Tuddd's Muddd

Tugggets #3

[what the world needs now is Tugggets, sweet Tugggets]

I have just one question: WHO THE FUCK GETS THE FLU IN APRIL?!?  Apparently I do.  And just in time to miss out on the two nicest days of the year so far.  Fuck me!  At least unlike last time I got the flu (right smack dab on my birthday in Nov '09, how's that for some sweet-ass luck thank you very fucking much) I didn't shit myself TWICE.  Things are lookin' up for the Tuddster!! [EDIT- hmm... not sure how to put this but as of 1:57 PM things aren't lookin' so "up" anymore...]

Ok, so here's the long awaited (HAHAHA!) third installment of Tugggets.  I had this one almost all ready to go about a month ago but decided instead to go with a Jay Reatard edition of Tugggets followed by a Cheeseburger-only Tugggets because [edited because nobody cares].  Anyway, should you enjoy these here l'il tidbits and want to check out what all the hoopla's about....

Tugggets #1 is here.

Tugggets #2 is here.

This is Tugggets #3.  You're looking at it right now. 

Tugggets #4 [Jay Reatard edition] is here.

and Tugggets #4 1/2 [Cheeseburger edition] is here.

Vs.

21.) Television - Fire Engine [8-x-75 studio]

An appropriately rambunctious cover of the Roky Erickson/13th Floor Elevators chestnut. 

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Vs.

22.) Nirvana - Here She Comes Now [11-24-91 Hilversum]

Plenty of Velvets/Lou Reed-related action over these first few Tugggets installments (including later in this same one! Just look below! #27!).  Kurt kinda rips this one up a l'il. 

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23.) Deerhunter - Nothing Ever Happened [live Sydney 2009]

Finest live version I've ever heard of Deerhunter's finest song ever.  Enjoy the ~3 minute noise jam at the end of the track.

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24.) The Police - So Lonely [BBC 1979]

"The politest audience we've had all week.  We normally play to delinquents."  Sure ya do, Sting.  Sure ya do. <eyeroll>

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25.) The Magnetic Fields - California Girls [live NYC 2-24-08]

Album version of this song is from '08's awesome Distortion, which (temporarily, at least) replaced Stephin Merritt's minimalistic chamber pop with a feedback-swathed production palette patterned after Jesus and Mary Chain's Psychocandy.  Well, if you ever wondered what Distortion would have sounded like with more traditional Magnetic Fields' production, here's a saucy tidbit fo' dat azz. 

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26.) The Rolling Stones - Cocksucker Blues (Outtake)

The granddaddy of all "bonus track" type collector nonsense, imnsmfho.  As the story goes, this sordid l'il ditty was penned by Mick Jagger as a kiss-off to the Stones' record label, which in turn (predictably) refused to release the fuckin' thing.  As such, it's been a hallmark of Stones bootleg/rarity comps for the last 40 years or so.  Of course, the song's title was later appropriated for this, which is a whole 'nother ball of wax.  

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27.) Lou Reed - Ride into the Sun [1971 solo]

Solo acoustic version recorded on the fly in the NYC apartment of folk legends Richard and Linda Thompson.  Lou Reed's acoustic thrashing during the middle part is so wild that he actually overloads the prehistoric recorder's microphone.  Fuckin' rad.

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28.) Beck - Ballad of Mexico

"Come gather round me people... here's a story you never heard

'Bout me and some friends and some shit that occurred."  --Beck

An epic tale of boredom, lawlessness, and, well, hardcore white trash taken from one of Beck's demo/mixtapes from the years before he was "BECK."  I promise that you either will or won't be disappointed if you listen the whole way through.  

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29.) Bohemian Vendetta - Riddles and Fairytales [45 version]

STRONG ISLAND PRIDE!  [shudder] I've been plowing through '60s garage/psych volumes as of late, and few have proved more rewarding than Enough, a compilation of Long Island band Bohemian Vendetta's output.  Several legit garage classics on this one (homeslice is an *awesome* organ player <spoiler alert>), including the title track (which will likely turn up in a later Tugggets post some day).  And again, I really can't say enough great stuff about Distortions Records, purveyors of all sorts of obscure garagey greatness. 

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30.) Guided by Voices - Smothered in Hugs [live 2001]

"This's our last song kids- it's a song of love for YOU called 'Smothered in Hugs.'  One, two, three, four..."

--Robert Pollard

Tugggets #2

[Man, I love that crappy graphic.]

Well, Tugggets was originally meant to be a weekly thing, but I've had a bunch of other shit on my plate lately, thank you very fucking much.  Plus my post-Cheeseburger partying Sat night/Sunday morning/Sunday afternoon kinda put me out of commission there for a couple days.  Whatever.  I'll try to keep the Tugggets featurette going as long as I can, plumbing the depths of Tha Muddd (yuck!) in order to bring you only the finest in rare obscurities that only nerds like myself give a holy horsefuck about.  Enjoy!

[If you care, the first Tugggets installment can be found here.  And, again, any requests can posted in the Comments section below.]

11.) Television - Venus [1974 Rehearsal]

Considering the streamlined, uber-efficient, tidy riffin' machine that Television eventually became, it's pretty rad to hear them at an earlier, more ramshackle stage of their existence (yes, Richard Hell was actually still in the band at this point, and I'm pretty sure that's Hell's self-deprecating banter that follows the mercifully aborted attempt at Venus that starts the track).  Maybe next time I'll put up a more technically proficient version of this song for the sake of comparision.  Or maybe not. 

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12.) Guided by Voices - My Valuable Hunting Knife [live]

"THIS IS CALLED 'MY PSYCHEDELIC BUTTER KNIFE'"

--Robert Pollard

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VS.

13.) Van Halen - Walk Away [live Hollywood 1976]

In David Lee Roth's Crazy From the Heat autobiography, ghost writer Henry Rollins (!) notes that Diamond Dave's ability to improvise lyrics was/is legendary.  Of course, this was the same characteristic that was lampooned by Chris Kattan in his SNL impersonation of Diamond Dave (ZIBBITY BOP!).

    People's exhibit A.  Here, I'm giving you Diamond Daves' version of the lyrics from the verses compared with the real ones as sung by the James Gang on the original version.  Mind you, he's pretty damn close on the first verse and nails the choruses before just losing his shit and inexplicably repeating the second verse -- or, rather, his version of the second verse -- twice.  Brilliant.  Brilliant, I said.

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first verse: (again, he's pretty damn close early on)

Takin' my time [well done]

Choosin' my line [again, well done]

Tryin' to decide what to do [can he keep it up!?]

Looks like my stop [4 for 4!  Holy crap Dave!]

Don't want to... rock [ok, it's actually "don't want to get off" but "don't want to rock" is pretty hilarious]

Try to do best here without you. ["Got myself hung up on you"]

Chorus [nails it]

second verse:

"Places I've gone [it's "places I've known"]

Think that I'm goin' [it's actually "things that I'm growin'", but 'A' for effort]

Once again some day-yeah ["Don't taste the same without you"]

People I've seen, yessah ["Got myself in"]

See them goin' ["Worst mess I've been"]

Each and every way" ["And I find myself starving without you"]

Chorus - [nails it]

/guitar solo/

third verse:

Places I've gone [I've got to cool myself down]

Think that I'm goin' [Stompin' around]

Once again some day [Thinkin' some words I can't name ya]

People I've seen, yessah [Meet you halfway]

See that I'm goin' [Got nothin' to say]

Ohhh... every way [Still I don't s'pose I can't blame ya]

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**sigh**

BRILLIANT.

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14.) Dead Boys - Sonic Reducer [live San Francisco 1977]

Best live version of this great song I've ever heard.

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15.) Lou Reed - Street Hassle [live Cleveland 1977]

While we're in 1977 courtesty the Dead Boys, here's an excellent live version of Lou Reed's epic (13 minutes!) tale of sex, drugs and death.  (Oh, wait, all of his songs are about that.  Fine, I'll give you that.  But none of his other songs have as incredible a bassline as you get about 6:45 into this song.) 

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16.) Beck - Goin' Nowhere Fast

This is from one of the many pre-Mellow Gold demos Beck recorded, and which you can find in certain musty corners of the interwebz, if you know where to look. 

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17.) The Eurfians - Waaro!

This is pretty much my favorite thing ever.  If anybody has any idea what "MUSTARD!" means in Dutch, hook me up.  Once again, this comes from Distortions Records splendiforous archive of '60s garage-psych goodies n' rarities.

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VS.

18.) Lindsey Buckingham - Holiday Road [from National Lampoon's Vacation]

Or, if you'd rather, watch the video here if you're interested to see which phase of Lindsey Buckingham's ever-evolving Coke Monster sang this particular song.  [Spoiler alert: it's the mid-80's American Psycho one.]

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19.) Deerhunter - Calvary Scars [live 2007]

Microcastle version is too short.  Weird Era version is too long.  This one is just right. (Yes, I'm aware that there's a little crackling at the beginning of the track.  Deal with it.) 

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20.) Roger McGuinn - Take A Whiff [live 1976 Long Island]

"Cocaine's for horses, not for men.

The doctor says 'it kills ya' but he won't say when"

--Roger McGuinn

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Tugggets #1

    

[Note- I am fully aware that the above "Tugggets" graphic is terrible.  Well get used to that shit since this is probably going to be a recurring Muddd feature.  Or design me a new logo, I don't care.]
  

    It's already February and I still haven't come close to finishing all my '09 End-of-Year lists ("more Best Albums"; "more Best Concerts" and "biggest assholes I encountered at shows in '09" are still in the pipeline).  And at the moment I'm too exhausted to do anything that actually involves any "creativity."  But this should be fun nonetheless. 

    OK.  I have literally thousands of bootlegs.  Despite maintaining this blog for over 3 years, I've practically never really resorted into dipping into my archive of music to share the wealth with y'all.  For that I am sorry, and I intend to begin remunerating for that shit forthwith.  

    So here's the first installment in my personal Nuggets, aka "Tugggets."  ("Tuddgets"?  Nah.  "Tudddets"?  That sucks too.  Sigh.  "Tuddd-nuggets?" //BARF) If there's anything y'all want to hear, feel free to make requests... I've been working on a few "best-of live/rare" playlists from different groups (Velvets, Magnetic Fields in particular, and my GbV one is constantly getting additions.  Also I think having a compilation of Diamond Dave's or Phil Anselmo's stage banter would be hysterical).  So give a shout if there's shit u wanna hear. 

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1.) Neutral Milk Hotel [Jeff Mangum solo] -  Gardenhead_Leave Me Alone

Totally prefer this version to the On Avery Island version- Jeff Mangum's voice gets positively Cobainian on the "AND SOME YOU LEAVE BEEE-HIIIIIIIIND!!!" line in this one.  Taken from an XFM station session in 1998, in which it's also revealed during an interview that Jeff Mangum has never heard of Captain Beefheart.  Huh.  Anyway, enjoy this shit.

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2.) Various Artists - Distortions Funkadelphia_14_Loving Spell

Somewhere else in the bowels of the Muddd I raved about Distortions Records' From the Kitchen to the Garage compilation (of Dutch girl-fronted bands in the '60s) which came out in '08.  Last week I grabbed Distortion's Allentown, PA-centric garage compilation and immediately became obsessed with this song, by Allentown's own Shillings.  How was this not a huge radio hit alongside like Herman's Hermits and The Turtles and that type of stuff?!  [Here's the link to Distortions Records' website... you can buy most of their stellar comps for $8, and they have a buy-3-get-one-free deal.  I'm going to be hearing a LOT more of this stuff in the coming months.]

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VS.

3.) Mogwai - Don't Cry [2_17_98]

Yes, this is Mogwai covering -- earnestly, no less -- the classic Guns N' Roses song.  Fucking unreal that this exists, and I think they do an exceptional job with the straight cover. 

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VS.

4.) Guided by Voices - Let the Good Times Roll [live Cars cover]

"Let the story be told,

Let them say what they want.

Let the story be told,

Let them call you a cunt."

--Robert Pollard

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VS.

5.) Matthew Sweet - Do Ya [live ELO cover]

This makes perfect sense/it's probably the most Matthew Sweet-ish song ever written by an artist that isn't actually Matthew Sweet himself.

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6.) Lou Reed - Sweet Jane [live Long Island 1972]

Perfect version of the perfect song.  In the late '70s, Lou Reed's live band would often trick this song out with a 4 minute Remain in Light-ish guitar solo intro, but this is a version at it's leanest, cleanest and (consequently) meanest.  Had to choose between this and a stellar live version of Lou Reed's epic "Street Hassle" from Cleveland in 1977/you'll probably see that one next week.

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7.) Doug Martsch - Pale Blue Eyes [live acoustic Velvet Underground cover]

While we're on the Lou Reed/VU tip, why not another excellent cover.

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8.) Dinosaur Jr - Feel the Pain [live Santa Monica 1994]

While we're on the Indie-Rock-Guitar-Super-God tip, why not some J for that azz. 

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9.) Mad Season - Lifeless Dead [1-8-95 Self-Pollution live]

If you were ever subjected to one of my mixtapes between 1995 and 1999, there's a very good chance you've heard this version of this song at one time or another.  I fucking love it and think it's probably among the finest 100 or so songs ever written.  Mad Season were, of course, the little-beloved Seattle supergroup that consisted of Alice in Chains' singer, Pearl Jam's lead guitarist, Screaming Trees' drummer (who I think eventually became a Buddhist monk) and a guy they met in rehab on bass. 

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10.) Van Halen - Tour Song [live Montevideo 1983]

If I were posting shit based on sheer hilarity, I'd post some early club-era Van Halen where they're covering classic rock standards and Diamond Dave -- who clearly didn't bother learning the lyrics to songs by Zeppelin/Mountain/Joe Walsh/etc. -- basically "zibbidy-bop"s his way through the lyrics.  But that's not what this song is-- it's a kind of faux-impromptu moment that the Halen whipped out towards the end of their marathon set to thank the fans-- in this case an Uruguayan crowd-- over a simple, pleasant acoustic chord progression.  The best part is when Diamond Dave, always the panderer extraordinaire, exclaims that Montevideo is "NUMERO UNO EN FOOTBALL!!!" towards the end of the song.  Fuckin' awesome. 

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Okely dokely, that's it for this round.  Again, any requests just post 'em in the comments section.  Mealz. 

Catchin' Up With the Blog yet again

    Ah, the weather is getting nice again and I'm starting to remember why I love my neighborhood so much.  Schoolkids are running around in the streets loudly debating the pungency of one another's genitals; the Ice Cream Truck Jingle (which I'm actually a fan of) is already soldered into my skull where it shall remain for the next 4+ months; 60 year old dudes can be found stumbling around the block smoking blunts; drunk black dudes fly by on bicycles insulting random passersby; and perhaps most importantly, "special deliveries" are transacted courteously, comfortably and efficiently. 

    Again it's been awhile since I've updated said Muddd, but I ain't dead yet.  I've been taking it easy the last couple weeks after what has been an unusually toxic year up until this point.  Also, earlier in the month I traveled to Atlantic City (impossible to enjoy this place without drugs/fortunately I had some), Virginia (beautiful, especially the ships) and Durham (rainy) so it's nice to hunker down and get back to the essentials -- namely smoking weed and being antisocial. 

    Also, it's a good time for me to issue some, um, "updates" to last year's Best Of lists (albums and songs), so let's get these belated mea culpas out of the way first.  "But Tuddd," you plead, "yer livin' in the past!  We want to hear about new shit!"  Sadly, we're almost done with March and the New Yeah Yeah Yeahs is the first really, really good record I've heard all year.  Fear not, I thought '07 got off to a shitty start too and we still wound up with a ton of gooduns when all was said and done.  Anyway,  

• All thru '08, I avoided hearing the Titus Andronicus album mainly because of comparisons to Conor Oberst (of whom I'm not a fan) and various emo bands.  Well, it turns out I fucked up-- the Titus Andronicus album is probably the best album from '08.  Yeah, I'm'a need a mulligan on that one, thanks.
• Also, I totally whiffed in leaving Harvey Milk's Life... The Best Game in Town off of the aforementioned list.  In this case, I had actually heard the album during '08 proper (and several times at that) but I somehow retardedly managed to miss giving it a numerical ranking on the spreadsheet I was using to rank albums.  Let this be a warning to all fellow hack music bloggers: (underwhelming) music journalism and spreadsheets do not mix.  FWIW it's one of the 10 best albums from '08 I've heard.
• Missed the boat on Hercules and Love Affair, too.  Shee-it.
• In my (admittedly gay) quest to trendily update my library of garagey shit, I came across a fucking awesome compilation of female-fronted Dutch garage/psych bands, called From the Kitchen to the Garage and available from Distortions Records here (it's the third one down).  Normally I don't post links prompting people to buy shit, but 1.) it's awesome and 2.) it's only 7 friggin' dollars.  Definitely the first album I've heard from the Distortion imprint, but I doubt it will be the last.  I have no idea if this actually came out in '08, but if it did, it too would have been easily in the year's top 10. 
• I'm liking Microcastle better and better, but I still think Weird Era kind of blows.
• On the aforementioned Best Songs list, I totally left several great songs off that I didn't hear until after I wrote the list.  These include: a lot of the Titus Andronicus album, a few off Harvey Milk's record, the same two that everyone likes from Hercules and Love Affair, "Afgrunden" from Sune Rose Wagner (of the Raveonettes, of course)'s solo debut, Pyramids' "The Echo of Something Lovely," "That's Not My Name" by the Ting Tings, and, um, Usher's "Love in this Club." For some reason, this makes me want to cry with joy. 

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        Here's a brief rundown of the albums I've heard so far in '09.  Yes, I'm markedly behind last year's pace, but there's still a ton of good stuff I'm looking forward to.  I'll try to get a decent "Still To Come in '09" list posted before I go away for the weekend.

    1- Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz -- I've only owned this album for 5 hours so this may be premature, but I think this is the best thing the YYY's have ever put out.  I thought their '07 EP, Is Is was their best effort to date (great songwriting and production) but this likely tops it.  Although a few of the songs are marred by repetitive phrasing, there's undoubtedly some really pretty songs on this. 

    2- Dan Deacon - Bromst -- lots more heart and depth than his Spiderman of the Rings breakthru. 

    3- Heartless Bastards - The Mountain -- Face it, it's tough for a white chick to sing soulfully without sounding cheesy, but the vocals (and primal guitar playing) of frontwoman Erika Wennerstrom make me long for a Black Keys/Heartless Bastards double bill.

    4- Death - ...For the Whole World to See -- A set of mostly unreleased protopunk songs by this trio of Detroit siblings, recorded in the mid '70s.  "Politicians in My Eyes" and "Keep on Knockin'" are the best two on here.  Read this New York Times article for the full story.

    5- Dead Mellotron - Ghost Light Constellation EP -- Pretty sure this Monroe, Louisiana band friended me on MySpace, where this album is available for free download, which is how I heard of 'em.  The best songs on here are done in kind of a fuzzy garage-ambient-trance-shoegaze style, which can lend itself to absolute awesomeness under the right circumstances.  Bonus points for choosing the right song to cover in Beach House's "Saltwater."

    6- Animal Collective - Merriweather Post Pavillion -- So far I'm only enjoying this as background music at a chatty party, for example.  Obviously warrants more listens.

    7- Boston Spaceships - The Planets Are Blasted -- Also needs many more listens, although this might be Uncle Bob's strongest (non-archival) effort since 2006's Normal Happiness. 

    8- These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove -- Love the lead track "Woolen Heirs," and "Ethric Double" boasts the best heavy groove of the year.

    9- Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand -- The single's the only memorable song, IMHO.

    10- Wavves - Wavvves -- Whatever, I'm old.  I don't have to pretend to enjoy this crap.

    11- The Soft Pack -- The Muslims -- Sure, I'm spoiled when it comes to sloppy garage stuff, but this album is nothing special.

    12- Nodzzz -- Nodzzz -- If you're into bands like Vivian Girls, ca-USE! co-MOTION! and the Beets, you'll eat this up.  Otherwise, you'll find it pretty generic. 

    (No, I haven't heard the new Mastodon yet... I'm waiting to blast it in my car on the way down to Pennsylvania for a wedding this weekend.)

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    Finally, yes, I know I've been slacking on seeing shows this year; I'm only up to 17 so far, which is pretty piss poor.  That being said, barring random testicular electrocution (always a possibility) I plan on attending tomorrow (4/1)'s whiplash-inducing show at Europa, starring the mighty Young Widows (seen 'em several times, they're great), Tournament (saw 'em a couple years ago with Baroness and Atakke at Don Pedros/they shred) and Austerity Program (one of my faves).  Good times. 

    All right, gotta go.  Muddd outward and such.