Over: The Once Over Twice

X: The Once Over Twice
[purchase] 

I think that the impetus behind this theme is the end of the Trump Error, and one of the things that many of us are hoping for is that politics won’t be a constant drumbeat in our brains. So, except for this brief mention, I’m going to try to steer this piece away from politics and toward music. 

Many critics consider X’s second album, Wild Gift, to be their finest, and I agree—and the fact that this is the second time I’ve written about the band here, both times about songs from the same album, bears that out. Which is not to say that they haven’t released a lot of good music (and their album from last year, Alphabetland, their first in years, would have been on my “Best of 2020” list, if I was still writing one at my other blog). But there’s something about Wild Gift’s mix of punk and Americana, and the skewed harmonies of Exene Cervenka and John Doe, that hit the sweet spot.

“The Once Over Twice” kicks off the album with a blast of punk/rockabilly guitar, and then we are off to the races with a sad, concise slice of life tale written and sung by Cervenka. The opening lines are killer: 

I just heard the sad song by another band
Sung by another man
He gave me the once over twice 

The phrase “the once over twice” generally means giving an attractive person the “once over” and liking what you see so much that you feel compelled to do it again. Clearly, it is a sign of attraction, so are we seeing the start of a new relationship? Something hopeful? Nope. 

I said when
He said okay so long. 

Oh well. After considering her options, in the face of rejection, the singer decides: 

I got some more scotch instead 

Before beginning to wallow a little: 

Then I died a thousand times
He hung me with the endless rope
Then I died a thousand times
Maybe you don't but I do
Got a hole in my heart size of my heart 

And then, it appears, she reaches acceptance: 

I'll see you and I'll raise you off the floor
I'll floor you and we'll dance without a band 

In an article from a few years ago about the album, the writer recounted Cervenka telling him that Wild Gift, "showed off ‘our sense of humor,’ . . . More personalized songs such as ‘The Once Over Twice’ detailed a want for something greater, but settling ‘for some more scotch instead.’ She continues that, as a writer, she lived for whatever was inside her head, then worked to get it all out quickly.” 

Whether or not you agree with Rick Anderson, an Allmusic reviewer, that some of Cervenka’s lyrics in the song “don’t amount to much more than pretentious high school noodlings” (I don’t), it is hard to disagree with his conclusion that “when she and Doe sing those lines together in their inimitable raw harmony, the effect is electric.” 

Also, later today, Trump’s term will be OVER!! OVER!! OVER!! WOOO HOOO!! 

Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

FROZEN: A Burning Snowman/The Sadies

The Sadies. Some will have heard the name, fewer, possibly, the band. SMM have but one mention for them that I can find, so time to redress the balance.

I was originally going to use another song, 'The Iceberg', as seeming more authentically 'frozen' a song than the presumable lukewarm melt that would result in this choice, but the increasingly common unsmiley face of not available in your territory cropped up. And because the band are so damn prolific, I knew they would have written a slew of songs about the cold. They are from Toronto.

Built around the brothers Dallas and Travis Good, the front line on all things stringed, guitars, fiddles, steel, along with Sean Dean on bass and Mike Belitsky on drums. The line-up has been constant since their 1994 formation, their style with little overt change from a template of surf instrumental, country weepies and electric bluegrass twang. But there is always something a little extra and unexpected in the mix, setting them way above some retrograde revamp of the Byrds meet the Surfaris, though that would not be a bad label to start an acquaintance. I don't quite know how or why, but it seems to me that canadians can do better country than their southern cousins, and the Sadies have me musing likewise on their aplomb with a surfdude vibe. Maybe there are more waves to catch in Saskatchewan than we knew. Their discography alternates between band albums and another tranche of titles where they play backing band, to such diverse artists as R'n'B sleaze man, Andre Williams, to country chanteuse with edge, Neko Case, ex-X man, John Doe, to the british country-punk roots rocker, Jon Langford. (Indeed, the band consider themselves honorary members of Langford's ever evolving Mekons collective.)

I have only crossed the wild atlantic on a handful of occasions, trying always to catch a show or two when I do, surveying the listings ahead of any such trip, scanning the pot-luck of availability. In, I guess, about 2004 or 5, I had a 5 day jaunt to New York and combined 2 bucket list entries, maybe 3, in the one go. Neko Case and the Sadies were playing the Bowery Ballroom! Braving the problem that the cabdriver couldn't find it, we wandered around the somewhat barren locale, in driving rain, I recall, eventually finding a somewhat rundown looking building. Inside a grim concreted bar. I thought this maybe the room they were playing and made light of it to my then wife, who was clearly terrified. After a nervous drink, there was suddenly the opening of big doors, leading up into a fabulously kitsch old style dance hall, with an upstairs verandah spread around the 3 non stage walls. A lacklustre opening band, surely not the Sadies, I prayed, plugged in. O dear, but not for long, as after maybe 20 minutes they let the stage, and the 4 oldstyle wild western characters, much as envisaged in the album sleeve above, trooped on, Travis looking every bit Wyatt Earp's younger and even more tubercular brother. (See if you can guess which one he is!) Yee-bloody-haw, it was terrific! I was hooked as one song banged out after another, harmony vocals wailing into their beer on one song, riptide  bendy baritone  notes on the following instrumental. 40 minutes and then we got Neko. Consummate. I may have neglected my wife so struck was I by this show. I remember well the row in the taxicab back to our hotel.

Since then I have stayed more loyal to the band than to Neko, hoovering up their catalogue and keeping out an eye for other appearances. One such example is Garth Hudson's exemplary custodianship of his old band, the Band, with his 2010 release, Garth Hudson presents: A Canadian celebration of the Band. Of course, these Canucks like to stick together, so possibly no surprise that this, amongst other tracks, should have them performing not just with Garth, but with Neil Young. That wheel was indubitably on fire. (Sorry, another unsmiley from youtube for me.......)

Their last record was some few years ago and I was worried the trail had gone cold. Maybe the surf had frozen, so it was with some relief I heard this trailer for a forthcoming release, later in the year. A band album, rather than backing band album, but this song features Kurt Vile, who fits their vibe with a natural finesse:

Get some stuff.

Musical Couples: Exene Cervenka & John Doe

X: White Girl
[purchase]

When I graduated from high school in 1978, rock radio in New York still mostly played classic rock, even on the now legendary WNEW-FM, which was tamer than in its true heyday, but still played a little broader selection of music. We really didn’t hear much punk music, but some of the “new wave,” like Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson began to infiltrate the playlists. At some point that year, WPIX-FM began to focus on playing new wave (their slogan was, “From Elvis to Elvis”), but by the time it was beginning to get some traction, I was off to college. Starting in early 1979, I began to work at WPRB-FM, our college radio station, which I have mentioned more than a few times already. It was there that I began to really be exposed to new wave, punk, and hardcore music. But even then, it was still enough of a niche that we had a “specialty show” that ran once a week after midnight called “Crest of the New Wave.” (Along with others, such as “The Musical Box,” for prog rock.) I learned to mix in the newer sounds with more of the music I had listened to in high school, leading to, I hoped, an interesting and eclectic mix on my shows, and later when I became program director, on the station as a whole. I still try to do that on my iPod, and that appreciation for a varied mix of music is why I have long been a fan of this blog and have enjoyed writing for it over the past few months. I’d also like to point out that my son is a college DJ at WSPN-FM, and his show is called “Throw It Against The Wall And See What Sticks,” designed to allow him to play pretty much whatever he wants, so maybe that gene runs in the family.

None of that really relates to the theme, but I write it to give some context for how I came to appreciate this song. “Los Angeles,” the debut album by X, is considered by many to be one of the seminal punk albums, mixing the energy of punk with rockabilly, country and classic rock, and featuring great lyrics, musicianship and vocals. I remember listening to it when it came out in 1980, and not really getting it, probably because I lacked the foundation to understand it at the time. I played songs from it on the radio, intrigued by the fact that this punk album was produced by Ray Manzarek of The Doors, a classic rock band that I was certainly familiar with, although I have always considered them overrated.

But over the next year, my musical horizons continued to broaden, and in 1981, X released “Wild Gift,” and I finally got it. It is just a great album (and yes, I also learned to appreciate “Los Angeles,” too). It won all sorts of critical awards and acclaim, which were justly deserved. What I liked was that “Wild Gift” wasn’t all fast songs—it was eclectic but was still coherent. To me, the standout track is “White Girl,” a slower song about punks in love, or at least in lust. Exene Cervenka and John Doe’s harmonies reminded me in many ways of those of Grace Slick and Paul Kantner from the early Jefferson Airplane music that I had become obsessed with in high school, but the subject matter of “White Girl” was rooted in and describes its own time and place. Cervenka and Doe met in 1977, formed X that year and married in 1980. They divorced in 1985, the same year that X released the ironically titled “Ain’t Love Grand.” Despite the divorce, they continued to write and record together, as well as separately, producing more excellent music.