Weekend Listomania (Special That's So Five Minutes Ago Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental testicular maintenance engineer Gal Friday Fah Lo Suee and I will be travelling to a volcano monitoring station in snowbound Alaska for the annual Krakatoa -- East or West of Java? festival. Governor's Jindal and Palin will be hosting the proceeding, which I'm told will feature some of the finest Creole moose hors d'ouevres you can possibly imagine.

In any case, posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic for a few days.

But in my absence, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

Post-Beatles Album or Single That You Used to Really Like But Now Think Has Dated Particularly Badly!!!!

Self-explanatory, obviously, so no arbitrary rules this time. Except it has to be something you actually listened to and dug once upon a time -- NOT some record that you thought sucked then and hate even more today.

Thank you.

Okay, here's my totally top of my head Top Five:

5. Journey to the Center of Your Mind -- The Amboy Dukes



Obviously, there's a ton of psychedelia that hasn't aged well, but this one just cracks me up. I think it's the particularly portentous way (with echo) they intone the line "Come along...IF YOU DARE!!!!" that particularly sinks it, as much fun as the record was when it was new. What was it that Lester Bangs said about 60s garage rock -- a bunch of virgins desperately trying to sing about fucking without giving away their total lack of experience?

4. Pickin' Up the Pieces -- Poco



The Buffalo Springfield pedigree notwithstanding, I can barely tolerate anything these guys did anymore, although I actually used to listen to this song and a few others of theirs a lot. The grinning optimism just seems totally divorced from reality now. For me, anyway.

3. Remain in Light-- Talking Heads



You know, there was a part of me that thought David Byrne was kind of full of shit even back in the day, as much as I enjoyed this album at any number of oh-so-80s hepster parties. Then again, otherwise sensible people were proclaiming him one of the most significant composers of the 20th century...

2. Making Movies -- Dire Straits



Boy, did I love this record back in 1980. Now? Knopfler's still a great guitar player, but this kind of overheated Springsteen-on-steroids-under-the-boardwalk romantic stuff strikes me as faintly embarassing.

And the number one record that just doesn't get me off the way it used to, and I suspect we're in agreement about this for a change, is obviously --

1. Graceland -- Paul Simon



I include this one with genuine regret, but the album is pretty much unlistenable for me now and for a really stupid reason. To wit -- despite the great songs, that gated 80s drum sound just drives me up a fricking wall.

Awrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: blue collar movies -- is now up over at Box Office. As always, I'd really appreciate if you could see your way to going over there and posting a comment, thus convincing management I'm worthy of the AIG-style salary they're paying me.]

Oh For Heaven's Sake, It's Yet Another Fershluginner Early Clue to the New Direction!

From 1968, and his quite delightful solo album, we offer a late great hero of mine -- Lovin' Spoonful guitarist and all around fun guy Zal Yanovsky -- and his wonderful version of Floyd Cramer's piano instrumental "Last Date."


You can download it HERE.

As usual, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who gleans its relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania, but I'm not holding my breath.

Oh, and if the link to the clip has expired by the time you get there, e-mail me blah blah blah.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I was able to download the entire Zal album over at one of the most amazing websites around. I refer, of course, to the way cool redtelephone66.blogspot.com. The proprietor, the redoubtable Leonard Los, puts up audio from equally obscure and wonderful 60s and early 70s pop and psych albums -- all derived, apparently, from the world's most incredible vinyl collection -- at least once a day, and I guarantee you'll find something over there that will absolutely blow your mind. Go give the guy some love, for heaven's sake.

Fun With Downloads: Cambridge is Lovely This Time of Year

From his 2000 album, please enjoy genius Soft Boys/Katrina and the Waves guitarist and songwriter Kimberly Rew's quite exquisite "Simple Pleasures."


Seriously, this is as perfect a pop/rock record as you can imagine -- killer riff, wordly wise lyric, wonderful real guy vocals, and a chorus for the ages. You can download it HERE. As always, if the authorization has expired by the time you get to it, just e-mail me and blah blah blah.

And since we're worrying about the ethical implications of my posting some of this stuff, if you like the song (and frankly, if you don't you're either dead or don't much like smiling) you should order the album (which is great) over here pronto.

Le Rapportant Tout à La Maison

God, I love the Intertubes.

Reason I mention it is -- the other day, I flashed on something I seemed to vaguely recall from the dim dark past: An article in the New York Times, circa 1965 or '66, about French pop/rock which mentioned that there was some Frog protest singer who was kind of like a French Bob Dylan. And that he had an acolyte -- a Gallic Donovan? -- that had taken the whole thing into another dimension.

What I mostly recalled was that the latter guy -- and there was a photo in the article -- looked almost exactly like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family.

Anyway, thanks to the miracle of the Google, I just discovered I wasn't hallucinating any of this. At least not exactly.

Ladies and germs -- I give you the majesty that was and is Édouard!


Édouard was the alter ego of Jean-Michel Rivat, a pop songwriter who wrote French hits for the gorgeous Sylvie Vartan among others. Rivat took his parody of long-haired singers way over the top, as you can see from the above album cover, but the music was actually not terrible, as you'll hear downstairs.

What I also learned in the course of researching this was that the main butt of Rivat's joke was a French pop star named Antoine, who remains world famous in France. Édouard's hit "Les Hallucinations D'Édouard" is a straight-up cover of Antoine's signature song "Les Élucubrations D'Antoine" (which was itself a semi-rewrite of Dylan's "Subterranean Homesick Blues").


Anyway, here's the original Antoine song. Pretty good video, actually.



And here's Édouard's response.



In any case, one thing is certain -- Édouard...



...and Cousin Itt before him...


...were clearly the major fashion influence on one of the most iconic rockers and guitar heros of the late 80s.



Come to think of it -- have any of these people ever been in the same room together?

In any case, I am pleased to note that you can get a CD of that Antoine song (plus his other blows against the empire) at Amazon France over here.

Of the longer-tressed Édouard, alas, I can find no disc anywhere. Anybody know any French torrent sites?

[h/t Marcellina]

Fun With Downloads: Meet the Spongetones

Given that reader Linda had this to say at the comments section over at Friday's Best Love Songs Listomania --

"Future Perfect" by The Spongetones.
I'm prejudiced,though; it's about me and my husband, who co-wrote the song.

-- I would be seriously remiss if I didn't add something in praise of those long-running powerpop gods.

In that case, from their 2000 album Odd Fellows, please enjoy The Spongetone's spectacular cover of Sir Paul McCartney's "On the Wings of a Nightingale" which can be downloaded here.


The song itself -- and I've never been able to determine exactly when Paul wrote it -- was a minor hit for the Everly Brothers on their wonderful 80s comeback album EB 84. The track was produced by Dave Edmunds and was very much in his vein, with lots of massed acoustic guitars. The Spongetones, however, redid the song a la vintage Merseybeat guitar rock, sounding as it might have if the Fab Four had had a go at it back in the day. As you'll hear, they did an absolutely brilliant job-- the basic track recalls the Fabs circa '64 or '65, but with a lovely recreation of George Harrison's All Things Must Pass lead guitar stylings on top. I think it's a knockout.

Oh, and you can download Sir Paul's quite lovely stripped down original solo demo of the song here.

As always, if the clips have expired by the time you get to them, e-mail and I'll send you the mp3s.

The Remnants of Dignity

A slightly melancholy postscript to the Searchers album item downstairs:

My 80s skinny tie band absolutely adored those guys; when we first got together in '79, the basic template for what we were doing was "It's Too Late," the glorious single from that comeback album, and we covered both it and the other classic track, The Records-penned "Hearts in Her Eyes," which we used to open our sets with for years. People on the Village club circuit we frequented basically thought we wrote it; we were "That band who does 'Hearts in Her Eyes'."

Both of those songs, incidentally, and lots of other gorgeous ones including what I think is the best-ever version of John Fogerty's "Almost Saturday Night," can be found on on the CD below, which includes the first LP and the 1980 followup Love's Melodies.


Anyway, the Searchers finally showed up at a club on Bleecker Street in '83 or 84; it was their first American performances since the early 70s (I think they had done a British Invasion nostalgia show at the Garden) and it was our first chance to see our heros in person. We were stoked, obviously, and we crammed into the place along with lots of other musician friends (including members of the Smithereens), anticipation running high.

Short version: They had become what the Brits call a cabaret act; they did shortened medleys of their hits, covered some then-current lame Top 40 crap, told a lot of dumb family friendly jokes, and generally carried on like they were the opening band at Tommy's Holiday Camp. We got more and more depressed as the evening wore on, and finally I called out for "It's Too Late" and "Hearts in Her Eyes" at which point lead singer Mike Pender stopped for a second, had a mumbled conversation with the rest of the group, and then looked at me with a sad expression and said "Sorry mate. We've never actually played either of those live."

I was crushed.

Anyway, you can download their gorgeous version of "Hearts in Her Eyes" here. As always, if the authorization expires before you get to it, just e-mail me and I'll pass the mp3 along to you.

Fun With Downloads: Great Bands Steal, Mediocre Bands Borrow

Please enjoy the gorgeous "It's Too Late," a true powerpop classic you might not have heard from The Searchers' fabulous eponymous 1979 comeback album. You can download it here.



And when you're done, take a moment to check out "If I Ever Get Another Chance," from the 1995 album illustrated below (featuring a bass player whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels), which you can download here.


Sounds like the same song to me -- can't imagine how that happened.

Oh, and BTW, if the authorization for either of the clips has expired by the time you get to them, e-mail me and I'll send you the mp3s, blah blah blah.

Saturday Night Glam Blogging

I keep coming back to Mud because to me they encapsulate everything that was cool and fun about 70s glam rock. They rocked most righteously and they had a catalog of great songs that burrow into your head and stay there. Mud also gets extra points for the glam teddy boy threads in colors that Liberace would no doubt reject as too garish. Cheers and have a wonderful weekend!

Weekend Listomania (Special L'Amour, Toots Shor L'Amour Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental groinal manipulator nutritional advisor Fah Lo Suee and I will be travelling to the fabulous off-shore resort L'île des Bonifications de Conservation (or Island of Retention Bonuses) for the first annual AIG "Eat It, Suckers" retreat and pig roast.

As a result, posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic for a few days.

But in my absence, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

Best Post-Elvis Love Song and/or Record!!!

Self-explanatory, obviously, so no arbitrary rules this time -- the song can be rapturous, bitter, horny, whatever. Just nothing about animals, please.

Oh, and don't give me any of that Stephen Merritt/Magnetic Fields bullshit, cause I don't want to hear about it.

Okay, here's my totally top of my head Top Six:

6. You Belong to Me Now -- Candy Butchers



I actually think this is the single most beautiful song written in the English language in the first decade of the 21st century. And if Mike Viola isn't on anybody's short list of the most emotionally compelling rock singers ever, I don't know who should be.

5. Here Without You -- The Byrds



Gene Clark at his most gorgeous, with the possible exception of "The World Turns All Around Her," for which I couldn't find a video. Why this one isn't a more often-covered standard is beyond me, although I seem to recall Richard Thompson did a nice version on a Byrds tribute album in the 80s.

4. Frederick -- Patti Smith



Frederick, as in her husband, the late Fred "Sonic" Smith, of MC5 fame. This song has killed me since vinyl days -- you can't help but wish that someday somebody would write as obviously felt and eloquent a love song about you. The chances are slim, of course.

3. Don't Worry Baby -- The Beach Boys



Heartfelt and heartbreaking, and one of those personal, confessional songs where Brian Wilson more or less invented the whole personal, confessional LA singer/songwriter genre that everybody thought was such a big deal when people like Joni and Jackson did it years later.

2. Andalucia -- John Cale



From one of my absolute favorite albums of all time, and ineffably touching, I think. No video, alas, but you can download the mp3 here. BTW -- the guy doing all the gorgeous guitar stuff is a pre-Little Feat Lowell George, whose name was left off the credits until the most recent CD reissue.

And the number one not necessarily silly love song, I think for a change we're all going to agree on this, obviously is --

1. Here, There and Everywhere -- The Beatles



One of the two most perfect pop records Paul McCartney ever made with his first band (the other, obviously, is "For No One") and all the justification for his knighthood anybody could possibly need.

Awrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania -- theme: Nazis: I Hate Those Guys! flicks -- is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you could be kind enough to go over there and leave a comment, it would ensure my continuing post-AIG bonuses. Thanks!]

Oh Just Bite Me Already, It's Another Goddamn Early Clue to the New Direction

From 1966, here's the incomparable Monks and their years ahead of its time Blank Generation punk ode to relationship dysfunction "I Hate You."




As always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who twigs its relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.