The End.

The last of the singles by the Grifters that I currently have.

Wicked Thing (1997)



It exists. It's the Grifters. It's on Sub Pop. I'd say that's about as descriptive as I really need to get if I was keep a running tally of the talking points I might make in regards to this particular seven inch slap of vinyl.

Don't you think?

Gutterball (1993)


Gutterball were an indie super group or some such nonsense formed around former Dream Syndicate head honcho Steve Wynn in the early 90s. This is one of their singles. There are two songs on it. One on each side. I am done typing now.

The Movie

There was a movie made of the Grifters based on the original novel by pulp crime novelist Jim Thompson

Stream (1995)


The film adaptation of The Grifters starred Anjelica Huston, Annette Bening and John Cusack and was directed by Stephen Frears who has made some really quality cinema over the years including My Beautiful Launderette & High Fidelity. You'd be well advised to give his body of work the once over and watch a few of the lesser known ones. He does quality work.

Slipknot (1996)

The beauty of the modern world is that if you really want to watch the entire movie it is currently up on Youtube in its entirety. There are worse things you could do with a couple of hours. If you need somebody else's opinion it has a pretty credible score on Rotten Tomatoes and I suspect that following doing all this posting I may in fact revisit this one because I really don't remember much about it besides that I really rather enjoyed it quite a bit.

You may too.

The Book

 Bronze Cast (1994)

The Grifters is a novel by Jim Thompson.

He wrote a lot of really good pulp crime novels. I read as many of them back in the day as I could find. This was one of the best of them.

Queen of the Table Waters (1994)

I'd also recommend "Killer Inside Me" and "Pop. 1280" as among his best novels and worth spending the time to devour in a single sitting. You'll be glad you did.

#14 on the list, #300 on the blog

Once upon a time in 2012 there appeared on a fledgling Instagram (before it became the go-to app for young women to post selfies and pictures of their food) a photo from some hipster indie record store of something entitled "Do Not Buy Ever List" of cd's not to be purchased for resale.

The Grifters were #14.

I like the Grifters.

Soda Pop (1992)

They pumped out quite a bit of music in their tenure and got signed to Sub Pop and nothing ever seemed to happen for them.

At least the music remains.

Holmes (1993)

They were from Memphis where Elvis lived. They have a Facebook page.

It's messy and distorted.
I don't have much else to say.
I'll leave it that.

Are we too late for the trend?

It's never too late for late 70's punk rock compilations...

Are We Too Late for the Trend? (1979)

I digitized this quite a while ago and stuck the record back on the shelf and forgot that it's absolutely worth posting and listening to and owning and caressing lovingly while staring at the pokies on that Farrah Fawcett poster that you used to have. You know the one.

It's a bunch of bands from Big D. It's 1979. These bands were there and making a pleasing racket. They just took a couple of years to scratch the dough together to get an lp out. Plastic Idols and Nervebreakers might be the only names that jump out at the astute observer in the know and would be reason enough to investigate further. I just say go for it.

Peter Pan can suck it.

I like being an adult.


I get to buy singles like this one by  Grow Up.

 Grow Up (1979)

UK DIY style. Just barely competent enough. Way too many words.  It's got a trombone without being ska. A clarinet too.  A clarinet, that's punk as fuck. There are six songs squeezed together on one seven inch slab of vinyl.

What's not to love?

Green Telescopes (1986)

For a long time into the 80's hellscape there existed bands who sought to recreate as accurately as possible the sound of the original 60's teenage garage bands pumping out the real punk rock.

One of those bands was the Green Telescope (who would later change their name to the Thanes of Cawdor) who threw this lively bit of garagadelia to the hungry masses in the middle of the decade that shall not be glorified because even those of us living through it wanted to be living in another time period.

Side one is an original in as much as something aping another time period can be considered an original. A farfisa flavored rocker that hits all the proper points such that it might otherwise fool a neophyte listener into believing it actually was recorded twenty years previous to its actual release date. It's got a beat and you can dance to it.

The other side is a cover of one of the classics of the Garage Punk genre "Thoughts of a Madman" by one of the several hundred bands calling themselves the Nomads.

You can decide for yourself if they best the original or not.

With Me When I Need a Friend

Yeah, It's August.

That's also a song from my personal favorite Love album.

Here's a link to it.

You're welcome.

Kim the Waitress (1986)


Speaking of things that are personal favorites...

(*Note clever segue)

Here's the first single by the Green Pajamas and one of the best non-beer related dollars I ever spent in the late 80's. Another awkward staple of mixed tapes for girls. Lovely stuff from Seattle in the gray rainy days before Grunge would come along and ruin everything.

Some of the older kids in the audience may be familiar with the song through a decidedly inferior and overwrought version by Material Issue in 1994 that entirely misses the earnestness of  the original to make it seem much more creepy. Much more. They sound less like shy artists with a crush on a pretty girl and more like stalkers with a knife, a shovel and a supply of duct tape in the trunk of their car. No wonder Kim quit her job and avoids the place.

But the Green Pajamas.

That's the fucking ticket, Jack.

Discipline (1982)

I think, If  I've made one thing apparent last Autumn (see there's actually a theme developing here that I didn't actually think of until just now. Damn, I'm good) it's that I really really love the Fall.

So here's God's Gift. This is there 3rd single as duly noted on the sleeve.

They too were from the war torn streets of Manchester England. They have some sonic similarities to the mighty Fall that extend beyond the Mancunian accent.

It's more of the good stuff. 

Where were you when the stars went out?

I'm going to a work related conference in a couple of days. I should be doing laundry. But I'd rather not to be honest. I am posting Godstar instead.

Brightest Star (1992)


Well, two of their seven inches anyway.

Godstar. One of the many bands featuring Nic Dalton who was also in the Lemonheads which some older folks and maybe an occasional "Classic Rock" station or two may remember from the 90's. It's only a matter of time before State Fairs and casino gigs become Evan Dando's future. But this isn't about him.

Godstar took their name from a 1985 song by Psychic TV about Brian Jones from before Psychic TV got all disco ravey and Genesis P-Orridge transitioned into the person they are today. (I saw them a couple years after this came out. I was appalled.)

This single is pretty straightforward jangly mid-fi pop. It's on the Bus Stop label (in the US anyway)
"Kitchen" would be covered by the Lemonheads on the same Lp that gave them their hit, but I can't honestly say it was an improvement over the original.

Four Seventy ep (1994)

The other one on Bus Stop is more of the same. Not quite lo-fi recordings of pop songs with a distinct antipodean vibe about them.
I quite like it.

You should like it too.

That's not a suggestion.