Monthly Archives: November 2013

Freaks and Geeks: Nick Auditions

by

Freaks and Geeks only ran for one season, did not attract a big audience, and the for a time vanished. I remember the promotion when the season was released on DVD, but it wasn’t until earlier this year I started watching it on Netflix. The premise is simple: The year is 1980, I think. A brainy high school girl, Lindsey, grows dissatisfied with her sheltered suburban life, and decides she wants to be friendly with the clique of freaks who hang together on the edge of academic engagement. Meanwhile, her nerdy brother and his friends enter high school, and try to navigate through the pubescent mine field there.

One of the freaks, Nick, is a stoner whose identity is linked with his giant 29 piece drum kit. He’s not that bright, but he’s sweet and for a while he and Lindsey go out. In this episode a leading local rock band loses its drummer and Nick auditions. The result is wonderfully nuanced.

Night Music: Esther Phillips, “Don’t Put No Headstone on My Grave”

by

I remember where I was and what I was doing when I first heard this song on the radio in 1973, sung by Jerry Lee Lewis. (I was digging ditches to install lawn sprinkler systems in Littleton Colorado.) It turns out it was written by Charlie Rich, but I fell in love with the song immediately. Years later I tried to find the 45 of the JLL version, but the only record of his that seemed to have him singing it was a multi-CD live recording from the Palomino. Today I found this, which is pure gold. Different and beautiful.

Song of the Week – The Wolf, Darondo

by

darondo1IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Back in the early 70s there was this cat from Berkeley/Oakland whose music sounded like a psychedelic Al Green. He went by the name of Darondo. He was a colorful character that drove a white Rolls Royce and wore lots of custom jewelry. His music has been mostly forgotten except by soul music connoisseurs.

But in recent years he has undergone a mini revival. A 2011 release called Listen To My Song – The Music City Sessions (and available on Spotify) compiled 16 songs so a new audience could discover his talent. His best known song, “Didn’t I”, has been used on several soundtracks including a season 1 episode of Breaking Bad.

But I really like another one of his songs better, so today’s SotW is “The Wolf.”

“The Wolf” is slow burner that has this irresistibly funky groove. It could go on for hours and I would never tire of it. It’s a very simple arrangement with a funk guitar riff, a spooky bass line and a solid beat.

Unfortunately, just as he was finding a new, younger audience, Darondo died earlier this year. At least he lived long enough to see that the music he made was still valued over 40 years later.

Enjoy… until next week.

Night Music: Jerry Lee Lewis and Tom Jones, Medley

by

Television made (and makes) all kinds of surprising combinations, often with corny introductions which do no one any favors. Jerry Lee Lewis says he doesn’t drink in this clip, and looks sharp and energetic and collected here. And the musical cross section these two create is full of corn and rhythm. But what about that microphone placement?

Night Music: Deelight, “Groove Is In the Heart”

by

The spelling of Deelites’s name, which I may not have right, has obscured their brilliant if short-lived career. I have no idea what any of them did after they were in this band, but while in this band they made one of the great albums of the, well, certainly 80s. Great hooks, good rhythms, a huge vision of the world, funny clothes. Deelite kills on this live performance. Delovely.

Night Music: Of Montreal, “The Past Is A Grotesque Animal”

by

I wanted to go with a Jobraith, thanks to Jody Rosen’s 60 great forgotten albums list, but while it’s interesting (stuff can be said) it’s not very good. Some grade b funk and lots of crap. But the funk put me in mind of overproduced campy self mythologizing, which reminded me of Of Montreal. I’m not a fan, but I happen to know this one Of Montreal song that I think kind of kicks it.

I look at this one as the “Roadrunner” of a club soundtrack that (even now is six years old) has a hypnotizing pulse and a first person spiel that goes on for a really long time, I would like to see this live. Or maybe I would have in 2007.

But the rest of this album, full disclosure, and my further samplings of their/his more recent stuff, dissuade me. Icelandic mythological sexist fantasy? Let’s leave that to Onan the Barbarian. And agree that the past is a grotesque animal. Duh.

NY Magazine Names 60 Albums You’ve Never Heard Of

by

You can read the list here: http://www.vulture.com/2013/11/60-great-albums-you-probably-havent-heard.html#comments

It’s a good list because many are new to me and I look forward to delving. I may or may not agree, but I find this fun.

Just so you know, I know a bunch of these records. Here’s some notes on those:

2. Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Gospel Train (1956): I own this one and it was in heavy rotation for a long while. Thanks for the reminder.

6. Elizabeth Cotten, Freight Train and Other North Carolina Folk Songs and Tunes (1958) Not rocking, but a fantastic record of one of our most fecund folk music heritages. And I love that detail about the guitar playing.

14. Tex Williams and His String Band, Smoke Smoke Smoke (1960) I learned about Tex because Commander Cody covered the title song here. And while I delved deeper into Bob Wills, Tex was great.

19. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Volunteered Slavery (1969) It was later that we loved Mr. Kirk. Because he could out Jimi Jimi, and because his sound was wild. I remember eating up this jazz back then as if it was the news. Seems crazy now.

25. Jane Birkin, Di Doo Dah (1973) It seemed subversive at the time.

27. Melanie, Stoneground Words (1972) She’d had corny hits, though they were more a tribute to her personality than anything else. And she was an artist, if maybe more a weird one than a great one.

28. The Flatlanders, More a Legend Than a Band (1972) This is one of my favorite records of all time, amped only a little because of its origins. That is, it was recorded in Nashville by our heroes——Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Butch Hancock–but shelved by heartless record execs until Rounder released it nearly 20 years later.

30. Jobriath, Jobriath (1973) I remember him as an absolute fraud. His inclusion on this list means I have to listen again.

32. Marshall Crenshaw, Downtown (1985) A classic album. Probably shouldn’t be in this list. He is a masterful pop-rock songwriter who never really found any pop success, but is widely respected.

35. Fishbone, Truth and Soul (1988) I saw these guys a few times and they were always great. Hard to believe they didn’t leave a long tail, but their fusion of styles–funk, ska, hardcore, no wave, younameit–was awesome. Especially live.

38. King Sunny Adé & His African Beats, Juju Music (1982) My first real date (not mini golf) with my wife was to see King Sunny. This album, a compilation but his intro to North America, is one of the greatest of all time. That we don’t know that has to remind us that culture is king. But so is King Sunny.

41. Ivy, Apartment Life (1997) This is one of my favorite albums of all time, partly because it flies so far under the radar, partly because it sounds like Belle and Sebastian but predates that band.

45. Youssou N’Dour, Set (1990) I’m a big fan of this elpee. Beautiful voice and semi pop tunes. Still, exotic.

46. Latin Playboys, Latin Playboys (1994) A lovely album that came with no strings attached by members of Los Lobos. Dreamy and Mexican, experimental with poetry. This is a lovely album.

47. Freedy Johnston, Can You Fly (1992) A fine pop songwriter singing his songs, like Marshall Crenshaw. The key is “fine.” We should listen to him. I linked to him singing Jimmy Webb’s Wichita Lineman a few weeks ago

48. Iris DeMent, My Life (1993) One of my favorite writers and singers, full of country warmth and hard truths, spiritual and wonderfully straight forward. If you haven’t listened to all her songs, you’re missing out.

Night Music: Yellow Dogs, “Dance Floor”

by

This is a fun song and video with a sad backstory. I’d never heard of the Yellow Dogs until two days ago. They were Iranian friends who loved playing rock music in Teheran, where the music is banned. You may know that there are two very different Irans, one that shares many Western values and culture and prides itself on its modernity, and the other Islamist Iran which controls the government and political institutions. The Yellow Dogs, like the heroine of Persepolis, loved rock music and risked jail because of that love. They also had parents wealthy enough to help them get out of the country and set them up in the US, in my home town of Brooklyn, in political asylum.

And they were doing okay until two days ago, when another Iranian musician, a former member of another Iranian band called the Free Keys, broke into the house the Yellow Dogs lived in and shot it up, killing three (including two of the Yellow Dogs) and wounding another before shooting himself. Apparently the shooter had been kicked out of the Free Keys because he’d stolen some money or sold some equipment that wasn’t his, and his subsequent efforts to redeem himself and get back in the band were rebuffed. An awful story. He apparently carried the gun he used in a guitar case.

There are a few Yellow Dog songs on YouTube, and profiles of the band done by eMusic and Converse sneakers. They were doing okay, and this song shows why.

Night Music: Public Image Ltd, “Poptones and Careering”

by

Watching the Jerry Lee Lewis clip I posted last night I was reminded of one of my favorite rock TV moments from 1980, on American Bandstand of all places, another shaggy-headed skinny man in a suit surrounded by pop fans improvised, delightfully. The song isn’t as good, but watching it on Saturday morning TV that long ago day seemed revolutionary.