The Zombies: Odessey & Oracle [Revisited] – The 40th Anniversary Concert DVD was just released, and it just landed in my mailbox. Let’s cut to the chase: The second part of this fantastic DVD contains the complete and legendary 1968 psychedelic classic Odessey & Oracle album, with all 12 tracks from the original release lovingly re-created and excellently played by the original four members of The Zombies: Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Chris White and Hugh Grundy, during an historic 40th Anniversary reunion concert in March 2008, at the Shepherds Bush Empire in London. It’s introduced by Al Kooper, who, as staff producer at CBS/Columbia records in the late ’60s, strongly urged label boss Clive Davis to release it in the States (Kooper had picked it up in London, and loved it; the Zombies’ American label was going to pass on it). It also marked the first time the album was played in its entirety by the original band in 40 years since its release. The band played three consecutive sold-out concerts around this time. One of these nights was filmed for this DVD.

The first part features everything else performed the same evening by the Zombies Touring Band comprised of Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Jim Rodford (ex-Argent), Steve Rodford and Keith Airey, and augmented by a string quintet. Songs include music made famous by the Zombies and Argent, plus selections from Colin Blunstone’s solo albums.

The DVD is dedicated to the much-missed fifth Zombie, Paul Atkinson (1946-2004).

The story behind the original album (80th on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”) is fascinating. Rather than try to summarize it here, I suggest you read the Wikipedia entry on “Odessey & Oracle.”

Here’s a taste of what you’ll find on the DVD. I think it’s a perfect stocking stuffer for the classic rock fan in your life:

It’s hard to dig up many details about Indian Wars. Hailing from Vancouver, these young garage punks are pretty much just getting started. As far as I know, they only have four recorded songs to their name, though a 7-inch is supposed to be coming out this month or next. Two of the songs are available below; the other two can be found on Indian Wars’ MySpace page. In addition to the four tunes, in the course of my, er, research, I also came across an interview with the band on a blog I’ve never heard of, and a couple of pictures.

With a sound and lo-fi style reminiscent of the Black Lips or the King Khan & BBQ Show, whom regular readers know I also love, this quartet of Canadians bashes out a sloppy, upbeat garage groove that’s as fun as it is fuzzy. They claim influences as diverse as the Band, George Jones and the Dead Ghosts (another Vancouver garage punk band I’ll now need to check out). But, admittedly, their music sounds about as far away from Big Pink or Nashville as you can get. They’re also enamored of such ’60s garage rock stalwarts as the Seeds and the 13th Flood Elevators, obvious influences whose vibe you can actually hear as these skate punks bash and crash their way to a glorious noise.

They used to be called Strange Hands (hence the MySpace URL), but a “rad French band” already had claims to the moniker. So they changed their name to Indian Wars. Why Indian Wars? “Because Indians are badass.” Love it.

Indian Wars hasn’t been around long, they might not last past the time it takes to listen to their entire recorded output, and they may turn into an alt-country band before the new year, but for now, I’ll take what I can get.

Indian Wars – If You Want Me

Indian Wars – Pick You Up

Rather than dive deep into a single band or song this week, I’m going to tie up a few loose ends and make mention of some lo-fi goodies I’ve been meaning to write about but, for one reason or another, hadn’t gotten around to yet.

Are you clued in to King Khan yet? This guy’s a madman — a Berlin-based Indo-Canadian garage-rock madman (real name: Arish Khan). Most often you’ll find him playing with his regular band, the Shrines, blending rock, psychedelia, soul, cheerleaders, and crazy stage outfits and antics. He also frequently performs as the King Khan & BBQ Show, a two-man punk ‘n’ doo-wop amalgam that’s as fun and riotous as everything else he does. Here’s the duo performing a song called “Fish Fight”:

Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears aren’t technically what you’d call lo-fi. (So sue me.) They do rock, however, in a bluesy, soulful, down ‘n’ dirty R&B kinda way. In fact they’re one of the best new bands of the last few years. Here they are doing “Bobby Booshay,” off their debut album:

Nathaniel Mayer. Again, not exactly the textbook definition of lo-fi, but if there actually is a textbook definition of lo-fi, I doubt it’d stand up to much scrutiny. Besides, when Mojo Flucke, Ph.D., handed the reins of this column to me, he said it could just as easily become “music that Ed Murray likes, regardless of genre.” At least that’s what I heard …

Anyway, Nathaniel Mayer’s a Detroit-based R&B singer who’s been at it since the ’60s. After 35 years of not performing or recording, he broke back onto the scene with albums on some of my favorite lo-fi and blues skronk labels: Fat Possum, Alive, and Norton. His last two albums, 2007’s Why Don’t You Give It to Me? and 2009’s Why Won’t You Let Me Be Black?, are both mini-masterpieces of what I’ll call lo-fi soul. Here he is doing “Why Dontcha Show Me” from his ‘07 release:

I can’t believe I haven’t written about Atlanta-based “flower punks” (whatever the hell that means) the Black Lips before, but these lo-fi rockers really caught my ear a few years ago, and I’ve been enamored of them ever since. Their live shows are chaotic, frequently juvenile, and awesomely high energy, and the Lips themselves are sloppy, noisy, tuneful, and a lot of fun. Here’s their latest single, “Drugs”:

When Detroit proto-punk rockers the MC5 broke up in 1972, the five original band members went their separate ways. Bassist Michael Davis left first – he went on to form Destroy All Monsters with ex-Stooge Ron Asheton. Drummer Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson attempted a handful of unsuccessful solo ventures. Singer Rob Tyner made some post-MC5 progress, as a producer, songwriter, bandleader and photographer, before his untimely death in 1991.

Guitarist Fred “Sonic” Smith formed the excellent Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, a Detroit rawk supergroup of sorts, featuring Scott Morgan of the Rationals, Gary Rasmussen of the Up! and Scott Asheton of the Stooges. Unfortunately, SRB only released one “official” single in the late ’70s, though UK label Easy Action released an excellent six-disc box set of live and studio material that fans of high-energy ’70s rock will love. “Sonic” Smith met and married singer Patti Smith (coincidentally they had the same last name), retired from music to raise a family, and died tragically in 1994.

MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer went to prison, after getting caught selling coke to an undercover federal agent. Upon release after a couple years in the joint, Kramer formed a short partnership with ex-New York Doll and ex-Heartbreaker Johnny Thunders called Gang War.

Two ’70s rock and drug casualties do not a lasting group make, and Gang War was no exception. They had about a year in ‘em, they didn’t release any official recordings, they barely cut some demo material in the studio. But over the years, some documentation of several live sets have been unearthed, one of the best being the Gang War! import on the UK Jungle-Freud label (why is it the Brits who are always unearthing this stuff?), taken from a couple of shows recorded live in Toronto and Boston in 1980.

Instead of writing a whole bunch of new songs, Kramer and Thunders worked up a set of material taken from their respective back catalogs, as well as a bunch of covers of rock & roll standards and classic fare.

While the guitar interplay can be downright thrilling at times, it’s pretty obvious listening to Thunders’ stage banter why the group didn’t last. He’s a freakin’ mess. Kramer was trying to clean up, especially after a two-year stint in prison on drug charges, and Thunders was on the same slow train to hell he’d been on for years (though he kicked around for another decade after these recordings were made before dying in ‘91, and event as mired in controversy as Thunders’ life).

Since then, Wayne Kramer’s been pretty active in the music business, both as a producer and player. He was the first guitarist for Was (Not Was) in the early ’80s, reformed the MC5 for a memorial concert in ‘91 after Tyner’s death, and began a solo career that’s seen the release of five albums to date. In 2003, he teamed up with Davis and Thompson, the other two surviving members of the MC5, and toured for a few years under the name DKT/MC5, featuring numerous special guests on guitar and vocals.

Gang War – These Boots Are Made For Walking
Gang War – The Harder They Come
Gang War – Around & Around
Gang War – Do You Love Me

In the short history of ’70s-era punk rock, and the longer, larger arc of rock music in general, the New York Dolls were the crucial link between the Rolling Stones, the MC5 and the Stooges and the Ramones, Sex Pistols and all that came after. Fusing a raw, unschooled approach to bare-bones rock & roll with flamboyant style (makeup and ladies clothing and accessories weren’t exactly de rigeur in 1972, and true glam rock came later), outsider lyrical themes and imagery and a musical penchant for earlier rock forms (’50s R&B, girl groups, etc.), the Dolls’ artistic influence far outreached their commercial success.

Originally released in 1981 on a cassette-only (!) release courtesy of ROIR – aka, Reach Out International Records, purveyors of fine punk and new wave and more for about 30 years now – and available on CD for almost 10 years now, Lipstick Killers: Mercer Street Sessions, 1972 captured the original New York Dolls at almost the very beginning of their storied and historic career, four months in. It’s also one of the few (the only) recordings with original drummer Billy Murcia, who died tragically (accidental drowning at the hands of two groupies trying to revive the passed-out drummer by pouring coffee down his throat while in a bathtub) a few months later on their first tour of England, where they opened for Rod Stewart and The Faces before 13,000 at Wembley Stadium, never having played to an audience of more than a couple hundred people before that, and just shy of signing to Mercury Records.

All of the songs on this CD were recorded by Marty Thau around the same time the Dolls were inventing themselves and reinventing rock & roll with their historic shows at the Mercer Street Arts Center in what eventually became the Soho area of New York City. It pre-dates their two releases on Mercury records, but Lipstick Killers is obviously how the band actually sounded in person, raw and live and warts and all, before they were put into the studio by Mercury records where their unique energy and sound was commercially neutered doctored by Todd Rundgren and George “Shadow” Morton for their two major label releases (1973 and ‘74, respectively). Sure, the commercial efforts sound bigger, louder and more polished (yet somehow thinner), but compared to the other mainstream rock of the day (The Sweet’s “Ballroom Blitz,” to pick just one sorta-comparable example), the Dolls didn’t stand a chance.

A few years later, and helped in no small part by the pre-Sex Pistols meddling of wannabe impresario Malcom McLaren (he draped ‘em in red patent leather and hung a Soviet flag behind ‘em), the Dolls were done. Shooting partners Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan formed the Heartbreakers, Johansen started a solo career (and ultimately became Buster Poindexter), Syl Sylvain became a cabbie, but remained somewhat active musically, and Arthur “Killer” Kane became a Mormon…Thunders and Nolan died (predictably, given their junkie lifestyle, but both of ‘em hung on until the early ’90s), the remaining three reunited in 2004, which led to a live album and DVD, and one excellent movie about Kane, called New York Doll, filmed before Kane’s unexpected death from Leukemia. Johansen and Sylvain continue to tour and record under the New York Dolls moniker.

For A-B comparison’s sake, here are four cuts that can be found on both Lipstick Killers and the Dolls’ debut. I prefer the raw, unadulterated lo-fi slop of the Mercer St. Sessions to the watered-down hard rock of the debut album, but hey, would I be writing this column if I didn’t? Listen and decide for yourself…

Personality Crisis

Personality Crisis – Mercer St Sessions

Looking For A Kiss

Looking For A Kiss – Mercer St Sessions

Jet Boy

Jet Boy – Mercer St Sessions

Bad Girl

Bad Girl – Mercer St Sessions

Clash fanatics already know the backstory about how Joe Strummer fronted a so-called (and fairly successful) Pub Rock band called the 101ers when he saw the Sex Pistols and decided to quit his hard-working roots-rockin’ boyos in favor of something cut more to the cloth of the times.

The story goes that The 101ers were supported by the Sex Pistols at a club called the Nashville Room in early 1976, and this is when Strummer claimed he saw the light and got involved in the punk scene. Commenting on this event in the Don Letts documentary Westway to the World, Strummer says, “five seconds into their [the Pistols'] first song, I knew we were like yesterday’s paper, we were over.”

By the time their debut single was released, Strummer was in the Clash and the 101ers were done.

A few years ago, and after Strummer’s sad and untimely passing, the Astralwerks label decided to release Elgin Avenue Breakdown Revisited, a 1981 compilation of early studio recordings by Strummer’s pre-Clash band for the first time in the US, fleshed out with some additional studio tracks and a bunch of live cuts to boot. And if you’ve never heard any of this material, it’s a real treat to listen to how hard Strummer and company rocked out this early, R&B-influenced, meat-and-potatoes rock & roll.

Included in the 21-track compilation is the 101ers’ first official single, released on Chiswick in 1976, “Keys to Your Heart,” as well as the re-recorded-for-BBC version of the same tune. Clash fans should recognize “Junco Partner” (the American blues and R&B standard later reworked into a pair of dub-reggae numbers on Sandinista!), but the astute Clash deep-diver will appreciate “Lonely Mother’s Son,” which Strummer later rewrote as “Jail Guitar Doors” (the B-side to “Clash City Rockers,” the Clash’s fourth single from 1978).

Keys To Your Heart (Chiswick Single version)
Keys To Your Heart (BBC version)
Junco Partner (Live)
Lonely Mother’s Son (Live)

Hailing from Glasgow, Scotland, The Poets had a lot of things going for them in the mid-’60s: a unique sound, a cool look (high-necked jackets and ruffled fronted shirts – hey, it was cool for the time!), some great songs, huge local popularity and being signed and managed by Andrew Loog-Oldham, who happened to be in the area eloping with his underage (in England) bride when he allegedly saw a picture of the band in the local paper, liked what he saw, sought them out, and liked what he heard

At one point called “The Best Band in Scotland,” 10 years, a few singles and innumerable lineup changes later, The Poets were done. Which is too bad, given their proto-Byrds sound (read: 12-string guitar) and highly original songcraft, based more on folk music song structures rather than the blues/R&B sounds favored by most of their peers. Loog-Oldham’s dense production was also startling for the time; historical rumor has it that the Stones were a bit jealous of the time and energy Loog-Oldham seemed to be spending with his new wunderkinds, let alone the experimental production efforts being at odds with the Stones’ own material at the time.

“Now We’re Thru” was their first single, released on Decca in 1964. Apparently, when he first heard an advance copy, John Lennon deemed it “weird,” an interpretation obviously shared by the emcee of this BBC music television program (or would that be “programme?”):

“That’s the Way It’s Got to Be,” released on Decca in early ‘65, begins with a striking slab of a bass riff, which the observant ’60s music freak will note is virtually duplicated on the Spencer Davis Group’s “Keep On Running” a year later.

Its failure to chart more or less did the band in, as shortly thereafter, the lineup (and sonic style) changes began that ultimately saw all of the original members jumping ship (though the band lived on in name for a few more years).

The Nashville-based country-esque musical collective Lambchop isn’t exactly the first band that comes to mind when you think “lo-fi.” Quite the opposite, in fact, given their membership’s high body count, leader Kurt Wagner’s penchant for lush, orchestral arrangements (which, let’s face it, is almost a necessity when you have 73 guys in your band), and the almost magical way Lambchop’s simple, elegant melodies are spun over an often dense but never murky sonic foundation.

And that’s why, if done properly, a band’s collection of its own musical ephemera over the years can be so very revealing. In 2001, 14 years after they formed (originally as Posterchild), Lambchop released Tools in the Dryer, a compendium of A- and B-sides, demos, live recordings, and remixes that did a decent job of pulling together the disparate threads of their myopic melange of musical influences. From some of their very first recordings in 1987 (as a trio!) to a cut pulled from a show in London in 2000 (with a 14-piece band plus an 8-piece string section!!), Tools in the Dryer gives newbies and longtime fans alike a pretty comprehensive, if bipolar, sense of the band.

Listen to “All Over the World” and “Style Monkeys,” for instance, from the circa-1987 Posterchild incarnation of the band. (Bedroom recordings on substandard equipment — a microphone taped to a push broom, rumor has it — resulted in unofficial cassette-only releases with such oddball titles as “I’m Fucking Your Daughter” and “Big Tussie.”) Out-of-tune recorders on the former tune, cheezy drum machine on the latter, with Wagner’s prebaritone bawl disturbingly up front in the mix on both, compared to the almost buried vocal mix that, in part, defines the band today. It’s a real sonic archaeology trip, and even if you’re vaguely familiar with Lambchop, you still won’t recognize these songs as Lambchop.

“Each With a Bag of Fries” is a home demo from ‘92 that has a more identifiable Lambchop vibe. Maybe it’s just a better tune, but it also displays some of Wagner’s trademarks in spite of the murky recording quality, the buzzing amps in the background, and the general demo-ishness of it all.

“Flowers of Memory” is a live track recorded on what sounds like a boombox at a Memphis coffee-shop-type venue in 1990, and is another example of how a good song can shine through any lo-fi haze, even (especially?) for a band that ultimately evolved into purveyors of first-rate alt-country ork-pop.

Sorry mates, don’t mean to confuse y’all. For the record, Ed Murray’s currently writing Lo-Fi Mojos, and this is the normal location for a refreshing, boozy Cold Shot of blues to pour down your neck.

Being the whimsical old cuss that I am–spirit blown in all directions by a muse that knows neither organization nor regularity–this week finds me writing a Lo-Fi salute to a band recently rediscovered here in a case of never-ripped CDs rotting in the bottom of my musty closet: The Godfathers.

Most of us came by this one-hit wonder through the band’s one hit, “Birth School Work Death,” off the album of the same name. However, the band actually recorded six studio albums, before and after that solitary commercial success. The Londoners still play here and there, stateside, with a small but loyal following that come to their reunion shows.

This isn’t a salute to the band’s Britpop legacy, or a rehashing of its glory days (like they do in those recent VH-1 Eighties specials designed to make mom and dad wilt in nostalgia and their teenaged kids vomit their Hot Pockets). In fact, it’s a salute to the Godfathers’ unbending loyalty to the grungy garage sounds of the 1960s, that primordial protopunk ooze linking the Sonics and the Fleshtones, the Shadows of Night and Agent Orange. The Godfathers, too, show up on the Children of Nuggets box, don’t forget.

All of these rockin’ bands loved rockabilly, appreciated the blues, and understood what elements of the surf sound made the best cuts into succulent ear candy.

What, you say? The Godfathers? The dudes who spit out the cynical, sardonic “Birth School Work Death?” Ah, but there’s the rub. If every song the band did came all depressing and PO’d to boot, they’d be well nigh unlistenable. So the band had a couple other types of songs, including the more upbeat/less sarcastic song and my favorite: The ’60s-style rock romp including “John Barry” and “Walking Talking Johnny Cash Blues.” The former is from Hit By Hit, a record predating BSWD. The latter comes from More Songs About Love And Hate, which came right after. Rock on!

Cold Shot returns in two weeks. That is, if that muse gets’er hand back on the tiller.

Me, yesterday: Oh, hey, have you heard the new tune from the Vivian Girls? It’s called “Moped Girls” and it’s great!
Me, today: I can’t believe you still like this crap. They suck.
MY: What? C’mon, man. OK, they’re not exactly virtuosos, but they have a great lo-fi, garage-y vibe I thought you’d be all over.
MT: Gimme a break. Whatever influences they’re trying to channel – C86, surf, lo-fi, garage, whatever – they’re doing a piss-poor job of it. They don’t even sound like they’re into it!
MY: Listen, it’s not easy sounding as detached as they do. Of course they can play. And they have a ’60s girl-group quality to ‘em, to boot. What’s not to like?
MT: ’60s girl-group sound? Are you kidding me? They can barely sing! And what they’re doing is absolutely NOT “harmonizing.” It’s caterwauling at best.
MY: Oh, you must be one of these “everything has to be pristine and perfect sounding” purists. What about the punk DIY ethic…
MT: Stop right there, old me. These girls are about as punk as my mom. It’s like they’re playing at being musicians. I just don’t get why people like this band so much.
MY: I think they’re fun, which is missing in a lot of music these days. Especially in a lot of indie rock, where they take themselves SO seriously.
MT: Hey, I’m all for fun, dude. But I can’t understand why people would want to listen to, let alone BUY, something so bad. I just can’t get over how poorly they play. The drummer can barely keep time, the bass player is having a LOT of trouble holding down that uncomplicated little riff, and I don’t know WHAT in hell the guitarist is playing, or how (or even IF) her guitar is tuned. And I absolutely can NOT get over that horrible singing.
MY: Stop being so dramatic, you closet prog-rock fan.
MT: I am NOT a fan of prog-rock!
MY: I bet I’ll find at least one Rush mp3 in your iTunes library, dude.
MT: Well, er, um…
MY: Gotcha! But seriously, I think the Vivian Girls and bands like them are doing something unique and actually pretty well-crafted, despite the whole amateurish sound aspect. Beneath the loose harmonies and just barely competent playing, there’s a solid foundation of pop music.

MT: You’re kidding me. I think the Vivian Girls are victims of their own hype. Have you seen the video? You can only get that kind of bemused detachment and outre humor with a rich kid background and an unused college education. Let me guess, they live in Brooklyn?
MY: Well, er, um…
MT: Gotcha!
MY: Well, I still like ‘em. The video is a hoot, too.
MT: You just like the idea of ‘em, you don’t actually like ‘em.
MY: I think they’re more of a live band. Their shows are killer.
MT: Oh, the ol’ “they’re better live” argument. I never bought that line about the Grateful Dead from the old hippie me, either.
OHM: What?
MT: Never mind…go back to cleaning out your Grafix.
MY: I think you’re getting old, man. This is one of their best songs.
MT: For real? I think it’s lazy, pretentious, hipster crapola.
MY: Is this the inevitable blogger backlash? A few months ago you (er, me?) loved ‘em.
MT: Well, I wouldn’t say I LOVED ‘em…
MY: Liked ‘em, at least.
MT: I thought they sounded new, different and, as you’ve already said, fun. Now I think they’re just mediocre.
MY: Are you sure you’re not just getting old? Going to dive back into your ELP and King Crimson collection?
MT: Stop…hey, I still like the Black Lips, and King Khan, and a bunch of other bands no one’s gonna accuse of being virtuosos…