Cub KODA - Cub Koda & the Points 1980

Cub KODA - Cub Koda & the Points 1980
Baron LP-103

Blues

Although outta print, this one is definitely worth hunting down or borrowing. This was what Cub used to call "Brownsville done the way i always wanted to do it" These guys were absolutely devestating in concert and the studio cd gives a glimpse of that power. Cadillac Walk and Pound it out are among the best Cub ever recorded in my opinion, and guitarist Joey Gaydos and Cub compliment each other nicely. This is a rocker you can't go wrong with!
**
No matter what Cub Koda did, he did it with class, style, and energy. His stuff with The Points was no exception. This first release came out on Baron Records in 1980 on pink vinyl. Just another one of the goofy examples of Koda's humor. I think it also came with a 7" EP. Eh, maybe not. Can't remember and I've slept since then.

Of the 11 songs listed, there's one slow cut - Crazy People - and it's excellent. "Mark my words - she'll break your heart. She's done it so many times before. She'll treat you kind till she changes her mind. And you'll be back out on the road."
The other 10 are rock and roll, blues, boogie woogie. Sometimes you can't really tell. When 'The CubMaster' got going, I think sometimes he couldn't tell for sure. The rest of his band wasn't too bad either. Petey Bankert and Guitar Joey Gaydos (I can't remember the spelling for sure, and I'm doing this from memory, so please forgive me if I'm misspelling something) were terribly complementary for Kodas virtuoso guitar antics.
The music ain't the only really great aspect of the album. The lyrics are cool, too. Is "Welcome To My Job" autobiographical? Only his hairdresser knows for sure. "Getting Wild Tonight" is mucho fun.
"Well if it makes ya crazy. Honey that's alright. But if it makes ya lazy. Check yer motor, honey. Somethin' ain't right."
"Tight Jeans" (hot love, good boogie, and a V-8 Ford), "Cadillac Jack," "Cadillac Walk are blues and boogie tunes.
"Pound It Out" has a cool story with it. Cub Koda and the Points were playing somewhere - I think it was in Texas - and they opened with "Pound It Out." The crowd didn't do diddly - decidedly non-reactive despite Koda urging them on. So what'd they do? They did what any red-blooded American rock and roll band would do. They played "Pound It Out" again. Still no reaction. So Cub and The Points played "Pound It Out" a THIRD time.
Finally, the crowd got the message that this was apparently an entertainer to be reckoned with and started paying attention. I believe there were a few encores involved in the show, but it shows the determination of a musician that believed strongly in what he did.
So that leaves "Ducktail," which is just a boogying ode to his haircut. "Well if ya mess with my ducktail, gonna get so mad at you."
And "The Ballad Of Guitar Johnny," who was a roadie who developed a serious love for chemistry that took him from being the best roadie in the world to being a dead roadie because he didn't pay the wrong people for too long.
"Johnny got home late one night from a 45 day road trip.
There were 2 guys inside waiting for Johnny with 'overdue' on their lips.
Johnny's palms got sweaty, but before he could explain.
There he was lying on the floor with a bullet in his brain."
Last lyric quote - I promise. Well, there's only one song left - "Sneakers On A Rooster."
"The clothes I bought for you, I bought just what you wanted.
But the clothes you bought for me, they feel like they're haunted.
Girl I hope your love
Will change in the future 'cause lovin' you is like puttin sneakers on a rooster."
It is a very good album start to finish! It's terribly hard to find, that's why it's so expensive here. Don't know why he's got it at $50, but to each his own! I DO know that I finally gave up looking for it and put my LP on CD myself, and that allowed me to also put the tracks from the EP on with the album tracks.
It's a tremendous album and if you like Brownsville Station, Cub Koda, rock and roll, rockabilly, boogie woogie, or rock-tinged blues, you simply can't live without this one!
By  M. G. Kimmel
**
Petey Bankert- Bass Guitar
Guitar Joey Gaydos- Guitar
Cub Koda- Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
Cool Fred Schmidt- Drums
**
A1 Welcome to My Job  
A2 Gettin' Wild Tonight  
A3 Jail Bait  
A4 Tight Jeans  
A5 Cadillac Jack  
A6 Cadillac Walk  
B1 Pound It Out  
B2 Crazy People  
B3 Sneakers on a Rooster  
B4 Ducktail  
B5 The Ballad of Guitar Johnny
**

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Cub KODA - That's What I Like About the South 1984

Cub KODA - That's What I Like About the South 1984

Blues

Koda began to back away from the group's loud, overdriven rock sound - at least in private. He purchased a multi-track tape recorder and started producing one-man-band tapes, where he overdubbed all the instruments and vocals. For the Next several years, Koda made home recordings of rockabilly, blues, R & B, Country, jazz, and early rock & roll - the exact opposite of Brownsville 's heavy rock Stance; the rockabilly Tapes were eventually released as "That's What I Like About the South" in the early '80s (1984), with other tracks on compilations Showing up as Late as 1993.
**
01. Hoy Hoy 1:29
02. Who Do You Love 2:34
03. Two Hundred Love Affair 2:22
04. Beetle Bug Bop 2:37
05. Blues Stop Knockin' 2:19
06. Bottle to the Baby 2:00
07. My Baby Left Me 2:05
08. That's What I Like About the South 2:04
09. Ace of Spades 2:35
10. Ten Little Women 2:03
11. Tight Jeans 1:36
12. Rattle Shakin' Mama 2:08
13. Chicken Walk 1:39
14. Split Personality 1:12
**
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Cub KODA & The Points - "Shake Yo´ Cakes 1981

Cub KODA & The Points - "Shake Yo´ Cakes 1981

Blues

Best known as the leader of Brownsville Station and composer of their hit "Smokin' in the Boys Room,"Cub Koda proved that his roots went far deeper, both before the band's formation, during its days in the sun, and long after its demise. His high-school band, the Del-Tinos, was dipping into blues and rockabilly as far back as 1963 -- not only pre-Butterfield, but pre-Beatles. Similarly, he recorded legendary home tapes during his off-hours from Brownsville, before the rockabilly revival had uttered its first hiccup, and later teamed with Hound Dog Taylor's former rhythm section, the Houserockers, to play the blues in the '80s. Along the way he cranked out a monthly column ("The Vinyl Junkie") and recorded a series of albums that kept roots music of all kinds alive without ever treating it like a museum piece.
Originally a drummer at age five, Koda switched over to guitar when he formed his first band, the Del-Tinos, a teenage garage combo equally influenced by rock & roll, blues, and rockabilly. The group cut its first single -- Roy Orbison's "Go Go Go" -- in the fall of 1963, and released two more 45s independently before it disbanded in 1966. By this time, Koda had become so immersed in the blues that the last Del-Tinos single had the trio doing Muddy Waters' "I Got My Mojo Workin'" on one side and Robert Johnson's "Ramblin' on My Mind" on the other.
After a couple of bands in the late '60s that largely went unrecorded, Koda formed Brownsville Station in early 1969. After playing local Midwest gigs and releasing a handful of singles, the band released its first album in 1970. But it wasn't until "Smokin' in the Boys Room" that Brownsville had a genuine hit. Released as a single in the fall of 1973, "Smokin'" climbed all the way to number three, eventually selling over two million copies.
But Koda began to back away from the group's loud, overdriven rock sound -- at least in private. He purchased a multi-track tape recorder and started producing one-man-band tapes, where he overdubbed all the instruments and vocals. For the next several years, Koda made home recordings of rockabilly, blues, R&B, country, jazz, and early rock & roll -- the exact opposite of Brownsville's heavy rock stance; the rockabilly tapes were eventually released as That's What I Like About the South in the early '80s, with other tracks showing up on compilations as late as 1993.
When Brownsville disbanded in 1979, Cub began writing a column called "The Vinyl Junkie" for Goldmine magazine, later published in DISCoveries. Through the column's success, Koda established himself as an expert record collector and critic -- eventually, Cub would compile and write liner notes for a number of projects, including three volumes in Rhino's acclaimed Blues Masters series. In 1980, Koda worked with Hound Dog Taylor's backing band, the Houserockers. Over the next 15 years, Koda, guitarist Brewer Phillips, and drummer Ted Harvey performed and recorded together, with their first album, It's the Blues, appearing in 1981 and the latest, The Joint Was Rockin', being released in 1996.
Throughout the '80s and '90s, Koda continued to divide his time equally between touring, recording, and writing. 1993 saw the twin release of Smokin' in the Boy's Room: The Best of Brownsville Station on Rhino and Welcome to My Job, a retrospective of his non-Brownsville material on Blue Wave, followed a year later by Abba Dabba Dabba: A Bananza of Hits on Schoolkids Records. During the second half of the '90s, Koda increased his presence as a writer, in addition to staying musically active. In addition to editing The All Music Guide to Blues, he wrote and edited Blues for Dummies. He also continued writing liner notes, contributing work to retrospectives of the Trashmen, Jimmy Reed, JB Hutto, the Kingsmen, and the Miller Sisters, among others. He also supervised the 1996 release of The Joint Was Rockin', a live album of Cub with the Houserockers in the early '80s, plus a 1998 Norton reissue of recordings he made with the Del-Tinos.
Cub wasn't just an archivist during this time. In 1997, he released Box Lunch on J-Bird Records, his first collection of new material since Abba Dabba Dabba. Box Lunch was a solo, all-acoustic album unlike anything he had recorded in the past. Koda returned to hard-driving, loud rock & roll with 2000's Noise Monkeys, an album he recorded live with a reunited Points in 1999. Released in the spring, Noise Monkeys was receiving strong reviews, including a positive notice by Robert Christgau in The Village Voice, when tragedy struck. Koda had been sick for a while, but he was slowly recovering. In the spring, he was put on kidney dialysis, and he was recovering, but then he suddenly took sick during the evening of June 30, 2000. He died early in the morning on July 1, 2000 at the age of 51. Considering that he was sick, perhaps it shouldn't have been a surprise that he succumbed to his illness, but Cub kept working and rocking until the end -- he was writing and recording music in the last week of his life. He never lost his love for music and he always shared that love anyway he could, whether it was as a musician, journalist, DJ, or friend. As he said, he was "somewhere between a cult figure and rock & roll legend," and to anyone that knew him, that was the gospel truth.
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide.
Cub Koda- Vocals, Guitar
Guitar Joey Gaydos Guitar, Vocals
Cool Fred Schmidt Drums, Vocals
Petey Bankert Bass
**
Side 1
01. Sneakers On A Rooster 3:43
02. Ducktail 2:37

Side 2
03. Break Of Day 2:32
04. Baby Won't You Let Me Rock'N'Roll You 2:46
**
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Cub KODA - It's the Blues 1981

Cub KODA - It's the Blues 1981
Label: Fan Club
Audio Cd: 1991

Blues

The addition of bass and special guests Left Hand Frank and Lefty Dizz only distract from the chemistry between Cub and the Houserockers (even more obvious on their belated live follow-up), but this is a strong session, with the ex-stadium boogie boy sounding totally at home with these blues veterans. His vocal duet with Brewer Phillips on J.B. Lenoir's "Talk to Your Daughter" is a joy, and thankfully not every note is perfectly in place — or in the case of Brewer's guitar, in tune. Added treats: Koda's big-toned harp on "Rockin' This Joint Tonight" and humorous dialog with Frank on "Dirty Duck Blues."
By Dan Forte. AMG.
**
Cub Koda- Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Piano
Brewer Phillips- Guitar, Vocals
Ted Harvey- Drums, Police Whistle
Lefty Dizz- Guitar, Vocals
Left Hand Frank- Guitar, Vocals
Mudcat Ward- Bass
**
01. Riding In The Moonlight 00:03:56
02. Somebody Changed The Look 00:04:33
03. Mama Talk To Your Daughter 00:02:24
04. Nine Below Zero 00:04:20
05. Rockin' This Joint Tonight 00:03:05
06. Feelin' Good 00:04:25
07. Tough Times 00:03:00
08. Just Like I Treat You 00:03:39
09. The Dirty Duck Blues 00:05:48
10. Bright Lights, Big City 00:01:33
11. Signals Of Love 00:04:35
12. Howlin' For My Darlin 00:02:30
13. Louise 00:05:47
14. Riding In The Moonlight 00:04:13
15. Anna Lee 00:06:00
16. Sylvester & Old Gus 00:04:56
**
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Cub KODA - Box Lunch 1997

Cub KODA - Box Lunch 1997
Label: J-Bird
Audio CD: (May 19, 1998)

Blues

Every song on this CD is excellent. It's passionate all-acoustic blues and roots rock. Koda's big gravelly voice and songwriting talent blew me away. The liner notes say he recorded it over a four-day period at a friend's studio. Anyone who can produce something like this in four days is a genius. I don't know how I managed to miss this when it first came out, and I wish I hadn't.
**
Step aside, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Seger and so on--this is the voice of America. Classic roots rock and blues, straight from the heart (or the gut). Cub's voice sounds like the voice of a man who's smoked several hundred thousand cigarettes, got run over by a tractor, and thinks he might lose the one woman he loves. What a voice. Powerful stuff. Powerful lyrics. Amazing guitar work too.
By  L. Hall.
**
Cub Koda has tried a lot of different things in his long career, but he has never made anything close to Box Lunch. It's not just that the album consists of nothing but acoustic material; he has never been this open with his emotions. There are a few rockers — "Double Barrel Hell" is menacing and "Gimme Trash" is a tongue-in-cheek kitsch celebration — but the heart of the record is in the ballads, whether it's the nostalgic "We Were Crazy Back Then," the yearning "Runaway Heart," or the lovely "How Could Life Turn Out This Way," which evokes the spirit of Hank Williams. Cub has rarely been this naked with his feelings and the results are frequently moving. And, to cap it all off, he throws out "Susan Hayward's Diary," a charming finger-picked instrumental. Moments like this make you hope that it's not the last acoustic album Cub will make — Box Lunch is so good, you wish there were seconds.
By Stephen Thomas Erlewine. AMG.
**
01. We Were Crazy Back Then 3:31
02. Double Barrel Hell 3:59
03. Too Much Pain 4:15
04. No Matter What You Say 4:24
05. How Could Life Turn Out This Way 3:37
06. Runaway Heart 3:20
07. Gimme Trash 3:44
08. My Luck's Gone All to the Bad 3:28
09. Susan Hayward's Diary 2:38
**
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Cub KODA - Let's Get Funky 1983

Cub KODA - Let's Get Funky 1983
Label: NEW ROSE

Blues

**This record is dedicated to Bully Holly & Magic Sam.**

Produced by Cub Koda.
Side one recorded at Studio 3/ Portland, Maine ; Oceanus studio/ Scituate, Mass.
Side two recorded at Studio by the pond/ Waterloo, Michigan.
**
Cub Koda- vocals, guitar, piano.
Slick Vic- bass.
Per "Casper" Hanson- drums.
Mike Hayward- 2nd guitar on side one.
Jimmy "Squaw" Norris- saxophone on "Henrietta.
The Swamptones- backgroup vocals.
**
A1. Let's Get Funky   4:37
A2. I've Had It    3:18
A3. Henrietta    3:29
B1. Come Back Home    3:15
B2. If Only In My Dreams    3:42
B3. The Lights Are On, But Nobody's Home 3:06
**
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