Also, we've got some great stories coming up. We've been in contact with folks that garage rock fans not only love, but the kinds of artists that make you love this music in the first place. Again, we don't want to jinx ourselves. We've had some fall through, too. By far, though, the successes are far outnumbering the disappointments. Definitely stay tuned. If you like the kind of music we write about here, then definitely stay tuned.
We are going to feature some album reviews this week from artists that don't always conveniently fit in one genre, and one that couldn't be a better poster child for garage rock. But again, here at Garagerocktopia, we pay attention to categories and genres, but they're not the end-all-be-all.To get started on our first album, what would you get you get if you crossed the Sonics with Screamin' Jay Hawkins and sprinkled in a little John Lydon and a dash of Robert Cray? Barrence Whitfield, that's what.
Whitfield has been presenting his high-energy blend of blues, soul and pedal-to-the-metal garage rock since the mid-80s. For you math-challenged types (like me), that's 30 years. And the great news is that he hasn't slowed up a lick.
Whitfield and his band, the Savages, have just released their latest offering is Under the Savage Sky. And it's a blast. In fact, we would have to say it's the garage rock album of the year so far.
there's not a whole lot of new ground broken on this set, but with Barrence Whitfield and the Savages, new ground isn't really necessary. Here at Garagerocktopia, we're about music that rocks with some passion and some joy, and Under the Savage Sky does that and then some. The album's sound is Whitfield's masterful blend of rock, blues and vintage r&b, often with all three in the same song.
"I'm a Full Grown Man" has already been selected as "The Coolest Song in the World" by Little Steven's Underground Garage. It's certainly a good choice -- but it might not even be the coolest song on the album.
It would be tough to pick one, but garage rockers "The Claw" and "Rock 'N' Roll Baby" rock as fierce as anything you could ever want, as does "Bad News Perfume," a fast rocker which sounds like a lost summit between Chuck Berry and Little Richard. Another fast rocker, "I'm a Good Man" sounds more like 1955 than 2015.
But Whitfield also specializes in rueful melancholia and proves it once again with "Willow." and if it's straight-up blues you're looking for, you need not venture further than "The Wolf Pack." And if you're looking for a song that kindly sums up what the band is all about, you can't go wrong with the mid-tempo "Full Moon in the Daylight Sky."
The bottom line is that Barrence Whitfield and the Savages are one of the most multi-dimensional bands in this little thing we call Garage Rock, and with Under the Savage Sky, they prove it once more.
Next is the Supersuckers, the pigeonholer's nightmare. The English language has not come up with a single word that can describe their music, and gosh darn it, they've changed musical directions again. Or, should we say, they've come home.
Their latest album is Holdin' The Bag. The new album, set for an October release, marks a return to a sound that leans very heavily towards country, immediately recalling their biggest-seller to date, Must've Been High. Like that album, it really is more country-rock in the tradition of Gram Parsons, which means it has almost nothing in common with that musical atrocity known as contemporary (read: mainstream) country.
Again, we don't give two hoots and a holler whether something is country, or country-rock, or whatever category you feel compelled to place it. The album is another worthy one from the Seattle-via-Tucson band.
Certainly, if you're evaluating the album by chords, notes, bars and song titles, it is straight-up country, perhaps even more so than Eddie Spaghetti's decidedly country solo work. But the attitude and spirit are pure rock and roll. As with so much of their other work, the Supersuckers sneering combination of a vaguely punkish and tongue-welded-in-cheek is right there in your face -- not that you actually mind.
The title track is about as pure country as the album gets, a low-key dandy that gives the band all the credibility it needs. This is followed up with the snarky "This Life ... With You" and "High and Outside," whose muted accordion flourishes suggest classic Texas outlaw country.
But all through the album, there are wry little shout-outs to the likes of Motorhead's Lemmy (Let's see Jason Aldean try that!).
"Man on a Mission" and "All My Rowdy Friends Have Settled Down" are fine honky-tonk flavored tunes. Overall, Holdin the Bag is a more-than-solid solid effort. Eddie Spaghetti has been quoted as saying he feels it's the band's best yet. Trying to pick a best from this band would be tough because (a) they've had a lot of great albums, but (b) How do you compare some of these records to each other? But perhaps that's why we like them so much.
All that said, Spaghetti comments don't come across completely as hype. In fact, the album occupies a quirky, eclectic space that few bands do better -- or so frequently -- than the Supersuckers.
The third album we wanted to mention is a bit outside what we normally feature here at Garagerocktopia, but related. That would be the group fronted by the aforementioned John Lydon, Public Image Limited. Of course, so much of the music we write about here led directly to punk and the Sex Pistols. So as far as we're concerned, Lydon is family.
The latest album from PiL is What the World Needs Now. And no, the rest would not be "love, sweet love."As much as we love Burt Bacharach here, this album is safely light years away. More accurately, the album is a sort of microcosm of what PiL has always done -- alternating punkish rockers with weird, Ginsburg-esque avant-garde stuff.
We like the album around here, and the rockers really do the job. If you're wondering whether or not the passage of time has dulled or mellowed Lydon, the answer, at least on this album, is no. That may be in part due to Lydon's genius in creating PiL, whose boundaries are so fluid -- from the weirdest stuff on Earth to pop that fits perfectly into FM radio.
Which songs are the best really depend on your taste. For ours here, "Spice of Choice" and "I'm Not Satisfied" do the best job of melding PiL's ferocity with well-done melodicism.
To close, expect some terrific features in the next few weeks, from artists and proprietors you may have heard of ... and maybe some you didn't need us to know about. We are really pleased with the progress this blog has made in the last few months, and it's because of so many of you fine folks from all over the world.
It is unfailingly cool to even be able to listen to so much of this music, to say nothing of some of the great people who have given their time to talk to us. Listening is cool. But talking to Sid Herring of the Gants? Or Kristopher Schau of the Dogs, or Phil May of the Pretty Things, or any of the other folks we've profiled? It really doesn't get any cooler than that. My gig at the daily paper put me in contact with some of the very biggest names, but I'll take a sitdown with Genya Ravan, or Frank Morris of the Jesters, or Moulty of the Barbarians any day!
Catch you next week!
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