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.
Harlan T. Bobo is probably one of the strongest songwriters active today. His three solo albums recorded and published between 2003 to 2010 are masterpieces of rock writing with topics ranging from rejection, to love and settling down. In 2010 Harlan on his record Sucker, Harlan proclaimed Live is sweet and we left him happy in a family setting. But this year he’s back hilariously drunk and boyishly angry and he needed another alter ego and a band to pull it off.
In the press material and in on the record cover, we learn that The Fuzz is a brainchild of Harlan’s brother Hector Bobo, but songwriting credits and vocal delivery is unmistakably Harlan. What we find on this record is a great example of Memphis rock’n’roll in its most uncurbed state. It’s loud and distorted and fun. It’s music of a drunken circus band staggering down a road, which how once someone described Jim Dickinson’s music. With masks and confused identities.
Besides Harlan T. Bobo, the record brings several other well known Memphis musicians, Steve Selvidge on bass and Doug Easley behind the studio knobs.
The record is sandwiched in between Air which irresistibly reminds me on Replacements’ Takin’ A Ride and When I Die which borrows a chant from Norwegian Wood. You will also hear a great tribute to Marc Bolan in Teen Rex. The musical ferocity is what will occupy your senses first, because it’s delivered overwhelmingly loud, but after you hear the record a couple of times, wise words of Harlan T. Bobo will make you rediscover this record again.
Few technical notes on the release. The record came out in Spain for Munster Records, so it is only available as an import in USA. The label on the cover says the the record is Made in Germany, but markings on the vinyl are more similar to the vinyls mastered and pressed in Russia. It’s a quality pressing considering that the record is so loud. I have a feeling that the vinyl is mastered from a digital mix, and it would probably sound better if it was mastered from an analog mix, if there is one around.
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.
A ton of new things today. A lot of it comes from advanced downloads that artists made to promote their upcoming records, so search, stream and download. Amy LaVere and John Paul Keith have a new duet together called Motel Mirrors. Howe Gelb has a new tune that he recorded together with Will Oldham. City of Cool from Australia also have a new tune and so does Eamon McGrath. His new song Exile is meant to announce a three part series of eps that will eventually comprise his future LP. R. Stevie Moore has a new hilarious song as a support for Pussy Riot and he has a reissue of his 1978 record called Delicate Tensions. Alejandro and Javier Escovedo together with Jon Dee Graham reunited into True Believers and prepared a newly recorded song as an advance for their future new record. Talking about reissues, The Replacements are back together and I saw that over in Toronto. They sounded great and we have three songs bootlegged at the reunion show today. Two new exciting records are also out Bras by Bad Sports and Nobody Realizes This Is Nowhere by Terry Malts. And Dirtbombs! Two new records, one with brand new records done in bubblegum rock style and the other – a compilation of B sides and singles.
Today we begin with two obituaries. Arturo Vega, art director and logo designer of The Ramones passed away on June 8 this year. Alan Myers drummer of Devo passed away on June 24. After we pay respect to the two of them, we continue with some new music. King Louie’s Missing Monuments have a new single, Calexico covers Replacements on the new EP and Mama Rosin joins forces with Mick Collins and Matt Verta-Ray for a Marvelette’s tune Please Mr Postman. Mark Ribot’s Ceramic Dog has an exceptional new album and Lisa Mychols is back with the new album too. Finally, we have a reissue of the Shoes first LP One In Versailles which is finally widely available.
Unfortunately, we say goodbye to two great people who influenced rock’n’roll greatly. Alvin Lee from Ten Years After left us on March 6th and George Shadow Morton, producer of the Shangri-Las left us on February 14th. But, we also have a survival story. You probably already heard that Slim Dunlap, the guitar player of The Replacements suffered a stroke last year and he survived it. Although the recovery is slow and expensive, he is holding tight. His old bandmates decided to have a small reunion and make an EP which would directly help Dunlap with the recovery costs. The limited edition EP auction did very well and and now it is scheduled for the regular release as a download and a sound carrier. We hear one of the songs from this record today. We also have one new name today for us, her name is Fredda and she’s from France, but with ties in Tucson AZ. She will be a part of Vacilando 68 promotional campaign this year at SXSW. Another new name is The Go from Detroit. They nurture the retro 60s sound. Guadalupe Plata are also back with the new record and Derek Deprator is also back with a very nice instrumental tune. Probably the most exciting new thing today is King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard with their western conceptual record called Eyes Like The Sky, narrated by Broderick Smith of The Dingoes.
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.
Golden Boys are a five piece from Austin, Texas. The best known name in the band is John Wesley Coleman III, who is known in Austin and elsewhere not only as one of the Golden Boys, but also as a singer songwriter, stand up comedian and a trash poet. But, according to what I could find about the band, it seems that Matt Hoopengardner and Bryan Schmitz, on two guitars and main vocals, are the main driving forces behind the Golden Boys.
The Replacements fans should pay special attention today. We have a new track for Paul Westerberg and also a new one for Chris Mars. Chris’ song is a part of an effort to raise fund for Slim Dunlap’s recovery after a severe stroke this February. And we also have Kevin Bowe, a musician from Minneapolis who collaborates with Westerberg on Bowe’s new record. Nels Cline is on guitar. We also have the brand new album for Natural Child. They already had one really good one earlier this year called For The Love Of The Game (we have a 
Here we are again – another usually unusual episode of The Little Lighthouse. We have a brand new Mose Allison record, which he recorded with help of Joe Henry. John Hiatt has a new record The Open Road. Neo-blues duet The Pack A.D. also have a new record We Kill Computers. A great cd also came out this month for The Model Prisoners, which was a band for Sonny Vincent and Bobby Stinson after he left The Replacements. Bobby died in 1995, but a collection of recordings with various fidelity came out only now. Aleksandar made an interview with Sonny. Look for the tied up lady logo link among our bonuses on the right bar on this page. As Sweet Apple is preparing for their debut album on April 20th, an mp3 containing one of the songs from the album was distributed around. We hear that mp3, the song I’ve Got A Feeling.
We have several new artists for the first time at The Little Lighthouse in today’s show. Justin Townes Earle is Steve Earle’s son and he covers The Replacements’ Can’t Hardly Wait. The Buttshakers from Lyon, France cover Brenton Wood’s Gimme Little Sign. Camera Obscura is a fancy new band from Scotland and Ean Eraser is a mysterious new artists with a great new 45″ record. It’s also great to see Joe Dee Graham from True Believers and Scrappy Newcomb from Ian McLagan’s Bump Band in their Austin city supergroup – The Resentments. By the way, I also played a nice bootleg from last week’s Bump Band’s live performance in Cleveland.