From just a few weeks or so ago, please enjoy The Weeklings -- featuring Glen Burtnick, a guy with a great rock-and-roll resume as long as your arm -- and their video for a transplendent cover of the title song from the Tom Hanks movie classic That Thing You Do!
Let me add a couple of things at this juncture.
Number one: This is just fucking awesome, period.
Number two: I love that there's a photo of the song's composer (Adam Schlesinger of Fountains of Wayne) on the wall behind Burtnick.
And number three: Schlesinger was one of the early COVID deaths last year; I blame that completely on President Schmucko, and have no doubt that it alone will make him (Trump) rot in hell for all eternity.
Okay, now that I've got that off my chest, let me just add that you can (and should) purchase the Weeklings new album over at Amazon HERE.
I should also add that if you haven't seen the movie, get the Blu-Ray version (also at Amazon); it has about ten minutes of additional footage that was edited out of the theatrical and DVD versions, and which sheds
some interesting light on the Hanks character.
Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Asian erotic mixologist Fah Lo Suee and I will be...well, actually I'm not going to tell you where we're going. Nyah nyah nyah. Eat your hearts out.
But in the meantime, here's a fun little project for all of us:
Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Soul Record Referencing Fermented Spirits in the Title or Lyrics!
No arbirtrary rules whatsoever, obviously, although it would be a good idea if your nominees were posted by you in the condition the songs suggest.
And my totally Top of My Head Top Ten would be:
10. Procol Harum -- Drunk Again
From their next to last album with more or less the original line-up. And written about their tragically flawed but brilliant drummer B.J. Wilson.
9. Jeff Beck Group with Rod Stewart -- I've Been Drinking
Words fail me over how brilliant that is. For Beck's guitar solo alone.
8. The Hounds -- I've Been Drinking
My mid-70s band covering the Beck/Stewart version; I'm doing the Beck solo, and not badly, I think.
7. George Thorogood and the Destroyers -- I Drink Alone
I mostly never cared for Thorogood, but this particular song and video is without question the funniest ode to alcoholic solipsism of all time.
6. The Paul Butterfield Blues Band -- Drunk Again
Pretty droll, and Butterfield -- besides being one of the best blues guys of the 60s -- knew from whereof he spoke. In the mid 70s/early 80s, when I was living in Greenwich Village, I used to see him at the end of the bar every Saturday afternoon at the old Bitter End, and he was shall we say well lubricated on every one of those occasions.
5. Procol Harum -- Whiskey Train
One of their absolute best songs, and once again written about their tragic alcoholic drummer B.J. Wilson.
4. The Rolling Stones -- Loving Cup
A random choice from too many others by those guys to even contemplate.
3. John Lee Hooker -- One Bourbon One Scotch One Beer
Pretty much self-explanatory.
2. The Champs -- Tequila
One of the great early rock 'n' roll instrumentals. I should add that for years I was under the impression that both Seals AND Crofts played on this record, but apparently that is, as they say, misleading. They were members of the Champs well after "Tequila" had been a hit. That said -- this clip is actually totally live, which is pretty remarkable for its day..
And the numero uno, most fabulous song/record about that stuff that gets you high is unquestionably....
From his utterly brilliant 1983 EP Trap Door, please enjoy T-Bone Burnett and his preternaturally prescient ode to Presidenct Schmucko "A Ridiculous Man."
I should add that the abovementioned EP is a masterpiece that also features T-Bone's beyond brilliant Lou Reed-esque cover of "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend."
From 1993, please enjoy Los Lobos -- aka one of the greatest American bands of the last several decades -- and their beyond fantastic live cover of The Beatles psychedlic classic studio masterpeice "Tomorrow Never Knows."
Holy crap -- ABBA is about to release their first album of new music in four decades.
And coincidentally, also four decades old -- here are the fabulous Floor Models (featuring a bassist whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels) covering ABBA's classic "S.O.S."
And speaking, as we were last Friday, of Bob McFadden's classic 1959 novelty single The Mummy -- featuring Rod McKuen -- please enjoy its less celebrated B-side "The Beat Generation."
And then, from 1977, please compare and contrast it with ex-Television bass player and punk rock pioneer Richard Hell and his signature anthem "Blank Generation."
Nah, they're not the same song. And you'd be a fool or a Communist to suggest otherwise.
Seriously, it's really true -- there's nothing new under the lucky old sun.
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