North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 28th ’08

1. Bruce Springsteen: Dream Baby Dream
2. Prisonshake: Dream Along
3. Roy Orbison: In Dreams
4. Bunny Wailer: Dreamland
5. Cheap Trick: The Dream Police
6. Suicide: Keep Your Dreams
7. Tom Waits: Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)
8. Dr. John & The Lower 911: Dream Warrior
9. Ian McNabb: You Must Be Prepared To Dream
10. Audience: I Had A Dream
11. Duffy: Distant Dreamer
12. Tommy McLain: Sweet Dreams
13. Sandy Denny: I’m A Dreamer
14. Neil Young: It’s A Dream
15. Patto: The Dream I Had Last Night
16. Max Romeo: Wet Dream
17. Home: Dreamer
18. Robyn Hitchcock: I Often Dream Of Trains
19. The Heartthrobs: Dreamtime
20. Danny Gatton: Memphis Dream

Featured Album:
Glasvegas (Sony/BMG, UK)

The 7” B-side:
X: Positively 4th St.

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Big Al Anderson & The Balls: Pawn Shop Guitars
Angelo Badalamenti: Laura Palmer’s Theme
Katrina Leskanich: Hitsville UK
MX-80 Sound: Man On The Move
Paul Weller: Sexy Sadie
Carl Perkins: Honey Don’t
The Action: I’ll Keep On Holding On
Robert Palmer: Johnny and Mary
The Feelies: Time For A Witness
The Shadows: Apache
Chris Montez: Let’s Dance
The Who: The Last Time
The Lone Sharks: Rx Of Love
Ronnie Lane’s Slim Chance: How Come
Los Lobos: Somewhere In Time
Dion: Sweet Little Rock ‘n’ Roller
Emiliana Torrini: Gun
Christine Ohlman: Wrap it Up
Rodney Crowell: Truth Decay
Ronnie Spector: Hell Of A Nerve
The Hellacopters: Dirty Women
The Flying Burrito Brothers: Lazy Days
Martin Rev: Narcisse
The Four Horsemen: Moonshine
Inez & Charlie Foxx: Here We Go Round The Mulberry Bush
The Head Cat: Big River
25th Of May: Made In The USA

Bruce Springsteen, Suicide

Last night I dreamed Alan Vega cycled past my car's open window (in the rain) wearing a turqoise, red and black striped wooly rasta hat and shouted "Juicers!" at me.
I think that, and the 10" limited edition import that arrived today (Blast First Petite, UK) warrants a "dream" play-list next week.

Lemmy

Lemmy in his dressing room, Roseland, NYC
Sept 20 '08

"...and then there are GODS...ladies and gentlemen - MOTÖRHEAD!" Thus ended pro-wrestler Triple H's introduction and out trooped Lemmy and his comrades, "greatest drummer in the world" Mikkey Dee and 24 year 'head veteran, axeman Phil Campbell, to waste the Roseland masses who clearly recognize a god (or three) when they see one. Perhaps this is a religion they should teach in schools. Anyway, for the next 90 minutes, Motörhead delivered - AS THEY ALWAYS DO - with élan, power, digital dexterity, humour and VOLUME. 'Rock Out' from the new album (their first to crack the Billboard Top 100 albums, ever), old favourites like 'Stay Clean', 'Metropolis', 'Just Cuz You've Got The Power', 'Killed By Death', 'Iron Fist', 'Ace Of Spades' and (this week's #1 at North Fork Sound) 'Overkill' plus Thin Lizzy's brilliant 'Rosalie' and a killer version of 'Going To Brazil' showed just what a great rock 'n' roll band Motörhead truly are. Forget the metal or punk tags. They're rock 'n' roll like very few are even capable of being, these days. Before the show, Lemmy was kind enough to do the above ID and show me a book of drawings he's been working on. Some of the captions accompanying the images reminded me of a 'piece' he'd done for me on a Gramercy Park Hotel Room Service Breakfast Menu in the late 80s (click on it for a better view)

2 Eggs Fried & Fertile + Scabby Kid's Head

The hospitality in Lemmy's dressing room consisted of 4 bottles of Jack Daniels, some ice, Cokes and a tray of deli meat. He told a joke (which I've forgotten) and said Philthy now has white hair. I told him the station plays Motörhead and his side project The Head Cat plus a lot of Bo Diddley, Chuck Berry etc to which he responded, "Buddy Holly?" Of course. I had my friend Eric Danville with me. He's currently compiling the Heavy Metal Book Of Lists, for which Lemmy has written the foreword, so I took a couple of pix of them together and then we split for the bar.

RIP: Earl Palmer (Oct 25 1924 - Sept 20 2008)

photographer: unknown

North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 21st ‘08

1. Motörhead: Overkill
2. Alvin Robinson: Let The Good Times Roll
3. Pink Floyd: Astronomy Domine
4. The Flamin’ Groovies: Shake Some Action
5. Gang Of Four: At Home He’s A Tourist
6. Carl Perkins: Honey Don’t
7. Suicide: Ghost Rider
8. Peter C Johnson: 9:00
9. Roxy Music: Pyjamarama
10. James Brown: Please, Please, Please
11. Doug Sahm: Texas Tornado
12. J. Geils Band: Back To Get Ya
13. Katrina Leskanich: Hitsville U.K.
14. Ronnie Lane: How Come
15. Eric Dolphy: Something Sweet, Something Tender
16. Nico: Genghis Khan
17. Drive-By Truckers: Perfect Timing
18. The Action: I’ll Keep On Holding On
19. The Soul Rebels: Do It For The Rebel
20. Evil Beaver: Cherry Master

Featured Album:
The Jim Jones Revue (Punk Rock Blues Records)

The 7” B-side:
Ronnie Spector: Hell Of A Nerve

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Yvonne Fair: It Should Have Been Me
Dion: Runaway
The Stooges: 1969
Suzan Cadogan: Hurts So Good
Ian McLagan & The Bump Band: Hope Street
Culture: Love Shine Brighter
X: Los Angeles
The Stranglers: Golden Brown
Yellowman: Operation Radication
Omar Kent Dykes & Jimmie Vaughan: You Made Me Laugh
The Soft Machine: Why Are We Sleeping
Jerry Byrne: Lights Out
The Godfathers: Birth, School, Work, Death
The Jim Jones Revue: Princess And The Frog
The Ramones: Loudmouth
The Lone Sharks: Please Don’t Dance
X-Tal: An Old Colonial’s Hard Luck Story
Amy Rigby: The Leader
Manfred Mann: 5-4-3-2-1
Doug Powell: A Prayer For Ray Davies
Paul Thorn: Things Left Undone
Howlin’ Wolf: Color And Kind
Sinead O’Connor & The Edge: Heroine
Pink Fairies: The Snake
Them: I’m Gonna Dress In Black
Harvey Mandel: Christo Redentor

(vote by clicking the “thumbs-up” icon in the Live365 player window)

Motörhead

I know it looks like I'm slacking, but I'm not...honest! The radio station takes up several hours a day, I'm scanning ALL my photos and converting some of my vinyl to mp3s and I haven't even unpacked the lps or books yet...so by the time I get to focus on the writing, it's usually dinnertime and nothing gets done. Furthermore, once a piece is written, I usually have to rewrite it at least once, so we get to Friday and we're still looking at Sunday's chart. I really thought it would be easier than this. Anyway, bear with me. Tomorrow, after giving my new cd shelves - thanks, Danny - a second coat of stain, I'm driving into the city to hang with Lemmy and see Motörhead at Roseland. I feel like I need to hear Overkill on an endless loop right now. It's time for some noise. I discovered some old photos while unpacking a box and worked on this one a bit more. Sorry if you've already read most of it...

The first time I saw Motörhead was at Emerson, Lake & Palmer’s Manticore complex, an old cinema they’d bought and converted to a rehearsal facility and recording studio. I had received an invitation to a showcase from their handler at the time, Frank Kennington, suggesting that Island Records might be interested in putting out their records. Since my job was to take a look at everything out there, I accepted. So I go on the appointed afternoon and, upon entering the building, encountered a deafening roar not unlike that of a low-flying airplane. When my eyes grew accustomed to the darkness (the only illumination was provided by the little red lights on the amplifiers and these fast moving bright white 'flashlights' flying about the place) it became apparent that while Motörhead were playing, a couple of Hells Angels were riding around the otherwise empty, seatless auditorium on their bikes. The din was staggering and it wasn’t long before the handful of us that had shown up promptly sought the peace and quiet of London's traffic outside on Fulham Broadway, where the fumes and stench were slightly more acceptable. Needless to say, the showcase didn’t exactly pan out the way they had hoped and it wasn’t until a couple of years later when (new manager) Douglas Smith called me at Bronze Records and asked if I would consider signing the band. By this time, they’d lost 3 record deals (an album ‘On Parole’ had been rejected by United Artists) and they’d just been dropped by Chiswick Records after their ‘Motörhead’ album had failed to light up the charts. Stiff Records had done a single with them too, but were prevented from releasing Leaving Here c/w White Line Fever by U/A who claimed the band were still under contract to them when the songs were recorded. At the time, Bronze’s biggest artists were Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, Uriah Heep and Osibisa, so it wasn’t exactly the first label a manager would bring their clients. In fact, it was the last. Doug admitted to me that he’d been everywhere else and, unless Bronze signed the band, they would probably have to break up. I told him that I wasn't really interested, but he convinced me to come and see them one last time, this time at Dingwalls, a club in Camden Lock. I agreed, mainly because I had cut acetates and the lacquers for (his other client) Hawkwind’s ‘Urban Guerilla’ single when I was at Trident. I liked Douglas and I’d also quite liked Motörhead’s eponymous single, although I thought its production left a lot to be desired. The band now had 'Fast' Eddie Clarke on guitar and, this time, they were just awesome! Not only did they rock the packed house, but everybody in the room was wearing a Motörhead t-shirt and a 'bullet belt' (Lemmy's trademark) so clearly there was an audience for them. I was very excited by what I saw and told my boss, David Betteridge, we should agree to Doug's suggestion of a singles deal which, upon some degree of success, would convert to a multi-album deal. Their idea was to go into a studio and cut a version of ‘Louie Louie’, Motörhead-style.
To this point, I'd not actually met the group and now it was time to put that right. These guys had a pretty fearsome image. Apart from just looking like they'd eat babies for breakfast, they were friendly with the Hells Angels - Lemmy rode with president and founding member of the Oakland chapter, Sonny Barger, when he was in town - and their drug intake was legendary. Lemmy had been fired by Hawkwind for forcing them to cancel some Canadian shows due to some customs officials mistaking speed for coke and throwing him in jail. It's not like I hadn't been around musicians who took drugs - hey, I'd even tried a few myself - but these guys just seemed so hardcore. Doug (or Drug-less, as the band called him) suggested I drop by on the second day of recording so when that day came, I went to Wessex Studios and knock on the control room door. It opens, and there’s Lemmy, clad head-to-pointed-toe in black. He barks, “Yeah? Who are you?”
“Uh…Howard...from the record company”.
“Wait...” and he begins to unroll his shirtsleeve, extracting a polythene bag of a white-ish powder. He sticks a switchblade into the bag and draws out a blade-tip full of what I figure is amphetamine sulphate and holds it under my nose.
“Snort that”, he commands. This gets repeated for the other nostril and when that’s done, I make a move to step inside but
“Hold it”, he growls, and goes to fetch something from inside the room. He returns clutching a tall can of Carlsberg Special Brew, gives it to me, and orders,
“Drink that...all of it...now!” I comply, wondering what's coming next but, as soon as I’m finished, he steps aside, ushers me in, offers me a seat at the center of the mixing desk and tells producer Neil Richmond to "turn it up, and hit ‘play’". Both sides of the single thunder from the speakers and from that moment on, I become a huge admirer of Lemmy and the guys in Motörhead, particularly the 'Philthy' Animal Taylor and Fast Eddie version. ‘Tear Ya Down’ is the B-side to Louie Louie and remains, to this day, a favourite getting played regularly on North Fork Sound. That single did well enough to chart (#68) and the band clawed their way onto Top Of The Pops, thanks to some skillfull maneuverings by Bronze promo-dude, Roger Bolton. To get on TOTP, a record had to be in the top 30, but somehow Roger pulled it off. That was the start of the band's climb to fame and, by now (I hope), fortune. Jimmy Miller was brought in to produce the pioneering and utterly glorious ‘Overkill’ album and the rest is history. You can see Lemmy - The Movie, coming in 2009.
Those interested in seeing some rarely seen photos can go HERE and click on "slideshow"

Motörhead start work on Overkill
David Betteridge (Bronze Records MD), Eddie Clarke, Lemmy, Phil Taylor, Doug Smith & ht (Bronze a&r)
Roundhouse Studios, Chalk Farm, London (late 1978)

North Fork Sound Top 20 – September 14th ‘08

1. Glasvegas: Go Square Go
2. Lou Reed: What’s Good
3. Michael Nyman: Birdlist
4. Small Faces: I’ve Got Mine
5. The Nipple Erectors: King Of The Bop
6. Rodney Crowell: Sex And Gasoline
7. Suzan Cadogan: Hurts So Good
8. Suicide: Touch Me
9. Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Party Of Special Things To Do
10. Albert Collins: Shiver ‘n’ Shake
11. Christine Ohlman & Rebel Montez: Highway 61
12. Ninian Hawick: Scottish Rites Temple Stomp
13. Hello Saferide: I Wonder Who Is Like This One
14. Deborah & The Puerto Ricans: Respect
15. Sugar Minott: Rub A Dub Sound
16. Spiritualized: Don’t Hold Me Close
17. Emiliana Torrini: Me And Armini
18. Thirteenth Floor Elevators: You’re Gonna Miss Me
19. The Psychedelic Furs: Pretty In Pink
20. Junior Murvin: Roots Train #1

Featured Album:
Dion: Heroes: Giants Of Early Guitar Rock (Saguaro Road Records)

The 7” B-side:
The London Dirthole Company: Stripshow

Last Week’s Listener Favourites:
Los Straightjackets: Pacifica
The Rolling Stones: Luxury
Fania All-Stars: Son Cuero Y Boogaloo
Mick Ronson: Roll Like The River
Glasvegas: Daddy’s Gone
Yvonne Fair: It Should Have Been Me
Dan Baird: Rock This Place
Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band: Ella Guru
Mick Ronson: Billy Porter
Ike Turner: Caldonia
The Nips: Gabrielle
Amy Winehouse: Help Yourself
Paul Heaton: Deckchair Collapsed
Johnny Winter: Illustrated Man
Ellen Foley: What’s A Matter Baby
Lazy Lester: You’re Gonna Ruin Me Baby
Chris Isaak: Goin’ Nowhere

(vote by clicking the “thumbs-up” icon in the Live365 player window)