Holiday Time

During the next week, Water All Around will be sitting idle – as will I (though in my case it will involve well-reclined pool chair). So as I’m off imbibing an alarming number of umbrella-topped fruity drinks with sword-speared cherries, you can dream of your next holiday with these:

[MP3] Elvis Costello – The Beat
[MP3] Cruiserweight – Vacation/Vacate
[MP3] Dead Kennedys – Holiday in Cambodia
[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – Trains and Boats and Planes
[MP3] Get Up Kids – Holiday
[MP3] Green Day – Deadbeat Holiday
[MP3] The Jam – Strange Town
[MP3] Chris Mars – Car Camping
[MP3] Old 97s – Lonely Holiday
[MP3] Pixies – Holiday Song
[MP3] Police – Man in a Suitcase
[MP3] Radiohead – The Tourist
[MP3] Ramones – Rockaway Beach
[MP3] Replacements – Waitress in the Sky
[MP3] Sugar – Panama City Motel
[MP3] Weezer – Island in the Sun
[MP3] White Stripes – Hotel Yorba
[MP3] Wilco – Hotel Arizona
[MP3] Tommy Womack – You Could Be at the Beach Right Now

Swingin' Party

I just realized that if you’re going to lift the name of your music blog from the lyrics of a song – as I have done with Water All Around – you should probably post said song on said blog. So here it is. “Swingin’ Party” by the Replacements from their must-possess 1985 album Tim. (And to make up for not doing this sooner, I’m throwing in a live version of “Swingin’ Party” from one of Westerberg’s solo tours.)

[MP3] The Replacements – Swingin’ Party
[MP3] Paul Westerberg – Swingin’ Party (live)

Buy Tim

Child's Plays

When you have children, you quickly learn how to negotiate daily vegetable consumption, calm irrational fears of harmless arachnids, and burn kid-cool alt-music CDs to spare yourself the incessant replays of Kelly Clarkson, Crazy Frog, and Daniel Powter’s @$%&#! “Bad Day.”

The following tunes have met with the gleeful approval of my 7- and 9-year-old (pictured above). Just as importantly, they’ve been sanctioned by the exceedingly stringent Parental Ratings Board (my wife).

If you have kids – or come in close contact with them for extended periods – I highly recommend the downloads below for those times when you’re confronted with the suggestion, “Let’s play Kelly Clarkson – again!”

[MP3] Apples in Stereo – Ruby
[MP3] Apples in Stereo – Go
[MP3] Bedouin Soundclash – When the Night Feels My Song
[MP3] Blur – Song 2
[MP3] Johnny Cash – Ring of Fire
[MP3] The Clash – Hitsville UK
[MP3] English Beat – Ranking Full Stop
[MP3] The Essex Green – Don’t Know Why (You Stay)
[MP3] The Flaming Lips – She Don’t Use Jelly
[MP3] The Pipettes – Pull Shapes
[MP3] The Pipettes – Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me
[MP3] R.E.M. – It’s the End of the World as We Know It
[MP3] Smoke Like a Fish – Just Another
[MP3] Vapors – Turning Japanese

(More Child’s Plays to follow at future dates.)

Gear Daddies

If you asked people about Minnesota when I was growing up in the 70s, most would have described it as a place of sub-zero temps and knee-deep snow. I can’t imagine anyone responding with: “Minnesota? Oh, that’s that hotbed of independent rock.” But during the 80s and early 90s, this is exactly what Minnesota became. The state known for snow was suddenly knee-deep in great – and greatly influential – bands. Husker Du, the Replacements, Soul Asylum – even Prince and his funk-rock legion hailed from the state.

While most everyone knows about the aforementioned bands, much fewer are aware of another great Minnesota group: the Gear Daddies. The Daddies’ lifespan was short and their output small – just three albums between 1988 and 1992 – but they produced some really good, really heartfelt, country-infused rock (which now stands as one of the earlier and more rocking examples of what would come to be known as alt-country). The 1990 disc Billy’s Live Bait is certainly the band’s high point. Here are three tunes from it (well, four actually, as “One Voice” features a goofy, don’t-miss bonus ditty at the end).

[MP3] Gear Daddies – Don’t Look at Me
[MP3] Gear Daddies – Time Heals
[MP3] Gear Daddies – One Voice

Buy Billy’s Live Bait

Songs that sizzle, CDs that fizzle: Part II

A few more One Hit Blunders on my part (see entry below for details).

[MP3] INXS – Don’t Change
[MP3] Only Ones – Another Girl, Another Planet
[MP3] Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark – Enola Gay
[MP3] The Peacocks – Last Words

Special bonus: The Replacements covering “Another Girl, Another Planet” – live!

[MP3] The Replacements – Another Girl, Another Planet (Live)

Songs that sizzle, CDs that fizzle

This is sorta like One Hit Wonders – if I were the only person on the planet listening to music. “Songs that sizzle, CDs that fizzle” represents those times when I heard a song by a band and dug it so much that I rushed out to get their CD – only to find that I undug everything else on the disc.

My earliest sizzle/fizzle memory – and I’m sure I’ll take some heat for this – centers on the Smiths. Back in the 80s, I was big fan of the Jam, and when I heard “This Charming Man” on a Detroit alt rock station, I was certain I had unearthed a worthy successor to those fiery mod rockers. But when I picked up the Smiths’ debut disc–––––ugh. Too gloomy. Too downbeat. Too artsy. I was left with one song that sizzled and a whole CD that fizzled.

This has even happened with my beloved Replacements. I remember Don’t Tell a Soul meeting with critical disparagement before its release in 1989. But when I heard “Talent Show,” I thought the critics were loopy. Then I popped the disc into my player and–––––ugh redux.

So here’s some sizzles that led to fizzles. If your musical tastes run similar to mine, I’ll hopefully save you a few ughs. But listen at your own risk. There’s always the chance that these will lead you to rush out and squander a month of lunch money on the CDs.

[MP3] The Replacements – Talent Show
[MP3] The Smiths – This Charming Man
[MP3] Anti-Flag – Turncoat
[MP3] Avoid One Thing – Yakishoba
[MP3] Concrete Blonde – Joey
[MP3] Dresden Dolls – Coin-Operated Boy
[MP3] Group Sounds – Things Fall Apart
[MP3] Happy Bullets – Vice and Virtue Ministry
[MP3] The Hong Kong – Mazerati
[MP3] Jilted John – Jilted John
[MP3] Kaiser Chiefs – I Predict a Riot
[MP3] Madcap – Lovesick
[MP3] Morticia’s Lovers – Smash the Radio

Horrorpops

Horror and serendipity are two terms that rarely find themselves together, though this is the case with the Horrorpops. I knew nothing about these Denmark-based rockers when I stumbled upon them on eMusic’s list of “Recent Arrivals.” Their name and the cover of their 2005 Bring It On! disc (pictured above) lured me to downloading – and this resulted in one of those not-so-frequent instances when you take a musical chance and it pays off.

Led by vocalist Patricia Day, the Horrorpops play a fired-up, rockabilly punk. Their live shows are supposed to be amazing, with Patricia slapping away at her standing bass and go-go dancers teasing and tantalizing the crowd (there’s a link below to their videos where you can see the band in action).

I’ve posted three from Bring It On!: “Freaks in Uniforms” (check out the go-go girl backups singing H-O-R-R-O-R-P-O-P) and “Caught in a Blond” are two rockers, while the daffy, dancey “Walk Like a Zombie” should be a staple at every Halloween party.

So if you haven’t heard the Horrorpops, give them a try. Maybe horror and serendipity will come together for you as well.

[MP3] Horrorpops – Freaks in Uniforms
[MP3] Horrorpops – Caught in a Blond
[MP3] Horrorpops – Walk Like a Zombie

Buy Bring It On!
Check out videos at the Horrorpops site

Link

I know little about this band, other than that they’ve been aptly described as the Japanese Clash. In fact, it was this description that led me to download their disc at eMusic (a subscription-based site devoted to independent music that I highly recommend). If anyone knows more about this these guys – particularly if they have any other discs – I’d love to hear it. For those who don’t know anything about them, here’s the best introduction I can offer:

[MP3] Link – Our Sensation
[MP3] Link – Reality Says to Me
[MP3] Link – Freedom Style

Check out eMusic

Exploding Hearts

Great music often ends in a tragic tale. This is one of those tales. Only it’s not about a drug overdose or a suicide or a killing. No one’s really at fault here, and that somehow makes it more painful. Maybe because there’s no obvious place to direct your anger.

The Exploding Hearts were a young punk band who had released just one album – the exceptional Guitar Romantic. On this 2002 disc, the Hearts eschewed those first-album hints of brilliance and went straight there. They were like a young Clash, blasting out powerful, poppy punk with a purpose. Only their purpose wasn’t the hopeless social conditions of working-class kids in England – it was the romantic, emotionally fragile psyches of American youth today. “Throwaway Style” and “Sleeping Aides & Razor Blades” below serve as two standout examples. It was songs like these that made you wonder what might come next – a London Calling for the romantically crippled?

But before the Exploding Hearts could even think of a second album, tragedy struck.

On July 19, 2003, the band played a San Francisco show in support of Guitar Romantic. After the show, they decided to make the drive back to their home city of Portland. At 6 a.m., bassist Matthew Fitzgerald fell asleep at the wheel. He and two other members of the foursome – vocalist Adam Cox and drummer Jeremy Gage – died in the ensuing accident. All were in their early 20s.

Only guitarist Terry Six lives on – as well as 11 outstanding songs that stand in tribute to a band that achieved so much in the little time they had.

[MP3] Exploding Hearts – Throwaway Style
[MP3] Exploding Hearts – Sleeping Aides & Razor Blades

Buy Guitar Romantic
Learn more at the Exploding Hearts website

More XTC

Above is an Andy Partridge-designed postcard that I stumbled across in the Scrapbook section of the XTC website. Apparently, he created it for a promotion in the Japanese market. Partridge is the bloke in the glasses. Next to him is Colin Moulding, his bandmate of 30 years. I was so taken with it – with the richness of the colors and the childlike qualities of the illustrations – that I had to post it. Seems very XTC to me.

Below is a live version of “Making Plans for Nigel” from a 1982 performance in Amsterdam. Lamentably, this is the closest I’ll come to experiencing the band in concert. I had tickets to this very tour but Partridge had a stage-fright-driven breakdown before the band made it to Detroit. They cancelled the tour – and never performed live again. I had 10th row tickets so when I play this song I sit really close to my stereo.

[MP3] XTC – Making Plans for Nigel (Live)

Visit the XTC website

Fountains of Wayne

Fountains of Wayne brought life to my record collection – and death to my car stereo. This semi-tragic tale begins a few years ago when I finally decided to purchase a Fountains of Wayne disc after reading numerous reviews proclaiming the band’s indie-pop greatness. Instantly, I was smitten. These guys produce some of the loopiest, wittiest, and catchiest rock gems I’ve ever heard. They move effortlessly among musical styles and genres, and the songwriting duo of Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood ranks with the best rhymesters in the history of rock ‘n’ roll. Some criticize FofW for being emotionally distant from their music, and I can’t disagree (they often employ a mock-serious tone reminiscent of David Byrne). But this doesn’t detract from their excellence. And it’s not like they can’t write beautiful, heartfelt songs (“Troubled Times” and “Valley Winter Song” are two that come to mind).

No, I’m fine with their emotional distance. My criticism pertains to their 2005 Out of State Plates double-disc set and a six-disc CD changer that had given me years of dutiful service in my Ford Focus. Having by this time become a rabid FofW fan, I pre-ordered Out of State Plates online for delivery on its release date. As soon as it arrived, I dashed to the aforementioned Focus and popped disc one into the player, eager to hear the first of 30 new FofW nuggets. Instead, my ears encountered a sickly drone redolent of a whale mating call I had once heard on a PBS special. The drone lasted a mere 9 or 10 seconds, then nothing. I pushed play. Nothing. I pushed eject. Nothing. I pushed next track. Nothing. I pushed eject again. Nothing. Thinking the disc had loaded improperly, I started pounding on the dash. Finally, it ejected.

Undeterred, I popped it in again – and, to borrow a musical term, experienced a refrain of the mating call, et al. More pounding and another ejection. Stupidly, I proceeded to insert disc two. One throbbing fist later, I managed to coerce the second disc out.

Must be a bad pressing, I surmised. And not wanting to wait for the roundtrip journey of returning Out of State Plates through the mail, I hurried off to buy a second copy at the local record store.

The same infuriating series of events happened again – only this time my pounding was met with indifference by the CD. I finally had to resort to prying the disc out with a sharp implement from my glove box (a nail file, I think).

Mistake.

I gouged the disc, lodged it more deeply in there, and – with a sharp SNAP! – broke off a part integral to the operation of the CD player. Now, I couldn’t play ANY music let alone Out of State Plates.

But I’ll tell ya what could be heard from inside my car: Fountains of Cursing.

Any way, I hold no grudges against the Wayners, despite being out two CDs and a car stereo (though I’d gladly accept reimbursement from their management).

Here’s a favorite tune from each of their four releases (and fortunately, you don’t have to play them on your car stereo):

[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – Leave the Biker (from Fountains of Wayne)
[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – Red Dragon Tattoo (from Utopia Parkway)
[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – Little Red Light (from Welcome Interstate Managers)
[MP3] Fountains of Wayne – The Girl I Can’t Forget (from Out of State Plates)

Buy Fountains of Wayne
Visit Fountains of Wayne official website

XTC/Dogs Die in Hot Cars

There was a stretch in the very early 80s when XTC was my favorite band. I loved their combination of biting lyrics and bouncy, Beatlesque punk/pop. I recall as a senior in high school going with my father to a weekend convention where one of the youth activities was a design-your-own-T-shirt contest. Despite my certainty that no one within 5,000 miles of the convention would know who or what XTC is (a drug? a blue movie? a sex stimulant?), I set out to capture XTC’s Drums and Wires album (pictured above) on my shirt. As I carefully put the final brushstrokes on my masterpiece, I glanced over at the neighboring table and – !!! – there was some kid painting Drums and Wires on his shirt. An even bigger shocker came later in the evening: The kid’s shirt won.

Recently, I experienced a cheerier and less stunning XTC-related surprise: My discovery of the band Dogs Die in Hot Cars. While you wouldn’t know it from their unfortunate moniker, these guys produce an ear-pleasing sound remarkably similar to XTC. And their lead singer is nearly a vocal clone of XTC’s Andy Partridge. Hear for yourself:

[MP3] XTC – Helicopter
[MP3] Dogs Die in Hot Cars – Godhopping

Buy Drums and Wires by XTC
Read more about XTC
Buy Please Describe Yourself by Dogs Die in Hot Cars
Visit the Dogs Die in Hot Cars website

Buzzcocks

Back in 1980, a buddy of mine used to drive me to high school in his Bug (an old beater in which – to my daily dismay – I could see the road flit by through the rust-eaten floorboards at my feet). He’d installed his own car stereo and would play homemade tapes on the trips to and from school. One day, he popped in a cassette loaded with music he’d recorded from his older brother. It was at this moment that my musical life was forever altered. Out of the speakers exploded a sound that grabbed me in way arena rock never had: It was aggressive yet hooky. Angry yet compassionate. Powerful yet in many ways fragile, ready to break apart. Most importantly, it seemed to speak to me – to my life and my concerns. One of the first bands to leap out of those speakers was the Buzzcocks. The album: Singles Going Steady. In the years that followed, I played that album as much as any one I’d ever owned. Amazingly, the Buzzcocks are still producing great music nearly 30 years later. Their 2006 disc, Flat-Pack Philosophy, may not be as groundbreaking as Singles Going Steady but it offers up 14 worthy rockers. Here are two of the best:

[MP3] Buzzcocks – Wish I Never Loved You
[MP3] Buzzcocks – I've Had Enough
[MP3] Buzzcocks – Ever Fallen in Love? (from Singles Going Steady)

Read about the Buzzcocks
Buy Flat-Pack Philosophy
Buy Singles Going Steady

Bobby Bare, Jr.

To me, Bobby Bare Jr. is countrified Paul Westerberg. He writes music with all the hallmarks of the Mats’ singer/songwriter: wit, pathos, self-effacement, and a likeable crudity. Indeed, the lyrics of “Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll” could have been penned by PW in his early days. One noticeable difference: Bare Jr. can get darker and more macabre than Westerberg as evidenced in “Valentine.” (Interestingly, Westerberg also has a song about unrequited love titled “Valentine”).

[MP3] Bobby Bare, Jr. – Let’s Rock ‘n’ Roll
[MP3] Bobby Bare, Jr. – Valentine
[MP3] The Replacements – Valentine

Review of Bobby Bare, Jr.'s New Album
Buy Bobby Bare, Jr.
Buy the Replacements

Breakup Society

Here's a band that deserves a lot more attention - the Breakup Society. Led by singer/guitarist/songwriter Ed Masely (formerly of the Frampton Brothers), the Breakup Society kicks out some hooky, humor-tinged rock 'n' roll with a punk edge. They have a new disc due out soon (to be produced by Scott McCaughey of Young Fresh Fellows and Minus 5 fame). The following two tunes - "Robin Zander" (a funny love song about the Cheap Trick lead singer) and "The Summer of Joycelynn May" - come from their James at 35 album.

[MP3] Breakup Society - Robin Zander
[MP3] Breakup Society - The Summer of Joycelynn May

Buy James at 35

Visit the Breakup Society Website

Tommy Womack

I discovered Tommy Womack through (what else?) my love of the Replacements. I had read somewhere that he'd written a song about the Mats so I started investigating. Turns out the tune appears on his 2002 album, Circus Town. I picked up the disc expecting to add a novelty to my Mats' collection. What I didn't expect was how good the rest of Circus Town would be. This guy can rock. Here's the Replacements song, as well as "Tough" (a great tune he wrote after the death of his father) and "I'm Selling Mom's Urine on eBay" (a silly little ditty that got some radio play on rock stations in the south). Tommy has a new album coming out in 2006. Visit his website for details.

[MP3] Tommy Womack - The Replacements
[MP3] Tommy Womack - Tough
[MP3] Tommy Womack - I'm Selling Mom's Urine on eBay

Buy Circus Town

Visit Tommy Womack's Website

...never learn how to swim now.

Welcome to Water All Around, a blog devoted to all forms of alternative music. Your host: a 43-year-old ad writer living outside Detroit. After listening to Foghat, Journey, Styx, and the like in the 70s, a buddy turned me on to the Buzzcocks, Sex Pistols, the Clash, the Jam, Gen X, and the Undertones. The year was 1979 - and my musical life has never been the same since. I've seen lots of shows and heard lots of great music. My goal is to share my 25+ years of alt-rock discoveries with visitors of this site. My greatest find to date: the Replacements (whose lyrics make up the name of this blog). I'll start by posting one of the first new songs the Mats have produced in nearly 20 years: Pool and Dive from their recent best-of compilation. It's not vintage Replacements, but hey, it's new. Enjoy....

[MP3] Replacements - Pool and Dive

Buy the album

Read about the Mats