Aural Fixation- Gavin B.'s Music Blog

Gavin B. · 08-11-2009, 06:11 PM

Song of the Day

Hotel California- Los Lobos (from an unreleased studio session)

Forget everything you ever knew about the song Hotel California and listen to this Los Lobos version. This Los Lobos leaves the Eagles eating dust as they blaze through this latin flavored cover of the Eagle's signature song. Los Lobos officially own Hotel California and the Eagles ain't never gonna get it back. The Eagles shouldn't take it personally because Los Lobos has a long history of playing every song they cover better than the original artist.

There aren't many bands where the musicians play off each other's chops as well as Los Lobos does. They are still well oiled powerhouse band even as all of it's members are well into middle age.

I came across this unreleased rare recording of Hotel California in the oddest of ways. If you're interested in knowing the story double click on the YouTube embed and read the story on my YouTube page. Anyhow it's one of 11 previously unreleased cover songs by East LA's favorite sons that I'm uploading to YouTube and I call them the Los Lobos Mystery Songs, because all of the songs are unreleased and I'm not even sure how the songs ended up in my possession.

Gavin B. · 08-14-2009, 04:32 PM

Song of the Day

Cover of The Velvet Underground (1969)

Beginning to See the Light- Velvet Underground

The song is from the Velvet Underground's third album entitled The Velvet Underground (1969). VU is now a four person band with a minimalist, pop oriented, down tempo sound. Their third album didn't chart in the Billboard Top 200 in 1969. But strangely enough, 16 years later, after a long period of being out of issue The Velvet Underground popped into the Billboard Top 200 at #197, one week in 1985, shortly after Verve reissued it in the cd format.

I've always loved Lou Reed's manic singing on the song and could never figure if he was being tongue-in-cheek with his over-the-top vocal intensity. This song is a good example of one of VU's more garage rock sounding moments.

Annotation to YouTube video:
The YouTube video has a rare and interesting 1968 photo of the band that I've never seen. It's noteable because Warhol's "superstars" (ie..actors, actresses and models) were in the picture. Superstars weren't photographed that often in the same picutre with the band members of VU.

Superstars in photo: Warhol (in dark glasses), to the left of Warhol is Joe Dellasandro, Edie Sedgewick (in purple dress), Gerard Malanga (to Sedgewick's right) and Billy Name (hiding behind Malenga) and Valerie Solanis (woman in front on floor beneath Lou Reed). Solanis became most notable for her assassination attempt on Andy Warhol on June 3 1968. This photo must have been shot very close to the day of the shooting.

Solanis' story is told in the film I Shot Andy Warhol and Lili Taylor won several film festival awards Best Actress awards for her portrayl of Valerie. Lili's portrayal should have gotten an Oscar nomination but the film was too indie, and Taylor's portrait of Solanis was too gritty, unglamorous and real-to-life for Hollywood to appreciate.

Director Mary Harron painfully researched her biopic of Valerie and it's the most historically authentic of all of the films about the Factory. Jared Harris is also the best portrayer of Warhol I've seen in the six different films with an Andy Warhol character that I've seen. There have been 19 different films with a Warhol character in them, but the vast majority of them are not in issue.

Gavin B. · 08-15-2009, 08:43 AM

Three From the Vault

Train Kept A-Rollin'- Yardbirds- 1968 perfomance of the Jimmy Page edition of the Yardbirds, performing their rave up cover of the early rock classic, The Train Kept A-Rolling on French television.

Be Bop A Lula- Gene Vincent It's rockabilly riot time with this Gene Vincent performance of his classic song in Brussels. It's hard to believe that Vincent's performances caused alarm and fear and he was considered too wild for American television when he first appeared. Come to think about it he does seem to be a bit possessed by force of nature during this performance. Note the Blue Caps on the floor for most of the song. The janitor didn't need to dust mop the stage after this performance.

Please, Please, Please- James Brown This was the show stopping finale to every James Brown live show back in 1964 and for the rest of his life. A distraught Godfather of Soul falls to the floor and is given his cape by Maceo Parker to escorted off stage, only to have JB throw off the cape, get on his good foot and bugaloo back to seize the mircophone sing a few more lines. I call it the "Maceo, Bring Me My Cape" routine which I saw JB do a dozen times in concert and it never got old. One night I saw him throw off his cape 15 times and return to the microphone before his entourage finally got him off the stage. In the neighborhood where I grew up, James Brown was bigger than the Beatles or the Stones. Nobody could top James Brown and nobody ever has since.

Gavin B. · 08-16-2009, 02:00 PM

Song of the Day

Sisters of Mercy- Leonard Cohen

What can I say about the brilliance of L. Cohen that hasn't already been said by the legions of musicians, writters, poets and critics who adore him.

Cohen had scheduled 3 shows here in St. Louis during his current tour. All three shows were sold out in an hour, and I'm missing what may be his final tour of the United States. As tribute to LC, I made this slide show video of my favorite Cohen song, Sisters of Mercy.

Gavin B. · 08-17-2009, 09:47 AM

Song of the Day

Ed's Redeeming Qualities

Lawn Dart- Ed's Redeeming Qualities ERQ was the ultimate indie cult band and Lawn Dart was their first smash hit... ummm maybe not "smash hit", but at least 50 people in Boston bought their ep. I used to go hear them play Upstairs at the Rat in Kenmore Sq.

Carrie Bradley, the fiddler was a member of the Breeders before Ed came along. They sound like a cross between Jonathan Richman and They Might Be Giants playing the Newport Folk Festival.

I was so broken hearted the day that ERQ moved to San Francisco I ran behind their packed up car as it took off, with tears in my eyes, waving at them all the way to the Mass Turnpike. I would have given up my life for that band and they ran off to megastardom in San Francisco.

Your New Favorite Band

Japandroids

If you come from the Ramones/Stooges/Pavement/Replacements old school of rock, Japandroids will be your new favorite band. Their album Post-Nothing went straight to the top of my own running tally list for Best of 2009, upon my first listening. Japandroids is everything a rock and roll band should be. If Post-Nothing doesn't wake you up, then you're already dead.

Bulldog · 08-17-2009, 01:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

Hotel California- Los Lobos

I absolutely despise the Eagles, but Los Lobos are immense. Great version of a fairly lame song that - I'm a big fan of covers that improve on the original (Elvis Costello's version of Sam & Dave's I Can't Stand Up For Falling Down, the Byrds' version of Dylan's You Ain't Going Nowhere, Bowie's rendition of Tom Verlaine's Kingdom Come etc).

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

[SIZE="4"]
Sisters of Mercy- Leonard Cohen

As for that ^, that's one of my favourite songs off Cohen's debut (which is quite something considering that it's such a good album). I think the guy's got a good number of years in him yet (if he didn't I highly doubt he'd be touring the world as he has done for, what, the last year is it?), so I've still got high hopes for seeing him live one day, maybe even one last album.

Gavin B. · 08-17-2009, 06:25 PM

Cohen is well into his 70s which is an age where most musicians finished with their touring years. The fact that L. Cohen will be on the road nearly 2 and a half years and is playing nearly every major city in the USA, the UK, Europe, Australia, and the Far East indicates it's a farewell tour, but Cohen would never hype up tour by calling it a farewell tour.

I'm amazed that Cohen is up to the rigors of touring at his age and Cohen is known to not be fond of touring. He does seem to be in remarkably good shape and of sound mind for his age but by the time he finishes this tour he'll be closer to 80 than he is 70 and I don't think he's ever going to do another tour like this one.

Cohen's first album has remained timeless work of art. When he released Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1968, he was 34 years old and already an established poet in his own right. I knew about L. Cohen the poet well before I heard any of his music.

What stood out about Songs Of was the simplicity of his musical approach which unusual back in 1968 when many musicians were going for the the lush orchestral arrangements made fashionable by the Beatles, Jimmy Webb and the Moody Blues.

Bulldog · 08-18-2009, 12:24 PM

Well, maybe that rules out another tour then (I thought he was in his late 60s - shows how rigorously I keep up with things), but I still think one more album is an outside possibility. Or at least I hope so anyway. As you say, he's in amazing shape for a fella his age and at least seems to be in good health too.

The simplicity of Songs Of is a strength (and, I can imagine, quite refreshingly stripped-down for the time of release), but it's also one of the strongest collections of songs Cohen would stick on an LP in his career; slick production, brilliant lyrics (as per norm) - a near classic for sure. If you listen to it back-to-back with the followup, Songs From a Room, you do notice quite a difference in the quality of songwriting there. Same goes for the production of the latter. For that grainy, lo-fi folk sound to leave a lasting impression of me it has to be something truly special, a vibe I don't really get off Songs From a Room as a whole (it's got some great songs on it, sure, but not as many truly memorable highs as the debut).

Piss Me Off · 08-20-2009, 05:26 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gavin B.

Your New Favorite Band

Japandroids

If you come from the Ramones/Stooges/Pavement/Replacements old school of rock, Japandroids will be your new favorite band. Their album Post-Nothing went straight to the top of my own running tally list for Best of 2009, upon my first listening. Japandroids is everything a rock and roll band should be. If Post-Nothing doesn't wake you up, then you're already dead.

Brilliant band, i had the same reaction on the first listen as well but have since died down on them. Still good though, and in my top 10 so far.

Gavin B. · 08-22-2009, 07:20 PM

Song of the Day

Pavement: The greatest rock band of the Nineties.

Summer Babe- Pavement In my humble opinion, Pavement was the greatest band of the Ninties (sorry bout that Nirvana fans). Summer Babe is a special song to me because it's the first song on the first album by Pavement and it was the first Pavement song I ever heard when they released Slanted and Enchanted in 1992. Pavement was the exactly perfect sound of the exactly perfect rock band in my head for so many years.

Pavement's track record beats that of any band of that era. 3 perfect albums and 2 near perfect albums between 1992 and 1999 and then bowing out at the peak of their power never to re-form, record or tour again.

08-15-2009, 08:43 AM	#53 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Three From the Vault Train Kept A-Rollin'- Yardbirds- 1968 perfomance of the Jimmy Page edition of the Yardbirds, performing their rave up cover of the early rock classic, The Train Kept A-Rolling on French television. Be Bop A Lula- Gene Vincent It's rockabilly riot time with this Gene Vincent performance of his classic song in Brussels. It's hard to believe that Vincent's performances caused alarm and fear and he was considered too wild for American television when he first appeared. Come to think about it he does seem to be a bit possessed by force of nature during this performance. Note the Blue Caps on the floor for most of the song. The janitor didn't need to dust mop the stage after this performance. Please, Please, Please- James Brown This was the show stopping finale to every James Brown live show back in 1964 and for the rest of his life. A distraught Godfather of Soul falls to the floor and is given his cape by Maceo Parker to escorted off stage, only to have JB throw off the cape, get on his good foot and bugaloo back to seize the mircophone sing a few more lines. I call it the "Maceo, Bring Me My Cape" routine which I saw JB do a dozen times in concert and it never got old. One night I saw him throw off his cape 15 times and return to the microphone before his entourage finally got him off the stage. In the neighborhood where I grew up, James Brown was bigger than the Beatles or the Stones. Nobody could top James Brown and nobody ever has since. Last edited by Gavin B.; 08-15-2009 at 12:36 PM.

08-16-2009, 02:00 PM	#54 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Sisters of Mercy- Leonard Cohen What can I say about the brilliance of L. Cohen that hasn't already been said by the legions of musicians, writters, poets and critics who adore him. Cohen had scheduled 3 shows here in St. Louis during his current tour. All three shows were sold out in an hour, and I'm missing what may be his final tour of the United States. As tribute to LC, I made this slide show video of my favorite Cohen song, Sisters of Mercy. Last edited by Gavin B.; 08-17-2009 at 09:49 AM.

08-11-2009, 06:11 PM	#51 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Hotel California- Los Lobos (from an unreleased studio session) Forget everything you ever knew about the song Hotel California and listen to this Los Lobos version. This Los Lobos leaves the Eagles eating dust as they blaze through this latin flavored cover of the Eagle's signature song. Los Lobos officially own Hotel California and the Eagles ain't never gonna get it back. The Eagles shouldn't take it personally because Los Lobos has a long history of playing every song they cover better than the original artist. There aren't many bands where the musicians play off each other's chops as well as Los Lobos does. They are still well oiled powerhouse band even as all of it's members are well into middle age. I came across this unreleased rare recording of Hotel California in the oddest of ways. If you're interested in knowing the story double click on the YouTube embed and read the story on my YouTube page. Anyhow it's one of 11 previously unreleased cover songs by East LA's favorite sons that I'm uploading to YouTube and I call them the Los Lobos Mystery Songs, because all of the songs are unreleased and I'm not even sure how the songs ended up in my possession.

08-14-2009, 04:32 PM	#52 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Cover of The Velvet Underground (1969) Beginning to See the Light- Velvet Underground The song is from the Velvet Underground's third album entitled The Velvet Underground (1969). VU is now a four person band with a minimalist, pop oriented, down tempo sound. Their third album didn't chart in the Billboard Top 200 in 1969. But strangely enough, 16 years later, after a long period of being out of issue The Velvet Underground popped into the Billboard Top 200 at #197, one week in 1985, shortly after Verve reissued it in the cd format. I've always loved Lou Reed's manic singing on the song and could never figure if he was being tongue-in-cheek with his over-the-top vocal intensity. This song is a good example of one of VU's more garage rock sounding moments. Annotation to YouTube video: The YouTube video has a rare and interesting 1968 photo of the band that I've never seen. It's noteable because Warhol's "superstars" (ie..actors, actresses and models) were in the picture. Superstars weren't photographed that often in the same picutre with the band members of VU. Superstars in photo: Warhol (in dark glasses), to the left of Warhol is Joe Dellasandro, Edie Sedgewick (in purple dress), Gerard Malanga (to Sedgewick's right) and Billy Name (hiding behind Malenga) and Valerie Solanis (woman in front on floor beneath Lou Reed). Solanis became most notable for her assassination attempt on Andy Warhol on June 3 1968. This photo must have been shot very close to the day of the shooting. Solanis' story is told in the film I Shot Andy Warhol and Lili Taylor won several film festival awards Best Actress awards for her portrayl of Valerie. Lili's portrayal should have gotten an Oscar nomination but the film was too indie, and Taylor's portrait of Solanis was too gritty, unglamorous and real-to-life for Hollywood to appreciate. Director Mary Harron painfully researched her biopic of Valerie and it's the most historically authentic of all of the films about the Factory. Jared Harris is also the best portrayer of Warhol I've seen in the six different films with an Andy Warhol character that I've seen. There have been 19 different films with a Warhol character in them, but the vast majority of them are not in issue.

08-17-2009, 09:47 AM	#55 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Ed's Redeeming Qualities Lawn Dart- Ed's Redeeming Qualities ERQ was the ultimate indie cult band and Lawn Dart was their first smash hit... ummm maybe not "smash hit", but at least 50 people in Boston bought their ep. I used to go hear them play Upstairs at the Rat in Kenmore Sq. Carrie Bradley, the fiddler was a member of the Breeders before Ed came along. They sound like a cross between Jonathan Richman and They Might Be Giants playing the Newport Folk Festival. I was so broken hearted the day that ERQ moved to San Francisco I ran behind their packed up car as it took off, with tears in my eyes, waving at them all the way to the Mass Turnpike. I would have given up my life for that band and they ran off to megastardom in San Francisco. Your New Favorite Band Japandroids If you come from the Ramones/Stooges/Pavement/Replacements old school of rock, Japandroids will be your new favorite band. Their album Post-Nothing went straight to the top of my own running tally list for Best of 2009, upon my first listening. Japandroids is everything a rock and roll band should be. If Post-Nothing doesn't wake you up, then you're already dead.

08-17-2009, 06:25 PM	#57 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Cohen is well into his 70s which is an age where most musicians finished with their touring years. The fact that L. Cohen will be on the road nearly 2 and a half years and is playing nearly every major city in the USA, the UK, Europe, Australia, and the Far East indicates it's a farewell tour, but Cohen would never hype up tour by calling it a farewell tour. I'm amazed that Cohen is up to the rigors of touring at his age and Cohen is known to not be fond of touring. He does seem to be in remarkably good shape and of sound mind for his age but by the time he finishes this tour he'll be closer to 80 than he is 70 and I don't think he's ever going to do another tour like this one. Cohen's first album has remained timeless work of art. When he released Songs of Leonard Cohen in 1968, he was 34 years old and already an established poet in his own right. I knew about L. Cohen the poet well before I heard any of his music. What stood out about Songs Of was the simplicity of his musical approach which unusual back in 1968 when many musicians were going for the the lush orchestral arrangements made fashionable by the Beatles, Jimmy Webb and the Moody Blues.

08-18-2009, 12:24 PM	#58 (permalink)
Bulldog why bother? Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: UK Posts: 4,840	Well, maybe that rules out another tour then (I thought he was in his late 60s - shows how rigorously I keep up with things), but I still think one more album is an outside possibility. Or at least I hope so anyway. As you say, he's in amazing shape for a fella his age and at least seems to be in good health too. The simplicity of Songs Of is a strength (and, I can imagine, quite refreshingly stripped-down for the time of release), but it's also one of the strongest collections of songs Cohen would stick on an LP in his career; slick production, brilliant lyrics (as per norm) - a near classic for sure. If you listen to it back-to-back with the followup, Songs From a Room, you do notice quite a difference in the quality of songwriting there. Same goes for the production of the latter. For that grainy, lo-fi folk sound to leave a lasting impression of me it has to be something truly special, a vibe I don't really get off Songs From a Room as a whole (it's got some great songs on it, sure, but not as many truly memorable highs as the debut).

08-22-2009, 07:20 PM	#60 (permalink)
Gavin B. Model Worker Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 1,248	Song of the Day Pavement: The greatest rock band of the Nineties. Summer Babe- Pavement In my humble opinion, Pavement was the greatest band of the Ninties (sorry bout that Nirvana fans). Summer Babe is a special song to me because it's the first song on the first album by Pavement and it was the first Pavement song I ever heard when they released Slanted and Enchanted in 1992. Pavement was the exactly perfect sound of the exactly perfect rock band in my head for so many years. Pavement's track record beats that of any band of that era. 3 perfect albums and 2 near perfect albums between 1992 and 1999 and then bowing out at the peak of their power never to re-form, record or tour again.