Doom & Gloom Dispatch #48: Don't Forget To Boogie
Emily Robb, Lou Reed, Slowdive, The Mountain Goats, Sonic Youth
Emily Robb - If I Am Misery Then Give Me Affection
Philly guitarist Emily Robb is back with another slab of unearthly (but also quite earthy somehow) six-string workouts. Robb’s sometime tourmate Rosali Middleman recently released a great collection of electric guitar instrumentals under the Edsel Axle moniker and If I Am Misery is a perfect chaser. The pieces here take great pleasure in the simple essentials — pure volume, amp buzz, feedback, raw melodies. Robb is a master at coaxing unusual sounds from her axe, always going in unexpected directions, but still remaining deeply rooted to the source. While this is a solo album, it definitely rocks — like a VU bootleg or a vintage PSF LP. Don’t forget to boogie.
Sad Song :: Lou Reed’s Berlin at 50
Rise and shine — it’s time to listen to Berlin! A Film For The Ear! The Sgt. Pepper Of The Seventies! Yes, Lou Reed’s monumentally depressing magnum opus was unleashed on an unsuspecting public 50 years ago this week … and I’m celebrating in style over on Aquarium Drunkard with a short essay and a re-imagined version of the LP, drawn from various live tapes and home recordings, stretching from the early 1970s to Lou’s final tour in 2012. I’m not going to say it’s a good time exactly … but it’s a time! Pour yourself some Dubbonet on ice and sing along to this sad song.
Intro / Berlin (Paris 1972 w/ John Cale) / Lady Day (Stockholm 1974) / Men of Good Fortune (NYC 2003) / Caroline Says I (Copenhagen 1973) / How Do You Think It Feels (Sydney 2007 w/ Sharon Jones) / Looking Through the Eyes of Love (aka Oh Jim) (Home Demo 1971) / Caroline Says II (Milan 1980) / The Kids (Boston 1997) / The Bed (LA 2003 w/ ANOHNI) / Sad Song (Bonn 2012) / Outro
Slowdive - The Roxy, Los Angeles, California, August 8, 1993
Thanks to a very kind soul, I’m going to see Slowdive this week in Denver — the show sold out almost immediately when tix went on sale a few months back and I missed out. But on Friday, against all odds, I’ll be floating away aboard the Souvlaki Space Station.
Slowdive’s return has been one of the nicer surprises of the last decade or so. I didn’t pay much attention to their first reunion LP initially, but when I finally did, I was blown away by how great it was, refining and re-imagining the elements that made them so special back in the day. And the latest one, the supremely dreamy Everything Is Alive, might be just as awesome. The world weariness and wooziness might be more well-suited to a group of middle-aged folks than twentysomethings. Whatever, Slowdive rules.
I’m prepping by listening to a vintage recording from just about 30 years ago — Slowdive on the Sunset Strip! Some very sweet, very loud renditions of the classics here, given an extra shot in the arm by the explosive rhythm section of Nick Chaplin and Simon Scott. The band was opening for Catherine Wheel, which is a nice double bill — I haven’t tracked down the Wheel’s set, but here they are on 120 Minutes a few weeks later. Crank it!
The Mountain Goats - Fast Forward II, Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands, April 22, 1995
My brother Nathan has been blogging up a storm over on his Dollar Bin site — he’s tackled Mickey Newbury, World Party, Emmylou Harris, Steeleye Span … all the greats! There was even a withering personal attack on yours truly in the Bob Dylan At Budokan entry. History will vindicate me, of course.
A recent Dollar Bin epic took us back to Pomona College during the heady mid-1990s daze, when Nathan found himself flipping burgers alongside none other than Mountain Goats mastermind John Darnielle. Go read it, it is a great tale. I remember Nathan bringing home the MGs’ then-new Sweden at some point and liking it quite a bit — though I’d certainly be lying if I thought that, in 2023, Darnielle would be playing sold-out shows to raving fans, hanging out with Broadway superstars and acting in a hit TV series. From boombox cassettes and the Pomona Coop to Poker Face, it’s been a wild ride.
As a little soundtrack to your Dollar Bin diversion, check out a tape from the Mountain Goats’ distant past, from right around the time John and Nathan’s paths crossed. It’s the primal duo MGs lineup, with Rachel Ware adding her great bass and backing vocals. Here, they’re playing a Dutch festival alongside such luminaries as Beck, Simon Joyner, Chris Knox and Robyn Hitchcock (you can check out several videos of these acts on YouTube). Get into the light where you belong.
Sonic Youth - Drum Logos, Fukuoka, Japan, February 24, 2001
The endless #SonicSummer rolls on! This week we’re back in Japan, as Sonic Youth was bringing the NYC Ghosts & Flowers era to a close. Once again, I’m struck by how absolutely sweet that LP's songs sound in a live setting — they really feel like living, breathing organisms, surging, swelling, transforming, transcending. The jammy sections of “Free City Rhymes” flow beautifully; the one-two punch of “Nevermind (What Was It Anyway)” and “Side2Side” is a kaleidoscopic trip; and the title track (here dedicated to the just-departed John Fahey) blossoms into a massive wall of scary/sublime noise, spirits rejoicing in sound.
The audience seems a little subdued — but maybe this is just a polite Japanese crowd. Thurston does lead them all into a rowdy chant for opening act OOIOO, however. Whatever, they’re treated to a great show; the older selections are very nice indeed — check out the wicked slide guitar that Jim O’Rourke adds to “Teenage Riot” or Lee’s raging vocal on “Mote,” a tune that is always welcome in setlists.
The encore features a rad exploration of “Lightnin’” ... who is that on the gloriously dubbed-out/delay-laden trumpet? Yoshimi?!! Maybe, I think she played trumpet on some old Boredoms records. If you were there let me know!
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From the Doom & Gloom Archives
Bob Dylan - The Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles, California, October 2, 1993
One from deep in the dark heart of Zimmy’s so-called Neverending Tour: a show, it just so happens, that I attended as a 14-year-old. To be honest, I remember more about the various teenage psychodramas taking place that night than I do the actual set – but listening to this fine recording almost 18 years later (holy shit), I can appreciate just how good a show it was.
Bob was co-billed with Santana, who played a slick, boring (if crowd-pleasing) set. Dylan was decidedly not slick – his band is particularly garage-y here, jamming out songs, stumbling over changes. But it’s actually exciting stuff – Dylan sounds inspired for the most part, hollering out lyrics, playing a lot of harmonica and cherrypicking some interesting tunes beyond the standard fare. “Born In Time,” “I & I,” “Gates of Eden,” “God Knows,” and the Nic Jones-derived “Jim Jones” are all given strong readings.
It was a weird period for Bob, the wilderness before his late career Time Out Of Mind/Love & Theft renaissance. You sort of got the feeling that no one really cared about him here, that he was just a washed up legend who people felt obligated to go check out. But God knows this show proves all of us wrong!
Currently Reading: The Man Who Went Up In Smoke by Maj Sjowall & Per Wahloo