"Go Man Go"

I must've been doing an image search- Breeders-related- and I came across a blog dedicated to live bootleg downloads of 4AD artists (if I find it again I'll post a link) and they had a section of demos from various albums and one of them was Last Splash.

The Pod demos are easy to find. There's Soulseek, and there's NoAloha.com- a Breeders page where you can download live tracks, soundtrack songs and B-sides. But I'd never seen Last Splash demos anywhere before.

I listened to a few of them and they were good, but what I wanted to hear was Go Man Go, an out-take from the Last Splash sessions.

It was a surprise. I don't think it fits in with the sound of that album but I don't understand why it never showed up anywhere else. It's amazing.

You should seek it out (like I said, I'll try to help, but you know how slow I can be); it's at least as good as "Divine Hammer" and "Drivin On 9".

It sounds like a Frank Black song, almost like a Cult of Ray-era B-side. I could see him recording it. It would make a good first track for a new Pixies album.


Note: The picture above has nothing to do with this song. I just like it and want to put it up again, that's all.

RJ Battles- coming soon

One thing I've wanted to do for a long time- I don't know what you call it- you know on some blogs on the right-hand side there'll be a list of different post groups...

I want to figure out how I could bundle all the posts about, say, The Sugarcubes, so if someone wants to just see Sugarcubes record sleeves they can click on that.

Also, I wanna watch the original 'Salem's Lot and review it.

Plus I wanna make a cool picture for the RJ Battles banner. The one I've got up now is pretty weak.

Anyway, if anyone knows how I can group my posts, let me know. Thanks.

Tanya Donelly

I like this photo from the In A Doghouse collection- of all the band member pictures it has the best colors. And while the Sliding & Driving sleeve artwork isn't my favorite, I like this back cover with the circles- a nice simple design with interesting colors and text.

Limbo: Part One

Limbo (1996) Throwing Muses

Limbo is my favorite Throwing Muses record. The others are great, but a little uneven. When I first got it (I bought it in Ireland and listened to it with my girlfriend in her old bedroom and alone on the flight home) I liked it but thought it dragged a little with the dreary combo of "Night Driving" and "Mr. Bones", and they do drag they album down but they're also excellent songs- "Mr. Bones" is kind of sexy, and you should look around for an alternate version of "Night Driving" that's out there. Kristin Hersh sings and plays electric guitar and at the beginning says, "This song is called "Night Driving" and it's about driving around the Hollywood Hills at night".

The Frank Black poster, flipped

Remember a while back when I posted this great Frank Black promo poster that I stumbled upon during a Pod promo poster quest on the internet? I wanted to see if it would be just as cool up-side-down. I'd say it does.


Note: I think this image would make a nice playing-card back.

No "Nurse Jackie" tonight

My friend and I spent the day- which was warm and sunny with a cool breeze- hiking and driving around and eating: we split a Spicy Italian sub from Subway, fries and a Crispy Barbeque Wrap from McDonald's, and a Deluxe Crispy Chicken Value Meal at Wendy's.

We just got home and were getting ready to watch the new Nurse Jackie but I was looking around and saw that IFC was starting Heathers at 9:45pm. I haven't seen it since renting the video in the late 80s but it's always been a favorite. It's so well-written.

Showtime re-runs Jackie throughout the week so we can catch it another time.

Note: I'm curious, sometimes, to see what else a director has done. The director of Heathers, Michael Lehmann, went on to make shitty movies like The Truth About Cats and Dogs and 40 Days and 40 Nights, but first he made Hudson Hawk- a movie that flopped and most people said was no good- but which I liked and thought was pretty fun in places.

The Real Ramona

The Real Ramona (1991) Throwing Muses

I've got The Real Ramona on tape. I looked inside the CD at a used record store near my house but the face of the CD was different than this one- no picture, it just listed the songs.

The record label is cool. That image was an interesting choice for an album cover.

Feed The Tree & Star

I like the record label on Star.

I found the Star LP at two different used record stores (one closed; one has gone online) and both times it was sealed so I couldn't look inside. Here are some glimpses.

King promo & Seal My Fate promo

King promo (1995)
"Seal My Fate" promo (1995) Belly

Title TK ad

Title TK

Title TK (2002) The Breeders

As I said before, April is Breeders Month here at RJ Battles.

It seems strange when you think about it, but Title TK is the Breeders's third album. Third. Odd when you think it's 2010, they've put out 4 albums total and their first came out in 1990.

It came nearly ten years after Last Splash (Note: After I heard "Cannonball" I decided to get Last Splash; I knew nothing about the Breeders but I assumed by the title that they had been around awhile and it was meant to be their final record.) and it's an excellent album.

In fact, it's much better than Last Splash- it has way more good and great songs. There's "Little Fury", "The She", "Forced to Drive", "Son of Three", "Huffer", and "Too Alive". Actually, there's only one song that I usually skip over ("Put on a Side"). I also used to skip "London Song" and "Off You" (that weird sound effect in "Off You" always turned me off) but now I love them.

Divine Hammer"

Divine Hammer (1994) The Breeders

While I don't like the J. Mascis remix, "Do You Love Me Now, Jr.", I love "Hoverin'" (which was re-recorded for The Amps's Pacer LP) and the Hank Williams cover "I Can't Help It".

"Cannonball"

Cannonball (1993) The Breeders

The full EP has three b-sides:
"Cro Aloha"
"Lord of the Thighs"
"900"

The cassette single has "Cannonball" on one side and two tracks on the other side; it doesn't include "900".

"Echo" and "A Cleaner Light"

Echo (1999) EP
A Cleaner Light (1999) EP
Kristin Hersh/Throwing Muses Video Collection

The video collection contains:
Echo
A Loon
Shark
Bright Yellow Gun (the raincoat version, I guess)

"Like You"

Like You (1997) CD single

Listening to Strange Angels it's hard to pick out two, or even one, song that would make a good single. Not that it doesn't have some good songs, it does. I guess "Like You" is as good a choice as any other. I might've gone with "Shake". That or "Aching for You".

Anyway, I like the sleeve. The colors work great, especially with the blue lettering on the CD.

"Your Ghost" and "Strings"

Your Ghost (1994) single
Strings (1994) EP

(Note: In the second image from the top, the song title boxes look a lot like the song title boxes of Bossanova-era Pixies.)

Hips and Makers

Hips and Makers (1994) Kristin Hersh

The first two images are from the Hips and Makers limited edition. I like the third picture from the top- it reminds me of some of the artwork from Frank Black's "Los Angeles" CD.