Completely OT: Rock and Roll Poll

[Louis]

OK, I know this has nothing to do with cycling, but the highs these days are around 20 and the roads are nasty, so the mind starts to wander.

1) What’s your favorite Rock and Roller or R&R band that no one else on this Forum has ever heard of?

2) Why do you like him/her?

3) Recommended album?

My answers:

1) Paul Kelly
2) Because he tells great “slice of life” stories that really mean something.
3) “Under the Sun”

[Dr. Doofus]

1) The Lyres (but anybody from boston probably knows of them)

2) great live shows

3) On Fyre

[yeehawfactor]

1. the arade fire
2. amazing live show, as well as the fact that they incorporate classical instruments, something that i've liked about previous bands
3. funeral

[dave thompson]

1. Little Richard (now that's rock 'n roll! But you youngsters haven't heard of him)

2. His music makes me move.

3. Little Richard's Greatest Hits.





Geez, have I dated myself?

[cs124]

You Am I

Great tunes, great lyrics. A perfect combo of Power & poignancy and they can play live too.

HiFi Way or Hourly Daily, they are both classics.

[Bill Bove]

The band is INHOUSE, a local West Palm Beach band that has unfortanately broken up. They were fronted by twin sisters Gin and Evy Weintraub who harmonized together very well but their best and last album, Waking Juliet was all Gin. May have precipated the break up, that and Evy getting married and moving to New York. Anyway that is one band I think most of you haven't heard or heard of.

Another fantastic group that never got of the ground was KNOTS and CROSSES from Portland, Maine. Boy were they ever good, check out Curve Of The Earth. Ya gotta love a band whose lead singer is wearing a nice, femminine dress and Herman Survivors. What'ed ya expect? They were from Maine.

[Ray]

Richard Thompson. Not even sure I'd call him a rock and roller, because he does a lot more than that, but he can do an extended rock guitar rave up better than anyone, so I'm sticking with him. A great songwriter, a great singer (although his gruff voice is something of an acquired taste), and as good a guitarist (acoustic and electric) as I've ever heard.

-Ray

[Jeff N.]

1. The Bourbon Tabernacle Choir.

2. Love the name.

3. Can't remember if they even have one. Jeff N.

[Ozz]

Lloyd Cole (sometimes with "The Commotions")

College Music (20 years ago)

Any of them...earlier the better

(Dave T - my littlest guy love it when I sing "Tutti Frutti" to him "A bop bop a loobop a bop bam boom!" Now those are lyrics!)

[93legendti]

1)The Eric Gales Band
2)Has the 70's energy of Zep, ABB, Jimi, etc.
3)"The Eric Gales Band"

[jerk]

doofus will know it because he knows everything.....

mission of burma

because mission of burma is the best. is it a noise rock band that you can hum along to or listen to on the radio or is it a pop band with disonent guitars because the guy playing them either a)can't really play guitar or b) plays guitar better than anyone else in the world? no one really knows. suffice it to say everything that has come out of boston in particular and the "alternative scene" in general since mission of burma has owed everything to them and pales in comparison.

all of them.

[Carlo]

1. Coco Robicheax
2. Spiritland (1994), there's a new one out which I haven't heard yet, and its touted as being quite good, as well.
3. Coco plays what is locally described as "VooDoo Swamp Blues". Its not Cajun Music at all, more like Dr. John style funk, mixed with the Meter's and other New Orleans "Funk". Its truely amazing the number of great local acts here that fly under the national radar. When you compare real live local music to the big record label hype, you realize how shallow 'pop culture' can be.
("Sorry babe, you ain't pretty enough to lip-synch").

If you haven't been to The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (JazzFest) you ought to check it out. Its held the last weekend of April and the first weekend of May, annually. The greatest experience for a suburban white boy is the Gospel Tent. You will get moved by the spirit and wonder why everybody doesn't have this in their church!

Regards,

Carlo
NOLA

[Tom]

A musical education.

Music nobody's heard of? Hmmm... not easy.

Party music? Root Boy Slim.

In the old days, Chicago was a town where any dive bar's house band was better than anything you'd ever heard before. Then they tore down the neighborhood and put up a House of Blues.

These days, I'd have to say it's still New Orleans.

[Matthew]

Mt favorite band is Caroiline's Spine. Just a great all around band. Good mix of acoustic and flat out rockers. My album pick would be "Monsoon". Unfortunately I think they are now broken up as I can't find their web site anymore. Check them out if you can find their stuff anywhere.

[davids]

Rock and Roll! Now you're speaking my language...

So, let's see:

Lyre's? Check.
Little Richard? Well, duh!
Richard Thompson? Oh my yes!
Lloyd Cole? Check. (my personal favorite is "Lloyd Cole", featuring the same wonderful players that Lou Reed and Matthew Sweet were using - Robert Quine [RIP...] and Fred Maher.)
Mission of Burma? Hell yes! (I saw their 'last' show at the Bradford Ballroom in '83 [first time I saw stage diving!] and then, 20 years later, their all-ages matinee at the Paradise. Absolutely unbelievably impressive to see guys my age playing as ferociously as they can. What the jerk said...)

So, here's my contribution:

There's this guy named Scott Miller. He writes the most tortuously complex, hook-filled, noisy, gorgeous rock songs you will ever hear. His lyrics, torrents of words that come at you sideways and upside-down, will challenge, puzzle, and delight you. His voice will drive you crazy until, suddenly, it makes as much sense as Dylan's. Points of reference? Big Star, Pixies, Roxy Music, My Blood Valentine, New Pornographers. References? Aimee Mann thinks he's the best songwriter around, and Stephin Merritt asked his band to open for them during the Magnetic Fields "69 Love Songs" tour ("69 Love Songs" was many critics' choice for best record of 2000.)

He has, over the last 20 years, built a band around him that has gone under two different names - Game Theory and The Loud Family. Game Theory made 5-6 albums. The band hit its stride with "Real Nighttime" and "The Big Shot Chronicles" in the mid-'80s. The next record, "Lolita Nation" is my favorite record. Period. A two-record set, it's loosely organized around the idea of the transition from adolescence to adulthood. Half of the songs on the record stand among the finest pop songs ever written. The other half are composed of snippets of riffs, noises (musical and otherwise), and voices. The whole thing holds together with a logic that defies description. It's perfect.

The Loud Family (http://www.loudfamily.com/) made several records nearly as good ("Plants and Birds and Rocks and Things" and "Interbabe Concern") during the '90s, along with another 5-odd albums full of more amazing songs.

Unfortunately, just about everything the two bands recorded is out of print. Try Ebay. Really, you should!

[Russell]

A musical education.

Music nobody's heard of? Hmmm... not easy.

Party music? Root Boy Slim....



Ahh, the Root Boy. I saw him one time and when they came back from break he had what looked like puke in his beard. He could boogie all right.

Fugazi, though is my favorite DC band. Not sure if they are still together. They have taken a long break.

[93legendti]

"1) What’s your favorite Rock and Roller or R&R band that no one else on this Forum has ever heard of?

2) Why do you like him/her?

3) Recommended album?"

My answers:

1) Craig Erickson Project
2) Because he reminds me of the great 70's blues rockers
3) Shine

[Brian Smith]

mission of burma

because mission of burma is the best. is it a noise rock band that you can hum along to or listen to on the radio or is it a pop band with disonent guitars because the guy playing them either a)can't really play guitar or b) plays guitar better than anyone else in the world?


nice choice, jerk
I don't really find the guitars dissonant.
once I had my heroes....

[pjm]

1) Porcupine Tree
2) "In Absentia"
3) http://www.porcupinetree.com/

[mike p]

1. Spiderbait love the way they cover black betty
2. O.A.R.
3. Dispatch

[SGP]

Favorite unknown: Saccharine fro NYC.
Why: it is well written non-commercial and classic feeling rock. Great sounds & lyrics that go beyond the beer and life style schloc that MTV wants us to believe is art.

Favorite overlooked: Buddy Guy