How much do you know about Vic Chesnutt? You might know that he currently resides in Athens, GA, and that his first two albums were produced by that city’s most famous citizen, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. You might also know that Chesnutt was left partially paralyzed following a car accident in 1983, and that 1996 saw the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute to Chesnutt. The album featured covers of Chesnutt’s songs by the likes of Madonna, Garbage, REM, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Live. Chesnutt has collaborated with Widespread Panic, Lambchop, Bill Frisell, among others, and he’s released over a dozen albums on various labels over the years.
Skitter On Take-Off is Chesnutt’s first album for Vapor Records. It was produced by indie legend Jonathan Richman and his drummer Tommy Larkin, and they had a very definite idea of how they wanted the album to sound. According to Richman, “We were both thinking that the way to get the feeling for Vic as a listener was to hear just Vic — no arrangements, no guest guitar solos, no “ironic” touches or anything else to cloud his voice or his poetry.” The end result is an album that features Chesnutt on guitar and vocals, Richman on guitar and harmonium, and Larkin on drums. It was recorded completely live, and there were no overdubs. (more…)
Here in the Golden State we really only have two seasons: wet and dry. Okay, if you factor in mudslides, firestorms and earthquakes, we have five seasons that us Californians, um, enjoy during any given year. It’s always quite comforting on a warm October day when someone reminds you that it’s earthquake weather, or when the weather report includes how acrid the air is because there’s a fire burning out of control somewhere. Yeah, it’s not all beaches and movie stars in California, but one thing that’s always welcome here is rain. We don’t get nearly enough to supply the water needs of the state, but when it pours, there’s a kind of underlying comfort that you can flush your toilet or take an extra minute or two in the shower without the water police reminding you how much we need to conserve. Alas, the rainy season hasn’t quite started. Oh, we’ve had a few storms, but nothing that will add significantly to the snow pack in the Sierras, fill the lakes and reservoirs, or allow me to hose down the back patio without feeling guilty.
In the realm of music, though, rain has been a popular theme for decades. Sometimes it’s a metaphor for redemption, sometimes misery, and sometimes it’s not a metaphor at all — sometimes, it’s just a song about rain. So, here we go with six songs that, for me, are a not-so-subtle rain dance to the weather gods. (more…)
As if there weren’t enough songs in this series that sound like they didn’t belong in the decade, let’s bring some good ‘ol ragtime music into the mix. I’m not necessarily saying it’s a bad song, but radio stations really played this? I mean, really? My God, how the musical climate has changed.
The Reddings
“Remote Control” — 1980, #89 (download)
“(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” — 1982, #55 (download)
Most artists that are relatives of someone majorly famous seem to try to do anything they can to prove the point they are their own artist and get out of the famous relative’s shadow. But Otis Redding’s sons Dexter and Otis III as well as nephew Mark Lockett seemed to embrace it and work it to their advantage. While Otis is known for his sweet soul sounds, the Reddings brought more funk and disco elements into their songs early in their career. But they weren’t ashamed to cover Otis’s most famous song — “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” — either. However, even as a group they weren’t nearly as talented as the big man and nothing really propelled them to stardom. They released six albums in the ‘80s, but without the impressive lineage they would really be just another R&B group.
Helen Reddy
“I Can’t Say Goodbye to You” — 1981, #88 (download)
Well, actually Helen did sort of say “Goodbye” to us, as this was her 21st and last charting song. I wish her well, and I hope I never ever hear from her again.
Rhino Records laid off a lot of people two weeks ago. Some think the company is dead, while others, including former Popdose staffer/new Rhino guy John C. Hughes, implore us to be patient. As the poet said, “Time will tell just who has fell, and who’s been left behind …” But no matter what happens going forward, I hold in my hands a box set that will become part of the awesome Rhino legacy, and further confirm that Rhino is/was one of the last great record labels.
Big Star: Keep an Eye on the Sky is the shit, that thing the fanboys have been waiting more than 30 years for. It’s the validation, the vindication. It’s the drug, so open your veins, because now when your friends look at you blankly when you mention Big Star, you can sit them down, stick this in, all 98 tracks spread over four discs, hand them the beautiful 100-page booklet that comes with the set, and wait for them to finally acknowledge you as the trendsetter that you’ve always thought yourself to be.
That booklet I mentioned is as good a place to start as any. As usual, Rhino didn’t just dig up a bunch of moldy photos and hire some hacks to write trite copy. Following opening remarks from Ardent Studios owner and producer John Fry, we’re treated to a wonderful essay by noted Memphis musicologist Robert Gordon. Gordon gives us an oversight, the crucial details of Big Star’s career, such as it was. The story begins in Memphis in 1971 with creation of the band’s original lineup of Alex Chilton and Chris Bell on guitars, Jody Stephens on drums, and Andy Hummel on bass. The brilliant first album, #1 Record, that went nowhere. The departure, and later the death of Big Star co-founder Chris Bell. The even more brilliant second album, 1974’s Radio City, that once again got lost in the music business shuffle. The fateful decision to try one more time, the result being an album, Third/Sister Lovers, so dark and so fragile, that it wouldn’t be released for four years, and then only by a label, PVC, that had little to lose. (more…)
Mulcahy is the former frontman for Miracle Legion. When his wife Melissa died suddenly last year, Mulcahy was left with a broken heart, a pile of bills, and a whole bunch of high-profile friends who wanted to help out. Their help comes in the form of an album that is not only one of the best compilations of 2009, but one of the year’s best albums, period. More importantly, proceeds from the sale of the album will go to Mulcahy to enable him to raise his twin three-year-old daughters, and continue his music career. Concerts are planned in London and New York to raise more money.
You know how sometimes you’re listening to a compilation album, you hear a track that you like, and you check your iPod for the name of the artist? That happened to me a number of times when listening to Ciao My Shining Star. The only reason I didn’t have to check every time a new track came on is because a number of the artists here are instantly recognizable, including Thom Yorke, The National, Michael Stipe, Frank Black, and Dinosaur, Jr. (more…)
If you’re buying into my obnoxious stereotype so far – and if you’re part of the distaff sector of the species, I sincerely apologize for it — then you know where this is going. Because if you’re old like me, you sat around with your buddies and called that girl “Janis Ian.” But by the time I got to graduate school in 1990, her name was “Indigo Girl.”
This album is why. And at this point I’ll pull out of the Neanderthal mentality of my opening and state, simply, that Indigo Girls was one of the finest major-label debuts of the ’80s. Its long-term impact is undeniable, not only upon the duo’s career but upon an entire generation of female singer-songwriters who gained a path to popularity on the radio and the concert stage in part because of its success. (more…)
It’s been a busy time lately for Marshall Crenshaw: He released his 10th studio album,Jaggedland,last month; it’s his first proper release in six years, and his first for the Santa Monica-based label 429 Records. In addition to keeping up his usual touring calendar, he contributed a slowed-down, moody rendition of “Supernatural Superserious” to the R.E.M. tribute concert at New York’s Carnegie Hall a few months back, and last month he became one of the first musicians featured in the “Drop” series of intimate performance/conversation events at the Grammy Museum in Los Angeles.
After working primarily in home studios and with makeshift assemblages of musicians over his last several records, Crenshaw laid down most of Jaggedland at the Sage and Sound studio in L.A. His band included legendary drummer Jim Keltner and former Soul Coughing bassist Sebastian Steinberg, and the album was helmed by Jerry Boys. A prolific producer/engineer whose resume dates back to the early ’70s, Boys cut his teeth on folk-rock (Steeleye Span, Richard Thompson, 10,000 Maniacs) but came to Crenshaw’s attention via his sterling work on recordings by various members of the Buena Vista Social Club collective – particularly 2003’sMambo Sinuendo,by Ry Cooder and Manuel Galban. That album’s dark exoticism is evident all over Jaggedland.
Popdose caught up with Crenshaw last week; he was at home in Rhinebeck, NY, beginning a brief respite from the road that precedes more extensive touring later this year (starting in September in the upper Midwest). He proved ready to talk about matters both old and new – including a detailed analysis of his rise and stall as a Next Big Thing during the early ’80s.
How did the gig at the Grammy Museum go? I was sorry I missed it.
I thought it was nice. I was appearing with a guy named Bob Santelli [the museum’s executive director, and a longtime journalist and author, who hosts the “Drop” programs]. I’ve known him since day one – he was one of the first people to write an article about me. I figured it would be a cool experience where I could cover a lot of bases. I played a few songs, and half of it was Q&A. Some interesting questions, too.
Such as?
One guy asked me if I thought I’d make it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame! That question blew my mind, that anybody would come up with that as a possibility and ask me about it.
Well, we did a story last year about people who send around petitions to get various acts into the hall. Anyway, we all know you’re a student of pop, rockabilly, honky-tonk, and god knows what else. As such, are you a fan of the Hall of Fame, or the various music museums in general?
(thinks for a minute) Yeah, I guess so. I’ve been to the Hall of Fame a handful of times, and I tend to enjoy myself there. My favorite tour I ever got there was of the storage lockers, the stuff that’s not on public display. We were rummaging around there and we found Eddie Cochran’s guitar case! There was all this stuff in there from when he was touring, and it was fascinating — there were all these European string brands, miscellaneous little things. We also found one of Ike Turner’s Stratocasters, so I played that for a little while. There’s this ancient bootleg video of Ike and the Kings of Rhythm playing in a TV studio in St. Louis, and that’s the guitar he was playing in the video. I also played Buddy Holly’s banjo for a little while. One of my favorite things, coming from Detroit, was a document signed by all five members of the MC5 acknowledging they’d been dismissed by Elektra Records.
Sounds like the makings of a great History Channel documentary.
Yeah, somebody definitely could do that. You know, it’s easy to be cynical about that whole thing, of memorializing the music of the past, but whenever I’ve been there I’m always moved. The people there are really smart, and care about what they’re doing and about preserving these artifacts. One part of me thinks it’s a crock of shit … but, like I said, I’m always moved, so there must be something to it. (more…)
I have to admit that I am not one of the people who jumped on the bandwagon for Regina Spektor’s last album, the 2006 breakthrough Begin to Hope. I’ve still never heard most of it, and what I did hear didn’t knock me out. Now Spektor is back with a new album, far (Sire Records), and I’m still on the fence.
I recognize her talent. I appreciate the exquisite wordplay with which she builds her songs. I’m aware of the fact that repeated listening to the album can reveal some previously hidden treasures. It’s all very accessible, musically accomplished, and lyrically interesting. What it’s missing, at least for me, is an emotional connection. Maybe this music is just not for me.
It’s a good idea to be wary of any album that has multiple producers, in the same way that it’s advisable to carefully approach films with more than one director. This album has four producers, each of them notable in his own right. Mike Elizondo has worked with Dr. Dre and Eminem, and he has produced four of this album’s 13 tracks. His work appeals as the most forward looking of the distinguished quartet. Check out his production on the inventive and imaginative “Machine.”(more…)
A few weeks ago, I took my family down to a train wreck of an event called the Great American Food and Music Festival in Mountain View, CA. It was supposed to be a day where you could eat regional foods from around the country, listen to music like Marshall Crenshaw, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and Little Feat, and then watch cooking demonstrations from Bobby Flay and Guy Fieri of the Food Network. I won’t go into too much detail on why it hellish experience, but just to give you a sample (ha!) of why it was such a poorly organized event, I give you this: it was a day where you had to stand in line for three hours to get food — like a hot dog from Pink’s Hot Dogs. Anyway, as we were driving down, we were listening to the radio and “Under Pressure” by Queen and David Bowie was on. This started a 10 minute discussion on duets and collaborations that started with UB40 and Chrissy Hynde’s cover of “I Got You Babe.” I kind of filed some of the duets in my mind with the intention of doing a Mix Six at some point in the future, and guess what? The future is now.
“Getting Away With It,” Electronic and Neil Tennant (Download)
This collaboration between Bernard Sumner of New Order and Johnny Marr from the Smiths lasted longer than I thought it would. And with Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys lending his distinctive vocals to the song, Electronic went from “side project” to almost a supergroup in the ’90s (I’m sure someone is going to argue that they were a supergroup, but I’ll leave that to a discussion in the comments section). The song sounds so much like New Order and the Pet Shop Boys, that Johnny Marr’s contribution sounds rather muted.
“Slow Train to Dawn,” the The and Neneh Cherry (Download)
Like many folks, I was a big fan of the The’s Soul Mining. I bought the cassette on a whim when it was released in 1983 and probably listened to it non-stop in my car for a two weeks. When Infected came out three years later, I immediately bought it because I heard/saw the lead single on MTV and just loved it. While I didn’t find Infected to be as quirky as Soul Mining, it had some great songs on side one. Side two was more of a “grower” side that included “Slow Train to Dawn” with Neneh Cherry doing co-vocals. This was, of course, years before she charted as a solo artist with “Buffalo Stance.” (more…)
Hi, everybody! This week’s CHART ATTACK! takes us back a whopping 22 years, and wow, do I feel old, considering I remember hearing just about every single one of these songs on the radio when they first came out. The songs this week aren’t that bad, actually, but as you’ll soon see, almost all of them are linked together in…well…just about the worst way possible. Stay tuned as we review the Top 10 from April 11, 1987!
“The Finer Things” is just one of the many collaborations between Winwood and his writing partner for most of the ’80s, Will Jennings. Jennings co-wrote almost all of Winwood’s hits, including “While You See a Chance,” which clearly inspired the opening of this song — all synths, baby! I’m usually anti-synth, but if it’s Steve Winwood, I’m okay with it. “The Finer Things” was the second biggest hit from Back in the High Life, peaking at #8.
Jennings, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, is quite the accomplished songwriter: in addition to his work with Winwood, he wrote/co-wrote songs such as “Tears in Heaven,” “Up Where We Belong” and “My Heart Will Go On.” There’s a nice interview with him over at Songfacts.
I had no idea I had ever heard this song before until I reached the chorus, although to be fair, it’s not like I can really remember the verses of “Everybody Have Fun Tonight,” either. While this song did make it to the Top 10 (peaking here at #9), it wasn’t a strong enough hit to make the overall Hot 100 for 1987. I do like this mention of the song over at Wikipedia, though (emphasis mine): “The single was a hit for Wang Chung in the United States, and it provided the band with their second (and so far, last) top-10 hit.” Isn’t that cute? Who knows, everybody — Wang Chung may be making a comeback! Simple Minds, you’re on deck!
Not much to say about “Let’s Go!” — It follows the same format as their previous hit: stupid lyrics, catchy chorus. But, uh, hey: if you liked Kids Incorporated, this should be a happy day for you. They covered it!
8. Midnight Blue — Lou Gramm
I remember what my father said. He said, “Son, life is simple. It’s either cherry red, or midnight blue.”
What the hell does that mean? Is that really the best advice you got from your father? ‘Cause that’s shitty advice. Really shitty advice. It’s just unhelpful. Is there some double entendre I’m missing here?
![41yjsf3R7zL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/41yjsf3R7zL._SCLZZZZZZZ_1.jpg "41yjsf3R7zL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]")
How much do you know about Vic Chesnutt? You might know that he currently resides in Athens, GA, and that his first two albums were produced by that city’s most famous citizen, Michael Stipe of R.E.M. You might also know that Chesnutt was left partially paralyzed following a car accident in 1983, and that 1996 saw the release of Sweet Relief II: Gravity of the Situation, a tribute to Chesnutt. The album featured covers of Chesnutt’s songs by the likes of Madonna, Garbage, REM, the Smashing Pumpkins, and Live. Chesnutt has collaborated with Widespread Panic, Lambchop, Bill Frisell, among others, and he’s released over a dozen albums on various labels over the years.
Most artists that are relatives of someone majorly famous seem to try to do anything they can to prove the point they are their own artist and get out of the famous relative’s shadow. But Otis Redding’s sons Dexter and Otis III as well as nephew Mark Lockett seemed to embrace it and work it to their advantage. While Otis is known for his sweet soul sounds, the Reddings brought more funk and disco elements into their songs early in their career. But they weren’t ashamed to cover Otis’s most famous song — “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” — either. However, even as a group they weren’t nearly as talented as the big man and nothing really propelled them to stardom. They released six albums in the ‘80s, but without the impressive lineage they would really be just another R&B group.
It’s been a busy time lately for Marshall Crenshaw: He released his 10th studio album, 
Well, we did a story last year about people who send around petitions to get various acts into the hall. Anyway, we all know you’re a student of pop, rockabilly, honky-tonk, and god knows what else. As such, are you a fan of the Hall of Fame, or the various music museums in general?![41McjI1S-xL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]](http://popdose.com/wp-content/uploads/41McjI1S-xL._SCLZZZZZZZ_1.jpg "41McjI1S-xL._SCLZZZZZZZ_[1]")
I have to admit that I am not one of the people who jumped on the bandwagon for Regina Spektor’s last album, the 2006 breakthrough 
