The Donnas: Spend The Night (Atlantic/2002)

Palo Alto, California's The Donnas started out as a fast pop punk outfit on Lookout! Records but transitioned into a Millennial female hard rock answer to Kiss, The Ramones and The Runaways. The bands'  fifth album Spend The Night, was also their most successful charting at # 62 on Billboards Top 200 chart. The Donnas delight in deliciously trashy fun with kick-filled songs about hooking-up with randos, getting high on the pot marijuana, drinking beer  - they actually reference Bud Dry on one song -  (FYI Bud Dry was the beer equivalent of Mötley Crüe) - and general rock and roll partying.

Guitarist Allison Robertson channels Ace Frehley, Keith Richards and Angus Young with relative ease and singer Brett Anderson is always convincing in her convictions.

Highlight include "Take Me To The Backseat", "It's On The Rocks", "Pass It Around" and "You Wanna Get Me High". Spend The Night also contains the bands two biggest hits; "Take It Off" which charted at # 17 on Billboard's Modern Rock Tracks and #31 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. "Who Invited You" charted on Billboards Hot Singles Sales chart. Both songs have been featured in a bunch of movies and television shows. "Too Bad About Your Girl" while never a commercially released single, had a promo video that received a ton of airplay on MTV at the time. The track "Big Rig" is a vinyl-only exclusive track.

The cover art features the girls ready to Spend The Night in a wood-paneled bedroom filled with all manner of 80's artifacts; Atari 2600 cartridges, a Colecovision game system, 8-Tracks cartridges on a CRT old-school monitor and Freddy Kruger are also present for the slumber party.

The album is unpretentious, trashy rock n roll fun.

Here's The Video Review:

Adam And The Ants: Kings Of The Wild Frontier (CBS/Sony/2016)

Kings Of The Wild Frontier was the album that started “Antmania” in the United Kingdom. It also contained “Dog Eat Dog” (UK #4), “Kings Of The Wild Frontier” (UK #2) and “”Antmusic”” (UK #2). The album itself reached #1 in the UK, #44 in the US and earned the band a BRIT award for Best Album and a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist.

It featured the Burundi dual drumming of Chris Hughes (aka Merrick) and Terry Lee Mail. The glam meets art rock guitar of Marco Pirroni. There's shades of Ennio Morricone all over the album and images of American Indian meets American Cowboy of the old West. All delivered in a knowingly cam, post-art school way. By all accounts it is a classic album.

Sony has just reissued the album on vinyl. It's absolutely 100% faithful to the original UK release. It even includes the Adam And The Ants Catalogue, which is basically an awesomely cool magazine all about the ants and features a ton of photos and paraphernalia of the time.

Highly recommended for all New Wave lovers. And loves of post-punk and garage too.

Special Thanks To Tee-Vee Game's Dave Rerecich.

And now, here's the video review:

Alex Chilton: Ocean Club '77 (Norton Records/2015)

In 1977, Alex Chilton was in a time of transition. The band he'd fronted as a teen idol The Box Tops broken up in 1970 and the Power Pop legends Big Star – the band that Chris Bell had formed with Alex, Andy Hummell and Jody Stevens - had broken up in early 1975. Chilton had just released the Singer Not The Song EP and to properly promote it he moved in New York. There he formed a band with Chris Stamey (later of the dB's) on bass and Lloyd Fonroff on drums. Later that year the band was known as Alex Chilton and the Cossacks and had Fran Kowolski on keyboards.

Ocean Club '77 is what might be dubbed an official bootleg. It was approved by the Chilton estate. It claims to be a soundboard show. Which it may well be, albeit a poorly-mic'd one. The cover art font doesn't do it any favors either. However, the packaging is nice enough, with nice liner notes as well.

The first thing you hear is Chilton ordering a “Canadian Whiskey & Coca Cola on the rocks” from the stage to the bar. So, immediately you know it's going to be a fairly loose affair. Which it is. Although, it's not too loose as the rhythm section of Stamey & Fonoroff are tight-enough.

The song selection is pretty wonderful. “September Gurls”, “In The Street”, “O My Soul”, “Way Out West” and “Back Of A Car” all get confident airings. The Third nugget “Nightime” does as well – a good year before it's release. “The Letter” gets a different, slower arrangement. “Can't Seem To Make You Mine” (a cover of the Seeds' classic), “Window's Hotel”, “All Of The Time”, “My Rival” and “She Might Look My Way” all of which appeared on the rejected Elektra Demos, are in fine form here. As well as covers of the rock classics “Memphis”, “Wouldn't It Be Nice”, Walk Don't Run” and Nelson Slater's Lou Reed-produced “Dominating Force”.

Definitely recommended for the Chiltonphile of Big Star devotee.  

Here's the very special video review version:

Special Thanks to: Ebet Roberts, Norton Records and Dave Rerecich for making me vanish at the end. Into thin air. 

Redd Kross: Hot Issue (Redd Kross Fashion Records/2016)

Hawthorne, California's Redd Kross were inactive for inactive for nearly ten years. After the band's tour for 1997's Show World, they quietly went on hiatus. Lead guitarist Eddie Kurdziel passed away of a heroin overdose in 1999. Jeff McDonald formed Ze Malibu Kids and Steve McDonald for the Steve McDonald Group. In 2006 the band formally reunited with classic Neurotica-era members Roy McDonald (no relation) and Robert Hecker. This band went on to record the critically acclaimed Researching The Blues album on Merge Records in 2012.

Throughout all of this activity/inactivity the band recorded a wealth of material. Some of which have included on Hot Issue, which is a self-released album in a limited edition of 500 copies. It comes in magazine-styled artwork and includes a download code.

Taking tracks that have been both previously released elsewhere and unreleased from various time periods and compiling them. The results could have been pretty scatter-shot, however the results make for a surprisingly cohesive listen.

“Switchblade Sister” was a single released in the UK, Spain and Canada in the Summer of 1993. By all rights, it probably should have been included on the band's Phaseshifter album, released that September. Roger Joseph Manning of Jellyfish co-produces and appears on “Born To Love You” (which was a free MP3 download in the early 2000's) and “It's A Scream” which appeared in the horror-spoof Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday The Thirteenth. “Starlust” appeared on the Jabberjaw compilation album. “Puss N Boots”, the New York Dolls cover, is from the 1981 Hell Comes To Your House comp, when the band was still known as Red Cross. “That Girl” originally appeared as the B-Side to the “Mess Around” single. “Motorboat” is a Kim Fowley cover that was on the SMG This Is Not A Revolution...This Is A Mass Awakening! EP. “Don't Take Your Baby Downtown” is the original version of “Stay Away From Downtown”.

If you're a fan of the Kross and can find it, by all means pick it up.  

Here's The Video Review:

Thanks to: Roger Joseph Manning Jr. Atomic Pop Monkey and Redd Kross,