The title is a dedication to the great British boxer Sir Henry Cooper who knocked Cassius Clay on his can in one round. Blessed with a left hook but cursed by soft tissues around the eyes Cooper could have been champion of the world had Clay not found the soft spots and bloodied Sir Henry. But still a great legend, if you're ever in the UK give our regards to Henry. Would have loved to meet the man.
Looks like the Crabb ratings are going to be a bit down this month. I'm sure it has to do with the weather warming up and yardwork but I do have a few things I'm working on before the end of the month. Missing our good friend Tad and Drew popping in to comment from time to time but Rastro has given some insightful comments from his side of the fence.
The weather has gone from chilly and cloudy & cold to summer, muggy 85 degree temps and storms. Nothing like going from winter to summer in a week. I really don't care for such extremes, especially this time of year to which we might get the damn midnight monsoons and get no sleep in the process. We do not need to see what the folk in Missouri and Ohio Valley been getting, countless days of rain rain rain and floods to the point of extreme. Seems to be the norm nowadays, predict where the big floods are going to be at and you don't have to look far if your next to the Mississippi or live in Grand Forks. Or Fargo. Or Cairo.
For new music this week, the new Cars is out but I'm more inclined to listen to the new Warren Haynes album Man In Motion, released through Stax/Concord, although it looks like it's an over an hour with ten songs. Peter Case, cult hero has a comp out on Alive but he tends to be uneven at best. Greg Brown after years on Red House makes his Yep Roc debut and Canadian power poppers Sloan has a new album out too. Whatever Best Buy has in stock we'll plan accordingly. But in the meantime, we still have plenty of candidates for the top ten.
1. Maybe I Will-Rule 62 1997 1, 2, 1234,WAAAAAAAAAAAA. WTF was that folks, screaming one note guitar, a bass line between breaks and then a screaming one note again. It sounds a bit like Nirvana in a way but this came years after Kurt put himself to rest. This band was on Madonna's label and they had a bit of airplay with Down but too bad the record label didn't decide to stick this out as a single. I started many a R.Smith Rock Hour Show with this song. Not that anybody listened to it, unless you were my next door neighbor. Or my brother telling me to turn the fucking thing down.
2. We Want The Airwaves-Ramones 1981 I think I was turned off the by Phil Spector mess End Of The Century that I wouldn't revisit our punk rock dudes till 1984's Too Tough To Die which still remains a latter day classic. Perhaps I was turned off by the lukewarm reviews and calling Pleasant Dreams a heavy metal album, which isn't the case. Johnny Ramone added a few more chords to his three and the truth and Graham Gouldman I thought got further than Spector did but that's for debate for the Ramones scholars out there. Found the CD in the pawnshop the other day along with Subterranean Jungle and decided to revisit it. Pleasant Dreams has not aged all that bad unlike Sub Jungle, which the 80's dated production and is that Marky Ramone playing electric drums on it? In the end, Pleasant Dreams wins out for me. This track was featured on Airheads, the 1994 movie to which you had to see to believe. In fact I have the soundtrack to Airheads. Doesn't mean that you have to but perhaps soon I'll pull that out to listen to.
3. In Your Dreams-Stevie Nicks 2011 The album goes on too long but the title track outrocks everything else on the album and the last Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will. Too bad Stevie didn't stick to keep it simple and under four minutes so you don't bore me.
4. Heard It On The X-Z Z Top 1975 Dedicated to Rastro, who put a long story about this song on his web site and in great detail. I have to agree that this song is my favorite off Fandango! But wasn't too impressed when Z Z Top decided to redo the drums for the CD version and Frank Beard didn't even bother to redo it beat by beat. I guess Rhino reissued it on CD later with the original mix but rather don't see the need to trade my copy for that. Besides, the original mix is on The Best Of ZZ Top (1978). Had this on 8 track years ago.
5. Do You Believe In Magic-Dion 1978 Dion has been perhaps one of the best original rock and rollers that don't get enough credit. I Wonder Why, Runaround Sue still get airplay on the oldies station or memory lane but he went from doowop to the blues to folk. I could care less about Abraham Martin & John but the b side Daddy Rollin (in your arms) is steeped in Robert Johnson Blues (more about him later). Dion then went folk and then kinda lost his way no thanks to Phil Spector but Return Of The Wanderer is a underrated classic in itself, which to me actually pays back the tribute that Bruce Springsteen did on Born To Run. At this time, Dion was signed to Lifesong and had a nice backup band in the style of The E Street Band and he even dares to cover Tom Waits but I think Lifesong issued this as a single which got some airplay in New Jersey. The album bombed, and Dion went back to gospel music for 10 years before Dave Edmunds produced Yo Frankie, his 1989 Arista comeback. Which was okay, but Return Of The Wanderer was much much better. This even cuts Shawn Cassidy's version.
6. Love In Vain-Robert Johnson 1937 100 years ago last Sunday, the King of the Delta Blues was born and although had a very brief recording career, influenced enough British musicians out there to become a legend from their songs. Eric Clapton wouldn't be who he was without Johnson. Or Foghat's Rod Price. The Rolling Stones had a cover with this song. But then again had he not penned Sweet Home Chicago there would be no Blues Brothers. And if Johnson was messing with another man's woman he would have lived longer too.
7. Blind Date-The Boomtown Rats 1978 Bob Geldof's crew and most of their stuff I ignore. I Don't Like Mondays was never my favorite song so what compelled me to buy A Tonic For The Troops? It's uneven and they do remind me of the Rumour without Graham Parker or a boorish Elvis Costello. There's a comparison to Nick Lowe and if that's the case this song is the best example of it. Originally came out on Columbia but later reissued via Universal.
8. Lost Love-The Pentangle 1985 Next to Fairport Convention, this band was my 2nd favorite British Folk band but in the late 60s' they featured two great acoustic guitar players and a acoustic bass player. In fact their first three albums are excellent or if you want a decent overview Light Flight is the way to go. They broke up in 1973 and then reformed 12 years later but without John Renbourn and made a album called Open The Door to which I found a used copy and gave it a B plus on my twitter account. Imagine my surprise when band management replied "B plus is not a bad grade" :-P To which I replied back if you like that great, you'll love the A grades I gave The 1968 album and Sweet Child. To which I have to hear back from them. Geezus Bizkit, good thing that they didn't caught wind that I gave Sweet Child a C plus. I'm sure they would have turned me into the Critics Bureau. No seriously, guys I love your work. I might give it an A if the dudes at Pentangle Band can locate me a better copy of Open The Door with the Gd scratch on this track.
9. Open Up Your Eyes-Tonic 1996 A gigantic hit for them back in the mid late 90s but I didn't care much for this band till I had to find the album for a friend that wanted this song. And basically I tend to like it more now than back then. They kinda reminded me of The Verve Pipe but with a little bit more rock and grunge to them. Had a bigger hit with If You Can Only See (but the better version was the acoustic version which isn't on Lemon Parade)
10. That's Life-Frank Sinatra 1966 If you want to hear how the song is done you have to go to the master to hear it. That's all.
Blogger has been having problems of late which is why I seen that my friend Starman's comments and mine comments have been taken off for some reason. I didn't remove it Blogger did.
This just in: John Carter you may not know the name but more of the surname Carter who produced hits for Sammy Hagar and Bob Welch for Capitol in the late 70's and Prism's best known hit Don't Let Him Know has passed away at age 65 from cancer. Later jump started Tina Turner's career with Private Dancer. Bob Lefsetz speaks very highly of him.
3 comments:
I have Fandango and Tres Hombres remastered versions. I know ZZ Top wanted to update their sound in the 80s to that annoying, glossy, big drum beat that was so prevalent back then (and now sounds completely dated). But I couldn't understand their decision to update Tres Hombres, which is arguably their best album IMO, unless it was purely for profit. I believe they updated Tejas also, but it doesn't sound too bad to my ears once you get past the first two songs. Anyway, too bad many artists did not have the foresight to consider that you should never mess with a classic sound, and that sound is their legacy.
I was glad to track down Blizzard of Ozz used and in its original form and not the re-recorded mess. This is another complete travesty to destroy an original work and deceive the public into thinking it is somehow an improvement. A very dishonest move by Ozzy and Sharon. I could list many more examples, and I know you could too. I guess the message is buyer beware.
Howdy Starbro
All of the WB Z Z Top albums had that dated drum sound including Tejas. Of course they couldn't do that on the live side 1 of Fandango. I'm guessing Rhino redid it with original tracks but don't forsee the need to repurchased them. I do have the first reissue of the Ozzy stuff (not the prerecorded mess that Wally World been selling for five bucks) and figure that's enough for me. Cheers!
Late to the party, what was I doing kept me from stopping by? I don't even remember, so many micro-projects they melt into space. . . .
At any rate, Thanks for the callout, glad you read the piece on "The X." Clap for the Wolfman, dude.
Since I'm as I've said not the kind who buys what I've already got, I never heard those much-hated ZZ Top remixes from the '80's, and thank goodness.
You know Ozzy once re-recorded the bass and drums from his second album because he was mad at said drummer and bassist and didn't want them receiving royalties any longer? I think of it now coz that version of Diary of a Madman is avoided by the cognoscenti in much the same way that those ZZ remixes are.
Not much of a Ramones fan, but seeing mention of Subterranean Jungle made me think of "Psychotherapy," which is my alltime alltime alltime fave from them.
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