Revolutionary Plastics Hour

Back again for more nonsense, chicanery, monkeyshines, malarkey, hi-jinks & shenanigans. This week’s crop mixes pop, dance, rap & more. Well, actually, that’s about it. There’s a “block” (I think four songs constitutes a block) of tracks with production by NYC independent hip-hop stalwart El-P; personally, I think his beat on “Night Work” is maybe his best ever? Top three, anyhow.

The first half of the show is a little choppy, for which I blame Ritchie, the friendly gent who does the show before me. We got to talking, & anyone who knows me is aware that I can’t actually do two things at once. Something had to go, & that turned out to be competent segues. But the second half? Man, I have to admit, I am very pleased about the suave smoothness with which I meshed the rap tracks together. Seriously, I am not that good, but it sounds sweet. (Or at least, it did at the time. I haven’t listened back yet.)

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Seven

New Order—Beach Buggy

Ladies & gentlemen, my Valentine’s Day gift to you:

A scrappy mostly-nineties pop-punk beginning (with a garish vinyl fox pass* at the start of song #3, over which I have much chagrin), followed by some B-sides from popular eighties hits. A few odds & ends (funk-soul brothers, an R&B Paul Simon cover, German novelty pop, b-boy classics) round out the hour & we’re off into the night like a Rick Perry third thing.

A fun show; not the most polished, but there’s a lot to be said for good intentions, right? Sure, there is. (Of course, it’s usually said by parents sighing over report cards &/or girlfriends putting on a brave Valentine’s Day face over gas-station roses,** but still.)

Anyhow, enjoy!

* From the French; literally, “when a fox breaks wind on your efforts.”

** Ladies, did your man laugh at that one? Mmm-hmmm. You fellas know who you are!

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Six

The Damned—Thanks for the Night

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This show is characterized largely by what you might call “functional oddity,” a term I just made up to describe songs that would probably fit in just fine as part of any given Revolutionary Plastics Hour, but have the added value* of being performed by a celebrity.

For example, Bill Cosby’s version of “Uptight” is musically amazing; Phoebe Cates’ eighties pop stylings are absolutely up to par with stuff I’ve played by artists who never took their top off in a Judge Reinhold fantasy—& the story Leonard Nimoy tells would be just as vapidly trenchant if it had been read, instead, by a record label intern on a monthly stipend. (I’m just kidding—the record industry doesn’t pay anyone a dime until they reach the level of vice-president.)

Plus, there’s the foreign novelty element—like, did you know that Peter Gabriel released versions of two of his early albums with the vocals re-done in German? Well, he did. Or, hey—which of the following is a weirder idea: Puff Daddy covering Public Enemy? Or Puff Daddy rapping in Spanish? Okay, now, what if he did both? I’ll wait while you climb back onto your chair.

So, there we are. Add an instrumental Led Zeppelin cover that defies any reasonable expectations of lameness & you’re off to the races! Well, I hope you are, anyway. Metaphorically speaking, that is. Look, just check it out & enjoy yourself, okay?

* A term used in marketing; generally synonymous with either “snake oil” or “sow’s ear.”

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Five

Arcadia—She’s Moody & Grey, She’s Mean & She’s Restless

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It’s hard to describe this show. It’s partially the result of realizing that I’ve collected a bunch of oddball Christian comedy & spoken word records over time, & partly an expression of my innate contrarianism. It’s not a show that I could really expect anyone to enjoy who isn’t, well—me.

On the other hand, if you’re in the right mood, this could be the most enjoyable show so far. I really can’t tell. Either way, I had a ball putting it together & I hope you’ll take a crack at it.

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Four

Part One: The Game of Life—The thrilling play-by-play description of an imaginary football game between Christianity an [sic] The Forces of Evil

[Interspersed with:]

Part Two: If You Go Away

Neil Diamond—If You Go Away

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Okay, so, sure—I’m hung up on Moroder at the moment. Sue me! Or… check out the first track of tonight’s show & thank me…!

All over the map again tonight, starting with disco-inflected dance-pop, moving over to bubblegum-pop & then to pop country; then into a block of rap music guaranteed to entertain even the most skeptical of rap music skeptics. The concluding hustle meshes punk rock (including a dash of post-modern comedic flair) with dance-pop, for a finale that can’t be beat.

That’s right: I said it—it can’t be beat…!

Be ear now!

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Three

Giorgio & Chris—Love Now, Hurt Later

Here’s another weird one.* We start things out with a dash of seventies curmudgeonry, then veer off into the other direction, with a Los Lobos Disney cover (I’ll have to play the Phil Harris original sometime; or even just another Phil Harris song—that guy was brilliant) & a celebration of Dr. King’s birthday holiday from 1986.

Next comes some classic pop-punk with beautiful lyrics, followed by a sweet dose of bafflingly-lyriced pop, then it all just goes to pieces at the end without much in the way of a coherent thread, but a lot of gusto. As Mort Sahl put it, “It’s too bad we don’t have a cause—we have a lot of enthusiasm.”

(Oh—please excuse the blaringly loud station ID during the second song; I did it in a hurry, without headphones. The rest of my on-air levels are much less in the red…)

So, with all that said, on with the show!

* Repo Man, 1984

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-Two

All in the Family—Those Were the Days

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Welcome back & thanks for dropping by! Won’t you join me as we stay out all night & wake up under a car tomorrow in celebration of the show’s twenty-first episode…?

This week’s show has some really fun disco-soul (undertaking a cover of A Taste of Honey? daring!), some really catchy power-pop & a brutally scathing indictment of the American drinking populace, ca. 1930.

The power-pop block is a cool one; Canadian New Wavers share a song name with NYC rock geniuses (but the Dictators, as always, take the title), then these Private Eye dudes come out of nowhere (you have to see this album cover; click the images below), delivering an intriguingly demanding and insistent take on what’s usually a pretty lighthearted, flirtatious come-on.

The Neil Young track is the B-side of a single from his then-controversial Trans album (he went electronic—our Neil!); a now-charmingly-antiquated hi-tech take on an old classic of his.

Basically, this is a good one—it’s always fun finding these random esoteric gems, but sometimes they pile up in a higher ratio of hits to misses. Tonight, ladies & gentlemen, is all about the hits. (The Mrs. was at home, sleeping.*)

As always, the tracklist is embedded in the MP3 for your convenience & the artwork is included free of charge. As for the website, we’re off to a good start, but by next time, things should be organized a little more suavely. Just hold your horses, people!

Let me know how you like it—& hey, why not tell your friends? Surely they enjoy good music, too. Who doesn’t?

* You see what I’ve done there.

The Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty-One

GQ—Boogie Oogie Oogie

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Starts out with a couple of protest chants, then smooths things out with some eighties pop. On the heels of a pair of novelty rap gems, a Christian fifties-high-school lecturer gets his point across (backed up by an Earth dirge), & a godawful Hot Chocolate cover by Rick Rubin’s old band (taken from the first record to bear the Def Jam name & logo) rounds out the set.

Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Twenty

Bob Marley—Burnin’ & Lootin’

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This one gets off to a very eighties start, then eases into some wackiness. The Negativland song is a classic piece of intellectual property legal-test-caseness, while Penn (of Penn & Teller) Jillette’s track explores the paradoxical theme of being too hip for Vegas. They both go on a bit longer than necessary, but I guess that’s part of their naïve, early-90s charm. Some classic-era Sesame Street songs follow that, along with a light dusting of Christmas music—but don’t miss the gem of the collection, “Devil’s Gun,” which caps off the night with a smoking bang!

The Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Nineteen

Mike Post—Theme from L.A. Law

This one’s a sort of duel between the forces of pop vs. punk; you might say it reaches its apex in the World/Inferno track, which combines the two. Or wait, is it the Dictators—or that stellar Superkools song, which sounds like a cover of a classic fifties rock & roll anthem? (Or the Danzig song, which is a cover of a fifties rock & roll anthem?*)

Anyhow, some vinyl-only classics from Rancid & Dillinger Four give the set some street cred, offsetting the literary pretensions of the reading from H.G. Wells’ When the Speaker Wakes. Enjoy it all!

* It’s one of many Lieber-Stoller classics, also performed (less werewolfily, but more hip-jiggily**) by Elvis.

** No typo; that’s “hip-jiggily,” i.e., indicating hips that get jiggy, as opposed to the more conventional “hip-jiggly,” which simply describes the jiggling of the hips.

The Revolutionary Plastics Hour: Volume Eighteen

Bottin— No Static (Club Version) (slow)