GOD BLESS THE ONLY ONES!

I just came back from seeing the reformed

ONLY ONES play here in Tokyo. 

My faith in RAWK has been fully restored. 

Mr Ratboy

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NEWSY BITS...

27.06.08 A DECADE OF SOUR JAZZ = FREE UNRELEASED TRACKS
Despite overwhelming international pleas to quit and salvage whatever bits of dignity remain, SOUR JAZZ are celebrating ten years of polluting ears worldwide. For a limited time time only, you can download a free track from the myspace page. Available from tonight, an unreleased and storming version of 'Steamroller,' recorded live somewhere, sometime. Pinch it while you can, and check back for more unreleased tracks over the next few weeks.

















06.06.08 A DECADE OF SOUR JAZZ = ANOTHER FREE RARITY
By way of marking SOUR JAZZ's ten-year anniversary, a second rare track is now available for free downloading on the band's myspace page. 'Zurich 17' was SOUR JAZZ's contribution to the 'A Tribute to The Hollywood Brats & The Boys' album [Desert Inn Records, Italy, 2004], and the track was produced by Grace Falconer. Recommended for those who love shambolic recordings but don't want to shell out hard-earned money for it. Grab yours sooner than later, as it'll be replaced by yet another fine stitch in rock's rich tapestry in the very near future.





23.05.08 A DECADE OF SOUR JAZZ = FREE FORGOTTEN TRACKS
Despite better judgment and worldwide indifference, this month sees SOUR JAZZ bewildered by their TENTH ANNIVERSARY. For those who said it could never happen -- or should never happen, more like -- SOUR JAZZ will be marking the occasion by making a few rare tracks available for free download via the myspace page. Mind you, "rare" also sometimes means not well done. The first track up is 'Doctor Boogie,' SOUR JAZZ's contribution to the 2004 double-disc Flamin' Groovies tribute album. Grab it sooner than later, as it will be replaced by further nonsense shortly.





09.05.08 BROTHER JIM JONES BRINGS THE BIG BEAT
The legendary Jim Jones out of Thee Hypnotics and Black Moses has generously donated a very tasteful guitar track to a song on the forthcoming SOUR JAZZ album, due out summer 2008. Meanwhile, knock a lobe to Brother Jim's latest heroic efforts, The Jim Jones Revue , and prepare to have your wig fried.





24.02.08 BRAND NEW SOUR JAZZ INTERVIEW ONLINE NOW
For those with more time than sense, a brand new interview with Mark is now online and readable courtesy of the upstanding citizens at Punk Globe Magazine . Click now for ramblings galore.





11.01.08 WRONG NUMBER
A stunning array of SOUR JAZZ Ringtones [whatever the fuck those are] are now available. For ringtones off the 'Lost for Life' album, go here . For ringtones off the 'No Values' album, go here .




30.12.07 NOT THE HOOPLE
Recording sessions continued this weekend for the forthcoming SOUR JAZZ album, and were highlighted by a couple guests in the shape of Tracie Hunter and her dad, Ian Hunter. Dig the Tracie Hunter Band here now, dig Ian Hunter here, and look for the new SOUR JAZZ album in the new year.
Pictured below, left to right: Mark, Lou, Ian Hunter, Tracie Hunter, Daniel Rey.

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SOUR JAZZ JAPAN TOUR PHOTOS

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SOUR JAZZ VIDEO...Tokyo Live and 4 pv's

SOUR JAZZ - Live, Tokyo 21.06.06

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Rock & Roll Star produced and directed by Monsieur Flop
..>





That's Cool produced and directed by BBQ Productions
..>





That's Cool Too produced and directed by BBQ Productions
..>





I've Got It All produced and directed by Andrew Guise
..>





Copyright Sour Jazz; All music published by Dee Dee Handlebar Music [BMI].
Tokyo gig produced and directed by Monsieur Flop. Filmed at Heaven's Door, Sangenjaya, Tokyo 21.06.06.

Currently listening : Rock & Roll Ligger By Sour Jazz Release date: 25 October, 2005

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INK SLINGING...the critics have a bash at us

"New York City Rock, between punk and sleaze, sharp-edged riffs and jazz-styles, ferocious cellar-rumblings and psychedelic escapades. The nearly-10-minute-long No Fun(house) begins with a Floydesque mood mosaic, changes into standard Stooges mode, both raw and not entirely serious, before finally bringing in a brass section and discharging itself in strangely dissonant sound cascades. The cover version of The Saints classic Messin With The Kid has also got class. Next to Sour Jazz, The Strokes seem like one trick ponies. This is their second LP and, like the debut, is released on vinyl only. It weighs 220 grams and the contents are equally heavy and substantial. Four out of four stars."

Rolling Stone (Germany)



"In a music world of retro, rehash, pastiche, irony and post-everything, lo-slung Noo Yawk guitar band Sour Jazz are the real deal. This is a band that's unashamed to get the complete lyrics to a song out of fortune cookies from the Sunny Chinese Takeaway on Third Avenue. This is a band with a potential hit single called I Like The City, if only we still lived at a time when anyone other than neutered, pre-packaged stage-school kids could get in the charts, or if anyone other than brain-dead nine year olds bought singles any more. This is the band Iggy should have playing behind him. This is a band the corporate fuckwits at major labels have never even heard of."

Bizarre (England)



"These four sharp-suited, and hopefully suitably attired shoe-wise, wiseguys are aptly named along with their punning album title [Rock & Roll Ligger], as they roll out a slew of red carpet-sealed choppy Keef riffs that shuffle and stroll into a swagger like sped up Dictators songs such as 'Harder and Faster' and 'The Next Big Thing' with an essential swing that sets them apart. I mean, these riffs could almost be ordered from a catalogue, but they're sounding fresh and fulsome here, topped off with a suave acerbic monotone with tongue in cheek self-mythologizing ('Big Generator' and 'Rock'n'Roll Star', which packs a neat 'Hang On Sloopy middle) but with the knowing wit and panache that comes with the self-assurance of being the real Kings of New York. Maybe it's their elder statesman status, but it comes across as what Tin Machine could've / should've been, instead of the insipid, wailing imbecilic mid-life crisis that it was, and the Iggy of 'American Caesar' but with better songs...thankfully not aping The Stooges, but with a similar look askance of experience and weary realism...that comb their hair nonchalantly in the mirror while plugging effortlessly into New York City's electric cool, whether it's the Morphine playing in the Funhouse spoken word alienated beat-punk Jim Jarmusch cafe table jazz of '14th and Beat Street', the heroin toned themes sliding comfortably into the aching cold kissed dawn of 'Can't You See', as it's a loping shuffle not unlike 'Horse With No Name' after it's being left against a radiator in Johnny Thunders' apartment circa 1982; the louche lounge cocktail bar schmooze over a deal and a drink or two of 'Downtime In Midtown'; the exquisite pop chorus of 'Drinking Alone Under The Moon', that's surprisingly kooky and cute like Dead Milkmen's 'Soul Rotation' and knocks you off-kilter after the slinky hipped riffing on the verse that follows the melody in their general style. 'That's Cool Too' is the most Stooge satisfied but corks bottles all over town, and isn't outta place in this collection that's strangely addictive for something that's also kind of unremarkable and workmanlike, but to hell with it, I'd rather be listening to some words of experience and cynical sin than some set of wannabe tarnished tykes."

Sleazegrinder (America)



"Sour Jazz can bring new life into a type of song that you thought youd heard a thousand times. A little weathered by life but always classy, these guys dont give a fuck about Green Day or Millencolin. This quartet even admits on its bio that they are not trying to make a living with their music. Fools! They should!"

Rock & Folk (France)



"The disreputable and debonair thrill-seekers of Sour Jazz are total rock-n-roll kings. Theyre really in a class all their own right now, relentlessly mining that swingin Iggy/New Values velvet goldmine while mixing in piano and horns from 70s blaxploitation flicks and blackened voodoo guitar stylings so mean and shitty that its hard not to mistake them for Kim Salmon & The Surrealists. Sour Jazz serve up only Top-shelf Quality Rock-n-Roll."

Hit List (America)



"The dictionary definition of ligger has more to do with fishing tackle than the one most rock and roll people recognise, which pertains to hanging around backstage sampling whatever the lifetsyle (or rider) has to offer. If, as the album title infers, New York City's Sour Jazz see themselves as fringe-dwelling detritus on the lower reaches of The Mainstream Music Industry's guest list, it might be time for A & R types to shine their light wider and bump 'em up to star status.

This should be the album to make people listen. It rocks, rolls and damn-well swings like a collection of Puerto Rican chicks' g-strings on a breezy Manhattan fire escape washline in June. It respects no demarcation lines of style, occupying its own curious turf where the remnants of New Wave butt heads with '70s NY rock and (vaguely) jazz. It's witty too and rocks in its own sometimes slinky, often rumbuctuous way.

Vocalist Lou Paris ("Mr Popular") is still doing "New Values" Iggy better than The Stooge himself. Mr Ratboy is throwing up shards of gritty guitar goodness that would curl Uri Geller's tuning fork (witness: "Rock & Roll Star"). Splat and Mark are a singular engine room of V8 proportion on drums and bass respectively, with the ability to get rawk-ous or slinky, as required. Most importantly, the songs are as good as any Sour Jazz has laid down, and made me want to revisit the other albums (the expansively titled "Lost for Life" and "No Values", I kid you not!)

The whole package carries a big fat sticker that declares it was produced by Daniel Rey, one of the happening names in the world of pan pots and sliders who's worked with the Ramones, Richard Hell, the Ig, Gluecifier, Ronnie Spector and Keith Richards, among others. Sticker or not, it sounds fantastic.

Vocally speaking, Mr Popular's Mr Pop stylings are fairly all-pervading, but if there are times like "Downtime in Midtown" - where it sounds like the Iggster's sattelite-TV is down and he's ducked back to Manhattan for the day to check on his stock options in person - there are just as many songs that broaden the soundscape. The "I'm Bored" flashbacks (as cool as they are) ultimately pale against the self-assertion of tunes like "Nowhere to Hide" and "King Me". Even on "Panzer", where Lou (Paris) undeniably channels the alter ego of Jim (Osterberg) - there's the buzzing of synths/theremins and free jazz trombone and sax to push the boundaries somewhere past the end of the Brooklyn line.

Seems every NYC band I listen to (Kevin K, Dictators, Sonny Vincent) has a song about the unwanted aspects of Big Apple "urban renewal" (that's town planner talk for fucking the character out of a place). The Sours take a similar tack on "14th & Beat Street", although smack also seems to get a going over for its impact on the human landscape.

That's not to infer Sour Jazz are po-faced Soho bo-hos, cowering in darkened cafes planning the demise through firebombing of Starbucks. 'Fun' is the operative word in the Sour Jazz modus operandi and quietly reflective moments are the exception rather than the rule . "Downtime in Midtown" is one of these and sits in the middle like an oasis of relative calm. It's immediately dispelled by "That's Cool Too", which is one of the the rocking-est cuts on the album.
4 1/2 outta 5 stars"

I-94 Bar (Australia)




"Sour Jazz achieves a sophisticated sound that, somewhere between the crooning Iggy and a bluesy Beasts of Bourbon, finds the perfect ambiguous point of irony and delivers much more than it promises."

Ruta 66 (Spain)



"Sour Jazz is a dive into true ecstasy. With a command of the recording studio as sharp as their boots, one thing is sure, Sour Jazz is one of these (very rare) groups that can revisit RocknRoll history and stamp its own unique & contemporary sound on it. It must be a question of distance and class."

Dig It (France)



"Some of the best Rock Action comes from nowhere and sneaks up on you. Just like Sour Jazz. Swinging, bluesy rock, laced with guitar, wit and colourings of horns and synth, its a heady brew that pokes you in the eye and grabs you by your most tender appendages (giving em a squeeze for luck.) Think Iggy, circa New Values (hence the title - geddit?) meeting the Beasts of Bourbon, in their Chicago blues phase (around Black Milk), in a dark bar and youll get the idea."

I-94 Bar (Australia)



"Old enough to be the Strokes' fathers, the four members of Sour Jazz purvey a twisted, sarcastic New York rock that's both familiar and not what you'd expect at all. You might expect a band helmed by Motorcycle Boy/Jeff Dahl guitarist Mr. Ratboy to worship at the altar of Iggy Pop. However, this band oddly chose not the Stooges but the Iggy of New Values and Soldier as a starting point. Then, singer Lou Paris (the tallest Iggy impersonator this side of the Sons of Hercules' Frank Puglise) keeps shoving his lyrical tongue so far into his cheek, you expect it to come poking out the other side. It doesn't stop there: What other straight-up Detroit/NYC-styled punk-rock band would go embroidering their tunes with various fart noises and intestinal gurgles from the depths of Ratboy's collection of vintage analog Moogs? Are they so blithe and anti that they need to expose us to the rumblings of their digestive tracts? Huh? Yes, Sour Jazz's primary motivation is to have fun and enjoy the process of making music, not to "make it" and generate a buzz like other Lower East Side bands. And it's that who-gives-a-shit attitude that informs the noise they make, and makes this record such infectious fun. There's both a familiar ring and an abrasive slap to Sour Jazz, which makes any of their albums fun and worthy purchases. "Rock & Roll Ligger" just so happens to be the latest installment. Nice, concise, hard and funny."

HARP Magazine (America)



"Class. Sour Jazz oozes the stuff all over the place. It may not be the sort of commercialism to find its way into the charts, but this is a bunch of musicians clearly happy with what theyre producing. If youre after some good, straight-ahead rock with a twist, give Sour Jazz a go and, like me, youll be pleasantly surprised."

Black Velvet (England)



"This is the third release from this NYC band, and my personal pick of the month! This cd is so damned good that it's almost hard to put into words! This is the band's third release, but the first one that's been readily available in the states. These guys remind me of a New Values-era Iggy fronting The Voidoids, but this is no generic ripoff. This won't be leaving my cd player for a long, long time. Absolutely essential."

Loud Fast Rules (America)



"Okay, I will admit it, I have a soft spot for singers with an Iggy flare to them. So when this album came on and I heard Lou Paris belting out the impossible softly coarse voice I started tapping my feet immediately, which sent kind of a weird funk into the room because I hadn't changed my socks for like three days. That got me thinking about maybe taking a shower, but then I figured, why should I, Lou would just let his stench permeate, so that's what I'm going to do. Of course when my roommate came home and walked in he gagged and pointed me to the bathroom. So I listened to the rest of the album on a crappy cd player in my bathroom, and you know what? It still sounded great. Sour Jazz is not your average rock band, they are a cross-pollination of punk, jazz, the Bowie-Iggy Berlin heroin love affair, roots rock, and unlawful carnal knowledge. Pick it up, and enjoy!"

Loud Fast Rules (America)



"New York Citys best band aint those fortunate sons The Strokes, no matter what the well-paid-off paycheck media keep insisting. Sour Jazz makes real rock n roll for grown-ups, not prefab youth-culture suckers. Led by Cleveland native Mr Popular who takes a drop-dead smart-ass Iggy Pop approach to clever, deadpan lyrics, and co-starring world famous Swedish guitar virtuoso Mr Ratboy, this disc is a consolation prize from the rawk gods to anyone who tried to sit through Iggy Pop's distinctly unlistenable Beat Em Up last year."

Detroit Metro Times (America)



"Sour Jazz are a four piece outfit making the kind of records Iggy made before the 80s and that fans have been begging him to make ever since. Lead by the guitar mastery of former Motorcycle Boy and Marky Ramone axesmith Mr. Ratboy, Sour Jazz revel in sleazy, gutter rock n roll with a New Values push-pull groove and hard-as-nails, cheap-as-dirt riffs. For those of you that keep whining about Iggy mellowing out, Wayne Kramer (MC5) getting too artsy fartsy or David Johansen (NY Dolls) morphing into Buster Poindexter, Sour Jazz should quiet ya down for a little while."

KNAC Reviews (America)



Produced by Daniel Rey and promoted by Handsome Dick Manitoba on the cover sticker, this is what you call old school New Yawk City rock 'n' roll. Think of Iggy singing "The Passenger" and you'll have a pretty good fix on what singer Mr. Popular sounds like. This four-piece also includes a former Motorcycle Boy and boasts connections to various Dolls, Dead Boys and Ramones. Though they do get a little jazzier at times than some of their influences, there's still room at the bar at CB's for these punks.

Creem Magazine (America)


Rock & Roll Ligger is the latest from Sour Jazz produced by Daniel Ray, this disc has it all and then some. Iggy Pop style rock & roll that delivers Powerful songs that dont give a fuck, so get off your ass and kick it up a notch! You know you want it!

New York Waste (America)


"Do you wonder where Iggy went and whether he's ever going to record another one of those pre-80's style records? Do you hope that he'll update his musical approach just a little but? You want some in-your-face attitude but with intelligence behind it too? Well, friends, this release is for you. Don't be put off by the name, because except for the contemplative approach of "Downtime in Midtown", with hints of Moondance-era Van Morrison, and a few bursts of horns here and there which provide a nice change in texture, there's nothing jazz about this record. It is all crunchy guitar, hard tempos and nasty attitude. Vocalist Lou Paris ("Mr. Popular") is pretty close to dead-on for Iggy, with a bit of Lou Reed deadpan thrown in (as if the album title didn't give that away). The anchor of the band is guitarist Mr. Ratboy, and he leads the band through a thoroughly kick-ass group of songs, but to his and the band's enormous credit, this is not an unbroken and unvarying set of 4/4 stompers. It starts out hard with "Big Generator", but in a pattern which repeats itself in the album, the guitar solo splinters into different directions with distinct voicings and feels which keep the listener involved and off-guard. The rhythm guitar and bass are always dead-on, but there are lots of little variations, tricks and other things going on behind the main beat to keep the songs from become predictable. The band incorporates occasional pop elements and some songs step out of the basic pattern. In addition to "Downtime", they offer the mostly acoustic "Can't You See?", which pulls together an aggressive lap steel guitar and Theremin. It sounds like an ungodly mess but in fact, it works very well. The lyrics betray a demented sense of gallows humor this is a band which has been known to write lyrics using only Chinese fortune cookies, so a certain New York-style absurdity is clearly part of the package. Whether this is ground-breaking can be left to someone else, but it is hard-nosed, edgy, real loud and real good."

Jersey Beat (America)


"Okay, here's something you don't hear every day. While most Underground Rock bands are doing poor imitations of The Stooges, Sour Jazz do an excellent rendition of Iggy's Arista period, ie: New Values, Soldier and Party. Seriously, Mr. Ratboy's guitar licks are from the Ivan Kral songbook. Bassist Cowboy Mark could be Glen Matlock and drummer Splat Action is the metronome of Klaus Kruger. And the vocals? HA! Mr. Popular IS Iggy on those albums. Being the huge Iggy fan that I am, I'm glad to hear that somebody else appreciates that period in his musical development as I do. With an endorsement from The Dictator's Handsome Dick Manitoba, you know it's gotta be good!"

Under the Volcano (America)


"The first thing you notice on this New York Foursome's fourth album is vocalist Mr. Popular's deep-throated, near-identical resemblance to Iggy Pop. It doesn't surprise you, then, to discover the titles of the band's first two LPs were No Values and Lost For Life, or that many of the songs here sound like virtual tributes to the Igster's productive late-70s solo period. Produced by Daniel Rey, and with Mr Ratboy's spirited guitar riffs, a tight rhythm section in Cowboy Mark and Splat Action, and periodic sax and trombone thrown in, it's easy to appreciate the band's energetic and rousing garage/blues/R&B-inspired rock."

The Big Takeover (America)

Currently listening : Rock and Roll Ligger By Sour Jazz Release date: 25 October, 2005

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SOUR JAZZ DISCOGRAPHY

SOUR JAZZ - Rock & Roll Ligger
Produced by Daniel Rey
October 2005, Acetate Records, Los Angeles, California, cd

Big Generator [new version], Can't You See, Rock & Roll Star, King Me, Drinking Alone Under The Moon,
Downtime in Midtown, That's Cool Too, Panzer, Fourteenth & Beat Street, Antecedent, Know Where To Hide.







SOUR JAZZ - I Like The City ep.
Produced by Sour Jazz and Grace Falconer
2002, 7 vinyl, Ghostrider Records, Paris, France

A-side: I Like The City, B-side: Doctor Boogie, Seaside: Big Generator [single version].







SOUR JAZZ - Dressed To The Left
Produced by Sour Jazz and Grace Falconer
2001, Munster Records, Madrid, Spain, enhanced cd

Mr Popular (part one), I Live On A Street Called Rock & Roll, I Like The City, (Im A) Prick, Ive Got It All,
Hold On Me, Fortune Cookie, Dig It Up / Dig It Down, Easy As Pi, Theme From Hot Rod Spaceman,
Messin With The Kid, Mountain High, Steamroller, I Gotta Change, Mr Popular (part two).
Plus bonus video for Thats Cool.







SOUR JAZZ - Lost For Life
Produced by Sour Jazz and Grace Falconer
2001, Ghostrider Records, Paris, France, 220gm vinyl

Mr Popular (part one), I Like The City, Easy As Pi, Hold On Me,
Ive Got It All, Theme From Hot Rod Spaceman, Dig It Up (part one),
Messin With The Kid, No Fun(house).







SOUR JAZZ - No Values
Produced by Sour Jazz
1999, Ghostrider Records, Paris, France, 220gm vinyl

I Live On A Street Called Rock & Roll, Fortune Cookie, I Gotta Change, Crawling, Thirteen Women (And Only
One Man In Town), (Im A) Prick, Thats Cool, It Aint Cool, Mountain High, Steamroller.




COMPILATIONS & TRIBUTE ALBUMS:


..



">


VARIOUS ARTISTS - Greetings from Los Angeles: Eight Years of Acetate Records
2007, compact disc, Acetate Records, Los Angeles
Sour Jazz contribute Big Generator and That's Cool, alongside artists including The Hangmen, Turbo Acs, Nine Pound Hammer, Rhino Bucket, The Coma-Tones, Charley Horse and Sonny Vincent.









VARIOUS ARTISTS - Poubelles
2002, compact disc, Skydog Records, France
Sour Jazz contribute Mr Popular, alongside artists including The Stooges, MC5, New York Dolls,
Flamin Groovies, Lou Reed, Johnny Thunders, Motorhead, The Damned & The Hammersmith Gorillas.






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Hollywood Brats & The Boys Tribute Album
2004, compact disc, Desert Inn Records, Italy
Sour Jazz contribute Zurich 17






VARIOUS ARTISTS - The Flamin Groovies Tribute Album
2001, two x compact disc, Safety Pin Records, Spain
Sour Jazz contribute Doctor Boogie






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Rock-n-Roll War
2001, compact disc, Vicious Kitten Records, Australia
Sour Jazz contribute I Live On A Street Called Rock & Roll, alongside artists including
Nikki Sudden, The Dictators, Sylvain Sylvain, Deniz Tek, Freddy Lynxx & Kevin K






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Kill City Disc
2000, compact disc, Rock n Roll Nurse Records, Japan
Sour Jazz contribute I Gotta Change






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Abus Dangereux
Cover-mounted cd giveaway with 7.99 issue of Abus Dangereux Magazine, France
Sour Jazz contribute an early, unreleased inedit of Fortune Cookie






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Fuck The Millenium
2001, compact disc, Munster Records, Spain
Sour Jazz contribute Mr Popular, alongside artists including Sylvain Sylvain, Thee Michelle Gun Elephant
& New Christs on this 2001 label sampler.






VARIOUS ARTISTS - Fantastic Four Series volume 2
2003, Cover-mounted cd giveaway with issue 2 of BAM! Magazine, Italy
Sour Jazz contribute I Like The City, Crawling and It Aint Cool.




ODDS AND SODS:





MR. RATBOY - A Gift from Mr. Ratboy
1998, Feralette Records, enhanced cd; 1999 Ghostrider Records, vinyl

>>, Down in Style, Rocket to Reno, A Gift, Spaced Out, Cruel Medicine, Bad World, Memory, She Wants EML, Kiss n' Kill, Invisible, Planet X, No. 21, Immaculate, <<.
cd adds bonus videos for Rocket to Reno and A Gift.






FREDDY LYNXX & THE CORNER GANG - Bloodied Up
2000, Julie Records, Paris, compact disc

Sour Jazz's Mr Ratboy, Cowboy Mark & Splat Action play on the following tracks: Some Kind Of Friends, Hard To Live. Additionally, Mr Ratboy plays on The Corner Gang.






KEVIN K - Arbeit Macht Frei
2001, 13th Street Entertainment, NYC, compact disc

Sour Jazz's Cowboy Mark & Splat Action play on this live set, compiled from two gigs at The Continental, NYC, recorded Setember & December 2000.

Fire it Up, Melody, Scissors, Hit the Road, She, La Vide Loca, Al Little Taste, Hook Me Up, I Think We're Alone Now, Lives Up on a Hill, Days Move So Fast, Hitchin' a Ride, Ramblin' Rose.

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LINER NOTES by Max Decharne & Derek Shackwell-Smith

"LOST FOR LIFE" Liner Notes, by Max Decharne

I was in this bar, three quarters of a bottle down and still holding on. The guy three stools away from me folded over and hit the floor in slow motion, like an old building being torn down or a raddled old horse that someone had taken out and shot. No-one paid much attention, and the barman looked as if he'd seen this particular movie three or four times already that week. Looking down, I noticed the shoes of our comatose friend: lizard skin, pointed toes, the kind Tom Waits would appreciate. Can't argue with a righteous pair of shoes. Baggy black suit, silver ID chain on the left wrist, and a pool of malt liquor spreading from the bottle he'd taken down with him as he fell: "SOUR JAZZ," it said on the label. "Takes The Paint Off Your Deck."

Pushing down on the bar rail I straightened up and headed over to the jukebox, stepping carefully over the inert form of the guy taking the horizontal whiskey bath. I dropped a handful of silver slugs into the machine and punched up a few selections -- Who Are The Mystery Girls?, Sick Of You, Have Love Will Travel, Carbona Not Glue. The music snaked out of the huge bass speaker and hit me right in the gut, but the face on the bar room floor slept through it all -- oblivious, maybe, or maybe with just the beginnings of a smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. I picked up the bottle from beside his head and went and sat back down.

"SOUR JAZZ," said the label, "New York City." Holding it up to the light I swilled around the four or five inches left inside, then knocked it all back in one, smacking the bottom of the bottle down hard on the mahogany bar and grinning as my chest contracted and the whole of my throat lit up like a forest fire. Takes the paint off your deck? They're not just whistling Dixie...

That stuff burned a hole clear down to my stomach as the music seemed to get louder and louder, calling up the sounds of the city, of every sleazy late-night gin-joint, the smoke and the traffic fumes and the stench of the men's room at CBGB's. Maybe the barman had cranked up the jukebox so that he could hear the Stooges just that little bit better, or maybe it just seemed that way as I spread my last few crumpled notes flat on the bar and ordered up a fresh bottle of SOUR JAZZ -- straight, no chaser -- and turned round to raise a toast to my unconscious benefactor with the razor-sharp footwear.

"Here's how, buddy," I said, pouring the best part of the new bottle down my throat, then keeled straight over backwards and went out like a light.

SOUR JAZZ -- what else do you need?

-- Max Decharne






"NO VALUES" Liner Notes, by Derek Shackwell-Smith


Sour Jazz's "No Values" is an important record!

Important not in the fractured sense of American popular music iconography, because rock-n-roll is neither popular nor important anymore (if it ever was). No, Sour Jazz is meaningful as a travelogue for displaced dreams. Important for those too foolish to give up the ghost and quit struggling with the rotting carcass that is rock-n-roll. Sour Jazz celebrates the raw passion of "rawk" and rejoices in kicking that carcass, pouring salt in the still open wounds.

The music of Sour Jazz is suavely spun by the following four gentlemen: Mr. Ratboy, Mr. Popular, Cowboy and Splat Action. The four long-time New York City musical veterans gathered together in a small Manhattan recording studio to chart their own path through the oftentimes turgid reality of contemporary sound. The resultant music is revelatory. Mr. Ratboy stumbles around like a mad drunk, coaxing raw, challenging sonic nuggets from his vintage guitar. In the flailing, tortured yelps of Mr Popular, one can hear the internal dialogue of a grown man trying to wriggle his way into 20-year-old leather trousers.

The rhythmic engine of Splat Action and Cowboy vibrates and clangs with the straightforward riddims of an unrelenting locomotive. Focusing on the task at hand with a literal-minded vehemence, Splat Action's crashing backbeat provides the perfect platform for the impending musical convergence, while Cowboy�s deceptive, fluid bass lines dig below Manhattan's streets of rock-n-roll to expose the dark forbidding passageways beneath the ground.

The aural geography of "No Values" departs considerably from the by-now-standard Detroit/New York/Australia axis to embrace Memphis-style horns and scraping, decrepit percussion. A wheezing, ghost-like synthesizer can also be heard above the surging pulse, as if to echo the vast, haunting regions of space too quickly abandoned by an earlier generation of musical explorers.

Lyrically, at first listen, Sour Jazz seems to be primarily interested in the phallus, particularly its own. But this initial reading (see, for instance, "Prick") masks a darker, more profound interest. Unlike so many other contemporary performers, Sour Jazz uses sexual braggadocio to explore nothing less than the nature and meaning of existence itself. It is a brave, dangerous journey of self-exploration. But at the same time it is exhilarating, and paradoxically, limitless.

It is tempting to dismiss Sour Jazz as fools, as was the case with other unappreciated geniuses, out of step with their own times. However, to do so would be a mistake. To misquote another tortured self-explorer, "Listen with prejudice!"

-- Derek Shackwell-Smith, New York City, 29.2.99

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