Superior St. is proud to announce The Daredevil Pedals Spring Demo taking place on Sunday, May 19th at NOON right here at Superior St. Company founder and The Last Vegas guitarist John Wator will be dropping by to put on a demonstration of these great pedals.
Did we mention food and drinks will be provided?
Also, Lava Cable's new line of 100% Made-In-USA Retro Coil instrument cables will be on prominent display at the event. This is a great opportunity to get your hands on this great coil cable that is already used by the likes of Dweezil Zappa (left), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), and Daniel Donato.
Is this worth getting up before the crack of noon on a Sunday morning, you ask? Hell, this event isn't just worth waking up early for, but if you also go a little easy on the pale ale Saturday night, set the alarm for 10AM Sunday morning (I know, I know) the quality of these awesome pedals will blow your mind.
In 1985, The Cult were the coolest "goth band" going. There latest album, Love, was a fascinatingly tribal, yet modern rock album by a band that had shown no prior glimmer of this greatness as The Death Cult, or Southern Death Cult. If this didn't work, what would they shorten their name to, The Cu?
"She Sells Sanctuary" and "Rain" worked just as well on the dancefloor as on the concert stage, where Billy Duffy's monolithic riffs coiuld run wild. Even two years later, I had not tired of the album and was hoping the band would continue to deliver moreof the same, as I felt there was still some terrain left to explore.
The band obviusly felt the same way, heading back into the studio with Love producer Steve Brown to record their eagerly anticipated follow-up. The finished album was christened Peace and primed for release, but a last-minute change-of-heart by the band saw the entire album shelved.
The "Electric" version of "Wild Flower"
The original version::
Of course, anyone curious to hear the original versions of songs like "Wild Flower", "Peace Dog", and "Love Removal Machine" need only check out YouTube. Listening to these versions, it's as if Brown, who catured the band's essence so well on Love, has no fucking idea what he's doing this time around. Compared to Rick Rubin's lean, no-frills production, Brown's sounds like a live field recording of a band playing from the bottom of a very deep hole.
That's not to say that I was initially a fan of Rubin's production. Additionally, new drummer Les Warner lacked the chops for such a bare-bones sound, especially after the propulsive rhythms guest drummer Mark Brzezinski, on loan from Big Country, brought to the Love sessions. As a result, songs that could have otherwise soared - :"Bad Fun" and their cover of Steppenwolf nugget "Born To Be Wild" to name just two - remain landlocked.
That's not to say the album is a dud, though. In truth, the first half of the album is a non-stop cavalcade of joyous riffage, with Ian Astbury embracing his inner Robert Plant. All things considered, Electric the band's second-best album and, since they've already performed Love in its entirety, the next logical step is to do the same for Electric, which the band will be doing on August 27 when their tour hits Chicago's House of Blues.
What can you say about Yo La Tengo that hasn't been said before in the multitude of critical acclaim heaped upon a band that has been churning out a consistently listenable and intellectual style of indie-based pop.
Granted, the band's pedigree - Ira Kaplan was a noted music critic prior to forming the band - might be a tad off-putting to those adverse to music that forces them out of their rock & roll comfort zone. Of course, anyone familiar with, or a fan of, The Feelies, Papas Fritas, or The Sea And Cake has already crossed that bridge and is able to enjoy the band's music on its own merits..
On, Pure, the band's thirteenth proper album, the band continues to mine the same atmospheric, slyly melodic lo-fi territory that has become their trademark. In Chicago-based producer John McEntire, the band has found a new accomplice capable of adding structural integrity to the often brittle backbone of songs like "Ohm" and "Stupid Things".
McEntire, of course, is best known for producing The Sea And Cake and, on Pure, the similarities between the two bands are at their most pronounced. That's not to say that McEntire has forced the band into a pigeonhole in which they do not fit. Instead, it provides a convenient entry-point for listeners both old and new.
Oddly enough, Pure is the band's first album to enter the Billboard Top 40. I wish that this was due to the band finally breaking through into the mainstream, which it very well may be to a point. The closer truth is that the band's sales remain consistent, but that overall album sales are low enough that the band's modest sales (by commercial standards) are now worthy of Top 40 accolades.
So the next time someone asks you who your favorite Top 40 act is, don't be afraid to say "Yo La Tengo!"
This is the first of a two-part series where we at The Shit celebrate those iconic moments that shaped rock & roll history. While there are obviously more than twenty landmark moments in rock history, we've chosen the twenty moments that were the most important in changing in the direction of rock & roll.
Les Paul makes innovations to solid-body electric guitars and multi-track recording.
While Les Paul is best known for the solid-body Gibson guitar that carries his name, he also created the guitar known today as the Gibson SG and was instrumental in making innovations to multi-track recording that enabled the act of overdubbing, which bands like the Beatles and the Beach Boys would use to create their artistic high points, "Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band" and "Pet Sounds".
Elvis records "That's All Right Mama" at Sun Studios.
While the session from which this recording came had been a total bust, it was only after Presley began performing the song in the studio as the other musicians packed up for the night that Sam Phillips heard the potential he saw in Presley come to fruition. Phillips hastily reassembled the band and rolled tape. While the single would not jettison Presley to the top of the charts, it was the first step in a journey that would reshape the face of rock & roll forever.
Chuck Berry releases "Maybellene".
Arguably lifting the music from the country song "Ida Red" and adding his own lyrics, Chuck Berry scored his first official "rock & roll" hit. DJ Alan Freed was initially listed as a co-writer of the song despite having nothing to do with the creation of the song. He did, however, accept co-writing credit in exchange for playing the song regularly on his successful radio show. The song was the first of fourteen Top 40 singles for Berry.
The Beatles make their first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show.
There is no other singular moment that ushered in such instant and long-term musical and cultural change as that of The Beatles' first performance on The Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964. Sullivan had first taken notice of the hysteria created by the band's arrival at Heathrow airport and immediately contacted Brian Epstein to book the band for his show.
Epstein was offered one appearance, but asked for and received three appearances, all taking place in February 1964.
Phil Spector invents the "Wall of Sound" production technique.
By taking a symphonic approach to recording, utilizing large groups of musicians playing a wide variety of instruments - sometimes with multiple musicians playing the same instrument and part - Spector came up with a sound that translated to a superior sound on jukeboxes and radio.
Dylan goes electric at '65 Newport Folk Festival.
Up until his performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, wherein he performed with electric instrumentation for the first time, Bob Dylan had been a leader in the folk music movement. With this performance and the album Bringing It All Back Home, which contained such hits as "Subterranean Homesick Blues", "Maggie's Farm", "Mr. Tambourine Man" and "It's All Over Now Baby Blue", Dylan's music was now fully ensconced in the world of rock & roll..
The Stones release "Satisfaction".
After acquiring his first tape recorder, Keith Richards would sit in his hotel room after a show and record himself playing the guitar so that he could listen back later for any interesting ideas. After recording the riff, he promptly fell asleep, waking up to hear two minutes of playing the riff on an acoustic guitar and "me snoring for the next forty minutes".
The song enabled the Rolling Stones to successfully transition from blues covers to original material and, at the same time, gave rock & roll one of its first iconic riffs, one that remains as visceral and subversive today as it did then.
LSD.
While drugs had always been present in rock & roll, it was the introduction of LSD to John Lennon and George Martin at a party, quite without their knowledge, that would ultimately lead to the drug's popularity and influence upon rock & roll. Without LSD, there would have been no psychedelic movement, no "Sgt Pepper", no "Pet Sounds", no "Woodstock".
The Beach Boys Release "Pet Sounds".
Who woulda thunk that a "surf-based doo wop group" would be responsible for recording the album that would blow away the innovative Fab Four, leading them to up their game and record the landmark album, "Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
Ironically, much of the album was recorded by Brian Wilson, who was no longer a touring meber of the Beach Boys, while the rest of the band were on tour in Japan. Wilson employed a recording style similar to that employed in Phil Spector's Wall of Sound, wherein large group of musicians recorded a take live-in-the-studio, also using studio effects to create a bigger sound.
The result was a radical departure for the band; one that met with a moderate drop in chart success compared to previous efforts, but one that was so inflential as to change the way the Beatles approached their next album,
Hendrix at Woodstock
While his performance took place at the close of the Woodstck festival, to a mostly empty and trash strewn field on the festivals's final morning, it is his histrionic performance of "The star Spangled Banner:" that signalled the final nail in the coffin of the "peace and love" movement.
In recent years, the career of this two- time Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee has been on cruise control as the singer has become increasingly known for his seemingly never-ending series of Great American Songbook releases. Mind you, Stewart had run out of gas long before he chose to begin covering easy-listening and soul standards, so the idea of Stewart recording his first album of new original material in 20 years seems like a disaster waiting to happen.
Quite surprisingly, the album is quite good and I am left wondering what took Stewart so long to record his own material. Oh right, those covers albums were hugely successful.
While I wouldn't call the album a full return to past greatness, Time is an album that shows Stewart sounds best when he's mining that MOR rock sound that spawns such hits as "Some Guys Have All The Luck" and "Forever Young".
Natalie Maines - Mother
Continuing the theme of "albums that have no right to be this good" is the latest solo outing from "former" Dixie Chick Natalie Maines. The oddly-titled Mother begins with the painfully predictable mid-tempo "Without You" before transitioning to a cover of Pink Floyd's "Mother" and, while it's impossible to know what led Maines to record the song, she doesn't do a half bad job on it.
Of course, with songwriting help from Semisonic's Dan Wilson, Ben Harper, and fellow Dixie Chicks Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, the quality of the material is undeniable.
"Free Life", written by Wilson, should be a huge hit.
Fitz & The Tantrums - More Than Just A Dream
After the meteoric success of their last album, Pickin' Up The Pieces, and a necessary transition from indie Dangerbird Records to major Elektra, it's good to see that the band's indie vibe and knack for carving out irresistibly catchy melodies remains fully intact.
Those looking for a "Moneygrabber Pt 2" will find a lot to like on this album as the band seems quite intent on mining a similar sonic territory that doesn't throw too many curve balls at the band's rabid audience.
Highlights include "Last Raindrop" (which sounds like something The Killers could have recorded for Day And Age) and the bombastic "Spark".
Savages - Silence Yourself
If you dig brutal post-punk apocalyptic rock and haven't yet heard of this all-female British four-piece, then you owe it to yourself to check them out first chance you get.
The band mixes the ferocity of early Killing Joke, Gang Of Four, and Siouxsie & The Banshees, creating an brooding, atmospheric landscape over which Jehnny Beth's "Siouxsie Sioux-inspired vocals can glide to and fro.
Unlike most bands that get stuck with the post-punk tag, Savages do not get caught playing the same "fast & furious" style tunes, but, instead, use a wide variety of sonic colors and tempos to create an album that breathes with an intoxicating ebb and flow.
If the future of rock & roll is found in the past, this band stands as good a chance as any of leading the new rock & roll revolution.
2009's Wolfgang Amadeus was a pleasant surprise; a collection of tightly arranged hook-filled songs that managed to breathe some much-needed humanity into a midi-controlled world.
With 2013's long-awaited follow-up, Bankrupt!, now unleashed upon the world, Phoenix stand on the precipice between "up-and-coming indie act" and "major artist". How this new album is received will no doubt tilt the scale in one direction or the other.
It's only a matter of time before album-opener "Entertainment" appears in a commercial for a cute new eco-car or maybe a Kindle that runs on happy thoughts. While the song is pleasant enough, an entire album of songs seemingly created to whet the appetite of a few pivotal music supervisors seems a tiresome proposition. Thankfully, the aplty-named "The Real Thing" arrives like a welcome summer breeze on a perfect day. That's the song the band (and label) should be focusing on!
The band mixes brittle synth lines with understated vocal hooks that almost timidly impose their presence upon you. In a lot of ways, the band shares a certain sonic territory with the more popular Foster The People, but its Phoenix who bring the goods with songs that aren't so much a product of modern production techniques as a timeless celebration of youth and summer and song.
While the scene last night may have been hundreds of well-to-do Manhattan forty-somethings lining up outside of the upscale John Varvatos boutique, Cheap Trick rocked the joint with the same urgency as the hundreds of punk bands who performed on this very spot back when it was still called CBGB's.
It was an odd sight, so many graying heads pressed together inside the postage-stamp-sized boutique watching a band that has spent the better part of their career playing to stadium-sized crowds bring that same intensity to a room of 300.
Despite the fact that its three remaining original members are all in their late 50's or early 60's, Cheap Trick continues to be a revelation onstage. While the scissor kicks aren't nearly as high as they were back in '78, Rick Nielsen still pours himself into being the quintessential showman, a non-stop flurry of activity and between-song banter that defined this great American treasure just as much as Robin Zander's soaring wail, which remains largely intact despite the passage of time and endless touring.
While we certainly appreciate seeing original drummer Bun E Carlos around town these days, we still miss seeing him behind the skins. Rick's son Daxx is filling in admirably, obviously well-schooled in the "Bun E. Style of Drumming" from childhood. You get the sense that the Carlos legacy is in good hands and that the injection of youth into the line-up has brought a certain energy to the proceedings that those in attendance could feel in their gut with each kick of the bass drum.
If anyone even remotely associated with the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame was in attendance last night, perhaps a correction will be made to the glaring mistake that is Cheap Trick's current absence from the Hall.
Set List:
"Hello There"
"Come On, Come On"
"ELO Kiddies"
"Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace"
"Big Eyes"
"Lookout"
"Downed"
"Can't Hold On"
"Oh Caroline"
"Surrender"
"Auf Wiedersehen"
"Need Your Love"
"High Roller"
"Southern Girls"
"I Want You to Want Me"
"California Man"
"Goodnight"
"Ain't That a Shame"
"Clock Strikes Ten"
Also, Lava Cable's new line of 100% Made-In-USA Retro Coil instrument cables will be on prominent display at the event. This is a great opportunity to get your hands on this great coil cable that is already used by the likes of Dweezil Zappa (left), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), and Daniel Donato.
