rock and roll eclectricity
It is really quite sunny out today! And it’s Thursday, and I have Friday off, and I’m going with my best mate to see my favourite band two days in a row and I’m feeling kind of happy.
To commemorate this feeling, I offer the incredible beauty of Fred Rogers, throwin it down re. good feelings.
It’s Such a Good Feeling – Mister Rogers
from Let’s Be Together Today
Here’s the article I wrote for Bad MonkeyX about Let’s Be Together Today.
Picked up a dvd the other day I wasn’t expecting to ever see – the Boomtown Rats, live in 1978. I was pretty excited – the Rats hold a special place in my heart, being as they were one of my first forays out of the classic rock safety zone in 1986 (with The Fine Art of Surfacing album).
This concert is from the tour for the earlier A Tonic For the Troops, the other great Boomtown Rats record. The only time I’d ever seen them play anything was their Live Aid appearance in 85, and then Bob Geldof was already a minor saint (ie not a rock star). I wanted to see what they were like with the edges still on.
Well, I’m glad I saw it, because I think now I have a solid handle on what the Rats were about. There weren’t any edges. The band perform their songs reliably, but without soul, spirit or much energy. They strike some punk rock poses, but it’s all costume and props; if Toto or Boston had been told to Do Punk, they might have behaved very similarly on stage.
And Geldof, well, damn. If I were him I’d have disallowed this video’s release due to the pants he’s wearing. Jeeesus. Impossible not to stare at, especially if you’re bored with watching his Jaggerposing and posed earnestness.
I imagine, in reaction to the boringness of the footage, the producers of this recorded gig decided to help it out by superimposing topically relevant photos over the show – seriously. During I Never Loved Eva Braun, well, guess what pictures float across the screen? It’s pretty laughable. Sorry, but true.
The Boomtown Rats were always a seriously uneven band: of their five or six albums, only two are worth, in the end, paying attention to – but those two are really good. The band change their sound at the drop of a hat, but rarely to good or interesting effect. And for all of their post-punk posturing, there was always more art than anger in their songs – more Springsteen, less Dead Boys. When they’re trying their hardest to be punks, to sound punk (on Tonic) they remind me of another good record from the same era – the Monks’ Bad Habits – which riffed on punk without any real punk integrity. And why not? Who cares? Wasn’t that the point?
The group, whose last attempt at a single was famously blown away by Geldof’s own Do They Know It’s Christmas, ended in 1985. Bob Geldof has released intermittent albums since, mostly crappy in the same way his pal Sting’s albums are crappy. A couple of promo videos for Geldof’s latest record are graciously included on the DVD, and they’re entertaining, in an anthropological way. He did do one record that I loved for a long time, called The Vegetarians of Love; it doesn’t really hold up very well, but two or three tracks still work for me. One will probably still be on my Top-Whatever lists when I die:
Thinking Voyager Two Type Things.
I don’t want to give the impression that I hate the Boomtown Rats – I quite love the great bits. It’s just a drag that this DVD sucks. And it’s still a boon to have a glimpse into the band’s history, in that same anthropological way.
Here, let me show you some of the best stuff, and encourage you to pick up The Fine Art of Surfacing (1979) (but not the rerelease, I still frown on those.)
From The Fine Art of Surfacing:
[here's a link to the old badmonkeyx article on Fine Art of Surfacing, just for fun.]
A fantastic Rheostatics video – Shaved Head.
The Rheostatics aren’t the most videoey band, all sweaty and gawky and normal as they tend to be (a Canadian rock band trait, for some reason …). This video shows them being really beautiful: themselves (the video’s actually recorded live!), but maybe the most polished I’ve seen them, visually. And a fucking awesome take on the song. Tielli’s not playing guitar for most of it, and so is focussed on his voice, which he always does play like a guitar. Go look.
A lot of hullaballoo this week about the Rheos … Radio3 dedicated a fair bit of their show, and here’s the www.cbc.ca photoarticle for you: http://www.cbc.ca/photogallery/arts/370/
That title’s the one I gave an article I wrote a couple of summers ago, after seeing los Rheos do a warm and windy Harbourfront show down by the lake… They were introducing new material from their then-upcoming 2067 album. It was a perfect night, and I thought, wow, so nice to see a band that’s this together. I hope they never break up.
If you don’t know the Rheostatics, they’re local artrock Canadiana heroes. They’re ending their 27 years together this week with a big show at Massey Hall, preceded by a few pub shows during the week. My friends and I are going to the Horseshoe Thursday, taking Friday off, and seeing them off with gusto, jammery and beer. I’m glad that I got to know them before they were done; I’m glad we’re going to see them twice in a row, since one goodbye would be too short. But I’m sad.
So, a few posts related to that… Here’s something I just got today:
Zunior, the little digital music store, organized and released a see-ya thank-you tribute by bands who were inspired by the Rheostatics – some of whom reformed for this recording. 250 limited-ed hard copies of the CD are available if you’re all collectey, and the whole thing’s downloadable for less than ten bucks (CDN). So get yourself one, it’s a good record.
Here’s the Wooden Stars doing Saskatchewan.
More to follow.
From the files I found for the English Folk Music course… I love this melody, the voice of the singer, and the darkly funny lyric. Most of all, I dig the chatting beforehand; I can’t help but picture the speakers, and I like them.
It’s credited to Duncan McPhee and Frank Quinn, and it’s from an Alan Lomax collection called Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, on Rounder. (If you ever want to poke around in the realm of folk musics, search for Alan Lomax on the downloading tool of your choice and you’ll get a wide-angle photo of the genre, and the world. ) The lyric is below (possibly altered – folk songs don’t have definitive versions – lyrics changed with singers.)
The False Knight on the Road – Duncan McPhee and Frank Quinn
Oh, where be ye going?
Said the knight on the road,
I be going to school,
Said the boy as he stood.
And he stood and he stood
And ’twas well that he stood,
I be going to school,
Said the boy as he stood.
Oh what do ye there?
Said the knight on the road,
I read from my book
Said the boy as he stood.
And he stood and he stood
And ’twas well that he stood,
I read from my book,
Said the boy as he stood.
Oh what have ye got?
Said the knight on the road,
‘Tis a bait of bread and cheese.
Said the boy as he stood.
And he stood and he stood
And ’twas well that he stood,
Said the boy as he stood.
Oh pray give me some
Said the knight on the road,
Oh no, not a crumb.
Said the boy as he stood.
And he stood and he stood
And ’twas well that he stood,
Oh no, not a crumb,
Said the boy as he stood.
I hear your school bell,
Said the knight on the road,
Hit’s a-ringing you to hell.
Said the boy as he stood.
And he stood and he stood
And ’twas well that he stood,
Hit’s a-ringing you to hell.
Said the boy as he stood.
j’etais sur ma galerie
details: Lousiana Cajun and Creole Music 1934: The Lomax Recordings
which you can find at Rounder.
I’m taking a course in English and American folk music, and that has inspired me to gather a bunch of Alan Lomax field recordings (via soulseek, a nicely nonlinear music exploration method I’ll probably get into later). This one’s awesome – really groovy rhythm, great voices. I don’t know for sure, but it sounds like young girls singing; it could also just be a slightly sped up tape…
Check this out:
matin, j’etais sur ma galerie – unknown singer, field recording
Hey.
I’m previously of Bad MonkeyX, which was a music crit site for a long time – now, done. I’ve been buggin to get back at the music-related unidirectional talkity talk, but didn’t want to relaunch the same thing, and didn’t want to have to send out another “Hey! I’m trying again!” email to the four people who dug the Bad Monkeyx. This unannounced music blog’s my compromise. We’ll see what happens.
Huzzah!
