John Reis: Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, etc.. Part 1 "The First Ten Years." by James Gross

To call “Speedo” John Reis a huge influence, and a personal favorite would be an understatement. Just ask my band members.  It’s been a very cool experience to listen to all these records in chronological order, and see the progression, and trends he went through creatively. 

 For this challenge I stuck to studio records, though I may do a brief epilogue/overview of RFTC’s “All systems go” series of B-sides. 

Included are all the Rocket From The Crypt, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, The Sultans, Night Marchers, Back Off Cupids, and Pitchfork material. I documented my experiences with each record on a notepad as to capture was I was feeling at the time. Without further ado, here we go…

Pitchfork: Saturn Outhouse EP 1989

John’s “first” noteworthy project, and first pairing with future collaborator Rick Froberg.  Off the bat, it’s very dischord records esque, upbeat, punky, angular, melodic. Out of the three tracks on this ep, the third track, “Sinking” was my favorite.

Pitchfork: Eucalyptus 1990

This is a gem I found out about on one my previous Reis kicks. Ii was surprised about how amazing these songs are, and even more surprised how come more people haven’t championed this band...I like it better Drive Like Jehu, don't tell anyone. 20 years later, and these songs are still pertinent.  Hard to show growth as a musician when you start HERE.  Pitchfork sound like a more  structured DLJ, less experimental, very Fugazi inspired.  You can definitely see the seeds for DLJ planted here. 

Notes:

Track 2: "placebo" ...perfectly played unplugged electric intro, mid tempo pop number .

track 3 "twitch" could be a Fugazi song.

Track 5 "Rana" could be my favorite, opening guitar riffage is superb corrosive intro turns into a song with very melodic pop sensibilities, something Reis will do often in his writing.

track 7 most surprising, quality instrumental that establishes a nice mood and  just abruptly shuts down and goes to the next track. Well done.

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Drive Like Jehu: S/T 1991

The first Drive Like Jehu  record is a solid outing. Once again Reis and Froberg team up (as they’ll do again in Hot Snakes). DLJ bring more experimentation, and less melody than Pitchfork. People love this record, and it IS great, but given Reis’s body of work, I’ll take RFTC over DLJ any day. Regardless, a VERY influential album, Deftones covered "Caress" as a Diamond Eyes bonus track. My favorite track is the 7 minute “If It Kills You”

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Rocket From The Crypt: Paint As A Fragrance 1991

This is a quite a departure from the meandering riff fests of the last 2 projects. the first Rocket full length arrives with nary a trademark horn in a sight. brash punk with lots of rock and roll leanings, but the vocals are still more abrasive than what RFTC is known  for.  basically a seed of what RFTC is to become.  Best tracks “Jiggy Jig” and “Weak Superhero”. Check out “Bad Words” for a laugh.

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Rocket From The Crypt: Circa Now! 1992

This record brought major labels a courting.  It’s the first to feature horn section, well saxophone at least.  This is one of my favorite rocket outings.  Still very angular, a la Drive Like Jehu, but tons of killer rock riffs.  The opening track "Short Lip Fuser" builds up with noise and feedback, and explodes onto the listeners face with glory. Circa now really starts to showcase Reis's ability to put great melody and hooks into aggressive, guitar driven rock/punk. His more honed vocal delivery pays off big time.

this record definitely put RFTC on the MTV gen x buzz bin radar, as video clips document.  Dancing  all over the lines between pop sensibility and post punk angularity made it a perfect album for the music climate of the early 90’s. This album is still a huge influence on my song writing. Hottest joints “Short Lip Fuser”, and “Sturdy Wrist”.  One of the coolest moments, is the end of "Glazed".   Layering madness erupts into analog tape distortion mixed with a  chorus of  "Everybody smoke pot! Everybody smoke pot!" . Eight minute song for the win! The reissue bonus tracks are decent, but nothing special.

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Drive Like Jehu: Yank Crime 1994

This record is all about pacing. The songs are lengthier, with more dynamics, and over all, more experimental. It’s hilarious that this record was put out on a major label, those were the days though, when labels would put out music with integrity. Lots of combustible moments on this record, but tons of droney bludgeoning parts, bands like Botch, Ink & Dagger, At The Drive In, plus many others owe this band some royalty checks. 

The track "Do You Compute" limps along and refuses to break apart.  In comparison "Luau" beats down door with the same mid tempo, but rather than shamble along, like the previous song, this track comes at you with purpose. Epic enough to be a closing track, but no, it's only track 4..sheesh.  Song 5, “Super Unison” is the stand out so far, it's one of the longer songs, but unlike some of the others, and it’s straighter forward. . There's a moment at about 4.30 that pretty much inspired all of Cedric Bixler from ATDI's delivery, IMO.

The album takes a nice breather with "New Intro". It serves as an interlude between the first and second halves of the record. “New Math opens with a riff very similar to one found in “Caress”, not sure if it's intentional or coincidental.

All in all, DLJ were a VERY influential band. Though I prefer hot snakes and Rocket over DLJ, their contribution to "punk rock" is undeniable.

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Rocket From From The Crypt: The State Of Art Is On Fire 1995

A year after the final DLJ record, after adding trumpets, RFTC is back with vengeance. Opening track "Light Me" sets the mood with keys, shakers, horns, all that is the essence of RFTC.  After the long winded songs of the last DLJ record, these 1.30 songs are a welcome break. Short and nasty, like a good fuck. “Human Torch” is probably the best track. "Here's to you human torch, you're so fucking lame." “Human Spine” is a great closer, organ driven, bouncy, and 6 minutes long, which seems ridiculous after a bunch of super short tracks. The CD reissue has 2 bonus tracks; covers of a 60s band "The Music Machine”, which were from a 7 inch, I believe.  Both of these tracks could be RFTC tracks, especially circa “RFTC”. I def. gotta check this band out after my challenge.

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Rocket From The crypt: Hot Charity 1995

Also in 1995 comes "hot charity". Until now, I didn't really know where these songs came in, because they were later re-released with another EP.  Some of my favorite Rocket tracks on this piece!!  this EP also features a step up in production, and song writing. Hooks and riffs all around. IMO this is where the RFTC "sound" comes together. It Opens with one of the only RFTC instrumentals "Pushed”. The best tracks are "My Arrows Aim" & “Cloud Over Branson"

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Rocket From The Crypt: Scream Dracula Scream 1995

Okay, so here we go.  Scream Dracula Scream. This is THE record for most.  My first exposure to RFTC was seeing them open fo the Foo Fighters on this tour. HOLY FUCK.  This record has the best opening 1,2,3 punch of any record.."Middle” ,”Born In 69”, into “On A Rope."  With such a powerful opening, there’s bound to be  some lulls on the record. "Used" is a nice break from the blistering rock, catchy 60s sounding pop song. "Misbeaten" gives us another R&B/garage rock throwback, complete with "ooh la la's" and farfisa organ. Track 13, “salt Future” starts to bring the album down (in a good way).  Both sleazy and anthemic, it's definitely a stand out "deep cut".  The closer “Burnt Alive” serves as a nice epilogue to a classic record. The main riff is VERY foretelling of what Hot Snakes will

bring to the table. Some of the most soulful/raw vocal work on the record is found here. This monster of a record ends quietly, which is a nice juxtaposition to the raucous nature of the opener.

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Rocket From The Crypt: RFTC 1998

3 years after SDS brings us to Rocket’s most accessible, commercial record.  It's very much a 60s R&B record on overdrive, and according to the liner notes it was tracked live. Tight, crisp, pretty much a flawless record. Why they didn't blow up into the mainstream is beyond me. I got to see them on this tour, it was awesome. Eye on you is a perfect opener, featuring the vocal stylings of the charming Ms. Holly Golightly (check out her catalog). RFTC is pretty much a tour de force, huge hooks, killer riffs, everything you could possibly want in a rock & roll album. The pacing  of the first half is nonstop, tracks crash like waves one after another barely giving the listener time to breathe. "Lipstick" is a single I've never really loved, but it serves as nice transition into the swagger of "You Gotta  Move". "Your Touch" is one of the record’s highlights, the verse is  driven by hammond organ and a driving bass line, before opening up into a huge chorus. "Let’s Get Busy" is probably RFTC's sappiest song, and it's amazing. "dick on a dog" starts to bring the tempo back up, I mean, how could a song called "dick on a dog" not be a party starter!? IS IT RED!? The swanky saxophone, and huge chorus of "run kid run" provide a more than suitable closer for this record... as I said before, it's the most polished and streamlined record thus far, and I'm sure it was Reis's direction rather than major label direction.

Rocket From The Crypt: Cut Carefully, Play Loud 1999

Sadly this is long time drummer "Atom’s last recording with the band. RFTC also found them without a label  around this time. Reis would spend a year doing other various projects, before resurrecting Rocket. 5 decent tracks are found on this extended play; "blood robots" or "waste it" would be the best tracks. Listening straight through the discography, you can see that this period has them peaking, and with this last ep, they seem to be "stuck in a rut". The songs start sounding very similar.

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Hot Snakes: Automatic Midnight 2000

Hot snakes brings Reis back together with his former band mate Rick Froberg. According to WIKI Reis wrote and recorded guitar and bass on these songs with the drummer of Delta 72, and then got in touch with Froberg to sing on the tracks and apparently play some guitar.  Hot snakes melds the simplicity of RFTC with the Angular Abrasiveness of DLJ. Not as meandering as Drive, and Not as melodic as rocket. Great punk/post punk sounds. Froberg’s vocals are more controlled, but are delivered with as much cynicism and ferocity as could be. Reis's guitar playing here lays the ground work for a lot of his "signature sound." Huge riffs, angular, but melodic, but unconventional? The guitar tone on this record is incredible, clear, overdriven; the sound of telecasters pumped through Cranked Vox amps.

Track 4, "salton city" takes a break from the blitzkrieg of the first 3 tracks, and brings some weirdness. very open, airy, driven by a by drums and vocals. Track 7 is my favorite "our work fills the pews" mid tempo, rad shouted backups by Reis, lots of swagger on this joint. Reis takes lead vocals on "mystery boy". it has sweet space ship sounds(oh analog delay pedals) and could have been a RFTC song off  “Group Sounds”, very cool track. just seems a bit out of place.  All in all a solid debut.  The second half is much better than the first. I’ve heard all these before, but I'm looking forward to seeing how the progression fleshes out.

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Back Off Cupids: S/T 2000

Okay, taking a break from "the rock" this is the only release on my challenge that I haven't heard before. interested to see what It brings. BOC is a collection of songs  Recorded in 1994, but not released until 2000. Should have listened to it before…dammit, oh well.  Drums provided by the trumpet player from RFTC.

Okay.  So I don't love this...honestly, I don’t know if LIKE this. it's essentially just instrumental noodles and doodles. so far track 4 "can you hear my sleep dog?" caught my attention.  Track five "trivial pursuit" sounds like a hot snakes song, played with a ben folds drum beat with wacky noises...oh there’s some horns. NEAT.

track 6 "painted a half picture" has distant sounding vocals, reminds me of Pinback or older Modest Mouse. okay. so all that was fun. the one Reis record I’ll probably never listen to again. 10 tracks of sonic experimentation...skeletons of songs, not awful, but something only the writer could appreciate. I'd love to MAKE something like this, but for my own enjoyment.

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The Sultans: Ghost Ship 2000

I LOVE this record. straightforward rock/punk songs, no frills, no nonsense. catchy as hell 13 songs in 20 minutes. What I DIDNT know, was that Speedo played BASS on this record and sang, guitars provided by Andy from RFTC. I’m going to enjoy this listen more knowing this info.

Opener "just a fool (that’s down)" is actually my ringtone. It’s a jammer, and a fucking great song.  This album rules.  About halfway It does get a little redundant at times, track 6 pretty much plays just like the opener, but lacking half the intensity.  The following track, "it's over" brings it back right around.  This song sounds like it could have been a Night Marchers song (one of Reis's upcoming projects)."(This Ain't No) Solid State" is another stand out track. Some of these songs definitely could have found their home on a RFTC album, but all in all, The Sultans first release is a solid listen.

ZZ Top by Cornelius de Groot

Just wrapped up the ZZ Top challenge. First i went over to Wikipedia and got my self back on track with the history and the discography. I always liked ZZ Top, but when i was given the challenge i realized really quickly that i know nothing about their regular albums other than the 2 big ones, tres hombres, and eliminator. All i realized i knew was the greatest hits. So that will bring me to my list of how i listened to ZZ Tops career.

-ZZ Tops first album 1971
-Rio grand mud 1972
-Tres hombres 1973
-Fandango! 1975
-Tejas 1976
-Deguello 1979
-El loco
-Eliminator 1983
-Afterburner 1985
-Recycler 1990
-Antenna 1994
-Rhythmeen 1996
-XXX 1999
-Mescalero 2003
-La futura 2012
-Double down live 1980
-Live from Texas 2007
- Billy Gibbons first band Moving Sidewalks- Flash 1969

That is how i listen to it, the next person to take this challenge has a guideline. You can do more if you can find it, but you can't do less.

OK so ZZ Top comes out of the gate 1,2,3, bluesy, dirty, rocking, three really good albums. Their first album sounds great, the guitar is spot on and comes with a side of  really nice bass. I will pick my favorite song off each album, and this first one is back door love affair. They really lock on out of the gate in this album, they are on point and have a great swinging Texas country blues groove.

Rio grand mud is more of the same great sound, with more of the same dopey fun lyrics that make you want to high five and get drunk in the sun. This album was not a fave of critics, says Wikipedia, but i am on board with this one. My favorite song on this album is Bar-B-Q, Gibbons is a joy to listen to and when they rhythm section locks on and he gets going, it's all good.

Now, the first of there best known albums, Tres hombres. This is the one that everyone knows, and for good reason. starting off with waitin' for the bus, into Jesus just left Chicago and then following beer drinkers and hell raisers. by the way, not listening to waiting for the bus, and Jesus just left Chicago, back to back, is as big a sin, as not playing livin lovin maid after heartbreaker. I'm just saying. favorite song is la grange. I can see why this album was such a break through for the band. Most of the songs ended up on the better, best ofs for the band. also this seems to be where gibbons really took a step towards making more noises with his git. maybe the begging of the 80s sound, or maybe its still to early to say that.


after that, you get some more of the same old Texas charm beats, with some nice weird vibes from the git and the slow introductions of synthes and drum machines, or an electric kit. fandanjo! tejas, and deguello. are all ok albums, they all have good songs with blue jeans blues, tush, arrested for driving blind, ten dollar man, manic mechanic, and cheap sun glasses. all good songs to look forward to while listening. but even with really good parts in all theses album,s they all still seem to fall flat compared to the first three albums, and this is the lead up to the that eighty's sound that you were wondering where they were hiding.

then in comes el loco. holy shit! what the fuck zz top! way to just throw us in at the deep end. we all could hear it coming but did you have to record a album of you learning how to play the synths. tube snake boogie is the first song and where as it dose suck, it can be fun to listen to, but man what a change. this is the album that the band said they liked groovy little hippy dad, or pad, whatever. its a hilarious song and needs to be listen to multiple times just for the awesome weirdness of it. who is this band? but it is awful. pearl neck less is on this one if that's your style. this albums wiki page talks about the introduction of a recording engineer named linden hudson. so this is who taught them how to synthes and electric drum. it also marked the first time they all recorded separately. it seems to me that this is where zz top either sells out or jumps the void between real zz top and what we know zz top to be today.

now to the big one and prob there best in this vein, that is the eighty vein. eliminator. you can immediately tell the production on this record was huge. its very clean and come right out with my favorite song of the album and possible my favorite song of zz top, give me all your loving. its a huge guilty plusher of mine, this song is fun and if you cant enjoy a eighty's rock anthem like this then, man, sucks to be you. this is a song i would not hesitate to dub one of the best pop songs ever written. follow that with under pressures and sharp dressed man and you got pop album started. the rest of the album is great and just as head bopping at the begging as it is at the end. although there is a controversy that zz top did not write this album, and had a great deal of help from linden hudson,. hudson goes on to sue the band for copy rite and wins for 600,000 after 5 years. he was only ever able to prove that he wrote thug. so did zz top get lazy and steal this guys music? it would explain how they went from el loco to eliminator in just two years. oh well, who cares you just have to be your own judge.

unfortunately its more of the same for the next two albums after burner and ryecycler, what a unfortunate album title. the sound is the same but there are a few more ballets on them and many attempts to replicate the sound from eliminator.but it never quite comes. good tracks to look for are stages, Velcro fly, maybe concrete and steel, im still not sure if i like that song or not. tracts to watch out for burger man. wow what a song. both of theses albums suck and only have minim groove.

now we come to the nineties, and it still seems like zz top is two steps behind, antenna is truly bad. its one of those albums that songs break into good parts and then they are gone into the nineties new wave attempt. god, some one need to take the drum machine away from theses guys. also they need a smack in the face to refresh them, with such a large catalog now its hard to over look how much these new songs try to bite on their old bad ass a songs from the first 4 albums. but again its all swept up in electric drums and syinth noise.same goes for rhythmeen and XXX oh and mescalaro. every few song it seems like a good song is starting but its just gets cheesed up and it starts to suck. also another down side to these albums after eliminator is that they started to get longer. there albums started in the 36 min rage and when they get to the 90s its in the 50 min range, like they thought more crap would make it better, well all it dose is make it boring and frustrating to listen to.good songs from theses albums include...i cant remember off the top of my head, but there are a few good ones.

and then they last studio album la futura, i like the first two songs off this album, only because they sound like, exactly like, old zz top songs, see if you can guess them. this album is good because it short compared to there 90s albums, but it is way over compressed, that's rick ruben for you. all i can think of when i listen to this album, is that zz top will never get back to where they were, and that maybe that's a good thing, they seemed to be getting lazier and lazier as their career went on. listing to there live albums will definitely show that.and its actually quite amazing. the fist one on my list, the double live album shows just how tight this band is, and just how good they can sound. this is one of the best live albums i have ever heard, and deserves more credit among live albums, with lots of jams and really good songs. it was before eliminator so none of that crap was in there, just pure rock and roll zz top style. nothing beats the old rock star mentality of zz top around the early 80s. just pure fun. now listen to their 2007 live album, back in Texas, and be amazed with how lazy this band is. Gibbons cant even be bothered to hit half his notes right, they straight up sound like shit, no way this was the same band.


one more thing. flash. this is a album from billy gibbons first psychedelic rock band moving side walk. even though it has nothing to do with zz top, it is a really fun album to listen to, with lots of homage to Hendrix, Pink Floyd , and, lets go with, insert you favorite psychedelic band. its a great pallet cleanser after all the garbage that came out after eliminator, even though it came out way before it. i still wanted to count it in the list. you can listen to it in order, or do it they way i did.

OK, so this is the first thing i have written for real since college. so please excuse any spelling an grammar issues, because i don't care, because this is a music challenge, and a good one. so I'm glad i got to do zz top and i was surprised to find a lot of new good music i thought i already had covered in their best of. and here is the shout out for all the good crap they put out too, i will let you be the judge on that.

i look forward to reading your comments, and my next challenge!

Cornelius de Groot

PJ Harvey by Kathryn Elizabeth

I'm on Harvey's 3rd album, To Bring You My Love. So far it has been a journey filled with the raw emotional stuff that Harvey's music brings up. In the past, I have felt like I needed to turn down the volume while listening to her with others around, and I never really thought about why, but as a grown up I think it has a lot to do with how intensely emotional it is (I could go off on a long feminist rant about women not being "allowed" to be angry, but I digress). Lots of sex, anger, pain, anxiety in her music. Fascinating stuff so far.

Modest Mouse by Austin Straub

    My favorite track after completing parasite sessions is four fingered fisherman. Its the only song I enjoyed so far. Hopefully Tube Fuit goes better. Update: It did not go better. I'm simply not a lo-fi person. I do enjoy their newer albums though. *Tube Fuit is not a bad but it's not something I would put on my Ipod.
    Uncle Bunny Faces was an interesting album. Some songs had a folkier feel to them which I liked. I thoroughly enjoyed Blue Cadet. Its the first album to show the Modest Mouse style that i like.  Dirty Fingernails made The Fruit That Ate Itself for me, but it was an overall good album. Interstate 8 was good but it's short track list combined with half the tracks being live was disappointing.
    Okay. After muscling through the better half of MM's discography, I have a new-found appreciation for their music. Each album has its own style, but still feels like an MM album. The Lonesome Crowded West is a more spastic album thrown between some chiller releases. It's different, but breaks up the challenge pretty well. Building Nothing and The Moon & Antarctica both have good opening tracks. Finally, there's a growing pop influence beginning at Good News..

Black Flag by Leo Hernandez

Hey it's me Leo Hernandez assigned Black Flag, for not really being into punk or hardcore punk really. I have to say I'm enjoying this Black Flag challenge. The only 2 albums so far that I didn't enjoy as much have been Family Man and My War they were both good albums but they didn't have that edge like their other albums. So far my favorite is Damaged, I figure it would be that one cause its one of their best known. Anyway chugging along