Upcoming Releases

Was doing my semi-regular scan of future releases on CDUniverse (which probably does the best job of tracking these out of all the online shopping sites, and also has some decent deals if you buy in advance -- though once the cd is released the prices go up), and came across a new Dumptruck anthology, the cleverly-titled Haul Of Fame (out March 14, 2006). Looks like a nice overview from a great (and sadly underappreciated) band. Dumptruck were among the better of the mid-80s college radio jangle-pop bands, sporting some nice country & punk tinges around the edges (and probably beating Uncle Tupelo to the punch). Their first 3 albums -- which were great, I should add -- were all re-released last year with remastered sound and bonus tracks, but some of their later albums, when they had sunk pretty far into obscurity, are long out of print. Haven't quite lined this up with the original albums to see how well-represented each album is, but just eyeballing the tracklist, it looks like a commendable job. For those who miss the early days of R.E.M. and the Long Ryders and Tupelo, you'll definitely want to check this out.


Also noticed while scanning the future releases that Goth forerunners Bauhaus are being treated to a run of live albums from their 2005 reunion tour. Can't say I'm a huge fan (though they had a handful of great singles that helped elevate them above the ranks of a mere second-tier Joy Division); but it's fascinating to see that there's enough of a market to support this sort of thing. Are there really that many angst-ridden throwbacks sucking on clove cigarettes and reading Camus that a dozen Bauhaus reunion shows can be justified? Apparently so. These appear to be put out by Instant Live, the outfit that puts out instant souvenirs from selected concert runs. (Other artists available on their website: Hall & Oates and the Cult, neither of which I'd realized were touring again... God help us all.) I note this here just because, if acts well past their prime doing the reunion thing think they have enough juice to (financially) support these albums, why can't other bands get in on the act? A few have tried, from the Pixies to the post-Garcia Dead to The Who, but not many bands seem to be jumping on the bandwagon, and very few who are still on the early end of their careers. I, for one, would kill to see bands like Wilco or Yo La Tengo do something like this.

Of course, what I'd really like to see, as I've noted before, are more archival releases. Every reissue you see these days has a few live tracks tacked on as bonus tracks; other bands have included entire concerts as bonus discs (including the recent Springsteen Born To Run box, Pavement's Slanted & Enchanted reissue, Dumptruck, the Who, etc.). If they have that much great material just sitting around gathering dust, why the hell aren't they offering it to fans?

Pop Kulcher Website Updates

I'm gradually updating the Pop Kulcher website, mainly tweaking the color scheme to tone it down. Being colorful seemed like a good idea when I set the site up a decade or so ago, but these days it's all about simplicity, right? And, while I'm at it, updating the Top 50 (~73) list for the first time in a few years. A couple new entries (Bob Dylan's Highway 61 Revisited finally makes the cut, as my taste ages a bit; Death Cab For Cutie's Transatlanticism, as one of my favorite albums of the past few years, is on the list), and a few more in the works.

Now Playing: Mott The Hoople, Remastered

Sony finally released some much-needed domestic remasters of Mott The Hoople's breakthrough albums, 1972's All The Young Dudes and 1973's Mott. The history of this legendary if underappreciated band, one of the great also-rans of the early 70s, is well-documented elsewhere. (Note: calling them "one of the great also-rans"? Yep, stole that from AllMusic.com, god love 'em.) In brief, though, after four decent albums merging Dylan-cribbing folkie wordplay and post-Zeppelin, pre-punk hard rock, Mott finally broke open in '72 when David Bowie handed them the sure-fire hit "All The Young Dudes" to record, and helped them produce an album of the same name. The album was their strongest to date (though 1971's lesser-known Brain Capers wasn't bad). The title track is, of course, amazing, and holds up as an essential classic to this day; lesser tracks like "One Of The Boys" and the riff-rockin' "Jerkin' Crocus" are stand-outs as well, as is a punchy if unadventurous cover of the Velvets' "Sweet Jane." The album has a strike against it in the lone contribution from guitarist Mick Ralphs, "Ready For Love" -- the song Ralphs took with him when he quit Mott to join Bad Company. And while the Bad Company remake is better known, the original Mott version is every bit as atrocious. But that classic rock monstrosity aside, Dudes is a decent album. The remastering is pretty good (though there are some sonic limitations in the original master tapes); you also get a bunch of demos and live tracks as bonuses, the real keeper being the original Bowie-sung demo of the title track, which alone makes the disc worth grabbing.

The follow-up, '73's Mott, was undeniably the band's best album, and is a veritable greatest hits album from start to finish. Lead-off track "All The Way From Memphis," with an unforgettable piano line and wonderful sax work from Roxy Music's Andy McKay, is one of the most outstanding songs about the rock & roll life ever, and probably every bit as essential a classic rock masterpiece as "Dudes," maybe even more so for the stick-in-your-head chorus of "It's a mightly long way down rock & roll." "Honaloochie Boogie" and "Drivin' Sister" are also fine examples of glammish-rock, and the two sweeping life-on-the-road epics "Hymn For The Dudes" and "Ballad Of Mott The Hoople" are fine as well. (And, once again, there's another crappy Mick Ralphs track; after this album, he bailed for Bad Company, and the Ian Hunter-helmed Mott soldiered on for one more fine album, 1974's The Hoople -- not yet available as a domestic remaster. After that, Hunter went solo, and the remains of the band nonetheless issued a couple more albums, which may be some of the worst albums ever recorded.)

Of course, while both Dudes and Mott are fine listens, particularly the latter, the fact remains that even their best albums had plenty of weaker moments, and one could do just as well, if not better, by picking up the excellent 2-cd compilation The Ballad Of Mott: A Retrospective, which has pretty much all the Mott you could ever want (though it's a bit thin on the pre-Dudes albums -- for a decent overview of the first four albums, try to track down the now-out-of-print Backsliding Fearlessly).

Right Wing Wack Jobs Of The Week

Please allow me to digress from music for the moment, if I may, and observe the latest round of idiocy from the wack jobs of the right. No, I'm not talking about South Dakota's decision to set up the potential reversal of Roe v. Wade for the new Bush Supreme Court -- that's not wacky, that's downright evil. I'm talking about the decision by a Missouri public library to remove from the children's section a book telling the true story of two male penguins who adopted a baby penguin. Seems some parents complained about the book's "homosexual undertones." Notably, the library didn't remove the book entirely, but rather shifted it into the nonfiction section. Obviously, by doing so, they'll avoid any risk of fundamentalist nutcases accidentally stumbling upon it, as such people are unlikely to visit the nonfiction shelves, where they may inadvertently encounter... facts.

(Incidentally, decided to check out Amazon.com to see if any wack jobs had left nasty messages about the book... and, of course, I wasn't disappointed.)