Havana 3am

First, because I'm not over it yet, go get Earthquake Weather, provided by the fantastic Jim of Bring Me the Heads. If you're going Earthquake What- isn't it that thing that. . . ?, check out a great review courtesy of Chairman Ralph in the last post- he says-

I always felt Earthquake Weather got unfairly shrifted at the time, because Joe hadn't been out too long from under the shadow of the Clash...and the mood seemed punitive towards him, for the way the group had broken up. . . I've always liked the more straightforward songs --"Gangsterville," "King Of The Bayou," and "Shouting Street." On the more obscure tracks (such as "Highway One Zero Street"), I think he felt like he was "giving the people what they want," so to speak. However, "Leopardskin Limousines" and "Sleepwalk". . . are two of Joe's finest ballads.

So today we have- Havana 3am, Paul Simonon's post-Clash project. Product description has the album as the "1991 debut for rootsy alternative rock act formed by ex-Clash bass player Paul Simonon, conjuring up a blend of Latino flavoring built on a solid base of rockabilly."

The self-titled effort by Paul Simonon's band is not much like the Clash, and also not nearly as memorable as the Clash. Actually, Simonon is just one of the team, the material written in collaboration with Gary Myrick and Nigel Dixon, with the lead vocals taken by Dixon. As the title might lead you to believe, they do integrate a good amount of Latin influences, though it's not dominant. The guitars often have a rockabilly twang, and the vocals have a muted sense of anthemic urgency. The Clash influence does become obvious when they get into their occasional, slightly reggae-ish beats. There's a lot going on here in terms of rockabilly, Latin, spaghetti Western, and straightforward new wave rock influences mingling (Unterberger allmusic).

I think good listening will mean forgetting the Clash (you can get your fill of them with the 3 disc Clash on Broadway at tHe SkY iS sO bLuE) and enjoying the show. Though if you want to see criminally good looking Paul, you can find some live Havana 3am at Youtube :p Band info can be found here.

Havana 3am - Havana 3am

We got us some Earthquake Weather!

You can't see it but there is a huge, ridiculous smile on my face- after a long long time of my looking for this and staring in extreme confusion at that bittorent thingy- Earthquake Weather, courtesy of the endlessly amazing Jim over at Bring Me the Heads. And from my position as a Strummer-lover and as Bring Me the Heads' unofficial PR person, I say: get thee to Bring Me the Heads right now and grab it! ("Ha gitalong gitalong"- ha ha) And don't forget to let him know your appreciation.

Bring Me the Heads: Earthquake Weather!

Joe Strummer @Regnyouth

Hello. I'm back, had a great time. Saw a billion bison and elk and Mormons and even saw a moose. Blah blah blah my brain is fried.

I promised some Joe Strummer, and Regnyouth beat me to it, so go grab Global A-Go-Go right now.

In the direction of post-Clash projects, I'll get some Havana 3am up before the end of the coming week.

I sorta kinda found Earthquake Weather but I don't know what to do now- if anyone knows how to use this and is able to download it, please please let me know how what to do whatever it is you do with these things or perhaps upload it? :)
http://www.mybittorrent.com/music/bittorrent_219771_files.html

Sounding a Mosaic

I'm roadtripping up to Yellowstone for the next two weeks, so I'll be leaving you with one of my new favorite albums, Bedouin Soundclash's Sounding a Mosaic. Bedouin Soundclash is a reggae-rock outfit from Canada and their second album has been re-released on our favorite SideOneDummy. Buy it here.

Listening to Sounding a Mosaic, however, it's clear that the album's heart lies not in rock 'n' roll, but in reggae. While a slew of other über-hip rock and pop acts dabble in reggae (mostly a bastardized version of ska, which has long since died in its Jamaican homeland), Bedouin Soundclash sounds more like a reggae act dabbling in rock. Not only do they maintain a traditional reggae "stylee" for about 10 of the 15 tracks here, but they also imbue their music with a genuine soulful edge that's lacking in many modern ska hipsters.

From the opening track, the band's vibrant sound reveals a deep appreciation for reggae's roots. "When the Night Feels My Song" is a rollicking good time with a joyous melody that evokes early Jimmy Cliff as performed by Paul Simon. You simply don't hear this type of music much anymore: a frisky, strumming ska anthem that's reason alone to celebrate this album. Not stopping there, though, Bedouin Soundclash manages to follow it up with another ska-rific tune, "Shelter", which melds the Jamaican flavor with a bold '70s funk/rock attitude.

The ease with which the band moves through these sounds is indicative not only of the members' varied upbringings, but also the production of Darryl Jenifer, who had years of experience melding reggae with rock as bassist for the groundbreaking Bad Brains (source).

***Link in comments.

Also- Pirates of the Caribbean. They made Keira Knightley's character much more likeable, made Orlando Bloom less likeable and a lot more boring, brought back my favorite-Norrington :)- and now have Hans Zimmer doing the music instead of poor Klaus so at least there's *almost* an excuse for the music sounding exactly like Gladiator. All thing considered, the movie was at least fun, if long. The two big things at the end (involving two captains- don't want to give anything away) are both predictable, one in that we know what's coming and two in that we already know they've filmed most of the third film so of course so-and-so is going to happen. But it's great fun and good summer watching. If you liked the first you're most likely going to at least enjoy this one.

V

American V: A Hundred Highways

Buy it here.

Replacements and the still missing password

Hi guys!

Thanks for everyone who has kept commenting, especially on the Ellen Foley post. Really great thoughts on the album! I know I've been bad about posting, but I'll get a few albums up before I leave for vacation. And I'm still looking for Earthquake Weather, sot it will come up as soon as I get my hands on it :)

A long time ago, I posted a Replacements live album and it was recently brought to my attention that I never posted the password. Now I can't find the password. Sorry to everyone who downloaded the file and wasn't able to open it. I can't even find my file- I'm wondering if I even downloaded or opened it. . . so, wanted to say sorry. Hopefully to make up for it I can direct you to some other live Replacements, which you can find at rbally's, which says that it is from "live somewhere, at some time, from a bootleg named Hanging It Up." So, again, really sorry about the confusion. I'll keep looking for a pass (though it seems a little late) or my own file so I can repost it.

Also, grab some comps from Back On the Road. Grab the Clash one. He's also got up the Towers of London album. . . I don't know much about them, but they opened for the Pogues and were fairly awful and the crowd hated them. Especially because, I think, we were getting bored and the singer was trying to be Johnny Rotten and their hair was all so awful. Which of course means they might have been good but we weren't letting them be good. I might give them a try, but I'm not feeling optimistic.

And for those it's applicable to, have a great long weekend and fourth of July!