The extended version is well worth it, gigs from the same few days. They were executing. (GM) Who’s Next is their greatest album, but for me the one that changed my idea about rock and roll and music was this one. Young Man Blues indeed. (PK)
Monthly Archives: June 2013
Essential Remnants: #32. The Ramones, Leave Home
They erupted with three albums that felt like one long jam. (PK) Reverse their order and I’ll probably agree with you tomorrow. (GM)
Essential Remnants: #33. T. Rex, The Slider
So here’s “Slider.” Bolan’s absence makes the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame a joke and he’ll likely never get in. (SM) Silly, happy fun with raunchy riffs continuously crashing out of the speakers. (MS)
Essential Remnats: #34. Derek and the Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs
They got the deep blues in harmonic minor. No guitar lover can be without one. (GM)
Icona Pop. Get Used To It.
Here’s a giant pop song by a Scandinavian band who isn’t Turbonegro or Hellacopters or Abba that is gleefully nihilistic, totally hooky, rocks like hell, and yet, as a Top 40 hit, qualifies as a guilty pleasure.
When I listen I hear the Runaways sneer meeting Bananarama’s polish, distilled and supercharged and to me a surprising hit because the first sound is oi. But in any case, despite a knee jerk prejudice against Eurodisco, this is a song glorifying wreckage, with a great beat and a decent hook. I don’t care, and I love it.
Essential Remnants: #35. The Allman Brothers, Live at the Fillmore East
My first rock concert was Mountain, but the Allmans opened. What a discovery. (PK)
Song of the Week – There It Goes Again, Buzzy Linhart
A few months ago my friend Lissy A was at my house for a band rehearsal. She’s a fine singer and bass player in The Ballisticats that play in bars from San Luis Obispo to San Francisco’s South Bay.
Once she saw my extensive vinyl record collection she realized an opportunity to hear some “almost forgotten” favorite songs. She provided me with a list of songs and asked me to digitize any I might have in my collection. It was a boat load of fun for me to rediscover some of the cool obscurities she identified.
One was the title track from the Buzzy Linhart 1974 album Pussycats Can Go Far. Wow, Linhart hadn’t crossed my mind in a jillion years. I ended up listening to the whole album and have gone back to it several times since. While I like the song “Pussycats…”, I’ve decided my favorite on the album is “There it Goes Again” which is today’s SotW.
Buzzy Linhart – There It Goes Again
The song has very poignant lyrics about disappointment, failure and everything going wrong. But the gospel choir background vocals give it a sense of optimism, not sadness. There’s something about the way Linhart delivers his vocal that reminds me of Conor Oberst’s Bright Eyes material (though I doubt Oberst has even a clue who Linhart is).
Linhart was this eccentric guy that was a “musician’s musician” in the 60s and 70s. There are a million stories about him. Like how he roomed with John Sebastian in New York, how he played with Jimi Hendrix, how he did a scene in the cult movie Groove Tube that displayed him in full frontal nudity, and (most famously) how he co-wrote the song “Friends” that became Bette Midler’s theme song. (“Friends” is also on Pussycats…)
The story goes on and on. If you’re interested in learning more, there’s an 80 minute documentary on Linhart available to stream for free on Vimeo:
Essential Remnants: #36. Patti Smith, Horses
I heard this in a bookstore in San Francisco in 1976 and within days decided to move back to NY, where such sounds could be found on the street. (PK)
Essential Remnants: #37. Neil Young, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere
When I was in college I would type my papers to this elpee because it was really long for vinyl, meaning more time to type before turning the disk over. But also because the music is killer, from start to finish. (PK)
Remnants Rock the BaseballHQ Podcast Today.
Peter Remnant joined Patrick Davitt for the usual fun time talking baseball and other stuff. A big part of the other stuff today was Rock ‘n’ Roll Remnants and the ways and wherefores of the creation of our Essential 50 Remnants List.
Listen to it all at: http://t.co/vDjfdAG3EV.