mod rock Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

More Kicks “More Kicks”

sfilzen — Thu, 20 Jul 2023 17:14:57 +0000

More Kicks “More Kicks” 2019. There are five record labels listed on this LP: Beluga Records, Wanda Records, Snap!! Records, Adrenalin Fix Music and Dirt Cult Records – I can’t say I’ve ever seen that before on one disk. Anyway, I’ve been hanging onto this record to write about since about a year ago when we caught London’s More Kicks at Dirtnap Records Fest in June 2022 in the hopes they’d be swinging back through the States again this summer. Unfortunately, the mod-rock power pop band announced their breakup a couple of weeks ago and I’m super-bummed. Here’s their farewell note from social media:

More Kicks

2017-2023

Hard one, but there it is. It’s been a total pleasure to make music for the past six years as MORE KICKS but it’s time to say adiós. Two LPs, four singles, gigs across Europe and the US. Records released on labels we love such as Dirtnap Records , Stardumb Records, Wanda Records, Snap Records, Dirt Cult Records, Beluga Records, Adrenalin Fix Music. Hotel rooms, flats, camper vans, inflatable mattresses, festival stages, squat stages, no-stages shared across multiple cities; mountains of ginger for aching throats belonging to paranoid singers; litres of gin and tonic ‘for the stage’. Three men driving around the globe in small vehicles with bass cases and assorted paraphernalia jabbing them in the head. What a trip.

There are so many people to thank. Too many. Label bosses, bookers, promoters, sofa-bed providers. Dear friends and people we had never met going above and beyond to help us pull tours together. And of course, all those who came the gigs, bought a record, came to say ‘hi’, said that we were ‘brutales’, too loud, too soft, asked if we were really British (we sort of are). A sincere thanks to all.

An absolute blast.

Sulli, Paolo, Kris xxx

Their music is bright, punchy and ass-shakingly upbeat and their live performance was utterly delightful – definitely a highlight from last summer. More Kicks is their debut LP: it’s 60’s-inspired in the very best of ways with hooks and garagey beats galore. So many excellent tracks! My top picks is the 60’s garage (with organ!) and completely addictive “She’s a Reaction,” followed closely by another ear-worm ready track “Blame it on the Satellite.” Also of very notable mention: their first single “It’s a Drag,” “Rock N Roll Again,” the lo-fi jangly “Ain’t That Just the Way” and the garage-thrasher “Your Vibration” – that video below from Dirtnap Fest (but I didn’t record it).

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The Who “Happy Jack”

sfilzen — Mon, 23 Aug 2021 17:50:58 +0000

The Who “Happy Jack” 1966 (US version; released in the UK as “A Quick One”). Today, August 23rd, would have been drummer Keith Moon’s 75th birthday (b. 1946, d. 1978). Happy Jack/A Quick One was The Who’s second LP and it went to # 2 in the UK. It’s notable for its inclusion of tracks written by all of the band members rather than just or mostly written by Pete Townshend. Keith Moon has two songs: “I Need You” and “Cobwebs and Strange” (almost the weirdest song: a crazed funhouse carnival instrumental with madcap penny whistle and the crashiest of crashing drums and cymbals ever). Bassist John Entwhistle wrote and sings lead on the weirdest track, “Boris the Spider,” apparently inspired by a night out drinking with Rolling Stones’ Bill Wyman (Entwhistle also wrote “Whiskey Man”). Roger Daltry gets writing credit for “See My Way.” Townshend wrote the remaining (and the best) songs like “Don’t Look Away,” “Run Run Run” and “So Sad About Us.” The US version includes the UK single-only, Townshend-penned “Happy Jack” which hit #3 in the UK and #24 in the US. It replaced the cover song “Heat Wave” (by the Holland–Dozier–Holland songwriting team and recorded by Martha and the Vandellas, 1963) that appears on the UK release.

From the back cover notes about the band members: “Keith Moon. The fastest nineteen-year-old drummer in the world uses at least five pairs of drumsticks during The Who’s act. He plays so ferociously that the sticks splinter and shoot into the audience. Behind his sixteen-piece drum kit, he has brown eyes, black hair, and a passion for breeding chickens.”

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The Who “My Generation”

sfilzen — Thu, 03 Dec 2020 20:54:30 +0000

The Who “My Generation” released 55 years ago today, December 3rd, 1965. (In the UK – this version is the US release with an alternate cover, released in April 1966). It went to #5 in the UK and critics have praised it as one of the best albums of the era, though ahead of its time. The title track “My Generation” is still amazing, one of the best rock singles ever; it can be (and should be!) embraced by every generation of rockers since the Boomers. It was released as a single prior to the record’s release and hit #2 in the UK but just went to #74 in the US. Also released as singles from My Generation were “A Legal Matter” (#32 UK, sung by Pete Townshend), “The Kids Are Alright” (#41 UK, #85 US) and “La-La-La-Lies” (which did not chart in the UK). Townshend wrote the majority of the tracks on My Generation but the album does have a couple of covers: two by James Brown (“I Don’t Mind” and “Please, Please, Please”) and one by Bo Diddley (“I’m a Man”). The US version has a slightly different track listing than the UK one. On Side B on the US release “The Ox” appears after “It’s Not True” rather than being the last track and “Instant Party” replaces “I’m A Man” from the UK version; apparently because the lyrics were too sexual in nature for the US market 🙄

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