Dave Loggins, Please Come to Boston

August 23, 2016 by peter

This is a sappy song with a heart felt series of verses, and a gumptious elaborate arrangement of strings and stuff on the chorus.

But there is detail and structure and melody here that make it a great song. Not a riff song, not a rock song, but a pop song that expands people’s horizons rather than shuts them down. It’s a song that addresses adult concerns (who lives where, and why) rather than adolescent ones (who grinds where).

That isn’t rock, but it is a bit rockish in that whole Rambling Boy idea. Feel free to search for all the alternative versions on YouTube. They all help explain how a simple story became a trope. And how songwriting transcends genre. This is a song that is a short story. Or an anecdote. Or both.

Muddy Waters, She’s 19 Years Old

August 13, 2016 by peter

There is so much going on here. Muddy seems to be copping to the idea he’s not up to the barely legal conversation. That’s the opposite of the mannish boy. But whatever is going on with that pales beside Luther “Guitar Jr.” Johnson’s guitar, which is bigger than life.

On this album, a live album, Johnny Winter makes some excellent appearances. He’s a great guitar player, but lordy, Luther makes a fairly straight blues into something else altogether. I know I’m sati-fied.

Compare and Contrast: For the Love of Money

August 11, 2016 by peter

Live at Daryl’s House is this oddball show. The idea. Musicians go to Daryl Hall’s house and record songs with Daryl Hall.

When it started Daryl Hall seemed to be bankrolling these video casts, which were available on his website, and it was hard to see how this was a sustainable program. But the quality was always exemplary, the pairings interesting, the musicians great.

I came upon this O’Jays show tonight. Here’s For the Love of Money at Daryl’s House:

It’s not my favorite O’Jays song, it’s kind of a Temps’ rip, but there’s lots to like in that live version. Including Daryl Hall’s vocals . Here’s the much-more restrained original:

Eno, “Baby’s on Fire”

July 29, 2016 by peter

I was listening to Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy yesterday. It’s the Eno elpee I’ve never owned, and while I like the title I was a little put off by much of the music. Not bad, just hard and brittle for the most part, with lots of Englishy dancehall references.

So tonight I put on Here Come the Warm Jets, which is a great record. But I hadn’t listened to it for a while, and when Baby’s on Fire came on I had to post. It is incredible. Incredible in, like, why did we ever need another rock song after this?

Remembering Richard.

July 21, 2016 by peter

Three years ago my friend Richard died. He and I had been occasional tennis partners, often shared dinners with mutual friends, and enjoyed talking about music.

He was English by birth, but had lived in the US for many years. I bring that up because he had a love for Englishy art rock and subgenres of dance music that I found somewhat bewildering. But each New Years Eve, at the party we would inevitably be attending together, he would pass out CDs with his favorite songs from the previous year and it was a treat to hear the world through his ears. Richard loved sharing the tunes he liked, and was always looking for new sounds.

At his memorial I learned that back in the early 80s Richard had played the synthesizer in a band.

After his death his wife, Monica, shared a big folder of songs of his, which is another window into his world. We’ve long talked about posting some of these songs somewhere as a tribute, and may still do that on Facebook.

But while thinking about Richard this memorial week, I thought a post of a handful of the tunes I’ve discovered from his collection would serve as a memorial, a tribute to someone who is missed by many.

Richard Hell and the Voidoids, Betrayal Takes Two

July 15, 2016 by peter

At the time, I’m not sure I played any record more than Richard Hell and the Voidoid’s Blank Generation elpee. There are a bunch of great tunes on it, including a Creedence Clearwater Revival cover(!!!!) that’s both surprising and grooves. But this one is a bit like a folk song, except for the brittle strutting guitar solo in the middle, by the always excellent Robert Quine. I’m not sure what it means, except maybe it’s the other side of the Dark End of the Street.

Hank Williams III, The Devil Within

July 13, 2016 by peter

I’m in love with HWIII when he and his band are rocking the country sound. Was listening to an album the other day that descended into some kind of death metal squawking, which wears thing quickly for me. But this is all day.

Brian Eno, Kurt’s Rejoinder

July 12, 2016 by peter

Those solo records he made in the mid 70s are notebooks of sounds that he gave to Talking Heads, Devo and U2, but they also stand up on their own. This one from Before and After Science comes with a neat video, and like Eno’s other elpees of the period has Phil Collins playing drums, which was probably cool at the time but in retrospect is just a little paradigm shifting.