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Archives for November 2015

Certain Songs #382: Eddie Floyd – “Big Bird”

November 30, 2015 by Jim Connelly

eddie-floyd-big-bird-resize
Single, 1968

Supposedly written while he was sitting in a London airport to fly back to the U.S. for Otis Redding’s funeral, Eddie Floyd’s “Big Bird” is one of the most thrilling singles ever made.

Recorded with at least some of Booker T. & The MG’s — as always, the internet is sketchy on the details — “Big Bird” is a song that should have found its way to the top of both the rock and soul charts, as it contains dynamite elements of both.

The first thing you hear is a guitar taking off for the horizon, followed by a horn section flying in formation, until they drop into a garage rock riff as Floyd sings:

Open up the sky
‘Cause I’m coming up to you
So send down your wings
And let ’em bring me to you

And then the tempo picks up just a bit, as the background singers join in

You know I’m standing at the station, ready to go
Oh, big ‘ol aeroplane, I’m trusting you so

On the chorus, it’s back to that guitar riff, first just with a double-time snare drum, and then with organ, and then with the horns going ever higher as Floyd pleads:

Get on up big bird, to my baby’s love
Get on up big bird, to my baby’s love
Get on up big bird,
Cause I got to make it,
Just get on up
‘Cause I got to make it,
Get on up

Of course, I would remiss if I didn’t point out that when he sings “Get on up big bird, to my baby’s love,” he’s referring neither to the Sesame Street character or the airplane.

Somehow the fact that it’s a double-entendre just makes it better, especially as in the end, the background singers just end up screaming “Big bird” over and over and over again as the song fades into oblivion.

The first time I heard “Big Bird” was in on a Stax-Volt sampler, and it was unlike anything I’d ever heard. All these years later, its combination of garage & soul still is.

“Big Bird”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Big Bird, Eddie Floyd

Certain Songs #381: Eddie Floyd – “Knock on Wood”

November 29, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Eddie Floyd knock on wood Album: Knock on Wood
Year: 1966

In the early 1990s — around the same time he was playing guitar and singing with Joe, Doc & I in Sedan Delivery — my friend Don was leading a band called Rapid Transit, who specialized in old soul covers.

Among many other things, this made him maybe the only person in music history who was in two bands at the same time that were named after Neil Young songs.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #381: Eddie Floyd – “Knock on Wood”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Eddie Floyd, Knock on Wood

Certain Songs #380: Eddie & The Hot Rods – “Do Anything You Wanna Do”

November 28, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Eddie and the hot rods do anything1 Album: Life on the Line
Year: 1977

By the time mid-1979 rolled around, I was totally in the bag for punk rock or new wave or whatever the hell you wanted to call it. Not so much that I was gonna abandon everything else — never! — but enough that I scoured every month’s CREEM or Trouser Press trying to figure which unheard music I was going try next.

It had gone pretty well with The Clash and Television and Ramones. But what next? Maybe The Jam. Or Talking Heads. Or maybe The Sex Pistols. How about The Shoes? It was a whole new world of music, and I was on limited funds. What I needed was a good sampler. Enter the That Summer! soundtrack.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #380: Eddie & The Hot Rods – “Do Anything You Wanna Do”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Do Anything You Wanna Do, Eddie & The Hot Rods, Live on the Line

Certain Songs #379: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Angels & Devils”

November 27, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Echo Silver B-side, 1984

Like a lot of their peers, Echo & The Bunnymen were simultaneously a singles band and an albums band. Which meant that they also were committed to putting out albums that were cohesive statements, and even a great song that didn’t fit one of those statements wouldn’t make it.

And it meant — at least until the reissue era — that they have a few lost songs in their catalog, especially b-sides like 1984’s “Angels and Devils,” which showed up on the “Silver” single.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #379: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Angels & Devils”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Angels and Devils, Echo & The Bunnymen

Certain Songs #378: Echo & The Bunnymen – “My Kingdom”

November 26, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Echo Ocean Rain Album: Ocean Rain
Year: 1984

Before “The Killing Moon” revealed itself to be an all-time classic, my favorite song was “My Kingdom.” An outlier on Ocean Rain, “My Kingdom” eschewed the strings that dominated the rest of the album.

Instead, it started with a cheesy-sounding keyboard, skittering drums and a mellow acoustic guitar lick. Completely inauspicious. But that’s just a fake-out, because the chorus of “My Kingdom” is as rousing as anything in their catalog.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #378: Echo & The Bunnymen – “My Kingdom”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Echo & The Bunnymen

Certain Songs #377: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”

November 25, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Echo killing moon Album: Ocean Rain
Year: 1984

I’m trying to remember: when did it first become obvious that “The Killing Moon” wasn’t just Echo & The Bunnymen’s greatest song, but an absolutely enduring classic that will forever be counted among the greatest rock songs of not just the 1980s, but all-time?

I think it took some time. I think it was too big to grok in 1984.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #377: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Killing Moon”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Echo & The Bunnymen, Ocean Rain, The Killing Moon

Certain Songs #376: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Do It Clean (Royal Albert Hall 07-18-1983)”

November 24, 2015 by Jim Connelly

echo epAlbum: Echo & The Bunnymen EP
Year: 1983

I was able to see Echo & The Bunnymen live during their original incarnation in the mid-1980s, and live, they were a much different band.

Whereas their albums were usually clean and precise, in concert, they were much looser, stretching songs out, with Will Sergeant improvising riffs and Ian McCullough not only playing with his words, but often throwing other people’s words in as well.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #376: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Do It Clean (Royal Albert Hall 07-18-1983)”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Do it Clean, Echo & The Bunnymen

Certain Songs #375: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Gods Will Be Gods”

November 23, 2015 by Jim Connelly

echo porcupine Album: Porcupine
Year: 1983

Along with the obvious singles like “The Cutter,” “Heads Will Roll” and “Back of Love,” Porcupine was full of long trance songs that found a — well, “groove” is probably a bit too strong of a word — pathway, and then rode along that pathway for a good long time.

My favorite of those songs is “Gods Will Be Gods,” which faded in from infinity in full flight with a big-ass kickdrum and a rumbling bass, followed by about a million guitars layered on top of each other, and Ian McCullough singing — well, to be honest, I have no fucking idea what he was singing.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #375: Echo & The Bunnymen – “Gods Will Be Gods”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Echo & The Bunnymen, Gods Will Be Gods, Porcupine

Certain Songs #374: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Back of Love”

November 22, 2015 by Jim Connelly

echo porcupine Album: Porcupine
Year: 1983.

After a second album, Heaven Up Here, that I underrated for years because I thought it was too dour by a half — turns out that was its strength — Echo & The Bunnymen’s third album, Porcupine, was more to my 1983 taste.

With songs that were one half psychedelic, one half trance, and one half pop, Porcupine caught the Bunnymen right before their ambition to be the biggest band in the world outpaced their ability to actually be the biggest band in the world.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #374: Echo & The Bunnymen – “The Back of Love”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: Echo & The Bunnymen, Porcupine, The Back of Love

Certain Songs #373: Echo & The Bunnymen – “All That Jazz”

November 21, 2015 by Jim Connelly

Echo Crocodiles Album: Crocodiles
Year: 1980

Let’s talk about the drum roll hook. It’s one of my favorite devices in all of pop music, and has probably fallen into a bit of disuse these days.

For me, though, a perfectly-executed drum roll on a chorus — think Dave Grohl’s fills during “Come as You Are” or DJ Bonebrake’s stop time fills during “White Girl” — can elevate a song from great to classic.

And in the case of “All That Jazz,” Pete de Freitas’ exquisitely precise snare rolls after the chorus is practically the reason for the entire song.

[Read more…] about Certain Songs #373: Echo & The Bunnymen – “All That Jazz”

Filed Under: Certain Songs Tagged With: All That Jazz, Crocodiles, Echo & The Bunnymen

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Previously on Medialoper

  • Certain Songs #2547: Sugar – “Man on the Moon”
  • Certain Songs #2546: Sugar – “If I Can’t Change Your Mind”
  • Certain Songs #2545: Sugar – “Helpless”
  • Certain Songs #2544: Sugar – “Changes”
  • Certain Songs #2543: Sugar – “A Good Idea”

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