B.A. Johnston "Mission Accomplished"

(Mammoth Cave Recording) This delightful song cycle posits that Johnston is a mutant fusion of Atom and his Package and Stompin' Tom Connors, but per the latter, rather than expressing his throbbing Canadian patriotism by employing jingoistic sloganeering and didactic geography lessons Johnston instead complains about Tim Horton's hash browns, gas prices, and the livability of Windsor, Ontario. This album also presents some of the most effective message music I've heard in ages, the message being: don't let B. A. Johnston watch your cat while you're out of town!

M.O.T.O. "Golden Quarter Hour of..."

(Rerun) First off, if one is weaned on hardcore punk, there is no better format than the 8 (or more) song 7" EP! So I'm already sold before I slap the needle on the grooves. Sure 7.5 minutes per side might sound a might murky, but if Paul C. has taught us anything over the last 100 years and 1000 songs it's that his near-jingle catchy, off kilter pop tunes don't need no steenking fidelity to soar. This diverse suite of songs features some impressively mature, sensitive, nuanced compositions...and some beautiful messes! And a song where he just rocks out to the refrain "All City seven years in a row!" which is somehow repeated 400 times in 75 seconds. Paul, give yourself some credit...you've been all world for at least 30 years!

Growth "Turn" b/w "The Flood"

(Human Audio) Martin Savage's label explodes with not so much savagery as a methodical, slow rending of flesh by jagged wolf teeth. Jandek-spooky minimalist ghost garage as frightening as finding a growth.

Murder by Guitar "D.O.A." ep

(Human Audio) Swedish post-punk darkwave gems that sound way better than D.O.A.'s "Murder by Guitar" ep (which is only a half joke...I actually have a mediocre D.O.A. 90s record titled "Murder").

Strawberry Savage "Too Cold To Cry"

(Human Audio) Like most strawberries, and unlike most garage duos, this is tasteful. But dont let that put you off, trashmeisters, as this minimalist, raw pop platter feels like an ethereal campfire singalong and an art garage hoedown. That Jenny Silver's Swedish accented-English evokes a bit of Nico's German accented English don't hurt, nor does a cover of King Louie (New Orleans self-abusive one man band, not Chicago teen rapper).

Loves It "All We Are"

(Team Austin) The twangs the thang on this natural, earnest, straightforward love letter to folksy, rural, honky tonkin' Americana that manages to somehow simultaneously coexist as a burlesque of the same music. This magic trick is pulled off, in part, by clever, thrilling songwriting, and clear-voiced, confident singing by both the dude and lady. Love it, indeed!

The Rolling Stones: “The Ed Sullivan Shows" DVD, “Some Girls Live In Texas ‘78” DVD

(Guest review by Gary Pig Gold) (Sofa Entertainment / Eagle Rock Entertainment)

 The Rolling Stones:

“The Ed Sullivan Shows”

and

“Some Girls Live In Texas ‘78”

(Guest review by Gary Pig Gold)

(Sofa Entertainment)

(Eagle Rock Entertainment)

The jury – to say nothing of the legal teams – appear to still be out on precisely how much of a bigger bang the Rolling Stones made in marking their supposed fiftieth (!) year together. For example: Did the long-thought-lost Mick Taylor truly succeed in again, albeit momentarily, filling Brian Jones’ gigantic musical shoes during the band’s 012/013 concerts? And speaking of quasi-reunions, how come the Stones invited back the best bass player they’ll ever have and then only let him play for a song or two ??

Now, seeing as the vast majority of their fan base these days prefer sitting in front of flat screens as opposed to braving the crush at the local EnormoDome, the band has kept the anniversial ball, well, rolling with some fabulous new books and a slew of brand new/old DVD releases specially made for all December's remaining children.

Two such items contain some cream from the band’s considerable on-stage capers, both on television, where the young Stones initially made their greatest generation-dividing impact, and later down there in Texas at the, um, height of one of their many, many one-last-comeback tours.

So, you can choose from a package comprising four – or six if you spring for the Deluxe edition – complete (with commercials even!) Stones-featured Ed Sullivan Shows remastered from those once-Swinging Sixties. Then, on much the opposite end of the musico-historical scale, view a long-rumored and ultimately shelved (because, as director Lynn Lenau recalls, "they thought they looked too old") semi-low-budget 16mm film of a typical show from their S.E.A.T. (as in "Seventy Eight American Tour") supporting the just-released "back-to-basics" Some Girls long-player …which, buy the way, can now be yours on DVD, Blu-ray and/or "Special Edition with CD digipack presentation including a reproduction tour program" (included on all configurations however, it should be noted, is the Stones' (in)famous 1978 SNL appearance starring Dan Aykroyd as Tom Snyder).

On a budget, and can only afford one of the above items you say? Especially after plunking down £229 (plus postage + handling) for “Bill Wyman’s Scrapbook” ?? Let us then compare The Ed Sullivan Shows Starring The Rolling Stones and Some Girls Live In Texas ‘78 in order to help make up what’s left of your mind…

VENUE:

SULLIVAN:  CBS Television Studio 50, NY, NY and CBS Television City,

                      Los Angeles, California.

SOME GIRLS:  Will Rogers Auditorium, Fort Worth, Texas.

DATE:

SULLIVAN:  Six Sunday nights between October 25, 1964 and November 23, 1969.

SOME GIRLS:  Tuesday night, July 18, 1978.

ROLLING STONES' ALIAS:

SULLIVAN:  England's Newest Hit Makers.

SOME GIRLS:  The London Green Shoed Cowboys.

AUDIENCE:

SULLIVAN:  728

SOME GIRLS:  2,856

CORPORATE SPONSERS:

SULLIVAN:  Lipton Tea, Pillsbury, Dove soap, Anacin, Easy-On Spray Starch, Chef Boy-Ar-

                     Dee, Lux Liquid, The Man From Glad, Geritol ("America's #1 tonic"), Aqua

                     Velva, Aero Shave, Aero Wax, Burlington Mid-Length Socks, Infra-Rub, Lees

                     Carpets, Polaroid Corporation, Pacquin Cold Cream, Ben-Gay Lotion, FTD

                     Florists, Sleep-Eze ("when you can't sleep because tension has you all wound

                     up"), Sominex ("if you can't sleep because of simple nervous tension or daily

                     problems"), Vivarin Stimulant Tablets ("Give yourself a lift!"), ProSlim 7-day

                     reducing wafers, Norelco, Cheesecake nylons (yes, cheesecake), Hai Karate

                     After Shave and Cologne, Juan Valdez's 100% Colombian Coffee, Teflon II

                     Certified Cookware, and Zerex anti-leak anti-freeze.

SOME GIRLS:  Bill Graham.

SET DESIGN:

SULLIVAN:  Giant cheese wheels, ironic dripping chandeliers, orange then blue screen,

                     purple and (paint it) black screen, psychedelic rib cages and lots of reflective

                     foil.   

SOME GIRLS:  In the words of “Old Gods Almost Dead” author Stephen Davis, "a bare    

                          stage surrounded by a huge red lips and tongue logo painted on a scrim. A

                          pair of giant tonsils floated over Charlie's drums."

OPENING ACTS:

SULLIVAN:  London Lee, Itzhak Perlman, Stiller and Meara, Peg Leg (really!) Bates,

                     Laurence Harvey, The Kim Sisters, The Berosinis, Phyllis Diller, Morecambe            

                     and Wise, Leslie Uggams, Gitta Morelly, Dusty Springfield, Tom Jones, Totie

                     Fields, The Half Brothers, Señor Wences, Les Olympiades, Eddie Schaeffer,

                     Hal Holbrook, The Romanian Folk Ballet, Sandy Baron, The Muppets (twice!),

                     Franco Corelli and Renata Tebaldi, Louis Armstrong, Joan Rivers, Robert

                     Goulet, Red Skelton, The Michael Bennett Dancers, Flip Wilson, Petula Clark,

                     Monroe the Acrobat, "this group of forty-four nuns from the Convent of the

                     Sisters of Saint Benedict in Erie – that's Erie, Pennsylvania, of course" aka

                     Sisters ’67, Alan King, Rodney Dangerfield, Ella Fitzgerald, Robert Klein, "from

                     the Hawthorne Circus, an amazing tiger riding a horse," the even more amazing

                     Lucho Navarro (who impersonates motor cars with his mouth) and, of course,

                     Topo Gigio.

SOME GIRLS:  Peter Tosh.

INTRODUCTION:

SULLIVAN:  "And now (pause) singing (pause) singing Time on my si- (pause) Time On My

                      Side (pause) The Rolling (pause) Stones!" 

SOME GIRLS:  "Welcome the fucking amazing Rolling Stones!"

SPECIAL GUESTS:

SULLIVAN:  Merry Clayton, vocals, "Gimme Shelter" (but you can't see her; you can only

                      hear her). 

SOME GIRLS:  Doug Kershaw, fiddle, "Far Away Eyes."

KEITH'S FOIL:

SULLIVAN:  Brian Jones, guitar, bottleneck, sitar, dulcimer, recorder, piano.

SOME GIRLS:  Ron Wood, if you let him, guitar.

MICK'S FOIBLE:

SULLIVAN:  Singing "Let's Spend SOME TIME Together" under Ed's strict orders.

SOME GIRLS:  Singing "Sweet Little Sixteen, she's got the grown up blues, tight dresses

                          and Tampax, she's sportin' high-heel shoes" without Chuck Berry's consent. 

NUMBER OF TIMES CHARLIE WATTS SMILES:

SULLIVAN:  7

SOME GIRLS:  2  (though he is positively on fire throughout this show!)

NUMBER OF TIMES BILL WYMAN MOVES:

SULLIVAN:  0

SOME GIRLS:  0

(sorry, I kid:  During the Stones' inaugural Sullivision appearance, Bill was actually given a live microphone into which he was moved to add harmonies during "Time Is On My Side")

GREATEST HITS PERFORMED:

SULLIVAN:  "The Last Time," "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," "As Tears Go By," "19th

                      Nervous Breakdown,"  "Paint It, Black," "Lady Jane," "Have You Seen Your

                      Mother, Baby, Standing In The Shadow?," "Ruby Tuesday," "Gimme Shelter,"

                      "Honky Tonk Women."

SOME GIRLS:  "Honky Tonk Women," "Starfucker," "When The Whip Comes Down," "Beast

                          Of Burden," "Miss You," "Shattered," "Tumbling Dice," "Happy," "Brown

                          Sugar," "Jumpin' Jack Flash."

GREATEST HITS IGNORED:

SULLIVAN:  "Street Fighting Man," "Under My Thumb," "Sympathy For The Devil," "Mother's

                      Little Helper," "Get Off Of My Cloud," "2000 Light Years From Home,"

                      "Connection."

SOME GIRLS:  "Sister Morphine," "Bitch," "Turd On The Run," "Short and Curlies," "Cherry

                          Oh Baby," "Claudine," "I'd Much Rather Be With The Boys."

NUMBER OF MINUTES ON STAGE:

SULLIVAN:  Six-and-a-half to twelve (per appearance).  

SOME GIRLS:  Approximately eighty-three. 

FEE:

SULLIVAN:  well, It's important to remember that eight months before the Stones' debut

                      appearance there, The Beatles were paid a total of only $10,000 for their first

                      THREE Ed Sullivan Shows.

SOME GIRLS:  It should also be remembered that the Stones paid filmmaker Lynn Lenau

                          and her crew a total of only $1,000 to shoot Live In Texas ’78. 

RESPONSE:

SULLIVAN (in a message to Stones co-manager Eric Easton following the band's first Ed

                   Sullivan Show):  “We were deluged with mail protesting the untidy appearance,

                   clothes and hair, of your Rolling Stones. Before even discussing the possibility

                   of a contract, I would like to learn from you, Eric, whether your young men have

                   reformed in matter of dress and shampoo.”

SOME GIRLS (Mick Jagger, by way of introducing "Respectable" to the bemused citizens of

                        Fort Worth):  “I'm afraid if the band's lacking slightly in energy, it's because

                        they spent all last night fucking …but we’ll do our best.”

ROCTOBER IS OUT!

OUR SPECTACULAR COMEDY & NOVELTY RECORDS ISSUE IS REAL AND ALIVE!!! We moved a bunch of copies Friday at our release party, and it will be in Chicago stores later this week and available online by Wednesday and subscribers and contributors should have copies by mid-September! Check our Facebook and Website for more info! All the reviews posted after this date will appear in the next issue (#52)

White Mystery “Telepathic”

(Whitemysterband.com) It can’t be overstated how important WM are to the local scene. With fine chops (Alex’ blues rock guitar wailing and Francis’ mighty drumming blend together with the eerie harmony siblings usually reserve for when singing together) and a knack for writing simple, smart, catchy, earnest garage rock ditties, they are musically as good as anything we got here. But it’s the personalities that put them over the top; onstage they just make you root for them, these is the band at your school you want to play every dance! New classics on this one include the infectious “Break A Sweat,” the chaotic “Jungle Cat,” and the knock out “Dirty Hair.”

Memphis Heat – The True Story of Memphis Wrasslin’

(Off the Top Rope) My first thought watching this spectacular documentary about the Memphis-centered pro wrestling scene in the 1960s and 1970s is that maybe all that talk about athletes and concussions and brain damage is less spot on than I thought, because Jerry Lawler, Jackie Fargo, Jimmy Valient, and Sputnik Monroe took more blows to the head than anyone, and they are so sharp now it’s ridiculous. My second thought involves rushes of memories of watching regional, low-budget pre-WWF wrestling as a kid and how utterly engaging and organic and spectacular it was despite lengthy 2 out of 3 falls matches lack of muscle tone, and a production vibe that felt like one of those local weathermen in a Dracula cape hosting monster movies shows. Or more specifically, like the low budget car dealer ads starring wrestling personalities that played during the Sunday morning broadcasts in Chicago. I recall one of my eye-openers to adulthood as a kid being the day after a huge Nature Boy Buddy Rogers match that had been hyped for weeks on All Star Wrestling I checked the Tribune and there were no results listed in the sports pages, despite this clearly being one of the biggest sporting events in the nation. But as we learn in Memphis Heat, those results might have been in the Memphis newspaper, because their wonderful broadcasts (we see plenty of excerpts of not just wrestling but the intervews and shenanigans that made their productions special) were some of the highest rated shows in the region. They sold out the Colliseum more times then Elvis we are remnded, and time after time this engaging film shows why not only the immensely talented, incredibly intelligent Lawler earned his “King” title, but how all these characters, from the bold Monroe (who refused to honor the city’s segregation policies) to the intense Valient (who really scared me as a kid) are true wrasslin’ royalty.