Blondie / X - Live 2013.09.26 Stubb's, Austin, Texas

Apparently Blondie played at this same venue almost exactly a year ago, but with Devo opening. That would have been cool. This was pretty cool, too, though, so I can hardly complain.

Artist: Blondie
Venue: Stubb's (outside)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 26 September 2013
Opening Act: X [the LA punk band]

Setlist:
01. One Way or Another
02. Rave
03. Hanging on the Telephone (The Nerves cover)
04. Union City Blue
05. A Rose by Any Name
06. The Tide Is High (The Paragons cover)
07. Drag You Around
08. Maria
09. Winter
10. Rapture → No Sleep Till Brooklyn (Beastie Boys cover)
11. Atomic
12. What I Heard
13. Wipe Off My Sweat
14. Sugar on the Side
15. Heart of Glass

Encore:
16. Take Me in the Night
17. Mile High
18. Call Me
19. Relax (Frankie Goes to Hollywood cover)
20. Dreaming

The X in question here is the LA punk band formed in 1977, not the Australian punk band, nor any of the many other bands that happen to share the same name. As best as I could tell, the current version of the band features all of the original founding members. They played a bunch of songs with hardly a pause, which they said was probably preferable for everyone involved instead of babbling too much. I was surprised that bassist John Doe probably sang more than frontwoman Exene Cervenka did, but otherwise they were about what I expected. They play decent punk music, but they aren't pushing boundaries. The weirdest part was guitarist Billy Zoom. He seemed like a cartoon character: he was smiling nearly the whole time, hardly noticing the riffs that he kicked out, focusing rather on staring semi-creepily into the audience.

Blondie has retained singer Debbie Harry, guitarist Chris Stein, and drummer Clem Burke from their earliest days, but have more recently added lead guitarist Tommy Kessler, bassist Leigh Foxx, and keyboardist Matt Katz-Bohen. Harry came on stage wearing a X shirt and sunglasses (despite that the sun had already gone down); she sang and spoke enthusiastically but regularly wore a frown whenever she wasn't singing. She finally took the sunglasses off after five or six songs, although Stein never removed his. While Harry glowed in the spotlight, Stein and Burke mostly kept to the back. Burke regularly twirled and tossed his drumsticks but otherwise was hardly a showman; Stein only played a handful of the lead guitar parts and even then, he still usually hid behind the other guitarist.

The newer members were a little more active. Kessler, noticeably younger than most of the others, happily took the front of the stage for his leads and even shredded up a few solos. That was perhaps a little more than I had bargained for, but I suppose it wasn't completely out of place. Katz-Bohen sang backing vocals while handling several keyboards; he too seemed a bit younger and more energetic than the old hands, but maybe that was just because he was wearing a glittery keyboard-pattern vest with no shirt underneath. Lastly, but certainly not least, was Foxx, who seemed like he would have fit right in with Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. He stood out mostly because his instrument was the loudest in the mix.

Actually, I think the mix of the entire night was probably the oddest part of the whole venture. X's mix was fairly typical of rock concerts: drums were way too loud, guitar was a little too loud, the bass was hardly present, and the vocals were somewhat muddy and thus hard to understand. Blondie's mix was more confusing: while the drums were loud, the bass was really loud. After that, everything else was a bit congested. The guitars were often indistinguishable unless one watched the players' hands, and even then that didn't always help. The keyboards and vocals were a crapshoot – sometimes they were discernible and clear, but often they were dark and difficult to pick out.

That being said, Blondie has always had a knack for good melodies, and by playing almost all of their greatest hits, they showed off a continual stream of talented songwriting. I was pleased that they didn't only take the predictable route; they incorporated several songs from their 2011 album Panic of Girls and their upcoming album Ghosts of Download into their setlist, and even if I didn't know them and I didn't find them quite as appealing as the classics, I still appreciated it. The biggest surprises were the unexpected covers. When "Rapture" was extended into a heavy rock jam, I didn't even realize at the time that the song had morphed into the Beastie Boys' "No Sleep Till Brooklyn", which made for a fairly hilarious homage. Similarly, choosing the near-novelty classic "Relax" as their penultimate song was almost too hard to take seriously, but they rocked it. Apparently, the song will be present on their upcoming album, which I'm sure will result in a delightfully absurd listen.

The other highlight was probably the keytar solo in "Call Me". Yes, out of nowhere, Katz-Bohen suddenly had a keytar strapped on, and he came to the front of stage to work his magic. For the rest of the night, he stuck to his keyboard racks, but I'm glad he got at least one moment in the spotlight.

Actually, I was a bit surprised that "Dreaming" was the closer, but I suppose I'm probably not the only one that really likes that song, and the band probably knows that.

Scores:

X: C

Blondie: B

P.S. I probably would have enjoyed myself a lot more if the mix had been better and if three pushy jerks hadn't shoved themselves into my spot halfway through the show.

P.P.S. Thanks to Amelia for encouraging me to go!

My Bloody Valentine / New Fumes - Live 2013.08.16 Austin Music Hall, Austin, Texas

Another amazing band came to my new hometown!? Austin is amazing.

Artist: My Bloody Valentine
Venue: Austin Music Hall
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 16 August 2013
Opening Act: New Fumes

Setlist:
01. I Only Said
02. When You Sleep
03. New You
04. You Never Should
05. Honey Power
06. Cigarette in Your Bed
07. Only Tomorrow
08. Come in Alone
09. Only Shallow
10. Thorn
11. Nothing Much to Lose
12. Who Sees You
13. To Here Knows When
14. Wonder 2
15. Soon
16. Feed Me with Your Kiss
17. You Made Me Realise

You may recall that this is not my first time seeing My Bloody Valentine. I saw them last in 2008, shortly after they'd reunited (or returned from hiatus, depending on whom you ask), and while I enjoyed the show, I was admittedly disappointed by the prominent use of samples, the somewhat limited sonic palette, and most of all, the lack of new material. This show, however, did a good job of making up for those shortcomings.

First, I should say a word about the opener. New Fumes, apparently from Dallas, is a one-man band mostly featuring guitar, psychedelic visuals, psychedelic laptop-driven soundscapes, and a very strange head garment. Most of his performance was one extended piece, presumably segueing from one composition to another, or at least from one segment to another. This was followed by a few shorter works, similar in tone and vision. Since most of his performance seemed pre-recorded, or at least mostly pre-arranged, it wasn't exactly the most engaging show, but I kind of liked the strangeness of his act, and the music was fairly interesting. It was very spacey, very full, and reasonably appropriate for setting the stage for My Bloody Valentine. His few vocals were entirely undecipherable, which was also in line with the MBV aesthetic, although kind of annoying if that wasn't actually intentional.

When My Bloody Valentine did hit the stage, I was immediately surprised to see a fifth person on stage: a woman hiding in the corner, mostly playing the keyboard hooks at the high end of the spectrum in songs like the opener, "I Only Said", and the trancey "Soon". On other songs, she performed rhythm guitar duties that may have otherwise been performed by Bilinda Butcher, who often merely held her guitar without hitting a note while singing. There were also songs where both played rhythm parts under Kevin Shields' lead parts.

This keyboardist enabled the band to eschew samples for most songs, except for a few bits on songs like "To Here Knows When". Considering that those parts probably cannot be played by anything except a sequencer or computer (something Shields has acknowledged in interviews), I consider that an acceptable compromise. The jungle drums of "Wonder 2" were another of these few sampled parts, which allowed drummer Colm Ó Cíosóig to come to the front of the stage and grab a guitar. I had no idea he could even play the instrument!

"Wonder 2" was certainly not a song I expected the band to perform live, but it actually worked better than I would have guessed. The other new songs performed, "New You", "Only Tomorrow", and "Who Sees You", were all somewhat more conventional songs for the band, and thus less of a surprise per se, but it was still a delight just to see the band play these new songs. With no new material debuted from the band since 1991, this is a big deal. These songs may not represent a great leap forwards for the band, but they are great songs, and their percussion arrangements and vocals melodies do appear just a bit more richly developed and complex than their older material.

My Bloody Valentine were once deemed "shoegazers" because they were part of a semi-related group of bands noted for staring at their feet and hardly moving during performances. This still holds true for the two vocalist/guitarists of the group, Butcher and Shields. Colm and bassist Debbie Googe, however, are much more active, and they are often the more interesting musicians to watch. Part of the excitement of seeing the band live is simply that they carry a lot more energy when they perform together on a stage. I realize that this is a cliché, but it certainly holds true here. I would contend that their studio output is more beautiful, that it has more depth, and that it shows more color and range, but their studio work is also mostly performed solely by Shields and it does tend to be precise, measured, and careful. Live, the band is more collaborative, but also looser, rougher, and more active. Googe, being the only band member to actually move around the stage, draws attention to her parts even when they are buried in the mix. Often, her parts are fuzzier or fuller than in the studio recordings, and it's quite fun to see her throttle her instrument at full speed. Colm represents the biggest difference from the recordings. Famously, most of his parts on Loveless were sampled and sequenced as a result of a hand injury, and even though you'd hardly know if you weren't told, the drums on that album are a bit less dynamic that they might otherwise be. Live, he actually plays fills and infuses more power into the percussion. It's quite a thrill.

In some ways, the band's live performances are almost more trancey or spacey than their recordings, because the vocals are mixed so low as to be completely indecipherable. This is a common statement regarding their studio recordings, but live, it's nigh impossible to even discern syllables. The guitars blend well, but they are rougher and less finely polished, so their distortion fills up the mid-range. The vocal parts exist in a realm just above that, but because they may as well be wordless, they serve as another instrument, on par with the keyboard parts. At times, they were difficult to distinguish without specifically observing the musicians.

My Bloody Valentine have always (at least since the 90s) closed their sets with "You Made Me Realise", which usually lasts much longer than the studio counterpart, because the band extends the noisy drone section into something usually called the "holocaust" by fans. Last time I saw them, that section lasted 23 minutes. This time it was just six, which was somewhat more practical. The band just plays one chord for that duration, so it can get a bit tedious, but it is an intense physical sensation to be a part of. At any rate, six minutes was long enough to lose yourself in it, but not so long that you wondered when the hell they were going to snap out of it. I still don't know how they decide when to break back into the verse. It seems like it just happens, as if the preceding six or 23 minutes didn't just happen.

So anyway, the performances were great, there were few flaws to be found, and their sound is simply amazing. This was the show I was hoping to see in 2008.

Scores:

New Fumes: B-

My Bloody Valentine: A-

P.S. I'd probably give their new album, m b v, a B+. If the weirdness of tracks like "Is This and Yes" and "Nothing Is" wasn't so distracting, it would be higher.

Belle & Sebastian / Blitzen Trapper - Live 2013.07.16 Moody Theater, Austin, Texas

Artist: Belle & Sebastian
Venue: Moody Theater (Austin City Limits Live)
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 16 July 2013
Opening Act: Blitzen Trapper

Setlist:
01. Judy Is a Dick Slap
02. I’m a Cuckoo
03. Dirty Dream Number Two
04. The Model
05. I Want the World to Stop
06. To Be Myself Completely
07. Lord Anthony
08. Belle and Sebastian [tease]
09. If She Wants Me
10. Piazza, New York Catcher
11. I Can See Your Future
12. If You’re Feeling Sinister
13. Your Cover’s Blown
14. Simple Things
15. The Boy with the Arab Strap
16. Legal Man
17. Judy and the Dream of Horses

Encore:
18. The Blues Are Still Blue
19. Get Me Away from Here, I’m Dying

Despite releasing their last album in 2010 (Write About Love), Belle and Sebastian didn’t get around to touring in Texas until now. They’re about to release another b-sides and rarities collection, The Third Eye Centre. However, they weren’t really touring for either album, as far as I could tell: they only played two songs from last album and two songs that are listed on the upcoming compilation (albeit in remixed form). Their main interest seems to be walking through their long back catalog, selecting choice songs from their scattered assortment of LPs and EPs.

But first I should mention the opener, Blitzen Trapper. Hailing from Portland, Oregon, they were quite a bit more country than I would have guessed. It didn’t overwhelm their songs, but it was also clearly intentional. The twang of the lead singer, the somewhat clichéd bends of the lead guitarist, and the naturalistic themes of the lyrics seemed more than a coincidence. However, the band was clearly rooted in rock; the guitarists had some good parts, and there were several conspicuous (but certainly not distasteful) synthesizer lines. I kind of liked the band but I just couldn’t really get into it. I suspect that they have some interesting work in their catalog, though.

Belle & Sebastian, nominally a seven-piece outfit, hit the stage with thirteen musicians. Most of the musicians played a variety of instruments, so it’s hardly even try to say who did what. While the addition of a string quartet and an extra cellist/keyboardist/percussionist/vocalist hardly surprised me, the addition of another guitarist/bassist did, since the band already featured four people that regularly alternate between guitar, bass, and whatever else (I’m counting Sarah Martin, for those comparing notes). He was far from extraneous; it’s just that the arrangements were apparently more complicated than I had previously imagined. The other surprise was that trumpeter Mick Cooke was absent, replaced by a man only referred to as CJ. Cooke was originally only a guest musician in the band, but I had thought he had been full-time for over a decade. Perhaps he was on break. Or sick. Or just busy.

Precision and meticulousness of arrangement is perhaps to be expected with this band, but it is amazing how complex their sound is. (It speaks well of the mixing desk technicians at the venue as well.) It’s almost like an orchestra, where you can be listening to one set of instruments, or one side of the stage, but then realize that something entirely separate is happening on another side. The parts manage to blend together so you can gloss right over it if you aren’t listening carefully, but with thirteen musicians, there’s room for a lot of action.

I should also note that the band is surprisingly versatile and high-energy. Most of the musicians play several instruments and sometimes would switch between them in the middle of a song. (Sometimes they also just left the stage or sat down.) Lead singer Stuart Murdoch spent most of the time jumping around stage while singing or joking with the audience between songs. At one point he let an audience member apply mascara to his face while singing; during another song, he ran through the crowd and danced with them. During “The Boy with the Arab Strap”, Stuart chose six or seven fans to come up on stage and dance. They managed to stay up there through “Legal Man” as well, even though they accidentally unplugged Stevie Jackson’s guitar and almost blocked two of the hired hands from reaching their instruments at crucial moments. I guess when I say the band was high-energy, I really just mean that Murdoch was high-energy, but all the other movement on stage contributed to that perception as well.

For a fan of the band from beginning to end, it’s hard to complain about the setlist they performed. They played something from every album except Tigermilk and Storytelling and they hit several of their EPs and singles along the way, too. Few songs were really a surprise except perhaps for the opener, “Judy Is a Dick Slap”, a bouncy instrumental b-side to “Legal Man”. Apparently, the band typically freely considers requests made online before their shows, which is why the band attempted “Belle and Sebastian”. Murdoch and Jackson could only remember most of one verse, but defended themselves that the request was only made that same afternoon and they’d never played the song live. (Sarah Martin countered that they had in fact performed the song once in 2010.) And while I’ve never found “Simple Things”, “Lord Anthony”, or “Piazza, New York Catcher” to be the band’s best songs, the performances were still good, and the inclusion of songs like “Your Cover’s Blown”, “Legal Man”, and three songs from If You’re Feeling Sinister more than made up for it. I was also happy to see both Jackson and Martin take the lead on one song each (“To Be Myself Completely” and “I Can See Your Future”, respectively).

The mood of the show was that of a party. The vibes were good, and even in such an atmosphere of fun, the band hardly missed a single note despite all the complexity of their material. The members of Belle & Sebastian are quite professional, but they still seem like the types to be unassuming and friendly if you saw them on the street or at a bar. It’s hard not to wish that they were your friends.

Scores:
Blitzen Trapper: B
Belle & Sebastian: A

P.S. Two tangential thoughts: first, the venue was kept at a temperature so cold that I was shivering for half of the concert. It may be Texas in July, but it was also in the middle of a thunderstorm and the extreme A/C was overkill. Second, I’m amazed by the presence of bike racks on every street corner of downtown Austin. In most places one struggles to find a good place to lock up, but here I had a well-lit spot right in front of the entrance!

The Chameleons - Dreams in Celluloid (2013) and Why Call It Anything reissue (2001/2013)

The Chameleons are a frustrating band at times, mostly due to their difficult discography. I say this because they've only ever released four albums of original material, yet there are at least sixteen assorted "other" full-length releases, some of which even span two discs. For a fairly short-lived band that only released about 60 unique songs, that's quite a feat. They've complicated their catalog with an endless stream of compilations, live albums, acoustic re-recordings, and archival releases of demos, outtakes, b-sides, and radio sessions. Plus, most of these extraneous albums were printed in very limited quantities, making them hard to find and expensive to purchase. The recent reissue campaign has only added more material to the mix.

Last week they reissued their only album of original material released during their reunion, Why Call It Anything, and an apparently new collection of assorted rarities, Dreams in Celluloid. I felt compelled to share my thoughts and analysis of these albums because there isn't much information available anywhere else on what they actually contain. I'll discuss Why Call It Anything first.

[Why Call It Anything (original release): not Reg Smithies' best album art.]

[Why Call It Anything (2013 reissue): not an improvement over the original artwork.]

Artist: The Chameleons

Album: Why Call It Anything
Release Date: July 2001, reissued June 2013
Label: Artful (original), Blue Apple (reissue)

Producer: Dave M. Allen (original/disc 1 only), The Chameleons (all)

Tracklisting:

Disc 1 (original album):

01. Shades

02. Anyone Alive?
03. Indiana
04. Lufthansa
05. Truth Isn't Truth Anymore
06. All Around
07. Dangerous Land
08. Music in the Womb
09. Miracles and Wonders
10. Are You Still There?

Disc 2 (Live at the Academy):
01. A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days
02. Perfume Garden
03. Anyone Alive?
04. Indiana
05. Caution
06. Swamp Thing
07. Lufthansa
08. Dangerous Land
09. Up the Down Escalator
10. Miracles and Wonders
11. Shades
12. Monkeyland
13. Second Skin

Why Call It Anything is a strange album. It was released in 2001, one year after the band reunited to release an album of acoustic re-recordings of their old material (Strip). It clearly sounds like the Chameleons, but it feels more direct, less dreamy and abstract. The songs have simpler arrangements, less dynamic range, and less subtlety. However, the album does pack some power, and the songs are surprisingly catchy. It's not a great album, but certainly a good one, especially for a band reunited after a 13-year hiatus.

This reissue is ever stranger. It claims to be remastered but after examining the waveforms the only difference is slight compression and amplification (see loudness war). It also contains a second bonus disc supposedly containing the 2002 album Live at the Academy. However, that album was originally a two-disc release totaling 18 tracks, whereas this single disc houses just 13 tracks. No mention of these excisions is made. Supposedly, this disc is also remastered, but it sounds nearly identical to the original release, barring the familiar compression and amplification and the presence of less audience noise before and after the songs. The live performances are good, but what happened to "Pleasure and Pain", "Seriocity", "Soul in Isolation", "Splitting in Two", and "Tears"? And why does every live album released by a reunited band seem rather redundant after listening to their original live tapes?

[Dreams in Celluloid.]

Artist: The Chameleons

Album: Dreams in Celluloid

Release Date: June 2013

Label: Blue Apple

Producer: The Chameleons (all but disc 1 tracks 1, 5, 11, 12), Steve Lillywhite (disc 1 tracks 1, 5, 11, 12), Colin Richardson (disc 1 track 13), CJ (aka Chris Jones) (disc 2)

Tracklisting:

Disc 1:

01. The Fan and the Bellows

02. Dali's Picture

03. Every Day I'm Crucified

04. Looking Inwardly

05. Nostalgia

06. Turn to the Vices

07. Love Is

08. Nathan's Phase

09. Dreams in Celluloid

10. Things I Wish I'd Said

11. Less Than Human

12. In Shreds

13. Prisoners of the Sun

Disc 2 (Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP):

01. Is It Any Wonder
02. Free for All
03. The Healer
04. Denims and Curls

Anyone familiar with the Chameleons' back-catalog can't help but notice that the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid looks a lot like The Fan and the Bellows (1986) and Dali's Picture (1993), two previous collections of early material. Any suspicions of redundancy will be immediately confirmed by a simple listening test or waveform comparison. Of course, the Chameleons have a long history of hiding their details, so it is extremely difficult to know for sure exactly what is what. Nonetheless, I will do my best to determine what exactly is to be found on Dreams in Celluloid. First, I will examine these earlier releases by the band.

Supposedly, "Dali's Picture is the original demo album the band cut and sent out to various labels" (source). The recordings are somewhat raw and there are few overdubs, so this is easy to believe. It is not easy to know exactly when these recordings where made or even who drummed on them – Brian Schofield was the band's first drummer, present for their first John Peel session in June 1981, but replaced by John Lever sometime between then and the December 1981 recording sessions with Steve Lillywhite for their first single ("In Shreds"). I suspect that Dali's Picture was recorded between those two events, most likely with John Lever, for the following reasons. Peel invited the band to his show on the strength of a demo, but that demo supposedly was a rehearsal recording before the band had found a drummer (according to George Gimarc's Post Punk Diary). Schofield's name appears only in the credits for the Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and John Peel Sessions collections and nowhere else in their catalog, and although that could just be revisionist history, the drumming on Dali's Picture does sound a lot like Lever's style. This is easy to hear by comparing the drumming arrangements on the songs recorded for both the Dali's Picture demos and the Lillywhite sessions.

The Fan and the Bellows was apparently originally an unauthorized release that was almost immediately blocked by the band, but it was then released in several countries on multiple labels anyway, so perhaps the band acquiesced in the end. Thankfully, someone bothered to print the copyright years and production details on the album sleeve (see here). The first half of the album contains the four tracks recorded with Lillywhite ("In Shreds", "Less Than Human", "Nostalgia", and "The Fan and the Bellows"), a 7" edit of "Nostalgia", and "Prisoners of the Sun", the 1983 b-side of "Up the Down Escalator". "In Shreds" would become the band's first single, released in March 1982 and backed with "Less Than Human". "In Shreds" would later be re-issued in 1985, backed by "Nostalgia"; both tracks were appended to the CD release of their second album, What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985).

The second half of The Fan and the Bellows appear to be demos from 1981, produced only by the band themselves. A quick check identifies "Every Day I'm Crucified" and "Love Is" as duplicates of the material on Dali's Picture, but mastered slightly differently. (The main difference is just less tape hiss.) "Endlessly Falling", "Turn to the Vices", and "Nathan's Phase" sound like they came from the same sessions but have been otherwise unreleased.

["In Shreds" 1982 Epic single. Artwork later reused for The Fan and the Bellows.]

["In Shreds" 1985 Statik single.]

Why is any of this important? Well, Dreams in Celluloid contains next to nothing when it comes to liner notes and details, so careful comparison with these past releases is necessary to figure out what is actually present on this new collection. It turns out that everything on the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid was previously released on one of these two prior compilations, and sometimes on both. Here's the breakdown:

01. The Fan and the Bellows – Steve Lillywhite session outtake, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

02. Dali's Picture – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

03. Every Day I'm Crucified – demo, released on both The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture, but mastering sounds more similar to the latter.

04. Looking Inwardly – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

05. Nostalgia – b-side of 1985 Statik "In Shreds" single, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on What Does Anything Mean? Basically CD and The Fan and the Bellows.

06. Turn to the Vices – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

07. Love Is – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture, but mastering sounds more similar to the former.

08. Nathan's Phase – demo, released on The Fan and the Bellows.

09. Dreams in Celluloid – demo (early version of "Second Skin"), released on Dali's Picture.

10. Things I Wish I'd Said – demo, released on Dali's Picture.

11. Less Than Human – b-side of 1982 Epic "In Shreds" single, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

12. In Shreds – single, released 1982 by Epic and 1985 by Statik, from Steve Lillywhite session, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

13. Prisoners of the Sun – b-side of 1983 Statik "Up the Down Escalator" single, also released on The Fan and the Bellows.

However, don't get too optimistic: there are just a few tracks from both The Fan and the Bellows and Dali's Picture that are not to be found on Dreams in Celluloid and are otherwise difficult to find. The Fan and the Bellows contains the only released version of "Endlessly Falling" as well as the 7" edit of "Nostalgia", originally released as the b-side of Statik's 1985 "In Shreds" 7" single. Dali's Picture contains otherwise unavailable demos of "The Fan and the Bellows", "Less Than Human", "Monkeyland", and "Nostalgia". Note that any of these titles mentioned above that appear on Script of the Bridge (1983) or the vinyl release of What Does Anything Mean? Basically (1985) are later re-recordings.

Lest you think that this is all of the original studio ephemera from the early days of the Chameleons, you would be wrong. A rare early recording of "Here Today" (different than the version found on Script of the Bridge) can only be found on the 1982 Statik compilation Your Secret's Safe with Us. Two other early recordings, "Dear Dead Days" and "Things I Wish I'd Said", apparently recorded in 1981 with early drummer Brian Schofield (source), can only be found on the rare Here Today, Gone Tomorrow (1992) and the 2008 reissue of Script of the Bridge. Both albums also contain an alternate version of "In Shreds", perhaps recorded in 1983. No further information is available for these three rarities.

At any rate, the Lillywhite session tracks are quite good ("Nostalgia" is one of my favorite songs), "Prisoners of the Sun" is a decent instrumental, and the rest of the demos are nothing special but of some interest in terms of offering witness to the band's development. Dreams in Celluloid does cover the best material from this period, but it is sadly incomplete.

[Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP. Good luck reading the text on the cover.]

Enough about the first disc of Dreams in Celluloid. Thankfully, the second disc is pretty simple: it's just a reissue of the treasured Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP, recorded in 1987 right before the band broke up, halfway released in 1990 by singer/bassist Mark Burgess before being blocked by guitarist Dave Fielding. These four songs have also been released on Northern Songs (1994) and some editions of Return of the Roughnecks (1997). The EP has always been hard to find and it is unclear to me why anyone in the band would want to hide it. Simply put, it's amazing and stands up exceedingly well as a strong follow-up to Strange Times (1986). Each of the four songs continues the dreamy, powerful, melodic trend brought to the fore on the preceding album. There isn't a weak second on the whole thing.

Conclusion:

Both of these new releases are frustrating due to their incompleteness – they offer some good material, but at the cost of skipping over a few tracks that somehow got left behind and thus remain obscure and expensive to find. The remastering job on all the material is slight and perhaps even a downgrade due to loss of dynamic range. I'm at least happy that most of this material is finally in print again, especially the Tony Fletcher EP, but I'm disappointed that these collections are incomplete and offer nothing previously unreleased. (Even the cover art of Dreams in Celluloid, which I originally assumed to be a new work by Dave Fielding, was previously used in part for the "Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)" single.)

["Singing Rule Britannia (While the Walls Close In)" single.]

Scores:

Why Call It Anything (original release): B

Live at the Academy (original release): B
Why Call It Anything (2013 reissue): C

Dali's Picture: C

The Fan and the Bellows: C+

Tony Fletcher Walked on Water EP: A+

Dreams in Celluloid: B

P.S. Both Here Today, Gone Tomorrow and John Peel Sessions remain mostly overlooked in the Chameleons reissue campaign over the past five years. While the former is scattershot and only occasionally interesting, the latter is a fantastic collection of very high-quality performances.

[Edit 2015.02.11: The John Peel Sessions album has been reissued and I reviewed it here!]

Paul McCartney - Live 2013.05.22 Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas

I missed my chance to see Sir Paul in St. Louis last fall because it sold out instantaneously. I decided I couldn't miss my second chance, in which I moved to Austin a week before Paul was coming to town. Since tickets again had sold out instantaneously for both nights, I was forced to buy second-hand, which is normally something I'd shy straight away from. However, I have no regrets.

Artist: Paul McCartney
Venue: Frank Erwin Center
Location: Austin, Texas
Date: 22 May 2013

Setlist:
01. Eight Days a Week (originally performed by the Beatles)
02. Junior's Farm (originally performed by Wings)
03. All My Loving (originally performed by the Beatles)
04. Listen to What the Man Said (originally performed by Wings)
05. Let Me Roll It (originally performed by Wings)
06. Foxy Lady (Jimmy Hendrix cover)
07. Paperback Writer (originally performed by the Beatles)
08. My Valentine
09. Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five (originally performed by Wings)
10. The Long and Winding Road (originally performed by the Beatles)
11. Maybe I'm Amazed
12. I've Just Seen a Face (originally performed by the Beatles)
13. We Can Work It Out (originally performed by the Beatles)
14. Another Day
15. And I Love Her (originally performed by the Beatles)
16. Blackbird (originally performed by the Beatles)
17. Here Today
18. Your Mother Should Know (originally performed by the Beatles)
19. Lady Madonna (originally performed by the Beatles)
20. All Together Now (originally performed by the Beatles)

21. Lovely Rita (originally performed by the Beatles)

22. Mrs. Vandebilt (originally performed by Wings)

23. Eleanor Rigby (originally performed by the Beatles)
24. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (originally performed by the Beatles)
25. Something (originally performed by the Beatles)

26. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (originally performed by the Beatles)

27. Band on the Run (originally performed by Wings)
28. Back in the USSR (originally performed by the Beatles)
29. Let It Be (originally performed by the Beatles)
30. Live and Let Die (originally performed by Wings)
31. Hey Jude (originally performed by the Beatles)

First Encore:
32. Day Tripper (originally performed by the Beatles)
33. Hi, Hi, Hi (originally performed by Wings)
34. Get Back (originally performed by the Beatles)

Second Encore:
35. Yesterday (originally performed by the Beatles)
36. Helter Skelter (originally performed by the Beatles)
37. Golden Slumbers → Carry That Weight → The End (all originally performed by the Beatles)

Paul McCartney needs no opener. He needs no one to fill time for him before he hits the stage. In fact, he needs little explanation at all.

Paul clearly still embraces his past. His recent setlists indicate a preference for his work with the Beatles, hits and otherwise, despite his large catalog. He may have released an album last year, but he only played one song from it on this night. (To be fair, it was mostly a covers album, and I'd much rather hear Paul play his own songs anyway!) The show started with a roughly even mix of Beatles songs and post-Beatles material, but as the night went on, he began to play more and more Beatles songs with just a few Wings songs scattered about. This seemed to be what the audience wanted.

His band was fairly standard: lead guitarist Rusty Anderson, guitarist/bassist Brian Ray, keyboardist Paul Wickens, and drummer Abe Laboriel, Jr. All four appeared to provide backing vocals, although the guitarists were the most prominent. Ray typically played bass whenever McCartney wasn't, since Paul cycled through a Höfner bass, an acoustic guitar, a grand piano, an electric piano, and a few electric guitars.

McCartney had plenty of options for a good opening, and I appreciated the immediately recognizeable but perhaps unexpected first chords of "Eight Days a Week". The first few songs thereafter offered no surprise until the band lept from "Let Me Roll It" into an instrumental jam that sounded a lot like "Foxy Lady". Paul explained that it was a tribute to Jimi, whom he claimed to still deeply respect. He told the story of Jimi covering "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in concert two days after the album was released, although I wonder if there was some connection to the apparently unanswered telegram that was recently uncovered from 1969 in which Jimi asked Paul to join him in a supergroup with Miles Davis and drummer Tony Williams.

This was followed by "Paperback Writer", which blew me away. The band handled the vocals superbly. Admittedly, I could hear a couple wavering notes, but that just told me that they weren't auto-tuned. The band extended the song into a bit of a jam at the end, one of the few moments they allowed themselves such an indulgence. Being such an excellent performance of one my favorite Beatles songs, it was a highlight of the night. This contrasted with "The Long and Winding Road", which featured the much-contested string section added by Phil Spector to the Let It Be version. I was expecting the unmolested version from Anthology 3 or Let It Be... Naked but I was shocked that Paul would reverse his former feelings on the matter. At any rate, it is still a good song, but the performance was not what I would have expected.

After forgetting a chord at the start of "Maybe I'm Amazed" and restarting the song, Paul brought out an excellent rendition of "We Can Work It Out", augmented by an accordion in place of John's harmonium. "Your Mother Should Know" was another pleasant surprise, and I wondered if he played the song conscious of the irony of the lyric. "Lovely Rita" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" were also cool oddball songs to play; both were first debuted live on this tour. "Kite" was originally sung by Lennon and generally considered to be written primarily by him, and thus McCartney's description of writing the song together based on an old circus poster seems suspect. Since the two often disagreed strongly in public about who wrote how much of certain songs, this is no suprise, but I'd never heard them argue about this one before.

"Back in the USSR" was also a cool pick, augmented by video displays of flashy Soviet-style Russian text, but most of Paul's other choices were more predictable ("Let It Be" (albeit without the Spectorisms), "Hey Jude") or rather uninteresting ("Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", "All Together Now"). "Blackbird" and "Here Today" were played solo by Paul on a platform at the front of the stage that rose up and then back down while he performed. The latter was described as a tribute to John Lennon, and Paul also performed "Something" (opening the song alone on his ukelele) as a tribute to George Harrison. There was no tribute to nor mention of Ringo, although I suppose he is still living and I believe they are still friends.

The most absurd moment of the evening came during the performance of "Live and Let Die". Before the song, a stagehand covered Ray's pedal board with an English flag, which struck me as odd but otherwise not particularly notable until I understood that this was intended to protect the electronics. The song began as normal, but during the chorus, after singing the title, the drums were punctuated by massive, loud bursts of flame from a row of cannons at the front of the stage. This was repeated at every instance of the hook, and the venue became noticeably warmer and filled with smoke. I certainly had not expected pyrotechnics!

There was no surprise that Paul came back for an encore, and little that he came back for a second. The first featured a great rendition of "Day Tripper" and concluded with a version of "Get Back" featuring an extended coda, which was of course originally just an edit appended to the song by Phil Spector (although I've always been fond of that little bit). The second started with the predictable "Yesterday", followed by a raucous and heavy "Helter Skelter", and completed, appropriately, by the end of the Abbey Road medley. "The End" featured Ringo's solo practically note-for-note, and the three guitarists traded lines just like in the studio version, starting off practically identical to the original but then veering into their own creations.

Setlist aside, the performances were consistently quite good, with Paul's vocals hardly any weaker than they were fifty years ago. It's amazing how well he has held up after all these years, especially considering how poorly many of his colleagues have fared. The only real downside to the night was Paul's stage banter. Much of it consisted of things like, "Oh yeah! Alright!" Otherwise, most of his talk was simply self-glorification, such as the aforementioned mention of Jimi Hendrix, but also tales of meeting Russian politicians who told him they learned English from his records and encountering countless fans who told him they'd mimicked his parts over the years. In each case he ended with something like, "How cool is that!?" and proceeded to just bathe in the adoration.

Despite Paul's self-indulgence, he was mostly indulging the audience by playing the songs they came to hear. I can hardly complain!

Score: A-

P.S. I saw the first night of his two shows in Austin, his first shows ever in the city. Apparently, before his show the next day, he gave an award from PETA to Lee Leffingwell, mayor of Austin, for having the most vegan-friendly city in the nation. Perhaps Paul's diet explains his sustained good health!

P.P.S. The setlist to the St. Louis show that I missed is rather similar and can be found here.

P.P.P.S. For the record, the audience cheered after Paul's false start of "Maybe I'm Amazed". Paul was quite appreciative of our tolerance.

Silversun Pickups / Grouplove / Cloud Nothings - Live 2012.12.12 Peabody Opera House, St. Louis, Missouri

I barely knew about this band a month ago, but when a friend told me about this show and provided me their umpteenth recommendation, I figured it was time to give them a try. At the time of writing, I only have their first album (Carnavas), which I rather enjoy despite some modest flaws.

Artist: Silversun Pickups
Venue: Peabody Opera House
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 12 December 2012
Opening Acts: Cloud Nothings, Grouplove

Setlist:
01. Skin Graph
02. The Royal We
03. Bloody Mary (Nerve Endings)
04. Simmer
05. Gun-Shy Sunshine
06. Little Lover's So Polite
07. Mean Spirits
08. The Pit
09. Catch and Release
10. Panic Switch
11. Dots and Dashes (Enough Already)
12. Lazy Eye

Encore:
13. Busy Bees
14. Well Thought Out Twinkles

I only knew in advance of there being one opening act, so I was quite surprised by the presence of the first opening band. Apparently, the Cloud Nothings' first two albums are some sort of indie power pop, but they must have only been playing material from their latest album, which is supposedly a dark, heavy, doom-laden digression in the opposite direction of their past work. I suspect I might enjoy the first two albums. I suspect I would despise the third. To say the least, the performance was awful. They played maybe four songs, two of which were essentially ten-minute guitar jams. The crowning jewel was the second of these extended pieces, in which the bassist played one note until the last 30 seconds. There were no vocals until the presumed bandleader began barking halfway through, followed with repeated, brutally screamed lyrics to the effect of "I am not a part of this". Then why was he on stage?

After the Cloud Nothings' brief set came Grouplove, apparently quite a hit with the teen and college crowd right now. As you can guess, I'd never heard of them. Their current claim to fame is being in an iPod Touch commercial. They are megahipsters playing the bounciest, indiest, most danceable music that really sounds like it wanted to have come out of 1991. This is only encouraged by the surfer-hippie vibe of the guitarists interposed against the confusion of a bassist that looked like someone from Lynyrd Skynyrd, a female vocalist with inhuman energy, and a drummer that looked like a track star but is actually the son of Trevor Rabin. This band had a lot of things going on at once but if you could stop staring at them jumping around stage you might realize that the music wasn't particularly complicated. I liked the stray harmonies they used, but most of their riffs were unsurprising. At least the lead guitarist, while hiding behind his long hair despite jumping around as much as the others, had figured out how to lay some cool effects on his instrument to make his lead parts sound unique. Otherwise, I was bummed by their reliance on backing tracks but impressed by their raw energy. They seemed really young, but not as young as the Cloud Nothings.

When the Silversun Pickups finally came out, it was hard not to notice a change in the line-up: bassist Nikki Monninger was replaced on stage by Sarah Negahdari from the Happy Hollows. Monninger had just given birth to twins and thus is on maternity leave. Negahdari was a little hard to take seriously (she was awfully bouncy and artificial in her movement compared to the rest of the band) but she seems to fill the role just fine.

The setlist focused on the band's newest album, Neck of the Woods, but a few of the favorites from the first two albums still made it out. While I admittedly did not recognize most of the material, I could feel the connection to the work I did know, as well as some level of distinction and growth from their early material. At the risk of being way off the mark, their earliest material seemed directly indebted to bands like the Smashing Pumpkins and My Bloody Valentine, but the newer songs seem to have taken that foundation and really made their sound their own. The influences are still clear, but I think they've become more willing to stand on their own feet.

The band seems to let singer/guitarist Brian Aubert really take center stage, but nonetheless, when I could hear the basslines, they counterpointed the guitarwork superbly, and keyboardist Joe Lester filled out the space beautifully. Aubert did all the talking and was the only one to move around the stage, while Lester and drummer Chris Guanlao hid behind their equipment and seemed to be happy to follow the flow. Negahdari's occasional harmonies also blended well, but I was continually impressed with how big they sounded for only having one guitar. Aubert is clearly skilled with his effects, and Lester may have also playing a role in such sound manipulation, but it made for a powerful overall sound.

Generally speaking, the band rocked. They played for maybe 75 minutes and focused on their more energetic works, even if in some cases the energy was a slow and dramatic build. "Lazy Eye" is the perfect example of a song in that mold; it's a long song with a gradual build, and even though the biggest parts aren't that big, something about the whole feels like it was all so well worth it. It's a great song that is probably far simpler than it seems. I'd expected them to close the show with that song, but they closed their first set with it with the anticipation of an encore still looming.

Of course, they came back out and gave us two more songs, although there were probably more calls for Grouplove to come back out than for the Pickups. The final closer was another song from their first album, "Well Thought Out Twinkles". While not quite as effective as "Lazy Eye", it too has a strong, swirling, gradual build of guitar energy.

This was a fun show, only helped by the fact that the newly reopened venue is spectacular. The Cloud Nothings may have disappointed, but Grouplove was probably better than I would have expected, and Silversun Pickups lived right up to their reputation. They make strong music, even if it doesn't always feel like it's their own. They still do a damn fine job refining their influences and creating something surprisingly fresh.

Scores:
Cloud Nothings: D
Grouplove: B-
Silversun Pickups: B

The Smashing Pumpkins - Live 2012.10.18 Chaifetz Arena, St. Louis, Missouri

Although the number of original members of the Smashing Pumpkins remaining in the band has dwindled to just one (Zwan now officially had more original members of the Pumpkins than their current configuration), the band (i.e. Billy Corgan) is still making music – and despite the annoying production qualities of their recent recordings, some of the songwriting and instrumental work is actually quite good. After being surprised by Oceania, and slowly coming to mildly appreciate the rest of the Teargarden by Kaleidyscope project, I decided it was worth seeing them live when they came to my town.

Artist: The Smashing Pumpkins
Venue: Chaifetz Arena
Location: St. Louis, Missouri
Date: 18 October 2012
Opening Act: Anberlin

Setlist:

01. Keyboard intro → Quasar
02. Panopticon
03. The Celestials
04. Violet Rays
05. My Love Is Winter
06. One Diamond, One Heart
07. Pinwheels
08. Oceania
09. Pale Horse
10. The Chimera
11. Glissandra
12. Inkless
13. Wildflower
14. Space Oddity [David Bowie cover]
15. X.Y.U.
16. Disarm
17. Tonite Reprise → Tonight, Tonight
18. Bullet with Butterfly Wings
19. Shock Me (tease) → Detroit Rock City (tease) [KISS covers]
20. A Song for a Son

21. Guitar instrumental → Zero

22. Cherub Rock

Encore:

23. Ava Adore

24. Guitar Duel → Whole Lotta Love (tease) [Led Zeppelin cover]

25. Muzzle

Last time I saw the Smashing Pumpkins, they were playing a greatest-hits setlist based on their 20th anniversary. This time, they're promoting a new record and doing their best to get people to listen to it. If the first half of the setlist looks oddly familiar, it's because it's the exact tracklist of the new album, Oceania, which they've been playing in sequence at every night of the tour. The album is clearly an attempt to connect with their core audience that fell in love with Siamese Dream, as the clever use of melodic guitar hooks and impressive drumming dominate the album. It also features a surprising amount of keyboards (some almost overtly retro and cheesy) and some of the best bass parts ever seen on a Pumpkins release.

Corgan's many interviews lead one to believe that he is certainly trying to talk up his new bandmates and prove that they play key roles in the recordings. He might actually be telling the truth – new bassist and backing vocalist Nicole Fiorentino is at least more consistent than D'arcy was, even if she isn't necessarily better; the very young drummer Mike Byrne picks up right where Jimmy Chamberlin left off; and guitarist Jeff Schroeder, despite appearing even more shy than James Iha, somehow manages to meet Corgan's high standards. It's hard to tell how much of the guitarwork on Oceania is actually Jeff's (my guess is not much), but the basswork and drumming is almost assuredly from the new members.

Seeing the band perform live the new album in its entirety might have been cool if I hadn't bought the record yet, but since I had, it was a bit boring. The songs weren't really rearranged, there were no extended jams or new parts, and no extra members filled out the sound. While some of the guitarwork was exciting to see live, some parts were left unused, and samples were too often used to add the extra keyboard and percussion parts. In some cases, it appeared that those parts could have been played by the members of the band (or a touring keyboardist!) but instead the members just stood there. I was surprised; it struck me as inauthentic and unnecessary. All four members did play some keyboards, but not as much as one might expect for the work of setting up the instruments for each member.

After playing the album, stage hands cleared all the keyboards, as if the band was now returning to "normal". Few samples were heard from here on, and the band seemed to loosen up just enough to notice. They played a rocked-up cover of Bowie's "Space Oddity", which was great aside from some odd vocal rephrasings, before digging into a quick overview of some of the band's biggest singles. Unlike previous tours, where the band mixed major hits with top-notch album cuts and assorted oddities, there were no surprises to be found after the Bowie cover. A few songs were slightly rearranged, but those familiar with the Pumpkins' live history would not find anything new.

Many of the remaining songs felt predictable and relatively uninspired. "X.Y.U." has never been one of my favorites, and this rendition offered nothing noteworthy. "Zero" and "Cherub Rock" were also played straight by the numbers (except for the pleasantly cascading guitar instrumental preceding "Zero"), and even "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" was played conventionally after starting off with a heavier take borrowed from live renditions from years ago.

"Disarm" seemed like a lazy choice, as the band played a lackluster version dominated by a sampled string section. I feared the same treatment would be given for "Tonight, Tonight", but I was proven wrong. It instead began with the low-key "Tonite Reprise" as an intro, featuring Jeff on E-Bow. After playing about half of that version, Mike began playing the easily-recognized drumroll to lead into the full-band version of the song. Instead of a sample orchestra, Jeff continued using his E-Bow to play a similar part. It was an excellent version.

The only other new song played all night was "A Song for a Son". Clearly already recognized as a high point since the band's resurgence, the band hoped we'd recognize the song and started into a rocking job of it. Near the end, they dragged it into a quieter jam, but something sounded out of tune or just off. The bass seemed to resonate with something in the building, but it threw off the rest of the song, and when the band tried to bring the energy back up, it still didn't jell quite right. The core of the song sounded great, but the five or six minutes of whatever after that seemed a bit lifeless.

Although "Ava Adore" was done in a fairly solid heavy rendition, the ending of the song ended oddly. Although the two guitarists hit the brief harmonized solo perfectly, they ended the song with a guitar duel that got progressively weaker until it just fell flat. After Corgan started screwing up, they ended up just laughing and tossing around tired Led Zeppelin riffs. They meagerly tried to bring things to some kind of decent close, but they made up for it by tearing into a great version of "Muzzle".

I'm never quite sure what to make of the Smashing Pumpkins anymore. After a rocky start to their reunion, I'm happy that it seems like the band has settled on a stable configuration. It's still unclear if Corgan has abandoned the completion of his ambitious Teargarden project, but he's certainly given up on the original vision in favor of the traditional album format (which he'd previously claimed he had forsaken entirely). Something must have changed in Corgan's head, because Oceania is noticeably superior to everything previously released from the Teargarden project. The songwriting and performances are clearly a step up, although the production is still obnoxious. Seeing the album performed live brings up a big question: why doesn't Corgan realize that his live sound is better than his studio work?

Scores:

Live performance: C+

Oceania: B

P.S. This show was bootlegged and is available for download here. This is entirely legal as the band permits taping of their concerts.