Rock Town Hall • Rock Music Discussion

Does Tom Waits’ Performance in Down By Law Overshadow His Entire Musical Output? (And Room for a Discussion on “Tuxedo” vs “Coffee Table” Albums)

Jul 222011

I’ve got a much bigger fish to fry later today, but to get things rolling I’ve been chewing on the following thought: Does Tom Waits‘ performance in Jim Jarmusch‘s Down By Law overshadow his entire musical output?

To be clear, I own and enjoy 5 Waits albums: The trio of “junkyard” albums that first caught my attention in the mid-’80s, Rain Dogs, Swordfishtrombones, and Frank’s Wild Years, and then 2 earlier albums that an old friend taped me after I’d finally given this artist the time of day, The Heart of Saturday Night and Nighthawks at the Diner. Oh, I also own the live album that came out last year, Glitter and Doom Live. There’s much I dig in Waits’ music and lyrics, even though his hobo hipster delivery are a bit too much for me to take on a regular basis. I consider his albums Tuxedo Albums, that is, classy, intelligent albums I can pull out once a year for a special occasion.

Unlike a Coffee Table Album (eg, any box set of an artist performing in a genre I typically don’t care about but feel I can cover in one broad stroke, such as the Patsy Cline box set I bought years ago to get my wife and all other country music fans off my back) or an Olive Branch Album (ie, my RTH-approved Jackson Browne album, Late for the Sky), both of which are meant to advertise my musical depth, diversity, tolerance, and whatnot, my Tom Waits Tuxedo Albums make me feel really good about myself whenever I need to “clean up” and pop one on my turntable. I’m sure I’ve got a few friends and acquaintences who think better of me for having seen me in the light of the album-closing version of “Innocent When You Dream.”

However, for all his fine musical tailoring, Waits’ music feels intellectually dishonest and showy. His performance in Down By Law, on the other hand, is One From the Heart, to quote the title of a Copola movie he worked on. My eyes are flooded with tears of laughter any time Waits appears in that movie. I’ve never gotten half that meaningful an emotion out of a single Waits song, but man can that guy play his role in Down By Law!

It’s a shame. Tom Waits has done a lot of quality music—and I know people who’ve traveled to East Jabip to see one of his rare live performances—but I don’t know if he can ever top his role in Down By Law. Maybe he’s been in the wrong business all these years. What do you think?

I’m Calling You Out On This Whole KISS Thing, EPG!

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jul 212011

I’m gonna keep this simple: How on Earth can a man who will take a bullet for the right of any music lover to dumb things down once in a while hate KISS? Is it the blatant show-biz manipulativeness that turns you off? The fact that the band fooled a planet with their ridiculous makeup/monster schtick? Do you just not like music at the intersection of pop and “hard rock?” Are you turned off by their admittedly poor musicianship? Their idiotic lyrics? What is it?

Speaking for myself, the band gets a pass. I don’t “love” them — or even like them very much, if “liking” something means that you have to stand up and defend the verifiable quality of it. But they make me pump my fist, bob my head, and smile. They’re patently retarded, I get that. But only an extreme tight-ass would have a problem enjoying “Firehouse” or “Rock Bottom” or “Cold Gin” from that Alive! twofer.

I will say this: I just went out and reminded myself of the actual track list on the album, and it’s not a flawless double. In fact, I think I’d reduce it to a single-record deal. But that record would be a fun-fest for me, and for any other Rock-loving child of the ’70s who’s not afraid of donning the nostalgio-glasses every once in a while.

Come on, man! Loosen up a little! Switch to boxers or something!

Your pal,

HVB

The Two LP Set: Defensible Doubles or Twofers of Unearned Arrogance

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 212011

The following piece made its way up from the lp-jammed basement of E. Pluribus Gergely.

Once a month or so, I spend about 2 to 3 hours in my basement chopping up cardboard into mailers for my record bidness. Truth be told, that’s when I listen to music. When I’m in the car, it’s usually NPR. Sad but true. Anyway, before the chopping ensues, I head over to the stacks to pick something out to listen to while I chop. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve picked up something like Electric Ladyland and said, “Too much work to get to ‘All Along the Watchtower’,” ‘Crosstown Traffic,’ and a few others.” Really, you’ve gotta have a Hitler-like ego to think you can keep the interest of any listener for more than a single serving.

After racking my brain for a good half hour or so, I arrived at the following list of essential double LPs.

Charlie Parker, The Very Best of Bird (all the Dial sides with just a few outtakes). And yeah, I know it’s like a greatest hits thing, but I’m letting this one slide because it’s the best way to hear all that Dial stuff in one shot.
The Beatles, White Album. Yep, it’s all great. “Wild Honey Pie,” “Revolution #9,” “Why Don’t We Do it in the Road”…absolutely necessary. It’s all over the place, and it’s my favorite Beatles album, probably because it’s jam packed with a lot of unexpected weirdness that works extremely well together.
The Rolling Stones, Exile On Main Street. Still on my list despite the fact that it dies after “All Down the Line,” the opening track on the fourth side. As I’ve stated before it’s the ultimate statement of “Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll.” The cover, the 3 decent sides, and the snapshots on the inner sleeves (especially those of Mick and Keef and Jack at the microphone and Keef finishing off a sandwich whilst having a smoke) make it the LP that mom and dad worry most about in your teenage record collection.
The Clash, London Calling. The ultimate statement of life-changing rock. Again, that killer album cover, 4 sides of doozies with only a track or two of filler, and finally…2 inner sleeves jam packed with the lyrics to all the songs. The revelation that Strummer’s M16-like yammering is actually on a ’63–’66 Dylan lyric level is mindblowing. And continues to be so. On a recent trip to Hellerstown to buy a bunch of garage 45s, I revisited London Calling for 456th time and still heard things for the first time.

And that’s it. “What,” you ask, “no Blonde on Blonde?” Hell no. I can honestly say I never need to hear “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands” ever again. It goes on and on forever, which is most probably what’s behind the meat of the thing. Dylan most probably wanted the world to know that he was the first to be skillful enough to fill a whole side with a single song. You know what? Nice try, but it doesn’t really work.

“No Freak Out?” Again, forget it. Jam “Trouble Every Day” somewhere on side 1 or 2, leave out the second wax slab of Edgar Varese/noise poop, and you’ve got a real winner. Again, too much ego and not enough good ideas.

“No Beatles Live in Hamburg ’62?” Just between you and me, I wanna add that thing to my list in the worst way, but I absolutely and positively cannot defend 4 sides of monotonous mach schau “Red Sails in the Sunset” sturm and drang. My weakness? Anything “Beatles” remains utterly fascinating. I would read a 600-page tome by George Martin’s tailor should he choose to tell all.

As far as greatest hits releases are concerned, real thought went into The Beatles: 1962–1966, The Beatles 1967–1970, Hot Rocks, More Hot Rocks, and The Kinks Chronicles. To put it bluntly, no filler. Come to think of it, add The Rolling Stones’ Through the Past Darkly (that “stop sign” looking thing) to that mix and you more or less have everything found in Townsman andyr‘s record collection. That’s not an insult. That’s a high five. That’s andyr in a nutshell. No time for bullshit.

Who knows. Maybe I’m wrong about all this. Maybe some of you see Refried Boogie, the 40-minute second LP of Canned Heat‘s Living the Blues, as an argument for the existence of God. Needless to say, your insights are always greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,

E. Pluribus

Last Man Standing: HVB’s Rock Diagnosis

Posted by hrrundivbakshi

Jul 202011

Yesterday, I got a diagnosis from a qualified M.D. that made me smile for two reasons: one, because it wasn’t serious (fear not, RTH! All is well!)—and, two, because it was also the name of a song. I want you to guess what medical condition I was diagnosed with. I suspect that this exercise will have the same net effect as a Last Man Standing episode, so if you want to treat it accordingly, feel free. At some point in this LMS-like process, I feel certain you’ll correctly diagnose my Rock, pop, or soul condition.

I look forward to your responses.

HVB

Name That Tune, part 2

Posted by cdm

Jul 202011

A 70’s hard rock classic. It goes like this:

Da da Dadada

Da-da-da

Da-da-da

Da d-da d-da

Da da Dadada

Da-da-da

Da-da-da

Da d-da d-da

Previously…

Spinal Tap Gets Crappy New York Times Look Back

Posted by machinery

Jul 192011

I’m amazed how lame this New York Times video is (click).

Rock’s Unfulfilled Fashion Ideas: The Sleeveless Shirt

Posted by Mr. Moderator

Jul 192011

Et tu, Eddie?

Has any rocker ever made music of merit wearing a sleeveless shirt? Not while making music bare-chested or wearing a tank top, not bare-chested under a vest, but specifically making music while wearing a sleeveless shirt.

If you’ve clicked these opening links you’ll see that U2 drummer Larry Mullen has been known to wear the sleeveless shirt. I’ll grant that an argument can be made that U2 made some music of merit while Mullen donned such a gun-bearing fashion atrocity, but he’s a drummer. In past style pieces on Rock Town Hall, drummers have gotten a pass for all sorts of questionable fashion choices, including performing in barefeet and wearing shorts. We make some allowances for rock’s driving forces based on matters of comfort. For the purposes of this survey, we’ll give sleeveless drummers a pass. Beside, I want no part of George Hurley.

Granted, as a guy who’s never expressed his vanity through his forearms (as if I could), the whole sleeveless shirt thing mystifies me. It’s to be expected that the poster boy of Rock Town Hall’s Unfulfilled Fashion Ideas series, Alan Vega, would go sleeveless, but the style would spread to some of the coolest of the cool. How much comfort does a man need to be a rock legend? How much do we really need to know about him? Sure, sometimes even the President of the United States has to stand naked, but did Bob Dylan really need to play sleeveless?

Sleeveless shirt, leather pants, two pairs of shorts...Jerry wins this battle of Best Stage Look!

I don’t know when the sleeveless shirt craze took over, but do a search on a number of rock artists with the date “1985” following their name and I’d bet you can come up with as many shots of them sleeveless as I just did with Dylan. (BTW, I didn’t realize he was into the Bare-Chested Vest Look as early as the mid-’70s, for that Renaldo and Clare movie.) You don’t believe me? Try these:

Strummer, for all his late-period Clash fashion faux pas shouldn’t surprise me, but seeing him in sleeveless shirts still hurts. Make it stop already!

Even a search on Rock Town Hall’s patron saint of mediocrity, “Bob Seger 1985,” turns up this. I pray that’s a bare-chested hippie vest shot and not what it seems.

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