Friday, March 17, 2023

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "Ferry Cross the East River” Edition

From his splendid (just released) album A Big Life, please enjoy veteran pop/rock/guitar whiz Ed Ryan and his utterly addictive kick-ass confection "Settle Down."

Ed is an alumnus of the NYC music scene/explosion of the original CBGBs era; he was in at least two bands -- Day Old Bread and The Rudies -- that I'm pretty sure I saw back in my Bowery days. That new song above, to my ears, has a fabulous early Beatles vibe to it -- the verses sound like "Misery," n'est-ce pas? -- but then it veers off into a whole other more modern thing, and those chiming guitar figures at the end just kill me; if any of you guys can identify a specific record, by anybody, Ed's paying homage to there I'd be forever in your debt.

In the meantime, you can -- and very definitely should -- order A Big Life over at Kool Kat Muzik. You'll thank me.

But now on to business. To wit:

...and the rock band who made the most subtle or inventive use of their Beatles influences is/was...?

Discuss.

And have a great weekend, everybody!

15 comments:

Goran said...

The Weeklings!

edward said...

The Rutles;>

Sal Nunziato said...

Those guitar runs sound like And Your Bird Can Sing, sideways.

Wendy said...

Sal -- I think you're right, thanks!

Cleveland Jeff said...

Subtle or inventive use of Beatles influence?
So not obvious like say, Raspberries or Badfinger
Inventive creates a unique challenge also...
I'll go with Sloan, just off the top of my head

steve simels said...

Cleveland Jeff: I concur.

I would also go for The Loud Family.

The Kenosha Kid said...

...and the rock band who made the LEAST subtle or inventive use of their Beatles influences is/was...?

ELO - Mr. Blue Sky

...and the rock band who made the most subtle or inventive use of their Beatles influences is/was...?

Nirvana - About a Girl

Mark said...

Sloan and Loud Family (as well as Game Theory), yes. Also XTC and Stackridge (both of whom strike me as where The Beatles might've gone had they stuck around), as well as Cotton Mather and Tommy Keene.

pete said...

Squeeze

Anonymous said...

Toss Up -
The Knack - Bad Finger (obvious), James Taylor / Apple Album

ChrisE said...

Guided By Voices. They've also done several songs that are great and accurate homages to the Beatles' sound at various stages of the Fab 4's career. Check the tracks "Chicken Blows", "As We Go Up, We Go Down", and "Game Of Pricks" from the GBV album ALIEN LANES, as well as "Crutch Came Slinking" and "Fantasy Creeps" from KING SHIT & THE GOLDEN BOYS. Oh, also "Mincer Ray" from BEE THOUSAND.

ChrisE said...

One more GBV song: "Echos Myron", from BEE THOUSAND.

Alzo said...

The Liverbirds.

SteveS said...

I gotta go with Squeeze as well.

And "Settle Down" is a pretty cool song. Aside from the Beatles' influence. I hear pure 80's pop in the intro riff (sounds like the Cars, IMO) and the melody line of the opening verse has a *really* familiar ring to it, although I can't place it ATM.

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