Special taking-a-sick-day edition:
- Heretix - Mad Donna. Heretix were a band that came through Rochester in 89. Apparently they put on a good show, live, because for about a month after seeing them, my roommate and I loved them. This is the first song on their "A.D." EP. It's a pretty straight-up T-Rex cover - as is their "Season of the Witch" that closes the EP.
- Oxford Collapse - Cracks In The Causeway. This song completely reminds me of the Feelies. Happy, jerky, jangly guitars, simple and repetitive (but not quite to monotony), with nonsense lyrics. It's not on YouTube, so you'll have to settle for a different OC song.
- Miles Davis Quintet - Oleo. One of rare tunes where Miles plays long, fast, complex lines himself. He was mostly content to leave the flashy stuff to his sax guys, and just sketch out the themes with that muted, lonesome trumpet sound of his. But on this one he lets it fly and holds his own, even up against a pre-sheet-of-sound John Coltrane.
- Robyn Hitchcock & The Egyptians - Leppo & The Jooves (live). A rather long, but still catchy, herky-jerky, Soft Boys song. The live version has just a bit more ooomph than the studio version (linked here).
- Chris Bell - I Don't Know. I've said it many times: Chris Bell's estate should sue Aerosmith for using this song's chorus as part of the verse in "Janie's Got A Gun". This is a great song, and it conclusively shows that Alex Chilton was only half-way responsible for Big Star's greatness - Bell could write and deliver a great song, too. The shimmering guitars, the gorgeous melodies, enough fiber to keep it chugging along - everything the best Big Star songs have.
Shuffle up the five songs, list them and describe them!
Ha! Very first entry on my shuffle list is “Leppo and the Jooves”. A concert tape from Hoboken, 1980. Nice. This is followed by The Spark Gap Wonder Boys (an interesting band if you like folk music revival — they were in high school in LA in the early 60s when they recorded their one record, members would go on to be in the Flying Burrito Bros. and a couple of other groups which I can’t remember now. This is a sweet fast bluegrass romp made even better by auctioneer’s cant.
Next up is “Flavour of Night” off of “I Often Dream of Trains”. About as far from “Leppo and the Jooves” as you can get and still be Robyn Hitchcock. Next Patsy Cline sings “I Fall to Pieces”, which fits in very nicely with “Flavour of Night”, I think — Hitchcock’s ballads always remind me a bit of Cline. And we finish out the set with the Memphis Jug Band hollering “Rukus Juice and Chitlin” which is enough different from everything that has come before it to leave me wanting more.
(Lep-lep-lep-lep-leppo and the j-j-j-j-j-j-joooooves.) Possibly I am getting Spark Gap Wonder Boys mixed up with a different band; can’t find much about them on the web but one page says they come from Brookline, MA.
Ayup. I was thinking of the Scottsville Squirrel Barkers.
I thought that said “Squirrel Bakers” and imagined some frontier cuisine.
1. I Luv You-Dizee Rascal: Grime is challenging to the ears. I feel like I should like it more. But I don’t.
2.Help Me, Rhonda- The Beach Boys: I like Al Jardine’s vocals better than the other BBs. He’s a little scratchier and less silky smooth.
3. Mount Zion- Desmond Dekker: Handsomest Jamaican singer ever? No doubt.
4. Come With Me, My Gisselle, Adam De Halle- Me, J-Steel!: It’s the oldest song I play. By the 13th C hunchback trouvere. Who wants to buy me a lute so I can play this properly?
5. Rasta Man Chant- Bob Marley: Been doing a re-think of this album. I bought the itunes version which has a bunch of live tracks. I used to be a detractor of Marley’s 70s music. I thought his move away from Lee Perry’s wall of sound production values was a mistake. Now I’m not so sure. Now i’m hearing it as reggae, but a jazzy pointilistic take on reggae. Could I have been COMPLETELY WRONG about Marley for years and years? No comment.
God bless the NHS.
Nik Kershaw – The Riddle
My friends and I spent a long time trying to work out the lyrics to this 1984 chart-topper by the diminutive snood-wearing popster. Smash Hits eventually printed the lyrics leaving us none the wiser and there was even some competition to unravel the secret. Turns out the lyrics were simply bollocks.
The White Stripes – I Just Don’t Know What To Do With Myself
Fantastic cover of a song made most famous by Dusty Springfield in 1964. Typical White Stripes fare really – you’ll either love it or consider it an utter travesty. The video features Kate Moss pole dancing. Just sayin’.
Radiohead – Nude
This song was first heard when they toured OK Computer in 1997 and a partial organ-heavy version of it can be found on their tour film ‘Meeting People Is Easy’. They finally recorded it for 2007’s ‘In Rainbows’ and very nice it is too, with sky-high strings, acoustic chords and a soaring final verse which highlights Thom’s creamy pipes. A song about sex and includes the line You’ll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking.. I have that on a t-shirt.
There is a live version from 1998 here for comparison.
Athlete – Twenty Four Hours
From 2005’s ‘Tourist’ album which is a great record and was unfairly dismissed by some elements of the UK music press because of the bands supposed-Christian affiliations (which I’ve never heard them bang on about but there you go.) It’s a gentle, pretty thing and wouldn’t sound out of place on a decent Coldplay or Snow Patrol album.
Tears For Fears – Shout
‘Songs From The Big Chair’ hasn’t aged at all in my opinion and is one of the most played albums from that decade in my collection. I love it more now than I did back then and have grown to realise what perfectionists the band were. The organ sound on this song is simply marvellous and it’s just still so fresh and would be number one tomorrow if released today. So there. We were spoilt with this in 1985 we just didn’t know it.
I’d forgotten how much I enjoy working from home. Back to the usual routine tomorrow.
Yasunori Mitsuda – Cleft of Dimension (from Chrono Cross)
This quiet little solo acoustic guitar piece makes for fairly pleasant listening. I wouldn’t have guessed without looking it up that it’s from the soundtrack of a video game.
Martin Sheen – Dossier (from Apocalypse Now)
I found the background music in Apocalypse Now very intriguing. There’s one scene in particular, when the boat passes under the tail of a wrecked airplane, that made me say “I need to get that soundtrack.” So I did. And I hated it. Why? Because it’s all dialogue. It’s like one of those old Disney storybook records that retells the movie in a condensed audio-only form. Not a soundtrack album at all, not the way I use the term.
I gather you actually can buy the soundtrack with just the music. That’s what somebody uploaded to YouTube, anyway. I wish I had that one instead.
The Zombies – Changes
Another from the esteemed Odessey and Oracle. It’s a bit overwrought, as psychedelic rock should be. Does anybody know what they say at the end of the second verse? After the word “platinum” the vocals get overwhelmed by the mix.
Sergei Prokofiev – The Nurse and Romeo (from Romeo and Juliet)
Nothing special about this particular track, as it is mostly a recurrence of previously stated motifs, but I cherish this soundtrack album for a couple of reasons. (1) It’s the full score, not just excerpts. (2) I actually got to see this ballet performed in the Kremlin Palace of Congresses back in 1989.
Cheryl Wheeler – Almost
A passable piano ballad. It’s the kind of thing you might like if you like that kind of thing.
Tears for Fears are probably in my top five bands from that era. They were criminally underrated songwriters, even with all the hits they had. Even their reunion album from a year or two ago had a couple of real gems on it.
1. Led Zeppelin – Trampled Under Foot
The Zep get funky. This is actually one of my favourites of theirs. It is funky, I dig the organ and it sounds like they were just jamming one day and started playing the riffs and just let it happen. And the live version in the video here kicks butt. ( I just sat and watched that whole video before moving on)
2. Harvey Danger – Flagpole Sitta
One of those one hit wonders from the 90’s. Really fun song and it reminds me of the office I worked in at that time because it seemed like this song was on in someone’s cubicle pretty much all day long. I like this viral video for this song.
3. Soulsavers – You Will Miss Me When I Burn
Soulsavers are a British downtempo electronica production team. Their last two albums they have used Mark Lanegan from the Screaming Trees on vocals. It is sort of a gospel/blues/alt-country trip and Lanegan’s vocals are stunning. I highly recommend them if you haven’t heard them before.
4. Simple Minds – Alive and Kicking
I love Simple Minds. I like their older experimental stuff and I like their 80’s hits. This song is iconic for the time and will forever remind me of annoying the crap out of the Deadheads at the pizza place I worked at in high school by playing this over and over. The only thing they hated worse was the Dead Kennedys.
5. Jaga Jazzist – Another Day
Experimental jazz from Norway. It’s modern jazz I can actually listen to. There are like a dozen people on stage in that video with an array of horns, vibraphone, drums, several guitars and electronics. They are a lot of fun, and if you like modern jazz you should check them out.
Enjoy your week cleekers! And happy birthday to Norway tomorrow!
Flagpole Sitta is not only a great track but is also used as the title music to one of my favourite comedy shows, Peep Show.
Happy birthday Norway!
Birthday shuffle:
“Rolling in my Sweet Baby’s Arms” — Charlie Poole
“Slip and Slide” — American Gypsy
“San Antonio Rose” — Patsy Cline
“Old Pervert, disco version” — The Soft Boys
“Your Day Will Come” — The Minus 5
Happy birthday Modesto!