Midwest Mike's cheery June reviews

Professor Longhair – A little historical background: Professor Longhair had a few hits in the early 1950’s. Like most artists of his time, his record company robbed him blind. By the 1960’s, he was penniless, and in fact was believed to be dead or to have disappeared by the end of the decade. When this was recorded in 1974, ‘Fess was working for minimum wage as a janitor. Additionally, his uninsured house had burned to the ground destroying all his possessions the week before this album was made.

Hard to believe how upbeat this disc is given where he must have been mentally at the time of the recording. The songs rock, his piano playing is gorgeous, and the accompaniment is superb, particularly Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown on guitar and fiddle. This is no-nonsense Cajun rock and roll that is a joy to listen to from start to finish, despite the occasional lapse into Boucher-like mush-mouth vocals. 4 stars.

Bad Religion – Here is the recipe for Stranger Than Fiction:

1 Cup of Ramones, removing any humor and 60’s pop influences
1 Cup of twang-less Social Distortion
½ cup of prog rock “everything I say is important” vocals
Heaping tablespoon of Henry Rollins Brand Lyrical Pretentiousness sauce
1 tempo (more than one spoils the disc)

Stir until smooth. Heat at an extremely low temperature for 50 minutes. Serve lukewarm. When done, disc will be bland. Serves skateboarders and punk wannabees. 1 ½ stars.

Lacuna Coil – 2 questions:
1) Can anyone really tell the difference between this band and Evanescence?
2) Is it now mandatory for prog bands to do a song in Spanish ? If so, who do I talk to about getting this law repealed?

Dull, monotonous and repetitious. 1 star for the Depeche Mode cover.

Sufjan Stevens – (Full disclosure – I did not re-visit this disc. I did listen to it numerous times last year and my review is based on that.) Count me as one of the nimrods who bought into the amazingly universal 5 star reviews for this disc. Purchased it without ever hearing any of it. Mistake, although I set a personal best for shortest time between purchasing and E-Baying a disc. This may be the most self-indulgent piece of tripe I have ever heard. How artistic, how clever, 22 songs with some ties to Illinois (even if half of it is by title only). Yes, Sufjan is clever, but the music sucks. Artsy-Fartsy, tedious, sounding like a precious child yelling “See what I can do???” Ugh. 0 stars

Medeski, Martin & Wood – I was glad to get this collection. For years I’ve wondered who did the soundtracks for those late night Cinemax classics like “Vixen Detectives in Chains”. Strangely, I’ve never made it to the end of one of those films, so I never get to see the credits. Now I know. This disc will be kept be kept in my nightstand (with Lovage) for those “special” nights.


Discussion Question

Songs that make me teary eyed – Not being a sissy, I generally don’t get teary-eyed listening to music. These songs probably come closest:

“Philadelphia” – Neil Young
“Born to Run” (Solo Acoustic version) – Bruce
“Fall On Me” – REM
“Not Dark Yet” - Dylan

Songs that make me angry. I’m assuming songs I actually like, since putting on almost any radio station in St Louis makes me angry:

The entire new Neil Young CD ("Living With War")
“Can’t Make It Here Anymore” – James McMurtry
“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” – Bob Dylan
“Ohio” - CSNY
“Gimmie Some Truth” – Pearl Jam cover of Lennon’s song
“What’s So Funny (About Peace, Love & Understanding)” – Elvis Costello Version

Songs that cheer me up or make me happier – This list could have been 500 songs long…

“Heavy Metal Drummer” (especially the “Woo-Ooh Hey!” part) - Wilco
Any Ramones Song
“Brown Eyed Girl” or “Jackie Wilson Said” – Van Morrison
“Dead Flowers” and any Rolling Stones song featuring Keith on lead vocals
“Train In Vain” – Clash

Songs that best describe me. An impossible question to answer, particularly as the moderator offered no guidance.

Smart-ass Answers:

“Fat Man in the Bathtub” – Little Feat
“Old Man on the Farm” – Randy Newman
“Wife Beater” – DBT

Semi-Serious Answers

“I Want Everyone to Like Me” – Randy Newman – Randy’s 3 minute definition of happiness & contentment completely sums up mine
“The Pretender” – Jackson Browne – “happy idiot struggling for the legal tender”
“I Don’t Wanna Grow Up” – Tom Waits - self-explanatory