Shadow And Light

Our Jonathan discusses the golden age of Dutch painting. That modern colour range, indeed! Utterly charming as always.

Jonathan Richman - No One Was Like Vermeer

That's Right!

Look what the cat dragged in... The Real Kids are back, and they've just announced a European tour, too. To refresh the memory a bit: their leader John Felice co-founded the Modern Lovers with Jonathan Richman back in 1973. He soon went his own way however, releasing the classic eponymous Real Kids debut in the magical year of '77. Now I'm not much of a nostalgia nerd, but these semi-legendary Boston protopunks  I just gotta see live. Come to think about it, I think I'm falling in love again...

The Real Kids - All Kindsa Girls
The Real Kids - Taxi Boys

Joining The Maquis

Hey, you know me: trop civilisé et, mon dieu, trop cool... So I guess it makes sense that I'm off on a trip to gay Paree for a few days. A bientôt!

Metal Urbain - Paris Maquis
Clock DVA - Eternity In Paris
Jonathan Richman - Give Paris One More Chance
Coleman Hawkins - Under Paris Skies

Straight Life

"I wanna be straight, I wanna be straight, I'm sick and tired of taking drugs and staying up late..." Following up on a conversation with faithful reader Holly in the post below this one, here's a fun showdown between messrs. Richman and Dury. And as a chaser: a hot quartet of not so straight jazz cuts.

The Modern Lovers - I'm Straight

Ian Dury & The Blockheads - I Wanna Be Straight

Art Pepper - Straight Life

Thelonious Monk - Straight No Chaser

Hank Mobley - Straight No Filter

Cannonball Adderley Quintet - Straight Life

Four-letter Word

Not even X-mas yet and I´m thoroughly sick of the white stuff already. As Jesse Winchester sings: "I was tuning in the six o'clock newscast, and the weather man mentioned snow, as soon as I heard that four-letter word, I was making my plans to go..." Snow, be gone. A cold cold six pack.

Jesse Winchester - Snow (demo version) MP3

Little Feat - Six Feet Of Snow MP3

Galaxie 500 - Snowstorm MP3

Simon Joyner - Out Into The Snow MP3

Bill Monroe - Footprints In The Snow MP3

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Abominable Snowman In The Market MP3

Back In Your Life...

A.k.a. the boy is back in town. Yup, I´ve finally returned from my summer hibernation... Sorry I´m a little late, had a great time thank you very much. Now it´s back to the grindstone of the blogosphere to bring you loads of musical goodies I just know you´ve been craving. Stay tuned, many a great tune in the pipeline.

Let´s start off with the first song from the Mega City Four´s excellent Tranzophobia debut (´89). Short but sweet, as punkpop should be. Start!

Mega City Four - Start MP3

Next up is good old Jojo, with that great title song from his Back In Your Life album (´79). ´What once was a puppy is now a dog, what once was a piglet is now a hog´. The man´s a genius, ain´t no denying.

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers - Back In Your Life mp3

The best rockband ever to come out of the Emerald Isle was of course Phil Lynott´s Thin Lizzy. Boys Are Back In Town just can´t be beat, no matter how many times you hear it. Find it on the Live And Dangerous album (´78).

Thin Lizzy - Boys Are Back In Town MP3

Tibetan grab bag

Well, not really. I mean, if you expected to find some Tibetan music here I´m sorry to disappoint you. I don´t even own any Tibetan music as far as I know. I´d merely like to dedicate this version of Friday Grab Bag to the Tibetans who are currently protesting the Chinese occupation of their country, contrary to their non-violent religious beliefs. That takes guts, right? Not that it´s going to happen, but a boycott of these outmoded Olympics would be a grand gesture to a people struggling to keep their culture alive, and a rigid digit in the face of a perfidious regime.

Well, now that´s off my chest let´s hear it for some tunes. What caught my fancy this week? Got the new Raconteurs for you, a rare track by Jonathan Richman, and two versions of the great traditional Canadee-I-O. Om mani padme hum, as they say in Lhasa and environs.

Let´s get going with the Flamin Groovies, a sadly forgotten rock ´n´ roll band from San Francisco. In their late sixties/early seventies heyday they sounded and looked rather out of place among the hippies, who didn´t really appreciate their lowdown dirty sound. The Groovies even moved to the UK in ´72 because they had a much bigger following in Europe. The compilation Groovies´ Greatest Grooves (Sire) is an exemplary document to their greatness.

Flamin Groovies - Teenage Head MP3

Let´s rock out some more why don´t we. You probably know by now that the Raconteurs have a new album out, as the ads are everywhere. I loved their debut, and I must say I often prefer the Raconteurs to Jack White´s other band. From the songs I´ve heard so far Consolers Of The Lonely (XL/Warner) is another fine effort, although the more Zeppelinesque excursions manage to irritate me as much as on the first album. But maybe that´s just me, as everybody and their dog seems to like Zep these days.

The Raconteurs - These Stones Will Shout MP3 (deleted on request of our pals at Warner Brothers)

Time to lower the tempo now. Last week I posted the original Nancy Sinatra-Lee Hazlewood duet Sand here, and tonight I just have to play you this amazing cover version by German noisemeisters Einstürzende Neubauten. Blixa Bargeld sings/whispers it like an old pervert and plays a mean solo, while the rest of the band merrily bangs away on their custom built oildrums. Find it on Halber Mensch (Some Bizarre ´85).

Einstürzende Neubauten - Sand MP3

Yesterday´s Modern Lovers track made me hungry for more. Jonathan Richman´s slightly nasal voice never ceases to amaze me. No one sounds as pure and innocent as Jonathan can. Hey There Little Insect comes from a rare acoustic bootleg called Living Room Demos, also known as the Solo Acetate. It was recorded late ´73 or early ´74 in - you guessed it - Jonathan´s living room. I do hope some record label (Rounder perhaps?) will put this out officially sometime. "Hey there, little potato bug..." Great stuff.

Jonathan Richman - Hey There Little Insect MP3

"She´ll never see that seaport town, called Canadee-I-O..." A beautiful traditional in a honoured line of songs about girls going out to sea dressed as men to follow their true loves. British folkie Nic Jones recorded it for his exquisite Penguin Eggs album (Topic ´80), and Bob Dylan allegedly used Nic´s arrangement for his own version on Good As I Been To You (Columbia ´92). It´s fun to compare the two. My verdict: Jones wins on guitar, Bob on vocals.

Nic Jones - Canadee-I-O MP3

Bob Dylan - Canadee-I-O MP3

We´re signing off tonight with some sonic mayhem from Jimi Hendrix. Machine Gun (from Band Of Gypsys, MCA ´70) speaks for itself I guess. "I ain´t afraid of your mess no more baby". Free Tibet!

Jimi Hendrix - Machine Gun MP3