MORE 2001 IN REVIEW
You've read Ken's Top 10. Here's some more lists from assorted Bar staff and Barflies.
JOHN McPHARLIN
Live gig goer and man of leisure
If you want to read it, go here.
SIMON LI
Rock Action fan, recently transferred to Sydney from Melbourne
1. Oz-Rock Fest 2 - Green Square Hotel: Some killer new faces (Aamperillas/Muscle Car) and the old faves The Powder Monkeys, tearing strips off what people might have expected, especially
considering their line-up change.
2. Lipstick Killers/Chris Masuak/Sheek the Shayk - Bridge Hotel: Who would have thought a come back and a come back that good.
3. Angie Pepper/Passengers - "It's Just That I Miss You" (Citadel) With The Passengers finally on CD and the missing Angie Pepper Band tracks now re-surfaced, could it be time for The Passengers to follow the steps of Radio Birdman/Saints/Lipstick Killers/X/Bored! and hit the stages again?!
4. Hellacopters/Monarchs - The Metro, Sydney: Kicking fuel-injected rock action ass, as we know and can't wait for more of.
5. Friends of David Taylor CD: Plenty of rare Lipstick Killers and related garage/punk rock-n-roll gems
throughout.
6. Backyard Babies - The Metro, Sydney: More killer Scandinavian rock and proving why a Swedish Gold record has already gone their way.
7. Bob Log III - Hopetoun Hotel, Sydney: How does one play, sleazy, down and dirty delta blues, with a helmet on and a telephone as a vocal microphone? If you saw Bob Log, you would have seen
how.
8. Waco Bros/Sally Timms/Jason Walker - Live at the Basement, Sydney: The Waco Bros, the loudest, most raucous country band seen for quite awhile.
9. Palladins - Bridge Hotel, Sydney: Great rockabilly band the Palladins provide 100% proof why guitarist Dave Gonzales is sometimes referred to as "Godzales".
10. The Casanovas - "10 Outta 10" video clip: Ah yes, Tommy Love, shows us why he is a 10 Outta 10 lady killer.
THE BARMAN
Resident Barman/Webmaster
Plenty of veterans here, which is an unaplogetic reflection on the current musical scene. The order is rough, unless otherwise indicated. And I went to a Top 12 because I can...
1. "DFFD" – THE DICTATORS: Some 23 years in the making and worth the wait. Can't tell you any more than Geoff Ginsberg did in his masterful review. Buy it or get outta the Bar!
2. "MAKE YER OWN FUN" – THE MONARCHS (Shock): Brilliant synthesis of pub rock, guitar pop, psych and Detroit ramalama, with more depth than you might imagine after experiencing them live. Oz Album of the Year, just shading...
3. "READIN’ BETWEEN THE LINES" – ASTEROID B612 (Full Toss): Wipes the floor with their previous efforts. John Spittles lay it bare emotionally and lyrically and the band more than meets the challenge with some scorching rock. A mature realisation of potential. And yeah, i KNOW it came out in 2000. It was a while before I picked it up.
4. RETURN OF THE LIPSTICK KILLERS: Best live show this Barman has toasted all year. Who would have expected them to be so good?
5. RADIO BIRDMAN RE-ISSUED: SubPop finally did it (and not before time) and although the critics lapped up this "Best of", the promoters were less than forthcoming for the sort of up-front money the band wanted to reform. Let’s hope things look up on that front in 2002.
6. RESURGENCE OF THE CELIBATE RIFLES: Already wearing Veteran status and more than likely ready to be declared National Living Treasures, the Cellies changed engine rooms midway through the year and didn’t lose a lot thanks to the lease of life provided by the previous year’s album, "A Midstream of Consciousness". Long may they run.
7. BORED! & POWDER MONKEYS @ OZ ROCK FESTIVAL 2, SYDNEY: The Powder Monkeys were so good they were scary. After a couple of shaky moments, Bored! were similarly amazing once they hit their straps. The place should have been over-flowing with punters. We are not worthy.
8. THE SCIENTISTS REFORMATION: Why is it the most memorable moments this year were resurgences and reformations? Kim Salmon and Co did it for one night only in front of the ABC cameras and it was the Southern Cross and the Trade Union Club all over again. What ever happened to their Big Day Out spot?
9. NANKER PHELGE LIVE/DEEP REDUCTION ON TAPE: Could a cover band be good enough to rate this highly? It could if it’s fronted by Rob Younger. Could a studio reuniting of Deniz Tek and Rob kick out serious jams? You know the answer. (Mind you, I’ve still only heard a rough tape and, thanks to Get Hip’s abysmal mail order service, I’m in the same boat as many others in Australia.)
10. SCOTT MORGAN: The Detroit veteran and all-round nice guy was busier than a one-armed hitch-hiker in an I-94 snowstorm, playing European tours with Deniz Tek, the A10 and the Hydromatics, issuing a mighty retrospective on Real O-Mind and then playing a landmark November show in An Arbor with Dr Tek, his own new band Powertrane and special guest Ron Asheton. It’s probably the best show I never saw, but I can hope the tape gets released in 2002. Meanwhile, it’s refreshing to hear Scott still producing the rock.
11. LIVE AT THE CIVIC – X: Fantastic document but because the band’s planned US tour ended in acrimony, before it began. Wish I could remember more of the show they played at Sydney’s Newtown RSL. R.I.P.12. "THAT'S ALL" - BLUE CHIEFTAINS (Real O Mind): Snuck in very late but it's a killer posthumous live disc of rootsy urban country blues. Stunning. These guys could play anything. The live album that Sydney's Spurs for Jesus should put out.
14. "IT'S JUST THAT I MISS YOU" - Angie Pepper/The Passengers (Citadel) How could I forget? Great to hear it sound a lot better with extra tracks.
LAURENT VAN BOUVELEN
European correspondent and photographer extraordinaire1.The Essential ‘74’78 Radio Birdman 2LP+7” Sub Pop rec.
2.The Lulabelles live @ Le reservoir, Perigueux.
3.Zen Guerilla on tour in Europe.
4.The Hydromatics “Powerglide” LP Freakshow rec.
5.Tek/Morgan/Assassin live @ Camji, Niort, France.
6.Twiggy Killers “Customize” EP Thunderbaby rec.
7.The Lulabelles “Beyond punkrock & bowlingshoes” EP Tunderbaby rec.
8.The Celibate Rifles “A mindstream of..” LP Munster rec.
9.Sonic Assassin “State is enemy forever” CD Freakshow rec.
10.Mark Lanegan “Field Song” CD Sub Pop rec
GEOFF GINSBERG
Real O Mind Label Honcho and Real Rock Afficinado:
Note: In the interest of good taste I will not put any of the albums on Real O Mind on the list, but those discs would undoubtedly be up there if they were on another label.
1. Dictators - "DFFD": A no-brainer. this is the best album by anyone in at least 20 years.
2. The Yayhoos - "Fear Not The Obvious": Hick-Hop superheros for sure. a footstomping good time, from a band with four legit frontmen.
3. Steve Wynn - "Here Come The Miracles": A masterpiece of a double cd. it's like two killer albums either one of which would have made the list.
4. The Saints - "Spit The Blues Out": Damn, this thing blew me away. A combo of blues and all the other sounds of the Saints, this album is a powerhouse.
5. The Monarchs - "Make Your Own Fun": Brad Shepherd delivers the goods bigtime. "Unimaginable" is one of the best songs I've ever heard, period.
6. The Nomads - "Up Tight": A non-stop barrage of great tunes and crunchy playing. Maybe their best album since Outburst.
7. Blue Oyster Cult Remasters: Between them they have more than an album's worth of previously unreleased material. Plus it's like hearing them for the first time - the way they were meant to sound.
8. Adam West - "Right On!": Here is a band that is coming into it's own. The tunes are there and the energy is high. I like their other stuff - I love this.
9. Alice Cooper - "Billion Dollar Babies" (reissue): You listen to this and it's just amazing how good it
is. Plus you get a bonus live disc - the only one in existence by this great band.
10. Bob Dylan - "Love & Theft"/Dillon Fence - "Live At the Cat's Cradle" (tie): Dylan's is greasy as all get out, and Dillon's is an unexpected return from one of the great underrated bands of the last 10 years.
THE REVEREND WAYNE COOMERS
(The First Church of Holy Rock and Roll )
1. Bob Dylan: "Love and Theft" - Don't know what was more inspiring, the lyrics (which laid out the heaven and hell of living here in the USA in sardonic parables), the band (a hot little combo steeped in roots styles), or Dylan's final step out of the wilderness he's been wandering in for some would say over 30 years. Got me through many dark days.
2. Thee Michelle Gun Elephant: Collection - My choice for best rock and roll band in the world. They play like it's their last day on Earth, and the singer's teeth are filed to points.
3. Unitas: Porch Life - A Gainesville, FLA, band inspired (it sounds to me) by Minor Threat, the Minutemen (finally someone's picked up their lead), and - uh oh -alt. country/REM. If you program around the two slow ones (the words work, but the singing kills 'em), it'll knock your jaw and grey matter loose. "The Young Idea vs. Fuzzy Math" is the rabble-rousing song of the year.
4. The Bellrays: Grand Fury - Sometimes they're full of shit, sometimes they're too enthralled by the MC5...but there are worse sins in the rockaroll world. Point is that they make an unearthly racket, often on the verge of losing form and control--how dare they? Let's hope they keep daring, and keep growing.
5. Shaver: The Earth Rolls On - The great honky-tonk songwriter put together his best set of songs in a quarter-century, and with his son Eddy's nasty guitar as spurs, rode 'em hard until a syringe full of dope stopped the kid cold. His closing notes, the last on the record, are enough to break your heart...but as the song says, the earth roll on.
6. The Velvet Undergound: The Quine Tapes - You may think you don't need to hear nearly 100 minutes of "Sister Ray"--but you do. And the other 140 minutes ain't too shabby, either. See my "jam review" with Ken Shimamoto elsewhere on The Bar.
7. Pagans: The Pink Album Plus and Shit Street - Rough, snotty '70s punk rock from Cleveland that got left out of the official story.
8. The Hard Feelings: You Won't Like It ('Cause It's Rock and Roll) and John Schooley One-Man Band: "Rock and Roll Party with the One-Man Band" - The latter as-yet unreleased (but coming soon), the former hard to find but worth the trouble (write Ball Records, PO Box 152, Gardiner, ME 04345), these records document the bulldog determination and noisemaking talents of one of America's most committed garage rockers. Hard titles to live up to, but he does.
9. The Goddamn Gentlemen: Sex-Caliber Horsepower - From Portland, but no grunge or ideology or faux innocence...just breakneck rock and roll with a chip on its shoulder and a crooked grin.
10. Radio Birdman: The Essential Radio Birdman 1974-1978 - As a Statesider, I have only three words. It's about damn time! [ED: That's four words but you know what the Rev meant!]
I'm sure the Dictators would have made the list, but I haven't got my hands on their record yet.