My Amazon Reviews: John Mellencamp "Trouble No More"

Contract No More
3 Out Of 5 Stars

John Mellencamp made no secret about the fact that his tenure on Columbia was not much to his liking. Seems the did the usual artistic meddling (most notoriously complaining about India Aire's appearance on "Cuttin' Heads"), and the hastily recorded "Trouble No More" carries the scent of a contract buster.

Alleged to have come together after Mellencamp performed "Stones In My Passway" at a tribute to journalist Timothy White (to whom the album is dedicated), Mellencamp and his band spent two weeks recording a roots-influenced set of covers. While the bulk leans to old blues (Son House's "Death Letter" being the high point), Mellencamp also does a nice job on the old country classic "The End Of The World." The band is playing loose and raw, which adds to the album overall.

While some my think Mellencamp is jumping on a bandwagon, it pays to recall that he's been driving this wagon since "The Lonesome Jubilee" explored Appalachian influences and "Big Daddy" was almost half a bare-bones folk album. The difference now is that Mellencamp is less afraid of the grit in the guitars than he used to be, which makes his growl in "John The Revelator" all the more appealing. The only misstep is the heavy handed protest-tune "To Washington," which aims its 2x4 at GWB (in 2003, I have to credit JM, this was not a warmly welcomed practice). But aside from that, "Trouble No More" holds up with Mellencamp's finer albums.

  

My Amazon Reviews: Skatt Bros "Strange Spirits"

Vanished like a Spirit in The Night
3 Out Of 5 Stars

One of the mysterious to me is that this album, by Casablanca recording act The Skatt Brothers, has never made it to CD release. I will go out on a limb to say that it's an incredibly dated record, had one minor dance classic and another single that became a huge hit in - of all places - Australia. But except for its extremely minor and devoted cult following, "Strange Spirits" remains utterly unknown.

That really sucks. There are a lot of reasons this should be better known, the greatest of which is historic. This may be one of the earliest efforts by a band that was outre' gay on a major label. Granted, there was plenty of lyrical gender bending, but when the biggest hook on one of your best songs is "give your love to the cowboy man" being song in a campy, uber-deep voice over a near disco beat, well, the gaydar should be hitting 8.5 by then.

There's also the band's pedigree. The late Sean Delaney was one of the lead singers, played keyboards and did a fair chunk of the songwriting. Delaney was openly gay, was lovers with super-manager Bill Aucoin (who repped the Skatts), and was an early contributor to the stage show of Kiss. He was also one of the men who discovered seminal 70's rock band Starz, brought them to Aucoin, and recruited their bassist, the late Peit Sweval, to play on "Strange Spirits." And if the background vocals sound familiar, it's because some of the men here were regular contributors to Village People albums.




Which is what The Skatt Brothers seemed to be positioning themselves for; something not as gay as the VP's, but exploiting the homo-eroticism of Kiss. There are a few moments here that come close ("Life At The Outpost" and "Fear Of Flying," alleged to have been written about fisting), and some that are outright comical ("Fear Of Flying" and the soft-rock attempt at a harmonic power ballad). Sean's "Midnight Companion" is the better ballad, and I knew several old-school LA men who swore up and down that Sean had written it about/for them. (The album's cover was shot at Griff's - now the Faultline - leather bar, adding to that back story.)

But there's one moment of pure genius: that comes from "Walk The Night." A song that makes no attempt to hide the fact that it's about cruising for some hard-core gay SM action, the darn thing became a major danceclub anthem and still gets played. The makers of Grand Theft Auto acquisitioned it for one version of their game, and it is the only Skatt Bros song to make a CD appearance (on "The Casablanca Story" collection, and as a CD single along with a Village People cut). Even with the campy/sinister vocal singing lead, buttressed by horror movie laughter and screaming, there's no mistaking these lyrics:

Upon his lips the taste of pain
venom kiss of love insane.
He's got a rod beneath his coat
he's gonna ram right down your throat.
Make your grovel on the floor
spit up and scream and beg for more.
He'll whip ya good,
and strip ya down.

Yep. They just don't write 'em like that anymore. Still available on auction sites.
 
 
PS - The guys in this video are NOT the band, seems an Australian Promo company made the vid on their own when the song took off down under.
 
 

My Amazon DVD Reviews: Crush

Crushed

3 Out of 5 Stars

Four short films that deal with love in the sense of how it can affect you when there's too much uncertainty involved make up "Crush," Michael J. Saul's rather uneven new movie. I found myself engaged by two of the segments here, bewildered by one and just flat out annoyed by the final episode.

The opening, "Don't Ask," is a musing on the lives of gay soldiers and the 'army wives' they leave behind. Cameron is about to leave on yet another tour of Iraq, and his partner James is struggling with the emotional freight of having to keep that part of their relationship private. While they played a loving couple very well, the story itself was less than compelling. Add a stridently annoying 'friend' who has to be the angry-war-hating loudmouth, and I was left wondering why this was the kick off to the DVD.

The second is a vampires in love segment, and was interesting in it's style, even if I am sick to death of vampires. But the two young actors were very good together and the open-ended final scene made me wonder where the story would lead to next.

The best of the four segments is "Strokes," about a gay art student's meeting/internship with his artist idol. Who just happens to be a caustic, bitter man whom nobody can stand to be with. The artist, Robert Brooks (Marc Sicilani) is note perfect as the disillusioned painter who wastes no time crushing Micheal The Intern (Jorge Diaz), even though all Micheal wants is to discover why his hero is the man he is. They play extremely well off of each other, and this was the one segment I was sorry to see end.

Finally, there is "Breathe." A soppy sponge cake of pre-adolescent desires as seen through a pair of awkward kids and their families as they go camping, it positively dripped syrup, and the narrator's whispery wet voice was as annoying as I could stand. Cloying, gauzy looking and saccharin, I forced myself to watch it all the way through. It's the kind of artsy cute romanticizing of young boys that gives gay movies a bad rep.

So there's the split - about 50/50 for my viewing entertainment. Individual mileage may vary.