Category Archive

Is it sad that I love this song just because of the line: “They got a lot of great desks and chairs at the government center”? I guess not, since a lot of The Modern Lover’s appeal comes from their slightly absurd lyrics combined with Jonathan Richman’s wonderfully droll singing style. The idea of rocking at the government center - and cheering up those secretaries - puts an enormous smile on my face, but we all know it would just be stupid if someone sang about it seriously. Plus, the song kind of does rock - it’s all peppy chorus and handclaps and makes you want to do the twist on some of those great desks and chairs.

In truth, the whole The Modern Lovers album is a classic, but “Government Center” wasn’t actually on the original release in 1976 (which kind of wasn’t even an album at all - you can read more about the winding road to its release on the wikipedia). Fortunately for us, it was included on the re-releases and it’s definitely my favorite from a classic album.

   The Modern Lovers - Government Center

While 2 Live Crew were busy fucking around and acting the fools on Move Somethin’ [1988] and As Nasty As They Wanna Be [1989], something happened in the world of hip hop. … Boom! N.W.A. moved from relative obscurity to (inter)national prominence with Straight Outta Compton [1988] and 100 Miles And Runnin’ [1990]. I say relative obscurity because N.W.A. And The Posse [1987] went gold. That’s chicken feed compared to the double platinum blowup of Straight Outta Compton, an album that, now, seems mild, but, back then, walked up and smacked you in the face demanding a place in music history whether you liked it or not.

N.W.A. was pretty nearly a supergroup in reverse, with most of the members later taking separate roads on their way toward moderate-to-massive success via platinum solo releases and/or branching out to other areas of the entertainment industry. Ice Cube and Dr. Dre pursued widely successful careers. Eazy-E kept his mug in the limelight enough to garner attention when he succumbed to AIDS. The D.O.C. released the superb No One Can Do It Better before having his larnyx damaged in a car accident. MC Ren went platinum with Shock Of The Hour and cemented a place in hip hop’s underground with his collaboration with Public Enemy and Paris on Rebirth Of A Nation. Only Yella, from among the more prominent members, didn’t see much post-N.W.A. success, though he’s now leveraging his involvement with N.W.A. to pursue his DJ Yella Entertainment porn directing career.

   N.W.A. - Express Yourself (Remix)
   N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (Extended Mix)

In the mid-nineties there were so many Grunge bands, my high school had little pockets of people that claimed they supported THE band that was ‘all that and a bag of chips’. On a side note, I’m trying to stay with the nineties feel so forgive the cheesy slang. Everybody agreed that Nirvana, Soundgarden, and Pearl Jam were the most slamminest, but the music pond was overgrown with bands that were soft-loud-softly yelling for attention. I was a bit of a band hopper, every time a great new single came out I didn’t care who it was from, I’d be ‘all over it like white on rice’. But to me, Belgian band K’s Choice hovered very closely to those Grunge greats from the release of “Not An Addict” off their 1996 album Paradise In Me. I still love listening to it, and I still feel like I’m onto something beautiful when I hear it. The hypnotizing intro, Sarah Bettens’ gorgeous raspy voice that monotonously builds up the tension, the dark lyrics that tell the story of a lying junkie, it’s grungy perfection - oh I mean, it’s da bomb!

   K’s Choice - Not An Addict

If you’re like me, you picked up the latest Kills’ release, Midnight Boom the day it came out. And if you’re like me, you love it. Definitely a better album than No Wow (although it had some great songs on it, No Wow didn’t quite live up to what I’d hoped for from their second full-length effort), Midnight Boom strips their minimalist sound down even further than before and adds an industrial element that suits them way better than I could’ve imagined.

But as much as I love the new album, I still think The Kills’ first album will always be their best. I always say that if I were to compile a list of the greatest albums of all time - albums taken as a whole, single piece of art - The Kills’ Keep On Your Mean Side would be one of the first things I’d put on there. Keep On Your Mean Side is just about perfect when considered as a whole - there’s not a single song that feels like it should’ve been left off, there’s no boring middle dip, every single track has enough power to make your heart pound. Sure, The Kills don’t often veer away from their sound and explore new realms the way that some artists do. But they do explore their own sound fully, exposing the guts of what they themselves set out to do. And guts are a big part of why I call this album a Classic. There’s no better album to listen to on Monday morning when you’re pissed off at the world, letting it scream at you as you silently curse everyone in sight. It’ll help you get through a task you loathe or work through heartbreak. It directly connects to your anger, sadness, pain, fear, worries - whichever apply to you at any given moment. This is music that you hear in your heart, not your head. It sounds good on headphones, in a car, from a crappy stereo or the best money can buy - but it should always be loud enough to make you want to sing, shout, and scream along.

   The Kills - Cat Claw
   The Kills - Wait

Released together with “Phuncky Feel One” as a double a-side, “How I Could Just Kill A Man” was the first single off Cypress Hill (1991) and the absolute B-O-M-B back in 1991-1992. For me at least, it’s one of those tracks which, even at the time, marked the end of the Golden Age of Hip Hop and the start of 1990s Gangsta. Sure there were other albums prior to that, but, for good or ill, releases from Ice Cube and Cypress Hill in 1990 and 1991 seemed to just smack the Golden Age into the history books.

I bought every Cypress Hill release after being grabbed by them back then and have seen them in concert twice. Some albums are better than others, but, for the nostaglia factor alone, nothing beats tracks off that first album. Today you can taste the late-Golden Age production of the original 1991 vintage, the Spanish version from Los Grandes Exitos En Español (1999) and contrast both those with the visceral Rage Against The Machine cover.

   Cypress Hill - How I Could Just Kill A Man
   Cypress Hill - No Entiendes La Onda

   Rage Against The Machine - How I Could Just Kill A Man

Willie Nelson may look like your friendly, neighborhood, hippie troubadour, but he is and always will be a badass outlaw to me. He claims to have been smoking weed since he was ten, and that he even did it in the White House while visiting Jimmy Carter. Now, who else has the balls to do that? Before I get angry comments from concerned parents: All you kids out there, drugs are bad and all that but, come on, that is pretty badass … Besides a true outlaw is not meant to be a role model, so don’t do as Willie does. Though, he may be a law breaking, pigtail sporting, pot smoker, he’s also an environmentally conscious, anti-war, animal loving, philanthropist, and a talented artist to boot. You know what, angry comments be damned. If the rest of the world was more like Willie Nelson, it’d be a better place. Or ar least a very laid-back, chilled out place.

“Sad Songs And Waltzes” from his 1973 album Shotgun Willie is one of my favorite songs. It makes me laugh, because the lyrics are self-depricating, clever and vindictive, but at the same time it’s a beautiful, sad country song as well. All the country essentials are represented, it has a healthy dose of self-pity, heartache and even disappointment in the record industry, but he also manages to take a jibe at his lover turned nemesis. The Ryan Adams produced Songbird, which came out in 2006 has a reworking of the song. The older version highlights the heartache and sadness whereas, the latest seems to be sung with a wink and a smile and relishes in the bitterness of lyrics like: ‘I’ll tell all about how you cheated, I’d like for the whole world to hear’. Here’s the Songbird version, simply because my old Shotgun Willie CD doesn’t sound that good anymore and we’re all about quality, folks.

   Willie Nelson - Sad Songs And Waltzes

And as a bonus, check out this really great cover by CAKE from their 1996 album Fashion Nugget. In this version the lonely trumpet compliments the gloom beautifully.

   CAKE - Sad Songs And Waltzes

Last night, aDawgg and I were talking about how The Von Bondies have kind of disappeared since Jack White busted in Jason Stollsteimer’s face. Maybe if he’d just been quiet about it, things might be different for The Von Bondies now. (I’m not saying it’s good idea to be bashing people’s faces up, but Stollsteimer showing off his wounds to the press didn’t really get him anywhere, did it?)

Anyway, for this post, none of that is really relevant anyway. It looks like The Von Bondies will finally have some sort of new release coming up in a couple of weeks, as well as an album sometime later, and I’ll be curious to hear what they sound like with the gals replaced by several new members. But no matter what happens in their future, Lack Of Communication, their debut album, will always be their masterpiece to me. It perfectly captures that sound that I found so exciting in the early 00s and made me look at music in a new way. It took all kinds of old bluesy influences and made them rough and raw and dripping with attitude, but still kept a sense of timelessness. There’s just no denying that this whole album is a classic snapshot of an exciting time and place - and since most of us couldn’t just pop along to Detroit to hear it all for ourselves, it let us experience that feeling in our own bedrooms.

   The Von Bondies - Cass And Henry

Every so often I listen to Led Zeppelin and realize just how good these they actually were. Seriously, whatever music you enjoy, they have something for you. If you’re old enough to remember them, then get reacquainted. If you’re too young to have listened to them, you need to give them a whirl. “Immigrant Song” is one of the many Led Zeppelin songs I like to bust into mouth-jams with and sometimes sing along to. And Jimmy Page is wickedly relentless on this track.

If you’re wondering what mouth-jams are. Well, you try to combine the sounds of as many instruments as possible coming out of your own mouth. We all know more than one isn’t possible. The art is in making it seems like more than one. If you’re advanced you can add some knee-slapping and stomping for the percussion section. This works very well with television theme songs, as well, and the Bean and I are currently employing effectively for Flight Of The Conchords and 30 Rock.

And, yeah, it sort of looks as dumb as it sounds.

   
Led Zeppelin - Immigrant Song

Today, ladies and gentlemen, I climbed my Everest, I harpooned my big white whale, I Avada Kadavra-ed my Voldemort! I passed a class that I was so sure was going to be the death of me. To wind down from all the exam stress I’ve been watching Harry Potter, but it’s time to really celebrate and everybody knows nobody brings the house down like The Carpenters. Harry Potter and The Carpenters … man, do I walk on the wild side. Booyeah!

I used to be a little bit embarrassed about my deep deep love for some of The Carpenters’ hits because their songs are on the cheesy side, but their version of “Superstar” especially is almost impossible not to love. It was originally a soul song by Delaney, Bonnie & Friends (featuring Eric Clapton) who called it “Groupie (Superstar)”. The original is actually really wonderful too, but I first heard and fell in love with it performed by The Carpenters. As usual, Karen’s voice is so sweet, deep and crisp, but I always get the feeling she’s straining to keep her emotions under the surface, which is heightened by the knowledge of the tragic way her life ended. The song is about a groupie who has to love her idol from afar, now that he’s moved on to bigger, better things, but not before he whispered sweet nothings into her gullible, vulnerable little ear. The lyrics express such excrutiating loneliness and longing, I can’t help but get swept away by the agony of it all. It’s pure lyrical beauty and I don’t care who knows it.

   The Carpenters - Superstar

And here’s an amazing feedbacky version by Sonic Youth:

   Sonic Youth - Superstar

Argh! Carnage! Was WordPress upgraded? It doesn’t matter. The net effect was that, somehow, my ‘Use the visual rich editor when writing’ setting was checked when normally it isn’t. Of course, I only double-checked this after screwing up a few of my older posts - deleting one in utter frustration. So, you all can just pretend my Muse post still exists. All of which is a perfect segue-way into today’s Classics post. Some late-Golden Age Brand Nubian to play while ass-whipping Internet gremlins.

I didn’t go for the standard selection, something from One For All, instead opting for a track off their 1993 second album - In God We Trust - which pushed its way to #12 in the album charts and #4 in the R&B/Hip Hop Chart (making it Brand Nubians biggest chart success even if it wasn’t as acclaimed as their debut).

“Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down” helped In God We Trust and Brand Nubian achieve wider notoriety for its openly homophobic lyrics. Yes, hip-hop has flaws. Please, let’s not start a debate about this. Irrespective of its homophobia, this post-Grand Puba Brand Nubian track, produced by Diamond D, still flows.

   Brand Nubian - Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down

You will notice the sound quality on this track, or, rather, the lack of it. I have no clue why that is. I purchased it from an online music store (a real one, though it remains unnamed) as a replacement for my long-gone Golden Age tape collection. The quality was this disappointing. Just pump up the volume and pretend you’re listening to a well-loved old tape.

Remember when you were little and you only just heard tell of those dirty dirty words that had the power to shock adults more than eating bugs ever did? Now that profanity has lost much of its magic, there isn’t a lot people can say that’s truly shocking, but when I first heard “Hot Nuts Pt.1″, I felt just like when I first found out that the F-word was like a secret password to my mom’s nerves.

Doug Clark And The Hot Nuts were popular in the fifties for playing fraternity parties six years before their first record Nuts To You came out in 1961. They are known for their double entendres, their supposed lack of clothing at their legendary concerts, and risque lyrics. Their single “Hot Nuts” is actually pretty demure compared to some of their later songs, but it starts with the line ‘Now in the garden of Eden sat Eve and Adam, had his hands in the loins of his madam’. Which is around the time I hurt my jaw when it hit the floor. I had never heard about them or their reputation, so I did not expect that from a fifties band. When I heard the rest of the song I learned they were just getting started. In between the seemingly innocent chorus, they describe all kinds of stuff involving the twisted ways men have injured their nuts and a particularly silly but funny line about what girls are ready for straight out of high school.

Their naughty lyrics make sure you don’t confuse them with any of their fellow catchy Rhythm & Blues playing contemporaries. Though they’re mostly known as a novelty frat band, I think these pioneers of raunchy deserve to be lauded for the sheer balls (or nuts) they had to not give a hoot and sing like they only played in men’s locker rooms at a time when uptight was a way of life. However, in spite of the witty sex talk, the most Rock ‘n Roll thing about this band is that their albums were one of the first to have an adult content warning, and a special branch of the Jubilee label, the Gross Label, had to be set up especially for them, to cloak Jubilee’s associations with the band. This gave them the freedom to do and say whatever they wanted, and their album cover, on which Doug Clark flips the bird to the audience, is just a little intro to what’s to be expected of the inside. They’re un-PC, kooky, dirty, the PMRC’s worst nightmare, and totally amazing!

   Doug Clark & The Hot Nuts - Hot Nuts Pt.1

“Jack & Diane” is a relatively simple song - the lyrics are straightforward and not especially poetic, the music itself is almost stereotypically 80s and doesn’t have any special bells and whistles (except for those awesome handclaps). But it had to be that way.

The everyman story of Jack and his girl Diane, and the everyman way it’s told, is what makes this song a classic. They’re the most relatable teenage couple ever put to music. I’d be really surprised if there’s anyone who doesn’t hear at least a little bit of their teenage self in “Jack & Diane”. You may not have had a Tasty Freeze in your town, but I’m sure you had a similar hangout. You had all your hopes and dreams paving the roads ahead and I bet you had someone you shared them with, someone you thought would travel those roads with you. No matter where in the world you were, you probably wished you were somewhere else - somewhere bigger and better - and you were all set to go out and discover it.

I read that John Cougar (now Mellencamp) brought back Jack and Diane in his 1998 song “Eden Is Burning”, singing “How could I have been so wrong about you?” From just reading the lyrics, it’s hard to say if that line refers to them - he does mention them in the first line, but then switches to first person narration. I hope it’s not, I don’t want to think Jack and Diane ended up that way. I don’t think they stayed together forever, that wouldn’t fit the realism of the song. In my version of their ending, they eventually broke up but not for any dramatic reason. Perhaps Diane went to the city, like she wanted, and she and Jack tried to make it work for a while. But he never did want to leave their hometown and they just drifted too far apart. The song says it all: “Life goes on long after the thrill of living is gone”. Back in 1982, Jack and Diane still felt that thrill. Now, even though life goes on, they can still think back on each other and remember how it felt to have everything ahead of them, together.

   John Cougar - Jack & Diane

The Rapture was one of the first modern post-punk disco bands to have commercial success with their jumble of sounds. Though last year’s release Pieces Of The People We Love is excellent, the truly rousing anthems come from their first full-length album Echoes. It was voted album of 2003 by Pitchfork and a day didn’t pass that you didn’t hear one of the songs on the album in some way. Especially “House Of Jealous Lovers” was everywhere, so I haven’t felt the need to listen to it for a while. I’ve heard the first few beats the other day on a BBC show and it brought back the rush of knowing that I was listening to a song of my generation.

There are some bands that make you claim a certain ownership, like no other time could have produced such a sound. I imagine it’s akin to what it must have been like to hear The Stooges’ furious noise or Grandmaster Flash’s mindblowing tricks on his turntables for the first time. It was something for the new generations to call their own, because there was nothing like it at the time. That’s what “House Of Jealous Lovers” means to me. I had never heard such a danceable frenzy of angst, beats and melody. And these guys rock the frick out of a cowbell. Maybe I wasn’t running in the right circles and people had been playing music like that for years, but my ears were aflutter. Even if you think this song is totally played out, I can’t imagine you’re not boogie-stricken from the first screams of this instant classic:

   The Rapture - House Of Jealous Lovers

It’s been 33 years since the Talking Heads formed and whenever I listen to them I still think their work is fresh. Rummaging through their musical corpus it was terribly difficult to pick only a single song I thought worthy of being tapped for Classics. There are so many.

I settled on “Burning Down The House” off Speaking In Tongues (1983), a single that was not only the group’s biggest chart success but broadcast them to a much wider audience via MTV and the Stop Making Sense tour documentary by Jonathan Demme (which I went to see with my father when it was making the rounds in small film houses).

There are Talking Heads songs that can compete with it, but today it is the classic. A refined product of late-70s exploration of the new and different, years in the making by the time it hit us in 1983. Proof positive David Byrne and his partners in crime were the bomb.

   Talking Heads - Burning Down The House

And, as an added bonus you can thank the Bean for reminding me about Tom Jones and the Cardigans showing you just how fresh the song can be after many years. From the 1999 Reload cover extravaganza:

   Tom Jones - Burning Down The House (with The Cardigans)

It’s easy to think of The Cure as completely depressing, but they have made some really wonderful, heartwarming songs. “Just Like Heaven” isn’t really one of them. It fools you into thinking it is, until you hear the last verse. But even with its incredibly sad ending, play it loud so it fills the room and it feels like you’re in a grassy field on a sunny day, spinning around in circles and laughing with someone you love.

   The Cure - Just Like Heaven

One of my favorite poems is about two lovers who, after spending the night together, curse the sun in the morning, because it has the audacity to think they are affected by its time. Clearly their love is all that matters in the perfect universe contained in their room. It creates such a lovely intimate image that is rarely found in love songs, but Bob Marley manages to create the same feeling with the line ‘We’ll share the shelter of my single bed’ in “Is This Love” from his 1978 album Kaya. That one line is more romantic than all those mushy I-would-die-for-you-lovey-love-songs combined.

Most of us Generation Y-ers, who declared sarcasm the new black and who use cynicism to understand the ways of the world, have a hard time taking romantic ballads that proclaim their everlasting love and devotion seriously, but this song always gets to me. I think the thing that makes a great song a classic is its ability to create that temproray insanity that makes you believe every single word; I believe Bob when he tells me he wants to love me and treat me right.

I hardly ever listen to “Is This Love” anymore, because the danger with nearly all Bob Marley’s songs is that they get played out. Luckily, I doubt it’s catchy enough to be used in a tampon or deodorant commercial, I never listen to classic rock radio, and street musicians have collectively decided that “Redemption Song” is the money song, so for now it hasn’t been tainted by over exposure yet. So here it is, my ultimate romantic song:

   Bob Marley - Is This Love

August 16, 2007 will mark 30 years since ‘The King’ died.

Released in 1969, “In The Ghetto” was recorded in January during Presley’s first studio session since the awesome December 1968 ‘Comeback Special’ ensured he didn’t get trapped in the time capsule of past success. Written by Mac Davis - who had his own relatively successful music and acting career - the single reached #3 in the U.S. charts and is a fitting tribute from a pivotal point in the musical legacy of a legend who still looms larger than life.

“In The Ghetto” is one of my favorite Elvis tracks. And, I enjoy just about any rendition of it, which is why I’ve decided to share a range of covers.

Elvis Presley, 1935-1977.

   Elivs Presley - In The Ghetto
   Dolly Parton - In The Ghetto
   Ghetto People - In The Ghetto (ft I-Viz) (Ghetto Mix)
   Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - In The Ghetto
   The Cranberries - In The Ghetto (Non LP Version)

It seems Joy Division is all the rage right now, what with the Ian Curtis biopic Control all set to wow music dorks everywhere and, as I noticed this morning while updating our Releases page, a new boxset of some kind coming out in September.

I didn’t know much about music history, especially things like post-punk, when I first heard Unknown Pleasures. It absolutely blew me away. It showed me that amazing things were hidden away in the past, musical treasures that ordinary MTV-watchers never heard about. And still now, nothing gives me goosebumps like “She’s Lost Control”. It is probably the single most haunting song ever recorded - all industrial echoes and empty pain. I didn’t know anything about Ian Curtis’ life and troubles when I first fell in love with it but even so, it felt like a kind of sadness that even Joy Division themselves couldn’t match on any of their other songs. Once you learn about the story of the song, the whole thing is unbearably tragic. Chris Ott, in his volume of the 33 1/3 series, Unknown Pleasures, writes:

["She's Lost Control"] was written about an epileptic woman who would often turn up at the Macclesfield Employment Exchange looking for work; when she stopped coming in, Curtis wrote the comparatively normal, descriptive lyrics about her, but as his own epilepsy took hold, the song grew to have awful implications, especially after he learned she’d died.

It’s true, the lyrics are basically simple and, on their own, don’t have nearly the same effect as when combined with that repetitive, slow bassline and those drums like a heartbeat, not to mention Ian Curtis’ deep drone that gives nothing away yet reveals everything. (Imagine it sung by someone with a more emotive singing style - it wouldn’t have half the power Ian Curtis gives it.) As heartbreaking as the song and its background are, it’s absolutely perfect.

   Joy Division - She’s Lost Control

This song was the Swedish band Whale’s one and only alternative hit in 1993 and it was an instant Classic to me. When I was thirteen, I was reading some teenmag and MTV alternative nation, or whatever it was called, was on in the background. That show was always one big heap of noise to me, because I mostly listened to whatever was in the charts. Ugh, this sounds like the opening sentences of Diary Of An Indie Girl: How I Broke Free From My Pop Loving Shackles, but don’t get me wrong I love pop music. Especially pop music from the early nineties! I was just not aware that there was this whole other world of weird bands outside the charts who made unusual, but no less wonderful music. Anyway, this song caught my ear thanks to that creepy little girl voice that sings the most disturbing lyrics I had ever heard, and what sounded like a rabid pack of men belting out the chorus. When I looked up from my magazine I wasn’t sure what kind of sick, freak show I was looking at - that video is trippy as frick - but I was surprised that I liked it a lot. Now, I’m still not sure what it’s about, but it is one of the most exciting songs I’ve ever heard.

   Whale - Hobo Humpin’ Slobo Babe

Here’s the video. If you’ve never seen it before I should probably warn you about the freaky, armpit licking and aluminum ass spanking with a lollipop that goes on in it …

The last few weeks have been pretty exciting, what with new offerings from The White Stripes, Ryan Adams, Blanche, Two Gallants - and probably a whole bunch of stuff I’ve missed without any internets. And it’ll get even better when Our Love To Admire comes out a week from today. In honor of that, here’s - in my humble opinion - Interpol’s very best song (so far, at least). So good it was an instant classic, “NYC” is a song that sounds best when you just sit still and listen. It fills me with a deep sadness that comes from nowhere but it’s calm and soothing at the same time. I can’t claim to have any idea what “subway, she is a porno” means, but I don’t really want to know. Paul Banks’ lyrics are completely bizarre and I think they’re like any art - they mean something different to each of us that love them.

So enjoy this, and join my Our Love To Admire countdown (7 days … ).

   Interpol - NYC

I’m not making a political statement one or the other about the current Irag conflict or any conflict now or in the past. However, when it comes to protest songs very few equal, for me, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1969 “Fortunate Son” on Willy and the Poor Boys.

A song driven by the draft, support for those with fewer options fighting a far off battle, and the apparent lack of impact the Vietnam War had on the affluent and influential, “Fortunate Son” has inspired countless covers in the decades since its original release. Ample proof of its ability to inspire righteous anger and indignation among and for those doing someone else’s dirty work.

Refresh your memory with the original. After that, try out the versions by the Dropkick Murphys and Articles of Faith frontman Vic Bondi.

   Creedence Clearwater Revival - Fortunate Son (1969)
   Dropkick Murphys - Fortunate Son (2003)
   Vic Bondi - Fortunate Son (2003)

In honor of both having to wait only 14 more days for Icky Thump and my very favorite of the old-timey bluesmen, I’m here to bring you two amazing blues songs and two amazing covers.

Blind Willie McTell, like most of those blues guys, never really made any proper money and only really achieved the fame he deserved after his death. He performed under a number of different names - the best has to be Red Hot Willie Glaze - for a variety of labels, a sneaky way to get away with multiple record deals. His recording career is a labyrinth; it took me ages just to find out the dates of the two songs posted here. Thankfully, Blind Willie’s songs are available on a bunch of different collections - if you’ve never listened to him, I recommend picking one up.

Two of Blind Willie’s best songs, in my opinion, were covered by the wonderful White Stripes. I have to admit, I hadn’t really noticed exactly how violent the jealousy in “Southern Can Is Mine” really is until I read this blog post. Both Blind Willie and Jack White sing it in such a relaxed way, you don’t really hear all the stuff about beatings. “Lord, Send Me An Angel” is all about Willie’s ladies and why you shouldn’t be messing around with married womens (because their husbands will beat your ragged ass, in case you’re curious).

   Blind Willie McTell - Southern Can Is Mine (1931)
   The White Stripes - Your Southern Can Is Mine

   Blind Willie McTell - Lord, Send Me An Angel (1933)
   The White Stripes - Lord, Send Me An Angel

If you want to know more about Blind Willie McTell, visit bluesnet and read eMusic’s Spotlight article. Also, Bob Dylan scholar Michael Gray has written a book about Blind Willie, which will be out in the UK on July 2nd. Find out more about the book on the author’s blog and pre-order the book from Amazon UK.

Selecting the best - ever - of anything is a bold move. But, it helps when you share the burden with others. Byron Crawford gave me a heads up on two bloggers who collaborated in ranking the best hip hop albums - ever. Based on the votes of a ton o’ bloggers, Straight Bangin’ and The Passion of the Weiss ranked the top hip hop albums of all time. Hell, they even made the ranking spreadsheet of the votes available and everydamnthing.

Ah, a spreadsheet, rankers in my own style.

Here is the Top 10 of their All Time Top 25 hip hop albums:

1. Nas, Illmatic (1994)
2. Wu-Tang Clan, Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) (1993)
3. Notorious B.I.G., Ready to Die (1994)
4. Raekwon, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx … (1995)
5. Dr. Dre, The Chronic (1992)
6. Public Enemy, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (198
7. A Tribe Called Quest, Midnight Marauders (1993)
8. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory (1991)
9. Eric B. & Rakim, Paid In Full (1987)
10. Mobb Deep, The Infamous (1995)

A formidable lineup and all very very highly recommended if you don’t own them already. I’m not sure my list would be exactly the same as the consensus results. It’s maybe a bit heavy on 1991-1995, but the list is strong enough you can’t really argue with it too much.

To be honest, I can’t really add much more than the collaborative run down on both their sites. But, I can share three of my selections from among them in an effort to get you to skip a couple coffees and a lunch or two, save up the cash, and chase up some of the greatness of these albums for yourself.

   Wu Tang Clan - Bring Da Ruckus
   Raekwon - Knuckleheadz
   Eric B. & Rakim - Paid In Full

Back in 2004, I downloaded a song called “22 Grand Job” by a band whose name I’d read somewhere or other. It immediately became my most often played mp3 and I spent a lot of time hunting down more information about these Rakes guys. It’s pretty well known around these parts that The Rakes are now one of my very favorite bands and it all started with “22 Grand Job”.

I was totally blown away by this track. At the time, there was nothing else quite like it. You could dance to it, but it talked about job salaries, for god’s sake. It had a driving beat that made your heart pound but still sounded like a day at the office. “22 Grand Job” was first conceived by Alan Donahoe after a job interview, as he told the BBC: “I thought I had the job but I didn’t. But I was walking down the street singing ‘22 Grand Job in the city that sounds nice, 22 grand job in the city that sounds nice’ over and over.”

After two full albums, The Rakes are still at their best when they are dissecting the steaming pile of blah that is everyday life, from going to work hungover and stinking to reading ridiculous tabloid headlines. But as much as I adore everything they do, they’ve not yet topped this classic.

   The Rakes - 22 Grand Job

I wanted my very first Classics post to be über special, so I chose Hank Williams “Ramblin’ Man”! I have a soft spot for Hank’s pliable voice and gritty, simple approach to early country. In 1950 - two years before he died under mysterious cicumstances at the age of 29 - he recorded fourteen songs as his alter ego Luke The Drifter. Luke The Drifter was a compassionate, wise, traveling man who had seen it all. He gave all the good advice that Hank himself seemed to ignore at the time.

I don’t know how they thought the audience could miss the obvious Hankness of his voice, but these songs were recorded under a different name because Hank Williams and his people weren’t sure his fans would accept these bluesy, preachy songs. The majority of his hits by then were sweet, fast poppy country songs to tap your feet to, like “Move It On Over” and “My Bucket’s Got Hole In It”. The Luke The Drifter songs stay with you longer. They’re the religious musings of an experienced man who has struggled with sin and came out older and wiser. Actors often say that crawling into someone else’s skin makes it easier to tap into certain emotions, which would explain why, as Luke, Hank sounds like he is really able to pour his heart and soul out into these songs.

My favorite, and probably most popular, Luke The Drifter song is “Ramblin’ Man”. It is an apology to Luke’s lover for not being able to settle down, because like a cursed man he is compelled to roam the land. A guitar and a fiddle quietly keep a rhythm going, while Hank Williams’ heartbreaking voice takes center stage. It has so much depth and feeling that I just can’t understand how country went from this to the Nashville sound. But that’s a whole other story.

   Hank Williams - Ramblin’ Man

And a few new bands that do Luke The Drifter proud:

   Drakkar Sauna - Glissade Pressee
   Two Gallants - Untitled II (Daytrotter Session)
   Poorboy Johnson & The Goddamn Rattlesnakes - Did You Ever Know Boy