Breakfast Blend: Rolling Stones, “I’m Yours and I’m Hers”

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What I just found out is that the first song the Stones played at their July 5, 1969 free concert in Hyde Park was a cover of the same Johnny Winter song I posted about last night. The original reason for the show was to introduce Mick Taylor as the band’s newest member, but Brian Jones died two days before, and the concert became something of a send off memorial for him. It seems his favorite song at the time was this Johnny Winter tune.

It’s totally fitting that the song shows just how tough a guitar player Mick Taylor was, and serves as a precursor to his fantastic work throughout the Stones’ Golden Years. May Brian Jones roll over, and tell Ronnie Woods the news.

Night Music: Johnny Winter, “I’m Yours and I’m Hers”

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My memory is there was a lot of hoopla when Johnny Winter’s eponymous elpee was released in 1969. I think he had signed a big contract and of course there was the whole albino thing, but what I remember most was falling in love with the sound of Winter’s guitar playing and voice, and the variety of arrangements on the record, jumping from Chicago to the Delta to Texas and back north again. I didn’t know that much about the blues then, but this was a revival record that satisfied in a wholly American and authentic way.

As I learned more, listening to more of the original players, I came to admire this record even more. There was nothing wrong with the Yardbirds and John Mayall, the Stones and Led Zeppelin, nothing wrong at all, but they sounded mediated in a way that this record doesn’t.

And on an autobiographical note, there was the morning when a gang of housepainters were working out in the hallway when I woke up. College kids from Stony Brook University, which was nearby. painting our house. I woke up and hit the play button on my stereo and the first bits of this tune growled out, and the boys raved. There was nothing cooler for an eighth grader to have a bunch of college kids digging your style.

As Winter moved to more popular stuff, along with his brother, I lost touch with Johnny and Edgar except on pop radio. But this record did the trick, from start to finish, getting me into the Blues for real

 

Lunch Break: Dead Boys, “I Need Lunch”

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Screenshot 2014-04-22 12.09.31Pat Ivers and Emily Armstrong happened to have the excellent idea to shoot video of many performances at CBGB in the late 70s and early 80s, one of which is this performance of the Dead Boys.

Pat and Emily have been preserving their material, which is being archived at NYU, and through May and July will be showing the videos at the Museum of Arts and Design in New York.

They also maintained a blog for a while, with clips and good stories about the bands, which you can find here.

Many clips are hosted on Vimeo, under the name go nightclubbing.

Plus there are more clips and info at the gonightclubbing.com site.

See you in about year.

Shaggs Part Two

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Frankly, any discussion of The Shaggs must begin with My Pal Foot Foot which you’ll find on many “Worst Song Of All-Time” lists. I love this video version, actually one of my very favorite music videos period:

By the way, that creature running around is Foot Foot, drawn by one of the girls as part of the album art. We always assumed it’s supposed to be a cat.

The first Shaggs album is like nothing else. It adheres to very, very few musical conventions. It’s truly its own thing. I don’t know if these girls’ parents kept them trapped in a closet or what, but what they invented is a different animal (Foot Foot?).

I’ve often thought of how difficult it would be to cover one of these songs in a band – not a new rendition – but attempting to copy The Shaggs note-for-note, rhythm for rhythm. I suspect it would be next to impossible.

However, these girls know what they’re doing in their own little world of their own little invention. They clearly rehearsed these songs before recording them in their dad’s studio. There are stops, starts, planned part patterns in the songs, background vocals, etc. But just concentrate on the drum part in Foot Foot to get a flavor of how crazy this invention is. The drummer executes this strange combination of snare drum, clicking on the side of the drum and cymbals. It’s other-worldly.

The more The Shaggs progressed (they made at least two more albums, I believe), the more musical conventions crept in, making initial listenings more tolerable, but never quite capturing that insane “something” on the first album.

As for other renditions, I own a fairly obscure Shaggs tribute album called Better Than The Beatles: A Tribute To The Shaggs. Most of it adds at least a little bit of traditional musicality to the Shaggs’ own world and some turns out pretty good. I noticed today that now-somewhat-mainstream Deerhoof actually does the Foot Foot cover. Back when I bought the album years ago, Deerhoof wasn’t any more recognizable to me than the other bands.

I’ll leave you with Philosophy Of The World by Ida. Lawr often uses the term “haunting.” I think this is pretty haunting and the lyrics are actually quite profound.

Breakfast Blend: Yesterday Once More

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Shonen Knife dig Redd Kross, which led me to this bit of fun.

This Carpenters song, which is treacle, turns into this Redd Kross rock mockup of the Carpenters, and both make sense! And both are terrible. Here’s the Carpenters.

But Redd Kross had better values.

What were they thinking?

Night Music: Shonen Knife, “It’s a New Find”

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I’m up in the air about the Shaggs, but I love Shonen Knife. So this:

Extra Song of the Week – Peanuts, Down at the Cantab, Little Joe Cook

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IGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

Little Joe Cook died this week at the age of 91. Cook had one Top 40 hit with the doo-wop influenced “Peanuts” in 1957. You can read his full obit here:

Little Joe Cook obituary – Boston Globe

So why would I take the time to write an extra SotW for an old guy from the ‘50s that is barely a footnote in rock and roll history? Quite simply, because he was ours.

You see back in the 1980s BC (before children) my friends and I used to frequent the Cantab Lounge in Cambridge, MA where Little Joe held a long residency. He could bring together the entire community – old and young, black and white, rich and poor, preppy and punk, townies and tourists – like no other performer.

He would play “Peanuts” several times a night and the crowd loved it.

He would work the crowd to get everyone “cookin” on the dance floor. It could be a zero degree, February night but it would be 100 in the Cantab. We would walk out of the club into the cold so drenched in sweat that you hair would freeze on your head.

Inside the Cantab it sounded like this:

So rest in peace, Little Joe. You touched a million lives.

Enjoy… until next week.

NIGHT MUSIC: Daniel Johnston, “I Live My Broken Dreams”

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I never saw this before. Daniel is young, has the voice, bangs the guitar, encapsulates the moment, refers to his disease and escapes it in a strum.

Song of the Week – My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me), David Ruffin

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David_Ruffin_-_My_Whole_World_EndedIGNORED OBSCURED RESTORED

David Ruffin was the lead voice in The Temptations, singing some of their most important hits including “My Girl”, “Ain’t to Proud to Beg” and “I Wish It Would Rain.” He was clearly one of the most important voices in the history of soul music.

His raspy, yet sweet, voice was an inspiration to many other singers including a number of rock artists that covered his material like Rod Stewart as a solo artist (“(I Know) I’m Losing You”) and with the Faces (“I Wish It Would Rain”) and Mick Jagger (“Ain’t to Proud to Beg”).

But Ruffin was also a flawed man, succumbing to substance abuse that affected his ability to keep his professional commitments to the group. This eventually led to him being fired… sort of. He famously showed up at a number of their gigs where he would jump up on stage, grab the mic from his replacement (Dennis Edwards) and sing some of his best known songs. This was all portrayed in a 1998 miniseries on NBC.

Once Ruffin left the Tempts, his career was virtually over even though he continued to record, release and perform material up until his death in 1991 at age 50. But not quite. His first release as a solo artist is a classic and today’s SotW – “My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me).”

This is a very cool song. It opens with a flute piece that’s based on “Frühlingslied” by Felix Mendelssohn. Then the Funk Brothers kick in with another steady groove — a funky bassline, sharp horn charts, and Latin percussion.

Then comes “the voice.” Ruffin’s performance is intense and emotional – as if he has something to prove (to his former group, and he does). You can feel his pain as he describes how he can’t go on without the woman that ditched him. He wants so badly to understand why she left him (and hopes he can convince her to come back).

Oh tell me baby
Where did I go wrong, honey
Whatever changed your mind, baby
I’ve asked myself these questions over a million times
Baby, baby, oh baby
My whole world ended the moment you left me

I can listen to this song a thousand times and never tire of it. They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.

Oops. Last Saturday I told you it was Record Store Day. I was a week ahead of myself. In fact, today is Record Store Day. So please support your favorite independent record store and treat yourself to a vinyl collectible today.

Enjoy… until next week.

Night Music: The Shaggs, “Philosophy of the World”

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The whole idea of art and agency in art is challenged by outsider artists. That is creators who don’t seem to have technical chops but somehow make visuals or sounds that engage anyway.

The Shaggs were a bunch of sisters who formed a band at their father’s direction and made an album in 1969 that went no where, at least partly because it was horribly played.

But, some years later that horrible playing became a virtue, and they were adopted by Frank Zappa and Terry Adams as naifs, making brilliant music without consciousness.

I spent some time tonight with Laura (last name unregistered by my brain), who plays drums in the modern version of the Shaggs, backing up Dot Wiggins, apparently the last remaining sister on tour. Until tonight I didn’t really know the Shaggs’ album, but Laura told a story about Dot’s musical tastes.

“What do you listen to,” Laura asked.

Dot said, “Herman Hermits.” Her tastes were fixed in the 60s.

Lester Bangs said the Shaggs were better than the Beatles, which is one side of the discussion about interesting naivete versus commercial calculation. I didn’t grow up with the Shaggs and didn’t invest myself in their story when Terry Adams and Frank Zappa revived them. For me this is outsider art, if art is what you want to call it.

I’m glad to hear it, I find it hard to give it much credit but enthusiasm.