SIDE A
Track 1: For the month of April, I celebrate the 36th birthday of "The Clash" (released April 8, 1977), the eponymously titled debut release from the "only band that matters."
Track 2: I also celebrate the 23rd birthday of Public Enemy's "Fear Of A Black Planet" (released April 10, 1990). Truth be told, I had never paid any attention to the hip hop and rap genre whatsoever through my own shortsightedness and self-centered sense of musical integrity, as I felt that songs made up of rhymes, synthetic beats and snatched pieces of music from existing sources was nothing but a cheat at best, and downright unimaginative musical theft at worst. And then, this day arrived...
I was a Junior in college, deep into my double majors of English and Communication Arts and of course, DJing at WLHA. While I had occasionally spun the track "Welcome To The Terrordome" (and had grudgingly liked it), I still was not convinced to PE's musical legitimacy. But friends of mine, who had been salivating over the then often delayed release of the album, had tried to convince me otherwise and passionately so. On the day the album was FINALLY released, I was heading back to my dorm from a class when I saw a fellow DJ racing up the gargantuan Bascom Hill with a cassette in his hand. It was the long awaited album, just purchased from one of State Street's then copious amounts of record stores, and he yelled excitedly over and again, "I GOT IT!!!! I GOT IT!!!!" I still silently scoffed, firmly unconvinced.
I returned to my dorm room and soon thereafter, there was a knock upon my door. My friend Sandor entered, also holding the just purchased album (on cassette) in hand. We talked and joked and then, he raced off for his next class, absentmindedly leaving the treasured cassette upon my desk. Coincidence or fate?
Having a large amount of time to myself before my next class, I decided to give the album a try in a "what the hell" moment. I listened to the entire thing.
Yes, I listened to the entire album, reading the enclosed lyrics along the way and with my mouth agape in astonishment. This album was nothing less than a musical firebomb with the sonic boom of Chuck D.'s voice and his extraordinary and peerless wordplay front and center combined with the sinister humor and asides from the notorious Flavor Flav jetting through the speakers. The production, arrangements and overall sound collage created and orchestrated by Terminator X and the Bomb Squad elevated the process of sampling to an unquestionable art form--it was, and remains, one of the best sounding albums I have ever experienced. Politically, it was an album that I may not have wanted, but it was one that I needed to hear as it instilled in me a newfound level of pride within myself and my race, a new sense of intellectualism and emotional resonance in what it means to be an African American in the 20th century. It taught me exactly how to see, love and understand my race in ways that I had not been taught before in quite the same way. It was the Black Nationalism and Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 1970s made PRESENT, moving me from complacency to new consciousness. And all of that was accomplished over the span of 63 minutes and 21 seconds!
While I celebrate Public Enemy's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame this year as well as the 25th anniversary of their album "It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back" (released April 14, 1988), I am taking the time to honor "fear Of A Black Planet." As incendiary as it is enlightening, this album has become one of the finest I have ever heard...PERIOD! And frankly, we need them now more than ever!
It turns out that the show I had seen was indeed a special one as the band was in the throes of the final week of their year long tour in support of their excellent album "Not Your Kind Of People" (released May 14, 2012), their first after a seven year hiatus. Garbage performed a thunderous (my first concert wearing ear plugs!), triumphant, victory lap of a homecoming show, and it was a blessing to have been able to behold, especially from my vantage point, standing not terribly far from the stage and able to see the band within a stretch of a stone's throw away.
It is really amazing to see a band perform at the end of a tour as opposed to the beginning. The chemistry between the band members of Duke Erikson (guitars, keyboards), Steve Marker (guitars, keyboards), Butch Vig (drums), Shirley Manson (vocals, frontwoman extraordinaire) and stellar support from former Jane's Addiction/future Nine Inch Nails bassist Eric Avery was ferociously tight as they heroically performed a stellar rock show.
In a way, their performance reminded me strongly of the Cheap Trick concert I saw at Madison's Barrymore Theater a couple of years ago. While the two bands obviously do not sound at all like each other, what they shared and showcased aside from their superior musicianship and even the towering presence of their respective lead singers, Garbage is a band that has got it where it counts the most: the songs! They played it all! One great song after another after another after another (as the set list pictured below can attest) and every selection not only celebrated the band's musical past, but also cemented the sheer validation of their present and hopes for an even more tremendous future.
I realized that night that Garbage is one of our GREAT bands. They are not simply a good one that has endured over time. But one whose superior songwriting craftsmanship, musicianship as well as the deepness of their bonds of friendship have steered them into musical glory. And being a drummer, my eyes were riveted upon the playing of Butch Vig, who is a BEAST on the skins!!
Track 4: Your favorite virtual radio station would be remiss if it did not properly take the time to honor the life, artistry and 67th birthday of living legend Al Green, which occurred on April 13, 2013. My life has been forever enriched by having heard his voice. Even when I was a small child and heard "Let's Stay Together" (single released 1971), I knew it was something special.
Track 5: One of the new releases currently spinning in the WSPC Listening Booth is the album "RKives" (released April 2, 2013), the final release from the now defunct indie band Rilo Kiley. This collection of 16 b-side singles, rare tracks and previously unreleased selections is a treasure trove of top flight songwriting from the band's chief songstress/lead vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist Jenny Lewis, as well as equally strong work from guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Blake Sennett, that displays a musical diversity that often sounds like the best underground radio station you've never heard before...aside from this one, of course! Highly recommended from the DJ!
SIDE B
Track 6: "We're just brothers having fun!"
Those words are uttered by the masterful drummer Questlove at the opening of performance solely featuring himself and the inimitable D'Angelo, held on March 4, 2013 at the Brooklyn Bowl.
I have currently been listening to a bootleg (shhhhh!) copy of their incredible performance that felt surged with jazz coolness and felt so spontaneous yet was filled with the utmost precision as the two, sounding like a full band, played cover version of songs by Sly and the Family Stone, Prince, and Funkadelic while also delving into D'Angelo's own classics (set list pictured below). If you creep around cyberspace, you are certain to find your own copy to stream or download for yourselves (shhhh!!!!!!!shhhhh!!!!!). Regardless, D's new album cannot come soon enough!!
Track 7-PART A: On April 10th, I was so happy to send virtual HAPPY 43rd BIRTHDAY greetings to Q-Tip, one of the most artistically forward thinking hip-hop artists we have been blessed to have. I'm very much looking forward to his upcoming release "The Last Zulu." Cheers to you!!
Track 7-PART B: In addition to Q-Tip's birthday, today I celebrate the 23rd birthday of one of hip-hop's greatest debut albums, from one of hip-hop's greatest bands-A Tribe Called Quest's "People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths Of Rhythm" (released April 17, 1991) gave us Q-Tip, Phife, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi's grand entrance into the music world and we are all the better for having had them when we did.
Stubblefield still performs around Madison to this day, has contributed his drums to Garbage's 1995 debut album and if you are fans of syndicated public radio host Michael Feldman's "Whad'ya Know?," you will hear Stubblefield jazz rhythms. May he continue to play behind the skins for years and years to come.
Track 9: And then, there is also some sad news to announce. Storm Thorgerson, a British graphic designer, passed away at the age of 69 on April 18th. Thorgerson created countless classic album art landscapes which can be eternally found upon works by Led Zeppelin, 10cc, Black Sabbath, The Cult, Peter Gabriel, The Mars Volta, Muse, and most famously Pink Floyd, among others.
Thorgerson's surreal imagery was, and will always remain, iconic and as Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour stated after the arrival of this news, "The artworks that he created for Pink Floyd from 1968 to the present day have been an inseparable part of our work." Yes. Inseparable. Beautifully, majestically, disturbingly, profoundly inseparable. May he rest in peace.
Track 10: This edition of WSPC's Liner Notes will close by returning to the very beginning of this posting as I celebrate the 73rd birthday of pianist, composer Herbie Hancock, which occurred on April 12th. Granted, this DJ is not terribly well versed in the musical language of jazz but to my Father's joy, I am learning and enjoying the latest journey in my lifelong musical education enormously. Hancock's legend cannot be overstated as his work with Miles Davis (alongside bassist Ron Carter, drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Wayne Shorter), as well as his own solo work where he pioneered forays into funk, fusion, rock, an acceptance of synthesizers and even film scoring composition can all attest so wondrously.
May his birthday signal another blessed trip around the sun, gracing us with his gifts and talents all along the way.
And with that, this gatefold is closed...for now...
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