It's been 25 years since I last listened to a bit of Charlie Mingus. I rarely get into jazzy jazz. When you start at fake jazz, avant-garde jazz and jazz fusion it's a bit hard to go back. When you want the mental free jazz or the funky jazz funk or the spiritual jazz or the symphonic soundtrack jazz or the fake fake jazz it's hard to do the jazzy jazz. Anyway this is the jazziest jazz I've dug in a long time. I mean it's funky and swinging and down n dirty bluesy jazz but it's also jazzy jazz. You could pop on a beret, smoke a jazz cigarette and click your fingers like a revolting hepcat beat poet turd to this. I think this is as close to Flintstones jazz that I'll ever get. Funnily enough Mingus encompassed so much more than jazz into his musical vocabulary and detested the term jazz.
The Incredible band here are:
CHARLES MINGUS, bass, leader & composer JACKIE McLEAN, alto sax
So if you skip to 9:40 here on the infamous Trinidad Cassette (1982) we have the version we all know and love of Stevie. This tune was written around 1980/81 and was apparently about Stevie Nicks maybe (?). This topmost tune from Brian has never been properly recorded by The Beach Boys or Brian Wilson solo.
I mean it sounds like it could be a demo for That Lucky Old Sun or Sunflower or Pet Sounds for that matter. So I guess it's just timeless classic Brian Wilson. It's incredible to me that he can have such a classic song just lying around gathering dust being neglected.
Stevie - The Beach Boys (1982)
I'm guessing here but I assume somebody has recently just cleaned up The Trinidad Cassette version of the tune but I can't help but think maybe getting rid of some of that noise and reverb it has now lost some of its magic dust. So The Trinidad Cassette is also unfortunately known as The Cocaine Sessions and sometimes also known as The Hamburger Sessions. Dennis Wilson allegedly used to offer burgers and/or cocaine to Brian to motivate him to create music.
Stevie - Saint Etienne (2000)
Of course Bob Stanley would do the most obscure cover possible of a Brian Wilson song for the tribute LP Caroline Now!: The Songs Of Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys (2000). Also included in the song is a touch of My Diane a tune from the much maligned Beach Boys record M.I.U. Album (1978). I'd love to find an interview of Sarah, Bob or Pete discussing this recording because it's kinda genius.
It's so joyous reading the comments sections to Steely Dan tunes because they all realise who the best band ever was. And the comment that exemplifies it all is this: One of the best things about Steely Dan is EVERYTHING!
I'm still a neophyte when it comes to Steely Dan, only converting twelve or thirtyeen years ago. So I still haven't gone back to re-investigate if The Royal Scam is actually any good or got fully on board with Gaucho yet. It's hard to pick between the other five LPs. At this point in time there does seem to be extra special magic permeating on Aja and Countdown To Ecstasy.
I have deliberately avoided the books, magazines, videos and interweb gossip on the group. Sticking with my limited knowledge that Steely Dan were two sardonic upstarts from New York supplanted in LA spreading their acerbic perspective via deliciously idiosyncratic upbeat jazz inflected rock music of the genius variety.
Having said that though, I had read a couple of books by Barney Hoskyns which featured Steely Dan in cameo roles so I do know there was some darkness lurking within their shenanigans when it came to excessive 70s lifestyles. Being commentators on the rock'n'roll/hollywood scene didn't make them immune to its pitfalls.
Walter Becker died a few years back so I'm disappointed that I didn't get it together to organise a trip to the big smoke to see them last time they were in Australia. What a loser I am. I feel like Becker would actually be proud of me for this failing though. I mean would this not be the perfect subject matter for a Steely Dan hit: A forty-something ex-lead singer of band deadbeat with a failed marriage and mental issues is losing his shit in a horrible dusty country town and can't even get it together to buy a plane ticket to go see his favourite band's final tour.
Anyway Countdown To Ecstasy is one of the great singalong (in the wrong octave and out of tune yell-along really) albums for me. The irresistible melodies are just so expansive and exquisite plus you never know quite where Fagen's always surprising vocal phrasing is gonna go, which keeps you on your toes. And that's still occurring after hundreds of listens to this one LP.
Beyond that, what makes Steely Dan still so glittering and seductive in a timeless manner is a mystery. I'm sure if a music teacher explained their methods behind the notes and the performance thereof I'd still be none the wiser and it still wouldn't explain the why?. Suffice to say Donald Fagen and Walter Becker's prestigious charisma had the alchemy of synergy bubbling over within their songwriting partnership, it was just a matter of how perfect they could get their incredible vision out of their heads and onto tape [Yep I do realise Steely Dan don't need my endorsement and that I don't need to be adding to the voluminous discourse on the subject or doing a half-baked summary of why audiences of different generations have been so captivated throughout the 50 years since their inception in one paragraph but er, there it was anyway. Sorry, not sorry]
Sophistication is one thing musically but that would be nothing without the mass appeal of their thrillingly catchy hooks. This is pop music after all.
(A perfectly crafted slice of 6os garage rock. Many tried and many failed but the stars aligned for teen-Texans The Gentleman with this song, its performance and recording. If aliens landed and asked "What is this garage you speak of?" I would have no hesitation in pointing them in the direction of It's A Cryin' Shame for a definitive example of the genre. All the elements are present and accounted for but unlike those who failed they are all in the right place and were enthusiastically activated for peak aesthetic success.)
Sometimes you just go to have your 60s garage at its most primitive and raw. This neanderthal sneer is delivered with next level hostility then at 1:22 it gets even more malicious with the ugliest, most primal blown out lead break ever. A spiteful scuzz-fest of the highest order.
A fun and fascinating tune that's got the lot. Starts out the gate with organ and fuzz followed by very vigorous drummage. Then we get great deadpan vocals in the style that would later be much utilised by new wave artists. Next we get beautifully fluid psych lead breaks meeting insane spooky chanting. A classic psych curiosity.
Peak 66 right here folks. Pretty sure this is perfection. Coz You Don't Love Me is in that sweet intersection of snarly and stompy blended with swirly toe tapping jangles and supreme melodic lead and backing vocals. The way it effortlessly flows along with that irresistible beat... so good.
I can never put my finger on what this reminds me of... something that came later in the art rock or new wave... maybe Pere Ubu or Boys Next Door circa Door Door or something like that. I guess it's not that dissimilar to 1967's greatest band Love either. A tense and ominous feeling like no other is conjured here. A creepy vibe of bewilderment and urban malaise.
A primo slice of Michigan garage into psych. Sweet Cherry were another one and done group. They did this 7" single on Stop Records which I'm assuming was their label as this was the only ever release on the imprint. A splendid noise.
*Note: This didn't turn up on 60s garage compilations until the 1990s.
It's a bit hard to think about anything else with regard to music after seeing Paul McCartney on Saturday night in Melbourne. Performance and energy-wise the fact that he isn't a 40 year old bloke but indeed an 81 year old is quite astonishing. He was in fine voice and agile on his instruments throughout, putting on a memorable show.
I saw Paul McCartney do Helter Skelter and it was the best.
Anyway here's a tune of his that I love. I never studied music beyond year seven in high school but I have been told by the Mrs that all my favourite 60s tunes have minor chords/keys/whatever in them so I'm guessing Things We Said Today does too. Paul didn't play this on Satdee but I think it used to be in his set a few years back and it was integral to The Beatles 1964 setlist .
It's the mood here that resonates. It's gloomy, haunting and perhaps slightly sinister. The moodiness in the music is reiterated in the subject matter of the lyrics. In this autobiographical tune about his relationship with Jane Asher, Paul describes lovers being torn apart by distance and also perhaps realising this could well be the peak of their love as Paul feels he will one day be nostalgic for this present moment of which he sings. Probably because he felt this was a doomed love affair which as it turned out, it was.
The Beatles - Wild Honey Pie (1968)
Another Paul favourite of mine. He didn't play this either surprisingly. Not only did he invent heavy metal but also batshit crazy avant rock ie. this is a blueprint for The Residents. I am ever so grateful for this contribution to rock and its left field future.
The Beatles - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window (1969)
So this was a major highlight of the live show. We did not know this was coming at all. We knew other Abbey Road bits were usually part of the set like Something, You Never Give Me Your Money and the last three bits of the Abbey Road Medley: Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight and The End. However She Came In Through The Bathroom Window was a recent addition to the set which was a delightful surprise even though it was extracted from the other Paul written bits of the medley and placed among miscellaneous Beatles classics in the set. It was actually a bit weird hearing it out of context from the other tunes in the medley. I mean if I was Paul I'd just do the John parts too ie. Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam so the medley wasn't split up. We all love it. We all want it. So just do the entire thing mate. Anyway I feel lucky to have heard Paul play all of his parts of the Abbey Road medley to me personally. Thank Paul! Legend.
The Beatles - Abbey Road Side 2 Medley (1969)
The still astounding final suite from Abbey Road is a staggering swan song for a group at the peak of their powers.
Have you heard about The Beatles?
Don't try and tell me Abbey Road isn't the best masterpiece!
