Geddy Lee: My Favorite Headache

     IN THE YEAR 2000...IN THE YEAR 2000...Geddy Lee will record a solo album and it will sound like a really good Rush album. And he did. I guess that's funnier when Andy Richter does it:)

     Under normal circumstances, Geddy Lee would probably never have considered doing a solo album. He had been in Rush for 25 years and his only departure was singing on Bob and Doug McKenzie's hit single "Take Off" (10 bucks is 10 bucks, eh). However, when Rush drummer Neil Peart lost his daughter and wife in 1997, the band took a hiatus which ended up lasting five years. After taking a few years off, he decided to fill the Rush vacuum with his first and only solo album, My Favorite Headache. He was joined by his friend, Ben Mink, on guitars and violins and Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron on drums. Mink had played violins on "Losing It" from Rush's Signals album.
     Rush had been floundering in the grunge/alternative friendly 90's with albums like Counterparts and Test For Echo ("Dog Years" anyone?). The only time I ever went to a midnight release of anything was October 19, 1993 for Counterparts. However, the midnight release was actually for Pearl Jam's VS. album and there were only two of us there for the Rush album. It's kind of funny that Cameron played on My Favorite Headache seven years later (a dog year). Anyhow, when Geddy's solo album came out, I thought it was better than anything the band had done in awhile and wondered if Rush would ever record together again. Thankfully they came back revitalize in 2002 with Vapor Trails.
     The great thing about being Geddy Lee is you are afforded considerable creative freedom. Very few artists would be offered a record deal with virtually no expectations of sales or a tour. This allowed him to explore his own voice and recording techniques. Anyone expecting an album of Geddy showing off on the bass would be in for a surprise. Since he wasn't going to play the album live, he laid down solid bass lines and then layered them with another track of bass chords. The resulting sound was melodic and powerful without being self-indulgent. My Favorite Headache marked the first time since Rush's debut album that Geddy was responsible for lyrics. Some of Neil's lyric writing seemed to have rubbed off, though. Geddy graduated from "Hey baby, it's a quarter to eight, I feel I'm in the mood." to using words like "Nihilistic" and "imbued". In Rush, he had to make Neil's lyrics fit with the music that he and Alex composed. On this album, he could write lyrics designed to work exactly with his music. The results are standout tracks like "My Favorite Headache", "The Present Tense", "Working At Perfect", "Runaway Train" and "Still". If my kids end up liking Rush, I highly recommend they listen to My Favorite Headache. It's not Permanent Waves, but it's really good. Peace.

Heavy Metal

     Maybe it's the cold medicine or sleep deprivation talking, but I find myself feeling nostalgic about heavy metal. I've spent the past week, up all night, watching Metal Mania and Iron Maiden in concert on VH-1 Classic. This got me thinking about my music collection. Back in the 80's, my collection was almost entirely heavy metal or hard rock. Iron Maiden. Judas Priest. Queensryche. Ozzy. Black Sabbath. Dio. Motley Crue. Def Leppard. Ratt. Rush. Triumph. Quiet Riot. Randy Rhoads was my favorite guitarist. I grew my hair long and kicked around the campus of CMU  wearing a Quiet Riot t-shirt and ripped jeans. I was all about it. Then in 1987, I graduated, got married and metal began to suck. The power ballad ruled the airwaves. Tawny Kitaen was rolling around on cars like a human sham wow. Axel Rose was taking douche baggery to new heights. Metallica was beginning to blow. And the decade ended with "Cherry Pie". Damn you Jani Lane!
     Unfortunately, the 80's was the decade of the cassette tape, so most of my metal collection was on that horrible format. The thing with cassettes was the sound quality was terrible and many of mine were "eaten" by my tape player. Then I lost the few cassettes I still had this summer when our basement backed up and flooded. Therefore, I hardly have any metal remaining in my collection. I wasn't particularly concerned about that until this past week. VH-1 Classic reminded me how important that music had been to me when I was a teen. Then I began to wonder what kind of music my son will have to turn to when he's a teenager. The state of metal is abysmal now. The vocalists can't sing, the guitarists can't play a melody line or solo and the drummers just play the kit drum as fast as they can. There is no Ronnie James Dio or Randy Rhoads or Steve Harris anymore. Well, Steve Harris is still around, but you know what I mean:) Anyhow, I've decided to replace the best albums from that era, not only for myself, but for my son.
     I think subconsciously I had already begun this when I bought the reissues of Ozzy's Blizzard Of Ozz and Diary Of A Madman in 2011. Then I replaced a bunch of Sabbath and Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind. When I was at Lucky Records, I had Def Leppard's On Through The Night in my hand, but I put it back. Now I wish I had bought it. So here's a list of heavy metal albums that I want to replace in my collection so I can expose my son to some great rock music. Peace.

* Iron Maiden- Powerslave, Number Of The Beast
* Judas Priest- British Steel, Screaming for Vengeance, Defenders Of The Faith
* Queensryche- Queensryche, The Warning, Operation Mindcrime, Empire
* Dio- Holy Diver
* Black Sabbath- Mob Rules, Live Evil
* Quiet Riot- Metal Health
* Motley Crue- Shout At The Devil
* Twisted Sister- Stay Hungry
* Triumph- all of them
* RATT- Out Of The Cellar
* Def Leppard- On Through The Night
   

Supergroups

     The "supergroup" is one of the great concepts in the long history of music. Cream, which consisted of Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce and Ginger Baker, are generally considered to be the first supergroup. I could argue that they were preceded four years by the jazz trio of Duke Ellington, Mingus and Max Roach. I could further argue that they were preceded by The Million Dollar Quartet of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis in 1956. Anyhow, I'm kind of conflicted about the whole idea of the supergroup. In 1982, I was jazzed when I heard there was a group made up of guys from Yes, ELP and King Crimson. A couple years later Paul Rodgers of Bad Company (also a supergroup) and Jimmy Page joined forces to start The Firm. My excitement for this project died with the release of "Radioactive". Then there was Power Station, which combined Robert Palmer with the Taylors from Duran Duran and Tony Thompson of Chic. That one turned out much better. Anyhow, my conflict with supergroups stems from the fact that they aren't organic. Even though I love the idea of an all-star band like Asia being put together, I still like the idea of a bunch of guys practicing in the garage, playing shows and breaking through to stardom. Band chemistry is an illusive thing and it's hard to artificially manufacture, but if you combine George Harrison, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Roy Orbison and Zimmerman the odds go up significantly.
     The supergroup genre is a mixed bag and is sometimes hard to define. I don't like to count one off projects like Them Crooked Vultures as a band, but they technically are a supergroup. Some consider Journey to be a supergroup, but I've never thought of them in that context. They were basically a spin off of Santana that stumbled across an iconic lead singer. And for every Asia or Power Station or Traveling Wilburys there is a Chickenfoot or Damn Yankees or Bad English. Then there are groups that sound good on paper that just don't work in reality, like Dead Weather and Atoms For Peace. So today, I thought I'd run down the best supergroup albums in my collection. Sorry Crosby, Stills and Nash fans.Peace.

Traveling Wilburys- I love that whole period when Harrison, Petty and Lynne were all working on each others projects. Maybe that's why the chemistry is so good on the Traveling Wilburys albums. They are so good, I can put aside my hatred of Zimmerman and my indifference to Roy Orbison. "Handle With Care" and "End Of The Line" are magnificent.

Asia- Hi, my name's Tom and I love prog rock. The great thing about Asia (besides the Roger Dean album covers) is they had prog rock street cred, but their songs were actually just good pop songs. I did stop buying them after Alpha, though.

Bad Company- The first Bad Company album is swaggering guitar rock at it's finest. When I was a kid, I thought the title track was the most bad ass song ever. It still may be. I also loved when the DJ would come on and say "that was Bad Company, by Bad Company from the album Bad Company". Too bad Paul Rodgers had to ruin his legacy with The Firm and trying to be Freddie Mercury.

Tinted Windows- Once again, I don't understand why power pop isn't the most popular musical genre. This is a great album and most people have never heard of it. The rhythm section of Cheap Trick's Bun E. Carlos and Fountains Of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger are power pop savants. All I know about Hanson is "MMMBop", but Taylor Hanson more than holds his own on vocals. The surprising element of Tinted Windows is James Iha on guitar. With the exception of the opening track, "Kind Of A Girl", you would never guess this was Iha on guitar. He set aside the bombast of Smashing Pumpkins and fit in beautifully with the rest of the group. Not that there's anything wrong with the Smashing Pumpkins bombast:) If I could make this a dream band, however, I would replace Hanson and Iha with Tommy Keene. that being said, this is probably my favorite supergroup album.

Lucky Records

     I thought I'd give a quick shout out to my friend Dave. I mentioned before that he was opening a record store in Wooster, Ohio called Lucky Records. Friday the 13th was the grand opening and the place was packed all day. I made the 90 minute trek to Wooster to wish him well and pick up some records. He has a great location downtown and an awesome selection of vinyl. I'm sure it will be a great success and a fixture of the community. Here's the rundown of what I picked up at Lucky Records. Peace.

* Neil Young- After The Gold Rush: One of the classic albums that was recorded at Sound City Studios and I love the title track.

* Glen Campbell- Greatest Hits: I didn't appreciate him when I was a kid, but he has an amazing voice. "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston" are brilliant.

* Thin Lizzy- Jailbreak: Thin Lizzy had three good songs and they are all on this album; Jailbreak, The Boys Are Back In Town and Cowboy Song. Most bands wish they had three songs that good.

* Pretenders- Learning To Crawl: I'm not a huge Pretenders fan, but I love this album. My roommate in college used to play it all the time, which is probably why I never bought it before. My favorite song is "Middle Of The Road". The lyrics are great. "Don't harass me, can't you tell. I'm goin' home. I'm tired as hell".

* REO Speedwagon- Hi Infidelity: Another album that I lost sometime during my life. It was probably my favorite album during my high school years. I played the hell out of "Take It On The Run" and I loved "Tough Guys" because it had that Little Rascals / He Man Woman Haters Club part at the beginning. Alright, I liked "Keep On Loving You" too.

* Eddie Money- We Should Be Sleeping 7": I didn't even know there was a 7" of this song and it came with a picture sleeve. Woo Hoo!

(Don't Go Back To) Rockville

     Recently, I received an invitation to my 30th high school reunion. Apparently, my mother turned over my whereabouts to the committee after they were unable to find me on social media. Damn you woman! Here's the deal; I've never attended any of the previous reunions, I have no intention of attending this one and I shan't be attending any future reunions. Now when I say "invitation" I actually mean solicitation packet. They wanted all my contact information, they sent an agenda for the entire reunion weekend and wanted an essay about my favorite high school memories. I know this comes from a good place and I sound like a dick, but the last thing I want to relive is high school. Let me paint a picture of myself in high school. I was in the band, I wore glasses, I was an A student, I couldn't feather my hair like John Travolta, I was 80 pounds wringing wet and I was pathologically shy and afraid to ask out girls. On a good day I was ignored and on a bad day I was bullied. I know that doesn't make me unique, but I really don't want to spend time with these people now that I'm not legally required to do so. And favorite high school memory...I had nothing. I did get a good laugh out of the agenda, however. One of the items was to build a homecoming float for the Class of '83. Nobody wanted to do this 30 years ago, but magically everyone is going to be jazzed about it now. It reminded me of Mark Twain's book, Letters From Earth, when he describes Heaven. The same people who couldn't carry a tune in the church choir when they were alive would somehow miraculously join the choir of angels when they went to Heaven.
     By now, you may be wondering what this has to do with R.E.M.'s song "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville". The simple answer is whenever something reminds me of my hometown I immediately think of this song. That's the beauty of a great song. Mike Mills wasn't thinking about not wanting to return to his hometown when he wrote "Rockville". He didn't want his girlfriend to leave Athens, GA. to go back to Maryland. It's a fairly straight-forward song, especially for early R.E.M. But there's something universal about not wanting to go back and "waste another year". I can bring my own baggage to his song and feel better about my life. It used to annoy me when a songwriter would be asked to explain the meaning of one of his songs and say something like, "I'll leave that up to the listener". Now I actually prefer that answer, except for Robert Pollard. In Jim Greer's band biography of Guided by Voices, he has a whole chapter in which Pollard explains some of his songs and it's great. The best is his story for the title of "My Kind Of Soldier".  Anyhow, for me, "Rockville" is a song about not going back to a place where I didn't fit in. I remember when I'd start "lookin' like a girl", my dad would take me to the barber shop for a haircut. The brown panel walls were covered in antlers, stuffed animal heads, a jack-o-lope and stickers about guns and "cold dead fingers". I had anxiety every time I was taken there. By the end of high school, I started growing my hair out like Robert Plant. To this day, I won't go to a barber shop.
     Now don't get me wrong, I love my parents and there were some great things about growing up in the middle of nowhere. In fact, I feel bad for my kids having to grow up on a suburban postage stamp lot. I just didn't fit in with the God, Guns and Cars culture of rural America. The one good thing about that invitation is that it reminded me that I've managed to make it 30 years without going back to Rockville. Peace.

Hot Hot Heat: Elevator

     Hot Hot Heat...didn't see that comin' did ya. I do have a soft spot for Canadian bands. Now, I'm not autograph guy. I've never even asked anyone for their autograph. I almost asked Will Johnson to sign my Fender Telecaster, but I chickened out. The only autographed item I have is a Hot Hot Heat promo poster from one of their shows. A girl I worked with in Detroit told me she needed a night off to go to a show. I asked who she was going to see and she said Hot Hot Heat. I was a big fan of the song "Bandages" from their first album Make Up The Breakdown and I liked what I'd heard from Elevator, so I was jazzed for her. The next time I worked with her after the show, she came over to me all excited and said she had something for me. She handed me a LP sized show poster from their Elevator tour signed by the whole band. It was awesome. I'm sure the band were excited to sign it for her. Let's just say she was a "healthy" girl who had a piercing in her cleavage. This almost made up for the fact she was bat shit crazy and a complete and utter train wreck at work:) It is one of the nicest things anyone has done for me, though.
     Hot Hot Heat are one of those bands, for me, with one album I love and the rest of their stuff I can't stand. That album is Elevator. As I mentioned, I was a huge fan of the song "Bandages" in 2002. I was such a fan that I bought the CD on the strength of that one song. I couldn't stand the rest of it. In fact, I tried to sell it in a garage sale for a dollar and no one bought it. I decided to keep it for "Bandages". When Elevator came out I wasn't predisposed to go out and buy it...until I heard "Middle Of Nowhere". What a perfect song. So, I took a leap of faith and bought Elevator. It starts out with what sounds like an olde tyme radio show, then they strike hard with two high energy, catchy songs "Running Out Of Time" and "Goodnight Goodnight". Hot Hot Heat could be dismissed as another Franz Ferdinand type of band, but rather than being stiff and aloof they are infectious and goofy. Elevator is a perfect storm of pop hooks, witty lyrics and great melodies. On this album, I feel their sound is more indebted to Elvis Costello and the Attractions and Nick Lowe than Franz Ferdinand and Louis XIV. It's angular, up-tempo and a little spastic. The track that best illustrates this is "Pickin' It Up". It's straight out of the late 70's / early 80's. And it has hand claps! The gem, however, is "Middle Of Nowhere". Oddly, it's the least spastic-y, straight forward song on the CD. It's all about the melody and the vocals. The word "baby' has been used in rock songs a bazilliondy times, but Steve Bays delivers it perfectly in this song. Elevator is killer from start to finish. It's a fantastic collection of songs about laid back Canadian guys dealing with crazy chicks as best as they can. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.
     That being said, I bought their next album, Happiness LTD, and couldn't stand it. Apparently, they put out another album in 2010. It may be amazing, I have no idea, but I'm not going to get it. I'll just stick with Elevator. Peace.