Religion: Love, Devotion, and Surrender

Santana: Love, Devotion, and Surrender

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We've had a lot of Christian music this week, so I thought I'd offer up something a little more universal by Latin-jazz-rock-fusion guitarist Carlos Santana. In the years before this release, he'd been making quite a musical splash, first in late-60s San Francisco, then at Woodstock (his blazing debut), and then worldwide. But around 1973 his music took a definite turn towards jazz fusion, a blend of jazz, funk, R&B, and rock heavily dosed with complicated time signatures. Miles Davis was at the forefront of jazz fusion, releasing in short order the groundbreaking albums Miles in the Sky (1968), In a Silent Way (1969) and Bitches Brew (1970). Some of the musicians on these LPs went on to further to fusion cause: Joe Zawinil and Wayne Shorter formed Weather Report, John McLaughlin formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra, Chick Corea, Airto Moriera, and Flora Purim became Return to Forever, and Herbie Hancock formed Headhunters, among others. Some of these artists also show up in Santana's albums around this time, but John McLaughlin in particular is a prominent influence.

Just as music made dramatic changes in the late 60s, religious ideas became more diverse and took a pronounced turn eastward. Like many trends of the era, this started with the Beatles. In 1967, the Fab Four, along with a passel of other A-list celebrities (Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithfull, Cilla Black, Donovan, Mike Love of The Beach Boys, Mia Farrow, and flutist Paul Horn) became interested in an unknown Indian guru, Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and his technique of Transcendental Meditation. As you might expect, fascination with all things Indian---especially Indian mysticism--- soon followed.

By 1973 John McLaughlin was a member of the Self Realization Fellowship led by Indian-cum-American guru Sri Chinmoy, and he converted Carlos Santana and his drummer Michael Shrieve to the fellowship. Sri Chinmoy taught that rapid spiritual progress could be made with divine love, divine devotion and divine surrender, which gives us our title. McLaughlin and Santana released an album with this title several months prior, but this song is from the album Welcome. Vocalists are Santana, Wendy Hass, and Leon Thomas.

"We are all seekers, and our goal is the same: to achieve inner peace, light and joy, to become inseparably one with our Source, and to lead lives full of true satisfaction.” Sri Chinmoy

Religion: Love...Thy Will Be Done

Martika: Love...Thy Will Be Done

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This song blew me away the first time I heard it on the radio (though admittedly, I was only in junior high). It's beautiful, and anthemic, but yet it is pretty much a gospel song just jammed in there among the rest of the pop schlock that was being played on popular radio in 1991. The song was written and produced by the one and only Prince, and then performed by pop singer Martika, who is best known for her hit single "Toy Soldiers". "Love...Thy Will Be Done" did well commercially though, it made it into the top 10 pop charts.

To this day it remains one of my all time favorite songs because I find it so powerful...undoubtedly because of what it stands for to me. When having a religious discussion with a friend of mine and attempting to explain how I feel on the subject the only thing I could think of was this song. I told him, "as an agnostic, the one thing I feel like I can get behind without reservations is love as a religion. To me, if you can't replace the word "Lord" or "God" with "love" and still have your beliefs make sense, then you're doing something wrong". And of course, the original phrase is "Lord, thy will be done", and the song is "Love, thy will be done". Changing two letters changes everything.

Religion: Fix It Jesus

Reverend Charlie Jackson: Fix It Jesus

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When your burden gets too heavy, sometimes all you need is a southern preacher armed with a Fender Mustang, playing and singing like a man possessed. No matter what you believe in, or don't believe in. Ain't that the gospel truth.

Religion: Church

Lyle Lovett: Church

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I like to say that mankind invented religion to answer the question, “What’s for dinner?” Think about it. The oldest religions have mythologies and rituals that are centered around hunting and farming. Even Judaism has a seasonal cycle of festivals that include a harvest festival, (Sukkos), and Passover can be seen as a ritualized tale of leading the livestock to their spring pastures. Christianity is the first one to replace the old question with a new one, “What happens when we die?” But Lyle Lovett finds the old question returning in a powerful way one Sunday. What’s for dinner? The preacher’s answer will surprise you.

Religion: Do Lord

Jane Russell, Connie Haines, Beryl Davis, Della Russell: Do Lord

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It's a fascinating bit of trivia: Sex symbol actress Jane Russell headed a gospel quartet in the 1950s. Russell, a life-long Christian who died at 90 in February this year, met her fellow group members, singers Connie Haines (a former singer in the Harry James and Tommy Dorsey orchestras) and Beryl Davis, at a Christian social in Hollywood.The three were periodically joined by Della Russell and Rhonda Fleming (another bombshell).

The story goes that during the filming of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, Russell tried to convert co-star Marilyn Monroe to Christianity. Monroe later recalled: "Jane tried to convert me and I tried to introduce her to Freud".

"Do Lord", in which the singers are helfully introduced individually, was a big hit in 1954, shifting 2 million copies.

Religion: Let The Mystery Be

Iris DeMent: Let The Mystery Be

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Iris DeMent didn't get to spend Sundays the same way as the other kids in her Southern California neighborhood. Her parents took her to Pentecostal and Assembly Of Life churches where she spent hour after hour listening to fire and brimstone sermons which sometimes involved speaking in tongues. As Iris told The Aspen Times recently: "There's a lot of weird stuff there that anybody could do without."

When Iris left home, she left the church. But the church didn't leave her. From her 1992 debut Infamous Angel,  "Let The Mystery Be" takes on the subject of religious uncertainty: "Everybody's wonderin' what and where they all came from/ Everybody's worryin' 'bout where they're gonna go when the whole thing's done."

 "I've never met anybody who went to the other side," she said. "So I just don't know what's there."

Religion: There's Gonna Be A Showdown

The Rance Allen Group: There's Gonna Be A Showdown

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Some believe that when they die, there'll be nothing. Others believe that when they die, granny and gramps will wait for them, cheerfully waving in a show of welcome at the end of that tunnel. Others believe that granny and gramps are biding their time with the waving welcome on the other side of purgatory. And some believe that there's gonna be a showdown at the end of days when the righteous shall rise again (God seems to have fun missing the deadlines set for him by the rapture-tempting loons).

The Rance Allen Band, who were brilliant at fusing soul, funk and gospel, seem to be of the apocalyptic persuasion. So their advice is that you better start having God in your life now because you don't know when that showdown of rapture will happen.

"There's Gonna Be A Showdown", from their 1972 LP Truth Is Where It's At, is a cover of the song by Archie Bell and the Drells, with the lyrics entirely reworked, except for the rousing chorus, which even retains the theologically redundant phrase, "hey hey". Where the Archie Bell and his band promised a showdown of dancing, Rance Allen and his band were aiming for final days. It's interesting that the gospel version totally outfunks the dance original. The Race Allen version is exhilirating where the original is just rather good.

The Rance Allen Group released a few very good albums on the Stax subsidiary Gospel Truth, and appeared at the Wattstax, the African-Amerian Woodstock (their performance of their song "Lying On The Truth" is, in the film, intercuit with images of churches in Watts). They remain active today.

Religion: Snake-Handling Man

Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer: Snake-Handling Man

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And these signs shall follow them that believe: In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues. They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. - Mark 16: 17-18

I came into possession of a number of albums by Tracy Grammer, with and without her late musical partner Dave Carter, and I have lately been discovering Carter and Grammer’s album Seven is the Number. The obvious choice from it for our new theme would have been Workin’ For Jesus, but I liked Snake-Handling Man better. Snake-Handling is a real thing. Dating from at least the 1920s, it is practiced in some Pentacostal churches in Appalachia. The bible verse I quoted above is the scriptural justification for the practice, and practitioners feel that only those whose faith is strong enough should attempt it. Dave Carter portrays his narrator as a man who is filled with the awesome power of God. The turbulent guitar parts only serve to emphasize this. I am reminded of the boasting of supernatural power that is found in blues songs like Hoochie Coochie Man.

Neil Young Covers: Lotta Love

Nicolette Larson: Lotta Love

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A dear college buddy (and his wife) came into town a few nights ago for a concert... and we've had a great time catching up as well as reminiscing - last evening we invited over another couple (mutual friends from that time in our lives) and the six of us sat out on our patio until 2 a.m... eating, talking and laughing...

We also did a bit of singing, when Kathy (not having a clue as to the Star Maker Machine theme this week) asked each of us what our favorite Neil Young album was - I had to chime in with Comes a Time, which we immediately put on the CD player, followed by After the Gold Rush, which segued to Nicolette's debut album...

The story goes that "while being driven by Young in his car one day, Larson played a cassette which was the demo of Lotta Love and Young told her the song was hers if she wanted it." - her version reached #8 on Billboard Magazine's Hot 100 chart in February 1979 and #1 on the Easy Listening chart, ranking as the #10 Adult Contemporary hit of the year.

Sadly, Larson died on December 16, 1997 at the age of 45 from cerebral edema - I love that we still knew all the words to these Neil Young songs, more than 3 decades after the recordings were released...

Neil Young covers: Helpless

Patti Smith: Helpless

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doa: Helpless

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Cowboy Junkies: Helpless

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I'm squeaking under the time-wire this time…I started out this posting week in the ER (I'm okay now) and my mom is also gracing another hospital with her presence (she's doing as well as an 86-year-old can). So I think the title of my post says it all when it comes to serious health issues: they can leave us feeling helpless.

Recently, Patti Smith has been broadening her punk roots: This song's downright ballad-y. It's from her 2007 album Twelve, a great selection of a dozen cover tunes.

The second version is from a 2004 EP Deadstock, which also includes pretty faithful cover versions of CSN-and-sometimes-Y tunes Ohio, Woodstock, and Find the Cost of Freedom. Will you hate me when I mention that doa are Japanese?

Finally, I've included my favorite version featuring a live Margo Timmons' soulful croon.

Aaaaand...looks like I made this week's deadline!

Neil Young Covers: After the Gold Rush

k d lang: After the Gold Rush

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One thing that has become clear to me this week is that Neil Young’s songs have layers of meaning, with different aspects calling to different listeners. Dolly Parton once asked Neil Young about the meaning of After the Gold Rush. Here is the story:

“…when we were doing the Trio album, I asked Linda and Emmy what it meant, and they didn't know. So we called Neil Young, and he didn't know. We asked him, flat out, what it meant, and he said, 'Hell, I don't know. I just wrote it. It just depends on what I was taking at the time. I guess every verse has something different I'd taken.”

To me, the song has a structure, with one verse each for past present, and future. And there is an environmental theme, with the last verse having a few humans selected to travel to a new, clean, planet and a fresh start, while the unlucky ones left behind look on in envy and sorrow for what has happened to their world. K d lang latches on to this sense of loss, and delivers one of her most subtle vocals in her version of the song. Lang can belt out a ballad with the best of them, but she knows that a quieter performance serves this song better.

Neil Young Covers: Harvest Moon

Cassandra Wilson: Harvest Moon

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I can't imagine this week going by without offering up jazz diva Cassandra Wilson's beautiful interpretation of "Harvest Moon", the closing track to her critically acclaimed 1996 album New Moon Daughter. The entire album sounds like it was recorded on a midsummer night among ancient oak trees draped in Spanish moss.
Her version of "Harvest Moon" is gilded with melancholy and is a "must hear".

Neil Young Covers: Ohio

Dala: Ohio

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I would like to believe that I can write the words “Kent State Massacre”, and everyone would know what I was talking about. But it probably isn’t the case. When it happened in 1970, it was easy to believe that no one would ever forget it, and that was what Neil Young wanted to make sure of when he wrote Ohio for Crosby Stills Nash and Young. I was nine and a half at the time, but I had an older brother who was in high school, and therefore very aware of the draft. Nowadays, it is the law here in the United States that you must register for the military draft when you turn 18. But there hasn’t been an actual draft in wartime since the Vietnam War. Our young people today take it for granted that they would only serve in an American war if they volunteered. And, partly for that reason, none of the wars the United States has fought in since Vietnam has given rise to the kinds of widespread student protests that were common in those days.

On April 30, 1970, President Nixon announced that he had expanded the war to Cambodia. Students at Kent State University in Kent Ohio quickly organized a series of protests. By May 4, the decision had been made to bring in the National Guard to force the students to disperse. It’s hard to say why things got out of hand the way the did. The students had been throwing rocks, first at the police, and then at the Guardsmen when they arrived. But, none of the students got closer than about 100 yards from the Guardsmen. You would have to have a pretty good arm to be much of a threat at that distance. Whatever the case, some of the Guardsmen opened fire. In 17 seconds, 67 rounds of ammunition were fired at the unarmed students. When it was all over, four students were dead or dying, and nine others were wounded. Two of the students who died weren’t even part of the protest; they just happened to be in the wrong place, on their way to their next class.

Those were the events that shocked a nation, and inspired Neil Young to write Ohio. The song was released as a single a couple of weeks after the event, and came out on a live CSNY album the following year. CSNY recorded the song as a rock anthem, and it worked as a powerful protest song at the time. But, as I noted in my introduction, these are very different times than those. There is no anti-war movement to rally, not like there was then. So how should a contemporary artist cover the song? Dala has answered that question brilliantly. Instead of a protest anthem, they render the song as a cry of mourning. The slow it down, and remove the wailing of the electric guitars from the original. Neil Young and Co made Ohio a rallying cry, and the victims of Kent State martyrs to the cause. Dala finds the humanity in the song, and reminds us that the victims were somebody’s sons and daughters. Young’s writing allows both approaches, and each one is or was utterly right for its time.

Neil Young Covers: Burned

Wilco: Burned

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For the soundtrack to the 1996 film I Shot Andy Warhol, Wilco covered "Burned", a song Neil Young wrote and sang on the first Buffalo Springfield album thirty years earlier. While the original had that "vintage whine" of Neil's, we get Jeff Tweedy's stoner-drawl and some far out guitar feedback--which may actually fit the lyrics better. Many cuts on the Warhol album have 90's era bands (R.E.M, Luna, Bettie Serveert) knocking out 60's covers. As with most soundtracks, it's a mixed bag.

Teenage Fanclub also covered an uptempo version of "Burned" as a B side to their 1995 "Sparky's Dream" single. I don't have it but you can check it out here .

Neil Young Covers: Cortez The Killer

Marissa Nadler: Cortez The Killer

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Carrie Rodriguez: Cortez The Killer

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Built To Spill: Cortez The Killer

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Clem Snide: Cortez The Killer

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There's been a lot of great Neil Young coverage released since the turn of the millenium; of the 200 covers in my private stash, over half were released in the last decade alone. But no single song has caught my fancy more effectively than Cortez The Killer.

Originally released in 1975, with a crying guitar riff that ranked #39 on Guitar World's 100 Greatest Guitar Solos, and later named one of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, Cortez is a somewhat pensive, almost wistful, eminently political, entirely accurate historical recitative for the bulk of its journey.

In the last verse, though, the narrator switches into first person, describing a woman he knows, who's "living there today".

Wikipedia writers cite temples and Cortez' mistress La Malinche (Doña Marina) as the possible subject of these lines. Personally, I think that's a grave misinterpretation of how Young writes.

Instead, I think the woman is real - that the whole story of conquest is revealed as a metaphor in the last few lines, wherein the whole thing collapses back on you like a brick wall, placing the personal in the political in a way that only true genius can. Try it, up against Carrie Rodriguez' alt-country, Clem Snide's angsty whine, Marissa Nadler's echoey nufolk, the heavy jamband rock of Built To Spill - four vastly different takes on the emotional core of the piece - and see what I mean.

Neil Young Covers: Cinnamon Girl

Replicants - Cinnamon Girl

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I saw Neil Young once. It was the Ragged Glory tour.

It was a total spur-of-the-moment thing, and the nose-bleed seats were testament. My brother and I were waaay up in Cloud City, but I didn't care. It was a Big Rock Show and I was excited. Sonic Youth was a support act.

All during Sonic Youth's set, a drunken, long-haired man in a very unwashed Neil Young tour tee-shirt stood - in the row before us - screaming his throat to shreds: "Get off the stage!!! Neil!!! Whoo!!! Get off the stage!!!"

After the break, once Neil did take the stage, the fine fellow slumped into his seat, passed out, and only barely vomited all over his shirt... ah, good times.

Neil Young Covers: Old Man

The Boxcar Lilies: Old Man

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There are three ways that I can think of to interpret the song Old Man. The narrator could be addressing an imaginary old man, who represents what he thinks he will be like in quite a few years, looking back at his life. The narrator could be addressing an actual old man, but not one that he knows well; in that case, the narrator is simply projecting his own concerns onto a relative stranger, seeking to reassure himself that there is a future for himself. Or the narrator could actually know the old man well enough to compare himself; in this case, the narrator is seeking common ground with someone from another time. I find all of these possible meanings in the original, and The Boxcar Lilies preserve them beautifully. I want to reassure the 24 year-old narrator that there is indeed a future to look forward to, and more love to be won and lost and won. I’m a bit older than that, as you may have guessed.

Nine Lives: The Lovecats

The Cure: The Lovecats

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When The Cure released The Lovecats in 1983, the song rose to number seven on the British singles chart. So it’s kind of hard to believe that the album it appeared on at the end of that year, Japanese Whispers, was a holding action, a single and flip sides compilation to keep the fans happy until the next official album came out. At that time, The Cure had just changed bass players, and they or their label seem to have decided to release Japanese Whispers because they weren’t sure when the next album would be ready. Even more remarkable: nowadays, Japanese Whispers is only available as an import.

As for the song, The Lovecats may be described as a love song where the lovers are feral cats. Or maybe fans of The Cure really did court each other this way in 1983. Either way, the song sounds like cats, and not just because of the feline vocalizations. It also has a great beat.

Nine Lives: Big Cat

The Clean: Big Cat

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How do you know if your cat is overweight? You should be able to feel the backbone and ribs. If you can't feel the ribs without pressing, you may have a fat cat. If , viewed from the side, your cat has no noticeable waist but just a mass of belly fur sweeping the floor, you may have a fat cat. Finally, if you wake up each night wondering if someone is pushing a large boulder down the stairs -THUD THUD THUD--only to discover that it's your cat seeking a midnight snack, you may have a fat cat.

Nine Lives: Tom Cat Blues

Jorma Kaukonen: Tom Cat Blues (orig. Jelly Roll Morton)

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No, it's not a cover of Tom Scott title cut Tom Cat - it's a cover of a Jelly Roll Morton tune from singer-songwriter Jorma Kaukonen.

Though he once made his name on the electric scream of the sixties, the Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna alum has become a well-deserved staple of the modern contemporary acoustic set in his old age thanks to a mellow, fatherly voice, a campfire wizard's hands on the strings, and a penchant for Piedmont style acoustic blues fingerpicking.

His transformation of Morton's ragtime protojazz, off 2002 roots radio chart-topper Blue Country Heart, features fellow heavyweights Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas on Mando and dobro, respectively; the track, like the rest of the album from which it springs, is effortless and epic, proving that the man's still got the stuff. Kudos, Kaukonen.

Nine Lives: Black Cat Bone

Albert Collins, Robert Cray, Johnny Copeland: Black Cat Bone

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This version of Black Cat Bone begins with Albert Collins and Johnny Copeland talking about hearing the song played by Hop Wilson, who wrote it. As nearly as I can tell, that would have been in Houston Texas, in about 1950. Very quickly, the song became a blues classic, and it was recorded in the 50s by Lightning Hopkins, Muddy Waters, and many others. By 1985, the song had become one of Albert Collins’ signature tunes, and he was the one who brought it to the sessions for the album Showdown! This was one “super group” album that lived up to its billing. The idea was to bring together three of the biggest names in blues at the time and let them make magic. Albert Collins, Johnny Copeland, and Robert Cray did just that.

In African-American folk belief, a black cat bone is a lucky charm, with the power to render the bearer invisible or bring about the return of a lost love. Here however, the singer is the victim of extraordinary bad luck, and he believes that his girlfriend has used a black cat bone to put a curse on him. There is a rather gruesome ritual for the proper making of a black cat bone charm. I will spare you the details, but you can find a description if you are curious in Zora Neal Hurston’s Mules and Men.

Nine Lives: The Wild Cats Of Kilkenny

The Pogues: The Wild Cats Of Kilkenny

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‘The Wild Cats Of Kilkenny’ appeared on The Pogues’ epic 1985 album Rum, Sodomy And The Lash. The instrumental track was written by the dentally-challenged frontman Shane McGowan, whom everybody knows, and the band’s multi-instrumentalist Jem Finer, who is rather more obscure. Still, every Christmas you’ll hear one of his songs…

Kilkenny is, of course, a town in Ireland that also lends its name to the county in which it is located (we could also make up, if we so wished, an urban legend that the name also served to inspire the makers of South Park). There is a poem about the cats of Kilkenny, titled without much prevarication “The Cats of Kilkenny”:

There once were two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit,
And they scratched and they bit,
Till excepting their nails
And the tips of their tails,
Instead of two cats, there weren't any.

The Pogues in the title of their song probably referred to the epic cat fight of the poem (for there is no doubt that the two protagonist felines were indeed of wild temperament), which is believed to be an allegory for a bloody and self-destructive territorial dispute between Kilkenny and Irishtown. That conflict gave rise to the phrase “Kilkenny cats”, to describe, as wordsmith.org puts it, “people who fight relentlessly till their end”.

Mutual destruction seems to be a badge of honour in some quarters: Kilkenny’s local hurling team (that’s the sport, not the post-drinking activity) is dubbed “The Cats”.

Nine Lives: Cat People (Putting Out Fire)

David Bowie: Cat People (Putting Out Fire)

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With the release of the post-disco classic Let's Dance in 1983, David Bowie took another trend-leading musical shift. Produced by Chic's Nile Rogers, it also features Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. Four hit singles came out of this album, including this re-recorded version of Cat People (Putting Out Fire), from the 1982 erotic thriller of the same name. Bowie begins the song in a slow, goth-y baritone (and when did his voice get that low? It used to be pretty airy in the 70s, I remember), and then he kicks up the beat so you can, yanno, dance to it. This is one song where the producer's skill really stands out. So does the percussion.

My absolute favorite manga artist, Miyamoto Kano, drew this charming catboy (or nekomimi), which is a fashionable Japanese trope in both manga and cosplay. Half the fun is plotting out exactly how one has become a nekomimi, and I won't elaborate about how much other characters really, reaaaally like those ears and tail.

Nine Lives: The Kitty Cat Song

Lee Dorsey: The Kitty Cat Song

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A New Orleans native who once boxed as "Kid Chocolate", Lee Dorsey was already in his 40's when he started pummeling the pop charts with hits like "Ya Ya" and "Working In a Coalmine". For the B-side to his 1966 single "Ride Your Pony", Lee recorded this infectious little kitty ditty.  A lot of Dorsey's songs back then were produced by Allen Toussaint with his house band, The Meters, providing instrumental backup.

That same year, The Troggs recorded "The Kitty Cat Song" for their debut album "From Nowhere...The Troggs".

Nine Lives: Nashville Cats

Lovin' Spoonful: Nashville Cats

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The Del McCoury Band: Nashville Cats (Lovin' Spoonful cover)

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I always heard a short lick of tongue-in-cheek in the original slinky, funky take on this mid-sixties tune from Lovin' Spoonful, though I don't think it was purposeful: it's a wry tune to begin with, but Darius wasn't wrong way back in 2008 when he described the song as an honest homage from lead songwriter John Sebastian to the band's country and bluegrass influences.

But in the hands of twangy honkytonk bluegrass icon Del McCoury, the word "cats" rings especially true, as a reflection of the compatriots he knows well from his long career in the Ole Opry and beyond, just over the border from his native North Carolina. And dig those bluegrass harmonies, from the man and his sons.

Nine Lives: Tom Cat

Tom Scott and the L.A. Express: Tom Cat

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For a while in the 70's, it seemed like Tom Scott was everywhere. Movie scores? He scored or performed on Uptown Saturday Night, Stir Crazy, Taxi Driver, Bladerunner, and Heaven Can Wait. TV themes? He wrote 'em for Family Ties, Starsky & Hutch, and The Streets of San Francisco. (it was a family business – his dad also scored a ton of things in his day, including the theme from Dragnet). He featured on other artist's stuff, like Joni Mitchell’s Court And Spark, Carole King’s Jazzman, Paul McCartney’s Listen To What The Man Said, Rod Stewart’s Do You Think I’m Sexy, and Blondie’s Rapture, but he's best known for his collaborations with Steely Dan, including the songs Babylon Sister, Deacon Blues, Peg, Black Cow, and especially the album Aja, for which he arranged and conducted all the horns. If that didn't make him cool enough, he was also one of The Blues Brothers.

Tom Cat is from the 1974 album of the same name, featuring Tom and the L.A. Express: electric guitarist Robben Ford, keyboardist Larry Nash, bassist Max Bennett (who wrote this tune), and drummer John Guerin. It's got that horn-dominated pop-jazz sound that reminds me of so much L.A. music of the time, maybe because Tom Scott was clearly playing on all of it.

Nine Lives: Big City Cat

Steve Forbert: Big City Cat

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I’m sure there will be a stronger feline presence here as the week goes on. The “cat” in Big City Cat is thoroughly human, and the word only comes up at the end of the lyrics. But Big City Cat is a song about beginnings, so it seemed like a good place to start. Steve Forbert arrived in New York City from Meridian, Misissippi, intent on making a living as a musician. His material was well suited to the New York City music market of the late 70s, and he did eventually break through and get a major label contract. But Big City Cat describes his feelings on stepping onto the surface of a new planet at the start of this journey. New York City was a new world to Forbert, and not entirely a good one. But Forbert was able to maintain a sunny outlook that wound up being so appealing on his first album. Ironically, it wound up being his treatment at the hands of that major label that finally washed that optimism away. But that is a tale for another time.

Alphanumeric: Hello Cruel World

E: Hello Cruel World

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Mark Oliver Everett may have wanted to escape the shadow of his father, physicist Hugh Everett III when he began his musical career. Maybe that’s why he decided to simply call himself E. I must say, however, that I doubt that many music fans would have made the connection; I had to look it up. Regardless, E it was, and E it remained when he later formed the band Eels. The music of Eels had a darker sound, but E as a solo artist was a master of pop hooks. Hello Cruel World sounds like it should have been a major hit until you listen to the lyrics. The song sets out a series of somewhat surreal scenarios, connected tenuously at best. The writing contains great imagery, and a slide show goes by in my head whenever I hear the song. I don’t claim to be an expert on the music of Eels, but I have never heard anything of theirs that affects me in the same way.

Alphanumeric: Mesopotamia

The B-52s: Mesopotamia

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This seems to be one of those weeks when my fellow Star Makers and I avoid obvious choices in favor of lesser known ones. I can think of several well known groups that would fit our theme, and I really thought someone would have posted them by now. I can’t completely resist the urge to share lesser known music myself, so here is my solution: a lesser known song by one of those obvious bands.

In the early days of this band, Kate Pierson and Cindy Williams wore their hair in a style known as a bouffant, or a b-52, and that is where The B-52s got their name. Of course, the band burst on the scene with one of the first new wave hits, Rock Lobster. Their first two albums continued with that basic sound, but there were no other hits as big as Rock Lobster. So, for their third album, the band changed their sound. I don’t know if they decided to do this themselves or were told to by their record company, but the result was that they found themselves working with David Byrne of Talking Heads as their producer. Mesopotamia was supposed to be a full length album of ten songs, but disagreements arose between the band and Byrne, and what was finally released was a six song EP. It may be telling that Byrne only ever produced one other album for an artist other than himself, Fun Boy 3’s album Waiting. So Mesopotamia, the album and the song, may not be the music The B-52s wanted to make, but I have always found the song irresistible. I hope you will as well.

Alphanumeric: Drivin' Now

J: Drivin' Now

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You can't get more succinct (or any harder to Google) than using a single English letter as an artist name. J is the bassist for J-Rock band Luna Sea, a band I will miss seeing by one week during my upcoming trip to Japan. (Not that I had a snowball's chance in hell of getting tickets—Saitama Arena, which seats about 37,000, sold out in five minutes for this charity concert.) As is the way of many Japanese bands, the members of Luna Sea wander off into other group and solo releases without a lot of drama. J released this album, Unstoppable Drive in 2002 during Luna Sea's longest hiatus. It's pretty straightforward hard rock, and you'll enjoy it if you like yours bass-heavy like I sometimes do.

Alphanumeric: Oh Effendi

10cc:Oh Effendi

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I remember spiritedly arguing with a high school classmate once that 10cc was a better group than Led Zeppelin. 10cc --named for the average amount of semen in a male ejaculation--was certainly one of the most inventive bands in rock n roll. Literally. Kevin Godley and Lol Creme invented "The Gizmo",  an effects box that could make an electric guitar sound like a strange symphony. Godley and Creme were the art schoolers in 10cc, always pushing the boundaries. Bandmates Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman were the hit-makers. ( Stewart as a member of The Mindbenders and Gouldman as songwriter of The Yardbirds' "For Your Love" and The Hollies' "Bus Stop" among others.) As 10cc they combined forces, often creating powerful pop songs that suddenly shifted into parody. What other group it its right mind would confess they were "The Worst Band in the World"?

From that same 1974 album, Sheet Music, comes "Oh Effendi", a rare Godley-Stewart composition which shows the best sides of both sides of 10cc. Most rock snobs would suggest you start your 10cc collection with Sheet Music. That's fine with me but I confess to having a soft spot for How Dare You!, the last album on which all four original members played.

Alphanumeric: Endless Dark

HIM: Endless Dark

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Like many currently alpha-named bands, the letters making up the band name HIM stood for words (in this case, His Infernal Majesty) that were lost early on.

HIM (or H.I.M.) is a Finnish goth-metal band (or, as they describe it, "love metal"). They formed in 1995 behind vocalist Ville Valo, who also pens their songs, apart from some awesome covers (such as Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game," which takes on a more ominous feel in their hands). I posted a Ville Valo cover of the classic duet Summer Wine about a year ago.

This version of 'Endless Dark' is from their 2003 album Love Metal. You can see their trademark "heartagram" from that album cover in the above image.

And I know where I belong
Away from your gods
That heal all wounds
And light this endless dark,
That shine on you and tame your burning heart
That bury my truth right into your arms
That worship the tomb of our forlorn love.

Alphanumeric: Me and the Boys

                                             
NRBQ: Me and the Boys

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               On one of their good nights NRBQ (New Rhythm and Blues Quartet) was the best bar band in the world--or as their fans would put it, the best band in the world--bar none. For twenty years pianist Terry Adams, guitarist Big Al Anderson, bassist Joey Spampinato and drummer Tom Ardolino toured together, performing everything from jazz, to 12 bar blues to Beatlesque ballads and crunchy power pop like "Me and The Boys". Always in the spirit of good goofy fun.

   The list of famous NRBQ fans reads like a Who's Who of the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame. I caught the band at an obscure club in NYC in '99 and ran into the guys from Del Amitri. There were Posies and Young Fresh Fellows at a Seattle show a year later. Makes me wonder whom I didn't recognize at the New Orleans shows I saw in the 80's.

  Eventually all eyes fall on the shaggy keyboard player who always seemed to be pounding the keyboards with the flats of his hands instead of his fingers. Terry is touring as NRBQ these days with three young musicians. Big Al is sought after country music songwriter and Joey and Tom are still playing around. No, they never sold a million records but they've been featured both on The Simpsons and by Connie Chung.

Vocal Harmonies => Alphanumeric: The Disappointed

XTC: The Disappointed

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XTC does not stand for anything. Say the letters out loud, and you get the word ecstasy. I don’t know if the name was intended as a drug reference, but I prefer the older meaning of the word, because the band’s music has always given me intense pleasure. The Disappointed is a sort of negative example of the power of vocal harmony. Almost half way through the song, all you have heard is Andy Partridge singing lead and some oohs, but never at the same time. Suddenly, Dave Gregory comes in with a low note on one word, “disappointed”. From there, the vocal arrangement becomes gradually more complex, and it helps the song build to a great climax. So, by leaving the vocal harmonies out of so much of the song, XTC gives a great demonstration of their power once they arrive.

Vocal Harmonies: Steely Dan Edition

Steely Dan: Show Biz Kids

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Rickie Lee Jones: Show Biz Kids

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Steely Dan: Home at Last

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This week, we have heard duets and group vocals. But there are also artists and groups who are justly well known for their use of background singers. Surely Steely Dan would be one of these. When I think of Steely Dan, the first things I hear in my head are those wonderful horn charts and vocal harmonies. But Steely Dan was not born sounding that way. The sound developed over time. Show Biz Kids offers an early example. There are no horns here at all. The background singers have only one line, which they repeat throughout the song, turning it into a chant. In interviews, Donald Fagen and Walter Becker have always been coy about the words they are chanting. Is it “Las Vegas” or “Lost Wages”? You be the judge. The other feature of the vocal harmonies that is notable in Show Biz Kids is Becker joining in with close harmonies on the chorus.

Now listen to Rickie Lee Jones’ version of Show Biz Kids. She uses the chanted vocals only part of the time, (and the words are definitely, “Las Vegas”). She uses a more complex vocal harmony on the chorus. And she has stripped out the screaming guitar that was so much a part of Steely Dan’s early sound. In short, with the exception of the stand up bass, she has recorded the song as Steely Dan might have if they had done it later in their career. Listen to Home at Last, from Aja, and you will see what I mean. Here are the horn charts, which Jones doesn’t use on Show Biz Kids, but which are certainly part of her sound as well. And, on the chorus of Home at Last we hear vocal harmonies as done by a mature Steely Dan.

Discographers note: the piano and background vocals on Jones’ version of Show Biz Kids is by Joe Jackson.

Vocal Harmonies: Bohemian Rhapsody

The Ten Tenors: Bohemian Rhapsody

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Darius was mentioning our lack of vocal groups so far for this week's theme, so I hope this group fits the bill. The Three Tenors in 1990 started a run on various assemblages of classical vocalists performing pop hits to great fanfare (Wikipedia lists the Irish Tenors, Tenor Australis, the Three Canadian Tenors, Three Tenors and a Soprano, the Three Sopranos, The Sopranos, Three Mo' Tenors, Three Countertenors, the Three Chinese Tenors, and Il Divo, among others). The Ten Tenors are a young Australian ensemble who've put out quite a few CDs since their beginnings in 1998. And of course, you can't go wrong with Queen, like, ever. I love how they slip in a bit of ABBA too in their live performance.

Vocal Harmonies: Love Hurts

Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris: Love Hurts

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First there was the Everly Brothers version of the song written by Boudleaux Bryant (actually, there were two: the slow original from 1960 and an upbeat take in 1965). Then there was the appalling cover by Nazareth that became a hit. And shortly before the Scottish rockers violated this most tenderly angry heartbreak songs of all, Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris did it perfect justice.

Perhaps they did so not only because both were exquisite vocalists (and Emmylou Harris is, of course, a supreme harmonist), but perhaps it was also because they were experiencing the cruelty of love – maybe of the impossible variety, or perhaps unrequited.

Gram and Emmylou are said to have felt a strong attraction to one another. Harris certainly was in love with him, but insists that there never was a romance because Gram was married, even though that marriage was on the rocks. Whatever Parsons felt for Harris (and he had a relationship with a woman called Margaret Fisher), when he died on 19 September 1973 – before ‘Love Hurts’ was released in 1974 on the Grievous Angel LP – his wife Gretchen Burrell barred Emmylou from his funeral.

Gram and Emmylou might never have been together in a physical sense, but ‘Love Hurts’ unites them forever. Note this bitter line: “Some fools think of happiness, blissfulness, togetherness. Some fools fool themselves I guess, but they’re not fooling me. I know it isn’t true.” And then rewind, and hear how Gram and Emmylou harmonise the word “togetherness”; the preceding words are mocked, but the word togetherness soars with longing. As they re-enter the stream of disillusion, their sweet harmonies are drenched in the hot blood of a broken heart.

Vocal Harmonies: Wanting Memories

Sweet Honey in the Rock: Wanting Memories

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I am a bit surprised to be the first one to present a singing group for this week’s theme. These groups exist in many traditions throughout the world. Some use instrumental accompaniment, while others rely solely on the various sounds of the human voice. Sweet Honey in the Rock sometimes uses hand percussion, but they mostly rely on the voice alone. The biography on their website uses the pronoun “she” when discussing the group as a whole. This seems stranger if you don’t know their music. Truly, this is the sound of five voices joined as one. Sweet Honey can sing spirituals, hip-hop, jazz, and songs from various African traditions. It always sounds first of all like Sweet Honey in the Rock music. Wanting Memories came out in 1993, when the group was celebrating 20 years of making music together. By then, 21 different singers had been in the group’s line-up at various times, but always joined as one voice. That continues to this day.

Vocal Harmonies: The Prayer

Josh Groban and Charlotte Church: The Prayer

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Speaking of power ballads, here's one from 1801. No, sillies, this one wasn't recorded then. This one's a classical-pop cover of the more recent version by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli. But I like these two singers more: I present classically trained pop crossover artists Josh Groban and Charlotte Church.

I can't listen to this without tears from the sheer beauty of the vocals. Just sayin'. There's just something about Italian lyrics that make a song special, yanno?

Josh and Charlotte also win my own personal mensch props. Charlotte, for her desperate on-camera realization that her special guest, a less-than-sober Amy Winehouse, is imploding on Charlotte's variety show during a 2006 live duet of Michael Jackson's Beat It. Or maybe because she didn't bitchslap Amy on camera for that "performance."

And Groban, for his latest hit release album, Josh Groban's The Best Tweets of Kanye West, featuring hits like: "Fur pillows are hard to actually sleep on" and "Classical music is tight yo."

Vocal Harmonies: Kto Winien Jest

Czerwone Gitary: Kto Winien Jest

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   Known, perhaps unfairly, as the Polish Beatles, Czerwone Gitary (The Red Guitars) mastered Fab Four harmonies and recorded superb pop songs in the mid-Sixties and beyond. Their second album sold more than a quarter of a million copies. They toured the Eastern Bloc and eventually began experimenting with exotic instruments just like their British counterparts. As late as 2007 they were still playing together, having released more than 80 albums.

     "Kto Winien Jest" (Who's Fault Is it) comes from the debut album.  It is a bitter song of lost love that may remind listeners of The Beatles' "This Boy". The singers ask "Who took away our laughter and joy and the way we held hands/ The trees sound the same, the seagulls sound the same but the wind no longer sings to us"

To see Czerwone Gitary in all their Beatlesque glory click here .

Vocal Harmonies: Scarborough Fair/ Canticle

Simon and Garfunkel: Scarborough Fair/ Canticle

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The music of Simon and Garfunkel seems to me to be the obvious place to start a week devoted to vocal harmonies. Originally inspired by the doo-wop groups of the 1950s, Simon and Garfunkel also were aware of harmony as used in folk music, and I would say that the song I have chosen may also shows that they knew at least a little about classical music as well. Let me explain.

There are three schemes of vocal harmonies that come to my mind. In close harmony, the singers are together rhythmically, but they sing different notes to make chords. This is the basis for doo-wop, and it is found in the call-and-response parts in gospel music as well. Then there are rounds. Here, different voices sing the same notes at different times, and that is where the harmonies arise from. Johann Sebastien Bach took this type of harmony to its logical extreme in his fugues.

The third scheme is what Simon and Garfunkel did with Scarborough Fair/ Canticle. The song has a main melody, (in this case Scarborough Fair), and a counter melody, (in this case, a completely different song, Canticle). Counter melodies are fairly rare in pop music, so this was a daring choice for Simon and Garfunkel. The results in terms of reception are mixed. On the one hand, the song was a hit, and a little known folk song, Scarborough Fair, became famous. On the other hand, most people tend to forget about Canticle entirely, and most covers of Scarborough Fair omit the counter melody. Personally, I would never want to be without it. Simon and Garfunkel linked these two songs, and I can never hear one in my head without the other.

Weather Report: Waters of March

Cassandra Wilson: Waters of March

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Listen to the words to Waters of March, and you may not hear why I am posting it for this week’s theme. There are a few mentions of rain, but it doesn’t appear to be the subject of the song. Actually, there doesn’t appear to be a subject, just a list of things and impressions. The music offers no particular assistance, offering the cascading gentleness that is a hallmark of Brazilian music. The key is that many of the objects named in the song are things that might be carried away in a sudden flood. Waters of March is by Antonio Carlos Jobim, and he hails from Rio de Janero. In Rio, the month of March marks the end of summer, and the month is known for sudden heavy rains. So Jobim sees this as a cleansing process which inspires a hope for spring. Jobim wrote versions of the lyrics for the song in both Portugese and English. The English version reaches for universal appeal, so it removes cultural references from the Portugese version that are specific to Brazil. Cassandra Wilson’s interpretation of the song is up to her usual high standards.

Weather Report: Hurricane

Alex Bach: Hurricane

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Being from South Florida, singer-songwriter Alex Bach probably knows a thing or two about hurricanes. So when she writes a song likening a man in her life to a hurricane we know she is talking about the destructive path he is laying.

Her song "Hurricane" appears on her 2002 album "Miles to Go" . The whole album is lovely, but my favorite thing about Alex as a songwriter is that she can put her lovely lyrics with the acoustic ballads such as this song, but can also just as easily rock your face off in the next song. I think it's quite a talent to be that versatile.

Weather Report: The Cape of Storms

Hyde: The Cape of Storms

Hyde: The Cape of Storms (Last Quarter Mix)

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So where do I sail?
A ship losing control,
My cries swallowed up, lost in the raging sea.

So where has love gone?
Will I ever reach it?
The Cape of Storms echoes the pain I feel inside.

You can't really call this J-rock; it's really a power ballad (and quite angsty, to boot) and it's sung in English. Still, it's a solo effort by Hyde, the vocalist of L'Arc~en~ciel, definitely a J-rock band. It's from his 2002 album Roentgen, released in both Japanese and English. Both versions, however, have this song available only in its original English.

To me, what really makes this song is its arrangement: Sometimes, nothing beats a full chorus of strings swelling under a heartfelt lyric to get across strong emotion. And whoever arranged this tune had a real knack for cutting back and then rebuilding the tension. For contrast, I've tucked in the piano-backed remix. It's nice, showcasing the raw vocals the way it does, but it's not nearly as powerful as the full arrangement. Hey, I guess that's why it's called a power ballad.

Weather Report: Stormy Weather

Doc and Merle Watson: Stormy Weather

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Weather in songs is often a metaphor for emotional turbulence. Stormy Weather is the classic example of that. Comparing raindrops to tears may be a cliché now, but it wasn’t so much when this was first written. Doc and Merle Watson do a great job here of finding the emotional truth of the song with their performance. Merle Watson takes a solo on slide guitar, Doc on regular guitar, and Sam Bush on fiddle. These solos are all brief but sweet. This Stormy Weather is fine example of artist taking an old familiar song and making it their own.

Weather Report: Rain, Sleet Or Snow

Paul Revere and the Raiders: Rain, Sleet or Snow

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Not everything Paul Revere and the Raiders recorded turned to gold. Their 1967 holiday album, A Christmas Present...And Past, never broke the Billboard Top 100 album chart or even launched a single. In fact one Columbia exec hated the album so much  he frisbee'd his preview copy across the room.

Rain, Sleet or Snow" would have been the single. A heavily distorted tongue-in-cheek rant from the point of view of an overworked holiday mailman, it sounds kind of like Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion" at half speed.

On his website, singer Mark Lindsay admits the Christmas album is a mess but it reflected the counterculture attitudes of those times:
"Most of our singles weren’t political, but the Christmas album totally was. It was a disaster, but it reflected what we were feeling at the time. It was a good time for flower power and protest.”