The bands that cluster around Echo Park, Eagle Rock, and Silverlake, rarely receive the national press of the Smell bands. They lack the nostalgie de la boue, art-punk angle, and perhaps the edge. Far from me to play civic booster–let’s never talk about The Airborne Toxic Event. Ever. But just because they don’t wear bones in their head and eat meat [gasp], doesn’t mean that the Spaceland/Echo Park/Silverlake Lounge axis can’t produce good groups too.
Justin Gage, the man behind Los Angeles’s best music blog, Aquarium Drunkard, understands this. And after deciding to create a compilation to convince people to stop sleeping, Justin quickly realized he needed a unifying theme. When he noticed Paul McCartney’s 1971 solo opus, Ram, repeatedly coming up as a touch-stone for local Eastside artists, he decided to go the Covers Compilation route.
Granted, Ram on L.A.’s appeal is partially limited to early McCartney solo enthusiasts, and the potheads who love him. Since I’m obviously the prime demographic, it’s perhaps no surprise how much I enjoy this. Local favorites The Broken West, The Parson Redheads, Le Switch, Radar Bros. Bodies of Water, and Earlimart, nail their respective assignments. And really, the entire thing is a lot more solid than Pauls’ brain was when he wrote most of the lyrics.
You can download the entire album for free at Aquarium Drunkard. Listeners are encouraged to make a donation to No More Land Mines, which it’s nice to see Paul continues to champion despite that whole Heather Mills fiasco.
Download:
MP3: The Parson Redheads-“Ram On”
MP3: The Parson Redheads-“Ram On Reprise”
MP3: Radar Bros-“Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey”
MP3: Bodies of Water-“Dear Boy”
