Ear Candle Radio's Top 20: August 2009

The whims of our listening public never cease to fascinate, exposing little corners of our playlist to the light and giving the thumbs up. D.O.A.'s glorious 1984 cover of Edwin Starr's Vietnam-era classic has lost none of its potency over the years. War, ugh, good god y'all. It's still good for absolutely nothing, folks. A striking a cappella mix of vintage Beach Boys amplifies the existential teen angst that was already there in the original. We have TWO items from our good friend Jack Rabid of The Big Takeover: his old punk band, Even Worse, (Neo says they always were his favorite band on ROIR's New York Thrash comp; sorry Bad Brains, sorry Beastie Boys) and his more recent band Last Burning Embers.

Closer to home, we are a proud aunt and uncle to the gifted Trevor Simpson, who has put together a highly popular studio, Right Right Recording, outside of Baltimore, and fronts a hella-snappy power-pop band called Brighter Shades, who have made their new album available FREE via the Intertubes. Check it out.

We continue to salute our fallen hero, Chris Knox, with a track each from his bands the Tall Dwarfs and the Nothing. We have not one but two Patti Smith tracks, one from an absolute classic bootleg of a concert in Sweden in the 70s. If you have never heard Patti's take on the Velvets' "Pale Blue Eyes", well, you have two choices: seek out that long-lost bootleg any way you can, or keep your ears glued here! The other one from Patti is her take on "Within You Without You" from her recent covers album.

A rare, strange artifact from the Rolling Stones is culled from the exhaustive Satanic Sessions, an intriguing look at the making of their woefully underrated psychedelic classic Their Satanic Majesties Request. Hearing these bare backing tracks, you notice that Keith was very much in charge of the sessions despite his later misgivings about the whole project (it's hard to tell what Mick Jagger is doing, if anything), that Brian Jones played even more mellotron than what ended up on the album (often you hear him trying to play heavily syncopated, rhythmic parts on the beautiful but clunky instrument, which really doesn't lend itself to such things), that they relied heavily on Nicky Hopkins to hold everything together, and that it sure took that band a LOT of takes to get warmed up. Once they did though, amazing things happened, and it's a revelation to hear how the backing track for "Sing This All Together" sounded before the song was split in two pieces. Keith Richards heads into free-jazz territory here. It's a delight.

Our friend and supporter Peter B shows up in the charts this month on a Kirtan blowout recorded live at Harbin Hot Springs. Be not fooled, idren and sistren: this is not esoteric religious babble, this is pure joyous singalong release. It's good for you, and as fun as thumping the table along with Ras Michael. Lose yourself in the trance. We may be releasing video footage of Peter and his cohort somewhere down the road. As Lord Buckley's character the Nazz shouted out so memorably, "DIG INFINITY!"

Ear Candle Radio: You dug it before, re-dig it now.

1. D.O.A. - War - War and Peace
2. The Beach Boys - I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (a cappella) - Pet Sounds Sessions (Early Mix)
3. Last Burning Embers - The Vacillator - Pink Frost/Big Takeover Sampler 2008
4. Kaki King - Close Your Eyes & You'll Burst Into Flames - Everybody Loves You
5. Brighter Shades - You Shine So Bright - You Shine So Bright
6. Tall Dwarfs - Rorschach - Weeville
7. Paleface - Stupid War Movies - Paleface
8. Nothing - To The Sun - A Warm Gun
9. The Fall - A Figure Walks - Dragnet [Bonus Tracks]
10. The Dirtbombs - Fire In The Western World - We Have You Surrounded
11. John Coltrane - My Favorite Things - My Favorite Things
12. Roxy Music - Pyjamarama - Street Life - Greatest Hits
13. Robert Forster - It Ain't Easy - The Evangelist
14. Even Worse - Last Nights Blimpee - Pink Frost/Big Takeover Sampler 2008
15. The Rolling Stones - Sing This All Together (Take 7) - The Satanic Sessions Vol 1 [3 of 4]
16. Patti Smith - Within You Without You - Twelve
17. Patti Smith - Pale Blue Eyes - I Never Talked To Bob Dylan
18. Peter B & Friends - Radhe Sham - Harbin Temple Kirtan
19. PJ Harvey - This Is Love - Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
20. The Gossip - Listen Up! - Standing In The Way Of Control