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  • The Ledge #632: More From The Hudson Compound

    Last week’s look at my personal home plays was so much that I carried it on this week. Once again, there were almost 60 years of rock and roll represented, from The Troggs and Small Faces to my favorite record of 2023, Scratch ‘N’ Sniff by The Whiffs. Full sets showcased the musical and personal relationship between married songwriters Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric and the great reissue campaign of the vastly underrated Dead Moon.

    Also, please head to YouTube and subscribe to our channel – Public Domain Classics 888. We have over 500 classic films from over 110 years of releases! 

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

     

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  • The Ledge #616: Records

    Tomorrow (April 20) is a sort of unofficial holiday for those of us who are obsessed with music. It’s Record Store Day! To prime myself, and hopefully you fellow music nerds, tonight’s episode is devoted to songs about records, record stores, and the people like us who collect them!

    It’s another wide range of material, from classic beat sounds of the 60s (Tweeds) to late 70s power pop (The Mumbles, Milk ‘n’ Cookies) to self-reverential 80s alternative rockers (The Jesus & Mary Chain) and current garage and punk along with plenty of singer/songwriters of all eras! 

    I’m hoping this fires you all up to get out there and find your wishlist tomorrow! What are y’all looking for? Let me know what treats you discover!

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

     

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  • The Ledge #600: Hudson’s Best of 2023

    Choosing my favorite records of the year is always a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it’s great fun for a music nerd like me to revisit the hundreds of releases I’ve checked out the last twelve months. But it’s also frustrating trying to thin down those picks into a list that truly represents the past year. Many records that initially seemed a lock are suddenly eclipsed by new records that I simply can’t ignore. Other albums that I had prematurely set aside have revealed themselves to be chock full of fabulous tunes that I can’t imagine living without. 

    Overall, this is another great year for music. I’ll never understand the mindset of people, especially those around my age, that complain how there’s no great bands or records these days. Sure, the pop charts are primarily filled with garbage, and one does have to spend more time than ever finding new artists. But the search has always been a great part of the fun of being a collector, and my main reason I’ve now put together 600 episodes of this show is to share my findings with others. I’m always thrilled when I hear that someone has bought a record due to my recommendation. So please let me know your thoughts on this countdown of my picks for the 40 best records of the year!

    Please head to http://scotthudson.blogspot.com to read the countdown of these albums.

     

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  • The Ledge #583: New Releases

    The Ledge has always been known to enjoy music from all over the world. This month’s new release episode, however, goes ever further than usual. Yes, we have new tunes from many of the usual suspects – Canada, Australia, England, Sweden, etc. But this month we expand that a little bit and have tunes from Indonesia and Japan! (Ok, Japanese rock and roll is not so unusual in these parts, but you get the picture.)

    There’s also the usual mix of long-awaited returns (Uni Boys, Wreckless Eric), and new (at least to me) artists such as Hurry, Young Francis Hi Fi, and Dennis Cometti. There’s a set devoted to a trio of solo artists who have shared the stage countless times over the years (Brad Marino, Geoff Palmer, and Kurt Baker), and who always seem to have new records right around the same time.

    We also have a sneak peak of the upcoming Replacements box set, Tim: Let It Bleed Edition. The “cello version” of “Can’t Hardly Wait” was actually a Paul Westerberg demo with Twin/Tone secretary Michelle Kinney on cello. The box set comes out on September 22, and as you may imagine, I…ok, I won’t go with the obvious wordplay

    Speaking of The Replacements, this week’s edition of “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks” is a super rare version by Tommy Stinson, recorded at the Cactus Club in Milwaukee on August 28, 2003. Super rare, as in a fan recording. Don’t tell anyone!

    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

     

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  • The Ledge #570: Holiday Playlist

    “Shambolic” maybe an overused word when it comes to my favorite band, The Replacements, but it’s an apt term for tonight’s show. Or at least the first ten minutes. Yes, it’s a mini-disaster. After airing this week’s selection for the “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks” series by The Vibrators, I talked about the fact that you can now purchase the version I world premiered last week by Jeremy Porter at his bandcamp. (http://jeremyporter.bandcamp.com).  In fact, please go purchase it now, as all proceeds go to the Hater Kitty Army. But after introducing a re-airing the tune, my broadcast program decided to completely rearrange my playlist and a completely different tune aired for a few seconds.

    I quickly fixed the issue, though, and everything was fine after that. Tonight’s show is a collecton of tunes that I’ve been listening to in my spare time. There’s a set devoted to my favorite rock and roll couple, Amy Rigby and Wreckless Eric, inspired by “Do You Remember This”, a clever little tale of their relationship that may or may not be true. There’s a set that sort of centers around Johnny Thunders, beginning with a couple of Kinks songs before heading into a couple of different directions.

    There’s also a long set inspired by Some New Kind of Kick, the memoir of Kid Congo Powers. Wow, what a story. What a life! A chance meeting on the street with future Gun Club leader Jeffrey Lee Pierce led to him picking up the guitar, and withn a few years he was a part of not only the Gun Club but The Cramps and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds! 

    Other sets include a handful of fabulous Rum Bar Records new releases, and favorites by the likes of Exploding Hearts, T. Rex, The Knitters, and others. Concluding the show is a little tribute to the late Tina Turner with a track from her fabled 1969 run opening for The Rolling Stones.

    And like always, 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

     

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  • The Ledge #550: 1978

    Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been hinting that I’ll be starting 2023 with a big announcement. Well, tonight’s the night!In my eyes, “Teenage Kicks” is a perfect pop song; the greatest punk-inspired single of all time. Two minutes and 27 seconds of rock and roll at its finest. The sentiments are the same youthful expressions of the original rock and roll explosion of the 1950s. Instead of Little Richard or Jerry Lee Lewis boogie woogie piano, it’s buzzsaw guitars that accompany Undertones vocalist Fergal Sharkey’s desire for that “girl in the neighborhood” that he wishes “was mine she looks so good”. It’s the musical template later utilized by Husker Du, Pixies, Green Day, and hundreds of other pop-punkers for decades to come (for better or worse).Since I love the song so much, I have found myself collecting all kinds of versions over the years. In fact, a little glance at my master iTunes library a few months ago showed that I owned over 30 covers of this tune. Just two weeks ago, I discovered that a Minneapolis band I loved in the 90s had released a remake as a now rare b-side (more on that next week). With that in mind, I decided that The Ledge broadcasts of 2023 are going to include a sub-theme called “52 Weeks of Teenage Kicks”. Every show this year is going to kick off with a version of this wonderful tune, and I want to include my musical friends in this adventure. I’m sending out a plea to labels and bands to submit new versions that I will definitely fast track onto the playlist. Don’t worry about the musical style. Want to record a solo acoustic version? I’ll take it. Want to somehow transform it into a screeching death metal rattle? Go for it! Add some loops. I’ll even accept autotune!Tonight’s first episode of 2023 is going to begin at the source. The Undertones’ original classic kickstarts two hours of legendary tunes from one of my favorite years of rock and roll – 1978. It was the year I discovered Elvis Costello, Wreckless Eric, Boomtown Rats, Devo and so much more! The “normals” may have been somehow grooving to Kansas and Head East but I was jumping around in my bedroom to The Clash and The Jam!

    To submit a version of “Teenage Kicks”, please email it to paulisded@gmail.com

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

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #512: Drop That Needle

    When Malibu Lou sent me an advance of the new Dogmatics single, “Drop That Single”, I knew I had to create something special to highlight it’s debut on The Ledge. After all, I’ve been a fan of the band since I first discovered their Homestead Records’ releases while DJ’ing on KAUR way back in the mid-80’s. 

    Given that the tune celebrates one of my favorite passions, playing records, it seemed natrual to create a show dedicated to my favorite physical format. So tonight’s broadcast is all about records, and not just the format itself. There are tunes about record stores, record thieves, record collectors, turntables, needles. 

    I would love it if every listener bought at least one record I played on either of these shows. These great artists deserve to be compensated for their hard work, and every purchase surely helps not only pay their bills but fund their next set of wonderful songs. And if you buy these records directly from the artist or label, please let them know you heard these tunes on The Ledge! Let them know who is giving them promotion!

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

     

    Download MP3 here


  • The Ledge #472: Songs About Records

    There are times where a potential theme for a show pops up out of nowhere. This week’s episode of The Ledge is a perfect example. This past Wednesday afternoon I was on my way to a local record store, accompanied by a great power pop playlist on Spotify. Suddenly, a song came on that I hadn’t heard in many years. The tune was “I Need That Record” by Tweeds, a great under-appreciated 70’s power pop band  Besides the fact that this title was exactly why I was in my car at the time, it lit up a little light bulb in my head about a show devoted to songs about my favorite objects, records.

    It didn’t take long to put together the playlist. Wilco’s “Boxful of Letters” was an obvious pick. As were tunes by Todd Snider, Supersuckers, Nick Lowe, and Elvis Costello. iTunes searches came up with a vast majority of the rest of the tracks.

    But it was the discovery of an old Wreckless Eric track that secured the idea of this show. “33s + 45s” deals with the aftermath of a breakup, and the inevitable splitting of the music library. These lines hit me hard:

    “My dismantled living room full of your home

    Packed up in cardboard boxes

    Spaces in the record shelves where you’ve taken what was yours

    And possibly some of mine”

    After going through a list of some of those great records that were the soundtrack of fantastic memories, Eric adds the perfect explanation for those that don’t understand the mentality of the record nerd:

    “This might be so much fucking plastic to you or anybody else

    But to me it’s everything

    This is my life

    Thirty-threes and forty-fives”

    Or, as the Guinea Worms sang in the concluding song of the show, “(There’s really nothing better than a) Box of Records”!

    After listening, please go purchase those tracks you enjoy! These great artists deserve to be compensated for their hard work, and every purchase surely helps not only pay their bills but fund their next set of wonderful songs. And if you buy these records directly from the artist or label, please let them know you heard these tunes on The Ledge! Let them know who is giving them promotion!

     

    Download MP3 here


  • Live Ledge #398: Nick Lowe

    Nick Lowe has sort of quietly put together one of the best resumes in rock and roll history. He’s got tons of fantastic recordings, solo and with bands such as Brinsley Scwarz, Rockpile, and his recent collaborations with Los Straitjackets.

    He’s also one of the greatest producers of all times, helming some of the best albums or singles by the likes of Graham Parker & The Rumour, The Damned, Dr. Feelgood, Wreckless Eric, and, of course, Elvis Costello.

    Not to mention he was once married to Carlene Carter, which made him Johnny and June Carter Cash’s son-in-law! (Oh to be in the studio when Johnny recorded Nick’s “Without Love” accompanied by Elvis Costello, Dave Edmunds, and many others.)

    Inspired by the recent release of “Cruel To Be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe” by Will Birch, tonight’s show is a snapshot of just a few of those great moments. If you’re intersted at all in Lowe’s life, go buy this book. It’s informative and at times pretty hilarious.

    After listening, please go purchase those tracks you enjoy!

     

    Download MP3 here