We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: Gettin’ Ready
Year: 1966
. . .
Given my age and my demographic, it’s not surprising that I heard — or at least remember — a lot of Temptations songs in their incarnation from white rock artists. Of course the Stones did an OK version of “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg” and an all-time all-time version of “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me),” and Rod Stewart had the Faces in tow for “(I Know) I’m Losing You.”
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2678: The Temptations – “Get Ready”
Album: The Temptations Sing Smokey
Year: 1964
. . .
The first thing you hear on “My Girl” — a song that features a quite a few firsts — is the steady rolling bassline of Funk Brother James Jamerson, who was unsung at the time, but in retrospect was clearly one of the most important musicians of the 20th century.
Funk Brother Benny Benjamin joins Jamerson with a quick roll, setting the up immortal opening couplet of “My Girl,” which features Funk Brother Robert White playing a spidery hook underneath David Ruffin’s utterly sublime rendition of Smokey Robinson’s words. Everybody sing!
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2677: The Temptations – “My Girl”
Album: Temple of the Dog
Year: 1991
. . .
It is never a good idea to die just before your debut album is released, but that was the fate of Andrew Wood, the lead singer of Seattle’s Mother Love Bone, who otherwise might have gone on to be one of the bigger bands with a dick-themed name, joining Steely Dan and The Sex Pistols.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2676: Temple of the Dog – “Hunger Strike”
Album: Television
Year: 1992
. . .
One of the things I realized while writing these posts was that Television’s album covers primarily consisted of three colors: black, red and white, a proto-White Stripes coloring scheme that was only broken by the yellow lettering on Adventure. It doesn’t really mean anything, I don’t think — and ironically, the cover for this single is blue — and I doubt that Jack White was influenced by Tom Verlaine in any way, but at the very least, it’s an interesting coincidence.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2675: Television – “Call Mr. Lee”
Album: Television
Year: 1992
. . .
Television were actually broken up before I heard a note of their music, and whether or not failure of Adventure to make any inroads here in the U.S. was a factor, Richard Lloyd’s high-profile junkiedom — he was literally doing smack with Anita Pallenberg, then the girlfriend of Keith Richards — was definitely a factor as well.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2674: Television – “1880 or So”
Album: Live at the Old Waldorf
Year: 1978
. . .
I never saw Television in concert.
I mean, my original excuse was that they broke up in 1978 before I’d even heard their music, which is a pretty good one, especially since I didn’t leave Fresno for a concert until me, Larry, Craig & Tim saw The Who in the summer of 1980.
Album: Adventure
Year: 1978
. . .
One of the reasons that Adventure wasn’t as good as Marquee Moon was that Television was without Richard Lloyd for part of the recording. That’s because he was in the hospital for five weeks with a heart ailment that stemmed from his heroin habit.
And, of course, Verlaine decided to carry on without him, with the upshot being there were three songs on Adventure that basically didn’t feature Lloyd at all: “Carried Away,” “The Fire” and “The Dream’s Dream.” And coincidentally, those three songs have always been my least favorite songs on the album, even though I had no idea until this year that Lloyd didn’t play on them. At least not consciously.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2672: Television – “Ain’t That Nothin’”
Album: Adventure
Year: 1978
. . .
“Careful” was one of the two songs in Television’s repertoire that made it onto Adventure — the other being “Foxhole” — but people didn’t know it as “Careful,” but rather as “I Don’t Care,” which was what it was still called when it was originally demoed in 1975.
But when it came time to record it for Adventure, Verlaine decided to rename it. Why? Because the brothers Ramone decided to release their own song called “I Don’t Care,” on their 1977 masterpiece, Rocket To Russia, and Verlaine wanted to avoid any confusion. Now as somebody who bought Rocket to Russia on the same day he bought Marquee Moon — have I mentioned that? — I doubt that when I got around to Adventure (which let’s say I bought on the same day I bought Road to Ruin), I would have thought that Television was covering the Ramones.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2671: Television – “Careful”
Album: Adventure
Year: 1978
. . .
The old saw about you have your entire life to write your first album, but only a year to write your second was both true and not true when it came to Television’s second album, 1978’s Adventure: after all, there were plenty of songs left in Television’s back catalog that could have been used for either Marquee Moon or Adventure, which they started recording in late 1977. Songs like “Hard on Love,” “Double Exposure,” “O Mi Amore,” “Poor Circulation” (which they were still playing on their last tour) or even their version of the 13th Floor Elevators’ “Fire Engine” would absolutely have enlivened Adventure, giving it more of the rock that made their live shows such a gas.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2670: Television – “Glory”
Album: Marquee Moon
Year: 1977
. . .
It would be cruel to say that Marquee Moon is kinda regarded as a one-sided record, but its reputation is absolutely predicated on the four songs that open it up as opposed to the four songs that closed it, none of which were even remotely as barn-burning as “See No Evil” or “Friction,” though they all had their charms, whether it’s the witty lyrics of “Prove It,” the weird chorus of “Elevation” or the guitar solo during the coda of “Torn Curtain.”
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2669: Television – “Guiding Light”