Last week, our friend C In California made mention of the Dancing Hoods in a comment.
"For those fans of muscular pop, it's worth finding the albums 12 Jealous Roses and Hallelujah Anyway by the Dancing Hoods. The former (which never made it to CD) has their shimmering take on "She May Call You Up Tonight," which is how I was introduced to the song 30-some years ago."
Because I love The Left Banke, that song and the album from which it comes, I had to dig into the Dancing Hoods. I was able to find both LPs from the same dealer for a mere pittance.
First, thank you C.
"12 Jealous Roses" is a terrific record full of exactly that muscular pop C mentioned. I've seen these records occasionally, but thought nothing of them. I've yet to spin ""Hallelujah Anyway," but I enjoyed almost everything on "12 Jealous Roses," which at times reminds me of The Replacements when they focus, and even a bit of The Plimsouls. Production has that 80's sheen, but the songs are too good to care.
As for the Left Banke cover, well, I expected it to be the song I liked least. You don't mess with pop perfection. But guess what? It's fantastic! This band is smart. This is how you cover a classic.
Give a listen up top. The original is below.
Thanks again, C. The Dancing Hoods have a new fan.
9 comments:
I have both of these albums, but I can't remember a single thing about them (the fact that I still have both of them must mean I liked them.) I'll need to give them another spin this week to see if they shake some cobwebs loose.
My vinyl collection is in storage a long way away, so I can't check if I have the Dancing Hoods album pictured, but the cover is familiar. Maybe I've seen it in the bins in various record stores. Regardless, it's a very good version of the Left Banke, different enough to feel fresh. Will try to find some more of their work.
I also tried your cover of the day, but Bob's gravelly voice doesn't work for me on this song.
After that, I cleared my ears with this wonderful double cover from Downy Mildew: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzg6foWACyM
- Paul in DK
Oh man, the Dancing Hoods. I fell in love with their music when I saw the video for "Pleasure" on MTV. Even learned to play it with my "band".
Mark Linkous was their lead guitarist before he formed Sparklehorse. The singer (Bob Bortnick) became a major label A&R guy.
There's also a self-titled EP (Dancing Hoods' first release). On the second LP, Hallelujah Anyway, they did Leonard Cohen's "Diamonds In The Mine" as a fast rock song, and (for me, at least) it worked.
Hey, I'm on a roll! You liked the Saints' "All Fools Day", too.
When Sparklehorse did an in-store at Amoeba SF years ago, I think Mark Linkous was taken aback by me gushing over Dancing Hoods more than his current iteration (and I liked Sparklehorse fine).
Paul in DK: One of the first tapes I digitized when I set to capturing my cassettes and vinyl in the early aughts was of local (San Luis Obispo, CA) band the Prime Numbers, one of Charlie Baldonado's pre-Downy Mildew bands before striking out for gauzy college rock territory; Prime Numbers were neo-Mod and pretty dang good. Their drummer (named...Sal [Garza]) eventually became Downy Mildew's violinist.
C in California
You can hear the sadness at it's core. Power Pop needs that or else it's only a sugar high.
Agree re: Soap Opera. Always liked the lp
Sal -- with all due respect, that version of the Left Banke song is a crime against nature. It's not a cover -- it's a rewrite, and they got everything good about the original horrifically wrong. I mean, it's butt ugly on top of being disrespectful and hideous.
I'm baffled that you think it has any value whatsoever.
On the other hand, I've had a very bad couple of weeks, so who knows. :-)
Dear Steve,
I'm sorry you have had a very bad couple of weeks. But I do want to thank you nonetheless, for shitting on, yet again, something I like.
I look forward to another "Power Pop" post on your "Power Pop" blog featuring great "power pop" comics of the past, "power pop" legends the Firesign Theatre, "Power Pop" queen Miley Cyrus, British "Power Pop" icon Benedict Cumbersome, and of course, the "Power Pop" poster boy, 3rd rate rocker Willie Nile.
I promised myself I'd take the high road, but I've broken promises before.
Go piss somewhere else. I"m tired of it and I no longer find it funny. Not sure I ever did, but hey, you're older than me so I played along out of respect.
CCR's "Mardi Gras" simply suffers the comparison to the albums where John Fogerty was running the show and writing all the songs.
Their previous records, where that was the case, were jam-packed with great tracks. On "Mardi Gras" Fogerty was putting the other band members in their place and saying if this is going to be a democracy all of a sudden, you two write some songs.
Among the results are a couple decent tracks, a cover song--which the band was always fond of (in this case, Gene Pitney's "Hello Mary Lou") and, a few Fogerty songs I've always liked; "Looking For A Reason," "Someday Never Comes," and "Sweet Hitch-Hiker."
The latter was a live staple that showed up on no less than THREE officially released CCR live albums; Live In Europe, Live Creedence, Live In Germany, and on the greatest hits compilations More Creedence Gold, Chronicle Vol. 1 and others, AND was a #6 hit on Billboard.
IF "Mardi Gras" was the debut album of any other band, it would have been considered a solid start, a good album, and would almost certainly have many champions.
I think it makes these "worst album ever" lists because the compilers simply look up other lists of the worst albums--rather than actually listening to the records in their entirety.
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