Friday, March 9, 2012

Song of the Week #185

We’re still talking about rain and flooding in the ACT and across much of the country. The good thing is that our dams are full. The bad thing is that our house needs a new bathroom roof and the backyard is doubling as a paddling pool!

This song was expected by a few last week but it seems even more relevant now…


In pretty cool news, Billy Bragg is releasing a 3 CD/ 1 DVD set of the Mermaid Avenue recordings. You get the first two albums re-mastered and then a third of unreleased tracks. The DVD includes a swag of stuff including the video “Man in the Sand” which is about the making of the albums. If you didn’t know, Billy and American band Wilco put tunes to Woody Guthrie lyrics that he hadn’t put to music himself. There are some great tracks. Also, if you order it from Billy’s website you can have him sign it…I’ll be ordering in a few minutes! This is my favourite song from these albums – you’d swear that Woody write it for Billy to sing.


In 1979 AC/DC filmed a show in Paris. Their “Highway to Hell” album was just massive and they were beginning to face the world as superstars. Of course you know that Bon tragically died in Feb 1980 but the band carried on. The 1979 concert was released in cinemas and later on VHS but until now most people had only seen some clips on TV. Well, the DVD and BluRay release is now available. The fantastic folks at Landspeed Records in Canberra have ordered me the Collectors’ Edition (naturally) and it should be here next week. As a rock video it’s pretty simple but the power of the music and cheeky swagger of Bon Scott is a real treat. This song was originally on the TNT album from 1976 (their second album) and this is a great live version.


Some bands have too many live albums and DVDs. Iron Maiden are one of them. There’s another slab of hard rock coming out soon. Recorded in front of a completely insane South American audience it will be a killer. But, seriously, another one!

Taylor Swift is in the country. There, I said it. Let’s move on. At least she writes some of her own stuff. And she’s less offensive than most Top 40 stuff. But I’m not playing any.

It’s always sad when someone dies. But sometimes the public grief outpour like we saw with Michael Jackson or Whitney Houston is just a bit over the top. Davy Jones from The Monkees died on 29 Feb. The fanfare was minimal in comparison to “mega stars” but he will nonetheless be sorely missed. He was a former child TV and stage actor and jockey who joined The Monkees at 21. Jimi Hendrix was once the opening act on a Monkees concert tour!


This week I got a CD by a group out Ohio called “Kung Fu Grip”. KFG was a term coined to describe GI Joe’s gripping rubber hands. Having spent far too much time and money assembling a GI Joe and Action Man collection in the past, the band’s name caught my eye. They sound like a mix between the Chili Peppers and Metallica – all in a good way. But I can’t find much out about them. Anyone out there in radio land have any information?

On Saturday Angus is refereeing the half time game at the Brumbies Rugby – he’s pretty excited as are the rest of the family!

It’s a long weekend here and a sleep in tomorrow will be welcome.


See you on the flipside,
DJ Rob

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