Every once in a while I stumble on a run of YouTube videos of performances by Australian and New Zealand bands from the early-to-mid-1970s. Man, that continent was loaded with fired-up rock ‘n roll bands playing mediocre boogie tunes without the silly trapping of the UK’s Glam scene. AC/DC and the Stooges-influenced punk bands from the end of the decade were no accident! If I could go back in time and be a part of any half-decent music scene, this one would have to be considered.
Following are a few videos by bands that are obscure to me, at least, if not most of our US Townspeople. I know a lot of you fancy yourselves experts in all that is mediocre and manly. Which of the following bands would you most want to jam – and party – with? I’m hoping some of our Townspeople from the great continent of Australia help set us straight on.
The Dingoes, “Way Out West”
For my money The Dingoes might be the best band to hang with in a quiet bar and knock back some tall ones. Their singer’s a real man’s man, with no pretensions. He’d probably want nothing to do with my company, but I find him about as intriguing as any of the singers under review.
As the lyrics of “The Last Place I Wanna Be” make clear, it’s no wonder they spend so much time hanging at that corner pub.
Black Friday quickly approaches. ‘Tis the season to share our favorite music with (un)suspecting friends and relatives, support the artists, and provide additional fodder for RTH discussion. What 2010 releases did you most enjoy and would recommend to our community of discriminating listeners?
Here is a partial list (not necessarily in order of preference) from the Royale household:
As last week’s episode of Saturday Night Shut-Inshould have made clear, I still dig the simple, sugar-charged confections of the rock ‘n roll I cut my teeth on: no questions asked. My musical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups never get old! As rock ‘n roll and rock fans (myself included) matured it was hard not to look down our noses at some of the similarly sugary pop confectioneries of our late-teen years.
For my generation that would have been a band like the Saturday Night Fever–era Bee Gees. A little later there were bands from my youth that fell between the age of childhood innocence and my college years, the musical versions of Twix (introduced in the US in 1979), in my case, like middle-school discovery from a few years earlier, ELO. In my college years, as I yearned for music a little more sophisticated or passionate or political—or anything that might make me seem more interesting to women and rock sages—I questioned the value of the Twix bar. Was it too much a newfangled kid’s candy for me to be seen eating? Reese’s was old school, classic, even “cute,” in the eyes of a nuturing young woman. Twix, in the early ’80s, like the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack and ELO, didn’t make a woman my age get all soft and gooey in my presence, at least not the women I wanted to get soft and gooey. And it goes without saying these newfangled pop bands held no weight with the older rock sages I was simultaneously looking to impress.
Then a funny thing happened, at least in my world: rock sages determined that Bee Gees albums from the ’60s were actually pretty cool! Next it was discovered that, prior to ELO, Jeff Lynne joined an obscure (to American rock nerds) ’60s band called The Move. They were definitely cool, with reports of them smashing TVs and cars on stage yet still not getting remotely popular in the States, unlike their instrument-smashing contemporaries, The Who and Jimi Hendrix.
By this period I was deep into buying somewhat obscure albums by ’60s artists, blowing a dollar here, fifty cents there on possibly overlooked gems by the likes of The Association and, yes, The Bee Gees. Then I got wind that The Beach Boys carried on for years without an even remotely sane Brian Wilson at the helm. I thought, A lot of pain and suffering had to have gone into those albums! They must have been, well, not better but more interesting than my childhood favorites, like “I Get Around.” The rock sages were all about pain and suffering, and I was beginning to learn that a number of attractive women dug those qualities too. Sure enough, although not chock full ‘o hit singles, late-’60s Beach Boys albums like 20/20 do deliver songs with unexpected depth and charmingly rough edges. We dip into one of these songs in this week’s episode.
Toward the end of this week’s episode, I ask Townspeople to help me clear up a shocking discovery on my presssing of Charlie‘s No Second Chance. I’ve either discovered the most unexpected growth in the shortest period of time in music (ie, in the time between sides 1 and 2) or I’ve stumbled across something akin to finding an original draft of the Declaration of Independence behind an old picture frame left behind in the attic by my house’s previous owner!
I don’t know if you’ve ever felt this way about somebody, but although tv actress Eva Longoria meets all my objective standards for beauty, I find her completely lacking in sex appeal. I’ve never looked at her on tv or in a still in a magazine and felt the slightest stirring of desire, and that’s weird. It’s not like I have a beef with her persona or acting chops (which is why, for instance, I find the similarly should-be sexy Natalie Portman less sexy than most mannequins) because I’m pretty much unaware of both. I look at this objectively beautiful woman whose beauty is in a range that I typically find beautiful and feel…nothing.
This got me thinking about whether there’s a rock ‘n roll artist who meets all my expected criteria for greatness yet who fails to move me in any way. I’m working on it. How about you?
While surfing the web last night, I happened upon this post on ehow.com. I find it amusing for several reasons, but I’ll let you read it for yourself. But I will mention one facet of it I enjoy: That it is specifically aimed at emo bands. Does this mean there are different rules for quitting other kinds of bands? What would be the rules for quitting a heavy metal band? A ska band? A zydeco band?
Here, without further ado, is the sage advice from one “emo” to another:Continue reading »
A couple times a year I meet someone at a party, a show, or even here here in the Halls of Rock, get into a deep conversation about music, and then get around to asking this music lover what instrument he or she plays. “Oh, I can’t play an instrument,” the person tells me, “I’ve got no rhythm!”
I usually don’t say much, but inside I’m blown away that this person who knows so much about the music he or she loves, maybe even knows some of the music theory behind it, claims to have absolutely no ability to play any instrument, not even poorly. You’ve got hands, I want to say, you’ll find some kind of rhythm! Maybe I shouldn’t be so idealistic, or presumptuous, but I’d like to hear every music lover take a crack a playing an instrument. I’d like to hear ever music lover’s song, or if not actually hear it know that it’s out there. File Under “Freak Flag.”
Earlier this year Townsman sammymaudlin told me about a new design project he was kicking off for a friend’s album cover and website. The story behind the debut album by Chris Amodeo was like something out of a Hollywood adaptation of an Oliver Sacks book: middle-age Master Rolfer (a body-centered form of psychotherapy) and voiceover artist buys his first guitar at a fundraiser for the dying son of his friends, begins playing Beatles songs to his own kids, is encouraged by his wife to write a song for their son, and soon thereafter is flooded with the gift of songwriting. Song ideas invade his activities of daily living. Less than two years after first picking up a guitar Amodeo is playing his songs for friends at some Oliver Stone-worthy shindig, where it is determined he must enter a studio and record an album of his songs. The resulting album, Homo Luminous, is not just an inspiring testament to a middle-age dog learning new tricks but an accomplished, melodic album of songs expressing the spirit and hopes of a grown man.
In anticipation of his November 20th show at The Coach House, in San Juan Capistrano, CA, I spoke to Chris about his latent awakening as a musician and songwriter, the making of the album, and his recent success in turning our mutual friend, The Back Office’s sammymaudlin, onto the elusive charms of Be Bop Deluxe. We concluded our chat with a round of Dugout Chatter and by looking forward to the completion of voiceover work this VH1 Behind the Music veteran is doing in support of a future Rock Town Hall initiative.
Earlier this year Townsman sammymaudlin told me about a new design project he was kicking off for a friend’s 
