King Missile: Bowery Electric, New York, NY (9/15/2017)

My first exposure to New York band King Missile was via the Video Jukebox Network. The video for "My Heart Is A Flower" from The Way To Salvation converted me fairly easily. I went out and bought the cassette not too long afterwards. I took my time in investigating their back catalog and the next thing I knew Happy Hour (which is approximately 60 minutes in length) was released. Happy Hour featured the major MTV hit "Detachable Penis" and the minor MTV hit "Martin Scorsese". After 1994's King Missile I kind of checked out and was basically done with King Missile. So was lead singer John S. Hall apparently, as the band broke up not too long after this album. 

Since the breakup of King Missile, Hall went to law school and is now an Intellectual Property Analyst. He also formed King Missile III and King Missile IV and released records under that moniker as well. The current incarnation of KM feature longtime members Dave Rick on guitar and Roger Murdoch on drums (apparently keyboardist Chris Xefos does in fact play with the band when he's on the East Coast as he lives in California now). So, King Missile is basically a hobby for Hall and his bandmates. 

The sound at Bowery Electric is, like any teeny-tiny venue, hit or miss. The band themselves sounded fine. Hall's vocals were kind of drowned-out in the din. From where I was standing - front and center - I had to strain to hear him. That said, he made the best of the situation, freely roaming into the audience and interacting with the patrons, mid-song.  

The band tackled many a classic from the Shimmy Disc years ("Sensitive Artist", "Take Stuff From Work" and "Jesus Was Way Cool") and classics from the Atlantic years ("My Heart Is A Flower", "Detachable Penis", "Socks" and "Martin Scorsese"). They tackled items they've covered on record ("Mr. Johnson" and "Betrayal Takes Two") as well as covers by local legends ("Rockaway Beach"by The Ramones and "Gratitude" by Beastie Boys) . They ended the show with a cover of The Buzzcocks' "What Do I Get". 

Despite the wonky sound and the somewhat halfheartedness of the entire performance, it was a fun show. It was nice to finally see the band as I'd never seen gotten around to seeing any incarnation of King Missile. I got to meet John before the show and buy a copy of the new KMIV disc (This Fuckin' Guy); he's very approachable and makes himself very available to his people. 

An entertaining show.

Adam Ant: The Beacon Theater, New York, NY 9/13/2017 Anthems: The Singles Tour 2017

Since 2013, Adam Ant has made something of a comeback. He released his first album since 1995's Wonderful - the very fine Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter album, toured the UK in celebration of the reissue of Dirk Wears White Sox, embarked on a world tour to celebrate the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Ants' basically perfect Kings Of The Wild Frontier album, and now he's on his Anthems: The Singles Tour.

His Anthems tour is basically the vast majority of his singles and a good portion of his best B-Sides. I'd seen Adam on tour earlier this year, so I knew what to expect in terms of his live band (he's got a cracking band that actually sound like a real band and not just backing musicians - Will Crewdson is an excellent lead guitarist and the two drummers are perfect - especially Jola). Adam himself has a lot more energy than one would expect from someone who's been through the Punk wars of 1977. He didn't disappoint on this night either.

The twenty-five song set was basically an Ant-fans dream set. The band opened with a fiery rendition of "Beat My Guest" and the show never really let up. Early singles "Young Parisians" (and its B-Side "Lady"), "Zerox" and "Car Trouble" all earned enthusiastic responses. Adam ran through plenty of obscure B-Sides such as "Greta X", "Christian D'Or" and "B-Side Baby". It was certainly nice to hear Adam perform hits that he doesn't do very often (excepting this tour) like "Apollo 9", "Can't Set Rules About Love" and "Puss N Boots". The ebbs and flows of the set felt fairly natural/organic with the energy level boosting up several notches on "Friend Or Foe" (which sounded amazing live, and truly benefited from having two drummers) and on "Kings Of The Wild Frontier" - which seemed to get the entire audience up and moving in a speaking in tongues sort of way.

Of course, Adam and his band performed the staples "Stand And Deliver", "Vive Le Rock", "Antmusic" and "Goody Two Shoes" all to the expected fervent response.

The only singles Adam didn't tackle were "Ant Rap" (for obvious reasons...Marco, Merrick, Terry Lee and Gary Tibbs were not on tour with "Yours Truly"), "Deutscher Girls", "Rough Stuff" and the US Top 40 single "Wonderful". None of which were missed too greatly.

I was basically a spoiled Antfan on this night - as I'd had my VIP package (which included a T-Shirt, a bandanna, buttons/badges, a tote bag and a numbered, limited edition autographed poster). Not to mention my eighth-row seat and sterling companionship.

Opening for Adam were the Glam Skanks. They're a quartet from LA who come off like a television producers dream of an a homogenized version of The Runaways. Their material didn't really resonate with me at all (it felt very affected and faux to put it lightly...very LA, very plastic). Their sound in terms of the house engineer and the room itself was fine though. About 3/4 through Adam's set, it was slightly overloaded and louder, which was basically unnecessary. The Beacon is a great sounding theater and really needs no help in terms of artificial loud sounds via the sound engineer. But I digress.

A great night.

Hüsker Dü: Candy Apple Grey (Warner Brothers/1986)

Hüsker Dü's fifth album Candy Apple Grey is their major-label debut for Warner Brothers. The band released three albums and an EP for legendary indie SST signing a lucrative deal with Warners in 1985. There isn't anything on the album that screams sell-out; it was produced by Grant Hart and Bob Mould, recorded in Minneapolis, and contains the same approach as Flip Your Wig does.

The album starts off with the Mould scream-fest of “Crystal” which clearly indicates the band isn't going soft just because their sudden major-label status. The albums two singles are both written by Hart and they are absolute classics; “Don't Want To Know If You Are Lonely” is a perfect kiss-off pop song and even charted at number 96 on the UK singles chart. It was later covered by Green Day and is featured in the series Halt And Catch Fire and the film Adventureland. “Sorry Somehow” features mournful minor-key organ and a mid-tempo arrangement.

“I Don't Know For Sure” sounds like Mould was trying to rewrite “Makes No Sense At All” and Hart's “Dead Set On Destruction” doesn't really go anywhere memorable. “Eiffel Tower High” references getting high and going to the movies and “All This I've Done For You” is a perfect slice of Du PopPunk. The album features three acoustic classics;“Hardly Getting Over It” which deals with death in a mature, thoughtful way, “No Promise Have I Made” a stately piano piece that is a nice lyrical example of what makes Grant Hart such a special songwriter and “Too Far Down” is a Mould song that is almost a blueprint for his solo work. All three work well within the cold, Wintery-feel that pervades the album as a whole.

The album was well-recieved at the time by the mainstream music press but was generally snubbed by the bands hardcore following. It charted at a dismal 140 in the Billboard Top 200. It is generally overlooked after the acknowledged classic trilogy of Zen Arcade, New Day Rising and Flip Your Wig.

It certainly deserves wider-currency.

Here's the video review: