Tag Archives: Omnivore

The Knack: Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun House

Knack_RockNRollFunHouseThe Knack capitalize on their catalog and live chops

After the Knack’s blazing success with 1979’s Get the Knack and its omnipresent single “My Sharona,” the band’s commercial fortunes quickly faded amid critical blowback. Two more albums and the band went its separate ways after 1981’s Round Trip. But there was too much chemistry – particularly on-stage – for them to remain apart, and the next decade saw reunions for tours and studio albums, two of which (Zoom and Normal as the Next Guy) are now joined in reissue by the group’s last recording project, 2001’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Fun House. They’d continue to tour until lead vocalist Doug Feiger’s passing in 2010, but this live-in-the-studio project was their last full project together, resulting in both a CD and DVD.

Recorded in a television studio, in front of a small audience of friends, family and fans, the group showed off the live show that had built the fan base that had launched their career. The song list is a well-crafted mix of hits, album tracks and a closing medley of “Tequila” and “Break on Through (to the Other Side)” that shows off the group’s sense of whimsy, musical reach and Berton Averre’s stellar lead guitar. The original fifteen tracks are augmented on this reissue by a pair of performances (“It’s Not Me” and “Seven Days of Heaven,” drawn from Normal as the Next Guy) that were left off the original CD. This may be an even better introduction to the Knack than a greatest hits album, since it highlights both their hits and stage show. Great for fans and newbies alike. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

The Knack’s Home Page

The Knack: Normal as the Next Guy

Knack_NormalAsTheNextGuyThe Knack’s third reunion album finds the flame still burning

After the blowback that greeted the meteoric success of “My Sharona” and Get the Knack, this Los Angeles pop quartet never fully recovered their commercial footing. Two more albums in two years, and they were gone; though not for good. They reunited for 1991’s Serious Fun, 1998’s Zoom and this final 2001 studio release. By this point the group was on its fifth drummer, David Henderson (as well as reteaming with their second drummer, Pat Torpey), but the core of lead vocalist Doug Feiger, guitarist Berton Averre and bassist Prescott Niles was still intact, as was Feiger and Averre’s songwriting, and Feiger’s youthful voice.

The material on their reunion albums had largely graduated from the leering of their early albums, and though they retained their pop sensibility to the end, they also expanded upon their power pop roots. In addition to the Byrdsian “It’s Not Me” and superb vocal harmony on a remake of “One Day at a Time,” there’s Oingo Boingo-styled post-punk in “Normal as the Next Guy,” country twang for “Spiritual Pursuit,” Steely Dan-styled jazz-pop on “Dance of Romance,” and a moody, full-on Beach Boys tribute, “The Man on the Beach.” The songs aren’t as uniformly ingratiating as the band’s previous reunion, but when they hit the pop-rock groove, they still take off.

Omnivore’s 2015 reissue adds three bonus tracks that feature Doug Feiger laying down songwriter demos with his acoustic guitar. All three make nice additions, but “Reason to Live,” is particularly revealing of Feiger’s emotional investment in his songwriting. The disc’s 12-page booklet includes liner notes by Lee Lodyga and Prescott Niles, and song notes by Niles and Averre. Though not the band’s best album, it’s a bit of a patchwork of songs written for the Knack and for non-Knack projects, there are enough Knack-tastic moments to make this an essential part of a fan’s collection. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

The Knack’s Home Page

Andrew Gold: The Late Show – Live 1978

AndrewGold_TheLateShowLive1978Not so lonely boy live in 1978

Despite his indelible 1977 hit “Lonely Boy,” Andrew Gold has still been heard by many more listeners than have heard of him. That’s because his own recordings (which include “Thank You For Being a Friend” before it was reworked as the theme of The Golden Girls, and the UK hit  “Never Let Her Slip Away”) never achieved the same level of immortality as the records he produced, arranged and played on for others. Notably, his work on Linda Ronstadt’s Heart Like a Wheel was elemental to the chart topping success of “You’re No Good” and its follow-up “When Will I Be Loved,” as was his presence in Ronstadt’s band on her memorable string of 1970s albums for Elektra/Asylum.

Gold was in demand as a musician throughout the mid-70s, augmenting his regular gig with Ronstadt by contributing to records by Maria Muldaur, Rita Coolidge, James Taylor, Carly Simon, Art Garfunkel, J.D. Souther, Carla Bonoff and many others. At the same time, he developed a solo career, and his second album, 1976’s What’s Wrong With This Picture?, yielded the semi-autobiographical chart hit “Lonely Boy,” which also led to increased touring opportunities. This live set was recorded on the closing night of Gold’s 1978 U.S. tour, performed in front of a wildly enthusiastic hometown audience at Hollywood’s Roxy Theatre.

By the time Gold returned to Los Angeles in April of 1978, his single “Thank You For Being a Friend” had been on the Billboard chart for six weeks, and his third album, All This and Heaven Too, had just been released. The setlist included his hits, album tracks from his first two albums, and a generous helping of material from his then-new release. He also reached back to two of his primary influences with rocking covers of Chuck Berry’s “Roll Over Beethoven” and the Beatles’ “Doctor Robert.” The latter, the only track here that’s been previously released, provides Gold and his longtime compatriot Bruce Walsh an opportunity to demonstrate their Lennon/McCartney vocal chops.

Gold’s band was hand-picked from the players he’d met in studios and on the road, and featured deep instrumental and vocal backing talent. By tour’s end they were a well-honed unit, playing the set with both precision and grace. Although you can find a few of Gold’s live performances on YouTube, only a few lives tracks have ever been officially released (and then as bonus tracks on reissues). Hearing a full set, recorded at the height of Gold’s powers, is a tremendous treat for his fans. Gold’s passing in 2011 closed the book on his catalog, but this crisply recorded live performance offers a fetching look back at a singer, songwriter, arranger, player and beloved bandleader whose talent vastly outpaced his personal fame. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Andrew Gold’s Home Page
Andrew Gold’s Soundcloud Page (featuring extensive vault material)

Translator: Sometimes People Forget

Translator_SometimesPeopleForgetA treasure trove of demos from 1980s powerhouse

Translator’s 1982 modern rock classic “Everywhere That I’m Not” turned out to be an ironic title, since it was itself everywhere. The record’s canny combination of an impassioned post-punk vocal, a singalong chorus and the rocket fuel of Columbia Records’ distribution network launched the single on both college and commercial radio. Translator formed in Los Angeles, but found their home on Howie Klein’s San Francisco-based 415 label, alongside Romeo Void, Wire Train and Red Rockers. The group’s debut, Heartbeats and Triggers, gained deep album play on college radio just as the medium was itself was gaining traction as a tastemaker. The band recorded three more albums, showing off talent and imagination that spanned well beyond their new wave breakthrough, but they never again caught the popular heat of their debut.

This volume of demos is centered around that key year of 1982, collecting early, pre-LP material from 1979, and extending through tracks recorded at the time of their self-titled third album in 1985. Most familiar to most listeners will be the demos of “Everywhere That I’m Not” and its album-mate “Necessary Spinning.” Each is surprisingly finished in its attitude and arrangement, sounding ready for both the studio and stage. The former is among four recordings by the original trio lineup, waxed before guitarist Robert Darlington joined the band. The band’s first two demos, “Translator” and “Lost,” show how the band merged rock ‘n’ roll roots – rockabilly, surf and mod – with a harder punk delivery. By 1980 the group had grown into the quartet that would stay together throughout their four 1980’s albums, and regroup for 2012’s Big Green Lawn.

The demos include material from each of those four original albums, including an early version of “Beyond Today,” titled “Get Out.” The demo’s raw sound – particularly its dry vocals – contrasts sharply with the album’s polished production; the original on-the-nose protest lyrics were smartly replaced by more open-ended, philosophical thoughts. In many cases, the album versions only lightly brushed up what was already in the demos, clarifying the acoustics, enlarging the drums and tightening the guitars. What will be especially interesting to fans are the songs that never made it past demo form, including the post-punk “Lost,” prog-rock “Fiendish Thingy,” punk rock “Optimism,” neo-psych “We Fell Away,” French language “My Restless Heart,” hard-rocking “Brouhaha” and the superb set closer “I’ll Be Your Summer.”

Those looking to expand on their memory of “Everywhere That I’m Not” should start with the group’s debut or a compilation of album tracks. But if you’ve already picked up the group’s catalog, this 22-track set, curated by Steve Barton, is a great place to continue. In addition to songs that never made it to a final studio version, the unrefined edges of the demos provide insight into the band’s vision of themselves. Better yet, several of the tracks were recorded live-in-the-studio, giving fans a chance to re-live the band’s stage dynamic. Translator’s breakthrough in the post-punk new wave era turns out to have been more a matter of timing than of musical destiny, as these demos show their range was a great deal wider than could make it on MTV or commercial radio. The disc’s 20-page booklet includes quotes from David Kahne, Ed Stasium, Steve Berlin and detailed liners by Steve Barton. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Steve Barton’s Home Page
Translator’s Home Page

Lloyd Cole: Standards

LloydCole_StandardsLloyd Cole renews his rock ‘n’ roll license

Thirty years into his career, Lloyd Cole can’t exactly “go” electric; that honor belongs to the Commotions’ 1984 debut, Rattlesnakes. But after a decade making what he terms “age appropriate music,” he’s “re-gone” electric with an album that reteams him with several players who help shape Cole’s 1990 solo debut, including Fred Maher on drums, Matthew Sweet on bass and Blair Brown on keyboard. Guitarist Robert Quine is missed from that lineup (having passed away in 2004), but Cole’s son Will, along with Mark Schwaber and Matt Cullen fill the guitar spot well.

You could call this a return to form, if the past decade’s acoustic work wasn’t such a pleasing form of its own; perhaps “welcome return” is more apt, given Cole’s previous forsaking of electric pop and rock. The group (which also includes Joan As Police Woman on piano and Michael Wyzik on percussion) sounds tighter than the 1990 aggregation as the album opens with its lone cover, John Hartford’s “California Earthquake.” Written for (and recorded by) Cass Elliott, Cole’s vision is more grittily determined, almost shell-shocked, with guitars that bring to mind the intertwining drone of Television.

Cole’s songs have always been literate and poetic, but often with strong narrative lines. The narration is fragmented in the scenes-from-a-college relationship “Women’s Studies” and the nostalgic “Period Piece.” The latter is sung as (rather than about) the Berlin Wall, and offers a first-person view of the wall’s existence and demise. The lyric’s mention of “Hansa” likely refers to the West Berlin Hansa recording studio, an easter egg that might escape many listeners’ notice.

Such references are easier to decipher in the Internet age, but you still have to recognize there’s something there to decode. The lyric “And I should be the one touched by your very presence, dear,” for example, will strike a chord with Blondie fans, yet seem wholly original to most everyone else. It’s really not cheating, since the original lyric is there to be found, and provides context to the astute listener. For each one you find, there are no doubt two more that pass you by.

Cole spends considerable time looking at relationships, including the tugs-of-war “Myrtle and Rose” and “Opposites Day,” and the dissolutions of “Silver Lake” and “No Truck.” The latter cleverly shifts the opening lyric’s acceptance (“don’t mind”) to the closing lyric’s expectation (“won’t mind”), as the narrator steadies himself for the exit. The album is filled with ambivalence in its knowledge of what needs-to-be butting heads with a sense of what’s possible. It’s encapsulated neatly in the paradoxical lyric “I can’t stay / But I can’t leave you like this.”

“Kids Today” takes an ironic stroll through the perils of bebop, heavy metal, rock ‘n’ roll, electric guitar, long hair, comic books, body art and decades of fashion as Cole realizes there’s nothing more wrong with the kids of today than the childhoods of his own generation. The album returns to failed relationships for “Diminished Ex,” admitting that “Maybe I aimed a little too high / No question that I failed in my endeavour,” and suggesting that Cole is coming to grips with a music career that’s rich in dedicated fans, but not worldwide hits. Lucky for him (and his fans), the lack of the latter won’t keep the former from embracing this superb album. [©2015 Hyperbolium]

Lloyd Cole’s Home Page

Scruffy the Cat: The Good Goodbye

ScruffyTheCat_TheGoodGoodbyeNot-so-scruffy odds & sods from 1980s indie-roots-rock legends

This late-80s Boston band barely managed to break beyond college radio adoration, but with their catalog back in print alongside this disc of previously unreleased demos, live-in-the-studio performances and unused session tracks, it’s a great opportunity for reappraisal. The group’s 1987 debut, Tiny Days, brought critical praise for its country-tinged Boston rock, while the less scruffy 1989 follow-up, Moons of Jupiter, garnered mixed reactions to its tighter productions and pop sounds. Whether or not the band was actively striving for broader success, this disc of material spanning the years before and after their formal releases demonstrates the many influences and broad aspirations that make them something of a Boston-based analog of NRBQ.

The band’s earliest tracks don’t evidence the overt country twang that would come shortly. “The Burning Cross” has a droning undertow that suggests Boston contemporaries like the Neats, as well as West Coast compatriots in the Paisley Underground. As the band developed, Stona Fitch’s banjo became a dominant flavor as songwriter and vocalist Charlie Chesterman even took to folk-country crooning for “Lover’s Day.” The group’s growing in interest in country sounds was inventively mated to surf harmonies for Leon Payne’s “Lost Highway,” and covers of Larry Williams’ “Slow Down” and Buddy Holly’s “Well… All Right” are given acoustic-roots twists.

The distance traveled from the garage-psych of 1984’s “The Ghost Psych” and the Beau Brummels’ inspired harmonies of “Tonight” to the horn- and organ-lined Memphis soul of 1989’s “Sweet News” isn’t as long as it might seem, and the path feels entirely organic. Though the latter sessions don’t exhibit the youthful abandon of the band’s earlier work, the barn-burning “I Knew That You Would,” powered by Burns Stanfield’s boogie-woogie piano, offers a return to the Boston club rock in which Scruffy steeped, and the closing “The Good Goodbye” shows off how seamlessly the band could combing its influences.

For a group with a small official catalog, their cache of odds & sods is impressive. Even better, Pete Weiss’ mastering of the disparate tape sources has sewn things together into a surprisingly consistent experience. The jump from 1985 (tracks 5-14) to 1989 and beyond (track 15 onward) leaves Scruffy’s commercial era unmined; perhaps nothing of value existed on tape, or the anthologizers felt the previously released recordings spoke best. Either way, what’s here neatly bookends Sony’s recent anthology, and offers a great spin for both Scruffy die-hards and those just seeking very fine 1980s indie-roots-pop. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Dream Syndicate: The Day Before Wine and Roses

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DreamSyndicate_TheDayBeforeWineAndRosesThe Dream Syndicate live in their early prime

Performed a week before laying down The Days of Wine and Roses, this September 1982 live set provides a career bookend to the Dream Syndicate’s 1989 set Live at Raji’s (and later expanded as The Complete Live at Raji’s). Recorded at Los Angeles radio station KPFK’s Studio Zzzz, the 2am start gave the paisley underground’s leading lights (including Green on Red, the Rain Parade and Bangles) an opportunity to attend, and all were treated to a band whose nine-month public career had quickly brought them to both artistic and critical prominence. The set list included all four titles from their debut EP, the title song of The Days of Wine and Roses, an early sketch of 1984’s “John Coltrane Stereo Blues” (under the title “Open Hour”), and covers of Buffalo Springfield, Bob Dylan and Donovan.

The band eases into the set with a sedate version of “Some Kinda Itch,” transforming the original’s frenetic energy into a relaxed Doors/Velvets-styled late-night jam. The set adds low-stringed weight with the band’s take on “Mr. Soul,” and really starts to gain momentum with “Sure Thing.” What listeners will quickly realize – and what the in-studio audience must have felt – is that this isn’t a simple recitation of the band’s catalog, but a carefully crafted live set. The playlist builds tension by allowing the tempo, volume and instrumental ferocity to surge and ebb, skillfully winding its way to the climactic debut of “The Days of Wine and Roses.” Throughout the evening (well, morning) Steve Wynn charms the audience with humor and an easy manner that belies his relatively few years in front of audiences.

The band gets stronger as the set progresses, and they rip into Dylan’s Bringing it All Back Home-era “Outlaw Blues” with Karl Precoda stressing his guitar in ways the folks at Newport could scarcely have imagined. That turns out to be only a warm-up, as “Open Hour” (in one of its first run-throughs) is stretched into an instrumental jam that showcases Precoda’s feedback-laced guitar work. “When You Smile” turns its melody into an atmospheric howl that underlines the song’s quiet introduction and portends the aural storm on the horizon. The set wraps with a primal eight-minute cover of “Season of the Witch,” and closes at 3am with Precoda’s guitar in full pyrotechnic glory for “The Days of Wine and Roses.”

More than thirty years later, the performances retain their power, and with added distance, the band sounds more apiece with their influences than derivative of them. Three of these tracks (“Some Kinda Itch,” “Sure Thing” and “Mr. Soul”) were previously released in 1983 as the B-side of a Rough Trade 12″, and the full show in 1995. But with both discs out of print, Omnivore’s reissue will be welcomed by long-time fans (including, it turns out, Steven Wynn himself), and a revelation to the uninitiated. Pat Thomas’ liners from the 1995 release are augmented by Steve Wynn’s memories of the songs, performances and people, fleshing out the story of how the Dream Syndicate’s passion was showcased live. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Dream Syndicate’s Home Page

Buck Owens: Buck ‘Em

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BuckOwens_BuckEm50 prime hits, B-sides, alternates, live tracks and rarities from 1955-1967

Proving himself as savvy in business as he was innovative in music, Buck Owens wrested control of his masters from Capitol Records in a 1970s legal battle. His ownership led to a CD reissue program on Sundazed that stretched from 1995 through 2005 and encompassed nearly two dozen original albums. Add to that multiple box sets [1 2 3 4], greatest hits discs, pre- and post-Capitol anthologies [1 2 3], and a collection of tunes recorded for Hee Haw, and you have to wonder if there’s anything left to say. The answer provided by this new double-disc set is a definitive yes. Compilation producer Patrick Milligan has done an expert job of assembling singles, album sides and rarities into a compelling fifty-track exposition of Buck Owens’ key years before and with Capitol. The set tells a familiar story, but with an idiosyncratic selection of tracks that deftly balances the many elements of Owens’ extensive catalog.

Starting with a few mid-50s sides for Pep, the collection traces Owens’ rapid evolution from a country singer with steel guitar, tinkling piano and fiddle to the king of an exciting new Bakersfield Sound. As Owens developed his unique brand of country music, the Buckaroos grew into one of the world’s premiere bands and live acts. With so many sides to their commercial success, it’s tricky to find a compelling point between the shorthand of a single-disc hits collection and a Bear Family-length box, but Omnivore’s done just that. The set succeeds by combining a well-selected helping of singles (both charting and non-charting), B-sides, live performances, duets, alternate and early takes, previously unreleased, unreleased-in-the-US and unreleased-on-CD tracks, stereo album cuts and appearances on rare compilation albums.

In addition to well-known hits rendered in their original radio-ready mono, the set includes the non-charting “Sweet Thing,” the B-side “Til These Dreams Come True,” and a sprightly early version of “Nobody’s Fool But Yours” that stands side-by-side with the better-known master. Other early versions are closer to the masters, but tentative and not yet fully gelled. It’s a treat to hear the works-in-progress and compare them to the refinements of the final takes. The early version of “My Heart Skips a Beat” is already a great song, but without Owens’ opening lyrical cadence and Mel Taylor’s tom-tom rolls, it’s not yet an indelible hit record. The alternate arrangement of “Where Does the Good Times Go” includes a happy-go-lucky string chart (courtesy of future Bread main man, David Gates) that was dropped from the final release.

By 1964 the classic Buckaroos lineup had solidified around Owens, Don Rich, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley and Willie Cantu, and it’s this group that powers the last three tracks of disc one, and all of disc two. The quintet punched up the beat for “Gonna Have Love,” “Before You Go” and “Getting Used to Loving You,” with guitars and drums that no longer held the line on “Opry polite.” The group’s live sound has been documented across more than a half-dozen live albums (including the legendary Carnegie Hall Concert, represented here by “Together Again” and “Buckaroo,” and In Japan! represented by “Adios, Farewell, Goodbye, Good Luck, So Long” and “We Were Made For Each Other”), but Omnivore’s dug deeper to pick up a 1963 Bakersfield performance of “Act Naturally” from the rare Capitol release Country Music Hootenanny, recorded in surprisingly clear stereo.

The song list is given mostly to Owens’ terrific originals (including the instrumental “Buck’s Polka,” with Owens picking lead), but adds a good helping of gems he selected from other songwriters’ catalogs, including Eddie McDuff and Orville Couch’s “Hello Trouble,” Tommy Collins’ “Down, Down, Down,” Red Simpson’s “Close Up the Honky Tonks,” Eddie Miller and Bob Morris “Playboy,” and Johnny Russell and Voni Morrison’s “Act Naturally.” Owens’ work as a duet singer is touched on briefly with Rose Maddox on “Sweethearts in Heaven,” but his more extensive collaboration with Susan Raye fell beyond the set’s designated ending point in 1967. The end of that year saw Willie Cantu leave the fold, and the classic lineup of the Buckaroos come to an end.

Owens and the Buckaroos continued to have both commercial and artistic success well into the mid-70s, when the death of Don Rich seems to have sidelined Owens’ initiative. With a wealth of post-67 hits and ever more far-reaching albums left to sample, hopefully Omnivore has a second volume up their sleeve. For the period they’ve selected, however, they’ve created a fresh view that expands upon shorter hits anthologies, but abbreviates the full albums into a compact telling of Owens’ most successful commercial period. There are too many essential hits missing for this to be a complete view of Owens’ genius, but as an introduction to his plain-spoken, naturally brilliant and stylistically diverse brand of country music, it’s a winner.

Those new to Owens’ catalog will be entranced by the ease with which he moved from tearful heartbreak to light-hearted humor. The album tracks don’t always match the “wow” of the missing hit singles, but they help paint the picture of an artist whose well of creativity was a great deal deeper than the two-and-a-half minutes radio would play. The accompanying 28-page booklet includes liner notes excerpted from Owens’ posthumously published, like-titled autobiography, along with several full-panel photos and cover reproductions. All of Owens other reissues – the hits collections, the box sets, the album catalog – are worth hearing, but if you want an affordable, compelling overview of his prime years, this is a great place to start. [©2014 Hyperbolium]

The Waitresses: Just Desserts – The Complete Waitresses

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Waitresses_JustDessertsYour order for a Waitresses catalog reissue has finally arrived

For those only acquainted with the Waitresses through media play, their career likely consists of “I Know What Boys Like,” “Christmas Wrapping” and “Square Pegs.” The first was their lone U.S. chart success, bubbling up to #62, gaining video airplay on MTV and becoming the band’s icon. The second charted in the UK, and its inclusion on the compilation A Christmas Record gained it additional turntable action in the states. The third was the title theme for a short-lived television show that’s now become an ’80s nostalgia favorite, Their debut album, Wasn’t Tomorrow Wonderful?, almost cracked the Top 40, a follow-up EP, I Could Rule the World if I Could Only Get the Parts, and LP, Bruisology, bubbled under the Top 100. Commercially, that was just about it, a small catalog over a few years, which makes the band’s longevity in listener’s memories all the more impressive.

The Waitresses grew out of an Akron, Ohio music scene that was spotlighted in 1978 by Stiff Records release of Devo’s “Be Stiff” and the multi-artist Akron Compilation. The latter featured three tracks by the Waitresses (“The Comb,” “Slide” and “Clones,” not included here) alongside several acts (Rachel Sweet, Tin Huey and Jane Aire) that would also get label deals. Songwriter Chris Butler was the engine behind both Tin Huey and the Waitresses, but vocalist Patty Donahue’s deadpan delivery gave the latter their signature sound. The Waitresses appeared on several more compilations (Bowling Balls from Hell, A Christmas Record and Bowling Balls from Hell II) and released “I Know What Boys Like” as an unsuccessful single in 1980 before stepping up to their 1982 debut LP. The LP showed Butler’s knack for writing in a 20-something female’s voice and Donahue’s convincing enactments to be a potent combination.

Butler wrote songs of women coming into their own; women gaining confidence, independence, introspection, wisdom, control and self-improvement, rather than girls wallowing in broken hearts, dependence or defeat. The group followed their first album with an EP that gathered together “Christmas Wrapping,” “Square Pegs” and its B-side “The Smartest Person I Know,” and added “Bread and Butter” and “I Could Rule the World if I Could Only Get the Parts.” The latter was a tight, ska-influenced live version of a song Butler had previously recorded with Tin Huey in a more Zappa-influenced style. Disc one closes with the funky, experimental instrumental “Hangover,” which had been released as the B-side of the 1983 UK reissue of “Christmas Wrapping.”

The set’s second disc opens with the group’s second and final album, continuing the self-empowered themes of their earlier releases, but with a darker, less naively buoyant tone. The group’s punchy mix of rock, ska, funk and jazz continued to read a line between almost-commercial pop and no-wave experimentalism. What becomes really clear is that the Waitresses were a lot deeper, musically and lyrically, than their novel hits suggested. Donahue left the band the following year and was briefly replaced by Holly Beth Vincent (late of Holly and the Italians), and though the former quickly returned, the band was essentially over by the end of 1984. Disc two adds remixed versions of “Bread and Butter” that were originally released as a DJ 12″. The two-disc set gathers together the band’s key releases, omitting only their pre-LP single, contributions to a few compilations, and a live set available separately from the King Biscuit Flower Hour. For those who’ve made do with original vinyl that’s long since shown its age, this is the replacement you’ve been waiting for. [©2013 Hyperbolium]

Chris Butler’s Blog

Don Rich: That Fiddlin’ Man

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DonRich_ThatFiddlinManThe Buckaroos’ main man steps to the front with his fiddle

Though it was Buck Owens’ name that appeared on the marquee, he’d have been the first to say that the marquees would have been a lot smaller without his right-hand man Don Rich leading the Buckaroos. Rich was an ace guitarist, harmony singer, songwriter and fiddler, and just as responsible for creating the Bakersfield Sound as Owens, Haggard or Wynn Stewart. Though he’s best known for his stinging Telecaster, he joined Buck Owens as a fiddler, and can be heard threading his strings around Owens’ vocals as early as 1961’s “Excuse Me (I Think I’ve Got a Heartache).” He’d pick up the lion’s share of the Buckaroos’ guitar work a couple of years later, but he never gave up the fiddle.

Rich cut albums backing Owens, with the Buckaroos and as a soloist, but this 1971 title is the only one to be released under his own name during his lifetime (a second album was posthumously released earlier this year as Don Rich Sings George Jones). The ten tracks were culled from previously released Owens and Buckaroos albums ranging from 1963’s On the Bandstand to 1970’s Boot Hill. The picks were surprisingly old-fashioned, with little of the kick that the Buckaroos brought to country music. Omnivore’s first-ever CD reissue adds ten more tracks drawn from similiar sources, but the selections highlight more of the Buckaroos’ instrumental sting. Rich’s fiddle is featured on each track, and his melodic lines are often drawn upon by the steel, dobro and guitar for their own spotlights.

Rich shows his fiddling prowess across a wide range of material and settings, with an especially evocative lead on the ballad “Faded Love” and a mid-tempo take on “Greensleeves” that may be the only version that invites you to two-step. Of the album’s original ten titles, Rich is especially fetching on the Louisiana-rooted numbers “Louisiana Waltz,” “Down on the Bayou” and “Cajun Fiddle.” Drawn from the Buckaroos’ most fertile period, these tracks find Rich backed by lineups that include Tom Brumley, Doyle Holly, Willie Cantu, Earle Poole Ball, Buddy Emmons, Doyle Curtsinger and Jerry Wiggins. Rich may be best remembered for his guitar and voice, but his fiddle was an important part of the Buckaroos’ sound, and here it’s given its just due. [©2013 Hyperbolium] Â