Closed for Monkey Business

Had an extremely productive -- but relatively late -- night in the studio yesterday.

Working on the rediscovered Floor Models song by our late great bandmate Andy Pasternack (which should be finished next week, at which point I'll share. It's turning out gorgeous, BTW).

Regular posting resumes on the morrow.

Your Tuesday Moment of NRBQ

I swear to god I did NOT know this was coming when I posted about the album two weeks ago.



From the Omnivore press release:

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The New Rhythm and Blues Quintet, better known as NRBQ, formed more than 50 years ago. After playing together for a few years, the band began recording with Eddie Kramer and inked a two-record deal with Columbia Records. Their eponymous 1969 debut featured wide-ranging originals peppered with versions of songs from diverse sources, from Eddie Cochran to Sun Ra, including a co-write between the band’s Terry Adams and jazz experimentalist Carla Bley. It was, and is, a wildly original and influential release.

Crawdaddy once noted, “It was filled with first class rock & roll, but there were a number of strange and wonderful songs that indicated something was happening on a higher aesthetic plane …" John Sebastian says: “The Lovin’ Spoonful closed down about 1969 … To me, it's always as if NRBQ kind of took the ball at that point for the original American Music Band.” And AllMusic sums it up: “A tremendously important record by a furiously eclectic and always wonderful band.”

For all of its stature, it’s hard to believe that in the recording’s 49-year existence, NRBQ has never been reissued, in any format. That changes on March 16, 2018 when Omnivore Recordings will make NRBQ available once again, on CD (for the first time), Digital, and as a gatefold LP.

Combining elements of the original, with additional photos and new liner notes from Jay Berman, the package has never looked, nor sounded better.

As Berman writes in his notes: “This historic and monumental recording has been remastered, and finally authorized for re-release. This album is a great reminder that NRBQ is on a mission, one that holds steady to its original inspiration to this day. For those fans who missed it the first time around, it Hasn’t Aged A Bit.”

According to Adams: “We did this album on a 12-track recorder at the Record Plant with Eddie Kramer engineering. We didn’t believe in doing a song more than once. This was how the band sounded on the night it was recorded. A couple of days later it would’ve been a whole different record. I like what they did with this new EQ remix. It sounds like how we felt.”

Indeedy. Hey -- I've got my copy reserved. What are YOU waiting for?

I Don't Think This Was What President Malevolent Chauncey Gardiner Was Thinking About When He Dissed the Leader of North Korea

And speaking, as we were on Friday, of sci-fi themed rock -- from 1962, please enjoy The Spotnicks (aka The Shadows or The Ventures of Sweden) and "The Rocket Man," a fairly bizarre adaptation of the old Russian folk-song "Meadowland."



I forget when I discovered these guys -- sometime in the late 60s, I think, because a friend had one of their import LPs -- but I am occasionally of the opinion that they were the all-time snazziest dressers in rock.

I was also amused to learn that English drummer Jimmy Nicol -- the footnote to history who filled in for an ailing Ringo Starr for a few shows at the height of Beatlemania -- had been briefly a member of The Spotnicks at some point.

Weekend Listomania: Special Do Not Attempt to Adjust the Picture Edition

[I originally posted this listomania back in 2008, when this blog and the world were young. Just so I don't come across as a total slacker, I've rewritten some of it, added a different song in one slot, and swapped out a couple of the videos. Hopefully you'll enjoy. -- S.S.]

BEST OR WORST POST-BEATLES SCI-FI THEMED POP/ROCK SONG!!!!

Sorry about the arbitrary post-Beatles thing, but otherwise we'd have to include Billy Lee Riley's "Flyin' Saucers Rock and Roll," "Purple People Eater," "Telstar," et al, and this blog already skews way too old. And speaking of arbitrary, I was going to explicitly ban the nomination of either David Bowie's "Space Oddity" or Elton John's "Rocket Man," but I figure one of you SOBs will nominate them no matter what I say, so go ahead. I will, however, taunt you mercilessly for your bad taste when you do.

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

8. Flight of the Conchords -- Robots



As you can see, the world is very different since the robotic uprising of the '90s.

7. Bjork -- Pluto



Let's be honest -- this broad has been in space since day one.

6. Marilyn Manson -- Mechanical Animals



Apparently, this song is about mechanical animals. Kind of Philip K. Dick-ish, I guess.

5. The Byrds -- Mr. Spaceman



A way too obvious choice, I know, but I wanted an excuse to post this video, which I had never seen before today. And yes, that's Gram Parsons pretending to be David Crosby.

4. Roky Erikson -- Creature With the Atom Brain



Why is he acting so strange? A question that may never be answered, Roky.

3. They Might Be Giants -- Particle Man



Well, it's sorta sci-fi. He's a particle -- get it?

2. King Crimson -- 21st Century Schizoid Man



This is one of those prog songs that just strike me as hilariously funny, albeit unintentionally. Fripp really was a pretentious bastard even back in the day, wasn't he?

And the number one sci-fi song, gimme a break it's not even a fricking contest so don't bug me, is

1. The Rolling Stones -- 2000 Man



A song so good even Kiss covered it.

Awrighty then -- what would your choices be?

And Speaking of Gorgeous...

...from 2013, and their Songs From the Basement CD...

...please enjoy The Regulars, featuring friend of PowerPop (and moi) Joseph Benoit....

...and their quite spectacularly beautiful ballad "Oceans and Waves."



I was lucky enough to do a studio session with Joe last night (for a rediscovered Floor Models song, about which more later) and I gotta tell you -- this kid is a great guitar player and sings like a bird. I should also tell you that his lovely and charming wife does a foodie blog over at Facebook, and that she won my heart forever for coining the term The Frills for our mutual neighborhood of Forest Hills.

Your Tuesday Moment of What's the Point of It All?

It's a miserable rainy day in the neighborhood.

Regular -- and less depressed -- posting resumes on the morrow.

Dr. Shithole, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb

From 1950, please enjoy folksinger/marine biologist Sam Hinton and his hit recording of Vern Partlow's anti-war classic "Old Man Atom.”



This was the first non-classical record I can remember my parents owning when I was just a tadpole...

...although I have since learned that it was originally released on the much smaller ABC label and that Columbia picked it up for distribution once it started to get a little airplay. It was also rather controversial in its day; both the Hinton version and a slightly bowdlerized cover by The Sons of the Pioneers on RCA Victor were briefly banned from radio.

My favorite lyrics come at the end:

"So the moral is this, just as plain as day
That Old Man Atom is here to stay
He's gonna stick around, that's clear to see
But, ah, my dearly beloved, are we?

So listen, folks, here is my thesis:
"Peace in the world, or the world in pieces!"

At which point, some genius producer -- and this is before digital recording, mind you -- dubs in the sound of an A-bomb detonating.

That said, I bring it up because over at the leading journal of the Right a major asshole conservative pundit is saying that there's nothing to worry about, potential ICBM attack on Hawaii-wise.

As noted by the great Roy Edroso over at ALICUBLOG:

“If a Missile Alert Sounds,” headlined David French of National Review, “Prepare to Live.”

Hmm, I thought when I first saw that, some people are so jaded they need apocalypse porn to get excited; but it turns out French wants to convince readers that, despite what the nervous nellies say, they could happily survive a hail of H-bombs.

Prepare to live. As tempting as it may be, don’t spend the precious minutes between missile alert and missile impact texting family, sending tearful goodbyes on Snapchat, or attempting to reconcile old grudges. Don’t do it.

Your family will respect you more, knowing that in the final hours you didn't go all wobbly and tell them you loved them.

First, you have to understand that the odds are overwhelming that you’ll survive an initial blast. Nuclear weapons are devastating, but it’s a Hollywood myth that any individual strike will vaporize an entire American city, much less the suburbs and countryside…

Hollywood always exaggerates these things. For instance, they never show you the parts of Hiroshima that were open for business the next day.

You can read the rest of Edroso's epic stupidity smackdown over here.

In the meantime, re: French -- to paraphrase Gene Hackman in Superman, it's amazing his brain generates enough energy to peck out that drivel on his computer keyboard.

It's Music By People I Actually Know Week: Part IV -- Special The Joker is Wild Edition

From 2017 and their eponymous CD.......

...please enjoy David Achelis & 8 ACE (that's Dave in the middle, BTW)...

...and "August," one of the coolest hard-rock instrumentals I've heard in ages.





Who is this guy? In his own words:

As an independent recording engineer / producer, Dave worked with artists as diverse as Dave Brubeck, The New York Dolls, Sonny Rollins, The Misfits, Elvin Jones and Rod Stewart just to name a few out of hundreds.

Not too shabby, I would say.

I should add that although I have known David since forever, and jammed with him on numerous occasions over the years, I had no idea he had such a cool guitar sound in the studio. I should also add that he can sing all the lyrics to Marty Robbins' hit recording of "El Paso," the behearing of which once caused me to literally roll on the floor in helpless gales of laughter.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Closed for Monkey Military Maneuvers

Fortunately, the missile alert was a false alarm.

In any case, regular posting -- in this case, of music by people I actually know personally -- will resume on the morrow.

It's Music By People I Actually Know Week: Part III -- Special Going for Baroque Edition

From 1983, please enjoy the fabulous Floor Models -- featuring a bass player whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels == and their quite amazing Roger McGuinn/J.S. Bach pastiche "Enough's Enough."



That's written and sung by an old bandmate, the late great Andy Pasternack, and the video was put together by a fan in Spain, who I didn't know, out of the great goodness of his heart; he sent it to me unbidden approximately 6 years ago, which still boggles my mind.