From just this week, please enjoy The Jette Planes, and their sublimely Brit-pop-1965-ish new single "5:55."
Seriously, and pardon the cliche, but I didn't know they made 'em like that anymore. What a cool record/song.
In case you're wondering who those guys are (I must confess to being previously unaware of them), let's let them clue us in. Take it away, fellas.
Formed in 2018 The Jette Planes are a Philadelphia based rock band with elements of power pop, garage rock, alternative, and much more intertwined into one sound. With their 2021 debut album “In The Movies'' in their back pocket, they continue to create music and perform as a staple of the Philadelphia underground music scene.
Makes sense to me.
Meanwhile, you can (and should) sample their sizeable discography (six previous releases!) over at their Bandcamp page HERE.
From 1967, please enjoy L.A. stalwarts The Grass Roots and their brilliant (and a song I've always wanted to cover) "Things I Should Have Said."
In case you haven't guessed, I'm a huge fan of the early version of that "band," despite the fact that they were basically a manufactured construct rather than an organic musical entity. The song in question, of course, was written by the genius Sloan (as in P.F.) and Barri team, who were responsible for more great singles than you've had hot meals, but the aforementioned Grass Roots incarnation were wonderful second-tier pioneers of the immediate post-Byrdsian esthetic that made our AM radios sound so good back in the just pre-psychedelic/San Francisco band days.
Later, of course, with slightly different personnel, they had a run of hits -- like "Midnight Confessions" -- which made them a lot of money but didn't do much for their critical reputation. In any case, the above is just fucking fabulous.
Tomorrow: one of the coolest new songs to have crossed my desk in ages. And from Philadelphia, of all places. ð
And in its honor, from 2025 and their fab/gear just released new album Aces Eights & Heartreaks, please enjoy The Shang Hi Los and the sublimely 80s/Blondie-ish confection that is their "Monsieur Valentine."
Seriously -- that gets my vote for Best Song of the Year so far.
In any case, you can find out more about those kids -- including where to buy/hear more of the album -- over at their official website HERE.
And of course, all that leads us to the weekend's business. To wit:
...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul/country love-themed song is...???
No arbitrary rules whatsoever -- your song can be happy, sad, directed at a specific object of affection, or just a general kind of lovey-dovey sentiment. However you're feeling today.
Oh, and in case you're wondering, my candidate (and I won't specify whether it's my fave or least) is...
In the immortal words of Andrea Martin (as SCTV's programmer Edith Prickley) -- "Could be a hot one!"
BTW, the above is apparently playing in theaters as we speak; my plan is to see it when it shows up on the somewhat smaller (home) screen via Sony, which should be fairly soon. But your mileage may vary.
I should add that I have never been a Zep fan even remotely. But theirs is obviously a hell of a story and-- if memory serves -- I've never seen interviews with either John Bonham or John Paul Jones, so I suspect I'm gonna really enjoy it anyway.
I should also add that I have never owned a Zep album and/or listened to one at home for pleasure...EXCEPT for the last real one (i.e., not a comp of old stuff) they did.
You know -- the one (from 1979) with this absolutely fricking gorgeous song.
From 1989, please behold in breathless wonder the much-missed (i.e., where's he been lately?) Tone LÅc and his immortal party classic "Funky Cold Medina."
Oh god, that's just perfect; hilarious lyrics, the cowbell digitally lifted from "Honky-Tonk Women," and those sampled guitars (from Foreigner and Kiss, primarily) which work together like a charm.
Serioiusly, first time I heard that I thought I'd gone to rock-and-roll heaven, and I'm only half-kidding about it being the last great etc.
The irony, of course, is that technically it's a rap record, but that's a subject for a whole 'nother time. ð
From 1973, please enjoy the smash-hit-in-England-but not-so-much-in-this-country "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine" by Stealer's Wheel.
My god, what a great record (those harmonies! that psychedelic break in the middle!). And to anybody who thinks Stealer's Wheel were nothing more than "Stuck in the Middle..." or a warm-up to Gerry Rafferty's solo career, please to be biting me. ð
I should add that the 45 version above (which was one of my treasured possessions for years) features a vastly superior arrangement to the version that later wound up on the band's Ferguslie Park LP. Why they re-recorded it I have no idea, as the original is as close to perfection as any record ever gets; as you've heard by now, and as I've said in these precincts before, if "Stuck in the Middle" was the band channeling Dylan, this one is them channeling Revolver and late 60s pop psych in general. Simply gorgeous.
Both versions, however, were produced by the immortal team of Leiber and Stoller, and when is there gonna be a bio-pic on THOSE guys?
So we finally got around to watching the 2018 documentary BOOM! A Film About the Sonics the other day (that's The Sonics, as in the pioneering Northeast proto-punk band, obviousy, not the video game hedgehog).
The short version: Very entertaining, and one hell of a great story, but it was a bummer to discover that there is, apparently, no extant significant live footage of the band in its early-60s performing heyday.
That said, I was blown away by this early LP cover art of theirs...
...which I had forgotten about, and which is really quite ahead-of-its-time stylish. Especially for an indie record on a small regional label of its day.
And which leads us to the weekend's business. To wit:
And your favorite original cover art/album cover for a rock/pop/soul/blues/folk/comedy/Broadway show/classical LP of the 50's and 60's is...???
No arbitrary rules, except I'm going to enforce the temporaral parameters quite strictly. Which is to say if you try to sneak in something released after the music festival at Altamont, I will come to your house and deliver a severe tongue lashing.
Anyway, my Top Five -- in no particular order -- are....
That Stones LP may be the greatest album cover of anything ever, BTW. And I should add that the title of the book the guy in the top Lenny Bruce album is reading -- Pigs Ate My Roses -- has been making me laugh at inappropriate moments for going on half a century now. ð
I should also add that Lou Reed's entire career esthetic quite clearly derives from that Paragons/Jesters cover, which I still can't believe was ever actually marketed to 50s doo-wop fans. I mean, wow -- that is without question the most (possibly unintentional) gay thing in world history; it could have just as easily been a jacket for some Grove Press banned-in-Boston smut by Hubert Selby. ðð
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be? Discuss.
So I got the just-released vinyl version of the Dylan movie soundtrack over the weekend...
...and take my word for it, it works brilliantly strictly as an album...
...starting with the period-accurate front-and-back sleeves. I gotta tell you, just seeing the old Columbia Records eye logo kind of made my year so far.
BTW, in case you're wondering, the cover is based on this actual Dylan LP.
Pretty cool, no?
Of course, the music is the main attraction, and it's spine-tingling. I'll spare you a longer review, but you get the idea.
I should add that the above is the first new -- non-reissue or vintage/used -- LP I've bought in over 50 years. A factoid which kind of blows my tiny mind. ð
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