The Not-Pop Jukebox

As I spent my posting time today creating a lens about jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis, I'm afraid you'll just have to live with a great jazz number today. I don't know what album this appeared on, as the version on my copy of Classic Wynton lasts only 1:05 and limits itself to pure trumpet playfulness. That version makes a fun addition to any playlist, but this one really satisfies a thirst for jazz.

These days, life seems like an endless race not to lose ground. Thus, Oingo Boingo has been playing in my head for days, about Running on a Treadmill. I suppose it’s better than speeding my way on a hamster wheel, as at least I don’t have to look at the bars. I always remember this song as being much faster, although I suppose it’s about as fast as I’d dare go on a treadmill, in any case.

Despite his classic blues name, Watermelon Slim is a hale and hearty white man from Oklahoma who still performs live to this day. I couldn't find a good video of my favorite of his songs with The Workers, Juke Joint Woman, so I'm including this impressive (and well-described) video of him playing Howlin' Wolf's Smokestack Lightning.

It's Guilty Pleasure Day here at the Not-Pop Jukebox. Smash a Kangaroo is one of those songs that you feel like you shouldn't like. It's got animal cruelty, it sounds like someone making fun of Australian, wannabe “gang-bangers”, and it's just goofy. All the same, I can't help but enjoy it. Most other Diplo (a.k.a. DJ Wes Pentz) re-mixes and songs just don't catch my attention. In fact, I avoid remixes in general unless I rank the original among my favorites. Most often, the first version stands as the best. (Mashups are a different category, entirely, and are exempt from this particular critique. They have their own issues, though.) This one has the right mix of beats and naughty that it makes me giggle every time, even as I'm chair-dancing.

On this Arbor Day, I find myself asking, “Why couldn’t Belly make more records?” I know that Tanya Donelly dropped out and moved on to a solo career, and that she was in The Breeders at the same time as she played with Belly. I just like the stuff that Belly produced so much that I was disappointed to know that no more would come. If you check her web site, the only featured music appeared on the “Star” album from which Feed the Tree came. I do like the songs you can find on Ms. Donelly’s MySpace profile, though. Perhaps I’ll have to give her another chance.

All of that matters naught, as the point of my post is to remind you all that, though Earth Day has passed, you should still remember the environment. When I was a child, we were sent home from school every Arbor Day with an evergreen seedling to plant. I don’t recall whether any of them survived, but I hope that some of them are out there, adding valuable oxygen to the air and off-setting my carbon footprint every day. Go plant a tree somewhere, and don’t forget to feed it.

The first time I saw Kermit Ruffins’s name, I thought it said Kermit Ruffians. Naturally, I anticipated a punk or ska band with a sense of humor. To my delight, I was instead presented with some great New Orleans jazz. The beginning of the trumpet player’s Kermit’s Second Line always makes me think of how The Music Goes Round and Round starts. Both songs get The Kermit Ruffians would be a fantastic name for a punk band, but until someone picks up on that idea and sends me a copy of their record, I’ll have to be satisfied with enjoying the trumpet-playing Kermit Ruffins. I think I can live with that.

In honor of Earth Day, please accept this reminder to pay attention to the millions of tiny ways we pollute this earth. Each of us can make one or two changes to our cars and homes to reduce the light and air pollution we contribute every day. Millions of small improvements can add up to a large impact.

As Monday relief, please enjoy the punk-y sounds of Supersuckers, specifically a song explaining how Eddie Spaghetti was Born with a Tail and thus clearly in league with Satan. Apparently, this explains their sacrilicious sound, and the name of the 1995 album, "The Sacrilicious Sounds of the Supersuckers".

You really can't beat a good cover of a great song. Today, I recall to you The Kinks and their iconic, 1960s hit You Really Got Me. If you haven't sat down and listened to several versions of this song, you've missed out on some groups, like Oingo Boingo and Sly and the Family Stone, that have taken the song and made it their own, as well as others who have stayed close to the original while still being recognizable, like Van Halen and Robots in Disguise. If I've missed a good cover of the song, please drop me a note. As for me, while I love the original Kinks song, the Oingo Boingo cover is the one that sticks in my head. Which is your favorite?

Buy The Kinks' You Really Got Me
Buy Oingo Boingo's You Really Got Me
Buy Van Halen's You Really Got Me

It's time for a little jazz funk, heavy on the organ, combining Jimmy Smith, Booker T, and some great beats that get your booty moving. The City Champs get down on their album, “The Safecracker”, ditching lyrics to concentrate on making terrific music. Electraphonic just released the album a few weeks ago, though the organ and the funk-inspired bass make Takin' State sound much older. I wouldn't normally post the standard (relatively-cheesy) Amazon ad here, but the album cover suits the song and the theme so well. Also, I'm attempting to point out that you can get Takin' State free from Amazon. Subtle, I ain't. It's a great introduction to The City Champs' sound. Go get it, and consider springing for the whole album. It's worth the investment. As proof, try the title track, too.

The Voodoo Glow Skulls perfectly sum up my day with this tune - a little hyper, and little grouchy, and a lot frustrated. As an added bonus, you can enjoy the horn section. I'll write more tomorrow, I promise.

As a part of my non-series about naughty old songs, I’d like you to give The "5" Royales a listen. Laundromat Blues ostensibly touts the wonders of a woman’s washing machine. If you’re a Monty Python fan, insert "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" here. The "5" Royales released the song in 1953, at the height of their musical power, and if this doesn’t prove that folks were doing less-than-chaste things (and being proud of it) then I don’t know what would.

Regardless of my personal pet peeves regarding the innocent tales of yesteryear, The "5" Royales don’t get enough credit for the influence they had on the soul, doo wop, rock, and R&B folks that soon followed. (And, no, I don't know why they have quotation marks around the five. If you do, please let me know!) If you haven’t seen or heard these gents before, go out and find more of their terrific music to enjoy.

When I first heard James Hunter, I thought I must have missed a fabulous soul singer from the 50s and 60s. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the album, "People Gonna Talk", was released in 2006. The smooth Mr. Hunter released another album this month, but since I don't have that one, yet, I'll post my favorite, Riot in My Heart, from the previous. I hope that this embed works smoothly, as I've never used Lala before. Please let me know if you can't listen to the song and I'll find it somewhere else (I don't know where, but I'll get it!)

As often happens, my attempts to find a song thematically related to a holiday were sidetracked, if not completely derailed, by a song I had completely forgotten. Thus, in my search for a song about bunnies or candy that wasn't too cute or too kinky, Eddie Rabbit started singing I Love a Rainy Night. There's nothing really outstanding about the track, except that it's a solid, sing-along sort of tune and I really do love a good rain storm (at least, I do when it doesn't threaten to back the river up into my basement). Enjoy a little Eddie “Easter” Rabbit on this fluffy bunny of a day, and consider that 1981 wasn't really all that long ago, to those of use who remember it.

Buy I Love A Rainy Night

A huge “Thank you!” to the incredibly lax blogger, aningeniousname, for introducing me to Amadou & Mariam by pointing out this enormous hole in my world beat selections. In my defense, I have posted about Manu Chao, with whom they perform Sénégal Fast-Food, and Manu Dibango, whose native Cameroon lies...well, not really near Mali. There's a tangential link, there, wouldn't you say? No? Darn.

At any rate, if you, too, had been so ignorant of Malian music as to never have heard of Amandou & Mariam, try this story from All Things Considered. I'd have simply linked to the bio on the Amadou & Mariam web site, but it's in French. If you like Sénégal Fast Food, then take a wander about the web and listen to more. Their brand of rock will get your hips moving, and if you understand French then you can explain some of the lyrics to me.

Buy Sénégal Fast-Food

It's been a long time since I posted a mashup, but finally not only do I have a fantastic cross-decade mash for you but it comes with a video. You can download My Life on This Crazy Train Sucks (So What?) from the new site for mash-masters Dan Mei and Marc Johnce, the Danish-German Mashup Forces. While the name of the track is a bit cumbersome, how else could you title a creation from so many elements? Start with Ozzy Osborne and his Crazy Train, add Pink mourning her lost love, throw in some Kelly Clarkson mourning the potential loss of her love, and round out the mix with Daft Punk's Technologic. I have to say that the song gives some much-needed loosening-up to Ms. Clarkson, who comes across more as a pop technician than a musician on most songs. But the sum of this song adds up to more than its parts, as all of my favorite mashups.

This blustery day and all of the flood talk has me thinking of Winnie the Pooh and the Hundred-Acre Wood. What can I say? I’m a mom. But that led me to a little indie gem called Bears, by Pete and the Pirates, so it’s not all bad that I followed that train of thought to its station, after all. It could be worse – I could have chosen to post And the Rain, Rain, Rain Came Down, Down, Down instead. Grooveshark has the song available for your listening pleasure, should you now have it stuck in your head. I can’t imagine how that could have happened, of course. I’m just letting you know, as I whistle innocently. Enjoy Pete and the Pirates.

Some days, you need a song that makes you smile. This bright, sunny spring day requires a song just like that. Happily, I’ve gone out and found A Cartoon Bee in the Springtime for you, to save you the trouble. At the moment, Grooveshark’s widget-maker page won’t work (nor has it for the past two hours) so I’ll make a more attractive widget at the earliest possible time. In the meanwhile, have a listen to this goofy, jazzy, doodle of a song from The Extroardinaires via imeem. I haven’t listened to much of their catalog, but this song, at least, lends credence to their name. Oh, did I mention that it’s got a kazoo and whistling? It has both, and a mouth harp.
Edited 4/8/09 to replace the imeem widget with the lovely Grooveshark version.

It's a (vaguely-)flood-related song, a song about evolution, and a rockin' tune all in one! For what more could you ask, on a fine and sunny Monday, than The Toadies explaining how I Come From the Water? Nothing, that's what.

Today we come to the song that taught me the phrase, “Rock on with your bad self!” at a tender age. The song was released in 1973 and has been a personal earworm for nearly my entire life, considering that I was a baby at the time and likely heard it in my infancy. At any rate, I dedicate this song to the National Weather Service in America, particularly its dedicated employees here in Fargo. I also invite you all to chair-dance with me in celebration of another Saturday night on which no local waterways have invaded your town, much less backed your sewer system into your basement.

Buy Rock the Boat:

Enjoy an energetic ska piece, while Fargo wraps its head around the prediction for a second, larger river crest in two weeks.

I can’t face another flood song, so I’m enjoying The Lady Is a Tramp. The criteria no longer apply to modern society, but the song has been done by such greats as Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, and Frank Sinatra that you can’t help but enjoy it. Then you have the fabulous newer versions by folks like They Might Be Giants and Queen Latifah. I’ve included here all of these fantastic artists and their takes on The Lady Is a Tramp. Get swingin’ and reminisce about the days of yore, when being a tramp didn’t include a tattoo on your posterior.

While the flood waters recede from Fargo this week, we're told that they'll be back, at least to some extent, in the foreseeable future. In the meantime, the dikes and levees are covered with fresh, white snow and appear from a block or two away as hills upon which small trees and shrubs live. If only we didn't know better. While we're waiting to see what the Red River decides to do, enjoy the energy of the Redwalls and their cover of Bob Dylan's Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood).