Found this earlier today and can’t get its ferociousness out of my head.
Category Archives: I Like This Song
Night Music: Temple of the Dog, “Hunger Strike”
This is another tune that was on the birthday disc Lindsay burned for me in October.
As I listened, I kept thinking “man this sounds like Eddie Vedder.”
In fact on Christmas Day this year, we were sitting in the living room at Lindsay’s parents’ home (with Lindsay’s shuffle plugged in, of course) and Hunger Strike played and we both agreed it really did sound like Vedder.
Well, that is because it is Vedder.
Temple of the Dog were indeed a grunge band who released one disc in 1991, with Vedder, Mike McCReady, and Matt Cameron, Stone Gossard, and Jeff Ament–who would collectively release big disc, 10, as Pearl Jam a year later–along with Soundgarden core Chris Cornell.
The album was a tribute to the late Andrew Wood, singer for Mother Love Bone out of whom Temple of the Dog was born, and then the evolution completed with Pearl Jam or Soundgarden, depending upon who you were and where you went.
As with the best of Pearl Jam, I would call this song haunting. And, I know there are those who really dislike PJ, and well, likes are subjective. I happen to really like them. If nothing else they are excellent musicians and songwriters, even if not your cup of tea.
Night Music: Ann Peebles, “I’m Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”
Room by room by room.
I came to this from the Graham Parker cover, but as hot as that is, Ann Peebles brings a Dusty-like chill to the anger that makes it feel even more destructive. And more perfect, too, one for the pantheon. (I’d like to see a cage match between this and Heard It Through the Grapevine, not because Playhouse would win, but because both are the pinnacle.)
Night Music: Garland Jeffreys, “Wild in the Streets”
Feels like a million years since I posted one of these, when in reality it has only been a couple of weeks. But, travel and work and all that life shit kept me distracted and out of my groove.
However, during that hiatus, I remembered this great Garland Jeffreys cut from his 1977 album, Ghost Writer. I bought the vinyl when it came out (of course still have it) on the strength of both this song and the other tune on the disc that got radio play, 35 Millimeter Dreams.
But, I will save posting that tune for another day, for I have a fun theme idea for it.
I do understand that the Circle Jerks covered Wild in the Streets which is great, cos it is a terrific little cut. Note, if you are a fan of The Boss, there is also a YOUTUBE of a live version of the song with Springsteen playing along (it was part of a benefit for Parkinson’s Disease).
However, this version, with Jeffreys’ original band totally cranks.
Night Music: Alabama Shakes, “Hold On”
I almost feel like a foolish old man putting this clip up.
I kept hearing this song on KTKE and I kept thinking it was really old Jack White and White Stripes.
So, I ask Lindsay a few months back if she knows Hold On by Alabama Shakes when I discover the truth about its source, and she says, rather nonchalantly, “oh, that got some airplay about a year ago.”
But, this song sticks with you. Steve, I know you are not in favor of geeky bespectacled women singers (I personally dig women who wear glasses) but this song builds really well.
There is another clip from Austin City Limits a few months after this appearance where Brittany, the lead singer is playing a Gibson SG.
Either way, I really love this song. I keep humming it to myself (along with Dig for Fire) lately.
Movie Time: Not Fade Away
After David Chase stopped making The Sopranos he made the movie we would all, in some way, like to make. How did we get sucked into the rock ‘n’ roll wheel? How much sex did we have or not have because of that?
And what can we change now?
I’m watching Chase’s movie “Not Fade Away” and he includes this clip of the Rolling Stones, which in the movie is intercut with James Gandolfini and high school girls to good effect.
Okay, back to the movie.
Night Music: Jesus and Mary Chain, “Just Like Honey”
We (I) hated Jesus and Mary Chain when they came out. They seemed then more derivative of good stuff than, hmmm, Joe Jackson. But that was wrong.
Jesus and Mary Chain didn’t always make great songs, but often did, and always made a sound that you couldn’t help but like. It was a sound that had listened to all of rock history, and most importantly didn’t forget the Crystals and Suicide and the Clash (though the Ramones are in there too).
Night Music: Brenda Lee (with Jimmy Page), “Is It True?”
With the holidays behind us, I wonder how many of you heard enough of Brenda Lee’s standard, Rocking Around the Christmas Tree?
It is a fun song and the diminutive Lee (she was around 4’9″) could really belt out a tune. She had hits like I’m Sorry and All Alone am I, and played with some pretty good sessions guys.
As in, did you know that Boots Randolf provided the sax solo in Rocking Around the Christmas Tree and that Hank Garland played the guitar on the same tune.
So, how many of you remember Lee’s 1964 hit Is it True?
Lee, who was more popular in England before she really broke through in the states, recorded Is it True in London, at Decca studios, when BritPop was just breaking through, so the song is full of the sound.
Is it True? features Bobby Graham on drums, and Jimmy Page playing some killer guitar (the piano is also deadly), and was produced by Mickie Most, who also did work with Herman’s Hermits and The Animals, among others.
Here it is: Brenda belts, Bobby slams, and Jimmy wails.
Night Music: Lucinda Williams, “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road”
A while back I wrote about the Faces, noting when Rod Stewart became the lead singer of the band.
Peter commented that one of the strengths of Stewart was that of a storyteller, and if you listen to some of Rod the Mod’s early stuff, like Gasoline Alley and Every Picture Tells a Story, Don’t It, you will hear that Peter is more than correct.
Well, at birthdays and holidays, I like to burn mix discs (I guess they used to be called mix tapes, back in the days of cassettes) for my niece Lindsay (who also burns said discs for me).
This way she can keep me up to date on the likes of bands like Starfucker and Deerhunter, and I can make sure she has Miles Davis, Cracker, and Bill Frisell on her shuffle.
I made Linds an Xmas disc last week, and since I have worn thin the number of artists I wanted to turn her onto, I noticed there is no shortage of great songs I can dig up.
So, this disc I focused on just that: deadly songs, some of which made the list by virtue of that strong storytelling. And, for my money, Lucinda Williams is as good as it gets at painting said visual picture with words. And, her song Car Wheels on a Gravel Road, from album of same title, is my favorite said example.
It made Lindsay’s Xmas playlist, but here it is for your New Year’s Day ears.
Night Music: Nellie McKay, “I Want to Get Married”
A friend of Gene’s on Facebook got me thinking today of my 10 albums that easily came to mind that stuck with me, and most of those I thought of were classic disks from the 60s and 70s. As they should be. Two others were a little less obvious: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen’s Lost in the Ozone and The Mekons Fear and Whiskey, both great albums by bands that are central to my listening life. That got me to nine.
But No. 10 was hard. There were scores of records from the 60s and 70s that qualified, but I didn’t want just oldies. And I could have chose lots of classic artists’ later work, or albums by 90s artists like Pavement, the Pixies, Nirvana, Hole, that I loved at the time. But as I thought about it I thought they all echoed the earlier choices. What, I asked myself, have I been listening to in the new century that has stuck with me?
The answer came down to four artists: John Legend (soul crooner love man), Stars (arty rock band), Jens Lekman (international electronic singer songwriter) and Nellie McKay (neo cabaret political activist).
These are not rock bands, though all turn it up at times. But what I love about all of them is that they have made great music that pumps the heart and strokes the head, is filled with beauty and ideas, and I’ve wanted to play over and over again. Of them, Nellie McKay is the boldest. She’s a fierce animal rights activist, has been staunchly involved with trying to limit Columbia University’s illegal use of eminent domain to expand its holdings in Morningside Heights (where Nellie grew up), and her records are full of incredible jazz, rap and pop arrangements and songs full of lyrics. Whip smart lyics. She is, of course, cabaret first and foremost.
This clip is pure corn, but it is withering corn, satire that Randy Newman wishes he could pull off (just like the pink ensemble, I’m sure). Some might see this as light, especially given the View’s awful hucksterism, but when I look in Nellie’s eyes I see Johnny Rotten’s. I’m pretty sure that’s what she sees too.