Leather In Rock

Well after Dave Graney's triumphant quintuple leather outfit in that previous post I was wondering if anyone else had been so audacious in their lifetimes to attempt such fashion highs?

Marlon Brando. Wild One leather.

Jimmy Dean's iconic leather, fag, hair, t-shirt, cheekbones......

Who are these guys? That's a lot of leather.

Jim Morrison owner of the world's most famous leather pants although apparently v stanky.

Jim in contemplating leather.

Lou Reed. 70s Heroin Chic leather.

Older clean Lou rides bike in leather. RIP in leather.

The Stooges. Not as leathery as one would have thought.

Elvis Presley. 68 Comeback leather. Was this leather's finest moment? He was hot ie. sweating it out for fashion. That's leather dedication!

Elvis in 70s King leather. 

Keef in leather/hair combo.

Suzi Quatro. The ultimate 70s woman in Glam leather.

Suzi lying down in leather jumpsuit. Nice.

The Ramones. 1976 New York Punk leather. Great leather/denim combo uniform. Very contrived, military-esque, I like.

Johnny Rotten. Can't really tell if this is leather. He was more fond of a sports coat albeit usually a mangled one, like his dog ate it.

Sid Vicious. Sex Pistol on his way to the grave in leather.

Michael Jackson. Billie Jean leather. Dancing in leather pants i would imagine is hard. Doing Michael Jackson dancing even harder. This could be quadruple leather? What if there's a glove on the hand in the pocket though?

Couple of faces later leather. You like my shoulder leather.

Melle Mel. Street corner hood leather. The last great icon of leather?

Blixa Bargeld. Strange German leather. Lederhosen-esque leather.

Dave Graney. Quintuple leather. Still the leatheriest I do believe. You are a champion of leather! I think MJ was Dave's only possible real competition and well he's dead now so game over.

*Later on twitter Dave replied:
honoured to be in the golden age of leather

RIP LOU REED

What can I say? You either know what this man means to music or you don't care. One word from me will do: Legend.

Jesus Christ, I forgot how good this tune is!

On The Hi-Fi Part 62.5

Lou Reed (1972)/Rock N Roll Animal (1973) - Lou Reed

I've always been led to believe that Lou Reed's self-titled debut solo LP was a bunch of crap. Someone went so far as to say it was 'ineptly played.' So when this record finally got a spin in my presence I was pleasantly surprised. Lou's set free to become 70s Radio Reed. He does stormin versions of some old VU leftovers and some ace new tunes. This is another case of don't trust the rock-crit consensus. I think I like this album more than Reed's last Velvet Underground LP Loaded!

This year I was lucky enough to experience the opening of Rock N Roll Animal for the first time. Those familiar with the record know what I'm talking about. The album opens with this excellent powering guitar instrumental that eventually after 4 minutes effortlessly moves into a scintillating version of the riff to Sweet Jane. The crowd goes wild and so do I with chills goin up and down my spine. This is one of the greatest recorded rock moments. The rest of the record is just as exciting. Rock N Roll Animal is a metallic maelstrom of epic proportions. Reed even gets downright funky at the 5 and a half minute mark of a 10 minute version of the old Velvets tune Rock N Roll. This made me think that maybe it wasn't Orange Juice who were the first to funkify The Velvet Underground blueprint and that it was the main man himself who did so. The influence this record had can be heard right across the punk/post-punk milieu.

On the Hi-Fi

So I ended up going back to The Velvets Loaded and you know it's ok but you know compared to the first 3 ??? I'd prefer to listen to those 2 records put out in the 80s VU and Another View (another gone missing). Anyway this somehow got me onto Coney Island Baby, Lou solo and I've been diggin that. So it's all win/win really. I don't really know if people rate this Reed LP and I couldn't really give a rats toss bag. These are all top records!

Now in the unlikely to be listenin to this now category that I guess Stereolab were in a while back there. Moonshake's big good angel ep from 1993 and weren't they a funny band sort of at an intersection of post punk, post MBV and (for want of a better term) post rock. They were kinda 2 bands in one but it was that dichotomy that made them so compelling. There were so many ideas going on it was fantastic. The possibilities seemed endless but I guess something had to give and the band split in two. Callahan kept the name and continued on and I must admit I never heard those records but I think he had label mate PJ Harvey guest on a couple of tracks. Anyway Margaret Fiedler's songs on big good angel were a prototype for Laika her next project which is where I'm at now with the first ep Antenna where the claustrophobia and spaciness meet. They were a fine band. I guess I'll be diggin out the first couple of LPs soon once I stop being Oneohtrix Point Never.

Then there is like five records I've hardly got to. Today Fabulous Diamonds 3rd record came out. They called it Commercial Music, so maybe they're a comedy band after all. Sounds pretty good so far. I dunno if there are any jokes in there though. If Peaking Lights can be somewhat successful I can't see a reason why Fabulous Diamonds can't do the same. I'm thinking this is as good as the first one and oh they really have sold out, there's song titles on Commercial Music. Trip out on these groovy drones man. 

                                                        

Then there is this download from bandcamp that I have only listened to once but sounds awesome and a little spooky. It's called the Ghosts of Bush House by The Fog Signals. When I first saw that title I thought what they named a form of house music after one of the Bush Presidents? and now it's coming back into vogue?. How wrong I was. Bush House was apparently a BBC building with studios, offices and whatever. Anyway The building was quite resonant and some guy has gone and done some recordings there. Experimental gear like that Australian guy who recorded telephone wires in the outback. What was his name? I've got the cd somewhere............

The Fog Signals

Finally there's two bargain bin bewdies I've not even touched yet but can't wait to listen to. The first being Supermodified by Dave Graney & The Lured Yellow Mist.

So this is a period of Graney's career I missed I think. There are gaps baby, who was I in the early 00s? It's remixes, obscurities and retakes of tracks from the early to mid 00s as far as I can gather. Should be interesting as always. $5! Larry Emdur stylee.

I liked them when I was little! I wonder what I'll think of them now. We had the Beautiful Album on K-Tel if I recall correctly which must have been after this. Wasn't there a song Prefab Heart I loved that. Anyway who knows where I'll stand on this today? I remember tangled telephones and channels in hairdoes, all very new wave of course and appealing to preteens. New wave was great for that age.

Lou Reed Walk on the Wild Side

Lou Reed

Walk On The Wild Side

Well how could you go past this iconic bassline with a little bit extra thrown in on the jam. Lou's group are fuckn cookin' right here (not Velvets as stated). That's Robert Quine on guitar dunno the other two but they're also awesome. Live in 82, rude form!

A Tribe Called Quest
Can I kick It

Then it was sampled here to great affect! Tribe kickin it to Lou in the goal square!

The Original LP version. Gotta give Herbie Flowers his due. He played two basslines on it, one double bass the other electric so he could get paid twice or so the legend goes. I still haven't read the Wire bass issue, there could be an article on him for all I know. Anyway who cares this has been an FM staple since it came out and with good reason. It's probably where I first heard about givin head. Double the bass pleasure!