“If there’s something inside that you wanna say. Say it out loud it’ll be okay.” The Beta Band – Dry The Rain
Adios 2008. Hola 2009. Game on and get ready for a good year.
Surf rock started it off as it always does. “Pabst Blue Ribbon” (my pop’s go to brew) by the Untamed Youth (best surf rock band name ever) set off the last Caught on the In Between broadcast of 2008. I can truly say that this has been one of the best years of my life and there’s no reason that 2009 shouldn't be the same if not better.
Keeping the surf feeling alive on a cold night, we jumped into “Do You Wanna Dance?” by the So Cal boys, The Beach Boys, next. They are one of the great, unique American bands and about the best thing that you can listen to in the summer. It feels like a long way from summer on this cold, 8 degree January night.
Lowell Thompson is a local rocker that I’ve played many times on my show and is my favorite local artist. His list of influences on his myspace page reads like my iTunes. He has a full length s/t album out there that was my album of the summer of 2006 and has been in constant rotation since, but he’s finally coming out with a new one at some point this winter. For the next set of tunes, I played three that Lowell recorded with his band (Bill Mullins – lead guitar, Kirk Flanagan – Bass, and Steve Hadeka – drums) at Egan Media in Colchester, VT on 11/17/08. I got the recordings from local recording maestro Jonah’s website (www.vermontlivemusic.com), so go scoop them for yourself. The song names aren’t listed on the website, so I made up song names for each based on some of the lyrics. The one that I called “Black Butterfly” is actually a Bill Mullins song and is sung by him. Bill is now in yet another band, The Persian Claws, which I caught at Tick Tick’s White Wind last month and they are yet another great BM production.
After the set of Lowell, we jumped into the Akron, OH, artsy fartsy boys, Devo with a great, lesser known tune by them called Come Back Jonee off of their debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo! Next up was Les Sans Culottes with Poupee De Cire and rounding out the set was the Amherst, Mass, folk/rock/gypsy band Rusty Belle with Hellion Song off of their S/T album. I caught them this summer at the excellent Langdon St Café down in Montpelier and they rocked a packed, sweaty, beer soaked house. And it was awesome. Check them out whenever they come up, especially if they play to the great crowds at Langdon St.
For the next set of tunes I focused on The Beta Band. Beta Band were a band that started in Edinburgh, Scotland in 1996 and lasted until about 2004. They released 4 excellent studio albums (including the 3 EP’s compilation), my favorite being 3 EP’s, but most people probably know them from a scene in the John Cusack film High Fidelity. In the scene, Cusack is talking to Todd Louiso at the record store in which they work and says “I will now sell five copies of The 3EP’s by the Beta band” and then turns on the song Dry The Rain. And slowly you start to see heads bobbing. Here’s the link to the scene on youtube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppJAkN4m9bY
We heard Dry the Rain and also heard two songs off of their Hot Shots II album – Broke and Quiet.
Closing out the show, I slowed it down a bit like I usually do. First off came Birds by Emiliana Torrini from her Me and Arminin album. The breakdown and subsequent rise back up with drums in this song is awesome. And lastly, I played the very appropriate “I Must Be In A Good Place Now” covered by Vetiver on their Things of the Past album. This song was originally done by Bobby Charles.
1. Pabst Blue Ribbon -- Untamed Youth -- Untamed Melodies
2. Do You Wanna Dance? -- The Beach Boys -- Sounds of Summer
3. Last Girl -- Lowell Thompson Band -- From 11/17/08 Egan Media
4. Black Butterfly -- Lowell Thompson Band -- From 11/17/08 Egan Media
5. More Than It Hurts Me -- Lowell Thompson Band -- From 11/17/08 Egan Media
6. Come Back Jonee -- Devo -- Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!
7. Poupee De Cire -- Les Sans Culottes -- Fixation Orale
8. Hellion Song -- Rusty Belle -- Rusty Belle
9. Broke -- The Beta Band -- Hot Shots II
10. Dry The Rain -- The Beta Band -- 3 EP's
11. Quiet -- The Beta Band -- Hot Shots II
12. Birds -- Emiliana Torrini -- Me And Armini
13. I Must Be In A Good Place Now -- Vetiver -- Things Of The Past
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