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: 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.

The Air I Breathe lead a full lineup at The Harmony Grange

Pictured: Tony Dougard of The Air I Breathe. Photo by: Brandon Hambright.

If you've seen The Kids hanging outside a weird old building on Limestone Road and wondered what the hell was going on, you either are over the age of 35, listen to Sting solo albums, could care less about punk and/or hardcore or all of the above.

This building is The Harmony Grange, which for eight years now has been the home for many a killer concert for area youngsters who want nothing more than to check out their favorite bands who inexplicably are hauling their amps and equipment to the stage and perfecting their eyeliner in the heart of Pike Creek.

Fat Wreck Chords legends The Soviettes.

Although I can claim one of the above lame-o-meter detectors, I was completely overjoyed when ferocious Minneapolis punk band The Soviettes brought their tour to the Grange in 2005. Getting a chance to hear them rip through "Blue Stars," "Bottom's Up, Bottomed Out" and "#1 is Number Two" not long after noon on a Saturday in a place where Panera Bread and furniture stores reign supreme was nothing short of mind-boggling and awesome.

Fans of a handful of bands playing The Grange tonight (March 16) will have a similar experience, as a hardcore lineup headlined by New Jersey's The Air I Breathe will set up camp. The Air comes through on the oddest of farewell tours - last year all but one of the five-member group left the band, leaving singer Tony Dougard to take the thing home.

Uuugh.

How jacked up is that? Whatever the reason, it was just not cool for these four apparent douches to ditch Dougard and leave him to mop up the mess of delivering promised gigs to promoters all over the place. What if The Police had done that to Sting? Stuck ol' Gordy Sumner with a shitload of shows in some remote country like Tristan da Cunha. Wait, that woulda been kind of funny. Bad example.

TAIB fans will be pumped all the same to hear bludgeoning dirges like "Deliverance" and "Vultures" one last time.

Also on the bill are Maris Lane, My Private War, Harbinger, For Centuries and Seize the Day.

Tickets are $10 for tonight's show (March 16), which starts at 6 p.m. at the Grange, 3201 Limestone Road. Go here to buy tickets or here for more info.