Blank Generation was a short, sharp shock when it was released in 1977. It wasn't until 1982 that a followup album, Destiny Street, was released. By that time, Ivan Julian and drummer Marc Bell had left. Hell didn't have a lot of new songs. Three of the album's ten tracks were covers (Dylan, Kinks, and Tommy Scott's "I Can Only Give You Everything").
After the basic tracks were recorded, Hell went MIA -- but there was lots of studio time still booked. Quine recalled, "We had a week and a half for me and Naux [aka the late Juan Maciel of China Shop] to do overdubs. I did backwards guitar, feedback guitar, speeded-up guitar. I got that out of my system for once and for all." Hell hated the result. For years, he tried to buy the master tapes so that he could remix the album. He eventually found a tape of the basic tracks. After Quine died, Hell invited Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Ivan Julian to record new solos over those tracks, and the result was released in 2009 as Destiny Street Repaired.
It received a mixed response. Some felt that Hell had repeated the sin committed by Lou Reed by burying Quine in the Repaired mix. (Hell responded, "His rhythm playing is there, but he hadn’t played his solos yet.") Hell finally got the 24 track masters, and reworked them with the help of Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. in 2021, Destiny Street Remixed and the Destiny Street Demos were released.
The title track "Destiny Street" is a song about meeting your younger self. Forty years after the recording sessions, Hell was able to present these songs from his younger self as he wanted them to be heard. In a way, he also honored Quine by stripping back the excess overdubs. My own younger self had no problem with the sound of the original LP. (Too much Quine? No such thing!)
Robert Quine was capable of restrained, lyrical playing when the song called for it -- not just unconventional atonal excess. (Quine's work on Tom Waits' "Downtown Train" is just one example.) Hell said, "He could just as well play a brilliant gorgeous, laid-back sweet passage or solo that had nothing to do with spectacle or shredding or anything like that."
Richard Hell points to the demo version of "Time" (included in today's share): "It’s just gorgeous playing, and he could do it in this whole range of moods and styles. He was just absolutely tasteful in a way that encompasses Ornette Coleman and Albert Ayler, as well as Jimi Hendrix, or back to Jimmy Reed or Link Wray.”
Today's share is a compilation of Hell and Quine from the two Voidoids albums, singles and demos, and Quine's appearance with Dim Stars. In case you missed them, there are two other sets: Quine with Lou Reed and Quine Guest Spots.
This post comes not with a question, but an argument -- a "hot take", as the kids say. As we all know, the internet was invented by scientists and academics so that nerds like us can anonymously and endlessly debate Star Wars trivia and right wing politics from the comfort of our parents' basements (when we're not downloading p0rn).
ReplyDeleteHot Take Burrito #1: The song "Blank Generation" is just "Stray Cat Strut" with better lyrics and better guitar. FIGHT ME!
QUINE/HELL: https://pixeldrain.com/u/v74suLMi
Hot Burrito Take #2: No fight from me, but "Blank Generation" was essentially a blatant lift of "The Beat Generation" by Rod McKuen.
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5-HlUAOjGE&list=RDY5-HlUAOjGE&start_radio=1
Maybe it was Richard Hell's answer record, like Generation X with "Your Generation" in response to The Who and "My Generation"? These burritos are generating some HOT hypothesizin', daddy-o!
DeleteYeah, I have to agree with Anonymous. They're identical!
DeleteIs there a place or a boxset where call and answer songs are combined. Leader Of The Pack/I Want My Baby Back or Och was ik maar / Ja was jij maar Juliana Bedankt/Willy Alberti Bedankt
DeleteThere are a LOT of those, Richard, I used to have a great one from ACE Records, and I ran across this one on discogs:
Deletehttps://www.discogs.com/release/2670702-Various-The-Answer-To-Everything-Girl-Answer-Songs-Of-The-60s
I'm working on a (sort-of-related) comp of SONGS WITH SEQUELS! Watch this space!
Re: "Maybe it was Richard Hell's answer record, like Generation X with "Your Generation"...
DeleteReally sorry, didn't mean to post as "Anonymous." But yeah, I reckon you're on to something there, and the GenX/Who example makes a whole lot of sense. The Blank/Beat thing deepens with Hell and Ginsburg living in the same building on East 13th Street. Fingers crossed that no young upstart is inspired to write and record anything about belonging to the Digital Generation...
Regarding The Blank/Beat Generation, there's definitely a connection there, but Blank is so much better i.mo.
DeleteDude.....Thanks for all the info about the "Street Hassle" post, I had no idea. Did Lou really clean-up after "Street Hassle?" I thought it wasn't coming for a couple more years
ReplyDeleteYou're quite welcome, Jobe! It's been so long since I read the Victor Bockris book (Transformer), so that long article about Street Hassle being a breakup record (about Lou and Rachel) was interesting. As you said, the Arista years weren't the greatest, and it's little wonder that the label didn't want another live album. The Blue Mask is another cleanup record (alcohol this time, instead of speed or heroin), plus Lou is cleaning up his image (No really! I'm an average guy, and we all LOVES the ladies!)
DeleteIn case anyone is wondering, Jobe asked (over at Floppy Boot Stomp) whether there were soundboards of the live tracks on Street Hassle. The answer involves flying heads, Hells Angels, and a LOT of amphetamines. Fear & Loathing In Ludwigshaven! Or was it Weisbaden?
Deletehttps://damienlove.com/writing/babe-im-on-fire-the-making-of-lou-reeds-street-hassle/
Now you got me Jon. I think The Bells is a masterpiece amongst Lou Reed's oeuvre I may give R&R Heart and Growing Up some doubt but Street Hassle, Take No are among his best and The Bells is for me a standalone album, in all its unhappiness. I came to learn that album, very young and in between explosions of physical pain from inflamations in the head. Music that was not happy, not cool. I was very young, barely understood english. That mood was down there with me. So sentimental reasons. Some go to a park where they first kissed, or remember a cry movie, ah, I put The Bells up and revisit that pain. (you might guess that NIN hurt is to me a stupid/fake song) Hurt, pain, up to the point where you pass out, all black, nothing, waking up with worrying faces in a hospital
DeleteJon it is the other way around. Stray Cat Strut (1981) is Blank Generation (1977) with worse guitar and worse lyrics. However, I do not agree the similarities are big enough.
ReplyDeleteI was just taking an indefensible position to get a reaction. The descending bassline and that rhythm, though...
DeleteYour comment hit me right in my pompadour, Richard.
DeleteDaaaaaammmmnnnn I never made that connection Jonder! And I love that song and used it as my personal 'no addictions' stance. It empowered me no doubt in that punk rock way I like. Yeah, I think a big share of the downloaders are Gen Z who can't find stuff on soulseek and when I tell one of 'em I found a copy for under ten dollars on ebay and the discog link you sent me all list for over $50 with shipping from Europe and one says to me in response "you don't have to get so mad' which I clearly wasn't so I pulled this article immediately and pointed him to one of numbered points about that very thing in this article that was in news feed that day: https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/news/companies-are-firing-gen-z-and-the-reasons-are-not-far-fetched/ss-AA1IQt6p?ocid=winp2fptaskbarent&cvid=dbbc33f5a84a4f96b80ff1e3fcffeabe&ei=25
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, man. I took a young'un to task about something he missed on the job, and he got all indignant and wrote a long response that ended, "Do have a fabulous weekend". "Do fuck off" to you and your self-righteous insincerity.
DeleteThanks for more Quine! I love The Voidoids (obviously), and probably have all of these (I know I have the Dim Stars somewhere) but you can really never have too many copies of this stuff!
ReplyDelete