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June 23, 2004
Royal Crown Revue - Greetings from Hollywood (Royal Crown Records)
By Lauren Isaacson
Ten years is a long time for a band. Ten years is enough time for a reunion let alone an anniversary, and in that time slick haired musicians have exited stage left, tattoos of then girlfriends were regretted, new musicians have entered stage right, and skills have been honed.
Usually one has to have an entire catalog of a band's music in order to really hear the progression and maturity that only miles of touring and hours of shows can produce, but the gentlemen of Royal Crown Revue have given their fans a gift of sorts - an entire album of snapshots in the form of song showing their growth from beginning, to middle, to present.
The first five songs digitally remastered from a tape that they released in 1994 featuring an early (and surprisingly different) version of "The Contender." The next two songs were recorded in 1998 on separate occasions. "Come Fly With Me" with a seventeen piece big band and "Hey Santa" recorded for a local radio station's Christmas Album (I'm still waiting for a swinging version of "Dreidel Dreidel"). The last eight were recorded in 2003/2004 with the present set of members and features the jazz standards that have become favorites for those who often see their shows. "Sunny Side of the Street," "Too Young," "Come Back to Sorrento," and my personal favorite, a sassy version of the late great Ray Charles song, "Sick and Tired."
Not only do you now not have to sneak your digital recorder into the Royal Crown's next show, but also they have supplied us with a plethora of bonus features rivaling any special edition DVD. Previously unreleased photos, the video for "Watts Local," a short biography of the band, and a few other tids and bits.
Now I will leave you to ask the burning question of the hour - Hey! When's the new stuff coming out?!
Posted by xx - Ms. Lauren - xx at 9:31 PM
June 21, 2004
Butterfly Boucher - Flutterby (A&M Records)
By Lauren Isaacson
I've had this CD sitting on my dresser for probably over two months now. Not because I didn't like it, just the opposite. Heck, I practically got down on my knees and begged Jen to let me review and I have no intention of selling it to the local second hand music store. It even has a permanent place on my CD ladder and my hard drive.
The reason(s) I have had so much trouble getting around to reviewing it is that it is a good album, and I am a procrastinator, and I'm having trouble coming to grips with the fact that I like an artist named "Butterfly Boucher." Really, what kind of name is that? It sounds like a female wrestler on La Lucha Va Voom.
I'm much better and being able to tell people why I don't like an album as opposed to why I do. But, I'll give it a try anyway:
This is the kind of CD a pair of well intentioned liberal parents would give their daughter before she left for college, along with a pack of condoms. My favorite song, "Another White Dash," is about the excitement of moving someplace new and starting all over with someone you love. Isn't that sweet? Then there's the New Agey tune about trees that dream of becoming boats and a bear that wants to become a poet's coat (wtf?!) called "A Beautiful Book." See what I mean? The perfect gift for that blossoming young woman about to make her mark on the world, or have sex for the first time; whichever comes first.
Sure the lyrics can get a little (or a lot) far out, but the tunes are solid and danceable, the rhythms are interesting, and Butterfly had a nice voice. Those elements combined make this worth an RIAA lawsuit. Download away!
Posted by xx - Ms. Lauren - xx at 8:49 PM
June 5, 2004
Circle Jerks, Throwrag, and Radio One at the Anaheim House of Blues - April 29, 2004
Circle Jerks,Throw Rag, Radio One
House of Blues, Anaheim
4/29/04
Throw Rag in one word: Sweaty. Of course, I mean that in the best of ways. At the House of Blues, Jacko appeared to be sporting a new washboard (yes, I notice things like this), and while I don’t love the House of Blues, half the fun of watching Throw Rag at a large all-ages venue is watching them incite a crowd as only Throw Rag can do. During the requisite washboard solo, they invited “Bob,” who appeared to be about 15 years old, on stage. I guarantee Bob’s life will never be quite the same, as he has now been reborn into some Hunter S. Thomspon-esque world of sweat and lights and rock n’ roll freakdaddy coolness. Highlights of the set included my favorite “old” song, “Only Drink on Days that End in Y” and my favorite new song, “Rule Breaker” along with some new songs, notably, “Danny Boy” and “Love Boat.” Throw Rag’s new songs are even harder and more rockin’ than their last two albums – think Motorhead meets the Cramps via Queen. And I love Queen. For their finale, of course, Captain Sean Doe stripped down to a Speedo and cape (this is an all-ages show, remember?) and did “Demons in a Row” and my other favorite song, “The Beast in Me.” (you know what? they’re all my favorite songs).
During the intermission, I quickly polled the folks around me, trying to find someone that had been there for the opening act. Finally I found someone: “Radio One? They sounded like the Hunns. Didn’t thrill me.” You heard it here first, folks.
The Circle Jerks came out and started with “All Wound Up.” I waxed philosophical, looking at the 30-somethings around me and wondering where any of us would be without the Circle Jerks in our life – me, Greg Tracy, Henry Rollins (well, he wasn’t actually there, but they did change his life). I have to think that this is a pretty amazing world we live in, a world where a bunch of 12-year-olds with Mohawks can worship a bunch of middle-aged hippy guys, old enough to be their fathers, and think nothing of it. I mean, am I the only one who sees a weird irony in a man who looks like your mom’s older brother (you know, that weird uncle you have) up on stage singing, “I Just Want Some Skank”?
In between songs, Keith gave the crowd a school lesson. David found this tedious and self-serving, but I think I know what Keith was doing – he was trying to get the kids to realize that the Circle Jerks are not the beginning – they are just one in a long line of bands that kids should go home and Google if they want to be well-versed in Punk. Keith also gave them some ground rules:
1. “Don’t spit on us. We’re human beings.”
2. “Honor your ancestors.”
And while the Circle Jerks played some of my favorite songs – are these considered their “hits”? – songs like “Deny Everything,” “Wild in the Streets, and “Red Tape – Keith’s asides between songs were some of the most enjoyable bits of the evening. “Do you have a curfew? Somewhere to be? Are your parents waiting for you in the parking lot?” All at once I flashed back to my first Circle Jerks show at the Whiskey a-Go-Go in the early 80s. I know it was the early 80s because I had a learner’s permit and not a driver’s license. A Goddamned learner’s permit! And this guy named “Fuzzy” was going to take me (he was a kind of hair-growing-out skinhead of the Richy Rich La Habra Heights type) when he suddenly called me up after school and said he couldn’t take me. I was so devastated; I remember crying to my dad, so my dad took me. He let me drive to L.A., so that I could get practice driving on the freeways, and when we got there, sat in a booth with me and my friend Sarah and bought us drinks (screwdrivers). Keith had just broken his leg in a fight, or fallen off a wall or something, so the show was kind of low energy, maybe even acoustic – someone will remember this and write to tell me about it. “Do you have a curfew? Somewhere to be?” Yes, Keith, I did. “Are your parents waiting for you in the parking lot?” You know it.
I am not sure that kids today understand the political climate in which many of the Circle Jerks’ songs were written. I am not sure that I understood them at the time. Sadly, I am not sure that the political climate has changed all that much, which is a scarier thought. Do kids today understand the punk anthems of the 80s? Do they understand the politics of the world they live in now? If they did, would they be able to sleep at night?
As the entire venue sang along with “World Up My Ass,” a salt-and-pepper haired punker turned to his friend wearing an unfortunate Bushmill’s jester hat: “I haven’t seen these guys since 86!” Salt-and-pepper punker exclaimed. “Do they look the same?” Mr. Bushmills’ Jester Hat wondered. “No man,” answered salt-and-pepper punker. Suddenly, a fight broke out next to me between two men who were old enough to know better. Security did a swan dive off the bar and dragged them both out the door. “I said, ‘do they look the same?’” yelled Bushmills-Jester-Hat. “No man, No way. That was the 80s.”
-- Review by Wanda
Posted by Ms. Jen at 7:18 PM
