Well, amidst the celebrations of The Ramones I recently finished up the YouTube video channels for both The Norliss Tapes and Call Me Greenhorn. Tons of goodies – yeah, well, close to tens at least – and it’s been a while since I saw them and I think they still hold up. The video for Tipsy is pretty darn funny, but hey, who doesn’t love drunken monkeys?
Well, here we go with the nice bit of news I just didn’t have time to write about yesterday on account of working on Call Me Greenhorn‘s Thermal Radiation Overload for the upcoming In Space EP. Recently I sent off a brief email to the great blog/podcast/radio show Project Moonbase telling them about the (then) new rough mix track In Space on Soundcloud, and the following day I receive a notification they’ve added me to their follow list. Yay! Imagine that, a GOOD stalker, ha ha ha. And if any of you guys are reading this: Lemme know if you want me to send something and I’ll get right to it!
Anyway, a great thing about that site is the ability to show/share whatever sounds you’ve found and enjoy yourself to the people that are looking you up. This is kinda like back in the day when the guy behind the counter of your local record store actually knew something about music and could hep you to other bands that you might enjoy. “You like The Ramones, kid? Might wanna check out Buzzcocks and The Boys as well!” And that’s something I really miss with most of the online audio sharing sites available today.
So, I immediately decided to check out what other artists they’re keeping an eye on, just ’cause I’m such a huge music nerd, and – good or bad – there’s always something beneficial of hearing new music, whatever you might think of it. The main focus is on electronic sounds, and here’s my personal list of the ten artists I found and enjoyed – and yes, I am fully aware that Giorgio Tucci‘s score for Lucio Fulci‘s gore fest Zombie Flesh Eaters was recorded in 1979, but it’s so damn cool Death Waltz Recording Company reissues these old horror soundtracks on vinyl!
Holy moly, this is just amazing! By sheer coincidence (and dumb luck) I stumbled across The New Piccadillys doing a brilliant Merseybeat version of The Ramones classic Judy is a Punk! Perfectly executed with a nice video I’ve kept playing this over and over just to grasp the sheer genius of it. This is how you do a cover song! Not a bland, generic audio xerox, but a unique interpretation where you give the material your own twist – pun intended.
Needing to find out more about this band I did a quick google and came up with an official page on Facebook (check it out here), plus information some of the members used to be in that other great Merseybeat outfit The Kaisers – so there’s no mystery where their ability to pull off the authentic sound came from. There’s more videos on YouTube, so do yourself a favor and check them out!
Please note that the trailer offers some pretty graphic sequences.
Via Eva Halloween I found the second red band trailer for the 2013 remake of Evil Dead. And I gotta admit, for someone who turns into Angry Old Fart way too many times for comfort when it comes to this phenomenon, the trailer looks great! They certainly didn’t skimp on the gore, there certainly are gonna be scenes at least as intense (and with a bit of luck even more) as the original, and even though I think some of the male characters, well, look like wimps, I’m waiting ’til I’ve seen it before I go whining about “bad casting”. Sure, the dub step music is a bit of a turn off, but I doubt today’s 18-year-olds are as big on The Ramones as me.
Now, I know there are some “original, real fans” out there – and just out of curiosity, how would you distinguish a “fake one”? – who sees it differently and sure are spending a lot of time grumbling and trolling about this, but c’mon, does this look like a cheap Hollywood knock-off to you? If the producers wanted to make a quick buck out of this franchise they would’ve gutted it completely! If you’re such a great fan (and have that much free time to spend), treat yourself to a game and pop in your original VHS while taking notes of all the commercial no-nos it offers. Remember that this was released unrated back in the 80s because the MPAA frankly wanted to pretty much neuter it, and when it was resubmitted in 1994 it received an NC-17 “for substantial graphic horror violence and gore.“ Remove all that and what would you have left of the original concept? I’ll tell you: A bunch of stupid teenagers going to a remote cabin. The end.
Just like the original Texas Chain Saw Massacre or The Exorcist, what blew me away with Sam Raimi‘s horror debut was that it was just one long, uncompromising and exhaustingly horrific experience that just kept pummeling you silly for 90 minutes, and when it finally ended you were actually relieved it was over! Now, even though it offers spoilers Ain’t It Cool News offered a script analysis in February 2012 (check it out here, but as I said, there are spoilers) and sums it up “it reads like NC-17″ and calls it a “beast” – not words commonly used when talking about anemic remakes, and pretty reaffirming if you ask me! If still in doubt we’ve got script writer Diablo Cody‘s making comments like it’s “unbelievably violent” and “It was really important again to the filmmakers that it remain totally grounded in reality and timeless. They weren’t trying to make some hip trendy horror movie full of pop culture references” (check that one out here) and you’ll at least know it looks killer on paper. And if nothing else they at least are trying to avoid the typical “ironic” approach so common in horror and remakes. Add the fact that ‘Mr. Groovy’ himself Bruce Campbell have offered statements reassuring fans that neither he, Sam, or Robert Tapert were out for a quick money grab – you really think they need it after the Spider-Man trilogy? – and that they have the highest confidence in both cast and director, well, I for one am pretty assured about the end results.
So, long story short, judging by the new snippets found in this compared to the first trailer I wrote about here, plus the additional arguments offered here, this looks even more like a highly intense remake that once again will scare the crap outta you. I mean, Tom Savini made a great remake of Night of the Living Dead, John Carpenter made a killer job with The Thing, and don’t forget David Cronenberg‘s amazing (and genuine reboot!) of The Fly, so the occasional good remake actually does happen. And to me this has so far the signs of actually being another one. My birthday is in April and I am so treating myself to a movie ticket!
Well, again ’tis the season, and as I am a total music nerd what could be more fitting than for me to share some sounds that I think are great as well as fitting the coming holiday? First up is my absolute favorite X-Mas song (yeah, I’m pulling an Orson Welles and start at the top to slowly work my way down to the bottom baby!); Darlene Love‘s pure magical Christmas (Baby Please Come Home) produced by whack genius Phil Spector.
The same four chords over and over it actually predates the formula later perfected by The Ramones with that huge sound only Mr. Spector could achieve. And Darlene’s voice is just brilliant to the point of giving me goosebumps no matter how many times I hear it. Now, much has been said about ol’ Phil from everybody including former colleagues to ex-wives, and after the infamous murder he was guilty of much of it has been painfully proven to be true, but his recording techniques were still nothing short of brilliant. Him and Brian Wilson were the best American producers of the 60s and even today there’s a ton of his techniques to be incorporated into your work – like actually using phasing to create a fuller sound.
Now, I’m not one to condone anything that generates money into the pocket of a condemned murderer, but if my understanding is correct the profits gathered from today’s sales actually goes to his victim’s family (can anyone corroborate this?), so with that said I can highly recommend his 4 CD box set Back to Mono that includes the classic A Christmas Gift for You album – filled with classics like this. It’s available on Amazon.com, but at a whopping $120.
Well, as some of you may or may not have noticed, yesterday’s post was named after these guys: The Dickies. Taking the concept originated by The Ramones these guys went all the way and delivered what I consider to be high-speed 60s bubblegum. Taken off their debut album The Incredible Shrinking Dickies – that is graced by a great cover artwork and packed with demented dittes – they later on gained fame (?) providing the title song for the 1988 cult classic Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Check ‘em out.
Yeah, well you can’t write a post about Tod Browning‘s Freaks without mentioning Pinhead by The Ramones (it’s pretty much a given). If it weren’t for the classic “gabba gooble/we accept you/one of us” wedding reception scene the New York “bruddahs” wouldn’t have penned this song to being with. The story goes that during one of their earlier tours a show got rained out in Texas, so they caught this at a movie house and next thing you know they wrote this lil’ ditty. The lyrics are funny (as always):
Gabba gabba
We accept you
We accept you
One of us
I don’t wanna be a pinhead no more
I just met a nurse that I can go for
D-U-M-B, everyone’s accusing me
Ending side one of their second album Ramones Leave Home released early in 1977 – for us vinyl fans that is – it’s easily available on CD today. And thanks to the cool people at Rhino Records it’s shock full of bonuses. Check it out!
This is great! I just found this on Buzzfeed: a collection of classic album cover art locations in New York City! We’re talking The RamonesRocket to Russia, Dressed to Kill by Kiss and The Beastie Boys among others. Check it out here, and in case you haven’t heard the albums:
