Category Archives: night music

Night Music: Billy Squier, “Rock Me Tonite”

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I’ve been distracted by work and haven’t been listening to much music, but last night I was at dinner with friends and started talking about the pull of the music that we loved in our formative years. Call them the teens. Maybe early 20s.

I used the example of people who loved Billy Squier when they were in their teens, and I bet they still loved Billy Squier. My friends and I hated him, of course, but it occurred to me I should listen to him again and pluck some of the glowing comments on YouTube. Here’s his biggest hit:

I was just reading the comments, however, and only a few people talked about how much they liked the tune. All the chatter was about how “ghey” the video director made Billy, and how Billy didn’t want to be “ghey.”

I’m trying to figure out why his record company would want him to make a “ghey” video to go along with his rock song. The video, made by Kenny Ortega—who worked with Michael Jackson a lot—is relentless.

And I’m not so sure my example about people continuing to love what they used to love, at least when it was Billy Squier, was a good one. And I wonder what would happen if they listened to the tune without the video.

Night Music: No Dice, “Why Sugar”

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I am such a sucker for a killer pop tune, and this song is certainly one of those.

Delivered among the great waves of great numbers from the the Punk and New Wave bands across the pond, Why Sugar fits right in with a lot of other gorgeous songs/bands–Breathless (The Motors), and Starry Eyes (The Records) also come to mind–with vocals and guitar riffs and bouncing pianos coupled with deep bluesy growling vocals.

I bought No Dice’s album based upon the strength of No Sugar, but the rest of the disc didn’t hold up so well for me.

I guess that makes the band fall under the aegis of one-hit wonders, which is ok with me, as the one hit was a killer.

See for yourself (it is even better with headphones on).

 

Night Music: Brinsley Schwarz, “Surrender to the Rhythm of the Blues”

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When I first learned about Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and Graham Parker, I first learned that they grew out of a scene that was exemplified by the Brinsley Schwarz band. Pub rock, they called it.

This wasn’t a little thing. But I’m surprised I have to admit that I’ve never actually listened to Brinsley Schwarz until today. So this cut jumps out. A goofy Nick Lowe. What more could you ask for?

Night Music: S.F. Seals, “Doc Ellis”

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oneperfectgreenblanketMany of our regular commenters are in Phoenix this week, enjoying the pleasures of Spring Training, the LABR auctions, and the visual stimulation of Old Scottsdale.

No better time to run Barbara Manning’s post solo band up the center field flag pole. I know of no other rocker with cooler baseball bona fides. The art with this post is the cover from her album One Perfect Green Blanket, which is quite perfect.

The song commemorates Doc Ellis’s No Hitter, pitched while on LSD. We’ve posted the cartoon video about this event before, on askrotoman.com. But we’re not stalking. Just marveling. And Barbara’s song is great, too. Direct link to Ellis on LSD.

Night Music: Talking Heads, “Uh-oh, Love Comes To Town”

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Screenshot 2015-03-04 00.07.16Some white reggae cum SOCA on the first Talking Heads cut on the first Talking Heads album. Who would have thought!

I was parking the car today, something we do in this city, and heard this on the radio. Wow. I hadn’t forgotten it. I’m sure I’ve heard it sort of recently, but dropped into the auto experience, I was blown away.

It sounded great, immediate, powerful, and reminded me of just how into this band I was when they were in their simple state. They got groovier later and that stuff is fantastic, but man oh man there is good music here in the working it out stage.

Night Music: The Ramones, Medley at Arturo Vega’s

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The date is in 1975. The band formed the previous year. The sound is crap. The video is noisy, which is bad. But it’s great nonetheless. Even though it isn’t entirely pleasurable. But who comes here for pleasure?

Arturo Vega was the band’s supporting artist, who created the iconic and immortal Ramones crest.

Others know more than me about this clip, but to me it seems amazing that they had it all together already. This was the sound they pitched for the rest of their lives, there at the beginning, almost whole.

Night Music: Annie Lennox, David Bowie and Queen, “Under Pressure”

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This clip is from the rehearsals for a Queen tribute show. That’s all I know.

What impresses is the intensity and the craft and intensity that Lenox and Bowie bring to singing the song. Which unfortunately mostly reminds me of Vanilla Ice, who as arrested last week in Florida while filming a reality TV show, which is another story entirely.

Being a star/artist/whatever means not dialing it in, is what I think that means.

That’s the main thing that interests me about this clip. These are not everyday people. They’re aware of how hard they worked to get to where they are, and how hard they have to keep working to hang onto even a fraction of it.

Show business is brutal. And I bet, in the best of times, awesome fun.

Night Music: Esteban Jordan and Valerio Longorio, “La Hilacha”

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Two accordions in one song. I fear what might happen tonight in Eastern Pennsylvania.

Anyone who has watched Breaking Bad knows the form of the borderlands ballad, a nortena song style that’s usually about criminals plying their trade and escaping the long brazos of the law.

One of the main characteristics of these songs is a metonymical tempo and a steady passionless delivery. This is Mexican music, but one that evolved out of the polka of the German settlers of South Texas. It is a dance music of the wooden soldiers.

Esteban Jordan, known unofficially as the king of the diatonic accordion when he was alive, subverted the rules. His is a music of swing, varying tempos, intemperate ejaculations (like Bob Wills), and a drive to rock the tempo out of it’s implacable groove, into one with just a little bit of surprise. You can see from Velerio Longorio’s reactions in the video, that Jordan’s mild improvs and filigrees are outrageous.

And the eye patch doesn’t hurt.