Midweek Music News Roundup 9.30.09: Scary Monsters (And Super Groups)

Posted by Lucas Wesley on 09.30.2009

New music from Paul Westerberg and Portishead, Dan Deacon learns about public relations, the 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees are in, Warner Brothers allow their legal department to relax, Thom Yorke thinks about getting super, and a long history of the super group. Stop by and learn about it all in the Midweek Music News Roundup.

I didn't really talk too much about the new title last week, so bear with me for a few seconds. The Midweek Music News Roundup. Well, if nothing else, the title is plainly descriptive. Rejected titles include Music News Is Sex, which was called bait and switch. And I guess it is, but Music News is no less intrinsically sex than Confusion. But I don't want to sound argumentative; I'm fine with my new title. Let's get to the news.



- Paul Westerberg, also known as Minneapolis' second greatest (but first besterberg) musical genius, has randomly and unexpectedly released a new EP. The wackily titled PW & The Ghost Gloves Cat Wing Joy Boys follows last years 49:00 in that it was released online only, though it can be purchased in both mp3 and CD format. The interested should go to Amazon.

- The nominees for the 2010 induction ceremony to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame have been announced. Feels like only last year we were all talking about how The Stooges just had to get in! And here we are, a year later, transferring that thought to...wait, they didn't get in. But they are nominated again! Oh, they have to get in this time! Other hopefuls (to me) include Jimmy Cliff, Darlene Love and LL Cool J. Expect at least one to get bumped by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Ah well.

- Last week I mentioned a coloring book contest. Well, we got an equally wacky one. Indie pop superstar Dan Deacon has announced his new poster contest. If you can identify every single character on this poster http://www.dandeacon.com/contest/Deacon-NPP-tour-for-web.jpg, you win! The winner will receive a $500 cash prize, a portrait of themselves drawn by Dan, the Wham City Box Set #1 compilation and Deacon's first eight releases. So, a hefty prize. But with characters named things like "Really Bad Drawing of Philip Glass," well...good luck. I'm out.

- Jens Lekman is going to have a companion in the "Famous People with Swine Flu" ward of the local hospital: Marilyn Manson. I just wanted to imagine there's a "Famous People with Swine Flu" ward, I have nothing else to add here.



- Paul McCartney was a smart little boy. An essay he wrote at the age of 10 was found at a Liverpool library. According to the Associated Press, the essay is handwritten, about Queen Elizabeth II, was prize-winning and according to researchers was "quite advanced." No words on whether or not the essay explained that her majesty was a very nice girl, nor was there mention of how much she had to say.

- I've recently wrote about Geoff Barrow's side project, beak>, but there's even better news: Portishead are already planning another album. It took 11 years from Portishead to Third, but it's looking like it'll only take one more until album four. Barrow tells the BBC, "we're going to start writing and if all goes well it could be [out] in a year's time." I can't wait.

- For a long time, Warner Brothers Music artists were more or less banned from YouTube. No more! Finally, YouTube and Warner Music Group have reached some kind of agreement, and you'll be able to find their artists songs on the site. I'm sure Amanda Palmer will be happy. No word on whether or not Prince will follow in the footsteps of his former slave driver.


What's that? I know you ain't askin' me about that again. Y'all know I'm 2 sexy 4 u-tube

- Elvis Costello has a new project: The Costello Show. No, not the name of the collective that released King of America, but rather what appears to be (I must admit the e-mail reads a little confusing) a series of live album releases. It's beginning with his famous Live at the El Mocambo, on September 29. Ardent fans will recognize the show as one of Elvis' all time most bootlegs, previously released on the 1993 collection 2½ Years. Logic indicates the rest of the shows will be far less well known, if only because that show is perhaps Costello's only truly well known show. Now, if only we could get a disc of all of the Spectacle performances, like I somehow imagined the set would be...

- For some reason I get the feeling that Thom Yorke's been pretty bored lately. After a Radiohead single and two solo singles, Yorke has formed a new band with producer Nigel Godrich, Beck/R.E.M. touring drummer Joey Waronker, some dude named Mauro Refosco and Flea. The band is performing two songs October 4 and 5 at the Orpheum in LA. I'm not gonna be one of those "whoa, Flea!" types, because I don't see the big deal about it. But seriously, give Thom something to do, guys, he can't just constantly be making new music.

Star Power

So that last bullet there has got me thinking. People are mostly shocked, happy and/or upset about the whole thing because Flea and Thom Yorke are enough to make this group "super." And what is a super group? In the history of super groups, I only know two super groups I like. The Traveling Wilburys and Faces. In fact, I'll give you CSN and sometimes Y, too, just for the sake of argument. And I know Faces aren't generally seen as a super group, I'm just giving them that distinction mostly for the sake of publicly calling myself a fan. But yeah, the point is, there aren't many good super groups. So for this reason and perhaps a little bit out of respect for the debut release of Monsters of Folk, today's Star Power is about super groups.

First of all, let me separate two ideas here. A rock and roll super group has little to nothing in common with a jazz super session. Yes, the idea remains a bunch of formerly famous musicians getting together under a single banner, but more often than not the jazz super session is credited to but one performer, the rest technically remaining simply as guest stars. With the rock super group, we kind of elevate them all to the same consistent level.



To get into things, we must first talk about the "world's first super group," Cream. I put it in quotes not to dispute it outright, but rather just to cast a little doubt. I will say, though, that Eric Clapton has been more instrumental in the term super group than almost anyone else since. Just look at his super resume. First there was The Yardbirds, which lead to many calling him the best English guitarist around, a status he still holds in the eyes of many. Then he got super, attaching his name to John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers (as I'll surely say far too many times, collaborations and guest stars were the predecessor and perhaps successor to super groups) to boost their fame. Next he helped form Cream, making his fame atmospheric. A little Blind Faith here, a little friendship with Delany & Bonnie there, and suddenly his name is Derek and he has his own Dominos. In the span of about three years, that's three super groups and two major collaborations. Clearly Clapton is the king.

But let's look at some other early examples. Of course, there's the aforementioned Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, and all the off shoots you can find there. Not only are they perhaps the most iconic and popular of these super groups, but they started the short lived but kind of awesome law firm band name convention later followed by Emerson, Lake and Palmer. Speaking of whom, I'd be remiss not to mention the legendary story behind that one: they were originally rumored to be called HELP with a certain major H filling in on guitar, but he overdosed before that came to be. Humble Pie and Bad Company round out the major names of the first wave of super groups. I don't know if I have much else to say on the matter since I don't care for either band and have no more stories about it.

We should also mention some collectives of the time that highly resembled super groups. Namely, two groups come to mind: The Dirty Mac and the original Plastic Ono Band. Both contemporaneous of CSNY and both featuring John Lennon and Eric Clapton, the two certainly resemble super groups. The Dirty Mac featured Lennon, Clapton, Keith Richards and Mitch Mitchell. They assembled only for a jam and a version of "Yer Blues" for The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus, but enough of a bootleg exists for us to say that the band have a full EP. Still, it's fair to say they were a one off collaboration and not really a super group. The Plastic Ono Band, however, did several shows and albums together, either as The Plastic Ono Band or under John or Yoko's names. Featuring Lennon, Yoko, Clapton, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Klaus Voorman, they look pretty super to me. Perhaps its that Yoko Ono vilification theory I was working on last week, but I feel like they deserve a little more regard in this whole super group thing. But I've spent enough time on the early history, let's go on to the 80s.

In the popular spectrum, from 1973 to 1982, there were not very many super groups. Then along came Asia to reinvent the idea. There's not much to say about Asia that hasn't been said yet. Today it wouldn't be surprising if the only song of theirs you knew was Heat of the Moment, because it probably should be. But at least for the first album, Asia was a huge success and reinvigorated the idea. Jimmy Page made his next band with The Firm, a group mostly forgotten by time. One of the silliest super groups popped up in this general timeframe, too, known as Hindu Love Gods. The group was a collaboration between the three non-Michael Stipe members of R.E.M. with Warren Zevon supplying vocals. The band released one album in the early 90s, but history says they started in the mid 80s, and were just as funny then as they are now.



Going by the time line, I need to take a second here to mention an idea similar to the super group that was getting pretty big in the early to mid 80s: the massive charity single. Of course the first was Band-Aid with "Do They Know It's Christmas," and though they recorded but the one song, Band-Aid surely fit the mold for the super group. Next there was USA for Africa, Dionne & Friends and Artists United Against Apartheid with their respective mega hits, "We Are The World," "That's What Friends Are For" and "Sun City." Since you're surely curious, my favorite is "Sun City." Regardless, the charity single comes from the same mindset of the super group, being that if we get a bunch of talented people together, they have to produce great music. It only makes sense! Of course, charity makes it far more saccharine and hard to listen to all these years later, but it also makes you feel bad when you say you don't support it.

Back to some other actual super groups. The 80s also brought The Highwaymen, who I suppose deserve an honorable mention in the category of actually good groups. My only question is why they bothered making it official when they all collaborated and worked together before, but I guess that's where I'm ultimately going with this anyway. We also had the hilarious Damn Yankees, but there's nothing I can say about them Patton Oswalt hasn't brilliantly covered already. So I'll just move on to the one truly super super group: The Traveling Wilburys. You have Jeff Lynne, Tom Petty, a Beatle, Bob Dylan and one of the first big names in rock. For once, they actually can't go wrong. I admit, I'm one of those people that waffles on Tom Petty and thinks Jeff Lynne is a cheesy, silly person, but in this setting they both really killed it. Orbison's death really hurt the band, evidenced by the inferiority of Volume 3, but they still get the highest marks for Volume 1 being the best super group album of all time.

In the 90s, perhaps knowing they couldn't live up, super groups became less...super. Yes, you had Temple of the Dog, but the most famous members didn't really become famous until after the fact. Mad Season deserve some credit, but let's be honest, that's a half super group. We did eventually have Fantômas, but they weren't really super in the fame sense. In fact, the most "super" groups of the 90s were rap groups: Westside Connection and The Firm were the biggest names all coming together, but these groups once again that the sum of the parts does not necessarily equal the whole.

The 2000s brought more disappointments, with A Perfect Circle, Zwan, Audioslave, Velvet Revolver and surely plenty of others I just don't yet know enough about to mention. The indie world gave us the valid Postal Service and Broken Social Scene, but to the mainstream consumption of the word super group, who are they?



Today, we have so many guest stars, collaborations, and indie rock friends that the idea of super group is all but forgotten. There are tons of guest stars, but no one is thinking on that super level anymore. Beck's classic album series could be considered the combined efforts of super groups. He and Nigel Godrich alone might qualify the group as super. Through in Wilco, rumored to feature on a later set, and there's no doubt that's super. Monsters of Folk is seen more as a group of like-minded friends than a super group of musicians. I mentioned Broken Social Scene and The Postal Service, but we hardly see these as groups - they're more collectives. Which, yes, means group, but in a musical setting it can have a different connotation. The short-lived The Bens (Folds, Kweller and Lee) certainly gave this feeling. They released an EP, but it was essentially solo songs released with the group name. That's what the super group of today is, at least by my notice. And I guess the point I'm getting at is...maybe that's all it ever was.

Farewell Song

1972 is a special year, for more than a few landmark albums were released. But then again, I suppose that could be said about any year, if you were being kind enough with the word landmark. But 1972 at least had some universal classics, still seen as some of the most important of their genres. This goes for albums and songs. Not to mention Elton John and Stevie Wonder were pounding their pianos nonstop. But the two big albums of the year, and thus holder of the thirty or so big songs of the year, are The Rolling Stones' Exile on Main St. and the soundtrack to The Harder They Come. For a long time, I was in the mind set that it was fully possible the Stones "Rock Off" was the greatest song ever made. And you know what, maybe it is. I'm not the one to judge. But when it comes to making me unstoppably happy, you just can't go wrong with Jimmy Cliff. So the song of 1972 is his biggest hit, "The Harder They Come." Here's hoping the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame give Jimmy his notice and allow trinkets about him to display on their walls.

All that said, when it comes down to album versus album, it's a trickier battle. Mainly, I have a decision to make. Do we include compilations when deciding the best album of the year? The answer I ultimately come up with is no. The logic I use for this is the fact that though much of The Harder They Come was made for that album and new to the year 1972, not all of it was. Therefore, to call it the album of 1972 is not fully true, and I can't do it. Therefore, the Stones classic of rock and roll gets the honor, but we can easily tell that both deserve it.

That about does it for the Midweek Music Roundup. I'm Lucas Wesley and I hope to see you again next week for another helping of music news and rambling about relatively pointless topics!