Doom & Gloom Dispatch #23: It's A Good Planet
Slow Clarity, The Dream Syndicate, The Cramps, Bob Dylan, Shizuka
Slow Clarity - Holding Pattern
Steve Palmer and Matt Beachey have been making music together in various configurations for years, but the awesome Holding Pattern is the duo’s first Slow Clarity release in several years. What I like most about the LP is how raw and loose the 10 instrumental tracks here are, as though they’re being conjured up in real time (which occasionally may be the case). These guys aren’t afraid of a little woozy weirdness, with crackly production that leans toward the lower-fi end of things and arrangements that revel in unpolished unpredictability. Banjo, fingerpicked guitar, bass, harmonium and synth all come together and break apart, giving the album a wild beauty that recalls Sandy Bull’s most out moments. Genuinely adventurous and genuinely cool.
The Dream Syndicate - Crystal Ballroom, Somerville, Massachusetts, September 18, 2022
There’s a very expanded edition of The Days of Wine and Roses coming out in June — and it looks very cool, chock full of rarities and live jams. While we wait for that, let’s listen to this: Daniel Bourque’s fantastic tape of the reunited/reconfigured band in Somerville last year. A generous, two-set affair with one half devoted to new material and the other presenting a complete Wine and Roses run-through. Killer from start to finish (and with a very special guest towards the end) …
Dan’s show notes:
This was the fourth time I’ve had a chance to see The Dream Syndicate and it was great night all around. The band played two sets with a break and no opener: one of recent material and the second a full performance of The Days of Wine and Roses. The show took place at the Crystal Ballroom in Somerville with the band in great spirits as Steve Wynn bantered with the audience and reminisced about playing in and around Boston over the years. While the shows on this tour were meant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of The Days of Wine and Roses, the opening set is just as strong as the second, and the whole performance really rocks.
During the first set the band play songs exclusively from their post reunion records, leaning heavily on the recently released Ultraviolet Battle Hymns and Confessions. After “Out Of My Head” Steve asks if anyone in the audience saw Roxy Music the night before in Boston (I was there) and confesses to feeling jealous before introducing the other musicians. “We’re of course the opening band,” says Steve referring to the two-set structure of the show “we’re going to blow them off the stage — we saw their set, they’re playing a bunch of old songs so we can wipe the floor with them!”
Once the set is done there’s a short break before the band return to play The Days of Wine and Roses in full with a guest vocal from Thalia Zedek on “Too Little, Too Late” filling in for Kendra Smith. As an encore the band play a loose jam called “Open Hour” incorporating bits of “John Coltrane Stereo Blues,” “The Regulator” (from The Universe Inside) and “Morning Dew,” an often-covered folk ballad.
The Cramps - Toad’s Place, New Haven, Connecticut, February 20, 1992
Another trip back to Toad’s Place courtesy of the Alex Butterfield Archives (if you’ve been paying attention, Doom & Gloom has shared tapes of Richard Hell, The Feelies, Tom Verlaine, Elkhorn, Guided By Voices, Richard Thompson and many more from this rich trove). Here we’ve got the mighty Cramps transforming the New Haven club into a gloriously trashy dreamscape for 90 debauched minutes. Lux Interior rages like a madman while Poison Ivy gives a master class in rock n roll guitar. This is a band that knew exactly what they wanted to do and did it with a passionate intensity. And it seems like they had a lot of fun along the way.
Lux Says: We’re just people who remain ever curious. We’re just attracted to whatever comes in handy. Again, like the Surrealists, anything you run across is actually beautiful; within a single city block, you find miraculous things. It’s a good planet — and good things can happen. People think that we’re funny. I kind of feel sorry for them, because it means that they think it’s a joke. We’ve spent our lives searching out incredibly wonderful things that most folks just don’t know about yet.
Bob Dylan - The Power & The Glory (A 2022 Touring Year Story)
Bob Dylan kicks off another leg of the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour this week in Osaka, Japan. Will he playing a totally revamped set? I’m guessing no, but who the hell knows? (Edit: It is the same set, but there’s a new drummer! That’s something.) Meanwhile, I’m going to start spreading the rumor that Bob will almost certainly be releasing an album of new material in 2023. I have nothing, absolutely nothing, to back this up, but I’m just going to try to manifest it. Manifest with me, people!
To get psyched for more live Dylan, check out this very very nice compilation of audience recordings from last year’s shows, gathering some highlights and rarities — like Bob’s Jerry Lee Lewis tribute in Dublin or the very rowdy “Friend of the Devil” in San Francisco. And is that a little Twin Peaks theme I’m hearing inserted into “Key West” from March 6??? Prove me wrong!
Another way to get psyched: check out James Adams’ new episode of the Pretty Good Stuff series on Aquarium Drunkard. This latest hour features some of Bob’s finest performances in Japan from over the decades. I was particularly blown away by the 1994 rendition of “What Good Am I?” — a truly outrageous and amazing vocal on that one.
One more thing! Last year, I wrote a review of the Dylan show I caught in San Diego, which for one reason or another, was never published. Here it is, plus a recording of the show, as an incredibly special treat for you Doom & Gloomsters.
Bob Dylan - San Diego Civic Theatre, San Diego, California, June 17, 2022
You couldn’t count on much over the past 30+ years, but you could usually assume that Bob Dylan was somewhere out there, still on the road, perpetually headed for another joint. But the bewildering pandemic year of 2020 brought it all to a shuddering halt, causing the longest break in Dylan’s relentless live performance schedule since the mid-1980s. Bobcats across the globe had to ask themselves that tough question: Was the Never Ending Tour finally … ending?
Of course not. Or at least not yet. In late 2021, Dylan kicked off the Rough and Rowdy Ways World Wide Tour, which promises to stretch into 2024 — an ambitious span of time in an increasingly unpredictable decade. What keeps him going? One can only assume that, at this point, Bob doesn’t need the cash (if he ever really did). In his own eccentric way, he must still be interested in connecting with audiences, sharing his songs, reveling in the power that this music delivers. And maybe, just like the rest of us, the various COVID-19 lockdowns made Dylan a little stir-crazy.
Whatever his reasoning may be, there was a tingling sense of anticipation in the air when the lights went down at the San Diego Civic Theatre this past June. The songwriter’s advanced age (he turned 81 in May) and the still precarious nature of live shows these days makes Dylan’s continuing presence feel all the more precious. And to be sure, when you got your first glimpse of the man — looking a little frail, a tad ghostly — your first thoughts were of his (and perhaps your own) all-too-human mortality. As he sang later: “I’ve already outlived my life by far.” But Dylan refused to let us wallow. Instead, he kicked off the show with a long, occasionally shambolic, guitar solo over a sweet, bluesy shuffle. As it rambled on — and on! — you couldn’t help but grin. Never mind mortality — this Nobel Prize winner still just loves to jam.
“What’s the matter with me? I don’t have much to say,” were the first words Dylan growled this evening — the opening lines of 1971’s “Watching The River Flow.” But they were sung with a wink. As proven by his 2020 masterpiece Rough And Rowdy Ways, Dylan still has plenty to say. The San Diego setlist (which rarely changed from night to night during this spring/summer jaunt) was dominated by numbers from the album — the only tune missing was “Murder Most Foul” (which Dylan likely thinks of as a separate piece altogether). It’s a daring move. Bob has never been of the McCartney school — you’re never guaranteed to hear the hits at a Dylan show. But he hasn’t played shows so heavily tilted towards new material since the “born again” days of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
The gambit paid off. The Rough And Rowdy Ways numbers were captivating, from the hushed majesty of “I Contain Multitudes” to the deep blues crawl of “Crossing The Rubicon,” each moment filled with drama and gravitas. Dylan’s vocals sounded magnificent and clear; those Sinatra records from the last decade seem to have made him rethink his approach, with fantastic results. The sweet croon he slipped into on a ravishing “I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You” was positively breathtaking, as he held dangerously long notes, the music breaking down beautifully behind him. On the other end of the spectrum, “My Own Version Of You” was a harrowing ride, Dylan relishing the song’s increasingly grotesque imagery. And even though the new stuff is relatively fresh from his pen, Dylan typically couldn’t help toying with an arrangement or two: “Key West (Philosopher Pirate)” was reinvented entirely with a curious chord structure and bewitching vocal that traded the studio version’s apocalyptic dread for a more open-ended playfulness.
The band here (stalwart bassist Tony Garnier, guitarists Bob Britt and Doug Lancio, multi-instrumentalist Donnie Herron and drummer Charley Drayton) deserves special credit. There was rarely a lead voice breaking out in the mix — save for Dylan’s nervous, Monk-ish piano solos. Instead, there was a cohesive collective synergy, instruments interlocking, rising and falling in unison. The result was a kind of richly textured minimalist blues rock, free of cliché, zero fat on the bone. Occasionally, Dylan would pick out a hypnotic riff and his musicians would circle it patiently, adding subtle colorings around the edges. Occasionally, they’d drop out entirely, as with the almost a capella intro to “Gotta Serve Somebody,” which gave Dylan plenty of space to play around in before the song kicked into a full-tilt boogie.
Bob’s chatter was limited to a brief but hearty band introduction towards the end, but he wasn’t entirely uncommunicative. Several times in-between songs, he’d step out from behind his upright piano, put a hand on his hip, cock his head and fix the crowd with a quizzical stare. Was he soaking in the applause? Trying to get a sense of who his audience is in 2022? Just letting us all get a good look at him? Maybe all of the above — but most of all, it seemed as though Dylan was silently asking, once again, after all these years: “How does it feel?”
Over on Aquarium Drunkard this week, I wrote a quick thing about the new reissue of Shizuka's only studio LP, the truly divine Heavenly Persona. I’d only heard one or two songs from this moody Japanese psych band previously, but I've fallen in love with their beautifully broken balladry and insanely burnt guitar work. Awkward but accurate: “Try to imagine Les Rallizes Dénudés making a record with Hope Sandoval and you’re somewhere in the ballpark.” Throw in a little Galaxie 500, too? Anyway, a very killer record, presented with over-the-top love and care by the Black Editions label.
Of course, I had to seek out more Shizuka! So here’s a great video of the band in 1993. Just a single camera, but the taper knows what he or she is doing, capturing the band and its atmospheric stage set perfectly. Stick around after the set for a look at some creepy dolls, made by Shizuka Miura herself.
From The Doom & Gloom Archives
Stephen Malkmus & The Jicks - Graceland, Seattle, Washington, June 1, 2002
Over on Twitter, Barry asked if I had a tape of a Jicks show that he had attended way back in 2002. Lo and behold, I did! I had forgotten about it, but it is very very good — and now you get to hear it, too. SM and the Jicks were in the midst of making Pig Lib, and they debut a good chunk of that excellent album during a freewheeling set. Plenty of rarely played numbers — "Fractions and Feelings,“ "Dynamic Calories,” a cover of the soft rock nugget “Third Rate Romance,” and even a lost tune (I think) entitled “I Think We Set Our Sights Too High.” Nice.
Throughout, the Jicks hit the sweet spot between well-rehearsed and very very loose, making for an extremely fun listen, with a lot of Malkmus guitar heroics — check out the soaring solos on “Church On White” and “One Percent of One.” The whole thing falls apart marvelously at the end when SM takes over on drums and John Moen takes to the mic for a medley of “Satellite of Love” > “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere” > “Let’s Spend The Night Together.” Times are gonna change, you will be amazed.
Currently Reading: The Curse of the Marquis de Sade by Joel Warner