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hrrundivbakshi

A Message to E. Pluribus Gergely: Grow Some BALLS!

 Posted by
Jun 062007
 

Hey, E. Pluribus —

You need to grow a pair and actually sit down and listen to this new McCartney album. Shit, man, are you going to live out the rest of your life in a hermetically sealed, pre-1981 vinyl body-condom? Life goes on, dude!

I say all this because I’m beginning to wonder if you’re actually scared of the new McCartney record — as though the Sam Ash guitar sound is going to leap out of the speakers and infect your ears somehow. Look, man, I readily agree with the notion — which I assume you hold — that there has never been a bass drum sound as perfect as the one on the Chuck Berry single “Talkin’ ‘Bout You” — but the rock world keeps on turning, one day at a time. Like the man said: one monkey don’t stop no show!

Face your fears, Plurbie! Come up out of the basement and cue up this new disc! Justify our love! We’re rooting for you!

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Location, Location, Location

 Posted by
Jun 042007
 

I spent three days in Maine this past weekend. I was in the Southwestern tip of the state, in a village called York Harbor, where a good friend got married. I stayed in a turn-of-the-century inn, not far from Kennebunk, slept in a four-poster bed, and ate my fill of lobster. On Saturday morning, as I cast an eye over the clothes I was to wear during the ceremony, I realized I had not packed any cufflinks. No bother — wasn’t that a Brooks Brothers store I passed on my way into town? Yes, I believe it was. Surely they would have a fine pair of cufflinks for me.

I walked out to my convertible, lowered the top, fired up the engine, and pulled out of the Inn’s gravel parking lot. As I merged onto the two-lane road separating the inn from the sea, I reached for my iPod, but it wasn’t there. I knew, however, that there were a few odds and ends in the glovebox I might listen to — mostly two-dollar CDs I picked up during the fire sales that accompanied the death throes of the Tower Records empire. I reached into the compartment and pulled out…Morph the Cat, Donald Fagen‘s latest solo album. Hmm.
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The Greatest Prock Artist You’ve Never Heard: Tamio Okuda

 Posted by
May 312007
 

Feeling somewhat humbled by the lack of novelty in my last Thrifty Music installment, I was very pleased to have made a major score on my last 80-cent LP purchase: the album Crache Ton Venin, by French punk/hard rockers Telephone. I’d certainly never heard these guys before, and I was pleasantly surprised by the sheer rockin’ excellence of this disc.

But then my guilt got to me. See, I’ve been meaning to introduce you folks to another non-Anglophone rocker for months now, and I keep putting it off. But no longer! In the interest of clearing the decks for a Telephone post yet to come, today is the day I finally share my enthusiasm for Japanese procker Tamio Okuda.

I was introduced to Okuda second-hand, by reputation, back when I was going through a bit of a Jellyfish phase a number of years ago. While searching for the whereabouts of main Jellyfisher Andy Sturmer, I kept reading that he had teamed up with some Japanese pop star, writing music for the guy. I found this curious; most J-pop I knew was awful, treacly stuff — though it had been many, many years since I really followed it much.

This was back in the early days of the InterWeb, and these tantalizing name-drops were all I had — until I took a trip to Japan to visit my brother in 2001. Armed only with a name, I took my pidgin Japanese to the local wrecka stow and asked the clerk if he had any Tamio on the shelves. He looked at me in the same way an American clerk might stare down a Japanese tourist who asked if please there might be any Rolling Stones for purchase in your fine music disc shop please — i.e., like I was mildly retarded. He then guided me back to the T.O. section and let me go hog wild. I bought everything I could get my hands on, knowing there was no way to get this stuff back home.

When I got back to the hotel, I popped open my discman and plopped Tamio’s album 30 in it, cueing up the one song I knew Sturmer had co-written: “Coffee”. It satisfied all my deepest, darkest prock urges, delivering a song that sounded like Badfinger, Wings, XTC, and all the best Jeff Lynne hook-craft one could wish for. There was a part of me that felt somewhat ashamed by the music’s total lack of novelty, but the excellence of songcraft was undeniable, and, well, you get the idea.


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Show Us Watts Watt!

 Posted by
May 212007
 


Hey, RTH — I just want to go on record as saying I’m appalled that all of you have let Mr. Mod and others ride roughshod over Charlie Watts’ reputation. Anyone with brain one ought to be able to see with crystal clarity just how vital the Watts groove thang is to the band; how he’s single-handedly responsible for setting the vibe on dozens of classic Stones traxx.


To help prove this point, I’ve assembled a montage of Watts drum intros to 12 classic Stones tracks. Now, since I assembled the montage, I already know which songs they introduce. But I’m certain there are more than a few of you who ought to be able to identify the tracks in question. Especially since I’m willing to offer up a helpful hint: All the tracks are in alphabetical order.

So come on, Watts fans and Stones know-it-alls! Show us how vital Watts really is to that band! Identify these traxx!

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Thrifty Music, Vol. 6: Odds and Ends

 Posted by
May 212007
 

It’s that time again, people — time to don our white robes, shave our heads, and go wandering through the dusty record bins of our favorite neighborhood thrift stores, in the hope that our wayward paths will intersect with interesting new music.

Actually, the last few weeks have provided an abundance of riches in the Thrifty Music department — so much so that I’ve decided I need to really get picky for a change, selecting only the tracks that have really rocked my world for 25 cents. And note that I’m pushing these tracks out the door in anticipation of the Great Thrifty Music Score Listening Party, wherein Townsman Christian and I will select some seriously amazing traxx from a wonderful haul I made a week or two ago — a haul remarkable enough to even get E Pluribus to nod his head in sage approval.

Anyhow, on to the matter at hand. Up for your consideration this fine day:

The Stylistics, “People Make the World Go Round” — there’s a story floating around out there that Dionne Warwick once placed an urgent call to Burt Bacharach upon hearing Thom Bell‘s work with the Stylistics, basically to tell him that there was a black cat out there that was one-upping Burt’s sophisticated pop thang, with a whole new groove. I can believe it. This track, from the Stylistics’ first album (by the way, is that a great cover, or what? I love velour suits as much as the next guy, but seeing the Stylistics kickin’ back in the grass, hippie-stylee, makes me all happy for some reason) — sorry, as I say, from their first album, is a total “In your face, Burt!” from the composer/arranger for whom I may have the biggest Kentonite boner, Thom Bell. And dig the coda at the end… in 9/8 time! Wowsers!

Next up, Betty Everett, delivering the first (and clearly best) version of “You’re No Good”. Wotta great production! I read recently that one of the reasons this single sounds so slammin’ is because of a studio fluke: The Dells were listening to the playback in the VeeJay control room, tapping/stomping their feet in unison with the groove. Mr. Producer stopped tape, ran things back, and added a track of the Dells’ feet-stompery, knowing a great thing when he heard one. Instant hit!
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