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dustedmagazine · 6 years

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Listed: Robert Poss

New York has been the ground zero for the intersection of American avant-garde art music and rock and roll for half a century, and Robert Poss has made that his creative zone since 1980. That’s when he co-founded Trace Elements, a label that documented early work by electronic composer Nicolas Collins. On the one hand, Poss led the hard-rocking Band of Susans from 1985-1996. On the other he has composed incidental music for films and dance companies, done audio recording for films and TV, and collaborated with Rhys Chatham and Phill Niblock. Frozen Flowers Curse The Dayis his latest solo album; earlier today Jennifer Kelly said of it, "even the most familiarly structured guitar rock compositions take on the hallucinatory bend and stretch of Poss’ experimental inquiries."

The New York Dolls—The New York Dolls

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Unlike the Ramones, who had a demented comic book Beach Boys mentality, the New York Dolls were musical revolutionaries of another sort, giving us The Audacity of Dope, the urban life of fey dissipated dandies married to a dirty yet glittering hard rock of the streets. Johansen/Thunders gave us an updated off-kilter Jagger/Richards with anarchy, and tongue-in-cheek nihilism added to the mix. The guitar playing was revolutionary. The lyrics were urbanely urban or maybe vice-versa. This record changed my life. I bought it the week it came out, and saw the band perform it live a few months later. It blasted my teenage mind into the future. Magic.

The Rolling Stones—Beggars Banquet

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One of the most electric and electrifying records of the 1960s, Begggars Banquet employed mostly acoustic guitars, piano, dulcimers and brilliant electric bass parts in a dark harmonic onslaught of major chords and suspensions. The dark devilish mood of protest, sex, violence and bravado was tempered with remorse and humor. I keep coming back to this record for its stringy harmonic density, layered drones and drama as well as its brilliant Nicky Hopkins piano. It is a force of nature, and the urgency and poignance of the lyrics mark a key high point for the Stones.

U2—Boy

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Laugh if you want, but David Evans (The Edge) took Keith Levene’s two string PIL tambura drones to a new level of arpeggiated melodicism. These are simple stripped-down song structures often with a bass line as a lynchpin holding it together as a repeated guitar figure loops and rotates. Best of all, Bono had not yet discovered or realized his full persona, and his grandiosity is kept somewhat in check. There is purity here and majesty.

The Kinks—Kinks Kronikles

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These small vignettes of English life, humor and pathos still amuse, move and inspire me. Ray Davies had the greatest range of any songwriter of the era, including Lennon/McCartney, capable of impromptu rockers, tender reminiscences, boozy tales, sardonic social commentary and pointillistic character studies. Dave Davies’ voice and guitar adds a delightful tension and twang. This is a collection spanning several years and several styles, but it captures some of the best of the band. All wheat, no chaff.

X-Ray Spex—Germfree Adolescents

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The exuberant brilliance of Poly Styrene’s vocals and the hilariously on target lyrics make me almost forgive the wailing saxophone. This teen girl/woman’s perspective was such a breath of fresh air amidst the suffocating machismo and latent (or not so latent) misogyny of Punk. These melodies and scenes stay in one’s mind. Social commentary with a youthful yet world-weary screw-you-if-you-don’t-get-it vigor. Buzzcocks-tight song structures. This LP always puts a smile on my face. Love saves the day.

Wire—Pink Flag

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I was late to this party, I admit. After writing and recording Band Of Susans' Blessing And Curse (1987) and Hope Against Hope (1988), there was talk of a summer tour with Wire that Paul Smith (Blast First) was going to try to work out. As this solidified, I got hold of some Wire records. I think I first got The Ideal Copy and A Bell Is Like A Cup, since that was the material they were touring on, and then I got Pink Flag, which I absolutely fell in love with. It seemed like the missing link between Punk and the future, and it was so smart, so catchy and so inscrutable. I didn't learn the song titles or decipher the lyrics; I listened to it as one long suite of songs -- I didn't always know when one started and one ended. But suddenly I saw how bands like R.E.M. and Mission Of Burma and so many others had clearly been influenced by them. And it always makes me want to play guitar, write songs and write lyrics when I listen to it, and that’s a good thing. This is an absolutely impeccable LP.

The Rolling Stones—Their Satanic Majesties Request

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Imbued with hashish mysticism wedded to medieval futurism, this is one of my most beloved Rolling Stones efforts. The blend of Mellotron experimentation, cutting guitar parts, science fiction lyrics and dark Eastern-tinged psychedelia keeps me returning to this most misunderstood masterpiece.

Tom Verlaine—Dreamtime

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Majestic, inscrutable, moving and fecund, this record is comprised of mini-masterpieces. “There’s A Reason” is one of the most perfect guitar songs ever recorded. Verlaine’s Television promise is exquisitely delivered on here, and his band is superb.

The Clash—The Clash (U.K. Import version)

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Another record that changed my life. The discovery of a smart politically charged band employing gruff guitar minimalism and raw, acerbic but clever vocals had me a convert from the first few chords. I think this record is more appreciated in the U.S. than in the U.K. It put down a marker for me and woke me up out my post-New York Dolls slumber. There is humor here as well as earnestness, and a bit of self-aware mockery and self-deprecation amidst the societal critique. It mentored some of my work with the band Tot Rocket.

Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper—The Live Adventures of Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper

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Bringing together my love for Albert King, The Blues Project, the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Highway 61 Revisited-era Bob Dylan and the legacy of Muddy Waters, this live record excited me to no end as a teenager. Kooper and a cast of mostly West Coast characters (including Carlos Santana subbing for a an out-of-commission Bloomfield) provide a backdrop for the main event: the lyrical, singing melodic lead guitar of one of my musical idols, Mike Bloomfield. There are some sublime blues moments here, with a bit of drama, pop and rock thrown in. It is perfectly imperfect.

#dusted magazine #listed #robert poss #the new york dolls #the rolling stones #u2 #the kinks #x-ray spex #wire #tom verlaine #the clash #mike bloomfield #al kooper

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