I gotta say, I’m getting pretty sick of people I admire dying on me. I have nothing really to add other than Andy was the most underrated member of one of the world’s most underrated bands ever, Big Star. He never cared much for his own songs, even though they’re two of the band’s best: “Way Out West” and “The India Song.” I’ve chosen the latter to cover this afternoon because I was pretty bummed about this and I couldn’t think of anything else to do.

Though it doesn’t hold a candle to the original, here’s my version of “The India Song.”

RIP, Andy.

Click below to play “The India Song”

-Big Star Bassist Andy Hummel Dies at 59 [Rolling Stone]

Well, what can I say about this one?  I mean, this one really hurts.

Pete Quaife was more than the bass player of the The Kinks for me.  He was the glue that held the original band together, both musically and socially.  Internal conflicts within the band were already legendary by the time of their first major hit, “You Really Got Me,” and Quaife would often act as buffer not only to the constant quarreling of the brothers Davies, but to those between Dave Davies and the Kinks’ drummer, Mick Avory (one story has Avory attempting to decapitate Dave on stage by throwing one of his cymbals at him).  Musically frustrated and fed up with the constant in-fighting, Quaife left the band in 1968 after the completion of the band’s masterpiece, The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society.  He also inspired what is my favorite Kinks single ever (the last single on which Quaife is featured), “Days.”  Ray Davies said later that he knew at this point that Pete would soon leave the band and that he subconsciously wrote the song with his departure in mind.  Though the band would continue to release brilliant material throughout the 1970′s and 80′s, they were never really the same.

I’ll conclude with the opening line from the aforementioned song:

Thank you for the days, those endless days, those sacred days you gave me….

Listen to “Days” – The Kinks

- Original Kinks Bassist Pete Quaife Dead at 66 [Rolling Stone]

About five years and five days ago, The Boog City put together a concert at the Bowery Poetry Club called Live Aid at 20.  The idea, hatched by Boog City’s editor, David Kirschenbaum, was to recreate Live Aid with a few caveats, one of them being “three songs each performer, one song per Live Aid artist in the order in which they were performed [confused yet?].”

Dan Nester approached me about doing it, and though I was secretly hoping that we could recreate the entire set from Queen, I was still thrilled.  In the end, the three songs we performed that evening were:

• “Bad” by U2
• “Hammer To Fall” by Queen
• “Don’t You Forget About Me” by Simple Minds

Dan and I rehearsed a few times, but we decided that we needed a drummer.  Luckily, Drew Gardner, a brilliant musician and poet, was available.  With only one rehearsal under our collective belts, we did the best we could.  We performed under the moniker Balls To Monty (Dan insisted that I change the spelling from “Monte,” which is the moniker I normally use).  We did relatively straight (for us, anyway) versions of the first two songs, but we had no idea what to do with the Simple Minds song, so I did a quick demo of a T.Rex-type arrangement and we just went with that.

Let me say up front that I’ve certainly sung better than I did that night.  I swear I was able to hit the high notes at rehearsal, but the nanosecond I hit the stage my throat went completely dry.  Also dry-as-a-bone was the mix, due to a rather inept sound man (sure Gene, blame the sound man) who kept insisting we conserve all the reverb in the country for the current war effort.  I thought it unfair to argue such a noble gesture.  I’ll put it this way: never trust anyone under 50 wearing a Fedora.  ‘Nuff said?

Anyway, here it is, warts and all.  Dan plays guitar on “Bad” and “Hammer To Fall” and I play bass; we switch instruments for “Don’t You Forget About Me.”  Enjoy.

“Bad”

“Hammer To Fall”

“Don’t You Forget About Me”

.

[EDIT: Oops.  I was a month off.  At least I wasn't late in commemorating it]

Former Doobie Brothers’ lead singer, Michael McDonald, was charged Monday with “being a bounty hunter on a solo mission to kill Osama bin Laden.” But, as it turned out, it was all a terrible mistake on the part of Pakistani officials. McDonald, a pioneer in 1970′s mumble-singing merely asked “Can I have some of them lattés?” at a local cafe. “I’m sure you can understand how this could easily be misinterpreted,” said one investigator. “I mean, you have to admit, it’s nearly impossible to figure out what this guy’s saying half the time.”

McDonald did, in fact, release a statement to the press, but the press are still in the process of deciphering it.

- Gary Brooks Faulkner, Would-Be Osama Bin Laden Assassin, ‘Very Passionate’ [Huffington Post]

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For those of you who are unfamiliar with Lemmings, I’ll try to give you a quick summary.  In 1973, National Lampoon put together their first stage show, produced by Tony Hendra, in the hopes of turning it into an album.  Act One, by all accounts, wasn’t quite up to scratch, but Act Two was a musical masterpiece (it was this part that was used for the album).  The second act takes place at the “Woodshuck Festival of Peace, Love and Death,” a mass-suicide/rock concert in which several rock luminaries are viciously satirized.

The video above features a song written and originally performed by Nate Herman for The National Lampoon Radio Hour.  The song itself is a dead-on parody of Joni Mitchell.  Unfortunately, Nate being a man, his original performance wasn’t quite as dead-on as the one featured here.  Though not featured on the original Lemmings album, “You Put Me Through Hell” was added to later performances of the show at The Village Gate, one of which was videotaped.  It is sung by the incredibly talented Rhonda Coullet, who manages to look and sound remarkably like Joni.  John Belushi, as the emcee, provides more than his share of profanity and chauvinistic comments during his introduction to the song.

Enjoy.

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“Youse all suck! Who don’t think so?”

During 1979-1980, Penelope Spheeris directed her first feature film, The Decline Of Western Civilization, a superb documentary about the Los Angeles punk movement. The film features such bands as Black Flag, X, The Germs and Circle Jerks.  Of all these bands, Fear is undoubtedly the best.  Not only are they musically several notches above the other acts (longtime friend Puddin’ Cup Nasty describes their performance as “positively orchestral compared to the other groups”), but the tenacity with which they alienate their audience is truly staggering.  Above is the entire Fear segment from the Decline film.  Abuse, both verbal and physical, absolutely permeate these performances.  The first three and a half minutes contain no music, just Fear berating the audience.  The film has been out of print for about two decades, but this website claims that a DVD is in the works.  I’ll believe it when I see it.

Enjoy.

[WARNING: Fear are not very nice people (at least they weren't then) and this video is NOT work-friendly stuff]

In the “You’ve Got To Be Fucking Kidding Me” department, the Vatican has decided to forgive The Beatles for declaring themselves “more popular than Jesus,” among other things.

I’m not sure whether or not this is some ill-advised diversionary tactic on the part of the Catholic Church. Okay, strike that. I KNOW it’s a diversionary tactic on their part. Do they seriously think that by invoking the good name of The Beatles that all of their past sins will be magically washed away?  Was pardoning Copernicus or Galileo not “headline-grabbing” enough for them?

Here’s what Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano had to say:

“It’s true, they took drugs; swept up by their success, they lived dissolute and uninhibited lives. They even said they were more famous than Jesus. But, listening to their songs, all of this seems distant and meaningless. Their beautiful melodies, which changed forever pop music and still give us emotions, live on like precious jewels.”

Isn’t that just dandy of them?

Hmm, “swept up by their success and living dissolute and uninhibited lives.” Does that remind anyone of another famous group?

I’ll bet that the surviving Beatles are going to be thrilled when they hear about this, especially knowing how difficult it is to get a pardon from the Vatican these days.

L’Osservatore said two years ago (in an article celebrating the 40th anniversary of The White Album) “in reality [Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" statement] wasn’t that scandalous, because the fascination with Jesus was so great that it attracted these new heroes of the time.”

OK, so not only are the Vatican using The Beatles to deflect attention away from their long-term debauchery, but now they are claiming bragging rights to the Beatles’ fame and “glory” as well?  Have they no shame?

- Vatican makes peace with the Beatles [AP]

Partially in memory of Alex Chilton and partially for yuks, I’ve covered a Big Star song that has always intrigued me. It’s the second-to-last track on the Radio City album and it’s called “Morpha Too,” featuring just Alex singing and playing piano. If my version is a bit noisy with a few clicks, have mercy on me. I’ve spent all day trying to learn that piano part. It sounds easy, until you try playing it. Chilton must had have two brains or something. From what I’ve heard, Alex pretty much came up with this song on the spot because the album needed one more track. But, unlike most songs designed to finish an album, it’s light years from being a throwaway; it’s a minimalist masterpiece (the Big Star version, that is).

Click below to hear my version:

Wow, this is a rough one for me.  If you asked me what my single favorite pop music CD in the world is, I would have to say the two-fer of Big Star’s first two albums, #1 Record and Radio City.  There probably isn’t one artist that I’ve listened to more in the past few months than Big Star (with the exception of Chris Bell, who co-founded the group which also featured bassist Andy Hummel and drummer Jody Stephens.  Bell departed after #1 Record‘s completion and recorded the eventually-released masterpiece, I Am The Cosmos.) The group’s first two albums received almost no attention at the time of their release, despite being the rock critic’s favorite.  Big Star recorded a third album; tentatively titled Beale Street Green, and recorded in 1975, they were unable to get it released until 1978 on the small PVC label under the title Third.  It has since been reissued on Rykodisc under the title Third/Sister Lovers.  In 2009, Rhino released Keep An Eye On The Sky, an exhaustive, lovingly-compiled boxed set featuring (as far as I know) every studio recording the band ever did plus an amazing live performance from early 1973.

Alex Chilton had an illustrious career before Big Star.  As the lead singer of The Box Tops, he had seven Top 40 hits, the most famous being “The Letter,” “Cry Like A Baby” and “Neon Rainbow.”  And all before his 20th birthday.  It’s hard to believe that, commercially, Chilton had already reached the apex of his career.

After Big Star ended, Chilton made several solo records (Like Flies On Sherbert, the Feudalist Tarts and Singer Not The Song EPs, etc.) as well as producing the first EP by The Cramps, Gravest Hits.

The following recording is a demo for the third Big Star album, a gorgeous song called “Blue Moon.”  It’s just Alex and his 12-string acoustic guitar.  It’s appears on the Big Star boxed set.  Here it is:

Alex Chilton – Blue Moon (demo)

-Alex Chilton, Rock Musician, Dies [New York Times]

The front cover photograph of The Velvet Underground’s self-titled third album originally showed Lou Reed holding up the October 1968 issue of Harper’s Bazaar.  By the time of the album’s release, the magazine cover had been airbrushed.  The only version of this picture that remained untouched was a promo single featuring a radio spot plugging the album (though the original promo 45s are extremely rare, Sundazed included a repro along with the remainder of their singles in this set).

The above image is my attempt to recreate the cover as it was intended, just for fun.  Click on the image for a larger view.

Okay, it’s the late 1950′s and Alvin and The Chipmunks are just burning up the charts with their lovable, wholesome brand of unlistenable mischief for those make-you-want-to-drive-a-nail-into-your-frontal-lobes-kinda…BLEECCHHH!

Anyway, you’ve got a studio and you’re thinking “How can I get in on this Chipmunk cash-machine action? I mean, this goldmine will never ever cease, right?”  Well, if you’re Modern Sound records, you put out the following 45.  Courtesy of the good folks at WFMU, here is (as far as I know) the entire output of Alvin & The Squirrels.  I kid you not.  I don’t know if this is the greatest or the most horrid thing that I’ve ever heard.  All I know is that I cannot get it out of my freakin’ head!

Downloads:
A Side – “A Fella In a White Coat”
B Side – “The Fliff”

Apparently, author John Green has taken an extended leave of absence from his Nerdfighting activities to have a baby. So rather than having Hank vlog himself, the two brothers decided to have YA author Maureen Johnson fill in for John until his return. They couldn’t have made a better choice. Maureen also graciously asked me to come up with some music for her “Actual John Green” song.

Download the “Actual John Green” song here.

Enjoy.

This is a YouTube video featuring my friend, Maureen Johnson. She is forced to take a trapeze lesson after losing a bet with the internet. It’s entertaining, thought-provoking and horrifying all at the same time.

Anyway, she asked me to write a song to accompany the video of her trapeze lesson. This song (which I cleverly titled “Trapeze”) took me 20 whole minutes to write and record, so you all had better love it. Maureen was kind enough to show the words on the screen, as I’m not always so hot when it comes to musical enunciation.

Hope you enjoy it.

Since I’m on such a Sesame Street (and Stevie Wonder) kick, I figured I might as well go ahead and post this chestnut. It’s Stevie performing the most smoking version of “Superstition” that I’ve ever heard.

Like the previous post, it’s performed on the Sesame Street set, and a few lucky kids got to witness it. Now we all get to witness it.

Click on the image to watch the video.

[WARNING; This file is over 40MB, so it might take awhile, but like yesterday's post, it's so worth it.]

Enjoy.

To honor the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street, I am posting a fairly rare clip of Stevie Wonder from 1973. Stevie opens the show, performing an alternate Sesame Street theme song that should have immediately toppled the already existing one, in my opinion. But, no! They kept that “Sunny Day” monstrosity instead. Whatever.

Let’s go back together to a time when performers apparently sang into microphones strongly resembling night-lights and owned genuine Orange amplifiers. A glorious time, indeed.

Click on the image to watch the video. The file is about 20MB, so be patient; it’s worth it.

This clip is Eric Charden singing a song titled “Pas Question?”. Chances are, you’ve never heard of him. I know I hadn’t when I watched this Media Funhouse episode featuring Charden on a French television variety show hosted by Tom Jones in 1966. The fuzz bass line is absolutely killer, and I guarantee you’ll be singing along to this one in due time. That it is sung in French matters not, my friend. Trust me.

Click on the image to watch the video. Enjoy.

Meanwhile, you can catch Media Funhouse on MNN’s Channel 57, Saturday nights at 1am (though technically, it’s Sunday morning).

I want to voice my misgivings about the soon-to-be-released boxsets of The Beatles: one in mono, one in stereo.

The Beatles In Mono is “limited,” though EMI will not say definitely to what extent, and lists for $299. The Beatles In Stereo lists for $259.

Now, I don’t know what economy EMI are living in right now, but I would not even consider buying either one of those for anything near that price. I would consider, say, $75 for each.

For those of you asking “why mono?”, The Beatles’ monophonic mixes differ greatly from their stereo counterparts, and have been unavailable since late 1968.

Let me give you an idea of how outrageously priced these sets are. Recently, there was a boxed set of the 13th Floor Elevators titled Sign Of The 3 Eyed Men released on the tiny International Artists label. Here’s a video of all its contents:

Lovingly compiled by long-time fan and biographer Paul Drummond, the sound is as good as it’s ever gonna get for these guys. Previous CD releases have sounded comparatively horrible. It is absolutely limited to 4,000 copies. The cost? US$158 including shipping (it ships from the UK). Knowing a thing or two about manufacturing and shipping, I would assume that a corporation as monolithic as EMI would be able to finagle a more reasonable price than, say, International Artists. The cost to EMI for manufacturing and shipping each boxed set ain’t anywhere near three hundred bucks, limited or not.

Even if her name doesn’t ring a bell, you’ve almost certainly heard her music.

With her husband, lyricist Jeff Barry (as well as with producers Phil Spector and George “Shadow” Morton), Greenwich co-wrote an amazing number of hits. Here are but a few:

“Chapel Of Love” – The Dixie Cups
“Be My Baby” – The Ronettes
“Then He Kissed Me” – The Crystals
“Da Doo Ron Ron” – The Crystals
“River Deep – Mountain High” – Ike & Tina Turner
“Leader Of The Pack” – The Shangri-Las
“I Can Hear Music” – The Beach Boys
“Hanky Panky” – Tommy James and The Shondells
“Do Wah Diddy Diddy” – Manfred Mann

Ellie Greenwich died on August 27th of a heart attack at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in midtown Manhattan.

Although not very well known, this is my favorite version of “I Can Hear Music” by Larry Lurex, which is actually Freddie Mercury, Brian May and Roger Taylor recording under a pseudonym. The three, after recruiting bassist John Deacon, were soon to release their first album, Queen.

Click here to listen to the song.

- Ellie Greenwich, `Chapel of Love’ co-writer, dies [AP]

Well, here’s another bummer announcement.

Ron Asheton, guitarist for The Stooges and Destroy All Monsters was found dead at his home in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Tuesday and appeared to have been dead for several days before the police found him.

I think I speak for at least hundreds of people (mostly guitarists) when I say that Ron’s guitar playing had a pervasive influence on punk and post-punk music, second only to Pete Townshend’s. Ron’s playing would have been legendary even if his sole output was “TV Eye,” a song from the Stooges’ 1970 album, Fun House, and one of my favorite riffs of all time.

I wanted to share this with you. It’s an outtake of “TV Eye” (take 7, I believe) with an introduction featuring Iggy Pop impersonating an evil wrestler who’s admiration for the Stooges almost rivals mine. It’s a great performance all around. Enjoy it.

Click on the photo to listen.

- Stooges guitarist Asheton found dead in Michigan [Reuters UK]

Over three years ago, I named what I felt was (and is) the greatest jingle in advertising history. I stand by my choice 1000%, but now I think I may have the second greatest jingle of all time. Trouble is, most of you won’t remember it, unless you are my age (and I’m not divulging that bit of info). It’s an old PSA for the Boy Scouts of America that aired way back in the 1970′s (yeah, the boy scouts were around even at that point in time). Anyway, the jingle is a wonderful slab of Ides of March-meets-Jesus Christ Superstar meets, etc, etc. In short, wonderfully, if woefully inappropriately, funky and memorable. Also, I adore old TV ads that try to seem futuristic and instead give us a hilarious glimpse of how Neanderthal everything was, technologically speaking (check out that Colossus computer). Musically, I doubt that the whole of our current Top 40 houses as many musical hooks as in this 20-second ad.

Many, many thanks to MSTS1 for posting this on YouTube. I’ve been searching for it pretty much since YouTube’s inception.

Enjoy. Click on the image to play the video.