Today we are saying the last goodbye to one of the true rock’n’roll legends. Reg Presley of the Troggs left this ugly world on Fabruary 4th this month. We listen to his music at the end of the show. We also have some new stuff. Mike Watt put out a record with his Italian friends Stefano Pilia and Andrea Belfi. The three of them make together a trio called Il Sogno Del Marinaro. Richard Thompson is also back with a new record called Electric, and it is one of the better ones he made in recent years. We also have two new bands today, Punks On Mars from Brooklyn, NY and the Schills from Portland, OR. Glttery Schills are ran by the Paisley Pop Records boss Jim Huie and this label also released a tribute to Bobby Sutliff recently. Today we continue listening to this record with a selection from a very interesting collaboration between Velvet Crush and Matthew Sweet.
Toadstool – Rain Jam;
Punks On Mars – Victoria’s World;
Velvet Crush with Matthew Sweet – Second Chance;
Bobby Sutliff – Second Choice;
The Revelers – If You Ain’t Got Love;
Lil’ Band O’ Gold – Poor Me;
Richard And Linda Thompson – Old Man Inside A Young Man;
Richard Thompson – Stony Ground;
Bob Mould – One Good Reason;
Gordon Lightfoot – Early Morning Rain (Live in CLE 1965);
Nina Romić – Okrugla (live);
Il Sogno Del Marinaro – Partisan Song;
Slow Children – Skill of a Caveman;
Alex Chilton – With A Girl Like You;
The Troggs – Dust Bowl;
The Troggs – Come now;
The Schills – Planetorium.
In our first show in 2013, we remember some of the great rock’n’roll heros who left us in the past year. During our year end reviews, we got sad news on passing of Dave Brubeck, a jazz pianist who influenced rock’n’roll greatly. Also, Ray Collins, who was a founding member of Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. And finally, Mark Reynolds who played drums in Carnival Season and on the last tour of the Windbreakres also died. In the reminder of the show, we remember all those that passed away last year and that we recognize here at the Little Lighthouse as the great rock’n’roll characters. Bill Doss from Olivia Tremor Control, Robin Gibb from the Bee Gee’s, Scott McKenzie, Nick Curran, Hal David, Michael Davis from MC5, Joe South, Jon Lord from Deep Purple, Perry Baggs from Jason and The Scorchers, Jennifer Miro from The Nuns, Tusta from KUD Idijoti, MCA from The Beastie Boys, Donald Duck Dunn from Booker T. And The MG’s, Etta James, Bob Babbitt of the Motown Funk Brothers, Doug Dillard, Levon Helm from The Band, Chris Ethridge from The Flying Burrito Brothers, Davy Monkee Jones, Tim Mooney from the American Music Club, Bob Welch and Johnny Perez from Sir Douglas Quintet. We lost too many of them… And in the end, I would also like to dedicate this show to brothers Foley, Steven and Kevin who died in 2008 and 2011, and played in Bash and Pop with Tommy Stinson. Steven also replaced Chris Mars shortly in Replacements towards the end of their career. I only heard about this recently.
Today we say goodbye to Johnny Perez, who played drums in the early days of The Sir Douglas Quintet. We also play some very interesting reissues from many different heroes of this show. Tav Falco has reissued his debut album Beyond The Magnolia County recently, and the record cover includes a nice four sided description on the early history of the band from the insiders. Legendary first (and only) album by Memphis band Moloch also has a very nice high quality vinyl reissue. Beach Boys and Frank Zappa are reissuing their entire catalog and Velvet Underground’s debut from 1967 saw an extremely expanded 6 disc upgrade. Also there’s a new tribute to the same record, marking a nice 45 year anniversary. Other new stuff is Kurt Baker and his new record, as well as Austin’s Rosie Flores.
Today we say goodbye to one of my personal heros. Tusta was a singer of a great punk band KUD Idijoti who put out a series of three excellent EPs back when I was just starting to be interested in the underground rock. For me, Idijoti was one of the most exciting things that happened musically worldwide, although they were just a small local Yugoslav band. Unfortunately, cancer took Tusta’s life sometime last week and it shook me deeply. As if a family member died, although I didn’t even know him personally. Today show is for Tusta. We hear some his music and we also check out some of the new music as well. Cowbell is a duet from England. Electric Six have a new live record, and they visited Cleveland. Along, they brought a new band from San Diego called Little Hurricane, also a duet. And we saw an interesting new Cleveland band, Dead Sweaters. Plus Dick Valentine has a new solo record. And The Legs, Eric Oblivian’s old band, has their recordings from 2000 finally out on a record.
Today we review some parts of the blooming and booming new San Francisco rock’n’roll scene, lead by Ty Segall who has a new album out there called Twins. We also check out the wonderful cajuns from Switzerland, Mama Rosin, who made a new album in New York City with Jon Spencer and also have another ad-hoc project called Les Frères Souchet. Talking about the Francophone stuff, we have a new single for Perpignan’s Jack of Heart and including their potent cover of Gun Club’s For The Love of Ivy recorded live in Cleveland. We close the show with Amy Lavere and Shannon McNally with their new tour rehearsal tapes and with Lucy Kaplansky’s cover of The Beatles tune I’m Looking Through You.
The Dirtbombs from Detroit joined forces with Dan Sartain and Terrible Twos for a new ep release and they cover another act from Detroit on that single – a cult band called Death. Quartet from Pittsburgh, PA Satin Gum are back with their second album, which they call LP2. Mark Eitzel and Rickie Lee Jones have new solo records out. And Crusaders of Love is a new name today, from Lille in France.
This show is dominated by several new names today. First, we have the Connection – a power pop band from Portsmouth, NH. They are joined by Wyatt Funderbunk as a guest, who we also have for the first time. Then we have the Black Oil Brothers, an interesting unpretentious mixture of traditional blues and other types of art. For instance, on their site you can download a nice story of a struggling painter. Another new name are the Australian band The Murlocks. We also have some good old friends here with new music. Singing Loins are about to put out the new record called Here on Earth and David Eugene Edwards is back with another Woven Hand release. Nick Cave invited Mark Lanegan to sing on the soundtrack for the movie that he wrote Lawless.
Three rocking returns today. ZZ Top open the show with a new heavy rocker from their new record La Futura. Dinosaur Jr also rock with a new song from the new record I Bet On Sky. And Ian Hunter is back with a playful new record When I’m President. On the power pop front, we introduce the new artist, a librarian from Portland, Maine, Kurt Baker. Juliana Hatfield is back with a new untitled record. And then we have two new live albums, one for Los Lobos and other for Joe Strummer. Actually, the latter is a combination of an anthology and a live record from his days with The Mescaleros.
Singer singwriters today… some of the greatest ever. Dan Stuart, founding member of the Green On Red is finally back with with his second ever solo album, the first since his excellent debut Can O’Worms in 1995. The new album is called The Deliverance of Marlowe Billings. Italian band Sacri Cuori backs him up for this effort. Then we have Patti Smith who also has a new record out called Banga. Grant Hart is preparing a new solo double album called The Argument based on Milton’s poem Paradise Lost. The album is still not out, but two songs from it came out on a 45. Jon Dee Graham was recently in Cleveland, at Beachland Tavern and he’s in our Live in Cleveland segment. He also has a new album out Garage Sale which I picked at the show. And then there’s the new album from the guy on the picture. We say goodbye to Scott McKenzie, who sadly died recently. Finally, we have an exclusive new tune from a Zagreb band Vex And The Voxtones, who will participate on the upcoming tribute to The Records.
Today we say goodbye to two rock’n’roll artists from two different eras, but equally revered here at the Little Lighthouse. Bill Doss, one of the founders of Olivia Tremor Control and Elephant Six collective passed away on July 30th this year. He was only 43. Also, legendary Motowon bassist Bob Babbitt passed away on July 16th from the damages caused by brain cancer. He was 74. John Hiatt is here with the new record and we also have two more new artists today. Snowgoose is a band from Scotland, fronted by their wonderful singer Anna Sheard. Christian Bland from Black Angels and Lee Blackwell from Night Beats have a new duet out there in Austin called The UFO Club.