Category Archives: Music

What we’re listening to today – The Jean Genie by David Bowie

Certain songs sound as fresh today as they did when they were released, no matter how many times you’ve heard them through the years. Peak Bowie produced a lot of those timeless tunes with “The Jean Genie” from 1973’s Aladdin Sane being a fine exemplar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQo6zpVzt8

Featuring Bowie at the peak of his lyrical and musical powers and with a protagonist inspired by equal parts Iggy Pop and Jean Genet (yes, there was a time when rock was that openly arty), “The Jean Genie” is an inspired free associative rumination on America and a thumpingly good rock raver. Some things just get better with age and this sounds even better to me now than when I first heard it growing up (is that a comment on the uninspired nature of much of today’s rock?). And while Bowie definitely peaked a long time ago, at least he left his 70s oeuvre to stake his claim as one of the all-time greats. His flamboyant Ziggy persona has long been retired but the high flying music of that period remains as preternaturally youthful as Dorian Gray.

What we’re listening to today — Hot Knives by Bright Eyes

Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst get a lot of shit for being pretentious/hysterical/naive/not Dylan (can we retire that comparison for all future singer-songwriters please?). But I’m a big fan of young Conor because I respect artists who lay everything out there and leave nothing held back, rendering themselves emotionally naked in front of an audience. A song like “Hot Knives” from 2007’s excellent Cassadaga does that in a subtle way, telling a complex and nuanced story with passion and a fine eye for human behavior, and that’s no small accomplishment to stuff into a hard charging 4-minute tune.

Not to mention that young Conor is seriously musically gifted (certainly another source of the sometimes irrational criticism he can provoke among the less talented), with a lyrical sensibility that can be poetic, strident, political and vulnerable, often within the same song. He doesn’t always find the mark and I wish he would lose the gimmick of adding long passages of mystical mumbo jumbo to certain album tracks. And some still carp that this is youth music, too agitating and hypersensitive to appeal to a mature audience. Having been to a Bright Eyes concert I’d have to agree that the fan base seems to be 25 or younger, as well as complete believers. But good Rock ‘n Roll has always largely been for and about the young and their passions and idealism and pain. To dismiss such ambitious and raucously independent music on those terms is to admit to trying to be some sort of arbiter of “mature tastes”. And who the hell wants to be that guy?

What we’re listening to today — Love

One of the great “lost” bands, Love were restored to their proper place in the Rock ‘n Roll pantheon by the CD-reissue mania of the 90s, when previously out-of-print LP recordings began to blessedly pop up en masse. For Love, and particularly with the adoring and comprehensive 1995 2-disc Rhino compilation, Love Story, this meant full access to most of their stunning catalog for the first time in decades. The effect of such wondrously original psychedelic music, with its heavy emphasis on brass and string sections, was nothing short of a revelation to the uninitiated and earned them a whole new generation of fans.

Just take a big ol’ toke on one of Love’s sublime and epic masterpieces, with the suitably trippy title “Maybe the People Would Be the Times or Between Clark and Hilldale”, to see what I’m talking about:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkbVosJFkpg

Led by the certifiable compositional genius Arthur Lee and with yeoman contributions from fellow songwriter, guitarist and vocalist Bryan MacLean, Love began by making amped up pop ravers in the style of early Stones or Kinks.

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What we’re listening to today — Wild One by Thin Lizzy

Here’s a bitchin’ live TV version of the great Thin Lizzy song “Wild One” to start the week:

While these Irish rockers are best known for the arena rock staple, “The Boys Are Back in Town”, Thin Lizzy were far more than one hit wonders. Coming across a bit like a British Isles Bruce Springsteen, frontman and bassist Phil Lynott let his status as a black man in Dublin inform his stories of underdogs, outlaws and blue collar heroes sung in a wonderfully husky and nimble style. The harmonic twin guitar attack of Brian Robertson and Scott Gorham gave some Lizzy tunes the sweeter-than-metal appeal so evident on “Wild One” but more often a sharper edged, guitar hero power on tracks like “Boys”, “Do Anything You Want to Do” and “Jailbreak”.  Brian Downey’s professional and powerful drumming holds down the beat with precision and provides the underpinnings for the band’s hard charging and hooky tunes.

With a great, distinctive singing voice and a brilliant understanding of how to compose killer rock songs, the death of Lynott in 1986 due to drug-related organ failure at the age of 36 was a major loss even if the band was never properly appreciated in their day amidst all the Punk and Disco. With the benefit of hindsight, it’s clear that Thin Lizzy were one of the major hard rock bands of the 70s and their body of work is still a pleasure to crank up and air guitar to. With all those great hits and their tough-sweet sound, they’ve earned our lasting Dedication.

What we’re listening to today — Baby Blue by Badfinger

The song that’s still ringing in everyone’s ears after the Breaking Bad finale by the first and best band ever signed to the Beatles’ Apple Records:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03oVJ1WAO2U

The story of Badfinger is just about as sad and depressing as that of Walter White, albeit without the cathartic drug kingpin ego trip. Suffice to say that after an extremely promising start the group were run into the ground by the dishonesty of their manager who paid himself gobs of money from their massive escrow account and gave the artists a pittance in “allowance”; the band never really saw any profits from their amazing run of successful hit singles and lucrative record label contracts. The perception that they were merely Beatles doppelgangers also hurt them artistically as the 70s wore on and there were multiple legal imbroglios. All this bad luck and financial pressure led to the suicides of two of their key members, singer Pete Ham and guitarist Tom Evans, both of whom had also written the lion’s share of the classic hits. If ever there was a cautionary tale of how the seemingly glamorous world of Rock ‘n Roll can be a cesspool of exploitation and broken dreams, Badfinger are it. But Baby Blue and the other great hits survive the sadness and still soar–really great pop music that stands on its own merits, Beatles connections or no.

What we’re listening to today — Roadrunner by The Modern Lovers

Here’s a feisty little ditty to kick off the week: The definitive version of eternal boy-man Jonathan Richman’s rockin’ “Roadrunner” as performed by the original incarnation of The Modern Lovers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgRYncR1Nog

“Roadrunner (Twice)” is what happens when the Velvet Underground is cross-pollinated with Tommy James & the Shondells in the fertile pleathor bench seat of a salt-rusted Plymouth. Richman’s adenoidal warble declaims his love of Rock’ n Roll, driving the Massachusetts turnpike and AM radio while being urged on by future Talking Head Jerry Harrison’s dominant and dancing keyboards, future Car David Robinson’s hyper tom tom and cymbal-driven drumming and Ernie Brooks’ anchoring bass refrain. This cut is from the seminal LP The Modern Lovers, which was only released in 1976 on Beserkely Records, nearly 5 years after the demise of the original lineup. While Richman re-recorded the song several different ways (and later refused to play it in concert for many years) and he continued calling his backing bands “The Modern Lovers”, it’s this original version that made such a huge impression on the future of American DIY music. It packs a helluva lot of unbridled joy in its 4-minute run time and it arguably launched a multitude of geek-rockers from the Feelies to the Talking Heads to They Might Be Giants to Weezer and many more of the less-than-macho bands in the rock spectrum. In our age when nerds rule, Richman and Co. helped kick off the revolution.

What we’re listening to today — Right Now by Jackie McLean

One of the more intriguing and often overlooked alto sax men to come to prominence in the late 1950s and 60s, Jackie McLean straddles the line between the era’s reigning Hard Bop and the Free Jazz being pioneered by Coltrane and Ornette Coleman. With excellent support from an obscure but swinging rhythm section of pianist Larry Willis on piano, Bob Cranshaw on bass and Clifford Jarvis on drums, “Right Now” from the eponymous 1965 Blue Note album is nine and a half minutes of hard charging excitement.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0JHiZkDZAw

Anchored around a recurring piano-bass refrain reminiscent of Horace Parlan’s “Skoo Chee”, McLean’s hyperkinetic yet melodic sax is shown at its finest on this track and on the entire Right Now! album. In all, McLean recorded 21 albums as leader for Blue Note alone and was elected to the DownBeat Hall of Fame in 2006.

Jackie McLean also passed away in 2006 after an up and down career, with bad contracts and time out for teaching at the University of Hartford. But he still performed intermittently and produced solid work until the end, often with his students. As a really fine and innovative sax player in a very exciting time for Jazz’s development, his almost-but-not-quite sweet and very often sharp sound is ripe for rediscovery.

 

What we’re listening to today – Bad Night at the Whiskey by The Byrds

If you only know the Byrds from their famous early singles like “Mr. Tambourine Man” and “Feel a Whole Lot Better”, this late model track from 1969’s Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde might just hit you like a ton of bricks.

In a band that existed from 1964-1973, the Byrds’ only constant wound up being Roger McGuinn, as they became as famous for line up changes and stylistic shifts as for their musical output. But what remains now after all that history is put away is the glorious music throughout their many iterations. Dr. Byrds & Mr. Hyde inaugurates the Clarence White-era of the band and follows directly after Gram Parsons‘ departure. So while the album still resonates with the influence of Parsons’ innovative country-rock synthesis on such tracks as the all-time great “Drug Store Truck Drivin’ Man” and the traditional ode to a deceased hound dog “Old Blue”, the other tracks border on heavy metal, with White’s heavily distorted and piercing guitar solos soaring over McGuinn’s ominous doom & gloom vocals, all surrounded by John York’s thundering bass and multi-instrmentalist Gene Parsons thumping out a brutal rhythm on the skins. Tracks like “Whiskey” and the scorching cover of Dylan & Danko’s “This Wheel’s On Fire” come fascinatingly close to Led Zeppelin-esque heaviness almost simultaneous to the release of Led Zep I. But then the Byrds in all their incarnations were always trailblazers and at the sharp end of musical trends. From adapting Dylan into 3-minute chiming folk rock pop songs to the raga-inspired psychedelia of “Eight Miles High” to the amazingly unlikely and artistically significant Gram Parsons-Roger McGuinn country rock of Sweethearts of the Rodeo, the Byrds always seemed to be one step ahead of the pack even if they didn’t always reap the commercial rewards of such foresight. Reflecting the prevailing mood of pessimism at the end of the 60s, the late-era gem “Bad Night at the Whiskey” shows the Byrds still had plenty to offer the world of Rock ‘n Roll even if they couldn’t quite make up their mind which way they wanted to fly off to next.

What we’re listening to today – Room a Thousand Years Wide by Soundgarden

Because some days you just have to do what the MC5 so indelicately ordered us to do: Kick Out the Jams, Motherf*#ers!

“Room a Thousand Years Wide” from Soundgarden’s 1991 nitro-fueled Badmotorfinger does that kicking just right. It’s not Grunge so much as it is pure plutonium. With the best hard rock voice since Robert Plant, frontman Chris Cornell’s controlled screams and 3-octave range tear through the mix like a band saw through glass. Meanwhile, Kim Thayil on guitar, Ben Shepherd on bass and Matt Cameron on drums conspire to drive an 18-wheeler off the edge of the Grand Canyon and recreate the sound of its metal fatiguing on the way down. Crank it loud enough and it’ll peel the paint of the room and get you arrested for broadcasting such “disturbing” music in polite society. But won’t that spice up your humpday?

Tomorrow inevitably begat tomorrow but all these years later Soundgarden remains one of the top hard rock bands of the 90s or any other era. Search ’em out with your good eye closed or open–either way you’re going to find some sweet, sweet heavy metal.

What we’re listening to today — The Hustle is On by T-Bone Walker

Along with Charlie Christian, Texas blues man T-Bone Walker revolutionized the use of the electric guitar in popular music directly before, during and and after WWII. A disciple of Blind Lemon Jefferson and featuring a smooth and easy vocal delivery to go along with his virtuoso guitar playing, Walker’s brand of big band jump blues is not always how most people think of the genre. The playing and arrangements are spotless and more often ecstatic than forlorn, whatever the lyrics might be saying. And one can hardly picture such a raconteur as T-Bone, legendary for his athletic live showmanship, going through any real trouble with the ladies. But his suave style is one of the pleasures of the blues canon and a rollicking pre-Rock burner like “The Hustle is On” makes clear where future legends like Chuck Berry jumped off from on their own epic musical journeys:

The faster-than-normal tempo, tight horn arrangements and bouncing locomotive back beat all provide T-Bone’s trademark Gibson ES-5 lead and unmannered vocals the proper urgency and punch. And his rhythm work on the sax break is equally forceful, a precursor to the less-is-more philosophy of Steve Cropper and Keith Richards. Whether it’s poker night with the boys or cocktails with a special lady, T-Bone Walker’s brand of blues always gets the evening off in fine style.

Recommended for further listening: The Complete Imperial Recordings, 1950-54. A double disc set, this 52-track collection is an essential and beautifully polished example of the master in his prime and with super tight backing personnel. Not a dud in the bunch.

Bonus video: An awe-inspiring performance from 1966’s Jazz at the Philharmonic in the UK–with Dizzy Gillespie, Teddy Wilson and other luminaries in the backing band: