Talking Heads -- "Take Me to the River"
The Talking Heads may have been incapable of writing love songs, but they could certainly play one. To take a song like this Al Green soul classic and try to make it your own is a daunting task. The risks are great. But they pulled it off, and the world is a better place for it. There's a great live version of this from Saturday Night Live at about the time of the album's release -- it's not available on youtube, so you might have to look around a little bit for it. Tina Weymouth looks freaked out.
Saturday, March 31, 2012
Friday, March 30, 2012
3/30/2012
The Soft Boys -- "I Wanna Destroy You"
Only the Soft Boys could sing a lyric like "I wanna destroy you" in such perfect harmony and still convince you that they mean it.
Only the Soft Boys could sing a lyric like "I wanna destroy you" in such perfect harmony and still convince you that they mean it.
Thursday, March 29, 2012
3/29/2012
The Band -- "Long Black Veil"
Lefty Frizell made this song famous, and I've always been partial to Johnny Cash's live version, but The Band truly did make this song their own, paying homage to its origins while applying their own sound to it. The Band's version maintains its country feel, even with the electric piano that drives the track. The harmonies are the real killer, though. Classic stuff.
Lefty Frizell made this song famous, and I've always been partial to Johnny Cash's live version, but The Band truly did make this song their own, paying homage to its origins while applying their own sound to it. The Band's version maintains its country feel, even with the electric piano that drives the track. The harmonies are the real killer, though. Classic stuff.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
3/28/2012
The Clash -- "The Magnificent Seven"
Among the few surviving remnants from Don Letts' 1981 video footage of The Clash in New York, there is a shot of a black New Yorker with a ghetto blaster jiving to "The Magnificent Seven." It's a great moment in the history of this band; a bunch of skinny British punks had come to New York, absorbed the sound of the city, and made that sound their own. The instrumental remix of "The Magnificent Seven" was even a hit on WBLS.
With this track, the first track on Sandinista!, The Clash moved into new terrain. They managed to take on a new beat without losing the muscular stride of their music. This is rap, but it's rap on The Clash's terms.
Among the few surviving remnants from Don Letts' 1981 video footage of The Clash in New York, there is a shot of a black New Yorker with a ghetto blaster jiving to "The Magnificent Seven." It's a great moment in the history of this band; a bunch of skinny British punks had come to New York, absorbed the sound of the city, and made that sound their own. The instrumental remix of "The Magnificent Seven" was even a hit on WBLS.
With this track, the first track on Sandinista!, The Clash moved into new terrain. They managed to take on a new beat without losing the muscular stride of their music. This is rap, but it's rap on The Clash's terms.
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
3/27/2012
David Bowie -- "Queen Bitch"
With this track, Bowie captured a sound as close to punk as anything the New York Dolls or The Stooges ever did. The noisy crunch of the guitars, though, doesn't do anything to take away from the great pop appeal of the song. Lyrically, the song fits right in with the gender-bending dynamics of the era, but there's also a wry sense of humor to the song, which is one of my favorite Bowie tracks.
With this track, Bowie captured a sound as close to punk as anything the New York Dolls or The Stooges ever did. The noisy crunch of the guitars, though, doesn't do anything to take away from the great pop appeal of the song. Lyrically, the song fits right in with the gender-bending dynamics of the era, but there's also a wry sense of humor to the song, which is one of my favorite Bowie tracks.
Monday, March 26, 2012
3/26/2012
Elvis Presley -- "Trying to Get to You"
The first time I listened to Elvis' Sun Studios recordings, I was a college student with hair down to my collar, my musical interests veering toward the irony-laden slacker indie rock that seemed to be the best thing going in the early 1990s. Elvis wasn't really part of the scenario. But I instantly understood that there was some real power to these recordings. Elvis might not have invented rock and roll. He may not have been a genius. He might have just been the lucky bastard who stumbled upon the winning formula. But he's the guy who put those songs on the charts, and he's the one who gets most of the credit. And though rockabilly purists will sneer a little when his name is mentioned, Elvis certainly did rock with the best of them back in the early days. In the Jim Jarmusch Mystery Train Elvis v. Carl Perkins debate, I'll take Elvis.
Elvis, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black did make a lot of noise for a combo without a drummer. Even when they added D. J. Fontana to the ticket, he was mostly hitting the snare. Elvis was actually a really good rhythm guitarist; his very percussive playing added a lot to the sound of the band. Bill Black's upright bass was really the key element in this sound, though, and when he switched to the electric bass (his famous comment was something about not getting paid enough to haul the double-bass around), it was the end of something. The extra band member in these early recordings (aside from the piano here -- the only Sun track to feature it) was Sam Phillips, and the instruments he played were spring reverb and tape delay -- still the best effects you can put to use in a recording studio, as far as I'm concerned. The formula was basic, but it worked gloriously. When you listen to the songs, you can't see Elvis moving around, dancing like an epileptic or like someone who is possessed, but you can definitely picture it.
The first time I listened to Elvis' Sun Studios recordings, I was a college student with hair down to my collar, my musical interests veering toward the irony-laden slacker indie rock that seemed to be the best thing going in the early 1990s. Elvis wasn't really part of the scenario. But I instantly understood that there was some real power to these recordings. Elvis might not have invented rock and roll. He may not have been a genius. He might have just been the lucky bastard who stumbled upon the winning formula. But he's the guy who put those songs on the charts, and he's the one who gets most of the credit. And though rockabilly purists will sneer a little when his name is mentioned, Elvis certainly did rock with the best of them back in the early days. In the Jim Jarmusch Mystery Train Elvis v. Carl Perkins debate, I'll take Elvis.
Elvis, Scotty Moore, and Bill Black did make a lot of noise for a combo without a drummer. Even when they added D. J. Fontana to the ticket, he was mostly hitting the snare. Elvis was actually a really good rhythm guitarist; his very percussive playing added a lot to the sound of the band. Bill Black's upright bass was really the key element in this sound, though, and when he switched to the electric bass (his famous comment was something about not getting paid enough to haul the double-bass around), it was the end of something. The extra band member in these early recordings (aside from the piano here -- the only Sun track to feature it) was Sam Phillips, and the instruments he played were spring reverb and tape delay -- still the best effects you can put to use in a recording studio, as far as I'm concerned. The formula was basic, but it worked gloriously. When you listen to the songs, you can't see Elvis moving around, dancing like an epileptic or like someone who is possessed, but you can definitely picture it.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
3/25/2012
Desmond Dekker -- "The Israelites"
The first Jamaican recording to top the singles chart in the U.K., "The Israelites," released in 1968, had a huge impact on the music of the decade that followed. The Clash regularly performed this song during their sound checks, and the entire punk culture in the U.K. was shot through with a Jamaican influence. You hear this influence everywhere, from The Slits to Elvis Costello. Marginalized musical subcultures always prove to be a fecund source of inspiration for musical innovators, and with the "discovery" of reggae and ska, the Brits had a font of inspiration that functioned in the same way that Delta blues did to American musicians. Though some will always argue that there is an element of colonialism and exploitation at work here, I don't think that any worthwhile musical artist has ever had that kind of motivation at heart. Just listen to "The Israelites." It's a genuinely inspiring song.
This song also captures something essential to reggae and West Indian culture. The identification with an ancient tribe of exiled people is a powerful and empowering element in African American culture and in West Indian culture, though it is more pronounced thematically in reggae than in blues. Given the stately resonance of Dekker's voice, though, what we hear in the song is strength, a will to endure and overcome, not enslavement. The rocksteady beat and the Aces' spot-on harmonies fill out the picture, presenting Dekker as the Moses of his tribe, leading his people to, if nothing else, a rightful place in the culture of the Western world.
The first Jamaican recording to top the singles chart in the U.K., "The Israelites," released in 1968, had a huge impact on the music of the decade that followed. The Clash regularly performed this song during their sound checks, and the entire punk culture in the U.K. was shot through with a Jamaican influence. You hear this influence everywhere, from The Slits to Elvis Costello. Marginalized musical subcultures always prove to be a fecund source of inspiration for musical innovators, and with the "discovery" of reggae and ska, the Brits had a font of inspiration that functioned in the same way that Delta blues did to American musicians. Though some will always argue that there is an element of colonialism and exploitation at work here, I don't think that any worthwhile musical artist has ever had that kind of motivation at heart. Just listen to "The Israelites." It's a genuinely inspiring song.
This song also captures something essential to reggae and West Indian culture. The identification with an ancient tribe of exiled people is a powerful and empowering element in African American culture and in West Indian culture, though it is more pronounced thematically in reggae than in blues. Given the stately resonance of Dekker's voice, though, what we hear in the song is strength, a will to endure and overcome, not enslavement. The rocksteady beat and the Aces' spot-on harmonies fill out the picture, presenting Dekker as the Moses of his tribe, leading his people to, if nothing else, a rightful place in the culture of the Western world.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
3/24/2012
The Soft Boys -- "Wading Through a Ventilator"
I just recently discovered this track on a compilation -- it's not on either of the Soft Boys' two studio LPs, Can of Bees or Underwater Moonlight, and I'm not sure of its history. It's a killer track, though, that more perfectly embodies the Soft Boys' unique "psychedilic punk" sound than anything else I've heard from them. From the first notes, this song offers a relentless sonic assault, an uptempo snarl of bass, drums, and guitar that matches Robyn Hitchcock's verbal snarling. Somehow, though, the guitars manage to chime through the bridge, adding a great jangle-pop quality to the recording.
I just recently discovered this track on a compilation -- it's not on either of the Soft Boys' two studio LPs, Can of Bees or Underwater Moonlight, and I'm not sure of its history. It's a killer track, though, that more perfectly embodies the Soft Boys' unique "psychedilic punk" sound than anything else I've heard from them. From the first notes, this song offers a relentless sonic assault, an uptempo snarl of bass, drums, and guitar that matches Robyn Hitchcock's verbal snarling. Somehow, though, the guitars manage to chime through the bridge, adding a great jangle-pop quality to the recording.
Friday, March 23, 2012
3/23/2012
The Zombies -- "Changes"
Like The Kinks, The Zombies never fully got the recognition that they deserved. Both bands suffered from poorly timed and poorly marketed album releases, which partly accounts for why The Zombies' masterwork, Odessey and Oracle, never received as much attention as other classics from the era. "Changes" is one of the most distinctive tracks on the album.
While psychedelic music in its later form favored heavy guitars and long jams in a live setting, the earlier form represented here emphasized instruments atypical to rock music, using harpsichord, strings, horns, and experimental recording techniques in a studio setting to find new and unusual ways to fully develop the atmosphere of each song. If the real meaning and purpose of psychedelic music is not simply to glorify a drug culture but rather to engage in bold and dynamic experimentation in sound, this song is one of the best examples of genre -- even though (perhaps especially because) the instrumentation is so sparse -- Mellotron and percussion, but not at the same time, and nothing else. The most distinctive feature, though, of this track, and indeed throughout Odessey and Oracle, is the use of human voices as an instrument. This track presents one of the most inspired uses of harmony you might ever hear outside of the Beach Boys.
Like The Kinks, The Zombies never fully got the recognition that they deserved. Both bands suffered from poorly timed and poorly marketed album releases, which partly accounts for why The Zombies' masterwork, Odessey and Oracle, never received as much attention as other classics from the era. "Changes" is one of the most distinctive tracks on the album.
While psychedelic music in its later form favored heavy guitars and long jams in a live setting, the earlier form represented here emphasized instruments atypical to rock music, using harpsichord, strings, horns, and experimental recording techniques in a studio setting to find new and unusual ways to fully develop the atmosphere of each song. If the real meaning and purpose of psychedelic music is not simply to glorify a drug culture but rather to engage in bold and dynamic experimentation in sound, this song is one of the best examples of genre -- even though (perhaps especially because) the instrumentation is so sparse -- Mellotron and percussion, but not at the same time, and nothing else. The most distinctive feature, though, of this track, and indeed throughout Odessey and Oracle, is the use of human voices as an instrument. This track presents one of the most inspired uses of harmony you might ever hear outside of the Beach Boys.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
3/22/2012
? and the Mysterians -- "96 Tears"
This song is one of the all-time great garage classics, touching on early psychedelia before things got out of hand. A few important questions to be asked:
Q: Why 96 tears?
A: Because 95 was not enough and 97 was one too many.
Q: Has the Farfisa organ ever been put to better use than this?
A: No. The Mysterians have some other great tracks, but nothing else quite compares. The Monks did some great work with the Farfisa, though. Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs had a fine hit with it in "Wooly Bully." The Ventures made good use of it. In the late 70s/early 80s, there was kind of a Farfisa revival in a lot of New Wave bands. You can even hear Farfisa on a few Tom Waits tracks. But the answer is no --the Farfisa has never played such a prominent role in any other song that is quite this cool.
Q: What's the big deal about this Farfisa, anyway?
A: In case you're not familiar with the Farfisa, it sounds like a Hammond organ that's fallen out of the back of a pickup truck and then been dragged off into a cave somewhere where primitive beings toy with it until they get true primal sounds that are appropriate for genuine cavestomp music. In other words, it sounds like rock and roll in all its raw and unembellished glory.
This song is one of the all-time great garage classics, touching on early psychedelia before things got out of hand. A few important questions to be asked:
Q: Why 96 tears?
A: Because 95 was not enough and 97 was one too many.
Q: Has the Farfisa organ ever been put to better use than this?
A: No. The Mysterians have some other great tracks, but nothing else quite compares. The Monks did some great work with the Farfisa, though. Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs had a fine hit with it in "Wooly Bully." The Ventures made good use of it. In the late 70s/early 80s, there was kind of a Farfisa revival in a lot of New Wave bands. You can even hear Farfisa on a few Tom Waits tracks. But the answer is no --the Farfisa has never played such a prominent role in any other song that is quite this cool.
Q: What's the big deal about this Farfisa, anyway?
A: In case you're not familiar with the Farfisa, it sounds like a Hammond organ that's fallen out of the back of a pickup truck and then been dragged off into a cave somewhere where primitive beings toy with it until they get true primal sounds that are appropriate for genuine cavestomp music. In other words, it sounds like rock and roll in all its raw and unembellished glory.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
3/21/2012
The Sir Douglas Quintet -- "You Never Get too Big and You Sure Don't Get too Heavy That You Don't Have to Stop and Pay Some Dues Sometime"
Doug Sahm inhabited a state he called "Texas." It was with with him when he went to California. It was with him everywhere he went. Various politicians claim to be from Texas, as well, but the Texas they come from is not the same Texas that Doug Sahm came from. As Sahm claimed elsewhere, "you just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lot of soul." I've been to a place called Texas, but I don't think it was the same state Doug Sahm hailed from. The only time I've been to that Texas is when listening to the Sir Douglas Quintet.
Despite the fact that principal bandmate and master Farfisa player Augie Meyers was back in geographical Texas at the time Doug Sahm recorded this song in his pot-bust-imposed California exile, what we have here is a track that captures the essence of the man. Then again, what Sahm composition doesn't capture this essence?
Only Doug Sahm could pull off something like this: a track that mixes soul and rock so effortlessly. A track that breaks down into a bongo jam with a few abstract notes on the sax dragged out at the end, adding a little free jazz flourish. A track that could have languished in inane hippie sentiment, but is grounded by the earthy vocal performance, bringing with it traces of classic country in its inflection. A track that spans borders of all kinds, geographical and generic.
A track that has an amazingly long but still cool title, to boot.
Any artist with less soul would not be able to provide the seemless synthesis of forms and styles that Doug Sahm did on a regular basis. Sahm is a true singularity in the history of popular music.
Doug Sahm inhabited a state he called "Texas." It was with with him when he went to California. It was with him everywhere he went. Various politicians claim to be from Texas, as well, but the Texas they come from is not the same Texas that Doug Sahm came from. As Sahm claimed elsewhere, "you just can't live in Texas if you don't have a lot of soul." I've been to a place called Texas, but I don't think it was the same state Doug Sahm hailed from. The only time I've been to that Texas is when listening to the Sir Douglas Quintet.
Despite the fact that principal bandmate and master Farfisa player Augie Meyers was back in geographical Texas at the time Doug Sahm recorded this song in his pot-bust-imposed California exile, what we have here is a track that captures the essence of the man. Then again, what Sahm composition doesn't capture this essence?
Only Doug Sahm could pull off something like this: a track that mixes soul and rock so effortlessly. A track that breaks down into a bongo jam with a few abstract notes on the sax dragged out at the end, adding a little free jazz flourish. A track that could have languished in inane hippie sentiment, but is grounded by the earthy vocal performance, bringing with it traces of classic country in its inflection. A track that spans borders of all kinds, geographical and generic.
A track that has an amazingly long but still cool title, to boot.
Any artist with less soul would not be able to provide the seemless synthesis of forms and styles that Doug Sahm did on a regular basis. Sahm is a true singularity in the history of popular music.
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
3/20/2012
Alan Parsons Project -- "Eye in the Sky"
So, how does a song like this get stuck in your head? Let me walk you through the steps.
1. You grew up in the 1980s, listening to FM radio.
2. You walk into the office a colleague one day, and he happens to be listening to a song that sounds familiar. He asks you if you know what it is. You say it sounds really familiar but that you can't quite figure out what it is. You haven't heard it for, what? ... decades, at least. Then he tells you what it is.
There is little chance of escape at this point. The slightest trigger over the next few weeks will send this song ricocheting through your mind for days. Be careful.
3. You are sitting in a coffee shop (always a dangerous proposition, in and of itself), reading your favorite periodical of choice. The barista is listening to mildy pretentious but tolerable indie rock, whatever's popular at the time. Then she switches to a playlist comprising early 80s power ballads.
There's that song again. This time there is no escape. For days and days, you are stuck with this song. It's your constant companion everywhere you go.
So, I haven't said anything of substance about the song or the music. As far as 80s FM hits, this isn't a bad one. I kind of like the electric piano. It's got a nice melody. Not as odious as the songs that follow on the barista's playlist.
The point is that there is something about certain songs -- they can get in your mind and stay there. You can have all sorts of objections, but it doesn't matter. The song is yours for a little while. You might as well just give in.
So, how does a song like this get stuck in your head? Let me walk you through the steps.
1. You grew up in the 1980s, listening to FM radio.
2. You walk into the office a colleague one day, and he happens to be listening to a song that sounds familiar. He asks you if you know what it is. You say it sounds really familiar but that you can't quite figure out what it is. You haven't heard it for, what? ... decades, at least. Then he tells you what it is.
There is little chance of escape at this point. The slightest trigger over the next few weeks will send this song ricocheting through your mind for days. Be careful.
3. You are sitting in a coffee shop (always a dangerous proposition, in and of itself), reading your favorite periodical of choice. The barista is listening to mildy pretentious but tolerable indie rock, whatever's popular at the time. Then she switches to a playlist comprising early 80s power ballads.
There's that song again. This time there is no escape. For days and days, you are stuck with this song. It's your constant companion everywhere you go.
So, I haven't said anything of substance about the song or the music. As far as 80s FM hits, this isn't a bad one. I kind of like the electric piano. It's got a nice melody. Not as odious as the songs that follow on the barista's playlist.
The point is that there is something about certain songs -- they can get in your mind and stay there. You can have all sorts of objections, but it doesn't matter. The song is yours for a little while. You might as well just give in.
Monday, March 19, 2012
3/19/2012
Warren Smith -- "Goodbye Mr. Love"
Of all the rockabillies out there, Warren Smith might be my favorite.
The reason to listen to rockabilly isn't to get at the origins of rock and roll, though that is one thing you'll get out of it. The reason to listen to rockabilly is that it's some of the best country music ever recorded. Rockabilly was, at the time, the latest in a series of cultural fusions between white and black music that have happened throughout the history of recorded music, but in a way it wasn't as much a fusion as it was an infusion: rockabilly is blues-infused country music, and despite all our talk about rock coming from the blues, it has just as much or even more country in it. Warren Smith isn't the only evidence of this, though he had one of the most successful formulas for producing this kind of thing: you can hear some great drumming on his tracks as well as the upright bass, along with some crude but impassioned (and kind of dirty-sounding) electric guitar played by Al Hopkins.
The problem with rockabilly, of course, especially in its archival form, is that it allows for only a limited range of song rhythms and lyrical topics. Smith was good at including the range of possibilities in his recording. "Goodbye Mr. Love" highlights Smith's skills as a vocalist (and his occasional imperfections, as well) and tends more toward the ballad side of things, but there's still a little rock in it. Here's one of his best tracks.
Of all the rockabillies out there, Warren Smith might be my favorite.
The reason to listen to rockabilly isn't to get at the origins of rock and roll, though that is one thing you'll get out of it. The reason to listen to rockabilly is that it's some of the best country music ever recorded. Rockabilly was, at the time, the latest in a series of cultural fusions between white and black music that have happened throughout the history of recorded music, but in a way it wasn't as much a fusion as it was an infusion: rockabilly is blues-infused country music, and despite all our talk about rock coming from the blues, it has just as much or even more country in it. Warren Smith isn't the only evidence of this, though he had one of the most successful formulas for producing this kind of thing: you can hear some great drumming on his tracks as well as the upright bass, along with some crude but impassioned (and kind of dirty-sounding) electric guitar played by Al Hopkins.
The problem with rockabilly, of course, especially in its archival form, is that it allows for only a limited range of song rhythms and lyrical topics. Smith was good at including the range of possibilities in his recording. "Goodbye Mr. Love" highlights Smith's skills as a vocalist (and his occasional imperfections, as well) and tends more toward the ballad side of things, but there's still a little rock in it. Here's one of his best tracks.
Sunday, March 18, 2012
3/18/2012
Woody Guthrie -- "This Land Is Your Land"
Maybe you have kids. Maybe you don't have kids. Maybe you don't have kids but you will some day.
If you have kids or will have kids some day, you need to make sure that you have driven them around out in the country with the windows down while listening to this song. Listen to it over and over again. Go visit a farm, cross some railroad tracks, look at the wide-open sky, and sing this song with them. If you have kids now or someday and you haven't done this, you are un-American. That is all I have to say about this song.
Maybe you have kids. Maybe you don't have kids. Maybe you don't have kids but you will some day.
If you have kids or will have kids some day, you need to make sure that you have driven them around out in the country with the windows down while listening to this song. Listen to it over and over again. Go visit a farm, cross some railroad tracks, look at the wide-open sky, and sing this song with them. If you have kids now or someday and you haven't done this, you are un-American. That is all I have to say about this song.
Saturday, March 17, 2012
3/17/2012
The Clash -- "If Music Could Talk"
Who exactly is responsible for this track? The fingerprints of many people are on it, not all of them official members of The Clash.
Which is quite all right, really, given the expansiveness of the band's musical vision on Sandinista! The sound of the album extends well beyond the band itself. The particular sound of this track is not the most cutting-edge thing the band has ever reached for, but it fits with the animating spirit of this very ambitious album.
Who exactly is responsible for this track? The fingerprints of many people are on it, not all of them official members of The Clash.
Which is quite all right, really, given the expansiveness of the band's musical vision on Sandinista! The sound of the album extends well beyond the band itself. The particular sound of this track is not the most cutting-edge thing the band has ever reached for, but it fits with the animating spirit of this very ambitious album.
Friday, March 16, 2012
3/16/2012
Alton Ellis -- "Dance Crashers"
Some classic soul-infused reggae from one of the all-time greats of the genre. What else needs to be said?
Some classic soul-infused reggae from one of the all-time greats of the genre. What else needs to be said?
Thursday, March 15, 2012
3/15/2012
The Clean -- "At the Bottom"
When Merge Records released The Clean's Anthology in 2003, it was a revelation to those of us who had never heard the band before. Everything sounded familiar, in part because the band was so good at swallowing up the sounds of their contemporaries from the northern hemisphere and spitting them back out as something new, and partly because The Clean had such a significant emphasis on the bands we did know (Pavement comes to mind). One song on Anthology might sound like a brilliant send-up of 60s garage beat, while the next deftly serves up New Wave tones in a rougher, more low-fi fashion, while the next draws on pure punk noise and energy.
"At the Bottom," a moody but active instrumental organized around the same three bass notes bouncing up and down throughout the song, doesn't fit into any of these categories. The studio version on Anthology has some layered guitar tracks, but the live version also included on Anthology makes just as much noise -- if not more -- which is pretty remarkable considering that the guitar is pretty much taking it one string at a time throughout. This track has a definitive 1980s guitar sound--not the chimey, chorused sound that is most typical of the era, nor the flattened out distortion of the big Marshall amps, but something different. The only way to describe it is to say that it's the sound of helicopters flying overhead.
If you want to know what a guitar could sound like in the 1980s, here's your song.
When Merge Records released The Clean's Anthology in 2003, it was a revelation to those of us who had never heard the band before. Everything sounded familiar, in part because the band was so good at swallowing up the sounds of their contemporaries from the northern hemisphere and spitting them back out as something new, and partly because The Clean had such a significant emphasis on the bands we did know (Pavement comes to mind). One song on Anthology might sound like a brilliant send-up of 60s garage beat, while the next deftly serves up New Wave tones in a rougher, more low-fi fashion, while the next draws on pure punk noise and energy.
"At the Bottom," a moody but active instrumental organized around the same three bass notes bouncing up and down throughout the song, doesn't fit into any of these categories. The studio version on Anthology has some layered guitar tracks, but the live version also included on Anthology makes just as much noise -- if not more -- which is pretty remarkable considering that the guitar is pretty much taking it one string at a time throughout. This track has a definitive 1980s guitar sound--not the chimey, chorused sound that is most typical of the era, nor the flattened out distortion of the big Marshall amps, but something different. The only way to describe it is to say that it's the sound of helicopters flying overhead.
If you want to know what a guitar could sound like in the 1980s, here's your song.
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
3/14/2012
Buddy Holly -- "Blue Days"
This number, which echoes the same raw sound as Elvis' Sun Studios recordings, may not be the most quintessentially Holly-esque of tracks. It is a great song, though, even if it doesn't quite offer what we're looking for when we turn on Buddy Holly: the nerdy kid with the glasses who somehow managed to be cool in spite of himself, the adventurous popster who seemed to be pushing ahead to the next thing on the horizon. Holly seemed to be propelling himself into the future, his sound more like the early 60s at times than the 50s, but this number proves that he could also do straight-up rockabilly with the best of them.
This number, which echoes the same raw sound as Elvis' Sun Studios recordings, may not be the most quintessentially Holly-esque of tracks. It is a great song, though, even if it doesn't quite offer what we're looking for when we turn on Buddy Holly: the nerdy kid with the glasses who somehow managed to be cool in spite of himself, the adventurous popster who seemed to be pushing ahead to the next thing on the horizon. Holly seemed to be propelling himself into the future, his sound more like the early 60s at times than the 50s, but this number proves that he could also do straight-up rockabilly with the best of them.
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
3/13/2012
The Sex Pistols -- "Holidays in the Sun"
At this point in history, I think we can truly start to never mind the bollocks and simply acknowledge that The Sex Pistols were a pretty good rock band. Yes, they gave some ghastly shocks to the already-moldering rock establishment (and to other establishments, as well), and the side show theatricals on their first and only US tour did rip the band apart in short order. But what strikes me these days about their one and only album proper is that it is a pretty heavily produced album, which means that in some ways it is not so out of keeping with a lot of other albums that were being made at the time. On vinyl, these first-generation punks bands (especially those of the British variety) rarely sounded as raw and direct as they did live. We've got bootlegs to prove that. It was the attitude -- and the accompanying lifestyles -- that proved shocking.
The band had a very limited range compared with, say, The Clash. The Pistols had one song formula, more or less, but it was a pretty effective one. At the time, this kind of thing was needed, a necessary corrective to the bombastic and heavy-handed approach of, say, Pink Floyd, which I think of as being the arch-nemesis of punk, and it's undeniable that the music of the Sex Pistols and comparable bands of the time is more straight-ahead, more primal, the guitar solos held back and the keyboards entirely at bay. That didn't stop Bill Price from layering things on in the sound booth, though, and listening to Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols -- especially the opening and perhaps the best track -- you have to admit that things worked out pretty well in the studio.
Musically, "Holidays in the Sun" doesn't have much to distinguish it from many of the other tracks on Never Mind the Bollocks, but it's a great way to open the album, especially with the jackbooted march that kicks off the song. Is that the fascists of the National Front, or is it the sound of studio execs in the halls of EMI? In context, I suppose it's the East German army, soldiers keeping watch over the wall. "Holidays in the Sun" has the Pistols' standard set of traditional rock guitar riffs adapted from the style of the New York Dolls, but the highlight is Johnny Rotten's half-serious, half in-jest vocal performance. What is he saying about the Berlin Wall? When the wall did come down, John Lydon didn't bother to show up. Pink Floyd, of course, was all over the place.
At this point in history, I think we can truly start to never mind the bollocks and simply acknowledge that The Sex Pistols were a pretty good rock band. Yes, they gave some ghastly shocks to the already-moldering rock establishment (and to other establishments, as well), and the side show theatricals on their first and only US tour did rip the band apart in short order. But what strikes me these days about their one and only album proper is that it is a pretty heavily produced album, which means that in some ways it is not so out of keeping with a lot of other albums that were being made at the time. On vinyl, these first-generation punks bands (especially those of the British variety) rarely sounded as raw and direct as they did live. We've got bootlegs to prove that. It was the attitude -- and the accompanying lifestyles -- that proved shocking.
The band had a very limited range compared with, say, The Clash. The Pistols had one song formula, more or less, but it was a pretty effective one. At the time, this kind of thing was needed, a necessary corrective to the bombastic and heavy-handed approach of, say, Pink Floyd, which I think of as being the arch-nemesis of punk, and it's undeniable that the music of the Sex Pistols and comparable bands of the time is more straight-ahead, more primal, the guitar solos held back and the keyboards entirely at bay. That didn't stop Bill Price from layering things on in the sound booth, though, and listening to Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols -- especially the opening and perhaps the best track -- you have to admit that things worked out pretty well in the studio.
Musically, "Holidays in the Sun" doesn't have much to distinguish it from many of the other tracks on Never Mind the Bollocks, but it's a great way to open the album, especially with the jackbooted march that kicks off the song. Is that the fascists of the National Front, or is it the sound of studio execs in the halls of EMI? In context, I suppose it's the East German army, soldiers keeping watch over the wall. "Holidays in the Sun" has the Pistols' standard set of traditional rock guitar riffs adapted from the style of the New York Dolls, but the highlight is Johnny Rotten's half-serious, half in-jest vocal performance. What is he saying about the Berlin Wall? When the wall did come down, John Lydon didn't bother to show up. Pink Floyd, of course, was all over the place.
Monday, March 12, 2012
3/12/2012
Leadbelly (Huddie Ledbetter) – “Where Did You Sleep Last Night?” (a.k.a. “In the Pines”)
Leadbelly was released from prison twice – once after being convicted of murdering another man in an argument over a woman and once after being convicted of assaulting a white man – because he was able to gain favor with influential people for his singing and playing, which he was occasionally allowed to do behind prison walls. Leadbelly’s style displays the similarities between rural white and rural African American music in the American South in the early days of recorded music, before the commercial recording industry further differentiated markets for white music and black music – that is, before black music was cordoned off discretely under the labels of jazz, blues, and gospel.
You listen to this song, and the blues as a genre do not come to mind. This song was a traditional favorite of both white and black audiences, and if the kids know it today, they probably know it from the Nirvana version. One of the lasting appeals of the "old weird America" is found in this song, with its somewhat elliptical explorations of ambiguously framed psycho-sexual tensions verging on violence. That is, this song taps into an undercurrent of the American psyche. Freud might have had something to say about this song if he'd had the chance and the inclination.
You listen to this song, and the blues as a genre do not come to mind. This song was a traditional favorite of both white and black audiences, and if the kids know it today, they probably know it from the Nirvana version. One of the lasting appeals of the "old weird America" is found in this song, with its somewhat elliptical explorations of ambiguously framed psycho-sexual tensions verging on violence. That is, this song taps into an undercurrent of the American psyche. Freud might have had something to say about this song if he'd had the chance and the inclination.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
3/11/2012
The Modern Lovers -- "I'm Straight"
At some point or another, I could probably pick through just about every song The Modern Lovers did in their original incarnation, and maybe I will. Let's just say that if "Roadrunner" is Jonathan Richman's great statement on the eternal verities of rock and roll, then "I'm Straight" is Jonathan Richman's great statement on the eternal verities of Jonathan Richman. Odd and idiosyncratic, cutting against the grain of the times, here is a statement by someone who is not afraid to be himself, even if that means he doesn't end up getting the girl in the end. It's a good thing that Richman discovered music, because if he didn't he would probably still be stalking the girl he's addressing in this song. This is simultaneously one of the coolest and one of the geekiest songs ever.
I'm sure that hippie Johnny would agree.
At some point or another, I could probably pick through just about every song The Modern Lovers did in their original incarnation, and maybe I will. Let's just say that if "Roadrunner" is Jonathan Richman's great statement on the eternal verities of rock and roll, then "I'm Straight" is Jonathan Richman's great statement on the eternal verities of Jonathan Richman. Odd and idiosyncratic, cutting against the grain of the times, here is a statement by someone who is not afraid to be himself, even if that means he doesn't end up getting the girl in the end. It's a good thing that Richman discovered music, because if he didn't he would probably still be stalking the girl he's addressing in this song. This is simultaneously one of the coolest and one of the geekiest songs ever.
I'm sure that hippie Johnny would agree.
Saturday, March 10, 2012
3/10/2012
Skip James – “Hard Time Killing Floor Blues”
James’ signature falsetto is creepy and haunting and very distinct – nicely contrasting with the vocal sounds of Charley Patton and Howlin’ Wolf. His guitar style greatly differs from that of most other players of his era; he didn't use a slide. James originally recorded this song in the 1930s, but re-recorded it in 1964, when he returned to music after a long absence and an interim career as a minister. At the time he recorded the 1964 version of the song, he was terminally ill with cancer. The original, of course, has more of the authentic crackle and pop valued by collectors, but I find the re-recording to be just as haunting. This song can follow you around for days.
Friday, March 9, 2012
3/9/2012
Blind Roosevelt Graves and Brother – “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind on Jesus)”
The late folk guitarist and ethnomusicologist John Fahey called this track “the hottest ‘religious record’ ever made.” It’s hard to argue with him. At first, I thought that the percussion was being made by spoons, but according to Fahey it’s a tambourine. (It still sounds like spoons to me.)
This track can be found on Fahey's excellent Revenant Records collection, American Primitive Volume 1.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
3/8/2012
Charlie Patton – “High Water Everywhere”
Gravel-voiced Patton’s song about the famous and devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927. Listeners in Patton’s era would have known the event being referred to. Patton’s guitar style is incredibly intricate, involving separate rhythms for the bass notes, which are often sounded with a percussive slap, and leads for the higher notes that involve the bottleneck slide. Note also that Patton varies his vocal phrasing – he almost sounds like two different singers. This recording presents a whole lot of noise for one man. Of the great Delta blues artists, Patton is arguably the most unique, and he certainly boasts the most powerful and interesting voice.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
3/7/2012
Johnnie Lee Moore and Prisoners – “Early In the Mornin’”
A traditional chain gang song, recorded by renowned ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax. Note how the tempo, set by the sound of hammers breaking stone, speeds up as the workers sing. A “chorus” of convicts follows a lead singer. This track just proves that human beings will make music out of anything they have at their disposal, even if that’s only hammers and rocks and their own ragged voices.
Tuesday, March 6, 2012
3/6/2012
The Ramones - "I Wanna Be Sedated"
One of about half a dozen Ramones songs that I would not want to have to live without, this one works great on almost any playlist. The sound here is a little updated: it was a good thing that the band moved beyond "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Beat on the Brat." They couldn't do the same song over and over anymore. It was a good song, but here's a slight variation on it. It still has the trademark Joey Ramone blunt/deadpan take on life in the underground scene*, but in addition to having the guitar sound toned down a little, there's even a key change here. Talk about sophistication.
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* Or maybe the sedatives being requested are not for recreational purposes but rather for medical purposes. That would put a truly unique spin on things.
One of about half a dozen Ramones songs that I would not want to have to live without, this one works great on almost any playlist. The sound here is a little updated: it was a good thing that the band moved beyond "Sheena Is a Punk Rocker" and "Beat on the Brat." They couldn't do the same song over and over anymore. It was a good song, but here's a slight variation on it. It still has the trademark Joey Ramone blunt/deadpan take on life in the underground scene*, but in addition to having the guitar sound toned down a little, there's even a key change here. Talk about sophistication.
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* Or maybe the sedatives being requested are not for recreational purposes but rather for medical purposes. That would put a truly unique spin on things.
Monday, March 5, 2012
3/5/2012
Bo Diddley -- "Roadrunner"
Not the most representative of Bo Diddley tracks, but one of his most endearing. It's a bit of a novelty number, but there's just a bit of a snarl in that guitar shuffle to give it a distinctive edge. This one works great in a playlist that features The Modern Lovers song of the same title and The Sex Pistols' version of the same. The three together pretty much give you a history of rock and roll music.
Not the most representative of Bo Diddley tracks, but one of his most endearing. It's a bit of a novelty number, but there's just a bit of a snarl in that guitar shuffle to give it a distinctive edge. This one works great in a playlist that features The Modern Lovers song of the same title and The Sex Pistols' version of the same. The three together pretty much give you a history of rock and roll music.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
3/4/2012
"Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord"
I'm not exactly a hippie or a practicing Christian, but the drama and music departments at the school where I teach just jointly put on a production of Godspell, and I have to admit that I was mesmerized.
First of all, I was raised Catholic and went through thirteen years of Catholic schooling (which might explain why I am no longer a practicing Christian). "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" was a standard when I was growing up. I just thought of it as another church song, though I do remember a rockin' version of it performed at one time by a group of singers led by my theology teacher, accompanied by the school drummer (whose name I forget) and guitarist Kevin Horn, who was rumored to be a Satan worshipper. Seeing my students put on this musical made me realize how much Godspell had seeped into the culture around me. The whole performance hit me with a wave of nostalgia but also some genuine feeling, a real positive energy, because the students who were singing these songs sang them like they meaned them.
Well, I won't be going back to church any time soon--I'm a little too analytical and perhaps a bit too cynical for that kind of thing these days--but it's nice to be reminded that Rick Santorum isn't the only kind of Christian out there.
I'm not exactly a hippie or a practicing Christian, but the drama and music departments at the school where I teach just jointly put on a production of Godspell, and I have to admit that I was mesmerized.
First of all, I was raised Catholic and went through thirteen years of Catholic schooling (which might explain why I am no longer a practicing Christian). "Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord" was a standard when I was growing up. I just thought of it as another church song, though I do remember a rockin' version of it performed at one time by a group of singers led by my theology teacher, accompanied by the school drummer (whose name I forget) and guitarist Kevin Horn, who was rumored to be a Satan worshipper. Seeing my students put on this musical made me realize how much Godspell had seeped into the culture around me. The whole performance hit me with a wave of nostalgia but also some genuine feeling, a real positive energy, because the students who were singing these songs sang them like they meaned them.
Well, I won't be going back to church any time soon--I'm a little too analytical and perhaps a bit too cynical for that kind of thing these days--but it's nice to be reminded that Rick Santorum isn't the only kind of Christian out there.
Saturday, March 3, 2012
3/3/2012
ZZ Top -- La Grange
Although I'm not a big fan of most of the behomoth AOR bands of the 1970s, I have to pay respect to these guys for having some pretty tight gutbucket blues. This is one of those songs that I heard so often as a kid that I never bothered to question what the song might mean until recently. (It's about a brothel, it turns out.) The song is incredibly simple, but the key change in the middle -- and then the subsequent turnaround taking the song back to A -- go a long ways toward giving the song the dimensions it needs. This song almost -- almost -- makes me think fondly of Texas, a state I've never really understood.
Although I'm not a big fan of most of the behomoth AOR bands of the 1970s, I have to pay respect to these guys for having some pretty tight gutbucket blues. This is one of those songs that I heard so often as a kid that I never bothered to question what the song might mean until recently. (It's about a brothel, it turns out.) The song is incredibly simple, but the key change in the middle -- and then the subsequent turnaround taking the song back to A -- go a long ways toward giving the song the dimensions it needs. This song almost -- almost -- makes me think fondly of Texas, a state I've never really understood.
Friday, March 2, 2012
3/2/2012
The Modern Lovers -- "Roadrunner"
Jonathan Richman is out to prove here that three chords equals one too many--but then just to show that he could do it, he adds an extra chord right at the end. I don't think I've ever heard a song recorded in the studio that sounds so spontaneous, at least not one since the invention of multi-track recording.
There's the vintage rock sound of the organ, the single streamlined guitar riff that powers the song, and above all there's the rambling creativity of the nearly-spoken lyrics. The whole thing is so simple but undeniably distinctive, the work of a particular and peculiar genius. The song offers a simple equation: rock and roll isn't about sex or drugs or anything else. It's just about driving down the highway late at night, listening to the radio--or, in other words, discovering that moment when the world seems like it's made just for you. This song offers a very different vision fom anything else being offered in the early 70s, or even since then, really, but if you've ever seen the moon shine when you're out at night and driving around, listening to the radio, you know what Richman is talking about.
Certainly a candidate for best rock and roll song of all time, as far as I'm concerned.
Jonathan Richman is out to prove here that three chords equals one too many--but then just to show that he could do it, he adds an extra chord right at the end. I don't think I've ever heard a song recorded in the studio that sounds so spontaneous, at least not one since the invention of multi-track recording.
There's the vintage rock sound of the organ, the single streamlined guitar riff that powers the song, and above all there's the rambling creativity of the nearly-spoken lyrics. The whole thing is so simple but undeniably distinctive, the work of a particular and peculiar genius. The song offers a simple equation: rock and roll isn't about sex or drugs or anything else. It's just about driving down the highway late at night, listening to the radio--or, in other words, discovering that moment when the world seems like it's made just for you. This song offers a very different vision fom anything else being offered in the early 70s, or even since then, really, but if you've ever seen the moon shine when you're out at night and driving around, listening to the radio, you know what Richman is talking about.
Certainly a candidate for best rock and roll song of all time, as far as I'm concerned.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
3/1/2012
Husker Du -- "Chartered Trips"
The first thing to note here, as in many Husker Du tracks, is the military precision of the drums. Bob Mould's hoarse barbaric yawp may not have been the kind that Whitman had in mind, but it's certainly one hell of a yawp. I don't know what kind of amp Mould used, but it sounds solid state to me: loud, flat-toned, with a lot of staticky electric distortion. It works for what he was trying to do in Husker Du.
Like all good 80s music, this song kicks at the pricks of the decade. The sound is wholly of the 80s but also apart from it, in that now-mythical territory inhabited by the outsiders: Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, and The Smiths, but also The Minutemen and Husker Du -- basically anyone who declined the opportunity to pop the collar of their polo shirt.
I once had a student who said she thought that she should have been alive in 80s because all of her favorite bands were from the 80s. I should have made her listen to this song. This song captures what it was like to be alive then, to be a misfit, to feel like nowhere was your home. Most of the great music from this decade was made out of the misery of being alive in this decade. I love the music. I wouldn't repeat the decade, though, for all the millions of the Reagan Revolution.
The first thing to note here, as in many Husker Du tracks, is the military precision of the drums. Bob Mould's hoarse barbaric yawp may not have been the kind that Whitman had in mind, but it's certainly one hell of a yawp. I don't know what kind of amp Mould used, but it sounds solid state to me: loud, flat-toned, with a lot of staticky electric distortion. It works for what he was trying to do in Husker Du.
Like all good 80s music, this song kicks at the pricks of the decade. The sound is wholly of the 80s but also apart from it, in that now-mythical territory inhabited by the outsiders: Echo & The Bunnymen, The Cure, and The Smiths, but also The Minutemen and Husker Du -- basically anyone who declined the opportunity to pop the collar of their polo shirt.
I once had a student who said she thought that she should have been alive in 80s because all of her favorite bands were from the 80s. I should have made her listen to this song. This song captures what it was like to be alive then, to be a misfit, to feel like nowhere was your home. Most of the great music from this decade was made out of the misery of being alive in this decade. I love the music. I wouldn't repeat the decade, though, for all the millions of the Reagan Revolution.
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