We got some sad news this Sunday. Lou Reed passed away. When it comes to rock’n’roll, there are not many musicians that are greater than Lou. He managed to take the Bo Diddley rhythms and put them in the context of urban New York underground art movement. He was a street poet and he consciously enhanced the lyrical potentials of rock’n’roll music. We will dedicate our entire show today to him. We begin with two tunes that are direct dedications of other artists to his musical direction. Then we hear some other bands trying out their abilities by performing Lou Reed tunes. Two of those bands are from Yugoslavia (my former country), where Lou Reed was extraordinarily influential. Then we hear one live recording of Velvet Underground which was recorded in 1968 in Cleveland, where I live now. Again, it turns out, Cleveland was one of the rare places where VU was welcome back then. And then we close things off with an ambitious medley of songs by Lou Reed about death. He was obsessed by that topic and wrote a lot of songs about it, especially in the past 20 years. And now, he’s gone too. Lou, Lou, Lou… it’s the end of a great adventure.
Lou Reed – I Can’t Stand It;
Jonathan Richman – Velvet Underground;
Mona Lisa Overdrive – Obviously Sally Mae;
Zabranjeno Pusenje – Javi mi (Turn To Me);
Eva Braun – Aljaska (Stephanie Says);
The Velvet Underground – I Can’t Stand It (Live in CLE);
Rainy Day – I’ll Be Your Mirror;
Beck’s Record Club – Black Angel’s Death Song;
Lou Reed – Finish Line;
Lou Reed – Street Hassle;
Lou Reed – Dimestore Mystery;
Lou Reed – Cremation;
Lou Reed – Magican;
Lou Reed and John Cale – Hello it’s me.
We follow Laura Cantrell’s career since the inception of this show and she has a new record out called No Way There From Here. Another band that’s been with us since the first year of this show is Electric Six, although back then their name was Wild Bunch. We watched them go to the top and they have one record a year without breaks almost all the time. The new record is called Magnum. James Jackson Toth, aka Wooden Wand is also back with the new record backed by his band World War IV from Birmingham, AL. The most interesting novelty this time is a new singer songwriter from Melbourne, Australia. His name is Ben Mason. He re-recorded the Zombies classic The Odessey And Oracle and renamed it into The Odessey Odyssey. I think it’s an awesome idea to take one of the most intricate records and show that you are capable of repeating it note to note – it’s a great way to make people pay attention to your own work.
Today we have our old friends from England, Bronco Bullfrog. The last time I heard them was in 2004, on a concert in Spain. They are back with the new single and we check it out today. Kelley Stoltz is a musician, singer-songwriter from San Francisco. He has a new album out these days called Double Exposure. Two new names in American rock this time, one is coming from Nashville. It’s a band of brothers, Joey and Evan Scala and the band is Promised Land Sound. Two Cow Garage are also in our show for the first time and they come from Columbus OH.
The most exciting news for this show is that the legendary Los Angeles band Last have some new songs ready for the album. There were talks about this record for at least eight years now, but it looks like it’s finally ready. Lee Ranaldo from Sonic Youth has a new band called Dust and their drummer Steve Shelley is also there. We have two new bands from London this time. Proctors is a band of paisley underground revisionists and Purson is a strange goth rock band that is equally inspired by Siouxsie Sioux and 60s psychedelic sounds. We dedicate this show to Phil Chevron, guitar player of The Radiators from Space and Pogues.
The most exciting thing in this show is the new band for Greg Roberson who was in Reigning Sound. His new band is called Trashed Romeos and they made a tribute to the Memphis underground scene in the 60s and the one and only Jim Dickinson. The record is called Where Dreamers Never Go. Lucero, also from Memphis, have a new ep and it’s called Texas and Tennessee. Regarding TX, Israel Nash Gripka moved over there and has a new album too. Elsewhere, we have Danny And The Champions of the World from London and King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard from Australia with their brand new albums.