Seems this simple Casio keyboard contained a preset rhythm track that, some claimed was derived from Eddie Cochran’s Somethin’ Else, or maybe the Sex Pistol’s Anarchy in the UK.
The writer tracks down the musician (a reggae fan) who created it, in 1981, as a rock track, and puts together a long and twisted history of how this single preset ended up being used in hundreds of reggae tunes.
And, it turns out, it was based on a rock song from the 70s, but not Anarchy in the UK. Which one?
I found this Bob Christgau story about seeing Elvis Costello and the Roots a couple of years ago, when their album Wake Up Ghost came out. It’s a fine record, but what made my eyes open was his description of their cover of the Specials Ghost Town.
Here it is.
Sound is crap, but it is sweet. Here’s the original version, which EC produced, and has a lot more air.
These are Australians, but they count. Read it here.
Two of the Australians have a band called the Arcadian, which is a bad name for Googling (there are lots of them), but when I finally found them they’re kind of a stock hardcore band. But they get excited about a record by a band called Frenzel Rhomb, an Australian punky band from the 90s that does-but-doesn’t-overdo the pop punk cuteness on this tune from 1996.
Here’s another one. Good rhythm section.
Entranced by Cowgirl in the Sand and those various guitar sounds, I have to ask what happened when I heard this music back in 1977?
An urban art history version, huh!, of Cowgirl in the Sand, or maybe some other dueling guitar sound songs out of Neil and CSNY, Duane and Dickie, or something way more off kilter.
I love when Tom says, Richie says, let’s dress up like cops and see what we can do. That’s still scary today.
Hmm, now that I started this I’m thinking that Cowgirl is much more like Marquee Moon or The Dream Dreams the Dreamer, from Television’s second album. Whatever. Listen to it all. It’s not my fault.
Playing a Neil Young song on this site is like putting lipstick on a pig. Young is the ultra dude of American rock, the shot of tequila in your eye, the collateral skag, unless he was getting quiet.
Plus, he’s a star. Like Dylan, Joni, and the rest.
But driving to Boston for the feast today I got put in mind of this song, which I typed almost all my college papers to (because the vinyl was longer than the usual pop record).
Sorry, this is mainstream, but these are killer guitars, some of which sound like the guitar I made out of a shoebox when I was in fifth grade. It made sounds, it didn’t endure. But this does.
No. 3 on that list is a goofball tune by two French guys, with a goofball tune and a fun video. Hard not to like. The video, the guys, not the tune.
I was thinking today about how sucky French rock and roll was.
We all love Johnny Hallyday, but he is no Edith Piaf. He is no Charles Aznavour. Edith and Charles have nothing to do with rock, because French is the language of longeurs and triste, and not the language of the hammer, the beat, the job, the drummer.
So, I Googled best French rock songs. The first one listed was not a rock song at all. Typical.
The second one is this one, which is okay. It’s not just a Jack White ripoff, it’s not just a simulation, it sounds of a place and time. Not a great tune, French is not a great language for rock (except for C’est Plan Pour Moi), but it’s growing on me each time I play it.
Electric.
This clip takes some time, but it is hard not to fall in love with Keef, and learn a thing or two about guitar playing, too.
What century are we in? PiL was on that Stephen Colbert show last night. I forget what it’s called. The Tonight Show? Probably not.
I’ve gotten used to seeing Lydon on TV, chubby and stubby and how he used to be missing teeth, but isn’t anymore.
What I never get used to is how electrifying he is when he’s actually singing. This seems to be a crap song about hiring a plumber or something, which doesn’t go right because, well, who knows. The spouse didn’t do it right?
Or maybe it’s about something else entirely, but what matters is that the performance is pretty electrifying, and the sound is huge and, um, unusual for these times. Not nearly as dub as PiL was back in the day, but not punky at all.
And Lydon’s performance, intense and focused and a real performance (he delivers), brings it all home. I’m not arguing the moment is historic, memorable into the future, but it strikes me as a lovely blow against the empire. I’ll take it.
My friend, Seabrook, wrote that book, The Song Machine: Inside the Hit Factory
About five years ago Seabrook started a band with another friend of mine, Homans, and they called themselves the Sequoias, because they were tall. It was a good name.
Last Friday night, the Sequoias played the Bowery Electric. Last time I was there I was seeing the Upper Crust. Of course, the first time I went to Bowery Electric it was to see the Sequoias play at my friend Walker’s 50th birthday party. Back in those days, Walker was the bass player in the band.
I posted about the Sequoias last spring, when they played a show at the Correspondent’s dinner in DC, with Chuck Leavell playing keyboards on Gimme Shelter. They were pretty good that night, as they were at the Century Club around that time, for our friend Susan’s birthday, but the vocals were a bit of a hodge podge.
Last Friday, at the Bowery Electric, they featured a new vocalist, Rebecca Donner, who has a big swooping voice that embraces just about every bit of emotion it can, and squeezes ecstatically. They were also tighter, more rehearsed, and the keyboard man, John Colapinto, stepped up to sing Brand New Cadillac in maximum style, while Ben Dickenson sang some of the night’s rockingest guy vocals, as well as played drums.
So, this link is to an excellent New York Times story that improbably (until you think about it) ran today in the paper of record (and gets every fact as I know them right). Notably, that’s my daughter in the second picture, behind the woman having her book signed.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/19/fashion/sequoias-david-remnick-new-yorker.html?_r=0
There’s a link in the story to a clip of Rebecca singing I’ve been loving you too long. Or you can click this:
https://vimeo.com/145943426
