Recent Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Cheap Trick have been making music for over 40 years. Bang, Zoom Crazy Hello their 17th studio album is their first without co-founder Bun E. Carlos and first with Daxx Nielsen (son of guitarist Rick) is a very nice mix of everything that is great about the Trick.
This Record Store Day release offered the new 10” EP Found New Parts – a reference to their last 10” EP Found All The Parts. It's a four song-sampler from their new album. “When I Wake Up Tomorrow” sounds vocally like a David Bowie track and is a great recording. “No Direction Home” & “Do Yo Believe Me” reference Cheap Trick referencing The Beatles. “Arabesque” is repetitive and riffy and only appears on the Japanese version of the album.
The EP works as both a nice little sampler and a nice collectors piece for fans of the band.
Here's the video review:
Special thanks to: Bun E. Carlos and Big Machine Records.
This year's Record Store Day spawned a
number of interesting releases. One of which was Complete
Columbia
from Memphis, TN cult legends, Big Star. On April 25, 1993 Big Star
reunited to play at University Of Missouri. The band hadn't played
together since early 1975, and given Chilton's inclination to dismiss
the band in interviews it was surprising to even drummer Jody Stevens
that the reunion ever happened. Fortunately, it did. The two students
who were in charge of the Spring Fling concert at the University Of
Missouri were huge Big Star fans and called Jody Stephens, at Ardent
Studios (where Stephens still works). He agreed to do the show if
Chilton would. To everyone's surprise, Chilton agreed.
The
Posies' Jon Aur and Ken Stringfellow, filled in the line-up to
replace the late Chris Bell on guitar and the (now) late Andy Hummel
on bass, respectively. The band played a great, if sloppy,
performance. Legendary music journalist Bud Scoppa, a huge fan of the
band, was at this time head of A&R at Zoo Records, recorded the
show and it was released to favorable reviews. The album cover
artwork is something of a reference to the Radio
City
artwork and even features a photo from William Eggleston (who also
took the photo that adorns Radio
City).
The RSD release is the first domestic vinyl release of the album and
contains six additional bonus tracks from the show. Upping the number
of tracks to 21 over the 1993 CD's 14. It's an excellent and
must-have release of any Big Star fan.
I.R.S. Records was one of the most
influential American record labels of the New Wave era. International
Record Syndicate was the brainchild of Miles Copeland III (older
bother of Police drummer Stewart). Copeland founded the British
record labels Illegal Records and Faulty Products in 1977 and 1978,
respectively. He had previously established a relationship with A&M
Records and in 1979 along with Jay Boberg and Carlos Grasso, made a
deal with them to distribute IRS Records.
I.R.S. was responsible for exposing the
general public at large with the likes of The Go-Go's, The Cramps,
R.E.M., The Fleshtones, Wall Of Voodoo, The Buzzcocks, Oingo Boingo,
The Fall and countless other alternative music acts of the late
1970's and 1980's.
Released in 1981, I.R.S. Greatest Hits
Volume 2 & 3 is a double-album sampler of then-current
recordings, released on the label. It personally introduced me to
several bands when I first heard it. Namely The Cramps, The
Fleshtones, The Buzzcocks, The Damned and The Stranglers. The album
features two songs by Stewart Copeland's pseudonym while he was in
The Police, rare single tracks from both Squeeze and The Police. It
features notable entries from somewhat obscure acts like Humans,
Fashion, Skafish, Payoloa$ and Patrick D. Martin. It also features
curiosities from ex-Velvet Underground cellist John Cale, ex-Damned
guitarist Brian James, ex-Squeeze keyboardist/BBC personality Jools
Holland, and BBC6 personality Tom Robinson. It contains great songs
by The Buzzcocks, The Damned, The Fall, The Stranglers, The Cramps
and The Fleshtones.
The album is inconsistently excellent
and overall is a pretty good representation of the music that I.R.S.
Records. It was a pretty important album in shaping my own musical
tastes growing up. There can't be too many better albums of it's
kind. It's a great alternative music sampler of the early 1980's.
Highly Recommended!
Here's the video review (including an awesome K-Tel-esque commercial) :
