It's pushing 30° as I write this so I don't have much enthusiasm for a long post - fortunately Alyson has done all the hard work for me. I was sad to learn from her blog that Dr. Hook frontman Dennis Locorriere has joined the heavenly choir last week - there he is, pictured above with the good Doctor himself.
Alyson's tribute was far better than anything I could have written, but I was reminded of two old posts from this blog which might do in lieu of anything fresh...
A quick dash through the four final songs on this CD... it's Halt Term, so my blog-hours are limited.
Track 17: Joshua Kadison - Jessie
I like a good heartfelt piano ballad. And beyond the obvious candidates (Billy, Elton), there are a lot of one hit wonder types who do this sort of thing very well too. Randy Edelman. Bruce Hornsby. Marc Cohn. And here's another one - from 1993, when I was 21 and really shouldn't have been listening to this sort of thing. Except that I was a hopeless romantic even then, so while all the cool kids were getting into grunge, I was getting down to Joshua Kadison. (Grunge came later.)
From a phone booth in Vegas, Jessie calls at five am To tell me how she's tired of all of them She says, "Baby, I've been thinking 'bout a trailer by the sea We could go to Mexico... you, the cat, and me We'll drink tequila and look for seashells Now, doesn't that sound sweet?" Oh, Jessie, you always do this every time I get back on my feet
Looking at the video, which I don't think I've ever seen before, Kadison wouldn't have looked out of place in the grunge scene, with his long unkempt hair and sleeveless vests. Fair play to him then for going out and recording this kind of epic singer-songwritery slush when all the cool kids were doing the whole quite-loud thing with their angst.
Apparently he wasn't quite a One Hit Wonder in the States, and his second hit, Beautiful In My Eyes, became a big wedding favourite. The video of that has him riding down the highway like Bon Jovi... but he still sounds like a 90s Dan Fogelberg tribute act. Jessie is a far better tune.
Track 18: The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight
You don't get much more old skool than this. Of course, I wasn't in to rap music in 1979. Apart from Debbie Harry, who was? But I came to appreciate this later, like most people, and probably prefer it to most of the rap that followed. It's got a sense of humour, which a lot of rap seems to lack these days (or if it is funny, it's nasty-funny), and while the rhymes start out pretty basic, if you take a listen to the longer version, there are all kinds of hidden treats, including this gem of a story from Wonder Mike...
Ever went over a friend's house to eat and the food just ain't no good? I mean the macaroni's soggy, the peas are mushed, and the chicken tastes like wood So you try to play it off like you think you can, by sayin' that you're full And then your friend says, "Momma, he just being polite, he ain't finished, uh-uh, that's bull!" And so your heart starts pumpin', and you think of a lie, and you say that you already ate And your friend says, "Man, there's plenty of food!" so you pile some more on your plate And while the stinky foods steamin' your mind starts to dreamin' of the moment that it's time to leave And then you look at your plate and your chicken's slowly rottin' into something that looks like cheese
Oh, so you say, "That's it, I got to leave this place! I don't care what these people think I'm just sittin' here makin' myself nauseous with this ugly food that stinks!" And so you bust out the door while it's still closed, still sick from the food you ate And then you run to the store for quick relief from a bottle of Kaopectate And then you call your friend two weeks later to see how he has been And he says, "I understand about the food, baby bubbah, but we're still friends"
Many years later, I'm sure Flight of The Conchords paid tribute to that here...
I didn't put the long version on CD32, but I reckon Sam might be ready for it now.
Track 19: Huey Lewis & The News - The Heart of Rock n Roll
I've probably said enough about these guys recently. Besides, Huey says it best...
When they play their music, ooh that modern music They like it with a lot of style But it's still that same old back beat rhythm That really, really drives 'em wild
They say the heart of rock and roll is still beating And from what I've seen I believe 'em Now the old boy may be barely breathing But the heart of rock and roll, heart of rock and roll is still beating
Track 20: The Beatles - I Should Have Known Better
I'll be honest - I've no idea why I ended this CD with such an obscure Beatles track. The early CDs were pretty Beatles heavy, because they're often good basic catchy melodies that little kids dig... no wonder they were so successful. Keep It Simple, Stupid. But there were plenty of more obvious tracks I still hadn't featured by the time I hit CD32... maybe this was the exact right length for the space I had left on the CD? It wouldn't be the first time that criteria has led to a final song selection...
OK, that's it for CD32. We'll start another one next week. Bet you can hardly wait!
When I began this blog, I called it My Top Ten because that was the only feature from my old blog that I still wanted to carry on with. I was tired of writing about myself, I just wanted to write about music.
Ironically, the blog has evolved so much after the past few years that I never write Top Ten posts anymore. One day I'll relaunch for a third time (probably on Wordpress) and call the blog Irk The Purists instead. If I can be bothered.
Meanwhile, here are some bands named after this blog... what an influence I've had!
THE TOP TEN #1
We start today in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. The year was 1967, when Gary Griffin and his band drove to the Stax studios in their stretch-station wagon to record this tune. And it was all captured on an early video camera as you'll see in the clip. Warms the heart, it does, to stare back into the past like that...
Over to Uganda now, where this Top Ten Band supported a number of prominent singers in the late 60s and early 70s, including Charles Kanaabi, Eddie Kabuye, Kefa, Moses Katazza and more.
Scott "Top Ten" Kempner was the guitarist and songwriter with early US punk band The Dictators. He was also in The Del Lords, The Brandos and The Paradise Brothers, as well as forming a short-lived band in the 80s with Dion DiMucci. Did he ever make the Top Ten? No... but that was his nickname.
90s indie with added Tina (although her real name is Mimi)... and if you feel like objecting to that, George, can I just point out that they're from Portugal?
Polish Euro-Pop-pop-pop from 1993. They're an odd lot, as you'll see below. As far as I can tell, this was only ever released on cassette - which in 1993 would have been a very un-hip format.
