Great Lost Singles of the Seventies (Part XXVI)

From 1977, it's Sonic's Rendezvous Band and the utterly incredible "City Slang."



if you've never heard this, it's more or less the definitive hard rock record ever. Okay, that's a slight exagerration, but seriously, if the hair on the back of your neck isn't standing up after that opening bass riff when the guitars kick in I would seek immediate medical attention.

Worrisome

Breaking News:

COLUMBIA, S.C. - A Learjet has crashed while departing from a South Carolina airport, killing four people and critically injuring two others including a former member of rock band Blink 182.

NBC News reported that Travis Barker, an ex-drummer with the band who also starred in MTV reality show "Meet the Barkers", was among those hurt. He was transported to a burn center in Augusta, Georgia, where he was listed in critical condition on Saturday morning.

Barker had performed Friday night at an event alongside Perry Farrell, the former Jane's Addiction singer, as well as Gavin DeGraw and DJ AM.

Weekend Listomania (Special Sincerest Form of Flattery Video Edition)

Well, it's Friday and you know what that means. Yes, my Oriental nafkeh gentleman's gentleman Hop-Sing and I are off to Galveston, TX, for the First Annual Republican Let Them Eat Vouchers Flood Relief Festival. Lee Greenwood may be the featured entertainment, so obviously all's right with the world.

In any case, as a result, posting by moi will necessarily be somewhat fitful for a few days.

But until then, as always, here's a fun project for you all to contemplate:

Best Post-Elvis Record That You Could Swear is By Somebody Other Than It Actually Is!!!

Look, I'm old and senile, so I'm pretty sure that I've done this one before, but screw it -- I want to try it again if only to see if I can find a way to sneak Billy Corgan's pretentious bald noggin into the mix.

Okay, that said, here's my totally top of my head Top Eleven...

11. Fontella Bass -- Rescue Me



Best Aretha Franklin record Aretha Franklin never recorded.

10. Terry Stafford -- Suspicion



Not Elvis But an Incredible Simulation. God, this has the cheesiest echo in history, doesn't it?

9. Smashing Pumpkins -- Disarm



I realize that it's an article of faith for Pumpkins fans that they're an utterly original group that doesn't owe a debt to anybody (oh wait -- that's an article of faith for Billy Corgan. My bad.) but this sounds like vintage Beatles "White Album" to me.

8. Ronnie and the Daytonas - Little GTO



The Beach Boys, obviously.

7. B. J. Thomas -- Rock and Roll Lullaby



Again, the Beach Boys, obviously. Also Duane Eddy, although unlike the Beach Boys, he actually is on this record.

6. Mouse and the Traps -- A Public Execution



Vintage Blonde on Blonde era Dylan, anyone?

5. Shadows of Knight -- Oh Yeah



Best Yardbirds rip-off ever, and I say that knowing full well that the late sainted Lester Bangs would have given that honor to the Count 5's "Psychotic Reaction.

4. Coldplay -- Viva la Vida



U2 without the warmth? Spandau Ballet without the sense of humor? God, these guys suck.

3. Creed -- With Arms Wide Open



Eddie Vedder choking on Michael McDonald's beard? God, these guys really sucked.

2. Bonnie Tyler -- It's a Heartache



Rod Stewart with bigger boobs.

And the number one song that isn't by who you think it's by because it sounds ridiculously like somebody else -- it's so obvious that if you dare to even suggest another one and I'll harm you -- is...

1. The Knickerbockers -- Lies

Everything about this one is pure Beatles -- the dead-on Lennon lead vocal, the Merseybeat harmonies, the melody, and, perhaps most of all, the guitar sound, which is pure "Revolver" era. Just astounding...

Awrighty then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel Cinema Listomania (Surrealism Edition!) is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you could see your way over there to leave a comment, an angel gets its wings.]

An Exceptionally Early Clue to the New Direction

On all sorts of deadlines for money this morning, so today's teaser must go up early.

Consequently, from 1996, here's (on balance) Australia's greatest rock band ever, the incomparable You Am I, with one of the great lost singles of the decade, "Mr. Milk."



Love those Rickenbackers.

Anyway, as always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who divines the clip's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

Does This Fatwa Make Me Look Fat?

From today's New York Times:

Paul McCartney has refused to cancel his concert in Israel, despite threats from Islamic militants, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported. The response follows comments made by Omar Bakri Muhammad, a militant Lebanese Islamic activist, in an interview that appeared in The Sunday Express of London. Mr. Bakri said, “If he values his life, Mr. McCartney must not come to Israel,” He also said: “He will not be safe there. The sacrifice operatives will be waiting for him.”

Omar, dude -- "Silly Love Songs" was thirty-five years ago. Move on.

If God Is One of Us, What Does He Think of This?

Good news: Joan Osborne has a new album out. Possibly even better news: She made it with the creative team behind Relish, her brilliant debut from 1995.

I'm listening to it now and getting ready to review it for The Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review. So far, so good, and here's the first video.



Could be a hot one!

Richard Wright 1943 - 2008

From Bloomberg:

Richard Wright, a founding member of U.K. rock band Pink Floyd whose keyboard lines were an integral part of its psychedelic sound, has died. He was 65. Wright died today after a short battle with cancer, said his spokesman, Doug Wright, who isn't related.

While Wright gets credit mostly for his work on the keyboard -- which he taught himself -- he also wrote songs and sang on Floyd classics such as ``Time'' and ``Echoes.''



Wright ``has maintained a low profile throughout the band's history,'' Billboard magazine said in an August 2007 feature. Asked for his take on the staying power of the Pink Floyd's cult- like following, he told the magazine:

``Oh, God, I don't understand it. All you writers need to talk about that. I know we've made some great songs and great music, but I can't tell you why we're so popular.''

Oh, Shut Up

Over at the New York Times today, Jon Caramanica -- who has replaced the departed Kelefa Sanneh as the World's Most Irksome Rock Critic -- has this to say to say about the new solo album by a certain 90s annoyance:

No pop star has ever needed rescuing from his reputation more than Darius Rucker, frontman of Hootie & the Blowfish, perhaps the least consequential successful band ever [emphasis mine].

Apparently, this nit has never heard of REO Speedwagon. Or Grand Funk Railroad. Or...I could go on, but you get my point.

Sheesh. Where does the Times find these guys? And why does their pop music coverage continue to fellate canines, especially compared with, say, the terrific work done by the likes of A.O. Scott in the film department?

Weekend Listomania (Special Smashing Pumpkins-Free Tales From the Crypt Non-Video Edition)

[Thought I'd take a break from the normal Listomania format this week as an excuse to reprint something I wrote for the August 1975 issue of the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review. The piece is self-explanatory, obviously, and I still love the list, but obviously it's a snapshot in time and if I was writing it today it would be a lot different. But that, of course, is where you guys come in. So read on. And then chime in when you're done.]

MY FRONT PAGES

My younger brother's passion -- or perhaps it's a mania -- for film exceeds even mine for music. I mean, he'll sit through four hours of a Republic serial without even going to the john! But his mania has its uses; not long ago I was browsing through an esoteric film journal in his collection whose basic premise I have decided to crib. Titled simply "Things We Like," it was a completely and openly subjective (what else?) catalog by two film nuts of moments they found memorable in various motion pictures. One moment that stopped me -- and it's the only entry I can remember, by the way -- was the opening: "Mariette Hartley's wedding in Peckinpah's Ride the High Country." Lovely.

Anyway, after worrying away at my own list culled from twenty-odd years of rock-and-roll, I've decided at last to air the dirty linen in public. What follows is simply a random rundown of things that have given me pleasure, rock-wise, over the years -- specific songs, events, brief musical bits. I won't pretend, as much as I'd like to (ought to?), that any of them have any significance other than showing where my own head is at, but never mind. This is strictly for browsing; I'm willing to bet any rock fan could come up with a totally different list that would be equally valid and just as much fun.

So, without further ado, "Things I Like."

•George Harrison's last harmonic on the solo from "Nowhere Man."
•Charlie Watts hitting the bell of his cymbal on the final line of "Dead Flowers."
•The opening a capella harmonies on Fairport Convention's version of "Percy's Song."
•The Beach Boys' background ah-ohm-wop-diddits on "This Whole World.
•Smokey Robinson's heartrending wordless vocalizing at the end of "Ooh Baby Baby."
•Keith Richards' guitar solos on "Down the Road Apiece."
•Dave Davies' finger-picking on the fade-out of the Kinks' "See My Friends."
•Roy Wood introducing his solo on "Turkish Tram Conductor Blues" with a coy "Oh, yes."
•All of Bruce Springsteen's "Rosalita."
•Bob Dylan's spoken introduction for "Like a Rolling Stone" on the Albert Hall bootleg.
•The back-up vocals on the last verse of the MC5's "Shakin' Street."
•Steve Marriott's screaming at the end of the Small Faces' "Tin Soldier."
•David Crosby's harmonies on the last verse of the Byrds' "Fifth Dimension" and "I Come and Stand at Every Door."
•The drunken Dixieland band on the Stones' "Something Happened to Me Yesterday."
•Arlene Smith's singing on the Chanels' "Maybe."
•The production (especially the percussion) on Martha and the Vandella's "Dancing in the Street."
•Paul McCartney's bass line on "A Little Help From My Friends."
•Keith Moon's drumming on the final break of "Happy Jack."
•Eric Clapton's lead guitar on the studio version of "Badge."
•Stevie Winwood's organ work on the ending of "I'm a Man."
•Jeff Beck's guitar solo on the Yardbirds' "Train Kept A-Rollin'."
•Keith Richards forgetting to turn on his fuzz-tone during "Satisfaction" on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1966.
•Todd Rundgren's guitar work on the Nazz's "Under the Ice."
•Leon Russell's piano on Dylan's "Watching the River Flow."
•Johnny Johnson's boogie-woogie piano break on Chuck Berry's "School Days."
•Jimi Hendrix's solo on "Little Wing."
•Roger Daltrey's "Yeahhhhh!!!!!" after the instrumental section of the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again."
•The censored original cover for Beggars Banquet.


•The uncredited piano player (almost definitely Carole King) on the Chiffons' "One Fine Day."
•Steve Stills' and Nei Young's guitar duet on the original "Bluebird."
•Skip Spence's mumbled vocal on Moby Grape's "Seeing."
•The rave-up during the Kinks' "Milkcow Blues" (studio and live versions).
•Buddy Holly's version of "Slippin' and Slidin'" with posthumously overdubbed backing by the Fireballs.
•The Stones doing "Under My Thumb" at Altamont, as seen in Gimme Shelter.
•Van Morrison's harp break on "Mystic Eyes."
•Joni Mitchell's long-held notes and guitar work on "Marcie."
•Ian Hunter's primal (what else?) screaming on Mott the Hoople's "The Journey."
•The fact that Bob Dylan is removing Pete Hammil's liner notes from Blood on the Tracks.
•The back-cover in-concert photo on the English EP version of Got Live If You Want It.
•Paul Buckmaster's orchestral evocation of Vaughan Williams at the conclusion of "Moonlight Mile."
•Paul McCartney's vocal on "Long Tall Sally". (Not to mention Ringo's drumming or George's second solo.)
•The out-of-tune twelve-string and falsetto vocal on the Stones' "Singer Not the Song"
•Gary Brooker's scream of "Here I go!" from Procol Harum's "Rambling On."
•Nicky Hopkins' electric piano solo on the Beatles "Revolution."
•Zal Yanovsky's solo album.
•Lou Reed's singing on the last verse of the original "Sweet Jane" on Loaded.
•John Fogerty's blues-wailing harmonica on "Run Through the Jungle."
John Mendelssohn's review of Led Zeppelin II.
•The Move's "Tonight."
•Beatles VI.
•Joan Baez's unintentionally hilarious attempt at soul singing on the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" (in the 1966 film The T.N.T. Show.
•Almost anything by Dave Edmunds.
•Carly Simon's legs (if not her records).
•The echoed handclap before the ending of the Zombies' "Tell Her No."
•John Lennon forgetting the words to "Help" on the Ed Sullivan Show.
•John Entwistle's bass figures on the "teenage wasteland" portion of "Baba O'Reilly."
•Rod Stewart's "Whooo!!!" on the Faces' "Had Me a Real Good Time."
•Iggy Pop's Ray Davies imitation on "Gimme Danger."
•The Beatles' Shea Stadium Concert film.
•Elvis' weight problem.
•Alan Price's two-fingered organ solo on the Animals' "Boom Boom."
•Jack Cassady's eyebrows. (Also, his bass on the Airplanes' "Other Side of This Life.")
•Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild," as featured in the credit sequence of Easy Rider.
•Keith Richards' teeth.
•Carl Wilson's twelve-string break on the Beach Boys' "Dance Dance Dance."
•B.J. Wilson's one-measure drum solo on Procol Harum's "The Devil Came From Kansas."
•Neil Innes' "worst guitar solo in history" from the Bonzo Dog Band's "Canyons of Your Mind."
•West, Bruce and Laing titling a banal slow blues "Slow Blues."
•And, of course, just everything from Exile on Main Street.

Awrighty, then -- what would your choices be?

[Shameless Blogwhore: My parallel World War I-themed Cinema Listomania is now up over at Box Office. As always, if you go over there and leave a comment, an angel gets its wings.]

A Way Earlier Than Usual Clue to the New Direction

Okay, you bastid kids.

From 1967, here's the absolutely amazing Joni Mitchell with my favorite song from her debut album Song to a Seagull (produced, beautifully, by none other than David Crosby).



As always, a coveted PowerPop No-Prize will be awarded the first reader who divines the clip's relevance to tomorrow's Weekend Listomania.

But I'm warning you -- none of you is going to get it. In fact, I'll drop in from time to time to give you more clues, but I guarantee it won't help.

Weekend Listomania II: This Time It's Personal!!!!!!