(230) Rufus Thomas –
Walkin’ The Dog
Rufus Thomas was often underrated as a singer probably due
to the number of enduring novelty songs he recorded such as Do The Funky
Chicken. But this album showed he
was a singer of some merit tackling such well known material as Mashed
Potatoes, Boom Boom, Ooh-Poo-Pah-Doh (infinitely preferable to Billy Thorpe and
the Aztecs’ seemingly endless live versions) and a slightly slower Land Of
1,000 Dances. Additionally the album
contains his dog trilogy of the title track, The Dog and the fun Can Your
Monkey Do The Dog.
(231) Art Brut – “Bang
Bang Rock & Roll”
This is the debut album for the British indie band often lumped
with acts such as Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party as an “art rock” band. I’m really not sure what is meant by such a
title as Art Brut to me sound like a straight ahead rock band. If they remind me of anyone it is The Fall and
that would be mainly due to the voice of lead singer Eddie Argos, at times a
dead ringer for Mark E. Smith, more than anything else. The album features a great selection of songs
such as Formed A Band, Emily Kane and Fight!
(232) Donny Hathaway –
Everything Is Everything
This album is the only contender apart from the sublime
Donny Hathaway Live for the title of his best album. Voices Inside (Everything Is Everything), a great
version of I Believe To My Soul and all of the original vinyl side 2 (Thank You
Master (For My Soul), The Ghetto and To Be Young Gifted And Black are as good
as soul music gets, highlighted by his wonderfully expressive voice.
(233) Stephen Malkmus
And The Jicks – Mirror Traffic
It’s hard to believe now that there are as many Malkmus solo
albums on the market as there are for his original band Pavement. This is another solid effort highlighted by
the hilarious Senator, Brain Gallop with its looping guitar work and a number
of impressive tracks on the home stretch starting with Forever 28.
(234) Don Covay And
The Goodtimers – Mercy!
There are two things to listen for on the opening track Mercy
Mercy. These are the guitar work,
reputedly by one Jimi Hendrix, and the other is how much Covay’s voice reminds you of Mick Jagger. It appears to be a vocal
trick that he repeats on a number of tracks such as I’ll Be Satisfied and You’re
Good For Me. On others he employs a beautiful
higher pitched voice that Mick could only dream of matching. This is an exceptional album and one anyone
with more than a passing interest in soul should hear.
In the evening “M” and I attended a work function by her
employer at one of Melbourne’s concert venues.
It was a retirement function for one of the principals at her employer’s
and so the choice of music had to cover a lot of bases musically. What we ended up with was an impressive 11
piece (rhythm section/3 piece horns/keyboards/4 female singers and male
vocalist/guitarist) cover revue type cover band with the ability to handle a
wide range of material. Unfortunately I
couldn’t pick up their name but they churned out a number of late 70s/early 80s
disco hits such as Born To Be Alive, great medleys of Jackson 5/Michael Jackson
and Abba standards and many others. Most importantly, they put their own spin
on the material which meant that they could keep the material fresh and
enjoyable to play each night. This came
through in their performance which was extremely energetic and full of love for
the music.
This is to me the acceptable face of cover bands. A good cover band is one that plays for the
love of the music they’re performing. I’ve
never enjoyed many of the suburban bands I’ve heard at wedding receptions over
the years because most gave me the impression that it was just a job, almost
akin to standing on a factory assembly line. “M” and I were keen to avoid this
at our reception and so went for a DJ who really knew what it took to get
everyone onto the dance floor. And that
ultimately, for occasions like weddings or retirements is the point isn’t it? These are ultimately joyous occasions where couples
and children want to have fun. A bad act
can colour one’s experience of the occasion to such an extent that it cheapens
the memory of the entire occasion.
Take weddings for example.
I’ve been to many over my life and my memory of many of the ceremonies
all tend to blur into one another apart from the novelty of attending a Greek
Orthodox and a half Jewish one. You don’t
remember many receptions either unless you either been served up an incredible
amount of (or not enough) food or unless the band was spectacularly great or
really bad. All of the memorable
weddings I’ve ever attended have employed bands that for some reason of other
have stuck in the memory bank. For
example, the one wedding I’ve attended overseas was an amazing feast that
stretched on for hours. The band was an extraordinarily
flexible one, adept a playing wedding tunes, western pop and rock standards and
traditional/folk songs of the country in question.
Tonight was similarly such an occasion and as such was a
retirement to remember.
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