18
Jun
2008
Sporting their best quivering-lip sneer and alter egos as Elvis of Nazareth, Elvis '56, and "Has-Been" Elvis, members of the Bad Samaritans, NOFX, Ill Repute, and Stalag 13 have formed G.G. Elvis & the TCP Band. Next week Mental Records releases the fruit of their labors in Back from the Dead: A Punk Elvis Tribute, marrying the soul of the King and the punk-rock roar of G.G. Allin in a baker's dozen Elvis covers, from "In the Ghetto" to "Burning Love" to "Suspicious Minds."
Abkco Records has just released a killer accompanying CD to Showtime's Californication. Originally available through iTunes in three "track packs," the 20-track disc collects songs by Bob Dylan, Peeping Tom, Harvey Danger, and The Heavy, a Paul Oakenfold remix of The Doors' "L.A. Woman," and a healthy dose of covers. The show is known for slipping unusual cover versions into the background, and the album is highlighted by takes on the Rolling Stones' "You Can't Always Get What You Want" by Tommy Stinson & Friends, Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" by Gus Black, Elton John's "Rocket Man" by My Morning Jacket, and Alice Cooper's "Only Women Bleed," Cheap Trick's "Surrender," and Warren Zevon's "Don't Let Us Get Sick" by co-star Madeleine Martin. A digital edition adds six more tracks, and the soundtrack CD will also be found inside the first-season DVD set, due next week.
A handful of old friends are back next week after extended sabbaticals from the spotlight. Hypnotic electronic pioneer Thomas Dolby returns with The Sole Inhabitant on Invisible Hands Music, a live CD and DVD set from Boston and Chicago in 2006. Like a chef in a mad laboratory and dressed in steampunk headgear and a post-apocalyptic trench coat, the solo performance revisits his classics from the 1980s, including "Europa & the Pirate Twins," "Flying North," "She Blinded Me with Science" and "One of Our Submarines." Surprises and insights include mixing in Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech into "The Flat Earth" and sharing with the audience the origins of the songs.
The eclectic, twice-yearly publication Esopus magazine has made an accompanying CD a nifty part of its presentation, with previous issues - and tunes - inspired by the dreams of their readers, Ouija-board experiences, the content of spam e-mail, and Craigslist personals. The new issue, number 10, aims its lens at something we all could use a little more of: good news. This time out, 12 recording artists answered the editor's call and crafted exclusive songs inspired by an uplifting article from the daily newspaper or TV. Highlights include Chris Rehm's anticipation of his federal stimulus check, Man Man's relief at the news of an on-the-mend Liza Minnelli, and Langhorne Slim's acoustic ditty about the recovery of stolen Edvard Munch paintings. Marnie Stern and Artificial Man were both moved by the same event: a window-washer falling more than 40 stories and surviving this past December. Other participants embracing the feel-good lure include Ryan Adams, Busdriver, The Real Tuesday Weld, and The New Pornographers' Neko Case and Carl Newman.
Better than an old Sears, Roebuck catalog nailed to the outhouse wall, the Bathroom Readers' Institute Press knows that sometimes a hearty morning constitutional goes better with reading material. So far they've printed nearly 20 volumes of their Uncle John's Bathroom Reader series, just releasing the latest: Uncle John's Bathroom Reader Plunges Into Music. I feel sorry for big families if there's a music-trivia nut in the bunch, as the 516 pages are packed with factual frivolity, sure to keep the "occupied" sign up for a while. From nuggets about unsung heroes such as Motown's Funk Brothers to musical word origins to rockers who died young to the first record purchases of major stars to Cab Calloway's jive dictionary, this and a pack of matches might be the perfect gift for Uncle Stinky.
Another actress crosses over into music next week with the release of Anywhere I Lay My Head from Scarlett Johansson. Featuring one original track, "Song for Jo," co-written with David Sitek of TV on the Radio (who also serves as producer and player), the rest of the CD consists of interpretations of songs by Tom Waits. Guests include Nick Zimmer of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Sean Antanaitis of Celebration, and David Bowie on two tracks: "Fannin' Street" and "Falling Down."
Sad, tortured and painfully blundering, the acquired taste of Neil Hamburger and his stand-up routines are deliciously subversive, much to the delight of Tom Green and musicians Tenacious D, for whom he opened for on the group's international Pick of Destiny tour. Channeling Pat Paulsen, William Shatner, and Andy Kaufman, Hamburger's latest anti-humor antics snuggle up to the heartland, looking for love and a little respect in Neil Hamburger Sings Country Winners, out this week on the Drag City Records imprint. And not since Ween sucked on a sprig of hay dipped in PCP in 1996 with 12 Golden Country Greats has country music been strangled so wonderfully. Backed by a killer barnyard band featuring Tubes drummer Prairie Prince and Link Wray bassist Atom Ellis, Hamburger chews up (and spits out) the bucolic landscape with tear-jerkers "Please Ask That Clown to Stop Crying" and "Three Piece Chicken Dinner." He holds hands with the eternally despaired in "Garden Party II" and turns in a wild cover of John Entwistle's "Thinkin' It Over" (from his 1972 Whistle Rhymes album). Do a YouTube search for the video of "Jug Town" and catch the fever.
This Saturday, the best brick-and-mortar record retailers across North America have organized a holiday of sorts in their own honor. Log on to (
