5/18: Odds and Ends from the Basement Tapes by Dylan and The Band. Mental mashup: I Hate Myself for Loving You by Joan Jett. A weird one. This is one of my favorite songs from the Basement Tapes. I would not have heard the Joan Jett connection but it works. The Jett comes in right after the Dylan line "lost time is not found again." I think it's the rhythm of the Dylan melody that suggests the later melody. If I cared enough I'd get out a guitar and figure it out, but I don't. I'll take my brain's, and my ear's, word for it.
5/19: Torn and Frayed from Exile on Main Street. I like this song and I really love this album. Seriously, it's probably in the top five. The critical consensus is right on this one. This is one of those songs where I realize I probably don't know the actual words but have sort of made up my own. Jagger downplays Exile but it's probably because a) Keith is all over this record and b) Mick had already become a nancy-boy by this point, content to marry into the world of the trendy jet set.
5/20: Straight to Hell by Drivin n' Cryin segeuing later into Sitting on the Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding. The only Drivin n' Cryin song I really ever have a desire to hear. Not that I know all that many of them. Saw them once in the late eighties in Atlanta back when they were perpetually on the verge of making it big. They never did. Still a great song, all chorus. Does anyone even know the words to the verses? I don't think I do. The Otis tune is what it is at this point. I think both tunes are in G and that's probably how they got knotted in my head. It's a fine song, mind you, and Steve Cropper is one of my two or three favorite guitar players but there are a bunch of other Stax songs I'd want to hear before this one. I think I'd recently read something about Otis's death too and it's hard to hear this song without thinking about that.
5/21: Nothing initially, but then Straight to Hell bubbled up to the surface and quickly mashed up with Okie From Muskogee. That DNC chorus really is catchy, not surprised that it's stuck for a second night. The Haggard song is a favorite. Also in G I believe, hence the mixing. Both great to sing along with too, as long as you fudge the verses of the Drivin n' Cryin. I grew up hearing lots of Merle Haggard, and though I don't care for a lot of the crying in my beer stuff, I love most of the rest of it (this is probably true of my taste in country music generally). He had a few good songs in the 80's as well, but the production styles of the day weren't kind to him (shoot, weren't kind to most). I'd like to hear some of those songs recorded properly. By the way, did you note that the fine folks of Muskogee recently elected a 19 year old mayor? Have things changed out there?
5/22: Three Dimes Down by the Drive By Truckers. One of the few real rockers on this most recent DBT album. In my limited experience, I tend to prefer the Mike Cooley songs. You can hear the Stones and the Skynyrd in this one from the get go. This album had been in regular rotation for me for a few months now, so no surprise that this should bubble up.
5/23: Liquored Up and Lacquered Down by SCOTS. I've been revisiting them lately, mostly via the jukebox at my favorite joint. I have to wait until it clears out a bit before I play them as they are a bit much for some of the older folks. I have managed to win them at least one new fan though. There are plenty of Southern Culture on the Skids songs that I can take or leave but I've always admired them. They do a number of different things really well and their schtick keeps it all tied together. Rick Miller is a seriously underrated guitar player. I like this tune for the Mexican sounding horns and the surprise they add to the song.
5/24: Perfect Timing by the Drive By Truckers. I really like this song, another Cooley tune. What a great line: "I used to hate the fool in me, but only in the morning. Now I tolerate him all day long."
5/29: I'll Take You There by the Staple Singers segeuing to Junior Walker's cover of Money (that's what I want). Don't need to say much about either of these classics. Probably something about the bass lines and the vocal stylings that suggests the pairing.
5/30: Brazen by the Heartless Bastards. I really dig these guys. I don't listen to them all that much and I'm not sure why, so when I was cleaning up and stumbled on this I put it in the car to make sure it would get some ear-time. They aren't much in the way of a live band as I recall--she comes off as painfully shy on stage and her rhythm section is a bit subdued in their stage presence--but the records manage to capture her voice and the way it drives the very simple, straight forward songs.
Hmmm. Looking at it now, nothing too surprising or odd really. Dylan and Joan Jett maybe, but I expected something a bit kookier. I suspect that I tend to remember the anomalies more than the stuff you'd expect to find. Still, kind of a fun exercise that I'll keep up for a bit.
