[Music] Metallica - Anthesia (Pulling Teeth)

RIP Cliff Burton, 10/02/62 - 27/09/86.

[Music] Death In Vegas & Iggy Pop - Aisha

Slightly harrowing video with a twist. Love this song, just a shame the video edit is so cut down that it loses some of the funkiness.

[Music] UNKLE Feat. Josh Homme - Restless

From their 2007 album "War Stories".

[Music] Kenny Smith & The Loveliters - Go For Yourself

Some fine soul funk for a Friday.

[Music] Descendents - Silly Girl [Live]

A perfect slice of 80s punk rock.

[Music] Metallica - Enter Sandman [Live]

To celebrate 20 year since the release of their eponymous 5th album, have some Metallica live in San Diego 1992.



The classic Sergio Leone/Ennio Morricone "To Good, The Bad & The Ugly"/"The Ecstasy Of Gold" introduction to the start of the show and then into the song.

Superb.

[Music] Metallica's "Black": 20 Years On.

'Metallica' cover.

The distinctive, haunting picked introduction bleeds from the speakers. 

The dual guitars are suddenly backed up by a thumping, steady bass drum beat and a thick, dense bassline. 

The guitars pick up, distorted and muted. 

The tension builds, a little at first.

Then harder, more drums, more guitar.

Then, at 55 seconds in the song explodes to life, the swagger and groove opening up "Enter Sandman", the first song on Metallica's 5th album; simply named 'Metallica'.

"Enter night, exist light..."

It's 20 years since this happened for the first time. This album, that was a major milestone in the life of my generation, is 20 years old. August 12th 1991 was the date when "The Black Album", as it became known due to its almost pure black cover, hit the shops and was feverishly purchased by metal-heads the world over.

Almost 3 years to the day since '...And Justice For All', the buzz around the new album had been growing since the summer of 1990 when word hit the international music press that the writing process had started on what was promising to be the biggest Metallica album to date.  Metallica's fan base had been swelled by the success of the previous 4 albums; their 1983 début 'Kill 'Em All'; 1984's follow up 'Ride The Lightning'; the 1986 masterpiece 'Master Of Puppets' and the afore mentioned 'Justice' in 1988; the band were growing as a creative unit with 'new boy' Jason Newsted now at home in the bassist spot previous filled by the late, great Cliff Burton.

Singer/guitarist James Hetfield and fellow founder, drummer Lars Ulrich, spent the summer of 1990 writing the basis of the songs that would form the core of the album.  Contributions from the other member were also included - lead guitarist Kirk Hammett is listed a co-writer on 4 of the tracks and Newsted on 1 - but the majority of the material from the sessions had the unmistakable sound of the two friends from LA.

"Little whispers circle around your head..."

In late September 1990, the band entered the studio to record the demos for the album with new producer Bob Rock.  This meant it was the first time since their 1983 début that the production would not be overseen by Danish engineer Flemming Rasmussen. Rasmussen's hard hitting, abrasive production had helped to define the crunching yet fluid thrash metal sound that had been the Metallica cornerstone.  Bob Rock, on the other hand, was best known for his recent work with glam metal Motley Crue, the AOR sounds of  Bon Jovi and the classic rock of Aerosmith.  His style was more orientated towards happier, more pop sounds than the darkness associated with thrash.  The main contemporary thrash metal bands of the time - the other 3 within the "Big Four" - Anthrax, Megadeth and Slayer had all recently released hard hitting new albums that were shaping a new direction for the genre ('Persistence Of Time', 'Seasons' In The Abyss' and 'Rust In Peace' respectively), backing up the well worn path of brutal riffing with a more refined song writing.  It was this new direction the Metallica sought to explore and exploit.

Recording sessions proper started in October at One on One Studios in North Hollywood.  In a recent interview with Metal Hammer magazine, Rock looked back on the making of the album, saying:

"...they had broken through to one level, but they still weren’t on mainstream radio. When they came to me, they were ready to make that leap to the big, big leagues" Bob Rock

Rock had expected an easy album to produce, much along the lines of his work in Bon Jovi, and to a lesser extent Crue.  Instead, he had frequent run-ins with the band, expressing his belief that Hetfield could write "better lyrics" than the ones brought to the sessions.

"It wasn’t a fun, easy record to make. Sure, we had some laughs, but things were difficult. I told the guys when we were done that I’d never work with them again. They felt the same way about me." Bob Rock

The band, and Rock, wanted the sound to be more cohesive, more live, more earthy.  This meant they recorded as a band, not separately, or hidden away form each other in different rooms; as James Hetfield was quoted in a Guitar World interview:

"What we really wanted was a live feel. ...I wanted to try playing as a band unit in the studio. It lightens things up and you get more of a vibe." James Hetfield

Many songs were re-recorded and re-recorded to create the final versions.  Layers of guitar and bass were placed on top of each other to magnify the wall-of-sound experience. Even after the material was finally recorded, the correct dynamics and power could not be found during the mixing phase.  Rock and the band didn't see eye to eye on this, which resulted in as many as three total remixes of the final songs to create the feeling that the band craved.  The trouble didn't keep itself in the studio either, much to the pain of Ulrich, Hammett and Newsted - all three have cited the troubled production and mixing of the album as at least part of the reason why all went through divorces at this time.

"Couldn't be much more from the heart, forever trusting who we are..."

The final mix of the opus, when compared to the band's back catalogue, is a much more clean, polished beast.  The sound is richer, sharper; each instrument is contained within it's own dynamic space, despite the multi-layering. 

Hetfield's vocals are much more in tune with mass-market, mainstream audiences on 'Metallica'.  His rasping, shouting style is replaced in the main with a stronger, sung vocal performance - lending each song a more anthemic quality.

Lars Ulrich's drumming is more tempered.  There is less of the manic double bass-drum and kick-drum bombast that added the power and weight to 'Master Of Puppets', and on many songs he deploys a softer, more background approach previously only seen on slower tempo songs such as "Fade To Black".  Overall, it is a much more mature approach, helping to lead each song rather than play over it.

The bass lines provided by Newsted are used differently on 'Metallica' than on previous albums.  Prior to his death in 1986, former bassist Cliff Burton had used his skill as a bass player to provide an additional lead instrument to the Metallica battering ram.  When not used in this way, his bass still stayed to the fore, blessing each song with a fluidity that added texture to the hard grind and thrash of the tracks.  On Metallica's only previous album without Burton, 1988's '...And Justice For All', Newsted's bass was so low in the mix that it is almost inaudible, and when you can hear it, it is simply a double of the guitar line rather than a sound of it's own.  Newsted was quoted as saying:

"The Justice album wasn't something that really felt good for me, because you really can't hear the bass" Jason Newsted

The sound that changed least on the album was the twin guitar attack of Hetfield and Kirk Hammett.  Hammett had joined the band prior to the recording of the début album as a replacement for the future Megadeth singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine.   The guitar sound that Hetfield (heavier, hard riffing and attacking leads) and Hammet (syncopated counter riffs and a more languid lead) had developed over the previous decade was allowed to stay with only the minimum of changes.  The distortion was toned down a bit, the sound tighter yet less frantic and less choppy.  There is more use of wah-wah than before but the guitar harmonics still prevail. The groove that was beginning to develop on 'Master...' and lost to some extent on 'Justice' is back, and aided by the layering approach.  It's an approach that would be further developed on their later albums, with Hetfield "allowing" Hammett to record more rhythm guitar parts and changing the sound even more.

The overall sound of the album is more basic, less constructed than had gone before.  Hetfield commented in 1996 during the 'Load' tour:

"Sure, the arrangements are simpler. It's a reaction to 'And Justice For All' which was really, really anal. Every little bit was worked out. The arrangement was so orchestrated that it got really stiff, and when we were on tour it got really boring. So we knew we had to move on and 'The Black Album' was pretty much the opposite" James Hetfield

"A tired man they see no longer cares..."

Each track on the album can be looked at separately to show how it fitted in with the new mindset and style Metallica were producing:

"Enter Sandman" (James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett)

The album opener and arguably Metallica's best known track.  The song sets the tone for the feel of the album, the song is the archetypal single riff song.  The song was chosen to start the album as it was the first song written (although, it was the last to have lyrics written for it) and showcased the new sound well.

"That's why it's the leadoff track. To me, it was "Here's the new vibe gone right to the extreme".' Lars Ulrich

The new multi-layered guitar sound is used effectively here, giving Hetfield's crunchy guitar a fuller, more rich texture that allowed the song to transgress the normal Heavy Metal market and reach 16 on the Billboard "Hot 100" in the US, and even soar to the heights of number 5 on the UK charts.

The lyrics suggest a song that is trying to describe the childhood feeling of a nightmare - a theme that Hetfield chose on purpose to counter-balance the "commercial feeling" he felt the instrument track had.

The song utilises, in the mid section, a child chanting a well known section from the bedtime prayer "Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep".  Interestingly, the same prayer was utilised by 'rival' band Megadeth on their song "Go To Hell", which featured on the soundtrack album to the film "Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey", and  released just weeks prior to "Sandman".  Megadeth frontman (and ex-Metallica guitarist) Dave Mustaine claimed at the time that this link was yet more proof that Metallica were still "ripping off his ideas"; although later in his autobiography he claims to be unsure as to which song was recorded first, or if either band was aware what the other was doing. 

"Sad But True" (Hetfield, Ulrich)

"Duh.... du-du-du-duuuh... duh duh... wah wah wah wump" ...so the intro goes to the second song. "Sad But True" picks up where "Sandman" left off, a real foot on the floor stomper of a song that has been described as having a "Sabbath-esque" vibe to it - a simile that is very valid when the groove locks in and moves the song.  The brooding mood was helped with a down-tune to D, and a solid bass line form Newsted.

"Holier Than Thou" (Hetfield, Ulrich)

The shortest song on the album, clocking in at just shy of 3.47 seconds, "Holier..." ups the pace of the album and provides a a glimpse of Metallica's roots.  There is a definitive hardcore punk to the feel of the song, something that they exhibited on their early work.  The intro seems to utilise a 'voice box' on the lead guitar, a-kin to the one used by Richie Sambora on the Bon Jovi mega-hit "Living On A Prayer"; where as the solo utilises a heavy distortion jump off, before a clean phase with some wah-peddle.

 

"The Unforgiven" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

Once again the pace and feeling is switched to enhance the dynamics of the album.  After the frenetic frenzy of "Holier...", the horn and picked-guitar introduction of "Unforgiven" takes the listener by surprise.  Not only do the band play with the album dynamic, but they also toy with the usual rock dynamic within the song.  The standard 'light verse, heavy chorus' is eschewed in favour of a thick riff on the verses under Hetfield's spat vocals, shifting to a mellower, sung chorus.

The song was intended to capture the mood of a 'spaghetti Western', with instrumentation and chord sequencing based on the work of Ennio Morricone (in fact, it is believed that the sampled horn at the start of the track was taken from the Morricone's soundtrack to "A Few Dollars More").  The song hit such a chord with the band and the fans that it inspired two 'sequel' songs; "The Unforgiven II" on 'Load' and "The Unforgiven III" on 'Death Magnetic'.

"Wherever I May Roam" (Hetfield, Ulrich)

Kicking off with a gong and electric sitar creating an eastern flavour, in a similar way that Guns N' Roses would also do on the track "Pretty Tied Up", to be released later in 1991.  The song can be seen as a paean to the classic rockstar "chore" of life on the road; and also as Metallica's answer to Bob Seger's "Turn The Page" (which Metallica would themselves cover in 1998 for their "Garage Inc." album).  Alongside the use of a sitar at the start, Jason Newsted played some of the studio version of the song on a 12-strong bass.  The song makes use if the twin guitar harmony at times, pointing back to classic Metallica.

"Don't Tread on Me" (Hetfield, Ulrich)

Ever heard Leonard Bernstein quoted in a metal song?  No?  Well Metallica changed that on this, their love song to America. Bernstein's score for the song "America" from 'West Side Story' is quoted by Hetfield and Hammett in a twin guitar introduction. Hetfield has admitted that this song is a rebuttal, as it were, to his anti-American stance deployed on the 'Justice' album. Hetfield himself said to Rolling Stone in 1991:

"This is the other side of that. America is a fucking good place. I definitely think that." James Hetfield

The song caused a minor amount of controversy, with press calling Hetfield a hypocrite and a sell out for writing such a contrived track in the wake of the first Gulf War.

"We got people calling us "jingoistic"; that was definitely a word we had to look up!" Kirk Hammett

The pro-American feeling of the track found it's way on to the album cover too.  The titular saying "Don't Tread On Me" was taken from the Gadsden Flag (where it is incorrect, without the apostrophe), which alongside the slogan featured a coiled rattlesnake, much in the same way the album cover did.

The song itself is a midpaced hard marching song, quoting various pro-American slogans (liberty/death) and combining with lyrics that seem to be military based. This song has yet to be played live by the band.

"Through the Never" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

The second half of the album is kicked off my this trash riffed based song. For me, this is the song on the album that most wants to hark back to older Metallica, most notably in the tempo and time signature change, but also the chord sequence at 58 seconds.  The repetitive riff is very hypnotic in the post-chorus, again the layering technique of Bob Rock can be heard here. The breakdown that starts at about 2.52 is the best part of the song, although the echo effect added to Hetfield's shouted vocal performance does date the track.

It seems a contrite to say this is a song about "our place in the Universe", but unless you allow yourself to indulge in some HP Lovecraft-ian "Cthulhu" mythology (as Metallica are known to do, don't forget) then it seems to be the most plausible explanation.

"Nothing Else Matters" (Hetfield, Ulrich) 

"Nothing Else Matters" is perhaps the albums biggest surprise of all those on offer for the listener.  Metallica had always prided themselves on being a hard, masculine metal band.  Their past forays in to ballads had been razor edged.  "Fade To Black" from 'Ride The Lightning' and "One" from 'Justice', both of which can see their lineage within "Nothing Else Matters", were songs that themed on a perceived feelings that others could share, feelings that were based on a fictional character - allowing Hetfield, as vocalist and lyricist, to back away from the emotional content.  "Nothing Else Matters" on the other hand was a deeply personal song from James Hetfield, mainly being seen as a love song to his then girlfriend, telling of the feelings he felt when touring with the band and away from her.  It can also bee seen as one of the first attempts by Hetfield to document his own internal issues, his relationship with alcohol and how that have a bearing on your life.

"It's a song that's not 'safe'.  It takes some nerve to do. We're not supposed to do something like that. Then you turn around and go, 'Well, who said we couldn't? We're running the show here'." James Hetfield

The music is the most stripped on the album, the most stripped that Metallica had done to that point.  Bob Rock added a string section of cellos to enhance the mood, counter picking the strummed acoustic guitar and minimalistic rhythm section.  The explosion on the final solo sees Hetfield (rather than Hammett) produce an emotional solo which fades to allow the song to close with a more whispered tone.  

The song charted at #6 in the UK and 34 on Billboard in the US.

"Of Wolf and Man" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett)

 The dynamics of the album switch again.  The quiet, contemplative mood of "Nothing" is wiped away by the chugging riff that opens "Of Wolf And Man".  At a base level, the song it about the classic folklore tale lycanthropy or werewolves; but is probably more likely to be about the switch/change in persona that is needed for the band to perform on stage in front of the baying, ravenous audience. The line "so seek the wolf and not the man" can be seen as a way of saying for people to leave the band along when they are not on stage.

"The God That Failed" (Hetfield, Ulrich) 

Every metal album should have a song about religion, and this is the one on 'Metallica.  Hetfield was raised in a conservative household, and this song tells of his experience and his feelings of doubt towards the claims of religion. These feelings were heightened by the death of Hetfield mother from cancer.

Opening with a deep, guttural bass and drum, the song is the same pace most of the album, the heavy riff chugging away under Hetfield's vocal.  Hetfield himself described the song as "nice...ugly", where as Hammett admits his solo on the song is one of his favourites, even though the final one on record was made up of various takes.  The octave-pitched lead harmony on the solo was suggested by Rock to make sure the solo wasn't too "pretty".

"My Friend of Misery" (Hetfield, Ulrich, Jason Newsted) 

The longest song on the album, "My Friend..." opens again with a bass line form Newsted.  The song was originally conceived as a bass led instrumental, a concept that Metallica had deployed before with Cliff Burton on "Orion" and "(Anaesthesia) Pulling Teeth".  The song is Newsted's sole writing credit on the album.

The song continues the more sombre, morose mood that fills the second half of the album. After the initial heavy build up, it drops into a steady 4/4 beat with a sparse riff where you can see the instrumental origins.  The chorus is jarring, even after 20 years it feels like it has been tagged on to make room for vocals.

The middle section is excellent, with some interesting instrumentation passages, experimental guitar effects which gives a very 70s sci-fi feeling on the first solo.  The second solo is more in the mould of a classic rock performance.

The lyrics concern snide swipes from Hetfield towards protest groups where misery thrives.

"The Struggle Within" (Hetfield, Ulrich)

The album closer kicks in with a very military drum beat and the classic twin guitar lead line, both leading the listener back to "One" from 'Justice', before jumping into a scatter-gun riff and off-kilter drums.  The timing sequences and tempo changes make this the most 'old skool' Metallica on the second half of the album.

The songs solo is one of the best on the album, using a tapping technique that compliments the 'old skool' nature of the song.  heavy, quick and a great way to round off the album.

"The healing hand held back by the deepened nail..."

Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett, Newsted. 1991

'Metallica' proved to the big breakthrough album that catapulted the band from being "well known in metal circles" to being simply "well known". MTV picked up the videos produced for the albums six singles - half of the albums songs were released as chart single, all apart from "Don't Tread On Me" broke into the Billboard Hot 100 and the UK Top 40.  The album itself hit the number 1 spot in America, the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Norway... opening the band up to new audiences who were drawn to the album with its mix of headbanging fury and honest emotions.  The accusations of selling out were thrown from the long term, hardcore fans and press alike, but the band brushed them aside.

Now one of the biggest bands on the planet, they toured the album frantically during 1991, 1992 and 1993.  Midway through, a co-headlining tour with Guns N' Roses, who were also at the height of their fame off the back of their 'Use You Illusion' albums, was meant meant to be a pinnacle of their stadium rock triumph, and whilst it was profitable for the band, it also resulted in Hetfeild getting injured by an onstage flare during a rendition of "Fade To Black".  The injury resulted in a problems setting up the stage for GNR to follow. The problems, confounded by GNR frontman Axl Rose leaving the stage due to a "sore throat" resulted in a a roit at the venue in Montreal.

The band played Woodstock '94, sandwiched between Nine Inch Nails and Aeromsith, playing to a crowd estimated to be around 350,000 in number.

"They say the empty can rattles the most..."

But did Metallica really sell out on this album, or was it just a natural progression for the band? Well, with 20 years of hindsight it is very easy to look on the album as the point at which the band left behind their thrash metal roots and moved towards a more radio friendly sound.  The two albums that followed, 'Load' and 'Re:Load' took this to another level, removing most of the bands lengthy song structure, experimental solo-ing and heavy riffing and replacing it with obvious chord changes, easy on the ear vocals and less anger. If anything, 'Metallica' was just the pointer towards totally selling out and the 'Load' duo of albums were the sell out.

Looking back on the album after 20 years, you can see how it was viewed as such a strong album.  The song writing, performance and production are excellent; head and shoulders above their peers when you focus on the commercial aspects.  Some of the artistry that the band had on their first 3 albums might be missing, but you have to consider the fact that those were recorded by a different Metallica, one with Burton on bass.  The late summer, early autumn of 1991 was a good period for music, some huge albums were released - Guns N' Roses 'Use Your Illusion' double, RHCP's 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik', Nirvana's 'Nevermind' and 'Ten' by Pearl Jam were all hailed as corner stones - and 'Metallica' easily stands up to them in terms of musical substance, listen-ability and historical value.

Go and find your copy, put it on, play it all the way through and enjoy the trip.

----------

References: 

[Metal Hammer interview with Bob Rock, August 2011]

[Wikipedia articles on 'Metallica (album)', '...And Justice For All' and 'Metallica (Band)']

[Douglas J Noble interview with James Hetfield in 1996 for Guitar Magazine]

["The Thrash Kings Return", Rolling Stone 1991]

[Omimetal: Have Your Dave's autobiography yet?]

[Music] Ginger's Genius Album Genesis.

Now this is genius.

Wildhearts front-man Ginger is looking to record a new solo album.  Nothing shocking or amazing there, you say. He has some sort of addiction to releasing albums, putting out hundreds of original songs. OK, but he needs to finance it and doesn't want to get a record company involved - you know, punk ethos.

So he has created a project on PledgeMusic, a website where people can pledge money to a recording artist to enable them to afford to get into the studio and record.  In return, they get the album.  So it's kind of like the music industry in reverse. It's taken the idea of a pre-order to a whole new level. So says the man himself:

"I love music being independent. Always have.

The D.I.Y approach has appealed to me since I watched the original punks gatecrash the charts and infuriate the press. But the thing was, they couldn’t be stopped because the people were behind their militant stance and the mainstream could only stubbornly hope that they’d just go away. But we never went away. Revolution was born.

I remember thinking how cool it was to hear Jimmy Saville, on Radio One, refer to ‘Never Mind The Bollocks’ as, simply, ‘Nevermind’. And when “God Save The Queen” stormed the charts at number one? Well, there just wasn’t a number one that week, the slot was left blank.

But we all knew. To the believers this was victory.

What I want to do is keep that spirit thriving. Music made for the people by the people."

Ginger's plan is to record a HUGE triple album of solo material which will be presented to the fans who pledge in one of 4 ways: standard download of all 30 songs, a triple CD set, a deluxe signed triple CD set, or a special package of the triple CD set with you named in the liner notes and a 3 LPs. Each option is available at a different price point to cover all pockets, the downloads from a tenner, to £100 for the "thanks" CD and vinyl package.  Those who pledge will also have the chance to vote for their favourite 12 tracks off the triple album, which will be made in to the commercially available version for the shops.

He set the time limit as 60 days to raise the money needed (I think the figure of £40,000 was touted at some point) and posted the information on his Twitter and Facebook pages.

Ginger is a well known artist, but only to a core group of fans.  He isnt like some "stars" on Twitter with 1Million+ followers.  He has about 5000 of them, modest by rockstar amounts.  About the same amount also "Like" his Facebook page, although it would be safe to say there a huge overlap. So 60 days to get the funds needed looked sensible.

But no, it wasnt to be.  He greatly under estimated the loyal group of followers.  After 30 minutes of the PledgeMusic site being live, he was already on the way.  After 6 hours it was done, 100% funded.  After 2 days (the pledge stays open after it reaches 100%), it is sitting at 219% with all the special "thanks" packages gone.  You can still get pledge towards the other levels though.

Me?  I got in at the start and bought up a pledge to the signed triple CD set.  Hell, Ive been a Wildhearts fan all my life, own all Gingers solo material, SilverGinger5, Super$hit666... you name it, I've got it; so there was no way I was missing out on this.

It's an interesting plan and I for one hope it comes off well.  The theory behind it is sound (assuming the artist has the talent and back up to pull it off) and should allow more artists to record what they want, rather than what the record companies want.

Oh, I almost forgot. 10% of the total funds pledged will also go to charity - not in to Ginger's pockets, but to Save The Children.  This comes after Ginger put his infamous black Gibson Les Paul guitar (the one he used on ALL Wildhearts albums) on eBay and auctioned it for the Japan relief effort.  It sold for around £17,000 with all of it going to the British Red Cross.

The PledgeMusic page: http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/gingerwildheart#project

Ginger on Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/gingernyc

[Music] Neil Young - Heart Of Gold [Live '71]

There really isn't much you can say about this performance, its that good. Neil Young; solo, acoustic, fragile, delicate. Genius.

[Music] Helmet - Biscuist For Smut.

Video for the song from their 1994 album "Betty". Super cool guitar riff from Page Hamilton, and John Stainer's snare-drum work is lovely.

[Music] Wugazi.

Wu Tang Clan + Fugazi = Awesome.

Not so much your usual mashup, this is more a painstaking remix project. The vocal tracks are direct lifts from various Wu songs; the backing tracks are finely pieced together from chunks of Fugazi songs; a riff from here, a drum track from there.  The result is one of the best mashups out there, alongside the ubiquitous "Grey Album" Metallica/Jay-Z one by DangerMouse and "The Beastles" project Beatles/Beasties by dj BC.

The album opener "Sleep Rules Everything Around Me" sets the style straight away.  The fine piano riff from Fugazi's "I'm So Tired" and the vocals from "C.R.E.A.M."  The tracks are worked together so well that if you were hearing them for the first time you would assume it was how the track was meant to be.  The album continues in a similar vein; the flows of the various Wu emcee's fed over mashed, chopped and mixed versions of Fugazi songs.  The whole thing is genius, but there are some moments when the already broad grin on your face explodes - the moment 2.18 minutes into "Nowhere to Wait" when the guitar riff from "Waiting Room" breaks the beat-driven song is a thing of beauty.  Equally sweet is the chorus of "Forensic Shimmy".  Brilliant.  The only track I cant really get in to is "Sweet Release" as it seems the sung vocal sample just does match with the backing track.  A minor thing though.

Playing "spot the Fugazi sample" and "name the Wu vocals" is excellent fun. Not worked out them all yet...

Download the album from the Wugazi site now before it gets taken down. http://wugazi.com/

[via: Justin Craigen]

[Music] Mother Love Bone - This Is Shangri-la.

Mother Love Bone were a hard rock proto-grunge band fronted by Andrew Wood.   Wood died of a heroin overdose before MLB released the début album in 1990, 21 years ago. MLB had the chance to be big, very big. They could have been Seattle's biggest stars, pre-grunge. It wasnt to be, with Woods death on March 19th 1990 signalling the end of their career.

Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament of Mother Love Bone, along with Wood's friend and roommate, Chris Cornell (of Soundgarden fame) recorded the album "Temple Of The Dog" as a tribute to Wood. Also on the Temple album was Eddie Vedder, who subsequently teamed up with again Gossard and Ament to form Pearl Jam.

Yesterday finally saw the release on DVD of "Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story", 5 years after it had its premiers on the independent film circuit (Sundance, Toronto etc). See the website for information on the DVD release http://www.malfunkshun.com/. Malfunkshun was the band that Wood fronted prior to MLB.

Play the song, check out the film. Buy the "Mother Love Bone" compilation album (it contains the "Apple" début album plus their EPs).

[Music] Fugazi - Waiting Room [Live].

Some rather fine footage of Fugazi in their early days performing "Waiting Room" off their debut eponymous 1988 EP. An excellent performance, the band are tight and the crowd are excellent

[Music] Shed 7 - Bully Boy.

A classic indie-pop tune from 1996. You have to select "240p" from the video size for it to work with sound for some odd reason.

[Music] blink-182 "Up All Night"

First new music from blink-182 since the self-titled album in 2003. I likes a lot. Got a VERY Wildhearts-like riff at the end.

[Music] Silver Ginger 5 - Sonic Shake.

"All Aboard the Super Sonic Shake!" First time I had seen the official video for this. Cant believe this album is now 11 years old...  NSFW due to some swears.

[Music] Kyuss - Gardenia [live].

Awesome song, awesome performance. Homme's guitar work is spot on. Man... [just a shame they censor/dont sing the lyrics at the end]

[Books] Anthony Kiedis - Scar Tissue.

"Scar tissue that I wish you saw | Sarcastic Mr Know-it-all" - Red Hot Chili Peppers, 'Scar Tissue'

I love rock biographies.  I went through a period of reading nothing but, but I haven't read one for a few years now, so when by boys gave me this for a Fathers Day present I was looking forward to getting my teeth into it.

As is the way, Kiedis' autobiography is ghost written.  The ghost writer is Larry Sloman, most well known for co-penning US "shock jock" Howard Stern's two autobiographies, as well as his book "On The Road With Bob Dylan", the story of the Rolling Thunder Revue.  From what I can tell, although the book is written as "I did this, then I did that, then this happened to me", the book was written by Sloman from various interviews with Kiedis and the other main players in the book.  Not that you should let that distract you from the book itself.

Ian Drury coined the classic phrase "Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll" which has since become the rasion d'etre for many and most rock-stars since.  Kiedis ticks these off with aplomb during the course of the book, starting from his early teen years. The tale starts in earnest when he moved to Hollywood from Michigan to love with his Dad, John "Blackie Dammett" "Spider" Kiedis, a full time drug user, pat time drug dealer, part time scenester, part time actor.  Kiedis jr is thrown into his Dad's world and laps it up.  He is, by his own accounts a Grade A student during the week at school, but some the weekend he goes with his Dad to the LA clubs and starts his journey.  When you read the opening chapters, it's hard to like Kiedis.  He revels in the drug taking, the fights, sleeping with his Dads girlfriend (under the guidance of his Dad), the law breaking and risk taking.  You read it and you start to think "what a cock", here is this kid living the life that later one leads to addiction and problems, yet he seems almost boastful of it.   It's not until you get near the end of the book that you realise that the writing has shifted style as the book had gone on, with the over exuberance of youth replaced with a steady thinking style; which makes you realise that the early chapters are meant to sound like he is being boastful as he is writing as his 14 year old self, after all what 14 year old would love to boast about a life like that?  It's a clever way of pacing he book, but I'm left wondering how many have started to read but got put off by the opening style - maybe an opening chapter at the present day would have helped "set the scene" more, I don't know.

It's hard to review this book without basically writing a synopsis of it.  Of course, there is no conventional plot or character development, so unless you know the Red Hot Chili Peppers and other associated 80s/90s American alt. rock stars you will be relying on Google a lot.  But that is not to say that this is a RHCP book.  Its not, its a book about Kiedis.  Even at the heigh of the Peppers' fame, he writes more about his failed love life and his drugs that the experiences of writing, recording and playing.  Of course, those things are covered off; from the recording sessions with George Clinton to headlining Woodstock (no, not the 60s one).  His relationships within the band are talked about in detail too.  You see how he met Flea and Hillel Slovak at school; how Slovaks death from drugs shock him up; his relationship with John Frusciante and the pain he felt with Frusciante fell in to the drug hell that Kiedis was battling with.  Every Chili Peppers' member and album is talked about, usually in glowing terms - even Dave Navarro!  The love he shows for his band mates, past and present gives one of the only insights to a nicer side of his personality, alongside his descriptions of the various girls that he has loved over his life.

One thing that does strike you through the book is the lucidity of the tales.  From this teenage years, Kiedis claims he was getting higher and higher, snorting cocaine, shooting heroin, acid tripping, drinking, smoking... and yet he remembers, sometimes in graphic detail, all the important points, discussions and decisions in his life.  That's amazing and to be honest, a tiny bit unbelievable.  But if you take the exact-ness of the tales of the ex-drug addict rock and roll star with a pinch of salt, then it's a bit easier to swallow.

The books is let down by the ending as much as it is by the start.  The last few chapters that deal with the period from the release of "Californication" onwards start to drag.  Kiedis' life seemed to be a never ending cycle of 'get sober, music, love girlfriend, slip and get high, rehab in Mexico, hate girlfriend, get sober, music, love girlfriend' etc etc.  It all gets a bit too much, and by the time he has either gone to rehabilitate himself back at his mothers in Michigan or at a hotel in Mexico for the 20th time you start to think that maybe, even after all his bravado about how he is now sober, that he never really will be and that one day he will binge one last time and die.  He claims he is now sober entirely, regaling us with a tale of the last time he had the itch for a fix but he didn't go through with it, but based on the previous 400 pages of addiction and lying about it, it seems unlikely.

Kiedis and Sloman turn out an overall enjoyable, well paced and decently written book that does his life justice and certainly paints a picture of his journey through the afore mentioned holy rock trinity of sex, drugs and rock & roll. Does it make you like him?  No.  Does it make you envy him?  Again, probably no.  Now that could just be me and my age, but I feel its not and that is a shame - you should be able, even at 30+ years, to look at rockstars and be jealous...

[Music] Red Hot Chili Peppers - Knock Me Down.

A classic from the "Mothers Milk" album with Kiedis on vocals and Flea on bass; with new-comers John Frusciante on guitar and Chad Smith on drums. The song is a homage to ex-guitarist Hillel Slovak who died of a heroin OD prior to the recording of the album, which also led to drummer Jack Irons quitting; as well as being a paean to soberness.

"It's so lonely when you don't even know yourself"

[Music] The Faces documentary.

Just seen this after it was posted on twitter. A short 8 minute documentary on The Faces, looks to be from 69/70 judging from the way each member is introduced. Interesting stuff, nice footage of them playing/jamming too.