La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "A Big Finish for a Moderately Big Week" Edition

And with that bit of vaguely onanistic tooting of my own horn (as it were) out of the way, we proceed directly and inexorably to the subject of today's business. To wit:

...and the best/most apppopriate closing track to a great post-Elvis rock/pop/soul/folk/country album is...???

Discuss.

Attentive readers will recall that two weeks ago we did the (as it were) flip side of this, i.e. best opening track, and as previously, there are no arbitrary rules for this one either. Hey -- if you want to pick something as silly as Abbey Road's "Her Majesty..." go for it. We won't sit anywhere near you, of course, but still -- knock yourself out!!!

In any case, my nominee -- which I suspect some of you will have seen coming down Queens Boulevard -- is this truly astounding piece of gorgeosity.

Ah, "Moonlight Mile." I should add that it's particularly noteworthy for a couple of reasons, starting with the fact that the album it's from opens with "Brown Sugar," which is surely a Top 5 contender for best lead-off song ever. I should also add that it's the only great Stones track on which Keith Richards does not play guitar (yup, it's all Mick Taylor), and that the orchestral arrangement, which to my ears channels Ralph Vaughan-Williams magnificently, is as beautiful as it is unexpected. Damn, that Paul Buckmaster really was a freaking genius.

Plus Jagger's vocal is non pareil. I mean, the melisma is truly melismatic, if you catch my drift. 😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Okay -- Mystery Solved!

Apparently The Forty Fours -- whose weirdly unreal studio video we posted yesterday -- are an actual, living, breathing real band.

This is a relief, at the very least.

Of course, if the above turns out to be AI, then I will have to kill myself forthwith. 😎

Words Completely Fail Me

Except for perhaps -- what the fuck?

I mean, is this real? Or is it some bizarre, psychotic manufactured-by-management unholy schtup between/commercial mashup of The Beatles and One Direction?

Perhaps you can make the call after checking out these kids' official website OVER HERE.

In all seriousness, I chanced across the above by accident the other day and for the life of me I can't decide what I think about it. Help me out here, folks!!! 😎

Tuesday's Music-Themed Photo-Funnies and Cartoon Chuckles

Words fail me over the electric sitar ad. 😎

Why Didn't I Get the Memo on This Kid? (An Occasional Series): Special "That's IRISH Country Music, Darlin'!" Edition

In my defense, commercially she's closer to a cult figure than a household word like Taylor Swift, but still.

Anyway, I just love everything about this, including the lyrics and the wonderful backing band. Plus, let's just say that whatever "it" is, CMAT (pronounced See-Matt, in case you were wondering) has it in impressive quantities.

Bottom line: this has given me more hope for slowing/reversing the artistic decline of 21st century popular music than (almost) anything I've heard since Amy Winehouse joined that stupid 27 Club.

It's America's 250th Birthday Party -- So Why Aren't I in a Better Mood?

Well, I think we all know the answer to THAT. 😎

In any event, in honor of Independence Day weekend please enjoy Bill Pullman, the greatest president of the United States who was never president of the United States...

...no, wait, in the era of President Inepstein that's not even a particularly good joke.

Sorry.

What I meant to say was please enjoy The Hollies and their killer live cover of Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)." A song which is something of an annual tradition around these here parts.

And obviously because nothing says "an American holiday" like a bunch of whey-faced Limeys singing in three part harmony. 😎😎

In the meantime -- have a great weekend, everybody! And stay as cool as possible!!!

Consumer Notes From All Over

So last weekend we were at a very cool record store in Worcester, MA...

...and what did our wondering eyes behold but the following. (In case you're visually impaired, they're rubber duckies for the bathtub and you can click on the images to enlarge).

Anyway, they tototally cracked me up. Particularly Aviary Grande. 😎

They're the work of a company aptly called Celebriducks; they cost approximately 20 bucks each, and they are now my official go-to gag gifts for every occasion.

You can order them over at Amazon, and you can see more of them at the official company page OVER HERE.

And no, the above has nothing to do with the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Essay Question. 😎 😎

Play This One Loud. REALLY Loud.

Preferrably under the headphones, if you live in a thin-walled NYC apartment.

As you have gathered by now, that's The Ventures with special guest twangster Duane Eddy and the most totally rockin' take on the Bobby Fuller/Sonny Curtis classic "I Fought the Law" ever beheard by sentient mammalian ears.

When I originally posted about that (which derives from a 1998 Ventures album) back in 2014, I opined that it has guitar textures that wouldn't have been out of place on albums by Television, and upon relistening to it again for the first time since then I see no reason to deviate from that assessment. In any case, it totally kicks ass and some of the instrumental interplay actually gave me chills this time around.

Now please excuse me -- I'm gonna go do the research (as today's kids say) on that aforementioned Ventures CD, which I suspect will be a fruitful subject for further exploration. 😎

Tuesday’s Music-Themed Cartoon Chuckles and Photo-Funny

Okay, admittedly Led Zep is an easy target. 😎

Songs I'd Forgotten Existed, Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series): Special "You Should Hear His Older Brother Covering Black Sabbath" Edition

Our good friend and proprietor of the invaluable Burning Wood blog Sal Nunziato linked to this the other day and I just couldn't resist putting it up over here.

I mean, my god -- this is freaking great.

I actually had a copy of the album that's from back in the day; I don't remember anything else from it (although a look at the track listing, which includes a lot of other potentially interesting covers, has intrigued me). But I vividly recall playing the shit out of the above at top volume (under heaphones, obviously) at my office at Stereo Review. And thinking then -- as I still do now -- that it may actually improve on The Who's original.

BTW, I should add that the credits on that are Shaun singing lead and Todd Rundgren and the members of Utopia doing everything else.

The bottom line -- power pop heaven.

And thank you, Sal!!! 😎