Pink Fairies, The Snake

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There was amazing music being made in the early 70s.

Bands were finding ways to synthesize (or touch on) the blues, popular 60s rock, the progressive scene, plus all the soul and r and b that everyone actually loved.

Plus acid. And Lemmy started Motorhead with guys from Pink Fairies, after he was kicked out of Hawkwind.

Pink Fairies were never hitmakers, but they were consummate synthesizers. They made 12 minute prog rock songs and helped invent punk. I admire them hugely. Every song isn’t boss, but every sound is in the groove. Here’s a good one:

Oh, and happy new year! I hope it’s a good one for us all.

Plus, rock bonus: This is the sound that the Pretenders used for Tattooed Love Boys and Boots of Chinese Plastic. Are there others?

RIP Lemmy

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Sad that it took Lemmy’s death to bring me back here and give him a proper burial. (And to spice up this site – no, I’m not listening to that Joni Mitchell.)

Things:

1) Peter contributed an interesting post on Lemmy’s failing health and subsequent cancellation of some shows not very long ago. I’m not looking for it and linking it.

2) Motorhead’s almost-original, most memorable drummer Phil “Philthy Animal” Taylor died recently too. I didn’t even know that. (He’s on Ace Of Spades and in this video.)

3) The Lemmy rock doc is a must-see, as I’ve mentioned here before. Now you owe it to him to see it.

4) I think Gene likes Hawkwind. Maybe he wants to cover that angle of Lemmy.

5) For as much as I’d like to say I’m a huge Motorhead fan, I’m not, really. Ace Of Spades is essential, but, as much as I hate to say it, that’s all you really need. I’ve tried later Motorhead albums and nothing touched AOS for my money. If I’m dead-wrong on this, please advise. Some of their later cover songs are quite cool. I never saw them live either.

I considered being cute with the musical selection, but it just wouldn’t be right:

Song of the Week – My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year), Regina Spektor

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Today’s SotW post is short and sweet. It’s a sentimental toast to the New Year by Regina Spektor, “My Dear Acquaintance (A Happy New Year).”

Raise your glass and we’ll have a cheer
For us all who are gathered here
And a happy new year to all that is living
To all that is gentle, kind, and forgiving
Raise your glass and we’ll have a cheer
My dear acquaintance, a happy new year

And what’s wrong with a little positivity in these troubled times? Nothing. So as twenty-fifteen comes to an end and you reflect on the events of the past year – personally, politically, globally – have faith that the next one may be more “gentle, kind, and forgiving.”

Enjoy… until next week.

Everything But The Girl, Wrong

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I came to EBTG backwards. Tracy Thorn is a fantastic lyrics writer, and her collaboration in Everything But the Girl, a band with her husband, hinges on a louche sound and her fine songs.

This sort of English soul music has some seriously specific cultural touchpoints, which I don’t know, but it sounds good, especially when the lyrics aren’t stupid (or, as the English say, duff).

A lot of this stuff sounds the same, they work the same dance music rhythms, but this is one of the tunes EBTG made that sounds first rate to me. Meaning I walk around singing, Wherever you go, I will follow you.

A Kinks Korrection

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I posted about the wonderful Kinks song, Berkeley Mews, a mash up of rock and beer hall styles that was the b-side to Lola, a couple of years ago, partly because I loved the line quoted in my original post. It just seemed too perfect.

And it was. Turns out the word “shitty” should be “chilly,” and when you listen that way it surely is.

But shitty is better.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Lunch Break: “Jar (Jar) of Whiskey,” Metallica (sigh, Star Wars)

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jarjarDon’t get me wrong, I love the first six Star Wars films. In fact I saw the new one, The Force Awakens last Friday, and I will review the film at my Mastersball site Wednesday.

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.)

Tenement, Garden of Secrecy

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Here’s another power-pop band that isn’t totally in the thrall of their influences, so they’ve gotten a fair amount of press (which goes to show that something isn’t dead). I do hear different influences in each song, but the quotes are slippery, shadows of sounds that are in my head but hard to put a anvil or stirrup on. Which means some of the songs I kind of like because they remind me of Graham Parker or Rage to Live, while others, like this one, sound like they might work (with a little work) in an arena.

This one sounds like the hardest song Joe Jackson ever recorded.