Hump Day Chat: Jeff Lynne - Legendary Producer or Wanna-be Legend?

G.E. Smith: Jeff Lynne - yay or nay?

Michael Anthony: In what respect? Like his production, kinda hate his music.   

G.E. Smith: Yeah screw him as an artist solo or with ELO (besides "Living Thing," dig that one), we both agree he eats nut. This is about his production. Obviously there's the Petty albums. They're good but would have been better without him.

Michael Anthony: But sound better than the Dick Lubin stuff don't you think?

G.E. Smith: Rubin had to produce crud ("You Don't Know How It Feels," maybe the best off "Wildflowers," blatantly rips off Wilco's "Too Far Apart"). If Rubin had the "Full Moon Fever" stuff to produce it woulda been SCHWEET.

Michael Anthony: I love the Lynne stuff on "Full Moon Fever," it's just a limp album. And then "Learning to Fly" is amazing sounding, no? 

G.E. Smith: No, I hate that tune. Especially since the Foo Fighters repurposed it.

Michael Anthony: Goo Fighters repurposed it twice ("Learn to Fly" and "Wheels"). What about how he ruined The Move. 

G.E. Smith: What'd he do? Dress them in Commie outfits and derail their entire career like Malcolm McLaren did to the New York Dolls? 

Michael Anthony: Move was rad psych pop, two-minute short 'n' weird singles, then Lynne started contributing and it got limp like ELO. Basically it turned into ELO, which isn't that bad but The Move was tight.

G.E. Smith: I think fever has some solid tunes ("Free Ballin" being way overrated) but the lite approach wasn't the way to go I don't think. "Great Wide Open Legs" is a mess no matter who produced it. Personally I think Lynne made it worse.

Michael Anthony: Eddie bated when he finished high school.

When you're rippin' light Petty, it's all downhill.

One of these things is not like the other ...

G.E. Smith: He went to Hollywood, slurped up some goo. What if "Fever" had a more raw approach like Rubin did with the Cash stuff, not exactly the weak stab he made on the shitty Petty album. "Runnin' Down a Dream" is fine but the rest have that Pringle-ish acoustic sound that is on EVERY SINGLE JEFF LYNNE TUNE EVER.

Michael Anthony: Can't see it. Rubin on "Full Moon." Haha.

G.E. Smith: Just some more robust and/or direct approach, that's all I was thinking. But,  OK, you have Lynne down as a win here. What about in Traveling Wilburys? I think his production is the right call there but his inclusion is a major violation.

Michael Anthony: Even as an 8 year old I was like who's that guy pretending to be cool with all those legends. Sad thing is he was actually the studliest one. 

G.E. Smith: It's like putting Jimmy Carter or Bush I on Mount Rushmore. Maybe that was the argument. He was like the Cliff Lee of the staff while the others were burnouts like Roy Halladay or R.A. Dickey. 

Michael Anthony: You don't like the plinky acoustic layers man? GBV ripped that on "Girls of Darryl Strawberry."

G.E. Smith: Yea I love it on "Strawberries." I love it on "Handle My Balls with Care" too. I just don't love it on EVERYTHING.

Michael Anthony: You think all those dudes kind of ragged on him during it all. Like at least during the video shoot. Like all standing around, then Orbison starts singing, "one of these things just doesn't belong here" from "Sesame Street." 

G.E. Smith: Or the other dudes circle jerking on his stupid ass fro. There's a doc where they have footage of all of them together it's pretty Bad A. There's no circle jerk.

Michael Anthony: I bet they never laughed at any of his jokes. 

G.E. Smith: Maybe they were trying to elevate him to their level. I bet Petty was the ring

Drag Clapton into this? Why not?

leader on getting him aboard. 

Michael Anthony: You think he's racist on top of it all? Like Sting and Costello?  

G.E. Smith: Absolutely. Anyone with glasses like that is clearly a racist. 

Michael Anthony: Haha fuc. He's racist against not looking like a piece of shit. Clapton too.

G.E. Smith: You think Clapton ever tried to cover up his racism with his tunes? 

Michael Anthony: Yeah, when he circled back around and went full racist with that mid-'90s faux blues album. 

G.E. Smith: Yea that's what I was thinking. He was actually being racist while trying to make up for being racist.  

Michael Anthony: Check that "Motherless Child" video, Clapton goes all out. 

G.E. Smith: What about Lynne and the Beatles shit. Like does he deserve to even in the

Lynne AND Petty were among those destroyed by Prince at the '04 Rock Hall.

same building as even one Beatle? Lynne co-produced Harrison's "Cloud Nine." 

Michael Anthony: He's considered among the five or so best producers of all time - do you think it's because of who he worked with or because of merit.

G.E. Smith: Well you know what I think. I think even his good work would still be great without him touching it. It's like a pointless layer of gloss that he puts on in many cases. 

Michael Anthony: Haha. "Cloud Nine" was the forerunner to "Full Moon." Kind of puts it into some perspective now. I still love "Learning To Fly," but yeah he sniffs.

Hump Day Chat: Fleetwood Mac's "Mirage" is the "Teen Wolf" of '80s Rock Albums

Today's chat with Michael Anthony of Cleveland Does Not Rock centers on Fleetwood Mac's massively underrated 1982 album, "Mirage" ... among other things. Unfortunately, the closest The Mac gets to us this year, sans Christie McVie, is the Times Union Center in Albany, N.Y. on June 19 and the Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre in Wantagh, N.Y., on June 22.

G.E. Smith: What about Fleetwood Mac's "Mirage." You got me into that and I really dig it, but after letting it soak in I have some other thoughts too. 

Michael Anthony: I like the lack of bloat, the lack of pretense, the economy of the writing. Although I really f*ckin wish "Holiday Road" was on there. Feel like it was the right move for them, and not typical of a big name release of that era. Side A is amazing. "Book of Love" feels so simple and immediate but if you dig deeper there's a lot there.

G.E. Smith: I'm amazed by the lack of good McVie tunes on there. I think she's their best writer, and even though she did the slammer "Hold Me" with Buck those other tracks are shit. You think she was lost in Mick's beard around this time? Does that explain "Mirage"?

Michael Anthony: Oh weird I usually kind of hate her tunes, and "Hold Me" alone - which I love - makes this her best effort in my book.

G.E. Smith: "Love in Store" is decent I guess but she sounds like Nicolas Cage in "Vampire's Kiss" in the other ones. What strikes me about the album is the fact that it doesn't really sound dated.

Michael Anthony: Yea not that any of their stuff does, but you'd assume that this would. Especially surprising is that its kind of been forgotten as a key Fleetwood Mac album. You'd think a rawer rock sound with big power pop singles would have generated it more love over time. I don't think "Don't Stop" is dated, just bad. "Go Your Own Way" sounds a little bit like an early '80s feminine product commercial, so I guess in that respect it's more cutting edge than dated. Since it came out, when... '76? Four years ahead of the feminine product commercial jingle curve.

Hey Tweedy: "Mirage" is a great to play, not to rip off.

G.E. Smith: I hear some pretty distinct things that influenced current artists on there, especially, oddly enough, "Empire State." Doug Gillard  copies the outro solo almost note for note on the relatively obscure Guided By Voices track "Of Mites and Men." I feel like shitty recent Wilco apes a lot on that too, especially the bass line.

Michael Anthony: Yeah man I'd put it right up there with Duran Duran's "Rio," Misfits' "Walk Among Us" and The Descendents' "Milo Goes To College" as far as 1982 albums that influenced me. But is it bad that indie rockers turn to soft rock influences? I mean, yes, this is good songwriting and all that, but you gotta think that drawing from elite soft rock will ultimately result in even more watered down stuff, right?

G.E. Smith: I do, and it did. You into that cornball Nicks tune "Straight Back"? Sounds like it was designed to go over the credits of some '80s flick. Like a bad sports movie. Now THAT sounds dated.

Michael Anthony: Can't argue with that. What flick though? "Teen Wolf"? "Wildcats"? 


G.E. Smith: Probably more "Wildcats" ... that had a more serious angle to it, relatively speaking. I mean the main character didn't morph into a wolf at will. By the way what do you think Teen Wolf's rod looked like? Do you think it got bigger when he morphed?

Wolf: Better on court or in sack?

Michael Anthony: Nah smaller actually but really hairy, which added girth / texture.

G.E. Smith: The ladies always seemed pleased.

Michael Anthony: Yeah chicks were big into bestiality in the '80s.

G.E. Smith: Either that or body hair. Explains Tom Jones, Paul Stanley etc.

Michael Anthony: Hey speaking of hairy pricks, back to Fleetwood Mac ... 

G.E. Smith: I imagine Buckingham shaved his chest hair into a likeness of himself, but, yeah, fly this thing home. 

Michael Anthony: Overrated or underrated?

G.E. Smith: I dunno. Underrated because they're overrated? But then there are some hipsters who pretend to like Mac, which makes them overrated because they were overrated and then underrated.

Buck's appearance on "SNL" showed he was kinda cool.

Michael Anthony: You think Buckingham is happy with his place in rock? He seems like he might be an egomaniac but the fact that he never took Fleetwood Mack to elite Dino rock levels shows some restraint.

G.E. Smith: He is definitely very pleased with himself and that stupid ass guitar he plays. But yeah, he's aight, and he doesn't try and pimp new material. He knows no one wants to hear some crock of shit.

Michael Anthony: I feel like it was a conscious decision on their part not to be turds about their legacy. Which makes them underrated, even though they're a little overrated.

G.E. Smith: They're overrated as an important band, but underrated as songwriters and musicians 
just like Teen Wolf was underrated for his sexing ability but overrated as a basketball player. 

Nothing should surprise when Michael Anthony's in the house.

Michael Anthony: Yeah how did he not score 200 points? 

G.E. Smith: Not really a great all around player. Plus look at his competition, a bunch of honkies.

Michael Anthony: Lot of goal tending.

G.E. Smith: Mac is basically the Teen Wolf of rock bands. Airy and fun without much substance on the surface but boasting some nice thick meat under the fur.

Hump Day Chat: Geeking on Midnight Oil, and The Punk vs. The Godfather

Doo doo, doo doo, doo doo doot.

As has become custom here at First State Rock, Michael Anthony of the rock hall blog Cleveland Does Not Rock joins our very own G.E. Smith for a random chat about rock music, some of which pertains to the Delaware Valley music scene. Or maybe not. Here goes:

G.E. Smith: You into the vid for "Power and the Passion" by Midnight Oil? It came on VH1 Classic's "120 Minutes" the other night. That video and song scares the shit out of me. What the f*ck is wrong with that Peter Garrett guy?

Michael Anthony: Haha yeah man. His moves seem to be a mistake.

G.E. Smith: They're more exaggerated in that tune. Like as if it's great or something. It sounds like dung.

Michael Anthony: Isn't it a little weird how no one cares about them now? Unless you live in AUS. I don't know why but I dig 'em. I'd never listen to 'em but it's pretty good. The singles at least. I bet the album tracks are ass. You into "Dead Heart"?

G.E. Smith: Yea I love "Dead Heart," and I like "Dream World" even better. I'm actually pretty into them. At least I used to be. I saw them in concert during all that Greenpeace shit and I have three of their albums. There's some not so bad deep cuts, like "Stars of Warburton" on "Blue Sky Mining."

Michael Anthony: I thought maybe you started hating them. Like I hate Elvis Costello now.

Gas face: Is it really that hard to play bass?

G.E. Smith: Who do respect more, Costello or Sting?

Michael Anthony: Haha I hate Elvis relative to how much I loved him in the past, but I wouldn't go so far as to compare him to Sting (whose "Back To Bass: 2013" tour comes to the Pier Six Pavillion in Baltimore on June 12, and the Borgata in Atlantic City from June 13-14). You think they're even comparable? Sting has no "Oliver's Army." Not even close. Both racist, both play soft rock now, neither ever played punk rock.

G.E. Smith: Yea definitely. I guess it comes down to who is more of a Fake Punk. Who is more longing to have punk roots and who fails worse in that department.

Michael Anthony: I don't think either tries now. Maybe both were just unwittingly shoehorned into punk/ New Wave but were really just aching to be adult-contemporary losers all along. At least Midnight Oil has the radical politics going on. You ever see how their most recent album cover jacks Wire?

G.E. Smith: Who, Oil? What year did that come out?

Michael Anthony: 2002. Similar cover to "A Bell Is A Cup."

G.E. Smith: You think that bald asshole dresses as Fred Krueger for Halloween?

Michael Anthony: Yeah. Or Slender Man.

G.E. Smith: You think Oil could have gone the Kiss/ Alice Cooper/ Misfits route?

Michael Anthony: You think if Garrett did a reverse Kiss people would like him better with makeup on?

G.E. Smith: You think him and his band ever jam naked in the desert?

Michael Anthony: Just him.

Hump Day Chat: Purling Hiss, Breeders, Yo Gabba Gabba

Purling Hiss, spawned from the increasingly secular Philly music scene.

Cleveland Does Not Rock's Michael Anthony joins us today for a rambling conversation about
music, some of which has actual relevance.

Michael Anthony: This band Purling Hiss gets gooed for but it sounds like wimpy Dinosaur Jr. Who needs it? You heard it? Check it out here.

popzeus: Looked 'em up. Philly psych-rock. About to go on tour in Europe. Has a record out on Drag City. Produced by a dude from another Philly band, War On Drugs. It's not bad. Compared to most other awful shit.

Michael Anthony: It sounds like a bad late '90s Dino Jr. song. Decent but not the same.

popzeus: You were talking about how that scene has gotten douchey, and how they started shunning bands from out of town.

Michael Anthony: Something like that. What I heard was there are certain cliques and it's very insular. Like if you follow slacker indie rock you wouldn't play at or go to a venue that featured earnest folk bands. I guess it's kind of normal but what I heard is that it kind of shuts out people from reaching a broader audience other than their niche.

Thee Oh Sees: Never saw the goofy eyeglasses thing before.

popzeus: Yeah, why would you only be into one kind of music and nothing else? Seems kind of snobbish to me.

Michael Anthony: How about this band Thee Oh Sees? Cool psych rock I guess but no hooks. I feel like most "lower"-fi bands are just as bad as the early '00s dance rock and garage rock bands when it comes to "attitude" over substance.

popzeus: Or "clothes" over substance. Stuff like that, to me, isn't horrid, it's just so mediocre that I wish it sucked. On a whim, I'll grab a classic like The Breeders' "Last Splash" to cleanse my pallet and hear something inspired. You into that album?

Michael Anthony: Yea man, it's good.

Popzeus after Tuesday's 'Last Spash' listen.

popzeus: I was surprised at how good "Last Splash" is. Been a while since I gave it an honest listen.
If you just try and dig it for what it is instead of some monolith of alt-rock it's pretty rad.

Michael Anthony: Yea really good hooks I think. Interesting but not off-putting or inaccessible. Perfect balance, probably.

popzeus: It whacker her out. She was afraid to do anything else, probably because she thought she'd never be able to hit that mark again. It blows anything Frank Black ever did solo out of the water.

Michael Anthony: "Headache" though. That should be on AM radio.

popzeus: Yea. First three tracks on "Teenager of the Year." Wow.

Michael Anthony: His self-titled album is a little fey. "Abstract Plain" is tighty.

popzeus: Yeah. "Thalassocracy" too.

Michael Anthony: You ever see that super f*cked up tune about "Rainbows" on "Yo Gabba Gabba"? With that old guy?

popzeus: Yea we are actually watching that one right now.

Michael Anthony: Shit, so are we.

popzeus: "Rainbow Connection." That "Muppets" tune. That fuct Paul Williams guy.

Michael Anthony: Yea, that vid is fuct looking. Because of the old fuc.

popzeus: What part are you on? The sunshine song?

Michael Anthony: Lance doing the rain cloud. "Rainbow Connection" tune just ended. Do the rain cloud! Do the rain cloud! Work it!