Hear Factor: Geo Asks “What’s It All About?”

Townsman Geo check in with his Hear Factor experience!
To start with, I misread the first artist and am surprised to hear The O’Jays kick off the mix with a duet between a hyperkinetic drummer and a noisy, simplistic guitar doing an instrumental. Oh, “The Jay Jays.” I see.

When the second song kicks in, I notice that it, like the first, has an untethered, uncompressed noisiness that I like. The Comet Gain song, “Record Collector”, reminds me of the verse to the Buzzcocks’ song, “Harmony in my Head”, but it never quite gets to the payoff the Buzzcocks’ chorus delivers. It does have an amusing dead stop in the middle, that starts back up with music so totally different after the break that I would’ve sworn it was one of those Pink Flag segues where a new song kicks right in and eventually you can’t hear the end of the first without hearing the start of the second in your mind’s ear.

I’ll admit that although I have heard the Plastic Ono Band Album, I haven’t rigorously explored every second- or third-tier rock band that has come down the pike. I know “Itchycoo Park” and I’m sure I’ve heard Ogden’s whatever it is, but I’m barely familiar with the Small Faces beyond that. I expect “Almost Grown” to be the Chuck Berry tune that I believe The Animals covered, but instead it’s an organ driven, nearly instrumental soul groove. I always think of McLagan as a piano player, but I remember back to his autobiography that he’s also played a lot of organ. Pretty nice.

So three songs in, and I’m trying to place the “theme” of the set as well as the source. I see Big Star and Velvet Crush down the list and I figure this to be some kind of rough power pop collection sprinkled with some English antecedents. I wonder why Mr. Mod aimed this one at me since it’s not something I quite despise, but I guess I do have a studied disinterest to this stuff. It doesn’t appall me, but even at its nearly best, it often doesn’t grab me, more admired than loved.

Oh, and I guess that Oats is responsible for the mix since the next song up is “Super Furry Animals” and I have some vague recollection of him touting them. I saw these guys once a while back at the TLA, and this song leaves me with the same impression, dense, bludgeoning arty rock without many details to recommend it. Mission of Burma anyone? I do find the lower key intro somewhat inviting, but overall I think that whatever I read before that got me to check them out live, was describing something that they don’t quite measure up to.

My 12-year-old son, on hearing the Badfinger song said, “These guys sound like the Beatles.” That was sort of the point, wasn’t it? The weird, boxy dry sound seems like what Mr. Mod said he was going for on the new Nixon’s Head recording. Catchy, but it doesn’t make me regret that I barely noticed Badfinger during their little run. Hell, my favorite Badfinger song might be the faux one that America did a few hits after their faux Neil Young song.

The first song on here that can be found in my collection is Sonic Youth’s “Dirty Boots”. Although I completely concede that Mr. Mod’s and Dr. Vauclain’s criticisms of Sonic Youth are valid, I do like them in spots, particularly during this string of late-80s/early-90s albums, where thay seemed to carve nice little tunes out of their slabs of guitar noise.

I’ve got a Gorky’s record, How I Long To Feel That Summer in My Heart. It’s pleasant enough, but the combination of that, Beulah’s The Coast is Never Clear, and especially, the High Llamas convinced me that the new Chamber Pop or whatever it was, was a pale imitation of the original era of Chamber Pop. This one’s in Welsh, I think.

I recognize “The Action” as one of the groups on the Nuggets 2 set that focused on second-tier ’60s non-American garage. I hadn’t heard this one before. It’s one of those slow acoustic guitar driven ballads that XTC seemed to model for much of the Dukes album.

The Youth Group song is another jangly ballad, and the production makes me think it’s faux-psychedelia, from one of the many revival eras but definitely not from the first wave. Not horrible but certainly not a keeper in my book.

Is “You Am I” an anagram for “Mott the Hoople”, because Christ, to my fairly un-Mott informed ears, this song “Plans” sounds very much like them, from the organ and boogie-woogie piano to the singer’s goofy asides. Shades of “All the Way from Memphis”! In fact, since I never got that much into Mott the Hoople, I prefer this for its apparently gleeful plundering. The more I heard it, the more I liked it.

“Wash It Down” by Luigi had a nice two part harmony lead vocal way up there, reminiscent of the dB’s in the Stamey era. The rhythm section also has a muscularity similar to the Holder/Rigby tandem. Another real nice one.

I never heard anything by Teenage Fanclub that struck me as essential. The streak continues. There’s nothing wrong with this perfectly acceptable piece of fluff, but I wouldn’t pull it out of the corner of my pocket and pop it in my mouth. It really does seem like second-hand Big Star, with none of the personality that made Big Star work as well as it did being second-hand Beatles or whatever they were.

I have this Velvet Crush album, although I can’t say that it’s been much played. My main attraction to these guys is from seeing them live at the Khyber when their first buzz album came out and thinking Menck was a great drummer, with chops and a personality to his playing. I’ve seen him a few other times with them and some other acts and I still feel the same way. That drumming style doesn’t get across on this relatively rote power pop recording. If I weren’t straining to hear the magic I get from Menck’s playing, I’d probably throw them in the same category as Teenage Fanclub.

Is this Big Star instrumental from the Pig Stosies era. I don’t know it. Interesting use of Guitar panning. Nice for a little palate cleanser on the mix.

The singer on the Spencer Davis song isn’t Winwood, is it? A studied little White English pop/blues, lacking the natural enthusiasm that Winwood brought to “Gimme Some Lovin’”.

Is that a mash up of the Velvet Underground and Christine Aguilera by GHP? I really like this. It helps that the Velvet track, “Rock’n’Roll” elicits a Pavlovian response in someone of my background and it’s cool to notice how well Aguilera can sing once there’s something to hook me in to really listen. The chorus verse structure that uses the lead guitar sections under the Aguilera chorus part really works, cleverly disguising that the whole thing is over the same repeated progression.

“Heart Condition” by Let’s Go Sailing sounds like an Elliott Smith record with singing by some cute little alterna-vixen. But not bad. I like the cello part. Maybe I’m just picturing the bare young leg above the pink Chuck Taylors and ankle socks but this one is pretty good.

“So It Goes” has that quarter note snare Motown beat with a tambourine on the 2 and 4 to recommend it, but not much else. I guess I like Nick Lowe’s slight number by the same name better. Oh wait, the little drum thingy on the outro is nice and I noticed some vibes or something in there that was interesting.

BMX Bandits has a verse that sounds like a second-rate Holsapple number and a chorus that seems like it’s trying too hard to be a chorus. OK, just OK.

I love the K. McCarty collection of Daniel Johnston’s songs and I’d recommend anyone that thinks that Daniel is merely a beneficiary of wacky-loving fans should hear her version of “Hey Joe”, sort of an answer song to “Hey Jude”. I saw the documentary but I never got around to picking up any of his records, possible feeling that they wouldn’t live up to McCarty’s interpretations. These two songs are good, particularly “The Dream is Over”. I may yet get one of his albums, but I won’t be paying full price.

So I’ve come to the end of my mix, and I get “Black Grease” by the Black Angels. Sounds somewhere between Black Rebel Motorcycle Club and Spiritualised, but not as execrable as the former nor as exhilarating as the latter.

Overall, a very amusing listen, and I did listen to this thing a LOT. I became quite attached to a few of the songs, for example “Plans” by You Am I and would perk up and chuckle to myself when they came on. I’m not swayed to the point that I’m out investigating power pop releases looking for the one that will change my life because, frankly, it probably ain’t happening. But this mix will probably be in my little box of CDs when I go down the shore or take a week long course in DC.

Tracklist (full mix to follow in the coming days):
The Jay Jays – Cruncher
Comet Gain – Record Collection
The Small Faces – Almost Grown
Super Furry Animals – The Man Don’t Give a Fuck
Badfinger – I’d Die Babe
Sonic Youth – Dirty Boots
Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci – Morwyr O Hyd Yn Llad Eu Hun Ar Y Tir
The Action – Things You Cannot See
Youth – Dead Zoo
You Am I – Plans
Luigi – Wash It Down
Teenage Fanclub – Going Places
Velvet Crush – Star Trip
Big Star – Another
Spencer Davis Group – Strong Love
GHP – Girl Wants to (Say Goodbye To) Rock’n’Roll
Let’s Go Sailing – Heart Condition
The Broken West – So It Goes
BMX Bandits – The Next Girl
Daniel Johnston – The Dream Is Over
Daniel Johnston – Some Things Last a Long Time
The Black Angels – Black Grease

Thanks, Rock Town Hall and whomever it was that gave me the chance to walk around with your earphones on for a few days.