The Fixx - Anyone Else Video, Beautiful Friction Released Today

The Fixx's first album in almost 10 years, Beautiful Friction, is released today, as is the new video for Anyone Else. The video features guys in suits getting pelted with fruit and hateful people getting splattered by mud. What's not to like?


a live version, not great sound, but interesting for fans nonetheless.



Beautiful Friction on Amazon or iTunes.

The Fixx - Anyone Else from Beautiful Friction

The Fixx. An eighties band to many people who only heard One Thing Leads to Another or saw the video for Stand or Fall. But the band has never really stopped. After Reach the Beach, Phantoms was not as big commercially, but still a solid album in Scruffy's opinion. The follow-up Walkabout still shines as a unique testament to the band. Then Calm Animals came out, which was still pretty good, but not quite the same. Unfortunately, the next three studio records, Ink, Elemental and Want That Life were different animals. I'm sure the band had to move in different directions, but they lost me.

But The Fixx have a new album coming out called Beautiful Friction on July 17, and the first single Anyone Else is out now. And it's pretty good. The cover is once again done by George Underwood, who created the unique album art for classics Reach the Beach and Phantoms. Can the band bring guys like me back into the fold? Leave a comment below, I'd love to hear what you think.



Here's the band doing an older one recently, Saved By Zero.



Buy anyone else at iTunes or Amazon.

Guitar Heroes of the Non-Video Game Kind Pt .1

photo by stev.ie

Pop Dose recently threw up their list of the top 50 guitar players of all time. I was surprised by some of the omissions and decided to create a post or two to respond, then I noticed that Pop Dose's list was actually created in response to the LA Times magazine's top 50. Okay, so a number of the players missing on one list can be found somewhere on the other. One list skips the Edge, Robert Fripp, Angus Young and Randy Rhoads, but then we see Eddie Hazel, John Mayer, Charlie Hunter, Neal Schon and John Frusciante. Huh? Of course, there are always complaints about lists like these, who got snubbed, who is wrongly placed at the top or bottom, and so on. Sometimes I think the choices are coloured by how much a guitarist sticks out, especially to other musicians or guitar god wannabes (Yngwie Malmsteen, anyone?)So, since I'm a non-guitarist (no musical ability whatsoever, actually) I've compiled a short list of stringbenders I like without any thought to how technically proficient they are, how difficult their music may be to play, or how wizardly they wield their axes. They might not be flashy, might just be rhythm players, but they've made some noises I like and they're not always included on favourite guitar player lists.

Wherever possible, I've tried to include live videos so you can see guitar grandeur without studio trickery.

Jamie West-Oram has made his career with The Fixx, a band some might mistakenly characterize as a synth band because they were lumped in with new wave bands of the 80's. But I always loved his quirky contributions, and he never overplayed or tried to be a rock god, just propelled or served the song.

Saved by Zero



Tom Verlaine has never reached mainstream acceptance and never really attempted to do so. He's been acclaimed by indie rock guitar geeks and critics, mostly for his work with Television. But the TV-love, to me, is part and parcel of his guitar tandem work with Richard Lloyd, with guitar lines intertwining, separating, snaking together again, clashing, and endlessly building ascending and spiralling soundscapes. Verlaine's solo work is not always so dense, but it does contain a similar unique glory.

A Town Called Walker



Elliot Easton's work with The Cars always included tasty licks and and sturdy rhythm to complement Ric Ocasek's more straightforward lines.

Candy-O



Robyn Hitchcock could make my list on his own, and if you've seen him play a solo show, you know what I mean. However, when Hitchcock plays with a foil, such as he does nowadays with Peter Buck in the Venus 3, he seems to be spurred on to different levels. Kimberly Rew in The Soft Boys is another fellow who lifts Hitchcock up to such great heights.

Queen of Eyes



Bob Mould, especially with Husker Du and Sugar, created blisteringly beautiful walls of sound, waves of melodic distortion, and curtains of metallic noisy pop.

Makes No Sense At all/ Love is All Around (Mary Tyler Moore Theme)