JA (RIP PK)

What an odd, unrealised, occasionally sublime, more often half-cocked group they were, the Airplane

Rickety not-quite rock, songs that seemed half-written, erratic or strained vocals, variable quality and painfully of-their-time lyrics, embarrassing posturing ... yet moments of piercing beauty

Not that many featuring Kantner as sole songwriter, or singer,  it has to be said, but this cowrite with Balin on vocals is diamond



Otherwise - mirroring my Fleetwood Mac strong bias to Nicks and nothing but (not totally true but near enough) - it's all about Slick and her songs for me







one of my favorite record covers, though, After Bathing At Baxter's

Never quite managed to get into this despite "liking the idea"



overall the San Francisco scene seems like one of the largest ever discrepancies between Legend and what can be gleaned from the actual recorded relics

you really had to be there

R emotional

the Enshitenment (#1)

what would Bryan find more appalling?

the shite-ification of one of his greatest songs?

or the trousers that DB's wearing?

look back in Hunger

the sound design in The Hunger is really rather fabulous

(in fact the whole look and sound  of the film of it is quite something - an extension of Tony Scott's brother's Blade Runner in many ways)

But the sound design - the electronic sounds  - were done by a musician and composer called Dave Lawson - who is credited on the movie for "additional scoring / effects"

Sadly none of them appear to be on the official soundtrack which is mostly classical pieces



nice synthoid dissonances if you wait through the warbly opera bit

geneva unconvention (the return)

women of pop

the rhythm method

two songs that could be put into conversation with each other

topics for heated discussion including

- racial longing

-  cosmologies of rhythm / politics of rhythm (vitalist rhythm versus annihilating rhythm, freeing rhythm versus fascist rhythm)

-  cultural feminism/second-wave feminism versus postfeminism / cyborg feminism

- faux-Jamaican versus real-Jamaican


... and probably a bunch of other things


i am feeling too hungover to attempt such a colloquy today


a third voice in the conversation could be




and a fourth




i'm minded also of Green's pipe dream of getting Kraftwerk and Gregory Isaacs to collaborate (the original version of 'Slave To the Rhythm' was "Germanic" and then it was rethought and go-go-ized)

and the mooted but never allowed to happen collaboration between A Certain Ratio and Grace Jones on a cover of Talking Heads's "Houses In Motion" and possibly a whole album, to be recorded at Compass Point

also the fact that it was Island who thought go go might be the next reggae for them (they'd already tried and failed with Afropop and King Sunny Ade) and went so far as to funded a movie about the DC scene with Troublefunk involved called Good To Go - that initially was directed by Don Letts, until he was fired by Chris Blackwell

actually interviewed Troublefunk around that time.... was not convinced by go go and the expectations around it bubbling in London style bible / soulboy circles


^^^^^^^^^^

burning with anxiety

why aren't they more legendary?

among the heaviest of the UK punks

"in a rut" the next step on from "submission"

hard rock with big, rolling bass





i suppose it is only those two songs that are titanic-ly great though really

this other hit of their is more than solid



'Staring AT the Rude Boys' is alright - accused by some in the music press of fomenting violence




the guys in the Ruts were kinda hippies - met at Deeply Vale Music Festival ! - realised which way the wind was blowing and changed their approach and no doubt hair styles and trousers.

then there's the whole reggae thing - the alliance with Misty in Roots



a bit like a politically conscious Sublime that one

same deadly drug takes out the lead singer


the last single (of the Malcolm Owen line-up) - getting a bit mainstream hard rock here





Stiff Little Fingers are another band lost to time as well, aren't they? they were so huge for about a year - remember a boy at my school had their logo all over his folders and briefcase

But no young person today would check them out, when going through the checklist of History You Must Acquaint Yourself With

whereas Buzzcocks, Wire, Slits, Clash, X Ray Spex would be most definitely be on that list...

geordie scene

pub rock versus pub rock

it's like the difference between Watney's Red Barrel and Double Diamond




11/26 bonus beers