Gene’s post of the Brothers Johnson on Facebook led me to this Rufus with Chaka Khan track, which I adored back in the day when it was new. This is all modulation and anticipation, the beat is slowed and crawling, and Chaka revels in the suspense.
I count this as an example of the most serious and amazing sounds released and people got it. Art and the godhead mix.
When I first heard of today’s terrible events in Paris, I was struck by reports that the terrorists had attacked a death metal concert hall. That seemed strange.
But not as strange, maybe, as the fact that the terrorists attacked a historic concert hall that happened to be hosting the fine and funny band the Eagles of Death Metal. This is something altogether different.
The Eagles of Death Metal are a rock band, but a funny one. They play with the rock. This is different than playing death metal. Alas, today they lived with death metal.
I loved this tune when I was 12. I bought the 45. What I didn’t know is that on the album, the American Breed covered Allen Toussaint’s Lipstick Traces, a recording that doesn’t seem to be on YouTube. Bend Me Shape Me has a great drum pattern, but the song is really made up of all sorts of hooky elements, like the hand claps and the inserted horns. I’m not sure without the frippery there’s that much there. But pop songs are frippery. Plus this video is a goof.
Found this clip from the Love for Levon benefit concert. Allen Toussaint with the Levon Helm Band and Jaimo. A tough version of one of my favorite songs from The Band.
When I was in high school I read a story or stories or stories and references to the legendary Allen Toussaint, who was a major figure in the sound of New Orleans. I remember going to the library and finding a couple of his albums, bringing them home and not getting at all what he was up to. The piano playing was accomplished, but the songs weren’t particularly rockin’ or tuneful. I returned the records, I have no idea which ones they were, and filed Toussaint under overrated.
It wasn’t too much later, however, that I came at New Orleans music from a different angle, a compilation album of tunes from the late 50s and early 60s. All of sudden, reading the fine print, I had the pleasure to discover Toussaint in a different context. Mother in Law and Working in the Coal Mine are novelty tunes, but glorious rockin’ ones at that. Here’s Ernie K Doe’s Mother in Law:
Here’s Devo covering Working in the Coal Mine, which was originally a hit for Lee Dorsey.
The fact is that Toussaint had a long career working with a broad swath of musical talent throughout not only New Orleans’ history but rock’s history as a whole. Alas, he died yesterday, from two heart attacks following a performance in Madrid. You can get more details about his life in this obit at Rolling Stone. A more complete obituary by Ben Sisario is in the New York Times.
I want to call attention to his hugely underrated collaboration with Elvis Costello called The River in Reverse, recorded after Hurricane Katrina devastated Toussaint’s home town. This is a live version of Ascension Day with lots of Toussaint on the piano.
I saw Toussaint in the park near my house a few years ago (turns out to be five). He’s a funny, talkative performer, who worked hard to please the crowd with a set of old hits and newer stuff. I must have been sitting right behind the guy with the camera here, by the way. Sit down!
I was at dinner with some friends the other night, when talk turned to Elvis Costello’s new book, Unfaithful Music & Disappearing Ink
I also told the story of hanging at the bar with Joey Ramone, talking about just how sucky the Tuff Darts (opening act) were.
But then I told the story of seeing Costello and the Attractions on Saturday Night Live, and I got the whole story totally wrong. In my head, the label wanted Elvis to play Allison, and he instead played Radio Radio.
But the clips are clear. He was scheduled to play Less Than Zero, a track about British fascist Oswald Mosely, and who could know it would later become a Bret Easton Ellis post teen drug romp novel and movie, but played instead the insolent and immature but uberly catchy Radio Radio.
For this, Lorne Michaels or NBC, I’m not sure which, banned Costello from NBC shows. Wow.
But on the 25th anniversary of SNL, Costello was back, recreating the moment (equally awkwardly) and played Radio Radio with the Beastie Boys. It’s cool, and I think shows just how tight the Attractions were.
Not sure if these indicate autocorrect or brain freeze, but funny.
Unrelated, here’s a trailer for a movie about City Gardens, a club in Trenton, that I knew nothing about until today.
Fug melody. You don’t need it.
But it helps!
The Bo Diddley original is something of a calypso, but the Dolls don’t bite on that. Their version rocks, and what most impresses in this clip is how hard these guys work the harmonies and the front line attack. That’s music.
While the pumps, and the balance they require, are rock.
Syl’s face paint seems to presage Kiss’s face paint, which Kiss started wearing around the same time. I don’t know the history here.
Is it more likely that Kiss copied the Dolls? Or the Dolls copied Kiss? Remember that the Dolls’ biggest hit was Looking for a Kiss, before Kiss even had a hit.
Here’s the Bo Diddley original:
I posted a great video of this tune yesterday, but this one has brighter color and is from just a handful of months ago. It also has a camera dude who is clearly not committed to not rocking.
Before the video, here’s a little of what I learned today about Lightning Bolt. They’ve been playing together for 20 years. They’ve made a number of records. The most recent came out in May 2015. The previous came out in 2009.
Brian the Bass Player has a regular job as a game designer, and worked on Guitar Hero. They live in Providence RI, so maybe he worked with Curt Schilling! Don’t know, but it seems possible.
What’s in My Bag is a show in which musicians go to a store and select stuff, and then talk about what they selected. I can tell from what Lightning Bolt selected that they’re educated and experimental. That’s a little too bad, but maybe that’s why they do what they do so well. Here’s the clip:
But much better yet, here’s more music, from a band that does away with the stage and invites the audience to stand as close as possible to them while they play. Loudly. I’m still blown away.
