The Slo-Mo Lonesome Sound Of Sierra

If the name Sierra Eagleson doesn't ring a bell, I won't blame you. She's not a household name, until you really know your cover artists on Youtube, and there's hundreds of them. So what's different about Mrs. Eagleson? 

Clearly, she's a really good singer, but those are a dime a dozen on the Tube. She is writng her own songs, which is not nothing, even if they aren't unmitigated masterpieces. And the production values for her songs - both self-written nnd cover versions for a virtual busking hat turning - are impeccable. But I don't know. There's just something about that voice and her phrasing, an aura of something hidden, maybe. A definite aura of sadness that permeates even the happier songs. I can't really explain it, but Mrs. Eagleson sticks out from the crowd. 

In many ways, she is a young music maker of her generation. Besides playing songs she likes on the Tube for likes and money, she is also completely aware that the music industry isn't what it was, so anything she is officially releasing is digital. And of course she isn't releasing any albums, though allegedly she's working on one now. 

Albums are for old folks, or nostalgic ones. But with the kind of numbers that an album sells these days, most young artists bypass albums in the beginning of their careers, instead opting for singles or - at the most - EPs. Larkin Poe were notorious for the number of EPs they racked up. So Sierra Eagleson has a couple of digital singles and a four-track EP to her name. Brush Fire is the One Buck Guy's attempt to see what a Sierra Eagleson album could look like, splitting its twelve tracks straight down the middle between originals and the slow, moody cover versions she made her name with on the net. The covers range from old school ("Take Me Home Country Roads") across some 80s classics ("In The Air Tonight", "Dancing In The Dark") to newer songs from the likes of Kings Of Leon ("Pyro") and Arctic Monkeys ("Do I Wanna Know?"). "Brush Fire" and "Midnight Hour", the bookends of the album, were the two main singles she has issued, together with "Darby's Song", the other three tracks are from her EP Solace. 

This is perfect music for very late evenings or very early mornings. 12 slices of moody melancholia for the season, a cocktail for when the days are still short and the nights long and dark. 

Don't Start Me To Talking...Actually, On Second Thought...

Oh my, it's been awfully quiet around here, hasn't it? 'Tis the season of quiet reflection (and overstuffed meals!), granted, and I get that the majority of you aren't big conversationalists and a bunch of you just sneak in quietly for the downloads...but...to interpolate the King...a little more conversation...

So, we're gonna try the random shuffle again. If you have a music device, crank it up to eleven put it on random or shuffle mode and see what the first ten tracks are that it proposes. Then list them underneath in the comments. There, easy. If you don't have or don't care to use a device with a shuffle function, just list the last five albums that you have listened to. If you don't listen to albums, tell me about one of your playlists. The common point in all these: Don't Start Me To Talking!

Again, visitors from near and far: You don't want Google and their bullshit cookies tracing you? I getcha! You don't need to be logged in to leave a comment, just choose 'Anonymous' and sign your post with any ol' nickname. 

random pair of boobs in desperate ploy to get visitors' attention...

So friends and neighbours, since it's up to the host to start the festivities, here's what my random shuffle looked like:

Led Zeppelin - Tangerine

Robert Palmer - I Dream Of Wires

Bobbie Gentry - Mississippi Delta

Brandon Garth - Wild Horses

Hannes Wader - Schon Morgen

Our Broken Garden - Breathe

Cowboy - Stick Together

Counting Crows - Lightning

Metallica - Don't Tread On Me

The White Stripes - You've Got Her In Your Pocket

Geno's Acoustic Extravaganza Starts Off The New Year In Style...

Welcome to 2025! And who better to start the new year on this blog than Mr. Gene Clark. 2025 is going to be a Gene Clark year on One Buck Records, because let's face it, every year is going to be a Gene Clark year until I run out of interesting things from, with and about Clark to post. And that day is not in the foresseable future. What's more, it's been a while since I posted something by the man himself. Volumes One and Two of our popular We've Got You Covered series kept budding and confirmed Clarkophiles occupied in the meantime, but the last apparition of Mr. Harold Eugene Clark, the pride of Tipton, Missouri, dates back to (checks notes) April 2024?!? This will not stand!

So, what do we have on tap here today? As the title of the post points out, the extravaganza will be acoustic, though that's kind of misleading, since Clark spent about 80% or so of his career playing acoustically. No Other and Two Sides To Every Story, plus the Firebyrds era in the eary to mid 80s were times where Clark opted, at least partially, for an electric rock sound, but he barely and rarely needed more than himself and an acoustic guitar. And, more often than not for budgetary reasons, that is often how he ended up delivering his music, anyway. Acoustic Treasures is a collection of, erm, acoustic treasures from throughout Clark's career, spanning more than 25 years and covering live performances, alternative versions, and live in studio performances. Having collected these over some time, I don't necessarily have info on all of them, but let me point out some of the more interesting ones.

You may already know "The American Dreamer" and "Outlaw Song" (a.k.a. "Outside The Law"), both of which Gene gave to Dennis Hopper for his film The American Dreamer, these are alternative versions used in another little-seen film entitled The Farmer. "Full Circle Song" is a live in studio performance of the infamous Tribute to the Byrds band. Gene's old Byrds bandmate Michael Clarke is providing the not always quite on time hand claps, while fellow Byrd John York plays the banjo. Warts and all, it's a really nice down home-y take on the song. The lovely version of "Hear The Wind" comes from a Canadian TV show, "In A Misty Morning" was cut live solo acoustic in a recording studio while waiting for bandmates to arrive. "Gypsy Rider " and "I Saw A Dream Come True" come from a much-bootleged concert with The Firebyrds in the Tango Club, where Clark acted as his own opening act, doing a short solo acoustic show before bringing out the band. "If I Hang Around" is an outtake from 1966, though this is the 2003 remix, including overdubbed (in 1997) bass and backing vocals by Chip Douglas, part of The Gene Clark Group when it was written. 

And finally there are two tracks that you won't find anywhere else. a shout out to Rocking Byrd who made the sources for these available on his website, which has since gone dormant. One is Gene's take on the old standard "Too-Ra-Loo-Ra-Loo-Ral (That's An Irish Lullaby)", clearly an off-the-cuff spontaneous take not meant for serious recording. Yet you can hear the magic in these six minutes of just Gene and his guitar, working his way through the song he probably only half-remembered. It's not polished, but damn, if it isn't heartfelt. And then there are "I'm Loving You" and "A Wanted Man", short snippets I presented as a kinda-sorta medley. These come from informal recording sessions with Pat Robinson in the 80s which kept Gene busy and off the drugs and led to what are known as the CRY recordings that I might get to a little later in the year. The tape is full of cuts, stops and starts, people yelling out lyrical suggestions etc., so I really only kept these short song moments. 

This collection ends with another great song that Clark never got to record in the studio and that exists only as a so-so sounding audience boot. "On The Run" shows that even towards the end of the 80s Gene Clark hadn't lost his gift for words and melody. But we all knew that, or hey, at least some of you might know now, or soon. Heave this away, pirates, there be treasures in here...

Boogie Into The New Year with Peter, John, Dick and The Gang

Being a GenXer rather than a Baby Boomer, I came to The J. Geils Band quite belatedly, and basically only knew the one song that was a hit in my neck of the woods, the Seth Justman-penned and unusually New Wave-y "Centerfold". Little did I know that by the time they made it big in Europe with that song, they already were for a decade and a half a proud institution as America's premier party band and the other bad boys from Boston. Frontman Peter Wolf's show man antics, Magic Dick's harp as a lead instrument and John Geils' guitar playing as well as the choice covers of obscure R&B, Doo-Wop and Soul songs that the band infused with irrepressible Rock'n'Roll energy make the group the ultimate barroom boogie band writ large - something they would probably, and rightfully - be proud of. No hidden agenda or underlying subtle concepts with this band: You better get your ass up and shake it when these guys take the stage...

A monster live group, The J. Geils Band also made monster live albums. "Live" Full House, their first live album from 1972 is a pure blast of energy, capturing what the early R&B-based band sounded like. The single LP means that the band gets their shit in, gets everybody to dance and then leave them wanting for more, leaving the dance party after a scant 35 minutes. 1976's Blow Your Face Out - Live, its very worthwhile successor more than doubles that running time and feels more like an entire gig by the band. I'm not engaging in the whole 'best live shows/records of all time' debate and whether the records should capture what it's like to have the best of a show or rather the feel of a whole concert or yadda yadda yadda. All I'm saying is, if someone were to propose one or both of these albums to join that list, I wouldn't protest. 

And since the One Buck Guy likes his grooves hot, his drinks cold and his ladies...erm, hold that thought, the wife's around. So, anyway, since I don't want to play the 'which one's better' card and there is almost no overlap in track list you, dear One Buck Head, are the winner because you get both records for the same consistently low low price of...nothing. Great, hot, rock'n'roll record to get groovin' into the new year...or get going in 2025 on New Year's morning with some top notch energy...

So, have a great end to 2024, y'all, and an even better beginning to 2025! Upward and onward, excelsior!

All Pearls, No Swine: The Return!

Woah, it's been a while since I pulled out one of these, but no year here on One Buck Records should end without a visit of our flagship series, All Pearls, No Swine. It's also in classic mode, taking us back into the 70s with yet another batch of unknown and little known tunes from unknown to little known folks. 

This volume features the return of some cool APNS alumni like Jim Wise & Sky High, Dennis Linde (both previously featured on the most excellent Volume 11) on the high energy opener "Keep My Feet On The Ground" or West Virginia folkrockers Kiddog (who showed up on Volume 15). It is also, as should be, just slathered in a sound that only the early-to-mid 70s have, from the flute that weaves through Rick Neufeld's "Nothing Changes But The Season to the organ that somewhat messily accompanies Michael Behnan's chronicle of "Night Shift Life" or the brass that has James Taylor's "Country Road" seemingly lead right into New Orleans, courtesy of Al Kooper. It reaches from the art/prog sound of Trees to the country rock of Country Weather to the acoustic fingerpicking of Joseph Brunelle and Tom Rush to the husky folk rock of Mary Asquith's take on "Man Of Constant Sorrow". 

Tom Rush covers Wayne Berry's minor classic "Indian Woman From Wichita", and while the string arangement on his version is almost MOR and can't ever compete with the eerie strings on the original, it's another chance to hear a really good song. Rush, Jansch and Kooper are probably the most high-profile names around here, but that of course doesn't reflect on the contributions from lesser knwon folks like Dan Lewis, Doug Day or Michaels & Hack. One personal highlight for me is Brent Titcomb's beautiful "Flow On The River". 

Really, the same thing I've said about the other 70s-bound volumes in this series still hold true, and will continue to hold true in 2025. So while away the last days of 2024 with some very fine, lovingly crafted music from the 70s...

Ryan Adams' Gold Standard

There is, I don't think, another artist I fell in love with as hard as Ryan Adams, only to fall out of love with him pretty hard later in the decade. Whiskeytown had pretty much passed me by and were history by the time I got interested in Americana and then in Adams. I first heard "To Be Young (To Be Sad, To Be High" and read a glowing review of Heartbreaker, immediately bought that album and then picked up the Whiskeytown back catalogue in short order. But, really, my Adas fvorite at the time was Adams' sophomore effort, Gold. It was, and still is, a great record, the gold standard, so to speak. Gold has everything that's great about Adams - the effortless, winsome melodies, the warm vocals, impeccable production by new bff Ethan Johns - with little to none of the uglier side of him: No super lazy lyrics with foul language just for the hell of it, no filler, and just the inklings of the patsiche problem to come. It was obvious even on Gold that Adams was a pastiche artist, but the effect on Gold is different than what happened on the following albums. Here, it sounds like Adams had ingested a jukebox chock full of great tunes from about the late 1950s to the late 19970s and was now regurgitating the best of those dacades' music. 

Maybe not the best metaphor, though considering what was to come - both in quality and quantity of output - a probably fitting one, but on Gold it all came together. Sometimes the idols being worshipped shone through quite obviously - "Nobody Girl' is only nine minutes long because it would have been had it been a Neil Young tune and "Tina Toledo's Streetwalking Blues" is one of the weaker numbers on here, since it is so obviously a Rolling Stones pastiche. But elsewhere, the 'great classic American music vibe' shines through in better, subtler ways. "Touch, Feel And Lose" manages to both nod to (reference? steal from?) Prince's "Purple Rain" and Otis Redding. Songs like "La Cienega Just Smiled" or "Answering Bell" are superior examples of Adams' patented midtempo country rock, while "Gonna Make you Love Me" is modern rockabilly. And Gold of course shows Adams' gift for balladry, even though I find it weird that "When The Stars Go Blue" was chosen as the torch song that a bunch of other artists, including Bono, The Corrs and Tim McGraw, would cover. 

Gold is already a modern classic in its normal form, but amazingly Adams still had great songs to spare. Five of them got published as a special bonus disc entitled Side 4, so as to make Gold a true full-fledged double album (and Adams later claimed that's the way he wanted to publish the record), instead of just a reasonably long CD album. Except, of course,- and no matter what Adams later claimed -  just tacking these extra tracks on to the end doesn't work for an album that sounds like it should end with original album closer "Goodnight Hollywood Boulevard", not "Canonball Days" or have the two slowest songs of the project (which Is why I didn't use those two) in such close proximity. Sorry, Ryan, if that really was the original sequencing, its no bueno. But, as ever, the One Buck Guy is willing to give a helping hand and turn Gold into a real 2 LP music extravaganza with a logical sequencing and natural flow. For this, three tracks from Side 4 were reincorporated into the album, with the Black Crowes-sounding "Rosalie Come And Go" serving as the imaginay B-side opener for LP 1, while the aforementioned "Cannonball Days" has the exact same function on LP 2. Finally, the banjo-picked, old-timey sounding "Sweet Black Magic" found a place right before the end. 

This version is, I think, a richer version of a very good album without denaturing what Adams' work set out to do. As a matter of fact, the sequencing of Gold's opening was pretty much perfect as is, so I left what would be side a of LP 1 it in its original running order. From there, there's some minor changes here and there, but if you loved this album already you will hopefully share the sentiment that these changes are to the record's benefit, breaking up a short lull in the middle of the original album and giving Gold even more of variety and quality. And if you have never heard Gold before, then it is of course about time you change that...

Ho!Ho!Ho! Sightings...

Ho!Ho!Ho! And by that I don't mean the scantily clad women...wait, what's that you say? I made the same joke last year? Ah, we're gonna make that an inofficial Christmas tradition then, here at One Buck Records, together with the mandatory Christmas compilation. We will beat it into the ground until it is super annoying and then beat it some more until it becomes awesome again. Unless if it never was awesome in the first place, but we're not gonna entertain that notion. So. Hos. Lots of them. Yelled by an overweight fella in suspicious red attire. It's that time of the year again...

If you don't like Christmas music, like, at all (U A H8R BRO?), this isn't for you, but if you like Christmas music with a twist (mostly), then it is. There are a couple of straightforward classic Christmas carols here, mostly by soul artists such as The Jackson 5, The Rotary Connection and the Supremes, as well as a relatively traditionalist take on "Joy To The World" by neo-trad folkies Cawlings, but of course half the fun is having non-traditional Christmas songs getting their due, like house favorite Ron Sexsmith wondering, if "Maybe This Christmas" will mean something more. We have Christmas-adjacent songs from Michael Kamen and The Cowsills. We have humorous takes on Christmas songs by The Doobie Brothers, The Goo Goo Dolls and Alabama. 

Is she wrapping or unwrapping..? And does it really matter?

We have power-poppy Christmas tunes from The Weeklings and Mike Daly and an uptempo raver from The Mavericks. And speaking of uptempo: House favorites Jimmy Eat World give us a sped up, non ironic take on Wham's cheesy "Last Christmas", arguably improving it. Cheap Trick, as always bring the noise on the short, energetic "Christmas Christmas". And then, as the album fades into the (holy) night, we slow things down with Michael McDonald wishing for us to have a merry little Christmas and Brandi Carlisle celebrating "O Holy Night". 

X-tremely X-cellent X-Mas (or XXX, but I'm still workshopping the acronym there) has, as you can see, a bit of everything and hopefully a thing or two for you. If you were good this year, that is...

So, folks, merry Christmas, happy hanukah or whatever other good reason you can find to be merry and with friends or family these days...