Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Tuesday Tuneage
The Yardbirds - "You're A Better Man Than I"
1966

Whoah whoah whoah. You mean to tell me that "You're A Better Man Than I" was the B-side of "Shapes of Things"?? This puts that 45 on the short list of greatest two sides-in-one of protest music ever unleashed. (What'd the Beatles put on the back of "Revolution"? "Hey Jude".) Certaintly its kick out the jams high energy puts it near the top for its sheer audacity factor. The doom/gloom backdrop plus the power/glory of the noise on "You're A Better Man Than I" set a template for heavy metal, not to mention it features the Greatest Rock Guitar Solo Ever.

Lester Bangs: (Jeff Beck's solo) was THE original primal prototype heavy metal guitar move. Ten million fretbusters since have heard and tried to replicate the chilling fire-and-ice power of it and all failed.

My question is: Which rock 'n' roll band is going to be men enough to step up to the mics, cover this one, and dedicate it to that Richie Rich putz Mitt Romney? Because if no one else will do it, I will be forced to reform my garage band, The Recount Five (active November 2000 - January 2001 in Florida; November 2008 - June 2009 in Minnesota) and we'll do it. Which shouldn't be a problem, my band is fictional. Hell, that means we could even have Sam Phillips record it. Just like The Yardbirds did with this tune. Yep. THAT Sam Phillips.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Tuesday Tuneage
Black Flag - “TV Party”
1982

Stooges-like throb with kinda-inspired lead guitar. I’d love it to death as satire except I actually lived this my senior year at college when I rented a house with five other guys. One roommate, after the rest of us went to sleep, would stay up late with more beer and bottom shelf vodka, then pass out on a coach with CNN Headline News playing so loud we could hear it upstairs when we woke up in the morning. The guy I shared a room with and I would joke that we already knew the news of the day because we had heard it over and over for an hour or so before we actually woke up for real. Needless to say, we had been too lazy/hazy to go downstairs and shut the TV off overnight in the first place.

As for the video ... Seeing it after seeing Henry Rollins on Sons of Anarchy: Could it be in these near-thirty years that his acting "chops" have actually diminished??

Tuesday, September 04, 2012

Tuesday Tuneage
Gary Stewart - “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)”
1975

Another downside to such a dry summer is that there were too few rainy afternoons to say: Fuck it, I’m gonna sit here all afternoon, drink beer, and listen to country music. Then  you dig out your Waylon, Willie, Jerry Lee, Merle, etc.; crack a few cold ones, and sit in dimness of your living room and mind and take it all in. I know others use rainy afternoons to organize scrapbooks, go through family photos, or catch up on correspondence; but some us take such weather as opportunities to Think Big/Think Stupid and go for broke.

Always on the playlist these afternoons is “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)”. Perpetual contender always for Greatest Song Title Ever and perhaps the finest in Stewart’s pantheon of drinking/cheating/honky-tonking classics from the mid-seventies. That list?

“Drinking Thing”
“Honky-Tonkin’”
“Out Of Hand”
“Quits”
“Single Again”
“Whiskey Trip”’
“Your Place Or Mine”

Okay, you’re thinking, what a bummer. Day drinking and a song cycle of divorce/alcoholism/adultery/bars. Here’s the bright spot: Stewart had a road band called “The Honky Tonk Liberation Army.”