Nobody Knows (including me) by Faces
One of the neglected bands in my life has been Faces (and Small Faces before them). But thankfully, they keep popping up from time to time, reminding me to get my act together. Wohlman included this great track in one of his most recent transmissions (if you haven’t listened to one, you need to. Your musical horizons will expand). It’s a Ron Wood / Ronnie Lane composition that was included on the Faces album First Step. It was the first record after the breakup of Small Faces, and actually reads “Small Faces” on original pressings of the album. The lineup was Rod Stewart, Ron Wood, Ronnie Lane, Ian McLagen, and Kenney Jones.
This song has been around as long as I’ve been alive fercryin’ out loud (since 1970), and I heard it for the first time y-e-s-t-e-r-d-a-y. Great song, I recommend earphones. You’ll hear old Rod in one ear, and who I’m assuming to be Lane in the other. Am I right on that one?
Faces – Nobody Knows (Amazon)
On the Town this Weekend with Todd Snider
Well, crap in a basket and call me Pappy, it’s almost Friday! And hey, Todd Snider is coming to town! If you’re in the Phoenix area, and you’re free on Sunday night (a long weekend for MLK Day), join me, the wife and some friends down at the Last Exit Bar & Grill in Tempe. $15 to see Todd Snider? I’ll take it….
I’m looking forward to seeing him. He’s a singer/songwriter from Nashville (originally from Portland, Oregon) with a sharp, witty sense of humor – a performer sort of in the same vein as John Prine. His debut was on MCA way back in 1994 – Songs for the Daily Planet. Seven other studio albums have followed, all the way up to his latest, 2006’s The Devil You Know.
Quality entertainment, folks. Check out a few tunes.
Todd Snider – Combover Blues – priceless lyrics about getting older… [from Peace, Love and Anarchy (Rarities, B-Sides and Demos, Vol. 1)]
Todd Snider – All My Life (mp3) – a nice love song – [from Happy to Be Here]
Todd Snider – Enough (mp3) – one of my favorite rockin’ harmonica solos along with Bruce’s “Promised Land” and Steve Earle’s “More Than I Can Do” – [from Step Right Up]
- Check out Todd Snider’s stuff in the amazing no-DRM 256kpbs Amazon MP3 Store (includes a couple of free tunes): Todd Snider on Amazon
- Todd tours his ass off. Check out his tour page, it’s likely he’s coming to or near your town: http://www.toddsnider.net/tour.html
- Todd’s Official Site
The Sex Pistols’ Last Show
Thirty years ago yesterday, the Sex Pistols ended their ill-fated U.S. tour with this show at San Francisco’s Winterland – a venue which would close later that year (marked by a New Year’s Eve finale show by the Grateful Dead – available on CD as The Closing of Winterland).
In early January, the Pistols embarked on their first U.S. tour with a string of dates through the Deep South – purposely booked by their manager Malcolm McLaren to create an atmosphere of tension and hostility. Mission accomplished! Sid Vicious was deep into his heroin habit by then, and increasingly hostile to the audience. Fights would break out, people would attack him on stage. It was ugly. Johnny Rotten was increasingly disillusioned during the tour. He was disgusted by Sid’s behavior, and found himself more and more isolated from Steve Jones and Paul Cook (the other members of the band).
By the time they made it to San Francisco for their January 14th show, enough was enough. After the final song, a cover of the Stooges tune “No Fun” (not coincidental, it would seem), Rotten famously exclaimed: “Ever get the feeling you’re being cheated? Good night.” And walked off the stage. That was it for the band – at least in that incarnation.
The Sex Pistols
Live at Winterland, San Francisco
January 14th, 1978God Save The Queen
I Wanna Be Me
Seventeen
New York
E.M.I.
Belsen Was A Gas
Bodies
Holidays In The Sun
Liar
No Feelings
Problems
Pretty Vacant
Anarchy In The U.K.
No FunKC Funk with KLT
Funk. Kansas City Funk.
Kenny Carter is a KC-area musician very much influenced by Uncle Geroge and the P-Funk Universe. One of Kenny’s projects in recent years was KLT – a sort of KC area funk collective. In 2003, they dropped KLT Presents…Butch. Knowing my penchant for Prince and all things Funky, one of my readers, Steve, passed along a link to this album on CD Baby. I enjoyed it from the first minute of the first song I listened to: “Lamblast”. I believe it was the System who so wisely said, “Don’t Disturb This Groove”….
Butch is an orphaned stick figure superhero from the planet Grunt. One day, ol’ Butch is transformed into “a big, black mass of muscle with giant hands that can crush just about anything”. This album is the first in a trilogy, detailing the stories and adventures behind Butch.
Now, the album was released in late 2003, and – well – there isn’t a whole lot that’s been updated on their web sites since. But the album is funky and entertaining enough to merit a listen… and maybe we can coax Kenny and KLT back from the planet Grunt or whatever galaxy they’ve zipped off too, and demand some more!
Thanks Steve for the tip. Always glad to be tipped to the f-u-n-k.
Funk it up now.
KLT – Lamblast (mp3)
- BUY KLT Presents…Butch on CD Baby or eMusic.
- Visit: KLT’s Official Site | MySpace
A Nudge in the Right Direction
- Berkeley Place has a great “Cover Wars” multi-part feature, matching up Stones covers vs. Boss covers. It’s 5 posts full of cover versions from the likes of the La’s, Cat Power, Afghan Whigs, and even Jim James of My Morning Jacket doing “I’m on Fire”! Check ’em out here: Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five.
- DJ Prestige passes along a sweet mix… It’s Flea Market Funk‘s Canned Funk & Soul Mix, vol. 21.
- Over at Popdose, Tony K. schools us, with the Popdose Guide to John Mellencamp. Then, Jon Cummings gives us the Popdose Guide to Nancy Griffith.
- My buddy Ace of Hidden Track fame passes along a hilarious video of Zack Galifianakis interviewing Michael Cera. Definitely worth a look.
- Music for Robots posts a great old school mix by – um – Radioclit. Check it out.
- Go learn about the Triumphs over at The B Side. Red knows his shizz.
Old School Friday: Lisa Lisa!
It would be interesting to investigate the history of Old School Friday, and how often it correlates directly with an after work happy hour. I’m pretty sure the former has always been accompanied by the latter. So who am I to mess with destiny?
Tonight, we forget about Britney Spears and her paparazzi boy toy; we forget about Huckabees and Romneys and O’Reillys; we forget about the fact that I live in a country where Howie Mandel and Jeff Foxworthy have hit prime time game shows in the year 2008. Yes, my friends , we go back to a simpler time…
Lisa Velez was a latina teenager from the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan when she was introduced to the strapping young lads from Full Force: Paul Anthony, Bow-Legged Lou, Shy Shy and friends. When they heard her sing, they dubbed her Lisa Lisa, and put her together with a roadie from Full Force (Mike Hughes) and a friend, Alex “Spanador” Moseley (is there a better nickname than Spanador? I think not).
Full Force produced Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam’s first hit single, “I Wonder If I Take You Home”, which became a pop and R&B hit during the summer of 1985. They would go on to have success with singles like “Can You Feel the Beat”, “All Cried Out”, and “Lost in Emotion”.
Checking out Lisa Lisa’ web sites tonight, it looks like she’s still going strong, doing some singing and acting, and even planning a tour in 2008.
And she still looks great – holy crap I feel 15 again!
Grrreeeowrrr…..
Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam (w/ Full Force) – I Wonder If I Take You Home
Full Force – Old Flames Never Die
Links:
- Lisa Lisa’s Official Site
- Full Force’s Official Site
Video: “Can You Feel the Beat”
Video: “Lost in Emotion”
Marah’s New One: Angels of Destruction!
Though their past few albums – to me – have never matched the brilliance and intensity of their first two albums: Let’s Cut the Crap and Hook Up Later on Tonight and Kids in Philly – they sure keep inching more and more back to that original form – both with 2005’s If You Didn’t Laugh, You’d Cry and now with Angels of Destruction! – which just came out Tuesday. One of my favorites so far is the opener, “Coughing Up Blood” – a perfect way to kick off the album. A lazy, rolling groove, catchy backing vocals that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Wilburys or Little Village record, and Dave Bielanko’s talent – one of my favorite singers and an amazingly creative lyricist. Dave & Serge Bielanko and their supporting gang are on a roll…
Marah – Coughing Up Blood
Buy non-DRM’ed 256 kbps (that’s a good thing) MP3’s from Amazon’s MP3 Store.
Marah’s Official Site
Watch Marah perform “Angels of Destruction” on Wednesday’s Conan O’Brien show.
Photo credit: Hannah Torreson
Elvis is Back!
Well, not exactly, but it is his birthday today. The King would have turned 73 today if he had managed to keep that ticker going. But he didn’t. Thankfully, we have the music (and the movies – can I get a Clambake!); and the music never gets old for me. There’s so much that I still haven’t heard.
This past week, I used my iTunes gift card to pick up Elvis is Back! It was his first studio release after returning from his stint in the U.S. Army, where he did his duty and managed to seduce a young Priscilla Beaulieu over in Germany.
In March 1960, Elvis and his gang hit RCA’s Studio B in Nashville. They recorded into April. Musicians included the usual suspects: Scotty Moore on guitar, D.J. Fontana on drums, Bob Moore on bass, and the Jordanaires providing their trademark vocals. Floyd Cramer also played piano on the album. He would hit it big that same year with an instrumental: “Last Date”. You know the tune…
Floyd Cramer – Last Date
So the resulting album from these sessions was Elvis is Back! Now, if you don’t care for Elvis’s music – particularly pre-Hollywood “early Elvis” – I don’t understand you. There’s something so appealing and universal about these songs, that voice. It’s always struck a chord with me, and it looks to have the same effect on my kids. They won’t shake their moneymakers to just any ol’ tune. But when the first chords of an Elvis song plays, their primal instinct is to move – to smile… It’s really a testament – not just to music in general – but to the timelessness of Elvis Presley in his prime.Happy Birthday to the King!
Elvis Presley – Reconsider Baby (mp3)
Buy the remastered version of Elvis is Back! on
Martin Sexton’s Diner
As the new, 21st century American Gladiators plays on television in the distance (on Mute), and I get sick to my stomach and lament the fact that society and popular culture seem to be on a downward spiral down the ol’ proverbial toilet… I hear this song.
I have been told before to listen to Martin Sexton. I have been told to go see him live. And it’s clearly my fault for not doing so sooner. A single song like this can endear me to an artist, and move me to seek out an entire catalog. This song is that good, in my opinion. It’s an ode to the American diner, performed in such a catchy, clever, sweet way – that my head is reeling. Best new song of 2008, people! And it’s a dozen years old. Go figure. Thanks again, Sirius Disorder.
Buy: Black Sheep
Links: Official Site
