Category Archives: Lunch Break

Lunch Break: Bob Dylan, “Jokerman”

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Last Friday I was making my Passover Cheesecake (see Cheesecake post, in fact), streaming KTKE on the Bluetooth speaker Diane bought me for Valentine’s Day, and Jokerman, from Dylan’s album Infidels, was played.

It is a song I had not thought of for a while, but similarly, it is a song from an album I really dug when it came out, featuring Sly and Robbie holding down the rhythm section, and Mark Knopfler on guitar.

The thing is, Dylan has such a huge and extraordinary body of work that it is easy to simply forget about how many great songs over how many great periods Bobby has produced.

Hearing Jokerman was great in that it is really my favorite vocal period of Dylan’s, voice wise. His singing is so laid back and really sweet, especially on this cut.

I do find it interesting, though as I search through my archives and albums and CDs that as often as not I find myself going back to Bob, who is always so satisfying, irrespective of when and what he did.

Enjoy! Goes great with a cheeseburger and some curly fries, btw!

Rolling Stones, “Wild Horses (acoustic)”

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The Stones are releasing a deluxe version of Sticky Fingers in May, which includes this acoustic version of Wild Horses. Nice enough, but I couldn’t get over the thought that Jagger sounds like he’s got a head cold.

I went back to the original, because my thought was that it was pretty acoustic itself, and it is, except for some electric guitar flourishes from Keith. Plus the album version has healthy harmonies on the chorus. Both of which enrich the song a lot.

One funny bit of trivia from Wikipedia. The song was recorded at Muscle Shoals and even though Ian Stewart was present, the piano part was played by Jim Dickinson. It seems that Stew didn’t like to play minor chords!

One other item of note. Many are reporting that this reissue of Sticky Fingers commemorates the 50th anniversary of the album’s release. Nope. The album came out April 23, 1971, forty four years ago this month. Math.

Lunch Break: Liz Phair, “Mesmerizing”

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When Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville was released in 1993 I could not get enough of it. Much like the recently favorited Hans Condor’s  Sweat, Jizz, Piss & Blood, which was so evocative of the early Stones, so was Phair’s disc whose title simply screams response to Exile on Mainstreet.

Phair’s label, Matador, pushed a second disc (Whip Smart) out quickly to cash in on the success of Guyville, but it wasn’t till album three, WhiteChocolateSpaceEgg that Phair cemented herself in my brain as a serious artist, rocker, songwriter, and performer.

Unfortunately, for me Phair peaked with that third,  album, and has never come close to equaling the power or beauty of that pair of records.

But, the other day, while trolling through my discs, looking for something to listen to as I drove to meet my pal Eric for Sunday golf, Phair and Exile jumped out, and on it went, and it still sounded pretty good.

This tune, Mesmerizing, clearly shows just how much Liz garnered from Jagger and Keef et al.

Lunch Break: Yo La Tengo, “I Heard You Looking”

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It is Tout Wars Week, as Peter so aptly documented, meaning the core Remnants will be in Manhattan through the weekend, playing, drafting, drinking, eating, smoking and goofing off together (though technically, Spring will attack us all sometime on Saturday, leaving the Winter of 2015 behind).

It is great, so in honor of this, here is my favorite New York band (ok, so they are from Jersey), with a tune I hope Steve, who is riff oriented, likes.

This song is an instrumental, just based upon one very simple arpeggio. And, it builds and takes off like fire to become this oddly dissonant and yet beautiful tour de force number.

BTW, all the Tout activities are open to the public. Go to ToutWars.com for the itinerary and details.

OBIT: Bon Scott (February 19, 1980)

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As I have written, there is not a lot of music Diane and I agree upon, but early AC/DC is one.

And, well, those of us here in Remnantland might have our differences in taste and style, but I can promise you all of us loved vocalist Bon Scott, who died 35 years ago yesterday, of what his death certificate said was “death by misadventure.”

I suspect Bon probably had a good laugh about that one somewhere the great beyond (or wherever).

Since A Long Way to the Top (my favorite AC/DC song) has visited here before, let’s filthy and chintzy.

Lunch Break” Replacements, “Bastards of Young”

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I got an email yesterday that tickets for the Mats were going on sale today, well, a pre-sale actually, and because I subscribe to LiveNation, I got a chance at them.

How exciting! So, I logged in this morning at 10 a.m. when the tix went on sale, got put in a queue for ten minutes, and by the time I was atop the queue, the pre-sale tickets were gone.

They go on regular sale tomorrow, so I will try again, but, well, I would be bummed to miss them, as would my friend Michele Friedman, with whom I usually go to concerts with these days. That is because Michele’s husband Jeremy Steinkoler, who is a fabulous professional drummer, just isn’t that into grunge, and my partner, Diane, only goes to concerts when my band is playing.

But, Michele’s friends Michael and Tracey wanted to come as well, as the three of them saw the Mats around 1980, so they wanna re-live their youth.

Keep your fingers crossed that we can get tix tomorrow.

In the interim, here is Paul and the guys at their loudest and bestest (no disrespect Tommy Stinson fans).

Lunch Break: Elvis Costello and George Jones, “Stranger in the House”

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This is an absolutely great song, and this is a killer version (even if the video is crap). Early. George Jones doesn’t look like he’s about to croak off.

Costello does look like he has mumps, which he apparently did have. Which makes his fantastic vocals here even more fantastic.

But Jones is the trick. That guy can sing. And this song is the answer. A great one.

Lunch Break: Tangerine Dream, “Betrayal”

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Peter’s Edgar Froese obituary reminded me of not just the band Tangerine Dream, but the film Sorcerer, by William Friedkin.

At the time Tangerine Dream was new, I had already owned Autobahn (by Kraftwerk) and the samples I heard of Tangerine Dream sort of sounded the same to me, so I was not that interested.

And, then I went to see Friedkin’s wonderful film from 1977 Sorcerer, a remake of Henri-George Cluzot’s 1953 movie The Wages of Fear, which featured a very young Yves Montand (who also is in the Friedkin remake).

Tangerine Dream was responsible for the soundtrack to Sorcerer, and basically composed the whole score just based upon notes supplied by Friedkin, as opposed to even seeing daily rushes of the movie. Which is amazing when you hear the haunting and dreamy score the band delivered.

But, the film is also so good, and unfortunately, because the movie followed Friedkin’s treatment of The Exorist, Sorcerer was dismissed as another super natural film by many.

Which was hardly the case. Sorcerer is the name of one of the trucks the principles of the film use to deliver volatile nitro glycerin to an oil fire, with hopes of blowing over the top soil, and thus suffocating the flames.

The results are fantastic all around: visually, musically, emotionally.

Sorcerer also featured the late Roy Scheider, and this treatment of Betrayal features clips from the film.