I-94 BAR TOP TENS

Postcard From London: Don't you wish you went too?

Pretty weak year for new albums, I thought, though some great reissues and archival releases made up for that. Gig-wise, it was quality over quantity, as three consecutive nights of the Mott the Hoople reunion shows in London stood far above anything else I saw this year (or most other years). Truly magical and quite emotional.  It was inspiring, as well, to play shows with some great young bands from around here (Vancouver/Vancouver Island) and be reminded that it’s not all ironic facial hair and indie rock from here on in. So, hats off to you, Pretty Vanilla (super-catchy T. Rex lovers) and Madonna Bangers (channeling Born Innocent-era Redd Kross w/ your bratty punk rock). Burn the Flame!

FAVORITE ALBUMS

Visqueen-Message to Garcia (Local 638) Rachel Flotard, leader of these awesome Seattle rock and rollers, may be the most underrated songwriter on the planet. And yeah, she’s got a whole lot of soul.

Pointed Sticks-Three Lefts Make a Right (Northern Electric) Vancouver punk/pop (the good kind) legends reunited a few years ago to tour Japan (where they’re huge!) and this album, released 29 years after their first, happily finds them sounding pretty much the same.

Young Fresh Fellows- I Think This Is (Yep Roc) More Pacific Northwest fun and a fine return from the band I’ve seen more times than any other (40 +).

Black Crowes-Before the Frost….After the Freeze 2-lp vinyl version ( Silver Arrow) They’re frequently maligned but I don’t mind.

Reigning Sound-Love and Curses (In the Red) Little disappointing at first but repeated listenings prove very rewarding.

Honorable Mentions: Cheap Trick, Walter Lure, Roger Manning, Tinted Windows

FROM THE VAULTS

Stooges-You Want My Action (Easy Action) Holy Shit.

Big Star-Keep An Eye On the Sky box set (Rhino) Sounds better than ever and a new live show to boot on the last disc.

Rolling Stones-Get Yer Ya-Ya’s Out (Abkco) My only complaint would be that there must be more potential bonus material in the can than what they included here. The dvd is 28 min. but what an awesome 28 min. Great idea, too, to include the opening sets by B.B. King and Ike and Tina, as had originally been intended.

Death-For the Whole World to See (Drag City) Seemingly from out of nowhere.

Chris Bell-I Am the Cosmos (Rhino) Reissue of the 90’s release w/ an extra disc of demos, collaborations, etc. Title tune one of the best songs ever written.

Honorable Mentions: Rationals, Imperial Dogs, Ian Hunter, Neil Young

Final thought: Repeated airings of the Instant Live Recording of the first Mott Hammersmith show confirm that, yes, it was really was that great.

Guitarist/vocalist with Canadian bands BUM and Budokan. Contributor at the I-94 Bar and for Ugly Things magazine.

Let’s see, saw a few great rock ‘n’ roll shows this year, bought lots of music (most of it, unfortunately, old), honeymooned in Japan (bootleg heaven). So, some highlights.

Albums (in no particular order):

Supersnazz-Get Down (Meerkat)
I remember playing with these Japanese heroes, oh, 14 years ago (and subbing for them at Garage Shock ’93) and being blown away. They still got it. Awesome songs with big hooks, played with reckless abandon.

BellRays-Hard, Sweet and Sticky (Anodyne)
Not quite as solid as Have a Little Faith, but still pretty fine.

Hellacopters-Head Off (Psychout)
Pleasantly surprised by how good this is, maybe bowing out with a covers album was the charm. Now I gotta find out who originally did ‘Midnight Angels’.

Carlene Carter-Stronger (Yep Roc)
After some years in the wilderness Carlene is back with a great set of country-tinged pop songs…and the voice sounds as pure as ever. 

Baseball Project-Vol. 1: Frozen Ropes and Dying Quails (Yep Roc)
Hmm, good year for Yep Roc. Scott McCaughey (Young Fresh Fellows/Minus Five) and Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate) team up to record an album’s worth of songs about baseball. You don’t have to love the game ‘cos the storytelling’s outstanding and the tunes are top-notch. 

Teenage Head-Teenage Head w/ Marky Ramone (Sonic Unyon)
Canadian punk vets recruit one of the best drummers ever to re-record their classics. As good as you would hope. Sadly, lead singer Frankie Venom just recently succumbed to cancer. RIP Frankie.

New York Dolls-Live at the Fillmore East (Sony)
This album is too short.

Dirtbombs-We Have You Surrounded (In the Red)
This one jumps all over the stylistic map and almost everything hits. 

Gary Louris-Vagabonds (Rykodisc)
Former Jayhawks frontman is one of the best songwriters (in the truest sense of the word) around.

Black Crowes-Warpaint (Silver Arrow)
Oops, I’m guessing this isn’t a very cool choice. Go ahead, take your shots.

Reissues, Archival releases, etc.:

Iggy Pop-Where the Faces Shine Vol. 2 (Easy Action)
Gotta agree with the Barman on this one.

 Sonic’s Rendezvous Band-The Second Chance (Easy Action)
Ditto.

Detroit Cobras-Original Recordings: Singles and Unreleased 1995-1997 (Munster)
Nice to have the early stuff plus some other gems all in one easy package.

Replacements-Reissues (Twin-Tone/Sire)
Yep, all of them. Boy, do I ever miss these guys.

Byrds-Live at Royal Albert Hall 1971 (Sundazed)
That Clarence White sure could pick.

Dennis Wilson-Pacific Ocean Blue (Columbia)
Beautiful.

Clash-Live at Shea Stadium (Epic)
Thought this might suffer from the absence of Topper on drums but Terry Chimes actually acquits himself admirably.

Live Shows:

New York Dolls-Plaza, Vancouver.
Seen the reformed line-up three times now and they really have become a super-rockin’ machine, whatever that might mean.

Dirtbombs-Sugar, Victoria.
Pros that they are, the Dirtbombs took a sparse, Sunday night crowd and got them to MOVE. Even the hipsters were dancing.

Neil Young-GM Place, Vancouver.
You want guitars? Oh, okay.

And, finally:

Best Bar-Poor Cow, Shimatikazawa (sp.?), Tokyo.
Fifi, formerly of Teengenerate and now of Firestarter, runs a joint that is more like a clubhouse or the bedroom of the coolest teenager in the world. Impeccable record collection, if you care about that stuff, and good beer. Why don’t we have a place like this in my town? Oh yeah, because we’re lame.