scott

Those Scott Morgan Band/Scots Pirates re-issues on Easy Action are imminent. The UK label is taking pre-orders for "Revolutionary Action", a two CD compilation of Morgan's first three solo band albums. It's due out on October 20.

Pre-orders are here. Here's the refreshed film clip for the "Detroit" 45 which has been re-issued as an iTunes single. 

Tracking the post-Sonic’s Rendezvous Band career of Detroit’s rocking rhythm and blues man, Scott Morgan, gets a little easier next month with the release of three of his solo band albums on a double CD.

UK label Easy Action (who else?) will release the “Scots Pirates”, “Revolutionary Means” and “Rock Action” LPs in re-mastered form as “Revolutionary Action” on October 20.

The 38-song collection will be encased in the usual top-shelf packaging with a bonus cut, the hard-to-find cover version of Jimi Hendrix’s “Can You See Me?”

What do you think we’d say? Sonic’s Rendezvous Band was truly The One That Got Away. It’s a crime they weren’t signed, recorded and backed to the hilt by a major label and elevated to a household name, but rock and roll is seldom fair. That’s why you need to hear everything you can of this great lost band.

Never heard outside a small circle of alumni and fans, this short but sweet five-song set comes from the January 14,1978 show, on the undercard to the Ramones and the Runaways at the Masonic Temple in Detroit. Maybe.

The opening act was un-billed and surviving band members (that would be Gary and Scott) can’t agree that they played it. All but one song (“City Slang”) has remained in the vaults and the label thought it had issued the gig as part of its splendid box set. But that disc wasn’t even from one entire show, if that makes sense.

Get in fast if you want to be a part of the Sydney tribute to late Hell Crab City singer Scott “Groges” Barker, who suddenly passed away in January. The gig is on track to be a sell-out. 

As well as sets by Hell Crab City with guestr vocalists and 300 StClaire, Asteroid B612 will reform its original line-up (with Bullet McIvor on vocals and Leadinger on guitar) and The Crusaders will make a rare re-appearance. 

It's happening on Thursday, April2  at the Factory Floor in Marrickville. All proceeds will go to Scott’s family. Tickets here.

Here's huge news for fans of Sonic's Rendezvous Band. The first re-issues from The Hydromatics’ back catalogue on UK label Easy Action are ready for pre-order.

The Hydromatics were a ‘90s trans-Atlantic supergroup of sorts, fronted by Scott Morgan (Sonic's Rendezvous Band, The Rationals) and reprising material by Sonic’s Rendezvous Band, as well as fresh originals. Their original line-up included Nicke Royale of Sweden’s Helllacopters and Dutchman Tony Slug (The Nitwitz) and they toured Europe extensively.

This is a band that had power to burn that shone a fresh light on Sonic's Rendezvous Band by doing justice in the studio to material that we'd only heard on dodgy bootlegs. 

‘The Hydromatics” is a re-mastered CD version of the group's debut record, “Parts Unknown”, with a stack of live tracks.

“Dangerous” is a LP (with free CD) of studio versions of Sonic’s Rendezvous Band classics like Asteroid B612, Electrophonic Tonic and City Slang. The 10-track LP is supplemented by “Do It Again”, “Mystically Yours” and “Power and The Glory” on the bonus CD. Get them here.

Long spoken of and heard by few, this batch of tapes documenting the short but worthy lifespan of Scott Morgan’s post Rationals band Guardian Angel (later known as Lightnin’) has seen the light of day at last. It’s a righteous addition to a starry back catalogue.

The last non-sellout in a line of powerful, soulful, R&B-influenced rock singers from the '60s, Scott Morgan's had a lot of notoriety the last few years, since the world of Rockdom at large belatedly discovered the joys of Sonic's Rendezvous Band, the late-seventies Dee-troit "supergroup" that he fronted in tandem with (and later in opposition to) ex-MC5 guitarist Fred "Sonic" Smith.

More on the Hydromatics re-issues we told you about a couple of days ago: Third in the series - and possibly the best and most well-rounded release by the band, the impossibly hard-to-find “Powerglide” album - is coming out on CD, with a generous array of bonus cuts.

It will be the first in the series. 

Easy Action Records has paired the 14 Sonic’s Rendezvous Band and original compositions that were on the album with half a dozen live songs cut for radio, plus a bonus disc of 14 rehearsal tunes. This is the line-up of Scott Morgan, Tony Slug, bassist Theo Brouwer and Andy Frost (Powertrane) - it was a killer band and this is a powerful and soulful collection of recordings.

The Italian label that originally released “Powerglide” went belly-up soon after issuing it so copies of the original are next to impossible to find.

Here's a summary from the liners that'll give you an idea what this album is about:

In which the complete recorded works of the 1980s and ‘90s are compiled on one double CD set, spanning 38 tracks.

You have to give it to Easy Action. They know how to package a legacy. And Scott Morgan, of course, has had lots of legacy to restore.

Michigan’s Best Kept Musical Secret had been around the metaphorical block a few times by the time the ‘80s rolled around, but up until that point his bands hadn’t produced many recordings. If he hadn’t invented blue-eyed soul, Morgan played a big part in its arrival in the '60s when front-man for Ann Arbor’s Rationals who took a detour into soulful, pastoral-flecked psych before running out of steam. 

After the run of great records with The Solution, Powertrane and The Hydromatics, Scott Morgan thought it was time to make a solo album. Thus the former singer and guitarist of the legendary Sonic's Rendezvous Band (and even before that, The Rationals) gathered around him some of the most respected musicians of the Motor City and pulled out an album that oozes black music and emotions out from every note.

The legendary Scott Morgan (The Rationals, Sonics Rendezvous Band, Hydromatics) continues his return to the stage in stunning form and will play another gig with The Sights in Michigan in November.

Pre-orders have opened for his latest re-issue on Easy Action. 

After serious ill-health, Detroit rock and soul legend Scott Morgan (The Rationals, Sonic’s Rendezvous Band) is returning to regular live shows with a new album in the throes of being written.

Morgan fell ill with liver disease a couple of years ago but has undergone extensive treatment. He still needs to manage his health but has bounced back this year to play a couple of shows with the well regarded soulful rockers The Sights as his backing band.

Detroit rock and soul legend Scott Morgan (Sonic's Rendezvous Band, The Rationals, The Hydromatics, The Solution, Scots Pirates, Scott Morgan Band, Guardian Angel, Dodge Main) has returned to live singing just two years after being disagnosed with liver disease.

Scott joined The Sights at their special Christmas show at The Magic Stick on December 21. Here's his story:

Consider the Sonic's Rendezvous Band saga... 

Arisen, phoenix-like, from the ashes of four of the Motor City's finest proponents of high-energy rock -- the MC5, the Stooges, the Rationals, and the Up - the Rendezvous steadfastly refused to bank on their illustrious pasts (which, granted, might have been more of a liability than an asset at that point in history). Rather, they insisted on a more original kind of expression -- hardly a guarantee of steady employment for a local band in the mid-to-late '70s. 



There’s a benefit show for Gary Quackenbush of The SRC on September 6 at Club 54 in Sterling Heights in Detroit. The guitarist has been diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis. 

The SRC were formed by Scott Richardson after singing with the Chosen Few, an Ann Arbor band that also had Ron Asheton and James Williamson (later of the Stooges) as members at various times. The SRC ranks included Glenn Quackenbush, Gary Quackenbush and E.G. Clawson. Jeep Holland, manager of The Rationals, became their manager and suggested Richardson as lead singer. Bass player Robin Dale was added later.

The SRC was one of Michigan’s finest psych bands of the ‘60s and  contemporaries of the Stooges, the MC5 and The Up.

Capacity at the benefit gig is limited to 400 and doors open 6pm.  The bill includes The Reefermen, Frijid Pink and an after-jam with Ray Goodman (SRC) and the Essentials featuring Tosha Owens. Scott Morgan will be the guest MC and will also be performing.

Sad news: Singer and guitarist for Sydney band Hell Crab City, Scott “Grogan” Barker, has passed away suddenly at the age of 51.

Friends say Groges appears to have had a heart attack earlier today. 

Hell Crab City immediately cancelled an appearance at the multi-band Punk Rock Bar-B-Q at Sydney’s Town and Country Hotel.

Previously of punk band Jim Cobain, Scott had been a fixture in Hell Crab City since the band formed in 2003.

Hell Crab City has released two albums with a third part-finished. 

Scott's shock loss is reverberating through the Sydney music community with outpourings of grief all over social media.

Bandmates posted on Hell Crab City’s Facebook page: “Undisputedly, the nicest guy in rock'n'roll, his love for his family and for his music was total and unequivocal.

“Naturally, we're all incredibly stunned, and to say that we loved him and will miss him is clearly understating it.”

Scott is survived by his partner Zara and son Harry. 

Yeah, it's obvious that this has been a long time coming. Compiler and Real O Mind Records chief Geoff Ginsberg toyed with the idea of a Scott Morgan box set and put a version together - as a one-off for friends - many years ago. But now the real deal's here, with the involvement of Ginsberg as compiler and UK label Easy Action honcho Carlton Sandercock as issuer, and you'd be a fool to miss it.

Tributes are pouring in for Stooges drummer Scott Asheton who passed away over the weekend, aged 64.

New York City punk original Sonny Vincent is taking to the European touring circuit in support of not one but three albums.

The massive tour of eight countries spans April, May and June and includes three supports to the Dead Kennedys. 

Already in the record store racks is “Spiteful” by Sonny Vincent and the Spiteful, whose ranks include Rat Scabies (The Damned), Glen Matlock (Sex Pistols) and Steve Mackay (Iggy and the Stooges.)

Out on Swami Records on March 28 is “Vintage Piss”, a woodshedded 2003 studio recording from Sonny, Speedo, ND and Ruby Mars from Rocket From the Crypt, his onetime US touring band.

Hot on its heels is “Psycho Serenades” on Spanish label H-Records, and features members of Rocket From The Crypt, Doc and the Medics and Stiv Bators solo band, as well as the late Scott Asheton.  

If that’s not enough, there’s also a single from Sonny’s pre-Testors NYC band, Liquid Diamonds, out on Hozac Records.  Tour dates in full after the break.