The Sunflower State's Proggiest...De-Progged!

During my recent write-up accompanying *shels I enquired about the readership's tips concerning lesser-known outfits in the genre, which quickly led to the rebuke that Pink Floyd weren't prog, and neither were Kansas. And while I leave the former question for some other time, some other place and probably someone else, I can definitely concur with the second idea. Kansas never really were a progressive rock band. They were a bar boogie band with delusions of grandeur. Which isn't as bad as it sounds! Where would mankind be without the occasional bout of delusions of grandeur? Not very far along, that is certain. But yeah, Kansas, inspired by their idols from the other side of the big pond, they deperately tried to look the part, garnishing their songs with the required solos and extending them into long, self-important song structures like they've seen their British idols do. 

But here's the thing: It still is ersatz Prog, if your investment into the sound and signifiers of prog rock are mostly cosmetic. You can take any random track by, say, Yes and then debate whether that other long-winded solo is really necessary, but you can always see how the band came to it, how the song is constructed so that it would lead into that solo at that moment. With Kansas, you simply can't. You merely get the impression that there is now a keyboard solo because there hasn't been one for a minute and a half and it wouldn't sound proggish enough if there weren't. Seriously, Kansas has some of the worst-integrated solos I've ever heard. A good number of their songs aren't so much built to launch from one section to another, they are being interrupted by what the members no doubt felt was a signature solo to ensure maximum progressiveness. 

Here's Kansas' dirty little secret, though it didn't stay very secret for very long: At the heart, they always were an AOR rock band, it just took them a good long while to admit it, before they finally relented at the beginning of the 80s and fully embraced the power ballad/arena rock associated with that. But the inklings that they were always closer to Boston or Styx rather than Genesis or Yes were always there, only somewhat obscured by the pretentiousness of the titles, lyrics and arrangements. I mean, what do you get when a bunch of country boys from the sunflower state try to be as prog as possible? A wannabe epic humbly (or falsely humorously) titled "Magnum Opus" that features section titles like 'Father Padilla Meets The Perfect Gnat' because Peter Gabriel would come up with shit like that. 

There's no shame in being demasked as fraudsters despite all good intentions. And I'm not as cruel as Allmusic's big boss Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who denounces the double whopper of their "crippling ambition" and "lack of skills" for this album. They weren't completely useless boobs either, now, STE! But let's make the whole 'Kansas really was a pop band all along' more clear by getting rid of some of the excesses, shall we? So, to cut to the chase, I cut out all the superfluous stuff - the misshapen solos and, in the case of "Magnum Opus" whole sections that got on my nerves and I didn't want to hear again. Is this a major overstepping of the One Buck Guy in terms of Kansas' intentions? Of course it is! But it's for their and our own good! Leftoverture should have been the big beginning of their pop phase, with only minor prog touches. This version comes closer to that, though really I wasn't as radical as this write-up makes it sound. 

At the end of the day, only four of the tracks here have been edited: "What's On My Mind" "Miracles Out Of Nowhere", "Cheyenne Anthem" and "Magnum Opus", and apart from the latter most cuts were minor, usually a solo or two. We're easing people into the de-progging project. If, however, some of you think this is a worthwhile endeavor, know that follow-up Point Of Know Return has also been de-progged for my own personal listenng pleasure and may follow on these pages if there is interest. 

So, Leftoverture deprogged. Hope y'all check this out...and if anyone has an opinion on whether this worked for you or not, let me know in the comments... 

We've Got You Covered, Geno, yes, we do...

Time for some more Gene Clark around here, albeit indirectly. The first Little Feat entry might have been posted first, but this was the beginning of our hopefully soon to be loved We've Got You Covered series. As with most other things in his life, musically and otherwise, even tribute albums to him were a difficult proposition. Nothing of course happened in the 90s, the lowest time for any Clark afficinado, but in the early 2000s, at the very beginning of the slow Gene Clark revival, two tribute albums appeared: Full Circle (which I have), a really good two-disc set from (mostly) American independent recording artists that was supported by the Clark estate and featured a tribute song by his son Kai, and You Can't Hide Your Love Forever, an indie compilation from down under (which I don't own). So far, so good. Still, despite the recognition of Gene Clark hitting a high in the early 2010s (think The No Other Band), no high-profile tribute album has come along. 

We've Got You Covered: Gene Clark, Vol. 1 isn't exactly high profile, either, but it will hopefully do its very modest part to raise Geno's profile just a little bit more. For right now, this series is scheduled for four volumes, but we'll see. The roster for the whole series is divided into the usual suspects (Sid Griffin, Iain Matthews), friends & family (Carla Olson, Rick Clark), cult artists covering another cult artist (This Mortal Coil, Mark Lanegan, Leo Kottke, Yo La Tengo), a bunch of rather random folks paying tribute and tons of tons of little-known or unknown artists. 

Since the idea was to discover what these lesser known folks do with Clark's work, I left off the one really high-profile cover he received, which was a blessing and a curse for Clark during his lifetime. After Tom Petty covered "Fell A Whole Lot Better", Clark was suddenly and unexectedly relatively flush with money, which he then used for his bad habits that contributed to his maddeningly early death. Still, it's crazy that singers with a nose for a great song like Emmylou Harris (before she became a more than respectable songwriter) never recorded a song by Gene Clark. Oh, I forgot: Semi-high profile Robert Plant & Alison Krauss are also not part of the line-up.  

So, off to the roster of this first volume, shall we? We got contemporary colleagues of Clark like The Cryan' Shames (opening proceedings), Starry Eyed And Laughing and Johnny Winter (on one of the early recordings for Roy Aymes). Aforementioned cult bands like Yo La Tengo and Midnight Choir are present and accounted for, as is a quasi-dB's reunion, with an appropriately jangly cover of "Here Without You", from the 1991 duo album by Peter Holsapple & Chris Stamey. And there is a ton of bands that before compiling this series I had never heard of before: The Marsh, The Piedmont Brothers Band, WolRus, The Birdy Nam Nams, The Improper Bostonians or Hungrytown. The quality control button has been pushed to 11, so all of these are really good. All pearls, no swine, if you know what I mean. And for the wild card in the bunch we have an appearance of Peggy Bundy, erm, I mean Katey Sagal with a really nice, subtly electronics-enhanced version of "Feel A Whole Lot Better"! 

So, this will hopefully remind you of how fantastic these songs are, and once you're through listening to We've Got You Covered: Gene Clark, Vol. 1 you should go back and listen to some of the man's work. And if you don't know where to start, there are always the alternate versions of his albums that I have compiled. Because as ever, you can't have enough Gene Clark in your life. 

They Have Snow Giants! Dust Attack Hard On NYC's Hardest' Finest

A recent (well, semi-recent, time flies here at One Buck Records) mention by art afficionado Koen in the comments to Sniff'n'The Tears Art Gallery of Frank Frazetta, the king of fantasy and sword-and-sorcery drawings, reminded me to post this in the future, and as ever, the future is now. Frazetta's Snow Giants graced the album cover of Dust's second and last album, Hard Attack. Here's the thing: It's a great, eye-catching painting, but whether it represents the album well is another question. In between Frazetta's art and the album title, you'd expect a heavy metal album, possibly with fantay thus prog overtones. 

Well, Hard Attack isn't that, or not only that, really. Funnily enough, their self-titled debut album is a much harder album than Hard Attack. It also has some godawful, offputting artwork, so, using Frank Frazetta was a huge step up in the art department. But that's not the only step up. While I struggle to make it through Dust, Hard Attack is a great album because it is not only pedal-to-the-metal hard rock, but is a nicely varied album. If you've been here for a bit, you know that Dust appeared on Country Dreamers, my compilation of non-country acts doing country songs, and "How Many Horses" is a highlight from Hard Attack, as is "I Been Thinking", the second country number here, a plaintive ballad full of singing pedal steel from bass player Kenny Aaronson. 

"Walk In The Soft Rain" is almost power pop, while the very short "Entrance", which despite the title is essentially the album's exit music, is only acoustic guitar. Opener "Pull Away/So Many Times" is probably the most proggish of the tracks, alternating acoustic sections with rock interludes, while ballad "Thusly Spoken" is almost soft rock, albeit a lot more muscular than its brethren, and "All In All" is a dead ringer for middle-period Who. And for all those who liked the debut's simpler thrash stuff, there's heavy rockers like "Learning To Die".  

What really set this power trio apart from other groups is their strong sense of melodicism. The songwriting duo of singer and lead guitarist Richie Wise and former manager Kenny Kerner produced not only this album, but went on to a storied producing career, including the first two platters from Kiss. Aaronson went on to play in Stories and then to record or tour with an absolute murderer's row of artists (Dylan, Edgar Winter, Hall and Oates, Blue Öyster Cult, to name but a few) before becoming a New York Doll, while drummer Marc Bell went on to become Marky Ramone. Not bad for these three very young men...from Dust they came...but to Dust and Hard Attack we shall return, for it is - how would the young'uns say - a total banger... 

So Long, J.D., Maybe You'll Meet Jesus In 3/4 Time Now...

I didn't necessarily plan to post anything by J.D. Souther anytime soon, but my hand was forced, sort of, by the man dying this week. No great eulogy from me, I wasn't particularly attached to the man and I like his music, but it's not like he was a huge favorite. Also, John David Souther was, by all accounts, not a very nice person to a lot of people. Like sometime running mate Warren Zevon he was basically a dick for most of the time, yet somehow still managed to make and keep friends in the music industry, despite his bad behavior. It probably helped that he hung out with and frequently worked with the Eagles, especially Glenn Frey and Don Henley, its two most dickish members. 

Despite being friends with fellow Motor City musician Glenn Frey long before he met the other Eagles, John David Souther was remarkably close to Don Henley in spirit. Like Henley, he was a brooder, and like Henley he was pertaining to be the sensitive one. Frey at least wore his boorishness with pride, like a frat boy, but Henley and Souther's attitude was less upfront. Behind their sensitive manner often lay a dishonest approach to romantic relationship, couched in a not insignificant amount of misogyny. But enough of that, it's the music, not the artist that counts, right? That's why I'm a huge fan of Zevon's music, have no problems with most of the Eagles' music and am a-o.k. with most of Souther's stuff, despite some questionable content. 

Before his surprising comeback in the 2000s J.D. Souther only made four albums across roughly a decade, all of them ranging from solid to pretty good. No masterworks, but very accomplished L.A. singer-songwriter rock. Draft Papers is a collection of demos from these four albums, with most of them coming from his self-titled debut. I'm not sure where I got the bulk of these tracks from, the bit rate is really not great, and would almost make He-who-shall-not-be-named raise an eyebrow, but whattareyagonnado? They're mostly of the 'a man and his guitar' variety, though there is the occasional band arrangement, and technically, an alternative version of "Kite Woman". I added Souther's fabulous version of Eagles co-write "Doolin-Dalton" he performed at The Old Grey Whistle Test, including a reversal to the original lyrics ("'till your killers set you free") that saps some of the sentimentality from the Eagles version. The excellent cover art comes from a painting by Paul W King of the artist in 1971. 

Draft Papers gives a good look at 'unplugged' J.D. Souther, as well as presenting a number of songs that didn't make his albums.  At the very least, these unvarnished versions make a case for Souther as a considerable talent. So, so long J.D., you were a bandit and a heartbreaker, and a surly bastard most of the time, but we keep your music to keep us company...

John David Souther 1945 - 2024

Randy California and the Rock Of Ages

Had Spirit gotten a record deal in the late 1970s, and had a comeback record like, say, Radio Aqua Blue, been successful, maybe the record company would've asked Randy and his partners in Spirit to quickly come up with a follow-up. Today's One Buck Record is what this kind of album could have looked like. Rock Of Ages shows what Spirit could have issued in 1980.  

Different versions of "Rude Reaction" and "Wild Thing" later showed up on Randy's 1982 'solo album' Euro-American. As before, there was very little that separated solo Randy from a Spirit band effort, as former and current Spirit bandmates showed up everywhere. 

This is a lean, mean rock album. Almost nothing in terms of Sprit oddities: the little noodles, fragments or other idiosyncratic things that California likes to put on his albums. Here, it's Spirit probably at their most mainstream-friendly: Ten concise rock songs with more than a splash of pop in it, and lots and lots of guitars. If you like Randy California the guitar slinger, you'll be served here. 

Normally, I go long in these write-ups but here there just isn't more to say. I picked ten kick-ass song from around 1980, chose a sequencing that was balanced and made sense to me and that's it. So, for a guitar-heavy break in your working week (or, you know, to wake up the rest of the retirement home), off with you to the Rock Of Ages...

 

We're up to twenty! Time for an old-school All Pearls, No Swine...

All Pearls, No Swine celebrates its 20th edition! Woohoo! A bit more than a year and the series that started it all is still going strong...after some adventures in the 2000s and the 80s now back in the decade that also started it all. Back to the 70s again, folks, with the usual mix of folk, country rock, rock'n'roll, some soul rock and a healthy dose of psychedelia for dessert. 

As per usual I tried to find a good balance between better known acts with lesser known songs and unknown acts with...uh...even lesser known songs. For the bigger names here, we got Little Feat with a Bill Payne written-and-sung outtake from the sessions for the first album. The Feat feast continues unabated! The Chamber Brothers' beautiful version of "The Weight" brings the soul, while Geronimo Black were a slightly proggish rock band built around former members of The Mothers of Invention, kicking things off here with the driving "Low Ridin' Man". 

The Flying Circus were Australian bubble gum chartbusters come country rockers who really wanted to be the Sweetheart-era Byrds and later emigrated to Canada and went for a harder-edged rock sound. Their "It's So Hard" is still firmly in their harmony-based country rock phase. Nechako, as almost expected by their name, are another country rock outfit.

Until relistening to this I had forgotten how country Lew London's "Rodeo Rider" with its singing pedal steel really is, or how Larry Jon Wilson's "Ohoopee River Bottomland" with its details of local country life seems to be a distant cousin to Bobbie Gentry and her storytelling style. Charlie Webster's "No Horse Town" is an intriguing odd little number, first carried by swirling guitars, before turning into a piano-based tune, while Keith Dear is providing some dreamy folk rock slightly reminiscent of Donovan and Gritz bring the grits with their swampy rock recalling "Bayou Country".  

And then I decided to let this volume of APNS run out with a triple whopper of psych rock. First there's Blackfeather, who for one album were a psych-prog-hard rock troupe before personnel changes saw them morph into a barrelhouse piano-wielding fifties revival act. Then we have psych folk protest singer Mike Glick remind people that "You Can Not Stop History" and finally Bruce Palmer takes us home with "The Calm Before The Storm". 

Everything old is everything new with these All Pearls, No Swine. Enjoy...and to the next twenty! Excelsior!

Finns? Playing heavy metal on banjo and mandolin? You've gotta be kidding...

Alas, if this somehow doesn't sound enticing, well the joke's on you. An example of a You Tube joke gone horribly wrong or horribly right, depending on your point of view, Steve'n'Seagulls were founded in pretty much the same way as their viral success came to be: A happy accident. All five original members (bass player and drummer have since been switched) living and playing in different musical outfits in the Finnish town of Jyvaskyla were brought together because they all had dabbled in country/bluegrass instruments and a promoter was looking for an opening act for a country-western show. Steve'n'Seagulls were born! 

In between the goofy but awesome name and the goofy but respectful and, above all, fun takes on rock'n'roll classics in a bluegrass style, there is something here. Steve'n'Seagulls didn't do this first (bands like Hayseed Dixie had been doing blurgrass covers of hard rock songs for years), and I don't know if they do it best, but there's definitely quite a bit of fun to be had with this. The joke is probably wearing thin over the four albums the band released, but for an hour and change, the running time of Farmageddon, this is fine. 

Arrangements are tight and lively. In terms of song choices, I stuck with 'the big ones', having classics from about 25 years of rock'n'roll back to back to back to etc. from the likes of AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, Guns'n'Roses, Kiss, Metallica, Nirvana, ZZ Top, and others, because half the fun is recognizing the song and then see what the crazy Finns did with it. I hesitated between the 'live' takes on Youtube that made them a viral hit back in the days and the studio versions, but finally stuck with the studio versions for a unified sound, though I did add the original video version of "Thunderstruck" as a bonus track at the end. And in case you're wondering, "My Maria" is a band original, one which I really liked. It's the brain child of Herman Da German, the band's banjo player who takes lead vocals onit, as he does for the  ballads and slower songs, while lead singer Remmel takes care of the uptempo songs. The other sort of 'wildcard' track on Farmageddon, a cover of Angelo Badalamenti's "Twin Peaks Theme" is a Herman solo joint. 

You know that the One Buck Guy likes to rock, yeah! (yes, he does! yes, he does!). And if you've been here more than once or twice, you know that he loves country music in all its forms. So the combination of rock and bluegrass was, like Thanos, inevitable. So, as the guys from Steve'n'Seagulls would say: Rokataan! 

 

The best Neil Young album...made by not-Neil Young. Say howdy to Israel Nash...

I figured I'd post this fabulous album some time here at One Buck Records and the time is now. Actually I was just reminded these last days of how awesome Israel Nash can be when listening to his latest, Ozarker, that I picked up from the library this week. That album with its glammed-up cover shows has Nash going the way of like-minded retro artists like Jonathan Wilson, after the 70s sounds of their repective sophomore albums he has now also arrived at an echo-filled, synth-esque 80s style that sounds like he also listened to Springsteen circa Born In The USA (or, you know, Taylor Swift's 1989). Actually, the evolution of Nash across his records is interesting. Predecessor Barn Doors and Concrete Floors,  still with his last name Gripka attached, has hints of a closeness to the sound of Neal Young in songs like "Baltimore", but "Louisiana" also suggested the country side of Exile On Main Street and most of the album is a muscular, no-frills Americana recording in the 90s 'no depression' mould of Uncle Tupelo or Whiskeytown. But his sound changed relatively significantly for his sophore album, our One Buck Record of the day, Rain Plans. 

Rain Plan, or rather Israel Nash's Rain Plan, is a record that doesn't sound like any Americana album from the 90s, it goes back further, much further. As the title might have tipped you off, think early 1970s Neil Young at his most blissfully stoned. A dude walks up Sugar Mountain, or in Israel Nash's case, down Myers Canyon, in a poncho, and probablly with more than a handful of peyotle in his pocket.  

Gripka also changes his vocal style, going from more of a rock'n'roll growl to a not quite-falsetto that approaches the vocal style we associate with Mr. Young. The instrumentation is still Americana, with cascades of steel guitar washing over these songs, then mingling with slightly psychedelic elctric guitar, often recalling Young's brothers in arms instruments Crazy Horse. There is a real hippie vibe to the thing, right down to the artwork, Lesanka Honighs animal paintings and a mirror foil with the inscription "See the Beauty That Surrounds You". Cosmic American Music lives on! 

If you liked Luke Gibson or you are a fan of the psychedelic Topanga Canyon retro music of the Beachwood Sparks, you should love this record. If you love Uncle Neil, you obviously will. But, really, if your musical sweet spot is, like mine, slightly off-kilter country-influenced rock that sounds straight out of the early 70s, give Isreal Nash's Rain Plans a listen. It's good stuff, maaaaan!

PS:

Back from permanent vacation: Lowell George and his suitcase of goodies...

Lowell George and his Blue Plate Special have lived a charmed, sun-kissed life on the lovely beaches of False Memory Foam Island, but even long-term residents sometimes have to make room for new time shares and such. Luckily, Mr. George found a new home right away, closer to home, and he has brought a suitcase of goodies with him. So, if you are a long-time island dweller, then this will look and sound familiar to you, but I like to believe that in the last year I've picked up some visitors elsewhere, for whom this will be shiny and new. 

So, what's Blue Plate Special? A compilation of George Lowell moments, an odds'n'sods compilation with and without Feat, but always with a lot of heart. None of the songs on here are mega rare or something, a bunch of them have been issued as bonus tracks or showed up on box sets and such, but not all, and  a lot of them still fall through the cracks.

Without further ado, here are what's in Lowell's briefcase, together with some sand, a couple of Hamburger wrappers, a lot of weed, whites and wine and, uh, snakes on everything: 

Roll Um Easy

Yeah, let’s get rolling with this fine solo remake of the Feat track off Dixie Chicken, done for possible inclusion on his solo album. Maybe he felt a redone “Two Trains” was enough, given the skimpy running time, though, this would have been nice to have on Thank’s I’ll Eat It Here Later. For me, it also beats that Trains remake rather easily

Doriville

One of the loveliest Feat outtakes, originally recorded for Sailin' Shoes. This deserves to be much wider known. Just an absolute beauty.

Good Lovin’

The track that got this whole project started, Lowell being backed by The Grateful Dead on this outtake from the Shakedown Street sessions. It’s raucous, it’s rowdy, it’s slightly off-kilter – it’s very Dead and very very Lowell.

Crack In Your Door

The earliest version, with an embryonic Feat.

Brickyard Blues (Play Something Sweet)

Really good outtake, certainly better than some of the stuff that made the records.

Willin’ 

Lovely live version from 1974 with some quicksilvery, extra lovely piano work from Bill Payne. I might be critical of some of the man’s latter Feat feats, but this is fantastic. 

Feats Don’t Fail Me Now 

Lively alternative version. The classic Feat New Orleans R’n’B.

Easy To Fall (Easy To Slip)

One of two demos they gave the Doobie Brothers. The Ted Templeman connection I guess. The Doobies didn’t use them, too bad for them. I really like the mid-tempo shuffle of this one.

Long Distance Love

The original version of the song with an extra verse before they rejigerred the Feats Don’t Fail Me Album. It sounds more like a demo and the vocal is curiously flat with an odd cadence. Admittedly it’s not a patch on the published version, but not very widely circulated and thus right at home with the assorted odds’n’ends here.

Rock’n’Roll Doctor

Alternative version with a horn section. The song cooks either way, of course, the horns are a nice extra touch they seemingly decided they didn’t need, but let’s be real, it would have been an instant Feat classic in any of these versions.

Fool On The Avenue

Lowell solo demo from 1975, just the man and his guitar. Lovely stuff.

Wait 'Til The Shit Hits The Fan

Early version of “The Fan”, as rowdy and garage-y as early Feat would get. Just listen to those frat boy 'Woh's'.

Juliet

 Like “Crack In  Your Door”, this is from the pre-Warner Brothers session

Two Trains

Lowell’s demo for the band: him, his trusty drum machine and even more trusty guitar. A killer, even in this early unadorned form.

Heartache 

Unfortunately never properly recorded for reasons unknown, the demo with Valerie Carter was attached as a bonus track to Thanks I’ll Eat It Here. This is from a radio appearance in 1974, slightly rough sound quality, but it’s Lowell & Linda. ‘Nuff said. 

Rat Faced Dog

More early, rowdy Feat, cookin’ up some hard boogie. Guitar freaks will love the work out. 

What Do You Want The Girl To Do

From his solo tour, with his really slick backing band, this is almost disco. Lovely background (due to the mix almost duet) vocals by Maxine Dixon. Recorded three days before his death, more proof that reports of him being some sort of unsalvagable wreck at the end were mostly unfounded, at least as far as stage performance is concerned. 

Texas Rose Café

The second demo for the Doobies.

China White

A song that stayed with Lowell from the early 70’s until he finally recorded it in 1978. Published on “Hoy-Hoy!”, from the slow build to the bluesy middle to the full-blown gospel choir, this is a lot of Lowell in a nutshell.

20 Million Things

For me personally, this is Lowell’s masterpiece, and thus there was no other way to end this collection. What a song. “...all the letters never written, that don’t get sent...the time seems to slip away”. Lyrically and in sentiment a close cousin to Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle”, both remind us of how both their respective authors had approximately 20 Million Things still left to do, and no time left to do them. That's of course in both cases not what these songs were written about. Croce wrote his after learning of his wife's pregnancy, Lowell's is a love song, even if an unusual one... 

It's still hard to fathom that George died when he was only 34 years old, having already spent what seemed like a life time in the music biz. Forgive the slightly distant sound quality, for extra poignancy this is the last ever “20 Million Things” from the Lisner Auditorium during Lowell’s last concert. Three songs later he would stop singing. One day later he was gone. Time had slipped away. 

And we miss him, still, and always. 

Happy Birthday to One Buck Records!

Woof, tempus fugit, mes amis, tempus fugit. I knew that I had started this thing about a year ago, and upon checking, started it one year ago to the day. So, happy birthday to this lil' blog! I'm not gonna lie, the first weeks were often frustrating, seeing traffic slowly creep into double digits and twenties, then thirties. But hey, that's the growing pains of every new blog I reckon. Persistence, keeping posting, keeping the thing rolling...and here we are, 146 posts and a year later. 

Thanks to Jonder for encouragement, mentions on his jonderblog and commenting; to Babs and Fu Manchu for liking and linking this place; to Art, MrDave, steVe and C in California...ye old faithful. And to everyone who not only drops by, but also leaves a comment from time to time. Blogging is a lonely place sometimes, so keep the comments coming folks... 

And now, to another year of One Buck Recordings...

...raise your glasses, shake your asses...

 

From The Record Shelf: It Ain't Walking On Egg Shells, These Shels Bring The Noise...

And now for something completely different...I haven't indulged much in heavy music around here, mainly because it isn't my favorite genre. I mean, I dipped a bit into hard rock and heavy metal as a teenager, but really only a bit. Heavy prog or prog metal is definitely not a genre that I would have bet on being interested in when I was younger, mainly because what prog I heard, mostly from my dad getting a nostalgia vibe from time to time, putting on stuff like An Electronic Mass from Spooy Tooth with Pierre Henry, and then getting yelled at by my mom who aske for the noise to cease. The other reason why I wasn't into prog is that I'm a lyrics guy and that I'm not big into jams and everything jam-like. When push comes to shove, I'll take a singer-songwriter and his or her acoustic guitar. 

But it was a kind of boredom with that kind of music that finally drove me to check out prog rock. I was continuing to collect my Lucinda Williamses and Ryan Adamses, but at some point you've pretty much heard it all in the genre. So, I randomly picked up the BugglYes version of Yes and went from there. The fact that Drama, my first foray into prog, was verging on Heavy prog on tracks like "Machine Messiah" probably set me on the rails that lead us to our One Buck Record of the day. 

Boy, aren't we mysterious...

I didn't know anthing about *shels when I fished Sea Of The Dying Dhow out of a bargain bin somewhere. I don't even know what got me to pick it up, the art and song titles didn't really point to something in my wheelhouse. Maybe the hype sticker on the front that promised "a new and beautiful journey" pushed me, or I was just feeling adventurous that day. Anyway, The Sea Of The Dying Dhow is an album that I like, almost despite myself and my declared proclivities. The longer pieces alternate between melodic sections and sudden eruptions of noise. The music is both melodious and crunchy, the guitars can get really heavy at times, but Shels know how to not overdo it.   

*shels was formed as a follow-up project to British experimental hardcore band Mahumodo by their mastermind Mehdi Safa. Lyrics aren't a great concern and Sahfa is just an okay singer, which in turn also means none of the sometimes exagerrated and operatic vocal antics endemic to prog rock. In the end, it doesn't matter much , as about 80% of the album is instrumental, where *shels are more interested in the ebb and flow of their soundscapes than any traditional song structures. At times I'm reminded of some of the music by Steven Wilson/Porcupine Tree that I like.

In case you were wondering what the hell a dhow is...

So, friends and neighbours, are you ready for something a little out of my wheelhouse? Or yours? I am whenever you are. No need to go down to the beach, let's listen to some *shels right now...