Inadvisable Cover Songs

Remember the scene in Wayne's World where the guys go to a guitar store and the sign on the wall says NO STAIRWAY TO HEAVEN? That's because covering Robert Plant is usually a terrible idea. The only time I've seen it pulled off successfully happened a few years ago, when I had the privilege of seeing kHz's Raiana sing "Black Dog" and "Rock and Roll" at the Viper Room in LA, with Dave Navarro standing in on guitar. I also recall that Sheryl Crow does a decent cover of the latter song, though not as well as Raiana--she blew the roof off.

I was in a store yesterday, and heard a cover song that made me cringe. Singers, to lessen the chance of that I throw up in my own mouth in the future, please please please do NOT cover Van Morrison. Unless, of course, you're Robert Plant.

Thank you.

Chicks Banging Drums

Not a euphemism. And no, there's no missing 'mer' in the title. These are two of my favorite videos featuring female drummers. Interestingly enough, both are covers, though the styles are distinctly different, but I find both of them to be excellent.

With no further ado, and for your consideration, I present Meytal Cohen (covering "Metalingus" by Alter Bridge), and Scarlett Stevens (covering Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" as a member of San Cisco): 

[Editorial Note: The Australian Broadcasting Corporation requires that you click the link and watch the following video at the YouTube site, for some silly reason. It's not a dead link—just so you know.]

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A Video No Right-Thinking Educator or Establishment Politico Wants Your Children To See

"Jimmy Iovine" is the more musically topical choice, but this one has a better beat and a better overall flow. It also reminds me, quite often, of Nelly's "Greed, Hate, Envy." Though it sounds like the songs have a similar message, they are almost opposites, owing, presumably, to different backgrounds and experiences. 

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New Music Review - Sonia Rao

Sonia Rao's new EP, Los Angeles Part I. Release shows coming up soon in LA, SF and NYC.

Review of new Sonia Rao EP

New Music Review - Kut U Up

Kut U Up - Worse Than Wolves EP

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One of the Most Under-Rated Songs of All Time...

For better or worse, this is actually my favorite Cheap Trick song, and one many people have never even heard...

And since you'll be forced to click to YouTube to actually view that one, here's a cover you can watch directly (it also includes hot chicks singing, albeit in still shots)....

 

Bang the Drums

I recently published my interview of Jean-Paul Gaster, the drummer for rock band Clutch (Jean-Paul Gaster Interview, Clutch Live Review, Earth Rocker Tour).  While trying to maintain some semblance of objectivity, I failed to add two things to that interview, which I will try to rectify now.  First, just for the record, Jean-Paul Gaster happens to be one of the most kick-ass drummers in the world.  If you don't believe me, ask a friend who drums.  And B, I've included some video/songs from the new album that best epitomize Jean-Paul Gaster's work.  He can also be found on Five Horse Johnson's two most recent albums (The Taking of Black Heart, released earlier this year, also includes a track with guest vocals from Robin Zander of Cheap Trick.  I'm sure that tidbit has failed to register with nearly everyone, but one never knows for sure).

"The Wolfman Kindly Requests" (included as much for its funny video style as anything else):

as well as the studio version, simply because it's cleaner for hearing the offbeats and some of the brutal cymbal work going on in the background...

"Cyborg Bette:"

"D.C. Sound Attack!:"

My Interview of Clutch drummer Jean-Paul Gaster...

Interview with Jean-Paul Gaster of Clutch

My Music Review of Clutch, House of Blues, Anaheim, CA, March 24, 2013

Sort of a combined live and album review (Earth Rocker, came out March 19).  I also interviewed their drummer, Jean-Paul Gaster, and that will be out shortly.  I had no idea that transcription was so incredibly slow and painful.

Clutch Live Review, HOB Anaheim, March 24, 2013

A Music Review (by me) - Electric Six at the Constellation Room; Anaheim, CA

http://reviewermag.net/press/?p=8227

Battle of the Bands, Ginormous Egos Edition

I was driving a few days ago, and decided to listen to some KISS, and a funny thing happened.  I heard the song "Deuce," which until that point, I'm pretty sure I had heard a total of one time.  The opening riff started, and I had to rewind it, listened, rewound one more time.  Well, that was interesting.  Check out the opening riff of the song, and see if you recognize the initial guitar sequence:

The clip is from a 2010 concert in Europe, but the song itself is from KISS' eponymous debut album, in 1974.  

iTunes - Striving Hard to Underwhelm and Confuse...and Succeeding!

It was a close call tonight. I almost had a heart attack, or might have spontaneously combusted, if what I had seen were true. Fortunately for me, it was merely a head fake by the King of Head Fakes, Apple.  I've always hated ripping my CDs to iTunes.  Not because it's hard to do - insert, rip, done.

The problem is the aftermath that remains.   iTunes often has problems finding artists and artwork, a problem which only seems to happen when one rips one's own CDs to iTunes rather than downloading.  So, I often have to select all, type in the artist name, then all the track names, then copy in the artwork (I suppose I should just rip the metadata from AWS or a similar source, but on principle I don't want to give in, and implicitly endorse iTunes' mediocrity).

To be fair to Apple, and let you know just how anal I am about my music, I don't have a single track out of over 10,000 that is entitled "Track __", nor do I have any songs named "Unknown Track" or any bands named "Unknown Artist." I also don't let iTunes find song titles for me, because I've discovered over time that some people actually upload to discog and other services, as source material, all words in lower case, as well as misspellings, unneeded abbreviations, incorrect labels, etc.  Not coincidentally, the aforementioned are all very high on the list of things that annoy the hell out of me. So I keep it organized myself.

California Über Alles - Redux

California - History Repeats Itself

You don't really get a video, you just get a picture of the cover of the Dead Kennedys' seminal 1980 album Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables, and the audio for  California Über Alles, the band's first single from the same album (the single was actually released 19 months before the album, and with a slower time signature; most fans consider the album version to be the "correct" one, and if you've ever heard the song, it was most likely the album version).  In an unexpected but splendid bit of random chance (or proof that the Flying Spaghetti Monster thinks history is fun and funny), the California electorate, in crisis mode, chose to re-elect career politician Jerry Brown as California's governor, about 30 years after he originally served in that office.  And despite some lyrical references to the time period when the song was written, does raw anger at politicians ever truly go out of style?  It was the first single by The Dead Kennedys, and it's steeped in anarchy, individual rights and an acute (and valid, in  my opinion) mistrust of anyone in authority.  It just happens, in this particular case, to be Jerry Brown.