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!!! 😎

La Fin de La Semaine Essay Question: Special "At My Age, It's Easy" Edition

Okay, as I mentioned earlier, I've had to go out of town unexpectedly for a couple of days, and consequently I've had to keep my scribbling to a bare minimum until my return.

So without further ado, this leads us inexorably to the subject of today's business. To wit:

...and the best/most immediately memorable lead-off track to a great album is...???

Discuss.

No arbitrary rules whatsoever, although I was tempted to add "excluding the Beatles or Stones". But heck -- if that's the stuff you wanna pick, go for it.

In any case, if you were wondering what I'm going for, it's this (which may surprise you).

To which I can only add -- wow. And the song that opens their previous (debut) album is pretty fucking amazing too. 😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend everybody!!!

[h/t Sal Nunziato]

Closed for Monkey Business

Had to go out of town unexpectedly for the next couple of days (family mishegass -- nothing too serious) so I didn't have time to write something for today. Mea culpa.

Regular posting -- by which I mean a particularly interesting Weekend Essay Questiion -- resumes on the morrow.

"The Local Rock Group Down the Street is Trying Hard to Learn Their Song..."

From Second to None, the just-released new album by Toronto's ace jangle-rockers The Get Alongs, please enjoy the band (plus a small but enthusiastic invited audience) live in the studio with the album's killer lead-off track "Come On."

I gotta say, as much as I appreciate that song in the abstract, the video has an old-fashioned (duh) garage band vibe to it that I just find irresistible. I was not previously familiar with those guys, who I'm informed have been around since 2017, but after seeing that I am an instant fan.

I should add that, as charming as the live rendition is, the studio version from the actual album is on a whole other level of great. You can hear it (plus the rest of the album and lots of their earlier stuff) over at their Bandcamp site HERE.

Tuesday's Music-Themed Photo-Funnies

Bill Wyman doing Ed Sullivan -- let's really hear it for him, boys and girls!!! 😎

Songs I'd Forgotten Existed, Let Alone Loved (An Occasional Series): Special "Legendary Bands I Actually Saw in a Small Club Before They Were Legends" Edition

From January 1967, please enjoy the original (i.e. with Jerry Corbitt as the Lennon to Jesse Colin Young's McCartney) Youngbloods, and their utterly exquisite "All Over the World" (La La)".

An absolutely perfect mashup of Brill Building romanticism and folk-rock; proto-power pop too, come to think of it.

Pardon me for one more day's obnoxious geezer self-indulgence, but I happen to believe that the eponymous debut Youngbloods album, from whence that derives, is an absolute freaking masterpiece on every level. And let's not even bring "Get Together" into the discussion.

In any event, the song seemed like a fitting late coda to last week, in which we argued for the virtues of the Youngbloods contemporaries The Sopwith Camel and Chrysalis. Especially considering that I saw those Youngbloods guys at the tiny Greenwich Village dive the Cafe Au-Go-Go (seating: about 200-300) immediately after the album's release. And that the band sounded exactly -- and I mean EXACTLY -- like the above.