Call Me Animal- The MC5
Life Gets Better- Graham Parker
Other Boys Do- The Toms
The Last Time- Hall & Oates
Let Me Be- Parliament
Persephone- Allison Russell
Last Glittering Thrill- The Thousand Pities
Call Me Animal- The MC5
The live debut? The more accessible follow-up? Or the third, the secret weapon of the trilogy? Hard to choose the best MC5 record, but "Call Me Animal" is easily a Top Three for best MC5 songs.
Life Gets Better- Graham Parker
"The Real Macaw" was the last GP record I truly cared for. Okay, easy now! Not saying it was his last good record. Just saying it's where I got off the bus, with only occasional trips since. This single should have been huge, but it peaked at only #94.
Other Boys Do- The Toms
The Toms are one Tom, actually. Tom Marolda from New Jersey. The 1979 self-titled debut is legendary, a power pop classic! The "Revolver" of one man bands. The "Pet Sounds"of DIY. My pal and old band mate FD13NYC picked this up at Rocks In Your Head records on Prince Street in SOHO, on a rec from Bob & Ira, the owners, and soon after, our band with CMEALHA was covering this track. This whole album still holds up and I strongly suggest tracking it down if you've never heard it.
The Last Time- Hall & Oates
After that discussion about "Along The Red Ledge" last week, I needed to hear this one, maybe featuring George Harrison on slide guitar.
Let Me Be- Parliament
Speaking of secret weapons, "Chocolate City" isn't one of the P-Funk albums that readily comes to mind when discussing their best work. But it's my favorite.
Persephone- Allison Russell
I wanted to love the new Allison Russell the way I love the new Rhiannon Giddens. But I don't. Most of it fell flat, except for this tune.
Last Glittering Thrill- The Thousand Pities
A great one to close things out, from my friend Matt. I wrote about this in 2012 and featured it again in 2016. What a chorus!
6 comments:
Yeah. I didn't fall away about then so much as he fell off the regular radio and I had kids so just lost tracks.
"Ten Girls Ago" from 1991's Struck By Lightning is pretty great.
How was "Life Gets Better" not on the radio all the time. A pop masterwork, IMO.
And while we are on that topic, his 80's run, ending with "The Mona Lisa's Sister" (my fav), and "Human Soul" is quite the run...
"Mona Lisa's Sister" was my fave, til "Live! Alone In America" came out (the next year, if memory serves). "Live!" isn't just my favorite GP album, it's one of my top 5-10 favorite live albums.
C in California
I just listened to the The Real Macaw two weeks ago, after a long absence (great minds think alike). I'm still not a big fan of the '80's sound of it, but the songs are mostly top notch. It's also one of Parker's most optimistic albums--life does indeed get better.
Bill
Good to see the Parker 'Preciation Party out in force. Seeing him in the list, I had to spin a few of his tunes later, admittedly all with The Rumour. Which made me wonder, in the US is The Rumour spelt without the "u"? Anyway, nicely zipped. Cheers!
"The Toms" is one of those perfect pop records that mystifies me as to why it wasn't so much more popular. It may have to do with the DIY production values but even after all this time it just hits all the right buttons for me.
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