Survival of the fittest Just Rockin’ and Rollin’ Ronnie Dawson Upstart Records The once and future Blond Bomber makes his national debut for the second time in his career, 40 years after he hit it small with “Action Packed” and signed to Columbia–as a black singer, no less. But this…
Three years ago, Neal Caldwell sold VVV Records and thought he was done with the store forever. Caldwell, among the key members of Dallas’ new-wave scene of the late ’70s and early ’80s as a member of N.C.M., had opened VVV in 1979 to import impossible-to-find British and Jamaican albums,…
God bless Al Green When Al Green stepped off the concert stage in 1979 and took his place behind the pulpit, the greatest singer alive never once tried to reconcile the disparities: His soul belonged to God, his heart belonged to the ladies, and never the twain shall meet as…
Trendy bastards The Great Southern Trendkill Pantera East West Records Pantera used to moan they never got any media attention, but now, like true platinum punks who’ve discovered any rage is good rage at the cash register, they bitch about what coverage they have gotten: “Every fucking second, the pathetic…
When Greg Dulli first went off to college in 1983, he packed two posters to put on his wall there. One was of Aerosmith; the other, Earth, Wind and Fire. Thirteen years later, it’s evident from the music of his band the Afghan Whigs–a judicious blend of hard rock, soul,…
Singles going steady Down on the Upside Soundgarden A&M Records Superunknown wasn’t a consistently great album, but every time you heard a single on the radio, Soundgarden managed to make everything around it seem thin and inconsequential; Soundgarden is a rock-and-roll band that wins by comparison, meaning you’ve heard it…
This year marks British punk rock’s 20th birthday, but the Sex Pistols reunion tour hangs in the air like the stench of death–or at least the suspicious smell of a million moldy dollar bills. As John Lydon, Steve Jones, Paul Cook, and Glen Matlock prepare to kick off their tour…
Adding to subtract Crow Pot Pie Slobberbone Doolittle Records This isn’t to be confused with Slobberbone’s same-titled, Sam McCall-produced debut of last year, but that won’t be a problem because the “new” version bears only a slight resemblance to the “old” one. They’re both still called Crow Pot Pie, seven…
Melting the wax museum Austin’s never going to land an alternative-rock band anywhere except in the cut-out bins; Spoon (whose first four albums I owned when they were called the Pixies) and Sincola and Prescott Curlywolf are this year’s Glass Eye and Zeitgeist and Wild Seeds, which isn’t necessarily a…
Ten years ago it would’ve been a major event in my life–receiving a new Elvis Costello album in the mail–but when I got All This Useless Beauty last month, it just went in the big pile. After a few days I finally got around to listening to the Costello LP,…
Odds and sods All This Useless Beauty Elvis Costello Warner Bros. Records Deep Dead Blue Elvis Costello/Bill Frisell Warner Bros. Records/Nonesuch Warner Bros. has no intention of releasing the Costello/Frisell collaboration in the States, though it has landed over here as an overpriced import worth its price. Recorded in front…
In Sam Myers’ East Dallas space-age bachelor-pad apartment, the bluesman keeps vintage 1950s LPs of Louis Jordan, Percy Mayfield, T-Bone Walker, and, of course, his old partner in music and moonshine, guitar great Elmore James. An honorary lifetime-achievement award from the Sonny Boy Blues Society and three W.C. Handy Awards…
In the 14 years during which East Texas State University has been holding its “Five Star Concert Series,” never once has a rock-and-roll band graced the school’s stage. There have been country bands (Bryan White, who’s “country” only between the quotation marks), comedians (such as Sinbad), even the occasional R&B…
Ghost of a band 3 Pound Universe Wes Martin CMP Records Wes Martin, the last-minute New Bohemian guitarist added shortly after the band got signed to Geffen in 1987, wrote most of this material five years ago, as the Bos were going bust; it was recorded in 1993 in Germany…
Glam dancing There’s not one damned original thing about Spacehog. The ambisexual clothing is lifted straight from the glam section of the history books, as is most of the music–sort of operatic Mott the Hoople metal with a pogo beat–and the shtick is punk even if the execution is pure…
In the musical mythology, Austin is one of the coolest, most laid-back music towns on the planet, a Central Texas bohemia where slack and good vibes rule. But just beneath the seeming bonhomie, one finds a voracious creature that eats its own–and frequently its best. When Stevie Ray Vaughan got…
Big green Blow it Out Your Ass Veruca Salt DGC Records Steve Albini goes for the gold and grabs at straws: Whether the former Big Black frontman now lends his precious name to the likes of Veruca Salt and Bush for pop prestige (theirs, not his) or because it’s some…
Clad in a pale green sweater and faded jeans, her red hair cut short and her face barren of any makeup, Ann Magnuson cuts a drab path through the lobby of the Sheraton Park Central. It’s a stark contrast to the look she wears best–the more-glamorous-than-thou wardrobe, the style of…
When Richard Hunter announced he was running for the office of mayor in Fort Worth, he expected everyone to figure he was goofing. After all, Hunter isn’t a politician. He’s a long-haired 25-year-old bass player, for God’s sake, best known for his stint in Killbilly and now I, The Jury…
Listening to a musician talk about his or her craft is often as enticing a prospect as watching sausage being made. That is, you don’t want to know how many fingernails and lower intestines and skull fragments get ground into the mixture; you only want to taste the final result…
Worshipping the Gods As a performer, Young Gods’ frontman Franz Treichler is Jim Morrison reincarnate. He stands with his eyes closed, sweaty hair in his face, arms outstretched as if he wants to fly or be crucified, and his voice vacillates between a painful whisper and a determined howl. He…
Let’s say you’re single, and you meet someone interesting and attractive–maybe at a party or on the job, wherever. You have a nice conversation and seem to have common tastes, so you think you’d like to know this person better. But you’ve had your share of clumsy first dates so…
