The Tom Snyder collection is a two disc set, compiled from his old late 70's & early 80's NBC program Tommorrow Coast to Coast. It's a vast improvement on the fuzzy 3rd generation copies of classic interviews that have circulated in the underground previously. Now enjoy the full pasty skin tone of a bratty junked out John Lydon, without video artifacts, not to mention the great "explosive" performance footage of Wendy O and the Plasmastics, plus a cutesy interview where one can see Tom is certainly curious about the cranky coquettish sledge hammer wielding woman.
You get hours of historical stuff to watch, including interviews with Patti Smith, performances of multiple songs from Iggy Pop & The Ramones, and one remarkable interview segment that features critic Robert Hilburn of the LA Times, rock promoter Bill Graham, self promoter Kim Fowley, and the very young musicians Paul Weller and Joan Jett representing their generation.
Plus, in a rarity these days on television, you get to watch a host who smokes & smokes... and then dies from complications of chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Tom was also a blogger later on, which is where he first announced his battle with the disease that took him down. He lived up in Tiburon, north of San Francisco and seems like an amiable guy for the most part. Anyhow, he was definitely a righteous presence on the airwaves in another era, back where there were only a handful of channels. He provided a relatively open mind, and a wider outlook to late night viewers long before the internet made a personal media experience possible.
You can get Snyder's 2 disc set of Punk & New Wave era interviews delivered via Netflix...
or heck just order this thing, it's a keeper...
Other things on my list of keepers include:
Bob Marley - Roots , Rock, Remixed
Unlike previous Marley remix efforts that just layered annoying & distracting house beats into Bob's blissful reggae music, or worse, gangster rap, this release actually seems fairly well constructed. I guess that's why it's the first official "authorized" remix effort. Some are better than others of course, check it out if you are a fan.
It's out now on the Quango/Tuff Gong label, and could indeed lively up your next gathering...
Bob Marley - Lively Up Yourself (Bombay Dub Orchestra Remix)
Bob Marley - "Soul Shakedown Party" (Afrodisiac Sound System Remix) (mp3)
from "Roots, Rock, Remixed"
by Bob Marley & The Wailers
Some thing that's not a keeper:
I am a LaLa.com member, meaning I trade discs with anonymous people all over the country via our published have & want lists. The service provides post paid envelopes, and you just put a disc that someone else requested in it & you get to request something you want instead.
Today's Trade ex. Heavy Vegetable - The Amazing Undersea Adventures of Aqua Kitty and Friends
It's been sitting in my CD rack for over 10 years, I might've tried to listen to it twice in over a decade.
I think it was one of many releases sent my way when I was booking bands, and reminded me of when and why I was close to quitting the whole sordid business altogether.
I think the hope of booking rock n roll bands circa 1994 was only saved when Sublime's refreshing, inspired and now recognized as a classic 40 oz to Freedom cassette ended up in my mailbox and we became fast friends. Most of the rest of the biz of rejecting & possibly even accepting the challenge of promoting hapless indie groups was far bleaker.
I filed Heavy Vegetable under tardcore and pretty much forgot about it. Lo and behold, I eventually listed it on LaLa.com the other day, and indeed within two days somebody claims they want it.
Of course this makes me suspicious, since how could some disc from an obscure San Diego misfit indie rock act without even sentimental value to me, still manage to interest some guy in Baltimore 13 years later?
So while packing the envelope, I decide to look up the "whatever happened to"... and indeed, there is a connection to today's hipster marketplace.
Rob Crow, whom some actually consider a genius, was once the warped mind behind the amateurish antics of Heavy Vegetable. He's now in Pinback, and I guess a big deal of some sort. Perhaps, this Heavy Vegetable connection may just be why I never dug Pinback, a subliminally sneaking suspicion of previous apathy.
Me, I'm just pretty happy to be getting rid of the thing...even if people would pay more than $10 for a chance to hear it still. It turns out good for me, as someone will be sending a CD of some old Faces tracks instead. Fine with me, it'll replace the faces CDs that got stolen at a bartending gig I used to have at a hotel.
But...
Since there may be those amongst you curious what the mastermind of Pinback was up to in 1994, here ya go with a sample.
The albums best track is called Head Rush, so of course i'm not posting that one.
Looks like this opus may be somewhat out of print, but I'll still just put up a couple tracks, mainly so I'm not spoiling the surprise of the rest for those completists still trying to find it...
Heavy Vegetable - Listen To This Song, Kill Pigs and Try to Sue Me
Heavy Vegetable - Dutch
note: author's disdain for most musical expression marketed under the title Heavy Vegetable does not mean he isn't fond of their T shirt logo, available for $14.50 from Absolutely Kosher
pssst...If ya really need it, Absolutely Kosher also says they still have the Cd...
Anyhow...
Gotta go...
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