Surf's Up!

From 1973, please enjoy The Beach Boys and the instrumental track -- with some acapella group vocals at the end -- of their fabulous "Sail On, Sailor."

Just spine-tinglingly beautiful; I should also note that I had never heard this particular version until friend of PowerPop Capt. Al played it on his (400th) intertube radio show yesterday.

I should also add that I'd forgotten that Tandyn Almer had a co-write on this. Almer is perhaps best known for having penned "Along Comes Mary" for The Association, which would be credit enough for a lifetime for most mere mortals, but he also had a hand in "Marcella," the other truly transplendent Beach Boys song of the early 70s.

Old Capt. Al is For Real

Okay, it's Christmas.

But more important, friend of PowerPop Capt. Al is doing his 400th edition of Lost at Sea -- his award-winning intertube radio show -- today.

That's the 4000th in dog years, by the way.

In any event, it airs at Area 24 Radio...

...starting at 11am East Coast time and going till whenever.

You can hear it by clicking on the Listen Live! link OVER HERE.

I should add that the Captain informs me that he'll be playing lots of wild and wacky rare stuff on this special anniversary show, including music that yours truly has been involved in over the years.

Speaking of which, my old high school garage band chums The Weasels did the Lost at Sea theme song. It's a sea shanty, obviously, and no, I'm not playing on it, alas, but you'll hear it at the end of the show.

In any case -- congratulations, Captain, and here's to 400 more!!!

Oh Crap -- Simels is Starting to Post Christmas Songs: Special Smashing the Sound Barrier Edition

From some time in the '80s, please enjoy the incomparable Rudolf's Nightmare and their hilarious and increasingly speed-punk version of "Silent Night."

That indie 45 rpm slab of vinyl was the brainchild of a sometime bandmate of mine from the old days named Lars Hanson, who both produced it and played the way cool guitar stuff. Glen Robert Allen, drummer for The Floor Models and my musical director for the last 50 years, is the dude pounding the pagan skins.

If memory serves, Dr. Demento actually aired that a couple of times on his show. And if he didn't, he should have.

Oh Crap -- Simels is Starting to Post Christmas Songs: The Golden Age of Television Edition

From CBS TV -- originally broadcast live in 1956, but here recorded in the studio -- please enjoy Basil Rathbone (what a singer!) and "Mankind Should Be My Business," one of the big numbers from The Stingiest Man in Town.

Which I believe is the first ever musical adaption of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.



I should add that the show was remade as a Rankin/Bass animated special in 1978, which is interesting if you're an insane Walter Matthau completist (he sings the part of Scrooge at least as well as Rathbone, for what it's worth).



I was nine years old when the live version first aired, and I remember it made a humongous impression on me. The ghosts were particularly scary, albeit not as much as Rathbone's atonal groaning in the songs. I also had the soundtrack LP, because an uncle of mine worked for Columbia Records at the time, and for some reason I played it obsessively for years.

I believe Amazon has a CD version of the soundtrack LP of the original; the complete live version and the cartoon are similarly available on YouTube last time I looked.

Oh Crap -- Simels is Starting to Post Christmas Songs: Part Deux

From 2016, please enjoy power pop wiseacres The Dollyrots and their fabulously punked out update of "All I Want for Christmas is You."



I am chastened to admit that I had never heard the Mariah Carey original of this -- which dates from 1994, and which has a delightfully Phil Spector Christmas Album vibe to it -- until two weeks ago. Hey, I slept through the 90s, what can I tell you.

In any case, this cover version impinged on my consciousness a few days ago when I heard it on a certain intertube radio station which also plays The Floor Models.

In the meantime, you can find out more about these delightful kids and their music over HERE.

Oh Crap -- Simels is Starting to Post Christmas Songs

Okay, but I have a good reason for posting this one, apart from the fact that it's fabulous.



The pertinent info:

The song was released as promo only 7″ and 12″ double-A sided single in December 1981 to promote the charity album, “In Harmony 2” which was released at the same time. This recording was of a live performance from December 12, 1975 at C.W. Post College in Greenvale, NY.

It should be noted here that C.W. Post is my old school, and that I was in attendance at this performance along with fellow Postie and friend of PowerPop Kerrin L. Griffith.

Less up-lifting Christmas fare continues for the next several days.

Boom!

So as I mentioned yesterday, a certain Shady Dame and I were lucky enough to secure tickets to see Bryan Cranston in the Broadway version of Network...

...and the short version is that Cranston was absolutely brilliant and the adaptation works like gangbusters as a stage play.

But for me, the really big news is that they played this track by The Sonics as exit music.



I'm not hundred percent sure if it was the above version or a remake by somebody else -- I actually found a web page that has like about 30 covers of the thing by all sorts of other bands, but I'm still confused. In any case, it was a blast to hear the thing really loud over the Belasco Theater sound system, and kudos to whoever was involved with the production who came up with the idea to do it.

Closed on Account of Being Mad as Hell

No, it's got nothing to do with the criminal in the White House.

But I've got tickets for today's matinee of Network, starring the great Bryan Cranston...

...and thus I've been too distracted to get a music-themed post together.

Business as usual resumes on the morrow.

Break on Through to the End of Some Book

Jimmy Fallon channels Jim Morrison, and much much more.



Unfortunately, the clip where he actually fronts The Doors on the Ed Sullivan Show seems to have been removed from YouTube.

[h/t Joe Benoit]

Your Monday Moment of Words Fail Me

Jack Black and Jimmy Fallon and...oh, just see for yourself.



To quote from the old Mighty Thor theme song -- you behold in breathless wonder.

[h/t Joe Benoit]