Happy Birthday Daniel Lanois!

Raising a glass to producer/composer Daniel Lanois with a lengthy interview, studio tour and a performance you may have missed.

The Fleshtones' It's Getting Late (and More Songs About Werewolves) due Nov 1

The Fleshtones roar back with a rockin' new record which they'll be previewing in Toronto at The Baby G on September 29th. 

Here's the scoop from Super Rock HQ...

We are excited to announce our new album, 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘎𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘓𝘢𝘵𝘦 (...𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘔𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘚𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘈𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘴), is out November 1st via Yep Roc Records. Available for pre-order on Digital, CD, and LP. The Vinyl LP is pressed on Limited Edition Pink Acid Wash color vinyl and is limited to 900 copies worldwide! Pre-order your copy now right here. Check out the first track "The Consequences" below. 

The Fleshtones return to Toronto for an early show at The Baby G (1608 Dundas St. West) on Sunday, September 29th. Doors at 6 pm.  Get tickets via Dice right here.  

The Fleshtones – It's Getting Late (and More Songs About Werewolves)

In a world where there are no more heroes, the Fleshtones walk the earth like Roman gods. 

It’s Getting Late (and More Songs About Werewolves) is a smash that could have dropped at any point in The Fleshtones’ epic career — it is an outburst, and a celebration of the SUPER ROCK sound. Unlike their contemporaries, they have not dialed down the tempos to compensate for osteoporosis, they have not lost anything on their fastball, and continue to throw it for strikes. The hardest working band in garage rock has never sounded better, and now you see why they've been your favorite band's favorite band for decades. 

Since their inception in 1976 in Queens, NY, and their sweaty, boozy gestation at legendary venues such as CBGB, Max’s Kansas City, and Club 57— recently feted at the Museum of Modern Art, where their proto-video underground film “Soul City” was unspooled for art stars, glitterati, and a raft of punk rockers who managed to get past the front gate — they have perpetrated their proprietary brand of SUPER ROCK. It's a frenetic amalgam of garage punk and soul, punctuated by the big beat and unleashed with the spectacular show business majesty which has kept them on the road for over forty years, adored by audiences whose love for them borders on religious fervour. 

The Fleshtones’ SUPER ROCK sound literally defines American Beat Music, and they have delivered their message with evangelistic passion, always skirting the edges of the mainstream without pandering to any obvious fad or trend. They have appeared on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand TV show; charismatic frontman Peter Zaremba was a host on MTV’s original late-night alternative broadcast The Cutting Edge; and they were the last band to publicly perform at the World Trade Center’s Windows on the World, a society gig by any standard. Always true to their school, they have flags planted in the old world and the new — they appeared with Andy Warhol on his short-lived talk show Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes, and throughout the mid-80s they regularly played at the Pyramid Club on Avenue A in New York’s East Village, and were instrumental in helping to start Wigstock, the drag queen festival that has become an outrageously vibrant part of the New York City experience. 

Never as obviously demented nor self-consciously “psycho” as the Cramps (with whom they shared a rehearsal space in 1977), the Fleshtones could also be found after dark basking in the sick blue light of their television sets, watching late-night horror movies and basking in the weirdness of America, while simultaneously soaking up the on-stage outrages of the Rat Pack, Little Richard, and the Rolling Stones, honing their own live show into an explosive, frenzied manifesto of rock’n’roll gone right. 

They routinely tour Spain, where fans make pilgrimages to their shows, and they are equally heralded in Scandinavia, in Italy, and in France, where they have toured incessantly. All over the world — and especially in New York City, the most fickle of towns — younger bands look up to the Fleshtones for lessons in suave stagecraft and unforced enthusiasm. They bring the brio of Chuck Berry and James Brown, with whom they have shared the stage with many times, and the true spirit of CBGB. 

In fact, they are the only band who played at CBGB in 1976 to have never taken a significant break from recording or performing since, and their line-up has been remarkably stable, anchored by Zaremba — wildly swinging, funny, and confident, he is equal parts Dean Martin, Mick Jagger, and Count Dracula — and SUPER ROCK guitarist Keith Streng, who seemingly flies through the air. They are backed by one of the most solid rhythm sections in the world, the decidedly Charlie Watts less-is-more-but-do-it-with-panache drumming of Bill Milhizer, who’s held the chair for forty years, and newcomer Ken Fox on bass, who has served for a mere thirty. Previously, those spots had been filled my luminary mercenaries with pedigree, including Clem Burke from Blondie on drums, and Fred Smith (Television) and Andy Shernoff (the Dictators) on bass, testimony to the Fleshtones OG punk rock roots and authenticity in a world run over by poseurs and off-the-rack frauds. 

The Fleshtones were always oddly evolved in a plasma pool of retrograde wannabes — this is a band that promises a party of the least-juvenile sort. And that is why they have proudly worn the SUPER ROCK title since they came howling and gyrating out of the gate. They are the rare thing, like the Grand Canyon – no matter how great you have been told they are, when you finally get to see them for yourself, it is actually much better than any hype. 

Evel Knievel once told me that “American hero” is the shortest lived of all professions. The Fleshtones are here to tell everyone he was wrong. The Fleshtones stand tall as the last real thing in America. 

Check out "The Consequences" off the new Fleshtones album It's Getting Late (and More Songs About Werewolves) along with "Festa di Frankenstein," their Spanish language cover of The Swinging Phillies overlooked gem "Frankenstein Party" released as a single back in August and a recent performance in France you may have missed. 

Expanded vinyl issue of the Kelly Willis alt-country gem "What I Deserve" on the way

Omnivore marks the 25th anniversary of the Kelly Willis classic "What I Deserve" with an overdue vinyl issue boasting five bonus live tracks!

Here's the scoop from Omnivore HQ...

25th Anniversary expanded edition available on CD and for the first time on vinyl. Both formats include 5 live bonus tracks.

While gigging in Austin, Texas, in the late 1980s, Kelly Willis developed a strong fan base. Among her fans were other Texas musicians like Lyle Lovett and Nanci Griffith. Griffith introduced her to producer Tony Brown who signed Willis to MCA Records. Soon, she would find herself in the films Thelma And Louise and Bob Roberts, as well as receiving a nomination as Top New Female Vocalist at 1993’s Academy of Country Music Awards. After three records on MCA, and an EP on A&M, Willis finished her fifth release and signed with Rykodisc, who released What I Deserve in 1999.

Featuring originals by Willis, three co-writes with The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris, and songs by Paul Kelly, Paul Westerberg, Nick Drake, Dan Penn, and more—What I Deserve became her highest charting album to date, hitting #30 on the Country charts and #24 on Heatseekers Albums. It is also now revered as a landmark release in Alternative Country and Americana circles—with good reason.

To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, What I Deserve returns—expanded with five previously unissued live performances of songs from the album recorded November 14, 1999 on Mountain Stage. In addition to an expanded CD reissue, the release sees its first appearance on vinyl as a double LP! In addition to the 17 tracks (appearing on both formats), the packaging contains lyrics and new liner notes from Peter Blackstock (No Depression, Austin American-Statesman), all done with Kelly’s approval.

What I Deserve has always deserved another look and listen for those who may have missed it the first time—what you deserve is to lose yourself in Kelly Willis’ incredible What I Deserve and celebrate 25 years of this landmark album. Pre-order a copy of Omnivore's expanded reissue of What I Deserve directly from the label right here. 

Watch the release trailer and a couple of Kelly's performances of songs from the album (including a lovely rendition of Nick Drake's "Time Has Told Me" from a Sessions at West 54th show back in 2000), a more recent Live at  the Levitt stream, a 1992 appearance with Jerry Jeff Walker on The Texas Connection and an informal chat about nothing in particular with fellow singer/songwriter Jack Ingram from 2022 below. 

KELLY WILLIS – WHAT I DESERVE 

TAKE ME DOWN

WHAT I DESERVE

HEAVEN BOUND

TALK LIKE THAT

NOT FORGOTTEN YOU

WRAPPED

CRADLE OF LOVE

GOT A FEELIN’ FOR YA

TIME HAS TOLD ME

FADING FAST

HAPPY WITH THAT

THEY’RE BLIND

NOT LONG FOR THIS WORLD

Previously Unissued Bonus Tracks

LIVE ON MOUNTAIN STAGE, NOVEMBER 14, 1999:

WHAT I DESERVE

NOT FORGOTTEN YOU

CRADLE OF LOVE

HEAVEN BOUND

FADING FAST

Dollar Bin Delights: Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace

What might appear to be some awful British military tattoo recording is actually swingin' UK modern jazz cut in 1956.

As many of you know, when quickly flipping through records in well-packed discount bins you'll often only catch the top half of the sleeve before you're on to the next. Seeing the generic UK postcard-style image used as the sleeve art for Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace LP, I must've passed by it at least three times over the course of a month thinking it was either some corny Kenny Ball-style English dixieland revival business or a ghastly British military tattoo record which haunts discount bins all over the world. 

Upon my fourth pass some weeks later, I finally picked up the record out of curiosity to see what sort of "jazz" this might be and nearly keeled over when I noticed the smaller print at the bottom listing Jamaica-born trumpet titan Dizzy Reece and British saxophone boss Tubby Hayes. Obviously, this wasn't more boring UK trad jazz foolishness but a sample of the much-more exciting modern stuff coming out of London clubs during the mid-50s. 

From the line-ups and track listing it was immediately clear that this was a collection of music recorded in England for Tempo – the two tracks "Nicole" and "Hall Hears The Blues" by the Tubby Hayes Quintet (with Harry South, Dick Hawdon, Pete Elderfield and Bill Eyden) were lifted from the 1956 After Lights Out LP while the four Dizzy Reece tunes "Blue Bird," "Yardbird Suite," "How Deep Is The Ocean" and "Bluebird Number Two" (recorded as a tribute to the then recently departed Charlie Parker with Terry Shannon, Lennie Bush and Phil Seamen) came from the rarely seen Top Trumpets split LP with Jimmy Deuchar – compiled by Savoy for the U.S. market  as a sort of introduction to the current state of British jazz as it was in 1956. Why the Savoy braintrust decided to go with a hokey postcard image provided by the British Travel Association on the cover instead of a couple of cool shots of rising UK stars Tubby Hayes and Dizzy Reese when they were looking their youthful best is still baffling all these years later. I'm sure if they'd heard what Savoy were planning, Tubby and Dizzy would've popped for a proper photoshoot themselves.   

Tubby Hayes is mistakenly referred to as "Tubby Hall"

Whatever money that Savoy Records boss Herman Lubinsky thought he was saving in slapping the stock image on the sleeve he lost in sales to jazz buyers flipping by the odd looking 'palace guard' record in the bins. And having the woefully uniformed H. Alan Stein pen the accompanying sleeve essay just added insult to injury. Savoy label house liner notes writer Stein, who provided the notes for just about every Savoy label album release during the 50s whatever the genre – admits he's out of his depth with contemporary British jazz. He confesses upfront, "this writer had not the opportunity of being present at recording time, nor has ever been to, or met any of the musicians here..." and then goes on to embarrassingly refer to Tubby Hayes as "Tubby Hall" throughout. It seems like he mixed up Hayes with session producer and Record Mirror columnist Tony Hall from whose "After Lights Out" album notes he was cribbing for his own essay. Even if Lubinsky wasn't interested in hiring someone familiar the artists to write the essay, he should've had the sense to keep a proofreader on the payroll who would've known something was amiss when the name on the front cover and label didn't match Stein's notes.  

On the upside, you get to hear a young Tubby Hayes just starting to hit his stride as a bandleader getting loose in a relaxed mode over two lengthy jams as well as an early glimpse of 25-year-old Dizzy Reece's brilliance in the spotlight just prior to being paired with Tubby by producer Tony Hall for his Blue Note debut Blues In Trinity which followed in 1958 and then his classic, Star Bright with Hank Mobley the year after. Check out a few tracks from Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace below. 

The original Tempo tapes were remastered for this 1957 Savoy release Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace by the legendary sound engineer Rudy Van Gelder with the runout groove bearing  his familiar "RVG" stamp of quality. What's important to consider about Tempo label recordings is that many believe that the original Tempo master tapes held by Decca UK were destroyed back in the 70s. If that's true, it would call into question the source material for the numerous CD reissues of Tempo recordings, including Jasmine's 1982 vinyl repress of After Lights Out which sounds better than you might expect for a release thought to be a vinyl master. 

Since this unique Savoy label Tubby Hayes/Dizzy Reece split configuration has never been reissued on vinyl, this 1957 pressing will become more sought-after as entry-level collectors of classic British modern jazz become aware of its superior sound quality and relative rarity. Generally speaking, overseas jazz wasn't such a hot commodity in North America during the latter 50s and neither Tubby Hayes nor Dizzy Reece were household names at time time, so it should come as no great surprise that Changing The Jazz At Buckingham Palace album wasn't a big seller for Savoy. Few copies would've been manufactured and a scant number sold without a second pressing so consequently there aren't many in circulation today, 67 years later.  Admittedly, it's not the top-dollar best work of Tubby or Dizzy but this is still an enjoyable listen for fans of small combo British jazz of the mid-50s. And it's certainly not the sort of thing that typical turns up in dollar bins but it sometimes pays to take a closer look at those corny looking sleeves.

LINKS

London Jazz Collector Tempo & UK Vogue labels

London Jazz Collector Tubby Hayes "After Lights Out" (1956)

R.I.P. J.D. Souther, 1945-2024

Sadly, songwriter J.D. Souther who penned hits for The Eagles & Linda Ronstadt – and let the Go-Gos shoot a video at his home – has passed away. 

Shadow Show's new single "Baba Yaga" b/w "Spy Balloon" due Oct 10th

Detroit pop-psych trio Shadow Show release their hot new single via Rogue Records out of Toulouse, France on October 10th. 

Here's the scoop from Rogue Records...

Following the release of their sophomore album, Fantasy Now! (Little Cloud Records/Stolen Body Records), Detroit's psych-pop power trio Shadow Show return with a double a-side 45 via Rogue Records on October 10th. "Baba Yaga" dances after dark under the influence of 70s eastern European grooves, showcasing the group’s flexibility and willingness to transcend genres. "Spy Balloon" harnesses the whimsical psychedelia of the 1960s ala Syd Barrett, and emphasizes the group's utilization of the studio as an instrument with inclusions of synthesizers, tape delays, and other various overdubs to their harmonious wall of sound.  Pre-order a copy via Bandcamp right here. Watch Shadow Show perform "Spy Balloon" with an introduction by DJ Jonathan Toubin followed by a performance of "Baba Yaga" in Detroit. 

Electronic soundtrack recordings of Norman McLaren getting recirculated

Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren has a selection of the electronic music composed for his films released as "Rythmetic" by We Are Busy Bodies. 

Rythmetic: The Compositions of Norman McLaren 

2LP/CD/Digital - out November 29

Pioneering Scottish-Canadian animator Norman McLaren (1914-1987) - creator of seminal short films Dots, Neighbours, Synchromy and many more - is remembered in this first ever release of his soundtrack works, self-composed from the 1940’s to 1970’s and forecasting the following half-century of electronic music. 

Norman McLaren was once described by composer, music theorist, and mathematician Milton Babbitt as “the first electronic musician.” In addition to his pioneering work in animation, the electronic soundtracks McLaren created for his own films employ astonishing foresight and a characteristically precise methodology. They also crystallize boundless creativity, wit and whimsy, and illuminative brilliance into a unique insight to his remarkable mind, with or without visual accompaniment.

Rythmetic: The Compositions of Norman McLaren marks the first time his soundtracks have been released on record, carefully curated from his most important film works, hours of archival tapes, and multiple versions of the same key compositions. The 13 tracks represent an essential overview of McLaren as a composer, in neat dovetail with McLaren the filmmaker. Both are crucial figures in the respective developments of their fields, opening doors to a future that might not have existed without McLaren.

As an animator, McLaren was renowned for utilising or inventing techniques at their very vanguard and shaping to his needs the rudimentary technology of the era. Many of these techniques and technological adaptations, developed at the National Film Board of Canada over the 1940’s and 50’s, would eventually become adopted into standard practice for animation. He also blazed new trails for soundtrack composition: having heard the glue of spliced film reel produce sound as it passed through his equipment, he began meticulously applying his own cuts and notches to the tape and measuring the frequency values of the tones these striations would emit. Over years of refinement, he created a series of cards to correspond to eight octaves of musical notes, frequency by frequency, and to recruit these cards to compose his soundtracks. It was a way to maintain total creative control and freedom over his own work - every single frame would be processed “the McLaren way”. 

“He could have used a synthesiser,” writes long-term assistant, friend, and filmmaker of McLaren documentaries Don McWilliams, also at the National Film Board, “but he had his own method and he stuck with it.” John Cage was an ardent fan, inviting McLaren to his infamous downtown NYC socials and once even writing to McLaren to beg a recommendation for his recruitment at the National Film Board. 

Unsurprisingly, McLaren was musically capable and aware throughout his career. He was an inquisitive listener, often drawn to rhythmic expression found outside western music, and he collected records for both reference and enjoyment. West African and Chinese music were particular pleasures, as well as the gypsy jigs that in his youth had informed his own practice as a violin player. 

The opening piece to this compilation, “Now Is The Time”, is crafted from trilling, birdsong arpeggiations of dulcet high frequency tones that chatter and warble in scattered dialogue. Accompanying the clouds, multiple suns, and dancing figures of the film, the soundtrack is alive with joy and wonderment. Next, “Rythmetic”, soundtracking McLaren’s famed numeric sequence visualisation, pitters and patters with the types of glitching rhythms so coveted by contemporary electronic music almost a century later. Even from these first pieces alone, it is readily apparent that McLaren could not have achieved the effect he desired with scored instrumentation. The “McLaren way”, so crucial to his process, is as much foundational to his soundtracks as it is to the films themselves. 

Despite his acclaim and recognition within the world of film and animation - he won an Oscar, a Palme d’Or, is a favourite of George Lucas’, and is recorded in UNESCO’s cultural heritage archives (none of which interested him) - Norman McLaren is not a Walt Disney, Tex Avery, Chuck Jones, or an Ub Iwerks. His work is unflinchingly outré. Seeking out experimental, innovative, and unconventional modes of storytelling, his creative expression went even deeper than pioneering methodology and a prolific output, becoming part of the man himself as his working hours in the studio became longer and longer as his career blossomed. Even his straightest films are decidedly odd at their core, revealing not only a playful and joyously childlike sense of humour, but also the perpetual pursuit of perfection that fuelled his filmmaking throughout his life. 

A gay man, McLaren also resisted the normative social structures of the day in his personal life, acutely aware of the legal implications of his relationship with lifelong partner and fellow NFB director Guy Glover. He also remains revered as the most generous and trusting of teachers, bringing under his wing young or inexperienced filmmakers in whom he saw passion and promise. His second protegee George Dunning, who went on to produce Yellow Submarine for the Beatles, had only recently graduated when McLaren brought him to work in the NFB studios. 

Towards the end of McLaren’s career, McWilliams asked him how he perceived his own legacy; how Norman McLaren would be remembered in a hundred years’ time. “A filmmaker who made some interesting films,” was his reply. Modest, funny, wise, and yet knowingly sly. An answer most McLaren.

We Are Busy Bodies and our friends Phantom Limb in the UK have spent the past several years working on this release project in close association with the National Film Board of Canada. The album features an in-depth essay by James Vella built off of interviews with McLaren’s assistant, Don McWilliams.  

You can pre-order a copy of Norman McLaren's Rythmetic compilation via Bandcamp right here.  Watch the animated video clips for "Synchromy" from 1971 and "Rythmetic" from 1956 following the tracklisting below. 

Rythmetic: The Compositions of Norman McLaren

1. Now Is The Time

2. Rythmetic

3. Neighbours

4. Synchromy

5. Unreleased Composition (1945-1946)

6. Dots

7. Loops

8. Mosaic

9. Unreleased Composition (c. 1945)

10. Unreleased Composition (1945-1948)

11. Unreleased Composition (1969)

12. Unreleased Composition (1964-1965)

13. Opening Speech