City Slang * 1978

|November 24, 2009 | Found Sounds

Rock n’ roll guitar from Detroit, motherfuckers! I was driving across the Causeway the other day — note : the Causeway, the over-the-water highway which connects the city of New Orleans to the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain, is, at a length of 24 miles, the longest bridge in the world .. crossing it is at first surreal, like you’re flying above the water, and then becomes mind-numbingly boring, a straight line with only the occasional giant seagull soaring by to break up the monotony .. the effect of arriving on the north shore, which has the same climate and topographical and cultural feel as the rest of the southern United States, and looking back towards New Orleans, located in a tropical zone on a little ( and shrinking ) sliver of swampy land between the lake and the Gulf Of Mexico, is that of leaving an island and arriving on the mainland U.S. .. indeed, when I’m returning from a trip north, I feel like I’m coming ” back from America “ — and this song came on the radio, and I had a moment, pounding out the beat on the steering wheel and trying not to speed.

Fred ” Sonic ” Smith was one of the two lead guitarists of the MC5, who need no introduction. I’ve been a fan since I was a little kid, and you’re probably one too. Sonic’s Rendezvous band was his 1975 – 1980 group, one of several bands featuring MC5 and Stooges alumni who were almost totally unknown outside of Detroit. City Slang was the only recording issued during the life of the band, pressed on both sides of an impossible-to-find single. Dig.

Sonic’s Rendezvous Band : ” City Slang “

Sonic’s Rendezvous Band : ” City Slang ”

Fred ” Sonic ” Smith