Category Archives: youtube song

Night Music: X, “Breathless”

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The one cover song on X’s fourth album, New Fun In The New World, is their version of Otis Blackwell’s tune Breathless.

Breathless was a giant hit for Jerry Lee Lewis. One of my favorite songs of his.

But Breathless was also the name of Jean Luc Godard’s first feature.

And was also the name of a sort of remake by the once underground filmmaker Jim McBride, who turned a film about an American girl in Paris loving a French gangster into a film about a French girl in LA loving an American gangster.

X did the cover for the money and promotion, but as you can see in the clip, they perform it brilliantly. And differently. And this one of the great rock songs, no matter whose version you hear.

But we’ve opened up a can of it here. Godard meets McBride. Blackwell meets Jerry Lee Lewis meets X.

There is more to be said.

Breakfast Blend: 80s Caucasian Soul Horns

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There’s a new Taylor Swift single out called Shake It Off. The song will be a hit, it has the insistent beat of Pharrell’s Happy and the marketing might of Taylor Swift herself and all that’s at stake stoking her machine (her record label is called Big Machine), but the song it reminds me of most is Elvis Costello’s most unhitish soul foray on his 1983 album Punch the Clock, Let Them All Talk. The obvious tie in is the insistent soul horns, which would fit in well on a Dexy’s Midnight Runner’s song, but in typical Costello fashion they’re played for pure signifying noise rather than simple if numbing pleasure.

This clip is from an extended dance mix, which I’m not sure adds a lot of danceability to the track, but does open it up sonically.

Taylor Swift’s new album is called 1989 and I have no idea if that is a reference to the music of the 80s, but this video captured me from the git go. The mix of dancing and subtle jokes is totally winning. And while we can be certain Taylor wasn’t channeling Let Them All Talk, it is curious that her tune hits those same bleating horns hard, and is similarly self referential (though she never talks about the soul cliches).

Some will enjoy this, some will slit their wrists or puncture their eardrums, but I offer it up for its curious echoes…

By the way, on some plays the video is preceded by a clip of Taylor selling style for JC Penny’s, and watching her shill I don’t like her at all. But this video is really great. It elevates the song beyond beyond. I’m not going to stop watching, and probably won’t be able to, at least for a while.

Night Music: The Impressions, “Gypsy Woman”

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I had this piece in my head when back a few weeks ago when we were discussing those lost years of the 60’s, btween Elvis and the Beatles, which as Gene noted were not quite so lost if you knew where to look and listen.

I do confess that Top 40 and pop, and the Four Seasons and then the Beachboys ruled the airwaves in my bedroom during that time. Those were also the days of Bobbys Vee and Rydel and Vinton, all of whom were safer than Elvis, let alone Little Richard, and well, in 1961, When Gypsy Woman was released, I was still just 9 (didn’t hit 10 till the end of October).

I do confess to liking Vee’s Take Good Care of My Baby, and the truth is by then the Elvis who released tunes like Return to Sender bore very little resemblance to the bluesy guy who covered That’s Alright Mama so wonderfully during the Sun sessions.

Though I am sure there were a myriad of songs in between Peggy Sue, which really triggered my consciousness and subsequent love for rock’n’roll, and Gypsy Woman, somehow with each I remember thinking at first listen, “man, how could anything sound so good?”

So here it is, with greats Curtis Mayfield (who penned the tune) and Jerry Butler leading the charge.

Swear. I’ll be back soon. More tunes festering, and the “What makes a great song?” issue is something I tried to tackle almost a year ago but it went nowhere (lots of words, little point).

 

Night Music: Modestep, “Another Day”

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I wasn’t going to dwell on dubstep because I thought I had a simple point to make about it. But this turned up tonight and it is such a crazy hash of rockish ideas and this other music, it seemed worth passing it along. For the video, for the most part, though it is the way it comments on the music and vice versa that is of interest.

Isn’t it priceless how the hero’s dream is to play guitar in a rock band, but the track makes no attempt to simulate that sound or culture. Just the story.

One of the immutable structures of dubstep is called the drop. This is when the music, in this case the r+b groove singing about Another Day, starts to get a little discombobulated. The pace hurries, the sound starts to disintegrate, and when the drop comes the sound becomes massive and sawing or seething. For a while. And then you’re back to the easy groove (or abstract atmospherics) that started the whole thing, until it happens all over again later.

What the kids are listening to.

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In the comments to my post about our tastes for pop music being set when we’re teens, more or less, Gene said: “OK, but ALL pop music is retro now – there haven’t been any cultural changes in more than 20 years, which is unprecedented since pop culture entered its modern phase in the early 20th century.”

I would have agreed with him until my daughter started in middle school. There she met a whole cohort of teen musicians. These guys (in this case they’re all guys) play piano and guitar and saxophone and drums and sing really well, but in their spare time they write and record dubstep.

And I have friends whose sons also record dubstep and go to EDM concerts where all the music is spun by djs with computers. I know, I know, we hate this sort of music, but to say that ALL pop music is retro now misses the point that the pop music that is listened to by the youth today sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard before.

Most of it, hey-get off my lawn, doesn’t even sound like music.

Night Music: Dion & the Del Satins, “Runaround Sue,” J.D. McPherson, “North Side Gal”

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I cannot even remember what I was looking for in YouTube when on the list of suggested items I saw a link to a version Dion’s Runaround Sue, just a fantastic song.

I am sure Peter and Gene, New Yorkers both, appreciate Dion, first with the Belmonts, then as a solo artist, who represented the doo wop bands, and the toughness of the New York streets of the 50’s better than anyone.

Dion’s pained voice and words reflected the unspoken angst of an era when angst was indeed not to be spoken about: but, at least we could live our pain vicariously through Mr. diMucci.

Dion, who had his struggles along with his hits, still lives and I believe still performs, but in the 1961, with Runaround Sue, he was dynamite.

What is funny is this clip, of the singer with the band The Del Satins, is just weird.

First, I don’t remember ever hearing-or at least knowing about–a song by them backing Dion.

Second, I could swear they are all just lip synching here, because Dion recorded the song under his name alone after splitting with the Belmonts. And, the song represented sure as hell sounds like the original recording.

But, even for lip synching, these guys have to be the most laconic band in the history of anything.

Even so, my man Dion is still at least trying to perform, but the rest of the band, especially the back up sax guy who largely snaps his fingers, and sings back-up with the two guitar players, is almost dead. And, when they go into their “awwwwwwwws” none of them moves even remotely close to the single mike. Not too mention their lips are way out of synch.

The piano guy is even worse, for though he is playing, or pretending anyway, he is largely looking at the camera in some kind of earlier wishful version of a photo bomb or selfie or something.

But, enough of the band, the audience is even worse. They seem to be in a nightclub, but no one has have a drink in front of him or her (well, ok, I saw one beverage, but it looks untouched). Otherwise, they are just fucking sitting there, while Dion is at least pretending to wail. And, even if the song is piped in from the original recording, that song rocks.

Yet not one person is so much as tapping their finger on the nice white table cloths, or even swaying just a little.

Which confirms my notion of how sadly repressed we were.

Whew. Glad we can all now have sex and drugs and rock’n’roll.

While we are at it, while thinking about this piece, I happened to hear J.D. McPherson on KTKE, in Truckee, performing a song new to me, but surely evocative of Dion and doo wop and rock’a’billy.

Check it out. Pretty cool tune, and though it seems the sax is overdubbed in this video, the sax player still showed more moxie than that guy in the Del Satins.

The Beatles Top 10 (as if this is possible)

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For this exercise, I did go through the Beatles catalog (I did for the Stones, too, to be fair) but even without looking to see if I forgot something, I knew the top four songs without much thought. And, that is not because I have made a list like this before: rather I know the songs that I not only love, but the ones I have continued to cherish in my memory bank.

It is odd that nothing from St. Pepper made it, as that is generally considered the band’s landmark/seminal album, and though I have nothing to say against it, in the rear view–at least to me–it doesn’t hold as strongly as Rubber Soul, Revolver, Abbey Road, or especially the White Album (which is all over the map, but is so damned interesting).

That said, saying there is a bad Beatles album is kind of like saying there is a good Starland Vocal Band album (remember, they got a best new artist Grammy, and well the Beatles as a band never got one until Let It Be which counted as a movie soundtrack).

Here goes (but scroll to the bottom for some honorable mentions):

Please Please Me: Dynamite the first time I heard it, and it is still dynamite today. How did they do that? The  harp and machine gun drums (shades of The Locomotion?) and those staccato guitar chords and thumping bass. And the couplet: “I do all the pleasin’ baby It’s so hard to reason with you, why do you make me blue?” is so beyond brilliant it is scary. More than anything, Please Please Me defined the band, the sound, and everything that came dragging on its coattails. That is pretty good.

And Your Bird Can Sing: I have written about this song before. It was part of the best bass lines ever piece on this site, but maybe the opening guitar riff belongs in a similar Lick Hall of Fame. The only problem with the song is it is too short as in I want it to keep going. But, since the tune is as close to perfect as one can get, that observation is moot.

It’s Only Love: God how I love John, and I think a lot of it is he is cynical (Ballad of John and Yoko) and obscure (I am the Walrus) and a rocker (Revolution) and such a romantic, as in It’s Only Love. This song is so beautiful and sweet, and when John sings “why am I so shy” he is telling us he is just like us, Beatle or not. And, we should all relate.

I am the Walrus: Speaking of which, this one is just mesmerizing. It is psychedelic pop at its very best and is a song that instantly hooks, and keeps me humming, trying to figure which vocal part to sing with at times. Does anyone have a clue what this song is even about? Better, does anyone care? That is pretty good when we love a song and no one has any idea about its essence.

I’ve Got a Feeling: Such a great opening riff, and such a great song, and such great vocals, especially at the end when the “Everybody had a high here” is double tracked in rounds with itself. I get shivers just thinking about it. Great double vocals. Great drums. Great bass. Great rhythm guitar. Just great.

It’s All Too Much: Always a sucker for George’s songs, and even though Yellow Submarine is really a thrown together soundtrack, this song just sends me. It’s hypnotic. The opening alone–basically 30 seconds of feedback–defines it all. Kind of like Moonlight Mile is to the Stones, It’s All Too Much is to the Beatles for me.

Tomorrow Never Knows (TNK): Goddam, how did they know to do the things they did to get all those–at the time–crazy sounds in this wonderful song? Was it George Martin, or them? And, how much fun might it have been to simply watch them brainstorming this stuff? I also want to give cred to 801–the Phil Manzanera/Eno jam band–who more than did justice to this song as well. I tossed it in for fun.

And, 801 doing the song more than justice.

Day Tripper: One of the first riffs I was able to figure out on the guitar, was the opening to Day Tripper. The bridge into the solo with the crash cymbols ringing is just spectacular. Solo is pretty good too.

I Need You: Such a lovely song from George, and one I prefer to Something. Again, a great opening lick, and better, when the bass kicks in after the head, god, is it good. Advanced guitar effects too. Just a great song.

Here Comes the Sun: Everything I have already said about the preceding nine songs applies here. Again, just a beautiful piece, with great guitar. And, the deadly farfisa organ that comes chiming in after the bridge just destroys me. It always did is the thing. I have played a few Beatles songs live in various bands, but this is the only one that was rehearsed, and I played the lead acoustic guitar part (capo on 7th fret, if memory serves) and I did an ok job. Sang it too. Always proud that I think I did it justice.

Honorable mention (in no particular order): Revolution, I Feel Fine, 8 Days a Week, Back in the USSR/Dear Prudence, She Said, While My Guitar Gently Weep and You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away.

BTW, three points each.

Stones’ Top 10

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The tough part of compiling a Top 10 like this is that I can pare a catalogue of tunes down to 15-17, but then all bets are off.

So, while picking my choices, I went for a combo of my favorites that are still songs I will crank up on the radio or stereo or my IPhone or whatever music delivery system is in fashion.

Otherwise, this list does not need much of an introduction.

It’s All Over Now: Once I heard the opening riff of this song, I loved it. And, I still do, despite it being a staple of the Biletones tunes (I get to sing it) since Day 1 of the band.

As previously noted in the Obit of last week, the song was penned by Bobby Womack, but it was as clearly deconstructed by Keith and Mick as was All Along the Watchtower written by Dylan, but owned by Hendrix. To me the Stones own It’s All Over Now as well.

She Said Yeah: From the first time I heard this song, it was instant love. Rocks as hard as any punk song ever, yet pre-dates by 15 years. From the first album by the Stones I bought, much to the chagrin of my older brother who wanted something more mainstream.

I won and still have my December’s Children copy.

Out of Time: I actually heard the great Chris Farlowe version, which at the time I did not realize was even a cover, before I heard the Stones treatment. Farlowe does have a monster voice, but over the years I came to prefer the Stones copy better, even though Farlowe more than put his stamp on this bad boy.

Here is Farlowe first, though awful awful dubbing/lip-synching. Just close your eyes.

This version, however, is deadly.

Moonlight Mile: There is something so dreamy about this tune, one that probably conveys the sensation drugs can provide as well if not better than any song ever. Sticky Fingers had so many great tunes, but this one is my favorite.

Dandelion: I was always more of a pop guy than a blues guy, and with this song the band really sealed it for me as clever and tuneful and interesting as well as willing to grow. And, man Charlie Watts is just righteous in this one.

Hand of Fate: I never expected to like this song as I was much more into the punk and new wave stuff when Black and Blue came out, but my roommate of the time, Bill Emrick simply bought every Stones album irrespective. This song came on the turntable one day and it has stuck with me ever since.

A great guitar song.

Connection: Seems like a throwaway in the context of all the great songs the Stones produced, but this has a hook, great licks, and a chorus that simply will not go away.

19th Nervous Breakdown: The Stones did one thing differently than the other bands: they seemed to distance themselves from their audience such that when they wrote about drugs or heartbreak there was a detachment between them and what they were playing/singing.

In fact in Mother’s Little Helper and this song, they are almost sneering at the rest of us victims of society and social pressure that we are.

Great bass run at the end, by the way.

2000 Light Years From Home: Released in the shadow of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper, I actually think Their Satanic Majesty’s Request borne the test of time better than the Beatles classic which doesn’t sound as fresh to me these days.

Maybe I heard Sgt. Pepper too much, but this number–with some killer guitar work–is just great. And, I spent so many hours scouring the 3D of Satanic Majesty cover looking for all four Beatles (easy to find Paul and Ringo and George, but John took forever).

Factory Girl: Funny that my favorite Stones album only placed one tune in my Top 10, and at the bottom for that matter.

But, it doesn’t detract from just how fucking good and rootsy and bluesy Beggar’s Banquet is.

I did put these in order of my favorites in the moment of writing, but that could change by tomorrow.

Still, just three points apiece, please.