Regular music posting will resume on the morrow.
But here, as promised, a little taste of our just completed adventure.
Those hairy Highland Cattle (seen during a day trip tour of the countryside we took) are more or less the National Animals of Scotland now, and at this point they're pretty much farmed strictly as pets.
In any case, trust me -- they're absolutely hilarious in person.
Okay, possibly some amusing photographs.
I mean, wait till you see the one of the long-haired Highland Cow I caught actually mooing...
Yes, as some of you may be aware, a certain Shady Dame and I are having a great time on vacation in Bonnie Scotland, and I'll be favoring you guys with a photographic record of some of our exploits once we return (Tuesday, of next week, weather and Homeland Security permitting).
But in the meantime, I chanced across this online the other day...
...and it reminded me that I forgot to give a big PowerPop [insert Yiddish word for shoutout! here] to Rosh Hashanah last Tuesday.
All of which suggested a terrific topic for this week's Listomania. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should add that I originally posted a version of this back in 2010; as is my wont, I've done some rewriting and swapped in two new entries, if only as a way to underscore my puritan work ethic while we're off frolicking in the goyische heather).
So without any further tzuris, let's get to it. To wit:
Best or Worst Post-Elvis Pop/Rock/Folk/R&B Record/Song Either Written By, Performed By, or Simply About Our Jewish Brothers and Sisters!!!
And my totally top of my head Top Seven is:
7. Drake -- Passion Fruit
His mom was an Ashkenazi Jew(ess), which means that he's...well, you know. Or perhaps I should say -- who knew?
6. HAIM -- Gasoline
Nice Jewish girls, obviously; I like to think of them as Joey Ramone's much younger Bat Mitzvah-ed sisters. Fun fact (from Wiki): For their first gig, the trio played at a Jewish deli in Hollywood and were paid in matzah ball soup. 😎
5. 10cc -- Wall Street Shuffle
Featuring the great Grahame Gouldman (a nice Yiddish kid from England) on bass. And a song about money -- who'd have thunk it?
4. Desmond Dekker -- Israelites
I have no idea what this song actually means, by the way; I've been told it reflects rather unflatteringly on my fellow Red Sea pedestrians, but given its impenetrable Jamaican patois I've never really been sure.
3. Two Live Jews -- Oy It's So Humid
When we say these guys are def, we really MEAN....etc.
2. Fountains of Wayne -- Strapped for Cash
Another song about money written by a Jew -- what are the odds?
And the Numero Uno "Iceberg, Goldberg, what difference does it make to the Titanic?" hit of them all simply has to be...
1. The Blues Project -- No Time Like the Right Time
Left to right: Mssrs Blumenfeld, Kalb, Katz, Kooper and Kulberg. Not for nothing did they call these guys the Jewish Beatles.
Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be?
And have a great weekend, everybody!!!
[h/t Bekka Sakhno]
Heh.
BTW, I didn't get the first one immediately either.
Coming tomorrow -- greetings from Edinburgh. And a totally boffo new Weekend Listomania!!!😎
Which I am informed is bassist/lead vocalist Kate Goldby's personal tribute to a lost friend and mentor.
In any case, these guys have been around for quite a while (although they hardly look it) and I was gobsmacked to discover that I'd forgotten (senility is a horrible thing) I'd first written about them back in 2007. When, as you know, both this blog and the world were young. 😎
Meanwhile, you can sample (or purchase) the rest of the new album over at their Bandcamp page HERE.
And since the clip for the band's 2007 song that got me started on them in the first place has inexplicably disappeared from my long-ago post, I'm re-appending it here. A darn good track in its own right, IMHO.
These guys are highly worth checking out, is what I'm saying. 😎
Tomorrow: Something from my current vacation in Edinburgh, swear to god!!!
Meanwhile -- from 1973, please enjoy legendary UK folk-rockers The Strawbs lip-synching (live on German tv's Hits à GoGo) to their fabulous, and deserved, hit "Lay Down."
I don't think I'd thought about/heard that song in five decades or more, until the other day when it showed up on the soundtrack of the British time-travelling cop show Life On Mars, which I've been binge-watching of late and which I heartily recommend. The series is set in 1973 (hence the song's inclusion) and I gotta say, as period-accurate as it is, none of its underworld characters have teeth even remotely as bad/disturbing as Strawbs' drummer Richard Hudson in the video above. 😎
Consequently, and because I love you all more than food, I'm appending another video for "Lay Down"; this one has genuine high quality stereo sound, and lets you enjoy the song without having to watch that band of weirdo hippies in the German clip. 😎😎
You're welcome very much.
Tomorrow: Travel notes from the first day of our Scottish vacation. No fooling!!!
More specifically, it's an Italian language (obviously) cover version of the Stones' "Paint It Black." From a recent (2022) period heist movie (set during WW II) called Robbing Mussolini. And no, I never heard of it (the film) either, but Wiki informs me it was ill-received by critics. The track itself, being warbled by fetching co-star Matilda De Angelis, is apparently also featured on some compilation album somewhere, but I have not been able to track it down so far.
In any case, I haven't decided what I think about that musically (IMHO the film looks interesting, though), and as a companion piece, it occurred to me to dredge up the Italian language remake the Stones did of "As Tears Go By" (one presumes for the Eurovision Song Contest) back in 1965. So here it is.
Hadn't heard that in ages. A harmless bit of shlock, obviously, but certainly not their finest hour. 😎😎
Tomorrow: Greetings from Edinburgh!!!
[h/t Rob Mullen]
Just wanted to let you know that beginning Monday, a certain Shady Dame and I will be off on a vacation to Bonnie Scotland; for 8 days we'll be based in Edinburgh, and making excursions both in and out of the city (Loch Ness or bust, baby!!!).
I'm gonna try to interrupt our busy pre-trip schedule of getting flu shots and packing our clothes to write a few normal posts for next week before we leave, but what success I'll have in that regard is an open question. In any case, I figure you'll have to endure at least a couple of entries devoted strictly to our Scottish tourism. I beg your indulgence for this in advance.
Okay, with that out of the way, on to our traditional weekend mishegass.
The short version: As you may or may not know, I am not a big fan of the pop music coverage in the otherwise estimable New Yorker magazine. I mean, I basically gave up on it when World's Most Irksome Rock Critic© Kelefa Sanneh migrated over there from the New York Times a couple of years ago, and new girl on the block Amanda Petrusich didn't strike me as much of an improvement when she showed up.
Anyway, Petrusich has a piece in the most recent issue about current chart-topping pop tart Sabrina Carpenter, which I read with a certain degree of skepticism. And, initially, it struck me as just the usual indefensible cutesie puff piece from Petrusich's patented "Everything's Great Including the Obvious Shit" school of cultural musings.
But she begins the essay with a longish exegesis of Carpenter's latest single ("Manchild") and in the interests of critical responsibility, I gave the video of same a look-see.
And to my considerable surprise...
...I kinda (emphasize: kinda) liked it. The song is moderately catchy, the lyrics are legitimately funny, and the production -- and this floored me -- is really pretty good; the thing rocks, and there's even an actual, if brief, guitar solo for heaven's sakes. Couldn't stand Carpenter's singing, which sounds auto-tuned even if it probably isn't, but hey, you can't have everything.
Which brings us, inexorably, to the subject of our latest group discussion. To wit:
Proposed: Most current commercial pop music -- i.e. the stuff that sells -- is by and large the worst crap we've had to endure since the pre-rock Fifties.
Discuss.
By which, of course, I mean weigh in yea or nay.
I'm leaning towards yea, in case you haven't guessed, but I do wonder if this isn't just me being a grumpy old man who's turned into his parents. And then I hear something like the Carpenter song above and I grudgingly think -- y'know, maybe these kids today are not so bad. 😎
Alrighty, then -- which side are YOU on?
And have a great weekend, everybody! See you in Scotland!!!
Inspirational verse:
Why do I
Always have to
Come up through the cellar
When all we ever do
Is watch Penn and Teller
Seriously, what a terrific song and hilarious video. Plus, as you have doubtless intuited, it's depressingly relevant to our current cultural climate, if I may make a Charlie Kirk reference without being dragged from my apartment by masked ICE agents dispatched by Pam Bondi. 😎
In any case, these guys -- who've been around without registering on my radar since 2017 -- have three previous albums on their resume, and all of them presumably display the same vastly entertaining mix of melodic guitar hooks and snot-nosed harmonies.
You can download the earlier stuff and pre-order the new one over at their Bandcamp site HERE. They also appear to have an official website where, presumably, you can learn more about them, but at the moment I can't get the link to work; I'll see if I can get that resolved and get back to you.
Now excuse me, I have to go get my shotgun and head off for a discussion with a certain Shady Dame of my acquaintance. 😎😎
Specifically -- a star-studded new (musically fab) tribute to power pop gods The Raspberries that's due out momentarily. And two of the acts participating are personal friends who I've actually played music with. 😎
The above video, of course, features current Greatest Rock Band in the World The Lemon Twigs covering the 'Berries "Play On" and (drop dead gorgeously) "Let's Pretend," plus an utterly infectious update of "Cruisin' Music" by the Twigs' proud dad (and occasional bandmate of mine) Ronnie D'Addario.
To which I can only add that God's in his heaven and all's right with the world.
Seriously, the two CD set -- unsurprisingly titled Play On: A Raspberries Tribute -- is one of the most entertaining things of its kind I've heard in ages. I should also add that it features Rick Springfield(!) doing a killer version of "Go All the Way," plus equally smashing tracks by Robin Zander, Marshall Crenshaw, Lou Gramm (absolutely nailing "Tonight") and Shoes (with a particularly jaw-dropping revisit to "Overnight Sensation").
Plus scads more great stuff; you can check out the complete track listing and pre-order the thing (official release date is October 10th) for purchase or streaming over at Amazon HERE.
So what are you waiting for? Get over there and snag a copy right this minute!
And tell 'em PowerPop sent you!!!
P.S.: Oh -- and I've been meaning to say this for a while now, but if the Lemon Twigs aren't musical guests on Saturday Night Live this season, I swear to god I'm gonna take a hostage. 😎😎
