The Best Band on Earth, 1962

It begins in 1962 as this was the birth of the "band" era.  Before that, in rock at least, it was all about singular performers and perhaps some acknowledgement of their side men.  This concept is based on the idea of cohesion, energy, and unity.  No bands repeat, so I guess it's not totally accurate.  It has very little to do with records and some bands will be number one when they did not release anything or maybe even released a weak album.  So, with that, the best band of 1962, The Beach Boys.

So, obviously I am not trying to say that the Beach Boys did their best work in 1962, but merely that they were the best band in the world at the time.  In a lot of ways, they were the best band they ever were at this point.  As the music got better they became more a project of Brian Wilson making use of five other vocalists and one other guitarist.  Then really just six solo projects that would share LPs.

1962, though the quintet of Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson with Mike Love and David Marks were the tightest and liveliest band so far.  Brian's songs were getting better and better by the day as he expanded beyond surfing and car songs into the likes of "Farmer's Daughter" and "Lonely Sea."  Though a weaker record, their debut Surfin' Safari showed how much potential the soon-to-be legendary band had and considering the hypnotic harmonies on "Ten Little Indians" were recorded live they may have already been there.

There is still a lot of controversy surrounding rhythm guitarist David Marks, but the extraordinarily young guitarist contributed much to the band being so cohesive.  The 1962 lineup was essentially a power trio of brothers plus one cousin and Marks.  Growing up in the same neighborhood as the Wilsons he was Dennis' young sidekick and even learned how to play guitar side by side with Carl.  These familiar bonds gave this era a rhythmic lock never head before that even a mature musician like Al Jardine just could not outdo.

The mostly teenage band did a lot of touring already and maintained a live schedule far more demanding than most bands since the 80s and their playing was improving as rapidly as the songwriting.  Sure, it may pale in comparison to Pet Sounds, but the 1962 Beach Boys were a live musical force far beyond many of over 50  the groups that will follow.  Plus, consider that the average age of its members was only 17!

Friends

So the last series was really self-centered, but this whole time it was all with the intention of putting out a collection of songs by my friends.  Most of the are the fascinating characters mentioned in my previous articles.  I have been lucky enough to be surrounded by geniuses my whole life, most of them musicians, and many of them collaborators.  Though some may be over or under-represented in this set, I tried not to have any favorites, I merely wanted all the major projects represented.  Alameda and Basking Ridge probably make up the majority of the lot, but people I know from college (the bridge to all, I suppose) and LA are in there too.  Now for the long explanation int eh only order that makes any sense:  Alphabetical...

Colin O'Brien-Lux is a Maryland-bred performance artist in Los Angeles who has been active in many communities in the city and is perhaps best-known for his Winter 2012 clown show Everybody Nose Nothing Means Anything And I'm Very Worried, which unfortunately coincided with Super River's debut.  Not to discuss my own band too much, but the connection is a major one as Jesse Johnstone did the engineering on the EP Angel Will You Marry Me? from which both these tracks are taken and played drums on one song.  Other drums were played by Miles Marsico and bass came from Andrew Lewis, who played in Skin Rat.  Last I know he was performing as Grandma in a very atmospheric and intimate way that should not be missed.  "Scarf" is one of the most powerful tracks I have heard in a while.

The Darflers is a project led by Alex "Flash Gilmore" Hatatsis that has also featured fromer Funbeatles/Sunfighter Marty Skeels and local legend (and portrayer of Nagatoku in "Gundam Driver") Chris Arnold.  The band had an emphasis on power-pop with green musician Halatsis skillfully pulling off both bass and vocals.  Not much has been heard since, but Halatsis is now in a band with Big/Ewox member Alyssa Polizzi before her move to LA.  "Best Boy" comes from the Spencer's Girl EP, and "Another Lonely Girl" is a demo with lyrics penned by yours truly.  One of my two appearances in this set.

Flash Gilmore & the Funbeatles was Alameda's greatest band, band certainly the greatest live act of 2012.  With firm roots in The Comfy Men, they were comprised of frontman Flash Gilmore, drummer Jerry Ramone, bassist Mick James and guitarists Hazel James and The Glove.  Their uniformed and choreographed shows were a rare spectacle featuring both phenomenal originals and classic covers.  They released the record Debauchery Playground, named after their closing track - the first composed for the project shortly before disbanding in late Spring of 2011.  Unfortunately, the album was recorded months before and the band's playing and songs had improved much in that time, but that's only an issue if you were lucky enough to witness these later shows.  It still stands as one of the best rock records of its time and "The Top" and "Here It Comes" are hardly enough to hear by this unbelievable combo.

Kidz was a project led by Sam Deutsch (who will be explained in more detail shortly) with a collaborator named Mike.  "Move Yo' Body" is a fantastic piece of 90s dance music that shows just how much the artist who cut his teeth in Hurtu/the Shears/Love Athena can do.

The Last Nights was the brief reunification of Funbeatles Alex Halatsis, Paul Igaz, and Arran Rogerson who made a worthy (even by their standards) debut with an improvised set in May 2012.  Before the Hawaii exodus they played a few shows and recorded Dig This from which these two tracks come.  "Dany James" is about the inspirational Oakland artist.  Sadly other classic tracks "Virtual Tibet" and "Guided by C-Mac" remain unrecorded to my knowledge.

Love Warrior was a solo project from Arran Rogerson after the disbanding of the Funbeatles and recorded the album DMZ, a power-pop album mostly about masturbation.

Also from Alameda is One Tribe, the project of Hawaii native Tony O'Toole.  A spiritual figure in the Alameda scene, Tony was the subject of one of the Funbeatles' earliest songs and has been catalyst to much musical growth (in both directions) with most of the Alameda musicians.  Music For My Friends was an ambitious project for him, but turned out to be a success.  It is the source of the atmospheric instrumental "John" and the cover of "30 Century Man," with guest vocals from Alex Halatsis.  "What a Strange Day" is a demo I rather like as well.

pow wow! is the project of Basking Ridge originals Jeff and Eddie Nazareno with roots going back arguably about ten years, or 26, depending on the perspective.  Last year they released the refreshing Don't Stop To Look with a five-member lineup providing big arrangements, tons of hooks, and beautiful harmonies.  The first two tracks are here, but the whole thing is about as good.  The band has had varying levels of notoriety throughout it its career, and their album, one of the finest of 2012 still needs its due.  Unfortunately their future is a bit uncertain, but there is no doubt its members will go onto creating more great music.

Sunfighter is the primary band of former Funbeatles Arran and Sam Rogerson.  They both play guitar and sing and split songwriting duties.  Sweet Machine was another great and overlooked album of 2012 full of catchy guitar rock that evokes all the best stuff and is quite creative in its songcraft.  They toured the West Coast last summer with rhythm section Fed Martinez (drummer in Rogerson's past groups Life on Mars? and others) and Eamon O'Conner, playing with Super River in two instances.  Here are two of my favorites from that record.

SWade is the former alias of Sam Deutsch, one of the most talented and unpredictable artists I know in any regard.  That made selecting tracks from him very difficult.  He can write great classic pop songs, experimental pieces, piano ballads and just about everything in between.  Lately his focus has been on Dark R&B, though with plenty of breaks in between.  He is currently using the name 50 Grand Sam and working on an EP, but just released the song "Hollywood" yesterday which you can purchase on iTunes, and I implore that you do.  These two are different though - "Could This Mean Space?" is an experimental synth pop that is as edgy as it is catchy, and "A Best Friend's Love" is a funny folk-rock demo.  Just two of my favorites among a whole lot.

Volcano Divers is Liam Carroll, from Liberty Corner, not Basking Ridge if you can believe that.  First appearing in this blog as Batwolf's butler Dr. Alphonzo Vengeance (yes, we had a doctor for a Butler), he has recorded a lot of noise-pop in this form and here are a couple of my faves.

Will Stratton is another old friend from Basking Ridge.  His real name is Will Lulofs and he was a member of Batwolf, the Tangles, and previously Time Well Spent.  He is recovering from Testicular Cancer and planning to return u-time to New York in October.   There will will be more about that in an upcoming article.  Last Friday was his benefit show, featuring a closing performance by the man himself in accompaniment of the BENEFIT ALBUM which I will also discuss in more detail.  Having the most professional career of all (four albums released on real labels) it was also hard to choose material from him, especially considering how much of it has Basking Ridge references.  However I chose one from his first, another from his second, and a demo of the title track for the next.  I am sure it will change a lot before the album is released, but I like this version.  I also used to like the demo version of "You're a Real Thing" more, but that has changed.

As mentioned before, Zero the Astronaut is Alex Adler's solo project after Ways ceased to be.  With so much material he started narrowing it down and went into the studio to record a debut single of "Solitude" and "Misery City."  He played all the instruments except the bass on "Solitude" which, not surprisingly was me.  The songs show both his sides - heavy and complex and soft and stoney, but both have a great deal of raw emotion.  Adler is an excellent songwriter who is firmly in the tradition of the best American rock of the 80s and 90s who has a lot of potential, particularly in his ability to not fear the obvious.

DOWNLOAD: THE BEST OF FRIENDS

I hope you enjoy all these tracks and artists as much as I do.