Category Archives: Miscellaneous

Breaking Horses and Other Stories (A Real Gone Sampler 2012)

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As we approach the end of the year, it’s time to celebrate some of 2012’s best DIY/cult music with another Real Gone freebie.  For your pleasure – presenting ‘Breaking Horses’, an ABSOLUTELY FREE downloadable 15 track sampler including some of the music we’ve enjoyed this year, music from bands who really deserve your attention.

It was scheduled to be an 18 track download, but a few things changed along the way and three bands didn’t make the cut.  One didn’t actually submit a usable mp3 on time, while the other two omissions are somewhat more complicated. One band was incredibly keen, but told us to have a word with their media guy who then didn’t even send out a courtesy reply (time to find out what your PR guys are actually doing for you, guys…); the other sadly missing band said it sounded great…but then said we had to run it past their manager. Their manager wheeled out a bunch of terms and conditions and, let’s just say, it wasn’t worth the effort.  Their loss.

Various bands happily agreed to give a tiny piece of their work towards the second RG sampler – and you’ll be glad they did.

Real Gone would like to thank all the bands present, their PR teams and everyone else who helped make this possible with the minimum of fuss.   Huge thanks go out to Mike Viola who kindly agreed to let us use a non-album track and especially to David Myhr who contributes a previously unheard version of one of his songs recorded at the legendary Abbey Road.  Thanks also to Andrew at Lojinx for acting as go-between and making this possible.

BREAKING HORSES and OTHER STORIES (A Real Gone Sampler 2012)

This download has now been taken down.  Should you still wish to download it, please email us via the contact section on this website and we’ll send you a zip file of the contents.

Tracks included:
01 BEAR MAKES NINJA – Fruit Can’t Fly
02 RUBY THE HATCHET – Black Tongue
03 MIKE VIOLA – Chemical Night *
04 WOT GORILLA? – Melted Welly
05 A VITAL MESSAGE – It’s Legal If It’s On Camera
06 THUNDERFUCKS – Sick Girl
07 DEAD WOLF CLUB – Colossus
08 RIDDLE THE SPHINX – Hey You
09 MICK TERRY – River Bend (w/Rosalie Deighton) **
10 DAVID MYHR – Never Mine (Abbey Road Version) **
11 ANIMAL PARTS – A Dream Where I Break Horses
12 THE DEAD EXS – If You Got The Time…
13 POST WAR GLAMOUR GIRLS – She Will Always Be My Anchor
14 JUSTIN KLINE – Your Mystery
15 THE MOTHERSHIP – Ugly Love

*non-album track
**previously unreleased

DISCLAIMER:  This music is given freely on the understanding that it is downloaded from this zip file as a complete sampler which once downloaded, is for your personal enjoyment only.  Real Gone is not responsible for people taking these tracks and uploading them individually elsewhere.

DAVE BRUBECK: December 6th 1920 – December 5th 2012

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Jazz legend Dave Brubeck died one day short of his 92nd birthday. Nobody could argue that ninety-something isn’t a decent age to see, especially when – by the time of Brubeck’s own passing – so many of his musical peers from the 50s and 60s (a fine era for jazz music) had long since left us, and at ages so much younger. Even Brubeck nearly didn’t make it: a near fatal swimming accident occurred in 1951, some years before he would record his best known material.

One of the finest pianists in jazz, possibly second only to Herbie Hancock, Brubeck’s most famous recording, 1959’s ‘Take Five’ (written by The Brubeck Quartet’s saxophonist Paul Desmond), remains one of the genre’s most instantly recognisable pieces, loved by many – and not just jazz aficionados. Beyond ‘Take Five’, his mammoth output, spanning six decades, yielding several dozen albums, included other great tunes, right up to his critically acclaimed swansong – 2001’s ‘The Crossing’. Right to the end, he could be heard always pushing his already distinctive style as he experimented with complex time signatures.

His music says more than a few paragraphs ever could. In tribute, here’s the complete Dave Brubeck Quartet performance from the BBC’s ‘Jazz 625’, recorded in 1964.

The REAL GONE 2012 Advent Calendar

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With all of the in-depth reviews and other stuff on Real Gone, since it’s nearly Christmas, it’s time for a bit of fun.

Every day between the 1st and 24th of December, a new link will be posted here containing a clip. It may music, maybe not; it may be a classic you’ve seen a thousand times, it may be something you’ve never seen…it may not even be an official clip.

It’s just a handy way of rounding up a few of Real Gone’s favourites in a quick and unoriginal fashion. After the calendar is completed on Christmas Eve, the links will stay up for those who missed out.

…Will Bruce Springsteen will be bellowing festively somewhere?

DEC 01 DEC 02 DEC 03 DEC 04 DEC 05 DEC 06 DEC 07 DEC 08
DEC 09 DEC 10 DEC 11 DEC 12 DEC 13 DEC 14 DEC 15 DEC 16
DEC 17 DEC 18 DEC 19 DEC 20 DEC 21 DEC 22 DEC 23 DEC 24

NAPALM DEATH: Hellfest 2012

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When Napalm Death appeared on the scene in the late 80s, they were one of the most extreme bands ever. Their grindcore assault, delivering uber-short metal numbers with a hardcore punk aggression, made their debut album ‘Scum’ almost impenetrable. It wasn’t just the sheer intensity that made it somehow fascinating, but also the fact that each side of the LP was recorded with almost an entirely different line-up, with only drummer Mick Harris remaining. This was clearly a band who mightn’t go the distance…

Napalm Death weren’t just a flash in the pan. A second album, recorded with vocalist Lee Dorrian – who appeared on part of the debut – assaulted the listener with a similar intensity over the course of twenty two numbers. After this, he would soon depart to form the doom metal band Cathedral and guitarist Bill Steer would form Carcass, both of who also achieved cult success. [While neither of Napalm’s first two albums were a commercial success, they’ve been critically acclaimed by the press, with ‘Scum’ heralded as a groundbreaking work].

From the band’s third album onwards, regrouping with vocalist Mark ‘Barney’ Greenway on board, Napalm began a long and far more settled journey, one which would see them temper their sound a little, mixing their grindcore roots with copious death and thrash metal influences. As the gig below demonstrates – recorded 25 years, fifteen albums and several line-up shifts into the band’s surprisingly long career – any tempering is relative, since Napalm still carry a hefty punch.

While Napalm Death have never been a band that Real Gone has really understood, that their extreme sounds could gain a much bigger audience than the likes of ‘Scum’ would have ever suggested years ago is something to be admired. [Early performance and interview footage can also be found in the video clips here].

 

Editorial comment: INXS officially disbands – long after most had given up on them

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After years of struggling to find an identity following the death of frontman Michael Hutchence in 1997, Aussie rockers INXS have finally thrown in the towel.

Perhaps The Sydney Morning Herald best sums up the band’s bowing out, suggesting that “For fans of INXS there will be no overwhelming emotion, no note of tragedy or life passing, for the mourning has already been conducted, the farewells made. INXS effectively ended 15 years ago for most people, ending when Michael Hutchence died in November 1997.”

It’s a sentiment surely shared by many, Real Gone included. Having followed the band’s career eagerly for the ten years, between the release of ‘Kick’ and it’s many hits and Hutchence’s passing, INXS recorded some great music, but Hutch’s death really should have been taken as a cue for the them to bow out gracefully and respectfully.

At their best they were a great, radio-friendly rock band. They recorded a legacy of great music prior to 1997 (from 1986-1992 especially), but following the death of their much-loved lead vocalist, the band’s five surviving members made distasteful choices rivalled only by Brian May and Roger Taylor’s trading off the Queen brand. From whoring themselves on a talent show, playing live with whoever seemed to be around and finally trotting out a largely woeful disc of re-recordings, the attempts at hanging on tested the patience of all but the most loyal. Their one proper studio album (‘Switch’, recorded with JD Fortune) was solid by radio-friendly rock band standards, but a world away from INXS at their best.

This is time which we feel could have been better spent repackaging the back-cat and issuing any rarities they had. ‘Kick’ got a well-deserved anniversary two-disc reissue in 2002 and a shabbily cobbled together four-disc edition in 2012, but what of the rest? Surely 1986’s classic ‘Listen Like Thieves’ is worthy of a decent revisit? Where are the out-of-print VHS titles ‘The Swing & Other Stories’ and ‘In Search of Excellence’ in the DVD market? The latter, in particular, is the definitive word on the band’s career from their formation until the late 80s and would have made an essential addition to the ‘Kick’ box set, and yet, it’s in a record company vault somewhere gathering dust… We can only hope that one day the Hutch-era catalogue will get a worthy re-evaluation. That might compensate for a decade and a half’s half-arsed wandering through the wilderness with no real sense of direction.

With the band having limped slowly to their demise over the past fifteen years, we have to ask why they did it. Fifteen years is far too long to scrape a living from past glories. After all, a decade and a half is far longer than most bands get in the spotlight (or otherwise) in the 21st century – bands who’ve certainly shown far more promise than the post-Hutch INXS could ever deliver.

November 2012