Used to Love Ben Is Dead. (Hulk lifted from a cover.) Amazing pop-culture obsessives magazine from L.A. More random stream of consciousness visuals.... (Not really a) Haiku Blues cuz the Haiku is as busted as Hulk's stereo after listening to Big Star.
You're drivin' me mad You shouldn't do that O My Soul I lose control
Wrong cover art in the video but dig the blinking neon...
Recently watched this kooky Polanski movie from 1976. Recommended by a good friend who said it was a favorite. This scene is why. Be water, and get fresh!
Copped all The Beat LPs and a bunch of Two-Tone records at Moby Disc in Pasadena. Would catch the Dial-a-Ride to the Coco's on Rosemead, then walk a few blocks. The Jam, Small Faces, Toy Dolls, Style Council, Echo and the Bunnymen... hell even Swamp Trash... Used to hit the import bin pretty hard. Great in-stores, too.
The Beat, or English Beat, as they were known stateside were a favorite. Been going back to their Wha-ppen? record a lot lately. I think lead singer Dave Wakeling has lived in L.A. for a long time now, and occasionally plays out with some formation of the band. Dug up this video for their cut "Drowning", which I really don't remember. These guys don't seem to get as much respect as some of their contemporaries, like say The Specials, but their tunes have held up really well.
The other cut, "French Toast (Soleil Trop Chaud)", though suffering a bit from tinny 80s production values, is incredibly current in terms of sound. So many young indie bands claim to be taking cues from African Highlife guitar figures, but you may have to strain to imagine you hear it. No such problem here. The band fuses that sound with the Ska sound which put them on the map.
The best thing outta' Brazil since bananas! Os Mutantes rule. Found a couple unbelievable videos recently, not to mention the previous Redd Kross post, so there you go. Mais (More) Mutantes!!!!
First video is The Mutants themselvez in Paris circa '69. The band hung out enough in France to record a whole album of songs in 1970, many of which were English versions of their tunes. The album, intended to crack the international market, went unreleased until 2000, when released as Tecincolor complete with crappy Sean Lennon artwork. (Another story...) Amazing versions, though I guess I prefer the Portuguese versions. Cool to hear different arrangements of familiar tunes and wonder... The stuff is so killer in any language that only in our parallel universe did it not go global (Well Sooner...) Safe to say Mutantes are international. Er, galactic now days. Kurt Cobain name checked them, and actually wrote a letter to Arnaldo Baptista. It's great music for kids, actually. The song Ela e Minha Menina is turned into Oba Oba She's My XuXu (pronounced 'shu shu') Guess I'll have to put that one up on youtube myself...
Two classics, tight black n' white. Ooh La La! Rare French footage.
The Kidz are Alright!
High quality color footage shot in Brazil, gotta be '71 or '72. "You know I feel a little spaced out" in English. Yeah, toasted, nicely toasted.
Whatdoyouwannadowithyrlife?
Rita Lee and the band in a scene in the 1967 Brazilian film As Amorosas. Trip-py, Wow! Kooky face paint and flowers. Psychesploitation?
Well it's 1969 OK!
Rocking out on Brazilian TV program for the youngsterz.... Dig. Sacou?
"Know-it-alls!" Gilberto Gil
Shell commercials the band did in 1967. Way before The Who 'Sold Out'....
I once drove up to San Francisco with friends, like a maniac, with broken headlights at dusk, trying to get to one of their shows before we got pulled over. We booked them at Scripps College right after that. Saw them in Seattle with my brother at Rock Candy. Hammer Box opened. They killed it. It was the original line-up with Doug Martsch (Built To Spill). I cassette dubbed it. Still here in a box somewhere. We also scored Pearl Jam tickets from the radio because we were close to the place announced. They were playing that weekend at the Super Sonics arena with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Nirvana. Right when it all blew up... Kurt Cobain name checked the Treepeople to David Fricke in the last interview he gave to Rolling Stone a few months before his death, saying he had just caught their show in Kansas City and hung out with them.
First two tracks are from Treepeople's Something Vicious for Tomorrow / Time Whore album. Great Smiths cover. Treepeople always did cool covers. They covered Bowie, the Butthole Surfers, even Boston and Carly Simon. Then you get OG vegan gangsta hiz bad sef, Moz er Morrisey and The Smiths live in Irvine, Ca. in 1986. Back to the Treepeople shot live 1990 by Mark Swanson (Silly cool footage, that is why youtube can be so amazing...) and "Pity" from '91.
Sweetness I was only joking...
Groovy creepy cover art by Mike Scheer. He did all their album covers. Check him out, he's a beast. Amazing illustrator.
Cool gig poster
A London tabloid recently reported Morrissey had allegedly eaten a roast in a local hot spot. Say it ain't so Mo! Actually sod it, be all you can be. Eat cow. Smiths behind the Orange curtain in '86.
Walter digs the Smiths!
"when you're dealing with feelings that are unappealing..." From the original CD version of Guilt Regret Embarrassment with 21 tracks, including early singles.
Long time fan of this band. Hey Zues! We used to go see these guys all the time, waaay back. Neurotica to Third Eye era. The cutest girls were ALWAYS at the Redd Kross shows. The McDonald brothers started playing in like junior high. I had not heard this EP in ages. Snotty kids, brat punks or punky brats. Attitude, not fashion. Well, fashion later... First gig? Opening for Black Flag.
RED CROSS EP 1980-
with Greg Hetson (Circle Jerks, Bad Religion, on guitar)
All six songs from the 45 EP. Six songs, 6 minutes, punk.
Olderly skool footage... 1982 - Santa Monica
Too f*cking cool for school. Gilberto Gil said Os Mutantes were mutants because they already knew everything. He was referring the fact that they seemed to be knowledgeable, experienced and culturally hip despite being ridiculously young. They were all still teenagers. Jeff and Steve McDonald of Redd Kross were the same way, beginning to play and record at a young age. They cut their teeth in the nascent L.A. punk scene. They did tons of great covers, like on Teen Babes from Monsanto. They covered Os Mutantes' Bat Macumba on the Tater Totz - Alien Sleestacks From Brazil album in 1988! (Yeah, '88, they were alrady on that sh*t!) The album was a side project with Pat Fear of White Flag and Michael Quercio from The Three O'Clock
Their cultural cannibalism was similar to the Tropicalistas in Brazil in that they simultaneously poked fun at and/or worshiped the pop culture they consumed while going from poorly played punk (albeit with unbridled enthusiasm.) to groovy pop-psychedelia.
...said sleestacks. the og mutantes. rita lee superstar
Dug the t-shirt of theirs that said 'friends of Cher'. This was before the creepy auto tune tune "Do you Believe" plastic surgery disaster... Cher is still hot... In a mutante way!
They ripped live after years of playing together. They did a rocking cover of "Puss N' Boots" by the New York Doll on the amazing Hell Comes To Your House compilation, which also included Social Distortion, 45 Grave.
PUSS N' BOOTS (1981)
From Teen Babes from Monsanto...
CUZ THEY SING;
heaven only knows that i love you
heaven only knows that i hate you
heaven only knows i despise you
heaven only knows i idolize you
And destroy tunes by Bowie, The Stones, Kiss, The Stooges. And throw in a tune from Bewitched. You get the heavy and you get the sweet. Something they always did so well.
Yeah a nod is as good as a wink, but they always wore their hearts on their sleeves.
HEAVEN ONLY KNOWS (1984)
'teen babes' insert x 4 tabs, er times...
Couple old friends used to play this round the house. Great original
I DON'T KNOW HOW TO BE YOUR FRIEND (1990)
'Nuther classic original. Stellar album. "Laughing at all the assholes at the Rainbow tryin' so hard to cope, what a joke."
PEACH KELLI POP (1987)
Redd Kross is still playing after reforming around 2004 with longtime member Robert Hecker. Hecker joined in '84 for the 'Teen babes' tour. They played Coachella in 2008. Steven McDonald may be in a town near you. He is currently touring in Off! with Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks. Blistering old school punk. They just played Lollapalooza. Check out cool interview with him about records on BEAT GOES ON.
