Judy's Judy's Judy's

 

Yeah. I may need another gin and tonic.

For better or worse, it's been that kind of week.

But I'm off work and have Duke Ellington live at the Southland Cafe in Boston from January 1940 blasting in the background while I type so there's that.

 

Moo (1985)

The second full length by the Judy's.

It's called "Moo" and the title track is some soothing music with the band mooing along with it.

There's also a nice little dance number called "Ghost in a Bikini" that has nothing to do with some of my experience with Sims 4, but I'm not exactly denying it's a possibility.

But best of all they offer some really solid advice to the youth of then and today looking for an identity to hang their self identity on in those/these troubled time. Don't be a Hippie.

Truly powerful stuff.

What I do find irritating is that in the early part of this century the band did release compact disc versions of both these albums along with the singles and eps they also recorded. But apparently in very limited quantities and they currently go for stupid prices for compact discs. I'm not stingy, but I do have some economic sense not to pay ransom money for them, but still. It'd be nice if they'd do another release of the material or somebody like Rhino or Numero Group would take up the cause.
I want more Judy's.
 

Planning Ahead.

 

Ok, if you were to actually know me you'd be more than aware that besides the Fall, I really love the Everly Brothers and Duke Ellington. (I'll also go to great lengths to defend Elvis against the endless tide of bullshit there is out there about him. Dude deserves better.)

Anyway. Today as I type this I've found out Don Everly has passed. R.I.P. People get so stuck on the stuff he and his brother did as teenagers that they completely overlook the really fabulous things they recorded through the 60s. Really good stuff. I highly recommend diving in on some of that shit.

Anyway also. I've been binging again on Duke Ellington semi-bootleg records of radio transcriptions from the 70s and early 80s. He had a weekly radio show so there's tons of them. Plus when he toured Europe in the 50s & 60s he was always being broadcast. I got lots of these things already and have more than a dozen more coming in the next few weeks.
Right now I'm digitizing an Lp of the soundtracks for the Duke's film appearances starting with a twenty minute short he made in 1929.
Fucking brilliant stuff and the way the band plays in front of a paying audience of listeners and dancers is enlightening. Plus there's arrangements and tunes that never got studio recordings. (mostly popular numbers the Duke didn't write.)

So I've been toying with the idea of some future time devoting a few months to throwing these up on this or another blog. Shit needs to be heard.

But that's beside the point.

Here's the Judy's

Washarama (1981)

Yeah, this skirts that nebulous edge of New Wave and Punk -ish in terms of the time period as well as the fine and cynical line between joke and serious. It's very geeky and literate.

It's essential listening. I can well imagine the boys in They Might Be Giants spending hours poring over these songs with intent glee.

I think I posted Tullycraft doing a version of "She's Got the Beat" a while back. They would also go on to toss off a version of "Guyana Punch" on a food centric compilation that I'll get around to posting one day.

This is the good shit, baby.

Mopping Up

 

I got not much left to say.

 

 

Shined Nickels and Loose Change (2001)

Somewhere along the line life inevitably catches up with you and you realize that you need to get a real fucking job.

And here is the third album by the Rondelles.

Which is just a nice compilation of various singles and bits and bobs from the archives.

Including a pass at Madonna's hit from when the band was likely still in diapers, "Like a Prayer"

I was already an adult in 1989.

Now I still feel old.

If it's 20 years old does that mean this is Classic Rock now?

Music for Driving Around with the WIndows Down

 

We continue where we left off previously.

Feeling old...

The Fox (1999)

The Rondelles.

As the Millennium drew to its inevitable conclusion and the 21st Century loomed the Rondelles pumped up the volume and hit the gas on their sophomore effort.

It wasn't a slump.

It's more focused and rocks harder. They've been practicing. They've been writing. They're tighter. It's like 27 minutes of pure fucking win.

This is hanging out in the 7-11 parking lot music.
So grab a Big Gulp.
And rock.

It's Getting Later in the Summer

 

The Dog Days are upon us and we're already past the equinox.

But it's still warm and the sun is still hot.

So we should enjoy some fast fun silly summer type tunes while we still can.

Fiction Romance, Fast Machines (1998)

There's something utterly irresistible about kids playing loud garage songs for the sheer joy of making a huge fucking racket. It's a timeless thing.

So here are the Rondelles.

The band formed when they were still in High School.

This album came out 23 years ago, so if the band members were at least 18 when they made it they're already in their 40s.

Now I feel really fucking old and much less personally timeless.

Good thing I have loud primitive records made by teenagers to remind me of a misspent youth. (Misspent because I really ought to have engaged in much more sex, drugs and rock and roll than I did. And worn hearing protection...)

And What Costume Shall the Poor Girl Wear?

 

Blah  Blah Blah...compilation day.

 

 All Tomorrow's Parties UK2002 (2002)

So I'm going to just come out and say it.

I'm not really a big fan of Steve Albini.
He can get some great guitar tones, but he mixes like shit and all his recordings tend to sound kind of flat and a bit lifeless to my ears. I mean, that Stooges album he did is fucking terrible and unlistenable with the guitar kind of buried behind the vocals. On a Stooges record...

I also always found Big Black to be kind of tedious and pretentious and most Shellac kind of bores me. 

Plus the stories I've heard about him from friends who have been around him for various things always make him seem like kind of dick.
 

There. I'm glad I got that out of my system.

Now we come to this disc. It's the Shellac curated All Tomorrow's Parties from 2002.
And it seems if nothing else, Albini and I can agree that the Fall are the centerpiece of any curated lineup of bands because the Fall were the greatest band of all time.

Amen.

Shellac also included local MN heroes, Arcwelder and everybody's indie hipster namecheck, Mission of Burma on their bill. 

That's more win.

But if you were still be on the fence about this particular disc, let me just say that to my ears this is the definitive version of "Two Librans" by the Fall and above and beyond anything else it is an essential for that reason alone.

There I've said my peace and the cat is complaining in the other room.
I will feed her now.

Then the Other...

 

[something something robble robble robble]

 

 The Oswald Cup (1996)

the Technical Jed.

First One

 

[Insert food related nonsense here]

 

 Southern States (1994)

The Technical Jed was a rock band from Richmond, Virginia. They started when Daniel Bartels and David Bush asked Clancy Fraher and Steve Brooking to join them. Fraher taught Bartels some open tunings on his new telecaster, and Daniel began creating his own musical vocabulary that was later set this band apart from the typical 2-guitar bands of the day.

Sure. Why the Fuck Not?

 

I didn't really feel ambitious about posting anything. I have no particular thing I want to say or put out there.

This caught my eye.

So here we are.

Jam Tarts in the Jakehouse (2008)

the Bitter Tears.

I had absolutely no preconceived ideas about this band when I purchased this disc on the internet as a two dollar add on to a larger order I was placing. I saw it. I listened to a couple of Youtube videos and decided I would add it to the order and the collection because I kind of liked what I heard.

It certainly didn't hurt its case that it was released on Carrot Top Records. The label that gave the world the Coctails among others.

A contemporary review gave it a 7/10 with comparisons to Neutral Milk Hotel and the Shins.
While I may quibble with the reviewer's perceptions, I'm not going to necessarily argue with their ultimate score there. But then this does have some of the earmarks of an album that could grow on the ears with each subsequent listen. So who knows where we'll be a few more years down the road.

For whatever reason this seems to be their swansong. They existed until they didn't.
Enjoy it as such.