Top Ten Of The Week-The Ides Of March And The End Of Days

By now you have heard of the terrible happenings out in Japan beginning with a 9.0 earthquake and tsunami so wide and so sudden that when you see the videos of it hitting, you cannot realize how fast it has happened.  In the course of 30 seconds, city streets and towns were washed away by black death tide and many many cars, trucks, boats and buildings wiping cities and towns off the map.  Even Godzilla never destroyed Tokyo that fast. It makes me wonder if there is a beginning of the end of days and seeing the horrible destruction and hearing first hand accounts of possible nuclear meltdown.  The worst disaster happening to Japan since World War 2.  However if there's anybody that can survive this and rebuilding it's them.  But first the aftershocks must subside.

And if you haven't had enough things to worry about, Limp Bizkit is back with not only one but two new albums ready to be ignored.  Guess old gray beard Fred Durst hasn't gotten word that the world can only take so many disasters at one time.  Lil Wayne will appear on a track, Wes Borland returns and if anybody gives a flying fuck  Gene Simmons guest stars as Super Tongue.   Certainly in the annuals of rock history has never been a band that has been so worthless and annoying as Fred Durst and the Bizkit Boyz who managed to give Woodstock a bad name in 1999 and managed to waste Interscope money with life changing titles like Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Favored Water (or what happens when you eat too many burritos and hot dogs and get the end result 10 minutes later) and the worst version of Behind Blue Eyes ever made.  If events in the Middle East, Japan earthquakes and Tsunami and floods are reminders of the End Of Days are coming, then 2 new Limp Bizkit albums should seal that fate. The Ides Of March indeed.  Et tu Gray Beard Durst.

It hasn't been a good day for Gilbert Gottfried, the annoying voice dude that been the AFLAC duck ever since it was invented.  He cracked one too many tasteless jokes on Twitter and they fired him and looking to replace him.  I would say Tom Waits would fit perfect for that  but since he doesn't do commercials or let them use his songs to sell things that is a moot point.  Speaking of which, Tom along with Neil Diamond, Darlene Love, Alice Cooper, Leon Russell and Dr. John have taken their respective place in the Rock Hall Of Fame.  Even the other Neil, Young that is, jammed with Waits on Get Behind The Mule.

And two more musicians of note have passed on.  Joe Morello, drummer for Dave Brubeck's classic Take Five lineup passed away at age 82.  Of course Take Five is the best known song of Brubeck and company and always seem to have a drum solo but upon hearing the 1968 Buried Treasures live document came to find out that there was no drum solo in that song, Morello waited till St. Louis Blues to do a bit of solo on that number.  When I was younger, my dad bought a box of records home and that was my exposure to Jazz but didn't pick up on it until 1996 when I started picking up John Coltraine and Thelonious Monk albums and then filled in the blanks later with other artists, Brubeck was somebody I didn't get into till later in the 00's.  Brubeck may have had better lineup (his 1972 rhythm section of Jack Six and Al Dawson were more rocking) but Joe Morello was the one holding the beat for the most famous of the lineups.   I've never heard any bad Brubeck albums but anything featuring the late great Paul Desmond remains classic.  Brubeck turned 90 last December but even in his twilight years still manages to play a bit of piano and live from time to time. But I'm sure in the great beyond and in the great lineup in the sky he'll reunite with Morello and Desmond for a heavenly performance of Take Five or In Your Own Sweet Way.

Ronnie Hammond was the lead singer of Atlanta Rhythm Section, replacing Rodney Justo and was the voice behind the hits So Into You, Jukin, Alien, and Champagne Jam.  He continue to sing with ARS for the forgotten 1990 Truth In A Structured Form (recorded for Imagine/CBS and recorded by a then unknown Brendan O'Brien) and Eufaula (Platinum 1999) before retiring from ARS in 2002.  He passed away from a heart attack at age 60.  I got to see Atlanta Rhythm Section in Oklahoma City in 1989 with a lineup featuring the likes of Foghat, Blue Oyster Cult, Leon Russell and Edgar Winter together and a couple other bands that escape my memory.   Hammond retired in 2002 mentioning that "nobody didn't want to hear his kind of music" which I don't think strayed far from the truth but rather of the fact that noboby bought any of the ARS stuff outside of the Polydor stuff.  Time and radio have passed ARS by but by no means their later stuff wasn't that bad, it's pretty good.  It's just that the youngster had their own music to listen to.  Hammond had that distinct vocal that associated him with ARS, you may have not known the name but the voice you would know that's a ARS song.  Ronnie Hammond, the vocalist.  He will be missed.

My choices for the Top Ten Of The Week if you have read this far.

1.  Any Way You Want It-Journey 1980   I'm sure I'm going to get lambasted by Steve Perry Appreciation Society but you can slowly see by this album that Perry was taking the band over although I think Departure was the last true Journey which Greg and Neal sang on a couple songs.  Had the album long time ago, I think I traded it and about 100 other LPs to get that Led Zeppelin box set I hardly play and so thinking I could find the CD in town cheap right?  Wrong.  Wally World didn't have it, neither did Best Buy and I ended up getting it for five bucks at the FYE...in Moline for fuck's sake.  Sure this is overplayed but it is good rocking Journey even when The Voice soars higher and higher toward the end of the song.  Again I do like Steve Perry mind you but there are some songs on Departure that I cannot listen to (I'm Crying comes to mind) and it became the template of next Journey album Escape to which they became a Arena Band on the strength of Don't Stop Believing.  But then again Steve Perry have always been a fan's favorite though never high on critics' list.  Given the clash of egos between The Voice and The Rest Of Journey, I doubt if they'll ever perform together again.
 

2.  I Feel Fine-The Beatles 1964  Course it came out as Beatles 65 but like the rest of the folk growing up in the US I was much more used to the loud mix of the US version rather than the more tidy UK version although the remastered version that came out in 2008 is the most clean sounding of all recordings, I still prefer the Dave Dexter Jr mix of the US version.  But out of all the bands that ever recorded, it seems that everytime I hear A Beatles song it still sounds like it was recorded yesterday.  And I'm sure a 100 years from now The Beatles will still sound fresh and new, even though you and I will be gone to the next big thing.

3.  Birmingham Blues-Charlie Daniels Band 1975  Epic presented this as a country classic but it was more southern rock than country and with a double drummer lineup probably the closest thing to the Allman Brothers that CDB ever got.  Originally on Kama Sultra/Buddah as an edited 3.09 version.  Gawd 45s back in the 70s in their butchered form ruined many a pleasant listening experience for me.  Later reissued on Epic when Charlie Daniels moved over to that label around 1977.

4.  Cab Driver-The Mills Brothers 1967  The left field song of the week and yes I do like their little country hit that actually did get airplay on the AM radio station.  A combination of barbershop like singing to go with that country swing it stands out like a sore thumb even on the Best Of Mills Brothers.  A top five hit for Dot Records, a strange label upon itself which was home to surf bands, Lawrence Welk, Billy Vaughn and Cedar Rapids very own Leo Greco, who does a Sunday Morning show of polka tunes.  Greco did a 1965 album for Dot called Czech Time.  And had a minor polka hit with Baby Doll Polka ( DOT  16790).  How the hell did I get off subject with Leo Greco when we should be talking about the Mills Brothers?  Cab Driver (DOT 45-17041)

5.  Cherry Cherry-Neil Diamond 1966  This is the reason why he made it to the Rock Hall Of Fame, great 2 and half minute songs don't get better than this.  Certainly he went on to Big and Better things with UNI/MCA and then to Columbia where he became larger than life but he became Adult Pop by the late 70s to the point that I quit caring much but always knew that he made his mark during the Bang Years.  Still, he owes Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry for the pleasant harmonies that made his songs even better.  True the 1973 remake on Hot August Night is bombast fun and damn right I like that, but I always will love the original version of this song.  B side to this is the remarkable I'll Come Running and now you can get on The Bang Years, the first time that Neil's 45's have been given proper release.  If you want to understand AM radio, you need a copy of The Bang Years.

6.  Day Tripper-Sergio Mendes & Brasil 66 1966  AM radio in the 60s was a haven for different types of music and styles and chances of hearing it is much greater than what FM radio gives you today.  Back when Herb and Jerry were pioneering the alternative side of music in the 60s they signed up this Latin/Jazz type band which covered Beatles number into their own sound.  Of course people bought the albums, I see many of Sergio Mendes A and M stuff wear worn and used in dollar bins at the Salvation Army but the music still is timeless as they come.  Even Herb Alpert married Lani Hall at one time.  Amazingly, Universal did reissue the first album Herb Alpert Presents..... on CD in 2006 via Verve.  Given the paltry 25:47 total time of album they could have added Equinox as a bonus album and it still would barely pass the hour mark.

7.  I Can't Stand It-Eric Clapton & His Band 1981  His last top ten single for RSO/Polydor before moving on to a long career at Duck/WB/Reprise to which he's still at.  On this track EC surrounded himself with the likes of Gary Booker (Procol Harum), long time keyboard player Chris Stanton (Grease Band/Joe Cocker) and Albert Lee (guitar genius) and made a pretty good album with Another Ticket.  Found the vinyl piece for the only record bought when I did Davenport last weekend.

8.  Best Friend-Senseless Things 1991  A band from England that made one album in the US with the hopefully optimistic titled The First Of Too Many which made a beeline to the dollar bins at the old Only Deals store in town.  For alternative rock, I enjoyed it right up to the end of You're My Friend straight to the end, if I'm not dead fadeout.  They were more pop sounding than Ned's Atomic Dustbin (betcha you haven't heard that band in over 2 decades) and shared the same producer Jessica Corcoran.  Since they bombed in the US, Sony Music kept the rest of their albums over the pond and although I haven't heard the second album I did find the third Taking Care Of Business which basically sounded like they were late to the Grunge bus.  Then was never heard from again.

9.  I'm Not The Only One-Atlanta Rhythm Section 1999  It's probably easier to throw up a So Into You or Imaginary Lover into the top ten and give kudos to Ronnie Hammond as the voice of ARS but I tend to enjoy their Eufaula album 12 years after the fact.  By then ARS was regulated to the oldies and classic rock acts and the album sunk without a trace.  It also didn't help that their record label went belly up soon after.  One of most personal songs that Hammond wrote on the album and yes he's not the only one trying to survive to make it back to the top of the charts.  Take a look at Gray Beard Fred Durst whose probably in the same boat.

10.  Third Week In The Chelsea-Jefferson Airplane 1971  The best song off Bark and Jorma's farethewell to the Airplane as he and Jack Casady would move on to Hot Tuna.  This song would also be a focal point on the way Jorma Korkonen would go on his 1974 Quah album which is basically acoustic blues and gospel numbers as well as songs that fit in the mode of Third Week.  And speaking of Hot Tuna, they do their first new album in just about 20 years coming out.  It should be worth a listen to.