Today we say goodbye to one of the greatest musicians in rock’n’roll, the bass player of Cream, Jack Bruce who passed away on October 25th this year. We briefly review his career through his songs with Cream, solo and Golden Palominos. In our Blues Alphabet segment we hear the original version of I’m So Glad, popularized by Jack Bruce, but written by Skip James. Rory Block, the greatest female blues guitarist who’s been around since the sixties, made a new tribute to Skip James.We also check out the new music by Dan Stuart hecho en Mexico with Twin Tones. We also have some new, promising bands today: Manateees from Memphis and Soft Shoulders from Montreal. We tie things up today with The Klitz, more legend than a band, four ladies from Memphis, organized and recorded by Jim Dickinson in the late seventies, which is now finally out on a 7″. Also, check out Eddie and The Hot Rods in our live in Cleveland segment, they really sounded great.
Jack Bruce – Theme for an Imaginary Western;
Liquor Store – Vodka Beach;
The Manatees – Shitwolf;
Cheap Wine – I Am The Scar;
Dan Stuart – Elena;
Eddie And The Hot Rods – Quit This Town (Live in Cleveland);
Gangsters – Harlow Town;
Muscle Beach – Let’s Get Dumb;
Cream – White Room;
Jack Bruce – Peaces of Mind;
The Golden Palominos – (Something Else Is) Working Harder;
Skip James – I’m So Glad (Blues Alphabet);
Rory Block – I’m So Glad;
Meat Puppets – Rat Farm;
Soft Shoulders – Dragon;
The Klitz – Hard Up.
We open up today with a tune from the brand new Electric Six record Human Zoo. Then we move on and check out new albums for two of the Sonic Youth guitarists which are out now, almost simultaneously. Thurston Moore made a really good one called The Best Day and Lee Ranaldo collected songs from his earlier solo albums and put them together in an acoustic setting. We also introduce three new names: Mitski from New York City, Fox and The Law from Settle and Meatbodies from Los Angeles.
Back in the early nineties Vicki Peterson (from The Bangles) and Susan Cowsill (of the Cowsills), joined forces and started performing as a duet. Later in the decade, the collaboration blossomed into a new full band, Continental Drifters, which contained many of the eighties paisley pop musicians including Peterson and Cowsill. The band broke up, but Peterson and Cowsill reformed recently as The Psycho Sisters and made their first record as a duet. We feature them in today’s show, along with the new tunes for Cozy, Dead Milkmen and Allysen Callery. We also feature Birth of Joy from Netherlands, Deaf Wish from Australia and Banging Fragiles from Cleveland for the first time in our show.
Today we begin with some vinyl reissues from Superior Viaduct – 100 Flowers and Flesh Eaters. Then we hear a Sweet Apple B side, which is a cover of Scientists’ Frantic Romantic. Then we go to Italy, where our friends Cheap Wine have a new record, tenth in seventeen years! Jesse Winchester who passed away earlier this year, recorded an LP worth of stuff which has just come out and we check it out. Singer songwriter Kim Simpson returns with music set to the DuÅ¡ko Trifunović lyrics. And Maggie Björklund who we know well from her collaborations with Howe Gelb and John Doe has a record on her own. Also, Mike Watt and his Italian sailors visited my town, and we have it on a tape. Il Sogno Del Marinaio! The most famous musician out of Boise ID, Paul Revere passed away and we pay a small tribute to his legacy.
We have a couple of interesting new albums today. Bonnie Prince Billy as a new record called Singer’s Grave a Sea of Tongues and it turns out to be a much more accessible version of his older album Wolfroy Goes to Town from three years ago. John Wesley Coleman III also has a new album which is a much more produced ordeal than his previous record (and I think that’s really a good direction for him). Chuck Prophet is back with Night Surfer LP which appears to be influenced by Ian Hunter’s songwriting style. Talking about Hunter, Mott The Hoople issued an excelled new double live record, recorded in 2013. Venerable bluesman Elvin Bishop also has a new record. In our segment Live in Cleveland, we introduce Cleveland band Shale Satans, who had an acoustic live set at our sponsor