Call Me: Past to Present Edition

White Stripes: Hello Operator

[purchase]

Hoyt Axton: Telephone Booth

[purchase]

Brian Setzer: Pennsylvania 6-5000

[purchase]

Drive-By Truckers: George Jones Talkin' Cell Phone Blues

[purchase]

This week's theme got me thinking about how greatly telephones have changed in the last few decades. Years ago operator assisted long distance calls were common. So were phone booths and letter prefixes. Land line hard wire telephones have becoming increasingly scarce with over 285 million American mobile subscribers.That's about 91 percent of the total population of the United States. Some 24.5 percent of U.S. households have also dumped their landlines which translates to about 52 million mobile-only subscribers. Worldwide, mobile subscriptions have reached 4.6 billion! Quite the distance we've traveled since Alexander Graham Bell said to his assistant, Thomas A. Watson in another room, "Mr.Watson, come here, I want to see you."

Horns: Retro-swing Edition

For no apparent reason, the year 1998 seemed to see the sudden emergence of a number of bands playing what the music press would label swing revival music, or Retro-swing. In fact, these bands had toiled in obscurity for most of the 1990s, but why they all captured the popular imagination in 1998 in particular is a mystery. Soon enough, obscurity would welcome them back. Within a year or two, the style, and the bands that played it, had largely disappeared from view. But for that year or two, the music they made was great.

Brian Setzer Orchestra: You‘re The Boss

[purchase]

Brian Setzer was somewhat of a pioneer of this sound. Going solo in the early 1990s, after the breakup of the Stray Cats, he began experimenting with adding horns to his music almost immediately. By 1998, he had arrived at a hybrid of rockabilly and big band music. Here he slows it down,(and incidentally gives us what I believe is the first muted trumpet we’ve heard this week.)

Squirrel Nut Zippers: Suits Are Picking Up The Bill

[purchase]

Squirrel Nut Zippers are the only other band I’m featuring who had much impact with more than one album. This track comes from their album, Perennial Favorites. The follow-up, Hot, received play on MTV, and gave Hell week its title track.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy: Minnie The Moocher

[purchase]

To my ear, the horn charts used by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy make their music the closest to the big band sound of any of the bands I’m featuring here. “Minnie the Moocher” is a classic tune from the big band era.

Cherry Poppin‘ Daddies: Zoot Suit Riot

[purchase]

Finally, I couldn’t leave this topic without posting “Zoot Suit Riot” by Cherry Poppin’ Daddies. This song knocked me out when I first heard it, and it still does. I don’t have much else to say about it. Just listen.