Crashing Cars In Germany

Quite possibly my favourite Bowie songs (as opposed to his instrumental trax) along with The Bewlay Brothers, Five Years, Life On Mars &...

When i first heard this on Melbourne radio as a 15 year old in the 80s I couldn't fathom what I was hearing. I knew it was music that I'd been waiting for. I mean i knew The Model as it was a top 40 hit when I was in primary school but subconsciously that was filed along with great synth-pop like Soft Cell, Human League etc. and the Euro new wave of Plastic Bertrand, Falco et al. but Autobahn was a whole other type of beast altogether. 

This was around the same time I first heard The Velvet Underground as those brilliant archival records VU & Another View were getting loads of airplay on underground Melbourne radio. It was a similar thing too as I'd heard "Walk On The Wild Side" as a pre-teen and was then a staple of classic FM radio but tracks like Ocean, Foggy Notion, Rock'n'Roll etc. were totally something else. The connections between these two acts wouldn't reveal itself to me until a few years later. 

Two revelations that would grow, stay relevant and stick with me forever. Anyway back to cars.

As I've said many times before New Wave was the best music for pre-teens and this great song left an indelible impression on me.

I never heard this until I was in my 20s. The Scottish Associates didn't have hits or appear on pop tv in Australia so they were a group you had to discover on your own somehow. I think I got into The Associates because legendary Melbourne drummer John Murphy of Whirlywirld, Orchestra Of Skin & Bone, Max Q and The Dumb & The Ugly fame joined the band for their peak chart era. Anyway tuuuuune! 

Oh I was meant to write something tying all these records together with road movies in some kind of meaningful way mentioning journeys and destinations and how that line is blurred blah blah but er... I forgot. Sometimes writing about music is pointless and dumb anyway. Just listen to these fabulous tunes! 

Podcasts - Bowie Edition

David Bowie has been there all my life. He was on the radio, on the telly, on my brothers tape deck, played at discos, on production duties for some of my favorite albums, in my music magazines and in books I owned. He was only ever fully accepted as a musical entity into my music brain in 2013 though. I always had problems with him partly because by the time I'd reached double figures his best work was behind him. I remembered the great tunes from when I was little Ashes To Ashes, Rebel Rebel and all the stuff that never went away because it was on the radio. I didn't hate Modern Love and Let's Dance but even then I knew he wasn't at his peak and after that geez....he certainly was no longer very cool Blue Jean, Glass Spider, Dancing In The Street, Absolute Beginners etc. Then there was my brother, I mean I thought it was totally naff that he was listening to Tin Machine when Sonic Youth and The Pixies were at the peaks of their powers in the late 80s. Later I liked that tune off the Lost Highway soundtrack but that was pretty much it.

For some reason I decided to chuck all my prejudices away in 2013, well just go back to the good stuff. I always knew it was waiting for me plus it wasn't like I hadn't heard it all previously. I suppose 2013 was the year I went out of my way to listen to those records by choice as opposed to having them thrust upon me. That was a strange year for me as I had moved away from Melbourne where I'd lived for over 20 years. I was unsettled, lonely, missed the big smoke and was in some kind of culture shock. I'm still figuring it all out. Anyway I got all his records from 1970-1980 and immersed myself in them. He got so popular round here on weekends I would have Bowie breakfast. I drove the Mrs mental, I think. Enough about me and my insanity, I thought we'd have a little look at some of the podcasts dedicated to Bowie. Some of these were before his death and some were tributes after he had passed away. All these podcasters have been discussed in the previous 3 posts.

SOUND OPINIONS #347 - This show is dedicated to the classic album The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars.

SOUND OPINIONS #381 - Toni Visconti discusses working with the great man here.

SOUND OPINIONS #529 - This episode is called Remembering David Bowie.

MY FAVORITE ALBUM... - With Neil Finn (Split Enz/Crowded House/Finn Brothers/Solo) where he discusses among other things one of his heroes David Bowie.

MY FAVORITE ALBUM #120 - Ben Blacker talks about his love for Bowie's Alladin Sane.

MY FAVORITE ALBUM #138 - In this fantastic podcast actor/podcaster Stephen Tobolowski talks about The Ziggy Stardust LP and how it affected his life.

WORD PODCAST #188 - Great writer Peter Doggett (of Man Who Sold The World: Bowie & The 70s fame) and Paul Du Noyer join The Word wankers to discuss Mr Bowie.

LATE EDITION....
One of the greatest rock writers in history, Paul Morley, has written a book on David Bowie called The Age Of Bowie and here he is the other day with just one of The Word wankers for WORD PODCAST #256. Morley is on a superlative roll and I'd have been happy for him to continue on for another hour. Good stuff!

2015 - How Shit?

I've gotta say 2015 has got to be the worst music year since fuck before the 2nd World War, I reckon. I'm stuck in 90s musical zones (see above) myself and don't particularly care that my listening isn't drifting back to the now. In fact I want to stay right in those places when and where the possibilities seemed endless. Me and the Mrs discussed a furniture shop closing down near our house the other day and ended up in the terrain of "Is that it then? Music's finite so i guess furniture is too." I was saying how these retro interior design shops had become so uninspired and formulaic, why would anyone want to spend money on this new old shit when there's plenty of old shit anyway?. The retro eclecticism, of the products in these shops, is disappearing up it's own arse at an accelerating rate. Is it that no one is game enough to say right here's a new style? So we just continue down these tasteful but conservative aesthetic avenues? Nobody's killing their idols. There's way too much reverence. We lived through a modernist time but that has gone. Where are the generation gaps? The kids don't even want one. Teenagers don't seem to exist anymore, kids don't leave home until they're over 25 now. You used to leave home and disassociate yourself from your family and become a whole new you, severed from the past. Emma went to the Bowie exhibition in Melbourne last weekend and said there were kids sans parents there. I thought what the fuck? These youngsters are going back 40 years. In 1985 diggin the 60s seemed old but it had only ended 15 years prior. When I was 17 (by then we had Public Enemy, The Pixies, My Bloody Valentine, Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jnr., Acid House, Hip-Hop etc.) I wouldn't have been caught dead being interested in a culture that was 40+ years old. Strange days indeed.

*This is raw thought data that's still being processed in my mind.

**A retro curio in itself. First issued in 1971 (maybe the year I was born) on his Hunky Dory LP then was later released as a single in 1973 when Bowie had reached stardom. It became a massive hit in the UK.

Mott The Hoople - Groups I Never Understood Part 1

I can just see the attraction to this one as it's a classic Bowie penned tune. Bowie apparently loved Mott The Hoople so he gave them this gift of a song so they didn't break up. Did he realise it was one his greatest tunes? He must have been a really nice bloke. The following Mott tunes though I just didn't get and a few years ago I really gave them a good go to try and see what all the fuss was about. Don't get me wrong I love me Glam in particular Bowie, T-Rex, Suzi Quatro, Sweet and Gary Glitter. 

Perhaps doing this post is giving me a very late understanding of Mott The Hoople who I always saw as a 2nd rate tired Bowie, like his older brothers riding his coat tails or something like that. People love em though! This above tune is now growing on me.

Still dunno about this one? Then again if you listen back to those early 70s Bowie LPs there is a fair amount of a Rolling Stones influence on those. It's not that so much as the little bit of musical theatre in this one and hey I didn't like it when Bowie played this card either. I dunno Mott The Hoople just didn't have that instant Wham Bam! impact of an early Suzi, Gary Glitter or Sweet tune or the that insidiously glamorous androgyny of Marc Bolan. 

How about that for an outfit! They don't wear em like that anymore. I guess this tune kick-started it all.

More classic outfits and tunes. A really excellent short and snappy history of UK Glam resides here. Where they called this one The Glam Theme Song. I'm not gonna disagree with that.

A late bewdy for The Sweet just before glam's demise but then came the beginning of pub and punk rock in the UK.

Honorary Australian citizen Suzi Quatro. A Chinnichap classic! I did a bit on her here a while back. 

One of the few tunes by Skyhooks I actually liked. Kinda late 'got it wrong glam' but in a very good way. Sonic Youth's Dirty Boots always reminded me of this, probably just me. Of course not the only Aussie connection to Glam, Mike Chapman of Chinnichap fame was from Queensland and co-wrote and produced half of Glam's greatest hits along with his UK partner in crime Nicky Chinn. Chapman was also responsible for er... Smokie, Racey and Toni Basil. Don't hold that against him though he also used his powers for good ie. Suzi Quatro, Sweet and Mud. Actually come to think of it Mud were a band I never quite understood either until recently. Mud do have that instant Wham Bam! Glam Thrill.

No it's definitely there. Sort of half of the riff is very Horror Movie. Anyone agree?

David Bowie Glam One Two

The best final track of an album then the first track of the follow up LP. I'm tryin to think of others but this is a great double! Of course The Bewlay Brothers ends Hunky Dory and Five Years opens The Rise & Fall Of Ziggy Stardust & The Spiders From Mars.  Does it get any better than this for this combo?Anyone got any others?

I Like The Old Stuff Better Than The New Stuff

So far this year there's been 3 releases that have arrived but I hardly want to play them at all. Before I started my blog I had a renewed interest in all things current in music from like 2008 to pretty much the start of last year. The only things from the recent past still getting an airing are that Gesaffelstein album Aleph, which I just can't get enough of (the best album of 2013 I reckon) and the Logos album Cold Mission. My most played music of last year wasn't new at all it was Steely Dan in fact. This year its been T-Rex, post-Eno Roxy Music, 70s Bowie (is there any other?), Suzi Quatro singles, New York Dolls, The Runaways and The Dictators. Who can explain where your head is gonna go? Youtube is probably the most influential catalyst for my listening, not radio, tv or print media. In fact I haven't listened to the radio or bought a music magazine for six months. The occasional blog or website might put me on a path but its mainly my own brain that leads the way. Listening to Ultravox, Tubeway Army and the subsequent solo outings from John Foxx and Gary Numan makes sense. I can thank Genesis P Orridge for a renewed interest in The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter by The Incredible String Band and the discovery of Dr Strangely Strange's Kip Of The Serenes. He mentioned liking those recently on the interweb.

It's not lookin good for these 3 new records. I've skipped through Sun Araw's Belomancie and it seemed a little annoying so I dunno if I'll return to it? Sun Araw's Beach Head, Heavy Deeds, On Patrol and Ancient Romans are some of my favourite recordings of last few years. Cameron Stallones last LP under the guise of Sun Araw The Inner Treaty didn't really appeal but his collaboration with M Geddes Gengres and The Congos Icon Give Thank from 2012 was great.

I got a little excited by the arrival of Pye Corner Audio's Black Mill Tapes 3 & 4.  I dug the previous Volumes 1 & 2, Sleep Games and The House In The Woods (his side Project) LP Bucolica, but I don't even think I've played this new one all the way through yet and I've had it for over a month.

After these two underwhelming releases I wasn't expecting much from Kemper Norton's album Carn. Maybe there was no life left in the farmer in the city, gumboot industrial, rustic bunny blah blah but thankfully it sounds bloody great (after one listen) and this one I will be returning to right after listening to The Groundhogs Hogwash, Gary Glitter and DJ Extreme's Tom & Jerry Mix  of course....

Old Geezers!

A quick look at recent releases reveals it's not just Bowie, MBV, Daft Punk & Boards of Canada making comebacks this year.
Texas
Goo Goo Dolls
Ben Folds Five
Barenaked Ladies
Jimmy Eat World
Garbage
Tangerine Dream with Brian May(?)

John Fogerty
Alice In Chains
Sebadoh
Billy Joel
Iggy & The Stooges

Melvins,
Rod Stewart
Megadeath
Black Sabbath
Anvil
Alison Moyet
Alannis Morissete
The Orb
Skinny Puppy
The Pastels

And many more all have new LPs for you to listen to in 2013!

 Who's listening?

Tangerine Dream with Brian May-What the fuck would this be like? I'm almost tempted to listen to listen to it but... not quite!

I must say I'm slightly intrigued at the Skinny Puppy LP. Didn't one of them die?

What makes me listen to the new Boards Of Canada album over say the new Black Sabbath er.. hang on Boards Of Canada have really not released a bad record ever and well how many good records have Sabbath produced since like 1974? Am I gonna listen to that Orb record though? I dig The Orb and their first few LPs. But I don't think I'm gonna check out the new one. Why? It might be cool. We are fickle aren't we. Do I wanna just leave The Orb in their early 90s heyday? Why not leave BOC in the late 90s/early 00s though? I loved that John Fogerty comeback album in like 1985 Centrefield. What's another 30 years difference gonna make? ....er probably quite a bit to me and Mr Fogerty. Alison Moyet anyone? Surely she's the original Adele doncha reckon? Didn't all the Alice In Chains people die? Or was it just the singer? Me and the Mrs couldn't even come up with a Texas song, she could however sing me a Goo Goo Dolls song and I recognised it. Barenaked Ladies had the song about a Chinese Chicken I think......

The Fog is back again.