We're Not Who You Think We Are
Album: retreat from the sun
Year: 1997
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“minneapolis” isn’t quite an answer song to “Left of the Dial,” — the newly remixed version I can’t hardly wait to hear when Tim: The Let it Bleed edition comes out later this week — but it kinda plays in the same ballpark, though the relationship described in “minneapolis” was clearly far more intricate if not more intimate.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2694: that dog. – “minneapolis”
Album: retreat from the sun
Year: 1997
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that dog.’s first two albums — the 1994 self-titled and 1995’s Totally Crushed Out spent too much on the avant side of their post-Breeders avant-pop conglomeration.
But on their third album, 1997’s retreat from the sun, they leaned straight in to the pop, and produced an album that I think is one of the finest records of the entire year — the only ones I loved more were Whiskeytown’s Strangers Almanac and a little thing called OK Computer — and a record that has a handful of songs that I would put up against anything else that came out that decade. Or ever, as we’ll see.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2693: that dog. – “never say never”
Album: Lubbock (On Everything)
Year: 1979
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On the short list of the Prettiest Songs Ever, Proto-Alt-Country Division, “The Beautiful Waitress” is also maybe the most gorgeous song ever about being a total jackass towards a pretty girl, and is on of those songs I fell in love with before I fully read the lyrics, as we’ll discuss in a little bit.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2692: Terry Allen – “The Beautiful Waitress”
Album: The Tenants
Year: 1983
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As the Police started having hit after hit in the early 1980s, there was no doubt that in every other major label boardroom, someone stood up and shouted “get me one of those!”Easier said than done, of course, and given that the Police were continually growing and even they weren’t really doing the combo of pop & reggae they’d broken through with anymore, other bands definitely worked the same kind of territory, most successfully Men at Work. Or maybe, ahem, Rush.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2691: The Tenants – “Sheriff”
Album: Tenacious D
Year: 2001
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While he’d been in a few films I’d seen, I’m pretty sure the first time I noticed Jack Black was in the Mr. Show With Bob And David sketch “Jeepers Creepers – Semi Star,” a skit that hit all of my buttons by crossing Life of Brian with Jesus Christ Superstar, and was all the more better for making absolutely no fucking sense at all.
So naturally, I watched the Tenacious D shorts, which were basically part of the MSWBAD Extended Universe, given the Bob Odenkirk and David Cross were involved, and at that point, I would follow those guys just about anywhere. Well, maybe not to Run Ronnie Run, but just about anywhere else.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2690: Tenacious D – “Tribute”
Album: A Space in Time
Year: 1971
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So, I had this whole headcanon for this song where Ten Years After was one of those bands whose career was boosted by the Woodstock film because of Alvin Lee’s guitar playing on “I’m Going Home,” and that boost was what made “I’d Love to Change The World” a massive hit, and made its parent album, A Space in Time, into the chart peak of Ten Years After’s career.
Wrong, and wrong!!
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2689: Ten Years After – “I’d Love to Change The World”
Album: The Original Soundtrack
Year: 1975
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Let me start off by saying that I’m flying a little bit blind here, because if I’ve heard a half-dozen 10cc songs in my life, I’d be surprised. The only thing I really know about them is that they were named after the same thing that The Lovin’ Spoonful and Pearl Jam were named after. But a little bit of my patented half-assed research turns up that they were one of those bands who made post-1967 sophisto art-pop that were much bigger in the U.K. than they ever were in the U.S. Way bigger: from 1972-1977, they had 11 top ten singles in the U.K., including three number ones. Said number ones of which got some airplay on FM radio here in the U.S., so people of a certain age might remember “Rubber Bullets” or “Dreadlock Holiday” from KFIG or Rock 96FM or KKDJ or whatever your local FM stations were in the 1970s.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2688: 10cc – “I’m Not in Love”
Album: All Directions
Year: 1972
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The Temptations who put out “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone” was a significantly different band from even a year prior: both Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams had left the band in a cloud of bad feelings and health/substance abuse problems respectively, leaving only Otis Williams — the through line to this very day — and Melvin Franklin, who stuck around until just before he passed away in 1995, from their classic period.
Kendricks and Paul Williams were replaced by Damon Harris and Richard Street, and you could tell the difference if you listened hard enough. The harmonies on the proto diss-track “Superstar (Remember How You Got Where You Are)” — good lord did they love a parenthetical song title! — were definitely different, which might or might not be why it topped out at “only” #18 on the Billboard Pop Charts, and they were definitely different on “Papa Was A Rollin’ Stone,” but the music bed created by crazed genius producer Norman Whitfield was so compelling that it didn’t matter.
[Read more…] about Certain Songs #2687: The Temptations – “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone”
Album: Sky’s The Limit
Year: 1971
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On the short list of Prettiest Songs Ever Recorded, Post-Psychedelic Soul Division, “Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)” is proof positive of a brand-new theory I just came up with. You may well ask what it is, this theory of mine.
My theory, which is mine, is that there is a virtuous circle of appreciation that happens between a great cover of a great song, where each time you listen to version, you appreciate the other version even more, so at the end, both versions of the song are basically not just your favorite version of the song, but perhaps the greatest song anybody has ever done ever. For example: “Eight Miles High” and “Eight Miles High, or “Tears of A Clown” and “Tears of a Clown” or “The Train From Kansas City” and “The Train From Kansas City” and “The Train From Kansas City.” That is the theory that I have and which is mine and what it is, too.
Single, 1970
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When you look at the Temptations discography, it’s kinda weird, because while they were definitely trying to break away from the expectations of what a Motown act was — thanks to crazed genius producer Norman Whitfield — at the same time, they were doing albums where they were primarily backing up Diana Ross, which was basically the most Motown thing imaginable.
So right in the middle of the run of insanely great singles that started with “Cloud Nine” and concluded with “Papa Was A Rolling Stone,” (or “Masterpiece,” if you want) they’re also backing Ross up on straightforward covers of things like “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” “I Second That Emotion” and “The Weight,” some of which were massive, and some of which tanked.