Despite his immortal battle with Courtney Love, Dave Grohl is still able to keep up with his band, The Foo Fighters. The Foos will release a new album on October 22nd with the first single being "All My Life". Grohl claims that the new material is "the best songs we've ever written". Grohl can also be heard on his original claim to fame--the drums--as he plays them on the new Queens of the Stone Age album, Songs for the Death, due August 22nd.

Michael Stipe and R.E.M. will be entering the studio to record a followup to 2001's Reveal slated for a mid-2003 release. Stipe has expressed the desire to tour Europe and that he's not sure if R.E.M. has an audience in America anymore. Well Mikey, maybe when you guys release an album as good as 1983's Murmur, and drop the Brian Wilson posing, someone will care again.

The Pixies: Purple Tape

Available at Amazon.com!

True story: on the way to get my copy of the holy grail of alt-rock, The Pixies demo tape (aka Purple Tape) basically the lost album, I was wondering who exactlty besides me after all these years still cares enough to actually run out on the first day of release to get a CD of Pixies vault material. I thought to myself  "I mean are there really die hard Pixies fans in Tampa running around and if so what do they look like? Will I ever see one?" Never in my right mind did I think I would. But after I purchased my copy I found that the case was smashed (probably by some Limp Bizkit loving stock boy). I rushed back in and told the cashier the tradgedy and he said "sure just grab another copy". So what do I see when I get to the aisle for P? A f@&*cking Pixies fan. Yeah you know the kind, middle 30's, beige khaki shorts, black high top Chuck's, and looks a little like Frank Black himself. I literally stop dead in my tracks as I see him holding a copy, he looks at the back of the cd and slowly but unsurely walks away with it. I desperatly rush to the marker for The Pixies and after shuffling through several copies of Doolittle and Surfer Rosa, my fears are confirmed. The bastard took the last copy! I look at him slowly walking down the aisle and he looks down at his copy unsurely again and then towards my "somebody pissed on your grave" face and decides to keep it before dissapearing around the next aisle. After walking out with my smashed copy I ponder waiting aroudn the corner for him and mugging him of my rightful copy but I don't. Instead I try to convince myself that owning a smashed copy is closer to owning a homemade demo tape anyway. When all is done and said what I do own is the remaining tracks from The Pixies 1987 demo tape. Originally there were 17 tracks, nine were used for the debut album Come On Pilgrim, the lost 8 are finally released here. Most of the selections are original versions of now familiar Pixies classics. Most don't sound very different from their final incarnations just rougher and unpolished. The exception being "Subbacultcha", the final version on Trompe Le Monde was a beat rap backed with metal crunch, this original version has a more fluid surf vibe. Also for the 50th time we get yet another version of the Eraserhead cover "In Heaven", but, even then, it never gets old. The one "new" track (previously unreleased) "Rock A My Soul", is a breath of fresh air as we finally get a new Pixies track and probably the last. Even nine years after their break-up The Pixies still sound fresh and vital. The fact remains they were and still are the only alt-rock band to get it right. So the moral of my story is even though the copy I own has a smashed case it doesn't really matter because the music says it all so forget the pretty packaging this is Rock N' Roll!

The Vines: Highly Evolved
Available at Amazon.com!

The Vines were poised to be Great Britain's answer to America's The Strokes and The White Stripes. The Strokes and The White Stripes for those who came in late are part of the growing movement of the so-called post-indie scene. Bands that fall into this category basically sound like either a 60s garage band playing Led Zeppelin (The White Stripes) or 70s New York proto-punk (The Strokes). Fortunately, The Vines don't fall into that group like the British press would like you to believe (the above-mentioned bands are great, but let's face it we don't need more clones). Lead Guitarist/Songwriter Craig Nicholls is purported to be something of a cracked genius according to his overseas press but on listening to Highly Evolved you get the bizarre mental picture of a alt-rock super soldier. An alt-rock star created from careful breeding of the greats or some sc-fi nonsense. Nicholl's lyrics, for instance, are as surreal and nonsensically genius as anything from Frank Black or Syd Barrett's warped mind. His guitar hooks sound like they've been taught to him by Ray Davies himself. His ability to turn aggressive noise into pop smarts might as well have been given to him by channelling the spirit of Kurt Cobain and his ballads run rings around Noel Gallagher. But under all these influences Nicholls still manages to make fresh and honest music. A lot of the songs on Highly Evolved have an early 90s vibe. "Ain't No Room" sounds like an attempt to out Blur Blur, while "Homesick" feels like it should have been on (What's The Story?) Morning Glory and rock tracks like "Highly Evolved" and "Get Free" are decidedly Nevermind-ish.

Still Nicholls doesn't appear to be copying or posing instead he appears to be saying "Look I can out do you all now just wait till I really get started!" Because though he wears his influences on his sleeve sometimes he tops them. "Get Free" for all its Cobainisms still is a better mix of pop and harsh punk than anything on the way-too-pop Nevermind. A line from the song "1969", "It's 1969 in my head..." tells us not to forget that The Vines, thoughly deeply steeped in early 90s stylings, also owe great props to 60s garage bands like The Electric Prunes and mainly The Seeds. They also give a (sarcastic?) nod to Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear The Reaper" in the opening riff of "In The Jungle".

Highly Evolved combines about 40 yrs of rock 'n roll not into some artsy-fartsy art rock concept album, but instead, a great and fun rock 'n roll album. This is The Vines for now, only the 2nd album will prove their staying power, but a debut like this from a band this young is a promising start indeed. Now stop listening to my review, go get it and crank the mother up!

Oasis: Heathen Chemistry
Available at Amazon.com!

You would think that in the year 2002 that bands would quit ripping off the sounds of yore but it seems that even when we get a great new band, like The White Stripes for instance, they are still simply copping past musical trends. That being said, many bands continue to rip off The Beatles, and none do it better than Oasis. For years now they've been riding on the Fab Four's coattails (the only exception being their debut album). 2000's Standing on the Shoulders of Giants was still more of the same and after hearing all the hype I was hoping for Heathen Chemistry to be the one that breaks the monotony, the one that returns them to their past glories, the one that restores Brit-pop as a major power in the music world. Well it is still monotonous, and it certainly doesn't restore Brit-pop to anything other than the butt of a joke. But on a plus side, it does return to their earlier sound of buzz-fueled, fuzz-drenched guitar rock. In some places, that is, but very few and far between. "Hindu Times" is a great single,"Stop Crying Your Heart Out" is a return to the Gallagher brothers excellent balladry and that little bastard Liam Gallagher actually writes the best songs on this miserable effort. It seems brother Noel can no longer write a decent song without it sounding like a generic local band ("She is Love" is testament to that) and Liam, who contributed the awful "Little James" on the last album, has actually grown into his songwriting niche. Purportedly, when Noel heard Liam's song "Born on a Different Cloud" he didn't believe that Liam even wrote it. But even with Liam's newfound "gift", if you want to call it that, the album still sounds lame as hell and after about two listens stops even being a mild curiosity. Because Liam's songs sound like the Lennon/solo years and Noel's tunes still echo the Mop-Tops early hits. I mean do we really need more of this stuff? It's time to quit guys because when you start sounding like a Beatles renunion and you aren't even that band, then you really need to re-evaluate yourself. Heathen, yes. Chemistry, not a chance.

As head writer of this column I had to reserve a special place in remembrance of a blues historian, and a personal hero of mine. If not for Alan Lomax and his father John Lomax we probably would have long forgotten America's rich musical heritage of blues and folk songs. Alan and his father with the help of blues legend Leadbelly traveled all over the U.S. in recording and documenting American secular music (for more on the history of the Lomaxes and Leadbelly check out parts 9 and 10 of my Blues series). After hearing of his passing, I was saddened to lose this personal idol of mine. Lomax documented many prison songs and spirituals of unknown inmates and bluesmen, many of which were just as, if not more, important to learning about the past of a people than the more commercial blues. I thank him for this as he allowed my generation to hear such powerful music in an age where I would gladly give up even my beloved Pixies for music this honest.

Alan Lomax was laid to rest in Tarpon Springs, Florida, July 23, 2002. Rest In Peace, Alan.

"I'm going away to a world unknown.
Im going away to a world unknown.
I'm worried now, but I won't be long."

Down the Dirt Road Blues
    --Charley Patton

Recommended Works The recordings made by John Lomax and his son Alan have all pretty much been released on C.D. The discs below are simply starting points for the unfamiliar listener. While Alan also documented folk songs from all over the world his most beloved collections are the songs of the American South documented by him, his father, and Leadbelly in the late 30s and early 40s. The selections below are the best start for blues fans and beginners alike.

Deep River of Song: Virginia & the Piedmont--minstrilry, work songs and blues-- The best of the Deep River of Song series sheds light on unknowns of the Piedmont style like Jimmie Strothers who, never commercially recorded, plays some of the most haunting blues laid to shellac. Also included are some tracks by famous bluesman Josh White, and gospel legends The Golden Gate Quartet.

Deep River of Song: Big Brazos-- Big Brazos is an essential to anyone interested in prison songs. It features among others a haunting rendition of "Black Betty" sung by James "Iron Head" Baker.

Prison Songs--Historical Recordings from Parchman Farm 1947-1948, Vol. 1: Murderous Home -- A fine collection of prison ballads, worksongs, and spirituals recorded at the imfamous Parchman Farm in Mississippi. You can almost taste the misery and emotion in these performances.