Dead Moon
Parchment Farm b/w Hey Joe
scum stats: first 200 with no catalog number and reversed labels, a bunch of indistinguishable copies after that
Been reading the massive Dead Moon book put out by Mississippi Records lately when I can steal moments away from these three girls progressively taking years off my life. It's a trip and I love the idea of a band of their stature being documented in such a manner. They're underground legends, sure, but many folks would scoff at the idea of a book of this breadth and scope dedicated to them.
I harken back to the words of one of my mentors, Johan Kugelberg, who very simply stated that the great bands should be treated just like the great "fine" artists...with a dedicated monograph. Johan himself has done pretty solid jobs on books of this nature for both the Velvet Underground and the Sex Pistols. Maybe this is the approach I should take for a White Stripes book?
Anyway, this version of "Parchment Farm" (sometimes spelled "Parchman") is single-handedly responsible for me ALWAYS listening to any version of the song I find when out digging. I will save you the time and let you in on the secret that NONE of the other versions sound like this. They don't even come close. This is the best version of this song, hands-down. Just pure, unadulterated rock and roll. If you can't get behind this, just give up on life.
And you can never go wrong with a cover of "Hey Joe." Ever. The song is timeless.
Gotta go...someone's crying, there's poop in the air and I'm still wearing my pajamas at 2pm.
Thanks for introducing this band, that was raw! They faintly remind me of someone, I just can’t place it at the moment.
that’s the post i was waiting for! the bit about TWS book made me sink into a futuristic world of sheer joy where i am sipping hot beverage and reading your book about the White Stripes. It better be soon-ish
I wasn’t aware of their version of “Hey Joe”. Thanks for bringing it to our attention.
Thanks for this post! Here in Portland, they are absolutely revered. Andrew lived in the apartment directly across from me until his last days. He was a sweet and very funny guy. Such hard living, but such a legacy. And yes, Whites Stripes book please! Also, peppermint-scented vinyl per-schnapps?
I’d enjoy a pop-up book. ?
Oh yeah, scratch the book idea and do a spoken word album on peppermint swirl vinyl. Just tell stories, what better way to document a band based on story telling songs? Just do the forward in a small book in the cover, just enough so Barnes and Noble and such will sell it. It would be huge.
Great PNW band, you should check out the 4-5 very scarce records put out by Voodoo Doughnut Recording. They did a donut themed 45, and a few colorful LPs live in Portland. I talked to the owner of VDR who goes by “Cat Daddy” lol and he sent me a bunch of the Dead Moon, Crackerbash (who I opened for with my high school band haha), and Poison Idea records, forgot to mention most are numbered to 300 or less by hand on the back. He said that day that they are no longer selling vinyl at Voodoo, it was already kind of a secret thing you had to order your donuts at 2 am or whenever and then ask for them to get the box of records for you to look at. Fortunately they’ve made a VDR website for anyone interested in grabbing what they have left (pretty limited). I think I sent you one of the 45s didn’t I? Anyway, totally feel you on the smell of poop in the air, I’m on my own today and gotta go do the same. Oh yeah, that Racs Test Pressing is beautiful..
I’ve always been partial to the John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers version of ‘Parchman Farm’
I would read the hell out of a White Stripes book like that!
I’m a big fan of Ugly things magazine I’m not a big fan of the rock and roll hall of shame fuck don’t these people get their egos messaged enough their should be a rock and roll music museum with a room for all the garage bands another with punk and so on and so forth a place for discovery of music and people like Ben and Ugly things staffers unloading their wads of knowledge of music all over us I don’t care how old it is if I haven’t heard it then it’s new to me