Here’s the latest batch of Music Musings and Miscellany’s unapologetically subjective selection of the twentieth century’s best 1000 singles.

FAIRPORT CONVENTION – Si Tu Dois Partir / Genesis Hall (Island 6064 1969)
In the period between the end of the sixties and punk, for the serious prog-rock, metal and folk-rock fan, the 45rpm seven inch single became a bit of a joke. Some bands (Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd) didn’t bother with them at all. For others, a hit single and a Top of the Pops appearance was a bit of a lark, not to be taken too seriously. Fairport’s cover of a Dylan song, in French, with chairback and milk bottle percussion (with an accident when one fell off the table and smashed left in the final mix) was a surprise hit. It’s not a comedy record, just light-hearted and gleeful.

LEE MORGAN – The Sidewinder / Part 2 (Blue Note 1911 1964)
Jazz artists, too, weren’t generally interested in singles. Most that were released were edits of album tracks aimed squarely at jukeboxes. The ten minute “The Sidewinder” by jazz trumpeter Lee Morgan has become one of the best known post-bop standards, with its funky rhythm and catchilly repetitive central riff. In some ways, it’s one of the foundation stones of jazz-funk, acid jazz, fusion and the rest.

PRINCE – Sign ө the Times / La La La La He He He He (Paisley Park 28399 1987)
Stepping back from his tales of sex and Corvettes, Prince unleashed this unassuming little song that dug into the underbelly of the brash and flash eighties for which he himself was part of a symbolic triumvirate of pop stars, along with Jacko and Madonna, who came to represent the ‘me’ decade. The flipside – AIDS, poverty, the still real threat of nuclear catastrophe (remember Ronnie “let’s bomb Russia” Reagan was still president) were marked out, almost without comment. It’s still his most forceful and thoughtful song.

STEVIE WONDER – Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours / I’m More Than Happy (Tamla 54196 1970)
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered” represents the end of phase one of Stevie Wonder’s career when he was still just a cog (albeit a vital one) in the Motown hit factory. As his 21st birthday loomed, he held out for a new contract that would give him unprecedented artistic control – something almost unheard of at Motown – and would pave way for his classic period when he would fuse soul, pop, gospel, electronic music and funk into his own unique and brilliant vision.

TORI AMOS – Silent All These Years / Me and a Gun (East West YZ618 1991)
Out of the flood of singer-songwriters who’ve emerged over the last two decades, Tori Amos remains a singular talent, and the two sides of this single go a long way to explaining why. The first, a lush, beautifully orchestrated, literate piano ballad. The second, a chilling a capella recounting a harrowing rape experience.

CARTER FAMILY – Single Girl, Married Girl / Storms are on the Ocean (Victor 20937 1927)
This proto-feminist tune comparing the lots of the wed and unwed woman has become one of the best-loved, and oft-covered Carter Family tunes. With good reason.

NIRVANA – Sliver / Dive (Sub Pop 72 1990)
NIRVANA – Smells Like Teen Spirit / Even In His Youth (Geffen 19050)
Only a year separates these singles. The first a dipped toe into melodic pop rock, albeit with a lyric recalling a pre-school Kurt being shipped off to his grandparents’, and despite TV and ice cream, just wanting to be in his own home. The second a Pixies parody, and last minute addition to Nevermind, that made him a reluctant global icon.

BEACH BOYS – Sloop John B / You’re So Good To Me (Capitol 5602 1966)
Added to Pet Sounds at Capitol’s insistence, “Sloop John B” doesn’t really fit with the rest of the album, but as a single works just fine. A strange choice of song for a 45, it’s actually a Bahamian song about a wild party that took place on the Nassau waterfront the night that the John B was sunk and was originally entitled “The Wreck of the John B”

ULTRAVOX! – Slow Motion / Dislocation (Island 6454 1978)
Another classic from the Foxx era, and an inspiration from everyone from Gary Numan to Duran Duran. Don’t let that put you off, though.

THE UNDISPUTED TRUTH – Smiling Faces Sometimes / You Got the Love I Need (Gordy 7108 1971)
Less a band, more Norman Whitfield’s own experimental lab rats. The man was even more of a control freak than his boss Berry Gordy, and wanting a group a little less combative and more malleable than the Temptations he ended up with the Undisputed Truth. Many songs would be road tested by the Truth before being handed to the Tempts, but they did at least have one major hit they could truly call their own – this dark, paranoid masterpiece.

PLATTERS – Smoke Gets In Your Eyes / No Matter What You Are (Mercury 71383 1958)
SABRES OF PARADISE – Smokebelch II (entry) / Smokebelch II (exit) (Sabres of Paradise 9 1993)
HOWLIN’ WOLF – Smokestack Lightning / You Can’t Be Beat (Chess 1618 1956)
ROBINS – Smokey Joe’s Café / Just Like a Fool (Spark 122 1955)
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the smoking section. The first a 1933 show tune by Jerome Kern and Otto Harbach about blind love, turned into an unparalleled piece of weepy melodrama by the rich tenor of the Platters’ Tony Williams. The Sabres of Paradise’s classic come-down instrumental has graced a million TV soundtracks, but still sounds fresh and sober. Wolf growls and howls his way through a typically apocalyptic blues, whilst the Robins encounter a problem when trying to hit on the girlfriend of a large and borderline psychotic café owner.

More soon

Every so often I stumble upon a documentary that I just must share with you. This is one such documentary .

It is about Chess Records, Although it comes in at only 9 minutes, and 15 seconds, it is still a nice introduction to this record label.

If you have any videos that you would like to share, drop us a line. Direct us to them. We are always interested in viewing them.

Ya sabemos el significado de “cosmic blues”, comprendemos que su contenido es positivo, cultural y estamos enterados de que es uno de los mejores programas de radio de blues a nivel nacional. A estas alturas, ya debe ser un hábito encender nuestros estéreos cada domingo en punto de las 19 horas para sintonizar el 89.7 del f.m.

Todo esto se debe gracias a los dos años consecutivos de osadía y trabajo arduo para crear conciencia en nuestra radiofonía en la ciudad de Monterrey y su área metropolitana. Sin embargo, a su vez, esto no hubiera sido posible sin el esfuerzo de su conductor, Chester Draven y, por supuesto, de su productor, Ángel Lozano.

“Dos años” se dice fácil, pero seguramente no lo son. Es por esto que el día de hoy, hago una pequeña mención y una gran felicitación y las buenas vibras a estos dos grandes personajes que han conseguido ganarse nuestra simpatía cada fin de semana durante este grato periodo. Este Domingo 15 es el festejo magno de la segunda celebración del blues en su máxima expresión en nuestra ciudad a través de la frecuencia modulada, y para ello, Chester nos amenazó con arrojar la casa (bueno, la cabina) por la ventana y aseguró prepararnos una sorpresa de locos (por cierto, yo también tengo la mía).

Desgraciadamente y por alguna razón inexplicable, no soy digna de decir que vengo escuchando a los máximos exponentes del blues desde el inicio de la transmisión  dominical, pues apenas llevo alrededor de  medio año recopilando información y descubriendo cuan grande el mundo del blues puede llegar a ser. No obstante, he aprovechado cada emisión a tope, al grado de reunir a los artistas que Chester nos ha regalado a lo largo de los últimos 20 programas (aproximadamente).

No puse fecha y es muy probable que el orden de aparición en esta lista no sea correcto, pido una disculpa, pues perdí la orientación. Además, también es posible la ausencia de algunos músicos mencionados en los últimos seis meses, pero si la idea es hacer una colección con lo relevante del blues, el siguiente catalogo esta en muy buena disposición para lograrlo:

Little Walter
Howlin’ Wolf
Miguel Botafogo (Don Vilanova)
Mississippi Blues Band
Texas Blues
Lester Williams
Johnny Copeland
T-bone Walker
Sunset Heights
Howling Wolf
Carey Bell
Sonny Boy Williamson
Victor Uris
Rory Gallagher
Gary Moore
Jonny Lang
Debbie Davies
Rory Block
Deborah Coleman
Ana Popovic
Susan Tedeschi
T44 Blues Band
Albert Collins
Kansas City blues
Robert Johnson
Jeff Beck
Derek Trucks
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Big Mama
Ray Charles
John Ussery
Al Green
Eric Clapton y Babyface
Tracy Chapman y B.E. King
Christina Aguilera y Dr. John
Clarence Gatemouth
Eric Clapton y buddy guy
Jimmy Vaughan
Leann rimes
Quincy Jones
Etta James
John Mellencamp

Así que no se pierdan el programa de mañana, pues promete ser de primera clase y no es para menos, es claro que dos años bluseando no se cumplen todos los días…

ENHORABUENA PARA COSMIC BLUES Y MUCHOS AÑOS MAS DE VIDA PARA EL PROGRAMA!!!

click aquí para accesar a la estacion de radio vía on-line

In 2003, acclaimed movie director Martin Scorcese produced a series of seven films, each created by another acclaimed director, and they called the whole thing “Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues.”  The series aired on PBS and my favorite episode was “Godfathers and Sons,” directed by Marc Levin (not the idiot right-wing talk radio guy).

Levin paired Public Enemy rapper Chuck D with Marshall Chess, son of Leonard Chess and heir to the Chess Records legacy, in Chicago and the film followed them as they produced an album combining contemporary hip-hop musicians with veteran blues and jazz players.  But along the way the film explored the rich history of Chicago blues as recorded by Chess Records, and there was great footage of Howlin’ Wolf, Muddy Waters, Sonny Boy Williamson, Bo Diddley and the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, along with original performances by Koko Taylor, Otis Rush, Magic Slim, Ike Turner and Sam Lay.

As good as the film was, the soundtrack CD is even better: it could be the greatest blues album ever released.  Among the 22 tracks are a couple of hip-hoppers and white boys, but when I’m playing the blues I always seem to gravitate back to this album.  There’s a couple of genuflections each to the two gods of Chicago blues – Muddy Waters is represented by “Mannish Boy” and “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man,” while Howlin’ Wolf checks in with “Spoonful” and “Little Red Rooster,” classics all.  And the killer lineup includes Koko Taylor with “Wang Dang Doodle,” Jimmy Rogers, Buddy Guy, Magic Slim, Little Walter and Jimmy Reed performing their best-known songs.   And what would a Chess anthology be without the late, great Bo Diddley – he could fill an album all by himself but here he’s represented by “Diddley Daddy.”

Contemporary Chicago blues shows up in the music of Lonnie Brooks (from Port Arthur, Texas – my man!), Magic Slim and the brilliant Etta James.  The rock-blues connection is essayed by two songs from the Paul Butterfield Band, one a cover of Elmore James’ “Shake Your Moneymaker” and the original “Born In Chicago.”  And the other white boy is this weird kid from Minnesota whose music was greatly influenced by the blues, Bob Dylan doing “Maggie’s Farm.”  The Butterfield and Dylan tracks all feature the blistering blues guitar work of the also late-great Michael Bloomfield.  And you got yer rap, courtesy of Public Enemy and another hip-hopper, Common.

The only weird thing about the film, and the soundtrack, is its fixation on a truly minor Muddy Waters album from the late 1960s, Electric Mud.  During that era the Chess artists were not selling so Marshall Chess had the idea to re-record some of the classic songs with the original artists, but with contemporary backing bands and arrangements.  Electric Mud had some psychedelicized versions of “Mannish Boy,” “Hoochie Coochie Man” and “I Just Want To Make Love To You.”   Chess also put out a similar album with Howlin’ Wolf (This Is Howlin’ Wolf’s New Album … He Doesn’t Like It).  So anyway, for the film they got some of the original backing musicians to recreate some of the “magic” with Chuck D and Common.   The one song from this session that appears on the soundtrack is “Mannish Boy,” and it’s pretty good.

Marshall Chess comes off as more than a little impressed with himself in the film, and I think the hip-hop/blues collision storyline might have been simply a concession the filmmakers made in order to get the keys to the Chess vault.   Whatever, the new “Mannish Boy” and a new “I’d Rather Go Blind” by Etta James is a great way to wrap up this album, the greatest blues album you can own.

MP3: “(I’m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man” by Muddy Waters

MP3: “Wang Dang Doodle” by Koko Taylor

MP3: “Feel Good Doin’ Bad” (live) by Lonnie Brooks

MP3: “Shake Your Moneymaker” by the Paul Butterfield Blues Band

MP3: “Mannish Boy” by Chuck D, Common and the Electrik Mud Kats

Martin Scorcese Presents The Blues website by PBS

Chester Arthur Burnett, a k a The Howlin' Wolf

Through the Gate in .

PS, I have written about the Wolf before, including in my first novel, Rock Critic Murders. Be sorry — VERY SORRY! — if you missed the Howlin’ Wolf Birthday Tribute Party I hosted at the Continental Club last June. But be of good cheer, pilgrims, we are doing it again in June 2010, when we celebrate 100 years of the Mighty Wolf.

The Howlin' Wolf Birthday Tribute, June 10, 2009, by Ricardo Acevedo

Mistress Lyn at your service with a few songs to scare the hell out of you, some that are just plain silly and all of which celebrate Halloween. Welcome to the dark side.

We opened the show with THE GRAVEYARD BY MOONLIGHT, a spine-chilling instrumental piece from one of the most commercial goth bands out there, Cradle of Filth. Then it was a track that can either be seen as very creepy or extremely silly (or both): HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES, from Rob Zombie’s album The Sinister Urge. Named after Ed Wood’s 1961 film of the same name, Rob used the track as the opening credits for his own horror flick, made in 2003, also called HOUSE OF 1,000 CORPSES. Check out the trailer for the film which looks like my favourite kind of horror film – very dark and extremely camp.

We caught our breath with Talking Heads’ deceptively funky PSYCHO KILLER, with lyrics that get into the head of a serial murderer. And then it was The Specials with GHOST TRAIN. More a political statement than anything, but still very creepy.

Nox Arcana’s BRIDES TO DARKNESS is from their Transylvania album and is the band’s tribute to the most famous and influential of all vampire novels, Bram Stoker’s Dracula. 

Screamin Jay Hawkins is absolutely hilarious when he splutters out  I PUT A SPELL ON YOU. Recorded in 1956, Hawkins has been reported as saying that he was so drunk when he recorded the song, that he can’t remember doing so. I believe him. Then it was a more controlled Bo Diddley with BO MEETS THE MONSTER, followed by Jazz singer, Herb Jeffries with THE DEVIL IS A WOMAN. Jeffries sang for many years with Duke Ellingon and this track, which was recorded in 1953, is on that crazy list of songs that was banned by the BBC. Go Figure. 

We couldn’t leave out MONSTER MASH by Boris Pickett and the Cryptkickers, now could we? But the need for real Goth was overwhelming and who better than Concrete Blonde with BLOODLETTING (THE VAMPIRE SONG) from their Still in Hollywood album. Excellent.

There’s lots of spooky music associated with the Blues: Howlin’ Wolf warned us about all the EVIL that’s goin’ on out there and Blind Willie Johnson condenses all of human misery into a wordless, incomprehensible moan in DARK WAS THE NIGHT, COLD WAS THE GROUND. It was up to Otis Spann to elevate our mood with IT MUST HAVE BEEN THE DEVIL followed by the equally rockin’ Leon Redbone with THE WITCH QUEEN OF NEW ORLEANS.

I resisted the urge to play Michael Jackson’s THRILLER because I think we’ve all heard a lot of it lately. But there’s one of his that doesn’t get as much airplay and that’s GHOSTS. As usual, he knew how to make a great video:

More silly than sinister is David Bowie’s SCARY MONSTERS AND SUPER CREEPS and The Who’s BORIS THE SPIDER. I reckon only the Cure know how to frighten the bejezzes out of us when it comes to spiders though. Take a look at LULLABY. Haunting and beautifully dark.

Only Nick Cave can possibly surpass The Cure’s Robert Smith when it comes to Goth. Here’s Nick and the Bad Seeds performing THE CARNY from the album Your Funeral…My Trial, originally released in 1986, and recently remastered and re-released as a CD/DVD set. The clip was filmed for Live and Loud on MTV on 18 May 1997 after Cave had been nominated for the best 1996 male artist and refused the honor (see his letter to MTV on www.nick-cave.com).

I love Tom Waits album Rain Dogs and the track, SINGAPORE, from that album is a fitting song for this show, with its sinister warning to those setting sail for unknown places. Can’t wait to see Terry Gilliam’s latest film, THE IMAGINARIUM OF DR. PARNASSUS, starring the late Heath Ledger and featuring Toms Waits as, (what else?),  the Devil. Check out the trailer:

Perfect follow up to that was Robert Palmer’s CASTING A SPELL from his Heavy Nova album of 1988. And to close the show, a beautifully benign tune, after all those scary songs, Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band’s take on the Frankenstein myth: LOOK OUT THERE’S A MONSTER COMING. 

I’m happy to say that Theme Park will be back for another season on BayFM so next Tuesday wlll be our first anniversary and it’s also the day that Australia’s biggest horse race takes place: the Melbourne Cup. Like last year there will be a sweep, lots of prizes and we’ll cross to Flemington for the big race. And the music? I’ve decided that as last year’s was HORSES, this year it will be LUCK. Wishing you all good fortune.

Here’s this week’s playlist:

The Graveyard By Moonlight – Cradle of Filth 

House of 1000 Corpses – Rob Zombie 

Psycho Killer – Talking Heads

Ghost Town – The Specials 

Brides to Darkness – Nox Arcana 

I Put A Spell On You – Screamin’ Jay Hawkins 

Bo Meets the Monster – Bo Diddley 

The Devil Is A Woman – Herb Jeffries 

Monster Mash- Bobby (Boris) Pickett And The Crypt-Kickers

Bloodletting (The Vampire Song) – Concrete Blonde 

Evil – Howlin’ Wolf  

Little Red Riding Hood – Sam the Sham 

Plan 9 From Outer Space – Movie Clip

Ghosts – Michael Jackson 

Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground – Blind Willie Johnson The Blues – A Musical 

It Must Have Been The Devil – Otis Spann 

The Witch Queen of New Orleans – Leon Redbone 

Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) – David Bowie 

Boris the Spider – The Who 

Lullaby – The Cure 

Jeepers Creepers – Siouxie and the Banshees

The Carny – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds 

Abbott and Costello Meet the Wolfman – Movie Clip

Hells Bells – ACDC 

Singapore – Tom Waits 

Casting A Spell – Robert Palmer 

Look Out, There’s A Monster Coming – Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band 

Next Week: LUCK (Suggestions always very welcome!)

Listen to Lyn McCarthy at the Theme Park on BayFM, Tuesdays 2-4pm, Sydney time.  

Also streaming on http://www.bayfm.org

Tragically also on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/maccalyn

This is the first of two Halloween mixes I’ll be posting this week. The present mix, timed to fit on standard CD-R, is supposed to comprise vaguely creepy or eerie music. The kind of stuff that might  freak out Bart, Lisa and Milhouse in their treehouse. Ghosts, spooks, witches, devils, murderers, weird people (like the coffin-building boy in Florence and the Machine’s excellent song), voodoo and so on. Marie Floating Over The Backyard apparently still scares Any Minor Dude’s friend, two years after he first heard it.

The second mix, which will go up mid-week, will be a bit more lighthearted, and even without the overcooked Monster Mash and Rocky Horror Picture Show.

TRACKLISTING
1. The Go! Team – Phantom Broadcast (2005)
2. The Never – The Witch (2006)
3. Dr John – Gris Gris Gumbo Ya Ya (1968)
4. Jim Stafford - Swamp Witch Hattie (Back Of The Black Bayou) (1973)
5. Alan Price Set - I Put A Spell On You (1966)
6. Tony Joe White – They Caught The Devil And Put Him In Jail In Eudora, Arkansas (1971)
7. Donovan - Wild Witch Lady (1973)
8. Fleetwood Mac - The Green Manalishi (With The Two Pronged Crown) (1970)
9. Eels - Marie Floating Over The Backyard (2005)
10. Violent Femmes – Country Death Song (1984)
11. Florence And The Machine – My Boy Builds Coffins (2009)
12. Godley & Creme - Under Your Thumb (1981)
13. Alan Parsons Project – Raven (1976)
14. The Box Tops – I Must Be The Devil (1969)
15. Sidney Hemphill – Devil’s Dream (ca 1942)
16. Howlin’ Wolf - Evil (Is Going On) (1954)
17. Louvin Brothers – Mary Of The Wild Moor (1956)
18. Squirrel Nut Zippers – Hell (1996)
19. Mazzy Starr – Taste Of Blood (1990)
20. Imogen Heap - Getting Scared (1998)
21. Iron Butterfly - Real Fright (1970)

DOWNLOAD

I have a good few songs left over for a mix next Halloween. But there are two ghostly soldier songs I’ll want to add to this lot, one as an antidote to Warren Zevon’s more ubiquitous Halloween song:
Warren Zevon – Roland the Headless Thompson Gunner.mp3
Stan Ridgway – Camouflage.mp3

.

More mixes

Tras el bello y musiano 19 de Octubre, cuando el cuarto de siglo llegó a mis muslámenes, parece que el fluir ha vuelto a acercarse a mi dispersa desembocadura. La angustia existencial existente quedó cuasi extinta, si bien aún la mente sigue perdida en divagaciones que buscan la respuesta al “¿Qué o quién soy?” y al “¿Adónde voy?”. Pero una serie de acontecimientos extraordinarios, una semana donde el pecho casi no me cabía entre mis senos de hombre, una suerte de encuentros, fortuitos o escritos en quién sabe qué sabana de tiempo, ha hecho que mi mente despereze y mi alma no quiera volver a sentarse en el sofá para perecer de aburrimiento. Y en esto que llega el Blues, que llegan las sonrisas, la obertura de un ser expuesto a la timidez, el dar un paso al frente y enfrertarse a la realidad, el descubrir mundos perdidos que conmueven, el sentir que, mucho o poco, fluyo, la tranquilidad con uno mismo, la paciencia con los objetivos, el esfuerzo en llegar aunque sea a la mitad del camino…porque creo que el 25 me ha traído una dulce sensación: He nacido y estoy vivo.

Para celebrar la vida, un vídeo que he encontrado casualmente buscando cómo comenzar a tocar mi “atelarañada” armónica: Howlin’ Wolf – “How many more years”. Recogida de la interesante y pedagógica página de Todo Armónica.

As many of you remember, we’ve had a longstanding tradition here putting up a new song every day, counting down our Top 666 Songs of Alltime list all the way to #1, until we were forced to break with that tradition about three weeks ago. Since it now looks like we may not be in a position to put up a new post every day til about November 1, here are the songs in the list which take us up to that point where we will hopefully resume daily activity here:

284. Procol Harum – Homburg

Very British, very stately, very subtle slap at authority from 1967, ominous organ and piano beneath Gary Brooker’s deadpan voice and one of lyricist Keith Reid’s best early ones. The single had to wait til 1974 to be released on album on Procol’s Best; mp3s are everywhere. The link above is the unintentionally hilarious original promo video.

283. Stiv Bators – A Million Miles Away

Haunting, majestic epic, the best song and sort of title track to Bators’ solo debut Disconnected, recorded as the Dead Boys were self-destructing around 1980 but not released til a few years later. RIP.

282. The Vapors – News at Ten

Furious, exasperated punk rock from the classic New Clear Days lp from 1979 (the same one that spawned their lone American hit, Turning Japanese), a generational battle taken up close and personal: “Still I can’t hear you!!!”

281. Al Stewart – Man for All Seasons

One of the popular 70s British art-rock songwriter’s most epic moments – and he had a bunch of them. This is a classic of existentialist rock, one of his smartest, most philosophical lyrics, slide guitar in the background providing lusciously ominous atmospherics. From the Time Passages lp, 1978, frequently found in the dollar bins at your favorite used vinyl purveyor.  Mp3s are everywhere (the link above is a torrent of the whole album).

280. The Dead Boys – Detention Home

Never recorded in the studio, this careening, menacing number was a live showstopper and one of the punk legends’ best songs. The best version is on the classic Night of the Living Dead Boys album from 1981, Jimmy Zero and Cheetah Chrome’s guitars screaming with feedback as the late Stiv Bators snarls his murderous lyrics.

279. Roxy Music – Out of the Blue

Haunting, swaying minor-key art-rock anthem, one of Bryan Ferry’s darkest numbers despite the upbeat lyrics. The studio version on the Country Life lp isn’t bad, but in concert the band went nuts with it. The link above is a tasty live clip from 1976. There are also delicious versions on the Roxy Music Live lp from the same year as well as the 2002 live reunion double cd, but the best is from the first live reunion cd featuring one of Phil Manzanera’s most exhilarating solos ever.

278. The Doors – The End

Listen closely: this is a pop song that morphs into a raga. Sure, it’s a “classic rock” standard, but deservedly so. Ray Manzarek’s swirling, funereal Balkan organ in tandem with Robbie Krieger’s evil guitar runs over John Densmore’s equally evil, crashing drums make the vocals almost an afterthought. “Mother, I want to fuck you!!!” Whatever.

277. The Church – Life Speeds Up

This macabre Syd Barrett-inflected epic was a mid-80s concert staple for the extraordinary, still vital Australian art-rockers. As Steve Kilbey has noted, the studio version on the 1988 double lp retrospective Hindsight is a bit stiff, but it’s still great. And there are bootlegs out there: Church fans are obsessive and generous with their files.

276. The Damned – Plan 9 Channel 7

The punk legends’ best song is this ornate, darkly anthemic masterpiece. The lyrics don’t make much sense – they seem to be about falling asleep with the tv on – but the raging guitar against a haunting organ backdrop are one of the high points in goth music. There are a million live tracks kicking around, many of them excellent, but it’s the 1979 studio version from the impressively diverse Machine Gun Etiquette lp that’s the classic.

275. The Church – The Maven

The Australian art-rock legends long ago proved that they didn’t need a major label behind them to succeed – in fact, the opposite is true, and this scorching, crescendoing broadside wastes no words in making that apparent. The clanging, crushing roar of what sounds like a thousand guitar tracks as the song reaches a peak at the end is one of the most majestic, sonically exquisite passages ever recorded, in any style of music. “Just turn the light off when you go, just tell the jury all you know,” Steve Kilbey snarls. From Sometime Anywhere, 1994.

274. Radio Birdman – Hand of Law

If you’ve been following this list from the beginning, you may have noticed that Australian garage-punks Radio Birdman’s classic 1979 album Radios Appear is very well represented here – and here we go again, with another cauldron of guitar fury, almost five minutes of paint-peeling, macabre, screaming intensity from Deniz Tek and Chris Masuak.

273. The Saints – Follow the Leader

The studio version (see the link above) on the Out in the Jungle album is decent, but when the band were at their peak – as a janglerock unit, for about ten years starting in the early 80s – they transformed this catchy, swaying number into one of their most beautiful songs. The version that opens the 1985 Live in a Mud Hut lp is transcendent, a feast of jangly guitar textures and lushly metallic overtones.

272. The New Race – Love Kills

The New Race were a Detroit supergroup of sorts, Ron Asheton and Deniz Tek on guitars, Warwick Gilbert of Radio Birdman on bass and Dennis Thompson from the MC5 on drums. They did a couple of Australian tours and then ruined what should have been a phenomenal live album with studio overdubs. But their two other subsequent live cds both effectively capture the band’s transcendent, unearthly power. This is one of Tek’s most vividly lyrical songs, a deathly winter road trip from Chicago to the Murder City. The stark, semi-acoustic studio recording by Radio Birdman is unforgettable, but the New Race version from The First To Pay, driven by Gilbert’s roaring, distorted bass chords, is even better. And very hard to find in a digital format other than the grooveshark stream in the title above. Here’s a live Radio Birdman take; here’s another.

271. Radio Birdman – Monday Morning Gunk

The original, released as a single by Radio Birdman mastermind Deniz Tek’s first Australian Band TV Jones in 1972 (and included on the 1988 Tek retrospective Orphan Tracks) is a blazing, somewhat woozily psychedelic masterpiece. Others prefer Radio Birdman’s even more scorching, professionally recorded version, released on the European version of the classic 1979 Radios Appear album some nine years later.The multitracked guitars of Tek and Chris Masuak on the solo are hit a literally unreal crescendo.

270. Howlin Wolf – Sitting on Top of the World

The iconic bluesman’s 1954 studio single hews much closer to the Mississippi Sheiks’ rustic version from the 20s that he probably learned it from. But believe it or not, his best version is on the 1969 London Sessions album with none other than Eric Clapton on guitar – given sufficient inspiration, even a hack can sometimes rise to the occasion. And it’s Bill Wyman’s casually soaring bass work that carries it over the top. Wondering who that tight in-the-pocket drummer is? It’s Ringo.

269. Bob Dylan – Positively 4th St.

The prototypical anti-trendoid anthem. Hypocritical as it may have been, Dylan had nothing but contempt for class tourism and most of the hippies who shared his comfortable upper middleclass background. And it’s obvious that a lot of them didn’t like him either since being one of them, he sussed them out. “You’d rather see me paralyzed” – how true. Download this with impunity because he isn’t getting any royalties from it. 

O canto cortava o céu como um grito, um uivo do lobo. Howlin’ Wolf se tornou não só um guitarrista e gaitista de blues, mas quase uma força da natureza. Sua voz, pujante, era má, violenta e   era impossível ficar indiferente à ela. O vocal visceral deixava as mulheres ardentes e os homens nervosos, com a possibilidade de perder seus pares.

O mestre nasceu com a alcunha de Cherster Burnett em 10 de junho de 1910, na cidade de West Point, próximo a Aberden, Mississippi. O nome foi uma homenagem ao presidente Chester A. Arthur. Wolf começou na música no final dos anos 40, um de seus mentores foi o lendário bluesman Charley Patton, parceiro de Robert Johnson.

Os pais de Wolf eram fazendeiros e ele tomaria conta da lavoura, mas foi tocado pela música. Transformou-se em um dos maiores mestres do blues. O empresário Sam Philips – dono da Sun Records – definiu bem quem foi Howlin’ Wolf. “Seus olhos se iluminavam e você podia ver as veias no seu pescoço e, meu irmão, não havia nada mais, toda sua alma se concentrava naquela canção. Ele cantava com a danada da sua alma…”, disse.

Chester, que ganhou o apelido Wolf por usar o artifício de uivar em muitas de suas músicas, morreu em 1976 e, em vida, como muitos gênios, não recebeu o reconhecimento que merecia. Eric clapton era um de seus “seguidores”, basta ouvir a canção “Strange Brew” e comparar com o solo da música “Highway 49″, pois é idêntico nota-a-nota.

Confira os vídeos com interpretações arrasadoras de Howlin’ Wolf. Divirta-se!

Smokestack Lightnin’

Evil

Sittin’ On Top Of The World

Before I start, I’d just like to apologise for the lack of content for a week – work’s finally calmed down, but I’ve essentially spent the last week asleep as a reaction to the lifting of four months’ constant stress.

Anyway, I’ve decided that to start posting again I’m going to do another hyperpost like series, this one starting off with thoughts on authorship rather than canon. I’m going to talk about Cerebus, Smile, Wednesday Comics and Strange Adventures, Darkseid and Jack Kirby, and copyright law, among other things. I’ll also try, next week, to get more Beatles stuff posted.

But in the meantime, here’s a playlist I’ve put together…

Hand 19 by Andy Partridge And Harold Budd is from an album I only discovered existed through Spotify, a collection of somewhat new-agey jazzy stuff. I almost wondered at first if it was a different Andy Partridge, but it has his melodic fingerprints…

How Sweet To Be An Idiot by Neil Innes is probably Innes’ most famous solo song, thanks to appearing on a couple of Monty Python things (and being ripped off by Oasis for Whatever). It’s deserved though – Innes is a *shockingly* underrated songwriter, easily as major a talent as someone like Ray Davies, who gets overlooked because so much of his material is hilariously funny, so the craft (an the often very poignany emotions) underlying it gets lost.

Buttons Of Your Mind by The Scaffold is a rather lovely B-side to their novelty hit Lily The Pink. It sounds like a poor man’s Bonzo Dog Band – which is, of course, what The Scaffold essentially were – but they have their moments. (For those who don’t know, The Scaffold were a comedy group which featured the poet Roger McGough and Paul McCartney’s brother).

Stagger Lee by Mississippi John Hurt is still my favourite version of this – a completely different song to the more well-known one performed by everyone from Lloyd Price to Nick Cave, but containing many of the same lines.

Season Cycle by XTC is, amazingly, from the same album as Dear God. Rather amazing that the band capable of such a terrible song about atheism could also be capable of such a wonderful song about religious awe at nature. Rather obviously ripped off from Sagittarius’ version of My World Fell Down, but none the worse for that.

Mr Guru by Laurie Biagini is a fun piece of 60s pastiche from someone who does a lot of that sort of thing. It actually sounds rather like Bananarama, but in a good way, if you can believe that.

Good Sounds by Linus Of Hollywood is one of the best pure pop tracks of the last decade – an absolutely gorgeous, fun chorus with some rather disturbing lyrics – “I was just thinking/We were both drinking/So we should fool around/Things would be much easier if you’d just stay the night”, along with a promise to ‘play your favourite record if you promise that you’ll stay’ is rather too creepy to be an effective pickup line, or at least so I hope…

Cross Hatched World by Chewy Marble is by far my favourite song from last year’s Modulations, their first album in several years, a Beach Boysy track about drawing.

Loveland by The Mello Cads is a fantastic piece of lounge music pastiche, based around Come On In by The Association (which if I remember rightly was the theme music for lead Cad David Ponak’s radio show for a few years) but with some rather incongruous Indian stylings and backwards guitar on top. The Mello Cads are one of about a million bands with Probyn Gregory and Nelson Bragg in, always a sign of excellence.

I’ve Loved Her So Long by Neil Young is from his eponymous first solo album, which I still consider the best thing he ever did. Jack Nitzsche’s arrangements, and the more melodic stuff Young was doing then, place this firmly in ‘interesting LA pop’ territory with The Monkees, Love and Jimmy Webb, rather than the hippie singer-songwriter or proto-grunge furrows he spent much of the rest of his career in.

Flaming Carrot Theme Song by Wild Man Fisher is a theme for the great surrealistic 80s indie comic.

Don’t Make Me Over by The Swinging Blue Jeans is one of the great late-Merseybeat singles, obviously no match for Dionne Warwick’s original, sung as it is by a slightly flat Scouser, but that in itself is its charm – when Ray Ennis sings “Accept me for what I am”, it’s a flawed human doing so, rather than a vocal goddess.

Killing Floor by Howlin’ Wolf is the song which Led Zeppelin… er… homaged in The Lemon Song. However, good as Led Zep are, Howlin’ Wolf is roughly ten quadrillion times better – he sounds like he could bite Robert Plant’s head off between phrases.

And Long Black Limousine by Elvis Presley is a masterpiece of resentment and nastiness. She went off and said she’d be in a fancy car – well look at her now, she’s in a limousine all right – a hearse. That’ll teach her for wanting to do something with her life, won’t it, the stuck-up bitch? She’s dead now and everyone can see her funeral. It’s a thoroughly unpleasant song, as so many of those in this playlist are, but dear god Elvis’ voice in the last verse after the key change… what a singer…

G#t *n th@ tr@$n, m%th#rf^ck#rs!

#nj*y th$s w##k’s v#rs$*n *f W#@k@nd S*^ndtr@ct!

Transit Map of the World

Milky Way Transit Authority

Adrian Brody smirks after winning a bet with Jeffrey Wright.

(TriStar) Adrien Brody, Jeffrey Wright, Beyonce Knowles, Gabrielle Union, Cedric the Entertainer, Columbus Short, Emmanuelle Chriqui. Directed by Darnell Martin

Once in a great while, fortune and talent come together in a great confluence that allows the most unlikely of people to join together to become legends.

Leonard Chess (Brody), a Polish émigré to Chicago, has grand ambitions. Hoping to marry the love of his life Revetta (Chriqui), he opens a bar on the predominantly African-American South Side of Chicago. Hoping to draw in the local crowd, he hires local talent to play his stage. One of the first guys he finds is a gifted guitarist who goes by the name of Muddy Waters (Wright).

Muddy had been a Mississippi sharecropper before being “discovered” by Smithsonian-Folkways recording archivists, and being prompted to move to Chicago to play the Blues. His wife Geneva (Union) puts up with the rough living conditions and the late nights, turning a blind eye to his many infidelities.

So impressive is Muddy’s prowess that Chess buys a recording studio and founds a recording company he names after himself. However, Muddy’s career really goes into overdrive when he finds gifted harmonica player Little Walter (Short). Walter has a unique style that employs electric amplification, something only just coming into style back then. However, his abrasive personality and drinking problem leads him to be fired from Muddy’s band, although they still record together. Walter’s solo career, however, takes off on its own.

With songwriter/engineer Willie Dixon (Cedric) in the house, Chess has assembled a winning team which only gets better with the arrival of Howlin’ Wolf (Eamonn Walker) and the great Chuck Berry (Mos Def). Berry’s unique blend of blues, country and r&b creates a bastard child that can only be labeled “rock and roll.” His music begins to cross over lines to white audiences and becomes Chess Records’ most successful artist.

Add into this mix the incredibly talented (and incredibly troubled) Etta James (Knowles) and you have a recipe for game-changing music, as well as for ego-driven conflicts. As the ‘60s dawn and musical tastes begin to change, the influence of the Chess artists becomes apparent even as their record sales begin to dwindle. Not everybody, sadly, will make it out alive.

Martin has a cinematic love letter to an era and to a record label in particular. Music underwent a profound change in the 1950s, and Chess and Sun Records were both at the forefront of that change – the birth of rock and roll out of country (Sun Records with Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Carl Perkins) and the blues (Chess Records). Only Motown Records in the ‘60s would have the same kind of effect on the musical landscape that these two labels did.

Leonard Chess actually co-founded the label with his brother Phillip, who for some odd reason is not even mentioned here. In any case, Brody gives a solid performance as the label head, who gave his artists Cadillacs when they completed their first record, but who may have played fast and loose with royalty payments.

Knowles, who has shown some real acting skills in Dreamgirls and Austin Powers: Goldmember, continues to impress with a powerful portrayal as Etta James. She captures the artists’ outer bravura as well as her inner fears and demons. Short, similarly, captures the larger-than-life aspects of an artist who burned brightly and was snuffed out all too soon.

It’s a shame that in a movie about Chess Records, little of the original music from these artists was used. Instead, the producers chose to have the songs re-recorded (Knowles does her own vocals on James’ hits ”At Last” and “I’d Rather Be Blind”), mostly by the actors playing the artists. While it’s admirable that the actors did their own singing, I’d rather have heard the original versions by Muddy Waters, Etta James and Chuck Berry.

The filmmakers obviously have a reverence for Chess Records and its legacy. They gathered a strong cast and gave them some strong material to work with. This is a movie that helps illustrate the development of modern music, which is of more than passing interest to anyone who loves it. While the movie didn’t fare particularly well on its theatrical run, it is more than worth checking out. Yes, it’s an imperfect glimpse into the past but ultimately, a satisfying tribute to a label and the people on it who, together, changed music forever.

WHY RENT THIS: The story of Chess Records is an important historical event in the history of modern music and the movie covers it respectfully. Solid performances from an impressive cast, especially Knowles and Short.

WHY RENT SOMETHING ELSE: The movie plays a little fast and loose with the facts, and oddly, doesn’t use the music from the actual performers and instead recreates these iconic songs with the actors lending their voices.

FAMILY VALUES: Lots of sex and sexual situations, as well as drug use and some racially-motivated violence. Not for small fries.

TRIVIAL PURSUIT: The part of Leonard Chess was originally to have been played by Matt Dillon, but he had to bow up due to scheduling conflicts. Adrien Brody wound up taking the part.

NOTABLE DVD EXTRAS: The Blu-Ray includes an interactive playlist maker that allows you to create and share playlists of the songs in the movie.

FINAL RATING: 7/10

TOMORROW: Zombieland

This past week was very positive. Everything went surprisingly well. I recorded a session with Wardell Quezergue a very respected New Orleans Producer and Dr. John, who needs no introduction. As for 27 Lights we played a bad ass show with our friends New Grass Country Club and Travers and the Homemade Sound at La Maison de la Musique.  We promoted the shit out of the event and it went really fucking well. Oh yeah, dont worry were still working on the final shots for the music video and the recording for our single “The Great Illusion.” Other than that were working on finishing up 3 new song, integrating a few new members into the band, and practicing for our show with SOJA.

Vince

I decided, after a few encouraging comments from people who know about music, to go to the show (obviously), and I’m really glad I did. It had been much too long. In fact, I think the last show I went to was Bonnie Prince Billy back in December. Seriously. Well, last February I tried to go to Andrew Bird at the House of Blues, but after spending 45 minutes trying to park and then finding myself in an overheated, overcrowded venue where I couldn’t see anything, I only lasted half an hour. It was such a bad experience that as much as I love Andrew Bird, I’m not even going to attempt the show he’s playing here on Saturday. Anyway, back to the show… I convinced my friend, Nat, to come with me. We arrived before the first band started playing. I had never heard of either of the two opening bands, but they were actually pretty good. First band up, my name is john michael.

My favorite guy was the percussionist on the right. He was having so much fun.

Let me just pause for a minute and mention how many button-down plaid shirts I saw last night. So many! I lost track after 10. Guess it’s the new look. At the end of their set, the singer and drummer hopped off the stage and joined the crowd.

I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand – fun! let’s make this more of an immediate experience for crowd. And the sound really was awesome because there were two other drums on the stage, so it was really loud and right there. On the other hand – awkward! Am I going to have to interact with this person? Do I have to look like I’m really into the song and not kind of wishing it was over and the next band would start to play already because afterall, I came here to see Dr. Dog not my name is john michael. In this case, I think I prefer, as Nat said, to keep the fourth wall up.

Next band, the Generationals.

I really want to hear their music recorded. I think I’d really like it. They kind of reminded me of Camera Obscura, but their set was plagued by bad sound. They just couldn’t get the right mix of volumes. They didn’t play for very long. I tried looking them up this morning and found their twitter page. It has a picture of Jane Fonda as Cat Ballou. I approve.

Finally, Dr. Dog took the stage.

They had a really full sound that was perfectly mixed and tons of energy. They set up the stage so the whole middle was open and the three guitarists basically danced around in the middle the whole time. The Rebirth Brass Band joined them on a few songs. It felt really good to be out at a show again, and this was the size that I like. Big enough that there’s a lot of energy from the crowd, but not so big that you feel claustrophobic and can’t see the stage. Hopefully it won’t be another 10 months before my next show.

(sorry about the bad photo quality. the problem with a DSLR is that it’s too big to take to stuff like this, so I had to rely on the iphone.)