President Gas- The Psychedelic Furs I Believe She's Lying- Rhett Miller See See Rider- Duke Ellington & Ray Brown I've Been Wrong Before- The Everly Brothers Baby Blue- The Beach Boys My Vision Of Love- The Whiffs Here Come The Warm Jets- Eno
President Gas- The Psychedelic Furs It seems like there are just as many artists canceling dates as there are artists going on tour. (China Crisis Anniversary Tour, anyone?) Well, the Furs are playing with X opening and I am really thinking about being there. If they don't cancel, they may even do this one!
I Believe She's Lying- Rhett Miller A friend sent me an Old 97's track which reminded me of how much I love Rhett Miller's "The Believer."
See See Rider- Duke Ellington & Ray Brown Dig it, from one of my favorite jazz records of all time, "This One's For Blanton."
I've Been Wrong Before- The Everly Brothers See "One Sentence Review" on the left.
Baby Blue- The Beach Boys A new expanded version of "The Sounds Of Summer" was just released, a whopping 6-LPs featuring dozens of brand new stereo mixes. This gem from Dennis Wilson stood out.
My Vision Of You- The Whiffs I wrote about The Whiffs in 2020. Remember? Well, the album is still great. Check out more over here.
Here Come The Warm Jets- Eno This song is a great opener, a great transition and a great closer. Today, it's a closer.
I've bought numerous record collections in my time and just as there is always going to be a few Melanie records you can't give away, there always seems to be a 5 Royales record, as well. Usually, it's the one pictured. It's a budget reissue on one of the various reiterations of the Apollo label and it rarely sells for more than $5, $8- $10 if you're lucky. As a matter of fact, I just bought the one pictured above this past weekend at Sit & Spin in Philadelphia for $4.99. It is almost always the best $5 I spend and almost always the best spin of the day.
Lowman Pauling, guitarist and songwriter of the 5 Royales influenced many, including Jagger and Richards, Steve Cropper, and Clapton. The music covers early R&B, doo wop, soul and swing, often all at the same time. Pound for pound, this collection featuring 14 tracks, is one of the greatest compilations put to wax. The music made me so very happy, I decided I needed to share a six pack for the weekend.
Unzip your way to a guaranteed 16 minutes of bliss.
There is some click bait over at The Independent titled "The 15 Worst Albums By Classic Artists," and as expected, a few of the usual suspects appear, like The Clash disaster "Cut The Crap," the Gary Cherone mess that is known as "Van Halen III" and the Jim-less Doors fiasco "Other Voices." While I'm not surprised to see "It's Hard" by The Who on the list---it is mostly garbage---its inclusion tempted me to write a completely different piece titled "All That Is Wrong With Record Store Day," leading with the example of the just released 2-LP version of The Who's worst album. But I'll save that for another day.
Also on the list is Aerosmith's "Draw The Line," an unworthy follow-up to what I maintain is the greatest hard rock album of all-time, "Rocks," but hardly as bad as a number of records that followed, like "Rock & A Hard Place," "Done With Mirrors" and "Honkin' On Bobo." The author doesn't say much about "Draw The Line" other than pulling a quote about Tyler & Perry's drug habits. A lazy inclusion, if you ask me.
There are also records by Motley Crue, Kiss, Metallica and Black Sabbath that I can't comment on, having little memory of hearing a note from any.
The most confounding and offensive inclusion is Led Zeppelin's "Presence."
Now before all of you Zep haters regale us with the same tired stories of seeing them stink up the joint 50 years ago while Mashmakan blew them off the stage, or any of you Randy California disciples vomit the same stories of Jimmy Page's plagiarist tendencies, or mention the banana in Robert Plant's pants, let me preempt that by saying, you most likely have not heard a note from "Presence," and if you have, it was probably 45 years ago, so you are disqualified. Please put your two cents away.
This is The Independent's entire commentary:
"The end of 1975 was a tough time for Led Zep. Singer Robert Plant was
still recovering after being seriously injured in a car accident, so
their tour was cancelled and studio time booked instead. Presence was
put together in just a few weeks, with guitarist and producer Jimmy
Page working 20 hour days to finish it and Plant singing through the
pain. In hindsight, bed rest may have been a better option."
Hoo hoo hoo. How droll.
What's it sound like, Strindberg?
"Presence" was indeed recorded under trying circumstances, but so what? There are no songs called "My Leg Is In A Cast" or "Our Tour Was Cancelled."
As a long time Zep devotee, who once spent the better part of 1994, reading an exhaustive document of LZ's entire touring history and listening to over 100 live bootlegs, some of which sounded as if they were recorded from a chopper hovering over the arena, I feel confident that I know what I am talking about.
"Presence" is brilliant. That it followed what is widely regarded as the band's masterwork, "Physical Graffiti," is no fault of the music on the record. Neither is the shitty album cover.
The album opens with the epic "Achilles Last Stand," ten-plus minutes of an impossibly relentless groove that finds John Bonham out-Bonhaming anything he's done in the past. It also features, what I think is Jimmy Page's best guitar solo. That's right. It's not the one in "Stairway To Heaven." It's this one. "Achilles Last Stand" is thrash, years before it became a genre. The rhythm section of Bonzo and Jonesy drive this song into the stratosphere.
"For Your Life," which by the way features one of my other favorite Page solos, along with "Royal Orleans" and "Hots On For Nowhere," offer some of the band's funkiest grooves and deepest pockets. Hard rock bands exist for years trying to come up with one evergreen riff, and we have three right here on one record.
"Nobody's Fault But Mine" takes the blues standard and turns it on its ear. Again, I will use the word "funky." Of course, this isn't Meters funky, or P-Funk funky, but it's there.
The one true misstep is the 50's boogie pastiche, "Candy Store Rock." To paraphrase Neil Young, this one begins nowhere and then gets lost altogether.
"Tea For One" closes the record. This has a promising opening riff, one that can only be from the mind of Jimmy Page. But then it quickly becomes a slow, blues dirge which might have worked with a blistering solo to take us home. But that never happens.
"Presence" gets played in this house more often than all other LZ records except for "III," which along with "Physical Graffiti" sit as my two favorites. To include "Presence" on a list with Motley Crue's "Generation Swine" and Duran Duran's all covers shit show "Thank You," where you will hear Simon LeBon spew his way through Public Enemy's "911 Is A Joke," tells me the author of The Independent's piece knows nothing about Led Zeppelin or their music.
There was a virtual tribute to the Everly Brothers this past Sunday which ran on the official EB site, as well as YouTube and maybe Facebook. I knew nothing about this until I received an email from a friend with a link to the fantastic clip above. As it turns out, the entire 90 minute event is now up on YouTube for public consumption. It is hit and miss, like every tribute, but what hits is pretty darn great.
Paul Simon & Edie Brickell, Susanna Hoffs & Dan Wilson, Albert Lee, Chris Isaak & Nicole Atkins, as well Lady Blackbird, Jakob Dylan and Lukas Nelson all contribute. The surprise hit was Bob Weir & Chris Robinson covering "Wake Up Little Susie" which was not only not a shambles, but one of the best performances of the lot. But I think Chris Stills & Graham Nash take the cake.
Baby It's You- The Beatles Nearer To You- Betty Harris Qualified- Dr. John Back At The Chicken Shack- Jimmy Smith The Act We Act- Sugar You're The One That I Want- Lucy Woodward/Charlie Hunter Soon You'll Be Gone- The Blues Busters
Baby It's You- The Beatles Robyn Hitchcock wrote a lovely piece about Paul McCartney for his birthday. I want to thank my hpunch for sending it along. Here's something from that piece that really hit home, "Why is it so hard to consider the individual Beatles as people in their
own right, irrespective of their old colleagues? Because they were the
team to end all teams - no group in showbiz has topped them in 60 years,
and the further they recede into the past the brighter they shine." My sentiments exactly. And yes, this is a cover and John is singing lead, but a great example nonetheless and a song I just felt like hearing.
Nearer To You- Betty Harris In a recent Uncut special edition that offers new reviews of Elvis Costello's entire catalogue, the writer who handled "The River In Reverse" mentions just about every track but this one, written by Allen Toussaint and here in its original form from Betty Harris.
Qualified- Dr. John "Your social life ain't no better than my hot dog stand/Your edu-ma-cation ain't no hipper than what you understand/Your woman that you got she ain't no hipper than a hot loving band/I got the power to control/And I want to tell you now I'm qualified"
Back At The Chicken Shack- Jimmy Smith What_Can_Brown, jazz collector I follow on Instagram, says this---"The title track is one
of the grooviest blues tracks ever. Jimmy plays in a contained but
soulful way as he sets up Kenny’s (Burrell) solo around the three and a half
minute mark, and Jimmy’s accompaniment is just two vamping chords but it
is sooo perfect. Turrentine follows with a wonderful statement of his
own. It almost feels like they are dragging as the melody comes back in
because they are playing so behind the beat.
The Act We Act- Sugar Found a cheap copy of "Copper Blue" coupled with "Beaster" on a double LP. It has been a very looooonnnngg time since I played this baby and man oh man, did it kick my ass!
You're The One That I Want- Lucy Woodward/Charlie Hunter Grease is the word. And this cover from my friend Charlie Hunter with Lucy Woodward is the bomb...as the kids say.
Soon You'll Be Gone- The Blues Busters This track is the happiest music I have heard all week. From 1967, please give it up for The Blues Busters, sounding like Sam & Dave if they spent a year in Jamaica instead of Memphis.
Thought I'd put this up for any readers within the sound of my voice and neighborhood.
I'll
be slinging records for my buddy Joe of Hold Fast Records, Asbury Park.
He will have his usual amazing and affordable assortment of vinyl, and I
will use my charm and good looks to sell it.
If that is not
enough reason to come on over, there are some great bands playing
including Smokey Hormel's Round Up and Tape Hiss featuring original
Modern Lover Ernie Brooks and Steve Shelley of Sonic Youth.
Plus, you know...food, drink and maybe even a pony ride. But please don't make the trip just for the pony ride.
The block party runs until 7:PM. I'll be working from opening until about 3PM.
