Motown

The Miracles, “You’ve Really Got a Hold On Me”

1962, baby!

McKinley Dixon, “Chain Sooo Heavy”

I really enjoy the sax blowing while he’s rhyming, it really sets things off, and makes my ears kind of ping back and forth between what sounds like competing leads. That tension really provides a lot interest in the tune.

The Dead Milkmen, “Big Lizard (Live)”

Chaos Rules: Live at the Trocadero is sort of a live career retrospective by the Dead Milkmen, but I gotta say, it’s hard to recommend it. The live renditions don’t add a ton, and the sound quality isn’t great. Uh, as you can hear.

Boogie, “Save Me”

God only knows how I heard about this, which is the debut from Boogie but was self-released. Therefore it’s a surprise that it found its way to my old, out-of-touch ass. It’s good, though, kind of sunny with the beats and with contemplative lyrics.

Webbed Wing, “Perfect”

I think this is a record that a friend told me about, maybe they knew someone in it? I’m having trouble recalling, but they’re from Philly, so it’s a decent bet. Anyway, assuming that that’s correct, you all should get this!

Swingin’ Utters, “Here We Are Nowhere”

A while back, I wrote some code to pull data from Discogs for my collection to see what year albums were released for another project that I was working on. That project might still see the light of day! But I’m wondering if there’s some way I could pull data for genres. Discogs doesn’t have genre tags in their structured data, but I could scrape the band description for specific words, I suppose. It would be neat to see what percentage of my collection is, say, punk.

The Miracles, “You’ve Really Got A Hold On Me”

Even over the course of just a few years (this is from 1962), the Motown sound evolved very rapidly. That’s not to say anything wrong with this, it’s delightful, but Motown moved really fast, and by 1965 they would be in a pretty different place. I mean, “Nowhere to Run” is from 1965.

The Beatles, “Good Day Sunshine”

Man, Revolver was really revolutionary! (For the record, this is from 1966, after that Martha & the Vandellas ripper.)

Vaselines, “Bitch”

Eh.

New Bomb Turks, “Professional Againster”

The New Bomb Turks arrived on Epitaph with Scared Straight, and immediately things got more professional. And that’s not a good thing when you’re dealing with this sort of thing. Listen to this - it’s certainly not bad, but there’s a certain theatrical edge here that really cuts against the proper energy of the band. I just don’t think we need the Jerry Lee Lewis thing going on. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy this record, it’s just not as much fun as the earlier stuff.

Haggard Cat, “Life and Limb”

Silence is a Dangerous Sound: A Tribute to Fugazi is a huge comp, featuring a bunch of bands each doing one Fugazi tune. The interpretations range from pretty faithful to pretty decomposed, as is de rigueur for this sort of thing. I think you have to be a pretty big Fugazi dork to enjoy something like this, but I am one of the biggest, so it’s fun. Most of the pleasure is in doing the Leonardo DeCaprio pointing meme at the songs (metaphorically speaking), but whatever, stupid fun is still fun.

Witchcraft, “You Bury Your Head”

If you’re thinking to yourself “this damn thing sounds like it was recorded in a basement”, congratulate yourself on your fine ears. It was recorded in a basement, proudly, using vintage equipment. Plenty of bands are out there trying to recreate Black Sabbath, but few go to quite these same lengths. Do you need to actually listen to this instead of just listening to Sabbath? What’s the point of ce n’est pas Black Sabbath? Man, I dunno, sometimes I just like my noise to be different.

Gob, “Cleansing”

This song sounds weird in only one earbud.

Green Day, “Nice Guys Finish Last”

nimrod. is the Green Day album I listen to the least. It’s not because of the songs that break out of the pop punk mold, but because the punk songs on it just sound kind of worn out. This song, for instance, sounds like a third-generation xerox of a thing from Dookie. Even on their final record, American Idiot, they brought more energy to the tunes.

Public Enemy, “LSD”

Flavor Flav belting out “cancer!” in the first verse always kills me. Also, I always appreciate it when rappers Remember A Guy, with Nick Van Exel getting name checked here.

The Grifters, “Spaced Out”

I’m pretty sure that I’ve lamented this before, but it’s a real shame that the Grifters managed to get to Sub Pop, the relative big time, and only released one record there before breaking up. I suppose they didn’t exactly fit into the general grunge aesthetic (grunty guitars and gruntier singers), but they at least fit pretty well alongside both Pond and the Afghan Whigs, both of whom made the majors. Well, anyway, all five of the Grifters records are worthwhile, with this one being the most polished of the bunch.

Blackalicious, “World of Vibrations”

It wasn’t clear if there would be a follow-up to the masterful Blazing Arrow, but three years later, The Craft showed up. And while it’s not quite as good, that’s an unreasonable expectation. It’s an excellent record, Gift of Gab was a master, and the beats are urgent enough to provide a strong platform and not disappear.

Caspar Babypants, “Cotton Eyed Joe”

I think last time we had the Presidents of the United States of America on here, I mentioned that Chris Ballew was occupying himself with making kids’ records under the moniker Caspar Babypants. Well, here he is, and it’s a testament to his basic affability and deft hand with a tune that he managed to turn the curdled anthem of canned baseball stadium antics from a rancid abomination to a totally pleasant listen.