God, I really am getting old. I was a couple of years out of college when I was seduced by the jangly indie-pop sweetness of The Lemonheads' It's A Shame About Ray, the album that served notice that Evan Dando was way more than just a pretty face. Released in 1992, it's one of the albums I keep going back to every couple of years or so to get a taste of its wistful romanticism, lithe acoustic sway and good-natured, sun-baked vibes.

On March 25, Rhino will put out a special CD/DVD Collector's Edition of It's A Shame About Ray. A promo copy of it landed on my desk this week, and, in typical Rhino fashion, it's a remarkable package. Along with a remastered version of the original album, it includes a slew of rough, skeletal demos that provide fascinating insight into the evolution of gems like "Rockin' Stroll," "My Drug Buddy" and "Kitchen" and create an intimate relationship with these songs you don't get from the album versions. The DVD, titled "Two Weeks In Australia," sprinkles in live footage and videos in a tour diary conducted by Dando.

One of the landmark albums of the '90s, It's A Shame About Ray signaled a change in direction for The Lemonheads. No longer the noisy little brother of American underground giants Dinosaur Jr. and The Replacements, The Lemonheads had matured into a brightly colored pop three-piece, capable of producing melancholic beauty (the sublime title track, plus the hopeful "Rudderless"), jaunty power-pop with barbed hooks ("Confetti," "Rockin' Stroll," and "Alison's Starting to Happen"), bittersweet acoustic strum ("My Drug Buddy") and a punked-up, whip-smart cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson." And, as a bonus, you got Juliana Hatfield backing up Dando on "My Drug Buddy" with vocals that were pretty and biting — see her yelling "I just want a bit part in your life!" at the beginning of "Bit Part."

Though it didn't completely erase their punk past, It's A Shame About Ray was more about sunny, laid-back melodies that also tugged at your heartstrings, Gram Parsons-influenced country ("Hannah & Gabi") and lyrics that took a light-hearted, but sometimes painful, look at relationships and dysfunctional adulthood.

For more information on this release, visit www.rhino.com. Two years ago, The Lemonheads came back strong with a self-released effort on Vagrant Records. To learn more about it and to see what else the band's been up to lately, visit www.thelemonheads.net/
  

 



 

"We were just angry young men expressing our outrage at the war and poverty." So says Dickie Peterson, the bassist for proto-metal godfathers Blue Cheer, of the band's humble beginnings.

Ah, but Blue Cheer was, and still is, so much more than that. In 1968, the band that put the word "power" in power trio wreaked apocalyptic devastation with Vincebus Eruptum, an unrelentingly loud, mind-altering brew of sludgy, psychedelic heavy metal that would scare the living daylights out of everybody within earshot and lay the groundwork for the grunge revolution of the early '90s and today's vibrant stoner metal scene.

Not everybody was impressed with Blue Cheer back then, especially their fellow musicians. "A lot of musicians put us down," recalls Peterson.

One time in particular still weighs heavy on his mind. The band was opening for Electric Flag and Jimi Hendrix, and Peterson says, "I admired Electric Flag so much, not to mention Hendrix. We were so psyched to be on that bill with people that we put on a pedestal."

Some of the members of Electric Flag didn't feel the same way about Blue Cheer. Buddy Miles was the exception, according to Peterson.

While Blue Cheer was laying down some serious noise, whipping up storms of distortion against bulldozing rhythms and an impenetrable wall of volume, a few Electric Flag members walked around onstage and, as Peterson says, "chastised" the band.

When Blue Cheer had finished, Peterson says, "I put my bass down and just walked off. I had tears in my eyes."

He learned a valuable lesson that night, and that was to never treat fellow musicians that way. Now, though, with legions of young fans taking to Blue Cheer in a big way, especially after their much-lauded 2007 album What Doesn't Kill You ..., " ... the people who put us down make sure they have a photo op with us" and try to make sure Blue Cheer sticks around.

Still a monster live band, Blue Cheer, now in the midst of a grueling tour with an EP of live and unreleased material that's gone straight to college and metal radio, has had the last laugh.

To listen to a podcast of Goldmine's recent interview with Dickie Peterson go to www.goldminemag.com/Default.aspx?tabid=2366, and stay tuned to Goldmine radio for a broadcast of our chat.

For more on all things Blue Cheer, including a list of tour dates, go to www.bluecheer.us/ or www.myspace.com/bluecheer

Like snowflakes, but nowhere near as delicate or pristinely beautiful, no two Flipper shows were ever the same. Some, as drummer Steve DePace remembers, would devolve into 45 minutes of inner band fighting — he recalls guitarist Ted Falconi and bassist Bruce Loose wrestling on stage on one particular night — and 10 minutes of the group riffing off its best-known song, "Sex Bomb."

Then, there was the time that a woman walked up onstage while singer Bruce Loose had his back turned and kicked him square between the legs, setting off a huge fight that reminded DePace of a saloon melee in a Western movie. Stranger still, there was another show where two punks had sex right in front of DePace's drum kit as Flipper played on. It was just all part of the Flipper experience for DePace.

"A lot of people would complain, and I'd hear them say, 'Flipper sucks,' and then they'd be back the next night," laughs DePace.

Made up of ex-Negative Trend members DePace and bassist/vocalist Will Shatter, plus bassist/vocalist Bruce Loose and guitar phenomenon Ted Falconi, Flipper existed from the late '70s to 1993. In between, the band lost the enigmatic Shatter to a heroin overdose but now, it has gained ex-Nirvana bassist Krist Novoselic, as Flipper is back up and running with a new DVD and a flood of unreleased material just waiting to see the light of day.

The DVD set, from MVD Visual, is called "Flipper Live: Target Video 77 1980-81" and it contains two distinctly different shows that reveal, in graphic detail, just how distinct each Flipper show was from every other show the band ever put on. The first took place at Berkeley Square in 1980 and was a sloppy, drunken hootenanny that, purportedly, proudly boasts the only footage of Flipper playing its classic "The Wheel."

The second sees Flipper opening for industrial giants Throbbing Gristle at San Francisco's Kezar Pavillion, where the NBA's San Francisco Warriors once played, and here, Flipper rumbles its way, in nihilistic fashion, through a doom-laden concert that is both ugly and beautiful, and utterly hypnotic to witness.

DePace recalls it being "a very chaotic show" and credits Joe Rees of Target Video and Klaus Flouride for cleaning up the video and what was initially terrible audio quality from it in order to make this DVD.

Notorious for its false starts, wrong notes and surreal shows, Flipper was the punk band "everybody loved to hate," says DePace. And yet Flipper had some famous fans. Nirvana's Kurt Cobain cited them as an influence, and DePace says that Henry Rollins once told him that Negative Trend impacted him as a youth growing up in Washington, D.C. And Moby once joined a reconstituted Flipper for a rendition of "Sex Bomb" at a Paper magazine party.

Watch for a story on the band in Goldmine magazine and on www.goldminemag.com in the coming weeks. Believe me, you don't want to miss it. DePace and company have some great stories.

To learn more about Flipper, visit www.myspace.com/flipper, or go to www.mvdb2b.com to get the DVD set, which is due out Feb. 19. The day before the release, on Feb. 18 at 6 p.m., the band will play an in-store at the legendary Amoeba Records in San Francisco. Visit www.amoeba.com to get the lowdown.

Born ramblin' men, the Allman Brothers Band will always be ramblin' men. And a ramblin' they will go in 2008, the venerable Southern rock institution's 39th year as a barnstorming tour act.

Led once again by the sage Gregg Allman on keyboards and vocals, the Allman Brothers Band kick off its tour by hosting its own Wanee Festival in Live Oak, Fla. Then, it's off to New York for a 15-show residency — "Mayhem in Manhatten" as it's called — at the Beacon Theatre that starts May 5. After that stretch of shows, the Allman Brothers Band will perform at the Bonnaroo Festival June 14, followed by a summer full of show dates. Tickets to the Beacon Theatre shows go on sale this Saturday, Feb. 9. The residency has become an annual thing for the Allmans, who started doing it in 1989.

The present lineup includes Butch Trucks on drums and tympani, Jaimoe on drums, and the twin-guitar tandem of Warren Haynes on vocals and lead and slide guitar and Derek Trucks on lead and slide guitar. Oteil Burbridge on bass and Marc Quinones on congas percussion round out the band.

Formed March 26, 1969 in Jacksonville, Fla., the Allman Brothers Band, members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, is, simply put, one of the best live acts in rock history.

This year's Wanee Festival sports a great lineup. Gov't Mule will be there, as will Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi's "Soul Stew Revival," Levon Helm, Oteil & The Peacemakers, Bob Weir & Ratdog, moe and JJ Grey & Mofro.

For more information, go to www.waneefestival.com. And for the latest news on the Allman Brothers, including tour news, visit www.allmanbrothersband.com.