MADELINE RIDLEY
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My introduction to SS-20 was on From L.A. with Love (1992) – probably the best compilation album of previous releases on Bomp! Records – which came out on Patrick Boissel’s label Marilyn Records. The song is actually by SS-20 and Sky Saxon and is a remake of the landmark Steppenwolf song “Born to be Wild”. This number certainly falls into the category of songs whose original version seemingly could hardly be improved upon. The most obvious change in the SS-20 version of “Born to be Wild” are the vocals (including many new lyrics) that are shared by Sky Saxon and Madeline Ridley, but the arrangement of the song has also been innovatively changed. If I had to choose, believe it or not, I would probably say that this is now my favorite rendition of “Born to be Wild”. However, most of the songs that SS-20 covers are not so prominent as this one.
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The album by SS-20 that I have, Dream Life was released on Voxx Records in 1986. As given on the back cover, the cutesy listing of the bandmembers on this album are Madeline Ridley (voices, spiritual advisor), Bruce Wagner (normal Hawaiian guitars, 3-string bass), David Winogrond (drums along the Mohawk), and Greg Berryman (lost weekend bass). They also list the “current line-up” more normally (the same line-up is given for their second album, Son of Fantasy): Madeline Ridley (vocals), Bruce Wagner (guitar, bass), Gary Stern (bass), and Greg Berryman (drums). Gary Stern also was the engineer on Dream Life.
Dream Life provides a delightful ride (trip?) that could be described as psychedelic folk, with meandering melodies, unexpected instrumental mixes, and signature guitar pyrotechnics. The vocals that are both written and sung by Madeline Ridley are a particular treat (Bruce Wagner is the other songwriter listed on the album); here she sounds quite a bit different from the way she sang “Born to be Wild”. Standout cuts for me among the band’s original songs include the opening track “Parade”, “Breakaway”, “You Think it’s Me”, and “The Wake”, plus the two covers of course; but as usual with the UARB’s, the whole album sounds great, and I could easily list all of the songs.
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Madeline Ridley of SS-20 has a short performance called “Monitoring Madeline for Two Decades and Other Scenes” on a double-LP compilation album of alternative rock, spoken word, and poetry called English as a Second Language (1983) that has an amazing 84 cuts. Others represented on the album include Charles Bukowski, Dave Alvin of the Blasters, John Doe and Exene Cervenka of X, Henry Rollins and Chuck Dukowski of Black Flag, Tito Larriva of the Plugz, Susanna Hoffs of the Bangles, Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club, record producer Craig Leon, prominent DJ Rodney Bingenheimer, and Kim Fowley.
Her work is also on two other similar compilation albums, Voices of the Angels (Spoken Words) and Neighborhood Rhythms (Patter Traffic) that feature many of the same artists and were released in the same time period.
(December 2017)
