Not the Stones song, not the Pharrell Williams song that some have said appropriates from this tune, this is a pop soul tune from 1967 that didn’t break big, but could have. Maybe if Pharrell had produced it.
Night Music: Dum Dum Girls, “Bedroom Eyes”
The last two Dum Dum Girls albums show an evolution toward a more reverby chiming sound, the rock solid mid-tempo drums and pulsing bass prop up the echoing rhythm guitars and delicate fills which serve as harmonies for the vocals. This isn’t music that swings really, or shows much in the way of dynamics, but it sounds as nice as a pretty non-precious jewel in a clever setting.
They were playing in the park tonight, so we went over and caught their set. I like the sound, I like their serious approach, but there is a sameness from song to song on elpee that plays a little more lively live. But they’re still drowning in the reverb and I think that’s a mistake.
This is their best recent tune, I’d say, though I’m far from an expert. It sounds a little classic, because you can hear the rumbles of Blondie, the Pretenders, Belly, Mazzy Star and no doubt others. That’s not great, but that’s okay, and still I miss the old stuff, which included a little Garbage, as well.
Lunch Break: Graham Gouldman, “Bus Stop”
So, the story goes, I found this website, a blog really, and, um, where did today go, anyway?
Powerpop.blogspot.com doesn’t immediately catch my attention, I’m not that interested in a power pop blog, but a little more browsing unearthed this version of one of my favorite songs.
Graham Goulding was a writer of Dreadlock Holiday, featured in this space last week, and all of 10 C.C.’s songs. Before that he wrote For Your Love and Heart Full of Soul for the Yardbirds, No Milk Today for Herman’s Hermits, and Look Through any Window and the classic Bus Stop for the Hollies. Two of the Hollies best.
The original Bus Stop is a fantastic but brittle pop tune, maybe a little over produced (how many singers are there?), but classic. I’m not complaining about it. Goulding’s own version, which was apparently recorded for a 10 C.C. greatest hits collection, is mellower and at least for the first half is a more agreeable version. A true love song, a true pop song, and both elevated together.
Take it to lunch!
h/t to Powerpop.blogpost.com.
Song of the Week – Dirty Lie, Secret Sisters
IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED
The Secret Sisters are the duo of real life sisters Laura and Lydia Rogers. They began singing together as children in Alabama, but only pursued a career in music together about five years ago. But they’ve had a charmed career since their discovery. They’ve been championed by T-Bone Burnett, cut a 7” single with Jack White on guitar (“Big River” b/w “Wabash Cannonball”) and contributed to the soundtrack of The Hunger Games.
A couple of months ago they released their second album – Put Your Needle Down – an eclectic set of country, folk and Americana. It was produced by T-Bone, so you know it’s got to be pretty good.
Today’s SotW is the song called “Dirty Lie.” It was written by Bob Dylan and demoed on his May, 1984 Verona Rehearsal tape but never properly recorded or released.
Rolling Stone reported how this song came to the Secret Sisters:
“We were in the middle of our recording session with T Bone and he said to us, ‘Bob sent over some songs for you guys to listen to and choose one to finish,'” Laura recalls. “It was the weirdest thing ever to even be considered to finish it in a way that even remotely measures up to what he is known for. So we looked at four or five demos he’d sent, and [‘Dirty Lie’] really spoke to us.”
In the hands of the Sisters, “Dirty Lie” takes on a whiskey soaked, jazzy vibe. It also shows off their unique vocal style. Add the quirky guitar work of Marc Ribot (known best for his contributions to Tom Waits’ classics such as Rain Dogs) and the result is something very special.
Here’s what the Dylan demo sounds like.
Enjoy… until next week.
Breakfast Blend: Oklahoma U.S.A.
Little Queenie’s real name is Leigh Harris, and she recorded this Ray Davies cover in 1999 under her own name. (thanks to Powerpop for the link.)
And how did the Kinks do it?
I’m glad to hear them both.
Night Music: Little Queenie and the Percolators, “My Darlin’ New Orleans”
When I’m asked what the best live show I ever saw was, I sometimes say it was Little Queenie and the Percolators at Kenny’s Castaways in Greenwich Village, maybe in 1980. Other times I say it was the Wild Tchoupitoulas at the Bottom Line, which was perhaps that same busy week as that Little Queenie show. Or not too long after. Sometimes I say it was Rick Danko and Levon Helm at Gerdes Folk City, on West 4th Street in the Village (next to the McDonalds), a few years later.
Those are my three. Small clubs, unexpected delights, rollicking rhythm music pulsing in the big city, courtesy of the south. Mostly New Orleans.
This tune showcases Queenie’s plain spoken and lyrical voice, and a tough rhythm section. It’s one of those chamber of commerce tunes, which is how it ended up as the closing music for the first episode of Treme. But that’s okay. New Orleans has a lot of that and it doesn’t seem to matter. The band plays, the feet tap, memories are made. Imagine.
Night Music: The Rolling Stones, “I Am Waiting”
When this clip started I saw the tow-headed kid playing the zither and thought it was cute, before realizing that it was Brian Jones playing a dulcimer. (So, it turns out that a zither is the large group of instruments that involve strings stretched across a resonator box. Specific types of zithers include pianos, guitars, autoharps and dulcimers, among many others.)
This song is the soundtrack to a big scene in Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, which we watched tonight, but it is also one of those songs that is permanently fixed in my head, my own soundtrack. If I’m standing, waiting for something to happen, for the theater to let us in or my daughter to come downstairs so we can go out, it is this tune I will start singing quietly to myself, for obvious reasons.
It was originally released on the Stones’ Aftermath album, their first great album, musically ambitious and accomplished. These Stones, in 1966, were a little bit artsy, trying hard to expand their range, while at the same time burnishing their images as provocateurs. More than eight years later, when I landed in college, the debate continued to rage about whether Stupid Girl was misogynistic hate or closely-observed satire.
Not so with this one, which is more mysterious than a challenge.
Record Collectors and their Record Collections
Eilon Paz is a photographer who has been taking pictures of people with their record collections. Vinyl, not CDs. Paz has a blog called Dust and Grooves.
Nice.
For some reason Paz’s photos reminded me of this Harvey Pekar comic strip, which he’s conveniently turned into video.
Night Music: Swans, “Love Will Save You”
Sweet dreams, my pretties.
Lunch Break: The Pretenders, “Boots of Chinese Plastic”
Here’s a throwback cut from the Pretenders’ last elpee in 2008.