The Rolling Stones

Buzzcocks, “Lester Sands”

The Buzzcocks were one of the best of punk’s first wave, but unlike a lot of the other greats of that scene, they didn’t totally disappear. The went away for a while, but re-formed in the early 90s, and then started putting out an album every few years. This is from their self-titled 2003 record on Merge, a fitting home given how many Merge bands were inspired by the Buzzcocks (especially Superchunk). It’s pretty nuts-and-bolts punk rock, but Pete Shelly and Steve Diggle are always worth listening to.

The Flaming Lips, “Once Beyond Hopelessness”

This is from the Lips’ Christmas On Mars, the soundtrack to their movie project, and it’s very much a soundtrack. As a result, it feels disconnected when you’re just listening to it, and it doesn’t really do a whole lot for me. The Lips can sometimes tend towards the abstract to begin with, and this album goes very far in that direction.

Arrested Development, “People Everyday”

This was the huge Arrested Development hit, featuring a hook borrowed from Sly and the Family Stone and a fun storytelling vibe. This album was huge, driven by this single, and then got completed wiped out by Dr. Dre taking gangsta rap to the top of the charts with The Chronic. At the time, critics lamented that this album represented a path not taken, but I think that really erases the direciton rap had already been heading. So instead, this is just kind of a footnote.

Edan, “Emcees Smoke Crack”

Edan is one of my favorite hip-hop artists, even though he hasn’t released a lot of stuff. Primitive Plus was his first album, and is chock full of left-field stuff like this. Listen to that beat! That baseline is amazing, the scratching, the extra samples, and Edan is lots of fun on the mic - clever and with an excellent flow.

Priests, “Youtube Sartre”

We just had this song! SIX SONGS TODAY

Arab Strap, “The Clearing”

Arab Strap was a band from the same music scene that produced Mogwai and Belle & Sebastian, but unlike those two bands, they’ve never done that much for me. This comes from their first album, and it’s kind of unfocused, and there’s nothing that I find really memorable on it.

The Rolling Stones, “Love In Vain”

Huh, never heard of this band.

Lorelle Meets The Obsolete, “Unificado”

Psychedelic rock out of Mexico, this is from the 2019 album De Facto which showed up on some best-of lists that year. I think this is good, but as with a lot of psychedelic rock, it doesn’t tend to stick with me. I’m kind of the same way with Tame Impala - I can tell it’s good and all, and can even see what people hear in it, but it just doesn’t hang with me. I guess it’s Not Memorable To Josh day?

The Rolling Stones, “Happy”

It’s time for True Stupid Facts About Josh’s Musical History (yes, I know nobody cares). Despite Exile on Main St. being part of the rock ’n’ roll canon, regarded by many as the Stones’ best album, I actually heard the Pussy Galore full-album cover of this record first. The Pussy Galore interpretation is chaotic and deliberately ramshackle, a total mess released only on cassette in small numbers out of fear of getting sued into dust. WRCT had a copy of this record, legendary among the underground, and I checked it out after reading about it on Usenet. It was ridiculous, and I wasn’t sure what to make of it, and didn’t get around to listening to the actual Stones record for probably another ten years. The list of people who listened to the record in this order might be limited to just your very stupid correspondant.

Today!

The Rolling Stones, “Stray Cat Blues”

Because they hung around so long and turned into basically Rolling Stones Inc., a licensing corporation with a neglected music production arm that would occasionally squeeze out a desultory album, it’s easy for folks of my generation (old, but not super old) to lose track of the fact that for for a while there in the late 60s and early 70s, the Rolling Stones were pretty amazing. The run from Beggars Banquet through Exile on Main Street is one of the foundations of modern rock, and still sounds pretty great today.

It’s eclipse day! I hope everybody had a chance to check things out. I did here, and I thought it was pretty neat, but the boy didn’t seem to care very much. Ah well. In honor of the event, we have our first Five Songs Special! I searched for “moon” in my library, giving 261 tracks. I then used random.org to generate five numbers, picked those tracks, and got us this list! Enjoy it along with me, won’t you?