The Act Became Real

Starting at the end of the Vietnam War and the fall of Saigon (to Communist North Vietnam), the tension between the Super Powers was at its peak, till the dismantling of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This was the era of the very hot "Cold War". 

In the Summer of 1980, in response to the Soviet/Afghanistan War and the Iran Hostage crisis, President Carter re-activated mandatory selective service (the Draft) to men born from 1960 onwards. I was a part of that first generation (in a dozen years or so) to be required to sign up for the draft, and with the election of Ronald Reagan (I voted for John Anderson), a perceived warmonger, to the office of the Presidency in November, I was almost assured that I would be involved in a war. The sentiment at the time was an overwhelming surreality about the fact that a former B-movie actor had his finger on the button of the nuclear arsenal of the United States. A lot of that sentiment is reflected in the Bollock Bros. song "The Act Became Real":

There was not only a fear of Nuclear War, but of the meltdown of a nuclear reactor core and the ultimate coincidental act-became-real scenario of the movie "the China Syndrome" being released 12 days before the partial core meltdown at Three Mile Island. The classic song by The Clash, "London Calling" released in early 1980, echoes a lot of this feeling:

This song By TV Smith and the Explorers takes the perspective of the Tomahawk cruise missile, capable of warheads of either high explosives or nuclear:

The lament that the nuclear age of weaponry should have never begun with the dropping of the A-bomb on Japan in 1945 from the aircraft nicknamed "Enola Gay" is the view of this OMD (Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark) classic:

My first introduction to UB40 was this non-album single, which I heard on College Radio sometime in 1980, that describes the world after a nuclear holocaust:

The Sound asks, "Who the hell makes those missiles?":

More songs on this theme in YouTube playlist:



https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxqjcypq3tqv2Kyvyw6sY1HKCL1gea1a9

Tone Zone

Been working on a playlist at 8tracks, which is my most popular YouTube playlist, but it hasn't taken off at 8tracks yet. It originated from a mixtape I made in the early-mid eighties made up of songs from PiL, The Monochrome Set, Felt, Psychedelic Furs and others; it also had a lot of Dub, but I took that out and concentrated on the Post Punk stuff. I also got a lot of good entries from this Post Punk Podcast:


http://postpunkforpostpunks.blogspot.com/2009/03/instrumental-show-33009.html


I was also given a suggestion by @kingmussy at 8tracks to add some Raybeats. I love the Raybeats, (great suggestion) but I wanted to add songs that straddled their Surf and NY No-Wave influences so I picked these two, "Tone Zone" and "Big Black Sneakers":

The restrictions at 8tracks prevent you from having more than two songs from the the same band or album in your playlist. These are a few more I could have added:

These are also some of my favorites I wanted to add from other bands, but had to comply with the two-song rule:

I also want to add some Cocteau Twins and have to decide from these selections:

This is a rundown of the playlist Modern Muzak. Any suggestions for additions or subtractions are welcome. I would also be willing to make a personal playlist if you really wanted one.

  1.         405 Lines----The Monochrome Set

  2.         Dash----Psychedelic Furs

  3.        The Quarterdrawing Of The Dog----Siouxsie & The Banshees

  4.         Orang-Outang----Bow Wow Wow

  5.         Graveyard----Public Image Ltd.

  6.         The Clock----Young Marble Giants

  7.         Evergreen Dazed----Felt

  8.         Another Journey By Train----The Cure

  9.         For Belgian Friends----The Durutti Column

10.        Cacophony----Simple Minds

11.        Ours To Kill----Sad Lovers And Giants

12.        Saudade----Love And Rockets

13.        Oscillate Wildly----The Smiths

14.        Waltzinblack----The Stranglers

15.        Rotary Ten----R.E.M.

16.        All World Cowboy Romance----Mission Of Burma

17.        Sympathetic Anaesthetic----The Fire Engines

18.        Cecilia Ann ----The Pixies

19.        Instrumental----Galaxie 500

20.        Big Black Sneakers----The Raybeats

21.        One Of The Lads---4 Be 2’s

22.        At The Bottom----The Clean

23.        Space Invader---The Pretenders

24.        East Of The Equator----The Teardrop Explodes

25.        Push----Red Lorry Yellow Lorry

26.        Incubation----Joy Division

27.        The Etcetera Stroll----The Monochrome Set

28.        Socialist----Public Image Ltd.

29.        Theme For Great Cities----Simple Minds

30.        Reel Ten----The Plugz

31.        Turn The Centuries Turn----The Stranglers

32.        The Betting & Game Act 1964----Lowlife

33.        The Italian Movie Theme----Pylon

34.        The Fatal Impact----Dead Can Dance

35.        Film----The Church

36.        Moscow----Orange Juice

37.        You, The Night, And the Music----Tones On Tail

38.        Three Kittens----Eyeless in Gaza

39.        Mansion----The Fall

40.        Seconds To Nowhere----Alien Sex Fiend

41.        Rotary Eleven----R.E.M.

42.        A Reflection----The Cure

43.        This Way----Young Marble Giants

44.        Brilliant----Killing Joke

45.        Intermission 247----Heavens To Betsy

46.        Burning Beaches----Sad Lovers And Giants

47.        Tone Zone----The Raybeats

   48.        Elegia----New Order

One Step Too Far

There  is something about the juxtaposition of harsh, biting guitars and the soft female voice. I really like it. I've been finding a lot of songs like that lately and this one is the most recent. It's Rose Melberg from Tiger Trap and The Softies in her latest incarnation with the Knife Pleats:

This is a nice example from Australian band Darts. They trade vocal duties within the band between male and female. This song features the latter:

This is a great song from Phoenix, AZ band the Numb Bats, with their one word lyric "Runnin":

This band, Feature,  has an excellent song from their album "Culture Of The Copy":

The guitar sounds for this San Francisco band, Grass Widow, aren't necessarily harsh, but the vocal harmonies are so sweet, that the contrast is still there:

Indie queen Mary Timony has a regular rock voice, but is so adorable that the contrast comes from the harsh guitar sounds coming from that timeless cuteness:

One of my favorite bands at the moment is Cardiff group, Joanna Gruesome:

The pioneer band for mixing Ramones-style chords and sweet voices is Shonen Knife. They've been doing it for almost 35 years (at least lead singer Naoko Yamano):

I'm building a playlist at SoundCloud with Harsh Guitars and soft voices:


https://soundcloud.com/markhdz/sets/harsh-guitars-soft-voice

Early Autumn

Original song composed by Ralph Burns, pianist/arranger for the Woody Herman Band. Herman is also credited, as bandleaders often were, so how much of a collaboration the song was, is questionable. The melody came from the final minute of Burns' "Summer Sequence", recorded with The Woody Herman Band a few years earlier and expanded upon in this hit instrumental (1949):

This is my favorite arrangement of the piece, by Stan Kenton. The dreamy horn lines mimic the wind swirling around on an Autumn day:

There are lyrics to this song and written at some point by, arguably the best lyricist of all time, Johnny Mercer. First notable vocal version of this song comes from Jo Stafford in 1952, backed by The Paul Weston Orchestra:

Another good vocal is found on Johnny Mathis' second studio album "Wonderful, Wonderful", released in 1957:

The man who takes the tenor sax solo in the original Woody Herman hit, was a very young Stan Getz, whose career took off with the success of the song, and he formed his own orchestras and combos from then on. This is one of his versions, possibly recorded in the early sixties:

Ella Fitzgerald recorded a nice vocal version for Decca, in '51-'52, but not sure if it was released or if it charted. She recorded this version, perhaps the definitive one, for the verve album tribute to the Johnny Mercer Songbook in 1964. The Nelson Riddle Orchestra accompanies:

The Lover's Curse

This is the original version by Bracey Everett:

Can't remember when I first found out about this song, but I know I found some good obscure Rockabilly tunes around the website dedicated to Gretsch Guitars.


http://gretschpages.com/forum/rumbles/need-some-obscure-rockabilly-tunes/47242/page1/


Also this cool photo of Eddie Cochran:

A classic cover of Everett's song done in spanish by Rockabilly band from Spain, Raw Meat (Los Raw Meat?):

Another notable cover by Charlie Hightone and the Rock-it's with really good Hillbilly "hiccups":

The band, The Legendary Raw Deal, do a nice version with a little sax thrown in, but not as much as the original:

Les Godzillas have a 60's organ vibe to their version:

Another female vocal and jazzy sax solo in this one by Cari Lee & the Contenders:

A band with a very long name, Beware The Dangers Of A Ghost Scorpion!, have a really excellent instrumental version out there:

The original by Bracey Everett is included in my 55 track, 2hr. playlist at 8tracks, enjoy!:


http://8tracks.com/markhdz/rockin-hillbillies-vol-2

Inside My Fall

Henry Rollins hosts an excellent radio show At KCRW and, just recently, featured some bands from Chile.

http://www.kcrw.com/music/shows/henry-rollins/kcrw-broadcast-336


These are three of my favorites. First, La Hell Gang "Inside My Fall":

Second, Vuelveteloca "Galopar":

Third, Chicos de Nazca "Raza Libre":

It Hurts To Say Goodbye

Original release and probably my favorite english language version of this song by Margaret Whiting (1966):

Sixties master organ instrumentalist, Walter Wanderley does his version off of classic album [Batucada] (1967):

This version by Vera Lynn hit the top 10 of The Billboard Easy Listening charts in 1967. This is a beautiful sounding version, re-mastered in 1999:

In 1968, Françoise Hardy heard an american instrumental version, possibly this one by Arnold Goland, the english lyricist of the song:

Hardy then asked Serge Gainsbourg to write french lyrics for the song, which became "Comment Te Dire Adieu?" (How To Say Goodbye To You?):

Pre-ABBA  Frida (Anni-Frid Lyngstad) released her own swedish lyric version very early in her singing career in 1969. Here's a live version possibly recorded in the late sixties on swedish television, where she was a star before ABBA:

In 1969, Jack Gold, the original composer, decided to release his own version done in that cheesy Ray-Conniff-singers style. The best or worst version, depending on perspective (another song starts at 2:15):

Buddy Castillo, The Fillipino Elvis (with his band The Listeners), recorded his version possibly in the early seventies:

Jun Togawa released her japanese language version in 1985:

In 1989, Jimmy Somerville (departing from Bronski Beat) released his dance version, inspired by Hardy's "Comment Te Dire Adieu?", featuring June Miles Kingston:

 

Instrumental band, Agents, released this version in 2008----turn up the sitar, boys: