We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: Viva Satellite
Year: 1998
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I first heard “Guaranteed” on The First Waltz, a 2014 live album by Hard Working Americans, a band that Todd Snider had formed with mostly jamband vets, and whose self-titled debut was all cover songs. The First Waltz followed hard upon that album, and its highlight was a song that I had no idea was originally recorded by Snider 16 years earlier for his third album, 1998’s Viva Satellite.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2742: Todd Snider – “Guaranteed”
Album: Songs For The Daily Planet
Year: 1994
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Todd Snider first came to my attention when the hidden track from his 1994 debut, Songs For The Daily Planet, became a minor radio hit on alt-rock radio. That song was “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues,” a satirical diss on the reluctant rock stars of the era, which told a story of a band that was so reluctant that they wouldn’t even play their songs, which of course made them massive stars, a situation that led to an inevitable mid-1990s scene:
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2741: Todd Snider – “My Generation (Part 2)”
Album: Moonflower Plastic (Welcome to My Wigwam)
Year: 1997
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Having left Guided by Voices because apparently being on the road with Robert Pollard isn’t conducive to raising a child — though he would be back for a bit in the early 2010s — Tobin Sprout wasted no time in releasing his second solo album, 1997’s Moonflower Plastic (Welcome to My Wigwam).
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2740: Tobin Sprout – “All Used Up”
Album: Carnival Boy
Year: 1996
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The final track on Tobin Sprout’s 1996 album Carnival Boy is a case study in how to pile on instrumentals and vocals as a song moves forward, continually upping the ante until it becomes an utterly perfect hook machine. Opening with just a single guitar and bass from Sprout, followed by Guided by Voices drummer Kevin Fennell’s steady beat, “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin” starts with the first of its series of name-drops:
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2739: Tobin Sprout – “The Last Man Well Known to Kingpin”
Album: Carnival Boy
Year: 1996
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I mean, imagine being the other songwriter in Guided by Voices.
While Tobin Sprout, who showed up full-time for 1992’s Propeller — perhaps not coincidentally their first great album — got some co-writing credits and even solo writing credits on albums like Bee Thousand and Alien Lanes he was always going to be overwhelmed by the insanely prolific Robert Pollard, who has written approximately 2,674,887 songs in the past 35 years or so.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2738: Tobin Sprout – “It’s Like Soul Man”
Album: An Obelisk
Year: 2019
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Titus Andronicus followed up The Most Lamentable Tragedy with 2016’s quieter A Productive Cough, which featured longer, looser songs, not to mention the temerity to record and release a relatively faithful cover of “Like a Rolling Stone,” featuring a 2018 approximation of Dylan’s Thin Wild Mercury sound, which could have been a breaking point, but I actually quite liked, and found as funny as mastermind Patrick Stickles probably did..
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2737: Titus Andronicus – “(I Blame) Society”
Album: The Most Lamentable Tragedy
Year: 2015
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Titus Andronicus was one of those artists I discovered in the initial flush of the A.V. Club diaspora onto Twitter in the early 2010s, from which I discovered all kinds of music and TV shows for quite some time, as smarter younger people would discuss their favorites on the Tweetdeck tab I called “A.V. Club Club.”
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2736: Titus Andronicus – “Stranded (On My Own)”
Album: Acid Queen
Year: 1975
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Tina Turner was so chuffed about playing The Acid Queen in Tommy that her next album — her final recordings with Ike — was called Acid Queen, and featured an entire side of rock covers: another version of “Acid Queen,” but also “I Can See For Miles,” “Under My Thumb,” “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and most improbably, a futuristic soul groove version of “Whole Lotta Love,” which showed that Ike Turner had been listening intently to what Norman Whitfield and Isaac Hayes had been doing.
And so while Henry Davis basically lifted the bassline whole from John Paul Jones, the guitars of Spencer Proffer and, yes, that Ray Parker, Jr, stuck to atmosphere mostly, leaving all of the heavy musical lifting to the unhurried groove of drummer Ed Green and the swirling string arrangements.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2735: Tina Turner – “Whole Lotta Love”
Album: Tommy
Year: 1975
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Of course, outside of maybe seeing her on the Sonny & Cher or maybe a stray TV performance of “Proud Mary,” my first real exposure to Tina Turner was in Ken Russell’s film of Tommy, which I only saw because 12-year-old Jim wanted to see Elton John. It was a scene when Tommy’s mother, played by Ann-Margaret and stepfather, played by Oliver Reed decided that maybe psychedelics would be a good way to de-deaf, de-dumb and de-blind Tommy. As people did. So they took him to The Acid Queen, as played by Turner.
The resulting scene is over nine minutes of Turner dancing around like a maniac singing “Acid Queen” while abusing Tommy and eventually sticking him in a metal contraption that had dozens of needles shooting acid into his body, sending him on a lights swirling camera spinning skeleton snakes psychedelic freak-out, which did not seem like fun. Drugs are scary!!
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2734: Tina Turner – “The Acid Queen”
Album: All The Best
Year: 1973
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Confession time: I’ve never been a huge fan of “Proud Mary.” In any incarnation. I’m not denying that it’s a great song, an American classic, and that Tina & Ike Turner did a dynamite job turning it into what was by far their biggest hit in 1971. I just don’t love it. So that’s why I’m not writing about it, in case you were curious.
Much more my liking was their final hit, 1973’s “Nutbush City Limits,” a weird bouncy semi-autobiographical song written by Tina herself.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2733: Tina Turner – “Nutbush City Limits”