First, upon seeing this album cover, I immediately thought of this classic movie moment.Second, I tried to imagine just what Ira North would look like if he really were a woman. I'm thinking he'd be a little less mannish than Ann Coulter, but a bit more feminine than Jonah Goldberg. Probably something akin to the cross-dressing scene from Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask), the one that features the guy from the Dunkin Donuts ad.
And then with those two pop culture references colliding, a little bit of me died inside.
Might as well get to the music. Here's this week's FRT:
1. Barry White, "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" -- Back in college, my girlfriend at the time took me to see Mr. White on his stadium tour. It was as lushly ridiculous as you might imagine. The backdrop to the stage was a giant satin headboard, with a nineteen piece string section in formal wear arrayed in front of it. Barry's sultry backup singers were not only scantily clad, but wheeled onto the stage in giant champagne glasses, while the man himself was wearing what appeared to be a velvet muumuu. There was so much sexual energy coming off that stage, I'm pretty sure I got pregnant just by being in his presence. 8/10
2. Gang Starr, "The Illest Brother" -- A nice little track off Daily Operation. I managed to catch Guru and DJ Premier a couple years back in NYC, but I'll be damned if I know what they've been up to since. Anyone? 7/10
3. Radiohead, "Idioteque (live)" -- And the live show memories continue! This is from their official live CD, I Might Be Wrong. I managed to catch this tour when they came to Liberty State Park in August 2001. It was a spectacular concert, with the Statue of Liberty off to one side in the background and the World Trade Center off in the other direction. Sadly, this was less than a month before 9/11 Changed Everything. 7/10
4. Mahotella Queens, "Khubetswana Yeso" -- Man, I wish I could say I've seen them live as well. Well, I could say it, but it wouldn't be true. One of the sweetest vocal groups of African pop, these ladies usually back up Malathini, but here they're solo. Not too bad. 6/10
5. Sugar, "If I Can't Change Your Mind" -- I'd really like to know what kind of antidepressants they had Bob Mould on for this album. A little bit too sunny here, but still fairly strummeriffic. (Oh, I saw him on this tour. Wearing a big polka-dot shirt on his big fat body.) 5/10
6. The Smiths, "This Charming Man (live)" -- Another live track, but another band I never saw live. I don't suppose there's anyone who's made it past puberty who would consider this song "cool," though. In fact, I'm pretty sure this should be on that guy's list of songs that give you the gay. 4/10
7. Outkast, "Humble Mumble" -- One of my favorite tunes from these gentlemen. Scorchingly fast vocals, infectious hooks, and terrific lyrics. "She said she thought hip-hop was only guns and alcohol / I said 'Oh hell naw!' But yet it's that too / You can't discrimi-hate cause you done read a book or two." Don't discrimi-hate, people. Seen 'em twice. 9/10
8. ... And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, "Worlds Apart" -- A nice straightforward rocker, one that wins you over from the moment you hear the sounds of giggling children and then the sound of the lead singer screaming "Hey, fuck you, man!" Truly touching. Never saw them, but I believe I would know them by the trail of dead. 6/10
9. The Black Keys, "Nobody But You" -- And we're back on the concert trail! These guys opened for Radiohead on their recent tour -- where I enjoyed them in the presence of Natalie Portman, a show lovingly and enviously described here -- and played a much too short, but incredibly ass-kicking set. 8/10
10. Grant Green, "Brazil" -- I must have a half dozen versions of this song, but this rendition by jazz guitarist Grant Green is one of my favorites. Really impressive fretwork, from a nice LP he did on "the Latin bit." Unable to time travel into the 1960s, I never saw him. 6/10
Alright, that gives me a 6.6 average, which apparently means I'm part of the conspiracy in this new, shitty-looking Jim Carrey movie. Come on. It's in Revelations, people!!!
Let's see what you've got. Drop your own FRT in the comments below, or else you can rub in the fact that you saw the Smiths with the Mahotella Queens backing them up, covering Grant Green tunes. Bastards.
16 comments:
I think it wise not to comment on that album cover at all.
1. Flaming Lips, “Miracle On 42nd Street” – I guess this is an early attempt at a Christmas song by the Lips which I guess is a big infatuation with them now since their movie is about Christmas on Mars (inventively titled Christmas On Mars). Not much here other than some random radio commercials and some bass noodling. 5/10
2. Dungeon Family, “Trans DF Express” – What happens when idiosyncratic Atlanta rappers emulate Kraftwerk? You would theoretically get something awesome, but this is just O.K. I think both guys from Outkast rap on this as well as Cee-Lo Green from Gnarls Barkley. My name-dropping quota for the week is now complete. 7/10
3. The House of Love, “Welt” – As far as I’m concerned, The House of Love’s “Christine” is the best song ever. Unfortunately, that didn’t come up on my iPod and everything else they did sucks. 4/10
4. The Stooges, “Death Trip” – The reunited Stooges are releasing a new album soon. I mention this because no matter how good that album is, it will never approach the pure, unadulterated savage rock power of this song. But few other songs, if any, do. 10/10
5. The Ramones, “I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend (Demo)” – This is off the extended version of their 1st album. It’s softer than the version that made the album, but it probably shows their bubble gum pop influence more so than any other song they have done. 8/10
6. Polvo, “Wild Turkey” – This is off a compilation called Pyloric Waves put together by the Greensboro North Carolina label Detox in 1994. This particular song I think is the only Polvo song written by their bassist who now runs the excellent Kings Barcade in Raleigh. 7/10
7. Devo, “Gates Of Steel” – What? I just had this exact song a week or so ago. O.K. let me find that post so I can copy and paste what I said then. I want to be consistent. Here you go. “I think that Devo seems to be the most credible of those ‘80’s new wave bands even though they sound the most ‘80’s out of all those bands. Does that make sense? Well if not, just know that Devo rocks. 6/10”
8. Sonic Youth, “White Cross” – C’mon, it’s Sonic Youth. You know the drill. Distorted guitars. Religious overtones in lyrics. You all know how it goes. Don’t make me explain it. 8/10
9. The Sex Pistols, “Liar” – There seems to be some revisionist history out there about the Sex Pistols and how great they were. I still think they’re great, but they have much better songs than this. 7/10
10. My Bloody Valentine, “Swallow” – I once proposed a theory that this song incorporated Indian music better than any other western artist has, but that was before the Bombay The Hard Way album. Still, it’s MBV so it’s great. Kevin Shields probably has hundreds of songs better than this on some demo tape that he lost in his couch cushions. 9/10
That gives me a barely passing 7.1 for the week. On a related (i.e. shamelessly promotional) note, if you like Led Zeppelin (that means you Thrillhous), check out my new blog post.
Otto man, Chuck Norris is a little less mannish that Ann Coulter.
Enough talk, let's roll:
1)Bjork-"Big Time Sensuality". I’ve always liked Bjork, but when I saw her kick that reporter’s ass at the airport that one time, she reached living legend status in my eyes. Plus, it’s got a good beat, and you can dance to it! (8/10)
2)PJ Harvey-"Highway 61 Revisited". Great (though maybe a little dry) version of a Dylan classic, and I think I’m gonna give it an extra point because I've spent so much time on the actual Highway 61 recently. (7/10)
3)Nine Inch Nails-"Head Like a Hole". The song that came this close to being this generation’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” when it came out...then “Smells Like Teen Spirit” came out. Sucks to be you, Mr. Reznor. Good song though. (7/10)
4)Tori Amos-"The Waitress". Of all my favorite Tori songs, this one is my favorite favorite. “I believe in peace...bitch!” Does it get any better than that? (9/10)
5)Gorillaz-"19-2000". Damn songs with confusing names! If this song weren’t so damn catchy, I’d delete it on principle! But it’s just too damn good a song! Damn! (8/10)
6)White Stripes-"Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine". Now here’s a song with a straightforward, if a tad long, name. Add a kickass guitar solo, and you get a (7/10)
7)Weezer-"The Sweater Song". A classic. Like most classics, overplayed. (7/10)
8)Hum-"Stars". This was the song that introduced me to Hum. Probably the best track of their excellent album, “You’d Prefer an Astronaut”. (8/10)
9)Soul Coughing-"True Dreams of Wichita". You got your beat poetry in my music! No, you got your music in my beat poetry! Whatever it is, it’s tasty, but probably not really all that good for you. (6/10)
10)Bjork-"Come To Me". Why Bjork, you sly little minx! Sneaking back into my FRT. Mmm...Bjork sandwich...(7/10)
Wow, not a stinker in the bunch. I thought that maybe I was padding the scores a little while I was evaluating, but 7.4 doesn’t seem like much of a padded score.
Jesus, Pete -- the Stooges, the Ramones, Devo, Sonic Youth, the Sex Pistols ... That's not a FRT, that's the Rock Hall of Fame.
Yo--Rickey digs your blog. Check out Rickey's sometime:
www.ridingwithricky.blogspot.com
Otto Man is honored to have Rickey Henderson here on Otto Man's blog. Otto Man would like to tell Rickey Henderson that Rickey Henderson's blog address does not have the "www" at the start, and that anyone wishing to find Rickey Henderson's blog, should leave the "www" off and just start with Rickey Henderson.
P.S. Rickey Henderson.
If I were a woman, my wife would be really pissed at me.
Sex Pistols and Ramones, baby! This is a great Friday indeed!
1) Lil' Bloodred Ridin' Hood - Children of Bodom. Jesus, I barely just rolled out of bed. Ouch. But I love these guys. All Euro-thrash death metal at its blistering finest. Complete with synthesizer, which Swedes insist on continuing to use in their music for whatever reason. 8/10.
2) On the Tweek Again - Primus. The first minute of this song is just a bass drum beat. Zzzz. 5/10.
3) Shake Your Moneymaker - Elmore James. Nothing like the original. This one's an original studio recording that even starts off with Elmore biffing it and having to restart the song. Toe-tapping blues at its best. 7/10.
4) Eraser - Nine Inch Nails. I see Head Like a Hole is already on here, so some more Reznor love. This is a bizarre song, but I love the infectuous beat. 7/10.
5) It Had To Be You - Harry Connick, Jr. This is off of the Harry Met Sally soundtrack. I hate myself a little. 4/10.
6) Country Death Song - Fightin' Hellfish. These are friends of mine, and I love their stuff. It's punk, it's fast, and they swear a lot. Other than that, they're pretty low-key guys. 8/10. (I'm biased)
7) Ass Itch - Korn. Pretty standard Korn. Doesn't really sound different than anything else they play. 6/10.
8) Temptation - Slayer. Awesome. I love Slayer. 8/10.
9) Jump - Van Halen. As Sideshow Bob said, a classic. And Classic means Overplayed. Still, I love the song. 8/10.
10) Dead Horse - GNR. Use Your Illusion II drivel. It gets catchy when it speeds up a little, but most of the songs on UYI I and II were more about image than about good songwriting. 6/10.
6.7 That's a solid D. I blame Axel Rose. Get in the Ring, Motherf*&%!!!
Oh sweet merciful jebus Otto is right.
Rickey wishes he'd known that before spamming that address on scores of other blogs.
Hey otto--feel like a little quid pro quo addition to each other's links section?
Ricky is tossing a link up to this page now on his blog. Its the balls.
Otto Man likes Rickey's style, Rickey's recommendations, and Rickey's extensive use of the third person. Consider it done.
Woot. Concerning that "Worlds Apart" song... In Rickey's humble opnion, the best of of that song is the use of the phrase "Jesus fucking H Christ." Not an often tossed around lyric...
In lieu of a random ten, I've just listened to this ten times in a row.
It's just like a mini mall.
"Just like a Mini Mall"? Talk about the soft bigotry of lowe expectations.
OM - That Barry White show sounds more effective than spanish fly-coated, chocolate-covered oysters served during ovulation. Hell, I only read your description, and I'm pretty sure I'm getting laid tonight.
Oh, and my favorite version of "Brazil" comes from (surprise, surprise, surprise) Django. Day-um, does he do some fret jumping on that mofo.
Peb's & Sideshow's lists are pretty rocking. Man.
And Mike hasn't seen Rickey Henderson's Random Ten, but Mike knows that Rickey Henderson thinks Otto Man used to be the King of the Random Ten, but today Rickey Henderson is the King of the Random Ten.
Mike hopes that Otto Man understands that's just Rickey being Rickey.
Django's version is my favorite, too. Pretty much anything that Belgian gypsy did -- that's my favorite version of that song.
As far as Rickey being Rickey? Rickey would have it no other way.
I've been to so few live shows I can count them on one hand: Sting, Rush, Yes, Alice in Chains, and Tool. stupid fear of crowds.
1) S.A.T.O. - Ozzy. Sweet! Really deep lyrics: "Wind is high/So am I". 10/10
2) Strawberry - Everclear. From when I was so excited about stealing free songs of the net that I was stealing everything. 1/10
3) Too Old to Rock N Roll - Tull. Yes, yes they are. 6/10
4) Vegetable Man - Floyd. One of their weird demos from the Syd days. 2/10
5) Same Thrill - Scorpions. A lot of folks don't like the Scorps later albums. Those folks are idiots. 8/10
6) Since I've Been Loving You - Zeppelin. Not my favorite, but it's okay. 5/10
7) Here Comes the Feeling - Asia. Great tune from the superest of all supergroups. 9/10
8) Action this Day - Queen. No clue. 1/10
9) Miracle Man - Ozzy. On my short list for bestest song of all time. 11/10
10) Settling Down - Jerry Cantrell. Kinda sappy. Really sappy. But I likes it. 7/10
Not too shabby, though I see if I could've used the next 10 songs I would've had Die Eier Von Satan AND Snakes of Christ, so that would've been sweet.
Sting, Rush, Yes, Alice in Chains, and Tool
One of these things is not like the other...
Thrill -
Yes, yes they are I like that song actually, but that's a funny line.
Reminds me of when they beat Metallica for the Best Heavy Metal GRammy back in the late 80's.
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