Stereolab

Just been gettin reacquainted with Stereolab quite obsessively. At the moment the period of 1992 - 1996. What a run they had going. Space Age Bachelor Pad music, Refried Ectoplasm, Transient Random Noise Bursts With Announcements, Mars Audiac Quintet, Emperor Tomato Ketchup etc. Nothing to say that hasn't already been said by the groop themselves really. John Cage Bubblegum, French Disko, Nihilist Assault Group,Tomorrow is Already Here, Metronomic Underground, Avant Garde MOR, Analogue Rock, Tone Burst, Exploding Head Movie, International Colouring Contest, Farfisa etc. They made reviewers redundant. Pop perfection. I wasn't sure I would still dig. Me dig! Me dig more than ever, I do believe!

The long version of this still astounds me to this day 18
years or so later. A Mind blowing Peak!

It all started withe the reading of that Pulp book by Owen Hatherley. I went back to The Smiths, Sex Pistols, Roxy Music (first 3 LPs) and then onto at one time contemporaries to Pulp- Stereolab. In the early 90s they were using a similar sonic palette and funny archaic instruments which Pulp started to use less of later in the 90s which was kind of a shame. I mean they were still good and all but imagine if they'd gone more arcane and retro futuristic. Moot point really just a thought to entertain you know how it is? When I first heard, well I saw their video clip on Rage, Stereolab I thought man they Sound a bit like NZs Snapper who I knew were into Suicide, maybe Neu and The Velvets obviously but I thought that maybe for Stereolab they may have been inadvertent influences, know what I mean. I guess heaps of groups had that whole Velvets/Stooges/Roxy/ Kraut/Hawkwind/Suicide axis of influences at the time. Anyway they were much more than that. That was just one facet of a multifaceted band. I love that artwork too, the only others in the league of artwork being the equally fab Broadcast and the Ghostbox label. I think they are all in someway connected anyway, the Ghostbox guys were originally cover designers I'm pretty sure. It's been a surprise rediscovery.

Life On Earth

Finally got my hands on this and quite timely too as I'll be seeing the great man Sir David Attenborough in person next month doing a show in Melbourne called A Life On Earth. I scored the book as well last year, with the price still on it from 1979 8 Pounds 95, which is ace. Diggin' the tunes on this fantastic soundtrack thanks Mr Trunk and Edward Williams. Very cool! V excited about the show too.

Beards A reprise

Early Joy Division early beard

The Original beard king even before I got into Dennis Wilson was of course the legendary Peter Hook. Jim Morrison, The Beatles etc. all had them during trend times as did Dennis but it was Peter Hook in the coolest band of the late 70s and then another cool one throughout the 80s who stuck with it in the non trend times. It did stick out like a sore thumb. Of course now it seems normal. I think though in recent times he's even been shaving. He just seemed to not fit. He shoulda been drivin a truck or something. My brother and I used to find it hilarious. I dunno if we appreciated his contrariness or his out of time naffness. Anyway in tribute to the great man we made a fantastic collage of about 20 photographs all with beard in different phases of growth. It really was quite foreign particularly to have facial hair in the post-punk/indie/dance scenes. Clean shaven was the go and really only went indie in the 00s and has now gone corp/fashionista/sportsman/knob etc. In the late 70s & 80s it only belonged to science and geography teachers. A hipster wouldn't have been caught dead with a hair on his chinny chin chin! I wish I still had that collage, it used to take pride and place in our flat. Hooky Monster Respect!

This is his classic beard and hair look for most of the 80s in New Order.
Not that dissimilar to Dennis Wilson.

Transmission
Joy Division
Best bearded bassline ever!

Yardbirds & Husker Du

OK I've just realised Eric Clapton played on some of The Yardbirds Having A Rave Up With The Yardbirds that came in at 353 (RS 500 list) and was some kind of American compilation. Anyway I dig The Yardbirds a lot. Funnily enough it was on one of their greatest tracks that he got angry and eventually ended up quitting. He hated For Your Love (like it's only one of the finest tunes from the 60s) so much he would only play on the middle 8 (whatever that means). Then along came Jeff Beck to replace him for a string of top tunes.

For Your Love

The Yardbirds

Worth watching this ridiculous video....pretty funny!

* In that Rolling Stone 500 the only Husker Du entry was New Day Rising at 495 just scrapping in. Funny really for a band that pretty much influenced a whole generation/genre. They had other classics too Flip Your Wig & Zen Arcade for starters. RS staff what the fuck? No I'd rather listen to a Jackson Brown album thanks!?????????????ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

Us influential? What are you talkin' about?

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!

The Last Top 10

OK one more from the Rolling Stone 500 then I promise that's it.

• Remain In Light - Talking Heads (126)
• Paul's Boutique - Beastie Boys (156)
• Loveless - My Bloody Valentine (219)
• Something Else - The Kinks (288)
• Rain Dogs - Tom Waits
• Electric Ladyland - Jimi Hendrix (54)
• Off The Wall - Michael Jackson (68)
• Beggar's Banquet - The Rolling Stones (57)
• Pink Flag - Wire (410)
• Nuggets - Various Artists (196)

Another Top Top Ten. This one seems a bit odd. I think I just wouldn't wan't a mixtape made from it. All those records are all fucking great though!

The Shite 10/Ear Poo

I enjoyed doin the better top 10s from the Rolling Stone list I thought I might as well do the shite 10 and fuck me I had to rake through some shtincas and there are probably many more but I've been lucky enough to avoid hearing their Ear Poo. No Particular Order and I know some are gonna be obvious but there's a reason for that.

• The Bends - Radiohead
• So - Peter Gabriel
• Ten - Pearl Jam
• London Calling - The Clash
• Rush of Blood to The Head - Coldplay
• Dookie - Green Day
• Tracey Chapman - Tracey Chapman
• Blue - Joni Mitchell
• Pearl - Janis Joplin
• Any LP by Eric Clapton

There you go imagine having to sit through that! If you do by any chance make sure you're wearing some kind of pastel coloured, hopefully light blue, jumper in tribute to Eric Clapton! Was he fuckin with me?

Another Top 10

I loved doing the different top 10 for the 500 best albums list so

 I thought i'd do another one in no particular order.

• For Your Pleasure - Roxy Music
• Trout Mask Replica - Captain Beefheart
• Forever Changes  - Love
• Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
• Autobahn - Kraftwerk
• Entertainment - Gang of Four
• White Light/White Heat - The Velvet Underground
• The Stooges - The Stooges
• Surfer Rosa - The Pixies
• The Doors -The Doors

Why can't this be the top 10? This is actually a good game to play, I was going for a white vibe on this but ofcourse Love's Arthur Lee was African American. But c'mon Love are such a white band. My wife only realised the other day (and we've been together for 14 years)  that he was not white. She didn't beleive me until I got out a book and showed her a photo of him sporting a short afro. Anywaay what a great top 10 that is! 10 of my all time favorite records.

Something to make you angry

Oh fuck no! There's a new Wes Anderson film out. Maybe I should stand outside the cinema where it's playing and confront the turds attending the film and ask them what his contribution to cinema is? You think this shit is Quirky? Funny? Interesting? You Like Sofia Coppola as well don't you. Fuck me did you see her in Godfather 3? Oh right you weren't born then. By the way those shoes are they ironic or are you seriously wearing them?


Is this hipster bashing? I hope so! Have to say I loved Hal Harley films when I was impressionable in my teens & early twenties. I wonder if I'd like him today? You think it's all cool, meaningful, different and fun. Then later realise it's bullshit (anti)marketed at you when you are able to accept this shite ie. anyone under 30. If you're over 30 you're probably still living with mummy so we'll let you off the hook there.

Rolling Stone Top 500 Albums

The Last truly Great rock band if not the greatest.
Nirvana wish.

Fuck me Rolling Stone have put out a Best 500 albums magazine and geez I'm gonna boil over & end up in the Loony Bin. I've just skimmed through it in a hurry and it's the sane old jive. I thought 'wait I'm gonna spend $10 on something I'm gonna hate, no I will not'. Now thinking that would have been worth it just to write about. God I think I've still got 6 records to go in my Glaring Omissions (on Australian Rock) series at least. So The fucking Clash make top 10 but where are The Smiths, somewhere way down the back. Nevermind is better than Doolittle yeah sure. I even believe they had The Bends and OK Computer above Loveless??? That's pretty funny!  The Clash over the Sex Pistols, I didn't realise Americans were so hilarious. Hotel California over The greatest LP of all time Love's Forever Changes. A Moby Grape LP over The Byrds at their absolute peak on Younger Than Yesterday. Highway 61 Revisited I like but you know what Sonic Youth's Daydream Nation is way fuckin better than that. Pavement's Fall tribute LP Slanted & Enchanted but no Fall albums. Nine Inch Nails but no Skinny Puppy haha... These yanks need to loosen up. Sly's There's a Riot goin on at 99, what about at 9.

Like RadioFuckhead are anywhere near as good as this!

It is quite a skewed list when you get further down. The Velvet Underground's Loaded LP comes in way higher than the two more superior records White Light/White Heat and The Velvet Underground (or 3rd). Who knew Eric Clapton had so many projects and that Americans (well RS writers anyway) loved every single one of them. Tracey Chapman's there, but seriously who's listened to that LP in like 20 years. I am coming from an Australian perspective so maybe there's some cultural thing I'm missing. Anyway who really likes Van Morrison or Randy Newman? Oasis made it in somehow but other great British 80s into 90s bands missed out. No Happy Mondays, Pulp, Spiritualised or Stereolab here. Then there were the fab America 90s psych/pop bands like Mercury Rev and the Flaming Lips who don't appear. The 2 strangest entries are The Zombies who come in very high with Odyssey and Oracle who I really like and Peter Wolf with his record Sleepless (who outside The US even knows what this is? Was he the dude from J Geils band?). Things like Alexander Skip Spence's OAR or The Monks: Black Monk Time don't turn up let alone other great stuff like Karen Dalton, Silver Apples or The United States of America. Electronic music forget about it, There is one Kraftwerk LP as a token.

I remember a list like this in the magazine, maybe from 1988 and the first 50 have not changed bar about 3.It's like it's been set in stone and they have to have a Vatican council meeting for the slightest change to be made It's weird, old, way too rigid and no fun. U2's Joshua Tree comes in ahead of The Doors first LP. The anomalies just keep coming. Weezer's debut ahead of the Pixies Surfer Rosa. Here's a ripper Guns and Roses Appetite For Destruction comes in ahead of these 3: Led Zeppelin II, ACDC's Back in Black and Zep's Physical Graffiti. Then there's 3 inferior later Roxy Music LPs that come way ahead of their all time classic For You Pleasure. Joy Division's Closer makes it but where's Unknown Pleasures. Green Day come in ahead of Lou Reed's Transformer with Dookie. They've got token country, jazz Reggae & even trip hop. The most recent LP I think is The strokes debut. It's not like it's all shit music quite the contrary. Maybe they shouldn't number them, you know it's not sport, just put 'em in alphabetical order or chronologically. Oh but then they have to have a secret ballot and get the pope to smoke his pipe through a hole and then a cardinal will have to interpret the smoke for the decision to be made.

Some bands that missed out that perhaps should have been considered - The Residents, The Ventures, OS Mutantes, The Insect Trust, Comus, The Incredible String Band, The Seeds, America, Goblin, Pere Ubu, The Gun Club, The Saints, X-Ray Spex, The Feelies, The Wipers, Can (but they're not American or British uh oh), Cluster, ESG, The Meat Puppets, Burzum, The Dream Syndicate, Vanity 6, Throbbing Gristle, Chrome, Cabaret Voltaire, The Birthday Party, Cocteau Twins, Scott Walker, Donna Summer, Gong, The Groundhogs, Jimmy Castor Bunch, Booty's Rubber Band, Chic, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Flipper, Talk Talk, Dinosaur Jr, Boredoms, Slint, Royal Trux, Aphex Twin, Marc Acardipane, Boards Of Canada, Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti, Burial..........I could go on forever.

I've made up a different top 10 from the top 500 just off the top of my head and in no particular order.

ZZ Top's lunch. That cheese is gonna be a problem

• Tres Hombres - ZZ Top 
• Dirty Mind - Prince
• Marquee Moon - Television
• Suicide - Suicide
• Double Nickels On The Dime - Minutemen
• Stand - Sly & the Family Stone
• Paranoid - Black Sabbath
• The Queen is Dead - The Smiths
•  Look-Ka Py Py - The Meters
• Let's Get It On - Marvin Gaye

Now that's a bloody great top 10 and it's not the same old SGT Pepper, Blonde on Blonde etc. These records are just as good if not better than the actual top 10. I'd rather listen to this one actually.So why is this not the top 10 then?

Is there a need for this list now in this day and age of access all areas and Internet flux? No and we're not buyin it. We make our own top 500s now It's 2012 the times belong to the Ariels, Gang Gangs, Ferraros, southern hip hop etc. Then there's 70s Afro psych/beat/funk, Indonesian 70s rock, Chica/Cumbia from Peru, 70's Hungarian Funk, Swedish psych from the 60/70s, Thai genres like Luk Thung & Molam, 60/70s Anadolu pop from Turkey etc. to listen to so why the fuck would I want to listen to Radiohead, Green Day, Pearl Jam, Eurythmics, No Doubt or Coldfuckinplay!  It's kinda a little bit sad that the old farts (nothing too modern here please, like from the last decade or anything unless it sounds like something from a previous decade and keep it American or British, nothing too exotic please. Where did I leave my walking stick? Christgau have you seen it anywhere?) at RS are hangin onto their James Taylor's, Janis fuckin Joplins, Linda Ronstadts & Vans.  Who cares?

In a word redundant!