This track wasn’t released until 1969, two years after Redding died. More brilliant sounds, melding soca rhythms and horns with his own decidedly rustic vocals. It didn’t hit, but it sure sounds like it should have.
Category Archives: I Like This Song
Nirvana, “Breed”
Fug melody. You don’t need it.
But it helps!
More Come, Brand New Vein
This is rock that doesn’t really roll. But it sounds.
My question. This may not top charts, but how can you discount this one?
New York Dolls, Pills
The Bo Diddley original is something of a calypso, but the Dolls don’t bite on that. Their version rocks, and what most impresses in this clip is how hard these guys work the harmonies and the front line attack. That’s music.
While the pumps, and the balance they require, are rock.
Syl’s face paint seems to presage Kiss’s face paint, which Kiss started wearing around the same time. I don’t know the history here.
Is it more likely that Kiss copied the Dolls? Or the Dolls copied Kiss? Remember that the Dolls’ biggest hit was Looking for a Kiss, before Kiss even had a hit.
Here’s the Bo Diddley original:
“New Rock” From CMJ and 1992
The Times art section is full of reviews of bands that played the CMJ music thing a ma bob over the weekend. Throwback lo-fi feedbacky rock with slurred vocals seems to be as much a rage now as it was in 1992
I listened to a song or two by Diet Cig, Destruction Unit, and Weave, without finding anything to talk about.
This tune, by a Toronto band called Dilly Dally, sounds a lot like one of my fave 1992 bands, Come. Twenty three years ago, the plodding rhythm section and the careening guitars, merge with slurred and blurted vocals, to rise up and sound just fine. Nothing exciting here, but this works.
But then, so did Come. And they win.
Hans Condor Finishes Japanese Tour
Posts this on Facebook
I think we’ve posted all the extant Hans Condor songs, so how about some Guitar Wolf, who seem to have brought HC to Japan.
Wow, equally chaotic!
The Spinners, Mighty Love
Reminded of this Philly band today when the Rock ‘n’ Roll HoF nominations were announced. I don’t care about the Hall, but a lot of the music Thom Bell produced in the City of Brotherly Love in the mid-70s is very fine.
Breaking News! Lord Rockingham Ghostwrote Hillary Clinton’s “Hard Choices”
This isn’t really breaking news. This link leads to a story from June 2014, but it’s new to me.
Yes, it seems that the Upper Crust’s Lord Rockingham, an Upper Crust member in 1995 through 1997, wrote Hard Choices
But not Bernie Sanders.
The linked story has some clips, but let’s add one more. h/t to Cindy Brolsma.
As if that’s not enough, there is a surprise Upper Crust documentary, that features plenty of Ted Widmer, aka Lord Rockingham.
I’ve just started it, but, um, it is called Let Them Eat Rock!
Happy Birthday Bruce.
When I was in high school, maybe junior year, a new kid named Robert Ellis moved to town from Cherry Hill New Jersey. I guess we shared a class and became friendly, and one day he came over my house and we spent hours arguing whether Springsteen or the New York Dolls were better. It accrues good will to us that we weren’t arguing between Foghat and REO Speedwagon, these are two of the greatest rock artists of all time in their infancy, but I still remember him saying that the Dolls didn’t even play their own instruments, as if they were the Monkees or something. I loved the Monkees.
Robert was right, the Boss was boss, and I in fact had no problem with Greetings from Asbury Park or the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, except they weren’t the Dolls.
Today, or maybe yesterday, is the Boss’s birthday, and there is a post on Gothamist ranking all of his records. I’m so over that, I didn’t even open it, but it did make me think about the songs that speak to me. Top of the list is Rosalita, which should probably be everybody’s favorite song and lets be done with it. Then these two came to mind:
This is a really early version I’d never seen before!
Totally frightening, never old.
Lightning Bolt, Dracula Mountain at the Unitarian Church of Philadelphia in May 2015
I posted a great video of this tune yesterday, but this one has brighter color and is from just a handful of months ago. It also has a camera dude who is clearly not committed to not rocking.
Before the video, here’s a little of what I learned today about Lightning Bolt. They’ve been playing together for 20 years. They’ve made a number of records. The most recent came out in May 2015. The previous came out in 2009.
Brian the Bass Player has a regular job as a game designer, and worked on Guitar Hero. They live in Providence RI, so maybe he worked with Curt Schilling! Don’t know, but it seems possible.
What’s in My Bag is a show in which musicians go to a store and select stuff, and then talk about what they selected. I can tell from what Lightning Bolt selected that they’re educated and experimental. That’s a little too bad, but maybe that’s why they do what they do so well. Here’s the clip:
But much better yet, here’s more music, from a band that does away with the stage and invites the audience to stand as close as possible to them while they play. Loudly. I’m still blown away.