A very lively bit of radio

More Alex on the radio. From 1978, this was broadcast on KUT in Austin Texas.

Alex has an acoustic guitar with him, He plays several songs from LIKE FLIES ON SHERBERT and talks about the not yet released LP. He also appears to be drunk as are the girls in the studio with him. The DJ is sober but I imagine that he probably got called into the station manager's office the next day. The show is anarchy.

Several old country & folk songs are played. There is also a really offensive thing called "Riding Through The Reich" that I'm glad never got put on an LP. Alex plays another Nazi song but it's a really good one.

Other topics are SISTER LOVERS, the Box Tops, the breakup of Big Star and a lot of Brian Eno.

All my friends are here (again)

In 1975, Alex Chilton took a break from recording Big Star's third LP and went to the studios of Memphis radio station WLYX to play a live set. I hope he didn’t drive because he seems to be somewhat impaired, heck he even admits it during the cover of "I Will Always Love You". I wonder what somebody that just turned the radio on thought when they heard this stuff.

Anyway, I think these show will be very interesting for Chilton fans and worth skipping for everyone else. It’s interesting to hear the early versions of songs that ended up on SISTER LOVERS and the selection of cover songs shows that Alex had eclectic taste way back in 1975.

Beautiful flowers

that will never decay

I can understand why you'd want a better man

But why you wanna make him outta me?

R.I.P.

Jim Jones

More here.

Apple of my eye

The Upholsterers was not just the name of the band, it was the occupation of both members. Jack White sang and played guitar & piano. Brian Muldoon drummed and played the worm gear saw. Muldoon is a full time upholsterer, White was his apprentice (he's busy doing other things now).

The single is the only thing available by the duo. Side one is original, side two is covers of songs by Willie Dixon and Jack Starr.

The 45 was released in 2000 on Sympathy For The Record Industry. SFTRI likes deluxe packaging - my copy came with a swatch of sandpaper(!) and business cards from both Upholsterers. There is also a brochure showing White & Muldoon at work upholstering a chair.

Brian Muldoon has started a band with his two sons. They're pretty good too. I don't know if he's also teaching them how to recover chairs.

I got news for you

there ain't no blues

In a kingdom

by the sea

A dozen roses

Rose Rose Rose
Rose Rose Rose
Rose Rose Rose
Rose Rose Rose

And if it doesn't work out...

Foggy waterfall

The Left Banke's last single from late 1969 was really only two members of the band leading a session with the Tom Kaye producing and his band providing the music. The songs are not bad, actually, this one's pretty good. It's just not the Left Banke despite what it says on the label. Just the opposite of the Steve Martin 45 I posted last week. That was the Left Banke in every way except the name on the label.

"Foggy Waterfall" was unreleased at the time (and has only been released once on Rhino's deleted HISTORY OF THE LEFT BANKE), probably because it wasn't as good as the other two songs. The song seems kinda slight and unfinished. It may have even been a studio jam, about halfway through the song somebody says "keep rolling tape". That was a bad idea and a waste of tape. All of the good parts of the song were already done.

So I took some liberties with "Foggy Waterfall" and faded it out right before the order to keep the tape rolling. I like it better this way. I hope Michael Brown, Steve Martin, & the Tom Kaye Band will forgive me.

Anybody else think that the flute is really a mellotron?

Trivia: which member of Spinal Tap played guitar for the Left Banke in 1967?

P.S. 100,000 visitors!!!

Been a long time coming

But I know a change gonna come

Fade to black

After releasing their debut LP in 1979, The Last spent the next year recording an LP that no label wanted to release. The few songs did get out on compilations show what we missed. LOOK AGAIN was a good record. I can't believe that no label picked it up.The band was in disarray for most of that time too. They were still a popular live act in LA but they did not sell a lot of records.

The band also spent much of 1981 searching for a fifth member to replace Mike Nolte, who had been un-Lasted in 1980. Steve Wynn, Susannah Hoffs & David Roback are only a few of the guitarists that didn't pass the audition.

So it was a long break between the 1979 release of L.A. EXPLOSION and this 1982 Bomp! EP called FADE TO BLACK. It's another winner, my only complaint is that it's too short. "Fade To Black" was written for a movie called Fade To Black. Footage of The Last playing the song ended up on the cutting room floor. Joe Nolte wrote "That's Just Life" about being thrown out of a club just after his band left the stage. "Obsession" is about a girl and some dreams that Nolte had. Last keyboard player Vitus Matare wrote "Subway Song". Ask him what it's about next time you see him.

Some label needs to release the Last's 1980-83 recordings. I've never even seen a copy of PAINTING SMILES ON A DEAD MAN, the French LP that the band released before they broke up the first time.

Give it up

or turn it loose

Love songs in the night

A repeat from a while back:

These two songs are from a single that Steve Martin released in 1971. Steve Martin was the lead singer in the Left Banke. That’s him on “Pretty Ballerina”, “She May Call You Up Tonight” and “Walk Away Renee”. The songs were written by the Left Banke’s keyboard player and primary songwriter Michael Brown. Also on the session were Left Banke bassist Tom Finn and drummer George Cameron. So this is the Left Banke in every way except for the name on the label. The name could not be used for legal reasons.

“Love Songs In The Night” is a terrific power pop song. This song should’ve been a hit but it’s barely known outside the circle of Left Banke fans. The flip isn’t as memorable but it's still a good song.

Both songs were used in the soundtrack to a movie called Hot Parts. The movie starred an ex-Warhol Superstar named Ultra Violet and 'is mostly about sex.' Anybody seen it? IMDB.com doesn’t list the movie in Ultra Violet’s entry and there’s nothing available on eBay. There was a soundtrack released. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a copy of that either.

The songs have only been reissued on a Left Banke comp that Rhino released in 1985. If anybody ever wises up and reissues the Left Banke’s records, I hope they include both of these songs.

Carnival time!

Happy super fat Tuesday!

Yes there comes a booming sound

it used to come from underground

I wonder

can you hear them singing?

These days

I've been out walking
I don't do too much talking
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think a lot
About the things that I forgot to do
And all the times I had the chance to.

I've stopped my rambling,
I don't do too much gambling
These days, these days.
These days I seem to think about
How all the changes came about my ways
And I wonder if I'll see another highway.

I had a lover,
I don't think I'll risk another
These days, these days.
And if I seem to be afraid
To live the life that I have made in song
It's just that I've been losing so long.
La la la la la, la la.

I've stopped my dreaming,
I won't do too much scheming
These days, these days.
These days I sit on corner stones
And count the time in quarter tones to ten.
Please don't confront me with my failures,
I had not forgotten them.

-- Jackson Browne
(he wrote it when he was 16!)