Author Archives: Tom Muscarella

Song of the Week – Cool About It, boygenius

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Every December for the past many years, a group of younger people in my family, mainly millenniums, send me their five favorite songs for the year.  I build an anonymous Spotify playlist and share it with the group.  Part of the fun is guessing who selected which songs.  It is a great way for an old geezer like me to keep a finger on the pulse of what younger people are listening to.  But it also prompts me to think about my favorite songs, albums, and artists from the year.

That leads me to boygenius – the “supergroup” that’s made up of Julien Baker, Phoebe Bridgers, and Lucy Dacus – all talented and successful artists in their own right.

They released their first full length album this year called the record.  It is a worthy follow up to their 2018 EP that gave us the first taste of what they could accomplish together.

All three of the group members take their turn with the pen, so it’s hard to choose just one SotW from this fine album, but I’m going with “Cool About It”.

“Cool About It” is a gentle folk song centering on acoustic guitar and banjo.  It would fit nicely on a Simon & Garfunkel album.  The harmonies are stunning.

The lyrics tell the story of the singer meeting up either with an ex or someone she has a crush on, and trying to act like she doesn’t have feelings for him/her.

Met you at the dive bar to go shoot some pool
And make fun of the cowboys with the neck tattoos
Ask you easy questions about work and school

I’m trying to be cool about it
Feelin’ like an absolute fool about it
Wishin’ you were kind enough to be cruel about it
Tellin’ myself I can always do without it
Knowin’ that it probably isn’t true

This song is just a small sample of what boygenius is all about.  And don’t let this one song fool you.  The rest of the album is powerful indie Rock.  Its place on the record takes the role that “Landslide” fills on Fleetwood Mac.  Check out the complete record and this video from their recent appearance on Saturday Night Live.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – What a Way to Die, Pleasure Seekers

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Back on January 18, 2014, I wrote a post called “Pioneering 70s All Women Bands.”  In it, I credited the band Fanny with being the first “self-contained, all women rock band to get a major label deal.”  Well, that may have been true of ‘70s bands, but not 100% accurate.

You see, in the 60s, a Detroit based, all women band called the Pleasure Seekers was formed.  They comprised future rock star Suzi Quatro and her sister Patti, along with Nancy Ball (drums), Mary Lou Ball (guitar), and Diane Baker (piano).  The group looked and acted tough, like the Shangri-Las, but with instruments.  By 1968 the group had landed a deal with Mercury Records and released a couple of singles.

But my favorite is the B-side of the single they released in 1966 on the indie Hideout Records label.  The Hideout was a teen club in Harper Woods, Michigan that also had a record label.  Hideout released records by The Omens, a band that included a young Bob Seger, and the Mushrooms, with Glenn Frey.

“What a Way to Die” is wild, guitar-based garage rock.  The vocals by 15-year-old Suzi are uninhibited, shrieking, and strained – perfectly suited to the song.  Each verse is followed by a cool, little guitar motif.  And it has a familiar, 60s, British Invasion styled ending.

Suzi Quatro would go on to release a slew of albums in the 70s that were much more popular abroad (Europe and Australia) than in the US.  But she gained fame here as an actress, playing the role of Leather Tuscadero in the ABC television series Happy Days.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Female Lead, Honeyglaze

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One of my favorite songs of 2023 is “Female Lead” by Honeyglaze.

Honeyglaze is trio form South London.  Their calling card is quirky, eclectic indie rock.  Take, for instance, today’s SotW – “Female Lead”.  In this hilarious 2 minute pop song, the protagonist (singer Anouska Sokolow) bleaches her hair blonde because she thinks it will make her look like Madonna (or other famous blonde actresses).  But the treatment goes horribly wrong.  The funniest line is that she’s concerned she let her mother down.

I watched my favourite movie
And thought that maybe I could be
Just like the female lead
So I went out to buy some bleach

I put it in my black hair
And waited for an hour
But when I washed it out
Oh, God, I’ve let my mother down

I look nothin’ like Madonna
More like an ’80s horror film
I’ll have to wear a hat
Until my golden hair turns black

Sokolow’s breathy vocals convey how women are under pressure to conform to a certain standard of beauty.  She has said of the song:

“I was overwhelmed by the state of the world during the first lockdown and constantly being surrounded by bad news. It was a time when people were playing with changing their appearance and I felt incapable of writing anything of any actual importance so I decided to write about something as completely arbitrary as dyeing my hair.  I was inspired by the song ‘Leader of the Pack’ by the Shangri-las and the narrative heavy pop songs that were coming out of the Brill building during the 60s.”

“Female Lead” will be on my “best of” song list for 2023.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Through With Buzz, Steely Dan

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As most of you know, I’m a major Steely Dan fan.  How can I prove it?  How about admitting that I really like “Through with Buzz” from Pretzel Logic (1974).

Most Rock critics and fans alike rate it as one of the Dan’s worst songs.  Released as the B-side to the “Pretzel Logic” single, it is very unusual by Steely Dan standards.  First of all, it is their shortest recording, clocking in at about 90 seconds.  That leads to the next criticism – that it doesn’t go anywhere.  How far can you take a song that only lasts a minute and a half?  I’ve never had a problem with short songs.  I once wrote a SotW post about a couple of my favorite short songs (July 11, 2009).

All that said, Walter Becker and Donal Fagen make the most of their limited time.  The short verses – one line each – with the repeated “You know I’m through with Buzz, Yes I’m through with Buzz” conveys the frustration the singer feels toward Buzz.  He’s done, over it!  He can barely say another word to, or about the guy.

If you scour the internet, you’ll find the most common interpretation of the song is that it is about drugs.  But Fagen has been quoted as saying:

“Through With Buzz’ was just about a more-or-less platonic relationship between two young people. There’s nothing really sexual about it until one of the young people in the relationship realizes he’s being used and starts having paranoid fantasies and breaks off the relationship. There’s no symbolism or anything. We never used puns. It’s a very saccharine sounding track with a very cynical lyric. We often do that for an ironic purpose. That is to juxtapose a rather bitter against rather sweet music.”

Another thing that draws me to the song is the band’s use of strings.  “Buzz” is the only song in their catalog to use strings other than “FM”.  But the string arrangement on “Buzz” is so much more interesting.  It is the star of the dish.  It comes across more like a “classical” arrangement you might expect from ELO or from the Beatles on songs like “Eleanor Rigby” and “She’s Leaving Home.”  It’s beautiful.

Give “Buzz” a fresh listen.  I’ll bet you’ll be surprised by how fresh it sounds.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Outrageous, Paul Simon

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Today’s post was written by my friend Julie Chervin.  Julie has a very deep appreciation for good music in a wide variety of styles that she demonstrated in her suggestions for our repertoire when we were in bands together.

Paul Simon wrote “Father and Daughter” as the theme song for the 2002 animated family film The Wild Thornberrys Movie.  At the time, the song was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song, and in 2006 was released in an alternate version on Simon’s album Surprise in 2006.  Surprise reached number 14 on the Billboard 200 and number 4 in the UK, was written with significant collaboration from Brian Eno, and was largely inspired by 9/11, the Iraq invasion and the wars that followed.  Another critical inspiration for the album as a whole was that Simon had turned 60 in 2001.

“Outrageous”, the third cut on the album, was also released as its third single.

While it received some radio airplay, it never reached the pop heights of “Father and Daughter”. A thoughtful, catchy, and playful tune that transitions rhythmically, melodically, and lyrically to carry the listener from an angry “old person’s” rant to a humble appreciation of loving and being loved, is perhaps the track that most explicitly represents Simon’s reflections on aging:

Who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?

Tell me, who’s gonna love you when your looks are gone?

(Instrumental transition)

God will

Like he waters the flowers on your window sill

Take me

I’m an ordinary player in the key of C

And my will 

Was broken by my pride and my vanity

Surprise was heralded as a “comeback” for Simon by some, but so far as this listener is concerned, he never left!  For an even more playful reflection on aging by Simon, also check out “The Afterlife” on the 2011 album So Beautiful or So What. 

Happy Listening!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Now and Then, The Beatles

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Back in 1995, The Beatles released two new singles to promote the release of The Beatles Anthology documentary.  The songs were based on demos that John Lennon had recorded and were provided by Yoko Ono for the rest of the band to complete.  In fact, Ono had provided four songs for The Beatles to consider.  “Free as a Bird” and “Real Love” are the two that were released.  One – “Grow Old With Me” – was set aside because it had already been released on Lennon’s posthumously released Milk and Honey (1984).  The last, called “Now and Then” was started, but shelved due to a technical problem (a 60-Hz mains hum) that the technology of the 20th century couldn’t correct.

Thanks to Peter Jackson, the director and producer of The Beatles: Get Back documentary (2021), and his audio restoration technology, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr were able to complete the song including guitar tracks from the 1995 sessions, by George Harrison.

So, now we have it; the final final song by The Beatles; and it is a worthy ending.

Jackson made a complimentary video that is also “must see” for any Beatles’ fan.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Back Street Girl, The Rolling Stones; Quicksilver Girl, The Steve Miller Band

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Today’s post is the second installment of my recent concept called the Contrast Series.  This time I’ll share my views on “Back Street Girl” by the Rolling Stones and “Quicksilver Girl” by the Steve Miller Band.

Let’s start with “Back Street Girl.”

“Back Street Girl” was on the Stones’ UK version of Between the Buttons (1967).  But in the US it was on Flowers.  Flowers was one of those rip-off albums that compiled Stones tracks that were left off UK studio albums to create an “extra” album here in the US – much like the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today.  But IMHO, the album hangs together pretty well on its own.

Musically, “Back Street Girl” is a sweet little song!  It is basically an acoustic folk number, featuring acoustic guitar, accordion (played by Nick de Caro), and percussion (tambourine) in waltz time.

Lyrically… hmmm.  It fits into the misogynist category of several early Stones’ songs like “Under My Thumb” and “Stupid Girl” among others.  It tells the story of a mistress that Jagger wants to use but not acknowledge.

Please don’t be part of my life
Please keep yourself to yourself
Please don’t you bother my wife
That way you won’t get no help

Please don’t you call me at home
Please don’t come knocking at night
Please never ring on the phone
Your manners are never quite right

Don’t want you part of my world
Just you be my backstreet girl

Pretty harsh!

Let’s take a listen to “Quicksilver Girl.”

It too is a gentle ballad.  This one has an electric guitar and percussion but, like “Back Street Girl”, essentially no drums.  But lyrically, it couldn’t be more different.  In the Steve Miller Band’s song, the quicksilver girl is respected and appreciated for all that she does for her lover.

If you need a little lovin’
She’ll turn on the heat
If you take a fall
She’ll put you back on your feet
If you’re all alone
She’s someone to meet
If you need someone

She’s a quicksilver girl
A lover of the world
She spreads her wings
And she’s free

I don’t know who it was written about, but in my imagination, it was for a woman like the fictional Penny Lane from Almost Famous.  In the memoir called Last Girl Standing (2017), underground, feminist cartoonist, and “Lady of the Canyon”, Trina Robbins claims it was written about a couple of 15-year-old runaways from Sausalito that David Crosby asked her to let crash at her pad for a while.  One of those young ladies, Julia “Girl” Brigden, was later married to David Freiberg of Quicksilver Messenger Service, so it all makes sense.

The song was used in the film “The Big Chill” but, for the life of me, I can’t remember which scene.  Rickie Lee Jones did a nice cover version on her Kicks album (2019).

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Open the Door, See What You Find; High Flying Birds

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Noel and Liam Gallagher are the brothers behind the massive success of Oasis.  Noel wrote the songs and played lead guitar.  Younger brother Liam was the front man on lead vocals.  Much like the Kinks’ Davies brothers, the Gallagher brothers could never get along, so Oasis is no more.

Both have gone on to form new bands – Liam has Beady Eye and Noel, High Flying Birds.  Neither of those groups has ascended the heights of Oasis, but both have produced some fine listening.

Take, for example, “Open the Door, See What You Find” by High Flying Birds.

This track fits the mold of many of Oasis’ greatest hits.  It pays homage to The Beatles and ‘60s psych without sliding into parody.

Last May, Noel told NME:

“Lyrically, the premise is that, at a certain point in your life you look in a mirror and you see all you’ve ever been and all you’re ever going to be,” he explained. “It’s about being happy with that. Being happy with where you are in life, with who you are, and where you’re going. Life is good!”

And to put a little icing on the cake, “Open the Door, See What You Find” features an appearance by The Smiths’ Johnny Marr on guitar!

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – February, Complete Mountain Almanac

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October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  To honor that, today’s SotW is “February” by Complete Mountain Almanac.

Complete Mountain Almanac is the work of Norwegian singer/composer Rebekka Karijord and lyricist Jessica Dessner.  The two met way back in 2006 but it took 10 years for them to reconnect to consider working together.  But the project was sidetracked when, in 2018, Dessner underwent a mastectomy after being diagnosed with breast cancer.  However, they agreed that dealing with Dessner’s condition head on might be therapeutic and stimulate her creativity.

Dessner has said of today’s SotW:

“February is a song that began as a reckoning with the profound physical changes wrought by breast cancer and how they threaten to dismantle every aspect of life, and yet, somehow the spirit rises, remains constant, immutable, a force, like nature.”

Musically, the track displays hints of both classical music and European folk songs.  It has an arpeggiated acoustic guitar and a film score-like orchestration played by the Malmö Symphony Orchestra.  The guitars are played by Dessner’s brothers – twins Aaron and Bryce of The National.  The lyrics are treated beautifully by Karijord.

Near the hunter’s forest
Someone will take apart my body
In order to save me

She went to her great love
Without her body intact
Did he take her in his arms
To love all that was left?

What haven’t I done yet?
Well lived in signs of life
Carried away
Now the signs reads:

“Here she lived, here she is, she’s still here”
“Here she lived, here she is, she’s still here”

February is a very brave and poignant song.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – (Let’s) Get Together, Kingston Trio, Jefferson Airplane, Youngbloods

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Back in the mid-‘60s, a guy named Chet Powers wrote a song called “Let’s Get Together”.  It was originally recorded by the Kingston Trio in 1964 but would become one of the best known “hippie anthems” of the ‘60s.

A version of the song was included on the Jefferson Airplane’s debut album, Jefferson Airplane Takes Off, released in 1966.

But in 1967, the version that is most notable was released by the Youngbloods (featuring Jesse Colin Young) retitled simply “Get Together”.  It was released as a single that year and stalled at #62.  But upon its re-release in 1969, it rose all the way up to the peak chart position of #5.  The popularity of the re-release was tied to the song being used in a PSA for the National Conference of Christians and Jews.  Maybe we need to bring it back again!

Powers was going by the stage name Dino Valenti as a member of the San Francisco’s Quicksilver Messenger Service.  Drug busts landed him in Folsom Prison, so he wasn’t on the band’s first couple of albums until he was able to rejoin in 1970.  While in prison, he needed some cash for his legal defense so in 1966 he sold the rights to “Get Together” to Frank Werber who was the colorful manager (and Holocaust survivor) of the Kingston Trio.  I don’t know if it is true, but I’ve read his price was $100!  Werber’s royalties certainly far exceeded that.  The bad move by Powers brought the whole story full circle.

Enjoy… until next week.