BROADCAST #04
AIR DATE: 01-17-06

Hello. I am most likely in the air when you read this. As far as music, these are the songs we heard tonight and the annotations are from last year. All killer and no filler, at least, I hope you find it to be that way. Past shows can be foud at: http://www.rollins-archive.com/. Happy listening. We’ll be live again soon. Depending on the commercial breaks, you might hear all these songs or we might throw on some Miles Davis at the end so if the last two songs are wrong or something, that’s why. Also, some of the links may be broken by now. These are all from 2004 and links sometimes go south pretty fast. Anyway, I hope you like the show. Thanks. Henry

The Weirdos -Life Of Crime: One of the first singles I got after I started buying singles and being a record store haunting boy. The Weirdos are one of the many great bands from the LA punk scene of the late 70’s early 80’s. There are no bad Weirdos songs but this one is outstanding. What a riff. What a lyric. Perfect. I remember buying this single mail order from Dangerhouse Records along with the Deadbeats Kill Hippies single. This one is unimpeachable.

Generation X - No No No: This song begs the question: What the hell is wrong with Chrysalis records?! They released remastered versions of the first two Generation X albums and a 3-CD anthology and none of them contain this absolutely must hear b-side of the Ready Steady Go single released 02-10-78. It’s not like the song isn’t awesome. Then why? Is it perhaps because someone who has no knowledge of the band was given the task of putting together product for the marketplace, didn’t do their homework and thus shortchanged the fans, did the band and the music a disservice? Have you ever had the experience of talking to an A&R person at a record label or a station manager at a radio station and finding they are more disconnected from music than Orrin Hatch? I HAVE. So anyway, No No No, great song, right? My old buddy Mike Hampton turned me onto this great sing. We were in SOA together and after that band broke up, he went on to make some great records. He was in Faith, One Last Wish, The Snakes, The Brief Weeds, Embrace, Manifesto, Clear—the man is top shelf! We used to listen to a lot of good music in his room, it was one of the best hang out and listen to records get downs ever. The first two Generation X albums and all the singles around them are great. They do a really cool version of Shakin’ All Over. We’ll get to that one as well as Ugly Rash, another great b-side down the drain. You’ll Never Overtake the Underground Dept.: Recently I wrote to a long suffering pal of mine in some country called Canada, expressing my dismay that Chrysalis had blown the opportunity to put No No No on the new CD version of Generation X. My Canadian fellow fanatic then wrote a pal of his who has a wealth of information on Generation X. He reported that No No No had indeed been released on a Generation X comp. CD out of Australia called Idol Generation. I went looking for said CD and it was nowhere to be found. I am relentless and will find it. WM3 Allstars – Rise Above

Circle Jerks - Beverly Hills: A great track off the classic Group Sex album. I was lucky. I saw the band play in San Francisco in the summer of 1980. I was out with the Teen Idles when they were doing their west coast tour. It was a great bill: Circle Jerks, Flipper and the Dead Kennedys at the Mabuhay Gardens. I didn’t know anything about the Jerks, all I knew was Keith was the original singer in Black Flag and we had met him a few hours before. Tony Alva was there as well so I met two of my heroes in one day. The Jerks came on and basically played the Group Sex songs which weren’t recorded yet. I remember just being blown away. The band was so tight and one song slammed into another and it was one of the most intense things I have ever seen. All these years later, this record still holds up great, as does Mr. Keith Morris.

Cheech and Chong - Earache My Eye: This is off the Wedding Album. I bought this when it came out a few centuries ago. I bought it used just to hear this routine again and the song Black Lassie sung by Johnny Stash. I read in the paper awhile ago that Tommy Chong was selling bongs on the internet and got nine months in prison. Let me know when the American Justice System gets its priorities straight and get back to me.

Dils -You’re Not Blank: A great song from the Kinman brothers. This is one of the great songs of the 80’s. Hard to find for a long time, it is now back in print on the What? Records comp. What? Hits. Also, there’s a cool web page about them: http://vcp-inc.com/dos/kinman/dils/thedils.htm

Egg Hunt - Me And You: This was recorded in 1986 by Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson of Teen Idles/Minor Threat. A great single on Dischord. B-side is We All Fall Down. If I remember what Ian told me, he and Jeff were in England and were given some studio time so they went in and did these two tracks. I think the riff on Me And You is one of Ian’s greatest bits of writing. When that guitar comes in at the beginning of the track, I get chills. This was a vinyl only item for many years and finally Dischord put it out as a CD single. They also generously released the Skewbald Grand Union single on CD. We would play it here but Ian and Co. weren’t thinking of the FCC and radio play when they recorded so as long as Colin Powell’s son glistens and undulates, it’s a no-go for now. http://www.dischord.com/

Slim Gaillard -The Hip Cowboy: This is off the Japanese version of his best-of on Verve. The US version doesn’t include it for some reason. I have all the Slim CDs I have ever seen and this is the only one that has this track. A great track. Some cool Slim sites http://www.pocreations.com/slimbio1.html
http://www.mikezwerin.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/58/SLIM_GAILLARD:_WITH_A_FLOY-FLOY.html

Discharge - It’s No TV Sketch: All the early Discharge singles and the first album are great. I don’t have all their records but I remember playing with them in 1982 in Canada and they were good live and seemed like cool people. I know at one point, they made a kind of metal record and it wasn’t what people were expecting. Legend has it that when they played New York their new music was not going down well with the audience. HR from the Bad Brains ran onstage and tackled the singer guy. I would like to state here for the record, that I wouldn’t like to get tackled by HR. The Discharge stuff is on Clay Records.

Brian Eno - Baby’s On Fire: From the can’t stand it, it’s so good Here Come The Warm Jets album. Uh, another line-up from lofty realms Bush will never explore: Brian Eno, vocals, keyboards, synthesizer, snake guitar, treatments; Busta Cherry Jones, bass; Simon King, drums; with Paul Rudolph, guitar, bass; Robert Fripp, guitar; Phil Manzanera, guitar; Andy MacKay, saxophones, keyboards; Marty Simon, drums; Chris Spedding, guitar; Bill MacCormick, bass; John Wetton, bass; Nick Judd, keyboards; Paul Thompson, drums; Lloyd Watson, slide guitar; Chris Thomas, bass. If you recon some of these names, you’ll see links to Hawkwind, Pink Fairies, Roxy Music and King Crimson. Some of you like Eno and don’t even know it. He’s the guy who propped up so many of those U2 records. Poor bastard, hopefully they paid him enough to endure those sessions. Jihad, bitch!

Robert Fripp - Exposure: From the Exposure album. This is my favorite Fripp solo record. He has some heavy friends. Here’s a few of the people who show up on this record: Daryl Hall, Peter Hammill, Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, Tony Levin, Brian Eno. Want to know waaaaaayyyyy too much about this record? Check out this site I found! Awesome! http://www.elephant-talk.com/exposure/expoweb1.htm
High On Fire – Baghdad: I figure this is a great way to finish tonight’s pre-election angst broadcast. This is from The Art Of Self Defense album and it’s a monster all the way from start to finish.

Jesus and Marychain - Kill Surf City: Nothing for this one that I can find at this time. It’s my favorite song of theirs.

Louis Jordan - Beware: There’s a lot of Louis Jordan out there. This track is one of his better known sides. I pulled this from the 9 CD box set of his Decca Recordings on Bear Family called Let The Good Times Roll. When Miles Davis was on his way up, he often used to rip on black artists he considered “Uncle Toms.” Poor Louis was a big ass target for Miles. It’s too bad, both are great. Jordan always had good bands and was funny and cool. If you like Jordan, you might want to check out the Treniers. We’ll get into all that stuff as we go. Chris Haskett turned me onto Louis Jordan. I have a feeling we’ll be re-visiting Jordan. There’s a track called Pettin’ And Pokin’ that’s too good not to play at some point.

Last Poets - Related To What?: This is from the This Is Madness album. It’s my favorite Last Poets record. I don’t know much about them but there’s a website that has some info and it’s a funny read. I just got the new remastered version of this CD and it sounds great. Isn’t it from the Last Poets we get the great line, “The white man is at best, corny.”?
http://www.math.buffalo.edu/~sww/LASTPOETS/last_poets0.html#lastpoetsbiograpy

Minutemen - Split Red: Off the What Makes A Man Start Fires album. All the Minutemen stuff has been put together on a few CDs called Post Mersh Vols. 1-3 as well as the Double Nickels On The Dime CD, Three Way Tie For Last and Ballot Result. I have never heard a bad Minutemen song and never saw a bad Minutemen show and I saw them a lot of times. It’s only this radio show that’s given me the strength to play them. It’s hard for me to hear this band seeing how they lost their guitar/vocal man D. Boon. To have known him is to miss him terribly. I was playing Post Mersh Vol. 1 the other day and it’s still amazing. One of the best bands ever. Caught In My Throat Dept.: My Minutemen CDs and vinyl sit pretty much unplayed. It’s not that they’re not one of the best bands of all time—they are. It’s just that for me, I can’t listen to them for too long and not feel the incredible loss of D. Boon. He was one of the first people I met when I got out to LA after I joined Black Flag. I saw them play and that was it for me, I was a Minutemen fanatic. That I saw them as many times as I did, is one of the great fortunes of my life. D. Boon, as many of you know, was killed in a car accident in late 1985. His passing delayed the 1986 Black Tour by about a week. No one wanted to move. I don’t know how to say it, I can’t play their records because I am still so fucking mad that he’s gone. What a rip off. You know how it is, when someone dies, they were the greatest and they did no wrong, etc. Sometimes death allows us to overlook the petty stuff and really zero-in on the person and we see more good than anything else. Well, D. Boon was that cool. If he were alive right now, no doubt I would still feel the same way. He was completely generous and high spirited. He was funny as hell and had a huge, absolutely HUGE heart. He was such a bright light. He went flat out at every show and was damn good to his friends, who were many. So, it’s hard for me to listen to the Minutemen because I am still hurting from the loss. I don’t know if I’ll ever play those records much again. I listened to The Punch Line not so long ago and it’s still amazing. Were they that good? Better.

Phil Lynott - Dear Miss Lonely Hearts: This is off Phil’s album Solo In Soho. There’s a lot of different music on this record. You get the feeling that he really wanted to try a lot of different stuff, perhaps he was feeling pent up after all the years rockin’ out with Lizzy. Dear Miss Lonely Hearts is a very Lizzy like track. A great one from the great one.

Mississippi Fred McDowell - Shake ‘Em On Down: I have every Fred record I’ve ever seen and have yet to hear one that’s in any way less than a must-have. Of all of the songs, this is my favorite, and my favorite version as well. Shake ‘Em On Down might be his most well known song but the Rolling Stones, one of the three or four bands that your pal Heidi bothers to listen to covered his song You Got To Move. She probably doesn’t know that but she will be happy to tell you how cute Keith Richards is as long as you don’t mention that the picture she’s referring to is from the Bronze Age, that’s right, the age they invented bronze. Anyway, Mr. MacDowell delivers big time on this song. There’s several different versions of this song but this is the one I like the most. Between that narrow slide and the rhythm he lays down, he sounds like a whole band. Was Fred MacDowell on the Rolling Stone top 100 guitar players list? No? Not good enough? I should do what? Torch the Rolling Stone building and burn it to the ground? Come on with your jihad!

The Fall - Two Librans: A few years ago in 2000 when the album this track was pulled from, The Unutterable, came out, I must admit, I didn’t get it on the first couple of listens. I was talking about it to another Fall fanatic and he said I was crazy and to keep listening. I went back to it as I do with all Fall albums, I go back and often. I kept playing The Unutterable and came to the conclusion that it was one of the best albums in the massive Fall catalog. What a cool album! Not released on vinyl but easy to find on CD, and worth every penny. Two Librans is my favorite track on the record followed closely by Octo Realm/Ketamine Sun. The Fall have what might be the most informative band website around: http://www.visi.com/fall/ Fall Fans Awaken! Dept.: Not so easy to find, but worth it if you do, is a one-sided promo single demo version of Two Librans that was given to Fall fans who wrote in to the site or something. In any case, it’s not on any CD anywhere and until they re-package The Unutterable or put out one of those not all that necessary Fall comp. CDs that this track may find its way onto, this is the only way to get it. You see it on E-bay now and then. Makes me wonder if there’s any other demo versions of Unutterable songs. Something to look forward to!

Public Enemy - You’re Gonna Get Yours (Getaway Remix): I’ve never seen this one on CD. It’s the B-side of the Yo! Bum Rush The Show 12”. Great stuff. That’s a great record, I wish they would re-release it with this on it. I took this off the 12” and put it on CDR for the show and after Engineer X made some kind of file out of it, we could play it. It’s really a drag that INDIE 103’s CD PLAYERS DON’T PLAY CDRs. s
The Saints – Demolition Girl: This version is from the Live At The Hope And Anchor 2LP set. I have never owned this record. I taped this from Ian MacKaye and made a CD of it. The Saints only have one cut on this record but listen to it! What a band! Their first two albums (I’m) Stranded and Eternally Yours and all the singles around both are great stuff. You can get all this on CD now. I got a letter from a fellow last week recommending I play the single version of Demolition Girl by the Saints and I knew it was the time to play this blistering live version from the Live At The Hope And Anchor. If you sometimes wonder where the rest of the tracks are on a recording that sounds this good, unfortunately, a lot of time with a limited budget, bands would only get to record one or two songs just to save on tape. I think if the rest this Saints show was out there, we would have heard it by now.

Rare Essence - Lock It: Off the Work The Walls CD. I don’t know if this CD got very far out of DC where the band is from. Rare has been around a long time. This is my favorite song off this album. I don’t know what else to suggest by them as I don’t know a great deal about them. I just sent off for a live album of theirs. I’ll give it a listen and if it’s great, I’ll bring in a track and let you decide.

Skrewdriver - You’re So Dumb: The singles and the All Skrewed Up LP are punk perfection. It all went horribly wrong when the band started spouting the worst White Power crap and went into the dead end of racism. This song is from the Better Off Crazy / You’re So Dumb single. There’s a pretty interesting interview with the band’s drummer at http://www.televisionpersonalities.co.uk/jowe/swell.htm. The band’s singer, Ian Stuart, is one of the scariest people I have ever seen. The singles and LP give no hint of what was to come. He’s dead now.

Thor - Let The Blood Run Red: I think it was summer of 1984 and this was a red vinyl 12” in the UK. I was hanging out for a few days in London with Greg Ginn after our tour to do some press and this was at our agent’s place. I played it all the time. Took me years to catch up with it again but I did. Thor came to my show in Seattle a couple of years ago and I knew he was showing up so I brought all my Thor vinyl for him to sign. We also did some kick ass pictures. If you ever get the chance, check out Rock And Roll Nightmare, the Thor movie where he battles Satan! Let the blood run red. Let them all be dead—all those who oppose the metal avenger!

The Viletones - Rebel: From the Screamin’ Fist/Possibilities/Rebel single on Vile Records released in 1977. This a record I have had for a long time, at least twenty-four years. Cool Canadian band. There’s no way we’re not going to get to Screamin’ Fist at some point on this show. I have a tape of the Bad Brains covering Screaming Fist at their 2nd ever show, Darryl on vocals!