Tonio K. - Life in the Foodchain

A new to me release. Many years ago I picked up Romeo Unchained, and Notes from the Lost Civilization (not in that order) mainly because they were on WHAT?/A&M where Mark Heard's iDEoLA project was released. So I figured it was a guilty by association sort of thing. It was an indie label after all so that had to mean something.

I remember liking Notes from the Lost Civilization, but honestly I was getting so much music back then that unless I really had something blow my hat off, I gave things a listen or two and then filed them.

Here I am years later, and up pops a rather water damaged copy of Life in the Foodchain. It made me sad looking at it. The vinyl was in surprisingly good shape, but any liner notes and credits were long lost to the gods of misplaced socks. Still, this was an album I had always been curious about, so I brought it home where it the joined the queue of treasures waiting for a turn(table). I pop it on and the title track is cranked in the cave (everyone was out, so why not?) and the big riffs are just starting to hit. "Holy cow." I say to myself. It's at this point I am sorely missing the credits and lyric sheet. I also see in small print on the bottom left the date of the release: 1978 - figures.

Musically, I was hooked right off, and whereas Romeo Unchained is very much of it's time, and to a lesser degree Notes from the Lost Civilization the songs on Life in the Foodchain feel more timeless and like something you could hear now. I don't know if "How Come I Can't See You in my Mirror?" was a nod to Warren Zevon's "Werewolves of London" but it's pretty darned funny. Most of the songs are played straight, but are often scathing if not actually really funny. Take that Randy Newman!

That was a few days ago, and I'm still playing the album over and over. I am not the most objective listener, and my ability to actually discern whether something is actually good or not kinda blurs into a soupy fog. Things are enjoyable, or they're not. Of course, I'm always cognizant of high points, after all they stand out. To badly paraphrase a saying paraphrased by J.F.K. "a great song lifts up the rest of the album" Of course others will espouse: "one hit, the rest shit!"

Earlier I mentioned the missing liner notes, so it was off to the internet to read the lyrics, and get a list of credits. Wow, there were a lot of names I knew. Among them, Dick Dale, Albert Lee, and Earl Slick on guitar, Garth Hudson from the band lends accordion, and drummer Curly Smith. The album was produced by Rob Fraboni who was known for his work with Dylan, Eric Clapton, and The Band.

Apparently this was the first album to feature an AK-47 firing live ammunition as part of the big rock ending in "H-A-T-R-E-D" which is probably one of the more honest post break up songs ever written.

Like Tonio K. writes on the title track:

Kind of like mowing the lawn
Everything gets to this certain dimension
Winds up on a customer's plate and then gone

But it's not gone is it?

6 Cylinder

As a kid we had one radio station, not counting CBC, and generally there was very little that was worth listening to, although there were times something would come on that would make you pay attention. It was 1979 and on a couple of occasions I heard "There Ain't Nobody Here But Us Chickens" and it cracked me up, and I always wanted to get a copy for myself. A few years ago when my niece was dancing, they did a performance to this song, and now I can't separate my niece from a bunch of dancing chicks in chicken suits. Such is life. When I found this in the dollar bin I actually let out a little chirp, my goodness could it be? It was, and it was in great shape - including the inner sleeve. Score. I had no idea what to expect, for all I knew there was only one song worth listening to, and if that was the case it was still a dollar well spent. If I could buy an album by Showdown and enjoy it, odds are I'll find something to enjoy here to. Before I put this on I...

Garfield - Strange Streets

I'd seen this before in the bin, but kept flipping through the stacks. I'd see it a few more times, each time stopping to look at it a little more. There was something kind of cool about the cover where the stylized Celtic knot had the dotted yellow line - it was a strange street for sure. I pulled the record out of the jacket and I was struck by the centre image. There was the familiar Mercury label, the same one I'd seen a thousand times on BTOs Head On album. Well, I'd bought things based on odd associations before - like when I had to buy anything that Solid Rock Records released (this was generally a good thing) who knows maybe this was a hidden gem. There weren't any real scratches or rash, just a lot of dirt and dust - it seemed to clean up okay, but we'll see how it goes. The album opens with the title track, and this wasn't straight ahead pop, or rock. It was leaning to the progressive, but with a pop bent. Oddly enough the vocals reminded me of Mi...

Hoodoo Gurus - Mars Needs Guitars!

The first time I got this album it was a gift from my old roommate Otto. For a goofy little nebbish he would occasionally surprise me with some left of field musical treasures. Although, I still think he was reaching a little when he brought home the new "Led Zeppelin" album by Kingdom Come and forced me to listen to "Get it On" over and over again. I'd not listened to Mars Needs Guitars in a long, long, long time. The first thing that I jumped out at me was how David Faulkner's vocals reminded me of his fellow countryman Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil. I think the reason this never occurred to me was at the time I didn't have any Midnight Oil until Diesel and Dust in 1987. I'm not saying it was all the time, but there were a couple of songs where it stood out. Not a bad thing, just a thing. Even at the time this felt slightly out of step with what was going on in 1985. It seemed like everyone was using drum machines and synthesizers and having t...

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