One of the most exciting and definitely the most monumental come-backs this year is The Bevis Frond latest album White Numbers. This once very productive band lead by Nick Saloman published three records in ’87, and then an average of two per year until the new millennium. They returned in 2011 after seven years of silence with The Leaving of London, just to remind us that Saloman still has a lot to say. But this year’s White Numbers is a masterpiece.
Nick Saloman was known as a guy who could combine the loud guitars of punk, post-punk and underground rock with psychedelic sentiment of The Byrds and songwriting skills of the British pub rock era. In fact, it’s one of the best kept secrets that Saloman’s vocal is the best Roger McGuinn imitation since Tony Poole of the Starry Eyed And Laughing. I’m a huge fan of all those people and I making these comparisons it in the most heartfelt way. Saloman was great at this all the time, but on White Numbers, muse has struck him really well. Songs are wonderful love songs full of ambiguity and contrast that draws you in. It’s the excrement floating on the sea, makes it beautiful to me. The best known Bevis Frond song is by far Lights Are Changing which was also compiled on Children of Nuggets. On White Numbers, song This One is probably the most similar to Lights Are Changing.
Now I need to explain why this record is so monumental. First of all, the quality is strong and my attention was kept for the entire of 85 minutes of the regular run of this record. No editing needed, no losers. You read it right, it’s 85 minutes of rock’n’roll, but only for the part of the record with convential songs, all the verses, choruses and guitar shredding. Then, when you think it’s all over, there’s 45 minutes more of something that the band calls Homemade Traditional Electric Jam. Now, most bands would cut it out, and let’s be frank, most bands can’t pull a 45 minute jam without shooting themselves in the feet. Not the Bevis Frond! The Jam is full with interesting passages and it wraps up this really big record in a most perfect way. I can only think of one record that managed to do that so effectively. We had it last year on our year end list, Rich Hopkins album Buried Treasures.
How do you put 130 minutes of music on a vinyl LP? You need three records. So, the vinyl version spreads out that much, putting the long jam on the third LP and also splitting it in two down the middle. This is actually a helpful thing for that demanding jam since you can take a break and flip the record down half way through. It’s a British import here in the US, so the triple record is a bit pricey. It also suffers a bit from a mid frequency distortion and sibilance throughout the entire length, especially the first LP. This seems to be common on most modern pressings. So get a CD or files for this one if you care about the sound. If you like the big cover, photography on the front and behind is very interesting to study, so get an LP if you care about the cover art. It also comes equipped with a lyrics sheet, which is always a plus in my book.
This article is a dual review of two similar, but equally excellent records that came out in 2013. The band Meat Puppets is one of the progenitors of what was known in the 80s as the “new american rock’n’roll”. This is not a place to recall their brilliant career through the 80s, their rub with mainstream in the 90s and problems that they were going through after that. Let’s just say, it would make one hell of a bio pic. Six years ago Kirkwood brothers Curt and Cris reunited, first with Ted Marcus and then with Shandon Sahm on drums. Three albums that they recorded in those years were good, but somewhat pale when compared to the classical records that they used to make. Last year, the fourth album since the reunion came out and it’s called Rat Farm. With Rat Farm, Meat Puppets are finally fully in shape. The new album can stand head to head with their diverse 90s mainstream records and poetically reminds of their abstract psychedelic work Up On The Sun. Puppets also sound fantastic live, and those who saw them “back in the day” claim that they are as good as ever. And this is all wonderful news.
If you haven’t seen Low Cut Connie live show yet, you should. There is not too many bands out there that put such a fun, carefree show. They would surely prefer to have a full house, but even if there’s an audience of five, they’ll knock the house down. Adam Weiner carries upright piano to every show and it’s gotta be a hell to tune it while on tour, but that piano is a key instrument in the band and some synthesizer just won’t do. Weiner shares song writing and vocal duties with an Englishman Dan Finnemore. Dan sings in a flawless american accent though. The band will sometimes rotate not just vocals, but also instruments at their live show and in short, it’s the hardest working band out there on the tour. 
As usual, at the end of the year, we bring you the list of the best albums played here at The Little Lighthouse in the past season. I think this was an interesting year. Debutant band Games tops the list with a catchy selection of hits. The ghost of Jim Dickinson rules the list this year with several bands paying tributes to him. Memphis is the most frequent city on the list, remaining the capital of rock’n’roll still after all these years.
Things are very complicated this year. There are two excellent bands with the name of (The) Fuzz. Both are special projects from previously well established musicians. There is Fuzz (without “the”) from San Francisco lead by Ty Segall, a band that has captured attention of music fans all over the world. The other Fuzz is The Fuzz, they are from Memphis and they are lead by Harlan T. Bobo. You won’t hear that much about this band in fancy web portals though, except in this one.
San Francisco is maybe the hottest rock’n’roll town at the moment. But, in the world of The Little Lighthouse, the rock’n’roll capital is still in Memphis, TN. On our year end list, six albums are from Memphis and only two are from San Francisco. But only one of those records reflects the spirit of rock’n’roll in its most traditional, old fashioned way and it’s from Memphis and it’s all about Memphis. It’s the Trashed Romeos record Where Dreamers Never Go.
Oblivians are a band from Memphis, the godfathers of the garage underground scene in that city that just broke up when they were getting to be known worldwide in the late nineties. They called it quits after a great collaboration with Quintron in 1997. The band went separate ways, Greg Cartwright established himself as one of the most important songwriters with the new band Reigning Sound, Jack Yarber became the king of the minimalist garage and Eric Friedl was busy running the famous Goner Records label and playing gutter punk with True Sons of Thunder. This year they decided to ditch their real surnames again and return to The Oblivians.
Mikal Cronin was our year end champion back in 2011, 
Chris Cacavas (ex Green On Red) had an album back in 2009 called Love’s Been Discontinued which we 
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.