Neal said:
What an interesting list of examples. Might I ask, Steve, since you have
included Snuff and Jerry Holland among UT, Varnaline, And GW, that you tell
me
who the hell they are? I wanna know more.
Snuff is one of my favorite hardcore bands. They basically write pop songs,
but play them really fast and really loud. My favorite album of their is
their debut "Snuffsaid" which if I remember correctly was on Rough
Trade. That one is from 1989 or 90. I saw them in London around that time
and they did 4 songs, three of which were covers (I Think We're Alone Now,
Purple Haze and...and...another one). The "show" was about 10 minutes long,
but it was great. They have TONS of energy. Last year they came out with a
record called "Tweet Tweet My Lovely" on Fat WreckChords which is
great...except for one song that has horns in it that I'm not too hot on.
Jerry Holland is my favorite fiddle player from Cape Breton Island in
Eastern Canada. He has a CD out on Green Linnet called "The Fiddlesticks
Collection" which is amazing. Cape Breton fiddling sounds like Scottish
fiddling mixed with the rawer jagged sounds of oldtime. Cape Breton was
settled by Scots a long time ago and since it is a small island off the
beaten path many of the traditions there have remained. Stepdancing,
fiddling and piano are the biggies. I'm don't claim to be an expert on the
region or anything, but I am going there on vacation in May and am really
looking forward to it.
Rock Critics: The main time I hate them is when they are just lazy and/or
stupid. This doesn't have much to do with musical taste, but rather when
they just say dumb stuff...such as in the recent CMJ three sentence review
of the new Del McCoury album where it says Del is joined by his sons Robbie
and DON. I mean, how hard is it to read the fucking liner notes? (If
Ronnie has been replaced by Don Yates on Mandolin I take it all back.) That
is an example of being lazy *and* dumb.
See ya.
Steve
