La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "Sorry John, It's NOT Getting Better All the Time" Edition

Fun historical facts:

Wednesday just past was the anniversary of the Reichstag Fire (which happened way back in 1933)!!!

Also -- today is Don't Buy Anything day!!!

Hats and horns, everybody!!!

But seriously, I don't have to tell you that we live in troubling times. And it's not like I've made a secret of my disdain for the current Pee-Wee Hitler© Administration (don't even get me started on the drug-addicted megalomaniac who actually IS the President).

Also -- DBA day refers almost exclusively to the usual fascist Predatory Big Capitalist assholes, a la Amazon; you can (and should) still buy from local small business mom-and-pop good people. I, for one, plan to have lunch at my Forest Hills watering hole The Keuka Kafe, and you should absolutely go over and buy some vinyl from Friend of PowerPop© Sal Nunziato at his invaluable Burning Wood blog over here.

That being said, let's move directly to the business at hand. To wit:

...and the post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul/country/hip-hop song that strikes you as the most appropriate to our current national situation is...?

No arbitrary rules whatsoever -- I mean, isn't anarchy kinda the point at the moment?

Anyway, in case you're wondering, my two nominees are...

...and

I should add that, as long-time readers are aware, I am not even remotely a fan of Frank Zappa or the Mothers, but the specific song in question here is quite brilliant and obviously relevant.

As for Steppenwolf, who I adore (and really need to write about at length one of these days) I will simply say that, beyond the obvious reasons, I chose their song in part because a) lead singer/band auteur John Kay will turn 80 in a couple of weeks and b) I appreciate the irony that both he and the rest of the band were of German/Canadian origin. 😎

Okay, all that out of the way -- what would YOUR choices be?

And have a great weekend if possible.

"Now You're Back to Mother Earth, You Fucking Hippie Twat!!!"

Okay, how did I miss this 2018 short film?

Words fail me.

Seriously -- isn't this always kinda how you thought the whole thing really actually happened? 😎

BTW -- here's a link to the complete flick.

You're welcome very much.

Show Biz is My Life

From the letters section in the current issue of the New Yorker:

Safe Hands

In Michael Schulman’s account of meeting up with the actor Monica Barbaro, who plays Joan Baez in “A Complete Unknown,” the recent Bob Dylan bio-pic, there is some discussion about the guitar that she uses in the movie, the very same guitar that we, at Lark Street Music, in Teaneck, New Jersey, agreed to rent—it was a 1923, not a 1929, Martin 0-45—when the movie’s props department came knocking (The Talk of the Town, January 13th). We were assured that, when Barbaro was not using the instrument, it would be guarded like a nuclear football. What a shock, then, to read that Edward Norton—who plays Pete Seeger, once the moral conscience of American music—frequently grabbed the guitar from Barbaro on the set, and even intimated that she might just hold on to the Martin after filming, as, he supposedly said, he does with props all the time. We are glad to have the guitar back.

Buzzy Levine
Teaneck, N.J

I love Lark Street Music BTW, and not just because it's on Cedar Lane, i.e. the cruising strip of my long-ago youth.

More pertinently, back in the 'aughts (when I was still living in the Teaneck area) the folks at Lark did a fabulous job setting up the Korean (Rondo Agile) knock-off of my (long departed) genuine 1957 Les Paul goldtop...

...that the living saints in my old '70s band bought for me when they found out I hadn't touched a guitar since 1980. 😎

Anyway, I'm delighted that the store is still there and thriving; if you're ever in Teaneck (AKA the Paris of the suburban Northeast) be sure to check it out.

[h/t Tony Jannelli]

And Speaking as We Were Yesterday of Lothar and the Hand People...

...from their 1968 debut album, please enjoy the aforementioned L&THP and their just wonderfully touching sort of folk-rock ballad "That's Another Story."

These guys were the first real synth-pop band (it's no accident the aforementioned debut album was produced by Robert Moog collaborator Robert Margouleff), but -- as you can hear from the above -- their music was more than just space-age noodling; at heart, they were an old fashioned sort of good-timey outfit in the manner of The Lovin' Spoonful, and just as charming.

I actually saw them open for The Byrds(!) at the Village Gate(!!) in 1966(!!!), and it would not be an exaggerration to say they stole the show. They were beyond tight, charismatic (snazziest dressed band I ever saw) and (more important) had tons of great original songs.

They also did a sort of bouncy remake of "It's All Over Now" that was actually better than the Stones' hit version; to this day, I can play the piano part from their arrangement, and sometime before I die I swear I'm either gonna record it solo or teach some friends to play it in front of an audience.

Bottom line, it made an indelible impression on the then-teenaged me, to the point that years later, I contacted Paul Conly, the band's ace piano and synth guy, via their (still active today) band website, to ask if any live tape of the band performing it had survived. (The answer, alas, was no.)

Incidentally, a very good recording of a full Lothar set, live at Amherst College in 1969, was eventually released on a 2020 CD (titled Machines, after their cover of the Manfred Mann hit of the same name) and I highly recommend it; you can hear the entire thing for free over at YouTube HERE.

And Then He Met Lothar and the Hand People and They All Went Out for Drinks at Their Local Hooters!

From just now in 2025, please enjoy Stephen Hamm -- the charmingly yclept "Theremin Man" -- and what appears to be the entirety of his just released new album Live From Planet Earth.

Obviously, Hamm's brand of space rock/electronica/whatever the kids call it these days doesn't quite fit the mission statement of this here blog. But as attentive readers are aware I am a huge fan of people who play the theremin (hence the Lothar reference in the title above).

And in any case, in our current troubling times, anything that helps us all chill is alright with me.

BTW, Hamm himself is, as they say, an interesting couple of guys. From the official version:

Hamm’s career began in the 1980s as a pivotal member of the legendary Vancouver proto-grunge band Slow. Their 1985 album Against the Glass and its influential EP are credited with helping to ignite the grunge movement, with their raw, abrasive sound leaving a lasting mark on the Pacific Northwest music scene. Slow’s hit "Have Not Been the Same" became a MuchMusic staple, inspiring a generation of musicians, including Kurt Cobain and Sloan. In 2021, the documentary "Exposition Demolition" celebrated Slow’s impact on Canadian rock, cementing Hamm as a key figure in the evolution of grunge and alternative rock. Beyond Slow, Hamm’s career flourished in bands like Tankhog and Jungle, where he earned further recognition for his musical versatility. Tankhog’s 1991 tour with industrial music pioneers Skinny Puppy and Jungle’s European tour during the 1990s conflict in the Balkans are just a few examples of Hamm’s broad influence on the global music scene. As a member of Nardwuar the Human Serviette’s band, The Evaporators, Hamm helped create a chaotic and irreverent blend of garage rock and punk, continuing his commitment to pushing the envelope with unconventional, energetic performances.

Whew. 😎

Anyway, you can (and should) find out more about Theremin Man, and download more of his hand-rock(!) music (including 12 other albums), over at his Bandcamp page HERE.

You're welcome.

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "I Thought Career Day Was Usually in November" Edition

From 1970, please enjoy the extremely rich Norman Greenbaum and "Canned Ham" -- the song that DIDN'T add to the fabulous sums of money he's made over the years off of "Spirit in the Sky."

"Canned Ham," of course, was the follow-up; I thought it was brilliant myself (owned a copy of the single), but apparently it lacked that certain je ne sais quoi for the rest of the record-buying public.

That said, let us attend to the weekend's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul/country One-Hit Wonder solo artist or group is...???

No arbitrary rules whatsoever. In fact, if somebody (like Greenbaum) had more than one record on the radio but is still generally considered a OHW, and that's who you want to nominate -- that's cool.

I should add that no, to my surprise, I've never done this category before (something similar, yes, but not OHW's specifically). I should also add that, upon hearing "Canned Ham" again for the first time in ages, I am struck by the possibility that Erik Jacobsen (who also helmed most of the Lovin' Spoonful's stuff, and all of Chris Isaaks') may very well have been the greatest producer in the history of both rock and roll. And why isn't there a bio-pic about him yet?

Alrighty, then -- what would your choices be?

Discuss.

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Nancy's Record Collection (and Mine): Special "Great Lost Singles of the I'm Not Sure When" Edition

From the classic 1999 Yellow Pills (Vol. 1), please enjoy the incomparable Adam Schmitt and his shoulda-been-a-smasheroo "Speed Kills."

I can't recall if that was newly recorded for the aforementioned compilation, but in any event it sounds timeless.

Which is to say -- has there been a better power pop song by anybody ever?

I suspect not. 😎

Ready, Steady, Go Already!!!

From just this week, please enjoy The Jette Planes, and their sublimely Brit-pop-1965-ish new single "5:55."

Seriously, and pardon the cliche, but I didn't know they made 'em like that anymore. What a cool record/song.

In case you're wondering who those guys are (I must confess to being previously unaware of them), let's let them clue us in. Take it away, fellas.

Formed in 2018 The Jette Planes are a Philadelphia based rock band with elements of power pop, garage rock, alternative, and much more intertwined into one sound. With their 2021 debut album “In The Movies'' in their back pocket, they continue to create music and perform as a staple of the Philadelphia underground music scene.

Makes sense to me.

Meanwhile, you can (and should) sample their sizeable discography (six previous releases!) over at their Bandcamp page HERE.

Have I mentioned those guitars just kill me? 😎

Great Lost Singles of the Sixties: Special "Folk Rock!!!" Edition

From 1967, please enjoy L.A. stalwarts The Grass Roots and their brilliant (and a song I've always wanted to cover) "Things I Should Have Said."

In case you haven't guessed, I'm a huge fan of the early version of that "band," despite the fact that they were basically a manufactured construct rather than an organic musical entity. The song in question, of course, was written by the genius Sloan (as in P.F.) and Barri team, who were responsible for more great singles than you've had hot meals, but the aforementioned Grass Roots incarnation were wonderful second-tier pioneers of the immediate post-Byrdsian esthetic that made our AM radios sound so good back in the just pre-psychedelic/San Francisco band days.

Later, of course, with slightly different personnel, they had a run of hits -- like "Midnight Confessions" -- which made them a lot of money but didn't do much for their critical reputation. In any case, the above is just fucking fabulous.

Tomorrow: one of the coolest new songs to have crossed my desk in ages. And from Philadelphia, of all places. 😎

Today's Cartoon Chuckle

I think at this point we can agree that pretty much most contemporary commercial pop hits originate in this way.

Sad, really. 😎

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "Hello Young Lovers You're Under Arrest" Edition

Hey, it's Valentines Day!

And in its honor, from 2025 and their fab/gear just released new album Aces Eights & Heartreaks, please enjoy The Shang Hi Los and the sublimely 80s/Blondie-ish confection that is their "Monsieur Valentine."

Seriously -- that gets my vote for Best Song of the Year so far.

In any case, you can find out more about those kids -- including where to buy/hear more of the album -- over at their official website HERE.

And of course, all that leads us to the weekend's business. To wit:

...and your favorite (or least favorite) post-Elvis pop/rock/folk/soul/country love-themed song is...???

No arbitrary rules whatsoever -- your song can be happy, sad, directed at a specific object of affection, or just a general kind of lovey-dovey sentiment. However you're feeling today.

Oh, and in case you're wondering, my candidate (and I won't specify whether it's my fave or least) is...

...and ain't that something?

Okay -- what would YOUR nominees be?

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

Okay, This Might Be Interesting...

A Led Zeppelin documentary?

In the immortal words of Andrea Martin (as SCTV's programmer Edith Prickley) -- "Could be a hot one!"

BTW, the above is apparently playing in theaters as we speak; my plan is to see it when it shows up on the somewhat smaller (home) screen via Sony, which should be fairly soon. But your mileage may vary.

I should add that I have never been a Zep fan even remotely. But theirs is obviously a hell of a story and-- if memory serves -- I've never seen interviews with either John Bonham or John Paul Jones, so I suspect I'm gonna really enjoy it anyway.

I should also add that I have never owned a Zep album and/or listened to one at home for pleasure...EXCEPT for the last real one (i.e., not a comp of old stuff) they did.

You know -- the one (from 1979) with this absolutely fricking gorgeous song.

Your thoughts?

Closed for Monkey Business

Real life in the age of the Pee-wee Hitler© administration has slowed me down. Sorry.

Actual very cool new music up tomorrow, and get ready for Friday's Valentine's Day observance. Trust me, you'll kvell.

The Last Great Rock Record?

From 1989, please behold in breathless wonder the much-missed (i.e., where's he been lately?) Tone Lōc and his immortal party classic "Funky Cold Medina."

Oh god, that's just perfect; hilarious lyrics, the cowbell digitally lifted from "Honky-Tonk Women," and those sampled guitars (from Foreigner and Kiss, primarily) which work together like a charm.

Serioiusly, first time I heard that I thought I'd gone to rock-and-roll heaven, and I'm only half-kidding about it being the last great etc.

The irony, of course, is that technically it's a rap record, but that's a subject for a whole 'nother time. 😎

Nancy's Record Collection (and Mine): Special "I'd Forgotten How Much I Loved This Song" Edition

From 1973, please enjoy the smash-hit-in-England-but not-so-much-in-this-country "Everyone's Agreed That Everything Will Turn Out Fine" by Stealer's Wheel.

My god, what a great record (those harmonies! that psychedelic break in the middle!). And to anybody who thinks Stealer's Wheel were nothing more than "Stuck in the Middle..." or a warm-up to Gerry Rafferty's solo career, please to be biting me. 😎

I should add that the 45 version above (which was one of my treasured possessions for years) features a vastly superior arrangement to the version that later wound up on the band's Ferguslie Park LP. Why they re-recorded it I have no idea, as the original is as close to perfection as any record ever gets; as you've heard by now, and as I've said in these precincts before, if "Stuck in the Middle" was the band channeling Dylan, this one is them channeling Revolver and late 60s pop psych in general. Simply gorgeous.

Both versions, however, were produced by the immortal team of Leiber and Stoller, and when is there gonna be a bio-pic on THOSE guys?

La Fin de la Semaine Essay Question: Special "The Golden Age of Graphic Design" Edition

So we finally got around to watching the 2018 documentary BOOM! A Film About the Sonics the other day (that's The Sonics, as in the pioneering Northeast proto-punk band, obviousy, not the video game hedgehog).

The short version: Very entertaining, and one hell of a great story, but it was a bummer to discover that there is, apparently, no extant significant live footage of the band in its early-60s performing heyday.

That said, I was blown away by this early LP cover art of theirs...

...which I had forgotten about, and which is really quite ahead-of-its-time stylish. Especially for an indie record on a small regional label of its day.

And which leads us to the weekend's business. To wit:

And your favorite original cover art/album cover for a rock/pop/soul/blues/folk/comedy/Broadway show/classical LP of the 50's and 60's is...???

No arbitrary rules, except I'm going to enforce the temporaral parameters quite strictly. Which is to say if you try to sneak in something released after the music festival at Altamont, I will come to your house and deliver a severe tongue lashing.

Anyway, my Top Five -- in no particular order -- are....

That Stones LP may be the greatest album cover of anything ever, BTW. And I should add that the title of the book the guy in the top Lenny Bruce album is reading -- Pigs Ate My Roses -- has been making me laugh at inappropriate moments for going on half a century now. 😎

I should also add that Lou Reed's entire career esthetic quite clearly derives from that Paragons/Jesters cover, which I still can't believe was ever actually marketed to 50s doo-wop fans. I mean, wow -- that is without question the most (possibly unintentional) gay thing in world history; it could have just as easily been a jacket for some Grove Press banned-in-Boston smut by Hubert Selby. 😎😎

Alrighty then -- what would YOUR choices be? Discuss.

And have a great weekend, everybody!!!

An Early Clue to the New Direction: Special "Jingle Jangle Morning" Edition

So I got the just-released vinyl version of the Dylan movie soundtrack over the weekend...

...and take my word for it, it works brilliantly strictly as an album...

...starting with the period-accurate front-and-back sleeves. I gotta tell you, just seeing the old Columbia Records eye logo kind of made my year so far.

BTW, in case you're wondering, the cover is based on this actual Dylan LP.

Pretty cool, no?

Of course, the music is the main attraction, and it's spine-tingling. I'll spare you a longer review, but you get the idea.

I should add that the above is the first new -- non-reissue or vintage/used -- LP I've bought in over 50 years. A factoid which kind of blows my tiny mind. 😎

Meanwhile, a coveted Power Pop No-Prize© will be awarded to the first reader who gleans the above's relevance to the theme of tomorrow's Weekend Essay Question.

And Young People By the Millions Ask "What's a Transistor Radio?"

From his forthcoming (end of March) album NYC Made, please enjoy Ricky Byrd and his evocative ode to our collective rock-and-roll adolescences "Transistor Radio Childhood."

Co-produced by living rock-and-roll saint Little Steven Van Zandt.

Okay, that's a little a heavy on the obvious nostalgia tropes, but fuck it -- it works. I mean, I was practically in tears by the time he got to the Cousin Brucie reference. 😎

Byrd, of course, is best known for having played guitar with Joan Jett's Blackhearts for like a zillion years; he's a very interesting guy, and you can find out more about him, as well as order the new album, over at his website HERE.

Okay, I gotta go listen to the song again and sniffle.

PS: Here's some asshole whose name rhymes with Sleeve Nimels, with the aforementioned Cousin Brucie in the hallway at Sirius XM Radio in December 2016.

I was in total "I'm not worthy!" mode, as you can well imagine.

[h/t Molly Duffy]

Capt. Al's 21st Century: Part VI -- What's a Nice Transgender Jewish Person Doing in a Place Like This?

[As attentive readers will recall, our old friend (and more important, Friend of PowerPop©) Allan Rosenberg, aka Capt. Al, has been toiling on a series about his fave recent artists for a while now. The first installment of these musical musings, about Feist, appeared here back in July. Now, as promised, here's episode le sixième! Take it away, you old sea doggie!!! -- S.S.]

Welcome to the “Best Rock&Roll Music of the 21st Century, Part VI”, by Captain Al!!!

There are musical artists that challenge my values. Not just musical but even my life values.

In the 1960’s it was the Velvet Underground. I came to LOVE their music but it came with a struggle as I had to reorient my head to get it around the new ideas and sounds.

In the 1970’s it was David Bowie. It was his music but even more the way he projected his sexuality. I came to very much enjoy his 1970’s output, at first grudgingly then to come to respect in the ways he presented himself to the world.

Also in the 1970’s Brian Eno challenged how I listened and viewed music. Whether his rock music or his ambient music he also rearranged my ears to sounds and what he felt constituted music/sounds.

In the 1980’s the New Romantics taught me no matter how popular a style of music could be it could be so wrong headed it could cause irreparable damage to the baseline of rock and roll. Okay, Duran Duran were fairly good (sometimes) but the rest rotted, stinking up an entire generation’s expectations of what rock should (could) sound like. :-) !

This leads me to today’s featured artist -- Ezra Furman.

First off let’s establish right from the beginning that Ezra Furman is a “Wild Child”! He does everything with his life and musical career full blown and “take no prisoners.”

He doesn’t back down. He creates great music and confronts his sexuality right out in public.

Through the years we've been able to see how he's moved through his life by his actions and the make up of his music.

Now, as far as I know/guess, Ezra is transitioning from a man to a woman. He/she has begun identifying as a woman. I have no idea where this is leading in their(heh) life nor do I care in any political or personal sense. They should be happy, and all I really care about is their music, which is wonderful and rocking!

So here's some examples.

This is some thought-provoking stuff, but her music is always challenging and wonderful. It can take real courage to present what you live and believe in to this world, in the 21st century, and especially now, at this perilous moment here in the US of A.

Give it a try!

--- Capt. Al

Holy kazoosis!

Those are some pretty out there wild-and-wacky avant-garde audio/video products, pardner! I gotta confess, I was previously unaware of this Furman critter, and having now watched/listened to those clips I'm not quite sure what I think about them (in both the nominative and gender senses of the word "them." Thank you.).

But good on you for hepping us to Furman! That was a great closer for the series.

Unless, of course, there are going to be more episodes forthcoming. In which case -- let's do lunch. 😎

Wails From the Crypt (An Occasional Series): Special "Great Media Crushes of My Youth" Edition

As you may have heard, the incomparable Marianne Faithfull departed this sad vale of tears on Thursday last at the age of 78.

Needless to say, I was a long-time and huge fan, and when I heard the news, I thought I should post my musings on her breakthrough New Wave album Broken English, from the February 1980 issue of the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review. Which I only barely remembered.

And so here they are.

Mariannae Faithfull (heavy sigh, as Mork from Ork would say) has been my ultimate dream date for about as long as I can remember, as I think she is for a lot of people who went through puberty when I did. Just ask Patti Smith, for example, who wrote a poem about her I can't read without quivering. For those of you too young to remember her, however, let's just say that of all the female icons of London when it was Swinging (rather than Burning), she was by far the most memorable, with a face that could melt your heart and a voice that could turn your limbs to Jello. If you need proof, watch your Public Television outlet for the film version of the Tony Richardson/Nicol Williamson Hamlet, in which she is perhaps the sexiest Ophelia ever to grace a stage. (The relationship with her brother Laertes is, uh, closer than need be). Or better still, rummage up a copy of her 1968 Rolling Stones-backed single of "Sister Morphine," a devastating performance that sounds like it must have been recorded at Season-in-Hell studios; Mick Jagger's more famous version sounds positively idyllic in comparison.

Marianne's been through a lot, in the gossip-column sense, since then, and though she's still gorgeous at thirty-two, life in the fast lane has clearly taken a toll on her voice. Where once she sang like a school girl wise beyond her years, now she comes off as Tallulah Bankhead on methadone. For all that, she's as individual as ever, and if anything, she's a better singing actress than she was in the days when she was fresh out of the convent.

Broken Engish is the result of her hanging out on the fringes of the New Wave scene (her husband, Ben Brierly, who worked on the record, used to be bass player for The Vibrators). Though it's hardly a complete success, and fairly reeks of Catholic guilt, it has a number of interesting moments, including a powerful, if overdressed, version of John Lennon's "Working Class Hero." But what you should buy it for is an astonishing meditation on sexual jealousy called "Why'd Ya do It," in which, while the excellent band wails an atonal, jaggedly metallic mutated reggae, Marianne delivers a dialogue between two angry lovers that is probably the frankest, scariest thing of its kind ever committed to vinyl. You can practically hear her going after the guy's genitals with a meat cleaver. Sure, it's exploitative, and a little too neat a publicity gimmick (let's not forget she made her initial splash by appearing out of wedlock and obviously pregnant on English television), but it's also enormously effective theater. Call me perverse, if you will, but I find myself playing it quite a lot. Ah Marianne -- you can chase after me with a meat cleaver anytime. -- S.S.

Heh. 😎

Seriously -- I think I nailed it pretty good. Plus, it's funny; I'm particularly fond of the "Tallulah Bankhead on methadone" line.