Jim Connelly

Certain Songs #2210: Simon & Garfunkel – “The Sound of Silence”

October 25, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: The Sounds of Silence
Year: 1965

. . .

OK, so the roots of this go back to 1961, when Bob Dylan recorded “House of The Rising Sun” for his debut album — using an arrangement that he basically stole from fellow folkie Dave Van Ronk, who had been playing it since the 50s — which was heard by The Animals, who decided to turn it into an electric rock song.

Said electric rock song was a massive hit in 1964, inspiring Dylan’s meddling producer, Tom Wilson, to dig up some musicians and dub them over an outtake that Dylan had recorded in 1961. This version didn’t pass muster, and didn’t get released until the mid-1990s. And that on an interactive CD-ROM. (Of course, this wasn’t even the first attempt at electric Dylan, as his first single, “Mixed-Up Confusion”, was an electric rock song recorded and issued at the end of 1962, and promptly swept under the rug in the wake of The Freewheeling Bob Dylan. But I digress.)

Certain Songs #2209: Similar Animals – “Better Than Nowhere”

October 23, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Demo, 1990

. . .

It’s a truism that bad times make for great art. That you can only truly create great art when everything else about your life is shit.

This is a truism that I don’t necessarily believe, mostly because I hate putting any kind of limitations on the circumstances under which your muse kicks into overdrive. That said, it was certainly the case that “Better Than Nowhere,” one of the greatest songs to come out of my Fresno scene, was inspired by hard times.

Certain Songs #2208: Similar Animals – “Letters and Magazines”

October 22, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Demo, 1990

As I mentioned a few weeks ago when I wrote a pocket history of Sedan Delivery, back in the earliest phase of the band, we played many of our shows with a pair of other like-minded Fresno bands: Town Cryers and Similar Animals.

Town Cryers made an album called In The Cool Part of Town, about which I’ll be writing when I get there, but the only Similar Animals music I’ve ever had were couple of demos and a live show recorded at the Olympic Tavern on June 1, 1990. At that point, Sedan Delivery was on hiatus while Doc was out on tour with the Town Cryers, and Joseph had joined Similar Animals as their bassist.

Certain Songs #2207: The Silos – “Start The Clock”

October 21, 2021 by Jim Connelly 1 Comment

Album: About Her Steps
Year: 1985

. . .

This absolutely stellar KFSR classic was the brainchild of one Walter Salas-Humara, who — both under the name the Silos and not — has released tons of albums since, most of which I’ve missed, though I’ve caught a couple here and there.

That said, I’ve never heard any of his songs I loved more than “Start The Clock,” which somehow combines three different incarnations of the Velvet Underground into a single tune.

Certain Songs #2206: Sigur Rós – “Svefn-g-englar”

October 20, 2021 by Jim Connelly 1 Comment

Album: Ágætis byrjun
Year: 1999

. . .

Sigur Rós are from Iceland, and unlike so many European exports, they didn’t deign to so something so vulgar as to sing in English. At least not until 2008, and in fact for at least one album, 2002’s ( ), they made up their own language, which is admirable, but probably more work than is strictly necessary.

All of these things are gating factors normally for me, but “Svefn-g-englar” is such a piece of atmospheric beauty that I almost didn’t want to go to Genius or Wikipedia and spoil myself by learning too much about it.

Certain Songs #2205: Sidewinders – “Witchdoctor”

October 19, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Witchdoctor
Year: 1989

. . .

It’s an article of faith for me that every late-80s local scene had at least one band that woulda shoulda coulda made it big, had only bad luck or record company problems not intervened.

And for Tuscon, Arizona, that band was the Sidewinders, who featured the often-noisy twin-guitar onslaught of Rich Hopkins and David Slutes, over which Slutes would often tell fables about the heat and the desert in his deep baritone.

Certain Songs #2204: Shuggie Otis – “Strawberry Letter 23”

October 18, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Freedom Flight
Year: 1971

. . .

Shuggie Otis’s version of “Strawberry Letter 23” came to me in a roundabout way. Because his version wasn’t a hit single back when it was released in 1971, the only version I was acquainted with was the 1977 hit single version by the Brothers Johnson, which apparently happened because one of the Brothers was dating Shuggie’s cousin.

That version was a massive hit, making it to number #5 on the Billboard pop charts and #1 on the Billboard R&B charts. Still, it wasn’t until 2001 when finally heard Shuggie’s version, and that was on a reissue of his 1974 album, Inspiration Information where they tacked on four tracks from Freedom Flight, including “Strawberry Letter 23.”

Certain Songs #2203: The Showmen – “39-21-46”

October 15, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Single, 1963

. . .

I first came across “39-21-46” on a late-90s Rhino compilation Beg, Scream and Shout: The Big Ole Box of 60’s Soul, which is exactly what is says it is: 144 songs that are a great jumping off point for getting into this music, as nearly all of the great soul artists are represented. And if there isn’t enough Motown or Stax here, well, they have their own box sets, don’t they?

Certain Songs #2202: Shoes – “Tomorrow Night”

October 14, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Present Tense
Year: 1979

. . .

This is, of course, the first Shoes song I ever heard — no doubt on KKDJ — and I instantly fell for it. I mean, how could I not, given that I was going through a massive period of power pop discovery at the time; digging records by The Paul Collins Beat, 20/20, SVT, Headboys etc etc.

But at the time, “Tomorrow Night” was the absolute pinnacle — the greatest power-pop song I’d ever heard — and even though I now (barely) prefer things like “A Million Miles Away,” “She Bangs The Drums,” “September Gurls“, “The Shiny Unfeeling” or even the Shoes own “Not Me,” all of those songs were still in my future, whereas in the spring of 1980, “Tomorrow Night” was right there in front of me.

Certain Songs #2201: Shoes – “Boys Don’t Lie”

October 13, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: Black Vinyl Shoes
Year: 1978

. . .

While these days, it’s much more common to record music in your living room, bedroom, basement, any damn place but an actual recording studio, back in the late 1970s, it was much more rare.

Which is part of the reason why Black Vinyl Shoes — the first album by Zion, Illinois’ Shoes — made such a stir.