Instead of any of that funny business, I'd advise teenagers to enjoy a nice Crepe Suzette today. Because, yes, hard as it may be to believe, it's also National Crepe Suzette Day.
I was shocked by how many songs there were featuring Crepe Suzettes in the title... including offerings from Danny Kaye, Kenneth Williams and Cyril Watters with The New Century Orchestra. Thank God for The Descendents.
You may choose to wash your crepe suzette down with a nice beverage. Which is good because it's also National Beverage Day. The word "beverage" always reminds me of The Dude...
And what is The Dude's Beverage of choice, that he really doesn't want to spill?
A White Russian, of course... that's vodka, kahlúa and double cream (milk powder will apparently suffice if you don't have any cream) over ice.
12. Legendary, according to Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins.
Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins starred together in a film called Legends of the Fall. Sadly Brad did not play Mark E. Smith. And neither did Sir Anthony.
I'm on a diet at the moment, so putting this edition of Snapshot together was an exercise in self-flagellation. For the rest of you - feel free to indulge your sweet teeth below..
15. Non-White Raconteur.
The Raconteurs were a band featuring Jack White and...
Mal Ryder (aka Paul Bradley Couling from Wales) didn't make much of a mark on the UK music scene in the 70s... but he was very big in Italy. I include him here today because I do like a good Roly Poly.
Above are a series of self-portraits taken by Austrian philosopher and photographer (although he gave them both up to become a shepherd in later life), Ludwig Wittgenstein. On pondering the great unanswerable philosophical questions, Wittgenstein came up with the best answer I've ever heard when he said, "I don't know why we are here, but I'm pretty sure that it is not in order to enjoy ourselves."
And with that in mind, here are some more big questions to ponder...
Thanks for playing. I'll be back with more existential questions for you to ponder tomorrow. 'Will Snapshots return next Saturday?' won't be one of them...
This new Bruce Springsteen album. The Boss covering a bunch of old soul songs. It’s all a bit…
Rod Stewart?
I mean, don’t get me wrong, his voice sounds amazing. It’s some of the best singing he’s ever done. On 7 Rooms of Gloom, he even gives Levi Stubbs a run for his money…
But it’s not Levi Stubbs, is it? Many of these songs… the originals are so strong, so well-entrenched in my mind, in my heart, no cover’s ever going to come close. Not even Bruce.
Is it just that… he’s getting on a bit now… he’s reached the karaoke stage of his career? Dylan’s done covers albums. Willie Nelson… ahem… Rod Stewart… don’t they deserve to sit back and put their feet up rather than still be re-inventing the wheel?
You might argue that… if Dylan hadn’t just produced one of his best albums in years off the back of his karaoke sets. Bruce too… Western Stars showed he can still cut it. It was his best album of the 21st Century, easily up there with his best, without trying to recapture old glories. (I enjoyed Letter To You a lot too, but much of that was a reworking of old E Street numbers from back in the day that never got recorded, so it didn’t really speak to where he is now, creatively.)
Your problem then is the songs he’d chosen to cover? They’re too iconic to mess with?
Well, to be fair, he’s not messing with them. The arrangements are very faithful to the originals (if a bit Saturday Night At The London Palladium in places)… but then you start to wonder why you’re not just listening to the originals. I mean, at least Billy Idol made William Bell’s I Forgot To Be Your Lover his own.
They work better. The two Jerry Butler songs, the title track and Hey, Western Union Man, are definite highlights. But then I went straight out and added The Very Best of Jerry Butler to my wishlist.
Good question. I can tell you who it’s not for: Soul music fans. Even if you love Bruce as much as you love Motown, Atlantic et al. Maybe this is a record for Bruce fans who don’t know a lot about soul music. If it turns them onto that genre, I’m sure they’ll be eternally grateful… and this might well be Bruce's aim. His love for these old records is infectious, his voice sounds great, and he’s clearly having a great time. Despite the preponderance of lost love songs (What Becomes of the Brokenhearted, The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore, When She Was My Girl), the performances are almost jubilant. But they’re not Jimmy Ruffin, The Walker Brothers or The Four Tops. And Someday We’ll Be Together as a closer? Ouch. Diana Ross is untouchable on that.
So I'm guessing this won't quite make your Top 22 Albums of 2022 then?
Sadly, no. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don't think I'll still be listening to it in the new year...
It's been a while since I ran any guest posts here, and the only reason for that is that nobody has offered any. Fair enough, most of you have your own blogs to worry about. Fortunately, George has got sick of reading my interminable ramblings day after day, or perhaps taken mercy on me after yesterday's bumper post, and offered not one, but two guest posts to give me what Huey Lewis would call a Couple Days Off. So Guest Post Thursday is back!
Here's George...
I was listening to one of the three cds in the Sick, Sorry and Sober set recently and I heard this:
Today I passed you in the street,
And my heart fell at your feet,
I can’t help it if I’m still in love with you
And I thought that it was genius: a simple lyric, a simple tune, that Hawaiian-sounding guitar, that reedy, plaintive and painful voice, combining to make an unforgettable song. I can understand why some 70s and 80s country music puts people off, but I will never understand how people could not like and admire this song.
And if you can get hold of that 3 cd set I would urge you to do so.
A while later, whilst sitting around not doing much, just singing those lines, I thought of this, another simple intro, builds up a bit, that “ooo” the drum roll, then Levi Stubbs’ voice...
I’m spoiling you, two utterly brilliant songs, it’s got to be downhill now. There’s a lot of song titles that start “I can’t”, and an amazing number of them are great. And then there’s that abomination by crap prog turned crap pop group with that drummer-singer. So, to cleanse your ears after just polluting them with the thought of that song, here’s some hard-rock blues.
Anita is on heat as I write this, has been for a couple of days, so much bleating round these parts, and it’s difficult to get her in the goat shed. Parsley goes in no problem, a bit of bread, corn, he’s there, but at times like these, not Anita. FORTY minutes it took on Tuesday. She’s bleating for Francisco’s young male goat:
So a Top Ten “I Can’t” songs. Yes, some obvious ones not there, some deliberately excluded on grounds of taste, but not Barry Manilow, oh no, but because the song is Can’t Smile WIthout You, and not I Can’t Smile Without You.
Thanks of course to Rol for allowing this to be posted. Feel free to leave your inane comment.
And I’ve just been informed that I can write a part 2. I bet you can’t wait!
Because tradition dictates I close my posts with a video (I feel naked without them), I found another version of George's top song which is equally worthy of your ears. And I'm glad George didn't diss Barry. Less bothered about him dissing the drummer-singer.
The Celebrity Jukebox was never intended to solely focus on actors. The dictionary says of celebrities, "a famous person, especially in entertainment or sport", and while we're unlikely to focus on many sports stars, "entertainment" covers a pretty wide spectrum.
The day after we lost Olivia, we lost Lamont Dozier. It's been one of those weeks.
This blog has been known to dip its toes in the deep pool of hyperbole from time to time, but it's no exaggeration to say that Lamont Dozier (along with brothers Brian and Eddie Holland Jr.) was responsible for some of the greatest pop songs ever recorded. Evidence?
And it goes much further than that, with Dozier contributing to some huge hits from the 70s and 80s too. I'm sure you've read about them over the last day or so. He also had a moderately successful recording career of his own on the side.
But let's be honest... how many classic songs are written about songwriters? Does Lamont Dozier really deserve a place on the Celebrity Jukebox unless his name has popped up in someone else's tune?
I'm sure you can see where I'm heading with this...
Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
Are here to make everything right that's wrong
Holland and Holland and Lamont Dozier too
Are here to make it all okay with you
Not only did Lamont Dozier write some of the greatest pop songs ever recorded... he also inspired one of them.
Guest Post Thursday returns... and so does George!
I saw Genesis in concert in 1980 at the Caird Hall in Dundee. I queued for about 4 hours to get my £4 ticket. That was not £4 well spent. It was tedious. The allegedly famous light show seemed, as I recall 40 years later, to consist of a few green laser-like beams splaying about. Oh, and Mr Collins told some lengthy tedious introductions to some of the songs. Why did I go? A lot of my school friends were going, that’s why. I didn’t like them before the concert, and they did not go up in my esteem during and after the concert. Actually, Genesis are quite possibly my least favourite band, I have a visceral loathing for their music. Irrational maybe, but there you go. It borders on the psychopathic. Some people may know that I am not exactly a fan of The Clash and Springsteen, but I don’t detest their music, it just does not do much for me. Genesis on the other hand, good god almighty, they are just beyond! I get irritated beyond belief by their music.
So, My Top Ten Genesis Songs are inspired by…………..the book of Genesis in the Bible. To be more specific, names mentioned in the book of Genesis. Come on, did you really expect some sort of tribute to that loathsome band that give prog rock a bad name?
First, a track be Génesis. Now PAY ATTENTION! Look at the spelling, note the acute accent on the first e, I’m presenting a track by my favourite Colombian folk-rock band………and a song that veers into prog-folk territory.
Even the most avowed atheist surely can’t claim ignorance of the name Adam. Here’s Adam Green, from an album I bought in Reveal Records, Derby, that was playing, and had myself and a friend laughing out loud at the lyrics. Not this one, though, this a play-safely-at-work song:
(I will take this opportunity to remind everybody of my new Tuesday feature in which this week I'm looking for songs that mention Adams. Please keep sending your suggestions through. - Rol.)
Hagar was the woman who gave birth to Abraham’s first child, Ishmael. And Hagar The Womb (clever name) did a session for John Peel in 1984 which resulted in this:
Dinah Washington was a jazz singer who also made some very famous pop songs in the early 1960s, and also this blues song, which is really not about getting your teeth done:
Dan (and that is Dan not Daniel) was the fifth son of Jacob, and founder of the Israelite tribe of Dan. Dan Auerbach is in a blues band called The Black Keys, but his given name is Daniel so he’s excluded.
A quite famous female name from the book of genesis is Eve. Great, I thought, I can wreck this blog for all eternity and post a song featuring Eve Graham, of The New Seekers!! Alas, Eve Graham is actually an Evelyn. I can’t find any Eves so it’s an Isaac next. Isaac, son of Abraham and Sarah, lived to be 180, which is 118 years more than Isaac responsible for this majestic soul masterpiece:
And time for a Benjamin. The Genesis Benjamin was the thirteenth child of Jacob and Leah. The Benjamin of “Benjamin and Barnaby Green” is probably not the 13th child of his parents. By the way, the duo consist of a bloke who goes only by the name of Benjamin, not Benjamin Green. We saw them at the world music festival here 3 years ago. A free gig on the esplanade, with a backdrop of the Atlantic (ocean). And very enjoyable they were too, despite straying a bit too closely to Level 42 territory at times. Not this, a nice, gentle Portuguese pop song:
It occurred to me as I was whiling away the hours doing this that RE teachers (who you should never refer to as Jimmy Jesus) could (should?) be following this example to get the surly teenagers somehow even remotely interested.
And here’s the now obligatory JCS clip, there’s at least two of us who have professed to the world to be fans. (Yes, Sundried C, that’s you!)
And yes, I do know that JCS is not a Book of Genesis thing, but any remote excuse to post a clip will do:
“You have set them all on fire, they think they’ve found the new messiah” Toptastic lyric! And I kid you not, my singing along has attracted Parsley the goat and bought Billy the farm cat back to house. When I play these JCS songs, I am amazed at how much of the lyric I can remember, and it really is not a record I have played in decades.
Apologies to Rol, but my extensive biblical studies revealed no Hueys in the Book Of Genesis. Although, I was aghast to discover, there is a Huey Lewis song called Jacob’s Ladder!
Thank you kindly.
Indeed there is, George, although it was written by Bruce Hornsby. And since your brought it up...
Guest Post Thursday will be back next week - yes, there's another one in the bag (not from George, but I'm sure we can count on him to continue our Biblical Studies one day soon.) And don't forget, your contributions are always welcome...
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