That song just makes me grin from ear to ear. Jeebus, what a chorus.
Incidentally, the album cover is by the great Mad (magazine) artist Mort Drucker. I went to college with his lovely daughter, and Mort once did a very Mort-esque poster for a college theater production of the musical version of Canterbury Tales she and I were involved in. I don't remember much about the show at this point, although I seem to recall that I played King Arthur as Groucho. Hey, it was the 70s.
The poster was really cool in any case, but of course I lacked the foresight to keep a copy.
"I don't remember much about the show at this point, although I seemed to recall that I played King Arthur as Groucho."
ReplyDeleteAs good as this song...and really, the whole record...is, it just can't be as good as the above.
Mort Drucker can do no wrong ... unlike some artists. So about three or four years ago, and buddy and I drive many miles through a fierce snowstorm to see Adrian Belew do a solo gig at a small club in our town. We have high expectations based on his work with the Bears and Rick Altizer. We struggle to park, and slog into the club, and are disappointed by 45 minutes of ear-splitting noodling and tuneless playing with effects, and nothing much that could be described as a "song", or even notable guitar playing. Leaving to preserve what was left of our hearing, we spent the next 45 minutes digging the car out of the snow and wondering if maybe there were two Adrian Belew's out there, or maybe we'd read the ad wrong, it we'd just seen Adrian Balew, or Bolew ... or some random guy who'd walked in out of the storm. As I listen to "Raining", I still wonder.
ReplyDeleteBrother Steven -
ReplyDeleteRemember Gordon Micunis throwing a fit & screaming, "Shitshitshit!" & stomping his feet?
BTW - the only three good things I remember about that play were Mort's poster & your Arthur & Mort's more-than-lovely daughter, Lori.
judging from the Drucker cover the name of the band should have been The Chins;>
ReplyDeleteI saw this tour in a small local club. It was a fine power-pop affair with some choice Adrien Belew solo covers (like Big Electric Cat and The Momur).
ReplyDeleteNothing like the guitar-as-noisy-weapon stuff Belew seems interested in now.
Is that the play in which the duck came down from the ceiling? :-)
ReplyDeleteAnd Drucker's style is one-of-a-kind.
As a MAD magazine fan from childhood, I always liked that album cover. Seeing it gave rise to my fantasy as a grad student to commission a Drucker portrait of myself and my two roommates.
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