Songs Of The Week, 2026: 3/21-3/27

 

Listen To Me- Baby Huey
A Quiet Place (aka Johnny Dollar)- Dave & Ansel Collins
Timber Pts. 1 & 2- Candy Phillips
Ice On The Motorway- Roger Daltrey/Wilko Johnson
Silvio- Bob Dylan
Freedom Jazz Dance- Eddie Harris
Crystal Ball- Prince

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Listen To Me- Baby Huey
(Love the drummer's groove throughout.)
 
A Quiet Place (aka Johnny Dollar)- Dave & Ansel Collins
(Nice to hear something other than "Double Barrel" for a change.)

Timber Pts. 1 & 2- Candy Phillips
(A deep cut from New Orleans, written and produced by Eddie Bo. Candy Phillips was one and done with this track. I wonder who Candy Phillips really is.)

Ice On The Motorway- Roger Daltrey/Wilko Johnson
(Time to revisit the entire "Going Back Home" record.)

Silvio- Bob Dylan
("Down In The Groove" didn't sound so bad last week.)

Freedom Jazz Dance- Eddie Harris
Crystal Ball- Prince 
(We close things out with two epics, both funky and badass.)

 

 

BW's Saturday #79

 

"Pet Sounds" is 60!

 

"Pet Sounds" will be celebrating 60 years come May and so, why not reissue the record yet again? This time there will be a number of options, including a "definitive sound" edition for $100, making all previous "definitive" editions...umm...undefinitive. There will be a 2 LP set featuring both a stereo and mono mix. There will be a sessions set featuring a cappella tracks, alternates, etc.. And there will be a special Zoetrope vinyl edition which plays the audio from "Pet Sounds" while showing visuals from Coppola's "Rumble Fish" A good time is guaranteed for all.

Taken whole, it's hard to argue the brilliance of "Pet Sounds," but I will anyway. First, I've ranked the songs on "Pet Sounds" from favorite to least favorite.

God Only Knows

Caroline, No

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Don't Talk

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

You Still Believe In Me

Sloop John B
Here Today

Let's Go Away For Awhile

I Know There's An Answer

I'm Waiting For The Day

Pet Sounds

That's Not Me

The issue I've always had with "Pet Sounds" is that there are far better songs on other Beach Boys records than these seven:

 

Sloop John B

Let's Go Away For Awhile

I Know There's An Answer

I'm Waiting For The Day

Here Today

Pet Sounds

That's Not Me

 

Take these four from "Today," for instance.

 

When I Grow Up
Please Let Me Wonder
Kiss Me Baby
She Knows Me Too Well 

 

Or, these four from "Summer Days."

Girl Don't Tell Me
California Girls
Let Him Run Wild
You're So Good To Me

 

The problem is, the rest of the tracks on "Summer Days" and "Today" can't hold a candle to any of the 13 on "Pet Sounds," not even the two instrumentals, which I think are gorgeous.

 

If asked what my favorite Beach Boys album was, I'd say "Pet Sounds" in a flash. If asked for my favorite records of all time, "Pet Sounds" would be in the Top 20. And though I reach for both "Summer Days" and "Today" more often than "Pet Sounds," I don't think either would even crack my Top 100 of all time.

 

How's that for confusing? 

 

 

 

Hello Newmans

 

 

Today we conclude what inadvertently became rare singles week, with a track I first shared back in 2017.

Up top, we have Randy Newman's classic "Last Night I Had A Dream," a song I'll assume many are familiar with.

But how about the single version below? This version goes against everything Randy Newman stands for. In a ten year old interview with Newman, he talks about writing for an orchestra and shying away from electric instruments because even using a drummer "feels like cheating." Well, this 1968 version, sounding more like The Electric Prunes meet The Beatles in "Revolution" mode, is cheating like Bill Clinton on four Red Bulls.

If memory serves, I think I read another interview with Newman where he said he absolutely hated the single version.

I love it!
 

Shimmy

 

 

From 1961 and their short stint at Atlantic Records, here are The Isley Brothers with "Teach Me How To Shimmy." 

I was digging this groove having no clue who I was listening to. I was surprised to find out it was The Isleys. This record, at least to my ears, sounds like nothing the Brothers did before or anything (really) like the Tamla sides that came a few years later. "Shimmy" was a b-side to a version of "Jeepers Creepers" cut with the Ray Ellis Orchestra. I guess The Isleys tried everything once.

The Fab Fabs

 

Here's something great from Florida. No really. Check out Miami's Fabulettes and their 1966 miss, "Screamin' & Shoutin'."

This record is a monster!