Hey, you think this is easy, thinking up intellectually stimulating manners in which to bundle various albums together with some unifying theme? Well, yeh, actually it is, all you gotta do is be laid off, bored, stoned, and you come up with all kinds of ideas.......this one got it's sprout originally when I entitled a Gary Glitter post with a throwaway Clash lyric, "....and when I am fitter, say the bells of Gary Glitter".....well, my man Cliff set up his last post, brilliantly, with lyrics from "White Man In Hammersmith Palais", in which he created the post around the performers noted in the song lyrics. Man that was a great post, both conceptually and musically......
So anyway, I can do the same thing, HA!for this one we're gonna need ALL the lyrics for the song in question, so let's do THAT first:
"Let me tell you 'bout Wayne and his deals of cocaine
A little more every day
Holding for a friend till the band do well
Then the D.E.A. locked him away
Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors
Bang bang, go the boots on the floor
Cry cry, for your lonely mother's son
Clang clang, go the jail guitar doors
An' I'll tell you 'bout Pete, didn't want no fame
Gave all his money away
"Well there's something wrong, it'll be good for you, son"
And so they certified him insane
And then there's Keith, waiting for trial
Twenty-five thousand bail
If he goes down you won't hear his sound
But his friends carry on anyway
Fuck 'em!
Jail guitar doors
Fifty four/forty six was my number
Jail guitar doors
Right now someone else has that number"
Well, let's break this down......our rogue's gallery begins with "Wayne" (Kramer from the MC5).....that verse basically tells his life story. Kramer was an unbelievably talented metal/rock guitarist (don't believe me? explain the amazing "Ramblin Rose'" from "Kick out the Jams". Kramer's later solo work has been criminally (so to speak) overlooked, the album here that I have selected, "The Hard Stuff", is excellent, ca. 1997 or so, it's an underappreciated effort, be sure, as well as a hard one to locate.......you are gonna thank me for this one.Next up we have "Pete", who is Peter Green of Fleetwood Mac......he had his issues too, but as Bowie once said "Boy could he play guitar"......one of the best of the 1960's blues jammers, if you are one of the uneducated that think Fleetwood Mac was NOTHING but Stevie Nicks, etc, you're seeing only about a third of the picture.....the Peter Green era was tremendous, as this "Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac Greatest Hits" will more than prove to ya.
And finally, "Keith" (Richards), "waiting for a trial", with a shot at his "friends", as well ("Fuck 'em!") ........anyway, I'm sure you all know all about Keith, so I'm going to include the simply titled "Odd Tracks", Richards teams up with various other folks, (Levon Helm, Peter Wolf, U2, and others, as well as a fine alternate take on "Before they Make Me Run" and some other good ones......
Hey just fucking around here......these ARE three damn fine LP's by three troubled guitar slashers......not to be REALLY taken seriously as a "set", but all three of these albums work VERY well on thier own, NONE of them are all that common, and the minions REALLY OUGHTA be digging this one..........a little guitar played by some of the "dregs of humanity" never did anyone no harm!
CLANG ! CLANG!
Now, as for the albums I have ever-so-creatively linked to this......of them, I think Kramer's "The Hard Stuff" is the best AND most underappreciated of the three....look, dammit, it's FUCKING BROTHER WAYNE KRAMER.....is that not ENOUGH of an explanation for you? Simply one of the GREATEST guitar players of our era, a man whom can also sing a bit, write a bit, and most importantly, completely understands what it means to ROCK THE FUCK OUT......."Crack In the Universe' is great, "Poison" is a wonderful re-work of the same track on the MC5's "Back In the USA", great track then, great track NOW.....this is a fine album, overlooked at it's time, but if you don't check this out, you REALLY need to open up that mind.
Moving on to "Pete", who "didn't want no fame, gave all his money away".......well, I am no expert on his story (and I hope someome will inform me), but my impression was he cared ZERO about stardom....GREAT, I wish about 90% MORE of them would take on a similar attitude.......beside the point though........there is some incredible blues guitar on this album, you'd be out of your mind to miss it if you are previously unfamiliar.....great blues slammers like "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues", "Love That Burns", and "Coming Home" , if you are unfamiliar, are essential to this "Pete Green" conversation, so this one needs to be checked as well.....
......."and then their's Keith"....yep, there he is, and we all know him.......this album here, "Odd Tracks" is a mishmash, granted, but I earlier mentioned the duets, alternate of "Before They make Me Run", and more, this is a good one just to give a listen too as well.....
Hope you got the point of this post, I try to use my imagination/ stoned-out state of mind to come up with this shit, but honest to God, i thought these were three damn fine, not-all-that-common albums, and I could unify them with a "theme"? WOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW yippppeeee for me, I am, like, "The Man!"
WAYNE KRAMER-THE HARD STUFF-01 Crack In the Universe/02 Junkie Romance/03 Bad Seed/04 Poison/05 Realm of the Pirate King/06 Incident on Stock Island/07 Pillar of Fire/08 Hope For Sale/09 Edge of the Switchblade/10 Sharkskin Suit/40 Hidden Track
PETER GREEN'S FLEETWOOD MAC GREATEST HITS-01 Need Your Love/02 Coming Home/03 Random Pony/04 The Big Boat/05 I Believe My Time Ain't Long/06 The Sun Is Shining/07 Albatross/08 Black Magic Woman/09 Just the Blues/10 Jigsaw Puzzle Blues/11 Looking For Somebody/12 Stop Messin''Round/13 Shake Your Money Maker/14 Love That Burns
KEITH RICHARDS ODD TRACKS-01 You Win Again/02 Love Hurts (With Norah Jones)/03 Hickory Wind/04 Say It's Not You (With George Jones)/05 The Harder They Come/06 Key To The Highway/07 Still a Fool/08 Duece and a Quarter (With Levon Helm)/09 When Love Comes To Town (With U2)/10 Too Close Together (with Peter Wolf)/11 Before They Make Me Run (Alternate version)
These are all fine albums, for you guitar freaks, i love them all ESPECIALLY Kramer's it is just too BAD ASS..........but do not miss Green's or Richard's either.......thanks to the Clash for inspoiring this theme, if EVER there was a band that was inspirational to bloggers, IMO, The Clash take the prize. But then again, what the fuck do I know?
So, what's in the near future? Well, I have an ENORMOUS Throbbing Gristle follow-up, containing the entire "24 Hours" cassette collection and lots more, I'm prepping a Lemonheads post, even thinking about some Slayer, and God knows what else.....I'll be here as long as YOU are, I REALLY hope you enjoy the stuff we put up!
POST SCRIPT-sometimes I hate this fucking shit.....I have a perfectly pristine, crispy copy of "The hard Stuff" by Wayne Kramer........I Tunes copied it to my drive just fine, but for whatever reason, I can't share the bastard. I have not a fucking clue as to WHY, but its a fine album and I will continue to work on it and see why the fuck I can't use it.....meantime, let me substitute "The Big Bang: The Best of the MC5", NOT AT ALL what I WANTED to post here, but CD's are CD's, ya never know
BIG BANG-BEST OF THE MC5-01 I Can Only Give You Everything/02 Looking at You/03 I Just Don't Know/04 Ramblin Rose/05 Kick Out the Jams/06 Come Together/07 Rocket Reducer No. 62/08 Tonight/09 Teenage Lust/10 High School/11 Call Me Animal/12 The American Ruse/13 Shakin Street/14 The Human Being Lawnmower/15 Back In the USA/16 Sister Anne/17 Baby Won't Ya/18 Miss X/19 Over and Over/20 Skunk (Sonically Speaking)/21Thunder Express
Not Exactly what I wanted to post for Kramer, but such is life......this is a decent set if you are NOT already a mega-MC5 fan like myself, I guess