Today we have a relatively random playlist consisting of some of the most interesting cover songs in the past year or so. The only truly new record this time is Under The Covers Vol 3 by Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. This time they covered the 80s and we hear their version of the XTC song Towers of London. We also check out Replacements and Arbouretum, each with a Gordon Lightfoot tune, Dan Sarka covers The Records and Steve Wynn covers Townes Van Zandt. We recorded Dax Riggs in Kent with a cover of a Billie Holiday tune and we also check out Carla Olson and Juice Newton belt out a Foster and Lloyd tune and The Walkabouts in Boss’ shoes.
Gordon Lightfoot – I’m Not Sayin’;
The Replacements – I’m Not Sayin’;
Arbouretum – Carefree Highway;
Chris Stamey – If Memory Serves;
Matthew Sweet And Susanna Hoffs – Towers of London;
XTC – Towers of London;
The Records – Starry Eyes;
Dan Sarka and the Sometimes Why – Starry Eyes;
Steve Earle – Lungs;
Townes Van Zandt – Lungs;
Steve Wynn – Lungs;
Dax Riggs – Gloomy Sunday (Live in Kent);
Carla Olson – You Can Come Crying to Me (With Juice Newton);
Walkabouts – Grand Theft Auto/State Trooper.
Today we take a roundtrip from Tucson and back via many different places. We start off with Rainer and Das Combo. His legendary first album Barefoot Rock was reissued together with a bonus cd. Also, recall that earlier this year also Ptacek’s old tape Mush Mind Blues also saw the light of day in form of a bandcamp download. The we go to Las Vegas where we check out the new blues rock band called The Lucky Cheats. Than we land all the way down under where we check out the new band called The Straight Arrows form Sydney and a duet of two ladies Super Wild Horses from Melbourne. Both bands were released on the new volume of the comilation record New Centre of The Universe. Then we fly to Europe. Sweden’s Plastic Pals had a wonderful album this year called A Turn of The Tide and we finally get to hear it in this show too. Then we go to Chicago. Phil Agnotti played the entire Zombies Odessey and Oracle, only months after Ben Mason did a similar thing earlier this year. And then, via Chicago, where I recorded his new song, we go back to Tucson and Rainer’s old friend, Howe Gelb from Giant Sand.
Here we are again, another “vinyl junkyard” edition in which I play some cheap but great vinyl I found somewhere in some bargain bin. Today’s record is Claws! Phase Three of The Throbbing Lobster Infestation… 15 mostly Boston bands. It’s a compilation put together in 1985 by the Boston label Throbbing Lobster and features some mostly unknown bands from the era. Yet, songs sound really great original and it’s really hard to believe these bands didn’t really do much. The best known band on the lot is Volcano Suns, Peter Prescott’s band after he left Mission of Burma. Another interesting name on the compilation is The Primevals, who rose from the ashes of a better known band The Real Kids. Also, some may know Willie Alexander who had an experimental record on the legendary French label New Rose. But the rest of the lot are unknown, at least to me. Throbbing Lobster was the most interesting label in the ’80s from Boston and their boss Chuck Warner later on formed the legendary Hyped 2 Death website and record label. In fact, you can still buy pretty much everything from that label over there from Chuck.
A couple of new things today. Ty Segall is in action again, putting out a demo version of his last year’s album Twins, now renamed into Gemini. So the concept is now closed, it’s a twin record. He also has a band called Fuzz, but now, to complete the confusion, there’s a different band called The Fuzz, from Memphis, fronted by Hector, supposedly brother of Harlan T. Bobo, although I’m not so sure if it’s really not the same elusive rock’n’roll songwriter. Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett recorded a jam boogie record in 1986 called No End, in which he recorded all the instruments. This came out only now, after 27 years. The rest of the show is bit more conventional. We have a new band called White Denim from Austin, TX and a New Orleans cellist Leyla McCalla who recorded an LP with Langston Hughes lyrics. By the way, the house in which he lived in Cleveland is 
Today’s show is my shout-out to the Cleveland live rock’n’roll culture. There are several clubs in this town with excellent repertoire. You can get all you need: roots. folk and a bit of garage in Beachland, punk and heavier stuff in Now That’s Class, mixture of all things good in Happy Dog and other places. You can easily catch a good show in Cleveland at least once a week. In the past year, I carried around a small mp3 recorder whenever I went to a show, and today, I will play some of my favorite moments from the shows I saw last year here in Cleveland. I hope you find it interesting and visit Cleveland if you can.
We have a large roots rock block today with the latest album for Steve Earle, which is not that new anymore, but we hear it for the first time in this show. Howe Gelb’s album is in and it sounds really great. Two new roots rock names today are Willie Sugarcapps from Mobile, AL and Greg Trooper from New Jersey. But we begin today’s show with the psychedelic sounds of Night Beats, new band from Perth, Australia called Night Signals and a live Dylan cover by Cleveland’s New Salem Witch Hunters.
We start of today with and awesome hit single Discotheque by the new band here at the Little Lighthouse called The Cry! from Portland OR. It’s a part of a split single with The Connection who we know well by now. Then we check out The Len Price 3, who finally put out a follow up on their great LP called Pictures back in 2010. The new record is called Nobody Knows and they come from traditionally active Medway scene in England. Arbouretum from Baltimore, MD are back with the new ep, which entirely consists of the Gordon Lightfoot tunes and it represents the peak of the renewed interest about him on the modern scene. Ty Segall is putting out records so frequently, I can’t even count them anymore. But the new one is with his new band called Fuzz and it’s a heavy record done in the manner of the 70s hard rock, where he joined forces with the guitarist Charlie Moothart. Finally we have Dead Milkmen today. They put out four 7″ singles, totaling 12 new songs (almost like an LP!) recently. We check out one of the tunes which they performed together with Philadelphia singer Audrey Crash and we also check out a part of their recent show in Cleveland. They were supposed to play at the Cleveland Public Theater, but the power went down. So they took the show over to WCSB.
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.
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.