Comeback Special: 2003-2004

The 2001 book Our Band Could Be Your Life was an impetus for at least two reunions: Mission of Burma reformed in 2002, and Dinosaur Jr's Lou Barlow and J.Mascis buried the hatchet a couple years later. 

Some of the groups featured in today's selection weren't full reunions. Kjehl Johansen didn't play guitar on the Urinals' album, and bassist Eric Avery skipped the Jane's Addiction reunion. The Seeds' 2004 album is Sky Saxon backed by Nels Cline and members of the Woolly Bandits. Dave Alvin didn't join his brother Phil for The Blasters' 2004 album, but Phil sings Dave's "Dry River" (plus an Otis Blackwell tune!)

Heavy Metal Kids, The Romantics and The Undertones came back with new singers. Other 2003 reunions: The Fugs, The Joe Jackson Band, DAF und Kraftwerk.

2004 reunions: American Music Club, Bark Psychosis, Camper Van Beethoven, Cowboys International, Der Plan, The Fall-Outs, MDC, and MOB's  ONoffON (the first of four albums released by the reunited Burma before they played their final show in 2016.)

I broke one of my own rules to include comeback songs by solo artists Gary Wilson and Nathanlel Mayer, but I couldn't bring myself to listen to Men Without Hats. Call me a relic, call me what you will. Just don't call me about my vehicle's extended warranty.

Dave Alvin Rides Again

 

STINKY SEZ: Thanks to all the kind folks who commented!  As promised, here are more Dave Alvin Rarities!

It’s a testament to how respected Dave Alvin was that—although he was a “newly solo” act releasing his first album—he was interviewed on the radio show InnerView.  Other acts interviewed for the show were The Kinks, Steve Miller, Heart, UFO, The Allman Brothers, Alice Cooper, Blondie, Cheap Trick, Rockpile, Van Halen, Yes, & Al Stewart (the only other solo singer/songwriter included).  

At this stage in Dave’s career he’d been the songwriter/sideman to his brother Phil in The Blasters, and got some additional cred when Shakin’ Stevens covered his composition MARIE MARIE.

This syndicated radio LP doesn’t even show up on discogs, so it’s safe to say that it’s rare. 

All of the songs are album cuts from his first solo record ROMEO’S ESCAPE, except the last cut, which is Dave playing/singing a Bill Moore song to wrap up the interview.

Included in the same file is a compilation of Dave playing Extended Live Versions of a selection of his songs from several sources.  They average 8 minutes long, which gives Dave a little more of a chance to show off his fiery guitar chops than  he usually does on record.  I love Dave’s always tasteful playing, and I'm pretty sure the piano on Out In California might be supplied by The Skeletons' keyboardist, who was playing with Dave when I saw him!

Dave Alvin Rarities

 

Stinky made this one awhile back, but he says it's got "cuts that still don't turn up on similar comps". 

Dave Alvin is a national treasure. He's played with The Blasters, The Knitters, X, The Flesh Eaters, and The Pleasure Barons (with Mojo Nixon and Country Dick Montana). Dave Alvin is on tour right this very minute with Jimmie Dale Gilmore.  And his third book comes out in September. It's called New Highway: Selected Lyrics, Poems, Prose, Essays, Eulogies and Blues. It's got stories about Merle, Buck, Bo Diddley, Ray Charles, and Frank Zappa.

He's a writer, actor, guitar slinger, songwriter, Grammy winner -- what else do you need to know? There's a couple of poems and a whole lot of music in today's share. Get you some!

Disowned & Derided (Volume 2)

"Where are all the drug-addled albums?" an addle-brained reader inquired. Coming right up! Stinky's volume of Disowned & Derided includes plenty of songs that suffered from an excess of substance abuse. Aerosmith, Oasis, RHCP, The Eagles, and Alice Cooper are among those who blame powders, pills and booze for their substandard musical output. Whiskey and bad cocaine go hand in hand with power struggles, bad decisions, and toxic relationships. (Now that I think about it, Little Feat's Down On The Farm should have been on our list.)

Speaking of bad decisions, Kiss' attempt to become Serious Artists on The Elder was a serious misstep. Roger Daltrey has said that It's Hard should never have been released. Neil Young's Everybody's Rockin' actually got him sued by his record label. 

According to Young, Geffen "told me they wanted me to play rock 'n' roll, and told me I didn't sound like Neil Young (on Trans). So I gave them Everybody's Rockin' and said, 'This is a rock 'n' roll album by Neil Young after someone tells him what to do; this is exactly what you said you wanted.' And we got way into it.”

Personnel changes affected The Romantics' Strictly Personal, RHCP's One Hot Minute, and the Velvet Underground's Squeeze (essentially a Doug Yule solo album). Lackluster songwriting and performances are evident on these albums as well as CCR's Mardi Gras, Bowie's Never Let Me Down, and Iggy's Party. Can't blame drugs for that last one: Iggy was on drugs for his best albums and his worst ones! (Just kidding, Stinky and I both love Party.)

Record labels and producers also get blamed. Even though fans love The La's and The Smiths, their respective frontmen were unhappy with the sound of their debuts. Damon Albarn hates Blur's first album, and Al Jourgenson loathes Ministry's debut. Johnny Ramone was unhappy with the choice of Graham Gouldman as producer for Pleasant Dreams, but da bruddas wanted the airwaves.

Plenty of great songs on this compilation, regardless of what the artists thought. "There She Goes" is flawless, and Joe Walsh's "In The City" was miles ahead of most of The Long Run.  "Eminence Front" was a hit, and "We Want The Airwaves" should have been one. 

Disowned, Derided and Deleted

Stinky and I started kicking around the idea for our latest Jon-Ky Records release over a year ago. It's a compilation of songs from albums that have been disowned or derided by their creators. I put together the first volume of Disowned & Derided. Stinky's choices will be posted next. 

Here are Stinky's top five reasons why a musician or band might badmouth their own work:

1. Caved To Pressure To Make A Hit Record/Changed Their Signature Sound

2. Drug Addled Recording Sessions

3. Unhappy With The Producer/Production

4. The Writing Wasn’t Up To Par

5. The Performances Weren’t Up To Par

Artists who caved in to pressure from record labels or producers include Captain Beefheart (on Unconditionally Guaranteed and Bluejeans & Moonbeams), The Monkees (Changes) and John Cougar (Chestnut Street Incident). Some albums were released without the artists' consent, like Van Morrison's Blowin' Your Mind and the debut of Big Brother And The Holding Company.

Bands who changed their signature sound include Celtic Frost (Cold Lake) and Bad Religion (Into The Unknown). I also included a couple songs from disowned albums by artists who hadn't found their signature sound yet (American Music Club, Pantera, and Billy Joel's hard rock duo Attila). Speaking of BJ, he was briefly a member of Dick Wagner's band Ursa Major after Attila split up.

Artists who were unhappy with their performances include Linda Ronstadt (Silk Purse) and Ian Hunter (Overnight Angels). Other musical missteps include The Beach Boys' M.I.U. Album, Hall & Oates' War Babies, Funkadelic's Connections And Disconnections, The Clash's Cut The Crap, and Van Halen III. 

Some disowned albums have been blocked from reissue: Emmylou Harris' Gliding Bird, Bob Seger's Brand New Morning, Mickey Newbury's Harlequin Melodies, Scott Walker Sings Songs From His TV Series, and Mark Everett's Bad Dude In Love. Thanks to Farq for that last rarity! 

Gnarly Guitarists: Dick Wagner

Wagner (left), Hunter (center) and Reed

Stinky assembled a terrific set of Dick Wagner's music, with songs from Wagner's band The Frost as well as his work as a session musician.  The Frost was a late 60's Michigan band that released three albums and played shows with the MC5 and The Stooges. The Frost evolved from The Bossmen, a garage band that included Dick Wagner and Mark Farner.

I always think of Dick Wagner and Steve Hunter together, since the two guitarists played so brilliantly on Lou Reed's live album Rock N Roll Animal, as well as Alice Cooper's Welcome To My Nightmare. They also played the solos on Aerosmith's version of "Train Kept A Rollin" (Hunter plays the first solo, Wagner the second).

Several months ago, PJ at the blog Albums I Wish Existed featured a two disc set of Steve Hunter's work in the studio. Stinky's Dick Wagner compilation makes a fine companion to PJ's Steve Hunter set.

Here's an article (with links to music videos) that features some of Wagner's best moments on record, and here's a comprehensive discography of his musical credits. Wagner worked with Alice Cooper for over a decade as guitarist, bandleader and songwriter. "Only Women Bleed" was based on a song Wagner wrote for The Frost.

Wagner and Hunter played on a lot of the same albums because producers like Bob Ezrin and Jack Douglas knew they would reliably bring the heat to sessions with Aerosmith, Kiss, Peter Gabriel, Tim Curry and others.  Wagner's online biography notes that he survived heart attacks, stroke, and paralysis. He regained the ability to play guitar after brain surgery in 2011. Dick Wagner died in 2014 at the age of 72.

Comeback Special: 2000-2002

Dictators Forever, Forever Dictators

After getting the idea to compile songs from reunion albums, I found two articles from Stereogum (here and here) and two lists from Rate Your Music (here and here) of individuals and bands who made musical comebacks. 

I excluded solo acts (it isn't a reunion if there's only one performer) and reunions that did not result in new original songs (so Big Star qualifies, but the Box Tops don't). 

For many bands, years may pass without new releases, so for the purpose of this series, a comeback is considered a gap of at least a decade between albums.  

Reunions that do not include all the original band members are not excluded. For example, Robert Forster and Grant McLennan released a Go-Betweens album in 2000 with Sam Coomes and Janet Weiss from Quasi. Stephen Burns was lured by Alex Chilton from Memphis to Glasgow, where Burns recruited a new lineup and dubbed them The Scruffs.

The year 2000 saw comebacks by 23 Skidoo and one of my favorite hardcore bands, Secret Hate. In 2001, The Blake Babies, The Chameleons, The Dictators, The Electric Prunes, The Free Design, and The Go-Go's made comeback albums. 

2002 was a banner year for reunions: The Band Of Holy Joy, The Breeders, The Carpettes, Crispy Ambulance, Dag Nasty, Discharge, The Flatlanders, Hanoi Rocks, The Remains, Sad Lovers & Giants, The Scruffs, The Soft Boys, Soft Cell, Suicide, and Wire. Hey, we featured The Flatlanders right here on this blog when Jimmie Dale, Joe, and Butch got together again 20 years later! 

35 years passed between albums for The Remains, 33 for The Electric Prunes, and almost 30 for The Flatlanders and The Free Design. Today's compilation contains no Flatlanders, Free Design, Hanoi Rocks or Soft Cell. But it does include 20 great songs that I hope you will enjoy.