TOMORROW ON OUTQ: THE BRITISH INVASION AND R&B

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ and talk about music on The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. This week and next week, however, I am moving to Thursdays.  In three weeks, I'll be back to Wednesday.

I'm going to talk about what I was supposed to talk about last week: the British invasion of the early '60s, and the American R&B of the era: how they influenced each other, and how that influence manifests itself today.  I'm adding one recent release that I didn't originally plan on: Otis Redding's Live On The Sunset Strip. It's a two CD collection of a few sets that he did over the course of a multi-night stand at the Sunset Strip in April of 1966, backed by his own band (as opposed to Booker T & The MGs) at the point where the dude was blowing up.  It is hot, and worth checking out. I've talked about Otis on the show before, but as far as I'm concerned, you can't talk about him too much.

I'll also be talking about The Kinks, in honor of the late Pete Quaife. I'll be talking about a newly released live Jackson 5 album. And new albums by Paul Weller and Bettye Lavette. But the main thing will be the recently released DVD version of The TAMI Show. I was talking with a friend of mine, we said it may be the best music DVD ever. And I never say that kind of stuff.  But it is a well shot concert from 1964 featuring a legendary performance by James Brown (see part of it here). Plus, The Rolling Stones (here), Marvin Gaye (here), Diana Ross & The Supremes (also here), The Beach Boys and Smokey Robinson & The Miracles. Check out below, I've posted a joint performance by Chuck Berry with Gerry & The Pacemakers, and also Lesley Gore. This is incredible stuff.

MOJO TURNS 200, TOM WAITS EDITS

I'm a bit behind on this, but you should look for the latest issue of Mojo, it's the 200th issue, and to celebrate, they let Tom Waits edit. And why not? Tom interviews Hank Williams III in the issue, and Joe Henry interviews Harry Belafonte. There's also lots of historical features from the magazine's history, including stories on the making of Nirvana's In Utero (the magazine's first "album of the month") and Radiohead 's OK Computer. My favorite was the story behind Bob Dylan's Time Out Of Mind, where many of the players on the album (but not Dylan, nor producer Daniel Lanois) give the behind-the-scenes story of the album. It seemed like Dylan didn't like Lanois' ideas, and neither did most of the musicians, but the tension between Bob and Lanois led to a classic album (as it did years earlier when they did Oh Mercy together).

Anyway, as always, a great read.

THIS WEEK: OUTQ THURSDAY

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ's show The Morning Jolt With Larry Flick to talk about music. This week, however, I'll be going on on Thursday morning.   I'll be discussing what I was supposed to talk about last week: the British invasion, early '60s American R&B, and they way they affected and influenced each other, and the effects of that cross-pollination in 2010.

FAITH NO MORE IN NYC - AWESOME

First off, I should mention that I took this photo from Roddy Bottum's blog. In his post about the show, Roddy said that the Brooklyn shows (Faith No More played Friday and Monday) was one of the highlights of his career.  Wow! I was lucky enough to be at the show last night, and it was indeed amazing.  I'm sure they did some shows that were as good, or better, back in the day, but maybe it's just that Roddy was able to enjoy this one more.

Faith No More had such a weird history.  They were sort of a cult thing with former frontman Chuck Mosley, but when Mike Patton joined, they exploded. Their first album with Patton, 1989's The Real Thing, sort of accidentally invented rap-metal.  They were doing the rap-metal thing with Mosley, but it got much more popular with Patton, which is ironic, as Patton seems to disdain anything popular. With their next album, 1992's Angel Dust (my favorite FNM album by far), they left rap behind and got more experimental, and continued on that path for their next two albums, King For A Day, Fool For A Lifetime and their swan song, Album Of The Year. But they would only get less and less popular and that was probably a bummer to them. I remember one of the last times I saw them they did a Halloween gig at Irving Plaza for a radio station, and Monster Magnet were on the bill.  Great show, but it didn't even sell out! After that, I remember not being able to get tickets to what turned out to be their last NYC show at Roseland. It was sold out, but I think that was because of the opening act.  Believe it or not, that was limp bizkit. I remember being bummed out that I couldn't get a ticket, and even more bummed that limp bizkit was what people were getting excited about.

Cut to last night.  I was wondering if Patton was going to be into it. He has been ambivalent on the topic of Faith No More reuniting over the years (and has occupied himself with lots of other projects like Fantomas, Tomahawk, Peeping Tom, solo projects and collaborations). From the second song of the show, it was clear that he was way into it.  The first song was FNM's cover of "Theme From 'Midnight Cowboy," but then they played "The Real Thing," and Patton just went off. And from there it was on.  There was a lot of the easy listening music that FNM love, or love making fun of, like their classic covers of Lionel Richie's "Easy," The Bee Gees' "I Started A Joke" and their own "Just A Man." But they also roared through "Last Cup Of Sorrow," "Be Aggressive," "Midlife Crisis" and especially "Land Of Sunshine." The show had everything that was great about the band.  Lots of aggression, but also the soft rock stuff, and Patton's cutting and cynical sense of humor. Sometimes I hear about people feeling ripped off by reunions because the artists are just there to get paid, and I was worried about that with this particular one, but in fact, the band were awesome. Mike Patton gets a lot of attention, but the band's secret weapon is the unrelenting super powerful drumming of Mike "Puffy" Bordin. I've seen him in Ozzy Osbourne's band (and even in a 75% reunion of Black Sabbath) and I'll say he's one of the best drummers of the past 20 years.

I don't know why they are only doing a handful of U.S. dates - but I hope they come to the area again, I would definitely want to see this tour a second time (and my wife missed it, much to her chagrin).

NOW ON DVD: CLASSIC ALBUMS - BLACK SABBATH "PARANOID"

I've never seen any episodes of the "Classic Albums" documentary series, but when they did a doc on the Black Sabbath classic Paranoid, I had to check out the DVD. The album is one of the greatest albums of all time, no question, and deserving of being featured on the series.  But as long as Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward were being interviewed, it's too bad that they didn't do a full on documentary on the band. Who knows, maybe someone will soon...

But the doc is definitely cool, although there weren't any real revelations.  All four Sabs are interviewed, as well as some journalists, some people who worked with Sabbath at the time, and Henry Rollins, who always has cool stuff to say.  Tony, Geezer and Bill show how they came up with some of their respective parts to their songs, which is fun. I'd love to see them do more Sabbath docs, and I'm looking forward to checking out some of their other DVDs.

RUSH - BEYOND THE LIGHTED STAGE... AMAZING

I really enjoy watching documentaries about music, but if there's one band who really needed to have a documentary, it's Rush. Their story is rarely told, because the gatekeepers of music media hate them.

Also, you rarely hear big name musicians talking about how awesome Rush is, and here you get Trent Reznor, Jack Black of Tenacious D, Billy Corgan, Kirk Hammett, Gene Simmons, Tim Commerford of Rage Against The Machine, Les Claypool, Danny Carey of Tool, Taylor Hawkins of Foo Fighters and Zakk Wylde among others, talking about how great they are. Even a guy from Death Cab For Cutie!

And I don't think I've ever seen an interview with Neal Peart. Ever!

On the other hand, other than the unimaginable tragedy that Peart endured some years back (documented in his book Ghostrider), the band hasn't had too much controversy or drama, so I was kind of wondering if their story would really make a great documentary.  Yes it does.

Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage came out on DVD this week, and I watched it tonight.

It does a great job of telling their story - how children of immigrants Geddy Lee (son of concentration camp survivors) and Alex Lifeson came together in school and formed a lifelong friendship and this awesome band. And how they had the confidence to do what they wanted to do, and not let the record label or trends or even fans dictate their direction. There's lots of amazing footage: a young Alex Lifeson at the dinner table telling his parents he wants to drop out of school and become a musician and early footage of the performing with original drummer John Rutsey.  There's also interviews with Geddy's mom, Alex's mom, and Neal's parents, plus lots of other people around the band and interviews with all three guys that are actually revealing. Absolute essential viewing for any Rush fan, but I've heard that even non-fans enjoy the doc.

A friend and former boss of mine who does a blog on rock docs wrote about it here: he mentions that he used to like the band and then moved on because of punk. I never did that, even as I got into punk and what was known as "alternative," and neither did many of the artists interviewed for this film. One of the creators of South Park was interviewed, and comments that even rock critics who hated them for years have to give the band their props these days.  And if they don't, "then they're just being old dicks." Amen brother.

My only gripe: there were great extras, but I would have loved to see the full interviews with Reznor, Claypool, et all. The interviews with other artists was the best part of the recent Stones In Exile doc.  Maybe on the deluxe edition!

BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND - LIVE IN HYDE PARK

I've written a lot about Bruce Springsteen since starting No Expiration. His live shows with The E Street Band over the past few years have been incredible. If you don't believe me, or you didn't get to go to one of the shows, or you did and you want to see what is quite possibly the best rock and roll band in the land again, pick up the new DVD London Calling: Live In Hyde Park.

Recorded at the Hard Rock Calling Festival in Hyde Park last summer, Bruce opens the show with a cover of The Clash's "London Calling" (possibly inspired by a fax Joe Strummer sent to a British TV producer about Bruce). There's lots of songs that have been on other recent DVD releases (Live In New York City from the 1999/2000 reunion tour and Live In Barcelona from the 2002/2003 tour for The Rising). But I don't get tired of seeing songs like "Badlands," "She's The One" and "Out In The Street." Watching this enormous crowd going crazy gives chills - and the fact that the show starts during the day and you actually watch the sunset adds to the vibe.  But there's also some great unique things here.  The aforementioned "London Calling," but also "Night" which is a great live song, "Seeds," the rocking version of the Nebraska classic "Johnny 99," "American Land," Jimmy Cliff's "Trapped" and "No Surrender" with Brian Fallon from Gaslight Anthem. I mean, a 20-something year old Jersey punk rocker made good, joining Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band on stage in England for "No Surrender," and the crowd goes wild?  It gave me chills to watch it.

The main critique of this that I've read is that there were more "interesting" shows on the tour, mainly the full album sets.  I'd agree with that, but that isn't really a critique of this release, it's a complaint that he didn't release the show you wanted. Which is fine, but this release is awesome.  Of course, I'd love it if he released any (or all) of the shows where he played albums in their entirety on DVD or CD, but I'm not mad about Hyde Park. I will say that the bonus tracks are random: "The River," recorded the night before at the Glastonbury Festival, and the video for "Wrecking Ball," the song he wrote for Giants Stadium's last date. I would have loved the opening song from Glastonbury, a cover of the Joe Strummer solo classic "Coma Girl," but I won't complain.

I wonder if this was the last E Street Band tour. People seem to think that there's one left.  Well, if there isn't: they went out on top, and this DVD is exhibit A.