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  • The Ledge #607: Love Stinks

    Anti-love songs is a rock and roll specialty. From the very beginning of the genre, writers with a poison pen have created a plethora of material that is not exactly Hallmark card material. Tonight’s show celebrates tracks of this time, highlighted by a number of more recent tracks of that sort. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t room for oldies, as there are garage rockers from the 60s, power pop from the 70s, and some good ol’ alternative rockers from the 80s. And, of course, it’s also an opportunity for an extended set from the greatest self-loathing rockers, The Replacements. I mean, come on, you can’t have a show of this sort without “Valentine”.

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

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  • The Ledge #604: Odds & Ends Again

    The “odds and ends” series is an opportunity for me to mix all kinds of material. This week’s version mixes a bunch of new releases with a ton of material I’ve been playing around the house in recent weeks. There’s also a tribute to Mary Weiss, the leader of The Shangri-Las who passed away a few days ago. Otherwise, there’s classics by The Clash, X, The Birthday Party, and The Long Ryders, along with a new discovery of The Deviants, a great old band that for whatever reason I had never checked out.

    As for that little sound sample at the beginning of the show, I must thank my buddy Kevin for alerting me to a show called The Listener. I just can’t help but include oddly-placed discussions on The Replacements. 

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

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  • The Ledge #598: Best Reissues, Compilations, etc. of 2023

    It’s the time of year for everybody to unveil their various lists of the best records of the year, so here is the unveiling of the first part of my lists. This week’s show features a countdown of my 20 favorite reissues, box sets, live albums, compilations, and tribute albums of 2023. Look for a similar countdown of my 40 favorite new albums of the year in two weeks.

    But that doesn’t mean we’re ignoring the “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks” series. Once again, we’re opening and closing the show with covers of the classic. The opening version is by Superchunk leader Mac McCaughan, recorded live on May 16, 2015. The closing remake is by a Canadian band called 63 Monroe who released a couple of EP’s and singles back in the early 80’s.

    Like I do every week, however, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    To see the actual countdown, please head to https://scotthudson.blogspot.com/2023/12/the-ledge-598-best-reissues.html

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #597: More Replacements Tributes

    Two weeks ago, I put together a show centered around seven different tribute records celebrating The Replacements. A couple of days after that episode was released I was contacted by a fan who noted that I had missed a couple of these sorts of records. After a bit of scrambing, I discovered that indeed I forgot all about some great fan-based compilatons.

    Yes, that’s the beauty of tonight’s selections. These three records were unofficial collections of musicians that had come together via online fan boards. The first such set, Cover Me Impressed – Alt.Music.Replacements Tribute, is pretty self-explanatory collection of tunes compiled by a popular usenet group in 2002. The other two tributes, Bring Your Own Lampshade (2005) and Dead Man Fake: Bring Your Own Lampshade 2 (2009), came together through contributors on the wonderful Man Without Ties message board, and include both solo and band tracks written by Paul Westerberg. Highlighting both of those compilatons are tracks by our old friend Jeremy Porter. 

    Besides a handful of recently acquired tunes, the rest of tonight’s show features tracks from two fabulous new Cherry Red Records box sets, Looking For The Magic: American Power Pop In The Seventies and Into Tomorrow: The Spirit Of Mod 1983-2000. Cherry Red always excels at these types of compilations, and these two are no exception.

    As for this week’s “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks”, I’ve again opened and closed my show with entries. The show commences with a version by the veteran Irish band The Frank and Walters, and closes with UK pop-punkers Busted. 

    Like I do every week, however, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #595: Replacements Tribute Albums

    As one of those lunatics who tends to collect anything and everything asoociated with artists I love, it’s probably no surprise that I have quite a few tribute albums devoted to The Replacements. When Let the Bad Times Roll (a Tribute to The Replacements) was released earlier this month, I did a deep dive in my archives and discovered that I actually owned seven of these types of records.

    With that in mind, it was a no-brainer to do a show devoted to nothing but Replacements tribute albums. The seven records represented tonight have been released throughout the last three decades, and include releases originating in Australi and Italy. There’s a few semi-big names but there are as many, if not more, bands whose career I know nothing about.

    I also made myself a challenge that I would try not to duplicate any songs…and I succeeded! There are 35 different Replacements tracks covered by 35 different artists. Ok, there is one artist who appears twice – Mikey Erg’s band, Ergs, covers “I’m in Trouble” while as a solo act he performs “Wake Up”

    Just because the overall theme revolves around The Replacements doesn’t mean that I’m ignoring the “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks” series. In fact, you get a double dose of covers tonight to open and close the show. The first version is by an L.A. band called Kolars. They’re a duo that features a drummer that tap dances rhythms with her feet atop a bass drum while simultaneously playing a stand-up kit. The version that closes the show, Freddy Lynxx and the Jet Boys, is led by a Johnny Thunders fanatic who actually allowed his hero to choose his band’s name. 

    As I do every week, however, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #593: New Releases (Pt. 2)

    The second part of this month’s new release series is admittedly dominated by cover tunes. Great bands such as Superchunk, The Feelies, Cruzados, The Routes, Hayley and the Crushers and the Rick White Archive are featured remaking classics by The Cure, The Minutemen, Buzzcocks, and others. 

    But the main focus of the covers blasted on tonight’s show is the brand new tribute album to, of course, The Replacements. Let the Bad Times Roll, and it’s definitely worth they hype. “December 2022 I was drinking at the Fishtown Tavern and ‘Can’t Hardly Wait ‘ came on the jukebox, and at that moment I knew this tribute to the Mats needed to happen,” Arik Victor from Creep Records says in a press release. “The next day, we invited all the bands we love.”

    Of course, tonight’s show is more than cover tunes. We have the return of The Alarm, the second 2023 album by bar italia, and wonderful material from the Netherlends, Australia, Italy, and other countries around the world.

    As for this week’s edition of “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks”, I admittedly discovered a real treat on YouTube. Baby Shakes have routinely performed the tune as an encore, and this live version I discovered a few days ago even includes Billy Doherty and Damian O’Neill from The Undertones! Like I do every week, however, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #588: New Releases (Pt. 1)

    Once again, the music gods have put out so much great music these last few weeks that this month’s new release show has to be split into two episodes! This week includes glorious returns from Lydia Loveless, The Exbats, Martin Zellar, Jim Jones All Stars, and many more.

    But we also have a wonderful, heartfelt tribute to the late Justine Covault. “Sister In Crime” by Jay Allen and The Archcriminals takes a look back at a fabulous artist and label owner who tragically passed away earlier this summer. “This song is dedicated to the memory and written for one of my dearest and closest friends of the last 40 years, Justine Covault”, Allen said in a statement. “She was an amazing woman, who meant a lot to so many people and we lost her way too soon. For me she was more than a friend, she was my most ardent supporter, not just in music, but in life, bandmate, roommate, and for the last 7 plus years my co-host along with Tom Baker in our monthly residency, The Mess-Around. Her impact on our little Rock ‘n’ Roll village here in Boston is immeasurable. Not just as an artist with her two bands, Justine and The Unclean and Justine’s Black Threads, but as a supporter, fan, promoter, and most importantly the founder of Red on Red Records, who in 3 short years created a multi-media home for many artists locally and from around the world.”

    We also have a last minute inclusion in tonight’s show when it was announced that Ledge favorite Jeremy Porter and The Tucos have a new single coming out on October 28. The two track release is the tenth single in Jim Rinn’s series of Detroit covers singles, and includes a remake of “While You Spiral” by Detroit power poppers The Waxwings.

    As for this week’s edition of “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks”, it’s a recent bandcamp discovery of a single release by an Australian band called CrackWhore. The only info I could find about this band is from their bandcamp bio, “Dragged from the Collingwood sidewalk kicking and screaming, CrackWhore was (Still)Born 2002. Bred from the bowels of Melbourne, CrackWhore deliver nice and sleazy rock n roll.” Sounds great to me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #587: Third Quarter Report

    The end of every quarter is a time to take a little look back at the last three months of new music. Tonight I present a little over two hours of the records that caught my attention during that period. There are returning legends (Graham Parker, Lucinda Williams, The Pretenders) who are sort of shockingly as great as ever. There are workhorses (Guided By Voices, The William Loveday Intention) that seem to have new tunes in every quarterly recap. There’s an archive project that is clearly a label of love for the family of Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkhouse. And, of course, there are sets devoted to our friends at Big Stir Records and Rum Bar Records, along with a nice heaping of new bands (or new to me, at least) that caught my attention. 

    As for the “52 Weeks Of Teenage Kicks”, I have a fun live version that I recently found on Bandcamp. Guitarist Davey Lane is in the current lineup of Australian greats You Am I, and he apparently got the gig after recording and touring with You Am I leader Tim Rogers in the late 90’s. Since it is the third quarter recap, I’m also giving another spin to the fabulous version submitted by members of Popular Creeps and The Stick Arounds, under the name The Creep Arounds.As I do every week, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #586: Replacements’ Tim Box Set

    How to talk about the new box set dedicated to one of my favorite records ever? I really can’t, to be honest, as there are tons and tons of articles floating around right now that I could never attempt to better. But let’s just say that Tim by The Replacements is certinly a record that I’ve never gone long without listening to since it’s release in 1985.
    Yet I must be honest when I say that my all time favorite Replacements record is actually the previous album, Let It Be, but I’ll concede that Tim is a better collection of songs. How is that possible? Let It Be had a powerful sound. Tim has always suffered from a thin, muddy mix that was certainly fine enough that it didn’t afffect my overall love of the record. I just preferred the beefier Let It Be.
    That opinion may now change thanks to the release of this new box set. Tim (Let It Bleed Edition) rights the wrongs of the record I’ve loved for close to 40 years. Ed Stasium, who was supposed to mix the original record, was hired to finally work his magic. And it’s wonderful. The drums are front and center. Tommy Stinson’s bass can actually be heard, and there’s little elements in each and every song that are heard for the first time. Hell, I even now sort of like the lesser tunes such as “Dose of Thunder” and “Lay It Down Clown”!
    But that’s not all that’s in this set. There’s a disc of outtakes and alternate versions, including tracks they recorded with Big Star’s Alex Chilton. There is also a fantastic show from January of 1986 that showcases Bob Stinson’s incendiary guitar. It’s obviously going to be my favorite box set of the year.
    After sampling much of this box set, it’s only natural that I fill up the show with more of my favorite Minneapolis music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s, including early tracks from the Suburbs and Flamin’ Oh’s. There’s a tune from the just-released reissue of the classic Loose Rails album, Red Turns to Green. And I certainly can’t do a show like this without the likes of Soul Asylum, Husker Du, and The Magnolias!
    As for the “52 weeks of Teenage Kicks” series, I did have to take a detour out of Minneapolis. This week I headed to San Francisco with a 2004 cover from an interesting band called The Grannies. As their future label, Saustex Records, noted when they signed them for a later record, “The Grannies story began on a hot July night in 1999, as five grown men dressed as old ladies crossed 11th Street in San Francisco and hit the stage at the Paradise Lounge. 15 years, 8 Jack Endino-produced albums, 3 European tours, more than a few beer soaked houses dresses…are still at it.”
    As I do every week, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more information, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #585: Hudson Compound Playlist

    This week’s show is another of those broadcasts where I simply air some of the records I’ve been playing around the house the last few weeks. There’s no real format outside of that, but you do get to enjoy almost 60 years of fabulous rock and roll. What more can I say about it?

    As for the “52 weeks of Teenage Kicks” series, I actually have yet another new vesrion. This is a brand new cover by a band called The Flying Waves, and it’s on an album called Rainbow that came out a week ago. Unfortunately, that’s all I know about this cover as google was no help at all. If anybody out there is familar with this artist, please contact me!

    And like I do every week, I must again plead with y’all for more versions of “Teenage Kicks”. If you are a musician, or have any contact with artists that could record their own take on the classic, please contact me!

    For more info, including setlists, head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com

     

    Download MP3 here