The Not-Pop Jukebox

Those of us of a certain age fondly remember Inspector Gadget, that cyborg Inspector Clouseau whose sidekick kept him in check enough to defeat villains with reassuring regularity each Saturday morning. Musicians seem to be just as fond of the bumbling robo-goof as the rest of us. I've stumbled over the Inspector Gadget theme in mashups and samples repeatedly over the years. (Is it going through your head, now, too?) Today, I'd like to share both The Herbaliser and his take on the "cyborg freak" and the original theme, which has been in my head since I started writing this post. The two don't bear much relation to each other except for topic, but they're both fun and a nice touch of nostalgia for this lovely Tuesday afternoon. If you only remember that ill-begotten live action flick (Matthew Broderick, what were you thinking?!) then you deserve to hear the original and maybe hunt down a few episodes of the delightful goofiness yourself.

As part of my dedication to cover songs both weird and wonderful, today I thought I'd share a country-fried lament that goes a little something like this:

"My bucket's got a hole in it and I can't buy no beer."

These days, the idea of having to take a bucket with you to buy beer ranks somewhere between quaint and bizarre. The song, though, remains a fun little ditty. I've started with the most recent version I own, partly because I'm such a fan of both Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis. I've included classics like Hank Williams and "T" Texas Tyler and I threw in the Jimmy Page and Robert Plant cover, which sounds a lot like Dwight Yoakum singing an Elvis song. Oh, Dwight Yoakum has a version in there, too, as do the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and Louis Armstrong, sounding suitably mournful. Don't miss Ricky Nelson's strangely sanitized version, while you're at it. Here's hoping your bucket doesn't have a hole in it this lovely Sunday morning!

After treading dangerously close to the pop line yesterday, I thought today I'd share what I love about fringe bands that will never enjoy much radio play or popularity. With bands like Nuclear Rabbit, you never know where a song is going. The beginning may lull you into a false sense of goofiness, as it does in San Francisco Treat before hitting you with the real meat of the song.

I had actually intended to post only Parkay, due to its highly entertaining and hyper nature, but I thought it too short for a whole post of its own. Thus, I'm adding the meaty goodness of San Francisco Treat for you, as strange as that sounds. Nuclear Rabbit always sound to me like they're torn between laughing their heads off and kicking someone in the face. These two examples, brand name songs if there ever were any, demonstrate just that tongue-in-cheek anger perfectly.

I’m going out on the not-pop limb today, posting a song that was once wildly popular. Despite Vanilla Ice’s abuse of the song, Under Pressure still stands out as a well-done collaboration between two mega-stars, the sort of thing that often turns out very badly. With two voices (and personalities) as strong and distinctive as those of Freddie Mercury and David Bowie, the song could have been a mess had either considered himself a diva (sorry, Mr. Bowie). What Queen and Bowie created, however, stood as a model for other performers. They took the epic tendencies from Queen and the more esoteric sensibilities of David Bowie and made this complex tribute to love being able to change the world.

You have to listen to the whole song to get that message. Like Queen’s other blockbuster hit, Bohemian Rhapsody, Under Pressure tells a story albeit with less drama and incarceration. The layered sound, the well-crafted lyrics, the terrific voices, and that world-famous bass line combine to make this a classic that deserves the title. For a beautiful spring Friday, what could be more appropriate? (It came to my attention that I forgot to post this one. Sorry for the delayed reaction.)

As a part of my recent page about songs with one word in the title, I was listening to Asa and her beautiful, haunting song Jailer. I feel a bit silly including such a wide player for possible the shortest title/artist combo I've ever posted, but I definitely wanted to ahare the song with you all. The purity of her voice and vision make this such an enjoyable song and such a favorite from the Nigerian songstress's debut album. The self-titled disc was released fourteen months ago, but I wouldn't want to rush into recommendations, you know. (Actually, I thought I'd posted this song long ago.) Have a listen and get yourself a copy of the album. Asa has a lot to say and she says it in the loveliest way.

It was a few months ago that I posted the video for Alive Again from DJ Champion (who, by the way, I still find adorable) and I've been spending a lot of time since listening to his work. With the near-global discovery of his awesomeness by fans of the game Borderlands (hint: he's the genius behind No Heaven), I expect to hear a lot more of him. What a lot of people not realize is how much heavy-duty guitar work actually appears on the tracks. In truth, DJ Champion runs the gamut from trance to hard rock, with most songs displaying the sort of layering that makes his music such a pleasure, regardless of the bpm. I was torn on which song to include here, because two of my favorites go in such different directions. I decide to include So Big because it starts in French, celebrating the Canadian-ness of DJ Champion and the folks who help him create his soundscapes.

Although the album covers use the name Champion, by the way, I use DJ Champion because that's how he refers to himself on-line and how he's named in his own liner notes. If you're curious, the other song I was going to post was Backing Off, which is also available for listening through Grooveshark.

I realized after I posted yesterday that I'd promised to share something brand new with you. I thought I'd better live up to my promise, a day late perhaps but with no dollars involved.  I get requests to review folks but choose not to rant and rave about those I do not enjoy because, really, who wants that?  Happily, this time I received notice of a new album from The CrawPuppies that may actually be worth buying.

The title track, Wold's Much Bigger, is a pretty standard rock song with a catchy riff and a lot of energy.  (See below if you'd like to have a listen.)  I expected the other song I was sent to sound much the same, a rocking tune that sounds like something from Jellyfish, but She Comes Lovely (stop smirking, you perv) turned out to be much mellower and almost pretty.  It turns out that all of the CrawPuppies sing, which gives them a lot more flexibility in creating harmonies than your usual rock band. I look forward to hearing how many other sounds these guys came up with for their latest album.

As with just about any band these days, you can visit The Crawpuppies on MySpace, Facebook, and their own web site, where you'll find that these puppies won't stick in your musical craw. They may not be ground breakers but they're certainly enjoyable.

For a wild and wacky Saturday night (on which I'm blogging and having a glass of wine, woo hoo) you really need something upbeat that causes you to jump up and down, preferably while saying, "Yeah!" I may not actually be jumping around just now, wasting my Cabernet, but I certainly have done so a great deal while listening to Gogol Bordello. 60 Revolutions, in particular, always makes me want to dance around the room trying to keep up with the frenetic and ever-changing pace. The folks with Gogol Bordello describe their sound as gypsy punk, which fits about as well as anything I could conjure. Besides the references to his own male parts, the band manages to keep this one pretty clean, in English at least. I don't know the translation of the other verses and I suspect that's a pretty good thing for a theoretically work-friendly blog like The NPJ. Have a fun night out (or in), folks!

I was going to save this one for Easter, but then I decided that Easter Island Head really didn't have a thing to do with the holiday and I wanted to post it. Throat Culture does a lot of fun things with their respective voices, some of which include entertaining lyrics. Because I'm rushed today, that's all I'm going to say except that you should check out their cover of 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover if you like this one. Happy Friday. Tomorrow: brand new music, I promise.

If there's one thing I love, it's when a musical comedian rails about the music industry and manages to be funny and accurate. Wicked Celtic did it with I Don't Want to Hear Your Band and MC Lars has done it in Generic Crunk Rap. I can almost picture Andrew Nielson (that's MC Lars's non-rap name) laughing his head off while writing this one, but occasionally stopping to think who else deserved roasting for their exploitation of kids and "gangsta" culture. I have that reaction to other MC Lars songs, as well. He seems to find the line between thought- and laugh-provoking with admirable accuracy.

Thank heaven's it's finally St. Patrick's Day and I can share some Black 47 with you all. I think of these folks as an Irish ska-punk band even though I know that the lead singer is an ex-pat and the rest of the guys are American. I'm not that fussed about where they're from, just how they sound. In a word, they sound great. Funky Céilí is loosely based on the lead singers own life but has to be a lot more fun than the actual events were for him. Grab a green beer or two and get ready to dance around like a leprechaun who just found some gold, ladies and gents! And if you've not heard Black 47 before, I highly recommend that you find more to enjoy. Happy Saint Paddy's Day!

Once again, the fine folks at DMF (The Danish-German Mashup Forces) have created a masterpiece of the best bits of pop. This time, they've taken Lady Gaga (that two-bit Madonna impersonator), Santana with Rob Thomas, and tossed in a dash of Van Halen for entertainment value. I wanted to include the video but decided that the NC-17 warning may be a bit off-putting for those of you who visit when boss- or child-type-people may be in the room. I'm not going to turn this into a rant about how women apparently aren't allowed to wear actual clothes in music videos, I swear. I can hold it in for the length of a whole post.

Whatever my reasons for not including the video, you can download Smooth Romance for free and enjoy it without the titillating visuals that do nothing more than detract from the song. (Whoops, that was a bit rant-y. Sorry.) Just click on the DMF link above and get all of the mashed up goodness that Dan Mei and Marc Johnce have to offer, including this gem.

I knew that my song for today would be Lack of Afro, if only because I need an antidote to counteract the presence of Bon Jovi in town. I couldn't find a single of their songs that didn't make me want to kick something, so I went in a completely different direction. Hubby walked by and said, "You're listening to some funk!" After 99 in the Shade, I had to get the bad taste out of my ears somehow. A little Lena Horne cleansed my musical palate and then Lack of Afro made it all better. Enjoy The Outsider, which combines some some old-school jazzy horns with some nice bass and verbal clips and I hope that you are able to avoid mediocrity like Bon Jovi more successfully than I have been today.

Some band names cry out to be enjoyed. Unfortunately, sometimes the name is the best thing about the music. I regret to inform you that Apostle of Hustle fits in this category. They aren't horrible, by any means. I just wanted them to live up to the fun of their name, and maybe to show a little hustle in their music. Something funky, perhaps, with a little disco overtone that would make you want to do the hustle. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I'm sharing Folkloric Feel with you today because I thought I'd have to back up my words with some proof. That, and the review request I investigated this evening was truly ear-curdling, with a lead singer who was apparently being castrated on tape. I could hardly inflict that on you, could I?

I should have posted this fabulous version of Let the Good Times Roll last month, during Mardis Gras, but I had never heard it before today. I believe it may end up as one of my absolute favorite songs. Not only do you get some funky George Clinton but you get The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Kim Manning as bonus material. It may not be the funkiest Parliament song known to man, but it's got to be one of the most fun versions of Let the Good Times Roll out there. I believe it's also the longest title for any post on this blog but it took a goodly number of people to put a great tune like this together. I hope it makes you smile as much as it did me.

For those of you who missed her, in the hubbub over greats like Ella Fitzgerald and Aretha Franklin, Ruth Brown offers a whole new set of great blues songs, both standards and originals. I love her voice and her attitude, both displayed to great advantage on This Train Don't Stop Here. She pulls out all of the stops on this one, with a great backing band and a sassy commentary at the end. If you enjoy this one, do seek out more Ruth Brown. She passed away in 2006 so there won't be anything new coming, but her back catalog should entertain you for a good, long time. If nothing else, take a listen to If I Can't Sell It I'll Keep Sitting on It, a great talking blues.

When I first heard Manu Chao singing Bongo Bong, I loved the song but couldn't figure out why it sounded so familiar. Imagine my surprise when I uncovered an earlier song from Mano Negra titled King of Bongo with exactly the same lyrics but without the repetitive "je ne t'aime plus" ending. Imagine my further surprise at learning that the singers of King of the Bongo and Bongo Bong sound so much alike because they are, in fact, both the same man.

Manu Chao headed Mano Negra throughout the late 80s and early 90s and then later recorded the song on a solo effort in 1998. Apparently Mano Negra enjoyed wide popularity in France but, despite some really stellar tracks, never hit the big time elsewhere. There is, of course, the fabulously-weird cover by Palast Orchester with Max Raabe. Then Robbie Williams did a version of Bongo Bong with the French ending Manu Chao added to his solo cover of himself. All in all, I thought this a worthy list to share with you all on a quiet Sunday night. Let me know which version you like best. I'll admit that the campy Palast Orchester did give me a giggle or two but that I like the original.

Despite the popularity of their Ain't No Rest for the Wicked, particularly as it's the first song in the shockingly-popular video game Borderlands, Cage the Elephant actually has a lot more to offer. I had intended to post Back Stabbin' Betty, but then I remembered the Rated-R lyrics and decided that their cover of Psycho Killer would be a better offering. You get the garage rock sound of the band without the naughty words and end up with what turns out to be a pretty good cover of an iconic Talking Heads song. Cage the Elephant is a lot fun, and this version shows that they've been influenced by some of the best.

I sometimes think that my love of a band’s sound increases exponentially with each additional band member. I like relatively few solo acts and duos, some trios and quartets, but when you start adding horns or other additional instruments my ears start to perk and my toes to tap. Even a capella groups get better with additional voices. As a case in point, consider the wonderful Ladysmith Black Mambazo. I love Paul Simon, but never more so than when he’s backed by the depth of these voices.

The group stands alone even better, in case you’d not heard them on their own. When I looked at the album “Classic Tracks” in writing this post, I was shocked to see that it was released 20 years ago, yet I still listen to it regularly. I prefer the older, a capella songs to the sound they moved to with their 1991 album, “One World, One Heart”, where they've added background music. For me, Ladysmith Black Mambazo has so much going on vocally that instrumentation is superfluous.

I decided to include Zintombi today in part because my two favorite songs were not on Grooveshark and in part because I like to pretend sometimes that they're singing a great song about zombies, if only I could understand it. I know they aren't, to spare us both the comments, but what if they were warning me and I simply couldn't understand them? Sometimes imagination is more fun than reality. Whatever the real topic of Zontombi, and whether the guys are trying to tell us how to survive, I hope you like it as much as I do.

This morning the ever-creative Mike Olson on my beloved local public radio station played a set of what I'm calling "women behaving badly" songs. Included in that groups was a fantastic version of You Better Watch Yourself, Bub. (If you have a chance to hear Mr. Olson's show, Into the Music, take it. He generally does themes either for the whole show or for each segment, although he almost never draws attention to that fact.)

Unfortunately, I could not get the name of the artist who performed that cover. I do, however, have the fantastic Nellie Lutcher to share with you so that you can get an idea of how it sounded. Indeed, were it not for some minor lyrics updates I might have thought it was Ms. Lutcher's version. Enjoy the sparse piano, the sweet Nellie voice, and the cautionary lyrics. Let me know if you've heard a cover recently, as Google assures me that it hasn't happened, despite the evidence of my ears. And Mike Olson, get a web site with a play list, would you?! That would save me an awful lot of trouble.

I have most desperately wanted to post Josh Rouse doing I Will Live on Islands, because it was yet again a song through which an artist has fooled me into believing that someone else had released a new album. In this case, Mr. Rouse sounded so very much like Paul Simon that I sat in the car until the end of the set to hear the name of the album. Imagine my surprise when the DJ announced that it was from a new album by Josh Rouse, "El Turista".

Now, Josh Rouse does not usually sound like Paul Simon outside of a similarity created by the fact that both rely on their accoustic guitars to drive their respective sounds. I simply never expected to hear his name at the end of the song. That's not to say that I don't like Mr. Rouse. Because Grooveshark does not yet have "El Turista" on their site, I thought you might enjoy a more typical (and very lovely) song like Giving It Up to hold you until it does.

If you just can't wait, you can listen to and download I Will Live on Islands for free (at least for a while) from Spinner.com where it was their song of the day a couple of months ago. It's been quite a while since I offered a free download here so I figured that it was about time I sweetened the pot.