Shock Records old stager and head of Savage Beat Records. Compiler of Do The Pop.
RECORDS/CDS
Devotions ‘s/t’ (Crazy 
A new John Felice album is NOT gonna be my album of the year? Come on… Recorded mid-90′s (with Steve Wynn producung!)and finally mixed and released by the band’s guitarist this year. Felice’s best record since the since maybe the second Real Kids album – it’s not quite as gut-wrenching as the Lowdowns album but it comes close, and the rockers are better. Get it here
Rocket From the Tombs ‘We Sell Soul’ 7″ (Smog Veil)
Almost too good to be true. Cheetah Chrome and Richard Lloyd’s guitars combine perfectly. David Thomas has never sung better. Vital stuff. New album and Aussie tour please!!!
Imperial State Electric ‘s/t’ (Psych-out) Nicke Hellacopter’s finest hour. Swedish rock’s too I think. Nicke has discovered a winning MC5 + Raspberries = Kiss formula, and is writing tunes that live up to the style. Best high-energy hard pop record since the Monarchs ‘make yer own fun’
Jenny Dee & the Deelinquents ‘Keeping Time’ (Q-Dee)
Awesome and authentic girl group sounds out of Boston. Jenny’s voice is the spitting image of a young Ronnie Spector, she writes new classics for the genre, and their Motown-inspired version of ‘Shake Some Action’ is sheer, absolute genius.
Hacienda ‘Big Red & Barbacoa’ (Alive)
Maybe not as good as ‘Loud Is The Night’, but San Antonio’s Tex-Mex Zombies have the sound and the feel down perfect. The most soulful group on the planet.
O-Rex ‘My Heads in ’73′ (Gulcher)
Brooklyn teenage fanzine-writer living-room rock from the mid-70′s. Pre-Gizmos! The title-track, which was recorded in ’76, shows these guys to be miles ahead of the game as far as retro-rock intentions go, and their ineptitude gives them a singular charm. Some great tunes though, and , bizarrely, a cover of Skyhooks ”You Just Like Me Cos I’m Good In Bed’
Radio Birdman ‘Live In Texas’ (Citadel)
The Zeno Beach material better sounds better than the studio versions – the looseness adds something – and it’s great to have their version of ‘Hot Rails To Hell’ on cd. A great band to the very end.
Pete Molinari ‘A Train Bound For Glory’ (Clarksville)
He’s been pegged as a folkie, but Pete comes on more post-Skiffle/pre-Beatles rock. Only Marty Wilde and Billy Fury never sounded this good. Amazing voice, great songs. “A Street car Named Desire’ might be my favourite song of the year…
Stooges- Have Some Fun: Live At Ungano’s (Rhino Handmade)
Naturally….
Barrence Whitfield & the Savages ‘s/t’ (Ace)
Beautifully done reissue of super-high energy ’84 debut record from previously unknown Little Richards-style R&B belter and band made up of ex-members of Lyres/DMZ/Real Kids. Peter Greenberg’s guitar is amazing. Catch Barrence here in April.
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band – ‘Darkness on the Edge of Town’ deluxe reissue (Sonny)
‘Live in Hyde Park’ dvd (Sony)
Forget the dvd’s and the book that come with it for now – Darkness is a desert island disc for me, and now packs more punch. Bruce at is leanest and toughest and the band at their most turbo-charged. The 2 cds of outtakes, released separately as ‘The Promise’, is great too, but most tracks were indeed best left off the original album. Still it does nclude my fave lost Boss song ‘Rendezvous’ – like the Searchers with Phil Spector and the Wrecking Crew – as well as his original ‘Because The night’, and they’re as good as any songs released by anyone this century… This stuff is Bruce as Brill Building singer/songwriter extraordinare – whatever else he might be, he was once the Leiber/Stoller and Goffin/King of the ’70s – and not an E Streeter is wasted in his quest to tap into the styles of producers like Spector and Bert Berns. Curiously – and Divine Riters take note – a lot of this stuff reminds me of the sweet keyboard/guitar sound that Decline of the Reptiles got on tracks like ‘What I Feel’ and ‘Spanish Rose’ (which is a Springsteen-stlye title if ever there was one). The Hyde Park show is recent and shows Springsteen and band’s power undimished. Passion, energy and the souped up sound of 3 guitars,2 keyboards,sax and a killer rhythm section going for it.
Scott Morgan ‘s/t’ (Alive)
With this and the Powertrane studio album, it’s been a great, and relatively prolific handful of years for our hero.
Bermondsey Joyriders (Gary Lamin/Cocksparrer)
Actually from ’09, but I only just discovered it. Great London punk blues trio who come on like a cross between the Hammersmith Gorillas and one of Tim Kerr’s outfits like Jack O’Fire. Mainman Gary Lammin was in original line-up of Cocksparrer, who I’d always written off as some horrible Oi band. Whatever they later became, I checked out their early stuff (‘Decca Session’ CD) and it’s great glam-influenced street punk. Rat Scabies has just joined the Joyriders and I can’t wait to hear more.
BEST NON-ROCK RECORDS
Charlie Parr ‘When The Devil Goes blind’ (Level Two)
Best old-time acoustic blues styled-guy around. ‘I Dreamed I Saw Jesse James Last Night’ and ‘Where you Gonna Be (When the Good Lord Calls You Come Home)’ are absolutely classic songs – Charlie takes the themes of pre-war blues and relates them to the shitty modern world in a way that will tear into your soul. Here’s here over summer – check him out.
Joe Pug ‘Messenger’ (Shock)
Like a young Bob Dylan without the Woody Guthrie affectations. Great songs, great voice, great heart.
The Duke & the King ‘Long Live…’ (SilvaOak)
Cosmic country-soul from the hills of upstate New York.
Bill Kirchen ‘Word To the wise’ (Proper)
Latest from Commander Cody’s original teletwanger. Great, hard, bar-room country. The guy is never less than great.
Crazy Heart – OST (New West)
Yeah, the soundtrack to the Jeff Bridges movie. The new tunes written by T-Bone Burnett and pals are simply great country songs, and Jeff Bridges nails them in a style that’s equal parts booze-hound & world-weary, like classic Waylon and Kristofferson. No shit – the guy is my favorite new country singer. There’s more to country music than Johhny Cash y’all.
Chris Altman ‘Que Paso’ (Ridin’ High)
Melbourne’s own country-rocker. Ex-Vandas. Great songs and a warm and rich 70′s sound. Huxton Creeper Paul Thomas on pedal steel! Johnny Casino fans will dig this.
GIGS
Best live bands in Australia - Hoss, Hitmen, Johnny Casino & the Secrets. New Christs would probably be on the list if I actually found out about their rare Melbourne shows before they played them… and I reckon I’d dig the Hits and the Bonniwells if I’d actually made the effort to see them too… Next year…
Best gigs by o/s bands - Motorhead in Austin, Dwight Twilley in Austin, Pete Molinari in Austin, Eilen Jewell and band at the East Brunswick and Joe Pug at the NSC in Melbourne… More that aren’t coming to mind no doubt…
BOOKS
If I had more time to read I would have finished these, but a cursory glance of each tells me I’m going to dig em – the Keith Richards and Cheetah Chrome autobiog’s, and Murray Engleheart’s ‘Blood Guts & Beer’.
FILMS
I loved ‘The Runaways’…
OLD STUFF I’M DIGGING
Late 70′s/80s Hawkwind, plenty of Blue Oyster Cult (Cultasaurous Erectus is a new discovery for me), plenty of old Michael Moorcock novels (they’re short, and tie in nicely with my Hawkwind fetish and even BOC’s Elric tribute ‘Black Blade’), late 70′s Springsteen boots, early Kiss, Martin Armiger’s ‘I Love My Car’ from ‘Pure Shit’, Hitmen!
JOKE OF THE YEAR
Any answer I’ve had for the question ‘when are the new do The Pop’s coming out?’
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