Hey, You Wanna Buy Some Speed?

In a sense created by a record executive, Speed, Glue & Shinki was more or less Japan's first successful super session, and a particularly visually alarming one full of 6-foot plus Eurasians. Journeyman guitarist Shinki Chen, often hailed as Japan's Jimi Hendrix was a mainstay of Japanese sessions, but had failed to make any great music on his own. Vice-heavy bassist Masayoshi "Glue" Kabe had been a founding member of the naturally most cracked-out Groups Sounds band the Golden Cups. The only exception was drummer/vocalist/songwriter Joey "Speed" Smith a virtually unknown half-American Filipino national who at the time was fronting an R&B band playing department stores. With a loud, messy blues concotion that would have sounded msot at home in Detroit only years earlier, the three recorded perhaps the most drugged-out music of all time.

This debut album ranked by Julian Cope as the greatest Japrock album (tied with the Flower Travellin' Band's Satori) is a thirty-five minute tribute to drugs and the futen lifestyle. Immediately in "Mr. Walking Drugstore Man," the band shows that while they are excellent musicians, their life truly does revolve around getting high. While the stringed section's command of English may not have been near that of Smith's, it is doubtful they, especially Kabe would object to their content. While the love of drugs is explicit, so is everything else. "Big Headed Woman" is the rock 'n' roll suicide suggestion the PMRC spent most of the eighties searching for, and a funny one at that. The group's assertion of the futen lifestyle runs rampant especially in the anthemic "Ode to the Bad People" to which we all should relate to.

Tempo changes, the instruments run wild, it's a loud mess, but probably the tightest, most deliberate one you will ever hear. This is punk rock.


Speed, Glue & Shinki - Eve (1971)

She's Like Fire, She's Like Ice, She'll Leave You High And Dry

A lot of people give David Roback the most credit for Rain Parade because of Mazzy Star. Their later work does not falter enough for that argument, nor is Mazzy Star good enough. His in-between group though, is the place to highlight his individual talent though.

Originally as Clay Allison, he and the Dream Syndicate's Kendra Smith collaborated on the work here, which I feel, particularly on the shared track "She's a Diamond" is better than their Happy Nightmare Baby. While it may have been in discussion of Rain Parade, Roback's famous quote "we wanted to make very quiet music," is the best description of Opal's work, more of a departure from the old band's Byrds-y guitars and hard-hitting drums than expected. What distinguishes this from the follow-ups of sorts is stong songwriter, at least some that can really shine through. Its opener "Empty Box Blues" is instantly more captivating than a lot of Roback's other post-Rain Parade work, and Smith sounds better than ever, as well. At times she even has the sound of an Old West chanteuse with a quiet shoegaze milleu. There is not much else like this, just don't let it put you to sleep... no offense.


Opal - Early Recordings (1988)

Little I Need to Know and Little I Need to Find

The Bats are one of my absolute favorite bands and this record is, likewise, one of my all-time favorites.

It is pop perfection in every way by a band just as perfect. The songwriting is tight, the playing is tight, and the way every member works together is unparalleled. This is best seen in the vocals harmonies of guitarists Robert Scott and Kaye Woodward, who on their own are not remarkable vocalists but work together so well it is transcendent. Additionally, Paul Kean is one of my favorite bassists and his lyrical style really fits with the Bats' freewheeling sound, perhaps even more so than it did in his Toy Love days. However, instrumentally the album' secret weapon is Alastair Gilbraith (of the Rip) whose often-multi-tracked violin parts have a way of seeping into your brain and allowing the pure pop to shine though. This diverse geling is no more evident than on the opening track "Treason," which I would argue as the greatest pop song of all time - though it is surely up for debate.

Like anyone else from the Flying Nun roster, the Bats' influence on 90s US indie rock is unmissable - just check out the melancholy "Tragedy" for a large portion of Yo La Tengo's work. The record may not move beyond the realm of jangly pop, but why should it? It runs the gamut in terms of mood which the Bats really have a talent of expressing. It spans all the way from the happy-go-lucky tone of "Round and Down" to the dark and forboding "North By North" (the theme to Australian TV series The Hollow Men).

Also included are some early tracks (the magnificent "Trouble in This Town" through the classic "Made Up In Blue" which are as strong as the subsequent album. Also, it should be noted the Bats are still around putting out quality music, so all the more reason to check them out at their peak!


The Bats - Daddy's Highway (1987)

What Jumpstarted My Kiwi-Pop Obsession

It was barely over a year ago that the Dunedin sound became more than just something I knew into my life. I had already gotten way into the Chills and the Clean, but had been meaning to catch up on the Bats, the Verlaines, and Tall Dwarfs. The first of those groups' work I managed to acquire was the Bats' The Law of Things, which while not as strong as the predecessor Daddy's Highway is also a remarkable pop album. Really, the only flaw is in the lessened presence of Kaye Woodward's airy voice which is much more prevalent on the group's other releases. As you can see below, the album art is almost as errily bizarre as on Daddy's Highway, but I think it captures the music accurately. While this record is often overshadowed by other Flying Nun releases it holds a special place for me as it began a life-altering obsession with that scene. It is refreshing to be rediscovering it now. The sound is a bit more laid back, but it has as much emotional power as ever. My favorite tracks include "The Other Side of You," "Mastery," and "Smoking Her Wings," though the quality of the others is not far behind.


The Bats - The Law of Things (1990)