George is back... and it's time for him to Face the music!
There really can be no argument about the best band or best track this week. But what I hope is that at least one of the other Faces can provide at the very least an acceptable tune. For me that’s one aspect of the series that attracts - an obscure namesake of a famous band that produced a great song. And that might happen here. We shall see.
THE FACES #1
As is so often the case in this series, here’s a band who are described as a garage band. These Faces, from Germany, are more of 60s beat/r&b group...
I was going to embarrass myself by making a comment about Fela Kuti possibly being an inspiration or a mentor to this band, but I suspect another reader would make me appear a bit of a fool (and I can do that myself without needing help from anyone else).
THE FACES #3
So far so good, well, so far no load-of-old-bobbins. But wait! It’s “electronic house” from 1993...
1970's Greek rock now, and a song that translates as Lover of The Bayou (and I did not know there were bayous in Greece, but I know very little about that country, so maybe there are).
I almost excluded this penultimate one, as the artiste styles themselves Faces i.e. no definite article (this should always be allowed), and after you hear it maybe you’d wished I’d done so...
Ten songs about Richard... and not a dick in sight.
Special mentions to messrs. Wagner, Strauss, Hawley, Thompson, Ashcroft, Carpenter, Oakes, Reed Parry, Marx, Swift, Hell and Cheese... and, of course, Keef and Sir Cliff. Plus any other famous musical Richards you might think of.
Hardly Ron and Ronnie's finest hour, here they lose at both pool and love due to the titular Rich. They may be the victims of their own dodgy lyrics though, not least the closing lines...
You're breakin' my heart But you're stealin' my tart Shut up
There may also be more going on than just simple pool hall rivalry...
You make me jealous but I worship you One day soon I'm gonna beat you clean Wipe that smile right off your chin
The New Jersey titans delve deeper into their Shakespearian roots - and also paraphrase this week's top song in one verse - in this angry dissection of why people do really bad things in times of war.
A typically personal song from Mr. Kozelek, this deals with the disappearance / death of the bloke who fixed his broken guitars. It seems to be asking the question: in a case like this, do we mourn the individual or the loss of what they did for us?
Based on a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, Richard Cory is a song about envying the rich and powerful... even when they're bloody miserable.
So my mind was filled with wonder, When the evening headlines read: 'Richard Cory went home last night And put a bullet through his head'
And I - I work in his factory And I curse the life I'm living And I curse my poverty And I wish that I could be Oh, I wish that I could be... Richard Cory
One of Supergrass's loudest and most in-your-face singles, this also became one of their biggest hits: released at the height of their popularity in 1997 (yes, 18 years ago). It has nothing to do with the king buried in a car park or Shakespeare's hunchbacked villain. Apparently the 'grass had a habit of giving their songs people's names before they settled on an actually title and this was the third song they'd christened Richard. They decided to stick with Richard III because it seemed angry and bitter like the king (is often portrayed) himself.
Another artist at the height of her powers, Joni's Richard comes from her seminal album Blue. Legend has it the Richard in question is actually her ex-husband Chuck Mitchell, though I'm not sure whether Joni has ever confirmed this. Amazingly evocative lyrics on this one...
Richard got married to a figure skater And he bought her a dishwasher and a coffee percolator And he drinks at home now most nights with the TV on And all the house lights left up bright...
1. Billy Bragg - Richard
There's a raw beauty to the songs on Billy's debut album, and it's no wonder that they caught John Peel's ear... although the mushroom biryani Billy bribed him with certainly helped. It was originally recorded by Billy and Wiggy's band Riff Raff.
Richard comes from the lovelorn side of Billy's songwriting spectrum (rather than the politically charged) and it's the kind of bittersweet ode to rejection only a young man could / should write... though even old men like me can remember what it felt like.
I really love your style Did you read it on the Look and Learn? How long can we go on? Do you think I only love you Because you sleep with other boys?
So which is your Richard Burton... and which is your Richard Whiteley?
