Saturday 23 March 2013

22 March 2013 (Day 81) – Cover Bands

For today’s listening, I thought I throw together elements of the previous days, in other words more soul albums from the Atlantic box and other stuff.

(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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