I know what you're thinking. "Why Liberace now? Why not Liberace later? Or, better yet: Liberace never? Please?"Well, I'm reminded of the wise words of Dan Aykroyd: "Don't try to fight it. No ifs, ands, or buts about it -- you're spending the night with Fred Garvin, Male Prostitute." Sorry, folks. Liberace Now.
Resistance is futile.
But, that said, we here at LLatPoN abide by the conventions of civilized nations and, as such, will grant the condemend one last wish before their summary liberacution. And I know what each and every one of you would ask for -- another Friday Random Ten. Your last wish is my command.
1. The Stanley Brothers, "Loving You Too Well" -- Some sweet, sweet bluegrass from one of the classic groups. Terrific vocal harmonizing and great banjo and guitar work. Ralph Stanley is still touring and kicking ass, and came through New York a couple months ago. Sadly, I couldn't make the show. But I'm sure an octagenarian like him has a couple more tours in him, right? Right? Crap. 7/10
2. Reverend Horton Heat, "Jonny Quest/Stop That Pigeon" -- This is a medley from a collection of indie rockers covering classic cartoon themes. The "Jonny Quest" half is unbelievably scorching, but the song craps out when they switch over to the lesser song of a lesser cartoon in the second half. Meh. 5/10
3. R.E.M., "Wake Up Bomb" -- I've been an R.E.M. fan ever since I stumbled across Reckoning as a high school freshman, and all things considered, New Adventures in Hi-Fi might be my favorite album of theirs. This is one of the weaker songs on it, I think, but still solid. 6/10
4. Lowell Fulsom, "Tramp" -- What a great tune. A classic R&B strutter, with a ton of attitude on vocals and an irresistable stomp of a guitar riff. De La Soul ripped this off for "Keepin' Tha Faith," and with good reason. This may well be one of my favorite songs of all time. 10/10
5. Dead or Alive, "You Spin Me Right Round" -- Um ... yeah. Next. 3/10
6. Iron & Wine with Calexico, "All Tomorrow's Parties" -- I'm generally a sucker for indie-folk covers of rock songs (see also Jose Gonzalez, Mat Weddle, etc.), even though part of me fears I'm being tricked into liking my generation's version of elevator Muzak. Whatever. This is a very nice take on the Velvet Underground tune. 8/10
7. Tegan and Sara, "Walking with a Ghost" -- Catchy as hell, with a simple hook and some sweet lyrics from the ladies. 9/10
8. Albert Collins, "Doin' My Thing" -- This is, indeed, Albert doing his thing. If you're not familiar with his thing, it's a nice bit of Chicago blues, blending his electric guitar with some horns and Hammond organ. Solid, if not exactly mind-blowing. 6/10
9. Fishbone, "Freddie's Dead" -- As much as I like covers and love Curtis Mayfield, this one just doesn't do much for me. A little too much anger from the Boneyard here, and the metal guitar and late '80s synthesizers don't help. Eh. 5/10
10. Pussy Galore, "Rocks Off" -- I may need an intervention for the cover-song addiction. Well, in any case, you've got to admire a band that begins a Stones cover with what sounds like 20 seconds of a Tourette's victim snapping over and over, "I hate your fucking guts!" Plus, they're named after the hottest Bond girl of all time! 7/10
After soaring high for two straight weeks, it looks like I've fallen back down to earth with a middling 6.6 average. I'd like to blame this on the mascara rock of Dead or Alive, but this week was full of misfires. Oh well.
Let's see what you all have got. Drop your own FRT in the comments below, with or without the coolness commentary.
And since I made it through this entire post without a link, let me recommend "Clell Tickle: Indie Marketing Guru." It features the dudes from the forthcoming MTV comedy show "Human Giant," though the best bit features Rob Riggle from "The Daily Show" as Hambone, a hired goon described as a "former child arsonist. That's right -- he used to set children on fire."
13 comments:
I don't know. You would think a Liberace cover would be...wait for it...more out there. God, that was cheap.
1. Bob Dylan, “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” – I’m not the biggest fan of Dylan, but I do like the point in his career when he got away from warbling folk music and plugged in an electric guitar and started warbling rock music. This is from the Royal Albert Hall concert in 1966 which may not be the first time he played electric, but I think it’s pretty early on in his electric phase. Some people in the crowd actually seem pretty upset about it. What a bunch of losers. 7/10
2. Archers of Loaf, “Revenge” – I like the Archers fine, but there was definitely a drop off in their material towards their last couple albums. This song might be standing at the edge of the precipitice as it sounds like something off Vee Vee which was probably their last good album. 7/10
3. Polvo, “Bat Radar” – It’s the early ‘90’s in Chapel Hill again today on my iPod. This is a relatively normal noodley Polvo track from the This Eclipse EP. Nothing special for these guys. 7/10
4. T. Rex, “Spaceball Ricochet” – The great thing about Marc Bolan is that he had great song titles. “Zip Gun Boogie”, “Bang A Gong (Get It On)”, “One Inch Rock”, “Telegram Sam”. There were no phrases too ridiculous for him. The songs are pretty good too. 8/10
5. Clipse, “Chinese New Year” – This is from the new Clipse album and it’s really good. In fact, the whole album is really good. I highly recommend it. The Neptunes are back in fine form here after losing the plot for awhile. I suggest that they only work with Clipse from now on. 9/10
6. The Psychedelic Furs, “Heaven” – O.K. I think this is the first really cheesy song that’s showed up on my FRT’s, which is very surprising because I have plenty of cheesy music on my iPod. I would like to propose though that the Psychedelic Furs were a relatively underrated band and were unfairly categorized as a flash in the pan ‘80’s band. But I have to admit that this song sucks. 3/10
7. Wu-Tang Clan, “Wu-Tang Clan Ain’t Nothing To Fuck With” – The song title has said everything I need to say about this. 9/10
8. The Beatles, “Nowhere Man” – It seems like the Beatles always show up in my FRT’s. Not that I’m complaining. This song is classic Lennon material as far as I’m concerned. 9/10
9. Joe Jackson, “Is She Really Going Out With Him?” – I only know two Joe Jackson songs: this and Steppin’ Out. Are these indicative of his sound? I would think the former song rather than the latter. Maybe I should give him more of a chance. 8/10
10. Devo, “Come Back Jonee” – I highly recommend the book Rip It Up and Start Again which is about the postpunk movement from 1978-1984. Devo gets a lot of pub in it as do a bunch of other bands I had heard of but didn’t know much about. Did you know that Richard Branson tried to get Devo and Johnny Rotten to form a band after the Sex Pistols split? Can you imagine that band? The mind boggles. 7/10
This week’s average is 7.4. I could have had a really great average if the Psychedelic Furs hadn’t messed it up. But I’ve been saying that a lot lately. They’re always going through my garbage, bumming change off me and playing loud music late at night. Damn Psychedelic Furs.
The Psychedelic Furs, “Heaven”
Ouch. Welcome to the prom, Duckie.
peb: is that the Bob Dylan song where someone in the crowd yells "Judas!!!"?
Anyway, here goes.
1) Dod Eat Dog, Ted Nugent. Not a favorite. And Ted pisses me off with his meat-headed form of conservatism. He has "thought about running for governor of Michigan." God save us. 5/10.
2) Refuse/Resist, Sepultura. I love the whole Chaos A.D. release, and this has some great riffs to it. 7/10.
3) Come As You Are, Nirvana. What else can I say that hasn't been said by everyone who loves music and Nirvana? 8/10.
4) For You, David Holmes. This is the guy who did the ambient music for Oceans 11 recently. I bought it because I thought maybe I could get into Ambient, especially since he laid a cool groove over the whole movie. Well, I can't. 4/10.
5) What Drives the Weak, Shadows Fall. Incredible hook in this song from a band that is an aggressive throwback to old Metallica. With more screaming. 8/10.
6) No Love Lost, Carcass. Great Euro-thrash. Searing guitar work, great gutteral scream. 7/10.
7) Medicine Man, George Benson. The way this guy scats along with his gitar i simply amazing. One of the best modern jazz artists. 9/10.
8) Hoodoo Moon, Kenny Neal. I got turned on the Kenny Neal when I was going to the N.O. Jazz Fest some years back. His live shows SMOKE. But his CDs are pretty boring, standard blues guitar stuff. 6/10.
9) Ashes of the Wake, Lamb of God. Before the iPod, this CD never left my car. 9/10.
10) Architeture of Aggression, Megadeth. Ah yes. Megadeth's sellout album. Decent song, though. 7/10.
Not such a bad week, if not a little lackluster.
My new favorite Friday morning diversion, dropping my own Friday Random 10. Good times.
1. Primal Scream, "Trainspotting" - The title track from the movie. Makes you feel like your up to some shady shit, trying to score some junk.
2. Moving Units, "Emancipation"
3. Harvey Danger, "Why I'm Lonely" - An underrated song from an underrated album (their second, King James Version) from a highly underrated band. I'll insist until the day I die that it is a grave injustice that Harvey Danger will only be remembered for their 1998 hit "Flagpole Sitta."
4. Dizzy Gillespie, "Swing Low Sweet Cadillac" - Nice and funky.
5. Perez Prado, "Patricia" - I love this song.
6. Gipsy Kings, "Volare"
7. The English Beat, "Mirror in the Bathroom" - Good song, but not quite as good as "March of the Swivelheads"
8. Parliament, "Flashlight" - Awesome.
9. The Smiths, "Ask"
10. Joy Division, "Transmission" - Between The Smiths and Joy Division, it's a Manchester two-fer!
This is my first time playing. Be gentle.
1. "Sunny Side of the Street"-Pogues
I love these guys and need to listen to them more. Drums, electric guitar, penny whistle, mandolin and Guiness=a good time. 8/10
2. "Kesh Jig/Swallowtail Jig"-Whisky Before Breakfast Traditional Irish music at its finest. After years of practicing my own pennywhistle, I'm proud to say I could play this one with them live and not be embarrassed. And at 144 beats per minute, that's something to write home about. 10/10
3. "Good Vibrations"-Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch Laugh if you must, but I hand-selected this adrenaline-inducing tune to keep me pumped up while I train for a marathon I plan to run later this year. (When I cross the finish line after running 26.2 miles, I'll be the one with the smile on my face). 9/10
4. "Red Morning Light"-Kings of Leon-The only one I have of these guys, but rockin enough that it keeps me on my toes while I'm out running or cleaning the house (which I'm doing this morning). And midway through, there's some tasty, "appropriate" cow bell, Peb.
7/10
5. "Dirty Hands"-Black Lips
Another crap-shoot choice I cherry picked off of iTunes. A chorus that has stuck in my mind that my kids now going around saying too: "Do you really want to hold my dirty hands?" 6/10
6. "Joey"-Concrete Blonde
Isn't this one of the very first songs we all learned to play on our guitars (this, and "Runaway Train" by Soul Asylum)? It's still fun to sing along at the top of your lungs this one. 6/10
7. "Walk This Way"-a live version by Aerosmith. The intro alone is worth the .99 I paid for this one. ST belts out "GET THE FUCK OFF OF THE FENCE!" 10/10 just for that intro. (If that doesn't get me lacing up my running shoes, nothing will.) Also, I kind of like ST's line at the end, "Hey, Jude, lend me a dollar..."
8. "Memory Motel"-Stones with Dave Matthews-I'm not a Dave Matthews fan, but I can't not like this song. 7/10
9. "Attack"-30 Seconds to Mars-(Jared Leto's Band). I think it's funny when celebrity-musicians list their own band's songs on their playlists. This is one of them. It's good enough, but I prefer Leto singing "I Wanna Be Sedated" on MTV's "My So Called Life." Jordan Catalano was dreamy.
6/10
10. "Video Killed the Radio Star"-The Buggles. I was having a blast cleaning my house this morning listening to this...until I found a dead mouse in a trap under my sink. Kind of killed the moment. Still love the tune and always will. 9/10
7.8...not bad for my first FRT average. But it's like some guy said a few weeks ago, I'm pretty selective of what I put on here, and so far, nothing on my iPod falls below a 5.5
Welcome to the new folks. And good luck with the Nuge, Smitty.
That's funny, peb. I've been working for a couple of weeks on an exhaustive playlist from Rip It Up and Start Again, but some of those songs are hard as hell to track down. Family Fodder? Danny & The Dressmakers? Good luck.
I think you might've been overly generous rating that Dead Or Alive song, Otto. I had some guys at my house last week doing tuck pointing and roof repairs, and "You Spin Me" came up on shuffle while I was in the bathroom brusing my teeth. I think they might have drawn some inaccurate conclusions about me.
Good Lord, Travis. If that had been me, I probably would've put lesbian porn on the TV just to clear the air.
Latin Playboys - Cuca's Blues (9/10)
Pine Box Boys - Mr. Skeleton (7/10)
Sly & Family Stone - If You Want Me to Stay (10/10)
Lene Lovich - The Night (9/10)
Portishead - Only You (9/10)
Wire - A Question of Degree (7/10)
Ennio Morricone - The Trio (10/10)
Modern Lovers - Pablo Picasso (10/10)
Chris & Cosey - Gates of Ancient Cities (6/10)
Cracker - Take Me Down to the Infirmary (6/10)
And another 8.2. Not too shabby.
I think Tom wins for the week. Except for the stumbles at the end, that was pretty much flawless.
Smitty: It wasn't that song, but another one on the album. In fact, I think it's right before Like A Rolling Stone.
Bird: Pretty much any song with a cowbell deserves at least an 8.
Travisg: I've been meaning to go that book again and work up a playlist myself. But I doubt I'll have the patience to be as comprehensive as you.
Otto: You spin me right round, baby
right round. Like a record, baby, right round round round.
Nothing beats the Liberace Museum in Vegas--biggest rhinestone in the world.
On to the list, with lots of good artists, not the best of songs...
The B-52's "Strobe Light" 6/10
The Feelies "Forces at Work" 7/10
Tom Waits "Big Black Mariah" 10/10
J Church "Panama" 8/10
Daniel Lanois "El Conquistador" 5/10
Emmylou Harris "Deeper Well" 9/10
The Band w/ Joni Mitchell "Coyote" 7/10
Pere Ubu "Lost in Art" 5/10
The Handsome Family "Our Blue Sky" 8/10
Alejandro Escovedo "One More Time" 8/10
That's a 7.3 on the Rock-ter Scale.
I know Harvey Danger only for "Flagpole Sitta." But I think it's a great song.
OM, you got the friggin Spin Me Right Round song in my head too. Damn you.
And Jersey George bustin' out the Feelies . . . and an old one too!
Post a Comment