Do I blame this Florence + The Machine cover of Buddy Holly‘s “Not Fade Away” on Tom Waits and his percussion and production crew from the early 1980s? I think so, and it’s time musicians stop dicking around with junkyard percussion, already!
Sounds of the Hall in roughly 33 1/3 minutes!
This week’s edition of Saturday Night Shut-In begins innocently enough with Mr. Moderator remembering a long-gone friend before taking a sudden, unplanned turn that your host, minutes after completing his broadcast, fears will turn off his frequent ally, misterioso. Let’s hope the healing powers of music come through to save this alliance.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/RTH-Saturday-Night-Shut-In-56.mp3|titles=RTH Saturday Night Shut-In, episode 56][Note: The Rock Town Hall feed will enable you to easily download Saturday Night Shut-In episodes to your digital music player. In fact, you can even set your iTunes to search for an automatic download of each week’s podcast.]
Thanks to Townsman cherguevarra for passing this baby along. Somebody must have had an ax to grind with The Boss.
Can you believe it, we’ve got a second Mystery Date in 1 week. What is it, rock mating season? Today’s date comes courtesy of a Townsperson in good standing.
Let’s review the ground rules here. The Mystery Date song is not necessarily something I believe to be good. So feel free to rip it or praise it. Rather the song is something of interest due to the artist, influences, time period… Your job is to decipher as much as you can about the artist without research. Who do you think it is? Or, Who do you think it sounds like? When do you think it was recorded? Etc…
If you know who it is, don’t spoil it for the rest. Anyone who knows it can play the “mockcarr option.” (And I’ve got a hunch at least one of you know this one.) This option is for those of you who just can’t hold your tongue and must let everyone know just how in-the-know you are by calling it. So if you know who it is and want everyone else to know that you know, email Mr. Moderator at mrmoderator [at] rocktownhall [dot] com. If correct we will post how brilliant you are in the Comments section.
The real test of strength though is to guess as close as possible without knowing. Ready, steady, go!
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Mystery-Date-120211.mp3|titles=Mystery Date 120211]It’s a White Russian Friday! Give a little bit, won’t you?
“Guess I’m a lone rhinoceros no more,” says Adrian.
The same goes for you!
If you’ve already got Back Office privileges and can initiate threads, by all means use your privileges! If you’d like to acquire such privileges, let us know. If you’ve got a comment that needs to be made, what are you waiting for? If you’re just dropping in and find yourself feeling the need to scat, don’t hesitate to register and post your thoughts. The world of intelligent rock discussion benefits from your participation. If nothing else, your own Mr. Moderator gets a day off from himself. It’s a good thing for you as well as me!
Will Your Mystery Date Be a Dream or a Dud?
I’m glad people liked our latest Mystery Date, “I Gotta Know,” an early single by Cleveland underground band Human Switchboard. When I downloaded recently a 21-track collection of their first album, which I regretted having sold years ago to support something of an ephemeral nature, and other releases from their late-1970 through early-1980s career I was pleased by how much I still enjoye their music. Who’s Landing in My Hangar was one of those albums a young me wore as a badge of honor. It felt really cool to not only own and dig that album but a mid-’80s solo album by primary singer-songwriter Bob Pfeifer, the guy who’s voice reminded you of Lou Reed, David Johanssen, Richard Hell, and the like. Long ago I also sold that pretty decent and really obscure album to fund the same ephemeral experience. Sad.
Anyhow, Human Switchboard was a pretty cool little band, if you ask me, that has failed to generate the hipster critical acclaim I would think they have coming to them. Check out these two opening songs from their lone studio album, “(Say No To) Saturday’s Girl,” sung by groovy organ player Myrna Marcarian, and the title track. Right off the bat the band did a great job of sequencing their range of ’60s pop and more biting garage-punk, occupying a place smack in the middle of early Blondie and artsier NYC bands like Television.
[audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Human-Switchboard_01_Say-No-To-Saturdays-Girl.mp3|titles=Human Switchboard, “(Say No To) Saturday’s Girl”] [audio:https://www.rocktownhall.com/blogs/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Human-Switchboard_02_Whos-Landing-In-My-Hanger.mp3|titles=Human Switchboard, “Who’s Landing In My Hanger”]A couple of fun facts, some of which I learned in my few minutes of research in preparation for today’s reveal:
