A few thoughts on Alex Chilton

This image, from a 1973 Ardent Records seasonal promo poster, strikes me as both appropriate to the current moment and oddly prescient. On the one hand, we can look at it today and attach the clichéd "there's a new star in Heaven" meaning to it. It may be a cliché, but let's do it anyway: God bless Alex Chilton who gifted us with music more precious than gold, frankincense and myrrh (yeah, I don't know what those last two things are either).

On the other hand, the image can be interpreted as prophesy. The Big Star story is one of commercial failure followed by the band's gospel being spread posthumously by a select group of "wise men" (and women) including musicians like Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Susanna Hoffs, Peter Buck, Paul Westerberg, Tommy Keene, Steve Wynn and Kendra Smith, music critics like Bud Scoppa and Ken Barnes, and just regular old music fans like me (and probably you too if you're bothering to read this). For years, initiation into the cult of Big Star consisted of elaborate rituals like the passing of dubbed cassette tapes among friends because the music was so hard to find in stores.

And yet despite all the posthumous success and critical acclaim, Big Star remains an under-rated band. As a case in point, just a couple years ago I picked up a pristine, original pressing of #1 Record at my local record store for only $20. When I asked the owner why he hadn't put the album on eBay he told me Big Star stuff never went for enough money to make it worth the bother. Can you imagine picking up a mint original pressing of The Velvet Underground's first album in a record store for $20? And #1 Record actually sold a lot less copies when it was first released than the V.U.'s debut (probably only on the order of 10,000 or so). For me--a person who usually shuns the idea of LPs as fetish objects--an original copy of #1 Record represented a kind of sacred talisman, a magical portal to an alternate universe where children by the millions sing for Alex Chilton. I could hardly believe I was seeing the real thing in front of me, let alone that I'd be able to take it home for a measly $20.

After Big Star, Alex Chilton embraced an aesthetic of anarchic spontaneous creativity on solo albums beginning with the remarkable Like Flies on Sherbert in 1979. In contrast to his work with Big Star, Chilton's solo work would be just as misunderstood by music critics as it was ignored by the record buying public. Nevertheless, Chilton's post-Big Star music was and remains a huge influence on a number of musicians (including Howe Gelb, Robert Pollard, Jon Spencer and Lou Barlow) who prioritize the beauty to be found in disorder and spontaneity over calculated studio fussiness.

I only saw Alex Chilton perform live once, at The Mercury Lounge in New York City during the mid-nineties. The show came after the Big Star "reunion," but what struck me about Chilton was how absolutely indifferent he seemed to Big Star's legacy, or even the legacy of his later solo career. What I remember most from the show was seeing a guy who was clearly born to perform and who was determined to live in the moment. He was the living, breathing embodiment of all that is best about rock 'n' roll, and our world is a poorer place without him.

Alex Chilton finally earned some of the financial rewards he deserved because another true believer, Ben Vaughan, was smart enough to recognize "In the Street" as the perfect theme song for a television show about teenaged suburban boredom set in the 1970s. I wasn't particularly a fan of That Seventies Show, but every time I happened on the intro while channel surfing I had to watch and smile because I knew it meant another dollar in the pocket of one of my musical heroes. Alex Chilton left us too soon, but the musical legacy he leaves behind is enormous, and I predict it will only continue to grow as the gospel of Big Star and Alex Chilton spreads and more true believers are converted.

R.I.P. - Alex Chilton

Free Robyn Hitchcock

Robyn Hitchcock has a newly revamped website (mostly) up and running, and to celebrate he has made two songs available as free downloads (all you have to give him is an email address).

Robyn calls this giveaway a "Phantom 45," and I would not be surprised to see future Phantom 45s featured on his website. Personally, I'm looking forward to storing these in my nifty Phantom 45 carrying case.

In addition, Hitchcock has a new album, Propellor Time, scheduled to be released by Sartorial Records on March 22. Propellor Time was recorded in 2006 with the Venus 3 (Peter Buck, Scott McCaughey and Bill Rieflin) and features guests appearances from Johnny Marr, Nick Lowe and John Paul Jones. No word yet on if the album will be released on LP, but one can safely assume it will be available on CD and as a download from the usual suspects (perhaps we should call this a "Phantom 33.3"?).

My apologies for not posting more often recently...I just haven't felt like it.

File under WTF?

I've been getting a lot of weird spam emails like this one recently:

Hello,
This is Shiela from ThumbJointPain.net.
We stumbled on your blog while searching for Thumb Joint Pain related information. We operate the largest Thumb Joint Pain website featuring more than 30,000+ blogs. Our site averages 200,000+ uniques visitors per month. As a kind note We have featured your blog at http://ThumbJointPain.net/blog_awards/index.php?id=1216 We would be grateful if you could add the following details to your blogs main page.
Thumb Joint Pain
Looking forward for your confirmation.
Thanks
Shiela
ThumbJointPain.net.

I'm proud of a lot of things that I've done over the past 40 years, but this award from ThumbJointPain.net ranks considerably below the "participant" ribbon I got in a sack race I entered when I was six.

[Please don't follow the links above.]

All Going Out Together

I came across this Big Dipper 12" single the other day at my local record store. It was still sealed and only a $1.99. What the heck? I remember this 12" from back when it came out in 1987, mostly because of the memorable cover, which was very similar in layout to both Robyn Hitchcock's Element of Light and The Jazz Butcher's Fishcotheque, all of which came out around the same time. But I can't remember if I owned it, or if I had a friend who owned it, or if I just heard it at the radio station. Or maybe I had it on cassette. Whatever. Either way, I didn't have it in my collection a couple days ago and now I do.

"All Going Out Together" appeared on the the band's first full-length album, Heavens. "He Is God" recently reappeared on the Merge Big Dipper anthology, Supercluster. But there are two tracks here that I believe are not available anywhere else. The first is "Which Would You Rather," written by Big Dipper, but with vocals from former Modern Lover/Rockin' Robin Ellie Marshall. The other is an uncredited, untitled collage of sounds, songs and live recordings, including a cameo from Shonen Knife. It's, um, interesting, but I can see why Merge decided it wasn't essential enough to include it on Supercluster.

I wrote about Big Dipper before. I thought it was an amusing--but clearly fictional--little story about my desperate and ultimately futile search for Ron Klaus (of "...He Wrecked His House" Fame). Anyway, when my wife first read it she told me she was worried I might be losing it. Ouch.

B Stiff

I found a nice copy of Devo's first EP, a collection of independent singles released on the Stiff Records label in 1977, entitled Be Stiff (or possibly B Stiff) yesterday at the Providence Rock 'n' Roll Yard Sale. The event continues today (November 8th), so if you are in the area stop by and check out the vinyl goods, crafts, and aging hipsters carrying their babies around the vaguely unwholesome environment.

Be Stiff is a nice reminder of what a great band Devo really was/is. The EP contains early, possibly superior, versions of four songs that appeared on their first album, along with two tracks that didn't. The spud boys from Akron's robotic take on the Stones' "Satisfaction" remains one of the great moments in rock history, even if the Residents did it first.

Speaking of rare spuds, Devo's two most popular albums, Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo and Freedom of Choice, have recently been given the deluxe reissue treatment. Both albums have also been reissued on LP (on colored vinyl). Oddly, nothing from this great EP appears on either deluxe edition as bonus tracks. I have no word on whether there will be deluxe reissues of the Devo leisure suits originally made available by mail order with Freedom Of Choice, but I promise to keep you informed if I hear any news.

Lord help us all if the music industry ever reaches such an advanced state of Devolution that we see a deluxe reissue of Shout.

Update: Devo leisure suits are indeed available at Devo's website, so you can still protect yourself from dangerous human elements and stay cool during meltdowns. For spuds with spare change there is also an Ultra Devo-lux Ltd. Edition reissue of the two albums with lots of other goodies.

Click Repair

My friend Pete has mentioned to me a couple of times that he thinks it would be interesting if I put together a post, or series of posts, on how to transfer records into the digital domain. I've been reluctant to do so for a number of reasons, the most important being I do not consider myself any kind of expert on the subject. The internet is full of "experts" who can tell you what you should and shouldn't do on any variety of subjects with absolute certainty. I can really only tell you what I've done, and what I think has worked best for me.

One recommendation I can make without any hesitation is that, if you are doing "needledrops" of LPs or 78s, you should give the program Click Repair a try. Click Repair is a reasonably priced "shareware" program written by a mathematician named Brian Davies that uses sophisticated algorithms to identify and "clean" clicks and pops from digitized vinyl and shellac records.

I was initially very skeptical about any program that "automagically" repairs clicks and pops in a recording, assuming that it would necessarily affect other parts of the recording for the worse. But after having tried the program, I learned that with a little experimenting it was not difficult to keep "false positives" (instances where music, not noise, is "fixed") to an acceptably low level, while vastly reducing the amount of clicks, cracks and pops on a recording. The important thing to note here is that Click Repair is not a "filter" that affects the sound of an entire recording, but rather a program that seeks out samples that it identifies as clicks or pops, and "repairs" them. In other words, it basically leaves the music alone. (You can read many more details on how the program works at the program's website).

Below you will find a link to a sample from a copy of Frank Sinatra's In The Wee Small Hours I recently picked up for 25 cents. The record looked a little beat up, but I figured it might clean up nicely. Unfortunately, I was wrong about that, as you can hear in the initial, unrepaired, selection. The raw file is followed by the same selection after having been run through Click Repair. To my ears the results are pretty remarkable. Take a listen and see what you think.

Now, admittedly, I've picked a rather extreme case (an LP that was pretty much trashed) to emphasize what Click Repair is capable of, but I've found that even LPs in reasonably good condition can also benefit from a run through Click Repair (for records that are in better shape you can use a lower sensitivity setting to further minimize the likelihood of "false positives.")

You can demo Click Repair for free for 21 days, after that you will need to purchase a $40 license. I did so happily.

In The Wee Small Hours (excerpt) [click to download]

R.I.P. Damon Crowdy

I got some sad news from my Mom today when I learned that an old school friend of mine, Damon Crowdy, passed away recently. I was sad to learn that Damon died of heart failure after a long struggle with kidney disease.

I hadn't seen Damon in twenty years or so, but I never forgot him. It's not possible to forget a guy like Damon. I was entirely unsurprised to learn from his obituary that as an adult Damon dedicated his life to helping others. Damon was one of the funniest people I've ever known, but unlike so many other children, there was never a hint of cruelty in his humor. And while Damon had a rowdy side as a child, there was also always an almost spiritual quality about him.

If Damon liked you, he would invent a funny nickname for you--I was "Squeaky Mongueeky"--a silly name that nevertheless always made me feel special. I can remember reading the book I Wish I Had An Afro, a story of a young boy's emerging sense of black pride, with Damon in Elementary school, and how Damon created a musical version of the story to the tune of "If I Were A Rich Man" from Fiddler On The Roof. Maybe you had to be there, but it was genuinely hilarious. Most kids are not nearly so clever in their attempts at humor.

I'm sure that Damon touched many lives after I last saw him, and I'm sure that many people are better off for having known him. I know that I am. I will always remember him as a warm, funny, cheerful kid, and regret I didn't get to know the man he became. My thoughts and prayers are with his family.

The Feelies - The Good Earth Reissued

I wanted to provide yet another Feelies update now that my vinyl reissue of The Good Earth has finally arrived.

I will admit to a small amount of consternation when I first learned that the vinyl reissues of Crazy Rhythms and The Good Earth would not be mastered from the original analog master tapes. Now that I have actually heard them, I will also admit that any sense of concern about that was totally misplaced and misguided. Major kudos are due to Andreas Meyer from Tangerine Mastering for the magic he has worked in remastering these albums for vinyl.

In my previous post I noted that I was hard pressed to hear any differences between a Stiff original pressing of Crazy Rhythms and the Bar/None reissue. I could hear differences between a Coyote/Twin-Tone LP pressing of The Good Earth and the Bar/None reissue, and they were mostly in favor of the reissue. First off, the reissue is a better, quieter pressing than the Coyote original, which is a helpful thing because there are some long quiet passages on the album. Beyond that, the reissue has a subtly crisper, more open sound without changing the essential sonic character of the album in any way.

I also had an original Coyote CD on hand for comparison, but the less said about that the better, because it is an absolute sonic disaster. The old Coyote CD turned an album with a warm, inviting sonic character into something shrill and unpleasant. The old CD only reminded me of why I hated CD sound for such a long time.

As with Crazy Rhythms, I downloaded the album plus bonus tracks in WAV format, and once again, while they sounded good, it was obvious they were slightly dynamically compressed compared to the LP. Nevertheless, the new digital version sounds far better than the original CD. The download-only bonus tracks are not quite as interesting as was the case with Crazy Rhythms. The two covers were previously available on the No One Knows EP, and a recent live version of "Slipping (Into Something)" once again proves the reconstituted Feelies have not lost a step.

The only quibble I have with the reissue (and it is a minor one to be sure) is that about ten seconds of silence present on the original LP between "Tomorrow Today" and the album closer "Slow Down" has been removed. I always kind of liked the way "Slow Down" came in after such a long quiet period ("Tomorrow Today" also features a very long, slow fade out). Curiously, this silence is also not present on the original Coyote CD, so it's arguable whether it is necessary for the sake of "authenticity." I always kind of liked the effect, but its absence is not enough to prevent the reissue from becoming my new "go-to" version of the album.

Finally, a few words about the music itself. If I haven't said much about it to this point it's because I assume you know it's great. Crazy Rhythms seems to be the album that has gotten the most attention over the years, probably in part because it has been out-of-print longer. It would be a shame if The Good Earth were overshadowed by the earlier album, because its charms are at least equal to those of its predecessor.

The Good Earth showcases a less jumpy and nervous version of the Feelies. The rhythm section of Brenda Sauter (bass), Stanley Demeski (drums) and Dave Weckerman (percussion) was less aggressive than the Crazy Rhythms-era combo of Anton Fier and Keith De Nunzio. This, combined with a greater amount of strummed acoustic guitar, led to a more relaxed, pastoral sound which is beautifully reflected in the cornfield photo and earth-tones on the album cover.

Despite the more laid-back vibe, there is still plenty of interesting stuff going on rhythmically, but it emerges from the mix in a more subtle fashion than previously. Some of the songs reflect Mercer and Million's longstanding interest in Brian Eno's ambient music, but the influence of country and folk music is just as clear. All-in-all, it makes for an entirely unique, and highly appealing sonic concoction.

I simply cannot recommend both of these long-overdue reissues highly enough, even to those who already own the albums in other forms. The LPs sound absolutely gorgeous, and the digital tracks sound very fine as well. Both albums, as well as a limited edition 7" of "Fa Ce La," are available directly from Bar/None.

Feelies Reissue Update

I just wanted to provide a quick update on the Feelies reissues. I finally got my vinyl copy of Crazy Rhythms (still waiting on The Good Earth). In terms of sound quality, the LP reissue is outstanding. I had an original Stiff pressing of the first album on hand for comparison. As hard as I tried, I could not hear a difference between the two, which was kind of surprising considering we know the reissue was digitally sourced. The digital source must have been better than CD resolution, because I could see frequency content extending all the way up to 40 kHz. The pressing was very quiet, which is a really good thing considering that some of the song intros feature extended periods of near silence.

The LP comes with a cute little business card with a code for a digital download. The download is administered through Domino, who offer the option of downloading the album as a CD resolution WAV file. The download sounded fine as well, although I believe it was slightly compressed. The download-only bonus tracks are terrific. I had never heard the 7" version of "Fa-Ce-La" or the demos of "The Boy With The Perpetual Nervousness" and "Moscow Nights" before. What struck me about these versions was that although the sound quality and performances were cruder than the later versions, the arrangements were very much locked into place early. These versions also apparently date to a period before Glenn Mercer hit puberty, because he really sounds like an awkward teenage kid on these cuts with a far different voice than what would appear on Crazy Rhythms in 1980. (I guess if I want to hear the b-side version of "Raised Eyebrows" I will have to shell out for the Insound exclusive 7"). The live tracks from 2009 show the band has not lost a step in terms of energy and tightness despite the long hiatus.

Well done and highly recommended!

For anyone bummed the cover of "Paint It Black" included on the 1990 A&M reissue was omitted from the new reissue, here it is:

Paint It Black [click to download]