On This Day…
1964 – The President of The National Federation Of Hairdressers offered a free haircut to the next No.1 group in the UK pop charts. He said The Rolling Stones are the worst, one of them looks as if he’s got a feather duster on his head.’
1966 – Two dozen local group’s appeared at a ‘battle of the bands’ gig in Matawan Keyport Roller Drome in New Jersey. All acts performed three songs each. The Rogues won first place, second was Sonny & The Starfires, and third place went to The Castiles, (with Bruce Springsteen on vocals). The three winners were given an opportunity to perform at the Roller Drome the following week as part of a major concert headlined by The Crystals.
1978 – Bob Marley and the Wailers performed at the ‘One Love Peace Concert’ in Jamaica. It was Marley’s first public appearance in Jamaica since being wounded in an assassination attempt a year and a half earlier.
2013 – Richie Havens, the folk singer who opened the legendary 1969 Woodstock rock festival, died of a heart attack at 72. He died at his home in Jersey City, New Jersey.
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Brand New Music
Greys | Outer Heaven
It doesn’t take very long to realize that the Toronto-punk 4-piece have turned a creative corner with Outer Heaven. Although they still create an amp-smashing, gut-busting, feedback lased sound that can fuzz out the best of them, the opener “Cruelty” marks a more dimensional and complex sound from a band that is becoming much more comfortable to try new things. Don’t worry – they’re still doing bangers. Here’s one of them:
Wire | Nocturnal Koreans
This mini-album (not quite an EP, not quite an LP) from Wire may not be as reinventive as their previous works, but they still continue in the same spirit. Overall as, for example, a Wire circa 2010 may be organic and plain, a 2016-era Wire seems to thrive more on embellishment and style. There’s more emotion and range as the band explores more of the psychedelic world.
Guided By Voices | Please Be Honest
It’s hard to see this release for anything more than it actually is: a Robert Pollard solo project. After completely gutting the band in 2014, Pollard has kept the name and wrote, played and recorded the whole thing himself. The questions here are simply, what makes this a Guided by Voices record and not a Richard Pollard solo project (something that he’s already done with 22 solo releases). I mean, really, nothing. Pollard continues to experiment with lush guitar textures and vocal effects while the whole album is filled to the brim with mid-tempo material. The whole thing seems a little weak, but if it means a new GBV record, then so be it.
