Bob Dylan: *Oh Mercy*

A sleeper of a Dylan album, brought to my attention today inna Yahoo interview of Gavin Rossdale, who said “Most of the Time” is his fave break-up song – pretty randumb, yeah.

But the album is really good, and I’m glad I’m listening again.

It’s most famous for “Man in the Long Black Coat” of course, and that is a work of genius. Like the rest of the album, it has spare instrumentation, Lanois-produced clarity (he’s great in general, but great at the hi-fi thing) and an emphasis on the voice – where on a Dylan album it should be, unless it shouldn’t – contrast *Time Out of Mind*.

Yeah, I’m a fan of both, and of this record again, mercy me.

Vlayman: *The Pettin’ Position* (a e.p.)

1. The Day I Lost Jennifer 03:39
2. Other Things Goin’ On 03:42
3. The Pettin’ Position 04:07
4. Clean This Blood 04:42
5. The Stormy Weather 04:03

Guitars: mine
Bass and vox: my fault
Drums: Silversmith on #4; otherwise, WTFK

Writ, recorded, mixt, masturd, sequenced at FetaCentralRecording DDL in June 2021 under post-pandemic protocolage; no masks was soiled in the production of these pieces but I can’t say the same about some hoondies.

And of course again, some brain cells was sackraficed because what else they for.

Fartwerk: Jose Jones

Cover model: Nirvana and his nose

released June 7, 2021

# of songs

discussing same at a cookout last night, today I figgered out:

For those who asked, me (released today):https://vlayman.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-daddy-and-the-judas-wolf-a-e-p

me and the band guitarist (April release):https://vlayman.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-daddy-and-the-judas-wolf-a-e-p

mean and my London collaborator’s 80’s-type stuff (released last Friday):https://vlayman.bandcamp.com/album/sugar-daddy-and-the-judas-wolf-a-e-p

the rest of the shite:https://vlayman.bandcamp.com/

another project:https://thehungrydrunx.bandcamp.com/
===================================================
for Al re the 1,000:
vlayman.bandcamp.com has65+ Ep’s, average 5 songs = 32546 full lengths, average 10 songs = 460 on the vlayman siteplus 3 e.p.’s of early 90’s stuff, another 15 or so songs (Denials, Burnt, grind)= ~ 800
13 collections on The Hungry Drunks site, 10+ songs each= ~ 130

then there’s 569 songs (likely 1/2 or so are duplicates or early mixes of the above – you can find some covers also) here:https://www.soundclick.com/artist/default.cfm?bandID=525940
= ~ 275
then there’s 5 collections, 10+ songs each, here that I wrote or co-wrote in another projecthttps://geronimocowboys.bandcamp.com/
= ~ 50
total = 1,200+ songs
I removed from the ‘net the 10 or so albums I did with Maher’s acquaintance Krister, in The Friday Project – some of those songs are on the above soundclick site
all of the above only goes back (besides the 3 early EPs listed above) to 2009
I’ve been writing since ’86; you may recall the cassette tapes I used to hand out – I have no idear how many songs in that stretch (’86-’09), but a least a cuppla hunnert

Vlayman: *Sugar daddy & the Judas Wolf* (a e.p.)

1. The Judas Wolf 05:16
2. Mean to Me 03:49
3. I Hate This Story 03:50
4. Sugar Daddy 04:31
5. The Devil’s Paint Brush 03:49

This some dark shite, not for the kiddies – so dark my collaborators declined to collaborate.
credits
released May 24, 2021

Guitars: yo
Bass and vox: I
Drums: WTFK

Writ, recorded, mixt, masturd, sequenced at FetaCentralRecording DDL in May 2021 under pandemic protocols, and the influence of ETOH.

Once again, some brain cells were killt in the making of this mess.

Fartwerk: Jose Jones

Mixt to be played LOUD, in headphones.bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; Geronimo Cowboys;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

scumble: *redshirt* (a e.p.)

1. Come That Hard 04:05
2. Honey Chile 03:36
3. Red Shirt 04:10

Are we not all redshirts?

released May 17, 2021

Vlayman: songs, bass, vocals except where obvious, mixt, masturd, and prodooshed
Grankspoine: all else, and derrangmenting, too

Granx recordings done in Ye Merry Olde
Everything else done at FetaCentralRecording DDL, Chgo., IL

Cover by Grankspoinebandcamp; vlayman;
THD; Geronimo Cowboys;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.

Too old?

My 24 y.o. daughter just told me she wants to see Pearl Jam this summer because Vedder is nearly too old to perform.  

Further discussion:

Tom Jones.

Van the Conspiracy Man.

And Clapton, well, the drugs.

Dylan’s last record, BTW, is very good, even if not something I wanna play over and over.

I have never liked a complete Willie record other than “RH Stranger” and “Family Live”, but he has written some great songs, has great stories and seems like a cool dude.

And there are female elders, as well: Dolly, Loretta, even Cher.

They have different and varying aspects of genius, tho’.

To take the cited women as examples: Dolly is smart and a great writer with a unique voice, Loretta is a great writer with an interesting life story and resultant world view  that she can make relatable to the listener, and Cher is an expert marketer who at one time exemplified the middle class’ idear of a hot hippie chick. (What she was was a hot Hollywood hippie chick, what is somewhat different.)

Shouldn’t forgot Babs, and even Tony, altho’ while the former is a cultural force, the latter is a old, old guy doin’ his mediocre lounge and comedy act so long that he’s notable mostly for doing it so long.

I’m sure I’m missing some  cawf <Keef> cawf …

Re truckin’

Emailing with a buddy about an article said too much work kills, I said,

Not me – 50 hours maybe, but not as a regular thing in years.
My dad was nuts that way from when I was in high school and he opened his own bidness
He’d leave the house at 2:00AM Sunday, come home Wed eve, sleeping and eating about 8-10 hrs/day, leave Thurs at 8:00 and come home that night at 8-9, or Friday afternoon, if the former than work Friday 8-10.
That assumes the truck didn’t break down, where he’d go 24 hours w/out sleep.

Or if there was work he hadda take to keep his contractees happy …
Saturdays were 6-8 hours on maintenance.
He more or less worked 75 hrs/week until he was 66 and had bypass surgery.
Went back to work at 67 doing mebbe 50-60 hours a week until he retired at 72.
At his wake, a former co-worker called him, admiringly, a “working fool”.
I know those hours because I worked for him summers and holiday breaks.
Nowadays semi-truck drivers have logs and shite – he did, also, but kept two (one for the gov.)
My bro is OTR (over the road) and not only does he keep a log, but the truck logs itself, so no more of that kinda running.

Re The Cult’s, *Electric*

Steve Brown prodooshed Love, and then he recorded and mixed the first version of Electric, to be called “Peace”.

The band (allegedly) wanted a different sound, and so enlisted the Rubin crew, whose re-recording was released as the album, and became huge.

But the Brown version is also very cool, more psychedelic, and certainly less AC/DC; it is disc 2 of the box set.

FWIW, the summer of ’87 thru ’88, that album was playing in the dance clubs here in Chi. Many is the night I was at at Cabaret Metro and they played a side straight thru, went to other stuff, and a hour later played the other side.  It was a thing – 12:00 AM or whatever, you were gonna hear Electric. I sweated to that, a lot, whiskey being my drink.

Interesting story here:
“Rick Rubin was recording the Cult in Studio A and we [Platt and the studio engineers] stood in the airlock just outside the studio. A snatch of Highway to Hell would get played and then a snatch from Back in Black and then a snatch of Led Zeppelin, and we thought, “What the hell’s going on there?” [A studio assistant] said, “Well, he’s getting the guitar sounds from Back in Black, the drum sound from Highway to Hell and the voice sound from Led Zeppelin!” Literally, as he was mixing he was getting a guitar sound on the Cult and then comparing it directly with the guitar sound that he wanted to get from Back in Black. The same with all the other instruments.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_(The_Cult_album)

The Cult

Not my fave band, but they have an interesting discography.

Because I think of others’ work as a resource, I’ll mention I picked up The Cult’s Sonic Temple box set. Very interesting to compare that with the remastered Love and the two versions of Electric in it’s box set. Steve Brown/Spike Stent vs. Drakoulias/Rubin/Wallace vs. Bob Rock.

I’ll mebbe write some reviews later.

Vlayman: *The Girl with Volcanic Eyes (a e.p.*)

1. Come to Be 04:50
2. The Girl with Volcanic Eyes 03:17
3. Wanted to Kill Me 03:38
4. The Coming Sin 04:20
5. The Most Excellent Way 04:58

Guitars: yo
Bass and vox: I
Drums: WTFK

Writ, recorded, mixt, masturd, sequenced at FetaCentralRecording DDL in April – May 2021 under pandemic protocols.

Some brain cells mighta been killt in the making of this mess.

Fartwerk: Jose Jones

bandcamp; vlayman;
THD; Geronimo Cowboys;
blog.
I mix with olive juice.