REBIRTH: The Mall Concert Years

My (best) friend is irritated with me, I think.  Her phone, email inbox, and ears are the recipients of most of my phrenectic thoughts--mostly on music and otherwise pop culture, and it's overwhelming her.  So, here I revisit Mister Mélomane to spout off on these all consuming matters.

More to come.

Midnight, and I Got Two More Bottles of Wine

What an amazing convergence this song is...a masterfully simple Delbert McClinton tune, about headin' West with big dreams and ending up "sweepin' out a warehouse in West L.A."...but it's always alright when you've got two MORE bottles of wine, right?!

This version has admittedly bad sound quality.  But it's my favorite by far.  That's a chipper young Ricky Skaggs on rhythm guitar and harmony vocals, and apparently, if the comments on YouTube are to be trusted, the succinct but amazing lead guitar is Frank Reckard, a then member of the Hot Band.

Just a brilliant moment in true country music history...

Swamp Songs

This is one hard song to find.  Distinctively Tony Joe White, it's billed to German band Boozoo Bajou.  I always remember it lyrically has to do with directions to the swamp and that of course it's Tony Joe on the vocal, but the four or five times I've tried to track it down have let me on a virtual runaround throughout the internet.  One time I even emailed local radio DJ/radio personality Bryan Beck to see if he knew what I was searching for.  I mean heck, Tony Joe probably has more songs about the damn swamp than any other one thing!  Swamp Water, Swamp Boogie, Swamp Rap to name a few; heck his nickname is "the Swamp Fox" for crissakes.

Well, here it is, after repeating the frantic but determined search last night until I finally nailed it down:

Boozoo Bajou's "Keep Going"

...but it's all Tony Joe, ain't it.

Songs About Heavy Metal Dudes

Wendy James (of whom there will be quite a bit of discourse here later on down the line) seems to be like a pop music time traveler--never right on the current mark (unfortunately for her bank account), but always just way ahead of the curve.  And even more intriguingly, she seems to abandon what she's created the second she's kinda got it down.

I just got my hands on her obscure record "Racine No. 1" the other day after a hard fought search to find it in it's complete studio version.  I knew I'd be predisposed to like the song "Heavy Metal Dude" because--well, I was one, and--I've had "Heavy Metal Drummer" in my head lately...Man, "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot" was somethin'.

Tonight's flight shares awesome beats:

Wendy/Racine (Live, but totally legit. Sounds like she'd actualized her inner Kim Gordon):

Tweedy & (Wil)co "Playin' Kiss covers, beautiful and stoned...":

Thinkin' About the Possum...

I babysat my one year old niece tonight for the first time--it was a mostly amazing roller coaster ride.  I put her down after letting her stay up a little late to hang out with her "Brunka," and then I began to mine my brother and sister-in-law's record collection.  Man, do they have some cool stuff.  The old, obscure country collections on vinyl made me go mostly straight for the George Jones songs--what a damn living legend he was.  

I thought of a Fresh Air interview I often think of (for various aspects) where Terry Gross interviews Bobby Braddock, author of Jones' masterpiece "He Stopped Loving Her Today." Braddock also wrote Toby Kieth's "I Wanna Talk About Me."  He notes in this interview that Kieth's bastard country-rap song probably sold more copies than Jones' hit.  That pretty much stuns me. Here's the audio of the interview: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=129550239&m=129551501 --it does shine some light on the whole axis between the two songs.  A truly great interview.

And when he crossed over the other day, Fresh Air memorially released a bit of Terry's 1996 interview with Jones himself: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=179252922&m=179021335.

That's how it is done.  R.I.P. Ol Possum, you'd a most admirable run, Sir.

But I KNOW YOU NOT GONNA SING THAT SONG!

Why, oh why do I get such urges?  What I refer to as my cranial sampler is all over the map, always.  Most notably and often most annoyingly, it goes into a meandering overdrive while I (try to) sleep.  Some songs are a relief to get stuck on repeat in my head--some song by Adele or Terence Trent D'Arby's "Let Her Down Easy" carry me off to a sound somber sleep...but others, like "Like the Weather" by 10,000 Maniacs sound like I turned the speed adjust dial on my turntable up to the maximum level as it culminates with a maddening insomnia inducing rendundance.  When that happens, I usually just reluctantly get up.  Just this morning some of the random selections my brain chose to revisit included "Alone" by Heart, Ian Dury's "Rhythm Stick" and my most disliked song by The Band, ("The Weight" [Is it the "take a load off..." line?])--as well as several other inexplicable resurrections...Mon Dieu.

But why I felt the need to hear and watch the video for Color Me Badd's "I Wanna Sex You Up" this afternoon is to remain an unsolved mystery.  The second highest top commenter on the YouTube clip wrote, "George Michael, Snow, and Kenny G, plus a black guy.  Brilliant."  Yes.  Exactly.  I was trying to distill that thought but that guy nailed it.  As I reviewed the sample-heavy track, I noticed something I hadn't picked up on in the early 1990's when I first heard this: a sample from Betty Wright's incomparable live version of her "Tonight is the Night," where she channels her mother's reaction to hearing the demo: "I like the music...you know baby, the melody  is really nice...but I KNOW YOU NOT GONNA SING THAT SONG" (the part in all caps is the  sample featured in "Sex You Up").  A vaguely interesting flight...(but do not miss this Betty Wright thing--unforgettable).

Letter to Giang--Subject: "Against My Better Judgement"

Here's an email I wrote my friend. I send her CDs randomly to impose my aural aesthetic upon her...

"...I ordered your ass some more CDs.  Don't want to fully spoil the surprise factor, but one's already shipped and I wanted you to have some background on why I find them exceptional/essential.  If, over the course of these prescribed musical flights, I send you something you've heard already or have in your ipod, I ask that you remember that for me the "album experience" includes the whole mood of the product--being able to see the images the artist chose, the musicians on staff and production, the printed lyrics, the sequencing, etc.  I hope you'll do me the honor of giving each of these a solid fair chance with my musical perspective in mind--I do realize we don't agree on everything, but THIS IS COSTING ME A FUCKING FORTUNE SO TRY TO LIKE THEM!  Just kidding.  The great thing about Amazon, etc. is that the discs are usually 2-6 bucks plus shipping of $3...

Anyway, "Sweet Old World" by Lucinda Williams is my very favorite by that esteemed artist.  Her father was an award-winning poet and I do not doubt she inherited his nuance for verbal juxtaposition and simplicity.  In a refrain from a song off another album, she suddenly muses in a dreamy coo: "junebug versus hurricane, junebug versus hurricane, hey, hey"--a favorite moment of mine in sound.  But this record, though it may not be her technical masterpiece, for me is the picture of realness in song.  Her eponymous first major release was bluesy-to-pop-y, and I always wondered if this follow up wasn't a slightly more commercial reach for the mainstream market the record company may've thought she should be in.  No matter, it is haunting and beautiful--the song "Pineola" is both of those things and yet almost violently rock-tinged.  Brilliant.  The first time I saw her live, in the very front of the stage at an unannounced secret show, she opened with that song and it freakin' blew my mind.  Also, as a brother,  the song "Little Angel, Little Brother" is special to me and the title track is, well just so real and sentimental.  Please remember that the qualification of every record I send is that it is a great cohesive work, no fluff or filler, and I think this is one of my favorites of all-time.  Also, do not miss the track whose title begins with "Sidewalks..." and the final track, a stellar Nick Drake cover. 

The disc that should probably arrive second, Terence Trent D'arby's "Symphony or Damn", is kind of an opus, the rantings of a mad genius who found mass fame and adoration, only to succumb to the perils of a bloated ego and create again.  After the big crash of his career and a poorly received second album, he released this--a true freaking masterpiece.  I bought it in my early teens, and though my favorite song off of it then remains my favorite now, I wasn't at all ready to digest it as a whole.  *Please forgive the intro, it's really the only low-point in all its 16 tracks, so it's good to get that out of the way up front--after all it's only a 31 second intro...  This would've worked very well in the vinyl format, as it's broken down into 2 sections.  In the first half, tracks 2-9, enjoy confectious rock tunes with blues, gospel and R&B overtones--a duet with Des'Ree is a delicious high point, but each of these songs has the hidden potential to plant its seed and grow on you in a way you might not have expected upon first listen.  "Turn the Page" (track #9)--I ask that you meditate on a bit--one of my favorite songs of all time, certainly to me one of the most underrated pop songs ever.  His machine-gun like litany of densely poetic lyrics over a flute-rich, Gypsy-like tune, calling out a young privileged girl that has lost her way in the material world is just freaking stunning!!!  (Def read the lyrics along with this one!!).  Then, the second half of the record is chock full of gems, I will let them unfold for you, but the last three songs make for a suite of beautiful, brilliantly sentimental tones.  As with all the prescribed musical flights, please do give this one at least a few listens and let it have some space to sink in.

(Couldn't find "Turn the Page" on all of the reaches of the internet, so check this out:)

Hope you're enjoying this.  I know you are an extremely busy person, and I am forever humbled and honored to be counted at the top of your list, but sometimes I feel just a bit swept by the wayside, so if this is all too much of an imposition please let me know.

With Love,

xx"