Jim Connelly

Certain Songs #2110: Rosanne Cash – “Seven Year Ache”

May 20, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Seven Year Ache
Year: 1981

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It’s not easy being the scion of a bona fide legend. Over the years, we’ve watched folks like Jakob Dylan, Julian Lennon and Ziggy Marley have some initial successes, and maybe even careers, but still not escape the shadow cast by their parents. Not so with Roseanne Cash, who has pretty much escaped the orbit of her legendary father and sustained a career for 40 years, putting albums in the Country top 10 off and on since 1981 — most recently in 2014.

Her breakthrough was the self-penned “Seven Year Ache,” the title track to her third album, and a tune that more than held its own with the Merle Haggard and Tom Petty songs that it rubbed shoulders with on the album.

Certain Songs #2109: The Ronettes – “Be My Baby”

May 19, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica
Year: 1963

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So, as always, the usual disclaimer about Phil Spector: he was an abuser and a murderer and by pretty much all accounts, an incredibly shitty person. And Ronnie Spector, who sang “Be My Baby” bore far more of his abuse than any person should have to endure. So, in conclusion, fuck Phil Spector.

That said, “Be My Baby” is a helluva record, and Spector gets credit for co-writing it and producing it, though one suspects that the bulk of the writing was done by Jeff Barry & Ellie Greenwich and the bulk of the arranging was by Jack Nitzche. And, at least from my standpoint, the success of “Be My Baby” is down to two people: the aforementioned Ronnie and drummer Hal Blaine, who powers the song with one of the greatest drum performances on any pop record.

Certain Songs #2108: Romeo Void – “Never Say Never”

May 18, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Never Say Never EP
Year: 1981.

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Romeo Void so quickly followed up their debut album with a four-song EP, it was clear they’d recorded a song and they couldn’t wait for people to hear it. And they were right, as the EP was named for not just their greatest song, but one of the great dance-punk songs of all time, the timeless “Never Say Never,” which stretched out over six glorious minutes and basically dwarfed the other songs on the EP.

While they did stick a shorter version of “Never Say Never” as the opening track of their second album, 1982’s Benefactor and a remixed version on their 1991 best of Warm, In Your Coat, the original is the one to seek out. Opening with guitarist Peter Woods scratching his guitar like he’s auditioning for the Gang of Four, and almost instantly falling into a groove with bassist Frank Zincavage and new drummer Larry Carter, the band is already cooking by the time Deborah Iyall starts singing, her voice distorted and reverbed.

Certain Songs #2107: Romeo Void – “White Sweater”

May 17, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: It’s A Condition
Year: 1981

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Like a lot of the bands that came out on San Francisco’s 415 Records in the very very early 1980s, Romeo Void seemed to spring out of nowhere with a sound very much their own, which featured the danceable rhythms of bassist Frank Zincavage & drummer John Haines; the everything-in-its-right-place guitar of Peter Woods, the avant-garde-adjacent sax of Benjamin Bossi, and of course, the ice queen vocals of Deborah Iyall, who at some point I discovered grew up in Fresno.

I’m not sure if I knew that in 1981, but what I did know was that It’s A Condition had a few songs that I really loved, most of all the final song on the first side, “White Sweater,” which brings it all together.

Certain Songs #2106: The Romantics – “What I Like About You”

May 13, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Romantics
Year: 1980

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Because it’s a truth that I hold self-evident, I didn’t really discuss the influence of the Rolling Stones in the eight zillion posts I just wrote about them, but one of the first things they influenced was the initial wave of American garage-rockers who emulated not just the Stones, but their British Invasion contemporaries like The Kinks and The Who, and for some reason, electric Dylan.

A little over a decade later, a second wave of this stuff came around: young kids writing big fat riffs and basing their entire songs around those big fat riffs. And one of the greatest songs to come from this second wave was the immortal “What I Like About You” from Detroit’s The Romantics, which was as great as, say “All Day and All of The Night” or “I Can’t Explain.”

Certain Songs #2105: Mick Jagger with Dave Grohl – “Eazy Sleazy”

May 12, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Video, 2021

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OK, so here’s some special bonus Stones content, which I’m writing about because of the timely subject matter, and the fact that tomorrow will mark the day that I’m fully vaccinated!

Also, I’m guessing that this song might have passed a lot of people by, because, so far as I know it’s only available as a video on YouTube: not on Spotify or iTunes.

Certain Songs #2104: The Rolling Stones – “Plundered My Soul”

May 11, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Exile on Main Street (Reissue)
Year: 2010

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Now I know what you’re saying: how come “Claudine” which was an extra track on the Some Girls deluxe counted as a 1978 recording, but this Exile on Main St outtake counts as 2010 recording?

First of all: my blog, my rules. But, honestly, it’s really this: while “Claudine” was essentially the same song they’d cut in 1978, “Plundered My Soul” is essentially a 1971 backing track with 2009 overdubs.

Certain Songs #2103: The Rolling Stones – “Rough Justice”

May 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: A Bigger Bang
Year: 2005

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Way back in 1981, The Rolling Stones felt like they had to have a new album to tour, and thus Tattoo You was assembled from duct tape and bailing wire. In the 21st century, however, there is no such need, and new records from the Stones have essentially dried up even as they continued touring.

And so, suddenly, it’s 2021, and they’ve only released a single album of all-new material this century. I’m sure that some of you are fine with that, as the they’ve become a bit like The Simpsons: both institutions answer the age-old question of what if you loved something so much that you never wanted it to go away? And then it didn’t!?!

Certain Songs #2102: The Rolling Stones – “Don’t Stop”

May 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Forty Licks
Year: 2002

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While the Stones had been putting out compilation albums since 1966’s Big Hits (High Tide and Green Grass), those compilations were either focused on either their pre Rolling Stones Records work or everything they’d done since they founded their own imprint.

That all changed with 2002’s Forty Licks compilation. That’s because because ABKCO had been bought by Universal Music and now all of the Rolling Stones’ music was now under a single roof. Score one for record industry consolidation!!! I guess.

Certain Songs #2101: The Rolling Stones – “Saint of Me”

May 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Bridges to Babylon
Year: 1997

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I’m sure there are people out there whose favorite Rolling Stones albums are Voodoo Lounge or Bridges to Babylon, and god bless those people. But both albums basically passed me by: I bought them when they came out, I listened to them a few times; put the songs I liked onto mixtapes, and filed them with the rest of my Stones records, knowing that when I wanted to listen to the Stones, I had any number of great records from which to choose. And all of those had Bill Wyman playing bass, Wyman having flown the coop after the Steel Wheels tours.

Which is not fair to either record, but here we are. I feel weird that Voodoo Lounge is the first album I completely skipped for this project — and certainly I considered writing about “You Got Me Rocking” or “Sparks Will Fly,” but I really had nothing to say about either song, which is one of the criteria of course for writing about a song.