The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
 

I can't believe that there is no thread on this great great band. Grab electric blues and put it in a blender with some grooves, a bit of punk, a little bit of gentle experimentation and voila:

The first track I ever heard by them:


Recommended listening:

Damage (as Blues Explosion)
Acme.

I downloaded Acme, we'll see how it goes.

I used to be a big fan of them.

Then I heard Pussy Galore & Boss Hog. I prefer them these days. Much dirtier.

I still have not heard Pussy galore and that was the band before JSBX I think?

Yeah Pussy Galore is a sort of proto JSBX. Boss Hog is his wife's band.

dirtier yes but also much less competent songwriting. from what i can tell that's the sole appeal to the music.

as for JSBX, i've been acquainted with them for a while, Orange is one of my favorites followed by Crypt Style and Now I Got Worry. Plastic Fang is pretty lackluster though.

as a group i'd much rather listen to Gun Club, who predated them by a decade and still sound far better.

I much prefer the sly sense of fun that JSBX employ personally although I feel that they have never delivered one truly outstanding album.

a lament i can certainly echo.

Will check it out. Every time I talked to a fellow Keys fan they say I should look into them.

Been a fan of them since about 99 when a military friend was obsessed with them. Bought acme the next year and was sold. I should give them a listen again these days. Its been a while.

Just listened to Acme again after forgetting about it for such a long time... great stuff. Picked up Orange too, don't think it's as good as Acme but still nice.

Damage is still my favourite album.

I'll be getting their whole discography in good time, didn't see anything special about that track though

I couldn't find the better tracks on youtube :(

has anyone heard anything one of Jon's newer stuff with Heavy Trash? Really good stuff.


God I love Jon spencer, I really hope to god the blues come to Calgary. I read in my newspaper they may start touring around canada in july or june.

I love Extra Width

F#$k! how far does one have to dig to find the coolest band in the universe. The JSBE shouldn't be buried beneath 50 layers of The Decemberists & Vampire Weekend...euck!.

I saw JSB's back in the 1995/6? bar none one of the best lives shows I have ever seen.

Talk About The Blues



Flavor



Firefly Child

Bought Now I Got Worry on release ... one of the many CDs that my wife will simply not tolerate!

Been digging on this band ever since bob. first used that JSBX poster as an avatar (for the millionth time, I give The bob. hella ****ing props). I tend to have a short attention span that prevents me from analyzing albums as a whole, so it's hard to have a fav one, but their early work has been ruling my ears off and on for the past half year or so. Extra Width, Orange, Now I Got Worry, and Acme are just a stellar run of albums. Even their later work -- which I've only delved into a tiny bit -- is still pretty awesome. Not as raw, but that stuff sounds like a band that's more in control of their craft.

I saw Jackhammer mention that they had never truly released a stellar album, and maybe that's true, but when your sound is that perfect, and your high points are that much higher than so many bands who've released more consistent albums, how much does it really matter? To me, Black Sabbath never quite released an album that lived up their potential -- either because of bad song choices (the debut), bad track orders (Paranoid), or a little of both (Master of Reality), but I'd still take them over Deep Purple (who's Machine Head album is flawless from front to back). I feel the same with JSBX. Perhaps they're just too raw and out-of-control to ever get it together enough to orchestrate a perfect album.

Can't mention this band and not mention that video of them doing that outrageous live performance on some Australian, teen music show. It just felt like how rock 'n' roll should be. I realize they were hamming it up for the camera just cause they could, but it was just brilliant how they showed the sanitized world of mainstream rock just how unpredictable and uncontrollable rock 'n' roll is meant to be.





And Jon Spencer is the beating heart of rock 'n' roll and coolness, possibly right up their (at least as far as coolness goes) with Tom Waits. I'd love to spend just five minutes talking to both of those dudes, just to see if I could absorb even a small amount of their Supreme Awesomeness. I can never tell if Jon is an egomaniac though. He has such a loud personality that I can't picture him just being a "normal guy", and anyone who puts their name at the front of their band name has got to feel himself to be a centerpiece. But then every live performance, and at least once on every album, he always goes out of his way to shout out the names of the rest of the band like they're being inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.


Will defly check that **** out.

Bro they got a new album out right now. ^ It;s quite good.

I really love Black Mold and Shake'em On! GroOves really shaking the ground..