La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "If I Hear One More of These New Waif Bands, I Swear to God I'm Gonna Take a Hostage" Edition

From 2025, please enjoy (if possible) HAIM (pronounced like "L'Chaim," if you know what I mean) and "All Over Me."

Yeah, yeah, yeah...nice Jewish girls and who gives a shit.

Seriously -- the album that's from (I Quit, or as I like to refer to it, If Only) is making a lot of critics Best-Of lists for 2025, and given that I've never mentioned these kids here before, I just gotta say, and for the record, that I totally don't get it. Bloodless, soulless, too cute for words MOR without a single element of interest, either vocally or instrumentally.

Of course, I feel pretty much the same about most of the rest of current/contemporary commercially successful pop, but even so...😎

Hey -- wait a minute. That's obviously a subject for this weekend's business. To wit:

Most current/contemporary commercially successful pop music -- yay or nay? Your thoughts.

Discuss.

Now granted, the above may seem like critical laziness on my part, but swear to god I've been meaning to ask y'all about that for what seems like ages. And in case you haven't guessed, my feeling is that most of today's music is by and large the crappiest it's ever been in my lifetime. Or at least since the pre-rock early Fifties. I mean, like "How much is that doggie in the window" crappy.

In any case, I should add that I'm enforcing no arbitrary rules here, although I must emphasize the whole "commercially successful" parameter. Which is to say we're talking Taylor Swift-adjacent or nearby, sales-wise; some obscure indie not-even-a-cult act that nobody but you has ever heard of should not enter into the discussion. 😎😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR opinion be on this weighty topic?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Your Thursday Moment of Words Fail Me: Special "They Lose Me After the Bunker Scene" Edition

Okay, this is real. Swear to god.

The short version -- it's from an actual 1971 major label (RCA) album by heavy-metal/psych band The Third World. And a rock crit friend of mine actually saw them do this live at the original Capitol Theatre.

Here are the lyrics.

On the bleak and barren morning
Back in 1889
Something lethal and appalling
Of an evil black design

Was let loose upon the people
Of a planet all so small
And the mention of his name
Would turn the angels' blood to gall!

Hitler is alive and well (in you)
Hitler is alive and well (in you)
Hitler is alive and well (in you)

He was just a man, a boy, my friend
Who loved his blackened toys
And in just a span of ten short years
He uniformed his boys

Persecution, hate and violence
And his mother filled his head
And the glory that he left behind
Look at six million dead!

What he's loved it is to listen
To that fake God-caging lines
Say the evil men shall perish
And there where we are acclaimed

Do with our blood-red power
Of a man who spouts his will
And the silent through majority
Are the ones that wanna kill!

Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!
Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill! Kill!

The Third World? Okay -- these guys are NOT to be confused with the long-running Jamaican reggae band of sort of the same name. That said, alas, I haven't been able to find much biographical data about them; apparently they were from NYC, had some vague connection to Vanilla Fudge, and broke up shortly after the release of the album.

The Hitler thing, though...Wow. 😎

Or as Cristina Applegate famously remarked on Married With Children -- "the mind wobbles." 😎😎

[h/t Jim Farber]

Raul Malo 1965 - 2025

My favorite thing of his/theirs. And maybe the best version of the song ever, IMHO.

Have I mentioned that this death shit...oh hell, you know the rest.

Hey -- I Thought It Was 4000 Holes in Blackburn, Not Blackpool!!!

Okay, I hadn't seen this before last weekend; apologies to the hardcore Beatles fans amongst our readers for whom it may be old news.

In any case, that's pretty fab, no? Like, one of the best Beatles live performances ever committed to film?

Incidentally, the guys who introduce the lads are beloved Brit comic duo (Eric) Morecambe and (Ernie) Wise, who the great critic Kenneth Tynan once noted "had a unique dynamic -- Ernie was a comedian who wasn't funny, while Eric was a straight man who was." 😎

[h/t Capt. Al]

Songs I'd Forgotten Existed, Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series): Special "The World is My Mollusk" Edition

From their 1992 album Deserters, please enjoy Irish folk-rockers Oysterband and their gloriously anthemic ode to existential disillusionment "All That Way For This."

As I said when I first posted about these guys in 2010 (yipes!):

What we wanted was chain lightning
What we wanted was 8 miles high
What we wanted was free fallin' and our turn to fly

What we wanted was more fireworks
Everlasting 4th of July
What we wanted was more stars in a bluer sky

All we wanted was something worth it
Worth the labour, worth the wait
Then they take you up to the mountain
And you see too late...

In the middle of a good time
Truth gave me her icy kiss
Look around, you must be joking
All that way, all that way for this?

That's about as close to actual poetry as pop music gets or should get; certainly, it sums up the whole cosmic dilemma of life thing as well as any song I can remember off the top of my head. Not to mention the band absolutely kills in a Celtic modal rave-up sort of way.

I'll stand by that description, although I must add in sadness that when I decided to revisit the song the other day, I (as today's youngs put it) did the research. And found that, while they remain active, Oysterband officially retired from touring just last August. A pretty good run by any standards, obviously.

In any case, you can hear more of their music, and keep abreast of their post-retirement musical activities, over at their official website HERE.

Tá fáilte mhór romhat. That's Irish for "you're welcome very much," in case you were wondering. 😎

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "Everybody Needs an Editor" Edition

So speaking, as we were on Wednesday just passed, of Lou Reed's classic "Sweet Jane"...

As you are doubtless aware, the song's original recorded incarnation -- on the Velvet Underground's (for me life-changing album) Loaded, in November of 1970 -- was edited down from a longer version. Somebody -- Lou himself, perhaps, or maybe somebody at the record company (this has been lost in the primordial mists of time and in any case has been much argued) decided to excise the song's bridge, which was finally restored for the 1995 Velvets box set Peel Slowly and See.

In case you haven't heard it in a while, here it is -- usually referred to by fans as that "Heavenly wine and roses thing" -- for your audio delectation.

Which leads us, inexorably, to the subject of the weekend's business. To wit:

Does the inclusion of the "Heavenly Wine and Roses" bridge hurt or help "Sweet Jane" as a song?

Discuss.

Ahem. So as I suspect no one will be surprised to learn, my feeling is it hurts. Big time. IMHO what's particularly great about the familiar version of SJ is the sheer simple perfection of the four greatest chords in the history of rock; anything that interferes with that is like drawing a mustache on the Mona Lisa, i.e. nothing short of blasphemy.

But that's just me. What do YOU guys think?

And don't hold back -- you won't be bruising my fee fees, I promise you that. 😎

And in the meantime -- have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Okay, I Couldn't Resist

A gentleman named Jamie Williams put together this great seasonal tribute to the Motörhead bass legend.

Ice Ice Lemmy, maybe? 😎

In any case, an absolutely thought provoking Weekend Essay Question arrives on the morrow -- scout's honor.

Cover Version of the Week (An Occasional Series): Special "Somebody's in Their Corset Again" Edition

Wow. Seriously. Just wow.

Man, does that suit her voice/vocal range or what?

I hadn't heard that before I stumbled across it on YouTube the other day, and I have to say it blew my tiny mind. Apparently, it was done in 2016 for the soundtrack of the final season of The Good Wife, the highly acclaimed political thriller serial (on CBS) that I somehow managed to miss as well.

In any event, that may be the best "Sweet Jane" cover ever, and I say that as a) somebody who used to sing the song live with my old garage band chums The Weasels and b) has sworn by Mott the Hoople's Bowie-produced version for several decades now.

May I say again -- wow? 😎

Tuesday's Cartoon (and Photo) Chuckles

Okay, I don't know who was responsible for that last one -- it wasn't me, honest -- but I think it's kind of on the money anyway. 😎

My New Favorite Band (An Occasional Series): Special "It Came From Sydney" Edition

From just a few minutes ago in 2025, please enjoy drop dead great Australian retro powerpop-sters Large Mirage and their infectious and hilarious ode to a gal who can't quite make up her mind -- "Miss Okay."

Man, those kids really have the Revolver guitars and vocal harmonies down, don't they?

Can't seem to find a detailed bio of them anywhere online so I'm not sure how long they've been doing this sort of thing, although they're apparently highly regarded as a live act in the land Down Under. That said, you can dig more of their music, and find out a little more about them, over at their official website HERE.

G'day, mates!

[h/t Michael Conroy]