Classic Spins with Slush

Slush

How many times have you heard that protopunk blues doom swagger?

Well, if you're anything like me, you're wondering right now what in the holy name of Lucifer that means.

Well, I've got good news for you, as you can get all that flavor in your ear at BANDCAMP.

But for now, let's take some time for Classic Spins.

1. My favorite kind of album is the concept album. The Wall is my absolute favorite. Beyond the amazing songs, it has spectacular nostalgia for me. What's your favorite one and why?

Joe: I love concept albums. Outside of SLUSH, we've worked on a couple concept albums together. One of our first efforts,  LEAN’s (2016) Tape explores the yin/yang relationship between the city as the place of sin and the wilderness as a beacon of purity. 

I grew up on The Who's Tommy and I'm still trying to get my wife to listen to Dark Side of the Moon with me, but The Beach Boys' SMILE and The Pretty Things' SF Sorrow is Born will always be the two golden concept albums, for me. 

Alex: Stop Making Sense, Blackstar (or really, any number of Bowie albums), Computer Love, Bad Music for Bad People, Dopesmoker, Loaded.... 

I feel like I don't know what constitutes a concept album, but great music builds its own unique aesthetic universe. With a really great band like the Cramps, you see them somehow manage to stay true to the pure spirit of their first records while still reinventing themselves from album to album. 

I feel like most great albums have a conceptual lynchpin of some kind. Not a fan of Sergeant Pepper though. 

2. My very first album was Live Evil by Black Sabbath. Since then I've had a strong affinity for the live record, even if they're a bit fake. KISS set the bar with Alive!. Surely, it was fake, but it's got the best concert feel of any one. Tell me about your favorite live record?

Joe: It seems like every album that plays on the words live/evil carries some ethereal power. In Sabbath's live album, you can hear the excitement of Dio joining the band, and some of the older songs like "War Pigs" just slay. 

It's a good document of how Dio-era Black Sabbath's meant a new time for the band, but the same intensity and power. The Misfits' live album EvilLive and Miles Davis' Live Evil are probably my two favorite live albums. 

In the Misfits one, you have a face-ripping "Nike-A-Go-Go," Danzig threatening to send a guy to the hospital during "Horror Business," and Henry Rollins buddying up with Glenn for "We Are 138." 

The Miles album is a heavily edited and abridged summation of the infamous Cellar Door sessions. This doesn't necessarily mean it takes away from the integrity of the sessions at all - Teo Macero does an outstanding job turning these fusion-funked-out jams into a cohesive album. 

Both albums are truly definitive artifacts of their time.

Alex: 4-way tie between Velvet Underground '69, Rock 'n' Roll Animal, the live parts of Street Hassle, and Metallic K.O. 

3. There are a great number of records I've turned to for my moods. What do you listen to when you're angry? Sad?

Joe: "Groove is in the Heart" by Dee-lite.

Alex: Houdini, Unknown Pleasures, and Fun House cover the bases. 

4. One of my friends laughs at me, routinely, for loving the Misfit Toys of albums by major bands. Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed, Carnival of Souls by Kiss, Diabolous En Musica by Slayer, etc. 

What's the strange one that you love?

Joe: Lulu totally slaps. I actually threw this on while riding the train home after a particularly surreal day during a tragic week last August, and I won't go as far as to say I "got" it, but I listened to the whole album and didn't hate it. 

I like a lot of music that probably docks some cool points from me. Against my better judgment, here we go - last week, I revisited Incubus for the first time in years...I was a closet fan for like, 15 years. I won't go into what I didn't like - and there's a bit of it - but I'm pleased to say SCIENCE and Morning View held up. 

Morning View was a pleasant surprise, because I didn't think I'd last 3 songs. "Fantasy" by Mariah Carey is a band favorite these days, too, but don't knock it til you try it.

Alex: Mariah Carey rules, but I wouldn't call that a strange choice. I get a lot of flak from my friends for liking Kyuss, but Welcome to Sky Valley and Blues For the Red Sun are both great driving albums. 

5. It's almost fashionable to release live versions of albums or re-record the old ones. King Diamond is releasing a concert with Abigail front to back. Roger Waters has done The Wall twice. Which ones do you have in your collection?

Joe: It's great that these guys are still playing live and doing what they do - Black Sabbath's final tour was incredible, Dead & Co sound great these days, and Neil Young is still incapable of giving a subpar performance. 

We all kind of know that record sales don't line artists' pockets - it's all in the live shows. As far as re-releasing old music goes, it seems to be the fashionable to either re-record old songs or do a covers album (looking at you, Art Alexakis). 

Outside of that, I'll never fault artists for doing something new, even if I think it's garbage (The Who's Endless Wire). Plenty of everyone's favorite artists release new crap all the time, but who are we to fault creativity? 

That being said I feel like it's better to release these things in limited quantities for the sake of the environment as well as the lowest common denominator.

Alex: I don't have any albums that fit this description in my collection, but it is pretty cool to witness a reunited band like Sleep or Black Sabbath destroy any diminished expectations by bringing new life to old tunes for sure. 

Seeing Dylan Carlson open for Sleep was also revelatory - I feel like all these guys show the importance of continuous study in music because seeing them play live, just the way they handle their instruments and sound generally, is always a humbling and inspiring experience.