Otis Redding: A Hard Day's Night
[purchase]
This live performance comes from Good to Me: Live at the Whiskey a Go Go, Vol. 2. It was recorded back in 1966, when Otis was at the height of his powers. While the original Beatles version of "A Hard Day's Night" concentrates its energies on the youthful exuberance of seeing your girl after a long day of work, Otis' gritter version puts more emphasis on the long day of work. And you can feel it.
Suzy Bogguss and Chet Atkins: All My Loving
[purchase]
It's a little bit country, it's a little bit rock and roll - I don't even recall how this CD came into my possession but, upon googling, I find that Come Together: America Salutes the Beatles was released in 1995 and has quite an impressive line-up of engineers, singers and musicians...
Most of it is, in my opinion, fairly forgettable, with many of the tracks sounding similar to the original rather than attempting to re-invent - however, this cover by Suzy and Chet feels invested with love, playfulness and flair, taking an already-catchy song to another level in a completely different genre...
Tuck & Patti: I Will
[purchase]
The Beatles became known for their arrangements and their innovative production techniques, especially in the later phase of their career. But strip all of that away, and you are left with the brilliance of the songwriting. This plays to Tuck & Patti’s strengths. They find the best written songs they can, and arrange them for voice and guitar. That’s it. So naturally, they are drawn to the music of The Beatles. I Will is a fine example of how this works. Aside from a great song, there are two elements that must be present. These spare arrangements leave neither the singer, (Patti Cathcart), or the guitar player, (Tuck Andress), a place to hide. So they must be first rate, and they are. Tuck & Patti give a jazz lilt to everything they do, and it really works here.
Deep Purple: Help
[purchase]
Back in 1983, I was a expanding my musical world outward from the Beatles and into...heavy metal. Not sure how that happened, but it did. I blame it on "Helter Skelter".
One day I was at a local discount store, rummaging through their bin of discount cassettes. Remember those? Coming of age in the Walkman era, cassettes were my preferred format for listening to music until CDs (remember those?) became ubiquitous. I used to love digging through those bargain bins!
But I digress. So I was rummaging through the discount cassettes, and I came across an album by Deep Purple. Newly converted to the headbanging cause, I knew that Deep Purple were a band I needed to have. So I bought the cassette, which was called Shades of Deep Purple. When I popped it in my cheap Walkman knockoff, I realized right away that this was not quite the same band as the one that recorded the ur-riff "Smoke On the Water". This was psychedelic. Some of it was quite catchy.
I did some research, and discovered it was their debut album, from 1968, and they had a different singer (and a different bassist) than the band that recorded all those '70s classics. Despite my initial disappointment however, I ended up falling in love with the album.
The early Purple were indeed a psychedelic band, in the mold of Vanilla Fudge. They often recorded long, drawn-out psychedelicized covers. (They also recorded shorted bursts of psych-pop, like their cover of Joe South's "Hush", which was the big hit from this album.) On Shades of..., they applied the Fudge formula to John Lennon's most famous cry for help. Hearing the lyrics slowed down was an eye opener.
They recorded three albums with this lineup, before bringing in Ian Gillian's leather lungs for In Rock. To my ears, Shades of... is the only one of the three that still holds up.
Or maybe it just like the memories of my younger self the album evokes. I'm definitely listening to it through nostalgia-colored glasses.
The Presidents of the Unites States of America: Peaches
[Purchase]
It's a bit under the wire here, but I realized this song hadn't been posted yet, and in my book it would have been some sort of crime to let a fruit theme go by and not post this fruit-eating anthem.
There really *is* no place like home - so comforting to once again be under my own roof, with my own family and dog... and my own CD collection!
It's taking a bit of time to catch up and get back in the proverbial "swing of things"... so I thought I'd offer up some apples, oranges and a wayward plum as my Star Maker Machine re-entry - hope you've all had a juicy summer...
Barenaked Ladies: These Apples
[purchase]
What's not to love about a Canadian folk/pop/rock "boy" band singing of romance and postcards and grammar, oh my! - "these apples are delicious!"...
Osborne Brothers (featuring Steve Thomas): Orange Blossom Special
[purchase]
The notes on the back of my CD state that "Orange Blossom Special ranks as probably the most popular fiddle tune of all time. Written in the mid-thirties by fiddlers Chubby Wise and Ervin Rouse, the song took its title from a southeastern train on the Seabord Airline Railroad. Originally an instrumental, verses were later added and it has evolved into a favorite showpiece for other instruments as well" - enjoy!
Suzanne Vega: My Favorite Plum
[purchase]
I remember hearing Caramel on the Sessions at West 54th TV program in Spring of 1998... and rushing right out to buy her (at that time) new CD - food has long been a metaphor for desire and, as Suzanne sings of her longing, the temptation to indulge is strong and seductive...
"Can all this fruit be free?" indeed...
Yusef Lateef: The Plum Blossom
[purchase]
While scouring my music library for fruit and vegetable songs, I kept finding myself coming back to this Eastern-influenced meditation from jazz multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef. Yusef plays the Chinese xun, a kind of flute, on this track, while bassist Ernie Farrow picks up the rabaab, Barry Harris tinkles the ivories, and Lex Humphries adds some sympathetic percussion. It all adds up to a simple, hypnotic piece as softly pretty as its title.
XTC: The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead
[purchase]
What would Jesus do? It’s a valid question. But here, XTC asked, what would we do to Jesus? Andy Partridge and Co had expressed their doubts about religion elsewhere. But here, they stated their case against the hypocrisy of the modern-day political and religious establishment. To do so, Andy Partridge created the character of Peter Pumpkinhead as a Jesus figure whose appearance threatens both governments and churches in today’s world. Peter seems more like a hippie than a minister. When the powers that be find that they cannot discredit Peter, he suffers the same fate as his predecessor.
I don’t know where Partridge got the idea for or the name of this character. But, I wonder if Peter might be related to the character Jack Pumpkinhead from The Land of Oz. Jack, as a character from a beloved series of children’s books, represents the innocence of childhood, and, as a magical creation, the belief that anything is possible. These ideas, Partridge would be saying, cannot endure in the face of the evils of the modern world. I find that this explanation for Peter’s surname adds resonance to the song for me. However, if anyone knows what Partridge was really thinking, please let me know in the comments.
Hindu Love Gods: Raspberry Beret
[purchase]
In the mid-80s, while three-quarters of R.E.M. were helping Warren Zevon record his Sentimental Hygiene album, they banged out an album's worth of covers one night. In Several years later, the results of that night were released as the Hindu Love Gods one-and-only album. Most of the songs on the album were covers of blues standards, but the standout was this rockin' take on Prince's ode to scarlet headwear.
It's a fun track, but the real reason I picked this song is because I love raspberries. They are my favorite fruit. Every time I eat one, I am reminded of summer mornings in my youth, picking raspberries from the bushes in my parents' backyard to add to my breakfast cereal. It's a memory I cherish.
Ween: Bananas and Blow
[purchase]
I'm a bit too old for Bonnaroo. Fighting crowds of up to a hundred thousand in the southern heat to hear music until the wee hours is no dream date for a 36 year old dad with waning stamina and a high preference for intimate stageside seating.
But I've been living vicariously though live recordings from the festival since it started, and the 2002 inaugural Live from Bonnaroo CD, from back when the festival was still almost exclusively a haven for jam bands and hippie funk, is as good as it gets: Galactic, Soulive, String Cheese Incident, Jack Johnson, a recently-solo Trey Anastasio, even a Les Claypool cover of an old Jethro Tull tune. Throw in Del McCoury and Norah Jones as a nod to the much broader musical diversity which would soon become the norm at the annual fest, and you've got a recipe for success well worth purchasing, whether or not you even planned to make the trip.
Neo-psychedelic oddballs Ween are technically an alt-rock or "stoner rock" band -- I saw them a decade ago, at an early HORDE tour -- but this fruity tune is a perfect example of what I love about jam band music. From the bass-and-steel drum intro to the sing-along wind-in-the-trees wail, the tune stays light and bouncy through tongue-in-cheek guitar solos and a set of silly drug-referencing lyrics clearly written for rhythmic trip than for any particular narrative sense. It's like being there, but much closer to the stage. And without all the mud, heat, long entrance lines, hilarious patchwork corduroy pants, and bad acid.
Harry Nilsson: Coconut
[purchase]
OK. Let’s get this produce party started.
This strange little ditty caught my ears the first time I heard it, and it hasn’t let go all these years later. And I have no idea why. The song consists of just a few lines of lyrics, sung over and over, with only slight variations. It’s almost simple minded. The production is weird, even for the 1970s. And the groove is fun, but it never goes anywhere. So call this a guilty pleasure, I guess. But I can remember when this was all over the radio. I think it even charted. So whatever mysterious power this song has over me, at least I’m not the only one.
Fiona Apple: Slow Like Honey
[Purchase]
As far as song similes go, this one has more than it's fair share. Pretty much every line contains a simile about how Fiona will seduce her man. My particular favorite is that she's "strong like music". It's a beautifully sensual song.
Whiskeytown: Drank Like a River
Fats Waller: Your Feet‘s Too Big
[purchase]
Fats Waller was one of the great talents from the time before jazz had a name. Starting in the 1920s, and extending into the early years of WWII, Waller’s career was a steady string of novelty songs, interspersed with a few that have become standards. His best known songs today are Honeysuckle Rose and Ain’t Misbehavin’. In 1978, the show Ain’t Misbehavin’, a revue which was a tribute to Waller’s music, made its debut on Broadway.
Your Feet’s Too Big is a wonderful display of the sense of humor that made Waller’s novelty songs so successful in their day. It also displays the musicianship that has helped his music endure, when so many of his contemporaries have been forgotten.
All Gods' Children: Peace Fills Your Head
[purchase]
From the mid '80s to the mid '90s, New Brunswick, NJ had a very fertile local music scene. One of the most originals band in that scene was All Gods' Children. They were a large band (up to 14 members) with a constantly shifting lineup lead by jazz bassist and songwriter Adam Bernstein. (If you have very young kids, you may recognize Adam Bernstein as the bassist for the current queen of children's music, Laurie Berkner.) Musically, they were all over the map, covering funk, folk, soul, rock, reggae, klezmer, afropop, and avant garde jazz, with equal aplomb. They only released a handful of cassettes in their six-year run, but what really made them special was their live shows: nobody sat at an AGC show, and the band were always having as much fun as the audience.
"Peace Fills Your Head" is from their only full-length studio cassette, Zapata and Other Love Songs, from 1993. (Note: I digitized it from a well-worn cassette, so the fi is not necessarily hi.)
ISOE: Brown-Eyed Stare
[purchase]
One of the great things about All Gods' Children was that it seemed like everyone in the band could play at least two instruments. You often didn't know it until you saw various members in other bands. AGC vocalist/flautist Kate Evans was also a singer-songwriter and keyboardist, and AGC trumpeter Andy Maroko was also an accomplished guitarist. They joined forces for their own band, ISOE, and released one CD, Manhattan Lullaby in 1995. Kate's almost uncomfortably personal lyrics often dealt with relationships, including the CD's lightly funky opening track, "Brown-Eyed Stare".
Tiny Lights: Curlyeyed Open Stare
[purchase]
Although they were based in Hoboken, Tiny Lights were regulars on the New Brunswick scene. Drummer Andy Demos played percussion and various woodwinds in All Gods' Children. Tiny Lights were another band best experienced live, where they came off like Fairport Convention and Sly & the Family Stone jamming on the Beatles' "I Am the Walrus". Their most famous alum is "cellist to the stars" Jane Scarpentoni (Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, R.E.M., etc.), but she was gone by the time they released their fifth album Stop the Sun, I Want to Go Home, in 1992. The album opens with the funky "Curlyeyed Open Stare". Straightforward lyrics were never their forte.
Note: The All Gods' Children and ISOE catalogs are both out of print. The purchase links go to more recent solo albums from the main songwriters of each band.
Mark Kozelek: Up To My Neck In You
[purchase]
AC/DC: Up To My Neck In You
[purchase]
Though I'm a coverblogger at home, I tend to favor originals here on Star Maker Machine - after all, it is the popular starpower of the original which so often drives coverage. In this case, though, Mark Kozelek's dreamy, melodic deconstruction of what had been a pretty typical guitar-driven AC/DC B-side screamer deserves first billing, if only for reclaiming the power of the lyric from the less-than-subtle 1978 original. For more of the same, Kozelek's full album of slow, acoustic Bon Scott-era AC/DC covers comes highly recommended.
The Naysayer: My Liver Needs a Lawyer
[Purchase]
The Naysayer is the music of Anna Padgett. She makes folk/country music and most of her work has a great sense of humor, as seen in this track which is take on all the classic country songs about drinking problems.
Lou Reed: Foot of Pride
[purchase]
Here's a song to bridge the gap between last week's theme and this week's.
Back in 1992, I had an old Chevy pickup truck that had been bouncing around the family for a while. Not everything worked on it, including the gas gauge. I relied on the odometer to guess when I needed to get gas. I usually got it right. On October 16 of that year, I was driving home from somewhere, and I knew I was running low. But I was trying to make it home in time to catch the live television broadcast of Bobfest, the the huge 30th anniversary Bob Dylan tribute concert at Madison Square Garden. As I pulled off of Rt. 1, a mile or two from home, the engine died. I managed to steer it into an empty parking lot and mulled over my options. It didn't take me long to figure out what my priority was. I left the truck, walked the rest of the way home, watched the whole concert broadcast, then figured out how I'd get gas for my truck. It was one of those events I did not want to miss.
The concert was flawed (where were Joan Baez and the Grateful Dead?), but there were many highlights. Some even involved people other than Neil Young. One of my favorite performances was Lou Reed's take on this relatively obscure song. He stretches out the original's six minutes to almost nine, and the guitars get almost psychedelic.
I have to confess, I've never studied all the lyrics to this song. I just like the way they come pouring out, almost too fast for Lou to keep up. I remember at the time people were dissing Lou for using a lyric sheet, but I recall his defense was that the teleprompter everyone else was using just wasn't able to keep up with the lyrics for this one.
I eventually sold the truck and bought a Honda Civic hatchback. Loved that car for ten years, but I had a lot more friends when I owned the pickup.
The Balancing Act: Fishing in Your Eye
[purchase]
This post happened by accident.
The Balancing Act was an undeservedly obscure band on the IRS label, back in the 80s. I don’t even remember how I found out about them. But I did, and I loved what I heard. Acoustic rock with great pop sensibilities, and wonderful vocal harmonies. Eventually, the IRS label went bankrupt, and all but the most popular acts, (R. E. M.), went out of print, to be lost forever, or so I thought.
Just for fun, I was searching Amazon’s download store for obscure body parts. My daughter gave me a challenge to find a song about the large intestines, and what I found for that was a guided meditation for body health. There are some intestine songs, but I will not be posting them; they all sound pretty disgusting.
So, anyway, while doing that I remembered Fishing in Your Eye. I had no hope of finding it, but, I figured, why not? You can see what happened. So, I am very happy to be presenting The Balancing Act in one of their more adventurous moods, adding a jazz flavor into their mix.
And now you know more than you ever wanted to about the thought processes of a music blogger.
