The defining Lo-Fi record, linking Pere Ubu to Pavement, definitely a headphones-on-loud spin, plus a pretty-cool album cover photo in a midwest quarry.
By the way, "One More Try' was the number 5 year-ending song on the Billboard top 100...NUMBER FIVE! What was wrong with these people? This was BS (Before Soundscan)
Not too many songs featuring the mandolin make the top 10. "Losing My Religion" supposedly an expression regarding losing one's temper and the song seems to be a comforting aftermath of sorts. Still I always thought of "Losing My Religion" as a focal point when the 'labeled' Alternative music finally help the genre break through, and help set up what is to come in the virtual year 1991.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwtdhWltSIg
Love her perspective on the Letterman appearance and calling The Bangles 'scrappy', yet they were phenomenal in the above video. The Bangles have always been a rockin' band with harmonies that are beyond heavenly.
Green Day sounding more like Oasis than Husker Dü, but still a good tune - 6/10
Kelly Clarkson, a guilty pleasure, we know how much Tom loves her. - 9/10
50 Cent, somehow I know all the rhymes, takes me back to sunnier time in life - 6/10
I discovered more Divinyls music during the age of streaming and have to add this one in addition to all the great selections above. Very under-appreciated band in the States.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5boYiMktOvs
"I'm Your Baby Tonight" was a very seductively soulful Whitney for me, I was enamored when "How Would I know" came out, a 16-year old me had a crush on her, always a beautiful presence, though not always a fan of her music, "So Emotional" is another favorite. And as we will learn, she had great taste in the artist she chose to do cover songs of...like this... A Chaka Khan jam that rules.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7_sqdkaAfo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVDCNmdi7QI
Definitely a 10/10groovy song defined by it's spiral DNA. Here is the Herbie Hancock "Bring Out the Birds' from which the sample is from. This is a scene from the classic movie Blow Up (1966).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1foayJLtUDc
Miki Berenyi had a bold, iridescent style that was ahead of it's time. She is one of those artist that many musicians don't realize how influenced they are by her. Her and Emma and their otherworldly ethereal vocal twisting is just bliss to my ears.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7cqkpy4QrQ
Back then, I thought that this was a step back for Rap/Hip Hop gaining traction as a legitimate genre of music. Ice Ice Baby was frustrating for me to listen to because I was a fan of Under Pressure and in the video Vanilla Ice is an optical migraine. It pretty much was a year or two, when Low End Theory, then later The Chronic arrived and I was back into that fold listening again, also Check Your Head.
Another future example of further sliding down the slope for Hip/Hop credibility would be Good Vibrations and sampling Loleatta Holloway's vocals, but we will get to this one late.
Also, for the longest time, I could have sworn MC Hammer with U Can't Touch This was the first outright HIP/Hop number one, memory didn't serve me well though. It is going to be great reading about the expansion of Hip Hop in this column.
Wish that this wild have been a scene added to the Bohemian Rhapsody movie. Freddie Mercury laughing as he is dialing up Queen’s lawyers. https://ultimateclassicrock.com/freddie-mercury-ice-ice-baby/
Drum snare sound is a factor that i would listen to also in determining the sound of the times. 'Hot Stuff' had Keith Forsey playing a purposely over-produced sound to mach Giorgio Moroder's soaring keys. Say in 1969, 'Honky Talk Women' and Charlie Watts' shuffle, with more reverb to give a dive bar feel for the Stones to glide a rhythm to. In 1999 'Smooth' for example, the latin-syncopation style complementing Carlos Santana's guitar, I think of taking a vacation on the 'la playa'. 2009, 'Bad Romance' sheering drum sound that helps elevate Lady Gaga, gothically confident. It's is quite fascinating to notice the progression and what caters to the pop song sensibilities of the times.
'Black Cat', all-out rocker I give an 8/10 also, really enjoyed listening to this after not hearing it for over 30 years.
Urgent captured the paranoia of too much cocaine about perfectly, 9/10. You Make My Dreams irresistible pop I recall from grade school and tryin to impress the girls 10/10. Elvira, the Mistress of the Dark we are talking about 6/10. The other tune 3/10.
Same here, then realized that Jon Secada started as a backup singer for Gloria Estefan. So maybe Miami Sound Machine is the culprit for the drum rhythm. Certainly up for debate if this was.
Same here, "Close To Me" is a great Carpenters' standard, even the post-grunge indie bands recognized this and put out the '94 tribute album. Sonic Youth's cover of "Superstar" is probably the best known from this.
Tom is about the same age as my brother, and I'm starting to recognize the sentiment that a person, who was 10 or 11 at this time (1990), to have a more biased appraisal for these songs released around then (late 80's > 90's). I would do the same, for example Olivia Newton-John's "Magic" is definitely not a 3/10 (the grade Tom gave) but because I have fond memories of this song as a 10 year-old, of course I would give it a higher grade (8 or 9), Hall & Oates' "Private Eyes" is another example. (Tom gave a 6/10, I would give this a 9/10)
At this point of their existence (Oct '90), The Replacements were a Paul Westerberg solo project, "All Shook Down" had Tommy Stinson, Slim Dunlap, and Chris Mars performing with the ensemble which supported Westerberg. Other guests included John Cale, Benmont Tench, and Steve Berlin. This video is probably the most effort put forward into a Replacements' video. ENJOY...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fS-1waMLk9k
I was trying to post this when "Kokomo" was the Number Ones' feature, but crappy internet prevailed and wasn't able to at that time.
Though it has a bright Beach Boys’ sound, not too much positive things can be said about “Kokomo”. First it lacks Brian Wilson but has his nemesis, cousin Mike Love, as one of the prime songwriters. Include John Phillips, Eugene Landy, and Terry Melcher (look up the background on these adversaries) as part of that songwriting team, and it is a mess of opportunist capitalizing on that Beach Boys’ brand.
To paraphrase Bono’s infamous Rattle and Hum banter “Charles Manson stole from the Beach Boys, We are stealing it back”, here is Brain Wilson with Al Jardine and son Matt Jardine celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘Pet Sounds’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5PVjsRamk
Also, there was no deduction to beloved youngest brother Dennis Wilson on any Beach Boys recording from the “Kokomo”-era. His recording ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ has been cited as an influence for many accomplished artist today. Fiona Apple's interview in the New Yorker from last year, mentions this record as an inspiration for her to record again after a long hiatus when making ‘After the Bolt Cutters’, which inspired me to start listening to this record. Give it a listen! Also a short film on his making of ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHCzTLnFpLE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3mEh-Ubcso
A very nice choice of song selections from the incredible XTC, their catalog of music just hits that sweet spot of post-punk, pre-alternative buzz.
Released in February of 1989, The Replacements' Don't Tell A Soul, their first with Slim Dunlap as a full-time member, Paul Westerberg taking a stab at mainstream recognition with toned down but still crafty songwriting. An underappreciated gem in The Replacements' catalog, I recommend checking out the more recent expanded edition which features producer Matt Wallace's outtakes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5CaagwSYGk
So it is 5am and I’m sitting outside a bar in a remote village in Alaska. No I haven’t been ‘tying one on’ all night, but it is the only place nearby where there is a decent wifi signal that reaches outside the walls of the building. The grass is growing tall, the mosquitoes are swarming, and the bears have awakened from hibernating, and they are hungry. But I have a job to do, fishing for salmon, and will be stepping away from TNOCS, though I may be able to get a weak cellular signal to read on my iPad and to hopefully participate in the polls for the number’s 1,2,&3 songs.
A couple of dedications to the folks here on TNOCS, I SOOOOO much appreciate the song suggestions and stories that have been shared here, I add these to my Spotify playlists that I have downloaded and will get me through some hard work over the next weeks.
First is The Replacements’ song, a namesake for my username. The opening lyric has Paul Westerberg singing “Read about your band, In some local page” but imagine changing this to Paul singing “Read about your band, In Ster-e-o-gum.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=607H7pggJ3k
A song for your playlists…music is the gift that keeps giving and for appreciating summer breezes and cool refreshments, Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Desafinado” as performed by Stan Getz and the Charlie Byrd Quintet. ¡SALUD Y PAZ!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npKGdsiQz9Q
Though it has a bright Beach Boys’ sound, not too much positive things can be said about “Kokomo”. First it lacks Brian Wilson but has his nemesis, cousin Mike Love, as one of the prime songwriters. Include John Phillips, Eugene Landy, and Terry Melcher (look up the background on these adversaries) as part of that songwriting team, and it is a mess of opportunist capitalizing on that Beach Boys’ brand.
To paraphrase Bono’s infamous Rattle and Hum banter “Charles Manson stole from the Beach Boys, We are stealing it back”, here is Brain Wilson with Al Jardine and son Matt Jardine celebrating the 50th anniversary of ‘Pet Sounds’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5PVjsRamk
Also, there was no deduction to beloved youngest brother Dennis Wilson on any Beach Boys recording from the “Kokomo”-era. But the incredible, unearthed gem Dennis Wilson record ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’ has been cited as an influence for many accomplished artist today. Fiona Apple's interview in the New Yorker from last year, mentions this record as an inspiration for her to record again after a long hiatus when making ‘After the Bolt Cutters’, which inspired me to start listening to this record. Give it a listen! Also a short film on his making of ‘Pacific Ocean Blue’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arQUVdjI2y0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3mEh-Ubcso
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fp1Dhq_rhI4
This is a fun version of this song, glad to see Tom's rating of an 8/10. Also I enjoy the original from Neil Diamond (with whom I share a birthday with). As for The Pretenders' "Back On The Chain Gang", it's a 10/10. Also posting a favorite reggae cover of mine, Easy Starr All Stars covering Radiohead's "Let Down".
ENJOY!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK3uf5V0pDA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54Ebfk3CK0s
Also, once took lessons on playing guitar around '88, and didn't last past the second lesson with him. The teacher at this time was a Steve Lukather fan, and recommend his lesson videos from the mid-80's. I rediscovered this on YouTube several years back and it is a total blast from the past to watch these. At the time I was playing bass in a post-punk band, not really into the hard rock stuff as much. Curious to know what you think about Luke in this lesson video. Thanks!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDsLbrRnEd4
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