Tag: rock

622. Los Shakers

~ ernopepper ~ Leave a comment

(December 2024) Episode 622 is LOS SHAKERS, the Beatles of Latin America. Yes I know that tag is extremely over-used and usually erroneous. But not with Los Shakers; they were the real deal. These were two brothers in Uruguay who saw A Hard Day’s Night and immediate created a band to mimic that sound. And they did it better than almost any group I’ve heard, even in the Anglophone world.  It’s not just covers (there were a few); their original compositions are expertly crafted songs in the 64/65 Beatles mode. And they adapted along the way, with fuzzy guitars and backwards effects for a psychedelic sound. Their apex was the creative album La conferencia secreta del Toto’s Bar, called their Sgt. Peppers’ (or Pet Sounds, Village Green or Tommy).  While the song titles were in Spanish, most vocals are in accented English.

Favorite album: La conferencia secreta del Toto’s Bar

Favorite song: Rompan Todo (Break It All)

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: Their recordings are hard to find, but Serie de Oro: Grandes Exitos is available and a decent compilation of their early singles.

614. Gerry Rafferty

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(November 2024) Episode 614 is GERRY RAFFERTY and his bands HUMBLEBUMS and STEALERS WHEEL. This episode exists because of my endless fascination with “Baker Street,” simultaneously a quintessential song of the 70s and one so unique it deserves to exist in a genre of its own. The next song on the City to City album, “Right Down the Line,” was also a deserved hit. A third notable song was “Stuck in the Middle,” recorded with Stealers Wheel in the early 1970s, a Dylan-homage subsequently homaged by Sheryl Crow and made indelible in Reservoir Dogs. He got his start in the late 1960s in a folk-rock duo called Humblebums with future comedian Billy Connolly. In between those two groups came his first solo recording, Can I Have My Money Back?, which best displays his McCartney-esque songwriting talents. Rafferty kept issuing albums through the 80s-90s-00s stocked with not unpleasant but not memorable songs; he had run out of creativity.

Favourite album: City to City

Favourite song: Baker Street

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: Try Can I Have My Money Back? with songs that quickly become enjoyable earworms.

606. Suede and Elastica

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(October 2024) Episode 606 is SUEDE (sometimes known in the U.S. as LONDON SUEDE) and ELASTICA. Suede is listed among the “Big Four” of Britpop, and are credited with being the first, but I never knew them. And I learned there’s a reason for that; they took their sound in a different direction and lacked the hooks, snarl, melodicism or cheekiness of Oasis, Blur and Pulp. I find Brett Anderson’s singing pretentious and their music boring. But the real reason I did this episode was to have an excuse to review Elastica (not enough albums to qualify on their own). The connection* is that Justine Frischmann was Suede’s first guitarist. I love “Connection” (hand claps!) and the rest of their stuff is hooky and catchy.

* You see what I did there.

Favourite Suede album: Suede

Favourite Elastica album: Elastica

Favourite Suede song: We Are the Pigs

Favourite Elastica song: Connection

Compared to expectations: Suede ↓, Elastica same

Recommendation: Skip Suede, listen to Elastica’s first album

602. Harry Nilsson

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(September 2024) Episode 602 is HARRY NILSSON. He is an enigma. An immeasurably talented songwriter for whom many of his best-known recordings are covers. Fame despite rarely touring. A Beatle buddy. Having two rock stars die in his apartment. His first albums are first-rate baroque pop (no wonder Paul and John sought him out) but his style (and signing voice) shifted back and forth over the years, from Great American Songbook to childrens, soft rock, Caribbean, piano troubadour and back. “Jump into the Fire” was his only true rocker (he never did anything else like it) but its baseline* is as indelible as that scene in Goodfellas that it helped make famous. Most of all it is his amazing songwriting skills I would keep coming back to.

Favorite album: Nilsson Schmilsson

Favorite song (original): Jump into the Fire

Favorite song (cover): Without You**

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: There’s a lot here depending on your taste. Nilsson Schmilsson is his most well-rounded. The early Pandemonium Shadow Show and Aerial Ballet are peak baroque pop. Some may prefer the troubadour stuff on Nilsson Sings Newman and Little Touch but not me.

* RIP Herbie Flowers

** by Pete Ham and Tony Evans of the perennially underrated Badfinger

597. Bo Diddley

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(August 2024) Episode 597 is BO DIDDLEY. Take just the first eponymous album (a collection of singles); the influence on rock music of those songs is as immeasurable as the number of times they have been covered. There’s the classic “chonk, chonk, chonk… chonk-chonk” rhythm that now bears his name. But also the tremolo, which anticipates the explosion of guitar effects the next decade. His scene was never confined to blues, rock or R&B. He never again had the success of those early records, but he retained fame and recognition. I did enjoy his turn to soul/funk in the early 1970s.

Favorite album: Bo Diddley

Favorite song: Bo Diddley*

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: That first album functions as a greatest hits record..

 * the first trifecta (same artist/album/song) of the Opus Project

595. The Weeklings

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(August 2024) Episode 595 is THE WEEKLINGS. I was blown away by “Little Tease,” perhaps the best facsimile of 1963 Beatles I’ve ever heard. Who did this? It was the Weeklings, a wholly intentional Beatles homage project led by songwriter, collaborator, and former Styx member Glen Burtnik. And they do homage quite well. Their recordings are a mix of enjoyable songs written in that style and (less enjoyable) covers of second-tier Beatles songs. Like the Rutles, the gold standard of Beatles-imitation, the Weeklings drop little lyrical and musical Beatles references in their songs. But they suffer from what I call the “That Thing You Do” conundrum: a song can be wonderous by perfectly mimicking the structure, harmonies and hooks of a Beatles song, but it suffers from not sounding like one due to modern recording and processing techniques (especially drums). (Of course the Weeklings covered “That Thing You Do.”)

Favorite album: The Weeklings

Favorite song: Little Tease

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: It’s worth checking out how well they imitate the Beatles (generally best on the first album) but there’s not much to keep you after.

587. Marmalade

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(July 2024) Episode 587 is MARMALADE. I did this episode solely for my fathomless adoration of “I See the Rain,” one of my favorite psychedelic songs of all time (I’m still trying to figure out what they’re doing with the two bass guitars on it). But you may recognize them for their radio-friendly soft rock hit “Reflections of My Life,” or their unremarkable cover of “Ob-la-di-ob-la-da.” This Scottish act started out as the Gaylords with several beat singles in the mid-1960, then some psychedelia, before settling into a respectable run of soft rock/power pop recordings through the early 70s, followed by obscure albums in the late 70s/early 80s that aren’t worth searching for. Their best work was not organized onto proper albums so I don’t list a favourite.

Favourite album: n/a (try the Very Best of Marmalade as a greatest hits album)

Favourite song: I See the Rain

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: A greatest hits album is more than enough.

585. The Feelies

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(July 2024) Episode 585 is THE FEELIES. Their first album Crazy Rhythms (1980) is a gem of post-punk nerdy angular rock. But everything after that bores me. I suspect this opinion will alienate me from some peers. It is obvious they take inspiration from the Velvet Underground and Lou Reed (confirmed in a decent VU cover album released last year). And sometimes you hear wisps of Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo in the pulses. But my immense love for those three bands does not translate to The Feelies. I don’t mind jangly guitars in the right context, but a lot of The Feelies feels like just jangling for jangling’s sake.

Favorite album: Crazy Rhythms        

Favorite song: Loveless Love

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: Just Crazy Rhythms

583. Herman’s Hermits

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(July 2024) Episode 583 is HERMAN’S HERMITS. If the British Invasion had a bubblegum band, Herman’s Hermits would be it. They preceded the Monkees but there are parallels – light happy tunes, a pre-fab element, cross-marketing on TV/movies, the vocal similarities between Davey Jones and Peter Noone, and a mix of popularity and critical scorn. The Monkees’ reputation improved over time (they had damn fine songs) and I think so of Herman’s Hermits too. Overall their music was better than I expected, helped by trying not to compare it to what their peers were putting out. But their polite approach couldn’t survive the late 60s.

Favourite album: Blaze

Favourite song: I’m Into Something Good

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: A hits compilation is plenty.

582. Cracker

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(July 2024) Episode 582 is CRACKER. Following the eclectic approach of Camper Van Beethoven (episode 61), Dave Lowery went more conventional with Cracker. They got notice as 90s alt-rockers but the albums shift between alt, roots rock, and country-rock. Cracker is fine music: meaning, the songs are satisfying but it’s also not going to get you out of your seat. At times the songs tend to run together, but going through their discography, each album has its own personality, and that keeps it interesting. As do Lowery’s wise-ass vocals.

Favorite album: Kerosene Hat

Favorite song: Get Off This

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: For classic 90s alt, the first two albums (Cracker and Kerosene Hat); for a different 00s alt, Forever and Greenland; for curiously enjoyable “California country,” Countrysides and the second disc on Berkley to Bakersfield.

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