A Day in the Life of Brian Wilson

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 08/17/2013. Enjoy, NØ.

I got this last March from TheeBradMiller over at Because God Told Me To Do It. It was supposed to be released last year & was one of the best albums of 2009 that wasn't, because the release was delayed due to the usual musick bu$ineSS bullshit, then was scheduled for a mid-October 2009 release on Big Blue Records, but was finally available the 15th of this month in Poland & the 22nd in Germany. It should be available here February 2nd. I think you can pre-order it on Amazon. It was well worth the wait (I guess, since I didn't). I highly recommend it to anyone familiar with Phallus Dei or not. It is some great musick. The track I was going to highlight here, "Will You Come Now" features vocals by John Walker (of The Walker Brothers fame), but you can hear it on Phallus Dei's MySpace page. Also, this song has been re-mixed by Bohren & der Club of Gore into an 11 minute epic & should appear on a remix album this year. You can listen to a nearly 5 minute excerpt here. I've decided to feature "The Same" with vocals by Clara Engel.

Since I wrote this post, John Walker died on May 27, 2011 after a long battle with cancer. John was 67.
I have decided to post up the entire album as a tribute to him, as "Will You Come Now" was originally my first choice here, & is a fantastic song by a great musician. I have posted The Walker Brothers elsewhere on this blog, as I have always been a big fan of their classy stylings. (decryption code in comments)

Enjoy,
NØ

Times Square

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 10/19/2013. Enjoy, NØ.

A couple weeks past my friend Matt posted up “Your Daughter is One” from the Times Square soundtrack. I hadn’t really thought much about that movie or the musick from it in quite some time. I dug out a VHS tape of the film & watched it. It was corny/cool as many timepiece musickals are, & the musick is of varying quality, as movie soundtracks have a tendency to be. Had this movie been made in, say, 2005, it would not be such a monumental undertaking to patch together songs from that era, but the fact that this movie came out in 1980 & that the musick was fresh at that time says a great deal about the integrity of this undertaking.

The movie was produced by RSO Records big-shot Robert Stigwood & his record label was able to compile quite a respectable line-up of acts. “Babylon’s Burning” by The Ruts, “Grinding Halt” by The Cure...Patti Smith, The Ramones, Lou Reed, Roxy Music, Gary Numan & more.

Of course there are the movie numbers...character Nicky Marotta's (Robin Johnson) punk song "Damn Dog" is included, as is her duet with David Johansen, "Flowers of the City" & the above mentioned duet with Trini Alvarado, “Your Daughter is One". Although the movie was re-issued on DVD in late 2000, the soundtrack has never found its way to cd. It might not be as filled with hits as some compilations, but it is far better than many. A re-issue should have instant appeal to fans of this cult film. Also it should be of interest to those who haven't seen it . I would guess that contractual difficulties with so many disparate artists may have been the reason. & with so many various artists, this post might not last too long, so you better grab it while you can.

Various Artists - Times Square OST, RSO Records RS-2-4230, 1980.
decryption code in comments

Record 1 Side 1 -

Suzi Quatro - Rock Hard
The Pretenders - Talk of the Town
Roxy Music - Same Old Scene
Gary Numan - Down in the Park
Marcy Levy & Robin Gibb - Help Me!

Record 1 Side 2 -

Talking Heads - Life During Wartime
Joe Jackson - Pretty Boys
XTC - Take This Town
The Ramones - I Wanna Be Sedated
Robin Johnson - Damn Dog

Record 2 Side 3 -

Robin Johnson & Trini Alvarado - Your Daughter is One
The Ruts - Babylon's Burning
D.L. Byron - You Can't Hurry Love
Lou Reed - Walk on the Wild Side
Desmond Child & Rouge - The Night Was Not

Record 2 Side 4 -

Garland Jeffreys - Innocent, Not Guilty
The Cure - Grinding Halt
Patti Smith - Pissing in the River
David Johansen & Robin Johnson - Flowers of the City
Robin Johnson - Damn Dog (reprise - The Cleo Club)
(the only song from the film that i noticed not included on the OST was “Dangerous Type” by The Cars. I have added that song [side two track 5 from Candy-o] here for your listening pleasure. Do with it what you will)

Enjoy,
NØ

Bye bye Van Morrison

Today I received the following notification from Blogger: "We have received a DMCA complaint for your blog, Nothin' Sez Somethin'. An e-mail with the details of the complaint was sent to you on Jan 21, 2010 , and we reset the post status to "Draft"; you can edit it here. You may republish the post with the offending content and/or link(s) removed. If you believe you have the rights to post this content, you can file a counter-claim with us. For more on our DMCA policy, please click here. Thank you for your prompt attention."

The offending post was the Parrot Records U.S. version of The Angry Young Them from 1965 from that curmudgeon Van Morrison & the band that dumped him. My response..."Good Riddance!"

The Act You've Known For All These Years

I've featured the great We're Late For Class musickal co-operative here before. Well here's their latest... 

   

Get it while you can. Destined to be their first deleted release. They originally made this for their own amusement, then figured, hey... why not share it? This is a psychedelic mash-up using only tracks from The Beatles' experimental solo releases. Every sound you'll hear is The Beatles (and whoever appeared with them on those albums). As a future press release should wildly claim, "The Beatles - As You've Never Heard Them Before!" If only they'd all just gotten along. That's the premise, anyway. Mashed by WLFC, January 2010. Please post this anywhere, so it can't be easily eradicated. Link back to them & they'll whisper your name in bonged reverence & dedicate a bowl to your existence. The Reviews Are Already In... "The psychedelic follow up to Magical Mystery Tour" - Rolling Stoned "The Beatles were never this heavy!" - Mojoe "Smoke 'em if you've got 'em!" - Spun "The best opera yet written!" - Hit Parader "If only they'd all just gotten along." - We're Late For Class 

 Enjoy, NØ

Let's Rock Again!

Joe Strummer & The Mescaleros - Get Down Moses

(from Streetcore 2003)

I just got finished watching the movie Let’s Rock Again which follows the newly revitalized Joe Strummer & his fantastic new band The Mescaleros on tour across the world in 2000 & 2001, not long before his untimely death. This film, as is said, touched my heart. M. Strummer was such a humble musickian, beautiful soul, & selfless human. & if there are any doubts about the quality of his new musickal path, it is set aside graphically by the great live performances captured in this warm, loving picture.

John Graham Mellor, better known as Joe Strummer.

He says his musickal heroes are Captain Beefheart & King Tubby. Mine, too (& Joe).

He was without a doubt one of the most powerful vocalists & greatest lyricists of our generation.

Though a majority of critics fail to see the absolute genius in his work with his new band, The Mescaleros, their musick would prove to be some of Joe’s most stunning work ever. Joe never abandoned his fierce, yet friendly demeanor. Strummer & Co. play everything from acoustic numbers to some of the finest straightforward rock & roll tunes that he has ever written. Somehow it is this later work of Strummer’s that truly show his talents, allowing us to see the entire discography of The Clash in a different light.

The Mescaleros stand today as one of the finest backing bands in history. Though much of the musick is more mellow & relaxed than his work with The Clash, Joe Strummer sounds as good & powerful as ever. Showcasing his trademark raspy, growling voice, Strummer re-stakes his claim as one of the greatest, most captivating vocalists in history. Joe gave the world musickal gifts unlike any other performer. Shaping & influencing countless musickians who followed, Strummer's name continues to demand the utmost respect to this day. After disappearing from the musick scene for eleven years, Strummer surrounded himself with some of the finest musickians & began to explore new musickal territory, creating some of the finest songs of his career.

Cementing his name as a legend, as well as proving that regardless of the style of musick one played, it was the soul behind the songs that mattered most, Joe Strummer was clearly on the verge once again when he was taken from this world far too soon. There are probably few moments in musick that are as heart-wrenching as the one found at the end of the album Streetcore. After playing the clean & stripped down, grab-life-by-the-balls song, "Silver & Gold," Strummer mutters his final ever recorded words, as he simply states, "OK, that's a take..." Such final words, eerily predicting his passing (which would occur less than a week later), along with the overall sentiment of the song which stands as his last, are in many ways a fitting end for a man who truly lived through his music.

But having said all that, at the end of the movie, Joe’s words seem even more apt & less prophetic, but more true to the spirit of Joe ‘Woody’ Strummer...Let’s Rock Again!

Let's Rock Again!

Thank you for the musick, Joe. I’ll never forget you.

Enjoy,
NØ

Be Bop Redux

UPDATE: This post was re-uploaded 09/07/2013. Enjoy, NØ.

A while back I posted most of the Bill Nelson musick that I have. I have since received some very encouraging comments, most from folks who like M. Nelson but no longer have the ability to enjoy his analog output in this digital age. So I completely overlooked some of his releases that I had on cds. The other day I was going through a box of old cds & came across these three, so, without further ado, here they are, in no particular order...

Bill Nelson - Blue Moons & Laughing Guitars,
Caroline Records CAROL 1878-2, 1992.
all decryption codes in comments

Tracklist -

Ancient Guitars
Girl from Another Planet
Spinnin' Around
Shaker
God Man Slain
The Dead We Wake with Upstairs Drums
New Moon Rising
The Glory Days
Wishes
Angel in My System
Wings & Everything
Boat to Forever
The Invisible Man & the Unforgettable Girl
So it Goes
Fires in the Sky
Dream Ships Set Sail

Bill Nelson - Chimera,

Mercury 983 1027,2005 (original release MER B19, 1983).

Tracklist -

The Real Adventure
Acceleration
Everyday Feels like Another Drug
Tender is the Night
Glow World
Another Day, Another Ray of Hope
Hard Facts from the Fiction Department
Acceleration (long version)
Acceleration (dub version)
Acceleration (short version)

When I first did this post, I had included Getting the Holy Ghost Across. I explained at the time some of the changes it had gone through during its lifespan (see comments for more information). Because I was not happy with the version I posted, I removed it from the post following lengthy discussion with visitors & friends of NSS. I have hopefully corrected those issues, addressed them somewhat here, & am returning the release to its original place, now that I am happier with the results. I am posting the cassette files & track order, as that is where I originally ripped the files. I have included the other listings for information purposes for purists. Hope you all enjoy.

On Getting the Holy Ghost Across, the musicians are: Bill Nelson – vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, bass, keyboards, marimba, drums, & percussion; Iain Denby – additional bass; Andy Davis – additional keyboards; Ian Nelson – saxophone; & Preston Heyman – additional percussion.

Bill Nelson – Getting the Holy Ghost Across, Portrait PRT 26602, 1986. (LP)

Side One –

Suvasini

Contemplation

Theology

Wildest Dreams (feat. Peter Greeves on violin)

Lost in Your Memory

Side Two –

Rise like a Fountain

Age of Reason (feat. Dick Morrisey on sax & William Gregory on soprano sax)

The Hidden Flames

Because of You (feat. Dick Morrisey on sax)

Pansophia (Bill Nelson on all instruments)

 Bill Nelson – Getting the Holy Ghost Across, Portrait 40-26602 1986.

Side A -

Suvasini

Contemplation

Theology

Wildest Dreams (feat. Peter Greeves on violin)

Lost in Your Memory

Rise like a Fountain

Age of Reason (feat. Dick Morrisey on sax & William Gregory on soprano sax)

Living for the Spangled Moment

Side B -

The Hidden Flames

Word for Word

Illusions of You

Heart & Soul

Finks & Stooges of the Heart

Because of You (feat. Dick Morrisey on sax)

Pansophia (Bill Nelson on all instruments)

Wildest Dream (wild mix hidden track)

On the cassette  release, tracks A8 & B2 - B5 are bonus tracks (as well as the hidden track “Wildest Dream (wild mix)”. These were later issued on vinyl with the addition of two instrumentals “Feast of Lanterns” & “Nightbirds” as the EP Living for the Spangled Moment.

The 2006 rerelease on Sonoluxe contained the above first fifteen tracks (in different oder) as well as the additional instrumental tracks: “Feast of Lanterns”; “Nightbirds”; & “The Yo-yo Dyne”. “The Yo-yo Dyne” appeared on the 1986 Portrait EP entitled Wildest Dreams along with “Wildest Dreams” & “Wildest Dreams (wild mix)” & a fourth song “Self Impersonation” which has nothing really to do with Getting the Holy Ghost Across.

Enjoy,
NØ

The Body sez...

 

I don't really watch much TV, but this is now my favorite show. It is so well constructed & so surreal it is hard to believe it exists on television while the rest of that medium sucks so massively. But don't take my word for it...

 

                   

Slow Walking Daddy

 UPDATE: This post has been re-uploaded 08/09/2013 Enjoy, NØ

Although I've lived permanently in California since Orwellian 1984, I've been bi-coastal since the Summer of Love, dividing my time between Cali & Pennsylvania, where I grew up & graduated high school...northwestern Pennsylvania to be more exact, not far from the Ohio & New York state lines. 

Now, when I was coming of age, New York had 18 drinking age & Ohio had legal fireworks of the unsafe & insane variety. These facts precipitated many a back-roads adventure throughout the beautiful desolation of rural Amerika. Once musick became the driving force in my life, many Ohio sojourns revolved around live shows in Cleveland, the nearest metropolis to this country hick's native soil. Rocket From The Tombs & Pere Ubu were essential fodder for my twisted cerebrum.

The last time I was back in that neck of the woods was when my mother was dying. She had a failing heart & late stage dementia. I went back to be with her at the end. It was a trying experience to say the least. I had stayed with my father when he was dying from liver cancer. It was a dignified & spiritual time. The time of my mother's dying was anything but...there were times when I was a complete stranger to her. I don't really do funerals & would much rather endure the final days & hours of a person's life than the phony emotions of funerary folly. When my mother would be sleeping or otherwise occupied, I would drive through the countryside to clear my head...smoke some righteous bud & crank up the Father Ubu.

Pere Ubu - "Slow Walking Daddy" from St. Arkansas
 decryption code in comments

Here are some pictures that I took that go with this song...

"I wear a suit
& honey, I wear a tie...yeah-yeah-yeah.
I'm gonna look good
each & every day I say goodbye."

"I love that highway, US 322...yeah-yeah-yeah,
yeah... yeah..."

"Six miles south of Meadville,"

"all bare cinder-blocks,
sitting there is Moose Lodge 2505.
& outside there's a sign that says,"

" 'Good Cod Dinner, Fridays, $5.95'
'Good Steak-eye Dinner, Saturdays, $5.95'
& it says, 'Welcome'."

"You are welcome..."

"...to the crazy green
of the midsummer nowhere...yeah-yeah-yeah.
Mr In-Between is showing up fair,
four-square."

"I love that highway, US 322...yeah-yeah-yeah,
yeah... yeah..."

"& I saw stars in strange constellations,
trapped inside the blackness of never-ending night,
seen thru the pearly luminescence of shatterproof glass,
framed by the wrong side of green velour
& maybe it felt like home.
Maybe for just a little while."

"I love that road,

I love the way it yields to me.
It sorta breathes & whispers out my name...
...that's how it feels.
I love that highway, US 322...yeah-yeah-yeah,
yeah."

Writers: Herman - Mehlman - Temple - Thomas - Wheeler.
from St. Arkansas

Enjoy,
NØ