Those Jangly 80s, Vol 8: Southeast Edition

The Southeastern United States was the epicenter of jangly 80s music, in particular Georgia and North Carolina. Here are some of my favorites from the great Southeast.

GEORGIA

The grandfathers of jangly 80's rock, R.E.M. got their start on the campus of the University of Georgia in Athens. Their first single was released on the independent Hib-Tone label in 1981. It included two songs that were re-recorded for release two years later on their Murmur LP. Here are the original Hib-Tone versions:

Side A
R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe (1981 Hib-Tone version)
Side B
R.E.M. – Sitting Still (1981 Hib-Tone version)
(buy album)

One of my favorite R.E.M. releases was their first EP called Chronic Town from 1982. R.E.M. really hasn't done much for me over the last twenty years, but their early stuff was some of the most original sounding pop music ever, inspiring countless imitators and giving a major boost to the 1980's jangle rock era. This song really captures their early sound:

R.E.M. – Carnival Of Sorts (Box Cars) (buy album).

Here's a live version of a song off R.E.M.'s first LP Murmur (1983) that starts off with one of the better jangle-rock riffs:

R.E.M. – Talk About The Passion (Live) (Get the whole show here).

Here's a live version of one R.E.M.'s twangiest songs. The studio version comes from my no. 1 favorite R.E.M. ablum, 1984's Reckoning.

R.E.M. – (Don't Go Back To) Rockville (Live).

I didn't get around to seeing R.E.M. live until the Fables of the Reconstruction tour in 1985. My high school buddy Eric Toennies slept through most of the show at Detroit's Fox Theatre, but I thought it was pretty good. The opening band was The Replacements, who were very drunk. In this next song, which features another great jangle-rock riff, Michael Stipe explains that the power lines have floaters so the airplanes won't get snagged:

R.E.M. – Driver 8 (buy album).

Another of the many great Athens bands was Pylon. They were a big inspiration to R.E.M. and they had a killer bass sound. Their first album, Gyrate, plus some extra songs, has just been re-released and comes highly recommended:

Pylon – Feast On My Heart (buy album).

Finally, my personal favorite jangly 80s band, Guadalcanal Diary, hailed from a suburb of Atlanta. They've already been featured in this space.

NORTH CAROLINA

The other great Southern alternative rock scene during the 1980's was located in North Carolina. The first North Carolina band that comes to mind are The dB's, who I've already blogged about.

Winston-Salem's Mitch Easter was the producer of R.E.M.'s first Hib-Tone single and the Chronic Town EP and Murmur. He also produced Chris Stamey, The Windbreakers, and Game Theory. Most importantly, Mitch Easter was the front man for the great jangle-rock band Let's Active. Here are a couple of my favorite Let's Active songs:

Let's Active – Every Word Means No (buy album).
Let's Active – Fell (buy album).

Don Dixon was Mitch Easter's co-producer on a number of projects. As a performer he recorded one of my alltime favorite off-beat eighties "hits" (and one of the greatest pop songs with an insect theme):

Don Dixon – Praying Mantis (buy album).

Marti Jones released a few nice adult-alternative jangly albums in the 1980s. My favorite was 1985's Unsophisticated Time, produced by husband Don Dixon:

Marti Jones – Lonely Is (As Lonely Does)
Marti Jones – Follow You All Over The World
(out of print).

One of the more interesting 1980's bands was Fetchin' Bones, whose funky rock style kind of anticipated the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (without the mega success).

Fetchin' Bones – Things Are Happening (out of print).
Fetchin' Bones – I Dig You (out of print).

MISSISSIPPI

Let's finish off this post with the Mississippi-based power pop band The Windbreakers. This has always been one of my favoite jangly 80s songs. It comes from their Easter/Dixon produced 1985 album called Terminal:

The Windbreakers – All That Stuff (buy album).

I know I've left a lot of great Southeastern jangly rock bands out of this post, but this isn't supposed to be my full time job. So if you have any other favorites, list them in the comment section. Or better yet, send along an mp3 for all to hear.

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 7: The Fleshtones & Full Time Men

[For the background on this series, see here.]

The Fleshtones really weren't jangly, but they were part of the same alternative-rock scene as the jangly bands, so I'm throwing them in this series. Besides having one of the coolest names in rock, The Fleshtones were the ultimate 1980s garage rock band. They called their style "super rock," which as far as I can tell basically meant fuzz guitar, farfisa organ, and a reckless attitude. Band members define it this way:

Peter Zaremba: "Super Rock is all of the great elements that make rock & roll the great and vital thing that excites people rolled into one, without saying, this is disco or this is garage rock. Putting it together and rolling it up into one big greasy ball."

Bill Milhizer: "Super Rock is taking the best, most exciting elements of rock & roll, and exaggerating and amplifying them beyond proportion, with no apology whatsoever."

This is kind of a timeless concept, so The Fleshtones sound less dated than a lot of their '80s contemporaries. Too bad their first two full length albums--both great fun from start to finish--are out of print.

Roman Gods (1982):
The Fleshtones – I've Gotta Change My Life.
The Fleshtones – R-I-G-H-T-S.

Hexbreaker (1983):
The Fleshtones – Hexbreaker.
The Fleshtones – Right Side Of A Good Thing.

The jangliest music in the post comes from a Fleshtones' side project led by guitarist Keith Streng (with special guest Peter Buck of R.E.M., whose Rickenbacker is pictured above). In 1985, Full Time Men released a three-track 12" EP called I Got Wheels. It's been out of print forever but is pretty darn good. I especially like the title cut, which is a great lost jangle pop classic:

Full Time Men – I Got Wheels.
Full Time Men – One More Time.
Full Time Men – Way Down South.

In 1988, Full Time Men (without Buck) released an L.P. called Your Face My Fist, which included this "lost Fleshtones" number:

Full Time Men – High On Drugs.





Unlike most of the 1980's jangle pop bands, The Fleshtones are still going strong. You can stream their new release here: Yep Roc Records.

Find more information about The Fleshtones (old and new) here: Fleshtones Hall Of Fame.

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 6: Rank And File & True Believers

[For the background on this series, see here.]

After a brief respite, the jangly eighties series is back. Today's episode features two former bands of legendary Austin guitarist Alejandro Escovedo.

Rank And File started with a bang in 1982, but soon fizzled. Their first record, Sundown, is worth hearing. In a review that will entice many regular readers of this blog, All Music Guide decscribed it as "a gem of tuneful, Byrds-ian pop, with a healthy dollop of Gram Parsons and Merle Haggard to boot." I don't know if I would go quite that far, but it's definitely an enjoyable listen. Try these two tracks:

Rank And File – Amanda Ruth.
Rank And File – Rank And File.
(buy album).


Not long after the release of Sundown, Escovedo quit Rank And File to form the True Believers with his brother Javier. The True Believers were a loud, three-guitar band. (I know how loud they were from first-hand experience.) They quickly became all the rage in Austin, and beyond, in the mid-1980s. Unfortunately, they couldn't capitalize on the buzz. Their first record, released on Rounder, failed to capture the raucous nature of their live show. It's now out of print.

The True Believers' "second" album, which was to be their major-label debut on EMI-America wasn't released at all. As explained in the All Music Guide:

"The second album was a far stronger representation of the True Believers than the debut, but shortly after it was completed, EMI-America's parent company decided to fold the label into another affiliated company, Manhattan Records, and much of EMI-America's roster was dropped, including the True Believers. The second album was pulled from the release schedule only two weeks before it was scheduled to ship, and the label's asking price for the master tapes was far more than the band could afford to pay."

The music business can be cruel. Years later, after the band broke up, the True Believers' debut and the lost second album were finally released together on a single CD called Hard Road, but that too is now out of print.

Here are one standout track from the debut and two highlights from the lost second album:

True Believers – The Rain Won't Help You When It's Over.
True Believers – She's Got.
True Believers – One Moment To Another.
(buy album).

Alejandro Esovedo's greatest critical success has come as a solo artist. A favorite of mine is this song from his 1992 solo debut album, Gravity:

Alejandro Escovedo – Five Hearts Breaking (buy album).

Just for fun, here is Whiskeytown's cover of The Rain Won't Help:

Whiskeytown – The Rain Won't Help You When It's Over (mp3). (This comes from the Those Weren't The Days bootleg, which you can find at Broadcaster House.)

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 5: Jason & The Scorchers and The Beat Farmers

[For the background on this series, see here.]

Today’s featured style is cowpunk.

Pour yourself a cup of Old Grand-Dad (since 1882) and get ready for A COWPUNK SPECATCULAR!

In the 1980s, "alt-country" music used to be called “cowpunk.” It was a little harder than today's "No Depression" sound, which explains the “punk” part of the name, but nobody can explain where "cows" came in. The king of cowpunk bands was the legendary Jason & The Scorchers. If you like twangy music, you need to get to know this band. They took the hardest elements of country and rock and ran with them. Read bios here and here.

Let's start our Jason & the Scorchers tour with the excellent Fervor EP from 1983.

The first track is one of the all-time best Bob Dylan covers (perhaps eclipsed only by The Byrds' Mr. Tambourine Man and Jimi Hendrix's All Along The Watchtower, but I may be forgetting a few):

Jason & The Scorchers – Absolutely Sweet Marie

In 1985, the band issued its magnum opus (and one of my top 25 albums of all time) Lost And Found. Check out these tracks:

Jason & The Scorchers – Shop It Around

Jason & The Scorchers – Broken Whiskey Glass

Jason & The Scorchers – Blanket Of Sorrow



Now listen to what they could do with an old country song:

ORIGINAL: Eddy Arnold– I Really Don’t Want To Know (buy album).

COVER: Jason & The Scorchers – I Really Don't Want To Know

Unfortunately, all of this stuff appears to be out of print, so you'll have to get in on e-bay. Just for fun, here's an absolutely killer Carl Perkins cover:

Jason & The Scorchers – Gone, Gone, Gone

Since this is turning into a covers post, it's time to mention my second favorite cowpunk band, The Beat Farmers. Read bios here and here.

My favorite Beat Farmers album is their debut, Tales From The New West, in part because of its excellent, countrified covers:

Beat Farmers – There She Goes Again (Velvet Underground Cover).

Beat Farmers – Reason To Believe (Bruce Springsteen Cover).




Tales of the New West was the Beat Farmers' twangiest record. Unfortunately it's out of print.

Flossie, the punk cow...

UPDATE:

I should have put this up in the post before. Here's the great You Tube clip linked in the comments:

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 4: Green On Red

For the background on this series, see here.]

Although considered part of the "paisley underground," I think Green On Red are more accurately described as part of the second wave of Americana/alt-country bands, picking up where Gram Parsons and Commander Cody, et al., left off.

My favorite Green On Red album is the under-appreciated No Free Lunch, released in 1985. Here Green On Red sound like the perfect rootsy American bar band (and the year could be 1969, 1985, or 2008).

In keeping with my policy of leaving you wanting more (and hopefully buying the album), I'm having a difficult time choosing which tracks to feature. The record is uniformly solid. So if you like these, you're going to like the rest:

Green On Red – Keep On Moving
Green On Red – (Gee Ain't It Funny) How Time Slips Away

(buy album).

As much as I like Green On Red's cover version, you really can't top Willie's original:

Willie Nelson - Funny How Time Slips Away (buy album).

(This song is best enjoyed with Wild Turkey on the rocks.)

While I'm on the subject Green On Red, I need to give a shout out to ex-Green On Red guitarist, Chuck Prophet, who has released a string of high-quality rock albums over the past 15 years.

This track from his 2002 album "No Other Love" is one of the alltime best laid-back, summery rock songs. Unfortunately, most people have never heard of it.

Chuck Prophet - Summertime Thing (buy album).

Line that makes me laugh: "Go ask your dad for the keys to the Honda..." (Somehow it's just not the same as a T-Bird.)

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 3: Guadalcanal Diary

[For the background on this series, see here.]

Guadalcanal Diary were the quintessential '80's jangly rock band. Not only were they really jangly, but their music had that wonderful '80s sense of fun. They never got famous (most likely due to their unmarketable name or quirkiness), but they meant a lot to me.

If it weren't for Guadalcanal Diary I might never have become such a music-obsessed kid. This would have caused me to receive better grades in college, which in turn would have caused me to miss out on five accomplishment-free post-college years working in bars and record stores while playing the electric bass in obscure rock bands.

So, thank you Guadalcanal Diary...

Although they released four albums, the first two, Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man (1984) and Jamboree (1985) are stand outs.

I can still remember the day I picked up Jamboree from Schoolkids Records (my then-future employer). It was a muggy July afternoon in Ann Arbor and a thunderstorm was kicking up. I had to run back to my old car in parked in front of the Hill Auditorium to avoid getting caught in the downpour. There aren't many albums can I remember purchasing (down to my parking place) twenty-three years later. But this was an event.

Now for the music. I'll start with two highlights from Jamboree:

Guadalcanal Diary - Michael Rockefeller. This song is about Michael Rockefeller, the youngest son of Nelson Rockefeller, who may have been eaten by cannibals (if not sharks or crocodiles) in 1961.



Guadalcanal Diary - Jamboree. My favorite GD song. Not really sure why, but for some reason it really evokes fond memories of my carefree college days bumming around Ann Arbor.

The band's most critically acclaimed album was their 1984 debut, Walking In The Shadow Of The Big Man. Here are two from that album:

Guadalcanal Diary - Watusi Rodeo. This song really displays the band's quirky sense of humor, complete with surf guitar. It's about some cowboys who decide to stage a rodeo in the congo: "Oh they look like cows but they're water buffaloes, ropin' and a-riding in the Watusi Rodeo..." They don't write 'em like that anymore.

Guadalcanal Diary - Pillow Talk. This is a funny song about some poor guy who sits up at night and listens to his girlfriend talk in her sleep about all the other guys in town. He's bummed because she never mentions him, even out of "common courtesy."

One more quick story. A problem faced by Guadalcanal Diary, who hailed from Marietta, Georgia, were comparisons to R.E.M. This was probably due, in large part, to the fact that they came from the same state. Anyway, I feel a bit guilty because the only time I met Guadalcanal Diary (outside of Traxx Nightclub in Detroit, before a show they were playing with the True Believers), I was wearing an R.E.M. T-shirt. Nervous talking to my favorite band, I blurted out that I was a big fan of R.E.M. while pointing to my shirt. Duh! I wish I had explained to them that I only liked R.E.M. because they sounded like Guadalcanal Diary. Oh well.

Although the original vinyl is long out of print, you can buy both of these albums as a two-fer CD package here. It's well worth it, especially for the song "Trail of Tears," which I've left for some other day.

Those Jangly Eighties, Vol 2: The dB's

[For the background on this series, see here.]

Today's featured jangly rock band are The dB's of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (in particular, the Peter-Holsapple-era dBs).

The dB's formed in the late 1970s and released four nice power pop albums before disbanding. Key member Chris Stamey departed after two albums to pursue a solo career and produce records. This left a bigger role for Peter Holsapple as the new frontman. Holsapple created a poppier sound that I really enjoy. (He later went on to be part of R.E.M.'s touring band and contributed significantly to R.E.M.'s hit album Out Of Time.)

Read more about the dBs at all music.

My sentimental favorite dB's album is Like This from 1984. Check out this standout track about a hard-luck breakup:

The dB's - Amplifier (buy album).

I love how that one starts.

Similar in style was 1987's The Sound of Music, which is now out of print. Objectively, this album is probably even better than Like This, but I always seem to favor the first album I hear from a band. Try these tracks:

The dB's - Molly Says
The dB's - Never Before And Never Again (Guest vocals by Syd Straw. Also guesting on the album is the legendary Van Dyke Parks.)
The dB's - Working For Somebody Else

These lighthearted, catchy pop songs are what "indie" rock sounded like back in the 1980s. I like it a lot better than most of the dirge-like, self-important indie music we get these days.

Hopefully somebody will reissue The Sound Of Music. It deserves to be heard.

(I've got a vinyl copy autographed by the band at a 1987 show at Rick's Cafe in Ann Arbor. Holsapple wrote "Paul B. Careful" on my copy, which makes me think I might've been drinking at the time....)

Those Jangly Eighties: Lone Justice

About this series: When it comes to music, the 1980s don't get much respect. The 1950s saw the birth of rock and roll. The 1960s saw Dylan, the British invasion, and the Summer of Love. The now-fashionable 1970s saw glam rock, Zeppelin, and the punk revolution. Even the 1990s, the decade when most music bloggers came of age, saw grunge and the explosion of hip hop into the mainstream. So what do the 1980s have to offer?

Quite a lot, actually.

For starters, the 1980's gave us a bunch of fun pop acts like Cyndi Lauper, Culture Club, Men At Work, Men Without Hats, Toni Basil, Flock of Seagulls, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Pet Shop Boys, and Duran Duran. The top 40 was a wacky place back then! The 1980s also gave birth to rap music (Grandmaster Flash, Run DMC, the Beastie Boys, N.W.A., Public Enemy) and a handful of pop superstars (U2, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Prince).

But that's not what I'm here to talk about. This series is about my favorite part of the 1980s musical map: jangly rock. By this I mean rootsy guitar bands like The Replacements, Lone Justice, Hoodoo Gurus, Guadalcanal Diary, The dBs, R.E.M., The BoDeans, Green On Red, Jason & The Scorchers, X, Los Lobos, Wire Train, The Rave Ups, The Blasters, Camper Van Beethoven, Marti Jones, The Plimsouls, The Long Ryders, The Windbreakers, Rank & File, and The Beat Farmers. These bands fall into a number of discrete sub-genres with names like Jangle Pop, Cow Punk, Paisely Underground, Power Pop and College Rock, but I like to lump them all together as "jangly rock."

If you were to travel back in time to a college town like Ann Arbor or Athens circa 1985, you'd hear stuff like this "left of the dial." But jangly rock never got very popular. (The hits of R.E.M., 10,000 Maniacs, B-52s, and the Bangles came after those acts softened their sound.) Still, it was good stuff, and important too. The 1980s roots rockers were influenced by great artists like The Byrds, The Kinks, The Velvet Underground, The Stooges, Gram Parsons, Big Star, and The Sex Pistols. While most of the American jangly rock bands failed to reach the critical and popular heights of their influences, they paved the way for the more popular alternative (Pixies, Flaming Lips, Pavement, Nirvana) and alt-country (Uncle Tupelo, Whiskeytown, Old 97s) styles of the next decade. So jangly rock deserves attention. Plus, it's a lot of fun!

But enough of my yacking, let's get to the music.
The first featured band is Lone Justice from Los Angeles. They're not the most important band from the era, but they're a good example of the style I'm talking about (with a little extra country flair). The lead singer and star of the band was a young lady named Maria McKee (whose older half-brother penned the brilliant song "Alone Again or" for the band Love). Read about Lone Justice here.

Check out these tracks from their 1985 debut album, which was their best effort and is well worth owning:

Lone Justice - Pass It On (written by Maria McKee)
Lone Justice - Don't Toss Us Away (written by Bryan MacLean)

(buy album).

In addition to fronting Lone Justice, then 19-year old McKee also wrote a great pop song called "A Good Heart," which became a hit for Feargal Sharkey (ex Undertones). Here's a recent live version by Ms. McKee.

Maria McKee - A Good Heart (Live) (buy album).

If anybody has a copy of Sharkey's version, I would love to post it here. It's out of print now, but I remember it sounding pretty good to my young ears. [***Update: I found a copy. It REALLY sounds dated. All the 1980's cliches. Yikes!***]

Check back soon for Vol. 2! Also, I'm working on an exciting new feature called "Searching For Tom T. Hall..."