The 1986 Listening Post - Evan Johns and the H-Bombs - The Jungle Record/Rollin' Through the Night

Evan Johns and the H-Bombs - The Jungle Record/Rollin' Through the Night

#365/2045

#366/2046

1986 Housekeeping

Evan Johns and the H-Bombs

The Jungle Record/Rollin’ Through the Night

Genre: Rockabilly

The Jungle Record

3.25 out of 5

Rollin’ Through the Night

3.75 out of 5

Highlights:

Vacation Time

Rollin’ Through the Night

On my old blog I used to occasionally do two records by a band at once and call it a “Doubleshot”. So, this is the first FB LP Doubleshot. 

I’ve never heard of Evan Johns. I had no idea he and his H-Bombs put out two records in 1986. I didn’t know that Jello Biafra was his angel, of sorts. 

Everything on the first record is almost good enough but not great enough to give a crap about. even when it’s whimsical (“Hey Whew!”) it still feels toothless. Now, I say that as someone who wants more caffeine in my coffee but the fact is this is very much in line with the tempered sounds of 50s Rock and Roll. I wish that was something I wanted but it doesn’t do it for me. 

The next offering, Rollin’ Through the Night, amps everything up toward Rev. Horton Heat levels. The Psychobilly growl emerges and it’s a lot more menacing. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-jungle-record/1067495728

https://music.apple.com/us/album/rollin-through-the-night/280787657

The 1986 Listening Post - The Royal Family and the Poor - The Project - Phase 2 - We Love the Moon

The Royal Family and the Poor - The Project - Phase 2 - We Love the Moon

#364/2044

1986 Housekeeping

The Royal Family and the Poor

The Project - Phase 2 - We Love the Moon

Genre: Synthsperimental

3.5 out of 5

An oft told Listening Post tale:

In the early 2000s I came to believe that the ease of production via computers/garageband/pro tools, etc, was creating a glut of music that would be impossible for anyone to cut through. At least anyone of value. it was my belief that the internet had done away with gate keepers and since anyone could make a record there was an endless sea of new product. 

I was correct but I was also incorrect. 

As this project has shown, it wasn’t just endemic to the early 00s. There has always been a excess of material that has found it’s way into the musical stream. And, just like now, cutting through is nigh on impossible.

So, we come to The Royal Family and the Poor. 

A pair of projects (the first of which I missed) that remind me of other things we have listened to recently, like Thinking Plague, although sounding nothing like them. Stuff that is coming from the artists and made available for anyone who might get their ears on it and enjoy it. It’s not for everyone. But it’s also not a vanity play, entirely. 

I thought at first that this record was standard SynthPop but that’s it’s hook. It wants you to believe that so you will keep listening and then it gets deeper and deeper into it’s experimentation. It’s Radiohead, before Radiohead. While sounding nothing like them, nor being as good. 

It’s very existence makes me happy. But I don’t ever need to listen to it again. 

https://music.apple.com/us/album/we-love-the-moon-remastered/305312534

The 1986 Listening Post - It Bites - The Big Lad in the Windmill

It Bites - The Big Lad in the Windmill

#363/2043

1986 Housekeeping

It Bites

The Big Lad in the Windmill

Genre: Glam Prog

3.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Screaming on the Beaches

Imagine what a prog rock band might sound like if David Lee Roth was the front man and the guitars were crunchier and more or just as important as the keyboards. 

I’ve never heard of It Bites but they seem to be taking up the mantle of a pre-Collins Genesis but adding a helluva lot more accessible rock and pop to the proceedings. 

All that said, I don’t have a clear view to review the record since most of what we have are live cuts and the studio tracks include Chicago-esque horns and the like. 

The trouble is, I like the live stuff and really don’t the studio versions. 

If you watch the video for their hit “Calling All the Heroes” they come across as a General Public type of clean cut group of kids. Their other live stuff, they are nearly a metal band. 

Sigh. 

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfnJwIpo2pc&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVCzDYhWc1ERJlzZ7ADihZFV  

The 1986 Listening Post - Dumptruck - Positively Dumptruck

Dumptruck - Positively Dumptruck

#362/2042 LISTENING POST ADMIN DISCOVERY

1986 Housekeeping

Dumptruck

Positively Dumptruck

Genre: Jangle Pop

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

Back Where I Belong

Secrets

Walk Into Mirrors

So, we’ve come to a Jim Erbe suggestion.

What was wrong with Jangle Pop bands in the 80s? Specifically Dumptruck and Guadalcanal Diary. Guys, your sound is steeped in that paisley or jangly and fun rock sound but your names are so obviously punk that there’s no way I would have gravitated to you. 

Shit, I missed out on that. 

Any REM fan in 1986 should have been given this record as a bonus. It’s like the sunny California version of Reckoning.  (Yes, I know they are from Boston…shut up)

https://music.apple.com/us/album/positively-dumptruck/1034559033

The 1986 Listening Post - Treat - The Pleasure Principle

Treat - The Pleasure Principle

#361/2041

1986 Housekeeping

Treat

The Pleasure Principle

Genre: Glam Metal

3 out of 5

Last album these guys sounded like latter day Kiss. Maybe I’ve just heard too much post-rock experimental nonsense today but I welcome this hair metal from Sweden more than I was willing to accept last go round. 

It’s not as falsely menacing as, say, Raitt but it’s not really all that interesting. 

There’s a reason no one remembers Treat.

https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-pleasure-principle/1442335444

The 1986 Listening Post - Peter Case - Peter Case

Peter Case - Peter Case

#360/2040

1986 Housekeeping

Peter Case

Peter Case

Genre: Americana

3.75 out of 5

REQUISITE 80S COVER:

The Pogues’ “Pair of Brown Eyes”.  Not as good as the original. The kind of thing you’d find on a Pogues tribute album. 

Do you know The Nerves? 

No?

Stop what you’re doing and go look for The Nerves. These guys wrote “Hanging on the Telephone”, and their version is better than Blondie’s who turned it into a hit. 

“Paper Dolls”?

“Working Too Hard”?

Ok. Maybe not since they flashed and then were gone.

But the members went off to do amazing stuff.

Paul Collins would go off to start The Beat. “Walking Out on Love”?

No??

Dammit. This is the cornerstone of great Power Pop.

Wait! I know. 

The Plimsouls. They were fantastic, right? (https://septenary.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Plimsouls)

Well, Peter Case started The Plimsouls. 

But now…with help from T-Bone Burnett and the seemingly omnipresent Mitchell Froom, he has crafted this record and, with it, Peter Case seems to want to have become Bryan Adams. Or John Mellencamp.

it’s fine. But it’s not The Nerves. Or the Plimsouls. He gets reminiscent of them on “Satellite Beach” but it’s too late for me…

https://music.apple.com/us/album/peter-case/1443855279

The 1986 Listening Post - Thinking Plague - Moonsongs

Thinking Plague - Moonsongs

#359/2039

1986 Housekeeping

Thinking Plague

Moonsongs

Genre: Avant-Prog

2.25 out of 5

Like Prog? Like The Residents? Or Henry Cow? 

This is for you.

While the time signatures sometimes break my brain I actually found myself hypnotized by it much of the time. 

Ultimately this isn’t my kind of thing. I tried, I really really tried. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kVIx__Juds&fbclid=IwAR13pQ8805OYxsJvFy7QQqd5062jm-GF_kgZL_4NMiRWbWaXUmpb6dcBnhU

The 1986 Listening Post - Sacred Rite - Is Nothing Sacred?

Sacred Rite - Is Nothing Sacred?

#358/2038

1986 Housekeeping

Sacred Rite

Is Nothing Sacred?

Genre: Glam Metal

4.25 out of 5

Highlights:

I Have Seen the Wizard

Ni4Ni

REQUISITE 80S COVER:

“Eleanor Rigby”. A pulsating metal version that is unnecessary but also well done and is an obvious attempt at a hit single.

It’s weird, this “metal” genre. Like much in the 80s it has spun off into so many sub-genres it’s hard to figure out what really belongs where.

The last Sacred Rite album just made me bored and a wee bit angry.

But this one, with all is Randy Rhodes-ing fret work…I kind of like it. It’s like boogie metal at times. 

Maybe it’s just my mood. The side affects of the Mudslides have finally worn off.

But the instrumental mind-bender “Ni4Ni” is really something. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOZEb3SlSX0

The 1986 Listening Post - The Honeymoon Killers - Let It Breed

The Honeymoon Killers - Let It Breed

#357/2037

1986 Housekeeping

The Honeymoon Killers

Let it Breed

Genre: Psychobilly

Lowlights:

Don Gato

Requisite 80s cover:

Blue Oyster Cult’s “Godzilla”, which is a noisy screechy amateurish mess

Lacking the humor of The Cramps or even their charisma this is only slightly less annoying than their last one.

They obviously think they are doing something poignant or important but it comes off as derivative. 

So tiring. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SwigRuE0Rs&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVB5nH_dInRxNSPVEYiK_jKz

The 1986 Listening Post - Blurt - Poppycock

Blurt - Poppycock

#356/2036

1986 Housekeeping

Blurt

Poppycock

Genre: Experimental Post-Rock

2.75 out of 5

Alternating “Opium!” with “A poppycock!” for four minutes amidst improvisational sax solos isn’t enough to bring me around to Blurt’s style of anti-music. 

I almost repeated the story of Yeast Infection’s one show at The Dive in 1985 but you can just read that here: http://septenary.blogspot.com/search/label/Blurt.

This album isn’t doing anything more for me. Go away, Blurt. 

Ok. That’s not entirely fair. Take Ted Milton’s  poems out of this and the minimalist, repetitive rhythms actually work for me at times. Case in Point: “Domain of Dreams”. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=asnmIV0-e0U&list=PLBJ7ztNazTVCLqz1iyBubhZuVTfgm7n7E  (Missing 3 tracks - Smug Hills, Hurrah, Die Butter Ist Alle! and Niagara Falls)