Saturday, June 20, 2009

June 19, 2009

Another smashing show from David Marsden. The highlight was a moving tribute to everyone celebrating Pride Week starting tomorrow. Thank you soccerfan for all of your help - and thanks again RalphD for introducing me to the Marsbar Theatre.

Boys Brigade - Melody
Bronski Beat - Smalltown Boy
Cliks - Complicated
Dee Long - Wicked
Dee Long - Good Night Universe
Dexy’s Midnight Runners - Come On Eileen
Dylans - Planet Love
Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses
Elbow - An Audience With The Pope
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New people
Flesh For Lulu - I Go Crazy
Frank Zappa - Joe’s Garage
Gary Numan - Crazier
Gene Loves Jezebel - Desire
Gordon Deppe - Sonic Boom
Gowan - A Criminal Mind
Graham Parker - Local Girls
Iggy Pop - Pumpin’ For Jill
Iggy Pop - Wild Child
Japan - Adolescent Sex
Kinks - Lost And Found
Long John Baldry - A Thrill’s A Thrill
Love & Rockets - So Alive
Love & Rockets - Haunted (When the Minutes Drag)
Martha & The Muffins - Danseparc
Mick Ronson - Somewhere Over The Rainbow
Midge Ure & Mick Karn - After A Fashion
Mike Oldfield - Moonlight Shadow
Moev - Open Mind
Pansy Division - Cowboys Are Frequently Secretly Fond Of Each Other
Pink Floyd - Arnold Layne
Pop Will Eat Itself - Def Con One
Priddle Concern - Dive
Psychedelic Furs - Heartbeat
Rammstein - Sehnsucht
Richard Strange & The Engine Room - Damascus
Rocky Horror Picture Show - Sweet Transvestite
Rod Stewart - The Killing Of Georgie
Rough Trade - Crimes Of Passion
Shriekback - My Spine Is The Bassline
Silencers - Bulletproof Heart
Simply Red - Money’s Too Tight (To Mention)
Slave To The SQUAREwave - New York’s A Go Go
Small Faces - Itchycoo Park
Start - Hey you
Strange Advance - Kiss In The Dark
T. Rex - The Slider
Teenage Head - Disgusteen
The The - This Is The Day
Tuff Darts - Your Love Is Like Nuclear Waste
Van Morrison - Madame George
Vital Sines - Fear Of The Cold
Water Walk - Never Leaving Eden

Thursday, June 18, 2009

June 18, 2009

Thanks to soccerfan and miss parker for keeping track of songs for the start of this show for me!

Adrian Belew - Elephant Talk
Band - Who Do You Love
Blue Peter - All Your Time
Boomtown Rats - Dave
Box - Crying Out For Love
Chalk Circle - April Fool
Clash - Train In Vain
Copyright - Radio
David Usher - A Day In The Life
David Usher - Black Black Heart
Dee Long - Mad Magazine
Duane Eddy - Ghost Riders In The Sky
Earons - Land Of Hunger
Echo & The Bunnymen - Silver
Elton John - Song For Guy
Figures On A Beach - Delerium
Frank Zappa - Peaches En Regalia
Gary Numan - Ancient
Genesis - Firth Of Fifth
Goddo - Sweet Thing
Jason Collett - Hangover Days
Jefferson Starship - Miracles
John Cooper Clarke - Beasley Street
John Martyn - I'd Rather Be The Devil
Jona Lewie - (You'll Always Find Me) In The Kitchen At Parties
Jools Holland - Temple Bar
Killing Joke - Love Like Blood
Leonard Cohen - Closing Time
Little Feat - Old Folks Boogie
Lou Reed - Ride Sally Ride
Love & Rockets - Ball Of Confusion
Lovely Feathers - Vaulted Precedents
Magazine - Thank You
Marillion - Angelina
Marshall Tucker Band - Can't You See
Moby - One Of These Mornings (featuring Patty Labelle)
New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark - Enola Gay
Populars - Smart Bomb
Portishead - Glory Box
Rolling Stones - Memo From Turner
Simple Minds - Rockets
Slave to The SQUAREwave - Healing Hands
Slave to The SQUAREwave - My Beautiful One
Spoons - Romantic Traffic
Steppenwolf - Snowblind Friend
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - Here Comes The Sun
Stranglers - Walk On By
Thomas Dolby - One Of Our Submarines
Thunderclap Newman - Accidents
Tommy Bolin - Bustin' Out For Rosey
Vital Sines - Collage

Friday, June 12, 2009

June 12, 2009

Thank you soccerfan - this couldn't be done without you. And David's show; absolutely spectacular, as always. It's truly a privilege and a highlight of my week to tune into. Finally, thank you RalphD for trusting me to put up tonight's post.

Alice In Videoland - Going Down
Autograph - Turn Up The Radio
Big Audio Dynamite - C’mon Every Beatbox
Brian Eno - Baby’s On Fire
Carole Pope - Love Strikes Hard
Champion Heartache - Dirty Mind
Clash - Jimmy Jazz
Comsat Angels - The Cutting Edge
Damned - Eloise
David Bowie - Diamond Dogs
David Usher - Black Black Heart
Dee Long - Good Night Universe
Deserters - Alien
Dr. John & Odetta - Brother Can You Spare A Dime
Easy Stars Dub Band - Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses
Elbow - An Audience With The pope
Farm - Very Emotional
Fingerprintz - Bulletproof Heart
Gina X - Nice Mover
Grapes Of Wrath - I Am Here
Heaven 17 - Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry
Hot Chip - Transmission
Iggy Pop - Nightclubbing
Ivory Joe Hunter - Since I Met You Baby
James Collins - Since Tina Moved In
Japan - Adolescent Sex
Kissing The Pink - Certain Things Are Likely
Klaatu - Anus Of Uranus
Long John Baldry - Flying
Love & Rockets - So Alive
Magazine - The Light Pours Out Of Me
Motels - Suddenly Last Summer
National Velvet - Sex Gorilla
New Pornographers - Use It
Paul Young - Come Back And Stay
Psychedelic Furs - President Gas
Pukka Orchestra - Your Secret Is Safe With Me
Pukka Orchestra - Might As Well Be On Mars
Pursuit of Happiness - I’m An Adult Now
Redbone - The Witch Queen of New Orleans
Richard Wright - Confusion
Robbie Robertson - Somewhere Down The Crazy River
Ronnie Hawkins - Who Do You Love
Simple Minds - Don’t You Forget About Me
Simple Minds - Rockets
Slave to The SQUAREwave - London Baby
Status Quo - The Party Ain’t Over Yet
Strange Advance - Kiss In The Dark
Stranglers - No Mercy
Supreme Beings Of Leisure - Last Girl On Earth
TBA - Love Across The Nation
Thinkman - The Formula
Tubeway Army - Are “Friends” Electric?
Within Temptation - Our Farewell

Thursday, June 11, 2009

June 11, 2009

Another great show David!

999 - Homicide
69 Eyes - Betty Blue
69 Eyes - Dance D'Amour
Ben E. King - Stand By Me
Blue Peter - Radio Silence
BPA - Island
Bruce Cockburn - Call It Democracy
Chalk Circle - April Fool
Deadeye Dick - New Age Girl
Eberhard Schoener - Why Don't You Answer?
Econoline Crush - All That You Are
Eight Seconds - Kiss You When It's Dangerous
Elbow - The Loneliness Of A Tower Crane Driver
Fad Gadget - Collapsing New People
Five Star Fall - Mercurial Girl
Flash & The Pan - California
Frank Zappa - Montana
Gang Of Four - Is It Love?
Gazebo - I Like Chopin
Harrison Fjord - Docking With Jesus
HIM - You Are The One
Holly Johnson & Friends - Ferry Across The Mersey
Hunter Valentine - Van City
Ian McCulloch - The Prettiest Star
Jesus & Mary Chain - Happy When It Rains
Kevin Ayers - The Confessions Of Dr. Dream (Dr. Dream Theme)
Meryn Cadell - The Sweater
Moist - Push
Nightwish - Sleeping Sun
Perth County Conspiracy - Don't You Feel Fine
Peter Murphy - Cuts You Up
Phil Manzanera & 801 - City Of Light
Placebo - Pure Morning
Prodigy - Their Law (Featuring Pop Will Eat Itself)
Rheostatics - Who Is This Man & Why Is He Laughing?
Richard Strange & The Engine Room - Damascus
Robbie Robertson - Soap Box Preacher
Robin Trower - Reconsider Baby
Roger Waters - Leaving Beirut
Rough Trade - Shaking The Foundations
Satellite Party - The Solutionists
Simple Minds - Rockets
Simple Minds - Graffiti Soul
Simple Minds - Light Travels
Simple Minds - Stars Will Lead The Way
Simple Minds - Blood Type O
Slave To The SQUAREwave - Healing Hands
Slave To The SQUAREwave - My Beautiful One
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Spacehog - Anonymous
Spoons - Ciao
Staple Singers - I'll Take You There
T.Rex - Ballrooms Of Mars
Thomas Dolby - Europa & The Pirate Twins
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons

Friday, June 5, 2009

June 5, 2009

Age Of Electric - Remote Control
Blue Peter - Don't Walk Past
Boys Brigade - Into The Flow
BPA - Should I Stay Or Should I Blow
Bram Tchaikovsky - Girl Of My Dreams
Breeding Ground - Happy Now I Know
Champion Heartache - Dirty Mind
China Crisis - Working With Fire & Steel
City Boy - Young Men Gone West
Clash - The Magnificent Seven
Cure - Let's Go To Bed
Darkroom - San Paku
Dee Long - Good Night Universe
Depeche Mode - Fly On The Windscreen
Echo & The Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar
Econoline Crush - All That You Are
Elliott Murphy - Rock Ballad
Fiat Lux - Blue Emotion
Fools - It's A Night For The Beautiful Girls
Frank Zappa - Dancin' Fool
Genesis - The Carpet Crawlers 1999
Goldfrapp - Ride On A White Horse
Gordon Deppe - Sonic Boom
Graham Parker - Hey Lord, Don't Ask Me Questions
HIM - You Are The One
Hooverphonic - Wake Up
Iggy Pop - Play It Safe
Jam - Town Called Malice
Jesus & Mary Chain - Head On
Johnny Warman - Screaming Jets
Klaatu - Calling Occupants Of Interplanetary Craft
Lowest Of The Low - Henry Needs A New Pair Of Shoes
M + M - Black Stations / White Stations
Martha & The Muffins - You Sold The Cottage
Midnight Oil - Blue Sky Mine
Moev - Head Down
Oingo Boingo - Dead Man's Party
Pansy Division - Cowboys Are Frequently Secret
Pete Wylie - Sinful
Pop Will Eat Itself - Def Con One
Rialto - Monday Morning 5:19
Rita Marley - One Draw
Rockaderos - I Wanna Dance Like Fred
Rocky Horror Picture Show - Science Fiction / Double Feature
Shriekback - Nemesis
Shriekback - My Spine Is The Bassline
Shuggie Otis - Oxford Gray
Silencers - Wild Mountain Thyme
Simple Minds - Rockets
Simple Minds - Love Song
Simply Red - Money's Too Tight To Mention
Slave To The SQUAREwave - Johnny 3:16
Taj Mahal - Take A Giant Step
Tears For Fears - Mad World
Teenage Head - Let's Shake
Tim Curry - I Do The Rock
Willy Deville - Across The Borderline

Thursday, June 4, 2009

June 4, 2009

Thanks again to soccerfan for covering the start of tonight's show. David was really in a groove tonight, great show. David mentioned he had a bit of a fall today - here's hoping that you're OK David, take it easy!

Aphrodite's Child - The Four Horsemen
Blue Rodeo - Diamond Mine
Boomtown Rats - Dave
Box - Live On TV
Boys Brigade - Melody
Chameleons - Swamp Thing
Cliks - Complicated
Concrete Blonde - Everybody Knows
Dandy Warhols - Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth
Daniel Lanois - The Maker
Danny Marks - Big Town Boy
Dee Long - Wicked
Echo & The Bunnymen - Bring On The Dancing Horses
Elbow - An Audience With The Pope
Elvis Costello - The Only Flame In Town
Eric Clapton - Tears In Heaven
Fall - Hit The North
Flesh For Lulu - I Go Crazy
Frank Zappa - Why Does It Hurt When I Pee?
Freur - Doot Doot
Gary Glitter - Rock & Roll Part II
Golden Dogs - Saints At The Gates
Grass Roots - Live For Today
Howard Devoto - Rainy Season
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Johnny Clegg & Juluka - Scatterings of Africa
Jools Holland - Temple Bar
Kane Gang - What Time Is It?
Ladysmith Black Mambazo - The Lion Sleeps Tonight
Leon Russell - Hummingbird
Leonard Cohen - Democracy
Lloyd Cole & The Commotions - Speedboat
Lou Reed - The Gun
Love - Little Red Book
Mike Oldfield - Tubular Bells
New Pornographers - Myriad Harbour
Patti Smith - Frederick
Pink Floyd - Lost For Words
Pixies - Wave Of Mutilation
Portishead - Glory Box
Priddle Concern - Dive
Pukka Orchestra - Might As Well Be On Mars
Rammstein - Spring
Rheostatics - Man Laughing
Scissor Sisters - Laura
Simple Minds - Rockets
Slave To The SQUAREwave - Dirty Disco
Slave To The SQUAREwave - My Beautiful One
Smiths - How Soon Is Now?
Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat
T. Rex - Rock On
Tom Robinson Band - War Baby
Vis A Vis - Shadow Play
Water Walk - Never Leaving Eden Again
Wombats - Let's Dance To Joy Division
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Skeletons

PCC - Repost!

I originally posted this about a year ago:

A while back I found the Perth County Conspiracy album that 'Listen To The Kids' comes from on a great blog called Lost-In-Tyme, I even had a link to it on my blogroll. I went back there because I was going to simply do a link for this post and the entire blog seems to be gone, unfortunately. That's a real loss as that was a huge blog and very good. That means I'll have to re-post the album here.

If you listen to the full album you'll find another track that David features on his show fairly regularly. Until I found the full album I knew that track as 'Americanadian Way' which, as it turns out, seems to be just the introduction to the track 'Truth & Fantasy' from the album. I included 'Americanadian Way' on its own in the zip file - I had found that on its own somewhere along the line on the web previously. Also included is a file with the cover art - all the files can be extracted separately.

The Perth County Conspiracy - 1970 - Does Not Exist - re-upped!

Perth County Conspiracy - Does Not Exist

Perth County Conspiracy - Does Not Exist - Part 1 - link updated

Perth County Conspiracy - Does Not Exist - Part 2 - link updated

Perth County Conspiracy - Does Not Exist - Artwork - link updated



Below is the caption that was included with this item in the post on Lost In Tyme:

01 Midnight Hour
02 Epistle of the Borderliner
03 Easy Rider
04 Truth & Fantasy
05 Don't You Feel Fine
06 You Have The Power
07 Keeper of the Keys
08 Lady of the Country
09 Listen to the Kids
10 Trouble on the Farm
11 Excerpt form "As You Like It"
12 The Dancer
13 Crucifixation Cartoon

Cedric Smith (vocals, guitar)
Richard Keelan (guitar, vocals)
Michael Butler (bass)
Terry Jones (guitar, vocals)
George Taros (piano, vocals)

While the disadvantages of major labels, their questionable output and oft-myopic philosophy has been lamented in these pages over and over, the advantages of these maligned oligarchies should not be denied. If the cogs are allowed to interlock as desired it's obviously preferable for all people involved to have a record created with a big, powerful corporation backing it, rather than just what available money could afford. OK, so these cases are rare, but they do exist.

Such generous thoughts cross my mind while listening to the debut LP by Canada's PERTH COUNTY CONSPIRACY. This is because the album is a triumph of realization, more than anything else. I don't know what the PCC guys think of it now -- maybe they hate it, a lot of musicians hate their old records -- but it seems to me that whatever their ambitions were back in 1970, they couldn't have been far removed from the sounds rising from the finished grooves. This is an expensive production, with one of the most attractive soundscapes I have ever come across within the genre, which could be described as Progessive Hippie Folkpsych. Whatever studio time the PCC requested they had it, and other resources at Toronto Sound were obviously provided as needed. Even the artwork, a greatlooking gatefold with booklet insert, shows a good-natured record company at work. Of course, this isn't just any major label we're talking about but Columbia Canada, whose batting average in the early 1970s is rivaled only by that of the 1992 Toronto Blue Jays; It's All Meat, Jarvis St Revue, Ptarmigan are just a few examples of the label's remarkable output at the time (see Fraser & Debolt review below for yet another).

However, "Does Not Exist" differs from these LPs in not being a 3-figure rarity, and looking around it appears that Perth County Conspiracy were a near-household name in Canada back in the daze. Maybe this is also the reason why they haven't quite entered the psychedelic pantheon yet, especially outside their homeland. I haven't heard anything from their subsequent and rather confused discography, but this first outing alone should warrant a chair at a table within shouting distance from the musical gods.
Tuning up for the recording session

The Perth County Conspiracy band was formed in Stratford, Ontario as a typical hippie-era art/folk music commune; plenty of people involved, wives, brothers, kids and maybe a couple of shaggy dogs too. Other than contemporary folk their inclination was towards poetry and the theatre, and indeed one of the key guys ended up as a famous actor later on. Doesn't take an oracle to see that coming as literary references and ambitions are all over this LP, including recitations of Dylan Thomas and Shakespeare, the latter being a particular obsession of the band and the area they came from (as the name Stratford implies). Now if this sounds just a wee bit scary, I'm prepared to deliver the first of a handful testimonies where my opinion may differ from that of the typical 1960s/70s psych admirer. This is it: the PCC recitations are daring and pretentious, but I think they work. Yep. Two reasons why: the readings are done in a skillful manner by guys who obviously understand the difficulties involved. They don't play it safe like the sherry-sipping gentleman heard on the Moody Blues albums, but dive head first into the alliterations, rhythms and turns of classic poetry. The opening Dylan Thomas incantation is especially successful, establishing a self-assured, literary tone for the album that thousands of progressive bands could only dream of. The other reason it works is just this; that the band is able to carry that tone into the actual music, which is neither classical nor pretentious, but highly appealing folkpsych and singer/songwriter with a definite 1970 stamp.

So initially we're thrown between the exhilarating poetry of Thomas and an equally exhilarating tune right out of the CSNY/Incredible String Band intersection where Perth County resides. As with many Canadian bands there is an explicit (and physical -- ex-Spikedrivers member Richard Keelan was from Michigan and had moved up North to escape the draft) connection to the USA, linking the perceived wrongs of their own country (war, violence, pollution, etc) with those of the yankees. This makes for a rather complex trip that perhaps could only be understood then and there; in any event we are told that it is the "Americanadian way". But again like many of their maple leaf peers, there is also a strong presence of the British music scene, messieurs Heron & Williamson in particular. While I think the PCC are a bit more successful than the ISB in their cross-cultural ambitions, mainly because they don't automatically assume themselves to be geniuses, one can't deny that the avant-literary folk path that the String Band carved out from 1966 onwards was followed by thousands of bands around the world. I've also seen "Does not exist" compared to Pearls Before Swine, and it's a useful reference that captures the delicate and atmospheric nature of its best tracks.

The opening mix of half-sung poetry and hippie anthem is followed by a Brit-sounding piano-led downer trip, recalling Nick Drake and Isolation but given a nice edge by Cedric Smith, whose acidic vocals is one of the album's many strengths. We are then transported halfway across the world, out into the Californian desert where a deftly understated tribute to "Easy Rider" -- the movie -- rises from the ground like an evening campfire. Richard Keelan's vocals are more of a Steven Stills type introspection, and the difference in style between the two main guys is cleverly juxtaposed throughout the LP. The redneck gunshot at the end of "Easy Rider" is used as a bridge into a highly theatrical spoken bit, full of convoluted anti-war propaganda; graphic and unpleasant but also ironic and multilayered. This in turn works as an introduction to "Truth and fantasy", a suite of superb folkpsych mixed with short theatrical interludes. Labyrinthine? Confusing? Well, that's what the LP is like -- trips opening within trips, yet constantly moving forward. This is also why I consider this a more genuinely psychedelic album than most of the artifacts of its genre. Hey, there's nothing wrong with being pretentious as long as you pull it off. Of course, almost none of the prog-folkers do, but on this LP the Perth County Conspiracy do with flying colors, God bless 'em.

I won't detail the other tracks that round out the whopping 26 minutes of side 1, except to say that they're marvels of production value, vocal harmonies and elaborate arrangements. Over on side 2 we are first treated to the beautiful folkpsych of "Keeper of the keys" which is a good pick to play for a friend you want to convince of the album's greatness; in fact you have to be dead from the neck up not to worship this tune. This is followed by the album's one spot of weakness, the well-intended, charming, and ultimately hopeless "Listen to the kids". A merger of children's poems and a nice little CSN:ish tune, it's not the sugary Graham Nash nightmare you might envision but it's not terribly successful either; the contrast with the very grownup recitation that follows is just too sharp. As the LP as a whole clocks in at no less than 53 minutes this track could have been removed, leaving you still with an unusually generous playtime. Ah, what the hell. Flaws are part of the psychedelic world too. The Orwellian uptempo excursion of "Trouble on the farm" provides a welcome change of mood, before the Conspiracy gears up for the grand finale. First there's a bit of Shakespeare with an unexpected loungey backing, then we are treated to the "The Dancer" which parallels the introspective Albion mood of the second track on side 1, creating a neat arch-like structure for the album as a whole.

These are just preparations for the awesome acid folk epic that closes the LP in a way better than anyone could hope for. "Crucifixation cartoon" is simply stunning, a trip deep into the cranium that reminds me of that long monster track on the Search Party LP, and proof that guilt trip loner anthems are not exclusively the domain of local mid-70s private press albums; at least not if your record label is Columbia Canada. This is where it's at, daddy-o: There's a cross on every tree
When you're learning to be free which may recall the Poet's immortal: The trees in our gaze
Will show us the love that we bring them A C.O.B-like mood emerges with the inventive use of a "ukelin" to provide the lead as this masterpiece of melancholy draws to its inevitable close. The album's end signals the end of an almost physical experience, and I must admit that there really aren't that many LPs around that leave me in such a state of involvement as "Does not exist"; not just once, but pretty much every time I hear it. Helped in no small part by the Toronto money behind them it seems the Perth County Conspiracy, on their first album no less, managed to provide us with a glimpse of an absolute music beyond the veil, something not many groups have done. I realize that to an avid fan of "crude garage fuzz" or "screaming basement psych" this LP may come off as pretentious and foppish, but to anyone with at least half an ear for transcendental folkpsych it is certain to delight, and maybe surprise too, given its non-rare nature.

I was tempted to take a point off for these high-fallooting Canucks referring to their lyric booklet as a "libretto" but hell, I'll give them some leeway on that one too. Best folkpsych LP outta Canada so far! As mentioned before their discography is a bit confusing, and there is in fact another LP by them also titled "Does not exist", due to the band's strange idea to make these words part of their moniker -- as if it wasn't unwieldy enough already. So be sure to check that the label is Columbia before adding "Does not exist" to your collection. The band followed this with a live LP, also on Columbia, before moving on to private labels where they made a handful more LPs during the 1970s. I hear they recently reformed for local gigs.