Timeless 1982 classic is now augmented by 11-song bonus disc, extensive booklet.

By Blurt Staff

With Richard Thompson's new live album (of all new material, no less) Dream Attic hitting the bins this week and Thompson also prepping for a tour with his band that will run from Oct. 2 into the first week of November, word also arrives of the impending Deluxe Edition reissue of Thompson's landmark album Shoot Out The Lights, originally released in 1982 by Thompson and his then-life Linda. Rhino Handmade drops it on Oct. 12 and the remastered released will now boast a bonus CD featuring 11 unreleased live performances from the tour that the duo embarked upon shortly after its release.

Here are the details, courtesy Rhino:

***

The circuitous path of Shoot Out the Lights began in 1980 when Scottish singer-songwriter Gerry Rafferty-who'd toured with the Thompsons that year-produced and financed the album, hoping it would earn the unsigned couple a new record contract. Failing to secure a record deal, the album was eventually shelved.

The Thompsons persevered, signing with producer Joe Boyd's independent Hannibal Records the following year. They quickly returned to the studio with several musicians from the Rafferty sessions-guitarist Simon Nicol, drummer Dave Mattacks, and bassist Pete Zorn-and rerecorded six songs from the previous sessions plus two new songs. In contrast to the drawn-out sessions with Rafferty, Boyd recorded the album live in just three days, an approach that highlighted the band's spontaneity and gave the songs a palpable edge. In the reissue's liner notes Zorn quips: "The album's so good, we did it twice!"  

The release and a planned U.S. tour were put on hold until 1982 to give Linda time to recover from the birth of the couple's third child. Sadly, when the tour finally began that spring, the Thompsons' marriage was over.

The bonus disc documents the tumultuous tour with 11 unreleased live performances, all but one taken from shows in San Francisco and Santa Cruz, California. The songs draw from the Thompsons' records together, including three from the album, "Back Street Slide," "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?" and the title track; "Borrowed Time" from Sunnyvista (1979); "Pavanne" from First Light (1978); and "For Shame Of Doing Wrong," "Dargai," and "Dimming Of The Day" from Pour Down Like Silver (1975). Several covers are also featured: Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues," "I'm A Dreamer" by Fairport Convention singer Sandy Denny, and Bob Dylan's "I'll Keep It With Mine," a song Richard covered with Fairport Convention on 1969's What We Did On Our Holidays.

The set's accompanying 40-page booklet includes details about the album and tour from Richard, Linda, the band, and Boyd, who recalls the fraught tour: "Linda kicked Richard in the shins during a guitar solo in Providence and threw a bottle at him in the Buffalo airport, but sang with an intensity I'd never heard before. Gone was the hesitant tone; the heartbreaking ballads poured out of her and mesmerized audiences. The band, meanwhile, kept their heads down and amazed the Yanks with their precision and power. Richard was his usual genius self, only more so."

Track Listing

Disc 1

1.       "Don't Renege On Our Love"

2.       "Walking On A Wire"

3.       "A Man In Need"

4.       "Just The Motion"

5.       "Shoot Out The Lights"

6.       "Back Street Slide"

7.       "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?"

8.       "Wall Of Death"

Disc 2 - Live

1.       "Dargai"*

2.       "Back Street Slide"*

3.       "Pavanne"*

4.       "I'll Keep It With Mine"*

5.       "Borrowed Time"*

6.       "Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?"*

7.       "I'm A Dreamer"*

8.       "Honky Tonk Blues"*

9.       "Shoot Out The Lights"*

10.   "For Shame Of Doing Wrong"*

11.   "Dimming Of The Day"*

*Previously Unissued

Oval, Autechre, Thom Yorke, Tour Tet and numerous others....

By Blurt Staff

Apparat - aka Sasha Ring - takes a little time out from his busy schedule of late (which has included three albums on the Shitkatapult label and the collaborative full lengths with Ellen Allien and Modeselektor as Moderat on Bpitch Control) in order to program what just may be the mother of all DJ-Kicks titles from !K7. It includes tracks from Oval, Autechre, Thom Yorke, Tour Tet and others, as well as a pair of exclusive Apparat tunes and an unreleased Telfon Tel Aviv cut. The full tracklisting is below and it speaks for itself.

"I didn't want to make this kind of "smart" mix, that's eclectic and sounds like it's done "on purpose;" but I need to do different things to keep myself motivated," Ring explained, in a statement. "At first I wanted to make a collection of influences, all kinds of old songs, but then sometimes with those mixes it's hard to keep some kind of flow and they're just not very easy to listen to, so I ended up using good new music; music that almost gave me hope that there's more out there than boring minimal techno.

"The mix isn't that balanced when it comes to melody I guess. There's a lot of sweetness on there, but it is dark and mysterious at points. I guess the bittersweet-ness has long been kind of my thing and with this mix I was just trying to spice it up a bit."

It'll be in stores Oct. 26.

Tracklisting:

1.         Apparat - Circles
2.         69 - Rushed
3.         Telefon Tel Aviv - Lengthening Shadows
4.         Apparat - Interlude
5.         Luke Abbott - More Room
6.         Oval - Legendary
7.         Patrice Baumel - Sub
8.         Martyn - Miniluv
9.         Ripperton - Echocity
10.        Cosmin TRG - Tower Block
11.        Scorn - Falling (Autechre "FR 13" Remix)
12.        Born Ruffians - I Need A Life (Four Tet Remix)
13.        Pantha Du Prince - Welt Am Draht
14.        Phon.o - Intervall
15.        Burial + Four Tet - Moth
16.        Vincent Markowski - The Madness Of Moths
17.        Ramadanman - Tempest
18.        Thom Yorke - Harrowdown Hill
19.        Spherix - Lesser People
20.        Oval - TV Power
21.        Joy Orbison - The Shrew Would Have Cushioned The Blow
22.        Apparat - Sayulita (DJ-KiCKS)
23.        T++ - Worn Down
24.        Tim Hecker - Borderlands

Blurt shutterbug Scott Dudelson attended the kickoff of the August 26 Sunset Strip Music Festival in Los Angeles - it included a Slash tribute @ House of Blues whereby Aug 26th was officially named "Slash Day"and on hand were Headcat (Lemmy of Motorhead, Slim Jim Phantom of Stray Cats), Slash, Nikki Sixx, Jerry Cantrell and KLOS DJ Jim Ladd. We've got a selection of his photos, below. (You can also check out Dudelson's photoblog for BLURT elsewhere on our site.)

(above) Lemmy & Slash

Danny B. Harvey

Jerry Cantrell

Jim Ladd

Lemmy

Nikki Sixx

Slash

Slash Award Presentation

Slim Jim Phantom

"I Wanna Be Adored": any questions? Check out the video, below.

By Blurt Staff

The latest video and track release and video directed by Cass Bird & Molly Schiot in celebration of Dr. Martens 50th anniversary is none other than the Raveonettes covering the Stones Roses classic "I Wanna Be Adored." It's part of the ongoing series from Dr. Martens which thus far has featured some intriguing takes on vintage material - among them, the Noisettes doing "Ever Fallen In Love With Someone You Shouldn't've", the Duke Spirit with "If The Kids are United" and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club tackling "Dirty Old Town."

You can nab the tunes for free download at the Dr. Martens site - coming up are Verbal and the MC5's Mike Davis w/D.O.A.

Chronicle of the never-ending I And Love And You Tour.

By Blurt Staff

Incoming on Oct. 5: Live, Volume 3 from the Avett Brothers. The material was recorded on the I And Love And You tour and will be available on both CD and DVD. 

The 16 songs are taken from a longer (25-song) concert in Charlotte, NC, on August 8, 2009. Watch BLURT for a special feature on the Avetts - the cover subjects of our 3^rd print issue, last fall - around the time of the release date.

Track Listing:

1. Pretty Girl from Matthews
2. Talk on Indolence
3. Ballad False Start
4. The Ballad of Love and Hate
5. Colorshow
6. I and Love and You
7. Shame
8. When I Drink
9. Murder in the City
10. I Killed Sally's Lover
11. Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise
12. The Perfect Space
13. Paranoia in B-flat Major
14. Distraction #74
15. Kick Drum Heart
16. Salvation Song

Monthlong tour preceded by split single with the Black Lips.

By Blurt Staff

The Pierced Arrows have announced an upcoming North American tour that begins September 30 at 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis, MN. The ex-Dead Moon veterans will play 21 dates across the US before closing out the tour in Weed, CA on October 23rd.

The jaunt comes in the wake of Pierced Arrows' recent split 7" with labelmates Black Lips, released in July via Scion A/V. In keeping with the other releases in the Vice-curated Scion Garage 7" series, both bands debuted new songs on the single. Pierced Arrows' offering is titled "The Doorway" and you can check out a stream of it right here.

 Scion A/V also recently released the band's first proper music video for "This is the Day" from their most recent full length Descending Shadows - take a gander at it, below.


Tour Dates:

9/30/10        Minneapolis, MN        7th St. Entry
10/1/10        Milwaukee, WI           Cactus Club
10/2/10        Chicago, IL                 Subterranean
10/3/10        Cleveland, OH            Beachland Tavern
10/4/10        Rochester, NY            The Bug Jar
10/5/10        Albany, NY                  Valentine's
10/7/10        Brooklyn, NY               Knitting Factory
10/8/10        New York, NY              Mercury Lounge
10/9/10        Philadelphia, PA          Kung Fu Necktie
10/10/10      Washington, DC          DC9
10/12/10       Baltimore, MD            Golden West Cafe
10/13/10       Pittsburgh, PA             31st Street Pub
10/14/10       Columbus, OH            The Summit
10/15/10       Bloomington, IN          The Video Saloon
10/16/10       Columbia, MO             Mojo's
10/17/10        Lawrence, KS             Jackpot
10/19/10        Denver, CO                 Hi Dive
10/20/10       Salt Lake City, UT        Urban Lounge
10/21/10       Reno, NV                     Tonic Lounge
10/22/10       San Francisco, CA        Rickshaw Stop
10/23/10       Weed, CA                     Black Butte Center for Railroad Culture

Scion A/V Video: Pierced Arrows - This Is The Day from Scion A/V on Vimeo.

Band also collaborates with Lee Scratch Perry

By Blurt Staff

San Diego's The Black Heart Procession are releasing a limited edition mini-album October 12 called "Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit" on Temporary Residence Limited. Along with 3 brand new BHP songs, the 40-minute EP includes a collaboration with the godfather of dub himself, the immortal Lee "Scratch" Perry. Additionally, "Blood Bunny / "Black Rabbit" features a titanic 10-minute orchestral reconstruction of "Drugs" by ambient mainstay Eluvium.

Check out an MP3 of "Blank Page"

To celebrate the release of "Blood Bunny / Black Rabbit", The Black Heart Procession will tour this fall with Temporary Residence labelmates the Books!

Track Listing:

1. Blank Page
2. The Orchid
3. Silence (Remix by Mr. Tube)
4. Devotion
5. Freeze (Remix by Lee "Scratch" Perry)
6. Heaven Below (Remix by Mr. Tube)
7. Drugs (Remix by Eluvium)
8. Drugs (Remix by Jamuel Saxon)

Tour Dates:

Sep 28 @ Le Poisson Rouge, New York, NY
Sep 29 @ The Trocadero, Philadelphia, PA w/ The Books
Sep 30 @ 9:30 Club, Washington, DC w/ The Books
Oct 1 @ Shaefer Theater, Duke University, Durham, NC w/ The Books
Oct 3 @ Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA w/ The Books
Oct 4 @ Square Room, Knoxville, TN w/ The Books
Oct 5 @ Jefferson Theatre, Charlottesville, VA w/ The Books
Oct 6 @ Rams Head Live!, Baltimore, MD w/ The Books
Oct 21 @ Somerville Theater, Somerville, MA w/ The Books
Oct 22 @ Pearl Street Nightclub, Northampton, MA w/ The Books
Oct 23 @ Cabaret Mile End, Montreal, PQ w/ The Books
Oct 24 @ Capitol Music Hall, Ottawa, ON w/ The Books
Oct 25 @ The Mod Club, Toronto, ON w/ The Books
Oct 26 @ Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, MI w/ The Books
Oct 27 @ Ladies Literary Club, Calvin College, Grand Rapids, MI w/ The Books
Oct 29 @ Vic Theatre, Chicago, IL w/ The Books
Oct 30 @ Cedar Cultural Center, Minneapolis, MN w/ The Books
Nov 29 @ Music Box At The Henry Fonda, Los Angeles, CA w/ The Books
Nov 30 @ Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA w/ The Books
Dec 3 @ Aladdin Theater, Portland, OR w/ The Books
Dec 4 @ Moore Theatre, Seattle, WA w/ The Books
Dec 5 @ Vogue Theatre, Vancouver, BC w/ The Books

Not that they ever actually went away... tour starts this week, new album drops next week.

By Fred Mills

Back at the Kudzu Ranch recording enclave, Tarheel twang merchants Southern Culture On the Skids recently put the finishing touches on their new album. It's titled, fittingly, The Kudzu Ranch, and it's issued on their own Kudzu label following a three-album run with the venerable Yep Roc which concluded with 2007's Countrypolitan Favorites.

"The Kudzu Ranch is collection of 10 originals and a couple covers," said guitarist Rick Miller recently, "songs about people, places and things - like good friends and crazy neighbors, dry dirt and pompadoured flirts, busy roads and horny toads - all of them motivatin', salivatin' and procreatin' to their own crazy beat!"

It arrives next week, Sept. 7, via their official website, www.scots.com, and will eventually be available at retail in early November. Folks who do pick it up directly from the band will also nab some fun digital freebies, so you have been advised. Meanwhile, the band heads out for a 3-week trek out west starting this week (the second leg of their tour will commence in mid October), so BLURT is sitting down with guitarist Rick Miller tomorrow afternoon for an in-depth yak about all things SCOTS - including details on their remastered reissue of their 1991 sophomore platter Too Much Pork For Just One Fork, which is also due very soon. Watch the BLURT site for the fruits of that conversation real soon.

Yours truly saw the band play about a month ago at the Bele Chere street festival in Asheville, NC, and I can safely advise that, in the parlance, "They still got it." I was almost hit in the forehead with a chicken wing in the process of formulating that assessment, in fact. So don't miss ‘em.

Tour Dates:

Fri 9/3/2010     Los Angeles, CA        The Echo

Sat 9/4/2010    Ventura, CA   Ventura Fairgrounds

Sun 9/5/2010   Lockwood, CA           Hungry Flats Diner

Tue 9/7/2010   San Jose, CA   The Blank Club

Wed 9/8/2010             Petaluma, CA McNears Mystic Theatre

Thu 9/9/2010   Santa Cruz, CA           Moe's Alley

Fri 9/10/2010   Crystal Bay, NV         Crystal Bay Club Crown Room

Sat 9/11/2010 San Francisco, CA      Great American Music Hall

Sun 9/12/2010             Bakersfield, CA          Fishlips

Wed 9/15/2010           Tucson, AZ     Plush

Thu 9/16/2010             Phoenix, AZ    Rhythm Room

Sat 9/18/2010 San Diego, CA            Casbah

Fri 10/8/2010   Richmond, Va             Plaza Duckpin Bowl

Sat 10/9/2010 Washington, DC         9:30 Club

Sun 10/10/2010           Harrisburg, PA            The Abbey Bar

Tue 10/12/2010           Marietta, OH   The Adelphia (at the Galley)

Wed 10/13/2010         Pittsburgh, PA            Diesel Club

Thu 10/14/2010           Philadelphia, PA         World Cafe Live

Fri 10/15/2010             Brooklyn, NY             The Bell House

Sat 10/16/2010            Hoboken, NJ   Maxwell's

Fri 10/29/2010             Johnson City, TN        Casbah

Sat 10/30/2010            Buford, GA    Hell On Wheels Beer Festival

Sun 10/31/2010           Birmingham, AL         Zydeco

Fri 11/26/2010             Kill Devil Hills, NC    Port O' Call

Sat 11/27/2010            Kill Devil Hills, NC    Port O' Call

On August 14 at the Wells Fargo Center, Macca digs deep into all three catalogs - his, Wings' and of course the Fab Four's - and serves up a 180 minute marathon. Our reviewer goes the distances with him. Photo by Scott Weiner.

By A.D. Amorosi

After three hours and 41 songs/fragments of much of his finest moments and memories, Paul McCartney, 68, looked refreshed. Perhaps it was the vitality of a consummate performer or consummate material - most of which came from his pen. Maybe he enjoys jamming with guys half his age and soaking in applause (he did the latter without a doubt). By the time 180 minutes passed, McCartney seemed to have just gotten started.

Unlike previously recent McCartney shows within the last twelve years, this tour had a large dollop of rare and hit (and oft maligned) Wings songs (perhaps) due to the fact that his solo catalog will soon get a sonic upgrading courtesy Concord Records. Bravo that - if you haven't heard "Jet" or "Venus and Mars" since their initial release, this show was a sensational even shocking re-introduction. While I wasn't crazy about the slapdash blues of "Highway," from his alter ego The Fireman (2008's Electric Arguments) I was happy he included their art-slop aesthetic in this program. While "Hey Jude" and "Let it Be" seemed a wee rote, had he not done them I would've shed the teardrops I did that night in joy because he did do them. I wasn't wild about him having performed Lennon's "Give Peace a Chance" to end a gorgeously dramatic version of "A Day in the Life," McCartney's tale of hanging with the quiet Beatles and Paul's take on the George Harrison-penned "Something" - started quietly on Harrison's axe of choice, the ukulele and finished as a roaring elegant epic -was awe-inspiring and tender. Dag, the guy even picked up an electric and hammed on Hendrix's "Foxy Lady" with fire and invention and granted one request, for "Ram On" from the 1971's Ram with wooly country cool.

What else you got Sir Paul?

Cuts Notes:

*The "Venus and Mars" "Rockshow" medley as a starter: from supple acoustic guitar licks to swooping synth-whistling arena opera, good choice. Love the wood block and the band's lush harmonies. There's no point in me repeating this over-and-over. These guys have McCartney's vocal counterpoint down, and sweetly, without the fear of aping the Fab Four or Wings.

*"Jet" : McCartney and Co. slammed right into this after "Rockshow" and made it into a stammering soul-glam smash complete with its chucka-chucka bridge.

*"All My Loving": speeding jangly Beatles songs, hooray. Thanks Paul for the duck paddling bass line.

* "Letting Go":  blues-ish pop with that vaguely Asian-themed break. Weird, but effective. Thinking back on this, McCartney's Wings era used that nuance quite a bit. McCartney's voice has a nice gravelly edge here as opposed to the sprightliness of his Beatles bit before this.......or after...

* "Got to Get you Into My Life": - McCartney sounds very kiddish here. Weird because the background is that Beatles Rock Band video stuff.

*"Highway" : Eh.

*"Let Me Roll It": Aww hell no with the big organ rolling blues - this is damn near Charles Earland. Lots of echo on McCartney's high voice. Real stadium-70s-blues and a perfect grouchy fit into...

* "Foxy Lady" : The cute one can play an evil sexy guitar when he feels like it.

*"The Long and Winding Road": Paul switches to piano and gets all pastoral and pretty with some C&W jazz lines thrown in. Odd that he comes off like early early Randy Newman here.

* "1985" (or "Nineteen Hundred Eighty Five") : No. Fucking. Way. This is one of my very faves in his catalog, but stuck as it is at the end of #Band on the Run# it gets overlooked. Glam-soul-ish and quick shuffling with McCartney's voice all clear yet with the tiniest rasp - it's as if he joined 10 CC for The Original Soundtrack. I can dream.

*"Let ‘Em In": "Cute. Nice military drum and fife bit.

*"My Love" : A corny ballad for sure, but its chords were contemporary, cool and lovely. Real heart-on-your-sleeve stuff.

* "I'm Looking Through You": Very mod organ. Very jauntily country-billy. Buck Owens would be proud.

* "Two of Us" : Another favorite - humble tom tom galloping, easy-close harmony filled plucked pop-grass acoustic number. "You and I have memories longer than the road that stretches out ahead." Poignant in so many ways. Plus he whistled live at the tune's finale. Awesome.

*" Blackbird": Stark and simple - but most effective tune of evening - solo acoustic candle-flickering affair. You hear this cliché a lot but really, the audience's collective heart stopped and the room fell quiet.

* "Here Today": Acoustic. McCartney wrote this as an imaginary conversation for John after Lennon's death. Effective.

*"Dance Tonight": Can't remember.

*"Mrs. Vandebilt" : Wings-McCartney at his character-driven chamber pop finest.

*"Eleanor Rigby": Beatles-McCartney at his character-driven chamber pop finest.

*"Ram On*: As soon as he picked up the uke you figured he was heading into a Harrison tune.

Instead, he went sweetly into the Bacharach "Raindrops" sweep of "Ram On".

*Something": Else.

*"Sing the Chances" : Don't remember.

*"Band on the Run" then "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La Da":  just fun to hear.

*"Back in the U.S.S.R" - Swift kicking and gutsy.

* ""I've Got a Feeling" - Slow kicking and gutsy, really rangy.

[BY THE WAY, HAS ANYBODY NOTICED: McCARTNEY HAS A REAL SOLID AND GENUINE MANNER IN WHICH HE PAIRS LIKE-SOUNDING SONGS TOGETHER. THAT MAY SEEM OBVIOUS, BUT I DARE YOU TO COUNT ON ONE HAND HOW MAY ARTISTS VET OR NOVICE WHO UNDERSTAND PACE AND THEMATICS.]

*"Paperback Writer": Delirious fun.

*"A Day in the Life"/"Give Peace a Chance": see above.

*"Let it Be": above.

*" Live and Let Die": the grand spy-portion of the program where all the olds in the front row get frightened by fireworks. Nicely played.

*"Hey Jude": above. McCartney does though still have THE BEST SCREAM in rock. EVER.

*"Day Tripper" then "Lady Madonna" then "Get Back": Go ahead, Max Martin and Dr. Luke - pop's current go to guys. Write enduring roaring melodies like those back to back.

*"Yesterday": sweet and simple.

*"Helter Skelter": Genuinely manic and shockingly corrosive. Again with the scream.

* Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)" into "Carry That Weight" into "The End": epic epic epic epic.

Good night.

It's a mystery almost as compelling as the entire run of the TV series Lost!

By Fred Mills

You can tell it's a slow news day when not only blogs but mainstream music media outlets like Billboard are jumping what's got to be pretty marginal stuff with equal vigor. The latter is reporting that the new Weezer album, due Sept. 14 on Epitaph and titled Hurley (as in, the character "Hurley" on Lost - see internet mock-up of proposed album art, above), was in fact not inspired by that show's Jorge Garcia but rather by Hurley International, a surf-skate company.

Billboard  and New York Magazine cite as proof a recent interview with Weezer guitarist Brian Bell about the origin of the album title. Bell is quoted as saying:

"The inspiration came from a surf company called Hurley, that was funding the record at the beginning of the recording process. And we actually did some sort of advertisement ... I don't even know how they're tied in so much, although, we got some clothes and we did a photo shoot where we're wearing these clothes, and I think we're selling these clothes in malls. So how that's tied in, I don't know. I think it's this whole like ... tying in different medias,and then using Hurley, the character from Lost, which I've never seen in my life, as our mascot almost, for this record, is somewhat postmodernistic maybe. I hope people don't look at it as too jokey. Cause it certainly comes across that way, without reading into it a little more deeply. That's it as far as the name and the album cover goes."

Then this morning New York Magazine turned around and revealed that after the quote circulated, Bell wound up posting a retraction on the band's website:

"Recently I did an interview in Denver where I was asked why we called the album Hurley. I mistakenly said that Hurley funded the album. I later found out that it wasn't true at all. Weezer paid for every penny of this recording. The reason the record is called "Hurley" is because Hurley (Jorge Garcia) is on the cover. We thought about leaving the record untitled for the fourth time, but that causes a lot of problems and he knew people would end up calling the record "Hurley" anyway. We got no money for calling the record "Hurley."

So there you have it. We can all rest easy now.