Not Great Men?

 Posted by
Dec 082008
 

I often fall behind a week or two in reading my subscription to The Economist. That’s OK, because I don’t put much stock in being a current events guy. I mostly read The Economist in hopes of finding signs of Great People.

My wife and I have subscribed to The Economist since 1995, when we got back from our year in Hungary. It provides a balanced overview and analysis of world events, developments in science and the arts, and so forth in a way that skirts around the America-centric and marketing-driven tone of Time, Newsweek, and all other publications that have been influenced over the years by the success of USA Today.

I always begin reading The Economist at the back, where they run a featured obituary. I love obits! It’s good to reflect on the lives of great men and women, especially those I may have otherwise never heard about. Death has its benefits after all.

Great People are harder to spot in the world news and politics sections, but they exist. The Finance section makes no sense to me, so I can’t tell if they exist there. I also struggle with Science, but I can spot greatness in that area now and then. Next to the obits, the Books and Arts section of The Economist is the best place for me to keep up with the works of Great People.

Yesterday, while catching up on last week’s issue, I got to the Books and Arts section and read about a music conductor I’d never heard of before, Gilbert Kaplan. I often come back to articles regarding classical music, but this one was entitled “Desparately seeking Mahler.” One of the only classical albums I own and know well is a performance of Mahler’s Fourth Symphony with some short songs following, Sinfonia No. 4 – Lieder und Gesange aus der Jugendzeit. I’m glad I read about this guy before he makes it to the obits page.
Continue reading »

Share

Urge Overkill revival. It’s time.

 Posted by
Dec 062008
 

In the early ’90s, in Vancouver, a friend dragged me to a show by a band from Chicago called Urge Overkill. Good show, good band, nothing earth shattering. Then a couple years later he sat me down and put on a record called Saturation. We played that thing into the ground. This was a record that was simply not of the times. Urge Overkill didn’t look or sound the same as anyone else. They were inspirational. And they rocked hard.

Now, if you remember Urge Overkill you may be one of those people who had a problem with their image: they rode around in a convertible wearing smoking jackets and drinking martinis. They lived in an old bank with their massive record collection. It rubbed some people the wrong way. But not me. I had seen enough flannel for one lifetime.

The most important thing is this: the songs stood up and they still do today. Pretty much everything on Saturation is a knockout. Supersonic Storybook before it was top notch. Their swan song, the dark, stripped down Exit the Dragon? We didn’t like it at the time, none of us. But guess what? I threw it on the other day and it had aged, to me, like fine wine. Check out “The Break” and “Jaywalking.” It’s time for an Urge revival.

Share

John Fogerty: Eponymously

 Posted by
Dec 062008
 

After Creedence broke up in 1972, John Fogerty made a bluegrass album called Blue Ridge Rangers in 1973. Then in 1975 he released an album simply called John Fogerty.

I’m not sure why this album went nowhere, maybe Fogerty’s time had passed or maybe there was no promotion. Wikipedia says that “Rockin’ All Over the World” was a Top 40 hit, though I certainly don’t remember that. I thought sure that song had a second life being covered by other artists, but my research (ok, the All Music Guide) only shows that Status Quo recorded it.

_fKlORAIYkk]

But the other great song on the album, “Almost Saturday Night,” was familiar to me before I ever heard Fogerty do it. Dave Edmunds did a fine version on the Twangin’ album.

cwlUfAxPHgU]

The Searchers did it on their terrific 1981 album Love’s Melodies. AMG says The Burritos, Rick Nelson, the Georgia Satellites, and Gene Clark also did it. Actually I thought both of these songs were more widely covered, but the Edmunds and Searchers albums were big in my world back then. Also I think my memory subsequently mixed in Kimberley (Soft Boy) Rew’s “Stomping All Over the World” (from the excellent Bible of Bop album). Probably influenced by the Fogerty song.

Kimberly Rew, “Stomping All Over the World”

The John Fogerty album is a little covers-heavy, but they’re done well. There are a couple of New Orleans classics – “Sea Cruise” and “I’ll Be Glad When You’re Dead You Rascal You” – but the best cover is of Jackie Wilson’s “Lonely Teardrops.” That’s one of those songs you’d think should never be covered, or at least that you couldn’t cover it well, but I love this version. Fogerty throws out the cha-cha feel and just goes with a straight shuffle. He even throws out the whole middle part (“just … give … me a … nother chance” etc) and sticks to repeating the verses. But he hits a nice groove and makes it work, which is surprising since I believe Fogerty did his thing of playing all the instruments (no credits on the album).

Oddly the tracks on this record seem more fleshed out than many CCR records. My theory is that Fogerty was such a control freak with his old band that the backing tracks often seem like demos to me. So when John started playing everything himself it paradoxically gave a more liberated feeling to the tracks.

Anyway the eponymous album seems to have become a victim of Fogerty’s label/legal troubles, so it’s currently unavailable, except for here on RTH.

John Fogerty
“Rockin’ All Over the World”
“You Rascal You”
“The Wall”
“Travelin’ High”
“Lonely Teardrops”
“Almost Saturday Night”
“Where the River Flows”
“Sea Cruise”
“Dream Song”
“Flyin’ Away”

Technical note: This is a vinyl rip, and you may find the sound a little thin and brittle, contrary to conventional wisdom. For LPs I used to use the Loudness switch they always had on receivers back in the day, and that works fine. Nowadays when I listen to these mp3s I use the “bass booster” effect on iTunes. Your mileage may vary.

Share

Last Man Standing: Rock ‘n Roll-Related Lines Uttered by a Character in a Movie That Isn’t Specifically About Rock ‘n Roll

 Posted by
Dec 052008
 

The subject line should be self-explanatory, but in case it’s not clear enough, this rules out lines from Spinal Tap, School of Rock, That Thing You Do, and that movie starring Paul Simon (with Lou Reed!), One-Trick Pony. On the other hand, I can think of killer lines about rock ‘n roll in movies like Repo Man and Fast Times at Ridgemont High, two movies that embrace rock ‘n roll culture but are NOT about rock ‘n roll in any way.

I wish I could find the full rant from Martin Donovan‘s character in Hal Hartley‘s Simple Men, but this brief excerpt give you an idea of what I have in mind to kick things off:

And oh how they danced…
Continue reading »

Share
 Older Entries  Newer Entries

Lost Password?

 
twitter facebook youtube