Monthly Archives: August 2015

It’s Concert Time!

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Uncle Acid is touring in September to support their new album, also coming out in early September. As one of the few surviving bands still worth a shit, you owe it to yourself to see them in September when they are near. Ticket price $20. (My girlfriend made me take her to Elvis Costello and Steely Dan(?!?) recently and it cost me $300 for two decent seats. “Thank God by the time bands get to this level I either don’t care about them anymore or never did,” I thunk to myself.)

Anyway, here’s the newly released “single” (look out Bad Blood!). Sweet Sabbath drone with sweet Lennon vocals and two even sweeter guitar solos. See you in Philly on September 13th.

Song of the Week – Big Bird, Eddie Floyd

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

One of the great Stax soulmen of the 60s was Eddie Floyd. His most popular song was “Knock on Wood” which hit #1 in the US in 1966. He also had modest chart success with “Raise Your Hand”. That one only reached #79 in the US but was further popularized through cover versions by Janis Joplin and Bruce Springsteen.

Here’s a cool version of Janis singing it with Tom Jones.

Dig the groovy 60s outfits and dance moves.

But today’s SotW is about my favorite Eddie Floyd song – “Big Bird” (1967).

Floyd delivers a passionate vocal and is supported by the famous Stax/Volt rhythm section (Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, “Duck” Dunn) and the Memphis horns. Check out Cropper’s blistering guitar riff – it drives the song.

The backstory adds a little poignancy to this otherwise upbeat song. It’s been often repeated that Floyd wrote the song from Heathrow Airport in London while waiting for his flight back to the US for Otis Redding’s funeral. Hearing that his plane needed some maintenance before it would be ready to fly, he had a justifiable concern that it might not get off the ground.

“Big Bird” went virtually unnoticed here in the US but later became a Northern soul favorite in England. UK bands, like The Jam, still do cover versions.

Enjoy… until next week.

Yuck, “Get Away”

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More than most of my friends here, I’m a fan of 90s indie rock. I think Pavement is major, I dig Beck, have a fondness for Bettie Seveert and the Pixies and many others.

Yesterday I read about this English band called Yuck. Good name!

And not exactly bad music, but just outright copying of music that was made 20 some odd years ago. If you are 15 years old now and into rock and heard this, I can’t argue against that. This is indie rock that sounds pretty great and fuzzy.

But on the other hand, this sound is all about marketing. It sold once, it will sell again. It peddles nostalgia to those who aren’t old enough to realize that this stuff was all done before.

In fact, you can Google Yuck and find their songs. Here’s a Bettie Seveert song instead.

NYC Power Pop

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The Waldos were the unofficial house band at the Continental Divide in NYC in the 80s and into the 90s. Formed by Walter Lure after The Heartbreakers drowned in drugs, also featuring the excellent Joey Pinter on guitar and Tony  Coiro on bass. This song goes back at least to 1975, written by Walter and played by the Richard Hell version of the Heartbreakers. I always loved it.

Cilla Black R.I.P.

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Cilla Black died today. She was a British singer managed by Brian Epstein, so she had a vague association with The Beatles. She recorded a Lennon/McCartney composition that they never attempted themselves — “It’s For You.”

The song was later covered by Three Dog Night on their first album.

Song of the Week – Do It Clean, Echo and the Bunnymen

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Echo and the Bunnymen was a post punk, new wave band from Liverpool, England. The band earned very favorable critical notices here in the US, but never seemed to make a really big splash even though they received some considerable airplay from college and alternative rock radio stations.

Does anyone remember the ads for their fourth album Ocean Rain that boldly claimed it was “the greatest album ever made?” US record buyers felt otherwise – it only reached #87 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.

Despite that over exaggeration, Echo was a very good band with a bunch of songs that I really like. Their first album, Crocodiles (1980), contained my favorite and today’s SotW, “Do It Clean.”

Ian McCulloch was the artistic leader of the group, but as this garage rocker shows, it was the rhythm section of drummer Pete de Freitas and bassist Les Pattinson that really had the balls.

And that’s important because the lyrics are pretty weak — a lot of gibberish that’s probably a drug reference. But this song is really all about getting the body to move, and that it does (at least for me).

Enjoy… until next week.

The Raconteurs, “You Don’t Understand Me”

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Pardon me, but this is one horrible song. Please rebut.