Nude Descending a Blogpost

Kind of OT, and apologies for the plugola, but if you're on the West Side of Manhattan tomorrow and feel like being a patron of the arts, you should check out the opening of my bud Rick Poston's new photo show.


Seriously, Rick's earlier work is exquisite, and this new stuff is supposed to be much larger-scaled, which bodes well. In any case, Jadite Gallery is a very comfortable space, there'll be drinkable wine galore, and some very cool people in attendance. Plus me.

Compare and Contrast: Gone to My Baby's Head

From 1961, please enjoy the wonderfully mush-mouthed, laid-back and squeaky stylings of Jimmy Reed and his immortal ode to a downhome girlfriend going uptown for a walk on the wild side, "Bright Lights, Big City."




And then from 1963 and their quite amazing IBC demo sessions (pre-the first album, produced and engineered by the great Glyn Johns), ponder The Rolling Stones apotheosis of the Chicago Blues-style cover version.




And, finally, from 1965, here's The Animals, featuring the tremendous organ phrases of Alan Price, and their sort-of jazzy revamp of the tune.




I love all three of these, but I've mostly had a soft spot for the Stones version, which I heard for the first time on the bootleg pictured above in 1973; I was stunned then, and still am, that a bunch of pimply Brit kids had that Chess Records vibe down so absolutely cold.

That said, on revisiting the Animals take, I'm unexpectedly impressed. It verges on, dare I say it, pop, doesn't it? And those rhythmic shifts are really clever...

Screw Health Care Reform, At Least There's Some Good News Today!

The 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees were just announced. Jimmy Cliff, The Stooges, ABBA, and Genesis all made the cut, and deservedly so.

And so did The Hollies. Finally.


You know -- the guys who recorded "Look Through Any Window."



One of the most perfect powerpop records ever made. And they had lots more just as good.

Here's the Rolling Stone story; Graham Nash is going to appear with the Hollies for the first time since 1983, and it looks like Peter Gabriel will be onstage as well.

In Search Of Eddie Riff: Part XXVII (Approx.)

From 1968, here's one of Paul McCartney's most winsome conributions to The Beatles' White Album -- "I Will."




And from a decade later, here's Boston's finest (give or take a few) The Cars and their breakthrough hit "My Best Friend's Girl," from their eponymous debut album.




This isn't exactly a secret, but the cool little guitar figures at the end of the chorus/title lines of both these songs are pretty much identical, and yes, I think it's a deliberate homage on Cars guitarist Eliot Easton's part.

Anyway, like I said, not exactly a secret, but I really really like both of 'em, so what the hell.

A Screaming Comes Across the Sky...

From 1952, please enjoy Spike Jones and the City Slickers and their, er, remarkable version of "Deep Purple."




That's a fairly obscure Jones track, and I first heard it on the compilation above, from 1994; believe it or not, it was released on Catalyst, RCA's now defunct (I think) avant-garde classical subsidiary. Tim Page (a former NYTimes classical crit who ran the label) tried to package Jones as a sort of post-modernist before the term existed, which is not as far-fetched as it might initially sound, and in any case there was a lot of that kind of stuff going around at the time, if you'll recall things like Warner's The Carl Stalling Project and the concurrent Raymond Scott revival.

In any case, they got none other than Thomas Pynchon to write the liner notes for the collection, and while on balance it was a swell essay, I'm not sure I agreed with every point.

From the notes:

Jones's music "will require the sort of listener who either wants to wince in embarassment or can find in vintage bigotry quaint refuge from the more virulent forms encountered in our own era...'Deep Purple,' featuring Paul Frees's impression of Billy Eckstine, will offend Afro-Americans because the singer keeps nodding off, implying narcolepsy not in the public interest."

Maybe this is one of those rare occasions when I'm actually too young to get something, but I really don't hear the above as racially offensive, and in any case, most people listening to it today will probably have no idea that it's a parody of a once famous black crooner. To me, it's just an incredibly relaxed singer trying to sing a sleepy ballad without nodding off, which is kind of intrinsically funny, and I suspect it was back in '52 as well.

On the other hand, Pynchon's a genius, so who am I to argue?

I should also add that Paul Frees, who sings the above, was of course the absolutely brilliant comic impressionist and actor today most famous for having provided the voice of Boris Badenov on Rocky and Bullwinkle, but who worked with Spike Jones a lot. That's him below doing the Peter Lorre parody on my personal favorite Jones track, "My Old Flame."

Weekend Listomania (Special If We're All One, Who Needs You? Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental Unendurable-Pleasure-Indefinitely-Prolonged consultant Fah Lo Suee and I will be heading to ...oh, screw it. I can't bring myself to do another Tiger Woods joke. Let's just say I'm off to somewhere to do something and let it go at that.

In any case, posting by moi will be sporadic for a couple of days at least.

But in the meantime, here's a fun little project for us all:

Best Post-Elvis Pop/Rock Song or Album With the Word "You" in the Title!!!

No arbitrary rules this time, except that it's got to be a song or album title with, uh, you know -- the word "you."

Not "your". Not "you'll." Not "You've." I could go on, but "you" get the point. Hah hah.

Okay, that said, my totally top of my head Top Eight is:

8. Candy Butchers -- You Belong to Me Now



There is a small sub-species of humanity, to which I occasionally claim membership, which believes this to be the single most beautiful song written in the English lanuage in the first nine years of the 21st century. Just saying.

7. The Lovin' Spoonful -- You Baby



A Ronettes cover of all things, and one of several tracks from their first album that served notice that the Spoonful weren't just a revivalist blues and jug band.

5. Bobby Fuller Four -- Love's Made a Fool of You



The Buddy Holly classic, of course, and an all but perfect mix of winsome melodicism and what we used to call The Big Beat. Proto (approaching full-bore) power pop, obviously.

5. The Dickies -- You Drive Me Ape (You Big Gorilla)



Ah -- a twofer. Actually, there are some days I think these guys were the greatest punk band ever; no question they were the funniest. Now excuse me -- I gotta go listen to "Gigantor" and their cover of "Nights in White Satin" right this minute.

4. U2 -- All Because of You


Okay, Bono can be a bit much, and U2 will never be my favorite band, but let's be honest -- when these guys are good they're great. Case in point: This "love song to the Who."

3. The Turtles -- You Showed Me



A really wonderful pre-first Byrds album Gene Clark/Jim McGuinn song, given a sumptuous pop sheen by the once and future Flo and Eddie and company. Those sighing strings are just gorgeous.

2. The Killers -- Smile Like You Mean It



As I'm sure I've noted previously, I'm not crazy about this band in general, and jeebus, this song in particular is about as derivative as it gets (embarrassingly so, if truth be told). Nevertheless, it gives me a second entry actually recorded in the current decade, which I think is always a good idea. Especially since The Killers seem to have replaced Billy Corgan's pretentious cueball noggin as my running gag of choice.

And the numero uno song featuring the "y" pronoun, make no mistake about it this is the one, absolutely, is --

1. Los Shakers -- Always You



Said it before and I'll say it again -- this is the most perfect Beatles record the Beatles never made. Swoonerama, from stem to stern.

Alrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: Best or Worst Big or Small-Screen Action Babe Heroine of All Time! -- is now up over at Box Office. During this holiday season, it would definitely help if you could go over there and post a comment, thus convincing my employer that I'm worth the exorbitant and lavish lifestyle-sustaining freenlance fee I'm pulling down. Thanks!!!]

If It's Thursday, It Must Be a Whimsical Early Clue to the New Direction

Okay, here's a brief but hilarious snippet from The Firesign Theatre's 1970 masterpiece Don't Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers.

From You-TV, for You The Viewer, please enjoy the intro to a late-night airing of the Paranoid Pictures classic High School Madness! Starring Dave Casman as Porgy and Joe Berkman as Mudhead.





Seriously, if you've never heard this album it not only lives up to its hype as the Sgt. Pepper of comedy, but it's also one of the few counter-cultural artifacts of its day that's still fresh as paint. And laugh out loud funny, obviously.

In any case, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who gleans its relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

When the World is Running Down...

Apparently Devo was right -- we really are devolving.

I mean, back in 2007 I was contemplating diva du jour Amy Winehouse and hoping she didn't kill herself...



...and now here I am, a mere two years, later contemplating diva du jour Lady Gaga...



...and hoping I don't kill myself.

About Fucking Time. Now When Are They Going to Knight Ray Davies?

From the NME: Finally -- a bio-pic on The Kinks.

A movie about British band The Kinks is set to go into production. Tentatively titled You Really Got Me, the film is set to explore the rocky relationship between bandmates and brothers Ray and Dave Davies. Directed by the film and music video director Julien Temple, who has previously directed documentaries about The Sex Pistols and Glastonbury, Ray Davies will be involved in the project.

"At the heart of it is the extraordinary love-hate relationship between these two brothers: love/hate, sibling rivalry is at the core," Temple told Screen Daily. "I think it's a very rich social, cultural nexus around The Kinks. Their story is the untold story of all those big bands of the 1960s."

The cast for the film or a potential release date is yet to be announced.

In related, and sad, Kinks news -- session drummer Bobby Graham, who played on "You Really Got Me" and scads of other Brit classics, including Dusty Springfield's "I Only Wanna Be With You," and Them's "Gloria"(!) has died at age 69.

Compare and Contrast (An Occasional Series): Q You!

Okay, we may be reaching a point where the differences are of such a rarefied nature that only dogs can hear them, but indulge me on this one because I really love the song.

From 1978, and their fabulous At Yankee Stadium, please enjoy the great NRBQ and their prescient and infectious sort-of stab at a New Wave pop record, "I Want You Bad." Written and sung by genius keyboard player Terry Adams.




And here, from their wonderful 1996 concert album Tokyo, it's the Q again with an amazingly ragged but right live version.




And finally, from 2001, here's exceptionally smart almost-alt-country-guy-passing-for-mainstream Charlie Robison and a terrific modern studio re-make. With the tune's Nuevo Wavo powerpop roots made a wee bit more explicit.




If pressed, I think my favorite is the live version; I just love the way the band sounds like they're falling apart at the beginning before settling into their customary monster groove. But all three are great, I think.

Incidentally, Robison's a really interesting guy -- one of these days I'm going to have to put up his "Desperate Times," from the same 2001 album. Not only is it one of the best and most mordant story songs of recent years, it's also a full-on killer Stratocaster epic, as close to Television as it is to the country-rock you'd expect.