Fanatic! I hope you had a great week and had a chance to listen to a lot of music.
You might remember the cool band Empire from the last century. The two main members of the outfit were Derwood Andrews and Mark Laff. If those names are at all familiar, it’s because they were half of Generation X. After the Valley Of The Dolls album, Derwood and Mark split off and formed Empire. They made one album called Expensive Sound which almost immediately disappeared. Thankfully, a lot of musicians in the Washington DC music scene heard this record and it ended up being quite an inspiration. Over the years, Expensive Sound has been brought back into print. A few years ago, it was reissued on the excellent Drastic Plastic label and more recently on the Munster label out of Spain. I was curious so I got the Munster reissue to check out the sound and I think it’s great. If you already have the record, you don’t need to run at this reissue as what you have is probably fine but what you might want to take advantage of is that Munster released a two song 7” of Empire with two tracks that were supposedly going to be the start of their next album. The two songs, Easy Life and Enough Of The Same I’ve heard on bootlegs but never at this quality. If you like Empire, may I suggest you check out this record. You can listen to the tracks on Bandcamp to see what you think. I bought two copies of this record. Not in an effort to hoard, but I knew our good pal and sonic ally Ian MacKaye would dig it so I sent him one. He did. Here’s the band camp address in case you’re interested: https://munsterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/easy-life-enough-of-the-same
Fanatic, I’ve been looking forward to this. Tonight we launch a new section in our show that I hope you will enjoy. A few weeks ago, I had the great opportunity to hang out with a top-shelf music historian, archivist and know-a-lot named Miriam Linna. Miriam is the owner and operator of the truly excellent Norton Records label. You might not be aware, but we’ve listened to a lot of tracks from the Norton catalog over the years. This is the label’s site address: https://www.nortonrecords.com
A few weeks ago, I decided that we should listen to at least one track from the mighty Norton catalog every week. We listen to tracks from Norton releases fairly often anyway but I thought it would be really cool to stay on it. The sheer amount of archaeological work Norton has done to bring incredibly rare music out of obscurity and sometimes onto vinyl for the first time is truly remarkable. So, tonight we start our Minute With Miriam section of the show with track four in hour one. The Missing Links series of Link Wray, from which we pull tonight’s track has a really cool story behind it. So, get ready and get set for some great listening from the Norton Records label. Also, you should know that Miriam was the original drummer in some band you may have heard of called the Cramps. She’s an Ohio native and was deep in that amazing Cleveland scene. Rocket From The Tombs, Pere Ubu, Electric Eels—this is the bolt of cloth she’s cut from. Wow!
As you’re probably well aware, John Dwyer doesn’t sleep. He just makes one cool record after another. Chime Oblivion is worth checking out. https://johndwyer.bandcamp.com/album/chime-oblivion
There’s a great release on Tompkins Square Records called Treasures Untold: A Modern 78 RPM Reader. It’s extremely well done. We’ve got a track from it tonight in our first hour.
https://tompkinssquare.bandcamp.com/merch/treasures-untold-a-modern-78-rpm-reader
Here’s information on that cool Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno collaboration album Luminal: https://www.brian-eno.net/releases/ We’ll be starting tracks from this soon.
We have a tremendous line-up of tunes for you tonight. Hopefully, you’ll find it to be a worthwhile soundtrack for your early May 2025 Saturday night.
Until we meet again next weekend, rock the jam session and STAY FANATIC!!!
–– Henry
We’re on Bluesky
henryrollins21361.bsky.social
Hour 1
- The Saints - (I'm) Misunderstood - Eternally Yours
- Wire - Being Sucked In Again / Chairs Missing
- Dillinger - Ragnampiza / Ultimate Collection
- Link Wray - I Sez Baby - Missing Links Vol. 1
- Hazy Sour Cherry- My Life Without Me / Tour De Tokyo
- The Misfits - She / Box Set
- Summer Vacation- Hommage / Wicked Heart
- Ngozi Family - I Will Be With You / 45,000 Volts
- The Fall - Rainmaster / Cerebral Caustic
- New York Dolls - Subway Train / New York Dolls
- Deerhoof - Plastic Thrills / The Magic
- Oddly - Loaded / Odd Man Out
- Buzzcocks - Are Everything / Singles Going Steady
- Jay Reatard - Screaming Hand / Matador Singles '08
- Muireann Bradley - When The Levee Breaks / Treasures Untold
- The Jesus & Mary Chain - Alphabet Street / The Power Of Negative Thinking
- The Birthday Party - Capers / Prayers On Fire
- Tildaflipers & Ian Svenonius - Estricto / Estricto dl
Hour 2
- The Ramones - Time Bomb / Subterranean Jungle
- The Damned - Fan Club / Damned Damned Damned
- The Stooges - T.V. Eye (Take 14) / Complete Fun House Sessions
- Smoked Salmon - How Ya Gonna Get Back Home? / Smoked Salmon
- Freak Genes - Drainage / Qwak Qwak LP
- Agender - Damaged Girls / Berserk
- Gentle Leader XIV - Bomb Pop / Joke In The Shadow
- Nena - Leuchtturm / 99 Luftballons
- Motorbike - Scrap Heap / Kick It Over
- Flin Flon - Bonnie (Lamb) / Dixie
- Snooper - Waste / Split W/ Prison Affair
- Holnd - Dali Cross / Trash Polka
- Say Sue Me - Your Book / Your Book 7”
- My Life In Rain - 10-8 / This Band Is Killing Me
- Brian Eno - Cindy Tells Me / Here Come The Warm Jets
- Dog Chocolate - Plastic Canoe / Snack Fans
- Soccer Team - Cavity Called Home / "Volunteered" Civility & Professionalism
- Radio Birdman - More Fun / Living Eyes
- Eggy - Dying Sun / From Time To Time
