Nigel Wearne “The Reckoning” 2023. Signed, limited edition red and black marble recycled vinyl, not on label/self-released. Dark jazzy and bluesy Americana from Australia. We picked up this copy from Nigel Wearne, along with his backing band The Spectres, this past August up at Mile of Music in Appleton when we caught his Tom Waits meets Gogol Bordello (though Wearne is much much more mellow) set at the outdoor stage at Emmett’s. We hadn’t heard of him but his MoM bio caught our eye:

Nigel Wearne & The Spectres saunter after dark in the music of the night, blending blues, jazz and Americana-noir. Swathed with rambunctious horns, Gretsch guitar, drums and double-bass, they’ve got a retro vibe that smacks it straight back to the 60’s. Hailing from Gunditjmara country in the deep south of Australia, Nigel Wearne is a guitarist and multi-instrumentalist with diverse influences such as Nick Cave, Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones.

The Reckoning looks to be his third full-length release; the first, Black Crow, was released back in 2012 so he’s been around for awhile but I don’t think with the support of a label/distributor. It’s mood music with some flare: think a decadent and dark speakeasy, lit with dim chandeliers and candles, but there’s peeling wallpaper and stains on the velvet upholstered booths. “Back Behind the Blue” with its brush drums and horns perfectly encapsulates the vibe. The title track, “The Reckoning,” has a cha-cha-cha rhythm and would feel tropical but for the sinister suggestion. “Old Belly’s New Ride” is snakey surf instrumental with bendy guitar. Some of the tracks are too mellow and atmospheric for my tastes but Wearne’s voice is great and this album has a strong point of view with oodles of instrumental talent.

New Order “Perfect Kiss” 1985. 12″ single, Factory Records. The cover is really beaten up (not sure if by one of its previous owners, one R. Martin Basso, Esq. from California, who stuck his mailing address on the front – not a good idea on so many levels) but it’s great 80’s dancey synthpop. “Perfect Kiss” was the band’s 9th single and is also on the ’85 LP Low-Life. It went to #46 in the UK but #1 on the UK indie chart; in the US it hit #5 on the dance charts. The single version does not appear on this 12″ release. Instead Side A has the almost 9 minute original version. The video is even longer!

Side B has “The Kiss of Death” which is another remix with just snippets of the lyrics from “Perfect Kiss” along with lots of electronic effects, one of which sounds like a cross between frogs and crickets. Also on Side B is “Perfect Pit” which is super-short, clocking in at under 2 minutes with clanking beats and sparse bleep-bloops for an odd little industrial instrumental nugget.

Chicago “Chicago 17” 1984. Yes this is my record…but I can explain (we are back from a long weekend in Chicago so it feels like the right time to spin) – I was still 13 years old when this record was released in May of ’84 and my only real access to any new music was the Fox Valley commercial radio market. I do not recall if it was a Green Bay or Appleton station that ran the promotion but I won this copy from a on-air call-in deal. I was unfortunately a runner-up in the contest: the grand prize was a limo drive to Chicago’s concert (in either Milwaukee or Chicago, I don’t remember). Now, was I really a Chicago fan in 1984? I don’t think so (I was nutso for Duran Duran and all things British new wave/synthpop) but as someone who rarely wins anything, it felt like a real coup. I don’t think I played it much but because so many of the songs were played to death that year, most of the songs are embedded in the dark corners of my brain and I can still sing along to most of the LP. Despite the title, Chicago 17 was actually the band’s 14th studio LP (though with the other releases yeah sure it’s number 17). It was a smash hit, going to #4 on the US album charts and won three grammies. The single “Hard Habit to Break” helped set the mold for 80’s power ballads (it hit #3 in both the US and UK). “You’re the Inspiration” (#3 US) is a straight up soft rock ballad and, while I truly despise this one, I can 100% sing along to the whole fucking thing. “Stay the Night” was the first single released from the LP and is a bit harder song than Chicago was known for (and is really not representative of most of the rest of this album). It went to #16 on the US charts. “Along Comes a Woman” (#14 US) was the fourth and final single released from 17, it was also the last single that original Chicago band member Peter Cetera appears on; he quit the band in 1985. It’s is SO 80’s: the guitar, the horn accents, the 80’s rhythm and production, everything. Now that I’ve listened to the album for the first time in its entirety in over 40 years, I think I’m good for another 40.

I don’t think I ever noticed that Peter Cetera is wearing a Bauhaus t-shirt in this video!! Hilarious!