Anyway, back at work so it's on with A. Have we really only got to Ad? This is going to take forever. So, no messing about, it's Boots Met My Face (2010) by Admiral Fallow. It's a terrible band name but a great album title. It's a fine record, folksy and brisk and very, very Scottish. But there are some ripe lyrics and to be brutally honest, the whole thing has a bit of an air of Brits School "folky-indie" project about it. However, if we accept that it's not as convincing as it could be, there's no denying its dirtied up Mumford-ish appeal and there are a handful of tunes that are really quite graceful. And they've got a song called 'Dead Leg'.
Then it's Jim Beattie's post Primal Scream indie-pop outfit Adventures in Stereo. I think this was the stop gap between getting the boot from the Scream for being too popcentric and trying again with Spirea X. All his efforts came to nought though because the kind of jangly Sarah Records type of pop music he wanted to make had already become so yesterday it was something of an embarrassment. I really liked his records a lot and listening to this has reminded me just how much fun cutesy pop was. Why isn't there more of it (and I'm not talking about hyper-ironic Grouplove type stuff), people who want to make silly pop music? The 'Brand New Day' 7" (of which I could only find 2 of the 4 songs on "the internet") is a great case in point. The little songs start, don't go anywhere, and end in less than 2 minutes. Utterly charming.
Oh well, whatever, because here's super-talented rennaisance man Dave Pajo with one of his not-particularly successful post-rock outfits Aerial M. The eponymous album (1997) was instrumental (ho ho) in really getting the post-rock ball rolling and it has a kind of benchmark tune in 'Wedding Song No. 3', and an amazing opening double in 'Dazed and Awake' and 'Aass' but on the whole the record lacks a bit of something and feels like it drags a bit. For the man who was the central part of both Squirrelbait and Slint, it feels a bit like we're still waiting for the next groundbreaking thing from him (and it sure as hell wasn't Billy Corgan's unutterably rubbish Zwan), and it was a mis-step to release a remix album as the sophomore effort. Post-Global Music (1999) really doesn't add anything to the tunes, and, if anything, strips out the delicate little melodies that existed in the originals.
But enough of this art-rock nonsense, it's time, quite simply, to fucking rock. Yes my friends, put your hands together for the mighty Aerosmith, and their unbelievably stupid and unbelievably fantastic Toys in the Attic (1975), and Rocks (1976). Obviously these records are awesome, like, totally radically awesome dude. Toys in the Attic is the choice for me, simply for having lyrics to rival the DC in terms of pure filth (but Tyler is much smarter in how he phrases his filth than either Bon Scott or Brian Johnson) and for having 'Walk This Way' on it, which despite their own 80's attempt to ruin it with Run-DMC survives unscathed as a piece of superbly grotty rock. And the tunes have basslines to die for: this is the record that the Red Hot Chilli Peppers have been so pathetically failing to recreate for all these years. Rocks is more straightforward in terms of its rock ambitions but there are some truly blistering tunes here ('Back in the Saddle', 'Lick and a Promise', 'Rats in the Cellar') but it's a lot tighter and cleaner and doesn't have Toys in the Attic's unpredictability. Then it's the cheapo budget record label job Anthology (1988) most of which is culled from Toys and Rocks, but there are a few other tunes which are superb ('Critical Mass', easily my favourite Aerosmith tune, for instance), and then we've got the 'Love in an Elevator' 7", which obviously totally rules (but ooh, the compression, it's like your head is in a vacuum), and 'Young Lust' is a decent B-side.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for our next marathon. I'm really happy with this one though: it's the Afghan Whigs. Greg Dulli may be my favourite songwriter and I'm delighted to be able to just sit through (almost) the lot from start to finish. Only time today for the super-rare first album, Big Top Halloween (1988) and the 'Retarded' EP (1990). Big Top Halloween is interesting because it reveals just how much of an influence The Replacements were on Dulli, an influence which he rooted out of his own writing pretty rapidly. Now there's nothing wrong with wanting to rip off Westerburg, far from it, but it is a surprise as I'd always had Dulli looking in very different places for his inspiration. There are some fantastic tunes ('In My Town', 'Sammy') but the band obviously recognised the wheat from the chaff themselves as they pick the three really decent numbers to add to the reissue of the second album, Up In It (about which more tomorrow). The production is uninspired and it's all a bit messy, but it's far from a bad album and it points to the true brilliance to come without nearing it itself. The Retarded EP is a step forward, less fussy and in a hurry to get where it's going. The songs start to really show Dulli's brutal lyrical fascination with how and why people are basically really horrible to themselves and each other and it's quite a visceral bunch of tunes (the cover shows the band in towels, holding hands, each with their wrists slit). The really great stuff will come tomorrow though.
Till then, signing off.
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