Category Archives: Music

“A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall” – Bryan Ferry

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Bryan Ferry’s classic cover of Bob Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall,” the lead off track from his first solo album “These Foolish Things” from 1973. Since “Things” was nothing but covers (including songs by Lesley Gore, Stevie Wonder, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Paris Sisters), Ferry treated this “sacred” Dylan track like any other pop song. What made his cover so acclaimed (and controversial) was that he took Dylan’s earnest acoustic ballad and added metallic guitars, heavy drums, strings, sound effects to create a Phil Spector-like “wall of sound” so that you would actually feel that a hard rain was coming down. Many Dylan fans were appalled … but many others were also knocked out by the weird, overblown arrangement.

On a personal note, if you want to know what I looked like circa 1990 (sans the necklace … and not on purpose I should note), I looked a lot like Ferry in this early video.

“Messing with my Head” – Tinted Windows

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Here’s a completely pleasant surprise: a power-pop supergroup composed of Taylor Hanson (from Hanson) on vocals, James Iha (from the Smashing Pumpkins) on guitar, Bun E. Carlos (from Cheap Trick) on drums, and Adam Schlesinger (from Fountains of Wayne) on bass. In a better world, “Messing with my Head” would be a massive hit. However, I heard it 4 years after it was recorded on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. Ah well, a great song is a great song is a great song … It’s never too late to appreciate something cool.

“Feels Like a Woman” – The Troggs

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I’m warning all of you. Hide your wives … hide your girlfriends … hide your daughters … hide your grandmothers … and while you’re at it … hide your cats, your dogs, your sheep, your socks, the flank steak in the fridge …

Because the Troggs are in town … and they WILL hook up with something. There’s no profanity in this song from 1972, but this has got to be one of the dirtiest, filthiest, sleaziest songs ever recorded. I love Iggy Pop, but he never sounded quite this nasty. For those who love this kind of thing, one of the greatest knuckle-dragging anthems of all-time.  Even if you’re a guy, when they sneer “Get ’em all!” you’ll want to make sure you’re wearing steel underwear.

“Catch Me Now I’m Falling” / “Superman” / “Low Budget” – The Kinks

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Three scarily relevant songs from the 1979 album “Low Budget,” the very British Kinks sing from the perspective of a down-on-their-luck America. It is now 2013 and these songs seem more relevant than ever. I realize it’s a cliche to say that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. But at some point, you can only build the gates of your gated communities so high before the have-nots find a way over. Just buy some more guns and I’m sure you’ll be just fine …

“Superman”

“Low Budget”

“Desperados Under the Eaves” – Warren Zevon (live at WMMS-FM, 1976)

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An eerie and minimalistic piano version of one of Zevon’s most famous songs, recorded live for WMMS-FM in Cleveland in 1976. The song contains some of my favorite lyrics of all-time:

“And if California slides into the ocean
Like the mystics and statistics say it will
I predict this motel will be standing … until I pay my bill.”

Henry Rollins on seeing Ratt

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Here’s a funny and fascinating multi-part monologue from Henry Rollins on seeing Ratt in concert, long past their prime.  The monologue rambles a bit, but is never boring.  Rollins not only touches on hair metal, but also on Los Angeles, middle age, the English language, and other topics.  Unfortunately, I can only find the first three parts of this five-part monologue, so if you like this, you should definitely check out Rollins’ “Live at the Westbeth” on CD or MP3.

Remember, Ratt s–t’s better than cat s–t … cat s–t’s just gross.

Part 1:

Part 2:

Part 3:

“People Who Died” – The Jim Caroll Band

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From the terrific 1980 album “Catholic Boy,” this is the late Jim Carroll’s most (in)famous song. I remember a DJ once saying that not many know what this song is, but every time he played it, it would get more calls into the station wanting to know what the song was and who did it than anything else he plaeyd. It is … in my 8-year old son’s immortal words … pretty “epic.” This is one of those songs that should have been a huge hit, but wasn’t. Granted, the lyrics are really f–king grim. But the song is so damn catchy! It shows up frequently on Sirius First Wave, FYI.

Jaw-dropping trivia note: This song was featured in Steven Spielberg’s “E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.” It’s not particularly prominent, but it’s definitely there when the boys are playing Dungeons and Dragons near the beginning of the film. That … along with the lyrics for Elvis Costello’s “Accidents Will Happen” casually uttered by Elliott’s brother in the scene where he’s raiding the refrigerator … points to the fact that Spielberg may be more of a hipster than most people typically give him credit for.

“Apeman” – The Kinks

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From the 1970 album “Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround Part 1,” is the Kinks’ “Apeman.” I don’t have anything profound to say about “Apeman” other than that I’ve always loved this song.  The Kinks created a mild controversy with the line “the air pollution is a-foggin’ up my eyes,” because the way Ray Davies phrased “foggin’,” it sounded like another f-word we all know and love.  This looks like a “Top of the Pops” performance … part live, part lip sync. No word yet on when “Lola … Part 2” will ever see the light of day.