Move To The (Algo)Rhythm Of Some Fine Folk Music...

Algorhythms, baby, sometimes they work against you, and sometimes they actually help you. No, I am not talking about joining the A.I. revolution - if you've been here a while you'd know better, though the wife has embraced Claude who thankfully is not another man, as one could assume by its stupid French-ass name. Oh, sorry, I digress. What was I talking about again? Oh, yeah, digressions. How about digressions by algorhythm? Still not a streamer, but even trusty old Youtube, my music service of choice, is obviously trying to lure me with tempting 'oh, you might like this' suggestions on the sidebar. And wouldn't you know it, today's offering comes straight from the Youtube pipeline. I don't know which modern folk-related artist I was looking up in winter/spring 2023, but all of a sudden Youtube proposed me at every visit two or three new related suggestions for vaguely folk an Americana-inspired artists, and dutifully I clicked my way through their suggestions. Also dutifully, I took note and load of those I liked, and one of the results is the One Buck Record of the day. 

When I published Americana 2 about two weeks ago, I mentioned in the write-up that a good number of those tracks, most by little-known or unknown artists were outtakes from another project, and this is said project. When finally finishing compiling these, I finally decided to throw off the truly country-tinged songs, knowing that I had a perfect album to put those on, while everything that was decidedly more folk was kept here, for the first of three volumes in this little series. I slapped the name New Folk(s) on it, because...well...these folks were new to me and...I guess you can figure out the rest. Now, that they've been lying around in a folder for two and a half years, these folks and their music aren't as new as they once were, and in truth some of these songs might now almost be a decade old. But hey, I'm slow with modern music, and it's a title I like, so New Folk(s) stays, even if the fresh paint might be peeling off one or two tracks. A reader also mentioned "some nice melancholia" on Americana 2. Well, if some nice melancholia is your thing, you're definitely going to find that here. 

It wasn't necessarily the main criteria - that'd be song quality, natch! - but I realized that pretty much every artist here is one I hadn't heard of before, and most are in double or triple digits as far as subscribers go. Now, there's some fantastic artists on the Tube who have a ridiculously low number of subscribers (like, say, The Fly Birds straight out of my Bluegrass Chartbusters series, who surely deserve more than 355 followers), but I liked that this was, in more ways than one, a voyage into the unknown. Which it will stay, for me as for you, prospective listeners. I could look up all these artists and give you one-line descriptions and what have you, but I'm not gonna. Instead, it's the One Buck Records algorhythm that will surprise you, in much the same way I was surprised when these songs first showed up. I just added a nicely flowing running order, and some cover art, and that's it. The exploration is still on, and if you find someone or their song that you like, well, investigate. or, you know, tell us about 'em. Folks like Andrew Tasker, Justin Prins, Sounds Like April, William Troia, Missing Teeth, Catseye Parrish, Fixer, So Impartial and Sambassadeur are awaiting you. 

So, I'll just leave this here, enjoy these New Folk(s), folks...

All Pearls, New Wave, Lush Pop, No Swine

 

Don't fear the Reaper Neon! It might look like it, but this isn't a pure synth pop affair like Vol. 33 was. No, instead All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 44 is smuggling in a whole bunch of New Wave of all kinds and a whole lot of pop. It's all in the title, folks. Lovers of uptempo fare will be served here by a couple of bands that walk the thin line between punk rock and power pop - say hello to Australia's Mad Turks From Istanbul, Slaughter & The Dogs, the Bleeding Hearts and the Fascinators. The power pop hero for insiders is back - yup, its Jonathan Kupersmith. And if you think, that "Pauline" sounds vaguely familiar to the trained ear of the APNS veteran, you're also right! The issued version was featured way back on volume 13, the series' fourth trip to the 80s. This, however, is the demo version of the song, which is almost as worthwhile. And in absence of more Kupersmith material that i could unearth, it'll have to do. And it does. 

Another big part of this comp is some lush, sopphisticated pop by the likes of Aztec Camera, Crowded House, John Howard, Goanna or China Crisis. So, yeah, some of these names will be familiar, and maybe even their songs, so I tried to keep the 'hidden gem' part of the bargain, by including some songs in different mixes from the classic versions. And there is, as usual, a ton of little known artists to discover on here. Or, you know, a big name, but with a way less big song. Daryl Hall, with comrade Oates in tow, was of course a constant guest in the Top 40 throughout the 80s, but "Survive", the album closer here, is from the outlier in Hall's discography, the Robert Fripp produced artpop album Sacred Songs. 

One thing I've always found fascinating in music - and the sheer number of alternate albums on One Buck Records will attest to that - is the 'what if's'. One of these 'what if's' is present here on All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 44. When Giorgio Moroder was tasked with creating a love song for Top Gun, he and his former car mechanic Tom Whitlock came up with "Take My Breath Away", which they first gave to New Wave/power pop band The Motels. But Moroder wasn't happy with their versionn, and then approached Berlin, or rather lead singer Terri Nunn, as no other Berlin members play on the hit version, which unfortunately and infamously caused the band to immediately break up after their biggest hit. Here's the original Motels version of the song, quite close to the Berlin/Nunn version, so I'm not sure what Moroder was bothered by. 

A compilation that has place for both 60's icon Ronnie Spector and Irish pych punk misfits The Golden Horde? Yup, here it is. So I hope you enjoy the pop songs from a wide range of styles that make up All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 44. 

Americana 2

And another one that's been a long time comin'. Americana Vol. 1, as seen in the title, was always supposed to have a sequel, but in between the Bluegrass Chartbusters series and a couple of alt albums or One Album Wonders it always got pushed back, as I don't want this place to only become OBG's Americana corner. But after a year and a half, it seems about time to actually get to Volume No. 2. The idea is still the same: There is no specific idea, other than compiling 20 tracks from the Americana spectrum. Some refugees from the Bluegrass Chartbusters, who were either not Bluegrass or Chartbuster enough, have found a home here, plus the usual stray tracks I stumbled upon one way or the other. Some are relatively newcomers, other are vets. No real structuring principle either, other than flow and variety.  

Having said all that, the newcomers are clearly having the upper hand here, and there's a reason for that. A bunch of these, by such unheralded artists as Gene Gainey, Bryan Yurcan, Jung Bergo, Sean Whalshe or Madmans Moustache, are escapees from yet another project that will debut soon on One Buck Records, but were quote-unquote too country for that one, so they found the perfect new home right here. Also relatively newcomer-ish: Swedish Americana artist Magnus Hansson alias Maybe Canada, Melanoid, and Song Preservation Society. Lots of people to discover here that I'm sure most of you haven't heard of yet, but if these selections are any indication, deserve a closer look in the future. 

The vets brought in range from pioneers like cow-punk legend Jason Ringenberg to cult artists like Will Oldham a.k.a. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, to artists creeping into the vets camp with each passing year like Maren Morris, here still a teenager. There's also a young Kacey Musgraves with a wonderful take on Uncle Neil's "Heart Of Gold". Throw in the Counting Crows with a really neat live in studio performance of the Grateful Dead's "Friend Of The Devil" and Chris Stapleton's "Outlaw State Of Mind". And a word for Bill Miller, the rare Native American Americana/country rock artist, whoese 1982 debut Native Sons, from which "Two Places At Once" is taken, is an underappreciated early example of what we'd call Americana later on. 

And finally, a word (or three) on the special bonus track, which I designed as such, so if you have a strict 'No A.I. in my music' policy, you can just delete it without consequence: You might remember Jared Hutcherson as the AI-generated country singer with the changing voices, who was highly productive, until he got deep-sixed. R.I.P. Jared, we hardly knew ya! But we got one thing to remember you by. Of the half-dozen songs I sampled from 'Jared', one stood out. "Burning Horses" is done in the growly vet voice, for a dark Americana song with apocalyptic undertones. Maybe fitting that it's the A.I. that goes so dark: "This is a call for the burning horses, racing out through hell / they can find you anywhere, anywhere you dwell / flame and fury, teeth and bone / ain't no place to hide alone / burning horses know your name, and they're coming just the same." Whoa, A.I. on a dark death trip. It's a weird song, and I like that, and I really like the song, which is, well, weird. And, you know, "Burning Horses" sentiment of unstoppable, impending doomis  truly fitting considering the rapid-fire development - and not in a good way - in the A.I. department in the last months. Always remember, folks: A.I. knows your name, and it's coming just the same.

These Pearls Have Been A Long Time Comin' (But They Ain't A Long Time Gone)

Well, this has been a long time coming. And no even longer due to some unexpected recent events. First off, OK, OK, I admit it, I neglected the OG of this blog a bit. It has been a month since the last episode of All Pearls, No Swine, and I used the time I had this summer to work on a bunch of long-gestating projects - rejiggered soundtrakcs, the ever-expanding Bluegrass Chartbusters and Alternate Albums like the recently posted reworked Tales Of Mystery And Imagination - without necessarily thinking of, or spending time, on All Pearls, No Swine. For years, literally, this was the ol' faithful of this blog. Knowing I had this rich stock of volumes ready, whenever I wasn't sure what to post or didn't have another projct ready, I'd just post an All Pearls, No Swine. But now that the stock is used up for a while, I have to remind me to compile and get these things on the road. 

The good news: I had fun compiling this last volume, which came together realitively easily and quickly, hopefully a good omen for the immediate future of this series. Now that some bigger and more time-consuming projects have ended, I should find more time to post these in shorter intervals, for old-school blog visitors who kind-of got into One Buck Records via these comps. But, you know, circumstances also somewhat conspired to make the three and a half of you waiting for a new dose of All Pearls, No Swine even longer. This write-up was supposed to go up wednesday last week, but then Catherine Ringer died and I did the Rita Mitsouko tribute. So I pushed it back to Saturday, but then Duncan Sheik died and the spot was taken by a tribute to him, and then I wrapped up the Ringer and birthday business and now we finally have arrived at All Pearls No Swine Vol. 43. A Long Time Comin', Not A Long Time Gone. 

The M.O. is pretty much the same as always: some rock, some funky stuff, some folk, one or two country rock tracks, and one or two slightly psychedelic adventures. By now, you know what you'll get with these. Again, no big names on this one, with the biggest name possibly the not-too-long-ago anthologized Arrogance, with early single "A Foreshadowing" which is a good song but I didn't like it in my chronological anthology, as it would have slowed things way down too early in the disc, so it got relegated to All Pearls, No Swine duty, which is - all in all - a fine place to be. 

Looking back on the list of artists, and seeing that we have hit an anniversary-ish volume 25 of 70s-set All Pearls, No Swine, it gets harder to see how many APNS alumni are around, but Doug Firebaugh is here with another of his miniatures that nowadays we would call Americana, and so is Germany's finest finger-picker of the 70s, Werner Lämmerhirt, this time with a fine cover of "If I Were A Carpenter". I love Lämmerhirt's smoky voice, too bad he wasn't a songwriter and didn't really make a name for himself, it's always nice to hear him. 

We have the patented mix of rock, folk, some country rock. as with the last 70s-set volume, I was in the mood for some groovers, so we have a bunch of those, including Game's "Stop, Look, Listen", Zazu's "Country Eyes", Cameron's "I've Been Down" and The Cates Gang's "We All Got To Help Each Other". Folk lovers will probably dig Ryan Trevor's "By The Water", Bureman & O'Rourke's "Ol' Bill", John Southern's "On The Isle Of You" or Lackey & Sweeney's "Good To Cry". Oh, and for the secret glam fan in you, there's ex-Spider from Mars Woody Woodmansey with his follow-up band U-Boat glamming and rocking it up in album opener "Oh La la".

If you're an All Pearls, No Swine veteran, you'll recognize my usual tricks. If I make some room for psyhedelia, it's usually towards the end of the album. So this volume ends with the triple whopper of the aforementioned Arrogance track, Ethel-Ann Powell's "The Elephant Patch" and Fred's "A Love Song", which certainly shows his love for distorted guitars (and distorted lovers?). 

So, either way, lots of good, unknown stuff from the 70s that bears the one and only OBG level of approval. Quality-tested, as usual, as well as volume EQ'd and the rest. So, it was a log time coming, now let's hope you have a good time with All Pearls, No Swine Vol. 43. 

P.S.: Nothing to do with APNS, but I've seen that the giftbag in the birthday thread contained only one album, the Sinners soundtrack, which obviously wasn't the plan. It seems the last upload in a common folder somhow erased the others. Anyway, I upped Manassas and Dennis Wilson's Bambu in their respective threads for those interested...

Le Dernier Encore De Catherine Ringer

Okay, fine, it's dead musician week here at One Buck Records. I hope one or two of you enjoyed the Rita Mitsouko post from last week, because I'm not quite done with Madame Catherine Ringer, to everyone's surprise, including my own. When my wife told me Ringer had died a week ago she was unhappy, because no one seemed to talk about it, as if it was no big deal. But that's mainly because the tributes on social media etc. were slowly starting to pour in. Turns out it was a reasonably big deal, they just needed some time. Wednesday evening at least France 2, one of the state channels, was ready. First, they went with regular programming, which happened to be the anniversary 600th episode of somewhat legendary music show Taratata. Taratata is known for two things: artists playng music live, and cover songs, udually done in improbable duets. Usually, an artist would play one of their songs they'd come to promote, then team up with someone to cover a classic. Catherine Ringer showed up quickly in a 'flashback'. 

But after that show, there was a special edition of Tarata 'cobbled together' (that's actually how it was credited) by the show's producer and presenter Nagui in about a day, collecting pretty much every Catherine Ringer solo appearance of the last 18 years.i had finished up the Rita Mitsouko post while listening with one ear and occasionally throwing an eye on the Taratata anniversary show. During the Catherine Ringer special my ears perked up for some of the special duets, first when fellow enfants terribles Shaka Ponk (in which Ringer no doubt saw a bit of her own and Fred Chichin's subversive spirit) raised some hell with her in tow on a cover of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", then when she teamed up with Christine of Christine And The Queens for a take on Led Zep's "Stairway To Heaven". I searched and found both of these covers, then decided to augment these with two other duets. All of these will make up Le Dernier Encore, an EP of Catherine ringer plus duet partners. 

The first track is the aforementioned Shaka Ponk collaboration, then we hear Ringer trying to sing the Arab language to support Rachid Tahab on "Ya Rayah". Then we're off to known francophile Iggy Pop, who duets on a torch song reading of "I've Got A Spell On You", though my favorite is Pop's banter. First he invites her to duet with him in his best French, but uses the reserved-for-young-women 'Mademoiselle' (to which Catherine protests:'Madame! Madame!'), then after the song he says "let's get out of here, babe" in such a tender way. Oh, and then we end the EP with that aforementioned duet on "Stairway To Heaven". 

So, four more songs, before this blog and I let go of Catherine Ringer. Etes vous prêt pour le dernier encore? 

Maybe He Was A Genius? No, Probably Just A Very Good Songwriter And Pop Craftsman...

Ah, fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. Another day in the office, another death in the office. I don't want this blog to turn into obituary central, but pretty much ever since it's beginning I planned to post something from Duncan Sheik. And now I kind of have to do it, like, right now, because Sheik just died. C'mon, people, I'm getting as sick of writing obits as maybe you get of reading them. I don't have a huge emotional link to Mr. Sheik, I just admired his sleek, smart pop music. I'll just say that 56 is no age to die on people, but oh well, who's asking me. Earlier this month I had the worst first day of the worst new school year ever, when I learned before my first course that a colleague in the department had died the week before. Nice guy, not a particularly close friend, or anything, more like a friendly work acquaintance, but his death shook me a lot. Forty fuckin' years old, healthy lifestyle, keels over and dies of a fuckin' heart attack. Leaves a wife and kids of six and three years old. As I said above, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck. If you felt that ol' OBG was a little morose in some of his recent write-ups, then you're right on the money, and though I hadn't kept taps on Sheik - who enjoyed a successful career on Broadway in the last two decades - this isn't gonna brighten my mood. Not one bit. As noted philosopher Billie Joe Armstrong said, wake me up when September ends. 

So, Duncan Sheik. His five minutes of stardom in 1997, when "Barely Breathing" ruled the airwaves, at least for a while, and the ensuing short career as a teen heartthrob completely passed me by, much as Sheik did completely in my corner of the world. But the name sounded enough of a bell almost a decade later, when I fished his 2002 album Daylight out of a bargain bin. What a great catch that was. Daylight is a top notch album for about two thirds before it peters out a bit at the end. But before Sheik adds little pop pearl to little pop pearl as if forging a necklace of pop perfection. Unsurprisingly, All Of These Things - The Music Of Duncan Sheik draws heavily upon Daylight, with a third of its 18-track line-up coming from that album, and I could have still easily added at least one other song. 

Sheik called Daylight "the Trojan Horse of pop", where the pop sheen and catchy melodies hide some unexpectedly deep or subversive - for a mainstream pop record - lyrics, but it was also a bit of a last hurray and goodbye to the world of pop. Sheik had tasted life as a pop star, decided he didn't really like it, and once his contract with Atlantic was up after Daylight, he more or less willingly walked away from pop stardom. Having other people on stage sing his songs was perfectly fine, so around the time of the release of Daylight, he had started to work on musical theater, and would spend the next two decades plus writing for Broadway, winning Grammies and Tonies along the way, not that he much  - cared about that. From time to time he would issue another album for the faithful, without caring about sales or promotion. He was happy plying his trade as a relatively anonymous contributor, with his pop career further and further retreating in the back mirror. 

And yet, that pop career - short as it was - was full of wonderful moments. And eighteen of these are collected in All Of These Things - The Music Of Duncan Sheik, which will either introduce you to this fabulous artist, or bring back happy memories otherwise. 

Now that's a heartthrob for ya...

Godspeed, Duncan. Hopefully Sheik's Buddhist's faith brought him some peace in the knowledge that he will return in another life. His religious beliefs, though never brought out particularly openly, permeats the sentiments of facing mortality in the comp's closer "Hymn", so I'll leave you with a couple of those lines.

And she asks me

how many sunrises 

will we watch from start to finish 

how many will we witness?

And my answers

are only ever surmises

maybe a handful of times

...before the next life.

R.I.P. (and happy return?) Duncan Scott Sheik, 1969-2026

The French Connection, Special Bulletin Edition: Et Maintenant, Le Dernier Vestige De Rita Mitsouko N'Est Plus Non Plus...

Cancer did it again. The evil, no-good, very bad S.O.B got Catherine, too. Having seen her life partner and bandmate Fred Chichin die suddenly of what the French call un cancer foudroyant, a rapidly evolving, ultra-agressive cancer, in 2007, now Catherine Ringer has suffered the same fate yesterday. Les Rita Mitsouko died with Fred in 2007, but now the last trace of this unpredictable, one-of-a-kind band is gone, by the same cruel fate that took her soul mate 19 years ago. Poetic? Or just more proof that we haven't made huge inroads in fighting that evil, no good, very bad S.O.B.? I let you decide. 

Come to think of it, Catherine Ringer was, as far as I recall, the last concert I went too...five years or so ago. Ah, tempus fugit. Her stage presence and rock'n'roll give-no-fucks spirit, even at an anvanced age of 63, finally turned me around on Les Rita Mitsouko, a band I admittedly didn't get for a long time. Too shrill, too bizarre, too....French, maybe? My wife has been a fan since her teens, but that group kind of always got on my nerves, though my opinion started to change when I got her the band's last album Varieté for a birthday. It was an acoustic-based album, a much more gentle and melodic adventure than the shrill New Wave and post-punk stuff from the 80s. 

Catherine Ringer in that very concert. The dude in the hat on the far left is her youngest son, Raoul.

Anyway, after coming away from that concert with a new appreciation for Madame Ringer, I compiled a little album of Rita Mitsouko (and a then-recent Ringer live track of a band song) stuff that first saw light of day over at Farq's place. And now, to honor Ringer and Les Rita Mitsouko? I'll pull this out of mothballs. And oyt's a weird sense of deja vu taht exctly three weeks ago I was writing a eulogy for Dolly Parton. What the hell is this, dead musician tuesday? 

Les Rita Mitsouko (they added the 'les', so people would stop thinking it was Catherine Ringer's name, instead of the band's) were obviously made for the 80s and the second wave of New Wave. They were misfits, they were vaudeville performers, they were deeply they're own thing. Theatrical, provocative, and for a couple of years, on the forefront of the new and exciting rock and pop that was sprouting from the alte 70s on. They passed by a couple of different styles over the years, leaning into synth pop, art pop, even experimenting with jungle and drum'n'bass rhythms in the 90s. And through it all, they were always Catherine and Fred, she the former porn actress with an extroverted voice and a 'don't mess with me' attitude, he the pencil-moustached silent pole of the band. They were an odd couple, and they were perfect for, and with, each other. 

Now, I mentioned that I didn't 'get' Les Rita Mitsouko until a couple of years ago, and even then, some of their more thatrical and shrill work is still not for me. I can admire parts of it from a distance, but I'd rather not listen to it, particularly, which is fine. You will see in the accompanying comp that I was really picky in what I like about and from the band. It doesn't necessarily have all the best-known hits from the band, and those that are here are not in the versions that hit the airwaves in the 80s. For "C'est Comme Ca" I used a live version of Catherine Ringer and her band that comes closest to the barnstormer it was in concert. I used edited remixes for both "Andy' and "Marcia Baila", their breakthrough hit in 1985 and a tribute to Catherine Ringer's dance teacher Martia Moretti, who - like the two persons that would pay tribute to her would in the future - died of a quick acting cancer in 1983. Yup, there's thread here, though not a good one. 

A whooping seven songs come from Variéty, their last album, that started to turn me around on the band, and since I already have the French version at home, I decided to use the English-language versions of the songs for this comp. In other cases, I just kept the bits I liked, like the instrumental intro of "Elevator" or bits of an improvisation piece, or jam, called, well, "Jam". I took the bits I liked and used them as short breaks in betwen songs. And I could not decide wheteher I like the original version of "Don't Forget The Nite" or the Tony Visconti remix better so I decided to keep both. So, enjoy Do The Mitsouko! for what it is, a deeply personal selection of favorites from Les Rita Mitsouko. 

C'est la mort qui t'a assassiné, Marcia

C'est la mort qui t'a assassiné, Fred.

C'est la mort qui t'a assassiné, Catherine. 

C'est la mort qui nous assassinera tous, mes amis.

Mais aussi...

Même si, même si tout disparaîssait,

Je serais près de toi...

R.I.P. Catherine Ringer, 1957-2026

Bing! Bang! Boom! Bluegrass! Chartbusters!

Bluegrass fiends, you have not been forgotten. I'm surprised to find that it's been almost a month since our last volume, but of course our Bluegrass Chartbusters series will continue unabated, and here's Vol. 14, another volume that has been reworked a numbe rof times and probably doesn't resemble its original incarnation in the slightest. This can of course only be positive, because I found tons of cool stuff that I wanted to bring to you first, and this volume doesn't disappoint! After sitting out the volume, The Brothers Comatose are back with a vengeance...and a great cover of "Mercedes Benz" to boot! Della Mae are back with an equally wonderful version of "No Rain", a song that, as further reserach for the series has shown, is very propular among bluegrass bands. Dierks Bentley, normally not a Bluegrass player, sings U2"s "Pride (In The Name Of Love)", and boy has he brought some back up, enlisting both the Punch Brothers and genre legened Dl McCoury. 

As for newcomers, here's the first appearance of Holler Choir with "Heart-Shaped Box". I was ready to call them a one-off, but the latest expansion wave has brought some more Holler Choir tracks, so these guys will be back. The same is true for We Banjo 3, a now defunct Irish group who - in order to do justice to Tom Petty's "Wildflowers" - recruited Kiana June and Steve Ferrone for backup. I'm not the hugest Old Crow Medicine Show fan, but they're debuting here in a backup function - lots of collabs on this one, as you might have noticed - as they are supporting Molly Tuttle and her beautiful take on Uncle Neil's "Helpless". 

Also making their first series appearance is Duluth's own Trapled By Turtles, an Americana group that play all kinds of country-inspired music, and only very rarely dabbles in Bluegrass, but often enough to record their fine cover of "Where Is My Mind?", which means that - somehat improbably - The Pixies are now joining the list of artists being covered. Other artists covered for the first time: Scotland's own Franz Ferdinand via Cornbread Red's "Take Me Out" and Howard Jones via Love Canon's "Things Will Only Get Better". 

What else do we have here: Vets Iron Horse covering not one, not to, but three classics ("Sweet Child O' Mine", "Proud Mary" and "Sabbath Bloody Sabbath"!  David Lee Roth covering himself, again, gicing Jamie's Cryin'" a bluegrass makeover with the help of The John Jorgenson Bluegrass Band. And more! So, 20 fine handpicked tracks, showing once again the genre's elasticity in bringing these pop, rock, folk and reggae songs to life...

Yes, Yes...I Haven't Forgotten You

When the first part of this lil' project came out in May, I more or less isinuated that that wasn't the end of the story. Because, while I also insinuated - rightfully so, I'd say - that that album tells it's own story, it waasn't the end of the story. Knowing I could not fit all favorites of Yes on a single disc, YEsterdays was always conceived as a two-dis adventure. But as a sort of test balloon I sent out disc one as it's own thing, and now it's time to complete the mess adventure. 

If you remember, the original plan was an uninterrupted megamix with lots of linking sections taken fromlonger works, but halfway through I changed my mind. The linking sections remain, so you"ll have soe bits that don't sound like you might remember them. I also did some associations that seemed obvious to me, like pairing up one of Drama's highlights, "Tempus Fugit" with "Würm" [sic!], the ending section of "Starship Trooper" or ending with the last section of "Machine Messiah" fused to a reprise of "We Can Fly", which brings the YESterdays somewhat full circle - the first real track on volume one after the short prologue of "Vevey's Theme" was "We Can Fly", so circling back to it, albeit briefly, for the finale, seemed a neat idea. 

And of course  I might have edited some stuff out. I don't recall what or where in detail, but I can see that "Perpetual Change" lost about three minutes, and "Yours Is No Disgrace" about three minutes and a half, presumably of stuff I wasn't in love with. So, as usual: proceed at your on risk and peril. But you might to hear some of Yes' finest - according to ol' OBG, of course - in a new context or with new neighbours. There are a ton of classics present here, along with the aforementioned - "Siberian Khatru", "And You And I", "Turn Of The Century", "Yours Is No Disgrace", and more. I even found place for the proggiest of Trevor Rabin-era megaseller's 90125 proggiest and possibly best track, "Hearts". As usual, flow was importat to me, so again, here's hoping that for ypu this flows as nicely as it does for me.

And, well, that's it. That concludes this blog's adventures in Yes Land for now. So get ready for about an hour twenty of some of the best bits that Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire and the  rest of the crew have produced. Revel in some YESterdays, and then, as ever, it's off into the future. 

Here Come More Chartbusters, But Not The Ones You Expected...

 

The Chartbusters are back, but not the ones you're used to. Well, it is summer after all, so what sounds like summer, and also kind of sounds like something the One Buck Records would throw onto an unsuspecting public: Why, it's the Reggae Chartbusters, of course! Instead of some sweet Bluegrass, we're going to listen to some sweet Reggae, covering the last sixty years or so of popular music. 

Most of this series is based on the Vintage Reggae Café series from cheapo Argentine 'specialist' label Music Brokers that specialises in 'hits but played as reggae/jazz/easy listening/etc.' type compilations, with that Vintage Reggae Café series nonetheless reaching an impressive sixteen volumes. Now, what exactly is vintage about it is another question, one better not to ask. The other, also not great to ask: Who are all these people? Other than Pinky Dread I have never heard of any of the Vintage Reggae Café roster. They are essentially like the first years of CMH's Pickin On... bluegrass series, pure studio projects with a clear purpose, rather than real, organic bands finding purpose in their assigned cover albums, as was increasingly the case in that series, once Iron Horse got the ball rolling in that direction. The purpose is obviously 100% mercenary, but hey, who's to say you can't have fun with this.

Speaking of mercenary motives...

Fun in limited doses that is. There are a ton of their covers that don't work particularly well, so this series will not be like its sibling, the Bluegrass Chartbusters, which mushroomed into an XXL endeavor. This will be four volumes and not one more. One reason for that is also, that in these songs with their relatively samey rhythms, it's hard to find much particular artistry. I would argue that the Bluegrass Chartbusters often found real interesting things to do with the covers they did, whereas the Reggae Chartbusters are admittedly closer to pure novelty, albeit entertainingly so. These hand-picked covers are a ton of fun, whether it's United Rhythms Of Brazil and Shirley Adamson's covering "Walk Of Life", Reggister's covering "Girl's Just Wanna Have Fun" or Luca Giacco covering "Hotel California". 

To not make this an entirely Vintage Reggae Café affair, and for sentimental reasons, I added some other stuff. It would be cooler to say I first heard reggae by, say, Bob Marley or Peter Tosh or The Clash, but being a kid growing up with 80s mainstream radio the first reggae I heard was most likely including UB 40. (Other reggae hits I remember from when I was young are Musical Youth's "Pass The Koutchie Dutchie"  and Sophia George's "Girlie Girlie"). So UB 40 will grace these, helped out by Chrissie Hynde for their first appearannce here with "I Got You Babe". And I also included NYC's finest in terms of reggae covers, the Easy Star All-Stars, checking in with covers of Radiohead's "No Surprises" and the Beatles' "With A Little Help From My Friends". 

You know the M.O. already from the Bluegrass Chartbusters: 20 tracks, a cool flow, tons of fun to be had. So, get these and have fun...

 

Them Bluegrass Bands and Folks Would Like Your Attention Once More, Please...

Aaaand welcome everybody to Chartbusters week over here at One Buck Records which of course must kick off When last we checked in with with our beloved Bluegrass Chartbusters series - or probably the time before that - I talked about the massive expansion that took place in the meantime, when I was alerted to certain bands that might fit the format. After I had just weaved those bands (The Fly Birds and Della Mae) into existing volumes, I went on a crazy Bluegrass cover song search bender, searching high and low and ending up with something like eighty plus tracks as a haul. Now that's a lot of tracks, and certainly way too many to just try and weave into existing volumes by throwing out or pushing doiwn the line a couple of others. No, a more radiczl solution was needed. 

Seeing the massive number of tracks, I thought, that I'd better start from scratch and create a couple of entirely new comps that I would then weave in between existing ones, whcih is what I did. This is the first of three entirely newly compiled volumes that will show up in the following weeks and months, as I also want all regular contributors to have been introduced by the series halfway point. To keep continuity with the other volumes, I took a couple of tracks of series stalwarts like Love Canon or from the Pickin On...-crew of other volumes, but one side effect is still a rather huge influx of new faces and names into Bluegrass Chartbusters Vol. 13. 

Having already established most of the bluegrass bands trading in pop and rock covers, most of the new arrivals make their own original music, with the very occasional cover song thrown in for good measure. Such is the case of country/Americana veteran Darrell Scott, who doesn't necessarily do a lot of bluegrass, but got his String Band together for a fantastic take on "Southern Cross", which hereby becomes the first triplicate Bluegrass Chartbuster. Well, what can I say, I love the song, and I have yet to run into a Bluegrass cover I don't appreciate. The Darrell Scott String Band version is interesting as it's the only one with harmony singing, but instead of the close harmonies of the original, they are loose, shouty harmonies, really upping the back porch get together feel of the cover.  All this is to say: it's awesome. 

Also not strictly a bluegrass group, but occasionally dabbling in it: The Whiskey Brothers, opening things here with a simply wonderful cover of Van Morrison's "Brown-Eyed Girl". Also new to the series is the Grass Mountain Unit, a young quartet from Alabama, tht even has double representation on this whole volume. The group, with lead vocalist and mandolin player Drury Hammond tackle Johnny Cash's "Big River", while second-in-command Lucas Black with other bck up plays a superb cover of The Grateful Dead's "Deal". The Mountain Grass Unit will have their debut album out later this month, and are definitely on the rise, so check them out here first!

And the debuts just keep on coming: Just when I thought I had caught all 'play unexpected bluegrass covers for a living' type bands, here come the Grasslers, et ils vient de près de chez moi, plus ou moins. The Grasslers are coming from - careful, pun incoming - the Var Ouest as they like to say (so the south of France), with their covers landing just on the right side of reverence. Their debut in this series is a cover of "Dancing In The Dark". 

Fireside Collective usually play what they call GrooveGrass - with electric guitars and drums - and we'll have some of that on later volumes,  but here they debut with an acoustic take on Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue". Also debuting but here to stay: The Hayde Bluegrass Orchestra, here helped out by Darling West, for "Gold Dust Woman". And finally, in the one-and-done category: The Stray Birds were an acoustic trio out of Lancaster, Pennsylvania - now also sadly defunct - leaving a beautiful version of Nancy Griffith's "I Wish It Would Rain" for our delectation. 

As if all these new folks were not enough, the old(-ish) crew also has some highlights lines up. AJ Lee, once again backed up by Blue Summit, has never sounded as soulful or sultry as on Southern soul classic "He Called Me Baby". Truly wonderful stuff. Plus more quality work from Iron Horse, Cornbread Red, Love Canon and others. I also really like what Kenny Blackwell and violinist Gabe Witcher do with their instrumental take on Neal Diamond's "Red Red Wine", turning the normally upbeat song into a surprisingly elegiac tune. That's one of the things I like about this series, still being able to wring something unexpected from the well-known and even the hoary. 

And that should do it for today, folks. Now load up those twenty tracks and have yourself a grand ol' time. Spoiler: Total keeper, this one...

Some Recent-Ish All Pearls, No Swine, For Your Delectation

All Pearls, No Swine might be slowing down, but this series is far from over, checking in with the third volumededicated to relatively recent music, meaning the last fifteen years and change. 

To get listeners' attention I put the hardest rocin' trak up front, with Dead Sara's bad-ass ass-kicker "Weatherman". If the lead singer's voice sounds vaguely familiar, that's because Emily Armstrong got a more high-profile gig recently, relacing deceased lead singer Chester Bennington in the reforùed Linkin Park. Dead Sara, the power trio with female guitar gunslinger Siouxsie Medley isn't dead, per se, but in a holding pattern since then. Funnily, there's a second track called "Weather Man" by German slow-pop outfit Someday Jacob, that reminds you a bit of The Czars. 

All Pearls, No Swine 42 consists for the most parts of tracks that I picked up here and there because I liked them, ranging fom r'n'b from Candian artist P. "Don't Call Me Philip" Bailey to brass-driven soul-rock from Cole Gallagher with "Sugarland" - yes, the Bruce Springsteen rarity that finally got its official release last year on Tracks II. There's slightly-artier-than-you-remember Counting Crows with comeback single "The Tal Grass" and crunchy power pop verging on punk rock from The Cry! with "Toys In The Attic" (not the Aeromsith song). There's reliable vets Wilso and the also ever-reliable Jason Isbell with the demo version of one of his greatest songs, "Elephant", and Kacey Musgraves with a cover of "Can't Help Galling In Love", done for that weird Baz Luhrmann Elvis movie a ouple of years ago. 

You will realize that there are a number of very short songs - Lucero's rootsy "Take Me Away", Jason Faklner's rock instrumental "The Perfect Crime" and the also instruenta little jazz excursion "Swan Dreams" by the Colin Steele Quartet. There are here for a purpose, since I knew that the closing track would run long. Really long. It's the "Terrapin Station (Suite)" track that Daniel Rossen and The National (among others) did for the massive Grateful Dead tribute Day Of The Dead compilation, and that didn't feature on my two-disc distillation. A perfect run-out groove that necessitated the inclusion of some short songs to fit under the - yes, still existing - 80 minute time limit. 

As you can see fro this write-up, there's aain a good number of different styles and genres on this compilation, as it should be. Something for everyone, hopefully. Also as usual: enjoy!

Ladies And Gentlemen, With A Lot Of Ado, Born In The U.S.A. Like You've Never Heard It Before

July has slipped away, but this blog's Born In The USA Appreciation Month has not. Think of it as a game at this year's football World Cup, with ridiculous stoppage time additions prolonging the fixed time limits by someties 20%. It's time to wrap the extravaganza up, and there was only one way to do it - with a completely rethought and re-arranged album called Born In The U.S.A. The subtitle A Musical Journey To Vietnam And Back already tells you that this isn't your youth's (or semi-youth's) Born In The USA, To be fair, until not too long, it wasn't mine either. The original One Buck Records Born In The USA was a simple alternate album with more of the 1983 solo material, worked around the original, downbeat version of the title song. 

But hey, you know, I can read the room, at least from time to time. Bruce's release of Tracks II with pretty much all of that material made my lil' alt album superfluous. I had snuck out Don't Back Down last year before that box set could steal my thunder, but that old version of my own Born In The USA simply wouldn't have brought muvh to the table. So back to the drawing board I went, and did I ever. It so happened that this was just after having made a deep dive into Brice's back catalogue again, and thinking about some of the pillars of his discography. Cars and girls, as that glib Prefab Sprout parody I hate has it, but you kno, the other stuff Dead end twons in insudtrial decline. And the big one - Vietnam. Bruce has returned to the topic of that war again ans again throughout his career - until it got replaced by more current wars, even if the sentiments stayed the same. But the Vietnam war had an outsized impact on Bruce Springsteen and his music that some people kind of handwave away, instead of acknowledging it as one of the major themes and settings of his work. 

Survivor's guilt is a real thing, even an indirect one, and Bruce Springsteen knows it and feels it - maybe not every day, but a lot of days. His opening rap from the big Live box set he brought out in 1985 about fighting with his dad that ended with him being rejected by the army and the understated 'punch line' of his dad simply saying 'that's good' has always stuck with me. As have the lines that Springsteen says that cut to the heart of Spirngsteen's experience of that war and its veterans: "There was a lot of guys going to Vietnam. And a lot of guys went, and a lot of guys didn't come back. And the ones that came back, weren't the same anymore.". Bruce and his friends didn't go, but ever since Bruce has wondered - in song, in writing, in onstage banter - about what that really means. He didn't go, but someone else went in his stead. What happened to that person? Did he go and not come back? Or come back and not be the same anymore? 

Springsteen has brought up how on a personal level the loss of young men going to Vietnam and not coming back, or coming back in a body bag, by evoking the fate of Bart Haynes, the drummer in his first band, The Catsiles, and that of Walter Cichon, lead singer for Jersey bar band The Motifs and a guy that his peers were sure was going to make it in rock'n'roll. "The Wall" - the latest song on this collection, recorded in the late 1990s after reuniting with the E-Streeters .

The vietnam war, like so many wars before and after -  came and ent, but one of its cruelest aspects is the memory that remains, a memory that continues to haunt Springsteen. The controversial production choices and ensuing common misperception of "Born In The U.S.A." have obscured how personal and important its observations and sentiments were on a personal level for Springsteen. People didn't listen closely at the time, as some will continue today, out of some weird anti-Springsteen Pavlovian dog-like  reflex. Millions bought the "Born In The U.S.A." single, but how many listened closely to its b-side "Shut Out The Light", another song about a Vietnam war vet coming home and not being the same anymore - it should have quelled any ambiguities about Bruce's stance right then and there.

 The a- and b-side of tha single spring from the same source, literally. Bruce demoed a song called "Vietnam" during the Nebraska demo sessions that he would rework until it essentially split into these two songs. Famously cribbing the title from a Paul Schader script to possible write music for - an implicit debt Springsteen repaid years later with the title song for "Light Of Day" - that became the new chorus for one song, with some of the other verses he was experimenting with turning into "Shut Out The Light". Te two existing demmos of "Vietnam" finally became the impetus for this radical variation of Born In The USA, not an album he could've brought out in the mid-80s, but an album that looks at Bruce's treatment of the Vietnam war in its entirety - from contemporaily commenting on it while the war as going on via two Steel Mill tracks from 1970 to the quiet rumination of "The Wall" almost thirty years later. 

You'll find that this is in no way 'authentic', so if that is what you"re looking for in musical offerings, you'll have to look elsewhere this time. I reworked most of the tracks, adding in things that weren't there and in some cases never supposed to be there - other music, sound effects, you name it. This Born In The U.S.A. is really supposed to be eperienced as its own thing, not a simple rummagging through Bruce's archive. Just to give you a quick idea: The "Prologue" consists of that aforementioned concert speech that was - somewhat incongruously attached to "The River", a song that notably neither talks about Bruce's relationship with his dad or the Vietnam War. It has gotten a new backing (bonus points if you identify what it is...). 

The first album side is built as the journey promised in the album's subtitle - with a three-part 'Born In The U.S.A. 'suite' that goes from the U.S. to Vietnam and back, supported by the two Steel Mill numbers from a concert in 1970. It consists of re-edited versions of "Vietnam" - to which I've added the "Born In The USA" chorus that shows up on only one of the versions (Part 3 is a hybrid of parts of both versions), as well as an excised verse from an early try of "Born In The USA" that details the Vietnam portion of the journey. Part 1 details the hometon troubles of our protagonist in Glendale and ends with him touching down in Vietnam, Part 2 has him trying to survive in the Vietnamese jungle, and Part  opens with his plane touching don back home, only for him to be completely alienated by the infifference of evryone aaround him. He's a long-gone daddy in the U.S.A now, even if Bruce hadn't found those words yet...

"We'll All Man The Guns" follows a soldier into the war who's echoing the slogans of his superior, wile hoping to get back to the girl he left at home - a well-worn scenario whose exceution is in the band obviously sneering at the sloganeering ("And we'll all man the guns for America / And we'll all run the enemy home). Speaking of sloganeering: Bruce and his SteelMill cohorts are not above that themselves, when they end "America Uner Fire" with a coda juxtaposing "America The Beautiful" with the theme of "The Micjeu Mouse Club". Subtle this is not, but then again, these were guys 20 year old. "America Under Fire" is the very first song in Springsteen's work that looks at vets coming home and feeling alienated, while society looks down on them, giving way to the later songs in that register. It also has a bit of a soul bent to it that is interesting. 

Side b opens with "Shut Out The Light", albeit not the 1984 b-side version (and I hated to lose Soozie Tyrell's first contribution to a Springsteen recording), but the 1983 demo version which has verses Bruce later excised for the b-side version, notably an ending that implies the vet will commit suicide by letting himself drown. a bummer ending to a bummer song, that Springsteen maybe felt was too much. From there we take another look at Vietnam War vets in "Brothers Under The Brifge", an outtake from The Ghost Of Tom Joad that finally showed up on Tracks (and Soozie Tyrell is finally here!), thus time about a group living as drop outs far from society in the Californian desert. From there we go back to "Born In The U.S.A", the original acoustic country-blues with the trademark Nebraska howls, From there, Bruce's unnamed narrator - but really a version of himself - visits "The Wall", the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington and reminisces about an old friend lost in the war - in true Bruce fashion, it's Billy yet again, but really he's talking about Walter Cichon. This late Nineties recording was finally isuued on High Hopes, the not very satisfying grab-bag of outtakes and redos, and will hopefully be appreciated better here. I have used the little keyboard figure of Bon In The USA" as a sort of leitmotiv throughout the album, so it would have seemed churlish and, worse, cowardly not to have that version of "Born In The U.S.A." on here, so it's next to wrap up the album with a short reprise of "we'll All Man The Guns" and another surprise that I think works well and contextualizes some of his choices, and then a little "Coda" I let you discover for yourself. 

I did a lot of work and spent a lot of time on this, so I hope some of the more doubtful as far as Bruce Springsteen is concerned will give this a shot. It really isn a Springsteen album that oves and sounds lile nothing else - a sort of meta-album on how Springsteen frames and contextualizes the Vietnam War in his songs. I think its interesting to compare the rawness of the first side - obvious for the Steel Mill tracks and for the work-in-progess early work on what would become "Born In The USA" with the more refined, subtle work on the pieces on the second side, especially "Brothers Under The Bridge" and "The all". Anyone who declares that Sprngsteen 'does the same old' and didn't evolve as a songwriter and storytelle should listen closely. 

When I say in the title that there was a lot of ado, that's because I knew this write-up ws going to run long, and it did. Nut, you know, sometimes there's a shit ton to say anout an album, and so few paragraphs to do it. So, now it's time to get into Born In The U.S.A. - the version you've never heard before.

Allez, Enfants De La Patrie De Tous Des Perles Et Aucun Cochon!

Bonjour chers amis de la France, pays des mangeurs des grénouilles et d'escargots et des fromage un moitié pouris...it is the national holiday here in France and this morning followed with a quarter eye the big-ass military parade through parisian Boulevards that the wife and kids watched on TV. The real national celebration will of course hopefully happen tonight, when the French national team beats Spain in the Football World Cup semifinal. I'm not the biggest fan of the squad, though family loyalty means I have to be rooting pour les bleus, but I certainly don't want to see the sneaky Spaniards squeek into the finals. I have yet to be impressed by that squad, other than the individual brillance of Lamine Yamal, who is as good as advertised, and see them underwhelmingly make round after round...the worst of course would be to have Spain meet Argentina, who have also squeeked through in even less impressive ways. They have basically played every game a little worse than the preceding one, yet somehow are two games away for the title. I might even have to swallow my usual discontent for the Brits - more aimed at their asshole fans than the team itself, they are the absolute dirt worst - and root for those guys to go to the title match. 

Wait a minute, you say, did I go to the right place? Since when has One Buck Records turned into a sports blog. It hasn't, of course, but I feel like chatting about this and that, because, well, this newest installment of All Pearl, No Swine has me with little to say. after having done forty of these suckers, you run out of useful things to say -  you know what these are and how they work. I could annotate some of the artists, but that would be relatively random, and if one of these songs makes you want to investigate the guilty party, you can hop on Google or Discogs and find out more for yourself. So I'll just talk a bit about why I compiled this volume as I did and then I'll be out of your hair and, uh, let the music do the talking...

You will find that there's little of the usual folk and country rock on this album - since I was compiling in the moment, I was in the mood for something a little funky, even in its mid-tempo songs, so this is a volume of All Pearls, No Swine that moves a lot more than some of its mellower siblings. For variety purposes we do get a belated return appearance of fey folkie James McCarthy - it's ok, James, no need to declare that you are "Born A Loser" - and of soft acoutic duo Joe And Bing (cf. the two sensitive gentelemen above). And since Bonnie Tyler just died a couple of days ago I thought it would be neat to have something from her on here as well, so I put "Hey Love (It's A Feeling)" on here. 

So, what else is going on around here? A bunch of midtempo groovers from folks like Redeye, Shawn Harris, Riverson, Carmen, and others. There's also a bit of a psychedelic bent to some of the songs here, whether ir's Dory Previn's ballad "The Game", Creme Soda's "Tonight" or Major Arcana's "Wsteren Wind". And did I mention crunchy guitars? Oh yes, ladies and gentlemen, we have crunchy guitars. Power-poppers Bram Tchaikowski set the tone with the opener "Lullaby On Broadway", we get the punk-ish "You're The Disease" from The Outcasts, Luke & The Apostles' gospel-ish "You Make Me High" gets high on electric guitars, and finally Kiwi prog rockers Ragnarok - having previously been compiled here on One Buck Records, and pictured below - show their roots as a bar band playing covers by bringing out a super-heavy version of Led Zep's "Whole Lotta Love" that brings things to an end in suitably thunderous fashion.

So, twenty underappreciated quality tracks from the 70s. You know what to do. 

 

My Bonnie Is Over The Ocean...

 ...well, so to speak. You know, that big-ass dark unknowable ocean that we all have to cross someday. Well, today was Bonnie's day. Gloria Gaynor a.k.a. Bonnie Tyler died yesterday. I knew she had been sick, and had just come out of a medially induced coma last week or so, so I figured she was doing a little better, but, uh, nope...another one of the old crew gone. And Bonnie Tyler was definitely someone I heard a ton on the radio when I was young. By that time, she was already - like her sister in roaring vocals, Tina Turner - in her MOR/AOR phase, which made her a perfect fit for my parents' preferred radio station, fitting in neatly amongst your Elton John and Rod Stewart and Bryan Adams. Her biggest smash, "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" was still played all over the radio, as were the old classics "It's A Heartache" and "Lost In France" and her frecent work  also got some air waves. 

Now, unlike for Tina - for whose comp I did serve up a number of MOR/AOR classics - I had compiled a pretty neat compilation of Tyler's early years, before the frivolous hairspray and equally frivolous production took over. There's no shame in liking that Bonnie Tyler - and I really do - but her early, grittier, earthier work deserves another look from a lot of people put off by the puffy hair, the cocaine-addled videos and the really mainstreamy production of the 80s. 

That's why you should check out Really Cool Antiques, if you didn't at the time. 20 early tracks before folks like Jim Steinman and *shudder* Dieter Bohlen got their hands on her. The two early classics, plus gritty takes on classics like "Living In The City", there's lots of stuff to like in here and remember our sweet Bonnie over the ocean... 

R.I.P. Gaynor "Bonnie Tyler" Hopkins

1961 - 2026