Played The Part

Probably my fave ever Lou Reed cover. What's yours, my amigos da musica?

Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane

On Borrowed Time

Sad sad news: just found out Lou Reed has passed away. He was 71, and a true pioneer of rock 'n' roll. Miss him.

The Velvet Underground - Sad Song

Son Of A Gun

Guns. Never liked 'em, never will. Subject of many a good song though. Here's a small selection. Go tell 'em, Lou. "Don't you mess with me, carrying a gun..."

Lou Reed - The Gun MP3

Junior Walker & The All Stars - Shotgun MP3

Calvin Russell - Living At The End Of A Gun MP3

Unkle - Guns Blazing (Drums Of Death Pt. 1) MP3

Henry Rollins - Gun In Mouth Blues MP3

Tappa Zukie - Stop The Gun Shooting MP3

Fotheringay - John The Gun MP3

The La's - Son Of A Gun MP3

Minutemen - Little Man With A Gun In His Hand MP3

Baba Brooks - Guns Fever MP3

Wild Weekend Vol. 30

Edition number 30 of Wild Weekend is upon us, so let´s consult the iPod shuffle like the ancient Greeks once did with the oracle of Delphi. What do the musical gods have in store for us this time around? Some ska, some flamenco, some pure pop, some folk, some grunge, and some Lou, who´s a genre in his own right. Not bad, gods. Not bad. I´ll give you that.

Let´s get going with a creepy and beautiful folksong from the pen of Jackson C. Frank, he of Blues Run The Game fame. I know it´s only August, but one can´t get in the Halloween mood soon enough, right? Frank´s life story is quite a tragic one btw: you can read all about it here. Keep them hankies ready. "The fathers are lined up by the coffins by the Statue of Bigotry... you better hold on, something's happening here..." That´s uncle Lou of course, with a slightly hiphop-influenced track from his still impressive New York. An album like a Paul Auster novel, and incidentally his last masterpiece as well, under the oh-so-true motto ´you can´t beat two guitars, bass and drums´.

Jackson C. Frank - Halloween Is Black As Night MP3

Lou Reed - Hold On MP3

"Earlier than expected, a little premature madonna, earlier than expected..." Pop bliss from the Posies, from what I consider to be their best album, Frosting On The Beater (´93). Buy forthwith if you´ve missed this one for some reason; you´ll find the ´tempest of tomorrow´ much easier to face. Been awhile since we heard some flamenco around here, and that´s a shame. Luckily, my amigo and hardcore aficionado Koen from Holanda just sent me a new batch of hot Spanish gypsy sounds. So without further ado, here´s the wonderfully named Tio Gregorio El Borrico, also known as El Borrico De Jerez. And in case you need a translation: he urges you not to speak ill of anyone.

The Posies - Earlier Than Expected MP3

Tio Gregorio El Borrico - No Hables Mal De Nadie MP3

Remember Mule? Grungy Zeppelin meets Black Flag rifferama, with just enough of that weirdness to keep things interesting. Could that be the one and only Steve Albini firmly entrenched behind the mixing desk? If that sounds heavy, check out Hayride and bang head. And Wild Weekend #30 comes to an end already with a hilarious and slightly risqué ska excursion from the early years of that Jamaican wizard supreme known as Lee Perry. The lady wants roast duck, and Scratch just spent his last buck... What to do now?

Mule - Hayride MP3

Lee ´Scratch´ Perry - Roast Duck MP3

Lou And Bob Vs. The Kids

In my post below, I agreed with the esteemed mr. Rigby that John Cale´s seventies output has stood the test of time a lot better than the albums his former Velvets partner in crime Lou Reed put out during that decade. I also made one exception, and that´s the masterpiece from ´73 called Berlin.

Leaning heavily on Bob Ezrin´s bombastic but apt production, Berlin is a concept album about a relationship gone horribly wrong due to drug use, depression, violence and adultery. It ends with the suicide of Caroline, a.k.a. the German queen, a.k.a. Lady Day, a.k.a. Mary Queen of Scots, a.k.a. Alaska. Some say the story concerns a ménage à trois, but I could never find any proof to back up that particular theory.

One of Berlin´s highlights is a song called The Kids. It starts thus: "They´re taking her children away... because they say she´s not a good mother." Lou sings it like a guy who knows he´s beaten. He´s - almost - beyond emotion. He´s the ´water boy´, just a tired man who probably made some mistakes too along the way, facing the fact that it all came to this and he was never able to turn back the tide. So he makes a list of all the shit that went down, with the black airforce sergeant, the girlfriend from Paris, the Welshman from India and all the others. Only one time his anger gets the upper hand, when he slurs "that miserable rotten slut couldn´t turn anyone away..."

Late in the song, the kids in question start crying in the background. A truly heart-rending sound. Shivers down the spine guaranteed... "Mommy! Mommeeey!" Producer Ezrin used his own children here, and the story goes he either hit them to get them to cry this way, or (gasp) told them their mother was just killed in an accident. Ethical? Not really, but all is fair in love and war as they say, and Ezrin sure got the result he was looking for.

Lou Reed - The Kids MP3

This post is dedicated to Stooges guitarist and occasional bassist Ron Asheton, who was found dead today. In his memory, here´s Louie Louie from the last ever Iggy & The Stooges show in the Michigan Palace in Detroit back in ´74 - we´ll forget about that ill-advised reunion crap for now. Asheton embodied raw power, guitar stylee.

Iggy & The Stooges - Louie Louie MP3

John vs. Lou

Over at Boogie Woogie Flu, one of my fave music blogs, former dB´s drummer Will Rigby tackles the solo legacy of John Cale. In his guest post, illustrated with a couple of great and not so well known Cale tunes and a fun video clip, Rigby writes: "Count me among those who consider John Cale's post-Velvet Underground work superior overall to that of Lou Reed. Not to belittle Dirty Boulevard or Waves Of Fear or Kicks or all the other LR songs I love (and I can't say I've gone ga-ga over a JC album in years), but Cale's albums from the '70s find their way onto my speakers more often."

Can´t agree more, Will. I still play the eccentric Welsman´s seventies albums quite a lot too, and found that the baroque Paris 1919 (´73), the stark Fear (´74) and the heavy live onslaught of Sabotage (´79) still sound remarkably fresh on a modern day iPod. And while Slow Dazzle and Helen Of Troy (both ´75) may not be that consistent, they still have their moments of utter brilliance. Of Reed´s solo oeuvre on the other hand, I guess only the dark (melo-)drama of Berlin (´73) has stood the test of time quite well. Of his other seventies albums, only isolated tracks (Perfect Day, the evergreen Walk On The Wild Side, Street Hassle, Kicks) stand out.

Here are two tracks from the aforementioned Sabotage/Live album. Not an obvious best-of-live collection but a fresh batch of terrific songs, it was recorded in New York City´s punk mecca CBGB´s with a John Cale who was ready for war.

John Cale - Mercenaries (Ready For War) MP3

John Cale - Baby You Know MP3