Busted / Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way / DT Blues / Fading Away / Reverend Luther / Good Patient Woman / Itch And Shout / Pills And Booze / Little Things In Life / Hair Of The Dog / Lovers Waiting To Die / Zombie For Love / Billy / Baby Loves Her Gun / Little Things In Life / Sun Goes Down / Frozen In The Headlights / Too Much Fun / Man Needs Woman

COOKING VINYL

Green On Red have always been one of rocks more underappreaciated and undiscovered gems, a band who pretty much helped lay down the blueprint for much of today's Americana and New Country movements; you can almost taste the Ryan Adams and Wilco influence that runs throughout these songs. Always something of a car wreck when it came to career considerations though, this is a band who imploded under the weight of alcohol and drugs, the clues are in the titles of songs like PILLS AND BOOZE, DT BLUES and HAIR OF THE DOG, all represented here.

Collecting together their infamous Radio sessions in the UK, BBC SESSIONS consists of various recordings between 1989 and 1992 for the Andy Kershaw, Richard Skinner, Saturday Sequence and Bob Harris shows respectively. Often dismissed as sloppy and rough around the edges performances, even by the band themselves; these sessions are nowhere near as bad as rumour would have it.

1989's Andy Kershaw set comprises the Harlan Howard cover BUSTED alongside a knockoff of Jimmy Reed's ITCH AND SHOUT, and whilst not perhaps stimulating stuff, is still enjoyably rough, ready and authentic.

By 1991, the band were singing about PILLS AND BOOZE and delivering songs like the bluesy HAIR OF THE DOG and ZOMBIE FOR LOVE, songs that showcased the band in sloppily blistering form; blues guitar licks sidling up alongside country shuffles and Dan Stewart and Chuck Prophets Springsteen meets Hank Williams howl, a mighty force to be reckoned with. The Johnny Walker set from 1992 is perhaps the beginning of the end, the band sounding exhausted from the endless touring and sleepwalking through a song like FROZEN IN THE HEADLIGHTS, only a blistering guitar solo lending any kind of rock n' roll attitude. The bloodied and bruised TOO MUCH FUN contains the line "the party's over" and you'd be hard pressed to disagree with that forlorn sounding statement at this point.

As an intriguing look back at one of rocks more unappreciated bands, the BBC SESSIONS is a fine place to start; a collection of recordings that showcase Green On Red's erratic and roughly strewn musical output, warts and all.

The late 1970's was perhaps the last gasp of an American artistic ideal which the band Green On Red inhaled in full. Teenage friends Dan Stuart, Jack Waterson and Chris Cacavas started as The Serfers in Tucson, Arizona, and by the early eighties had moved to LA to become Green On Red. Attracted by the rotting corpse of LA's punk scene, GOR found itself equally ill at ease with all the lazy acronyms of the time: post punk, neo-psychedelic, alt-country etc. The truth was that GOR aspired to climb the impossible heights of Dylan, Crazy Horse and The Band.

Loved by most and hated by few, the band used it's subversive boozy charm to ooze it's way through the cracks and record an eponymous EP for Down There, followed by the critical smash "Gravity Talks" for Slash Records.

Unhappy with Slash's sleazy meddling, GOR jumped ship in 1985 to rival Enigma Records and recorded the internationally acclaimed dazzler "Gas, Food, Lodging." This breakthrough work was mostly due to the addition of guitarist Chuck Prophet, who balanced the brilliance of keyboardist Chris Cacavas and turned Green On Red into something that people had heard before, but exactly where and when, nobody could really say. Critics heaped on the praise, but mainstream success would prove elusive.

Credited with being among the founders of the "Americana" movement, Green On Red was always more interested in redefining themselves, and sailed from the new world for the old to sign with London's Phonogram Records in 1987. Left alone to stew, the band produced the mini-LP "No Free Lunch" which delivered the band's first taste of commercial success, albeit with a heavy price tag: the resignation of beloved drummer Alex MacNicol.

Exhausted by constant touring, facing the void and sensing the end, the band turned to producer Jim Dickinson to administer a lethal injection of Memphis disdain. Reeling from the trial by fire, Green On Red shat out "The Killer Inside Me," a record that causes fistfights amongst it's stalwarts and foes to this day. Whether a grand masterpiece or bombastic failure, the record spelled the end for the original Green On Red.

Wad shot and living in a desert shack, songwriter Dan Stuart crawled back to Memphis to record the sublime "Here Come The Snakes" with Chuck Prophet. Lacking the courage to shelve the record, Stuart allowed China Records to release the disc under the Green On Red moniker, thus beginning a sordid second act that explored music as geography. "This Time Around" found Dan and Chuck groveling in LA for Glyn Johns, whereas "Scapegoats" featured the gruesome twosome embracing Nashville, if not Al Kooper.

Fittingly, the two wound back in Tucson having "Too Much Fun," a record that falls back into the cracks that the original band burst forth from. Since then, Prophet has gone on to a critically acclaimed and fruitful solo career, with beaucoup session work and stellar songwriting credits. Chris Cacavas has also produced a mighty oeuvre of solo work and his ivory tinkling is much sought after, from Tucson to Berlin. Jack Waterson recorded the timeless "Whose Dog?" and acts as a kind of consigliere for numerous young LA musicians/producers, as well as playing in whatever group strikes his fancy, currently the Chicano pop weirdness of White. As for Stuart, his fingerprints can found at Brink.com where he's a contributing editor. But wait, there's more...

In September of 2005, to honor their fallen comrade Alex MacNicol, the original Green On Red gathered in Tucson, AZ, to play for the first time in nearly two decades. Fortunately, this historic show was filmed and Valley Fever, Green On Red Live at the Rialto is the band's first DVD. Never to leave well enough alone, GOR shook down London's Astoria Theatre this past January, and will play selected dates this summer before disappearing back into the pop culture Zeitgeist like a mirage. There you have it, now and forever.

Chuck Prophet

Chris Cacavas

Dan Stuart

Jack Waterson

Alex MacNicol

Chris Cacavas

Pat Burnette

Matt Piucci

GRAVITY TALKS (Big Time>1983)

Gravity Talks

Old Chief

5 Easy Pieces

Deliverance

Over My Head

Snake Bit

Blue Parade

That's What You're Here For

Brave Generation

Abigail's Ghost

Cheap Wine

Narcolepsy

GAS FOOD LODGING (Torso>1985)

That's What Dreams (4:22)

Black River (2:43)

Hair Of The Dog (2:31)

This I Know (2:30)

Fading Away (4:35)

Easy Way Out (3:05)

Sixteen Ways (3:43)

The Drifter (2:32)

Sea Of Cortez (3:51)

We Shall Overcome (2:27)

THE KILLER INSIDE ME (Mercury>1987)

Clarkesville

Mighty Gun

Jamie

Whispering Wind

Ghost Hand

Sorry Naomi

No Man's Land

Track You Down (His Master's Voice)

Born To Fight

We Ain't Free

Killer Inside Of Me

HERE COMES THE SNAKES (Restless Records>1989)

Keith Can't Read

Rock & Roll Disease

Morning Blue

Zombie For Love

Broken Radio

Change

Tenderloin

Way Back Home

We Had It All

D.T. Blues

SHE'S ALL MINE (China Records>1992)

She's All Mine (3:42)

Two Lovers (Waitin' To Die) (Live) (3:36)

Baby Loves Her Gun (Live) (3:42)

Little Things In Life (Live) (3:48)

BBC SESSIONS (Maida Vale>2007)

Busted

Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

DT Blues

Fading Away

Reverend Luther

Good Patient Woman

Itch And Shout

Pills And Booze

Little Things In Life

Hair Of The Dog

Lovers Waiting To Die

Zombie For Love

Billy

Baby Loves Her Gun

Little Things In Life

Sun Goes Down

Frozen In The Headlights

Too Much Fun

Man Needs Woman

Green On Red>www.greenonred.net

Ryan Adams

Wilco

Calexico