Grenadier Sing the Hits of Grenadier

Grenadier - Self-Titled Album
(c) 2008 - Ubique UCD4
myspace.com/grenadier

One of the most awkward experiences in modern life is when a friend gives you his/her band's new CD to listen to. 4 out of 5 times it's gonna end poorly if you don't lie like hell and tap your vocabulary for every single euphemism that you've ever learned. Then (since it's your friend) you keep listening to the album until you have songs like the Floating Basement's "When Mamaluke is at the Beach" running through your head in the middle of Congressional appropriations hearings and other assorted inopportune moments.
It ain't a good thing.

A couple of weekends ago P-Dawg handed me the new Grenadier album. I liked their 2005 album Hand Offensive, so I was optimistic about this one - I popped it into the CD player while The Girl drove my loaded ass home, and then promptly forgot about it for a couple of weeks. Last night I decided to give it a fair (read: sober) listen, and I was blown away.
Hand Offensive was good, but seemed to wander all over the map. This new album is fucking SOLID - It has a laser-beam straight focus and kicks it out from the get-go. It is one of the best examples of American Power-Pop since Weezer's 'Blue Album' or Redd Kross' 'Phaseshifter'.

This new album plays like the distilled history of the Power-Pop movement. Two parts Elvis Costello, one part The Jam, one part Big Star, one part Cheap Trick, one part The Replacements, one part Redd Kross, with a pinch of Glam Rock (The Sweet/Slade/Roxy Music), and a touch of Indie-Noise (Jesus and Mary Chain/My Bloody Valentine). Throw all of that together and you have something totally new, and absolutely brilliant.
The only real departure from that formula is track #3, 'Ghost Child', which has a balls-out 1980's Australian pub-rock (Beasts of Bourbon/Gun Club) feel to it.
Good stuff, to be sure.

All-in-all 'Grenadier' is definitely worth picking up, and will be in my personal rotation for a while. I just hope that they can get out and book some shows soon with some bigger Chicago bands so that this record doesn't pass under the radar.
P-Dawg handed me this disc at the MOTO/Methadones show at Otto's, and it's a damned shame that they weren't on the bill that night. Woulda been a perfect fit - C'mon guys, get on it.

Track Listing:
1. Tolerance
2. Look at Me
3. Ghost Child
4. Poor Little Baby
5. See Run Boy
6. Secret
7. Public Now
8. Leave 'em Ringin'

L&E Record Geek Public Service Listing #4

Greedy Boot 1 - 2005: Various Artists
Okay, I've had this damned comp for well over year now and I think that I've finally gotten the track listing figured out.
This is an "outtakes" album of Dwarves songs, Dwarves side projects, and other tracks that are somehow tangentially related to the Dwarves. Any sane person would just list all the tracks as "Dwarves" and move on, but not me.
The artists are listed together above the track listing as so:

Dwarves,Mondo Generator, Greedy Bros, Cool Millions, Persephone's Bees, Sgt. Saltpeter, Brad Cook, DJ Marz, Luke Sick, Holograms, Coyote Ridge, Dexter, Elmo, KEZF, The Fursmen and Blag Dahlia

Easy right? Just match the names to the appropriate tracks? Considering that Blag sings on all but a handful of the 20 tracks on this record and half the artists seem to be dead leads, not so easy.
Here's my annotated track listing. If I'm off on any of these, feel free to correct me.

ACHTUNG: Almost all of the links (with corresponding cover art) are NSFW.

1: Drinking Up Christmas - Dwarves
This is a holiday themed re-recording of "Better Be Women" off of their 1997 album The Dwarves Are Young And Good Looking. I have a sneaking suspicion that this might be the elusive 'Fursmen' track (Dwarves under a pseudonym), but all listings I have been able to find identify this one as by the Dwarves. I haven't been able to locate the original release of this track, so I'm sticking with what I know.

2: Kaotica - DJ Marz
This one was originally released as the B-Side for the Dwarves Salt Lake City 7" EP. The credit on the original is listed as "Produced, Mixed & Recorded By Blag Dahlia, Bradley Cook, DJ Marz & the Greedy Bros." Almost all internet searches credited this one to DJ Marz and it definitely sounds like a remix, so I'm going with that one even though it was originally released under the Dwarves banner.

3: Massacre (Clean) - Dwarves
This is a radio edit of the track from The Dwarves Must Die. Originally released (in this form) on The Dwarves Must Remix 12" EP. Set this one in stone.

4: Big Balls - Dwarves
This one's from Hell Ain't A Bad Place To Be: An AC/DC Tribute. Listed as the Dwarves. Set.

5: Speed Demon (Download) - Dwarves
Live version - originally available as a download from the Greedy website.

6: Seven Eleven - Earl Lee Grace
Track #9 from Blackgrass. A Blag side-project. Set.

7: Meth, I Hear You Calling - Mondo Generator
This is the opening track from their 2003 album Drug Problem That Never Existed.
Side note: This band is fronted by Nick Oliveri (Kyuss, Queens of the Stoneage). Mr Oliveri also plays in the Dwarves under the moniker 'Rex Everything'. Set.

8: Who Put the Methamphetemine? - Brad Cook
That's what all of the internets say. I'm not gonna argue. Another Dwarves member.

9: One Time Only - The Holograms
Track #4 from Night of 1000 Ex-Boyfriends. Cover of a Dwarves song. Set.

10: The KKK Took My Baby Away - Cool Millions
The Dwarves cover the Ramones under the pseudonym 'Cool Millions' (for some unknown reason).. Originally released on the 2003 Ramones tribute Song Ramones the Same. Set.

11: This Jihad - Blag Dahlia
Sounds like it's just Blag with an acoustic guitar. All listings I've found list this one as such.

12: Dominator (Radio) - Dwarves
Radio version of their track from The Dwarves Must Die.

13: Want You Bad (Remix) - Dexter Holland
The singer from the Offspring doing what sounds like a Backstreet Boys cover - In full boy-band glory. I have no idea what this is or where it's from, but everybody seems to agree that the listing belongs to Dexter.

14: Shit's It - Sgt. Saltpeter
Another track from an occasional Dwarves member. Fecal-focused country ditty that everyone credits to (or blames on) the Sargent.

15: FEFU (Clean) - Dwarves
Another track from The Dwarves Must Remix 12" EP. Set.

16: Blast (InstruMental) - Dwarves
Instrumental version of the song from The Dwarves Must Die.

17: Take Me To Your Leader - The Desert Sessions
Blag's contribution to Josh Homme's musical collective. Originally appeared on Desert Sessions Volume 6. I don't have the original of this one, but this sounds like a studio re-recording. Blag's definitely singing on this one.

18: Killa Cali - Get the Hater
Not 100% on this one, but I'm pretty damned sure that this is the hip-hop side project of Blag, DJ Marz and Luke Sick (Get the Hater). The interweb agrees.

19: Down By the River - Dwarves
Originally off of the 1993 Anybody Out There single. Set.

20: Don't Hate Me - Elmo Webber
So sez the internet.

That's what I've got, and it's good enough for me (for now). The maddening thing about this is all of the absolute dead-ends I chased in trying to flesh this one out. Of all of the bands listed only a few really fit. Persephone's Bees was a total nothing - The only Coyote Ridge I could find was a golf course - KEZF is a fucking radio station - And I couldn't find one damn thing on the Fursmen.
Oh well.

L&E Record Geek Public Service Listing #3

M.O.T.O. Demo Cassetes (Part One)

The band Masters of the Obvious (MOTO) has been around for well over 2 decades now, but most of their full-length releases are really hard to find demo cassettes. Paul (from the band) has started to transfer those cassettes over to CDRs, and some of them are available from their website, or at their live shows.
Needless to say, it's fucking impossible trying to track down cover art or track-listings for these releases.
Obsessive-compulsive record nerd to the rescue! I have about half of these CDRs - Here are the track-listings and album art for those:

ST. JOHN THE BASTARD (2000)Tracks:
1. Birthday Present To Myself
2. Primeval
3. Piano Jazz Radio
4. How Come He Gets To And I Dont
5. Now
6. Choking On Your Insides
7. Wise Words
8. Worm In The Sky #2
9. In Your Mind
10. Its Easy
11. Top Of The World
12. Stay At Home
13. Guess Again
14. Big Emotional Life
15. Something To Pass The Time
16. If Nobody Else Will
17. Looking At The World Today
18. I Walk
19. Till We Blow The Speakers Out
20. Girl Girl Inhale
21. Black Girl With Blonde Hair
22. Elaine Get Off My Mind
23. Dance Dance Dance Dance Dance To The Radio
24. Magazine
25. Lovers Landfill
26. But Of Course
27. Blast Of Silence
28. Love All Over The World
29. No Way Street

TERRAMOTO (1998)Tracks:
1. Riding On A Bus
2. Do Elvis For Me
3. Hard On Rock'n'Roll
4. Spit On The Sun
5. When Do We Get Paid
6. I Think Of You And I Die
7. Here Comes My Heart
8. Underneath An Awning In The Rain
9. We Are The Rats (Orig.)
10. Overtime Express
11. It'll Be Me (It'll Be Me!)
12. The Saturday Guy
13. Deliver Deliver Deliver
14. She Said She Said She Said
15. I Know You Gotta Do
16. Radio Wall Of Phlegm
17. I Am A Bomb
18. I'll Be Right There
19. Close Enough
20. Corner Of My Eye
21. River Of Death
22. Rock'n'Roll All Day
23. Catamaran
24. Only Love Can Heal The Pain
25. 1822

GANGWAY FOR MIRACLES (1997)Tracks:
1. All Set
2. Spinning Globe Spinning Planet
3. World Of Fuzz
4. Birthday Present To Myself
5. 2-4-6-8 Rock And Roll
6. Hey What House Does The Whore Live In
7. Let’s Nail It To The Moon
8. She’s Gone Nuts
9. Worm In The Sky #2
10. In Your Mind
11. I Walk
12. Blow The Speakers Out
13. What’ll Happen When The Noise Goes Off
14. Looking At The World Today
15. I Just Wanna Go
16. If Nobody Else Will
17. I Hate My Fucking Job
18. Some Thing
19. Girl Girl Inhale
20. Someone’s Gonna Get Their Head Chopped Off
21. Suburban Fighting Crest

AMPEG STUD (1996)Tracks:
1. Gagging On The Edge Of Love
2. Choking On You Insides
3. Wise Words
4. Meet Me By The Flagpole
5. The Things We Said And The Things We Did
6. Doing The Things We Want To Do
7. Making Love For The Rest Of My Life
8. Everyone You Meet
9. Benighted We Stand
10. Used Underwear
11. I Won’t Give Up Until You’re Mine
12. Cincinnati
13. Blazing Speed
14. Always
15. How Come He Gets To And I Don’t?
16. Now
17. Heart Of Hearts
18. Magazine
19. I Wanna Get You On
20. But Of Course

E PLURIBUS M.O.T.O. (1993)Tracks:
1. I'm On Your Side I'm On It
2. Straighten It Out
3. It Tastes Just Like A Milkshake
4. Everybody Knows
5. Cubbyhole
6. Live On The Edge
7. I Wanna Stick Myself
8. Go Straight To Hell
9. Cancer In My Dick
10. Twilite Zone
11. Transformoto
12. Floating On A Cloud Of Love
13. I'm Not Feeling For You
14. Dreadterror Horrorterror
15. Fate Takes A Stool
16. Annie-Claude
17. Reading The Book Of My Life
18. Hot Stuff Poop
19. Original Party Savior
20. Last Supper
21. Mike Tomeny - King Of Kings
22. Upramp Of Your Love
23. I've Never Been To Me

MOTOERECTUS (1987)Tracks:
1. Motoerectus
2. Leo Buscaglia Evening
3. Man Woman And Child
4. Bright Sunshiny Skull
5. The Sorrow And The Pity
6. The Queens Dick
7. One Good Dose Of Nyquil
8. I Can’t Get By Can’t Do It
9. Anatomical Gift Statement
10. Whistle Through Your Ears
11. Die Tonight
12. Fuck Tonight
13. Screwed Up Situation
14. Just The Kinda Guy I Am
15. She Got Everything
16. Price of Love
17. Motodemo

BOLT (1986)Tracks:
1. Dick About It
2. Boredom In Action
3. California In The Summertime
4. Do You Remember
5. I Brake For Spades
6. Big Black Boots
7. Sometimes I Get The Feeling
8. Catholic World
9. Month Of Sundays
10. Destroy The Earth
11. Astronauts
12. Social Scene
13. Walk Don't Walk
14. Duty Child
15. Killer Shrews
16. Bending Over Backwards
17. I Fell Ill
18. Veterans' Day
19. Sickle Cell Express
20. Buckingham

TURN YOUR HEAD AND COUGH (1985)Tracks:
1. Art School Beach
2. Well Dressed Man
3. Give Me Food
4. Do The Dip
5. Midnight At The Guantanamo Room
6. Brain Trust
7. Beat The Beef
8. The Razor’s Edge
9. Supermarket
10. Uptown Square
11. Soul Mass
12. Prefabricated
13. Penisenvypogostyx
14. Every Day Of The Week
15. The King

That's it. Once I track down the other 9 'cassette' CDRs I'll put up Part 2. Look for it sometime in the next five years or so.

L&E Record Geek Public Service Listing #2

Selective Album Covers of DeKalb

Okay, I have a load of discs from ye olde D-Town days, but am having absolute zero luck finding any online jpgs of the covers. I just scanned 'em myself and am posting them just in case anyone else is trying to track 'em down.

The Harmonics: Christ and His Mama in the Shit House of Love
(Seven Dead Arson Records) 7DA001

BuFu L'Ru: The Little Green Guys Come and Take You Away!!
(Seven Dead Arson Records) 7DA002

More Fucked: Godamn More Fucked & The Assraper
(Self-Released)

Grenadier: Hand Offensive
(Ubique Records) 16892-60972

Ed Posega: Breather
(Self-Released)

The Floating Basement: Goiter
(Self-Released)

The Floating Basement: Smell-O-Vision
(Self-Released)

The Floating Basement: Nothing and Then Some
(Self-Released)

The Floating Basement: I Want My Money Back - An Evening With the Floating Basement
(Self-Released)

The Magnificent Ambersons: Current
(Strane Records) Strane CD-1

The Magnificent Ambersons: Ambersongs
(Weed Records) Weed 004
If Ed wants to shoot me the tracklistings for all of his discs, I'll gladly plug in the tracks for the first 4. If not, meh.

Okay, That's it for now. Keep your eyes open for #3 sometime soon profiling obscure local comps.

L&E Record Geek Public Service Listing #1

Okay, this shit has been has been driving me fucking batty for years now. You go to try and find information for some old record (usually a compilation), and the internets are anything but helpful. I've decided to start doing occasional posts with all of the pertinent information for obscure "lost" records that can't be easily found through regular searches. L&E posts tend to rank fairly high on Google searches (much to my surprise and/or dismay), so I figured that this possibly could be helpful to some other frustrated music nerd out there.

L&E #1 : Punk - Music Collection Int. (Trojan Records) - CD (OOP) - 1991 - MCCD 015

Track Listing
1. What Do I Get (Live) - Buzzcocks
2. EMI - Sex Pistols
3. Personality Crisis - New York Dolls
4. Angels With Dirty Faces (Live) - Sham 69
5. If The Kids Are United... (Live) - Sham 69
6. Born To Lose (Live) - Johnny Thunders
7. Bored Teenagers (Live) - The Adverts
8. Looking For A Kiss - New York Dolls
9. Rip Off (Live) - Sham 69
10. One Track Mind (Live) - Johnny Thunders
11. Boston Babies (Live) - Slaughter & The Dogs
12. Pretty Vacant (Live) - Sex Pistols
13. No Time To Be 21 (Live) - The Adverts
14. Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing - Discharge
15. Brickfield Nights (Live) - The Boys
16. Time's Up (Live) - Buzzcocks

I'm sure it seemed like a great fucking idea to name this album "Punk" back in 1991 (hey, that's what it is), but it makes for a royal pain in the ass trying to track it down on the interwebs.
The album itself is a decent culled album, but nothing all that great. I think I found it in a used bin somewhere and picked it up for the NY Dolls and Boys tracks.

Clarification: I'm just doing this to try and get the information out there - I'm not gonna copy it and send it out to you, sorry. No, not even if you ask really nice. With all of the information contained above you should be able to track down a copy for yourself.