[.ca] Live at the Spring Valley Inn, 1983

In Hell By Dawn...:
The Who at Leeds, the MC5 and The Stooges at the Grande Ballroom, Kiss at Cobo Hall (er, wait a minute - I was at that one!), and now the Beat Farmers at the Spring Valley Inn, 1983 - add it to the things I'll never get to check off my to-do list before I kick the oxygen habit. Hell, with Country Dick Montana now no longer eligible for the census, I can't even hope for a reunion show with the original line-up, not that these charm school dropouts would probably ever consider leaving the friendly confines of their native San Diego for a chance to foul the air here in Detroit like hoof dust from the four horsemen of the apocalypse. According to Buddy Blue's liner notes, "Live At The Spring Valley Inn, 1983" was never meant to rear its ugly little head, but was intended for use by the band to con their way into a recording contract with somebody - anybody - and Rhino records rose to the bait, ultimately resulting in the criminally overlooked and long out of print "Tales Of The New West." Since the master 2-track of this show has now gone the way of Gene Simmons' hair, this disc was transferred from a filthy cassette Blue apparently pulled out of thin air (or his rear end) and despite what's being said about failed attempts to gloss up the sound quality, it's really not that bad. The Beat Farmers' sonic squalor was never meant to be stripped and clinically clean anyway, but rather raucous, loose, and bordering on Neanderthal, alive with a booze-fuelled sense of invincibility and leaving behind a slick of petroleum. For the uninitiated, the Beat Farmers trafficked in a swashbuckling mix of rock and roll, country, blues, and rockabilly - to their eternal chagrin, they were saddled with the label "cow-punk" - possessing the chops to knock the snot out of covers of Joel Maphis' "Dim Lights, Thick Smoke And Loud, Loud Music," Johnny Cash's "Big River," Bruce Springsteen's "Reason To Believe," and Willie Dixon's "You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover," as well as the ballsy brilliance to pen originals like "Jump Right Back," "Showbiz," "Big Ugly Wheels," and, especially, "Lost Weekend." And if there's any doubt that within every drummer is a frustrated frontman itching to get out, look no further for proof than Montana's moments in the spotlight, his voice all dust and gravel, grunting like a caveman discovering fire and exhibiting all the charm of a quivering, sickly dog that perpetually soils the floor. No slam on Joey Harris, but conventional wisdom probably dictates that the Beat Farmers embarked on a slow trip to nowhere after Blue took his guitar and went home after the release of "Van Go," apparently less than enthused with Curb's plans to earn some big coin by turning the band into the next ZZ Top or Dire Straits. Strumming an open-G chord for fifteen minutes straight while Montana anointed the crowd and himself with recreational beverages apparently stuck in his craw, too. "Live At The Spring Valley Inn, 1983," recorded in front of an enthusiastic crowd of well over 15 people, offers up a glimpse of four wide-eyed guys with a twisted vision and a knock-it-back attitude whose perky campfire songs deserve, at the very least, rotation on God's own jukebox. Live with it.

Great to Hear Old Stuff:
I bought this at a Beat Farmers' reunion show. It is great hearing them at the beginning. It is definitely rough, but it is great hearing the boys at their best.

• Never Going Back
• Trying To Get To You
• Jump Right Back
• Lonely Blue Boy
• Beat Generation
• Selfish Heart
• Assembly Line Rock
• Lonesome Hound
• Dim Lites, Thick Smoke (And Loud, Loud Music)
• Big River
• Showbiz
• Sloppy Drunk
• Sunday Morning
• Reason To Believe
• Big Rock Candy Mountain
• Big Ugly Wheels
• Upsettin' Me
• I Still Miss Someone
• Lost Weekend
• You Can't Judge A Book By Its Cover
• Mondo