CHATBOX

cmealha:
Is Brittany Howard's "History Repeats" as good as I think it is?

burningwood:
Yes.


I am no fan of Alabama Shakes. I liked the idea of Alabama Shakes. But their records tried too hard and I wasn't sold. In the land of the blind, the one eyed man is king.  Know what I mean?

Yet this first solo single from Brittany Howard, the Shakes singer and guitarist knocked me out. A smart 3 minutes of record making that is Prince and Sly Stone meets Captain Beefheart.

Full length is out in September, and I can only hope there's more where this came from.

Who's Hexed

Kenney Jones should have never been asked to do Keith Moon. Both he and The Who are still paying for that decision. BUT...Keith Moon could NEVER do Kenney Jones.

The two songs here are both from the Faces classic "A Nod Is As Good As A Wink," and both exemplify Kenney Jones doing what he does best. His playing is perfectly imperfect. You can dance to the music and still drive a car through the space left in his groove. At times, you can feel the band speed up and at times, slow down. While that may sound wrong, it instead creates a pocket and a vibe that feels authentic, as if the band pulled this off in one live take. The Faces were professionally ragtag and that is not an easy task. Few bands could pull that off, and a lot of the credit should go to the rhythm section of Ronnie Lane & Kenney Jones.

With The Who, Jones was a metronome. The blame could be placed on Pete Townshend, who often wished that Keith Moon would just stop playing so much. But even live, The Who with Kenney Jones is a flat, Who tribute band. Even Zak Starkey, who was famously tutored on the drums by Keith Moon, injects life and excitement into the current Who live shows. 

Are there other musicians who shined in their original element but failed in a new setting?

Songs Of The Week, 2019: 7/6-7/12

Success Story- The Who
Some Weird Sin- Iggy Pop
I Don't Wanna Know- Peter Wolf
All Apologies- Herbie Hancock
New- Paul McCartney
Shake- Pintura Fresca
Sea & Sand- Pete Townshend

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Success Story- The Who
Social media discussion about The Who By Numbers determined it's the "great adult Who record." If "Squeeze Box" bothers you so much, remember there are 9 other songs on the record, including this John Entwistle track. My third favorite Who album.

Some Weird Sin- Iggy Pop
Iggy, Bowie, Soupy Sales kids. And that's what it sounds like.

I Don't Wanna Know- Peter Wolf
70's era Stones nailed by late career Peter Wolf.

All Apologies- Herbie Hancock
Jazz legend takes on Kurt Cobain. Still waiting for a nice US vinyl edition of "The New Standard" from which this track originates. All of the takes on modern pop hits and rock hits are pretty damn good.

New- Paul McCartney
Played this to death when it came out, I had to give it a rest. Sounds better than ever after the lay off.

Shake-Pintura Fresca
First heard this at a friend's birthday party about 7 years ago. Saw that friend this week and this track came up in conversation. Infectious? I say yes.

Sea & Sand- Pete Townshend
My absolute fave track on "Quadrophenia," here is the demo by its author.

"This Won't Take But A Minute Or Two": THE WEEKEND MIX

This was a bitch! But I like the way it came out. No song over 1:59. Many of your suggestions are here, rounded out by many of my favorites. Think it's difficult sequencing 15 songs? Try sequencing 47. I hope a few of you appreciate that part of it. A few artists are represented more than once. Oh well.

Now dig in, a little at a time.


TRACKLIST

20th Century Fox Fanfare- Queen
The Star Spangled Banner- The Posies
Hello There- Cheap Trick
Hawaii Five-0- The Ventures
Bama Lama Bama Loo- Tom Jones
Welcome To The Working Week- Elvis Costello
Apricot Brandy- Rhinoceros
I'll Cry Instead- The Beatles
Bad Misunderstanding- The Critters
I Don't Want To Tie You Down- Todd Rundgren
All Mod Cons- The Jam
Let It Rock- Chuck Berry
Never Talking To You Again- Husker Du
I Ain't Heard You Play No Blues- Steve Goodman
Jigsaw Puzzle Blues- Fleetwood Mac
Hoover Factory- Elvis Costello
It Only Costs A Dime- The Everly Brothers
The 59th Street Bridge Song- Simon & Garfunkel
Misfire- Queen
Breaking Glass- David Bowie
Getting Over Delusion- Myracle Brah
What'Cha Gonna Do About It- Small Faces
Frankenstein Just Got Up- Chris Ligon
Judy Is A Punk- The Ramones
This Whole World- the Beach Boys
Through With Buzz- Steely Dan
Shirley- John Fred & His Playboys
Shame Shame Shame- Smiley Lewis
Gas Girl- The Bottle Rockets
Rock & Roll- The Redwalls
Standin' On The Corner- Dorothy Berry
I Love You- The Pipettes
Outdoor Miner- Wire
Career Opportunities- The Clash
Held Up Without A Gun- Bruce Springsteen & The ESB
Astronomy- Tommy Keene
I'm In Love With A Girl- Big Star
She's A Lady- John Sebastian
So Much Better- the Candy Butchers
Dirty Dirty Feeling- Elvis Presley
Can't Wait To Kiss You- NRBQ
Naked, If I Want To- Moby Grape
Johnsburg, Illinois- Tom Waits
Junk- Paul McCartney
Here Comes The Weekend- Dave Edmunds
I Need A Truck- Warren Zevon
Embryonic Journey- Jefferson Airplane

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Today's Earworm: Ulysses

From Bath, UK, please enjoy "Bad Tattoo" the new single from Ulysses, from their just released full length, "On Safari."  Then, go check out the rest of the album over on Bandcamp. This is hook-filled, rock and roll at its finest.

Here's another:




(h/t hpunch via ASH)

Andwella's Dream: My Current Crush

Andwella's Dream, from Ireland. One terrific pop psych album in 1969. Then, they dropped "dream," and released one interesting prog record on Dunhill as simply Andwella. The latter is worth one pass. But the former is another wonderful surprise that has been sitting out there for 50 years. And thanks to the 2008, "cornucopia of British psychedelia" boxed set titled "Real Life Permanent Dreams," which has been sitting in my iPod for ages, "Felix" popped up on shuffle and caught my ears immediately. I dug deeper and now I am completely smitten with "Love & Poetry."

"Felix" is up top. A few more to sample below.

Best Songs Under Two Minutes....GO