An Early Clue to the New Direction

From 1967, here's The Hollies (featuring seriously underrated drummer Bobby Elliott) and a killer live version of "Bus Stop," their absolutely glorious ode to summer romance. Full disclosure: There are some days that I think this is, without question, the song that best defines the mission statement of the blog you're currently reading.



In any case -- and don't even get me started on its recent satanic offspring, Rihanna's "Umbrella" -- a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who divines its relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

PS: This is not in the nature of an additional clue, but I would like to mention that there's a really wonderful Beatles video in the WL tomorrow that I, for one, had never seen before. You'll kvell, I think.

Tales From the Mystic East

Smoke on the Koi Pond.



Somewhere, Ritchie Blackmore is scratching his head and going "Huh?"

[h/t Bill Ferns]

Play That Funky Music, White Boy

From last year's Cambridge Folk Festival, here's The Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain and the theme from Shaft.



Words fail me.

[h/t Kid Java]

Great Lost Singles of the 70s

As the latest in our continuing series, we now offer first generation Australian punks Radio Birdman and their immortal paean to Jack Lord and James MacArthur -- "Aloha Steve and Danno!"



The guitar solo makes me swoon, by the way.

Mea Culpa, Mea Maxima Culpa

I'm horribly behind deadline for three reviews for The Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review -- new CDs by Marah, the Fleshtones, and the North Mississippi Allstars -- which will actually pay some bills, unlike the fun I have here at PowerPop. So my posting will be sporadic till Wednesday, and I'm afraid part two of the great Velvet Underground dustup will have to be postponed till next week (if anybody is still interested).

Meanwhile, if you've never seen this before, it's probably the funniest short film of the last several years.



Ladies and Gentlemen -- George Lucas in Love.

All For the Love of Rock and Roll

Sorry to hear that Jeff Salen, lead guitarist and lynchpin of first generation CBGB's band Tuff Darts died Saturday, just a week shy of his 55th birthday. Here's a clip of the earliest incarnation of the band with then singer Robert Gordon (before he went rockabilly), and their quite wonderful "Head Over Heels." That's Salen on guitar to Gordon's left.



I'm pretty sure my 70s band did at least one gig with these guys (possibly at Great Guildersleeves on the Bowery, up the block from CB's) although I may have hallucinated that. In any case the Darts brand of pop/rock with attitude was the real deal; you can check out their 1978 studio album here, and they also have three tracks with Gordon -- including "Head Over Heels" and the original version of their anthem "All For the Love of Rock and Roll" -- on the essential Live at CBGBs compilation.

Saturday Night Glam Blogging

Here's Mud (which spells "dum" backwards, btw) with another rockin' wig lifter from 1974. Penned by glam's greatest songwriting team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, Rocket climbed to number 8 on the U.K. charts that year. During the sessions lead singer Les Gray had spent hours working on the vocal track for the song when a junior tape operator accidently wiped it. The next day, as a goof, Mike Chapman suggested that Les sing it with an Elvis Presley voice that he had been fooling around with. That take was ultimately released and we now have a pretty good idea what the King might have sounded like if he had recorded a single with the Sweet. I really love these guys. Cheers!

Weekend Listomania (Special Fashion Victim Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental manservant Hop-Sing and I are off to Florida, where we'll be doing door to door campaigning for America's Mayor -- hoping, of course, to drum up support for Rudy in the crucial Sunshine State Paranoid Old Jew demographic. As a result (and also because it's Shabbos) posting by moi will necessarily be sporadic for a few days.

But in my absence, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

BEST HIT RECORD WITH A GROOVE THEORETICALLY PAST ITS SELL DATE
You know -- a song in a style or genre that was supposed to be hopelessly old hat but managed to tear up the charts anyway.

Okay, here's my totally top of my head Top Eight:

8. Cher -- Believe



The biggest hit of 1999 was a disco song? Sung through the digital equivalent of a megaphone?

7. Billy Swan -- I Can Help



One of the biggest hits of 1974 was a 50s-style rockabilly song? Excuse me -- didn't anybody tell Swan that the Stray Cats wouldn't become the darlings of MTV for another seven years?

6. Tommy James and the Shondells -- Hanky Panky



A crappy 1963 frat-rock B-side, which makes "Louie Louie" sound like Bach's B-Minor Mass, gets re-released in the heady psychedelic days of "Good Vibrations" and "Eight Miles High" and still sells gazillions. I didn't get it then and I still don't....

5. Beach Boys -- Do It Again



With the world in flames, nothing could have been more unfashionable in 1968 either musically or lyrically than this ode to the halcyon days of pre-Beatles sun and surf. Or so you might have thought....

4. Slim Harpo -- Scratch My Back



A straight ahead swampy blues on the pop charts in 1966? Want to buy some Brooklyn beachfront property?

3. Smokey Robinson and the Miracles -- Tears of a Clown



The instrumental track for the Miracles only number one song was originally done in 1966 (Smokey added the lyrics and vocals in '67) and then the whole thing (just another album cut) was more or less forgotten until 1970, when Motown execs exhumed it even though its sound had practically nothing in common with anything the label had out at the time. I remembering hearing it on the radio and thinking, wow, this has got to be an older song, but boy does it sound great....

2. Tracy Chapman -- Give Me One Reason



A straight ahead Memphis blues on the pop charts in 1996? Yeah, right, and trained sheep will someday pilot the space shuttle.

And the number one song in a supposedly obsolete style is.....

1. Fountains of Wayne -- Stacy's Mom



Adam Schlesinger channels Buddy Holly (the 50s) via the Cars (the 80s) and gets a hit in 2003? It can't be said too often -- Adam Schlesinger is a fricking genius.

Okay -- what similar accomplishment jazzes you guys the most?

An Early Clue to the New Direction

From 1988, here's earnestly angsty folk chanteuse Tracy Chapman with her unlikely pop hit "Fast Car."



A coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded to the first reader who divines its relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

Texas Flashbacks

Texas was a pretty conservative place back in the 60s, so it's doubly ironic that it produced some of the finest garage/psych bands of the era. Giants like the 13th Floor Elevators, the Moving Sidewalks, and the Bubble Puppy were all from the state, and if you've ever bought any 60s garage/psych comps, you are no doubt aware that there were countless other lesser-known TX bands who recorded killer singles during that magic era as well.

Here's one such gem by the Bad Seeds, who hailed from Corpus Christi, TX. They were the kings of the teen dance circuit in the area during the mid-60s and they recorded three singles for the legendary J-Beck label, including this self-penned 1966 nugget, A Taste of the Same which is the best Stones tune that Mick and the boys never recorded.