Artists mentioned in the Clash's "White Man in Hammersmith Palais"

One of the Clash's finest moments was "White Man in Hammersmith Palais," a 1978 UK single that also appeared on the re-sequenced 1979 US issue of their self-titled debut. The beginning of the song was inspired by a reggae show Joe Strummer attended (and was disappointed in) and mentions three arists who performed. The song goes on to make serious, poetic social commentary, including the now common phrase, "Turning rebellion into money." While even a casual Clash fan (can there be sucha thing?) knows "White Man," most probably aren't familiar with the three artists whose names appear in the lyrics, so here they are along with this Clash classic.

The Clash:


Dillinger:


Leroy Smart:


Delroy Wilson:

Review: The Slits - Trapped Animal

Label: Narnack Records

Released: October 20, 2009

Trapped Animal is the first studio album from the Slits since 1981 and comes 30 years after the seminal punk/reggae fusion of their debut, 1979's Cut. The passage of time and only returning with two-thirds of the band's core (Ari Up and Tessa Pollitt) certainly give reason to be skeptical of a new album in 2009.

Even going in with doubts, the new album quickly establishes a winning presence. It retains the Slits' natural mix of punk and reggae, but this time the former is a bit more angular and the latter closer to dub, giving things a tighter, more agitated energy. Occasional electro-pop and R&B infusions expand the album beyond the earlier albums' limitations, few as they seemed to be at the time, yet Trapped Animal is possibly their most cohesive record. Most importantly though, the Slits maintain the straightforward lyrical honesty that has always made their songs easy to hold onto.

Worst case scenario would surely have been to simply go through the motions of rehashing their past. Not much better would have been to completely overhaul their sound, producing something that, while new, had little connection to their own roots. What the Slits have produced, however, is an album that shows that they hadn't reached the end of the road when they broke up in 1982. In fact, Trapped Animal is very much on par with the now-acclaimed Cut and one of the best reunion albums I've heard.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 8/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 9/10

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Review: Nathen Maxwell and the Original Bunny Gang - White Rabbit

Label: SideOneDummy Records

Released: August 18, 2009

Having performed for over a decade with the increasingly popular Celtic folk/punk act Flogging Molly, Nathen Maxwell is faced with the double challenge of living up to yet not rehashing his band's strong body of work. On his solo debut, White Rabbit, Maxwell brings songs that have been simmering inside of him, some for over a decade, and prepares to meet these challenges involved in stepping outside of his established work.

From the funky opening seconds of the album, it's clear that Maxwell will have no trouble separating himself from the band he's been a part of throughout its rise. However, don't feel alienated Flogging Molly fans, because there is a decided folk nature to White Rabbit. Replacing the Celtic angle with a predominantly reggae approach, Maxwell has made a record that avoids the formulas practiced by the myriad of local reggae groups that seem to pop up in any town with a college. His take is sparse, quiet and personal with themes ranging from self-reliance to tenderness. By mixing his folk background with reggae's mellow nature, Maxwell finds a way to both step away from and live up to his established band. More importantly though, he's written some great songs that he performs with a gentle, human conviction.

Ratings
Satriani: 7/10
Zappa: 7/10
Dylan: 8/10
Aretha: 9/10
Overall: 8/10

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Found in the Shuffle: Tim Armstrong - "Cold Blooded"

Song: Cold Blooded
Artist: Tim Armstrong
Album: A Poet's Life

When "Cold Blooded" started, my first thought was "Huh, this must be some King Tubby or Impact All Stars song that I never noticed. Cool." It's not King Tubby, though, and it's not Impact All Stars. It's Tim Armstrong. As in, Tim Armstrong, the dude from Rancid.

Could I have paid this song a higher compliment than thinking it was King Tubby? Absolutely not. Bravo to you, Tim. Bravo.

Live: De Novo Dahl, Bedouin Soundclash and Hot Hot Heat

October 15, 2007, Rams Head Live!, Baltimore, Maryland

I hadn't heard of De Novo Dahl prior to seeing them on the bill for this show. Other than a few tracks I sampled to get an idea of what to expect, this show was my first exposure. That being said, I don't think there was much that could have prepared me for their set. They sported bright, tacky, sequined outfits that matched their apparent love of cheap, tacky 70s pop. However, both of these seeming improprieties are part of a broader whole that is predominately made up of rock and soul. The core of the band's performance is singer/guitarist Joel J. Dahl, whose mixture of rock guitar flourishes and soulful vocals (including a nice falsetto) is the flag around which the band rallies. They would have done well to incorporate more background vocals from percussionist/omnichordist Serai Zaffiro whose breathy voice goes so well with Dahl's, but that's a minor complaint. Most interesting of all was how this quirky pop band was able to achieve two things that elude most of their peers. First, they rocked. Not just in the generic sense, but in the broken strings and drum sticks sense. They were powerful...and sweet. Second, they were down-to-earth. Bassist Keith Lowen's nervous speech about their upcoming video shoot put the band on a plane with the crowd. After the set, drummer Mixta Huxtable walked over and gave a broken stick to a kid up front. Even without these overt examples, De Novo Dahl connected with an audience that wasn't even there to see them. People danced. The crowd was excited. They won us over on their own terms, without even asking.

Bedouin Soundclash is the band I was there to see. After hearing Street Gospels, a huge step forward in songwriting and performance, I had very high expectations for the live set. I was certainly hoping that the set list would concentrate on their recent release, but only three songs came from that album. That being said, the songs from Sounding a Mosaic incorporated everything Bedouin learned between the two albums and sounded every bit as good as the new ones, muting my disappointment in not hearing "St Andrews," "Trinco Dog" or the a cappella "Hush." Everything that made Street Gospels great, tightness, flow, energy and soul, made their live set just as good. The problem was simply that they capture so much of that on the album that the live show can't provide much more, making them victims of their own success.

I'm not a big Hot Hot Heat fan. They're a middling band who's released some decent material, but has never really found their own thing at which to excel. Unlike Bedouin, I had only moderate expectations for the headliner and by and large they failed to hit even that meager mark. Overall, their performance was as thin and dull as their imitation of the Strokes. They kicked off the show with a bombastic entrance that would have been cool had they either been an amazingly simple band (the irony angle) or as good as such an entrance suggested (the arrogance angle). Instead the band lazed through the set while frontman Steve Bays overcompensated, prancing around like Mick Jagger in a Broadway show. Interestingly, when the band finally kicked in on the last two songs of the regular set, Bays' antics no longer seemed so affected. It was as if he was free to actually perform once the weight of the show was off his shoulders. Had Hot Hot Heat played the whole set like they did the last few songs, they would have lived up to their entrance and their name. Instead, they seemed more like Lukewarm Lukewarm Heat.


Bedouin Soundclash photos:

Review: Mars Hill - Fate Chance Luck Dance

Label: Sandbar Music

Released: May 2006

According to Mars Hill's Myspace page, they are "one of the most original and finest bands of the 21st century" and they are "genre-defying." The former is beyond a stretch. No offense, but they aren't even close. The latter, however, is pretty accurate.

The list of genres touched significantly by Mars Hill is longer than most bands' list of even their most remote influences. Over the course of the album, they hit jazz (of the good and bad variety), hip-hop, Spanish, cabaret, reggae, dance, soul and, of course, rock. Among those who try to bring in disparate influences, few bands can take a list that long and maintain their own sound throughout. Careful arrangements manage to make this album homogeneous, but the actual songwriting and performance lack life as if the experiment couldn't quite be brought to full fruition. To be fair though, the lounge angle is a part of their shtick and adding more personality to the songs may have compromised that.

Their talent as players is generally pretty evident, particularly in the rhythm section that really drives the album to the extent that it is driven. The vocals range from laid-back, spoken style, reminiscent of Damon Albarn's work in Gorillaz, to well-cadenced hip-hop to an ethereal female soprano usually appearing in a backup role. Keys, guitar and horns act more as accents. The production doesn't keep the elements separate, but also fails to fill out the sound. They're really not far off target; they just fall a little short of what could have been.

There are thousands of cover bands out there that can morph their sound into any genre on command, but there are not nearly so many that can incorporate all of those genres into a single sound. While Mars Hill doesn't quite nail everything, they do come pretty close, so close in fact that they may be poised for an outstanding follow-up to this good, but not great, album. It's not essential, but it's worth a listen if you're looking for a band that's going in a new direction and doing an admirable if imperfect job rather than making a shambles of it.

Rating: 6/10

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Review: Bedouin Soundclash - Street Gospels

Label: Side One Dummy

Release Date: August 21, 2007

Punk and reggae have a long history together. The commonality of what was the people's music in their respective cultures was evident almost from the very birth of punk and that shared vision has been explored right up through today. Certainly some have used both genres for ill, but every time I suspect that the tie between the two is no longer genuine, a band comes along to reassure me that it's still very much alive. Right now, that band is Bedouin Soundclash. Their brand of reggae and dub boils with a punk undercurrent, but also recognizes that pop and soul are vital ingredients that are so often absent from the genre.

Reggae is the primary ingredient, but by no means the only one. With punk running generally under the covers and surfacing occasionally on tracks like "Walls Fall Down" and even more so "Gunships," soul is more overt. Soulful vocals, especially in the harmonies, roots each song without exception in something genuine, so much so that the album doesn't miss a beat on the a capella "Hush." In fact, the song is essential to the album’s flow. The opening track, "Until We Burn in the Sun," does more than dabble in dance with its reggae-tinged Madchester sound. It's an exciting start before the album settles into a solid reggae groove. Street Gospels strays into dub occasionally, most notably on "Jealousy and the Get Free" and "Midnight Rockers." The album overflows with great pop hooks and picking singles would not be an enviable task. With all of its elements, the album doesn't meander though. It's course is steady even as the sound varies and that might be its best case for greatness.

Sharp guitar work from Jay Malinowski accents the album’s undeniable rhythms. Eon Sinclair's fluid bass lines intermingle with the crisp drumming and djembe accents of Pat Pengelly and Brett Dunlop, creating reggae's warm rhythmic duality. While Bedouin Soundclash worked with some high profile musicians on the album (Money Mark who regularly works with the Beastie Boys, Wade MacNeil of Alexisonfire and Vernon Buckley of reggae pioneers the Maytones), bringing back Bad Brains bassist Darryl Jenifer, a clear expert on the fusion of punk and reggae, to produce Street Gospels proved to be their wisest choice. He outdid his work on Sounding a Mosaic, capturing the band’s clear growth and getting a cleaner sound without sacrificing the music's energy.

There is no doubt that it is appropriate that "clash" appears in their name, because the Clash are Bedouin Soundclash's biggest influence. There aren't many better bands to look to for inspiration, but what's best about Bedouin Soundclash is that they don't dip into the common Clash pool. Instead they look to the grossly underrated Sandinista-era, picking up the Clash's ability to fuse not only punk and reggae, but also bring in elements of dance, soul and amazing pop hooks. The result isn't some of the best reggae outside of Jamaica, but some of the best reggae period. Bedouin Soundclash is not the average local college reggae act that goes through the motions for drunk kids in bars. They are a genuine reggae band just as if they came from Kingston, Jamaica, not Kingston, Ontario.


Rating: 9/10