SONG OF THE WEEK: “World Up My Ass” — The Circle Jerks

The Supersuckers
Live In Anaheim (DVD)
Mid-Fi Field Recordings, Vol. 3
(Mid-Fi Field Recordings, 2004)

Eddie Spaghetti, Rontrose Heathman, Dan “Thunder” Bolton, and drummer Mike Murderburger lay down all the expected Supersucker pandemonium during this fast-paced, blistering, live rock ’n’ roll stage performance, recorded during a whirlwind recent tour at both The House Of Blues and The Casbah clubs. Here you’ll find fiery readings of a whole passel of your faves, including “Pretty Fucked Up” (“... she used to be pretty, but now she’s pretty fucked up ...”), “I Want The Drugs,” “Bad, Bad, Bad,” “One Cigarette Away,” and the by-now classic “Born With A Tail.” All silliness aside (which is hard to do, considering the fact that the band gleefully mocks itself at every available turn—I mean, come on, Eddie Spaghetti? Snobs these cats are not.), this is one outfit that, despite a Minute Man-ish devotion to road life, complete ignorance of their material by radio and conventional TV, and an unhealthy predilection for the very essence of sin, have managed to overcome the cheesy pitfalls that destroy many a band and morph into one of the tightest rock combos you’ll find working the circuit today. Bonuses include a hilarious self-interview of the ’Suckers by Spaghetti (he asks each member, including a “trick photog” version of himself, two questions: “If you could have one of two superpowers—being able to fly, or being invisible—which would it be? And would you use the power for good or evil?”) as well as a free audio CD of a country show, which includes the tracks “Dead In The Water,” “Double Wide,” “Creepy Jackalope Eye,” and an absolutely amazing rendition of The Commodores’ “Sail On.” A must-have for fans, and a great introduction to a band that’s not afraid to howl: “You know, I’m in league with Satan/And you know, there can be no debatin’/My hell-bound trail/I was born with a tail...” Long live the Supersuckers!!

Margaret Barry
I Sang Through The Fairs
(Rounder Records, 2004)

The life and times of Irish street singer Margaret Barry are celebrated on this new release from The Alan Lomax Collection’s Portrait Series, which focuses on in-depth studies of folk artists the late musicologist recorded around the world. Barry, who’s usually labeled “traditional,” here displays some of the wide-ranging and deeply profound influences that led to her musical career. Smart, candid photos and lovingly-penned liner notes accompany this package, and would be worth the cover price without the accompanying CD. Thankfully, the whole story, both audio and visual, is here for your information and enjoyment. Fiercely loyal to family and friends, Barry took a great deal of inspiration from her relatives and ancestors, bringing new life to ancient Irish folk ballads as well as spinning the yarns of her own childhood, youth and adulthood into fantastic, banjo-augmented story-songs. Intermittent interview segments with Lomax reveal a gentle, dream-inspired soul beneath the coarse, outer pub-singer persona she adopted to survive. From the heartbreaking opening notes of “My Lagan-Love” to the intricate, slide-like strumming of “Me Mother Is Dying,” right through to the spoken-word intro to the title track (“My heart was delighted when I went through the fairs ... and then, it’s not alone that I used to do it,” she winks in her thick brogue, and you just want to hear her reminisce and rattle on all night long ...), this collection truly brings to life not only the fascinating musical world of Barry, but preserves for all time a huge chunk of Irish pop culture/folk history. Though she passed on in 1989, she leaves behind a monumental contribution to music, her one true love. In 1953, she’d composed her own epitaph, a paragraph that encapsulates both the essence of her own life and that of many of her devout fans: “The thing is, I never was really in love. Only with one thing—that was singing and music...I’m sure you’ve traveled a lot of the country. Yet you never met anyone like me—that could say I never loved a man—only the one thing I’m in love with, and that’s the music.” Amen.

The Tragically Hip
In Between Evolution
(Zoe Records, 2004)

Canadian rockers The Tragically Hip may still be best known to commercial radio listeners as those Canuck one-hit wonders who scraped the charts back in the day with the catchy, jangly FM nugget “New Orleans Is Sinkin’,” but to those in the know, this hard-scrabble northern quintet have quite a respectable back catalog and inevitably deliver one-two punch live gigs that never fail to please. Robby Baker, Gordon Downie, Johnny Fay, Paul Langlois and Gord Sinclair have been touring and recording for over two decades now, and that dedication shines through on In Between Evolution, their recent, Adam Kaspar (Foo Fighters, Queens Of The Stone Age, Pearl Jam)-produced effort. As Kaspar so astutely notes in the band’s press kit, “If the Rolling Stones and REM were to have sex, the result would be a five-headed baby called the Tragically Hip.” And they prove it right off the bat, with the gut-churning, power-chord-laden opener, “Heaven Is A Better Place Today.” And the rock just keeps a rollin’: “Summer’s Killing Us” slams out into the ether with a crash of the cymbals, the pound of the toms, and Downie yelping, “Summer’s killing us, it’s just sing, sing, sing all day/It’s as if summer just exists in her praises...” “Nashville Every Night” eases in like a half-lidded stoner buddy edging up to the bar next to you: “He said, fuck this, and fuck that/And this guy’s the diplomat/Stares into the blur of the tuner lights/It can’t be Nashville every night ...” and “New Orleans Is Beat” finally addresses that ol’ one-hit wonder with a gorgeous, starry-night elegy that puts anything the aforementioned REM have done in over a decade to shame: “Your smile is fading a bit so I ration it/Don’t think about it/Here where the Mississippi quits/Where it’s still got a bit of Minnesota in it...and if New Orleans is beat, where’s that leave you and me?” If The Tragically Hip are still In Between Evolution, I can’t wait to hear the fully realized beast that’s surely lurking inside this rock ’n’ roll animal. Great stuff.

East Virginia Blues
The Secret History Of Rock And Roll
When The Sun Goes Down Series
(Bluebird/BMG - 2004)

This collection of original or very early versions of classic Appalachian and honky tonk songs, many of which were later covered by such musical luminaries as Johnny Cash, Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Kurt Cobain and Bob Dylan, showcases some of America’s most vital, influential music. From the obvious (The Carter Family, covering the title track) to the curious (The Blue Sky Boys’ rendition of “In The Hills Of Roane County,” a true story about a family murder in Roane County, Tennessee), to the essential (The Hall Brothers’ 1938 take on “Constant Sorrow,” a cut which presaged the better-known Stanley Brothers version by 10 years, and J.E. Mainer’s Mountaineer’s early run-through of “The Longest Train,” which eventually became the “In The Pines” of Leadbelly/Cobain fame), this collection is well worth the duckets for any serious music collector. The factoids and accompanying photos make for interesting and eyebrow-raising perusal—particularly the sometimes grim and gruesome details behind such standards as “Tom Dooley,” “Frankie And Johnny,” and “Wreck Of The Old 97”—and the superior production here provide both a wonderful visual and a satisfying audio experience. It’s kinda like kindergarten in the School Of Rock, dude. You won’t know what’s going on in sixth grade when you plug that electric twanger in if’n you don’t pay attention to your lessons now ...

That’s it for me this week, gang. Tune in next time for more new CD/DVD reviews. Until we meet again—make yer own damn news.||

If you have local music news, gigs, CDs you’d like to see mentioned in this column, or you’d just like to bama lama lama my wama jama sometime, send replies to: (temporary e-mail) jamescrouch_1@juno.com.