Tag Archives: song of the week

Song of the Week – Had to Hear, Real Estate

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One of my favorite albums of 2014 (so far) is Atlas by Real Estate. The 5 piece band was formed in New Jersey in 2008, but is now based in the latest hipster, indie rock mecca, Brooklyn.

The first single from the album was “Talking Backwards” but today’s SotW is the record’s opener – “Had to Hear.”

The most prominent feature of the song, obvious right out of the gate in its intro, is the jangly guitar strumming of vocalist/songwriter Martin Courtney and the simple, shimmering lead fills by Matt Mondanile. REM took it from the Byrds into the 80s and Real Estate has nudged it a little farther into the 21st century.

This music evokes a rural southern longing (though the band doesn’t have southern roots). It ambles along — steady rhythm, precisely arranged and played with mellow, intimate, softly sung vocals. If you like The Shins you’ll probably like Real Estate.

I had to hear you just to feel near you

I don’t need the horizon to tell me where the sky ends
It’s a subtle landscape where I come from

Courtney seems to be using the metaphor of physical distance to deny the need to hear his lover’s voice.

This is a lovely album of Americana. Other songs worth hearing are “Past Lives”, “The Bend”, “Crime”, “Horizon” and the instrumental “April’s Song” (which sounds a little to me like Human Sexual Response’s “Andy Fell”). Check out the whole record on Spotify. You won’t be disappointed.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Ana Ng, They Might Be Giants

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They Might Be Giants is one of my favorite “novelty” bands, right up there with The Bonzo Dog Band. TMBG is made up of two Johns, Flansburgh and Linnell, that grew up together in Lincoln, MA. They attended Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School, whose alumni also include Mike Gordon of Phish and comedian Paula Poundstone (not to mention my brothers-in-law).

They went their separate ways after HS, but reunited in Brooklyn post grad and began making music again. Their creative shows and clever marketing brought them to the attention of the Hoboken, NJ based indie label Bar/None (home to Yo La Tengo and The Feelies) who gave them a recording contract and released their first two albums – They Might Be Giants and Lincoln.

Those two albums and their third, Flood, produced a bunch of their best songs including “Don’t Let’s Start”, “Purple Toupee”, “They’ll Need a Crane”, “Santa’s Beard” (which my bandmates and I have played at holiday parties), “Birdhouse in Your Soul” and “Particle Man.”

My choice for the SotW is “Ana Ng.”

This song is way too much fun for a bunch of reasons. The lyrics tell the story of a guy who’s thinking about that one person that was put on this earth just for him – except that she lives on the other side of the world in Viet Nam.

My apartment looks upside down from there
Water spirals the wrong way out the sink
And her voice is a backwards record
It’s like a whirlpool, and it never ends

Then there’s the way TMBG tie in their obsession with the NY World’s Fair (the site upon which they filmed the video for their first single “Don’t Let’s Start”) with the global theme of the song and the connection to Disney’s “It’s a Small World” that debuted at said Fair.

All alone at the ’64 World’s Fair
Eighty dolls yelling “Small girl after all”
Who was at the DuPont Pavilion?
Why was the bench still warm? Who had been there?

But for me, one of the best reasons this song is so special is the playful vowel sound phonetics of the chorus:

Ana Ng and I are getting old

If you know this song you know exactly what I’m saying. If you’re hearing it for the first time you’ll pick up on it immediately. Very clever.

And how can you not love a rock band that uses an accordion as one of its primary instruments!

They’re a blast to see live too. Everyone in the audience seems to know the words to all their wacky songs, giving the concert a playful, party feel.

TMBG had further success, winning a Grammy in 2002 for the theme song they wrote for Malcolm in the Middle, “The Boss of Me.” They also wrote the theme song for Jon Stewart’s The Daily Show.

Starting around 2005 the guys have been focusing most of their energies toward recording children’s records. (One of them, Here Come The 1 2 3s, earned them a second Grammy.) If I still had small children they’d be listening to TMBG, not Barney or Raffi.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Skokiaan – Kermit Ruffin, Lupita – The Iguanas, Java – Allen Toussaint, I Walk On Gilded Splinters – Dr. John

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A few weeks ago I went to New Orleans for their annual Jazz Fest. Although I’ve been to the Crescent City several times before it’s been a good 15 years since my last visit – long overdue.

I must be honest, at the Jazz Fest itself I didn’t get to hear as much local music as I had hoped. I arrived a little late each day and then focused my attention on the major acts on the big (Accura) stage where a couple of my favorites were performing – Springsteen and Arcade Fire. Both did terrific sets.

But the festival ends early (7 PM) each day and that provides ample opportunity to go out to the clubs to hear more good music. One night we went to the Rock ‘n’ Bowl where we saw Kermit Ruffin (a local legend and star on HBO’s hit series Treme) as the opening act.

Next on was another New Orleans band, The Iguanas.

The Iguanas sound like Los Lobos relocated to New Orleans, especially their emphasis on Spanish language folk songs and Latin rhythms… and that ain’t bad.

Another night we had tickets to see the Dr. John Tribute Concert. This one night only performance featured a “who’s who” of New Orleans musician royalty (Dirty Dozen Horns, Chief Monk Boudreaux, Cyril Neville, Irma Thomas) and a long list of other prominent rock & R&B stars (Warren Haynes, John Fogarty, Mavis Staples, Jimmie Vaughn, Chuck Leavell) too. (Gregg Allman and Lucinda Williams were no-shows.) Don Was acted as the musical director.

Springsteen made a surprise appearance and opened the festivities on “Right Place, Wrong Time” – the good Dr. accompanying him on piano. Allen Toussaint performed his own song of “Life”, a version of which Dr. John released on his In the Right Place album.

Here’s Toussaint’s instrumental “Java” made famous by Al Hirt with a Grammy award winning hit (#4, 1963). The Toussaint original recording comes off a very rare album from 1958 that I have a copy of called The Wild Sound of New Orleans (credited simply to Tousan).

Dr. John closed out the set, playing piano and singing on a few of his most well-known songs. My favorite was “I Walk On Gilded Splinters” from his classic Gris Gris album. Sarah Morrow did a trombone solo that was as swampy and spooky as the original Gris Gris recording here.

The concert was filmed and will come out on DVD later this year. When it does, be sure to check it out.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Living on the Coast, The Rise of Heart, Judie Tzuke

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Today’s SotW was written by guest contributor Gil Roeder. Gil is a guitarist/songwriter and a member of Rockridge Station. He has also written about music professionally. When he’s not focused on his musical interests he holds down a day job!

Sure, sure … finding your lifetime partner and significant other can bring love and happiness, companionship, children, emotional support, etc. etc. All wonderful stuff, but let’s not overlook one of the great benefits of entering into a long-term romantic relationship: combining music collections!

Today, I suppose, this is a routine Bluetooth or Thunderbolt file exchange for most couples. But back in the vinyl era, a significant ritual in the progression of a serious relationship was sitting on the floor of your new shared home, sifting through each other’s crates of records to cull the duplicates (“let’s see, your copy of Rumors is in better condition, my copy of Sticky Fingers has the original Andy Warhol zipper on the cover”), and discovering the quirks in your S.O.’s musical tastes.

When my future wife and I first set up house together, I came across a 1980 album in her pile by the British singer-songwriter Judie Tzuke, called Sportscar. I was immediately smitten: Tzuke’s belting vocal style and inventive rhythms and harmonies set her apart from many mainstream female artists of the time. Our SotW features two cuts from that album.

“Living on the Coast” portrays a recent migrant to (presumably) Southern California, basking in the sunshine and sea breeze while aching with loneliness:

Living on the coast
You see no one beyond the waterline
You make yourself feel better
By breathing in the air

The arrangement seems inspired by contemporaneous Steely Dan records (Aja, Gaucho), with a catchy bass-keyboard interchange, jazzy 11th and 13th chords over abrupt rhythmic transitions, and serpentine guitar fills.

“The Rise of Heart” is a better showcase for Tzuke’s voice.

Her powerful upper range and steady, vibrato-less fermatas at times resemble Rickie Lee Jones. Her band shines here, with a delicate bass riff that gets picked up by the guitar, a dramatic keyboard countermelody in the chorus and an intelligent guitar solo by Mike Paxman that is straight from the Larry Carlton school of jazz-rock.

Tzuke’s story illustrates how important luck and timing were in the star-making machinery of that era. After modest success in the British pop charts with her initial albums and singles, she got her big break — signing with Elton John’s Rocket record label and opening for him on his 1980 U.S. tour. From all accounts, confirmed by YouTube clips of her live performances around that time, she seized the moment and killed on stage. The high point was playing to half a million people in New York’s Central Park.

But the machinations of the recording industry conspired against Tzuke. Elton John had switched U.S. distributors just before the tour. According to her web site, “MCA consequently decided to stop all tour support and promotion for the acts on the Rocket label, which meant that Judie was playing to huge audiences … but no-one knew who she was and her records were not available in the shops.” Despite a quick fade to obscurity, she has continued to self-produce albums and tour the U.K. to this day, sometimes with her two musician daughters.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Black Magic Woman, Fleetwood Mac & Gypsy Queen, Gabor Szabo

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Santana’s most commercially successful album was probably Abraxas. Released in 1970 it contained three of the band’s best known songs – “Oye Como Va”, “Hope You’re Feeling Better” and “Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen.” Released in September 1970, the album reached #1 on the Billboard album charts – no doubt benefiting from the March 1970 release of the Woodstock movie where their incendiary performance of “Soul Sacrifice” was a highlight of the film.

“Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen” was not an original composition. In fact, it was a combination of two covers that are today’s Songs of the Week.

“Black Magic Woman” was originally recorded by Fleetwood Mac. Not the Bob Welch (Bare Trees, Mystery to Me) version or the Buckingham/Nicks (Fleetwood Mac, Rumours) version, but the Peter Green led band.

Peter Green was a blues guitar virtuoso that replaced Eric Clapton in John Mayall’s Blues Breakers. When his stint with Mayall had run its course, he formed the original Fleetwood Mac. “Black Magic Woman” was the first single from their 1968 debut.

“Gypsy Queen” was originally recorded by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo.

The Santana version follows the Szabo template very closely and signaled that Santana would soon be led into a more jazz influenced direction later in his career. Santana’s style is a bit “heavier” and more Latin influenced, but the guitar riffs are near identical.

Although I almost always favor the version of a song that I heard (and loved) first, it’s always interesting to hear the originals. Don’t you think?

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Who Needs You , The Orwells

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The Orwells are a bunch of 5 teenage high school friends from Chicago that have earned a decent amount of recognition on the indie rock circuit. They’ve been featured on two of my favorite music blogs, aquariumdrunkard.com and rollogrady.com, and also at webzine pitchfork.com.

They appeared on Late Night with David Letterman in January and generated a swarm of social media buzz (you can read about it here – Rolling Stone – The Orwells on Letterman) with their over the top performance of the title track of their latest EP, “Who Needs You.”

I have to admit I have a soft spot in my heart for a bunch of kids that don’t give a damn what people think about them. Their only incentive is to have a good time playing their hearts out… and maybe meet a few girls and drink some beer.

Yeah, these tunes are lo-fi. But it’s only rock and roll, and I like it.

Enjoy… until next week.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Song of the Week – Look at the World It’s Changing/You Because You Know Me, Heads Hands & Feet

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I went to a record collectors show a few weeks ago. One of the vendors had a box of records for $5 each. I ended up buying two or three simply because I had never seen them before. That’s pretty unusual for me. I come across a lot of records I don’t own, but very few I’ve never heard of or seen.

One was a double album by a band called Heads Hands & Feet. Have you ever heard of them? Well, they were pretty damn good.

I had to do a lot of digging on the web to learn about them. Here’s what I found. They were a British sextet made up mostly of professional session musicians. Chas Hodges (bass, violin, vocals) had been around the block, working with Joe Meek, Shirley Bassey and Jerry Lee Lewis. Lead guitarist Albert Lee went on to a long career in the music biz including work with Eric Clapton, Dave Edmunds and Willie Nelson. He was best known as James Burton’s replacement in Emmy Lou Harris’ Hot Band, contributing to several of her best known albums including Luxury Liner and Evangeline. His reputation rests on his ability to play very fast. Tony Colton (lead vocals) and Ray Smith (guitar) co-wrote most of the songs.

Most of the info I found on the band describes them as a country band. If you check out their YouTube videos they definitely live up to that billing. But the disc I bought (their debut) is much more expansive.

Take, for example, today’s SotW – “Look at the World It’s Changing/You Because You Know Me.”

Heads Hands & Feet – Look at the World It’s Changing/You Because You Know Me

The first song in the suite, “Look at the World…,” sounds more like early prog rock to me — a bit of Pink Floyd here, a dash of The Strawbs there. Drummer Pete Gavin’s style reminds me of ELP’s Carl Palmer. It also has a pretty nifty alto sax solo by guest Elton Dean. Dean had played with Reginald Dwight in Long John Baldry’s band. (Dwight combined their first names to come up with his famous stage name – Elton John.)

“Look at the World…” segues gently into “You Because…” which is a beautiful folk song. It has certain elements that could have been lifted out of the Paul Simon songbook.

So the record show was a success for me. I scored a good record and learned about a band I’d never heard of before. I love it!

BTW – This cut is a vinyl rip because the song isn’t available for download. Nor is it available on YouTube or Spotify. It’s just too rare.

Speaking of vinyl records… today is Record Store Day. Please try to support your favorite local record store. You can probably find a cool special edition collectible by one of your favorite artists or some unexpected gem like today’s SotW.

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Underwhelmed, Sloan

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Sloan is a Canadian quartet that’s been around for over 20 years but is virtually unknown here in the US. They are a national treasure in The Great White North, right up there with their much more famous rock brethren such as Neil Young and Joni Mitchell.

I first heard of them on a compilation disc I picked up in the very early days of the CD, when titles available on the format were still relatively few. The CD contained the first single, “Underwhelmed,” from their Geffen debut Smeared.

There’s a distinct feature to “Underwhelmed” that makes it a very odd choice for a first single – the lyrics contain no rhymes. Instead, the song is a long narrative about a boy that is infatuated with a girl in his class, but they’re very different. He’s pretty conventional (maybe a geek) and she’s a bit of a rebel. He’s smitten with all of her little peccadilloes – things that she’s totally oblivious to. She couldn’t care less about him. Here’s a sample:

She wrote out a story about her life
I think it included something about me
I’m not sure of that but I’m sure of one thing
Her spelling’s atrocious

She told me to read between the lines
And tell her exactly what I got out of it
I told her affection had two F’s
Especially when you’re dealing with me

I usually notice all the little things
One time I was proud of it, she says it’s annoying
She cursed me up and down and rolled her R’s, her beautiful R’s

This is pure genius. And it’s a pretty fun pop song too. It opens with a sound like a buzzing bee then bursts into psychedelic riffage you might expect to hear from Nirvana or Sonic Youth. The vocal harmonies fit the style of the song and enhance it.

With all four band members writing songs, Sloan is a very prolific group. They’ve released somewhere in the order of 175 songs! Check them out.

Enjoy… until next week.