Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
Wall Of Voodoo
Call Of The West
(IRS, 1982)
New Wave noir-ists roadtrip haunted America, tune into Mexican Radio.
In 1982 Wall Of Voodoo's rare frontman Stan Ridgway called their songs "a bunch of little Twilight Zones strung together". Not a bad way to approach this anti-sunbathing Los Angeles group's admirably unclichéd sign-off Call Of The West. A suspenseful travelogue full of twists, shadow and ambiguities, it also perplexes with its musical palette; Ridgway's mordant, sung-from-the-corner-of-his-mouth vignettes of paranoia, pessimism and alarm are accompanied by synths and drum box set to "malarial", Joe Nanini's junkyard percussion and Marc Moreland's boss, punk-via-Luther Perkins guitar playing. The supremely catchy Mexican Radio was an MTV hit, but elsewhere the group played it as sinister as toxic fumes glooping up from the La Brea tarpits - see the heat hazed Lost Weekend, for example, which presents a gambling/ robbery husband and wife team aimlessly looking for more vice, or the metal-on-metal clanging Factory which portrays a bitter, violent worker-drone who says, "I like to know what I'm doing when I do it, and I do what I'm doing 'cos I don't know what to do when I'm not doing it." Sounds like sense. Their real scope, though, can be gleaned on the LP's title track, wherein a credulous rube rolls California-wards dreaming of an easy life only to be confronted with drunk, gun-toting reality. It wasn't to last. Ridgway and Nanini left just after the band's biggest show at the 1983 US Festival, but Stan went on to a rewarding and unique solo career that's still ongoing. For the fall out of 1983 and the early deaths of Nanini and Moreland, see his Talking Wall Of Voodoo Blues Pt.1.
Ian Harrison
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 6:00 AM GMT 16/02/2010
Further Listening
Wall Of Voodoo - Dark Continent (IRS, 1981)
Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat (IRS, 1985)
Ennio Morricone - A Fistful Of Dollars/For A Few Dollars More (Camden, 1970)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Comments
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need to get this! i only know Celtic Frost's cover of Mexican Radio...
Posted by Manish Agarwal at 1:20 PM GMT 16/02/2010 Report Abuse
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RE: Manish Agarwal
El Vez covered it too.
Posted by Papa D at 1:55 PM GMT 16/02/2010 Report Abuse
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What a great band. I first heard of them when they were a replacement opening act for The Cramps at the Whisky A-Go-Go on the Sunset Strip. After that, I'd go see them every chance I could. Didn't know that Nanini and Moreland had died...damn. Glad Stan's doing his thing--a unique voice for sure.
Posted by lonndoggie at 5:26 PM GMT 16/02/2010 Report Abuse
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RE: lonndoggie
D'oh! I'm listening to Stan's Talking WoV Blues, and he mentions that same Whisky gig w/The Cramps as when they were approached for a contract! I feel all historic...
Posted by lonndoggie at 7:28 PM GMT 16/02/2010 Report Abuse
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