Capt. Spaulding, tending to overgrowth in the garden of love, declares: “This is simply a decent-to-good song that could use some pruning — it’s too long by at least a minute — and which expresses a sociological statement of some sort with all the classic earnestness of youth. That is to say, it’s by turns …
From: J Sent: Monday, July 26, 2010 9:04 AM To: Kipp, Thomas J Subject: RE: Brand new praise for TK’s 1982-83 stint w/ Diction, from a thoroughly unexpected source! So what exactly makes something grunge and how was the DD song the beginning of it? I know that back in the day (when I walked …
This just in, from Claude Iosso: “Where is Black Francis’ mind? We have a better idea these days — aliens from outer space and Mexico and the triumph and emptiness of L.A. life are recurring themes in the great man’s oeuvre. However, the Pixies were fascinating and kind of scary at least partly because their …
Yaz’s “Don’t Go” synth riff lives on in: ********************************************************** And here’s a link to a report from Change.org about discriminatory practices at hip hop concerts in Chicago’s Millenium Park, the first of which was a Kid Sister show: Hip Hop Prompts Discriminatory Security Practices – Chicago’s Millennium Park is a local, national and global treasure. …
The No Depression blog has a nifty, proud, duly diligent entry about the rising popularity of covers of Old Crow Medicine Show’s Wagon Wheel. Covers of Wagon Wheel are becoming so common that the song is described as the new “Brown Eyed Girl” after Van Morrison’s oft-covered 1967 hit: Against Me’s version of Wagon Wheel …
This just in, from Pete Erickson: “A few weeks ago you posted the Banana Splits theme song. Of all the Splits hits, “Doing the Banana Split” was always my favorite. Even if I didn’t know what the Motown sound was about, it always hit the right groove for me. This comes complete with an obligatory …
As leader of the group responsible for starting a youth cult, Generation X, BILLY IDOL was one of the original British punks who gave the rock establishment a good kick up the arse with such classics as “Ready, Steady, Go,” “Wild Youth,” “Your Generation” and “Dancing With Myself,” all of which are among the classics …
This is BernardStreetCred’s take on PJ Harvey‘s version of “Wang Dang Doodle“: “I like PJ, and I love almost all covers on principle — but here’s an instance where the singer and song don’t quite match up, despite what seems like a clever fit (her cover of Highway 61 Revisited that’s floating around out there …
Here’s is John Siscoe‘s take on Koko Taylor and “Wang Dang Doodle“: “Despite the antiseptic setting and lackluster backing, this is a valuable clip. Any blues performance from the ’60s is a relative rarity, and this gives us a look at Koko Taylor when she was young and in her prime, plus a fleeting glimpse …
High quality 1978 Rockpile clip: “I remember the night the kid cut off his right arm, in a bid to save a bit of power…”
After much negotiation, Ron Swanson submitted the following Top 25 list: I am not married to the list per se, but here’s the thought process, such as it is: put this out on the blog (more or less as is) and then add a link asking readers to vote for their fav songs to replace …
“I moved to Chicago for Major League Baseball, I might leave for the same reason.” – Jethro Burns A recent communiqué from BernardStreetCred: If you spy a copy of the rather expensive magazine Fretboard Journal, there’s a lovely, long article about Jethro Burns in it. Good stories from Sam Bush and Don Stiernberg, among others. …
More at MumfordandSons.com
By Tom Kipp “If I had to boil down for a Martian what “it” IS that made rock music the joy of my life, there could be no finer aural aid than this [The Sonics version of “Louie Louie” ] guitar/vocal Tandem Scream from the Id. They say Grunge was “raw”, but it may as …
Calling All Swedes and Swede Ams! How important is “Children of the Heavenly Father” to people of Swedish descent everywhere? Very much so. If you know the song, and love the song, why not celebrate and expand the tradition by singing it once a week (and change the world in the process)? The Lina Sandell …
Hunter S. Thompson said it best. This “is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday nights if the Nazis had won the war.” He was demeaning Las Vegas‘s Circus Circus, but his pejoration sticks like skunk spray even more aptly to this surreal, Hasselhoff in black leathers, vid schmear. “Danke schoen” indeed. Hasselhoff …
The passage below is from an interview with Greil Marcus posted on Blogcritics.org concerning “When That Rough God Goes Riding: Listening to Van Morrison“: “It is at the heart of Morrison’s presence as a singer,” Marcus asserts, “that when he lights on certain sounds, certain small moments inside a song…can then suggest whole territories, completed …
7/01/2010 – from the great Tom Kipp: I always suspected ol’ Bob would bow out in the anniversary month of CG. [July 1969 seems longer ago than EVER right now.] And, after the conversation we had about Consumer Guide in 2006, driving back to his hotel from Greil and Jenny Marcus’ dinner party at the …
This may be our last chance to sell a screenplay, and here’s the premise: “Lady Gaga is a single mom working for the Mining and Minerals Management Service in New Orleans. She’s just trying to do her job and bring home the etouffee for her dead sister’s adorable child from [whatever country is hot next …
From Jeffy: “These guys I did see live back then/thereabouts – The Suburbs, and i just realized that their song “Cows” must have been stewing in my head for years before i wrote a Pathetic Wannabees tune called “Bovine”!” Jeffy has found something here, an eighties video which is truly of it’s time, but still …
I received this from BernardStreetCred a while ago. Summer’s here and the time is right for acoustic Beach Boys covers:
I hadn’t heard from BradfordBoy60 in a long time, but today he broke radio silence and submitted the following for your unadulterated enjoyment. He writes, these “19 year olds from Ireland, I believe, have released a great pop record,” and later, “TWO DOOR CINEMA CLUB’s cd is 35 minutes of 100% beef pop, not a …
A lovely, dark, deep, vesperlike version of “Vanlose Stairway,” done by Van Morrison and crew for BBC Four:
It’s time for the annual posting of “Summer’s Almost Gone,” East Portland Blog‘s guilty pleasure Doors song. And this year there are two bonuses. First, for your consideration, is Juan and Guido’s guileless jungle cover. It’s not perfect by any means, but quite comfortable overall, and almost lifelike in several important spots. And here’s the …
Above is Tom Jones and Wilson Pickett performing a Medley of “Barefootin,” “Midnight Hour,” and “Hey Jude” on This is Tom Jones television show in 1970. Below is Wilson Pickett‘s legendary studio version of “Hey Jude,” which included energetic session guitar work from a then-unknown Duane Allman. Allman’s biting, emotional, guitar work at the end …
“Hold my life, until I’m ready to use it.Hold my life, because I just might lose it.”— From “Hold My Life” by the Replacements No band has propped up my world the way the Replacements did in the ‘80s. Although I’ve had favorite musicians before and since, those performers’ music was just life’s soundtrack, often …
From The World, Pato Fu, a Brazilian band, performing Paul McCartney’s 1973 tune “Live and Let Die” on toy instruments with adorable performing children:
“The Weight” off The Band‘s 1968 album, Music From Big Pink has become the favored cover tune for every flavor and sector of Americana rock. Something in the loping, star-spangled bounce of the tune gives voice, meter and harmony to subtle, reassuring myths of rural America and has found appeal, not just in the land …