I first heard this in late 2006 when it was used in a montage at the end of an episode of the short-lived (three episodes?) Ray Liotta TV crime show Smith, although I'm told it had also figured earlier on The O.C. In any case, I remember practically falling off the couch at the time and thinking it's the most bizarrely haunting thing I'd ever encountered. It's almost a whole new genre -- Android Doo-Wop, anybody?
Hmm...I'm sensing a sort of recurring theme amongst today's entries. 😎
That's from a just released new album called Good Morning Rock and Roll; they've have been around since the early 'aughts, however, and I should add that apart from the amusing nom de musique, I really really also like them for their attitude.
From their press kit:
Much like Lennon & McCartney wrote catchy hooks out of practical necessity—lacking a tape recorder, they had to hum melodies until their next meeting—Mr. Nilsson crafts buoyant pop tunes out of sheer survival instinct.
"The songs simply have to be good," explains frontman and principal songwriter Terje Bringsvor Nilsen. "Otherwise, at least one of us loses interest, and our rehearsals devolve into alcohol-infused knitting clubs."
In any case, you can hear more of their music and find out more about them generally over HERE.
For now, let's just say we had a much better than expected time. Ringo was in fine form -- funny, charming, and a monster on the skins -- and the supporting folks (including a couple of Totos, the bass player of the Average White Band, and Colin Hay of Men at Work) covered themselves in glory, both in support and in their solo turns. Plus, I'd totally forgotten what a beautiful (and power pop adjacent) song "Photograph" is. In other words, a splendid time was had by all.
Which leads us, inevitably and inexorably, to the subject of today's business. To wit:
...and the pop star/musician, living or dead, you would most like to see/have seen as a member of Ringo's All-Starr Band, is...???
Discuss.
In case you're wondering, here's my nominee.
And in case you're wondering why -- well, forgetting how great a singer the guy is, I just think it would be a total gas to hear Ringo getting down to that Memphis Hi Records groove thing, which I have no doubt whatsoever that he could deliver with his customary aplomb.
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choice(s) be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
More specifically, this very evening a certain Shady Dame and I will be attending a performance by ex-Beatles pagan skins pounder Ringo Starr...
...and his latest incarnation of the All-Starr Band at historic Forest Hills stadium. Which is more or less in our proverbial back yard.
And apart from the splendid time that is guaranteed for all, said show is even more historic because the last time Ringo played there was in 1964 (specifically, August 8th of that year) with his old band.
I'll have more to say about the show tomorrow, but in the meantime a coveted PowerPop NoPrize© will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the significance of all of the above to the theme of Friday's Weekend Essay Question.
You're welcome very much. 😎
In any case, that's brilliant Australian pub rock/New Wave band The Sports and their utterly fab 1979 hit "Who Listens to the Radio", a song which seems newly relevant given the once unthinkable levels of drivel that now pollute our air waves here in the third decade of the 21st century; sometime soon I really gotta do a think piece on the larger issues raised by that. I would also like to add that the guitar player on the right hand side in the video has some of the coolest jumping stage moves in the history of rock-and-roll.
BTW, for some reason I thought that came out on Stiff Records originally, but a Google search suggests otherwise; if any hard core collectors/vinyl nerds out there can clear up that confusion, I'd be happy to award them a coveted PowerPop No-Prize© for their trouble.
The Bermuda Triangle one is freaking brilliant, I'll tell you that for free. 😎
The big influence there is, obviously, Steely Dan, which has always been a good thing in my book, and don't give me any of that Yacht Rock shit, because I don't want to hear it. In any case, Jackson's evocation of that 70's sound has a nice (admittedly subtle) contemporary edge to it, and frankly if you profess not to enjoy the result you're just being difficult.
The album that it's on is coming out momentarily; other than that I haven't been able to find any info on the guy or the album (or Tim's history -- obviously, he's been around for a while) but I'll do the research and get back to you ASAP.
So let's get directly and inexorably to our business at hand.
To wit:
...and the post-Elvis pop/rock/soul/folk/country/hip-hop solo artist or band you feel could have been hugely commercially successful based on their name alone is...???
Discuss.
No arbitrary rules whatsoever, by which I mean if you want to nominate somebody who was/is actually famous go for it.
In any event, my nominee is these guys...
...who were a kind of big deal in the NYC underground of the 80s. (By kind of a big deal, I mean that I used to see flyers for their CBGBs gigs on lampposts in my Village neighborhood all the time). In any case, I never got to see them live, but I always thought their moniker was hilarious. And I should add that after stumbling across their music online recently, I really regret having missed them back in the day -- as you can hear, their shtick was a kind of unpretentious, often amusingly rootsy racket that I would have dug the most in a small club.
Alrighty then -- who would YOUR choice(s) be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!! 😎
PS: You can find out more about these guys -- including the skinny on their upcoming (November) NYC reunion show -- over at their official website HERE.
Ladies and germs, please enjoy (from 2019) an absolutely staggeringly great live (sort of unplugged) version of Vampire Weekend's sublime "This Life."
In all seriousness, I think this is the best pop song/record of the current century so far. Everything about it makes me tingle, beginning with the jangly "Brown Eyed Girl"--Meets--Graceland acoustic/electric guitars.
And this is sheer poetry.
I should add that I've been grooving on the official/studio single video of that for years......darling our disease
Is the same one as the trees
Unaware that they've been living in a forest
...but I stumbled across the live version above the other day and just totally lost my shit. I mean, don't even get me started on lead singer Ezra Koenig's plaintively breathy vocals.
Your thoughts???
