God, that riff. God, those harmonies. And oh my god -- those drum fills.
I have wanted to do a cover of that song since the first minute I heard it on WMCA-AM on the car radio in my Buick Skylark. Hopefully, I'll have the opportunity to do it some day before I shuffle off this mortal coil.
Have a great weekend, everybody!!!
Truth to tell, I rather detested it at the time as well.
That said, when I heard this cover version in 1984 I completely changed my mind.
And I still think that's one of the coolest things ever.
I should add that The Floor Models, inspired by that version, used to do the song live; Andy, our 12-string guy, used to sing it as "You may leave here for four days in space/But when you come back you can't get a parking place."
Okay, to make a short story long: Back in June of the storied 1967 Summer of Love, the aforementioned Byrds released a single called "Lady Friend."
Apart from the fact that it was an absolute masterpiece -- and this is something that's been confirmed by the judgement of history -- it was also the only Byrds single written solely by David Crosby.
In any case, the teenaged me bought the damn thing, and played it endlessly, to the point that by August it was more or less worn out. And I recall, vividly, waiting in breathless anticipation for the release of the next Byrds album, so as to be able to enjoy the song in stereo, as nature intended.
Imagine my chagrin, then, when said album, which came out in January of 1968 and turned out to be the otherwise fabulous The Notorious Byrd Brothers...
...did not feature said song in either mono OR stereo, and that Crosby had been fired from the band and replaced on the album cover by a horse. Which presumably Crosby is still pissed off about, although who knows?
Cut to the present, where attentive readers are aware that my old band The Floor Models has been working for over a year -- pandemic very much? -- on a Byrds tribute album.
But what said attentive readers do not know is that just last week we finished -- 95 percent -- the last track on the album, which by an odd coincidence turns out be "Lady Friend."
And because I love you all more than food, here is said version. Enjoy!!! Oh -- and I should add that the track features our good friends and musical colleagues Swifty and Dupree's Amplified Heat, a crew that I will tell you more about when the album arrives (we have all sorts of interesting guest artists on it.)
BTW, to my knowledge, despite the splenditude of the song, the only cover version by a band anybody's ever heard of is by the usually estimable Flamin' Groovies. Alas, IMHO, it sucks. There's another one by The Posies, which is nice, but it's unplugged (i.e. all acoustic without a rhythm section), so I don't think it counts.
I should add that when our Byrds tribute album is commercially available -- which should be by late June -- I will be alerting you folks quite loudly.
I should also add that the guy playing the glockenspiel part on the intro and outro of the song is some asshole whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels.
Ladies and germs, from 1965, please enjoy the obviously transplendently wonderful The Searchers and...
...their cover of P.F. Sloan's "Take Me for What I'm Worth."
Or as the friend who just hipped me to it remarked, what life would be about if Phil Spector had produced Bob Dylan.
I mean...wow.
[h/t Mark Keresman]
FANNYWow.Mother's Pride
Germaine Greer once observed that what the Women's Lib movement needed most was a distaff band that "could lay down a really heavy riff." Now regardless of whether or not you agree with that statement (about which more later) I am saddened to report that only the most cant-ridden Female Chauvinist could make such claims for Fanny and her All Girl Orchestra, at least on the basis of this latest collection of hot numbers. Saddened because there were moments on some of their other albums when they came reasonably close; stuff like "Charity Ball" and "Ain't That Peculiar" may not have had the capacity to destroy minds, but they were at least solid, enjoyable rock and roll, played with real spunk. But Mother's Pride is pretty much of a dud, despite (or maybe because of) producer Todd Rundgren's feverish attempt at making the whole thing sound as much like Abbey Road as possible. Somebody (I forget who) once said that if Fanny were men they'd be playing in bars, and this is the album that definitively proves the truth of that. Of course, there are plenty of musical macho types that have achieved vinyl immortality these days who should be playing in bars also, but that ain't much of a consolation.
Anyway, given that the vast bulk of the record buying public is comprised of women (you don't think adolescent boys are shelling out dough for Donny Osmond, do ya?) it seems almost fultile for a group like Fanny to try to achieve stardom merely by competing with men at their own game; what they should be doing is inventing a whole new one, and I don't mean pursuing a Really Heavy Riff. Rock and roll is as much an attitude as a music (which, at the risk of offending some of my more right on sisters, is a fact that precious few women understand) and what we really need is a female band that projects an attitude, a lifestyle, a militant man-eating sexiness. American men being the masochists that they are, I bet four dazzlingy glamorous tough chicks playing aggressive high energy rock could absolutely clean up. Certainly they would do more for the Lib movement than Fanny's wistfully depressing obsession with proving they're good musicians. Imagine, if you will, a female MC5 or Rolling Stones. I mean, guys would be creaming in the aisles.
Meanwhile, I have decided that, regardless of all this, I think that since Alice de Buhr cut her hair, she became one of the all-time cuties. My number is Beechwood 4-5789, Alice. You can call me up for a date any old time.
-- Steve Simels
[h/t Rebecca Littman]
Pretty nice, no? But by way of comparison, from the about to be released Dolenz Sings Nesmith album, here's Micky's remake -- re-imagined by producer/arranger Christian Nesmith (Mike's kid, natch) as a flat-out rocker that wouldn't have been out of place on Tom Petty's Full Moon Fever.
Damn, that's good, and I can't wait for that CD to arrive at Casa Simels so I can hear the rest of it.
Oh, and BTW -- in case the cover art to Micky's album looks familiar, that's because it's a sly homage to this...
...i.e., Nilsson Sings Newman, one of those indisputable pop masterpieces that belongs in everybody's collection.
Oh, and have I mentioned that Jann Wenner can go fuck himself with a rusty chainsaw?
Have a great weekend, everybody!!!
This may be my favorite of all of Mike's post-Monkees recordings; I felt at the time it came out -- and still do -- that it really sounded like the kind of thing you would have heard a San Francisco band doing at a sound check at the Fillmore West circa the late 60s. Plus it's a great freaking song (I heartily recommend going to YouTube and searching out the Pee Wee King original.)
Oh, and BTW -- have I mentioned that Jann Wenner can go fuck himself for not allowing the Monkees into his jive ass rock Hall of Fame? Thank you.
Tomorrow: Haven't decided on the song yet, but trust me -- as always we'll be saving the best for last.
Monkees afficianados are doubtless aware that this song first appeared in an episode of the TV show, a version featuring The Wrecking Crew as the backup musicians; I love that one, and have since the first time I heard it, but I prefer this. In any case, you can go to YouTube and find the original.
Oh, and as I said yesterday, I have a story.
As I mentioned, in 1981 I went to a press party celebrating the release of Nesmith's Grammy-winning long form video ELEPHANT PARTS.
I don't specifically remember where it took place, but I seem to recall it was at some posh dive like the Plaza Hotel. Hey -- it was the early 80s; the music biz was still completely over the top.
In any case, I went up to Nez and introduced myself -- "Hi, I'm Mr. Stereo Review, blah blah blah, I'm a huge fan blah blah." He was very nice, but the word I think most precisely describes how he dealt with me is "guarded." Anyway, we shook hands, and as I turned away to head toward the free hors d'ouevres bar, I summoned the courage to say "By the way, Mr. Nesmith, I just wanted to tell you that I'm currently in a band that's doing a cover of your song "You Just May Be the One."
And he grinned from ear to ear and pumped my hand again. It was one of the major thrills of my adult life.
I should add that I can't seem to find an audio clip of The Floor Models doing the song live, but as soon as I do, I will post it.
And as I said yesterday, I have a personal story about this, which you'll hear tomorrow. Along with a really great song.
PS: Have I mentioned that Jann Wenner can go fuck himself with a rusty chainsaw for refusing to let The Monkees into the Rock Hall of Fame? Thank you.
I don't know who produced and arranged that -- and I can guarantee I'm gonna buy the album to find out -- but it's brilliant; I'm talking Tom Petty/Full Moon Fever brilliant, which is to say the song has never sounded more gorgeous by anybody, including the song's composer. You know -- kind of like Petty's cover of "Feel a Whole Lot Better." (I don't know who the harp player is, but it would't surprise me if it turned out to be the guy from Blues Traveller.)
Tomorrow: Not only a great Nesmith song, but a great Nesmith story from my personal collection.
PS: Have I mentioned that Jann Wenner can go fuck himself for not allowing The Monkees to inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame? Thank you.
