Raging Soundtrack

My wife will vouch for the fact that I’ve got a soft spot for Paul Schrader films; at some point I’ve dupped her into watching every film with the Schrader name in the credits. Yes he did write those essential, desert-island Martin Scorsese films (Taxi Driver and Raging Bull), but his own films are what I’m on about today. The stunted emotional distance between characters, the brooding lead performances, and all that anxious/awkward communication rings so true that I’ve come to believe that it’s Schrader, not Scorsese, who’s created the more powerful body of work. Even when the particular film in question is problematic (Paul’s got a lot of those), I’m convinced this guy oughta continue being allowed to make movies for the majors. And continue he does, with soundtracks!

Now, half the time, Paul’s got an in-demand Hollywood ambient soundtrackist working behind him (Giorgio Moroder, Phillip Glass, Angelo Badalementi etc.). This has been effective at keeping audiences focused squarely on character, story, and tension development, I suppose. But as a viewer who never went to film school, I’ve always found that just the right pop song, stuck in at just the right moment, hit me even harder. In the words of Schrader’s hero, Bruce Springsteen: “I learned more from a 3-minute record than I ever did in school”. So in true PS Recon tradition, here’s a rundown of my top 5 favorite tunes used in Paul Schrader films:

1. CAPTAIN BEEFHEART – “Hard Workin’ Man”

This was my first exposure to the post modern wonder that was/is CAPTAIN BEEFHEART. The sound of actual factory machinery forms the rhythmic core of this tune – such a great way to modernize an otherwise fairly straight bit of HOWLIN’ WOLF blues. No Magic Band on this one, but apparently Ry Cooder, who debuted on those early, mid-60’s BEEFHEART recordings, is playing on this. Anybody who hasn’t witnessed Yaphet Kotto, Harvey Keitel and Richard Pryor tossing bitter vinegar and grim burial dirt at each other in this flick (Blue Collar) hasn’t yet fully come to terms with the cosmic bummer that was the 1970’s.

2. MINK DEVILLE – “Guardian Angel”

I’ve repeatedly tried to get into Willy and his MINK DEVILLE ever since I read a gushing review by “Ranking” Jeffrey Lea in the pages of an old Slash magazine I scored in the mid 80’s. Sadly, Willy’s never really clicked with me, and I don’t imagine his kinda-dated reimagination of the 60’s urban R&B crooner is gonna win many converts among younger audiences either – they got NICK CAVE to swoon over. But hey I can deal with Willy’s moustache and melodrama in one-song doses, and this is one of his better Arthur Alexander impressions. As I couldn’t find the right clip of this, you’re gonna haveta superimpose this mp3 over the YouTube clip above with the sound turned down. Hardcore was Schrader’s most straight ahead exploitation film, with what’s got to be the best tag line ever for a movie dealing with the seamier side of the porn industry: Oh My God, That’s My Daughter. Here George C. Scott considers the full ramifications of his daughter growing up, and nobody but nobody gnashes teeth like General Patton.

3. SMOKEY ROBINSON – “The Love I Saw In You Was Just a Mirage”

Left off the original soundtrack LP, this is one fucking glorious Smokey song with great 12-string picking to ring in 1965 and the emergence of folk rock ala THE BYRDS. The lyrics deftly dovetail with Richard Gere’s central character flaw; not only his love but his entire personality was but a mirage, a ghostly phantom of the real thing. Some folks didn’t dig the over-the-top stylistic elements of this film, but me? Hey I’m from California, over-the-top is our fucking MO. To this day, there are still mornings when I wake up feeling as vacuous as this guy.

4. MICHAEL J. FOX – “Got No Place To Go”

Laugh all ya want but I’ll go to my grave maintaining “The Fox” acted in a string of actually very watchable if goofy flicks in the 80’s – Class of 1984, Bright Lights Big City, Teen Wolf(!) – and this one, Light of Day. Ok ok so all the Joan Jett/Michael McKean-led bar band shenanigans were pretty embarrassing to sit through, but Gena Rowlands’ performance as a personality disordered, born-again Xtain mom really hit home with me, so I can’t not give this one props. This song finds Michael trying on a bit of denim-clad rock/pop balladry reminiscent of his countryman Bryan Adams, and although this particular version wasn’t used in the film proper, he can be seen singing an acoustic rendition of it (see the 7 min. mark of this clip). Better than Keanu Reeves’ DOGSTAR and/or Juliet Lewis’ LICKS? I’ll be the first fool to say hell yeah.

5. BRYAN FERRY – “Which Way to Turn”

A really beautiful, desperate song that encapsulates the chilly alienation underscoring so many of Schrader’s films. The song reminds me of David Sylvain’s late 80’s solo work, a good thing in my New Romantic book. This is what Michael Been’s lifeless soundtrack to the great Light Sleeper (maybe Paul’s best feature ever?) ought’ve to sounded like. The movie from which this is taken, The Walker, was far-short of great but when Woody Harrelson slips off his wig in the scene above, I feel it deeply, man.

This Is Not My Destiny

I don’t wanna drown in American Society

Like a lot of of kids, I first heard this line sung by EDDIE & THE SUBTITLES at the beginning of the 80’s on Rodney Bingenheimer’s Sunday night KROQ show. And truth be told, it left me feeling pretty damn, well, scared. Was society really a death trap? Was adult life really this grim? I was only 11, but apparently it was. The minimalist 1/2 tempo HC riff, 1-note OC beeline solo, monotone vocal holler, and crunching gtr finale made this something that could’ve only emerged from a neighborhood dominated by cookie-cutter, post-war track homes and ugly dingbat apartment units. But the trench-warfare refusal stance of the lyrics and overarching fatalistic tone is something that I still haven’t shaken.

Thinking back I can’t remember this one ever not floating around in the chlorinated pool of my unconscious. I’m sure that it left a deep, bloody cleft in the heads of alot of other people too, maybe you included. And though I found an exit of sorts from this particular American Nightmare (me, I bailed for pastures overseas) this song is more about those who’ve stayed, and hence had to witness the ever-darkening economic/political landscape Stateside firsthand, day in & day out. In retrospect, this is one important fucking song for a certain strata of Americans, wherever the hell we ended up. It’s never redundant to cover this; today I give you five different versions.

1. EDDIE & THE SUBTITLES – “American Society” (from Fuck You, Eddie!, Frontier Records, 2008) Anybody else think the original LP from which this was taken (Skeletons In the Closet) is a little schizo? Parts of it sound like Kim Fowley doing badbreath rockabilly, others like a lounge singer belting out coked-up skinnytie powerpop, still others like some Syrian-American dude singing for THE CHEIFS. Thankfully, this new comp. CD boils off all the fat and focuses squarely on those recordings driven by bassist/singer Mike Patton and drummer Matt Simon. As such this could be viewed as the last real stand by Fullerton’s MIDDLE CLASS (with whom both Mike and Matt rocked) before that band sidestepped into bogue ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN territory. Even the home demo tracks included here are cool, showcasing the kind of suburban slow-punk exploration that vehement anti-hippie types could get up to on pot and hallucinogenics (if only my shitty teen psychedelic/punk band had sounded this powerful!). If you’re anything like me you’ll fucking love this CD.

2. L7 – “American Society” (from The Big One – City of L.A. Power, Flipside Records, 1990) Don’t even try to dis these gals. One of em (Suzi Gardner) moaned on BLACK FLAG’s big hit “Slip It In”; another (Jennifer Finch) blabbed on PAINTED WILLIE’s “My Fellow Americans” from their first 12″ EP – they’re fucking OG suburban HC, ok? Strictly speaking, L7 was pre-Grunge Revolution, and so should be located within the constellation of post-REDD KROSS underground LA freakrock (think SYLVIA JUNCOSA BAND, Honey Davis-era ELECTRIC PEACE, THE NYMPHS, etc. etc.) rather than with the bandwagoners trying to get with the Seattle thing. The distortion/volume/rage displayed on their first couple LPs is mighty impressive; if you ask me, this is a totally rad cover by 4 totally hot & powerful women.

3. MANIC HISPANIC – “Mexican Society” (from The Menudo Incident, BYO Records, 1995) Kinda – ok, ok: really – stupid for sure, but hey the dumb end of LB/OC is where these clowns (Steve Soto from THE ADOLESCENTS and AGENT ORANGE, Mike “Gabby” Gaborno from CADILLAC TRAMPS, etc.) most definitely wallowed in. I usually chuckle and grimace in pretty equal amounts during this one, but that’s just because I’m sorta bobo too. PS Recon takes no responsibility for the views/taste of the artists expressed herein.

4. LEAVING TRAINS – “American Society” (from Emotional Legs, Steel Cage Records, 2001) Taken from what may turn out to be the very last studio TRAINS rec – Falling James, prove me wrong! Late TRAINS were as inspired & contrary as mid-period TRAINS on SST, who were as challenging & heartfelt as any of the early, Paisley Underground-era TRAINS stuff. Which means I’d recommend the uninitiated dive in anywhere they damn well feel like. Those of you who thought James was only interested in things glitteringly Hollywood, do take note of this cover: clearly, he can recognize genius of the suburban type too. Oh and Maddog Karla (Ex-CONTROLLERS) plays totally bitchen drums on this one, racheting it up a notch in the rockin’ department. These guys/gals will always be favorites of mine.

5. LILLIAN FURNEAUX – “American Society” (ripped from a podcast put together by John Stabb[!], 2006) This lady’s solo cello versions of all your favorite Fullerton punk anthems first hit me as kinda gimmicky . . . but repeated listens get me thinking that she has spend some quality alone in a pitch black bedrooms blasting early HC loud as fuck, while hating life at a deeply felt level (clearly, the only reasonable way to get to know such music). I’m now imagining what certain SACCHARINE TRUST/MINUTEMEN songs might sound like done in a similar, chamber-pop fashion. Lillian, at some point do consider focusing your attention on bands from the South Bay, will you? Hear more of her stuff on her Myspace here.

Nightmare Before Mike Patton

It’s official! My wife, her gal-pal, said gal-pal’s new NEGATIVE APPROACH-loving Kiwi hubbie and I are bound for ATP’s Nightmare Before Christmas this 5-7 December at Butlin’s holiday resort in Minehead out along the Somerset coast. Yep that’s here in the UK you idiots. Curated by THE MELVINS & (ahem) Mike Patton. Egghead whitenoise types collide head-on with dudes with braided beards wearing NEUROSIS long-sleeve T’s for a little ring-around-the-punkeroo to spite the grim English winter. You and I know who’ll emerge victorious.

Big names? You got it buster: THE MELVINS, FANTOMAS, JG THIRWELL, BOSS HOG, ISIS, THE BUTTHOLE SURFERS, OS MUTANTES, MEAT PUPPETS, frickin’ TEENAGE JESUS AND THE JERKS . . . and the glory that still is THE DAMNED. Don’t ask me why THE DAMNED are like my favorite band I really didn’t listen all that closely to growing up, but I now do left/right/center. Don’t try and argue: they are great and inventive and such fun and oh my I can’t wait to see a geriatric Dave Vanian and Capt. Sensible rip through anything from their last (actually really good) CD from 2001, Grave Disorder. Course, I’ll settle for “Smash It Up”, too.

Among the littler ones, there’s BIG BUSINESS (MELVINS roadies); THE DIRTBOMBS (black-led NYC garage rock); DOUBLE NEGATIVE (North Carolina HC featuring cartoonist Brian Walsby) and the new folks I’m most excited about: TWEAK BIRD (incestuous sibling gtr/drums bludgeon duo from a post-Mrowster SoCal). Just prop me up in front of the Marshall stacks with a couple of cans of Foster’s, and I’ll be living the dream.

(OK so all I really know about these ATP holiday concentration camp experiences is what I gleaned from this informative home movie, courtesy of the good folks in REDD KROSS. But hey I got my bucket and spade packed already – seaside holidaymaking never seemed so grotesquely appealing. Join us there if you can!)

Hat Trick

As the following 3 groups have unwittingly soundtracked dozens of walks down the stretch of the Grand Union Canal I live near, I now feel compelled to say a few words. Yep I’d recommend any/all of em wholeheartedly. It’s a coincidence that all the covers are in black&white – I’m not a colorless miserable fucker, really.

1. FACTRIX – Artifact 2-CD (Storm Records, 2003) Astounding sonic terrorists born in a sparsely-inhabited, rotting bit of late 70’s San Francisco. Revisionist history has it that these guys were SF’s answer to THROBBING GRISTLE – which is valid to a point, given the close ties they forged with Monte Cazazza. But that angle ignores the actual music that made FACTRIX so compelling; they exhibit dozens of near-rock impulses every which way ya wanna turn. So it’s not uncommon to find sound-poems built around minimal but insistent JOY DIVISION-like basslines, or mistake a couple songs for better DEAD C. material, or even hear a distinct HOT TUNA influence in the gtr/bass jams found on their one and only LP (included here in its entirety). Nor is it too far-fetched to compare Bond Bergland’s beeline soloing to that of ROXY MUSIC’s Phil Manzanera (Simon Reynolds did here). Bond even drops the occasional power chord into the fray – usually just one, but a power chord it still be – before bending/tearing at his strings in DNA-like fashion. It all lets you know these guys understood this rock thing – in ways Genesis and co. didn’t – even if said interest was pretty peripheral at this point. Smarter punker types will recognize that the Quaaluded vibe exuded across these 2 CDs is of a band who could’ve played with THE TOILING MIDGETS as comfortably as they did at SURVIVAL RESEARCH LABORATORIES showdowns. “Industrial” descriptions be damned; this is simply my kinda act.

2. U.S. CHRISTMAS – Eat The Low Dogs CD (Neurot Records, 2008) You might think these guys sound like HAWKWIND playing CRAZYHORSE riffs and leave it at that. But me, I’m kinda speechless . . . since I’m still coming to terms with the fact that they’ve decided to drag the long-forgotten, tortured ghost of Arizona’s Van Christian and his NAKED PREY into glistening, majestic, post-NEUROSIS territory. This is a great thing, as I always dug NP’s harsh and feral desert esthetic something fierce. These North Caroliners build huge, sunbaked pyramids of rock sound using simple but very effective minor key gtr riffs, desperately strangled vocals (Van Christian I tell ya!), and a mighty but tightly controlled rhythm section. Add an Area 51 tone oscillator stolen from Dik Mik’s attic, hit the lights, and brother: you’ve got a major force to be reckoned with here. Simpletons will inevitably called this stoner rock, but U.S. CHRISTMAS take things far beyond mere retro-heavy, particularly with their darkly apocalyptic, Michael Gira-esque lyrics. Smoke too much weed while listening to this, and your ass will come to believe the Grey Aliens have implanted receptors in your head you can’t never give back. Raysrealm gave at 10 out of 10; I agree wholeheartedly.

3. NRBQ – Interstellar 10″ (Sundazed Music, 2003) – two unreleased 11 min.+ live cuts recorded way back in 1970, documenting early excursions of these then-young men diving headlong into realms otherwise only travelled by SUN RA & HIS INTERGALACTIC ARKESTRA. They do RA’s “Rocket #9″ and “Next Stop Mars” – both which segue into Terry Adams compositions – in ways only kooky whiteboys who dug RC Cola, Mad Magazine and professional wrestling could’ve come up with back then. This performance of “Rocket #9″ is the wildest I’ve yet heard – varying dramatically from the brief, cotton-candied version waxed on their debut LP as well as the more solidly rockin’ version on their Ludlow Garage 1970 disc. Had this been NYC and Lou’s VELVET UNDERGROUND, nobody would’ve batted an art school eyelash at such moxie. But hell man – these were hairy/goofy Kentucky & Florida boys, and they was getting outside for teens in fucking Cincinnati. Nuts! Recent explorations into all things ‘Q have been totally rewarding and consistently surprising for me; I’m now convinced that their uncanny, eclectic slop-pop looseness was a direct inspiration for THE SCENE IS NOW. But it’s this rarely showcased, atonal jazz side of em really has me flabbergasted right now.