I had a hard time listening to “Daykeeper” all the way through. I think it just bored me: I like some tension and didn’t find any in here but maybe I just missed it. Too pretty, I think.
My choice this time is Jimmy Buffett. I used to think he was just a lightweight but after hearing the album Take the Weather With You I have totally changed my mind. He covers “Wheel Inside the Wheel” and has a really fine song about Katrina (“Breathe In Breathe Out Move On”). But my choice here is his Elvis song, if only for the one line (“he took it all out of black and white”) which sort of sums up Elvis to me. Here’s “Elvis Presley Blues”. (It won’t hurt if you listen to the whole album.)
I must admit, I never liked Jimmy Buffett. In fact, I had a girlfriend for a short time where her love of him was the first indication that it probably wouldn’t work out.
But, this is a Gillian Welch/David Rawlings song. Buffett does know who to cover, it seems, and is able to make the song something different. The opening is pretty much a straight cover, but after that it comes together as an upbeat country song, rather than the Welch/Rawlings original, which has more downbeat folk/country vibe. This version’s nice, the original can make me a little weepy after a few drinks. I usually don’t feel that way about Elvis. It’s a good song.
Ok, my contribution this time is short and sweet. TWX in 12 Bars (it’s the Wall Street Week theme). 48 seconds of a teletype machine, horns, and I think electric piano. It gets stuck in my head fairly often, and I’ve come to think of it as THE T.V. theme song. It begins all serious, marching along about the importance of the economy, then has a fairly tender, human twist. That’s pretty close to how Rukeyser ran his show.
And well, the video has sexy pics of Louis Rukeyser. You have been warned.
ETA: TWX in 12 Bars is by Donald Swartz. Sorry, forgot to credit the guy.
That was awesome! Dated as hell but awesome! I especially like the typewriter hammering rhythm that ends the piece. But most awesome is how perfectly precise and concise it is and how it, IMO, showcases that often curiously blended middle ground between 1970-ish artistic and commercial sensibilities.
My pick is an old favorite, but prolly not familiar to most Dopers. This band had quite a good run back for about 10 years from the late '80s thru the late '90s in their native New Zealand and even now I’m not entirely sure why they broke up. They did a handful of shows 5 or 6 years ago but didn’t make a habit of it and they never recorded anything new. From their second album, 1991’s Body Blow, here’s Headless Chickens - Gaskrankinstation.
I really liked “Gaskrankinstation” Bo. I need to listen to it without the video since I don’t know how much I was liking the video. I’ll listen to some more of the group; the singer has a great sound. Thanks for the introduction.
Now here’s a Slim Harpo tune; I had a hard time picking one but this is my favorite as of today. If you like him, try “I’m a King Bee” too.
You’re welcome. And yeah, I almost made my own video for it, because I actually think the seeing the “narrator” takes away from the impact of the song. But I finally decided that since this is the record company’s official Youtube channel and it’s the actual video they made back in the day, I’d go ahead and give them the hits, however few they may be. At any rate, I’m glad you liked the song.
All good works there, folks. That Slim Harpo was slick. “You’re working w/ it now… doin’ that chicken scratch”… ha!
That Buffet surprised me, too. I know he has a few gems, but his name is often tarnished by his frat-boy-party reputation.
TWX in 12 Bars, what a unique and appropriate submission. Though the hot photos of Rukeyser distracted me a little.
Bo, you’ve got a special ear for the tunes. I found this one interesting, too. I didn’t listen too closely to the lyrics; was busy dancing along w/ the little *xylophone *highlights in the song. That was, until the guitars awoke me from my trance to fall on the floor and squiggle around a bit.
I heard this next submission on our local college station a few months ago, and will spin this every-so-often for a groovy, dreamy, bluesy track. This is Tinariwen with “Imidiwan Ma Tennam”. I like the melding of the Tuareg and Western-blues styles here. I can’t understand what they are saying, but I still like the feel and the veridity it has. I understand that one of the Wilco boys helped them out here. Now, I know that Wilco can both do it right, and fuck-up a good thing, but I think keeping Tweedy out of it saved this track (sorta kidding… Jeff’s ok, I guess).
Regarding Tinariwen - Imidiwan Matanam – what a curious rythm. I sort of guessed it had some sort of a folksy arab/nomadic feel to it, even before I read the description. Too slow for my at-this-very-moment liking, but I do get the dreamy vibe mentioned by shunpiker.
Here’s my submission:
Cent mille chansons by Frida Boccara. I came upon it quite by chance on youtube. Even if you don’t understand the french lyrics, the romantic music, and Boccara’s voice set the stage for a theme to eternal love.
Wow, what a voice! This lady exhibits tremendous control and range, but it was the obvious joy she felt singing that made this a winner. Mind you, this isn’t my kind of music so I don’t think I’ll be seeking her out for more but this was a pleasant interlude in my day.
Tinariwen totally fucking rocks! I first heard of them when they won a Grammy in 2012 (for Tassili, the album that contains the song you linked for us). They released a new album back in February, Emmaar; I think it’s even better than Tassili.
Expectations, ha! The Babymetal was a little heavy for this old man, but I liked it. It was dynamic and offered some subtle changes within to keep going.
Liked the Garmarna, too. In fact, subsequent listens have confirmed that it rocks. That song’s got a cohesive groove all the way through, and driving with a kick-ass beat! Not sure what different instruments are being used but there’s shit going-on throughout the whole tune. Good stuff.
Very impressed w/ Frida Bocarra. I listened to the clip w/o the video a few times, but I’m glad I finally watched her performance. It helped keep me engaged and able to appreciate the piece much more.
Speaking of songs that rock, here’s something that doesn’t. I’ll throw this one out there if only to stay w/ the “Female Singers I Can’t Understand” theme. It’s Yelle w/ C’est Pas Une Vie. I’ll add that it’s catchy and poppy -and i love a good pop song- but there’s honestly not a whole lot going on here. What hooked me was the silly chorus; all they add is the those little drum fills and it becomes something else for a few seconds. And it sounds all light and happy. I sure hope she’s not singing about murdering kittens or anything.
As you say, there’s not a lot of depth or complexity, here, but I enjoyed it just the same. Bright and fluffy ear candy. As soon as it started, I flashed back to my adolescence listening to long forgotten 1980s new-wave synth pop bands. I wonder if the little hand-clapping interlude was an intentional reference to Tony Basil’s “Hey Mickey!”. I also enjoyed the drummer’s high-hat work.
My own pick is Beneath the Brine by orchestral pop collective “The Family Crest”. In contrast to the previous song, there’s a LOT going on with this song. A huge orchestral ensemble and a classically trained vocalist go all out in this piece. I still can’t decide whether it’s lush and melodramatic or bloated and histrionic. Regardless, I can’t stop listening to it.
Holy shit, this thing kills. I love the intro with the really close-miked cello, closer than a traditional classical recording would do it. It’s more like “Eleanor Rigby” strings. Which works for me, because that gritty, woody attack of a bowed stringed instrument gives me fucking chills. One of the few sounds that makes me wish I’d given the last quarter-century of my life to a different instrument than the electric guitar.
I dig the main vocal track. High, keening, heartfelt (whether truly so or merely affected, I have no idea) indie pop vocals do the trick for me.
The mix in the last third of the song (before everything drops out) is dense. as. fuck. I’m into it. Either they’re really good, I’m really drunk, or some combination of the two, but this is what The Arcade Fire wishes they were. Really awesome track. Thanks for sharing.
I feel almost embarrassed, serving up one fairly conventional rock song after another in the face of all the avantgarditude in this thread, but I will bring the variety.
This is a catchy as hell song, of course, but what I’m really focusing on is the production values. The sound.
Bob Rock is a fucking wizard. (Whether he’s Gandalf or Saruman is a matter of personal taste.) I loved what he did to Motley Crue in the late 80s. I hated him for what he did to Metallica in the late 90s.
On this song, I cannot believe what big shiny sounds he got out of this group. He took a group that had been a muddy, female-fronted, Beatles-and-Bowie-by-way-of-Nirvana post-grunge group on their first album, and made them HUGE. I listened to this song on headphones ten minutes ago (and I suggest you either do the same, or at the very least crank the shit out of it), and I can’t believe how perfect every individual instrument sounds, yet how good the whole mix sounds without brickwalling everything. It’s pretty damned cool.
Also, I have such a 1997 crush on Nina Gordon and Louise Post.
That Veruca Salt was great! Not only had I forgotten about them, I realize I didn’t ever give them the credit they deserved. I wasn’t much into them in the 90s, but now I’m wondering if I may have missed out. And you’re right… I did crank it up and found it refreshing. It’s good, clean power-pop done right. That particular song is catchy and throws enough energy to power a small chocolate factory. I found the video distracting, b/c the girls are cute and it glosses-over the music they are making. They don’t need the pretty faces… that shit kills by itself.
The Family Crest was fantastic, too. As the song began, I was concerned that it may not bring a lot to the table, but damn, was I surprised and mistaken. I found it dynamic with a good focus. It went on for a while, but still held my interest with the sweeping vocals. I had no idea there was such a genre, so i really appreciate the introduction. And OneCentStamp referenced ArcadeFire in his reply… that got me thinking; “surely this isn’t what AF is trying to do”. Admittedly I’ve listened to very little AF because I find it “meh”, but this FamilyCrest moved me right away.
I’m going with The Toadies for my next pick. I love these guys, but I’m not really sure why. Their sound differs from what i am usually drawn to, and I question what it is about them that I appreciate. I think it’s because they know how to write/produce a good rock song. Yes, they punk* it up, but I like that it’s so simple and minimalist, yet still delivers everything it needs to (similar to Scabpicker’s “Just got Paid” submission on page1). I picked Motivational from a live cd that I have because it demonstrates what I think of the Toadies. It’s not necessarily pretty - especially Todd’s vocals and (purposely?) mishandled guitar- but it’s got power, groove and feeling combined w/ somewhat crafty lyrics.
*punk isn’t really the word I want to use, but it works here.
I never got into The Toadies before, but not for lack of exposure, I just never got that into them. Listening to this song all the way through, it has many of the elements of songs that I like, lead by drum and bass, driving beat, soft and loud dynamic sections, garage band sound…good stuff, maybe I never got into the band because I have a library of similar sounding music, and didn’t need just one more. A different set of circumstances, and they could’ve been my favorite band, for awhile.
I have my music player on random 99% of the time…My Name is Jonas by Weezer happened to come up. I liked Undone, then didn’t like Buddy Holly, but have liked most of their catalog from that point forward, saw them live once, less than 10 years ago, with Foo Fighters. I enjoyed the Weezer set much more. But, hey! This song also has loud and soft sections, just like I like.
That whole debut album by Weezer is totally iconic now, two decades later. And that’s one of the best leadoff tracks of an album ever. It has everything that made Weezer startling in 1993: catchy melody (Rivers loves him some Brian Wilson), HUGE fuzzy guitar, and a well-scrubbed innocence that stood out in stark contrast to all the heroin-addled bands that had paved the way for Weezer to actually make their way to the radio.
Also, I love the Toadies. I spent a few years thinking of them as Southern-fried Nirvana, based on “Possum Kingdom.” Then I finally heard that whole album, and realized they were more of a Southern-fried Pixies, which, as a Pixies fan from forever back, was even cooler to me. I saw them live in Houston in 2008. They kill.
Next up: Rush, “Dreamline.” It’s one of the catchiest, most anthemic, most straight-ahead songs by this legendary prog band. It’s also one of their most underrated songs on one of their most maligned albums. I disregarded it completely until they opened with it on tour in 2005, with me in attendance. Turned me around completely. Great song, IMO. See what you think.
I don’t think this song is underrated; I think it’s rated right where it belongs. It’s a fairly forgettable track with a chorus that sounds like a 14 year old girl still enamored of unicorns wrote it as poetry just before she enters her goth phase. The chimey guitar is at least 6 years out of date for when it was recorded, the drums are largely cardboard and the bass line is, amazingly, boring. It might be the best track off Roll The Bones, but it isn’t by any measure I use a great song. Rush has and still can do better than this (my cite is the title track off their last album, for one).
Babymetal is so weird and manufactured that the metal community is having a hard time dealing with it, except as a humorous novelty act. Frankly, I’m not sure that most of the world is ready for the kind of suppressed pedophilia that passes for a lot of Jpop, and putting it in the metal context is a bold marketing move but little else. The song itself isn’t terrible but the chorus gets old before the 2nd time thru and musically the producer/songwriter has pulled out all the tricks just for this one 5 minute song: siren guitar, loud/soft dynamic, blastbeats, etc. It’s the only way to keep anyone interested I guess: keep throwing stuff at them. As a novelty act, for me, this wears thin about as fast as Steel Panther.
I liked the Yelle song. A simple pop/dance song, but very pleasant and the arrangement, particularly the drums, helped make it a much better song than it might have been. A little creativity in the right place can go a long way and this song exhibited that, I thought.
The Family Crest is an interesting project and this track is awesome. I don’t know that I’d want to listen to the album over and over and over, but just hearing this song once I was impressed by the songwriting, the performances and the production. A big, big sound that didn’t compromise any instrument is a huge plus and the vocal performance, along with that cello, really stood out and benefitted from the engineering and production. Terrific track.
Veruca Salt was terrific. As noted, a perfect example of pop-rock. And yeah, Bob Rock is good at what he does, but he also sucks all the passion out of performers and performances. What he leaves behind is very, very good white bread, if you get my meaning.
Toadies are a very good live band. This song was okay but for me didn’t really get interesting until the last :40 or so, when it turned into a repeating/drone thing. That ratcheted up the tension nicely.
Weezer is terrible. Sorry, sittinlab; they’ve just never been my cuppa. I tried to give it an open ear, even tho I’m pretty sure I’d heard this song before, but it just didn’t impress me. Everything I’ve ever heard by them sounds like something that a 15 year old would have written in his bedroom; I often think of them as a whole band of Weird Pauls without his sense of humor and an utter conviction of their own brilliance.
My pick this time is one that I’ve been waiting to throw down; this is one of my two favorite songs by this artist. Typified by wrecking ball beats, phat fucking bass lines and some of the craziest verbiage ever laid down, he’s one of my favorite rappers. His new album is almost 2 hours of music, most of it excellent; none of it sucks. This is an old song, tho, recorded about 15 years ago for his Black Elvis/Lost In Space album; turn it up, yo: Kool Keith - Supergalactic Lover.
I am suitably chastened for my drunken praise of an underwhelming Rush song. I still love it, though.
I love Kool Keith, and I love this song. Granted, I am his target audience (culturally white rock fan who nonetheless loves a lot of hip-hop; hell, I saw him on Warped Tour one summer), but this whole album is great. Listening to this track now, not having heard it in a few years, it’s interesting: the beat and music sound dated (not in a bad way; just very 2000), but his flow is pretty timeless. Thanks for stirring this back up to the surface of my brain.
My band has been covering this song live for the last year or so, because my drummer is a bit of a hipster. This is Spain’s most rockinest song, believe it or not. Ice cold lounge-pop, lazy slacker vocals, a surprisingly sticky guitar solo. I dig this song lots.
I was about to come in here and say, “Wow, tough crowd, my song sits here for a week untouched?!” Now I see that I was ninja’d by five minutes by Jim Bow. Sorry! I was the thread-killer here.
Little Feat feat. Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, and Jesse Winchester, “Dixie Chicken.”: I’m really only familiar with Little Feat by name, Bonnie Raitt by her glossy 90s “comeback” albums, and Emmylou Harris through her collaboration with Bright Eyes on I’m Wide Awake It’s Morning. This was a great introduction. Really good country-rock in the sense that it was pretty much a straight-up country song, just with a lot of added oomph - especially by 70s standards. Great vocal performances all around, and I was really grooving on the honky-tonk piano playing. Thanks for sharing this!
My band has been covering this song live for the last year or so, because my drummer is a bit of a hipster. This is Spain’s most rockinest song, believe it or not. Ice cold lounge-pop, lazy slacker vocals, a surprisingly sticky guitar solo. I dig this song lots.
Also it’s topical now in a way that it wasn’t a week ago, because Charlie Haden, free jazz bassist extraordinaire and father to Rachel Haden (The Decembrists), Petra Haden (That Dog), Tanya Haden (Silversun Pickups, wife of Jack Black), and Josh Haden (Spain), passed away on Thursday.
