FDF Volume 3 Issue 213: Bauhaus - Press the Eject and Give Me The Tape

By: March

Album - Press the Eject and Give Me the Tape
Artist - Bauhaus
Key Players - Kevin Haskins - drums/percussion. Daniel Ash - guitars, alto saxophone. David J - bass, Peter Murphy - lead vocals
Produced By - various

Release Date - 1982

What caused me to blow off the dust? - Honestly I try not to do Forgotten Disc Fridays with live records because in a sense they are a "best of" collection. I've been hearing "Ziggy Stardust" a lot as of late (and the song was never really part of studio record)

Overview -
The disc is a collection of live tracks pulled from London, Liverpool, Manchester and Paris from 1981 and 1982 as well as six tracks pulled from singles as well as an unissued track (Of Lillies and Remains). The album was a bonus to a limited release at the start, but was released on it's own a year later. It would be released again in 1988 with six additional tracks.

FDF Comments (aka the songs) - A slow build up of distortied guitars start of "In the Flat Field" before Haskins rolls across the drums and David J drops the bass line. Ash works the guitars all fuzzy before Murphy comes in. Murphy has a distinct sound to his voice. A little high, and at times stressed but his persona comes right through in his vocals. The band does mesh really well and Haskins rolling drums seem to really be the focus. Murphy indicates he is "tired" as the track "Rose Garden Funeral of Sores" begins. David J has a deep run on bass. Its a real dark sounding track as Haskins hits down on the cymbal and Ash works his guitar in to a buzzing frenzy. Even with the wall of guitar the song keeps a pretty simple tempo. Ash does a quick solo while Haskins and J keep the bottom locked in. As the song heads towards its final minute the vocals have more of a growl to them and there is a brief call and response moment, but the tempo is just locked in and keeping on task. The great tandem of J and Haskins opens up "Dancing" with a frantic drum tempo and bass rumbling. Ash plays saxophone over their intro and continues as Murphy sings the verses. Ash is not just playing a few notes, he is having a field day, just unloading. A famous "goth" band with saxophone? Yep..believe it. Ash then slings his guitar and rips crunchy chords and buzzy riffs as the song seems to end all too soon. "The Man With X-Ray Eyes" has a big bass open, more single punched notes, and Ash phases over the top. Murphy has a particular low howl to his voice on this track. Occasionally breaking character and singing almost in a funny, forced higher method. He then switches over to his deep barotone with ease and will get gruff at the drop of a hat. Haskins and J are high in the mix and keep the track moving along. If the band is well known for any one song it would be "Bela Lugosi is Dead". The 9 plus minute track that starts with Haskins rapping his sticks off the side of the drums, Ash throwing in atmospheric guitar fills and then single, big, booming bass notes from David J. This song just "smells" like Halloween, hench radio stations dust it off once a year to play that night. Murphy doesn't begin to sing until the 2:40 mark and his delivery is in a monotone voice adding to the feel. David J really holds his own, granted the bass line is not complicated but it is such an important part to the track. Ash is left to chop, and slide on his guitar and Haskins never breaks form his snare/rim beat which is a feat unto itself. The guitar from Ash is the lone instrument at the start of "The Spy In The Cab". A more electronic feeling and sounding track with random single tone drops, appearing on the downbeat. Ash is the most prominent member (outside of the vocals) on the bulk of the track, as the drums feel very canned and the bass is not present at all. We are pretty uptempo on "Kick In The Eye" for a goth band. David J once again gets to work out on the bass and Haskins keeps a tight and steady pace. Murphy is a bit more playful with his vocals doing some higher "ooohs". The band seems to lock in to a tight jam and play well off one another. David never seems to break character keeping the strong and steady presence throughout. You'll get where Interpol gets it from when you hear this tune. Haskins rolls across the toms and the hand drums resonate. The saxophone returns on "In Fear of Fear"and Haskins does his best to lay down a torrid drum pace. Once again David J really shines. "Hollow Hills" has a longer slow build with Ash playing a few short notes and David J keeping. This falls back in to the vein of what outsiders would see as goth music. Dark, brooding and somewhat intimidating. This continues on "Stigmata Martyr". David J chugs across the bass before Ash comes in like a buzz saw on guitars. A strong, stand out track. "Dark Entries" closes out the live portion of the album. The the live album is closed perfectly with all the elements that made the prior songs really stand out. Buzzy guitars, driving drums and suprisingly complex bass lines. Also noticed in the song was only the second, or third noticable track with any sort of backing vocals. Murphy shouts "Thank you...good night" and the guitar is left to feedback before the audience roars in appreciation. "Terror Couple Kill Colonel" has a very differnet sound, sounding a little more distant with its overall sound. The audience reaction can be heard more mid song (with cat calls and shouts of elation). It is a little more raw version of the band, which is actually refreshing to hear after the "cleaned up" official live tracks. "Double Dare" is yet another different source. Starting with a spoken word portion (from a film?) again the audience can be heard milling about waiting for the track to being. This is one of those tracks that can alientate casual fans as its slow, odd tempo build up might but some folks off. The bass and drums are driving, and Murphy is particularly dark sounding. Picture a dark room, lots of smoke and strobes..that *might* only be scratching the surface. Another one of the bands more well known tracks is "In The Flat Field" which appears almost seemless, but is rendered from a different single (perhaps the same show split to various singles). Haskins rolls across the drums and David J dives in with him before Ash chops across everything with his guitar. Murphy is pushing it, urgent and sounding angry almost. Again, the audio is a little shoddy. This sounds to me like an audience sourced bootleg recording. Its not bad, but it is noticable at the same time if you really listen. The guitar is a little too lost in the mix and it has a "treble" feel too it throughout. "Hair of the The Dog" is taken from the same single as "Double Dare". "Of Lillies and Remains" is listed as being previously unavailable. I am unsure who sings the first verse but it is no Murphy. Murphy does sing the second verse and chorus though. The source is still not the best, but the song has some potential with the great bass fills. The collection ends with the track "Waiting for the Man". The audience seems anxious as the band slowly gets the track going. Ash has a cleaner guitar sound and it has an almost rockabilly sound to it at the start. The audience appears to clap along, at least for a moment. This is an take on the Velvet Underground track and features Nico on vocals. Not sure what goes wrong because the song is aggressivly faded out as the band seems to be no where near the end.

Where are they now? - The band broke up in 1983. After that Haskins, and Ash formed Tones on Tail who then went to Love and Rockets in which David J joined. Peter Murphy released a few solo albums as well. In 1998 the band reformed and toured. They headed to the studio and recorded "Go Away White" which was released in 2008. On the downside, the band annouced it had disbanded once more before the new album was even released. Murphy had a cameo in the "Twilight Saga" and is rumored to have a solo album out in 2011. Ash has a four song ep currently available on iTunes.

FDF Personal Comments (aka the Live experience) - I actually did see a "re-formed" version of the band on November 13, 2005 at the Orpheum in Boston. It was all original members and they hammered through a terrifc set of the "hits". Honestly glad I got to see them live.

FDF Overall Take - As any kid that listened to "different" music in junior high and high school could attest they probably went through a phase of being in to this band. Some continued, others listened to it from time to time while smoking butts in motorcycle jackets, probably with the bands logo painted on the jacket somewhere. Honestly, what is good, is really good and it is easy to understand the mark they left. On this particular collection I'd have skipped the bootleg sounding tracks and kept the focus on the slightly more polished versions of the tracks. There are a few collections available from the band now and you'd be okay in my book if you had one of their cds in the collection. This is worth it for Bela Lugosi alone.

Links -
The official Bauhaus site can be found here
Peter Murphy official site here.
David J site here
Daniel Ash official here
Keving Haskins on myspace.

Curious? Check out some MUSIC!

Bela Lugosi's Dead.
In the Flat Field

You can buy the cd here.

Disclaimer - For the most part songs listed you can find on iTunes or your local cd shop. The idea is to give you a little taste of the music. Please support the artist buy purchasing some of their work. Songs are posted for about 1 week but can and will be removed at the request of the artist, band, band management etc. If you are one of those persons contact me via the email link in the profile and they will be removed as soon as we are made aware of the request.

FDF Volume 3 Issue 212 - Talking Heads - Speaking in Tongues

By: March

Album - Speaking in Tongues
Artist - Talking Heads
Key Players- Tina Weymouth - synthesizer, string bass, backing vocals, guitar. Jerry Harrison - keyboards, guitar, backing vocals. Chris Frantz - drums, backing vocals, synthesizer. David Byrne - vocals, keyboards, guitar, bass, percussion.
Produced By - Talking Heads

Release Date May 31, 1983

What caused me to blow off the dust? - There are so many great records by this band. Sometimes you just need to go for the one most folks would recognize. Couple this with my past "re-look" at David Byrne thrust this upon you/us.

Overview - One of the early punk bands, New York band Talking Heads broke on to the scene in as early as 1975 playing New Yorks famed CBGB's club. This is the bands fifth studio album. The album would peak at 15 on the US Billboard charts and feature two radio singles. The band would continue to perform until 1991 before disbanding. In 2002 the band was inducted in to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They'd perform together and one of the most wonderful moments the band members thanked one another for playing "just one more time so our kids could see us do this". Amazing moment.

FDF Comments (aka the songs) - The album opens up with one of the most well know tracks by the band. A few chiming keyboards and wavering syths slowly crest before the tom toms are struck and "Burning Down the House" gets underway. Byrne is surrounded by punchy guitar riffs and short keyboard burst at first. Before the chorus Frantz continues to work the tom toms giving a deep powerful fill. The drums are seemingly electric and the synths are really in your face and rather than a guitar solo later we get a good portion of the synth and drums. The verse returns but the track has a long musical interlude to conclude with the synth and drums working in tandem. On "Making Flippy Floppy" Byrne is a little more quirky sounding and Weymouth has some strong bass work right out of the gate. The song has a quick tempo to it, but it is not "busy" sounding at the same time. The band has a fun tempo as indicated and the synths are doing the bulk of the fills. Byrne will toss in some quick guitar riffs and Weymouth and Frantz work the bottom with the bass and drums. Weymouth has about as close to a bass solo as you'd expect on a collaborative effort. Harrison continues to keep pace on the keyboard. Another real stand out in the bands catalog is "Girlfriend is Better". Deep synth grooves with hand claps set the tempo for the track. A terrific sing along chorus that is prefixed with chanted lyrics. The backing vocals are more noticeable on this track than the prior two. Weymouth has some fun funk bass fills as Harrison fills the upper layers. In the end, this is one of the longest tracks on the album with and extended synth jam later in the track. "Slippery People" also begins with a deep feeling to it. Quickly though percussion fills the speakers and Byrne gives a few real short choppy riffs. The band enlisted the help of Nona Hendryx for the deep soulful backing vocals. The track has a nice groove to it, but is a little slow tempo wise. Still a great song, but the live version on "Stop Making Sense" is that much better. The instruments work to get " I get Wild/Wild Gravity" rolling. Weymouth pops some bass notes as the synths put down heavy layers below. The song for me personally fails to really get going. Its not a bad track, it just a more somber track while not really intending to be. "Swamp" has a real fun, deep groove to it. Another track that showcases the band as whole which is wonderful. Each instrument is right there in the mix and you can tell each member is key to the whole sound. "Moon Rocks" continues with the strong back beat from Frantz and Weymouth. Byrne sings a little more laid back, but he still sounds like himself and the song. Byrne also continues with his "less than flashy" guitar work. He chops out his riffs and allows Harrison to fill in the gaps. "Pull Up the Roots" sounds very much at home on this album. The claps, the synth that pounds underneath before the pop bubble appears. The album closes out with one of the finest songs the band ever wrote in "This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)". The mellow tempo is accented with the playful keyboard fills. The guitar has the right punch and Weymouth snakes all over the bass. A terrific album closer.


Where are they now? - The band broke up in 1991 but played as "The Heads" without Byrne for a brief time. Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz were married in 1977 and went on to form Tom Tom Club which continue to write and preform at their own pace. Also, production work for both has been common. Jerry Harrison has put a producer hat on for many bands including Live, and the Violent Femmes. David Byrne is a published author and continues to work on solo material. He has won and Oscar and Golden Globe and is and avid cyclist.

FDF Personal Comments (aka the Live experience) - I never saw the band live. If ever give the chance I would jump at it.

FDF Overall Take - As noted, the band has so many great songs a best of collection is the first route many could or would take. The live album "Stop Making Sense" is fantastic. They are Talking Heads, really..any one of their studio records you'll find *something* worth your time. You might find this one accessible for the strong singles.

Links

The band on myspace.
David Byrne site here.
Tom Tom Club site is here


Curious? Check out some MUSIC!

Talking Heads - This Must be the Place (Naive Melody)

Talking Heads - Burning Down The House LIVE!

You can buy the record right here

Disclaimer - For the most part songs listed you can find on iTunes or your local cd shop. The idea is to give you a little taste of the music. Please support the artist buy purchasing some of their work. Songs are posted for about 1 week but can and will be removed at the request of the artist, band, band management etc. If you are one of those persons contact me via the email link in the profile and they will be removed as soon as we are made aware of the request.

FDF Vol 3 Issue 211: Tenacious D - Tenacious D

Album - Tenacious D
Artist - Tenacious D
Key Players - Kyle Gass - lead guitar, vocals. Jack Black - guitar, lead vocals.
Produced By - The Dust Brothers

Release Date - September 21, 2001

What caused me to blow off the dust? - I've been meaning to get back to this record for some time. This is and was a real gem at the time, but it has been a very long time.

Overview - The duo met in 1989 and formed the band in 1994. The band would perform mostly cover tunes in their sets and were nameless until 1994. The term "Tenacious D" came from the basketball term used by the broadcasters to describe a teams defensive efforts. The band would be cast in "Mr Show" in the late 1990's and continued to hone their craft. The band would release their debut in 2001 and the album, filled with guests from Dave Grohl to Page McConnell (Phish) the album would peak at number 33. They'd go on to release a second album, a sound track for a film "The Pick of Destiny". Both were considered flops, although the film is starting to gain more of a cult following.

FDF Comments (aka the songs) - The album opens with "Kielbasa". The song is an ode to the love of a "backside". After the guys talk about a "better and warmer" sound the two acoustic guitars get to work. The lyrics are fun, funny and awful catchy. Even though the band is viewed more as an acoustic duo there is a full band feel to this track with wah-wah guitars and full drums. The first of many skits comes next in "One Note Song". Here Gass and Black write a "one note song" and "bend it from time to time. Next song..NEXT SONG. The biggest track from a commercial standpoint comes in "Tribute". A lone acoustic guitar plays before Black says "this is the greatest and best song in the world". This song would go to #4 in Australia and the slow build up about the demos, and performing the best song in world. After about a minute and half the full band comes in. The duo showcases their strong vocal ability and heavy work on their acoustic guitars. The duo does some sort of "skat" breakdown that is real fun and the song returns back and confesses this is just a tribute to the greatest song around. "Wonderboy" starts off real calm, but the drums come in and give it a hard punch. Black goes high on the chorus and we get more of a rock feel with buzzy electric guitars. Black speaks a story of wonderboy as the band continues to roll. Sportscenter still uses the line "Its Levitation Homes" during their re-caps of hoops games on a fair occasion..it came from here. We get mixed messages from the skit of "Hard Fucking" where they ask to see if ladies really like it that when, then quickly the song begins "Fuck Her Gently". A very mellow acoustic, preachy love song from Black. A message that the band wants to pass to its fans. Black and Gass really shine in the end of this track vocally. "Explosivo" is a track that starts off a little slow but quickly builds. Turns out to be the fastest sung and played track on the album to this point. The band always professed their love for Ronnie James Dio and he got his due on the track "Dio". The D want Dio to pass the torch to them. The D often would tease "Holy Diver" in a live setting to further convince the audience their love. They ask him for a cape and seprtre and the full band gets a work out. Big rock chords and driving drums shine. On the "Inward Singing" skit Black tries to convince Gass that they can cut to the chase by singing inward and outward. Black is convinced the band is only rocking half the time. The duo fights and the track "Kyle Quit the Band" is the result. Actually Black tries to fire him. A touching fun track about the joyous reunion. Another rowdy rocker comes in "The Road" a song about life on the road. It has a little country/rockabilly feel. The band does a skit about "Cock Push-Ups" and how these will help with the ladies once they are even more huge rock stars. "Lee" is another real quick barn burner of a track with quick guitars, drums and machine gun delivered lyrics..mostly just saying "Lee". "Friendship Test" is a skit where Black calls Gass to tell him he loves him and Gass can't reciprocate so that leads in to the song "Friendship". Another skit follows with "Karate Schnitzel" where Black is upset that Gass at his food. Black gives him a whack karate style and again its a perfect seg to "Karate" where they vow to pull out pubic hair...yikes. Another ripper comes in "Rock Your Socks". This track has some of the Page McConnell keyboard tones Phish fans may be familiar with. It is another rolling rocker for sure. One of the more popular skits from the record is "Drive-Thru" where the duo goes to a fast food joint and can't decide what to order. We do know a Jnr. Bacon Chee is ordered as well as a SMALL Seasoned Curlies...as well as the 1/2 coke 1/2 diet coke..oh..and some fish..cuz I'm trying to lose some weight. "Double Team" falls back to a more mellow duo acoustic number but after a few verses it gets a lot more rowdy..since the idea is Black and Gass are coming to get you. The final track on the album is listed as "City Hall" and epic track about the legalization of marijuana. The band rants and raves to try to "get this done!" The song blends each of the fun elements of the D, the spoken portions, the big guitars and the high harmonies. A "hidden" track follows after called "Malibu Nights" another fun run for Black that is over about as quickly as it starts.

Where are they now? - The D are still considered an "active"band but the band writes and performs at their own pace. Gass keeps busy writing, recording and performing as part of "Trainwreck". Black keeps busy as an actor and voice over performer for video games and cartoon series. In recent interviews Black has reported that the band is writing new material and hope to have a new album out in 2011.

FDF Personal Comments (aka the Live experience) - I've never seen the band live.

FDF Overall Take - It is a lot of fun, honest. Seven of the tracks are "comedy" bits so that is a nice change. One review seemed to nail it on the head though, saying the first few listens are a lot of fun, but the replay value really only comes in playing the album for people that haven't heard it yet. That is true, as fun as the record can be it doesn't need a ton of listens. Still, when its strong, its real strong. Worth your time, but find a used copy.

Links
Official site is here and myspace is here.

Curious? Check out some MUSIC!

the mp3's were taken down by the hosting site..sorry!

Drive Thru (Skit)
Inward Singing (Skit)
Kielbasa
Tribute

Tracks taken from the debut album which you can buy here.

Disclaimer - For the most part songs listed you can find on iTunes or your local cd shop. The idea is to give you a little taste of the music. Please support the artist buy purchasing some of their work. Songs are posted for about 1 week but can and will be removed at the request of the artist, band, band management etc. If you are one of those persons contact me via the email link in the profile and they will be removed as soon as we are made aware of the request.