Time for my much-belated full Lollapalooza recap. No MP3s in this post. But I’ll be updating later with some, so stay calm. If you want to check out all my photos from the festival click here. Clicking on a highlighted artists’ name will send you directly to their photos.

Day 1
The Fratellis
I love these guys’ debut album. I drive a lot from state-to-state and it’s always a great pick-me-up for those mid-drive doldrums that can potentially cause you to drive off a bridge. Sadly they aren’t as exciting as I thought they would be live, but that’s probably because they took the stage at 11:45. Doesn’t change the fact that their songs rock.

Ghostland Observatory
I know nothing about this band, but they were playing right after The Fratellis on the same side of the park so I thought I’d check them out. Love the back-up dude’s cape. I need to get me one of those. My first impression of the singer was “wow that chick can sing” but then I get a little closer and revise my statement to “wow, that dude can sing.” Androgyny is totally making a comeback!

Son Volt
We head down to the other end of the park so we can catch The Polyphonic Spree. As an unintended side-effect of that we catch the second half of Sun Volt’s set. That’s all I have to say about that.

The Polyphonic Spree
There’s really nothing like seeing 20+ people rush out on stage wearing the exact same set clothes and performing in songs in a near-choir like fashion. However, the shock and awe wears off quick and you’re left with nothing more than some pretty boring tunes. It probably didn’t help that they were performing at the hottest moment of the hottest day either.

Against Me!
I took off from The Polyphonic Spree early so I could check out Against Me!, who are My New Favorite Band. Having been listening to New Wave nearly nonstop since it came out, I had really high hopes for these guys and they totally met them. Storming onto the stage right on time they wasted no time getting into the rock, delivering one great ball-busting tune after another. I guess the only thing better than an Against Me! CD is seeing Against Me! live. I am slightly annoyed by the use of the exclamation point in their name though, it drives MS Word fucking nuts.

Blonde Redhead
We make are way back to the main stage to catch Satellite Party (I wanted to see The Black Keys, but it was at the opposite end of the park and it was really fucking hot outside). We’re there pretty early so we get to hear most of Blonde Redhead’s set. I’m digging it but my friend Lisa turns to me about 20 minutes later and says to me “Make the scary music stop.” So I guess they aren’t for everyone.

Satellite Party
For those of you who don’t know, Satellite Party is the latest musical creation of Perry Farrell. Considering that his past two bands were Jane’s Addiction and Porno For Pyros, they have some pretty big shoes to fill. I reviewed their album when it came out at another website and I have to say I was really let down by it. Many of the songs just sounded like boring rehashes of better Jane’s songs, and some just flat-out sucked. Thankfully Perry’s one energetic motherfucker on stage and even when the band was playing some of the weaker songs off of the album he remains highly entertaining. The band also played many older tunes from Perry’s other bands, including ‘Pets’ by Porno For Pyros, which makes me happy. We take off as ‘Jane Says’ starts, and marvel at the fact that people still make out to this touching tune about a junkie.

LCD Soundsystem
I saw LCD live right after their first album came out in a small club in Cleveland. The place wasn’t even half full so I had plenty of room that night to shave my various groove things and have an overall bootylicious time. This time I was sharing LCD with a 20,000+ people and with the sun just beginning to set I still wasn’t in a very dancable mood. Instead I sat on my ass and soaked up a mist fan. They did a good set though and I still love them.

Daft Punk (These photos REALLLLLY suck)
Having not moved for about an hour now, I was fully energized for Daft Punk, and it’s a good thing. As the electro-French duo emerged from a giant LCD pyramid to the sounds of ‘Technologic’ I instantly realized that this was going to be a bitchin’ show. With an godlike visual show that included several giant video screens and every light effect known to man, as well as a bass beat about 2 decibels away from bending me over and fucking me up the ass, Daft Punk’s live show can be described as impressive to say the least. It was like seeing the last 22 minutes of 2001: A Space Odyssey in concert. By the time they begin to mix in ‘Around The World’ I have forgotten about the 11+ hours I have spent outside, the sunburn on my neck and my aching feet and started getting my groove on. The pulsing lights and sounds moved through me as I began to shake like an epileptic using a vibrator. Everyone around me (douchebag drunks and their idiot bitches) stared at the wild gyrations I made but I didn’t care. For the first time of the dayI was at one with the music and all is good.

Until I have to walk back to the hotel. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow.

Day 2
Matt & Kim
I had no idea who these guys were before I saw them but the second they took the stage I instantly fell in love with them. The whole chick drummer/dude singer thing may make some people think they are a White Stripes rip-off, but aside from their member/gender makeup they have nothing in common with the famous Detroit duo. These indie-poppers rock out pure happiness. Unfortunately, they were suffering various technical difficulties during their show, but they didn’t let it get their spirits down. If anything the downtime made me like them more, as they filled it with hilarious stories about “dipping the pen in the company inkwell” and other funny events. After their short set Kim even came down to sign autographs and take pictures! She’s super-duper-neato-keen-cool.

Ludo
More time to kill before Silverchair. The Lollapalooza program described these guys as “part Weezer and part Queen”. I’m more than a little doubtful of that intriguing combination, but their isn’t anything else going on so we check them out anyways (and their stage is covered in the shade -bonus). The geeky-looking hipsters take the stage and I’m shocked to discover that their Weezer/Queen description is shockingly accurate. When they aren’t performing cute break-up songs like ‘Good Will Hunting By Yourself’ their performing cuts from their rock opera EP Broken Bride, which is about a time traveler who has to choose between saving his wife from certain death or saving humanity from the devil’s reign in the far future. It sounds stupid for sure, but I’ve listened to it more than any other CD I picked up since the show. If that isn’t enough to convince you that these guys rock, they closed their set with a cover of Faith No More’s ‘Epic’! How fucking metal is that shit!?

Silverchair
Tomorrow (Cover)
Not a big Silverchair fan, but Lisa wants to see them and I’m an incredibly nice guy so I go along. I’m actually surprised to see how much they’ve changed since I heard them last (circa 1999) and their shockingly pretty damn good. I also take lots of pictures for a friend who couldn’t make it but finds their lead singer “dreamy”. I don’t stay for the whole set though because I want to get Regina Spector’s autograph.

Intermission – The Horrible Midday Episode of Sadness
So I leave Silverchair early and make my way to the FYE tent to get in the line for Regina’s autograph. The two dudes in front of me let me know that I have to buy her CD if I want to see her. This sucks since I bought it the day it came out, but whatever, I dig her so I figure it’s worth it. I make it inside the tent where the manager is and I have this conversation:

Me: “Do I need to buy a Regina Spector CD if I want her autograph?”
Asshat Douchebage: “Yes.”
Me: “Okay, where are they?”
AD: “We’re sold out.”
Me: “Oh, so can I just get in line then?”
AD: “No, you need to buy a CD first.”
Me: “But you’re sold out!”
AD: “You need one to get in line.”

This went on for awhile, it’s like I found an error in his programming and he was caught in an endless loop. He finally informs me that I can’t get her autograph because they don’t have any CDs. I’m not happy.

Me: “That’s bullshit!”
AD: “Hey those are her rules, not mine.”

Okay, let’s reflect on that statement for a minute. Regina Spector, a small-time, aspiring singer-songwriter with a rabid fanbase is going to force all of her fans that love her and have already bought her CD to buy it again just so they can get her autograph. And if any of her fans already bought her CD or can’t buy it at the FYE tent then they are shit out of luck. I call the dude’s bluff.

Me: “You’re full of shit and you know it. I’ve met her before and she’s never had these restrictions.”
AD: “Those are her rules dude.”
Me: “Fuck off and die.”

Okay, so some people thought that was rude. Those people can fuck off. He was obviously lying and knew it. Some of you may be saying, “But he’s just some lackey working retail, it’s not his policy!” Well, no you’re wrong. This little twat had the cute little “manager” tag on his shitty little shirt, so he knew what was really going on. And even if I didn’t, well I really don’t care. If he didn’t want to deal with large loud assholes like me that don’t take bullshit then he shouldn’t have gotten a job at a shit retail store infamous for having an overpriced shitty selection. (It’s a little-known fact that FYE stands for Fucking You Endlessly).

Dejected I head down to where Regina is playing (sitting through STS9…shudder) so I can get a good spot.

Regina Spector
As I mentioned before, I love Regina Spector. I want to bear her children. The only thing more beautiful than her are her flawless songs. Am I sounding like a stalker? I don’t care.

Anyways, right when shebegins her first song a girl next to me passes out. She gets up, tells everyone she’s fine and then immediately passes out again. Everyone around her try to get the attention of security but they are nowhere to be seen. Thankfully Regina sees us, stops her set and helps direct the crowd so her friends can carry her to medical personnel. Not only is Regina’s music amazing, she saves lives!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Love the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, but I love the Blue Room even better. The Blue Room is this heavenly air-conditioned room provided by AT&T so people can get into a dark place and cool off. I hear most of their set from inside the tent though, and it is nice.

Spoon
I’m just now becoming a Spoon fan, having really discovered them thanks to this awesome video. I didn’t know most of the songs they played, but they were very good. I was still kind of half out-of-it though when they started so I don’t remember most of it.

Muse
Before Muse took the stage I told Lisa that they’d really have to do something if they wanted to top Daft Punk from the night before. I guess they heard me because once they came on stage there was nothing but blinding lights and deafening music filling Grant Park for 90 minutes. Accompanied behind the band were more lights and LED monitors then all of Times Square, and those combined with the unearthly music coming out of the speakers gave me a near-religious experience. Once again I loose my goddamn mind and start jumping around like a zealot speaking tongues. By the time Matthew Bellamy unleashes the opening riff to ‘Plug In Baby’ during their encore I go apeshit and begin to fly around the park and scream at the top of my lungs. The people around me must’ve been staring, but they can suck it. I had a blast.

Day 3
Juliette & The Licks
So Juliette Lewis has a punk rock band. Actually, it’s pretty good. The chick sure does have the energy to back it up, running around the stage like a dolled-up monkey on meth. Their cover of ‘Hot Stuff’ is especially impressive. I might actually get their CD sometime.

The Cribs
These guys are the latest garage-rock “The [fill-in-the-blank]s” band to get massive hype from the UK press. Lisa is a slave to NME so OMG we HAVE to check them out. Yawn.

Amy Winehouse
Holy shit this bitch needs to go to rehab.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

She barely moves during her entire set and barely even seems to notice that an audience is in front of her. I get bored quickly and head for the all-loving shade.

Iggy And The Stooges
The highlight of day three came early, as Iggy Pop and his cronies took the stage around 4:15 and proceeded to blow my balls off with raw power, old-school punk rock. Halfway through his set Iggy (who is shockingly NOT wearing a shirt) allows the fans to rush the stage, at which point over 100 drunk idiots surround him. I don’t know how the stage didn’t collapse. It was a blast though. And the sudden flood of people on the stage allowed me to get pretty close as a side-effect.

Modest Mouse
I love Modest Mouse, but I couldn’t watch them. There was nothing wrong with their performance, they were actually excellent (and Johnny Marr is awesome) it was their fans that drove me fucking nuts. The rant from my previous post came mostly from the mindless little taints that surrounded me during this show. We leave early and head for the Blue Room to cool down.

TV On The Radio
Whoever decided that TV On The Radio only deserved 45 minutes was a fucking asshole. By the time they got in their groove their set was over. Not only that, they didn’t get to play many of their best tunes, including ‘Dry Drunk Emperor’ and ‘Ambulance’. Bummer.

Pearl Jam
I’ve seen Pearl Jam live six times before this performance, so to say I like them is an understatement. I was a little underwhelmed by most of their set though, as it was mostly tailored for casual fans who probably haven’t bought a PJ album since No Code or Yield. Still, hearing classics like “Elderly Woman’, ‘Corduroy’ and ‘Evenflow’ really never gets old. At the end of their set they performed a new anti-war song dedicated to an Iraqi vet who joined them on stage (along with Ben Harper) before closing off with the obligatory ‘Rockin’ In The Free World’ cover.

After all was said and done I saw over 20 bands, many of which I enjoyed. I’ve been going to Lollapalooza ever since it revamped itself as a one-off event in downtown Chicago and I’m fairly certain I’ll be continuing to do so as long as they hold them. There may be a few problems with the event (crowded line-up, shitty merch tent) but the good far outweighs the bad.

Just got back from Lollapalooza. Great show. Got to see Iggy Pop, Spoon, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk (holy shit that was amazing) and about a dozen more amazing acts that I’ll talk about later this week. I’ll also have links to my photos that I took during the show as well, which includes some awesome shots of Regina Spektor. There were something like 60,000 people at Lollapalooza this year, which can only mean one thing; a whole lot of douchebags. I saw so much idiotic behavior that I feel the need to update The Lost Turntable Guide To Concerts. So I now present:

The Lost Turntable Guide To Festival Etiquette.

Rule No. 1: Get off your goddamn cellphone. This should have been a rule in my original guide, but I somehow forgot it. Someone explain this to me. You’ve just spent $195 on a ticket to a three-day festival that’s jam-packed with over 100 amazing bands, and you spend most of the show on your fucking phone telling everyone how awesome it is?! How can you tell everyone how awesome it is? You won’t get off your fucking phone! The people that do this can never hear a fucking thing too. Here’s a recreation of every cell phone conversation I heard this weekend:

Dude, I’m at Lollapalooza it’s awesome!
I said I’m at Lollapalooza!
What?
What?
WHAT?
I’m at a concert!
*long pause*
WHAT!?!?

If you really feel the need to talk to one of your dumbass friends who was too cheap to buy a ticket then get away from the stage, Grant Park is really fucking big.

Rule No. 2: Your friends won’t be able to find you, so you can put your damn hand down.
Bitch on phone: “You can’t find me? Look, I’m raising my hand now! I’m by the stage. I said I’m by the stage!”

Look around you bitch, see all the other braindead cunnies holding their hands up and talking on their cell phones? It’s an exercise in futility. Set up a fucking meeting place before you get there and you won’t have this fucking problem.

Rule No. 3: Don’t rush up to a stage right before a show starts and expect to get in the front row. Hey asshole, I’ve been standing here for 45 minutes so I could get a good view of Regina Spector, stop trying to push your way past me. I’m elbowing you in the stomach on purpose. I don’t care if you can’t see from “way back there”. Fuck off and die.

Rule No. 4: You can’t “hold spaces” for people. This is related to the two previous rules, because most dumbass motherfuckers who were on the phone trying to find their friends were doing so because they “totally got an awesome spot” Nevermind the fact that they are shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone around them, their friend can totally meet them up there because they saved a spot for them. Unless that spot is a stain in their underwear they are sorely mistaken. See rule number 4 and go suck it.

Rule No. 5: Watch where you throw that fucking frisbee you goddamn hippie! Seriously, I like my nose the way it is.

Rule No. 6: Give a hoot, clean up after your lazy ass. Everywhere you went at Lollapalooza this year you were reminded that it was a “green” festival. Signs about your carbon footprint were everywhere. The program was printed on recycled paper, and every five feet a person was trying to get you to sign some sort of environmental petition. You think you’d get the hint and throw your fucking plastic cup away. We’re all sharing this space for three days, don’t turn it into a fucking toilet.

Rule No. 7: Wear sunscreen. Nothing mean to say here, it’s just good advice. Apply it gnerously every couple of hours.

Rule No. 8: If you are using a portapotty lock the motherfucking door. If you don’t that’s fine by me, but don’t yell at me when I open the door and get a look at the goods. Trust me honey, out of all the chicks I wanted to get a flash from, your chunky butt was really low on the list.

And finally Rule No. 9: SHUT THE FUCK UP! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again (sadly) people come to concerts to listen to the fucking music, not to hear you bitch about how you couldn’t get any good weed the night before. I’m not a complete asshole, I do realize that a festival is different from a regular concert and that people will be talking, that’s fine. Just don’t have complete conversations when everyone else around you is trying to listen to the fucking music. Someone in front of me ran into someone they knew during Modest Mouse and they both began singing “Ruby Soho” at the top of their lungs. Look you little fratboy pricks, I’m sure that’s the punchline to a really funny inside joke about that one time you were at the beach house and got so fucked up you pissed on the kitchen floor, but I’m trying to hear “Float On”.

Hang up the damn phone and listen to the fucking music, Iggy Pop is playing for fuck’s sake.

Ah, that felt good.

Muse
Recess
Yes Please
Dead Star
Muscle Museum (Soulwax Remix)
House Of The Rising Sun
Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You

Muse’s show at Lollapalooza was holy shit amazing. I’ve heard things about their live shows in the past, but nothing could have compared me for the utter brilliance I witnessed when they took the stage. The combination of absolutely incendiary music and some of the most awe-inspiring visuals I have ever seen at a concert combined to create an experience like nothing else I have ever been witness to. It was almost like a religious experience, I almost saw God when Bellamy started playing ‘Plug In Baby’, complete and total audio/visual orgasm.

As for the tracks above, most of them will only be rarities to people in America, as Muse is huge everywhere else. ‘Dead Star’ was a single in the UK but never released in America, and it’s B-side was the cover of ‘Can’t Take My Eyes Off Of You’. Their cover of ‘House Of The Rising Sun’ was only released on a charity album that came with issues of NME. The other two songs are off of their compilation/live album Hulabaloo Soundtrack, which never came out in the states either. I have no idea where that remix of ‘Muscle Museum’ is from though.

Okay, so it’s been a while since my last post. The reason for this is that I am currently stuck in Toledo and my record collection is located in Pittsburgh. I came to Toledo last weekend for my dad’s 60th birthday party (joy) and am staying here until Thursday, which is when I will depart for Chicago and three joyous days of rocking out at Lollapalooza. I’ll need to rock out after this week, during which I attempted to serve as the family mediator between brothers and temporarily shared a bathroom with a six-hundred pound slob (seriously, I think I’m scarred for life now). In case anyone is curious, highlights for me at this year’s show include The Fratellis, Polyphonic Spree, LCD Soundsystem, Daft Punk (FUCK YEAH), Muse, Regina Spektor (I wanna marry her), Iggy Pop, , Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Spoon and about a billion other bands. It”ll promise to be the best three days of near-dehydration I’ll have all year.

As I mentioned before, my records are in Pittsburgh, and I didn’t plan ahead far enough to upload any tracks to my server before leaving town (I’ve been busy) so I wasn’t going to update the blog at all this week. Luckily I made my way to the best record store in Toledo yesterday and they gave me a little something that I think y’all might enjoy.

The Fratellis
3 Skinny Girls
Flathead (Live At The Cherrytree House)
Doginabag (Live At The Cherrytree House)
Chelsea Dagger (Acoustic)
The Fratellis are My New Favorite Band and Costello Music is one of the best debut albums I’ve heard recently. I really hope these bitchin’ Scottish dance-friendly garage-rockers can keep up the momentum on their next album. These four tracks I found off of the Chelsea Dagger EP, which was given to some record stores as a promo for Costello Music. It was given to me by Culture Clash because I rock (Culture Clash rocks too).

I used to work for a website that sold porno movies. It was a nightmare job that almost left me a shell of a human being. Luckily, I didn’t work with the porno on a daily basis (they also sold mainstream films) but I occasionally needed to help out in the warehouse and that usually meant pulling porno titles for orders.

Now, I ‘m not a prude and it wasn’t my first exposure to porn. Back in the 80s and 90s my dad owned a video store and I’ll admit that I occasionally was able to sneak to the “back room” and get a quick glimpse of some of the titles – the fact that VHS boxes for porn tapes were fucking huge made that a lot easier. Sow when I started this job the state of porno kind of depressed me. While I don’t remember many of the individual titles of the porno movies from my dad’s store, but I don’t recall them being horribly explicit and I also remember the box art usually being R-Rated at the most. My how things had change. The pictures on the DVD cases looked like gynecological exams and the titles were just gross “Texas Asshole Massacre”, “Cum Fart Cocktail” and “Asian Cheerleader Cavity Exam Vol. II” being a few that stand out (I am NOT making any of those up). The closest thing I saw to a clever title during my time there was a tranny title called “Trans Ass Express”. (God, I’m terrified as to what Google queries my site will pop up on now).

However, I am fascinated by the brief porn chic period in the 70s when porn was almost mainstream. I love the idea of a guy and girl going out on their first date to see Deep Throat or The Opening Of Misty Beethoven. Porno was so big in the 70s that it even crossed into mainstream music with porn actress Andrea True recording the hit single “More, More More.” But that isn’t the only time that pornography and pop music crossed paths, as these tracks show.

Unknown Artist (Deep Throat I & II Soundtracks)
She’s Got To Have It
Love Is Strange
Deep Throat is the most famous porno movie of all time, so I’m not going to talk about it that much. If you’re interested in learning more about it I highly recommend Inside Deep Throat, a fascinating documentary about the making of the film and they hysteria that surrounded it. The movie makes no mention of the soundtrack though, which I didn’t even know existed until I found these tracks on some MP3 blog a year ago. These aren’t your basic “ba-chicka-wa-wa” porno tunes but they are pretty funky. Can someone explain to me the bubble sounds at the end of ‘Love Is Strange’? Is that supposed to be a bong?

Marilyn Chambers
Benihana
She might not be as (in)famous as Deep Throat‘s Linda Lovelace, but Marilyn Chambers helped usher in the era of porn chic also with her starring role in the 1972 hardcore classic Behind The Green Door (link is work safe). She was actually such a big star by the end of the decade that she decided to leave pornography to make ‘legit’ films, and in 1977 she starred in Rabid, a great horror flick by David Cronenberg. It must not have panned out though, because that was her only mainstream acting role, and she went back to porn before the decade was over. However, while she was trying to make it as a mainstream actress she was also trying to make it as a pop singer with this single. It was her only song, which is a shame because it’s not that bad (as stupid disco songs go). However, if ever heard a girl make the noises Marilyn does at the end of this song I’d call the fucking cops.

Traci Lords
Sunshine
You Burn Inside Of Me
I met Traci Lords once at a comic book convention in Novi. A friend of mine wanted her autograph for one of his friends (so he says) and I shelled out the 20 bucks for one. She seemed pretty nice and actually talked to the people that waited in her line. In front of me in the line was a creepy looking dude wearing a Star Trek: TNG captain’s uniform and sweating profusely. When he finally got to the front of the line he didn’t want her to sign anything, he just wanted to shake her hand, saying that he was “a big fan of all her work” which translated to “I own child pornography.”

Obviously, some people really love Traci Lords, but others don’t (my dad calls her “That bitch who cost me a thousand bucks”). Traci didn’t get into porno until the 80s so she missed the porno chic movement, but she was easily the biggest star in adult video at the time…too bad she was only 15 at the time. When her age was discovered all of her flicks instantly became illegal and video stores like my dad’s had to pull them off the shelves. Since then she’s become an almost legit actress, having small parts in films like Blade and Virtuosity. She’s also occasionally flirted with music too, releasing one techno album in 1995 and this single some 10 years later. Listen to ‘Sunshine’ and you’ll discover that she isn’t half bad. Listen to ‘You Burn Inside Of Me’ and you’ll find out she isn’t half good either.

Let’s get some business out of the way first. A blog directly linked to my files again. Which I fucking hate. Unlike the asshat douchebag that did it before the people at this blog copped up to it and removed the link right away. I’m going to chalk that one up to innocent ignorance and not prickery. I’m also not really mad at them because it’s a great blog with an awesome name: The Music Slut. Check out sometime, it has a good balance of news, MP3s and random funny shit.

Pearl Jam – Live At The Academy New Year’s Eve 1992
It’s funny, Pearl Jam is by far my favorite band in the world but I’ve only posted tracks by them three times. How much do I like Pearl Jam? I have every single one of their studio albums, almost all of their singles on CD and vinyl, the import version of Ten with bonus tracks, three of their albums on vinyl, and over 30 of their “official bootlegs” most of which I bought from the Ten Club fan site store, which I am a member of. I have also seen them live five times, and three of those concerts were over the course of two weeks. So yeah, I’m a bit of a fan.

The real funny thing is that I wasn’t that big a Pearl Jam fan until about 2000. I owned most of their studio album (if you were a teenager when Ten came out I believe you were issued it along with a pair of Doc Martens and a flannel) but I lost interest in the band around the same time everyone else did. Then I bought one of their live albums on a fluke and the next thing I knew I was hooked. I can’t even explain it, but there’s something about Pearl Jam’s live music that gets under my skin and makes me believe that rock and roll can really change the world.

Anyways, now I’m rambling. This live record was a gift to fan club members who pre-ordered their excellent self-titled album last year. It’s a fun artifact from the time period, and includes some tracks that the band rarely plays live anymore, such as ‘Oceans’ and a really bizarre almost punk version of ‘Wash.’ There’s also a hysterical rant by Eddie in which he bashes Marky Mark for not being a real artist! Also worth mentioning is the inclusion of the ultimate Pearl Jam B-side ‘Dirty Frank,’ which is the best funk song about a serial killer bus driver you’re ever likely to hear.

Enjoy this classic live set. Hopefully I’ll be putting up more Pearl Jam in the future…I only have 2275 Pearl Jam songs in my MP3 collection.

Speed Wash
Sonic Reducer
Why Go
Even Flow
Alone
Garden
Daughter
Dirty Frank
Oceans
Alive
Leash
Porch

By the way, Pearl Jam just released the excellent 7-disc, three-concert collection Live At The Gorge. Even if you’re just a casual fan of the band I suggest it because it serves as a great introduction course to some of the magic you might experience at a Pearl Jam concert.

This shit is so weird that I don’t know if anyone but me will really dig it, but I found both of these records to be so strange that I had to share them. I can also find next to no info on either of them, so any help by my fellow record geeks would be greatly appreciated.

Confidential All-Stars
It’s Dead Jim (Extended Radio Mix)
It’s Dead Jim (Club Mix)
It’s Dead Jim (Vocal/Perc. Mix)
How can all-stars be confidential? Sadly, that paradox is the least-strange thing about this amazingly bizarre record. If the title already didn’t give it away for you, this strange dance track is an ode to Star Trek’s Dr. “Bones” McCoy and his famous catchphrase. The song itself is pretty out there , and sounds vaguely reminiscent of early Was (Not Was), which is something I never thought I’d say. I Googled some of the “All-Stars” names and didn’t find much about them. I did find out the song’s main writer, one David Huxen, was in an obscure 70s rock band called Lift and then went on to found his own New Age recording studio (and somehow turned Native American and changed his name to “Junius” in the process). The “McCoy” of the record is John Hammond but I don’t think its the same one that won a Grammy and is the son of the legendary music producer.

Snatch
Another Brick In The Wall
This is a disco version of the iconic Pink Floyd song about the dangers of the British public school system. Because nothing says “lets dance” like institutionalized child abuse! This was a single released by Millenium Records, who was no stranger to disco remakes as they were the label of disco-remake artist extraordinaire Meco (the guy that did the Star Wars disco albums). Meco did a disco version of The Wizard Of Oz also. That is the gayest record I own (and I own two dozen Erasure singles). Maybe Snatch is a pseudonym of Meco! That would be awesome…I guess.

The weird shit that you can find on soundtracks to obscure movies never ceases to amaze me. Most recently I found the soundtrack to Party Party, a forgotten 80s teen flick about (surprise) a party. I can find absolutely no information about it online so if anyone knows anything about it please comment. It certainly had a decent soundtrack though, with some odd ska-tinged covers of classic tunes,and some appearances by some very noteworthy 80s artists that you might not expect.

Time for a track-by-track rundown.

Elvis Costello – Party Party
I wonder how they convinced Elvis to contribute a title track to this flick? They obviously didn’t try very hard because as early-80s Elvis Costello tracks go this is pretty weak. This is on a couple of compilations but probably not any endorsed by Costello.

Dave Edmunds – Run Rudolph Run
Don’t know much about Dave Edmunds, other than the fact that he was in Rockpile. This cover of the Christmas classic is on about 80 billion Christmas compilations.

Altered Images – Little Town Flirt
Another band I don’t know shit about, although they sound kind of like a Siouxsie & The Banshees lite, so I might check them out sometime. This is a cover of a song made famous by Del Shannon and I don’t think it was ever released on any other album.

Bad Manners – Yakety Yak
I know Yakety Yak, but I’m not very familiar with Bad Manners and other than their contributions to the soundtracks of Dance Crazy and this movie I know nothing about them. Not really my style of music for the most part, but this is a fun cover and it’s never been released on anything else to my knowledge.

Sting – Tutti Frutti
Okay, this is just retarded. In the 90s a compilation album of Sting’s contributions to soundtracks was released (more on that in a bit) and this song was one of the only ones that wasn’t put on it. Listen to it, there’s a good reason why.

Bananarama – No Feelings
This is a cover of The Sex Pistols’ classic. Let me say that again, this is Bananarama covering the motherfucking Sex Pistols. It’s pretty much ‘Cruel Summer’ with the lyrics of ‘No Feelings’ put in. Rhino tacked this lovely little number on the deluxe edition of their first album, Deep Sea Skiving.

Madness -Driving In My Car
An odd song (even as Madness songs go), but there’s nothing really spectacular about it. It’s also on a quite a few Madness compilations so it’s not rare either.

Modern Romance – Band Of Gold
I’ll be honest, I never heard of Modern Romance until about five minutes before I began typing this sentence. Thanks to the glory of the interwebs, I can tell you that they were fairly big in the UK for a few years in the 80s and that Morrissey really hated them. After searching on Youtube for a bit I’ve discovered that I did know one of their songs ‘The Best Years Of Our Lives’. I didn’t like it then and I’m not a fan still. And anytime I hear the song title I think of the horribly depressing movie of the same name, which doesn’t make the song any more enjoyable. ‘Band Of Gold’ has always been one of my biggest guilty pleasures though, and they do it justice.

Bad Manners – Elizabethan Reggae
More Bad Manners, this track is on one of their rarities compilations. Why does this song make me want to smoke pot?

Pauline Black – No Woman, No Cry
Pauline Black was the lead singer of The Selecter, another ska band that’s on the soundtrack to Dance Crazy. This is a cover of the Bob Marley classic and isn’t available elsewhere.

Sting – Need Your Love So Bad
This one I have heard before, because in addition to being on the soundtrack to Party Party, it’s on that compilation of soundtrack tunes that I mentioned before. I don’t own that album, but for some strange reason my mom does and I’m assuming that’s why it sounds familar to me. It’s a good bluesy tune but it is pretty out of place considering what else is on this record.

Midge Ure – The Man Who Sold The World
Even more out of place is this spaced-out cover of the David Bowie classic by the lead singer of Ultravox. I think there are more synthesizer and vocal effects on this track than every other song on the album combined. Midge’s released this song a few times on various greatest hits compilations, but it appeared on this soundtrack first.

Chas And Dave – Auld Lang Syne
Another act I know nothing about. It is strange though that this is the second cover of Auld Lang Syne I’ve put up in less than a year. To my knowledge this track isn’t on any other album either.

So I pathetically caved in and picked up the new Smashing Pumpkns album yesterday. Shockingly it’s not that bad, but it still pales in comparison to great Pumpkins classics like ‘Siamese Dream’ and of course ‘Melon Chollie’. It does sound like Smashing Pumpkins though, which isn’t to surprising since the band was pretty much a Billy Corgan solo project from the get go. Supposedly Corgan is one of the great control freak assholes of rock music. Spin magazine described him best when they compared him to John Fogerty, saying that he was a real rarity in pop music, a control freak that knew what the fuck he was doing. This post is dedicated to two of the biggest self-centered pricks in music, Corgan and the granddaddy of asshole bass players Roger Waters. And before anyone asks, the only reason there isn’t a CCR track here is because I don’t have any.

Smashing Pumpkins
Zeitgeist
Death From Above
Terrapin
I have previously voiced my disdain for Billy Corgan “reuniting” the Smashing Pumpkins without half of the original line-up and I’ve also frequently posted on how much store exclusive tracks piss me off. So when it was announced that The Smashing Pumpkins’ newest album would have not one, not two, but three different bonus tracks depending on where you bought it, I was a little miffed. Moves like this completely confuse me. Do record labels really think that their customers are going to shell out the money to buy the same album two or three times? It’s not like the exclusive tracks aren’t going to end up on Limewire. Especially when one is an iTunes version that sounds shitty and is crapped-out with DRM? This trend also pisses me off because it serves as a complete “fuck you” to independent record stores, who almost always get screwed out of deals like this. It’s like they’re daring us to to play fair and buy the album legally. Here are two of the three bonus tracks from various versions of the Pumpkins’ latest, as well as a live cover of the Syd Barrett track ‘Terrapin’ thrown in because I couldn’t find the iTunes exclusive track.

Pink Floyd
Pigs On The Wing (8-Track Version)
The Hero’s Return (Parts 1 & 2)
Roger Waters’ reputation of being a complete and total prick to all those around him is well documented so I’m not going to go into it. These two tracks come from latter-day Waters-era Pink Floyd, when the band was much less a band and more of a way for Waters to release his solo material. The first track is a version of ‘Pigs On The Wing’ that combines both parts 1 and 2 into one track. Supposedly this is because the technical limitations of 8-track players wouldn’t allow for them to be separate. The two tracks are bridged together with an awesome solo by Snowy White, the ridiculously-named guitar player from Thin Lizzy who toured with Pink Floyd during the late 70s. The extended version of ‘The Hero’s Return’ is from the single for that song. The song itself is off of The Final Cut, a Pink Floyd album in name only, as Roger Waters had complete control by then. It was the last album with Waters and if you ask me its for good reason, to date its the only Pink Floyd album I’ve sold back to the record store (and I own the fucking soundtrack to More).

This will be my last all-remix post for a while. I got some weird/cool/rare shit that actually isn’t remixes! These are the last of my Erasure mixes (until I find more) and I have nothing to say about them, so enjoy! I might have another post later tonight if I feel motivated for a change.

Erasure
Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me (Jon Pleased Wimmin’ Flash Vocal)
Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me (Tall Paul Mix)
Don’t Say Your Love Is Killing Me (RH Factor Vocal Club Mix)
I Love Saturday (Beatmasters Club Mix)
In My Arms (Love To Inifinity Stratomaster Mix)
In My Arms (Love To Infinity Gyrator Club MIx)
In My Arms (Crumbling Down Mix)

I’m a huge fan of Best Week Ever, both the TV and the blog and I was made an even bigger fan of them when they linked to me earlier this year. That being said, this post at their site by Dan Hopper really pissed me off.

I do agree that needless reunions by classic bands can do nothing but taint (hehe, I said taint) their musical legacy. I also agree with most of the bands on their list. What really bugs me about the list is that Hopper obviously didn’t know shit about the bands he was mentioning.

For example, he says this about The Sex Pistols’ 1996 reunion:

…what the hell were they going to play live anyway? All the songs off Never Mind the Bollocks in a different order, with “My Way” thrown in?

First of all, it’s hard to accuse a band’s reunion of being cheap and meaningless after they already admitted the same. Secondly, why would The Sex Pistols cover ‘My Way’? Sid Vicious covered that song, not The Pistols. At least the writer was correct in saying that the original line-up was the one that toured (a lot of people assume Sid was part of the original line-up).

He said this about The Eagles’ ‘Hell Froze Over’ tour:

Can you really say “Hell has frozen over” if it’s something no one gives a sh*t about?

I really hate The Eagles and I always will (ironically I love Joe Walsh and can tolerate Glenn Frey, but that’s besides the point). However, to say that no one gives a shit about them is just ignorant, they do have the best-selling album in history after all.

They also knocked Flock Of Seagulls for getting back together, which would’ve been fine if they didn’t help facilitate their reunion on VH1’s shitty ‘reality’ show Bands Reunited! (And by the way, if you want an idea of how bullshit that show was, check out this first-hand account of it by Information Society’s Kurt Harland).

But the comment that really sent me off was the one he made about The Doors:

Here’s a great idea – take a band whose only bit of intrigue is their lead singer’s tumultuous, unpredictable stage presence and reunite them thirty-one years after his death (also thirty-one years after the band broke up, coincidentally).

I’m not a big fan of The Doors, I’ve always thought they were a little bit pretentious and way overrated but even I knew that wasn’t true. The Doors released two albums after Jim Morrison’s death. Of course, they aren’t the world’s most well-known records, but that’s what the internet is for.

Google, motherfucker! can you use it?!

Sigh, anyways this glaring error has forced me to temporarily delay my next post of remixes in order bring light to post-Morrison Doors. Released the same year as Morrison’s death, 1971’s Other Voices was Robby Krieger, Ray Manzarek and John Densmore’s attempt to continue The Doors’ legacy minus their legendary frontman. Probably knowing that no one could replace Jim Morrison, they instead continued as a threesome with both Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek share vocal duties on the album to varying degrees of success. While the record isn’t a masterpiece it does deserve to be given a second chance and be released on CD, something which still hasn’t happened in America. In fact The Doors seemed to have disowned the album (and the one that came after it, 1972’s Full Circle) even failing to include it on the deceptively titled box set The Complete Studio Recordings.

Here is the complete album so you can decide for yourself. If you only want a sample I suggest downloading Ship W/ Sails (which has a bitchin’ organ solo) the groovy ‘Tightrope Ride’ and ‘I’m Horny, I’m Stoned’ simply because it’s called ‘I’m Horny, I’m Stoned.’

The Doors – Other Voices
In The Eye Of The Sun
Variety Is The Spice Of Life
Ship w/ Sails
Tightrope Ride
Down On The Farm
I’m Horny, I’m Stoned
Wandering Musician
Hang On To Your Life