Certain Songs

Certain Songs #2199: Shocking Blue – “Venus”

October 11, 2021 by Jim Connelly Leave a Comment

Album: At Home
Year: 1969

. . .

In 1992, after I went back to Nirvana’s debut, Bleach, it was pretty obvious that one of the standout tracks was “Love Buzz,” and that “Love Buzz” — which really didn’t sound like anything else on Bleach — was a cover written by someone named Robbie van Leeuwen, which further research told me was the songwriter for a band called Shocking Blue.

Wait. Shocking Blue, that seemed familiar. Who was that again? Oh that’s right, they were the band who did that song “Venus,” which was all over the AM radio when we were kids. That’s right. I remember now. They were like, Dutch or something Man, I haven’t heard that song in a long time.

Certain Songs #2198: Shilpa Ray – “EMT Police and the Fire Department”

October 10, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Door Girl
Year: 2017

. . .

I’m pretty sure that it was Kirk who turned me on to Door Girl, the 2017 album by Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Shilpa Ray. A roman à clef concept album, Door Girl mixed straight-ahead rock, 50s pastiches, fast ones, slow ones and everything else under the sun in service of her story songs about life in post-millennial New York City.

There were a lot of great songs on Door Girl, but my favorite — naturally — was the the most unhinged, “EMT Police and the Fire Department,” which tells of a night where, well, let’s let Ray set the scene over a quietly meandering electric guitar:

Certain Songs #2197: She & Him – “This Is Not A Test”

October 9, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Volume One
Year: 2008

. . .

Roughly spanning the period between establishing herself as a movie star and the period where she established herself as a TV star, Zooey Deschanel tried to establish herself as a singer of self-penned retro pop songs in the band She & Him.

Zooey was the “She” of course, with producer and multi-instrumentalist M. Ward as the titular “Him”, they put out three records of mostly Deschanel-penned songs between 2008 & 2013 when (presumably) the demands of starring in a sitcom — the excellent New Girl, for those of who keeping score at home — became too much for her to also spend time writing songs, as well, because after 2013, She & Him have done nothing but Christmas albums & cover albums.

Certain Songs #2196: Sharon Van Etten – “Serpents”

October 8, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Tramp
Year: 2012

. . .

I first became aware of the indie singer/songwriter Sharon Van Etten on her third album, 2012’s Tramp. Produced by the National’s Aaron Dessner, on its best songs, Tramp places Van Etten’s massive voice over slightly off soundscapes, creating music that is equal parts dreamy and focused.

And the best of those songs was the first single, “Serpents”, which fades in with feedback from Bryce Dessner’s (the other Dessner in the National) guitar, Van Etten’s strummed guitar and a snare as she starts singing about getting away from an abusive relationship.

Certain Songs #2195: Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings – “Stranger to My Happiness”

October 7, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Give The People What They Want
Year: 2014

. . .

While Sharon Jones didn’t release her first record until she was 40, and died of pancreatic cancer in 2016 at the age of 60, she packed a lot into that final third of her life, becoming one of the more recognizable faces and voices of the post-millennial soul revival.

Certain Songs #2194: The Shangri-La’s – “The Train From Kansas City”

October 6, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Shangri-La’s 65!
Year: 1965

. . .

But the Shangri-La’s greatest song wasn’t even an A-side. Because of how the alphabet works, I’ve only so far written about a single version of “The Train From Kansas City,” which would be Neko Case’s version from The Tigers Have Spoken.

And in the coming months, I’ll probably be writing about The Shop Assistants version, which was the first one I heard, as well as the Superchunk version. But this is the original, which I didn’t even hear until a few years ago, because it never struck me to actually check out the Shangri-La’s, despite their clear awesomeness.

Certain Songs #2193: The Shangri-La’s – “Give Him a Great Big Kiss”

October 5, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Leader of the Pack
Year: 1965

. . .

Unlike the big Spectoresque production and arrangement twists and turns of “Leader of The Pack,” the follow-up, 1965’s “Give Him A Great Big Kiss,” was a pretty bare bones production, incorporating Motown rhythms and an ebullient horn section. It also features an absolutely fantastic spoken word opening, with Mary Weiss proclaiming:

Certain Songs #2192: The Shangri-La’s – “Leader of The Pack”

October 4, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Leader of the Pack
Year: 1964

. . .

I don’t even know where to begin with this one, so I’ll begin with 50-year-old memory: the first that I can remember hearing any part of “Leader of The Pack” was during an early-70s TV commercial for 60s oldies. I specifically remember hearing the singing of “the leader of the pack” followed by the iconic motorcycle revving. I thought “what the fuck?” because I could hear the hook, but was bumped by the sound effect.

Certain Songs #2191: Shane MacGowan & Sinéad O’Connor – “Haunted”

September 23, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Snake (U.S.)
Year: 1995

. . .

After being drummed out of the Pogues for failing to show up for the gigs supporting the incredibly underrated Hell’s Ditch, Shane MacGowan resurfaced in 1994 with a new backing band, with the shade-throwing name of The Popes.

The first album by Shane MacGowan and the Popes was called The Snake, and while it was closer to the classic Pogues sound than the first post-MacGowan Pogues album, Waiting For Herb, it did feature crunchier guitars throughout. And while nobody was ever going to mistake it for, say, If I Should Fall From Grace With God, if you loved MacGowan’s raggedy voice and sharp songwriting, you could find things to enjoy in The Snake, like the opener “Church of the Holy Spook” or the self-depreciating “I’ll Be Your Handbag.”

Certain Songs #2190: Sex Pistols – “E.M.I.”

September 22, 2021 by Jim Connelly

Album: Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Year: 1977

. . .

It’s always fun when an artist goes on a rant against their label, and the late 1970s featured quite a few of those, as the punks and punk-adjacent found reasons to be pissed at the suits. And so Graham Parker ranted about having “Mercury Poisoning,” Stiff Little Fingers complained about “Rough Trade,” and the Clash turned the whole genre into high art with perhaps their greatest song, “Complete Control”