THE SPECIALS @ 45

Released on October 19th, 1979, the debut eponymous LP from The Specials is turning 45 years old today. If you were to only have one UK ska album in your collection, it might as well be this one because it’s simply so concise and thorough that it captures every important aspect of the genre and movement, at least as far as it manifested in its revived form at the end of the 1970s.

Following in the wake of punk, the UK SKA scene took the anger and social outrage of punk and channelled it into a racially diverse commentary on cultural fusion. The “2 Tone” ideology of black and white working together, in balance and unity, was a forward thinking approach that seems so sadly distant in the post “Brexit” era of UK bigotry and anti-immigration furor. Though there were many vital artists who also came out of this scene, the Specials remain the most memorable and this album captures all the best of their essence across 14 compact and infectious songs.

The Specials came together starting in 1977, with Jerry Dammers as the principal instigator and architect of the band's sound. Initially billed as "Specials AKA", their first brush with success was independently releasing the split single, Gangsters b/w The Selector by the group, The Selector. The success of the single attracted the attention of the majors, and Dammers negotiated a deal with Chrysalis Records to set up 2-Tone as an independent sub-label, leveraging the financial input of the major label while retaining the freedom of 2-Tone to release records by unsigned bands, without requiring them to commit to any obligations to the parent label.

The band had also been making a name for themselves by joining The Clash on tour around the UK. The two bands were very simpatico in terms of their political and social stances, so it was a natural fit and helped to bring the band to national prominence. With their first singles then charting, a full length album was in order, and the group secured Elvis Costello as producer for the sessions. Recording was focused on mostly attempting to recreate the band's live set on LP, incorporating their mix of original songs with updated versions of classic Rock Steady and Ska tunes from the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Surprisingly, when the album was released, while it was a hit in terms of sales, critics at the time were divided on its success. Most of the criticisms that the album received were from people who were intimately familiar with the band's live sound, and they felt that Costello had dampened and muted the group's energy compared to what they delivered on stage. That may well be true, but for those not biased by such preconceptions, the album is considered a flawless masterpiece, encapsulating the spirit and essence of the times with a selection of songs that are unfailing when it comes to delivering the goods. It's an album that has retained every ounce of its power to engage, enrage and inspire, as sharply observant of the times while still completely relevant to the modern worlds. None of the issues it tackles have been really resolved in the decades since its release, so its critiques remain as valid today as they were 45 years ago. Plus you can dance to it!
 

THE ROLLING STONES - IT'S ONLY ROCK 'N' ROLL @ 50

Celebrating its golden jubilee, at 50 years old today, it's the twelfth studio LP by The Rolling Stones, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll, which was released on October 18th, 1974. After something of a slump with their previous album, Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock 'n' Roll was a bit of a refocusing of the band, albeit it would be the final outing for guitarist Mick Taylor, who would find himself edged out by Ronnie Wood.

In fact, the LP title and associated song would all come from Wood's work on a solo album that happened around the time the Stones were gearing up for their next album after completing a tour to support Goat's Head Soup. Ronnie Wood, a long-time acquaintance of the band, began to get closer to the Rolling Stones after he invited Mick Taylor to play on his debut solo album, I've Got My Own Album to Do. Taylor spent some time recording and hanging out at Wood's house, The Wick. By chance, Richards was asked one night by Wood's wife at the time, Krissy, to join them at the guitarist's home. While there, Richards recorded some tracks with Wood and quickly developed a close friendship, with Richards going as far as moving into Wood's guest room. Jagger soon entered the mix and it was here that the album's lead single and title track, "It's Only Rock 'n Roll (But I Like It)", was first recorded. Wood worked closely on the track with Jagger, who subsequently took the song and title for their album. The released version of this song features Wood on 12-string acoustic guitar.

The remainder of the album initially started out as a split concept, with the first side intended to be a set of cover versions of classic blues tunes, backed with a live B-side taken from their recent tour. However, while the band recorded several covers for this conception, only one was actually used for the album. Once they got recording and jamming, they soon found that the ideas for new, original songs were quickly percolating up, so the plan of a covers/live LP was scrapped, and an all new set of recordings was created.

As was the case with the previous album, Mick Taylor had been side-stepped when it came to receiving any writing credits for any of the songs, with all the original compositions being credited only to Jagger and Richards. There has since been conflicting comments from Taylor vs Jagger in terms of the assessment of his contributions, with the latter claiming his input was minimal. This certainly played a part in Taylor's decision to leave the group. The other factor was the band's opting not to tour to support the album, choosing instead to go right back into recording and preparation for their next album, what would become Black and Blue, the record that would debut Ron Woods as a full time permanent member of the band.

Another notable aspect of It's Only Rock 'n' Roll is the fact it was the first to be self produced by Keith and Mick, with regular producer Jimmy Miller stepping down from the role he'd filled since Beggars Banquet in 1968. By this point, "The Glimmer Twins", which was the name used for all future Jagger/Richards productions, felt that they had developed enough prowess in the studio to figure out how to get what they wanted. They had their own ideas about how to approach recording now, and didn't need the guidance of a third party.

The album, once it was released, did well enough commercially, hitting #1 in the US, but it stalled at #2 in the UK, breaking a string of #1 albums that stretched back to Let It Bleed in 1969. The title track and lead single also charted well in the UK, but failed to really catch fire in the US. Regardless, the song has since gone on to become a staple in the band's live sets throughout their career to the modern day. One of the most prominent promotional videos for the band of that era was made for this song, featuring the band in a tent, dressed in sailor suits, performing as the tent fills up with foaming soap bubbles. This is actually my earliest memory of seeing the band as a child.

Critical reception was definitely mixed, though on the measure, somewhat more positive than had been the case for the previous album. In the UK, NME voted the album as the second best album of the year, while in the US, gonzo music critic, Lester Bangs, said of the album, "The Stones have become oblique in their old age, which is just another word for perverse except that perverse is the corniest concept extant as they realized at inception... Soup was friendly and safe. I want the edge and this album doesn't reassure me that I'll get it, what a curious situation to be stuck in, but maybe that's the beauty of the Stones, hah, hah, kid? This album is false. Numb. But it cuts like a dull blade. Are they doing the cutting, or are we?"

Ultimately, the album marks a key turning point for the band as they settled into becoming the establishment entity that would sustain them as industry stalwarts for the next half century. The band became codified in their form and function after this, with the volatility and unpredictability baked out, making them a shelf-stable commodity that could be regularly banked on to provide a profitable tour every few years, and records that would sell enough to keep the machine rolling indefinitely.

FEMALE TROUBLE @ 50

October 11th marks the golden jubilee of John Waters' love letter to a life of crime, Female Trouble, which was theatrically released on October 11th, 1974. Following immediately on the heels of his midnight movie trash masterpiece, Pink Flamingos, Female Trouble doubled down on the disgusting behaviour as juvenile delinquent, Dawn Davenport, played by Divine, ruins Christmas, gets pregnant from rape and plunges into a life of crime. With a story inspired by Waters' prison visits with Manson family member, Charles "Tex" Watson, it's a muse on the beauty of celebrity status crime and the appeal of a perverse lifestyle, a sentiment succinctly expressed by the inimitable Edith Massey as Aunt Ida, when she declares, "The world of the heterosexual is a sick and boring life."

While Pink Flamingos often gets all the glory for its bad behaviour, Female Trouble, in many ways, manages to surpass its excesses with even more outrageous and offensive incidents. The "cha-cha heels" Christmas scene has become something of an iconic crystallization of entitled American white privilege petulance. It was even recreated on RuPaul's Drag Race, further solidifying its place as being elevated to the status of camp high art. The birth scene, where Divine chews on an umbilical cord made from condoms stuff ed with raw liver, is an exemplary moment of sheer outrage, the kind of thing that makes this film stand out, even above its predecessor.

Film critic, Rex Reed, utterly despised the film, infamously declaring, "Where do these people come from? Where do they go when the sun goes down? Isn't there a law or something?" John Waters was so enamoured by the quip that it became a permanent fixture in promotional posters for the film and its subsequent releases on DVD. Yet the film now holds a 90% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a critics consensus that reads, "Director John Waters' affection for camp brings texture to societal transgression in Female Trouble, a brazenly subversive dive into celebrity and mayhem."

Personally, I place it only behind Desperate Living and just ahead of Pink Flamingos in terms of my holy trinity of Waters films. Taken as a triptych, they are a consecutive trifecta of trash transcendentalism. Waters brought his penchant for blazing past the boundaries of virtually every cinematic taboo to a crescendo of Divine-ly inspired perfection in these three movies, forever solidifying himself as the "Pope of trash". He's like the anti Mister Rogers, welcoming you into a neighbourhood of perverts, freaks and criminals, grotesquely decked-out in the most subversive behaviour, and you just wanna stay on that trolley and keep riding!
 

PUBLIC IMAGE LTD - MEMORIES (SINGLE) @ 45

 

Released 45 years ago today, on October 10, 1979, it's Public Image Ltd's third single, Memories. The A-side song is wailing denunciation of misplaced sentimentality. Wobble's thunderously insistent bass line drives the track against a furious disco beat, courtesy of former 101'R, Richard Dudanski, who filled the kit briefly during the Metal Box sessions. Keith Levene layers in Spanish Flamenco influenced guitar chords with what sounds like organ flourishes (no, it's all guitar), while Lydon's vocals swoop in, warbling and whooping through the song. "It should be clear by now" that this is one of PiL's all time best songs. The single mix is different from the Metal Box version, which inter-cuts two different mixes together in an alternating back & forth oscillation. The single version, however, sticks to the mix with the heavy bass, driving it home all the way through.

The B-Side features the track, Another, which would only be included on Metal Box in a radically different instrumental mix called, Graveyard. Wobble would also "steal" the backing track and remix it again for the instrumental, Not Another, on his first solo album, The Legend Lives On... Jah Wobble in "Betrayal". The vocal mix on the single is a perfect match-up for the A-side, reinforcing the overall "haunted house" vibe of the record.

The front cover features a series of black & white photos of a moustache wearing Lydon in a wedding scene to someone who looks like Jeanette Lee (she looks too short to be Nora), with the scratches and saturation making it look all worn and forgotten. The back cover is a shot of a spiderweb covered oval mirror, reflecting the PiL logo, that was at John's Gunter Grove house in London. It can also be seen on the front cover of the Flowers of Romance single from 1981.

The single would peak at #60 on the UK charts, but along with the previous single, Death Disco, it would provide a tantalizing sneak peak at the behemoth Metal Box album that was right around the corner.

THE KINKS @ 60

Celebrating its 60th anniversary today is the eponymous debut LP by The Kinks, which was released on October 2nd, 1964. While not fully indicative of the latent talents of the band, in particular the songwriting prowess of leader, Ray Davies, it is at least the home of the band's first chart topping single, You Really Got Me, a song that would become the blueprint for garage rock, hard rock, heavy metal and punk rock in years to come.

The band were founded by brothers Ray and Dave Davies in 1963, coming together in London around the same time as others of the looming "British Invasion", rubbing shoulder to shoulder with bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones and The Who. The group had signed to Pye Records, who were initially frustrated by the band's failure to connect with its first couple of singles. Both their cover of Little Richards' Long Tall Sally and its follow-up, the Davies' original, You Still Want Me, were pretty much ignored by DJs and record buyers, despite significant promotion.

After those two strikes, the label gave them one more opportunity to hit a home run, and they did so with You Really Got Me. Another Ray Davies original, the hit version almost never materialized. After recording a preliminary version, Ray Davies insisted on modifying the arrangement to something slower and more raw. The label refused to stump up the cash for the studio time, however, but Davies persisted until session producer, Shel Talmy, broke the stalemate by underwriting the additional session himself. The song was inspired by The Kingsmen's version of Louie Louie, and was taken to another level by the innovative mutilation of a guitar amp. Dave Davies took a pocket knife and put a slice into the speaker cone of his amp, causing it to have a distinct buzzing distortion. It was a sound that instantly gave the record an idiosyncratic edge, sounding unlike any other guitarist out there. The single, released in August of 1964, became a top ten hit in both the US and UK. It's gone on to be widely considered the root for many of the heavier branches of rock 'n' roll that grew from its inspiration. That fuzzy distortion became intrinsic to the hard rock and metal sounds that would proliferate in the following decades.

The rest of the album, however, wasn't so blessed with as much distinction. As was the standard of the time, being a new group meant that the record company expected them to record mostly covers, rather than original material. This is a situation all of the British Invasion bands went through with their first recording efforts, which is why many of those debut albums don't properly capture the true essence of a lot of those bands, and this is certainly the case with The Kinks. Their debut LP offers only a bare glimpse into the greatness that the band would deliver once they were allowed to shine in their own light.

THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE @ 50

 

With its theatrical premiere on October 1st, 1974, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre turns 50 years old today, marking half a century of setting the standard for "slasher" horror. It's a film that derives its authenticity from the fact that a lot of the misery and grotesquely unsettling horror was achieved through the use of real blood, bone and guts in a hot, humid Texas environment that was an ordeal in which to film, capturing the nausea of the experience in the celluloid itself.

The film's promotion said that it was based on a "true story", but while the inspiration for some elements was derived from the notorious serial killer, Ed Gein, who committed his crimes in Wisconsin in the 1950s, the bulk of the story is predominantly fictional, with the assertion of being a "true story", in reality, functioning as a commentary on the manipulation of the press of the era. Media and political "spin" routinely covered up the truth of what was happening in and around the major events of the time, promoting often entirely false narratives. It was also a response to the callous detachment of mainstream journalism as it reported the horrors of the day. Thus, framing the film as "true" was a wink at the audience to consider the source and never take anything at face value.

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre was Tobe Hooper's third feature film, for which he was writer, director, composer, editor and cinematographer. For the production, he was working with a very tight budget of $140,000 ($700,000 adjusted for inflation). With the principal expenses focused on equipment rentals, the cast and crew were required to work 16 hour days, seven days a week, in order to maximize equipment usage. The entire film was shot in Texas, utilizing mostly unknown local talent for the cast.

Filming conditions were brutal during the shoot, with temperatures routinely topping 100°F, and no AC for any of the interior scenes. With practical effects utilizing actual animal carcasses for props and set dressings, in varying states of decay, including smearing real blood on the walls, plus the inability to launder costumes and masks, especially those used by Leatherface, for fear of losing continuity, the experience on set must have been exceptionally putrid! It was an experience that made many of the cast and crew "hate" Hooper by the end of the production, requiring years for some to fully forgive the trauma of being on that set.

Conceptually, the film is notable for introducing the trope of using power tools for murder weapons, with Hooper having conceived of the chainsaw angle while waiting in a long line at a hardware store one day, musing on what might be an effective way to "thin the queue". The set and setting for the story had been lingering in Hooper's mind for a few years before, dealing with the ideas of isolation, the woods, and darkness. As previously mentioned, notorious serial killer, Ed Gein was a key inspiration for the main characters, and Gein would be a recurring reference point in the genre in subsequent years, with films like Silence of the Lambs also tapping into that history.

Gunnar Hansen, who played Leatherface, in order to better represent his character, spent time in the classrooms of learning disabled children as a way to get into the mindset of someone who is not able to communicate properly with other people. On set, Hooper would coach him to ensure that he would be consistent in his use of gibberish, though Hooper would make sure Hansen understood the literal intent of what he was trying to say. This attention to detail helped to lend the character a humanizing depth, something that actually made him all the more horrifying by grounding him in a sense of plausibility.

While Hooper had actually refrained from using an excessive amount of gore, in the hopes of landing the film a PG rating, the film board still slapped it with an R, but that didn't seem to hurt the box-office returns, which given the modest investment, were ultimately spectacular. Though it was certainly a commercial hit, it also encountered significant backlash in some markets, with certain countries banning the film, outright. Critics were also split on its merits, with some finding its brutality simply too hard to tolerate, questioning the ethics of the producers, while others were impressed with the acting and the films technical execution.

The film became the next in line to redefine the horror genre, following Night of the Living Dead, as an astute social commentary smuggled in under the guise of low-brow exploitative entertainment. Its rendering of a perverse backwoods family resonates even today, maybe especially today, in the era of "MAGA". It shows this backwoods family living in a state of grotesquely diminished and distorted ethics and values, morphed into some kind of monstrous assault on morality. In the context of the film, they're discards from a capitalistic post-industrial manufacturing wasteland. They worked at a slaughterhouse, in an impersonal industrialized factory dedicated to the process of dehumanizing both the product and the people who worked there. In a similar way, the MAGA crowd are equally disenfranchised and dissociated from normal perceptions of right and wrong. In that sense, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre is an unsettling prediction of the decline of middle American values and ethics. Others have even interpreted it as a pro-vegetarian salvo, with its grizzly depiction of slaughter and meat being considered some of the best promotional material for vegetarianism around. Some have criticized the films abuse of women, with studies actually using the film as a test of male empathy. Whatever your interpretation, it's clear the movie has a depth of meaning that can be perceived from a variety of angles.

Ultimately, it has remained as a landmark in the genre of horror film making, establishing a number of different tropes in terms of how violence can be depicted and interpreted on screen. Personally, I consider it one of the essential films in the genre from that era, along with George Romero's previously mentioned Night of the Living Dead, and Sam Raimi's Evil Dead. I think those three films have a distinct hold on the reigns when it comes to pushing boundaries and setting standards in the domain of blood & guts film making.

THE MONKEES - PRESENT @ 55

 

Marking its 55th anniversary today is the eighth and penultimate original studio LP by the Monkees to be released during their initial incarnation, with "Present" being released on October 1st, 1969.

The full title of the album is "The Monkees Present Micky, David, Michael", an indicator of the underlying concept that had been developed at the album's inception. The original idea was that each member of the band would be given a full side of an LP to do, essentially, whatever they wanted, with the final product being something of a four-way split solo collection in a double LP package.

While the guys had come together into a rather serviceable garage band when recording their 1967 Headquarters album, which was something of a celebration of their freedom after the palace revolt that ousted musical director, Don Kirshner, their subsequent efforts had seen them fragment into increasingly independent and isolated creative silos, with each member working on their own material, often with entirely different musicians and producers. After the cancellation of their series and the failure of their feature film, HEAD, record sales were slumping, and the group's label had little interest in overseeing their work, which created a situation that actually allowed them a tremendous amount of creative freedom. With those conditions at hand, it made sense to continue to work independently and give each member equal real estate to express their musical ideas.

However, by the time production of the album began, Peter Tork had departed, taking his leave immediately after completing filming of their bizarre, misguided 33 1⁄3 Revolutions per Monkee TV special, which aired on NBC on April 14, 1969. Production ended on the special on December 20th, which is when Tork bought out his contract, siting exhaustion. He was given a gold watch to commemorate his retirement from the band. This left the group as a trio, so the double LP format didn't balance out anymore, and the decision was made to pair down the tracks to a single LP release.

Excluding the soundtrack to HEAD, the group's previous two album's had been something of a mishmash of new recordings and material pulled from the band's vast archive of older, unreleased recordings, including material from the Kirshner days. This frugality somewhat obscured the fact that Peter's presence was already lacking in the studio, even before officially leaving the band. It also helped the band keep a bit of a presence on the charts, with songs from their commercial peak still popping up on their albums. But "Present" was composed of entirely fresh recordings from the three remaining members, with only Nesmith's "Listen to the Band" having prior exposure from being performed on the 33 1⁄3 TV special. In effect, the band were at last performing without a net, and relying on their current abilities and resources to make their artistic statements.

What resulted from their efforts, while nowhere near the infectious pop confections of their past, was still an interesting and mature collection of songs. Their popularity and cohesion as a band may have been on the wane, but individually, they were creating some compelling music. Dolenz's song, Mommy and Daddy, especially in its original lyrical form, was a hard hitting political and social commentary, questioning how we're supposed to bring up our children in a world full of strife and violence. While it was severely muted on the final LP version, the original lyrics were eventually released for the deluxe edition of the album, revealing their true vitriol at the state of world affairs, referencing the Vietnam war and the Kennedy assassination in the guise of a playful pop ditty. And Nesmith's aforementioned Listen to the Band, would go on to become something of a secondary theme song for the group in later years, as aficionados matured and reassessments of their work smothered the ridicule and replaced it with admiration, with subsequent generations continually rediscovering the vastness of their canon of work and its inherent quality.

Upon the album's release, it was heavily promoted by their label, and saw the group returning to TV as guest on a number of variety shows, like those of Glen Campbell and Johnny Cash, and the group even briefly took up residence in a spot on Hollywood Squares, where the trio got cozy in their single cell. They also went on tour, backed by Sam & The Goodtimers — a seven-piece R&B outfit. Perhaps it was a bit of an odd combination, but those concerts were notable for the innovative used of multimedia technologies, incorporating large screen projections of clips from their show, an approach that would be revived when the group reunited in the 2Ks to tour. But despite the promotion and exposure, the ship had sailed on their popularity, and immediately after completing the tour, Mike Nesmith departed to form his First National Band. Micky and Davy soldiered on through one more LP, Changes, in 1970 before finally pulling the plug on the entire project.

Of course, we all know that's not where this story ends, as the group went through one revival and reunion after another, decade after decade, as new generations of fans repeatedly rediscovered their TV series and music. Though "Presents" may have seemed someone of a sad fading of glory at the time of its release, in retrospect, it has managed to take its place as a valued chapter in the band's musical history.