Tuesday Night Music Club

Artist: Sheryl Crow
Released: 1994

Do record clubs still exist? I ask this because I haven’t received one of their direct-mail packets in years. Have they disappeared, or are they involved in some sort of internet subterfuge; luring people in through endless spam that still promises “12 CDs for the price of 1.” Although Columbia House and BMG were, well, rip offs, they could be used to the subscriber’s advantage. The key, at least with Columbia House, was to ignore the rules. Sure, you paid for that one CD and the shipping fees for the other titles, but after that you just skipped purchasing “3 CDs at club price.” They would send you letters from “collection agencies” that demanded the money, but the company had no legal power to actually follow up its threats.
BMG tried a different tact to sucker you into purchasing CDs. They would send you a postcard every month with the club’s “official selection.” If you didn’t want the title, you sent the postcard back. If you did, or just forgot to send it, you received the CD. Although I learned to just send the actual CD back upon its arrival, I did find myself paying for and keeping the title the first time it happened. Hence, Tuesday Night Music Club. I believe I listened to this album once. It then proceeded to sit untouched in my collection for around three years, until my junior year college roommate found it and began to play “Can’t Cry Anymore” incessantly. I actually gave him the CD to keep, but it ended up back in my possession at the end of the year. There it sits, unopened for nearly nine years, which is almost as long as my copy of Mercury Rev’s Deserter’s Songs (but that’s for another entry).

Love Story

Artist: Love
Released: 1995

This past summer, Love toured Europe without its chief singer/songwriter, Arthur Lee. Initial reports claimed that Lee was physically ill and could not make the trek. By December of 2005, Love, currently made up of members of the L.A. band Baby Lemonade and original Love guitarist Johnny Echols, decided to boot Lee out of the band. According to the band, he had become “increasingly erratic” and “delusional,” making working conditions nearly untenable. Arthur Lee now finds himself in a Brian Wilson-like situation – shut out from the band he founded and guided for decades.

Love often seems stuck in a musical liminality – a little too well known to be a true “cult” band, but not on the radar of the average listener. Although they were the first rock band signed to Elektra (ahead of The Doors, who they introduced to Elektra head Jac Holzman), and were a big influence on contemporaries like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin, Love never achieved the same level of notoriety as their L.A. mates The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield. The band’s refusal to tour extensively didn’t help, nor did Lee’s unwillingness to play the promotional game. Throw in the usual drug excesses, and the initial incarnation of the band imploded after only three years, leaving a small, and, at that point, an increasingly diminished legacy.

The best and most influential of the band’s output comes from their 1965-1968 period, which is covered on the first CD of Love Story. Lee and co-songwriter Bryan MacLean initially focused on Byrdisan rock like “Can’t Explain” or the garage sounds of “My Flash On You,” but soon moved to more complex structure and arrangements. “Orange Skies” finds the band employing woodwinds and jazz chords, while “She Comes In Colors” is knee deep in psychedelia (and also provides the basic structure for Madonna’s “Beautiful Stranger”). All of this was a precursor for their third album, Forever Changes (included here in its entirety). One of the preeminent albums of the ‘60s, Forever Changes finds the band expanding their sound even further. Full string arrangements can be found on tracks like “The Good Humor Man He Sees Everything Like This” and “Andmoreagain,” while a mariachi band makes its way onto “Alone Again Or.” The grandeur of the music, however, belies the acid-induced paranoia of songs like “The Red Telephone” and “A House Is Not a Motel” (a complete flop in the US, the album made it into the Top 20 in England).

Lee disbanded Love upon Forever Changes release, then quickly reformed the band with other musicians in 1969. Two rather average albums followed (found on the second CD of Love Story), and Lee eventually began to tour with a revolving group of musicians, sporadically releasing new material or live albums. He did some time in jail in the late ‘90s, and upon his release reformed the band to great critical acclaim and two successful tours in 2002 and 2003. Unfortunately, it seems Lee’s demons have caught up with, casting doubt over whether he’ll ever return to the public eye.

CMJ New Music Sampler: September 1998

As promised, the return of the CMJ Sampler. Leaner, fitter, happier.

Elliott Smith “Waltz #2” – A pretty fantastic song that showed what Smith could do with more than a four-track recorder. By the way, it’s about a karaoke bar.

Bill Fox “Bonded To You” – Fox was the main songwriter for an unfortunately short-lived Cleveland band named The Mice, which was the bastard child of the Replacements and Husker Du. In a perfect world, they would have soundtracked “Say Anything.”

Embrace “All You Good Good People” – Didn’t I refer to these guys as “dregs” in the Elastica review? This serves as additional evidence to my statement.

Catatonia “Road Rage” – This was a huge hit in Britain in ’98. Sounds like Garbage. The band, of course…I guess.

Tripping Daisy “Sonic Bloom” – Creators of the supremely annoying ’95 sorta hit “I Got a Girl.” Now, former lead singer Tim DeLaughter is best known as the head of the supremely annoying Polyphonic Spree.

Ednaswap “Back On the Sun” – I believe this band wrote Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn.” The initial royalties were certainly nice, but now? I mean, does anyone ever hear this song on the radio anymore?

Black Eyed Peas “Que Dices?” – Long before they asked us to get retarded, or not to phunk with their hearts, the BEP were an “alt-rap” act that looked to the Pharcyde and the Roots for inspiration. It’s fairly amusing to hear the band dropping f-bombs left and right amid pop-unfriendly beats, and then realize they’ll be rapping lines like “milky, milky cocoa puffs” seven years later.

Elastica

Artist: Elastica
Released: 1995

Elastica’s debut album can easily turn into a game of “Spot the Music Reference.” Actually, it’s more than just a “reference.” How about “Spot the Stolen Song?” Wire’s “I Am the Fly” is turned into “Line Up,” while their “Three Girl Rhumba” serves as the basis for “Connected.” The Stranglers also appear in the form of “Waking Up,” which employs “No More Heroes” as a melodic base. This could have been disastrous for the band. Luckily, the songs rocked, and their listening audience was too young to remember when The Stranglers battled both the Bee Gees and Cliff Richards for chart domination.

Elastica has held up better than most albums from the Britpop era, primarily because it looked forwards while looking backwards, instead of looking backwards. While big guns like Blur and Oasis, not to mention dregs like Hurricane #1 and Embrace, borrowed liberally from the ‘60s while hewing closely to a ‘90s sound, Elastica looked to ‘70s punk and ‘80s post punk for inspiration. With the rise of dance-punk, post-post-punk, and indie rock, one could argue that bands like Wire, Blondie, ESG, and the Slits have been far more influential over the past five years than some of the more classic rock combos. The jerky disco rhythms of “Hold Me Now,” the primal punk of “Annie” and “All-Nighter,” and the noise-fest that is “Connection” don’t sound out-of-place next to Franz Ferdinand, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s, or the Arctic Monkeys.

A lot could, and certainly has, been written on the re-use of musical ideas along the pop spectrum. While the birth of sampling ended the debate in hip-hop, rock still finds itself struggling with issues of originality. At this point, the deciding factor seems to be a subjective opinion on an artist’s influences. Copying from the Velvet Underground, the Pixies, Glenn Branca, or Orange Juice? You’re in. Copping moves from Korn or Days of the New? Try again. Elastica made the right choices, therefore keeping their “cool” tag for future generations.

De Stijl

Artist: The White Stripes
Released: 2000

The White Stripes pulled a fast one on the viewers of the 2004 Grammy Awards. No, they didn’t bring Soy Bomb out of retirement, nor did they collaborate with Chingy on “Right Thurr.” Instead, the band opted to segue from “Seven Nation Army” to “Death Letter” midway through their performance. Nearly obscured by the blinding display of strobe lights behind him, Jack White tore off a slide guitar solo that was breathtaking in both its speed and efficiency. They used to call it “cutting” back in the day, and it often occurred when two bluesmen would challenge each other for bragging rights over the fastest and dirtiest licks that could be squeezed out of their guitars. Jack was at the proverbial crossroads that evening, channeling the Deep South circa 1937.

“Death Letter” can be found on De Stijl, which may still be the definitive statement from the White Stripes. Their sound and songwriting has been refined on subsequent albums, but it’s here the band explores their roots most thoroughly. The Zeppelin strut of “Why Can’t You Be Nicer To Me” is found next to the Stooges thrash of “Let’s Build a Home,” which isn’t far away from the Beatleisms of “Apple Blossom” or the folk-psych of “I’m Bound To Pack It Up.” One could argue that the Flat Duo Jets and Jon Spencer Blues Explosion mined the alternative garage-blues sound first, but the White Stripes have taken the concept to a different level.

Station To Station

Artist: David Bowie
Released: 1976

Everybody has their favorite Bowie period. Some cling to the Ziggy Stardust persona, while others swear by his Berlin phase. There are also three people who bow to the altar of his Tonight and Never Let Me Down period, but they live in Belgium and will be summarily executed for their taste transgressions. Personally, I’ve always found the initial Thin White Duke/Man Who Fell To Earth era to be his most intriguing. Let’s see…he was subsisting on milk, green peppers, and massive quantities of cocaine, weighed 120 lbs, thought there were aliens living underneath his bed and in his closet, and would stay up for four days straight drawing pentagrams on his living room floor. Good times.

What’s most impressive about this period, aside from his ability to stay alive, is the quality of the music. David himself admits he couldn’t tell you anything about recording Station To Station - all of his memories were lost to Bolivia’s biggest export. The muse, however, was clearly working in his favor. Taking the white soul and disco of Young American’s to delirious extremes, while foreshadowing the airy dynamics of his Eno albums, STS finds Bowie developing his first truly original sound. Syncopated drums and effects-laden guitars drive most of the songs, providing the pop hit in “Golden Years” and coming to their most gonzo fruition in the incomprehensible “TVC 15.” The album also contains one of Bowie’s best songs in the title track, a ten-minute opus that builds slowly before shooting off into hyperspace with the artist singing how “It’s not the effects of the cocaine.” Actually, it was, which is how the song ended up being ten minutes long. It worked in your favor, though.

I don’t think Station To Station is underrated, but I do feel as though it’s often overlooked in the grand scheme of Bowie’s career. Definitely a transition album, it was a precursor to the artist’s most fruitful and rewarding period. He also never quite circled back to this recording’s sound, thus giving the album a unique place in his oeuvre. This is unfortunate, really, since it may have saved the public from Never Let Me Down (he did, by the way).