FI Wigs Out

Here's a couple of tunes to flip your wig! The first track, "Bald Head", from New Orleans Boogie Woogie King Professor Longhair, concerns a poor lass who can't keep her wig on her head. The second, "Give Me back My Wig", is from Chicago Blues legend Hound Dog Taylor, known for his all out two guitars and drums (no bass) sonic assault.

Wig Tunes

Guest Post Today from Jon Singer


I watched a DVR’d episode of Elvis Costello’s Spectacle the other night and it did not disappoint. Say what you will about Elvis as an interviewer with his need to grandstand over his guests, or his penchant for relating every question asked to one of his own personal experiences, but I think the show and its format are terrific with carefully chosen guests who seem to really enjoy themselves almost as much as Elvis does singing over them.

This episode featured the offspring of famous musicians. Guests included M. Ward & Zooey Deschanel (She and Him) Jenny Lewis (Rilo Kiley) and the subject of this post Jakob Dylan. There was a deep sadness is Dylan’s semi-off interview and performance that has bothered me all week. I have been struck by the actual weight placed on that man’s shoulders considering the sperm that brought him into this world.

Let’s get one thing straight. The Wallflower’s grammy award winning single “One Headlight” is a fist pumping jam. The perfect summer radio hit of 1997 was one part Bob Dylan, one part Tom Petty and perhaps one part Counting Crows (!?) with an anthemic chorus so plaintive and enthusiastic it’s virtually impossible not to sing along with it. The Wallflowers then went four years without recording anything only to follow up with a handful of post-millennium material that was largely ignored. So what happened? Where did he/they go and why did Jakob Dylan stop putting out music after such a promising start?

Dylan’s new LP “Seeing Things” features stripped down guitar/vocals production and lays his songwriting chops and sandpaper voice on the table. During the Costello interview he speaks candidly about "no longer being able to keep up" with the comparisons and resisting the urge to distance himself from his father which he has done for so long. Perhaps this is the only thing you can do when you’re Bob Dylan’s son and you want to be a musician? Resistance is futile.

The song he plays with Elvis “On up the mountain” is the perfect track to sum up the interview and the emotional state and direction he’s headed in as he not so much comes out of his father’s shadow but allows himself to be comforted by life inside it. In the live performance his voice was a little off and his guitar was slightly out of tune, but there’s a Landslide-esque beauty to this track that makes it hard to deny the DNA double helixing inside this guy’s body.

In other news the rendition of the Clash’s “Straight to Hell” they do together is one of the worst covers of all time.

ON UP THE ROAD

Happy Birthday Quickdraw!

Sweet Blue Eyed Darling

There’s a certain kind of sad-bastard-in-a-bar song that I really
love. I sometimes fantasize about owning a dive bar with a jukebox
filled with old forty-fives, and if I did, I would definitely have
more than a few sad-bastard-in-a-bar songs on there to cue up as
closing time approached. These songs would be about country music
themes like unrequited love and drinking, or, in the case of the Del
Shannon song I’ve posted below, both. It would be a grave injustice to
do this post without including something by Lee Hazlewood, who may
well be the patron saint of sad drinkers everywhere. So many Hazlewood
songs fit the bill that it’s tough to choose one, but I’m going to go
with “After Six” for the laconic perfection of its deadpan lyrics.

After Six-Lee Hazelwood

Spring Cleaning

Last weekend was spent Spring cleaning and getting ready for the QD to move in. In the process, I came across many boxes still unpacked from my last move, over two years ago. The first thing I found was all of my CD's and a five disc changer. After 2 years with LPs only in the living room, I hooked up the player and threw on one of the long packed CD's- Elliot Smith's Figure 8. I had nearly forgotten about the album and what a gem it is. It also turned out to be the perfect house cleaning soundtrack.

Stupidity Tries

In 1997 Ween went to Nashville and hired that town's legendary session musicians (Charlie McCoy, Bobby Ogdin, The Jordanaires etc.) to make
12 Golden Country Greats, an album that captures the sound of the golden age of country music while still including Ween's usual trademark collection of lyrical themes ranging from gay pool parties ("you were the fool"to drug abuse "Help me scrape the Mucous off my brain", and more. The finest moment on the album comes in "Powder Blue" when the band gives an old-fashioned vocal introduction to each musician, followed by a short solo from each. The last introduction is for none other than Muhammad Ali, which is followed by a lengthy rant from the boxer recorder earlier in his career. Apparently, Ween was denied permission to use the clip, but Elektra accidentally released it anyway in the first pressing, then deleted it from all future versions. I had that version in my collection at one time, but alas, I've misplaced it and cannot find it anywhere on the web. If any of you have it, please send it to me, I'm dying to have it!

Instead, please enjoy "Japanese Cowboy" until we have the Ali clip for your listening pleasure.


Japanese Cowboy

On the occasion of Sub Pop's Re-release of Red Red Meat's Bunny Gets Paid, the band played a couple of shows at the Empty Bottle this week. Cautioned by memories of the occasional snoozefest watching the band in that venue back in the nineties, I decided to walk down to the corner and give it a go. The show was terrific, the band on task and focused for the most part, with disjointed silverware scraping sound collages kept to a minimum. There were many sweet spots during the show, when Tim Rutili's bluesy art rock slide work and Brian Deck's floor tom heavy just-behind-the-beat drumwork locked in to create the perfect demented blues blend. One such moment was during "Chinese Balls", from the band's last album, There's a Star Above The Manger Tonight.

Chinese Balls

David Berthy Posts

This Doris Duke song is sadder than a thousand dying dogs. I found it
on one of legendary British soul expert Dave Godin’s “Deep Soul
Treasures” compilations, and it’s a perfect example of the deep soul
genre. The narrative goes from bleak to bleaker, detailing the
hardships of a former millworker who turns to prostitution. The vocal
performance is an absolute killer, almost scary-authentic, and I love
how the spare instrumentation turns lush during the chorus. If you
like this, the I’m A Loser album pictured above is definitely worth
checking out.

Doris Duke

Most beach vacation spots have that perfect island tinged soft rock station to provide the getaway soundtrack, and Miami is no exception. I heard this one on my way to pick-up QD from the airport and was immediately struck by the thought that Jens Lekman stole it wholesale for his "The Opposite of Hellelujah", one of my faves.

The song "Give Me Just A Little More Time" is from Detroit Soul outfit Chairmen of the Board, and it hit #3 in 1970.

https://www.yousendit.com/transfer.php?action=download&ufid=TTZuNnFHRStVVG52Wmc9PQ

David Berthy Posts

I’m pretty obsessed with this David Bowie cover of the Velvet Underground classic “I’m Waiting For The Man.” Like the best covers, it allows you to experience what it’s like to hear a canonized song all over again as Bowie truly makes the song his own. I love how he adds texture to his interpretation by employing both the laconic cool of the original and his own glam swagger--the move from the former to the latter makes for an irresistible build. While we’re on the subject, I’ll throw in another of my favorite Velvet’s cover, this one of “Femme Fatale,” by Big Star. Here, Alex Chilton utilizes the same aching innocence you hear on the band’s classic song “Thirteen.” Whereas the original comes off with sneer, Chilton’s ache here brings out the unrequited love lurking beneath the song’s accusations.

VU COVERS

The Replacements released this toss off country punk curiosity in 1983, just a year before masterpieces Let it Be and Tim would come ut in quick succession. The liner notes state that is was recorded"Oct 82-Jan 83 in a warehouse in some godawful suburb north of Mpls." The album features everything from a Beatles Parody "Mr. Whirly" to a verbatim want add "LoveLines", to a throwawy on which the band all switch instruments (opening title track).

Color Me Impressed

Towards the end of his life, Cool Jazz legend Chet Baker made a guest appearance on an Elvis Costello's 1983 album Puch The Clock to play the trumpet solo on "Shipbuilding". Just a few years later, Baker would record this version of Costello's "Almost Blue" for the academy award nominated documentary film Lets Get Lost, released just months before Baker would be found dead after falling out of his second story hotel window in Amsterdam in 1988. Baker struggled most of his career with heroin addiction, and his delicate, withered vocal performance here tells the whole story.

Chet Baker-Almost Blue

New music today from M.Ward, one of my favorite artists. The album title Hold Time perfectly describes the timeless quality of the man's music, which could have been recorded in the twenties, yesterday, or anytimne in between. Sure, this effect feels a little too contrived at times, but overall, his records have a lush and lovely sound with terrific guitar playing and great songwriting too.

Vinyl lovers are going to want to drop coin on this one. The packaging is stunning and it comes with a free download of the album too. Galpal and She and Him cohort Zooey D. joins him on this catchy track.

Rave On

David Berthy Posts

The mercurial Slim Smith (born Keith Smith) was rumored to have bled
to death at the age of twenty-five from a hand wound caused by
smashing out a window. Others say he simply committed suicide after a
rocky sojourn in a sanitarium. Regardless of his early demise, Smith
is undoubtably one of the great vocalists in Jamaica’s considerable
musical history. His unique, raggedly intense falsetto stands out even
when Smith sings, as he sometimes did, as a part of a vocal ensembles
like the Victor Youth Band and the Techniques. My two favorite solo
tracks of his are “Please Stay,” and his cover of the Curtis Mayfield
song “Gypsy Woman.”

Slim Smith Tracks

More Records than the KGB

I've been digging on this track Paper Planes from M.I.A.'s second album. The song, also featured in Slumdog Millionaire and Pineapple Express, uses a sample from the Clash's Straight To Hell from Combat Rock as its main basis.

Paper Planes

Here's a nice little ditty that Sherm brought to Hayward rehearsal last night. Real twangy in a Steve Earle kind of way. I resolve to learn it to play to my niece Katie when I go east to visit in April.

A Girl Downtown

At a dinner party this last weekend, we discussed top concerts through history that we wish we could have attended. Berthy suggested early seventies Parliament/Funkadelic, and I had to agree that P-Funk would be a top choice, especially during the Mother Ship Connection/Dr. Funkenstein era. Check out this clip from 1978 and imagine attending.




Today's track is from Funkadelic, the funk rock side of George Clinton's musical empire. The track is from the band's 1971 album Maggot Brain, and has a rock/gospel tinged groove that brings to mind music from The Staple Singers and the Band. I Dig the interplay throughout between all the voices, especially, the baritone lead in the third verse.

Can You Get it There-Funkadelic