28/03/2012

ALEX LIVES

My friend DJ SLO sent me an amazing link: a 1977 ALEX CHILTON live show. The funny thing is this show was uploaded, not by Chilton fans but by dBs fans, because part of his live band is made up of members of the dBs (if you have no idea who THE dB's are, check out THIS ONE SONG for starters.)
This set is sortof a dream come true. First of, it doesn't sound horrible by audience-recording standards. Then, it's from 1977, right in the period some call Alex Chilton's Lost Decade (I call it his prime). It features some BIG STAR tunes (including Look My Way and O My Soul!), and some then-unreleased tunes from the then-upcoming albums I love so much, Bach's Bottom and Flies.
Also, as always, it features some out-there choices of covers; remember that 1975 radio show during which Chilton covered Dolly Parton and the BONZO DOG BAND?
Well here, he covers COLIN BLUNSTONE (!) and THE MODERN LOVERS (!!)
Jesus, I miss Alex Chilton.
So there you have it: ALEX CHILTON AT NY's OCEAN CLUB, APRIL 19, 1977. Enjoy.

20/03/2012

02/03/2012

GOODBYE GOODBYE GOODBYE

So one Monkee and one Charlot died today. THE MONKEES were, as everyone know, an unauthentic pop band, which didn't prevent them from cutting some amazing songs like PORPOISE SONG:

And few people know Michael Nesmith was, before the Monkees, already a recognized, talented songsmith (he wrote THE STONE PONEYS' Different Drum, 1967), and a friend of TIM BUCKLEY's

LES CHARLOTS were also a band known for their novelty appeal, with their own TV show (and a bunch of movies), but few people remember that they started out as LES PROBLEMES, dubbed as "The 1st authentic French Rhythm and Blues band" on their 1965 debut EP:
One year later, they'd back ANTOINE (dubbed as the French Dylan).
Commonknowledge has it that they stopped making music with any merit whatsoever after they changed their name from LES PROBLEMES to LES CHARLOTS, but this one song would be an exception to the rule: