As you can see, I've squandered my posting time by selecting a shiny new template for The NPJ. I loved the old one but it was awfully dark. Please excuse the colors on the older posts, as they were designed to blend with the old design. I'll see if I can't update the templates on at least some of the more recent playlists so that they're not so glaringly mismatched. In the meantime, enjoy a somewhat-relevant (and always entertaining) song from Sparks. Please let me know if something looks wrong, doesn't work, or you otherwise hate it. Thank you!
One of my first posts here at the NPJ was about an earworm that I've enjoyed since my earliest memories: Secret Agent Man. I posted about three different versions of the song, but dozens of bands and artists have covered the song, some more successfully than others. Devo, in particular, stands out as a poor re-make. I've found nine versions to share with you today, including one from Bruce Willis (included purely for entertainment value), the aforementioned Devo cover, one from The Guess who, as well as Agent Orange, Brian Setzer (that one is pretty clearly a bootleg from a live concert, apparently one recorded underwater), and the ska cover from The Toasters about which I wrote in the original post. Of course I've included Johnny Rivers and The Ventures, for you oldies folks out there.
Lest you all begin to think that I have no appreciation for the finer points of classic rock, let me remind you all of this fantastic version of JJ Cale's Call Me the Breeze, wherein Lynyrd Skynyrd rocks the heck out of a fantastic song, with a bluesy piano solo and generally makes you think, "Dang, that was a great tune!" If you like this one (and can remember the days when microphones were on stands that you had to carry around with you, with wires that loved to trip up others), take a look at the Eric Clapton version with JJ Cale himself. That one's a great deal slower, but it's a lovely performance nonetheless. What more can I say about a classic than, "Dig that 70s hair, man"?
Here's a little indie-pop, new-wave-y, woo-hoo music for a Tuesday. The Bloodsugars have been through some staffing changes, but I have high hopes that their first full-length album will hold up to the strength of their EP, "BQEP" released in 2008. I'm basing that hope on the first single I've heard, Light at the End of the Tunnel, which you can enjoy at Static Television. I'm looking forward to hearing their Pedestrian Boogie, for certain. At any rate, if you're unfamiliar with The Bloodsugars, take a listen to Bloody Mary and a few of their other tracks, while you're at it, to get an idea of the sorts of energy and hooks they can sneak into a simple song. For contrast with Bloody Mary, try Uh Oh at Grooveshark, where they've got the whole EP.
Sometimes, how I got to a song makes as good a story as why I like the song in question. In today's case, I took my youngest to the clinic because of an earache (H1Nothing, thank you very much, just your basic ear infection). I failed to find a song about ears that I liked so I turned to songs about doctors. Suddenly, I was faced with two very different songs that have been favorites of mine since I was a child. Which to choose, and which version? Ah, the trials of music blogging!
Suddenly, I was distracted from Spirit in the Sky (Doctor and the Medics, lest you doubt that it fit my theme, although I was considering the Nina Hagen cover) and Little Feat's Rock and Roll Doctor by no less than three versions of Witch Doctor. I realized that I'd not heard the song for years, despite the recent passage of Halloween which, for some reason, used to cause this one to follow Monster Mash with annoying predictability. Some days, you just need a 50s novelty song to cheer up yourself (and your sick child). This is one of those days.
Suddenly, I was distracted from Spirit in the Sky (Doctor and the Medics, lest you doubt that it fit my theme, although I was considering the Nina Hagen cover) and Little Feat's Rock and Roll Doctor by no less than three versions of Witch Doctor. I realized that I'd not heard the song for years, despite the recent passage of Halloween which, for some reason, used to cause this one to follow Monster Mash with annoying predictability. Some days, you just need a 50s novelty song to cheer up yourself (and your sick child). This is one of those days.
