Here’s Johnny Cash and Kris Kristofferson duetting on the latter’s all-time great hit, “Sunday Morning Coming Down”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdMmcciQs8I
Don’t it just capture that sweet melancholy that Sunday seems to embody, especially after a rowdy Saturday night? Just says it all really.
There is nothing particularly revolutionary about the Hoodoo Gurus but they were one of the most purely fun bands to emerge from the often gloomy 1980s music scene (Depeche Mode they are not). Hailing from Australia and featuring a distinctly surf & garage influenced brand of guitar rock, the Gurus pumped out catchy hit after catchy hit for college radio even if they never quite hit the big time Stateside. The main asset for the HG’s was their chief songwriter and inimitably adenoidal, ever-so-slightly kitschy singer David Faulkner and his well-penned half sincere/half ironic tributes to 60s Americana, Australiana and disposable pop culture in general.
Perhaps the one essential album would be their extra strong sophomore effort, 1985’s Mars Needs Guitars, but really there are one or two great tracks on pretty much every Gurus album. So much so that I’d recommend tracking down the now out-of-print 2-disc CD compilation, Ampology. Because sometimes all you want to do is hear the hits and Ampology distills down the HG’s prodigious output to its essential pop-rock essence just as any well-chosen greatest hits collection should.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmwIZUR1Kl8
Not really a hard rock band but definitely a band that rocks hard without taking itself too seriously, the Hoodoo Gurus are well worth rediscovering and just in time for summer’s tasty waves and beach cookouts, as well. Soon enough you and your mates may well find yourselves singing “Like wow-Wipeout!” at the end of a pleasantly sunburnt day.
In the wake of U2’s burgeoning success in the early 1980s, a small Celtic music invasion took British and American radio by storm. With their unabashed passion, politics and anthemic rock, it was as if Bono and the boys pointed the way for other British Islanders to follow their road to success by bucking the synth-pop trend. Of course, U2 proved to have the staying power and artistic innovation that bands like The Alarm and The Waterboys could only dream of.
Arguably the “best of the rest” behind the Dublin superstars was the Scottish quartet, Big Country. Fronted by gifted songwriter, singer and guitarist Stuart Adamson, the band also featured the outstanding bassist Tony Butler, as well as second guitarist Bruce Watson and Mark Brzezicki on drums. After quickly building their reputation by opening for the Jam on their farewell tour, the band found near-instant success in 1983 with their debut album, The Crossing. With their trademark sound of chiming, almost piper-like guitars, soaring, declarative vocals and rock solid rhythm, their namesake single “In a Big Country” quickly became ubiquitous even as it went seriously against the grain of both the Depeche Mode/New Order/Cure style of dark electronica then dominating the Alternative airwaves and the slick, synthy, MTV-ready fare that Tears for Fears and Duran Duran were having such Pop success with. Nonetheless, The Crossing was a critical and popular hit, going platinum in England and gold in the States. Everyone seemed to agree that U2 had real competition for world’s best Celtic rock band. And with songs like “Chance”, about a love affair that ends only with unwanted children, Adamson proved himself a master of nuanced, evocative narrative balladry in addition to his beloved anthems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2mn8cTyWzQ
The band followed up with the excellent EP, Wonderland — the impassioned title track wound up being one of the best songs they ever recorded. Continue reading
It’s amazing how a great song can be interpreted by two major artists and be turned into two diametrically opposed versions that are still fantastic in their own way. Take “No Expectations”, originally recorded by the Rolling Stones in 1968 for their Beggars Banquet album. This Jagger-Richards gem is conceived as a slow, mournful Robert Johnson-like ballad — Jagger called Brian Jones’ weeping slide guitar his last meaningful contribution to the band. So the bluesy melancholy of “Expecations” takes on even more layers knowing that Jones would soon depart the Stones and, shortly thereafter, this earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rIqBeMZAMc
Now fast forward 10 years to 1978 and the Johnny Cash cover of the same tune. One of the standouts on the grab bag of an album Gone Girl, where the liner notes admit that Cash was anxiously trying to come up with enough tracks to fill it, “No Expectations” is reborn as a hopped up Rockabilly travelin’ song.
With a vibrant live feel, chugging bongo beat and the glorious June Carter Cash backing up her man, the song is virtually unrecognizable save the lyrics. But within those profound lyrics of loss and resignation, the two versions point the way to differing ways of dealing with heartache. For the Stones it’s wallowing in the misery and ever so slowly coming to grips. For Cash it’s admitting defeat and getting the hell out of town ASAP. One great tune with two great versions to fit whichever way you feel like leaving those mean ol’ blues behind.
There’s something to be said for unabashed romanticism. And the accomplished Welsh band Super Furry Animals can certainly bring the love when they want to. It’s one of their many, many moods. A song like “Presidential Suite” from 2001’s hyper-ambitous Rings Around the World makes a virtue of beautiful horn-fueled, almost Bacharach-esque balladry — even if the lyrics are a scathingly sarcastic tribute to the foibles of 90s world leaders.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOPyzAsYajQ
Rings features the Super Furry Animals showing off a dazzling array of musical approaches, from growling techno-punk to historical story songs to funked up tongue-in-cheek message music. One old friend of mind compared it to a modern day White Album. All in all, there’s a ton of good stuff to choose from. But call me a sucker for sophisticated love songs (not silly, though, despite the album cameo by Paul McCartney — the song actually features legendary misanthrope John Cale). “Presidential Suite” always reminds me of the scene in To Catch a Thief when Cary Grant & Grace Kelly kiss and then we cut to that cinematic symbol for something more profound outside their posh Monaco hotel room — “There were fireworks in the sky/Sparkling like dragonflies”. Strange that a Welsh alternative band in 2001 could bring a comparison from Hitchcock from the 50s to mind but there it is. Must be the universal language of love — and cinema — by way of Cardiff.
And I mean the whole album, Miles’ first for Columbia in 1955, and not just the admittedly fantastic Thelonius Monk track “‘Round Midnight” that opens up this seminal work.
With Davis on trumpet, Coltrane on tenor sax, pianist Red Garland, bassist Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones on drums, this was the archetypal 1950s quintet’s maiden voyage and set the tone for a massive outpouring of now-classic music that filled four more smokin’ albums in quick succession (Cookin’, Workin’, Relaxin’ and Steamin’).
As the session that started it all, the newly patented mix of Cool and Hard Bop sounds magically intimate, warm and almost casually virtuosic and ‘Round Midnight still has that “breaking of a new dawn” kind of effect even today. From the not-quite-eponymous opener to the gorgeously aired out “Dear Old Stockholm” to the telepathic “Bye-Bye Blackbird”, this 10-track masterpiece is an album that belongs in any serious music collection, Jazz-focused or otherwise. It creates an inspired mood all its own, whether you’re on your own, entertaining friends or wooing that special someone. It never disappoints and always sounds fresh. How many things can you say that about?
Just a quick and dirty blast of punk rock today as life intrudes but it is often posited that without the Pixies, there would be no Nirvana. Discuss.
And remember, kids: If man is 5, then the Devil is 6 and if the Devil is 6 then GOD IS 7!!! Bless Black Francis for that bit of theology and I promise we’ll get into the Pixie ouvre in greater length — or at least crank out some more of their tunes — at a later date. In the meantime, enjoy it again live and watch out for that NY/NJ sludge!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJwnpi_iM6A
(Album cover for Roxy Music’s “Country Life” featuring Constanze Karoli & Eveline Grunwald)
Roxy Music need no introduction, but here’s one anyway… Founded in 1971 and led by the inimitable Bryan Ferry, the band have been hugely influential on multiple genres of music spanning several generations. I mean really, how many groups or individual performers can you think of that were simultaneously influencing punk bands like the Sex Pistols and pop acts like Duran Duran? Their musical range and originality still influence artists 40 year later.
They put out several great records between 1972 and 1982, all but one of which featured album art made up of super-hot supermodels in various costumes, becoming a trademark feature of the band’s image. Individually they’re all pretty solid albums, but for my tastes the best overall Roxy Music album is actually “The Best of Roxy Music”, released in 2001. A lot of “best of” records seem to fall short, suffering from bad decision making or publishing copyright issues that seem to always leave one or two great songs off of the list. However, “The Best of Roxy Music” shines from start to finish. It is a great introduction to the band as well as a great go-to record for devoted fans. Check out the weird but genius, “Mother of Pearl” or the hard driving pop masterpiece, “Virginia Plain”. Or tune out the world and listen to the sugary sweet ballad, “Oh Yeah.” It’s all good stuff so you can’t go wrong. Get the album on iTunes, or on Amazon right here. Unfortunately this record isn’t available on vinyl, but write your Congressman and cross your fingers…you never know. And of course, if you really can’t bring yourself to buy a compilation record there’s also a great box set, including every studio album the band made. Happy listening!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cjR5QHFpEo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUy-Vbrt9o4
I admit that I blow hot and cold on Steely Dan. There is something just so… L.A. about them, so very arch. Their lyrics are so damn in-the-know that they come across like the guys in the private room in the back doing blow. And you’re not invited behind the velvet rope. They legendarily named their band after a sex toy from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, for chrissakes. That said, you can’t argue with their sterling musicianship. Before Steely Dan became a huge success, the core members Walter Becker (bass) and Donald Fagen (guitar) worked as a backup band for Jay and the Americans. And those two, who were really the only constant through the years, always had a special knack for picking ace talent to make up the rest of the band with a particular affinity for Jazz influences. A song like “Do It Again” from their 1972 debut Can’t Buy a Thrill shows their chops off to subtle perfection.
With its loping beat and intricate raga-like guitar and percussion, I associate “Do it Again” with palm trees, warm sea breezes and a cold rum drink. Or maybe a drug deal gone bad. Famously averse to live performance, here’s an early live version of the band with David Palmer singing lead for the unwilling Fagen.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NC7n4G5f1A4
The singing isn’t much to write home about — Palmer soon left the group and Fagen found his courage shortly thereafter, although he and Becker would always prefer the studio. But that magical groove is something else again.
Seeing as we here in the Northeast and much of the rest of the US are locked into a seemingly endless cycle of winter, the only thing one can do is dream of warmer days and hope they’re not too far away. And what more summery music is there in the Rock canon than that of The Beach Boys?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8rd53WuojE#aid=P-C2QsFwcWs
One of Brian Wilson’s archetypal pocket symphonies, “Good Vibrations” is perhaps The Beach Boys best song and arguably one the greatest tunes ever recorded in any genre. It was certainly one of the most expensive songs in its day, costing an estimated $50,000 in 1966 dollars in studio and musician fees and took roughly 6 months to be completed to Brian’s satisfaction. It captures the group at their artistic peak and before Brian became completely lost in endless tape loops and overdubbing and psychotropic drugs. Released directly after and somewhat mysteriously left off of the Beach Boys’ masterpiece, Pet Sounds, it seemed to point the way to limitless possibilities as the band and their artistic leader vied to out-duel the Beatles for pure sonic invention. But the rivalry and visionary music in Wilson’s mind could not be reproduced to his satisfaction with the studio technology of that time and the legendarily messy and drug infested recording process of Pet Sounds’ planned follow-up, SMILE, led to confusion and musical cul de sacs. The sessions and tracks became so expensive and chaotic that eventually they had to be pared down and released as the bastardized Smiley Smile, on which the single “Good Vibrations” was finally included but clearly is not really a part of. Smiley Smile was, therefore, an ambitious yet truncated album of beautifully produced but oddball compositions with limited commercial appeal. The old Surf Rock fans didn’t like the new impressionistic vibe and the Rock intelligentsia, while appreciating the technical ambition and mastery of such tracks as “Heroes & Villains” and “Wonderful”, were decidely unimpressed by an overall sound that Jimi Hendrix derided as “psychedelic barbershop quartet.” The coup de grace for Brian Wilson came with the release and massive critical and popular success of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band just after the original SMILE was being shelved. Wilson conceded the concept album competition to the Liverpudlian champs and began his rather rapid decent into drug-fueled madness and artistic decline.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmLel0G4QQU
But what music he and the Boys made before the crackup! And it’s just what us polar vortex-blasted souls need to carry us through until the crocuses sprout, the days grow really long and warm, the barbecue is fired up again and the baseball season starts. Wouldn’t it be nice to strip down to our shorts, crack a beer and get some sun? You’re damn right it would.
