The Clash

James Brown, “I Got You (I Feel Good)”

There’s a certain strange thing that goes on in my head around timelines. This song was first released in an early version in 1964, and it absolutely does not seem like it should be contemporaneous with, say, A Hard Days Night. Or Eddie Holland’s “Just Ain’t Enough Love” to pick an example of what Motown was up to at this time. As a consequence, the timelines for funk and soul are just completely disconnected in my brain from those of rock. I can get the progressions of both straight in my head, within their own milieu, but when I think about what they were each doing at the same time, it just doens’t fit, like a miscut jigsaw.

The Clash, “I Fought The Law”

The US release of The Clash had a different track listing than the original release, swapping in some songs from UK singles onto the album in place of some of the weaker tunes. Overall, it’s probably a better version of the record, with “I Fought The Law” being one of the additions to the record.

Gas Huffer, “The Rest of Us”

Gas Huffer spent three albums in the majors…well, the high minors, with albums out on Epitaph. But then they went back to their roots: Estrus Records, Jack Endino on the boards, and back to wall-to-wall garage rock. The return to their basics suited them well, it’s a strong record, although I suppose nobody really listened to it. I guess it’s relative: their last Epitaph record has 25 ratings on Rate Your Music, compared to 7 for this album. So, nobody really listened to either of them. It’s a shame, Gas Huffer was good!

Black Moon, “Enta da Stage”

Black Moon’s 1993 classic, Enta da Stage, could not have been released at a worse time to get attention. The synthesis of the jazz-inflected beats of Native Tongues and the street rhymes of New York City would have been massively influential had it not landed at roughly the same time as Midnight Mauraders (showing how far these kinds of beats could be taken) and Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (showing how far these kinds of rhymes could go). Nevertheless, the album is a serious banger.

Manorexia, “Zithromax Jitters”

I think I mention this every time Manorexia pops up, but that’s infrequent enough that I think it’s OK: Manorexia is one of J.G. Thirlwell’s (Foetus, Wiseblood, Steroid Maximus, Clint Ruin, etc) aliases. Like Steroid Maximus, Manorexia is dedicated to cinematic instrumental music, and it’s not at all clear what differentiates the two aliases. At any rate, this is an interesting album.

Veda Brown, “Living A Life Without Love”

You can tell within seconds that this is a Stax record. This is obviously from relatively late in the Stax run, when the soul sound of the label had evolved in this lush direction. I’ve always preferred the rawer style of the earlier records, but this is still a lovely sound.

Let’s hope we do better today!

The Clash, “Julie’s Been Working for the Drug Squad”

This is a repeat from, geez, a year and a half ago.

Bruce Cockburn, “If A Tree Falls”

Well, it’s been a good, long time, but we’ve got a completely unknown song here popping up. There were a handful of songs pre-loaded on some device of mine in the misty, distant past, and some automated scan swept them up into my library. I didn’t catch them, and now they’re sprinkled in among the songs I actually want to keep, and I haven’t been able to root them out. And now you have to deal with them too!

Three months in the books, three months of Five Songs every day! And we’re still rollin’!

The Clash, “Remote Control”

Have we talked about the Clash’s debut album yet? What separated the Clash from so much of the rest of the new punk scene is that the Clash brought more than just energy and fury to their music. And while early punk should be lauded for how egalitarian it was, and for its emphasis on just getting out there and doing it, the Clash really demonstrated what happened when you took that DIY ethos and married it to some tremendous songs.

Here is today’s music. Some real ugliness, in the cover art of the first album and the lyrics of the last one.

Unsane, “Organ Donor”

I could have sworn we had hit Unsane before, but the theoretically infallible Five Songs Index says otherwise, so here we are. Unsane were a noise rock trio from New York, part of the same general underground as bands like Helmet, Cop Shoot Cop, and others. I was huge into that entire scene, and really liked Unsane a lot. That, however, wasn’t really what they were known for with most people. No, what they were known for was the cover art on their debut album, depicting a decapitated person on subway tracks. They would continue with the violent album covers, covers which set the mood for the dark music within. And that dark tone affected the band as well, with their original drummer dying of a heroin overdose.

Nice set of songs today. I am not posting this on Twitter today because I’m boycotting today in support of the #WomenBoycottTwitter protest going on.

Dumptruck, “Watch Her Fall”

Underground pop act Dumptruck was a favorite of college radio before I really listened to that sort of music, and I eventually gave them a listen after hearing so much about how great they were. They were made out to be The Band That Should Have Made It. And I like them, but I don’t have the connection to them that so many folks who were there seem to have. This comes from the only album I have, Haul of Fame, a retrospective compilation of their entire career that I recommend checking out.

Back in town, so hopefully I’ll be able to start posting these during the day again. Today’s tunes!

Melvins, “Your Blessened”

What gives a band longevity? How are some bands able to just keep going for forever, while most flame out after only a few albums (or even one)? It’s not just creativity, although the Melvins certainly have shown plenty of experimentation. They also have a certainly Melvins-y formula that they’ve applied plenty. Tt still manages to sound fresh and interesting. You listen to a song from Bullhead and a song from, I dunno, Hold It In, and you hear so many things that are similar. But I’m still happy to listen to them. What is the formula that King Buzzo and Dale Crover have discovered?

New Melvins album! It’s a double album, a first for them. Word is that the first album is good, the second is ambient nonsense. I guess I’ll find out. Meanwhile, here are your tunes for today.

Also, I totally had this entry ready to go, and forgot to post over the weekend. Broke my streak!

Preston School of Industry, “Monkey Heart and the Horses’ Leg”

There are times when you can really hear the Pavement in Preston School of Industry. This is one of those times.