August Reviews - Mike H

Arcade Fire – Funeral – High pitched, almost grating vocals, damn near indecipherable lyrics. Yet, there is something about the disc that invites repeated listens. The grandness of “Neighborhood #1” and “Wake Up” are fantastic, U2-like in their self-importance. The guitar work on “Une Anne Sans Lemiere” reminds me of Edge. “Neighborhood #3” sounds like an old Depeche Mode song, only good. Great use of piano and strings on “Crown of Love”. “Wake Up” is definitely the highlight for me, vocals are comprehendible, and I love the Polyphonic Spree-type chorus, as well as the thundering bass line. Great string arrangement on “The Back Seat”. Would have given it another ½ star if I could understand more of the lyrics. 3 ½ stars

Rockpile – Seconds of Pleasure – I submitted this because it is one of my favorite discs from the ‘80’s, and I think for the most part, it holds up very well 25 years later. These guys recorded about 6 great records, under the guise of Dave Edmunds or Nick Lowe solo albums, but this was the first and last album released as a formal group. This is pure bar room power pop, nothing flashy, innovative or experimental. The songwriting is excellent, the band is tight, great harmonies throughout the whole thing, particularly on “Now and Always” and the Everly Brothers covers that were included on the CD reissue. Lowe’s compositions standout, “Teacher Teacher”, “Heart” and “When I Write The Book” are the highlights of the disc. Edmunds and fellow guitarist Billy Bremner’s playing is always tasteful. A couple of tracks (“Knife and Fork” and “Wrong Again”) haven’t aged particularly well, but all in all an excellent disc that is a reminder that music doesn’t have to be complicated to be good. 4 ½ stars.

Deathray Davies – My second favorite band name, after John Cougar Concentration Camp. “Fall Fashions” is a smart opener, great piece of power pop, good horns, nice guitar, vocal, piano, etc. The quality of the disc takes a precipitous drop after the first 4 tracks, and becomes pretty repetitious. Some good songs, most notably “In Circles” and “They Stuck Me in a Box”, but a fair amount of it seems pretty blah. Very monotone vocals throughout. I like the Farfisa Organ sound that pops up on “Plan to Stay Awake”. The best parts of the disc remind me of Fountains of Wayne, the lesser parts come off as second rate Strokes. Uneven, but a few tracks worthy of keeping. 3 stars.

Graham Parker – Howlin’ Wind – GP is one of those artists who never gets his due. He gets lumped in with Costello, Edmunds & Lowe quite a bit, but those guys all hit it big at least once, and Parker never got that success. This CD is a good one, very soulful, tight backup band, good horn section. Parker’s p.o.’d attitude is front and center on many of these tracks, especially “Not If It Pleases Me”, my favorite one on the album. “White Honey” and the title track are Parker standards. He would go on to do better work, notably on “Squeezing Out Sparks” and “The Up Escalator”, but this one is not too far below them. 3 ½ stars

SCOTS – Ken Boucher has given me many things, some of which required massive doses of antibiotics, but I digress. One of the greatest gifts he has given me was a cassette (remember those??) of this little ol’ band from the south. I was converted instantly, and several of the reasons why are on this compilation. If you’re not careful, you can get caught up in their hillbilly act and miss the excellent musicianship, particularly Reverend Rick’s intricate guitar work. Most of the essentials are here, “Banana Pudding”, “8 Piece Box”, “Cheap Motels” to name a few. I take umbrage with the omission of “Mojo Box” and “Doublewide”, but the band’s catalog is an embarrassment of riches. I suspect people will either love them or hate them. It is obvious which side I fall on. Interesting note, my three oldest boys (17,15 & 12) who constantly bitch about my taste in music absolutely LOVE this band and know all the words to “Liquored Up and Lacquored Down”, which their mother finds disconcerting…5 greasy stars


Discussion Question

Lots of questions within the question. If I had to rank the pillars as presented in the question, I would rank them this way: Berry, Holly, Richard, Lewis, Presley, Diddley, Everlys. Are they as important as preached? I think it varies. I think Elvis is vastly over-rated in terms of his importance and influence. Remember that Presley wrote almost none of his own material, nor did he compose or even seriously play an instrument; he was merely an interpreter. Dying young was the best thing that could have happened to him from a historical standpoint. He got put on a pedestal even higher than the one that was already propping him up.

To my mind, Chuck Berry is the father of rock and roll and THE most important figure in its history. Listen to the opening chords of “Johnny B Goode”, every subsequent record made in the genre evolved from that riff. I think Buddy Holly gets a little short changed as well because of the regrettably brief career he had. He was an incredible straight-forward song writer, capable of doing rockers and ballads, and showed that you didn’t need teen idol looks to be successful. His songs hold up today a whole lot better than Elvis’.

Jerry Lee and Little Richard get the props that are due them. Both introduced a flamboyance and showmanship that for better or worse has become an important part of rock and roll. They also were able to cross genres, Richard going gospel and Jerry Lee creating some great country music in the 1960’s. Bo probably gets overlooked a little bit due to the lack of actual hits, but the Diddley sound was certainly an important part of the music’s revolution. I don’t think the Everlys belong in the company of the others. They were influential, great songwriters, etc, but the most important thing they did as far as I am concerned is that in the 1970’s they hired a fellow to write them some songs and play in their backup band by the name of Warren Zevon.

If I had to name the seven pillars and rank them, it would look like this:

Berry – See above

Carl Perkins – Man oh man, you want to talk about under-appreciated. Any band that ever twanged a guitar owes a debt to this man. A great musician, excellent vocalist and writer. Listen to Elvis’ version of “Blue Suede Shoes” and then listen to Carl’s. Elvis’ is merely for laughs, sort of campy. Perkins’ version has a snarl that leaves no doubt that he means it; his blue suede shoes get stepped on, someone’s getting an ass-whuppin’. Its important to remember that Elvis only got to make his historical appearance on the Ed Sullivan show because Perkins was in a horrible car wreck on his way to the Sullivan show to perform “Blue Suede Shoes”. You can’t re-write history, but how might Perkins/Presley been looked at differently had the accident not occurred. Additionally, if we accept the fact that the Beatles are the most influential group of the 1960’s, and maybe of all time; witness how many Perkins covers they did in their early career. They knew where it was at….

Holly – See above
Little Richard – See above
Johnny Cash – Many forget that Cash was part of the whole Sun Studios crowd, but he was in the thick of it with Lewis, Presley and Perkins. “Hey Porter”, “Cry, Cry, Cry” and “Get Rhythm” are flat out rockers that helped merge country and R&B. Like others, he spanned the genres, easily switching between gospel, county, and rock and often melding the three together. Also encompasses the spirit of rock and roll better than anyone ever did. Survived his junkie period, came out clean and never apologized. Took political stances, regardless how popular or unpopular they might have been. A true warrior.

Jerry lee Lewis- See above
Elvis – See above

I hear these artists in almost all the contemporary music I listen to. My current obsession, the Drive By Truckers draw heavily from Perkins and Cash, from the twanging guitar sound to Cash’s penchant of writing about subjects and people that many would rather not think about. I hear Chuck Berry, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee in a lot of older Springsteen records, and Little Richard’s flamboyance is a big part of the E Street Band shows. I believe that the whole alt country movement ties back directly to Cash and Perkins. Uncle Tupelo drew heavily from these two, and while it is not as obvious, their influence still reverberates in the remnants of Tupelo: Wilco & Son Volt.

Question 2

Difficult question to answer, as I think it is impossible to accurately describe why something is funny. Why do I laugh out loud at The 3 Stooges and Monty Python and not “Friends” or any other sitcom made after “Seinfeld”? Don’t know that I can explain it. As far as music goes, I think the type of music being played and the humor have to somehow tie together. SCOTS is a perfect example of that. Most of their lyrics wouldn’t sound right if done by one of Byron’s prog rock bands, although I am chuckling right now at the idea of a Demon cover of “Banana Puddin’”. If the music isn’t good, I’m not going to hang around long enough to pay attention to the lyrics. Another part of it has to do with the artist’s implied acknowledgement of the lyrics. SCOTS delivers the lyrics in such a way that you know they are being goofy, and I don’t know that the style of music they do opens the door for them to do a Springsteen –like narrative of homeless children, although this too makes me chuckle. William Shatner’s music career is a good analogy of this point. His version of “Lucy in the Sky” recorded years ago is so inane and horrible because the music is bad, and he sounds like he is trying to seriously interpret the song. However, most of the songs on his CD from last year worked, because the music was good and the lyrics were delivered with a sense of levity and humor.