Not so Pleasant Dreams: RSD release casts a darker hue on a crucial Ramones album

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By Robert Brokenmouth

Robert Brokenmouth

02 July 2023

Hits: 3214

Pleasant Dreams - Ramones (Rhino Records)
Pleasant Dreams Demos – Ramones (bootleg)

(Written from 23 May through 3 July 2023)

Ever notice how our first impressions are the strongest? That whatever we encounter first, stays with us, often for decades, and often despite intellectually knowing that that first impression is in fact wrong?

Like lasagne sticking to a carpet (don't try this at home) or a losing soul clings to pride, with both pasta sauce and draining soul not having a clue about what they're sticking to, or why, or even that they are sticking to anything.

Similarly, what we discover when we're young often stays with us no matter how wrong we might be. 

• rhino
• ramones
• record store day
• marky ramone
• dee dee ramone
• ed stasium
• joey ramone
• pleasant dreams
• graham gouldman
• Johnny ramone
• Everett true

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Heavy duty message from the depths of a Michigan winter

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By The Barman

The Barman

02 July 2023

Hits: 2265

Broken – Kevin k (Vicious Kitten) 

Recorded with all dials in the red in a basement in the cold of a Michigan winter, “Broken” shows Bowery veteran Kevin K is anything but. Your sound system may be, though, after 12 songs that don’t skimp on distortion.

Glossy production and Kevin K have rarely been mentioned in the same breath. Ironically, his most polished record, “Magic Touch”, also came out on Vicious Kitten 23 years ago. Apart from being on the same imprint, “Broken” bears no resemblance and sounds like Blue Cheer.

Kevin K played all the instruments on “Broken” (with some minor drum machine assistance) and the production is homespun. The “never too loud” ethos and claustrophobic feel might leave you gasping for breath midway through but I suspect that’s the intention. 

• broken
• kevin k
• dead boys
• vicious kitten

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PJ and him: Mark Cornwall's weird tale inside the goldmine

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By Patrick Emery

Patrick Emery

01 July 2023

Hits: 3296

_{Author Mark Cornwall and "Proby and Me".}

As a child growing up in the south-east South Australian town of Mount Gambier, Mark Cornwall recalls seeing an American singer performing on the Beatles’ television special, “Around the Beatles”. 

“He had a pony tail and this was 1965. This weird stage outfit, buckled shoes, singing “Walk the Dog’,”  says Cornwall. 

The artist was Texan-born James Smith, known better by his stage name PJ Proby. Proby had first come to public prominence with the top 10 hit “Hold Me” and would go on to generate and foster a mixture of popular interest and media controversy over the course of the rest of the decade.

• clyde bramley
• proby and me
• brett eldorado
• mark cornwall
• pj proby

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The Primevals are holding the line

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By The Barman

The Barman

30 June 2023

Hits: 2554

The Dividing Line – The Primevals (Heavy Medication/Triple Wide/Ghost Highway)

It’s 40 years after they formed in the no-nonsense Scottish city of Glasgow and If you haven’t worked out what The Primevals are on about three songs into this, their latest and 14^th album, you need to have a wee dram and a good, hard look at yourself.

Admittedly, a band that dates from 1983, worked the European circuit on the back of a French New Rose Records deal, disappeared and resurfaced to start a second life a decade-and-a-half ago and has undergone considerable member churn could be a hit or miss proposition, but The Primevals keep delivering. 

• primevals
• glasgow
• new rose
• heavy medication records
• Michael rooney

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CSI not needed to solve this homicide

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By Ron Brown

Ron Brown

28 June 2023

Hits: 3170

Rock ‘n’ Roll Homicide – Trading Aces (Ripple Music)

Hello I-94 Barflies , it’s been a while but there’s a bit to talk about with The Farmhouse rocking to the sounds of  Trading Aces’ “Rock ‘n’ Roll Homicide”, and what a ripper this album is.

Trading Aces is a supergroup of well-known, and not so well-known, musicians coming from all over the world to pay homage to one, the late Eddie Van Halen, and, boy, does it rock. 

Frank Meyer of the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs is joined by Dennis Post of City Kids (both on guitar and vocals) .Bjarne Paamand (Warrior Soul) is on bass and Ivan Tambac (also Warrior Soul) is on drums. They got together to make some tunes and express their grief at the loss of Eddie into some hard rock, metal, punk and pop.

• frank meyer
• streetwalkin' cheetahs
• eddie van halen
• city kids
• rock 'n' roll homicide
• trading aces
• ripple music
• warrior soul

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A cup of Milo to go

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By The Barman

The Barman

27 June 2023

Hits: 1950

One of the most irreverent bands ever to come out of the Southern Californian punk scene,Descendentsare returning to Australia and New Zealand this October, playing six headlining shows. 

Descendents have one of the most enduring legacies of any punk rock band in history. Known for their early, defining timeless classic albums such as “Milo Goes to College” and “I Don't Want to Grow Up” and songs, “Hope”, “Suburban Home” and “Good Good Things”.

Milo Aukerman (vocals), Bill Stevenson (drums), Stephen Egerton (guitar) and Karl Alvarez (bass) will be joined by a swag of local supports listed below.

• tour
• australian
• new zealand
• decedents
• yours and owls

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White Line Fever

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By The Barman

The Barman

25 June 2023

Hits: 2174

Ride Hard Ride Free b/w Smokestack Lightning - Zeke (Hound Gawd Records)

Seattle speed metal merchants Zeke cop a perennial barberqueing from critics who perceive their Motorhead-meets-Black Flag to be one-dimensional thrash. That might be partially correct - the 2000 cover of “Rhiannon” was certainly an attempt to crack the mould - but what’s wrong with sticking to your guns? It never hurt Lemmy.

This vinyl-only single (as in it won’t be on any streaming service anywhere, soon) vindicates that single-minded approach. The production is more metal orientated than the band’s high-water mark album, “Dirty Sanchez”, but that won’t deter any more than a handful of followers.  

With original members Blind Marky Felchtone (vocals and guitar) and Dohnny Paycheck (drums) “Ride Hard Ride Free” is as uncompromising as ever, with a furious whirlwind rhythm the foundation for a tidal wave of fast guitars. Feltchtone’s serrated knife vocal might be even more toxic than two decades ago. 

Be forewarned: The B side “Smokestack Lightning” is not the Yardbirds-appropriated blues smoker from “Five Live” but a similarly pitched blistering aural assault. 

Buy it 

• hound gawd records
• zeke
• ride hard ride free
• Smokestack Lightning
• Dirty Sanchez

Poignant tale of sonic beauty from chaos

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By The Barman

The Barman

24 June 2023

Hits: 2707

Half Deaf, Completely Mad: The Chaotic Genius of Australia’s Most Legendary Producer
By Tony Cohen with John Olson
(Black Ink)

“Unputdownable” is a word and it officially entered the English lexicon in 1947. That’s a full decade before Tony Cohen came into the world, but the descriptor could have been custom-built for “Half Deaf, Completely Mad”, his posthumous autobiography.

This is a tale of hyper-energy and off-the-wall sonic experimentation cleverly disguised as a 230-page paperback. It’s a weaving, sometimes wobbling story told through Cohen’s often bloodshot or pinned eyes, with dry wit and self-deprecation. 

People who worked with the man and saw his excesses first-hand might question his ability to recall fine detail, but in the same manner that Tony would feverishly splice three-inch tape to insert a crucial edit, his co-writer John Olson stitched the bits together.

Not familiar with Tony Cohen’s work? The music he produced was the soundtrack of the life of anyone into Australian underground music in the 1980s and ‘90s. The Boys Next Door, the Birthday Party, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Michael Hutchence, The Johnnys, Beasts of Bourbon, Go-Betweens, Hunters and Collectors, Kim Salmon, Laughing Clowns, The Cruel Sea, The Saints, X, TISM…the list goes on. Flick through your own record collection and get back to me.

• nick cave
• ian rilen
• go-betweens
• tex perkins
• the saints
• the cruel sea
• tony cohen
• tism
• Half Deaf, Completely Mad
• black ink
• John olson
• don walker

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