Category Archives: I Like This Song

Breakfast Blend: Jason Isbell, “Super8 Motel”

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OK, I am not dead, and I apologize for my Remnants absence.

I actually had this great piece all ready to write, back when B.B. King passed away, but aside from a bunch of crazy baseball and football junk to write, we went up to the Lake for a respite. And, I began working on an outline for a long piece about god and life and golf, though I am not sure where it is going.

So, enough cheap excuses.

As a member of the BileTones, I have been turned onto a lot of stuff I did not previously know that well. New Order, Uncle Tupelo, Hayes Carll, and the Drive-By Truckers for instance, are all performers I now really like a lot.

Well, Jason Isbell was a guitar player for the Truckers for eight years, from 2001-2007 and worked on some of my favorite Truckers material from the album A Blessing and a Curse.

Isbell did some solo work, then formed his band, The 400 Unit, in 2009, worked with Neko Case, and in 2013 released the brilliant Southeastern, which features your accompaniment to Sunday Eggs Benedict and a latte (or whatever other virtual chow you choose), Super8 Motel (which is currently a standard part of the Tones setlist).

I mean, even if you are in a Super8 Motel, if you cannot get Eggs Benedict, maybe this song will be a tonic.

The Go Betweens, “Was There Anything I Could Do”

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I came to the Go Betweens backwards. I fell for a band called Stars, from Montreal, in the early aughts, and discovered the Go Betweens through various recommendation engines from there.

The Go Betweens are named after a Joseph Losey movie, which immediately tells you they’re not grinding, but they’re terrific songwriters and a strong band in every way. They are not twee even if they are not hard.

This song gets the call tonight because I just found this charming video, which is perfectly undercutting and musical at the same time.

Rolling Stones, Loving Cup (1969)

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I’m not clear about the origins of this track. It may be Mick Taylor’s audition. It dates from 1969 and what you hear in the left track is Keith. The piano player, most important, is Nicky Hopkins. The guitar in the right track is Mick Taylor.

It’s a great raw version of a great song years before it ended up in a great version on elpee. Can’t get enough…

Black Crowes, Lovin’ Cup

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The Stones’ version is better, but I was in a bar tonight and heard this cover and was so glad someone thought that this great song was worth covering.

I have to say, the biggest difference is Jagger, who knows way more about the way words work and perform.

But even without Jagger and Bobby Keys (who is missed terribly, too) this version is fine. Though maybe more a reminder about how great the Exiles on Main Street performances and mixes are, and how a great song can make a less than great band seem good enough.

Louis Johnson is Dead.

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Louis Johnson was a bass player in the Brothers Johnson, a soul band my cohort made fun of back in the 70s because of the word Johnson.

Louis Johnson ended up being Michael Jackson’s bass player, which was no doubt a lucrative gig that landed him spots on many giant records.

Louis Johnson died this week, at the age of 60, which is frightening for those of us who wish to be immortal.

Now, after the fact, we can see that Louis Johnson added significant bass to a lot of songs. I can’t get past Strawberry Letter #23, which is an old Shuggie Otis song that the Brothers covered, and made a hit of.

Quincy Jones produced the Brothers Johnson’s Strawberry Letter #23, and, of course, produced all of Michael Jackson’s hits. Louis Johnson was there for all of that.

Richard and Linda Thompson, “Wall of Death”

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Different than the metalchoreography. This was from Shoot Out The Lights, my first brush with Richard and Linda Thompson, in 1982. A breakup album, they toured together to support it and I saw them at Lone Star Cafe, when it was on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 13th Street (with the big lizard on the roof). There was palpable negative energy between them on stage, but when I hit the bathroom later they were hanging out by the Asteroids machine and there was the eau d’ herb about. I spent the next few years working slowly through the back catalog, which is uniformly fantastic, while Richard went on the rampage as a solo artist, releasing a lot of music in the 80s. But all starts here.

Breakfast Blend: Wilco (and the BileTones), “Outtasite (Outta Mind)”

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I am a big fan of the Chicago-based band, Wilco, in fact their fantastic Yankee Hotel Foxtrot made my essentials list.

The wonderful thing about Yankee Hotel is that it was recorded when the band was signed to Sony Records, and they delivered the album which Sony determined was “unlistenable,” so the the brains at Sony rejected the disc and released Wilco from their contract.

Undaunted, the band toured, performing songs from the album, looking for a new deal. During their road adventures, the band delivered the same buzz that got them signed in the first place (well, that and they formed out of the terrific Uncle Tupelo so that helped), and suddenly there was a bidding war which was won by Interscope records who gave the band a $200,000 signing bonus.

Yankee Hotel went on to become a critics fave, much to the chagrin of Sony, but the real beauty is that Interscope is owned by Sony, meaning they paid another $200K to be able to release the album they rejected in the first place.

Ah, sweet karma.

But, this tune is from the band’s fine Being There disc, and it totally rocks. In fact, the BileTones are such Wilco fans that we have a half-dozen of their songs on our ever growing set list, and always play two or three per show.

And, of all those songs, Outtasite is a mainstay.

So, first, here is the band killing it on Letterman.

And, for fun, here are the Tones at Raymond’s in Cazadero, Ca, near the Russian River.

Happy Mother’s Day: Lucinda Williams, “Lake Charles”

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OK, this song has nothing to do with Mother’s Day, and it is not particularly upbeat, but, it has great guitar, it is Lucinda, and I figure Gene will love the line “..in a yellow El Camino, listening to Howlin’ Wolf.”

I do love Lucinda (she is in the Chrissie Hynde please walk on me with spiky heels club in my not-so-secret-diary of wishes). Saw her once, long ago, and would be happy to again.

Happy Mother’s Day all!