Don't Get Me Started

I am beyond pissed at blogger. I will be attempting to resolve my (and their) issues before Monday. If It doesn't work -- nice knowing all you folks.

Have a great weekend, everybody.

Closed for Technical Monkey Business

The short version -- Blogger, which I've been using to produce this here blog for close to 13 years, has now fucked up their basic template even worse than Facebook just did.

It's an open question whether I'll be able to figure out how to negotiate this new version, and I'm not kidding -- if I can't work it out in the next day or two I'm seriously tempted to either shut this here blog down or offer to turn it over to somebody else.

I don't need this freaking grief.

Sir Tom? Meet Jools. Jools? Meet Sir Tom!

From the 2004 album Tom Jones & Jools Holland...

...that I posted about yesterday, please enjoy another absolutely blistering track, a fab(heh!) cover of Larry Williams classic "Slow Down."



And once again, because I love you all more than food, I'm including a YouTube link to it...



...in case you're one of those readers who have problems with the audio links from The Box I usually post.

Your Wednesday Moment of Why Didn't I Get the Memo?

From the 2004 album Tom Jones & Jools Holland...

...please enjoy an absolutely blistering version of Frankie ("Sea Cruise") Ford's 1959 B-side classic "Roberta."



A song, I should add, that I mostly know from the version on The Animals 1965 album Animal Tracks.

I should also add that I don't know how I missed this album when it originally came out, but it's absolutely freaking brilliant. And both Holland -- the original keyboard genius of Squeeze and the long time host of perhaps the best pop music TV show out of England ever -- and SIR Tom Jones (I didn't know he'd been knighted) absolutely cover themselves in glory on it.

BTW, because I love you all more than food, I'm including a YouTube link to "Roberta"...



...in case you're one of those readers who have problems with the audio links from The Box I usually post.

Give the Drummer Some (Part Deux)

From 2020, please enjoy the just released official video for "Charlie, Keith and Ringo," the fabulous tribute song by the equally fabulous Tearaways we posted the audio for back in early August.



Incidentally, the gent bashing those pagan skins is, of course, the incomparable Clem Burke of Blondie fame.

In any event, a terrific clip that fully lives up to the drum greats who inspired it. Hats off to all involved.

I should also add that you can -- and should -- download the audio of "Charlie, Keith and Ringo" over at bandcamp HERE.

[h/t Marc Platt]

Add Some Music to Your (Labor) Day

From a just about to be released album by the wonderfully monikered (courtesy of Jack White) young Florida band The Supplements, please enjoy their spectacular new single "On Your Own."



A little back story, courtesy of the band.

If Queens of the Stone Age and Interpol got into a bar fight, the cacophony they'd create might resemble the music of The Supplements. The South Florida based independent rock band are releasing their new song, "On Your Own," on Friday, September 4th, 2020. This is their debut as a full band and their first studio single.

The Supplements are an alt-rock outfit springing up from the South Florida DIY scene. Shortly after playing their first show in February of 2020, the band met their first major disappointment when the world was shut down. Their plans for organic growth in the local scene were dashed as venues closed, but unwilling to waste any more time they hopped into the studio.

"On Your Own," a riff-based rock track with a slightly dark edge, builds on its main theme before a whiplash-inducing solo transitions the song to a bass-lead section with sunny, interlocking chords for the outro. Fans of local indie music or the post-punk revival of the early'Aughts will love this track.

Okay, this isn't going to shock anybody who's read this here blog before, but I'm not particularly a fan of either Queens of the Stone Age OR Interpol. That said, this song is the real deal. Also, the video is fabulously filmed, and its implied social distancing theme strikes me as a particularly appropriate visual metaphor for our current trying times.

I should add that I also have enormous respect for any young artists who are finding the courage and the pluck to continue to ply their trade despite the enormous obstacles the aforementioned trying times are throwing up in front of them.

Bottom line, however, is that "On Your Own" is just a kick-ass piece of rock-and-roll, and the video is killer.

You can find links to stream or download the Supplements over HERE; I'll keep you posted when the album itself is available.

Friends of Mine: Songs by People I Actually Know That I Played on Capt. Al's LOST AT SEA Last Week Which You May Have Missed (Part IV)

Friend of PowerPop -- and moi -- Joe Benoit recorded this brilliant song about the pandemic back in May, which as attentive readers will recall is when I first wrote about it.

Hey what’s your hurry?
You don’t have to worry
There’s nowhere to go anyway
I think the clock still ticks
As I’m watching Netflix
But I’m losing track of the days

There’s nothing left out there for me

Welcome to the longest weekend that you’ve ever known
It’s getting kind of strange to be alone
At least we’re still breathing
We’re living in the longest weekend
You’d think it would be fun
I never thought I’d say that I want Monday to come

I averred then that, as far as I was concerned, when the history of this dreadful era is written, future scholars are going to regard that song as the most important work of art to come out of the whole depressing experience. Okay, if not the most important work of art, at least the most important kick ass rock-and-roll song. And I stand by that opinion.

I should add that Joe has an album's worth of new material almost ready to be released -- most of it dealing in at least tangential ways with our seemingly endless national nightmare -- and when he's finished those songs to his satisfaction, which should be very soon, I'll be sharing them with you. I've heard roughs of a lot of them and they're fantastic. Just saying.

In the meantime, in sadder news, friend of PowerPop Capt. Al has informed me that his last Lost at Sea broadcast at Area 24 Radio will be tomorrow -- i.e. Saturday September 5th -- beginning at 1:30PM EST.

After which, the station will be shutting down for good on Labor Day.

You can and should tune in to the show over at the link HERE. It's been a great ride, Capt. -- 9 years of broadcasts and at least 20(?) guest appearances by your truly. Saturday I'll just be a listener, of course, and you should be listeners too.

I should also add that the Captain will be playing this amazing song by my late great good friend, drummer and musical director for the last 50 years Glen Robert Allen...

...and that when it's over, there won't be a dry eye in the house. Well, at least my house.

Have a great holiday weekend, everybody!

PROGRAMMING ALERT: The show’s opening has been pushed back to 2pm EST. Sorry for the delay.

Friends of Mine: Songs by People I Actually Know That I Played on Capt. Al's LOST AT SEA Last Week Which You May Have Missed (Part III)

From 1994, please enjoy the great Bill Lloyd and my favorite song from his absolutely brilliant album Set to Pop -- "I Went Electric."



I raved about that record in the pages of the Magazine Formerly Known as Stereo Review at the time it came out, and it's only because I'm a horribly lazy slacker that I haven't found a link to that critique, despite the fact I sort of vaguely know where it's archived.

In any case, Bill is a genuine hero of power pop -- in case you haven't noticed, the song title is a wonderfully clever Bob Dylan homage -- and I'm gonna be posting some more of his stuff next week, but in a totally different context. Check this space, as we say.

I should add that Set to Pop is still available over at Amazon HERE and you need to hear the rest of it. Act now.

Friends of Mine: Songs by People I Actually Know That I Played on Capt. Al's LOST AT SEA Last Week Which You May Have Missed (Part II)

From his 2005 CD The Right Tool for the Job, please enjoy the incomparable Gregory Fleeman -- i.e., the funniest singer/songwriter in history (or at least Greenwich Village in the late 70s/early 80s) -- and two of the album's drollest and most subversive songs.

To begin with, his priceless recounting of the historic meeting between Liberace and Elvis Presley...



...and then his ode to -- well, you'll figure it out.



I should add that I did not play this one -- subtitled "Sucking My Way to the Top" -- on the show...



...although I have on previous episodes. In any case, it remains the greatest thing in the history of things.

I should also add that a) you can and should order the CD over at Amazon HERE and b) that Greg (who also wrote the movie F/X, by the way) is having some health issues of late, so please send lots of good thoughts his way for a speedy and full recovery.

Your Tuesday Moment of Words Fail Me

The Camel Drivers?

Seriously -- The Camel Drivers?

Bottom line -- this was a real mid-60s American band (who got together at a college in Michigan, apparently), and you can read more about them -- and actually download a CDs worth of music -- over HERE.

But seriously -- The Camel Drivers? Are you fucking shitting me?