Category Archives: song of the week

Song of the Week – I Wanna Stay Home, Jellyfish

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The Paisley Underground was a mid-80s genre of rock music that paid homage to the psychedelic California garage/folk rock bands of the 60s (especially The Byrds) through their usage of pop melodies, vocal harmonies and jangly guitars. The term was coined by Michael Quercio of The Three O’Clock, one the movement’s purveyors. Other bands in the The Paisley Underground were The Dream Syndicate, The Bangles and The Long Ryders.

Another group loosely associated with the genre was Jellyfish, a group formed in Pleasanton, California – an east bay suburb of San Francisco.

Jellyfish was a short lived band that put out two critically acclaimed, but sadly forgotten, albums in the early 90s – Bellybutton (1990) and Spilt Milk (1993). If you are a fan of Squeeze, Crowded House or XTC, you are (or will be) a fan of Jellyfish too.

Today’s SotW is “I Wanna Stay Home” from Bellybutton.

The song is a melancholy ballad that starts with an acoustic guitar intro before the full band joins. The plaintive verses are sung solo but with “ba, ba-ba-ba” background vocals. The lyrics long for the simple joy of living the life of a homebody.

When you need someone
And there’s no one there
There is always the nine o’clock train
To take you out somewhere

I take the train in town
Like I did for years
There is only seven more blocks
I could walk from here

Some tasteful trumpet playing is added to the chorus by Chuck Findley. Beatle-esque harmonies come in on the bridge.

When I realize the weight
That’s firmly on my shoulders
On my shoulders
I just try and find the place
I can take a walk on my blind side
On my blind side

Then a short, thick stringed guitar solo is played before the song returns to the final verse and chorus.

When these memories fade
In my ripe old age
Please remember my dear

I wanna stay home
I wanna stay home right here
I wanna stay home today
I wanna stay

This is a perfectly written and performed pop song. They don’t come any better.

If you listen to more of Jellyfish’s music (available on Spotify and YouTube) you’ll hear lots of other influences – Queen, The Beach Boys, and power pop titans such as Badfinger, Big Star and the Raspberries. They also imitate The Beatles, especially Paul McCartney. I have a live bootleg where they play his solo hit “Jet.”

Most people have never heard of Jellyfish, but once you discover them you’ll never forget them.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – April Fool, Ronnie Lane & Pete Townshend (feat. Eric Clapton)

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We were all very saddened to hear that B.B. King passed away yesterday. Of course I was tempted to pay tribute to him with today’s SotW, but there were so many words written about him yesterday that I have nothing new or special to add. Rest in peace B.B. (and Lucille too).

I recently finished Sound Man: A Life Recording Hits with The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Faces . . ., written by the legendary engineer/producer Glyn Johns. It’s an insider perspective of classic rock and roll that few people can offer. He was in the room when some of the most important albums in the history of rock and roll were recorded.

When Led Zeppelin recorded “Dazed and Confused” he was in the room.

When Mick Taylor and Bobby Keys ripped off those amazing solos on Sticky Fingers’ “Can’t You Hear Me Knocking” he was in the room.

When Roger Daltrey let out that blood curdling scream toward the end of “We Won’t Get Fooled Again” he was in the room again.

As I read the book I was excited about the prospect that Johns would help me to (re)discover some gem of a record that I had overlooked or forgotten. That came in the chapter about the Pete Townshend/Ronnie Lane album Rough Mix.

I’ve always enjoyed that album but often focused on its most popular songs – the ones that got FM radio air play – “My Baby Gives It Away” and “Street in the City.” But it is a lesser known cut on the album, “April Fool”, that Johns says is “among the few moments in my recording career that I treasure.”

The track was almost finished when Eric Clapton offered to add a Dobro part to complement the song.

“I played him the track and I noticed that his foot was tapping as he ran through the song. I quickly put a mic on his foot and we recorded the next run-through. It was note-perfect and quite beautiful. Eric reacting in the most natural and emotive way to the song and Ronnie’s performance of it. Up until that moment I had paid very little attention to Eric as a musician and therefore never really understood what all the fuss was about. I thought he was just another bloody white kid playing the blues. That was very clearly my loss. In a matter of a few minutes I had been completely won over. This was a perfect example of what I have always thought about Eric’s playing. He never allows his brain to get in the way between his heart and his fingers.”

The instrumental title cut (also with Clapton on lead guitar) is pretty cool too.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Waiting for the Sun, The Doors

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I’ve always found it interesting when a band names an album after a song that’s not on that album, but on an earlier or later disc. The most famous example of this is Led Zeppelin’s Houses of the Holy. That was the name of their fifth album, but the song by that name was on their next – Physical Graffiti.

The first example of this disconnect that I noticed was with The Bee Gees. Their first album, Bee Gees’ 1st (1967), contained a song called “Cucumber Castle.” They later used that name for their 1970 album.

There are further examples of this throughout rock history.

Artist / Title / Album Song Appears On
Elvis Costello / Almost Blue (1981) / Imperial Bedroom (1982)
Tom Waits / Frank’s Wild Years (1987) / Swordfishtrombones (1983)
Smithereens / Especially For You (1986) / Green Thoughts (1988)

Today’s SotW is The Doors “Waiting for the Sun” from their fifth album, Morrison Hotel (1970).

The name of that song was also used as the title for their 1968 album release. The story goes that the band worked on the song for their third album but didn’t like the way it came out. Funny then that they still wanted to name the album after a song that didn’t make the cut.

Thankfully they continued to work on it and came up with a gem for Morrison Hotel a couple of years later.

Can you come up with any other examples? (Greatest hits compilations and live albums don’t count.)

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Do I Love You (Indeed I Do), Frank Wilson

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Today’s SotW is a Northern Soul classic. When most people hear the term “Northern Soul” they assume it means American soul music that came from acts based in the northern United States instead of from Memphis or Muscle Shoals. In actuality the term refers to a style of American soul music popularized in dance clubs in Northern England. Part of the Northern Soul music culture is to avoid the popular hits in favor of obscure singles often recorded for small, local, independent labels.

Frank Wilson’s single for Motown’s Soul subsidiary in 1965 fits the bill. “Do I Love You (Yes Indeed)” was recorded just before he became one of Motown’s important producers. The story goes that only about 250 copies of a demo 45 were pressed and then later destroyed when Berry Gordy decided it wasn’t worth the effort to promote an act that was planning to focus on a production career, not to become a performing talent.

But a few copies survived, making it a very valuable disc. (One of the few copies known to exist sold in England for over £25,000 in May 2009.) Now, thanks to the magic of digital recordings and the affordable cost of free, you can hear it too!

But its rarity alone doesn’t make it valuable. It’s its quality that creates the demand. “Do I Love You” has all the trappings of a Northern Soul classic – a crisp rhythm, solid beat with evocative lyrics sung from the heart. It’s a song that’s sure to fill the dance floor.

Surprisingly, the backing music wasn’t played by the Funk Brothers – Motown’s house band. No, this song was recorded in LA using Wrecking Crew musicians – Billy Strange, Glen Campbell, Hal Blaine, Al De Lory, Carol Kaye and Tommy Tedesco.

If you’re intrigued by this backstory and would like to learn more about it, check out this long form article that was originally written to support the auction that resulted in the 2009 sale mentioned above:

Andy Nix – Soul News – The Story of Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)

Although this song languished in obscurity until the late 70s/early 80s, Wilson did enjoy a successful career as a producer and songwriter. In fact, he received a co-writing credit for his production of Brenda Holloway’s recording of “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” which was covered by Blood, Sweat & Tears and hit #2 in 1969.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Backseat Nothing, The Del Fuegos

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Back in the 1980s there was a record label out of LA that signed a lot of very cool bands. Slash Records focused on the local LA scene with bands like X, Los Lobos, The Germs, the Blasters and more. They also ventured far afield to sign other “roots rock” acts like the BoDeans, whose T-Bone Burnett produced debut – Love & Hope & Sex & Dreams – is a classic. A song from that album deserves to be a SotW, and probably will be some time.

But this week I’m choosing a song from another Slash act, “Backseat Nothing, by Boston’s Del Fuegos.

The Del Fuegos were brothers Dan (guitars/vocals) and Warren (guitars) Zanes, and Tom Lloyd (bass) and Woody Giessmann (drums). The album was produced by the then young Mitchell Froom, who also added some keys to the set. (It was one of his earliest gigs as a producer.)

“Backseat Nothing” is from the band’s first album, The Longest Day (1984). It is very typical of their R&B/rockabilly garage band style – closer to The Rolling Stones than The Clash – which was pretty unusual in the mid 80s when MTV was minting stars and Madonna and synth pop ruled the airwaves.

This approach endeared them to a relatively small but loyal audience. But when the band accepted a sponsorship from Miller Beer to star in a cinema-verité commercial, some of their more sensitive fans smelled a sell out and abandoned them. That’s a little hard to fathom today when even top tier rock stars license their music to peddle goods or accept corporate tour sponsors. But back in the 80s (and before) it was taboo.

One last bit of trivia… “Backseat Nothing” was used in an episode of the FX Network firefighter program (starring Denis Leary) Rescue Me from Season 4 called “Babyface.”

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Grim Reaper, Detective

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Led Zeppelin has been hot in recent months. The40th anniversary of the release of Physical Graffiti in February seems to be spark that lit the fire. Just about every magazine and blog that covers rock music has featured them recently.

Today’s SotW is from the Zep related band Detective who recorded two albums for their Swan Song label. The Rolling Stone Record Guide (1st edition) said those recordings were “Credible but uneventful late-Seventies hard rock from a band led by ex-Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye.”

The brevity of the review says a lot about the group’s (lack of) critical acceptance when their recordings were on the shelves. They were quickly dismissed as nothing more than a Led Zep wannabe band. But occasionally things (wine, music) improve with the passage of time.

“Grim Reaper” is from Detectives’ self-titled debut.

The muscular drums and the tight pants vocals by Michael Des Barres, could easily pass off this cut as a Led Zep outtake. I like it!

Enjoy… until next week.

BTW, today is Record Store Day. Take a nostalgic trip to your favorite local bricks and mortar record store and see if you can’t find something to add to your collection.

Song of the Week – If I’m Unworthy, Blake Mills

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Lately I’ve been listening to Blake Mills’ second album, Heigh Ho (released September 2014), on heavy rotation.

Mills is a hot new guitar slinger, vocalist, songwriter and producer. He’s an “in demand” musician that has worked with a who’s who of popular artists. He’s toured with Jenny Lewis, Fiona Apple, Lucinda Williams and Jackson Browne. He’s recorded with Weezer and Kid Rock. He’s produced albums for Conor Oberst and Alabama Shakes. He’s also worked with Beck, Norah Jones and Band of Horses. And he’s only 28 years old!

Producer Rick Rubin holds him in high regard and was quoted saying “Blake’s musicality is limitless. He happens to be a breathtaking guitar player; but his real talent lies in what he chooses to play and how.”

I might make the same comment but with a slight twist. I think his real talent lies in what he chooses NOT to play.

Take, for instance, today’s SotW – “If I’m Unworthy.”

Mills and his bandmates – Don Was on bass and drummer Jim Keltner – approach this song with a minimalist arrangement. Less is more. It’s all the empty spaces they leave that make the music so compelling. But then, about 2:25 into the song, things get noisier with a fuzzy, reverb drenched guitar solo that builds into a George Harrison sounding slide solo, then abruptly stops.

In an article in Premier Guitar Mills explained “I wanted the basic tacks, those live performances, to have a lot of space in them, so sometimes we would whittle down and simplify, but there weren’t a lot of ‘parts’ to begin with.”

Eric Clapton heard the slide guitar part Mills contributed to Natalie Maines’ cover of The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows.”

He searched out the player and when he discovered it was Mills he invited him to play at his annual Crossroads benefit concert. Later, in a Rolling Stone interview with David Fricke, Clapton called Mills “the last guitarist I heard that I thought was phenomenal.”

That’s a pretty high compliment.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – I Am Constant, Climax Blues Band

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It can’t be denied that the Climax Blues Band was basically a “one hit wonder” with their #3 “Couldn’t Get It Right” in 1977. I know, they had another “hit” that reached #12 in 1981, but I don’t even know how “I Love You” goes.

But this limited chart success belies how good this band really was. I always enjoyed the two albums that preceded their hit – FM Live (1974) and Stamp Album (1975). FM Live was taped from a concert that was broadcast live on WNEW in New York, the first FM station I listened to as a teenager. In fact, the album cover shows a receiver tuned to 102.7, NEW’s frequency.

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There are live versions all over YouTube so I’ll share the version of “I Am Constant” from Stamp Album.

By the time this album came out, the British band had moved on from their bluesy roots (though they kept the reference in their name) and was performing songs more like their contemporaries, The Doobie Brothers and Ozark Mountain Daredevils.

“I Am Constant” relies on steady shuffle beat, tight harmonies and a nicely placed sax solo. The lyrics are a straightforward statement of loyalty and integrity.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Speak No Evil, Wayne Shorter

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When I started writing the SotW many years ago, my goal was to share some songs that I love with a few like-minded friends. I wanted to select songs that my readers might not be familiar with (thus the tag line – Ignored Obscured Restored) and describe them in such a way that might cause you to enjoy them as much as I do.

Sometimes it goes the other way too. Over the years many of you have commented back to me and suggested songs that I should listen to (or listen to again, in a different light). That is very rewarding.

Today’s SotW was inspired by an article that I read in Mojo (255, February 2015) where producer/musician Don Was described one of his favorite albums, jazz sax great Wayne Shorter’s Speak No Evil. He describes the title song with such passion that I had to download a copy and check it out.

Was starts by describing Elvin Jones “wild, unabashed drumming” and Herbie Hancock “playing these amazing chords” on the keys. But he hooked me with these words:

Then on top of Elvin and Herbie – who are like ying and yang – you’ve got Wayne, whose soloing sounds like he’s riding two horses. What struck me about his saxophone was that it was conversational. I pictured him walking down the street boxing and you can hear a few left jabs and then a flurry of punches and a strong right. Sometimes you can hear him drop back and dodge a punch and it’s like he’s talking the whole time and what he was saying to me was: ‘Don’t let this adversity get you down. Be courageous and confident’.

Wow, using that boxing metaphor to describe a solo performance is exciting and wonderful!

Thanks, Don, for turning me onto this great tune by describing it so vividly and passionately.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – I Ain’t Blue & Magazine Lady, Willie Murphy

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A few weeks ago my friend Ray C. sent me an email with a link to a website and said “This is an old friend in Minneapolis, who was one of the charter members of the MN Music Hall of Fame. Thought you’d like a listen.”

The link directed me to the homepage for Willie Murphy, whom I’d never heard of. I watched/listened to the videos Murphy posted and they were very good. So I started to poke around the internet to educate myself about him.

It turns out he’s most famous for his collaboration with folk/blues legend “Spider” John Koerner on an album they released in 1969 called Running, Jumping, Standing Still. (His second greatest “claim to fame” is that he produced and performed on Bonnie Raitt’s 1971 debut album.)

Today I’ll offer two SotW from Running, Jumping Standing Still. The first is “I Ain’t Blue.”

Despite its title, it is a blues number that was covered by Raitt on the above mentioned album.

The next song is “Magazine Lady.”

It’s a rollicking, jug band, folk song with Murphy’s saloon, honkytonk piano adding a lot of personality to the groove. The lyrics put it on the list with “Pictures of Lily”, “She Bop” and “Turning Japanese” as songs about… well you can figure it out.

But I don’t mean to sell Murphy short by highlighting his associations with Koerner and Raitt. After all, he was one of only three charter inductees into the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame – the others being Dylan and Prince. (Not bad company.)

He has also performed onstage with Wilson Pickett, Muddy Waters, James Brown, WAR, John Lee Hooker, Neville Brothers, Etta James, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and backed the likes of Dr. John and countless others.

Thanks for the tip, Ray!

Enjoy… until next week.