I’m not sure any of them don’t suck, but: what’s the best “rock” musical? I contnue to believe that “Jesus Christ Superstar” is patchily listenable, but in general it’s still a turd. Can it really be the best of the bunch?
Nov 062007
hrrundivbakshi
Nov 052007
Hey, guys and gals! I’ve got a super swell idea for a Thrifty Music edition — let’s put up some of the keenest, niftiest songs I’ve ever found in thrift stores and flea markets… so long as they’re songs that were obviously targeted exclusively at an extremely white listening audience! Then, after RTH members have had a chance to really swing to some of these neat-o numbers, we can all talk about our fave songs that are also, you know, very White and everything! Wouldn’t that be the coolest? Sure it would!
Yet another band reputation besmirched by a “tribute” from REM
To start with, here’s a ginchie number by a groovy combo called The Clique. You may know the tune as popularized and largely ruined by REM, but here’s the extremely white original. I’m talking of course about “Superman”.
Let me know if you want to hear the wonderfully-titled A-side
Next up, “It Just Won’t Be That Way”, by super-pale band The Critters, who enjoyed a modest hit back in, oh, 1967 or something with “Mr. Dieingly Sad” — one of my fave rave song titles ever. “IJWBTW” is the less-often heard B-side, about which I want impressions from Townsmen Mockcarr, Velv, Trolleyvox, Mod, and anybody else out there with an ear for nifty white pop hooks. I want reports!
Ow — my extremely white teeth hurt!
Third in line, a sickly sweet bubblegum confection by White Plains, entitled “My Baby Loves Lovin'” — yet another song title to die for. As much as I love and appreciate music from all kinds of people of all sorts of ethno-cultural backgrounds, every now and again, a steaming pile of whiteness is shoved under my nose, and I must admit I thrill to its mac-and-cheese, bologna sandwich pungency. This is one of the artefacts that does it to me. It’s simple. It’s silly. It’s catchy. It’s draped in 100% Rayon from head to toe, and I love it. I hope you will too.
The reason I like this song
NOT the reason I like this song
Lastly, the track that will get my posting privileges revoked for sure: “Where the Action Is”, by John Paul Young. This was actually originally the A-side to JPY’s one global super-mega-smash, “Love Is In the Air,” but it was eventually relegated to the flip when its authors/producers realized they’d miscalculated. Most of you already know that I am a total ass-lick fan-boy for the svengalis behind John Paul Young on all of his musical offerings — Harry Vanda and George Young. I had to include this silly, extremely white number because, even in 1978 or whenever this song was released, the Vanda/Young songwriting team just couldn’t help but offer up some choice, extremely white, Easybeats-like production and arrangement touches — especially those background vox in the chorus! (In fact, I coud swear that’s actually Harry and George singing back there.)
Anyhow, as always, I look forward to your comments.
Yours, etc.,
HVB
p.s.: I also get a big kick out of how John Paul Young says “alright, alright, ALRIGHT!” after every chorus. Just wanted to toss that into the whiteness equation.
Nov 052007
Hail and well met, fellow seekers of the weird, the unusual and the dirt-cheap. Today’s post is a quick one, as it restates a case we discussed in the form of “Walkin’ the Dog” many months ago. This time, we’re going to take a closer look at a song from the Stones’ 12×5 album — “It’s All Over Now”. I’ve got this song in my crosshairs as a result of finding a copy of the original, done by The Valentinos, at a flea market this weekend. One spin of the original caused me to take a small sip of brandy, stroke my chin thoughtfully, and wonder: Didn’t anybody back in 1965 or whenever the Stones released this turd point out that the original was a damn sight better than the Stones’ cover?!
Seriously, are there any Townspeople who wouldn’t prefer this:
“It’s All Over Now”, The Valentinos
to this?:
(Yes, yes, I know; that Stones “video” is a helluva way to present my case in an unbiased fashion. It was actually the only studio version of the song I could find online — and if anything, it serves to help illustrate the central point of my case!)
Oct 312007
Got a band you think is downright scary-lookin’? Find us a video to prove it! For now, I submit the following:
Oct 292007
Greetings, fellow seekers of the rare, the unusual and the dirt-cheap!
Today, I offer another small collection of themed music, acquired during my recent travels through the milk crates and dusty old boxes of our nation’s thrift stores and flea markets. This edition focuses on a kind of rock and roll that I posit has completely vanished from our rockular landscape: the novelty tune. To be specific, I don’t mean things like “The Monster Mash.” I mean the weird novelty sub-genre that featured groups of semi-talented teenagers bashing away on a groovy riff for a few bars, then suddenly stopping to utter some kind of mysterious word or two. Where have all these kinds of songs gone?
The Revels — Thorogood’s got nothin’ on these boys when it comes to the novelty drinkin’ song!
When Mockcarr and I were in college, I had a Pebbles comp that featured a strange little song of this ilk, entitled “Roo-Buh-Doo-Buh-Doo,” which we enjoyed laughing at and “singing” whenever the mood struck. Well, fast-forward (cough) years later, and I still find this kind of silliness quite amusing — which is why I was happily surprised by a single I scored at the local flea market by a band called the Revels. I slapped the A-side down and was pleased to discover the following tune, “Vesuvius”.
Then, I flipped the beast over and was *thrilled* to find this next song, “Church Key”. I don’t mind telling you I actually bust out laughing.
Celery Stalks! Corn! Artichoke hearts! The Kingsmen!
Today, for the first time in a few weeks, I hit the Goodwill near my pad, and found another amusing number, by The Kingsmen of “Louie, Louie” fame, entitled “The Jolly Green Giant”. What I want you to pay particularly close attention to are the backup vocals — the next best/weirdest thing to a Captain Beefheart record!
I look forward to your comments.
HVB
Oct 282007
Gotta abuse my posting privileges to put the following up, for no reason other than the fact that I was reminded of it by an NPR Halloween re-broadcast of Welles’ 1938 Mercury Theatre broadcast of “War Of the Worlds”:
Oct 252007
Supagroup: a gentle, sensitive quartet of American troubadors
Cheap Trick with bigger balls. Aerosmith without any Tyler-ian pretension or bullshit power balladry. Motley Crue, if they weren’t completely retarded and didn’t suck. And, yes, a whole lot of vintage 1976 AC/DC, played with the same kind of the-world-could-end-any-second-now urgency. You can probably understand why I love this Supagroup band so much.
About a month ago, Supagroup dropped their latest white phosphorus fire-bomb of an album, this time called “Fire for Hire,” and I snatched it up as quickly as I could, remembering just how fucking *hot* their last el-pee, “Rules,” had been. “Fire…” is a wee bit patchier, but still packs a brass-knucks punch that puts most other bands to shame. The el-pee’s opening salvo alone is worth more than the price of admission. Seriously, at the risk of sounding like a complete fan-boy doofus, it’s been a *very* long time since I bought an album that comes charging out of the gates like this one does. The song behind the video I’ve posted above is track one. From this point to track… uh… six, this album is fucking unstoppable, skull-crushing, brilliant. I meant to post the three tracks that follow “What’s Your Problem Now?” to prove my point, but RTH seems to be acting up again, and you should just buy the album anyway.
So that’s the good news. This is real fist-pumping, head-banging, rump-shaking American rock and fucking roll, played with a seemingly near-desperate honesty and earnestness. Jolly good! The bad news is *not* that the riffs and general boogie-rock party vibe are completely derivative. (Who cares, and what isn’t?) It’s not even that many of the lyrics — when they’re not about getting fucked up and fighting for the glory of Rock — are about screwing underage chicks and getting your knob polished before they throw your sorry ass in jail. No, the bad news is that I’m 43 years old, and I love this stuff anyway.
Understand that I don’t love it for the same post-ironic reasons that many rock critic types seem to. See, I just don’t think Supagroup is kidding. I really think they *believe* — or that they *want* to believe — when they write things like:
So get yourself some drumsticks
Buy an old guitar
It’s time to take up arms, my friend,
It’s a rockolutionary war
This is a flag under which I’m prepared to march. Rock and roll is *real*, my friends. Like the rest of you, I hope, I’ve been to the rock mountaintop, and I’ve seen how small and simple the world looks from up there. The air may be thin, but it’s one of the few places where it’s crystal-clear. It’s a high — and why shouldn’t Supagroup, and Hrrundi V. Bakshi, and the rest of you, want to live there? For Supagroup, rock and roll might be a crackpipe, but, hey, it won’t rot your teeth or shrivel your balls. Pass me the torch!
So, yes, I’m turning a blind eye to the stupider, rock-as-giant-hard-on aspects of the Supagroup message — and I’m not dwelling on the fact that there’s one dick-wilting track on this new album that’s just a floppy leather hat and a holstered 12-string acoustic away from sounding like Bon Jovi. The album basically kicks major ass, and this is is one of those cases where suspension of rock cynicism is fully warranted. Long live Supagroup, and (almost) everything they stand for.
HVB
