We're doing something a tad different this week - as it's a very special occassion. Instead of the Hot Bastage Of The Week - I'm giving you the Hot Bichie Of The Week..
For today is the day that brought a sassy well developed angel into the world - my best gal pal LISA! It's her birthday and she is our very special Hot Bichie Of The Week! and to celebrate why don't you download Tanya Tucker's song of what we all feel like on this momentous day - I'm Not Lisa.
It's that time of the week again - a little look at some of my favorite things:
The New Adventures Of Old Christine - I may have talked about this little sitcom before but it is so frickin' hilarious I laugh out loud at every single episode. I just can't believe how much I relate to the whack job lead character. I mean I'm nowhere near my forties, I don't have a kid, I'm not divorced and what else, oh yeah I'm not a woman... but oh well for some reason I'm a lot like Christine... you should check it out on Wednesdays on CBS if you aren't already watching. Also the first two seasons are on DVD - rent them you'll laugh. (and think of me)
Uncle Brad - being an uncle is so cool when you've got nifty little nephews like mine. My oldest nephew is actually not in this picture as that title goes to my godson Zion but I'm sure he'll make an appearance on this list sometime soon... meanwhile here's Jared, who is going into the (gulp) Marines this month!! and of course you know Evan - the saintly handsomest little prince ever... In fact I love these kids so much I wrote a song called "First Born Son" about my nephews, now if only I could sing it without Auto Tune fricking me over.
and finally that little space known as Facebook. The only reason I ever joined Facebook is because a couple of my friends were on there who weren't on My Space and they would meet up for drinks on Wednesdays and I didn't want to miss out on a Happy Hour.
Meanwhile the very first email I ever got through Facebook was from a gal named Candi who sent me a note - "Did you go to school in Rhinelander. I think you were my best friend in high school." And what do you know I was! The girl has been looking for me for all these years and we finally found each other ... she loves me so much she even gave her first born son my name as his middle name... now that's something my sister, brother and best pal Melsie (the aforementioned nephews' parents) never did... but I'm not bovvered.
It's BubbaTUNESday (although one day late) but as promised today we have yet another new wave classic with the so excellant second album by that UK goddess Kim Wilde. Kim's second album Select was released in 1982 and scored a pretty big number, not as popular as the debut album but not too shabby and definitely not a sophomore slump. The CD was released in a view nations but never in the US and trying to track a version down is not easy (or at least not inexpensive) but we here at Bubbatunes are quick to help out (for limited times anyway) so today we bring you Kim Wilde's Select.
bub133 Kim Wilde - Select (December 16, 2008) Original Release: 1982
Kim’s second album veers a little away from her debut as it incorporates a tad more synthesizers than the first album but that only adds to the sassy lyrics and cool beats. Opening with “Ego” – it’s a great kick in the teeth to a self absorbed lover followed by “Words Fell Down” which is another tale of misbegotten love. By far the best cut on the album in the love gone bad vein is the single “View From A Bridge” – a sweltering little gem that puts you right in the ambience of Kim’s world.
The 80’s were big on strange little ditties that had this big sense of doom around them – perhaps due to that whole Cold War thing but Kim had some of the best ones – “Chaos At The Airport” is one of these little ditties, it seems Kim’s on her way to pick up her guy but the radio is talking of all kinds of trouble. It’s a strange listen in this post-9/11 world but it’s still really frickin’ catchy.
The single “Cambodia” has that aura going on as well. Only this time the hero of the song is a soldier who flies out to Cambodia on a secret mission, and as happens in these things, he doesn’t come home.
Even the awesome "Wendy Sadd" has this strange European spy vibe going for it - thank goodness. It's an excellant song and one of my favs on Select.
The other highlights include “Take Me Tonight” and “Can I Come Over” both super fun and furious little ditties, particularly “Can I Come Over” which has a bit of a rock a billy thing going on.
Select isn’t as tremendous as the debut album but it’s a whole lot of great and a very worthy follow up to the classic album from the year before.
For our special Bubbatunes reissue we head to some singles for bonus tracks. The album version of “Cambodia” breaks into the instrumental “Reprise” so it’s a long drawn out spectacle of greatness, so I decided to also add the single version of “Cambodia” and it’s b-side “Watching For Shapes” which would have totally fit on to Select but was left off.
The next single is one of those great lost gems – “Bitter Is Better” was a fun little song made for a Japanese commercial and released in Japan (and Belgium I think). It’s a great song and should’ve been released world wide if you want my opinion.
For some insane reason, Select was the last real hit to befall Kim in the UK until a few years later meaning the next single “Child Come Away” was somewhat of a bust. To this day, she says the song’s unpopular chart placement showed her to be more selective in the songs they released but I don’t get it, cause first of all it did actually chart (though it was nowhere near the top ten) and secondly, it’s one of my all time favorite Kim Wilde tracks.
The strange story of a scarred girl being escorted around by the sheriff, who knows why, who cares why it’s just a creepy fun song – perhaps the ambiguous storyline held it from being a big hit, but that’s one part of its allure I think.
Finally, the bonus tracks end with the b-side of "Child Come Away" - another jaunty little love gone bad sassy pants song called "Just Another Guy" which is another heaping helping of Kim Wilde greatness.
bub133 Kim Wilde – Select Track List: 01. Ego 02. Words Fell Down 03. Action City 04. View From A Bridge 05. Just A Feeling 06. Chaos At The Airport 07. Take Me Tonight 08. Can I Come Over 09. Wendy Sadd 10. Cambodia - Reprise Bonus Tracks: 11. Cambodia 12. Watching For Shapes 13. Bitter Is Better 14. Child Come Away 15. Just Another Guy
So I went against my own judgement and watched ABC the other night - okay, I did it last night but I really wanted to watch LOST on the Leivas' brand new 50" flat screen plasma... I know he spoils himself and I never get anything! But anyhoos, this all brings me up to this week's Hot Bastage Of The Week - my favorite character on Lost, sarcastic Sawyer who spent the whole first episode (and a half) shirtless - gotta love it!
I wish I could go just one frickin' day without being reminded how gay people are second class citizens but alas that doesn't seem to be happening ....
so here's the latest in news nobody wants to hear...
1. I was pretty peeved to find out about Rick Warren doing the inauguration sermon and then good old Barack brought in the gay Episcopalian reverend to open up the pre-inaugurationhooplah but when it was presented live on HBO, the sermon and the gays were cut. HBO said the Obama campaign people told them when to start airing and thus cut the only saving grace (to me) in Obama's so called pro gay stance. However, now they all say they are airing it in its entirety on HBO - but alas does it really matter now that it has already gone down? See I told you all it should've been Kucinich.
2. KABC in Los Angeles of all places refused to air an ad featuring a gay family during the inauguration yesterday - the group GetToKnowUsFirst.org presented an ad featuring an African American family raising 6 kids and despite numerous attempts to find out why the thing was deemed "controversial" KABC refused to take the ad revenue citing, "families will be watching." Apparently, that would be only families that don't have gay people in them. F******CK!!!! There's actually 3 different ads now and most stations did air them... I may have to stop watching ABC all together... Here's the controversial ad:
3. And finally, we all probably knew this was coming but in B.C. Canada Winston Blackmorehas 20 wives and his defense is now going through the gay marriage book to prove why he can in fact have 20 wives. That's right, just like the right predicted the polygamists are now citing that because gays have the right to marry (in Canada anyway) then every Tom Dick & Joseph Smith has the right to marry as many wives as they want. Personally, it doesn't really affect me if polygamy is legal or not but still - why do we have to be the pre-cursor to all that goes wrong in the world.
4. and finally, a few weeks ago everyone got in a big hooplah because the Vatican wouldn't sign the UN's declaration that would making killing and imprisoning gay people a crime. Everyone was all up in arms because the Vatican was being so pissy and obviously discriminating, well guess who else has never signed it? That's right the good old US of A...
I am so ticked off I can't even believe it. I think I'm going to have to go drinking after work just to feel a little less victimized and a lot more intoxicated.
BubbaTUNESday - bub132 Kim Wilde - Kim Wilde (Reissue)
This week's featured Bubbatune is actually a reissue of a reissue. Way back in 2004 I put out bub43 the reissue of one of my all time favorite albums ever - Kim Wilde's self titled debut. Full of new wave fun and of course that hit "Kids In America" it is to this day one of my all time favs. Well, Kim did three fairly new wavey albums when she was on RAK Records - the aforementioned debut, 1982's Select and 1983's Catch As Catch Can. Other than a long ago released CD release of the first two and a long ago boxed set which contained all three albums, there haven't been any reissues of these classic albums - that is until now. So when I was finally able to get to Select and Catch As Catch Can on CD, it only made sense I go back and redo the debut album. The original 2004 Bubbatune had bonus tracks consisting of all the singles Kim put out on RAK and with the new addition of the next albums, it didn't make sense. So now we have put together Bubbatunes for all three Kim CD's... but you'll have to wait for the next two. I'm taking this week by week you see.
But alas, with that long intro gone - here we are at this week's Bubbatune - the reissue of the reissue for Kim Wilde.
bub 132 Kim Wilde - KIM WILDE (December 16, 2008; 1981)
One more gem of a new wave masterpiece that is overlooked and so underappreciated, the debut album by Kim Wilde only caused a ripple here in America when the single "Kids In America" was released in 1982, but prior to that the single was released in the UK where it hit #3 and then when the album was finally released Kim found herself with a top ten album and two more hit singles - the chugging drama of "Chequered Love" and the rocking "Water On Glass."
For some reason Kim's new wave drama hiccupy hit didn't make a huge impression to most in the US, but to me it did. The album came out when I was quite young but how I loved "Kids In America" and I really didn't know that Kim had already been having hits in the UK for over a year, but I wanted this album and after much whining I got it.
Ever since that day Kim Wilde has rarely went two months without a spin on the cassette player and with this Bubbatune on the CD player. The album itself is pure 1981/82 poppy new wave full of pounding drum lines, synth and keyboards and lyrics about teen angst, hookers, strange radio frequencies and the ever present love gone wrong.
Set to a trancy energetic beat there isn't a song to be missed; of course like most UK/US releases of the time, the tracks were arranged differently, only this time it was only a few songs, the original UK version opens with "Water On Glass" a fast rocking little ditty that would be released as a single while in America the single "Kids In America" opened the album. Since the original release was in the UK I went with their track list so we go from "Water" to "Our Town", a tale of trying to break out but forced back into your small world before the reggae tinged "Everything We Know" and onto one of my all time fav songs "Young Heroes", a pumping little song about celebrating your differences, "We only wanna stay young/ we only wanna be free/ She doesn't want to be me/ he doesn't want to be you/ we're all young heroes/we only want to be free..."
Onto the big hit of the set with "Kids In America" which is such a great song I just can't get enough. You'll remember it made the top ten of my best song of the 80's, and Kim redid it on her latest album Never Say Never, a sort of throwback to this era of Kim songs. Starting with synth waves and breaking into moody pop, this is a song that though it has that 80's feel still seems to fit perfectly in 2006, a true test of what a great pop song can be. The album continues on in the same vein with the catchy and big UK hit "Chequered Love" followed by another reggae-ish tune only set to a much fuller and faster beat "26580", an ode to a prostitute and then the moody love song "You'll Never Be So Wrong", the power tranced rock of "Falling Out" a big kiss off song that is probably my favorite song on the whole album, "So now it's over and there's nothing more to say/ the flame that burned inside my heart now slowly fades away/ so don't you ever think of knocking at my door/ just turn the light, close your eyes and think of me no more/ and it's too late to say you're sorry/ you'll never change and there's nothing you can do about it/ faaaalllling ouuut/ cutting me up in pieces..." and ending with the spacey trance of "Tuning In, Tuning Out" which was a sort of inspiration for my vocal take on Swivek's "Intensity Is Recommended" - full of overdubbed spoken and sung vocals, it's a perfect way to end a new wavey masterpiece.
But thanks to the Bubbatunes world, this version of Kim Wilde is far from over, as we have collected more of the first incarnation of Kim's recording career; the b-side of the UK "Chequered Love" single is here - "Shane" is a little love song about some boy Kim fancied or doesn't fancy anymore and then my favorite - the B side to "Water On Glass" - a fast paced rocker "Boys" which would've fit perfectly on the album.
The original reissue of Kim Wilde then included the rest of her singles discography released on the UK label RAK before she secured a worldwide MCA contract and switched her sound from new wave rock/pop to dance pop but we end this version here so you can head onto the next new wave of Kim with Select - which we will talk about next week on BubbaTUNESday. See you then.
bub132 KIM WILDE - Kim Wilde Track List:01. Water On Glass 02. Our Town 03. Everything We Know 04. Young Heroes 05. Kids In America 06. Chequered Love 07. 26580 08. You'll Never Be So Wrong 09. Falling Out 10. Tuning In, Tuning Out Bonus Tracks: 11. Shane 12. Boys
Okay I don't really have any movie news but it all seemed to rhyme... for once we actually did some pretty fun and interesting stuff this weekend - you know rather than me sitting at home and working on music while the Leivas is forced to watch TV - he hates that.
On Saturday my boss threw a party for his boyfriend's birthday and it was a two and a half hour harbor cruise of Long Beach Harbor - it was an open bar with food and a bunch of people and it was frickin' fun! I love the water and love the boat and I love drunks and drinking so it was all worth it. Plus it was super beautiful all day long - I think it was in the 70's and out on the water it was so nice - not cold at all... yes I'm quite happy I do not live in Wisconsin anymore...
After the cruise we headed to Harbor City and spent the rest of the evening with the Leivas'. Lots of wine flowed and it is always so fun to hang with my inlaws..
Then on Sunday we headed over to the Arc Light to see My Bloody Valentine 3D - we had just recently watched the original from 1981 as I rented it from Netflix because I was always too afraid to watch it when I was a kid. It's actually a really good film and the new one was pretty good too - I mean it had Jensen Ackles in it and 3D! It was pretty fun. Here's the trailer and you should definitely go see it - completely mindless (and rather gory I guess) but it's entertaining for sure.
Okay this week's Hot Bastage Of The Week is one of the few more celebrity type of guys who actually have nude pix out there! Gasp! Imagine my surprise when the second pic I saw was one showing his peen. Swoon. Anyhoos, this week's hot bastage of the week is hot hot hot in or out of his clothes - it's SVU's Christopher Meloni - who just so happens to have also starred in a movie with my gal Lisa Hartman Black playing her hubby and in a movie with Paul Rudd - one of our previous hot bastages of the week ... oh yes, he's that cool err hot!
It's Thursday and you know what that means don't you? Okay, it's been awhile so I'll remind you, it's my list of A Few Of My Favorite Things -
For Christmas, the Leivas bought me something I didn't even know I wanted... a Zune player. This thing is so great. It holds every single song I had on my computer, plus videos, pictures and I can take it anywhere I go - plus it hooks up to stereos and it doesn't take a million years to load up or try to get through songs like my phone does... I love this thing... plus the Leivas got me a fairly higher model so when the crash came it didn't affect me one bit.. now I can show everyone vids of my nephew and Swivek just by whipping out my zune..
Date Nights with the Leivas - while we were on vacation, the Leivas and I didn't do all that much but we did have a couple of date nights. The best one was by far the night he took me to Micelli's in Hollywood - my all time favorite restaraunt and then to the Egyptian Theater to see "EARTHQUAKE"!!! I know huh? It was Disaster month at the Egyptian and they were showing "The Towering Inferno", "Black Sunday", "The Hindenberg" and "Earthquake" with the original sense surround which makes it feel like there's a real earthquake happening while it's happening on screen... I love disaster movies and this was so cool!
and finally, I don't know if you know this about me but I love my music and am obsessed with charts - particularly the upper regions of the charts (as in above top 40) and I have almost every single chart book from the pop charts, British charts, country charts, album charts, all of them. The only problem is they come out with new ones every couple of years and I have to constantly buy them.. in fact I have a new one for pop and pop albums should anybody be interested in buying one of the older ones for cheaper than you'll find on Amazon....
I finally bought myself a copy of Autotune - you know that uber cool program that can fix the pitch and add those ever so tiresome Cher effex to your vocals? Well I wanted and needed it as I want to sound just as good as Brittney on my new album - not that I don't already have perfect pitch mind you.... anyhoos, I can't get the damn thing to work.
First of all it's a plug in and that means absolutely nothing to me but apparantly the Leivas knows what that is so he did install it, but when I go into Acid, which is the program I use to record and mix, I can't find the damn plug in - it isn't there! Or won't appear! and worst of all I can't find a single thing through the internet that helps me...
So it's going to be another long night when I get home but damned be all if I won't get that sucker to work someway someday...
(oh and if anyone has any idea on how to get the autotune plug in to work in Acid Pro 7 please let me know)
UPDATE: The genius that is the Leivas got it working - now I just have to become a production genius and figure out how to use it.
December brought a final rush of Bubbatunes that I just didn’t have time to talk about – plus most of them were made to be gifts for people who could maybe stumble upon my blog and then there would be no big surprise come Christmas time.
But now the holidays are over (sob!) and it’s back to BubbaTUNESday. Today we start with a very rare one indeed. A long lost gem of an album from a not so famous, but so should be gal named Kirsty MacColl and her very first album ever 1981’s Desperate Character – a mish mash of bar songs, fun little 60’s throw backs and a little new wavey thrown in for good measure.
bub131 KIRSTY MacCOLL - DESPERATE CHARACTER Released December 12, 2008 - Original Release 1981
If you don’t know who Kirsty is, all I can say is I feel bad for you :0) – actually she was such a great lyricist and singer – sassy, funny, spirited. She only released 5 albums in her entire recording career, coming out every 5 years or so but for all the tid bits and good morsels check out www.kirstymaccoll.com as it’s one of the best celebrity websites ever.
Kirsty came into the public eye in 1979 when she launched her single “They Don’t Know” on Stiff Records – yes the very same song Tracey Ullman would sing in 1984 and bring to top ten fame. The MacColl record didn’t do all that well but it did bring her into our world.
She launched one more single before coming out with her first full length album Desperate Character in 1981. The album actually gave her a hit (in the UK) with “There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Chop Swears He’s Elvis” though it was passed off by some to be more of a novelty song. But if you listen to the biting words you’ll know it’s so much more than that – “there’s a guy works down the chip chop swears he’s Elvis/ but he’s a liar and I’m not sure about you…”
The second single from the album brought out the Beach Boys-esque New Wave style Kirsty had going for her – “See That Girl” was another witty song about lost and untrusting love that Kirsty would deliver.
I had never heard all of the Desperate Character album as it is waaaaaaaaay out of print on vinyl and never ever released on CD (though a few songs pop up on compilations here and there). The surprising thing on the debut album is Kirsty’s take on some cover songs. She comes up with a whole new rendition to “Just One Look” with tons of overdubbed bliss and her take on “He Thinks I Still Care” comes complete with a homage to “Blue Moon” and the Shangri-La’s type of bad girl rap. They are both excellent.
The complete riots on here are “Mexican Sofa” a poppy mix of Latin flavor which is especially poignant figuring Kirsty would dabble with Latin music later in her career; particularly on her last album Tropical Brainstorm which won rave reviews just months before she was killed off the Mexican shore by a rogue speed boat. But if you just put that nastiness out of your mind for a sec and enjoy the luminous “16 dollars a day/ sitting on a Mexicana sofa…” “Tijuana cup of coffee/ Tijuana cup of tea…” it’s excellent.
My other fav is a rock abilly-ish take on teenage love called (poetically) “Teenager In Love” but this teenager has bigger issues than the typical girl group songs – you see her parents won’t let her be with her man so she hangs out at home chugging Tequila – “I’m just a lonely alcoholic teenager inn love…” I love it, I love her.
"The Real Ripper" is a pure classic in all it's glory - a pub song with swinging keyboards and a biting take on that elusive love - it's something for everyone to hear.
The original album ends with the “country” version of “Chip Chop” though I have to admit it’s a real bore – and the original is more than country enough I think. Incidentally the song was released as a single in the US dubbed “There’s A Guy Works Down The Truck Stop Swears He’s Elvis” and unfortunately that too is the slow countrified version I’m not too fond of – but its here as a bonus track.
After the fairly dismal returns for Desperate Character, Kirsty headed back to the studio to do some more work – one single popped up – a Beach Boys cover while her second album tentatively titled The Real MacColl – a mixture of synth new wave and biting commentary – was shelved when Polydor records dumped her contract; though they did release the single “Berlin” from those sessions.
Before the Desperate Character album and after "They Don't Know" other singles were released notably "You Caught Me Out" (another Tracey Ullman would redo) and "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby" a super cool little girl group bash. After the album came even more singles including "Terry" (one of my favs and yet another Ullman would be cover). By 1984, Kirsty was back at Stiff Records and released her biggest hit “A New England” and “He’s On The Beach” – all of which are here on this special edition of Desperate Character.
Other bonus tracks include the b-sides from several of those singles - (Turn My) Motor On is a rocking gem from the "They Don't Know" 7", "I'm Going Out With An 80 Year Old Millionaire" is pure Kirsty sass and the B side to "A New England" and one of my all time favs "Quietly Alone" the flip to "Terry."
After the “He’s On The Beach” single Kirsty went back to prepare a full album band came up with the brillz—“Kite” album which HAS been reissued with bonus tracks. Her next albums Electric Landlady and Titanic Days (My favorite) have also been reissued with bonus tracks and by then she was absolutely brilliant so you owe it to yourself to check them out.
In the meantime this is how it all started.
bub131 KIRSTY MacCOLL – DESPERATE CHARACTER Track List: 01. Clock Goes Round 02. See That Girl 03. There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Chop Swears He's Elvis 04. Teenager In Love 05. Mexican Sofa 06. Until The Night 07. Falling For Faces 08. Just One Look 09. The Real Ripper 10. Hard To Believe 11. He Thinks I Still Care 12. There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Chop Swears He's Elvis (Country Version)
Bonus Tracks - 13. They Don't Know 14. (Turn My) Motor On 15. You Caught Me Out 16. Keep Your Hands Off My Baby 17. There's A Guy Works Down The Truck Stop Swears He's Elvis 18. You Still Believe In Me 19. Berlin 20. Terry 21. Quietly Alone 22. A New England 23. I'm Going Out With An 80 Year Old Millionaire 24. He's On The Beach 25. Please Go To Sleep
Location: West Hollywood, California, United States
SHORT VERSION: Bradley Jacobson is a singer/songwriter, sometime actor, sometime writer, audio engineer and producer, and all around happy dude. He was the singer/songwriter of the electronic trashy punky pop band Swivek, but is now a "solo" artist releasing music under his own name.
We're doing something a tad different this week - as it's a very special occassion. Instead of the Hot Bastage Of The Week - I'm giving you the Hot Bichie Of The Week..
