Radio: Rock 103 WIQB

Back in the bad old days of the 80s and 90s, before Clinton killed radio and Telecom by selling it out to Clean Channel (see the Telecom Act of 1996), we had a local Top 40 radio station that was my gate way to pop music. It was thee station that I listened to when I was a teen, at least in the morning on the way to school.

WIQB was an ubiquitous presence in town. There were bill boards, a ad that played before films at Fox Village Theater, and sponsored and participated in local events. I recall every winter that they would participate in Rocking for the Hungry, a food drive for those on the bottom of the social ladder. They also at least in a couple of cases were more than willing to play local artists and promote local musical events.

Their morning crew were a pre-Shock Jock set cast with a main DJ, Rob Reinhardt as I recall, and a couple of co-hostes. They played music, talked about traffic, weather, and local news. At some point in the 80s they started taking listeners calls about movies they had seen over the weekend and what they thought of them.

For a while they had an oldies show on Sunday mornings and played Dr Demento on Sunday Nights. Sure they were a Top 40 station and they played the hits of the day, it should be noted that they also did play older tunes that had fallen off the charts as well. They were kinda a JACK FM kinda deal before that format reached the airwaves. They also were operating in a radio environment where the way to gain market share was to take chances on stuff that others were not playing. I vividly recall hearing them say, The only station where you are going to hear.... and then play something that was new, that was unproven and that had yet to reach the charts.

WIQB vanished somewhere along the way, I fell off listening at some point and last I checked their 102.9 location on the dial was occupied by WWWW W4 Country ...  A quick google search confirms that right now W4 is still there, they are owned by Cumulus Media Inc, at leas that's what their web page indicates.... however I have found this....


from: http://encycl.opentopia.com/term/WWWW
WWWW - "W4 Country" - is a country music radio station based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, broadcasting on 102.9 MHz. The WWWW calls were originally used for 106.7 FM in Detroit, Michigan, first with easy listening and later an oldies format. Throughout most of the 1970s, it was an album-oriented rock station. During the heyday of the short-lived quadraphonic sound fad, it featured quad broadcasts and was known locally by fans as "W4 Quad." In 1980, WWWW changed its format to country, and was then known as "W4 Country" for almost two decades until switching to adult rock as WLLC-FM "Alice 106.7" in 1999. After a switch to classic rock as WDTW-FM "106.7 The Drive" in 2002, country music made a return to 106.7 FM on May 19,2006 as "106.7 The Fox". The "W4 Country" brand name and WWWW calls were revived for 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor in October 2000 and continued even after WDTW relaunched as "The Fox," which disappointed many fans of the original "W4 Country" who had hoped that the brand name would make a return at 106.7.
The 102.9 frequency began operations in March 1962 as WOIA and was (and still is) co-owned with WOIB-AM 1290 in Saline, Michigan. In 1970, the stations became WNRS-AM/WNRZ-FM, "Ann Arbor's Winners." WNRZ-FM changed its format from country to album rock in March 1975 and became known as WIQB, with a call sign which designated the number "103" (AM 1290 has since been through a multitude of format changes and is now WLBY, an affiliate of Air America). Like the original WWWW-FM, WIQB broadcasted in quadraphonic sound for a time in the 1970s as "QuadRock 103." WIQB's rock format went through several metamorphoses during the 1990s, including adult alternative during the late 1990s and then active rock by the end of the decade. As an active rock station, "Rock 103 IQB," then owned by Cumulus Broadcasting, was low-rated, continuously losing to Detroit's WRIF in the Ann Arbor Arbitron reports. "W4 Country" has proven much more popular in Ann Arbor, and is now often the top-rated music station in the market. Its signal into metropolitan Detroit is impeded by WHTD(102.7 MHz) in Mount Clemens in Macomb County, but WWWW still frequently shows up toward the bottom of the Detroit ratings. WWWW's signal is much stronger toward the west and north of Ann Arbor, and the station gets a listenable signal as far away as Flint and Lansing.
Both the former (106.7) and the current (102.9) WWWW are now owned by Clear Channel Communications.

WWWW - "W4 Country" - is a country music radio station based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, broadcasting on 102.9 MHz. The WWWW calls were originally used for 106.7 FM in Detroit, Michigan, first with easy listening and later an oldies format. Throughout most of the 1970s, it was an album-oriented rock station. During the heyday of the short-lived quadraphonic sound fad, it featured quad broadcasts and was known locally by fans as "W4 Quad." In 1980, WWWW changed its format to country, and was then known as "W4 Country" for almost two decades until switching to adult rock as WLLC-FM "Alice 106.7" in 1999. After a switch to classic rock as WDTW-FM "106.7 The Drive" in 2002, country music made a return to 106.7 FM on May 19,2006 as "106.7 The Fox". The "W4 Country" brand name and WWWW calls were revived for 102.9 FM in Ann Arbor in October 2000 and continued even after WDTW relaunched as "The Fox," which disappointed many fans of the original "W4 Country" who had hoped that the brand name would make a return at 106.7.
The 102.9 frequency began operations in March 1962 as WOIA and was (and still is) co-owned with WOIB-AM 1290 in Saline, Michigan. In 1970, the stations became WNRS-AM/WNRZ-FM, "Ann Arbor's Winners." WNRZ-FM changed its format from country to album rock in March 1975 and became known as WIQB, with a call sign which designated the number "103" (AM 1290 has since been through a multitude of format changes and is now WLBY, an affiliate of Air America). Like the original WWWW-FM, WIQB broadcasted in quadraphonic sound for a time in the 1970s as "QuadRock 103." WIQB's rock format went through several metamorphoses during the 1990s, including adult alternative during the late 1990s and then active rock by the end of the decade. As an active rock station, "Rock 103 IQB," then owned by Cumulus Broadcasting, was low-rated, continuously losing to Detroit's WRIF in the Ann Arbor Arbitron reports. "W4 Country" has proven much more popular in Ann Arbor, and is now often the top-rated music station in the market. Its signal into metropolitan Detroit is impeded by WHTD(102.7 MHz) in Mount Clemens in Macomb County, but WWWW still frequently shows up toward the bottom of the Detroit ratings. WWWW's signal is much stronger toward the west and north of Ann Arbor, and the station gets a listenable signal as far away as Flint and Lansing.
Both the former (106.7) and the current (102.9) WWWW are now owned by Clear Channel Communications.

Thoughts, comments, remembrances of your fave High School radio station?

Fixed call letter mix up.

26 Soundtracks: Demon Knight

Yet another 90s Hard Alt Rock soundtrack, Demon Knight is of note for the inclusion of Pantera and Filters best songs. Really not much else to say  other than if you are looking for another document of the era this one is worth rescuing from the dollar bin.

1. "Cemetery Gates" - 5:47 (Pantera)

2. "Tonight We Murder" - 3:56 (Ministry)

3. "My Misery" - 4:28 (Machine Head)

4. "Diadems" - 4:17 (Megadeth)

5. "Instant Larry" - 4:06 (Melvins)

6. "Fall Guy" - 3:53 (Rollins Band)

7. "Beaten" - 3:10 (Biohazard)

8. "Polícia" - 1:46 (Sepultura)

9. "Hey Man, Nice Shot" - 5:20 (Filter)

10. "1-800 Suicide" - 4:17 (Gravediggaz)

FTM The Valentine Six

I think that I heard these guys on a college radio show somewhere, and got my hands on a copy of a 7” of theirs soon after. I listened to the 7” once or twice and filed it away in my box of records.  I had a vague thought that they had a dark, nourish jazzy feel, and the name of the band lodged in that dark rarely visited file cabinet in the back of my brain…. And then I really found noir, I started reading both the cannon and the new cannon of the genre along with starting to watch the films. Being a Rockfiends, I naturally went looking for Noir Music… and recalled The Valentine Six

     Listening to them via their self titled CD I can hear a rocking Jazzy dusk cacophony of squealing that recalls Hoppers Night Hawks at the Diner, rundown motels. Vocally singer Parker Valentine (and I am thinking Lee Marvin big time just reading his name, and I expect that the FFB Noir crowd will know exactly why that tickled my fancy) emits a groaning croon that you might find on a micro stage at the back of a dingy roadhouse in a 40s crime pic.  This is music for sitting in a rundown motel smoking that last cigarette, downing that last shot of rotgut while looking at your last dollar on the table. 

The Valentine Six

1997

1. Ghost Face    

2. Sonic    

3. Motel girl

4. Thin Red Line    

5. Blood Orange    

6. Silencer    

7. Tucson    

8. Always is my Name    

9. Bad Penny         

10.         Kill Street    

11.         Motel Lights    

The album was released by PCP Entertainment (nope I never heard of them either) and never seemed to get much distribution… and like so many of the lost gems of the 90s is most likely going to be found circling the drain of you local used record shop’s discount bin. Needless to say, if you spot a copy, I recommend picking it up.

26 Soundtracks: The Crow

Aside from Singles, no soundtrack in the early 90s showcased hard rock, metal and alternative music better than The Crow. Finding music to fill out the apocalyptic vision of the motor city in it’s post job creator downfall was a challenge that met by bringing in the harder edge of the burgeoning Alternative music scene.

Mixing cover tunes and originals the sounds present vary from heavy to sweet, primitive to refined. In many ways the soundtrack is a Rosetta stone of the music of the era, with Stone Temple Pilots (with the Big Empty being a hit track of time), and Rage Against the Machine adding their heavy anger and groove to the mix and of course you couldn’t have a dark soundtrack of the time without the Nine Inch Nails.

  I had almost forgotten about Jane Siberry and her angelic anthem for the film that closes out the sound track, It Can’t Rain All The Time.  It’s a haunting number that I am sure will send those of us who once lived with this soundtrack back to a moment, to a place where someone was saying that all this darkness will end sometime and some place.

1. "Burn" - The Cure (Robert Smith, Simon Gallup, Boris Williams, Perry Bamonte) – 6:39

2.    "Golgotha Tenement Blues" - Machines of Loving Grace (Scott Benzel, Mike Fisher, Stuart Kupers, Brad Kemp) – 4:01

3.    "Big Empty" - Stone Temple Pilots (Dean DeLeo, Scott Weiland) – 4:56

4.    "Dead Souls" - Nine Inch Nails (Joy Division) – 4:54

5.    "Darkness" - Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine) – 3:41

6.    "Color Me Once" - Violent Femmes (Gordon Gano, Brian Ritchie) – 4:09

7.    "Ghostrider" - Rollins Band (Suicide)(Martin Rev, Alan Vega) – 5:45

8.    "Milktoast" (also known as "Milquetoast") - Helmet (Page Nye Hamilton) – 3:59

9.    "The Badge" - Pantera (Poison Idea) – 3:54*

10. "Slip Slide Melting" - For Love Not Lisa (For Love Not Lisa) – 5:47

11. "After the Flesh" - My Life with the Thrill Kill Kult (Buzz McCoy, Groovie Mann) – 2:59

12. "Snakedriver" - The Jesus and Mary Chain (William Reid, Jim Reid) – 3:41

13. "Time Baby III" - Medicine (Jim Goodall, Brad Laner, Jim Putnam, Ed Ruscha, Beth Thompson) – 3:52

14. "It Can't Rain All the Time" - Jane Siberry (Graeme Revell, Jane Siberry) – 5:34

Edited to try and fix the formatting issues... 11/17/2011
Also I urge readers to check out these TIG posts on Movie Soundtracks I Can't Live Without, Part I and The Sequel

Final Thursday Music: Jeeves And Wooster (theme melody) by Anne Dudley

On the list of soundtracks that I have yet to find a copy of you can list the Frye and Laurie series Jeeves And Wooster based on the books of P.G. Woodhouse. The theme by Anne Dudley is a great homage to the music of the era of the series; with its Jazzy hints of both Lounge and Swing.  It also holds up on it’s own, and leaves me wanting to hear what else she could come up with in the same vein. 

Apparently there was a CD release of the soundtrack for the show, which not only included the theme, but also Hugh Laurie’s numbers from the show. IT went quickly out of print in the UK and never appears to have made it to US shores. You would think that in this day and age of iTunes that music featuring Hugh Laurie would at least be available for download, but last time I checked it was MIA.            Over time there have been several TV series themes that have become classics on their own, and Anne Dudley has created one of the greats that is out there waiting to be rediscovered.

26 Soundtracks: Dudes

            The soundtrack to Dudes, more than any other album (save one, and I am going to get to that one soon) has informed my musical taste. With it’s mix of Heavy Metal, Hard Rock, Punk, Alt Country, and Alternative music it not only fits the film, it’s like a sample of not only what Rock and mainstream music and underground music was going to become in the 1990s, it’s a snapshot of Rock N Roll in transition.

            Not only were the pieces of the decade to come in rock in motion and evolving when the film was made in 1987, but so were many of the bands. You have first and foremost Janes Addiction and Megadeth two band who would go to become major acts in the early 90s. Here Janes gives what I have always thought was their best song, the energetic and frenetic Mountain Song, and Megadeth provides a revved up cover of the classic These Boots are Made for Walking.

            The rest of the album runs the gambit of the genres that I have already listed. Looking back I can see that this album was in many ways a Rosetta stone for the soundtrack of my life. It lead me to the vast majority of what I listen to today. Megadeath and WASP lead me to metal and hard rock. The Vandals and the Little Kings to punk, and Legal Weapon to Alt Country. Now I know that there is more than a little nostalgia in my love of the soundtrack, but I think one of the reasons that I keep coming back to the film, the album and several of the songs is that I just hope people will discover them.

26 soundtracks: Border Radio

Border Radio the first feature film from Alison Anders (Food, Gas and Lodging) the plot (from Wiki)

      … in which two musicians and a roadie who haven't been paid rob money from a club and one flees to Mexico leaving his wife and daughter behind. 

The film starts LA punk stalwarts Chris D. (of The Flesh Eaters and The Divine Horsemen) and John Doe (of X and now has a very nice solo career going)

 Along with an appearance by Dave Alvin (of the Blasters and who also has a Solo career)… so it’s should be no surprise that the music used in the film is largely drawn from the participants. I have to admit that I was already a big fan of several of the bands, and a couple of the songs used in the film.  The music is largely in that Cowpunk, dusty, C&W mode. The title track is a Balsters song as covered by Tony Kinman of The Dils and pioneering Cowpunkers Rank’n’File. The Green on Red track, Sixteen Ways, is one of those overlooked LA punk classics and I am a sucker for the Divine Horsemen, who are the third of my holy trinity of LA/ Southwest Cowpunk bands (Rank’n’File and Blood on the Saddle are the other two). The rest of the tracks didn’t really stand out to me, but fit the mood and film and sit well with the rest of the tracks. I am not sure if the record is in print, but the film has been issued on DVD by Criterion and is nicely packaged. I hope that if they are going to up grade it to Bluray (which I don’t think is really going to make it look any better) that they add a download of the soundtrack to the package. If you can find a copy of the LP and you like that rootsy, cowpunk, alt country sound I would say pick it up.

The Tonys – Border Radio

Dave Alvin – La Frontera I

The Lazy Cowgirl,– Drugs

Dave Alvin – Burning Guitar

Dave Alvin – Mi Vida Loca

Dave Alvin & John Doe – Little Honey

Divine Horsemen – Mother's Worry

Green On Red – Sixteen Ways

Dave Alvin – La Frontera II

Chris D. – Lilly White Hands

Dave Alvin – Driving To Mexico

Dave Alvin – Mi Vida Loca

26 Soundtracks: Control

Control OST 2007

Any films about a band is going t o be filled with songs from that band, and the bands around them. In this case the band was Joy Division, and the music is the dissonant ringing mournful post punk of youth trying to escape industrial sticks of the UK. The music is repetitive and droning, just like life in those places during the economic times of the 70s. At the same time there is an energy and intelligence hovering under the surface. With both Joy Divisions music, and that of the peers along with bands that inspired them it’s a solid collection of tunes that should appeal to anyone who is a fan or wants to check out music of that time and place.

Track List

Exit by New Order

What Goes On by The Velvet Underground

Shadowplay by The Killers

Boredom [Live at the Roxy] by The Buzzcocks

Dead Souls by Joy Division

She Was Naked by Supersister

Love Will Tear Us Apart by Joy Division

Hypnosis by New Order

Evidently Chickentown [Film Excerpt] John Cooper Clarke

2HB by Roxy Music

Transmission [Cast Recording] by Joy Division [Performed by the Cast]

Autobahn by Kraftwerk

Atmosphere by Joy Division

Warszawa by David Bowie

Get Out by New Order

Decline of the Western Civilization Part III: The Big 4

I have known Ryan since we met on the playground, he was in the second grade I was in the third. He's a big music fan and been on board with the music, films and books that have informed my life.

Decline of the Western Civilization Part III: The Big 4

by Ryan Anys

The self-proclaimed “Big 4” of Thrash Metal: Anthrax, Megadeth, Slayer & Metallica threw down two weekends ago amid the blazing heat of Indio California’s Coachella Valley.

http://thebig4festival.com/

http://anthrax.com/NFWS/

http://www.megadeth.com/home.php

http://www.slayer.net/us/home

http://www.metallica.com/

Marking the first ever North American collaboration between these titan of thrash metal (Europeans have enjoyed a number of summer festivals featuring this line-up), this is also the only show scheduled (to date) in North American. This happening has been hallowed as a must-see, a one-of-a-kind event for Metal-Heads of all vintages and creeds. And the Big 4 did not disappoint, from start to finish, the ferocious seven hour onslaught of pulverizing metal brought unrelenting joy to many a head-banger.

Though all of the bands are missing at least one member from their formative days (each band now having been in business for the more than a quarter century), they were all in top form, belting out a bevy of trash metal's Golden Hits.

It warmed my heart to hear Joey Belladonna's soaring vocals anchored by Scott Ian's crunching rhythm guitar on such blistering classics and Among the Living and Cry for the Indians.

Dave Mustaine's trademark rasp was potent as ever while ranting: "What do you mean I ain't kind, I'm just not your kind..." on the Megadethclassic Peace Sells, But Who's Buying?

Waiting in line to take my turn in a port-a-potty, I watched in awe as the crowd began sprinting from the make-shift rest area toward the stage in a demonic cattle call, as the opening chords of South of Heaven rang out, announcing Slayer's arrival. And who could blame them?

But with such a hefty offering of hor d'oeuvres (more of a meal than most could consume in one sitting), what entree could possibly be appropriate for such an auspicious occasion? In a flash of blazing pyrotechnics, elaborate strobe lights and a three screen backdrop, Metallica answered that question with the crushing fury of For Whom the Bell Tolls, and proceeded to absolutely ravage the crowd, tightening their metallic death-grip with each successive sonic assault.

In short, the musical performances can be described as nothing less the spectacular: two thumbs up, 10 out of 10, five stars, and on and on...

The real star of the show, however, was the crowd. As I mentioned above, most of these bands began their careers more than 25 years ago, and experienced their heyday somewhere between 1985 and 1992. Yet, still going strong these metal stalwarts attracted an estimated 50,000 concert-goers.

So who are these vast and dedicated faithful? A fascinating breed all their own. During the show, I derived as much joy from people watching, as I did from the musical performances. I commented to a friend in attendance with me, that we were awash in the sea of humanity, or more specifically, gliding along the underbelly of the sea of humanity. With a range of ages spanning from late teens to early fifties, several generations of metal-heads were represented, many looking as grizzled, intimidating and downright scary as ever - and I loved it!

Misfits, miscreants and mutants from all walks of life letting their metal flag fly to a soundtrack of the genres elder statesmen and greatest performers. How could anyone resist the undiluted purity fueling their belief... the belief in the power of metal - in its power to overcome, and defy the injustices mainstream society continually foists upon all nonconformists.

A Desert Storm veteran missing both legs, enjoyed the show in state of elation, providing a particularity moving portrait of metal’s power to overcome and unite. How good are the odds that this young man took to the field of battle in Iraq to the strains of Slayer and Metallica?

Plus the, the wardrobe was way-cool! Not much leather (damn desert heat), but tons of denim and spikes, long hair, short hair, Mohawks, chicks with sunburns in bikini tops, and the tee-shirts... oh yes, the tee-shirts... Nowhere else in the world would you find more people clad in black tee-shirts, thumbing their noses at the 80+ degree weather - scorching desert heat be damned!

The tee-shirts were definitely the subliminal hit of the show. Every vintage of metal tee-shit you can imagine, with more classic Metal up Your Ass Metallic tee-shirts than you could ever hope to find in one spot. Other highlights include a tee-shirt with Slayer transcribed in Arabic, and my particular favorite; an enormous bald man sporting a Cal-Trans orange tee-shirt embolden with the phrase: "ever ride a fat boy?" In a word... classic.

In total, the event was absolutely fantastic! The good metal vibes and heavy tunes have, weeks later, continued to reverberate through my head. Fun, sun, copious amounts of alcohol, the kings of thrash metal, tons of cool metal gear and 50,000 raging metal-heads - this may be the description of the best time anyone could possibly have on planet earth. If you have the opportunity to partake of the Big 4 experience, I highly recommend you do so.

show review: Aaron Dresner & Van Houten

Aaron Dresner

Van Houten

Hiss (who didn’t get to play)

23 April 2011

It’s been a while since I was at a small show, and a longer time since I had seen the debut of a new local band. Saturday night I was among the medium sized audience at a party in one of those small weird spaces in town. It all started very low key with people hanging out and talking. Right away I could see that this was and older group made up mostly of people in their late 20s and early 30s, which is all to say that there was little of the teen and YA posturing and tension…. We were all there to see friends, to hear the music and check out what was going on.

Aaron Dresner started the show with an acoustic set of Alt Country, Indie Folk Blues originals. It was very much in the vein of the music covered by No Depression (http://www.nodepression.com/) or the 9 Bullets blog (http://ninebullets.net/). It was silent while he was playing and there were cheers between songs, I found myself hearing something familiarly in the songs, but I couldn’t put my finger on it…, which is a good thing. The two artists that did come to mind while Dresner was playing were Alela Diane (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alela_Diane) and Sea Wolf en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_Wolf_(band). I would definitely like to hear more of Dresner in the future.

There was a pause while VAN HOUTEN took their places at the front, and a film started to be projected behind them. It was a 60s educational film on birth and a very graphic view of childbirth at that. Now I have been going to shows of all kinds since the mid 90s, and this was the first time that I saw an audience react to a film being shown in the way they did to this one. It was just jarring and several people turned away and finally the film was turned off. I just figured it was the birth control part of the evening.

Van Houten started to play and it was clear that they were hooking into the whole Garage Punk rattle and roll groove. They had a sloppiness the was fun and engaging. The short set featured a selection of originals and a couple of covers, my favorite was the original just called Western which started with a dusty epic feel before raving up into a blast of full throttle punk noise. The covers included Have Love will travel and a Beat Happening song that I don’t know the title of… but was great. If they are going to do any more Beat Happening, they should consider Red Head Walking as being ideal for them. Over all I liked their performance and sound and look forward to hear more from them in the future.

Hiss did not play due to someone near by calling the police about the noise. I can only assume it was a get off my lawn type of deal, anyway, I hope to check them out next time.

Final Thursday Music: Bruce Woolly & The Camera Club

I am one of those rockfiends who likes to check out the friends, peers and cohorts of bands that look to for my fix. Bruce Woolly co-wrote a couple of notable tunes with one Mr. Horn and on Mr. Downes, also know as the Buggles. Video Killed the Radio Star and Clean, Clean the tunes in question were included on the Buggles first album, which if you only know their hit is chocked full or other electro pop numbers that often deal with the darker side of the beautiful world of tomorrow.

On their one album (English Garden in the UK, Bruce Woolly & The Camera Club in the USA) Woolly and his band, produced a more New Wave/ Power Pop/ rock take on the kinds of material that the Buggles also produced. More Retro than Futuristic, Woolly has more human, rawer sound than the Buggles while still having the skeptical view of the future. It is a little thin sound wise, but that is part if it’s charm.

The CD issue of the album can be had for $$$ on Amazon, but I was never so interested that I would pay that much for a copy. However, while poking around my local record shop I found an LP copy of the record for $5. It’s one of those albums that I have always been interested in and when I saw the cover I knew that I needed to pick it up.

Video Killed the Radio Star and Clean, Clean sound more rock then the versions most of us are familiar with. The rest of the tunes are solid, late 80s power pop tunes. I think the record has aged well, and that over 30 years later it is ripe for rediscovery.

More final Thursday forgotten music over at Scott Parker's Blog HERE

26 Soundtracks: Streets of Fire

Any film that’s billed as A Rock & Roll Fable better have a killer soundtrack, and Streets of Fire surprisingly manages to live up to that charge. The film is a slice of 80s neon soaked retro rock and tough guy patter. The plot follows Tom Cody, a vet who is back on the street, and looking for his Ex a Singer named Ellen Aim who has just been kidnapped by a gang and Tom and a group of hangers on have to rescue her. All of this looks cool, and has a certain charm, but it really ends up with the music being the star. Not only the star, but a bigger hit than the film with the best known track Dan Hartman's "I Can Dream About You" reaching Billboard’s top 10 in 1984. I recall having heard it often on the local Top 40 station when I was growing up. It’s a slick pop tune that is just catchy enough, just glossy enough and just smooth enough to be one of the greatest one hit wonder pop songs of the 80s.

The strongest and most overblown tunes on the soundtrack came from writer Jim Steinman, best know for his work with Meatloaf in the 70s. "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young" and "Nowhere Fast," both by Fire Inc. have an urgency and power that can not be denied. They are grand and striking, and they keep a beat and energy that most songs this long can’t outside of musical theater. They have anthem written all over them, it’s almost too bad that they seem to be forgotten at this point. I would like to think that every 9th grade dance in the world would end with Tonight is What it Means to be Young.

The Blasters, a great 80s retro rockabilly band, not only provide two tracks for the album, but also appeared live playing One Bad Stud in the film. I don’t have their tracks listed under the album on my iTunes because they are included on their complete recordings, which I also own. Needless to say they are essential to any collection of 80s LA bands that should have been bigger. I also find there is a element of reality in their inclusion in Streets of Fire, as if their music and presence is saying that there is a reality beyond the faux 50s of the film that can’t be hidden.

The soundtrack for Streets of Fire is one of the best of the 80s, and it’s well worth picking up a copy. It is about time that someone out there got smart and offered an affordable Bluray/ DVD/ Download/ Copy of the Soundtrack all in one package.

Track listing

Fire Inc. - "Nowhere Fast"

Marilyn Martin - "Sorcerer"

The Fixx - "Deeper and Deeper"

Greg Phillinganes - "Countdown to Love"

The Blasters - "One Bad Stud"

Fire Inc. - "Tonight Is What It Means To Be Young"

Maria McKee - "Never Be You"

Dan Hartman - "I Can Dream About You"

Ry Cooder - "Hold That Snake"

The Blasters - Blue Shadows

Next: Wristcutters The Original Soundtrack coming 7 April 2011

Queen of the Minor Key: Eilen Jewell 12 March 2011 @ The Ark

Eilen Jewell

12 March 2011

The Ark in Ann Arbor

It’s been a while since I took in a concert, and I when I heard that Eilen Jewell was going to be playing the Ark in Ann Arbor I really had no excuse to go. Eilen has been on my musical radar for a while, I wrote about her previously on this blog (see the link at the bottom) and have been wanting to see her live.

Musically she identifies as a folkie, at least on stage, but she also dabbles in country and Rock and Roll, most of her material is originals, but she is not afraid to record and play covers live. She said near the start of the show that the plan was to release a new record each year, and a records of originals every other year…. Which of course leaves me wondering what her next cover project is going to be. It might just be wishful thinking on my part, but I hope she gives us an album of 80’s Paisley Underground/ Cowpunk covers, anyway.

The show started at the reasonable hour of 8PM and ended just before 10 PM, which was perfect for me as I was coming off a 9-hour workday. I wish that more shows would have earlier start and finishing times for us old people who work weekends. The Ark is a very nice and stylish room, and I would love to see more shows there, only it’s very Baby Boomer / Post-Yuppie (just like most of the rest of the Townie side of Ann Arbor), and I can only take so much of that…. But more to the point, I don’t see a lot of acts playing there that interest me… let me head off a rant and just say that I am waiting for Kevn Kinney, Stan Ridgeway and Kepi Ghoulie get a chance to play there.

Ok, OK, Eilen Jewell was charming, soft spoken and accessible. She had an easy rapport with the audience keeping control of the stage, but also engaging with the audience. Her voice was clear, twangy, and strong with just the right hints of vulnerability. She spoke about her preference for spooky minor key songs, and dressing in black. Her songs have the sad dark edge and mournful melancholy of Goth rock, but she was surprisingly up beat and chipper on stage where she was clearly having fun.

I suspect that her band could easily double as a surf and Rockabilly band in a pinch. They were solid and perfect accompaniment, never over taking her control of the stage, but also standing strongly on their own and not disappearing into the shadows. They interacted with each other and the audience with an easy give and take that speaks to a musical unit that has a core respect and trust for each other.

Eilen played a selection of new and old tunes, some from her first album and some from her forthcoming record, along with a selection of covers from her albums. There were a couple of tunes from her Loretta Lynn Tribute, Eric Andersen’s ‘Dusty Box Car Wall’, Them’s ‘I'm Gonna Dress In Black” and of course Johnny Kidd & The Pirates classic ‘Shakin’ All Over’. I am going to have to track down copies of the Andersen and Them tracks along with their other work. I know Them, and once upon a time owned a best of LP, which I fear, was sold off in the purge of 2002. The selection of songs and the interaction with the audience carried the show along and left me feeling like it was an evening well spent.

I can’t sign off with out wondering what covers she has planned in the future and throwing a couple of songs that I would love to hear Eilen take a crack at. I have a whole list of tunes that I thought of while watching and shortly after the show, but here are my top ten:

1. Time Forgot You by Legal Weapon

2. Shadowdrive by The Jet Black Berries

3. You Wild Colorado by Johnny Cash

4. Sound of the Rain by Rank’n’File

5. Night of the Long Grass by The Troggs

6. Dark White by Bonniewell Music Machine

7. Poison Love by Blood on the Saddle

8. Johnny remember Me by Johnny Layton

9. Sixteen Way by Green on Red

10. Through the Wire by The Leningrad Cowboys

Her album Queen of the Minor Key is slated for a 28 June 2011 release, I plan to pick up a copy, and you should check it out.

Eilen Jewell's Web Site can be found HERE

The Ark in Ann Arbor, where Eilen and her band have played several times, and when they come back I hope to be there.

Previous post about Eilen Jewell HERE