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Talk Talk Talk
There’s a song called “Elephant Talk” by King Crimson, which lampoons the talk industry. Then there was a band called Talk Talk.
Back in 1966, there was a great garage-rock hit single called “Talk Talk,” by The Music Machine, and I could talk and talk about talk and gossip about gossip and babble and bicker in my role as rock critic, but I think I love it more when musicians talk back, or fight amongst themselves, especially if it inspires them (us) to give more impassioned performances. If there’s a theme to this week’s top ten list, I guess this is as good as any.
Okay, since I kind of slighted Jo Jo Gunne, I thought I’d make up for it by mentioning Ferguson’s top ten hit from the late 1970s. I haven’t heard it in years, but it probably should be as much a summer standard as, say,Van Morrison’s “Brown Eyed Girl.” The follow-up, “Shakedown Cruise,” had this memorable couplet too, ‘the captain laughs, he says ‘boys, you want sex?’/ You can kiss the sails, you can lick the decks.” Well, “Animal Zoo,” by Spirit is pretty damn cool too
Okay, enough classic rock for now! Flush it out! And this song is still one of my favorite, rockin’ Robyn Hitchcock songs. It gets a little lost in the shuffle because it’s not on _Underwater Moonlight_but when I was recently interviewed on KZSU by DJ Murray (epicsounds), we bonded on it. So, cun on feel the Soft Boyz…
I wouldn’t mind playing in a band like The Shins, but only if I can be co-songwriter and at least part-time singer. They could use a little Dylan to balance out their Brian Wilson/Paul McCartney lushness, and I would love to see what kind of arrangements to my songs we’d come up with. I wonder if they’d be as open to Continuous Peasant’s strengths as I am to theirs. I know they’re a tighter band than my new lineup is so far, and I’d even understand why some would say their complexly structured, brilliantly orchestrated and pleasantly sung songs are better. They’re evocative of a kind of 1960s sound, like Belle and Sebastian, but I haven’t found so much of the pssion or personality of, say, Ray Davies or the early Bee Gees. It’s like they’re so bent on imitating a sound, the result seems a little too musically clever, so it’d be really great to see if we could collaborate on an EP (I bet either of us wouldn’t be able to stand it much longer) and see if my weaknesses and theirs could cancel each other out.
Ah, dream on!
In case there are any fans of Continuous Peasant wondering what our great lead guitarist has been up to ever since he moved to Portland, I got some news. Well, he’s now switched back to drums and is playing a few shows, including the upcoming Bonnaroo festival, with Stephen Malkmus. I can’t wait to see the two best guitarists I’ve recorded with join forces.
With the current 1980s retro synth craze still refusing to die, I often harken back to this brilliant ditty from the German band. One of their songs, “Da Da Da,” was used for a car commercial a few years back, but the brilliant hilarious minimalist lyrics to this one are even better.
Karen Miller hosts a podcast called “The Miller Tells Her Tale,” which
features much ‘Americana’ music. She’s a passionate advocate of much new music, from more rockin’ to ballads—-mostly guitar-based, though I’m going to try to submit some of my piano based songs to her to see how open her definition of Americana is. In the Bay Area, I have the pleasure of hearing her on KYOU-1550AM, the local radio station that broadcasts podcasts, but even though she’s based in the UK, you can google her at “themillertellshertale” and check it out if you’re into the podcast thing. She’s also on myspace.
I saw a guy wearing an MDC shirt the other day, and I remembered how much fun these guys were, and, yes, how I liked them better than, say, Black Flag, but as the 1980s underground scene is becoming more canonized, well, you don’t hear this one too much anymore. “S because your stupid, K like the KKK…” etc.
Officially, this is a Fleetwood Mac song, but I have to give props to my gal! I mean, back when I got into Fleetwood Mac, with the classic mid-to-late 1970s songs, Stevie Nicks was getting most of the attention, even though McVie was writing at least as many of the great songs. Since McVie had been in the band for 5 years before McVie and Lindsey Buckingham helped make them megastars, I was able to find these albums in a cut-out bin, and make an all-Christine McVie cassette, and many of her bluesy/poppy songs from this era stand up well alongside her more famous classics such as “Over My Head,” “Warm Ways,” and “You Make Lovin’ Fun,” much more than her 1983 eponymous solo album or the “Little Lies” era Fleetwood Mac. I should do a cover of “Just Crazy Love.”
