Ignored, Maligned, and Forgotten Music

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Dr. Funkenstein - Parliament

For Halloween, we need a great, not-pop song to get your booty shakin' in its boots. Thankfully, Parliament knew that and recorded Dr. Funkenstein just for us to enjoy on this second-most-commercialized holiday of the year. Get down and rattle your bones to this 1976 classic. If you've got some favorite Halloween tunes, I'd love for you to share them, too!

Suburbia - Trombone Shorty

I've been wallowing in horns today, many of them blown by James "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. Suburbia takes a ska-flavored turn, quite different from the sound of his latest album," For True". There are also a lot of great guitar grinds in it. It's an instrumental but it's fun and bouncy and just right to keep your mood up as you contemplate yet another Monday morning staring you in the face. Tomorrow? Halloween funk!

Miracle Worker - SuperHeavy

So Mick Jaggar has a new band, to supplement his retirement fund I assume. He's gotten Damien Marley and Joss Stone in on the act and come up with what would be a great song...if only Mick Jaggar weren't in it. I know, that's mean. Sorry about that. But I can't help but think that someone with a better voice would be a better addition (and would have chosen a far more attractive suit).

Don't you think it's time for Mr. Jaggar to step behind the scenes? He's clearly got something good going, here. You can hear more SuperHeavy at Grooveshark, of course. Listen to their theme song (the one with the same name as the band) and Satyameva Jayate to get an idea what they're about. Clearly Marley has had a heavy influence on the sound. Let me know if you like it as is or if you, too, think it would improve with a different front man.

I Want to Take You Higher - Robert Randolph and More

If you're going to cover Sly & the Family Stone's I Want to Take You Higher, you need a family band. Handily, Robert Randolph has one. But apparently someone bizarre genius decided that he and The Family Band weren't quite enough. And so Steven Tyler was added to the mix.

I imagine you're thinking what I did: why the hell would you do that to what would have been a fantastic song? But give it a listen and you'll understand. It's amazing, with as much energy as the Energizer Bunny after a couple of lines. This cover of I Want to Take You Higher is a get-up-and-dance song if I've ever heard one...and I have so I know.

Of course I couldn't leave it at just the one great cover. Enjoy the original from Sly & the Family Stone, Eric Clapton with Jeff Beck, Blues Traveler, Tesla, the Jackson 5, and Paulo Nutini. If that doesn't get you shaking your boom-laka-laka-laka then there's no hope for your posterior. Let me know which one you like best!

You Pick the Winner: Farm Accident vs. Mike Doughty

When it comes to songs about destroying a major chain franchise, Farm Accident wrote the book but Mike Doughty penned the sequel. There's something almost universal about the desire to rebel against the forced conformity of Starbucks and the predictable, wannabe decor of your basic Hard Rock Cafe. And so why not songs about Burning Down the Hard Rock Cafe and Busting Up a Starbucks?

Mike Doughty and Farm Accident approach their subjects in different ways, however. I want to know which one you like better. Both have a place in my heart, Burning Down the Hard Rock Cafe because I saw them perform it live twenty years ago and Busting Up a Starbucks because, well, it's Mike Doughty. I don't know that I could pick the winner in this one.

I'm turning to you, my darling readers, with a plea for your votes. Let me know if you've heard either of these, which one you like better, and whether you have another "take down the chain stores" sort of song to add to the contest.

One through Ten – Number Songs

I have a penchant for creating play lists based on song titles. One of those lists includes all of the songs I own that have a number in the title, about 200 songs at the moment. I thought I’d make up a list for you today that includes songs for which the titles begin with the numbers one through ten, just because I can.

Let’s make a little story of them, shall we? We’ll start with One More Shot from Lonnie Brooks, follow it with Two More Bottles of Wine from Delbert McClinton, and by then we’ll be hearing Three Little Birds, Bob Marley style and blowing in the Four Winds with The Killers.

So you’re playing Five Card Stud with Buckwheat Zydeco instead of getting ready for Six Days on the Road with Taj Mahal (or The Flying Burrito Brothers). You feel like a Seven Day Fool, just like Etta James, Eight Miles High with The Byrds, like it’s Nine in the Afternoon and there’s a Panic at the Disco. The only thing for it is to cool out at 10 Ritchie Drive with Gene Krupa. Dig?

Canned Heat - Jamiroquai

Let's have another song about dancing, tonight. Canned Heat gives you disco funk that will get your boogie shoes moving. The first time I heard the Jamiroquai song (not in that silly Napoleon Dynamite movie, thank you very much) I thought they were singing, "I've got candy in my heels tonight!" As you can imagine, thinking the song to be much older than its 1999 release date and misunderstanding the chorus made it foolishly difficult to find.

Yet for me the "candy in my heels" image rather works. I figured it meant either nose candy, as fits the Boogie-Nights-era sound and the 70s penchant for putting things like secret compartments and goldfish in the heels of platform shoes, or simply sweet moves. Apparently not.

You may notice that I've not posted Jamiroquai before. That's because every time I think I love them I bump into a song I hate. But I've decided that Canned Heat and some of their other music doesn't deserve to languish just because I don't love everything the band does. Enjoy this one and next I'll post something more jazzy and less boogie. Please disregard that the widget reads "Canned Head": I can't control badly-tagged uploads.

Heads Will Roll - The Yeah Yeah Yeahs

It's October and it's Friday. Let's have some weird fun. Heads Will Roll from The Yeah Yeah Yeahs offers both. Dance 'til your dead, people, or at least until you're having a good time.

Mashup of the Month: Mash Me Amadeus - DJ Schmolli

If you’re half as big an 80s geek as I, the idea that someone made an entire album of Falco mashups makes you want to run right over and get them. I, of course, did just that. And of the whole “Falco re:loaded” album, the one that tickled me the most was Mash Me Amadeus.

As with pretty much every mashup I post, you can download Mash Me Amadeus, and the rest of the tracks, for free from the Falco re:loaded site. In this case, you’ll get the iconic Rock Me Amadeus twined under and over things like We Will Rock You, Funk Soul Brother, Pump Up the Volume, and some guy proclaiming that “I am number one”, whoever that is.

I realized, in looking to see how often I’ve posted mashups, that I’ve only shared half a dozen this year. Thus I’m declaring the nineteenth of each month Mashup of the Month day. I’ve got quite a backlog to post so brace yourselves for more wacky, twisted mashes that you can get for free. And where I can I’ll post mashed videos to go with them. In the meantime, go grab “Falco re:loaded” and let me know which one is your favorite.

Institutionalized - Suicidal Tendencies

I bumped into a comment on a blog post today and all it said was "All I wanted was a Pepsi." That's all it took to bring Institutionalized full-blown into my head. And, really, who hasn't had a conversation with their parents that was as surreal as that verse? Just me? Never mind.

At any rate, I was heavily into Suicidal Tendencies in the late 80s and this was one of my absolute anthems of those days. I'll tell you now, though, that screaming "I'm not crazy" like this fails utterly to convince people of the truth of that statement. Or so I hear.

ST was one of those bands that you either got or you utterly failed to understand. And that's why I've resisted the urge for three years to post I Saw Your Mommy for Mother's Day: I suspect few people will find it as entertaining as I. But for today enjoy Institutionalized. And whatever you do don't listen to the whiny, emo version that Senses Fail recorded and that some numbskull put on a Tony Hawk game. Were I Mr. Hawk I'd have fired the music person for that game. I've seen him skate to the original: he knows better.

Crazy Birds - Not Drowning, Waving

Not Drowning, Waving generally does atmospheric pieces that lose my interest about 47 seconds into the song. They're quite nice, just not my thing. But Crazy Birds kept my attention not just the first time I heard it but for another three listens thereafter over the course of the week.  That means it gets to come out and play with you all!  It's actually a little creepy with the crazy birds watching us and all, but it carries enough groove juice to get you past that, at least it does for me.  Enjoy and let me know what you think.

Hold On, I'm Coming - Various Artists

Thanks to the posting of Sam and Dave's Hold On, I'm Coming by Butterose I've spend some quality time today listening to a whole mess of covers.  That's also thanks in part to her and her contention that it doesn't get any better than Sam and Dave.  The things I don't do for you, my dears!

At any rate, I've got a nice, round dozen for you to enjoy to day, including the Sam and Dave version, at least one other with Sam, and even an instrumental version from King Crimson.  If that's not enough to pique your interest, I've also got a live version from Aretha Franklin (though she sounds either exhausted or intoxicated, depending how charitable you're feeling), Jerry Lee Lewis, and a fantastic version from Wilson Pickett.

In fact, I arranged the songs to put the soulless versions of Hold On, I'm Coming from Tom Jones and Brian Ferry at the end followed by that Wilson Pickett version to take the bad taste from your mouth.  The BB King cover with Eric Clapton is about twice as long as it needs to be but what are you going to do?  They're jamming and I'll bet a lot of people will absolutely love it, it just didn't do it for me.

As ever, when I post these big lists, I'd love to hear which you like best and whether you have a version of Hold On, I'm Coming that I missed.

Pow Pow - Dengue Fever

I don't know why I like Dengue Fever. Maybe it's the bari sax. But I do. So for a Friday night with nothing cookin', have a wacky little number titled Pow Pow. I promise I'll be back with some excessive list tomorrow.[p align="center">

Oh No - Andrew Bird

Sometimes my impression of an artist colors my perception of his music. In this case, indie darling Andrew Bird struck me as someone well aware of his own cleverness not necessarily through his lyrics or the music he and his band play but via the CD insert.

Now, I wouldn’t use words like pretentious, smug, or self-satisfied to describe Andrew Bird because those are all overstatements. But it struck me that taking space to specify who handmade the “Victrola-like speakers” and the “custom-made pickups” on the incredibly limited liner notes was too cute by half.

Of course it could be that they gave him a discount or free products in exchange for the advertisement. There’s no way to tell. It was the phrasing more than the information, really. But after reading it I found some of the music a wee bit…excessive, particularly because I’m picturing those gramophone speakers.

None of that means that I don’t enjoy some of Andrew Bird’s music. In general it’s three steps too mellow for me but there are songs, like Fitz and the Dizzyspells and Oh No and the second half of The Privateers, that I quite like. And so I thought I’d share one of them as an apology to him for my uncharitable thoughts.

Maracas - Mates of State

So Mates of States released a new LP a few weeks ago, and today I heard Maracas on the radio.  That's because I listen to some folks with even more diverse taste than mine.  At any rate, it took me some time to identify the song and then the artist because the evil fiends didn't bother to tell me anything and by the time I got to a place where I could check their playlist I couldn't remember what time I'd heard it.

It would have been simple had the song been called Syncopated Breathing, which is what I assumed from the last third of the song.  But if you listen closely (or even just attentively) you can hear the maracas from this the song takes its name.  And if you even glance at the screen below relatively often you'll see them, as well, in the hands of the drummer. 

Chew It Like a Gun Gum - The Death Set

As proof to those who know I was out until the wee hours last night that I'm not hung over, I offer you this Sunday afternoon the energetic wall of noise that is The Death Set. In particular, I'm recommending the fun Chew It Like a Gun Gum, which makes no sense but is fun to sing while jumping up and down. Should you like this one, have a listen to the rest of the album, "Michel Pioccard", at Grooveshark. If you do, don't miss Slap Slap Slap Pound Up Down Snap, which is filled with just about as much wacky wrong as the title suggests.

Boom Sh-boom - Martin Sexton

When Martin Sexton tweaks my musical happy place he does it really, really well.  Now, that sounded about nine hundred times dirtier than I should have but I'm not generally a fan of the man.  With Boom Sh-boom, however, he does that same amazing thing he did with Diner and Diggin' Me.  I don't have a name for it, but I love it when it happens.

I would link to my previous post of Diggin' Me but apparently I used a useless widget from some substandard site.  Look for a Jukebox Roots post in the near future to fix that!  In the meantime, have a listen to Boom Sh-boom from Martin Sexton's 2010 album "Sugarcoating".  Let me know what you think.

Banana Ripple - Junior Boys

It's Friday. It's late. I've been listening to Banana Ripple for several minutes as I do my other on-line tasks and, in truth, some part of my mind simply assumed that I had put on an old Pet Shop Boys album and let it play, as who expects an indie, electro-pop sort of song to go on for over nine minutes. Heck, that is half a Pet Shop Boys album.

But this is, in fact, Junior Boys and the album is far newer than the 1986 sound. Banana Ripple came, in fact, from their album "It's All True" released just four months ago. It's a bit mellow for my usual fare but I actually listened to the whole thing without having any desire to hurry the boys along. In fact, it's piqued my interest in Junior Boys so you may be hearing more from them here in the future. What did you think: did you love it, hate it, or just let it run on in the background?

Hairbangers - Fissunix & DJ Schmolli

I've been hoarding mashups but it's definitely time to share another with you all. As much as I love Hairbangers without the video I can't resist sharing the video as well, with a whole class of colorfully-dressed elementary school students headbanging to a Kreator song, Phobia, while Willow Smith sounding filled with attitude over the whole, pounding mess. It's the perfect expression of how these two songs that should never have met were mated to produce something wildly energetic. As with all the mashups I post, you can download Hairbangers for free, in this case from the Fissunix Official.FM site. If you don't want to download it, you clearly have not yet watched the video. Whip My Hair, indeed.

Down to the Nightclub - Tower of Power

If ever you doubted the funk-ability of Tower of Power, allow me to present the only argument needed to convince you: Down to the Nightclub. In celebration of the release of their 40th Anniversary (and the 40th Anniversary Concert CD & DVD released this year on which the song appears), I thought it was high time you got a listen to one of their best. Now, I know it's not Saturday night like in the song but nobody ever said you couldn't go Down to the Nightclub on a Wednesday, right? And any night is perfect for some horns, some deep bunk, and a trip to Bump City. Get down, my darlings, do some hardcore boogie, and let me know if you think there's a ToP song better than this one. But no fair picking Diggin' on James Brown. I'm saving that one.

The Bank Robbery - Miles Davis et al

Usually when I post an "et al" title I mean that I'm posting several versions of a song. In this case, it's a single song but with such a stellar group of talents performing it that I couldn't fit them all in the title. Not only do you get smooth Miles Davis trumpet but there's distinctive John Lee Hooker guitar, Taj Mahal humming identifiably, and Earl Palmer, Roy Rodgers, and Tim Drummond. With a crew like that, how could you miss?

You may or may not be shocked to learn that this bunch recorded for the soundtrack of a movie from 1990 you may not have ever seen. I certainly haven't, most likely because it stars Don Johnson. If you're curious, it's called The Hot Spot and it was directed by Dennis Hopper. Personally, I just enjoy the soundtrack without watching the movie, no matter how much I liked Jennifer Connelly in Labyrinth. None of that is either here or there. The point is that you should enjoy the song and ponder with me how such a talented group of jazz musicians got roped into recording wonderful stuff for such a turkey of a movie. If you can figure it out, let me know!

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