THE SYMPTOMS, & THE MORELLS.  And they recorded with a staggering number of artists—only partly because LOU WHITNEY owned a recording studio in their hometown, Springfield MO.  It’s safe to say just as many artists recorded there because the members of these groups could be coerced into playing on their album.

D. CLINTON THOMPSON is as good as any stringbender you can mention, and with Lou the two have a chemistry that makes any number pop—which is proven here track after track. Both played with the more commercially successful OZARK MOUNTAIN DAREDEVILS from time to time, and Lou’s wife MARALIE WHITNEY played keys with THE SYMPTOMS, & THE MORELLS.  Drummer RON “WRONGO” GREMP beat the skins for THE SYMPTOMS, & BOBBY LLOYD HICKS rounded out THE SKELETONS, augmented by second guitarist NICK SIBLEY & keyboardist JOE TERRY (who I saw playing with DAVE ALVIN).

STEVE FORBERT gets credit for exposing them to a wider audience by hiring them to back him for the tour promoting Jackrabbit Slim which contained his biggest hit Romeo’s Tune.  On that tour, they met FORBERT’s friend JONATHAN RICHMAN (who recorded his JONATHAN PLAYS COUNTRY album at Lou’s studio).  And LOU WHITNEY was immortalized in the song Laughter Lou (Who Needs You?) on FORBERT’s follow-up release.

On this collection, there are songs that feature one or more of THE SKELETONS backing other artists.  The whole group backs RICHMAN, BOXCAR WILLIE, RUDI “TUTTI” GRAYZELL, The Del-Lords’ SCOTT KEMPNER, & SYD STRAW.  A few live tracks by the band are included on this edition of IN THE MIX.  One is a CORNELL HURD song If You Play With My Mind (You’ll Get Your Hands Dirty).  They also back HURD on The Long Goodbye.

I was given all but one of the live DAVE ALVIN tracks over 30 years ago by a dear friend who was allowed to videotape one of Dave’s shows where he was backed by THE SKELETONS.  I had to swear I wouldn’t share them all this time, but for this collection, my friend lifted the moratorium, allowing JOKONKY to share with you a rarity around these parts—tracks that are unavailable anywhere else!

On them, it’s clear to hear the affection ALVIN has for the band in his gentle ribbing that the monitors sound “Lou Whitney-ish” before having him sing Going South, or having BOBBY LLOYD HICKS sing Crazy Country Hop, the last song of his PALOMINO set.  BOBBY LLOYD HICKS and JOE TERRY probably backed Alvin the longest.

You're in for a treat, whether you listen to this collection in your den, on a high-performance stereo system, after a long day of insider trading--or in your shed, on a boom box, after mowing the back forty.  Just shy of 80 minutes of bare-bones rock & roll by THE SKELETONS!