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Pop Rock Nation

Category: News

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  • FORTY-FIVE REVOLUTIONS PER MINUTE #23: Pimp Who’s Talking

    igho45

    IAN GOMM  “Hold On” b/w “Another Year” (Stiff/Epic Records #50747, Fall 1979)

    September ’79.  School was back in session, and everyone but me had grown a foot taller.  I didn’t care.  I was the only kid in class with tickets to the Dire Straits concert, thee hottest bill in town.  I’d gladly sacrifice a foot of height to have Knopfler & Co. melt my face off from the 3rd row, hands down.  What’s that you say?  You don’t care what I was thinking or feeling or listening to back in junior high 30 years ago?  OK, well fuck you, then.  Just click this link & let the opening chords of today’s 45 RPM platter set you adrift on a sea of memory bliss.

    Play \”Hold On\” by Ian Gomm

    Warming up for the Sultans Of Swing that chilly Fall night 3 decades ago was Ian Gomm, the former Brinsley Schwarz bassist, Nick Lowe cohort, and co-writer of the everlasting power-pop classic “Cruel To Be Kind.”  Touring in support of his Summer Holiday LP (from which “Hold On” was pulled, punnily retitled Gomm With The Wind stateside), Gomm brought along an all-star pub-rock who’s-who to flesh out the material, including Andrew Bodnar on bass and Martin Belmont on guitar.  Twenty-four hour service, in-deed!

    A lush & lovely ballad celebrating out-with-the-old/in-with-the-new mentality (a market once cornered by the likes of Guy Lombardo), B-side “Another Year” would’ve sounded right at home at the tail-end of any of Squeeze’s post-East Side Story LPs, as would just about any tracks off the brilliant Summer Holiday.  “Hold On” climbed to #18 on the US singles charts, and still pops up on AM radio now & then, sounding brilliant as ever.  Still active, Gomm’s current whereabouts can easily be tracked via the ever-rhyming Ian Gomm Dot Comm.

    NEXT WEEK: The greatest garage-rock single of all time?

  • First Spin 2/10/08: Lily Allen, india.arie and More!!

    lilyThe slow trickle of new music releases has sped up slightly, with a handful of big name releases scheduled to hit stores (and your local online retailer) right before Valentine’s Day. Here’s what you’ll find in the new release bins this week:

    Lily Allen “It’s Not Me, It’s You”– Lost in the hubbub about Amy Winehouse was the fact that fellow sassy Brit Lily Allen sold half a million copies of her debut album “Alright, Still”. After some tabloid misadventures (including a public miscarriage), Allen returns with a slightly more sober but still cheeky sound on album #2. With Adele, Estelle and Duffy making a solid showing at this year’s Grammy Awards, it would seem that the ladies from across the pond are making more intriguing music than their American counterparts.

    india.arie “Testimony Vol 2: Love & Politics”– The first volume of the neo-soul singer’s “Testimony” series debuted at #1 on the album charts two years back. For the follow-up, arie continues her folksy brand of soul, with a guest appearance by one-time rumored love interest Musiq Soulchild on the first single “Chocolate High”.

    Beastie Boys “Paul’s Boutique 20th Anniversary”– The album that turned Mike D., Ad-Rock and MCA from jokes into serious musicians is now 20 years old. Like I need another excuse to feel old. The reissued version of this classic album now has improved sound (thank GOD!) and includes a pullout poster. For true heads, this special edition is also being made available on vinyl, making it all the more easy to scratch and cut this hip-hop essential, which was one of the first to make a case for sampling as a legitimate art form.

    The Lonely Island “Incredibad”– The first musical spinoff from “Saturday Night Live” in many years, the Lonely Island’s focal point is Andy Samberg, and yes, many of Samberg’s famous digital shorts are here. This set includes “Iran So Far Away” with Adam Levine, “Dick in a Box” with Justin Timberlake, a guest shot from T-Pain (if you look like that, I guess you HAVE to have a sense of humor), and, of course…”Jizz in My Pants”.

    Fleet Foxes “Fleet Foxes”/Ben Folds “Way to Normal: Sticks & Seeds”– The indie darlings and the smartass piano man both get the expanded edition treatment this week, with their 2008 efforts stuffed with even more tracks, pissing off all of the people who may have bought one or both of these albums originally. Sigh.

    Also in stores this week: the third album by anonymous R&B singer Bobby Valentino, the sophomore set by Christian metal-lers Red, a solo album by Black Keys’ guitarist Dan Auerbach, and in the “He’s Still Around?” section of your record store, a new album by Warren G. Methinks Warren would be much better served giving his big bro a call and telling him to release “Detox” already.

    Get yer entire list of new releases here.

  • Lux Redux

    luxI can’t remember the last B-list rock star death that garnered as much publicity as Lux Interior’s did. It started out as a posting on one blog on Wednesday, and that was enough to start the internet buzz going. Once it was confirmed, it sent shockwaves through hipster land.

    But the press couldn’t even get the details right. He was listed as being 60, 61 and 62 years old at the time of his death, depending on which story you read. Which was it?? (answer: he was 62)So much for research!

    Lux formed The Cramps in 1972, and they were still active at the time of his death. How many bands can claim that they’ve been around for 37 years? The band’s heyday had come & gone many years ago; they had pretty much stopped recording (their last CD of new material was five years ago), but they still toured every year.

    It seems like every time I saw The Cramps, something messed up ALWAYS happened. It was complete bedlam on stage, with the crowd joining in on the chaos. The first time I saw them, a guy jumped on stage at the very end of the show, stole two jungle spears that were displayed in front of Nick Knox’s drum kit, and ran out the front door of the club with them (with a roadie chasing after him). The second time I saw them, Lux came out for the encore naked, and proceeded to climb up to the balcony of The Ritz and started making out with a woman up there. The last time I saw them, my friend & I got VERY drunk beforehand, and somehow came up with the bright idea of sneaking into the side door of the Peppermint Lounge (when it had moved downtown on Fifth Avenue), and got physically thrown out right after we got inside (undaunted, we picked ourselves up, went around to the front door, & paid our way in).

    Once the spotlight fades, a lot of musicians will hang it up & form other bands, or go into other lines of work. At a certain point, if you haven’t reached a level of commercial success that affords you the opportunity to live comfortably & to throttle back on recording & touring, your average rock musician will throw in the towel & head into the “straight” world. John Maher of the original Buzzcocks line-up went on to open a Volkswagen performance tune-up shop; Bryan Gregory, a member of The Cramps original lineup, ended up running a porn store in LA.

    Lux & his wife of 37 years, Cramps guitarist Poison Ivy, left the straight world in 1972 and never looked back. They are one of the few bands from the original punk era of the mid-70’s who never quit, never gave up. They may have uprooted & moved to LA, and spent quite a bit of time buying & selling cool funky stuff, but they were the real deal. I guess at a certain point Lux & Ivy looked in the mirror & said “hey, what the hell else are we gonna do?” Lux lived to a ripe old age (as far as rock stars go, at least) living his rock ‘n’ roll dream, with his long-time wife right beside him on stage every night.

    Good for him. And even better for us. They were a band almost without peers. Thanks for a bunch of great records, some amazing live shows, and a whole lotta good memories.