The show must go on

Great songs with stuff going wrong, artists laughing, whether it be a great belly laugh, a creeping case of the giggles or a snort. Sometimes equipment breaks, sometimes lyrics are forgotten. The phone will often ring. It doesn´t matter.

I love them. It reminds us that our talented, mysterious music heroes are just normal folks, trying to hold it together.
Or not, as the case may be.

Apart from Ella, she´s a pro.



Elvis - tons of laughing tracks.

Elvis´s recording of Are You Lonesome Tonight interspersed with some serious giggles (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvo6UVayW3U)  became quite well known, but it wasn´t a one off. Elvis quite often had to contend with questionable lyrics, and gloriously failed to hold it together.
These attempts at Beach Shack are lovely. Looks like we caught him at the "silly hour".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdb2IWXUHD4
This attempt at Datin´never stood a chance.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGfFYuOJCQw



George Harrison - Miss O´Dell

Miss O´Dell was Chris, an employee at Apple and general assistant to the Harrison gang. Harrison reportedly promised to write a song about her (as Leon Russell had, with Pisces Apple Lady) and instead came up with a much more insightful song about himself. It is rare in this period of Harrison´s career to be sounding so socially apathetic, or maybe it´s more of an exhaustion witht he pretence of the people around him. He has nothing to say about the war or poverty and is bored to tears of pollution. It´s not desolate, just tired, and maybe a little playful. Maybe he is just having a little fun with people´s expectations of him.
Anyway, he says "rice" instead of "night", and the concept of rice "rolling on right up to his front porch" sets him off. He tries but fails, relapsing a few more times before the end.
There´s an especially delightful chuckle at 1.17
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHFhDJHAGE0



Led Zeppelin - In my Time of Dying

Right at the end there when plant is singing his last few notes, Bonzo coughs and splutters. Plant in a singing reply says "cough" and Bonham yells "That´s gonna be the one isn´t it?!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1Dhz90oJXo



Bob Dylan - Rainy Day Woman #12 &35

Rather than one specific incident, it seems that this song was born out of one big laugh. Dylan himself cracks a few times and there´s numerous whoops from the party gathering in the background.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Mk18aPydAU




Ella Fitzgerald - Mack The Knife

"Oh whats the next chorus, to this song now.... it´s the one now, I don´t know"
Ella can even make buying time and hoping for a prompt sound wonderful. She forgets the words but keeps it together and whips out a mean Louis Armstrong impression.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rx2YSOcbFCs




The Police - Roxanne

You´ve probably never noticed, but there´s a fluffed piano note and laugh in the first few bars.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3T1c7GkzRQQ




Genesis - Anything She Does

Just after the final note of this song Phil makes the exact noise my Dad makes when he fluffs a shot in golf. It sounds like a noise of dissatisfaction, but they kept the (wonderful) take, so who knows?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=snfCDbWgKF8



The Kingsmen - Louie Louie

At 0.56 the drummer Lynn Easton says "Fuck!" apparently because he fluffed something. Also, after the guitar solo, singer Jacky Ely comes in too early and drummer Easton redeems himself by filling the time with some interesting drum work. Great song, but it´s all gloriously ramshackle, who knows what´s going on.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RZJ4ESU52U




The Mamas and The Papas - I Saw Her Again

Quite a well known one, this, but it did begin as a mistake. Doherty comes in too early for the chorus at 2.44, but it worked, so they kept it. It was written by John Phillip supposedly about his feelings on his fling with Mama Cass, which in turn was some kind of revenge for Michelle and Denny´s affair. Messy or what......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zBMK5OAGyE




The Rolling Stones FEATURING all hail the queen MERRY CLAYTON - Gimme Shelter

Merry Clayton was called last minute, in the middle of the night, to join this session. Hair still in curlers she decided to blow them out of the room.
As her voice breaks the second time in her phenomenal vocal solo we hear Mick exclaim "wooo!" 3.02
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3rnxQBizoU

There are music films, and films about music

These are my favourites.
It may be a direct musical theme, it may be just a really good soundtrack.
Films for music lovers.
Go!


Empire Records

Whether you´ve worked in a record store or not, this will make you feel like you have. It´s got everything; great tunes, great camraderie, quotable lines, a struggle, humour and a character for everyone. Also featuring a great young cast who went on to bigger fame.

If you want blood......
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2ukEhmetBE



Blues Brothers

Another great film about working together to pull something off. It´s offbeat, funny and totally unexpected. The lineup is frankly ridiculous. Aside from John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, you´ve got Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Cab Calloway, Donald " Duck "Dunn and Steve Cropper among many others. Buckets of fun.

What I would give to be a dancer in this scene.....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdbrIrFxas0

Almost Famous

A beautiful semi-autobiographical film by Cameron Crowe, about his time as a young rock writer in the early 70´s. It´s warm, honest and sweet with a phenomenal backing track, changing songs almost every minute, but seamlessly. It is one of the films that has most accurately held up a mirror to my love of music and how the journey of discovery feels. Phillip Seymour Hoffman is heartbreakingly exquisite as Lester Bangs, Kate Hudson embodies the queen groupie composite, a perfect combination of life and soul of the party glamour and vulnerability. In fact everyone is glorious. Just watch it, you´ll fall in love.

Here, this scene didn´t make it in. It´s excellent.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QRJhtCzOOQE


Human Traffic

I don´t really know what the point is writing about this, I don´t really know what to say. It became so much a part of my youth and every time I watch it I realise more and more of what we say to this day is ripped from this film. Effectively a group of mates, a serious weekend in a Cardiff club and house parties. It doesn´t matter if you aren´t into clubbing or house music, there is so much to relate to, and it´s brilliantly well done. The record shop scene is perfection. The weekend has landed. Featuring a glorious performance from a young Danny Dyer.

Trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fc0kPAPNahU


High Fidelity

This is working in a record shop. It´s funny, it´s sad and it all rings pretty true. Our protaganist Rob is delving through his relationship history to understand his current, failed endeavour with Laura, all to a fine and varied soundtrack. Jack Black´s Barry, his record shop co-worker/employee is utterly perfect. Everyone knows a Barry (don´t worry, if you are self aware enough to worry it´s you, it´s not you). The top 5s, the arguments, competition, the recommendations, evreything. Spot on. How do you order yours? Chronological? Alphabetical? Autobiographical.


An excellent deleted scene.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5ziBCarxEk




The Last Waltz

This is a little different. It is a recording of a live concert, interspersed with interviews. Directed by Scorcese, and filmed at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco, it is beautifully staged and lighted. It feels warm and grand, suitable for a farewell to such a well loved group. The concert included cameos from such delights as Van Morrison, Dr John, Joni Mitchell, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, Ronnie Hawkins and Bob Dylan, cut with candid interviews with the band. It is indicative of, if nothing else, the pure joy they have inspired that so many glorious artists should take the time to come and play with them. For me, however, a lovely bonus is how these artists really raise their game to share an equal footing on the stage with these guys. Neil Young announces it´s one of the pleasures of his life to be on the stage with them, I´m pretty sure Dr John is thanking them profusely before his glittering performance of Such A Night but it´s rather unintelligable. Van Morrison wears sparkles, for god´s sake. There are delightful studio performances from The Staples and Emmy Lou too. Levon talking about travelling shows  (Wallcott´s Rabbitfoot Minstrels) is lovely. Richard Manuel smiles discussing The Band´s less iconic previous names. The scene where Rick Danko plays a recording of his solo track Sip The Wine is bliss. Overall though, the solo performances by The Band are the ultimate demonstration that nothing and nobody else is needed but their talent, and their tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDnlU6rPfwY

Travelling home

There are many things you can call home, a country, a neighbourhood, a house, a van, a person..... or your local pub.

I am lucky, in that I have all those things to call home.

There are few things that render me such an emotional nostalgic wreck as the idea of coming home, and seeing as this feeling resonates with me in so many aspects, it´s a feeling I am well accustomed to.

Music gives this feeling a partner in sound,  and these to me are the best examples.


Tim Buckley- Happy Time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rpMyogpnx0U

Sweet and warm and light, the sound of spring......it´s a happy time inside my mind when a melody does find a rhyme, says to me i´m comin home to stay...... It´s beautiful, advising his mama to "let the morning sun warm your bed while i´m away".

John Martyn- Over The Hill

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwjL3ipBAhg

This beautiful little ditty seems as conflicted and baffling as the man himself. On first listen it´s a yearning for a countryside home and his wife, but it seems the touring life isn´t going to let go too easily. It seems more that home seems to him like an easy escape from ´sweet cocaine and mary jane´, as "there´s just one place for a man to be when he´s worried about his life". Not so romantic then, but a charming tune nonetheless.


Bonnie Raitt- Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hmnRg1Q67E

I love this woman and will not rest till she is worshipped for the goddess she is. Her voice to me has a sense of mourning, and is put to great use in this song. "Home sings me of sweet things, my life there has it´s own wings", beautiful stuff, and great imagery.
Travelling at night, the headlights were bright.....


Terry Reid- Faith To Arise

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pd63GVczu-8

This is such a sweet honest song. He describes being far away, away from his loved one and missing her, and he is on the phone to her and finds he has nothing to say, he just wants to BE THERE. Beautiful lyrics and gorgeous country slide in the mix.


Jethro Tull- Home

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vG71S9VGKqQ

It´s so beautiful! So epic, slightly sad.....yet triumphant. Utterly romantic. Under 3 minutes of grand orchestration. "As the dawn breaks over sleepy gardens, I´ll be here to do all things to comfort you. And though I´ve been away, left you alone this way, why don´t you come awake and let your first smile take me home".

If you got it, a truck brought it

 Another example of glorious artwork, a bootleg this time......
Little Feat- On the other foot

Although the sound is slightly muffled, this recording undeniably catches the raw incendiary groove that Little Feat are so well loved for.

It is endearingly created, in very much a rough and homemade style. It is labelled as 'a big boot prod', and uses a name logo that I have never seen on other Little Feat releases.

The sensual stuff

If you grow up listening to listening to the kind of stuff I did, regardless of how varied it is, you are still presented with sexuality from a very skewed, and very 'male' point of view. Perhaps this is because the women who write and sing openly and confidently about sexuality have been historically suppressed, or tend to be more underground, simply because mainstream press get all uncomfortable about it? I can't think of any parent I know having any major objections to their child listening to say Led Zep's talk of lemon squeezing and juice running, or frankly everything by AC/DC, or the mythical fecundity of early British folk, or any of Leonard Cohen's musings. I don't know if that is because they are respectively, too cryptic, too jokey, too  traditional or too artfully poetic, but however you look at it, male sexuality, whilst not necessarily 'celebrated', is very much the given lyrical content in classic pop music of the 20th century. Female sexuality in pop music lyrics has been harder to seek out, and still has an idiotic element of taboo, which is probably partly why I find it so fascinating.

It would be ignorant and patronising to one-dimensionally categorise relevant examples in the depressing way women often are in the music industry (predator, virgin, scorned harpee....? All relatively familiar) but it has been an exciting adventure to more recently discover such glorious and varied examples of honest and open female songwriting that do not play a role, and do not distinguish between topics of sex and of love, rather to weave them together in an honest reflection of life. It is wonderful to discover lyrical celebrations of wilder sexual fantasies and desires, of smiles at blissful memories, of humiliations, of insecurities and of desperation.

Within this spectrum, likewise, it comes packaged as cryptic, jokey and artfully poetic along with the wonderfully sly, and brass balls bold. The shame would be for anything to be enjoyed for the novelty.....  but perhaps half of its effect comes from the fact that relative to male sexuality, it is still a novelty to hear about?
I don't know.
What I do know is, as much as I love music from a man's point of view, its thrilling to hear from the ladies.

Anyway, here's some stuff.

Joni Mitchell- Coyote
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2rfbuaMXKM
On this live version she really flies, and her face says it all, delicious memories, tinges of disappointment but no regrets.
....dancing close and slow now he's got a woman at home, he's got another woman down the hall he seems to want me anyway, why'd you have to get so drunk and lead me on that way?....

Cowboy Junkies- Black Eyed Man
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFK6amxyGd8&list=PL_P9ZyOUxwnM0LUXmJQxMzlPjKtpf2Ms9&index=2
Her face at this point :
....and he did things to me, things of which I dream of still........
Just elated, and ever so slightly fondly rueful.

Liz Phair- Flower
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZC-EOs_fyA
If I quote any sentence from this it will become a fairly X-rated post and I can't work out if this song has a predatory swagger or a 'sit outside your house with binoculars' kind of vibe but either way... brilliant.

Georgia White- Was I Drunk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dlwIHF45rY0
Every time I think of him do I shiver?

Tori Amos- Precious Things
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hi9NUoZmulU
Resentful, insecure, angry, defiant.
...So you can make me come it doesn't make you jesus....

Sippie Wallace- I'm A Mighty Tight Woman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYFUaGb4C1M


Tori Amos- Leather
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccMSpf0YuQQ
..I can scream as loud as your last one, but i can't claim innocence....


Ani DiFranco- Dilate
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPi2FyzF9c8

Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash

Michael Nesmith is an incredibly interesting and talented bloke, and this is a great album, but this post is focused not on the content but the sheer beauty of the presentation.

Anyone who knows me is aware that I shot myself in the financial foot long ago by falling in love with every musical medium (bar the minidisc... obviously.....), and in some cases have the same album on tape, mp3, vinyl AND cd.

This said, it is widely documented that vinyl just has that tactile advantage. Its a work of art. Or it can be, hence the point I'm making. There is so much potential with the size and layout of vinyl record that some just seem a bit wasted, from the visual point of view. Yes its almost all about the music, but no music fan can deny that they have fallen for a record on sight, with the desperate hope that the listening experience will match. It doesn't always work however, i.e. intriguing cover, sub-par sounds (Billy Swan, ahem). My friend Ed recently bought a trumpet based comp with a cover that implied life changing potential. Mild disappointment was the theme of that afternoon, and lives did not change, needless to say.

Anyway, in terms of vinyl presentation, I think this one might be perfection. It is in keeping (but not in a themey way) with the music and it very much suits the man and his humour.

Life size portrait of Mike on the cover. Ideal kissing size (not essential, but in this case helps). B+W Avedon-style photo, very honest. Clear text supports dry title.

Charming cheeky note.

Back of sleeve is rainbow fade..... 

Gatefold inner picture shows Michael looking like some Waylon styled badass cowboy in a lake surrounded by Pre-Raphaelite red headed sirens and lilies. 

The gatefold text is a glorious stream of consciousness musing from Nesmith about the making of records, the artistic process and the industry generally, rounding off with: 

Well, what the heck, if there's no reason and it doesn't make any difference, then just don't do it... get a job, make something of yourself... as if yourself weren't something...why go through the thousands of dollars and aggravation of making a record to sell. I've thought about that a lot... I'm sure there's an answer, but it beats me. At least I'm prepared to accept anything...waxed fruit, tree surgery, whatever. And if I don't come to a fork in the round, I don't panic anymore, I just assume that one is the road and the other is a road off to the side.

With one final disclaimer, if you catch it

After two or three months this album may lose potency although some aroma may linger.

Now that's how you do album design.

Clifton Chenier

King of the Bayou........

This Creole legend and blues accordionist was born in 1925 and grew up in Louisiana. In the 50's he had some mainstream success, the way paved by Prof Longhair and his popularisation of Louisiana's brand of R'n'B. Along with his band, the Zydeco Ramblers he toured for years, becoming beloved in his home state and critically acclaimed throughout the country. He found a new wave of mainstream popularity later on in life, winning a Grammy in the early 1980's and continuing touring until a Diabetes-related kidney disease ended his life in 1987. He was posthumously inducted into the Blues Hall Of Fame.

His energy was infectious, and his style of playing is hailed as revolutionary. He sang both in French and English, and his repertoire included various aspects of cajun and zydeco music, like blues, country, r'n'b, and boogie-woogie. Clifton's son CJ continues his legacy, performing his own energetic brand of Zydeco around the world.

'Tighten Up Zydeco'.... hear that spark

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Am7d9Uj122M

'Sont Pas Sales' Zydeco classic recorded live. Check out that washboard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVwUf3O--s4

'When You Going To Sing For Me' ...serious blues accordian

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGnu9VYq-u8

'I'm a Hog for You'.....live footage of a bluesy number in both English and French
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYkehxwpel4


QI: Chenier (pronounced SHENeer) has been widely referenced by other artists, for example as the subject of the Rory Gallagher song 'The King of Zydeco', and in the Paul Simon song 'That Was Your Mother' from the massively popular 'Graceland'.