Compare and Contrast (An Occasional Series): We've Got Only One Thing to Say to You Fucking Hippies...

You know, people always ask me "Steve -- you're incredibly old...did you go to Woodstock?"

And I always answer, "Uh, no, I didn't, but then again neither did Joni Mitchell, dickweed, and she wrote the goddamn theme song."





In any case, from 1972 and the incredibly great Godfrey Daniel LP, here's what the aforementioned theme song always should have sounded like. Make sure you stick around for the suspiciously familiar keyboard solo after the second chorus.




And people thought the CSNY cover was the definitive rock 'n' roll version.

Incidentally, Take a Sad Song..., which features eleven more (then) contemporary rock classics given the oldies treatment, is an absolute stroke of genius, but it's been out of print more or less since the day it was originally released. Collectables announced a CD version in 2005, which showed up (and is still there) on Amazon, but it never apparently came out in the real world -- one assumes there were rights issues of some sort. In any case, I've been looking for a digital edition since forever, and now -- courtesy of esteemed reader Merciful Lee Dickens, who transferred it from an unopened vinyl copy he got off eBay -- I've got one, which I will be glad to share with anybody who e-mails me about it.

Who were Godfrey Daniel, you ask? I had always heard they were two staff engineers at Atlantic Records -- that's the old Atlantic Studio circa 1958 on the album cover -- but it turns out to be a somewhat more interesting story, courtesy of Ron Christopher, posting over at Amazon.

The album is only Andy Soloman ('ALL' vocals, and 'All' instruments) and Dave Palmer (Drums). Studio musicians appear on two cuts credited as the Charles Soloman Orchestra. Dave co-produced with Andy, and engineered|mixed as well. The album is mixed in mono, except for the splash cymbal ending on 'Groovin' which is stereo. It was born out of a send up demo Andy made with Dave on a sound-on-sound Sony TC-630 reel-to-reel recorder in 1969. While making The Amboy Dukes last original lineup album 'Marriage' for Polydor records, lengendary producer|engineer Eddie Kramer heard the doo-wop version of 'Hey Jude' and totally flipped out. The Atlantic deal soon followed. Dave left the band to become an engineer at Electric Lady Studios with Eddie, and Andy eventually left Ted for a career in commercial music writing. That's the true backstory...Dave Palmer is my cousin.

God, I love the intertubes....

The Angels Want to Wear My Red Blogwhore Shoes

Uh, forgot to mention this in the whole travel thing, but my parallel Weekend Cinema Listomania -- theme: Most Memorable Flick About a Supernatural Entity Intervening in Human Affairs, Great or Small -- is now up over at Box Office.


As always, if you could see your way to going over there and leaving a comment, snarky or otherwise, it would keep me in good with management.

Thanks in advance!

Weekend Listomania: Special The Undiscovered Country Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental philo-groinal consultant Fah Lo Suee and I will be heading to a Learning Annex in Stillwater, Minnesota where we'll be attending a special accounting seminar hosted by Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-Prozac). Apparently she's got some kind of system where you can prove that 4000 dollars actually equals 150,000; should come in handy next time I'm trying to balance my checkbook.

In any case, posting by moi will more than likely be sporadic for a little while.

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

Most Memorable Post-Elvis Pop or Rock Song About Getting Away From It All

Songs about travel, in other words, or more specifically the specific faraway places you might dream of someday travelling to.

And my totally top of my head Top Five is:

5. The Kinks -- Holiday in Waikiki




Based on a true story, or so I've heard. Apparently it stuck in Ray's craw that he had to pay to go swimming on some idyllic beach. A fabulous song in any case -- that Hawaiian guitar break in the middle doing the hula thing never fails to crack me up.

4. The Clash -- London Calling



Okay, granted it's not exactly a travel poster, but it makes you want to go there just the same, no?

3. The Go-Go's -- Vacation




My favorite Go-Go was Jane Weidlin, in case anybody was wondering. Wotta cutie.

2. Three Dog Night -- Shambala



I figured we needed a hippie hashish trail song here, but I'm just sick to death of "Marakesh Express." Sorry. Anyway, I really like this one even if Three Dog Night aren't cool.

And the numero uno On the Road to Somewhere tune, I'll brook no debate, has to be --

1. Gene Pitney -- Mecca





For obvious reasons. I love this record, incidentally, and I think it's really pretty sad that it can't be played on oldies stations anymore -- also for obvious reasons.

Alrighty then -- what would your choice(s) be?

Oh Just Wank Me Already, It's Another Early Clue to the New Direction

From 1966, please enjoy The Byrds and "2-4-2 Foxtrot (The Lear Jet Song)," the (let's be frank) concluding throwaway track from Fifth Dimension (my personal fave of their albums nonetheless).





Roger McGuinn (still Jim, at that point) actually taped the sound of a Lear jet on the runaway for the track, and over the years it's apparently been a source of some irritation to him that most people assume it's in fact a vacuum cleaner.

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

Compare and Contrast (An Occasional Series): Garage Bands of the Gods

From 1965, here's toughest American band of its (or any other) day The Sonics, featuring the astonishing and frightening vocals of the great and possibly demented Gerry Roslie, with their proto-punk masterpiece "Cinderella."




And from sometime in the mid-80s, please enjoy New York City local heroes The Fuzztones, with their supercharged cover version.





Okay, this may be heretical, but as great as the original is, and I'll grant you Roslie's vocals are in a class by themselves, I seriously think the cover is not only an improvement, I consider it one of the most exciting rock records ever. Three chords and a cloud of dust, as they say. Also great attitude and the addition of the tambourine and (especially) the blues harp is a stroke of genius.

If I was in a band I'd love to open a set with this, is what I'm saying.

Somebody Busted a Button On His Trousers

As promised, my review of Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out, the Maysles Brothers' "new" documentary on the Rolling Stones at the Garden in '69 (i.e. the outtakes from Gimme Shelter), is now up over at Box Office.



GYYYO the movie is also available as a bonus DVD on the new 40th anniversary edition of the similarly titled live album. Needless to say, if somebody wants to get it for me for Christmas, I probably wouldn't object.

Incidentally, I saw the film on Friday at the IFC Theater in Manhattan, which used to be called The Waverly. Halfway through, it suddenly dawned me it's the same theater I saw Gimme Shelter in the week it opened in 1970. With a bunch of pissed off New York Hells Angels sitting and muttering in the row in front of me.

Compare and Contrast (An Occasional Series): Blues With a Feeling

Saw the Maysles Bros. new Rolling Stones flick Get Yer Ya-Yas Out the other day -- my review will be up over at Box Office momentarily I think -- and one of the best scenes is Mick and Keith doing an unplugged version of "You Gotta Move." Mick, at his most transparently disingenuous, prefaces it by saying "We've been trying to find out who wrote it, but we don't know."

Actually, it's by Mississippi Fred McDowell and Rev. Gary Davis; here's Fred doing it on an early 60s album that probably was in Keith's record collection.



And from the same year -- and from Night Beat (which I am willing to bet is the most amazing rock/r&b masterpiece you probably have never heard) -- here's the great Sam Cooke's gorgeous, and slightly more urban(e), version. That's the 16-year-old Billy Preston playing the cool keyboard stuff, by the way.





And just to bring it all back home, here's the Stones' famous studio cover from Sticky Fingers (1971).





Reportedly, McDowell himself was flattered by the Stones version, his 1969 album I Do Not Play No Rock 'N' Roll notwithstanding. As for the Stones, they did a live version of the song on one of their forgettable 70s in-concert albums, and the keyboards were played by -- wait for it -- Billy Preston.

Compare and Contrast (An Occasional Series): Was Marvin Gaye?

From 1966, please enjoy the man himself and one of his coolest early singles, "One More Heartache." LOVE that guitar riff.




And now consider if you will, from later that year, a cover of same by The Artwoods, one of the lesser known Brit r&b outfits of the day, but one of the best. (That's the late Art Wood on vocals, as in older brother of Ron Wood, BTW. The evocative organ noodling in the rave-up is by Jon Lord, later of Deep Purple fame).




And finally, from 1969, here's my college band God (don't ask) in its only foray into the studio, with a sped-up white boy (and girl) version featuring dual-lead guitar several months before it became fashionable. This was our big live showpiece, actually. More cowbell!!!





The arrangement switch half way through the song -- through the miracle of tape-splicing -- was a good idea that in retrospect I think worked better as a concept than in execution, but what the hell. In any case, we were kids.

Hanging on the Telephone

[Editor's Note: Just in case you missed the news on the Thursday Screamin' Jay Hawkins post, Weekend Listomania is on a one week hiatus while I digest all those heavy Ohio sauces consumed during my Dayton vacation. We now resume our programming, already in progress..]

You know, much as I love him, I don't, generally speaking, really think of Richard Thompson as a powerpop guy. Which is one reason I just dig the hell out of this 1998 RT live version of "She May Call You Up Tonite," my third favorite song on The Left Banke's classic and genre-defining 1966 album.





I've actually got a live tape -- which I may post one of these days -- of my 90s band doing this at a club somewhere, with me on keyboards. It's nowhere near as good as this, of course.

In any case, I bring the whole thing up because our good pal Sal Nunziato, over at the incomparable Burning Wood, just posted about a recent Richard show he attended, and he let the following mind-boggling bit of tid drop almost in passing.

Someone requested 'She May Call You Up' by The Left Banke, which Thompson performs live often. He offered up some info that will forever haunt me. "I could play the whole Left Banke first album."

To which Sal added, and to which I can only echo: "WHEN?"

The Long Adieu

Well, for those of you keeping score, I'm home at last, and yes, as in the Chuck Berry song, I'm so glad to be back in the USA. After, admittedly, a rather magical week in Dayton, Ohio, if you know what I mean.

In any case, I should mention that while en vacance I did in fact prepare a Weekend Listomania for tomorrow, but somehow it must have disappeared from my computer into the Gallic ether.

That being the case, I've decided to take my first vacation from Listomania in over two years (since I started posting the series, actually. I'm sure you'll understand).

So -- no clue later today, and just normal posting tomorrow and ditto til next Thursday.

But while we wait for WL's return, here's a final tribute to the City of Lights.

From 1958, please enjoy the late great Screamin' Jay Hawkins and his sui generis paean to the great city "I Love Dayton Paris."




Incidentally, the album that's from -- At Home With Screamin' Jay Hawkins -- is one of the first (from the concept on down) rock album masterpieces, and behooves behearing. "I saw a Mau-Mau kissing Santa Claus" indeed.