Nirvana Live at the Man Ray – 4.18.90

November 7th, 2011

I don’t know if you all knew this, but I kind of like Nirvana.

So when word spread last week that a previously unreleased Nirvana concert had made its way online, I had to have it. Unfortunately the only place you could get it was on Soundcloud, and they have a 100 download limit cap. Also, the Soundcloud copy of the concert cut out early, leaving four tracks unheard.

Undeterred, I reached out the Duane Bruce, the former Boston DJ who recorded the concert and uploaded it to Soundcloud, and he agreed to send me a copy of the concert to distribute here. Everyone thank Duane!

“Thank you Duane!”

Okay, you can all download it now, since you’ve been so nice. The first link is a zip with the entire show, the others are the individual tracks (and in case you’re wondering, I’m posting links to the MP3 files directly so the post gets picked up by various MP3 aggregators).

Nirvana – 4.18.90 – Live At The Man Ray Nightclub, Cambridge, MA
Intro
School
Floyd The Barber
Love Buzz
Dive
Scoff
About A Girl
Spank Thru
Breed
Some tuning and rambling
In Bloom
Big Cheese
Molly’s Lips
Been A Son
Stain
Negative Creep
More tuning and rambling
Blew
Pay To Play
Quick disclaimer: for a bootleg recording this sounds great, but it’s still a bootleg. There’s a lot of line noise and hum, and a few odd clips and cuts near the end, but none of that should affect your enjoyment of what sounded like a totally kick ass show! Highlights include  a great version of “About A Girl” (which I always thought sounded better “plugged”) and blistering early versions of “Breed” and “Stay Away” (the latter of which is presented in its early “Pay To Play” incarnation).

Thanks again to Duane Bruce!

Posted in bootlegs, live, Nirvana | 6 Comments »

Unidentified Flying Vinyl – File #733 UFO

November 7th, 2011

File #733 UFO  – Courtesy of Jack Jenkins. This record may not be copied without his permission.

Sometimes the weird records I buy take me on weird journeys. This one was one of the weirdest, but also the most fun and surprising.

File #733 U.F.O. is a documentary record. I posted one of these a few months ago, although that record – which was a collection of interviews with prostitutes – was more exploitation than proper documentary.

This record is far more serious and well-produced than that piece of pseudo-titillation. But what is it?

I’ll let the record’s linear notes explain:

“What is a U.F.O.? If you’re looking for a simple answer to this question, you won’t find it in this album. Instead you will hear eye-witnesses claim the UFO’s they’ve seen to be from football-sized to 70 feet wide, flashing every color of the rainbow. Some insist the UFO’s are here on a peaceful mission; another quotes an Air Force officer who states UFO’s accounted for the utter disappearance of three of our aircraft. And a Florida resident wears a lump of scar tissue on his forehead where he says a UFO shot him with a blinding beam of light.

“FILE #733 UFO brings actual voices of Americans who are just like you and me…except for one or two startling experiences. Like the lady who played hostess to seventy people, and every one of them saw the frightening glowing objects that plagued her hillside home for weeks. Or like the California man who rode in a fourteen-room, thirty-foot tall space ship and discussed religion with the commander but who has been asked by the Air Force to soft-pedal the experience. Or the lady whose journey to the corner store was delayed by a firey flying object which stopped her car and ruined the battery. Or the…

But what do the ‘officials’ say? The Air Force spokesman questioned on UFO’s seems to brush the subject aside, leaving only a crack of light beneath a curtain of indifference: yet their project “Blue Book” admits a small percentage of UFO sightings remain unexplained. Scientists meanwhile back away from the subject.

Whatever your notion about Unidentified Flying Objects, “FILE 733, U.F.O.” will be an absorbing listening experience you’ll play over and over again. And, who knows? It may turn out to be history in the making!” – Jim French Radio K.I.R.O.

If you have any interest in UFOs, then you should get a real kick out of this production. The interview subject range from 100% credible to 100% certifiable (more on that in a bit) and regardless of their believability, they’re always entertaining and interesting.

I’d never heard anything like this record and wanted to know more about who made it. The linear notes did include a bit about the record’s producer/narrator, Jack Jenkins:

“Who is Jack Jenkins? The young producer-narrator of FILE #733 UFO is Jack Jenkins, a Korean veteran and inveterate seeker of truth, whose part-time hobby investigating unidentified flying objects reports has consumed thousands of hours – and hundreds of dollars. His search for information on the UFO has taken Jenkins to plausible-seeming pilots, earnest and modest matrons, impassioned self-professed prophets and nerve-wracked homemakers who have grown to wish they’d never been visited by UFOs. The narration contained in this album is concise and documentary in tone, and the voices of the actual UFO contactees or authorities were recording by Jenkins with a minimum of tape-editing, removing only pauses and redundant material. As a broadcast, as well as a long time friend, it’s a pleasure to know that thousands of Americans will now enjoy the opportunity of meeting one of the communications industry’s most promising young men: Jack Jenkins. – Jim French

Those notes did a good job of answering the question “Who is Jack Jenkins?” But I wanted to know “What happened to Jack Jenkins?” I also wanted to find out how he put this record out, what he tought of it, and what he did after it’s release! But as you can probably imagine, information on a 40+ year old record about UFOs is hard to come by, so I had to do the digging myself.

As you can probably imagine, Jack Jenkins is a pretty common name, so finding any information on this Jack Jenkins was really tricky at first. I did searches for “Jack Jenkins KIRO” “Jack Jenkins UFO” and “Jack Jenkins Century Records,” all with no luck. I tried countless other variations as well, each with no credible results. Eventually, I did a search for “Jack Jenkins radio commentator” and I came up with this: a commercial for a film about growing your own food “narrated by former nationally syndicated radio commentator, Jack Jenkins.”

That sounded promising.

The DVD was being released by Country Living Grain Mill, so I visited their website and sent an email to their contact address:

This is going to sound very strange, but I’m trying to track down someone named Jack Jenkins who produced a record in the 1960s about UFOs called “File #733 UFO.” It’s a documentary record that claims to have interviews with actual abuctees and assorted other people connected with UFOs….I know it’s an incredible long shot, but are they the same person? If so…I’d love to get a chance to ask Jenkins a few questions about it. If not…I’m sorry to waste your time with such a very strange question!

The response shocked me:

My father, Jack, produced and narrated File #733 after visiting and interviewing a number of people who claimed to have experiences with UFOs.  He’s not around today, but he’ll be in tomorrow if you’d like to give him a call and chat with him.

-Joel Jenkins

(It is at this point that I would like to remind any of you looking for a freelance researcher/writer that I am always looking for additional work.)

Well, I wasn’t going to turn down an offer like that, so last Wednesday I talked to Jack on the phone for about half an hour. He seemed just as shocked that I was able to track him down as I was, with the first words out of this mouth being “You should be a genealogist! You dig deep!”

After I told him how I was able to find him, he told me the story of how File #733 UFO came to be.

In the mid-1960s Jenkins was a radio host for KING radio in Seattle. During that time he would frequently get calls in from people claiming to have seen UFOs. He already had an interest in the subject, as did many at the time, and these phone calls piqued his curiosity even higher. Starting with the people he talked to on the radio and then going from there, Jenkins went out with a reel-to-reel tape deck and microphone, recording conversations with all kinds of people who claimed to have encounters with alien spacecraft.

But anyone can do that, so how did Jenkins manage to get his conversations pressed to vinyl?

Well, Jenkins knew how to record an album, and he was able to get it pressed, because he was a franchise for Century Records, a small record label based out of California. Working with Century, Jenkins recorded hundreds of local bands, choirs, vocal groups and other acts who wanted their music released. He had this record pressed just like all those others. About a thousand were made, and they were sold primarily in the Pacific Northwest.

As for the content itself, Jenkins considers some of the stories on File #733 UFO to be highly plausible, with reliable witnesses telling credible stories. At the same time, there are also many crackpots on the record whom Jenkins exposed as such. According to Jenkins, this created some scary situations after the record came out.

“I started to get thinly veiled threats that made me begin to worry about my wife and family” he said.

Thankfully, it soon became apparent that the crackpots just wanted what every crackpot wants: money. Eventually, they caved in on their threats and asked Jenkins for a cut of his profits. Since the record didn’t actually make any money for Jenkins, that ended that issue.

As for the more credible people on the record, Jenkins stayed in touch with some of them years after the record was released. He tried to stay in touch with Sid Padrick, one claimed abductee on the record, but some years ago Padrick had apparently vanished without a trace. According to Jenkins, Padrick did always say that he believed the aliens would return for him someday…

(Cue X-Files theme music).

As for Jenkins himself, he eventually left the recording and radio industries altogether. Today, he runs Country Living Mills, selling home grain mills to people around the world. The obvious enthusiasm and energy young Jack Jenkins displayed while talking about aliens on File #733 UFO, the 77-year-old Jenkins shows while discussing grain and grain mills. He believes that people today are too reliant on mass-produced grain and other foods that suck out all the nutrients and are full of harmful chemicals. According to Jenkins, more people should rely on locally grown food and, when possible, prepare their own grain and other foods.

While so many people preaching against big business and corporate food sound like the very crackpots Jenkins exposed on his record, Jenkins comes off incredibly likable and polite, explaining his views in a way that makes sense even to someone like me, who knows next to nothing about food production.

Although Jenkins is no longer involved in radio and he hasn’t worked on another UFO-related project since this record, he’s still immensely proud of the record he made all those years ago, and his faith in the subject remains unwavering.

“I’m delighted with it. I know UFOs are out there and there’s no question about it. And I consider some of the people I met absolutely honest and very plausible. It’s one of those things we probably won’t know for quiet a while. But that’s okay. It’s good to have a few mysteries.”

I thank Jack Jenkins for the opportunity to talk to him about his unique record and I would also like to thank him for letting me share it with all of you. I hope you all find it as fascinating as I do.

 

Posted in Interview, Non-Music, UFOs | 8 Comments »

Sigue Sigue Repost

November 4th, 2011

I have at least two really awesome posts lined up, with some great content and in the case of one, some original research and even a real interview with someone involved with the record! They’re going to be awesome.

But they also take a ton of work, so here’s some Sigue Sigue Sputnik until I get them done.

Sigue Sigue Sputnik
Love Missile F1-11 (Extended Version)
Love Missile F1-11 (Dance Version)
Love Missile F1-11 (Single Version)
Sex Bomb Boogie (Magic Flute)
Sex Bomb Dance
Success! (12″ Dance Mix)
Success! (7″ Single Mix)
Success! (Funky Mix)
Success! (Balaeracidic Mix)
Success! (Metal Hammer Mix)
Success! (Micro-Dub Mix)
I have posted all these tracks before, however they were recorded on my old shitty turntable. These are all new recordings taken from my Technics 1200. I also originally posted most of these tracks in 2007, when no one read this blog, as opposed to now…when dozens of people read it! But if you were one of the eight people who downloaded the remixes of “Success!” back when I first posted them, download them again, these versions sound light years better.

“Love Missile F1-11” is SSS’s most well-known track, but in my opinion both “Sex Bomb Boogie” and “Success!” are far superior, especially “Success!” SSS was a band whose image and music perfectly encapsulated the mid-80s, but “Success!” is their only track that also manage to capture in lyrics everything that was brilliant and bullshit about that ultra-superficial era. It makes sense that many of the remixes incorporate aspects of the “Greed is good” speech from Wall Street, it was a creed that the members of SSS no doubt (ironically) embraced with gusto. Now, with all the Occupy Wall Street shit going down, the song is ironically relevant all over again! In my mind there are choreographed protests set to this song.

My mind is kind of weird.

Anyways, some really good stuff next week I promise! I hope you enjoy the reposted synthpop.

Posted in remixes, Sigue Sigue Sputnik | 7 Comments »

Game Theory’s Lolita Nation – The Best Album You Never Heard

November 2nd, 2011

The music is so good tonight let’s just get right into it.



Game Theory
Not Beacuse You Can
We Love You Carol And Alison
The Waist And The Knees
Mammoth Gardens
Chardonnay
I would say that approximately 20%-30% of my record purchases are random, meaning I know next to nothing about them when I decide to buy them. Why do I buy them? Maybe they have exceptionally awesome art; a great cover tune; or I recognize someone in the linear notes (like when I bought that Lisa Dalbello album because Mick Ronson produced it). It’s a habit that has given me a lot of clunkers, but for every 10 piles of forgettable wax, there’s at least one amazing discovery that made all the failures more than worth it. The Urgh! soundtrack (which I totally have to revisit here soon); that previously mentioned Lisa Dalbello album; that crazy Fireballet album – all of them were albums I wouldn’t have bought if I stuck solely to the safe stuff, artists I recognize or genres I’m comfortable with.

This weekend I made such a random purchase when I picked up Lolita Nation, a 1987 album by the now-defunct California band Game Theory. I bought it only because I recognized Mitch Easter as the producer, and it featured a guest appearance by someone from Paisley Park records, Prince’s label. That’s all I knew about the record when I dropped the needle on side one.

When I lifted the needle at the end of side four, my mind was freaking blown.

Since that first listen I’ve replayed the album about 10 times. I love it more each time I hear it. I love everything about it. I love Scott Miller’s vocals; I love the odd combination of art-rock and jangle-pop; I love the complexity of the lyrics. I LOVE IT ALL. If I had to make a list of my top 10 albums of the 80s right now, it would probably be on it. (For the record, I’m never going to even try to make that list.) It’s like some dream combination of early REM, mid-80s Sonic Youth, Big STar, and every album every power-pop band has ever wanted to make but failed. It’s perfect.

How the hell does something this amazing get lost in the shuffle?! I could see it not catching on like wildfire in 1987. That was the year that Bon Jovi ruled the airwaves after all, but how come it hasn’t caught on since then?

Well, it’s probably because it’s never been re-issued in any format since its original release in 1987. Enigma Records, the band’s label at the time, went belly up a few years after the album’s release, and none of Game Theory’s back catalog, Lolita Nation included, has seen the light of day since. A lot of blogs have tackled the topic, and Game Theory drummer Gil Ray even wrote something about the album’s (lack of) availability.

His sentiments are shared by me: Lolita Nation should be re-released, not because a reissue would make someone a lot of money, but because it would make a very small group of people very happy. I own the album on vinyl now, and was given a lossless CD rip by someone, but I would gladly buy a new copy of the album just to show my support. This album is so magnificent that I have no problem buying it multiple times over out of principle alone.

I think people should buy this album – but they can’t, and that’s a situation that has left me with quite the moral dilemma. Usually when I have a record that is out-of-print I have no problems posting it in it’s entirety here. But with Lolita Nation…I just can’t do that. I can’t allow myself to contribute to any lack of sales the album might suffer from me posting the record for free. So instead, I’m just putting up a few highlights, my favorite tracks from the record. Sorry to be such a tease about it, but I just can’t morally justify posting this one in its entirety, I hope you understand. I also hope you download the tracks I have posted, because they’re audio perfection personified.

Enjoy them, and expect something completely different for my next post.

Seriously, you have no idea.

Posted in Game Theory, GOAT | 15 Comments »

Halloween Horrors Part 2 – John Harrison and George Romero

October 29th, 2011

I live in Pittsburgh, and let me tell you, people in Pittsburgh love their zombies.

It’s all because of George Romero. The director of Night/Dawn/Day/Land/Diary/Survival of the Dead was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and he set most of the films in the series in and around the greatest Pittsburgh area.

George Romero is known for keeping a semi-constant cast of actors and behind-the-scenes people with him. Both Gaylen Ross and Ken Foree from Dawn of the Dead went to star on in other films by the director, and Tom Savini’s pretty much been his right-hand gore man since the beginning. He’s even had actors grandfathered into this films. “Chilly” Billy Cardille was in the original Night Of The Living Dead, and some 18 years later Billy’s daughter Lori was cast as the lead in Day of The Dead.

Another person who has stuck around with Romero over the years has been John Harrison. A friend of Romero, his work with the director goes all the way back to Dawn of the Dead, where he had the uncredited role of “Screwdriver Zombie.” A couple years later, Romero cast Harrison again for another bit part, this time in the drama Knightriders. From there, his work with Romero increased. He was credited as the first assistant director in both Day of the Dead and Creepshow, and more recently he served as an executive producer on Diary of the Dead.

But wait, there’s more! Harrison didn’t just work as an A.D. and bit-part cast member for Romero, he also worked as a composer (and I thought John Carpenter’s multi-tasking was impressive). Harrison composed the scores for both Creepshow and Day of the Dead. Unfortunately, both of those soundtracks are out of print and go for a damn fortune online, if you can even track them down. But hey, that’s why you come here, right?

 

 Creepshow – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

Prologue/Welcome To Creepshow (Main Title)
Father’s Day
The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill
Something To Tide You Over
The Crate
They’re Creeping Up On You
Epilogue
Until Next Time…(End Title)
Creepshow is a pretty awesome movie, and one of the best examples of comedy/horror ever made. Each of the film’s five short stories work great on their own, and both as a larger conceptual piece that pays homage to the EC horror comics of the 1950s. It’s such a great movie that I don’t want to say that much about it just in case someone reading this hasn’t yet seen it. It’s on Netflix Watch Instantly, so if you have that, check it out and marvel at Adrienne Barbeau’s ability to transform herself into one of the most unlikable characters in the history of motion pictures.

The soundtrack to Creepshow is kind of a modern (well, modern for 1982) marvel. As the linear notes state, almost the entire thing was composed on a PROPHET V polyphonic synthesizer and a pair of grand pianos. While the score does have an undeniable electronic sound (which is one of the reasons why it’s so great), it also has a depth and complexity that deny its rather humble origins. Parts of this sound like they came straight from of an orchestra. It’s without a doubt one of the best synth scores of the 80s, and works both as creepy background music and as a standalone piece.

This recording is from my personal vinyl copy, which looks like it was well-loved by its original owner. There are some scratches in parts, but as a whole it sounds pretty good.

 

George A. Romero’s Day Of The Dead – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack

The Dead Suite
Breakdown
Escape Invasion
The Dead Walk
If Tomorrow Comes
The World Inside Your Eyes
Deadly Beginnings
Diner Of The Living Dead
Dead Calm
Bub’s 9th
Dead End
In the five-plus years (holy shit!) years I’ve been writing here at The Lost Turntable, I’ve posted more than my fair share of rare and hard-to-find recordings. So trust me that it means something when I say that this soundtrack might be the rarest and most difficult to track down recording I’ve ever posted.

The Day of the Dead soundtrack was originally issued on vinyl and cassette in 1982 1985. It was comprised of six tracks, with “The Dead Suite” taking up the entire B-side of the record. That version of the soundtrack is rare enough as it is, and you can usually find it going for somewhere between $20-$40 online.

However, like many soundtracks made for vinyl releases at the time, the score to Day of the Dead had to be severely abbreviated to fit on one record. It was not until 2002 when the soundtrack would be re-released on CD, courtesty of Numenorean Music. As far as I can tell, Numenorean Music no longer exists, and in their brief existence they only issued three releases: a 2-CD remaster of The Dark Crystal soundtrack, a release of the score to the 1990 remake of Night of the Living Dead; and this expanded edition of the Day of the Dead soundtrack.

Each of these releases were given extremely limited runs. They printed 5,000 copies of the Dark Crystal soundtrack, and only 3,000 each of the NOTLD and Day of the Dead soundtracks.

Today, these go for insane prices online, if you can find them at all. A new copy of the Dark Crystal score goes for almost $90 on Amazon, and for about $70 on Discogs marketplace. A copy of the NOTLD soundtrack is for sale for $70 on Discogs also, but the highest it has ever sold for is $32 bucks.

Then there’s this soundtrack. As of right now, someone on Discogs is trying to unload their copy for a whopping $425. They’re probably asking a bit much, but Discogs records show that the CD has actually been sold for as much as $112. I tried to find out if that price was an anomaly, but I couldn’t. I could hardly find anything about this release online. I don’t know how much it routinely sells for because, quite frankly, none of the 3,000 people who have a copy seem to be looking to let it go.

I don’t even think anyone has even ripped a copy and shared it online before, which means I’m making history here tonight!

So how is the soundtrack? It’s good enough. Unlike the score to Creepshow, it actually features some full instrumentation thanks to Pittsburgh band Modern Man. Two of the tracks also feature vocals by the awesomely named Sputzy Sparacino and a gospel singer who goes by the name Delilah. While the soundtrack to Creepshow is an awesome product of its time, parts of this score are a little dated, and the two pop songs are just downright silly in the context of an apocalyptic zombie movie. The 20-minute “Dead Suite” remains a highlight though, as do many of the other instrumental pieces on the record.

And in case you’re wondering how I got a copy of this bad boy, my mom bought it for me at a used CD store for 10 bucks. Go mom!

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 5 Comments »

Halloween Horrortracks

October 28th, 2011

I love horror movies.

I also love their soundtracks. It always amazes me how many soundtracks to great (and…not so great) horror movies end up going out of print! A well-crafted horror movie soundtrack can be just as memorable and creepy as the movie’s villain. Think of a movie like Jaws or Halloween, those movies are scarier because of their amazing scores! It’s a shame that so many soundtracks to lesser horror films have become lost over the years.

While I’ll be the first to admit that none of the soundtracks I’m featuring tonight can hold a candle to the films I just mentioned, they are still worth mentioning and might serve as great background music to your Halloween party, if nothing else.

 

The Fog


Matthew Ghost Story
Main Title Theme
Walk to the Lighthouse
Rocks at Drake’s Bay
The Fog
Antonio Bay
Tommy Tells of Ghost Ships
Reel 9
Can anyone else name a director who also scores most of his or her films? I sure can’t think of one – John Carpenter walks alone. With awesome keyboards.

For a long time John Carpenter’s scores were nearly impossible to find, but over the past few years many of his best soundtracks have found their way back into release. Today you can easily pick up the scores to such classics as They Live, Prince of Darkness, Escape from New York,  and the first three Halloween films, complete and uncut! The soundtrack to The Fog was available on CD for a while too, but for some reason that version has lapsed back out of print. It’s a shame. It may lack some of the hooks or melodies that made Carpenter’s other scores so memorable, but I still enjoy it immensely. It has a atmospheric, brooding feeling that perfectly encompasses the slow dreadful feeling you get from the film as you see the zombie-filled fog slowly roll its way across the town, killing anyone who gets in its path. I haven’t seen The Fog since I was in high school, I really have to re-visit this movie. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it.

Just avoid that remake. Ugh.

It’s Alive 2 (AKA It Lives Again)


Main Title
Birth Traumas
Lamentation
Savage Trilogy
Nightmares
Beautiful and Bizarre
Revulsion
Basement Nursery
Evil Evolving
Living With Fear
Stalking The Infants
Climax
It Lives Again, the sequel to the only movie that I know of that put my mother into shock while she saw it (true story – Hi mom!).

Despite what my mother might tell you otherwise, the original It’s Alive is an awesome movie, and not just for its schlock and shock value. For a movie about a mutant killer baby, there’s a lot going on there! It talks about women’s rights, the environment, government corruption, prejudice, and tabloid journalism. Deep shit!

The movie was directed by Larry Cohen, a twisted genius of a filmmaker who also made The Stuff, a movie about killer ice cream, and Q: The Winged Serpent, an AMAZING movie about a giant winged serpent that lives on top of the Chrysler Building and eats people. Seek those movies out, they will change your life.

The score for It’s Alive 2 is just a slightly modified version of the score to the original film, which was composed by the legendary composer Bernard Herrmann. During his illustrious career, Herrmann composed the scores to countless classics, including Citizen Kane, Vertigo, Psycho, The Birds, Cape Fear, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Jason and the Argonauts and Sisters. The last movie to feature one of his scores to come out before he died was It’s Alive, his actual last score was for Taxi Driver, but that didn’t come out until after he passed away.

Of the three scores I’m featuring here tonight, this is my favorite. Just like a great horror film, it’s filled with mystery, intrigue and the occasional jump scare. I also love its subtle use of electronic instruments, something that Herrmann was known for as far back as the 1960s.

This recording sounds amazing too, because until about three hours ago, my copy was sealed and had never been played.

Killer babies!

 

Leviathan


Underwater Camp
Decompression
Discovery
One of Us
The Body Within
Escape Bubbles
Can We Fix It
Situation Under Control
It’s Growing
Too Hot
A Lot Better
In 1989, three underwater-themed horror/sci-fi movies were released in American theaters; The Abyss, Deep Star Six, and Leviathan. Of the three, The Abyss is rightfully the most remembered. It was directed by James Cameron, had a huge budget with jaw-dropping and revolutionary special effects, and a touching story that managed to simultaneously deal with small, interpersonal relationships as well as the dangers of the military-industrial complex and cold war paranoia (at least it did in the Director’s Cut).

Deep Star Six, on the other hand, is a horrendously awful underwater monster film by Sean S. Cunningham, the director of Friday The 13th. It’s only redeeming quality is it’s incredibly bizarre cast, which includes Nia Peeples from Fame, Miguel Ferrrer (The Stand) and that dude from B.J. and The Bear. Don’t see it.

Somewhere in between (although admittedly closer to Deep Star Six) is Leviathan.

Leviathan certainly isn’t a good film by any means, but it’s not horrible, and is definitely entertaining. One thing is for sure, it has a pretty stellar cast of B-movie stars and characters actors, including Peter Weller (fucking Robocop!) Ernie Hudson (a fucking Ghostbuster!), Richard Crenna (fucking Trautman from Rambo!) and Daniel Stern (fucking….Daniel Stern! Dude was in Home Alone! And CHUD!).

It also probably helped that the film had a halfway decent director in George P. Costomas, a work-for-hire director who churned out entertaining films of questionable quality during the 80s (Cobra, First Blood: Part II, Of Unknown Origin) before somehow scoring a gig directing Tombstone in 1993 (although Kurt Russell would later claim he ghost-directed that film). The man knew how to work with a limited budget, and manages to make the most out of the rather silly practical monster effects throughout the film.

The plot of Leviathan is almost identical to that of Alien, so it’s probably more than just coincidence that they hired the composer of Alien, Jerry Goldsmith, to do the film’s score. It’s not the most creepy of scores, but it does feature whale songs! So hey…that’s something I guess.

Random thought: Wouldn’t it be fucking incredible if the heavy metal band Mastodon made their album Leviathan to be in sync with this movie? Hey, you potheads out there, go find that out for me.

By the way, the babies in the It’s Alive movies could totally fuck up the monster in Leviathan.

Posted in Complete Albums, soundtrack | 2 Comments »

Falling into a Pretty Soundwave

October 25th, 2011

Pearl Jam update for those wondering.

Over at the Ten Club message boards there are over 600 posts in the thread petitioning for a re-release of the deluxe Blu-ray/DVD sets. Ten Club’s stance remains that the discs will not be re-pressed, despite the fact that it appears they haven’t even been pressed in the first place due to a manufacturing error. They refuse to say why. The twitter accounts for Pearl Jam and Pearl Jam guitarist Mike McCready remain silent on the matter – despite this, my polite harrassment has not stopped.

The second disc of extras is oddly available on iTunes as a digital download, which I suspect is the real reason why they won’t re-issue the set – another fucking exclusivity deal. I find it odd that Pearl Jam is more than happy to take money from big businesses, but not from eager fans who are more than willing to pay for this content.

Since they aren’t though, if you are a Pearl Jam fan and want this footage, I suggest you steal it from torrents, it’ll be up there soon enough. I bought the second disc of extras on iTunes and while the content itself is AMAZING, the presentation blows, the video quality is shit, and you can’t burn it to disc (on a related note, if you know how to do this, let me know).

Anyways, enough of this depressing corporate bullshit, let’s listen to an incredibly odd assortment of 80s dance music.

Shockingly enough, both of the singles from which I got these songs came out in 1987. They sound like they were recorded in different dimensions, let alone different years.

Pretty Poison
Catch Me (I’m Falling) (12″ Mix)
Catch Me (I’m Falling) (Dub Mix)
Catch Me (I’m Falling) (Dance Mix)
Catch Me (I’m Falling) (Radio Mix)
I think this song is right up there with Stacey Q’s “Two of Hearts” as “the most 80s shit ever.” In fact, I think it might be even more 80s than “Two Of Hearts.” While both feature that awesome “let’s sample the lead singer’s vocals and play it on the keyboard” effect, “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” edges out “Two of Hearts” in a few ways in terms of all-out-80s-amazingness. First of all, it was featured in the soundtrack to Hidin’ Out, a movie starring Brat Packer Jon Cryer. Secondly, the lead singer’s name is Jade Starling. Thirdly, and most importantly, its video is bloody amazing, filled with just about every 80s dance video stereotype imaginable. Random people jumping through the air? Check. Giant dyed hair? Triple check. A keytar? Fuck yeah check (oh, and the dude playing the keytar went by the name Whey Cooler. WHEY COOLER!). And a random shot of someone singing while looking through the blinds at sunset? Oh yeah check.

Most 80s shit ever.

Renegade Soundwave
Kray Twins
Renegade Theme
Kray Twins (Terror Drum Mix)
Kray Twins (7″ Easy Mix)
Kray Twins (Dragon Bass Sound System Mix)
I’m not going to lie, between the artists I’m posting tonight, I’d much rather listen to the Pretty Poison remixes than these cuts by Renegade Soundwave. “Catch Me (I’m Falling)” may be dumb as shit, but it’s also catchy as shit, and as a result, more than a little bit brilliant. “Kray Twins” is just…well…weird? I don’t even know. I usually love me some Renegade Soundwave too, but I just do not get this song. I thought my turntable was playing at the wrong speed at first. But hey, it’s still worth a listen or two. I do enjoy the last remix, some proto-DNB in there for sure.

Also, The Kray Twins were real people. Read up on them, fascinating stuff.

Posted in Pretty Poison, remixes, Renegade Soundwave | 5 Comments »

Being a Fan is a Losing Battle: Pearl Jam, Selling Out and Sell Outs

October 21st, 2011

I’ve been told by many people that I like music too much. My usual response is “that’s not possible.” But today I think they may be right. If I don’t like music too much, I definitely expect too much from the people who make it, the people who give me one of my few sources of joy and happiness (in case you’re wondering, my other sources of happiness are kung fu movies, sushi, root beer and vodka – sometimes all at once).

I love a lot of bands and I don’t really have a favorite, but whenever I’m pressed to pick on I usually say Pearl Jam, although my fandom with Pearl Jam kind of came about in an odd way.

I was in junior high when Ten first came out and I liked it enough, but by the time Vitalogy was released I had pretty much lost interest in the group. That’s about when I discovered electronic music, and that consumed my popular music interest for a few years.

I didn’t fall in love with Pearl Jam until 2000, when they released live albums for all of their concerts in an effort to combat high-priced, shitty sounding bootlegs. I borrowed a few from a friend who was a die-hard Pearl Jam fanatic and quickly re-discovered the group. By the time I was done listening to all the albums my friend had, I was floored.

I was amazed to hear how different their setlists were from night to night. I loved how open they were to fan interaction and spontaneity. They always sounded like they were having a blast no matter how late into the tour it was. Most importantly though, they sounded fucking AMAZING. I couldn’t believe a band like Pearl Jam, a band that really had nothing left to prove, could consistently hit it out of the park almost every night.

It was then that I became hooked. I bought as many of the live CDs as I could. I joined Ten Club, the official Pearl Jam fan club. I even followed them on tour whenever they came to my neck of the woods. Since 2000 I’ve seen the group over 10 times, far more than any other band.

I have a framed copy of Yield on my wall in my living room for fuck’s sake. It’s an unhealthy obsession.

And Pearl Jam wasn’t just a great live band that put out great records (Binaural is a great, underrated album, check it out) but they also seemed to care about important shit. While so many other bands of the 90s seemed to sell out their indie ideals as soon as the money started to roll in, Pearl Jam seemed to hold on to them as best they could. They released their concerts on CD not to make money, but to save fans from buying crap bootlegs; they played important benefits shows and spoke out on important causes; they never wrote songs that objectified women or glorified violence. It’s a hard quality to quantify, but they seemed to “get it.”

In 2009, they got a lot of shit when they announced that their album Backspacer would be a Target exclusive release. It sounded like they were selling out their ideals for a quick buck, but when the band had a chance to explain themselves it didn’t look nearly as bad. (I even defended the band for doing it.)

It turned out that the album was only a “big box” exclusive for Target. This meant that while other national chains like Best Buy and Wal-Mart wouldn’t be able to carry it, local independent stores (and iTunes) would have the album for sale. And of course you could still get it at the band’s official website on both CD and vinyl. Pearl Jam gets paid, indie stores don’t get screwed, and the fans get the CD at a fair price. Everyone wins. And the album was pretty damn good too, their best in years.

Pearl Jam turned 20 this year (and I feel old). The band had a lot of festivities to celebrate. There was the huge PJ20 concert in Wisconsin, a small Canadian tour, and a movie called PJ20 directed by Cameron Crowe. It had a super-limited theatrical run, so I was excited to buy it when it came out on Blu-ray, which I was sure would have a ton of bonus features. Eventually, a special “Limited Edition” 3 disc Blu-ray set was announced at the website for $80. I didn’t mind that price, but at the time I was still financially recovering from Outside Lands and couldn’t afford it. So I decided to hold off for a bit.

Mistake on my part, because, unlike many of the other products Pearl Jam markets as a “Limited Edition,” this actually was. Now they are both sold out. Why the hell the band would decide to make THAT limited and not the 80 billion other things that they say are limited but actually aren’t just doesn’t make any sense. It’s even more confusing when you consider they announced the very expensive set right after the PJ20 concert and the Canadian tour, so die-hard fans who follow the band on tour were probably strapped for cash.

This is manufactured rarity and I hate it with every fiber of my being. It’s quickly becoming a problem in the music industry that’s driving me batshit bonkers. I get that some things are only going to be available in limited quantities, but it’s not the sort of thing that should be purposely planned if the band or label can avoid it, because it accomplishes nothing. All it does is anger fans who are unable to buy something the second it is announced, and create a sick secondary market where assholes who bought multiple copies can pawn theirs on eBay for hundreds of dollars over the original price. It also takes money away from the band, don’t they want supply to meet demand? That means more money! I’m sure someone out there thinks that it helps fight piracy by encouraging fans to buy physical products, but guess what? Since I can’t buy that three-disc set I’m most likely going to download it off a torrent site or borrow it from someone who does have it and rip my own copy.

But that’s just the tip of the iceberg, and the aspect about the PJ20 Blu-ray release that bothers me least.

So, I lost the chance to buy the Deluxe Edition, okay, so can I buy the standard edition Blu-ray at their website?

Nope.

How about at an indpendent record store, or online at Amazon or another store?

Nope.

Where can I buy it?

Best fucking Buy.

That’s right. The Blu-ray of PJ20 is a timed Best Buy exclusive. If you want it before Christmas then you have to go to Best Buy to get it. No alternatives.

Let’s go back in time a bit, back when Pearl Jam announced that deal with Target. In an interview on the matter, Eddie said this:

“”We’ve put a tremendous amount of thought into this, and we’ve done it in a way that we think will be good for everybody. I can’t think of anything we’ve ever done without putting it through our own personal moral barometer. Target has passed for us. The fans just have to trust us.”

The band’s manager, Kelly Curtis, also had a lot to say on the topic:

“We’ll have a lot of partners…Target ended up allowing us to have other partners. We’ll be able to take care of all levels of the Pearl Jam fan…Target was cool enough to realize that little independent record stores are not their competition.”

“I make decisions around the band’s business that are consistent with their overall philosophy,” said Curtis, “which is to sell music in a way that’s accessible and affordable to their fans, on every distribution platform that their fans access music, and in a way that takes care of the little guys. I wanted our plan to be multi-dimensional to address old and modern ways of fans accessing music. It will allow all of our fans to have the same access.”

Who is this deal good for? It’s good for the band, of course, because they get money. But independent record stores get fucked, They miss out on a huge music release during the holiday season. And fans who actually care about corporate responsibility (something the band used to spout about a lot) and don’t want to support Best Buy because of all the sick, disgusting and horrible things they have done to consumers over the years, then they’re just fuck out of luck too aren’t they? They pass the band’s moral barometer? A company that has actually been fined by the government for illegal business practices is okay with Pearl Jam? What the fuck happened to their morals then?

But wait, there’s more!

Earlier this year the band released an amazing Super Deluxe box set of Vs. and Vitalogy. It had both albums on CD and vinyl as well as bonus tracks, a live concert and so much more. It’s a great set for both hardcore and casual fans alike. I, like many Pearl Jam fans, bought it the second I could afford to.

Well, apparently the band had some extras lying around that they wanted to get rid of, because they re-released the box set with this added bit in the description:

â–ª THE FIRST 500 TO ORDER, beginning 10/19/11, WILL RECEIVE THE “LIVE FROM THE MOORE” VAULT SHOW #1 CD THAT MEMBERS RECEIVED AT ALPINE VALLEY
â–ª YOU COULD RECEIVE ONE OF 8 SIGNED SUPER DELUXE COPIES (RANDOMLY DISTRIBUTED)

So hey, if you’re a die-hard fan then you’re a sucker! You should have waited a few months so you can get even more music (in the form of a super-rare CD!) and a chance of an autograph! Loser! But hey, if you want to buy it again no one is stopping you!

What. The. Fuck.

In one hand you have the Blu-ray and DVD box sets. If you didn’t order them right away then you’re an idiot. You’re never gong to get that again (unless the band re-issues it AFTER the Best Buy exclusive deal for the single-disc version ends). You know, after everyone bought it so they can double-dip.

In the other hand, you have this box set. If you ordered that too soon then you’re an idiot and you won’t get the really cool and hard-to-find content.

Ugh.

When people say I care too much about music, I think this must be what they mean. I care about not only the music, but the people who make it. I want them not to be the scum of the earth, or at least be consistent about it.

If Aerosmith did this, no one would care; because they’ve never ranted about the evils of corporate greed and the importance of independent record stores. When you have no ideals, then you really can’t sell out.

But when you do have ideals, or at least make it appear that you do, then I guess the only place you can go is down.

No music tonight. I was going to put up some rare Pearl Jam (because I have TONS) but I really don’t feel like listening to a bunch of hypocrites right now.

Posted in No music, Pearl Jam, rant | 14 Comments »

Flock of Bootlegs

October 20th, 2011

If any of you follow me on Twitter, then you may already know that I might have to go on another grunge-related rant next week. For that I apologize.

Until then, let’s keep the happy synthpop train rolling!

Depeche Mode
Only When I Lose Myself (Lexicon Avenue Remix) 
It’s come to this, I have so many Depeche Mode singles (over 80 if you count the box sets) that I have to resort to white label bootlegs to get my remix fix. I’m willing to accept that if it means I can get more awesome mixes like this one, however. I’m digging this mix a lot at the moment. It’s very chill and minimal, and it really takes its time to develop. And since “Only When I Lose Myself” is one of those Mode tracks where all you need is Gahan’s haunting vocals, the sparse, bare-bones treatment fits the track perfectly. A quality mix that’s better than a lot of the official remixes that were on the last Depeche Mode remix compilation, it’s definitely worth a listen or twenty.

Flock of Seagulls
I Ran (Flatline Remix)
So one time I went to this weird hipster party in Pittsburgh and a band called Tehran Iran was playing. They came out dressed as sheikhs and played punk rock covers of Duran Duran songs. It was pretty awesome. For their encore they played “I Ran,” changing the chorus to “But Iran/Iran is so far away.”  Good times.

Anyways, this is another bootleg remix, bought in the same batch as that previously mentioned Depeche Mode remix. I never thought I’d find a trance remix of a Flock of Seagulls track, let alone like it a lot. Will the wonders never cease?

Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Welcome To The Pleasuredome (Trevor Horn Remix)
Get It On (Bang a Gong)
Relax International (Live)
Speaking of bootlegs, has anyone ever done a mash-up of “Welcome To The Pleasuredome” with Public Enemy’s “Welcome To the Terrordome?” It seems like the kind of thing that just should create itself into existence, it’s so obvious.

These tracks are not bootlegs, they are taken from one of the 86 zillion Frankie Goes to Hollywood 12″ singles that came out between the years 1983-85.  Because, y’know, the world needed as many remixes of “Relax” as possible! It’s how we survived the Reagan years. That’s a fact. You can look it up.

And that “Get It On” cover is ridiculous and I love every minute of it!

Posted in bootlegs, covers, Depeche Mode, Flock Of Seagulls, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, live, remixes | 2 Comments »

The Human League is Totally Awesome

October 19th, 2011

Don’t you want me OOOOOHooooooohOOOOOOOHooooooooooooh

Sorry.

Pet Shop Boys
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Brother Brown’s Newt Mix) 
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Attaboy Still Love You When We’re Sober Mix)
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (The T-Total Mix)
You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk (Brother Brown’s Newt Dub)
I bought this, along with three other Pet Shop Boys singles today. That brings my total PSB singles count to 40. Forty. Four-zero. That is a lot of fabulous. The only artist I have more singles of is Erasure, and possibly Madonna – I have to recount. One day I’m going to get all the singles from Erasure, the Pet Shop Boys and Madonna and I’m going to open the best gay bar ever. I’m sure that’ll help me get all the women.

I don’t have much to say about these mixes, probably because this isn’t one of my favorite PSB tracks. I like the stutter edit on the title lyric, but other than that, I find it pretty bland, kind of like a slightly more upbeat (musically, not lyrically) version of “Rent.” The T-Total mix has a great beat though and they’re all still worth a listen if you like the Boys.

The Human League
Don’t You Want Me (Snap 12″ Extended Remix)
Don’t You Want Me (Red Jerry 12″ Remix)
Okay, I need help here, is the “Snap” who created this rather amazing remix of “Don’t You Want Me” the same Snap who brought us “The Power?” Someone find this shit out, it’s important. If that is the case, then this remix is automatically 8 billion times better than it already is, and that’s saying something since as it stands now it’s pretty freaking radical. Equally bitchin’ is the Red Jerry mix. I actually know who that is though, he’s a DJ from the UK. Although I only know this because he inexplicably has a Wikipedia page. Yay for needless wiki pages! They make hasty midnight research oh so much easier.

I’m going to rock out to these mixes all night. Who the fuck needs sleep? I have awesome synthpop.

Moby
Everytime You Touch Me (John Blackford Remix)
“Everytime You Touch Me” is one of my top five 90s house tracks of all time. It’s one of the most energetic, upbeat and lovey-dovey dance tunes ever and it makes me happy everytime I hear it. At least, that was the case until I heard this crazy remix, which was actually the winning submission in a fan remix contest by Moby and Elektra back in the mid-90s. This mix is nothing like the original. It strips away all of the positive feelings and energy of the original and replaces them with minimal melodies and creepy as all fuck vocal samples, including this gem:

“I always had a suspicion that it might be supremely pleasurable to be humiliated by a beautiful woman. It was only now I realized what this could entail.”

Okay…um…ew. I’m going to have to listen to those “Don’t You Want Me” remixes about a billion more times just to get this creepfest out of my brain.

Don’t you want me OOOOOHooooooohOOOOOOOHooooooooooooh!!!!!!!

Damn that song is awesome.

Posted in Moby, Pet Shop Boys, remixes, The Human League | 4 Comments »

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