I finally got around to seeing Crazy Heart, and oh my! Despite a Herculean effort by Jeff Bridges to overcome the soap operatic acting talents of Maggie Gyllenhaal, Crazy Heart was about the most pointless movie I’ve seen in a long time. Well, in not too long a time: that Sherlock Holmes movie I saw with Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law a couple of months ago really made me question my existence for the 2 hours it ran.
The music scenes in Crazy Heart were good. Bridges actually played and interacted with his fellow musicians in a way that felt real and insightful. The songs helped tell what little story there was to tell. No beefs there!
Bridges was truly fine, but Oscar-winning performance fine? What did he do that the multi-untalented Kris Kristofferson didn’t do in A Star Is Born, for crying out loud? But I’m not here to knock Bridges. The work he did to keep this flat, overtold movie remotely watchable deserved an Oscar. And the Kristofferson comparison was uncalled for. Sorry, I get too much pleasure thinking about a scene from that film with Kristofferson’s character wasted and playing an out-of-tune guitar while seated on a couch.
QUESTION: Why wasn’t the Robert Duvall-produced Crazy Heart simply promoted as a prequel to Tender Mercies, the extraordinary tale of a recovering alcoholic, washed-up country singer trying to make it with a younger, farm-fresh woman and her little boy?
In honor of the recent RTH interview with Martin Belmont I want to have a look at his first band, Ducks Deluxe, and the later careers of its members to see what it tells us about the evolution of British rock in the ’70s and afterwards.
The Ducks
As Martin says in the interview the Ducks specialized in rough and ready rock and worked best when focused on frontman Sean Tyla. Mr. Mod already posted the one good clip of the band playing one of its signature songs live, but here’s the studio version of “Coast to Coast.”
It was the opening track of their eponymously titled first album, and I love the way Tyla welcomes the audience with “All right, kids, are you readuh?” We’re going to talk more about him later, but Tyla was a real character, and he specialized in this kind of straight ahead, almost Springsteenian rock. Here’s “Fireball.”
Tyla also liked to write about imaginary Americana, so there are songs with titles like like “Rio Grande” and “West Texas Trucking Board.” The problem with Ducks Deluxe as a recording band is that you can’t really have a whole album of uptempo rockers like that, and they faltered a bit when it came to ballads. Also, there were two other songwriters in the band, our buddy Martin Belmont and Nick Garvey, and the vocals on those songs are much less distinctive than Tyla’s. Here’s Belmont’s “Something Goin’ On,” with later Ducks bassist Micky Groome on vocals:
The different styles of the songwriters just seem to make it a little hard to get a fix on the identity of the band. Live this probably would not have been so much of a problem, and the excellent covers on their albums (Eddie Cochran’s “Nervous Breakdown,” Bobby Fuller’s “I Fought the Law,” and Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now”) give some other hints of why they were popular on the pub rock circuit. But as usual in this genre their records didn’t sell, and they disbanded in 1975.
They had a decently selected best-of LP named after another of their signature rockers, “Don’t Mind Rockin’ Tonight.”
It was issued in 1978, I assume because the members had achieved some fame in subsequent bands. I don’t think it ever made it out of the vinyl era, but you can probably find a copy. Despite their lack of sales at the time, they are now pretty well-represented on CD. Their two regular albums (the second one is called Taxi to the Terminal Zone) are available as a twofer. And there’s a second twofer with their third record, which was an EP, some stray tracks, and then the first album by the Tyla Gang, Sean’s next band, again about which more in a minute. The Ducks have actually reformed recently for some European dates, and they’ve issued a very nice, newly-recorded EP called Box of Shorts, which, except for being much better recorded, sounds pretty much like the original band. Here’s a clip of them performing a song from the EP, “Diesel Heart,” in Stockholm last year:
I’m kinda glad we’ve had a specific request for some Lou Christie lately. I was unsure about how –or whether — the two singles I found recently on a scouring trip would hold up amongst the real thrifty gems I have in store for you. So, for now, I’m just going to pop these tunes up here, and let the chips fall where they may. I for one like these songs, but… well, then again…
Here’s my big probing thrifty question: you may know that Lou Christie is the guy doing all the falsetto stuff in these songs. Remarkable! But, I ask: Is anybody doing the male falsetto thing anymore? Seems to me that even in the urban/R&B category, there are precious few artists singing like little girls anymore. And I’ll add: I had no idea what Lou Christie looked like when I found that YouTube clip of Christie sporting the chest-wig and open vest Look. Has the day passed when a man could look so *manly* and still sing like a woman?
Anyhow, here are two obscure Lou Christie tracks for you to enjoy:
Fellow Townspeople, I come before you one more time as an honest supplicant, begging your favor and craving your collective indulgence on behalf of a devastated nation, still reeling from the effects of disaster.
You may remember about a month ago, my company co-sponsored a benefit concert for victims of the Haiti earthquake, at which we raised nearly $6,000. What I don’t think I told you then was that the artists at the show were being filmed by a multi-camera HD film crew, and that they’d be edited together by some of the finest editing professionals in the DC area. The idea was that these performances would form the “seed content” for a Web site that would allow unsigned bands and artists to share their music with the world, while urging listeners to donate to the charity of their choice.
Well, many weeks of volunteer work later, we have a Web site: www.indiemusicforhaiti.com. Now, we need your help. If you’re a musician, we want you to help us populate the site with great music — and we want you to spread the word about the place with fellow bands and musicians. If you’re an avid listener, we want your eyes and ears. And Haiti, of course, would appreciate your money, if you have any to spare.
I urge all Townspeople to check the site out. There’s already a lot of great music up there for you to enjoy — including a track penned and performed by yours truly, with the able assistance of Paul Garisto, drummer for the Psychedelic Furs!
Thanks, townspeople. As always… I LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR RESPONSES.
It’s over, the first Last Man Standing that ever required an arbitrary point of completion. Sorry, cher, who came in with a final entry just seconds after the deadline. We know you were probably holding another two dozen entries. Thanks to all who played along, and thanks to cdm for launching the thread and making some difficult decisions for the betterment of the Hall!
PHOTO FINISH: STAYED TUNED FOR JUDGES’ RULING ON OUTCOME. ALL FURTHER COMMENTS FOR THIS THREAD HAVE BEEN CLOSED.
Name a song in which the lyrics mention another band or artist.
The rules:
1. Only one name check per song. (eg, You can only use “Ready Steady Go” for the Beatles or the Stones or Bobby Dylan but not all three).
2. You can’t repeat a band/artist name once it’s been used.
3. You can use different band names containing the same person (eg, if there is a song that name checks Clapton and another that name checks Blind Faith, both songs count)
4. The name must be used in the lyrics. Shout-outs do not count.
5. The reference must be on purpose. The lyrics can’t just accidentally name check the band (eg, “Alabama Getaway” does not refer to the pop county band Alabama).
6. As with all Last Man Standing competitions, only one name at a time please.
