Tales of True Adventure for Rugged Men Not Unlike Yourself
You’ve all heard, but there has to be a shrine here. There was nothing quite like the Stones firing on all cylinders. The Faces tried, but couldn’t entirely replicate it. Some of that mojo came from Charlie. As much a musician as a drummer, I’d pick him over thousands who might be technically better.
Predictably, they slay this cornball classic.
What happened to “aw shucks” country-boy virtuosi like these guys, Glen Campbell, and Roy Clark? Are they still out there? Are they all just session guys since no one like them could lauch a solo career in Nashville these days? But would there even be sessions for such players? I hear nothing in current country music that would require this level of musicianship.
Don’t try any of this at home.
Crudely done, but some telling snippets from the luckiest mediocre singer to latch on to talented relatives.
Favorite comments: “Pet Sounds was entirely my idea. I told Brian ‘write something brilliant and timeless, man’…so I deserve most of the credit”-Mike Love; “I never trust a man with that many rings”; “Mike Love, the original Douche Coupe”; “Mike Love, still dancing like your creepy uncle since 1961.”
If you enjoy failed-rock-festival porn, check this out. Apparently things got so dark that even the reigning Dark Lords of rawk and Satan’s representatives on earth, Black Sabbath, felt compelled to cancel.
Having just re-watched The Kids Are Alright (thanks, Makerbot), I thought I’d post the original of this song in case any of you bastards are unfamiliar. I purchased Live At Leeds in the early 70’s and for years just assumed YMB was a Townsend song. I didn’t hear this original until the early 80’s.
The Who weren’t the first to do a heavy cover of Mose Allison. Acid-rockers Blue Cheer and blues-rocker Johnny Winter recorded “Parchman Farm,” a song about the infamous Mississippi Delta prison camp (Mose was from Mississippi). Below is the Blue Cheer version, which for some reason they changed to “parchment” (to skirt copyright?) Although I’m not a huge Blue Cheer fan, they’re interesting enough for a separate post, if for no other reason than they were considered the loudest band in existence. They also get credit for representing the dark, aggressive underbelly of the late 60’s San Francisco scene. Some believe them to be the first heavy metal band, and they’re probably right. Hell’s Angels in particular liked them. One Angel said that when Blue Cheer played, the air turned to cottage cheese. I think that was his way of saying they were really loud, although acid might have been involved.
Not-so-fun fact: Vernon Presley did time at Parchman.
You can hear a lot of Mose (and Chet Baker) in Alex Chilton, who put me on to both of them. My upbringing was jazz-deprived.
“STAY THERE, PLEASE” -Jeff Bezos’ ex-wife, who is all of us
I know, you’ve seen it, but here it is anyway.
This stupid, irresistibly catchy song by a band with a very uncatchy name is a perfect example of the kind of vacuous, boneheaded bubblegum pop that dominated AM radio in the late 60’s/early 70’s. It’s a song I never would have admitted liking back then. The band looks about as interesting as their name, so the video required plenty of gyrating dancing girls to maintain any visual interest. At first I thought that explained the singer’s goofy grin. Clearly he was expecting a cut from casting couch proceeds. But closer inspection reveals that the dancing girls were spliced in from elsewhere. Oh well, I guess one-hit wonders only cash in so far.
Here are the Replacements assassinating it:
There are so many scenes I’ll probably never get tired of.