Medialoper

Certain Songs #1911: Rhett Miller – “Things That Disappear”

September 11, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Instigator
Year: 2002

. . .

Since the turn of the century, Stuart Ransom Miller has been supplementing his main gig of being the front-person of the still-mighty Old 97’s with a series of solo albums that — with one exception — are entitled “The ________.”

For the most part, these albums let Miller explore song styles — quieter or poppier — that wouldn’t quite fit with the more meat-and-potatoes rock that the Old 97’s specialize in. And because Miller is such a great songwriter in any vernacular, twenty years into the 2000’s, Miller has produced one of the greatest and most rewarding discographies in the century.

Certain Songs #1910: The Reverbs – “Trusted Woods”

September 10, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Happy Forest EP
Year: 1984

. . .

I know I mentioned this when I wrote about R.E.M., but there was definitely a swath of indie rockers in 1984 who heard Murmur and Reckoning and thought not just “we could do that” but rather “we should do that.”

And so, from coast to coast, scruffy college kids untucked their thrift store shirts, plugged in their guitars, and learned to jingle-jangle-jingle. None of it came out as good as R.E.M., of course, but none of anything that pretty much anybody else did in 1984 came out as good as R.E.M., so there was no shame in that.

Certain Songs #1909: Restorations – “Misprint”

September 9, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: LP3
Year: 2014
. . .

Though Philadelphia’s Restorations have been releasing albums since 2011, I didn’t discover them until their third album, 2014’s helpfully entitled LP3, which established them as a post-millennial player of what Mike Scott of The Waterboys would call “The Big Music.”

Certain Songs #1908: The Residents – “The Secret Seed”

September 8, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: The Tunes of Two Cities
Year: 1982

. . .

Look, if you don’t know about The Residents, I’m not the person to explain them to you. For the most part, I respected their deeply weird, deeply subversive music and videos more than I actually enjoyed them. Especially the videos, which I assume are out there on YouTube.

And yet, the Residents have one song that is weirdly important to me, but more for utilitarian reasons than emotional reasons. That song is called “The Secret Seed,” and it served a very specific purpose in my life: it was the theme song for my radio show on KFSR.

Certain Songs #1907: The Replacements – “I’m Not Sayin’

September 3, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Songs For Slim EP
Year: 2013

Since there wasn’t really ever any danger of the Replacements touring off of the back of the career-spanning greatest hits album that came out in 2006, most Replacements fans probably thought that was pretty much it. And in fact, at the end of 2007, I wrote a piece for Medialoper called “Why The Replacements Saved My Life,” which was spurred by a Rolling Stone anniversary issue that featured a thing called “The Indie Rock Universe: An Illustrated Guide” that had no mention whatsoever of The Replacements.

That set me off at the time on a “no respect” rant, but what I didn’t realize was that the next dozen years of The Replacements as going to be possibly even better — in terms of popularity and respect — than even their first dozen years. This was spurred by two things.

Certain Songs #1906: The Replacements – “Message to The Boys”

September 2, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: Don’t You Know Who I Think I Was?
Year: 2006

. . .

Oh god, I miss her voice

And so it was that The Replacements broke up after their July 4, 1991 show in Chicago’s Grant Park. And that probably should have been that. It’s the oldest story in the book: a band makes a few critically-lauded records, but never really catches on with the general public and finally breaks up, eventually to reside in the “Where Are They Now?” file.

Certain Songs #1905: The Replacements – “Torture”

September 1, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: All Shook Down
Year: 1990

. . .

You hide yourself in darkness, but we’re heading for the sun

The guess here is that some of you really hate this song, which is one of two or three on All Shook Down that clearly feel like they were just Paul all by his lonesome, overdubbing all of the instruments and the vocals.

I could be wrong, but “Torture” almost lives up to its name, a really claustrophobic couple of minutes that’s based upon a pair of furiously strummed acoustic guitars — one of the ironies here that if it had drums and electric guitars, it would have been the fastest, punkiest song on the album — and a organ (I think) hook that is pretty fucking torturous itself.

Until it isn’t.

Certain Songs #1904: The Replacements – “Happy Town”

August 31, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: All Shook Down
Year: 1990

. . .

The plan was to sweep the world off its feet

The fifth and final time I saw The Replacements on the main was on January 19, 1991 at the Hollywood Palladium. By that time, of course, Chris Mars was long gone, the disrespect he was served during the All Shook Down sessions having resulted in his leaving the band once and for all.

Chris Mars’ Replacements replacement was Steve Foley, meaning that I got to see every single touring incarnation of the Replacements at least once, though I remember the Palladium show as being the weakest of all of the times I saw them, though Doc and I were still glad to get to see the ‘Mats one last time, as well as The Posies, who opened the show.

Certain Songs #1903: The Replacements – “Attitude”

August 29, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: All Shook Down
Year: 1990

A few years ago, on the album Wrecking Ball, Bruce Springsteen put out a song called “Jack of All Trades,” and all I could think of was how surprised it took him that long to write a song with that title. Cos it seemed inevitable that he would write one.

So extra kudos to Paul Westerberg for writing his inevitable song much earlier in his career, as “Attitude” pretty much sums up the ‘Mats in a single line.

Certain Songs #1902: The Replacements – “Sadly Beautiful”

August 28, 2020 by Jim Connelly

Album: All Shook Down
Year: 1990

. . .

You got my soul

In preparation for when I get to the Rolling Stones later in the year, I’m currently re-reading Tony Sanchez’s gossipy, opinionated Up And Down With The Rolling Stones, which chronicles his stint hanging with the band while they were making some of the greatest rock and roll music ever, and given the amazing amounts of coke and smack, it’s amazing that they were able to.

And, of course, there were casualties along the way: Brian Jones, of course, but also Anita Pallenberg and Marianne Faithfull, whom — at the point I’m at — Mick has just left a strung-out wreck.