Durocs - It Hurts To Be In Love

In a perfect world, Durocs would have songs on all the hot playlists. Songwriter/multi-instrumentalist/producer Scott Mathews and Ron Nagle, a musician/singer/songwriter (and ceramic sculptor) became a successful songwriting team in 1975. In 1979, they decided to turn their partnership into a band, thus becoming Durocs, named after a breed of pig known for having very large ears and testicles. They released one album on Capitol, who had no idea how to market the band. After an incident where Nagle and Mathews set loose a parade of midgets playing a fanfare on trumpets and a host of squealing pigs into a Capitol Records sales meeting being held by the company president, the Durocs were dumped from the label. Mathews went on to produce several gold and platinum albums, as well as work on a variety of Oscar-winning film projects and Grammy Award-winning songs and albums. Nagle focused on his main career in ceramics, serving as both an acclaimed artist and a teacher...but he's still writing and recording music, and he has an album, "She Lied," due to be released this year. In the meantime, I need to find my old 45 copy of Durocs "It Hurts To Be In Love" for one or two more spins.

Judee Sill - The Kiss

In a perfect world, no one would need to ask "Who was Judee Sill?" From the piece The Life and Times of Judee Sill, by Michael Crumsho in Dusted Magazine:

"Born in Southern California in 1944, and dead in '79, Judee Sill's life was brief, yet filled with enough dark drama to satisfy a lifespan twice that long. It would be easy to relegate her life and musical career as a series of interesting footnotes in the biographies of other more well-known personas: her self-titled debut full-length was the first official release for David Geffen's Asylum imprint; Graham Nash produced her most well known single "Jesus Was a Cross Maker," which was a minor hit for Nash's group the Hollies; she penned a hit single for the Turtles. But doing so would deny the power and majesty of the two albums she released during her lifetime. Critics reacted warmly to her music, commercial success never followed. By the time of her death at the end of the 1970s, she had vanished completely from the music scene, so much so that when word of her death due to a drug overdose trickled down, more than a few people were surprised – they assumed she had already passed.

"Now, in what's become an almost common occurrence for earnest, overlooked folkies, a string of reissues over the past couple of years have stirred up attention, and the recent release of her heretofore unknown third album will hopefully allow Sill's story and music to be heard by the wider audience she so richly deserved."

The story continues here...

Webb Wilder - Human Cannonball

In a perfect world, we would all abide by the Webb Wilder credo: "Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard, grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."

XTC - Mayor of Simpleton

And now, after some late-week tech issues related to storms and power outages, we're back in business. In a perfect world, we'd hear a lot more XTC. Formed in 1976 by core members Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, both hailing from Swindon, England, the group released 14 albums (not counting numerous "greatest hits" collections), including two from their side project, The Dukes of Stratosphear. While they had a few hits in the States and few more in the UK, XTC saw more critical success than commercial success. They released their final album, Wasp Star (Apple Venus Volume 2) in 2000. The band officially split in 2005. The video above, Mayor of Simpleton, is from the band's 1989 release Oranges and Lemons. I've always thought the video bore a striking resemblance to the opening credits of the 1960s-era spy series, The Avengers.

Rickie Lee Jones - Satellites

In a perfect world, everyone would know that Rickie Lee Jones has made a lot of great music since her 1979 top ten hit Chuck E.'s in Love. Brief aside: The Chuck E. in the song is drummer/vocalist Chuck E. Weiss, who was working with Tom Waits. Jones was in a relationship with Waits at the time, and all three were living at the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles. "Satellites" comes from her underrated fifth album, Flying Cowboys, produced by Walter Becker (of Steely Dan) and released in 1989. Her most recent recording is The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, released in 2007.

Jason and the Scorchers - White Lies

Watching Jason and the Scorchers tear up the stage on Late Night with Conan O'Brien in a 1998 performance of their 1985 hit "White Lies" is almost as exhausting as it is exhilarating. Beginning life as Jason and the Nashville Scorchers in 1981, the band recorded three albums before splitting in 1990. They reunited in 1995, and have been performing ever since (and they still sound great), but they have yet to catch the mainstream's attention again, perhaps because they don't look like cookie-cutter American Idol contestants or manufactured Disney 'tweensters. When not performing with the band, leader Jason Ringenberg splits his time between a solo career under his own moniker, and his alter ego, Farmer Jason, a children's entertainer. But in a perfect world, White Lies would kick off all the greatest parties.

Bonnie Prince Billy - Horses

In a perfect world, we'd hear Bonnie Prince Billy on a regular basis. Bonnie Prince Billy, AKA Will Oldham, first popped up on my radar based on his performance as a young preacher-in-training named Danny Radnor in the 1987 movie Matewan, a film by John Sayles that chronicles the coal mine wars that resulted from efforts to unionize miners in Mingo County, West Virginia in the 1920s.

Recommended Reading:
Songs in the Key of Z
By Irwin Chusid



This volume is a great find for anyone with musical tastes that fall somewhere south of the mainstream. And while you're at it, check out Irwin Chusid's weekly show from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. EST every Wednesday on WFMU, a great freeform station in New York City that streams live online. In fact, stick around once you're there...it's a truly great radio station.

An explanation of "outsider music" by Chusid sums up the main thesis of Songs in the Key of Z:

"If you're interested in Outsider Music, it's safe to assume you're a fairly unusual person, inquisitive, perhaps a bit "outside" the mainstream yourself. Because Outsider Music, by definition, offers little of interest to the vast majority of your fellow citizens. They have neither the time nor the curiosity for it.

"The spectrum of music to which the average person is exposed -- versus the variety of available sonic art -- is extremely limited. Yet I don't subscribe to conspiracy theories about the music industry suppressing uncommercial (or non-commercial) artists; nor do I believe that the government, the Trilateral Commission, Billboard, radio programming consultants, Warner Bros., and agents of the Nine Elder Bankers are in collusion to prevent anyone from exploring the nether reaches of musical marginalia. These lumbering Goliaths aren't concerned with Jandek or Shooby Taylor.

"Most consumers simply do not have adventurous taste in music. They're preoccupied with families, careers, and paying bills, home improvements and car repairs, and getting a good night's sleep. Insofar as music plays any role in their lives, they prefer the comfort of familiar artists and formulas. For that, no one should be faulted. It's a filtering process, necessary to avoid sensory overload. A person who can't appreciate music beyond Air Supply or Jimmy Buffett may have an appetite for exotic food, fine art, or extreme sports. But when they or their progeny get married, they prefer that the festivities resonate with the strains of Billy Joel, Sinatra, Motown oldies, and Madonna. Weddings and Bat Mitzvahs are not occasions for expanding your musical horizons, or those of your guests. And yet music provides an important ritualistic function, and I harbor little doubt that pop standards played or performed at these events have great significance to all involved. Captain Beefheart's "Neon Meate Dream of a Octafish" or Wesley Willis's "Shoot Me in the Ass" just won't do.

"Yet Outsider Music has its place -- an intimate, dimly lit enclave. Songs in the Key of Z attempts to air out the dusty attics and damp cellars of the greater music community, introducing some of the dizzy aunts and eccentric uncles about whom your parents rarely spoke."

Julie Fowlis - Lon-dubh / Blackbird

In a perfect world, this version of The Beatles song Blackbird would be in heavy rotation. Hearing Julie Fowlis' reworking of this classic tune adapted to Scottish Gaelic gives the familiar melody a new and somewhat exotic feel.

Mindwalk Blvd - Beside Me

Mindwalk Blvd is a Boston-based trio comprised of two 16-year-olds -- Jordan Ferreira on guitar and lead vocals and Mike Avakian, bass, keyboards and vocals, plus 13-year-old drummer and vocalist Tyler Hudson. I've been following these guys for about a year, and I continue to be impressed with their level of musicianship. I first saw Mindwalk Blvd on YouTube covering the song In the Dead of Night by UK, recorded when Ferreira and Avakian were 15 and Hudson was 11. It's a tough song (the original version is here), and I dug the fact that these kids were not just attempting a fairly difficult progressive rock tune, but doing a pretty good job with it. Ferreira in particular does justice to Allan Holdsworth's guitar solo.

Sparks - This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us

Led by brothers Ron Mael (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals), Sparks first hit the music scene in 1968 under the name Halfnelson. Their first album, a self-titled effort produced by Todd Rundgren for Bearsville records, sold poorly. The Maels changed the band's name to Sparks after signing to Warner Brothers in 1971. This Town Ain't Big Enough for the Both of Us is the first song I heard by Sparks in a performance on the old Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, a syndicated television show that ran from 1973 to 1981. Ron Mael in particular was (and still is) a blast to watch...his expressions are priceless and so out of sync with the music that they end up being perfect for each musical moment. The performance above is from the German program Disco, broadcast in 1974.

Chomsky - Fifteen Minutes to Rock

In a perfect world, this song would have been a huge hit...one of the greatest sing-along songs I've heard in years. The Dallas-based band Chomsky broke up in 2005, but they performed a one-off reunion show at the Dallas night club Double Wide in 2008.

Mats/Morgan Band - The Chicken

Here's some nice jazz/funk from the Mats/Morgan Band to get your blood pumping. Mats Öberg (keyboards) and Morgan Agren (drums) have been playing together since 1981. In 1984 they formed the group Zappsteetoot, a band that specialized in the music of Frank Zappa. The pair went on to perform with their musical mentor in 1988, and Agren was tapped again by Zappa for numerous additional projects, including the Grammy Award winning 1994 CD Zappa's Universe.

Robert Wyatt - Gharbzadegi

Drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt was a founding member of the psychedelic UK band Soft Machine, formed in 1966 with Kevin Ayers on bass, guitar and vocals, guitarist Daevid Allen and organist Mike Ratledge. In 1971, Wyatt left the band (or was fired from the band, depending on the source), and he formed the progressive rock group Matching Mole. This band would complete two albums before splitting in 1972, and Wyatt joined Mole bandmates Dave Sinclair and Phil Miller in the group Hatfield and the North. This band was set to record their third album in 1973, but during a June 1 party, Wyatt fell from a third floor apartment window. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down. Wyatt recovered and embarked on a solo career that continues today. The song Gharbzadegi appears on Wyatt's 1985 release Old Rottenhat.