it was something I rehearsed in a dream

How does one go about summing up Magazine in a few short sentences? A pioneering post-punk act whose frontman, Howard Devoto, left the Buzzcocks in order to better indulge his experimental impulses? A band whose output ranged from straight-up punk ("Shot By Both Sides") to haunting post-punk ("The Light Pours Out Of Me") to New Wave pop ("Model Worker"), yet remained consistently identifiable (in part due to Devoto's distinctive nasally vocal stylings) and, more importantly, consistently listenable?

Works for me.

Magazine - Goldfinger (from the b-side of the 1978 single "Touch and Go") - I actually prefer this version to Shirley Bassey's original. Devoto's sinister, sneering vocals add that extra oomph that an ode to a notorious evil mastermind needs.

Magazine - Rhythm of Cruelty (from 1979's Secondhand Daylight LP) - Great art-punk with some neat synth flourishes.

I am the god of hellfire

Yet another busy day, and that means another short post. Today we've got a couple songs from the GS I Love You: Japanese Garage Bands of the 60's compilation released on the Big Beat label in 1996.

I like this album a lot. The fuzzed out, farsifa-riffic garage rock sound made the trans-oceanic voyage fairly well, and even when the end results turned out terrible (as they did on a few of the tracks), it's an entertaining kind of terrible. Case in point: today's featured songs, beautifully mutilated phonetic English versions of Sam and Dave's "Hold On, I'm Comin'" and the Crazy World of Arthur Brown's "Fire".

The Voltage - Hold On I'm Comin'
The Swing West - Fire

Big Beat released a follow up compilation, GS I Love You, Too, in 1999. You can score used copies of both albums on the cheap at Amazon.

the solution is revolution

References to Japan abound in early 80's pop music. The old Western notion of ex oriente lux ("light comes from the east"), the success of Shogun, and the flood of Japanese hi-tech gadgets and videogames into western markets melded together to create a popular image of Japan as the land of phosphor dot samurai battling it out under the neon lights of unfathomably dense urban cores that dovetailed nicely with the New Wave's preoccupation with technology and futurism. It wasn't just synth pop acts tapping into the zeitgeist, either. Power poppers (The Vapors' "Turning Japanese") and trad rockers (Styx's "Mr. Roboto") rode the wave as well.

If you're an act working in such a crowded field, it's inevitable that you'd look for a way to differentiate yourself from the pack. The question is how to do so while still retaining the pop marketability of the existing trend. For today's two featured bands and tracks, it was simply a lateral move from Nippon-o-philia to Sinophilia. Large Asian nation? Check. "Exotic" culture and customs as far as the westerners are concerned? Check. Visually interesting system of writing? Check.

The first track is simply titled "China", performed by the Red Rockers, who began their existence as a Clash-inspired punk band before mellowing into a fairly generic new wave act. The song is from their 1983 Good As Gold LP, and was a minor hit for the band. Here's the video:



Today's second track, "Living In China", comes from 1983's Rhythm of Youth LP from the Canadian synthpop act Men Without Hats. Never poetic geniuses, the track falls into the standard Men Without Hats song category of "catchy but stupid". If you can get past the Chipmunkean backup vocals, it's a pretty fun listen.

freedom takes money

The Stray Cats' 1982 US debut album, Built For Speed, was actually a collection of the "best" tracks from the band's two previous UK album releases, Stray Cats and Gonna Ball (both 1981). Today we have a song that didn't make the Built For Speed cut, the fascinating, yet problematic "Storm the Embassy" from their first UK LP.

Fascinating, because the track sounds like nothing else the band has ever recorded; it's an odd, but successful marriage of rockabilly and post-punk musical styles. Indeed, the opening of the song bears more than a slight resemblance to that of Joy Division's "Shadowplay".

Sounds good so far, right? So where does the "problematic" part come into it?

In the lyrics, unfortunately, which deal with the Iranian hostage crisis with only a shade more sophistication than the "Ayatollah is an Ass-hole-a" breed of patriotic populist chants of the period. It's entirely understandable from a historical point of view, but knowing what we know now it's hard not to wince while listening to some parts of the song.

I assume the reason "Storm the Embassy" wasn't chosen for Built For Speed was because by the time of the album's release in 1982, the hostage crisis was old news. (In fact, the hostages had been free a month when the song made its UK debut on the Stray Cats LP.)

they're always lusting

I first came across the Anemic Boyfriends when my old boss at the university library lent me a stack of singles in exchange for borrowing my copy of the Breeders' first LP. Mixed in with the nifty live bootlegs (Gang of Four/The Buzzcocks at the Paradise in 1980) and obscure local new wave releases (Jeff and Jane Hudson's "Los Alamos") was a strange punk 7'' from 1980 on the Red Sweater label out of Anchorage, Alaska. I popped it on the turntable and gave it a listen, initiating a thirteen year quest to score my own copy.

The a-side, "Guys Are Not Proud", is a bizarre little track. Taunting, dismissive lyrics about male piggishness are sung/spoken over a minimalist reggae beat, with cartoony horn interludes between the verses. It's punk's DIY ethos at its purest, playing out in one of the remotest corners of the American empire, and it is fascinating to behold. (I'd love to find out more about Alaska's early punk scene and its venues, bands, and participants.)

The b-side, "Bad Girls In Love", is pretty terrible, falling into the "sloppy hard rock masquerading as punk" category familiar to anyone who has listened to more than a couple Killed By Death compilations.

Some other tidbits of info (gleaned from the internet) about the record:

-It was one of the records found in the late John Peel's "secret" stash of singles that surfaced after his death. (Indeed, the efforts of several devoted audiophiles to compile a "box set" of the Peel stash tracks is what enabled me to get my own copy of single.)

-"Boys Are Not Proud" occasionally turns up on some of the more esoteric college radio playlists. It was also played on Dr. Demento's show in the early 1980's.

-The Anemic Boyfriends also recorded a second single and follow up LP of lousy, amateurish funk-rock in the same vein as "Bad Girls In Love"

memed by death

Dorian from Postmodern Barney, "the world's smuggest comics blog", tagged me with an interesting little meme that I decided to turn into a bonus post. No downloads, though. I didn't want the songs tainted by the context of the meme. Here's the deal:

Put your music player on shuffle and list the FIRST FIVE rock songs that come up (NO CHEATING!) For each one, write a deranged misinterpretation proving that the song somehow is related to and supports the modern-day American right-wing agenda.

(Please, PLEASE, note that this is all done tongue-in-cheek, and is no way intended to suggests that these bands have some sort of hidden conservative agenda. Okay?)

#1: The Toasters - Secret Agent Man - A celebration of the expanded national-security state necessitated by the contined presence of vegetarians, liberals, abortion rights supporters and other free thinkers that pose a threat to our cherished American way of life. Remember: our elected officials are not obligated to inform the public about anything. Doing so would only aid our enemies.

Be careful what you say/You could give yourself away

#2: The Pogues - If I Should Fall From Grace With God - Reminds us of the need to seal our borders from illegal immigrants, lest God should look upon our great nation with disfavor and grant His blessings on another, less worthy nation. Like France.

This land was always ours/was the proud land of our fathers/It belongs to us and them/Not to any of the others

#3: Pat Benatar - Hit Me With Your Best Shot - You think you're so tough, Mister World's 160th Largest GDP and 97th Largest Army? Hmmm? You think you can just nationalize your natural gas industry and get away with it? Ha! Try it, I dare you. We're the USA, the greatest nation on the planet, and can kick your ass eight ways back to the stone age.

That's okay, lets see how you do it/Put up your dukes, let's get down to it

#4: David Bowie - Queen Bitch - Imagines the nightmare world that could come to pass should Hillary Rodham Clinton be elected president in 2008. It's a future where Special Commissar of Culture David Geffen and Propaganda Minister Michael Moore hatch schemes with other like-minded effete Hollywood liberals to destroy the few remaining shreds of America's traditional Judeo-Christian value system.

She's an old-time ambassador/Of sweet talking, night walking games/And she's known in the darkest clubs/For pushing ahead of the dames

#5: The Eyeliners - I Could Never Hate You - A love song to our intrepid Commander in Chief, G.W. Bush. The liberal media may spread its calumnies about falling approval ratings and dissention in the ranks of the Republican faithful, but the truly devout know in their heart of hearts that our President was chosen by God Almighty to lead us. His will is the Lord's will.

When things are up or down/No matter what goes wrong/I'll always be around/I tell you I could never hate you

Not bad for random songs from the playlist. I can imagine the mischief I'd have gotten into if I was allowed to pick the five songs. (I was really, really hoping "Atom Bomb" by Fluke was going to pop up.)

you must be this tall to board this ride

For today's post, I went to my popcult archives and collected some of the tracks used in Bert I. Gordon's (The Amazing Colossal Man, Empire of the Ants) 1965 masterpiece of schlock cinema, Village of the Giants.

In the film, a gang of rowdy teens (led by a pre-jowly Beau Bridges) steals a secret growth formula invented by whiz-kid Genius (played by a pre-baldness, pre-Da Vinci Code Ron Howard). The thirty-foot tall teens, bedecked in shimmery togas, subject the residents of a small town to a reign of terror involving fried chicken, slow motion dancing, and giant breast rides. You now see why I labeled the film a masterpiece?

Since first watching the film (as one of the better Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episodes) I've often lain awake at night wondering whatever became of the giant prop breasts. Did one of the crew members take them home, and they're now collecting dust in some garage in Fontana? Are they sitting in the back of a studio warehouse next to the octopus from Bride of the Monster and Venusian avacado from It Conquered the World? Every so often, I'll do a search on eBay in vain hope that they'll turn up. They'd look great next to the entertainment center.

Besides the giant fake boobies and the "not-quite-a-star-but-that-person-looks-really-familiar" cast -- including the apparently immortal Toni Basil (Easy Rider, the 1982 one-hit wonder "Mickey", the choreography for the Talking Heads "Once in a Lifetime" video), Disney exile (i.e. blacklisted for being gay) Tommy Kirk, and Johnny "Paw!" Crawford from the Rifleman -- the Village of the Giants also featured some great 60's music. Early San Francisco folk-rockers the Beau Brummels perform (ok, lip-synch through) two songs before some giant ducks interrupt their set. Jack Nitzsche's wonderful surf music instrumental track, "The Last Race", is used as the theme and incidental music for the film.

The Beau Brummels - When It Comes To Your Love
The Beau Brummels - Woman
Jack Nitzsche - The Last Race

(I didn't include the two teen pop songs, "Marianne" and "Itty Bitty Corinne", that were used in the movie. They weren't that great, and, more importantly, I don't have them in my music archive.)

it's like clockwork out of sync

Before embarking on a solo career as a HiNRG dance diva, Stacey Q (aka Stacey Swain) was a member of the new wave act SSQ. They released a single LP, Playback, on Enigma in 1983. The album is mostly comprised of unremarkable synthpop tracks with the exception today's featured song, "Synthicide".

The song completely passed under my radar until I caught the video for it on VH1 Classic a few months back, although I knew about SSQ for years, having come across their less-than-great contributions to the Enigma Variations compilation and the soundtrack to the first Return of the Living Dead movie. While "Synthicide" falls squarely in the cheesy side of the synthpop spectrum, it's a tasty kind of cheese. The synthesizer riffs remind me a lot of the background music in Sega's old Quartet arcade game, and that's a good thing.

Here's the video:

and lost myself in a familiar song

Busy day today, so here's some Moog Cookbook.

The group was founded by ex-Jellyfish keyboardist Roger Manning and Brian Kehew (under the spacesuited aliases of Meco Eno and Uli Nomi) . They released two albums of analog synth reinterpretations of 90's alterna-rock (1995's The Moog Cookbook) and 70's classic rock (1997's Ye Olde Space Band: Plays Classic Rock Hits) standards.

The cleverness of the premise alone makes the albums (both available at eMusic) worth checking out, and its masterful execution--many of the tracks are equal or superior to the original versions--raises the Moog Cookbook above the status of a novelty act.

"Basket Case" as a lost 70's Mike Post sitcom theme? "Smells Like Teen Spirit" redone for the Mos Eisley cantina crowd? What's not to love?

let me be your White Nut

Some vintage J-Pop today, courtesy of the 1987 anime series, Akai Koudan Zillion (English: Red Photon Zillion or Red Optical Bullet Zillion, depending on the translator). A co-production between Tatsunoko and Sega, Zillion's story centered around a group of teens, "The White Nights" (often mistranslated as "White Nuts") fighting off an alien invasion with special Laser Tag pistols modeled after the Sega Master System's light gun. The general consensus from anime enthusiasts is that the series was pretty lousy, and based on the few dubbed episodes I've been able to see, I have to grudgingly agree. (That didn't stop me from buying an original animation cel featuring the token female White Knight, Apple, however.)

Lousy or not, the anime series was responsible for an excellent action-adventure game (and a forgettable shooter-platformer sequel) for Sega's Master System console, as well as a soundtrack album with some excellent J-Pop songs sung by Yuhki Risa. "Pure Stone" was the opening theme song for the anime. "Push!", a much stronger track than "Pure Stone", is one of my favorite 80's anime songs, along with the music from the original Bubblegum Crisis OAVs and Eve's songs from Megazone 23. (Surprisingly decent 8-bit versions of both songs are used in the first Zillion videogame, by the way.)

Alan Moore knows the score

Comics gossipmonger Rich Johnston apparently believes the release of Alan Moore and Melinda Gebbie's Lost Girls will cause the "Western equivalent" of the Danish cartoons controversy. While I'd get a kick seeing mobs of angry moralists getting pelted with rubber bullets and tear gas cannisters, it safe to say that Mr. Johnston is engaging in a bit o' hy-pur-bow-lee. The actual uproar, should it occur, will take the form of O'Reilly-clone media pundits seizing on the salacious (i.e. ratings boosting) aspects of Moore and Gebbie's eroticization of classic children's lit characters, thereby unleashing the local morality police on hapless comics retailers. Painful for the individual retailers, but it's hardly a '68 Chicago scenario.

That tortured paragraph above was my special way of introducing todays tracks, two pieces of late 80's British alterna-pop that make mention of the talented (and hirsute) Mr. Moore and his works.

Pop Will Eat Itself - Can U Dig It? - I mentioned this song a few days back. It's a decent bit of sonic junk food frow PWEI's 1989 LP This Is The Day...This Is The Hour...This Is This! -- hard rock guitar work backed with electronic noodling and set to a dance beat. This track also features some of the most inane lyrics pressed to vinyl. The band works the "shout out a list of shit" method used by such luminaries as Billy Joel and 3rd tier teen pop groups, but they do manage to name drop Alan Moore and both Marvel and DC along the way. (The video featured art work from The Watchmen.)

Transvision Vamp - Hanging Out With Halo Jones - Poor Transvision Vamp. If only they had put as much effort into their musical output as they did into their hype machine, they might have avoided becoming a embarassing pop music footnote. This track, from 1988's Pop Art, isn't their strongest work, but it was inspired by Alan Moore's The Ballad of Halo Jones, which was a pretty medicore sci-fi comic. Fitting, I suppose.

don't forget a compass and a shovel

Back to the late 90's again, when Chicago synth-pop duo The Pulsars asked the listening public if they were ready for an 80's music revival...and the listening public responded that they'd rather hear "Iris" or that one Semisonic song. ("You know, the one with the cute dig-me brunette in the video?")

A pity, really, because the Pulsars' self-titled 1997 album has stood the test of time far better than the AOR dreck that dominated the playlists of the time. It's not a perfect album. A few of the tracks sound unfinished or like gimmicky novelties tossed in to pad out the CD. The good does outweigh the bad, however, and tracks like "Silicon Teens", "Technology", and today's featured track, "Tunnel Song", manage to evoke the best parts of 80's synthpop without falling into the trap of facile nostalgia.

I think "Tunnel Song" sounds like Jonathan Richman fronting the mid-eighties OMD. Allmusic.com, on the other hand, says it sounds like a cross between the Pixies and Def Leppard. Allmusic.com is full of shit.

where were you in ninety-seven

Ah, the late 1990's, when the swing revival, eletronica, and third-wave ska battled it out in the pop music arena for the title of "The Next Big Thing." Of course, the eventually winner of that dubious honor turned out to be teen dance pop, but it was interesting while it lasted.

My initial exposure to what became known as "electronica" (a catch-all, reductive term for a number of diverse musical styes, but it's easier to use than ambient/goa/trance/big beat/trip hop/etc) came from two places: my wife, who taped episodes of Amp off MTV for me to see because "the music and videos are really interesting, I'm not shitting you", and through the WipeOut series of racing games on the PS1, where the synth-heavy music tracks and Designers Republic-influenced art direction worked in tandem to create a crisp, authentic-feeling futuristic atmosphere.

It was fascinating to behold, as if the neon thread of early 1980's synth-futurism (emasculated and sanitized by the likes of Howard Jones and his co-conspirators in 1984) had been picked up again and brought foward into a new era.

Always remember:

...and that ain't no jibba jabba, fool! How else could you explain the existence of two -- yes, two -- children's albums cut by the "World's Toughest Man"?

Jonesing for another fix? Then check this out.

to live, love, sing the songs to be sung

As an undergrad, I had the honor of studying under the direction of one of the world's most esteemed Shakespearean scholars. Over the course of two years, I became intimately familar with the Bard's works and developed a strong appreciation for his masterful use of the English language, especially in the field of punnery.

Yet when it comes to dropping quotes in my daily life, the source of choice is, and will probably always be, the British comedy show The Young Ones. (MST3K runs a close second.) It's inevitable--whenever a celebrity/friend/co-worker utters a high-minded justfication for blatantly fucking up something, and tries to plead outside persecution ("I am being punished because I refused to conform to society's artificial norms!") I find myself responding, "And for all those murders you did." And if I don't respond in such a fashion, it's because my wife has beaten me to it.

Come to think of it, a shared love of The Young Ones has figured into our relationship from almost the very start. The first time I visited her place, we spent the evening watching taped episodes of the show in her living room. Shortly afterwards, she gave me a poster featuring Cliff Richard and the Young Ones, which I hung up over my entertainment center, and it remained there for over a decade. (It was taken down when we moved up to the new house.)

So here's to the trancendental power of clever wordplay, cartoon violence, and top notch comedic actors.

The Young Ones Home Companion - this is an assortment of musical tracks associated with the TV show, and features:

• The Theme and Variations - the version from the TV show, Cliff Richard's original, and a cover by late 70's/early 80's power poppers The Spys
• The Single - "Living Doll" (featuring Cliff Richard) b/w "All The Little Flowers Are Singing"
• Neil's Hit Single - "Hole In My Shoe"
• Songs Used In the Show - tracks by Motorhead, Amazulu, Rip Rig & Panic (feat. a young Neneh Cherry), Madness, the Damned, Nine Below Zero, and Dexy's Midnight Runners

The music video for "Living Doll" - I debated putting it up via YouTube, but in the interest of picture quality went the download route instead.

gravity is dragging me down

I've got something a little different for you tonight, Blonde Night of Twee Pop, a mini-sampler featuring Twee Pop and Twee-related tracks culled from my music archives. Most commonly associated with the legendary C86 NME compilation, Twee Pop centered around jangly Byrds-y melodies and sweet, often childlike vocals.

Cloying? In some cases, sure. Listening to an entire Primitives LP in a single sitting is akin to being dipped in honey and rolled in confectionary sugar, but there's something pleasantly refreshing in these songs' breezy 60's inspired pop sweetness and utter lack of pretention.

The featured tracks are:

1. Dolly Mixture - Everything and More
2. Strawberry Switchblade - Let Her Go
3. Shop Assistants - I Don't Want To Be Friends With You
4. Talulah Gosh - I'm In Love for the Very First Time
5. Darling Buds - Things We Do For Love
6. Primitives - Through the Flowers (New Version)
7. Transvision Vamp - Tell That Girl To Shut Up
8. Heavenly - Space Manatee

I used a pretty broad definition of Twee in choosing the tracks for this sampler. There are post-punk (Dolly Mixture) and New Wave (Strawberry Switchblade) Twee precusors included here, as well as a couple of indie pop bands who incorporated elements of the genre into their sound (Primitives, Transvision Vamp). Despite that, I think it provides a pretty decent overview of the style, and makes for some entertaining, lightweight listening.

Credit goes to my pal, St. Zartan, for the gmail conversation that inspired this post.

and we'd like to say we're happy

My copy of Jim Bob Morrison's Goodnight Jim Bob: On the Road With Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine arrived today, and to celebrate the occasion here's some tracks by Jim Bob and Fruitbat's pre-Carter indie pop band, Jamie Wednesday.

Grebo-pioneers Pop Will Eat Itself got their band name from an NME article about Jamie Wednesday. Pop Will Eat Itself referenced Alan Moore in the song "Can U Dig It?". Some of Carter USM's early singles were produced by Abbo, former frontman for the seminal goth band UK Decay. Alan Moore is somewhat gothy. It's The DaVinci Code as written by the Smash Hits staff. What is the terrible secret behind the Designers Republic, and how does it tie into S Club 7?

Player 1 Push Start

To commemorate a Sunday spent playing videogames, here are a handful of videogame music tracks.

Capcom Sound Team - Rival Schools: UBF Opening Theme - This is the song that plays during the opening cinema of the PS1 version of the 3D fighting game. This track does not appear on the Japanese Project Justice (aka Rival Schools) OST, so I used a XA ripping and conversion program to pull the song off of the game disc. It's a quick slice of melodramatic J-Pop, and non-Japanese speakers should feel free to make up their own words. "Super cool teenagers kicking ass and busting heads/But we still have time for making kissyface!" (Check out the above screenshot to see what I mean.)

Nowlin & Weber - Johnny No More - The theme to Rising Zan: Samurai Gunman. Thrill as American session musicians stuggle with an utterly batshit premise! Gasp as they attempt to squeeze in more syllables than the music should allow! Listen close, and you too can take those first steps toward becoming a "Super Ultra Sexy Hero" like Zan!

Sonic Team - Burning Hearts - The theme to Burning Rangers, one of my favorite games (alongside Panzer Dragoon Saga) for Sega's failed Saturn console. This track was ripped from the CD single included with the import version of the game. It's more dramatic J-Pop with jazzy overtones, which was fairly common among Sega games of the late 90's.

Finally, something more current:

Katamari Damacy - Katamari on the Rock (Main Theme - Does this even need an explanation? Pure groovy pop love.

i hang my head and cry

(Brand new webhost! No more rapidshare! Whoo hoo!)

Another day, another cover. Today it's a revved up rendition of Johnny Cash's "Folsom Prison Blues" by 80's LA cowpunks Blood on the Saddle, from their 1987 album, Fresh Blood.

As a genre, cowpunk -- a manic, usually sloppy, fusion of punk and country & western -- sounded better in theory than in practice. Very rarely did any of the bands manage to achieve a workable balance between the two parent genres. When they were able to pull it off, however, as Blood on the Saddle did on today's offering, the results were boot-stompingly fantastic.

Blood on the Saddle - Folsom Prison Blues

and they cover you with flowers

A much-loved track tonight by a much-loved (in this household, at least) artist: Lene Lovich's cover of Frankie Valli's "The Night", from her 1980 album Flex. Ms. Lovich's colorful public persona and unique vocal stylings (think Marlene Dietrich meets Natasha Fatale meets an exotic jungle bird) made her one of the more fascinating acts of the early New Wave era.

Listen to her take Mr. Valli's very 1970's ode to personal and romantic disillusionment and transform it into something hauntingly mysterious and wonderful.

cleanliness is her obsession

Armagideon Time's Inagural Week Cover Song Blowout Jamboree continues today with a cover of X-Ray Spex' punk classic "Germfree Adolescents" by Scottish dance-poppers bis, from the Japanese release of their 1999 album, Social Dancing.

This track falls squarely within my previous definition of a mediocre cover song. There's no radical reinterpretation going on here, just a by-the-numbers recreation of the original. I'd have preferred hearing a bis cover of one of X-Ray Spex' punkier, more uptempo songs like "Art-I-Ficial" or "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo", but what we got was good enough for a bonus track on an import release, I suppose.

talcum powder on the letter

There's something fascinating about cover songs: the process of direct popcult appropriation, claiming a familiar ditty as one's own. At their best, covers can provide new and unique interpretations of the original songs. At their worst, they can provide oodles of pure campy joy. At their most disappointing, they pointlessly mimic the original song, begging the question, "Why bother covering the song in the first place?"

The late, lamented UK dance-pop duo, Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine, did several excellent covers over the course of their career. Most of these appeared as "b-sides" on CD singles and EP's, but did not appear on either of Carter's two singles compliations, Straw Donkey and Starry Eyed and Bollock Naked.

Today's track is from 1991's Bloodsport For All EP, a cover of the Monkees' proto-DIY punk classic, "Randy Scouse Git". The original song is like nothing else in the Monkees catalog. Written by Mickey Dolenz, it begins as a typical Beatle-esque "nonsense" song, but then bares a surprising set of fangs during the chorus. The song's title ran afoul of Britian's guardians of morals, who deemed it obscene, forcing a name change to "Alternate Title" in the UK, which is the name used by Carter USM for their rendition of the song.

Carter's version ramps up the song's underlying venom to claustrophobic levels, further juxtaposing the differences between the chorus and verse. Top notch stuff.

You can get the song here.

Introduction

It's something that I've been thinking for a while now:

I should start an mp3 blog.

So here it is. I'm still tweaking the template and setting, so pardon the appearance. I still haven't decided on where to host the files, so be prepared to deal with rapidshare for the immediate future.

The purpose of this weblog is for me to share some of the more interesting and noteworthy tracks from my music collection. If you like what you hear, I encourage you to seek out and buy the originals (if possible). And if this sounds like a generic ass covering statement, it's because it is one.