May 26, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from Green Day, Chrisette Michele, Rod Stewart, and Mandy Moore.
Yes it's true music snobs! Mandy Moore was already breaking the mold six years ago when she did a surprisingly good version(with an equally good arrangement) of "Senses Working Overtime" -a song that seemed un-coverable at the time. That gives us a great excuse to talk about the song's original creators XTC. Many of you know them from their brief 80s brush with fame(and MTV notoriety)for "Dear God" and "The Mayor Of Simpleton". They started out in the late 70s as a more quirky version of their fellow punk and post-punk bands of the time (Wire, Echo And the Bunnymen) but soon found their way making intricate, melodic sides that rank with the best efforts from Squeeze, Split Enz and Crowded House. If you're a fan of The New Pornographers, Grandaddy or Super Fury Animals then you already understand that a term like progressive pop isn't an oxymoron.For the full story go immediately to our XTC Essentials and head straight for Making "Plans for Nigel" and "Life Begins At The Hop" -but don't miss the highlights form their alter ego the Dukes of Stratosphere- a massively successful attempt at slavish 60s recreation-where their best songs rival the best of those they were emulating/imitating. Start with "Vanishing Girl" which sounds like one of the Hollies greatest hits and marvel at "Pale And Precious " which could have been one the best songs on the Beach boys lost (but recently resuscitated) classic Smile.
May 19, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt, Eminem, The Airborne Toxic Event, and Cat Stevens/Yusuf.
You might wonder how this stage name was chosen for Steven Demetre Georgiou to fit the mood of the mellow introspective class of emerging singer-songwriters like James Taylor, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell-whose ranks he hoped to (and eventually did)join. Few of our US listeners remember that his first sting of records in the mid-sixtes ware about his becoming a British Invasion era pop-star/teen-idol in the vein of Tom Jones and Cliff Richards. While this incarnation of Cat Stevens failed to make any impression stateside, it was a different story in the UK where he had a string of chart records including two top tens. This pre-Mona Bone Jakon period which included two full albums is usually reduced to "The First Cut Is The Deepest" and "Matthew And Son" on most anthologies. But the first 23 songs on his career spanning box set, On The Road To Find Out, shows just how diverse(and dare I say overtly commercial)a Cat Steven record could get. If you like what you heard in those on those two atypical sides, check out "I'm Gonna Get Me A Gun", "Here Comes My Baby" (a hit in the US for The Fortunes) and the you-just-have-to-hear-it-to-believe-it /heavily-orchestrated and produced/ non -ironic "I Love My Dog". Did I mention that these are some of the best pop records from that period?
May 12, 2009
This week, we're listening in on music from Dark Was The Night, The Troggs, Biz Markie, Rudo Y Cursi, and Adam & The Ants.
If you were inspired by our discussion of Adam & The Ants and the Burundi Beat in particular, do yourself a favor, drop everything and go to the Kongos album by John Kongos- specifically the album's single "He's Gonna Step On You Again" which melds those tribal beats with T Rex-style guitar, "Come Together"-era John Lennon-esque lyrics and Animal Collective-like production (instrumental credits include entries for 'jawbone, bicycle bell and clapper'). Unbelievably this was all written recorded in early 1971. The record went nowhere in America but surprisingly it was a Top Ten hit in Britain. The song was later popularized by the Happy Mondays in a more dance-oriented version under the truncated title "Step On" -but you've got to hear the original-arguably the first glitter record of the seventies and one of the last psychedelic records of the sixties.
May 5, 2009
This week, we're listening in on the music of the Grateful Dead, The Gap Band, John Rich of Big & Rich, and "supergroups" like Traveling Wilburys and Crosby, Stills, & Nash
While Crosby Stills Nash And Young are credited with being the first supergroup let's not forget the importance of their member's pre-CSN&Y incarnations. All three had both critical and commercial success with the bands they left behind. Let's start with David Crosby's stint in the Byrds-the band most people credit for inventing folk rock and for bringing Bob Dylan's music to the masses You probably know "Mr Tambourine Man"(the first Dylan song to hit #1) or "Turn Turn Turn"(the first Peeter Seeger song to hit #1) but you need to hear the David Crosby-penned should-have-been-an- A-side "Ladyfriend". Following a more pop direction Graham Nash's first group, the Hollies, are known for confections like "Bus Stop". Look Through" Any Window" and "Carrie Anne"- all masterpieces of sixties pop, but check out "King Midas In Reverse"for an early preview of what Hollies might sounded like if he stuck around. Finally Buffalo Springfield gave many of us our first taste of singing and writing with Neil Young's" Mr Soul"and Steven Stills' anthemic "For What It's Worth"-still used as shorthand for sixties protest in what seem like every period film. Both Buffalo Springfield and The Byrds are in the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame-and the Hollies deserve a place as well.
