From the September 1993 issue of The Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review, please enjoy my musings on the then-new Broadway version of The Who's Tommy.
Click on it to enlarge, obviously.
I hadn't read that it in a while, so I was pleased to discover that it was still pretty funny; as you can tell, I really REALLY disliked the show.
I had forgotten, however, that the people who adapted the album for the stage had (to me inexplicably) turned the child-molesting Uncle Ernie into a sympathetic character. Given recent events, you gotta wonder how that will play if they ever stage a revival at (the apparently soon to be renamed as the) Trump Center in DC. 😎
In any event, I think the above has gotta go into the Steve's Greatest Hits book I've been nattering on about here for the last couple of years.
And while I'm on the subject -- actual news about that is coming soon. Possibly even next week; I'll keep you guys posted. 😎😎
From his 1981 debut solo album Law and Order, please enjoy pop genius auteur Lindsey Buckingham and the world class nuttiness that is "Bwana."
Those falsetto glissandos...those Munchkin background vocal "ra-ta-ta-tas"...oh my god.
Frankly, I flipped for this song from the moment I first heard it, and to this day it a) absolutely cracks me up and b) I have no freaking idea what it's about. (I should add I'm not sure Buckingham could get away with the lyrics in 2025. I mean -- "Bwana"? Not exactly PC -- it's kind of the poetic equivalent of wearing a gorilla suit.) 😎
Let's just say our younger readers can have no conception of how subversive this guy was when he arrived in the 1950s -- as a DIY underground sensation, who released his own records on his own label.
BTW, the song above got premiered on a 1965 prime-time TV show called That Was the Week That Was; Lehrer was a regular for a while and was very often a little too controversial for the suits at the network. I bring this up because it's particularly pertinent to today's repressive media climate, i.e. one where the Trump administration is installing an "official bias monitor" to censor CBS if they get too uppity in the future. (I did not make that last up, BTW; this is the world we're living in).
Anyway, the guy was a pop genius, and I can only imagine what he must have thought about the Manchurian Cantaloupe.
Oh, and here's what seems to have been the last song he wrote and recorded (it originally appeared as a bonus track on a Rhino Records Lehrer box set in 2000).
[I originally posted this one back in 2012, when this blog and the world had not yet endured the reign of the Manchurian Cantaloupe and the attendant destruction of American democracy. In any case, given all the Beach Boys stuff I posted the other week (occasioned by the death of Brian Wilson) I thought it might be fun to revisit it. As per usual on these occasions, I've done some re-writing and swapped out a couple of songs, although the list itself remains from the original version. Enjoy, if possible. - S.S.]
Okay -- here's a fun and hopefully relevant little project with an amusing subtext that we can all get behind while I take a long and well deserved nap:
TOP TEN MOST IMPORTANT AMERICAN ROCK BANDS OF THE SIXTIES!!!
No arbitrary rules, except that I said "bands" -- no solo artists or folk duos need apply (sorry Bob, sorry Paul, sorry Artie etc.)
And no singing/vocal groups either. Which means that if you nominate The Mamas and the Papas or any of the Motown acts other than Jr. Walker and the All-Stars I am going to taunt you mercilessly. We're talking bands here -- with people who, like, play guitars and drums and stuff. Okay? Okay.
And so, my totally top of my head Top Ten, in no particular order except for Number One, is/are:
10: The Rascals
Blue-eyed soul. Nobody did it better and with more rock attitude.
9: The MC5
"The American Ruse" indeed, and it's really quite horrific that this song hasn't dated a whit. I should add that the above live version was totally unknown to me until yesterday.
8: The Velvet Underground
Nelson Algren meets the Rolling Stones. If you think that anybody at the moment is doing something as innovative, gutsy and avant-garde, please e-mail me at Just Blow Me.Com. Thank you.
7: The Blues Project
Maybe you had to be there, but these guys were among the most exciting live acts I've ever seen. And they sounded EXACTLY like this in person.
6: Jefferson Airplane
America's loudest band. I was actually at this show, so I know what I'm talking about.
5: Moby Grape
The greatest debut album in all of American rock. And the two that followed were pretty damned good, too.
4: Buffalo Springfield
There's very little to be said about this bunch that hasn't already been declaimed by wiser folks than moi, but may I simply add -- I will never forgive Neil Young for bailing on the group's 2012 reunion tour before it got to NYC, i.e. before I finally got to see them live. Miserable bastard.
3: Paul Revere and the Raiders
FANG!!!
Seriously, that's it. 😎
And the Number 1 best/most significant/whatever American band of the Sixties is -- A FREAKING TIE!!
2/1: The Beach Boys...
...and The Byrds!!!
The short version? Apart from everything else, both the Beach Boys and Byrds invented a sound. Hell, a genre. Very few people in music history can make that claim.
And before somebody goes "What -- Paul Revere and not The Band?", let me just say the The Band would have been my number 11, and that -- heretical as the judgement may be -- they have never really rocked hard enough for me. Sorry.
And also, before somebody brings up The Grateful Dead, let me just say that while it's hardly a secret that I am not now and have never been a fan, I would nonetheless submit that the albums on which their reputation mostly rests -- American Beauty and Workingman's Dead -- were both released in the 70s. And that their work prior to that was mostly along the lines of a fairly meh white blues band with a mildly irritating experimental bent.
The Lemon Twigs, from the other night, in Lyon France(!), with a casually brilliant live version of The Beach Boys' classic "In My Room."
You know, it occurs to me these kids are roughly the same age that Brian Wilson was when he wrote that. I mean, I suspect they relate to the song for more than just musical reasons.
In any case, the idea that the sons of a former bandmate of mine are now the best fucking rock group in the world kinda blows my mind. 😎
From their 1970 debut album, please enjoy Argent and their melodically masterful (Russ Ballard-penned) ode to the charms of a "Schoolgirl."
I mean -- like wow.
I haven't heard the album in a million years, so I have no idea if the rest of the stuff on the record is similarly great, but I should add that not only is the song, objectively speaking, about as hauntingly gorgeous as pop rock gets, but unless I am very much mistaken, it's the only song Argent ever did that really betrays the provenance of its leaders previous band, i.e. The Zombies.
I mean, c'mon --can't you hear Colin Blunstone singing that?
In any case, may I just say again -- like wow. 😎
From 1998, prepare to have your minds blown by Aussie power pop gods You Am I and a live version of their classic "Mr. Milk."
Be advised -- among other things, what you're about to watch is essentially a master class in how you do this stuff, from the incredible Rickenbacker opening riff to the background vocal "oohs!" to the ultra-cool stage outfits.
In any event, I got turned on to the above live version over last weekend, and I freaked out all over again; the performance here is a little faster and a little more aggressive than the studio take, but it has every bit of the world-class polish of the original, and the only other phrase I can come up with to describe it is "fucking amazing."
Seriously -- it's enough to restore an old guy's faith in the magic of rock-and-roll.
Wait a minute...didn't Robert Klein do a bit along those lines? 😎
K-tel Presents -- Every Power Pop Record Ever Recorded! Exactly that! We drive a truck to your house!!!
But seriously folks: Attentive readers will recall my posting a few months ago about I Wanna Be a Teen Again: North American Power Pop of the '80s, the 3CD box set coming out on Cherry Red Records and featuring the likes of (among others) Cheap Trick, The Bangles, The Go-Gos, Rick Springfield, The Shivvers, The Smithereens, Phil Seymour, Dwight Twilley and...wait for it...The Floor Models (a band featuring some guy whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels on bass).
Well, the thing got released today, so what are you waiting for?
You can buy the package (which I'm told includes amazing photos and terrific liner notes) over at Amazon HERE or -- if you're as pissed off at Jeff Bezos as I am -- directly from Cherry Red over HERE.
As you can imagine, I'm kinda around the moon over this; I only wish my two departed bandmates Andy Pasternack (our 12-string ace) and Glen "Bob" Allen (our beloved drummer) had lived to see it.
In any event, I want to thank everybody over at Cherry Red, and especially fab gear Aussie publicist Dave Laing, who got us the gig.
But more to the point -- I'm dying to know what any of you guys think about the set. So get the hell over to one of those links and snag a copy!
Now, people!!! 😎😎
And have a great weekend everybody!!!
PS: And in other amazing news, if you're in the Los Angeles area in August, there's a preview screening of the forthcoming documentary The Power Pop Movie -- as a benefit for The Wild Honey Foundation -- at the Foundation's backyard amphitheater (heh). The festivities happen at 7 PM Pacific time on August 17th; complete details -- including directions on how to get there -- can be found over HERE.
Aforementioned attentive readers will recall that said film includes lotsa yakking about the music -- its history and meaning -- by the past and present proprietors of this here blog, i.e. NYMary and that Sleeve Nimels guy...
From his just released new album Face of 68, please enjoy ex-dB/Continental Drifiter/power pop deity Peter Holsapple and "That Kind of Guy," aka the funniest song I've heard since I don't know when.
A word of advice: There's no lyric sheet that I can find, so it's probably best to play this one really loud or under the headphones or both, so you don't miss a word.
And at the risk of giving anything away, let's just say that if you can listen to the verse comparing the merits of Dick Taylor and Mick Taylor in the Rolling Stones without getting convulsed, you need to have your meds adjusted.
BTW -- have I mentioned repeat when necessary? 😎😎
From 2003, please enjoy "Otto Bob" Palindrome"Weird Al" Yankovic and the funniest and/or most brilliant Dylan parody ever seen/heard by sentient mammalian eyes/ears.
Seriously -- I find it incomprehensible that I had not encountered that previously until sometime last week.
Also, may I repeat -- "Otto Bob" Palindrome. Just in case you didn't get the song/video's central joke. 😎
And oh yeah -- that hilarious and brand new power pop song I teased you guys about yesterday will go up tomorrow. Scout's honor. 😎😎
And speaking of The Kinks, as we were Wednesday, here's some Kinks music (and the story behind it) you may not know, but should.
Let's start with the music. From their 1991 EP Did Ya on Sony, please enjoy the winsome title track....
...and a killer live version of the band's 60s classic "Gotta Move."
And now for the story. As I said, you probably don't know either of those tracks (and the EP they derive from). For this dubious distinction, we have one person to thank -- then head of Sony Records Tommy Mottola, aka Mr. Mariah Carey.
What happened was The Kinks got signed to Sony prior to Mottola assuming the reins of the company; all of a sudden Grunge happened, and the totally-respectful-of-artists Mottola basically told his subordinates -- who the fuck is responsible for these over the hill/past their sell date/dinosaurs being on my label? Oh, and by the way, we'll promote this Kinks EP and anything else these fossils give us on the same day that frozen yogurt goes on sale in hell.
Consequently, nobody except the tiny group of rock critics who'd already received Did Ya in the mail ever heard it, and the Kinks were dropped by Sony soon after delivering a complete new album that Sony was obliged to release for legal/contractual reasons.
But don't worry, the story has a happy ending. Head Kink Ray Davies eventually got knighted, and his band are not only still with us, but back in the studio recording new music.
As for Mottola, he died soon after shafting the group, friendless and alone, of a terrible and painful lingering disease.
Actually, no -- the motherfucker is still alive, well, and obscenely wealthy. But a boy can dream, can't he? 😎
PS: Mottola did exactly the same thing to the great Willie Nile and his 1991 masterpiece Places I Have Never Been...
...but I'll tell you that story on Monday, along with some happier Willie news. 😎😎
In the meantime -- have a great weekend, everybody!!!
From 1979, please enjoy The Kinks and their infectious ode to superhero jealousy "(Wish I Could Fly Like) Superman."
I bring this up because a) I hadn't heard the song in years, and was delighted to find that it holds up nicely.
More importantly, however, it's because b) I'm really looking forward to seeing the Superman movie reboot this weekend.
I mean, not only is David Corenswet, the actor playing Supes, the first Jewish guy in the role ever (somewhere in heaven, the character's Jewish creators Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster are smiling) but James Gunn, the film's director, conceived it specifically as an immigrant assimilation story.
Which it fucking is and always was.
Plus -- they finally gave Kal-El a furry friend, i.e. Krypto the Superdog. 😎
Seriously -- I am not even remotely a fan of most contemporary comic book flicks, but this one?
Well, it's gonna piss off all the right people and in the immortal words of Paul Westerberg -- can't hardly wait. 😎😎
Okay, I realize I've been getting a little too political with my postings around here of late, and I promise to give it a rest for the immediate forseeable future, but this item is so wonderfully absurd that I simply couldn't resist. 😎
Republicans in Congress are working on a massive transfer of wealth from the non-rich to the rich, so the Murdoch media empire has a mission: persuade Americans that Democratic critics of this redistribution are the real elitists. So here's a new Fox story about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez:
Ocasio-Cortez's suburban-toned nickname appears to be at odds with her tough 'Bronx girl' persona
Yes, Fox is serious about this.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s tough Bronx persona is under fresh scrutiny with a resurfaced childhood nickname from her suburban upstate New York upbringing casting doubt on that publicly portrayed image....
The 35-year-old "Squad" member wrote in part on X last week: "I’m a Bronx girl. You should know that we can eat Queens boys for breakfast. Respectfully," she said, referring to the president’s upbringing in Queens as she called for his impeachment over his decision to bypass Congress in authorizing U.S. strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Ocasio-Cortez was born in the Bronx but moved to Yorktown – which is nearly an hour outside New York City -- when she was 5 years old and went on to attend Yorktown High School, from where she graduated in 2007.
"There, known by students and staff as ‘Sandy,’ she was a member of the Science Research Program taught by Michael Blueglass," the report states....
After high school, Ocasio-Cortez attended Boston University, where she majored in economics and international relations, per the report.
Ocasio-Cortez’s "Sandy" nickname — which carries a more suburban and preppy tone — appears to undercut her politically crafted image as a tough, inner-city fighter....
(Emphasis added.)
Really? The nickname Sandy is preppy? So back in 1973, when Bruce Springsteen was a penniless jamoke on the verge of losing his record deal, he wrote a song about a preppy? 😎😎
From 1966, please enjoy The Buffalo Springfield and their semi-obscure mini-masterpiece "Baby Don't Scold Me."
The short version: That was on the original pressing of the band's debut album, but after "For What It's Worth" became a hit, it was removed in favor of the million-seller.
It's a little sloppy, to be sure, but I love it for a) the quote from "Day Tripper" at the end, and b) its ahead of its time sort of punkish folk-rock insouciance. Man, what I wouldn't have given to see those guys live.
And and oh my god -- that bridge is a work of freaking genius!!!
So speaking as we were the other day of hero of my youth Eddie Lawrence, here are the radio spots the Great Man cut in 1974 for the John Lennon-produced Harry Nilsson LP Pussy Cats.
I had no idea that existed until alert reader Bob in IL hipped me to it the other day, and thank you Bob -- it made me laugh out loud. Especially "You got a part time job in a leather shop called Whips of All Nations..."
I should add that whole thing kind of took me back because at the time it was recorded, I was actually in the midst of a several year stint doing radio spots for Polygram Records (long story -- don't ask how). I don't remember much about the period, but I do remember I wrote and produced an ad for The Osmonds Christmas Album, featuring frequent Woody Allen-collaborator Len Maxwell doing the voice of Humphrey Bogart.
"The Osmonds Christmas album...it's good, schweetheart. REAL good." 😎
And in its honor -- a PowerPop tradition since 2018 -- please marvel at Bill Pullman, the greatest president of the United States who was never president of the United States...
...no, wait, now that we're living in Nazi Germany 2.0, that's not a particularly good joke anymore.
Sorry.
What I meant to say was please enjoy the late great Ben E. King and his gorgeous cover of Bruce Springsteen's "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)."
Or perhaps The Hollies' superb 1975 version.
BTW, I saw the Hollies do that live at the old Bottom Line that year, and Bruce (who was not yet the household word he became shortly thereafter when Born to Run was released) was sitting at the table directly in front of me.
Get me drunk sometimes and I'll tell you the simultaenously hilarious and tragic story that accompanied the evening. 😎
Meanwhile, have a great Fourth, everybody!!! Assuming you don't find what's happening in our Noble Democracy at the moment a little too depressing to be festive. 😎 😎
[It being the dawning of a long Holiday Weekend -- at an especially depressing time in our current American history -- I've decided to have a little fun for the next couple of days. Weightier, more serious postings, will resume next Monday, i.e. when the party's over, as it were. Thanks!!! -- S.S.]
In case you're wondering, Eddie Lawrence -- aka The Old Philosopher -- was one of my heroes as a kid. Not to mention a major fashion influence. 😎
And if memory serves, another one of my childhood heroes -- Soupy Sales -- used to play the above on his afternoon show all the time.
I should add that "musical accompaniment by the Sentimental Four" is now my all time favorite credit on a recorded product ever. 😎
[It being the dawning of a long Holiday Weekend -- at an especially depressing time in our current American history -- I've decided to have a little fun for the next couple of days. Weightier, more serious postings, resume on Monday, when the party's over, as it were. Thanks!!! -- S.S.]
From Stereogum:
Charli XCX Responds To Boomers Criticizing Her Use Of AutoTune At Glastonbury
With Glastonbury in the books, Charli XCX has completed yet another massive Brat festival set. You’d think audiences in her home country would be most receptive to her over-the-top presentation, but apparently, some UK boomers were not pleased with Charli’s exaggerated use of AutoTune and her lack of a backing band. She shared some thoughts on the matter in a short series of tweets today following her Saturday night headlining set. She wrote:
[I'm]really enjoying these Boomer vibe comments on my glastonbury performance. it’s super fascinating to me.
Like the idea that singing with deliberate autotune makes you a fraud or that not having a traditional band suddenly means you must not be a “real artist” is like, the most boring take ever. yawn sorry just fell asleep xx
Oh puhleese. There's a phrase for doing a set with totally auto-tuned vocals and without live backup. The phrase is "Lip-synching."
Which means what she was offering the audience differed from Milli Vanilli exactly how? 😎
Also, somebody really needs to tell this pretentious low-talent bint that the words "brat" and "twat" actually rhyme. 😎 😎
[It being the dawning of a long Holiday Weekend -- at an especially depressing time in our current American history -- I've decided to have a little fun for the next couple of days. Weightier, more serious postings, resume on Monday, when the party's over, as it were. Thanks!!! -- S.S.]
An idiosyncratic blog dedicated to the precursors, the practioners, and the descendants of power pop.
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