With a peculiar front cover...and a gruesome back cover of a creepy guy with a missing tooth...few had reason to pick up BAD RICE. (Unless they heard a track or two on a Warner Bros. "loss leader" compilation album, as I did).
Ron Nagle's disc was ahead of its time for many reasons; the use of Ry Cooder, the kind of strange lyrics that, more than a decade later, kept Warren Zevon from view for a while, and a rocking style that was almost parody. Was "61 Clay" some kind of homage to "Highway 61" or just a raucous goof on every "leaving home" bad boy song? It comes from a guy also singing tunes about arthritis, fantasizing about leaving the wife and kids, a woman able to vaginally pick up spare change, and someone stepping on a parakeet.
Submitted, or rather uploaded, for your approval are the first two tracks from the album (the two featuring Ry Cooder): 61 CLAY, a crunching rocker, and MARIJUANA HELL. The latter begs the question, was Ron's intent joint-in-cheek or did he really think marijuana was the weed of evil? The song can be enjoyed either way.
If you're wondering what happened to Mr. N...he became one of America's premiere ceramic artists. Music's been a sidelight, He's written songs and music for various artists and films, but hasn't issued another solo album. Before the solo album he co-led The Mystery Trend (psych rock available on a compilation CD by that name) and after BAD RICE he turned up as half of the pig-named Durocs (one Capitol vinyl circa 1980). Nagle, evidently heavily drinking during BAD RICE, supplied the album notes for the British vinyl re-issue but didn't have that much to remember about the songs. If you have a choice, don't buy that soggy Brit pressing, try and find the original WB vinyl. It is sharper and was cut LOUDER.
Re-upped after the original rapidshare.de links died of old age:
RON NAGLE 61 Clay w/ Ry Cooder
RON NAGLE Marijuana Hell w/ Ry Cooder
bad rice is an album i pull out every year or so and crank up the 2 songs you wrote about as a 49 year old forklift driver i love those 2 songs it is a SHAME that more folks never have had the chance to have these tunes in their memory banks simply great rocknroll !!!
ReplyDeletebad rice is an album i pull out every year or so and crank up the 2 songs you wrote about as a 49 year old forklift driver i love those 2 songs it is a SHAME that more folks never have had the chance to have these tunes in their memory banks simply great rocknroll !!!
ReplyDeleteDude...you need something besides Rapid Share. It's not called "rapid" for nothing as nothing lasts very long there, well unless you're some clueless starlet with an embarrassing photo that gets downloaded a gazillion times. Anyway, couldn't find any file you linked or presume active as they are officially MIA. Good luck, nice site anyway.
ReplyDeletegreat album, esp house of mandia + family style
ReplyDeleteFunny ... a random thought led to my writing down this artist/title a couple of months ago, and a random shuffling of papers on the desk this evening turned it up. The Google search turned up your site. I once owned this disc, so thanks for the downloads. I was a DJ in another lifetime and heard and have gobs of records full of great stuff like this that never got the attention they deserved. Unfortunately, broadcast radio's even worse now. Question: I was impressed with the quality of the tunes, but the record noise gave away the vinyl source. I've been debating what to buy to convert the old discs into CDs and don't know one system from the other in terms of quality ... would you tell us what you used? Thanks man
ReplyDeleteAwfully nice to know that someone else was as impressed as I was. I don't think I ever played this for anyone who didn't ask who it was. The two tracks you so thoughtfully downloaded were standouts but I always loved the whole thing. Seems Ry was on about half of the albums Warner put out that year. Not a bad thing. Anytime you want to download the whole thing...
ReplyDeleteOMG -thanks! i sent my copy of this wonderful disc to one of the producers of the "hempilation" CD about a decade ago, and the so and so never sent it back. i've missed it ever since, particularly these two tracks (which, fortunately, i could play in my head, but it's not like having them pop on the iPod at random on a long bike ride). THANKS for posting these - you're my hero!
ReplyDelete