This is one you may not have heard of. Or may have forgotten.
The Golden Palominos were a working outfit from 1981 to 2012, when their last record came out. Their first album was a work of No Wave, a punk jazz fusion thing that highlighted bandleader Anton Fier’s massive drumming, and lots of skronking and wailing by downtown notables like John Zorn, Aarto Lindsey, Fred Frith, and bassist Bill Laswell, who played with the band consistently.
I’m not impugning the first album, but like much of No Wave, the joys are hard earned. Worthwhile? Probably, but it is on their second album that Golden Palominos became music for minds like mine.
This is a great rock record. For one thing it features guest vocals by Michael Stipe, John Lydon, and Jack Bruce. It has a cover of Skip Spence’s Omaha. Richard Thompson plays guitar. Carla Bley plays organ on Buenos Aires. And it introduces us to Syd Straw, who in subsequent permutations became one of the Palominos’s front people.
I only saw them once, on stage at Studio 54, with the great Ordinaires opening for them. But this is a record that is heavy, jazzy, poppy, full of songwriters and singers, with great playing and a killer rhythm section.
Try it out.
What’s your favorite “speeding ticket”
song? You know, that song you hear in
the car that pumps you up and turns your foot into lead without you even realizing
it. You look down at your speedometer
and you’re driving waaaay over the speed limit!
But besides the song provoking an adrenaline rush, I also want my speeding ticket songs to have an emotional or conceptual connection driving and speed. I have two favorites that meet the criteria. The first is “Radar Love” by Golden Earring.
I’ve been drivin’
all night, my hand’s wet on the wheel
There’s a voice in my head that drives my heel
It’s my baby callin’, says I need you here
And it’s a half past four and I’m shiftin’ gear
“Radar Love” was on an album called Moontan, that had its original cover banned because it had a semi-nude, feather dancer on it. It is now a collectors’ item. (I own a copy!) It was replaced with a picture of a… golden earring.
Steppenwolf’s “Born to Be Wild” has the same effect on me.
Get your motor
runnin’
Head out on the highway
Lookin’ for adventure
And whatever comes our way
… and the track uses the phrase “heavy
metal” and is credited with inspiring rock critic Lester Bangs to use it to describe
a genre of music. Heavy metal music is
now a common term in our lexicon.
I like smoke and
lightning Heavy metal thunder
Racin’ with the wind
And the feelin’ that I’m under
The song’s placement in a road scene in
the classic movie Easy Rider nails it as the perfect road song.
The song was written by Mickey Newbury, a famed Nashville songwriter, supposedly about the LSD experience. What I learned today is that while it was made into a hit by The First Edition, the first version was by Jerry Lee Lewis, who always rocks.
One of the commentators on the above clip said to look for the Mickey Newbury version. Why not?
When the New Jersey-based Grip Weeds released their 15 song “Best of” compilation, they named it after their best song – “Infinite Soul.”
The Grip Weeds
are a favorite of Little Steven Van Zandt and his Underground Garage. Their influences are as clear as a window washed
with Windex – British invasion mainstays The Beatles (the band is named after
John Lennon’s character, Musketeer Gripweed, from the movie How I Won the
War), Kinks, Who and Zombies. And any
of myriad other bands that have jangly guitars (Big Star, Byrds, Smithereens) and
psychedelic inclinations (Buffalo Springfield, Jefferson Airplane, Yardbirds).
The core of the
band consists of siblings Kurt (vocals, drums) and Rick (vocals, guitars) Reil,
and Kristin Pinell (guitars, vocals).
The brothers write most of their originals, but the band has recorded
many covers too.
If you read my
missives regularly, you may recall my affection for songs that feature the
electric sitar. “Infinite Soul” features
one of the best electric sitar solos I’ve heard.
The Grip Weeds
still perform, but mostly just in NJ. So,
if you’re in the tri-state area, keep an eye open for their tour dates and go
to check them out.
I can remember the first time I heard Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town. I was in the Grand Union supermarket in Smithtown NY. My memory is that I was buying a box of a new popcorn product that came in a black box (radical design back then) with lots of smart-alecky copy on it, but I can’t recall the product name (turns out Smartfood wasn’t introduced until 1985) and who really knows. But the song is a fact.
It’s really an amazing song, catchy, spare, with a narrative that his expansive, as much not said as is said and implied, almost epic yet also close up and exact. Kenny Rogers didn’t write it, Mel Tillis did, and Waylon Jennings first recorded it in 1966, but it was Rogers and The First Edition who made it a hit in 1969.
Ruby wasn’t The First Edition’s first hit. That was Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Is In), which is a pretty excellent example of commercial garage rock. Moyer would note the excellent face-making of the guitarist during his solo, and the excellent chops of the tambourine player.
The First Edition eventually broke up and Rogers went on to have a long career as a MOR singer, bit actor, award-winning celebrity. His two No. 1 songs were Lady and Islands in the Stream, the latter with Dolly Parton. He also sang on We Are the World, for what it’s worth. He died earlier this week.
I had plans to go back to New Orleans – one of my favorite cities – for the French Quarter Festival in April. But yesterday they announced that it would be postponed until October. :^(
To help get me psyched for the Fest, I
read the most important book to document the historical importance of New
Orleans to the early development of R&B and Rock and Roll in the ‘50s and ’60.
Rhythm & Blues In New Orleans
was written in 1974 by Brit John Broven, an authority on the subject of
Louisiana music.
The book told a story about a white artist that recorded in Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans named Jerry Byrne. I’d never heard of him, so I had to check out his most popular song – “Lights Out” (1958).
How is it that I have not heard of this
song before now? This kicks ass!!! It has everything you could want in a rockabilly
song – A wild vocal, a honking sax (played by Harold Battiste), and a killer piano
solo pounded out by Art Neville (of the Neville Brothers). As accurately summarized by Broven, it “contains
all the power, energy and excitement that is the essence of rock ‘n roll.”
The track was co-written by Seth David
and Mac Rebennack (Dr. John) who was Byrne’s cousin!
And the lyrics have the rebellious attitude
that is essential for early rock songs.
It opens like this:
Standin’ on my front porch Grabbed her and I kissed her Boy was I surprised when I saw her little sisterLights out, lights outI’m glad now the lights were out Sister knows more about What to do when the lights go out Mother looked at me She was a-peepin’ through the window The way she looked at me Boy, I thought I was a sinner
“Lights Out” was popular regionally but
never found a national audience. How did
that happen? It shouldda been a hit!
I hope you’re as happy as I am to have discovered
this classic, early rock song. It will
be on many of my playlists in the future.
Today’s post is yet another in the
ongoing Evolution Series.
Led Zeppelin left a huge influence on
the development of Rock and Roll. It
seems ironic, then, that they’ve been accused so often of plagiarism.
I first wrote about this in February
2009 when the subject was “Dazed and Confused,” an obvious and undisputed rip
off of Jake Holmes “I’m Confused.” In
June 2016 I posted about the lawsuit by the estate of Randy California that
claimed the intro to “Stairway to Heaven” was lifted from Spirit’s “Taurus.” I defended Zep on that one because, although there
are similarities, there just wasn’t enough to justify calling it plagiarism (at
least IMHO).
But let’s move on to “Whole Lotta Love.”
Most people attribute Robert Plant and Jimmy Page’s song to an original by Muddy Waters. His 1962 release, “You Need Love,” was written by Willie Dixon and has lyrical similarities to “Whole Lotta Love.”
You’ve got yearnin’ and I got burnin’
Baby you look so ooh
sweet and cunnin’
Baby way down
inside, woman you need love
Woman you need love,
you’ve got to have some love
I’m gon’ give you
some love, I know you need love
Although Page and Plant were steeped in the traditional American blues masters, I don’t think the Muddy Waters track was their inspiration. Instead, it may have been the Small Faces “You Need Loving,” released in 1966.
The Small Faces recording clearly copped
the same lyrical phrases from Waters/Dixon, but they modernized it into a blues-rock
version. Ronnie Lane and Steve Marriott
took writing credits for their song. But
aside from the lyrics, it is undeniable that Marriott’s vocal approach was an
influence on Plant. If you’re not
convinced, check out the breakdown near the end of the Small Faces cut at about
3:35 in. If that doesn’t seal the deal,
I don’t know what will!
Purple Mountains was the latest project by David Berman, previously of Silver Jews. Since Silver Jews released their last album in 2008, this was a comeback of sorts. And the lyrics to the album’s opener, “That’s Just the Way That I Feel” confirm it!
Well, I don’t like talkin’ to myself
But someone’s gotta say it, hell
I mean, things have not been going well
This time I think I finally fucked myself
You see, the life I live is sickening
I spent a decade playing chicken with oblivion
Day to day, I’m neck and neck with giving in
I’m the same old wreck I’ve always been
Course I’ve been humbled by the void
Much of my faith has been destroyed
I’ve been forced to watch my foes enjoy
Ceaseless feasts of schadenfreude
And as the pace of life keeps quickening
Beneath the bitching and the bickering
When I try to drown my thoughts in gin
I find my worst ideas know how to swim
Well, a setback can be a setup
For a comeback if you don’t let up
But this kind of hurtin’ won’t heal
And the end of all wanting
Is all I’ve been wanting
And that’s just the way that I feel
This guy clearly knew how to turn a
phrase. But as amazing an achievement as
Purple Mountains was, it clearly wasn’t enough to rid Berman of his demons. He committed suicide on August 7, 2019 – less
than a month after the release of Purple Mountains. Substance abuse issues, marital problems, and
a feud with his well-connected lobbyist father (Richard Berman) due to
disapproval of his conservative, anti-regulation positions, all weighed heavily
on his psyche.
It’s too bad he didn’t live long enough
to enjoy the rave, critical notices for his final work.
This post is about this odd project by Pink Floyd’s drummer, Nick Mason, who was looking to do his first solo project in 1979. After kicking some ideas around, undecided which way to go, the great jazz composer Carla Bley sent him a cassette of some “punk songs” she’d written. He decided to record them because he liked them and they were ready to go. He said, ” So I thought it would be much better to do that than to struggle desperately to find things that work together.
The music is not punk rock (not close) and it’s not Pink Floyd (though closer). It is instead an odd melding of jazz and progressive rock that maybe tips its cap to Zappa, a little. But I’m not sure about all that. What I am sure is that they got it right, at least for me. This is a captivating synthesis of art rock and jazz that feels ornate and grand and yet not grandiose or bombastic.
Maybe some of that is the lovely vocals by Robert Wyatt, who was once the vocalist for the Soft Boys.
I’m A Mineralist is a good example of what’s going on here. Lyrical and then funky, by turns, maybe serious but then funny and not self-important. If you like it a little the album is worth checking out.
The most atypical cut on the album is the first, which is the only one Wyatt does not sing on. Curiously, I just discovered that one of the voices on this fun cut is that of my old friend Vincent Chancey, who back then was playing French horn in Sun Ra’s Arkestra. I don’t recognize which one is his.
