I was making dinner last night and started thinking for some reason about I Think We’re Alone Now, which is pretty much a perfect piece of pop songwriting art. I was not, by the way, making apple pie.
I put on a Tommy James and the Shondells greatest hits album, and they had many of them. But this is the one that surprised me. I’ve heard it way too many times, but it still sounds old and new, out of control and perfectly modulated, fresh and a part of my history. I’m not arguing it’s better than I Think We’re Alone Now or Crystal Blue Persuasion or even the very lovely Mirage, but this is a very funny and real corner of rock history that deserves some love.
Gene’s post of the Brothers Johnson on Facebook led me to this Rufus with Chaka Khan track, which I adored back in the day when it was new. This is all modulation and anticipation, the beat is slowed and crawling, and Chaka revels in the suspense.
I count this as an example of the most serious and amazing sounds released and people got it. Art and the godhead mix.
When I first heard of today’s terrible events in Paris, I was struck by reports that the terrorists had attacked a death metal concert hall. That seemed strange.
But not as strange, maybe, as the fact that the terrorists attacked a historic concert hall that happened to be hosting the fine and funny band the Eagles of Death Metal. This is something altogether different.
The Eagles of Death Metal are a rock band, but a funny one. They play with the rock. This is different than playing death metal. Alas, today they lived with death metal.
A guy named Brian Borcherdt has taken recordings by the Chipmunks and played them on a turntable that plays at 16 RPM, about one third the usual speed singles are played (and half the speed of elpees). I read about this at Slate.
I loved this tune when I was 12. I bought the 45. What I didn’t know is that on the album, the American Breed covered Allen Toussaint’s Lipstick Traces, a recording that doesn’t seem to be on YouTube. Bend Me Shape Me has a great drum pattern, but the song is really made up of all sorts of hooky elements, like the hand claps and the inserted horns. I’m not sure without the frippery there’s that much there. But pop songs are frippery. Plus this video is a goof.
This tune has always been one of my favorite early Rolling Stones songs. It only appeared on Got Live If You Want It!, where a studio track was overdubbed with screaming girls, until the More Hot Rocks greatest hits album was released. Turns out it was written by Allen Toussaint.
The song was originally released as a B-side to Benny Spellman’s Lipstick Traces (on a cigarette), both tunes credited to Naomi Neville (Toussaint’s nom de pop–and also his mother’s name).
Found this clip from the Love for Levon benefit concert. Allen Toussaint with the Levon Helm Band and Jaimo. A tough version of one of my favorite songs from The Band.
When I was in high school I read a story or stories or stories and references to the legendary Allen Toussaint, who was a major figure in the sound of New Orleans. I remember going to the library and finding a couple of his albums, bringing them home and not getting at all what he was up to. The piano playing was accomplished, but the songs weren’t particularly rockin’ or tuneful. I returned the records, I have no idea which ones they were, and filed Toussaint under overrated.
It wasn’t too much later, however, that I came at New Orleans music from a different angle, a compilation album of tunes from the late 50s and early 60s. All of sudden, reading the fine print, I had the pleasure to discover Toussaint in a different context. Mother in Law and Working in the Coal Mine are novelty tunes, but glorious rockin’ ones at that. Here’s Ernie K Doe’s Mother in Law:
Here’s Devo covering Working in the Coal Mine, which was originally a hit for Lee Dorsey.
The fact is that Toussaint had a long career working with a broad swath of musical talent throughout not only New Orleans’ history but rock’s history as a whole. Alas, he died yesterday, from two heart attacks following a performance in Madrid. You can get more details about his life in this obit at Rolling Stone. A more complete obituary by Ben Sisario is in the New York Times.
I want to call attention to his hugely underrated collaboration with Elvis Costello called The River in Reverse, recorded after Hurricane Katrina devastated Toussaint’s home town. This is a live version of Ascension Day with lots of Toussaint on the piano.
I saw Toussaint in the park near my house a few years ago (turns out to be five). He’s a funny, talkative performer, who worked hard to please the crowd with a set of old hits and newer stuff. I must have been sitting right behind the guy with the camera here, by the way. Sit down!
I read this sad and yet sort of brave story on the subway yesterday. Looked around the car and didn’t see Lemmy (reading Wodehouse!), but there were plenty of young’s.
