The Best Of Steve Jones (Post-Pi$ToLs)

 

Many guitarists will cop to stealing licks from famous musicians, but Steve Jones actually stole their guitars (and amps) as he learned to play.

After the Pistols petered out, Steve Jones and Paul Cook formed The Professionals. They split after one LP (but reunited in 2017 for a new album, What In The World).

Cook and Jones also played on Johnny Thunders' album So Alone and singles by The Lightning Raiders and The Greedies (the latter with members of Thin Lizzy). They partnered with Jimmy Pursey and Dave Tregunna as the Sham Pistols. Cook and Jones co-produced and played on Joan Jett's first single.

Steve Jones did some session work for Gen X, Siouxsie and the Banshees, and the NYHC band Kraut. Jonesy and Paul Simenon even played on a Bob Dylan record! Jones, Cook and Simenon also appeared as members of The Looters in the movie Ladies And Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.

Jones' next band was Chequered Past (a group that included former members of Blondie), which ended when frontman Michael des Barres left to replace Robert Palmer in the Power Station.

Steve Jones made two solo albums in the late 80's, while writing and playing on Iggy Pop's albums Blah-Blah-Blah and Instinct, as well as Iggy's classic theme for the movie Repo Man. Jones contributed to solo albums by des Barres, Andy Taylor (Duran Duran, Power Station), and the actor Don Johnson. Steve has also done production work (beginning with 1979's self-titled Avengers EP and The Wall's second single). He also hosted a longstanding radio show called Jonesy's Jukebox.

In the 90's, Jones jammed at the Viper Room with P (Gibby Haynes, Flea, and Johnny Depp) and The Neurotic Outsiders (GnR's Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum, Duran Duran's John Taylor). Cook and Jones reunited in 1996 with John Lydon and Glen Matlock for the "Filthy Lucre" tour. 

After the Professionals' reunion in 2017, Steve Jones wrote an autobiography (Lonely Boy, 2019). His book is the basis of an upcoming TV miniseries about the Sex Pistols (who are suing each other again).

Stinky has compiled a superlative set of songs from The Professionals, Steve's solo work, Chequered Past, and The Neurotic Outsiders; plus his collaborations with fellow punk and pre-punk luminaries Iggy Pop, Joan Jett, Johnny Thunders, Chrissie Hynde, Siouxsie & The Banshees, Sham 69, and Thin Lizzy. Ladies and gentlemen, Stinky LePew presents the fabulous Steve Jones!

Bang Bang You're Terry Hall

 

Terry Hall has had an interesting career. For a man who plays no instruments, he has an extraordinary musical imagination. He first gained notice as one of The Specials' three singers. All three singers (Terry, Lynval Golding, and Neville Staple)  left The Specials in 1981 and formed a new group called Fun Boy Three.

After their debut single, Fun Boy Three invited another trio (Bananarama) to sing with them, which led to hits for both groups. Terry co-wrote "Our Lips Are Sealed" with Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Gos, another hit for both The Go-Gos and Fun Boy Three.

Months after the release of their second album, Terry split up Fun Boy Three and formed The Colour Field, a new trio with a more sophisticated musical direction. The Colour Field was less commercially successful than Hall's previous groups, and it was followed by yet another trio, this one called Terry, Blair and Anouchka (after the names of its members).

Terry Hall finally released his first solo album in 1995, produced by Ian Broudie of The Lightning Seeds. Hall's cowriters were Broudie, Andy Partridge, Nick Heyward, Craig Gannon, and Damon Albarn. Today's compilation from Stinky features songs from all of Terry's groups as well as his first two solo albums.

The Best Of Ivan Julian, Part Two

If you were a musician or singer recording at Ivan Julian's Super Giraffe Sound studio (or NY Hed, where Ivan worked with Matt Verta-Ray), you might ask the man himself to step out from behind the boards to add some guitar (or banjo, lap steel, piano, or harmonium). And you would be rewarded with something extraordinary, even incendiary. 

This set of songs spans the years 2002-2021. During these two decades, Ivan Julian engineered, produced and mastered recordings for many other artists. He performed around the world. He released his first solo album, The Naked Flame. He saw his son Austin become a musician and visual artist. And he survived a cancer diagnosis.

Ivan added his magic to records by Spike Priggen, Brandi Shearer, Edward Rogers, Haale, Capsula, and the French groups Republik and Marquis. Ivan also served with fellow punk veterans in the "supergroups" Osaka Popstar and The Fauntleroys.

Today's set includes covers of songs originally by Alice Cooper, The Ramones, The Voidoids, T. Rex, David Bowie, and the Velvet Underground.

TOP PHOTO: Ivan played at WFMU in 2011 for DJ Terre T with drummer Florent Barbier, guitarist Al Maddy, and bassist Avery Allen.  Florent Barbier's brother Geoffray filmed the 2020 documentary You Don't Know Ivan Julian.

BOTTOM PHOTO: Nicholas Tremulis, Alejandro Escovedo, Ivan and Linda Pitmon (The Fauntleroys, 2014).

The Best Of Ivan Julian

The Outsets, 1983

Ivan Julian (born 1955) has been playing guitar professionally since he was a teenager.  After leaving the Voidoids, Ivan fronted his own band, The Outsets. Tommy Keene was one of the guitarists who auditioned for The Outsets; decades later, he and Ivan toured as an acoustic duo. 

The Outsets were followed by Lovelies, a band led by Cynthia Sley, ex-Bush Tetras (who was married to Ivan at the time.)  Lovelies made a 1988 album called Mad Orphans.  Ivan and Cynthia have a son, Austin Sley Julian, who is in a band called Sediment Club.

Ivan and Cynthia in 1988 (photo from Ffanzeen)

Ivan guested on Sandinista ("Ivan Meets GI Joe" is about him), and he played on solo albums by Bob Pfeifer (ex-Human Switchboard) and Richard Barone (ex-Bongos). While in The Voidoids, Ivan played bass with Jon Tiven's Yankees and on Billy Karloff's The Maniac.

In the 90's, Ivan formed a lasting association with Matthew Sweet.  Ivan played on the Altered Beast, Goodfriend, and Sunshine Lies albums, and performed in Sweet's live band for the better part of the decade.

Ivan Julian with the late Robert Quine

Today I'm sharing the first of two volumes of The Best Of Ivan Julian. This one features recordings from 1976 through 1999: The Voidoids, The Outsets, Lovelies, Lord Boy and other artists who Ivan played with. The next post will feature Ivan's music from the 21st century. He is an incredible guitarist, as well as a talented songwriter, singer, engineer, and producer.

If you don't know Ivan Julian, check out this interview or this one, and watch the 2020 documentary You Don't Know Ivan Julian.

New Jersey's Extra Finest

 

Jersey Week has been held over for a second week, because there's more talent in New Jersey than seven days can cover! And more than enough for a second volume of NJ's Finest. 

No, I'm not talking about the boys in blue, or a cold bottle of Ballantine's brew. New Jersey's Finest are artistic types like Richard Barone and Richie Ramone. Sarah Vaughan and Ben Vaughn. The Isley Brothers and the Twisted Sisters. Connie Francis and Francis Albert Sinatra. Steely Dan and the Feelies, man. Frankie Valli and the Black Hollies. The Smithereens and the Fountains Of Ween Wayne. 

The next time your lover whispers, "Kiss me where it smells funny," you don't have to take them all the way to New Jersey -- bring that olfactory aphrodisiac to the privacy of your own boudoir with this compilation of the classiest in Jersey-fied entertainment!

Garden State Of Mind

Blog reader Drizzz had some great suggestions of songs about New Jersey. I did a bit of searching, and found a fab post from Beware Of The Blog, WFMU's late and lamented music site. DJ KBC, a former WFMU host, compiled "A Garden State Of Mind", 22 songs about the state. Fortunately, the mp3's are still hosted there.

The comment section (as well as other Jerseyfied posts on Beware Of The Blog), yielded more tunes. One commenter said that the song credited to John Linnell is not actually his, but it did not mention the real identity of the performer.

I dropped a couple of DJ KBC's selections and added others, but kept the title. This post is sort of a sequel to Stinky's compilation It's All About Jersey. Thanks again to Drizzz and to DJ KBC for this "celebration of the armpit of the nation"!

Jersey Week: The Cucumbers

One more from Stinky for NJ Week featuring The Cucumbers, a talented band inextricably associated with the Hoboken scene of the 1980's.

As Jon Pareles pointed out in the New York Times, "Most pop songs end where romance begins," but The Cucumbers "write about friction and affection within longtime couples." 

Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Tom Popson made a similar point: The Cucumbers' lyrics "often exhibit a matter-of-fact acceptance of life's limitations, particularly in the area of male-female relationships.'' Cucumbers singer-songwriter Deena Shoshkes agreed: ''The rock'n'roll cliche is to write about totally letting go, self-indulgence, sex and drugs and rock'n' roll. But the subject of a lot of our songs is compromise, accepting certain things for other things.''

After Deena Shoshkes and Cucumbers cofounder Jon Fried married and became parents, they continued to make music. Deena and Alice Genese made a children's record called Over The Moon. Deena and Jon wrote most of the music for Sing SOS, a compilation of various artists for autism awareness. Participants included Marshall Crenshaw, Dar Williams, Jonatha Brooke, Ari Hest, Jackson Browne, Valerie Carter, Dan Bern, Mike Viola, Marti Jones and Don Dixon.

Jon and Deena have formed a new sextet called The Campfire Flies, and they released their first album Sparks Like Little Stars in 2019. Deena is also a solo artist, and she most recently guested on an infectious 2020 country-rock single called "Dance The Night Away" with the band Poor Man's Opera. That song, as well as several solo tracks by Deena, are interspersed with live and studio songs by The Cucumbers in Stinky's brand new Homemade Album.