Fans of the Fender burner rejoice; this March will see an album of new Hendrix material released on Sony. ‘Valleys of Neptune’, the follow-up to 1968’s ‘Electric Ladyland’, features 12 unreleased Jimi songs recorded in New York and London in ’69, unheard arrangements of ‘Stone Free’ and ‘Fire’, as well as covers of Elmore James’ ‘Bleeding Heart’ and Cream’s‘Sunshine of your Love’. You can pre-order it here at Jimi-Hendrix.com.
Sony are also planning to reissue ‘Are You Experienced?’, ‘Axis: Bold is Love’, ‘Electric Ladyland’‘First Rays of the New Rising Sun’ and , which will all include Bob Smeaton directed documentaries on a Bonus DVD. When? 8th of March!
Oh...and ‘Live at Woodstock’ is also coming to Blue-ray. Go and spread the joy.
Oh boy, in these grim times of global financial breakdown, international terrorism, imminent climate disaster and Jimmy Carr, you’d think that the toupee supporting Goldbergenstein’s running Hollywood would be sending some goodtime flicks the way of honest old Joe Schmoe, something to lighten the mood a little, to take the edge of the impending doom.
Well, apart from a slew of distressing remakes (Karate Kid, Teenwolf, Nightmare On Elm Street), Tinsletown has decided to hop aboard the zeitgeist by stuffing it’s bucks into a series of ‘End of the World’ movies to keep those smiles upside down well into the New Year. ‘2012’ is out now, borrowing all the old ideas and FX from the likes of ‘The Day After Tomorrow, ‘Armageddon’and ‘Deep Impact’, while Denzel Washington’s ‘Book of Eli’and the big screen adaptation of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer winning ‘The Road’ bring the joys of post apocalyptic struggle to your attention. I’ve seen the latter and it’s no chucklefest!
Well, if it’s got to be doom and gloom, please let me offer you an alternative ‘Life after the Bomb’ movie, one with swords, guitars, Ruski-surf-rock and a story so out there that it’ll have you sweating like a Geordie in a spelling contest. Ladies and Gentlemen.....Six String Samurai!
In 1957, the Russian’s dropped several nukes on the good old USA, turning the landscape into a scorched and inhospitable desert. With the government wiped out, the leadership of the fractured nation was placed on the shoulders of Elvis, who would fly the flag for what was left of America from his desert throne at ‘Lost Vegas’.
A couple of decades later and a mysterious Disc Jockey sends a message over the airways; The King is dead! A challenge is issued for musicians to fight their way to Lost Vegas and claim the throne of the King. Among those making the deadly journey is our hero for 90 minutes, Buddy (yep, Holly). Buddy is equal parts guitar virtuoso and deadly samurai, who hides his razorsharp katana sword behind his beloved Gibson E S 335, battling scumbags and scavengers, a Russian Surf Band (The Red Elvises), a murderous bowling team and what seems to be Death, done up as Slash, on his way to claiming the throne.
Ok ok, its shit. But at least somebody out there is using their imagination and, at the very least, it’s worth a few cheap laughs. Here’s the trailer. I apologise in advance.
A belated Happy Birthday to one of the most twisted visionaries ever to pick up a camera, David Lynch, who turned 64 on the 20th of January. Go and buy ‘Mulholland Drive’ right now and stay away from the alley behind Winkies!!
I was at a Bob Dylan show the other day, watching the mean old sonofabitch ruin his back catalogue in the usual blurt and mumble style that any review of the last 10 years would have let you know about in advance. It was expected, and as I didn’t exactly fork out the 45 bones for entry, I guess I couldn’t complain too much (though I did).
Apart from his heinous vocal delivery, the other thing that stuck in my craw was the musicians that he had surrounded himself with. In the same way that Jools Holland joins his guests and ruins their vibe with his soulless, glossy, unbearably ‘on the ball’ piano plonkin’, Zimmerman’s boys were just too slick to stick! With no character to their playing, the beautiful eccentricities of old Bobby’s raw classics were sanded, varnished, polished and placed in history’s cabinet next to Stevie Wonder’s talent and Iggy Pop’s soul.
As the house lights went up and Dylan’s hardcore fans jostled with the truth, I found myself comparing his band of hired guns to some of the scuzziest club bands that have fired me full of electricity each time I’ve dropped a needle on their wax or wrestled at the front of one of their shows. If a band of 6 over proficient musicians, with an envious catalogue of songs to choose from, can fail so miserably, how can a ramshackle 2 piece band like Death From Above 1979 blow your mind with 2 instruments and 10 songs to choose from?
Because less is more, punk’s not dead and all your heroes are pricks!! So, in tribute to those great bands in vans, trawling the toilet circuit and putting the legends to shame, I give you my Top 5 Favourite 2 Piece Bands!
Lightning Bolt
The first time I saw Lightning Bolt, my skeleton almost collapsed. Dig this! Two guys, Bass and Drums, The Bass has two banjo strings, is set to a standard cello tuning and played through a bevy of overdrive and pitch shifters. The drummer/singer, wears a bastardized Mexican wrestler’s mask with the microphone from an old telephone stitched in to the mask and stuffed into his mouth. They sneaked to the back of the hall as the support band was finishing their last song, set up their kit and PA on the floor behind the audience and within 5 seconds of the support act finishing, were blasting their semi improvised noise fury at 11, as wild eyed kids crashed over the kit, getting their fingers smashed on the floor tom and their minds blown out of their assholes!
Black Diamond Heavies
Rolling steady and bug eyed out of Nashville, Tennessee, with bourbon on the breath, fire in the blood and gospel in their hearts, Black Diamond Heavies play the devils music like angels high on junk and sorrow. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Vocalist and Organist John Wesley Myers and drummer Van Campbell walk the land playing the kind of southern fried fury blues that shakes the room and turns your girl into a slut.
Zombi
Coming over like Jan Hammer on a bad acid trip, Zombi hail from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and trade in some seriously intense space prog. I caught them supporting metal behemoths Isis a few years back and was blown away by the stirring intensity of their eerie space rock compositions. Their album ‘Surface to Air’ is one of the finest (only) instrumental prog-rock mini albums I’ve ever stolen.
Blood Red Shoes
Post punk rockers with some superior stoner riffs and the kind of Boy/Girl chemistry that make The White Stripes look like Ike and Tina after a long night of domestic ruttin! Sharing vocals between them, these Brightoners are a serious road machine! You could probably turn around now and they’d be playing a show behind you.
Two Gallants
Rough and tender alt-blues from San Francisco, Two Gallants write rasping murder ballads for those bored of the Bad Seeds. Hoarse vocals, thundering drums and a drifter mentality, these guys have written a stone cold anthem in their one chart scraper ‘Steady Rolling’. If you do a search on youtube, you’ll see an interesting clip of Texan cop breaking up one of their shows and tasering the drummer and some fans. You can’t pay for that kind of fun!!
“I wasn't in the 90’s, I was sitting on the bench”
“I didn't have a childhood, really, because I worked my whole life and . . . other reasons. So when I had some success, I went ballistic. That was my childhood, and the party kept going on. I didn't get off my motorcycle for 10 years.”
“Actors should shut up about politics, because they tend to be ill-informed finger-pointers who just cozy up to some flavour-of-the-month liberal, you know?”
“You get desensitized to pain and for three and a half years I developed these symptoms of brain damage - you forget what you did the night before. You have to get out when the doctors tell you to, otherwise you're on queer street for the rest of your life. One doctor said to me before a big fight, ‘our neurological report doesn't look too good’ I was like four fights away from a big, big fight and he said, ‘Mickey, how much are they paying you? Look at your tests - you won't be able to count the money’.”
“You know the song, ‘I Fought the Law and the Law Won’? Well, I fought the system and it kicked the living shit out of me!”
“I always thought I'd accomplish something special. Like robbing a bank.”
“Stallone, when I was flat broke and I could hardly pay for a bowl of spaghetti in a restaurant, gave me a couple of weeks on ‘Get Carter’, and that paid my fuckin' rent for eight months.”
“I called up a guy who used to hang with me and asked where I might get me some construction work. He brushed me off and said he didn't have time for my shit.”
“I was bouncing at a transvestite nightclub... and back then all the transvestites were on this shit called Angel Dust, so you'd hit them over the head with a baseball bat but they'd keep on coming.”
“I lost the house, the wife, the credibility, the entourage. I lost my soul. I was alone ... I'm sort of OK with it now, but the first time I'm in there, pushing a fucking cart, getting my supper. I used to go to the 24-hour place in gay town, so no one would recognize me. The only thing I could afford was a shrink, so that's where my money went. Three times a week for the first two years. The year after that, twice a week and now I'm down to once a week. I've only missed two appointments in six years.”
“The old me wasn't accountable or responsible for anything. There were no rules, and I didn't fear any consequences or repercussions of any kind. I don't want to go back to that dark place because this is my last chance, and I'm not going to get another.”
“Who do I share the good things happening to me with? My dogs, I guess.”
“It's like when I buy a horse. I don't want a thick neck and short legs.”
“I'll never be mellow, OK? I'd rather be dead than mellow. You might as well take me out the back and shoot me in the back of the head before I'm going to be mellow.”
“The first act of my life was crazy, but I've learned from it. If you've got the guts and the desire and the talent, the first time around is easy. The second time around, it's murder. How many guys make it round the second bend?”
Clarence Clemons, saxophonist with The E Street Band is currently recovering following a back operation to correct a long standing problem. Get Well Soon Big Man!
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