Bradley's Buzz

bub79 The Motels – Little Robbers (March 27, 2007; 1983)
For the follow up to All Four One, The Motels ran with the pop mainstream sound Capitol Records had pushed on them. Perhaps because of the Apocalypso sessions, All Four One still had a high arty vibe to it; Little Robbers leaves that vibe behind to push it more into the rock/pop of the early 80’s. That’s not to say Little Robbers isn’t a good album because it is. It’s really good in fact, but to truly appreciate it I think you have to leave the memory of the greatness that is found on Careful and All Four One and look at the album as a product of itself. Little Robbers launched two of the best singles The Motels ever put out – “Suddenly Last Summer” with its sweeping melancholy vibe of forgotten memories and “Remember The Nights” which follows along the same lines. In fact, the whole of Little Robbers seems to be one of misbegotten youth and long lost love affairs. Opening with “Where Do We Go From Here (Nothing Sacred)”, the rock vibe hits you right off lambasting with an eerie keyboard lead which makes you take a whole new look at the cover artwork, a purple and yellow mesh of 20’s gangster flicks, once again emulating Martha’s stance on “music noir.” Album tracks keep up the vibe with the riotous title track, the bouncy “Trust Me” and the excellent take on youth gone wild, “Into The Heartland” co-written with Bernie Taupin, which finds the lead characters of Martha and a girl named Rita on a rampage after stealing a Pontiac. The chorus is as hilarious as the song is rocking, "Rita’s fingers fumblin' trying to roll one/ My frozen fingers trying to find a cold one/Tonight we dine on the line and the lone one/As I gun this sucker straight into the heartland.” The working person’s hum drums are featured on “Monday Shutdown” with a synth driven type writer for a back drop while “Isle Of You” takes a clever turn with it’s lyrics (try to escape from the isle of you… as in ‘I love you’), the final tracks “Tables Turned” and “Footsteps” are exactly what Capitol Records was probably trying to push on the band and onto the radio, pop styling that though written by Martha seem to lack a bit of the creativity and cleverness associated with her best work. Not to say they aren’t good songs either, because I bounce and sing along with Martha but after the great songs offered to us by the Motels, they both seem to be rehashed from ideas that have proceeded them. Though kudos have to be given for the cool New Wavey organ solo in "Footsteps."

For our Bubbatunes compilation of Little Robbers, we get the bonus of some very exciting added tracks, most notably the two b-sides for the singles – the best of the two, the piano driven ballad “Some Things Never Change” has the Martha imprint all over it and compliments the album quite well with that unrequited loss at the forefront. In fact, it has quickly become one of my all time favorite songs by the band. The B-side to the single “Remember The Nights” is the fairly hard to find “Killing Time”, a Motels tune if ever there was one – the ballady rock/pop of such hits as “Only The Lonely” and the singles from Little Robbers.

We also found some exclusive tracks that were never released until Anthologyland. The outtakes “Mystery DJ”, another Taupin co-write that has a thrilling premise – the lack of clever tunes on the radio but isn’t up to the greatness found on “Into The Heartland”. Also included is “Room At The Top” a song that has a strange mystery surrounding it. (see below), and an alternate version of “Suddenly Last Summer”, a demo of “Some Things Never Change” with Martha in full blown diva mode, and a live version of “Remember The Nights” taped from the Motels Saturday Night Live appearance in 1984.

And for some added fun, let’s look at what Martha has to say about some of these songs.

MARTHA’S RAP SHEET
What Martha Davis has to say for herself:
The Motels – Little Robbers (bub79; 2007; 1983)
Track List:
01. Where Do We Go From Here (Nothing’s Sacred)
02. Suddenly Last Summer – The Melody of this song woke me up in the middle of the night. I got up and wrote it on the spot at 3 a.m. I think it had its origins many years earlier in Berkeley, CA. It was the end of summer; I was sitting on the grass in my backyard. A cool autumn wind began to blow, and off in the distance the bells of an ice cream truck were ringing. I began to think about how this would be the last time that I would hear that sound that summer. A sound that seemed happy a few months earlier now felt hollow and lonely. The change of the seasons echoed the changes that were taking place in my life, the loss of innocence. Though the summer would return the following year, the innocence would not. (November 2001 for Classic Masters – the Motels)
03. Isle Of You
04. Trust Me
05. Monday Shutdown
06. Remember The Nights –Do you remember the nights? Of course I remember the nights – I think. Then again some of the things I remember didn’t happen, and some of the things that happened I don’t remember. So sometimes I make it up. This is a song of images, some real, some imagined. Images of romance brought to life by memories that may or may not exist. If you have a problem with that you’ll have to revoke my poetic license! (November 2001 for Classic Masters – the Motels)
07. Little Robbers
08. Into The Heartland
09. Tables Turned
10. Footsteps
11. BONUS TRACK – Some Things Never Change – My mother used to quote Thomas Wolf, “You can never go home again,” she would say. But it’s not so much that you can’t go back home, it’s that when you get there it will all be changed. Places always change, people seldom do. If you want things to stay the same, visit them in your mind. (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
I have always loved this song. It was the B-side to Suddenly Last Summer. It takes me to a place when I perform that few songs do. It reminds me of my family, loss & love, and how time changes all but a very few things. (Martha Davis; November 2001 for Classic Masters – the Motels)
12. BONUS TRACK Killing Time
13. BONUS TRACK Mystery DJ – That’s the thing about this biz, one minute you’re talking to Roy Orbison (one of the greatest voices and songwriters in all of Rock & Roll) and the next minute you’ve written a song Bernie Taupin (one of the most brilliant lyricists of our time, and I might add, truly one of the most wonderful and gracious men in the business)…my life is so good!!! (2000 – Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
14. BONUS TRACK Room At The Top – This is where we get to the spooky part of ANTHOLOGYLAND. I was doing some writing with ‘Goldie’ aka Steven Goldstein, who did additional keyboards and arranging on the albums LITTLE ROBBERS and ALL FOUR ONE. Anyway, it was late; we were in my garage studio, working on the very beginning of Room At The Top – just a walk-man, a keyboards, Goldie and me. No one else was even home. I pulled out a brand new cassette, unwrapped it, put it in the walk-man and pressed play & record. We recorded the song, just for the arrangement. I was faking the lyrics and getting a handle on the melody. I layed out here I thought it was appropriate for the solo. Then, we played it back and there were these weird moaning voices in the solo sections. We both freaked, I called Val (the producer) at home, woke him up and I think we actually took the cassette to the studio to try and enhance the voices. Where is David Duchovony when you need him? Anyway, it freaked me out so bad that I’d forgotten until I got to Anthologyland, that we had actually finished a professional recording of this song. What’s even more weird is that Goldie doesn’t remember this version either. I still have the evil cassette and the voices are still there…SPOOKY. (2000 – Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
15. BONUS TRACK Suddenly Last Summer (Alternate Take) – I remember this song waking me up at 3 am. That riff beckoning me to get up, get my guitar and see where it would take me. Cut to a very well executed musical track accompanied by what we in the biz call the ‘scratch vocal”. The scratch vocal being the one you are NOT going to use. We had probably been recording for house and I may have had a couple of drinks…translation…it was 4 am and I was shit faced. Net result = Bad karaoke! But we’re in Anthologyland and somehow I feel this brings us closer together…(2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
16. BONUS TRACK – Some Things Never Change (demo)
17. BONUS TRACK Remember The Nights (Live on Saturday Night Live) –Live television – could anything be more nerve wracking…yes, Val Garay telling you, “Don’t smile, this is New York, you have to be cool.” What could be worse than that? Michael Palan’s (Monty Python) 71-year-old mother introducing us wearing a hat wit ha spring-loaded hammer hitting her in the head every time she moved… “Try not to smile, be cool.” (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)

bub80 – The Motels – Shock (March 27, 2007; 1985)
For the final Motels album things take a somewhat drastic little turn, Shock has its moments but for the most part it doesn’t take any kind of expert to hear the album is over produced and stuck in the 1985 rock that just didn’t stand the test of time as some of the other 80’s songs did. There are great moments of Martha and the boys even with the intense backdrop of synthesized rock. The single “Shame” was a bit of a hit and one of the best videos the band made, not to mention a damn catchy little song. Even the title track “Shock” has hit written on it (though it wasn’t) either despite or because of the intense backbeat. In other places Shock demonstrates more the lack of passion than anything else – “New York Times”, “State Of The Heart” and “Night By Night” all come off sounding like half thought out ideas. I’m sure Martha put her best into it, but from what has been said by everyone involved it appears Martha’s full passion wasn’t there anymore. When you put those songs along the brilliant pieces of music like “Annie Told Me”, “Icy Red”, “Cries And Whispers” and the aforementioned “Shame”, you realize this album isn’t all lost. It’s just too bad it couldn’t have kept going with that type of thought and precision into all 10 of the songs. But The Motels did leave a legacy of great albums and each of the five albums has moments of brilliance, so nothing’s a complete loss when it comes to the back catalog of the band. And for the completist, this is the only place to find Shock on CD under the $90 price I’ve seen it for. Thanks to my pal Luther for his excellant work getting my vinyl copy to sound remastered.

For bonus cuts, we found some pretty good stuff to throw on Shock – the B-side to the single “Shame” was a poppy little number called “Save The Last Dance For Love” which unfortunately ends up sounding a little like the not so wonderful songs on the album itself. The “Shock (Remix)” was the single version released and is actually very close to the original, though a little shorter and sharper. “In The Jungle (Concrete Jungle)” was recorded and released a year earlier than Shock, for the Teachers soundtrack, and it’s a fun little jaunt that bridges the sound of Little Robbers and Shock. The song was also released as the B-side to “Shock” so it fits here perfectly. Then we get the demo version of “Shame” which is surprising in that it sounds almost like the finished product showing Martha really knows what she’s doing. We conclude the reissue of Shock with one of the best cuts by the Motels, the ballady pop of “We Never Danced”, a Neil Young song from the soundtrack to the film Made In Heaven, which would be the last official The Motels recorded. “We Never Danced” includes a chorus of kids and happily comes across as exciting and nice instead of overblown and silly.

And once again for that added excitement, Martha has commented on a few of these choice songs:

MARTHA’S RAP SHEET
What Martha Davis has to say for herself:

The Motels – Shock (bub80) (2007; 1985)
Track List:
01. Shock
02. Shame –Ahh yes, the AFFAIR. I’m sure the “shame” adds to its allure. The taboo, the guilt, and the guilty pleasure, the rude awakenings, especially the pain. God, I’m glad that’s over with! Looking back on it, I think the saddest part of the affair is when you cross the line from lust to love. All of a sudden you discover that the hardest part of the affair may very well be walking down the street not holding hands! (November 2001 for Classic Masters – the Motels)
03. Hungry
04. Annie Told Me
05. Icy Red
06. New York Times
07. State Of The Heart
08. My Love Stops Here
09. Cries And Whispers
10. Night By Night
11. BONUS TRACK Save The Last Dance For Love (bside to single SHAME) Uhhh, ltet’s think about this, it was the B-side to the Shame single. First verse lyrics, “Dream comes true and it cuts like a knife,” I’m thinkin’ we hadn’t found our happy spot yet… (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
12. BONUS TRACK Shock (Single Remix)
13. BONUS TRACK In The Jungle (Concrete Jungle) – from the Teachers soundtrack This was a Motels collaboration and as a special bonus, we got to go to the opening and it was very fancy. Nick Nolte was there and it was cool…So L.A. (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
14. BONUS TRACK Shame (demo) – Anyone ever been an adulterer? (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)
15. BONUS TRACK We Never Danced – from the soundtrack to the film Made In Heaven (1987) - This is a beautiful track written by Neil Young and elegantly produced by Richie Zito from a timeless movie by Allen Rudolph. If you’ve never seen this movie, rent it, you’ll love it. My favorite part of this recording is the children’s choir. The most angelic voices and the most hilarious kinetic pizza-eating cherubs you’ll ever meet. (2000 Martha Davis – Anthologyland)