Monthly Archives: August 2021

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Do you remember sharing your feelings with someone through a “mix tape?” Analog Love is a joyful look at why this ritual of communication through music still continues to be so meaningful.

With the insights of Henry Rollins, Money Mark (Beastie Boys), Kim Shattuck (The Muffs), Jennifer Finch (L7), Jimmy Urine (Mindless Self Indulgence), Chantal Claret, Jude “Rude Jude” Angelini, Zernell Gillie (Grimy!), Monalisa Murray, Christian James Hand (The Session) and many more, we’ll get to the bottom of the long-lost art of the mix tape.

Passion River’s Josh Levin says, “I am thrilled that Passion River Films gets the honor of releasing Analog Love, a title that speaks directly to my heart as someone who spent countless hours with my tape recorder and record player, making mixtapes.

The joy and passion for music that infuse this film are sure to connect with audiences across all demographics, as we are bound by our collective love of music and its ability to reflect our emotions. Nothing says ‘I love you’ or ‘I want to rock your world’ like selecting the right songs!”

Passion River’s Director of Sales and Acquisitions, Josh Levin, negotiated the deal to acquire Analog Love with Executive Producer, Graham Ehlers Sheldon, on behalf of the filmmakers. The film will be widely available on VOD and limited edition Blu-ray on August 17th.

What’s new pussycat? For starters, the legendary Tom Jones—that manly hunk of a man with the curly crop of black hair and awe-inspiring mutton chop sideburns—is back with a new LP, 2021’s Surrounded by Time. So what you ask? Well consider this—the world’s most beloved Las Vegas casino lounge act is 80-years-old and still has the mighty baritone pipes that propelled him to fame with “It’s Not Unusual” back in 1964.

What sets Jones apart from his contemporaries is his dedication to keeping up with the trends. Most have opted to play it safe, sticking to the sentimental favorites beloved by their aging fan bases. They may toss in an “edgy” number along the lines of “Maybe I’m Amazed” and “Bad Bad Leroy Brown,” but you’re far more likely to be subjected to such dentures-pleasing tear-jerkers like “The Little White Cloud That Cried” and “Daddy Don’t You Walk So Fast.”

Such isn’t the case with Jones, who has taken risks galore. Try to imagine Engelbert Humperdinck singing “Sex Bomb,” a collaboration between Jones and German DJ Mousse T—or “Burning Down the House.” Why Jones hasn’t gotten around to covering the Sex Pistols’ “God Save the Queen” is a mystery.

On Surrounded by Time Jones shakes things up even more than unusual, singing covers of artists from alt-country stalwart Todd Snider, The Waterboys, Tony Callier, Cat Stevens, and Bob Dylan. And I’m not talking about done-to-death Stevens/Dylan wheezers like “Morning Has Broken” or “Lay Lady Lay.” No, Jones dives deep and comes up with Stevens’ “Popstar” and Dylan’s “One More Cup of Coffee.”

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We’ve closed TVD’s HQ for our annual summer holiday. While we’re away, why not fire up our Record Store Locator app and visit one of your local indie record stores?

Perhaps there’s an interview, review, or feature you might have missed? Catch up and we’ll see you back here on August 16.

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Silverfish were Scottish powerhouse vocalist Lesley Rankine, guitarist Andrew “Fuzz” Duprey, bassist Chris P. Mowforth, and drummer Stuart Watson. They formed in the UK in 1988 and were key to the Camden “lurch” scene; Grunge before it was “grunge.” Lesley was a pioneering, outspoken feminist who popularized the slogan “Hips, Tits, Lips, Power.”

Not long after their formation, Silverfish gathered a huge following due to their unique sound, which had nods to AC/DC, Dolly Parton, Russ Meyer, and the Birthday Party. Their uncompromising sound was in stark contrast to the gentler more commercial sound of other UK bands. Silverfish’s sound owed more to metal, hardcore punk, and the industrial sounds of Ministry, demonstrated by Al Jourgensen remixing their 2003 single “Crazy.”

What they were doing, was raw. Fuzz’s manic combination of phaser and fuzzbox backed up by Chris’ thick and juicy basslines and Stu’s sturdy economical drum beats topped off by Lesley’s unique vocals and the ferocity with which she propelled herself around the stage. Trouser Press said “Judging by voice alone, Rankine could slam dunk Babes in Toyland, L7, and Courtney Love all in one shot.”

Their live shows are the stuff of legend. Recently, Swervedriver’s Adam Franklin said: “Silverfish put on some the best live shows around this time, whether stuffed into backroom bars at the White Horse or the Camden Falcon or up on the stage of the Kilburn National with a naked man in a cowboy hat setting himself on fire.” A high point for the band was playing Reading Festival in 1991 sandwiched between Nirvana and Babes In Toyland. They have also shared the stage with 7 Year Bitch, Therapy?, Gallon Drunk, Boss Hog, Jesus Lizard, Pigface, Soundgarden, Swervedriver, th’ Faith Healers, EMF, and Fugazi among others.

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Robby Takac can tell you some stories! A founding member of the Goo Goo Dolls in the 1980s, he was there in those rough and tumble, hard rock early days and evolved with the band to produce some of the most heard alternative rock numbers of the 1990s. In fact, the band’s song “Iris” was ranked #1 on Billboard’s “Top 100 Pop Songs 1992–2012” chart.

While Robby and longtime Goo Goo Dolls frontman John Rzeznik work on a new album, it seemed it was the right time for them to dive into the archives and compile and produce an anthology of rare cuts and seldom heard live performances—the album is called Rarities and it provides some very revealing glimpses into songs that we’ve all heard many, many times.

Robby joins me to discuss the tracks on this new compilation, but we also talk about those heady Goo Goo Dolls days when it seemed the Dolls’ music was inescapable whenever you spun a radio dial. We discuss the good and bad elements of the algorithms that keep their fingers on our collective pulses and we track the path of one of the most successful rock and roll bands of the late 20th century.

While I’ve been fortunate to have John Rzeznik on the program, it’s now Robby’s turn to dish and give us a glimpse inside the modern day machinations of the Goo Goo Dolls.

Evan Toth is a songwriter, professional musician, educator, radio host, avid record collector, and hi-fi aficionado. Toth hosts and produces The Evan Toth Show and TVD Radar on WFDU, 89.1 FM. Follow him at the usual social media places and visit his website.

I was listening to the Mahavishnu Orchestra the other day and saying to myself, “Boy these guys sure do play great and they have really spacy album titles like Visions of the Emerald Beyond and listening to them could just make me a more spiritual person.” And then I thought, “Fuck this shit, I think I’ll listen to Flipper.” Because the San Francisco band didn’t give a shit about musicianship and were anything but spiritually uplifting. In fact, they thought life is a horrible joke as they made clean on “Ha Ha Ha” with its sarcastic line “Isn’t life a blast?” Shove that up your emerald beyond.

Like their compatriots in Northern Virginia’s No Trend, Flipper set out to fuck with the thrashers who showed up at hardcore shows in their respective hometowns in expectation of loud hard and fast only music, only to be subjected to the musical equivalent of industrial sludge. Their music was not amenable to moshing. It was more likely to induce paralysis. This did not make many of the people in their audiences happy. Giving the people what they don’t want rarely does.

1982’s debut Album—Generic Flipper is the band’s best; it has a slew of serious bummers on it but it—and the band itself—will best be remembered for “Sex Bomb,” which could well be the best song in human history, because there’s no way you can’t sing along. And singing along is easy because the song only has five words. That beats “Louie Louie” by a long shot. Your average coma victim can sing along. Your baby sister who hasn’t spoken a word yet can sing along. Your dog can sing along. Your cat could along but it has its dignity to think about it. And its pummeling repetitive riff could go on forever. You almost certainly don’t want it to go on forever, but how often do you run into a perpetual motion machine?

But those of us looking for more Flipper than what you’ll find on Album—Generic Flipper and its 1984 follow-up Gone Fishin’ will want to own the band’s 1988 compilation Sex Bomb Baby, it consists mostly of B Sides and live tracks not on their 1984 live LP Blowin’ Chunks, so unless you own the singles and collect Flipper esoterica, odds are you’ve never laid ears on them. And who doesn’t want more Flipper? They sound like earth-moving machinery! That hates life! Imagine that! Malevolent machines that don’t want you to be happy because you’re human! It’s like something straight out of science fiction!

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino announces the release of It’s a Good, Good Feeling: The Latin Soul of Fania Records (The Singles), a brand-new collection that showcases Fania’s era-defining output of boogaloo and Latin soul music. Spanning 1965–1975, the box set compiles 89 singles from such best-selling artists as Ray Barretto, Joe Bataan, Bobby Valentín, Ralfi Pagan, and Larry Harlow, plus rarities from 125th Street Candy Store, The Latinaires, The Harvey Averne Band, and Ali Baba, among many others.

Set for release on October 8th and available for pre-order today, It’s a Good, Good Feeling includes four CDs plus a bonus 7-inch single, all housed in a 60-page hardcover book, featuring extensive new liner notes by compilation co-producer and DJ Dean Rudland, as well as photos and ephemera from Fania’s archives.

Helping to set the scene is a 7-inch single, which culls vintage promo tracks for “Symphony” Sid Torin’s radio shows on New York’s WEVD AM and FM. The famed DJ was an early champion of Latin music and helped to popularize the genre in the ’60s. Featuring newly remastered audio by the GRAMMY® Award-winning engineer, Paul Blakemore, It’s a Good, Good Feeling will also be available on digital and streaming platforms, while an abridged, 2-LP vinyl edition of the compilation offers 28 choice cuts and an eight-page booklet. A collectible orange-crush colored pressing (limited to 300 copies) and a commemorative T-shirt can be found exclusively at Fania.com. The first instant grat. single “Gypsy Woman,” Joe Bataan’s 1967 debut hit, is available to stream/download today.

In the ’60s, a unique musical moment was brewing in New York City, as young Latin American artists—many of them second-generation—found themselves split between the traditional music they grew up on and the rising sounds of soul, doo-wop, and R&B. They began experimenting in the clubs, blending Afro-Cuban beats, Latin jazz, and soul with predominantly English lyrics. The result was a delectable new genre with broad appeal that epitomized the cultural melting pot of New York. While boogaloo and Latin soul was a short-lived craze (peaking in the late ’60s and early ’70s), it popularized Latin music in America and established the careers of many internationally beloved artists.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The album title is apt, as this was saxman Rudolph Johnson’s second album for the Black Jazz label (and this reissue marks only the second time this 1973 album has been released on vinyl). But more importantly, the quality of the music it contains renders the more common, messianic meaning of the phrase “the second coming” equally applicable.

Saxman and bandleader Rudolph Johnson never attained the commercial success of some of his contemporaries, but his fans consider him the rightful heir to John Coltrane’s improvisational genius. And with keyboardist Kirk Lightsey in the band for this go-round (we already reissued Johnson’s very fine 1971 Black Jazz album Spring Rain), sparks are gonna fly, starting right off with the cookin’ album opener “The Traveler,” which if you close your eyes will definitely bring to mind Coltrane’s classic quartet circa the early ‘60s.

Indeed, unlike most of the other releases on the Black Jazz label, The Second Coming barely nods to the fusion and soul jazz trends that were sweeping jazz at the time. Instead, this is expressive, free improvisation at its best, beautifully recorded by producer Gene Russell and deserving of a much wider audience than it found the first time.

Newly remastered and annotated and reissued on vinyl for the first time (also available in a orange with black streaks vinyl edition limited to 750 copies and exclusive to independent record stores).

VIA PRESS RELEASE | Showtime® has released a trailer for Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James, directed by Emmy®-nominee Sacha Jenkins. Bitchin’ is an intimate yet propulsive look at Rick James, one of rock, funk and R&B’s most legendary and often underappreciated figures.

Featuring rare footage of James’ incredible live shows, never-before-seen home video, original interviews with legendary artists, collaborators and friends, and a treasure trove of recorded interviews with James (who died in 2004), the documentary presents a full picture of James’ dramatic rise and fall, focusing in on the “Punk-Funk” music he left behind. The film, which screened at the Tribeca Festival® in June, will premiere on Friday, September 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

Best remembered as the creator of hits such as “Superfreak,” “Give It To Me Baby,” and “Mary Jane,” James blazed new trails in American music and global culture in the ’70s and ’80s as a songwriter, performer and producer, collaborating with luminaries such as Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, The Temptations, Smokey Robinson, Nile Rodgers, Eddie Murphy, Teena Marie, The Mary Jane Girls and M.C. Hammer.

Bitchin’ presents a full and complete picture of James’ life as told by those who knew him. At the center of it all is the “Punk-Funk” that encompassed a unique swath of 20th-century music history from jazz to soul to R&B to rock and eventually, to hip-hop. Friday, August 6 marks the 17th anniversary of James death.

Bitchin’: The Sound and Fury of Rick James is a Mass Appeal production for Showtime, directed by Jenkins, produced by Steve Rivo, and written by Jenkins, Rivo and Jason Pollard. The film is executive produced by Peter Bittenbender and Jenkins for Mass Appeal, and Douglas Banker and Ty James.