Vol. 3 Episode 44

I have a lot of stuff in this post. I didn't know that I wanted to talk about so much this week. 

I have not received anything new this week but am still waiting for the Whirr/Anne split to arrive. The first two tracks for the My Chemical Romance 7" set, Conventional Weapons, will be released next week though.

Here we go...

Heavenly – Operation Heavenly

This is the fourth and final studio album from Heavenly. It was put out in 1996. It was put out on K Records here in the US and Wiiija everywhere else. Shortly before the release of Operation Heavenly, Mathew Fletcher, the band's drummer and Amelia's, the lead singer, brother, committed suicide. The remaining members announced that the band name Heavenly was to be retired, but that they would continue, using the name Marine Research, a moniker under which they released a single album, 1999's Sounds From The Gulf Stream, on K Records (it was not released separately in Britain). Afterwards, Marine Research dissolved. The band's core members reformed in 2002 as Tender Trap, releasing their debut album, Film Molecules, on K Records once again. 2006 saw the release of two new Tender Trap releases – two EPs, Language Lessons and ¿Como te Llamas?, and a full-length album, 6 Billion People. I knew of Tender Trap but did not know that they were associated to Heavenly.

There were two singles released from this album. The first was Trophy Girlfriend. This was released as a split single with Bis. I talk about this single in Vol. 3 Episode 33. It is a very good song and what attracted me to the group in the first place.

The Second single released from this album is called SpaceManatee. I think that this is a very interesting space influenced song. They sing about a manatee that flies in space that a protagonist flies on. There is an organ that is used in the song to give it that extra space like sound. It is a fun song.

I would also like to mention the cover that they did of Serge Gainsbourgs’ song called Nous Ne Somme Pas Des Anges. The song is sung entirely in French by Amelia. Though it was still recognizably the Heavenly sound with lots of pop guitars.

The Ventures – Surfing

This is the tenth album released from The Ventures. It was released in 1963 along with three other albums released form the group in that year. There were no official singles released from this album that I am aware of but there are certainly some standout tracks from the album.

The first track that I think is exceptional is the lead track called Pipeline. It is exactly what you would expect from anything in the surf genre but so much better. In true surf style the song is very short but to the point.

The second track that I really like is called Diamonds. It has a fun beach feel to it. It reminds me of the 60s beach party movies where nothing really happens other than young kids having a part on the beach for 24 hours or more.

The last song that I really like from this album is the third track called Ten Over. It is obviously a reference to ten toes on the edge of the surf board. There is a crazy cool solo that happens in the middle of the song that is so much fun. 

Billy Idol – Don’t Stop

This is Billy Idols’ first solo effort before his first full length album. It is a four song EP that was released in 1981. it contained a version of Tommy James and the Shondells UK #1, Mony Mony, that would become a hit as live version in 1987 and Dancing with Myself, the latter of which had also been a moderate hit for Idol's former band Generation X. Dancing With Myself (from Generation X's last LP Kiss Me Deadly) was not re-recorded for the Don't Stop EP release but was simply remixed from Generation X's 6:05 extended release of the song and edited down to a 4:50 version, in which a drum solo and chorus section were removed. The song Untouchables however, another Generation X song written by Idol and also from Kiss Me Deadly, was re-recorded for Don't Stop.

The first single released from this EP was Mony Mony. A live cover version of the song became a hit for Billy Idol in 1987. Billy Idol's version of the song gave rise to an interesting custom in the 1980s. When the song was performed live in concert or played at a club or dance, people would shout a certain formulaic (and usually obscene) sentence in the two bars following each line. One example is: "Hey motherfucker, get laid, get fucked." or "Hey don't you know I have a twelve inch cock." The way that I remember it being sung was: “Hey I wanna get laid, get fucked.” I remember singing it this way at the school dances in middle school (6^th -8^th grade) when the 87’ live single was released. This custom led to the song being banned at high school dances across North America, although it continues at Idol concerts today. Although, the song was not banned in my school system.

The other single released from the EP is the song Dancing With Myself. As mentioned above is just a remixed version of the Generation X track that Idol penned. Since he had rights to the song it was added to the EP. It is a song that I remember from my youth. I always thought that it was strange to dance with yourself. Now that I think about it seems perfectly logical and fun at times.
It is a great EP with great songs!

Bob James – Touchdown

This is an album, although it is short at five songs, by Bob James. It was released in 1978. The title is a reference to this being his sixth solo album (a touchdown being worth six points in Football), a pattern also followed by his previous album Heads (featuring a five cent coin on its cover) and next album Lucky Seven. This is a jazz fusion album that goes down very easy.

There was one single released from these five tracks. That song is called Angela. This was a commercial breakout for Bob with the song Angela. It became the theme song for the TV show Taxi. The song was named after the guest character in the third episode of the first season ("Blind Date"), but after hearing the song, the producers made this the show's main theme, replacing their previous choice, which became this album's featured track.

The whole album is very good but if  you have no interest in jazz then don’t bother with the full album.

Whirr – Part Time Punks Session

This is a live set from their Part Time Punks set. Part TimePunks (PTP) is a club that takes over Echo Park (A.K.A. The Echo) every Sunday night. The Echo is located at 1822 Sunset in Los Angeles. PTP focuses on DIY and Indie vinyl coming out of the U.S., UK and Europe from 1977 to the present: Punk, Post-Punk, Synth-Punk, Synthpop, Minimal Synth, Dark/Cold/Minimal Wave, NDW, Industrial, New Wave, No Wave, C86, Indiepop, Twee, Shoegaze, Baggy and even Krautrock…

This session was recorded live on August 26, 2012. Around this time Whirrs’ tour van, Big Blue, broke down. The band took this session and had the record company, Tigers & Daggers, put this out on cassette tape. The cassette is colored smoky blue in honor of the tour van. There are 200 of these floating around as they are limited and numbered to 200. All money will be going to fix Big Blue. I got my copy with the number 3/200.  Interesting side note is that both sides of the tape have the same content.

All of the songs on the tape have already been released except for the last track which is a demo of the song Color Change. The studio version of this track was just released on the Graveface Charity series 3. I think that this track was an extra that they put on the tape and was not recorded as part of the PTP set as the volume of the track is considerably different from the rest of the tape, this is very cool if this is the case.

The cassette track listing is interesting to say the least. The first track, Blue, comes from their first EP called Distressor. The next two tracks, Flashback and June (A.K.A. Junebouvier), come from their first full length album called Pipe Dreams. The next song, Twist, is from their up coming double 7” split single with Anne. Then there is the last track, Color Change (Demo). All of the track seem to drag a little bit but it works well with the songs that are on this tape. If you are into shoegaze or are into the new noise pop sound that is out there this would be a great album to get. You can listen to the first four tracks from the set here.

The Graveface charity series 3 featuring Whirr, Monster Movie, Ian McCutcheon & The Astral Rangers, and The Marshmallow Ghosts And Dreamend

This is a three 7” record set put out by Graveface records for charity. Each record benefits a separate charity. I am not sure how those charities are chosen though. Each of the graphics below depict a super rare version (Multicolored), an uncommon version (Solid colored), and a black version (Standard). I have the uncommon versions of this set. In order to get the multicolored editions you have to get all five sets at the same time at $132. I could not see spending that much since I was only after one track.

The first record in this set has tracks from Whirr and Monster Movie. This 7” supports the charity 924 Gilman. They are a DIY, non-profit music and art community space started in 1986. They are located in Berkeley CA. The track from Whirr can only be found on this set and that is why I got this set of three 7” records. The track that Whirr contributed is called Color Change. There is a demo version of this on the groups Part Time Punks cassette too. This studio version is cleaner than the demo version. You can better hear each instrument and clarity is everything in music.

The B side of this record is from Monster Movie. The track is called Flatlining. The song is just a regular pop song that reminds me of something that David Singer would have put out. It is very good. I may even look this group up to find out more about them.

The second 7” record from this set has two tracks from Ian McCutcheon & The Astral Rangers. This record puts money toward Greenpeace. The A side track is called Julius You Still Care. The song sort of reminds me of Elliot Smith with the all acoustic guitars and breathy vocals. I like the style and the song is very easy to get along with.

The B side of the record is called A Simple Little Beat. This song continues with the vocals in the style of Elliot Smith but there is a smooth piano that is added to the track. This song has a marked slower tempo than the A side of the record which was already slow to start off with. It is still a sweet song though.

This third record in this set is from The Marshmallow Ghosts And Dreamend or Dreamend And The Marshmallow Ghosts depending on which version of the track you are listening to. The track that is on this record is called The Sneak. It is two different versions of the song though and this is the reason for the reversed naming of the bands. This record benefits the charity The Rape Crisis Center of The Coastal Empire. They are a rape crisis center started in 1975 in Georgia. 

The A side of this record is done by The Marshmallow Ghosts And Dreamend. This version of The Sneak is simple synthesized sounds. The strange part is the vocals. They seem somewhat monotone and processed through a distortion box. I think the song would be so much better if the vocalist would have tried to sing the song better or just left off the vocals.

The B side of this record is done by Dreamend And The Marshmallow Ghosts. This version of the song uses the same synthesized tones but also adds a screeching distorted guitar sound over the top. It adds a deep bass sound under the guitar part and progressively gets more intense because of this. It all then cuts out with the exception of a nice synth wave sound. There are no vocals on this version and I think that is the best honestly. It is the best of both worlds. Lots of noise in the beginning and fades to beautiful synth sounds at the end. This is the better of the two versions for sure.

I couldn't find links to any of these songs so go buy it!

That is all I have for now...