Author Archives: Tom Muscarella

Song of the Week – Dirty Lie, Secret Sisters

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The Secret Sisters are the duo of real life sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers. They began singing together as children in Alabama, but only pursued a career in music together about five years ago. But they’ve had a charmed career since their discovery. They’ve been championed by T-Bone Burnett, cut a 7” single with Jack White on guitar (“Big River” b/w “Wabash Cannonball”) and contributed to the soundtrack of The Hunger Games.

A couple of months ago they released their second album – Put Your Needle Down – an eclectic set of country, folk and Americana. It was produced by T-Bone, so you know it’s got to be pretty good.

Today’s SotW is the song called “Dirty Lie.” It was written by Bob Dylan and demoed on his May, 1984 Verona Rehearsal tape but never properly recorded or released.

Rolling Stone reported how this song came to the Secret Sisters:

“We were in the middle of our recording session with T Bone and he said to us, ‘Bob sent over some songs for you guys to listen to and choose one to finish,'” Laura recalls. “It was the weirdest thing ever to even be considered to finish it in a way that even remotely measures up to what he is known for. So we looked at four or five demos he’d sent, and [‘Dirty Lie’] really spoke to us.”

In the hands of the Sisters, “Dirty Lie” takes on a whiskey soaked, jazzy vibe. It also shows off their unique vocal style. Add the quirky guitar work of Marc Ribot (known best for his contributions to Tom Waits’ classics such as Rain Dogs) and the result is something very special.

Here’s what the Dylan demo sounds like.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – We Used To Know, Jethro Tull

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Have you been following the controversy in the news regarding Eagles’ Don Henley’s hissy fit over Frank Ocean and Okkervil River having the nerve to tamper with his classics, “Hotel California” and “The End of the Innocence?” Basically, he doesn’t like that Ocean used the music of “Hotel” for his rap called “American Wedding” and that Will Sheff of Okkervil changed/added lyrics to his cover of “Innocence.”

For a little more color read this Rolling Stone article.

Yeah, I know, Henley’s on solid legal turf… but that doesn’t make him any less of a dick. He should have granted Ocean the rights to do his rap. And god forbid Neff should reinterpret his song with a different lyrical twist! Really! Sinatra was famous for changing the lyrics to some of the most carefully crafted lyrics in the great American songbook. Those lyricists may have been mortified privately, but I doubt any tried to stop him from releasing their songs.

But here’s the issue that really sticks in my craw. In June of 1972, Jethro Tull supported Eagles on a tour through the Northwest and Texas. This would have been well in advance of Henley writing “Hotel California” which was released at the end of 1976. One of the songs Tull played in their set was “We Used To Know” from the album Stand Up. That’s today’s SotW.

Sound familiar? Alright then.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that Henley intentionally plagiarized Tull. In fact, even Ian Anderson won’t go there. The point is that there are only so many chord progressions you can come up with before a song you’ve written starts to sound like something else. Henley shouldn’t be so high and mighty about other artists need “to come up with his own ideas and stop stealing stuff from already established works.”

It’s time for Henley to chill out and get back in touch with that famous southern California mellow vibe.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Tell Me Your Plans and Empty Ever After, The Shirts

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I believe in trusting my instincts and following the subtle signals we receive from the cosmos. I know, it sounds hokey but when unrelated events line up you have to wonder why and trust there is a reason.

Let me explain how I came to choose today’s SotW.

Blondie has been all over the media lately. They got a recent cover story in MOJO (May 2014) and took a rare musical spot on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (May 14th). This got me thinking about Blondie’s roots as an act at CBGB’s along with the other bands commonly associated with the club. Some had very successful careers (The Ramones, Talking Heads, Patti Smith) others a little less so (Television and Mink Deville) and yet others were merely a footnote – like The Shirts.

So I began to think that maybe a song by The Shirts would be a good SotW candidate, especially since their brand of power pop was closer to Blondie than the edgier rock of most of those other bands.

But here’s the kicker that caused me to pull the trigger. I just received an email from Netflix announcing that the 13 episode season two of Orange is the new Black is now available for viewing. Bingo, the light went on! Annie Golden, the lead singer for The Shirts, played the character of the “mute” Norma in season one. That locked it.

Today’s SotW is “Tell Me Your Plans” from their 1978 debut album.

“Tell Me Your Plans” was a surprise hit in Europe but received little notice here in the States.

For an example of the band’s harder rock sound, check out “Empty Ever After.”

The Shirts were based out of Brooklyn. Several of the Italian American bandmates were cousins – kind of a neighborhood band – and preferred that the band’s name be pronounced with a heavy Brooklyn accent — The “Shoits” (think John Travolta’s Tony Manero character in Saturday Night Fever).

The Shirts was produced by Mike Thorne who may have formed relationships with the CBGB acts when he was hired to work on Wire’s Live at CBGB Theatre, New York – July 18th 1978. It has his trademark sound that graces quite a few other great albums including Wire’s Pink Flag, ‘Til Tuesday’s Voices Carry, and Human Sexual Response’s In A Roman Mood.

After releasing a couple more albums The Shirts dissolved in 1981.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week Revisited – Carnival of Life, Lee Michaels

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Since we’re on a roll with Lee Michaels’ posts, I thought I’d resubmit a SotW I originally wrote in November 2012 for the email distribution list I had prior to joining this blog.

Does anyone remember Lee Michaels? If you do, it’s probably either from his very good third album Lee Michaels (recorded live in the studio accompanied only by his hefty drummer, Frosty) or his top 10 hit, “Do You Know What I Mean”, from “5th”.

But I fell in love with his 1968 debut Carnival of Life through an introduction I remember fondly. My 7th grade best friend, Mark P., had a much older brother that was attending Manhattan College in New York City. Albert had his own car with an 8-Track tape deck in it… and very good taste in music. He also liked to drive, and gas was cheap, so now and then he would take Mark and me on long rides to nowhere, just cruising and listening to tunes.

It’s where I first heard Zappa’s Freak Out, The Band’s Music From Big Pink, and The Who’s Tommy. Not bad. And though Carnival of Life isn’t nearly as “important” as those albums (nor has it aged as gracefully), it still holds a warm place in my musical memory. That aside, it is still a pretty rare record that commands a decent price in psych record collecting circles. (Check out the prices they want for the CD on Amazon!)

So let’s give a listen to the title track, “Carnival of Life.”

On this song Michaels plays his trademark Hammond organ and harpsichord. But I chose this cut because it also includes some pretty nifty guitar work by Hamilton W. Watt.

So where is Michaels now? If you really want to know, check out his wacko personal web site:

Lee Michaels Home Page

Enjoy… until next Saturday.

Song of the Week – Had to Hear, Real Estate

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One of my favorite albums of 2014 (so far) is Atlas by Real Estate. The 5 piece band was formed in New Jersey in 2008, but is now based in the latest hipster, indie rock mecca, Brooklyn.

The first single from the album was “Talking Backwards” but today’s SotW is the record’s opener – “Had to Hear.”

The most prominent feature of the song, obvious right out of the gate in its intro, is the jangly guitar strumming of vocalist/songwriter Martin Courtney and the simple, shimmering lead fills by Matt Mondanile. REM took it from the Byrds into the 80s and Real Estate has nudged it a little farther into the 21st century.

This music evokes a rural southern longing (though the band doesn’t have southern roots). It ambles along — steady rhythm, precisely arranged and played with mellow, intimate, softly sung vocals. If you like The Shins you’ll probably like Real Estate.

I had to hear you just to feel near you

I don’t need the horizon to tell me where the sky ends
It’s a subtle landscape where I come from

Courtney seems to be using the metaphor of physical distance to deny the need to hear his lover’s voice.

This is a lovely album of Americana. Other songs worth hearing are “Past Lives”, “The Bend”, “Crime”, “Horizon” and the instrumental “April’s Song” (which sounds a little to me like Human Sexual Response’s “Andy Fell”). Check out the whole record on Spotify. You won’t be disappointed.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Ana Ng, They Might Be Giants

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They Might Be Giants is one of my favorite “novelty” bands, right up there with The Bonzo Dog Band. TMBG is made up of two Johns, Flansburgh and Linnell, that grew up together in Lincoln, MA. They attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, whose alumni also include Mike Gordon of Phish and comedian Paula Poundstone (not to mention my brothers-in-law).

They went their separate ways after HS, but reunited in Brooklyn post grad and began making music again. Their creative shows and clever marketing brought them to the attention of the Hoboken, NJ based indie label Bar/None (home to Yo La Tengo and The Feelies) who gave them a recording contract and released their first two albums – They Might Be Giants and Lincoln.

Those two albums and their third, Flood, produced a bunch of their best songs including “Don’t Let’s Start”, “Purple Toupee”, “They’ll Need a Crane”, “Santa’s Beard” (which my bandmates and I have played at holiday parties), “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Particle Man.”

My choice for the SotW is “Ana Ng.”

This song is way too much fun for a bunch of reasons. The lyrics tell the story of a guy who’s thinking about that one person that was put on this earth just for him – except that she lives on the other side of the world in Viet Nam.

My apartment looks upside down from there
Water spirals the wrong way out the sink
And her voice is a backwards record
It’s like a whirlpool, and it never ends

Then there’s the way TMBG tie in their obsession with the NY World’s Fair (the site upon which they filmed the video for their first single “Don’t Let’s Start”) with the global theme of the song and the connection to Disney’s “It’s a Small World” that debuted at said Fair.

All alone at the ’64 World’s Fair
Eighty dolls yelling “Small girl after all”
Who was at the DuPont Pavilion?
Why was the bench still warm? Who had been there?

But for me, one of the best reasons this song is so special is the playful vowel sound phonetics of the chorus:

Ana Ng and I are getting old

If you know this song you know exactly what I’m saying. If you’re hearing it for the first time you’ll pick up on it immediately. Very clever.

And how can you not love a rock band that uses an accordion as one of its primary instruments!

They’re a blast to see live too. Everyone in the audience seems to know the words to all their wacky songs, giving the concert a playful, party feel.

TMBG had further success, winning a Grammy in 2002 for the theme song they wrote for Malcolm in the Middle, “The Boss of Me.” They also wrote the theme song for Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

Starting around 2005 the guys have been focusing most of their energies toward recording children’s records. (One of them, Here Come The 1 2 3s, earned them a second Grammy.) If I still had small children they’d be listening to TMBG, not Barney or Raffi.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Skokiaan – Kermit Ruffin, Lupita – The Iguanas, Java – Allen Toussaint, I Walk On Gilded Splinters – Dr. John

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A few weeks ago I went to New Orleans for their annual Jazz Fest. Although I’ve been to the Crescent City several times before it’s been a good 15 years since my last visit – long overdue.

I must be honest, at the Jazz Fest itself I didn’t get to hear as much local music as I had hoped. I arrived a little late each day and then focused my attention on the major acts on the big (Accura) stage where a couple of my favorites were performing – Springsteen and Arcade Fire. Both did terrific sets.

But the festival ends early (7 PM) each day and that provides ample opportunity to go out to the clubs to hear more good music. One night we went to the Rock ‘n’ Bowl where we saw Kermit Ruffin (a local legend and star on HBO’s hit series Treme) as the opening act.

Next on was another New Orleans band, The Iguanas.

The Iguanas sound like Los Lobos relocated to New Orleans, especially their emphasis on Spanish language folk songs and Latin rhythms… and that ain’t bad.

Another night we had tickets to see the Dr. John Tribute Concert. This one night only performance featured a “who’s who” of New Orleans musician royalty (Dirty Dozen Horns, Chief Monk Boudreaux, Cyril Neville, Irma Thomas) and a long list of other prominent rock & R&B stars (Warren Haynes, John Fogarty, Mavis Staples, Jimmie Vaughn, Chuck Leavell) too. (Gregg Allman and Lucinda Williams were no-shows.) Don Was acted as the musical director.

Springsteen made a surprise appearance and opened the festivities on “Right Place, Wrong Time” – the good Dr. accompanying him on piano. Allen Toussaint performed his own song of “Life”, a version of which Dr. John released on his In the Right Place album.

Here’s Toussaint’s instrumental “Java” made famous by Al Hirt with a Grammy award winning hit (#4, 1963). The Toussaint original recording comes off a very rare album from 1958 that I have a copy of called The Wild Sound of New Orleans (credited simply to Tousan).

Dr. John closed out the set, playing piano and singing on a few of his most well-known songs. My favorite was “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” from his classic Gris Gris album. Sarah Morrow did a trombone solo that was as swampy and spooky as the original Gris Gris recording here.

The concert was filmed and will come out on DVD later this year. When it does, be sure to check it out.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Living on the Coast, The Rise of Heart, Judie Tzuke

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Today’s SotW was written by guest contributor Gil Roeder. Gil is a guitarist/songwriter and a member of Rockridge Station. He has also written about music professionally. When he’s not focused on his musical interests he holds down a day job!

Sure, sure … finding your lifetime partner and significant other can bring love and happiness, companionship, children, emotional support, etc. etc. All wonderful stuff, but let’s not overlook one of the great benefits of entering into a long-term romantic relationship: combining music collections!

Today, I suppose, this is a routine Bluetooth or Thunderbolt file exchange for most couples. But back in the vinyl era, a significant ritual in the progression of a serious relationship was sitting on the floor of your new shared home, sifting through each other’s crates of records to cull the duplicates (“let’s see, your copy of Rumors is in better condition, my copy of Sticky Fingers has the original Andy Warhol zipper on the cover”), and discovering the quirks in your S.O.’s musical tastes.

When my future wife and I first set up house together, I came across a 1980 album in her pile by the British singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke, called Sportscar. I was immediately smitten: Tzuke’s belting vocal style and inventive rhythms and harmonies set her apart from many mainstream female artists of the time. Our SotW features two cuts from that album.

“Living on the Coast” portrays a recent migrant to (presumably) Southern California, basking in the sunshine and sea breeze while aching with loneliness:

Living on the coast
You see no one beyond the waterline
You make yourself feel better
By breathing in the air

The arrangement seems inspired by contemporaneous Steely Dan records (Aja, Gaucho), with a catchy bass-keyboard interchange, jazzy 11th and 13th chords over abrupt rhythmic transitions, and serpentine guitar fills.

“The Rise of Heart” is a better showcase for Tzuke’s voice.

Her powerful upper range and steady, vibrato-less fermatas at times resemble Rickie Lee Jones. Her band shines here, with a delicate bass riff that gets picked up by the guitar, a dramatic keyboard countermelody in the chorus and an intelligent guitar solo by Mike Paxman that is straight from the Larry Carlton school of jazz-rock.

Tzuke’s story illustrates how important luck and timing were in the star-making machinery of that era. After modest success in the British pop charts with her initial albums and singles, she got her big break — signing with Elton John’s Rocket record label and opening for him on his 1980 U.S. tour. From all accounts, confirmed by YouTube clips of her live performances around that time, she seized the moment and killed on stage. The high point was playing to half a million people in New York’s Central Park.

But the machinations of the recording industry conspired against Tzuke. Elton John had switched U.S. distributors just before the tour. According to her web site, “MCA consequently decided to stop all tour support and promotion for the acts on the Rocket label, which meant that Judie was playing to huge audiences … but no-one knew who she was and her records were not available in the shops.” Despite a quick fade to obscurity, she has continued to self-produce albums and tour the U.K. to this day, sometimes with her two musician daughters.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Black Magic Woman, Fleetwood Mac & Gypsy Queen, Gabor Szabo

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Santana’s most commercially successful album was probably Abraxas. Released in 1970 it contained three of the band’s best known songs – “Oye Como Va”, “Hope You’re Feeling Better” and “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen.” Released in September 1970, the album reached #1 on the Billboard album charts – no doubt benefiting from the March 1970 release of the Woodstock movie where their incendiary performance of “Soul Sacrifice” was a highlight of the film.

“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” was not an original composition. In fact, it was a combination of two covers that are today’s Songs of the Week.

“Black Magic Woman” was originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac. Not the Bob Welch (Bare Trees, Mystery to Me) version or the Buckingham/Nicks (Fleetwood Mac, Rumours) version, but the Peter Green led band.

Peter Green was a blues guitar virtuoso that replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. When his stint with Mayall had run its course, he formed the original Fleetwood Mac. “Black Magic Woman” was the first single from their 1968 debut.

“Gypsy Queen” was originally recorded by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo.

The Santana version follows the Szabo template very closely and signaled that Santana would soon be led into a more jazz influenced direction later in his career. Santana’s style is a bit “heavier” and more Latin influenced, but the guitar riffs are near identical.

Although I almost always favor the version of a song that I heard (and loved) first, it’s always interesting to hear the originals. Don’t you think?

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Who Needs You , The Orwells

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The Orwells are a bunch of 5 teenage high school friends from Chicago that have earned a decent amount of recognition on the indie rock circuit. They’ve been featured on two of my favorite music blogs, aquariumdrunkard.com and rollogrady.com, and also at webzine pitchfork.com.

They appeared on Late Night with David Letterman in January and generated a swarm of social media buzz (you can read about it here – Rolling Stone – The Orwells on Letterman) with their over the top performance of the title track of their latest EP, “Who Needs You.”

I have to admit I have a soft spot in my heart for a bunch of kids that don’t give a damn what people think about them. Their only incentive is to have a good time playing their hearts out… and maybe meet a few girls and drink some beer.

Yeah, these tunes are lo-fi. But it’s only rock and roll, and I like it.

Enjoy… until next week.