But, the local rock station was doing Star Wars for lunch last Friday which meant space songs mostly, but this one cracked me up because it is such a stretch, so right, and a pretty tight little sort of pop tune for Metallica (whom we rarely cover, if ever here).
(BTW, reading the comments under the video is a very strange seemingly non-sequitur randomoness that is kind of funny in a sad and weird way.)
I think I posted this before, but hadn’t heard it in a while and it is some smoking spew. This is where I really line up with Steve, at least I would expect him to love this as I do. Even the words aren’t bad considering but the guitars are right in my garage.
More classic rock, inspired by reading Bob Lefsetz’s post about last saturday’s gig in LA. It looks like they’ve got one more show in the states, in San Francisco. I wish I could be there.
“I bet two dollars on her nose, one dollar on her tail, if she don’t win by a nose she’s bound to win by her tail.” All the DFS gambling talk makes me wanna go to the track with Champion Jack Dupree. Jack played the percentages cannily by moving to Europe in 1960. He died in 1992 at the age of 78 or 82 maybe.
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
The SotW features lots of cool bands that have been undeservedly destined for obscurity. The reasons are varied, but none is more peculiar than that of the mid 60s, Lynn, MA psych band, the Flat Earth Society.
The Flat Earth Society was discovered by a Boston advertising agency that was running a campaign for the F.B. Washburn Candy Company. The idea was to find a hip, young band to record an album and a jingle for their Waleeco candy bar. If you sent in 6 Waleeco bar wrappers and a buck and a half, you got a copy of the album. It wasn’t sold in stores. Needless to say, that wasn’t a strategy to get the record heard by the masses. (Most of the copies ended up in a landfill.)
But the album survived and is recognized by serious collectors as a psychedelic rock classic.
My choice for the SotW is “Four and Twenty Miles.” A rewrite of this song was the basis for the Waleeco bar jingle.
Inspired by acts like the Jefferson Airplane, it has all the hallmarks of 60s psych/garage rock – fuzz guitar, a solid beat, etc. While it’s not particularly unique sounding, you have to admit that these high school kids could play and sing.
By the way, a Waleeco bar was F.B. Washburn’s take on a coconut macaroon – sort of like a Mounds. If you grew up in New England you (or your parents) may remember it.
Enjoy… until next week.
I was going to do a Wilson Pickett post, because he seems in danger of falling down the Memory Hole, when I came across this fairly amazing bit of of television from 1969. You guys might remember the post of Tom Jones with Jack White doing Howlin Wolf – it was damn good, right? This is TJ dueting with Wilson Pickett and TJ holds his own all down the line. I’m not exactly a big Hey Jude fan but damn if they don’t show it off in its best light.
If TJ holds up with the Wicked Wilson, then Wilson holds up with James Brown. The sound is muffled, you’ll just have to turn it up.
Which brings me to my fave Pickett tune, an early version (rarely if ever topped imo) of smooth Philly Soul, a very cool swinging funk.
Pretty excited about seeing Uncle Acid Sunday night in Philly. Just got the new album yesterday and this is my favorite so far:
The typical Uncle Acid Lennon/Sabbath mix works particularly well on this poppier-than-usual tune. The verse reminds me of Cinnamon Girl a little. Don’t see how you can’t keep from bobbing your head by the time the Iommi outro guitar solo is singing.
The tour has just started, the album just came out. If these guys are playing in your area, you really owe it to yourself to go. Tickets are cheap and, for me, there’s nothing like seeing a so-far somewhat undiscovered band still in a small venue on the way up. Paying $150 a ticket to watch dots on the stage or the TV screen has never been my cup of tea.
Since they “came up” recently, I thought of The Dickies for the first time in a while. Way more famous for covers than originals – from Paranoid to Silent Night – this is my favorite Dickies song nonetheless. Why?:
1) The scientific-sounding guitars over the Barracuda-like rumble (Heart sucks, by the way) are A+.
2) Always wanted to play this song. What could be cooler than chanting “Mole Men, Mo-a-ole Men” live on-stage?
3) The line “Beware of the head Mole Man Jack,” obviously a desperate attempt at something to rhyme with the previous “back” and “attack,” is so awful lyrically it becomes beautiful eventually.
By the way, in college, I owned a long-sleeved t-shirt with that phallic Dickies symbol on it. It got a lot of laughs in the cafeteria.
Knights in White Satin indeed. I don’t despise the Moody Blues as you might figure. I mean, I mostly despise them, but they came up with some good melodies (no doubt stolen from Classic Composers). Hey, if The Toys can do it why not the Moodies? Be that as it may, I always thought Out and In was a tune that would be great all punked up.
I mean, am I wrong? Oh shut up, Steve.
But that’s not why I’m here. I’m here so you can hear the Moody Blues doing James Brown’s “I’ll Go Crazy.” Of course they were a different group then, a Brit Beat Combo. It’s not as bad as it could be, if only because the song is so great that Lawrence Welk could get it over.
But you have suffered enough. Dig on the man himself:
Nicky uncovered this video, one of our last gigs, at the Chase Lounge on 3rd Ave. and 13th St., on a hot and very late night. We went on at 3:30 AM. I hadn’t thought about the song Bag-dad Bang in a while. Nicky and I had a song called Divorce Party (“Come on everybody, split up!), but when the first Gulf War broke out – broke out my ass, when we attacked – we thought we should write a Political Song. So we didn’t, instead we wrote a Topical Song. I wrote the lyrics in record time, about 10 minutes in one sitting, and they still make me laugh, and since you’ll never understand them, I’m writing them down. It’s the opener on the video:
Coming in under the radar
I got shot right out of the sky
I wound up loaded in a Baghdad dive
The waitress looked at me and said you’re lucky you’re alive
Hey G.I. do you wanna surprise
You know your Uncle Sam lied
I got a thang it’s too too much
Bag-dad bang
She was selling so hard I didn’t know what to think
I said get that umbrella thing outta my drink
I’m serious about euphoria
Taking out Sadam but now I’m in Gomorrah
Hey G.I. take a look in my eyes, would I lie to you?
Now you can think, or you can drink
Bag-dad bang
C.I.A. trying to prove I’m a spy
In the house of pain I’m just another guy
Accusation’s untrue but it hurts
They think I wanna be a Colonel Kurtz
Hey G.I. I heard about that guy
He really knows how to fly
You like ’em pink?
Whadda Drink
Bag-dad bang
I was pissed off at this gig because my amp wasn’t loud enough and it hurts my tone, but what the hell. I hope you like it.
