Author Archives: Tom Muscarella

Song of the Week – Young Fathers, Typhoon

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Last week I raved about the new album by Willie Nile, a guy that released his first album 33 years ago in 1980. Today I’d like to turn you onto another new album, but this time by a more contemporary artist – Typhoon.

Typhoon is an 11 piece band out of Portland, OR that is the creative outlet for Kyle Morton and their new album is called White Lighter. The band has previously released another album and an EP.

You can’t really grasp the full impact of the new set without hearing the back story. As I understand it, Morton has suffered very serious illnesses through most of his childhood, including multiple organ failures (he received a kidney transplant) caused by a serious case of Lyme disease that went undiagnosed for a long time.

In interviews and website letters to fans he has often referred to his numerous near-death experiences and how they affected him. These experiences clearly inform many of the songs on White Lighter. But although themes of death run rampant throughout the set, it isn’t without optimism. The large band that includes a string section, a horn section and two drummers is used effectively to convey a positive message in spite of the underlying grief.

My favorite cut is “Young Fathers” – the SotW.

The song begins with a spare acoustic guitar and vocals but soon builds more layers than a wedding cake. They fit together as tightly as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. The intricate arrangements hold your interest because you just can’t predict what’s going to happen next. In that way, this orchestrated pop music reminds me of the best recordings by Sufjan Stevens (Illinoise?).

If your musical taste expands beyond two guitar, bass and drums, 4/4 rock & roll; give this a listen. You won’t be disappointed. The band will be playing the Austin City Limits festival in a couple of weeks. If any of you are attending (and I know some of you are) make sure you go to see Typhoon.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – That’s the Reason & Holy War, Willie Nile

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I’ve been writing the SotW for over 5 ½ years now and have been thinking about selecting a song from Willie Nile’s self titled debut for most of that time. I just never got around to it until today. So why now? The main reason is that he’s reentered my consciousness since he released a new album, American Ride, a few months ago that I’ve been listening to a whole lot. It is very good. Not just for an old timer – it’s good compared to anything currently released! So I’ll include a song from the new album too.

Who is Willie Nile you ask? The New York based Nile first came to my attention when his first album was released in 1980. I heard about it because a Boston based guitarist that I followed, Peter Hoffman, was on the record. Hoffman was also the lead guitarist in Heidi & The Secret Admirers – a band that had a loyal following at Boston’s Elliott Lounge at the time.

Another point of interest for me was that Nile’s band also included Jay Dee Daugherty, the powerful drummer in Patti Smith’s band.

So I gave the Nile record a listen and it turned out to be pretty damned good. The album got very good reviews despite nonexistent promotional support from Arista records.

Nile has a knack for wordplay and storytelling that caused early reviewers to compare him to Dylan and Springsteen. Wikipedia reports: “The New York Times, rock critic Robert Palmer wrote of Nile; ‘Every once in awhile the times seems to produce an artist who is at once an iconoclast and near-perfect expression of contemporary currents. He is one of the best singer-songwriters to emerge from the New York scene in a long time.’” Nice!

His music is very good too. Sometimes it comes on with a force that could measure up to The Clash and at other times is reminiscent of the early rock & roll of Buddy Holly.

In fact the first SotW is “That’s the Reason” the most Holly like song on the album.

But let’s not forget about the new album. You should really listen to the whole thing (several times) on Spotify. It’s a terrific set of rock & roll.

Sometimes picking one song from such a good album is very difficult for me. But choosing a song is easy this week. The news has been filled with 9/11 anniversary remembrances and debate about Syria, terrorists and dysfunction in much of the Middle East. Nile’s new album has an interestingly timely song called “Holy War.”

The song opens with a riff that’s a cross between ELO’s “Fire on High” and Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower.” The lyrics are somewhat simplistic, but they’re so catchy that you have to love them.

God is great but you’re not
You took dead aim, you fired the shot
Killed my brother, thanks a lot
God is great, you’re not.

Nile’s singing voice isn’t the best, but there’s something about his phrasing that often reminds me of The Clash’s Joe Strummer. And it works well to convey his passion.

I was fortunate to see Nile in the Paradise Club in Boston in 1980. At the time I was going through a photography phase and got a bunch of very nice b&w shots of Nile and the band. Unfortunately they’ve long been misplaced.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Houston El Mover, Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns

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Back in the late 70s and early 80s, my college buddy Paul C. was spending a lot of time in New York City checking out new indie bands in the rock clubs. He gave me a copy of the B52s indie release of “Rock Lobster” b/w “52 Girls” at least a half year before their WB debut. (I still have my copy.)

Today’s SotW is “Houston El Mover” by another artist he turned me on to, Tex-Mex musician Joe “King” Carrasco & The Crowns. “Houston El Mover” is a fun party record. It was released during the height of the New Wave in 1981 and was quickly dubbed Nuevo Wavo.

The song uses the Tex-Mex template laid out by other Texan bands like Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs (“Wolly Bully”) and The Sir Douglas Quintet (“She’s About A Mover” and “Mendicino”) — fun loving, R&B based songs driven by a cheesy Farfisa organ sound.

You just can’t keep still when this song is playing.

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The original 45 rpm single “Party Weekend” b/w “Houston El Mover” was financed by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons and helped the band to get early notices. From there they got on a bit of a roll. They earned a record contract, played dates in all of New York’s hottest clubs, did a European tour and were honored with an opportunity to perform on Saturday Night Live. The band even won kudos from the notoriously hard to please pen of Lester Bangs.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Amidinine, Bombino

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I’ve been entertaining the idea to write a post featuring a selection of Tuareg music from the Sahara Desert (e.g. Ali Farka Touré and Tinariwen) for some time now – but I never seem to get around to it.

Then I recently discovered Bombino. Bombino (Omara “Bombino” Moctar) released his third album Nomad this past April. It was produced by Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, adding some discipline to Bombino’s sound without sanitizing or watering down his ethnic roots. In other words, Auerbach polished it up a little for western ears. For instance, many tracks utilize keyboards even though Tuareg desert music traditionally doesn’t.

This is a terrific album that should appeal to anyone that enjoys world music and/or The Black Keys brand of dirty, blues rock. Take, for example, the album’s opener and today’s SotW, “Amidinine.”

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It romps along a bluesy riff with a solid rock beat and purring organ. But the hand claps, guitar solos, native language lyrics and chanted chorus all work together to provide an authentic Tuareg sound.

The entire album is available to stream on Spotify, so you should check it out.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – My Life as a Dog in a Pigsty, The Bitter Springs

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Today’s SotW is by the eccentric British band The Bitter Springs. I had never heard of them until a few weeks ago when I read a review of their latest album, Everyone’s Cup of Tea, in MOJO magazine. It sounded interesting so I listened to it on Spotify.

This band is a hoot. They formed in 1985 as Last Party and changed their name to The Bitter Springs in 1996. Over this period of time they released scores of singles and about a dozen albums. Everyone’s Cup of Tea is their first since 2006, but it’s a double and filled with interesting songs. How this band has escaped me all these years is a puzzlement.

There are many songs from ECOT that I could have chosen for the SotW, but I’ve selected “My Life as a Dog in a Pigsty” for one reason. It contains the funniest lyric I’ve heard in a very long time (at about 2:30 in).

I split up with my fiancée
She caught me in bed with Beyonce
Beyonce was our dog’s name

That was over a year ago
It was so hard to see her go
But the puppies are doing just fine

Sick? Yes. But funny? Hell yes!!!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Don’t Give It Up Now, Lyres

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In Boston, back in the early 70s, Jeff “Monoman” Conolly formed a punk rock band called DMZ. That band was heavily influenced by the 60s garage band sounds that were popularized by Lenny Kaye’s superbly curated Nuggets compilation. After a couple of years, Conolly dropped DMZ and took his garage band strategy up a notch with his next band – Lyres.

Their best song – and today’s Song of the Week – was “Don’t Give It Up Now.”

I remember going to see them at the now defunct Inn Square Men’s Bar in Cambridge, MA with my friend Phil H. in the early 80s. When they played “Don’t Give It Up Now”, the sweat, energy and excitement in the room was palpable; a truly memorable experience
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Their trademark sound comes from Monoman’s hair raising and nearly unintelligible vocals, his Vox Continental organ playing chords with one hand, and his insistent tambourine played with the other. When you add in the vintage sound Danny McCormack draws out of his Danelectro guitar, you’d swear you were listening to an early Kinks cut or something by the 13th Floor Elevators.

Some time ago, when writing about The Only Ones’ “Another Girl, Another Planet” I remarked “… I can honestly say I’ve never turned anyone onto this song that didn’t instantly and for always fall in love with it. It’s that good!” The same can be said about “Don’t Give It Up Now.”

Enjoy… until next week.

Songs of the Week – Here Comes My Baby, The First Cut is the Deepest, If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out, Cat Stevens

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Today’s Songs of the Week are in tribute to Cat Stevens. Everybody already knows his career highlights including his massive selling early 70s albums Tea for the Tillerman, Teaser and the Firecat, and Catch Bull at Four and his late 70s repudiation of the music business and conversion to Islam.

But today I’d like to focus on the earlier part of his career when he was a songwriter in the UK and had not yet broken through in the U.S. I was surprised to learn that a couple of my favorite British pop songs from the late 60s were written by a pre-fame Stevens. You may be surprised too.

The first is “Here Comes My Baby” by the Tremeloes.

This version of “Here Comes My Baby” reached #14 on the Billboard charts in 1967. It’s such an upbeat song that brings an irresistible smile to my face. It also has the added sentimental value of reminding me of some wonderful hours shared with my toddler daughter, hunting for vinyl records at yard sales and listening to the local Boston oldies station. The hip, Hoboken, NJ, band Yo La Tengo recorded a version for their 1990 covers album, Fakebook.

Stevens also wrote the classic “The First Cut is the Deepest”. The version I’m presenting is the one by P.P. Arnold that reached #18 on the UK charts.

P.P. Arnold was an American soul singer that moved to the UK to try her hand in the business there. She scored one of her biggest hits with “First Cut…” But how could she go wrong with such a great song? I’ll bet most of you are thinking “isn’t that Rod Stewart’s song.” Yes, he also recorded an outstanding 1977 hit version that I enjoy every time I hear it. In fact, this song has the rare distinction of having hit versions recorded by 4 different artists. The other two were by Keith Hampshire (1973) and Sheryl Crow (2003).

Finally, I can’t resist sharing Stevens’ own “If You Want to Sing Out, Sing Out” from the soundtrack of one of my all time Top 10 Movies – Harold and Maude. (Cat Stevens’ version starts at about 2:00.)

The movie is a sweet story about an older woman that teaches a young man about joie de vivre. This simple little Stevens ditty perfectly captures the spirit of the film. If you’ve never seen it, you MUST check it out.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Care of Cell 44 and This Will Be Our Year, The Zombies

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The story behind the UK band The Zombies is an important slice of rock history.

The group was led by keyboard player and songwriter Rod Argent and had a “signature sound” thanks in large part to the breathy vocals of Colin Blunstone. They enjoyed early chart success during the Beatles’ inspired British Invasion in 1964-65 with the hits “She’s Not There” (US #2) and “Tell Her No” (US #6). Check out this video of their early ’65 appearance on TV:

Follow up releases failed to meet with the same success as these initial recordings but the band soldiered on.

In mid ’67, they followed The Beatles – who had just finished recording Sgt Pepper – into Abbey Road studios to begin recording their next LP. Legend has it that they arrived at Abbey Road only to find Beatles’ recording engineer, Geoff Emerick, dismantling the multi channel tape decks he had jury rigged for the Sgt Pepper sessions. The Zombies persuaded him to leave the set up behind for their use.

The end result was Odessey & Oracle. But initially it received little notice in the UK and wasn’t even scheduled for release in the US. CBS in the US only released it after Al Kooper “discovered” the album in the UK and talked them into it. By this time the band had become discouraged and decided to break up. Soon after, US radio stations began to play “Time of the Season” and it reached #3 in the spring of 1969.

Over time, Odessey & Oracle has become recognized as a psych pop classic. Rolling Stone ranked it at #100 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. The record is also included in MOJO’s collection of The Greatest Albums of All Time. Clearly then, it is much deeper than “Time of the Season”. Let me prove it to you.

The album opens with “Care of Cell 44”, the most cheerful pop song ever written about someone’s lover being released from prison. (“You can tell me about your prison stay…”, “Feels so good, you’re coming home soon…”)

They group gives The Beach Boys a run for their money on the “Good Vibrations” era multi-part harmony.

“This Will Be Our Year” sounds like a lost McCartney tune.

It has a wonderful, clever melody. It begins as a simple piano based ditty but then the horns come in and you can easily imagine it as a Magical Mystery Tour outtake. The lyric is sweet and innocent:

And I won’t forget the way you held me up when I was down
And I won’t forget the way you said, “Darling I love you”
You gave me faith to go on

It’s amazing to me how much sentiment can be packed into a 2 minute pop song!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Buena, Morphine

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I’ve long been a fan of Mark Sandman’s music. In fact, several years ago I chose his band Treat Her Right’s “I Think She Likes Me” as a SotW. So when I heard that Sandman was the subject of a documentary movie I couldn’t wait to see it. Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story finally debuted in 2011 to a very limited theatrical release. I tried hard to keep tabs on when and where it might be showing in the Bay area, but missed it (if it even hit the screens here).

It’s still not available to stream on Netflix (I don’t use their DVD service), but I recently learned it’s available on iTunes. I finally got to see it and it’s pretty good – at least if you’re a Sandman/Morphine fan.

The Sandman story sits among the most tragic in rock history. Here’s the thumbnail.

Sandman grew up in Newton, MA (a Boston suburb), the oldest of 4 children. He was never the conventional child his parents hoped he would be. After HS, they gave him 3 choices – get a job, got to college, or just go. He left home the next day amidst a snowstorm and went on to do extensive world travel. He took interesting jobs (a fisherman off the Alaska coast), worked on his music and learned several languages.

Boston always remained home and he eventually worked his way back and began to focus on playing in bands. But two tragic events were still ahead of him. He lost his two brothers to untimely deaths — Roger from an unusual illness, and Jon from an unexplained fall from a window. All of his life experiences influenced his music, so let’s discuss that.

Morphine was Sandman’s main focus from 1989 to 1999. The band is commonly acknowledged for having one of the most unusual and interesting instrument line ups in the history of rock music. Sandman played a two string, slide bass. Dana Colley was on baritone sax and Jerome Deupree and Billy Conway played drums at various stages of the group’s career. That’s right – the band devised their now famous sound with just bass, bari sax and drums!

My pick for the SotW is “Buena” from Morphine’s second album, Cure For Pain. Although it is one of the more well known songs to serious Morphine fans, it’s probably still unfamiliar to many of you. More importantly, it is the perfect specimen of the trademark Morphine “low rock” sound (that’s how Sandman described it).

In another tragic turn, Sandman died of a massive heart attack, while performing on stage in Palestrina, Italy. Now that’s a rock ‘n roll death! And I mean that most respectfully. Morphine ceased to exist that day.

Enjoy… until next week.

101 Essential Rock Records

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101bookProductShot_newA new coffee table book was published a few months ago that is great reading for rock music lovers — especially if you also happen to be a vinyl record collector (I am). With all of our recent posts on theme of “lists”, it seemed like a good call to tell you about 101 Essential Rock Records by Jeff Gold.

The book lists its picks for essential records in chronological order — starting with The Beatles and ending with The Sex Pistols. It makes the argument that the advent of the Sony Walkman in the late 70’s marked the beginning of the decline of vinyl records, so the list stops there.

Gold also says that it would cost about $125k to collect all of these records. That seems high to me (an average of more than $1,000 each!) but he could be right if he’s insisting that they all be near mint, first issue copies.

Anyway, here’s the list:

1. The Beatles – Please Please Me
2. Bob Dylan – The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
3. The Rolling Stones – The Rolling Stones
4. Bob Dylan – Another Side of Bob Dylan
5. Davy Graham – Folk Blues & Beyond…
6. Them – Angry Young Them
7. The Byrds – Mr. Tambourine Man
8. Bob Dylan – Highway 61 Revisited
9. The Who – My Generation
10. Simon & Garfunkel – Sounds of Silence
11. The Rolling Stones – Aftermath
12. The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds
13. Bob Dylan – Blonde On Blonde
14. The Mothers of Invention – Freak Out!
15. Yardbirds – Yardbirds
16. John Mayall with Eric Clapton – Blues Breakers
17. The Butterfield Blues Band – East West
18. The Beatles – Revolver
19. Jefferson Airplane – Takes Off
20. The Kinks – Face to Face
21. The 13th Floor Elevators – The Psychedelic Sounds Of
22. Laura Nyro – More Than A New Discovery
23. The Doors – The Doors
24. Jefferson Airplane – Surrealistic Pillow
25. The Velvet Underground & Nico – The Velvet Underground
26. Grateful Dead – Grateful Dead
27. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Are You Experienced?
28. The Beatles – Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
29. Moby Grape – Moby Grape
30. Tim Buckley – Goodbye and Hello
31. Pink Floyd – The Piper At The Gates of Dawn
32. Buffalo Springfield – Again
33. Love – Forever Changes
34. Cream – Disraeli Gears
35. Traffic – Mr. Fantasy
36. The Who – The Who Sell Out
37. Leonard Cohen – Songs of Leonard Cohen
38. The Velvet Underground – White Light/White Heat
39. Fleetwood Mac – Fleetwood Mac
40. The Incredible String Band – The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter
41. The Zombies – Odessey & Oracle
42. Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake
43. The Band – Music From The Big Pink
44. Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun
45. Jeff Beck – Truth
46. Big Brother & The Holding Company – Cheap Thrills
47. The Byrds – Sweetheart of the Rodeo
48. The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland
49. Van Morrison – Astral Weeks
50. The Beatles – The Beatles (White Album)
51. The Pretty Things – S.F. Sorrow
52. The Pentangle – Sweet Child
53. The Soft Machine – The Soft Machine
54. Creedence Clearwater Revival – Bayou Country
55. Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin
56. The Flying Burrito Bros. – The Gilded Palace of Sin
57. MC5 – Kick Out The Jams
58. Sly And The Family Stand – Stand!
59. Neil Young With Crazy Horse – Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
60. Alexander Spence – Oar
61. The Who – Tommy
62. Crosby, Stills & Nash – Crosby, Stills & Nash
63. Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band – Trout Mask Replica
64. Blind Faith – Blind Faith
65. Jethro Tull – Stand Up
66. The Stooges – The Stooges
67. Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left
68. King Crimson – In The Court of The Crimson King
69. Vashti Bunyan – Just Another Diamond Day
70. Fairport Convention – Liege & Leaf
71. The Move – Shazam
72. James Taylor – Sweet Baby James
73. Black Sabbath – Black Sabbath
74. Emerson Lake & Palmer – Emerson Lake & Palmer
75. David Bowie – The Man Who Sold The World
76. Cat Stevens – Tea For The Tillerman
77. Carole King – Tapestry
78. Can – Tago Mago
79. Yes – The Yes Album
80. Joni Mitchell – Blue
81. The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East
82. Genesis – Nursery Cryme
83. Faust – Faust
84. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main St.
85. David Bowie – The Rise And Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars
86. Pink Floyd – The Dark Side of the Moon
87. Roxy Music – For Your Pleasure
88. Iggy And The Stooges – Raw Power
89. New York Dolls – New York Dolls
90. Big Star – #1 Record
91. Kraftwerk – Autobahn
92. Bruce Springsteen – Born To Run
93. Patti Smith – Horses
94. Ramones – Ramones
95. The Modern Lovers – The Modern Lovers
96. AC/DC – Dirty Deeds Done Cheap
97. Fleetwood Mac – Rumors
98. The Damned – The Damned
99. The Clash – The Clash
100. Talking Heads – Talking Heads: 77
101. Sex Pistols – Never Mind The Bollocks Here’s The Sex Pistols