Category Archives: night music

Night Music: Dave Davies/The Kinks, “Strangers”

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Timing is such an odd thing.

A few weeks back, my friend Les Ogilby, who has chimed in on the site and also contributed Top 10 Beatles and Stones lists, was up in the Bay Area.

Part of the reason is that Les, who is a killer blues harmonica player, agreed to come up north (Les and his wife Janet live in Seal Beach, Ca.) and join the BileTones when we played our holiday set at our fave dive bar, Roosters Roadhouse.

A couple of evenings before the gig Les, and his long time bud (and mine for a shorter time) Mike Volk came over to play some music and eat some pizza and play some records and have some fun together.

Well, the last album to take a spin on the turntable was the very same Lola versus Powerman and the Money-Go-Round (Part 1), the very same album that Peter grabbed the Powerman track from last night.

The spin here is Les wanted to hear the cut written by Ray’s brother, Dave, Strangers, which is indeed a lovely song.

Not to mention Dave, lead guitar player for the band, is largely credited with inventing feedback and the power chord. Go Dave!

The clip I copped is actually the album track, but it is also on the soundtrack of Anderson’s film, The Darjeeling Limited.

Night Music: The Kinks, “Powerman”

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I have no biography here.

I loved the Kinks when I was in high school because of the Kinks Kronickles, a great odds and sods record. Powerman wasn’t part of that set. I lose.

We watched Wes Anderson’s movie Darjeeling Limited tonight. On the second disc, which I haven’t watched or listened to there is an interview with Wes Anderson about the music. Whatever.

The music in the movie is great, as it is in all Wes Anderson movies, but most of it is replaceable. If it wasn’t this song that song would work just as well.

But that doesn’t negate a song that pops up late in the film. Powerman, who is opposed in the Kinkalogical story to Lola. Lola was a key tune in my life, and I was surprised today to learn that I didn’t really know Powerman.

Night Music: Cheap Trick, “I Know What I Want (and I Know How to Get it)”

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I always have regretted not having seen Cheap Trick during their hey days in the late 70’s.

There were a couple of opportunities, particularly in 1978 at a Day on the Green, when AC/DC came around for the first time.

Also on the bill were Ted Nugent, whom I hated almost as much then as I do now, Journey, whom I hated almost as much as Ted Nugent, and Blue Oyster Cult who I couldn’t take seriously. For which I am now sorry.

But, AC/DC and Cheap Trick–the opening acts–were of major interest. And, I had a hard time justifying buying a ticket to just leave after two bands.

During their three-disc run of In Color and Black and White, Heaven Tonight, and Dream Police, the band totally kicked it for me, with driving pop-rock tunes peppered with clever lyrics, and a collection of players who seemed to have a shitload of fun doing what they were doing and being who they were being.

A side note about those three albums is, if you look closely at the album jackets, you will see a shot of the cover art of the previous album hidden. I always loved that.

By the time Budokan hit, and the band broke through, I was mostly done with them. Not that Budokan was not a hot set, or that Cheap Trick had done anything wrong. They just got too popular for me, I guess. They also lost air play time.

I was reunited with them when I started playing guitar for real, a little because they use simple major chords, and a little because my teacher and friend, Steve Gibson, was also a fan. And, then I met another friend and musician, Steve Chattler, who is a big “Trick,” as he calls them, fan as well.

Not to mention Diane grew up not so far from Rockford, home of the quartet, so somehow Cheap Trick wanted to be part of my existence, thus little point in resisting.

The song I picked for your bedtime listening is a fave. I Know What I Want has all kinds of Beatlesque stuff to it, especially the wonderful Eight Days a Week sus chords during the bridge.

I think the album version would be a lot cleaner than this live track from that very Budokan set, but since Steve (as in Moyer) is such a gearhead, I thought he would like what appears to be 30 strings among three guitar players.

Night Music: Benjamin Booker, “Violent Shiver”

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I happened on this article in the Guardian today about a new generation of blues rock players who say they learned the blues at least in part from listening to Jack White. Like a game of telephone, mistakes are made.

That’s not really what I mean. Each of the three bands talked about in the story combine modern and old sounds in interesting ways. Benjamin Booker stands out to me, because I could see his mix turning into excellent songs. Right now, this one is probably the best, and it has some excellent drumming and interesting bass playing and Booker is pretty laid back about making some fast and pounding noises with his guitar.

He’s got that diffident voice thing going on, which is too bad, but there’s way more good here than bad. It just isn’t fully baked yet. For instance, Paul Schaffer’s organ part is a nice addition.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/01/little-punk-jazz-shoegaze-the-new-blues

You should watch the D.D Dumbo clip, in which an Australian named Oliver Perry one-man bands things using loops, playing African guitar styles (which were at least in part derived from African guitarists listening to Lightning Hopkins), making art rock blues that support his arty vocals and more droney/chanty than catchy melodies. But it’s a cool sound that reminds me to listen to that Dirty Projector’s album I like so much (which nails all the vocal-mix-melody-abstraction issues this music is just starting to explore).

Night Music: Martha and the Vandellas, “Dancing in the Street”

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We went to a party at a friends house tonight. One down the block. Many neighbors were there, and some other folks.

When it got a little later the lights got darker and music got darker, and there was dancing. But it was funny. There was a fair reason to question almost every dance tune in the mix. This was dance music from the time when I danced, so we had the Sugar Hill Gang, and Blondie, and Nena, and the great thing was everyone, from us old folks, to young adults to the kids, all danced and limboed. It was great.

It wasn’t a great mix of tunes, but it was a great party and the best song was one of Motown’s best. And one of pop’s greatest tunes. Can’t forget the motor city!

Night Music: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, “Everybody’s Doing It”

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Alan Arkush’s first feature film was a Corman spoof of low-budget exploitation filmmaking called “Hollywood Boulevard.” Arkush later went on to semi-stardom, directing Rock ‘n’ Roll High School with the Ramones, a few years later.

But Commander Cody and crew was his debut, and the result was exuberant and as ragged as you would expect. Ramones fans may want to note that the Commander and his Airmen were reportedly (by Rolling Stone) busted in Nice, trying to get to the Hollywood Boulevard screening at the Cannes Film Festival, for having too much airplane glue on them when they tried to clear customs. Crazy, and clearly they didn’t know about carbona.