Rarebird's Rock and Roll Nest

What did it take to reunite the legendary Minneapolis post-punk band known as the Replacements, 22 years after their initial 1991 breakup? A tragedy. Former guitarist Bob "Slim" Dunlap suffered a severe debilitating stroke in February of 2012, and the remaining surviving members of the Replacements recorded a new 2013 EP titled Songs For Slim to help raise money for Dunlap's medical costs. It contains five cover songs, two of which were originally Dunlap's solo songs. Those surviving members are lead singer Paul Westerberg, bassist Tommy Stinson, and drummer Chris Mars -- although Mars did not actually work together with the other two on the EP. Four of its five tracks were recorded by Westerberg and Stinson, aided by Minneapolis musicians Kevin Bowe (guitar) and Peter Anderson (drums). Mars, meanwhile, contributed one solo track and the cover art. (Mars is also not involved with the live shows that the other two original members are performing this year). If you i...

Rarebird's Spotlight Album Review #24 is completed. The subject: a CD and two EP's which were recorded independently by Evanescence, a few years before the 2003 release of their official debut album Fallen . The two EP's were recorded in 1998 and 1999, and the full-length CD Origin was recorded in 2000. Here is the page: http://rarebird9.net/evanescence.html

Last week I received the sixteenth set of exclusive vinyl items offered to platinum members of Third Man Records’ Vault service. For those who are unaware, Third Man Records is the label owned by Jack White, who is the leader of the White Stripes, the Raconteurs, and the Dead Weather, and is now a solo artist as well. The Vault service promises to deliver exclusive vinyl-only records (one full-length album and one 7” single) to its platinum members every three months. According to the postal service, my package was sent on July 3rd. I received it on the 13th. (And it was sent by priority mail…). This sixteenth set of items celebrates the 10-year anniversary of the release of the White Stripes’ pivotal 2003 album Elephant , featuring a live double-LP recorded that same year, a 7-inch single containing demo versions of two of that album’s songs, and a book containing photographs taken at the album’s recording studio sessions. The 7-inch single, pressed in dark red vinyl with black w...

The New Jersey-based quintet called Smash Palace originally came from the same mid-‘80’s Philadelphia scene that hatched the Hooters and Robert Hazard. They were led by brothers Stephen and Brian Butler, who had previously played in an earlier new wave band called Quincy (aka Lulu Temple) . In 1985, they appeared to be on the verge of gaining wider recognition when their self-titled Smash Palace album was released on Epic Records, and the video for their single “Living On The Borderline” gave them MTV exposure. Unfortunately, the album failed to take off commercially, and Smash Palace disappeared – until 14 years later. In 1999, the Butler brothers resurfaced in indie-land with a new Smash Palace lineup, and a new album called Fast, Long, Loud . And the band has continued to record during the years since then, releasing several more indie albums showcasing their respectable, mature brand of power pop. Brian Butler no longer performs live with the band, but he continues to be invol...

Time continues to fly! It has now been 14 years since the day my website, Rarebird's Rock and Roll Rarity Reviews , was launched on May 31st, 1999. I remember a visitor to my site making a comment back in 2004 that my site "looks like it's stuck in 1997". I must say I was amused by that statement, because at that point in time, 1997 did not seem like a long time ago at all. But his point was well taken: web design technology and standards had rapidly evolved during those seven years, and my website was looking like an antique. I like to think my site is now a bit more pleasing to the eye than it was a decade ago, since I know more about web design now than I did in the beginning. But I've never felt the need for a complete overhaul on the look of my site. I've felt it was best to keep it simple, and it's worked fine for me so far. Is it still stuck in 1997? I'll let you decide. But if my site is still "stuck" in the late '90's, ...

Michael Kurtz, the co-founder and co-manager of Record Store Day , was once a member of a North Carolina indie-pop band called Three Hits, who issued two singles in 1984 and 1985, and an eight-song EP titled Fire In The House in 1989. Kurtz and his brother Danny were the quartet’s guitarists; the singer and bassist was a young woman named Sheila Valentine, who was influenced by both Blondie and rockabilly. Being the co-manager of Record Store Day earned Kurtz the right to have a limited-edition vinyl EP of his former band’s recordings released on that day, and he was granted this wish in 2013. Limited to 1,000 copies and pressed in transparent purple vinyl, the 12-inch EP Pressure Dome contained the A- and B-sides of the 1985 single of the same name, as well as an additional track from the same Don Dixon-produced recording sessions, and two songs from Fire In The House . The EP also came with a download card that allowed the buyer to download mp3 files of those five songs, as well ...

If you haven’t yet seen Searching For Sugar Man , the 2012 Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature, I highly recommend it. It tells the story of an American singer-songwriter named Rodriguez (full name: Sixto Diaz Rodriguez), who recorded two critically acclaimed but commercially overlooked albums in the early ‘70’s, then disappeared from the music business. Strangely enough, Rodriguez became a musical and cultural icon in South Africa, where he was believed to be dead. But the gruesome rumors of his death were greatly exaggerated, because Rodriguez is alive and well. For decades, he worked as a carpenter in Detroit, and was completely unaware of his stardom in South Africa until 1997. He has since performed numerous times in that country, but he continued to live a humble life in Detroit. The film is a fascinating true-life story, one that no one would find believable if it was written as a movie script. The film has given Rodriguez long-overdue fame and success in other parts of th...

In my previous blog post , I mentioned the 2003 album from Whirlwind Heat titled Do Rabbits Wonder? , produced by Jack White and engineered by Brendan Benson. That album is currently out of print, although it is fairly easy to obtain. The album is ten years old as of this month (as is the White Stripes’ Elephant ). It was the first non-White Stripes album released on the Third Man imprint. Whirlwind Heat is an alternative trio from Michigan who tend to be heavily influenced by bands like Sonic Youth; in fact, their name comes from the cover art of Sonic Youth’s Goo album. But Do Rabbits Wonder? doesn’t quite have the same type of loose underground ethos that later Whirlwind Heat releases do. This is undoubtedly due to White’s production, which makes the band sound crisper, cleaner, and harder-hitting than usual. On this album, Whirlwind Heat are reminiscent of the Pixies in many ways. David Swanson hoots and hollers like Black Francis, and Steve Damstra’s bass playing is sometime...