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Wednesday Wadio

Wednesday Wadio: Coldplay’s ‘Lost’


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Very happy to report that I spent a good hunk of the weekend on the boat which is now in the water, on a working lift and attached to a sturdy dock. It was a painful odyssey but one we have to repeat each year or until a lot of money is invested in a more automated launch system. The pontoon boat (PyeSeas 2)’s stereo has an input jack perfect for an iPod, and there was much wave bobbing done in time to Coldplay’s new album, Viva La Vida.

Although they’ve become hugely popular internationally, like some kind of U2 for the next generation, I will always have a bit of a soft spot for Coldplay as I was a very early adopter and evangelist for the band. I’d never gush about them today the way I did 8 years ago as I have my indie-dignity. Not to be confused with Indy-dignity which I realize is a bit of an oxymoron. My favorite song off the album so far is “Lost”, and although there’s no proper video for it you can watch Chris and the boys performing it now in Barcelona while he dances around like one of the Thriller zombies on methamphetamine.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqwRWaDw6Ig[/youtube]

Listen to the recorded studio version here, and if you’ve already purchased the record tell us what you think. My take is that’s it’s an unexpectedly solid piece of work and in the last week it has sold over 300,000 physical CDs and become the best selling album in iTunes’ 5-year history – not that being solid really has anything to do with what the flocks of sheep decide to buy. The band’s puzzling choice for a first single, Violet Hill, is about as enjoyable to listen to as Freddy Kruegar defacing a chalkboard, but dittys like Strawberry Swing, Yes and 42 more than make up for it.

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Wednesday Wadio: The The’s ‘This is the Day”


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

If you’ve never heard this song, yet recognize it immediately upon watching the video, there’s a very good reason. You’ve probably seen several little candy-coated chocolate treats dancing around while it plays in the background. That’s right, it’s the M&M song that everyone seems to like – yet no one has any clue who sings. I’m here today to help. And to eat a shitload of M&Ms.

If the current incarnation of the The The website is any indication, I think that Matt Johnson would rather be remembered for his political opinions and contributions than his music at this point. Why buy a The The record when you can get a George Bush countdown keychain, afterall? Sad. At one time, however, his music was a glorious thing. I saw the band once in 1990 on the Mind Bomb tour at the Orpheum in Boston when Johnny Marr was briefly part of the lineup. I saw them again at the Middle East in 1999 when they toured in support of NakedSelf. Hopefully I may even see them again some day if good old Matt can tear himself away from battling the evil Torys for five minutes.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phWv7l8Lm_A[/youtube]

This is the Day is off the band’s second album, Soul Mining, which is one of the great new wave albums, comprehensively. Giant, Uncertain Smile (the band’s best known song), The Sinking Feeling, The Twilight Hour – are all amazing songs and I still listen to them all the time. So forget the silly candy tie-ins and annoying moonbat leanings and enjoy the music. If I can do it, anyone can.

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Wednesday Wadio: The Breeders ‘Safari’


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

In between their 1989 debut Pod and 1993’s uber-successful Last Splash the Breeders quietly released the lovely Safari EP. I remember my sister bought the CD single and along with the title track there was a Who cover, the pretty “Do you Love me Now?” and my favorite – the very dark “Don’t Call Home“. One of the best short plays I’ve ever heard in terms of the quality of both the singles and the b-sides. Until someone asks me to stop, or I’m led away in shackles, I am going to offer up MP3s of Wadio subjects from here on out. They are often very difficult to find or unavailable on iTunes or Amazon. For your listening pleasure, and I mean that, here is Safari for y’all to right click and download. Send flowers and money.

I thought of the band last night when I read that they had a new album, Mountain Battles, coming out in a week and decided to make them the subject of this week’s Wadio. As I searched for an accompanying video I discovered, unbeknownst to me, that they’d actually made a video for Safari, and here it is…

It reminds me of one of Black Sabbath’s vids and that was probably the whole point. The band plays in front of a primitive green screen backdrop with literal translations of the lyrics flashing past. Gorillas, hippos, palm trees – but what is the song really talking about? Lion-peeping? Originally it could have been easily explained as one of Toni Iommi’s hallucinations. Please allow an explication attempt, and there isn’t a lot to work with:

He didn’t cry on a safari
In over his knees
He couldn’t leave a finer life
Always hugging the ground
And crying out for me
He didn’t cry on a safari
In over his knees
He couldn’t leave the flock, he couldn’t leave
always hugging the man
and crying out for me

I’ve got very little. He didn’t cry yet he’s crying out. He couldn’t leave the finer life, yet there he is on the Safari. Did he even go in the first place? Maybe next time take Kim Deal to Africa with you, buddy. I know I would. Also, is a safari the best thing do right after a tough breakup? Probably not. Do what everyone else does – save some money, get drunk on Schlitz and then call her at 2 in the morning. If nothing else I’ve learned that when singing along in the future I needn’t enthusiastically include the F-word. He simply couldn’t leave the “flock”. My Breeders bad.

I was hoping that after the Pixies reunion of 2004/2005 we’d see the Breeders resurrected as well. The new album will be their first in 6 years and will also mark their 20th anniversary. Kim and Kelley Deal (OK – Kim) turned this spinoff into a once hugely successful band. ‘Cannonball‘ proved more popular a single than anything the Pixes or Frank Black ever released. I still hear it nearly every time I leave the house. I hope that Mountain Battles fares well and earns Kim some new fans while pleasing those existing. As the ‘first lady’ of alt-rock there are high expectations. I must say – I already love the title. Is it going to be a Hatfield / McCoy concept album wrought with banjos? Will they change their name to The Inbreeders? I live in hope.

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Wednesday Wadio: Black Francis’ “I Sent Away”


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“Svn Fngrs, seven songs, seven moments of brilliance. The true return of PixieFrank that the last album promised to be.” – Brian Johnston.svn-fngrs

No, thank you – I didn’t mean to type “Frank Black”. Black Francis, Charles Thompson’s pre-Frank persona from the Pixies is back. Back, black and most certainly bitchin’. His new EP is called SVN FNGRS and I literally cannot stop playing it. I’m going to start forwarding Mr. Thompson all of the speeding tickets I’m liable to amass during my fixation with his latest master work – as they’re sure to be most numerable.

“He seems to have effortlessly spat out a really hip, really funky collection of tracks that, while only loosely adhering to the notion of a coherent album, forge an instant connection and then hang around to develop a lasting friendship. It’s hard to stay mad at you, Black Francis.” – Tom Slater

The session which spawned this surprise gem of a mini-LP was supposed to see Charles recording a couple of B-Sides for another record already in the can. Ever the prolific songwriter, 7 songs ended up on the tapes and Cooking Vinyl thankfully decided the 6-day effort was worthy of it’s own release.

“He’s a quirky genius with a distinctive style, and Svn Fngrs is a glimpse into the sideshow circus of his mind – simultaneously fun and disturbing, and as compelling as a couple arguing about their sex-lives in a crowded restaurant.” – Paul Raven

I was pleased to discover an official video for the lead single, I Sent Away, readily available on YouTube and here it is for your enjoyment. I am far more excited about Garbage Heap and The Seus but this song is still solid and comprehensively the EP makes me very happy. I’m sure my favorite song will change back and forth SVN times before my infatuation phase is over.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugFvzM0FGz8[/youtube]

I absolutely love the speedy three chord progression that kicks off right away on I Sent Away and the harmonica at the end is just as grimy and wonderful. Edited and fimed by his wife the video is lively and manic – a far cry from Frank Black’s countryish albums of the last 4 years and more akin to the recent BlueFinger. But what really makes this release that of Black Francis as opposed to his alter-ego Mr. Black? It’s a little grittier, a little screamier, a little more Boston 1986 than Memphis 2002. A little bit of SlimFast and a dab of eyeliner. It’s a startling mid-career reinvention for the kidlings but a welcome return to form for the thirty-somethings. Thanks, Blackie F – and I hope you’ve sent a copy of this to Joey, Kim and David. It might get them thinking.

Earth-Shattering Update:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLoVaVOLX2A[/youtube]

Live version of Garbage Heap.

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Wednesday Wadio: Big Dipper’s “Faith Healer”


in Boston, Musical, Wednesday Wadio

About 5 years ago, WFNX polled the city of Boston and asked them what their favorite home cooked Beantown rock song was. Now that is a tough question (italics used for dramatic effect), but the people rose to the occasion and voted “All Going Out Together” by Big Dipper as their undisputed #1. Think about that for a second, because Boston’s bred indy bands like the Pixies, Throwing Muses, Mission of Burma, etc. and being chosen as the top song EVAH is testament to the band’s legacy within the town of beans. My friends and I have been listening to the Dipper since high school, we know some of them personally and one of us is even acting as a roadie at their reunion show at the Middle East on April 26th. I’m playing with the idea of flying down for this as I’d most certainly be backstage and most certainly be the happiest kid on the planet and possibly even the Milky Way.

big-dipper-boston

I’ve seen a lot of bands play at the Middle East over the years – Breeders, The The, Jonathan Richman, Grooveasaurus, Gord Downie, Luna – and it’s a wonderful location to see a show. It was an even better location when my friend Adam worked the bar there and used to slide me Harpoons and get me gooned just for showing up. My point is, what a great choice for the Big Dipper Reunion. I like the Paradise and everything, where it was first rumored to be happening, but my preference is that slice of Heaven in Central Square. And not (there’s that emphasis again) spending an hour on the Green Line to the wilderness of BU and Comm Ave.

There’s a band of questionable repute called Built to Spill who released a popular song called “Big Dipper” a few years back, and boy do I ever wish they’d chosen a different name for the tune. It’s all you ever see online when running searches for my beloved Boston band. I did manage to find one proper video, for “Faith Healer“, and two live clips from a show at the Ritz in New York City circa 1987 – “Younger Bums” and “Lunar Module” which are both off the same album as “All Going Out…” so we’ll go with those.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS3WsiNCBpY&feature=related[/youtube]

If you remotely enjoyed the video then check out the MP3 for the vastly superior ditty She’s Fetching (hosted by Merge Records and fully downloadable by right-clicking) which is definitely in my Dipper top 3. She’s also got the skankiest little guitar riff you’ve ever heard. “Fetching” is still part of my vocabulary today as a direct result of listening to this song on the Sony Sport boombox I had plugged into the cigarette lighter in my ’78 Chevy Malibu station wagon driving around Concord at 16 years of age. Blaupunkt eat your heart out.

Their catalog has been unreleased and heavily sought after for years, but Heavens, Boo Boo, Craps and are finally being re-released. They are also heavily promoting the 48 track greatest hits/anthology, Supercluster, via a MySpace profile and other online viral means. I was happy to see my very favorite Dipper song, Ron Klaus Wrecked his House, available to add to your profile and I have just done so. Click here to grab Supercluster: The Big Dipper Anthology from Amazon.

I have also uploaded the MP3 to my server as a special gift for you today – and I implore you to download it and see what you think. It’s a great song with gritty indy guitars, crashing drums, a complex baseline and a vocal harmony which is probably still hurts Gary Waleik’s throat 20 years on. If the style and theme of this song doesn’t remind you of college while also impressing you with its catchiness, then you probably never went to college. Or graduated high school, for that matter. For the love of God and all that is holy, listen to your old pal Dave, get your GED and do yourself a favor: Ron Klaus Wrecked his House. Glad to have you back, boys.

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Wednesday Wadio: Neil Young’s Cinnamon Girl


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

It’s hard to believe this song only reached #55 on Billboard’s 100 when it debuted in 1970. Especially since it was up against such classics as “I Think I Love You” by the Partridge Family and “Everything is Beautiful” by Ray Stevens. Oh well, we can appreciate it fully in retrospect. My favorite element is the one note guitar solo which you can see in this video at 2:07 and again at 3:00.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fBS3B2cZcFM[/youtube]

We wouldn’t see the one-note solo reach such great heights again until Joey Santiago brought it back in the late 80’s – but that was because he didn’t know how to play the guitar. So what exactly was Neil’s excuse? My first guess would be – drugs – but there are many theories as to the inspiration and genesis of the song. Here are a few I gathered together:

  • Young has never said who the Cinnamon Girl is. He prefers to leave lyric interpretations to the listener.
  • This song got Young in trouble with his wife. He had to explain that the Cinnamon Girl was just a person he came across while touring.
  • The liner notes in “Decade” say he wrote this song about a girl he saw walking down the street playing finger cymbals.
  • There was a music club in the 60’s called Cinnamon Cinder. It was featured in an Time magazine article about teenage nightclubs in the early 60’s. It has always seemed obvious to me that it was about the girls that would hang out at that club.
  • I think that the real “Cinnamon Girl” was a young, attractive Native American, Latina or Pacific Islander woman with dark tan (read: more or less cinnamon-colored) skin and long black hair.
  • This song was known to be a song for Pamela Courson… also known as Pam Morrison. I know this because I read it in a book about the Doors.
  • Neil was rated as one of the ten best lead guitarists in a recent magazine and it listed this song as THE essential Neil solo. That had to be a joke, because this solo is the same note played over and over.
  • Neil Young had a very high fever when he wrote this song and just picked up his guitar and wrote a song. He talks about it on an episode of Conan O’ Brien its not a very big secret.chigurh wildeyes

What? No space aliens were involved? Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Cinnamon Girl, anyone? Didn’t think so. This song rocks, grooves, bashes and batters its way through to the end, and even if you don’t consider yourself a classic rock fan, watching the video is worth it just to see where the Coen Brothers got their inspiration for Anton Chigurh’s haircut.

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Wednesday Wadio: Vampire Weekend’s ‘A-Punk’


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

“Has the backlash started yet?” – YouTube Commenter

I may ultimately regret writing about Vampire Weekend for two reasons: 1) They are being championed by MTV and that just reeks of impending doom, disaster and uncoolness. 2) Their video for A-Punk is very, very OK Go-ish. That having been said, I am currently spinning the heck out of their debut album for three reasons:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XC2mqcMMGQ[/youtube]

  1. They fully understand and appreciate the genius of Ray Davies.
  2. They have a keyboardist. Love the keyboards.
  3. They are proof that bloggers can occasionally help break a decent new band as opposed to just constantly deifying the mundane.

I’ll leave it there as I’m still a little skeptical. Cool song and I give them full credit for daring unimaginative people to tell them their name is appropriate because they ‘suck’. Beggar’s Banquest must have a lot of faith for ‘staking’ them. I blame the puppy-related sleep deprivation.

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Wednesday Wadio: Urban Dance Squad Appreciation


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

“Mellow… That’s my styyyyyle“.

A friend and I were taking a long drive on Monday with my iPod a’ crankin’. I have an 80 gig model, and putting it on shuffle is like staring into the abyss. You might get Pixies, but then again you might get Jerky Boys. Luckily, we got “Routine” by Urban Dance Squad and a full fledged retro appreciation phase quickly emerged. I knew I had to give Rudeboy Remington and UDS some love on the Wadio this week and I’ve been spinning them a lot in the 3 days since.

Deeper Shade of Soul broke onto the soon to be named alt-rock scene in 1990 and the Dutch band quickly became a hit on half pipes everywhere. The record label’s marketing department immediately jumped all over this demographic as this video will attest – but it’s still a good clip for a great song. UDS was pioneering the mid-90’s rap/rock tragedy from far across the sea when Fred Durst was still getting beaten up in a high school parking lot somewhere.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qw5Gl28Xe5o[/youtube]

“Fast Lane” and “No Kid” were the follow up singles from Mental Floss for the Globe, and soon after they released Life ‘n’ Perspectives Of A Genuine Crossover which is my favorite. Solid full length albums are a rare thing, and this record is packed with gems like “Routine”, “For the Plasters”, “Careless” and others. This record didn’t do nearly as well, due in large to their choice of a first single “Bureaucrat Of Flaccostreet”. It’s a very cool tune with some (at the time) revolutionary inclusion of East Indian instruments a’ la George Harrison, but many of the others would have been much easier for the general public to digest. It was also released only a few months after Mental Floss, which was originally recorded in 1989, so that probably caused some confusion and flooding. If you like UDS, and have never heard this record, drop everything and get your hands on a copy.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uw5WoMWU_QQ[/youtube]

The band performed at the 2006 editions of the Dutch Lowlands festival and Pukkelpop in Belgium, as well as at the Antwerp music club Petrol. According to what I’ve found it is unlikely that this will lead to a permanent reunion or a new studio album, as these performances were only to support their compilation album Urban Dance Squad: The Singles Collection in 2006. I’m encouraging you to dig in the crates a little bit today, kids. UDS was a great moment in time and a very rare example of, um, Holland having a huge influence on American popular culture. I am quite sure, at one point or another, you too did it all for the nookie.

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Wednesday Wadio: Stan Rogers’ ‘Barrett’s Privateers’


in Canadiana, Musical, Wednesday Wadio

“God damn them all! I was told, we’d cruise the seas for American goldstan-rogers
We’d fire no guns! Shed no tears!
But I’m a broken man on a Halifax pier
The last of Barrett’s Privateers”

– Stan Rogers’ Barrett’s Privateers

Jonothan Richman came to Guelph in 1994 and I went to see him at the almighty Albion hotel for what ended up being one of my favorite concerts of all time. The chap who opened up for him, and I wish I could remember his name, did a jaw-dropping acapella version of Stan Roger’s Barrett’s Privateers that will stay with me forever. This incredible song grabbed me by the short and curlies right away, and after hearing it in the car the other day on one of my Dad’s CDs I knew I had to write about it. Every version of this song is acapella, actually, as that is how Rogers intended it, and here is a very grainy video of him singing it around a kitchen table from a documentary entitled One Warm Line which you can watch in its entirety by clicking the link.

Rogers was killed in an airliner fire on June 2, 1983 when he was exactly my age, 34 years young. There are unsubstantiated claims that he made it off of the Air Canada flight on the ground in Cincinnati but succumbed to smoke inhalation after going back in to rescue other passengers. Like that story, Rogers’ music immediately gets under your skin and if you’re Canadian the subject matter – primarily ye olde maritime sailing culture based – is uniquely of this country and stands to provide a wonderful history lesson. I had no idea, for example, that there was such a thing as a Canadian pirate which is a loose way to describe Privateers. But I’m not going to regurgitate everything I’ve just read. You won’t find a better explication of the song and the history behind it than Dan Conlin’s:

“There was no Elcid Barrett. There was no Antelope sloop and there wasn’t even a town of Sherbrooke in the year of 1778. Stan Rogers basically made up an imaginary privateer to carry a 60s anti-war theme in a traditional folk setting. Having said all that, many of the details, ranging from the type of cannons mentioned to the letter of marque reference, are very authentic.”

Back in the golden years of sailing, once you were on a ship you were on a ship, and as part of the crew you were doomed to follow orders and obey regardless of how you felt about missions that were called on the go – lest you walked the plank or spent the rest of the long voyage eating rats in the hold. And many ‘conscripts’ were downright lied to about their intended purpose. Barrett’s Privateers tells the story of a naive young Nova Scotian who boarded a ship under the promise they would fly under a legal English charter (letter of marque) and inconvenience the burgeoning American navy by by stealing cargo. But Barrett had other ideas, and the song goes on to describe the mental anguish felt by the ‘broken’ protagonist when he finally makes it back to his Halifax pier.

The song is available for purchase on Amazon, and I encourage anyone who owns an album by the Decemberists to check out the late, great Stan Rogers in greater detail. There is also a Facebook petition devoted to getting Stan a star on the Canadian walk of fame and it’s good to see I’m not the only “younger” Canuck spreading the word about this great musician and his ongoing influence.

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Wednesday Wadio: Wilco’s ‘California Stars’


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

Not surprisingly my podunk internet has been down for 4 days, so pardon my absence and Happy new Year to you all. I am digging out from a massive backlog of work, so brevity will be my friend today on Wadio. King of California is a solid movie I watched New Years Eve with my cat whilst drinking green tea starring Michael Douglas as a bi-polar mental patient who is released perhaps a little too soon. He moves back in with his teenage daughter and begins looking for a buried treasure he discovered the clues to whilst reading a Spanish missionary’s journal in the hospital library. The movie is about their relationship and its many strains more so than a National Treasure-type booty hunt, and Douglas’ ‘Charlie’ is a sad character that you will want desperately to believe. But does the treasure actually exist, or is this another mental episode? The DVD will be out in a few months.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcMsB3mYPMs[/youtube]

As the closing credits began to roll, and I sat laughing at the film’s one final twist involving “naked Chinamen” as Charlie likes to call them, a wonderful song I’d never heard before began to play and I looked it up this morning as soon as my web access corrected itself. It’s a little-known B-side by Wilco entitled “California Stars” and has already been added to my desktop’s “songs I want to learn to play on the guitar” text file of chords. Here is a live version from a few years ago, and I hope you enjoy it.

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Wednesday Wadio: Morrissey’s ‘Jack the Ripper’


in Musical, Wednesday Wadio

I felt is was high time to devote some wadio writing to the almighty Moz who has been keeping me in excellent music since I first discovered the Smiths while listening to Chris Shepherd’s old Saturday night radio show on CFNY in 1987. Sadly, I started listening to the seminal Manchester band only a year before their demise, and as such never got to see them live, but Morrissey went on to put out an amazing solo catalog – and at 48 years of age there is no end in site. I saw him solo at Great Woods during the Kill Uncle tour in 1990, and caught his Smiths’ co-writer Johnny Marr play with The The at the Orpheum in 1991 – it was the best I could do as a postmortem and not a shabby accomplishment as both shows were phenomenal. I’ll have to give Matt Johnson similar attention here soon.

Due to the depth of his solo work it was a hard choice to choose one song to focus on and the final decision came down to what had a good showing on YouTube. I originally wanted to cover “The Loop” which is a noteworthy B-side that he plays regularly in concert, but the cell phone snippets I found certainly wouldn’t win over any new fans from my readership. I tried my luck with “Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself” but had a similar problem. It would have been easy enough to use one of his many proper music videos I suppose, but none of the singles are personal favorites. Except maybe this one. I eventually found a decent live capture of “Jack the Ripper” from a recent L.A. show and we’re gonna run with it.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrCfciQ2H8E[/youtube]

I first heard this song on the World of Morrissey CD which was a mix of mid-nineties singles and B-sides. It got hours of playtime during my residence in Mills Hall and it instantly reminded me of those days the moment I heard it today. Due to the title, it’s not very hard to explicate the lyrics. The protagonist seems to be Jack the Ripper himself, and he seems to feel sorry for the women of the night he encounters. Until he vivisects them, of course.

Oh, you look so tired… Mouth slack and wide.
Ill-housed and ill-advised.
Your face is as mean as your life has been.

Jack goes on to tell the prostitute in question that he wants her… and is definitely gonna get her. Unfortunately for the 18 (+/-) actual Whitechapel murder victims of 1888, Jack wasn’t just talking about getting his German helmet waxed. But let’s not let that get in the way of enjoying this soaring tune and it’s almost funky rhythm. It’s definitely a dark ditty, but it still manages to be quite catchy in spite of the subject matter. If you’re not familiar with Morrissey this is less than the tip of the iceberg, and if you are JTR is a gem you’ve likely overlooked thus far.

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Wednesday Wadio: Okkervil River’s ‘A Girl in Port’


in Wednesday Wadio

“Cindy tells me she’s had fun sitting backstage, someone’s plus one. Up in her room the records spin, needle in the grooves that she’s worn thin. She lifts a sleeve and sees a name, and she’s got a smile on her face, and she’s got a story you can’t see: it’s just between that name and Cindy“.

I wrote about Okkervil River’s 2005 masterpiece ‘For Real‘ about a year ago and I have to give them the floor once again. Their latest album is called The Stage Names and it’s solid from beginning to end. The song that really jumped out at me, which I’ve sent to all my friends – that I listen to daily, that I’ve learned to play on the guitar, that I’m currently obsessed with – is ‘A Girl in Port‘. I found an excellent live video version which I’ll post below, but I also encourage you to download the MP3 here (free) as it took me a few listens to fully appreciate and is a definite keeper.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWYcXnxieb4[/youtube]

The song is a sort of ode to rock and roll groupies and each verse sees the protagonist describing his relationship with a different member of someone’s road harem. But the harem isn’t his – rather Will Sheff’s lyrics seem to bemoan the emotional states of Marie, Holly and Cindy more than anything. The narrator distances himself from from “the lady-killing sort” and stresses that he has no desire to “hurt a girl in port”. The way I see it, he is secretly in love with the three girls, but is either in the “friend zone” or romantically invisible to these doomed women who have nothing but rock stars in their sights. It’s a touching piece of work with a great, erratically appearing chorus which doesn’t follow the structure of most tunes. I love it, have a listen.

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Wednesday Wadio: The Castaways ‘Liar Liar’


in Wednesday Wadio

I’m not trying to be obscure. I’m not trying to be retro, kitschy or cool. This song made it onto my iPod courtesy of the Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels soundtrack and it’s been haunting me in my car for a few weeks now. Guy Ritchie effectively took a page out of Scorsese’s book with his uncanny ability to dig up obscure old music and give it new life at the movies. After you get over the shock that the first part of this Castaways classic is actually being sung by a man you’re in for an ethereal masterpiece of ‘Garage‘ rock – a genre of which bands like The White Stripes and Hives are direct descendants.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lovzdcIFmCQ&feature=related[/youtube]

I’m pretty sure that the song is firmly lodged into my subconscious because it was a favorite of The Pill DJ at the night’s various locations around Boston. When it was held every Friday at the Upstairs Lounge in North Station my friends and I were frequent and loyal attendees. What a delightful little moment in Beantown nightlife that was. Sigh.

The song reached #12 on the Billboard 100 in 1965 and made the band the epitome of a one hit wonder. They still exist with one original member intact, and in addition to Liar Liar they’ve apparently added ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ to their repertoire and are available for weddings and bar mitzvahs throughout greater Minnesota. You can legally download a full MP3 version of Liar Liar from the Castaways’ website, and if you like what you see in the video make sure that you do – as the compressed audio really doesn’t do this remarkable little song justice. Please listen and enjoy.

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Wednesday Wadio: Geto Boys ‘Mind Playing Tricks on Me’


in Wednesday Wadio

I made it to Beantown in one piece this evening and enjoyed Buffalo chicken sandwiches and Harpoon IPA with Moynihan, Joanna and my sister at Bukowski’s in Inman Square. As we drove back to Janet’s place in Medford, “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” crackled through on the always reliable WERS and we had a jolly good time singing along. Collectively, ladies included, we knew about 80% of the lyrics by heart and it was a nice little trip down memory lane for the lot of us. Not exactly the most patriotic of tunes on the eve of my induction into American citizenship, but to the best of my knowledge Bushwick Bill never recorded a version of “Ballad of the Green Berets”.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oU2TPUimrLk[/youtube]

Blatantly copied from somewhere because I have to go to sleep:  “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was the only number 1 single ever released by the Geto Boys. It was featured on their 1991 album We Can’t Be Stopped. Bushwick Bill (a.k.a. Dr. Wolfgang Von Bushwickin the Barbarian Mother Funky Stay High Dollar Billstir) continued on with other records with both a solo career, and later updated records with The Geto Boys. It is the most successful Geto Boys single ever based on its gold certification. [1] Not so oddly, it is on the most successful Geto Boys album based on its platinum certification. “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” heavily samples Isaac Hayes’s song “Hung Up On My Baby” (1974) from the Tough Guys soundtrack.

“Mind Playing Tricks on Me” was rated number 18 in the 100 Greatest Rap Songs by About.com. The Kottonmouth Kings remixed the song for their album Hidden Stash II under the same name. “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” has been referenced by Prodigy, of Mobb Deep fame, in his single, Mac 10 Handle, and by The Clipse, in the song “Nightmares” of their third album, “Hell Hath No Fury.” The Notorious B.I.G. references “Mind Playing Tricks on Me” and sings the guitar line from the song’s chorus in his hit “One More Chance.” In the song “She Lives In My Lap” off the highly successful 2003 OutKast album Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, Andre 3000 samples Scarface’s vocals from Mind’s Playing Tricks On Me.

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Wednesday Wadio: ‘Lucy in the Car with David’


in Animalistic, Veekend Video, Wednesday Wadio

Reactions to my first music video have certainly run the gamut: “”The gong at the end? Comedy genius”. or my personal favorite “There’s Citizen Kane, there’s Battleship Potemkin and then there’s this”. Regardless, Lucy in the Car with David is a special moment in time. The sort of moment you may spend a lot of time trying to block from your memory for a few days after having watched it. So for goodness sake – make sure your volume is up.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bbh8PY3F7GI[/youtube]

Recorded in Newport Rhode Island roughly two weeks ago while left to my own devices in the parking lot of a liquor store, I think it’s fitting that unadulterated genius was hatched thusly. It’s not the Cavern Club, it’s not Big Pink, it’s the back seat of an Audi Quattro. But it’s undoubtedly a little slice of musical heaven. As it’s Halloween, I dedicate this to Joplin, Cobain, Lennon, Orbison, Hoon, Curtis, Harrison, Dimebag Darryl and anyone else who’d likely spin in their grave given the opportunity to hear LITCWD. No need to thank me for the exercise.

No animals were harmed in the making of this film. Unless you count Kingman and Henry who were inside buying enough liquor to sicken the crew of a pirate ship.

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