And Tonight Thank God It’s Their Hair Instead Of Yours

 Posted by
Dec 172010
 

This holiday classic deserves a yearly airing. Please be thankful this holiday season.

This post initially appeared 12/23/08.

“Is that Orson Welles in the second row?”

Back in January, we celebrated the historic 23rd anniversary of the debut of the greatest supergroup in history, USA For Africa, and their most famous single, We Are The World.

Throughout 2008, Rock Town Hall spent some time talking about influences in rock, from the thieving ways of Buddy Holly to bands with little to no outside influences. USA For Africa was influenced by some precursor groups, such as the Concert For Bangladesh Band and, of course Band Aid, the primarily British/Irish Supergroup which launched the popular single “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” in 1984, watching it reach #1 on the UK charts…but fail to reach #1 in America.
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Do Oddball Albums by Major Artists Reveal More About Them Than Their “Better” Work?

 Posted by
Dec 152010
 

I’m fascinated by weirdo albums by major artists, records that may not necessarily be great but are in their own weird way more interesting that a lot of the artists’ “better” work because they strive for something unique, show an extreme version of the artist and/or show them in a good-spirited I-don’t-give-a-crap mode. These records were generally hated by both critics and the public but look a whole lot better in retrospect than they did upon release.

Examples

  • Leonard Cohen‘s Death of a Ladies Man (a collaboration between two geniuses, Cohen and Phil Spector, in which the sparsest of the sparse meets wall of sound and tries to rock out while fantasizing about naked bodies. He never sounded happier. I think it’s a masterpiece, but I can also sympathize with people who think it sucks).
  • Randy Newman‘s Born Again (in which the artist tries to offend absolutely everyone, including those who previously liked him for the right reasons, both lyrically and with bizzare snyth-heavy arrangements that do not sound like an ’80s sell-out, but rather like nothing else from the ’70s or ’80s).
  • John Entwistles‘ Whistle Rymes (a deeply personal, uniquely quirky album that I find a zillion times more evocative than Tommy or Quadrophenia).
  • Prince‘s Black Album (though that one tended to get favorable critical commentary).
  • All those crazy Neil Young albums from the ’80s.

Anyone wish to nominate a few more and comment on them?

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Battle Royale! Worst Rock Holiday Anthem Ever

 Posted by
Dec 152010
 

Oldsters on the list know the “Battle Royale” drill: everybody brings their best/worst to the squared circle of geeky rock combat and attempts to wrest the imaginary “belt” from the Townsman/woman who lays previous claim to it. We argue vociferously about who deserves to win the “battle,” and–if he’s so inclined–Mr. Moderator (in his role as RTH Commissioner Jack Tunney) eventually comes down from on high to declare a winner. Remember: this is not a “Last man Standing;” this is about bringing your best–or in this case, your worst–to the table.

I’ll start with a song I truly despise; one made even worse by its incessant use in retail settings this year: pre-adenoidal Michael Jackson (and his Jackson 5 siblings) screeching his way through “Santa Claus is Coming to Town.” Ugh! Make it stop!

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

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Fast Forward

 Posted by
Dec 152010
 

Last night, Mr. Royale and I went to see Australian band Tame Impala perform at a small club here in San Francisco. They focused on their 2010 album, Innerspeaker, which could probably be safely be described as “retro” a la 1967. The show was all out psychedelia: barefoot musicians, long-neglected hair, oscilloscope images morphing in time with the chords, large amounts of medicinal herb wafting around us. And Tame Impala are clearly old-school in their influences: Wikipedia lists, among them, Cream, Love, Blue Cheer, CSNY, Steppenwolf, Jefferson Airplane. So when it came time for the encores, I was expecting something in a similar vein. Instead, as the distinct bass line and rim shots were painted in, we got an amazing, full court press cover of Massive Attack‘s 1997, “Angel.” It was followed by another cover, which neither of us initially identified, but with a little research found to be Blue Boy‘s 1998 dance hit, “Remember Me.”

I’m used to encores or other performed covers being used to cite PREVIOUS musical influences: for example I can recall Grizzly Bear doing a cover of the 1962 Spector song, “He Hit Me (and It Felt Like a Kiss).” So what was with Tame Impala fast-forwarding 30 years to reference a more recent musical genre (although “trip-hop,” which could be seen as a bastard child of the earlier psychedelia, and “Remember Me” samples a ’60s single by Marlena Shaw)?

Have you had an experience of an unexpected encore? Did it make you change your mind about the band, for better or for worse?

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Last Man Standing: Sick Songs

 Posted by
Dec 142010
 
I don’t know about you, but this time of year brings new meaning to the term “cold season.” In my house something’s been going around that fills our lungs and nasal passages with what feels like rubber cement. We can’t even get a satisfying nose blow out of this cold. In honor of the power of all the stuff flying around and getting folks sick, let’s do a Last Man Standing on sick songs. To qualify, the song title must contain the word sick or otherwise specify a physical illness. Songs of mental illness that do not have sick in the title will not be accepted. I’ll kick things off with one of my favorite childhood singles, Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” performed today by Jerry Lee Lewis.
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